"Nine, Five. I've detected something."
The moment they heard the young Valkyrie's voice the other two exited the shop as well. Each of them took her case in hand and transformed it into a weapon while carefully surveying the surroundings.
They didn't bother asking whether she was mistaken or not. Same as everything else, their eyes were superior to those of humans. If one of them said that she had detected something then something was definitely there.
"What direction?" Asked Zero Five.
"Thirty meters to the east, behind the corner of that building." Zero Three replied.
"Should we check from a higher altitude?" Nine asked.
"That would be for the best." Five replied. "The buildings create way too many blind spots. It will be much easier to detect an attack if it's coming from one direction."
When it came to fighting Calamities the cement jungle only served to obstruct the vision of the humanoid weapons. The buildings weren't even that good as hiding spots.
"I'll keep an eye from down here." Said Zero Three, her duel blades at the ready.
"Be careful."
The three spread their wings and activated their propellers. Nine and Zero Five took off to the sky while Zero Three stayed at a low altitude, hovering just above the paved road. She moved slowly, her eyes carefully scanning the surroundings and preparing for any sudden motion.
Scanning for thermal signs was useless as the red paint caused an interference using the heat it constantly released. All they could do was use sound and vision to try and detect motion, but a couple of minutes passed and nothing was found. That led to the three being on a much higher alert.
"This is strange…" Zero Three said, activating her propellers and joining the other two up in the sky.
"We are most definitely dealing with a Calamity, but…" Nine spoke, her eyes moving around restlessly.
"This is the first time one didn't attack on sight…" the young Valkyrie finished her sentence.
Calamities are unique existences with no two alike. They might share some similar traits, but each one of them has its own appearance and fighting style. With that said, it wouldn't be strange for one of them to be sneakier in its approach. The problem is that something like this has never happened before.
"Guess we will need to drag it out." Zero Five tapped the surface of the gauntlet on her left arm causing a blue screen to appear.
"Wait! What are you doing!!?" Three said, having understood where things were going.
"The enemy this time is different from anything we have seen so far." Five replied. "If it keeps hiding like this then our only choice is to destroy the city along with it."
"No! I mean, I get what you're saying, but no! You can't destroy the city!"
The young Valkyrie was starting to panic. She understood that blowing up the entire settlement was the best choice they had for an enemy that persists on hiding, but at the same time, she still wanted to keep everything intact.
This place was their best chance at getting a populated human city in the region. Zero Three still held on to the hope that, if humans came to live there, she might get permission to go out and have some fun experiencing what life outside the military base is like.
"Three, it doesn't really matter whether the city is intact or not." Five said. "There are too many variables that decide whether humans will want to live here or not."
"Remember what Doctor said? First, we have to prove that there is a value to this place in order to get humans to invest resources in it." Nine said.
"Yeah, I get it, but…"
Destroying the entire city just to get rid of one calamity that has yet to even attack? Anyone would say that's a bit excessive.
"I'm summoning the Proton Canon."
Zero Five waited to see if there were any more objections. When Zero Three said nothing, she tapped her gauntlet and sent the order.
"Wait, I think I'm seeing something." Nine said as she looked through the scope of her sniper rifle-like weapon. "Huh… weird…"
The other two followed her line of sight and focused their eyes. Soon enough they understood their fellow Valkyrie's confusion. They did detect motion, however, even though they were able to see quite far, everything still came out unfocused and blurry.
"Let's get a closer look." With her weapon in hand Zero Five took the lead as the three went down.
The closer they got to their target the more confusing things got, and once only a few meters separated them from it, they no longer knew what to think anymore.
The reason things looked blurry from afar is because what they were looking at, whatever it was, wasn't clear.
It appeared like a glitching image of the black silhouette of a man, with the entire thing made out of squares and rectangles that blinked in and out of existence.
The appearance didn't matter though. What the Valkyries found more abnormal was the fact that the thing didn't attack them even after they came that close to it. There is no questioning the fact that it's a Calamity, and though it was somewhat believable that those monsters could use the environment to their advantage, hiding and waiting for the right moment to strike, seeing how one revealed itself yet didn't attack was a first.
"It's doing something." Three warned.
The glitching silhouette stood there for a moment before it began to move. However, it didn't head in the Valkyries' direction. It moved its legs walking away from them showing no reaction toward their presence.
"There is another one." Nine said, pointing with the barrel of her rifle.
A few meters down the road was another glitching silhouette. This one looked somewhat different. It was difficult to tell at first, but when it started moving they realized it was the same humanoid silhouette but from a profile view.
"Are they… crossing the road?" Zero Three murmured, noticing that both silhouettes were traversing a crosswalk.
"There is more." Five warned.
Another silhouette appeared. This time it was in front of one of the shops and seemed to be in a sitting position, although it had nothing to sit on.
Nine turned to the left just in time to notice another silhouette appear. It was as if the squares and rectangles making it up just blinked into existence, gradually creating the form of a human.
More and more silhouettes appeared one after the other until the roads became filled with them. The Valkyries immediately got off the ground to avoid coming into contact with any of them and observed the situation from a higher altitude.
The strange glitching silhouettes were moving with no set pattern. Some walked, others sat on air chairs, and a few were floated on the paved road with their arms extended forward.
The scene didn't make much sense, however after a couple of seconds the blond Valkyrie realized something, taking in the scene once more before voicing her speculation.
"Are those… people?"