From: Insp. Bannings, L
To: Rean Schwarzer
Subject: URGENT Help Needed w/ Investigation
The sender has marked this item as High Importance.
Rean,
I understand you have a number of close friends with past Jaeger corps affiliations. Please see attached for a close up of a suspected corps insignia. If possible, can you distribute them among your contacts and see if they can dig up anything? Randy has reached out to contacts within Red Constellation, but we don't expect progress on that end. Family disagreements aside, they've also been strangely quiet for the past few months.
Regards,
Lloyd
p.s. It's a pleasure to finally have Juna on the team. I'm sure she'll do well to represent the CSPD and Thors alumni.
East Crossbell Highway
Old Armorica Road, which connected Crossbell proper to Armorica Village and the Ancient Battlefield, split off from the East Crossbell Highway at a sharp turn amidst some hilly terrain. As a result, drivers coming out of Crossbell need to take exceptional care near that intersection due to poor visibility. It was a route Juna knew very well thanks to her past experience, both as an evacuee fleeing to Armorica with her family three years ago as well as a member of Class VII conducting missions in Crossbell State. Despite the infamy of that intersection for near-misses and close calls, Juna felt relaxed in the SSS' team car. She had heard First Lieutenant Seeker was an amazing driver, possibly one of the best in all of Crossbell, so Juna trusted Noel just like she trusted the rest of the SSS.
Despite her excitement and all the coffee she had gulped down earlier, Juna found herself dozing off as the car rolled down the bridge leading out of Crossbell's east entrance. The suspension system's gentle rocking while the wheels rolled over bridge's paved stone surface, coupled with sitting next to Randy in the front-row window seat, made for the perfect mix of conditions for her to fall asleep to. The fact she was in the beginning of an all too familiar coffee crash might have had something to do with it too. Juna drifted off, dreaming a cozy dream of her wrapping Altina and her siblings in a group hug as if the three of them were nothing but oversized Mishy plushies…
"Oh, shit! Incoming!" Randy called out just when KeA was joining the fun.
With a violent gasp, Juna was jolted out of her nap. A quick glimpse out the driver side past Noel's head confirmed they just passed the watchtower at the end of the bridge. Juna looked out the front windshield and gasped as the saw the Blade Fang barrelling down the highway straight at them.
"Ma'am, stop the car!" Juna called out to Noel. "We need to take out that monster!"
"Not enough time for us to dismount and engage!" Noel promptly replied with the crispness befitting her status as an experienced military officer. "Keep your seatbelts fastened and brace for impact!"
"What are you…"
"Noel knows what she's doing," Lloyd called out from the back row, his tone remaining calm even as the Blade Fang closed in. "Trust her."
Just as the last syllable left Lloyd's tongue, the car accelerated towards the advancing monster.
"Oh crap…oh crap…" Juna's excitement quickly gave away to sheer terror as the car sped towards the Blade Fang as if Noel was playing a high-stakes game of chicken. "Aidios, forgive me for not taking my time to say goodbye to Ken and Nana this morning. Just please LET ME GET OUT OF THIS CAR IN ONE PIECE!"
"Should've spent our budget on the turret," Randy groaned as he braced for impact.
With the Blade Fang being no more than half a selge away, the car violently pulled towards the left. Juna couldn't help but scream as she was jerked to the side, the seatbelt straining to keep her from flying through the windshield. The world slowed down around Juna as cold sweat formed above her brows. As she heard and felt her heart thump powerfully inside her, Juna caught a brief glimpse of Noel simultaneously work the steering wheel and handbrake with the same ease as firing her twin SMGs. As the car glid along, she heard a brief ear-piercing shriek coming from beneath, quickly followed by her being jerked all over the place as the car came to a crashing halt. The disturbing sounds of cracking plexiglass and straining metal drowned out Juna's screams, which didn't stop until what seemed like an eternity after the car had stopped.
