Chapter 21

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"Good job guys." Leon stood on the landing pad and greeted the four teams.

The landing site was located on the military base, which stretched for several kilometers and resembled a massive bunker complex. Behind them, one of the frigates that had accompanied them was landing in one of the hangars below. The ATBS pilots had parked their aircraft nearby and rushed to join Zane and the other two teams in saluting General Pearce.

"The containment was successful. The scientists in Team Six have already completed their work and the troops are cleaning up. Chomada will soon be habitable again. But further debriefing can wait for now. Rest up." Pearce looked at his people. Cara was standing in front of him with a crutch, and the cyborg had been temporarily given another arm that was totally disproportionate to his other one. They all looked battered in other ways as well.

"Lucia or your operators will get back to you." Pearce nodded. "Thank you for your hard work." Saluted Pearce.

""Sir!"" Saluted everyone before the meeting ended.

Immediately, a special medical unit joined the teams and led them off the landing pad.

"Get that thing out of here!" Cara scolded as one of the doctors brought in a wheelchair.

The doctor seemed visibly intimidated as Ilana, standing next to Cara, punched her in the ribs.

"Ouch!"

"Cara! Don't be rude." Ilana admonished her, and with a smile indicated to the doctor that he was welcome to bring the wheelchair.

Cara sat in it rather involuntarily, noticing that the painkiller was beginning to wear off. Cara and most of the others had taken off their combat suits in the frigate, and now one could see that not only Cara's right eye, but also her entire right arm had been replaced by a prosthesis. Parts of her head, around the artificial eye, also appeared to have been mechanically replaced.

"This way, please." One of the doctors went ahead, who, like all of them, was wearing a full-body protective suit.

"Is it like this every time?" Zane wondered, who was putting on a shirt in the locker room.

"I guess so." Said Nathan, who was already putting on his shoes. "Considering where we've been, they're pretty lax with us." Nathan sat up and looked at Zane. "Are you okay?" Nathan shuddered. Zane was sitting on the bench, he was as white as a sheet of paper and beads of sweat were running down his body.

Nathan immediately went to Zane and looked at his bracelet, which everyone in the unit wore. But the display showed no abnormalities.

"I'm fine Nathan..." said Zane, who took a deep breath.

"Are you sure about this? You don't want me to get one of the doctors?" Nathan sat down, relieved, across from Zane, who had visibly recovered.

"No, I'm fine. I've regained my composure." Zane took a sip from the container next to him.

The situation with the Infected reminded him of the past... He's intentionally facing his trauma. Nathan looked closely at Zane, who was wiping sweat from his face with a towel. But it's getting to him... "Zane, don't you think...", began Nathan.

"Thanks Nathan."

"For what?" Nathan looked at Zane, confused.

"For joining me. I know my request was very spontaneous. But I wasn't allowed to say anything until it was official."

"It doesn't matter, besides, I can't leave you alone. Otherwise, you'd do who knows what." Replied Nathan, to which the two laughed.

"I'll have to thank Zero again later." Zane looked down at the floor. "I couldn't have done it without you two...", he said smiling. "Thanks to you guys, I've been accepted into the Tactical Mages and I'm a little closer to my dream." He grinned.

"You have yourself to thank for that, though. I think Zero will agree with me on that as well." Nodded Nathan.

"Maybe a little." Zane scratched his head sheepishly.

I'm going to be a Guardian and protect everyone! Zane remembered the children's book he had read in the past as he walked out of the locker room with Nathan.

⬢

"There's Zero up ahead." Nathan pointed to the square below them. "It's the first time I've seen him at practice." The two looked down at the training area. The military base had several of them that were slightly outside in the open. The one in front of them was inside the military base itself, set into a building. This formed a sort of courtyard on which 4 squares were designated.

"Let's go down to greet him." Said Zane.

"The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow." Nathan looked at his PDA as Zero was finishing his lesson. "OK guys, that's it for today." Zero looked over to Nathan and Zane and seemed relieved. "I'll see you back here tomorrow then."

"Yes, Sir!" Saluted the teens to Zero before they broke up and headed toward the locker room.

"Well, everything okay with your students?" Zane and Nathan came over to Zero.

"Hey you two. You made it." Zero smiled in relief.

"Sure thing!" Zane stuck his thumb out at Zero.

