Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, zjik! Phonscience was quickly getting frustrated. She was able to get three of the four Fiends teleported right away before her power got too difficult to use, though even that much had been a pain in the ass. Now that the compound was practically filled with invaders, it was getting more difficult with each passing second to do anything.
The last remaining Fiend aura was still noticeable amongst the sea of multicolored fog. They always had a different feeling to them that made them immediately identifiable and unmistakable to Phonscience. This vermillion colored aura definitely stood out amongst all the others she'd seen in her life. It looked like it was reaching out, gently touching all those around it.
Phonscience dug around in the fog, trying to get a firm grip on the Fiend’s piece, but it was just too intangible. Even when she cupped her hands, the piece slipped through the cracks between her fingers. “Maybe you could give me a hand over here?” she called out to her roommate.
“You know I can’t interact with your stuff.” Since Phontext didn’t really have anything to do at the moment, she was dangling from a long silk ribbon that was somehow attached to the void above them. The ribbon was wrapped around her ankle, and she was dangling upside down. According to her, the blood rushing to her head helped her focus, not that she had any blood to begin with.
“Could you do anything useful then? Like tell me who this is?”
“Who?”
“You know who!” Phonscience spat, gesturing violently to the Fiend aura. “That Draz!”
“That Draz…” Phontext replied with clear condescension. “You really think I can look up someone with just ‘That Draz’. I need something more actionable than that. Their name, what they look like, who they’re friends with?”
“Well… they’d have vermillion-colored eyes since the aura always matches,” Phonscience started to piece together a description. “And they’re a Fiend, that should narrow it down a lot. Oh, and Jaid should know them, right? Since they’re in the military together.”
“Alright, that’s a somewhat competent search at least.” Phontext queried the following 『A Fiend with vermillion-colored eyes that Jaid Luciri knows.』
『0 Results.』 “Welp, that didn’t work. Give me something else. Tell you what, if you actually get ahold of their aura, I can use that.”
Phonscience sighed, “Easier said than done.”
The two of them then both suddenly stopped what they were doing and were forced to listen—orders from the top. Forget the Fiend for now until I can get a direct visual on them. Standby and focus on moving members as needed whenever possible.
Phon teleported to the roof of the headquarters building where Niloy was stationed. “Yeah that’s right, stay back you mawhgers!” The Flesh-Eater laughed maniacally as she rained down liquid death. She’d started out by creating a circle of hyper-sticky liquid around the entire building to trap any approaching soldiers. Then, she changed it to acid rain that increased in destruction and pain with each passing second.
She wasn’t trying to defeat or harm any of them currently. Her objective, as with every other member, was the protection of the buildings for now.
“Tize, check in,” Phon spoke into her earpiece.
“Just finished the evacuation,” she heard him huffing as he spoke, clearly on the move. “Roque ignored orders and is performing the citizen evacuation. Wanted to gain as many favors as possible or something. Give me 30 seconds and I’ll pass the blockade in the tunnel.”
“All sectors check in.” Phon now addressed everyone else on the channel.
“This is Mallea. My shed is clear.”
“This is Crucion. I’ve blockaded the dorm entrance but they’re really trying to bust in here. The sooner you can do it, the better!”
“This is Feyj. We’re keeping them out of the mansion, but requesting similar haste.”
“This is Andi. Had a few intruders in the workshop, but we subdued them with gas. Farian is paralyzing them. They won’t be a problem.”
Suddenly a cacophony of barks and whines filled Phon’s ear. “This is Bray. Mazie and I secured all pets from the resident ward into our apartment.”
“This is Nachi. Had a bunch get into the public side of the gym, but they’re not getting back up. Fine to leave them in here. The member side is blockaded. I got to beat up my old boss, so that was fun. Clear.”
“This is Deborah. A few pushed past the acid and made it inside, but the turrets I set up paralyzed them. Clear.”
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
“This is Itsy. They kept running into the empty cubes and I just been lockin ‘em from the outside. It’s so Cosdamn funny! They look so proud when they get in and there ain’t nothing in there! Then they can’t escape! Ahahahaha!”
“Is it clear, Itsy?!” Phon must have sounded sterner than she had in months. She didn’t really like playing the heavy-handed boss, but the situation left her in charge, so she’d perform it to the best of her ability.
“Oh, err, yeah, it’s clear!”
“All sectors clear then,” Phon took a deep breath and then opened an app she’d never opened before on her phone. “Commencing full lockdown. Declare your intentions people. If you’re fighting, there will be no retreat. The lockdown is one way. Those inside can get out, but no one but me and Kada can get back in.”
“This is fully optional. Think of yourself and what you’re capable of. There will be absolutely no shame and no repercussions if you don’t engage. Your own safety is your top priority. Humans don’t get a choice. You’re out. I’ve pushed the button, you have 10 seconds to decide. Sound off.”
