City of Mercy

"Everything's reading green here at the base. We're ready to start whenever you are."

"Nice and easy mission, guys. All right! Let's go kick some Aragami ass!" Kota exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air.

Neo wandered beside him, nodding her head in agreement. Following the moon festival, the New Type had found herself feeling rather restless. While it was true that she had behaved herself for the entirety of the evening — even as certain parties severely tested her limits — doing so had required tremendous effort. So much so that now, she was determined to blow off some steam. And, naturally, as luck would have it, her guardian was locked up in his lab again and Soma was holed up on Aegis Island. Which meant that when the scout sergeant had come to her with the offer of a mission, she jumped on the opportunity like a predator on a carcass. Even if it was simple extermination duty, she just wanted to kill something.

"Phew, these missions have been freakin' cake lately. Hahaha! Ain't that right, Hibari?"

The operator's voice responded through their headsets. "Yes, I guess you do have a point, Kota. Injury and casualty reports are down. It's a nice little break for all the teams."

"Hibari's on board. Let me get this straight. Are we just that awesome? Seriously? Are we too good for the Aragami?"

"Hey… Finish the mission before you start with the showboating!"

Kota sighed in response to her scolding. "Yeah, yeah…" Turning to his side, he shut off his radio. "Don't worry, Neo, this'll be easy. Even I can handle one of these solo. With you, it'll be a cakewalk."

She didn't shift her gaze. "I'm not worried."

"Course not. No one can shoot better than you, not even a Yaksha. And that thing's got a cannon for an arm!"

"You're exaggerating," Neo responded, swiveling her head to either side.

Kota faltered at her flat tone. Neo had never been one to seem over-excitable, but at this point, her apathy was beginning to bother him. "Hey, what's up? You've been really quiet since we hopped out of the transport. You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine. Just…" Sensing nothing, she finally provided him her full attention. "…focusing."

"Uh-huh." Kota shrugged. He didn't believe her for a second but knew better than to waste any effort arguing. That pause between her words had been way too long; there was definitely going on with her. What he couldn't figure out was the cause. She had been perfectly alert and talkative the whole way here. "Anyway, let's prep the area. I've got a good ambush idea."

"Sure thing."

Without further complaint, the two God Eaters set about the tunnel area, placing, and hiding a snare near the center. A thin layer of sand and dust camouflaged their makeshift trap. When finished, Kota gave a thumbs up to his teammate who responded with a smirk. Their plan was finished, and not a moment too soon. A few seconds later, their radios activated, their operator's voice coming through the headpiece.

"Aragami approaching. Intel calls it mid-sized, but I'm pretty sure it's dangerous either way. You've got thirty seconds, hold tight."

"Hmm…? Mid-sized? But —"

"Shh…" Neo hushed him, pressing her back against the wall at the sound of heavy footsteps in the distance. Her senses were going off, telling them that they had located their target. If there was another Aragami in the area, they would have to deal with it at a later time. Kota took position immediately, taking the high ground and loading his bullets. Crouched down low, he looked through his sight in preparation. On the ground, his teammate did the same, taking careful aim at the Yaksha's kneecap. With a steady hand, she fired, piercing along monster's leg with a single bullet. Not enough to disable; only to irritate, to lure it to their position.

It worked.

Neo ducked back behind the wall again as the creature charged, footsteps thumping against the ground like a pair of war drums. It broke through the entrance swiveling its cannon to face her. But Neo had already moved, slipping in between its legs upon arrival, and turning to place a blast shot right at the back of its legs. The bullet exploded, pushing the Yaksha forward and stumbling right into their trap.

Now held in place, the Aragami was powerless against the firestorm, or more accurately, lightning storm that followed. Kota pressed his finger on the trigger, unloading his God Arc and sending a wave of spark bullets rapidly tearing through the side of its body. The force of the assault was so great, it shattered its pauldrons, ricocheting parts and sparks in every direction to the ground below.

