The first time Jensen took a drop pod was when he just joined the Shell-Wielding troops. Back then, he did not have the ability to fight off a Star Creature on his own. Seven years have passed, he could not believe how he had gotten so used to charging into the battlefield alone. He had gotten used to not fighting alongside any teammates and slaughtering monsters.

I am the killing machine of the S.D.A.

He told himself, feeling the vibration coming from the drop pod. It was a kind of helpless, yet prided feeling. They need him, more than he thought.

He had just returned to the Mello station, and was immediately dispatched to another spot that a Star Creature had landed to fulfill the mission.

The S.D.A owns two enormous space stations, in order to drop the Chasers near the Star Creature's crash site. This kind of strategy is called 'orbital dispatch,' or 'orbital drop.'

The Star Creatures came from the pitch-black void of the end of the universe. Although no one could really tell where exactly it was, people have concluded a general direction. Unfortunately, the Sheer rotates. When they observed or detected a Star Creature, the landing spot can't be estimated precisely. In order to intercept the invaders in the shortest amount of time, the S.D.A did not deploy troops around the world; neither did they try upgrading their transportation vehicles. Instead, they had built two space facilities that they could dispatch manpower to on the Sheer's gravitational orbit— Mello 1 and Mello 2.

Jensen wiggled his fingers. Aside from his hands, his body from below the neck to around the ankles was covered with black shells. That was the basis of shell-wielding, and the standard airborne landing procedure for the Chasers. Black shells can help Chaser’s hide their trails, tricking the Star Creatures’ senses. Jensen did not bring the mercury dose; he didn’t even bother to bring the gun. This helped in adhering the bodysuit and the shells outside closely together.

He didn’t need a gun. He wouldn’t have to use it anyway. The mercury bullets and high-pressure air rifle are the standard equipment for the Chaser troops. It was the emergency measures that they took with situations like when the Shelling Bubbles encountered issues, or when they couldn’t suppress the Star Creatures.

However, this didn’t really matter to Jensen, since he was always alone. No matter what kind of situation it is, he will be dead as a doornail. No one will provide him occasions for him to shoot, or cover for him before the ginormous monsters die from the mercury dose.

If anything occurs, he dies. The hunt is as clear as day, one side’s the hunter and the other’s the prey. At certain times, Jensen would feel like he was a pilot without a parachute. He was staking everything in order to fulfill his mission. Sometimes, he even felt like he was deliberately doing this.

He was starting to think that his job was no different from massacring, and so he forced himself to only fight those monsters with Shelling Bubbles. This somehow lightened the guilt he was feeling on certain aspects.

What if they just don’t want to be disturbed?

He asked himself, although those strange-looking aliens were hostile towards humans.

In fact, there wasn’t enough proof in past records that showed that the Star Creatures were intentionally trying to wipe out the human races. At most times when tragedy strikes, it was situations when someone was near the spot they landed; or that the humans actively woke and provoked them.

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That was all that it took.

He thought. That was all that it took to blacklist them with the appellation of ‘invaders.’

What if we misunderstood the purpose of their appearance?

The question occurred in Jensen’s mind. The Star Creatures did not develop higher intelligence, or at least they did not behave like they did. They were more primitive than humans. Their actions were more similar to animals, like those ferocious predators; like wolves or bears.

The Star Creatures’ appearance was immediately seen as a threat that needed to be eradicated, since their physique and destructibility were all overpowered. It surmounted any existing species. However, looking at the biology point of view, their behavior was unusually reasonable. It was more like survival instincts rather than deliberate plots. In order to survive, animals defend their territories. They absorb nutrition by feeding on their prey, and fight against external threats.

Am I killing the enemies, or am I just throttling a new species from the universe?

Jensen started to wonder once again. Unfortunately he was not sure whether this kind of thought occurred to him was related to what the S.D.A did to him.

Soon after he finished serving, he accepted the offer to join one of the S.D.A's classified, sub rosa research programs. They were testing to see if the human genes could welcome the Star Creatures' cells. The purpose was to find a way for the Shell Wielders to control the shells without using a Shelling Bubble.

Jensen succeeded, but in another way he did not. He still needed to rely on the Shelling Bubbles to command the 'shells.' But most importantly, he survived. He survived the experiment, and his shell-wielding abilities drastically improved. By using the Shelling Bubble, it seemed like he only needed to think in order to command those black fragments.

As long as he is wearing the breathing tube from the Shelling Bubble, he is invincible. His instincts grow sharper, his reaction supasses the mundane people, and not to mention that the strength he has when he wields the shells. His Shell Wall can block down attacks that require multiple Chasers to do so. His Shell Lance penetrates through things that typical Chasers could not.

He changed. He became stronger, more haggard, more like 'them.'

The funny thing was that Jensen noticed that his changes did not only occur externally. He was starting to feel some kind of 'fluctuation' from somewhere deep in his heart. At first, he thought it was the aftereffects from the experiment. However, he gradually started to realize that what he felt originated from somewhere other than his heart. Every time he puts on the breathing tubes and connects to the Shelling Bubble, the feeling grows stronger.

He was not quite sure what it was, but that ever since then, he could receive some vague and 'internal' messages from the enemies.

Bang!

The drop pod shook violently, then stopped after a moment.

I've arrived?

Jensen thought, surprised. At the same time, he glanced out from the observation window. Imperceptibly, after his countless times of being sent out in the field, taking the drop pod was like he was on a subway train.

He had landed on fields, at riversides, and mountainsides. Once he even landed in a sheepfold. However, he still gets sent to the zone near the Death Ring the most.

Jensen walked out of the drop pod, surrounded by darkness. He rarely comes to this section, or more like that the Star Creatures rarely land in this section, since there were no electromagnetic waves emitters around. He stood in-place, eyes scanning through the field under the night sky.

After a brief moment, he spotted the blaze and thick smoke from afar. It was from a gigantic rock lying in the impact holes.

What if we're the ones that were destined to be eliminated?

He stared at the target, one last question rising in his heart.

Unfortunately, no one was going to answer him. No one will answer this question, and the inner conflicts that were hanging deep down.

The man in black shells sighed, then took a step forward. No matter what the answer is, he knew that fate would one day appraise everything he had done. Just that the day has not come yet.