• Missions • Mission update! Priority Mission: Investigate the Marco for Corrupted Humans. Eliminate with extreme prejudice.

Threat level: Low

Rewards: 5 Nexus Merits, 100 Lumina Shards Objectives

- Locate all Corrupted Humans (Completed) - Eliminate all Corrupted Humans (Completed) Mission accomplished! +5 Nexus Merits, +100 Lumina Shards, +20 Lumina Shards (Bonus) New ONIM Function: [Inventory] unlocked • Inventory • Nexus Merits 5 Lumina Shards 120 Items Conscript’s Battle Hammer (Tier I)

Xander looked at his rewards and grimaced. It counted his few… kills… as a bonus, quantified like some morbid bounty.

Xander shook his head and tried to ignore the sourness in his mouth. The young man took a peek at his new sub-menu. It wasn’t anything special, sadly.

Much to Xander's dismay, the [Inventory] wasn’t any kind of magical dimensional bag-of-holding. Instead, it listed what he had on him, his hammer. He could expand the inventory to include his clothes but decided to keep it compact to essential items if he wanted to.

He grunted and turned towards the Harbinger, who was now slowly approaching the gathered Tier I’s.

“Well done. You have rightfully earned your rewards, though you may not be aware of their value. Unfortunately, you cannot utilize these currencies at this moment. Our infrastructure is still in the process of being set up. It will likely be available to you by tomorrow. Visit any Harbinger to utilize its faculties.

"And for what it is worth, you did well. Focus on the fact you have safeguarded the people in this room. Look at their faces. They get to survive this night. Keep accomplishing your ONIM-issued missions, do your duty, and save your people,” the Harbinger solemnly spoke, his tentacles crossing each other in what looked to be a respectful gesture.

Xander, Anna, and the other Tier I’s listened on with heavy hearts. Xander and Albert, in particular, looked at the group of college students who were still grieving their lost friend.

They knew it would not be the last time, and it will only get more complicated from here on out.

“For what it's worth, Harby, thank you. Thank you for your assistance,” Xander courteously spoke.

The Tier I’s bowed their heads at the Harbinger.

The Harbinger bobbed its spherical floating body once. Slight vibrations filled the air, almost like a chuckle.

“I am needed in another region in this city. Farewell, humans. Fight on.”

The alien briefly glowed and turned transparent before blinking away. The airflow rushed to occupy the spot it left.

Xander and Anna bid farewell to their short-lived teammates. Xander especially made sure to grab their contact information, but Joyce remained silent and ignored him, while Peter seemed to have passed out on the couch.

“Take care, all of you. Hopefully, we can live through this,” Xander told them.

“Yeah, thanks for your help. See you,” Anna followed.

“See you both as well.”

Albert nodded before heading towards the group of worried guests.

“Take care. We’ll handle these people,” Isaac bid farewell, moving to regroup with the other guards.

Xander and Anna promptly left, wanting nothing more than to plop down on a soft bed and quiet their thoughts.

As they drove out of the hotel parking lot and back into the moonlit road, Xander looked at Anna.

“Are you ok?” Xander asked softly. It was a stupid question, he knew.

“I’m… not. I just want to sleep, Xand. Is that alright with you?”

“Of course, I’ll wake you when we get to our destination.”

The drive back was uneventful. Xander took his time to reflect on himself and what had transpired.

There was little he could have changed. But it needed doing. These people, the corrupted, were a threat to everyone.

Just imagining the damage they could do, Xander shuddered.

The memory of this night etched into his mind as yet another tragic event to add to the list. Xander was afraid that he'd become numb to it all, and he felt such a thing was inevitable if he was to survive this calamity.

Xander looked at Anna’s sleeping form and steeled his determination.

He needed to focus on the immediate things. Protect your loved ones. That’s all that mattered. A pillar he constructed to keep the roof was his mental state stable.

He glanced at his rear-view mirror and adjusted it to look at the hammer he threw in the backseat. He set his mind to getting more power, tools to help himself and others survive. He made plans, things to research and figure out.

Where was the nearest shelter? Where were the other Harbingers? How can I get stronger?

While Xander was deeply pondering these questions, he noticed the headlights of a truck a considerable distance away on the dark highway lit by soft-blue street lights. It wasn’t anything to note, but Xander’s gut told him to slow down.

It was the right choice as he witnessed the truck begin to swerve to and fro and careened into a gas station.

Xander immediately hit the brakes and set the car to park before throwing himself over Anna.

The interior was washed with a bright orange glow cast by a flash of light before an intense shockwave shook the car.

