21:47 JST Shinjuku City — Tokyo
Rain glossed the sidewalks in soft amber reflection. Street signs flickered. A pachinko parlor buzzed through shuttered windows. Buses passed. Nothing felt wrong...
That was the problem.
A car weaved through evening traffic like it was chasing something that hadn't happened yet. Inside the vehicle were two young operatives, too young to be called veterans, but too old to be called rookies. They had worn the Crucible's white-lined coats, which gave them the prestige to break traffic laws.
The passenger, a fair-skinned girl with short hair, tapped the mana scanner built into the vehicle's center console. The Fluxfinder reads flux disturbances accurately and pinpoints where the disturbance is at. These two were lucky, they had gotten the latest model installed. The passenger's eyes squinted at the readings as if trying to will them into making sense.
"Still nothing," she murmured. The driver kept one hand on the wheel, the other on the door. "You'd think with all the tech in this car, we'd be able to spot a disturbance before it even happens…" He tried to keep it light, but there was a flick in his voice, too flat to be casual. The passenger gave an annoyed look at her partner, "You want a refund for this thing?" The driver shot an exasperated look back, "No, I want a different job."
The radio clicked once. Then crackled again.
"Command to Theta-4."
The driver leaned toward the mic. "This is Tooru Mitsuki from Theta-4, how copy, Command?"
"We have gotten reports of a trespasser in the business district. With our cross-referencing, we can confirm their reports. Telemetry data states that they had gone to Building 12-G, Upper Nishiyama Commercial Block within Kabukichō. Please proceed with extreme caution. You two are the Crucible's Pride and Joy, do not engage alone or even you two as a group."
"Copy," the girl said before the driver could. "Approaching the block now." The driver exhaled, fingers tightening around the steering wheel. "Ichi, why did you even enroll in the Crucible? You're the daughter of the Nishiyama Conglomerate, your life is set."
A pause.
Her expression didn't change, but her tone did. It was cool like steel pressed against skin. "Maybe I'd rather be useful than inherited, Miki." She didn't raise her voice. She never did when it came to this. He wasn't the first to ask.
He glanced sideways. Her eyes stayed forward. Mitsuki started to open his mouth, then shut it. A bus rumbled by in the opposite lane, faces flickering behind its rain-streaked windows. None of the passengers noticed the Crucible insignia on the cruiser's door. Theta-4 turned the corner, and the city swallowed them whole.
21:49 — Inside 12-G
The building wasn't abandoned. That's what made the call worse. The lights were still on, at least on the lower floors. Elevator music played. A faint jazz tune from a second-floor café still open on the night shift.
Upstairs?
Silence.
On the third floor, office lights flickered. One of the workers left their computer running while a vending machine in the hallway gave a quiet ding as it dispensed a bottle that no one had ordered. In the hallway were bodies. Slumped. Folded. Mutilated into positions that made no human sense. And crouched above them?
A figure that smiled too widely. Its hands slick with crimson, body twitching with joy. It was Human-shaped, but wrong. "I love this city," it rasped. "So much fear. So much flavor." It picked up a body. Pressed its face to the neck like it was listening. Then it bit in, slowly, giggling.
21:51 — Outside the Block
"Command to Theta-4, update: The building's Spira readings are climbing. The counter has gone beyond 4,000, so assume it's an enforcer Spiral. Evacuation has been issued and widened. You two, please do not enter the building. I'm dispatching support."
Mitsuki looked up from the dashboard, his face bathed in the scanner's dim blue glow. The building stood across the lot, silent, but somehow watching. He muttered under his breath. "…God, why did I even sign up for this job?"
Nishiyama didn't look at him. She was checking her sync numbers on her data pad. "Then leave," she said quietly. "No one's forcing you to be here." Mitsuki hesitated. Then tried to shake it off with a crooked smile. "Hey, come on." He forced a weak laugh.
"You hear what they said about Site 6 last week? A Spiral tore straight through a team. It burned one of 'em from the inside. Left the Drive Core intact but melted our colleague like jelly." That made her pause, just for a second. Not because she was scared. Just because she'd already heard it too.
"The med team couldn't even identify the Spiral's Rasenzou pattern," he added. "No detectable Spira Cells were found on the body. Maybe it's a new type Spiral..." Nishiyama didn't respond. Instead, she opened the cruiser door with a click, stepped into the rain, and shut it behind her like the conversation never happened.
