HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“So, do you need any help, Ivan?” Faye asked as she looked at Ivan searching for components inside the headquarters building.

“Uhh, not in particular. I’m just checking the building and maybe there’s something that might be useful for other things. Right now, I already have everything that I needed to make the energy converter,” Ivan said as he kept searching through the debris with parts in his hands and a backpack full of scraps on his back.

“You can ask us if you need help, we want to help as well because you’re our only hope and you’re our VIP guest,” Ruby said as she stood next to Faye.

“Yeah, maybe we should start thinking on how to secure the parasites because I don’t think we have any place to put them in,” Ivan said as he looked at Ruby. “Do you think you have a place like dungeon or something?” Ivan asked.

Ruby hummed as she looked around and tapped her chin thoughtfully. The only place that had secured space was the bunker, and she wasn’t sure if she was ready to go back down there yet.

“Maybe we can use the bunker, but I think we need Marlon’s permission first if we want to use the bunker,” Ruby answered as she crossed her arms.

“Well, we are not in a hurry. I still need to make the machine first and it will take a month at least. Alos, there’s a slight problem,” Ivan said as he wiped his hands with a cloth.

“What is it?” Ruby asked with her eyebrows raised.

“Do you have anyone who can wield? You know, crafting things?” Ivan asked.

“We do, you have met him. Newman, he’s the best blacksmith, and he’s also the best at wielding. His sister, Marie is also a handicraft, so they both can help you with it,” Ruby answered.

“Perfect, then I will go and have a talk with them then,” Ivan said as he walked away.

Ruby and Vincent went to the village to speak with Marlon about the bunker. Maybe they would be able to use the bunker for the parasite.

“So you want to use the bunker to store the parasites? But what are we going to do if one of the King-type parasites decides to show himself again? We don’t have anywhere safe,” Marlon asked as he stared at Ruby.

“It’s just a suggestion, and we haven’t decided yet whether we are going to use the bunker or not since we need your permission. We can think of other way, and maybe we can start making the dungeon for the parasites,” Ruby replied as she sat on the sofa.

Marlon looked at Fanheim who was thinking about it.

“What do you think?” Marlon asked.

“I’m thinking how long does it take to make a safe and secured dungeon if we dig it deep down underground. With the amount of people we have, and the food that’s slowly decreasing, I don’t think we want to waste our energy on it,” Fanheim answered as he crossed his arms and legs.

“So you agree with Ruby’s request?” Marlon raised his eyebrows.

“Honestly, I don’t want to use our only safe place to be used to store parasites. But, looking at our situation, I think it’s best to let them use the bunker to secure the parasites,” Fanheim answered as he sighed and nodded his head.

“Then what are we going to do if the King-type parasites decide to show up? Where are we going to go?” Marlon asked.

“We have Archie and Eve. They both have proven themselves that they could easily handle them without any problems. We will leave those two parasites to them,” Fanheim answered as he looked at Marlon.

Marlon hummed and nodded her head with understanding. Fanheim was right about it, and the King-type parasites weren’t actually a threat anymore if they included Archie and Eve on their side.

“If that’s the case, we should wait until Archie and Eve come back. They’re still checking the whole continent for the parasites and the King-type parasites,” Marlon said as he sat down on his chair.

They all nodded and then left the house.

Archie and Eve were still observing the whole continent to find any sign or trail of the King-type parasites. They had been flying around for hours, and couldn’t find any. Archie then decided to go to FalCon-3 and hoped that the witches knew something about it.

Those two entered FalCon-3, and the witches welcomed them as soon as they landed on the ground.

“You’re looking for the King parasite? Unfortunately, we didn’t see them come here or anywhere in this place. Although, our sister saw something odd on the island far east,” The Fire Witch said.

“Which sister? The eldest Wind Witch?” Archie asked.

“Yes, she went there to check and said something was off about the island,” The Fire Witch answered as she nodded her head.

“Was it the same island where I met her?” Archie asked as he looked at Eve.

“I’m not sure, since I have no idea about that. Maybe you should ask our sister since she’s the one who went there,” The Fire Witch answered.

“I’m not joking, you can see the corpse on the shore at Saint Lawrence Island,” Archie answered.

Ivan stopped laughing and gulped while staring at Archie. “Shit, what the fuck is happening right now?” he asked while scratching his nape. “So, are you like, superhuman or something? I mean, you must be an Axis Human if you can deal with that, but, are you some kind like a warrior that specifically hunts parasites?” he continued as he looked at Archie with confusion.

“What are you talking about, I’m just a normal Axis Human, like any other Axis Human,” Archie answered.

“But, you’re from the Easter Nation, right? You must be living in hell since you’re isolated by waters and three fucking Fallen Continents!” Ivan said while staring at Archie with disbelief. “Anyway! Let’s just go and you’re perfect for this job then,” Ivan continued as he waved at Archie and started walking.

Ivan brought Archie to the basement and he looked around where people walked past him with multiple sacks that they carried in a wheelbarrow. He looked so confused why there were so many people who brought those heavy-looking sacks with an unpleasant smell from it.

“You were asking me how we got all this electricity, right? The answer is in those sacks,” Ivan said while pointing at the sacks in front of him.

“What’s inside those sacks?” Archie asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

“Feces,” Ivan answered without hesitation.

“Feces? That’s really interesting. How does it work?” Archie asked as he looked at those feces.

“You know that feces produced unpleasant smells, right? That’s because of methane, and we discovered that we can used feces to produce electricity from that. Isn’t that awesome?!” Ivan answered with his arms open wide.

“I see, so you want me to collect feces?” Archie looked at Ivan with disbelief.

“You see, we had someone for this job, but an accident happened. You know the answer by the shoe that you see in there, he got eaten by that parasite and ever since that day, this parasite didn’t leave his spot at all and we can’t get his feces,” Ivan explained while scratching his eyebrow. “So, do you think you can do it? We will pay you plentifully,” he asked.

“Sure, just get me in there,” Archie answered without hesitation.

“Uhh you just go up the stairs, and you can see the flat surface once you reached the top. In the middle, you will see a hatch that you can open and it will lead you into that room,” Ivan explained with his fingers pointed at the entrance on the ceiling. “To be honest, we don’t really need that parasite anymore since we already got a new one that can produce more feces than this guy,” he continued while looking at Archie.

“Hey, how did you do that?! You just stood there and stared at the parasite and it didn’t even attack you. Not to mention that you just cut him in half with just a single swing!” Ivan asked as he shook Archie’s shoulder with disbelief.

“I have been dealing far worse than that parasite, so looking at that thing is like looking at a toddler,” Archie answered as he wiped the blood from the blade.

“Don’t tell me you really killed that thing?” Ivan asked as he looked at Archie with curiosity.

“It’s up to you if you’re going to believe me or not because I’m not going to try to convince you,” Archie replied and sheathed the sword on his back.

“Alright, fair enough. By the way, here, your payment for killing that parasite,” Ivan said as he grabbed something from his pocket that he was troubled to get it out. “Here you go, 5,000 Nomac,” he said as he have the money to Archie.

Archie looked at the paper money and it looked so weird because it didn’t look like the money that he used to use for buying stuff up in the station. “Is this new money? I have never seen one like this,”