Chapter 183 - The Youma Production Facility PT1

"...Great, the last thing I needed before the final stretch of this big mission is this…"

A frustrated murmur escaped his lips as one Nico grumbled in annoyance, sitting in the middle of what looked like a field of flowers… flowers which were glowing a brilliant crimson color which turned the entire field into this crimson bloody red, reminding him of the lifeblood that his body needed to survive off on. Even though a bit of variation had been introduced to his Ghoulish appetite thanks to the Gourmet Cells, Nico made sure to remember the roots from which his Ghoul side had come from. Those roots had been the source of many of his problems and hardships over the years, to forget them would be akin to being practically retarded.

For his goal of obtaining intel, his head turned from left to right and vice versa repeatedly, gazing at the familiar scenery with a look that perfectly matched the tone that he had used previously. Instinctively, he had figured out that he had been dreaming right now since this field had been one which he had seen multiple times at this point when he had been asleep. He remembered talking to his childish self here, he sometimes remembered having a few nightmares of his past in this field, things which had been happening ever since the visit to the Hot Springs. As much as he didn't like this place for… more than a few reasons, Nico knew for a FACT that if he was seeing this more and more, then it was proof.

Proof that his mind was slowly starting to piece itself back together.

It couldn't come soon enough if one asked him.

Let's just say that Nico couldn't wait to finally have the answers which he needed to possess before he could do anything with the girls.

Now then, let's get to the bottom of why he was here now of all times, cause he had a mission to accomplish, and losing sleep over another Nightmare was NOT on his list of agendas today. With this thought process in mind, Nico stood up from his previous position and dusted his coat down before trying to search once again for any answers to the reason behind him being here. Part of him suspected that it wasn't any of his various personas though, since he was the sole person in this place at the moment. If they were here, then they'd be present with him by now.

"...Power…"

...Turned out that not only was he correct in his earlier theory, but also Nico didn't need to do much because the cause apparently came to him. Internally, part of him humorously mused on the possibility that this source shared his own impatience. Though he didn't jump in a startled manner like a normal person would, upon hearing a dark, distorted voice which sounded eerily reminiscent of his inner Ghoul, Nico narrowed his eyes as he glanced behind him, his Kakugan activating as he gazed upon the sole another resident of this place. His mismatched eyes narrowed darkly at the sight. "You…"

"Yes… me… but you have forgotten, so you don't 'know' me other than as a figment of your broken psyche…"

The being before him took the form of an ominous black mass, a mass of what Nico couldn't really tell right now, but it seemed to be like some kind of energy from what he could see. The sole other feature that the mass had turned out to be a sole crimson eye with veins spreading across it. Yet, just from the sight of this being, Nico found himself overcome with a sense of dread, fear, and primal terror. His skin paled significantly, his eyes shrunk to the size of dots while visibly shaking, and his teeth started chattering. All sorts of emotions and thoughts exploded all at once inside of his mind upon seeing this mass, or rather what the mass represented and what it would mean for him…

Yet instead of letting these things control him as they had in the past, Nico quickly clamped down on all of them by clenching his fists and digging his nails into his flesh, focusing solely on that pain till he had regained control over his thoughts. While his body's reaction wasn't something he could control at the moment, plus he had to actively suppress the feelings in his gut alongside the sensation of his inner Ghoul running wild at the sight of this thing, Nico nevertheless managed to obtain a somewhat stable mindset before he looked into the mass's sole eye. "Yeah, you don't need to tell me that, I'm well aware of how fucked up I am."

"..." All the liabilities in this world are due to the inadequacies of the person involved."... a funny but true way to view a lot of things, wouldn't you say...?"

Instead of agreeing with what he had said, the black mass spoke about something else, effectively switching the topic. Yet, Nico wasn't mad at that, or rather, he couldn't get mad due to the state he was in. What he COULD do, however, was reflecting on what had been told to him, and to his shock he found himself agreeing with what the black mass had told him. Those words, they resonated with him on multiple levels, levels which went further into him than he could have ever anticipated, not to mention that he felt like he had heard of them before… from way back.

"...When someone goes through a tragedy, it is usually an event that leaves them feeling powerless and regretful. 'Could I have changed this or that?' 'Could things have been different if I had been like this or that?' 'Why did this happen to me?' Such questions are always asked by those involved, yet there's only one answer… because they failed to take the necessary action. If one doesn't face forwards and boldly go in the direction which prevents tragedy, then it will always befall them no matter what they would do..."

Nico gritted his teeth, stopping them from chattering at last as he listened to those words, memories of various failures which he had seen throughout his life returning to the forefront of his mind. This was also accompanied by blurry images, images that he could only make out a few details such as a head and a smile, one seemingly at peace yet tinged with a heavy dose of regret. But in the end, he once again had to face it: he could relate to the words which had been said to them, for no matter how many times he tried to avoid it, tragedy would always happen unless one took action.

But, if that was the case then how could one know whether or not their actions were the right ones? There wasn't any miracle ability to predict the future, and even if there was, Nico honestly wouldn't trust something like that since, to him, the future was something shaped by one's own actions.

Still, this left him without a proper answer to this, but no matter what Nico would do what he always did: he'd press forwards without stopping…

Just like a damn centipede.


After a brief spell of darkness that had overcome him not long after that talk with that strange black mass, Nico blinked when he began to feel himself waking up from the unconscious land. His light blue eyes slowly opened up, showing him to be in his hotel room within the city of RABONA. The male could tell this to be the case due to the shape of the room he had been in, not to mention that he quickly recalled the past events which had happened that led him to be in this place as a computer rapidly booting up by the will of the one using it. Right now, he lay in his PJ's, his main outfit being placed within his Void Storage.

Like a detachable Kagune, his outfit had been made from RC Cells so he could repair it or manipulate it based on his preferences by either injecting new RC Cells or manipulating the old ones. His PJs were a different story though, but that was why he liked them since they had their own 'charm' to them that kept them in his repertoire of outfits.

'Seriously, in video games why is it that most of the time characters in the story wear the same thing? Like, do they have any sort of variation? Heck, when characters get different skins they don't get shown in the cutscenes, it's just weird…' a part of him wondered as Nico groaned, sitting up and gritting his teeth while placing a hand over his forehead, a headache assaulting his senses. Though he didn't complain, since he had been used to these as they often appeared right after he had one of those nightmares. Well, nightmares may not be the right way to describe them, but they definitely weren't good dreams in his eyes, that's for sure.

