Guilty Gear Transmigration: Light of Madness

Frederick and Viidia continued down the evacuation route until they arrived at a large hall that opened up like a small park. Nearby, there were a few benches, some bushes, and even a vending machine. When they arrived at the section with the emergency elevator, they found a small group of scientists crouched by the bushes, hiding and holding their breath. There were ten people in total wearing white lab coats, reflected in the emergency lights. Armed with emergency axes and crowbars, they were huddled together in fear. But why had they not evacuated yet?

'The elevator doors are open, but….' One of the employees noticed Frederick and Viidia. He put one outstretched finger to his mouth and then slowly pointed upward.

"Be quiet and look up…?"

Frederick looked up at the ceiling, which was exceptionally high in the hall, and saw a number of smallish, uncannily red, glowing spots of light where layers of pipes ran and the hall's lights couldn't reach. Two by two, a pair close together, they occasionally flickered.

'Are those glowing eyes? There's something up there. A lot of them.'

Occasional, barely audible, muffled hooting could be heard coming from them.

Viidia squinted and whispered. "Do you think those are...owls?"

If the red eyes were counted, there were about ten in total. However, judging from the frightened looks of the staff, Viidia assumed that the things on the ceiling were probably monsters similar to the hounds that had attacked Frederick and the others earlier.

"Looks like a lot of bad news."

"Let's join them over there for now." Frederick and Viidia crouched down and slowly approached the group of employees, taking care not to make any noise. There was no one in the group who was acquainted with Frederick, but there was one person from the group who came toward Frederick and Viidia, signaling with his hand to keep the others back. He must have been about forty years old. He looked like an English gentleman with a head of slightly gray hair stroked back, and when he saw Frederick, he widened his eyes for a moment.

Frederick's reaction reminded him of when he first met Viidia.

'Well, with how I look it's no wonder he's surprised.'

A bloody lab coat and a tear in it from the hound bite. From an outsider's point of view, it could only look like Frederick was seriously injured.

"Are you…okay?"

"Yeah, it looks worse than it is, but it's nothing major." Frederick conversed in a hushed voice, as did the lab personnel.

"What's going on here? Why haven't you evacuated?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that even if I wanted to. I'm Serge. And you are?"

Frederick had a feeling that he had seen him before, but he couldn't remember where. However, there were many people who worked in the underground laboratory. They must have crossed paths at some point before.

"Since we're in this situation, I'd appreciate it if you could show me your ID."

"ID? Yeah, sure."

He and Viidia showed their ID cards to Serge. He compared the photo on the ID with their faces a few times, then slowly turned around half-way and gestured to the group behind him with an "Okay" gesture made with his index finger touching the tip of his thumb with the other three fingers raised. He then signaled for Frederick and Viidia to follow him, and walked back to the group.

"What do you mean we can't evacuate?" Frederick asked first as he followed Serge to join the group. Serge pointed with his thumb towards the elevator. Only one of the emergency elevator doors was open, and light was leaking from inside. The light in the dark hall seemed to be a ray of hope.

"The backup power is still working, but somehow the elevators are stuck. I went over there earlier and tried it, but something must have broken the wire because the doors wouldn't even close when I pressed the button."

"Oh, so that's how it is." Frederick sighed.

"I don't see the point in having an emergency plan that doesn't work."

"You're right. With the way it's all going, I'm starting to suspect it's man-made sabotage."

"...Man-made?" Frederick was about to ask the rest of Serge's story when he heard, "You, the man who just came in. Do you know the time?"

He was in his early thirties or so. A white man with a fat build and a pale face, who looked like he had been inattentive, suddenly approached him. When Frederick realized the meaning of his words, he looked at his watch and answered immediately.

"It's ten minutes before 11:40."

"...I see. Thank you. I'm Dustin Burley."

"Frederick Bulsara. This is Viidia." Frederick introduced himself casually, but Viidia looked at him with a look of dissatisfaction.

"I thought you had a watch?"

"Even if I have a watch, am I not allowed to ask the time?"

"Don't you think it would've been faster to look at your own watch?"

"Sorry about that."

