Tales of the Society - The Azure Age - CH6.3A

Tales of the Society - The Azure Age

Chapter 6.3A: The Darkest Shadows

Last time on Tales of the Society...

While Eli’s team began their infiltration of Quantum’s outpost, the Society members back at the mansion continued their cleanup in the aftermath of the Azure attack. However, they soon had to abandon their tasks in order to meet Weiss’s own “cleanup crew”: a monstrous chimera combining elements of the Crimson Council and Juliet! Despite its menace being slightly diluted when Brian dubbed it “Clusterfuck” (to Weiss’s furious dismay), the so-called Crimson Chimera proved to be a ferocious opponent, handily taking on the entire Society group that engaged it.

Now, with most of the other members down for the count, it falls to Brian and Tsuneo to hold the line against the Azure Initiative’s latest beast. However, even Clusterfuck may be the least of Brian’s worries right now; a change has come over Tsuneo, and it doesn’t seem to be anything good. What is the meaning of this dark transformation…and will Brian now have to protect his friends and home from two monsters instead of one?

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Brian dropped to the ground mere heartbeats before Tsuneo made a feral pounce, colliding with the rapidly-approaching Clusterfuck hard enough to nearly knock it over. The revenant followed up with a series of savage blows that actually caused the massive beast to stagger, leaving Brian confused as he crept over to Irene, the only other Society member who wasn’t completely incapacitated at the moment.

“Um, Brian?” Irene spoke, slowly getting to her feet. “What’s wrong with Tsuneo? And are we gonna have to take him and Clusterfuck on?”

“I really hope not. Last thing we need is for Steve to tell us “I told you so” again, if we get outta this one...” Brian groaned, before watching his friend go to town on the big beast. “...It seems like Tsuneo’s hostile to everything now…maybe if we keep our distance, Clusterfuck here will be his only target. Can you make some portals to speed things up?”

In response, Irene touched her chest wound; to her relief, the pain had dulled significantly by now. “No problem - and while we’re at it, let’s get the others out of range. If we can barely defend ourselves against one monstrosity, I’d rather they didn’t get caught up in that crossfire too.” Irene immediately created a portal to reach the more distant members, while Brian dragged himself to his feet to begin collecting the ones closer by.

“Well, this is just great,” Irene groaned to herself as she formed eyes on her wings to watch the two monsters battling it out. “This is what I’m- No. Focus on your current task. The last thing we need is-” She continued muttering to herself as she picked up B.Nana and Becky before portaling back to where Steve had impacted the wall of the mansion.

“Good work, Irene.” Brian dragged Emily over to the others before surveying their conditions. “They’re pretty beat-up, but I think they’ll recover with a bit of care.”

“Assuming there’s anything left of anything by then,” Zeus added, manifesting eyes on Brian’s upper spider legs to eye the continued brawl between the Chimera and Tsuneo.

“Wonderful; just fucking perfect.” Irene snarled, sitting down and wrapping her arms around her knees. “As if getting our base attacked once wasn’t bad enough, this literal clusterfuck had to show up to finish the job; and then one of our own basically turned into a berserker! Which one of us kept kicking kittens in a past life?” As she spoke, heart-shaped markings briefly appeared on her wings before fading back to white.

“Chin up, Irene,” Brian said, patting the pyromancer on the back with a spider leg as he got to work with his pencil. “Knowing Tsuneo, even that’s part of his plan; we just need to be at the ready when and if it all goes sideways. Now take this Medkit here and get to work.” He tossed her a hand-drawn Medkit to use on their downed allies before drawing up a second one to use himself.

“...What reality are you in, because it’s already gone sideways. Second, just because I had family members who were doctors and nurses does not-mean-I-am-capable-ofbeingonemydamnself!” Irene’s words became faster and higher-pitched with every syllable until she was screaming a line of near-gibberish; fortunately, neither of the duelling monsters noticed over the ferocity of their battle.

“First Aid, Irene, simple… Just use the painkillers there, align the bones if they broke...” As Brian helped Irene through a crash course of First Aid, Tsuneo and the Chimera continued trading blows; despite fighting furiously for a solid minute, neither showed any sign of backing down. Finally, the Chimera jumped back to draw its katana; in response, Tsuneo created his Violent Claws. This time, however, they formed from unstable black Ether that enveloped his entire hands, appearing more like the gnarled talons of a feral predator.

“Come on, big guy!! Show me how you SCREAM!!!” Tsuneo’s voice, normally somewhat strained and raspy without his cipher, was a terrifyingly aggressive snarl with an audibly beastly distortion, as if something decidedly inhuman was speaking in tandem with him. His arms seemed to disappear into black streaks as he unleashed a frenzied assault, but the greater length of the Chimera’s blade allowed it to counter every blow…or so it seemed. One swipe managed to graze the monster’s chest, leaving a hairline black scratch. Despite the superficial blow, the beast hissed painfully as the barest wisps of shadowy miasma began emitting from the mark.

