Hitori jumped over the street to the next rooftop, keeping his shadow hidden from the prying eyes of his quarry. Dr. Penthu was paranoid to the point of parody, gaze darting wildly from point to point, until it found some benign shadow or shutter to fixate on as he walked by. Ironically, this made him trivially easy to follow, as there was a steady diet of distractions to keep his focus while Hitori moved freely out of sight.

It was convenient, certainly, but it also made for a tedious journey. The trip took at least twice the time it would otherwise. His team long since got into position, watching the paths into Talaat Street for potential complications. So far everything was going according to plan.

Hitori smiled. His team balked at the expense when he insisted they buy earpieces for their WebComms, but they really payed off now. An operation like this would be impossible without them

Don’t pat yourself on the back too hard there kiddo.

The only snag in the plan was he hadn’t thought to buy one for Elvira. Understandable, he supposed. It had been a few years since they needed them. Still, Chandra was willing to lend hers, and since she was on a roof somewhere out of sight, she could use the handheld function on the WebComm instead.

Hitori shook his head and returned his gaze to the doctor. The man was moving so slow Hitori started to zone out. Just two more turns, he only had to hold out for the rest of this street, and one more. Which finally came to pass after another ten minutes.

Hitori left Dr. Penthu to the capable hands of Protius and Elvira on Talaat, then left to take his own position watching the back way in. After the pair did their part, it was back to the inn for a toast to a job well done.

The doctor didn’t have so much as a side note in the Database, so he wouldn’t give them any trouble. In fact, all things considered, the doctor refusing to hand over the stone was a blessing in disguise. This was a deceptively easy operation, so it would be valuable experience for Elvira. Especially after how hard she’d taken th—

Was that a Flame Arte?

Hitori canted his head and listened for a moment. If it had been, it was oddly muffled. Perhaps something by the wall? There was another, this one definitely nearby. Had the doctor decided to fight back? Hitori was about to jump down to the street when he stopped himself and shook his head.

She’s got this, and besides, Protius is with her.

Yeah, that’s about what I thought too.

A terrible scream pierced the dusty wind. That was concerning. It didn’t sound like his teammates, at least, but Hitori couldn’t image a single reason for it that wasn’t horrible. He was starting to regret not getting the case himself. Could have been in and out in ten seconds.

Teammates are way overrated. You think you’d have picked that one up from… ?

“Uh, boss, something strange is going on,” Protius cut in on the radio.

“How do you mean?” Hitori said.

The only response he got was a sudden flash of light from Talaat Street, followed by a deafening roar. Hitori jumped from his ledge to the top of the building, and began running towards the explosion.

Go figure.

“Protius! Elvira!” He yelled into the radio, then again. There were several buildings across the street collapsing into flame. “Gordon! Do you have eyes on two and five?”

“Negative,” Gordon said. “All I caught was a wall of flame.”

“Chandra?”

“N-no,” Chandra said. “I’m looking down Talaat, and there’s no sign of them, but, are you, uh, seeing this?”

“I’m approaching now, I want the two of you ready to join me to search fo— I mean, to see if—“Hitori was interrupted by the sound of an impact behind him. He turned towards it. Hm, looks like your luck was better than mine. For now, at least. “Disregard my last and convene on my position. I’ve got two and five here now.”

He ran to Protius and Elvira, who were slumped together in a heap. The pair looked rather frayed, in a literal sense. Several chunks of their armor were missing, and several more were dangling by threads.

“Are you alright?” Hitori asked.

I’m sure they’re great.

Elvira groaned then signed, “About fifty-fifty.” Protius disentangled himself from her and rolled to his knees.

“I’ve been better,” he said. “I had to use the Shifting Arte unveiled, so, uh.” He motioned to his tattered clothes. His hair and skin had seen better days too, now choppy and burned respectively. “Thank the gods it was only moonlight.”

Hitori turned to Elvira. She looked the worse of the two, although perhaps only owing to the fact she had more hair to loose in the first place.

“Vinni would prefer us to never do that again,” she said. “Only her choice of words was a bit more colorful.” She struggled to her feet, offering Protius a hand on the way up. “Also, I would like to report I dropped all my artes and about half my VF and malhahons.”

