Chapter – 2 - Coward

“Michelle? Michelle are you okay?” She heard a panicked voice

say.
She shook Michelle vigorously.
“Huh?”
It was then when Michelle realized what had just transpired. She
was knocked out in one hit by Jeff.
“AH!” Michelle lunged into a defensive position. She smoothly
takes out both her revolvers from their holsters. She aims them
straight at her target.
“Reichelle?”
“Oh, I see you’re fine then.” Reichelle quickly recomposes
herself. Making her voice a little more serious sounding.
That vest… she wasn’t wearing it during the battle. Did she
seriously put it on before trying to wake me up? Does it defend
her from me? What does that thing even do? Yeah, I doubt she
wants to be closer to me.
Michelle feels hurt.
“Yes I’m fine. Just a little bit roughed up. It almost felt like
my skull broke.”
“You should check that out.”
“Yeah I could, but I’m fine.”
Now she’s being friendlier. I’m so lost.
Michelle placed the topic on hold.
Michelle looks around her battlefield. Ice, wood, rocks, and a
thrashed pile of wet woodchips at the center.
“Is that Jeff?”
“Yes it is.” Reichelle solemnly replies.
From the side of the tower, they hear grunts, concrete cracking.
Then finally, a human hand reaches touches the edge. And they
propel themselves upwards.
They land with a thud.
“Hi Marquis.” Says Michelle. She is about to raise her hands but
then she remembers her guns are still in her hands. She returns
them. She decides not to continue waving.
“This is Jeff then.” Marquis says as well. Though it does not
sound like a question and more like a statement of fact.
As Michelle hears this. She sits on the ground. And starts
thinking.
“I failed huh?”
“Yes… but we eventually killed that coward didn’t we?” Marquis
cheers. Too tired to read the room.
Michelle just stares at him judgingly. To which Marquis pulls
back.
From the top of the tower, Marquis looked out onto the
battlefield. He couldn't see very much, but he was still
surprised at the scope of it all.
“What was Jeff saying through the battle?” Michelle asked.
“You can read his lips can’t you?” marquis innocently stated.
“Yeah but, I want to hear it from your mouth.”
“Okay, he said something along the lines of, “I failed, I don’t
deserve punishment for this…” yadda yadda yadda. Honestly, I do
not like what he said in the slightest. It goes against
everything I stand for.”
“Okay…” Looking at the area where she feel unconscious, she saw
what she was looking for, her shovel.
“Hey, help me collect his remains. I’m sending them for
inspection.”
Inspection, yeah right… I can’t possibly do that… Too,
disrespectful.
Michelle wants to bury him.
When they were in the program together, Jeff was her senior. She
really looked up to him. He was one of the most powerful
Eulogists she’d seen. They had a great relationship too, they
were really quite close as friends.
When she’d heard that he failed his mission. She was devastated.
She tried to kill, so that she could prove herself capable of
completing the first mission. Her biggest problem is killing. She
knows how hard that can be and if she is able to kill him, a
close friend, then she probably could kill some random CEO.
She tried to kill him with the sniper rifle. Pulling the trigger
was painful for her. But she pulled it. This failed.
She tried to finish it in person too.
But she couldn’t.
Damn it, if only… if only… if only…
Michelle checks her pockets for anything she could use to store
his remains. She ultimately settles for a plastic bag.
She silently shovels up the cold wet woodchips. Marquis and
Reichelle only watching her do the work. Listening to the
sloshing and crackling of the wood.
They eventually decide to help her. And only after a few more
seconds. All that was left was a cold, wet, floor.
“I’m jumping down now.” Michelle says, carrying the plastic bag.
“Sure. Be careful out there while you’re making your way. You
have the Energy to survive the fall?” Marquis asks.
“Just enough…”
The three heard the sounds of a helicopter. The mechanical noise
easily alerting its presence to them.
Michelle was not able to jump down.
The helicopter rises above the roof. They observed the onyx black
helicopter, decorated with Military symbols. It was clearly the
personal ride of a high-ranking officer. And it had the markings
that signified its owner.
Out from the door appeared a man. He had a bushy white beard,
dark brown skin and a muscular body. He looked around 50 years
old.
It was the man holding the entire military operation of the city.
Base Commander, Colonel Misuari.
“Good to see you my agents and future agents.” The man says in an
imposing voice.
“At your service, Colonel Misuari.” Reichelle takes center stage,
appearing right in front of Colonel Misuari. There is clear fear
in her eyes.
