Ch 223: On the origins of Yomas.

"Is this Magecraft that valuable?" asked "Phantom" Miria as she walked to the Agent. "Mobilizing six Warriors, three of them being single digits, seems excessive."

When she received the summons and made her way to the outskirts of this city, Miria, Ranked Sixth amongst the Warriors, had met n°8, "Tracker" Dietrich, n° 46, Clarice, and n°31, "Long range" Tabitha.

N°24, Minerva, who hadn't earned a nickname yet, had joined them a few hours later.

Furthermore, they were still expecting "Rippling" Ophelia, ranked Fourth.

"Better safe than sorry." smiled the Agent. "Maybe seeing so many warriors will deter them from resisting, and I have doubts about Claire's loyalty."

"…You said that they could cause their target to burst into flames from a distance, and that they could project some kind of black energy from their hands. If they decide to fight, it will be hard to incapacitate them." frowned Miria.

"And why are we even doing it?" asked Minerva. "We aren't supposed to hurt civilians."

"Assuming that people who can kill Yoma could really be considered as civilians." replied the Agent.

"We want to obtain their abilities. You can well imagine how convenient it would be, to be able to injure or kill Yomas without having to go close enough to use your swords. The number of Warriors falling in battle would be lowered."

The five Warriors nodded.

"We also need to know who they work for, and if they are agents from an unknown faction. According to Claire, they mentioned being part of something called the Chaldea Security Organization, but we haven't heard any mention of that name before."

"You said you were doubting Claire's loyalty." said Miria. "Have you any concrete proof that a Warrior would be disloyal?"

She didn't know Claire. In fact, of the group gathered here, she had only met Dietrich and Tabitha once previously. Warriors were assigned their areas of responsibility, and only met when Awakened beings had to be dealt with. Or when they had to execute one of their own for killing humans or refusing to hunt Yomas.

"She refused to kill Elena after receiving her black card, and claims that Elena has become fully human. That the Magecraft users have removed all traces of Yoma flesh and blood from her body. I find that hard to believe." shrugged the Agent. "Still, I am willing to give them a chance to prove it. Which is why we are waiting there. Claire and Elena should come before the sun has fully set."

Miria noticed that as the Agent talked, Dietrich had turned away from him, her head turning left and right, her right hand twitching as she stared at the tops of the two closest stone pillars.

Miria knew that Dietrich had been nicknamed "Tracker" for a reason, and looked around, her vigilance increased. But she didn't spot anything out of the ordinary.

"What is it, Dietrich?" asked Miria with a low voice.

"…I feel like we're being watched. Like the last time Claire reported." tensely said Dietrich. "But this time... it feels like there are more than one watcher."

In response to her words, the Agent and the other Warriors also watched their surroundings with increased vigilance. But all they could see was the rocky terrain, and the natural stone formations that created dozens of thick stone pillars around them, as a result of countless years of erosion.

Then they started hearing it. The sounds of two pairs of armored feet walking, coming closer. They turned in the direction the sounds came from, but those that were walking closer were still hidden behind a curve of the nearby cliff.

"This isn't Claire and Elena." frowned Miria. "The sounds are too heavy."

She was expecting a pair of Yomas, as she couldn't imagine anything big enough to make those sounds while also walking on two legs, but when they emerged from behind the cliff well, their appearance confused her, as they were clearly made of metal.

The first was a three-meter-tall giant in midnight-blue armor, with an eerie orange glow coming from its visor. The giant held a large sword in its right hand, looking even heavier than the blades used by the Warriors.

The second was even stranger, slightly taller, with four glowing green eyes peering at them, clad in a mostly bright red armor. It held something strange in its arms, a metal object whose shape she had never seen before and couldn't determine its use. But a long red spear with two thin prongs was fastened on its back.

Several women were walking behind the two armored giants, one of them dressed and armed like a Warrior.

"It looks like Ophelia will miss the fun." quipped Clarice. "What are those metal giants? The blue one look like a man in armor, but he is too big. And the red one is even taller."

"I do not know." said the Agent, frowning. He didn't like surprises.

The two giants and four women behind them steadily advanced forward. Miria assumed the two immediately behind the giants were Claire and Elena, from their blonde hair and silver eyes. Behind them was a woman with short lilac hair, holding a huge cross-shaped shield, and a redhead with a left side tail, corresponding to the Agent's description of Mash and Gudako, two of the three Magecraft users they intended to bring to Headquarters.

The one with silver hair wasn't there.

When they stopped fifteen meters from the Warriors, Gudako waved with a smile.

