A/N: Well, how long has it been since I've even put a single chapter? Couple years, I guess. During that time, I have been writing mostly out of enjoyment, and for a very specific audience.

I don't want to say my writing has improved immensely, but I am certain you will find a stark contrast between a story I've written when I was some kind of middle school teen who thought he was the shit and me today, a kid who is just going to university within the next two weeks. A kid who is a slightly smarter dumbass(or slightly smarter than a dumbass...?)

Without further ado, let's get into the story :)

"If it doesn't bother you, we would like to ask you a few questions before we approve of you."

"What questions?"

"It will pertain to you and how you will hold with our mission statements."

Chapter 1

"This is the team who you'll be working with now, excellent people" she had told him.

"It's a sound plan, yaknow! Admit it!" He sat listening to the cacophony of voices as they argued over how to complete their next mission.

Raised voices bounced off the walls of the room and the hostility was going to start another fight.

Morality was always a problem with the two arguing. One wanted violence and violation. The other wanted violence without all the unnecessary necrophilia.

"It is absurd! All you want to do is barge into the compound and rape all the women you see!" The girl with the mauve colored hair spat at the wicked looking man with hair color bordering white leaning over the table as he had a finger jabbed on the map.

"So what, Sylvia? If I take care of the women fighters, that'll take out a number of combatants, won't it? I have my pleasure and we have a better chance if completing the mission! Win-win!"

The girl was close to biting his head off when a second man who appeared to be a more fit and athletic version of the first broke into the argument, "Makes sense, though I won't particularly support the idea, it will work. If he gets overwhelmed, I can back him up."

A second woman, a young and beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes answered him before the first man can gloat, "Siegfried, you know Freed always goes too far, bordering psychotic. This would work, but it is far from the best solution."

"Jeanne, Jeanne," Siegfried sighed. "I'm simply sick and tired of our predictable work. It's bound to fail one day, when we get around to fighting opponents who know our moves. How about something different for a change?"

Sylvia slapped the table, her eyes nearly alight, "And you agree with that vile plan?"

Siegfried shrugged, "I don't have a problem with that. He can do what he wants, and I'll just back him up. You guys are still free to do your part."

Sylvia gave a growl as her face showed clear disgust and turned away from the table, sending a fist into the wall out of frustration.

"Stop that and stay."

His voice now cutting in, firm and demanding, everyone quieted and faced him.

Freed sat back, now interested. "Ohhh, Pretty Boy has a plan?"

He was far from the leader of the group, where in fact nobody is, but they always listened to his voice and input. He was glad for that.

He scowled as gleaned over the map, putting together the words in his mind.

"Siegfried is right, Sylvia," he finally spoke up. "Jeanne's plan and your plans always work out-"

"I'm not looking for compliments, Ethan," Sylvia cut in, however, she seemed drastically mollified.

Ethan continued, "They picked us because we are the selected best they got. We can't rely on our same plan forever. Especially when the objectives are different. Granted, it is possible to have three of us pull a diversion while the last two flanks on every mission we have, but what if we lose the element of surprise? What if we fight against smarter enemies? What if the diversion can't hold up forever?

"We need to think of different plans. We need to start now, when our enemies aren't difficult. I can guarantee that it won't work when we face higher-classed Devils and rouge Exorcists."

Sylvia frowned while Jeanne nodded. "You have a better plan then?"

"We still have a week to complete this. I hear these guys are recruiting."

Siegfried grabbed a chair nearby and sat down, his expression and posture indicating interest, "I suspect you want some of us to be part of the cult?"

"Exactly," Ethan replied. "Sieg and Jeanne, you two can fit in well."

Jeanne nodded compliance, "Not a bad choice."

Freed gave a sigh of disappointment, "How about me, Pretty Boy?"

"With the exception of a battle-hungry cult that wants to fuck anything they see," Ethan frowned, "I doubt you will be able to join any cult unless you can fix your tongue and penchant for violence."