There are only a few things that could scare a powerful entity.
An entity that has more power is just one of them.
But what human could have more power than a Eulogist who controls
armies?
How about a man that controls armies of Eulogists?
Any wrong move could compromise themselves.
Why is he here? Michelle thought.
“I see you have successfully dispatched the target. Amazing work.
Please, send his remains to research. They would love to work on
another project.
“I’m sure you must be tired and out of Energy from the battle.
Please, enter the helicopter. It would be my pleasure.” The
colonel says. Though it sounds more like a threat than anything
else.
“Y-Yes sir. We will be there shortly.” Reichelle eyes Marquis and
Michelle. They board the helicopter first.
The helicopter has 6 seats at its passenger section. The 3
nearest to the tail face the front. While the 3 nearest to the
driver face the tail. The cockpit only has 1 seat. The 3
Eulogists seat near the tail. While the colonel alone sits near
the driver.
The 3 Eulogists are face to face with the Colonel.
Michelle hugs Jeff’s corpse. In a way to block herself from the
Colonel’s view.
“I received a report from some of my on field workers. There were
none, I mean absolutely zero casualties on our side. That
includes military and civilian.” Colonel Misuari says in a jovial
tone. ‘
“Yes sir. We performed out task as well as possible. It’s only
natural for us to achieve this. Even when we are severely
understaffed.” Reichelle says.
“I am aware. Agent Confindo took most of them with her for a
mission. Around 100 I suppose? Though I doubt that will be enough
for that monster.” The Colonel says the last part in a softer
voice.
“What monster?”
“Top secret.” When Colonel Misuari said this, it was as if the
temperature in the room dropped by a few degrees.
“Ah yes, Miss Michelle? If I remember it correctly. What were you
going to do with the target’s corpse?”
From behind the bag, Michelle nervously states,
“I was going to send it for inspection sir.”
“Do you even know how to?” The colonel said in an accusatory
tone.
“N-No sir. I was just assuming that that is what we’re supposed
to do.”
After analyzing her response for bit, the colonel responds.
“Excellent. Exactly what I expected to hear from a candidate
Eulogist. Your future looks bright. Oh very bright indeed!”
“T-thank you si- I mean Colonel Misuari.”
“You’re welcome.”
The flight continues silently. Everyone being too uncomfortable
with the atmosphere in the room.
-------------------------------------------------------
The helicopter successfully lands right outside the facility’s
main entrance.
As the helicopter blades slowly stopped moving everyone started
preparing to leave the helicopter. All they were doing, is
waiting for the door to open.
“Oh by the way.” The colonel suddenly says. With just as much
cheer as the previous times.
Everyone turned to look at the colonel. Terrified of what he
could say.
“You should change where you put the target’s remains. It looks
unappealing. That’s not protocol. You should change it. You can
ask forensics. They have body bags.”
“Y-yes sir. I will do it, Colonel Misuari.”
“Excellent. I will return to my proper work. It is still noon. I
still have work to get finished. And oh, there’s no need to tell
me what happens to the remains. See all of you later.” The
helicopter door opens. And the colonel leaves.
The 3 wait for a few minutes before leaving. Just hoping that
they would not be anywhere near the colonel.
He’s insane. It’s like he knows exactly what we’re doing.
Michelle leaves it at that, terrified of her future. As the
colonel clearly caught on to what she was doing.
Michelle enters the building, to go look for forensics. As the
colonel said.
She walks through the halls of the Facility. The plain white
walls, blue borders, and the regularly placed fresh green plants
making the place look like a hospital. This feeling unnerved her.
She never really liked the ‘Grand Hall’ because of that. She
considered the facility her home, but the Grand Hall is like that
one creepy part of the house you never really wanted to go to.
Marquis and Reichelle aren’t with her. Michelle thinks that
Reichelle is most likely getting ready to train the kids here.
Marquis isn’t here either because he’s basically out of Energy.
The only reason why Michelle is walking is just because the
colonel told her to do something. She would have buried this long
ago if it weren’t for him.
She’s too terrified of him to against his orders right now. She
failed to eliminate the target, twice. And if she doesn’t give
this to research… well. Third times the charm, as some people
say.
Michelle arrives at the entrance of Forensics. She makes her way
through the glass walls and doors of the office. Looking for the
director. She most likely knows what to do with this. Michelle
just needs help, the director probably won't deny that.
She enters the room and starts talking with the director.
After a few moments…
“Wait so it’s not Forensics that deals with this stuff?”
