Minuses were classified by their threat level to society: Alpha (⟙), Beta (⟐), and Gamma (⟟).
Gamma-Class (⟟) were the weakest among the bunch and could even be killed with regular bullets if timed properly. But starting from Beta-Class (⟐), anti-mania rounds would have to be used or else no damage would be dealt. And lastly, Alpha-Class (⟙) were the strongest with them possessing overwhelming abilities that outright defy physics and logic.
For instance, there was a particular Minus captured by the MDCC that possessed the ability to manipulate motion. Thus, he could freely control forces such as velocity, momentum, and even inertia, effectively rendering all projectiles useless unless he allowed them to hit him. During his initial capture attempt, over a dozen agents were hospitalized after slipping, crashing, or being thrown around like ragdolls by unseen forces.
Surveillance footage later revealed that none of their movements had been natural, they'd all been "re-directed."
This Minus was later ranked as an Alpha-Class (⟙) threat and codenamed 'Vectoris.' His containment required the cooperation of three other Minuses — two Betas and one Alpha — along with a neural inhibitor crown developed by the MDCC's R&D department. Even now, Vectoris is kept in a zero-mobility magnetic isolation chamber under 24-hour supervision.
Simply put, Alpha-Class Minuses were walking global calamities, each one possessing enough power to take down an entire nation by default.
Mantis was classified as an Alpha-Class Minus.
She originally developed her abnormality after being captured and subjected to inhumane experiments by a criminal group within the Syndicate. As a result, she awakened as a Mire-Type Minus. Her ability, known as "Shell," is an immensely powerful mind-based abnormality encompassing a wide array of psychic functions: mental control, telepathy, memory reading, personality alteration, willpower suppression, memory destruction, emotional manipulation, brainwashing, and psychometry.
Unlike typical psychic abilities that manipulate bio-electricity directly, Shell operates on a more intricate level by controlling the secretion of brain chemicals through precise manipulation of blood distribution, cerebrospinal fluid, and other critical fluids in the brain. This allows her to alter the brain's internal chemistry and, in turn, influence its behavior. She increases or decreases the brain's electrical conductivity by regulating the very fluids that act as catalysts for neural activity.
Her range of influence spans from dozens to hundreds of targets simultaneously and can scale even higher when she unleashes her full power.
As such, she has a wide range of usefulness for the MDCC. However, her only weakness was that her physical capabilities were completely mediocre, especially her stamina stats.
So when Vesper noticed her tensed expression, he quickly changed the subject despite the fact she was wearing a power neutralizer.
She was truly terrifying.
"In any case, your assistance is required."
In response, Mantis raised an eyebrow.
"With what?"
Victor spoke smoothly, as if he were discussing nothing more than a routine errand.
"We need your help conducting a mental analysis on an Infected."
Using the remote, he manipulated the contents of the holographic screen, switching it to a surveillance feed. The display now showed a young man asleep in the examination room, with Handler Graves standing nearby on standby.
"That is your target."
Mantis tilted her head.
"He's my target, huh? He's quite handsome. Just my type."
She licked her lips, seductively. Noticing that, Victor coughed and continued his explanation.
"Ahem! As I was saying, the subject was tested positive for the X-virus just three days ago yet upon further analysis, his readings aren't displaying any active Mania activity. So we need a deep brain scan if we want to determine a satisfactory result."
Victor nodded slightly, adjusting the projection to display a series of brainwave scans and chemical analysis readouts.
"You're right. Most Minuses undergo latency before symptoms manifest, days, sometimes weeks. But this one..." he tapped a glowing waveform, "...is different. His readings are perfect."
Mantis frowned.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning there are no irregularities, emotional instability, neurological anomalies or anything of the sorts. It's like we're staring at a clean slate that should be infected, but isn't."
He gestured to another feed, an infrared overlay of the subject's neural activity. It was serene. Unnaturally so.
