Arknights : Final Rebirth - Gladius Belii

Chapter 44 - 1087, Mundane Jobs, Marching Flame.

"Mono/Dialogue"

'Inner thoughts'

Narration

[Message/communication apparatus]

Date: April 1087

Location: Somewhere in a quaint town of Bolivar, Coalition Government Controlled Territory.

POV: Narrator

A crowd of angry mob can be seen surrounding a group of malnourished infected. They keep their distance, but that doesn't deter them from throwing a lot of objects such as rocks and blunt objects. The infected children are currently being shielded by a lone Sarkaz infected, the Sarkaz can only use herself to protect her infected wards. They're all orphans of war, thus this is all they have.

"Damn, devil! It was your fault!"

"You shouldn't have come here you filthy infected!"

"Get out of this town!"

"Take your filthy little shits with you!"

There are onlookers of course, but they kept a wide berth from them. Some of them show pity in their eyes, but no one regards the lone Sarkaz as a human anymore. Her kind was always despised as the devil, she wasn't infected before, truthfully speaking.

The Sarkaz woman, who was once unnatural for being born without infection as a Sarkaz, had long since left Kazdel and her old life. The journey of leaving that blasted place made her travel quite a length, she wished to get away from there after all. Thus her final destination made her arrive in Bolivar. In this quaint little town, she even has a stable job of being a clerk, the pay was lower but at least she didn't have to go hungry, the threat of mortar and grenades in her sleep, or the fact that despite being a war-torn region too, Bolivar had a semblance of security.

All of which went down the drain in just one night. She was only walking back home, well just a small flat really, but that is already a miracle for a Sarkaz to own in this war-torn land of Bolivar. She was only minding her own business when someone suddenly pinned her to the ground. What happened after that was hell...

The next day she found herself pretty much naked in the alley, along with an unsettling feeling that lingered on her bruised body that was left cold amidst the rain. She tried to look around for her key, only to find it missing. She immediately bolted back home, thankfully the world decided to take pity on her and the way home was scarce... but that's all.

Her flat had been ransacked, and all the money she had saved was gone. What's worse, however, after she checked around what was left of her flat, she found a small patch of black rock, starting to tear itself out on top of her forehead and that is the moment her fate was sealed. She can't help her body which keeps on trembling. Not long after, she collapsed where she stood and cried silently...

From there she's cast out, and everything turned into a blur... until she met these children. She tried to do whatever work was there in the slum, she didn't understand why she even bothered to take care of them... but something in her told her that it was only right... thus her current predicament.

'Why...? I only wanted to get some bread for them... why? I even paid for it...' The Sarkaz woman can only cradle the smaller children in her arms, she is honestly so close to just ending it all. It is alright if they want to abuse her, but why the children too? They didn't do anything wrong, the only sin they committed was being dealt with a bad hand!

'... Damn it all...' She starts to prepare to use her Arts, one last hell mary while running at the crowd... she can divide it to help the children and contaminate this accursed place with oripathy. See how they like being on her side... it would spell her doom for sure, but it is worth it if the children can escape from this lynching. Before she can enact her sacrificial plan, however, a sonorous voice suddenly cuts itself through the cacophonous voice of angry mobs.