But right now, Frederick was more interested in the ID card Dustin had shown him. His ID card had a different color line than Frederick's and Viidia's cards did. It was the same as Aria's and Asuka's. A biometric ID card that was supposed to be used by those working in the Gamma Section.

"Dustin, did you escape from the Gamma Section?" Frederick asked Dustin, hoping for some information.

"No, I have been here since this morning to see the progress of my colleague's experiment. Thanks to that, I've been here for almost two hours now. I shouldn't have come."

"I see…."

He wanted to ask Dustin if the same thing was happening over in the Gamma Section as here, but if that was the case, he wouldn't know anything about whether Aria and Asuka were safe and if he somehow knew if Daubeny was safe. 

Frederick decided to leave the three of them aside for the moment and asked Serge again about the current situation.

"Serge, you said earlier that you suspected human intervention."

"I'm just saying that's what I think it is, based on what everyone else is saying." Then Serge explained in detail how he had come to believe that the situation was man-made.

First, there was an explosion in the Alpha Section. It seemed to be different from the one Frederick had felt when he had woken up in his lab, just before the section had been powered down. In other words, it had happened while Frederick was unconscious. Once that happened, the emergency alarm went off and the staff began to evacuate. But then there was a problem. It was a monster that attacked and ate people, just like the hound that Frederick and his friends had encountered.

"If those biohazardous creatures came in here from the Alpha Section where the explosion took place, don't you think the time doesn't add up?" Serge continued, pointing his finger at the ceiling. "I don't know where they came from, but those owls have already taken out a number of us. You can't see them from here, but there are some unfortunate victims sleeping in the shadows around the area."

"You're saying you were ambushed?"

"Isn't it strange to think so? It's too fierce to be a laboratory animal, and I don't understand why it would target people. Now that it's dark, it seems to be reacting to sound and won't attack if you're quiet."Serge said, looking as if he had no control over the situation.

"I don't want to run into one of those things when I try to get to the other emergency elevators, and even if I do, there's a chance I'll be in the same situation as here. There are other monsters like dogs and crocodiles, and they're all running to this place. I want to get out of here before they get here."

"So we're stuck here, I guess." Was this a nightmare, a biohazard accident, or some kind of terrorist attack? Frederick had thought of such possibilities, but perhaps it was better to assume that there were several different types of tragedies occurring at once that equally influenced each other.

"What about the idea of prying open the rescue door in the elevator ceiling? The lab is far underground. I wonder if the shaft has a ramp or something."

Viidia interrupted him, looking at the open elevator doors, but Serge only shrugged his shoulders.

"Is there a problem with…?"

"No problem, but who would go?" When Serge looked around, everyone in the office turned away from him.

"Whether you open the lid of the elevator's cage, break the lock on the door with an axe, close it manually, or lock yourself in for the night, you're going to make some noise."

'Oh, it's turning into a game of chicken, isn't it?'

The movement to get into the elevator will make more than a little noise. Since that was the case, it was easy to imagine that the owls on the ceiling would attack everyone the moment they started getting the hatch open. No one would want to take the initiative to be attacked by a bunch of those killer owls. Of course, it was the same for Frederick. But then a thought occurred to him.

"Could I do it…?" The bite wound that the hound had given him earlier had somehow healed without a trace. If his wounds could heal in the same way as they did back then...

'Ugh. I don't know what I'm thinking. It's impossible.' He shook his head to get rid of any more superhuman thoughts.

"Hey, Frederick." Viidia turned to Frederick.

"Please don't do this. I don't want to die either."

"I haven't said anything yet…."

"If I'm wrong, then please continue." When she replied back to him, Viidia squared her shoulders and closed her mouth. She had read his mind without him telling her even a word. It certainly felt like a possibility, but Frederick didn't think it was okay to do anything just because the wound would heal.

First of all, if he were to be injured again, there was no guarantee that he would heal. Even if it did heal, what if it was his head that was injured? What if it was a wound that tore off a part of his body?

"I don't think it's going to go away."

He knew that something was wrong with his body, in how his hearing and strength had seemingly improved, but he had not yet accepted his condition to the extent that he could be so sure he was a monster. But the situation would not allow him to stay like this, and while he stayed quiet, another monster might arrive.

