Psychofiends

The refugee camps were several dozen miles away from New York's Safe Haven. There were even more located in other places but one step at a time.

Skyfang and Dawn were on track to reach their location in 4 hours, but they weren't in a hurry. Dawn was slowly explaining the battlefield. 

When the first missile hit, Operators responded immediately. Unfortunately, the Beastmen were too strong. They ripped all of them to shreds. Since communications were also destroyed in the process, the government didn't find out for days. 

When a helicopter flew over the city to gauge the damage, they were shocked. It was like a rat's nest of blood, body parts, and terrible feces. 

So the DAO's got sent. The Beastmen were pushed back successfully but then something called the Psychofiend devoured whole squadrons of them. Stronger and stronger DAO's were sent but the Psychofiend's continued to push forward.

"Psychofiends?"

They were former humans, corrupted by unknown external forces, to possess strong mental capabilities. 

So Covert Ops Soldiers got signed off and joined the fray. Psychofiends were unable to affect them so they were pushed back. That's where we find ourselves right now. Refugee camps are runaway groups of civilians who want to make it to the Safe Haven and are hoping to run into Covert Ops Soldiers while hoping they are far enough from the Psychofiends and Beastmen. 

"So the Beastmen direct the Psychofiends?"

It was speculated that the Beastmen created Psychofiends through their secret invasions. The hidden war they engaged in before openly declaring war. 

"So our goal is to kill Psychofiends while interrogating them or the Beastmen directly to stop them?"

"Yes. Psychofiends will be the enemies we encounter the most. They look just like humans so please, try to steel yourself"

Secretly, Skyfang was laughing sinisterly. He wasn't thinking anything profound. Just laughing maniacally in his mind. 

"Can they be reverted?"

Reverted. Not saved. Slightly interesting choice of words.

"We need to capture one first to find a cure. Psychofiends turn to shadows when killed"

"Then just grab the shadow and experiment on it"

"Are you stupid?"

"No. That's exactly what I'll do"

"So tell me how you grab a shadow. I'll do the same thing"

"I just grab it"

"Oh my god. I actually thought you were going to be serious"

"How else do we find a cure then"

"That's what world renowned scientists are trying to figure out. Please add something productive of value to the conversation besides 'grab em'"

"Oh look. The scenery is changing"

The somewhat green and peaceful environment had turned hideous. The sky was red and the smell of blood could be found everywhere. Humans with missing limbs, half a head, and holes in their chests could be seen running with everything they had. When they noticed Dawn, they cried and began rushing towards her.

"Save us"

"Angel. Please save us"

"Run towards her, she's clearly military!!"

"Fuck. We're saved. These damn freaks were almost about to kill us"

"We're saved!!!! I never thought I would see another day"

"Damn!!! They're here. Hurry up. I'll take care of them. You save…" 

Skyfang was nowhere to be seen. She heard intense screaming in the distance.

"Fuck. Not again. You guys, come over here!"

Psychofiends were literally humans… with craziness all over their eyes and within the depths of their souls. 

The Gambler was thoroughly intoxicated. It lived off crazy and chaos. After Skyfang put a hole through one of their heads, thousands of shadowy spikes shot through empty space. Rotating in the air, he saw some rather interesting things. A Beastman was in the back. Crocodile standing on its legs waving its hand. The Psychofiends seemed to be moving in conjunction with the movements.

The shot missed the Crocodile who ran like a sprinter. It smiled back at him, mockingly. He fired several more shots but it seemed like he was losing more and more accuracy. Something was off so he scanned the massive crowd. A Psychofiend was laughing while hunching, staring at him, shaking its belly.

The shaking had mesmerizing properties. It could actually affect him without him looking at it. Skyfang instead cast a spell, metronome. 

It involved an Advanced Magician trait, Enduring.

As ripples spread with him in the epicenter, the Psychofiend began to cry. So did dozens of other Psychofiends nearby. They started to shake their bellies at each other. Something similar to an explosion cascaded across the battlefield as thousands of shadows tried to escape underneath. When he was back on the ground, hundreds of Psychofiends had disintegrated and their shadows nowhere to be found.

Unfortunately, thousands more converged into place. The same Psychofiends from before. 

"Listen! I felt a spell being cast. Psychofiends regenerate, endlessly. Their shadows can be rematerialized by Beastmen after escaping. We're fighting a losing war"

Dawn had shown up behind him at some point. What she said put a wrench in his excitement. The odds were unfairly stacked in the house's favor. What was the point of fighting if it accomplished nothing. He'd rather watch the show from afar.

