Jack concentrated his Pneuma on his weapon, specifically on the sharp edge of the blade, further enhancing his cut, and with a swing of his axe, he forcefully pierced the head of a henchman who jumped toward him.
His pneuma-enhanced leg kicked the mechanical aberration's body hard, his left hand releasing the axe handle and quickly going to his waist to grab his revolver.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three quick shots from his weapon, the bullets ripping through his fallen enemy, finally shredding his body before his attention turned to another incoming enemy. His attention was focused, his sixth sense telling him where his enemy was coming from, and he responded with fluid movements.
His fluid movements seemed rehearsed, possessing a unique beauty as he became more brutal. There was hatred on his face, but the smile on his face explained something simple: he enjoyed the situation.
Even if they were just subordinate oddities, even if they were just activated junk, they were still under the control of the Cyber Ghost, and that was enough for him. Sure, these things were just low-level minions and hardly deserved the name Omnic, a true Omnic was a terrible thing at the level of a Cyber Ghost, but these things...
They were just a stress reliever for Jack.
"You still seem to hate them, but I don't blame you," Hans suddenly appeared at Jack's side, holding a falchion in his right hand, its blade emitting a yellow glow similar to Jack's axe, indicating that the weapon's enchantment was activated.
A small round shield hung from his left arm, which he used to parry the metal claw of a tiger-like mechanical minion before lunging forward and slashing with his sword.
"No reason to stop hating them," Jack simply replied in a low voice as he pointed his weapon into the distance.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The last three bullets from his revolver flew some distance before hitting a mechanical crow, destroying one of its red eyes, a leg, and a wing, drawing the attention of Laria, who was about to receive a sneak attack from the minion.
The brunette smiled at Jack before raising her left leg high and dropping it like an axe on the mechanical bird as it tried to take flight, sparks flying.
Clank!
The harsh sound of metal clashing against something hard rang out, Laria's kick had sent the Omnic crashing to the ground, and then she gave it several stomps that made the earth tremble slightly before confirming that her foe had been destroyed.
It was a fight that seemed chaotic at first, but the order among the police and UNMSO members made the ambush of the Omnics less effective than it could have been.
The constant gunfire, explosions, and the clatter of metal being crushed, pierced, and deformed made the early morning in the ruins of Tuskville a real racket.
There was so much noise that it could be heard in Tuskville. The townspeople had locked themselves in their homes, no one could sleep, and everyone was worried.
In their minds, they hoped that everything would end, that the noise would stop, and that the situation would finally be resolved. Some even began to pray silently, hoping that something would hear their prayers and help them.
"So many annoying bugs," Emilia said as she manipulated her Pneuma construct.
Her projection was special, it was an indistinguishable body that possessed better physical attributes than she did and that she could control, it was even able to share sensory experiences.
Likewise, her ability to multitask had been trained from an early age so that she was not vulnerable, and armed with a straight sword glowing with lilac light, she cut down any Omnic that crept near her.
Her projection, however, was like an invisible monster, ripping and tearing at the Omnics who didn't expect her attacks, and helping her teammates or the forces of order out of trouble.
The girl was annoyed by the chaotic situation they were in, though; if Lisa and Loki hadn't quickly disposed of every Omnic that showed ranged abilities, their losses would have been worse.
"We haven't even entered the ruins yet and we already have some casualties..." she muttered as she swung her sword hard, leaving residual images behind.
Her victim was a strange Omnic minion in the shape of an anthropomorphic rabbit, she sliced off one of its ears and left several deep gashes in the metal body, all by the work of the sharp enchantment on her weapon.
Swish!
But before she could fight any further, something invisible pierced omnic head, and Emilia took the opportunity to decapitate it before turning to see Loki nod at her before gesturing with his hands.
Loki seemed to be holding an invisible bow, and no wonder, his Pneuma projection was a dual construct, a bow along with an arrow. This allowed Loki to launch truly powerful attacks from a great distance.
Although if we're talking about ranged attacks, the MVP would be Lisa, who was constantly shooting and loading bullets into her sniper, getting rid of every pesky henchman, and even using her Pneuma bullets to make the task easier.
