In the training room, the statue’s whirling fists suddenly stopped, followed by the simulation dissolving as if it had never been there in the first place.

Across the facility, more then one agent was already being buzzed on their personal communications devices.

But it was likely the voice on the intercom that reached them first.

“Agents Amano, Kawahara, Mae, Murakami, Otsuka, Tachibana, Yakumo, Yamamizu, and Zhao, please report for briefing immediately.”

The voice was feminine, pleasant, and immediately identifiable as not belonging to a human being. No matter how human she sounded any Agent who had been working for Branch-092 for even a brief period would likely be able to recognize the source of the voice as the branch’s AI, AMATERASU.

Arisa, who had been moments from proceeding to Containment and volunteering for support duty, paused for a moment after she heard the request.

“I see,” she said, simply, before changing course to heading for briefing. Out of all of the on-duty agents, she was pleased she’d been selected for duty. Whatever it was, she was certain she’d succeed no matter what.

It wasn’t just a matter of pride, but because of the alternative as well.

The briefing room was large and plain, with a holographic projection screen on the far side, opposite of the seating area and the individual consoles that were available for Agents. In front of the projector were two figures.

One an older, well-groomed man with stern features and neatly-kept hair and wearing a black suit. The other, a beautiful woman whose flowing white coat and white and yellow hair only served as a stark contrast to the figure beside her.

Both were immediately recognizable.

Director of Field Operations Murata Enji and the projected form of AMATERASU.

“Welcome, Agents,” began Director Murata, “I think you all know why you’re here, so I won’t waste any more time. Amaterasu, if you will.”

The holographic screen hummed to life, showing the ruins of an old traditional mansion. At the same time, the same image appeared on each Agent’s personal screen as well.

Arisa quickly looked it over. There weren’t very many details that could be gleaned just from this image, but at the same time she could at least tell that it had to have been abandoned for a while simply due to the sheer overgrowth and state of decay the mansion had gone through.

It was something of a shame, given how stately the property must have been at one time.

“These are the ruins of a mansion once belonging to one Takemura Genjiro, in the Nagano Prefecture. He passed away with no heirs, and the mansion has since been left to decay,” Murata began, “One a week ago, a young woman who will from here be referred to as Victim A was killed while attempting to obtain ghost photos.”

With a click, the holographic image changed, revealing the body of a young woman dressed in light clothing. A puncture wound had pierced her torso, roughly in the location of her heart.

“This was ruled an accident, with the death seemingly explained by Victim A’s fall onto nearby debris,” continued Murata, “However, on Monday, there were two more victims.”

While the first death had been relatively clean, Arisa couldn’t help but grimace slightly when she saw the bodies of Victims B and C. Both were young men, and they had died quite gruesomely.

Most of Victim B’s head was entirely gone, as if a strong impact had simply blown it away. Only his lower jaw remained.

Victim C had been cut in half, quite cleanly, at the waist, his internal organs spilling onto the ground.

“You’ll note that Victim C appears to have been cut with an edged weapon,” commented Murata.

It wasn’t merely the gruesomeness of their deaths that made Arisa tense, but rather the fact they had died in the first place. None of the victims should have been there, it took an idiot to wander into a place like that when they didn’t have any particular abilities. But at the same time, they shouldn’t have had to die in the first place.

“I shouldn’t have to explain why these deaths are far less easily explained,” Murata continued, “Additionally, our drone observation of the site over the past few days observed unusual levels of spiritual activity, though no specific incidents were detected.”

After allowing the Agents to observe the bodies of the victims for a few moments more, the image returned to the ruined mansion.

“As you can see, there’s reason to suspect that there may be an anomalous entity behind these deaths,” Murata level voice added, “And so that’s where you come in. Agents Kawahara and Otsuka, you’ll be on perimeter duty.”

Agent Kawahara, a young woman with fluffy orange hair, looked immediately disappointed at the idea of being assigned to simply guarding the perimeter. Agent Otsuka, a blue-haired man of similar age, didn’t seem to react beyond a nod.

“Agents Murakami, Amano, and Yamamizu shall enter the property from the front, utilizing a combination of natural resistances and anti-spiritual wards in case of curses,” proceeded Murata, “Agents Yakumo, Tachibana, and Zhao will infiltrate the property from the rear, also utilizing anti-spiritual wards. Agent Mae is to remain on standby to provide medical services and additional combat support. Additionally, you’ve been cleared for the use of A-188 as active combat support. You shall also be supplied with a Portable A-5 Containment Unit.”

Arisa didn’t have any particular issue with this approach. Malakim-class Agents and above were typically given a degree of freedom on how to approach most assignments, and it only made sense to utilize her magical resistance to spiritual interference actively. That, and she was confident that she’d be able to counter any initial threat.

However…

“Do you expect that this Anomaly is of a higher grade then Avon?” she asked. There had to be a good reason to send so many Agents, after all.

“Tentatively, we’ve classed it as Avon,” responded AMATERASU, her smooth and pleasant voice only coming as a mild surprise after Murata’s cold tone, “However, the Director doesn’t want to take any chances, given the violent nature of the killings.”

Arisa certainly didn’t want to let this thing have any more chances, either.

“Assemble and prepare for deployment,” Murata’s voice came once again, “Utilize Agent Yakumo’s ability to reach the site. Dismissed.”

---

Assembly, preparation and gathering A-188 took some time.

By the point the Agents arrived, the sun had already begun to set.

The mansion’s decrepit state was no surprise, given they’d already seen it before. But for the spiritually-sensitive, the sense of general unease was new.

While Arisa wasn’t among those blessed with high aptitude for spiritual channeling and communication, she was still a magician. It felt like a tingling sensation slowly creeping up her spine, crawling over her skin like fingers.

She didn’t like it at all.

“Tch, this place feels terrible already,” she commented with no small amount of dissatisfaction as she undid the clasps on her case, “Well, there’s no reason to delay any more.”

Her fingers wrapped around it.

Ifrit’s hilt.

The blade drawn from the case couldn’t possibly fit, and it was difficult for an observer to understand just how such an enormous weapon could be wielded by Arisa with one hand.

