Hey guys, chapter 66 here!

If any of you haven't noticed, Mojang is actually a sub company for Microsoft, which is the main company. Considering Vert represents Microsoft, I thought naming that village as such appropriate. Now, lets get onto the story!


Chapter 66 - Mojang Village

"Spec Ops, we're nearly at the village. Estimated time of arrival: 20 minutes. Look to our right, you can see it from here." The Driver called out to them from the front seat, snapping the Spec Ops being transported out of their silence. His voice was almost robotic, thanks to transmitting through speakers.

Because of the barrier between them, Nico's enhanced hearing and senses couldn't pick up any details that could be hinted to his current condition. Not something he could appreciate, made him feel like he was in the dark.

Nevertheless, the Agents, hearing that they were close to their destination, looked out of several windows on the right side of the transport. They saw the village in the distance, their road leading through a large field before veering off to the right. The road then winded up an uphill journey, curving around the hill, before stopping at the village entrance. Leanbox villages, like the capital, had a medieval theme in its architecture, with a bonus city wall erected around it. It was illuminated by the light of the looming moon and the stars surrounding it, almost like a save point in a digital game.

However, there was several things that they noticed were off about the Village.

"Uhhhh… guys? Why does there seem to not be any monsters?" Ivan questioned, scratching his jaw in confusion. "Wasn't the reports indicating an Abnormal presence? Cause I don't see any."

Raven hummed as she eyed the empty fields they passed by along their journey. Her eyes, hidden by her Mask, scanned them like they were supercomputers processing data, taking in every detail. Her eyes narrowed into slits a moment later. "Looks like there were Abnormals here. I can see remnants of craters on the fields. Smells of sweat in the air possibly indicates that someone ought the Abnormals. They were here, but something else happened." She summarized.

Nico glanced over to Raven, the black-haired leader of Team RAIL resting a hand on the hilt of her Odachi. He knew from her profile and experience that she always had keener senses than a normal person. Not as great as his own, as proven through various tasting and sensory tests, but still slightly above average. She had honed those senses to her advantage though, plus she could still live a normal life.

Him on the other hand…

"Looks like we have ourselves a war-like scenario." Lucy began, humming to herself like her leader did. "I remember that Leanbox used to be a land filled with warring tribes, vying for power. Even after Leanbox's founding, there were some tribes who decided to stay out of it and become bandits instead, though I heard most of them had been wiped out by the Abnormals." She pondered, a low scowl on her lips as she remembered those events.

Aiden then put in his two cents, scanning everything with a critical eye. "Whatever happened here, it happened hard and fast. Like how it long it takes for CYBORG to get rejected at a bar." He ignored the loud 'Hey!' of indignation that Ivan shouted his way, in favour of continuing on. Although there were a few snickers from Lucy, Nico, and Isaac. "From what I can see, this happened likely during the night. Most of the craters were formed likely by the guardsman for the village judging by their shape. Though there are some odd few that are… very oddly shaped." He stated, eyes hardening at the oddity he had seen.

"You guys seen this before?" Isaac questioned, glancing towards them though it was difficult to tell thanks to his Helmet. "You five act like you've had experience with things like this." It wasn't an uncommon observation, Isaac knew that Spec Ops tend to have some weird encounters every now and then. This just seemed like one of those.

Guts however, merely grunted as he once again took a seat, his sword by his side while he leaned against the wall of the transport, closing his eyes and seemingly falling asleep. His disinterest in the events before him had clearly been stated through these actions.

Not minding him, Raven answered while her hand rubbed the base of her Odachi's hilt with her palm. "You could say that. Stuff like this has been common for us, since Lastation." She told him, her coldness still present. However, Isaac seemed to have passed some mental test of hers, as it wasn't as cold as before. It sounded formal still, but there was less likely to be a bloodbath.

A relief, since Raven had been prone to causing riots in the past.

"Shit, you guys must have it rough." Isaac remarked with a thoughtful frown. They didn't answer him, which was more than enough of an answer for the man as they awaited their eventual disembarking.