Zero looked at Nathan, who nodded at him in agreement.

"What are you two up to again?" Zane looked back and forth between Zero and Nathan. "I'm fine OK!? You know the hero always comes back!"

"It's OK, we get it." Laughed Zero and Nathan grinned as well.

"How are classes going? Do you have a lot of work?" Asked Nathan.

"It's going okay, actually. I only have the classes for three to four hours and my teaching is also very much limited to training. Otherwise, I have some time in between where I teach them some first aid."

"Classes? You have more than one?" Zane inquired.

"This is my second class." Zero looked after the students.

"There are so many girls again...", Zane looked at Zero annoyed, who seemed to ignore him.

"There are a lot of underclassmen in Halsion... and other refugees who have nothing else." Narrated Zero.

"Just like us...", Zane watched as they disappeared into the locker room.

"Hey, have you guys eaten yet? My treat." Said Zero, who just slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Sure!" Replied Zane.

"You're done?" Asked Nathan.

"Yeah, that was the last class for today."

> 16:37 - CAFETERIA FOUR

The three sat in one of the base's cafeterias, which could serve several hundred soldiers at a time. However, most of the tables were empty since it was outside of the main opening hours. Otherwise, the cafeteria was more like a high-tech restaurant; despite the amount of clientele to feed, there was a massive selection of dishes to choose from, largely due to the automation of the kitchen, most of which was operated by machines.

"That was good!" Zane places his fork next to his emptied plate.

"My goodness Zane. Don't gorge yourself, you'll ruin your stomach eventually." Nathan who still had half his plate of salad in front of him shook his head.

"You sure you don't want anything Zero?" Zane asked, staring at Zero's water glass.

"No, I had lunch earlier." Zero waved off. "How's it working out for you now Nathan? Did you give up your spot to study at the Bibliotheca?"

"No, I'm still a student. The Bibliotheca has been informed and I have been allowed to participate in missions. I just have to see how I can catch up on the study materials I'm missing."

"I see, so something like studying part-time?"

"Sort of, yes." Laughed Nathan.

"I guess that's my fault, sorry Nathan." Zane scratched his head.

"It's not a problem, besides, I applied to the Bibliotheca to help other people later. With the missions, I'll just do it a little earlier now." Nathan laughed. "Maybe I can even get practical credit for the missions."

"True that." Said Zero.

"You're way ahead of the game when it comes to practice." Zane laughed.

"How was the mission, anyway?" Zero asked cautiously.

"It was like last time at the hospital..." Zane started to tell.

Zane told Zero about the mission when he got to the beast.

"I remember the one in Halsion..." Zero touched his arm as if it hurt him.

"It was significantly weaker than the one in Halsion, though...", Nathan hinted. "But maybe it was due to our numerical superiority." He clarified.

"Perhaps, yes..." agreed Zane, clenching his hand.

"Did you find out anything else?"

"Unfortunately, no...," Nathan explained.

"I see. The main thing is that you made it and you all came back unscathed." Zero said with a smile. "I'm sorry I can't do more..." He seemed a bit worried.

"Don't worry Zero, you have Asagi and Carol to take care of." Zane waved off.

"Besides, you've already prepared us a bit for the mission." Added Nathan.

"Maybe a little." Zero shrugged.

"Zero, can I ask you for something?" Zane suddenly asked very seriously.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can you train me with Deadra?"

⬢

> ZERO'S BAR

"Are you sure it's OK here?" Zane looked around. He was standing in the middle of Zero's bar, who had moved all the tables and chairs aside to create a clear space, even though only a smaller room had been established. Between him and Zero was Deadra. The huge Aku was as big as a cow, but it lay on the floor like a dog, however there was something elegant about the way Deadra lay there.

"Sure." Said Zero, who was cutting vegetables. "You just want to train, not hold a fight. Besides, you'll have to fight in confined spaces more often in the future, so this is good practice until we can get to a training ground." Explained Zero in passing.

"If you say so...and the bar?" Zane inquired.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like you guys are going to take away the whole building." Zero laughed. "Deadra, catch this!" Zero threw cutlery into the air. Immediately, Deadra's tail shot in the direction of the cutlery, splitting the tip into three smaller appendages, each of which grabbed one of the dishes and wrapped around it like little tentacles. "Since I can't let you work magic here, we'll train to dodge and keep an eye on the surroundings."