One thing which helped make bearing them easier would be that they didn't last long, and once this one vanished (proving it to be no exception), Nico looked to the side towards the far right side of the room where a desk lay. On top of it, was a file containing a bunch of papers, papers which he had written and assembled himself regarding the Tekkadan, something which he had compiled shortly before going to bed last night. He had gone through multiple scenarios, considered various factors like their total casualties, munitions, supplies, and current capabilities, thus had come down to a total of two ideas.

The first idea: leave the Tekkadan here in RABONA, so they could reinforce its defenses (after all the last attack seemed to have weakened this settlement considerably) and conduct raids on Yoma in the surrounding areas, therefore creating enough chaos for them to get to the Facility without too much issue. This took into account their primary specialty which was high-speed raiding of the enemy on multiple kinds of fronts, as that had been the MO for the Tekkadan ever since he had become its leader after founding it. Their munitions didn't allow for much else, and the only reason why they had been able to successfully defeat that large Yoma hoard previously had been due to a combination of them having the element of surprise, as WELL as the fact that they had Urthemiel with them. Factors which wouldn't be the same in this situation as not only would the enemy likely be expecting them to attack the facility even if they suspected that they didn't know where it was Nico didn't believe they wouldn't put NOTHING up in terms of security, this enemy wasn't stupid in his eyes).

This also accounted for the report which he had received from his Archdemon shortly before his rest last night, informing him that despite the hoard's destruction, Yoma was still being sighted in droves throughout the surrounding lands. Some had been bigger than others, which was pretty much screaming 'target me!' to him… as well as his Tekkadan, thus Nico didn't believe that they should be ignored either. From what he had seen, the red-haired male believed that this had to be the reason why these people had resorted to evacuating the citizens who couldn't fight to another settlement, as after doing some research on RABONA it appeared that it had been suffering from constant Yoma attacks for a long-ass time, and their frequency had also been a noteworthy factor. 'They send a big hoard, then when it's defeated they send smaller groups to distract the enemy from getting rest until another one is assembled. Rinse, repeat, and eventual victory…' Nico thought to himself after getting out of his bed, sorting himself out through his morning routine before grabbing the research notes.

After depositing them into his Void Storage, The redhead began checking himself out in the mirror for some last-minute rundowns. All the while, he kept thinking about the ideas he had generated, or rather the second idea to be more specific. That idea was to take the Tekkadan with them and have them locate the facility first, using Urthemiel as a scout to plot their route, then once they found the Facility's location the Tekkadan would start conducting raids on the facility, harassing and weakening them till him and the other Agents dealt the final blow, destroying the facility once and for all.

THIS idea factored in the Tekkadan's capabilities as well, but it also emphasized the fact that they would be killing way more Yoma this way since this facility would be having a LOT more of them compared to around here since this place may as well have been their, well, origins in Lowee considering his theories. His forces held a MAJOR grudge against those who had enslaved them, partially dealt with via Nico's actions when they were freed, but if they got the chance to wipe out either them or anything even THEORETICALLY connected to them (like the Youma), then they'd take it without hesitation. The previous idea also considered this as a factor as well, but it felt a bit more prominent in this one.

Thus both ideas seemed quite feasible considering the factors involved, but he wanted to discuss it with the others first, and that included the reps for the Tekkadan forces stationed in RABONA. As such, once Nico had finished setting himself up for the day, he proceeded to head out through his room's door…

All the while ignoring the jeering from a spectral blackened figure floating ominously beside it.


In the end, it was decided that the first idea seemed like the best choice, everyone decided upon the morning meeting's conclusion. Not only did it seem more logical to attempt, but thanks to Katakuri's testimony that since the Facility was likely the source of the Youma in Lowee, then it would have some of the strongest pieces on the board which was likely going to be things which would wipe out any raiding parties sent their way, something which Gimli and Legolas agreed with (although out of the three reps they were the ones most disappointed at not being able to destroy the facility themselves, Lard believing that they should do their best to pick the options with the least amount of potential casualties).

Still, this also meant something which only became clear to him seconds after the meeting ended and everyone began to make final preparations for their journey: that Nico would be spending time away from his Tekkadan. Something which he hadn't done for quite a while. After fighting alongside them for so long now, it felt… strange to him, returning to his most effective method of handling things, and thus he didn't know how to feel about it. If his original self at this story's beginning heard him think of this, he'd probably have had a fit if Nico felt honest for a moment.

None of that stuff made his worry for his group decrease any, though. Since he wouldn't be with them this time, Nico worried about how they would fare, something which Lard had noticed and confronted him about.

"Bah, pay no attention to that, laddie. Us, and those pointy-eared folk I'll 'ave to admit, we're made of 'harder stuff than this, we'll get through this just like we always do. Those buggers'll think twice about messing with us by the time we're done, I assure you!"

Those had been the words that the Dwarven elder had used with an uproarious laugh while patting Nico on the back. He had the look of someone utterly confident in his words too, and considering how he had been with these bad boys longer than Nico had ever been, the redhead had chosen to believe in his words despite his memories of the Nature Elf Massacre saying otherwise. One thing he'd learned during his time leading this band of misfits was that he had to place a certain level of faith in their abilities, otherwise they would feel discontent, and THAT would give way to a whole load of problems that the male didn't want.

In current times, Nico and the other Agents gathered together in front of RABONA's main gates, ready to head out.

Looking up from his ride, Katakuri narrowed his eyes at the rest of them, doing one final headcount and noting that everyone was here. "Everyone ready?"

Arima nodded silently.

Rory smirked confidently.

Mihawk did the same as Arima.

Nico hummed in affirmation after running the last check on the status of his forces through their Discord server on his left Bracer. "I've sent Urthemiel ahead on a scouting mission, he'll give us updates on the route we should take to get to the facility," he added on getting nods of understanding from the rest of the group.

Ah, the advantages of having air support...

With their responses being satisfactory in his eyes, Katakuri and the other Agents then proceeded to mount their rides and started on the final section of their journey.


The ride, thanks to Urthemiel's guidance which got transmitted to the others through Nico, thus became a smooth one as they traveled in a trident-shaped formation: Rory, Arima, and Katakuri in front with Mihawk in the middle and Nico providing the rear. The information not only gave the Agents a sense of direction but also allowed them to bypass areas that Urthemiel had reported to be heavily infested with Youma. This was acceptable as it would be ideal that, when they would arrive at the Youma facility, they'd have their full strength ready to engage in possible battles against their potential opponents.

