Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I’ve never seen those before….” I commented, really, I never did. It doesn’t resemble anything like any of the Abnormalities I took care of before as an L corp employee. But Hopkins-sunbae didn’t care. His face turned into a cold frown, nagging me, “You don’t know?! Don’t you know why we bothered to let a fallen Wing’s feather into our Office?” “T-to deal with requests taking place in L corp branches more safely….”  I tried to reply back.

“Exactly, I didn’t even expect much from a low-rank agent” that hurts. “As a newbie Fixer, you were only given two simple jobs: lead the way and tell us how to deal with those Abnormaladies or whatever. Now look…. What do you expect us to do with just “Oh nooooooo, I’ve neve seen those before!” Huh?!” Hopkins screamed.

'He’s right. I don’t know a thing, none at all. I was a slow learner even back in L corp. I had to take many notes for managerial tips even for a TETH or HE Abnos. It took me days to note all the details on how to take care of one. Others understood them easily within a day, all the hidden rules of each Abno and how to work with others. I can’t. I always fumbled around.' 

‘It hurts…’ I gripped my weapon close to my chest as if it’s a safety blanket. The people from Limbus Company did try to defend me but I couldn’t hear clearly what they were saying.

"Yuri-ssi, let’s go, it’s okay….” Someone tapped my shoulder and I jolted. That surprised me. I had always felt uncomfortable being greeted from the back but it seems this one…. ‘What was his name, Sinclair? He was only trying to console me it seems’ I nodded and followed them to go forward. I tried to help the fight. ‘It was unfamiliar but at least it was…. Weak at least, I think… w-well of course it’s weak to these people, they were recruited by the Color so I’m sure they were naturally gifted to be this strong….. they are so natural at combat… unlike me….’

The EGO equipment L corp provides does make one easily a combat agent. But now that L Corp has fallen, we couldn’t take care of Abno anymore for them to provide us with energy and EGO Equipment. One has to learn how to fight on their own, using normal weapons. ‘Thankfully I’m used to the weight and grip on my weapon at least. I had learnt how to fight on my own even back before the collapse of L corp because….’

————————————————

Several years ago

“Sunbae! I Suppressed it!”

“Oh…. That’s… good Yuri…” my senior replied.

Why does he look so dejected then? Isn’t it good that the danger was dismissed before it became actual danger?

“Yuri’s kinda weird huh? She always went on first to suppress Abnormalities.” “Well she is part of the Disciplinary Team”

“That girl’s hard to plan a team work with, she kept stealing achievements, how am I supposed to rank up this way?”

“Let’s just ditch her to work alone again”

“Have you seen how she came out of the containment chamber? Looking all positive. Weirdo, doesn’t she remember not to emotionally bond too much with the abnos?”

“Probably since she can’t socialize properly she thinks she can socialize with the Abnos. There’s at least 1-2 people like that in each department right? Those that sympathize with Abnos more than with their employees”

“Eeeeh? Wouldn’t that mean she’s a risky employee to panic?”

“Well when that happens the Disciplinary team will take care of her properly then”

‘Oh……’ it was by accident I overheard them. Jeers and insults. It’s true that I have a hard time working with others, I prefer to work alone as it’s more efficient and quickly done that way. I suppressed Abnos quickly because I feared the threat of danger they would impose on their life, but it was said as kill steal instead. 

They were planning to let the other member of Disciplinary team to ‘take care ‘ of me? What does that mean? Whatever it meant, I felt like it would be dangerous. ‘If that’s the case…. I have to be strong… strong enough that they can’t ‘take care’ of me… I’ll let them have the achievements too, it’s the right thing to do since compared to them I’m a newbie….’

Several months ago

“Congratulation Yuri, for the rank up” my team leader said,  “….. I don’t think I’m suitable for this position, there’s people stronger than me, or have been here longer than me. And… people that can issue commands way better than me….”" I argued. " … you are right, but,” the team leader pointed at my notepad inside my suit pocket “only you were so diligently and earnestly took notes everytime, following the rules to a T. Be it from Abnormality characteristic, how to handle the, in and out of containment chamber. How to quickly subdue panicking people and helping them by listening to them. Br proud of yourself, that is a skill that you have”

———————-

As I snapped from my reminiscence, the Limbus Company people seemed to have been badly hurt. 

“Oh no!” I tried to help Ishmael-ssi stand up. She asked the Manager Dante to do something with their….. Clock? Apparently they can heal or revive them with that clock in exchange for feeling their pain too.  “What an amazing clock you’ve got~ I haven't seen that technology anywhere.” Aya-ssi commented. “That has to be on the level of a S-Singularity… What Wing could be responsible…”

“Miss Faust, can our manager not restore the lives of our guides using the clock’s power?” “The clock will only work for us Sinners” the two Sinners commented “Aw gee~ I s’pose that’s for the better” Aya-ssi replied “Imagine you’re dragged right back to life with a gaping hole in your stomach. Wouldn’t that suck? Nah, y’know what, you’re lucky if a hole punched in your gut. You’d be a goner in seconds—“ as she said that, a root like tentacle stabbed her right in the gut as she said,

“Huh? Aya-ssi?” I asked, “nononono this can’t be happening, you- you were talking just fine right now that- this is…” 

“What’d I tell you? I’ve always been… a lucky girl..” She coughed a blood as I came to her side, the tentacle retracted back and showed its main body

“AYA NO!” I cried as mr. Gregor tried to prop me back up.  I saw the Abnormality. " Vines, taller than humans…. A crown… OH NO!” I recognized that shape. “That’s…. Ebony Queen’s Apple!” It’s a WAW class, we can’t fight it unarmed, “everyone run away that thing is-“ 

But my plea was unheard of, the Sinners fought it anyway. They destroyed its body part slowly, but it persisted, “y-you need to unearth its roots” “affirmative, Yi Sang, do it!” Miss Outis commanded when she heard my muttering. I tried to help fight them while sobbing and all. That was when I heard her voice. “You’ve returned, my Huntsman… bring me Snow White….” It was its usual nonsensical rambling but suddenly one of its tentacles touched me and in my chest, manifested a purple brooch.

Within seconds, they immediately stopped it. ‘Of course they can…. Unlike me…. They were strong, unlike me… I can’t even protect the one true friend I had….’ My legs grew weak as I approached Aya’s body one last time. The Sinners commented on how weak the Abnos are. Miss Faust explained something about the Qlipoth Deterrence. ‘Ah…. There’s that kind of explanation too huh… that makes sense… no wonder they can fight at a WAW Level so easily…’

“Qlipoth Deterrence, a force that weakens Abnormalities. Its original purpose is to safely supervise them in containment", Miss Faust explained what I was going to say. It seems as we go forward, the Qliphoth Deterrence will be weakened, which means, we might actually will fight a WAW level Abnormality in its actual stronger level. ‘That means, even all this time, all I did was suppress weakened Abnos…. Can I…. Can I fight them in their full power version?’ I hugged my sword, I could feel my finger grow cold and trembling.

The Sinners talked about the egg of the Abnormalities. I answered their question too. “it’llatch again, once some time has passed, it’s usually my job to take them back to their containment chamber…. Now things have changed….” “Limbus Company has a department dedicated to dealing with Abnormalities like this. They’ll retrieve them for us,” Miss  Faust explained, “right, was it the After Team? I remember hearing about them during orientation.” I tried to remember. The Sinners were busy discussing why they couldn’t contact that team.

——————-

We arrived at the second level of the L Corp then. “I didn’t think I’d come back here” I commented, it seems the Before Team did reconnaissance here, or so the guide in the orientation also said. On this floor we met….the former G corp’s head manager. Like other former, old G corp employees they have bug head modification too. Mr Gregor was talking to him,  arguing about their shared past. 

As we proceeded, we discovered more bodies, “These are our… no, L Corp’s employees….” I recognized those, as much as I didn’t want to admit. Blunt damage injuries were found on all of them.  Pieces of papers thrown about, I took some and skimmed them, “A management report…. This document contains instructions for keeping Abnormalities in check. Normally, employees tasked with catering to Abnormalities memorize the instructions to the point of reciting them flawlessly. They don’t usually carry notes like these….” Except me, I tried not to add. 

“I dare to suspect that no remaining employees had the necessary information when an Abnormality breached…” mr Yi sang said, “if the eggs weren’t moved into containment yet…. that could be the case” I tried to guess which Abnormality it was based on the report until I smelled something weird.

“Wait….. this smell-“ I tried to breathe normally but it’s hard. I was coughing hard. Hopkins said something about how the toxin levels started to rise after a certain floor, his voice muffled with the mask. “I was told that continued exposure to it may cause bleeding, like that” he pointed out miss Rodion who has bleeding ears. “This is…. It’s the anti-Abnormality gas grenade supplied to employees. One must’ve…” I coughed up… blood, “Gone off….  Somewhere between the bodies here…”

“Hopkins… why, didn't you tell me about this…” I begged for help,  “Why would I make our Office waste our precious funds on expensive gadgets for dead weight like you to use?” He insulted back.

“If we’re being real, it’s a miracle that you managed to join us in the first place. Maybe Aya took pity and gave you special treatment…. But she’s gone now, so who cares?” It seems he was bootlicking them, thinking they were good minions considering they were ordered by the Red Gaze himself, but was disappointed they were just a bunch of ragtags of lunatics without any preparations. “Well see ya, at least I managed to grab an armful of Enkephalin thanks to you” Hopkins chuckled. Leaving us in the midst of danger of the poison gas,

‘How dare he…..’ an emotion surge within me, it was…. wrath. ‘First not only he insulted these people fighting for our job’s sake, now he ran away with Enkephalins??! If all he did was just insult me, I’d take it, but to insult Aya and the others?!’

I felt emotions turmoil inside me. As I tried to rationalize my thoughts, Hopkins spoke again “I’ll. write in my report that you all went missing, ‘cause “suffocated to death” is just too embarrassing” He walked away. Blood came out of my nose, and suddenly my eyes were on the floor.  The anger just grew even more, boiling as I saw how he happily walked away like he didn’t just leave us to die. Suddenly I felt someone tossing something to my hand. It was…. Aya’s gas mask. Apparently he picked up so I had something of a memento of her. 

“Oh….” I put on the gas mask, trying not to cry. “I know he’s right…. I know earning recognition from an Office of strangers is a hard thing to do, even if I take on all kinds of errands day and night. There were only 3 minutes until the facility locked down”. “The doors were about to close on me” I reminiscenced. I can hear Alex screaming not to leave them behind. “So what else am I supposed to do?! Is it so wrong that I survived? Should I have been buried with all my coworkers? When the whole building was going under, all so the Abnormalities won’t escape?” 

Mr Gregor admitted “It was a sin, at least down here…. But, so what? You’ve got to live on like it’s nobody’s business” He advised as he drew his last breath. It seems Manager Dante tried to comfort me with their mechanical ticking. “I know” I answered back, assuming they were trying to say “I can revive them, don’t worry”

————————-

(Dante’s POV)

Yuri helped me with carrying the Sinners, she was unexpectedly strong for her size. As we got to a safer space, which apparently according to her, “where she hides when an Abno is breaching and rampaging”, I quickly reversed the time to revive the Sinners. That was when there were multiple groans and several figures using weird clay masks appeared, attacking us. Thankfully the Sinners had awoken from their deaths and fought them properly at least. <Were these Abnormalities responsible for killing the employees?> I asked Yuri, not that I expected she understood my ticking.

But she did, again, somehow clearly, answering me, “I doubt that. If my guess is right….” She was going to explain something but Outis interrupted us by saying that more enemies are coming. Soon, a humanoid being wearing the head of those clay statues was sitting near the wall.  It muttered about winning and doing the lottery with worker IDs for the lottery. The statue head's name itself apparently is Alex. Yuri explained how some Abnormalities demanded regular offerings as part of the managerial guideline.

“Our team leader created a system where we produce a fake corpse for its feeding. It worked well enough, but… then he was gone… and the Wing fell under… the system to create the fake corpse also fell under

“What would happen if no human sacrifice were made?”

“I-… never saw it myself but I was told that some specific human will be brainwashed by the Abnormality to bring a sacrifice to them. OR sacrificing themselves. I forgot which but…. I - we try to follow every procedure without fail in fear of that happening” “And it seems its patience has run out and it has escaped killing people left and right” Ishmael commented after her answer. However Heathcliff doubted that was what happened.

———————-

(Yuri POV)

“What do you mean by that??” I asked, confused of what he meant. Mr. Heathcliff then explained how the wounds are from humans. That they were killing each other after I escaped.

“B-But for what reason? Why would they do that???” I asked, but Mr. Heathcliff explained it like it was so obvious. Apparently they were originally going for a lottery to decide who should be sacrificed occasionally. Keep it at bay and the lucky ones might get rescued. But he believed that at one point, there’s no way the chosen person would accept their death so calmly.

“If I was them, I’d rather strangle the bloke next to me. Better them than me, ain’t that right?” He explained so easily. And apparently that explained why Alex was wearing the stone statue head. She might have believed that she can fool the Abno as one of its minions and not be sacrificed. 

“That can’t be. Alex wouldn’t kill others just so she could live-“ “How do you know that? You can’t even be sure if that’s actually Alex or not” mr. Heathcliff interrupted me. “Unfortunately this City is killed or be killed, girl” He huffed as we continued forward.

The ringings in my ear appeared again, as the walk was silent. 

‘Killed or be killed, survive. Continue to survive.’ I remembered how Alex mentioned I should escape and survive. ‘The good people like Alex and Aya, died. So do these people…. Meanwhile…’ My mind suddenly brought Hopkins back again, ‘While he lived… Is that….. acceptable?’ Whispers murmured in my ear. “How unfair….” I muttered.

That was then I heard those clay dolls, the Statueheads again. They’re rummaging through corpses, looking for something. Relentless demands for an offering ring in my ears. “Oy oy, they look like they might jump at us at any second.” Mr Heathcliff warned.

‘Offer a sacrifice’ the whisper said. I couldn’t hear what the Sinners were arguing about ever since that demanding whisper grew louder in my ear.

‘Should I offer a sacrifice?’ ‘Yes’ The whisper answered. ‘But who?! No. Not who, I can’t do that!’ I argued back. I saw the Sinners trying to use a dying person as sacrifice. It didn’t work as it demands a live sacrifice it seems.

‘You know who’ it whispered back. ‘How could he live freely, while we suffered down’ The whisper said back - no…. That was my own voice. ‘If I’m not quick, these people would just keep sacrificing each other too, no matter how revive-able they are, that’s… at the very least, mentally, bad, I think’ I thought again.

 Suddenly, I felt as if my legs grew stronger. ‘Ah right… This brooch was Ebony Stem’s EGO Gift… its effect was….. boosting one’s speed’ I thought to myself as I remembered my own managerial notes. ‘Speed….’ I pondered, “I can…. catch up to him….” I had an idea. 

“Yuri?” One of the Sinners asked, as they were healing themselves. “I-I’m sorry, I’ll catch up with you again later” I excused myself as I sprinted to the other side. Manager Dante’s head clicked loudly as if trying to call me back.

I ran and ran and ran easily, for how long I don’t know. I just felt that my legs were moving on their own, and soon I saw a familiar blue shade and brown hair and caught up with that man.

“Found you” I muttered as I choked him from behind.

—————————————————————————-

(Third person POV)

Sinner’s Side

“Offer a sacrifice” the abnormality, Doomsday Calendar appeared and demanded

<A sacrifice….? Maybe we can try offering its own minion? Those… living clay dolls?>

“The manager has decided. Heathcliff, try to incapacitate one of those things and put it on its offering plate” Outis commanded.

“Why me?!” The rough man, Heathcliff, annoyed at being ordered around, did so anyway. Bashing one of them with his bat, he tried to put it on the offering plate.

<No reaction?> Dante commented. <Then… hm… I guess, Heathcliff,  can you go in instead?> Dante asked.

“Why the hell did you put me in instead of those masked blokes? You damned clockhead, I'll #%^&@ you!” Heathcliff dodged another doll’s lunge attack as he said so, returning back to the Sinners side

“Dante made the right choice. From what I can see, it seems that those flesh dolls, or "clay dolls," can't be offered up while they're alive. The only other option we have is to sacrifice Sinners. As Miss Yuri said they have to sacrifice a person a day to appease it so they can safely supervise it” Faust explained.

“And why does that have to be me ?! Why don’t you go then?!” Heathcliff barked back, “if you say so, then I do not mind to be sacrificed this time-“ Yi sang was going to offer himself when a familiar voice returned to them, with the sound of something being dragged.

“No need to do that” Yuri reappeared. Hopkins dragged by his hair, his hand and feet bound with uniforms of former L corp employees.

——————————————

(Yuri POV)

A few minutes ago

'It felt itchy. My face felt itchy. As if something was growing in my cheek, whispers ringing in my ear'. 

‘Offer a sacrifice’ it demanded. ‘Offer a sacrifice so that thou may receive salvation at the end of the day’ ‘offer a sacrifice so that thou may peacefully welcome the end of the world painlessly’ it persuaded me. In my hand was something else, no, someone else. I can feel their breathing hitched, were they looking back at me? I don’t know, my consciousness went elsewhere.

That’s right….. I remembered, after sacrificing Agents or Clerks, that Abno can still be managed to work with. But rules of exceptions were made……

———————

“Yuri, are you going to work with Doomsday Calendar?” My old team captain approached me. Even as I transferred, they still looked out for me as usual,. We had given it its fake corpse of the day, so I thought it would be safe to do normal works with it

“Yes, I’m planning to do Instinct work to clean up its containment unit….” As much as it pains me, I had to get used to such work. My Instinct level was pretty low compared to other virtue value, so I thought this would be a good chance-

“I changed my mind, your job next is to manage other Abno. This one works well with you, go to that one” they chose another one. “And from now on I ban you from working with Doomsday Calendar” they declared

“Huh? Why????” Did I do something wrong again? Oh no-

“Your Prudence level has increased. While usually it is a good thing, with Doomsday Calendar, you might trigger its secondary effect,” my team captain warned. “Its secondary effect?”

“When Doomsday Calendar is worked with someone of Prudence Level 3 or above…. It will try to brainwash the worker so they will sacrifice another person to its altar. The longer you haven’t sacrificed someone that day, the stronger its suggestion to your head”

“If you need to train your Instinct value, you can work with this other one instead, okay?” They changed my job quickly after the explanation. I was thankful for them and took note of the new info.

————————-

Something punched my face as I reminisced about my past.

“You fucking shit head! What the fuck did you want?! What, the Enkephalin? Or are you mad that I tricked you into danger? Hah! Sorry to say but in this shitty world we live in, the victims are also at fault for being an idiot in this kind of situation!” That sound…. It was Hopkins.

‘Oh right, I was ...strangling him, “fucking clouds for brain, what’s that look for?! Huuh?! I have always hated you! Clumsy, can’t even do simple work,

I should have let those G corp creepers ‘take care’ of you!” Those words….

‘Taking care’ of me. I was wary about what it meant years ago and when I learned what it actually meant, fear and trauma came over me.

‘Stop it….’ I punched his face immediately.

 “Stop it…. STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP SAYING THAT TO ME! I TRIED SO HARD! I FINALLY HAD FRIENDS AGAIN!  I HAD FRIENDS WHO HELPED ME AND FRIENDS I WANT TO HELP NOW! SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I kept feeling my hands were hitting something. I heard the sounds of something crunched and screaming. I smelled iron. I saw….. red.

Once I snapped from my frenzy, I realized I had just beated him for god knows how long, until I realized his face looked funny.

“Hopkins?” I slapped his face. He groaned, good he’s still alive. I need to offer him while he’s still alive. If he escapes again it’s not good…. So… I looked around. Corpses of the former G corp and L corp employees were around. 

“This’ll work….” I muttered and took their uniforms off and used it to tie his hands and feet. “Let’s go back. Go back to them-….” I think I said something, but I didn’t remember. Too many noises in my head, my cheek is burning and itchy too.

———————

 Current Time

“Yuri…?” Someone spoke to me, “oh, mr Gregor, I’m back” I greeted him back, why does he look like I did something weird?

‘It’s always like this… I was only trying to do a good job, and yet….’ “What’s…. Isn’t that the other dude?” He pointed to Hopkins

“Oh! Right!” I tried to explain my reasoning. “Um, so I’m sorry for running back from you and forgetting to explain, but to suppress it more easily, you have to sacrifice someone, or the clay dolls if it’s been slain”

“So I was right,” miss Faust explained, “right, but for living humans, uh, they need to be …. Alive….” I tried to explain. “So um… I thought you’d need this” I pointed to Hopkins as I walked to the altar and put him on the offering plate

He was still struggling to move, but I couldn’t care less and offered him to the Doomsday Calendar. “I offer you sacrifice, so we may welcome the end of the day peacefully as we rightfully deserve” I prayed to the idol as it immediately killed it.

I lost consciousness soon so I didn’t witness Hopkins’ demise directly

Chapter Text

“Yuri-ssi, Yuri-ssi! Wake up!” I heard a lady’s voice and some others. I opened my eyes and tried to assess the situation. It seems I was unconscious after…. After I sacrificed Hopkins

“If you are conscious and are in the condition of talking, then confess to us what you have just done!” Someone commanded. It was one of the older ladies, the one that always speaks beside Manager Dante. Her name was…. Outis I think?

“Outis…. Give her some time, the poor gal just woken up….” Mr. Gregor tried to defend me, but I still stood up and nodded. 

“It was Doomsday Calendar’s effect” I tried to explain the effect of its brainwashing due to it not feeding itself today.

“So you chose to sacrifice that traitor, in lieu due to being brainwashed by the Abnormality.” Outis sighed “You truly are a fool. Did you not realize how inefficient that is? We Sinners under Esteemed Manager Dante can be revived any time, many times thanks to their power. It is more efficient to have us sacrificed and be revived later, thus no decrease in manpower.” She ranted on and on

‘I know what I did was bad…. I just practically sent someone to their death - no, I killed them….’ I hung my head low.

“Still….” She sighed “While a deserter like you deserves a punishment for leaving the frontline usually.  A traitor like Hopkins would decrease our morale even more. We found out that you weren’t betraying us like he did at the very least. In fact, it is traitors like him that deserve heavier punishment.” She sighed and patted my shoulder once “For that I commend you, I will pardon you this one time” Ms. Outis let go of her grip on my shoulder soon afterwards.

“Heh” Mr. Heathcliff also chuckled at me “You did him good. Boy the face when you dragged him. Didja mangled his face that way before you came back? Bloke was crying for his momma and pissed his pants before the monster devoured him” He went full on cackling. He leaned in and whispered to me, “truth be told they nearly chose me as the sacrifice so I thank you for that” he snickered again before letting his shoulder of me.

I was… genuinely confused. What is with this group’s morality? They complimented me for that?? . Ms. Ishmael helped me, she tied a sailor knot to my mask to my belt as she inspected me. “That’s a large wound in your cheek. Swollen and reddened even. Are you okay?”

“Oh” I touched my left cheek. It did feel swollen, like a blood vessel growing on top of my skin. “This is…. The EGO gift of the Abnormality just now” I tried to explain.

<EGO gift? Are those different from the EGOs you guys manifested all this time> Dante asked.

“It is different in essence. The EGO The Sinners has manifested so far is a manifestation of their true self and determination. Mephistopheles can also later on manifests EGOs based on L Corp’s Abnormality once we fed it enough information - that is to say, partly from Enkephalin produced from the brains of the victims of L corp branches. Though so far from my experiments, the EGO Produced from Mephistopheles for Sinners to use will look different from what L corp is usually producing.” Ms. Faust explained it eloquently but it’s all geek to me. ‘So those times the transformations looking like prisoner uniforms are a form of EGO Equipment too?’ I thought

“As for the EGO Gifts, it is the same as those statue heads we picked up on the road. Something akin to a harvestable fruit, a boon that can be extracted from interacting with Abnormalities. It has a side effect on the human body - which can either be disadvantageous or a boon like I said. Ms. Yuri, what is the effect of Doomsday Calendar’s Gift?” She asked after finished explaining

“Uh- um…. It’s called Impending Day and if I remember correctly it… boosts my attack and physical endurance? Oh, and the Ebony Queen’s Apple also gave me its gift.” I showed the purple brooch, “This helps me with speed, which is what… allowed me to catch up with Hopkins”

“So both are a boon. Good work. Keep it on you all the time” Ms Outis said, “Y-yes ma’am!” I felt obliged to reply as such around her, for some reason.

—————————

We soon arrived at the Critical Abnormality Block. Ms. Rodya and everyone else joked about the presence of the bugs, as well as the constant growl we kept hearing.

<These bugs aren’t so bad after the last floor’s Abnormality. Don’t want anything like that ever again> Manager Dante commented.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gregor found an Abno's cage opened, I had to catch up to him, “Wait, that’s a containment unit….!” I tried to catch up to him, but he still entered, ignoring my warning as if there’s some sort of compulsion urging him.

In the containment unit, what I saw was an unbelievable scene. It was… a war… People wear colorful clothings, bearing different standards and waving their flags.

It was an unfamiliar scene to me that I probably have only seen in books, and probably even more unfamiliar to Manager Dante, and that’s why Ms. Outis is explaining it to them, it seems this situation is 70 days in the middle of the Smoke War. 

Someone named Tomah then greeted mr. Gregor as Manager Gregor. He seemed to be respecting him or his position, and tried to scold the other Sinners, but mr. Gregor tried to use… some excuse to let us go.

“Just what is going on, Faust? These are…. My memories” Mr. Gregor finally turned and asked Ms. Faust “We’re in the fathoms of your ego, to be precise.  An open path in your psyche. In other words… We’ve entered your heart and mind, Gregor”

We had witnessed the Smoke War based on mr. Gregor’s memories. From their expression that kept glancing back to mr. Gregor, it seems manager Dante also saw some other memories at the same time. Sometimes we would have to fight those soldiers with body parts of insects just like mr. Gregor too.

After we finished, the surroundings turned dark, and then it lit up again, “..It’s the same place as before. Though, something about it is different….” Suddenly, someone talked to mr. Heathcliff again, it was a familiar face, “Hold on, isn’t he the same guy we just…” talked with, ms. Rodya wanted to say.  I agreed, he was one of the soldiers that tried to take us to a shelter, Tomah he said his name.

“It’s not a problem, because Manager Gregor is with us! He doesn’t suffer side effects like the rest of us, and he can regenerate his arm, too!” He confidently trusted mr. Gregor, exalted and praised at how amazing he was, while mr. Gregor looked uncomfortable. I could hear him mumbling how he never wanted any of this, neither the procedure in his arm nor the war and the fame that came with it.

As if not allowing us to escape, the recollected events kept repeating. How long have we been here? Even with the EGO Gift’s blessing, it was still exhausting to me…. I tried to ask ms. Faust, and she said “Approximately we have been repeating this for 1300 hours.” She hummed and explained some stuff to her allies. 

“Retreat is not an option. What we see here may differ from actual accounts. The path was opened by Gregor-ssi’s feelings rather than his memories”. Ms. Faust explained. “So…. This is how he felt in his heart about his own allies?” I tried to ask “Did all the employees in your Wing…. Receive the augmentation procedure?” 

“Most did” Mr. Gregor answered with a sigh, “Was it done with their consent? That’s so…” “Did the people in L corp. consent to offering themselves up to Abnormalities?” He rebuke.

“That’s…. I heard that was written in the contract…” That was the only answer I could give. “We were never properly informed, though…. They said such routine procedures should be skipped for efficient management…” I explained the excuse they gave to us at the time. “That we should face the fear. In the end…. Anyone who joined the corporation agreed to it, knowingly or not….’

“Then you can guess how it went for us too, then” The both of us fell silent for a while after that.

As we went through the loop this time, we heard some gasping, a soldier was crushed under rubble, gasping in agony. He was begging to be killed, and we felt that we couldn’t ignore him.

Manager Dante seems to beckon ms. Outis to give him a proper rest in peace. She obliged, killing him with a knife and letting him ease into eternal dress. Out of sentimentality or other emotions, manager Dante took his shoddy dressing, bandages reddened with blood.

My pace slowed down for a moment after what I had witnessed, I caressed the gas mask in my bag, remembering Aya-ssi’s death. It seems that because of that, Mr. Gregor called me out, “G-give me a second, please. The gas mask fell off my bag…” I tried to pick it up and put it back. Ms. Outis sternly looked at me, “I don’t see it serving any practical purpose now. You’re only weighing yourself down.” “I mean, it’s…. Aya-ssi’s memento….”. She still chided that it’s a pointless activity.

Ms. Ishmael helped me tied it properly. “There’s a sailor’s knot I learned on the boat. I’ll teach you how to do it back on the bus” She suggested and I thanked her.

As we walked more, ms. Rodion joked that I should join their company. While ms. Faust wanted to rebuke her, she still insisted on the joke, that my pink hair would make a nice mascot. “A…. Mascot?” I chuckled a bit, the small amount of humor helped me relax, I felt myself feeling hopeful for the future for the first time. I felt that ms. Faust was no longer completely arguing ms. Rodion’s joke, and pondered about something else instead.

Several repeats later, we have even gotten to learn the pattern of events and predicted when Tomah will appear and take us away.

But in this one cycle, something different happened. Tomah pointed upwards, to the sky, where suddenly there seem to be multiple gigantic, feminine hands appearing from the sky. “I need help” He suddenly asked and I wanted to ask what he meant when he suddenly was crushed by a palm from the sky striking him down. 

The sight was grotesque, the killings happening so far was also gruesome, and though I didn’t see how Hopkins died, this was probably far worse than that. I tried to swallow back my incoming vomit as someone else dragged me away from the location. 

I could hear the other Sinners arguing for solutions, some were panicking, the others calmly complained they would rather not get flattened.

The one who dragged me away, and finally let go of my hand was mr. Gregor, who was muttering things to himself. “Mr. Gregor, sir?” I tried to snap him out. “I think I see now… If this world is a product of my mind…” He took a breather, then looked up to the sky. “We shouldn’t run away from that hand” He suggested. Some Sinners questioned his sanity when he proposed that while ms. Faust asked if he’s sure about that solution.

“My own free will never played much of a role in my life. It only makes sense that resisting is meaningless in this reflection of my mind. In that case… letting the inevitable might be the answer.” His answer seems to have convinced ms. Ishmael and other more, exhausted Sinners.

Mr. Gregor then suddenly pointed at the nail polish, saying “If that hand belong to who I think it does, she will not stop chasing us. Faust …. You said this is a path in my heart, right? Then I can tell you this for sure. It’s about to hit a dead end. Be it the nightmare or the road….. I never once strayed from that woman’s control”

As much as I am curious, I realized that this isn’t the situation to ask for his explanation, though it is very concerning.

A palm from the sky came to get us, but rather than squashing us like slapping a bug, it lifted us on its palm to the sky. The sudden nauseating feeling made me lose consciousness again. I was awakened by other Sinners, warning me about a swarm of cockroaches coming to them.

The battles continued, as we walked through them I picked up some other stuff around. Be it EGO Weapon or EGO Suit. It seems brittle and wouldn’t function properly, but more stuff wouldn’t affect us negatively, I thought.

“Yuriiiii… what’s with that stinky and dirty armor…, girl, are you seriously going to wear that?” “U-um… the enemies so far…. Sharp weapons..?” I Stammered trying to justify my action. “Being over prepared is a good thing but try not make it a hindrance that slow your speed” Ms. Outis reprimanded me again.

At one point, Manager Dante stopped in front of a containment unit. From their conversation with miss Faust, it seems this was their destination. I tried to look at the plaque of Abnormality’s code ID, “o-02….,” I tried to guess what Abnormality it is based on the readable part.

“... Huh we’ve come this far huh..” Mr. Gregor sighed, relieved that we had reached our destination. “Mr. Gregor when we go back to the bus, can I teach Charon how to use a map?” I asked to lighten up the mood. “Yeah, sounds good. I’m sure she’ll like it.” He joked back.

I chuckled at everyone bantering at my idea “Huhu, it’s nice to have a place to go back to”,  I said as we entered the containment unit. As I expected, the Abnormality we encountered there was the Golden Apple. The Sinners fought it with Manager Dante’s instruction. 

The apple’s body broke, and the fruit pulsates like it’s growing. Manager Dante’s head tick tocked as if asking if the Golden Bough is really there. “I’ll go check it out!” I said as I stepped forward. It’ll be fine, I have worked with Golden Apple multiple times with good results. “Yuri, wait!” I heard someone warn me.

My overconfidence was a mistake. I heard the fruit’s cracked shell begin to rattle. “Oh no…!” I tried to escape with the person who warned me, Gregor, but it was too late. The fruit’s flesh jumped at me and tried to melt into me.

The Abnormality tried to devour me in one bite, but it was unsuccessful for some reason. ‘That was weird… ah! The EGO Suit…. It’s protecting me?’ But as soon as I realized it the decay and acid still went on. This suit was a defective expired one to begin with. ‘I need to get out as soon as possible!’

I tried to rip apart the rotting flesh and reached my hand out. Screaming for help. ‘My voice, it was so hoarse. Please, someone, hear it….!’

I felt a hand pull me out, and several other hands grabbed my arm. Someone else seemed to have kicked the Abnormality away from me or bashing it.

“Take her away!” I could hear mr. Gregor’s voice. Someone carried me out. I saw hint of orange and black hair. I could hear the tick tock of Manager Dante and the redness of their coat. Were they worried because they can’t heal me?

“I’m… okay…” I tried to convince them by just replying with a louder, angrier ding dong as if saying “No you aren’t!”. “Oi Clockhead! Focus on the current fight!” It was.. his name, mr. Hathcliff, called out. I rubbed my eye with my functioning arm. The other arm was half burned….. due to the acid of the flesh.

I finally could see what happened. “Golden Apple’s second phase… Fake Apple….” I muttered. That one is more vicious than its previous form.

After a few hack and slash, I could see the maggots crawling out from the rotten body and there I saw a gentle warm glow. It wasn’t so bright, but not that dream. It didn’t feel hot like the sun. It was a glow that feels like it can say “everything is going to be alright”

The surprised noise from Manager Dante’s voice seems to have confirmed that that is the Golden Bough. I saw it, and as if something attracted me to it, I tried to reach out to it. “Argh!”  I felt a sharp pain, as if something had impaled my hand to the ground.

Everyone tried to look up at who or attacked this time. Manager Dante tried to pry off the weapon from my hand. It seems from the sound of people talking, it was…. Another group of people…?

“Seeking the Bough, were you?” Someone asked. “A bit small, isn’t it?” The lady’s voice… introduced herself as Hermann. ‘Where did I …. Heard that name before?’. “We’ll take good care of the Golden Bough you found” She simply took it. ‘The proof, the reward of our hard work so far, was taken away just so easily by these new people…?!’

Despite the delirious state I was in, something burned me internally with rage, again. The same feeling as before with Hopkins. Everyone talked with the new people as if they knew each other. ‘But I couldn’t care less, right now, I need to take the Bough back…’ I tried to stand up even with my mangled state.

“Alright now. That’s enough greetings.” The long haired man clapped his hand, “and don’t bare your fangs on me, little girl” He chuckled and glared at me. ‘Fangs? What is he talking about, this-‘ I felt a hand pulling my arm back, the familiar tick tock snapped me back to reality. Since the manager held me back, I too, gave up on taking the Bough back.

After some time passess, I realized. I had just woken up from my unconsciousness again. I was in the bus, Ms. Ishmael helped tend to my wound it seems. They said I probably collapsed from the pain after the adrenaline died off.

From the way, in the front row, Manager Dante and the Color, Red Gaze  were discussing something. “So…. That counts as a failed mission…?” “So it seems” I asked and was answered by ms. Ishmael. Sinclair seems to be worried about me, and Ms. Rodya …. Seemed curious about my condition, so the two moved to the back row right now too.

“.. We got a call. After Team’s Spec Ops Section 4 has just gone underground or their job.” Ms. Faust reported. “That sounds about right. Someone has to salvage the EGO and Abnormalities left there” The Red Gaze replied. “WHAT?!” I sat up way too quickly. I forgot one of my arms is non-functional right now, and fell back to the seat. “Sorry, I mean, wait, why did you salvage the EGO and Abnormalities??”

“Yuri-ssi, if you remember properly, I did say that the After Team will retrieve the Ovate forms of the Abnormalities, as well as the EGOs, just like what you did” “She did?” The Red Gaze asked back and glared at me, walking towards the chair I was leaning on. “Hmm… those things on your face and that brooch wasn’t there before….”