"It's hell to go, and hell not to go."

In that case, go for the one with the best possibility of survival. Frederick started to think about how he could persuade himself. Suddenly, there was a loud vibration. A momentary earthquake. Frederick's hearing could distinguish its true nature.

"Down below…another explosion?"

At the same time, something fell to the floor, and there was a sound like glass breaking. The shaking now caused the lights hanging from the ceiling to fall. Looking up, other lights on the ceiling and pieces of building materials began to fall one after another. The places where they had fallen intensively were extremely bad.

"Whoa!" One of the staff members shouted reflexively as he was hit by a falling piece of lighting.

"Huh?! You stupid bastard!" It was so sudden. The employee couldn't be blamed for it, but the situation took a drastic turn. If he shouted out, the owls on the ceiling would naturally react.

"Giaaaah!"

The hooting and hollering that came from seemingly everywhere sounded like that of a great monstrosity. Several owls rushed down through the dim air, red eyes like flashing emergency lights.

"Get down!" When Viidia shouted, Frederick dropped to his chest on the floor. Just above his head, the sound of wind through wings whistled past. Frederick's head would have been grabbed by the owl's talons then if he hadn't fallen on his face immediately. However, not all of them were able to react as Frederick did….

"Gugh? Ahhhhhh!!"

It was only for a moment that the difference was made. From the perspective of Frederick, who was prone on the ground, several of the nearby employees' flailing legs appeared to float into the air as they were carried away. Was it one, two, or three people? It was hard to tell in the heat of the moment.

"Ow, that hurts! Let go of me! Let me go! Let me go!"

"Aaaaahhhh!"

The sound of screams and flocking wings. The disgusting sound of flesh being ripped and torn apart. As they were lifted into the air, their future, whatever form it might take, was no longer something they needed to think about, because they could immediately determine it.

Serge, Viidia, Dustin, and the rest of the personnel silently stood up and ran to the elevator, taking advantage of the opportunity. It was a cruel but correct decision. There was no way they could help, it was too late, it was bad luck, it was a noble sacrifice. Frederick told himself, biting his lip, then he also stood up, though belatedly.

"Huh?!"

A crowbar that must have been in a victim's hand fell in front of Frederick's eyes and made a high-pitched sound as it crashed into the hard floor. It stopped him in his tracks. At the same time, the sound of something that might have been a person falling somewhere echoed. And more flapping of wings followed.

"Oh, shit."

Unfortunately, Frederick's position was between the elevator and the flock of owls. It would be his turn next. Such fear gripped Frederick's entire body. The people ahead of him, Serge and the others who had entered the elevator's cage, were already using the emergency axe to break the locks at the top and bottom of the cage door. If it worked, the heavy doors of the elevator could be closed by human power. If that happened...

"Hey, wait…."

He was late to the party, and now he was like a shield for them, about to be ruthlessly abandoned. Just as Frederick had done earlier to the man who was chased by the hounds.

Du-dum.

His heart was beating faster, and he suddenly felt the heat in his throat.

"Give me a break!"

Frederick picked up the crowbar in front of him, shouting. The sound of his own heartbeat, his own breath, and the rustling of his clothes. The sound of the owl's wings and the sound of the wind. He bent down, his ears still strangely perceptive, to detect the presence approaching at high speed.

A moment later, Frederick's knees buckled as he lost his balance and toppled over, but fortunately for him, one of the owls passed right over his head. However, the second and subsequent owls were clear; they stayed in the air beside Frederick and attacked him.

"Damn! Let me go!"

One of the owls grabbed his left arm as he raised it to shield his head as quickly as possible. The pressure on his left arm was like a vise, trying to crush it. If he were to be lifted into the air, he would end up like the other victims. Frederick screamed at the creature and hit the owl on his left arm with the crowbar in his right hand.

The scream of the beast echoed, and his arm was released. He then chased off the incoming owl with another swift swing. Timing his shot with the sound of the approaching wind, Frederick then swung the crowbar as hard as he could. The blow knocked down the next owl, but that didn't stop the other owls from attacking again.