Mitsuki blinked.
"Wait, you're not serious. Right, Ichi? Nishiyama? Hey, Command said wait for backup—!" She was already crossing the street, boots splashing through shallow puddles. The Crucible sigil on her back glinted under a streetlight in the rain. She didn't hesitate. Not even when the door to 12-G groaned open at her touch. Mitsuki sank back into his seat for half a second, fingers tightening around the steering wheel. "She's going to get herself killed..."
A pause.
"...Or promoted."
21:52 — Third Floor
It didn't hear her approach. Maybe it thought she was food, too. Another human mistake. A single footstep echoed through the open space. The monster turned, sluggish at first, as if drunk on what it had consumed. Someone stood across from it, their silhouette framed by the shadows of the moonlight. The person wore a long coat, fingerless gloves, and held a stoic posture. They flexed one hand
—CRACK—
They had cracked their middle finger. "Cute. Guess the rumors weren't bullshit after all. A monster that looks human and still has the ego to pile bodies like it means something. You must be an Aberrant Class Spiral," a feminine voice called out. Her eyes skimmed across the room and saw a pile of bodies. Torn. Rearranged. Some still warm. "Hmm," she continued. "Didn't think I'd see one in the city." The Spiral twitched, head tilting unnaturally, as if trying to listen to her bones shift beneath the skin.
Blood glistened down its chin while it paused from munching down on a jawbone. It dropped it, "You're the one they warned me about." Its voice was low and wet. It distinctly sounded masculine, yet the way it answered did not make it sound right. Like it had one too many vocal cords vibrating at once. "You smell... foul. Wrong. Like the food, but you reek like us. You're trying to pass as clean, aren't you?" It stood fully now, rising in wet pops and spasms.
Upon observation, the limbs on it were too long and numerous. Its carapace was detailed with spiraling ridges across it. Its eyes adjusted, black sclera, red irises spinning like drills. "A Spiral you must be," it hissed. "A hypocrite within a flesh skin being one with the food? Is that what you think you are?? You think wearing a flesh suit can keep you from being killed?"
She didn't answer.
"The Hive was ordered to take the flesh suit Spiral in alive." Its mouth stretched wider like it was smiling, "But I hope you don't mind if I break you a little first. If you really taste like human, fear should make your marrow sweeter." A body twitched behind it reflexively. She shrugged and exhaled softly. "Do you mind being my meal instead?"
The Spiral froze.
Then, it laughed. Not loud. Not crazed. Amused.
"You're funny," it said. "Like a fly thinking it can kill its predator. Do you think wearing that makes you stronger?" It took one slow step toward her, shoulders twitching, jaw half-dislocated with glee. "Go ahead. Bare your fangs." Pieces of tissue burst out of one of its arms with a wet shriek of liquid muscle. "Let's see who devours who."
21:53 — Combat Snap
It surged forward as the pieces of tissue wrapped around all its left arms, forming a centralized claw on them. It slammed its claw into her location with all of its might, shattering the tile on the floor and kicking up smoke and debris, swallowing the open room in gray.
Silence.
A low, satisfied exhale. "Too easy…" Then—a sharp crack echoed in the room. Two crimson red tails, pulsing with spiral energy pierced through the smoke and into the window of the building. The tails pulled back, shattering the glass window. Smoke billowed into the night.
The Spiral staggered back slightly, blinking into the clearing haze. "…Oh?" A grin split its jaw again, delighted. "Still alive? Good. That makes the flavor deeper." It took one step forward, then froze. A wet slither echoed behind it. The Spiral looked down at its left side and saw only shredded muscle remained. Spiral tissue dangled while its left side was half-severed. Its pupils dilated. "…Huh?" Its head dropped seconds later. Landing face-first into the ground, next to the pile of corpses. A soft thud.
Rafters – Third Floor
She stood overhead in the rafters, crouched on a steel beam. Tails unfurled behind her as they pulsed faintly in rhythm with her breath. Her eyes glinted once. They had the same glow as the Spiral, but yellow in color. Her irises were Spiral-ringed and sharp, but colder. She looked down at the Spiral's beheaded body, then wiped her mouth with the back of her glove. "You taste like rotting fish, horrible aftertaste."
Then, silently.
She descended.
