Infinity in the Void – Freedom in the Abyss

"So, some things to note on our trip. No separating from me. Don't wander into dark alleyways. No talking to strangers. No taking suspicious substances. And always have an adult with you. Did you get that?", Athen pointed to what looked to be a magical wand to Charlotte.

"Yes.", she lied. 

"Alright, then we are all set! Silla will be our tour guide, going to the closest thing to a home she has. Be careful around the Illumination gang, they have at least two more Gem Holders beside Silla. I have no clue what they would do to you or try to do anything, if they do, punch them."

"Can I stab them?", Charlotte asked with an unusual excitement.

"Suuure?", Athen was giving Charlotte a suspicious look.

"Good..."

"Have you got any weapon?", Athen looked around, the only things Charlotte had for weapons were her "fake" knife and the holy gun that ran out of ammo.

"Do you want to try?", Charlotte unfolds her knife with a smile.

"...Sure, try. What could a fake, blunt knife gonna do to me?", Athen chuckled. What would Charlotte even do?

Charlotte went for a stab in the heart. The knife went through her shirt, her skin, and her bones like butter. The blunt knife pierced her heart, making Athen coughing up blood.

"W-What?!", Athen took a step back. Charlotte pulled the knife out of her body.

"This is a..."

You can call it the Akashic Armament~

"An Akashic Armament. The physical form of my powers until I get them back."

Can I keep the knife?

You can if you want~ it pales in comparison with the real deal~

"That thing is dangerous! Give it to me.", Athen tried to take hold of the knife. Charlotte just moved her hand slightly to not let the knife be caught.

"My stuff. You don't let me use your weapons, so why should I?", Charlotte put her knife back into her pocket. Her clothes for today are a plain white buttoned-up short-sleeved shirt and a pair of tight jeans, by the way.

"Ggrr... anyhow, our ride is here, Silla has already gone to the jet. I thought she would be here, to be honest... but now I get why she didn't.", Athen sighed.

Charlotte nodded and followed Athen out of her room. It would be at least a week before Charlotte went back here, so she took one last look at her half-messy room. Items lying everywhere, everything she bought by using the organization's extra funds.

"Athen, how do we get our money?", Charlotte asked.

Athen glanced back, "Well, we have stocks in the market, a lot of them actually, that's the main thing. But we also do escorts, espionage, assassination."

"What about the cool technology?"

"Oh, I think the HR or whoever is in charge of distribution sells blueprints left behind by Babel to a researcher at Mu."

"Mu huh, I want to visit there one day."

Athen just shrugged, "Your school in five months is in Mu, actually. So you'll be there sooner or later."

"Alright.", Charlotte was looking forward to school.

They went to the base's airport, greeting them was a Nighthawk, something that looked like a stealth aircraft anyway, it was flat, almost like a triangle. Sleek sky blue color, then it put on a show displaying the entire color spectrum.

It's cool!

"Rick is putting on a show, huh.", Athen muttered.

"Who is Rick?", Charlotte asked while still glued her eyes on the aircraft.

"Rick Asthley, not to be confused with the musician, is one of the best pilots we have. He will fly us to Las Vegas today.", she explained, hopping onto the stairs leading into the aircraft.

Charlotte followed without another word. There was nothing dangerous about this at all, her warnings were just tiny insignificant information about not to move too much on the jet. Vomiting is never a pretty sight.

The inside is a narrow corridor, fancy, unlike the dull outside. The walls are lined with a blue headliner that is a bit rough but smooth to the touch. There are two sets of tables and chairs on both sides of the interior, made out of wood and a darker shade of blue cushions. To the left, there is a bar full of fancy drinks, none of which Athen would let Charlotte have.

Silla was here too, sitting on the right side. Charlotte sat on the left, far away from the madwoman. Before she can jump over to Charlotte's side, a knife is pointed at her throat.

"Don't.", Charlotte warned. 

"Oookayyy... maybe awakening your power was not the best idea. Especially with what you are capable of.", Silla stayed in her seat.

Athen sighed and took the seat opposite of Silla's, keeping an eye on the Pandemonium Princess. Charlotte folded her knife and put it back in her pocket.

The aircraft's coms rang up, and a very gentle and nice voice spoke, reminding Charlotte of a good baked pie, "This is your captain, Rick Asthley, speaking here. We are heading from Babel Organization's headquarters to Babel Base 11, Nevada, it will take approximately 9 hours if the weather is good. So sit back and enjoy the food we have onboard, and grab yourself a few drinks after we take off. And for little Miss Silvi, we have milk and juice for you here."

A low rumble spread across the entire jet, meaning it is taking off.

"For takeoff, please tighten your seat belts for safety reasons."