As for their formation, it was to make sure their only source of obtaining Urthemiel's information wouldn't go down on them since without Nico (who was the only one who could hear the Archdemon), they'd practically be riding blind out here.

Right now, the Agents rode on in silence, passing along the countless plains and other specs of terrain like a bunch of blurs, leaving behind smoke trails in their wake. One couldn't see their expressions due to their high movement speed and how they angled themselves, but just from how they handled their vehicles one could make an accurate assumption about their current mental states.

'Finally… we're at the home stretch…' Nico internally thought as his hair rustled in the generated breeze, his bangs fluttering about as if they were wild fangirls fawning over their idols at a live concert. Although this did nothing to diminish the hard gaze his lone uncovered eye sported as he looked into the distance ahead of them. 'Now that we're at this stage in the game, we have to be more cautious than ever since it's usually here when missions tend to go awry…'

'Yes. I distinctly recall one of your missions revolving around the capture of an important target for interrogation. Everything seemed to have been going for you, but then it went to shit when the target pulled a fast one on you…'

'Yeah…' Nico noted, wincing. He could remember that incident all too clearly, since if it weren't for some quick thinking on his part then Nico could have very well failed that mission, and let's just say that the higher-ups weren't very fond of failure. ESPECIALLY from their 'dog'. Just then, a flash of remembrance hit him as his eye widened slightly. 'Oh right, speaking of being prepared and all that... ' Internally reaching deep, Nico blinked as he felt Rebellion on his back being switched out for another Devil Arm… or rather, an Archdevil Arm which he hadn't been using for a while. 'Ouranos… Biko tells me you've been agitated over something?' the male asked the sentient weapon. 'What's wrong? Something changed?'

{...Not yet, but I fear it might be. About when that battle for that city was coming to a close, I sensed something.}

Oranous's voice rang through his mind, something which part of Nico noted hadn't happened for a while now, but that detail remained secondary to the words of which the Archdevil Arm spoke of, not to mention the cautious tone that was used for them. Nico's instincts immediately clued him in on this as well as made him speculate on what this something might be. One theory believed that it had to be something related to the Demonic aspect of things that had been slowly merging back into Gamindustri's history after being away for so long, possibly a higher ranking Demon or a DPU since those were the kinds of beings Nico believed could spawn this kind of reaction from Ouranos. Another theory was that Ouranos had sensed something truly bizarre, enough to cause him to be concerned about it since, as cliche as it was, the unknown wasn't something which people would usually refer to in a positive light. Especially humans, he had personal experience with that. 'Something?'

{Yes… something I have not felt in many millennia. It was brief, so I cannot confirm it 100%, but I still remember the last time I felt it…}

Looked like his theory about whatever Ouranos had sensed being bizarre had to be replaced with 'personal' instead, which sounded arguably worse than what Nico had been coming up with. If what his Archdevil Arm was sensing had been from his past, then it had to be something from the DPU Era, and ANYTHING that came from that era was NEVER something good. Plus, with this kind of scenario Nico believed that they would inevitably encounter this mystery in the flesh, and in that case, Nico wasn't sure how things would turn out but one thing remained certain in his mind: that a fight breaking out wouldn't be a matter of 'if' but 'when' and 'how bad will it be?' Still, now that he knew this, Nico mentally communicated his thoughts to Ouranos. 'Alright, I'll keep an eye out. Odds are we will encounter this anomaly eventually, and if I had to guess when I'd say during this operation. In that case, I believe we will have to play it safe and fight defensively because from what you've told me, personal experience and some educated guesses, this anomaly wouldn't let me go without one.'

{You would be wise to assume that. Those from that era, ESPECIALLY this anomaly if it is who I think it is, would not show you any mercy should you turn your back to them. It's quite literally like handing them the right to kill you.}

… Well, wasn't that a nice thought? Combined with their warped surroundings, Nico's mood pretty much lost any kind of melancholy that the silence had provided. The silence itself shifted from calming to ominous in a second thanks to this revelation while the redhead wondered just what on earth his Archdevil Arm could have sensed. He believed that he didn't say specifically because he himself wasn't 100% certain of the anomaly's identity, which would be a move Nico would have made himself if he were honest.

"...you look like you're lost in thought there, DEATHSTROKE." Rory's voice called out to him which made him look up to see the gothic-looking woman having ridden slightly closer to his Cavaliere. "Care to share?"

For a moment, Nico wondered whether or not to answer that question since there were various unknowns to this group that made him want to hold them at arm's length, just in case they tried to pull anything on his ass or were to blab to the wrong people. They were why he was so cautious regarding his Ghoul side, after all, they weren't Neptune or the girls, however, it was also true that a squadron's efficiency depended on how well the members worked together, something Nico had learned the hard way. Thus, keeping what he'd learned a secret would only be a detriment to their effectiveness in the long run.

Thus, he only decided to reveal a little of it. "Back when we were in RABONA… I sensed something off watching us. I don't know what it was, nor could I investigate since it vanished far too quickly, but when I felt it I got the sensation that it was looking at us… looking at me to be more specific. I didn't say anything back there because A: for the lack of information, it may have just been my imagination, though I'd rather trust my instincts on this one and they're telling me it wasn't, and B: if I were to have said anything it would cause some unrest within the populace." Nico said, and although he felt like the second reason was a bit of a stretch, he reasoned with himself that the soldiers of RABONA wouldn't appreciate any unknown factors being made known to them since they had JUST survived a Youma invasion so they'd be a bit jumpy… and unknowns would only make that worse.

"You too, then…"

"?!"

Instead of belittling him like he secretly thought they would, Nico's lone eye widened when Mihawk chimed into the conversation, and judging from how they were riding the others were also paying attention. "I can confirm that SOMETHING was indeed there, boy. My eyes are hawk-like because of their great vision, and in the distance, I did see a shadowy figure momentarily. However, they vanished before I could get a good look at them. Not so sure if it was watching you intently, however." he explained, a frown on his beard-covered lips.

"In that case, it's best to assume that we may encounter this anomaly momentarily." Katakuri decided after a few seconds of deliberation. "Proceed with caution, Agents, should this anomaly be intending to encounter us it will likely be when we're most vulnerable. Fight conservatively and make sure to deal with your foes as effectively as possible." Katakuri then proceeded to pull something out into view, and that turned out to be a Spec Ops issued Eject Button. "This here has been tuned to RABONA, so one push from this and we'll be able to escape. Make sure you can endure until we can regroup and I'll use this to get us back safely."