"Aidios…am I in Heaven?" Juna blinked out the stars in her eyes and looked around. Randy was slumped forward while groaning in pain, Noel grasped the steering wheel in a tight death grip -panting heavily but still alive, while the SSS members in the back seat looked dazed and each muttered their own thanks to the Goddess. Juna quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and scrambled to open the door. She stumbled her away from the car until her legs finally gave way, causing her to collapse onto her hands and knees.
"See? We made the right decision by picking the crash cage," Noel smiled weakly as she looked at Randy.
The red-haired male tried to reply, but only gagging sounds came out of his mouth as he tried to put his hands over it.
"Randy Orlando, don't you dare puke in my car!" Noel's smile quickly turned into an angry sneer as she detached both their seatbelts before scrambling out the driver's side door and violently hauled Randy out. The CGF captain simply laid on his side as he barfed out everything he had eaten and drank since the previous night.
"Oh, Aidios…my head," Randy muttered as he weakly wiped his mouth afterwards. "I definitely drank way too much last night."
"Clearly," Tio said flatly as she took weak wobbly steps after getting out, with Lloyd, Elie, and Juna in tow.
"Is everyone all right?" Lloyd asked, a relieved expression coming over his face as the others answered in the affirmative. Then he turned his attention to Randy.
"Can you stand, Randy?" Lloyd put a hand on Randy and gently shook him.
"Yeah, man. I'll be fine," Randy took Lloyd's offered hand and got back his feet with a gruff grunt.
"As badass as that stunt was, let's never do it again," Juna told Noel as the latter inspected the car. "I'm pretty sure I aged at least five years because of it."
"You're the one to talk, Miss 'Come-Hitch-a-Ride-on-My-Mech-While-I-Crash-It-Through-Orchis-Tower's-Windows'," Randy rolled his eyes.
Juna huffed as she tried to think of a comeback, only for a sharp crack to jolt her out of her thoughts. Everyone turned their heads to the noise's source. It was Elie, standing next to the dead Blade Fang's head with her pistol drawn.
"It was still alive even after the crash pulverized its legs," She said. "As vicious as it may have been, it didn't deserve to have its suffering drag on."
"That's one out of four, but why was it separated from its pack?" Lloyd said, seemingly asking no one except himself. "Come on, let's examine the corpse for any clues."
Not wanting to look bad on her first day, Juna looked over the dead body from head to tail. Fighting off nausea from both the crash and the pungent smell of leaked blood and assorted bodily fluids, Juna poked her fingers into the bullet hole in the dead reptile's skull. Then she headed over to its crushed legs and ran her hands over them. She gagged as the scaly skin sank beneath her hands amid a series of squelches as if the legs were simply sacks filled with tenderized meat and left in the sun for too long.
Soon, Lloyd called everyone back to the car. As much as the team wanted to stay and maybe find a clue they had overlooked, they had more urgent jobs to do. To Juna's disappointment – but also relief, everyone else came up short for clues.
Except Tio.
"The Blade Fang's pupils were heavily dilated," she said. "Although eye dilation is common in the moments leading up to death, the Aeon System picked up a burst of fear from the creature before our collision."
"That's an interesting find, Tio, but the Blade Fang may have simply been shocked at running into our car," Lloyd said as he jotted down the findings in his notebook. "Still, we can't overlook this without further evidence. Goddess willing, encountering the rest of its pack will yield more clues."
With that, the SSS piled back into the car and drove on. The next leg of the trip was uneventful, with the monsters inhabiting the wilderness surrounding the road staying out of their way. The peaceful drive went on until they reached the riverside rest area, where a group of tourists and their guide could be seen clustered together beneath one of the gazebos.
That, and the bleeding corpse of another Blade Fang just an arge or two down the road.
"What's the plan, sir?" Noel asked as she parked the car next to the steps leading up to the rest area.
"I'll take Randy and Tio to examine the corpse," Lloyd replied. "You, Elie, and Juna will interview the tourists and see if they're the same group that was chased away by the squatter. If not, just head on over and meet us by the body."
Juna then headed up the steps leading to the rest area. The tour guide perked up when she saw them approach and rushed towards the trio.
