"What a boring situation," Jack complained as he used his Pneuma to activate the incantations on his weapon and then ran towards the female henchman.
The woman was also running towards him with a rib in her hand, obviously intending to cut him, but what annoyed Jack the most was that he could feel the life inside of him, just like it had happened to Tim.
How much suffering must these people have gone through to be transformed in this grotesque way? Jack mentally shuddered as he swung his heavy axe at the henchman, who defended herself with her metallic bone sword.
The clash of two metals echoed, and even a few sparks flew. They struggled momentarily until both realized they would not gain much from it and stepped back.
The two kept glancing at each other as they slowly walked away from their companions, both wanting to have a separate fight from the future chaos of bullets that would ensue if they stayed together.
With Jack, Alexis came along with Ronald, making it on three for both sides. The girls could take care of this henchman with ranged weapons, they were strong and experienced after all.
"I only have my standard weapon, a pistol, and some explosives, I didn't think this would happen," Alexis whispered to Jack, who was also thankful that he hadn't left his gauntlet in the steam wagon.
"Nobody thought that thing would jump that fast, it would have been best to stay hidden, at least that's what a rational being would think," Jack scoffed, causing the henchman to chuckle a little in a mechanical voice.
"You're funny, human, you want to denigrate me by calling me irrational? You just make me laugh," the female figure even shook her body seductively, at least she would if she had more human skin and appearance.
But they understood, it was a mockery of them, this whole situation was tense for humans, but highly amusing for an oddity like the Cyber Ghost. So with a nod, Jack and Alexis knew they would not waste any more time talking.
And so the battle between them began, Jack and the woman again lunging at each other, their weapons clashing, while Alexis held several explosives in his hands made of Pneuma. Still, in his real limbs, he carried a white pistol engraved with roses and lines of enchantment.
It was an enchanted weapon given to him by his father to make up for his lack of standard firepower, and he wielded it with his left hand, constantly aiming it at the henchman to create psychological pressure, or at least he tried to.
His other hand, however, carried a small black stick that, when shaken, turned into a long rod with a metallic texture. It was only good for hitting hard, with no enchantments, no mechanisms, and pure hard metal.
"Kid, don't shoot unless I ask you to," Alexis said to the nervous Ronald, who had pulled out his police revolver, it had a much smaller barrel than Jack's gun, but bullets were bullets.
"I know it might hurt Jack," Ronald replied, but Alexis shook his head.
"No, you won't be able to hit him, you'll just distract him. We have to choose the right time to make our contribution, fights against Oddities are always team fights, remember that" Alexis didn't take his eyes off the fight and watched as Jack and the henchman fought.
After the initial clash, Jack waved his weapon to shake the metal bones of his opponent, trying to create a weakness, but the henchman was unusually strong, he barely moved.
Instead, he swung his weapon at his face, forcing him to shield himself with the handle of his axe. Jack took advantage of the situation to step back and swing his weapon, using the length of the axe to deliver a diagonal blow.
With clearly inhuman movements and reactions, the henchman's body twisted like a piece of cloth, squeezing her muscles and spurting black blood as she let the axe pass just millimeters from hitting him.
Taking advantage of the built-up tension, her body twisted as she leaped towards him like a spring, her arm holding back her weapon to swing it towards him in a diagonal slash.
Unprepared, Jack had no choice but to produce Pneuma to cover his left hand, the one that held the gauntlet, as it faced his open palm with the strange enemy weapon.
His legs bent slightly to dissipate the intense force that coursed through his body as he endured such an attack, but he didn't miss the opportunity to grab the metallic bone, and he succeeded.
But the henchman had taken the opportunity to step on his weapon, leaving the two facing each other unable to attack, at least not Jack. The enemy's free hand reached up to touch his face, but Jack moved his head to the side, and in that brief moment, he smiled.
Bang! Bang!
Two shots rang out, one much more powerful than the other, a regular bullet hitting the henchman's outstretched hand, sending chunks of flesh and metal flying, while the other, glowing orange as it traveled, pierced the henchman's neck and exploded right into him.
The mess of black blood, chunks of metal, and soot covered Jack's clothes as he let go of his enemy's sword. With his free hand, strengthened by his Pneuma, he made a fist and aimed it directly at the creature's head.
The henchman's body went flying, a gash in her shoulder the result of having dodged the bullet in time, but now she lay a few feet from Jack, who without hesitation held his weapon with both hands and spread Pneuma over it.