"RIGHT!"


"Looks like we're nearing the place..." Rory called out to the rest of them as the squadron of Agents now rode through a mountainous path into what looked to have been… some kind of town. Well, the word 'town' couldn't be seen as a very good description of this place, since it didn't seem to have any name to it plus it consisted of mostly cave houses, built into cliffs. There WERE a few Large free-standing buildings though. "Doesn't look like much…"

Katakuri shook his head. "Neither do you," he stated, earning a slightly twitching smirk from the woman who also had multiple tick marks form on her forehead. Nico paled at the sight, quickly shifting his gaze to look around for any signs of ambushes while Katakuri added on without much of a care in the world. "But that doesn't mean we can underestimate this place. Our 'informant' said this place used to be called STAFF when it was still in use, back 500 years ago during the initial stages of the Abnormals invading Gamindustri. They'd thought that retreating underground was a viable option…"

"But of course, there were Abnormals underground too," Mihawk stated, getting a nod from Katakuri as Nico, after hearing this, looked cautiously down at the snowy earth beneath his feet. The thought of such Abnormals suddenly surfacing underground to catch the surface dwellers back then off guard did not sound that appealing to him, obviously. Sure he himself could have dealt with it with his vast array of abilities, but back then people had WAY less knowledge than they did now regarding them. He could only imagine what it could have been like for them...

Just then, Nico's lone eye narrowed when he heard the pings coming from his Bracer, as well as detected various presences with his Avenger Package's Presence Detection. In response to this, Nico summoned and held both Donner and Schlag in his hands, pointing them out towards their surroundings with the intent to test these bad boys out. At the same time, Mihawk tensed as he drew his sword, the sight of both these instances telling the rest of them all they needed to know. At once, the Spec Ops Agents drew their weapons and took their combat stances, going back to back so they could face every direction.

Sounded like they would be having company in the following moments…

"How many?" Mihawk questioned the redhead Spec Ops Agent, meaning the number of potential enemies in this territory that they would be dealing with.

"A-"

"HAAA, HAAA, HAAA, HAA…!"

"?!"

Before Nico could answer, however, the sounds of panting filled the air as they looked to the source… finding there to be someone in puffy-looking leather clothing fit for someone of Leanbox origin rather than Lowee. This sight sent waves of disbelief throughout the Agents enough so that the man could get close and cling onto the closest one he could… that one being Rory. "Pl-Please… h-help me…!" The man begged while burying his head into the woman's chest.

As much as this filled Rory with the desire to smack him upside that big head of his with Emroy's flat side, the way the man gripped her quickly caught her attention not to mention the scent of… something she didn't expect, from someone way out here. All kinds of red flags got raised in her mind thanks to those observations, her eyes narrowing down towards the man as she spoke with a calm, composed demeanor while the others watched on, maintaining their positions. "What's wrong, sir? Why are you here?"

"Please… help… I don't want… to become a monster…"

BIKI-BIKI-BIKI-FWOOOOOSH!

Even as she asked him, it seemed as though the man either didn't hear her or couldn't. The reason why each of the Agents thought this came from how seconds into the man's frantic, fear-filled speech the sounds of flesh starting to move about began resonating from his form, veins spreading across his forehead… before each of them jumped back and landed in a semicircular formation when a huge gust of wind blasted forth from the civilian, knocking them into the air in the first place.

"Tch, an Awakened…!" Katakuri spoke as the beast before them, a humanoid awakened with two small mouths for cheeks aside from its main one, roared up to the heavens. Its form looked relatively unarmored though, so its defenses weren't much though on its shoulders there looked to be a set of long spikes, spikes which the Agents paid extra attention to and were rewarded for their decision to do so when they launched themselves, revealing their identity as spiked Tendrils.

SMASH!

Their strength wasn't anything to scoff at though, typical of an Awakened type Youma when those Tendrils smashed a hole into the ground they stabbed into too. The same space which the other Agents had once occupied before they jumped into opposite directions, essentially surrounding the enemy. Although, each of the Agents noticed that it seemed to favor launching ones only on a specific shoulder first, then retract them into the said body part before launching the other set.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

However, before it could launch its other set of Tendrils at them, five shots fired forth from a pair of pistols in rapid succession... rounds which had enough power to rival a freaking railgun with the force they provided since they managed to blow the Awakened Youma's arms, legs and entire head to nothingness. Several smears of bloodied flesh fell to the ground around it as remnants of said pieces, before several slash marks appeared over its form and its body fell to the ground in pieces.

The culprits of these actions turned out to be both Nico and Mihawk, the former having aimed his Donner towards it and rapidly fired the five rounds (each round seemingly being a bolt of energy) which resulted in a light smoke trail rising from the Pistol's barrel. As for the latter, he had simply drawn his sword and carved it up… using the shockwaves from his blades swings as makeshift projectiles to commit his feat.

"Hmph… looks like we have some company after all." the redhead mused as he internally noted down the new default projectiles for his twin Archdevil Arms. Looked like they completely dismissed the whole concept of solid rounds in exchange for energy ones, ones which hardly put even a dent in their sizable reserves, but still. He then glanced around, noticing various more civilians walking forth from behind rock formations and stuff before heading towards them in slow, disorganized movements. Each of them looked like zombies if he were honest, with the way their eyes were unfocused and how they kept repeatedly asking for their help like it was some kind of mantra. "No idea why they're here… but if my theory holds up…'

'That may well be the case at this point, Nico, for I sense demonic power building within them. They're all going to eminently turn into Awakened Youma…'

While none of them heard Biko's words, none of the Agents prioritized the way Nico flinched as anything important compared to how they were soon going to be surrounded by tougher than average Youma. "Hmph, if they didn't have at least this much, I would have been disappointed…" Katakuri noted calmly as he held his Trident Mogura at the ready for combat, combat which already started as Nico's twin Archdevil Arms were already primed towards the ones beginning to turn and opening fire.


"Finally, those fuckers got their asses together! Now we've got some fun lined up in this boring shitfest!"

