I need a way in.

As I came back to my save point, there were now six people guarding the spot. The moment I materialized, I had to block an incoming slap. 

"HONEY! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Bella chastised in anger. 

The sisters joined the worried chorus. 

"Darling, please don't be so reckless. Are you okay?" 

"John, even for a Descendant, the way you fight is ridiculous." 

I raised my hands and answered, "Calm down you three. I am fine." 

In contrast, I received votes of admiration from the new group. 

"I am in awe that {Withstand} can turn your body into a battering ram. Amazing, Southerner!" 

"Did you see the way he used {Pack}?! Bloody oath, you are fucking awesome, wombat!" 

"That was a fantastic battle, Smith-san. Such tenacity even puts the warriors from my homeland to shame." 

I cracked my neck and took a few moments to stretch; I then checked the 1911 and began walking forward. 

"I fought like this to show you all that the Formless are not trash. Their deaths will be the first to prove this. Amari, Mia, and the Brute will be next. No one touches Red. He is mine. Loot everything you can; we will move afterward." 

The girls didn't reply, but all moved with me. Our group walked until I could see Red on his back on the ground, unable to stand. Was that why he couldn't follow up? His posture seemed painful, so it seemed like something had broken in his spine. 

"Hey Red, you still alive?" 

"What's up, wombat? That throw really did a number on my back. I lost without even getting a go with me sword… Oh? Is this your mob? Your sheilas look real nice. Have you had a crack at any fannies yet? Good on ya!" 

Irritated, I didn't even bother replying and just shot both of his kneecaps. Then his elbows, and then his wrists. His screams rang out with each round I fired. The event I looked forward to so much turned into nothing more than a chore. 

"Oi, you wanker. Shoot me in the head like you did the others, yeah? This bloody hurts." 

I then shot two rounds in each of his shoulders, then shot his balls. The girls around me had different expressions. Liv's group relished Oliver's pathetic state. Bella's group just winced in disgust. 

"AHHHHH!!! KILL ME ALREADY YOU CUNT!" 

I walked forward, picked him up with {Pack} then pistol-whipped his jaw. The sounds of bone shattering meant he would no longer be able to move his mouth. The man was bleeding all over, but his major arteries were fine. As a Reaper, he'd be okay for a while longer. 

Red could now only mumble as he waited helplessly for his death. 

"{Loot}" 

A marble appeared on his right ear. Intrigued that he had moved it there, I placed the 1911 in my armpit as I touched the soulgem. I then felt a string-like energy swirling inside it and drew it out like water into my own soulgem. 

'This should be the souls,' I thought silently. 

As his manifested {fate} was not touching his body, whatever ability he had turned out to be useless. Weren't the Manifested even more useless than the Formless? If you separated their {Fates} from them, they were no longer Reapers in a sense. 

I draped the bleeding Oliver over my back and turned to address the girls. 

"I am done here; are you all ready? Who got to level three?" 

"Everyone already did, Honey, the number of souls from the guys you killed was more than enough. Some of us are close to getting to level 4," Bella confessed. 

"Got it. Let's move." 

"Are you certain? You aren't going to ask for them? If you took them all, you might already ascend to a Phantom, Southerner." 

"I am the leader of this group, so you all belong to me. Supporting your growth is my responsibility. I can just kill some more if needed. It's not a hard thing to do." 

"I see." With a curt reply, Liv nodded as she looked away. 

Somehow, I noticed that the air around the girls had turned weird. Before I could press further, Aki asked a question. 

"Have you gotten to Level 3 as well, Smith-san?" 

"No, I'm still a thousand souls short. Never mind. Having a stock is good for me, too. If you all are using {Rewind}, the same goes for you all as well. Robyn, do you still have {Loot} on? Switch to {Rewind}; it's safer," I instructed. 

"Already did, wombat. No drama." 

"Right. Let's get going then." 

For some reason, the zombies nearby all still headed toward the Reaper army. Was someone there still alive? While I didn't understand why, it was a happy coincidence. Otherwise, we would have needed to deal with a crap ton of small fry. 

The titans clashed. I noticed more as we got closer. The Brute and the Gorilla pummeled each other in silence. They were inside a well-lit glass dome. Before I could even ask, Jo explained what the transparent cage was for. 