"That sounds good to me," Freed shrugged, "Why don't we find one then?"

Despite himself, Ethan smiled. It took a large amount of willpower to refrain from laughing, as he saw Sylvia's obvious disapproval at the grin.

Siegfried rubbed his chin, "How about you, Ethan? These are intellects and you will fit in just as well as I."

Ethan gave an empty smile, "But I'm not as friendly as you. You can draw away suspicion. I will be attracting it, on the other hand."

"I see. I won't argue." Siegfried leaned back. "Small talk won't be a problem for me."

Ethan looked at Sylvia, who was quiet the entire exchange, "You don't have objections?"

"A better plan than Freed's that's for sure," she muttered.

"Hey," Freed protested, "Gimme some credit. I originally wanted to just murder everyone there and then fuck their corpses. Took me a long time to think of my second plan."

Sylvia's expression didn't change, but she refused to reply to his statement aloud. He heard her mutter just under her breath, "It can't take that much effort thinking between necrophilia then rape."

Jeanne stood, "So it's settled? Then what will you and the other two do, Ethan?"

He tapped on the marked building, "Act as if you need to use the restroom during the night. Every night, even if you used it earlier that evening. Make it known, so they let you go to the restroom. By the last day of the week, the three of us will be waiting by a door. You can pick which would be best."

"And how will I, or Sieg-kun signal you?" Jeanne inquired.

Ethan shook his head, "No. Only you. Sieg should play the loyalist up until the fighting starts. Once we all begin invading, only then you, Sieg, turn on them."

He faced Siegfried as he finished his sentence. The man nodded once before a thought entered his head, "What if she gets caught? Do I help?"

"Surely. We don't need to have someone killing from behind, but it would certainly split their forces," Ethan answered then returned to Jeanne's question when he looked at her. "If you find a door that leads inside, then switch on and off the lights for a short bit. I'll be watching the base."

Jeanne nodded, "I'll do that. Also note I'll be looking for windows and other places too, maybe an area from the second floor would be less guarded than the bottom floor."

Ethan paused then added, "Good thinking. If we can't access the places you find, nor find a door, then we'll break in using the front entrance."

Jeanne grinned, "Better not. I don't want to waste time searching every inch of the place if you won't use my help anyway."

Ethan smiled and drew a strike against the hand-drawn map where the building stood. "These guys are dead."

"One concern," Freed said before Ethan stood. "Don't assume they will let Pretty Girl walk around unguarded."

It was the common bit of intelligence shown by Freed. That man may be borderline insane and act dumb, but he was put into the group for a reason. "If that's the case, Jeanne, then don't worry about finding a breaching point. The three of us will break in ourselves, you and Siegfried kill from behind."

She nodded assent. "Dismissed?"

"Nothing to say."

"Sure."

"Aight."

Ethan nodded, "Go ahead, I might not sleep tonight anyways. I'd like to check out if there are other places the cult may be stationed in if their HQ is invaded."

Sylvia was nearly at the door when she turned around, "If that's the case, I'll join you."

Freed was a moment too slow, as he was actually the most common volunteer when Ethan offered to work solo.

In fact, the two knew each other for a good amount of time before they were selected for the team, their squads having collaborated on various missions while they still worked as basic exorcists.

The man backed out of the room with the other two exorcists as Ethan nodded to Sylvia.

The two split paths with the three exorcists, bidding their comrades a good night before entering the cool, summer night for a search that may or may not be fruitful.

"Usually Freed joins me, Sylvia. Why did you volunteer?"

The girl sighed as she glanced at her split knuckles, which she had hid during the remainder of the discussion. She had wrapped the hem of her dress around the wound to stem the bleeding and she now removed the fabric from her hand.

"I didn't think I could sleep while still annoyed; thought being outside with fresh air and another task would calm me down," she replied. Ethan nodded curtly and she added, "Besides, you are the only one not to piss me off."