“What in the Nine…?” Having finished bandaging B.Nana’s scorched peel, Irene chanced a glance at the battle behind her. “When could he do that?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Brian said warily, applying a salve to Becky’s laser burns before drawing up a crowbar to begin extricating Steve from the wall. “I’ve known Tsuneo quite a while, and he’s never even hinted that he could do something like this…But if it means he’s got an ace up his non-existent sleeves, I’m not about to argue.”

The spider-bunny glanced behind himself just in time to see Tsuneo creating a new weapon: a black scythe with a blade resembling the reverse edge of his signature Reaper Blade. Despite his larger weapon and his numerous injuries, he only seemed to be getting faster and more relentless; whatever had came over him made him much more tenacious. The Chimera growled warily, uncertain on how to fight the transformed zombie; his attacks seemed to pass right through its blade, inflicting burning pain but leaving no marks beyond an ever-growing amount of black miasma from the scratch on its chest.

Irene’s face paled as she looked down at the ground, trying to avoid crying. “That…this is what I’ve fallen for? Aren’t I certainly the best at choosing them…” she quietly muttered before trying to refocus on tending to Becky, with Brian now putting all his effort into freeing Steve.

With its back to the wall, the Chimera unleashed a loud screech as it flew backwards, bombarding Tsuneo with countless lasers to get some distance. Once it was several feet away, it raised its blade…and turned it on itself, wedging it deeply through the midsection before prying itself apart and letting its legs fall free while its upper torso floated independently.

“Oh gods!” Irene’s wings flickered green as her hand went to her mouth. “There are less gory ways to commit suicide!”

“No…I don’t think it’s killing itself…” Zeus said warily. “If that thing’s got my DNA along with Brian’s…it might have my Parasitic abilities too.”

“Which means…ooooh, fuck.” Brian cringed as he finally pulled Steve free of the crater in the wall. “Irene, you miiiiight wanna look away and bust out the music player, ‘cause you ain’t seen gory yet…”

Deciding to take Brian at his word, Irene quickly pulled out her earbuds and refocused on patching up a battered Emily. Sure enough, the Chimera’s body began to mutate all over, its skin splitting as its muscles hardened and expanded. Hostile-purple veins overtook its synthetic arm and its innards erupted from its severed waist as its legs began to bolt for Tsuneo, still spurting blood from their open wound.

“How considerate of you to save me some of the trouble of cutting you to pieces.” Tsuneo chuckled madly as he ran right past the legs, catching them with the scythe blade. He ducked under the retaliatory roundhouse before throwing the Scythe at the floating torso, which simply bobbed over the attack as its transformation continued. The exposed viscera swelled and wrapped around itself, forming a grisly tail that quickly sprouted armor plating and jagged bone spikes. Clusterfuck’s own eyes turned the same shade of eerie purple as its new veins before it gave a dreadfully amplified roar of its own at its approaching opponent.

“Ah, all dolled up for your last dance? Good; show me what that’ll mean in the end!!!” Far from being intimidated or disgusted, Tsuneo sounded outright excited by the prospect as he broke into a sprint at the newly transformed Chimera, a large black zweihander forming in his right hand as he closed the distance. In response, the beast cloaked its katana in a fierce purple aura of energy; in addition, similar power enveloped its right arm, forming eerie blades on its bony fingers.

“COME ON!!!” Tsuneo ended up dashing right through the floating beast, creating a searing black mark directly over its existing scratch wound as he wheeled about in the air to land behind it. The black smoke falling from the wound intensified, but it only seemed to make the chimera even angrier as it whirled around to slash at the dark zombie with its blade. Tsuneo nimbly dodged the slash, but Clusterfuck followed up by stabbing its right arm into the ground, creating a large explosion that was equal parts dust, debris, and dark energy.

“DUCK!” Brian yelled, hoping that Irene could hear him even as he scrawled a hasty wall to block the incoming dust cloud. Fortunately, Irene was on the same page; her side of the impromptu “medical ward” was suddenly surrounded by portals, which harmlessly absorbed the cloud and released it on the other side of her.

“Gods...” she whimpered to herself as she finished tending to Emily. After glancing around to see Brian putting a last ice pack on Steve’s head, she straightened up with Curie at the ready. “Brian, they’re all patched up now. Watch over them; I’m going in.”

“No prob- wait, hang on!” Brian froze mid-nod as he realized what Irene just said. “Irene, are you seriously going to try and get in the middle of all that??”

“You’re going to get utterly destroyed in all that nonsense!” Zeus yelled.

