HA\\LF: Dead nor Alive

“How is this sword so good?!” Ruby said as she looked at it after she cut the tree in half with a single swoop. “I don’t even need a lot of strength to cut this tree down!” she continued while she giggled with disbelief.

“Man, I want that sword as well…” Tommy said as he looked at Ruby and the sword in her hand.

“You should ask Newman and maybe he will make one for you,” Vincent said.

“That’s impossible because there’s no way he wants to make that masterpiece just for someone like me. You even got one, Capt, I’m so envious…” Tommy replied while he sighed and looked at the sword sheathed on Vincent’s waist.

Vincent just shrugged his mouth and raised his eyebrows.

“What about you, Archie? Did you get one as well?” Daniel asked while he was wiping the sweat on his forehead.

“Oh, don’t ask him because Newman is going to give him the best material from the meteorite. So, don’t be so jealous when he got his sword from Newman,” Ruby said as she sheathed Bachmut sword.

“Seriously? Man…” Tommy said as he walked away and grabbed the axe and started chopping the tree.

While they were busy chopping off trees, Prince came to visit and walked toward Ruby and Vincent.

“Marshall wants to know how many people you’re going to bring in the mission,” Prince said.

Ruby looked at Tommy and Daniel. “I’m not going to bring anyone with us, only me, Vince, and Archie,”

“Oh, okay, we are also not bringing anyone with us,” Prince said. “By the way, it seems that we have gathered a lot of resources now and it’s better than we expected,” he continued.

“Yeah, I’m glad that we are 40% faster than we expected and I heard that Carolene has started to build the ship,” Ruby said.

“She is, and she said that she’s going to make it bigger and safer than before because of the overwhelming resources that we got. She didn’t want to make the same mistake again, I guess,” Prince replied.

“Is she doing alright? I’m not close with her so I do not dare to ask about her personal life,” Ruby asked.

“Me neither but she seemed to be working normally, I guess she has moved on. But still, losing her husband and child, I don’t think anyone can move on from that, she’s just strong enough to not show it to anyone,” Prince answered. “Oh, by the way, Archie,” he said. “Can we talk?” he asked.

“Talk? About what?” Archie replied.

Prince looked around and people were listening to their conversation. “I guess it’s better to talk about it later, maybe someplace that is not crowded with people,” Prince said.

“You want to talk about that place?” Archie asked as he grabbed the axe.

“Yes, both Resse and I are still curious about it,” Prince answered while he nodded his head.

“Well, there’s something that I want to tell you guys about it as well, so I guess we can go to the bar tonight and talk about it?” Archie said as he looked at the three of them.

“Yeah, let’s meet up there tonight,” Ruby said and nodded in agreement.

“Okay, the bar that you used to hang out at, right?” Prince asked Ruby.

“Yes, let’s meet up at 7 how’s that sound?” Ruby replied.

“Perfect, I will see you guys tonight,” Prince said and then left.

After hours of chopping trees, the sun was set, and everyone stopped working and was done for the day. Everyone went back to the city and rest for the day since tomorrow everyone had to go to the FalCon-3 to gather more resources except for the three of them.

Archie prepared his bag and grabbed a pair of shirts and jeans just in case he had to use his ability. He looked at his right hand and he managed to control the new ability he got but he had to keep focusing on holding it down.

Archie left his house and locked the door.

“Eh? Where are you going?” Marie asked as she left her house.

“Oh, I’m just preparing my stuff because tomorrow early in the morning we are going on a mission to the FalCon-3, so I’m going to stay at the bar with Ruby and Vince until the morning comes,” Archie replied.

“Oh, I see, so when exactly are you going to leave tomorrow?” Marie asked.

“I’m not sure but I think at 6 in the morning,” Archie replied.

“Okay, I think we can make it in time,” Marie said.

“Make it in time?” Archie asked as he tilted his head.

“Oh, nothing. Anyway, I have to go now,” Marie replied and then left hurriedly.

Archie went to the bar, Ruby and Vincent were already there enjoying their drink. He sat down next to them and grabbed himself a glass of water. Not long after he arrived, Prince and Resse came into the bar and sat at the table behind them.

Ruby, Vincent, and Archie joined them after Ruby locked the entrance door so nobody could enter.

“Sorry that I always use your place for things like this, Frank,” Ruby said as she leaned her head back to look at Frank behind the counter.

“It’s alright, I’m a bit tired myself after helping you guys carry the logs,” Frank said while he yawned. “I’m going to leave you guys be, if you need a drink just grab one yourself, and don’t forget to lock the door when you guys are done here,” Frank continued.

“We are going to stay here until the morning comes, so we are going to use this place all night,” Ruby said.

“Fine by me, well then, I’m going to go to sleep with my wife, good night, guys,” Frank said as he walked to the door behind him.

“Good night, Frank,” They all said.

Frank left the room and locked the door behind him.

“So, what do you want to talk about, Archie?” Ruby asked.

Archie exhaled deeply and rested his arms on the table. “It’s about the Landing Site, there are a lot of things that I want to tell you guys about it,” he said. “The good news is that I know where it is, but the problem is…” Archie sighed while the others were listening to him seriously. “That place is now covered with parasites, and that’s not the real problem, the real problem is that there’s one parasite that’s called The Mother,” he continued.

“The Mother? What is that?” Prince asked.

“She’s basically the one who called and bred parasites, I tried to fight it but I was powerless against her. So, if we are going to the Landing Site, you guys are going to see it yourself and how terrifying that parasite is,” Archie answered. “Now, that you guys know, are you guys still want to go there and check it out? Because, once we go there, the chance that you will survive is extremely small,” he continued as he looked at all of them.

The four of them were looking at each other after they listened to Archie’s story. They felt a bit intimidated by the story but at the same time, they were curious about The Mother Archie mentioned.

“Should we inform Marshall about this? If that’s what we are going to deal with, why don’t we bring everything we have and kill that thing?” Ruby asked.

“If you guys want to have another horde or another king raise from the deep of the earth, go ahead,” Archie said as he glared at them with a serious expression.

“Damn it!” Ruby said as she slammed her hand on the table. “What are we going to do? Should we just pretend to go there and come back after a few days of exploring the forest?” she asked.

After discussing it all night, they decided and planned to go and check the Landing Site. They wanted to see it with their own two eyes and Archie said that he would ask the Ex-Humans for help if things went horrible.

Everyone went to take a short nap since they still had three hours before going on a mission, Archie on the other hand was enjoying drinking whiskey while thinking of a way to defeat The Mother. While he was deep in thought, he heard a knock on the door from the entrance, he looked at the time and it was still early so he decided to go and check who came to the bar early in the morning.

Archie opened the door and see Newman and Marie stood outside the bar. “Newman? Marie? What are you guys doing out here?” he asked.

“I heard that you guys are going on a mission today so here, take it,” Newman said as he offered two swords in his hands.

“Is this?” Archie asked as he grabbed them from Newman’s hand.

“Yes, we made it in time, they’re yours so take care of it,” Newman answered.

Archie unsheathed the left one and the blade was beautifully made with patterns in the middle of the blade. He moved it around and shocked how light the sword was but he knew that the sword would indestructible. He sheathed it back and unsheathed the right one, it looked and felt exactly the same but it was a tiny bit shorter from the other one.

“The left one was I who made it, I named it Erebos, then right one was Marie who made it and names it Nyx since they’re siblings, like us,” Newman said.

“You guys are siblings?” Archie looked at both of them.

“We are half siblings, we have the same mother but different father,” Marie answered.