“Sorry,” Protius said. “The Shifting Arte isn’t meant for passengers.”

“Beats being dead,” she said. “But could you tell me what the heck happened? All the sudden I felt this weird, sticky, uh….” She waved vaguely.

“That was an arte passing over you,” Protius said. “But beyond that I have no idea. I’ve never seen one that big before.”

“Who fired it?” Hitori asked.

“I’d guess Dr. Penthu,” Protius said. “Perhaps a function of the Ex Stone. Elvira was trying to take it and something came over him. Thankfully, whatever arte he used was slow to execute.”

“Not that slow,” Elvira said, pulling at a crumbling edge on her armor.

“The hell’s going on?” Gordon said after jumping over from the adjacent roof. Hitori quickly filled him in on what they knew. “And that thing below?”

“What are you talking about?” Hitori said.

“I think it’s Dr. Penthu,” Chandra answered. She arrived while Hitori was explaining things to Gordon. “I saw him, well, transform into….” She gestured towards the street.

Hitori quietly approached the side of the building and looked down.

What the fuck?

“That’s… interesting,” Protius said, crouched next to Hitori and peeking over with him.

“Any idea what caused this?” Hitori asked. On the ground was a misshapen creature, with black tendrils stretched out from a central mass. Very little remained of Dr. Penthu, just a tattered white coat snagged on a few of its strange arms.

“Not really.” Protius shrugged. “But I meant those.” He pointed at a series of scarlet red orbs budding off the misshapen limbs of the strange creature. Even as they watched one broke off and floated to the ground, where it bust into flames.

“Looks torn between east and west,” Gordon said. One set of limbs would drag it up the street, only to be followed by the other set dragging twice as far down it.

“West seems to be winning,” Hitori said.

“That’s into the heart of the city,” Chandra said.

“What should we do?” Elvira said.

“Well, I don’t want the Medjai getting their hands on the Ex Stone,” Hitori said. “So we’ll take care of this ourselves.”

Elvira gave him a side eyed glance.

“How’s that supposed to work?” Gordon said.

“However it is we’ll have to be careful,” Protius said. “I wager any kind of threatening move and he’ll respond with another massive explosion.”

“Good point,” Hitori said. “But we’ll need to hit it a few times to get a feel for its limits and abilities, preferably from a safe distance.” Hitori turned his gaze over to Gordon.

He returned a flat look. “I hate you.”

Hitori smiled back, then turned to Protius. “You can take some shots from another angle.”

“Right,” Protius answered. “But we shouldn’t stress him too hard, there could be even worse in store for us.”

“Let’s see how it responds to different attacks. We have no idea how durable this thing is,” Hitori said, then he turned to Chandra and Elvira. “I want the two of you to hang back.”

“We can help,” Chandra cut in. Elvira looked down.

“I know, I mean on this side of the street, but roughly in line with Gordon and Protius. I’ll need you ready to pull them out if things turn red. Chandra can go north with Gordon, and Elvira, you stick with Protius.”

“Okay,” Elvira said.

“Alright everyone, move out. I’ll stick nearby to observe the target,” Hitori said. With that his team left, running and jumping towards their respective destinations. Meanwhile, Hitori dropped to ground level to watch what remained of Dr. Penthu from the shadows.

From this angle he saw there was a bit more left of the doctor than he thought. The black tendrils originated in the center of his chest and burrowed through it and out the back. His head and most of his torso were intact, and perhaps even showed some signs of life. Of course, that could be a side effect of the mysterious black substance pulsing through his veins.

Still, Hitori wondered if perhaps there was some way to save him. It would be optimal, at least.

You’re pathetically soft, did you know that?

It wasn’t long before the first shot came in. It was Gordon firing a volley from up north. The bullets passed through the shadowy tendrils, with misty twines following their trajectory. The shells didn’t reach the ground. A few also struck the remaining chunks of Dr. Penthu, splattering blood on the street. The holes refilled with the same pitch like substance of the creature’s new limbs.

The doctor, or whatever he was now, didn’t respond. Presumably it didn’t feel Gordon’s attack was sufficiently threatening. A single bolt of the Flame Arte came shortly after. It had even less impact than Gordon’s volley, but for some reason the creature responded immediately.