Finally, the group of Spec Ops were able to leave the transport, which had parked outside the main entrance. A silent breeze blew through the village. Its touch may have felt calm and refreshing, but it also carried an undertone of ominous tension and anxiety, making the Spec Ops Agents reflexively twitch their brows. Their training prevented much of a reaction to this situation, it was practically a daily occurrence for them.

The village, like from afar, was practically devoid of life. The atmosphere was in a word, empty, lifeless. Like a corpse, only to them, it felt much worse than that. But unlike from afar, they were all able to notice something else about the village.

"You guys…"

"Yeah, we know, Ivan."

Ivan had been the first to voice it, and Lucy all but confirmed that the rest of them had the same thoughts. This village, it looked like it had been ransacked or something. The buildings were either partially or completely destroyed. The former had its remains on one side while the latter existed only as piles of rubble. Some spaces on the ground seemed oddly like they were charred. Some of them even had charred craters in them, like something had impacted against the ground. Some of the buildings had charred sections as well.

Not only that, but it looked like there were fortifications built around the village, like some military had been prepping to fight here but got overrun before the defences could be set up. In Nico's eye, thanks to his Armour's helmet, this seemed slightly familiar… something like an incident that happened in Lowee a while back…

The faces of a sadistic, sarcastic troll, and a silver haired military Lastation General, came to mind.

"This Village was attacked." Guts stated bluntly, his massive sword resting on his shoulder as he held it in his right hand. "By my account, it seems like an Abnormal did this. Could be the creature that's jamming our satellite equipment." By no means was he discounting the possibility of the Overlord Cultists, however these charred areas, and the craters by extension… they felt off to him. Unnatural, wrong even.

Aiden glanced to the larger armoured man. "Not just any Abnormal it seems…" he stated, approaching one of the craters. He kneeled by one while the others scattered across the entrance, searching for any clues as to what could have happened here. As he examined the craters, Aiden picked up a piece of the charred ground, rubbing it within his fingers. "Looks recent. The ground seems freshly charred." He noted, deciding to deposit the now designated 'sample' to his Inventory for the Guild's researchers to look at.

Nico stood before one of the partially damaged buildings. He raised his right Bracer and had it scan the building for any abnormalities. He couldn't shake off the feeling that was spreading from his gut. The feeling that this wasn't any of the usual stuff to do with Abnormals, it was something he'd gotten from the moment the group had first set foot onto this place.

He glanced up at the night skies, eyeing the moon that shone down on them from its perch in outer space. The stars surrounding it twinkled beautifully, unaffected by the chaos that went on in the world of Gamindustri. On any other night, Nico would have found such a sight beautiful. He remembered stargazing with Compa before Neptune crashed into their lives, literally.

But right now, all he could feel was this sense of being watched. Not in the good way either.

Then, Nico decided to get some information from his demonic persona. 'What do you think, Biko?' he asked him, feeling his presence through the mental link they shared. 'Do you think this is…?'

'Demonic in nature?' Biko finished, already knowing what he was thinking. They were mentally linked after all, it would be next to impossible to hide things from each other. 'I cannot tell just yet; however, I do believe I agree with that Guts character. I have analysed your past memories of Abnormal encounters, and so far, I have not seen craters like these.' Biko explained, and if he was in his inner world, Nico would have seen how his demonic persona frowning deeply. 'However, I will not rule out your demon feeling. I'll be checking the fragmented memories soon enough, hopefully I can glean some information from them. For now, check your Bracer, its finished scanning.'

'Huh?' Nico blinked, returning to the real world and looking down at his Bracer. He saw that the Bracer's screen displayed the 'Scan Complete' message and a 'view' button beneath it, making him raise a brow. 'Huh, well how about that. Let's see what we got here…'

While the teen looked over his Bracer's scans, Lucy and Raven stood at the front of the street, eyeing their surroundings with critical gazes. There was no sign of their usual animosity, both being in full-on work mode. Raven had her hand on her Odachi's hilt, clutching it in case she had to make a quick-draw to fend off any surprise attacks, while Lucy looked deceptively loose. One look at her eyes though, and you could tell that she was just as alert as the rest of them.