Deep within the town where the Facility was stationed, not too far from where the fighting was going on, to be frank, a certain pair of men stood in front of what looked like a large holographic orb. One which projected a large screen that showed the Agents fighting against the rapidly transforming Youma. Each of them wasted no time separating from one another to go on their respective rampages, and while no sound came from the hologram the two men heard everything loud and clear since the explosions generated from larger AOE strikes from the various Agents could be felt kilometers away. Even as the Awakened Youma kept getting headshot before they could turn, a strategy which neither of the men had anticipated being used yet it impressed them slightly regardless, some still did and returned fire which gave their brethren time to turn as well. In no time at all, the whole 'back yard' that this town had become filled to the brim with the Awakened Youma, monsters which proceeded to swarm around the Agents like the minions of a certain lord of the flies.

As for the one who spoke that sentence just now…

"While a little behind schedule, it is nothing that we should be concerned about." The more disciplined of Mundus's two DPU Disciples, Kafka, remarked as he stood with one hand clutched around his chin while the other placed its palm under that hand's elbow. His eyes narrowed with their calculating gaze like that of a machine while he surveyed the battle, or to be more specific the various Agents who were taking part IN that battle, their enemy DPU included. "Hmmm… in order of potential threat levels, from what I can see our top priorities should be… that large black sword-wielding person. If my memory serves, his name is Dracul Mihawk."

Beside him, Jules scowled as he turned his head in his fellow DPU's direction, a wave of irritation flaring up around him that accompanied a flash of yellow that blinked briefly into existence within his blue eyes. "Hah? You sure you got your head on straight or sommat? What the fuck gives you that idea, ya damn bookworm?" He questioned rudely, drawing out the 'hah' part for a few seconds like some kind of delinquent. He then pointed forth towards the redhead male among them, blasting away with his twin black and red pistols at his many opponents. "Doesn't the DPU have more prominence here than some ants we can squash at any time?"

"Don't be naive," Jules stated bluntly and sternly, only looking at his companion through one of his red eyes. "Alone ants are nothing much, but it's been shown multiple times that when they band together, even bigger predators can be overwhelmed. Just look at the army ants for clarification," he stated, rolling his eyes. In his eyes, Jules may as well have a childish mentality for eternity for he just never learned to see past the cloud of arrogance that all DPUs possessed towards those not their own. Kafka however, had seen fit to learn from past failures that his race had suffered back in that Era, in fact, many of their kind who still exist beyond the stars see fit to learn from the mistakes… if only so that they could fight for all of eternity. But then there was a percentage like Jules who still cling to the 'old ways' and continued to look down on others.

It was a wonder why many of them still clung to life… may be due to how there were few things out there which could actually 'kill' them. Their immortality was significant after all.

Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, Kafka returned his attention to the projection being shown to them. "To simplify things, though it looks like the rest of them are using all manner of abilities to get the job done, Mihawk is simply keeping up with JUST his sword skills. That should speak volumes, but if not consider how he has suffered the least injuries to his person while fighting whereas the gothic bitch seems to have her healing factor take care of hers, and the rest are relying on their own special abilities. For someone to keep up with the 'empowered' ones like this says a lot about his fighting skill… just like that one in the grey coat: Arima Kishou if I remember the files correctly. In a sense, they are like our master's rival Sparda's ideal opponent: a 'pure' warrior type whereas the others are simply empowered, humans. That boy DEATHSTROKE falls into a category of his own among them, but he's still like them all the same."

After he had finished speaking, Jules thanked him for going to the trouble of explaining everything about his thoughts with a scoff and a rolling of his eyes. "Pft, all they're doing is swinging a big stick. I'd rather fight them myself to see if they have what it takes to survive step two." He said with scorn and disaster, keeping himself from going out there and ripping that entire army apart… along with the Agents, this facility, and a good portion of this continent. That would be him HOLDING BACK too since multi-continent class DPUs can destroy several continents at once with their power, he would know, he'd done it more times than he'd care to count.

"Hmph, don't say I didn't warn you, then… You!" Once again internally bristling in annoyance at his companion's pathetic arrogance, Kafka glanced over at the darkness where a masculine-looking figure stood, calling the figure out with a simple shout and a 'come here' gesture. This resulted in the figure calmly coming out into focus, standing before the two DPUs: this figure being an old man of indeterminate age. He had sparse silver hair that was swept back, revealing the prominent wrinkles on his forehead while his eyes looked to be closed permanently, though this didn't look like it bothered him too much. For attire, he wore a long, black coat with a gold, metallic collar. "How soon can you ready THEM for our 'guests'?"

The old man, despite the looks he received from two VERY powerful beings who could no doubt one-shot his ass like an ant being stepped on by a boot, showed impressive resolve when he didn't show any signs of cowering before them. Instead, all he did was briefly lower his head and respond. "They will be ready in 4 minutes. Preparations for their release have started the moment that reports of Youma deaths along the way to RABONA arrived," he replied, his tone carrying an almost... unnerving sense of calmness like the man had no regard for his own life in this situation.

For a second, Kafka and Jules stood there with arched brows, well, the latter just growled and made a step forward to likely deliver some beatdown on the old man. However, he got stopped by his fellow DPU who held an arm out in front of him. Wordlessly silencing his companion's protests with a firm stare, Kafka then proceeded to address the old man. "Very good. We will also prepare our preparations as well." His eyes then narrowed, a wave of bloodlust erupting forth into the atmosphere like a bomb going off. The thickness it sported rivaled that of blood whilst it added a heavy sense of oppression to the air itself, all the while a faint blue aura enveloped Kafka with his eyes glowing in a similarly colored hue. Even JULES began to sweat a little, a pang of nervousness starting to form in his gut. "Do NOT forget your place, mortal. Make no mistake, whether you live or die is of no concern to us, ESPECIALLY those like yourself."

With the tension and bloodlust polluting the air, the old man mildly sweated a bit but other than that showed no signs of being intimidated by the other man's show of dominance. Instead, he repeated his gesture from before with a tone of acknowledgment surrounding his response. "Of course, sir." Afterward, he turned on his heels and began making his way out to who knows where. It was not like it concerned the DPUs any though, since as long as what needed to be dealt with got done, then they would be willing to let the ant live for a while longer before they inevitably disposed of him. The only reason why they kept him and that bunch of egghead morons of his around this long had been due to both Mundus's orders, as well as their connections to the whole of the Youma program.

Though, both of them would savor the moment when they could finally end scum like him.


BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!

PCHEW-PCHEW-PCHEW-PCHEW-PCHEW-PCHEW-PCHEW-PCHEW-PCHEW-PCHEW!