"Oh, hey! I recognize you from the papers! You're the Special Support Section! Thank you for everything you've done for Crossbell over the past few years," Juna couldn't help but blush at how high a pedestal the tour guide was putting them on. "You must here about that…brute squatting in the Old Battlefield, I'm assuming?"
"Yes, ma'am," Elie replied. "Could you and the others tell us more about the squatter?"
Juna already had her notebook out as the tour guide helped the SSS organize the group into thirds and getting them seated in the benches beneath the gazebo. After jotting down some quick observations and pointers on crowd management and interacting with the public, it was time to question her third of the group. An old man among them was picked as the spokesperson.
"Blade Fang, you say? Those overgrown lizards? Saw one of 'em storming down the road almost like it was afraid for its life," the old man said. "A few minutes later, that really messed-up one comes trudging down before collapsing in a heap. Thought I heard gunfire before all that happened, but my ears have been playing tricks on me for a while now."
"Okay, let me just mark that down…" Juna jotted furiously in her notebook. "…and done! Thank you for your help so far. Now…onto the next matter. Tell me about the squatter."
"It was the damn Liberlians, I tell you! They're running some kind of black operation out of that place," the old man shook his cane at Juna, who was quickly beginning to question the decision to make him the spokesman. "They chased us out 'cause they didn't want us uncovering their dark, dirty secrets!"
"Sir, I need you to back up," Juna fought the urge to facepalm. "Please, start from the beginning and tell us what happened."
"Well, I've been a hobby photographer since my time in the army. I know the day after a huge storm has some of the best views, plus I've always wanted to take pictures of the Sun Fortress," the old man said. "So no shit, there I was - hiking up to the Ancient Battlefield with these sonny jims. I should have known something was off the moment I set foot there because everything was dead except some vultures. Those damn Liberlians must have…"
"Sir, please just tell us the facts," Juna smiled through gritted teeth as she tightly gripped her pen. "We will handle the investigation side of things."
"Don't call me sir, you whippersnapper! I'm a retired Sergeant Major! I'll have you know NCOs like me worked for a living!" the old man blurted out, then began mumbling. "Aidios-damned cops need some proper lessons in military etiquette…"
"Dearie, give the nice young lass a break," an old woman that must have been his wife elbowed him. "She's just trying to help us and – Goddess willing – bring that rude man to justice."
The old man grumbled and sighed upon his wife's "guidance" before turning her attention to Juna.
"Sorry, miss. I got a bit sidetracked. Some old habits stay with you for life, but I digress. There was not a single living monster in that place. Somebody or something killed all of them very recently. I know what fresh bodies look like – I was in the infantry," the old man continued. "Anyway, the nice tour guide lady took us to that old fort's inner courtyard and let us be until he showed up. That damn Liberlian came out of nowhere! Started hollerin' at us and waving his boomstick like he's some primitive screwhead from the Dark Ages. Oh, that was a wicked thing all right. Looked like two small cannons bolted side-by-side and had this double bayonet that was just coated in dried blood…"
"How are you so sure he's Liberlian?" Juna interrupted.
"Because his armor is green, camouflaged like just the rest of his cowardly army! I know their kind too well – hidin' their claws and fangs behind pretty smiles and regal postures," the old man said. "Mark my words, they're testing new gear as part of their queen's plan for revenge…"
Old Armorica Road
After interviewing the tourists, the three women thanked them for their help before heading over to rejoin their team. Juna was glad to finally get away from that Erebonian geezer. She sighed as she descended the steps. Her time at Leeves had taught her that not all Erebonians were pompous jingoistic jerks, but there were still those who would hold on to the old attitudes to their graves. It was clear the old man was one of them. Juna shook her head and rubbed the bridge of her nose before turning her attention to Elie and Noel.
Let's start comparing notes, Juna thought as she began recounting everything she had recorded. That'll take my mind off the old man.
"I see. Even with that old man's bias against Liberl, the others backed up the facts of the matter," Elie said as the trio walked together towards the carcass, where Lloyd, Tio, and Randy waited. "Of course, we still need to question the squatter for their side of the story as well as possible motives…"
"Yo, you three came here just in time," Randy greeted them. "We're just finishing up here ourselves."