"Auragh!!!"

Ba-dum.

Another shot, as if in rhythm with his rising heartbeat. And then one more. Frederick swung the crowbar around incessantly. Crunch, crunch, crunch! The crowbar caught the owl several times. The recoil was exhilarating to say the least.

"I've never been to a batting cage like this!" In the end, he was still outnumbered. But he would be instantly finished if he lost the will to resist.

"Guh….hah…."

Even though the gliding owl's talons ripped into his left shoulder again, where the hound had bitten him earlier, Frederick steeled himself. You can't die in this place. You don't want to die. Motivated by this thought, Frederick swung the crowbar with all his might. When he looked at the owl he had just knocked down, its wings were broken and it was twitching on the floor.

"…You can defeat it."

The moment he realized that his heartbeat started thumping, thumping, and thumping even harder. As if pulled by it, his will to live also strengthened.

"If I can kill them all, I can survive!" Frederick found himself thinking such grandiose thoughts. The urge for destruction welled up in him. As he swung the crowbar, he counted the number of owls he needed to kill in his mind, listening carefully to the sound of their hooting and flapping wings.

It was still seven birds, but strangely enough, he didn't feel any problem with it. In fact, as he continued to knock down the owls, a smile slowly began to appear on Frederick's face, even though it was out of place. But then he suddenly heard a shout from behind him.

"Yes! The door is working! Here!"

"What are you doing? Close it!"

"I'm working on it! Shit, it's heavy! Stop watching and help me!"

'Huh? What the hell was I thinking?!' As if he had been splashed with cold water, he quickly came to his senses.

"Frederick! Hurry up!"

When he turned around at Viidia's shout, several of the office staff were working together to close the thick doors of the elevator cage. He was about to be left behind. As the fear of being abandoned crept back into his mind, he felt a pang of regret. He should have headed for the elevator even as he intercepted it, but why had he stayed where he was? Why did he think he was going to defeat all those monstrous owls?

'You're such an idiot! There was no way I could do it! I don't know who I am anymore.'

However, there was no doubt that the pathway that had been opened up by the fact that he had managed to stay alive was now about to be closed before his eyes.

"Damn it! Just in time! Just in time! Come on, come on, come on!"

Frederick threw aside the crowbar and ran for the elevator. The unceasing sound of wind grew closer. A monstrous owl hooted at him. A hot streak ran down Frederick's back, as he heard his white coat rip from the owl's talons. This time, however, he didn't stop.

"Hey, don't bring that idiot here!"

"What are you doing?! Close it quickly!"

The staff members in the elevator were frightened and showed their rejection, but this was no time to hold a grudge. Frederick clenched his teeth against the pain in his back and sprinted as fast as he could. He slipped one hand into the gap between the elevator doors that were about to close, just in time.

"UOOAAAAAGGGHHHHH!!!."

Frederick howled with the single-minded rage of a roaring fire and all the power that comes with it. Even though it took several staff members to close the door, Frederick was able to force it open, despite being alone and using only one hand. He then leapt into the elevator cage. The momentum of his body knocked away the people who were trying to close the door, but he didn't care. If the owls followed Frederick into the elevator, he would have simply led them all to their deaths.

Frederick quickly turned and stood up, and this time he put his hand on the elevator's door from the inside. Once again, he howled with all his might. With the same force with which he had just opened the door, he closed the heavy door completely. Immediately after that, a dull sound echoed in the cage from the other side of the door. The owls that followed Frederick must have collided with the door. Everyone's thoughts were the same as they imagined the owls breaching through the door, and a sense of tension ran through the elevator.

The ragged breathing of the staff echoed in the air. But when the door of the elevator was closed, the owls seemed to have given up, and the dull sound that had echoed several times ceased to be heard. After a moment of silence, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks for nothing…."

Frederick then slumped against the door, slipping down until he was sitting at the base of it. The light in the cage, which was naturally bright, gave him a strong sense of security. When Frederick looked up, he saw that there were eight people, including himself, who could be seen by the light in the elevator.

Each of them was looking at Frederick with a mixture of resentment and apology. The man who had so blatantly tried to abandon him had been spared. Frederick supposed that had been unavoidable.