Irene shrugged. “And if it means no one else gets hurt because of me…so be it.” Her wings flashed blue for an instant before returning to white, but with a few specks of red tinting the edges. “But I’d rather go down trying to fight than standing by, unable to do a damn thing.” Before Brian could raise an objection, she took to the skies with her shotgun in hand, watching for her opportunity as the dust began to settle.

At the epicenter of the explosion, Tsuneo looked much worse for the wear; his body was scorched, bleeding, and perforated with debris in several places. However, not even this seemed to faze him, the black clouds on the ground growing ever bigger by the second. The Chimera gave a growl of triumph after seeing the damage it did, but its fanged smile vanished when its target gave a scoff.

“You mindless fucking animal…you call THAT an attack?! Pathetic…THIS IS HOW IT’S DONE!!!” With an outright demonic roar, Tsuneo drove his large blade into the ground, sending a visible pulse through the clouds of miasma around him. Clusterfuck had just enough time to cock its head in confusion before countless pitch-black blades erupted from the clouds beneath it, impaling it from all sides like a pincushion. A screech of utter agony erupted from the Chimera’s throat as blackness hemorrhaged from each “wound.” Seeing her opportunity, Irene swooped as close as she dared to unload her two-shots into the Beast’s exposed chest, leaving a ragged wound amid the criss-crossing shadow blades.

Taking no notice of the butterfly-winged woman darting away from his prey, Tsuneo ripped his blade from the ground and held it over his head. The vapors around him surged into the sword, making it grow significantly larger and more unstable-looking; by the end of it, it looked more like an abyssal flame stuck to a sword hilt. Despite the chaos in his hands, Tsuneo’s black gaze showed nothing but lethal precision as he intoned his final words to the battered Chimera.

“You. Are. BROKEN.”

With that, Tsuneo brought down his blade in a mighty swing, crushing the Crimson Chimera under the dark energy. Irene twisted in midair to avoid being caught by the swing as well, biting back a cry as her right arm was grazed by the dark Ether. Beneath the burning black energy, Clusterfuck’s howls of utter agony and impotent fury slowly diminished to nothing; when the only sound to be heard was the soft whisper of settling dust, the blade collapsed into miasma once more, revealing the Azure Initiative’s hybrid monster lying in a small crater. Its body was surprisingly intact, save for its blown-open chest, but its eyes were dark and lifeless.


“And so another soul is destroyed…” The hiss that escaped Tsuneo’s mouth could almost be mistaken as contemplative, were it not for the barely-restrained bloodlust still bubbling beneath its calm tone. “Which of these fools will be the next to share its fate…?”

“You really don’t recognize me, do you?” Irene hissed, grasping her “burned” arm as she landed several feet behind the revenant. “Tsuneo, what in the Nine happened to you...”

As if on cue, the NeverDead turned to face the woman, his body slouched heavily as a few stray wisps of dark Ether escaped his many wounds. He looked in no condition to fight, but his eyes remained fixed on Irene; the look of a lion spotting a wounded gazelle.

“Irene!” Unable to stand by any longer, Brian ran to the pyromancer’s side, breathless from the spectacle and concern in equal measure. “Tsuneo, please calm down!! You’ve won!”

“Hah...begging for your lives will not save them.” The sinister undertone to Tsuneo’s voice seemed to become more prominent as he started toward them, his injured state doing nothing to dampen the menace radiating from him. “There can be no mercy…from darkness incarnate.”

“You fucking brick wall.” Irene donned her best glare before taking a few determined steps forward. “If you’re gonna hurt anyone here, it should be me. And it damn well better be as yourself.” Before Brian could stop her, she closed the distance between herself and Tsuneo to grab him in a hug.

“IRENE!!!” Brian’s cry came a bit late as Irene felt the black energy penetrating her stomach, a searing pain she found indescribable. Suddenly, in an almost reflexive motion, Tsuneo pushed Irene away, letting the blackness fall to the ground in a billowing cloud.

“I said…” Ignoring the pain, Irene opened two portals, one below Tsuneo and one right next to her. “The only one... dying here... is me. Now face me, Tsuneo.” She thrust her uninjured hand through the portal, seizing the zombie’s ankle.

“Very well, foolish girl; I will…??” Tsuneo trailed off as his movements visibly slowed; soon, he was frozen in place. “Rrrrgh...this whelp’s…willpower is…re..turn..ing…” He dropped to one knee, chuckling darkly as his entire body seemed to twitch and spasm.

Brian’s eyes widened as he recognized the events playing out before him. Zeus? he asked his Parasite mentally. Is this…what I think it is?

Looks like it, Zeus responded. Guess you and Emily aren’t the only Society members with an “inner monster”…

“Tsuneo??” Brian inched closer to see what was going on past Irene. He promptly regretted his decision when a large black blade erupted from the miasma on the ground, punching through Tsuneo’s chest and protruding through his back. He promptly gave a high-pitched cry of “SHIT!!” before falling on his backside as he scrambled backwards.