"Really, now?" Ethan raised an eyebrow. They walked around their building and found the ladder leading onto the rooftop. He firmly set his foot on the bottom rung and climbed to the top, waiting for Sylvia to join him before getting his answer.

"Jeanne always teases me that I like you, which gets on my nerves sometimes-"

"I'll assume you don't, by your statement," Ethan interrupted. She didn't acknowledge nor deny it, but she did pause when he said it.

"-Siegfried just doesn't seem to care about anything. Much like Freed, he just wants to fight. Any plan that lets him fight more people makes him happy."

Ethan shrugged. Being among the best exorcist gave a lot of inferiors, and very few challenges. It would make sense for someone like Siegfried to want to find a person to match his abilities.

"And Freed?" Ethan asked, although he can already guess her answer.

"I don't want to talk about him," Sylvia shot back and jumped across the gap down to the second building.

That wasn't the exact answer he expected, Ethan thought to himself as he followed her down. She waited until he landed and began moving to walk alongside him.

"Trust me when I say you can count on him when it matters. Freed is a smart, reliable teammate; don't underestimate him."

Sylvia frowned, "I'm not, Ethan. I just don't like how he views women."

"Understandable," Ethan replied. "At least you're on his team."

She shook her head solemnly, "That won't protect me everytime. He has approached me before with intentions. I fought him off once, but only because I caught him off guard."

"And you didn't see fit to report to anyone?" Ethan asked, now concerned. Sylvia looked away. "Don't think you can handle everything alone."

She looked back at him and stared for a moment before nodding and faced forward, "I'll keep that in mind."

"Here should be a good spot to walk the streets," Ethan stated as he moved towards the edge. Sylvia pulled him back, "Yes?"

"There," she pointed as she got down on a knee. "Those look like the head markings of the cult we're looking for, right?"

Ethan observed, seeing the particular way the hair is cut. "It is. This is quite deep into the city, wonder why they are here."

He watched them shuffle around a while, refusing to move away from the building they stayed positioned at, before he realized they were standing guard.

"Ethan? Is it me or is that a base?"

"No. It's too far in the city and this building is residential. I doubt they will base up here." That was when half a dozen cult members exited the building carrying body bags, just as a vehicle dark as night pulled up.

"They've taken more people," Sylvia murmured.

"I see that," Ethan replied as they loaded the unmoving containers into the back of the Range Rover. Sylvia abruptly stood, but Ethan held her back.

"We need to sav-"

"No point. They are dead."

"Ethan!" Sylvia protested quietly. "We don't know that!"

"Body bags, Sylvia. Body bags. We know the cult can take people alive, but we know the sacrifices are drugged, hooded, and bound. These are in air-tight bags. The occupants will suffocate even if they're alive."

She gritted her teeth, her frustration evident. Sylvia persisted, although half-heartedly. "It can be for being discrete. They don't need to drive long."

"If we are going to catch up and infiltrate the base now, we might as well go back and wake up the others."

Sylvia turned away, silent as the engine revved to life. The headlights turned on before the vehicle drove off, "Let's see if we can find where it's going. I won't do anything reckless. Promise."

"Better."

They traveled in silence, now dropping down onto the sidewalk to hurry along quicker. If the cultists were heading for a location in the city, there was no chance of finding it. The city was a maze and a vehicle was far faster than any human, even if the driver makes multiple turns.

However, the two if them had a better chance if the cultists wanted to head towards their headquarters. There was only a single road leading out towards the woods, and people on foot can cut along the trees.

If Ethan can find the correct path, the two of them just might arrive at a junction to the cultist base ahead of the Rover.

They found it soon enough, parked and abandoned northwest from the HQ they were aiming to destroy within the next week.

It wasn't abandoned peacefully, however. They found a cultist dead and splayed out on the forest floor, the dirt soaking all blood drained from a large wound.