“No it’s not Miss. You don’t need a special container either if
it’s for the lab. They do not give a shit about where the
materials came from, all that stuff about protocol, just
formality. These are just a bunch of wet wood chips and plant
fiber. They are likely to just toss it away.” The director of the
Forensics department said.
“But the Colonel said it needs to be a bit more special?”
Michelle said with confusion.
“Just give it to the research division. Or better yet, throw it
away. They really dislike random junk being given to them.”
All of these words hurt Michelle. Defeated, she walks out of
forensics. And she sits in a random bench situated right next to
the entrance. There is a potted plant situated between the door
and bench.
She sits down. And starts to think.
They don’t even care about you when you’re dead huh?
She pats the plastic bag. She felt that it was slightly strange
that she’s just parading a corpse around. But it seemed as though
no one cared about this Eulogists corpse.
Or maybe they just don’t care about Eulogists in general?
She thought.
If that was the case then… Jeff might be on to something. N-no.
He’s the one that attacked the city. You shouldn’t believe that.
Well, there were no casualties… ah shut up Michelle. You’re only
doing this because you’re a fucking coward and don’t want to
face the repercussions of failing the mission.
While on the bench, she was hoping that someone would approach
her, and maybe pull her out of this train of thought. Quite like
how Marquis did earlier.
But whoever they were, never came.
Alright. Here’s a game for ya. Let’s be simple. If you do not
fear Colonel Misuari. Then you won’t fear anything. Then that
means, you would be brave. And therefore not a coward like Jeff.
Therefore, you have to do something that could make the colonel
mad. But it has to be something that won’t get you killed. Just
don’t be stupid, that’s all. Just a simple task is all that
matters.
She looks at the plastic bag and touches it. It’s warm now.
She breathes in and out slowly. Trying to stop her panic attack.
With a slightly better mood, she thought,
Nah. Jeff wasn’t a coward.
She remembered his face soon after he recognized the damage. It
wasn’t full of fear. It was… conviction.
In the end, Michelle recognized that Jeff wanted to speak his
ideology to the world. In the end, Jeff fought, not because he
wanted to live, nor was it out of petty revenge either. He fought
to the end because of his beliefs.
Michelle’s viewpoint has corrected itself to what I was earlier.
Before Colonel Misuari showed up and gave her a heart attack.
Michelle, you are going to bury Jeff. No matter what. You said
this to yourself earlier. You were about to do it damn it! Prove
to yourself, that you will not fail!
Michelle gets up, and leaves the building at inhuman speeds. No
caring about the potential damage she could cause. She didn’t
cause any damage though.
Though Michelle ran out of Energy during the battle earlier, she
has quickly gained some of it back. The Energy is enough that she
can augment her physical abilities.
Michelle runs through sunny wasteland that the facility is
stationed in. Since, the city, Manila, is actually composed of
three main parts. City Proper, The rim, and the wall.
The city proper is where the people live. The rim is a wasteland
dozens of kilometers wide, it is a wasteland that circles the
whole city proper. It’s this wide because of how fast Eulogists
are. This protects the citizens. The rim also houses military
facilities and the residences of Eulogists. The wall is just
that, a wall that’s 5 meters thick and made of solid concrete.
Eventually, Michelle reaches an area close to the wall where no
one is stationed at the moment.
It’s now or never. I hope you’re watching, colonel.
“Rest in peace Jeff.”
She digs up the ground with her shovel, and pours out Jeff’s
remnants into it, then seals it shut.
“You will be remembered.” She says in respect.
She sits down next to grave. It took her around 10 minutes to dig
with her tiny shovel. It almost broke a couple of times because
she was putting so much effort.
She then thinks a bit. Though she has calmed down since earlier.
Yes she fears that there may be repercussions, but she just does
not care right now.
What matters is her mission, a mission that will take place the
next day. And so, she does some quick research on the company,
Energaia. To give her an idea on what she’s going to face. She
doesn’t have the mission files right now.
She pulls grabs her phone. It was stashed in her pocket since the
beginning of the battle. It is surprisingly not broken. Its
cellular connection still works with perfect clarity.
She looks up Energaia and sees a few articles from a few years
ago. She wonders why these ones popped up first. Instead of the
company’s webpage.
After opening them, she quickly realizes why.
The CEO of Energaia has a Eulogist Sister?
Breaking news! The Sister of Energaia’s CEO is a Eulogists!