“They are EGO Gifts. It seems she acquired them during the fights against Abnormality. Perhaps said fights counts as a form of working on the Abnormality” Ms. Faust explained and guessed. “I see….” Red Gaze hummed at me and left me behind, returning back to scorning Manager Dante. Ms. Outis seems to be taking their side for now. “I suppose we’ll leave it at that. You’re not entirely wrong” He sighed, tired of this pointless argument. 

The entire bus reeked of blood and gore on our outfits. It seems Ms. Ishmael had managed to open my jacket to let my arm stay clean at least. During the whole ride, Ms. Ishmael taught me the sailor knot to keep the mask safe together with my bag. I made sure to pay attention to it because right now, I can’t try practicing it myself.

Mr. Gregor came to my seat, he had a defeated look on his face, seeing the condition of my wounds. “Yuri….. I’m sorry for what happened, kiddo.” He sighed. Was he… feeling hurt because I was badly hurt?

“I’m fine Mr. Gregor… like you said, at least… I survived” and this time, I didn’t feel guilty. ‘I just felt… more guilty that the Golden Bough was taken away. That everyone’s hard work went to waste.’ I thought. Mr. Gregor confessed that he had a sister the same age as me which is why he felt wanting to protect me during this mission.

He returned to his seat before I could ask him any further. I decided not to ask anyway, as he doesn’t seem to want to ask about it.

“…. Alright, let’s hit the road” The Red Gaze announced, and Charon, as usual, replied with her “vroom vroom”. Everyone was feeling gloomy the whole ride, except ms. Faust who seems to be discussing something with the Red Gaze. After a few minutes, I could sit up properly in the chair. Sinclair and the others returned to their seats. 

Ms. Faust then suddenly walked to me and approached me, asking the most unexpected question. “Yuri-ssi, I have discussed it with mr. Vergilius. Unfortunately, we cannot recruit you to join the Limbus Company-“ “eeeeh??? You won’t even let Li’l Yuri join us?? Not even as a mascot?” 

“I’m not finished, Rodya. I’ve been meaning to say that she cannot join as one of the Sinners for the Limbus Company Bus. She can, however, join as part of the LCC. Be it the Before Team or After Team, I will leave the decision to them” Ms. Faust explained properly to ms. Rodion and me.

“Our main concern is the EGO Gifts attached to you right now. We want to search how to detach them so you can still live normally so that the risk of EGO Corrosion will lessen. You do know what EGO Corrosion is right?” She asked and I nodded meekly. ‘Perhaps the rage that I felt when the other group tried to steal the Golden Bough was an early sign of the EGO Corrosion…..’

“In exchange for allowing you to be able to take them on and off and continuously own them, I ask for your favor to join the LCC, especially, as you have heard, we are salvaging the EGOs and Abnormalities of each place we have and will visit. In other words, we’ll need to take care of those Abnormalities. And as a former L corp member, your experience will be crucial for us”

“Huh? You guys are going to take care of the Abnos?” “Not us, Sinners, but the LCCs, yes.” “You have the facility for that?” I remember the L Corp needed the Qlipoth Deterrence and stuff. “We have our own way, you’ll know and learn more once you have fully join” Ms. Faust answered me vaguely.

I pondered the offer. It didn’t take long however for me to come to a decision. I do need to take care of the EGO gifts in my body, and they did promise me a position in Limbus Company before, even if it was a joke. “I know it won’t be easy. And I expect people will sneer at me because I was supposed to support you yet you guys failed the mission….  But still, yes, I do want to join in”

“The failure of this mission is not your fault, but still I respect your decision. Thank you for the favor, Yuri-ssi”. And so, the bus continued to move until I was handed over to the LCC.

(Epilog Art)

Yuri stats:

Fortitude 3

Prudence 5

Temperance 4

Justice 2

Chapter Text

“Effie-ssi and Saude-ssi, how did that child fare in the LCCB?” I heard Faust suddenly ask. ‘What child?’ I thought but didn’t ask and only listened for now. “She’s doing well, once we raise her confidence, she’s a great asset to the team. She’s used to combat and suppressing obstacles, I dare say I think she is more experienced than your ragtag group of misfits here.” Effie complimented the stranger that was unknown to me.

“We tried to search for her personal information. As it turns out, despite being a low grade Fixer, her identity in her previous workplace was not something trivial. I daresay she’s at least L4 or maybe higher, L5. The latest information we could get from her previous workplace was last updated a week before the White Nights and Dark Days, so it is probably outdated and she was promoted in that one week period, just that we weren’t informed.” Saude explained this time. Another unfamiliar term, White Nights and Dark Days?

“Faust-ssi, is it really alright that we put her in the LCCB? I think with her affinities to those weapons and her history, wouldn’t she be more suited in LCCA or LCE?” Saude asked this time “It was her wish to remain in LCCB to help the Sinners, I think we should respect that” Faust answered. I get that they were from LCCB, the Before Team, so LCCA probably stands for After team? What’s LCEthough?

“Hah… why are all of our co-workers all weirdos….” Effie sighed, “at any rate, that child won’t be appearing in this mission, she needs more training and briefing. But considering how experienced she is, you can expect she finished her training period quickly and helped us on your next destination” He shooe-ed Faust to return to the Sinners side, and she did, this time helping us fight the other TingTang gang members that came as reinforcements.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few weeks ago, LCCB HQ

A few days after the whole botched operation in Nest D, the LCC Team had a brief evaluation of what happened during the operation. That, despite their best effort, the LCB team and the Sinners failed to retrieve the Golden Bough. This also functions as a briefing and tutorial class for the newly recruited employees.

"So far, there has only been 1 Golden Bough the Limbus Company managed to procure and study. The one the founding member, Miss Faust found. And apparently another one in the possession of the LCB Team's Manager, Manager Dante. Manager Dante then would use their Golden Bough as a compass of its resonance to search for another one. Alas, the operation this time failed. Though not in full failure, as we managed to retrieve two things."

LCCB Assistant Manager, Saude paused her explanation, "First, let us introduce our new recruits,” Saude allowed the new recruits to introduce themselves. This include a man with fluffy curly hair named Pilot. “Next person,” Saude called the next one, as she still hasn’t stood up to introduce herself

"Ah... yes... my name is Yuri, I'm... formerly the Fixer contracted to guide the LCB team to go through the L corp branch facility...." that they failed. She could feel everyone' stare and jeer, did they blame her for the team's failure? She did not know. She did felt uncomfortable however. "Um... I was recruited here after the mission for my knowledge around L corp stuff... i hope I can be of help...." she quickly ended the conversation and sat down.

After the briefing was done, Saude called the newbies, those two included to go with her to the more underground level of the LCC Office."As I'm sure you've heard, though we failed the mission, we gained two boons. First is you, new recruits. Second is these." She arrived at a place. Similar to a... common room of some sort. Then an automatic door to a hallway opened, there stood familiar doors on the walls. 

"Wait..." Yuri gasped, "these are..." she walked quickly to one of them and peeked on the window of the door, there idly existing and standing with a glow, is the Golden Apple. “So this is where they go….” She backed away, her arm throbbed from pain.

"These are the other boons we got. The Abnormalities. Ms. Faust has commanded us to toom back them while they were subdued in the Ovate Form after the Sinners had defeated them.”  Saude explained

“After that we brought them here, made sure to reconstruct the whole underground area to be similar to L corp as you can see. Then using the Golden Bough we have, we can stimulate an effect similar to Qlipoth Deterrence, and in the near future hopefully we can produce the same mass produced EGO suit and Weapons." Saude elaborated further

"Long story short. As a newbie, your job will be to attend classes to prepare you as a member of LCCB while also on some days, attending to the Abnormalities. You two won't be working alone of course. Classes and Abno caretaking will be done in shift schedules, I will distribute them as such. Today is your first day. Feel free to explore or go back to each of  your dorms. Don't try anything stupid like wanting to enter them."

"Excuse me," one of the new recruits, Micah asked Yuri. He has some sort of facial marking, a small ponytail behind his head, and a sort of prosthetic implant on top of his head that resembles cat ears. Judging from both of his hands’ shapes, they seemed to be both made out of prosthetics too. "But what does Miss Saude mean by taking care of these creatures? Since I heard you were a former L corp employee, I thought, you can give us some pointers..." he requested, something wiggled behind him, Yuri noticed that it was…. like a mechanical tail.

“Ah, caretaking means we take care of these creatures,” well that was a redundant explanation. She was panicking. Yuri took deep breaths. In and out, in and out. Good. She’s calm now.

“Sometimes we just stare at it, take notes of what it does while we are there. Feed it, play with it, talk with it or clean it. Sometimes fighting or punishing it” she meekly explained.

“I’m sure more data and briefing will come for us, but… I think I’m still pretty familiar with these three. Do you want to take a walk a bit to get to know these creatures? Or should we go back to the dorm as ms. Saude said?”

"That seems to be a good idea. If anyone is interested as well, you can join us too?" Micah asked the others but only a few were interested. Maybe 2-3 people.

“First, as you have seen. This one is the Golden Apple. It’s HE danger class, that means its uh… middle to pretty dangerous”

To the other, there’s a creature whose entire body is made out of vines with some sort of cape. The vines on the head part shaped like a crown.

“This one is Ebony Queen’s Apple, she’s actually stronger than the one before. WAW Class. But she actually likes to talk?”

“The last one is…. Doomsday Calendar” she gulped down, trembling but balled her fist, “that big stone slab with the face in the center is the core….” She hitched his breathe, her heart felt like its thumping and trying ro get out of her body. During the mission with Gregor and everyone, she was much more calm because she knew she had to prioritize the mission and her life 

But now that thing has been feeling a bit more peaceful, the guilt came flooding back to her. Micah noticed this and grabbed Yuri' shoulders firmly. "Are you okay, Yuri-ssi?"

“Ummh, yes," she choked on her own saliva and coughed a bit to calm herself down and looked at him meekly, "this one has… brainwashed me… made me killed someone…. During the mission in D corp nest...." She meekly walked away from it.

“I-I'm going to go back for now, I’ll meet you up tomorrow” she walked briskly, her head down, not wanting to meet anyone’s eyes, she headed to the dorm. "Let’s meet up again tomorrow… good night…” Yuri excused herself to her room, hearing a small, concerned "take care" from Micah.

-----------------------

The next day, Yuri woke up much earlier. She had been scheduled to do some consultation sessions with the LCCA’s psycho-therapist, as well as some questions regarding L corp stuff with the LCE's research team.

While her trauma about killing Hopkins has been getting better, the realization that, no matter how strong others perceive her, she is still perceptible to brainwash still scares her.

In fact, it is because now she has realized how strong she is compared to others, the risk of her being brainwashed means she will pose a bigger threat to her allies. That fact just added more self deprecation to herself.

“All the more reasons that you need to teach others you know? The stronger your allies, the better chance they can stop you from being dangerous. Try opening up and have a bit of trust with your fellow co-worker.” The therapist said. While it might sound like good advice, Yuri still couldn’t trust that advice fully.

When she tried to explain stuff about L corp to Hopkins before meeting the LCB team, he shrugged her off, when she said something was unknown, she was belittled, when she tried to trust him, he betrayed her. Not just him, the whole Fixer Office she was in treated her like a dreg due to the status of fallen Wing.

On the LCE side, at least, they took her input more seriously and appreciated her mental notes that she remembered about the Abnos.

On the first day she arrived there, the EGO Gifts were still permanently latched on her. They managed to find a way to remove it safely. And now, she was summoned because she received the news that they have developed a technology that allows her to put them on and take them off anytime she wants.

The device was shaped like a two screen foldable tablet. One screen apparently will be the wardrobe screen that stores the EGO Suit, Weapon, and Gifts she will acquire later. The other screen will display the current set she is wearing.

The acquisition of EGO sets will be based on one’s mental virtue value. When one has fulfilled the needed requirement, they can request to get the EGO Suit or Weapon to the LCCD’s Extraction team.

The EGO stuff will be given in the form of data sent to the tablet, that by being clicked to choose to wear, will immediately transform the agent’s appearance accordingly. This would save up time and space from wearing and storing the uniforms and weapons manually, as well as robbery prevention. 

“Currently only your EGO Gifts are placed in the tablet. Later on you can register other EGO stuff. Well with how your history is, I’m sure you can equip any EGO Weapon or Suits, the only issue would be the time waiting for the Extraction team to make them, since unfortunately, we couldn’t find any readily wearable EGO Suit and Weapon in the Nest D’s L corp branch facility….” The researcher gave Yuri her tablet, warning her to keep it safe. She thanked him as she checked out her inventory in the device, they were right, her EGO Gifts were really stored there.

“May I try using them? Just to test the device?” Yuri asked, the researcher nodded as she clicked the available options, then the EGO Gifts appeared on the other screen, her appearance also changed. Twig horn, a veiny flesh on the cheek, and a purple brooch. “The physical effect is just as I remember” she commented, proving it worked properly, then taking them off using the device.

“Great! We’ll start distributing them this afternoon after the lecture class for Abnormalities is finished. Go on, be on your way now!” The Researcher let Yuri off, so she bowed and excused herself.

She spent the short hours on her own, exploring the facilities. Some morbid curiosity flies around in her head. Did the LCC team blame her for the failure of the first mission? Will they allow her to be herself to work optimally? She doesn’t know. She doesn’t want to know.

She attended the afternoon lecture for Abnormalities silently. At least unlike Lobotomy Corporation, she didn’t have to work with zero information regarding the Abnormalities they are going to receive here. Both the Sinners’ observation logs and Managerial Tips from the former L corp would help them tremendously. 

The foldable tablets she received were also distributed to each member, the device is now called Abnodex for a temporary name. It also contains Managerial Information  for the Abnormalities as well as a function to take personal notes and send any personal observation findings to the central team so the Managerial Information can get updated server wide. 

“With how small and compact it is, this sure is a very high tech device~” Micah commented, “I find it pretty cute too” he chuckled.

“Is it?” Yuri spoke for the first time during the whole lecture. “I suppose since it fits in your pocket, it is nifty….” despite her fear from opening up, Yuri felt that she could talk to him.

“Mm-hmmh I prefer more if the dual screen layout is vertical rather than horizontal like a wallet like this, but that’s a personal preference” he chuckled. The class soon ended as he said that, and Yuri immediately walked out silently.

Micah quickly called him back, asking if he could ask for tips and tricks for the Abno caretaking duty tomorrow, since he knew of her history.

“I-” while Yuri felt like she could trust him not to belittle her, she felt awkward that he seemed okay with her, especially since he knows how she killed someone due to an Abno’s brainwashing.

“Why are you okay…. With being with me? I mean, even before you talked to me…. Even though you knew about the history of what I did….” Yuri asked cautiously.

“Hmm? Oh, ooooh, that’s what you were worried about?” Micah chuckled “can you follow me a bit to somewhere more private?” He asked her as they walked to an empty smoking room. Yuri, confused, followed for now, wanting to know his reason.

“Firstly, I wanted to apologize, I read up your history record with the therapist too, as I was curious of what truly happened in Nest D. I don’t think you were the sole reason of the mission’s failure, I guess, especially seeing how you introduce yourself and your general body language and all…. You were afraid of hurting others or others not trusting you and stuff right? Well for the former issue, you don’t have to worry about that” Micah raised his hand and took out…. his eyeball, so calmly and casually

Yuri shrieked and covered her mouth, only to see there’s no blood from the eye socket, nor the eyeball itself. There’s only hollow darkness, with a small white dot of light inside. “You see, though this body may look completely human and young. I’m actually much older than I actually look. You may have guessed that I’m using some prostheses on my body, but this is actually a whole body prosthesis I’m wearing, I just prefer to still look human you know?”

Yuri gulped hearing the explanation. But after seeing the Sinners revived from the dead, Manager Dante, and the whole weirdness of the City she lived in, she just nodded and gathered herself.

“Must’ve been quite the pricey prostheses set,” she commented, she doesn’t know how pricey it is, but she knew to make one so human-like would require a pricy skill to boot. “Oh, it sure is! Which is why my benefactor asked me to work here in exchange for this appearance!” He sighed. “And I can guarantee the quality of these prostheses isn’t just in its appearance but also its endurance and strength!” For some reason Micah sounded like a sales pitch ads.

“Thus with that in mind, don’t worry about me dying! And I assure you, I can stop you before you go crazy, I have the strength to do that~” Micah chuckled casually as he put back his eyeball in. “With that in mind, nice to meet you Yuri-ssi” he offered a handshake.

Yuri felt weirded out by this sudden confession. “Was this a secret? Or a public knowledge that I miss-""not necessarily. The higher up knows my deal. But I try not to let others within the same or near rank as mine know, a hassle to be questioned.” He shrugged.

“In other words, within our rank, only I knew so far? You divulged this secret to… make me trust you?” “And to let you know I trust you” he chuckled. Yuri sighed. This man is nonsensical, but at least she appreciates this form of blatant honesty. 

“Nice to meet you too, Micah-ssi” she sighed and shook his hand, “I’ll talk about what I know about the Abnormalities for now….” 

Chapter Text

“Right… so…” Yuri gathered with his teammates in one of the break rooms in LCCU, Limbus Company Underground, The area for taking care of Abnormalities. They were discussing making a schedule as it seems the work is self assigned. No manager will assign you to work where next, just don’t work the same Abno twice back to back. Let someone else do it after you. They are also discussing if  they still need a team captain to organize the shifts of work. 

“Yuri~ don’t you want to nominate yourself as a captain for this work? You got the experience for it, yeah?” Micah teased her. “I- I’m not good with… being saddled with responsibility…. I can give some advice but yes… that’s it…” She meekly responded.

They decided to have a weekly or bi-weekly change of Team Leader for now. The newly appointed Team Leader heard of what they were talking about and did ask for her input.

“Uh- umm…. Let’s see. The instruction manuals only ever give us info about what type of work like Instinct- Insight- Attachment and Repression. But it never mentioned to us what activities count as what works. Perhaps talking and chatting with an Abno can't count as an Attachment to one but another type of work to another Abno…. S-so usually we need to take personal notes for that.”

“I see, that’s why the device has a personal notes function” “Yes, but unfortunately that wasn’t a server wide system. So maybe we can create a system, maybe a public notebook everyone can read so if one’s personal findings are found to be true, we can report that for a server wide update?” Micah helped with what Yuri wanted to suggest

“Come to think of it, it seems like some Abnormalities, we can’t do the same type of job twice in a row but… we can’t really know what job was last done to them right? I don’t think there was such a function be it in the containment units nor the Abnodex” the other asked

Yuri whispered something to Micah who nodded and spoke out her ideas, “Hmmm… maybe we can install some sort of manual device or digital device, like even something like a magnet fridge or a log book, so everyone knows what work was done last time to an Abno? Once we have proven this does increase our efficiency we can ask the higher ups to update the systems with our way?” 

——————————————————————

Taking care of Abno went much smoother in LCC compared to her time in L corp. As they already had data on the original Abnormality from the main branch of L corp, Snow White’s Apple, it was easy taking care of Ebony Queen’s Apple, who is an Aberration of it. 

She learnt that LCCR (Research) had managed to develop fake corpses for Doomsday Calendar to feed upon, which meant she didn’t have to worry about needing to periodically sacrifice her own teammates or the clerks.

For some odd reason Micah had grown fond of it enough to call it Doomie or Doomsie. Even today, he came to her and showed something, “look look! Doomsie gave me this! Isn’t this an EGO Gift?”, so casually just like that.  “Uh-umm…. Yes, that is right. Um… please be careful, the Corrosion effect of it makes you subconsciously easily get angry at some stuff…” Yuri tried to warn Micah

[Day 10 Log Report

Team Leader: Yuri

Agent Xavier entered the Containment unit for Golden Apple. Despite having a high stat of Temperance, he was attacked during Attachment type of work.

It was found out later that he was snacking during his job hour inside the Containment Unit. Further investigation is needed if “eating in the Containment Unit/ in front of Abnormality” counts as another type of work.

Fortunately, the Qlipoth Count at the time only went from 2 to 1. Agent Xavier was injured but got out at the right time. He grew horns, the EGO GIft Legerdemain, on his head. Further investigation might be needed to understand the criteria of what increases the chances to gain the EGO Gift.]

Yuri kept typing the Log Report for the day in her room. It has been more than a week, the team leader has found her competent enough that in the second week she was assigned the team leader for the week. She couldn’t refuse when everyone was looking at her expectantly. ‘While it’s true I was so near to be promoted into L5, doesn’t mean I ever became Team Captain… come on….’ She sighed as she typed her Report more.

[Addendum: during my time as an L corp Employee, I never had Golden Apple run out while it was still in its Golden Apple form. The experience here and the ones reported by the Sinners from LCB was something new. So does Doomsday Calendar being fought directly, though thankfully so far Doomsday Calendar itself, has never ran out, proper warning beforehand might be needed of such possibility] She write more and soon finished her report

She has noticed some of her co-workers have started gaining the EGO Gifts more and more. Soon enough, more people will be willing to use the EGO Suit and Weapon too. Yuri decided that once someone decided to start the trend of using them, she can also finally equip her Gifts without being stared as the only one with all three EGO Gifts.

Yuri was also considering getting herself an EGO Weapon and EGO Suit. With her stats, she could get any EGO sets she wanted, though, it is a rather hefty price to pay, plus the waiting time needed to extract and make the EGO set. 

Another week passed peacefully. Yuri has started wearing her EGO GIfts in the open. This week’s leader was Micah. He tapped her to catch her by surprise, “Boo!” “Huh? Micah-ssi. What’s wrong?” “I heard some news~ The After Team has finished their mission from District 10”. District 10 was J Corp’s Nest. Assistant Manager Saude and Effie had just gone there to help the Sinners as LCCB. If they had just come back it meant that they had finished with the Golden Bough mission there.

“How did it go?” Yuri asked excitedly, “Went well this time, the Sinners successfully retrieved the Golden Bough” he hummed. Yuri sighed relieved, but the relief wasn’t for long. “And they also brought back 3 Abnormalities from the Lobotomy Corp Branch there~”

“Huh?” Yuri asked “Wait…. 3?” “Well, yes, even before with us, the LCCB took in 3 Abnos all at once right? They will need to take in all the Abnos in the place after all~”.

That’s when the realization kicked in. Yuri could lead them so well because of her own personal experience with the Abnos they had so far plus all the Observation and Managerial Logs had been quite filled.

“A-ahh…. Awawawa…. Oh no. oh nonononono…..” She hyper ventilated. 3 whole Abnormalities. Even the main branch of L corp would take in one by one for once every day or so. Sure they will get the local branch’s Observation and Managerial Logs, but to Yuri, this is just as terrifying as the new and clueless Abnormalities she’s receiving and 3 of them!

“Yuri? Yuri! Take a deep breath…..” Micah helped her panic attack as usual. He explained and assured them that the Logs were all nearly completed and that they won’t be walking in the dark this time. “I’ll help you, so don’t worry….” he tried to hug her and made sure she’s feeling alright.

“Okay… okay….” She took deep breaths and followed his instructions. To change the subject, Micah talked about the Sinners. “Miss Saude and Mr. Effie told me about them and what happened” they changed location to a more comfortable break room. He talked about what happened during the mission. How some of them expressed concern and curiosity at how she’s doing. Especially Gregor, Rodya, Ishmael and Sinclair.

“I see…” She chuckled hearing the shenanigans in the story. “I’m glad they are doing well….” Yuri smiled warmly. “I can’t wait to get deployed properly as part of the LCCB, I do miss them and want to meet them one of these days. But well…. Other stuff comes first huh?” 3 Whole Abnormalities, they do need to come first.

—————————————————————-

EGO set of Canto 1 Abnormality

Ever wondered what Limbus Abnormalities’s Managerial Tips/ Managerial Log is like in Lobotomy Corporation style? Here’s a link and preview for Abnormality Entries for Canto 1 Abnormalities:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16Gri4aSJbzKr_eY8zgOB0TYAOg47QqVGD9lbwDil5LM/edit

Bonus art

Chapter Text

She read out the Observation Log made by the Sinners first. “Baba Yaga, Have You Become Strong, and Pink Shoes…. All three are non breaching but mind control types….” she groaned. Mind control types were always worse in Yuri’s eyes. Not only she’d feel guilty having to suppress her own teammate, if your own teammate was strong, then they are a pain to deal with when mind controlled.

At the very least Abnormalities have a consistent pattern on how to handle when suppressed. “This one…. Whoa it has a rather long name….” “We just call it The Factory,” Micah suggested, “yeah that one, it can affect Employees, and then the converted Employees can  further get influenced by another Abnormality??? What the heck??”

“It seems it can modify Employees to be stronger, if we learnt how to do it carefully, can’t we make use of the advantageous part?” “Letting it work on the Employees? Wouldn’t it be risky?” Usually blessing type EGO Gifts from Abnos can stack, but sometimes stacking too much of it will drive people mad or dangerous instead. “Let’s discuss this with others first for now. We can decide later” Yuri sighed, wanting to read the Observation Log first.

As all three of the new Abnormalities cannot be fought directly even by the Sinners, it doesn't have an observation log. What she received below is the observation log for its subordinates.

“Baba Yaga’s subordinates' weapons turn into an icy version of their original weapon. Their weapon technique and mastery remain the same except the attack’s weight is stronger and heavier now.” She summarised and made personal notes. Perhaps new findings will make the Abnodex get updated.

“The Managerial Tips said it might be an Aberration of The Snow Queen due to both having a penchant for trapping people in ice….” She read the Managerial Tips for it. “The writings have been smudged a bit” Micah pointed out “we know that its form of Qlipoth Meltdown is them sending out the people it has converted into its subordinates. But there’s also a warning, circled many times with many underlines, “ SUPPRESS QUICKLY ”,” Micah read out.

“Is there any clue why and what'll happen if we didn’t suppress it quickly?” Yuri asked.

“That’s a good question, I do hope we didn’t have to find that out harshly what’ll happen~” Micah chuckled. Yuri is a bit miffed at his nonchalant attitude.

The next is Have You Become Strong. Yuri consulted the books about the main branch of L corp, and it seems this was a type of Tool Abnormality. Tool Abnormalities are another type of Abnormality that are used. These Tools, unlike other Abnormalities, don't possess work preferences but a single work to use them.

Most Tools give positive effects, like healing,  energy production or Stat boost, among others, often for a cost. Despite this fact, Yuri found out that Have You Become Strong is not a Tool Abnormality, it is a normal Abnormality that can bless people and work on.

However, when the  Qlipoth Count reaches 0, it will transform all the Employees it blessed into its subordinates. It is unknown if this was a permanent effect or can they still salvage the Employee after suppressing it. Yuri decided she will need to read the reports from the L corp branch it was contained

Lastly was Pink Shoes. It is another aberration of Red Shoes. Except this one can manipulate several people. To suppress it completely, you must defeat the strongest of the Posessee, as they are usually the one that will carry or convert back the Pink Shoes into ovate form.

“Only Pink Shoes have Suppressed cores??” Yuri asked Micah. “It seems when other Abno subordinates were rampaging around, it didn’t count as the Abno itself breaching. In Pink Shoes’s case. The strongest Employee or the strongest Hurtily the Sinners defeated was found dead while donning the Pink Shoes” MicH explained his findings. “That means Pink Shoes itself was a Breaching Abnormality”

Yuri nodded, taking mental notes of it. She made sure to learn the datas with him until the time comes for Micah, as the team leader of the week who also helped receive the Abnormalities, do a briefing lecture for the other employees on how to manage them.

—————————————————————-

Days turn into another week. They have learnt more about the Abnormalities they received.

[The maximum number of people being Remodeled by Have You Become Strong was 5 people. A bit different from what happened when they were fought by Sinners outside of Qlipoth Deterrence.The Cyborgs (T-04-10-06-A) are a group of TETH-class Abnormalities that is created by Have You Become Strong. Based on how risky it is for being able to make multiple TETH-class Abnormalities, Have You Become Strong has been declared as HE-class Risk level.]

[Based on how risky it is for being able to make multiple TETH-class Abnormalities, Baba Yaga has been declared as HE-class Risk level.]

[Based on how risky it is for being able to make multiple TETH-class Abnormalities, Pink Shoes has been declared as HE-class Risk level.]

Yuri helped typed the report this time, not in charge of caretaking of Abnormality this week, but rather on the duty of updating the Managerial Tips. She exhaled with such fatigue seeing the report. ‘It was to be expected, that something that has the ability to multiply its subordinates to be a high level of risk class, but still…. Three HE Class huh….’ She sighed.”Come to think of it there were reports that says it might be an aberration of a HE Class from the Lobotomy HQ to begin with, I guess that’s why the danger level is the same…”

She continued reading the logs reported by others to update the Abnodex again.

[While it doesn’t count as breaching abnormality, when the Qlipoth Count reaches 0, all of the Employees modified by the factory will be lured to get modified into The Cyborg by the factory.]

[There are three version of Cyborgs (T-04-10-06-A) that can appear,  “Become Strong? Genuinely?”, “Grown Powerful! For Realsies?”, and the strongest one, “You Want To Get Beaten? Hurtily?”. Suppressing all  of the Cyborgs will count as Suppression work done]

[Pink Shoes count as a Breaching Abnormality. When the Qliphoth Count reaches 0, it will possess the last person it worked with. The Pink Shoes will also trap any corpses it finds during its breaching and reanimate them into Reanimated Subordinate (F-04-10-13-A) - The Enchantee and the Posessee.

On some rare cases that Have You Become Strong’s Cyborgs are breaching at the same time Pink Shoes is breaching, it will reach out to the recently deceased Cyborg and turn it into its subordinate, “Clippity-cloppity? Tap Away!” (T-04-10-06-B). Defeating the strongest Subordinate will revert it back into the ovate form]

The next day, Yuri was in charge of briefing the new findings in the new Abnos, as well as the stats of the EGO Gears from them. It was right after she was finished, she was going to invite Micah to lunch, as usual, that the alarm signaling the breaching of several Abnormalities rang out.

Yuri gasped and quickly got to the Underground area, asking what happened. “It’s Baba Yaga! There’s at least 12 Clerks or Agents being converted into its subordinates! In four different hallways to boot!” Pilot exclaimed to explain to her the situation.

“We need to Suppress them quickly! Equip your weapon! And if you have EGO Gears, equip them instead!” Yuri equipped the Impending Day EGO and  took charge to lead them.

At one point, someone asked “what’ll happen if they are not suppressed quickly? I mean, you know, other than collateral damage or them trying to attack us more?”

“We don’t know yet” Yuri ran quickly to the location where some crystallized  employees are duking it out with the suppressing employees. “One thing we know for sure, we need to subdue them quickly”

Yuri went to one location to start the Suppression work. What she meant by that was, in fact, having to subdue and kill those that had been turned into its subordinates. Employees that has not only started attacking others, but also showed signs of transformation. Those whose lower half has turned into Baba Yaga’s leg talon or those whose upper body has icicles growing on them. 

She kept apologizing to them, verbally or mentally. Yuri couldn’t care less if people think she’s merciless or strong or not, she had to do this. She had to prevent more damage, she can’t let more uninvolved employees get hurt.

“One location done!” Yuri was panting, “where is the next?” “Here!” Someone guided Yuri. Yuri quickly subdued another location the same way. All the while she was praying mentally. So that her friends, Pilot, Micah, and others, were still safe. Safe from the killing. Safe from being converted.

“Where next?!” Yuri screamed in panic, as she was told the next location. The next was the last. Yuri arrived and saw Micah fighting the subordinates of Baba Yaga and some of The Cyborgs.

“Why are The Cyborgs here too?!” Yuri groaned as she pushed  away from them. Micah, who was wearing the EGO Suit of Baba Yaga and the weapon of Pink Shoes, answered that when everyone too panicked at the sudden Breaching that they neglected the other Abnos, causing Have You Become Strong’s Clipoth Count went to 0.

“We need to do this quickly, I’d rather not find out what’ll hap-“ Micah gasped as he saw a blue colored magic portal appear on the ceiling. Yuri looked up and went pals, feeling in a split second, death will happen. “Yuri!” Micah snapped her and threw an injured employee and pushed them both away outside the range of the portal.

What happened next was a blur to Yuri. One second she saw him smiling as she was pushed away. On the next second a gigantic bird leg squashed everything underneath its leg into paste. 

“Wha-“ she couldn't hear anything else. She only vaguely felt from the floor that people were running towards them. Wait. She shook herself out of the torrent at the time when it happened in the location, but only for a moment as the overwhelming pain of her friend slipping away hit them again and again and again.

Since when did she fall while sitting down on the floor? She saw after Micah’s smile disappeared from her sight, the bird leg grabbed what remained of its own subordinate like a crane. From that weird mixed pile of flesh and metal, she saw one mechanical arm dangled and taken away to the portal. The portal disappeared.

Now was not the time to freak out, the man that was pushed into her had to be cared for, the others needed a burial and—

What happened after that was another set of blurry memories to her. Was she crying? Was she screaming? Yuri doesn’t know. She just vaguely remembers her face turned wet and sticky and her throat hoarse now, so Yuri assumed she was screaming as her heart burst

The only thing that was brewing in her head was questions after questions. ‘Why? Why!?’ Yuri felt her body shaking, already welling up with tears again. ‘Another, why did another have to die—‘

The thing that finally made her move again was her stomach growling. Even right now. She’s alive. Her body still shows signs that it wants to stay alive. Yuri begrudgingly took a bath and opened the mini fridge in her room.

There were some snacks, chocolates that she bought with Micah one time after work. He kept reminding her that sugar is good for the brain when they are working overtime, especially when on log and report duty.

She took one and opened the wrapping and put it on her mouth. It’s bittersweet, she wanted to cry again feeling the taste. It was a short time of bonding with the weird man and she already felt it’s a nostalgic thing.

Using the new sugar intake in the system, Yuri began writing the report. She was a key witness of what happened. She needs to make a report of what’ll happen if Baba Yaga isn’t Suppressed quickly to prevent further damage in the future. So that no one will feel the same pain as her. 

‘Perhaps it isn’t so wrong to stay alive’ her mindset changed from the time she met Gregor as she continued to type.

[When Baba Yaga’s Qlipoth Count turns to 0. Several people in 4 random different areas will be converted into subordinates. These Subordinates are unsalvageable as an Employee, so they must be Suppressed quickly to prevent further damage. When all of  Baba Yaga’s subordinates aren’t suppressed after a certain period of time, a portal will open in the ceiling where its subordinates are, a gigantic bird leg, resembling Baba Yaga’s leg will appear from the portal and crushed everything underneath, taking away the remaining subordinates back with it like a crane. The Suppression count as finished when that happened]

Yuri submitted the report the next day, her eyes reddened and swollen from the crying as she wrote the report last night. The Abnodex gets updated. 

And even today too, Yuri continued to stay alive

------------------------------------------------

Bonus Art

Micah stat:

Fortitude 3

Prudence 2

Attachment 4

Justice 5

EGO set of Canto 2 Abnormality

Ever wondered what Limbus Abnormalities’s Managerial Tips/ Managerial Log is like in Lobotomy Corporation style? Here’s a link and preview for Abnormality Entries for Canto 2 Abnormalities:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JOf1ScfXmEw7hFSGMLfycX3CboXfbL7xWN_GsPbst3c/edit

Chapter Text

Location: Town of Calw - The Old Sinclair Estate, Dante’s POV

—————————————

As we brute-forced our way, killing Inquisitors after Inquisitors, what happened to that creepy call with a creepy voice of Effie came back to my mind.

Effie had hung up from our call, the others may have panicked at the time, but Faust stayed calm. “I would assume they would have called for back-up but perhaps the situation was extreme enough they couldn't have had the chance to call for reinforcement…. We need to assume the worst case scenario here”

Sinclair’s home was the largest mansion in the neighborhood, standing at the innermost part of town. One could see  from a distance that a huge flame was engulfing the state.

I took a moment to try and imagine what this town could have looked like during its peaceful times. To bring to mind the times when the trees we saw near the town still had lush, verdant leaves.

How Sinclair would have been during those times. Or when everyone around him died. I couldn’t paint a clear picture of either happiness or despair. Nonetheless, I only hope that Sinclair can brace himself for the misfortune he’ll soon have to face.

The Sinners reacted at the disrespectful treatment to the dead, especially when they realized Sinclair’s families’ graves has been dragged up, and their corpses impaled alongside others in a forest made out of a variety of prosthetic bodies pierced by those towering nails. It seems to be his father, mother and sister.

There was a sound of fighting. It was soon we saw what happened.

“Move. You are still pure, if you do not want to be purged by association, move away so we can do away with the heretic you are protecting” a Hammer spoke, the one holding him back was, in fact someone familiar to us.

“Yuri??” Gregor pointed out. Yuri was wearing familiar clothing, was it LCCB’s uniform? “Manager… Dante! Please! Take Effie-sunbae away! They are targeting him!”  Behind her back, Effie was tied to her. She was fighting with her and his life on the line.

