"You certainly found a rare gem, Dr. Lianne. For all these years of searching worldwide, who would've thought that you would find the perfect subject at such a backwater country."
Dr. Lianne sits at her office, her monitor hosting a video conference. Their visage hidden in the shadows.
"It proves that all gems are found in dirt, not in jewelries. Now I trust all of you what this means, right?"
The figure laid back, shadows implying that they crossed their arms. A momentary silence before making their decision.
"Seeing that you finally had the necessary pieces, I'm giving you permission to move onto your research. All necessary funding will be covered by the organization. That is all, meeting adjourned."
Turning off her laptop, Dr. Lianne stares at the moonlit city. Various lights color the surroundings, peace that seems never-ending. A scenery from 50 years back before the Animus attacked.
A few weeks later...
"Kevin reporting, our squad is about to engage the enemy in approximately 30 seconds."
"Alright, be sure to use the different settings to your advantage."
Dashing across the abandoned streets, Kevin holds onto his weapon. A large blade strapped on his back, the cross guard a bit wider than the hunk of steel and the design leans more to look modern. A blue orb gem sits at the center of the cross-guard, sticking out at both sides and just below it is a rotary switch which has four modes.
"Let's review the functions of that weapon, R.S. There's a switch at both sides of the hilt, currently we want to test the first and second mode. After the battle be sure to push the button beside the switch, it's a safety lock, it will automatically set the mode back offline. It may be a weapon that doesn't require Anima from the user, but it will continuously absorb Anima from its surroundings, even from you. Do you copy, R.S ?"
"Copied, Ma'am."
Turning the switch to the first mode, Kevin unsheathes his blade and charges. The weapon's outlines glowed pink, until it became bright red and dense, becoming the second blade of the sword as it extends the width and range by another inch.
"The Anima is stable. No shifting nor small outbursts, just like in the previous tests." Kevin informs through the comms.
"Kevin, distract the main group of the enemies. Denise and Hannah will eliminate those who are separated from the group while me and Karen will provide backup from the rear. We can't let them regroup!"
"""Roger""", the three said simultaneously. Denise used her thrusters to boost her speed while Hannah relied on her innate strength and dashed forward passing by the main group. They were fast enough to startle the Animas and before they could react Kevin already reached them and swung his large blade, taking the attention of his opponents.
"First mode fully opened, 25% absorption reached. Melee combat, initiating."
Two heavy armored lesser Animus and four humanoid Animus. Kevin, analyzed his enemies to decide which to prioritize first.
"Leave the humanoid to me, Kevin.", speaking through his comms with a soft voice like a whisper was Karen. Her rifle already aimed at her moving targets.
"Go face the heavy ones, I'll provide support." Georgia added.
"Got it." Kevin nodded and charged towards the heavy armored Animus. Using the momentum he rotates himself and tries to cleave his enemy, the heavy armored Animus couldn't move fast enough and it's frontal armor melted from the strike yet the core remained untouched. A loud burst was heard next to him, followed by a cry from the staggered enemy next to him. Kevin didn't waste any time and turned his steps to propel his body and swings his sword horizontally, cutting the Animus in half with the core broken.
Arriving at their objective, Denise smashed an Animus' with a superman punch, using velocity at her advantage. Her gauntlets survived the impact, yet her enemy's armor was crushed to dust and her fist is embedded deep into the body, almost piercing right through.
"Holy smokes— Denise, that entrance is so cool! You're looking like a Superhero!" Hannah shouts enthusiastically. Two enemies left, one noticed Denise's arrival and came charging at her like a bull. Hannah jumped as soon as she got into range and planted her halberd onto the back of the charging Animus.
"Bonk! Haha, I won't let youu..."
Hannah positioned herself just below her halberd.
"--do that!!"
So she says before pulling it out and using the Anima as a platform to plunge herself towards another heavy armored Animus, the last one of their objectives.
"You dork! Why do you have to push it towards me!" Denise exclaims, preparing herself as the large Anime flies towards her.
