Point-of-View: X
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"Hey, keep up! I’m not slowing down for you," Growled Arisu irritably.
"I’m right behind you, relax," I responded with an annoyed sigh.
Today’s the 5th of July, 2025, about two months since the ta-Orbs had been scattered. Ever since that last Outlier, who was found living in a nature reserve, no others have appeared yet, and the captured Outliers of Eden were improving steadily, though they still weren’t quite battle-ready.
In the last month or so, Eden has been focusing on brainwashing the leaders of small nations and taking over by controlling them. Naturally, those with Dark Skills have been at the forefront of this operation, since they’re the only ones with brainwashing powers.
A lot of them aren’t exactly highly skilled, but they’re more than skilled enough to brainwash regular humans. After all, unlike ta-Humans, normal people have absolutely no resistance to even the most minor of ta-Human powers, so yeah.
Anyway, I was currently in Poland, which we suspect to have a small number of Harmony ta-Humans living here, but Eden had all but taken control of every nation that ta-Humans don’t reside in. There are around twenty million ta-Humans in existence right now, though I’d say only about a fifth to a quarter, at most, of them have powers that could be called significant.
I an, sure, the rest could probably cause so damage with their powers, and while they’re definitely stronger than the average regular person, they aren’t strong enough to take on a genuine threat, unless they, like, really work hard, I guess.
Though, if you ask , it doesn’t really matter how powerful soone is, if they don’t have any real combat experience, they’re unlikely to be much of a threat, at least in a direct, head to head fight.
"Well, it’s about ti you made it. I was getting tired of waiting," A familiar voice greeted us, as we arrived at the location we’d been heading towards.
Specifically, the residence of the Polish head of state, or in other words, the president’s house. It’s a pretty big building, gotta say.
"Tch, it’s not my fault, this one was slowing down," Replied Arisu with a click of her tongue.
Bitch.
"You sure are quick to bla others, aren’t you?" Ca the snickering reply.
Wrest Seizel, one of Eden’s Category 1s...I’d worked with him on a few previous assignnts, and honestly, he’s kind of a dick. He really enjoys causing other people trouble, and can be pretty violent and sadistic too.
His left forearm had a slight burn scar across it, Trevor ntioned that he sparred with Astra, and things ended up getting out of hand. Still, if the scar is that clearly visible despite having been healed by Light Skill techniques, then he must have taken a serious amount of damage.
"Shut up. Did you take care of everything?" Inquired Arisu, clearly annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah. All the security caras in and around the building are currently playing looped footage and, naturally, no one spotted , while I managed to knock out everyone that was on patrol. And, yes, to pull off your part of this mission, you’re gonna need my help to get you inside the building. Ohh, crap, I’m sorry...I know you’re supposed to be heading this mission, but it seems like I’m contributing a lot more. So sorry," He smirked smugly, clearly not sorry.
"Watch it, you cocky little bastard, try not to forget that I outrank you," She warned him threateningly.
"I’m sooo scared," He responded dryly, before shifting his gaze to with a look of curiosity, "So, hey, how co you’re here too?"
"Because I can speak Polish," I sighed in response...yeah, that’s my only role here today.
I an, since we’re not up against ta-Humans here, my Nullification is kinda unnecessary in a mission like this one.
"Oh...hah, wow, so you’re nothing but a glorified translator, huh? That must suck!" He chuckled as he smacked my back...ow, that hurt, and he struck the spot on my back that’s just barely out of the reach of my hands.
"Enough!" Snapped Arisu in a loud, annoyed whisper, "Hurry up and teleport us inside the building already. This is going to take a while, we need to pick them all off one by one and brainwash them, before we can get to the king."
"Huh? That’s way too much work! Let’s just brainwash the king and make him do as we say, anyone who puts up a resistance can just be brainwashed later," Shrugged Wrest in response.
"We are not doing that! I’m in charge, and I say that we aren’t cutting any corners!" Snapped Arisu firmly.
She just doesn’t want to get blad if they higher ups notice that we did a sloppy job here...
"Hey, wait, can’t you use Compel on everyone inside simultaneously? Since they’re just regular humans, it shouldn’t be too difficult, right?" I pointed out.
"Ohh, right, that! Do that!" Chid in Wrest, clearly wanting to avoid making this a long, drawn-out affair.
"...I’d rather not," She muttered in response.
"Huh? Why not?" I inquired in bemusent.
