The Rising Of The Anomaly - Chapter 147

“Come on, hurry up…if the central generator gets damaged, it’s all over!” I urged Director Silva impatiently, as I stepped onto the teleportation platform.

The Seeyulator had broken out of the cell, leaving the remains of the security guard in a large bloody puddle.

“Are you sure you want me to link this to the teleportation platform in the room with the Mutants!?” She responded, her hand hovering over the controls hesitantly.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine! Just do it already!” I exclaimed urgently.

“Alright, fine, just don’t blame me if it’s more than you can handle…oh, and from that room, the central generator is down the hall and to the left, there are two guards posted there,” She informed me, before activating the teleportation, “Well, good luck, Kilzachs.”

In the next instant, I was standing on a different teleportation platform, one that was splattered with blood. A pair of human legs was on the floor, laying in a pool of blood, the bones visible at the stumps…nothing from the rest of the body was visible though, except for a few small chunks of flesh and shards of bone scattered about.

And the doors were broken down, the metal all mangled and dented. Damn it, I don’t have any time to waste. All the other captive Mutants were still in their cages, and they all looked injured, with what looked like whip-marks on their body. I’d noticed it on the security cam feed before teleporting here, a sharp whip on the floor, off to the side of the puddle of blood…it’s pretty clear to me how things ended up like this.

Each of these cages come with a small nozzle installed, one that shoots out sleeping gas, for in case the Mutants act up and try to damage the cages or something. The guard must have abused that, and while the Mutants were in groggy states, he likely tortured them.

Come to think of it, quite often, the Mutants we face during training exercises at the Academy are usually injured like this, never anything too drastic though, just what I thought were cuts…but as it turns out, they were whip marks all along.

I never really gave it much thought, since I just assumed they’d gotten those injuries when they were captured…but as it turns out, it’s actually been after being captured that they’ve received those injuries.

I wonder if it was just this security guard, or if multiple guards have been doing the same thing? The motive is pretty clear; boredom. Maybe some sadism too. In a situation like this, a security guard is kinda unnecessary, they’re more like extra precautions than actual necessities.

Things rarely ever go wrong here since the existence of this underground facility is only known to a handful of people…so naturally, this job would be extremely boring.

Unbelievable…if I’m right about all that, then what causes the Ace Mutant’s attack was a domino effect triggered by a bored, sadistic guard. Wait a second…something doesn’t add up here.

When Director Silva removed the program that was causing the looped footage and we saw the Seeyulator eating the guard, it looked like it had only begun eating a few minutes ago…which means the guard hadn’t been in a vegetative state.

It’s possible that he was inside this room during the time Save Point 01 was set and has been in here in a vegetative state all morning, but I don’t think that’s the case…because the lock to the cage that the Seeyulator had been held in wasn’t broken, the door to it was simply open. Some of the metal bars had been bent and mangled, but the lock wasn’t damaged at all.

If the guard had been in a vegetative state all this time, the cage couldn’t have been opened, and the Mutant would have had to break out of it if it wanted to escape…but there’s no signs of damage to the lock on the cage door.

Well, it’s not important for now, either way, the guard is dead and the Mutant has escaped…I need to hurry, it’s only been about half a minute since I teleported here and looked around, I can’t afford to waste any more time. I slapped the sides of my face and let out a slow exhale to get focused.

And right on cue, I heard some screams ringing out, from outside. They were faint, almost inaudible, but they were definitely there…damn it, who knows how long that’s been going on, I was so focused on inspecting my immediate surroundings that I didn’t put much of any focus on what might be happening outside.

This place is partially soundproofed in other to prevent constant echoes, so yes, most sounds are muffled and don’t travel too far…but with the doors smashed down, I really shouldn’t have missed this. I need to hurry…!

“<Activate Anomaly, Tier Two: Pause>,” I chanted, right as the lights flickered.