Beneath it, Neo took full advantage. Kota watched in awe as the New Type absorbed any stray sparks. The Yaksha slowly climbed to its feet. But it didn't get very far. Before it could regain its balance, the living lightning rod at its feet discharged, sending another wave of current right through its body. A loud groan was the only sound it made before it collapsed, hitting the ground with a loud thud. The impact was the last thing it felt, Neo awaiting its fall. With a shift and activation of her God Arc, the Yaksha was no more.

Kota smiled and hopped down from his perch, reloading his bullets once more on the bottom. "Nice!" he complimented. Neo didn't answer, grabbing the core from her God Arc and discreetly shoving the bloody mass into her mouth. She barely chewed; she snarfed it down as though she hadn't had a meal in days — which, to be fair, she hadn't. Though he had been trying to watch her subtly, the gunner couldn't help but stare at her as she wiped her mouth and shifted her God Arc back into gun form. Thankfully, she didn't appear to have noticed.

During their time together, he had watched this woman unload electricity, drop the surrounding temperature, and even transform into a hybridization of Vajra and human. Now, he had seen her inhale an Aragami core… and he wasn't sure he would ever get used to that. With a perturbed shudder, he tried to lighten the mood around them. "Okay, that's one down! Let's go take out the other one."

"Yeah…" Neo muttered softly to herself. She wanted to share in his enthusiasm but found herself unable to. Despite what she had told him before something was bothering her, though she wasn't entirely sure what. It was a foreign feeling to her, something strange and indescribable. Her stomach was doing somersaults, but not in the way that she had become accustomed to during Burst or a resonance. It was something… else. All she could do was shove the feeling away, and hope that it would disappear over remainder of their mission.

Unfortunately for her, it didn't.

The uncomfortable sensation continued well into the following half hour, growing worse the longer she remained in combat. On the one hand, it was as though something was draining her, attempting to slowly suck the life out of her. Yet ironically, she had never felt more powerful. Her body was coursing with overflowing energy, so much so that her Oracle cells were having a difficult time to remaining stable. She had found herself stumbling into Burst on more than one occasion, but for the life of her couldn't figure out why. Kota certainly wasn't complaining; under her new influence, they were able to bring down their second adversary with very little trouble.

"Haha, that was amazing! Damn Neo, you're really on fire today!"

"Heh… yeah."

Kota didn't realize the accuracy of his statement. She was burning up on the inside, running what she could only attempt to describe as a fever of sorts. To be honest, she couldn't be sure. She had never experienced such a thing in the first place.

"Arcs up, guys!"

"Wha?" Kota paused, hearing Hibari's voice sounding into his headpiece. Neo wasn't listening, her own senses firing off with uncomfortable severity.

"A large hostile is entering the engagement zone."

"Oh, yeah! That's what I'm talking about! Bring it on, baby!"

"Be careful, Kota. We aren't sure what —"

"Move!"

He had been so busy celebrating; he didn't notice the shifting atmosphere in the area. Whatever was coming toward them, she didn't like it. His excited hoots quickly turned into a startled yelp when he was yanked away from his position and onto the ground. Both soldiers braced themselves, using the Yaksha's carcass as a cover from the following the following explosion. A wave of heat radiated around them, threatening to melt the perished Aragami's skin.

Snarling, Neo hopped to her feet and placed her barrel on the monster's leg in preparation for a counterstrike. But what she saw before her was not the Hannibal she had expected. It was instead a strange creature she didn't recognize, an uncomfortable abomination of artillery and feline. If a Quadriga and Vajra somehow managed to procreate, she was certain this would be the result. "What the fuck is that…" she muttered.

"Uh, that? That is bad news," Kota responded. It was a new creature that had appeared in the Far East a few weeks following her departure. He had only battled one or two of them, each for the purpose of data collection which he relayed back for further research. The only thing he knew about it was that its combat style was similar to that of a Vajra. On steroids.

The Ravana's roar echoed through the clearing, rumbling against the buildings. Their time for conversation had ended. Kota had been asking for more of a challenge. It seemed he would finally get his wish.

