Chapter 28 - A Change of Direction

In a world filled with unusual and supernatural powers, and inhabited by monsters who feast on humans to survive, people came up with two solutions. One such solution had been in practice for numerous years, and the other, a recent initiation by an extremist organization.

However, only one solution could prevail over the other. While both would work in theory, one was more humane and consistent. The other was like an experimental drug, packed with many unknown and potentially dangerous side effects.

When two groups push their ideals onto one another, disagreement occurs. With disagreement, comes argument, and with argument, comes action. It snowballs into an unavoidable competition, which on such a scale as this, could lead to war.

Whoever fights smarter wins the battle, and it seemed as if The Zodiac had a head start on the Hero Camp. They had sent in a spy from their group to gather information... Henka Katachi, the shapeshifter, able to take the form of anyone in the room, binding their senses together.

If one were to kill Henka while he was in the form of someone else, both individuals would die, as they are bound together. Ambrosia fell victim to the near-fatal punch of Grandmaster, who punched with the intent to kill... luckily, Henka braced himself, otherwise, Ambrosia could have been no more.

Two Patriarchs of The Zodiac had been established, both with incredible abilities, making them hard to kill. One could shed into a new body on death, and the other could bring anyone down with him... who knew what the other patriarch's abilities were?

How did one even get abilities? This was a question I had pondered since I first arrived in Etheria. I was still unaware of how I had been summoned, or who summoned me in the first place. Perhaps abilities were just something you were born with, or in the case of Natsuo Ren, something you were blessed with.

Natsuo Ren, "Divine Knight", was an interesting fellow. To me, he seemed unusually calm, despite our circumstances, as if he was putting his whole faith into God. I wondered if he had actually met God, and if so, how... then, the CEO of the hero camp began to speak.

"Damn it, damn it all! Ms. Esper Witch, are you hurt?"

"I can barely feel my face. Benji, that was a hell of a punch, but don't worry about me. We had no way of knowing he would bind his senses to mine like that." said Ambrosia, Alanzo, "Steward Slayer", ran over to her, concerned.

"Miss Esper Witch, do you require assistance? You say the word, and I'll-." he was suddenly interrupted by Ambrosia.

"No need, Alanzo. I appreciate your concern. I'll be alright, trust me." Ambrosia then hopped to her feet and brushed herself off. There was a red mark on her face, but she didn't seem to be too injured.

I was surprised to see Steward Slayer's reaction to this situation. In an instant, he was at Ambrosia's side, armed with his rapier, and an intense look in his eyes. The CEO then spoke,

"This changes everything. I thought that perhaps only one of them had breached Camp Alpha, but two of them, this one going as far as to breach the meeting room. We're in trouble…"

The CEO put his hand to his forehead, and closed his eyes. He lit a cigar and took a long draw from it, before speaking once more,

"Due to Henka's shape-shifting ability, we will have no way of determining who's who. I'm going to devise a new security system in order to confirm identities, standby until it is finished." Grandmaster then spoke.

"Director, should Henka reappear, I believe it would be in our best interest to not make eye contact. I noticed immediately that his eyes changed color before each transformation, and that he was making direct eye contact with whoever he became. Perhaps this has a correlation."

"Interesting observation… if this is the case, then please try to avert your eyes from him at all times..."

"Do you know anything about their fighting mechanics? I could try and learn how they work," said Tasuki. I was eager to see just how he fought, and how well he could copy others.

"Neither of them have actually attacked us, they more so just stood there gathering info, so we don't know how they fight," said Ambrosia.

"Damn..." I could tell Tasuki was ready to fight, but he had no way of knowing how they operated.

"I want everyone on high alert until we can apprehend these extremists. For now, resume activities as normal, but be on the lookout. We're going to add their names to the board of monsters, along with sketches."

"Oo, I wanna draw Henka." said Tasuki.

"Do you remember exactly what his regular form looks like?"

"Perfectly, I remembered every single feature of his." Tasuki wasn't kidding, his perfect profiling also allowed him to remember what anyone looked like, down to the microscopic level.