Her purple eyes were on Seone, carrying a two-handed sword and slashing creatures left and right. She took on a hawk-like Omnic that swooped down on the boy, causing him to turn and give a thumbs-up.
Seone was having fun, but sometimes he forgot to take it easy, and even though the Omnic numbers were dwindling, he was surrounded because he was too far away from the others.
But instead of feeling fear, he smiled, his left leg being supported by Pneuma before he stomped hard on the ground, causing a small tremor that threw the enemies off balance.
This was a relatively advanced technique using Pneuma, it was no secret and could be categorized as something UNMSO operators learned. It allowed Seone to find an opening through which to escape his enemies before they could pursue him.
"Don't get too excited," an axe slashed at a henchman near Seone, and Jack appeared beside his cousin before slamming his left hand into the Omnic hooked to his weapon.
The gauntlet on his left hand was reinforced with Pneuma, allowing him to shatter his foe before he waved his weapon contemptuously and peeled off the broken omnic.
"At least it was more controlled than before," Hans said, swinging his falchion in an upward diagonal slash that sliced the metal hand of a humanoid minion before Seone turned, sword in hand, and sliced him in two.
"I've held back a lot, boss, you can't be mad at me," Seone replied with an excited smile.
"There are only a few left. Let's get this over with soon," Jack said. Irina had cut an Omnic into three equal pieces and was quickly jumping at another enemy.
BOOM!
A large explosion engulfed a group of Omnics, Alexis adjusted his goggles before looking for other targets, but the last pair of enemies quickly rusted away.
Looking closer, he saw a broken bottle on the ground and a green miasma covering the two enemies, the source of the corrosion on their bodies. Tania noticed Alexis' look and winked at him before raising a gun.
Bang! Bang!
Just two shots were enough to shatter the last two enemies of the early morning, who were nothing more than crumbling pieces of useless metal. The fierce battle that began with an enemy ambush was finally over.
"What a bloody mess, I lost four good officers to those things," Leonidas complained as he kicked the head of an Omnic, those dull red eyes seemed to mock the man even when he was deactivated.
"They sacrificed themselves for the Federation and its people, they are heroes," said Chris, who understood Leonidas' pain, not only had a colleague, Tim, been transformed by the Cyber Ghost, but three of his other men had died in a battle that lasted no more than an hour.
"All the more reason we need to take this damn thing down," Jack said as he looked off into the distance towards the gate of the ruins.
Inside it was something that was watching them, so to speak. A metal skull with red eyes, somehow floating, though the red energy around it showed who its owner was.
"You have only come here to die," the voice of the Cyber Ghost came from the Ecto-pneuma-covered skull, visible to everyone and in part a differentiator of its true nature.
"No, we have come to finish you off," Irina said, pointing her sword at the skull, but the machine simply let out a squeak that could be interpreted as laughter before plunging into darkness.
"This is bad. It has manifested a part of your body into the physical plane without proper support," said Hans, who had raised the Cyber Ghost's danger level one notch.
"Maybe that's why it's broke? He wants to get a body for himself. That would explain things," Alexis suggested, and his idea had some truth.
Knowing a little more about the Cyber Ghost's nature, one of his plans is to assemble a body that contains his essence. This skull may be part of his project, which certainly makes this oddity all the more threatening.
"I hate spiritual monsters, always sneaky, with disgusting tactics and ideas. Can't they all get physical and be done with it? Solve everything with blows," complained Emilia, to the approval of several of her companions.
"They're not stupid, that's why they're so threatening, and don't trust 'stupid' creatures, sometimes they're just a facade or hide deep power," Laria said, causing Emilia to stick out her tongue in mockery.
"Yeah, I know, but ah, look at that damned bastard, he's sure to set traps for us that we won't be able to see coming, who knows.... why are you looking at me?" At this point, Emilia noticed that her acquaintances seemed to be giving her a special look and even her older brother put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"You're the perfect scout, Emilia," Hans said quietly, though a small smile appeared as he watched his sister grow uncomfortable.
"Isn't that wrong?" Lisa whispered to Irina, who just shook her shoulders and answered quietly.
"Matters between relatives, it's best not to interfere," the girl advised intelligently, causing Alexis, who heard all this, to pat his face.