"Did you discover any clues?" Elie asked.
"Some real juicy ones, all right. For starters, the fella died of extreme blood loss. Found a bunch of stab wounds and severe internal bleeding as if a giant hammer slammed into its guts," Randy replied as he circled around the corpse, stopping occasionally to poke at it with his foot. "To top it off, something ripped the crest on its head clean off. No, nobody jammed a knife or anything under as leverage. Just brute force."
"What could have done that?" Juna gasped at the gruesome sight. "I thought Blade Fangs are apex predators."
"Your guess is good as mine. Maybe it was some Enhanced Jaegers from Ouroboros with some giant attack animal?" Randy shrugged. "Could have been a one-person or one-beast job, but I doubt it…"
After the team spent some time comparing notes, they piled back into the car and followed the blood trail left by the dead monster.
"Well, at least we can establish a timeline now," Lloyd said.
"First, the tourists are allegedly chased away by the squatter. Some time after that, Mr. Hayworth spots the Blade Fang pack and notifies police," Lloyd summarized. "This is then followed by the pack being attacked by an unknown force which scatters them. Several witnesses confirm hearing gunfire before spotting the Blade Fangs, which may be related to the weapon the squatter was holding at the time."
"Doesn't feel like we have all the puzzle pieces yet," Juna said.
"Exactly," Lloyd replied. "We still don't know the squatter's motives, nor have we accounted for the remaining two monsters which could yield further clues."
"I hate to interrupt your conversation, but I think we just found Blade Fang number three," Randy butted in.
The car came to a stop near the bridge which led to the Ancient Battlefield, where the scar-ridden corpse of the 3rd Blade Fang lay. There was also a thick trail of blood that led from a patch of ground near the dead monster. It dragged on across the bridge and all the way up the hill leading to the Ancient Battlefield. Juna fought the urge to gag as she opened the car door, the smell of charred flesh rushing into her nostrils. Like a kid in a candy store, Randy hurried over to the corpse and started digging his fingers into the assorted wounds that lined its body.
"Sorry, got excited after smelling gunpowder in the air," After a minute or two, Randy held up his discoveries for the team, grinning ear-to-ear. In one hand was a small pile of pellets that Juna recognized as buckshot, while in the other hand was several discarded shotgun shells.
"See these? Whoever killed this one was packing some serious heat. These babies are massive – four rege, in fact! The only weapon I know of that comes in four rege is that Liberlian automatic grenade launcher. You've seen one before. They're mounted on quite a few of the CGF's armored cars. Anyway, enough gushing. These bad boys are gunpowder-based. You can tell by the design as well as the smell it leaves behind," Randy then dropped the expended ammunition, squatted down, and poked at pair of cauterized stab wounds. "Now, if the stab mark patterns are anything to go by, the weapon used was very similar - if not identical - to the one our squatter is allegedly carrying. On top of that, somebody also torched the shit out of this thing with either a fire Art or a flamethrower. Obviously this one was killed in a different way compared to the other Blade Fang, but whoever killed them both must have really wanted them dead. The weird thing is that they didn't bother cleaning the fella for Sepith."
"Interesting. That leaves only the Alpha Male…" Lloyd said absentmindedly as he hurriedly took out his Orbment. He sucked in a deep breath as he checked the screen, with an uncomfortable grimace appearing on his face.
"Is something the matter? I'm sensing a lot of concern coming from you," Tio asked. "I've also noticed you frequently checking your Orbment ever since we left the SSS Annex."
One of the most important lessons Lloyd Bannings had learned over the course of his police career was to always trust his gut feelings. From the moment he had received the requests from Fran, he had felt an inkling in the back of his mind. An inkling that something was off and that the cases were somehow connected.
That feeling only grew stronger as the investigation continued. Between the bizarre Blade Fang deaths and the eyewitness reports about the squatter, Lloyd felt like there was a truth at the middle of it all that was just out of sight and patiently waiting to be unveiled.