The safety glass windows shattered and fell into its frame, thankfully held together in a single sheet instead of fracturing into harmful shrapnel.

The sound of a colossal explosion boomed throughout the area.

After a few seconds, Xander got off Anna, who was now wide-awake and wildly looked around.

“Xand!?”

“A truck just crashed into a gas station. Fuck!” Xander yelled as he observed a street lamp falling over and passing cars flooring it. It was chaos. The gas station was ablaze in a roaring inferno. He felt the heat in the air that took him out of his shock.

Xander pushed the broken glass sheet out of his car before stepping on the gas and speeding forward.

“Hold on!”

Xander drove as quickly as he could, overtaking cars. If he weren’t busy trying to flee the area, he would have noticed a slight increase in his reflexes as he passed by speeding vehicles.

Anna shook herself back into a semblance of calm as she reached for her Slugger handgun.

They noticed a few fires began to take hold of buildings along the way, chasing away the darkness of the night and casting long shadows. Cars continued to crash into things. They saw a man pushed over by two men on an overhead pedestrian bridge into careening traffic. It took all of Xander’s concentration to dodge everything.

In the distance, Anna noticed a man in his underwear chasing after a woman with a bloody machete. She leaned out of the passenger window with hateful scorn and aimed her gun.

It took three shots due to the speed they were going and the distance. But as they closed in, Anna managed to land a hit through the man's chest, who proceeded to trip over himself.

Anna exhaled in surprise for managing that shot.

“Nice one, Anna!” Xander yelled through the loud noise of air passing through the open windows.

“Thanks.”

The rest of the drive deescalated as they moved out of the populous zones of the city.

They passed by multiple barangays—small territorial and administrative districts—on the way.

Cugman. Tablon. Agusan. Still, they found signs of fights, crashed cars, and toppled street lights.

Finally, they reached Puerto. They turned at the intersection and passed by a mall his family got their groceries from.

Finally, they reached the gated entrance leading into Puerto Heights Village.

The friendly security guard that staffed the gate noticed their approach and opened the way for them.

“Good evening, sir! Thank God you are safe. Hurry!”

“Thank you, guard!”

“Thank you!”

Xander and Anna simultaneously shouted in reply.

It didn’t take too long to drive up the village's hill. The area was built for middle-class homes and had many families. Finally, after two tense minutes. They reached their destination.

The two sighed in absolute relief.

“Thank Christ!” Anna cried in joy, relaxing in her seat.

"Guh," Xander exhaled, pausing for a few seconds, "they're gonna kill us for being this late."

"Fuck. We didn’t even text that we were gonna be late."

The two weakly chuckled. The emotions they’ve been bottling up since the Harbingers first came to Earth flowed out.

The two simply sat in their car for a few minutes, their hands interlocked tightly.

It was only until they saw someone open the door from the modern home and the handful of people rushing out that they were brought out of their catharsis.

Xander wanted to run out and hug his family, but he resisted. Doing so would only worry them further—though the missing windows and banged-up body of his car probably did the job already. Xander took a brief moment to straighten out his clothes and fix his hair as he willed himself to be calm.

Anna exited the car as soon as she saw her family come out and meet them passed the black metal fence.

“Guys!” She exclaimed happily.

Xander smiled as he left his auto and met his own.

His mother, Maria, ran up to him and locked him into a bear-like hug. He could feel the tears damping his shoulder but didn’t mind.

He hugged back and conveyed as much reassurance as possible to his crying mother.

“Ay salamat sa Dios, Hesus, Maria! (Oh, thank God, Jesus, Mary!)” she dolefully exclaimed with a soft-spoken voice.

“I’m alright, ma. I’m fine,” Xander patted her back softly. Then, after repeating he was alright a couple more times, they broke out of the hug, his mother wiping her tears.

“Scheiße, (Shit) boy! What happened to you? Do you know what time it is!?”

Xander looked toward the owner of the gruff accented voice. His father, Rommel, chastised him as the man took his place beside his mother with an assault rifle slung over him. He was a tall, bald heavy-set man.

Xander and his dad looked at each other briefly before going in for a hug.

“I’ll tell you later, alone. A lot happened tonight,” Xander whispered to his father, making sure his mother didn’t hear. But, of course, she was an extremely sharp woman and knew.

Dad would retell a sanitized version of his experiences to her instead of him. Otherwise, she’ll go pale and faint.

His father nodded and withdrew from the brief embrace. Rommel inspected his damaged car, and Xander could hear him muttering about his reckless driving.

Before he could do anything further, he could sense the familiar footfalls of his only sibling, Nick. Who was two years younger than him.

