On Sunday morning, Moran City's Plaza, which should have been peaceful, turned ominous.
The commander came to a halt, staring blankly at the cracked cobblestone road.
There, burned into the ground, was a three-eyed footprint, leaving behind the strong smell of sulfur atop a circle of lava that had only just solidified.
Several meters away, in the center of Niki District, the ground had collapsed into a small crater that emitted thin wisps of smoke; a jet-black fragment of a comet was embedded at its center.
The investigation team, who had originally been preparing to hunt down the figure seen wandering on April 1, lowered their weapons.
Instead, they picked up brushes, pickaxes, and large shovels, busily examining the comet debris like archaeologists excavating an ancient ruin.
Under the command of Queen Seon Arzen, a man with a somewhat apathetic face approached the crowd ahead, his leather boots kicking up clouds of dust.
"...Captain, I found something!" an officer shouted loudly.
Captain Queen Seon Arzen walked over. The officer then pointed toward something beneath the ruins of a house several dozen meters behind them.
The attention of all ten people shifted toward the object, though the distance and the damaged road obstructed their view.
It was a mound of grayish-white dust.
Queen fell silent, a chill creeping up the back of her neck in stark contrast to the slowing beat of her heart.
'Dust? That's no ordinary dust, is it?'
Without hesitation, the ten of them walked toward the grayish-white mound, which stood one and a half meters tall and remained firmly in place despite the fierce wind blowing around it.
The moment she touched it, even through her white gloves, Queen Seon Arzen realized where the dust had come from. She glanced at her ten subordinates with hesitation.
"...Look for something else. We don't need this."
The ten men saluted before resuming their search and returning to the city center.
Having been assigned the Niki District sector, Queen Seon Arzen carried a long-barreled rifle along with her beloved sword without hesitation.
Meanwhile, a woman wearing the same uniform as Queen, though with fewer insignias, approached her and said in almost a whisper, "There's something strange about this place, isn't there, Captain?"
Queen looked at Lyliya, her eyelids lifting slightly.
"About this dust..." Queen lifted her gaze, letting the cool, refreshing morning breeze brush across her face before continuing, "This city is hiding incidents that can only be investigated using supernatural abilities."
Lyliya instinctively stepped back and clenched her fists; her gloved fingers trembled.
After looking around, Lyliya let out a breath and asked, "Are you sure you want to use that power, Captain?"
Queen Seon Arzen nodded, her expression changing completely.
Although she was merely a "subordinate," Lyliya was intimately familiar with the intricacies of the supernatural ability possessed by the woman she had served ever since Queen's days as a lieutenant, and now as a captain.
Even so, Queen Seon Arzen was fully aware of the risks involved in revealing herself as a "Receivers," especially to subordinates ranked below vice captain or lieutenant.
Lyliya, a Major wearing a golden Cirsten flower insignia on her chest, had held the rank of major for roughly three years and would reach her fourth year at the end of June.
Queen nodded, her expression becoming more relaxed.
"Don't worry. Come with me and support me from the sidelines."
Lyliya nodded, her face expressionless.
"All right. I'll be a good spectator and cheer you on during this mission."
After saying those words, Queen Seon Arzen stepped to the left and bent down; her hand froze just as she was about to touch the dust one last time.
'What's happening?'
Lyliya cried out in shock.
"Captain, right in front of you!"
Naturally, their perceptions of the object were different; Lyliya saw dark green tendrils and an aura of dense darkness, while Queen herself sensed something faint preventing her hand from touching the dust.
Queen Seon Arzen looked back over her shoulder, a faint smile curling at her lips.
"Calm down. You're being influenced by the evil spirits in this area."
Lyliya was left speechless as her body lost its balance.
It was true; evil spirits and other supernatural entities roamed this dead city, unable to escape, making them increasingly feral even though the black spiritual warding talismans slightly restrained their savagery.
....
Far from where they stood, Commander Zousi Ayler and his deputy, Kusen, were confronting a man believed to be the same figure the high-ranking officials had seen earlier that morning.
"...Who are you?" Kusen asked, his eyes nearly opening wide.
It was already past seven in the morning according to the report, and both men remained alert, slightly raising their long-barreled rifles.
After spotting a man wandering through the northern district of Chapena, the two immediately moved to intercept him, instructing their subordinates to remain on standby and retreat if they failed to return within thirty minutes.
Casting aside their archaeologist personas, they returned to their true mission: to investigate the figure before them. Was he human, or something else entirely?
Since they received no answer, they became even more convinced that they would have to shoot.
The man, with coarse hair matted by dried blood and sky-blue eyes, looked at them indifferently as he adjusted his thin-framed glasses.
Commander Zousi stared at him in confusion.
"You're no ordinary man. State your business if you want to live!"
'How could someone like him be in this city? Did he get separated from his group, or has he just awakened from that illness?'
The bespectacled man smiled at them as the sound of weapons being cocked echoed through the silence.