"Hi there. We already know you intend to kidnap us. I suggest you refrain from trying. It wouldn't end well for you guys."

"And what makes you think we want to kidnap you?" asked the agent.

"You said it yourself." said the giant in midnight-blue armor with a strange voice that was neither male nor female, and resonated strangely. "I was watching you three days ago. You also said that you would you let Elena go free after making sure she was human, but I could hear the lie in your voice."

"…If you already know, I would like you to come quietly, and there will be no need for things to become unpleasant. If you think that Claire is a good representative of what Warriors can do, you are sadly mistaken."

Claire's fingers tightened around the hilt of her own sword, but she didn't draw it or say anything. It was true, after all. She had hyper focused her training on fighting against Awakened Beings, for personal reasons. But as a result, she was at a huge disadvantage against other Warriors.

"After we learned about your intentions, we contacted our home country and received reinforcements. You're already surrounded." pointed out Gudako.

"Surrounded?" started Miria, but she stopped when she saw shimmering blue light from the corner of her right eye. She looked to her right and up, and saw two more people appearing with more shimmering blue light. One had long reddish-brown hair, wore a black and blue outfit clinging tightly to her figure, and had a blue bow in her hands, but no quiver or arows, while the other had long pink hair and was dressed in a white outfit. They both looked down at them from the top of a stone pillar.

She glanced to her left and behind her, and saw yet another woman armed with a bow, this one with blonde and pale green hair, and strangely, cat ears and a cat tail.

"I knew it." grumbled Dietrich, taking her sword from her back.

"So here is what will happen." said Gudako. "You Warriors will sheath your weapons, and we will have a friendly chat, share a meal or something, and exchange information. Meanwhile, one of us will discuss a few things with the Agent in private. We have many questions about your Organization."

"Or you can fight and be disarmed by force." shrugged Gudako with a confident smile.

Miria looked back at the Agent, silently asking for permission to take action, and he nodded.

She sprinted toward the giant in dark blue armor, the tip of her sword trailing behind her close to the ground. When she reached him, she slowed down, transferring her momentum to her sword, and slashed in an upward diagonal, intending for the tip of her sword to penetrate the armor and inflict a moderately severe wound on the wearer's torso and right shoulder. A wound that would be incapacitating, but survivable even for a normal human.

But the giant reacted with surprising speed and power, blocking her blow with his own sword, and even forcing her to step back to maintain her balance.

The other Warriors burst into action as soon as she did.

Tabitha charged at the red giant, using its body as a shield to deny any direct line of fire from the Magecraft users behind it, but was stopped cold by some kind of glowing wave or wall, as if she had charged headfirst into a wall, intending to go through it. And the wall had won.

Tabitha stumbled back, momentarily dazed, and Miria saw the red giant point the unknown device in her hands at the Warrior, and before Miria could scream a warning, something came out of the device with a loud noise. The projectile exploded into a net that entangled Tabitha before she could react, and she fell on the ground.

Minerva and Clarice were forced to stay beside the Agent, using the flat of their blades to deflect the arrows coming from opposite directions. Too many arrows. The two archers were firing them at an unbelievable speed, the glowing arrows somehow appearing already nocked as they drew their bows.

That left Dietrich, who had used a nearby boulder as a springboard and jumped high in the air, holding her sword above her head, intending to bring the flat of the blade down on the huge shield of the one Miria thought was called Mash, and break her arms.

Miria couldn't observe the result as the blue-armored giant pressured her, forcing her to deflect several blows.

As their swords clashed repeatedly, She noticed that her opponent was only aiming for her arms, legs, and shoulders, obviously not intending to kill her either.

But when Dietrich was somehow sent crashing against a stone pillar, an expression of stunned disbelief on her face, Miria realized that they would meet defeat if she didn't go all out.

She unleashed part of her Yoki, and her eyes turned golden, her pupils turning into vertical slits.

As the blue giant slashed at her next, his blade only passed through an afterimage as Miria used explosive bursts of Yoki in her legs, and already was on the giant's back. She thrust with her sword, intending to pierce his left shoulder, when the giant disappeared in turn, instantly reappearing ten meters forward.

"Interesting! I'll have go get serious as well!" said the giant with his strange voice, and a strange pattern of blue light appeared under his armored feet.

"Everyone freeze!" called out another voice, and Miria turned her head to see the pink-haired woman holding the agent by his neck.

Minerva and Clarice were both on the ground, although they didn't seem to be seriously injured.

Then the Agent and the girl holding him both disappeared.

Miria turned her head toward Gudako just in time to see some kind of large glass sphere in her hands, but it disappeared instantly.

