章 34: Convince Me
--Return to Eira POV--
I hop up onto one of the tables in the room and start kicking my little legs back and forth. I run my eyes across the eight people lying on the floor, and eventually, my vision runs across Eden, who is giving me a pitiful stare.
"Oh yeah, now that the cameras are gone, Eden, you can get up off the ground now."
I release the chains binding Eden to the ground.
The other seven people in the room glance at one another before the one that seems to be the leader speaks, "Eden? Isn't her name Eve?"
I give the man a mocking smile, "No, that was all just for show. Edens's job was just to spread false information and to lead you guys here."
After my comment, a foul-smelling man begins to speak, "Eden, what are you doing? Has this person brainwashed you!?"
Frowning, I look toward Eden, "Eden, do you know Mr.Manure over there?"
"Yes, that's Uncle Phil, and he was trapped in an unplugged refrigerator for the past few days."
"Ah, he's lucky, they probably didn't eat him because he smells like sewage."
Eden gives me a tiny smile, "That's what I said."
"Hey! Stop joking around I know I smell bad, but this is a serious situation. I want some explanations," Mr.Manure barks angrily.
"Fine, well, to summarize the world as you know it will be ending soon, billions of humans are probably going to die, and Eden is now a servant of the Goddess. That covers the basics, for now, I guess."
"...Eh?"
"I'm glad you understand, but to be honest, I'm not really interested in you. I'll let you exist since you know Eden, but don't push your luck. As for the soldiers over there...do you have names? Wait, actually nevermind; I don't care about your real names just yet."
The leader again begins to speak for the group, "Who the hell said we would tell you anyway?"
I tilt my head and give him an innocent gaze, "Oh? You know this is an interview, and you aren't making a very good impression."
"Stop trying to act cute, and you aren't making sense, why should we care about making a good impression on you?"
'Psh, I already know I'm the cutest there is, so how is it acting? Best, just ignore that for comment for now.'
**Sigh**
"Because if you don't make a good impression, I'll have to find a new batch of candidates. By the way, you should also understand you know too much, so I can't just let you leave. To make a long story short, it's in your best interest to convince me."
The six look at one another with nervous expressions; finally, the leader speaks, "Fine, just tell us what is it you want us to do?"
"Well, all the other teams died, so I'm going to take a different approach with you guys. Let's see, do anyone of you has any experience with melee weapons?"
"Died..."
"Yes, died. Now answer my question."
He hesitates, "Uh, well we all have trained with hand to hand combat, knives, and Bravo-5 has experience using a tomahawk..."
"Tomahawk? That's interesting which one is Bravo-5?"
The eyes of one of the soldiers meet mine, "Nevermind, I think I found them."
Walking over and I remove the helmet and facemask from the soldier. I find a woman who looks to be in her mid or upper twenties. She has dark black hair, dark brown eyes, tan skin, and a lovely face, excluding her scowling expression that is.
"Oh? A woman, not many women in the special forces, and are you Native American?"
"..."
"Not very talkative, are you? Why do you know how to use a tomahawk? Are you good at using it?"
The leader begins to speak "because..."
I glare at him, "Shut up. I wasn't asking you, I was asking her."
The woman moves her eyes away from mine and begins to talk, "...I only know how to use it because one of us needed to have one in our kit. Since I had it anyway, I decided it would be fun to practice using it in combat. It's not because I'm Native American if that's what you think! It was just a coincidence."
"Of course. Why do you think I asked in the first place?"
I sort through my memory, trying to remember a tomahawk I saw when I was looking through pictures of scythes in the past. I cut my palm, forming my blood into the tomahawk from my memory. I throw the tomahawk toward the woman causing it to slam into the ground a few inches away from her face. Everyone looks at me with an expression of fear and confusion. Finally, using my blood magic, I release the chain binding her to the ground.
I laugh and move my finger between her and Eden, "You and Eden are going to fight."
Eden looks at me, "Me. Why me?"
I smirk and take out Eden's saber from the storage ring, again ignoring everyone stunned expressions, "Because I've never seen you fight anything except a Crawler and that wasn't a real fight it was more like hacking at a monster. Didn't you say your mom trained you how to use a saber?"