It grabbed a flame red orb from its limbs and held it in place for a split second. The air darkened around it as a black fog spiraled in, causing the ball to expand significantly. Most likely it was absorbing malhahons from the local web, which explained where the creature got the energy for its massive attacks.

It pitched the orb along the same arc as Protius’s Flame Arte, melting a building and then blowing it away.

“You good, two?” Hitori said into the radio.

“A little surprised,” Protius replied. “Otherwise fine. How’s the target?”

“Unchanged.”

“… Interesting.”

Hitori wasn’t sure he agreed, unless he understood Protius to mean he was confused, then they were definitely on the same page. Something about the arte must have registered with the creature, while the bullets didn’t. Hitori wondered what kind of reaction a few chops from his sword would bring.

You might want to be careful testing that.

The next attack was from Gordon, who used a volley of arte loaded bullets this time. He’d chosen Electric Arc, an attack that performed as one would expect from the name. As Hitori guessed, the attack didn’t fair any better than the naked bullets. He wasn’t even particularly surprised it drew a counter attack. What did surprise him was the attack changing into a literal earth rending thunder blast.

“You still in it, three?” Hitori said after he recovered.

“Little tingly,” Gordon replied. “Still going?”

“Let’s pause for now.” Hitori frowned. They didn’t have more than a few minutes before the city guard organized a response, and then they’d have no choice but to withdraw. Unfortunately, their little experiment hadn’t given Hitori any ideas. All he could do right now was reposition further down the street to catch up.

Hitori used a pair of dash techs to whip past the creature into the next alleyway, thankful it didn’t pay him any mind. When he turned to face the doctor, the man seemed to be looking back at him. The moment passed, and Dr. Penthu’s head slumped to his chest. Hitori supposed that might have been the doctor’s last conscious action. The poor guy had not gotten the good end of his scheme.

The creature roared to life. Whatever control the doctor had over it was gone, and it tore off. Hitori barely had time to yell for Protius to contain it before it leapt away.

A silver barrier materialized halfway down the street, catching the creature before it could leap out of sight. Thankfully it wasn’t a very clever thing, as it made no effort to go around the sudden wall and instead chose to pound away at the obstacle. It wouldn’t hold forever, but would buy them some time.

Hitori leaned out of the alley, hoping desperately for some spark of inspiration.

“I don’t suppose you would lend a hand?” A voice said behind him. Hitori snapped back into the darkness to face it. “After all the trouble I’ve caused you.”

“Dr. Menna?” Hitori exclaimed.

“Yes, I’m afraid so,” he said. “Or what’s left of me.” He placed a hand into the moonlight, which Hitori could see right though, at least before it vanished into nothing. The doctor pulled his arm back into shadow, though his hand didn’t return with it.

“What happened to you?”

“I’m not sure.” He shrugged. “Some function in the Ex Stone took over my body. I thought I found the part responsible, but when I tried to use it to take control, I, uh, projected?”

Interesting.

“Are you alright?” Hitori asked.

Dr. Menna gave a soft chuckle. “You mean like this? No, I doubt it. Even now I can feel things… slipping. Maybe if I had the stone?”

Hitori hummed, then leaned out of the alley to look at the thing that took over the doctor. He wasn’t sure, but from far away he couldn’t see anything left of Dr. Penthu. Presumably, there was nothing left of him in there.

Looking at the creature, and thinking of the doctor’s projection, gave Hitori a strange feeling. He turned to Dr. Penthu, who had a dreary, forlorn look about him. Even now he was still a bit translucent. There had to be some kind of connection between the projection and the creature. Hitori tapped the doctor on the shoulder. There was a surprising amount of substance to him.

“What was that for?”

“I think I have an idea,” Hitori said, then activated his earpiece. “Four, I have a strange request.”

“I’m listening, One,” Chandra replied.

“Can you trying healing the target?”

“What?”

“With a VF Burst, and make sure you’re ready to dodge.”

“Okay? I mean, confirmed.”

A few seconds later a bolt of white light struck the creature. The strike was devastating, tearing out a huge chunk that dissolved into ribbons of black smoke. It counter attacked with one of its enhanced Flame Artes. Hitori noticed that some of the glowing bulbs on its limbs were now a light blue. He guessed those contained versions of Electric Arc.