"Very well, bring a drawing of him to my office when it's finished, and we will copy it. Everyone else, please get ready to be transferred back to your camp. This concludes our meeting…"

"In case there are any other spies around, I don't want to speak anymore on the matter. I will be in contact with you individually for orders on where to proceed from here."

The top ten stood from their seats, and gave a unified salute to the CEO. Then, they each exited the meeting room, except Ambrosia, who remained with me. She was rubbing her cheek.

"Yukio, we should go back and let the others know of the new course of action. We're going to be transferred tomorrow to Omega. I believe another member of the top ten is going there too, but I'm not sure who yet."

"I agree. It's almost 9:00. I hope they packed everything back up for us at the hotel. Let's go, Ambrosia."

Ambrosia then grabbed my hand, and looked me in the eyes. Her mouth opened slightly, and her left eye turned yellow. I knew what was about to happen.

"...and now we go, with our minds…"

The world around me began to fall apart, phasing in and out of existence. I heard Ambrosia's laughter, and then I saw a bright flash of light. Immediately after, we were standing in front of the hotel room door. She had once again teleported us.

"Damn, how do you do that so well? It blows my mind."

"Hehe, good one Yuki. Let's go inside, I'm sure the others are eager to hear our plans."

Ambrosia opened the door, and we entered the hotel room. Inside the room, was Mayumi, sitting on the edge of her bed, packing our belongings. Cyprus and Yui were nowhere to be found, though.

"Yo Mayumi! We're back, and we have news."

"Oh! Welcome back Yukio, come, sit, tell me all about the meeting."

Mayumi pointed to the bed across from her, and we went over there to sit and chat. I caught her up to speed on the meeting, as well as our plan of attack. I asked where the others were, she said they were out running a final errand before the transfer tomorrow.

"So you ran into another one of those Zodiac people, and you say this one can take the form of people he looks at? That's terrifying."

"Yeah, I know. He took the form of Ambrosia, and then a few other heroes. He's scary, and needs to be eliminated."

Mayumi sighed, and gave me a look of anxiety. She seemed to be thinking to herself. She looked me in the eyes, fixated her hair, and spoke again,

"I'm worried about Emiko. Although she's a level 6, almost level 7, I fear she might get caught up in this situation. I know Yui is worried about her sister too…"

"You shouldn't worry too much right now, Mayumi. For now, they're going to send level 7's out to track them down. Emiko will be okay, and so will Yua." Mayumi smiled at me, reassured.

"What's your plan of attack? Do you know Henka's whereabouts?"

"We have no idea where he disappeared to. Just like Marius, he vanished into thin air. However, we're planning on upping our security, and sending level 7 heroes to the major camps to defend them."

"If we can find and apprehend these people, we can prevent them from turning others into monsters."

"I see, and what would you do if you found him? Would you kill him on the spot? Or would you rather get some information out of him? I feel like interrogating him might be of use."

Perhaps Mayumi was right, interrogating Henka and Marius would provide us with some much-needed info, but I doubted it would work. It was hard enough getting Marius to talk unless I joined his agenda, Henka could be the same way.

"That would be incredibly hard to do. I doubt he would talk…"

"Well, if he was here right now, I'm sure Ambrosia would make him talk. Right, Esper Witch?" asked Mayumi.

"Well, I'm not sure he'd talk, but I could definitely know what he's thinking…"

"Ah, that is most interesting…" said Mayumi, in an odd tone. I was noticing the tension in the room rising, as if something were about to happen. Ambrosia seemed to be able to tell something wasn't right too...

"I have everything packed for our transfer tomorrow, are you two...excited?" asked Mayumi, in a much deeper voice.

Suddenly, I heard noises coming from the bathroom, it sounded like muffled yelling.

"What? Who's in there? Mayumi, is someone in the bathroom?" I asked.

Mayumi then gave me a strange look. It was then that I noticed her eyes were slightly discolored. She smiled deviously, and tilted her head.

"What's the matter, Yukio? You look worried. Here, let's talk."

