1 The Aurora in the Night

A curtain of stars stretched to the horizons, blanketing the snowy landscape in a layer of calm. A waning crescent would peek out occasionally from behind a bank of clouds, lighting up the calm forest beneath in a gentle glow.

The rows of trees stretched out as far as the eye could see, and the silence of the night suffused deep into the ground. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; only the trees that whispered in the wind betrayed any sign of wakefulness.

At least, until the night was lit up in a brilliant neon blue. A blazing aurora, bright as the sun, appeared above the treetops, revealing the rows upon rows of cedar and birch in the vicinity for miles to see, before disappearing just as suddenly. And then there was darkness once more. Yet nothing stirred, the world oblivious to the brilliant light show that had momentarily caused such a disturbance.

Several miles away, Sayo perked up his ears as he heard a distant rumble, and closed his eyes just in time to avoid being blinded by the light that chased away even the darkness around him, this far away from the source of the anomaly.

"He's finally made his move," Sayo muttered under his breath as he jumped to his feet.

"..." Nodding its head, the figure next to him, bundled up in a thick padded overcoat and scarf, got up to climb into the military Jeep next to Sayo as he started the ignition.

Together with the camouflage of their uniforms and the camo paint of their vehicle, and under the cover of the surrounding trees, they would have been impossible to spot as long as they remained still. In the bank of snow where they had been parked, unless someone reached within a few meters of them, they would have been practically invisible. However, now that they were on the move, the roar of the engine that echoed throughout the underbrush woke up all the surrounding wildlife. Startled deer and rabbits, rudely awakened from their restful slumber, scattered away from the rumbling beast as it trudged through the trails towards the source of the aurora.

***

Half an hour later, the vehicle rolled over to a stop at the edge of a clearing a little off to the side of the trail.

The clearing was far from natural. All the trees there had been uprooted and lay scattered on the ground while facing the same north-eastern direction. It reminded Sayo of the crop circles he remembered, because of how neatly they'd been pushed down, all parallel to each other, within a nearly circular region.

"It's up to you from here. He's gone silent after that last burst," Sayo said to the figure behind him as he bent down to examine the damage to the trees, "This level of control is insane. These trees may have been uprooted, but there's barely any damage to them. He's almost like a gentle giant."

The masked figure finally removed the scarf that covered the majority of their face, revealing the head of a dark-skinned young girl with sleek black shoulder-length hair. In front, a set of long bangs obscured the view of her bright golden eyes. Hearing Sayo's words, her eyes grew misty as she lost herself in thought, her cold and chapped lips lifting into a shy smile.

After a moment, she rubbed her half-frozen nose with the sleeve of her coat to warm it up, then took in a deep breath. Closing her eyes, she tried to measure the smell before she replied, "Maybe half an hour ago. Can't have gone far."

"All right, lead the way Robin," Sayo answered back while he went back to the Jeep to pick up a rifle. The girl, Robin, on the other hand, already had her rifle strapped around her back as usual. She swung it around to her front, holding it at her hip, and left the clearing in the opposite direction from which they entered.

After a quick check to make sure the rifle was in order and armed, Sayo trudged through the snow after her. By the time he caught up to her, she had found a set of tracks in the snow. Looking at the lone set of prints that stretched off into the distance, Sayo was about to ask her why she'd stopped when she cut him off with a raised hand.

"One set of prints. Heading north. Running. Can't tell if he's chasing or being chased," Robin whispered, before heading off in the direction of the prints.

The two of them steadily headed north, following the occasional tracks left behind by their target, speaking nothing while keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. Eventually, they came upon a little stream that still hadn't frozen, bubbling and burbling away amid the snowy forest.

Robin paused in her steps, placed her rifle down, and knelt down near the bank of the stream. Sayo moved around and in front of her, crossing over the stream and checking out the path ahead of them. As he bent down to inspect a broken branch, he heard the rustle of leaves ahead of him.

Jumping up to his feet, Sayo got into a stance with the rifle aimed forward, looking for any sign of the source of the sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Robin, who had been about to take a sip of water from the stream, had already grabbed the rifle as she shimmered and flickered, merging into the surroundings. All that remained was a light golden glow that swirled around where she had just been.

With heavy and resounding steps, a large figure slowly emerged from the bushes. It had the body of a moose, but it easily stood over five meters tall. Its skin was taut with veins throbbing with power, and a spark of intelligence gleamed within its eyes as it noticed the gun in Sayo's hand. Its muscular body tensed, and it looked like it was about to bound away. However, it relaxed a little after it took another look around and made sure there was no one else there other than this one human in front of it.

Glancing down, Sayo noticed that despite the heavy steps the creature took, it left no footprints in the snow. At the moment of impact with the snow, a light blue shockwave would originate from the hoof of the beast and ripple outward across the surface of the snow, dissipating the pressure and leaving no imprint upon the snow.

"A Kinetic class beast, huh? This might be more trouble than we signed up for," Sayo thought to himself, slowly stepping back while keeping the rifle aimed at the beast that towered above him.

