Flowers on an Iron Grave Marker: Gerbera Knows No Tears - The Call of the Earth, the Peeling Mask

The rain had stopped. The gray clouds broke apart, and moonlight streamed white through the gaps in the ruins. The air was cold, and each exhaled breath misted faintly. The collapsed hangar of the former Zervia Seventh Research Facility. In its corner, Iris Cromwell sat hugging her knees. A small body seated on the freezing floor. Her platinum blonde short hair, almost silver, caught the moonlight and looked like delicate glasswork. But her narrow, violet-tinged gray eyes remained fixed on the empty air, unmoving. (*A weapon has no need for tears.*) She told herself that. For eighteen years, that was how she had lived. And yet. Her cheeks were still damp. The traces of tears she had shed before Cain Rathford. In that moment, something had definitely broken. Something that had been frozen solid like ice had melted and spilled over. *"You are human."* That voice, carrying a stillness like a deep forest, still lingered in the depths of her ears. "…Human, huh." The murmured voice was so faint it surprised even herself. Unconsciously, her fingers traced the link harness connection terminal embedded in the back of her neck, at the cervical vertebrae. She gripped the identification code on her left arm—ZVN-07-IRIS—tightly. I am a weapon. That was how she was defined, and for that purpose she had been kept alive. She knew no other way to prove the value of her existence. Fight, destroy, keep destroying— "…Even so." She looked up at Gerbera Tetra. Overall height, roughly eighteen and a half meters. Its deep crimson armor sat silent beneath the moonlight. A machine engraved with countless battle scars. On its left shoulder armor was stamped the former Zervia military prototype identification number "PT-X07." It should have been an inorganic machine, yet now, it seemed almost as if it were holding its breath. My other half. My sole confidant. (*That pilot—*) Cain. (*…Why did he say such a thing?*) No answer came to her question. Only a spreading warmth deep in her chest. It was different from the exhilaration of battle, different from the coldness of self-loathing. A heat of unknown origin, something she felt for the first time. —An alarm. The communicator placed in a corner of the hangar rang. Iris's slender shoulders trembled slightly. That one belonged to Cain. It was a small radio he had left behind to maintain contact when he was away from this place. Who? It wasn't a device for intercepting enemy communications. It was connected to a dedicated line of the organization Cain belonged to—the Valtren Federation's Special Investigation Bureau, "Schwarzer Hund." Slowly, she stood up. Hesitantly, with trembling fingers, she picked up the communicator. Static. And then— *"—Zaford. Respond, Rathford."* Iris's entire body froze. A tension like static electricity just before pulling a trigger pricked every single pore. It was different. It wasn't Cain. This was a colder, heavier voice. *"Lieutenant. You should be able to hear me. Respond."* It was an order. A sharpened blade-like resonance that brooked no argument. Cain Rathford was at the Ostval front-line base. The easternmost fortress city of the Valtren Federation. The final resupply point for survey teams heading into the forbidden zone. He was now standing alone, leaning against a wall in the base's communication room. A large tactical display hung on the wall. A map of former Zervia. A realm of death spanning roughly 120,000 square kilometers east to west. Almost its entire area was painted red as the "Graosam Forbidden Zone." (*Leon Weinberg.*) Cain's deep green eyes narrowed. The person on the other end of the line was his direct superior. Director of the Strategic Intelligence Bureau, Valtren Federation Armed Forces Joint Command. A man with graying silver hair slicked back, not a single wrinkle on his uniform. Forty-two years old. A cold-hearted strategist who allowed no compromise for the sake of national security. But what was in Cain's mind now wasn't just the fact that he was his "superior." (*That man's wife and child—*) Eighteen years ago. The rampage of Project Titan—the "Titan Catastrophe." Estimated deaths: over eleven million. That night when the very earth gained a will of its own and transformed into a demonic realm that devoured people. Leon had lost his beloved wife and young daughter. For the sake of national security, he said. But deep within that voice, a naked hatred always swirled. A deep-seated, personal hatred toward everything connected to the Battlefield Lifeform Project. *"Rathford, are you listening?"* The voice over the comm cut through Cain's thoughts. "…This is Cain Rathford. I hear you, Director." He switched to his military face. *"I've read your report. The capture of Test Subject ZVN-07-IRIS, codename 'Iris,' is difficult—meaning, you made contact."* "Yes." He didn't deny it. *"I'll be direct. I'm issuing an order."* A pause. The air in the communication room seemed to grow a degree colder. *"Eliminate Test Subject ZVN-07-IRIS immediately."* Cain's fingers trembled, ever so slightly. So faintly he barely noticed it himself. "…Eliminate, sir?" *"Did you mishear me? I said kill her."* Leon's voice was astonishingly flat. A tone as if he were looking at the hands of a broken clock. "May I ask the reason?" *"For the sake of national security."* The stock phrase was hurled at him. *"Your report has convinced me. That thing exceeds the framework of a weapon. There's a high possibility it's syncing with the core technology of Project Titan at an extremely deep level. It could become a detonator that activates the very earth itself. That is precisely why—"* His voice dropped slightly lower. *"—That is precisely why it must be exterminated."* Cold. But beneath that, something burned. Crimson flames beneath the ice. A hatred that would never heal, directed at what had killed his wife and daughter. "…Director. I cannot move a survey team for the sake of personal revenge—" *"Don't be absurd!"