Even with two gun barrels aimed directly at him, the man asked with a dark expression, "Who are you? Are you trying to play games with me?"
After all, waking from a long sleep, or rather, surviving a near-death experience, had become a painful ordeal for him despite having endured it repeatedly.
Yes, he was Karl Vairanz, brought back from death through a clone he had never recalled, a clone originally created to deal with the emissary of the Finiscya sect on the road leading out of the city plaza.
Karl adjusted his glasses, his expression calm even though deep down he remained somewhat skeptical.
He had been asleep for nearly four months, only waking at 3:50 on the morning of Sunday, April 6.
'What a nuisance. Still, those two seem to belong to that group. What about the other four? Is he still searching for Narissa?'
It was sheer luck that he had survived the attack from that horrifying creature's hand. Karl Vairanz had not died; instead, he had fallen into a coma for four months, while unconsciously relying on the fundamental power of his ability to keep himself from the void of endless sleep.
However, Karl was completely unaware of this. He had only awakened at the beginning of April after his long slumber, undoubtedly because of their arrival, the comet's impact, and that mysterious figure.
He calmly and carefully raised his hand, his face clearly twisted with pain.
"I'm just an ordinary citizen, nothing like what you two are imagining."
Karl chuckled to himself.
Naturally, they did not believe such nonsense, prompting Kusen to fire without hesitation.
Bang!
A sharp gunshot rang out, accompanied by the soft clang of metal.
Karl Vairanz toyed with their perception as he stepped closer toward them.
Tap!
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the darkened city.
Zousi Ayler nearly struck Karl, but Karl swiftly shifted back to his original position.
Meanwhile, Zousi's intervention snapped Kusen out of the perfect illusion.
The previous gunshot had never been real. It had merely been Kusen's hallucination.
Unfamiliar with his opponent's abilities, Karl maintained a combat stance while observing them.
In an instant, one supernatural attack vanished, followed immediately by another, causing Commander Zousi to lose his balance just as he tried to touch Karl.
Karl reappeared as though his body were made of light, standing in exactly the same spot.
'I can't let that man touch me. Between my flawless illusions and my coat fluttering in the wind, the brown-eyed man has to be taken down first.'
After formulating his plan, Karl drew a wooden wand from the hidden pocket inside his coat.
It was an ordinary wand with no innate power, yet it had become somewhat extraordinary under the influence of the Magician ability.
Their attention shifted to the wand as they lowered their long-barreled rifles so they would not hinder their movements.
Just as the wand pointed toward the commander's head, Zousi Ayler was saved by Kusen's intervention.
Karl leaped backward and stood still, watching the changes occurring in Kusen's body.
'What kind of ability is that?'
Despite having spent nearly a decade in the supernatural world, Karl could not understand why the man kept his left hand over his closed eyes even in the middle of battle.
'Is he blind? There's no way a blind man could become a Receivers, is there?'
With only limited knowledge of the secrets behind the fifteen supernatural abilities, Karl chose not to take any chances as he swept the wand aside with his right hand.
A Queen of Diamonds and a King of Diamonds suddenly appeared, then instantly sliced through the air toward them.
Karl arrived behind them and opened his palm.
Commander Ayler was startled.
'What? A Magician?'
He quickly shoved Kusen aside, but he himself took the full force of the attack that ravaged his internal organs, sending his body flying several meters away.
The cards were pulled back, vanished, yet were successfully caught by Kusen.
Karl was left speechless as he stared at him for several seconds.
'Don't tell me the Tenano Security Department is here?'
Since their uniforms matched the description, Karl had no choice but to kill him.
Besides, if he had to deal with them, Karl had no idea what kind of fate awaited him afterward.
"You... you're a member of the Cevenose Security Department, aren't you?" Karl asked, merely to make sure.
Kusen snorted, his eyes opening slightly.
"And if I am? What are you going to do about it?"
Naturally, as the deputy commander, seeing the man he served on the brink of death stirred a storm of conflicting emotions within him.
"Bastard," he hissed under his breath.
Karl Vairanz stared at him as he retrieved his cards, yet they remained firmly in Kusen's grasp.
He could only let out a sharp hiss as the two cards shot through the air and struck his forehead.
'So fast.'
Even Karl himself was affected by the speed of his own Magician ability.
He acknowledged that a Receivers could generally move at a speed one level below his own; however, in this case, Karl dared to say that this black-haired man possessed strength one level above his.
As his body lost its balance, Kusen immediately moved in to finish him with the touch of his hand.
Unbeknownst to him, however, Karl gave Kusen the faint smile he always wore.
Kusen remained completely unaware and continued activating his ability through physical contact.
Familiar sounds; the ticking of a clock and the dripping of water, gradually began filling the space around them.
There was no sky, no collapsing buildings, only a vast expanse of water stretching as far as the eye could see, and serrated chains completely binding Karl Vairanz's body.