All body bags were opened, half of them torn from the inside, as if the occupants broke free. Nobody had stayed around the area and Ethan hadn't expected anyone to. From the looks if it, the cultists had ran towards their home, pursued by whatever was inside the bags.

Ethan doubted that the cultists would stay any longer in this city.

Sylvia stood silently for a minute before asking, "You still want to wait?"

Ethan touched his side softly, feeling the scabbards that hung invisible to everyone.

"Fine."

Sylvia smiled and clenched her fists. Ethan knew she was channeling mana into her limbs and allowing it to flow, let her hand get used to the feel.

It became a ritual, as when she first fought without any warm up, her entire hand was shattered and took advanced processes from the church to give her two months to heal.

Lucky for him, Ethan didn't fight the way Sylvia did. He simply inherited two weapons his ancestor used, both extremely powerful weapons, with their own abilities, incapable of being destroyed. Coupled with the two scabbards the church created for his swords, he could use either weapon without his enemies ever knowing which ones he used.

Not that they would ever find out what the swords did anyway. Nobody walked away alive.

Ethan pressed the scabbards to his sides as he ran, Sylvia close behind his heels, heading southeast towards the HQ.

Something was bothering him as he ran, and he found out soon after he felt Sylvia tackle him down without warning.

The Rover that was left abandoned flew over where he stood, cartwheeling over Sylvia's back and not more than a meter from his face.

They rolled upwards and stood back to back. Ethan grabbed Sylvia's arm when he finally saw slow movement. He walked forwards as a figure stalked towards them, eyes tightening as it saw them both.

Sylvia was beside him as she whispered, "What the hell is that?"

He counted on Sylvia to have checked his back when he warned her, giving him time to take note of its appearance.

The creature was tall, even when it was slouched over, how it moved around in the forest confounded him. Well over two meters, with its head no more than two inches above the ground, it stomped forward ever so slowly, surprisingly balanced.

The thing breathed heavily, its breath causing Sylvia's skirt to flutter slightly, even when they were nearly five meters away. Mouth agape, its the scent streamed out, smelling of stomach acid and blood. It was disgusting to inhale, forcing Ethan to breath ever so slightly from his mouth.

Its nose was slightly torn off, and its single, cloudy red eye blinked occasionally, the other eye, and half its head, cut clean off. Its wound bothered Ethan, he swore he remembered the wound and the markings on its face from someone.

Seeing its pencil-thin arms, Ethan immediately whipped around, searching for a second, white figure bulkier than this creature when he heard a snap and tearing of a tree.

The thing had wrapped its giant hands around the trunk of a fucking tree in the forest and tore the thing free from the stump. It didn't rip it up from the tree's roots, the creature seemed to know the exertion it would take to do such a feat and opted to rip a tree from its base.

Faster than he expected, and steadier than he thought, it pawed forward, swiping at the two exorcists.

He heard the wind sliced through from the multiple branches as he leaped back, the strength was astounding. The weaker of the branches snapped as the tree flew past him and more of the tree fell apart when the club collided into another tree.

In frustration, the creature tossed the remains of the trunk aside and simply tore up a second tree.

"Holy shit," Ethan muttered to himself as he ran forward, drawing his first sword. It saw him running at it and swatted at him with its free hand.

Before it connected, the hand exploded into shards of bone, tissue, and meat. Sylvia let out a small breath and bounded forward.

Even after losing a hand, Ethan was amazed it made an effort to attack with the stump remaining, he might even commend the thing for making an effort.

He immediately cut at the remaining hand, but the thing reacted quickly, retracting its hand from reach and smacked the tree it was breaking towards Ethan.

Ethan dashed back and the hand slapped down in front if the tree.

So it was expecting him to move ahead. Smart.

He gave the praise no more thought and leapt up, just as Sylvia kicked in its chest. The creature made no sound, even though the wound sounded painful.

