Inverse System

Chapter 49 - Rust And Red

As Xenia whimpered beside Clyde, the sun began setting on them, the thunderstorm still raging outside. Clyde surrendered to the situation he was in as he stopped trying to think of any escape routes. He began reflecting on the fight that had just transpired with Galo. As he recalled that fight, he looked outside the rainy barred window, when an idea suddenly hit him.

Rusting. These metal bars were clearly made out of some sort of material that was resistant to rust, but not immune. If they were made out of pure gold, silver, or platinum, which are impervious to rusting, Clyde would've been able to cut through them easily. Therefore, this alloyed metal, when exposed to oxygen and water, will eventually rust. Evidently, it was a very durable metal to have survived this long, but as Clyde inspected further, he found small traces of rusting on the edges.

"Hmm, if we could wait for this metal to rust… No, that would take far too long. If we could somehow accelerate the rusting process…" He thought, as another bolt of lightning struck, making Xenia tighten her grip on his coat. Clyde reverted his gaze to her.

"Maybe if I give her my sword, she could cut the bars down using her inversed power… no, my sword is simply not durable enough, even if we did have enough strength. But wait… If I wore the…" As the thought popped into his head, he began shaking his head in dissatisfaction, ridding his brain of the idea. Xenia, in her fright, noticed Clyde's action.

"H-hey… Why are you shaking your head like that?" She asked, her voice shaking in fright.

"Oh… It was nothing," he said as he averted his gaze from her, disappointed in himself.

"Did you get an idea of how we could escape?"

"Yes… But it is incredibly foolish."

"Foolish as in, it wouldn't work?" She pressed him, pulling on his collar.

"No… It would most likely work… But I could never ask you to do such a thing," he said, putting his hand on his head.

"What is it? I'll do anything," it was as if she'd forgotten about her fear, as she proactively wanted to help Clyde.

"... I wanted to borrow your ring to accelerate the rusting on the metal bars…" He uttered in disgust in himself.

"..." She stared at him with a stern expression.

"I know… It was an incredibly foolish thought. As if I could think of putting you through that pain again…"

Suddenly, Xenia began removing the ring off of her finger, making Clyde react by holding the ring down on her hand.

"Don't!" He worryingly yelled.

"I'll be fine! I want to help!"

"I'm sorry… But I just can't let you do tha…" As he kept his hand on hers, he felt a crimson gaze wash over his pupils, changing the information about his Spring in his brain, inverting it. He continued holding her hand in awe, Xenia realizing what they were doing and trying to release her hand from him, lightly blushing.

Clyde tightened his grip on her hand, making Xenia blush profusely, then hold a confused expression on her red face. Clyde motioned to stand up, which she followed, standing up while still holding his hand.

"Hold on tight," he said while looking at the window's metal bars, taking deep breaths of concentration. Xenia realized that he had connected to the ring, inverting his Spring without her having to take it off.

Time began to accelerate on the metal bars, making them visibly rust as he continued. To Clyde's surprise, focusing his Spring on that small point made for an extremely concentrated time acceleration. In 10 seconds, Clyde was able to fast-forward them by about 48 hours. The rusty edges began to encroach on the center of the bars, as he waited another 10 seconds to repeat the process. They kept going for about an hour, with occasional thunder strikes that frightened Xenia, in total accelerating the rusting process by a year.

Both of them began to tire, growing sleepy and weary while they stood hand in hand. They eventually released their grips, both of their hands feeling very cold without the other.

"Wow, my hand's never been so sweaty," Xenia laughed, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Haha, mine as well. Anyways, this should now be rusted enough to where I am able to cut through," he said as he inspected the brown metal bar that rusted and grew mold, being in a constant wet state over a time span of a year.

Clyde summoned his tachi, gripping it in his non-sweaty hand.

"Judging Eruption," he slashed twice in a parallel row, making a large opening in the barred window. His blade was able to easily cut the battered alloy, as it was rusted to dust.

As peered out of the barred window, he found that they were hanging over a cliff, leading a deadly drop onto a rocky ocean shore beneath them. There were no platforms to stand on around them, so they opted to climb onto the roof of the cell. They ducked down, as to not get spotted, but there was nobody around. As they gazed at the establishment they were in, they noticed just how large it was. It was easily a 100 000 square foot building, with countless small rooms connecting with one large main room in the center. They walked along the roof of the grey hallway that lead to the grey door, seeing the large circular room ahead of them. With the roof being made out of glass, they were able to peer into the room.

They inspected the area, seeing seven small white metallic pods surrounding one large pod. They were all connected with black cables that intertwined between each pod. 2 of the seven small pods had a black, shimmering light encased in them, while the other 5 were empty. The lights emanated malevolent energy that could even be felt through the glass. The pods seemed to have slash marks, indicating that someone was trying to break them, but to no avail.

"This is becoming ever stranger… There is still nobody in sight," he remarked as Xenia stayed close to him, still rattled by the lightning.

They moved on to what seemed like a large storage room. Perhaps it would be more fitting to call it a warehouse. That was where they saw a group of soldiers and scientists lying across the floor, seemingly lifeless. The two gasped surprisingly.

"No way… Are those guys dead?" Xenia asked as Clyde cut a precise circular hole in the glass, dropping through, followed by the hazel-haired girl. Clyde inspected them closely, putting his hand on their necks to check for vitality.

"No, they seem to be incapacitated," he declared, as both of them heaved a sigh of relief.

Clyde inspected the soldier's body closest to the door, seeing if he had a key or ID card that could prove to be useful, but he found nothing.

"It seems their belongings have been stolen," he said as he saw Xenia pull out an ID card from one of the guard's bodies.

"Are you sure? This one still has stuff. He even has this weapon ring!" she exclaimed, waving the card around and equipping the ring.

"Oh, so only one body was nicked… Does that mean that all of this was done by one person?" Clyde thought out loud, as he grabbed another ID card. "We'll both hold on to one. We would do best to investigate this place, and perhaps find some sort of clue as to our situation," Clyde proposed, which she agreed to.

"Oh no you don't!" An energetic man jumped through the hole in the ceiling that Clyde made and landed, bending his knees and staying knelt down, looking up at the two who were standing in the room. He had red hair in a buzz cut, with yellow eyes. He wore a shabby yellow t-shirt, and baggy red pants that were pulled up to his shins, wearing a pair of red sneakers on his feet.

"I was wondering who intruded up in this bitch and caused such a ruckus, but it was just you, huh Clyde? I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed you managed to cause us so much trouble," said the man as he slowly approached Clyde and Xenia.

Clyde slowly began walking backward, staring at the man in a terrified expression, his pupils shrinking in fear.

"Clyde? What's wrong? Who is this guy?" Xenia asked the petrified Clyde. He shook his head and recomposed himself, but he was not able to shake off the terrified air that lingered around him.

"I know him very well… That is the man who mercilessly slaughtered my village… Roki the Red."