Not only had he activated the weapon's edge charm, but he had also amplified it with his energy, and with renewed intensity, he swung his axe vertically upward, catching the henchman off guard.
An arm flew off, the henchman's hasty defense was in vain, and he ended up losing the limb as he instinctively used an arm to protect himself from axe damage, a poor choice.
One-armed, with black blood gushing from her new wound, the henchwoman glared at Jack with her mechanical eyes glowing red. Alexis, on the other hand, saw where the creature had landed and could only smile.
BOOM!
An explosion came from below, engulfing the henchman in fire and smoke, Jack only put his left hand in front of his face to protect himself from the flying debris but was on the lookout for anything.
His goal was never to fight hand-to-hand against something like that, his goal was to get them to the exact spot. Alexis might not have brought a lot of explosives, but a few in her mouth was a different concept than the others.
If few might be three or four, Alexis always carried an inordinate amount of various explosives, which he considered scarce. How many explosives did Alexis have in his clothes? No one knew but himself.
The flames soon died down, revealing scorched flesh, melted metal, and useless cinders. But something caught Jack's attention, and when Alexis approached, he pointed his finger at it.
"There's something on it, can you pick it up?" Jack asked, and Alexis used two Pneuma hands to rummage through the carcass, which made Ronald a little nauseous, but this time he didn't vomit.
"Wow, another one of those things, I see a pattern here, what do you think?" Alexis managed to pull out a silver metal token in the shape of an octagon, similar to the one they had gotten from the late Tim's house.
"It will have some use, as for two people who were modified by the Cyber Ghost to have it, we just need to find out what they are and if they have any use," Jack finished before looking off into the distance, the girls had already finished their battle.
How did they do?
Bang!
Just as Jack began his encounter with the female henchman, the male one tried to shoot Jack, but a powerful shot interrupted his process. The bullet ricocheted off his chest, knocking him back several steps, but there was no visible damage other than black blood flying through the air.
Soon Jack's trio moved away with the female henchman, leaving only the female companions with the male enemy, who seemed somewhat reluctant at the separation, but soon focused on Lisa's sniper rifle.
"Who brings a sniper to a close fight?" the henchman asked jokingly, but it didn't cause much amusement, he was only greeted by another heavy shot to the chest, but again the damage was minimal.
"Don't bother, I'm relatively special among my peers, don't you think?" the henchman touched both holes in his chest, they were barely deep and it was more than obvious that it would take something much more powerful to hurt him.
"You're not even the worst thing we've ever fought," Irina replied, holding her invisible Pneuma sword with both hands.
"I'll prove you wrong, member of UNMSO," the henchman growled before pointing his palm at Irina.
Bang!
Just as he was about to fire, his body twisted to effectively dodge Lisa's shot, and then a particularly sinister glow emerged from his palm, despite the reddish color.
Fwom!
A ball of red light flew at an incredible speed towards Irina, who swung her weapon to cut off the incoming projectile, but the force of the impact knocked her back. The woman's eyes narrowed a bit at this situation, but there was no time to stop.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Laria dodged three shots from the henchman's other hand, bringing her body closer and closer to him. Her feet were reinforced with Pneuma, increasing her speed.
A Pneuma-reinforced scalpel gleamed in her right hand, which she aimed directly at his enemy's outstretched limb. With particularly inhuman movements, the henchman not only managed to move his hands away in time but also dodged another shot from the sniper rifle.
With a smooth turn worthy of a ballerina, the henchman attacked with a kick that resembled a heartbeat. Laria lifted her leg and slammed directly into the creature's attack.
Her enhanced leg slammed into the minion's modified leg, causing a metallic clang. As if it had an extra pair of eyes, the minion swung its arm in the direction of an incoming Irina, firing several red balls at her.
The whole exchange happened in a very short time, but it was enough for Lisa to load a special bullet into her sniper; if this henchman couldn't be wounded by normal bullets, an explosive one would do better.
Bang! BOOM!
The figure of the henchman flew out through the smoke, barely showing any scorch marks on his exposed flesh, but his body twisted in the air and landed on his feet, skidding slightly on the ground.
His back slammed into the glass of the antique shop, shattering it, but the henchman demonstrated his superior endurance by simply slapping his body and shaking off the soot that covered him.
"Useless," the henchman's voice became much more mechanical, the veneer of humanity carefully maintained to maximize the sense of disobedience gone.