"An invasion happened here." Lucy stated calmly, her eyes harder than a Turtle's shell. She had her arms crossed under her ample bosom, and this time it was unintentional, but they were further pronounced their development before her Leader. "It happened hard, fast, and the defenders didn't stand a chance."

Raven nodded, her eyes narrowing into sits behind her mask. She ignored the detail about Lucy's breasts, sensing no condescending intent behind the gesture as she scanned their surroundings. "That's usually the case with village guards. They don't have the technology the military does." She stated. It was impossible to see if she was frowning behind her Mask, as she turned to her second in command. "Whoever did this had to have known the times when their guard was at their weakest. They struck too precisely, if one looks at the damaged buildings they'll see that they're mostly guard garrisons and militaristically valuable targets."

Lucy nodded her head in agreement. "Same here. Also…" the redhead suddenly leaned close, whispering into Raven's ear something that made her eyes harden. Harder than they were before, if that were possible, behind her Mask.

"Are you certain of this?"

"You bet your ass, I am."

Back with the Transport, Isaac and the driver were discussing something. The man had heard these various snippets of conversation, and already knew that the driver shouldn't be here. "Dude, you might want to leave for the time being. I'll call you when we need Evac." He told the driver.

Said driver, a man in his late thirties with an all-black uniform, darker-than-normal skin, and a single eyepatch while a cap was over his head, didn't look too happy in the slightest. In fact, it was safe to say that he had a frustrated, yet fearful, expression on his features. "But sir, my orders were to transport you to the mission area and wait for the duration! I can't go back, or they'll get mad at me!" he tried to protest.

If this was any other Agent, then that may have worked. But Spec Ops Agents, no matter the nation, take care of their own, and that fact was shown once more when Isaac figuratively put his boot down. "No, you have to leave, and that's final. Besides, its not like you're abandoning us, if we need transport then we'll call for you. What's your name again?"

"S-Sam, Sam Hawkins, ISHIMURA, sir."

"Alright, Hawkins." Isaac began, nodding to himself as he memorized the name till he could recite it by heart. He did this for nearly every Agent he met, so they would be remembered if they died. "I'll clear things up with those up top if you go now. You have a family right? Wife, probably a kid or two?" At Hawkins nodding in confirmation about the wife, but not the kid part, Isaac continued while placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm making sure you stay away so you can get back to your beloved wife. I'd hate to have to tell her the bad news that you'd died on duty."

Hawkins stared at the man, his eye filled with awe as he heard the man's heart-warming words. "So… is it really true?" he asked, trembling as he bit the inside of his cheek. "That Spec Ops are all arrogant asses? Cause you don't sound like it, to me."

Isaac scoffed at the mention of that particular story. "Only some, and they slander our name just for their own gain. Not like that myself, got a wonderful wife waiting for me back home. Even if shit hits the fan here, I have something to go back to. Thing is, you're a normal person, so you don't have the same assurances. Go back to at least back over the fields, and wait over at the other side. You should be safe at that distance. Talk to your wife tell her that you're okay. Let us deal with the dangerous shit."

In the end, Hawkins couldn't help but be awed by the Spec Ops Agent before him. His eyes may be covered by his helmet, but the warmth and concern for him, a simple driver, was clear as day. He glanced to the others in the group, to see that while some didn't look it, all of them were paying attention to the conversation. They actually took concern for his safety, which wasn't something that could be said often about disposable characters like him.

It made him feel more important than he really was.

"Th-Thank you, sir!" The man finally spoke, lowering his head in reverence like he was before the CPU herself. "I'll do exactly as you say!" he exclaimed, before making a beeline for the APC. He boarded it, started up the engine, and made a U turn to head back across the fields, going down the hill road first of course. If one were to look, they'd see that the driving represented the man's excitement at being able to talk to his wife soon.

As the man drove down to the fields below, Nico looked over to Isaac completely, his brow raised as he didn't bother hiding his impressed gaze from him. If he had his Armour's helmet open, then he would have been seen smirking in satisfaction and respect for the Leanbox Spec Ops Agent. "That was a good thing you did, making sure he didn't get himself killed." He complimented. "Not many would think to warn them like you did."