“From the wounds it seems they forcibly pulled his prosthetics and broke both of his arms, I’m assuming they were planning to impale him like they do with the heretics” Outis analyzed, “give us a command Manager”.

<Someone that can tank the attack for a while to let those two escape out of town for a while….. if I remember they were weak against blunt damage right?> “Astute observation, Manager. Yes, rather than futilely trying to slash or pierce them, blunt damage would give them more internal damage due to their own armour” Outis commented.

<Then…> I fiddled with my PDA, Faust taught me how to do it. Insert the Identity and EGO card, and the Sinners will transform

‘Come to think of it, I did get similar Nagul und Hammer Identities before we walked into the town. Well then….’

<Heathcliff….> I put on his Kleinhammer ID,
<Ishmael…>  LCCB for her,
<Gregor and Meursault> Both will use Liu ID,
<…. And Rodya> lastly, Mittelhammer for her.

“The combatants have been chosen! Go forth as the Manager commands.” Outis took command for some reason, nevertheless <the rest…please rescue Yuri and Effie….> I glanced at Sinclair, he was unresponsive, or, well, I could feel all his bottled up emotion is going to be volatile.

<Outis, please lead Faust, Ryoshu and Hong Lu> I ordered her “Affirmative, let’s go you lots!” Outis immediately turned into a field commander.

As I ordered the battle against the Hammers. I asked Yi Sang and Don Quixote to be by my side just in case, as Outis took charge and soon Ryoshu and Hong Lu took Yuri and Effie to the premises. Faust quickly led them out from the Calw Town to meet up with the LCCB Team outside.

<Heathcliff, Rodya, now! Hammer them in!> “Puri…fy! Yes…!” He panted as he bashed his hammer down, while Rodya madly laughed, “Purge!” Her fanaticism shows <Ishmael, shoot them on the gaps of the armor> “Engaging the target” She declared and shot some rounds, “Target suppressed” she announced as she successfully killed one of the Inquisitors.

<Gregor, Meursault, do a combined together> “sure~ Let’s get right into it” “Gregor, follow my fire” the two did as ordered,doing Perfected Palm Strike and Perfected Death Fist together. Our enemies are finally dead or incapacitated, and when I was going to let the Sinners revert back to their original self.

(Yuri’s POV)

That was genuinely the first time I saw the power of the Mirror World’s Identities. I have seen the power of EGOs before, but it seems they also have different EGOs to use this time, though not used this time. 

“The whistle….” Sinclair paled, now that I hear it closely, there’s some sort of whistle echoing from…. Inside the mansion. “Kehehe, I mean, it’s just too funny when you think about it.” Someone came out from the burning mansion, laughing sinisterly IT was a young lady with…. A uniform that symbolizes an authoritative figure. She kept laughing about how ironic it is to bury a body that won’t rot anyway.

“Kromer…” Sinclair hissed. She kept mocking and taunting him, as Sinclair stuttered, he couldn’t speak properly. “Aha~ Sinclair’s got some buddies~!” She laughed, pointing at us.

She leered at me, specifically, the body of Effie-sunbae that I was cradling. “That one is quite the masterpiece you know. Too bad, I was going to make another example out of him~” She mocked my senior as he was coughing out blood. I was both enraged and chilled at her taunting as well. It is as if her voice has some sort of mental effect on me.

“Yuri-ssi, it is best that you retreat with Effie-ssi from this point onward” Ms. Faust suggested. I agreed, Effie-sunbae needed some crucial and urgent help right now to help keep his life, so I nodded and ran away, carrying Effie-sunbase’s bleeding body out until I met up with the LCCB’s main bus and put Effie-sunbae’s body to evacuate.

“Yuri, aren’t you getting in too?” My Co-worker asked meekly, seeing the blood in my uniform.

“No need, I’m still okay. This uniform protected me from most of the damage so… Don’t worry. I’ll…. go back to help the Sinner. Please make sure to save the senior's lif-“

“Yu-Yuri! Behind you!” My co-worker warned me, as I turned to see, some of the Hammers seemed to have caught up to us. “Go! Quickly! Now!” I shooed them off, making sure the truck sped up to a safer distance.

“Don’t let the heretics go away! After them!” One of them ordered others, the one with a bigger hammer and armor. “Don’t you dare!” I fired a warning shot from my gun. That seemed to have worked. ‘If I remember correctly, ms. Outis said they are weak to blunt damage… in that case’ I took out my own Abnodex.

“EGO Suit, Ebony Stem. EGO Weapon, Legerdemain. EGO Gift… Impending Day, Ebony Stem, Legerdemain” I chose quickly, as my clothes and appearance changed in a second.

This is it, this’ll be the first time I use the EGO Set outside of LCU. Supposedly, I can use them for a shorter period of time due to me having to be near the frequency of another Golden Bough before it corrodes me for real.

“Suppression, start” I chanted the work mode mantra to myself as I quickly bashed in the Hammers with the Legerdemain hammer. Once I saw the truck has gone out of sight, I quickly incapacitated the Hammers and went to follow where the Sinners had gone. 

(Dante POV)

We had entered the charred mansion, and Sinclair slowly led us to the basement, which he said will lead them to the branch facility. 

Sinclair has a tranquil fury as he talks with Faust, who ignored his questioning about Golden Bough searching, commenting how the passage was dug recently probably by and for the Nagel un Hammer members  to use, and urged us to go inside quickly, without answering my own question to her as well.

As we planned to enter the Lobotomy Corp branch under Sinclair’s home, we heard some footsteps behind us. “Who’s there?!” Ouris raised her sword, being wary of an enemy ambush from behind.

“I-it’s me!”, as it turns out, the footsteps belonged to Yuri. “Why are you here? Did you not go with Effie back to safety with the other LCCB team members? Your role in helping us has already finished.” Outis demanded her explanation.

“Please let me help you. At the very least, until I can meet and take Saude-ssi to safety. She’s inside….” Yuri begged. “I won’t be a burden. I’ve learnt how to defend myself as well as direct combat. And I have my EGO equipment too” she explained.

“You meant that clown looking ass outfit yer wearing?” Heathcliff barked back, incredulous. <It certainly does look different from what the Sinners’ EGOs look like….> I commented.

She looked like. She was wearing a light green and purple suit, the EGO Gift from Branch D-07 Abnormalities are around her body, and she was wielding a large weapon resembling a golden apple on a stick. 

“No, not just that. There seems to be battle signs, did you battle some Hammers on the way out and way back here? Manager Bud, this means she has been using it for a while now, from before we arrived up till now.” Gregor pointed out.

“Was EGO something you could keep on all the time and use whenever and wherever like that? Cause I didn’t know you could do that!” Gregor’s question raised a good point that made everyone turn their head to Faust, silently asking for an explanation.

“The LCCR Team is researching about this, if we reduced an Abnormality to an ovate form and figured out a way to materialize their EGO the way Lobotomy Corp did, in other words, repeatedly researching the condition of how one corrodes and trained to repress that phenomenon, using the Qlipoth Deterrence emitted by the Golden Bough. It could be possible to use EGO well without being affected by the corrosion even after a short period. In summary, what Yuri is using is a compressed and repressed version of what we use, designed for general utility, so that even amateurs can use them.” Faust rambled, some were trying to absorb and understand what she was saying.

“Okay so, long story short, could we have what she’s having right now?” Heathcliff asked.

“Impossible at the moment. We didn’t have enough research time to see who is suitable for Abnormality's EGO. Not only that, since we were in D corp’s Nest, LCCA Team could only reproduce for one person’s worth per every few weeks or so. They decided to give them to Yuri as she is already used to the Abnormality they are working and used to wear Lobotomy Corp issued EGO Gear.  Plus, even though I said it was designed so that even an amateur can use it, in Lobotomy Corp, even training is still necessary. A Level 1 or 2 Agent can only use EGO of Abnormality with milder damage level deemed as ZAYIN and TETH by Lobotomy Corp. What she is using is a WAW damage level Abnormality’s EGO, something worn normally by a Level 4 Employee. Not to mention, she could only use it safely if a Golden Bough’s Qlipoth Deterrence effect is nearby, which means she could only use it around a Lobotomy Corp Branch Facility, or near Dante who has a Golden Bough in their head, other than that she still risk getting EGO Corrosion which means Herr Gregor’s statement of how she can use her EGO Gear whenever and wherever is false”  Faust seemed to continue her lecture until Heath stopped her.

“Okay, okay. Got it. We can’t use the same stuff as hers” Heath sighed

“Correct, while the risk of Corrosion is higher and the usage time is shorter, our EGO are personally tailored for each to their own, and is also not repressed in term of damage, thus both version has their own pros and cons” Faust finished her lecture when she sees how impatient and disgruntled Sinclair was being. “

We have wasted quite some time. Let us proceed. Dante, as before, please decide the IDs you want to register before entering the Dungeon, as it will stay permanent until we retrieve the Golden Bough” Faust turned to me this time, thankfully and finally changed the subject.

I nodded and took the PDA to decide the IDs. Yuri looked at it inquisitively, muttering how it looked familiar to her EGO repository device that allows her to equip her EGO Gear without actually manually changing her clothes.

I started choosing the Sinners’ ID to enter the Dungeon. We needed blunt damages mainly, but just in case, I’ll entr some IDs that can do pierce or slashing damage, even with their EGOs. I set up the ID and EGO cards in the Manager’s PDA to summon the following set up

Yi Sang -> Blade Lineage Salsu + 4th March Flame

Faust -> LCB Sinner + Hex Nail + Fluid Sac

Don Quixote -> LCB Sinner

Ryoshu -> Seven Assoc. South Section 6 + 4th March Flame

Meursault -> Liu Assoc. South Section 6 + Screwloose Wallop + Pursuance

Hong Lu -> Tingtang Gang Leader + Roseate Desire

Heathcliff -> LCB Sinner

Ishmael -> LCCB Assistant Manager + Roseate Desire

Rodya -> Kurakumo Clan Wakashu + Rime Shank + 4th March Flame

Sinclair -> LCB Sinner + Impending Day

Outis -> Blade Lineage Salsu + Ya Sunyata Tad Rupam + Ebony Stem

Gregor -> Liu Assoc. South Section 6 + Legerdemain

Once everything was set up we began our venture into the Lobotomy Corp Branch Facility.

It seems N Corp’s Inquisitors have been using this place as their base for a while; various torture devices and bits of glesh and machinery like those we saw in town came into my sight. We saw some prostheses using townsfolk crying out of pain, but the Inquisitors ignored him.

Saying how his conscience did not scream when he rejected his humanity. How the absence of tears shows how much they have rejected their humanity. 

They gouged the townsfolk's eyes out, just to see if their tears were real or not. Their mercy and glimpse of hope they gave to the townsfolk seems clearly fake. Yuri and Rodya, who couldn't stand the scene, bashed their weapons forward, in Rodya case, she merely shrugged when I looked back at her. “What? I wanted to take charge once in a while”, she chuckled. 

————————

Continuing to walk for a while, while fighting the Inquisitors, we witnessed how strong Yuri has become. She uses that Legerdemain look alike weapon so skilfully.

She worked well with Gregor at this point. Because she has such a presence, she can do ambush attacks well. The EGO Suit of Ebony Stem apparently protected her from the Inquisitors’ piercing attacks too, though she still could get poisoned or paralyzed from their attack. 

“Well I’ll be…. You’ve all… gotten better at fighting, haven’t you…?” We heard a familiar faint voice calling to us from the corner.  “Saude?” Gregor called as Yuri ran to her side, “Saude-sunbae! You are okay…!” “Does this… look okay to you, kid?…. Well, At least I’m still… alive….” Saude was resting against the wall, exhausted.  “These are…. Bite wounds….” Yuri gasped. <Bite wounds from the Peccatula, I’m assuming> I thought and tried to tell her.

“Are you alright? Can you get up easily?” Ishmael asked. Saude could barely talk, let alone stand on her feet; she slowly began to speak, each word filled with pain. “Effie… how is he…? Alive, yeah? You… must’ve met outside….” Everyone is hesitant to answer Saude’s question. As we left his fate to Yuri’s rescue just now.

“He is! He wasn’t out yet from the critical phase when I last met him, but I had him taken away to safety!” Yuri made sure to assure and calm her down. "…Indeed. That means he’ll be fine” Hong Lu answered quietly. “That’s enough chatter” Outis came to warn us, “it seems more of those oddities are crawling our way” she said, as a swarm of Peccatula approached us.

———————————-

After a while fighting the swarm of Peccatula, I heard that familiar yet ominous sound of a nail being dragged across the floor from not too far away. Outis suddenly suggested that one of our combat protocols are to confirm if our foes are really dead or not. Can’t blame her, the thoughts of his return makes what hair I have stand on end

“Ye Heretics…. Must be exterminated….” Guido reappeared again. Guido approaches at a slower gait than before, but his gaze is firmly fixed on me. “And… the rest… shall be purified…” Most of the Sinners were either dead or gravely injured. Even Yuri was exhausted from the continued onslaught of Pecculata and Inquisitors during our journey here. There was no way an effectively non-combatant manager and someone barely holding on to her life could take him.

“Please stop….” Just then, Saude pulled out a gun. She pointed the barrel at me. I could hear Yuri screaming and questioning Saude from a distance. Saude tried to threaten me even with herself out of breath. “The moment you try to turn that clock, my gun… will blow off your head…”. I looked back at her, she told me that they promised to let Effie go, if she helped to get rid of me.

Guido was saying something when he came to me and grabbed me by the neck. Then, he grips my head tightly with his other hand as if to crush it. 

Creaks, cracks, and rattles ring inside my head. His fingers being inches away from shattering my head terrifies me. Soon enough, I heard a sound. It was the sound of something breaking. Not from me but from Guido.

I saw Sinclair and Yuri. They both used some nails and lodged it in his back, both were gasping for air. Yet Guido still stood firm, even after I escaped his grip. He yaps and argues back to Sinclair, how it’s a shame he went in the wrong direction.

<Sinclair… run away… I can’t help you…> I told him. “No…. I’m not running anymore.” He hissed back. “....I like that answer, Sinclair…” Gunfire filled my ears, but the bullet from Saude’s gun struck Guido’s head. Finally, Guido fell to the floor, motionless, and I heard her handgun fall to the floor.

“Yuri…. Effie was really alive… right?” Saude asked Yuri. “Yes, yes he is! He was in a critical condition but he was really alive a-and I managed to take him to safety. He should arrive safely… t-to meet the LCCA…” Yuri was in panic, she made sure to try and help stop the bleeding first.

“Okay… I’ll believe you. You suck at lying anyway…Those Inquisitors will keep on coming, won’t they? You guys need to keep moving down….” Saude coughed up blood again. “Yuri…. Stay here and help me fend them off. You Sinner guys need to go.” 

“You can’t – you can’t do that…” Sinclair begged and Ishmael won’t let them go on their own like that. “It’ll be alright… I can hardly lift my finger…. But please… believe in this child’s power? I’m sure…” Saude coughed again, “you’ve seen how strong she is… so far…”

“We can’t….  You can’t… you can’t just….” Sinclair hesitated to let them go on their own. Saude sighed, saying he should have agreed so she can just rest quickly already.

“Faust, please take these absolute dorks out of here” Saude asked Faust, who nodded and said she’ll give her regards to Vergillius. “No need, just ask him to visit from time to time” was what she simply replied with. We headed for the next area, but before that, I wanted to make sure that we were not leaving Saude to die, so I talked to Yuri. <Do you think you’ll survive?> 

“It’s gonna be hard…” she looked down, “but I plan to”. She looked up to me, I can see her fear clearly in her face but also a slight hope for miracle and confidence. <Then, Good luck. I hope we can meet again with you two> I went with the Sinners silently soon after.

—————————-

Yuri Side, General POV 

“This is it, just the two of us alone” Saude sighed with a slight mirth mixed with resignation, “do you think we can survive this Yuri?” She asked

“Manager Dante asked the same thing just now,” Yuri told her. She knew already that I can somehow understand them, “I told them, at least I plan the two of us survives this”

“Good” Saude nodded. “I’ll be relying on you then, while the Golden Bough of this place allowed me to use EGO safely, it’ll be too dangerous for me to use it right now in this condition”

“Affirmative. Yuri, charging forward.” She announced as she bashed and swept away the Pecculatas and Inquisitors alike. Much like the original Abnormality, sometime the hammer she is using, the Legedermain EGO, would eat up parts of enemies to add up its weight of attack.

Bash them to the wall, crush them with weight, bash from overhead to the ground, with each victory, Yuri gets more exhausted as she also has to carry Saude sometime. Sometimes she also borrowed her gun to push forward.

Yuri arrived at the rendezvous point with LCCA after a while. She gave a brief report, all the while looking down panting from fatigue “Please… help… prioritizing helping her…. Please save… her life…” She coughed up.

Someone patted her head “rest up, you did well. LCCA will now take over. Drink something for now.” Yuri felt that hand gesture and voice was familiar, looked upwards. “Wait, you are….!” “I did told you right? Don’t worry about me dying~” the man replied with a calm smile, the cat ear prostheses on his head flapped.

Chapter Text

Dante’s POV 

‘I knew I’d die trying to play the proper manager sooner or later. I have to tell him, I have to tell him that Kromer’s spewing a heap of lies, threats, hypocrisy, and exaggeration. Every nerve in my body is screaming I shouldn’t give up on him.

<Look! Look closely, Sinclair! Not with your eyes, but with your heart! Only then… you’ll see what matters most> I shouted as best as I could to support him.

“Only then… you’ll see what matters most” a certain someone whispers, “And when you can see the things that matter most… you won’t have to stifle yourself with shallow threats or cheap tricks…. Isn’t that right, Sinclair?”

The young man moved with grace and airiness, as though he floated in the air. He seemed lighter than anyone else, unbound by anything. Contrary to his impression of freedom from all worldly longings, an oppressive air seemed to accompany every step he took.

And, with just a wave of his right arm…. Kromer’s upper body vanishes with a clean cut.

—————————-

The young boy, now that I knew his name is Demian, talked for a while with Sinclair. He answered his questions. He doesn’t want anyone else to dominate Sinclair, which is why he got rid of Kromer. 

“The world is about to head for a new birth. And, only a few individuals can get there. Sinclair, you’re one of them” he said though Sinclair fainted before he could answer.

Demian then came up to me, explaining how Kromer attempted to become a god, and that Sinclair was her stepping stone. He also  said some other cryptic, prophecy-like statements. “Take good care of Sinclair until then, Dante” <You… You can hear me?> That was unexpected.

“I can hear all sorts of chirps and trills, Dante. It’s only natural that I hear your voice. What matters most is something you can’t see or hear '' the boy with the blue scarf vanishes without notice. 

After that, the mound began to melt away. They dissolve into mixtures of flesh and mud. I retrieved the Golden Bough, as I turned back the clock for everyone. Thinking of our future ahead, to my loss of head and memory, accompanied by an involuntary appointment as the executive manager.

  At the root of all this, I might find no one but myself to blame. Staying bound by that fact though, will only keep us from taking our next steps.

—————————-

Yuri’s POV

“Watch out!” I warned other LCCA members. I volunteered to return to the Dungeon, as they call the place, so as to help them with the route to get to the Sinners quickly. The level we were in wasn't just crawling with Peccatula, but also Corroded Inquisitors.

“So this is what they look like…. N Corp Inquisitors that have voluntarily undergone EGO Corrosions…” Micah sighed. “I know Corrosion can feel iffy sometimes, even when I’m wearing former L corp’s style of EGO Equipments, but to voluntarily go through this…. To the point you are no longer human…. What’s the point of that? Really, I can’t understand how a cultist thinks ....”

“You out of everyone shouldn’t say that Micah-ssi….” I jabbed his argument back, knowing the secret of his body. “I suppose. It’s just funny you know, they spout the supremacy of the pure human body but they themselves forgo humanity in themselves?” He shrugged.

“Wah!” Someone nearly  got striked and jumped by one of the four legged ones. Micah easily slashed them. He is currently wearing the full set of the Pink Shoes set. 

“Be careful. This isn’t just a mere beast. They were formerly human, and Abnormality itself is a phenomenon of a manifestation of emotion….” I helped them got up, if I remember correctly, this guy’s name was Cargo.

“I thought you said most Inquisitors are weak to blunt weapons??” He angrily scolded me, thinking I was giving them incorrect information. I hated this kind of thing happening. Unexpected things are bound to happen in missions, so why….

“Their weakness probably changed depending on the Abnormality they are corroded with. This one is weak against slashes and cuts. It’d be better if you use the standard-duty swords given to us” Micah analyzed them quickly. “This one in particular seems to have a quick reaction speed and targets the weakest foe in front of its eyes. Protect those who fall back!” Micah gave clear and concise orders easily.

There were more Inquisitors coming at us. The next one charging at us has their arm transformed into gigantic muscle fibres. It has eyes and fangs on it. The eyes on the arm seem to be more reactive. They were also harder to defeat, they could endure any damage given to it.

I shot the eye on the arm with the Ebony Stem’s bowgun as Cargo began defeating it with the standards-duty staff. “Hah! Not regenerating as quickly as the others aren’t you?” He kept doing so until it shot out a sharp piercing tentacle to him.

Thankfully Micah dragged him away quickly, making him take the damage instead. His cheek was slashed but no blood was seeping from it. Looking closer, I could see inorganic structures instead of him. He glanced at me and I nodded, understanding he doesn’t want me to point that out. He quickly defeated the Inquisitors as he secretly smeared the blood in the cut cheek to disguise his look.

“Let’s go forward,” he simply said. As we approached the next room, we were greeted with screams from the early reconnaissance team. “Arghhh… krgh!! Help! I can’t- breath-!” The lady clawed at the…. Snake… is that snake as an arm of the Mittelhammer? It was choking her and there’s smaller snakes appearing from the face helmet and other joint spaces in the armor. Biting her leg. I quickly shot at the snakes and Micah cut down the biggest snake to free her.

“Have her treated immediately, signs of poisonings are appearing!” I called the medic team and had her taken back.

Micah sniffed something and turned back to us “use your gas mask! These things are both venomous and breathe poisonous gas!” He used them as well. 

‘He’s probably immune to it but is just keeping uo an appearance…’ I thought to myself. ‘In that case…,’ “Everyone moves forward quickly or falls back if you are poisoned. This one seems weak to pierce damage which our EGO Weapons are. We’ll handle it here. Go! Quick!” I gave orders this time and had them move on.

Once they went out, I confirmed with him that he is immune to poison due to his full body prostheses. “But you are not. Let’s finish this quickly.” “Yeah!”

—---------------------

Some time passed after that. I didn’t know what happened but it seems I lost consciousness after the fight due to the poison. ‘Right, there were 2 of them, one of them had the smaller snakes coil up to my leg and bit me. Must be when I was poisoned…. I thought I’d be save because I cut them off quickly, guess not…’ I thought to myself as I opened my eyes properly and try to orientate myself with my surroundings. A medic named Scene gave me some antidotes. We were in one of the safer areas in the whole corridor.

“Ah, you’ve woken up! Thank goodness the K Corp Ampules worked on their poison too” she sighed in relief.

“Really, we are supposed to use this high grade stuff on the LCB guys, you know. You should count your life lucky that we could spare some for you” I heard a familiar voice. It was Cargo, returning from somewhere with Micah.

“You feeling okay now, Yuri?” He reached out a hand to check my condition. “I am. What were you doing?” I asked where they came from. “Just doing some LCCA work. You know how I’ve been officially transferred to LCCA right? I was going to retrieve some ovate Abnormalities eggs.”

“Though we found none. Nothing to retrieve. The only thing that can probably count as Abnormalities were those mutated Inquisitors, " Cargo huffed. "You mean Corroded." Micah corrected"yeah well, whatever, not like you can retrieve those” Cargo shrugged at Micah’s correction.

"Where did the Abnormality they used for EGO Corrosion went? Were they destroyed? Killed?” Scene asked “considering EGOs are extracted from them. Perhaps they were, in a sense, milked to the point of drying out?” 

“Beats me. Basically, no eggs, nothing to retrieve. We can try subduing and bringing back those Inquisitors for LCCR to research on, but that’s too risky for us to bring that back without proper equipment. We’ll need to return back here to do that” Cargo sighed

Micah’s cat ear implants flapped and flickered with a light. “We got contact from the other recon team. It seems we’ve found where the Sinners are. They’ve retrieved the Golden Bough” he told us. “Let’s go there then” I tried to stand up. “Don’t worry, I’m doing fine” I glanced at Micah.

——————————

We arrived at the scene soon enough. Piles of mud and flesh, as well as the Sinners, body distorted and scattered around like mutilated corpses.

Scene immediately went to manager Dante, “this looks like the individual we seek. Do I inject it now?” She asked. “Yeah, the others can be revived as long as this one lives. Focus all resources on restoring their body.” I told her as I gathered everyone else’s body to one spot at least.

Micah confirmed that they successfully retrieved the Golden Bough. “We still have three HP ampules. Do I use all three on them?” She asked again and Micah nodded.

“Keep an eye on the regeneration progress and use them at your discretion.” Cargo grumbled as he also helped me gather up the Sinners’ bodies “Lucky straphangers…. They’re rolling in luxury thanks to having a Color on their team – one with a friend in K Corp at that, too…”

Once manager Dante has recovered and began tick tocking as usual, I helped them sit up and asked them to revive them once they could. I remember back then they said that reviving them means receiving and learning the others’ pains into their body too.

Manager Dante seems to have thanked me as he turned back the time for the others. The other LCCA members were amazed, even creeped out a bit at the sight of the mangled corpses regenerating into living breathing people.

I glanced at Micah, curious at his reaction and only saw him stared with interest but shrugged soon enough, asking for the LCB members to properly evacuate the scene for now as their role is finished.

“Micah, me and Scene are going to stay here to take care of other stuff here. Go report on them about the Abnormalities and stuff” Cargo shooed us off as we promptly walked out of the facility with the LCB members.

——————————

A short while after that, we met the Red Gaze whom we saw buying bundles of chicken skewers with Charon. 

“Pinky. We meet again.” “Hi there Charon, what’s with those chickens??” I decided to chat up with her as I was waiting for Micah to change clothes. I already did so first. 

“These are for those idiots, the Sinners. It seems the mission ended in physically a success but also mentally a defeat. It’d be annoying if the atmosphere stayed gloomy for a while, so I bought this” the Red Gaze spoke this time. “Oh, so you do care about them” I muttered. He definitely heard me but didn’t comment on that.

“We are planning to meet up with them too soon, perhaps we should buy them gifts too….” I did use what was supposed to be ampules for manager Dante onto myself because I was poisoned.

“Hmm… feel free to do that. We’ll stay in the bus for a while and won’t drive away until tomorrow” mister Red Gaze seems to have decided to let them rest.

“Pinky. Buy me sweets” Charon asked, and I nodded, planning to buy sweets for dozens of people next.

———————-

Once Micah had finished taking care of himself and covered his fake wounds, we went and bought some sweets. It was some chocolate pudding, everyone will have the same flavor and size no one fights for what.

“Hello guys!” I entered the bus to the Sinner eating and bantering about their chicken skewers.”Pinky, the sweets?” Charon immediately asked me.

“As promised, here you go” I handed her one. “Pudding? Pudding is good. Jiggly-jiggly. Sweet and simple.”  She hummed and opened it immediately, scooping some to her mouth.

I left her to eat it as I distributed them to others. Miss Rodya thanked me and nearly bear-hugged me for it. Don Quixote showered me with praise and Miss Ishmael thanked me. I handed one to Sinclair who accepted it calmly with a small meek smile and thanks. He was probably the most mentally drained of them all.

“Who’s the other guy?” Mister Gregor asked, and with that Micah introduced himself. “Nice to meet you, I’m from LCCA, my name’s Micah”

“Oh? Oooh now this is the first time I met someone from that Department. So what’s up?” He asked again, and with that we begin explaining about what we found in the L corp facility.

“I see. In that case it can’t be helped then.” Miss Faust calmly concluded it. “That there are no Abnormality we can take in so we can Extract the EGOs is unexpected but there’s nothing we can do at this point. If the LCCD and LCCR wants to research and investigate the corroded Inquisitors then feel free. Though keep in mind your own protection and medication supplies.” 

“We will relay that to them. Thank you for the confirmation” Micah nodded. “Y’all need Abnos that can have EGO Extracted from it? Didn’t we have those? Those creatures that appear on a specific day in one of their dungeons in the Backdoor?” Heathcliff suggested

“Which one are you talking about, we have several. Mirror Dungeons, Luxcavations….” Miss Ishmael sighed.

“The, not the Mirror Dungeon, that changes every time we enter ain’t it? I’m talking about the one that changes every day of the week. And the Abnos always consistently appeae in the same day!” He huffed back. “Ahh… Thread Luxcavations….” Ishmael nodded

“Thread Luxcavation has Ebony Queen’s Apple, Doomsday Calendar, The Cyborgs, both the versions that are the servant of Have You Become Strong and Pink Shoes, Golden Apple, Headless Ichthys and Alleyway Watchdog.” this time mister Meursault answered precisely what I needed to know.

“Hmmm… we have all of them except the last two…. Should we return here to extract the Abno egg, miss Faust?” I asked her opinion.

"While it is true we have extracted EGOs from such Abnormalities for the Sinners, Faust hypothesized it would be hard to retrieve the egg. Luxcavation Dungeon’s Abnormalities exists in a different time and space than the timeline we are currently existing in. Which is why even though Yuri and the others have taken them in, such as the Golden Apple, we can still fight those Abnormalities in the Luxcavation Dungeon. Even if we revert them back to the ovate form it will disappear the moment we take them out of the Luxcavation Dungeon. At least, Faust assumes so.”

She explained something so long and detailed but I couldn’t understand half of it. The half I understood however, basically means we can’t extract those two Abnormalities we never met.

“And those that we encountered can be called a vestige of the real body. Perhaps in the future, were we to encounter something that is closely can be called its real body, we can help extract it.” Miss Faust concluded again. I merely nodded and thanked her anyway.

“Well then, I’ll go back now” I bowed and excused myself, “eeeeh??? Why?? Come one it’s been a while since we last met you! Let’s party together a bit!!” Miss Rodya whined.  Now I’m conflicted about what to do.

Fortunately Micah tapped my shoulder saying I should relax and rest with them for a bit while he'll handle the report and excuses for me to stay behind.

I thanked him and hopped to Miss Rodya’s side, as she asked, to play with them for a bit while. We played some card games and board games until Charon and the Red Gaze decided to rest, which signaled Miss Faust to ask Manager Dante to announce the end of the work hour for the day to the Sinners.

Manager Dante stood in front of us and faced us and said something. It seems the tick tock just now was the announcement that basicay says “we’re closed for today.”

“Thank you kindly. Starting now, you all will be given a maximum of 12 hours to partake in sleeo and rest; the duration is subject to change. Have a good night.” As soon as miss Faust finished saying that, the Sinners all trodded along, heading to the back of the bus.

I have heard of it though never seen it, but apparently the back door of the bus leads to a wide gigantic space that functions as their dormitory and also some places to train combat with, hence the Dungeon things that haave Abnormalities they can fight in it.

“Well then, I’ll go back too,” I excused myself fo manager Dante. They tick tocked to me about something. Were they afraid of me going back home alone at night?

“Don’t worry I plan to meet up with Micah nearby. I’ll go home with him” I assured him and wished him a good night. It seems the tick just now said the same thing to me too.

With that, the eventful bustling day ended. It was already pretty late when I rescued Effie-sunbae, and soon dawn has arrived while I walked back home and met up with my friend.

Chapter Text

[Day X3]
I woke up as usual at 6.30, prepared myself and had breakfast, and went to the usual LCCU area. It’s been a few days since the incident at Calw.

Micah has returned to be an active member in LCCA this time, and Effie-sunbae is recovering right now. Micah recommended him to some prosthetic workshop to get his replacement, as when the incident happened, the Inquisitors forcibly removed it from him and had crude ones attached to him as a mockery.

Today, I’m working on Baba Yaga first, I need to feed it. Feeding an Abno is usually a thin line between Instinct and Attachment work.

If anyone asks me if I hate this creature after what it did, I’ll just say, nowadays, I feel pretty neutral. Same with Impending Day or Golden Apple, just do my work on them, try not to fuck up.

Since Micah fulfilled his promise with me that he won’t die easily, I felt much calmer these days.

A cold wind drafted to my head suddenly. When I opened my eyes I felt something hard on my head. I touched the top of my head and felt something hard on it. It’s different from the usual Ebony Stem EGO, plus I wasn’t wearing it today. I remember this shape, this is the EGO Gift from Baba Yaga, Rime Shank. The door opened and I exited the containment unit.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------
I went to the Main Area. I tend to call it Main Room or Common Room personally though. It’s a place where us employees can rest before going to continue to work on another Abnormality.

Today, someone else appeared there, and they somehow recognized me and greeted me.

“Excuse me, You are LCCB team member, Yuri, am I correct?” The stern looking lady looked at me. “Y-yes?” I flubbed answering her, panicking why she suddenly called me out. “I am Team Leader Caiman. LCCA Team, Normal Operations Unit 2”.

“Y-yes, nice to meet you Ma’am….” Why is a superior suddenly here and calling me out like this????

“I’m here to inform you and introduce you to your new co-worker.” She shifted to the side and allowed someone to take her place just now. “This is Montag. He’s transferring from LCCA to LCCB”.

“Nice to meet you” The person called Montag was a bit taller than me, and had a burn scar on one side of his face. His greeting was simple.

“Oh, is he here, to replace Micah’s position?” I asked after replying to Montag's  greeting. “Yeah. But not just that, he wasn't great at cleaning up and kept accidentally making things worse so I requested that he be  transferred to LCCB.” She sighed.

“I’m not mad at him, it's just he is better at wrecking shit and scoping things out than cleaning up messes, so I asked to move him, I just think his skills were being wasted in my department” She was pretty blunt and direct with her directives, at least?

“Well, your job in LCCU isn’t that much different, but get along with her and ask her about your new job in LCCB alright?” and with that, Caiman-sunbae left us to work together.

“Well then, which Abno will you work on today?” “Hmm. Cyborg. The Factory” He seems to also speak in a… grammatical way. Well, at least I get his intention for now. “Alright, I’ll go to Pink Shoes” and thus we went on separate way

—---------------------------------------------------

Next work was in the Containment Unit of Pink Shoes. I plan to do Insight Work, meaning I will only observe. I looked at the walls in the Containment Unit. I checked and looked at the cushion the Pink Shoes were displayed on, as well as the display stand itself. Neither have any abnormalities.

I noticed that soft, thin, silk-like ribbons had grown from under the cushion, down from the display stand, and spread around the room. ‘Did its mood change suddenly? What did I do?’ I tried to walk slowly towards the Containment Unit’s door so I could escape quickly when it opened.

I can’t fight back too harshly, as it might count as Repression Work, and when the work result is Bad, there’s a high chance of it’s Qlipoth Count decreasing. That was enough work when that one time several people got roped by its ribbon and began attacking others or wanting to tie them up when it had its Qlipoth Meltdown not taken care of quickly.

The Ribbon wrapped around my mouth and quickly cut itself off once the door behind me opened. ‘What was that for???’ There were only 2 possibilities. This is a mind control ribbon, or an EGO Gift. ‘I think my Temperance is high enough for me to resist the brainwashing but…., just in case I should get myself checked’ I thought to myself

I went to the Main Area, and I met Montag there. I asked him to assess me. “No pink eyes. You are safe” he simply said as he returned to the book he was reading. I thanked him anyway, even if our interaction was brief. I checked my Abnodex, and it was right, this was an EGO Gift.

The rest of the day continued peacefully for me, as peaceful as we can get here.

—————————————-

[Day X5]

I noticed that as soon as Montag finished a work on an Abno he immediately went to the Main Area to read. In the Main Area’s locker, he hid tons of books in it. He’ll read it until he goes to work on another Abno.

His speech is weird but it was easy to get used to it. He was direct with what he needed or wanted at least.

Still, it is a bit awkward for us to just be silent. So I started a chat with him. “Is that Have You Become Strong’s EGO Gift?” “Yes”

“It’s rare for an EGO Gift to be on the back. Is it heavy?” 

“No”

“You walking alright with that thick thing on your back?”

“Yes. Used to it.”

“Oh”’Okay Yuri, you can’t just let the convo die so shortly like this….’ “Were you a delivery type Fixer?”

“No”

“Oh, I figured… cuz you said you were used to something on your back…”

“I was a Sweeper”

“Oh I se- WAIT WHAT?! Sweeper??? Like those that roam at night???” I looked back at him impulsively from the info nomb

“Yes. Broke away from their community.”