“Aww, look, they’re going to have all the fun…” came a complaint from Kawahara, the orange-haired girl sighing heavily as she rested a large bronze-colored hammer on her shoulder.

“Fun?”

Agent Otsuka’s voice carried with it only a small hint of incredulity.

“Wouldn’t you rather be in there, kicking its ass?” asked Kawahara, “It’d be awesome!”

By this point, Arisa was already glaring over her shoulder at the taller Agent. Awesome? While it was certainly a matter of pride for her, she couldn’t comprehend how the other Agent was talking about this like it was some kind of fun game. How did someone like that even make it to Malakim?

“What kind of an idiot are you?!”

It appeared to be a question Kawahara wasn’t unfamiliar with, given she barely reacted.

Otsuka simply sighed, one hand placed on the hilt of the katana sheathed on his left hip.

“We’ll provide backup as needed,” he said, in a level tone.

With one last glare at Kawahara, Arisa simply nodded and stepped forward.

They were on the property’s edge, now.

Whatever happened from here on out, it was all up to them.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Psyker Landshark@Rune_Alchemist@Eisenhorn@Izurich@OwO

"...-key~"

A voice, speaking something into her ears, but it didn't sound like sis... must be one of her other family members then, Tera's half-asleep mind couldn't help but wonder who it is?

"C'mon, wakey wakey, sleepyhead, we have a job to do!"

"Mmmngh...~" The young girl stirred at the rather insistent voice, followed by locks of green hair moving like prehensile limbs to slowly rub her eyes while her arms remained as they were, clutching the steak-shaped pillow. Then, in a show of owl-like flexibility, the petite girl turned her head almost 180 degrees to the back, facing the one who awakened her without as much as moving the rest of her body, "Oh... it's Kawahara, mmm...~ did Kawahara say something about a job?"

Due to the combination of experience and having prior knowledge that the "young girl" she was talking to was actually an eldritch entity summoned from a lovecraftian realm, Agent Kawahara - the one assigned to 'fetch' A-188 for the mission ahead - didn't break her composure, nor so much as flinch, keeping up the motherly persona with deft efficiency, "Yep! There's a bad, baaaad monster running around in a mansion, it has killed three good people so far, and we need to stop this naughty thing from killing even more!" The female agent explained, practically relaying the important points of the briefing to the Anomaly, "So, can you help us, Tera~? Pleaaaase~"

"Ooooh~" Upon hearing what basically amounted to an assignment disguised as a request, Tera's face lit up as she fully woke up, her body contorting unnaturally for a brief moment as she came to a standing position beside the bed, "Un, un! Of course Tera will help! Bad monsters need to be punished by good people after all, and Tera is a good girl!" The green-haired girl puffed up her chest as she huffed proudly.

"Hehehe~ that you are, Tera~" The tangerine-haired agent giggled as she began stroking Tera's head, Her "hair" does really feel like... hair, even though I know it isn't, heh, the lovecraftian doppelganger, huh? She retracted her hand after a moment, nodding gingerly, "C'mon, let's go!"

"Okaaay~" Like the good girl she was, Tera made no protest as she began skipping after Agent Kawahara.
..........
.....
...



The sun was already in the process of abdicating its reign to the moon by the time the group of agents arrived at the designated mission location, an abandoned traditional-style mansion once owned by Takemura Genjiro. There were ten of them; two assigned on perimeter overwatch while the rest would enter the mansion, Anomaly-188 was among the latter.

"Mmm...~" After she hopped out of Agent Yakumo's portal, the Fleshweaver took a moment to examine the group that'd catch the bad monster together, "Kuwahara, Otsuka, Sakura, Arisa, Numako & Inky Eel, Masaru, Yuuma, Jinhai, Mae, and Tera herself, of course! Ehehehe~" The heterochromatic girl nodded, mostly to herself, seemingly satisfied at the impromptu roll call she just did.

"Okay, Kawahara, Otsuka, see you later~" Tera grinned with a few waves of her hand at the two agents stationed for reserve, then she faced the rest of the 'good people' with a wide nonchalant grin, "Let's go, friends!" Without further ado, the second-shortest - poor Sakura... - agent in the group proceeded to skip forward, and whether deliberately or not, positioned herself at the frontmost of the party, acting as vanguard. In hindsight, knowing what the unidentified Anomaly had already done to its victims, it would be best for the Fleshweaver - with her almost complete lack of vital spots and healing factor - to endure the first blow, unless of course, there was someone else here capable of functioning without a brain or a heart.

@VitaVitaAR @Raineh Daze @PKMNB0Y @Psyker Landshark @Rune_Alchemist @Eisenhorn @OwO

Numako Yamamizu
Branch-092 - Offices
@Raineh Daze

---

"...well don't blame meeee." Numako responded evasively. "They bring me coffee all the time..." She had cleaned up herself rather easily. Wasn't too hard to just make a ball of water, soak up the coffee and pull it off herself without leaving a trace of it behind. "...but I guess if someone did get burned, that's what the medical facilities are for, right? So it'll be fiiiine." And that was the crux of Numako's problem, really - the sheer nonchalance that she treated pretty much everything with. "Mhm, I'm gonna go find somewhere quiet to-ah."

Before she could flee the scene, it seemed as though duty called. The intercom turning on and asking for her presence in the briefing room.

"...you don't think I could get away with not going, huh?" She'd huff lightly, asking the spirit that was still here who'd only give a ghostly groan in response. "Thought not..."

Making her way to the briefing room wasn't all that hard, though she made sure to find some quiet place on the outskirts of the room. She was one of the last few in, it seemed like judging from everyone else in the room. As Director Murata started speaking, Numako turned her attention to the hologram and the consoles provided for them. A mansion, huh...the summary given was fairly standard and easily understandable and didn't put her to sleep at least, so she managed to pay attention to most of it.

"Waltzing in the front door, huh...making it hard to slack off ya knoooow." Numako quietly complained, hearing her assignment proper. This was sounding more and more like a hassle the more she heard. "Well, if nothing else walking into the front door of some spooky place is how you get the ghosties attention, from personal experience. Maybe we won't have to look hard for it..."