Bones crunched and organs squelched, but the thing paid no mind, catching Sylvia off guard.

Its eye focused on Ethan, but Sylvia gave it another try, kicking at its jaw and knocking it off the hinges of the skull. It turned to her, the stalactites of teeth dropping as it dropped its head onto her.

She ran forward as Ethan leaped from the trunk of the tree. Its teeth sunk into the floor but it dragged its head back nonetheless as its eye turned to Ethan while the hand twitched closer.

He forced himself to keep an eye forward, only turning around at the last moment to lop off the hand just as it clenched and sheathed his sword while the hand hopped and writhed from where it was severed.

Ethan drew again and didn't aim to cut, only to jab into the neck of the monster as it raised its head.

The effect was instantaneous from this sword, the wound burst open with an unnamed substance and from that location, the thing dying as the flesh and skin withered away. Within seconds, the bones were the only thing left of the thing.

Sylvia kicked out the teeth from the skull and walked out with a look of worry, "I'm going to question what the hell that thing is again real soon."

Ethan frowned. It was the first time he's seen a creature of that...caliber.

It wasn't a devil, hell no. Possibly a stray devil, but he knew this wasn't a Stray. It had no magical powers of any sort and it wasn't aiming to consume. It was aiming to kill.

"Ethan." He turned to the source of the voice and saw Siegfried walking up to him, Freed and Jeanne just behind his heels. "I knew you guys would be here."

"Not on purpose," Ethan grunted. Siegfried chuckled in amusement.

"I'm not trying to lecture you or anything, just thought you'd be here."

Ethan scowled, "But what brought you here?"

"Freed caught a glimpse of whatever thing you fought. He made sure to wake up Jeanne and I before heading towards that direction to kill it. Those shits are tall, we saw that well after Freed went off on his suicide mission."

Ethan paused before asking, "You mean there's more than one?"

"Afraid so."

"Yo, Pretty Boy," Freed said, "I'm as surprised as you are and everyone here, but there's more. I feel it jittering my bones."

Jeanne frowned, "You don't happen to know where it is, do you?"

"What do I look like to ya?" Freed shot back, "Some kind of story writer who gave me all the powers in the universe? Course not ya cunt! I know there's more left and those things are chomping away at the cultists still twitching!"

"Let's just get to the cultists base then," Jeanne said in return, "We'll probably find it from there."

Freed tapped his chin, "Nah, I'll bet we'll find it there."

He was correct. Unsurprisingly, it was the laeger size as the one Ethan fought, no reason for it to be smaller. Unlike the first he fought, this had the body proportions matching its height.

Surprisingly though, it was chomping away not at a cultist but another of its kind. Siegfried stated on the way they killed two. Ethan killed one, and with one of the creatures torn apart on the ground not too far away from this remaining creature, it accounts for six total.

This last one wasn't rail-thin like the one he found, it had the body of a human bodybuilder. Profound breasts and visible abdomen muscles. Freed froze, and Ethan had to look to make sure it wasn't of shock.

He stood there, eyes narrowed as if grasping at a memory, "Something's not right."

"You're stating the obvious," Sylvia replied as she watched it gnaw on the calf of its brethren.

"No cunt," Freed shot back, "I feel like I saw this shithead before, it's just on the tip of my dick. Besides, these things are smarter than Strays. Surely it already noticed us, yet this thing is still dumb as a sack of shit. If we attack, fight carefully."

Ethan unsheathed a sword, nodding, "I'll take your word for it. You guys stay back for now."

Jeanne looked worried, "You don't want backup?"

"Your Blade Blacksmith can help," Ethan smiled. He got ready to move when Freed laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Careful, mate."

"I will," Ethan replied.

"And Pretty Girl, aim for the joints. This thing looks like it has armor everywhere except on any joint. No point attacking its chest and skull. Fully armored."

Jeanne nodded gravely, "Got it."