"What have you done to him?" demanded Miria as the opponents gathered into a single group, and Tabitha, furious, finally got herself out of the net.

"We put him and our friend into a separate reality. Don't worry, Medb won't kill him. She is only going to make him talk. How about you sheath your swords now? More fighting isn't going to do you any good."

Miria had to admit that she catastrophically underestimated them. As the highest ranked Warrior, the decision was on her, and she decided to sheath her sword, thinking that victory was unlikely, and that they might put the Agent's life in danger.

The other warriors followed her lead. If the Organization was one thing, is was disciplined.

The giant blue armor suddenly opened by itself, and to her surprise, the one inside was a woman. Miria supposed she was the one named Britomart. She grinned at her.

"That movement technique you used at the end is very similar to one of our own! Better, actually, as yours leave behind an afterimage!"

Miria didn't answer and looked at Gudako, who seemed to be their leader.

"Do I have your word that you are going to release him?", and Gudako shrugged.

"I asked Medb not to kill him, and she agreed. Besides, there's no point in killing an Agent at this time. It wouldn't give us any benefit."

The red armor opened itself as well, its parts somehow flying independently to gather together, and Miria was surprised to see that the person inside was also a human girl, wearing a red outfit made of a strange, tight material.

With a sigh, Miria looked at Claire.

"Why are you taking their side? Are you betraying the Organization?"

"…I want to know why that Agent lied, when he said that Elena would be free to go." shrugged Claire. "She isn't a Yoma, and antagonizing the very people who could stop us from becoming one is a stupid decision. The Organization is wrong to want to kidnap them."

"That isn't our place to question the decisions of the Organization." scolded Dietrich. "And are you so sure? Some smart Yomas are able to hide their Yoki very well."

Before Claire could answer, Elena used her sword to slash her own palm.

"Yomas can imitate humans, but they can't change the color of their blood." said Elena as she showed them her palm.

The blood of Yomas was purplish blue, but the one dropping from Elena's cut was undeniably red.

That gave even Miria pause. She hadn't really believed that Elena truly was human. She hadn't dared hope. But with the evidence in front of her eyes…

"We really can stop Warriors from becoming Awakened Beings." said Britomart. "However, we cannot turn someone who already fully awakened back into a Warrior or a Human."

"Is this part of the Magecraft you are teaching Claire and Elena," asked Dietrich.

"Sadly, we can't." said Mash as she walked to Elena and brought her right hand close to hers. A soft glow appeared around her hand, and Elena's wound closed almost instantly.

"The ability to heal or purge the Yoma flesh and blood from a Warrior's body, isn't something we have learned by ourselves. It is something that was bestowed to us after we swore loyalty to a certain great person. And since that person is in our home country… What we are teaching Elena and Claire is body reinforcement to make them stronger and faster, as well as other combat-related skills."

"Speaking about your home country, where is it? Do you have Yomas over there, too." wondered Clarice.

"No Yomas. As for how far it is… it is far more distant that you can imagine."

"And yet, you claim to have sent them a message, and received reinforcements in just a few days…" said Miria, pointing out the obvious flaw in their claims.

Gudako started the arduous process of explaining to people used to life in medieval conditions about electronic communications, when Mash patted her shoulder.

"Senpai, it should be about time."

"Yes, you're right." nodded Gudako.

Miria saw the glass globe appear in her hands again, and Mash disappeared. Two seconds later, the Agent as well as the pink-haired woman reappeared along with Mash.

The agent was lying on his stomach, unconscious, his pants missing, and his butt and thighs were marred with many red welts.

And yet, he had a strangely happy expression on his face, and Miria instinctively stepped back in disgust.

"He sang like a bird!" smugly declared the woman. "No resistance at all to my Charm."

Gudako and Mash weren’t surprised. Medb had been a famous seductress in her previous life, and becoming a Heroic Spirit, in addition to the Charm attribute boost she got from her contract with Noah, meant she could seduce just about any man in moments.

"So, what did you learn, Medb?"

"Those guys are even worse than our worst estimations. The most shocking thing is that it is their Organization who created the Yomas in the first place."

"What?" gasped Miria, utterly shocked, and all the Warriors had similar reactions.

"Why am I not surprised." snorted the girl with reddish-brown hair who had been inside the red armor. "Let me guess, they created the threat, in order to sell the answer to it. Doing so guarantees them money and influence, as no one would dare refuse their demand, or they would be powerless when the next Yoma appears. And maybe the Organization will arrange for Yomas to quickly appear, to teach the other villages or cities a lesson."