---

Abandoned Mansion

Numako, stepped out of the portal and stretched. Ugh, being outside always made her feel weird. Maybe it was a result of the possession, some influence from it bleeding over, but she always felt weird out in the daytime. Thankfully at least, it was quickly becoming night. Maybe they'd actually see something spooky, tonight. Something that could make her skin crawl would be hard to do if nothing else, and she kind of missed the feeling of it...

"Looks like a good place to have a test of courage to me, heh." Numako chuckled, flashing a small smile towards Murakami as she finished berating Kawahara. "And heeey, someone's got to be the eager one in the party. Might as well not be you." A brief turn of her head towards Kawahara. "They're always one of the ones that end up dying first in these kind of things, ya know? Lets see..." Following Tera, Numako would position herself a bit at the end of the group, towards the rear, but not quite all the way in the end. Far enough away from the front, but not close enough near the back to get snatched in case something started picking them off from behind.

Yūma was about to reply and leave the decision up to Agent Murakami when, abruptly, AMATERASU made the call alongside his duty phone buzzing in his pocket. Well that was a relief, at least he wasn't going to be bored to tears today, and he fell in behind Murakami as the duo began heading to report for whatever operation had reared its head. Following along as he did, it didn't take long to reach the briefing room and find Director Murata and a projected AMATERASU. He always found some amusement in the naming of the branch AI. With all the supernatural and anomalous activity in the world, naming a branch AI as such felt a bit on the nose. But who was he to judge, given his occupation? Getting comfortable in one of the seats, with a good angle on both the main screen and personal terminal. The gathered agents were a varied bunch, certainly, keeping a loose eye on them as they trickled in before the briefing began in proper.

The story told was, as much as Yūma was loath to admit, not an uncommon one at first. Some ghost seeker looking to snag some pictures falling to their death in a dilapidated building. On its own, nothing suspicious, so it didn't surprise him that it had been ruled an accident despite the obvious that they wouldn't be briefing if it was just a mundane accident. What ruined that was the rather brutish deaths of Victims B and C. B had his head mulched, probably in one heavy blow. If it wasn't for C's clean, edged weapon injury, Yūma might have suspected some sort of brute force anomaly. Given the mixed damage, Yūma was thinking either a possessed victim, something akin to A-231 during a possession event, or some sort of anomalous weapon. After a few more moments of observation the image cut back to the overview of the ruined manor and marching orders were given.

Putting agents on perimeter duty seemed odd, at least to Yūma, was there no AERT assets available to perform that kind of first response? Perhaps they had already arrived and done the initial securing and calling in of Sefirot, and the Agents would take over. He knew Kawahara would be unhappy with being relegated to standing by and keeping anyone nosy from poking around. Hell, he knew that feeling all too well, reminded of many a day standing guard while agents moved in to secure or eliminate an anomaly. He could at least sympathize there, though her partner seemed to be far less concerned with the relegation to guard duty. Odd pairing, that, but who was he to judge? He was with Murakami and Yamamizu on the front door. Murakami was a better known quality, and Yamamizu less so, but no one made it to their level without being able to back it up. Made sense to him to be tasked to the front door, given his nature, so he had no complaints there.

Besides the question on why so many agents, Yūma had nothing to add. They would skip the trip there with some magic portals, and just like that it would be time to engage. Anomaly support would be with them as well, which would probably help. A-188, the shapeshifting sentient meat, useful since the lack of obvious organs would make a sudden, incapacitating blow ineffective. Still felt odd working with an anomaly, even now, but he wouldn't go complaining about the extra muscle. Once dismissed, Yūma would depart to suit up and get ready for an investigation and elimination of the anomaly.

---

The time spent getting A-188 ready was not wasted, not by Yūma at least. Suiting up in his patrol attire, the lack of information and need to investigate causing him to decide against the heavy duty AERT response gear he had brought with him to Sefirot, he had decided that there was no need to augment his usual equipment with any additions from the armory. Keep it light and familiar, and he wouldn't have to worry about juggling excess that might get him in a bind. He would still end up spending time waiting for everyone to be prepared, feeling that creeping, familiar sensation of impatience whenever he knew he was about to go into a dangerous situation and finally get to live a little. Soon enough though, they utilized Agent Yakumo's gates to arrive on the scene.

Night was falling, and Yūma produced a heavy, sturdy flashlight from his belt, double checking the batteries. It was a powerful light, and more importantly, heavy and well built enough to use as a bludgeon in a pinch. He drew his sidearm, chambering a round and ensuring the safety was on for the moment. Compared to all the spiritual, magical powers and anomalous properties, a service pistol was hardly the most awe inspiring sight. That being said, it was remarkable how many things didn't take well to being shot, even anomalies were rarely completely bullet proof. Bullet resistant, sure, but it would suffice for now. Kawahara's complaining and the rebuttal from both Otsuka and Murakami got a snort out of Yūma, holstering his pistol and giving her a friendly pat on the shoulder as he passed.

"We've all been on guard duty before, you'll be part of an entry team before you know it. Keep a sharp eye out for us, never know when someone is going to be too nosy for their own good, yeah?"

Yūma would give the two agents on guard duty a nod before positioning himself to provide support to the lead elements of the entry team. A-188 seemed determined to take point, and the former officer wouldn't argue with that. Odds are he would be supporting A-188 and Murakami as they took point, and he would be falling in the middle of the group, with Yamamizu bringing up the rear. He didn't need magic or anomalies to provide ranged support, after all, and that would make eventually swapping to his brass knuckles that much more fun when the time came. For now, he would be providing light with his flashlight, and once on the property he would draw his pistol once more, ready to act on a moment's notice, settling into a professional stance, keeping the pistol at a low ready.

"Right, heads on swivels, let's get this mess sorted out before anyone else gets gutted."

Mae Ah-ryeon

With the sudden call for her to assemble, Ah-ryeon couldn't help but have an unpleasant look on her face. It was part of her deal, but she still did not enjoy missions. She did not enjoy relying on other people, nor did she enjoy working with them. Still, it could have been worse. She could have been selected to train recruits. That would have been a nightmare.