Charlotte quickly tightened her seat belt as the captain said.

"I will notify you once it is safe to go around the jet. For now please enjoy the view, press the button to the left of your seat for the digital window."

Charlotte did just that, pressing a small button on the side. To the left of Charlotte, a screen popped up showing the view of the airport. Moving up and down, Charlotte can see the giant wing of the aircraft and the clear blue sky. The digital window acts like a real window.

Cool...

The aircraft rolls its wheels, picking up speed more and more. Charlotte felt her organs shifting to the front, she had a rising urge to vomit that was fortunately pushed down by Reverie.

The jet took off, flying higher and higher into the clouds. Charlotte gripped the wood, bracing herself for the rising velocity.

Charlotte looked outside, the cloud came sooner than she expected. Looking at the shrinking... ship?

A ship?

The whole base is a flying carrier, the size of an entire megalopolis. It was in between a layer of cloud, hiding it completely. Moving further away, the base was completely gone, it was invisible.

"Woah...", Charlotte muttered.

"Cool, right?", Silla widened her smile, "The headquarters is in the air right above the Atlantic Ocean, it has light-bending technology to render it invisible. It also has something to block detection, electromagnetic field, and that sort of things."

"If it has a magnetic field... then why do I still have a signal?", Charlotte tilted her head.

"Well~ there is a small opening where we redirect signals in the base, sending it straight to a satellite in space and spread it where it needs to be."

Athen chimed in, "And that place is extremely fancy, with technology hundreds of years into the future. It can stay afloat for about 50 more years until refueling."

"What powered the carrier?", Charlotte asked.

"The souls of the damned.", Silla said casually.

Athen gave her a slightly angry look, Charlotte, on the other hand, was very interested.

"Can you explain more?", Charlotte asked with bright eyes.

"Sure! There was this one guy having the Devil of Alulim, the First King, created the generator that previously ran on Primordial Water. But he went bust and only he can create and control said water. That's where I came along a few decades ago, made progress on his design with demonic rituals, and change the fuel from Primordial Water to the Souls of the Damned in Hell."

Silla leaned back on her seat now that the speed had gone down, "The process is complicated, I kidnap souls in Hell and turn them into living batteries, fifty souls can power the base for a year or more. The capacity of the fuel tank is three thousand, by the way."

"You are evil as fuck.", Athen said with disdain.

"I take that as a compliment!", Silla laughed.

The coms went off again.

"This is your captain, Rick Asthley, speaking. We have taken off safely and entered international space. You can now unbuckle your seat belts and move around to get your drinks and snacks."

Charlotte unbuckled but stayed in her seat.

"Well, I would like a drink. Do you guys want anything?", Silla looked at Athen and then Charlotte.

"I don't trust you.", Athen flatly spoke.

"I swear on my name, Silla Arco, I would not do anything demonic to you guys for the rest of the flight.", Silla shrugged.

"What does that even mean?", Athen asked.

Before Silla could answer, Charlotte answered first.

"Apparently, a demon swearing on their name makes what they swore unbreakable.", Charlotte answered with a casual tone, "Give me a carton of milk, no sugar, please."

"...Okay.", Silla shrugged, "Hell make people go through weird things."

"If what Charlotte said is true... then get me some Whisky."

"Alright! Milk for Charlotte, Whisky for Athen, and Gin for myself!"

While Silla was making drinks, Athen moved her spot to the opposite of Charlotte.

"So I was wondering about something. Specifically about your Devil... Devils, one of them, actually...Justice."

Can I?

Well~ it's not harming you or anything! So go for it, my dearest!

"What do you want to ask about?"

Athen sighed, "Well, what does Justice mean to the Akashic Records?"

With a faint smile, which did not go unnoticed, Charlotte placed her hand onto the digital window, "Justice... is the greatest excuse for war."

And don't you dare say anything! Sorry, Charlotte, that wasn't for you.

"Excuse for war?", Athen frowned, not understanding all of it.

"Well~!", Silla leaned back, jumping into the conversation, "Humans are inherently violent creatures, they will jump at the opportunity for violence!! And to get away with beating someone up or even murder, justice is the best excuse! Charlotte gets it! To unleash the beast within, what better excuse to use other than justice?"

She handed Charlotte her carton of milk, no sugar, and Athen a whole bottle of Whisky. For herself, Silla has a big bottle of Gin. Before Athen could grab the cups, Silla chucked the whole bottle down in one go.

"Aaah~ That hit the spot!! Woooo!!! For fucking justice!! Alcohol is justice! Satan is justice!! Hopkins is such a fucking loser!! Weeeeh~!!", Silla got drunk instantly.

Athen sighed and poured some into her glass, filling it halfway.

