Lurona city [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1793.12.--] [New Year Celebrations]
They arrived at the third floor of the laboratory building – the meeting room. The two commanders were already waiting for them, sipping on their chosen beverages.
Of course, neither Aisha nor Zeph were considered a commander. Even though they had the last say during the last skirmish, their presence wasn’t incorporated into the command chain, strictly speaking. Which was for the best, as they didn’t have experience with commanding Hannyajin in battle.
The two older Hannyajin that were now waiting for them had never argued with their decisions, but it was obviously clear that their patience was running short. Their neutral façade started cracking as soon as Zeph and Aisha entered the room – both showing slight signs of tiredness and anger. The last fight wasn’t the worst, at least in Zeph’s opinion, but the stress of the ambush and constant attacks had to take its toll on them.
Aisha frowned but said nothing. Zeph followed her to the table and sat down, opposite the commanders, just as she did. The table was too big for only four people, so they ended up with almost two meters of free space between both sides.
“What are those faces?” Aisha asked sharply, not even asking for a drink from the bar. “There wasn’t even one death case, and you are already displeased?”
If a glare could kill, the two commanders would already have blood on their hands.
“La-Zora, it’s not about that. We are ready to lose people. It’s normal during a battle.” Her commander spoke. “But… we could have taken those assassins into custody if not for your orders…”
Aisha grimaced ugly. “Look, my commander. I don’t care about your orders or code of conduct. I will not… And I will repeat, I will NOT allow for meaningless deaths.” She was glaring at him. “You may believe some sacrifices were necessary to gain better results, but there was nothing to gain. If you don’t have even that much trust in me, I am starting to doubt my position in this whole affair.”
It was as if a lightbulb lighted up above Zeph’s head. He looked at his commander in a new light. It wasn’t that the man was angry – more like disappointed. His people, too, could have tried to apprehend some of the mysterious attackers. And while any kind of torture was out of the question, those people would be living, first-hand witnesses. Even if it would cost them some lives, he seemed to believe it would be worthwhile.
Zeph shook his head slowly and spoke before they could respond to Aisha. “You two have a wrong impression of us, I think,” he stated. “We are not politicians. We are the Heads of our respective departments, sure, and we aren’t pure warriors either. But this doesn’t change the fact that we are active combatants. If you want to sacrifice people for something, made it really worth it. What would that achieve in the last fight?” He asked rhetorically, spreading his arms. Meanwhile, Aisha was fighting with herself so as to not cave the commanders’ heads with the shaft of her weapon. “Additional information? The things our respective departments should have already found out? Screw that; care to tell me, where will you find new Hannyajin to replace the dead ones?”
“That’s not the point!” Aisha’s commander, an old guy with too many scars on his face, hit the table with a fist. “The loss of Soul fragments from range assault be damned, we didn’t have the initiative even once! That’s the worst possible scenario in ANY confrontation!” He huffed in displeasure, standing up. “Even if you two have information about the enemy, what good can that do if it’s not accessible to us?”
“Not to mention, our directives were unclear,” the younger commander stated with an unreadable, stoic face. He waved his hand in the general direction of the ongoing fight outside. “If we are to stop interlopers, the best way would be to prevent this situation from happening in the first place by neutralizing the bait. Chaos is the main enemy of staying vigilant.” He pointed his finger downwards, lightly tapping the table. “If we are to be bait and nothing else, we should have retreated much earlier.”
Aisha crossed her arms. “If we knew what to do from the start, we wouldn’t be in the defensive battle, you idiots.” She glared at them in silence for a few more seconds, until her commander sat down once again. He wasn’t pleased, by any means, but he seemed agreeable to at least listen. “What I am going to tell you is information that could not, under any circumstances, leave this building.” She looked sharply at the barman, who immediately stood up and left the room. After a few moments, Zeph could feel the familiar enchantments activating, brushing against his Veil as the effects spread through the room.
He frowned and looked at Aisha. “Those aren’t up to the standard. Are you sure it’s alright?”