Huh? Crap, that’s not a good sign…I need to hurry. I rushed out of the cell and shot down the hall, before turning left…even if Director Silva hadn’t given me the directions, I’d have been fine…because the Mutant had left a convenient trail of bloody footprints to follow.

Further down the corridor, I could see a few guards rushing this way, guess they must have heard it too. I turned the corner, to see a freshly mangled corpse sprawled on the ground, and the doors beyond it were…open. They’re not broken down?

It’s a bit dark inside the room, and as I cautiously stepped in through the open doorway, I realized what must have happened. The second guard, being cornered as he was, must have opened the doors in his panic, and the Mutant must have reacted and followed him in before he could shut the door.

And it looks like I froze time the instant that the Seeyulator tore his head off…it had the guard’s body pinned with its claws, and it must have grabbed his head with its jaws and then ripped it off.

A fountain of blood bursting out of the guard’s neck was frozen in mid-air, and now that I take a closer look at him, tears were streaming down his decapitated head, a look of sheer terror on his face.

Well, he’s dead, it’s definitely too late to save him. Now, then, this must be the central generator…it was a large, cylindrical device with a bunch of metal pipes and thick wiring. And the Mutant had the guard pinned against it, the creature’s claws piercing into the metal casing of the device.

Is it already too late? Should I go back to Save Point 01 again? No…no, not yet. After all, things aren’t guaranteed to work out the same way each time I go back in time, the Crocsnek attacking was proof of that. If I carelessly go back in time again, things might end up even worse. Until I’m absolutely certain that there’s no other option, I’m not going back in time.

I calmed myself down with a deep breath and slow exhale, returning my focus to the Seeyulator. It’s definitely damaged the generator, some of the wiring was torn, but the machine still seems to be active, the Mutant’s claws hadn’t pierced too deep into it.

Earlier, right when I recited the activation chant for Pause, the lights flickered…they had also flickered the first time I went through today, but of course, the blackout didn’t happen that time. Which means that that time, the Seeyulator must have been incapacitated before it could damage the generator too severely.

But the second time around, it didn’t work out that way, it dealt enough damage to the generator to cause the blackout. Now, then, let’s see if I’m not too late to prevent the blackout and subsequent chaos I experienced, shall we? I focused on the head of the Mutant, before using Cut and Paste to remove it and then bring it back, outside the room.

I’ll move the body too, it may not have a head anymore, but it could still damage the generator with muscle memory reflexes or something, like how decapitated deer can sometimes still kick after death. It’ll cost a little bit of extra XFE to use Cut and Paste on the rest of its body, but I have enough to spare, so it’s fine. Aaaand…done!

Alright, now for the moment of truth-…I then quickly stopped myself before I could recite the activation chant for Play. The guards that I’d spotted rushing towards this room, they’ll probably get the wrong idea if they see me here. I’ll head back to the cell with the Mutants and have Director Silva teleport me back…assuming the blackout doesn’t get triggered.

I then quickly headed back to the cell holding the captive Mutants, shutting the door before activating Play, resuming the flow of time. The moment I did, the lights continued flickering violently, and my I-Watch was malfunctioning…and then, it stopped.

Stopped flickering, that is. The lights were stable, and…my I-Watch was working properly again. It…it worked…I really did it! Now, then, I better get out of here before a guard shows up. I brought up the director’s contact info on my I-Watch and pressed the call button…

“Hello, Director Silva?” I remarked, as she answered my call, “Yeah…yeah, I’m done. Mind teleporting me back already?”

A few seconds later, the teleportation platform activated and warped me, and as I blinked, found myself back in her office.

“Welcome back, Kilzachs…that was fast, I’m guessing you froze time?” She greeted me as I returned.

“Yeah, I did so right before the lights began flickering…the generator is damaged, but it looks like the damage isn’t too bad,” I replied with a thumbs up.

“Wow, you look genuinely relieved,” She responded with a smile.

“Believe me, I am, you have no idea,” I sighed dryly, flopping onto a chair as a ton of the built-up tension just vanished.