"So it's more important to find and capture a Beastman?"

"Not exactly. We have to find out how Psychofiends are created so we can put an end to it. The Beastmen hide behind the Psychofiends"

"So what exactly are you saying"

"We need to save the refugees and let the scientists deal with the Psychofiends"

"Not a solution"

"Why not"

"It's boring"

What??

"I asked if its better to take on the Psychofiends and the dice said yes. A losing proposition which is weird but yes. So I'll fight the Psychofiends"

"And who did you ask?"

"Didn't I say the dice?"

"Metaphor?"

"Nope. Literal dice"

"You mean you did some gambling? Wait! Are you using the Gambler?"

"Who?"

"The Robo-Frame, the Gambler"

"I gambled, but who the hell is the Gambler?"

"Ok. Nevermind. Since you're using the Gambler, let's go"

"Why do you suddenly have so much belief in me?"

"I have belief with the Gambler in your hands"

"Whatever. Weirdo"

"So what do you plan to do to get to the Beastman? Have you seen it yet?"

"It's a crocodile walking like a human"

"So it's an advanced Beastman"

"Advanced"

"Regular Beastmen can only speak and think like humans"

"Anything else?"

"Advanced Beastmen typically have a loyal following of Beastmen following them"

"Any difference between the two?"

"Advanced Beastmen are nearly impossible to fight. Beastmen are as strong as DAO's"

"The one mocking me dodged my bullets fairly easily"

"So that was an Agile Crocodile, the most common one"

Pause.

"Advanced Beastmen are all titled by their trait. Regular Beastmen have no traits. Typical strength of beasts with some human properties"

"Give me a second"

Skyfang was rotating in the air again and he spotted the beast rather easily. The Agile Crocodile only started laughing again.

The Overly Blessed Sharpshooter made the right call and shot the Agile Crocodile's leg clean off.

"GODDAMN. FUCK YOU HUMAN"

The Agile Crocodile was terrified. Earlier, the human had missed every shot and it had lost a lot of resources. Now, the human was suddenly extremely good. The difference was too great. It lost the confidence to fight and immediately ran away while the Psychofiends charged forward.

The sea of bellies was able to partially obstruct the metronome this time, especially since the Agile Crocodile was putting in more effort.

The Agile Crocodile didn't get far when it noticed something horrifying.

'Concept of Space! Goddamn. If it weren't for those traitors, I wouldn't be in this situation!"

The SCZ suppressed the mesmerization and allowed the Overly Blessed Sharpshooter to take the opposite arm. The Agile Crocodile immediately burrowed down a nearby lake. With its disappearance, all the Psychofiends vanished like shadows. 

The ones that Skyfang had pushed through to try and get to the Agile Crocodile were lost causes.

"Now you see why it's a losing war. The ones you killed aren't gone forever. The Beastman can just find their shadows again and revive them"

"There's some thinking to do"

"Let's just rescue more refugees. Let the scientists take care of the Psychofiends"

"The Scientist"

"Huh?"

"I'm going to reflect on something. I'll be back later. Don't wait"

With that, Skyfang vanished. Dawn was unable to track him so she stomped her feet before going back to the Safe Haven.

—

The Brawler, The Sharpshooter, The Sprinter, and The Gambler were all functionalities built into a frame. They contained vastly complicated circuitry that allowed them to give humans extraordinary abilities. This was the foundation of any combat force.

There were millions of them and the very Operators were all famous. People like Al 'The Composer' Tiddon became extremely famous by their ingenious usage of the frames. He became so famous that a frame was built in his name. Coincidentally, he loved music and composing pieces so the engineers built the frame with that theme in hand.

Julie 'The Counter' Ridosky was a mathematician who used the Gambler in such an ingenious way that their were rumors that Heaven blessed her with a frame that was uncatchable. 

It did what she already did. She could just be more open with it and not worry.

The Counter bankrupted multiple casinos before she died to The Executioner who upheld 'justice'. 

Who he was looking for was a dead man who happened to have lived in the East Coast. 

'The Scientist' was a famous man who found a cure for nearly every diseases imaginable. The Nano-Suit Skyfang was wearing was left behind, cleverly hidden by the water's refraction, that he happened to slip right into.