Story Reader / Event Story / Blazing Trails / Story
Trailblazer has been running for God only knows how long. When he has finally made it through the pitch-black trench and seen the sun again, Trailblazer's camera is awash with a sea of red.
From the other side of the horizon, Trailblazer sees Corrupted coming in waves—which quickly turns into a megatsunami past which Trailblazer cannot see.
Firepower severely surpassed. Severe power shortage. Extreme infection hazard.
C-can you take them down, then...?
...Judgment: Executing relocation at once.
Right when Trailblazer has made that decision, a blaze of fire licks his armor, leaving a mark so deep that Trailblazer can't be more certain that they're on an entirely different tier from the group of Corrupted they came across around the Central Purification Filters before.
Hop on.
Trailblazer gets on one knee and, with his arms open, gestures for Weixian to climb up his chest. Trailblazer knows that he needs to leave this place to avoid infection—for both himself and Weixian.
...Coming.
But where are they supposed to go? Without instruction, Trailblazer has to make a decision himself—and bringing Weixian to safety, Trailblazer figures, is what he must do now.
Why, though?
Generated by his central processing unit, this question brings Trailblazer to a stop right when he's about to flash out his weapons.
With the mission over, Trailblazer doesn't have a reason to ensure Weixian's safety anymore. The location Victor mentioned no longer exists, so they don't really have a place to go to now even if Trailblazer decides to continue being her guardian.
...
The world, however, doesn't spare Trailblazer another second to think—a split second later, Trailblazer finds himself standing in a shower of bullets.
SWOOSH! A fire blade shooting out from Trailblazer's fingertip slices the bullets in half, the child in his arms shivering.
Trailblazer awaits a command.
Except there never comes one—with Victor gone and Weixian to protect, Trailblazer is now left to his own devices.
Trailblazer digs through his history in search of an answer.
>>>Trailblazer Log, Entry Number 9950. >>>Trailblazer Log, Entry Number 9454. >>>Trailblazer Log, Entry Number 8741.
So I justified my decision by telling myself... that I decided to join the ranks of those warmongers for world peace.
Humans are beings that won't hesitate to wage war in the most peaceful of times in pursuit of personal goals.
>>>Trailblazer Log, Entry Number 8650. >>>Trailblazer Log, Entry Number 8454. >>>Trailblazer Log, Entry Number 7741.
Are you okay...
Don't give up! We can't stop here!
Humans are beings that refuse to give in facing death.
>>>Trailblazer Log, Entry Number 7612. >>>Trailblazer Log, Entry Number 7213. >>>Trailblazer Log, Entry Number 6321.
My uncle said... humans need peace as much as they need war, and it's only when we're living in peace that we're able to honor the dead.
If you're listening to this, I hope you'll be able to find the weapons I'll be talking about in just a moment... and hope to help you hang in there.
Even at the cost of their own lives, humans pass to those that live on what they have left.
Humans are beings with war and bloodshed etched in their souls.
Trailblazer is a creation out of such human desires, and thus far it's been a witness to humans being driven by these primitive desires.
Trailblazer, however, has lost his reasons to serve.
Why not just make up another one, then?
>>>Trailblazer Log, Entry Number 9955.
Victor might be a traitor of all his promises and important human values...
And that makes him a failure in more ways than one...
But Trailblazer is ready to blaze the path ahead and salvage all broken promises.
Retreating!
Pressing forward no more, Trailblazer starts retreating in defense.
Without pre-heating, Trailblazer's thrusters are now blowing out scorching waves of heat at full power, lifting him up and thrusting him skyward.
Trailblazer has never executed this command, nor has he opted for this command out of his own volition.
Distracted, the Corrupted now all have their weapons trained squarely at Trailblazer.
Trailblazer is supposed to press on in the face of any adversity and exit the scene only when the last enemy has been neutralized.
With gales gusting past his wings, Trailblazer is now trudging through a blizzard of bullets, all the while with sparks cascading down in every which way. He presses on, however, holding the child in his arms so tight that not even a single bullet can find its way through.
But if push ever comes to shove, Trailblazer is sure that...
S-Steely, watch out...
What is he so sure of, anyway...?
Trailblazer stops cold at Weixian's cry.
A stealth fighter jet makes its appearance before Trailblazer gets through the blizzard of bullets, turning the world as Trailblazer sees it through his camera into a sea of red.
Based on the hundreds of thousands of battle records that he has studied, Trailblazer needs only a split second to see what's coming his way and manages to steer his torso away before he's assaulted.
His enemy's coup de main, however, still succeeded in dealing a heavy blow to Trailblazer's arm.
Weixian!
S-Steely...
With Trailblazer's blown-off arm, Weixian falls to the ground.