"It is a soulcage, a fixed field for hunting or containment. Nothing can go in or out unless allowed by the owner. Phantoms and above can create them on command. It has to be from a handler or sponsor," our blonde Italian explained. 

"Why, though? Why bother to do all this? They had an entire assault squad, didn't they?" Bella countered. 

"My father once told me that each enlistment had a secret achievement. From their actions, Amari-san or Mia-san seems to know something. Perhaps they need such preparations to fulfill that condition?" 

A secret achievement, huh? That would make sense as to why they went through all the trouble. But such things hardly mattered to me. The more pressing matter was how to get into this soulcage? 

Without a word, I pointed the 1911 at the cage and fired. The dome stopped the lead bullets I fired as if I had shot bulletproof glass. Cracks appeared around the impact point. But they were too small compared to the size of the whole thing. 

"Wow! It looks way tougher than I thought! I don't think we can bust it open!" Josephine remarked as she checked the bullet holes I made. 

"Fuck me dead, this is going to take forever; should we crack open a tinny?" 

Jasmine chastised the swearing sailor. "Robyn, you should try to curse less; you know, you are a lady, so act like one." 

Ignoring their debate on what a lady should be, I used {Identify} on the dome. Inside, the boss began to show signs of fatigue. The werewolves were dousing the gorilla's wounds with a green fluid. As the injuries healed, it had to be some sort of medicinal salve. 

"I need a way in. Show me," I commanded. 

A sudden heat again appeared on my neck. My {fate} seemed to have once again answered my wish. Why it worked, I didn't know; all I was sure of was that {Rewind} responded to my call and gave me a new possibility. 

"{Expose}." 

Like with {Loot}, green reticules showed me different spots on the wall of the dome. {Expose} was created from using {Perceive}, {Code}, and {Gather}. {Gather} was {Eat}'s evolution from Aki. It recorded information like a cookbook. Once information was found, it could be analyzed, stored, and used in the future. 

In the same way {Loot} searched for the soulgems, {Expose} now searched for weaknesses. I couldn't help but smile. Anyone with {Code} would hardly have any use for it. The same could be said for {Gather}. Yet having both and {Perceive} gave me such a powerful weapon. 

"{Reload}." 

I refilled my ammunition and began shooting the highlighted spots in my vision. The girls noticed the areas I shot at, and all came to the same conclusion. The points appeared to form a Star of David or the six-pointed star from the flag of Israel. 

Like clockwork, Bella, Jo, and Liv began hammering the points down low. The others took the ones up high. Jas shot five arrows per point. Aki threw kunai at one spot, while Robyn targeted another spot with steel spheres. 

After a few strikes, the highlighted points turned dim. The moment the last point ceased to glow in my vision, a loud crack like a whip echoed in the air. 

"HOLY SHIT!" Jo shouted in excitement. 

"Amazing! John, you made yet another useful {Kismet}," Jasmine said in wonder. 

I quietly nodded. I changed magazines and pulled the slide back on the 1911. 

"Well then, shall we make history?" 

"ROGER!" a united shout from the girls roared behind me. 

The glass, which had slowly cracked from the inside, finally broke. The thunderous roars of both the gorilla and Brute made the air tremble. Not willing to wait, I dashed inside and fired my gun toward the Brute. 

"NO!" the female voice of one werewolf cried. 

My gunshots rang out as Amari the gorilla, Mia the werewolf, and the Undead Brute faced me. The .45 ACP rounds I shot didn't penetrate the boss. They only bounced off its skull. 

"Tsk, guessed it wouldn't have been that easy," I complained. 

The Brute, seeing the rest of us, violently struggled from Amari's grip. The undead bodyslammed Amari with the force of a judo throw, knocking him out cold. The boss then dashed past us out of the broken cage and ran toward the platform. 

What the hell?! This thing knew kung-fu? How was that thing so fast? The werewolves all tried in vain to get on the massive undead and got left behind. They were panting in exhaustion. 

I then threw Red to Liv. 

"Robyn, pack the gorilla and run with me! The rest of you follow!" I shouted to the combat joey. 

"Got it, Wombat!" 

Robyn and I grabbed one foot of the downed 10-foot gorilla. We then ran after the Brute with everyone and the werewolves.