"Don't give me that look…. I didn't want to die either."

"Anyway, I'm glad I spared you guys from having to exert yourselves too hard. Let's pretend like that never happened." Frederick said in a deliberately light tone, considering the feelings of the staff.

"Oh, ah, I appreciate you saying that, but...."

Dustin's eyes flickered over Frederick's head as he said this. Frederick looked up to see what was going on and realized,

"Oh."

There was so much blood on the door of the elevator he had just slid down that he wanted to run away.

"Haha… That's not good."

The wounds on his back from the owl were deeper than he thought. As a result, Frederick survived, but there was a lot of blood loss. He was bleeding profusely and would not normally have survived.

"In fact, if you hadn't stopped the owls, we wouldn't have made it in time either. I'm sorry to say that I abandoned you. I'm sorry…."

The rest of the staff followed suit as Serge bowed his head in apology. But Frederick didn't want to blame them, because if it had been the other way around, he would have abandoned them as well. That was all Frederick could manage. This was the second time now that he had been attacked by an animal, after the hound. His torn and bloody white coat was already revealing the healthy skin underneath.

"Keep your head up. The least we can do for now is get me some first aid."

He was temporarily saved, but if he continued like this, he would die before long.

It was only natural for Serge and the others to judge Frederick's condition. However, only Frederick, who saw the skin on his left shoulder, and Viidia, who was already aware that something was off, were different.

"Fredrick, just in case, let me see your back."

"Oh…"

Sitting down on the floor, Frederick turned his back to Viidia. Wiping the blood from his back with the sleeve of his lab coat, he felt her hand across his skin. He frowned as he felt some pain, but it was far from what he would call intense pain.

"It's hard to believe, really…."

"What's going on?"

"It's slowing down, but it's starting to close up. It's like watching a recording in reverse."

"Yeah, I see…."

It's certainly gratifying to be able to survive a wound that would normally lead to death, but it was hard to accept that Frederick was supposed to be a normal person after all of this.

'What's going on with me? Why am I like this, a monster?'

This nonsense about fatal wounds closing automatically only existed in fiction. If this was possible, they wouldn't need the underground laboratory in the first place. As a scientist, Frederick understood how impossible this was, especially since he was involved in the development of next-generation medicine. But the fact of the matter was that Frederick's fatal wounds, twice now, were about to become a thing of the past.

"This is not normal by any stretch of the imagination. When we get out there, we'll get you checked out by a proper agency."

"I don't want to be a guinea pig, but…well, we'll see about that when we get out."

Frederick coughed and let out a deep sigh. "I'm not going to be a guinea pig.' What's that you're talking about? What do you mean?"

The researchers around him were suspicious, and Serge began to speak.

"Your wounds healed? That's absurd."

Dustin raised an eyebrow as he checked Frederick's back. "Oh my God, are you kidding me? That's impossible!"

"Yeah, I guess so. I think it's crazy too."

"Are you saying that Frederick will be saved…?"

"No, it's more like a regenerative power beyond human comprehension…."

Frederick stood up slowly as Dustin looked over to Serge. His gait and awareness were firm. It was the same unhurried movement as usual. The only difference was that his bloody lab coat had been torn in many places.

"I still can't believe I'm doing this either. It seems I'm in over my head."

Frederick shrugged his shoulders. Dustin put his hand on his chin and thought about it for a moment before saying.

"Frederick, who the hell are you? Are you an experiment in some kind of research?" Dustin's confusion was similar to what Frederick had heard from Viidia not so long ago.

"I'm sorry, but I'm just a scientist. Although, my memory is a little foggy."

"Are you kidding me? There's so much wrong with you! This is like a miracle!"

"Dustin, calm down. Everyone else thinks it's insane too. It's impossible."

Serge calmly tried to soothe Dustin.

"I'd like to ask for some clarification. Frederick. You said you had some confusion with your memories. How long has this been going on? Are you saying that you have no idea why this is happening to you?"

"I just woke up a few hours ago. Something must have happened during that time. I wish I could explain it to you, but I can't, so I'm stuck."