She listened to the briefing without much fuss. Her opinion of the situation was fairly uncaring. For a shaman, the supernatural was a regular occurrence. Though, being brutally murdered was quite rare. More often than not, it was just typical possessions, strange happenings, and overall bad luck. One would need a considerable amount of bad luck to be disembowelled or have their jaw torn off by accident. Though, such things were not rare around industrial factories.

She didn't have many thoughts about the other agents roles. Of course, this was primarily because she didn't care much. Her role was focused on medical support. She'd only need to participate if things were getting dire. Ah-ryeon quite liked that role. The less she had to do, the better.

Though, Ah-reyon's favourite agent had been assigned alongside her. Even if she didn't personally like Yakumo, her ability skipping having to sit in a car for hours gave a small amount of favour. A droplet of favour in an ocean of enmity.

---

Even though she disliked her duties, she was still diligent in performing them. She had brought everything she thought she needed. Tools for her rituals, tools for her curses, her typical medical supplies, and even some talismans. It never hurt to be prepared and, even though she disliked putting in effort, still was professional enough to do what she considered the bare minimum.

The mansion was exactly what she thought it would be. It was a place of evil. Which was unfortunate which meant that, in all likelihood, there was something inside. But of what was a mystery. The words given to explain imuldan, youkai, and yaoguai were often apocryphal explanations of actual supernatural events. It was difficult to predict what was inside.

Still, she'd do her job. Briefly walking ahead of the other agents shortly after they arrived, she held her hand out and dangled a half-dozen small knotted string charms. All six had unique patterns and threads, yet were matched by an identical charm on Ah-ryeon's hip. As usual, they were meant to give the holder luck. However, they served an important purpose. If communications broke down, the identical charms that Ah-ryeon held would unwind to notify her how bad things truly were.

"Take a trinket before you go. Consider it a free service. And do try not to get vivisected by a gwisin. It requires considerable effort for me to save a life." She said in her usual brusk tone.

She wouldn't enter the manor proper unless she was needed. Considering that they were breaching on opposite sides, it was easier for her to only enter if she was needed.

The pouting girl wound up sulking for much of their briefing, doing her best to stick to the background... a task made easier by her size, then more or less impossible by dint of still being bright pink more than anything. While everyone else was running around making preparations, she drank her coffee and asked for more information... well, a map, more than anything, although going over the scenario again had her getting more and more excited for some reason.

When the group stepped through the portal and started to split up, Sakura was practically bouncing on her feet next to Zhao, frustration at her less than professional attire lost. Why she was excited... well, he was sure to find that one out in a second, as was Masaru. "Hey, hey, Zhao, doesn't this look like the setup for a horror story?"

That explained it. Of all the people she could be friends with, her closest was basically one administrative accident off being a slasher villain.

"'A motley group of characters all go to a dilapidated mansion people keep disappearing at', that's a classic, although at least we know people have been getting killed... oh, right, and we know better than to split up. That's in the manual, too, and it's even more important in a situation like this. I wonder if it's some sort of urban legend monster, or maybe we're going to get lucky and it's going to be a proper yūrei? I've always wanted to meet one of those, and this setup is just like..."

It probably wasn't too reassuring that all the stories and films she was mentioning now seemed to be schlocky gorefests rather than anything of partcular merit or complexity. Their mission definitely shouldn't go that badly.

Jinhai didn't miss a beat as the statue frozen, channeling qi through the blade of his sword to empower his strike, and swung down with all his might...

...Just in time for the simulation to cancel. And for him to slam a sword into the floor at full force. Understandably, the upper fourth of the blade snapped in twain on impact.

"Oh, crap. Second one this week." He murmured under his breath, retrieving the scabbard and awkwardly sheathing what remained of the blade within. Still, his chagrin at likely getting bitched out by the quartermaster didn't override the fact that there was finally an assignment again. Another chance to get out of this sterile hole for a while. And if he was lucky, maybe stop by a nice restaurant once the job was done. Hot pot'd be especially nice. Still, that was contingent on getting the job done in the first place.

With a sigh, he strode off towards the briefing, broken blade and all.

___

Blah blah blah, deaths that he could've caused in an average day on the job, blah blah blah, accompany portal girl and the archer kid in breaching from the rear. Sure, whatever. He emerged from the portal all the same as the rest, taking the talisman from Ah-ryeon with a bemused smirk.

"Not gonna turn it down, but I did prep my own." He fished a fulu out from his pocket, but did take the woman's offer, tucking both of them into his pants. "Probably not as good as yours, though. Never was much good at this part of the job." That said, he followed after Yakumo and Tachibana, nodding along to the former's brief rant.

"Sheesh, aren't these all just slasher film setups? I could do the same shit the briefing told us on an average night in Pudong." He huffed, shaking his head.

"Honestly, I'm hoping for the haunted spirit of some samurai from your Warring States period. There any battlefields from then nearby?"

@OwO @Raineh Daze

With his arrow landing squarely between the joints of the stone statue, Masaru was more than ready to expect the follow-up to provoke some sort of reaction. When the choice of reaction was for the simulated monster to simply turtle up and let the next few arrows bounce harmlessly off it's shell, the archer quickly took a few steps backwards and aimed right at where one of the seams of the statue-turned shell was.

When the entire upper body of the statue spun around in an attempt to clothesline him, though, Masaru had a scant few seconds to react; the only thing he could do in that situation was to fall to the ground and narrowly avoiding being caught by the blow. With a slight wince as his body hit the simulated paved stone floor, the young man rolled to the side and readied his bow for another shot———

Only for the simulation to suddenly cut off and for the world around them to dissolve back into the same blank white slate it usually was. All of the tension that was beginning to build up in his body as the fight was about to go somewhere serious disappeared in the blink of an eye, and Masaru couldn't help but let out a small sigh of disappointment. This was the first time he had been interrupted in the middle of a hunt like that, which did bother him, granted...

But if the two of them (among others) were being called for a briefing, there was a real possibility that something was afoot. Given that the reason he had joined wasn't to loiter around (for the most part), Masaru hoped that whatever everyone was being pulled for wasn't anything too mired in administrative red tape.