They were now facing a killing machine. Tensing his exposed muscles, the ground beneath the henchman cracked as he shot at Irina, who faced him undaunted, her Pneuma sword at the ready.
Projection-based Operators did not gain the superior physical enhancements of those based on augmentation, but they were undoubtedly people on the edge of the human condition.
As if by reflex, Irina hunched her body into a drawing pose. When the henchman entered her attack range at maximum speed, her body was pushed to the limit, and her tight, needle-thin concentration was triggered like a switch.
Without thought, without an explicit command, her body drew a weapon without a sheath, but the effect was the same. Her right hand swung back and forth at the end, slicing through anything in its devastating horizontal slash.
"Impossible..." she missed, though she felt she had cut something, it wasn't really serious damage to the minion who held her neck with his rough, skinless hand, using his metallic phalanges to squeeze her fragile throat with force and malice.
But although she was a little disappointed that her attack did not kill the creature directly, she was not nervous, she quickly kicked the creature's chest, trying to gain some distance, if only a little, but why?
Bang! Boom!
A violent blow to the back and then a thunderous explosion pushed the henchman, causing it to lose its grip on Irina, who quickly pulled herself together, even though some of her hair had been singed.
Soon, a raised leg slammed directly into the back of the henchman's neck, causing him to buckle. Laria struck hard with her Pneuma-enhanced limb, and with a flick of her hand, three metal fingers fell to the ground.
"Weren't you taught not to hurt women?" joked Laria coldly as she used her scalpel to sever part of the limb the creature had used to hurt Irina.
"You don't have any more bullets or enough Ecto-pneuma to shoot, do you?" Lisa said aloud, with a strong mocking tone.
She already had the perfect bullet ready to fire, she had even covered it with her Pneuma projection, so her next shot would be her last.
"Ah... but my physique is better than any of your weapons," the henchman said after looking somewhat reluctantly at his disabled hand.
He could figure it out, maybe his shooting energy and available bullets had run out, but he had a better physical condition than any human, how could they hold him back?
"Yeah, speaking of which, you don't seem very reliable, Tin Man," Irina said before actively lunging at the henchman and slashing diagonally with her invisible sword.
Although the enemy dodged, he was hit by a hard blow to the face, knocking him back several steps. Irina and Laria surrounded him like hyenas, circling him, and attacking him relentlessly.
Yes, he was resistant to blunt blows and cuts, but the Pneuma was not the weapon of choice of the humans for nothing. Maybe this Cyber Ghost didn't know much about humans, it was probably relatively young, but for one thing, these 'hairless apes' were at the top of the food chain.
Every cut of Pneuma's sword seemed weak, every kick or punch of Laria did little more than push him aside, but the effects were showing when the henchman suddenly realized that his movement had slowed down.
"Fool," Irina muttered ominously before sending another pulse of Pneuma from her heart to her sword, causing it to vibrate.
The air seemed distorted, showing the influence of this energy on the natural environment, and it was here that the henchman realized. These women had not given their all in battle!
One of the disadvantages of using biological entities like humans for their transformations is demonstrated here. Their brains might be practically controlled by the Cyber Ghost, but the henchman was essentially a human body.
Humans are afraid of the unknown.
Weng! Weng! Weng! Weng!
Strange buzzing sounds came from Irina and Laria, who both ran towards the henchman at the same time, hitting him with everything they could, even though he tried to defend himself, he no longer had the same speed as before.
His defense was laughable at this point, the girls had consumed his projectiles, making him less dangerous. They evaluated his inhuman way of fighting to think of countermeasures, and they used Pneuma, humanity's weapon against oddities, anomalies, and contamination zones.
"How?" the henchman asked in a strangely shaky voice, despite being mechanical, before he was punched in the face, sending him flying.
Irina appeared beside him, taking a deep breath before pushing her body to the limit. Lamenting the pain, she would suffer in the future, the woman flailed her arms at a dizzying speed, cutting off as much of the henchman as she could before his separated parts fell off completely.
"Maybe you've already figured it out, but every supernatural being knows one thing: don't give humans time to attack you. We are the best at endurance, we are the best at consuming enemies, and guess why the Pneuma represents the essence of humans?" asked Lisa, but it was obvious that she didn't want an answer.
Lisa had not only cut off a henchman's leg and arm, but she had also peeled off the flesh from his chest, where a red object pulsed with a faint glow, a core unique to this particular henchman unit.