She shrugged, a mischievous glint in her eye. “As I said, these pieces of information are to stay in the building,” she smiled. “And the building… is already sealed. I couldn’t care less if an infiltrator can hear us now.”
The commanders palled slightly. The older one looked like someone had slapped him in the face. The younger one looked defeated. “So, we were a bait from the beginning… just a bait…” he mumbled, massaging his eyes.
“Hah! You? A bait? Hohoho…” Aisha laughed loudly, startling the whole room. She ‘playfully’ slapped Zeph’s back a few times, producing loud rattling noises. Zeph grimaced at the unnecessary use of force.
Jesus… How am I feeling that through the armor? he thought while slapping the last ‘attack’ away with his reinforced armguard.
Aisha didn’t stop, slapping the arm he was keeping upright a few more times, but this time she did it half-heartedly as her laughter started to die down. In the end, she took a deep breath to compose herself and looked back at the two confused commanders.
“Ahem… let’s get you on top of our situation.” Her crooked smile returned in full power. “We all were the bait, for a certain-slash-different-slash-possible-elements that could have tried to attack or infiltrate. Moreover, this whole setting was a trap… No, you can’t have the details… Yes, we can talk freely now, for the most part… Our opponents are the Temple of Pure Souls fanatics… Yes, I know they aren’t really fanatics… No, they are still as dedicated to their work…” She fired the answers before the two commanders could even try to ask a question, as evidenced by their repeatedly opening and closing mouths. She deliberately made a pause between each sentence, which didn’t escape Zeph’s notice. “It’s only your two teams, basic personnel, and us in the building. But there are still spies within,” she stated at the end, placing her head on the top of her bent-down hand. “How are you going to deal with that, I wonder?” she almost whispered.
It took a moment for the two men to truly understand the last statement. But Zeph knew. He understood her right away. People could disguise themselves as their warriors. Some could even try to replace them entirely. They could have planted spies in the building’s personnel, too. Some of them could be controlled—by normal or mental means, he didn’t care—to act in certain ways. Most importantly, though…
At once, his head turned to her. “You aren’t suggesting we have bugs? What is the ‘cleaning’ team even doing?” he asked in a strained voice, using the English word he taught her before as a part of their coded dictionary.
Aisha sent him a withering gaze in response. She evidently thought it was too early to disclose that ciphering method to the enemy. She quickly returned her gaze to the two men, though. “A siege event happened, and we are going to use that to our advantage. While we wait for the situation outside to stabilize, you are tasked with screening every person in this building.” She stood up and walked to one of the metal cabinets. After opening it with her Guild key-bracelet, she took out two flat, metallic contraptions that looked like clockwork mechanisms. The cabinet was heavily armored, but it became evident only after the thick doors were opened.
The two strange objects were bulky and the size of her palm. As she walked closer, Zeph could feel pulses of Mana radiating from them periodically as the gears on the surface turned. She returned to the table and threw them at the commanders lightly. They caught them without a problem, looking at her quizzically. “I hope everyone was following the rules in the transition tunnels. Anyone that didn’t, you can find with those. They work the same as the last scrutiny devices that Ghrughah created; do you remember how to operate them?”
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They nodded. “What with—” the younger commander started, but was interrupted.
“I wasn’t finished,” she said in a harsh tone, silencing him. “I evidently hadn’t earned enough respect in your eyes, so just follow the orders. Those are approved by Kwan.” She took out an amulet from under her chest armor, and both men relaxed immediately after seeing it. They didn’t even ask her to hand it for inspection. “Gather everyone on the third floor and do the screening. Interrogate anyone indicated by the devices. It’s your duty to make sure that not even one of the spies makes it out, are we clear? Expect anything, even manipulation methods. Make sure no one has holes in their memory. That they are physically and mentally untouched. Test their integrity, if you have to.”
They nodded, much more vehemently now. It seemed that it wasn’t the end of their work for today, and now they had direct orders from their boss – Zeph could almost see their morale meters filling up.
He chuckled at the game-like image in his head.