"I sent an Orbmail to Rean before we left – by the way, Juna, he says hi – and he got back to me surprisingly quickly. You guys remember those two Bracers Fie and Sara, right? I had Rean pass on a photo of that strange mark on the squatter's helmet to them, and they then forwarded that picture to some old acquaintances in their former Jaeger corps," Lloyd took a deep breath before continuing. "I think you can already come to the conclusion. Nobody in Zephyr or the Northern Jaegers had ever seen that mark before. I don't think we're dealing with a Jaeger at all."
"Dude could be from Ouroboros. We all know how secretive those bastards can be. Or maybe that old coot Juna interviewed was right. Maybe he's with some new Liberlian special forces unit that decided to set up shop in Crossbell for some reason," Randy said. "What's gotten you so riled up and worried anyway?"
"We have no way of disproving those theories but no way to confirm them either. I doubt we can just ring up Estelle and asker her to go pester her dad or Queen Klaudia about that guy. The Liberlian military will most likely deny any involvement. We'd have even less luck trying to wring anything out of the Society, assuming we can even find them," Lloyd said. "As for your concern, I might have a theory but need some more information first. Tio, I need you to run a scan over the corpse and see if you can pick up anything unusual."
Tio nodded and waved her Orbal Staff over the dead Blade Fang, her hairpieces faintly glowing red in the process. After a few seconds of intense concentration on her part, she opened her eyes and turned to address the others.
"I'm detecting traces of an unknown energy signature all over the remains," she said. "It's not Orbal Energy."
And the picture becomes clearer.
"Thank you, Tio. I need you to run another scan. This time, see what you can pick up on the Ancient Battlefield," Lloyd instructed. "I want know what we might be walking into."
"Understood. Activating Aeon System. Adjusting scanning radius."
Tio raised her staff in the air as her hairpieces glowed more brilliantly than before. A glowing halo appeared at her feet as she shut her eyes and knit her brows in intense concentration. Everything appeared normal at first, but a faint grimace soon appeared on Tio's face as if she was in pain.
"Tio?" Lloyd approached her out of concern.
Beads of sweat formed on Tio's brow and tricked down her face, and her pale skin took on a faint reddish hue almost as if she was beginning to suffer from sunburn. Her grimace widened. It was clear that whatever she had picked up in her scan wasn't good.
"Tio! What's wrong?" Lloyd put his hands on her shoulders. "It's okay. You can stop scanning now."
Tio's eyes shot wide open as she took in a deep breath, her glowing equipment shutting off in an instant. She took deep, quick breaths. Worried she might keel over, Lloyd wrapped an arm around her shoulder and had her lean against him.
"Easy, you did great." Lloyd reassured her. "Take your time. You're all right. You're safe."
"Tio? What happened?" Elie approached Tio along with the others, a look of almost-motherly concern adorning her face.
"There's only a single presence in the Ancient Battlefield – on top of the hill at the northwestern edge. It's like a swirling vortex made entirely of rage and killing intent," Tio replied. "It…it felt like staring into a furnace. Whatever that presence may be, it certainly is not the last Blade Fang we were looking for. Nothing and nobody I have ever encountered radiated so much hatred."
Lloyd's gaze followed the blood trail, already certain as to what it belonged to. The strange energy signature was also a clue that confirmed the hypothesis rapidly taking shape in his mind. The dangerous presence was beyond concerning. Squatter or no, the CSPD was still obliged to assume their innocence and protect them until the law ran its due course. Plus, they would have to make the Ancient Battlefield safe for tourists once more. By his police oath and the mandate of the SSS, there was only one way they could go…
"Special Support Section, return to the vehicle and check your equipment one last time," Lloyd addressed the team. "Our mission is to investigate the Ancient Battlefield, locate the final Blade Fang, and confirm the squatter's status. It seems the time has come for us to fight."
Ancient Battlefield
"Go go go!"
At Lloyd's command, the SSS scrambled out of the car and assumed a circular combat formation around their vehicle. After making sure there were no immediate threats, Lloyd waved the team forward. As the SSS followed the blood trail, Lloyd's eyes scanned from right to left for any threats and clues. The oppressive stench of death was even stronger than usual thanks to the countless monster corpses littering the area.