"It's a good guess, but no, their motives are different." said Medb as she shook her head. "We are currently on a very large island that is part of the territory of a much larger Empire. That Empire is in conflict with another nation, whose citizens are also humans, but that nation is allied with beings calling themselves Asarakam, or 'Descendants of Dragons'. Those dragonkin can transform their bodies in battle, gaining dominance on the battlefield and causing the Empire to be at a disadvantage."

"So, in order to make up for it, the Empire decided it needed to have its own soldiers capable of transforming their bodies at will. The researchers of the Empire managed to capture a pair of Dragonkin, brought them here on this island, and started experiments to study their ability to change their bodies by, among other things, cutting up bits of their flesh to graft them into humans."

"In short, the ultimate goal of the Organization, as the researchers call themselves, is to create obedient Warriors who could turn into Awakened Beings, without that uncontrollable craving for human guts that all Yomas have."

"They have a secret base, in the mountains west of their headquarters, where the two Asarakam are still being kept barely alive, their bodies pierced by heavy chains. Members of the Organization regularly cut up more of their bodies as they slowly regenerate the missing parts, and use the parts for study or to make more first-generation Yomas."

"Wait!" protested Dietrich. "If they truly are trying to create sane Awakened Beings, then why are there Yomas all over the place? Why do they let them roam and kill until the mayors send requests for assistance?"

"They want obedient soldiers." said Medb, with unusual compassion in her voice. "Soldiers who would accept going through the grueling training conditions you all have been subjected to. Warriors willing to endure the pain of becoming part Yoma, and the risk of dying during the transformation, or later. A desire for vengeance is one of the most powerful ways you can motivate someone. Besides, it gives the Warriors some practical combat experience, and weed away the weak."

"The Empire doesn't care about the lives of the civilians, if you hadn't noticed before. If they did, they would allow you to fight bandits and other criminals."

The Agent started to stir, and when he opened his eyes and saw everyone staring at him.

When he remembered everything he had said to the mesmerizing beauty who had made him know a kind of pleasure he never experienced before, he paled.

"...Just kill me." said the Agent, understanding that his life was over.

"What she said about the Empire and the Dragonkin, is it true?" asked Miria.

"…Now that you know, the organization will hunt you down." replied the Agent with a gloomy expression.

He knew that even if the Warriors and Magecraft users surrounding him didn't kill him today, he would be hunted down as well for leaking their secrets.

"Considering what happened a few minutes ago, I think we can manage." snorted the one in the red outfit.

Miria had to concede that she might very well be right. The fight had been very disappointing to her and illustrated the difference in combat power between them.

"Yes and no. We can defend ourselves against the Warriors." frowned Medb. "But the Organization used some of the corpses of the women who didn't survive the implantation of Dragonkin flesh to create what they call 'Abyss Feeders'. Their secret weapon to kill the four Abyssal Ones, and those things are dangerous even to us."

"Dangerous how?" frowned Gudako.

"They look like Warriors with their eyes and mouths sewed shut and hunt by sound and smell and Yoki perception. They will track whoever they were given the scent to the ends of the world. The worst thing about them is that they can regenerate quickly from almost any wound. From what he told me, even crushing their head to paste might not stop them from rising back up. And the more they're injured, the more they learn to fight efficiently. They will eventualy adapt to whatever is wounding them and overcome their opponent."

"When they find their targets, they will tear their mouth open and attack with biting and clawing, and will devour their prey until nothing is left of it."

"How many of them are there?" asked Britomart as she looked at the Agent.

"…I do not know."

"We'll manage with Magecraft. At worst, we can isolate them and get rid of them later. We'll throw them into a volcano or something." said Gudako, before she turned to Miria.

"What do you plan to do?"

Miria considered for a few seconds, looking at her fellow Warriors, before she made her choice.

"I need to confirm this with my own eyes. I will search for that secret base in the mountains."

"I will go as well." said Dietrich. "I can't follow their orders anymore if they are the ones who created Yomas."

Clarice and Minerva nodded as well.

"I will go as well." decided Claire.

"I guess we all are going to go, then," said Gudako as she looked at her companion, and they all agreed.

"Saving innocent people and killing bad guys is what we are all about in the first place. We can't exactly pretend we don't know about this." shrugged Asuka.

Gudako smiled and nodded, then looked at the Agent.

"And you, you will lead the way. If you do a good job, we won't kill you."

Having reached an agreement, they all introduced themselves to each other at last, and started on their journey. They would have time to engrave magic circuits and teach the Warriors how to use mana to strengthen their bodies before reaching their destination.