BREAKING NEWS! CEO’S SISTER DESTROYS POWERPLANT.
She opens up the articles.
They’re all… scandals?
Yes they were. She opens up one of the articles, the one about
the power plant. She immediately recognized the name of the CEO.
Paulo Lebantador?! Don’t tell me…
She scrolled more and more. Her fears becoming reality the
further down she scrolls.
He’s Paula’s brother? Paula?
Paula Lebantador is another one of the trainees in the program.
Those in the program never really talked about their past, they
were usually all just painful memories. Of days gone by, days
that, because they were Eulogists, could never be revisited.
To Michelle, this was the worst nightmare anyone in the world
could get.
She would have to harm another one of her friends.
She reads through the article further. The details of the events
in power plant perfectly matching what she heard in the reports
of Paula’s failure.
Paula misfired her Eulogy, causing the power plant to explode,
killing everyone but her in the process.
According to the article, she was sentenced to life time work.
Providing power to the city using her charge-based ability to run
electromagnets. She provided hundreds of megawatts of power to
the city. So much that they after a while, they actually released
her.
Or so a more recent article stated.
There’s no fucking way they released her because she provided
too much power. Absolutely not.
Michelle almost vomited. From the disgust she felt of using her
as a power supply. She felt Jeff’s words resonate every more in
her ears.
She definitely got Drainage sickness, she couldn’t preform
anymore after that... Fucking psychos…
This time, she actually vomited, she was fast enough to do it on
the wall though and not near the grave.
She attempts to collect her mind on while holding her hand up
against the wall, leaning on it.
Drainage sickness is a disease exclusive to Eulogists. This
happens when a Eulogist over exerts their abilities for too long
of a period of time. Though, it takes days of over use to
actually give someone even mild Drainage sickness.
To completely stop someone from working, the Draining sickness
had to reach a stage where the user could not gain Energy. A
stage that would take years to release. And based on the timing
of release, this was most likely what happened.
Paula, is probably lying down, in a bed, completely paralyzed,
atrophied.
Michelle almost vomited again. Only barely able to hold it in.
Unable to get over her fears of the mission, she thought back to
why this was a mission in the first place.
It was because Eulogists were being kidnapped.
There has only been one known cure for Drainage sickness… that’s
Energy.
But how much energy would you need to recover someone who’s on
the verge of death?
When the realization hit her. She was absolutely livid.
“FUCK YOU PEOPLE!”
She shouted at the top of her lungs. She filled her entire vocal
system with Energy. If anyone was her to listen, their eardrums
would have ruptured.
She quickly ran back to the facility, and even into her dorm
room. Just so that she could gather her thoughts for the mission
ahead.

Chapter – 3 – Calm Down

Michelle is lying down on her bed in her room. It has only been
about 10 minutes since she returned.
She’s staring at the ceiling in her house clothes. Just a tank
top and shorts. It’s quite hot in this country, and there is no
air conditioner in her room.
Her phone is just out of reach of her right hand. She was going
to use it to relax, but she ended up staring at the ceiling for 5
minutes.
She’s calmer now. Able to process all the things she needs to do
for the mission, and she does just that.
She grabs her phone, checking the time. She does not have a clock
in her room, she has to buy it herself.
It’s 1 PM. It’s been 2 hours since the attack started.
*rumble*
Right, I was going to eat lunch with Marquis. Then the raid
happened.
She hops out of her bed, goes to her closet and switches to more
outdoor clothing. She wears a shirt and jeans. She thought about
bringing her sweater but if it gets too hot she can’t really do
too much.
The heat won’t harm her, but she still wants to be comfortable.
Especially now. She just wants to let the stress leave before she
does the mission. If she did the mission with the same state of
mind as earlier, it would be to her detriment.
She opens the solid metal door, and walks through the hallway.
The Eulogist Dormitory hallway is placed somewhat perpendicular
to the Grand Hall’s hall.
She observes the scenery, leans out railings of the dorm’s
hallway. Seeing the 5 different floors.
It’s so quiet today. The colonel said that Ella brought them
with her for a mission… what kind of monster of a Eulogist would
need this many Eulogists?
She walks and walks until she eventually reaches the cafeteria.
It’s empty too, the only one there is the lunch lady.
Michelle grabs her food, fried chicken, her favorite. Kind of
costly, but she really does not care about it.
Doesn’t matter how much this costs, if I fail or win, I won’t
have to worry about money.