"Meh, I knew someone who did the same to me before I became a Spec Ops." Isaac responded, waving a hand dismissively. He looked up at the starry sky, and the others got the feeling that the man was losing himself in old memories. "He realised the danger I would be in if I stayed, so he let me get some distance. Good thing too, cause the mission went sour and he barely escaped alive. Though he died on the journey back."

The other Agents frowned, or the ones that had their expressions visible did. "Did you know him well?" Lucy questioned. Death wasn't an uncommon thing in their line of work. It was practically their dance partner their entire lives, so they had come to terms with such a thing. Though, there were some amongst their ranks that didn't have that fear to guide them, while others just thought they were untouchable.

In response, the man shook his helmet-covered head, glancing at his right hand which held one of his weapons: A Plasma Cutter. According to Isaac, it was one of his best weapons, and a 'long-time friend' of his.

The standard Model was a 211-V Plasma Cutter, developed by Leanbox Engineers when they raided Planeptune and stole some of their research on Plasma Technology. The 211-V is a tool designed to be used in mining operations. It uses two alignment blades on the side, and three lights on the front, to help the user accurately cut through softer minerals. It uses an internal power source, is compact/light enough to be easily portable, and can be even used one handed (due to its light weight).

The Plasma Cutter delivers a cohesive pulse-stream, or "bolt", of ionized plasma when fired. It is capable of firing bolts vertically (primary firing mode) and horizontally (secondary firing mode). The Plasma Cutter is very accurate, utilizing three blue lasers to indicate the desired cutting plane.

On impact with the target, bolt cohesion fails frontward first, penetrating the target with a focused jet of superheated matter. This causes intense localized shear effects as well as a tunnelling thermal expansion. When used upon brittle, frozen rocks riddled with faults, it can split them open in one or two shots in skilled hands. Against pliable targets, however, impact will cause minimal damage and thermal expansion will not so much cut as stress the area around the impact site, sometimes requiring several consecutive hits with the non-upgraded tool. Still, when presented with a less than effective alternative against dense organic matter, the 211-V Plasma Cutter retains its utility.

The Plasma Cutter utilizes variable-capacity cartridges called Plasma Energy as its ammunition which is capable of cutting down hard, mineral laden rocks in mining operations. Though seeming to only contain stored energy in them, plasma is in fact highly ionized matter, so either the cartridge is a combination battery/plasma medium, or the Cutter itself contains a reservoir of usable material to carry the ion charge.

This one was smaller than the standard 211-V model, but it held signs of constant use, meaning that it had to have been a good partner for a long ass time. Its emitter had covers that retracted over its front, presumably to prevent accidental discharge while not in use. These covers open up though when the weapon is activated.

Ivan looked at the weapon curiously, raising his Bionic arm as he asked the man a question that popped into his head like a balloon. "So, uh, you carry anything like swords, daggers and stuff? I don't see any hidden weapons on you, unless they're in your Inventory."

Looking back up to him, Isaac chuckled as he held his Plasma Cutter in one hand over his shoulder, a lot like Guts did with his sword. "Nah, got me some CQC skills for that. Different weapons and extra Ammo for em is all loaded into my Inventory, so I'm good. Plus, I got this."

He picked up a small pebble on the ground and tossed it into the air. He then held his hand out, and what looked like a wave shot out of it, colliding with the pebble. To their surprise, the pebble seemingly froze in mid-air, like time around it had completely stopped. Though, if one looked hard enough they'd see that it was still indeed moving, but barely even at a snail's pace.

"A Stasis Module…" Nico whispered under his breath, surprise shining in his lone eye. "So, that's one of the modules you have installed into your RIG…" He had heard of such Modules before. Apparently, they worked by producing a temporary time dilation, making objects move at an extremely slow rate for a period.

It was some interesting technology, all right, but Nico never got the chance to use it himself. He wasn't completely overpowered, he had his own Armour, his Plasma and Demonic weapons, as well as his DPU Powers which were unusable at the moment, and IT to fall back on if the time ever came.