Ethan ran low, but before he left earshot, he heard Freed say thoughtfully, "What a stud."

The statement disturbed him, as once again these things reminded Ethan of a time from before. Some time ago recent enough where names and memories are on the tip of his tongue, but not quite there.

In a flash, the final creature dropped the limb it was eating and slapped down on the floor. Ethan stepped back and jumped from between its fingers, barely managing to cut through the joint of the ring finger as it flew by.

He thought he won and rocketed off the forearm, landing next to Freed.

"Shit," the two of them exclaimed. For two different reasons.

Ethan saw the starburst of flesh appear from the wound, but the creature moved fast, faster than any reaction from seeing the wound and ripped off its hand.

The hand withered as it flew at the five exorcists, leaving finger bones as projectiles. The five leapt away, Freed and Ethan separated from the other three.

The thing gave a wide grin, turning towards Ethan and Freed. Both of them cursed as its smile grew even wider as it left the ground to scuttle towards them.

Freed activated his Holy Saber as Ethan kept his sword up. The two arms cracked and snapped as they split apart. The stump of the left arm hardened to points while the other arm, with a hand, broke into two scythes and three sword arms.

"What the fuck?" Ethan asked while Freed growled.

"We have Spiderman's rival over here." After the statement, Ethan saw recognition fill his face. "This thing is that guy. I Pop Anuses or something?"

Ethan landed. "What?"

"That fucking cult leader."

"Apophis?" he asked, his forehead deeply folded.

"Yeah, him. The stud, fucker rose from hell."

"Can't believe you recognize him," Ethan muttered as it divided its attention between Siegfried, who now had his four extra arms, Sylvia, who had just blown off one of Apophis's feet, and Jeanne, who was darting among Apophis's limbs, finding a joint to stab.

It now came to him. The first creature that he fought with Sylvia was from another mission Freed and he worked on. Apophis was the leader of the Immortal Cult, that creature was one of the enforcers of the Silent Cult, all of the members cutting all vocal cords, as they avoided making any noise at all to appease their quiet deity.

"Took me a while," Freed answered and now kept silent, his part was done in his eyes. Ethan ran with him until Freed dodged the first lanced bone. He hopped up onto the second while Ethan stayed down, slicing and stabbing at multiple areas, letting Apophis pay him no mind as he acted oblivious of its armor.

Once within leap distance, Ethan jumped and cut the inside of the elbow at the same time as Freed.

A sworded limb flew at them. Freed jumped off, but Ethan timed his jump, landing at the sword limb and cutting just as Apophis cut off his first two limbs.

He had to grip tightly onto the wrist, as Apophis generated enough force to snap off the armor and save himself. Taking the chance, Ethan stabbed down on the wrist and pulled away, falling onto the ground.

Apophis let out a snarl as it chopped off its third limb. Ethan twisted midair and sheathed his sword, but timing his landing was unnecessary, Jeanne ran under him and caught him, "Gotcha, Han-kun~"

"That was my job," Freed complained as he ran up, flicking his Holy Sword to the side. Ethan got off Jeanne's arms and spectated.

Sylvia grabbed onto a finger, but it was obvious she was struggling to keep her mana continuously provide a layer of protection from being bisected at the waist.

Siegfried was busy fighting against two of the remaining three fingers, carefully and accurately parrying each and every strike thrown at him.

"Jeanne," Ethan said, but he didn't have to explain, the woman already knew what he was going to ask her to do. With a gesture and a few flicks of her wrists, sword began exploding from the ground and began rocketing towards Apophis.

A flick of its finger sent Siegfried stumbling back, giving it an opportunity to swat at the weapons with its armored limbs.

It soon realized that Sylvia had reached out while maintaining her grip on its finger, catching one sword. She rotated her hips and stabbed.

Once inflicting the wound, she let go and managed to catch herself on another finger. Ethan smiled as Apophis howled in frustration, stopping just in front of the stump of the foot.