"Heh, I think I get it! Using Dark Skill techniques over wide ranges can take a toll on the user, she must want to avoid that. Well, from what I’ve heard, doing that to only affect normal humans doesn’t have that much of a backlash...aw, but I guess it’s too much for you to handle, huh? Well, I guess it’s to be expected...I an, you are the most inexperienced Category 0 around right now, not to ntion your failure in Namibia, so-," Mused Wrest in an innocent voice.
"You fucking piece of shit, I’ll rip your head off one of these days...! Grr, fine, I’ll fucking do it! Teleport us sowhere near the middle of the building," She grumbled, an absolute death glare on her face.
"Sure, if you say so," He smirked in response, before placing his hands on our shoulders and teleporting us inside the building.
We were in a corridor by a window, one from which the spot we’d been hiding at was partially visible...I then stiffened as I heard so footsteps approaching from around the corner.
"Tch, guess I’m already having to use-...," Began Arisu, before Wrest swiftly tightened his grip on our shoulders and the next thing I knew, my surroundings were rapidly and continually changing, until eventually, we were hidden underneath a staircase.
Woah, that was really fast...he’s incredibly good with his precision when teleporting, and without sacrificing any speed, too...
"Okay, I think we’re now more or less in the middle of the building. Do your thing," He said to Arisu, as he leaned up against a wall with a bored look on his face.
"Tch...don’t tell what to do...," She growled, but did it anyway.
"Hey, how did you do that? Teleport us all the way here without being seen, I an? We could easily have run into soone at so point, so how did you avoid-...," I began curiously.
"Hm? Oh, just intuition," He shrugged in response.
Huh? Did he...did he just risk blowing our cover based on nothing but intuition? Idiot...
"Wh-what the...?" Suddenly gasped Arisu, collapsing onto her knees in shock, as blood dripped down from her nose.
"You might wanna clean that up," Remarked Wrest, before inquiring, "So, did you do it?"
"N-no, it’s-...sothing’s wrong here. Sothing’s very, very wrong here...every single person in this building is already under soone’s control. And...and it’s not a Dark Skill technique that’s controlling them, I-I didn’t recognize it at all, b-but...but it felt incredibly powerful. I can’t even begin to overwrite it. Wh-what is this...?" She stuttered, clearly in shock.
"Huh? What are you talking about? You’re not making any sense," Responded Wrest in bemusent.
Hm? In that mont, I just happened to glance across the room, and I could see that one of the windows in the corridor was open...but I could have sworn that it was closed just a few seconds ago.
Am I imagining things? What is this anxious feeling? Sothing isn’t right here...
"D-damn it, forget about the mission, we need to get out of-...!" Began Arisu with an urgent look on her face.
"Tell , are you the one who just attempted to overwrite my Kin Control?" Interrupted an icy, terrifying voice from behind her, as two red, glowing spots appeared behind Arisu’s shoulder...it sounded like a woman’s voice.
All three of us were deathly silent, all we could do was stare in shock at the person who’d snuck past our notice with the utmost of ease, as I felt my blood run cold...this is clearly not a normal human, but...but it’s not a ta-Human either...
A bead of sweat ran down the side of Arisu’s face as she slowly began to turn her gaze back with a look of terror, before suddenly gritting her teeth and pointing one of her hands back...
"T-take this, Negative Blast!" She exclaid as she fired in a panic.
Wrest and I quickly sprang out from under the stairs as she fired, before I leapt up and perched myself on the railing of the staircase, drawing out a couple of hidden blades, while Wrest backed away and got so distance from the stairs, forming a bolt of lightning in his hand with a wary look on his face.
A second later, Arisu was out too, coughing as her attack had kicked up a dust cloud underneath the stairs. She quickly scrambled to her feet and ford another Negative Blast, breathing heavily.
"Did you get her!?" Exclaid Wrest, as a tense air surrounded us.
"N-no, she vanished as soon as I fired!"
What? They dodged an attack from a Category 0? No, more than that, they dodged a Negative Blast at point-blank range?
"ta-Humans, huh? It has been a while since I’ve encountered your kind...tell , what are you ta-Humans doing here, of all places?" The voice suddenly echoed out from above us, sending chills down my spine.
The other two and I glanced up in dread, to see...a bat? Huh?
Before I could figure it out, it swooped down towards , and as I began to fling a dagger at it, it suddenly turned into what looked like a black shadow and grew rapidly. I couldn’t even move as it swirled around , before taking the shape of a person and solidifying...I felt my knees buckle as claw-like fingernails brushed against my neck, before freezing as I slowly glanced back...
...and was t with a dark, crimson gaze. Pointy ears, visible fangs, pale skin, and those red eyes...ohh, shit.
Coming here was a huge mistake. This is really bad, it’s...it’s a fucking Vampire...
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