Chapter 27 - Form Sequence Initiated

Ambrosia spoke up immediately. She took charge of the situation, and the other heroes listened to what she had to say. Their focus was intense.

"First of all, thank you all for showing up. I understand most of you had just recently been transferred and had to make rapid trips back here. I appreciate that."

"More importantly, Scarlet and I have recently discovered a new enemy, whom we believe has been working in an underground operation for many years now. They are a group called The Zodiac."

"They are led by a group of individuals known as the Patriarchs, who have the ability to turn themselves into monsters by ingesting the heart of a deceased beast."

Daphne's smile turned into a poker face after hearing this, and a few other heroes in the room turned to look at her. Ambrosia sighed and continued.

"The man we encountered yesterday was the Patriarch of Gemini, Marius Aegis, who Scarlet claims turned himself into a humanoid Dragon Ram, and then proceeded to transform back. If this is true, then the Hero Camp could be under a new threat of intelligent monsters."

"Another thing to mention is that each patriarch of the zodiac seems to have a special ability that keeps them from dying, at least, that's what Marius's ability is. He has an ability similar to Rebirth Man, in which he is able to come back to life."

"However, his methods aren't the same. Instead of him resurrecting himself and regrowing limbs, his dead body remains, but a new body is formed instantly... he was able to land a hit on me without me knowing where he was. He should be considered a high threat level."

"But the one thing that scares me the most is how many civilians could be recruited, and how many can turn into monsters... we can't go around killing people, but if they turn themselves into monsters and attempt to eliminate us, we might have to..."

Ambrosia finished her initial statement. I glanced around the room, analyzing the expressions of the top ten. None of them were shocked, but I could tell the tension was rising, and that they were all deep in thought. Rebirth Man was the first to speak up.

"You say he can...resurrect? Just like me? Perhaps I should meet this man myself, to get an idea of what you mean."

"Unfortunately, he disappeared last night, and we have no clue where he is. Also, he never fought us, so we don't know how strong he is."

"I see... this is quite interesting. I'm not sure how to feel about this..."

Gunslinger Master took the straw of wheat out of his mouth and tilted his cowboy hat up. He removed his shades to reveal...purple eyes? They were interesting, almost like they were genetically modified. He was the next to speak. He spoke with a dialect.

"Y'all know how long this been goin' on? Seems an operation this large shouldn't been able to elude us for so long. What if they got spies?" asked Jirochi. The CEO took it upon himself to speak about this.

"The administration has been keeping an eye on The Zodiac for a while, trying not to interfere with their affairs. We've known about them for 30 years, I'm sure Grandmaster or Steward can recall when the attitude of the camp shifted..."

Grandmaster and Steward Slayer both closed their eyes, almost as if they were remembering something. They were the two oldest members of the Hero Camp and had both been active for over 30 years. They were aware of the sudden change of pace.

"They're a very dangerous group of people who have superpowers unlike most heroes in this camp. We aren't sure exactly how they acquired their powers, but it's safe to say that the Patriarchs are well beyond level 7 threats."

"Their goal? Turn everyone into a monster, and eradicate the excess population. They believe that this is the true path to salvation..."

Divine Knight was the next one to speak. He had a look of concern as if he was disappointed they had been kept unaware of this for so long.

"They've spent 30 years under the radar, and we've done nothing to prepare for a potential attack? What happens if they've recruited enough people to swarm the city? What are we going to do then?"

"We are going to resume operations normally, but if any of you encounter a Patriarch, or humanoid monsters, RCD in for backup, and eliminate the threat. I wished we wouldn't have to worry about this, but it seems The Zodiac is making the first move in this game of chess..."

"We have reason to believe The Zodiac could have connections with The Shade, and another unknown individual." said the CEO. After mentioning the shade, the expressions of the top ten shifted to anxiety.

"Do you think this group, the zodiac, could be stopped by "Hero?" asked Tasuki AKA "Profiling Prodigy". He was the most interesting member of the top ten, as he was basically a culmination of everyone's prowess.

"I'd be willing to bet he would have no trouble eliminating them if he had to, but he hasn't been seen in 5 months. Where the hell is that man?"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Nobody else had been invited to this meeting, so who could it be? One of the guards peered through the peephole and saw who appeared to be Hiroki, standing with a clipboard.

"Director, it's Hiroki, should we let him in?"

"Go ahead, I'm sure he just wants to know what the sudden meeting is about. He should have the right to listen in, he's an administrator too."

The guard opened the door, and in stepped Hiroki, holding his clipboard in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. He sipped it, and then greeted the heroes.

"Hello everyone. I just came by to see what this meeting was about. I could tell the tensions were rising in this place, what's the scoop, Director?"

"We're discussing matters involving The Zodiac, a group of individuals who can turn into monsters, and possess otherworldly powers. You missed an important part of the meeting, but I can recap you at the end." said the Director.

Hiroki then took a sip of his tea, gazed into my eyes for some reason, and spoke in an odd, almost monotonous tone. Perhaps he was just tired.

"The Zodiac, I see... do go on, I'd like to hear more about them. You claim they can turn into monsters?"

"Yes, by eating the heart of a monster, they can take its form, and so can everybody else, which is incredibly dangerous. We're going to form an attack on them, in an attempt to stop them."

"Interesting, how do you plan to go about this?"

"We plan to send a level 7 hero to each camp, keeping on the lookout for the Patriarchs. They will be difficult to find, but if they are found, or the shade is spotted, we will call upon all other level 7's to assist in battle."

"Their goal is to turn everybody into a monster. They need Yukio to help them do this, so it's our job to protect him, and train him. The patriarchs of the Zodiac each have an ability, and Yukio has one of their abilities, which is why he's so important."

