A man and a girl are camping in a bathroom in an old abandoned metro station, it is night time and the air is cold and dry, the concrete walls are cracked, and aged stains can be seen. A portable heater is on, warming the room. They are on an expedition in search of relics from the war.
Humans can’t produce and use magic naturally, since in the human body there are no organs and cells that can carry magical matter to the body, and the method of extraction and production of magical matter as fuel is still a mystery, even though the atomic molecules of magical resources are the same as the earth, the magical energy still can’t be handled by human researchers.
In the process of using a magical item, it is required an organic magical charge, such as other-worldly rock called magic marble and magicrystals found inside buildings of the Daimos, the beasts who invaded earth and shattered human society.
Furthermore, the most used magical commodity for building weapons are magicrystals, found inside of the beasts as organs.
Nevertheless, the two hunters weren’t just exploring to loot. They are respected professionals employed by GUNJI, a multinational company responsible for producing magitech, medicines, weapons and employ mercenaries called Hunters. Both are tasked to investigate an unknown magical force detected inside the metro.
“It will be nice if we find something expansive, yeh, Father”
Said, the girl in her mid-teens, in a weary tone and a pouting face.
“The intelligence team caught an EMF around here, it can be a deposit of raw materials or something dangerous, we need to be careful, though it will be nice if we can loot something, right, Rora?”
Marcian, A man in his late thirties replied in an expectant tone and looked down meticulously to his rifle.
He was certifying that his GUNJI 2 Machine Gun was in a perfect state.
Aurora stared at her father with a serious look, drew his attention with a tongue click, and asked in a playful tone.
“Papa… what EMF means again?”
Marcian give her a doubtful look, but still smiles and replies.
“Silly... it means Electromagnetic Magical Field, this job has some specialties in it, Doctor Asako was really interested in this mission, so she asked to the higher ups to post a special job for us.”
Aurora playfully smiles.
“Yeah, right right, I knew about it, just my mind was clogged”
Both laugh in easement and return their focus to their equipment maintenance.
Some hours passed; the father and daughter went deeper in the metro tunnels, with no vision beyond 20 meters because of the magical matter being thick and interfering with the flashlight, their steps could be heard echoing in the dark, but there were no creatures nearby detected by the Information Gathering Device (IGD), so they can walk faster without being careful by the noise.
After half an hour of walking into the tunnels, they see a crack in the walls, a cave shining in amethyst purple going really deep underground.
They both look at each other confused and get in position to fight.
Aurora frowned.
“Eh… what the actual f… frick?”
“We are gonna get paid enough to do this shit, right? RIGHT?”
Marcian looks at her with a matching perplexed face and squints.
“Yeah, maybe, It’s the job and a hunt started only ends with the objective finished.”
“Also, language, missy.”
Aurora rolls her eyes as a rebellious teenager.
“Riiiiiiiiiiight.”
Both enter the shining cave and dive deeper and deeper. Carefully measuring their steps while getting closer, there’s no use for the flashlight anymore, since the cave is well illuminated with its ominous natural lighting.
Soon after, they realize that their IGD has no signal.
Aurora exclaims nervously grinding her teeth.
“Dammit, even this expansive IGD is not good enough for the density of magic here?”
Marcian looks at Aurora with a serious look and whispers.
“Quiet, we don’t know if there’s any beasts around.”
Embarrassed, Aurora shakes her head agreeing.
Exploring more, they enter a large chamber where there’s a thick fog obstructing clear vision. The chamber had several connected corridors with unknown destinations, and the sky was visible, as the ground had collapsed or something exploded and made a ravine.
Aurora utters anxiously with a false grin.
“Eh, I think we're going to need some of the inspection team around here.”
After investigating the location to verify if there’s any threat, they continue the exploration. Further in, they find a crystal pillar, looking closer. The see something inside the pillar or better worded as a cocoon.
Aurora, surprised by the situation, exclaims with her eyebrows raised.
“W-What!?”
“There is a human boy here!”
Marcian frowned, surprised as well.
“What the hell?”
Aurora smirks.
“LANGUAGE.”
Marcian eases up his expression.
“Fine and sorry, my princess.”
Then, Aurora takes up her attention to the pillar with the boy again.
Touching it slowly with her right fingers and hand.
Marcian shout.
“Ay, wait, don’t touch it!”
The pillar dazzles and emits a force field, pushing back and blinding temporally Marcian and Aurora.
Both lose their senses temporally.
With his senses jumbled, Marcian shouts.
“Dammit, Aurora!”
“Where are you?”
“Are you okay?”
Aurora was ashamed with the situation and confused.
“I’m here, fine!”
“I’m sorry.”
Marcian feels relieved while his senses come together.
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“Thank God.”
He inspects his surroundings before looking at Aurora.
“What happened and where’s the kiddo?”
Aurora winks.
“It’s here with me.”
She instinctively hugged him and pulled him into her arms while getting buffeted, protecting him from the fall.
The boy was still unconscious.
Marcian stands up and notices that the fog has disappeared.
“Get up fast, sweetie. I’m feeling it. Something not good is about to happen.”
“Let me pick him up, I can fight while carrying someone.”
Aurora concurs and stands up.
“Fine, I’ll cover you.”
Both feel something is not right, hence they are focused on their way to leave that cave.
