Chapter 3

Mercenary Island

Part Four

‘I can get fired for doing this, so please, don’t tell anyone about things happened just now and the one I am currently occupied with.’

She felt a soft touch on her feet, which turned out to be the back side of C10.

“I won’t, but what you are doing?”

Covering Manya’s feet first, a black liquid crept up her body. Each passing second brought a comforting warmth, as if reconnecting her lost and numb limbs, tingling her very soul.

‘The Integration of “Soul Layer (SL)” is completed.’

“Care to explain?”

‘Before achieving an official rank, all qualified participants receive gears, which will aid them in their qualification missions. But in your case—’

“I didn’t receive any.”

‘And how could I allow you to be trapped in the swarm of unfairness?’

“You seriously deserve a kiss. But what’s a soul layer?”

‘A protective layer, common in the world you had entered. It has a significant number of features, but…’

“But?”

He chuckled. ‘But there’s one issue with the SL I had just wrapped around you.’

“What?”

‘It’s not registered in the MS database. I found it lurking inside the C10 storage and there are many mysterious functionalities to it, which I can’t get access to. Even if there is a possibility of it going rogue, I have received no data showing strange or abnormal activity.’

“Are you telling me that there’s an unregistered substance around me, which holds potential to harm in ways even you can’t tell?”

 An animation of a cat played on the visor, displaying a sly grin.

“Take it off me!” Her breath quickened and her eyes darted around, searching for any clue.

‘I can’t.’

“Don’t worry about me getting cold, just get this off me!” The fabric of the SL was soft, but still mysterious.

‘Remember when I say it holds mysterious functionalities? One of them was “Permanent Attachment.”’

“You! Bas—”

‘You could have died!’

“Yeah! Through a natural way! Not by getting trapped inside an unknown substance, forcing many negative thoughts and ways I could die!”

Yash chose not to respond to her. Up in the sky, more target markings emerged, approaching the ocean. “Just how many of you are there?” She took a deep breath. “At least tell me what features I have attained, apart from this cosier addictive warmth.”

 ‘I’ll keep it short, two words, invulnerium to a limit and magnetic.’

“Invulnerium?”

‘Invulnerable layer. With a limit.’

Her eye widened. “Wait—if you can control C10 to prevent them from approaching me. Can’t you just open it and let me inside?”

‘I like your lazy approach, but unfortunately it can only be open after the completion of the test mission.’

The assembled mercenaries were metres away. C10 gripped her feet and pulled her into a rotation outside the ocean. Magnetic! Dodging the weapon assault.

Manya fired bullets at the mercenaries, but they had little to no impact. And wasting bullets in such a dire situation won’t do any good.

“Can you find their weakness?”

‘Already did. Their weakness is same as all the humans.’

Manya emptied the magazine at their groin. But nothing happened.

“How are they still alive?”

‘I told you to shoot at their weakness, not private parts.’

“What else is the weakness of men?”

Yash laughed. ‘I was talking about their heart. It’s surrounded by a protective layer, but it’s not as strong as their rest of the body.’ His laugh continued. ‘It would be impossible for your average guns to aim at them, but with MS ones, it’ll be a child’s play.’

She killed them, but her excitement didn’t hold for long as dozens of helicopters and a white futuristic aircraft labelled “Ariot” surrounded her. It had wings, big and feathered; appeared to be some angelic bird. Shining under the stars. Blue lights highlighted its sleek body, curves and intricate details. Sooner, an endless chain of ranged attacks ensnared her. If it wasn’t for the SL protecting her, she would have died the moment she left the ocean.  

With the help of C10, Yash saved her from the never-ending assault of weapons with lasers, bullets and white beam.

Flying into the sky, her eyes expanded over the view. Zooming in, the sight of countless lives trapped in despair and pain tightened her chest. An endless network of tubes and pipes passed through them, all connected to containers that, when combined, could form a river of blood.

Her throat released a wail as she watched brutal mercenaries taking advantage of their victims, indifferent to whether they were lifeless or on the brink of death.

The gunfire she had escaped from pursued her. A powerful pull made her realise her body was already entangled in many light-based wires and ropes. “How can they? Why?” I can’t. Ropes and wires tugged at her, pulling her apart. “They have… to die!”

‘Not just them. All these mercenaries are victims of a powerful organisation, who had brainwashed them into monsters. One who torment their very soul.’

The attacks intensified with every passing moment, leaving her suspended in the midst. Thunderclouds filled the atmosphere, stretching across the sky as the atmosphere signalled an impending storm. Though the weapon assault failed to breach her SL, each impact still caused painful blows. Her head spun, overwhelmed by the swirling dizziness.

“Who?”

‘Who else? The devils who have disguised themselves as those who are the symbol of divinity. Angels.’

“What?” In the blink of an eye, her dizziness settled. “What did you just say?”

‘All the lives present here are praying for a death to get free from this cycle of eternal sin.’

Her gaze, once heavy with exhaustion, now burned with intense aggression, absorbing every nuance of her surroundings. The soul-wrenching sight below fuelled her hatred towards angels.

‘Are you ok? Your body metrics are changing.’

She paid no attention to Yash or the error. She was surpassing the physical abilities of an average human. The repetitive sound of caution consumed her ears.

“Stop this sound.”

‘What?’

“Stop. This sound.”

‘I would suggest that you refrain from any movement.’

Amidst the chaos, silence enveloped Manya. A smirk played on her lips. “Kids are. Evil.” The mysterious man’s voice reverberated in her ears. She glimpsed her right arm, completely tied up. She attempted to move her arm, but the weight of the ariots and helicopters pressed down like an unbearable burden.

The surge of mysterious energy was merging with her resolve to perish the enemies before her. Energy coursed through her arms, sending a tingling sensation down her fingertips, as if they were fulfilling her desires. She pulled her arm and the enemy forces attached to it, and tore off the mask from her face, silencing the disturbing warning announcements.

‘Are you insane?’

She sighed, “Still here?”

‘I’d detached the earpieces from it. What in the world are you thinking?’

She brought her index finger to her lips, urging for silence. She seized hold of every rope and wire attached to her. The weapon assault was causing a rampage. Tightening her grip, she pulled all the bindings, forming a whirlwind of motion and chaos in the air.

Thunder echoed through the sky. The waves embraced the storm and rain, growing with every clap of thunder. For their own safety, the mercenaries severed all the bindings, restraining her.

“Yash, make a tornado.” Manya wanted to disrupt the movements of each one of the flying chaos around her.

‘Why?’

“Just do it!”

He accepted her command and with the storm as a source, sooner C10 was too swift for human sight.