"Khione."

Chunks of snow formed on her hand, she squeezed the snow, making it into a solid piece of white ice. She put the ice into the glass, gave it a twirl, and sipped some Whisky.

Athen sighed again, "Fuuuckkk... I forgot how much of a lightweight I was..."

With half-drunken steps, she put the Whisky back on the bar.

Charlotte did not pay attention to the two women, living in her own head like normal. The low humming of the aircraft was soothing, like a melody lovingly caressing her to sleep.

But Charlotte would not sleep, Survive keeps her awake even if she is tired unless in extreme situations where she needs sleep. And vice versa, she can sleep automatically even if she is full of energy.

She continued to watch the scene of clouds passing by, it was enchanting in a way. The clouds above are thin, like what she sees when on the base, nothing out of the ordinary. But the mass of the cloud below is a different story, it looks like a construct of a dream, a mess forming into some sort of landmass of white cloud.

It was messy but beautiful. Something Charlotte finds to be very lovely and hypnotic. She could stare at it for hours.

The coms went up again, snapping Charlotte out of her reverie. How long has it been?

Two hours.

"This is your captain, Rick Asthley, speaking. We are being followed by unknown aircraft, possibly be U.S. Air Force. Please tighten your seat belts and be ready for the increase in speed."

With that warning, Charlotte quickly put on her seat belt, just as the jet sped up. The aircraft turned invisible before Charlotte's eyes.

"Hehe~! Color changing and fucking light bending!! But the U.S. is a tough bitch to trick, even they found a counter to cloaking and signal jamming!!", Silla raised her hands up in excitement.

"Do we fight back?!", Athen asked while holding onto the table for dear life.

"Hehe~! If they attack us first then we can attack them back! This baby can tank five or six rockets!", Silla laughed.

The coms went off again, "This is your co-pilot, Ronal Reigan, we will be taking evasion maneuver so grab onto something."

Charlotte sat still on her seat, letting the Reverie come out of her body and crawl into the micro tears of the cushion. She was practically glued to the seat, and she continued to enjoy the view.

That was until the digital window shut down as the aircraft did a barrel roll. It was not a good feeling at all, the was a wrongness to it that disgusted Charlotte.

Humans can conquer the sky, but that does not mean they can adapt to the sky, Charlotte remembered those words from a book she read.

She felt the jet rolls around for a few more rounds, which ruined her first experience of flying. Having enough of this, she yelled to the pilots, "Did they attack?!"

And the co-pilot, Ronal, shouted back, "They did! But this baby wasn't meant for air battle!!"

With that as a confirmation, Charlotte knew what she had to do now.

"I am Charlotte Silvi, Contractor of the Akashic Records"

Her senses expanded to not only cover the entire aircraft but also 10 kilometers around it. She saw three fighter jets flying around, shooting bullets in the general direction of the stealth aircraft.

"Devils of the Void, they who embodied Infinity"

Her eyes glowed blue as veins of glue energy went from her eyes to the upper half of her face. The end of her hair turned a glittering blue halfway up.

"You who represent Human Survival, burning away the hardship of mankind."

Some Reverie came out of her body as glowing blue dust, forming a cloud of mystery and majesty around her. They are the excuse for humanity's violence in tangible form - Justice.

"Anima Pactum - Akashic Survive"

"You can't use that willy-nilly! That's against the rule!!", Athen shouted while grabbing onto the table, crushing the wood with her strength. Silla is still drunk.

Charlotte ignored her. She looks to the outside through her senses, locating the three fighters around.

She locked onto the targets. Justice seeped outside of the aircraft, forming countless medieval weaponry and launch at the fighter jets instantly.

A rain of misty blue weapons unloads upon the fighters. Most of the armaments missed, but a few that hit destroyed them in one hit and exploded into balls of flame in the upper clouds. 

Pieces raining down onto the world, most will hit the ocean, but some might hit an unlucky ship or even residents on the coast. Not that Charlotte cares.

Oh, there is a survivor.

Charlotte sensed a person floating down slowly from the sky. She can even feel his fear, confusion, terror, and despair.

She has two choices, to kill or not to kill.

The answer was very simple, a sword made of Justice pierced his chest, a warhammer caved his skull, and to add a cherry to the top, idiom! is a chakram slicing his head.

"They are dealt with!", Charlotte shouted while deactivating her Anima Pactum.

The coms went on, "This is your captain, Rick Asthley, speaking. First, thank you, Miss Silvi, for whatever you did to solve our problem. Second, I apologize for not suspecting this situation, I would've taken the Zigurat for combat. We will return to our normal speed now, and please enjoy the view."

The digital window opened again, and Charlotte went back into her trance, looking at the clouds.