Neo bolted, scattering in the opposite direction of her teammate. The Ravana followed, crimson claws digging into the ground beneath it. It was quick on its feet, but no faster than any of its predecessors; it was nothing she wasn't capable of outrunning. What was strange to her was the determination with which it followed, ignoring her comrade and focusing heavily on what was clearly the more dangerous target. The opposite of typical predatory behavior.

But she didn't have time to wonder about their target's anomalies. Right now, her attention was set on destroying it. The monster clearly possessed their familiar adversary's size and agility. She wondered if it possessed the same weaknesses as the other variations as well. Quiet sparks began to crackle and pop against her coats, rampaging Oracle cells building charge. She was almost ready, scarf humming with Oracle power when…

'What the hell?!'

"What… What in the world is that?!" Hibari's voice sounded through their headpiece sounding alarmed.

"Huh? Hibari? What's wrong?!" Kota responded.

Neo grunted, feeling her body begin to falter. It was pulsing with energy, skin once again growing crimson with Burst. Her azure coats lit up, brimming with power, far more than she had been planning on using. She was overcharged, feeling in a way she hadn't since forcing herself into Overdrive. Yet, somehow, this time was different. It was like her body was at war with itself her Oracle cells swarming with wild intent. It was bursting with far more power than she was accustomed. But in the process, she was losing control and their current predicament, that was a recipe for disaster.

Kota was in range of her; she couldn't risk setting off a discharge with him in the area. She wasn't sure she could control the force of her release and at this distance, he could easily get caught in the blast. Against a creature like this one, should her theory turn out to be incorrect, he would be paralyzed against it. Instead of unleashing her power, she redirected it, funneling it downward toward the ground.

In their headsets, Hibari sounded panicked. "I'm not sure. A Bias Field is cloaking the entire area. We can't trace a point of origin. Be careful!"

"A Bias Field — what the heck does that mean?!"

"It could have some kind of physical effect on you or the Arcs. Stay sharp out there. Please, be safe!"

As his radio went silent, he shifted his attention quickly back to his teammate. Then, his eyes blew wide.

"Whoa…"

Streaking across the landscape, Neo was nearly a blur. Behind her, the Ravana was hot on her trail, cannon angling toward her. But his focus was what lay beneath them. Familiar circles were appearing in her wake, each one of them glowing bright. In a familiar display of Aragami power, loud cracks echoed through the area, bolts of lightning erupting from the ground, one after the other.

It was easily the most incredible and unnerving things he had ever witnessed. But not because of what he was watching. This was not the first time that he had seen Neo's elemental power. During Spring Thunder — though he had no way of rationalizing it at the time — he had watched her body undergo a 1st Level Burst without the use of her God Arc. While on Aegis Island during the final battle against Johannes, he had seen her utilize her elements at will, zapping the Arda Nova and chilling the area around them by a multitude of degrees.

This was, of course, only minutes before he had watched the New Type transform entirely, her body mutating and twisting into what he could only describe as a miniature human-Prithvi Mata hybrid. But there was something about what he was witnessing now that was somehow different. It was less contained, less controlled. It was though the Oracle cells themselves were controlling Neo and not the other way around. Even worse…

"Huh?!"

…He was having trouble trying to assist her. He took aim and followed the creature with his sight, but his movements were slow. There was a delay, it seemed, between his brain's commands and his finger pulling the trigger. It was like the world was moving in slow motion, his mind fully functional, but his body sluggish. Only minutes ago, he had been filled with life. But now, he was almost having trouble keeping his barrel steady.

Stranger still, whatever was affecting him was clearly not affecting the other two in the same way. The Ravana tore after her across the field, bobbing, weaving, and accelerating around the bolts as they struck. All the while its cannon shifted wildly, taking aim at the fleeing New Type's form. Neo could feel the heat from behind her as its barrel powered up. She could tell from the Oracle signature alone it was getting ready to fire, but her body wouldn't listen.

It was only through sheet dumb luck that she managed to evade it. A single circle appeared right in its movement path as it fired, erupting from the ground, and striking the creature with a loud zap. The currents stunned and startled the Aragami, knocking its mortar off course and crashing into the building the beside her. With the monster finally still, Kota was able to take aim and fire, four freezing blasting bullets in its direction.