“I didn’t know Sweepers can talk normal- no, wait, sorry that sounded so rude, I mean-“

“I learnt.”

“I see….”

And then the convo died on its own again.

“What are you reading today?” 

“L Corp HQ stuff. About their Abnormalities”

“Oh? What part are you reading?” I perked up to listen

“The Abnormalities that ours are based on. Ours are aberrations of them.”

“Oh right, they would have similarities, like their preferred work or Employees that can trigger their breaching.”

“And nature. I’m thinking about Baba Yaga”

“Hmm?” Now I got interested and sat closer to Montag. 

“The Snow Queen, which Baba Yaga is based on. She imprisons people.”

“Ah right, I heard she was also based on some fairy tale, considering she has the F code. Something about a creature that coveted people she brainwashes.”

“Yes. Covets. Baba Yaga doesn't brainwash. She makes them part of it. Snow Queen makes coveted people part of her decoration. Baba Yaga then eat them.”

“So you are saying they have similarity in terms of… collecting or coveting something?” 

“Greedy, glutton. Yes”

“I see…. And is there something we can do with it?”

“No, but we can make use of this habit. Feeding it sometimes counts as Attachment or Instinct work. Ambiguous. So let’s use this trait when feeding it.”

“How do you plan to do it?” I asked. If we can prevent bad work results more consistently, we gotta try it.

“Same food, same amount. But divided in several plates. Different plates. Trick it so it will feel wanting to eat everything to ‘collect’ everything. I assume this will count more as Instinct or Insight” Montag explained his planning

“Hmm…. I suppose we can try it. We’ll need to buy some more plates or bowls then, I wonder if we can ask the company to reimburse this since this counts as work stuff ....” I pondered, my money was a bit tight if I can’t get reimbursement.

“I help buy. Tomorrow?” “That’d be great, thanks….”

With that our break time was over. I headed to the next Abno, Have You Become Strong. I made sure to click the button in the factory when the displayed the word YES, and felt that I was given stronger modification for the day. My appearance didn’t change much. Good, I’m still safe.

As I worked during the whole day. I thought about what Montag said to me about his identity.

A Sweeper, mysterious beings which roam the Backstreets at night, disposing of humans both alive and dead and leaving nothing in their wake. They dominate the Night in the Backstreets, the period from 3:13 to 4:34 AM, with a fearsome reputation as unstoppable monsters. I didn’t know they were actually human…. I thought it was just a natural phenomenon in the City.

Growing curious, I asked about his life as a Sweeper, but only if he wanted to speak about it though, I told him.

“I escaped. They have a family system. I have to obey Mother. Didn’t like it.

The back thing? Yes, Sweeper bring a heavy… bag of fluid around. Vital for them. They die without. They take the human body and absorb it into the fluid.”

That explained why he’s used to heavy stuff on his back. Now that my curiosity was satisfied, I could work smoothly after that. Incidentally I asked if this was a secret like Micah’s body is. 

“No. Superior knows. Some people know. Sometime work as interpreter for that” he simply said.

——————————————————————

[Day Y0]

It has been a week since I met Montag. Effie-Sunbae returned to work. He told me to go with him to pick up his prosthetic. As apparently the prototype prosthetic from the workshop he recommended worked well with him, so he finalized buying them from that workshop.

“Sure, it’s gonna be a bit hard since he’s doing LCCA work with LCD right?” Limbus Company’s official title was a company that specially deals with Distortion phenomenons, or so I learnt. Which is why the Sinners also had the side job to deal with Distortions, which is what they were doing in the K Corp Nest recently.

“He is. And you are going there, so you might as well meet him”

“Where?”

“K Corp Nest”

“Why would I go there??”

“You ARE LCCB unit’s member, you dork girl. You would, sooner or later, help with the administrative work like making the contract and deals that will allow the LCB to roam the location, searching for insider info that will make their mission go smoothly, and dealing with the client.” Effie sunbae sighed

Wait. I did, of course, remember I’m part of LCCB, sooner or later I will need to do that, yes. But this was so sudden I couldn’t make any comment sbout it.

“I’ll go with you since this would be the first non-combative mission for you.” Effie-sunbae sighed, seemingly planning to guide me for that.

And so, it’s decided tomorrow we will go up to K Corp’s Nest.

———————-

[Day Y1]

Today I went to K Corp with Effie-sunbae, we discussed the dealings of what LCB will do for them in exchange for the Golden Bough, making sure everything in the contracts are all fair and square. Effie did his job,eticulpusly as I watched and learned how to do the same.

We made contact with the clerk called Samjo, who will also be the contact point for LCB. Apparently he had a hand in dealing with the Distortion that the LCB took care of a few days ago. Once that business was done, we went to where Micah is, the location where the Distortion took place and LCCA’s current client, Eunbong’s Bar and Frier.

“Ohhh! Yuri, yuri! Come here!”  Micah called me when he saw me, he was in LCCA’s uniform this time as we went to him. “How’s work?” Effie asked him. “Going well so far, except well… some stench from the organic waste? We asked the owner who just recovered from the Distortion Phenomenon, as we expected, what the LCB’s doing.”

“Someone can recover from Distortion?! So like, he’s—“ “turn back into normal human? Yeah. Some therapist and LCD members are taking care of him right now” Micah explained. That was news to me, so that’s possible…  “I hope the owner’s recovering well, I suppose”

“So what did those idiots do that caused the stench?” Effie-sunbae asked, more curious on that topic it seems. “Aaaah…. That. Right, get this, apparently to snap the owner from his distortion, they wanted to create an emotional trigger. Something that might pacify him for a bit so that the Distortion can be taken care of. To do that, they decided that maybe cooking him good food might trigger his memory and emotion. And somehow that snowballed into the Sinners deciding who will or who can cook the best food for the owner. And lo and behold, some of the first ‘chefs’ can’t cook at all. Even owner Eunbong told me it felt like he was forced to swallow a condensed sewer waste.”

“Ew” “yeah, that’s probably the only thing I can comment with.” Me and Effie agreed once. We can’t even defend them, no matter how much we are thankful for the Sinnes sometime. “Caiman is vomiting behind the truck just now. Cargo decided it’s high time for a fresh air and coffee break so he’s going around buying that. And Scene decided to buy some scent oil to drip on their PPE masks to mask the stench” Micah added the explanation. “It turned into a bio-hazard situation….” Effie sighed.

“Well in their defense, it wasn’t all LCB’s fault. When the Distortion happened, the owner can somehow control raw chickens and make them into tiny little monster minions, and it caused wreck and havoc because they’ll put themselves on people’s heads and control them” Micah tried to explain again. “Anyway I’m just glad I got a break for now. This way I can help you with the prosthetics. Please wait here, I’ll get them” Micah went back to the car. I followed him for now.

“You can smell??” “Of course I can. Just the chemical from it won’t cause me an adverse reaction. But I can smell fine” “whoa…, I already knew how high tech your body is but that’s kinda amazing….” Micah just chuckled and hummed at my compliment.

We got the briefcase that had the real prosthetics in it and returned to Effie-sunbae. He rolled up his sleeves and pants to replace the temporary prosthetics with the real ones. Once done, he immediately tested its motoric function, stretching the fingers, balling a fist, picking up a pen and writing with it, and walked around a bit. “This is a very good quality.” He hummed with satisfaction.

“Then the deal 2 done, please transfer your payment later. Also, are you two good with chickens?” Micah suddenly changed the topic. “Chicken? Yeah I don’t have any issue with them?” “Neither do I” we both answered him. “Good, here you go.”

He handed some vouchers to us, “see, I heard that the reason the Eunbong Owner went Distorted was because his business rival sabotaged him. He couldn’t cook his trademark dishes anymore due to that. Anyway, the business rival, Bodhisattva Chicken was forced to compensate us and the LCB.  So here it is” Micah handed us some food vouchers.

“I already ate from them. So I’ve had enough. Oh and also, Effie, those prosthetics has a pain receptor installed. So if you don’t want that, you need to manually deactivate it.” Micah warned Effie. “Huh? Why does it have a pain receptor? No to begin with, I already knew this beforehand but, aren’t you a full body prosthetic? Why would you need to eat??” Effie asked. ‘True, the essence of full body prosthetics is to free one from the need to eat or feel pain. So why would he have both?’ I asked internally.

“Ah, well, you see,it's my Master- I mean the person who is my benefactor? Told me that I needed to stay human. That even with modification, one should stay human. That life is boring if you can’t taste the differences in good foods.” He shrugged, 

We just silently accepted his explanation as Effie-sunbae asked something else. “So where is the LCB? We finished the contract management for now, so they can go to their next main mission, you know?”. “Ah I heard that they were busy with… something that happened in Mephistopheles’ Back Door.

Something called Refraction Railway or something. Apparently the Abnormalities that appear there are much stronger than usual, and extractable.” Micah explained. The last word made me dread something, “extractable?”

“Yes, which means LCCA will bring back some new Abnormalities. And since this didn’t come from an L corp branch, we have no tip or data on how to manage them.” Micah explained simply. “Oh come on, what the fuck….” Effie sighed. “Well, back in L Corp we also had to do trial and error for every newly arrived Abnormalities, so I guess this’ll be the same…..” I sighed as well, “we’re lucky that all the Abnormalities we got so far had a manual… if anything the one I’m concerned about is that we’ll get two unknown Abnormalities at the same time. So far, even though we receive multiple Abnormalities, they all at least have a manual that goes with them. And even in the L Corp HQ, when they receive new unknown Abnormality, it is always one by one……” she sighed.

“I don’t think you need to worry for now, the new two Abnormalities are something the LCB fought on a daily basis, so, well, hopefully the data they provide is sufficient enough.”  Micah sighed.

“The Refraction thingy also hasn’t ended yet, so there might be more. Look forward to that?” “I don’t think this is something that I want to look forward to.  But thanks for the tip.” Effie-sunbae grumbled but thanked him anyway. “Mm…. At least we get to prepare ourselves mentally…..” I added and thanked him before going back, and getting the chicken meat.

Chapter Text

[Day Y6]

The trial and error days for searching for the optimum managerial tasks for the new Abnos began 2 days ago. And in those 2 days, one of them has already breached once. 

Specifically it was the Headless Ichtys. I’m currently writing a report for that. Unfortunately the LCB Sinner that was in charge of writing it was Mr. Meursault, and he wrote the bare minimum, its appearance mainly. So we had the least amount of data for this.

[Lacking Data: 

When doing Instinct work such as feeding it, it is advisable to keep a huge distance from it. 

It definitely dislikes Attachment Work, especially, it dislikes its Fluid Sac being pointed out, touched or even started.

It seems to dislike specific Employees with specific high stats. More data will be added of what type of Employee it prefers when I find more information

Observation Level 1:

It had breached once. A water ripple appeared underneath it and it teleported to a different location from it.

In the new location, it can use different attacks, more than what it can do under Qlipoth Deterrence during Repression Work. 

Specifically, its attack can target several people at once. Its attacks, dubbed by some Employees and the Sinners, are Claps, Pressing Sac, Blood Cannon, and Tail Whip. There's a more powerful version of Clap and Blood Cannon that it does when it is close to fainting and the hands haven't been incapacitated.

While the Sinners report seems to have implied the Sac to be a major component of its attacks and thus need to be prioritized to be destroyed first, personally I recommend going for the tail first as its strength was powerful enough to flung someone to the wall.

However, it is observed that when someone was fatally injured from the Sac’s attack, everyone in the perimeter would have a panic attack. Attacking those Employees with the White Damage weapons would help calm them down for a bit while. 

More data will be added when I found new information]

Those are the rough drafts for the weekly reports. I would have added more, but for now, I wanted to check on others' reports. Not for a comparison, but just in case I missed something.

To do that, I went to the Main Area, and saw others writing reports, digitally or on paper. However, the team leader of the week, Cargo, suddenly burst to the Main Area with a shout.

“Who wrote this paper?! Who is this man named Montag?!” He questioned everyone in the room. Of course, I know who Montag is so I asked him what happened, and that I can send a message to Montag if there’s something he needs to fix. “His reports and wording is good and all, but there’s this thing underneath it that I don’t understand” he pointed to the footnotes in the paper.

[Lacking Data: 

It is a large creature resembling a shark with its head cut clean off, you can see the bone and meat clearly. 

It appears to be wet, though I could not confirm if that was the natural state of its skin or if it had contact with water previous to its containment. 

There is a large, distended sack on its lower stomach, it is the same deep red color as the incision on its head, with what appears to be a flower contained inside. It does not appear to enjoy attention on its sack, as looking at it for too long can cause one to get a worse work result. 

It is capable of motion despite its lack of head, as during Insight work, it slides around its containment, keeping its distance while allowing us to clean. Perhaps its brain is located elsewhere?

-562867726726727 573891478493902

Observation Level 1: 

My colleagues and I have encountered the Abnormality  in combat, I will now provide the information I have acquired. 

It inflates the sack on its stomach, puffing it out, lifting itself up on its arms, and slamming it down. Despite its protection of its sack during observation work, it seems to have no issue using it in battle. 

Due to being in close proximity with the abnormality during this attack I am able to confirm that it is in fact wet, as water and particles of an unknown substance are sprayed when it does so. 

In another attack it stretches its arms out and claps them together, catching those in its immediate vicinity in its grip. I was caught in this attack despite dodging many of its previous attempts, due to equipping E.G.O gear I only sustained bruising to my legs and arms, I assume those without would fair much worse.

In its third attack it lifts itself off the ground with its arms and whips not only its tail, but its whole body around in a rabid motion, this is its attack with the widest reach. 

I was caught in the previously aforementioned attack, the blunt force slammed me against the wall, and despite my use of E.G.O gear it resulted in my breaking several ribs and my left leg in two places. 

I am unable to comment any further on the abnormality as I was rendered unable to fight and was escorted outwards, thus concludes my report.

-4638929200485747 573902010858510]

“What’s with those strings of numbers?” “Beats me, it’s definitely not a page number that’s for sure. That’s why I wanted to ask!” Cargo sighed and handed the paper for me to deal with him.

If I remember correctly he was working ok Headless Ichthys, so I went to the Containment Unit. After a few minutes, the door opened automatically and there stood Montag in the Baba Yaga Suit and… a face. The face…, it resembles the Headless Ichthys' cleanly cut face. The red fibers and the center bone.

“Yuri?” He took the face, no, the mask of. “Oh that’s the EGO Gift?”  I immediately asked and sighed in relief. “Yes. Going to add it to the report later” he added.

“Oh right, talking about the report. There’s something I’d like to ask.” I presented the report to him. “So this week’s team leader asked what these strings of numbers meant…..”

“Ah that… My personal opinion.”

“Opinion?”

“Yes. Subjective. Dunno if I should put it officially on the report”

“This is… an opinion? A sentence?”

“Yes. In Sweeper language”

“In Sweeper language?! So you guys talk in a string of numbers??”

“Yes it has its own. Form of grammar too.”

I was dumbfounded for a few seconds and shook my head. “Oh, okay, but still, we need your explanation, a translation at least. So that everyone knows what you wanted to say, so, can you write it in a more common language? It’s fine, the higher up will decide if our opinion will go onto the official reports anyway.” “I see Got it.” He simply replied.

————————————————

[Day Y7]

Today I’m working with Alleyway Watchdog. In reverse to Headless Ichthys, this one prefers affection in the form of Attachment and Instinct work.

Still much like the other one, it dislikes something on its body being stared at. Specifically the burned, electrocuted humanoid body on top of its head. 

[Alleyway Watchdog can be beneficial to the facility. Doing Attachment or Instinct Work two times in a row will increase the Energy Production Rate as well as Enkephalin Production Rate. However, doing those same work 3 times in a row might increase our fragility towards some specific damage type. 

Specifically the type of work it likes is being petted or untangling the cables.

Just today, as I was in the middle of petting and grooming its fur, it nuzzled back onto my face and it gave me the EGO Gift, which resembles a pair of wolf ears growing on top of my head.]

I wrote the report for the information I just learnt. Someone poked me from behind. It was Montag, handing me his new report.

“Revised” he simply said. As it turns out, he switched languages for his subjective opinion, though no longer in strings of numbers, he still put it as footnotes. I began reading the report. As expected from what I read last time, it was so complete and well worded I lowkey was envious at how verbose he can be in written language.

[Lacking Data:

Perhaps it is pregnant, and that is why it avoids touch?]

[Observation Level 1:

While everyone suggested to deal with the Sac first, I personally would rather to deal with the hands first]

Coincidentally, he also wrote another Observation Log, Level 2. So I began reading that as well.

[Observation Level 2: 

After its breach and my subsequent hospital visit, I was able to engage with the abnormality within its containment once more. 

Between healing from my injury and interacting with the beast I was given the chance to work with other abnormalities, raising my Fortitude level. Due to this raise in level and conversations with fellow employees, I am now able to note that the Qliphoth Count goes down regardless of work type when worked on by an employee with a Temperance or Fortitude level of 3 or higher. 

Despite the Abnormality dislike of my higher Fortitude level, I was still able to acquire its gift. It is a mask resembling the clean cut in the neck of the creature, bright red meat surrounding an arrowhead shaped bone. It allowed me to heal faster, as well as improving my physical and mental health while wearing it. 

-Though it has no eyes, I wonder how I am able to see out of it?]

As I finished reading his report, suddenly there was a blaring warning alarm. [The Abnormality Alleyway Watchdog has breached containment into area B-203, please suppress it immediately] the warning said to all of us in the area through the PSA system.

“Let’s go” Montag called me and I nodded, preparing my weapon with him, we both went to area B-203. The gigantic canine was already there, thrashing around, clawing and biting through the walls and some people.

Several medic members arrived on time to take the wounded away, as I quickly directed Montag and everyone else to fight off the wolf.

“Everyone! Target the Telepole immediately! If it’s Howl is infused with electricity it will absorb and take away all the energy we have gathered today and cause a mass black out!” I commanded as I jumped and climbed on its back to destroy the Telepole.

Montag came up to me and helped me with it, “a black out?” “Yes, it happened when you were admitted to the sick unit I think.” I answered him as we both struggled to keep our balance on top of the back while also trying to ruin the Telepole.

“Attack incoming” Montag warned “Everyone! A wide range slash with thunder incoming! Get away outside of the room!” I read his intention and warning and told the others to avoid them. We repeated that routine until we finally broke off the Telepole, and it thrashed around even more frantically. 

Montag flung even further than me so he cushioned my fall, in exchange I helped him get up and dragged him away quickly as we were seconds away from being clawed by it. It soon posed a stance, “HOWL INCOMING!” I  warned everyone to close their ears. The howl, or all of its attacks in general, was Black damage, it corrodes both body and mind. We had to be careful of its attacks. 

Suddenly, darkness enveloped our senses. “The black out!” “It still happens even with the Telepole destroyed?!”

“Everyone stop panicking and try to leave the room!” I tried to give order in the midst of the chaos.  We still didn’t know if this was a genuine black out like last time or if we were blinded by its power. “Eyes, there!” Montag made a sound near me and there were sounds of clashing happening in the darkness between him and the Watchdog.

I couldn’t see what happened in the darkness, but I can hear the dog howling in pain, and Montag’s grunts as there’s sounds of weapon clanging and the sound of something being stabbed multiple times. 

‘Right… he was formerly a Sweeper, the monster of the night in the Backstreet. Fighting in the darkness should be easy for him…’ I commented as soon the light returned to the room. Montag was holding back its jaw from lethally biting his head with his Fluid Sac weapon. From its blind spot, I based it with its weakness, a blunt weapon, my trusty Legerdemain EGO until it reverted back into ovate form.

“Suppression done” I coughed. “Someone please accompany me to return the core to its unit” I requested, Pilot insisted that he come with me.

Thankfully that ended safely. Once we put the core back into its unit, Montag told me that there hasn’t been any decrease in the energy gathered for the day. “Perhaps destroying the Telepole made a difference?”

“Come to think of it, the black out lasted a bit shorter, though the area of effect was still the same…..” I sighed, “we’ll need to update our report on this creature don’t we?” “We do. I’ll help.” He patted my back.

With that, despite the close call to death, our day work continued.

——————————

This chapter’s Fanarts:

Chapter Text

[Day Z1]

“Yuri, we need your help for a bit” someone suddenly called me, it was LCCA’s Scene. “Hello, what’s up?” I turned and walked to him, asking what happened. “Ah, so, you know how the LCB’s are doing something called… Refraction Railway thingy right? And we extracted the two new Abnormalities from it?” 

“Yeah, Headless Ichthys and Alleyway Watchdog, we have finished compiling the data, so all information for it is already uploaded in the Abnodex. Is there still something wrong with it?” Cargo complained about Montag’s report before, so I asked if this is another complaint for our collective report this time. 

“No, those are fine. I’m here to inform you that LCB had planned to challenge the last Abnormality in the Refraction Railway and it seems according to Miss Faust, it is an Abnormality we can extract because the Sinners already got EGOs extracted? Or basically based on it” Scene explained to me.

“Why does it seem that based on what you are saying, they actually have encountered other Abnos, except it cannot be extracted?” “You are correct, though they revert into ovate form after defeat, when the Sinners tried to take the egg out of the space they fought it in, the egg disappeared. Apparently it had happened twice.”

“I wonder what’s the difference between the ones that can’t be taken out and our latest two Abnos….. considering this last Abnormality is hypothesized can be extracted, does that mean that it has similarity with the last two ones?” I asked her.

“There is a similarity that caused this difference, yes. Like I said before, it is an Abnormality that the Sinners already have an EGO based on, much like Ichthys and Watchdog, while the other two that we can’t extract the egg - the Sinners don’t have any EGO based on it. That’s probably why Miss Faust hypothesized we can extract it and called for our help.” Scene elaborated it further for me. 

“Ahhh… I see, but Scene, I’m from LCCB, isn’t taking back Abnormality the work for LCCA? I don’t mind helping… just want to know the reason why…” I asked her. “Oh, well, the Abnormality…. Based on how strong it seems since they had to redo the fight several time, it might be…. Stronger than HE Abnormality…. Probably, a WAW class…..” She answered meekly with a worried voice

“Oh ‘oh shit’ , “I, uh…. Yeah, that is … definitely dangerous….. especially if its an Abnormality never encountered in any of the L corp, that means the trial and error phase would be…. Weh……” I stuttered.

Even now I am worried. Ebony Queen’s Apple was manageable when the Sinners encountered it because it escaped under Qlipoth Deterrence, and even then it still managed to kill Aya-ssi. A completely new and unfamiliar, undeterred WAW class Abnormality would be even more terrifying than usual.

“The one fighting will still be LCB, we are just to wait and tasked to retrieve it, but just in case they 2nt us to witness the fight to take note of it too as part of the Abnodex….” Scene asked “okay. If that’s the higher up’s order then…..”

And so I agree on this horrendous mission

————————————————————

[Day Z2] 

I was waiting for the team member that’ll take me to the LCB’s bus when Effie-ssi tapped my shoulder. “Yo, waiting for long? Let’s go” he dragged me to the car. “Huh?? Why are you here Effie-ssi? Isn’t this supposed to be an LCCA Mission that I’m helping with??”

“Oh LCCA will come alright. Micah already awaits us there. I’m just here to take you there. And also, they told me something about how the enemy might be someone or something I’m familiar with but not you. That’s why I was to come with you”

I hummed, a bit confused at the situation but followed him anyway. We arrived at where Mephistopheles were parked. Micah is already awaiting us to enter it. When we entered the vehicle, Charon and the Red Gaze were there.

“Go enter the backroom with me, don’t lose your way, don’t try to go to the other hallways, I’d rather not be held responsible for stuff that happened to employees at other departments.” He sighed, looking gloomy as usual, he opened the door at the back of the bus.

I’ve heard it from LCCA members that retrieved the Headless Ichthys and Alleyway Watchdog before, but it is different from seeing it on my own. When the door was opened, there was a long hallway, and a corridor filled with many doors.

“Here” He guided us through some corridors until we arrived at a corridor with locked doors. “Enter the one with a blue glow. Don’t try to enter other doors. Follow the railroad in that room until you encounter a train, or well, a vehicle similar to Mephistopheles, but it glows blue. Enter it then. The sinner should be resting inside and will tell you what to do next.” He instructed us.

All three of us proceeded with caution. Nothing of this makes sense. I mean, nothing in the City makes sense anyway, but this was even more nonsensical. But still, orders were orders, so we entered the blue glowing door and followed the railroad.

The railroad seems a bit different from the traditional or futuristic railroad that Warp Train uses. Upon arriving we encountered the blue vehicle. We knocked on the door, and then Manager Dante opened the door for us.

Their tick tock seems to indicate to allow us to get into the vehicle. We went inside and saw the Sinners, all in their different Identities equipped, exhausted. Some were bleeding to death. Some were tired. “Huh… wait, why aren’t you healing them? They looked…. More haggard than usual….”

“Keheheheh~” I heard a giggle. The sound it came from was familiar to me but not the words of who it came from. “We must accept the pain! For that is the natural thing to do, to experience!” Someone came up to me and I shrieked. “GYAGH! Ugh… eh…???” “Is that not true, Yuri dear, you agree with me do you not?” She grabbed my hands and stared at me with zero distance, it was miss Faust, albeit with a much less sane… Identity it seems.

“Wait a minute…. This personality…” Effie hissed at the scenery as he pulled me away from her. Dante told me, it seems they have learnt a bit of sign language.

Thankfully, so did I. After meeting Montag, he taught me some of the basic signs. What Dante told me basically is that Faust is currently equipping the Identity of The One Who Grips, in other words, the Nagul und Hammer’s leader, Kromer’s personality. Which is why she acted like that.

“Aren't they usually unequipped after battles?” I asked, and apparently, No, during these Refraction Railway missions, they cannot unequip nor be revived with Manager Dante’s power. Case in point, he pointed at several lump of mangled meat. I tried not to vomit, but judging from the strands of hair, it was miss Ishmael and miss Rodya.

<This train for some reason heals the Sinner in my place, except they don’t always heal them after a battle. Only after we passed another station did the others get healed, but those who died stayed dead. Though for some reason… I didn’t feel worried. As if something tells me that even if they died, I can still revive them after I finish every station there is.> Manager Dante signed to me, a bit slowly for me to understand.

“I see…..” I nodded and thanked them for explaining it to me, though I still hid behind them because…. Of how weird it is to see everyone staying in their Identity-Equipped state in non-combat situation. “So about the Abnormality….”

<Right, we lost to it the first time we fought it. This is our second retry, unfortunately to retry it means you have to go back several stations first. We are heading there now.> As Manager Dante said it, the door of the train closes itself and trapped us inside as it moved on its own heading towards its last destination.

The train’s door opened again after it stopped itself in front of a blue gate. Manager Dante prepared his tablet and gave an order of who to go.

 “With hammer in hand….” Miss Faust stepped forward, 

Next, it was Mr. Heathcliff,”Right, time to graze some grass…..” ‘Based on the logo of the clothes… Yep, that is R Corp’s Rabbit alright…..’

After that, Madam Outis walked forward, based on the logo and the color of her uniform that seems to be a Seven Association uniform, “Ned a field commander? Manager?”

“Here we go!” Miss Don Quixote excitedly moved forward following her next, ‘I don’t recognize that uniform, not even from the Lobotomy HQ data…… but the logo reminds ,e of Warp Train, so maybe. W corp related job?’

”Is it my turn?” Hong Lu stepped forward as well. Again this Identity was unfamiliar to me, but based on the enhancing tattoo usage. It is probably a Syndicate. Micah noticed my confusion and told me it was something called Tingtang Gang.

The five combatants have been chosen. It seems the reason Manager Dante can only command 5 combatants at once is because that is the maximum amount they can give optimal order. More than that, they’ll be too overwhelmed and the commands could get scrambled around.

The five of them and Manager Dante entered the room. We are to wait outside until the Abnormality is suppressed and we can take out the Core.

As we were waiting outside, the three of us got pretty bored, so we decided to take a peek at the ‘station’. We wanted to check how the battle went inside. However what we saw inside was surprising to o us instead.

The first thing I noticed was the familiar bug head and horns. That was… the G Corp Soldier that appeared back in the D Corp Nest’s L Corp Branch Facility. Mr. Gregor’s old acquaintance, we saw him too in his memories when it was displayed due to the resonance with the Golden Bough at the facility.

The second person I didn’t notice. But the pale face of Effie-sunbae indicated he knew who that was. So I tugged and pointed to the person with the hat, “who’s that?” I asked him. “Oh, that’s… the leader of a Syndicate called Jefe de Los Mariachi, Aida… we met her in District 10. The Casino we encounter her is on top of the L Corp Branch Facility.”

”Oh……” I was being trained as a newbie LCCB at the time and teaching others how to manage Abnormalities at the time of the mission.

Before I could see who the next person was, I saw Effie-sunbae look even more pale. That’s when I realized it. That was the Grosshammer Guido from Nagul und Hammer. I immediately twisted my arm upwards to block his view. I could feel he was hyperventilating behind my arm. “Effie-sunbae,,, go back to the train and calm yourself down.. okay?” I asked him. I could feel him nodding behind me, and then Micah also took him, letting him lean onto him as they walked back.

As Effie-sunbae rested in the train, Micah looked inside the station room with me this time. “So… what happened just now? Did something trigger his trauma or something?” He asked me. “It’s probably that person.” I pointed at Guido, “He was a member of Nagul und Hammer and possibly the one who fatally injured him and ripped out his prosthetics until I rescued him” I explained the situation at the time.

“I see…… but that person, if I remember he’s….” , “Killed in the mission, yeah. Me and Sinclair and Saude-sunbae worked together to kill him. I mean yeah, sure, he was absurdly sturdy. Didn’t die after 2 or 3 encounters. But we made sure he was dead that time”I explained to him what happened. 

“I dunno about the other two but then…. How come people who are supposed to be dead inside??” Micah tilted his head confused. “Kinda rich coming from you, Micah…” his inquiry ironically made me chuckle a bit. “Hey! This and that are two totally different things!” He retorted back at me.

“Yeah sure,” I shrugged his retort, “Anyway I’m not sure myself of how and why that can happen, but maybe it’s just like the other Abnos whom the Sinners encounter but for some reason cannot be extracted, right? Something about the wavelengths of the timeline doesn’t match or something….  maybe it’s an alternate timeline where these foes are still alive or something, and then brainwashed into becoming the Abnormality’s minion?” I tried to theorize, not that I understood Miss Faust’s explanation last time that much.

The Abnormality in question looked like a gigantic statue of Buddha, a stone statue to be exact with a glowing red eye. There’s this ‘ding’ sound that keeps resounding in the room. I remembered clearly what it is. The memory triggered in me made uncomfortable. 

“My Form Empties….” I groaned. “Yuri?” Effie asked, “WAW class Abnormality, it was assigned in the District 4 C Lorp. Branch Facility where I worked at. I was wondering why the LCCA and LCB didn’t fight or bring it back before, wondering where it had gone…. To think I’d reunite with that thing again here….” I groaned

”I see… Manager Dante figured out each of those minions’ weaknesses and assigned at least 2 combatants to each foes…” We continued to watch and made some comments here and there. “I wonder why they aren’t attacking the Abnormality itself directly….” Effie-sunbae peeked up to look at the situation, “maybe there’s a reason why. Perhaps it is invulnerable as long as its minions are alive?” Micah guessed.

His hypothesis was correct, since I saw how the Sinners finally target their attacks on the stone statue Abnormality once all of its Minions are dead. “I remembee this was going to be a particularly complex and annoying Abnormality to take care of….”

The Abnormality itself seems pretty tricky in combat alone, and it was just as tricky to take care. It cannot be attacked until all of its minions are dead. And even then, it seems it can also attack its own minions, as if punishing them for failing to protect them. Its attacks are wide ranged and can summon that gigantic spinning ring that slashes everything underneath. “As always, what a contradictory creature….” I sighed. 

Thankfully it seems the Sinners won the battle this time, as it reverts back into a stone-like Suppressed Core. Manager Dante asked Heathcliff to pick it up as they headed outside  of the combat room and we began the handover procedure of the Cores from the LCB to LCCA officially.

Effie-sunbae has recovered enough to help with the handover. He also apologized to me for suddenly feeling distressed. I told him it’s fine and it’s understandable to still feel sick seeing someone who reminded him of a trauma recently happening. I suggested he go and have another counseling session if needed.

We took the Train again and it made a complete return to the starting point. As we arrived, Manager Danter took everyone, dead or alive, to the corridor hallway and rewind the clock to revive them. As usual, the process seemed painful, but it seems they have better pain endurance for it this time. ‘I guess they got used to the pain…’

Once they were all revived, we said our farewell for today as we returned to the LCC’s HQ. The others in LCCR began the administrative management for the Abnormality. In a few days, that monster will get its Containment room, and we’ll get the Observation Log from the Sinners to give us a clue of how to take care of it. 

—————————————-

[Day Z6] 

Much like the last two before it. The newest Abnormality, now dubbed as My Form Empties, did not belong to any L Corp Facilities the LCB has encountered before. Thus the Management Log for it was mostly based on trial and error and observations.

The creature was given the class code [M-04-04-04], and its risk level, much like I predicted and remembered was WAW. This time, the risk of WAW level is real and complex, unlike the weakened Ebony Queen’s Apple.

[Whenever someone worked on it, they’ll hear a ‘ding’ sound. On some random chances, those who heard those ‘ding’ sound would turn into a state where they seemed to revere the Abnormality, as if on the same level of a religious belief.

We called this state “Lured”. I explained to Effie-sunbae that this was what the state those enemy leaders-turned-minions we saw in the room of Refraction Railways were in.

There doesn’t seem to be any Employee stats preference that the Abnormality prefers.

The status of Lured stays for a whole day. When someone who has become Lured heard the ‘ding’ sound again, sometimes their halo behind their head changed color.

The higher one’s Justice is, the easier they turn into Lured when hearing the ‘ding’ or changing the color of the halo ring.

The ‘ding’ sound happens randomly regardless of the type of work or the level of the Employees.] 

I wrote the report for the week. I would need to add new stuff to it once I get to have new findings.

“You. Finished your report?” Montag tapped me from behind, the Telepole’s ears EGO still on him.

“Yeah, wanna see? Can I see yours?”  Seeing and checking each others’ report was beneficial, as it can help us double check if we missed something and we could complement each other. 

Montag nodded and gave me his device as I gave him mine so we could see each other’s screen and the report written within.

[Observation Level 1: 

The abnormality is not one that desires to leave its containment, instead resorting to a lure. 

Those that have been hooked on its lure are considered Disciples, their state is evident by the large ring of different colors that clings to the back. The color of the ring's is decided by the Karmic System. 

The LCB Department has informed us that the abnormality gives its Karma to both minion and foe. 

When a Lured Employee accumulates Karma, they are transformed into a Disciple. The amount of Karma needed for this change in classification depends on each 'ding' of the abnormality. 

According to records granted to us by the LCB, 108 Karma is required for the transformation into a Disciple. The abnormality also grants 10 Karma per attack. This pattern seems to have been disrupted by Qlipoth Deterrence, as certain Employees amas Karma quicker than others.

472893949497 119010 209384758902

-Addendum, Micah has informed me that the 'ring' previously mentioned is considered a halo, my mistake (Montag)]

“So they still called the black halo Disciple….”  I read his report as he read mine.

“That’s what LCE called it.” Montag read mine and nodded “I see. From our reports, can be concluded that who has Justice higher. High chance to turn into a Disciple” he noted it to himself.

I nodded and tried to remember what my and my friends’ highest stats. Mine was Insight, Montag was Insight, Scene was … Attachment.

“Oh… oh no!” I stood up suddenly, a rising panic and heart palpitation rose up in my chest. “I just remembered, Micah has a high Justice stat!”

Montag glared back at me and stood up. “That’s bad. Micah has work with it several times. Let’s check on him.”

"Right. Yeah. Let’s do that” we ran to the lower level where it resides. ‘Please not again. I can’t…. Even if he survived last time, we don’t know if he’ll survive again this time. Please don’t… please don’t let whatever happened repeat again….’

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We went downstairs and called out to Micah. He was walking around as usual, smiling and greeting us as usual, with a bright, dripping red ring around his back.

“Oh~! Why hell Yuri, Montag? What’s up? Do you need me?”  He asked me. “Micah…. Your back….” “Ah, yes. This ring, the Abnodex listed me as a Lured, didn’t I?”

He didn’t look or act like someone brainwashed. He was still sane, he was still….. Micah

“It’s fine, as long as I haven’t turned into a Disciple it should be fine, right? We can use this opportunity to study the difference between a normal employee, Lured, and Disciple!” Micah confidently said. “No. Micah. Justice stat, high. It’s bad for you.” Montag tried to explain how someone with a higher Justice stat would be at more risk of actually transforming into a Disciple.