"The old fella Junie talked to was right. Everything around here is just plain dead," Randy mused. "You guys seeing this too? All the scorching, empty shotgun hulls, plus the fact nobody bothered picking up all the Sepith that's just laying around."
"It's strange," Elie said. "Even wildlife is naturally drawn to eating any Sepith they come across."
Lloyd's mind was on overdrive, divided between watching for threats and trying to make sense of everything around him. It was clear that whoever or whatever was responsible for the massacre didn't care for – or didn't know – the value of Sepith. The pieces were quickly coming together, and the image in his mind – the truth – was almost in sight.
As the team entered the Sun Fort's outer courtyard, a plum of smoke in the distance caught Lloyd's eye. By his estimate, it appeared to come from the same hill where Tio said the unnerving presence was. The others must have noticed too, with subtle shifts in their gazes and their bodies tensing up almost immediately afterwards. The nagging feeling in Lloyd's stomach grew stronger, and the hair on the back of his neck shot up as his body instinctively went on full alert.
"Keep moving," Lloyd ordered the team. "We're almost there."
With Lloyd's steady guidance from the front, the SSS advanced into the inner courtyard. Instead of veering left to follow the blood trail, Lloyd led them towards the gate to the Sun Fort. The witness statements were quite vague as to where the squatter came from, but Lloyd had an inkling that the fortress offered clues.
He was right.
The SSS advanced through the broken main gate, up the steps into the fortress itself, and halted at the end of the entryway. There was a faint rotting stench coming from within, and Lloyd knew he didn't need to advance further inside in order to discover its source.
"Sorry for the detour, everyone, but I believe this is a crucial part of our investigation," Lloyd explained. "Take a look at the rubble and the way it's spread. The squatter most likely broke out of the Sun Fort from inside."
He then turned to Juna.
"I remember what you told us about the battle against McBurn and the fact he came from The Beyond," Lloyd said. "I strongly believe the squatter is also from there."
"WHAT?!" Juna exclaimed, and the others reacted similarly.
"I didn't think of the possibility at first, but all the clues we have found seem to point at that theory," Lloyd said. "Think about it. The unknown energy signatures Tio found on the body, the fact whoever killed all the monsters didn't appear to use an Orbal weapon or even knew what Sepith are, and this."
"What do we do now?" Juna asked.
"We follow the blood trail and confront the squatter. Facing the unknown and uncovering the truth has been a part of the SSS's existence since the very beginning," Lloyd replied. "We didn't know anything about Ouroboros and the Cult when we started off, but we've confronted them head-on to protect Crossbell and those we hold dear once those cruel truths came to light. If need be, we'll do the same with the squatter."
"Hoo boy, that takes me way back. If you told me back then about all the shit we'd be doing for the next few years, I'd laugh you off and think you're more suited for the loony bin than the police force," Randy smirked as he turned his attention to Juna. "How about it, Junie? You ready to put everything you've learned so far to the test?"
"Of course I am!" Juna grinned. "And I thought my first day would be boring! Compared to the Great Twilight, this'll be a cakewalk!"
"I'm glad for the vote of confidence," Lloyd said. "Now, let's head outside and go meet our squatter."
With that, the team returned to the inner courtyard and followed the blood trail up the hill. As they ascended, the chill at the back of Lloyd's neck grew even more intense. He tried his best to tune out that feeling. As the leader of the Special Support Section, he needed to project a steady and confident image to his team especially in the face of this unknown threat.
As they got closer to the source of the smoke plume, the smell of freshly roasted meat filled their noses. Soon, they were at the summit, where Lloyd and the team were greeted with a horrifying sight.
The Blade Fang Alpha Male lay in a pile, having apparently been torn apart by bare hands. The suspected culprit sat in front of the SSS, separated from the team by a blazing bonfire that was lined with monster meat skewers. Just like in the picture, the squatter was dressed in a suit of advanced-looking green armor, except the helmet had been removed which gave Lloyd a good look at his face. The stranger's features were well-worn and reminded Lloyd of the assorted Jaegers and soldiers he had encountered so far in his career, and his hardened glare shifted back and forth between the different members of the team as if sizing them up for his next kill. If the picture failed to convey one thing, it was just how gigantic the squatter was. Parts of his armor were missing – possibly deliberately removed – which exposed his massive rippling biceps. By Lloyd's best estimates, the squatter towered over – and had wider shoulders – than even Randy.