"If we can use his abilities against the Zodiac, then we could potentially work together to defeat them. I just wish "Hero" was here to help as well..."

Hiroki took another sip of his tea and set it on the table. He took out his clipboard, and jotted down a few notes, before picking his tea back up. He smiled, and spoke once more,

"I'm sure Hero will be back soon. I have faith in him, and you all as well. From what I've heard, The Zodiac sounds pretty dangerous, I've never heard of anyone like them, ever." said Hiroki. Then, Saburo Hisao spoke, AKA "Death's Twin". He spoke in a very reserved, airy voice.

"If you need me, I'd be willing to dance with death a little bit in order to take the zodiac members down... it's not like I haven't spoken with death before..."

"That might be needed, but not right now. We need to make a strategy first."

Saburo put his scythe down, and glanced at the table, contemplating something. He then looked back up and accepted the CEO's request to hold back.

It seemed that Grandmaster and Alanzo, seated next to each other, were also in deep thought. They had the same facial expression, but their levels of experience were vastly different. However, it seemed that together, they were an unstoppable force. They did not speak, but their demeanors spoke a thousand languages.

Just then, I suddenly had the urge to go to the bathroom.

"Excuse me, I'll only be a moment," I said, standing up to leave the room.

I left the room and made my way back downstairs to use the bathrooms. When I arrived on the first floor, I walked past the many doors and entered the bathroom. I used it, came back out, walked past the front desk, waved to Hiroki, and then-

"...wait."

I did a double-take to confirm what I had just seen. Hiroki was indeed manning the front desk as usual... if that's Hiroki, then who's in the meeting room!?

"Hiroki, weren't you just in the meeting room??"

"No? What are you talking about? There's a meeting going on? "

"...WHAT..."

I ran down the halls as fast as I could and entered the elevator. I spammed on the button, and paced around the elevator, hoping it would rise faster. The longer that impostor stayed in the meeting room, the more info they could collect.

When I arrived on the top floor, I ran through the halls and arrived back at the meeting room. I barged through the door, only to be apprehended by the guard immediately. However, I still managed to get my message out.

"That's not Hiroki! I just saw Hiroki downstairs, who are you?"

The impostor turned around and gazed at me with a look of sheer annoyance. It was then, that I noticed a wire coming from their shirt, protruding out slightly.

"You... you're quite the observant one, aren't you..." said the impostor.

He turned around, looked at everybody in the room, and then began to morph, changing his form... his features began to change, and he ceased the appearance of Hiroki, and instead returned to his regular form.

He was a tall man, a little bit older than me, with short black and yellow hair, lavender eyes, and a black and yellow jester outfit. He smiled.

"Looks like my cover's been blown, hasn't it? Hahaha." said the man. Natsuo got up, drew his sword, and approached the man, pointing his sword at his neck.

"Identify yourself immediately, or face the wrath of God," said Natsuo, seemingly infusing himself with a divine power of some sort. What was he doing? The man then looked into his eyes and started changing again. His body moved in weird ways, and his bones cracked around.

Then, he took the form of Natsuo, sword and all. He had essentially just become a carbon copy of him... he then spoke back to him.

"Identify yourself immediately, or face the wrath of God!"

Natsuo then swung his sword at the impostor, but he jumped out of the way, dodging his attack. He landed gracefully on the ground and took back his regular form. Ambrosia then intervened, taking control of his body, and raising him into the air.

"Who are you. Answer now, or you'll lose your life. You're severely outnumbered and outclassed. It was stupid for you to come in here."

The imposter then took the form of Ambrosia, although he was unable to use any esper powers. Floating in midair, he spoke once more, in Ambrosia's voice...

"I am the Patriarch of The Zodiac, representing Pisces. Henka Katachi!"

The name "Henka Katachi" literally meant "Change Form", which explained his ability perfectly. He apparently had the authority to take the form of anything he looked at. But perhaps there was more to it than that.

"Go ahead, attack me. I'm caught! You've won..." said Henka, still in Ambrosia's form. The real Ambrosia was confused, her esper abilities couldn't break into Henka's mind, all she saw were her own thoughts.

"Ugh, I can't see what you're thinking, it's like you're a second version of me... you don't have my powers though!"

"You're right, I don't, which puts me at a severe disadvantage. Go ahead and strike me, let's do battle..."

Grandmaster, staying calm this entire time, suddenly opened his eyes, glared at Henka, and phased out of existence... his body became transparent due to his inhuman agility. He ran across the room, reappearing in front of Henka, and punching him across the face.

"...OOWWW!" said both Henka and the real Ambrosia. Ambrosia lost her grasp on Henka, and dropped him. She then fell to the ground, in severe pain. Grandmaster's eyes widened, and he assumed an expression of terror.

"Ms. Esper Witch! What happened!?" yelled Grandmaster, Henka then spoke, now taking his original form.

"Heh, thank you for attacking me as I asked. Unfortunately, you seem to have attacked your comrade as well... you see, whoever's form I assume, they will be bound to me... if you hurt or kill me, it will hurt or kill them too..."

The top ten heroes were shocked. They hadn't seen anything like this before... Henka then turned himself into Grandmaster.

"Well then, I'll assume this form as protection until I can get away safely... you've given me as much info as I need. Thank you, Hero Camp! Also, Yukio, the offer still stands. Join us, Capricorn." said Henka, making his way out of the room...

"You DEVIL!" yelled Grandmaster, running out of the room, but upon leaving, Henka was gone, just like Marius had disappeared out of the alley....

Henka, The Patriarch of Pisces, was able to take the form of anyone, and bind them to death, meaning if he was killed, they would die as well... how was the Hero Camp going to deal with him?