* Leon's voice grew heated for the first time. *"Don't repeat the past, Rathford. You should know as well. What will happen if that monster awakens the earth. This time, Valtren will be destroyed. Don't dismiss this as the mere hatred of a man who lost his wife and child. This is an objective judgment for the survival of the nation."* A tremor. The base shook slightly. "…An earthquake?" *"What?"* He ignored Leon's question. Cain's gaze was fixed on the tactical display. The central part of the red zone indicating the forbidden area. The vital sensors monitoring its heart rate and stress responses—had spiked. As if the earth itself had awakened. The hangar. Iris simply listened, dumbfounded, to the voices leaking from the communicator. Elimination. Extermination. Monster. The words pierced through her ears and became mere sounds. (*I knew it.*) That's the kind of existence I am. A weapon. A threat. Something to be eliminated if opposed, discarded when its utility is gone—just an object. And yet— Why? The center of her chest ached, as if squeezed tight. *"Eliminate Test Subject ZVN-07-IRIS immediately."* The man who gave that order wasn't wrong. It was a natural judgment. (*So why—*) Cain. Why did you— Tell me I was human—? A tremor. A larger quake struck the hangar. Fragments of concrete pattered down from the ceiling. Steel frames groaned, producing a grating metallic sound. Iris stumbled, bracing her hand against Gerbera Tetra's foot. No. This isn't an earthquake. —The earth is moving. "…It's coming." Her violet-tinged gray eyes narrowed, like a beast sensing battle. Ostval Front-Line Base. "Director, situation update. The vital readings of the 'Titan's Womb' at the center of the Graosam Forbidden Zone are spiking rapidly. The effects are projected to reach the outer rim within five minutes." He reported in a tense tone. *"What? Is it on an unprecedented scale?"* "Yes. The largest activation on record. There are currently three survey teams operating in the outer rim. Schwarzer Hund's Third Squad is among them." …!!! The entire communication room shook violently. The display feed distorted. Static. And then—a red warning indicator flashed, filling the screen. 【ALERT：LARGE-SCALE TECTONIC ANOMALY DETECTED——GRAOSAM ACTIVITY LEVEL：MAXIMUM】 *"Cain! Issue an immediate withdrawal order to all survey teams—"* Click. The communication cut out. The Forbidden Zone. Outer Rim, "Ashen Corridor." DOOOOOOON…!!! A sound erupted. An abnormal rumbling that tore through the air. The gray wasteland undulated. "Uwaaaaaah!!" The Valtren Federation survey team screamed. Three mobile suits in gray camouflage. They were heading southwest at full speed, skirting collapsed buildings, trying to retreat. But— "Run, hurry—" At the feet of the one who shouted. The ground split open. With a dissonant cacophony of cracking and snapping, a gigantic fissure, perhaps ten meters wide, raced across the land. The next moment, something overflowed from within— It was a tentacle. Over a meter thick. A dark, reddish-purple organic tube. Its surface crawled with countless protrusions and what looked like capillaries. As if the intestines of a giant creature had turned inside out and burst onto the surface. A pulsing mass of flesh. The tentacle silently coiled around the leg of the mobile suit running at the very rear—a Valtren military standard model, "Wolf FG." "Wh-what is this—guah!!" The machine was lifted. An eighteen-meter humanoid shape of steel, as easily as a child's toy. Grrrrind! An eerie driving noise. The armor dented and was torn apart. Finding a gap in the cockpit block, the tentacle branched into fine fibers and invaded the interior. "G-gyaaaaa…!" A death scream. With a sickening crunch, the machine was literally "digested." A flash. The nuclear fusion reactor went critical. Explosion. Countless fragments were scattered around like viscera. Filthy. Cruel. "Fall back! Fall back!!! This sector is done for!!!" The remaining two units also panicked. Firing wildly and indiscriminately, they tried to head west toward their base. But blocking their path, several thick tentacles rose from the ground one after another. Walls on all sides. Red-black, pulsating walls of flesh. "We're trapped…!!" Countless pillars of tentacles reaching for the heavens. It was—the moment the ruins of the "Ashen Corridor" transformed into a gigantic digestive organ. The hangar. "…Ngh!" Iris had fallen to one knee in pain. Her chest burned hot. The organic black linear scars running from her nape to her collarbone—were throbbing. Why? (*Why, now of all times—*) Are the earth and I resonating? No. This is—calling me. "…My other half." A voice echoed directly inside her head. It sounded like an old woman, yet also like a young child. A hideous resonance, as if countless human voices were layered into one. Iris's violet-tinged gray eyes widened in terror. "Who are you…?" She asked the empty air, her voice trembling. "Other half. My other half. My mother. …Come back. This place is your womb. This is where you belong." No. I am— "Shut up… Shut up!!!" She clutched her head and screamed. That can't be true. I am a test subject, created as a weapon in a former Zervia laboratory. I am not the will of the earth. I am human—! Cain said so. Those words were the only thing supporting her now. "Your biological data resonates deeply with my core. Why were you able to survive in the forbidden zone? Why does the earth not devour you? …You must understand. You are a part of me. Born as a byproduct of Project Titan, granted a fragment of the earth—my other half." Something rose from the pit of her stomach. No. No, no, no— "I am… I am human…!!" A voice squeezed out. That was her utmost rejection. Ostval Front-Line Base. The display in the communication room went dark. T

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Episode 4

Name: Flowers on an Iron Grave Marker: Gerbera Knows No Tears
Author: Novelia

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