Aisha looked at him. “The two of us will take room five to prepare Soul scan. Do not disturb us until it’s finished, and for the gods’ sake, don’t let anyone leave the third floor. The staircase will be blocked, of course, but make sure no one has any funny ideas…”
They talked a little longer to hammer down the details before they said their goodbyes and split to fulfill their tasks.
Once he followed Aisha to the aforementioned room, Zeph could feel much stronger enchantments activating. The place was looking strange, though. The room was… modest. Ascetic even. There were no decorations, only wood, metal, and glass furniture. An ozone-like smell was lingering in the air, and the wooden surfaces were slightly fried on the corners. The black spots didn’t really damage the grain of the elegant wood, but it definitely wasn’t looking pretty.
His eyebrow raised. “Is that your answer for possible bugs? Acidic gasses?” he asked skeptically.
Aisha shrugged before plopping on a hard, wooden chair. “Speak with P’pfel about that; it was his idea. The constant surveillance started to chip at his patience. ‘It’s not a brothel for everyone to hear us!’, he screamed,” she chuckled.
Zeph sat on the opposite chair and frowned. “Is that even going to work? Surely, new devices will be installed as soon as the building will start to be operational again…”
“Heh, he actually said something about wanting to cleanse that horrid room you call a laboratory,” she said mirthfully. “The blood stains and fleshy remains made him gag when he saw it for the first time. Gremlings have quite a good sense of smell, you see.” She laughed.
Zeph couldn’t find a riposte to that. The room was, indeed, in a horrible state.
“But you shouldn’t worry about the efficiency. It’s a statement to our opponents – we don’t really care if something survives. But P’pfel also wants a security upgrade in the building, so you will see a few changes in the near future. The most important part, though, is to prevent direct infiltration.” She leaned forward, hiding half of her face behind her intertwined hands. “This effort is Guild-wide,” she slowly said in a low whisper. “The screening is not a joke. You can hide a listening construct or two—the potential of Skills is almost infinite, after all—but it won’t be doable if a stranger cannot access our buildings in the first place. Ciriyal also confirmed the necessity of taking action now.”
That is… craftier than I gave them credit, Zeph thought with wide eyes.
It was a trap through and through. Aisha didn’t even start to explain a few core motives behind all of this, leaving it to him to read between the lines, as if expecting that there were still people able to eavesdrop on them – to make those people believe, potentially, that this was the end of their plan. But the unspoken details were quite gruesome.
Like a fact, that anyone who decided to stay downstairs would either die or run up to them while screaming because the ‘bug repellent’ was being introduced there right about now.
Like the fact, that the Hannyajin had to be taught a lesson. Not only to become more malleable in adapting new security protocols seriously, but also to see the rare and exotic hazards they never took into account.
Like the little detail that the story of tonight’s happenings would surely spread through the locals, right against her declaration of confidentiality.
Like his guess, that P’pfel and Ghrughah were up to something in this very building. Probably something more deadly than just marking people that weren’t behaving in the tunnels.
Like the mention of Ciriyal, who was absent for the better part of the month. Indicating that even Zeph wasn’t fully informed as to the overall situation.
Like her hidden suggestion, that it was not the last they saw of the Temple of Pure Souls. It was veiled enough that Zeph wasn’t even sure if he understood her correctly. But all those precautions, including their soon-to-be Soul scan, strongly indicated the last attack wasn’t just a suicide mission.
“You have around a cycle before I, and the commanders, are finished. Get ready to make your hands dirty,” Aisha said, but Zeph could barely hear her.
He started caressing the artfully-shaped lower jaw guard of his helmet as he fell into deep thought.
If their last attempt wasn’t just a last-ditch suicide attack, only two possibilities exist. Taking into account Oric’s faction’s involvement in the fall of the Eblelta, they surely aren’t trying to influence the economy. Which means that they are trying to manipulate events… Hmmm…
He frowned, trying to decipher the meaning behind the latest events.
Trying to purge their already compromised infrastructure while playing a seemingly desperate card? It aligns with the timeframe. If the beasts want to siege us, they would have to start around spring… Probably. That would mean the Temple agents have a few months to recover and regroup before the attack happens, to wreak havoc once again when the time is right. But meanwhile, they can lie low and play dead. More opportunities to convert important people would arise as the attack is nearing, too… But, why the Undead attack?