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

'...It appears that things are going well for us. I sense the other Agents, and they seem to be managing.'

'Thanks for the heads up, Biko.' Nico replied as he and the other Agents, who had been completely separated from one another in the physical sense, fought valiantly against the hordes of Awakened Youma. There were just TOO many to accurately describe them all right now, so Nico didn't bother monologuing about it. 'Besides, pulling a Neptune here, if the readers wanna know what they look like, read the fucking Cl*y*o*e Manga.' Pulling back his twin Archdevil Arms Donner and Schlag, he twirled them around his index fingers like a cowboy would before he jumped into the air and flipped himself around so the top of his head faced the ground below. He then proceeded to spin himself about like a spinning top, a flurry of energy bullets descending upon his opponents like some kind of hard ass bullet hell game.

Loud howls filled his ears thanks to the bullets shredding through his opponents like they were paper mache, and when he began his descent to the ground Nico flipped forwards and landed in a crouch, quickly rolling to the side when a turtle-shaped Awakened Youma brought its large fist down on top of him from behind, the male curving one of his arms behind him to shoot a couple of rounds when he rolled to his feet and shooting out its offending limb. He added its head to the number of limbs blown apart thanks to his Archdevil Arms.

Glancing to the side, Nico eyed a small group of Awakened Youma shaped like Dobermans that were the size of a house… so maybe not that small after all. 'Still not the biggest things I've seen, the biggest being the human ego…' the redhead thought in internal amusement as he went and crossed both his pistols into an X formation in front of him. The tips of their barrels briefly began to glow with crimson electricity arcing across their frames for a brief moment… before unloading a couple of Baala's into a couple of Doberman-Esque Youma's head. None of those hits remained completely whole, and those Youma fell to the ground dead, with the rest suddenly being sliced apart by what looked like aerial sword slashes which Nico assumed had to be from Mihawk.

Judging from all the explosions (and small bouts of mad laughter which he could only assume to have come from Rory) he could say that Biko's update wasn't inaccurate either.

'Looks like they're like my other Archdevil Arms in that they retain their old abilities.' Nico thought while aiming his Guns and firing a METRALLETA at his opponents, bombarding them with many rounds which they had no hope of avoiding due to their large size and, according to the male's observations, their almost ape-like intelligence. That probably came from them having only recently turned, though. He even switched out his CERO Types, switching to a normal CERO from Donner, resulting in a long, continuous red beam that incinerated his foes to cinders. That was the difference between a METRALLETA CERO and a normal CERO, with one of them being like an aforementioned bullet hell game while the other was like a continuous beam. Each Variant had their own forms to take which had their own pros and cons, things which Nico had long since discovered and honed so he knew which one to use most effectively he believed possible. 'Now then, let's begin the testing…'

Still, since these were their 'original' abilities, now it was time to see what new tricks these Archdevil Arms had up their sleeves now. As such, Nico aimed the two of them towards an approaching set of Awakened Youma akin to a brunch of humanoid octopuses with their bodies having Tendrils instead of arms. He first fired a bunch of energy bullets at them, before pausing to see what happened next.

Well, he felt thankful that one of his eyes was covered, because the other widened to the size of a dinner plate.

For the moment that the bullets hit the approaching Youma, various phenomena got triggered as a result.

The first Youma, upon getting hit, suddenly collapsed onto the ground so hard that it created a crater twice its size. It created a MASSIVE thud upon impact, breaking the ground beneath it so there had to be a sizable amount of force applied there, but that wasn't the only thing Nico noticed. For this shimmering effect could be seen on it as the Youma tried to get up, grunting and roaring in fury only for it to fall to the ground face-first every time like some kind of weight kept it from rising back up. The more it struggled to resist, the greater the number of sounds akin to bones breaking apart got heard as well as the sounds of blood vessels being ruptured.

For the second Yoma, the moment that the bullet was about to hit it, the beast managed to dodge it to let it hit the ground… only for the ground to transform into a completely different material (iron Nico believed) which got shaped into what looked like some kind of solid structure that covered the majority of the Youma's lower body. Of course, it tried to move its body to break free, but that failed and when the Beast discovered this, it tried to smash away at it with its Tendrils. For such large appendages, Nico saw how little effect they had on the clump of iron around its lower body which made him question what that Iron was made from.

As for the third Youma, it quickly moved its Tendrils to swat the bullets away from its person… but just as they had been about to collide Nico observed… some kind of space-bending effect, that was the best way he could describe it. It honestly looked similar to his Warping ability, only the effect formed in this… really weird way, one which resulted in the bullet curving 'around' the offending Tendrils before impacting one, blowing it clean off the Youma's body. Obviously, not a fan of this, the beast howled in pain as it stumbled back, a copious amount of blood falling from the newly made hole in its arm which already began to shift about while it tried to repair the damage done.

In the case of the fourth Youma, when the bullet hit it the creature immediately started showing some bizarre effects like the last ones weren't already bizarre enough. For one, the creature's body seemed to start morphing itself, becoming smaller and smaller during this shrinking process… soon becoming the man who Nico saw as one of the people who had turned just moments before. Just when he wanted to go 'what the fuck?' Nico noticed how his round had shot the man in the head and out the other side, his corpse falling to the ground with an audible thud.

He had no time to process this, however, in light of the other sights he'd seen following this. The fifth Youma seemingly froze after getting hit by an energy bullet. Not the normal kind either, but when Nico looked into its eyes he saw how it looked like it had completely lost sense of what it had not only been doing but its thought process as well. One could say that it had been 'staggered' for a brief moment in every sense of the word, but it didn't last very long since the creature quickly came back to its senses. Though now it regarded Nico with much more caution compared to before, or rather it regarded his Archdevil Arms as much more dangerous than they had been initially letting on.

When the sixth Youma got hit Nico had no idea what to expect, even though his base expectation had been for the round to blow its shoulder clean off its body to stop it from using some of those tentacles… but upon its collision the entire freaking limb got severed instead, taking a massive portion of its torso along with it. Of course, this meant that the Youma's heart had also been severed from the rest of its body, leading to the creature letting out one last dying cry before falling onto its back, dead. A loud THUD accompanied its large body too.

Finally, the seventh Youma got slammed into with the bullet impacting it in one of its Tendrils… which then proceeded to transform itself akin to the one which got turned into its human form… only it became what looked like some kind of smaller, weaker version of itself. Of course, the Youma did NOT appreciate this as it glared with bloody murder towards the cause of its limb's transformation, said redhead simply capitalizing on this newly presented opportunity by shooting it in between the eyes… his round blowing off its head.