“I see…..” He nodded and considered something. “Even so…. It’s okay, It’s fine. I’m still fine. Like I said, we can use this opportunity too-”

“Cut the bullshit.” Montag suddenly growled and dragged his arm. “Montag?!” I panicked, followed to where they went. An empty storage room. “Take off the clothes!”

“Wait what-” “Deactivate EGO. You liar. Show me body.” He snarled even further. The reaction seems unexpected even for Micah, that he actually complied, deactivating his EGO and taking off his clothes, we saw parts of his mechanical body here and there were ripped apart. As if something bit through chunks of it. It revealed what’s underneath the fleshy skin were all mechanical.

“I know for long. Your body not normal. But this, is sign of, turning to Disciple.” Montag seems angry until I connected with what he said. “Disciples offer their body part until they are skins and husks…… Micah.. Micah why…” I touched his skin in concern, looking up to him. “Like I said, I thought it’d be fine, just for a bit. To know how it feel… and….” he looked downcast for some reason, “I felt… that I… deserved this….”

He ignored our pleas and concerns right afterward, and just dressed up, leaving us behind after saying those ominous things. His words kept me at night and I had barely slept that day.

[Day Z7]

I was working as usual on the other Abnormality when the alarm suddenly blared.

“The Qlipoth Count on My Form Empties has reached zero. Prepare for dangerous events.” The announcement said. “Wait- what WILL actually happen if it reaches zero?? We don’t have any data of it previously and this is the first time it reaches zero!” Scene asked people around me. “Depending on the last work it was done on it. At any rate both are just as bad, just have your guard up to Employees that have Lured or Disciple state for now.”

I ran a quick scan and checked on everyone I passed that had a Lured or Disciple state. I went to its Containment Unit. Checking on its status, I saw the last work done to it was Repression, which is talk back and deny it every time a ‘ding’ sound was heard.

I scanned the Containment Unit, there’s no one in it at least, then I saw the Abnormality itself, My Form Empties, had some significant changes on it. It had broken parts here and there.

The part mostly broken was its stone seating, the Buddha Murti, while for the body itself, the broken part reveals some sort of muscle fibers. Its single congested eye met me as it glared daggers, I looked away to not stare back at it.

There was a scream in the next room, which was the Main Area, where everyone would be there to rest. I quickly ran there as I saw tons of the red and black rings of the Lured and Disciple one. One of them, a Disciple, was seen floating up high as if giving commands to them. Fight broke out between non brainwashed and brainwashed employees. 

One of those that attacked me directly was Micah. He was using Pink Shoes EGO with a crown which I assumed was My Form Empties’ Gift. He attacked me and barraged me with the axe frantically, whispering that he needed to do this in a frenzy.

“Micah snap yourself out!” I screamed at him. “YURI! YOUR WEAPON!”  Montag was in a full set of Telepole EGO, screamed out. He pointed to his and my weapon. That’s when I realized what he meant. White and Black Damage EGO Weapon can return them to their senses, so hopefully it works at their current state too.

We bashed some of the brainwashed employees with it. Some of them returning to their senses, disoriented at the current chaotic situation. We also instructed others to do the same thing, as I did the same to Micah. Micah, whose black ring still floated behind him, snapped himself out and thanked me.

His thanks was cut short as he paled quickly and pushed me away. The way he pushed me and told me to get out felt familiar. I saw others who had snapped themselves back also did the same to their colleague, practically pushing them out of the room. I saw collective panic on their face, as if they dreaded something to happen next.

“CLOSE THE ROOM NOW! LOCK THEM OUT!” Micah screamed and before he locked the automatic door between us, he handed me something, whispering to check this out in his bedroom, it was a piece of paper.

The door closed tightly, others who were worried for their friends slammed the doors hard from both sides but it was futile. Some of them, including Micah, connected to talk for a bit while through the communication device.

“We only have a few seconds before My Form Empties releases its ultimate attack, Prajñāpāramitā and punishes us for its betrayal and uselessness. Prajñāpāramitā will target people with the most Karma in them. This includes me, and the chosen Disciple just now that was giving us Sermon, directions of attacks.

This attack has a wide range, so even those with low Karma can get into the area of effect of the range. We had to push you out to prevent further collateral damage. I’m sorry….” Micah apologized instead.

“DON’T APOLOGIZE TO ME! Not- not in this current state again-....! How did you know what’ll happen anyway??!” I screamed back at him. “I heard it. It was speaking to us, chiding us for our betrayal and uselessness. That it will punish us. We can’t let you get involved.”

“Yuri, I’m sorry but I will be leaving your side for a while again. Don’t worry. I promise you, I will survive this. So… If you can… please open my report. I wrote everything that I felt as a Lured and Disciple there. It’s a bit embarrassing but I wrote some of it in a delirious state, some of my private past is probably written there…

Can I ask you to read it and then submit an edited version?” He laughed awkwardly, “That’s all. Sorry to leave you like this again, Yuri” He cut off the connection just like that as we heard screams and the sound of bodies torn apart.

'No... Not that sounds again... Again... why do I have to hear it again.... Was that one time the same incident happened in District 4's Branch Facility not enough....'
Upon hearing that disgusting, familiar noise of bodies ripped apart, I lost my consciousness again.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------

When I woke up, I was in the medical room’s bed. I saw Montag next to me. He saw me waking up and silently handed the thing Micah gave to me before we were separated, as he called a doctor to check up on me.

It was a piece of paper with sequences of numbers. For his bedroom keycode and the report he mentioned. The doctor Montag brought to me found nothing abnormal on me physically and it was probably another psychological shock. He recommended I go through another session of counseling after what happened.

Once the doctor was out, I asked Micah what happened in that room, what did they find. Montag told me that there were 3 lost lives. 1 of them was the Chosen Disciple who was giving the Sermon, left only as a skin. The other 2 died of a bisection and fatal slash wound from their back.

Others suffered from a wide range of slash attacks. According to the survivors, Prajñāpāramitā, the gigantic red glowing ring that the Abnormality summoned to the place where the failed Sermon happened, spinning midair and slashes everything within, sometimes vertically sometimes horizontally.

About 6 people were hospitalized, probably for weeks. Another 6 have varying degrees of lighter wounds. I asked Montag what happened to Micah. “Senior Effie told me. Because we both know his secret” He began to speak.

His secret probably meant about his full body prosthetic. “He is sent to his original workshop to get fixed.” He spoke again shortly. I sighed a huge relief, ‘this means he survived again. I don't know if I should be relieved, annoyed, or amazed at him who survived all these ordeals everytime…..”

“It will take sometime before he and the other 11 people can return to work, be it actual work or underground work it seems….” We would be severely understaffed, but nothing can be done, unless they recruit new staff. 

‘Though…’ I remembered my days in L corp, back when they recruited new staffs with little to no briefing by the management, and everything was hand-me-down knowledge from the seniors. ‘Fortunately, this company’s management isn’t as bad as that, but if new people are recruited that way, that'd be awful. Plus the time spent to teach a newbie could be physically and mentally exhausting too…..’ There was nothing I could do about the current situation except to look forward and see what’ll happen.

-----------------------------------------------------------

This chapter’s fanarts:

Chapter Text

The next few days I was recovering in the medical unit. Montag brought me food, or books to read as entertainment. 

Once I recovered enough to walk on my own, we decided to investigate the thing Micah entrusted to us.

We sneaked in to LCCA’s dormitory unit when there were few people and entered the passcode to open Micah’s unit. Then we went to his computer and typed in the password to unlock it. Then I searched through his folders of Abnormality reports. 

There was nothing weird or suspicious so far until I reached the latest one, My Form Empties’ report. There were two versions. One a locked file, the other was the newest version. Using the password Micah gave me in the piece of paper, I unlocked the locked report.

[Day Z2

At first I heard the ding. It surprised me. Nothing much. I was on guard as usual, as I was dealing with a WAW Level Abnormality, but it did raise my guard a bit.

The second time I heard it, I jolted. But nothing much happened. My head did get dizzy though. Perhaps this Abnormality deals White damage.

The third time I heard it, I had slowly lowered my guard as it didn’t feel like anything happened to me. I checked myself in the mirror.

I checked myself in the mirror.

I see myself as usual. Nothing much changed,

Right. Nothing changed. None. Not ever since then.

It felt so empty. So wrong. What have I been doing all this time. Nothing.

Day Z3

I heard the ‘ding’ sound again. It seems to happen regardless of what type of work is being done to it. 

The ‘ding’ was the sound of something metallic being hit, like a bell. But to me it also felt like something else. Something nostalgic.

I remembered it. The sound of an oven, the familiar smell of a food done baked.

I remembered. My sin.

The next time I heard the ‘ding’ I remembered my past. My sin. An unforgivable sin. Ignorance was sin. But it was also tiring to return and think so much of the past. No, I need to think, I need to atone for my past.

A Sin born out of petty anger and jealousy, with this hand I had killed someone precious to me, and ruined my own life. 

I have lived for so long, to atone for that sin, to prevent the tragedy from being repeated.

Day Z4

The next time I heard the ‘ding’ sound I felt at peace, I was getting used to this. No sounds of anything else. No alarms. Only silence, only me and this sound. I was at peace, I didn’t want to think of anything else. Perhaps when I’m here, I can be forgiven. Perhaps I can try to rest. Now. Here.

My work time in the Containment Unit ended.

I want to return there again soon.

No. That’s wrong.]

[Day Z5

The next day, I saw others looking at me weirdly. I asked what happened, they told me they saw something behind me, I couldn’t see it but I could sort of understand what they meant. I felt something invisible enveloping me too.

I checked my Abnodex and there written a Status effect that has attached itself to me

LURED

I understood now, that I was starting to have been brainwashed by the Abnormality. 

The pull, the addiction to return there comes to me so naturally, even knowing the risk for it.

I decided to do it anyway.

If I can use this life of mine. To help my Master, just like before. 

Once upon a time, once I finished my journey of vengeance, I was in a state where I can barely be called a human.

A mangled mix of human corpse and metallic corpse.

I have finally killed that man.

I thought after dying in the fire with him, I can finally rest in peace.

But I didn’t.

Master found me, took care of me, gave me this new face, body, name and life.

I devoted this life of mine to him from my own.

My Master….

My…

Who was… which one is….

I decided to keep this journal to keep my memories intact, before the mental corruption goes further.

May the future me remembers to whom did I rightfully devote my life for

*Because it was definitely not that stone motherfucker*

Keep thinking, me.]

[Day Z6

The next ‘ding’ I heard, I felt like charismatic whispers charmed its way to my soul

That my sin can be forgiven.

That they can grant me more, and more, good Karma, to help me achieve that peace, enlightenment, To go to the next, better life.

What does it meant for my sin to be taken away. 

What does it meant, for my sin to be weighted.

Will the effect be different considering what I am, compared to other normal humans?

It should be fine, just this one time. It will be fine. I shall not die, because no one has ordered me to die just yet. And I won’t let anyone bear the burden to kill me.

So I let my Sin be taken away.

Parts of my body were taken away. My head had never felt so clear the past few days. Indeed I felt at peace, feeling this empty.

I never knew that to be empty, could feel this comforting.]

[Yuri and Montag confronted me. They told me about the Karmic System they discovered. I didn’t know how much karma I gathered, but I knew my time was near.

I researched them. Those that have become Disciple. How many Karma they have compared to me in mental calculation, they mostly look emaciated, skinny, a bit dehydrated. But they displayed an empty, dull face of peace. 

I decided to plan a contingency plan, to lessen the damage in case something will happen. With as much sanity as I can have tonight. I plan it all.

Will I ‘die’ again this time? I shall not stop moving. Even if my torso is crushed and my head is slashed. I will not die. Because I have my own role to do.]

The locked report ended there. He couldn’t write anymore after that date because of the MFE Incident.

The not-locked report for MFE had all the same report regarding the same Abnormality, except he had edited everything regarding himself out of the report.

It seems this was intended to be the report that he planned to submit, one that is devoid of subjective feeling and any hints of his past. This edited version had only been rewritten up to day Z4.

I was still confused, what did he do? What Sin? What happened in his past that caused him so much anguish as written here, that he was vulnerable enough that the Abnormality could convince him atonement can be done by giving away parts of his body???

Montag kept scrolling up and down the reports, comparing the two, rereading it multiple times as if he figured something out, he told me that, “I think I know what he meant. Or what he is. But not sure. For the time being we should continue this report.”

“Huh? Continue, as in, continue this rewritten version of his report?”

“Yeah, we submit it with ours. Helps a lot for research. Continue, keep his privacy this way.”

“Hm... that does make more sense. No report being submitted could potentially cause this private version to be found out instead, he wouldn’t want that…. Alright… I suppose, hm…. Let’s take a picture of the report of Day Z5 and Day Z6 and make an edited version of it., then transfer that to this file….”

“Yeah. Better work on our room. Too long here, suspicious. Especially Caiman.” He took the pictures with me. “I’ll do Day Z5, you do Day Z6. That seemed easier for you to edit”

“Got it” I agreed at the task distribution. “Make sure to mimic his writing style and not to include the Sweeper language comments on the footnote this time, alright?” I reminded him light-heartedly. He nodded and then he helped both of us sneak out from the LCCA Dormitory unit, and back to the medical unit. 

The next day, Montag grabbed both me and his laptop. No one sees us working on the reports as anything weird. After all, we still need to do our weekly report, even if we got a more flexible deadline due to the incident. We did our own report of what happened during the incident as well as Micah’s rewritten version of the report.

It took us 2-3 days to finish, right on the soft deadline. That night, I sent the data of rewritten version of “Day Z6 Report” Montag, who returned to the LCCA Dormitory Unit to sneak into Micah’s unit and attached the rewritten version reports we made to his MFE File that is to be submitted. 

—————————————————————-

A week has passed since I woke up from the Incident, I was deemed healthy enough to return to work, though they still warned me to take it easy. And so, that’s what I did, for now. I decided that it was high time to train my virtue stats instead. ‘Though, maybe not Justice stats, for now. But still, it probably has increased by now huh.’

I decided to do mainly Instinct and Attachment work for the time being. I decided to try and take some shifts working on Abnos that are not Headless Ichthys and My Form Empties.

But this seems to have caused some contradictory comments about me.

At first, they were okay with me taking more shifts, as they were understaffed and some were too traumatized to work with the Abnormalities. While I do that, I could also give a hands-on demonstration on working with the Abnormalities for the newbies, though they do receive some proper briefing from others as well.

A few days afterward, some people began to complain as to why I’m not working with My Form Empties. Apparently, because I was one of the stronger employees and one of the more familiar with Abnormalities, they hoped that I worked with it more to gather data on how to work with it safely.

I felt a bit miffed that they depended on my input like this, but I obliged, understanding their concern that the less we know about that creature, the more we are in danger. 

Montag offered to work in turns with me, we decided to try every type of work with it. Montag hypothesized that, since the work done last on My Form Empties was Repression before its Qlipoth Meltdown happened, the same type of event might happen if we work Insight type of work on it, as it has the same type of success rate and favoritism. 

“Another thing we need to know is what actually triggers it to have a meltdown. Some Abnormalities could have their Qlipoth Count decreased not because of bad or good work results but also the status of the Employee working on it.” I added to our points of what to find out”

“Lots of stuff to try” “Yeah….” I laughed awkwardly. I tried to work on Abnormality for a few days, types of work other than Repression. If there’s any Repression work that needs to be done to it, we made sure we both are not Lured, or at least have a small amount of Karma around us. The Abnodex seems to have an updated function that can count the Karma points on us quantitatively, so that’s how we know each other’s status.

Unfortunately, it was inevitable still, that at least one of us got affected, and that one was me. When I retruned from working on My Form EMpties, Montag looked at me weirdly and asked to check my status on my Abnodex, and there I saw that I had 10 Karma attached to me, and a red  RIng that others could see but not me.

“Give it to me” He suggested, but I shook my head, saying it should still be safe, and that I can still work on the Abnormality.

I had a secret goal to acquire its EGO Gift, none of us got that because very few Employees were brave enough to work on it ever since the last incident. So I wanted to figure out if it actually can give out an EGO Gift and what is its effect.

It was in the evening of the next day, after I saw I gathered 60 Karmas on me that I got the EGO, it was a crown. I was taking notes with Cargo about what I feel different, what buff or debuff does it give me. It was during that point, that I heard when someone worked on it, neither me nor Montag, its Qlipoth Count decreased to 0 and an alarm blared. Panic ensued soon enough. “Be on guard for every Lured and Disciples nearby you!” I could hear Cargo’s voice.

‘But why it seemed…..so far away….’ I thought to myself, Cargo should have been sitting next to me. In fact, I could feel everyone’s voice drifting further away from me, ‘no….. I’m… hearing them but not even seeing them…’ My eyes were groggy, and then I realized the path I was walking was towards the hallway instead. My body moved on its own as if it’s controlled. I was still sane internally… I think…

‘No, what makes me sane or not sane? I’m just walking naturally to where I naturally belong- no, wait that’s not, where am I walking…. Why is everyone shouting? I’m just  walking home-
But …. Where is home?’ My thoughts were jumbled up as if there’s another second me talking in my head, or someone impersonating my own voice inside my head.

I realized the hallway was familiar. ‘This is the way towards Master- no, wait who-’ I looked forward and there were other people with their backs slouched , as if we were queuing for something, waiting patiently for our turn.

I saw everyone behind and in front of me in this line all have red and black Rings on their back. That’s when I realized that this was  Qlipoth Count 0  event, it was like a sleep paralysis I was half lucid, I needed to get out but I couldn’t. Did the others noticed that this event went differently from last time?

As I was trying to fight against myself internally, my head was hit with something cold and on my face was facing the wall soon enough. I nearly had a black out were it not because someone propped me up.

“Are you okay?!” It was the voice that I missed, Micah. “Yuri! Do you recognize us? Can you speak?” Someone else spoke, it was Scene behind MIcah. “Y-yeah!”

“Alright! It’s confirmed now then that White and Black Damage tools can snap them awake! Let’s go! Hit them all up!” She announced it to everyone in the nearest PSA System.

“What weapon do you arm yourself with today?”He asked. He himself had a Rime Shank EGO Weapon, the cold thing he hit me with. “Ya Śūnyatā Tad Rūpam’s Sword, White Damage” I told him. “Good, let’s do this together” He let go of my hand as he helped Scene, who was wielding Legedermain’s hammer and bonked everyone awake.

I helped as well, using the back of my sword or the pommel of it to their head to snap them awake.Thankfully, the lines, well, the people affected by the event this time due to their accumulated Karma, wasn’t as much as before. Because of the last incident, people were too wary to work on Abnormality, resulting in fewer people accumulating Karma.

Once everyone’s awake, they were a bit too dazed to realize what happened until Scene quickly briefed them and asked them to join them in stopping other Lured or Disciple heading there, or waking everyone else.

It was above 10 pm when everything finally settled down. Micah suggested everyone to rest up instead after cleaning up after themselves and that he’ll take care of the aftercare of stuff there.

Some were questioning about what and where was he treated or his well being and presence, but Micah avoided them skillfully by answering it ambiguously. I helped him by agreeing we should all rest and calm down rather than hounding him with the questions.

As we were heading out, Micah whispered to me that the three of us, with Montag, should meet up outside for breakfast at HamhamPangpang. Confused, I just nodded off-handedly and told Montag about it. 

—---------------------------------------------------

In the next morning, I waited for the two in front of the restaurant until the two arrived. We entered and ordered our own preferred foods. Mine was coffee and a set of sandwiches, Montag preferred gooey food or something at mild temperature, Micah preferred a platter of fried fritters, a bit weird for breakfast but I won’t comment on it.

“Firstly, I want to thank you two for submitting my reports, even the edited versions of it” He chuckled and as thanks for that, apparently he is going to pay for this breakfast.

“Secondly, I spend the whole night last night analyzing the My Form Empties’ situation and figured out its condition on working with it, But I’ll tell you guys about it later, we are here to talk about something else that isn’t work related after all~”

“Lastly….” He took deep breaths, “did you feel or have any comment, regarding what you read from my journal, from that report?” He asked, trying to judge our reaction.

I answered him with honesty, that I couldn’t understand from his frantic writing, what he did in the past that caused him so much anguish, but I am genuinely supporting him, if he want to atone and grow to be a better person.

While Montag also stared back at him, answering the same regarding his crime and instead said, “I think I know what you are” 

“Oh? How? And do tell what your analysis was~” Micah seemed laidback about his identity being revealed so easily like that.

“You claim it is a full body prosthesis, I agree. I think that’s true. But something else. From how you wrote. Bout yourself. And The way you act. You. don’t have any flesh body in you, isn’t it? Not even brain. Not even a heart. I dunno what are you. But I suspect. You are a Sweeper. I guess because I was one” 

Montag told us in great detail that Sweepers' real bodies are entirely composed of the red liquid contained in their suits. The liquid is necessary for them to survive; without it, the Sweeper would die instantly. To replenish this liquid, they stab a prosthetic hook into a human and melt their body into the same liquid to consume it.

“I dunno. How you survive. With only food, no human eating. But every time you…. Die. I never saw any …. Part of the body. From you, when destroyed. Not just because, masked by other corpses. But also, just, never.” Montag tried to explain that he never saw any body part revealed from Micah every time he died.

He also tried to explain that while the red liquid is a Sweepers true body, and essentially if it’s gone they die, it also essentially means as long as the fluid exists and protected inside a strong armoured body, they can be revived anytime with a new body to use.

His explanation makes a lot of sense. I glanced at Micah’s reaction and he went from chuckle to a full blown laughter and coughed himself to calm down after a while. “Goog job, I’d give your analysis a score of…. Hmm…. 75, at least not a remedial test needed~”

“Firstly, yes, you are right, I do not have any organic body parts, as you guessed. Not brain, not heart, nada. As long as I have a body to use, I can survive, that is also correct.

However, I’m not a Sweeper, and neither is my real body a red liquid like theirs.

Good job guessing what I am so far though. I’d give you that. However, due to my circumstances, I can’t tell you fully what am I. Just know that you can totally use that Sweeper analysis as an analogy of what am I~

And another thing, I can tell you, I joined LCCB to investigate the whole Limbus Company, but essentially I’m not your enemy. For as long as I’m still an employee there, I’m your ally.” He declared.

“Seems the truth” Montag nodded, “Then who is the Master mentioned in the report ?” I asked him. “Oh, he’s the one who makes this body of mine and the one that repairs it every time I die~. I respect him a lot. He’s also the one who sent me to investigate. He’s also the head of the Workshop Office that made Effie’s prostheses, the one I recommended to him, however he’s also too enigmatic to have a meet-up so I doubt you’ll meet him for reals.” He shrugged about his enigmatic leader.

“A bit off topic, but I’m now curious at how old you are, considering you said we can pretty much consider you an immortal….” I asked another curious thing “huh, right, hmm…. At the very least I’m above 30 and younger than 100 years old~?” “No, that's too wide of a range!” I grumbled at his ambiguous answer and snagged a fritter from his plate.

Despite the big revelation, I felt calm somehow. Once we knew the truth of each of us, we teased each other, rekindled our relationship.

‘What a weird friendship I have bonded and forged for myself…. Ah well….’ I hummed and shrugged. We both trust Micah and so Micah trusts us back. Nothing much has differed in our relationship.

The day ended up being a good relaxation day, a very much needed break.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“And so, I think that, if you work on My Form Empties on a certain work, and the corresponding virtue is less than 4, then there’s a normal chance of the Qlipoth Count is lowered with a normal probability. When the corresponding virtue is less than 3,  the Qlipoth Count is lowered with a high probability.” He explained and wrote to us.

“Corresponding virtue?” Montag asked. “In L corp, the type of work is related to your virtue stat. Fortitude goes with Instinct Work, Insight Work increases your Prudence. Temperance with Attachment, and Repression work for Justice stats” I explained to him.

“Ah. That’s why, my Justice stat is high” His favorite type of job to do was Repression, according to him it was the easiest thing to do, just beat them up. Though, due to this, apparently he turned into a Disciple once before, and was snapped back into Lured and the status was gone after 1-2 day. After that, he told me about how Justice stat has a higher probability of turning into a Disciple.

“I think it’s high time we do another overall evaluation on our status…..” I made an appointment to the counseling office for that. Thankfully, they were available after work hours and so that day we went there to get examined.

The evaluation examination consists of doing some sort of psychology and IQ tests, and what if scenarios essay questions. The counselor told us the result will be sent directly to our devices in the morning.

—----------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay, you two have got yours?” “Yeah” “Yep~” I asked the other two, our devices on our hand

“Alright, on the count of 3, we show each others at the same time…. 1….2….3!” I showed my board to theirs as they do as well.

[YURI

Fortitude 4

Prudence 5

Temperance 4

Justice 3]

[MICAH

Fortitude 4

Prudence 3

Temperance 4

Justice 5]

[MONTAG

Fortitude 4 

Prudence 3 

Temperance 2 

Justice 5]

I stared at our stats and screamed, “WHY IS MY JUSTICE STAT GETTING HIGHER?! I CAN UNDERSTAND FORTITUDE BUT JUSTICE???”

“Your Prudence increased, Micah?” “I’m learning to not die as much as before~” “Liar” 

“Also Yuri, my guess is that all the denying you give to the Abormalities, not giving them what they want, or internally whispering denial to yourself because you have a high mental guard, it all probably was detected by the

Abnormalities. They could read emotions after all, so it probably counts as Repression??” Micah tried to explain.

“I thought those came out as Insight work?? No wonder I get weird work results that weren’t as I expected!” I groaned and looked at their stats properly.

“Oh? These are pretty good though” Someone appeared from behind of us and fit himself to our conversation.

“Whoa- Effie~ Whassup my dude, you doing okay now?” “Have always been, wasn’t involved in the My Form Empties incident. Anyway, I;m here for Yuri”

“Eh? Why?” I asked him warily. “Your official duty as LCCB going to start soon, the LCB will be entering K Corp soon, so we as LCB are going to investigate the L corp Branch in District 11 soon as well. Prepare yourself, we will depart in 3 days” Effie-sunbae gave us the order and left us behind just like that.

“Eh? Ehh? Wait, wait up! Hold on!” I chased behind him as the other two sighed at my troubles.. 

---------------------------------------

EGO set of MD and RR1 Abnormality

Ever wondered what Limbus Abnormalities’s Managerial Tips/ Managerial Log is like in Lobotomy Corporation style? Here’s a link and preview for Abnormality Entries for MD1 + RR1 Abnormalities:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10Eu-iRvevWpFJwY5Fk9mzEBMCxGwaMttH-w-6umlwFY/edit?usp=sharing

Ever want to try to see and play around with all the fanmade EGO Sets so far? I made a picrew for private use now!
Currently available face/hair sets: Yuri, Montag, Micah
Will be updated as fanfic goes

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2299509

Chapter Text

“ How…. did this happen?!”

In front of my eyes was a gigantic centipede with metallic blue exoskeleton, it has multiple red eyes and I could see sparks of electricity circulating around its body. It was rampaging, burning and destroying everything nearby, civilians running away from it.

“How did… why is an Abnormality running around here?!”

—--------------------------------------------------------------------

(A few hours ago)

POV: Yuri’s POV

May,  Year 984

Location: District 11

We, as LCCB, were sent to investigate the L Corp Branch in District 11’s Nest. It was quite the distance from K Corp.

Actually, we had arrived in District 11 for a few days, we just had finally arrived at the L Corp Branch today.

We were informed that the LCB Department is also arriving in the Nest today, so I had thought that maybe I could visit them after the work for today is finished. It was my duty to inform them of any last minute information and changes anyway.

We quickly delved into the facility. It had site burial done to it, much like the one in District 4 where I came from.

Abandoned, locked, a ghastly location. Montag punched the barricade away and used his gun to destroy the lock. Destroy as in… bashing the gun's bottom to pry open and ruin the lock, it was unexpectedly easy.

We as LCCB are instructed to not use as many bullets as possible, the more bullets we preserve, the more bonus money we can have in return, so this usage of guns is actually pretty understandable, common even.

As the leader of this mission, Rouge guided us in, me and Montag looked left and right, making sure we were safe from any disturbances. Syndicates, deserters, homeless people, anyone could have been staying in here after all. Hell, anything could even be here, Abnormalities or those not-so Abnormality things called Peccatula.

“It’s silent” Montag commented and I agreed. It felt a bit strange. Even back in District 4, the ominous presence of an Abnormality can still be felt in the air, even if we haven’t encountered it yet.

“Let’s check if there’s Abnormalities, logs or the creatures, just in case” I suggested. Rouge agreed with me and ordered us to divide the areas to investigate and go in groups of 2 or 3. Inevitably, I grouped up with Effie-sunbae and Montag.

After a while patrolling and peeking around, we found no presence of Abnormalities at all. Though we found some caretaking logs, some of it even had newly add scribbles.

While there are no human presence, the facility clearly has been inhabited by humans at some point. Signs of daily life are present here and there. Organic waste, clothings, and other stuff.

We returned to regroup with others as Effie reported our findings to Rouge. Apparently their group also have not seen Abnormality nor the Golden Bough itself. However they found something strange instead.

“The technology to extract EGOs out of Abnormalities has recently been used” Rouge reported the electronic data log she took pictures of. “However we couldn’t find any of these EGO Suit and Weapon produced from that recent usage”

“Someone made EGO sets and took them elsewhere? Together with the Abnos? Do they have some sort of technology that allows them to transport them safely like our LCC does? What group are they?” Effie asked what I wanted to asked as well

“Beats me, but if I could guess…. Considering we were supposed to find the Golden Bough here, those groups of people could have used it to extract the EGOs and took the Abnormalities elsewhere too” Rouge’s hypothesis was cut off short before another member returned to us in a hurry.

“E-excuse me, Captain Rouge, there’s an emergency! I mean, we deem it an urgency, because of this recording-“ The person fumbled on their words as they showed the way to another location.

It was a normal hallway with the PSA sound system on the ceiling. They called their partner through their walkie-talkie “The captain’s here, play that recording we found!” As soon they said that, a PSA alarm played out.

“Attention all personnel, this is the leader of Technology Liberation Alliance, Dongbaek speaking. It is with great urgency that I address you now, that we will be facing a distressing situation soon enough. 

As some of you may know, we've been studying a bunch of highly volatile creatures within this facility. Mainly for us to get our hands on the armor and weapons produced from their essence, the EGO Gears.

Thankfully, so far this process has been going on smoothly, though limited only for some personnels, we have armed ourselves with weapons that are Wing-grade, which would be beneficial for our cause.

Unfortunately as you may have known, the power to extract these EGO Gears are mainly powered by this item, Golden Bough. 

We will now continue to our next phase, in which I will need to extract the Golden Bough and take it away from this facility. This would mean that these creatures, the Abnormality, will soon break out of their containment, going out loose within the facility, possibly threatening to breach outside the facility.

I ask that all members of my alliance here remain calm and follow the established evacuation procedures. Move swiftly and cautiously to your designated evacuation points. Do not engage with the creatures under any circumstances. 

Our top priority is the safety of all members. Please remain vigilant and assist each other as we work to resolve this crisis.

And to those who are listening to this recording and is not a member of this Alliance, I suggest you act quick if you want to save yourself or others in the Nest.

May the goddess of luck allow us fellow members to reconvene again safely, somewhere, somehow, to continue our mission, our cause.”

The recording stopped, and everyone, including me, dreaded what had just happened. The one who played the recording in the PSA said that the recording was made just a few hours ago.

“A few hours ago?! Wh- but that means-!” “Captain Rouge, we just discovered markings of destruction done by large creatures in the back door! The trail shows signs leading towards the center of the Nest!”

”Shit! That’s where LCB was going to arrive! Yuri, you are close to them, quickly inform them about the urgent situation immediately!” Rouge turned to me and shooed me off, “Roger that!” I quickly ran out and called the communication number of LCB’s guide, Vergillius, but on my way there…..

A creature blocked me off

—————————————-

 POV: Sinners’ POV/Dante’s POV

As we were on the road on entering K Corp’s Nest, Charon suddenly put the brake on the wheel.

“Verg, the road is blocked. Should I go around it?” She turned to Vergillius to ask for his suggestion. But Vergil only replied to her with silence. 

“It’s blocked? Strange that there’s a blocked road. This is in the middle of K Corp’s Nest, too. It’s unlikely that there’s a scene-“ Before Ishmael could finish her sentence, a dull thud at the window interrupted her.

Rodya and Meursault took a peek on it, investigating and found out that that was a dead person that just slammed to our bus, next to me, Vergil’s communication device rang up as he picked the call

"LCCB to LCB, this is LCCB Assistant Manager Yuri. We have a dire situation. Abnormalities have breached their containment units from L Corp Facility and are rampaging outside. We need immediate backup to contain the threat."

The urgency in Yuri’s voice cut through the static of the communication line, conveying the gravity of the situation to us on the other end.

"This is LCB’s Guide, Vergillius. How many Abnormalities breached, did you know how this could have happened?” He replied to the call

Yuri’s breath hitched as she assessed the chaos unfolding around her. "We also had just found out just a few minutes ago when we had arrived at the L Corp Facility, we tried to search for the Golden Bough but didn’t find it, and instead found a recording that warned us about the containment breach. We tried to check if it’s true or not and-“

The call was disrupted with screams from Yuri’s side, it seems she was in the middle of running away from an attack “The Abnormality is tearing through everything in its path. At the very least more than one is out in the middle of the Nest right now. I’ll be going to engage in combat with one of them."

Vergillius’ voice remained steady, despite the urgency of the situation. "Understood, we will send backup teams to your location immediately. Maintain your position and hold the line until backup arrives". He cut off the call so Yuri could put all of her attention to the dire situation on her side and he looked silently at us.

Gregor especially looked more pale as the call went on, “We need to get out and help her….. immediately!” He very nearly ran out of the bus the moment the call ended.

“I won’t stop you, initiative is good after all. Well then, Manager Dante, do your work” He passed the baton to me as I nodded, <Let’s get out guys, we got a situation to handle>

———————————————————————

Only less than an hour or so has passed, we finally managed to break some of the Brazen Bull’s body parts. I was still relentlessly enduring any damage we did to it and wailed even more.

The view is obscured by smoke and dust. Terrified screams, hopeless outcries, pained moans, and the sound of hard objects breaking create a cacophony. Meanwhile…

Death, revived, death, revived, the cycle has been repeating several times per minute now.

<This can't go on… Meursault…?>

“I presume you have a request” he seems conscious enough, his Identity has not disappeared yet. It was a new Identity we got before Yuri’s call. Something called….Rosespanner Workshop Fixer

<If you still have enough energy yet, please use the Pursuance EGO to heal the others and do some more damage to it. Seems it's more vulnerable to blunt damage….>

“Entendu, will do.” he equipped the EGO as ordered, “I will pray for you, so that you shall surely break.” He muttered under the influence of the EGO and gave it a golden glowing punch, the glow of his wings also healed us physically.

The damage was not enough to stagger the Bull, everyone’s morale was down, at this rate, if I were to force them to use high leveled EGOs they’ll have higher risk to Corrode too, if possible, I would rather that not happen.

<Fau-> I was going to ask her to use her EGO before something came crashing down and blasted the bull, it wailed and staggered a bit. At the same time, I could feel everyone’s sanity healed.

“Uoooooh!! I feel more refreshed now!” I could hear Don crying out happily from somewhere.

Looking up I found out the thing that crashed from the sky was none other than Yuri, she was wearing a yet different but familiar colored EGO, wolf ears on her head and a familiar looking weapon

<Ah, I see… so her Fluid Sac can also heal people’s Sanity…>

“This is our chance, Manager. That attack just now leave the enemy open full of gaps” Outis, in her Seven Association Director ID called me out.

<Right, everyone unleash your strongest attack, EGOs if you still can!> I gave out the order. <Gregor, can I ask you to take Yuri out of that spot to not get affected by the collateral damage? And after that, join the fray immediately to suppress the Abnormality once she’s in a safe zone>

“I’m on it.” Gregor, who was in his Liu Association ID, went up and held her hand to get her away, to some distance, and immediately ran back while equipping the EGO Legerdemain.

Everyone except Yi Sang and Ryoshu, whom I was in the middle of reviving, blast it full with their strongest EGO and attacks, with Ishmael’s Mind Whip finishing it off.

While they were suppressing it back into its ovate core form, I was wondering, questioning the incident. Weren’t Abnormalities…. Supposed to be confined within Lobotomy Corp’s branch facilities or dungeons?

“The Abnormality has been successfully suppressed. We can return to the bus now” Faust announced.” It was a “success” that accompanied many deaths and revivals on our side, but I nodded anyway. Though before that….

