10 Volume One | Chapter - Quiet Before The Storm Part One

With no word on the current situation within the Korean Peninsula, tensions were rising between the students at Essentia Japan Academy.

Many of them had friends in Korea that they attended Essentia High Schools prior to joining their respective academies.

Sachika once again tried to call Chi-Sun's cell phone only for it to go straight to voicemail again, she was starting to feel sick thinking about what might have happened.

The last few hours she had spent lying on her bed in her dorm room, it was standard style bed one you'd expect to find in your typical store.

In a matter of fact, most of the furniture and stylization of the room was standard with your average colours of beige, brown and grey.

Instead of wearing the typical grey and white Familiar uniform, she was wearing short shorts and vest something close to a gym kit.

At first, Sachika only wore it to lounge around in her dorm room when she didn't have classes to attend, however, she would from time to time go to the gym.

Right now she was debating on whether she should go or not.

"Maybe I should go to the gym, get my mind off things for a bit", Sachika muttered to herself.

As she left her dorm room with her gym towel in hand, she suddenly felt weak at the knees slumping against the wall only a few steps away from her dorm room door.

Sachika tried to peer behind herself to look at her back only to find her Composed Fibril pulsating, emanating a faint starlight blue under her skin.

Her breathing was getting heavier, her body felt tingly and sensitive all over.

At first, Sachika thought there may well be something wrong with her until her mind conjured an image of Aiko in her head.

It was at that point Sachika knew that her Spiritual Essence was responding to Aiko's presence unconsciously.

Upon the thought of picturing Aiko in her head, Sachika's cheeks turned red blushing from the sensation that she was feeling.

Once her body calmed down, Sachika pushed aside the thought of Aiko then continued onward towards the gym, with more reason to do so now more than ever.

***

As Chi-Sun stepped off the transport, she was immediately greeted by a shaken Eun-Hee.

It had been hours since she had seen Chi-Sun, during her entire time in Japan she had been worrying none stop.

"Thank god, you're all okay" Eun-Hee sighed at the thought.

Chi-Sun nodded, "Well, to be honest, we barely made it out alive".

She thinks back to the encounter with the Nebula Pincer and those strange azure blue beams that fired out of nowhere.

Not realising that she was being spoken to, Chi-Sun shook her head slightly to shake off some of that built up fatigue from the flight.

"Sorry say that again?" Chi-Sun asked looking to Eun-Hee.

At first Eun-Hee was a bit surprised, but she repeated the sentence nevertheless, "I said, that the United States Armed Forces are also helping with military aid for South Korea along with Japan..." she paused for a moment "...still it doesn't change the fact that we've lost so much already" Eun-Hee bluntly stated leaving a sour taste in everyone's mouths.

During the students moment of reflection, it was interrupted by a JSDF military police officer shouting out instructions, "All Familiars and Coordinators that have recently arrived need to report to Essentia Japan Academy for your new orders..." he motioned to the Humvee's situated in a line behind him "...departure is at 20:00 hours!"

The group were about to make their way towards the Humvee's before Yon spoke up, "Um, Eun...is she...".

"Don't worry Yon, your Coordinator was taken to Essentia Japan Academy to have a proper burial service" Eun-Hee responded answering her friends' question before she even finished.

Yon nodded, "Thank you Eun..." she attempts to hold back tears "...I really appreciate it".

Although Yon's regeneration was somewhat complete, she still had a very slight limp, and occasionally felt the few remaining minuscule fragment shards digging into the surrounding tissue and spine.

The students entered into the available Humvee's filling up all the spaces.

At first, none of them took much notice when evacuating back in South Korea, but landing in Japan, and seeing how little students there were from their academy brought upon the realization of what happens when they battle the Nebula.

***

As evacuation efforts continued on the Korean Peninsula more accurately in South Korea things were getting out of hand for the Republic of Korea Armed Forces, their defensive formations and lines had been broken, communications were near impossible to establish.

A few miles away in the forest that Chi-Sun and her group escaped from hours ago, there was a stranded military armoured detachment of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces of the First Republic of Korea Army, 3rd Armoured Brigade.

Along with the few surviving members of the 102nd Infantry Brigade.

A K2 Black Panther tank shot at a charging Nebula Pincer, it's razor shape red plasma claws latching through the sides of the tank as beams of plasma fired from the rotary disk floating slightly above its head.