Frederick's words baffled the staff. Some of them were about to call Frederick's story a lie, but Serge raised a hand and they quieted down.

"Okay. If that's the case, it won't do us any good to talk about it now. We'll think about it when we get out of here. Is that alright with everyone for now?" When Serge said this, the people in the elevator mumbled and agreed with each other.

It was hard for Frederick to agree with that decision, as it would only make it more difficult for him to follow up on something he couldn't answer. After confirming this, Serge pointed his finger at the ceiling of the elevator cage. There was a square frame that looked like an under-floor storage unit, probably because it was an emergency elevator.

"Here's what we need for now. Some of you get a foothold. I'll pry the top off."

Serge grabbed the emergency axe and carefully stepped onto the backs of some of the office staff who had gotten down onto the floor on elbows and knees to form a human step-stool. The axe clanked against the metal of the hatch as he swung the axe a few times to raise the rescue opening, then he pushed up on the handle to secure the exit. He then jumped off the backs of the personnel and hauled himself out of the elevator. From the top of the roof, he held out his hand and pulled them up, one by one.

"Each of you be careful not to fall."

Frederick was also pulled up by Serge, but the elevator shaft was almost completely devoid of emergency lights, and the darkness was eerie and troubling, especially since he had just experienced the brightness in the cage. The other elevator in the shaft didn't seem to be nearby, so if anyone was to accidentally step off the top of the elevator, they wouldn't be able to save themselves.

While Serge was pulling everyone up, Frederick used the faint light leaking from the open hatch in the elevator to locate the position of the scaffolding ramp against the wall. If they could climb up the ladder to the top, they could escape. There were a lot of unsettling factors, such as the sudden explosion and the monster, but for now he had to believe that they could make it out and move. Eventually, after pulling everyone up to the top of the cage, Serge said to Frederick,

"Frederick, I'm going to need to rely on you. Do you mind?"

"Yeah, no problem."

No one knew what might happen next. In that situation, where everyone was scared and wanted to escape, if there was a metahuman in the group who could heal from grievous wounds, everyone would make the decision to send them first. The first penguin. That meant lead the way and be a shield; to be the first into the metaphorical water to check for danger. It was also a way to ease the group's anxiety as much as possible.

Frederick had been prepared to be told this when he had mentioned earlier that his wounds would heal in the elevator. That's why he took the initiative to put his hand on the ramp even before he was told. If he had been in the opposite position, he would have asked the same.

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In the laboratory of the Gamma Section, a buzzer suddenly sounded. It was the sound of Aria's cryosleep capsule completing its treatment. Asuka sighed with a somewhat resigned look on his face.

At this stage, the cryosleep capsule would be able to switch from being powered by the lab's power source to being powered by its own internal battery, making it possible to move it. Sure enough, the overly-built man pointing a gun at Asuka confirmed it as soon as he heard the buzzer.

"Well. Sounds like the subject can be moved now."

"Yeah, I guess so…."

As soon as Asuka replied to the man, a group of armed, non-scientific men swarmed around the cryosleep capsule. They deftly removed the many connections from the capsule, and then called out to each other as they lifted it and placed it on a large cart.

Then they carried it out of the lab. The large man poked Asuka in the back with the muzzle of his gun.

"Doctor, time to move. We're heading to Special Lab 6."

"Special Lab…?" Asuka asked curiously.

"You're going to the deepest part of the section instead of the surface?"

If you wanted to take the results of your research out of an underground laboratory, normally you would want to go above ground. But the man grinned and said to Asuka,

"There are things you don't know, Doctor. Now go. You'll be leaving this lab, but you'll have to continue your research on the Gear cells."

Asuka's back was poked once more with the muzzle of a gun. This time, Asuka obeyed and walked after the capsule that had been taken away. As they moved through the corridors of the Gamma Section, Asuka suddenly felt a small rumble in his stomach and looked at the watch on his wrist.

"Ten minutes before 12:20, huh?"

It was the time of day when he would usually go outside for a change of pace and have an idle chat with Daubeny, Frederick and Aria. However, such a peaceful moment would never come again.

"It's been three hours since…. Frederick and Daubeny you are both now…."