Western District Subjugation - Phase 2
The Western District Subjugation—officially known as the Central City Western District Demon Subjugation Operation. Operation Summary: Considering that the current harbor site where magical residue was detected and all previous crime scenes suspected to have been committed by the same perpetrator are located in the same industrial zone—the Western District—it is presumed that the demon’s primary residence or area of activity is also within the Western District.
Accordingly, the Central City National Security Bureau will mobilize personnel from the Metropolitan Police Department to completely blockade the entire Western District on Friday night, immediately following the demon’s full-moon cycle. Using pre-deployed Relics, search teams will be dispatched to every sector where even the slightest magical wavelength is detected.
Operation personnel are to prioritize reporting any unusual findings. In the event of engagement, they are advised to prioritize relaying information to follow-up units over neutralizing the target, even if it means retreating. This operational posture will be maintained until the target—the demon—is located. If all search teams are confirmed killed or lose contact for a predetermined period, it will be determined that the target is present within the operation zone. Full firepower will then be deployed.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—!
Creeeeaaak—!
…Ah.
The grotesque sounds coming from ahead and the portable magical detector shaking violently in her hands sent a chill racing across Ellyse’s entire body. At the same time, her scattered mind finally snapped back into focus. She snatched up her radio without hesitation.
Meeting a demon meant a high chance of death, but failing to report for no reason meant a near-certain death by friendly bombardment. The choice was obvious.
“A1, entering Phase 2.”
Inspector Ellyse reported. From this moment, Team 1—having entered the Western District’s underground sewer system—would engage in combat, and the reporting interval would be extended from ten minutes to thirty.
Having fulfilled her duty as communications officer, Ellyse Bertman immediately looked for her next task. It was instinctive, but also because she simply had to follow what the other team members were doing.
With a metallic click, Ellyse raised her rifle.
By the time she had assumed a combat stance, the source of the stench and noise she had been sensing finally revealed itself.
Creeeeaaak—!
Ellyse suddenly found herself doubting her own eyes as she stared at the things emerging from the shadows. She swallowed hard. Cold sweat trickled down her back.
Creeeeaaak—!
Creeeeeeeeeeeeak—!
Calling them monsters didn’t feel like an exaggeration. The creatures that came charging down the sewer, completely filling the passage, trampled over their own comrades without any regard for their own safety. They were solely focused on reaching her group as quickly as possible. Some ran on two legs, others crawled on all fours. They twisted their bodies in spasms, constantly emitting those bizarre noises. They appeared to lack even the most basic capacity for thought or reason.
But the most horrifying fact was that they resembled humans.
Though they wore no clothes, had no body hair, and their bare skin was covered in countless stitch and needle marks as if leather had been crudely sewn onto flesh, their body structures were eerily similar to humans.
The sharp-eyed rookie inspector realized their true nature in an instant. They weren’t merely shaped like humans. They had been human.
Humans.
The realization that her former kin had become these grotesque abominations—and that she was now aiming a gun at them—caused the new inspector’s finger on the trigger to slacken for a split second.
Even so, the reason she didn’t forget her duty was thanks to years of training and the single word that now rang in her ears.
“Fire.”
Inspector Ellyna said, and Inspector Ellyse pulled the trigger without hesitation.
BOOM—!
Her rifle spat its first round at the same moment five assault rifles opened fire in unison. They poured out bullets. Countless ones.
Ratatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatatat—!
The search team’s barrage began by punching straight into the forehead of the lead creature, then tore through the front line of monsters. They shattered arms and legs to cripple mobility, pierced heads and hearts to extinguish life. During the process, Inspector Ellyse didn’t feel the need to aim carefully. It wasn’t because she had suddenly realized she possessed a genius talent for marksmanship.
…They weren’t afraid.
When one collapsed, spraying green blood across the floor, the next one simply took its place and received the bullets. When that one fell, the one behind it endured the storm of lead. And when that one collapsed too, yet another came charging forward while vomiting blood from its entire body. All to kill her.
Faced with that impersonal and horrific sight, Ellyse kept her eyes wide open and simply pulled the trigger again and again. When she heard the hollow click of an empty chamber, she swiftly swapped magazines and resumed firing.
Ratatat—!
The bullets she fired burned through the monsters’ bodies, but the creatures used their comrades’ sacrifices as stepping stones and steadily closed the distance. As dozens, then hundreds, continued to surge forward, all Ellyse could do was backpedal while squeezing the trigger.
Ting-ting-ting—!
In the midst of it, one creature caught her eye—one that was withstanding the bullets. A monster that took no damage at all, simply deflecting rounds with its armored hide as if it were natural, rapidly closed the gap between them.
Arrow Ward’s Blessing.
The demon’s Mystery she had once heard about flashed through her mind, but Ellyse could only stare stupidly at the creature now right in front of her and keep pulling the trigger.
Die. Just die already.
She clung to that empty wish as it swelled inside her.
Creeeeak—!
She stared blankly at the sharp hand flying toward her forehead. It was coming. Death was drawing nearer. Locking eyes with the creature’s hollow gaze, Ellyse thought absently,
Am I going to die?
