NOVEL WEB Chapter 18: The Secret of the Suitcase
Yes, it was that petty snake's fault that I ended up down here but the menacing gleam of its scarlet scales was soothing my battered heart. There was no way that I could have escaped my fate as a blood sacrifice on my own. But Lil’ Scaly here gave me a real fighting chance.
“Son of a washing machine! I never was happier to see you again!”
My celebration mood dimmed when I saw Cale's lone arm protrude under the mecha beast's huge body. Somehow I was sure he was a good guy deep down. Although… he was a member of a crazy demon-worshipping cult, so I can’t say I’m sorry for what happened, still, so much unneeded death. I just want my quiet school life already. I even prefer math homework then life-threatening situations like these, not by much though.
“How dare you!” The air around the old priestess began to smolder. She charged the gigantic snake with all her might. Shockingly, she was able to move it backwards several meters. The serpent's face wasn’t visible but its slithering body was backing up therefore it's safe to say the Abbess dealt some amount of damage to the beast.
She didn’t activate her spirit. It was solely her physical strength that enabled her to fight back against the mechanical monster. I knew the Immortals were on a whole other level of existence but being able to fight against Lil’ Scaly one on one was out of my expectations. I thought the authorities would put together a strike force of several immortals to deal with it. By the way, where were they? The absence of any official Immortal makes this invasion force even more mysterious. What were they even after?
“Song! Stop daydreaming! Move your ass, while the nuns are distracted with defending the church.” Rose woke me from my stupor.
“I have so many questions!” I said while standing up.
Rose rolled her eyes: “Is this really the right moment?”
“Right”, I swallowed my apprehension for a moment. She was responsible for the loss of my left arm, she is involved with the Church of the Heavenly Demon but she did help me, or at least tried to. Eh, good enough for now.
As I picked up the leather bag I asked: “Can you pick up the metal suitcase for me?”
“Are you for real? Why bother? The Luggage is only slowing us down,” Rose reprimanded.
We didn’t have the time to argue so I plainly said: “There is something important in it.”
“You sure?” She asked skeptically, “are your favorite pajamas in there or something?”
I didn’t know what was in it. And at this point, I’m not sure why I was so stubborn to carry these mementos with me. But remembering how the couple lay hand in hand, lifeless, in their own cold blood made me determined to see this to the bitter end. I always could toss the bags if I had to.
Rose, rude as ever, opened the suitcase, probably to show me how stupid I was to insist on taking it with me. She thought frivolous stuff was in it. I hoped for some form of identification. We both were wrong. A single well-padded egg with a golden shine lay in it.
Rose jumped at the sight. She threw the suitcase half-open as far from her as she could.
“What's wrong!?” I didn’t know what was going on.
Rose screeched: “That's a mecha-beast egg!”
“So what? They are only dangerous in groups. Why are you so scared?” I was disappointed that there was no ID. I felt stupid for carrying it all this way.
“Urgh, no! You don’t understand it’s not one of the rusted minions. It is a natural-born mecha beast. A beast designed by an Artificial intelligence that worked for hundreds if not thousands of years to create the perfect being.”
“But it's just an egg,” I shrugged.
Rose sighed: “Didn’t you pay attention in beast class?”
“How could I? The lectures on mecha-beasts start next semester!” I protested.
Rose explained: “Ordinarily mecha-beasts aren’t born, they are built in a factory. This is not one of them. It is designed to be on the top of creation. See that golden shimmer? It's a gold beast!” She pointed at the half-opened case. For some reason, the egg shone a bit brighter. She continued:
“Okay, well, how do I put it. The mecha beasts have their own system of ranks. There are the brown minion beasts who, as you said, are only a thread in huge numbers. Then there are red beasts. Even though they are only a rank higher they are already on par with Immortals. They are like officers, commanding a small to medium size pack of brown mecha-beasts. Next are the blue beasts; they are the generals. A single blue beast could destroy one of the ten great sects. Next up are silver beasts. They are machines who developed true individualism. You could call them the eccentrics of the mecha world. They are not necessarily stronger than blue beasts but they are far more dangerous. At some point in history, a few silver beasts got together and decided to create their own children. Different from their lower-ranked brethren, more like them, individuals. In some sense, they tried to emulate us. I only ever heard of one existing gold beast. A dragon that destroyed a whole mountain with a single attack. But it vanished without a trace a few hundred years ago.”
“So you're saying I carried a mountain-destroying super machine with me?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
I jumped: “So you are saying Lil’ Scaly was after this and not after me?”
“Lil’ Scaly? Ah, the red. Yes, I suspect so. There must be many more beasts on the surface if it truly is a gold beast. That explains the absence of the authorities. They are already fighting with everything they got. These beasts are just the garbage they didn’t deem noteworthy.”
“So what do we do?”
The air vibrated with energy. The nuns and Lil’ Scaly’s fight reached a crescendo.
“I don’t know! Run!?” Rose's hands signaled to both the shiny egg and the scary fight on the outside. Yeah, we were pretty much in between a rock and a hard place.
“Shouldn't we destroy the egg?” I asked. Not because I had any heroic or altruistic notion in mind. I just thought a gold beast on the loose would make my quiet school life even harder.
Rose facepalmed. She massaged her temple: “You can try but I think it’s useless. Its level is way above us.”
“Well, I have a pretty hard punch. I think you complimented me back at the entrance ceremony”, I said teasingly while approaching the egg. I ignored her dismissive expression and opened the suitcase fully, “Uhm, Rose? Was the egg furiously blinking like that?”
She joined me and said after considering for a moment: “I don’t think so.”
Well, the fight between the two wackos outside will be over soon. No point in wasting more time so I prepared my left for the strongest punch I could muster.
Rose began to say: “I think it's hatching… “ But I already struck it. Again, golden lightning was accompanying my strike this time only barely noticeable but it was there. It did some damage, or so I thought. Cracks started to show up. Ah, crap. Now, I’ve done it. It really is hatching.
“Whoops”