If it weren't for the hulking size, the moose would have looked quite adorable, especially with the way it tilted its head to look at Sayo. It snorted once on seeing Sayo aim it as if declaring that it wasn't afraid, then lifted its lips in a gruesome snarl and released a low growl. It hoofed the ground, tensing up its body once again, lowered its head to line up its antlers, and then released all the energy in its body through its hind legs as it charged straight for Sayo, moving faster than anything its size should have been capable of.

"Shiiiiittt!!" All Sayo had time for was firing a single shot at the beast before he turned around and broke into a run. Just as the antlers were about to impale him, he ducked down into a roll, sinking into the snow as the antlers narrowly missed his back.

Missing the charge, the overgrown moose went charging past him, crashing into a nearby tree. The poor tree that absorbed the full brunt of the strike splintered in two and crashed down, but got caught in the branches of a nearby tree and didn't fall all the way down.

Hiding under the snow, Sayo could hear sporadic shots being fired, along with the sound of the bolt-action as each bullet was reloaded. Looking up, he saw the moose looking confused and trying to find the source of the sound, as bullets came flying at it from out of nowhere.

It couldn't find the attacker, but the bullets weren't able to harm it either. They were all rapidly slowed down as they approached the body of the creature as if they had entered a viscous fluid, leaving behind a blue fluid-like wake, eventually stopping and harmlessly falling to the ground.

"He's a Kinetic class! We need something stronger to penetrate his shield!" Sayo shouted out to where he saw a golden glow. He might not have been able to see her directly, but he could still find her by the traces of her mana.

Unfortunately, that shout had been a mistake. Unable to find the person firing at it, the beast turned its attention back to Sayo, preparing for a charge once again.

It was at this moment that the Sayo was blinded by a sudden flash of blue light, and a figure came shooting out of the cover of the nearby trees and crashed into the beast. The shield of the beast once again absorbed the impact, though it did grunt with effort and had to step back a few steps to recover its footing.

Along with the sudden appearance of the new figure, at a position a little behind the moose, there was a flicker of color, and Robin's outline became visible. Not even she could maintain her 'spell' under the powerful interference of the newcomer's mana.

"To me!" the newcomer bellowed in a deep voice.

In response, Robin raised the rifle, switching targets from the moose beast to the newcomer, and fired.

The new figure as well let out a punch aimed toward the moose, but which lay in the path of the bullet. Just as the bullet was about to blow a hole through his fist, it appeared to hit an invisible barrier and was reflected toward the beast. Along with the reflected bullet, a powerful shockwave was also released.

The brunt of the shockwave headed toward the moose, breaking down the shield around it and pushing the creature to the ground, while the rest of it dissipated outward. Even though Sayo was more than ten meters away from the two of them, he could still feel the wave pouring through him, and felt like his heart was about to stop.

With the moose's shield no longer stopping it, the bullet shot past his fist and embedded itself into the side of the beast.

Yet, such a tiny bullet could hardly injure such a gigantic beast. As if laughing at their puny efforts to hurt it, the moose pulled itself up once again.

At this moment, an acrid stench filled the air, and a sizzling sound could be heard as the flesh of the beast around the bullet wound seemed to be bubbling. The beast cried out in pain, as it felt its flesh being eaten from the inside out.

"Phew, the acid inside the bullet casing worked," Sayo thought, relieved. These had been experimental bullets, and part of their task this time, along with tracking down this man-eating mutant, was also to test the combat effectiveness of their new ammunition.

The beast struggled and writhed in pain for a few seconds, but recovered after a moment after it was clear that the acid had been used up. It took a moment to assess its opponents, and now that the new figure had appeared as well, it decided to escape while it could.

Just as it was about to turn around and make a run for it, the new figure, who had been crouching down after his last punch, rushed at it again and punched once more towards its face. Alongside him, Robin took aim and fired another shot at his fist. Once again, the bullet, reflected by the invisible barrier around the fist, went through the shield that had dissipated once again by the shockwave from the fist.

The second bullet hit the creature in the neck, causing it to collapse into the snow. After a few seconds, the three people could hear the sizzling as the acid ate away the flesh around the neck of the beast. This time, the beast struggled with breathing for a minute, not being able to gather the energy to move once again.

Robin finally appeared fully visible from out of the golden mist a little behind the third person, and Sayo got up and joined her. He noticed that she had a disgusted look on her face, probably pitying the beast for the gruesome and slow death it was facing.

The third person noticed her face as well. He sighed, pulled a knife out from its sheath on his back, and stepped up in front of the chest of the creature. Exerting all his strength, he stabbed it into the chest cavity, then twisted the knife to sever the aorta. The blood spilled over, but it was finally done.

The beast was finally dead.

"You took your own sweet time, Ospre," Sayo reprimanded the now bloody figure in front of him.

"I couldn't help it. That thing had been chasing me all this way after I found it. I didn't stop running until I noticed it I could no longer see it behind me just a little earlier," the newcomer named Ospre answered.

Sayo sighed and shook his head. He couldn't blame him. He'd have run too, even if he had powers as terrifying as Ospre's. This creature was a hulking behemoth.

Mentally, Sayo checked off another tally mark on his list of near-deaths ever since he'd reincarnated into this new world. This was totally not how he thought reincarnations were supposed to work. Where was his super-cheaty ability? His space grandpa? His AI chip?