It was losing all its limbs, one by one, but he wanted it dead now. As he was lost in thought, he saw a shadow cast over his head.

It was the foot, coming to kick at him. He barely dodged it, shutting his eyes as the dirt and eind kicked up violently.

Grabbing onto a strand of hair on the calf, he found his way behind it, giving temporary protection against the right leg.

Ethan felt the leg lift and squited his eyes open, ready to react according to what Apophis planned to do to kill him, except he was caught off guard when he realized it planned to run away.

He let go and plopped onto the grass. Sylvia ran up to him and got onto a knee, "Do we chase it?"

Ethan looked after Apophis unsteadily fleeing the five exorcists, "No. Not this one. It's crippled beyond belief. Granted it won't die of its wounds, but I'm sure at this point we can tell the other exorcists to watch out for him."

"You sure?" Siegfried asked as he narrowed his eyes when Apophis dipped into the forest, now crawling away, pushing aside trees in the effort. "I don't like letting it go."

"North leads to no civilization, and we can send a message to the all places exorcists are stationed. Have faith in them."

Freed scowled, uncertain of the decision, but reluctantly nodded, "Alright then."

Ethan got up and strolled over to the remains of the cultist base, "We don't know the name of the cult, do we?"

Jeanne frowned as the two males shrugged. Sykvia shook her head. "Wonder if the church knows."

They examined the floor, looking for a trapdoor leading to a basement of some sort, there was nothing left aboveground. Siegfried found what they were looking for, calling them to him after he pulled up the door.

They took the stone stairs down, guided by the light of Freed's holy sword once he took the lead. A short travel brought them into a large room filled with markings. A flick of a switch nearby flooded the room with light.

Red pentagrams and candles laid all iver the place and hospital stretchers were strewn all over the place. There was no modern technology anywhere in here, only paper, pen, blood, containers, and cages.

"Summoning room, then?" Siegfried asked as he crossed his arms. Sylvia, Freed, and Jeanne split away as they each headed for separate doorways to explore. Ethan nodded once curtly. "Doesn't seem as if these guys were experimenting though."

"No. It doesn't," he replied softly.

"And no lab equipment anywhere from the wreckage."

He had to consider what he remembered while exploring, "None."

His mind prickled at what Siegfried hinted at. Sylvia returned, grabbing his arm. Her expression was anxious, her mouth turned downwards, "Ethan. I thought this cult was the ones that created those things."

"Uh-huh?"

"Come upstairs and look." Siegfried walked away, looking to examine the basement mire. Ethan followed Sylvia upwards as she ran up the steps. "Take a look at the bodies here."

Ethan examined closely now, and saw that each of the cultists at this base was far different than the ones at the Rover. There were no tatoos nor markings of that sort. Rather, their cheeks were sunken and their lips pulled back. Not as if they were snarling, rather because their skin were stretched.

Lifting a sleeve, it became apparent the man was malnourished. The skin stretched tightly over the bone, the shape clearly visible.

"Where are the tattoos? If you look, all these guys are starving, unhealthy, and their heads are clean."

It clicked. "Different cults."

"Right!" Sylvia exclaimed. "It really botgered me, since if these guys created the...can we call them something?"

"Ganesha?"

Sylvia's eyebriws knit together, "Is that a refer-...Never mind. Ganeshas, those things were sent out by anither cult. To attack this, and that other one."

Ethan nodded, "Hold onto that thought."

He brought up a cellphone and powered it on. Joining the full moon, the phone provided a source light as the screen shined brightly. The tone rang twice.

[This is the Consultation of the Trinity's Orthodox Nebula, how may I help you?]

"Inform Valper we found a few things of interest, please."

[I'm sorry, we have nobody registered in our system by that name, are you certain you have the correct number?]

Ethan rolled his eyes, "This is Helios Three. He is expecting results from Team Helios in Tunguska."