He scratched his metal chin a few times, but it didn’t make much sense to him. Aisha’s explanation made it clear that the Undead would be a mere distraction and nothing more. Without their state being contagious, Undead really weren’t much to talk about.
Or maybe they are trying to influence public opinion? To show the horrors of the ‘wrong religion’, or ‘incorrect ways’, or something? I don’t think that this will persuade Cororians—not with how Souls work—but propaganda is propaganda. Some individuals could become more accepting of the Temple mindset… Yea, if I understood it correctly, Undead aren’t a common sight on this planet. It would be a good ground to seed doubt.
Zeph was sure some details escaped him, but was mostly satisfied with his conclusion.
He looked up, only to see that Aisha already started to take her mysterious beverage while falling into the semi-trance.
Right, we have a job to do, too. He sighed internally at the amount of work that was awaiting them.
Gru, he sent to his companion. You have permission to be… more direct with people around.
Gru? came a surprised replay.
Oh, sorry for interrupting… I’m happy you managed to work it out with Phleya. Having fun?
Gra! Grrum?
Yes, well... We are going to look for any form of Soul alteration in Kwan’s people. You can touch as much as you want. He started humming mid-sentence to better accommodate the necessary information that he was sending. I don’t really trust Aisha in covering whatever you do… Do you remember that one failure skin enchantment? The one that made Willforce puff outside of my body?
Gra?
Yes, that one. We have around two hours, so try to make it behave similar to an enchanted item, ok? If someone asks, I can always put the blame on Aisha by showing how the ‘item’ is ‘working’.
Gra! Rarara… It seemed Gru really liked the idea of a prank directed at Aisha, even if he didn’t truly understand why Zeph wanted him to stay hidden after giving him permission to… show himself in almost full capacity.
Zeph smirked. He hoped that his Priestess friend had some way to additionally cover for them because there was no way people weren’t going to notice.
It was her call, though.
Focusing back on the problem at hand, he turned to his Spells. The issue inside the building was another story, he needed something that could work outside, as it seemed they will be hunting for gods-know-how-long after that. Learning the Force version of Beam wasn’t an option. Using the Heat-powered Beam, even more so. The explosion itself was kind of similar in size, but what really harmed people were the Magicules and their secondary reactions to matter. And he still remembered how many were winked out before hitting the group. It was a waste of Mana and nothing more. He had no chance of firing it at point-blank, too. The Spell simply took too long to construct.
But he had just the right idea to fix this beaming problem…
~~~
Almost three hours later – their preparations took more time after he clued Aisha as to what was to come – they finally left the room.
No one interrupted them until now, as per Aisha’s orders, but the moment they opened the doors, they knew something was wrong.
The younger commander, Sangsu – as Zeph learned a moment ago from Aisha – was sitting on the floor, next to the doors, waiting for them.
He immediately stood up when he heard the doors being opened. His haggard visage and bandaged right arm were enough of a clue that new problems surfaced when they were absent.
“La-Einar, La-Zora, we had an accident,” he said immediately, his eyes trembling slightly. “We allowed people to mingle…” he started, guilt clearly present in his voice. “In one of the rooms, five people have died. We… don’t know how…”
“Did they turn?” Aisha asked, her frown the only indicator of how angry she really was. She directed her gaze in the general direction of the man, but her unsettling, almost-white eyes were totally unfocused, influenced by whatever drugs she took previously.
Zeph was sure she overdosed herself this time, but he knew better than to comment on it.
“Two did…” Sangsu grimaced. “The murder scene is a mess. We aren’t sure if the person responsible is still alive…”
She swung her warhaxammer upright, spinning it and startling the man. Zeph didn’t even react when the weapon’s head passed a few centimeters from his head. He just rolled his eyes at the blatant show-off.
His helmet made it that much easier, too.
The shaft of her weapon finally landed on her shoulder with a heavy thump. “Then, we go hunting,” she said amiably, but the small smile forming on her face was especially bloodthirsty this time around.