'Okay… there is DEFINITELY something going on with these two guns…' Nico thought, looking down at the sides of his two pistols as he, after sensing the locations of his various comrades and judging it to be less likely that they'd be able to notice, quickly summoned his Rinkaku in its default cloaked form, and had the 6 Tentacles slice the surviving 'test dummies' in front of him into multiple tiny pieces. He then retracted them into him right after… though not before slicing apart multiple awakened Youma which tried to strike him down from his two flanks. 'From what I saw, it seems like these things fire the usual energy rounds but when they hit something, various effects are triggered. When They hit, I felt some… strange fluctuations in these guys, their energies behaved rather oddly… hold on, now that I think about it I HAVE felt those sensations before!'

{It is as you suspect.}

"?!" Nico sharply inhaled when he heard an unfamiliar voice echo inside his mind, however upon looking back down at the guns in his hands the redhead quickly realized the voice's identity. 'Donner…? You're finally talking to me... '

{You could say that we're just a bit less trusting than the common Archdevil Arm.}

The redhead had to sweatdrop while his Rinkaku resurfaced to slice apart a bunch of awakened Youma who thought it'd be a good idea to attack a seemingly unguarded enemy, now acting more on autopilot than anything at the moment. That time he heard the voice of the other Archdevil Arm, Schlag and unlike his companion, Schlag seemed more like the more sociable of the two, though not by much. Honestly, Donner reminded him of his edgier self in the past, while Schlag made him think of his current self. In any case, he could relate to them on the whole trust issue thing. 'Perfectly understandable. Erebus seemed glad to trust me, and Ouranos was more neutral, but your reactions are more in line with what I had initially suspected before I began forming Archdevil Arms in the first place.' he replied.

{Nonetheless, since you have discovered our capabilities, we will explain them to you after this mission of yours is concluded…}

With that topic put out of the way, Nico shelved any further attempts at testing the Archdevil Arms out and stuck to firing the normal energy rounds. There weren't any strange fluctuations in Donner and Schlag's energies anymore, which meant to him that they had to have been making them happen themselves… and in that case, they must have been wanting to show him just how unordinary these bad boys were. That would make sense to him, since their first interaction once he passed their 'test' they hadn't really been the most talkative people… not like he minded though, since it combined with this just showed him that these two followed the whole 'actions speak louder than words' philosophy, something Nico could respect.

Just after he dealt with another Youma, Nico glanced around when he heard a lack of combat around him, causing him to see that the others seemed to have finished up on their ends as well. "Looks like the attacks have stopped… for now." The redhead mused as the group got back together, looking a little worse for wear. Or rather, that could be said more for Mihawk, Katakuri, himself, and Arima.

RORY on the other hand…

"...Ufufufufufufu. My, so many were so willing to die to offer their lives to the god of darkness. You have no idea how much joy that this brought little old me, ufufufufu…" A rather… unnerving giggle kept leaving her lips whilst Rory held some fingers over her mouth, her eyes that of something akin to those people called 'yandere's' whenever they're seeing their crush from afar. She looked like she wanted to have some 'toys' to play with, and they would serve as good candidates in her eyes… something which unnerved the other Agents despite them doing their things to hide it.

'... I get the feeling I shouldn't ask about this, Nico.'

'Your feeling is right, Biko. Yanderes are some scary shit… scarier than a lot of enemies out there…'

'YOU BET YOUR ASS! SERIOUSLY KING, SOMETIMES I THINK THAT CRAZY BITCH EREBUS IS A YAN-OH SHIT! GOTTA GO!'

...

… Something told him that Erebus's manifestation had been close enough to hear his Ghoul Persona's words, and did NOT take too kindly to it. 'Ugh, that guy… seriously, it's almost like he just blabs whatever he's thinking without any tact…' Well, he was Nico's own instincts put into a physical form, so that probably explained why he was that way.

"...Rory aside." Katakuri began to say, ignoring the pout/glare that the said female Agent gave towards his casual dismissal. "Everyone seems like they are still combat-capable. Good, looks like the battle didn't drain too much of our resources," he stated, with Mihawk and the others giving their own nods in agreement.

On his side of things, Nico began to think about what they had seen with his gaze that of calculating, though the Agents could tell from a glance that the teen still had his guard up against potential attacks due to his body posture. Something which could only have been possible from repeated cooperation in multiple battles. "What I'm curious about is these Awakened Youma… they…"

He didn't finish what he wanted to say and instead trailed off, but the male didn't need to for he had said enough so that the others caught onto his meaning. One more piece of evidence had pointed towards his theory being right here, whereas the others looked grim at the reality being presented before them which resulted in the tense atmosphere surrounding them. None of them were fools, they had seen what had happened before those Awakened Youma had attacked them… as well as their origins. "Those people… they may as well have been dead already…" Mihawk pondered, cupping his chin while placing his hand on his elbow for thought. "They looked like they were aware of their impending fates, additionally they seemed to possess some manner of rationality."

"Another difference worthy of note…" Arima spoke, catching the rest of the other Agents by surprise slightly since the man had shown how he rarely spoke in discussions like these. "They fought like apes, their movements were sluggish and it was easy to exploit their weaknesses… they weren't likely meant to have been sent out here so early on."

Katakuri nodded his head, and out of all the Agents he was the one who looked to be the least perturbed about what they had just gone through… well, in all fairness he didn't look very affected at all whereas the other Agents looked only mildly concerned at most. "This all but confirms that the Youma production facility is nearby, those people were likely either prisoner who had just escaped from that place and wandered here, or they were let out here specifically so they could delay us and buy some time. I'd say the latter is more likely, now let's get a move on. We can quickly search these buildings for more clues as to what's going on here, but keep your guards up. There may be more 'traps' set up for us."

The other Agents nodded, preferring to focus on the task at hand than to fret over the possibilities that this new information presented before them. After all, they all had seen stuff like this before, not to mention that it seemed like Nico wasn't the only one who had his own theories about the true nature behind this place since each of the Agents had expressions which implied that they had anticipated something like this happening.

'Hold that thought, Nico. Enemies detected.'

"?!"