"Frankly, it's impossible. The virus always leaves a footprint. But with him, there's nothing. And it's even more suspicious considering his X-values are slightly above the Base Value q, but there's no fluctuation spikes whatsoever."
Mantis narrowed her eyes at the image of the sleeping boy.
"So what's your theory?"
Victor's tone lowered.
"Some in the R&D department believe it's an advanced form of adaptation. That maybe he's evolved beyond the normal infection stages."
"But you don't think that."
"No," Victor shook his head. "But that's where you come in. We won't know anything until someone with your abilities take a deep dive into his mind."
Mantis stared at the screen for a long moment. Then, with a grin, she turned back to him.
"Alright, I'll crack him open and see what makes his brain tick. But if he turns out to be that kind of person, I'm frying his brain without mercy."
Victor muttered wryly,
"We'd prefer you didn't melt his brain. He's still under our care, after all."
She waved her hand dismissively.
"Yeah, yeah. I won't turn him into soup. So hurry up already."
Without another word, Victor stepped forward and placed a headwear-like device over her head. At the same time, he adjusted the settings on her power neutralizer, granting her access to one percent of her abilities.
"You'll enter via calibrated resonance," he explained. "The Mind Bridge is already prepared, so your consciousness should phase smoothly into his neural field and I will monitor your vitals here."
She nodded and glanced toward the examination room beyond the reinforced glass wall.
"I'm ready."
Victor met her gaze and gave her a final, stiff nod.
"Be careful. If it's more than you can handle, pull out immediately."
In response, Mantis let out a sharp laugh, as if he'd told a joke.
"Pfft–! Please! Have you forgotten who you're talking to? Don't look down on me, okay?"
The headwear device lit up with a faint blue glow as the resonance calibration began. Slowly, the hum of the machinery deepened, like the sound of a distant thunderstorm caught in a loop. Mantis's pupils dilated and her breath caught for a fraction of a second before her body slackened — her consciousness already slipping beyond the veil.
Victor watched the vitals display closely, along with other MDCC officials.
"She's in," he murmured with a smile, mostly to himself.
The world around Mantis twisted as her consciousness transferred over.
The sterile white walls of the MDCC facility melted away into a sprawling, surreal landscape. It looked like a city of mirrors floating in space with each surface reflecting distorted memories and thoughts. Shapes drifted without weight, scenes fluttered in and out of vision, and words whispered themselves into existence before disappearing into black.
But more importantly, it was quiet.
"... What is this situation? Is this really the Sea of Memories of the infected mind?" Mantis muttered while scanning the entire space. Curious, she stepped forward onto one of the mirror bridges. The reflection showed her true self, unshackled by the power limiter.
Terrified, she recoiled back in horror.
"W-What is that thing?"
And then, for the briefest second, the mirror didn't show her.
It showed him.
The young man who was standing across the bridge with an unnatural smile. His eyes seemed void of any color like a sea of nothingness.
'He' spoke.
"Hehehe! Why hello there. What a strange girl you are. Does your own reflection frighten you that much?"
Suddenly, her body froze over. Her instincts screamed at her to flee!
"You...you're conscious?"
The boy laughed.
"Of course I am. This is my body, after all. And by the way, don't you know it's rude to invade someone else's mind? See this naughty girl. I think a little punishment is in order."
"Punish me?" Mantis blinked, then slowly broke into a wild grin. "Is that so? Who the hell do you think you are? Hate to break it to you, but I have the power to control the minds of others. The moment I stepped into your mental world, my victory was already guaranteed. So why don't you be a good boy and sit down, alright?"
But her words rang hollow.
The boy's grin only widened, darkly and unnervingly.
"I think you're misunderstanding something."
He stepped forward.
"This isn't my psyche..."
Tremble! Tremble!
Following those words, the entire space began to tremble.
"This... is just a mere Fragment of the Dreaming."
The mirror bridge cracked beneath Mantis's feet, and suddenly the entire landscape inverted. Up became down, the stars turned black, and mirrors burst into streams of fragmented code and color. Panicking, she tried to escape but found herself unable to, bound by some force.