"Yep, real beauty. Helped me get out of more jams than I'd care to mention." Isaac boasted, all of them getting the impression that he was proud of his gear. It was a perfectly normal thing to be proud of one's skillset and equipment, as long as they don't go to arrogant about it. That's when lines were crossed.

"Yeah well, anyways, my Bracer scanned the charred earth, looks like we have-"

BOOM!

Behind Isaac, the Spec Ops saw something crash into the middle of the road, halfway between the base of the hill and to the opposite side. Unfortunately, their transport was in that space, so with the boulder crashing on it…

It was destroyed, killing the Driver instantly.

"Oh, shit!" Ivan exclaimed in shock, backpedalling. His mouth fell open behind his face mask, his goggles failing to hide his stunned, disbelieving eyes. If his face wasn't concealed, his jaw might have fallen free to the ground. "What the fuck was that?!"

Lucy made to answer, when she glanced to the skies above them. Her eyes narrowed into slits, oddly resembling the eyes of her leader, until they shot open with horror. "You guys, we gotta move, its an ambush!"

Her cry came too late, as a whole shower of 34 crimson and orange meteors began falling from the skies, illuminating the skies red. Where they came from, the Spec Ops Agents had no clue, but they knew one thing and one thing only as the meteors crashed into the village around them.

They were going to be in for a rough night.


"…"

"What is it?" Arfoire questioned. Her sole companion in the night, had stopped moving along the shadows for a good 10 minutes. It may not have any eyes yet, but something in her gut told her that the being was staring in a certain direction. He just didn't know where that would be exactly.

And that was something that was highly irritating to the Witch woman.

"… I sense… demon ENERGY… in that DIRECTION…"

The woman's anger halted when she heard those words, replacing itself with confusion and curiosity. She got a better idea of where it was looking when the Deity created a Tendril and pointed to the south west. But the only thing in that direction would be Mojang Village…

Oh.

OH.

'Did those mortals do what I think they did?' Arfoire wondered, barely able to hide her surprise at the audacity humans had. If THAT was what they had done, then she couldn't help but be torn on whether to praise them or call them absolute idiots. Doing THAT would have far reaching consequences, for both the caster and the lands for centuries to come, thanks to demonic energy's truly destructive nature.

"No MATTER. We must continue our SEARCH… I must FEED…"

With the lack of interest in the events going on at Mojang Village, the deity began to move again, with Arfoire trailing behind it. She silently wondered what would happen there, and mentally resolved to find out herself.


Things had gone to hell real quickly.

That was the group consensus that the Spec Ops Agents had as they each dealt with a certain situation.

Those meteors? Well guess what, they weren't exactly meteors, but massive hulking Golems made out of floating rock, molten magma, and pure fire. How they were held together was an unknown to most of the party, and by most, that meant everyone but Nico.

Said male was currently working together with Raven in the centre of the Village, fighting a Golem the size of a single-story house. It gave a loud roar, smashing its large stone hand where Raven stood once had she not managed to roll out of the way in time. Her Odachi in hand, Raven swiftly ran towards it, intending to cut through its right arm. Her Odachi was blue in blade colour, indicating she was using Ice elements for her blade this time.

However, she stopped just before she could hit, hissed and jumped back. She glanced downwards, noticing that some areas of her clothes had been horribly burnt just by being near the Golem. "Tch, that's a pain…" she muttered in annoyance. She held her Odachi in a specific stance, activating a Skill as her blade began to glow.

"THOUSAND POUND CANNON!"

She made a single slashing motion, and her Odachi almost roared with the winds that were unleashed from her blade. The Skill sped across the area like a torrent of wind, hitting the Golem head on. It didn't even try to dodge, the winds whipping away at its flames as it covered its face with its massive hands. Its feet dug deep into the ground below, trying to keep it anchored to it. However, the Skill managed to send it sliding back over 20 metres.

When the skill ended though, it was still standing. Albeit with several gashes winding up and down its stone, but other than that it was fine.