With Emilia's projection, they were able to lie in wait at the entrance to the gate of the ruins, which was wide open as if waiting for visitors.
After the gate, they had to go through a corridor, and with the help of some alcohol lamps and rare electric lamps, they could find their way through the darkness.
But only for a few minutes. Suddenly, the whole corridor seemed to emit a slight buzzing sound before lighting up completely, surprising everyone present who did not expect such a change.
"How has this never happened during night explorations?" wondered Leonidas, somewhat dismayed and unhappy about this strange situation.
"At least we can see where the enemy is coming from, we need to keep moving," Chris said before resuming the group's march.
Policewoman Sophia, who had a bandage on her right arm, walked beside Ronald. Although he was a little pale from the earlier fight, his eyes and walk were more confident.
The woman seemed to notice these changes in her fellow officer, so she approached him and began to talk to him in a low voice.
"Has anything good happened to you lately?" Sophia asked curiously.
"I guess so, you know, I don't want to raise a flag, but when we get out of this situation, I hope to apply to be part of UNMSO," the young man replied with a bit of excitement, even speaking loud enough for others around him to hear.
"You'll be fine, you were able to protect many of us who would otherwise have come out badly or even dead," said a fellow officer, patting Ronald on the shoulder.
"But I couldn't protect everyone..." the boy murmured now in a dejected mood, but he felt someone take his hand.
Sophia smiled at Ronald as he looked up, and it made the young adult blush a little, but he didn't release his grip, instead clinging tighter to the woman.
"You did your best, but you're not a superman. You did a good job as a cop, and you'll be able to do better as a member of UNMSO." Sophia didn't feel uncomfortable by the boy's sudden squeeze; instead, she gave him words of encouragement that made Ronald feel much better.
"Contact!" a man shouted before his head exploded into bloody plasma from a ball of crimson energy.
The battle in the narrowed corridor began when a group of obviously mechanical red-eyed humans appeared ahead. Unlike the first ones Jack and his group fought, these minions had intact skin and looked more alive.
Even though their hands had been deformed into cannons of various sizes from which they fired energy balls, they were still frightening to look at. They were too perfect and strange as if they were dolls or mannequins, but no doubt they were once 'human', indicating something much more terrifying.
The Cyber Ghost's 'art' had improved, so to speak, making the situation much more dangerous. Ronald quickly projected his Pneuma shield to protect himself and his companions from a fierce barrage of energy shots and bullets.
His head was constantly pounding as his concentration was pushed to the limit; it wasn't just about protecting himself; it was about placing the shield in the right places and at the right angles to not only block but deflect the attacks without harming his teammates.
Despite having little time to practice, Ronald showed some talent in using his shield and gradually improved under constant pressure.
Minutes later, as Irina swung her sword in a diagonal downward attack, slicing through the torso of the last human henchman before Lisa fired directly at the exposed core in his chest, Ronald was finally able to rest.
Leaning against the corridor wall, stained with the alien blood of the comrade he had failed to protect in time, he watched as the others covered the fallen officer's head with a white cloth that quickly turned red.
"Human grief is painful. I have a way to eliminate it, make you feel better, and be useful... To make you art," a voice said directly in his ear. He had asked Jack and his people a lot about knowledge, so he quickly recognized what was going on.
The Cyber Ghost was trying to corrupt his mind. He then followed Hans' advice to the other participants in this raid and shouted into the lighted hallway, even if it drew the attention of the others to him.
"You're just a failed 'artist' who knows nothing about art! I can make more art than you by going to the bathroom!" Ronald's voice and the extra quotation marks he made with his fingers caused a reaction.
The lights in the hallway flickered for a moment as if the Cyber Ghost was processing what it had heard. Then there was an ugly scream. No, it was like a giant decided to scratch a giant chalkboard. It was such an annoying noise that everyone had to cover their ears.
"That's how you piss off a Cyber Ghost, Ronald," Jack said with genuine happiness on his face.
How could he not be happy? Not only had the Cyber Ghost's partial control over the lighting in this place been exposed, but whatever that oddity had done to get it required a lot of concentration and mental calm, anger affecting their performance.