"Humans... Bastards..." the henchman managed to say before his voice was abruptly cut off.
Swish!
The Ghost Bullet had appeared, blowing a hole in the core and releasing the remaining Ecto-Pneuma into thin air. Such a thing could only be found in some of the Cyber Ghost's special henchmen, and this was certainly one of them.
"Have Alexis burn it," said Laria, who had approached Irina to examine the muscles in her arm.
The woman saw the large bruises on her friend's limbs and was glad that it was only the rupture of a few capillaries, nothing more, though her curious touch had made Lisa gasp in pain.
"A technique that forces your muscles? Why would you and Jack dare to use such devastating things?" asked Lisa with obvious curiosity.
Techniques were an essential part of the human fight against the supernatural, Jack's activation of human instincts or Irina's forcing the muscles to go beyond their limits were only part of those techniques that survived into the modern age.
The Pneuma made it more viable, at a time when this energy was not available to mankind, such concepts were only fantasy.
"That's what I learned," Irina muttered a bit grumpy, but soon smiled again.
"They're just family secrets, Jack has his, I have mine, and while the normal techniques are good, they're less risky, which makes them less special, but doesn't take away from their usefulness. Like the techniques Laria uses, look how that poor thing suffered," Irina pointed at the remains of the henchman.
"I'm only using the 'transmission' concept of Pneuma enhancement, a projection-oriented operator could do it, though much less effectively," Laria remarked, pulling a pair of bandages with a particularly strong scent from her pockets.
"I hate the smell of herbs," complained Jack, who had approached the women accompanied by Alexis and Ronald.
"Irina used her secret technique," Lisa said in response, but not before giving Ronald a sideways glance.
"Oh, you must be in a lot of pain," Alexis scoffed before placing a finger on the bruise on one of Irina's arms, causing her to cry out in pain.
"Damn you, Alexis," Irina growled, wanting to move, but Laria stopped her with her eyes, and soon her arms were bandaged.
If Laria had brought her bag, she could have given her painkillers and medicines that would improve her condition, but she only had the bandages with herbs impregnated in them to solve the situation for the time being.
"I love you too, Irina," Alexis said as he approached the henchman, noticing all the cuts and Pneuma residue on him.
"A tough guy?" asked Alexis and Lisa approached him before nodding.
"A special henchman, core and all" Lisa pointed to the core that had been shattered by her ghost bullet, it was completely shredded.
"Too bad, but it seems the guy didn't know the Pneuma's bias against his kind," Alexis muttered before creating four Pneuma hands and making them hold special explosives, thermite.
"What predisposition? I'm a novice at this, you know?" asked Ronald curiously, causing Jack to slap him in the face with his left hand, wanting to feel the impact of his gauntlet because he couldn't believe there was someone so inexperienced.
"Boy, your lack of knowledge is fatal, terribly fatal," Irina said, her arms completely bandaged and feeling a little better.
"All creatures possess Pneuma, and with it certain predispositions. Supernatural beings sometimes possess variations of Pneuma, like the Cyber Ghost possesses 'Ecto-Pneuma', which allows it to do some special things with it," Lisa was the one who started the explanation, and Alexis, who had activated the explosives, continued.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The intense brightness of the termination made Ronald cover his eyes, but his ears seemed to hear the voice of Alexis, who had followed Lisa's explanation.
"The human Pneuma has three dispositions: to protect, to consume, to wear out. Based on the tendencies of our species, we protect our own, we consume resources, we deplete the environment," there was a hint of pride in Alexis' voice as she spoke of humanity.
Ronald saw the figure of the red-haired man staring obsessively at the fire he had started that was consuming the remains of this minion, just as it had done to the one they had defeated earlier.
"The protection aspect allows us to defend ourselves from corruption and contamination, both physically, mentally, and energetically. For us on this side of the world, we have a particularly high resilience and resistance, it's like our trademark," Laria picked up the explanation, her mention of 'this side of the world' explained one thing.
Were there people from this side of the world? What were they like? Probably not so different from those who lived here, maybe they were like those from the East? No, they weren't from the other side, even if their lands were far away, it didn't mean you had to go to the other side of the planet to find them.
"The human Pneuma, when it comes into contact with the foreign Pneuma, begins to consume it, to decrease its quality, that's why we can, with enough effort, break through the protective armor of our enemies or shatter barriers, boundary fields, among other things," Irina's voice brought Ronald out of his reverie, but made him want to ask what those other things would be.