I went to Yuri’s side, and she seemed okay. Gregor accompanied me and he ruffled her head, apparently he remembered how she introduced herself in the emergency call. Assistant Manager, meaning she was promoted into position, and he congratulated her for that.

When I inquired with her about what happened to LCCB and the facility the LCC was investigating, it seems the incident also caught them by surprise, which is why the information came at the last minute as well.

”Anyway, I’ll probably go back to the LCC’s side for now, to check up on them. If you need help, feel free to call us for back up too, I dunno if we are allowed to do that though, but at least, I think you deserve that as a payback” Yuri sighed and looked up at me

<What is it?> I asked her.

“Nothing, I just noticed that you seemed to have become better at giving precise commands, Manager Dante. That’s a relief. Being put into a new position now, I realized how heavy it is to be entrusted to make decisions that have influence on someone's life or death situation.” She hummed and unequipped her own EGO Suit and weapon as well.

“Good luck on each of our own missions'', she excused herself after giving me a piece of paper with numbers in it. Confused, I just put it in the pocket as we returned to the bus for real this time.

Later on, in the bus, after some light verbal scuffle between the Sinners and Vergillius, Faust told me that the paper Yuri gave me contained her communication device’s number.

A direct number to call or message her. Apparently several combat trained LCC members are now allowed to give us back up, as long as at the end of the day, we are still the one to retrieve the Golden Bough. 

“It’s an emergency measure so to say. But it’s not really an omnipotent help. We could only ask for help if the LCC members themselves are in the same nearby location as us” Faust stated.

<That makes sense, if we were in here but she was back in District 4, there’s no way she can come immediately helping us. Hm…. So she’s strong enough to be allowed to give us some back up and promoted to her new position huh….>

“Faust could hypothesise that the current Yuri is strong enough and could fight on equal terms with us, perhaps even stronger, she has the potential” Faust even commended her.

Chapter Text

POV: Dante’s POV

Time: Noon

Location: Nest K - LC Branch Interior

Not long after Shrenne’s death and revealed as the traitor, Dongrang so casually chatted with Yi Sang. He was so calm and nonchalant.  As if the death of his colleague just now did not happen. They were busy arguing about the true nature of the Decay and Regeneration Ampule, that the two were originally the same material.

As they chatted and about, I read the message in my PDA from Yuri. It seems that unfortunately, she couldn’t come to the LC Branch Facility, having to take care of her other wounded colleagues. She promised instead to meet up with us at K Corp as soon as she could catch up with us.

I told her about what happened, and in exchange she told me all the intel LCC found. Not only did they not find the Golden Bough here, they also found out signs  or log records of EGO Gears were being made - “extracted” from the Abnormalities that are supposedly contained here. 

[Dante: So I suppose I could expect enemies who wear EGO Gears and get instantly strong like you do huh… Do you have any ideas of the EGO Gears they made, or the Abnormalities that are contained here?]

[Yuri: We do get information for the caretaking management tips but not on the combat ones. I could tell what kind off Abnormalities they are and what kind of EGO Gears they produced though]

As soon as that message appeared, Yuri typed a long essay of the Gears that were recently produced, their weakness and attacks. This would be a significant help for when we do come up face-to-face with them.

[Yuri: before you told me the Liberation Alliance attacked you, I actually had an inclination that they were the ones extracting these EGOs rather than K Corp who was supposed to be managing the facility for its Golden Bough….]

[Dante: Oh? Why is that] 

I asked her and soon she revealed that she actually received a warning from the PSA System, a pre-recorded message that Abnormalities are bound to escape once ‘they’, the speaked, took away the Golden Bough.

The message was given away to warn off both their own members and possibly anyone else, K corp Staff or not, that is going to enter. It was from this warning that Yuri then relayed it further to Vergilius, but not before coming into contact with one of the Abnormalities.

I typed thanks to her, closing my PDA and putting it back in my pocket as I internally imagined how terrifying that situation was. She still managed to report to us while battling an Abnormality alone.

’Dongbaek… I wonder what kind of person the leader of the Technology Liberation Alliance is like…’ as soon as I had that thought…

Someone walks in, exuding a suffocatingly thick scent of flowers. Holding a bright golden branch. In her hand, an object now familiar to me. She had a worn monochrome photograph in her other hand.

”It’s a fine photograph. Only one of these shots remains  in this world now” She muttered.

—----------------------------------------------------

Time: several hours after the whole fiasco at Ruined L Corp Branch
Location: Ruined K Corp Laboratory Hallway

After the encounter with Dongbaek, who ran away with the Golden Bough, we had returned to K Corp, only to find it was in the midst of chaos.

At one point, I had to send Meursault to investigate the exchanged emails between Shrenne and Ran to see if we can anticipate any more of their plan, as we were discussing our next plan, one of the members.

I looked around if there’s anything else we could do. The hallway that was clean and calm hours ago has turned into complete mayhem, filled with screams and fleeing people.

Dongrang tried to negotiate with the Technology Liberation Alliance member that was injuring a staff of K Corp.

“Huh, you’re walking unarmed now? What happened to your robots that did the fighting for you wimps?” Heathcliff taunted them.

The Alliance member smugly smiled, “We have no need to bring our robots, either. I see plenty of useful-looking ones here.”

As Outis was trying to guess what they meant by that, several K Corp staff arrived at the location. “We were ordered to excise terrorists. Target: all parts”.

Ishmael huffed in relief as she felt that we had outnumbered the terrorists, she felt that though it’s unfair it should be a more easier battle. The Alliance member however interjected, seemingly disagreeing that that won’t be the case or us.

As they said that, for some reason Ampule helper robots began surrounding the newly arrived K Corp staff, despite there being no wounds around them, they looked just as confused. 

“For everyone’s safety, deserters attempting to flee from battle will be injected with a decay ampule according to regulatory rules. The ampule will be launched if you leave the 120-meter radius of the combat area; you are 49 meters away from the perimeter” It warned, glowing with a red light.

As the staff wanted to retaliate, it immediately threatened with syringes on its tentacle, ready to inject it to them, if they were not to attack the enemy within 5 seconds.

<Wait, are we…. The “enemies” now?> I asked around and their silent confirmation gave it away, we are in deep trouble this time. 

“I… don’t wanna get hit by the decay ampule. I want to live….” The K Corp defended their line and ready to combat us instead, Outis asked for permission to engage which I allowed them too.

<Everyone change to the IDs I have assigned you last time> I gave out the order as they duke it out. For this battle I had set up a team composition of Seven Assoc. Identities and Rosespanner Workshop Identities. We managed, though it was a slim chance of winning.

As I was busy commanding the ones I sent to battle, some of the enemies were so close to bashing Ishmael and Heahtcliff to death, I could see a flurry of pink hair rushed in towards the battle field and parried away the attack, throwing them away from Ishmael. 

“Sorry I’m late! I got lost in the way due to the mass panic!” The voice was familiar, and yet the face was covered with a creepy mask that resembles the face of Headless Ichthys.

“GYAH!!” Heathcliff shrieked at the scene of the one that appeared before us while Ishmael was stunned into silence. “Wh-what? What’s wrong? Were you hurt?” Yuri still spoke out of concern despite the creepy appearance she is donning.

“Amazing….  Miss Yuri rescued them just as gallantly as a knight in shining armor!” Don Quixote instead was in awe. “In what way is she like a knight in a SHINING armor, lass, are you blind?!”

“Ah, but” She coughed up blood a bit, “Does the EGO Suit, weapon and masks not count as knightly lance, armor and helmet?” She hummed despite the broken bones she experienced.

As the battle ended, they reverted back to their usual selves as Heathcliff huffed. “I take back what I said about you being spineless wimps. I‘m surprised you didn't run away while we were scraping.” He gripped his Revenge bat harder, “You’re so dead now. Bunch of book-smart sods who think using things others made is a talent…..”

”Fair point, which is why….” He took off his clothing to reveal… a different set of clothing. “Just like you, we brought something new from the Lobotomy Corp. Branch” 

As soon as he revealed it, I immediately realized that it was an EGO, much like the ones Yuri wore rather than like ours. There appear a group of other Alliance members using different set off EGO Gears, this time it was more armor-like

<Shoot…..> knowing what Yuri was capable of, I was scared this would be a much harder fight. And it proved right away that they put up much more resistance due to their equipped EGO.

Yuri would easily parry and hold back the enemies and quickly kick them away and bash them with the Golden-Apple end of the stick.

The enemies with the Talisman-wrapped EGOs threw out their rupture-inducing Talismans. 

<Ryoshu, slash those away!> I gave out the order and Ryoshu quickly slashed them all rendering them useless before they reached the team. “Hah! Got their weakness down!” 

<Rodya, clash with those slimy weapons before it reaches your side> I ordered Rodya as well to parry with the slimy ones “Okay! Let’s go!” Rodya did as told, she avoided the slimy weapons and her wrench-shaped weapon managed to pierce the enemy and vibrate the enemy from inside out, before throwing them to the wall “Yeah! That’s one done!”

“Manager, have you analyzed the enemies’ weaknesses?” Outis asked me, and I nodded.

<Those that can do Pierce damage, focus on the enemies that have lots of talismans, those that can deal Blunt damage, focus on supporting Yuri for now> I gave out the order. Yuri’s weapon, if I remembered it correctly, was Legerdemain, after all, which is why it was a good compatibility with others’ blunt damage.

<Yuri, please prepare yourself for a finishing move.> I told Meursault to translate that to Yuri. 

“Got it….” Yuri took a deep breath a muttered to herself

“Unleashing the attack….

Resonating with the EGO…

Mine and yours, the intertwining of emotions….”

Her hammer glowed in a white light, something like a thin white smoke appeared around it.

As the enemies came close Yuri sped up and bashed the hammer towards them. She missed, but it created a lasting impact on the floor

“HIIIEEEK!” The enemies for some reason staggered and distanced himself from Yuri, “D-don’t come any closer!” Yuri disregarded him and came close, swinging the weapon. Sometimes hitting, sometimes it does not but it still does some damage to them.

“What is she doing?? Perhaps I overestimated her skill” Outis huffed, <No, I think, she IS doing some damage to them, I don’t know how….>

“In the L Corp, damage types are not differentiated based on the type of attack but rather what damage it does, Physical or Mental. In their jargon, it is called Red and White damage.

It is highly likely that Legerdemain is a White type EGO weapon, which means, she is unleashing hallucinatory attacks on them” Faust tried to explain, it seems that is what she seems to be doing so I accepted the explanation.

Before long, the battle ended more quickly Gregor complained about it in the midst of fighting, with Rodya commenting how they somehow manage to use them well despite being merely former lab-workers. 

<They are using the same stuff as Yuri after all, that probably explains why they are much stronger, still…..> I looked towards the battlefield.

“Wait, if I remember correctly the LCC used the method to extract EGOs thing, and you and they mentioned that this was how Lobotomy Corp did their stuff…. Does that mean the workers in Lobotomy Corporation…..” Gregor tried to guess, but Faust immediately answered his inquiry, “Yes, rather than Fixers, regular employees were given EGO to work with.”

“Wait, hold on. If you’re saying they can do that with the help of the Golden Bough’s deterrence power, that means it’s nearby…. Right? I mean, sure, Yuri can use it because she’s around the Manager currently but….” Ishmael tried to guess

”Must be, along with Dongbaek, who has it in her hands.” Gregor huffed, as soon as he said that, Outis was arguing with Samjo while Yuri and the others returned to our side once they finished their fight.

Yuri took off the mask and slid it to the side to make her look less scary. “Lady Yuri, are thou wounds okay, after such an arduous battle?” Don reciprocating her concern

“Mm-hmm, it’s fine. Though not as potent as K Corp’s ampule and you guys’ regeneration power. These EGO Gifts I have also gave me some self healing and boost said healing, no need to worry” she showed how she’s practically fully healed now.

It was then I noticed how different she was compared to the Alliance member.

The way she uses her EGO was different than how the Alliance member does it, she was much more proficient in the combat and in the arts of fighting while using them. Perhaps that also stemmed from how she is so used to using them while deterring and taking care of Abnormalities.

<Faust> I turned to her and she looked up, “What is it, Dante?”

<Do L Corp styled EGO Gears can also cause Corrosion?>

“Yes, of course, they can. When one’s mental virtue state, or statistic, doesn’t fulfill the requirement of wearing the EGO of the appropriate level, Corrosion could occur, although in such cases it isn’t a quickly-relieved event where they can turn back into normal sanity quickly. The corroded Nagul und Hammer members we saw is one of such after-effect, the Corrosion caused by wearing EGO inappropriately is a long and slow progress”

<I’m…. Merely asking out of concern, but is Yuri…. Going to be okay?> I looked towards her as she checked up on the Sinners, despite knowing they are fully healed due to me turning back their clock just now.

“While Faust cannot answer that, I could hypothesize that the possibility of Corrosion on Yuri so far could potentially be averted, mainly due to the case of her being an Agent, she increases her resistance to Corrosion. the Technology Liberation Alliance members are entirely new to using EGO and need the Golden Bough to resist the Corrosion, but high-level Agents such as Yuri, could be called arguably or ambiguously human at this point due to the Abnormality Gifts affecting their biology, it's possible that her virtue stat requirements to equip her EGO suit or weapon has been met and she now could fend off or ignore Corrosion on her own. But again, this is just a hypothesis” Faust concluded.

Chapter Text

POV: Dante’s POV

I noticed a group of staff walking this way, carrying an imposing aura, unlike any other K Corp Employee we’ve met. “Ah, you must be the K Corp. staff. Hey! I saw some researchers that haven’t evacuated over there….”

The man with green fluid tubes ignored Gregor’s words and proceeded upstairs. “They aren’t here to rescue anyone. Their role is eliminating intruders and keeping classified technologies secure.” Dongrang interjected like he's always been here. I suppose he’s got done with the call. “Rescuing is left to Class 1 staff.”

Don Quixote gasped in excitement, “Is Class 1 not the highest level an employee can reach, precisely like Grade 1 is for Fixers?! Verily, ‘tis no wonder that they are the noblest….!”

Before she could finish her sentence, Samjo was the one interjecting this time, “Sorry? In this Nest, Class 1 is the lowest level, and the higher numbers indicate better ranks….”

Don was left whimpering, questioning the reality before her, “Even still, none can be too lordly or lowly to save lives, so how can the roles be divided?” “Haha, bigger is better for numbers and riches alike, isn’t that right?”

Dongrang was busy changing the subject as Don walked back to walk side by side with Yuri, “Lady Yuri, was what Samjo said was true? That the roles are divided as such by the ranks, and the numbering system….”

“A-ah…. Yes, that is correct, back where I came from, the higher the number the higher the Level, the rank of an Employee is. B-but as for the duty to rescue, it is divided on what department you are rather than the ranks. For example, the duty to compile information and protect the technologies would be the Information Team’s duty. Rescuing and making sure everyone is safe is usually…. Safety or Welfare Team’s stuff….. I think.”

“OOooohhh! Then, what Team were you in, Lady Yuri?”

“I was in … Control but moved to Disciplinary Team….” She laughed awkwardly.

“Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice your conversation, so let me ask you a question: did you used to work on another Wing? Before working with these people?” Samjo suddenly inquired.

“A-ah yeah…. Lobotomy Corp, in the D Corp Nest’s branch….” Yuri answered Samjo “L Corp, the fallen Wing huh, wait no, that makes it even more confusing to me. Why are you working here with them, rather than, maybe applying to another Wing? I have seen your battle, there’s no way you were a clerk like I am, maybe a, class 2 Staff? Something of the sort?”

“Ahahaha…. Yeah…” Yuri downplayed herself with a wry smile. Though, I doubt she’d be merely in the class or rank 2.

Considering how strong she is, I’d assume she is more than class 3, though she lacks the intimidating aura like the Class 3 K Corp staff just now. 

———————-

Location: Screening Room

Yuri paved our way through again, fighting the Alliance member more easily this time once she and the others learnt their attack pattern.

“That should be the last of their EGO Gear using members…. If I were to assume the Gear is around TETH or HE Level, then they should only able to produce 1-3 sets per week, I think…..” Yuri muttered, I caught her staring at one of them who wore a different EGO, he was the only one who survived the carnage between both the K Corp’s lab worker and the Alliance’s lab worker. 

Samjo stood behind her and explained, “That’s Marile. In fact, I met him once at a job interview for B Corp. once.”

“Really? Samjo…. You applied for B Corp, too?” Dongrang chatted with him back while Yuri inspected the hood that Marile was wearing for some reason and stood away, realizing the man was still alive and aware.

”Of course, K Corp. was my primary choice… A man of mediocrity like me has to send an application to every Wing in hopes that one will accept it….” Samjo stopped his chat to go vomit in another room, appalled by all the corpses.

<Yuri, can you go with him, just in case?> “Of course” She nodded after I signed to her. As the others bantered around with Marile and Yi Sang, the conversation veered off to the reason why we joined the company. 

The job offer. In my case, I was promised I’d get my aspect carved. I could barely remember a thing, but as soon as I heard that, I knew I had no other choice other than to join. It seems everyone else was the same, they have their own wishes and goals they need to achieve.

Yuri returned with Samjo as we continued our walk to the deeper side of the Screening Room.

—————————————

“What IS that thing?!” Rodya shrieked seeing whatever was in the dark room.

“Ah, you see… This thing cries in our stead. So I always looked at it with gratitude and pity” Dongrang shrugged as he answered us ambiguously, “It’s an expensive Singularity-based item only famous Fixers, Wing executives, or the richest classes could afford… Even if I asked how you got it, you won’t answer me, will you?”

“Is what I’m seeing the truth behind the regeneration ampules?” A familiar voice echoed as she stepped in, it was Dongbaek.

“Yes, that’s right. The source of the ampules you’re hellbent on destroying.” 

“What do you… destroy?” Samjo sounded so pissed at Dongbaek’s blatant disrespect that she would destroy something that could save thousands of people’s lives, including his own life that was saved by the ampules.

While Dongbaek tried to tell him of the truth, that the ampules doesn’t merely heal, it can also kill people

“Fine then, will you concede if I prove their safety by walking into this pool?” As Samjo declared that, he began retelling his story and why he owe his life to K Corp. Rodya tried to stop him while Yuri looked back, feeling something dreadful was coming back to her side.

”I could only be here because I trust this technology. I’m proud of it.” He took off his jacket and glasses, “I’ll be back in a min-“ “WATCH OUT!” Yuri shoved him out of the way.

“GRAAAAAH!” Out of nowhere, I could see a blurry of brown charging through us and nearly pushed Dongrang and Samjo into the vat of green liquid. Yuri pushing Samjo out of the way accidentally also pushed Dongrang to the side.

<Wait, isn’t that… Marile?> One of the higher members of the Alliance, Marile, was charging blindly towards us.

“Everyone get out of the way!” Outis instructed in the midst of the sudden panic.

“Wait, that way is-“ Rodya tried to point out but before she finished saying what she wanted to say, the guy fell into the vat of green liquid instead.

Silence ensued, as nothing came back up to the water’s surface.

“What the blimey was that guy’s deal! How is he even still alive?!” Heath screamed.

“I think, the hood he was wearing was… a sort of EGO Gift, like what I got back in District 4, he survived his fatal injuries due to that, and tried to give us one last attack….” Yuri tried to explain, “Um… sorry, a-are you okay…. Samjo-ssi?”

“W-wh-what, happened…. To Marile…? He dived in there, right? Wh-where is he? Why is he not… coming up…? Aren’t these tears supposed to heal, then he would have came back better than he was before, how-“

Dongrang sighed casually, “oh dear, what a bother, Samjo never knew about the unrefined tears. Sorry Dongbaek, but we won’t be able to salvage your friend’s body. Still…. It’s amazing how tenacious he was until the end”

“Wh- WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! What happened to his body?! What- I thought the tears heals people?!” Samjo screamed, slowly going mad from the revelation even further as Dongrang told us the truth behind the unprocessed liquid.

That it’s original function is to revert things to how they were originally. That when refined, as long as the person remembers what their lost body parts look like, it can be reverted to its original shape. On the contrary, were someone hypnotized that they aren’t human, then the reversion result would be non-human.

“Wh- WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! You mean all this time- all I have been helping is….helping you develop this kind of bullshit-” I saw Samjo, who was in the midst of mental breakdown, charging at Dongrang.

Only to be stopped by Yuri knocking him unconscious from behind. Her face looked solemn.

“Oh? I suppose I must thank you for quickly de-escalating that just now” Dongrang hummed, calmly thanking Yuri.

“I didn’t do it for you” she retorted back. “As part of L Corp’s Disciplinary Team it was our main duty to calm down panicking employees. It’s just an occupational habit” Yuri calmly picked Samjo up and put him over her shoulder.

“You…. Are you not feeling any guilt at all, manipulating your own employee who was so loyal to you like that?” Ishmael gritted her teeth.

“Hmm? No, if anything, I like him. Mr. Samjo’s was a case of success from a humble upbringing. I like that sort of person. Fellows who are hired by Wings even though their qualifications are far below the Wings’ requirements tend to be loyal to their employers.” Dongrang explained calmly.

I couldn’t see her expression as she was wearing the EGO Gift mask, but I could feel she has the same emotion as Ishmael who was internally angry for Samjo’s sake. 

“Manager Dante” Yuri faced me without looking back at Dongrang, as if disgusted. “From here henceforth is your main stage and duty, I’ll be out there helping the K corp staff evacuate others”

<.... Right. Thanks for all your help so far. Take care of yourself.> I allowed her to excuse herself. She’s right, we borrowed her strength far too long for something that is originally what we were supposed to do on our own.

“Oh dear, it seems I have made her upset '' Dongrang laughed it off. “So, are you satisfied, Dongbaek? You were right, and Marile probably turned into the original form of humanity or something like that in the vat of tears. Congratulations. Now, what do you really want?”

“Both of you…. Stop this.” Yi Sang finally spoke up, confronting his former friends, “I don’t want old feuds repeating before my eyes”

—---------------------------------------------------

—------------------------------------------

POV: Yuri’s POV

I carried the unconscious Samjo-ssi on my back. This time, without any Abnormality enhancing my emotion, I felt enraged at that man Dongrang.

How could he still claim he likes people like Samjo-ssi, just for his blind loyalty? The words regarding him being actually under-qualified also pisses me off. That our worth was determined only by how useful we are for the upper management. 

‘At any rate, I need to search where they are guiding the evacuated researchers and put him there as well. Might need to call the LCCA too, if that confrontation with Dongbaek might just be the final confrontation for this mission, like they did with Kromer….’ I tried to call one of the members on the comm line.

“LCCA Normal Operations Unit 2 Team Leader, Caiman speaking, what do you need help with?” the other side spoke out. I explained the situation to her, and she told me that LCCA has already arrived at the location to ‘take care and clean up after LCB’s mess’. “As for the rescued researchers, I could see them gathered around the Southern Lobby. Go there” She redirected me.

As I went there, I could see several of the Class 2 Staff members focusing more on retrieving the laptops and other digital devices, perhaps to protect the information and technology of the Wing. ‘They truly did make the weaker ones do the rescuing jobs huh…. I suppose human lives are expendable when you have those ampules here….’

I thought to myself, unlike L Corp, I don’t think that K Corp would go down after terrorists attack like this, but who knows, even a prominent Wing with a multitude of connections like L Corp could fall. ‘At least the workers are rescued properly, at least they wouldn’t suffer survivor’s guilt like I did….’

I arrived at the Southern Lobby and searched for a safe place to  put Samjo-ssi. Before I arrived, I had already reverted out of my EGO Gear and back to my LCCB uniform so as to not look suspicious, or else the K Corp staff might have thought I was also part of the Alliance member.

“Oooy! Here, here!” Someone waved at me, beckoning me, it was a gigantic lady with blonde hair. I tried to approach her, her uniform read as LCD instead of LCCA.

“Oh good! Glad you came out safely!” She chuckled and picked Samjo up from my back. “Umm, why is the LCD here? I thought LCCA was supposed to take after me?”

“Due to what happened before with Nagul und Hammer and in that chicken restaurant, Limbus Company’s decided that there might be possibilities of Distortion happening when LCB is involved. So we are here to help take care of such incidents, as long as it’s within our capabilities” Someone else appeared from behind her, it was a much shorter and older lady.

She glanced towards Samjo-ssi, “and honestly, I’m glad we did, we’ll take over from here for this guy”.

“Eh? Eh?! Wait, wh-” They arbitrarily took Samjo-ssi away, leaving me confused. “You’ve done a good job, your role for this mission is done. Go back to where you belong” the older lady simply waved me off. Leaving me to my own device…….

—————————————————————

This chapter’s Fanart:

LCCB Uniform Yuri + Sunshower EGO Yuri

Chapter Text

POV: Yuri’s POV

It’s been a week since the turmoil in K Corp. The LCCA brought back the Abnormalities that were supposedly taken care of at District 11 a few days ago.

-A Few Days Ago-

“Huh?” I pointed to one of the Suppressed Cores as others were taking the others to their Containment Units “This isn’t the Brazen Bull or Shocking Centipede right?”

I noticed and recognized the other two. The ones whose EGO Gear were used by the Alliance Members. Fairy Gentleman and its EGO - Sloshing, So That No One Will Cry and its EGO - Red Sheet.

I had thought we were getting 4, with the other two being the Bull and the Centipede as those two rampaged in the middle of the city, but the third Abnormality was something unexpected.

“Ah, that one is called Drifting Fox” Micah explained. “Apparently after you got out of the battlefield, the terrorist’s leader, Dongbaek, equipped the EGO. We thought we should get these three first since we already got their EGO Gears.”

“Oh, so you looted the Alliance for their EGO Gear” I remarked and Micah chuckled “technically they were the first one to loot them from L Corp, as well as extracting more EGOs from these guys”

“Hmmm…..” I looked at the EGO Gears stored in the other box. “That’s quite the number”

“Their specification as well as the Abno’s weakness and immunity towards certain damage types are weird and funky by the way, you’d be better learning them carefully.” Micah reminded as he handed over the Core of Drifting Fox. “Of course I knew that, not all Abnormality follows the same formula”

“At any rate what about the other two? The Bull and the Centipede? They are coming here too, right?” I wanted to complain as this means we are getting 5 new Abnormalities at once, which means we are at 14 Abnormalities right now.

“They will, but it will take some time for the others to prep them to be containable. Probably in a few weeks they will arrive here” Micah shrugged

“By the way~ you still have a day off today right? Wanna hang out for a while?” Micah glomped my shoulder “we can invite Montag too”

“Montag’s busy, but sure I’ll try to reach him” I sighed, and so dinner plans were made.

It wasn’t much, really. We just ate at a nearby ramen restaurant. Micah ordered the oily of them all, as he knew it won’t affect his physical body. Montag prefers spicy ones, so I ordered whatever new and recommended item in the menu. 

I knew this for a whole, but again I never cease to be surprised, this was also how I officially found out that Montag rarely, ever eats normal foods. Thus he always eats them in an odd manner. I had thought it was just a weird habit of his. 

Last time we ate at HamhamPangpang he ate the sandwiches layer by layer. I thought he was just being picky so I made no comment about it.

We ended up teaching him first how to eat the ramen, that it can be slurped and he doesn't have to eat strand by strand or eat it bit by bit like when he saw and mimicked how one eats a Pocky.

“By the way, did you hear about what happened in the aftermath of the battle?” “No?” Montag and I shook our heads as Micah started gossiping.

Apparently the whole fiasco was written off that all that happened in K Corp. that day was single-handedly caused by a mentally, unstable, rebellious employee named Dongrang, in his scheme to unfairly claim personal gains and powers within the firm.

“Also apparently the whole LCB had a memory-wipe procedure done to them, due to them witnessing the Singularity of K Corp and how it worked.”

“Yeah, that happened with me too” I sighed, “the same day I got out of the Corp, LCA immediately surrounded me and told me to go through it as per the contract apparently. Nothing I can do to dissuade or disobey the order,” I looked down.

“At least I didn’t see the Singularity or get involved with its mechanism long enough to go through a memory wipe procedure. But the Director, Director Alfonso, came personally and told me to not say a word lest the K Corp’s equivalent of taboo hunters come for me”. Montag asked if that’s the reason I got another extra day off today and I confirmed it

“By the way what happened to that guy, Samjo-ssi. Why was he taken away by the LCD?”

“Ah that person? Apparently an investigator at LCD has the ability to detect if someone has an impending transformation into Distortion. So he was taken there for prevention measures. He’ll go through some counseling therapy with an actual therapist and LCD staff itself. After it’s confirmed he’s okay mentally, they’ll let him go.”

“Huh, wait- so the Distortion that they suspected was to happen was Samjo-ssi? But- why would it happen to him, actually how DOES Distortion happen anyway??” questions just piled up higher for me.

“No, according to what I heard, in the final confrontation with Dongrang, he did go through an actual full Distortion. Samjo’s just… budding you could say. I assume it would be due to the betrayal he felt against his boss”  Micah didn’t answer me further as our food came.

“What will happen after he is let out?” I asked after one spoonful of slurp, “that depends on his own free decision. He might resign or continue working at K Corp. Who knows” Micah slurped a spoonful of the most oily part of the soup as if that’s the most delicious thing in the world.

——————————————

-Current Time-

After that dinner a few days ago with Micah, we have been taking care of the new Abnormalities. 

The blessing in disguise is that one of the Abnormalities can benefit us, specifically healing us or buffing us when we worked with him.

The other blessing in disguise is that two of them require Attachment, which can mean that at least those two are rather friendly.

One of the EGO Gear is also a WAW Class even though the Abnormality itself is a HE Class, so I suppose that also counts as a blessing too.

‘I heard that the leader, Miss Dongbaek, used to wear one of those Gears…. I wonder if she had suffered from EGO Corrosion….. no, I heard she instead effloresced an EGO of her own…’ I wondered as I returned to the Main Area.

The higher up has proposed that we should decide and divide into different roles of teams like in L Corp, such as Information Team, Disciplinary Team, Safety Team etc for better efficiency in role division, regardless if you were from LCCB or LCCA.

Meaning Information Team members could consist of both LCCB or LCCA. ‘Considering I had experience in different departments, they were also asking which team I would join….’ I gulped some drinks from the juice bar. 

“Yuri” Montag called me suddenly, “oh hey! What’s up?” I approached him. “Today. Newbies” he reminded me. “Oh riiiight,” today was the day newly recruited members are being given briefings like I did before.

Supposedly the briefing also includes the Abnos we found so far, excluding the new ones from District 11. 

“Wanna see?” “Wanna see who the newbies are? I guess I have time,” I finished my work quota for the day, all I need to do is compile the information found. Then again, both from the L Corp Branch ruins, the Sinners’ observatory log and the Alliance’s notes, most of the information is actually already pretty complete.

We went up to another level in the Underground Facility. Together, we peeked at the room. It seems the general briefing has ended and they are moving on to the Abnormalities briefing. 

In that room, I saw a familiar face. I tried to point out Montag to the man with his glasses on top of his head and explained who he was to him in a whisper. Montag listened attentively. “You confused, why he here?” He asked and I nodded, indeed I was confused why would he be here.

——————————————————————

We waited until the briefing ended. And when everyone got out. I approached one of the newbies. “Samjo-ssi!” I tapped his shoulder.

“Oh? Oh it’s you right! The one who helped that clockhead and those bunch of undead misfits…. Yuri, wasn’t it that they called you?” Samjo greeted me back. “Why are you here???” I asked him back, confused as to why he was here.

“Ah, I…. Resigned from K Corp, I guess…” he shrugged. “Huh?” I tilted my head confused, “why? I mean, it’s not like, you were deeply involved with the crime and” I thought what she meant was that he was fired or forced to resign.

“Oh, no, I resigned on my own terms. I just… I dunno, I can’t really see myself working there after knowing the truth. As a Nest-born, I had thought to try working and applying to other Wings, but you know….I dunno, if I can stomach being betrayed by my own assumption or expectation again, I suppose” he sighed.

“Especially since I heard of what happened with K Corp and their cover-up story. In the City, lies flows out so easily that reality is easily written, I honestly don’t know what or who else to trust” he shrugged.

“I heard that your company was backed by some rich funding, nearly to a corporate level. It might not be as prestigious and pay as much as Wings does, but you know, maybe I should try something new, was what I thought.” Samjo looked at his own notes from the briefing and pondered.

“I’m not as combatant as your typical Fixer, but even as a Nest-born I can be pretty athletic for a guy like me, so I thought I’d get my chance working here. Essentially I’m just searching for something, something that can be my own next goal, I suppose” Samjo put away his notes as he turned to face me.

“So, I suppose, let’s do our best from now on, Yuri-sunbae” he chuckled. I wanted to retaliate and retort at how embarrassing it is now that someone called me a sunbae, but someone else’s voice stopped me

“Oh, good timing Yuri,” it was Manager Saude. “Would you mind giving them a tour through the Underground Facility, around the Containment Unit?”

“Eh? But, I mean-“ I was going to argue that that wasn’t my duty or responsibility for the day,

“Surely, you can do that for a bit, right, Yuri-sunbae~?” At the end of the day, she seems to emphasize that now that I am a senior member, I need to be responsible for these newer recruits.

I guided them downwards, telling them what Abnormalities are called what and their Threat Levels are. To say the least, their comments and reactions are interesting.

”It’s a stone with…. Muscle fibers?”

“That apple has legs! It’s so bright and golden….”

”Is it only a chicken leg with Ice parts on top of it?”

“It’s kinda redundant that its name is Pink Shoes don’t you think?”

“Whoa- creepy, it doesn’t have a face….”

“This one looks like it’s in pain…”

We then arrived at the lowest floor that was newly made to house the 5 Abnormality from the latest L Corp Branch.

“….” Samjo stared at Fairy Gentleman, “This one for some reason, looked and felt familiar to me.” “Ah, yes, The EGO extracted from this one was used by the Technological LIberation Alliance, so was the next one,”

I introduced him to the room of So That No One Will Cry, “Ah yes, those talismans do look familiar” He hummed. “Does that mean that when I start working here I must use the same uniform as they do?”

“Hmmm…. Kind of, it’s not mandatory, but you have a better chance surviving wearing them,” I tried to explain to him and he just sighed, “at least you are being honest about it”

Once we reached the Main Area, I told them that this is where they can relax, and re-briefed them about the 4 different types of work that is done here, and how sometimes the same type of work can consist of different actions.

How the same action could be perceived as different types of works to different Abnormalities and that they should take notes for this difference. Such crucial information could define someone’s life or death.

I would eavesdrop on how they wind down, gossip and chat after the whole briefing and tours they got so far, it seems Montag was doing the same thing and silently pointed at specific people’s comments.

“I heard people from the Outskirts get in here too… Do they just hire anyone?”

”Hey shut it, at least my assessment on my physical examination result is better than yours. Working here is better than whatever goes on in the Backstreets at night”

“So this is what L Corp does behind their doors, I thought they were just an eco-friendly energy producer…”

“Still… this is way too inefficient, why do these creepy stuff need to be managed by humans…..”

“Yuri-sunbae,” Samjo-ssi came up and sat with me. “There’s no need to be that formal, Samjo-ssi, you are older than me.” I tried to tell him, but he insisted, saying that I have worked here AND on a Wing, longer than he does despite me being younger.

“If anything it should be you who don’t need to be that formal with me” he sighed. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you something”

He gave me his data on his Virtue stat. “When my stat is like this, what work should I start doing?” His stat is, can be rounded into a general L1 or L2 Employee, he wasn’t lying about being pretty athletic. His better stats were Prudence and Temperance.

‘A bit surprising, considering what he nearly did before I saved his life from jumping to that vat of forbidden thingy’ thinking that, I was left wondering, ‘did he go through a memory wipe procedure as well, or…. No, he did said he felt betrayed, so he might still remember it’

Shaking my head, I concentrated on pondering what he should do. “It’ll take some time, but I’ll help you decide by tomorrow, is that okay? Essentially I would suggest you do what you have as best stat, such as Insight work for your Prudence and Attachment work for your Temperance. But soon, you’ll also need to train up your Fortitude and Justice, so you do need to do some Insight and Repression work.”

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous to do so at my current low level though?” He asked, scratching his head, “Actually, this is where low-risk Abnormality comes for. Some Abnos actually prefer lower stats for specific work, essentially you can train yourself on those aspects of virtues by working on those Abnos” I tried to explain to him.

“Got it, I’ll leave it to you then, But um…. Do you have the, like, the authority to decide who works on who?” Samjo asked skeptically. I told him it should be fine, but I will ask Manager Saude again just in case.

——————————————————————

This chapter’s fanart:

scene and Cargo, LCCA NPCs from Canto 3 arc

Chapter Text

POV: Samjo’s POV

I woke up in a steel-walled dorm. It was hard getting used to it at first, but slowly I’m used to this. This is the dorm of Limbus Company, where I work and live from now on.