Though the sound of broken steel did pull a bit of his attention (as did the broken blade bouncing on the floor on impact), the Agent chose to not acknowledge that part of the situation and instead sheathed his bow as he followed after Zhao towards the briefing room.

Throughout the briefing, Masaru had stood by in silence with the others as the higher-ups went over the operation at hand. While he was left feeling rather concerned about how many people were being sent in for a single mission (especially considering the relative scale) and the possibility that there was something being left unsaid about the Anomany they were slated to hunt down, the Agent simply stayed quiet and chose not to question the situation. Hopefully the sheer number of Agents (and the presence of a cooperative Anomaly on the team) would mean that everything would be resolved simply enough.

Key word being "hopefully", of course. At least this was a planned mission and not some spontaneous emergency breaking out.

---

The fact that Agent Yakumo's abilities could transport them over such large distances in the blink of an eye was terribly convenient, as it meant that he (and everyone else) didn't have to suffer through an hours-long ride through the highways of Japan with nothing but anticipation and tension choking the atmosphere in the back of some unmarked vehicle. A step through brought them from the carefully cleaned and regulated facility to the overgrown and dilapidated ruins of a once-grand mansion, and Masaru—assigned to the flanking team as he was—simply tried to get into his usual streaming-style mindset. Even if the problem ahead was likely responsible for more than just those few civilian deaths, staying hyper-anxious about the situation would only likely leave him too high-strung to function properly.

In other words? If it was banter they wanted, banter they would get.

After taking the charm from Ah-ryeon and slipping it into his pocket, Masaru increased his pace to catch up with the others as he unsheathed and held his bow to the side with his left hand.

"I'm not super keen on horror movies, but there are a few games I've played that fit the bill well enough," he added, raising an eyebrow at Zhao's own hopes before shrugging his shoulders. "If we're talking battlefields, though, uh... Kawanakajima, I think? Been a hot minute since I've stared at history stuff, but that stuff's famous enough for that to stick in my brain."

With that, though, Masaru pulled an arrow out of the quiver on his back and held it at the ready.

"In any case, I'm ready whenever you two are. Lead the way."

@Psyker Landshark@Raineh Daze

While Arisa didn't have the deepest familiarity with mysticism outside of Western European magic and of course Japanese occultism, it didn't take exceptionally deep knowledge to understand what Agent Mae had given her, even without considering the fact that similar objects existed in Japanese mysticism as well.

In fact, such things were common all over the world, though they took a variety of different forms. Charms designed to grant the wearer luck and protection against wickedness were not only a staple of worldwide mysticism for thousands of years, but also commonplace for Agents of Sefirot. With the presence of curses and other similar methods of attack, it only made sense to associate with the local shrines and utilize their services.

"Thank you, Agent Mae," Arisa said with a nod. From what she knew of the Korean medical operative, this wasn't exactly out of the kindness of her heart, but it was still going to be useful against an unknown anomalous threat.

After taking one of the charms, Arisa paused outside of the property. Supplying them with A-188 made sense. The kind of harm that was done to the victims of whatever lurked in this ruined mansion wasn't immediately threatening to the shapeshifter, and she was quite docile and easily-handled by Agents.

While a part of Arisa wanted to forge ahead quickly as possible, she instead decided to take a position alongside the Anomaly rather then taking the lead.

If something attacked the currently-childish-looking entity, she could respond quickly and counterattack herself, possibly before the enemy could understand their attack was ineffective and try again, or choose a different target.

Just because A-188 could survive far more then a a human didn't mean Arisa was entirely comfortable with her soaking up every attack leveled at them. Only an idiot and a coward would operate in such a callous way.

"Operation start," the redheaded mage said, glancing bac over her shoulder at the others.

She only started at the waving Kawahara in exasperation for a moment before stepping onto the property proper.

The gardens that had once surround the property were surely beautiful once, but were now wild and overgrown. The entrance was still somewhat intact, but beyond that the roof had largely collapsed in this part of the property, and large sections of the floor had rotted away. In some places, plants had grown up through it.

Given that the rot was wet rather then dry, Arisa felt fairly comfortable using her spells here.

Did she just hear something on the roof above---?!

@Rune_Alchemist@Eisenhorn@Izurich@OwO@Raineh Daze

---

The rear of the mansion was more intact.

The roof hadn't collapsed as much, here, and thus it had somewhat protected the floors and walls below. While there were certain gaps in its structure, it was really only enough to let the dying light through, now.

Old, damp floors creaked. Some crumbled slightly with the pressure of footsteps. But the rear team had yet to see anything unusual. If anything, aside from the unpleasant feeling the property itself radiated, there was nothing but an eerie stillness in the ruins.

At least, that's how it was at first.

Then there was a creak.

Then another.

They didn't come from the Agent's footsteps.

No, these sounds came from deeper in the ruins. Of course, in a decrepit building such as this, it was hardly unexpected to hear such noises.

And yet---

The figure lurched around the corner.

There was a flash of steel, a blade attached to a long pole, thrusting for the nearest Agent immediately.

It wasn't alone.

The figures that swiftly emerged from ruined walls and from around corners were human in size and shape, clad in light, lacquered armor dating from hundreds of years ago. Beneath it was a shadowy mass, pitch black and possessing to red pinpoints roughly in the location of a human's eyes. They advanced swiftly, at least eight currently visible and wielding both yari and katana.

But there was another, further back, already leveling an arquebus towards the agents and taking aim.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Psyker Landshark

On the rooftop above, an armoured, spectral figure was taking care to level its arquebus at the targets below, the red pinpricks of its eyes shining with a dim glow not too different from the smouldering length of match sticking out of the antiquated weapon. But it was hardly the only one of the ghostly soldiers, nearly a dozen ghostly spearmen dropping off the roof with no sound other than the creaks made by their armour and rushing forward with spears poised to stab the interlopers.

---

"Oh, you were right, we're in a ghost story!" Sakura exclaimed, seeming... still far too cavalier about the ghostly soldiers that seemed to be attacking them, "But I don't think these are samurai. Even the ones with swords seem a bit..."