"Ah! I didn't think about that, thousand sorries!" Hannah says as she comes flying through the opposite direction as of the Animus she pushed. With one spin she sweeps her halberd at the body of her enemy which where the core was located. The halberd sliced halfway through the armored body before getting stuck, yet it had already completed its job. The core is eliminated.
Denise sighed at Hannah's response. She rooted herself onto the ground and delivered an uppercut to the crashing Animus sending it uprighr. Composing herself, she took one breathe before unleashing a flurry of blows. A combination of a left jab to the body, right hook to the rib and a thruster powered left cross to the core.
"We're finished on this side. How is it over there?" Denise informs through her comms.
"Just about to wrap up. Dr. Lianne is making him play with the sole Anima left." Georgia answered.
"Alright, R.S. Activate the 2nd mode, perform the release function just as instructed before."
"Alright. Activating 2nd mode." Kevin turns the switch to the 2nd mode, his sword's reddish light burned brightly orange and turned to gold.
"2nd mode fully opened, 50% absorption reached. Commencing Anima release–Cleaving Light."
Kevin made a big cut on the air as he swings his weapon horizontally. The Anima from his sword followed pursuit and launched itself in a crescent form as Anima leaks out from the edge of the blade. The crescent Anima energy struck the Animus' body from 25 feet away, slicing through and damaging the core before fading away. His weapon remained empty for a moment, before it started absorbing Anima and returned it's golden glow.
"Well would you look at that sweet thing. I would never get tired of seeing that." Georgia said while leaning onto a barrier. Karen only nodded in response as she stares at the golden blade.
"Application shows it's effective at atleast 25 feet away, uh huh. How are you feeling, R.S?" Dr. Lianne asks. Kevin took a breathe first before answering.
"I'm doing fine. There's shocks here and there in my body but I can still move."
"So some minor drawbacks, noted. R.S, the shocks you're feeling are the rebounds from handling too much Anima. You're in a similar condition as the rangers when their output abnormally increases. However, your control is absolutely impeccable, the amount of energy you're handling right now is equal to tenfold of Anima outbursts. Any Reaper would faint at the first mode due to it's density. Now disperse the Anima and turn on the safety lock."
Kevin switched off the absorbers and released the energy slowly. As the Anima disperses it was as if the sword was releasing sparks. It did not emit light brightly anymore, it went dim and gloom onto orange, red and then to nothing.
"Hey! What are you all up to?" Hannah came from the distance, waving her hand to take attention from the far group.
"I just told you they were doing some tests didn't I?" Denise answered from beside her. The two eventually met the group. Hannah was jumping excited as she talks to Georgia.
"So what now? Are we going back home yet? Wanna go to the mall later??" Hannah asks.
"Not yet silly. We still have four more areas to clean up, this is a pretty big sector too." Georgia answers. "It would've been faster if Dr. Lianne didn't asked us to play with that one though."
"It's all for the data, Ms. Cornelia. We need to ascertain the effect of R.S's release function. Now that we're already sure of it, we can use it to our advantage and clear out the enemies faster." Dr. Lianne rebuts. Georgia only shrugged.
"Ugh, fine. Let's head out and finish it quickly then. Squad, we're moving out now!"
"How was it?" Denise approached Kevin. Thinking for a moment, Kevin answered back after a second.
"It feels nice, I was able to cut smoothly and there's no overheating either. The weight distribution doesn't feel off either."
Denise's eyes lighted up, before she turned around and nodded in agreement. The squad eventually fought off the remaining four areas they were assigned. Kevin, who despite his weak qualities as a Reaper was able to handle the Animus thanks to his weapon. Unnoticed, the blue orb glinted red.
Dr. Lianne's worries grew stronger yet her wish overcame any fears. She would wake him up—no, she must.
"No, it should be fine. That weapon only works on Anima-densed areas, meaning it would be useless against any places without Animus...even if it is the strongest monster that walked the Earth."