It’s probably unthinkable that a Nest-born, especially from someone of humble beginnings like me, that I decided to quit working from a Wing and work on another corporate like this.

But I felt like I was glad of this choice instead of continuing working there, where even the death and betrayal of my former boss was fabricated. Where I was gaslit as to the truth of what has been my object of aspiration for years.

I was under a strict contract to not reveal anything that I saw in the Screening Room in exchange of being allowed to work and live here. Essentially, it can be said I was mercifully exiled from K Corp.

Under normal circumstances, a K Corp Class 3 Excision Staff would have been sent to excise me because I possess, even the slightest, knowledge of what was inside the Screening Room, and what that man told me about the truth of the Ampules.

I used my standard duty uniform for LCCB and walked towards the Main Area. There I saw Yuri sitting on one of the benches with a laptop, next to him was a different guy from last time.

‘Come to think of it, that guy was also hella weird, he spoke in phrases, yet Yuri somehow managed to understand him.’ I shrugged about that fact and walked up to her.

“Good morning Assistant Manager Yuri”, she insisted I don’t refer to her formally, but I can’t really do that in a professional situation.

Yuri seemed to sighed hearing the way I called her but nodded, “morning, I have come to a decision on what to have you work on for now” she turned her laptop screen towards me.

In the screen I saw an inhuman creature with two faces, a face on where the head is and a big maw with tongue lolling out from the stomach.

It was goopy, in fact it looked like its entire body was made out of green jelly. It also wears a hat and necktie and holds something in its hand. The whole vibe reminds me of a barista.

“Haven’t seen this one in the briefing yesterday” I commented.

"This is one of the new ones, Fairy Gentleman.” Yuri mentioned, she explained it was one of the new…. Abnos, as she abbreviates them, from K Corp District’s L Corp Branch Facility.

There are supposed to be 5 Abnos coming from there, only 3 right now residing here but 2 new ones are coming soon.

”This one is fine with any work except Repression work, so you can do Instinct, Insight, or Attachment Work. Here are some caretaking management notes. You can read it” She navigates on my Abnodex to brief me what and where to read about the stuff I needed to know.

The creature will offer me a wine, different action towards that wine offer translates to different work for this one.

Accepting it translates as Instinct Work, rejecting or ignoring it counts as Insight Work, and accepting it and promising that you want others to try it as well makes it an Attachment Work. Lastly, rejecting it rudely counts as Repression Work.

It seems this Abnormality is said to have been able to give benefits to the employee.

Doing Instinct Work might heal you, doing Insight work will make the creature give you something called Green Spirit.

Doing Attachment Work gives the combination of both former works.

Lastly, Repression Work gives us nothing. 

When I am handed Green Spirit, I could either drink it or give it to another person, say, Yuri, for her to drink it. Then, either me or Yuri must work next on the Abnormality -  this counts as Instinct Work. If someone else other than me or Yuri worked on it, this counts as Repression Work -

“- and the employee who consumed the Fairy Wine will explode from inside out due to the wine bloating into green goo inside their body??!

On a random chance that someone does Instinct Work too much and becomes addicted to the Wine, there's a 20% chance of Fairy Gentleman devouring them on their next Instinct Work?!” I read that part out loud, dumb-founded. I did already heard of the risk of dying, but I haven’t reviewed any of the Abnormalities’ management notes that deeply,

”Only, if you were really that careless, that’s why we made sure to keep track record of what work was done last time on each Abno, please do so as well on the panel next to the Unit after every time you do any work.” Yuri reminded me. I now understood how important those panels were for.

“If you need help, you can ask for my help, Montag, or that guy at the end of the bench. That’s Micah from LCCA, he’s my friend too.” She reassured me.

I looked at the Abnodex’ notes again, “by the way these notes are actually rather comprehensive, aren’t they?” I commented on how complete they are. 

“Ah yes…” Yuri hesitantly fidgeted, “I’m assuming it’s because the Alliance were using them, the Abnos and EGOs. They probably interacted with Abnos to be able to get their hands on the EGO, though not as much as we do……”

‘The Technological Liberation Alliance…. Those terrorists…. Now give it a second look, these EGO Gears…. Do look familiar….’ I scrolled to the other pages for other Abnormalities, the Gear called Red Sheet was also familiar looking to me. 

“I see… so these were what the Terrorists used at the time… kinda feel conflicted to be using the same Gear as theirs…” I hummed.

“Oh my~ if this was enough to make you feel conflicted, shall I remind you that we still use K Corp Ampules for healing ourselves and our colleagues?” Another voice appeared, not Yuri’s.

I realized it was the man who was next to Yuri when I first entered the room. He sat on the other end of the bench to give me and Yuri space to talk, but he suddenly appeared and talked to me from behind Yuri.

“…..” Yuri glanced between me and him and looked away awkwardly, it seems she also predicted that these facts might cause conflict to me.

“It's fine” I sighed, “despite the truth, I also have accepted the fact that those medicines do save people’s lives, and are needed in this line of work” I nodded, “so then, I guess I’ll be going to this guy’s Containment Unit” I stood up and left them behind.

Walking there, I pondered about it. Maybe Yuri not only knew it would make me feel conflicted, but also felt guilty about assigning me to this creature.

I arrived at the location, a familiar door in front of me. I clicked the button to open the door, and inside it, what welcomed me was a gigantic jelly-looking creature, the Fairy Gentleman. 

I gulped in my throat internally, looking up to the much taller creature. It looked back at me, swirling a glass of something and sipped it on his own.

‘I suppose I’ll do Insight Work by cleaning around the place for now….’ I thought as I went to a specific wall in the room that has a door that can be opened. Inside were sets of cleaning tools. 

I grabbed the squeegee mop and began scraping the jellies on the floor. It’s pointless to scrape the ones oozing out from its body, so I did the ones on the walls and corners of the rooms first.

Another room has a hatch that can be opened as a trash chute where I gathered the jelly and dumped it in it.

As I wiped my face from sweat, something poked me. The creature offered me a glass of wine, “take a break?” It asked in a gurgle sound. It sounded like what a drunk person would have, a slurred sound, but I could still hear his voice as tangible.

“No, thank you, I still got something to clean up” I pointed at the green hard crystals that were still around. It nodded and retreated back into watching me clean around them. 

This time I grabbed an icepick and a broom and dustpans. I picked apart the crystals, it gives out a sour aroma, almost like a high class liquor. I shook my head off, not to get drunk right now, I sweeped the crystal debris and dumped the chunks into the trash chute again.

The door unlocked, indicating my jobs finished for now. As I headed towards the exit, something tugged and held me back.

Fairy Gentleman held my hand and handed me a green liquor, “for your hard work. It’d be a pity if you return empty handed” it said again.

“Uh…. Thanks” I awkwardly nodded and accepted it, getting out of the unit. Once I was out, I made sure to see the Containment Unit was automatically and properly locked itself. Next to it was a Record Panel, where everyone’s last work and name was recorded.

[Insight - Samjo] 

Soon afterwards another word automatically added to the panel and it turned into:

[Insight - Samjo] [Good]

It seemed to have recorded the work result as well.

“Now what to do with this…..” I swirled the glass of Green Spirit in my hand. According to the manual, I could either drink it and return to work with it to return the glass. Or have someone else drink it and work on it.

I decided to return to the Main Area to ask everyone else what to do with this. In it was the silent guy next to Yuri, if I remember correctly his name was Montag.

He saw me and pointed to the wine, “Green Spirit? You gonna drink that?” He asked me. “Ah, no, not really sure actually what to do with this.” He sighed, “what? You want this?” I offered and asked him. He nodded silently, taking the glass from my hand and gulped the content without any issue. 

“Heals wounds and sanity” he suddenly commented. “Needed this, some Abnos hurt me” he tried to explain and pointed to the glass, “I return this? Or you?”

I planned on returning it regardless of whether or not I ended up drinking it. But I just had another idea. If it really had healing properties as he said, then I wanted to test it out.

To do that, I have to do Attachment of Instinct Work. But it seems doing Instinct Work consecutively is risky of making one addicted to wine.

I tried to explain what I planned to do to Montag and he nodded. “You want to work on others? Okay, I return this” it was a bit hard to understand what he meant but I thanked him as he took the empty glass to return and work on the Abnormality.

Pondering, I thought about which Abnormality to work on next. I decided to work on another TETH risk level Abnormality, considering my low level. I looked up, there’s another TETH level Abnormality. 

One of them, being another familiar one. So That No One Will Cry. ‘…. Marile used this gear if I remembered correctly…’ I decided to work on it.

I chose to do another Insight Work. Cleaning the place should be easy, and Prudence was my highest stat, so I was confident this would go well.

Going there, I went inside and saw the whole place was littered with talismans. Especially the walls. The wooden doll stood in the middle of the room menacingly and silently.

“I-…..I’ll be commencing some cleaning now” I retrieved the cleaning tools from one of the wall compartments again, ripping off some of the talismans on one wall at least. 

Even though it has no face, I could feel it was staring at me. It was hot, not the heat of a living being, it was like standing in front of a heater or a fireplace.

After cleaning a wall, the door unlocked. I put back the tools and excused myself. Getting out of the door, I saw one of the talismans stuck to my wrist. I tried to take it off but it wouldn’t budge.

‘Perhaps I’ll wash it off later and make it rippable’ I thought to myself as I saw the Record Panel.

[Insight Work - Samjo] [Normal]

“He? Normal? Hmm……” I had thought it would result better than that, but maybe a high level virtue stat isn’t all that is needed.

Returning back, I saw Micah giving orders for other newbies. 

“Hmm….. it seems the Qlipoth Count for So That No One Will Cry decreased just now, whoever worked on that next, please be careful”

I overheard them, and I immediately barged into their conversation. “Wait, it decreased? But I just worked on it, and it said "Normal result?” I asked them a question. 

“Normal Result can still potentially decrease the Qliphoth Count. What work did you do last time?” Micah asked me back. I explained it was Insight Work. 

“Aaaah… I see, you should’ve read the manual properly y’know~. It prefers Instinct work out of all types. Even if you were low leveled, it would still work out better.”  Micah laughed awkwardly, “well, no matter. The next person just needs to be careful. Who wants to work on them? Anyone that wants to raise their Fortitude could also work on it” Micah called out the newbies.

“I’ll try!” Someone raised their hand, and Micah allowed them to go to it. “By the way, Micah-sunbae, I wanted to ask something,” I asked him.

Unlike Yuri, it seems he didn’t have any issue with what I called him. “Yeah? What is it?”

I showed him the Talisman in my wrist. He explained that it was a type of ‘blessing’ or benefits, essentially. “This will strengthen your attack power and movement speed” he told me, “you should work on Instinct Work after this to get it taken off and return in, just in case, or keep it until your shift is off. The thing disappears after you got out of this place”

I nodded, “what do I need to do next for today?”  I asked him after I understood what it’s for. “Well, for starter, you could try applying for request on what EGO Gear you’d like to-“

A blaring alarm resounded suddenly,

[Pink Shoes have possessed an Employee. Order for Suppression. Please proceed to hallway 2A] The announcement repeated 3 times.

“Time to work, let’s go” Micah dragged me with him. “Huh?! But- wait, Suppression, that means calming or ‘taking care’ of an enraged Employee right? Wouldn’t that be the duty for higher level employees???”

“We are the closest ones here, no time to complain, let’s go, before more victims piled up” he said sternly. Gulping my own throat, I nervously grabbed my standard-duty baton and went with him.

As we arrived in Hallway 2A, there’s someone with pink ribbons all over their body, and a pair of pink shoes on their feet.

It was rambling nonsensically, something about love and desire as it targeted another Employee in front of them. 

Instinctively, all I wanted to do was hide behind Micah’s back, but he immediately took off and clashed with the madman’s ax.

“Take their target out of this hallway! Quickly!” Micah barked out an order.

“I- wh- but I’m-“ “QUICKLY!” I couldn’t even complain when someone ordered me that way, I immediately ran towards the victim and carried them out of the hallway. 

Micah was right, the Talisman did affect my speed and strength as I could carry the person with ease to another area. I thought I should take them further away so I passed by the Main Area and went further to Hallway 2B.

I put them on the floor, panting from fatigue. They thanked me as they apologized for the trouble.  

Soon Montag and Micah came to us. They explained that they have subdued the Employee. It was more or less them saying that the Employee was disposed of.

“Is that so….” I nearly barfed my stomach content, knowing the gory truth. “Anyway, thanks for the help” Micah thanked me for helping the victim.

“Y-yeah no prob-“ my voice was cut off as suddenly someone screamed and got out of a Containment Unit, it was the person who volunteered to work on So That No One Will Cry. They looked at us and suddenly ran away leaving us frantic.

Montag seemed to have guessed what happened and walked towards the Abnormality’s Record Panel. “Work Result Bad. They did Repression.” He read the panel. 

“Wait-what but I thought I told them to do Instinct Work??” Micah seemed to have realized something, “Oh no-“ soon after an red alarm blared, this wasn’t as loud as before- 

“AAAARRGHH!!” I screamed, suddenly, everything felt very hot, its like I touched something hot. Especially my arm, it felt like I was being burned.

“M-my arm- my arm ! It hurts!!!” I flapped my arm, thinking that a fire was there and that it would subside. But there was no fire at all. Then- “What’s burning me-! Ngrraahhh…..” My head was dizzy from the heat. All I could do was scream and close my eyes.

After a while, the hotness subsided. I was panting from the pain and opened my eyes. Bubbles like ones formed from first degree burns were all over my arm. “My head hurts….”

”Heat cramps symptoms” Montag seemed to have waited by my side all this time.

“Side effect of Talisman, Qlipoth Count 0, talisman owners feel or actually get burned, a few seconds.” He tried to explain and carried me.

But the direction he carried me was not towards the Main Area or any medical facilities, but. towards another Containment Unit.

“Wait-wh-what are you trying to do-“ “You asked. Want to see the healing effect.” Montag reminded me of what I said a few minutes ago, that I wanted to see the fairy’s wine’s healing effect. “Use this chance?” He asked me.

“I-“ I choked on my words from pain. I did want to see and test that healing effect. “Fine, I suppose- put me in there” I winced in pain as I opened the door and entered the room.

The Fairy Gentleman greeted me again, the room was quickly filled with green jelly substances and aromatic crystals already, despite me cleaning it a few hours ago.

“Welcome, welcome” it gurgled, “you look tired, take a break!” It twirled a glass of wine and offered it to me again, “relax, and enjoy this wine~”

I gulped again in my throat and said thanks, and took it. I chugged it, disregarding the texture. It felt like I was swallowing snot rather than actual jelly, honestly. But it tasted good.

It doesn’t taste like actual wine, but it also isn’t bland tasteless like some variants of K Corp Ampules. I couldn’t describe what flavors it is in words, but it tastes good and refreshing.

I felt some cool sensation in my head and hand. The burn blisters are all gone and healed. My headache subsided as well. I actually felt refreshed.

I could see the creature towering above me grinning. It patted me with its other hand, “want refill? I can give you seconds~ you still look tired and hurt,” it tried to comfort me. I know I shouldn’t indulge or oblige with its offer, but perhaps I do need to heal more, maybe, just a bit.

“Just… half of this cup….” I asked and it took back its glass, twirling it on its hand, and half a cup was filled immediately.

It handed the glass back to me and I drank it with caution. Trying to be on high alert but for some reason I could feel a different dizziness coming to me.

The door has been unlocked for a while and I was a bit late to realize it. I said thanks to the fairy and got out. It had a glint in its eyes as it waved bye to me, “do come again if you want to relax more~”

Getting out, I felt really sleepy, Montag was saying something about me being drunk, and that I was pardoned to leave early as my shift nearly ended anyway. So I did that.

I couldn’t remember if I undressed back at my room, I just remembered the softness of my bed.

Chapter Text

POV: Samjo’s POV

Second day of working here, I woke up and walked towards the Main Area of the second floor again, hoping that maybe I could work on those two TETH Level Abnormalities again.

“It’s essentially cowardice and recklessness, that’s fatal liability” “I know, but I don’t have the right to decide their punishment. For now, their penalties will be decided by Manager Saude….”

I could hear the familiar voices of my seniors at work discussing something.

I greeted them asking what happened, “hey, what’s up?” “Not tipsy or drunk?” “Good morning Samjo, I heard of your work yesterday.” Yuri greeted me last.

“Thanks for helping that employee” She said.

“No problem, what were you discussing?” I got curious and sat next to one of them.

“Oh, just reviewing what happened last time, it seems that the employee yesterday did Repression Work rather than the Instinct Work I asked them to do.”

“Huh? How- what, what did they do?” I got confused, I thought the order was pretty direct and obvious.

“Long story short, Instinct Work requires you to touch that wooden doll directly to grab some of its Talismans right? They chickened out, too scared to touch it directly, and thought it would be safe if they did Insight like you did, cleaning one of the walls and all that. When it felt that the wooden doll felt more offended, they panicked and thought cleaning all of the walls of its talismans would make its mood better. Unknown to them, this translates as Repression Work, which caused the Bad work result” Micah explained.

“Yuri told me that such mistakes would have been a fatal liability in L Corp, but well…. We are different from the way they worked, so as for their penalties, it’ll come later.”

I pondered and tried to digest what happened. Micah then stared back at me, “Come to think of it, have you not put a request on what EGO Gear you chose to wear?”

“Ah,” hearing him call that out, I realized I had only my own standard duty Gear.

“I was going to, but I overslept last night, didn’t have time to choose one. Actually, how do I choose and receive one?” I asked them.

Yuri explained this time that all I need to do is click on an Abnormality’s EGO Gears page and click the “Request Gear” button. Both Suit and Weapon have some specificity that would allow Employee to don them. Compatibility matters after all.

“As for how you will receive them, come here” Yuri stood up and walked me to one of the walls in the Main Area. One of the walls was like an open hatch, kinda like an ATM, but a bit smaller.

“You enter the Employee ID here, and a QR Code will appear. You scan it with your Abnodex’ camera. And you’ll get one. Unlike the ones we used in L Corp and used by the Alliance member, Limbus Company has digitized the EGO Gear so all we need to do to wear it is just a click away, saving us time from changing clothes and all”

For example, she typed in her Employee ID in the machine and a QR Code appeared on the screen, she used her Abnodex’ camera to scan it.

After a beep, she opened the device and there’s a new EGO Suit, it was called Sunshower, and as she clicked it, she transformed into wearing some sort of dirt-colored rain hood.

“Same thing with the Weapon” She added. I thanked her for the tutorial and told her that I will think about which gears I want after I worked with some of the Abnormalities.

I decided to work on the two TETH Abnormalities again, I checked their data just in case. It seems new data for Fairy Gentleman was added after I left early. Something about the Tipsy status.

How it will make one lose attack power the more they decide to take more of the wine. Increased with the Tipsy status is also the risk of - “being eaten?!” I read that part a bit too loud, a bit freaked out that the warning was written so upfront.

Nevertheless, I could only work on those two for now, so that’s all I could do. I decided to do Instinct Work first on Fairy Gentleman.

As I came in, it greeted me in an overly-friendly term again. As usual, it offered me wine. I took only one glass this time, with the excuse that it is still too early in the morning to get inebriated.

Next is that wooden doll with too long of a name. I decided to do Instinct Work on it. To do that work, I had to get up close to the creature. I walked to it and inspected the Talisman.

I was a bit confused as to what to do, like which Talisman to rip off. I decided to take ones that looked crumpled, old, or ripped or the writing smeared.

Once I took them off, I threw them out to the trash chute inside the unit, like yesterday, and went out as I finished my work there.

Waiting in front of me was Yuri, she looked at the Record Panel that said I did a Good job for the Instinct Work just now.

“You working here too?”

“Yeah, just in case there’s new findings” Yuri laughed at me awkwardly.

I decided to rest a bit at the Main Area, looking towards the lists of possible EGO Gears. By coincidence, I found the ones Micah and Yuri were wearing.

Micah’s came from an Abnormality called My Form Empties, Yuri’s was from an Abnormality from the K Corp Nest, Drifting Fox. Despite the Fox’s risk level being HE, both Yuri’s and Micah’s gear’s levels are WAW.

I stared wide-eyed at this. “WAW??? Seriously???”. If TETH was akin to the second least dangerous risk level, then WAW would be the second most dangerous level. ‘Let’s say wearing a TETH EGO Gear makes you as strong or proves you to be as strong as  Class 2 K Corp Excision Staff. That means an HE EGO Gear is the equivalent of Class 3 K Corp Excision Staff…. That means those two are….’

I shook my head in denial, it was unbelievable, there was no way that such a meek girl was stronger than them, but…. She did work for L Corp far longer than I was in K Corp, it could be true.

‘Now that I think back, when I asked if she was a class 2 staff member, she answered it ambiguously….’ I decided that there might be personal reasons as to why she answered that way.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------
After resting, I decided to work on the Fairy Gentleman again, this time, for Attachment Work. It offered me wine again, after downing 1 glass of wine, it asked if I wanted some more. I told it that I wanted to share it with others this time after this and the creature obliged, giving me a glass of Green Spirit for me to take out of the Containment Unit.

It also patted my head with its sticky jelly arm, saying “You should take a break more, you did such a good job.” The hand on my head felt like those squishy water beds or mochi. I could feel its jelly was all over my head, some dripped over my front bangs.

As I went out, I wiped some that dripped near my eyes and went to the Main Area. I saw Yuri arrive as well, there’s something stuck in her eyes. She stared back at me. “What’s the matter?” “Ah, no, I was wondering what’s that on your eyes….”

“Ah, this, this is the EGO Gift from So That No One Will Cry…” she explained. If I remember correctly, EGO Gift was something you can randomly get from an Abnormality. I also remembered that Marile had something like that on his face.

“I remembered my old acquaintance Marile, who died at that place, had something like that in his face, and he wore something as a hood on his head, was that, something like an EGO Gift?” I asked her.

“The thing in his eyes, yes. The thing on his head that was like a hood, I am unsure, but I assumed that that was…. Another EGO…., yes, that looked more plausible. He could have taken the EGO Suits of other members who died on their way and thought adding more to his person would add another protection effect. It was proven correct, as he survived longer than we expected” Yuri pondered about it.

“Another form of EGO Gift is a crown of green jelly on top of one’s head, given by Fairy Gentleman. Actually, Samjo-ssi, I think, you got it, just now.”

“I do??” I tapped my head, the jelly was still there, in fact, it started to solidify like clear wax. “It surprised me too that that was the form its EGO Gift took, considering all the Alliances’ members that used the Sloshing EGO looked a bit different. It seems what happened to their body was instead, a form of EGO Corrosion, caused by over-extended usage of EGO Gear. This is why we strictly told everyone to be unequipped after they finished their own work or only equipping it when they are within or around the vicinity of the Golden Bough’s area of effect.”

“It’s only TETH Level EGO though, would using them could cause EGO Corrosion? I thought that EGO Corrosion could happen if one uses Gears that aren’t on the same level as theirs?” I asked her a question, I felt paranoid suddenly about using EGO Gears.

“It’s rare, but like I said, it only happens when you use them on an over-extended period. On that note, the form of Corrosion that happened to those Alliance’ members was their hair turning green from the end tip upwards. So that’s your sign I guess.” She explained further to me.

“That’s rather mild, I had thought that there would be more severe side effects like what happened to the Sinners….” “the Sinners’ case ….. Is a bit unique…. Even to me….” Yuri laughed awkwardly, “but some Corrosion do can cause severe transformation, so…. Please be careful….” it seemed she was reminded of something dark in the past.

She changed the subject, “are you going to drink that?” she pointed to my Green Spirit. “Probably yeah,” “do be careful and keep an eye on your Tipsy-ness. How Tipsy do you think you are right now?” Yuri asked cautiously.

“Not really that drunk, but I could feel my face is probably flushed right now….” I sighed. Yuri nodded, making sure I would be fine.

I chugged the Green Spirit and took a seat to stabilize myself. ‘I really should check myself in the mirror, plus I’m feeling …. Yeah…. That’s too much to drink for a day….’ I decided to get a toilet break. While I was there, I checked my face. I really was flushed, and those green jelly really stuck to my hair, no matter how much I tried to rinse it off.

Returning to the Main Area, I planned to return the Green Spirit’s glasses back to Fairy Gentleman, but I panicked. The glass was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly a blaring alarm rang out. It was a smaller one, like when that wooden doll was having a melt down. Some people rushed in and out of the Main Area for a while. I tried to take a peek at what happened.

I could see some people were taken to safety, and they were in a heavily drunken state. I asked what happened to one of the senior staff.

“It seems Fairy Gentleman’s Qlipoth Count reached zero. I mean, yeah, it only has 1 Qlipoth Count, but it should be really easy taking care of it…..” a person named Rouge complained as they were taking Employees out of the Fairy Wine’s area of effect.

“Ah…..” I paled. “I- I had the Green Spirit with me, I was the last one that ingested it…. And I had to take a toilet break. I thought it should be fine to leave it for a bit….” I admitted fearfully.

“You mean someone picked it up and threw it away as trash or returned it unknowingly to the Abnormality???” they slapped their forehead in frustration.

“Anyway, you looked pretty tipsy yourself, better stay away from the Fairy Wine’s area of effect. Or else…. Yeah, not gonna imagine it. Don’t work on it any further as well after this.” They warned me. 

I couldn’t do anything but comply with it for my own safety. All I could possibly do to help was giving hands on taking them to the medical area.

After my shift was over, Yuri approached me. A new umbrella seems to have attached itself on her back, it wasn’t there when she first equipped the Sunshower EGO, so I’m assuming it’s an EGO Gift. She told me to quickly decide and request for EGO Gears before the day after tomorrow, as the last two Abnormalities from K Corp Nest’s L Corp Branch are finally coming.

[SAMJO

Fortitude 2

Prudence 2

Temperance 2 

Justice 1]

——————————————————————

EGO Sets for Canto 4 Abnormalities (Part 1):

Ever wondered what Limbus Abnormalities’s Managerial Tips/ Managerial Log is like in Lobotomy Corporation style? Here’s a link and preview for Abnormality Entries for Canto 4 Abnormalities:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rH09_dQvv9eJPeSvO8EWfGyqaL4BeWnybgHWuFSn4zc/edit

Ever want to try to see and play around with all the fanmade EGO Sets so far? I made a picrew for private use now!
Currently available face/hair sets: Yuri, Montag, Micah, Effie, Saude, Samjo
Will be updated as fanfic goes

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2299509

Now updated with EGO Suit/Weapon/ Skin color options

Chapter Text

POV: Samjo’s POV

Day X1

Nearly a month has passed since I started working here. I ended up requesting the EGO Gear Sloshing for my Weapon and Suit.

I’m not really a fan of how it looks but my EGO Gift seems to have a bonus side effect where I wear the EGO Gears of the same series. ‘At least my hair isn’t starting to turn green, so I’m still safe.’ I looked at the tips of my hair.

I looked around, the other newbies seemed to look forward to what the new Abnormalities are.

”You know, before I came here, I never thought that sapient beings other than humans still exist in the City, so I can’t believe we’re actually able to talk with the Abnormalities!”

“Perhaps we could befriend the Abnormalities? I know they say to never get personally attached to the Abnormalities, but…..”

“I’m  starting to see how to handle the Abnormalities, so I don’t think all Abnormalities are bad…”

“That is a dangerous way of thinking” Someone stepped in with a stern tone. Which was quite unexpected, considering….. It came from Yuri.

Yuri and Montag entered the room, “LCCA is preparing the Abnormalities” Montag simply said, and gave Yuri some space to do a stern-talking.

She kept her distance but articulated her warning loud enough for the newbies to hear. “The Abnormalities are not some of your typical sentient, organic living beings. They are not animals, they are not merely sentient and smart non-human creatures like ones reported to be seen on the Outskirts as well.”

”Let me remind you that most of the Abnormalities are creatures created by the Singularity of Lobotomy Corporation. While this would have been a breach of contract usually, L Corp is already a fallen Wing, so I think it should be alright to reveal this.

The Singularity of Lobotomy Corporation is the ability to manifest human will, emotion, and desire. Their true essence, manifested into those forms.

It could be from an individual, it could be a projection from a whole community. It could also be based on Mythology or Fairy Tale or folklore, after all such stories usually have a moral lesson behind it, thus emotions that caused such stories to exist. It could also be based on Traumatic experience or phobias, after all fear is one of the most intense emotions humans could have. 

Do you think you could befriend such creatures? You are practically trying to befriend something that is an embodiment of a mental illness.” Yuri let out a speech.

Everyone who was giggling and looking cheerful at the start of the day meeked out after that, it went silent. Until one of them raised their hand.

“But you yourself and others call them nicknames like Abno, Wooden Doll, Apple, Buddha, such-and-such, what is that if that’s not a form of att-“

“Those are terms we used for practicality not a term of endearment. Do not try to befriend the Abnos even when doing Attachment Work.” Yuri cut them off. I do agree, some of the Abnormalities do have mouthful names.

“B-but what about the Fairy Gentleman? That guy not only can heal us, he was very friendly with us!” That one had the same EGO Gift as I do on top of my head.

“Fairy Gentleman’s kindness is not genuine. There’s a reason why we put a warning that it can potentially cause a risk of death. Their acts of kindness have an ulterior motive. While it shares its wine with others, it does not do so out of concern to heal or bond with us. It does so to improve our tastes before potentially eating us. Which is why we put a warning that the more Tipsy one is, the more at risk they are at being eaten by them.” Yuri shuts them up again.

After that no one tried to talk in a positive tone, as if the whole team’s morale went down after her stern-talking. “It’ll be fine~ the seniors are here to help you~” Micah chuckled and appeared from the door. It seems LCCA has finished setting up the Abnos.

“One of the new Abnos is a TETH level, this will be a good chance for you newbies to get your hands on another EGO Gears you can equip.” Micah explained as well that there is now a third floor in the basement for the 2 new ones. 

“Now then! Let us start the work for the day, shall we? No more gloom and doom, if you still have the brain energy to feel depressed and questioning your life, better use it to question this and that of the new Abnormalities and fill in the Abnodex quickly~”

—————————————————————————

POV: General POV

Yuri was reading reports from others. She recalled the events that happened a few days ago.

“To me, everytime I worked on it…. It looked pitiful, and poor. It was crying for help, Yuri...”

It wasn’t always hostile, whenever I worked with it, it was as if it was howling out a sorrowful emotion…. Everytime I hear that sound, my heart aches so much….

It gets even worse whenever I see the umbrellas on its body… my chest hurts…. 

It felt like I needed to help it, I desperately needed to help it…”

“It was then I realized that the fox was mad at those who only give it superficial attention. Feigned kindness, born from people who give it kindness just to make themselves feel good, people who make themselves think ‘what a good person I am’ -“

“Yuri…?” Someone called her, it snapped her out of trance from reading the report and reminiscing about what happened yesterday.

A few days ago, after Samjo and some of the other newbies, the more senior staff stayed behind, mainly to gain more of the PE Boxes - the personalized Enkephalin from each of the Abnormalities. This was mainly for the sake of crafting more EGO Gears. Higher level EGO Gears requires more PE Boxes to make.

It was then, one of the LCCA’s senior staff, Scene, went into a panic attack, she wandered around, and together with another Employee her crazed mutterings affected the other Employee who then opened the Containment Unit of Drifting Fox for her.

At the time, thankfully, there were only 2 Umbrellas inside the Containment unit, making the fight much easier than what it would be if a victim had fallen before inside the Containment Unit.

The dialogue Yuri reminisced about before was an excerpt of Scene’s confession with the therapist. Yuri was inside the room to stand on guard in case Scene tried to rampage out or wandered out when the others’ guard was down.

”How are you feeling today, Scene?” Yuri asked out of concern. “I’m feeling better thankfully, after a day off.” Scene thanked her for being there to help her and in the room with the therapist to accompany her. “I know you were there to stand guard against me, but at least I didn’t feel uncomfortable, not feeling alone one-on-one with the therapist.”

“It’s fine, I’m just doing my job, I’m glad you were doing well, you still looked downcast though, are you sure you are fine?”

“I-I’m fine…. I was just… I overheard you giving that pep talk to the newbies in this room just now, before they dispersed. I just thought back at how pathetic I must’ve looked back then, sympathizing with the Abnormality….” Scene sat down meekly and apologized for the trouble she caused.

”It’s fine, a risk of sanity loss always happens in this form of work. It’s good that you recovered this fast…. And as for… how I was giving them warning just now… honestly, I was confused myself.

You know how they are going to make teams like in L Corp for work in this facility right, and how they were discussing which team am I going to be in? I was just in…  a middle of internal conflict, do I want to be in the Disciplinary Team again, or move to another team this time. And if I were in the Disciplinary Team, what kind of attitude should I adopt, since I might be chosen as the Team Leader for that role……

I’m sorry if I sounded way too harsh just now….

As for sympathizing with the Abnormality, I’m not saying it is wrong. Humans are, after all, a social creature. We tend to put human emotions on things. It makes sense that you would end up perceiving an embodiment of human emotions and feeling it as a reflection of your own emotion.

Sympathizing and empathizing, resonating and connecting, it is by this reason, that we are human. We exist as living beings because we have those aspects.

So I’m not saying what you felt is wrong, but I won’t deny that acting upon it is very dangerous. I wonder if I relayed this properly to those newbies as well….” Yuri sighed and pondered.

“You should voice what you’ve just said as well, that might be good for them to know that  you aren’t merely scolding them for one momentary comment.” Scene laughed awkwardly, but she was happy at Yuri’s concern and acknowledgement at her emotions.

“Oh! Or, if you are awkward, how bout giving them food in exchange, just, at least give the hint or impression that you aren’t actually mad!” Scene suggested more. ‘Food… that works… I wonder what I should buy….’ 

”At any rate, I heard that one of the new Abnormalities is a TETH Risk Level. I planned to work on that, since lower risk might be better for my current condition. Is that allowed?” Scene asked.

Yuri thought to herself, ‘Scene is one of the more senior  Employees here. Though she mainly works as a medical Employee, taking people to safety. For this, she is one of the Employees with the highest Temperance stat and speed, which apparently she said was essential for rescuing people….’, “I’ll need to consult someone else, but it should be fine…” She answered her request. Yuri ended up discussing her request with Micah and they gave her the okay.

——————————————————————————

POV: Yuri’s POV

As they worked on the information for the Abnormalities, Montag mentioned how the caretaking for the new 2 Abnormalities itself, is pretty simple.

“Simple management, but. They only become an issue when they breach. Very troublesome enemies.” Montag hummed, “We should make manuals, not just for caretaking, also for combat,” he added, but for some odd reason, he got no reply, for once.

“Yuri” he called, “huh? Ah- don’t worry I’m listening, I just had lots to think about. Stayed up late….” I laughed at Montag awkwardly. 

“If you worry about Driftin Fox, it will happen like last time. Don’t worry. We made sure,  to glare and warn Micah, and others, not do anything stupid”

“He didn’t ‘die’ again thankfully this time~” I chuckled and joked about it with Montag, “but no, that wasn’t the reason I was worried and stayed up late” I admitted.

“I was reading about the report of all that happened to the Sinners after we left. What happened to the terrorist’ leader Dongbaek, and Samjo’s former boss Dongrang…..” she explained.

“Plus, you know, how the LCB’s next mission is in the U Corp Nest right? Just a bit worried about how we will receive or how they’ll send the Abnormalities…”

“They will tell us soon, don’t worry. Focus on, today” Montag assured her, and she nodded. “Oh, right, about Dongbaek.” Montag asked. “Umbrellas on her back, written in LCB Report, is that Fox EGO Gift?” He asked for further information to take note.

“Ah, nah, I don’t think it is.” I took off the Sunshower EGO Suit’s hood, there’s a pair of fox ears growing there, even though I wasn’t equipping anything on top of my head today. “I think these ears are. I think the umbrellas on Dongbaek were a form of EGO Corrosion.” I put out my hypothesis. Montag nodded, “just like Sloshing, green hair.” 

He walked towards me and went behind my back, feeling the hood of the Sunshower EGO. “Ear space wasn't there before.” He pointed out.  “Yeah, it just magically fitted itself, EGO just doesn’t make any sense sometimes” I shrugged.

After our talk finished, I decided to work on the Shock Centipede, I just need to be careful at pressing the sequence of buttons. It was safe for me to work as long as I remembered the sequence of buttons it wanted me to touch.

Once that was done, I saw my work quota for the day had finished, so I decided to sneak out and buy something that was ready made and affordable in nearby food shops. I ended up buying several large size brownies, plastic knives included, so they can share and cut their own preferred sizes.