"Is…is that our squatter?" Juna stammered out as she pointed towards the scene in front of them. "And is he just eating the monster we were supposed to hunt down?"
Lloyd hadn't been able to process what he was seeing at first, but Juna's words snapped him back to reality. Sure enough, the squatter was indeed tearing into the dead Blade Fang as if it were nothing but a roasted chicken. He roughly scooped up a large pile of cooked brain matter from within the monster's charred skull before shoving the goop into his mouth, all the while keeping his glare fixed on the SSS.
"This can't be right. He has to have accomplices," Elie muttered. "How can a single person take on all those monsters, including a Blade Fang Alpha, and win?"
Lloyd thought back to a similar situation in the past, when they had run into Randy's uncle who happened to be one of the deadliest Jaegers in all of Zemuria. Yet even Sigmund Orlando had only taken on a small pack of monsters and didn't eat them afterwards. Meanwhile, the stranger plucked out the dead monster's eyeballs and stuffed them into his mouth. While keeping up the glare that seemed to bore into Lloyd's soul, the squatter chewed down on the eyeballs. He accentuated every crunch as if trying to make some kind of point.
"Lloyd…all that murderous intent I sensed earlier…he's the source," Tio strained out. "The Aeon System is off, but the aura is still overwhelming."
"Tio-Tot's sweating buckets, and this dude's freaking me out too," Randy said. "Gear doesn't look like it's from any corps I know of, but I can tell this guy has seen way more action than anyone I ever met."
"Just…just who in Aidios' name is this guy?" Noel said.
What kind of person are we even dealing with here? Lloyd thought, the stranger giving off the impression of a tiger that was ready to pounce. Some new Ouroboros Enforcer?
Lloyd then shook his head. No. I will not allow myself to be intimidated like this. As the leader of the SSS, I need to rally my team and not lose spirit. As an officer of the CSPD, I must protect the city and uphold the law, no matter how high the barrier may be.
Steeling himself for what may come next, Lloyd stood up straight and took a deep breath.
"Excuse me, sir. I'm with the Crossbell State Police Department," Lloyd spoke calmly and evenly as he looked at the squatter squarely in the eyes, trying his best to tune out the stranger's glare. "I'd like to ask you some questions."
The squatter raised an eyebrow before tossing the Blade Fang's skull over his shoulders. He then leaned over to grab his helmet, still glaring at Lloyd as he did so. Just as the skull splashed into the river far below the hilltop, the squatter pushed himself up with a grunt, and drew himself up to his full height.
AUTHENTICATING…CREDENTIAL CONFIRMED.
WELCOME, [DATA WITHHELD].
EXECUTING DOWNLOAD…
DOWNLOAD COMPLETE.
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CODEX – MISC. WORLD INFO
MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
Prior to the early Middle Ages, different regions throughout post-Great Collapse Zemuria used their own systems of measurement which drastically differed from each other. Devised by – and named after - the Septian Church, the Septian System quickly spread throughout Western Zemuria along with the church. By S. 550, all native forms of measurement have been edged out by the Septian System which remains in use in modern times.
Below is a partial list of Septian units and their Earth metric counterparts:
1 midge = 1 millimetre
1 rege = 1 centimetre
1 arge = 1 metre
1 selge = 100 metres
1 gerim = 1 gram
1 curim = 1 kilogram
1 torim = 1 tonne
COMPILED BY: [DATA WITHHELD]
FOR: THE DOOM SLAYER
A/N: I probably won't be doing any writing until late May because I'm going on a firefighting course, so I wanted to get something out before the course starts. I originally wanted to focus on DDBB, but it turns out I have much more material for chapter 2 of this story than DDBB's next chapter.