"Let's move on," Chris ordered again, this time much more cautiously than before, it was obvious that the Cyber Ghost wanted to get rid of them and would probably send more henchmen on the attack.
They soon came to a large, dimly lit area. One thing that stood out was that there was no dust or garbage in either the hallway or this new area; everything was unusually clean.
In front of them were some broken statues and a door that looked like it had been smashed by something powerful, and at this point Leonidas stepped in front of the whole group.
"No one enters this part of the ruins because it's too dark, and there's nothing there except for this door, which, according to the stories, was opened only once while exploring this place.
This place looks more like a warehouse than anything else, and whatever is left here from ancient times is certainly in that direction," commented Leonidas, clearing up some people's doubts.
"We can confirm that the Cyber Ghost has come a long way and is even in control of this place, at least the lights, though why he hasn't turned them off is beyond me. Some twisted desire for us to see his 'works'? Strange is just that, sometimes very strange," Hans pondered this point before shrugging his shoulders.
"Never mind, we just have to get rid of them," Jack said dismissively, picking up his axe and slinging it over his shoulder.
"While some security measures may be active, we have to be careful," Alexis added, interested in how the Cyber Ghost had smashed the metal door, so he crouched beside it to study it.
A short time later, they were moving down the narrow path, this time there was no ambush, but they noticed that they seemed to be going downhill, as the path was gradually sloping.
How far down were they? They didn't know, but the walk took quite a while, and when they emerged from the passageway, they were completely stunned by the sight before them. They partly understood why ruins are always valuable to the Federation or any country that finds them.
In front of them was a huge room, from the entrance through which they had come, a long, wide path spiraled down to a great depth. Closed metal doors with red lights above them lined the entire way.
But that was not the great thing about this place, but what was in the middle of the spiral: an obelisk. A huge obelisk, red with silvery lines that formed patterns, interconnected circuits with meanings mostly unknown even to Jack.
Even to Jack.
This obelisk stood proudly, its appearance undamaged. Around it were four ramps leading up to what appeared to be a command console. One of them was the reason they had come.
Well, not exactly. A flame of red energy covered what appeared to be a huge machine attached to the console. The machine seemed to be activated and kept 'spitting out' something.
Bang!
Alexis fired a bullet and watched as it slammed into the flaming energy, which was quickly identified as Ecto-Pneuma. But the metallic skull from earlier suddenly appeared and looked directly at the redhead.
"I smell technology on you, do you know what I do?" strangely, the Cyber Ghost chose to ask such a question instead of just attacking.
"I don't know how you got that machine. Our people should have cleaned it when this ruin was explored," Alexis said. Putting away his weapon, he realized it wasn't worth attacking.
"Yes, I do not doubt that they took everything they could from this place and even bypassed some security measures, but they didn't take everything. Not the 'junk' that someone saved in the past.
And since I've kept away what I was worried about, you won't bother me. You'll see my promotion without being able to do anything about it," strangely enough, everyone could 'feel' that the skull was smiling somehow.
It was a smile full of mockery and gloating, as if no one could help what he was doing here, well, someone was too stubborn to care about such things.
Jack ran towards the ramp and tried to climb up, but out of nowhere two turrets emerged, glowing with blue lines that indicated they were enchanted.
The two guns pointed directly at Jack, who felt a great sense of death through his sixth sense. He knew at that moment that if he took one more step, he would undoubtedly die.
"Always so angry, UNMSO member, but..."
Crack! Crack! Snap!
The Ecto-pneuma covering the strange machine stopped moving, and in front of everyone, several strange parts, similar to those of a human, but of a pure white color that seemed impossible to achieve naturally, appeared.
The parts formed a headless body, and the floating skull was attached to the neck. Suddenly, red energy enveloped this new being and covered it with dense lines of the same color.
These lines looked like blood vessels; even the energy could be seen flowing freely in them as if it were blood. The skull was covered with a white material, leaving only the crimson eyes visible.
It was a very strange humanoid being. It was three meters tall and had human limbs, but something about its entirety gave off an evil aura as if it was too perfect for human senses.
"The bastard made himself a mechanical body..." Jack didn't need confirmation from his companions to know this, it was more than obvious.