BANG! A shot that comes blasting out of Trailblazer's cannon blows his enemy away. Without stopping to see the damage he's dealt, Trailblazer wastes no time lowering his altitude in search of Weixian on full computing power.
Looking back now, Trailblazer sees that he's been awash in human bloodshed since day one.
From the bloodshed, however, a soul has emerged that showed Trailblazer a different side of humanity...
One in which humans bond, gaze at the stars, and... commemorate the dead.
The very soul that has shown Trailblazer all these, light as a feather...
Is now but a barely visible speck in the sea of red she's fallen into.
Can you... take them down?
Trailblazer seems to hear this question that Weixian once asked.
Take them down.
But is it because he wants to bring peace about? To keep himself from an infection? For those that died in the trench? Or to keep people from an infection from Punishing?
The answer, Trailblazer knows, doesn't get simpler—because he wants to live up to Weixian's wish.
...Reconfirming mission.
...No, this is not a mission.
But... a companion's request.
Searching for strategically advantageous position.
After surveying his surroundings, Trailblazer sees an upland where there are only a few enemies. Stopping his thrusters, Trailblazer lets gravity take its course.
The shockwave upon Trailblazer's landing sends his enemies flying, clearing out enough space for him to do what he needs to do next.
Max output.
With it, Trailblazer deactivates all his defense mechanisms and channels all his computing power into his output module.
The searing air coming off Trailblazer's body bespeaks the heat harboring inside his barrel. Now fully clad in white steam, Trailblazer appears to be wearing a blistering suit of armor.
A split second later, Trailblazer's armor takes on a different appearance as a ring of razor-sharp spikes blooms around him.
Then, without skipping a beat, the spikes are thrust at the incoming group of Corrupted.
Coming in contact with the Corrupted, the spikes set off explosions that send countless shards of pellets flying in every direction. The pellets, in turn, bring about still more blowups when they're set off.
All these, however, are just the appetizers—spending a few seconds in cooldown, Trailblazer is once again clad in the same suit of armor.
More! More! More!
There is no one behind Trailblazer that he needs to watch out for, nor is Trailblazer trying to defend himself. The only thing on Trailblazer's mind now is to crush his enemies with all that he has—which is what he should have done and had hoped to do.
Trailblazer, however, knows that he's not looking forward to coming out on the other side.
...Assault executed. Confirming enemy status... No active unit found.
His barrel overheated from the assault, Trailblazer now stands in steam that is slowly thinning out, overlooking the Corrupted that lie defeated on the ground.
Weixian! Weixian! Answer me if you can hear me!
Sliding off the upland, Trailblazer shouts as he trudges through the remains of the Corrupted.
There is, however, not a sound to be heard.
She might have either been torn apart the moment she fell into the sea of red or got blown into pieces along with the Corrupted.
Stopping in his tracks where he last saw Weixian, Trailblazer crouches down and starts digging away.
Trailblazer knows very well that he is exposing himself to the risk of infection here, and that there is no way Weixian could have survived the fall.
Still, with what little power he has left, Trailblazer digs on, determined to let nothing stand in his way.
All of a sudden, Trailblazer feels a sense of deja vu.
Trailblazer is sure that he's seen someone do the same before.
Then, it strikes Trailblazer that it was John—who tried to help his sibling out from under the collapsed building.
Trailblazer remembers John thanking him for saving his sibling—all while John must have been petrified soulless facing Trailblazer.
Doomed may be the world and gone may be their home, but so long as their loved ones live on, so, too, will humans be able to get back on their feet against all odds.
Trailblazer, however, is not blessed with the same kind of luck.
Hours into searching and having looked into the same spots multiple times, Trailblazer is now fast approaching the end of his power reserve.
Having lost what he held dear and fought so hard trying to protect, Trailblazer now finds himself teetering on the verge of an existential crisis.
Trailblazer, however, comes back to his senses at the voice that comes on in his receiver.
Uh-hum... Guess this gun didn't do the trick. And boy, did I forget to turn the recorder off?
Well, it's two hours in, so pretty sure no one is going to hear this, but here goes.
There are actually some keepsakes that I left at St. Soraya Cathedral as a kid...
They're drawings that I did with my siblings, and I can still count how many I drew of the starry sky with all the constellations and rockets that my siblings added in there for me.
I put them away in the underground storage room at the cathedral when I decided to take the warmongers' on their offer.
I see them as the last thread of connection I have with the world... and I did spend a lot of time trying to get my hands on them again before retreating.
But I guess it doesn't really matter now... seeing that I'll be joining them soon on the other side...
And I guess this is where I say farewell... to my...
Psss...
With a gunshot and white noise, Victor is gone—forever.
Trailblazer, however, finds himself totally bemused.
The mission has gone awry—because the "precious item" that Victor had referred to isn't a weapon nor Weixian, but a few drawings.
Which begs the question—who is she? And where is she going?