"Human Pneuma wears out, both the operator and the enemy. If we use too much Pneuma, depending on the intensity, we fall into symptoms ranging from mild dizziness, blurred vision, and even migraine, and if we overdo it, there can be severe cases like vomiting blood, lack of energy, and even coma," this time it was Jack who spoke on this point.
As the one who used the most Pneuma in the group, he had often suffered from such symptoms when he overdid it, forcing his body to create more Pneuma pulses from his heart, but as the one who was most desperate to fight back, it was somewhat understandable that this would happen to him often.
"But this also means that our Pneuma has such a residual effect on enemies that when we attack them with Pneuma, it attaches to them like a parasite and wreaks havoc.
Not only will that see its energy consumed, but it will feel weaker and weaker, and its body will reject our Pneuma as we reject viruses. We are poisonous, so to speak, but at the same time, we are beneficial to them.
Some creatures specifically devour Operators like us to improve their resistance, like when a person ingests small doses of poison.
Others develop more intelligence, some even more energy in their bodies to strengthen themselves and stand a better chance in their confrontation with humans.
We live in a savage world, Ronald, a merciless world that hates us and attacks us all the time. If you don't want to die, become strong, join UNMSO," Laria finished, looking directly at Ronald with her gray eyes, who didn't know why, but straightened up when he heard the invitation to join UNMSO.
He had wanted to do so ever since he had accidentally discovered his Pneuma but felt that he lacked much of what was needed to join such an organization. UNMSO was portrayed as the force that fought evil throughout the Federation, how would they accept a city slicker like him?
"Don't be afraid, Ronald, UNMSO won't hesitate to train an operator like you, just be confident," Jack put his left hand on Ronald's shoulder, causing Ronald to resent the coldness of the metal of the gauntlet Jack always wore.
But in that coldness he felt a different kind of warmth, seeing the eyes of everyone present, Ronald felt it was time to let go of his fear and do something more useful with his ability. Pneuma protects and he was able to create a protective wall of Pneuma, what if...?
As if responding to his thoughts, the Pneuma within him stirred slightly and he felt the need to protect it, but this time what he, and only he, could see stunned him.
His Pneuma appeared in front of him as a round shield with spikes on the edges, floating in front of him as if to show off to his Operator. Although they could not see it, the team could see the distortion in the air and sense Ronald's Pneuma in the air.
"Looks like your projection is defined, boy. Congratulations," Irina told him with a smile on her face, it was always a pleasure to see a future colleague's progress.
"Thank you? Yes, thank you," Ronald replied before putting his Pneuma away, feeling happy.
"We should inform headquarters about all this and be more alert for anything, they'll probably send an extra team to help us," said Alexis, who had finished collecting the ashes from the henchman's remains and put them together with the others.
"As long as Hans doesn't come, I'll be fine," Jack muttered before realizing what he had done.
"You raised a flag, buddy," Lisa joked back, causing Jack to let out an audible groan.
"Sometimes I think his spirit animal is a raven," Irina added to the situation, causing the group to laugh as they left for the local UNMSO headquarters in Tuskville.
That night, they reported back to headquarters about everything that had happened, from the incident with Tim, their investigation, finding the strange token, of which they had two, as well as their fight against the Cyber Ghost henchmen and their speculations about the whole situation.
The next day, while the four of them were having breakfast in the dining room of the building where UNMSO operated in Tuskville, Alexis approached them and sat down in an empty seat with a rather happy smile on her face.
"What happened?" asked Lisa curiously.
"We were permitted to explore the ruins, but only if our clues led us there. Since it has already been explored and the danger has mostly been solved, two groups of Operators will be enough.
But we need a good reason, so we should wander all over Tuskville looking for clues, maybe fight Cyber Ghost henchmen other times," Alexis explained happily as she took a slice of bread from the table and spread jam on it.
"No wonder that big smile, but you didn't say the most important thing," Irina, who was eating with metal chopsticks, pointed out the most important thing.
"Who's coming?" Jack asked with a hint of hope in his voice, almost praying it wasn't that person.
"Oh, that's easy, the closest team is Hans', who finished his mission last night" Alexis' answer made Jack not want to eat anymore, or so he thought for a moment before continuing to enjoy his cereal.
"Jack, you can't sneak up on Hans, we're on an important mission," Laria noticed the lack of response from her boyfriend and knew what he was thinking.