He heard silence for a second, before the woman cane back on, assuring him Valper will be there by morning, and theur services were no longer needed. "Excellent."

The team gathered together another time. After a short discussion, Jeanne and Siegfried were to return to the safehouse and greet Valper before shoing him his way to the Hunger Cult's base.

Sylvia, Ethan, and Freed took shifts in the meantime. Nothing of interest happened in those hours, but Ethan took note if everything he could, the weapons projects, the notes on a parasute which would sit in its hosts stomach and consume any food their hosts eat, slowly starving their host.

At the noise of a commotion, Ethan looked up from the notes and left the chamber. Sylvia was arguing with Valper, insisting Team Helios stay and guard him. Valper calmly told her otherwise.

"You job here is done, Helios Four. You may leave."

"I get that," she answered, "But there are still threats out here in Tunguska. You can't stay alone."

"Who said I am alone?" Sylvia quieted and gritted her teeth.

"Bodyguards?"

"Of course, moron," Valper said with a smile, "Far better than the five of you. They follow orders to the letter and are much stronger than you five."

Ethan held Sylvia's shoulder, "I'll leave you and the exorcists to handle the remaining Ganesha then."

"Hmm...so that's what you call it," Valper mused, "Interesting name, I can use that."

He nidded but Valper wasn't done, "And next time, kill it when you can. My team already wasted time killing it before coming here."

Ethan kept his expression neutral, so it wasn't because he was one of the lazy upper leaders then. However, that led to another question, "What's your purpose for staying so far north in an unpopulated area?"

Valper's smile grew wider. "Are you really in a position to ask that question?"

It wasn't Valper who asked, however. Ethan turned around slowly, cocking his head. The newcomer was a tower of a man, nearly seven feet tall, well dressed in a sense of the chuch.

His skin was pale, white as a Ganesha, and perhaps even the color of a Rake. His eyes were open, but slitted, the sockets in straight, sharp lines. His pupils and scalera were pure red, color of fresh blood. His smile was menacing, teeth in a canine grin.

He held an arrogance, cockiness, but his power was apparent. Ethan didn't know if it was intentional or not, but he would find out.

"I thinknitnwould suffice for him to answer."

"Valper doesn't need digs like you questioning him," the man said slowly. "You may leave now."

The man enunciated the words as if speaking to a foreigner or child, while delivering a presence of menace, while all around Team Helios, they felt the unseen exorcists release killing intent.

So the man was arrogant. Although he acted like he worked for Valper, his view of the man showed he could care less of him. Valper was nothing but a tool for means untold.

Ethan glared longer, unfazed by the menace this newcomer gave out. He was close enough to kill the man with a single slice of his sword if the man became hostile. Eventually, he nodded difference, "Okay, we will go."

Without looking back, he walked away from the ruined site and towards the safehouse. Freed caught up to Ethan along the way, "Douchebag back there didn't pay any mind to us once we left, basically ordered Valper to start looking for something."

"I thought so," Ethan answered emotionlessly. There was no reason to dwell much on that, there was nothing he could learn about what is happening.

"Just thought I'd let you know." Freed said in defense, assuming Ethan knew and was annoyed.

"He's something else," Ethan spoke up, "I will find out once I find our boss."

"Curie would know?" Sylvia asked. Ethan smiled then chuckled as he shook his head, the answer too obvious.

"Don't worry, when I find out, I'll make sure he won't be the same."

"Count me in too, if you wanna cut his balls, the faggot pisses me off. Only I can talk to you that way," Freed added.

"These details are extremely important. We need to know if you are fit to stay in the long term."

"Why?"

"We fight the unknowns, people have gone insane. Some from the projects, others who haven't had a chance to share to the world just what they see. Do you understand?"

"I do. How about the others?"

"Yes, we'll be questioning the others too. You may be the first and the one they unintentionally turn to, but they are not you."

"Now...Let's begin, shall we?"