Xander and Nick moved to give each other a brief guy hug. Nick gave the roughed-up Conscript a quick look over and raised his eyebrow.

“Where’ve you been tonight?” his little brother asked.

“God, later, Nick, I want to sleep. And eat. Not in that order.”

Xander rubbed his eyes with his fingers before making his way toward his old family home.

Nick rolled his eyes with a slight smirk.

“Have you had dinner, anak? (my child)” Maria worriedly asked before she began admonishing him, “see, this is what happens when you go out! You come late and injure yourself! You and Anna were doing dangerous things again, ha? You break your car. You are dirty. Ay, Dios ko, kaning bata! (Oh my God, this child!)”

Xander merely chuckled. He missed his mother’s voice after his harrowing experience this night.

“Dinner would be nice, ma. And Anna and I didn’t do anything too dangerous.”

Maria completely doubted that by the look on her face. Xander heard Anna snort a few feet away from him between her family's scolding.

Her parents, three siblings swamped Anna and their dog, Puto—who was joyously yipping at his favorite human.

The Baltazars and Stahls lived here in Puerto Heights and were quite close. The two families often interact with each other—whether it’s because of Xander and Anna or because the rest of their children went to the same school.

While the two little siblings, Nina and Gab, hugged Anna’s waist, her older brother, Ben, a basketball athlete on the city’s team, was especially worried about her well-being. Xander could only look innocent in front of Ben when the guy narrowed his eyes at him.

Despite all the commotion, anxiety, and stress that night, everyone was just glad to be together.

They headed back inside as the pale moon reached its zenith and shone across the city.

Midnight dinner was hearty and sumptuous. The combined efforts of two mothers and a menagerie of assistants produced a meal that eased Xander and Anna’s tired souls.

As the two families ate at the large wooden dining table, the tension on the two Conscript’s shoulders faded away.

Xander was stuffing himself with chicken adobo over white rice and a side of crushed tomatoes with salt while Anna drank a hot fish soup. She melted as the delicious umami-flavored ambrosia flowed down her tongue and throat.

Every member chatted away. Nothing came up about tonight yet. Instead, they talked about mundane things: Ben’s practice with his team, Nick’s school activities, Matteo and Victoria’s—Anna’s parents—goings-on in their family store.

It wasn’t until the two families heard a faint, faraway scream.

Rommel, Matteo, Ben, and Nick all stood up with guns in their hands as they moved towards the curtained windows and peeked outside. Anna worriedly looked over at her mother.

“What’s going on?”

“It was horrible! Neighbors who had known each other for years were attacking each other for no reason—madmen on the village road. Your papa tried to approach one but got shoved into the pavement and scratched his forearm. He continued to assault him, but the other boys managed to throw the madman off. They had to… Oh, Lord!”

Tears began flowing out of the overly stressed woman as Anna and her younger siblings moved to comfort her.

Xander could already guess what had happened.

The corrupted were here in the village. Families barricaded inside their homes with weapons in hand.

Xander grimaced as he left the table and went towards one of the windows.

The street was empty and the village was dead quiet. Xander moved towards his father and Nick—his little brother clutching a .357 S&W Magnum that belonged to Xander.

Seeing as their view was clear of any harmful elements, Xander gestured to the two Stahls to another room. He had things to discuss with them first.

It was a lengthy conversation.

Xander was sternly reprimanded when he and Anna went to the Marco and underwent that dangerous mission. The Conscript argued that it was beneficial to the family as now he had an upgrade to his Body and an alien weapon. Nick questioned Xander’s choice of arms, however.

“It’s a hammer.”

“Yes.”

“What if the evil aliens have laser guns.”

“... Shut it, Nick. Harby recommended it.”

“Uhuh…”

Nevertheless, the talk went on. At that point, Xander’s father briefly mentioned that there might be a Harbinger in the clubhouse in the middle of the village.

Xander’s eyes went wide at the incredible fortune.

“Wait, seriously!?”

“It’s a maybe. Our neighbors told us that a football match and a village seminar were interrupted when an alien ball appeared. We confirmed it with our [Maps].”

“Should we head to it and get upgraded?”

Rommel looked at Xander in askance.

“You’re the one with alien goo inside of you. What do you think?”

“Okay, don’t refer to it as alien goo. I feel violated.”

“You did get penetrated without con-”

“Shut it, Nick. Anna made that joke already.”

Xander groaned as Nick teasingly laughed and slapped him in the back multiple times. Still, the newly graduated engineer felt a touch proud that his dad was looking at him for his opinion.