Behind her Mask, Raven scowled, her eyes shining with the challenge this for presented towards her. She quickly made to use another Skill, however the beast before them unleashed a breath of fire from its flaming skull-like mouth, making her eyes go wide behind her Mask in surprise. She had little time to curse, as she rolled out the way of it, tumbling back to a standing position before she ducked under a horizontal swing. She cursed again as she realised that it had gotten close to her near instantaneously, showcasing its high speed.

Despite its size, anyways.

'Biko, those Fragmented Memories say anything?!' he shouted in his mind, quickly bending backwards to avoid a stream of crimson fire sent his way by the Golem. Almost like a certain character with an N that was famous for his slow-mo shots.

'They call this race the Infernals! Demons who have fiery auras that burn any who get too close!' Biko urgently informed. In his inner world, Biko was sweating bullets, uncharacteristically nervous. Nico couldn't help but be stunned by this while flipping back to his feet, then jumping to the side to avoid a fist trying to crush him to a pulp. 'They may not have much intelligence, but they can destroy entire cities before they extinguish themselves with their own energies, thus being sent back to the void from whence they came!'

Well, wasn't that a barrel of laughs? Nico couldn't help the sarcastic snort that escaped his lips at the thoughts racing through his mind. A demon whose aura prevented him from getting close, kind of annoying. Most of his Skills required him to be close to the enemy, he was pretty OP when it came to short to mid ranged combat, but he had few weapons that would be effective in long ranged combat aside from Ebony and Ivory.

Problem was, that those guns took bullets made from his demonic energy, and with his current condition, he wouldn't be able to use them for very long before going into a seizure, as Biko had warned him. His only options were his PHANTOM BLADES Skill, PHANTOM WAVE, PLASMA BLAST, CHAINS OF HEPHAESTUS, Plasma Cannons, Plasma Launcher, and that was pretty much it.

Well, he had to make do with the cards he'd been dealt, pull a Jim Raynor and all that jazz.

'Alright, lets see how it likes some exploding Plasma Cells…' Nico thought, quickly summoning his Plasma Launcher and unloading a bunch of its shells into the creature's face. The attack caught it by surprise, thus the attack managed to land its mark by colliding with its head, electing a roar from it as it stumbled backwards. Its aura, now that Raven wasn't near it anymore, didn't feel like it would burn her alive anymore.

"Raven, that thing's called an Infernal!" he bellowed to his comrade, who glanced at him to show he had her attention. "It's dying of its own energies but judging by its size its obviously has a lot of it! Its aura allows it to be immune to CQC unless you wanna become fried barbecue, so stick to ranged attacks!"

Wordlessly, Raven nodded as she turned her attention to the Beast before them. If this thing was called an Infernal, then the male assumed that it was some sort of Demon. But, the questions of why it was here and how it got here eluded him, for now. He decided to focus on their battle first, then they'd go help the rest of them.

Hopefully, they would be alright till then.


"Hey, I just got a message from Nico!" Ivan yelled to his two partners, who happened to be Lucy and Aiden, as they fought against not one, but two Infernals, both the size of a two-story building. Both demonic beasts glared at them, their eyeless sockets literally ablaze. "Turns out these fuckers can burn you just by getting close to them, and the best way to beat them is to wear them down at mid to long range!"

Lucy groaned rolling her eyes as she gripped her right shoulder. It had been dislocated during the battle, and with a wince, she had relocated it back into place. Audible cracks echoed through the air at this action, making Ivan grimace while Aiden flew through the skies, peppering the Infernals with rounds from his dual Pistols. "Well, at least one of us will be having a fun time up there." She groaned, jealous.

Unlike a lot of their ranks, Aiden held the advantage of flight plus long-range weaponry, making him an ideal recon soldier. Not to say he was a slouch in CQC, but that was more of Nico's specialty, that and mid ranged attacks. His weapons included close to mid range, while if he were to be engaged in a long ranged shootout, then Nico would have to rely only on his senses, and even they could be fooled. His weaknesses were disabled like settings in a game menu whenever he transformed though, something that Nico had found out while training.