Cheap? Chipped? The swords definitely weren't any good, and the armour was definitely something made with a one-size-fits-all philosophy in mind. Or, presumably, it had been, the spectres' equipment definitely had an air of battle damage around it. Although, "we're under attack by ghostly ashigaru!" wasn't all that much of a step up from "we're being attacked by ghostly samurai" in practical terms, and it rather made the story worse...

Of course, as someone who was mostly brought on for her support abilities and not combat, there wasn't much that Sakura was equipped to do when spears were being brandished in her direction, save step backwards through a convenient portal to make sure she was screened by the actual combatants. One gateway briefly opened by the matchlock-aiming ghost's side, a tentacle briefly tugging its weapon down and making the first shot go wildly awry into the floor. Given the reload time, that one was... hopefully not a threat.

Regardless if it was a deliberate decision on her part or not, Mae was wise to not prepare an additional charm for Teratoma. If she had, all she'd be doing is wasting the artifact as even though the Anomaly would gladly accept such an object, it’d be nothing but guaranteed to be carelessly dropped upon the first hostile encounter. Thus, unburdened by any foreign objects - charms included - the green-haired "girl" continued skipping forward without a care, marching alongside Arisa at the vanguard of the four-man group, leaving Mae, Otsuka, and Kawahara on overwatch duty.

"Hm~ hm~ hm~ Tera wonders how does the bad monster look like~?"

Speak of the devil and he'll come, or in this case, devils, as a troop of spectral ashigaru made themselves known, wielding teppou and yari both. "Oh!" After sniffing the air twice with her extraordinary sense of smell, Tera immediately craned her neck up toward the firearm-wielding wraith, and for the briefest of moments, the two Anomalies stared at each other. Then, with little delay, the ghostly musketeer pulled its index finger against the trigger...

A loud bang followed right after as the antiquated firearm sent forth a deadly projectile, aimed straight for the heterochromatic girl's forehead, the weapon that once brought the mighty Takeda Clan to its knees would now claim the life of a warrior of the 'Sefirot Clan'... or at least, that was the plan. Make no mistake, the spectre's aim was true, the bullet did hit; it penetrated Tera's skin, drilling its way into her skull, piercing living tissue... but all it achieved was creating a small hole on her forehead. Upon closer inspection, there wasn't even any discharge of brain matter, nor skull bone, merely minute splotches of rubbery flesh before the wound flawlessly mended itself as if nothing had happened in the first place. No warrior was slain, truly, the only thing that the ghostly gunner achieved was pissing off an otherwise happy-go-lucky Anomaly.

"Ow..." Tera grumbled under her breath as a rather sizable pout bulged at her right cheek. Frowning in childish vindication, the girl's hair suddenly snapped upward as if it moved like a prehensile limb, in fact, the further it traveled, the more it appeared like a single huge red tentacle instead of a collection of green locks. The hair-turned-tentacle proceeded to wrap around the sniper's armored torso in a vice-like grip before snapping back, pulling the now-restrained wraith toward her. "Bad monster..." Tera murmured as her mismatched eyes leered at the pair of glowing red dots... before she tightened, crushing the sniper like a twig, armor and all.

Her vengeance satisfied, Tera's 'hairtacle' proceeded to toss whatever remained of the gunner like trash, her immediate attention having been taken by the rest of its cohorts, who were charging at her beloved friends with pointy metal sticks. That was proof enough that all of them were bad monsters, and bad monsters needed to be punished!

"PUNISHMENT!" The Fleshweaver bellowed with a boisterous war cry as she leapt forward, then mid-air, her humanoid form started regressing. By the time she - it - crash-landed on top of one of the yari ashigaru, there was a mass of tentacled, many-eyed, and maw-ridden red flesh instead of a young girl. "RrRaAaAagGhH!" Thus, it proceeded to battle against some of the ghastly soldiers; tentacles and teeth clashing with spears and armor. Unfortunately, these were merely wraiths bearing the facsimile of an ashigaru, which meant A-188's eldritch true shape seemingly had no adverse psychological effects on the presumably-mindless drones, but no matter, it'd punish them all the same!

@Raineh Daze @Eisenhorn @Rune_Alchemist @VitaVitaAR

The crack of gunfire.

Had Arisa not reminded herself just moments before what A-188's nature was, the sight of her skull splitting would have been horrifying.

But as it stood, Arisa immediately traced where the bullet had come from.

The figure on the ruined roof, aiming downwards, was clad in light lacquered armor, body seemingly composed of shadows in the shape of a human, with red pinpoints of light serving as eyes.

It wasn't the only one of its kind. Others had emerged from darkness of the deeper ruins, yari pointed downwards as they hurtled forward, poised to impale the other Agents and herself.

She couldn't reach the matchlock-wielding one on the roof before the yari-wielders reached them, and if it still had to be reloaded that would take time. So she'd take the closer target.

There wasn't much time to ponder their nature, though they seemed to be some kind of phantom. She could guess the arquebus was responsible for the shattered skull of one of the victims, and that the yari were responsible for the puncture wound. A katana could explain the bisected victim as well.

Arisa took one step forward.

Whatever their nature may be, she was certain the phantom ashigaru were responsible for the killings.

So, she'd stop them.

Ifrit raised. The first step was simple.

Channel her mana down into her legs. It was almost as if she was willing her own blood through her veins, faint lines of light spreading along her thigh and calf muscles.

When she launched herself forward, it was this magical energy that increased the power of her legs, letting her reach the yari ashigaru in an instant.

In that some movement, Ifrit's enormous blade cleaved the air, snapping the nearest weapon's shaft and reaching its wielder. The lacquered armor wasn't enough, splitting under the impact.

Ifrit sliced through the ashigaru from shoulder to hip, both halves flying apart. What spewed from the body wasn't blood, but rather an inky, hazy black fluid.

Arisa twisted in place, dragging Ifrit's tip against the wall as she brought the enormous blade around, slamming into the nearest phantom ashigaru from behind and cutting its upper half from its lower.