The first one ricocheted, deflecting off its armor-plated cannon and skewing off into another direction. The second one hit the ground just beside its feet, stumbling it sideways. The final two nailed it directly in the chest, sending the Ravana rearing back with a vicious howl. Kota cursed, emptying his shells onto the ground, and reloading his bullets once more. It seemed the Bias Field was starting to affect his aim as well.

But thankfully, luck was also on his side. The walls of the struck building came tumbling down with a crash, collapsing on top of the frozen Ravana pinning it to the ground. Fortune had favored them; they're misstep had turned into an opportunity. Hearing the noise behind her, Neo wheeled around, sliding 180 degrees, and darting straight back towards it at full force. Trapped on its side, the Ravana's chest was exposed and with it, the soft, squishy skin that made up the underside of its torso. It seemed its anatomy mirrored the Vajra's after all.

With a snarl, Neo leapt into the air, shifting her weapon mid-flight. The weapon whined and groaned, slowly creaking into place; another sure sign that something was amiss. Her God Arc never failed her, even in the most taxing of circumstances. Lifting her arms, she brought her scythe down, piercing into the bottom of its next. Then, she wrenched sideways, tearing the blade through to the center of its chest.

With a gaping wound in its front, the angry creature made its fury known. Neo yelped, feeling her handle move against her will. The creature shook itself free, yanking the scythe from her hands and onto to the ground as it climbed unsteadily to its feet. The New Type backed away, now Arc-less and drained. Her body ignored her demands for movement, each step a growing effort, despite the cannon now staring her in the face.

"Oh crap!" Kota loaded his bullets, switching to auto mode and taking aim at the monster. While he still couldn't say he fully understood Neo's biology, he did distinctly remember her having a painful reaction to fire, and a resistance to ice. Which, if she really was part Prithvi, wasn't really surprising. Aiming downward, he unloaded his gun, firing rapid rounds against the side of the Aragami's face, hoping to deter it.

His plan worked. He was unable to stop the Ravana from firing, but his onslaught was enough to stagger it, hitching its movements and altering its aim. Neo took full advantage of his opening, utilizing its brief falter to push herself forward. Her nimble body carried her between the creature's legs, beneath its underside, and out again. Typically, positioning herself to the rear would be cause for concern. But unlike its Vajra cousins, the Ravana didn't have a long whipping tail in the way. Digging her claws into its skin, she scaled her way up the back of the monster's leg as it finally turned its attention to its other target.

A big mistake, as its lifted cannon left the soft tissue underneath it exposed.

Summoning all the power she could muster, Neo formed what little moisture remained in the air into a thin, frozen, razor-sharp javelin. Then, with the last of her strength, she slammed it downward, plunging it into the creature's back, right into its center. The Ravana roared, body stumbling and staggering to either side. But it wasn't enough. Neo held on, having broken through the skin, using all of her weight to force the spear further and further inward until she reached the core. When she met resistance, she knew the job was finally done. A weakened groan was all that escaped it as it slumped to the ground, flopping over. And with no further energy, it sent the New Type tumbling with it.

"Holy crap, dude!" Kota shouted, lowering his weapon, and rushing to her side. He quickly aided her in staggering to her feet and wobbling to her God Arc lying at the Ravana's feet. As a ranged type, he couldn't extract the monster's core. But considering what Neo had done to it, he was sure there probably wasn't much left of it. The monster's bio signals must have come to a halt because Hibari's voice sounded into the headpiece a few moments later.

"Mission accomplished. You both did an exceptional job. That battle sounded intense. Is everyone okay? No injuries?"

Kota heaved a heavy sigh and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Yup, all good here, Hibari. We made it… man, what the heck was that thing?"

"A Bias Field of some kind, but that's all we know. I couldn't find a source or anything. I'll take the report to Dr. Sakaki. Maybe he's seen something like it before. Come on home. You both deserve a rest."