"Huh, I thought I was training with Deadra?" Zane wondered.

"Well, you do, but since you don't have that much of a problem with Deadra, I'll add something." Zero waved with a training manual.

"Am I your guinea pig?" Zane looked at him, aghast.

"In a way... But hey, we both learn something this way." Zero laid the book open in front of him and continued chopping his vegetables. "So, Deadra attacks you with the cutlery and you try to dodge. OK?"

"OK...," Zane looked at Deadra, who was twirling the cutlery at the ends of his tail. "Sounds very improvised what you're doing though..."

"Well Deadra, go ahead." Zero said, as Deadra shot his tail out in Zane's direction as if shooting out of a gun.

With difficulty Zane managed to dodge the spoon only to see the fork flying at him in the corner of his eye, narrowly missing him. Time after time Zane dodged the cutlery hurtling toward him. Deadra's three tail appendages moved as if each was a separate being and Zane started to get into trouble. Again and again, he had dodged backward, but so slowly he approached the wall.

"Feel the attacks coming." Came Zero back from the kitchen, his eyes fixed on the book. He didn't even notice that Zane already had his back to the wall and the three pieces of cutlery in front of his eye.

"This would be easier if Deadra would have magic I could sense." At that, Deadra pulled back his tail and looked at Zane as if to ask if Zane wanted to continue.

"I'm sure it would be easier against a mage, but you're more likely to fight Aku or Infected. But in case of emergency, you still have your shield, right?" Explained Zero. "Another round?"

"Sure!" Nodded Zane and Deadra got ready again.

Just then, the sound of the front door rang out and Aki walked in.

"What's going on here?" She saw Zane dodging Deadra's tail.

"Zane's training." Sounded from a corner. Asagi, Carol and Sora sat there, the table full of papers and holograms. Sora peeked at the papers while Asagi jotted things down and Carol seemed to be scrolling around on the tablet.

"And you're supposed to be studying." Zero looked over at Carol with a stern look.

"I don't want to anymore!" Carol placed her head on the tabletop and Sora began patting her.

"If you try hard, you might get dessert later." Said Zero casually, at which Carol's pigtail curl seemed to twitch.

"OK Asagi!" Shot up Carol's head. "Where were we?" Asagi laughed before starting to explain the material to her again.

"They're studying for the exam?"

"That's right, it's in two weeks." Zero explained to Aki as he set a glass of water down for her.

"And Zane?" Aki watched as Zane dodged the silverware.

"He wanted to train with Deadra."

"Dodging cutlery?" Aki looked at him in wonder.

"I couldn't think of anything better on the spot..." Zero looked at his manual. "Zane probably just wanted to look at Deadra... But that seemed too easy." He gestured.

"And then you use cutlery?" Aki looked at him again questioningly.

"..."

"Whoa!" Zane put down his glass. "Thanks for the training Zero!"

"Don't thank me, thank Deadra." Zero laughed, putting the tables back in place. "Unfortunately, that's all I can do..." Said Zero as Zane tried to thank Deadra.

"What do you mean Zero?" Aki looked at him.

"Oh, nothing...", Zero put the last chair back and came back to the counter.

Aki, Asagi, Carol and Sora had already gotten a plate from Zero. Zane had helped Zero put the tables back and was still sitting there without one when Zero brought him a plate from the kitchen too.

"Thanks, Zero."

"Do you like it Sora?" Zero looked at her, who carefully speared the food onto her small fork.

"It tastes very good." She looked at him with a smile.

Zero smiled at her as well and stroked her cheek as tears began to roll out of the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sure the others would have liked it too." She smiled at Zero through her tears.

Asagi stroked Sora's back as Zero walked around the counter to lean down to Sora, who turned to him.

"I'm sure they're glad you like it so much." He wiped the tears from her face.

"Mhm" Sora nodded and smiled.

"She's sleeping now." Zero came back from the upper floor.

By now it was getting late, and the first guests were already in the bar. Asagi and Carol helped Zero whenever they could. Asagi stood behind the bar handing out the drinks and smaller snacks Zero had prepared, while Carol brought them to the tables along with Sound.

"Is she okay?" Zane inquired.

"Yeah, she's fine. She thinks about the others sometimes and then... well, you saw what happened."

"Poor thing..." Said Aki.