All the more reason to use that form sparingly, in his eyes anyways.


Guts and Isaac stood back to back, surrounded by 10 Infernals, knowing their names after Isaac relayed the message to his partner when Nico sent him it. These ones were arguably smaller, the size of an 8-foot-tall human, actually, so they would be having an easier time than the others.

Although, Isaac almost laughed when he felt the disappointment from Guts' back.

"Chillax, Guts, I know you wanna take the big boys since you're used to doing that every single goddamn day." Isaac spoke, a teasing smile on his lips under his helmet. He held his Plasma Cutter and fired a shot at an approaching Infernal, knocking it back from the recoil. Its durability, despite not sharing the size of the ones the others were likely fighting against, was still commendable since it managed to endure the blow.

He grimaced, before instinctively and swiftly ducking as Guts swung his massive sword around him like a whirlwind. The resulting air blast swept the Infernals backwards by a good 10 metres, with several gashes appearing on their stone pieces.

Holding his sword in a two-handed stance, Guts glanced behind him as he regarded his companion. "You take half, I take the other." He stated, before charging in with a mighty war cry, ignoring the indigent 'Guts!' response that Isaac tried giving him.

An urge to groan at his companion's bloodlust surged within the other man's chest. He quashed it though, this was how his partner always was, ever since that incident 2 years ago.

'Guy's working too hard lately, he's overworking himself, which is going to get himself killed…' Isaac thought, frowning behind his helmet. One Infernal tried to smash a fist into him, but the man threw his free hand forwards and his Stasis Module activated. The erupting wave that flew from his hand and immobilised the creature, log enough for him to pivot out the way and fire several shots to his opponents head.

He then rolled to the side to avoid 2 fire streams, from 1 Infernal each. He shot one in the leg, being close enough to it to not be affected by its immolation aura but close enough for his shot to kick its leg into the air. He did the same with the other one before he tossed his weapon into the air, the weapon vanishing into his Inventory.

Next second, he had a new weapon in his hands, mentally commanded to appear from his Inventory. His beloved C99 – Supercollider Contact Beam or Contact Beam for short. Like the Force Gun, another weapon Isaac possessed, the Contact Beam was an energy projector that utilizes kinetic energy. As its name suggests, it is a miniaturized particle accelerator intended for mining operations.

To operate to its actual purpose, the Contact Beam needs to be charged for a brief period. When fully charged and fired, the Contact Beam delivers a huge kinetic discharge that obliterates anything it comes into contact. As such, the weapon trades speed and precision for damage.

With these Infernals though, speed wasn't much of an issue, so this thing was like their anti-Christ.

A grin spread across his face, hidden beneath his helmet, as Isaac aimed at an incoming infernal, charging the Contact Beam and unleashing hell on its ass. The released attack completely sliced through the creature's right arm, blowing it clean off without much resistance thanks to the power behind the blow. The Infernal screamed and roared with intense agony.

"Hehehehe… I so love this thing…"

Hearing Isaac's joy-filled comment about his Contact Beam, Guts looked over to him after having driven his Sword, held in a reverse grip mind you, into the back of an Infernal's chest. His eyes were shown to be a deadpan as the beast vanished in a swirling flicker of red flames. "You going on about that thing…?"

It was more of a statement than a question, but it was spoken nonetheless. Isaac turned to him, and though he couldn't see it, the armoured man knew that Isaac was giving him an equally deadpanned expression. "You carry a massive fucking sword with armour that can resist elemental damage, freeing you for close combat against these things. AND," he held up a finger while firing at another Infernal's face, without even looking. "You jump into flames like a child embracing its mother. Don't judge me."

"I am not questioning your love of your guns." Guts stated bluntly as he blocked a swing from hitting him on the head. He then tilted his blade to deflect the blow away from him and went on to decapitating the Infernal. It vanished into flames like the previous one did.

His partner however, didn't share his sentiment right now. "You say that…"

Deciding that saying any more would be a waste of time, Isaac readied his Contact Beam as the Infernals charged at him. "Lets just show them why we're Leanbox Spec Ops, alright?"

"Agreed."