She sits down, it’s a massive plate of food. Eulogists, due to
their immense Energy requirements all need a lot more food than a
normal human. Unless of course the Eulogist has some other way of
gaining Energy.
Those Eulogists are rare though, and extremely powerful.
As if I’d want to be them. They probably power cities now that I
think about it. Sounds like torture.
She eats her food.
“Hi Michelle.”
“Hm?”
It was Reichelle, she was also carrying a mountain of food. This
time it was curry.
Michelle, with food filling her mouth is unable to greet her.
She still tried to though, so she almost choked.
“You alright?”
Reichelle rushed in to help her.
“No, no I’m good…”
She saw that she was wearing the solid lead vest again.
Reichelle sits down on the seat just in front of Michelle. The
tables in the cafeteria have chairs on both sides.
To stop herself from thinking about it any further, she asks
Reichelle about it.
“What’s with that… thing?”
“The vest? Oh, it is uh… meant to protect.”
“From who?”
Michelle was very confused. What kind of being would terrify
Reichelle this much, besides the colonel?
After struggling to get some words out, she responds.
“From me.” Reichelle says, in a melancholy tone.
“From you?”
“Yes, from me.”
She sits down.
“Do you not like it?” Reichelle asks.
“I uh uh I-I aiaya…”
Since Michelle was not able to give an intelligible response,
Reichelle assumes so.
“Oh… I understand.”
And Reichelle removes the vest. Though this time, Reichelle
looked very nervous.
Reichelle starts eating while waiting for a response from
Michelle.
After Michelle gathers her thoughts, and after she slaps herself
a few times, she asks her.
“Why does it seem like you wear the vest exclusively around me?”
“I don’t wear it exclusively around you. I wear it when there are
normal humans around too.”
Michelle felt slightly insulted by this. As now she has started
to dislike humans.
Reichelle was able to sense what Michelle is thinking, purely by
intuition.
“W-wait. I don’t mean it like that. I’m wearing it to protect
them.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s about my Eulogy. And it has something to do with you too.”
Reichelle struggled to say these words.
“Go on.”
So it’s my fault that we stopped being close?
Michelle’s heart raced.
What did I do? I don’t remember… maybe
“Is it about our parents?”
“Yes… no… maybe?” Reichelle was quite conflicted.
“So… my Eulogy allows me to summon army’s right?”
“Yes?”
Where are you going with this?
“My Eulogy isn’t just that. It actually turns my body into a
nuclear military base. It don’t just summon soldiers. My body
creates them as if they are cells.”
“Oh, so that’s how they hide your Eulogy?”
“Yes. Though I doubt it is that important to hide it.”
Because Eulogists are the core of the world’s military,
governments and the Eulogists themselves try to hide their
abilities. Sometimes, their power can be the targets of
assassinations. Michelle is actually a Eulogist who was trained
for assassinations. Her Eulogy is uniquely suited to it.
If the power of the Eulogist cannot be hidden in an effective
matter, then they usually choose to not actively hide it.
“Anyway, onto the story. Years ago we had a fight. We had just
resurrected out Eulogies then. You punched me… really hard. I
don’t even remember why… So you pinched me. It was right here.”
Reichelle pointed directly at her heart.
“That triggered a meltdown in my heart. You see… the nuclear base
part of my Eulogy, turned my heart into a nuclear reactor. Now,
my heart constantly leaks radiation. It would hurt anyone that
would come close to me.”
Reichelle clenches her fist.
“The impact of your punch made you fall unconscious.
“So… I-I avoided you. Originally, it was because I was mad. But
then, I forgave you. I could never really get close to you
though.”
“I am so sorry.” Michelle quickly got up from her seat. And hugs
Reichelle.
So it was because of me then… huh.
“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about! I avoided you all
this time, I didn’t want you to reject me. So I wanted to get
closer to you, and I saw the opportunity. But, I was worried
about my heart. So I decided that I would just wear the vest when
I’m with you.”
Unable to respond to the hug, she just keeps talking.
“This feels nice.” Reichelle says.
Agreed. Yeah, I’ve been waiting for this.
“How long are you going to hug me?”
“A little longer.”
I need this. For tomorrow. Even if I die, get paralyzed or
something else horrible, at least I don’t have to worry about
this any longer.
“You can join me, with the trainees later. We have a new one.
He’s going to struggle fitting in. Want to help me? I haven’t
really met them yet. I’m substituting for Ella.”
“Anything!” Michelle boldly exclaims, now in a much better mood
and ready to accept whatever happens to her.
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