"What are you going to do with her?" Zane looked at Zero, who started to work behind the counter.

"I don't know..." Zero hesitated for a moment. "I'd like to send her to school, but I haven't found anything concrete yet."

"Are there any schools that accept... Infected?"

"The Reunion Movement runs an orphanage here in New Comound, there is also a school for Infected there." Explained Aki.

"That would be something, wouldn't it?" Asked Zane.

"It is, but it's quite far away. Besides, I wanted to ask Sora first. So, I haven't taken any concrete steps yet."

"I see..." agreed Zane Zero.

The Reunion movement... Zane mused.

⬢

Zane and the other teams waited for the debriefing of their first mission to begin. Cara and the cyborg had both been injured in the mission, but appeared to be recovered, with Cara still appearing to be wearing some sort of cast.

All six teams involved in the operation were present, Teams One through Four, The ATBS pilots from Team Five, and Backup Team Six. Whereas Team Six, who had protected the scientists and collected the Infected samples, made up the largest number of attendees.

Zane chatted with Stephen, whom he knew from his brief time in city security.

"When did you join the unit? You could have said something." Zane questioned Stephen.

"Sorry, it was very spontaneous." Stephen laughed as the door opened.

Immediately everyone rose and saluted. General Pearce entered the room accompanied by Lucia, the operators, as well as Professor Nordskov.

Pearce marched to the console at the front of the room and saluted the soldiers. "At ease."

Everyone sat down as Pearce began the briefing.

"First, I want to thank you again for a job well done yesterday." He looked at everyone, not just the teams, but the operators as well. "I know for many of you this is not easy and as we all saw yesterday, you risk your lives for all of us. That's why I'm even more grateful that you all accepted the offer." Pearce nodded, half bowing.

Many of those present were amazed at the general's behavior. They had all joined the military knowing what to expect. The unit had been formed only weeks ago, and for the most part by General Pearce alone. The unit's organization and missions were still in their infancy and therefore carried increased risk. Everyone was aware of that, but Pearce seemed to think it appropriate to explicitly express his gratitude to them for that very reason.

"Now let's move on to the discussion of yesterday's mission." Pearce continued. "Lucia, if you please." Lucia nodded and activated the screen behind Pearce.

An extensive debriefing of the operation followed.

Civilian casualties, number of Infected sighted, strategic analysis and more were part of it. Lucia took the lead in the debriefing while Pearce and the operators took over the individual points.

The briefing went on for a while as they got to the last part of the operation - the beast they had encountered.

"Let's get to the fight at 11:37 in the center of the Outbreak area." Lucia started and the tension in the room was obvious.

Everyone knew what the fight was about. The beast that had killed a colossus class Infected, that had crushed Cara's leg and the cyborg's arm. The one that had taken on four teams before ultimately being defeated by them. They had won but it had left an aftertaste in the minds of most. What unsettled almost everyone, however, was that no one knew what it was that they had fought.

Most probably had a feeling, especially Zane and Nathan could imagine what it was, having already come into contact with a similar creature in Halsion.

Blood

"Sir." Lucia handed over to General Pearce.

"Thank you, Lucia." Pearce stood at the console and the next moment a 3D model of the beast appeared. "I'm sure you all want to know what it was you were fighting." Pearce gestured toward the hologram. "Some of you have already encountered a similar creature." He looked over at Zane and Nathan. "What comes next is highly classified information." Reminded Pearce. "Professor. If you please." He turned to him.

"May I introduce Professor Nordskov our Akuryuma expert."

"I am Professor Nordskov, I am in charge of the Akuryuma and Infected investigation on Nykara. Most of you already know me." He introduced himself and turned to the hologram. "What you see here is a potential new class of Infected. We've christened it the New Blood for now. It is probably an evolution of a known class."

"Professor?" The second member of the first unit raised his voice.

"Yes?" The professor turned to him.

"Why just potentially?" He inquired.

"Potentially, because we don't know if it's really a new class or if we just haven't encountered one of its kind before." He began to explain. "As you all know Nykara is a war zone and there is limited information exchange between groups. Even about the Akuryuma threat." Nordskov looked around. "Therefore, it is likely that one of the other groups has already had contact with the New Bloods, but has not shared their knowledge of it with any of the other groups..."

