<i>I foresee...<i>
<i>In the future...<i>
<i>The land wakes up from sleep.<i>
The transport vehicle hurtles through the wilderness, its tires churning up a swirling dust storm in its wake.
The road, long forgotten and riddled with potholes, sends the vehicle lurching and shuddering along the broken path.
Fifteen minutes.
This is already the twelfth conservation area...
Two weeks ago, multiple surface conservation areas came under attack by unidentified Hetero-Creatures.
Worse yet, nearly all personnel from the affected sites have since gone missing.
What started as a small-scale incursion has swiftly escalated, and the window to rescue the attacked conservation areas is closing fast.
These coordinated strikes defy the usual behavior of Hetero-Creatures. Is something—or someone—pulling the strings behind the scenes? Another entity like Cradle, perhaps?
According to the collected data, over 1600 people have gone missing, with 187 deaths confirmed so far.
The majority of casualties occurred during the initial attacks.
In just the first 3 days, 5 conservation areas were hit simultaneously, resulting in over 700 missing and more than 60 deaths...
Babylonia has swiftly adapted its tactics, deploying its most agile elite squads as vanguard scouts to gather critical intelligence. Based on their findings, the Support Force would then mobilize, ensuring rapid reinforcement where needed.
Reports of disappearances and deaths among conservation area residents have dropped sharply since.
But... it's not enough. No matter how fast Babylonia moves, the Hetero-Creatures always seem one step ahead, leaving defenders scrambling to keep up.
The conservation area requesting aid earlier has a permanent population of around 400 people.
If this time...
Lee pauses, leaving his thought unfinished.
Four hours have passed since you received the distress signal.
Lucia remains silent, her hands clenched around the steering wheel as she fights to keep the vehicle steady on the dilapidated, mud-slicked road.
It's functioning well with no adverse reactions.
We've reached the target location!
The vehicle rolls into the target conservation area, but only a deathly silence answers.
The ground is streaked with dark pools of blood, the walls riddled with bullet holes. The acrid tang of gunpowder lingers, sharp in the still air.
Around you, the once-pristine buildings stand broken and skeletal, as hungry flames lick through the wreckage, devouring all they touch.
Dammit. Are we too late?
Understood.
Copy that!
Alright.
Chaos envelops the scene, the shattered remnants of Constructs littering the ground.
Over there...
Liv's gaze leads you to a clearing with a sandbox and exercise equipment—what appears to be a public recreation area nestled within the conservation area.
Amid the open ground, a lone baseball lies abandoned. Perhaps once the children's toy, now its surface is marred by blood.
Moments later, you find the entrance to an underground shelter hidden beneath the conservation area, but its isolation door lies in ruins.
The shattered fragments on the ground have unnervingly clean, precise edges.
It was a blade... Could it be an Ascendant?
Over here!
You and Liv rush to Lucia's side, only to find a fallen Construct beside her, barely clinging to life.
Thank you...
One look tells Liv all she needs to know—the Construct is past saving with your current medical capabilities.
...Hang in there.
Don't bother...
I know my condition...
The Construct barely registers Liv's healing attempts, fully aware of his inevitable fate.
I'm Danny, one of the Constructs stationed at this conservation area.
He retrieves a terminal slick with his own vital fluid from his chest, handing it over along with his identification tag.
I recorded... some footage that might... be useful.
With those final words, the light in his eyes immediately fades away.
...
After erecting a simple memorial for the people of this conservation area, you access Danny's terminal, viewing the footage for answers.
This is Danny, a Construct stationed at this conservation area. We're under attack!
Danny faces the camera, speaking rapidly.
There are many Hetero-Creatures...
SCREEEEE—
A Hetero-Creature lunges at Danny from afar, forcing him to dive aside as his terminal clatters to the ground.
The video recorded by the device reveals the creatures' bat-like forms and fluid flight.
The Hetero-Creatures match the information previously gathered.
In the footage, Danny springs to his feet and opens fire on the Hetero-Creature.
The conservation area couldn't have fallen this fast if it was just Hetero-Creatures.
As if to confirm Lucia's words, Danny's resistance seems short-lived.
A blurry figure appears from the corner of the frame, followed by a brutal, lightning-fast slash.
Danny barely manages to react, but it's too late. His blade shatters right in front of his chest in a spray of vital fluid.
The unknown figure halts, the responsible weapon glinting briefly before being smoothly sheathed. Yet, due to the camera's angle, only the person's lower body is captured in the frame—
It's the hem of a dark blue coat.
In the rest of the footage, bat-like Hetero-Creatures descend in swarms, snatching up the remaining survivors. One by one, the humans are carried off into the distance.
Now you find the answer to why the people in the attacked conservation areas all went missing.
Flying Hetero-Creatures spotted behind the mountains to the southeast!
They're moving fast!
Visual estimate of around 40 to 50.
In about 30 seconds.
The bat-like Hetero-Creatures soon descend upon the conservation area. More than 40 of them swarm in overlapping layers, their ghostly silhouettes blotting out the sun, plunging the ground below into an eerie, bone-chilling darkness.
SCREEEEE—
They circle in the sky, their shrieks and howls rending the air—a cacophony like hell's own laughter, mocking the fragility of the humans beneath them.
Death rides in their wake, their joy found only in the spilling of blood.
Then, as one peels away in a sudden dive, the rest follow in a synchronized frenzy, the swarm surging downward like a tidal wave. The attack has begun.
Bang!
Lee and Liv open fire in unison, unleashing a storm of bullets.
Their shots tear through the Hetero-Creatures swarming from above, while Lucia cuts down any that breach their line.
The Gray Raven squad moves with practiced precision. If the four of you keep this rhythm, the creatures won't last much longer.
But unseen, lurking in the shadows beyond your sight, another Hetero-Creature waits.
It doesn't strike from the sky, but instead lunges forward from the ground.
The moment it lunges, you catch its shadow.
Countermeasures flash through your mind, each considered and discarded in rapid succession. You could take it alone, but a careless move could leave you wounded or break the squad's current formation.
Roger!
Lucia is already poised for the strike, her blade gleaming in anticipation. Once closer, the creature would meet steel.
But something else moves faster.
A blur—too fast to track—hurls into view. By the time you register the motion, it's already over.
SCREEEEE—
The Hetero-Creature crashes to the ground, shrieking, impaled.
Only then do you see it clearly—
A massive sword.
The sword has a strange appearance, its hilt textured like scales, its handguard tipped with four jagged talons. Half of the blade is now buried in the ground.
A true devil weapon—anyone who sees it would instinctively think of such a description.
While you examine closely, the devil sword pinned in the ground suddenly dissipates into red particles.
Wow...
From the direction the sword came from, someone lets out an exclamation.
A white-haired man in red stands atop the ruins, posture loose, a smirk tugging at his lips.
Looks like you guys need some help.