"Yeah, but that was fencing; this is really different!"
I've never seen Eden so shook up, so for a moment I lose my words, "...Don't worry; I wouldn't intentionally put you in danger. I know you'll be fine."
"...okay."
The truth is Eden's physique, strength, and reflexes are nearly twice that of a male human, and she is using a saber, which gives her the reach advantage. As long as she is careful and follows through with her attacks, she should be fine. Not to mention the tomahawk is made from my blood; I can turn it back to blood at any time.
The woman gives me a conflicted look, "You want me to fight this little girl?"
"Why not? She's the same as me, you know?"
Eden looks at me and then reaches for her eyepatch and gently removes it, revealing a gleaming blood-red eye.
"See, and if she ever smiled, you'd see her fangs too. Now, let's get on with it. I have lots to do and not much time to do it."
"Psh, fine."
The woman raises the blood tomahawk and looks toward Eden. Eden takes a stance with her saber pointing in the woman's direction. For a few seconds, they pace around the exterior of the pentagram until the woman charges Eden. With Eden slightly unprepared, the woman is able to get within reach and swings at Eden. Eden jumps backward out of reach, but the woman closes the gap and keeps swinging seemingly with the intent to kill. Again Eden easily jumps backward out of the woman's range.
Eden stares at the woman, "Why are you so slow?"
"Shut up!" The woman again charges Eden.
Eden raises her saber this time, keeping the woman at a distance; however, the woman decides to use the back of the tomahawk to hook the sword and tries to yank the saber out of Eden's hand. She shows a look of surprise when Eden's grip doesn't even budge. With the tomahawk hooked, Eden jerks the saber back, which instead pulls the weapon from the woman's hand. Eden then places the saber against the woman's neck.
I stifle my laughter, "Well, not so cocky anymore? You lasted what thirty seconds?"
"Shut up! I'm at an obvious disadvantage here...plus why is this girl so strong?!"
I decide to give her a truthful answer, "Simple, Eden has received the blessing of the Goddess; her body and reflexes are beyond what humans are currently capable of."
One of the soldiers chained to the ground begins to speak, "...You keep mentioning something about a Goddess, what is it you're talking about?"
I smile at the man, "Oh interested in the Goddess?"
"I wasn't at first, but after watching you do unexplainable things after unexplainable things, I am a bit...curious."
"Well, the Goddess is very old and powerful, and she is working to revive the blood race, but she is also willing to help some of humanity survive the coming apocalypse."
This time the leader speaks, "Help humanity survive the coming apocalypse?"
"Yes, the Crawlers were sent as both punishment and an opportunity for humanity."
"I think you're crazy what kind of opportunity could it create?"
"Although the Crawlers have and will create a lot of suffering and chaos, they will also create the best opportunity to build something that can last through the apocalypse."
"If anything you're saying is true, why didn't you just go to the government or something?"
"Go to the government, and what? End up in a research facility and not be believed at all? Or, if I am believed, just be used as a tool to save the rich and powerful? My goal is to further the blood race, expand the Goddess's influence, and become stronger, none of which most governments would be willing to help me with. Not to mention, I don't have time to go through such a slow and tedious bureaucratic process as most governments would need. The apocalypse could come at any time. I don't know if it will be days or months either way action is required now."
Looking around the room, the soldiers look conflicted while Eden is nodding in agreement and Mr.Manure, who is scowling at me.
"But stop distracting me, I'm supposed to be testing you guys."
I jump down from the table with a little bounce and walk over to the woman, "Now I'm going to beat the snot out of each of you one at a time and see if any of you are worth my time."
After that, I spent the next while fighting with the six soldiers one at a time. They were much better than me technique-wise and managed to actually get some hits in, but in the end, I was able to overwhelm them with brute force and my endurance. It also helped that pretty much all of them underestimated me; in the end, I stood over the six bruised and battered soldiers with a sneer.
"Okay, I've decided I'm willing to take you guys in. Now for the last test."
I pick up the body of the paralyzed man they said was from Delta team or whatever and toss it into the group, "Now, kill this man."
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