“By the way, I was about to review the footage around the Mutant holding cell, it looks like a lot of past footage has been deleted, but the last twenty-four hours are still intact…you’re welcome to join me,” She offered.

“Nah, that’s okay,” I replied with a shake of my head, “I have a good idea of what happened, there’s no need.”

“Alright, suit yourself. Hey, I have to ask…would you happen to know anything about people who suddenly and inexplicably end up in strange comas?” She suddenly asked me.

“…why do you ask?” I responded, keeping my tone even.

“Well…because today, I’ve received an abnormal number of reports of such cases, including a small number of students. Oh, and the usual guards assigned to the central generator too, they both collapsed at the exact same time this morning,” She replied, narrowing her eyes at me.

By what just happened, she’s probably guessed that I can travel back in time…so I suppose I can answer her. After all, without her help, I’d have had a much tougher time of preventing the blackout…

“If…if someone dies in the present, and I return to the past, those that died end up in vegetative states,” I admitted reluctantly, “I’d rather not say anything more.”

Her eyes widened for a moment, before nodding in reply…

“Alright, fine, I think I understand, I won’t ask any more questions on this matter.”

“I appreciate it.”

“You know, I bet not a single person realizes it, but you’ve saved us from something really awful, haven’t you?” She asked with a wistful smile.

“Heh…you have no idea,” I replied with a wry smile, before glancing at the time, “Oh, there’s still about five minutes before the lunch break is over. I think I’ll head back to the Academy now, so if there’s nothing else…”

“Sure, go ahead, I’ll contact you if I find anything especially notable in the security footage,” She responded with a wave, before suggesting, “Hey, if you want, I can teleport you there…there’s a bunch of teleportation platforms in the training halls, I can link up with one of those.”

“Sure, that’d be great, I’m feeling kinda worn out, mentally anyway,” I accepted her offer gratefully, before deciding to set a Save point here, just in case, “<Activate Anomaly, Tier One: Save Point 01>.”

As I hopped onto the platform and she began to link up and calibrate the location of the receiving end, I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“Well, I’ll see you later, alligator,” She remarked with a straight face, before breaking and letting out a snort of laughter.

“Oh, my God, please don’t,” I groaned with a roll of my eyes, before a slight, amused chuckle escaped my lips, right as I found myself in one of the Academy training halls.

The lunch break is almost over, there’s no time to eat anything, but I’m not that hungry…while I was waiting before, I ended up eating some snacks with Director Silva, who stores an absolute mountain of various snacks in her desk.

I think I’ll wait in here until the lunch break is over, I just need a few minutes of peace and quiet right now. I sat down on the floor and let out a sigh…well, that was one hell of a shitty experience. Losing a hand is seriously painful, like holy shit…oh, yeah, I also got an entire arm torn off, that didn’t feel great either. Well, at least it’s finally over.

The bell then rang, signifying the end of the lunch break. Now that the stress of the Ace Mutant is gone, I gotta go to the bathroom. I headed to the ground floor bathroom, splashed some water on my face and washed my hands after I was done, before deciding to head for the specified training hall, where the final session of the day for my class would be taking place. I’ll be a few minutes late, but whatever, it’s no big deal.

As I exit the bathroom and began walking towards the training halls, my senses were suddenly overwhelmed as a deafening explosion burst out from the first floor, right by where the classrooms were. The entire building shook violently as screams echoed out all around me, cracks spreading out on the walls and ceiling.

I sprang back as a chunk of the ceiling-…or more accurately, a chunk of the first floor ground…-broke off and fell down towards me, avoiding getting squashed beneath the rubble, right as a fire burst out from the first floor, from where the explosion had occurred.

Cries of pain and panicked screams were ringing out all around me, giving me a dreaded sense of Deja Vu. Oh, come on, I thought this was over already, you’ve…you’ve gotta be kidding me…what now!? What the fuck’s happening!?

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