Not so long, they hear something from the linked corridors. Several nonhuman footsteps. They rush into the corridor from which they came. Marcian makes a hand signal for combat preparation. Aurora unlocks the safety of her GUNJI Model 2 Carbine.
While they are on their way out, numerous beasts show themselves in the chamber, consuming some crystals and searching for something.
Marcian and Aurora, quietly leave, while Marcian watches the rear, Aurora covers the vanguard.
Out of luck, Aurora stumbles upon 5 creatures and engages in combat.
She crouches and starts bursting precisely into the creature’s head. The creatures without any reaction die. Three of them were hit in the head, one decapitated and the last shot in his heart.
She was shooting at a bipedal monster called Aiux, they are short bipedal pale beasts, with the face of a goat and the shape of a hairless rodent with big red eyes, long arms, and sharp claws. They don’t have legs, therefore they use their long arms to move. They consume magic from organic matter and mainly magicrystals to feed themselves, they are capable of using special abilities such as hardening their body or using a magical field as protection. Their livers can be used as an ingredient for magical medicine as most of the Daimos’s beasts.
Scholars and the military in a consensus rank a beast's danger from 0 to 10.
In comparison, an armed and trained hunter that wants to kill you is ranked 5.
Aiux alone is ranked 2, it is as dangerous as a feral brown bear, but aiuxes are never alone, they always stick together with four to ten individuals. That’s why a group of aiuxes can be dangerous even for hunters.
After the first encounter, the hunters made a loud sound, drawing the horde's attention. Both start rushing out to the end of the cave, getting closer to the metro tunnels, while the aiux horde starts chasing them.
When they get to the metro, they start running fast. The hunters are equipped with the GUNJI Spinal Design Exosqueleton which enhance their physical performance.
Still, the aiuxes are fast and already at the cave exit.
Marcian opens fire.
Blasting his machine gun and in just 4 seconds, he shot 12 aiuxes, cutting them in half, and making a puddle of blue blood, all Daimos bleed blue.
“There will be no end to them, DIE BASTARDS, YEE-HA!”
Shouts Marcian in exasperation and excitement, shooting his .50 machine gun with ease like a veteran soldier shooting a pistol, while carrying the boy in his left shoulder.
With his built and large physique, even without the exoskeleton, Marcian could handle the machine gun with ease.
After the aiux massacre, Marcian breathes and looks at Aurora.
“Rora, be careful, we don’t know if there will be another horde or other beasts around here, just move on.”
While they speak, more aiuxes are getting closer.
Aurora shouts motivated.
“Sure, but let me throw this”
She takes out from her webbing set an orange grenade with a cylinder shape, takes out the safety, pushes the trigger, and throws it.
Eight seconds after she throws, the grenade explodes and a wave of a red flame traces the enemy, burning them and their anguished scream can be heard.
Aurora yells.
“Ye-ha! With that, those punks won’t chase us anymore.”
Marcian smiled with a serious look.
“Yeah, but stay alert.”
They continue running for 5 minutes and they arrive at the metro entrance. Climb the stairs and start walking to where they parked their Light Tactical Vehicle.
Aurora curious and wide-eyed asks.
“Goddamit, what a ride.”
“Is the boy, okay with all of this mess?”
Marcian lifts the boy with his arms and with a prideful face says.
“Oh yeah, he’ll manage.”
“With all of that confusion, he didn’t wake up.”
“This mysterious boy is sure a finding.”
Aurora looks to her dad with her jaw dropped.
“That means, he is the job?”
“Like, there’s no special materials or relics. But him?”
Marcian shrugs.
“It seems so.”
The vista from the streets where they are walking is just a husk of what was there before the war. Collapsed buildings and vines taking over the rubble, while there are some animals and vegetation, humans can’t live on the surface anymore. Both contemplate looking at the city ruins and think about how their lives would be if they could roam free without being attacked by foreign creatures with alien abilities.
Marcian was thinking about his wife and Aurora, if the old tales were right, he could just earn some money, open a coffee shop with his family and have a peaceful life.
Aurora just imagined being surrounded by friends and just having a good time, laughing, playing, and eating sweets.
When they get close to their car, a humanoid figure can be sighted in the distance. The hunters get alert and are ready to fight.
Marcian warns Aurora with a watchful look.
“Get ready, sweetie, this could be a really serious fight.”
“If something happens, Rora, you run with the boy to get help.”
Aurora is pensive and replies.
“Ryokai, roger that.”
Marcian grins warmly and both cautiously walk in the direction of the figure.
Getting close, they see a mechanical figure of a man, it could be an armor, a cyborg, or something entirely else, with a design that can’t be seen anywhere in the hunter's city of origin.
Marcian points his machine gun to the man and shouts.
“Ay, champ, everything alright?”
“We are just passing by, we mind our own business and you mind yours. Kay?”
The man turns around and stares at both hunters and the boy.
His face is covered by some sort of a helmet with a mask that resembles a woman's face carved in marble, with its delicate face design, yet his figure is bulky. His overall details are uncanny for humans.
After a quarter of a minute of silence, which felt like an hour for the hunters.
The man replies in a calm yet threatening tone.
"Yes... everything is quite... alright."
"I'm here to... well, you don't need to know.."
"For that, I'll need you to hand it over... that thing."
"That Purple Blood."
"For a paradise, made of silicon."