Meanwhile, fires spread along the Nex Megalopolis. Rampant pandemonium engulfed populations across all city Sectors. Hysteria spread like wildfire as Ateliers tried to regain control over the situation.
Inflow Direct took care of the City of Clubs which had received the largest number of casualties and damage. Justica Arms extended their reach across the entirety of the City of Hearts, peacekeeping as the 6th Branch Justicers – a Branch’s ultimate unit – were dispersed to deal with residual Impuritas and rumored Corrupted sightings.
The Advent of Desire had a profound influence over the city, but the true extent remained unknown. Additionally, there were only so many Atelier personnel to begin with, which sparked Justica Arms to begin a campaign with the Associations and Offices to offer aid in this time of crisis.
The Guilds and the Golden Index too offered their hands, helping wherever they could. Other Ateliers prioritized immediately extracting the Genesis Stones as they found them, as Beholders directly took command over their personnel.
But even they could not reverse the damage.
As flames bellowed with a horrible cacophony of shrieks, a small team moved through the tight ruins of a street in H9.
The chaos was not the forefront of concern for a specific squadron of ARU O-Type personnel. Individuals equipped with the strongest White Monsoon-class Corrupted Items were dispatched into the City of Hearts from M-A1; the manufactory heart of ImpulseWorks.
Their mission? To capture the Corrupted. Without the aid of Scarlet Logic, they entered the fray mostly blind, wearing Cognition Scramblers to blend in with the destabilized society. They were like phantoms amongst the chaos, aberrations that spearheaded the rising Corrupted threat for but only one goal.
To bring them back to ImpulseWorks.
They had already taken numerous into custody, some declaring they were still human, and others that tried to shred their faces off. Each Corrupted were trapped within a specialized containment unit, functioning on Caldera Industries’ and the Chained Theocracy’s tech. It allowed for Suppressed Corrupted to be temporarily stored within a spatial chamber roughly the size of a small, square parcel.
Begone were the days when Corrupted needed to be transferred in iron boxes.
Each small box transformed in a manner to vaguely resemble the Corrupted within, some like grotesque growth of flesh, and others that grew fur, petals, or mechanical parts.
Regulation was heavy surrounding the manufacturing of these objects, named the Rapid Isolation Device, abbreviated, and widely called RIDs. But their method of operation seemed to hint that there were more technologies involved in its construction.
All T-4 Artificers had authorized for the movement of ARU O-Type Units as well as lower leveled ones, leading to major successes within the first 24 hours following the end of The Crowned’s defeat.
25 Corrupted were confined in total, and lower ranking ARU units were made to haul back the captured Corrupted to be stored and thoroughly examined by not only ImpulseWorks, but by all Ateliers at hand.
The reason being was that there were likely normal individuals amongst the suspected Corrupted, as well as Dungeon entities, whose names were rumored to be the ‘Impuritas’. Chatter along the Cognition Receivers and Transceivers were loud, easily cutting through the bleeding background of screams and the crumbling homes of many.
That, and the death throes of lesser levelled ARU Units.
“Sector H9 under major investigation. All 24 ARU O-Type Units are in the area of operation.”
“B-Type Units encircling. All designated strips have been cleared so far. A-Types are working closely with the Peace Flocks. M-Types are sharing information with the Guilds and representatives of established Associations.”
“This is K-Type Unit-53 Operator, on the northeastern side of H7. Permission to ask a question to all relevant parties?”
After total radio silence, a high-pitched scream played along the many hundreds of earpieces within the City of Hearts before a voice suddenly spoke.
“O-Type Unit 1 Operator, permission to speak. Quickly. Pale stones are interfering with the reception.”
“Regarding the acquisition and storage of the Corrupted. Food and water are a necessity for them?”
“A T-4 Artificer has vetoed for it against the others. Follow mission protocol. We don’t have Scarlet Logic to scout the Corrupted in advance. Three of you! Follow the trail!”
The O-Type personnel were far and few in between, with less than 30 existing in total just in Brandar. They were individuals just beneath the power of a Color, armed with Corrupted Items, Atelier Items and proudly worked with ImpulseWorks. To others, they were the loyal bloodhounds that hunted and recovered Monsoon Corrupted.
The gap between them and the rest of the world was enormous, and they were seen as the last line before this massive power canyon. ARU O-Types were essentially the last realistic bastion of strength a person could achieve without needing to dabble in the Blessing of the Nexus or an Original magic.
They were micro-Moons in a way. Speckles of dust from an even greater power above.
What was strange however, was how concentrated they were in one particular location. Under these circumstances it was unlikely that a Monsoon Corrupted was roaming around. No obvious Corrupted rampaged through the city, so why were they so hyper focused?
As amnestic helped remove the trauma from children with Serums, the injuries of people as many had become reluctant to the aid of healers. And how could anyone blame them? The City of Hearts and Clubs were hit hard by the false healers, who assassinated indiscriminately with poisoned vials.
And equally killed as many healers themselves.
The largest source of chatter regarded missing healers, most violated by rubble and bared heavy signs of trauma. In rare instances, people were even caught intentionally hiding a healer within their homes, basements, and other places during the chaos.
In the City of Lust no less.
One could image how Liquidators must have felt. How ARU forces, who were explicitly trained to only kill Corrupted wished to paint the streets with their innards. However, there were administrative orders to capture them by numerous Heralds.
Their time for punishment would come.
However, there was another force that sought to avenge them. That fought ferociously and indiscriminately against all those in its path, screaming out the final phrases of its victims endlessly through dozens of mouths. Teeth arranged like claws lined these mouths as they howled like a forbidden bagpipe.
The reason why ARU O-Type was dispatched was not just to Suppress unknown Corrupted.
Their primary goal was first and foremost to recover Corrupted.
“H9, central city, 10km into wreckage of an Eye. White haired amalgamation of flesh. Prepare to attack on sight!”
“This is O-Type Unit-1 Operator. Mimicry has been found!”