@Rune_Alchemist@Eisenhorn@Izurich@OwO@Raineh Daze

Yūma accepted a trinket from the rather brusque healer Mae, though he didn't particularly begrudge the demeanor. Not everyone enjoyed their work, and given the visibly metallic arm, odds were she had not lived an easy life up until now. The former officer didn't bother mentioning or bringing up the good luck charm probably wouldn't do much for him in particular, given most things just sort of deflected when it came to anything unnatural or abnormal, but he wouldn't snub the woman either. He made a pleasant off hand comment as he accepted the trinket, tucking it into a spare pocket on his vest for safe keeping.

"Well when you put it like that, I'll do my best to keep my insides where they belong then, shall I? Thanks for the freebie though, can't complain about that."

Focused as the front team formed and walked onto the premises, Yūma was scanning the ruined front of the manor. The mission being announced to start got a brisk nod from the man, flashlight trained on the manor as they encroached on the property, service pistol at a low ready. They would have to be damn careful about moving about this place, the rotted through floors would no doubt prove hazardous to them if they didn't make sure the ground was relatively sound to traverse. Getting split up would be not ideal, assuming plunging into a basement didn't end up like Victim A from the brief. A glint in the flashlight's beam across the roof caught his eye, but before he could bark out a warning, an....arquebus opened up? The shot would have killed anyone else, but the general response of A-188 was not pleased. It sorted out the gunner on the roof, and then leaped into the ranks of the advancing, spear wielding soldier spirits. Ashigaru, if he remembered his history lessons, but that was not relevant right now.

Agent Murakami was next to engage, bringing that massive blade around like it was nothing, smashing into the ranks of the advancing yari wielding phantoms. They seemed to come apart as easily to trauma as anything else did, so Yūma was the next to engage. Rather than advance into melee, however, as much as he loved the idea of evading thrusting attacks to get in close and pummel the enemies to death, the presence of one firearm wielding phantom threatened more, which meant keeping overwatch. Shifting to the left to engage the flank of the ashigaru, hopefully held in place by the aggression of his fellow agents, Yūma took steady aim and opened fire.

Compared to the single, resounding crack of the old blackpowder weapon the ashigaru spirit above had wielded, the service pistol barked in a series of paced, back to back rapid shots. Putting shots into the ashigaru spirits that had yet to be destroyed, his pace ensuring he didn't risk hitting anyone who had moved into melee, he was keeping an eye out for more arquebus wielding spirits. Blackpowder, in this day and age? What a time to be alive! The question remained what animated and bound the spirits to this manor of all places, but that was for later. Purging the immediate threats was for now.

"Well damn, I was right?" Jinhai grinned, seeming equally as cavalier as his short companion. Of course, that didn't last long as he used the reprieve he had from Sakura being targeted instead of him to examine their new foe quickly. The weapons weren't much to speak of, and the armor definitely wasn't. Damn. Peasant soldiers, then. Still, it was something, even if they weren't fighting actual samurai. Screw it, he'd take it.

"Right, time to get to work." He unsheathed the blade he'd brought along. The blade he'd...already broken earlier. Ah, shit. Jinhai briefly groaned to himself before deciding to just run with it. He lobbed the jagged, half-shattered sword tip at the gunner in the back before breathing deeply, pulling his fists in as he took up a bajiquan stance.

Zhao Jinhai moved. His charge was almost a blur of qi as he slammed a single fist straight into the first ghost ashigaru's chestplate, aiming to smash straight through it. He kept the momentum up after, whirling around his initial victim to ram an elbow into what passed for the next ashigaru's neck.

"C'mon, c'mon! This's the only entertainment I'm getting today, so at least make it a good one!"

@Raineh Daze @PKMNB0Y

Numako Yamamizu
Branch-092 - Offices
@Raineh Daze@VitaVitaAR@Eisenhorn@Izurich@OwO

---

"Eh? Charm?" Numako, ever since being possessed, had decidedly not been too keen on being anywhere near any place that so much had a hint of some sort of protection against evil spirits. "Eeeh, you know I'll die if I touch one of those right?" She'd give agent Mae a smile before taking the charm. "Joking. Mostly. They do make me just a little uncomfortable since well, you know...but thanks." Stuffing the charm in her coat pockets, she'd content herself to be mostly by herself, quietly observing from the back as they approached, though she didn't get to sit idly by for long.

It happened fast. Undead samurai spilling out from the manor with some wielding some ranged weapon from the rooftop aiming at them.

"Eh, couldn't this be a little spookier then just undead muscle-heads?" Numako, was sorely disappointed. Well, whatever. A melee suited her just fine, as long as she didn't get put on the front lines. A sphere of Black, cursed water formed just in the palm of her hand as the others engaged the Yari wielding ones. The sphere elongated, becoming almost disk shaped as it started to spin at high speed. A flick of her wrist, and it would slam itself into one of the spirits necks, cleanly beheading it and consequently, the black liquid exploding outwards from the impact once the high velocity severed its head covering the rest around it liberally in the cursed substance ensuring that if nothing else, their armor and weapons would likely be just a bit weaker, and they themselves would be too.

"So tiring..." She'd grumble, a second sphere of the cursed water forming in her hand, this time sending a high powered jet of water towards another, slamming into its chest and knocking it back with the force into its comrades. The only well, downside was that she had to be careful not to hit any of the other agents even with a little splash...

"What the heck, you were right?"

Masaru's follow-up to Zhao's quip was quickly followed up by a quick backstep as the Agent brought his bow up to a ready position. Sakura had already retreated using that odd portal magic of hers, and with Zhao taking point and causing chaos on the frontlines it swiftly fell to him to keep the pressure up on the enemies that hadn't yet engaged him.

A quick analysis of the room left Masaru with just enough leeway to start firing without threatening to tag Zhao in the process, and the young man wasted no time in nocking an arrow and firing towards the gaps in the shadowy ashigaru soldiers' helmets. He didn't expect them all to land dead-on, but even exposing the area underneath would make it easy for a follow-up attack to land true.

Not like he could just aim for the body, though; with all that plating, all his arrows were apt to do was bounce off and maybe leave a bit of a dent. Using whatever weird electricity magic his bow had was an option too, of course, but limiting the space that their frontliner could access seemed rather counter-intuitive at best.