Her boots barely made a sound as she dropped down. The Spiral's body twitched once more, a postmortem spasm rippling through the flesh. She stepped over it, cracked her finger again, and crouched beside the ruined torso. The Rasenzou of the Spiral was still visible. A pulsing, wet sac of spiral tissue embedded in muscle. It contained the Spira cells that give Spirals its power and ability of self-armament where it's embedded. It throbbed faintly, like it still remembered the shape of its host. One of her tails curled downward, deliberate, almost gentle. It hovered above the Rasenzou.
-SHHK-
The tail pierced it. A single strike, and ripped free the organ. The pulsing from it slowed and the Spiral's final spasm twitched its fingers once. She reached out and the tail coiled forward, dropping the chunk into her open palm. She brought it to her mouth without hesitation.
-Crunch-
She chewed once, and swallowed the whole organ. Her eyes flickered, briefly brighter than before. A twist of red spun through the spiral rings in her irises. She exhaled slowly. "Still tastes like fish," she muttered. "But… less rotten. The amount of Spira Cells you had were… adequate at best." Then—
SCREECH
The sound of tires cutting wet pavement echoed from the streets below. A pulse of red and blue light splashed across the walls through the shattered window. Sirens could be heard in the distance. Above, a low mechanical roar grew louder as a VTOL's silhouette cut across the storm-glossed skyline, its floodlights sweeping down over the building. She looked up once, "Hah…late as always," she murmured. She turned and vanished into the dark.
21:55 — First Floor, Building 12-G
Footsteps thundered up the stairwell. Mitsuki nearly tripped rounding the landing. He was out of breath from running after his partner. The raindrops were heard from inside the building, pattering softly on the outside walls. "N-Nishiyama slow down—! Command said we're supposed to wait for backup!" He said out of breath, finally catching up with her.
"Says the cadet who rewired the mess hall console this morning just to avoid drills." Mitsuki grimaced. "Hey, that was because I was still tired this morning and you know training with 75 pounds of gear on you is ridiculous."
"You seem to forget that we are fighting monsters that see us for food and entertainment, Miki." She didn't even glance back. "Try thinking for once, something you stopped doing lately after that mission a year ago." The shine in Mitsuki's eyes disappeared, "I don't want to talk about that…" Nishiyama's scanner buzzed sharply. She pulled the device out of her pocket. The display flickered with red readings.
- Spiral Detected
- Spiralization Factor: 8200
Her eyes widened, just for a second. "...No way," she whispered. You can't blame her, she should be in disbelief after seeing the numbers the scanner picked up. She then broke into a sprint.
"Drive Form: Initiate."
As she ran up the stairs, white-blue lines of magic ran down her coat seams and across her right hand, onto a gem embedded within the glove. With a crack of light, her Drive materialized out of thin air. A curved mono-edge blade was grabbed out of the air, lightly shimmering under the building lighting. "Come on, Miki," she muttered under her breath. "Don't make me solo this."
Mitsuki watched as she flew up the stairs. He sighed as he slowly walked up the stairs, "Of course you'd rush in, the stubborn Ichi strikes again. Now I have to go save her again," he murmured. He stuck out his left arm, "Drive Form: Initiate." His jacket flared with faint orange light, circuits lighting up along his shoulder as a dragon shaped gauntlet-like Drive formed over his left arm. "Maybe I should tell her why I'm like this now… Give her a reason to leave the Crucible," he mumbled as he flexed his gauntlet hand.
"BOOST! Level 1 reached. Physical and Magical offenses and defenses enhanced by a multiple of 5," the glove relayed. As he reached the third-floor landing, he caught a glimpse of her ahead. Mitsuki sighed, understanding that the past is the past and there is no need to hold a grudge on a childhood friend that forgot that fateful day. He shook his head before donning the mask he always wears.
"Oh, of course. You get the simple, yet fancy Drive. A Katana." He glanced down at his own Drive, "Meanwhile I'm out here cosplaying a wannabe ero superhero with this gauntlet."
21:56 — Third Floor, Building 12-G
The scent hit them first. Mitsuki gagged mid-step, pulling his collar over his nose. "What the hell—? Did someone microwave a cadaver in here? It reeks of pennies, rotting flesh, and super curdled spoiled milk." Nishiyama said nothing. She moved ahead with her blade resting on her right arm and postured low.
The hallway was half-lit, flickering lights overhead struggling to hold power thanks to her killing the lights on the third floor. Blood trailed in smears against the wall and floor. It wasn't splattered around, it looked like something deliberately dragged something on the walls and floor. They turned the corner, and saw it.