“Did you get clear Four?” Hitori said.

“Yes,” Chandra replied. “But what was that about?”

“I’ll explain later, for now I have a plan. Two, do you have Flare?”

“Ah, I see what you’re going for,” Protius replied. “Yeah, I have one.”

“Tracer work?” Gordon asked.

“In theory,” Hitori said.

“Then I have two.”

The slouch is actually prepared?

Hitori bit down his surprise, and instead said, “Excellent, can you share one with Five?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, here’s the plan,” Hitori said. “I want the four of you to lay into the target with Flare and VF Burst, and make sure to keep ahead of its counter attacks. Then, while it’s distracted, I’m going to cut the stone out.”

Hitori caught four variations of “Confirmed” over the radio, then turned to Dr. Penthu. “I hope you can hold on for a few minutes.”

“I think so,” he said as Hitori left. “And good luck.”

Hitori ran a few paces towards the creature, then activated his Dash Tech, which dropped him right behind it. His timing was perfect, as he arrived a split second before a wave of Flare Artes struck. Each exploded in a brilliant flash of light, doing as much damage as Chandra’s VF Burst earlier.

Before the creature could counter by chucking a light blue orb, Hitori sliced away the tendril holding it. The glowing sphere dropped to the ground before detonating, scorching the street with electric arcs. Hitori was thankful he’d decided to trade in a set of evasive techs, and doubly so when he used one to barely slip past a deadly swipe that shattered concrete.

Hitori began a perilous dance with the creature, slicing at its limbs to prevent arte based counters and snapping out of range of its physical attacks. He was trying to work himself closer to the stone, but it must have sensed his intention and kept driving him away.

With the way things were going, it wouldn’t matter. The continuous barrage of artes and sigils from his teammates were working better than he hoped. The creature was overwhelmed, and Hitori was able to get within one chop of dislodging the stone from its chest.

Before he could deliver the final blow, he was pushed back by a wave of force. He was about to push though when he noticed something happening to the ground beneath its feet. In fact, he was no longer being pushed back, but instead was pulled in by the wind.

The street dissolved into a black mist, and was being pulled into the creature. It recovered rapidly, now even faster than the incoming attacks could wear it down. He didn’t see how it could amount to anything more than a stalling tactic however. It’s not like it had incoming reinforcements.

If it kept it up much longer it would ruin his own objective, but Hitori couldn’t see how the move was supposed to help it.

“Look up,” Gordon cut in with on the radio.

Hitori let his gaze drift upward.

Oh shit.

Floating above the creatures head was a massive orb of condensed malhahons held aloft between its tendrils. Spirals of scarlet red and electric blue danced in its center, consuming waves of black mist pulled in from the surroundings.

Hitori spared a split second to yell a command into the radio before launching himself away with a Dash Tech. His team needed to get as far away as possible if they were going to survive. The creature’s next attack looked to be ten times greater than any before, possibly more.

Even as he landed he could already tell he wouldn’t gain enough distance. The light behind him rapidly spiked in intensity.

He felt his next Dash Tech activate in slow motion. In fact, the whole world came to a crawl. It was not the first time he experienced something like this, now that he thought about it, although this was the most intense so far. It gave him a remarkable amount of time to consider things. For instance, what was Protius doing in front of him?

Took you long enough to notice.

His teammate just Shifted in, judging by the veil of black smoke clinging to his body. One arm was outstretched down the street towards the creature. Brushing his fingertips was a thin sheet of silver material. Even as he watched it doubled in size.

He never realized how fast the Barrier Arte worked. His Dash Tech completed in less than a tenth of a second, and before he’d even gone halfway Protius finished a half shell, with a second layer well on its way and a third getting started.

It was a shame Hitori wouldn’t get inside in time. In the barrier’s distorted reflection he could see the creature’s attack mid-detonation. The expanding ball of plasma already reached the street, and Hitori felt a flash of heat and pain on his neck. A moment later his vital net complained about damage to his skin as he felt the heat spread through his armor to the rest of his back.

He slipped past the shelter Protius made, and felt his feet brush the ground. In front of him the street lit up bright as day. It was kind of a dumpy vision for his last sight.

It’s too soon to die yet, little bird.

Hitori felt something pulling at his hand.