"... W-What's going on? Why isn't it working?"
Alarms blared in the MDCC control room.
"Vice-Chief!" a technician shouted. "Her vitals are spiking! She's encountering resistance!"
"What? Resistance? That shouldn't be possible! Did we miscalculate? Damn it—" Victor gritted his teeth and bellowed. "Mantis, pull back! Disengage the Bridge! I repeat, disengage!"
Inside the dreamscape, the shattered fragments of the mirror-world had reassembled, now forming countless clones of the boy.
"... No way. Stay back! What the hell are you?!"
He took a step forward, and the entire space pulsed like a heartbeat.
In a panic, Mantis turned to flee, but her body wouldn't respond. Her escape was reduced to a series of desperate, fruitless struggles.
"Let me... show you. That is, my true self that I haven't even shown my Master. Feast it onto your eyes, worm! For my name is ■■ and I am one of the S■■■ ■■■ that protects the Dreaming!"
Then, everything went white as she was devoured by a monstrous maw.
† †
Mantis screamed as she snapped back into her body, the headgear smoking as she thrashed against the restraints.
Victor yanked the device off and tossed it aside.
"Hey, hey, calm down. Tell me what happened?!"
Mantis was very pale, much paler than he'd ever seen her. Sweat soaked her hair and her breath came in shallow, ragged bursts. Her eyes twitched rapidly, unfocused, like she was on the verge of neurological collapse.
She couldn't speak.
Or rather, she was attempting to speak but couldn't form coherent sentences. It was almost like her thoughts had been torn into fragments and scattered across a thousand imaginary worlds. Her fingernails clawed at the armrests as if trying to anchor herself to reality.
Gritting his teeth, Victor turned and barked at the workers.
"Someone get a stabilizer right now!"
Moments later, a pair of medical staff rushed in, injecting a neural dampener into her neck. Slowly, her spasms lessened but her eyes remained wide open, glassy, and trembling with primal terror.
Vitals are stabilizing," one of the techs reported. "But her neural activity... it's—"
Victor looked over the monitor.
...Flatline on Theta. Spikes in Delta. Gamma-wave interference… off the charts.
"What? This is... "
His eyes widened open.
This wasn't just post-telepathic shock. Something had forcefully rewritten the rhythm of her mind.
Then Mantis spoke, whispered with a weak voice.
"I saw it... no, it saw me..."
Her pupils shrank.
"It was smiling... smiling at me. Such a thing."
Victor leaned in.
"What's wrong, Mantis? Tell me what's wrong. What exactly did you see?"
Her lips moved slowly, as if weighed down by gravity.
"I saw... A Star... A brilliant star..."
Silence fell in the room. The technicians exchanged uneasy glances.
Her voice cracked.
"I—I think he said his name was... ■■. Something... something... I can't remember. He called himself a 'farmer.' No, it was a... Shepherd!"
Suddenly, her expression twisted into horror as if remembering something vital.
"NO... NO, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! IT LET ME IN!"
Her body began shaking again.
"IT WANTED ME TO SEE! IT WANTED ME TO COME! WHY CAN'T I SEE?!"
And then, in a single jerking motion, Mantis slammed her head against the side of the gurney.
Thud!
The medics swarmed her at once to stop her violent thrashing!
"Hold her down with restraints, now!"
"Damnit, she's really going crazy! Damn Minus!"
The medics pinned her down, strapping her wrists and ankles tightly to the gurney. Even then, her body writhed as if trying to escape something not in the room — something far away yet inside her head.
"She's convulsing again!"
"Administer a second dose of dampener!"
"No! That'll crash her cortex! Look at her synaptic response!"
Victor stepped back, frozen for a moment, watching the most terrifying mind manipulator he'd ever known dissolve into raw, incoherent animal.
He turned to the observation window, eyes narrowing at the sleeping boy on the other side.
"...Just what are you?"