“Mallea, Fighting.” “Farian, Out. But teleport any injured my way if you can.” “Tize, Fighting.” “Rezin, Out.” “Itsy, Fightin.” “Victori, Standing By.” “Nachi, Fighting!” “Feyj, Fighting.” “Mazie, Fighting! No! No, you’re not! Bray and Mazie, Out!” “Gatrim, Fighting, lucky for you!” “Roque, Out, but will report soon.” “Niloy, I’m right next to you, but Fighting!”
“Lockdown is activated, stand clear if you don’t want to get crushed,” Phon instructed them. “To all those fighting, play it safe and listen for further orders.”
The sound of metal reverberated around the compound. Hundreds of reinforced shutters slid down the side of each and every building, making them virtually impenetrable. But the lockdown didn’t end there. Once each building had been secured, it had to be hidden too.
The headquarters building beneath Phon and Niloy’s feet started to shake, and a second later, the entire building started to sink into the ground below. Only now did Phon finally look over the edge with her actual eyes at the situation below. A pit formed in her stomach. Because no matter what lens it was looked through, that was a buttmawhg load of enemies.
Sure, they’d isolated all the Fiends but one, but that was at the cost of the three most useful fighters in this situation. There were only a hundred or so Lessers by Phonscience’s count. While they could certainly prove to be a problem, they hadn’t been trained by Nachi, so Phon wasn’t too worried.
The sheer volume of humans was her bigger concern. Sure, they were just measly humans—each one pathetically easy to defeat. But there was a universal truth to the idea of power in numbers. Even if they had stronger fighters, it was still roughly ten thousand versus a small handful.
Phon firmly believed that each of them was worth a thousand soldiers at the bare minimum, and that was lowballing it. But Fiends were still mortal, and one mistake was all it took. One enemy they didn’t see, one well placed bullet. Most of them didn’t have strong defensive abilities and could be killed just as easily as anyone else.
A Fiend’s tougher skin was only useful to an extent, and that extent wasn’t powerful bullets. Phon also wouldn’t be surprised if there were some experimental weapons and ammo among the mix. Treating them them like the everyday rabble they normally fought would also be a mistake.
The question now was, what should Phon do? Join the fray and take out as many as possible? She was one of those vulnerable to gunshots, especially with her teleportation hampered, but she had no doubt she’d be one of the best fighters and could take down a thousand on her own.
No, that just wouldn’t do. It didn’t matter how many she could beat if she couldn’t beat all of them. There had to be something only she could do, so Phon decided to hide away for now and observe the situation. She teleported herself down into the headquarters building, inside the tactical room, since she was still able to move herself that much at least.
Deborah and Victori were already inside, watching the fight from the monitors and security cameras. Phon ignored them and laid down on one of the tables, rewrapping her ribbon around her eyes and taking direct control over Phonscience.
Looking at the blob of fog was already giving her a headache, but there were a few noticeable outliers. Possibly snipers taking up position in the mountains or scouts that were reporting back live intel. Both were nuisances, and more importantly, easily grabbable. Phon plucked them one at a time and stuffed them into their various holding cells which they had to regrettably build more of recently, but it was definitely a positive in this situation.
Unfortunately, she could only cram in so many, or she could win the entire fight that way as the soldiers made mistakes and got too far away from the pack. She doubted it’d get too foggy to place them before she hit the limit, so that wasn’t the issue. They’d just start crushing each other if she put too many in at a time.
To make more room, she took their two current prisoners and made them share the cell. They’d probably prefer eachothers company than being stuck with CP riffraff—not that they particularly got along. Phon made sure to leave one cell completely free for possibly-problemsome individuals such as the Fiend that was still out there… if she could ever get hold of them.
The observer was just about to refocus her attention to the Fiend’s aura when she got a big flashing alert above her table letting her know someone was trying to contact her body. “Go ahead, Roque,” she responded once her consciousness shifted.
“Evacuation’s done. Those students are pretty handy, I’ve gotta admit. May have to do some poaching before they graduate. Pak made my cottage big enough on the inside to accommodate the entire town, and Wental has been hitting everyone with his bat of calmness. Rezin blended the cottage in with a mountain before he passed out from exhaustion so we’re as safe as can be.”
“Anyways, we’ve also scouted out their base camp. Might do a little damage there if I get bored. Oh! Just thought of a way to help you from outside. Get your second or third brain to send me the names of the CP soldiers attacking. I’ll get you some distractions and hurt their morale. Let’s see how much they want to fight when their savings are gone. Roque out.”
Phon had started carrying her transmission tiara around with her everywhere for situations like these. It was fortunately collapsable now and easy to transport, so she took it out of her pocket and slipped it on her head.
“What, are you busy or something?” Phon glared over at Phontext when she dove back into her own mind. The figment looked rather annoyed that they now had to do a lot of work. Even with the fog, she could still gather enough intel from them just from Phon’s enhanced sight to find their names if they were nearby.