“I think we should all drive there and get the family assessed. I trust that the Harbingers and the Omnisystem truly have humanity’s survival in heart.”

Rommel and Nick both nodded their heads after a bit of thought. But, first, they would need to convene the families and get them to agree. Xander, however, raised his hand to get their attention.

“After Anna and I take a quick nap, please, at least for an hour or two. We can go then, and I’ll catch the rest of my sleep after.”

“We can just go on without you so you can sleep all the way.”

Xander shook his head at his little brother’s suggestion.

“No way, we’re Tier I’s. We have to be with you as a safety measure. So I’m taking no chances with this, alright?”

Rommel sighed as he placed his large hand on Xander’s shoulder.

“Alright, we’ll wake you two hours from now. Let’s tell the family and the Baltazars our plan.”

So they did as they returned to the dining room.

Everyone agreed with some reluctance with venturing out but felt assured of their safety in numbers.

They would take their family vehicles and briskly drive over to the clubhouse and get everyone upgraded.

Xander guessed that his father, Ben, Nick, and maybe Anna’s mom Victoria would be Tier I.

Rommel, with his large build, was a possible candidate. By two years, Ben was older than Xander and was an athlete, Nick was relatively fit and tall as Xander for his age, and Victoria was a physical health instructor in the village gym.

Nina chose that moment to interrupt Xander’s pondering with her question.

“What about Puto?”

Everyone looked at the little girl and the panting mixed-breed dog. Anna herself was curious as she loved Puto immensely.

“Can dogs get assessed?”

“I’m not sure. Probably not. The Omnisystem and the Harbingers were relatively straightforward with the term sapients. Still, maybe we can get him something.”

Xander wasn’t exactly confident with his answer but felt it was possible with alien technology. There had to be a gene booster for animals.

The conversation at the dinner table continued its discussion with survival plans. Then, it briefly shifted to news around the world.

“Social media is flooded with ongoing riots, attacks from insane men and women, murders, looting.”

“Society is already collapsing.”

“It's the Harbinger’s fault. We heard the message, too, and it just stated we were being invaded. Who wouldn’t panic?”

Ben brought up a good point. Despite the calming aura of the spherical aliens, their message was indeed dire. News about the apocalypse tended to deteriorate the pillars of civilization. Hell, a massive discount in stores would inspire thousands to rush through doors and possibly trample unfortunate people who fell on the floor.

Still, Xander felt he needed to defend the Harbingers.

“We don’t know their circumstances. The invasion could happen anytime. Maybe its direct message was supposed to get us into survival mode. Whatever the case, they’re here to help.”

Ben only grunted, unconvinced. He had received texts and calls from his friends about the chaos erupting in the city.

Other than that, Xander’s mother spoke news from the military was slightly better.

“The AFP is already mobilizing its elements to prepare the country for invasion. There isn’t much, but a batch of reserves are being called into service. Some retired veterans are also answering the call.”

The gathered family looked on as Maria spoke of the bits she knew. Everyone knew of the actual source of the news: Marcus Barbosa—Maria’s father and grandfather or lolo to Xander and Nick. The near seventy-year-old man was a Philippine Scout Ranger.

Member of the First Scout Ranger Regiment, the country’s most elite group of soldiers specialized in anti-guerrilla jungle warfare, raids, ambushes, close-quarters combat, urban warfare, and sabotage, Marcus was a certified badass and their channel to the Philippine military. As well as the source of the Stahl’s little armory of weapons.

The old man doted on his daughter and retired once he felt his arthritis becoming too much for him.

Xander looked up to him as the pinnacle of awesome. It was how he, Nick, Anna, and others learned to shoot so well. If lolo Marcus was serving again, Xander felt safer knowing the Scout Rangers were on the job.

The Omnisystem should also support the militaries of Earth. Harby did say our armies were going to handle the more significant threats while a militia of upgraded civilians was on clean-up duty.

Xander shuddered at the thought of a revitalized Marcus with the help of gene boosters and alien guns. He wanted to see that badly.

The rest of the talk died down after that as sleep started to call on some of the family.

Xander went over to Anna and gave her a brief hug and a kiss.

“Goodnight, Anna. Thanks for having my back.”

“Anytime, Xand.”

Anna tiredly smiled at Xander as she went to accompany her family to the guest area of the Stahl house.

Xander gave everyone else a bid goodnight before retreating to his old room.

The moment he fell onto his bed, he immediately went to sleep.

Half an hour later, as Xander was reenacting a human pretzel on his bed, his smartphone flashed as a message appeared on the screen.

[ Text Message from Enzo (01:27 AM) ]

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