"Didn't you want to fight me, member of UNMSO? I'll give you that pleasure..." the Cyber Ghost shook his shoulders humanely before turning into a blur.
Fast, he was insanely fast. Jack could only use his pneuma-coated left hand as a shield because of his sixth sense, but it allowed him to withstand a terrible blow.
Bang!
The force of the attack expelled the air. Jack slid several meters across the metallic floor before he tried to regain his balance, but his sixth sense made him duck. As his eyes saw the white knee approaching his face, an idea flashed through his mind like lightning.
He had been tricked.
Crack!
Jack's nose snapped and a trail of blood flew into the air as his body was sent flying, crashing backward into a wall. He was stunned, his body shaking as he slid to the ground, but his right hand never left his axe.
"Jack!" Laria shouted before launching a high kick at the Cyber Ghost, who seemed oblivious to her existence.
Boom!
The blow was indeed powerful, but the brunette's gray eyes seemed to shrink a bit at the null reaction of the enemy's body, she just stared at Jack's blood on the ground.
"Human bodies are so interesting, I never tire of playing with them, trying to improve them. My art... but there's always a problem, they tend to break too easily.
But this machine... will allow me to reach new heights. And you are, how do you say? Ah, 'test rabbits' for my future experiments," the Cyber Ghost turned his head towards Laria, who tried to hit his body with her pneuma-enhanced scalpel.
"Not this time," the creature said, and its custom-made mechanical body moved at a speed impossible for humans to follow, except for one thing.
Clank!
Hans' sword with its activated charm stopped the mechanical creature's fist, while Laria managed to hit the Cyber Ghost's body, leaving only a small nick, a tiny scratch that was barely visible.
"I see you, you bastard!" Hans's eyes were bloodshot, but he could see it; his reflexes allowed him to see this oddity's actions.
"Then let me show you the toys I made while I was here," along with the Cyber Ghost's cold words, the previously closed doors opened to reveal a sight that terrified everyone.
Hundreds of white humanoid automatons, but smaller in size, stared at them with red eyes. Jack, who stood up at that moment, saw this situation and his body burned with rage.
"Weren't the mechanical beings the domain of 'them'?" asked Jack mockingly, but his words made the Cyber Ghost look at the young man with interest.
"Just as the Pneuma is always the same with only minor variations, the three Ladies have separate domains, but they play with each other unabashedly. I belong to a certain Lady, but I can play with the domain of 'Her', as you say.
My existence is the product of the whimsical games of the Ladies. A spiritual being that can interact with machines and affect living flesh, isn't that the best way to show the greatness of these three beings?
The Gray Lady! The Pale Light! The Red Moon! I am the perfect being to share the domains of this glorious trinity, and I will bring my art to every known existence!" when the Cyber Ghost shouted these three names, this whole area of the ruins changed strangely.
A strange gray mist appeared in everyone's field of vision, a halo of white light that somehow seemed "faded," as contradictory as that may sound, and the soft red glow in the surroundings.
Then they heard the laughter of three women who seemed to find the situation amusing, and the strange changes ended abruptly. Jack couldn't believe it, the Cyber Ghost dared to call these beings?
But unbeknownst to him, the obelisk seemed to have reacted to such a strange event, sending out an odd signal received by three objects brought here by the humans. What does that mean in this situation?
We don't know yet, but the real battle has begun.
Jack activated the enchantment on his axe while he used his left hand to wipe away the blood and adjust his nose. He didn't care about the enemies around him, his hate-filled eyes glaring only at the Cyber Ghost.
His will was at full strength, and the Pneuma gushing from his heart seemed to be in tune with him. An invisible pulse flowed from him to his hands and legs, strengthening them as always.
Jack was going to give it his all, it was either that or die. He was always like that when he was on a mission, but the remarkable thing was that he always did it standing up. No matter what the odds, he always got up in the end.
Then he launched himself straight at the Cyber Ghost, his movement accelerated as he used a basic Pneuma technique to dodge the enemies that tried to catch him.
His hands were on his weapon, ready to return the damage he received to his enemy in spades, for he was very spiteful and would not let things go just like that.