"Yeah, no kidding. See you soon." When his radio went silent, Kota wilted with exhaustion. "Damn… I know I said I wanted some action, but that was not what I had in mind, you know?"

"Mm-hmm…" Neo muttered, her answer non-committal and quiet.

The sound of her voice drew his immediate attention, shifting his eyes to the side. His lips pulled into a frown at the sight of her, unsteady on her feet and standing eerily still. "Hey… Hey, are you alright? You don't look so good…"

Neo shook her head. She was in a listless daze, trying to get her world to stop spinning around. In truth, she wasn't sure what the problem was herself. She had noticed the effects of the field from the moment it began to fill the area and had felt even more so the effect it had on her enemy. Its movements were already far more erratic than she had come to expect from their species, variant or otherwise. Had it not been for Kota running interference, she had little doubt the Aragami's attack would have been lethal. The fact that she hadn't been blasted off the face of the earth was nothing short of a miracle.

But worse than the influence it had on her enemy was the effect it was having on her. Now that the excitement was over, her adrenaline was quickly wearing off, and she was feeling the crash immediately. Though her cells felt stronger than ever, her body was failing her. Each of her legs felt like lead weights that had lost the will to carry her. And her stomach felt ill. Very, very ill. Turning, Neo attempted to step forward, stumbling slightly as her foot dragged along the ground.

"Whoa, hey!" Kota reached her just in time to stop her from faceplanting in the dirt. She was trembling with ragged breaths, a thin layer of sweat covering her forehead with a light sheen. It was worrying the hell out of him. "Talk to me, buddy! What's wrong?"

Neo shook her head, hair falling over her eyes and sticking to her face. It felt like she was standing in the caverns of the Infernal Subway; her entire body was on fire. She could feel the burning sensation rising from her center, rumbling from the pit of her stomach and into her throat.

"Neo! Neo, come on, you're scaring me!"

"K-Kota…" When she turned her head toward him, the look in her eyes was dull and faded. Her mouth opened and closed; she wanted to answer him but couldn't get the words out. All she could feel was an unpleasant rushing sensation, tearing through her body. Her face twisted into a grimace, lips trembling with strain. Finally, after a hard-fought battle, her body won out. Turning from him, she shoved him off, stumbling away and gripping her abdomen.

"Neo, hey —"

Before he could react, she wretched. Her tongue, throat, and lips burned from the bile as it spewed from her mouth all over the ground.

"Holy crap!" Kota jumped, running toward his friend as she wobbled. He gripped her shoulders, pulling her backward before she could fall face first into the lime green slime. His eyes widened into big round orbs, lips twisting up in confusion at the steaming pool. The idea of corrosive vomit should have surprised or frightened him, but at this point, he felt like nothing Neo did could rattle him. Honesty, it only made sense when he thought about it. How else could her body break down and absorb Aragami parts? He slowly guided her away, making a careful note not to touch the acidic puddle. "Neo, stay with me, alright?" He begged, pleading with her to remain conscious.

…She didn't.

Her eyes slowly dragged toward him, taking in his fearful expression before rolling into the back of her head and disappearing behind closing eyelids. "H-Hey… hey!" Kota's trembling voice began fade into garbles as the world around her darkened to black. Panicked, Kota dropped his rifle to the ground and caught the woman as her body collapsed like a sack of potatoes. She was completely out cold.

Over 100 thoughts rushed through his mind in that moment as he looked wildly around, trying to figure out what to do. Theirs was supposed to be a simple one, just a scouting mission to get some exercise and pass the time. With the two of them, it should have been nothing more than a practice session. Now, he was kneeling on the ground with his comrade unconscious and his own body on the verge of collapse.

What was wrong with Neo? And for that matter, what was wrong with him? Was this a result of the Bias Field Hibari mentioned? He had never seen his teammate get sick. He had never seen her display anything short of physical perfection. What was happening to her? How could he help her? What was he supposed to do in this situation? Maybe Soma would know what to do, or Hamasaki. Lowering her carefully to the ground, he scrolled through his contacts and hastily dialed the number for exfil.