“Hope...you…rot..._v-vessel…” The revenant slumped as the Ether reddened and dispersed, exploding the blade in Tsuneo’s chest like a grenade. The resultant scream of pain was one that was burned into Irene’s memory from the week prior; moreover, it was a voice Brian could recognize from a mile away as his best friend.

“Oh gods, no.” Irene pulled Tsuneo into her arms, her wings turning deep blue as she finally let her tears flow freely. “Please, say something. Please.”

“_Ghhhh…” Although the undead warrior was unable to speak through his severe internal bleeding, the trembling hand that grabbed Irene’s arm told her that he was aware…and in extremely serious pain for once in his unlife. This reaction made Sylvie’s magic torture look like a stove burn by comparison.

“B-Brian…” Irene turned to regard the spider-bunny from the corner of her eye, only to find him standing in a small pile of scrawled Medkits, with even more coming into existence as fast as his drawing arm could move. “Let’s… Let’s get him and the others inside...” She finally composed herself enough to drop the portal at her feet, bringing the severely wounded Tsuneo back to the base.

“Huh?” Brian turned just in time to see Irene’s hair slipping through the portal.  “...Oh yeah, right! Good idea!” Hastily revising his latest medkit-in-progress into a bucket, he gathered up the other kits and followed her through the portal to begin a new kind of cleanup.

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After a few minutes of scrawling, the lobby of the Society base was converted into a trauma ward, with each of the downed Society Members bedded and trying to rest off their wounds. With Brian putting the final touches on the replacement generator, Irene finishing her sweep of the base for any more explosives in the important areas, and both of them setting up their friends as best they could, the two of them slumped together, utterly exhausted.

“There...There we go.” Brian gave a heavy sigh as he dropped his pencil and tried to squeeze some feeling back into his fingers. “Generator’s installed...but I can’t turn it on ‘til Eli’s team gets home from their debug outing…”

“No more bombs anywhere we can’t afford them being...” Irene continued, dusting off her arm with a sigh of her own. “And everyone…else is recovering now… All we can do…is wait…”

“Normally, I’d quip about how this is my favorite fucking part…but right now, I think I’ll enjoy the break,” Zeus groaned. “If the Azures have any more genetic abominations waiting in the wings, I’m gonna carve an entire maple tree of scars on that fucker Weiss’s whole smug-ass body…”

The absurd threat brought weak smiles to Brian and Irene’s faces. “Heh… Speaking of that abomination...what happened to Tsuneo?” the former asked. “He definitely wasn’t himself there...And maybe it was just me, but it seemed like there was someone else working in there. Who calls themselves ‘vessel’, after all...”

“Your guess is as good as mine, Brian,” Zeus replied. “It definitely looks like what you went through when I first infected you…but I don’t think it’s biological in any sense. That power he summoned…the way he attacked Clusterfuck…it’s almost like he was…”

“...Attacking his very life essence?” Irene interrupted, holding her stomach with the arm that Tsuneo had grazed with his final attack to Clusterfuck; even now, there was a dull ache in both areas. “Just look at my arm. It feels like I’m bleeding out, but I have no wounds to show for it… If I had to guess, I’d say he’s got some kind of literal inner demon in his mind, and it’s trying to break his will so it can control his body.” Not like I haven’t been there before, she added mentally.

“Hm...Guess there’s another common point for us.” Brian chuckled a little, trying to combat the heavy tension with a light tone. “Well, whatever that thing was, he still fought it and won with our help...but he still got the worst of all that battle… The others are recovering just fine, but he’ll be down for a long, long while with wounds like that...”

“No kidding. It’s amazing he’s even still with us after a fight like that.” Irene spoke, shaking her head to keep from crying again; her wings, however, betrayed her emotions to Brian.

“...Irene...you do remember his nickname here, right?” The spider-bunny smirked at Irene as she looked at him. “Nothing’s going to keep my best friend down. Nothing.” She could hear the sincerity in his voice; he believed that as deeply as any other written truth out there. Before she could reply, however, the silence was broken by the sound of hoofbeats and flapping wings coming down the stairs.

“Ahem…I can see that you two are quite clocked out, but if I may-” Tim’s query was promptly lost amid the sound of Tavo all but leaping down the rest of the stairway to look around the lobby in utter bewilderment.

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF SLAYER’S BLUE BALLS HAPPENED HERE?!” he bellowed, rounding on his equally-stunned beasts. “Alright, which one of you four got into trouble while I was out?!”

After checking to make sure their ears were still functional, Irene and Brian chuckled sheepishly to each other and beckoned the newcomers to sit down. “Let’s just say we had to deal with a total clusterfuck of a problem and go from there...” Irene began.

-THE SOCIETY WILL RETURN-