Instinctively acknowledging Biko's words, Nico picked up some new signatures using his Avenger's Package's Presence Detection skill, making him quickly get into a combat stance due to their locations being quite close to his own… as well as the rest of his companions. Fortunately, he didn't need to see if they had known about it either, for they had already seemingly sensed the hostility being directed at them and had already gotten into defensive stances with their weapons drawn.

"Where?" Katakuri demanded, and it didn't take an idiot to figure out what he was asking.

Something which the redhead proved when he gestured with his Donner and Schlag. "To our 9 o'clock, up on those cliffs."

Each Agent looked to where Nico had designated as the location of their new enemies, and when they found themselves looking upon the sight of a bunch of humanoids, as in humanoids in shape and size too with the tallest one rivaling Katakuri's size. They looked to be about 50 in number, too. These humanoids in question… well, let's just say they didn't look NEARLY as twisted as the Awakened Youma from before. They instead looked pretty much human, feminine to be more specific with various parts of their bodies covered by what looked like leather armor… though, a disturbing note about them was how the armor had strings made to look like stitching, stitching which sewed these armor pieces onto their bodies through their flesh. Not only that, but Nico and those with advanced eyesight noticed how their eyes and mouths looked to be stitched shut as well, with their fingers ending in sharpened nails to make them more like claws, a similar situation befalling their feet.

"Hoh? Some late guests to the party, it seems…" Rory remarked coyly, a disturbing giggle escaping her lips as she gained a sultry yet sinister look to her. Combined with her giant Halberd Emroy, and she looked more like a Demon about ready to erupt into a blood frenzy than a Spec Ops Agent. They hadn't moved against them yet, and vice versa, with the Agents trying to predict what may happen while the new arrivals didn't seem to be doing anything yet.

"Looks like they're here for the same purpose as our last few playmates," Katakuri remarked as well, holding his weapon at the ready while narrowing his eyes at them. Though something interesting could be of note here, and that's the fact that it seemed like the man had noticed the current threat even faster than Nico had, and thus had gotten ready before any of the rest of them. Then there was how he looked at them like he had an idea of what the heck they were about, which was proven by his next set of orders. "Mihawk, you and Arima focus on delivering strikes to their legs, limiting their mobility. Since the Youma has shown regen abilities, stopping them from moving before beheading them will be our strategy. Rory, you're the main vanguard, keep their attention focused on you, I'll focus on the beheading with Nico! Everyone, move out!"

"ROGER!"

With their plan set in motion, Mihawk readied his sword for a swing that would, if his previous record of battles fought alongside them were any indication, slice the entire mountaintop in half alongside their new playmates. However, just seconds before the man could swing his sword, his eyes widened when the creatures all suddenly sprang into motion, jumping high into the air above their heads to a level where they couldn't be seen anymore due to the rays of the sun blinding them, thus the Spec Ops Agents retaliate by scattering to different directions.

Good thing they did, as otherwise, the creatures would have been able to pin them down upon their landing where the Agents had once stood. The moment that the creatures had impacted the ground, however, several craters got made that were deep enough to bury someone under at a funeral before they leaped out and dashed towards their opponents, grouping up on their asses as well.

10 went to Arima and surrounded him.

10 charged at Rory from multiple different angles with projectiles being launched from their very flesh.

10 engaged Nico in close quarters combat, morphing their limbs into what looked like a variety of different bladed forms.

10 surrounded Katakuri from all sides.

Finally, the last 10 stuck to Mihawk from a distance and avoided his initial swing that would have bisected them if they hadn't.

All in all, the best way to summarize this engagement would be: what the fuck?


Chapter end!

Yo everyone, well, everyone who's still reading and following this story. Welcome to the next chapter and apologies for both the late update as WELL as the cliffhanger at the end there. Aside from COVID, I've been accepted into and am now currently studying at Teesside University to get a degree in Games Design, with my primary specialty being narrative design. As a fanfiction writer, it's not hard to see why I went down this path.

Anyways, the reviews that have been coming in have been a bit negative towards the earliest chapters of the story, and while I get that OEG's beginning isn't very stellar (the grammatical errors in there and all would be headache-inducing) there is one thing which I do not agree with in regards to them: the shaming of Nico's character and how its seen as 'edgy'. I'm not saying he isn't but I'll simply state this:

I LOVE EDGELORDS!

From an aesthetic perspective, I prefer them over the so-called 'comedy and joke characters' like Saitama or Joseph Joestar from Jojo. I love their dark looks, their badass long coats, and generally edgelords appeal to me just from their appearances alone. Heck, if I were to play overwatch, Reaper would be my main hero any day of the weak, and in Persona I would consider Joker to be my main. When a character has edgy traits and follows the 'rule of cool' I will be on their hype train before anyone else.

Personality-wise it's hit or miss for me, as there are some Edgelords I don't like but there are those who I do. For example, Shadow from the Sonic series. He's an edgelord through and through (played his PS2 Game and loved it despite its flaws), and yet he gets WAY more character development than freaking SONIC of all people. Jotaro too, he's an edgelord and well, he DOESN'T HAVE AFFAIRS AND STAYS FAITHFUL TO HIS WIFE, despite his flaws as a father yet he shows character development even there! Additionally, between edgelords and let's say those damn self insert characters, I would pick edgelords in a heartbeat. If I were to write an Isekai fic or be an isekai mangaka I would make my protagonist as edgy as possible so he wouldn't be someone others could insert themselves into, cause I HATE SELF INSERTS! They're pathetic and need to go pronto, in my eyes! When I see self-inserts I want to pull a freaking Warhammer and slice them to bits with a Chainsword, or perhaps a DOOM in where I blast them with a BFG 9000 Blast!

Whew, got triggered a bit there...

So yeah, I love edgelords and what they represent. I'll be a primarily edgelord lover and writer for the foreseeable future, and if you don't like it that's too freaking bad! Edgelords are funnier in my eyes, they get shit done, and above all, they have the swagger that few others can pull off! Anyways, aside from my little rant there, we have the beginning of this arc's climax coming, and if you've read the Claymore Manga then you all can guess where this is going. Additionally, this arc's slow progression can be attributed to me being busy with other stuff, so sorry to those who have read up till this point. Hopefully, I can get updates going again once I have the ideas, time, and inspiration to write them down, as getting used to things like Uni and all this COVID stuff has drained me a lot of it. Plus Azur Lane (a nice game though a black stain is in my opinion of it in the form of a self-insert commander) and World of Warships have been taking my time too.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter regardless of my little rant, and hope to see you in the next chapter.

PEACE OUT!