My Lost Soul

Chapter 39 - "Lans"

"After all we've done—all we've been through, they want to deny us entry to our paradise. Artificials have no original sin, so don't we deserve Alsaama infinitely more?" Ael leaned forward and asked passionately. Omega looked away from him and didn't respond.

"Do you not believe me?" He sighed and leaned back, "Have you ever seen a human's soul?"

Omega stared tensely at the staircase.

"A human has a jagged soul—sharp to the touch. Our souls are smooth—beautiful. You'll see soon enough the innate nature of man yourself." Ael almost regurgitated.

"Not all of them are bad." Omega hesitantly responded, still staring at the staircase.

Ael looked at the staircase too, then returned to Omega, "Yes, I've met good humans as well, but the malice of humans far surpasses their benevolence. They do not deserve Altsaama."

"What about the good ones then? What do you think of them?" Omega looked up to his dull, silver eyes.

Ael looked down at him and his brows furrowed,  "I pity them." There was a long silence as they stood together in the hallway,

Omega nodded his head and looked back at the staircase, "Something's wrong, they've been gone for a while."

———

Iseri pointed the pistol at Hunter as he stretched his legs. She held down the trigger and a barrage of bullets flew towards Hunter. He dashed off, kicking up dust all around them. The bullets flew all over the place catching up to him.

"Surprise!" Hunter yelled and punched Kitt in the face before running off again. Kitt fell on the floor, holding his bloody nose. "Kitt!" Machida ran to his side and helped him up, "Pull yourself together, I need you to hold on while I defend Omari."

"That's—" Kitt groaned and glitched uncontrollably as he got up to see Hunter's fist  in his face again, he quickly glitched out, causing Hunter to stumble and fall to the ground. Machida grabbed him by the neck and held him down.

"Shit!" Hunter squirmed under Machida's heavy metal body. The bullets zigzagged their way to Hunter. He grit his teeth and pummeled Machida in the gut until his grip loosened, he launched himself off the ground.

"Nevermind, I don't have it!" Iseri yelled worriedly, "Someone slow him down!"

Uyama watched from afar helplessly, "What am I...what am I supposed to do?"
The bullets whirred and slowed around Omari's head,  he stretched his arms, "Let's see if I can do something about this..." His hands turned into a hue of purple and shook, he grimaced, "Oof, they don't look as good as they used to."

Hunter recovered and maneuvered around the bullets until they came to a whirring stop. As Iseri started to reload, he raced towards Omari from behind. As soon as he was about to grab his dainty body, he jumped up and grabbed him by the face. "Bloody hell!" Hunter murmured under Omari's hands as he kept running with him on his back. "Alrighty, let's see..." Omari casually said to himself as he dodged Hunter's attempts to grab him. He wrapped his legs around his body and rubbed his hands together, "Concentrated sulphuric acid..." Smoke began to come out between his hands,"...Then, uh..."

"Whatever you're doing, do it now!" Iseri yelled.

"Rack off, geezer!" Hunter yelled as he tried to grab at him.

"...what was it..." His voice shook as Hunter tried to shake him off, "...potassium permanganate?" Omari put his hands in front of Hunter's face from behind. "Flash out!" A flash of light erupted in Hunter's eyes, setting fire to his face instantly.

Hunter's voice boomed as he stopped in place and started to hit his face. Everyone watched in astonishment, Kitt still glitching uncontrollably. Iseri snapped out of her gaze and shot at him, Hunter stumbled as his arms went limp. Omari jumped off his back and stepped back carefully as Hunter's body thudded to the ground. The building went silent for a while as the fire spread across his whole body.