A pile of corpses laid out on the ground, twisted together like a ritual offering. Some are barely intact while some were… eerily rearranged. Mitsuki stopped cold, "Is this… was this all one Spiral?" Nishiyama pulled out her scanner and scanned the area. "No," she whispered. "It couldn't be…" She looked around the floor and rescanned the area. "The scanner isn't picking up any Spira Cells or any Spiral residue… it's odd," she mumbled before tripping on something in the center of the room.
She looked down to see a Spiral's body. Out of instinct, she drove her Drive right into it. "Miki! We've got contact!" she yelled. Mitsuki ran from where he was, only to see his partner repeatedly slashing at a non-moving Spiral. He looked to his left and saw the severed head of the Spiral. He then took a closer look at the Spiral body Nishiyama is swinging at and saw tissue strands torn out of its body, half-congealed and faintly glistening from the moonlight. He put his hand on his face and shook his head, "Hey, Ichi…" he called out to his partner. She stopped swinging her Drive, which covered her and itself in Spiral blood. She gave him a hard look, "What now Miki?" He pointed at the severed head, "It's already dead, no need to overreact now."
She stared at the head, then the body, and then at Mitsuki. Her Drive phased out in a shimmer of light as she blushed hard. "I WAS MAKING SURE IT WAS DEAD CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!" she screeched before she started lightly hitting him with her fists, not that he flinched. After a few seconds, her hands slowed.
'Why am I doing this? Am I scared of the Spiral?' Nishiyama's eyes looked over to the Spiral's severed head, then to the pile of bodies. 'Am I scared of this… silence?' She then looked back at Mitsuki. 'What if the roles were reversed and the Spiral was still alive? What if I stayed back and let Miki take care of it, only to come too late?' Mitsuki looked at her confused. She then shook her head, "Don't look at me like that," she snapped, turning away.
Mitsuki ignored her and knelt down to the body, "This Spiral didn't just die… it got harvested. But by who? We are the first ones here…" Nishiyama wondered the same thing before her gaze caught something on the Spiral's body. A faint flow of Spira energy started oozing from its left side. She pulled out her scanner again. The readout blinked erratically.
- FLUX DETECTED
- WARNING: FLUX IS TAINTED WITH SPIRA ENERGY
- DATABASE SIGNATURE MATCH: NONE
She nudged Mitsuki before showing him the readings. He looked at the display, and was astounded at the readout, "What the…"
A sound was heard in the distance.
Mitsuki stopped talking. The sound was faint, like a partially open faucet dripping water. Nishiyama's body moved before her thoughts caught up.
"Drive Form: Initiate."
Her Drive reappeared in her hand. She shifted her stance while Mitsuki took point. 'Something's still here,' she thought. But before the silence could break—Shouts echoed from the stairwell they came from.
"Crucible Unit Delta, we've reached Theta-4's last ping!"
"I have eyes on the third floor."
"Breach and Clear! Go, go, go!"
Multiple smoke grenades were thrown in the room, fogging it up. Seconds later, a window shattered as a VTOL floodlight slammed through the haze. Armed scouts fast-roped down from the VTOL onto the floor. Nishiyama didn't lower her blade immediately. Mitsuki flinched as the light swept across him. "Friendly! We're friendly, damn it!" The lead scout jogged forward, "Theta-4, report. What the hell happened here?" Nishiyama's gaze looked toward the bloodbath. "We're not sure yet sir. But it looks like someone beat us to the Spiral."
21:58 — Third Floor, Building 12-G
The rest of the backup flooded the floor.
"Secure perimeter."
"Watch the rafters. Other Spirals might still be here."
One agent knelt beside the Spiral's body, scanning the shredded mass of the tissue. "This thing is mutilated. Whatever dealt the damage had to be from a Drive or another Spiral." Nishiyama lowered her blade, before dismissing it. Mitsuki had long dismissed his Drive, he was talking to the backup team leader. Possibly discussing what had happened here. Another agent's scanner beeped behind Nishiyama.
"No hostiles detected."
A sharp voice cut through the static. "Clear a path." The rescue squad parted instinctively. A figure stepped through the breach. Long coat, black with crimson trim. You could feel command before you saw it. "Commander Hoshino," muttered one of the scouts under breath. The commander's eyes moved once across the room, scanning the Spiral's body to the pile of bodies, then to Theta-4. She spoke low, almost tired, "Report."