And then, strangely, she suddenly wondered what the afterlife would be like. A burning hell? Or a beautiful world atop the clouds? Maybe both were true. Perhaps the life one led on earth determined the world one entered after death. She had lived rather virtuously, so she thought she would be much closer to heaven, but Ellyse Bertman had many attachments to this mortal world and plenty of greed. Even a strong will to survive.
With bloodshot eyes, Ellyse glared at the creature hurtling toward her. Projectiles were useless against something protected by a blessing anyway. She gritted her teeth and released the gun in her hand. It was far too late a decision, but she finally drew the knife hanging at her waist.
Arts.
Weapons forged by fragile humans of flesh and blood in order to confront demons. Anti-demon armaments refined from pure silver and the remains of their corpses. She gripped one tightly.
Crunch—!
With a desperate, life-or-death resolve, she drove the blade into the creature’s forehead. At the sight of green blood spraying before her eyes, Ellyse unconsciously felt relief. She wasn’t too late. She had survived.
Creeeeak—!
Which was why she noticed the next monster flying toward her a fraction too late.
“…Huh?”
I can’t dodge this. I’m going to die.
Ellyse stared blankly at the creature that had appeared along with that ominous premonition.
“I knew I’d have to look after you.”
A voice rang out, clearer than the gunfire, and slammed into her ears.
Squelch—!
The hilt of a knife protruded from the creature’s forehead. It was Inspector Ellyna Bastard’s blade.
Ellyse looked up at her superior who had come to save her with dazed eyes. Even in that moment, Ellyna met her junior’s gaze and offered a faint smile. She pulled the knife free. Only then did the monster’s blood spray into the air, and at the same time, the wrist of the creature that had been right in front of Ellyse was severed completely.
Having confirmed the sight, Ellyna Bastard slowly wiped the smile from her face and turned her gaze toward the monsters still swarming toward them from the front.
“All units, lower your firearms.”
Having said that, Ellyna Bastard lowered her stance. Soon, her red eyes flickered wildly. The blood on her blade followed a beat later. The Special Affairs Division agents, familiar with that low command, stopped shooting without question.
A single person’s footsteps quickly filled the silence left behind.
Ellyna Bastard ran straight toward the monsters charging at her. The distance closed in an instant. The inspector gripped the blade that was practically an extension of her own limbs. She sliced through the monster before her eyes. Her hands and feet moved without a single wasted motion. With every strike, diagonal lines were carved across the monsters’ necks and torsos. Occasionally, when a blade caught on bone with a dull thunk, she quickly delivered several more slashes to finish it off.
When four or five charged at once, she shot two down with the pistol in her left hand and finished the rest with her blade. Even when more came, her movements simply increased in number, and in the end, she killed them all. It was as if only Ellyna was moving at a different speed from the rest of the world.
After repeating that slaughter several times, the number of creatures collapsed on the floor soon exceeded those still standing. A little more time passed, and they were all prone. No more monsters came running. Every last life had been extinguished.
Only the sound of blood dripping—plop, plop—filled the sewer.
“……”
Ellyse Bertman stared at the scene before her in a daze, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. She took in the sight of Inspector Ellyna’s back, who had been right beside her only moments ago but now stood far ahead. Though only one image was captured on her retina, countless thoughts and emotions swirled through her mind.
The shock of witnessing power at the pinnacle of humanity, the relief of having somehow survived, and the admiration for the strength she had once dreamed of—all of it circled and lingered in her heart.
Finally regaining her senses, Ellyse exhaled the breath that had been trapped in her lungs and ran toward her squad leader. Her legs trembled, but sheer willpower carried her until she finally reached Ellyna’s side.
Standing beside her, Ellyse Bertman, with a flushed face, was about to ask how she could possibly possess such ability. It was the only thing that came to mind right then.
But the heated breath filled with a rookie’s passion never made it into the air.
Ellyna Bastard, wearing a cold expression completely different from the one she had shown her junior, looked down at the monsters’ corpses and muttered flatly,
“The finishing touches are sloppy.”
Like something a child had abandoned halfway through making.
Slain Pavlov opened his eyes. He stretched his refreshed body this way and that as he rose from the bed. A crushed lump of bloody flesh squelched beneath his foot, but it didn’t elicit the slightest reaction from him. Instead, he simply picked up the receiver that had been flashing a red alert and listened to the report.
He began with a relaxed expression, listening to the trembling voice on the other end, but his face soon hardened.
“…The first hangar is empty?”
The warehouse where he had stored the failed experiments he had diligently created during his teenage years. They were things created without any sense of aesthetics or philosophy, but the disappearance of his property was truly unpleasant. Slain’s face twisted as he spoke.
“Send that incompetent caretaker to the laboratory.”
Yes, that was a fitting punishment. However, punishing the fool alone would not resolve the situation. Slain ran several hypotheses through his mind. And from them, he derived the one thing he could be certain of right now.
“…A rat has slipped in.”
It seemed their new experimental subject had come to visit.