"Fine, I won't attack that annoying blond, but I don't understand, it's like we're supposed to be rivals, you know?" when Jack said these words, the others rolled their eyes, they knew their friend would start telling the same old story.
"I have a sixth sense, he has super reflexes, I use an axe, he uses a falchion, basically the same thing, but with a sword. I'm a reinforcement-oriented operator, and so is he. I use a dagger as a backup weapon, on a small shield.
Big surnames, rival teams in school, we were always pitted against each other in training, always ending in a draw, it's so frustrating!" complained Jack, but his teammates decided not to answer him, it was the advisable thing to do.
"If you stop being a little bitch, you can finish eating, we've got a whole town to comb, it's almost like a small town," Irina said mercilessly, making Jack shake his shoulders and nod.
"I'm done being a little bitch, at least for today, when is Blondie's team coming?" asked Jack to Alexis who quickly replied.
"In two days, one of his team members has to take a day off, he's detoxing from the poison of an Arachne, he was surprised by this oddity on his mission and almost didn't count it," Jack felt a chill at the mention of such an enemy.
"These things know how to attack by surprise, they barely make a sound, they are one of the few creatures that can fool my sixth sense with their stealth," Jack said, stroking his right arm where he had a particularly ugly scar.
"It was there, wasn't it? Where that Arachne bit you, that time it got ugly," Lisa said, noticing Jack's touch on her arm.
"It burns sometimes, even when I don't have poison from that thing in my system, the pain is so... I guess this day off is more than necessary for this unfortunate man," Jack said with kindness in his tone.
His quarrel was with Hans, not his other colleagues, and he felt the burning that threatened to dissolve the flesh from Arachne's venom firsthand, so he was especially kind to his partner in duty.
With that in mind, the team quickly finished breakfast, and this time, with much better preparation, they explored all of Tuskville in search of clues. They encountered only a group of Omnic henchmen sent by the Cyber Ghost, as well as another such token, making three in all.
On their third day in the city, a steam carriage pulled up to the UNMSO building in Tuskville, and a tall, blond man with blue eyes stepped out. At his waist was a sheathed falchion, and on his back was a black cloak with a red interior.
The UNMSO badge on his belt and the emblem of his country, a silver rose with two cross-shaped spears behind the flower, hung from the left side of his chest.
His clothing was not the standard UNMSO uniform, but rather that of a nobleman, perhaps that was why Jack preferred to wear the organization's clothing, taking his rivalry with Hans to a higher level.
"Jack, come out and greet me properly!" the blond shouted towards the building, his haughty and provocative tone receiving a response in the form of another shout.
"We don't serve blondes!" shouted Jack, who came out of the building with his axe slung over his shoulder and a strong fighting intent in his eyes.
"Hehe, don't you ever change? You dare to approach me when you know how dangerous I am," Hans didn't feel uncomfortable with his rival's reaction, instead he stood upright and put his left hand on the hilt of his sword.
"I can't cut you to pieces if I don't get close, no matter how dangerous you are, Hans," Jack said, but wisely stopped only two meters away from the blond man.
The two looked at each other intently for a few seconds until a blonde woman in a pink coat stepped out of the steam car and looked at them with strange interest in her eyes before bursting into laughter.
"You should kiss to break the tension," the girl joked, causing the two men to cough in discomfort.
"Emilia, what did I tell you about your sense of humor?" asked Hans through gritted teeth.
"But boss~ teasing is a way to stay emotionally healthy, and sometimes tensions between two people can be drastically resolved if they interact sexually," Emilia replied very seriously, but luckily Laria came out of the building, hugging her boyfriend's back and glaring at Emilia.
"Hans, control your little sister," Laria said, making the blonde nod and then slam his clenched fist on his sister's head.
"You're mean, boss! I'm telling Mom!" Emilia covered her head and pretended to cry, but Hans stared at her with his icy blue eyes, unfazed by his younger sister's antics.
"Mom hasn't believed you since you were three years old, Emilia," Hans' cold words interrupted Emilia's tearful performance just in time for the members of each group to face each other.
On Hans' side was a brown-skinned woman with fiery red hair, very different from Alexis' crimson hue. However, her complexion looked a bit sickly and she had a bandage on her right arm.
There was a bald man with glasses who seemed to be constantly mumbling and looking around as if he were looking for something. The last member was a brown-skinned, brown-haired boy with a lazy expression as if he hadn't slept well.