@Psyker Landshark@Raineh Daze

The phantom Ashigaru's armor wasn't impenetrable, far from it. The one who had been struck in the chest practically erupted backwards, darkness splattering over the moldering floor as the other's neck crunched sideways. Another fell with an arrow directly through the crimson pinpoint that was its eye.

As they hit the ground, their bodies broke down, collapsing into a dark ooze, the armor and weaponry disappearing into their now-gelatinous forms. They didn't appear to move for the moment, black vapor rising from their immobile slime, but anyone with spiritual sensitivity could tell that there was still something within the inky substance.

What that meant, exactly was difficult to discern, but at the very least it seemed as if they died similarly to living humans.

The remainder of the Ashigaru on the ground floor prepared to regroup, retreating slighting and shifting to bar entry further into the building, those with yari raising the weapons pointed outwards as the one on the roof attempted to reload its arquebus as quickly as possible.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Psyker Landshark

Round the front, the ashigaru phantoms had met a similarly grizzly fate. Shot, crushed, bisected, and generally approached with more firepower--and monstrous force--than was typical for a warring states-era battlefield, the spirits collapsed into dark ooze. Unlike round the back, the initial defence seemed to have been overwhelmed by the force presented, leaving the way clear to proceed through the surrounding walls--

Only for a harsh rebuke to ring out for the first of the vanguard team into the building proper. More arquebus-wielding ashigaru, fanned out to cover the entrance--although without much in the way of cover themselves, beyond their melee counterparts advancing on those that actually dared to intrude. Some stood in what had once been smaller gardens between the various hallways, but most stood lining themselves as the entrance headed away from the floor.

---

Hm, maybe she should... yes. A small portal opened underneath the arquebus-reloading ashigaru, dropping it in front of Zhao where it could more easily be dispatched. That should let them get in without being shot at? Of course, maybe they could just try running past everything, but then they'd probably be surrounded and potentially stabbed to death violently...

And portals didn't leave much room for looking around. Not good, that, when you didn't know the cause.

Teratoma - in all of its true eldritch glory - fought against the phantom ashigaru alongside three of her 'friends'. Between its teeth, tentacles, and teethed-tentacles combined with Arisa's massive fuck-off sword and fiery magic, Yuuma's good ol' application of the Second Amendment of a certain Western country’s constitution, and Numako's spooky scary spray ink, the initial wave of the wraiths proved absolutely no match for the four Sefirot operatives.

However, they had simply won a single battle in this twisted reenactment of the Sengoku Jidai, the war raged on still. "RrRrRrRgGgGhHhH!!" After smashing through the first vanguard, A-188 had no intention of backing down now, there were still more bad monsters to punish! Thus, in a show of alien fearlessness, the mass of living red flesh began - literally - crawling forward on innumerable limbs, charging head-on toward the fusilier phantoms covering the entrance. Whether it was a decision made through careful calculations or pure instinct, it wasn't clear, nevertheless, what Teratoma was doing served an important purpose...

To take the brunt of the beatings for its 'squishier' human friends.

A veritable hail of musket fire erupted near the entrance as the spectral musketeers opened fire at the advancing shoggoth. Yes, it didn't work before, but surely that was due to insufficient application of force... right? Unfortunately, primitive firearms simply weren't enough to do any damage beyond superficial wounds, if only they had grenade launchers equipped with incendiary rounds, but alas, blackpowder arquebuses were all they got. As such, for all their efforts, all the ghostly gunners achieved - just like their recently-departed comrade from before - was painting a figurative target on their backs...

...as the eldritch blob that was A-188 barreled down upon them, lashing, crushing, and chomping at their ranks. All the while, its allies were nearby, ready with their respective weapons and/or magic to further thin the revenant herd.

@VitaVitaAR @Raineh Daze @Eisenhorn @Rune_Alchemist

Yūma noted the Ashigaru were quick to come apart, yari wall not exactly holding up to the combined assault of anomaly, firepower, and the sheer force brought to bear against them. A-188 seemed hellbent to continue its rampage as it went barreling forward, another volley of arquebus fire opening up clearly as, unsurprisingly, the hail didn't do more than annoy the anomaly as it continued bearing down on the center of the ashigaru spirits. Ejecting the spent magazine into his hand, leaving one round chambered as he moved forward and swapped one of the full magazines in his pouches with the empty, he loaded and moved in rapidly after A-188, continuing to flank along to the left of the 'friendly' anomaly. A quick analysis of the situation wasn't ideal but there were far worse odds out there, after all the hostile Ashigaru still had to relaod.

"Rolling up their left flank, keeping A-188's left clear!"

Yūma opened fire again, though rather than hanging back and picking off targets of opportunity around A-188, he was advancing on the Ashigaru who were reloading, firing on the ones furthest away to bring them down. The more that were interrupted from ever getting another shot off, the better off they would be. He had brought plenty of ammo, of course, but didn't want to burn through so much of it so soon, and once he had spent his second magazine he made a fast swap, a grin on his face as the familiar, initially cold feeling of metal on his hands as he holstered his pistol and swapped to the brass knuckles in one smooth, practiced motion. He had picked off the shooters out of immediate melee reach, and now he was close enough to charge before the closest to him could finish reloading. The flashlight was tucked into its carry loop as well, still casting light but from a lower angle now, and one that moved with Yūma's body instead of where he pointed it.

The former officer's fighting style in melee became quickly apparent as the first he engaged tried to smash him in the side of the head with the blackpowder gun, a low swaying duck carried a heavy body shot, knuckles buckling the old armor and expending the momentum built by the dodge. Each evasion was transferred into a strike, wasting as little energy as possible as he started brawling through the ranks not immediately in melee reach of A-188 on the left. He lived for this moment, when he could justify getting stuck into a melee and start throwing punches. True to his call out, Yūma would keep fighting through the left flank, using the melee positioning to keep himself out of the immediate line of fire now that he was engaged in the melee. He could always reload later and take up an overwatch position again, for now, it was time to get some good old fashioned work in, one of the oldest ways still in use by humanity, two fists and building momentum.