Nikolai pulled his sword back with a tug, the blade dislodging from the Backlander's skull with a splurt of black blood, covering his boots as he stepped back with a hint of annoyance.
"See, this is why you should use a gun rather than a sword, idiot." Scoffed Aina, climbing over a Backlander corpse, Iskry tight in her left hand.
"The issue is, to use a gun, you have to get certified by the instructor." Nikolai sighed, attempting to clean his boots. Aina, now standing beside him, shrugged.
"So? It takes only a week at best to get certified, even someone like YOU could get it."
"It's not difficult, it's annoying to get in the minimum 20 hours of practice alongside normal training, 20 hours I could spend sleeping."
...She should have expected this; she absolutely should have, but the shock was evident on her face. "...You shall be struck down in your sleep one day, by the Goddess' will," she declared loudly.
Nikolai could only sigh dreamily as he got up, straightening his back. "Dead men don't need to wake up at 6 in the morning for drills."
"You never attend the drills anyway."
"...Smartass," Nikolai muttered, walking towards the collection hall as Aina followed behind.
"30 Backlanders by subunit 21, unit 4, sub-squad 14, squad 31." Aina breathlessly reported to the official at the desk, taking a quick breath after. If only we'd be in something like squad 10... just sub-squad 2, squad 10 would be enough to report, Aina thought to herself dejectedly.
Whoever made this identification system needs Iskry unloaded in the back of their sku-
"4500 yuen will be transferred to your accounts." The old man behind the desk announced, breaking her train of thought.
Aina slammed her fist on the table. "4500?! I said 30 backlanders, not 15!"
He didn't even look up from the documents. "We've deducted amounts for cleaning the suits, we don't want you to stink up everywhere with a blood-covered suit."
"Are you going to clean it with the Goddess's blood to warrant this much? We can wash it ourselves-"
A hand spun Aina, turning her face to face with Nikolai, an expression of panic visible on his face.
"No, we're not, do you realize how hard it is to wash them?!"
"What? No! It's simple, it just takes a bit of time and effo- ah..."
"Yeah... let's just pay and be done with it, why struggle so much?" Nikolai spoke in a relaxed tone.
Aina's hand shot up to his collar, grabbing it and pulling him closer, lower to her face. "I'll wash the damn suits but you're not paying a single kopeck to these damn thieves, AM I CLEAR?"
Nikolai nodded vigorously, angering Aina was not something his exhausted self could handle right now. She turned back to the official, who was already scratching their names off the laundry service. He could see another subunit coming here, and he wanted these cheapskates out of here before they did.
They stepped outside the dome-shaped building and began walking towards their quarters. Vavilona was being constructed without rest, a hundred cranes carried a hundred tons of cement every moment and raised it to heights beyond sight. Instructions were being lobbed left and right in a mass scream fest. Nikolai shivered in fear, imagining sleeping here amongst this hustle and bustle, he'd die of sleep deprivation!
"How long do you think it's gonna take to be constructed?" Nikolai asked.
"Hmm... some worker was telling me if all conditions were right, it would take 5 more years, maybe."
Nikolai was equal parts dejected that it wouldn't be done tomorrow, equal parts happy he wouldn't be 30 before he could step down from clearing Backlanders daily. "Then it's rest time, I'm quitting the moment this wall is constructed. I'll live a peaceful, lazy life till I die happily."
"Romanticizing being a bum, what times have we come to... Be glad only YOU think like this, otherwise Promethea would never even exist." Aina sighed, unable to deny the satisfaction she was feeling at having Vavilona so close to completion; she did, after all, help in its construction, clearing Backlanders every single day to keep a clear path. She mentally claimed 0.015% of the wall in her name.
"I'm going then, I really need a nap now." Nikolai stretched his arms at the crossroads. The male and female quarters were about half a kilometer apart, and he had no intention of trying to get into the female quarters for a quick peek, so this was it for today.
"Nap? Dinner is in an hour, you're gonna sleep for only half an hour?"
"Yeah, I can last in bed much longer than I need to nap in it," Nikolai spoke, proud of his sneaky sexual stamina innuendo.
"Someday you're going to get a harassment order, y'know?" Aina shook her head dejectedly. Getting a partner executed for this idiocy wasn't worth it one bit. "I'll collect your suit at dinner, don't forget to bring it."
"Wait, you meant it? That you'd wash both suits?"
Aina raised an eyebrow. "Wow, Niko, I never realized you care so much that YOU would wash them instead. I'll bring mine th-"
"My bad, I'll get it, bye." He dashed to his quarters as fast as his long, muscular, sexy legs would carry him.
"Lai, do you enjoy fighting?" Xiao asked, as his wooden spear flew in a beautiful line at Nikolai's face.
"Oh yeah, who doesn't love getting covered in gore, tiredness, and putting their lives in danger every day for a pittance?" A lazy smile adorned his face, most of it obscured by his wooden sword as he blocked the strike.
"So you dislike the militarization of combat, yes? I asked whether you enjoy fighting, just the combat." The spear's shaft rapidly moved to crash into Niko's side.
"I enjoy sleep more." Niko countered with a leap, a yawn escaping his mouth.
"One can enjoy multiple things. As proof, you are here fighting instead of sleeping like you claim to like. There is also the fact that, unlike most, you still use a sword." Xiao ducked under the sword's arc, his spear launched at Niko's foot.
His smile faltered as he lifted his foot last moment and launched forward. "It's because of the certification stu-"
"Do not even try that pathetic excuse you have convinced everyone else of, you feel alive digging your blade into flesh," Xiao ended his statement with a kick at the abdomen, the sword unable to block the full force of the kick, launching Niko a metre back.
Niko was no longer smiling. He began circling Xiao with his blade twirling in his hand, slow and methodical. "What do you want? Do you want me to accept that I'm a bloodthirsty killer, and all of me is a facade? You wanna believe I'm like you?"
Xiao stood still at the centre, his spear suddenly relaxing from his hand, Niko launched forward, blade at face. Xiao's next words, spoken quietly, stopped Niko dead in his tracks, his blade inches away from his face.
"Let us break this wall before it is made and descend into unending bloodshed, unfettered and unchained by our moral and governmental leashes, let us fight because we want to."
Xiao extended his open hand forward, and on his bruised palm rested a symbol known to many, feared and hated by all, the twin horns of the Sludge cult.