Dropping the tank, you could see the crew desperately trying to scurry their way out, as they burned alive.

The infantry kept on firing their weapons only to be gunned down by Nebula Infantry Soldiers wielding plasma beam rifles.

Their bodies closely resembled humans except for the crystallized metallic shifting outer sheath and the continuously shifting orange energy between the cracks and underneath.

Miles away at a command post, there was a Major shouting into a satellite phone, "Sir! THE SITUATION DOWN HERE HAS GONE FROM WORSE TO ROYALLY FUCKED!..." he shouted over the continuous barrage of shelling and gunfire.

Outside Armiger personnel in their Essence Form were fending off against the Nebula as the evacuation continued, a woman in her mid-twenties dressed in attire similar to Essentia student uniforms albeit digitized armour covered her legs, arms, torso and face.

Tendrils latched onto the woman's left arm, but without hesitation, she pulled back with force toppling the Nebula Pincer that latched onto her, with her Essence Armament weapon that closely resembled a guandao.

Orange veined etchings littered the blade as orange dust particles emitted from said cracks.

"Essence Tendrils" the Armiger Familiar shouted out, her body disappeared into particles leaving an afterimage of herself.

Suddenly she materialized hardened fused Essence particles from her back, four to be precise, she then entangled them around the Nebula Pincer. Which in turn latched a tentacle around one of her forearms. Using the power of her Essence the tendrils she had produced tightened and pulled tearing her enemy apart.

The Armiger Familiar took care not to harm the carapace of the creature.

This one, in particular, didn't have a Familiar encased within its carapace.

When the tendrils released themselves upon the Armiger Familiars forearm, she turned to see multiple Nebula Grunts charging her to no avail, she readied herself along with her Essence Armament weapon.

When suddenly multiple pixelated spikes emanated from the ground and air impaling the Nebula Grunts killing them instantly.

The Armiger Familiar turned her head to her side only to discover that it was her Coordinator.

The Coordinator had the same attire except for different colour and style of hair, however, she had two patches of bare naked skin revealed on her back that were crystallized by design acting as receptors, and from them emanated thousands upon thousands of beautiful orange coloured pixel shards, as small electrical currents bounced across their surfaces.

The Armiger Familiar turned to her Coordinator, "How's the Spiritual Link?"

The Coordinator nodded, "It's still working fine..." she pointed in the distance "...more Nebula Grunts and Infantry Soldiers heading towards us at two o'clock!".

And with that, the Armiger Familiar charged the enemy, while the Coordinator created a dust particle sphere barrier around herself and her Familiar partner as plasma beams dissipated upon the barriers' surface.

***

With not being able to concentrate for hours, Aiko was finding it hard to complete the coursework that their teacher had given them earlier today.

With everything happening on the Korean Peninsula lately that didn't stop the function of teaching and classes at the academy.

Although many thought of it as awkward to begin with especially the first years, they all knew that they couldn't dwell on such things forever, learning how to defeat the Nebula was going to get them results compared to doing nothing and worrying too much.

To set her mind straight Aiko thought it'd be best to take a shower.

The shower was built into the wall and floor making for easy access especially for when Familiar's obtained injuries that made mobility difficult in certain ways. Aiko stood in the shower both of her arms placed upon the wall in front of her.

The mixture of soap and water ran down along her naked slender body, her head tilted downward as she looks at the floor, her mind in a train of thought. With everything that had happened, she found it hard to concentrate.

As Aiko continued to let the hot water run over her body, she felt a sharp pain in her back. Wincing from the pain, Aiko positioned herself so she could see her back through the mirror in her bathroom.

To her surprise she couldn't see anything on her back where she felt the sharp pain, turning off the shower she dried herself with the available towel.

When exiting the bathroom she immediately donned a white nightdress before leaping upon her bed.

Aiko thought about the sudden sharp pain she had just felt in the bathroom wondering what it was when her mind couldn't conjure up a suitable answer, she decided not to dwell on it.

Looking up towards the ceiling all she could think about was whether her friends were okay, what scared her the most was losing people that she grew close to and cared for during her high school years.

Aiko reluctantly closed her eyes hoping for a peaceful rest before falling victim to a deep sleep.