"Let me introduce my team. This is Tania, the sleepy boy is Seone, and the one who is always mumbling is Loki, ignore him, he tends to tell everything he sees obsessively," Hans introduced the rest of his team, and Jack did his thing with the others.
"Witch?" asked Tania to Laria, who nodded and made a complicated gesture with both hands, which Tania answered.
"Witch?" asked Irina curiously, she knew Laria was a 'witch', but she thought it was some kind of nickname she had been given at the UNMSO school, not something else.
"It has nothing to do with the fantasy figure or the WITCH oddity, but it was a way of calling women who were dedicated to certain activities such as herbalism, the creation of potions, poisons, or rituals," Emilia replied, making the same gesture with her hands.
"I am a ritualist, Laria is a potion maker, and Tania is a poison maker," Emilia concluded, making Hans hit his head again.
"Stop talking for others," the man corrected before looking at Irina.
"Not much is said about this in the Federation, but certain special groups came together at the founding of our country, but except for some labels and predispositions to certain professions, these labels are not relevant at all.
In the end, we are all citizens of the Rosicrucian Federation" The brief history session caused both groups to start interacting more, some knew each other from before, and others did now.
The rivalry between Hans and Jack did not make the atmosphere awkward but rather served as a strange glue for the group to better integrate, sharing some comments and stories.
"You and Seone are cousins, aren't you?" asked Lisa as if she remembered something, so she asked Jack.
They were all gathered in the building's dining room, using two tables together for their impromptu conversation.
"Yes, my mother is his aunt," Jack replied, and Seone, who wasn't so sleepy anymore, nodded.
"Jack and I grew up together, but I didn't join his team, two guys like us need our space," Seone said, thundering his backbones.
"What do you mean?" asked Emilia, making the others curious.
Seone and Jack looked at each other for a moment before they smiled, a similar smile on their faces, one filled with battle lust. The Pneuma of the two cousins seemed to resonate for a moment, and they even spoke at the same time.
"Berserkers fight one at a time in a group," his words made his companions shudder, except for Hans, who nodded.
"Seone's family, the Belmont's, are a bunch of fight-crazy guys, and although Jack inherited the Araziel family's technique, it's essentially the same as the Belmont's', both push the body to the limit.
The one Jack knows allows him to listen to his body's instincts to act unconsciously, momentarily being able to perform actions that a normal human could not.
Seone's... is to remove the limits that the conscious mind places on the body by using hysterical strength for a few moments. Both techniques are harmful to the user.
That's why it's best to separate the Berserkers, it's never good to have two of them together because it could become a big risk for a team to have two incapacitated members after a fight," Hans' words revealed a bit more of the background of both cousins.
"Seone's is similar to my family's technique, only ours only pushes the muscle fibers to the limit to perform point attacks, Seone's is like..." Irina couldn't find the right word until Tania spoke.
"Like taking the brakes off a steam car during a long descent. It's frightening to see it in that state, but it has its charm," the girl said before realizing the words she had used, so she felt a little embarrassed and lowered her head.
"Robert's family is even more incredible, it makes your blood boil," Jack said with a grin, adding fuel to the fire.
"The guy's a bit messed up in the head, he was the one who ate a vampire and got away with corrosion because he used the poor creature as fuel," Loki said, stopping to count the crumbs on his plate and abruptly blurting out his comment before continuing his hard work of counting crumbs.
"Does your family also have a special technique?" asked Lisa this time, causing Hans to nod.
"But it's different, we use our blood to power our Pneuma," the nonchalant way Hans said those words was a bit scary, it didn't help that Emilia showed her arms full of scars from cuts.
"Our ancestors were crazy, but it's this or die, that's why many secret techniques have some resemblance, that time was very desperate," the girl said with a bit of annoyance before covering her arms with her coat again.
"To those crazy ancestors," Alexis decided, raising his glass full of juice, a gesture the others decided to follow, and together they toasted loudly.
"To our crazy ancestors!"
"Maybe I should come back later," Chris muttered from a distance, confirming that the UNMSO field agents were weird, and besides, they all seemed to be Operators.
"Operators are crazy," the man muttered again before walking into his office.
A few hours later, all UNMSO members, as well as the Tuskville police and even some people from the city council, were present in the building's conference room.
Their purpose? To talk about something important, the re-exploration of the ruins and the ultimate solution to the Cyber Ghost threat.