Mayumi's body then began to contort itself in weird directions, bones cracking, and skin stretching. Black and yellow clothes began to form on her skin, and she changed appearance, taking the form of Henka…

"You said you wanted to interrogate me, right?"

"HENKA!"

Ambrosia wasted no time surrounding his body with her yellow glow. He rose in the air, and laughed. He seemed to be showing little restraint against Ambrosia's body control.

"This again? You're quite the troublesome hero. How many monsters have you killed, little girl? How many resources have you destroyed?"

"Resources? What are you talking about? Are you saying monsters are nothing more than capital to you guys?"

"Precisely. The monster race serves as vacant vessels for the human race to inhabit. Without them, we would all perish. We were meant to pilot them, why else would their hearts have such potent effects on us? We must carry on their lives in an intelligent form, and repopulate the world..." said Henka. I quickly chimed in.

"Don't you dare call Ambrosia a little girl. She could kill you a thousand times over. I will not be joining your sick mission, no matter how many times you try to recruit me."

"No worries, Yukio, the operation has already begun. Capricorn has been found. We must kettle people together, and convert them."

"You're sick… tell me, how many people have you recruited? Just how many humans are able to turn into monsters?"

"We've been in hiding until this very moment. The discovery of Capricorn marks the start of our agenda. If I had to put a number to it, I'd say we've saved thousands by now. I'd watch yourself, Level 2."

Henka insulting me was enough to throw Ambrosia over the edge. I could tell she was pissed. Her eyes glowed with pure malice, and she rose herself into the air, levitating in front of Henka. Then, she spoke.

"You son of a bitch, I should just kill you right now, how about it?"

Ambrosia then moved her hands through the air, bending and contorting Henka's body, breaking his bones, and ripping his tendons apart. Ambrosia was getting serious...she was actually using her hands for once, instead of just her mind. Henka's eyes widened.

"Tsk! Ah, that hurts, damn, are you really going to kill me on the spot? What about our agreement? You said you'd interrogate me, you liar!"

Henka smiled devilishly and glared into my eyes. I couldn't stop myself from staring back into his. He laughed once more, and spoke to Ambrosia,

"No worries though, you can kill me if you'd like, I won't stop you, but, I'm taking him with me!"

Suddenly, my body grew cold, and I felt a searing pain overwhelm me. I fell to the floor, writhing in pain, as Henka took my form. All of his injuries, ripped tendons, and broken bones, I could feel. I felt like I was going to die...

"AMBROSIA, STOP, STOP, OW, IT HURTS IT HURTS!"

"YUKIO!"

Ambrosia quickly released Henka from her grasp, and he returned to his regular form. It seemed that by returning to his regular form, he had repaired all of his injuries. However, I was still left in extreme pain. Although his injuries didn't carry over to my body, I could feel them, and they had an effect on me. I could barely move until the pain subsided...

"How unfortunate. I hate seeing such a promising member of The Zodiac in such a condition. You should know better, little girl..." said Henka, laughing. But his laugh quickly went silent, as I came to my feet...

"...you mother fucker... don't you dare talk about Ambrosia that way ever again," I said, approaching him, still wary, as the pain hadn't fully subsided. Henka looked at me.

"What are you gonna do Capricorn? Your ability doesn't affect me, wait, what are you, WHOA!"

I felt a rush of adrenaline enter my body, Ambrosia was infusing me with her energy, and with perfect timing too! My strength was immensely boosted. I lifted Henka's body off the ground and ran for the window.

We were 40 stories up, so I thought that if I threw him out of the window, he would die on impact. I didn't care, he needed to go. I threw his body against the glass, it shattered, and he plummeted.

* C R A S H *

"Hahaaa!! You're a smart one Yukioooooo! But... your attempt at murder is fruitless. I'll be seeing you soon, Yukio!" said Henka.

Then, he took the form of a bird sitting on a balcony window a few stories down, and he flew away into the night... not only could he take the form of people, but he could also take the form of animals.....

"Dear God...he's more terrifying than I thought..." said Ambrosia, witnessing what had just occurred. It was then, that I remembered, the voices coming from the bathroom... they were still screaming...