"Shelter, for instance, with their monopoly on Outbreak containment." Added Pearce. "We're pretty sure they've already come into contact with the New Bloods, but our information department hasn't discovered any evidence in that regard."

"Are there any questions before I continue?" The professor turned to the attendees.

"How do you know this was an Infected?" One of the support staff came forward.

"Well. Since the Akuryuma have all but disappeared since the end of the Second Outbreak 22 years ago..." the professor began, turning questioningly to Pearce who nodded as if giving him permission to continue. "Do you know how most of the Akuryuma show up?" He asked a counter question.

"No professor." He shook his head.

"The Akuryuma very rarely show up anymore." Began Nordskov. "The last confirmed sighting in Alliance territory was during the Outbreak in Halsion."

"Halsion...," Stephen looked at Zane and Nathan.

"The Akuryuma themselves show up either because of a tremendous concentration of Corrutin, or because of the impact of an Infected."

"An Infected?" They looked at the professor.

"The Infected summon them." Said Nordskov casually. "Girls summon monsters..."

A murmur went through the room.

"As I said, the Infected are capable of summoning the Akuryuma under certain circumstances. Whereas, as far as we know, these incidents have greatly decreased due to efforts of the Reunion Movement. At least in Alliance sectors."

"But how is that possible if the Akuryuma have disappeared after all?"

"A fair question." Nordskov turned to the hologram and changed the scene. "Do you see this?"

"A distortion?" Said one of those present.

"That's not a glitch in the recording. That's an actual distortion in the room."

The image showed a large pool of New Blood's blood around which a disturbance or distortion seemed to form.

I've seen something like that before. Zane recalled the incident at the hospital.

"Are you saying that the Akuryuma are not from this dimension?" Objected Nathan.

"Exactly." Confirmed Nordskov. Again, a murmur went through the room. "We suspect that the Akuryuma, like the Mytics, are from another dimension."

"Are you saying there's a whole dimension full of these things?" The cyborg asked in horror.

"Unfortunately, we can't say anything about that yet, because we haven't managed to study the distortions more closely. What we do know is that the New Blood was somehow able to create a Breach, as we call it. Right now, we're assuming that because it's due to its high concentration of Corrutin." Explained Nordskov.

"Other than that, there's not much to say about the New Blood...", Nordskov turned back to the hologram on which various data appeared. "Most of you have experienced its capabilities for yourselves. Tremendous speed, ruggedness, and strength, to name just a few of its characteristics. Unfortunately, the remains were already badly decayed by the time the support unit arrived, so we cannot make any further statements about its capabilities or potential weaknesses at this time. We also do not have any data on its creation for now. So we can't say when or if a novel New Blood will emerge." Nordskov concluded his statement.

"Therefore, until further notice, you are instructed to meet the New Bloods with extreme caution. Do not fight them alone, and if you are not sure, withdraw immediately!" Pearce said sternly.

Zane remembered the battle back then; they had only overpowered the beast by superiority in numbers and by Ilana's special weapon. Zane had read in the report that Ilana's weapon was a prototype, which reminded him strongly of the weapons of the Pandera in Halsion.

"And here we encounter the real problem." Pearce stepped forward. "There are only two natural Corrutin deposits on Nykara. Akuryuma and Infected." He enumerated. "But in the current Outbreaks, neither source has been confirmed." Narrated Pearce with a serious look. "So the Corrutin that triggered the Outbreaks must have come from another source."

"Are you saying that someone is deliberately causing Outbreaks?" Zane stood up.

"Right now, we can't rule that out." Pearce shook his head.

"Currently, the information department is analyzing the Outbreaks, but a final evaluation is still pending." Lucia interjected.

"What's taking them so long?" Wondered one of the ATBS pilots.

"At this time, however, we can assume that the Outbreaks do not have a natural origin."

"What we can say with a fair amount of certainty is..." said Nordskov. "Should these ruptures rip wide and long enough... we are in for the Third Outbreak."

Silence settled over the room.

"Therefore, our task is to find this source and render it harmless." Explained Pearce. The unit had gone quiet, many seemed to be recalling events from their past or stories they had heard. "I know I'm asking a lot of you, and we have a long way to go, but I believe in the future of this unit. We can do this." Pearce tried to cheer the unit up.

Zane looked at the hologram.

At the beast, the New Blood.

At the distortion that could mean the end of them all.