I saw the others are also finishing their work quota and were returning to the Main Area to rest a bit before getting out.

Before they could, I distributed the brownies boxes, explaining and apologizing about the stern words this morning. They awkwardly accepted the apology, but the tense atmosphere subsided pretty quickly after they ate the sweets. They did tell me that they understood my concern, especially the more senior staff who told me that they’ll help keep an eye on the newbies.

Chapter Text

Day X2

“Oh”

“Hey” 

I passed by Samjo who just finished working on the Brazen Bull. I pointed to his head, there were horns on it. “Got a new EGO Gift?”

“Yeah.” He also had the Red Sheet EGO Gift on his face. Seems he was getting busy training with all the TETH level Abnormality as we told him to.

‘Come to think of it, Dongrang’s Effloresced EGO was also cow themed…..’ “Samjo, did you do something to the bovines in your past life or what?” I chuckled, though it seems the joke was missed by him.

”You also got those, '' Samjo pointed to the green gel dripping from my hair and the talisman in my cheek, the same EGO Gifts as he’s currently wearing. “I never would’ve thought someone as high-leveled as you would also work on TETH Abnormalities….”

“It’s more like I need a breather sometimes you know… I’m not a superhuman that can take WAW level every time…” I answered his curiosity.

We gathered to rest in the main area. Micah and Montag were there. “No no, just let it melt in your mouth on its own!” Micah sounded pretty concerned.

I saw a container of a well-known brand of hard candies on their table, and judging from the crunching noises coming from Montag, I could guess what happened. That guy tried to chew on the hard candies thinking that was the right way to eat such solid, hard food.

Things passed by pretty calmly today in the morning and we expected for it to be the same in the afternoon.

Of course, things don't always go as planned. The moment I thought how peaceful it was, an alarm blared that an Employee was panicking.

“Immediately track them down and where the location is!” I shouted to the ones in the room and looked over it at the webcam.

I saw someone was having a Shutdown, a type of panic attack where they  wandered around specifically to open the Containment Units of other Abnos.

“Did they - got a panic attack after working with Shock Centipede?” Micah pointed out how it’s rare to have an Employee with a high level of Justice Virtue, and he remembered the Employee he saw didn’t have such stats. “That isn’t the issue here, Micah! The nearest Containment Unit there is-“

Before I could say anything the alarm blared that Brazen Bull had breached the Containment Unit, no doubt due to the mental shutdown of that Employee.

“Oh - damn, alright. Everyone that wields White Damage weapon, gather up! We will divide it into two teams, one that snaps that Employee back to their senses, the other will target the Brazen Bull.”

“Where should I go Micah-sunbae?” Many of us asked for his coordination and direction. “Those that use Blunt weapons, target the Bull, those that use something else, prioritize the Employee. Move out!”

I directed the White-Blunt team, as my Sunshower EGO does Blunt damage, even if it’s Black type. I decided to be involved and give a helping hand. ‘It’s not like the Bull has some resistance to it.’ 

The rampaging employee was on the lift, going upwards. “Employee Suppression team go up! Use the other elevator. Don’t let it open up another Containment Unit!” I told them.

“Abnormality Suppression, prepare yourself! Brazen Bull will try to burn itself to death alongside us if it sees many people gathered!” I pointed to some of our strongest combatants, “We will go and defeat its humanoid part quickly. Prioritize beating its head.” I tried to give them instruction. 

Arriving at the hallway, the Brazen Bull saw us and its humanoid part stretched out coming out from its mouth. “Tears. Black Damage, Careful” Montag reminded us and we charged forward.

It crawled real quickly with its hands, now having six limbs.The movement was erratic, as if it was in pain itself. The hands tried to punch us, slapped some of us to the wall or slammed us to the floor. 

I had to thwack my umbrella to sic its wrist so it would let go of me and immediately get on top of the back of its hand and pierced it hard with the Sunshower’s umbrella weapon, stomping it down for extra measure. 

“Someone else keeps the hand impaled to the floor!” I asked, “the other kept putting pressure on it until it lowered its head so we could beat it! Spread out!” Rouge ended up the one impaling the other hand, using the Telepole’s Weapon.

It raged in pain, the tears were falling all over us, damaging our body and mind. I could feel a searing pain even though there’s no fire, there’s this intense heat enveloping the whole hallway

With only its head left can be moved around, it began using its head to head butt other employees to the ground.

Even though they weren’t injured, others who saw the scene seemed to have experienced loss of sanity, as if empathizing with the pain of the bull and the victim.

Rouge counted the times it moved its head around, and when it was at the lowest on the ground head butting itself, he shouted. “NOW!”

“Samjo. Head.” Montag ordered him, “Do it.”

“I-“ “QUICKLY” That shout seemed to have triggered something in Samjo, despite him being one of the people that was losing sanity just now, and he immediately charged forward with Montag and others while the head was low and began beating its head down. 

It seemed to be effective, once the head was caved in, incapacitated and disabled, it retracted that humanoid part and the bull seemed to cower in fear as we had to continue the suppression on it. 

Once it was done, it reverted to its Core form, which Montag took back to its Containment Unit. We regrouped back with Micah’s team, Scene had admitted the panicking employee to the infirmary.

We rested for a while and treated each other with first aids for now. Burn wounds and skin creased and scars were all over me. At least my EGO was still usable and wasn't damaged. Probably because it is a digitized version, rather unlike when in L Corp where it is an actual suit.

Samjo sighed, he seemed to be okay, “Hey Yuri, since that one was pretty strong even though it's also TETH, do you think I should change my EGO to that? Considering I also have its EGO Gift….” He asked, out of nowhere. “That’s up to you, if you meet its criteria and your request is approved, why not?”

”How was the other side?” I walked around checking the others. “Cargo was badly stabbed by the panicking employee, but otherwise everything went well” Scene told me.

Cargo was her team captain, so she seemed a bit worried about him. “I’m more concerned at those that was mentally and physically affected by what happened on your side”

”Even though it is TETH, stuff like this still can happen, I’ll check on everyone else and refer to you if needed.” I nodded and looked around more. I did see some who started murmuring delirious stuff.

“Aaah……It suffered for such a long time… Unable to do anything about the raging thirst, the flesh endlessly burning and searing…..” they started muttering. I took them to Scene to get taken care of.

Once we fully rested we worked as usual for the rest of the day. Some reported the damage that happened. Some stayed in the infirmary.

——————————————————————————-

Day X3

“HYAH!” “Guh!” “DEARGH!” “Come on….. just die already!” “Keep it up guys! Just a bit longer…!”

Several types of noises were gathering in one hallway today. Shock Centipede had breached the Containment Unit and it is now a war attrition between its self-charging ability and our endurance.

It had been 3 hours since the battle started. Scene and Rouge has been transferring injured people in and out or injecting us with Ampules directly in the middle of the combat.

Finally it reverted to its Suppressed Core form. We waited for a bit while and cheered, throwing our hands in the sky as we finished the suppression.

“I’ll return it to the Containment Unit. Y’all go get some rest” Cargo sighed, he already went back to work, insisting he was fine. “Least I could do since I didn’t join the combat this time” he added

Micah guided us back to the Main Area, “Alright guys! We are gonna order some delivery pizza! Put up your orders! Let’s celebrate a bit~”

Everyone immediately raised their hand, I myself chose the tuna corn mayo ones. It was a good idea, everyone was hungry cuz they missed their lunch break due to the emergency.  Some of us were pissed off due to the hunger in the middle of the battle and having to endure it.

The pizza delivery arrived pretty quickly, we distributed it and ate in our own circles of friends. I and Scene were wondering where to sit when we saw some empty space on Montag and Rogue - as it turned out, they were also chatting with Samjo.

“Oh hey! Good timing, I was going to ask you some stuff!” Rouge and Samjo let us in. “What’s up?” I sat with them and saw Montag was having a hard time with the stretchy cheese that he leaned back so far away and all the cheese stretched to his clothes, which he rolled up and ate anyway. Scene ended up helping him with that.

“So like, we were both exchanging stories about how it felt like living in the Backstreets versus living in the Nest. Then the topic went on about the histories of L Corp that we read out” Rogue explained.

“The L Corp Branch in District K Nest seemed to have a system called Rabbit Protocol. Was wondering what it was and if it also existed in your branch?” Samjo added.

“Ah… that. Rabbit Protocol is basically a code for when we needed help from R Corp’s Rabbit Pack. They will come to the L Corp using a WARP Teleporter and gun down anything that caused trouble in the assigned sector.

They only work once a day and you can only assign them to clean up 4 Departments. As they take the 25% of the Enkephalin produced at the same day as payment.

In my opinion, they are pretty ruthless, they’ll gun down everything. Agents, clerks, any dangerous entities like Abnormalities. I head in LC HQ there’s a thing called Ordeals that appears sometime and they’ll take those down too.

And no, during the Rabbit Protocol you can’t ask to have others evacuated, they sealed the door and everything. They will only teleport out once the area is neutralized or no living entities are detected anymore, ending the Rabbit Protocol.” I explained all that I know. They fell silent at the truth laid bare.

“As for the L Corp branch where I came from, the D Corp Nest, no, they didn’t have Rabbit Protocol installed. Our branch facility is on the medium- to-small  end of spectrum. We couldn’t afford to pay them with the 25% Enkephalin payment nor do I think they want to anyway - since it’s probably a small amount to them. 

I knew all this because L Corp sometimes do some sort of Workshop Events where they ask us to be exchange students for one or several days, seeing or working on other facilities' Abnormalities. During one of the Workshop Events, I saw how Rabbit Protocol played out.” I ate my own pizza and garlic bread slices.

”I did feel the L Corp branch in K Corp’s Nest pretty big compared to others we’ve encountered so far, so it made sense they could afford having Rabbit Protocol in their system.

Plus there’s 2 L Corp Branches in K Corp’s Nest. So far this means only that, Branch O and Lobotomy Corp. HQ  are the only ones that have Rabbit Protocol in it.

I don’t think Limbus Company would be implementing that system though, since we are not an energy producing corporation, our main goal isn’t Enkephalin production to be sold to others.

Though…. ever since L Corp has fallen, R Corp is also having a hard time having an efficient fuel source, one that is as efficient as Enkephalin, so who knows what’ll happen in the future.”

There was a few seconds of silence with the only sound from the table coming from Montag trying to chomp down on the ice cubes in his glass of soda. 

“Anyway,” Rouge coughed, “I learnt from talking to Samjo, but I think we need a new kind of training or safety manual, the ones we have right now are a bit too…. Professional-y.

If we could make something with less formal language and some picture graphics to explain what happens if x happens and such, it might be more easily digestible.

I think I’m going to put a proposal for that to the upper management, or we can just try to make some on our own like a personal project” Rouge sighed,  “I agreed on helping him by simplifying the language for others to read” Samjo added.

I nodded, listening to their planning, it was interesting to say the least. We finished up our work quota for the day until right before we clock out, some of us got messages that we need to come up early for an urgent meeting.

At first I panicked as I did not feel like I had done anything wrong these days, but I realized the ones that were called out were people familiar to me. Montag, Micah, Rouge and Scene.

—————————————————————————————————-

Day X4

We arrived much earlier than others for today, all  of us gathered in front of the same elevator as we took them together, bracing ourselves for the unknown urgency.

As we entered the designated meeting room, the one waiting for us was Manager Saude. She allowed us to sit down and relax first. Thanking us for the good job managing the Abnos so far.

”I’m sure you have heard of the planning to make and divide the people working in LCCU into different roles and teams like in L Corp. We are going to put this into action, as a trial form, of course.”

She revealed to us on a projector screen a gigantic ship. “That’s pretty large, and the shape - is that a carrier vessel?” Micah asked. “Correct, this is a carrier vessel. And what it will be carrying….

Are you guys and the Abnormalities” She revealed the planning made by upper management calmly.

“I will give you the paperwork detailing the LCB’s next mission after this, but in short words, they will be traveling to U Corp Nest.” The projector displayed the map of the Great Lake.

“Our preliminary survey team has arrived there to search for the L Corp Branch Facility, which like all portships in District 21 in Great Lake, is a mobile landship, a mobile town, you could say.” She explained that all parts of District 21, both the nest of U Corp and its Backstreets are never in the same place.

“As of right now, the LCB has arrived in the Molar Boatworks Fixer Office to have their bus modified into an amphibian vehicle.” “Can it turn into a boat?!” Micah asked excitedly but Saude’s serious tone calmed him off immediately.

“Yes, I heard Faust-ssi designed it that way. Now moving on, we assumed the journey from going there and then going back would take 4-6 months of a journey.”

“And during that, not only Abnormalities found in the L Corp branches , LCB could possibly also encounter other Abnormalities on the journey going there - or when they are on the return trip” she explained, “Yuri, you and Effie were in charge of it right?”

”Ah!…. The Refraction Railway, you meant?” I asked her. And she nodded. “Now we don’t know yet  how many Abnormalities are housed in that branch of L Corp, but, if we take the Abnormalities from the Refraction Railway, we need to double the number.”

“And so….” She clicked a button to change the projected picture. “Introducing this one to you, Limbus Company Carrier Vessel - LCCV for short. This one is designed to be big enough to house at maximum 10 Abnormalities.”

We all went silent until we repeated the number in disbelief, “TEN?!” “THAT MANY IS GOING TO TRAVEL WITH US?!” “HOW BIG IS THAT VESSEL ?? THAT'S LIKE NEARLY, NO, AS BIG AS AN L CORP BRANCH!”

“Yes, yes calm down now. It’s not like you will start your journey with Abnormalities already inside. You will receive them when you have arrived at one of the transit Portship, different from the one where LCB and our prelim survey unit will meet up” Manager Saude clapped her hand to shut us off.

She returned to the floor map of the LCCV. It has 5 different colors for each section. the department - or well, the team’s color code it seems.

There are also different rooms that are essential for our livelihood there such as cafetaria, storage room, infirmary, electrical, admin and of course the actual ship’s control room that will drive us to the destination - included in it is our communication system.

”This vessel uses other types of fuels but it can also use and produce Enkephalin as well, don’t worry about those other but essential floors, we have specialists handling each of them, so just focus on the combat and taking care of Abnormalities and your own colleagues.”

“So this ship has already been finished being made and ready for us to get on board?” Micah asked, “Yes, at least 88%. Prepare for your departure in a week.”

“Now then as you can see, the teams are color coded like in L Corp, and so, this is also the reason why I called you here, to promote you to team captain for this mission.

You’ll only be team captains during the journey using LCCV, but how it will go after you return, we will see and evaluate your work later. To see if you can keep your position.” She dumped all of that info to us and began reading our promotion formally. Our new titles in the new post we will be assigned too would be:

Control Team Captain: Micah

Information Team Captain: Montag

Safety Team Captain: Scene

Training Team Captain: Rouge

Disciplinary Team Captain: Yuri

“This assignment was made based on our evaluation of how you handled your colleagues so far. As for you girls, you two had the history of being in the same type of work field which is why we gave you those positions.”

“Well, that is all from me. I suggest you start assigning who will go with you on board. I will also tell you how to contact the captain of the ship that will be responsible for you, Captain Melville. Do contact them, introduce yourself, and get to know the ship’s crews.” Manager Saude added and she exited the room.

We all took deep breaths and exhaled at the same time, nervous at the whole situation, “well, then, I guess we better start asking around then.” Rouge laughed awkwardly as we also nodded, getting out of the room.

Rouge was in charge of being in contact with the captain and the ship crew. Montag compiled all the information we needed to have before we went. Scene stocked up our basic necessities and medicines. All that’s left is me and Micah, assigning who will go to what team with us in LCCV.

And so, a week passed by quickly…

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EGO Sets for Canto 4 Abnormalities (Part 2):

Ever wondered what Limbus Abnormalities’s Managerial Tips/ Managerial Log is like in Lobotomy Corporation style? Here’s a link and preview for Abnormality Entries for Canto 4 Abnormalities:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rH09_dQvv9eJPeSvO8EWfGyqaL4BeWnybgHWuFSn4zc/edit

Ever want to try to see and play around with all the fanmade EGO Sets so far? I made a picrew for private use now!
Currently available face/hair sets: Yuri, Montag, Micah, Effie, Saude, Samjo
Will be updated as fanfic goes

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2299509

Now updated with EGO Suit/Weapon/ Skin color options

Chapter Text

Yuri’s Side

POV: Yuri’s POV

July 984

After 2 months being on the sea, fighting off the Waves, Mermaids, abiding by the Law of the Great Lake by following the instruction of the captain of the ship, Captain Melville.

We had arrived at Flounder Portship, the third biggest Portship in U Corp’s Nest. The LCCV has been docked in one of the ports as we descended down, looking around at the town.

As today’s a day off since we just newly arrived, everyone changed clothes to their casual fits, though we still brought weapons with us, for self-defense reasons

We walked around the town, Micah insisted that “seafood flavored ice cream is a must-try when you are at U Corp Nest!”.

“Then I would suggest we buy some of the trademark U Corp items, the food preservation boxes, so we can buy more and make sure they stay fresh and frozen until we get back home!” Scene suggested.

“Oh~ That’s a good idea, do we have the money for it though?”

“I have savings.” Rouge and Montag discussed.

“You rarely buy stuff other than daily necessities Montag, this might be a good chance to relax and splurge~” I suggested.

“Alright! Our first goal today is to buy some U Corp. preservation boxes~!” Micah agreed as we searched around the town for a shop that sells them. 

At times, I would feel someone was staring at us, but whenever I turned around, there was no one staring at us, just normal citizens. Along the way, we finally end up buying some of those preservation boxes for each one of us.

“Alright, let’s split up for a bit, we got a day off for today, why don’t we buy something, like souvenirs or sort” Rouge suggested. Micah agreed, so we ended up splitting up for the afternoon.

————————————————————

I ended up going around alone, window shopping for decoration. Even if it's just for some months, we would still be staying on the Great Lake, so maybe giving the cabin room some personal touch wouldn’t be so bad, ‘maybe I should buy some more for my room in the LCC HQ’ I thought to myself.

I felt shiver again. The feeling of being stared is there again. I turned back again, no one was staring at me.

‘This is getting annoying,’ I thought to myself. Unlike last time, though I saw that currently no one was staring at me, I knew at least the general direction where the stare feeling came from.

“Excuse me, what might you need with me?” I turned to an alleyway where the stare felt . There was no one when I peeked into it until someone tried to restrain my neck from behind with their arms.

“Don’t try to move, fancy missy. Yer comin’ with us'' Another one with a tacky sailor uniform appeared, threatening me.

“Ye guys sure seem like an easy target alright, ye got ‘nough money to bring ‘round a weapon and buy those preservation boxes.” 

“Didn’t know being a Fixer would give you enough dough to get yeself a luxury tour to ‘ere, must be pretty loaded eh?”

They were chatting more and more with weapons facing me to threaten me that they could kill me anytime they want. The one holding me from behind ordered me to move with them slowly but peacefully.

“Don’t try to do anythin’ weird, the more you stay intact, the more we can drain more sum from yer friends' They threatened again.

Judging the situation, I had thought it would be best if I moved with them for now. I didn’t know what Syndicate they were working for.

’If I could get them to an emptier place, I could try to fight back and leave…..’. I was searching for an opportunity to fight back and escape.

Eventually, we end up in an alleyway. “Watch over her, we're gonna search for a box and drug to bring ‘er back. Passin’ over this is Middle’s Territory. We better be careful.”

The others left, some went inside the door that was in the alleyway, some went out of the alleyway. Hearing and seeing that, I thought this was my opportunity to make my own leave.

Once they were out of sight, I immediately raised my swords to punch the guy with the end of the sword's handle on the chin. A quick, single slash on the neck to silence him before any commotion happened ended that.

“Hey-we got Hey! The fuck is this!” The one that went inside to get drugs came out and before he could scream more, I ended up stabbing him with a deep, piercing stab. The cut was so deep my blade ended up on the other side of his spine.

Adrenaline was kicking in my vein as I immediately took out my sword and swished out the blood and gut that was on it.

I quickly thought to myself. I was too far away from the general public, there’s no guarantee there’s Zwei Association patrolling around here. So I thought to myself, a foolish idea.

‘They didn’t dare overstep to the Middle’s territory, so maybe if I could sneak around and pass through there and do a U-turn back to the port I came from, that might be doable.’ Blind as a bat, that was a stupid, suicidal idea, but it’s much better than escaping towards the direction they just went to get a box to kidnap me.

I ran towards that part of the Backstreets, I could hear my kidnapper realizing what was going on and pursuing me. ‘Dammit, if it were inside an L Corp Facility or near a Golden Bough, I could’ve equipped something that can boost my speed without risk of EGO Corrosion….’

Losing my footing, because I kept running on top of highly placed boxes, I ended up falling on top of something, or someone. I could hear someone saying “what the fuck” above me.

“There she is!” The kidnapper came about, me and the person that was near me were technically outnumbered.

“Arkkkgh… Get off.. me…” I realized I was sitting on top of someone all this time, that was what cushioned my fall. Before I could move away.

The other person immediately stepped on their fingers and arms several times, “aahhh, yer not gettin’ away this time!”, seeing that I quickly got away, that was a visceral scene.

“You are not getting away this time, girlie!” The kidnappers, hellbent on reaching me, immediately got slashed by the other person.

That person was wearing a varsity jacket with gold chains connecting their scythes. The tattoos on their body glows purple. “Don’t fucking interrupt me, a Middle, in the middle of enacting punishments!” He growled. The person was on the ground in seconds, bleeding out to death.

“Wait- Shoot-! This dude’s a Middle.” “Hah, judging from their shirt, probably just a Little sibling anyway, we can still take them out!”  The kidnappers panicked a bit, but immediately tried to retaliate. 

“Dearrggghhh….! I told you not to interrupt me! Hold on, there’s something about this in the guideline if this happens…..” the Middle member frantically opened a book in the middle of being attacked, as if cramming a lesson for a test at the last minute.

“Let’s see….. Ah, here, the sin of disturbing a punishment in progress….. ah, here, rip out an arm around the forearm area…..” They read out and immediately grabbed one of the kidnappers lunging towards them and punched them from moving about then cut off his arm easily with the scythe like a chef cutting tofu.

The kidnappers screamed in pain. Another one was in panic, whipped out a gun and aimed at the Middle member. Out of survival instinct, I hid behind one of the steel container boxers and screamed “bullet!” To warn the other person. The Middle member avoided just in time. 

“Tch….Right…if I remember correctly…. No wait, for this offense the punishment is…” The person kept mumbling and reading a book while enacting the punishments. I looked around.

The person on the ground had labored breathing and bleeding out, he was probably dying. The kidnappers…. They were still hounding and surrounding the Middle member.

One of them tried to attack the Middle Sibling from behind, in seconds I thought, if this person died, I would be their next target, and they wouldn't even bother to keep me alive. They’ll threaten for ransom from others while actually I’m probably dead.

Thinking that was the worst scenario, I used the blind spot as an opportunity to slash the kidnapper from behind. Another single downward strike to another kidnapper, making them avoid to the side but the perfect spot to get slashed to death by the Middle member.

“That’s it!” They hacked off all their arms, and apparently, added another punishment to them for harming or trying to fight back a Middle member.

The other punishment was just as gruesome, but they were all still kept alive, or maybe left to bleed to death, mainly because this person was so forgetful he checked the punishment guideline every so and then.

“Ah, right! The other dude I’m supposed to punish!” They returned to the guy on the floor and did even more severe punishment.

This included kicking his ribs until it cracked - for running away from a punishment, grabbing his head and grate it all around the wall until his face was unrecognizable - for trying to sneak something out from on a Middle-managed bar, and so on. Through the whole process, they kept reading the book and checking back the injuries they needed to do or had already done. 

I tried to sneak out, it was futile to save a guy suffering from an overkill death like that. ‘I’m sorry….!’ I told myself, feeling guilty for leaving him to die painfully. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but I had to prioritize my own survival. 

“Oh hey, you still here?” The Middle member caught up to me. “Oh, hey, you like, saved my ass several times, right? Thanks for that!”  They acted overly friendly and patted my back, “well, see ya~” they let go of me as if not realizing he forgot something important. Nevertheless, I used this opportunity to run away quickly and said thanks as well.

I could hear him saying after a while screaming, “Wait! I forgot that you technically also disturbed a punishment in progress! Come back here! I gotta break your arm!”

I sped up after hearing that.

——————————————————

I arrived at the shopping complex I was in before the whole kidnapping issue started. Thankfully, I got my bag back the moment I killed the first guy, but still, some of the souvenirs got broken after the scuffle. 

It was disheartening to spend more money on this, but I bought the exact same souvenir again. I decided to keep and eat the broken ones for myself, consumable items or not.

After shopping, I made sure to blend with the crowds until I reached the meeting point with others. Everyone was worried why I arrived late and without contacting them, I told them what happened.

“That’s scary! What the heck?!” “We better go out in groups from now on then,” “Are you okay Yuri?” “No wounds, seems good….” Everyone got worried for me, it was much more peaceful and now that the adrenaline has ceased down in my blood, I actually teared up from their genuine concern. Embarrassed, I decided to wipe off my tears when they weren’t looking.

“The Middle remembers, we better cover you” Rogue suggested, as others seemed to agree and formed a barrier and walked around me as we got to the apartment complex we are supposed to be staying safely.

As I was a bit scared after what happened, I decided to stay the night in Scene's room, and thankfully that helped me get enough proper sleep.

————————————————————————-

On the next day, as we walked around, still in incognito clothing, I heard someone screaming at me, “Ah! It’s you! The pinky from yesterday!” It was the Middle member from yesterday.

I sighed, ‘and here I thought with how forgetful he seemed last time, he’d forget about me…..’ “…. Yes, that's me, what do you need from me?” I figured if I lied or pretended to be a stranger, I might add more ‘sins’ to myself - as they called it last time.

I didn’t know all the rules in Middle, so maybe we could have played this out peacefully. “Yuri,” Montag called me out of concern. “It’s fine, better get this over quickly and peacefully. You still got some of the K Corp Ampules right?” I asked in whispering. “Yeah.” He let me go to the Middle member after confirming I’ll be fine

“Right, so, hey, see! I took notes on my arm this time! I gotta enact punishment on you for disturbing a punishment in progress! Well, I asked my siblings if slashing those kidnappers counts as a disturbance as well, but since you saved my ass, they told me I gotta give you some discount as well.” They explained so casually, as if trusting that I won’t run away in the middle of him monologuing.

“Alright, so you come here to finish that punishment debt right, then get right to it, quickly.” I sighed and rolled my sleeves. “It's to rip out an arm for disturbing a punishment right? What are the discount punishments?”

“Hey, how’d you know that?! Don’t tell me you-“ “You read that book out loud for that specific punishment.” I cut off any weird accusation of me knowing Middle’s guideline. “Okay, so originally, since you disturbed twice, you were supposed to have both arms ripped out, but you were let go with only breaking both of your arms instead! Like, not even an open wound, but gotta do both bones still.” They explained again.

“Gotcha, where do we do it?” I thought to myself, the K Corp. Ampules we have are intramuscular injections, it should prove no issue even if I can’t use both arms. “You are unexpectedly calm about this ain’tcha?” They asked, pointing to one of the dark alleyways to do this in private. 

“I want to finish this quickly, my company barely gives us days off, today is one of the rare times I get to hang out with my friends” I admitted. “We were going to get ice creams after this.”

“Oh, ice creams~! I know a good place!” They replied casually and once we arrived, I rolled the other sleeve, and asked for a bit of time to makeshift a mouth gag to not bite my tongue. I ended up using a small pen lamp that I borrowed from Scene and wrapped it in a handkerchief and tied it around my face. I nodded and gave my arm up to the Middle, anticipating the incoming pain. He stood beside me and grabbed my arm in the wrist and in the elbow, in supine position.

“MMMMMRRRGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!” I screamed to my mouth gag, the pain was searing. I cried a bit and bit the mouth gag hard. 

“Right, the next arm” They went to the other side, not giving me any chance to take a breath, I could only pant for several seconds before they did the same thing, “NNNNNRGGGGGHGHHHHH!!!!!!” The pain nearly made me vomit with my mouth gag but I swallowed that back, the pain gave me a bit of headache. 

Opening my eyes and shaking off the tears, I could see both of my arms were reddened and bent outwards, it looked so wrong, and yet, he kept the promise, there was no open wound.

”Oh right, before I forgot again, uh, let’s see….” He opened his books again. I remembered what it was and braced myself again. “Right, trying to run away from a punishment gives you….. rib cracking, hm, but they said to give you leniency so maybe just rib should do it….” He reached for the part under my chest and calculated that there’s where a rib is, and punched that part enough for me to hear a crack.

“HNRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH….!!” The newly added pain was searing. The headache from the pain was pounding at the back of my head. Now, even just breathing and panting was painful.

“Okay, that's the debts resolved!” They stretched as if they just finished their work quota, well, he is, technically. I mumbled something to him, and they looked at me, confused, and then the confusion turned to mocking laughter. “

Bahaha! You got your mouth gag stuck onto you since you can’t untie it on your own!” He giggled for a while and decided to take me back to my friends as an apology for laughing at me.

Returning to the others. Scene untied the mouth gag and cleaned my face. While Montag immediately lifted my shirt to expose my side and injected me with the K Corp Ampule. My arms slowly but surely got fixed back to its natural state, and I could breathe properly again.

”Whoa, what the heck, those are some nice stuff you got there.” The Middle member whistled, “you shouldn’t use them so openly tho, could be another reason to get kidnapped, yeah. Not that I have any more business with you tho.”

“Yer an interesting person, pinky, what’s your name. Mine’s Harpe. Oh right, you said you wanted to eat ice cream originally right?” They introduced themselves so casually.

“Yuri, and yes, that was our goal for today”

“Okay, cool! I got just the right place for ya. One of the Middle’s subsidiaries is Twinhook Pirate, they also manage some of the seafood ice creams here in the Backstreet. I guarantee you it’s good stuff, so? Wanna try it?”

We looked at each other, unsure of how to progress with that invitation. I ended up asking the name of the shop, and then double checking it with the list of shop recommendations Micah made. It turns out it was one of the tops in the ranking list, so we ended up agreeing to that.

Guided by Harpe, we ended up arriving at a place with the logo of an old man with sunglasses sprinkling something in a stylish pose. The five of us entered the place. A bald man with sunglasses on his head greeted us cheerfully. 

“Welcome, welcome, what do y’all want? We got quite the selection ‘ere!” He recommended some flavors as we peered close.

“Lessee…. For beginners I’d suggest Seaglass Seaweed and Anchorvy Ahoy. For more advanced enjoyers, I’d recommend these other three.” He gave us 5 recommendations, in which I read each of their explanations.

[ Anchorvy Ahoy - Basic Vanilla with anchovies bits mixed in it. The sweet-salty mixture never misses!]

[ Seaglass Seaweed - Neapolitan ice cream topped with soft mochis, colorful sprinkles and salty seaweeds. The seaweed also comes in three different flavors!]

[ Choco Cephalo - The darkness of the Great Lake, represented by the dark choco and squid ink coloring. In it, colorful bits of squid and octopus are hidden to be found!]

[ Belly Berry - Mixed berries ice cream with bits of raisins and salmon belly cuts scattered around. Salmon and Strawberry, simple yet silky!]

[ Crunchy Crusty - Cookies and cream ice cream, topped with cracked cookie and cone bits. Have your tongue be surprised by the hidden crust of shrimps and crabs!]

”Old man! Give me this one…. Uh, Scallop Surprise!” Harpe also added an order for himself, I tried to read what that one’s description is

[ Scallop Surprise -  Hidden Pearl waiting underneath the green matcha, Is it scallop, hard candies, or literal pearls? Find out for yourself!]

Me, Montag, and Scene got ours in paper cups, while the others went with the wafer cones. I ordered the Anchorvy Ahoy , Scene ordered the Seaglass Seaweed , and Montag got the Crunchy Crusty.

”Yuri…..” Montag stared at his ice cream cup. “Never ate this. How do I?” He asked for instruction. Well, that's progress, last time he tried to eat and struggled alone. 

“You eat it by scooping some with the spoon and let it melt in  your mouth, or you can lick it all around if you prefer to enjoy it slowly that way.” I prefer licking since I don’t want to get surprised by this weird taste.

I walked around as I ate my ice cream, trying to see what others ordered. Rouge unexpectedly ordered the Belly Berry . I’ve known this for a while, but despite his rough exterior, Rouge has pretty cute preferences, and a sweet tooth.

Rouge also told me that where he came from, salmon is super expensive, so he was happy to get the chance to eat them cheaply here, as it was actually his favorite seafood that he rarely gets to eat.

Micah ordered the Choco Cephalo , he unexpectedly bonded with Harpe.

“I think I’m gonna order lots of these, maybe one whole tub of each flavor, and I'm gonna send them to my little brothers!” “Oooooh, you have little brothers??” Harpe asked.

“Yeah, I have one twin brother, he’s younger but he’s much larger than me. And another little baby brother!” I overheard him, for the first time, talking about his family.

‘And here I thought he said he did something that caused the death of his little brother? Or maybe that one was just fatally injured but not dead? Or a different one?’ Questions after questions came up, but I’m discreet enough to not ask them unless he wants to explain it to me. 

Returning back to my table, Scene had went to the toilet and Montag-

“Wait?! What happened here?????” I saw only half of his ice cream were in the cup, the rest were either spilled on the table, or spilling from his mouth or staining his clothes. 

“I’m confused……” Apparently he was confused as to what to do after the ice cream melted in his mouth. I ended up explaining that he could just swallow it even if it had fully or only half melted in his mouth.

At the end of the day, we helped him clean up and we both ordered another cup of ice cream to eat in front of him while teaching him how to eat it. Micah also fulfilled his goal to buy several tubs of ice creams and put them in the U Corp preservation box for him to send home apparently.

We parted with Harpe after the ice cream party, Micah whispered asking if I truly remembered some of the punishments that were listed in the guideline. “Only several ones that he read out loud when he forgets and checked the book, I didn’t get a chance to peek into the book unfortunately” I whispered back.

“Okay good, make a note of it and give me the note, it would prove useful next time I encountered a Middle” Micah told me and I nodded, promising to do that when we got back after today.

Though it still technically counts as a day off, we still patrolled around. Although some of us were part of the LCCB, we weren’t the ones on duty to do the preliminary survey, the ones that do are meeting LCB in Marlin Portship. Our work starts as soon as we receive an Abnormality to take care of.

And we were told we will receive some soon. In the middle of the journey to U Corp, we got the reports that the LCB had experienced Refraction Railway again, and some of the Abnormalities they encountered could be “extracted to this reality”.

“Okay, so we're gonna get some Abnormality to take care of, as planned, but how are they going to send them to get here? What, are they going to take a pit stop break here first before heading to the Marlin Portship?” Rouge huffed. His feet tapped impatiently.

We were gathering in Montag’s room. It has the least items in it so we frequently hang out there. ‘Honestly, the lack of furniture worries me instead…..’

Montag shook his head and walked to the window and  pointed towards a bunch of people with the same uniforms. “Hm? What are you pointing at?”

“Devyat’” Montag simply answered. “Them and Eight Association, lots of them in U Corp Nest. They will send Abnormality. To us.”

“THEY ARE SENDING ABNORMALITIES THROUGH DEVYAT??” Rouge shouted back, “is that not risky or too dangerous???”

“Well it makes sense, there’s no other alternative way around it. They can’t possibly make a detour here just to drop off some Abnos, they gotta arrive on Marlin Portship on time to meet up with the preliminary survey unit.” Micah sighed.

“I didn’t know Devyat and Eight Association are the most prolific Associations here….” I turned to Scene who explained to me that, because of the many, several and mobile Portships - which make up the Backstreet and Nest areas of District 21, Devyat Association’s delivery services were essential here.

“As for the Eight Association, many Sailors - Fixers who specialize in fighting in the Great Lake and work in Whaling Ship - get their Fixer Permit from them” Scene explained to me patiently

——————————————————————

This chapter’s art: Harpe

art and Oc belong to @diaffonius (on twitter) (now @sblm_kamis)

Chapter Text

Sinner’s Side

POV: General POV 

Shortly after the Sinners arrived and got off the Mephistopheles busboat, Vergilius and Charon went on a separate way. “Well, then. This is where we will go our separate ways….. for a short while. Charon and I have business to attend to here.” He simply said, boxes of unknown items were by his side.

When asked what he was going to do or where he was going, he simply answered them in a random, ambiguous manner, as if searching for an irrelevant answer by looking at anything around them, like a Mermaid perfume shop.

”I point you in the right direction, and that’s where my responsibilities end. It’s not my job to accompany you all the way there.” He simply shrugs them off to search for the LCCB team Agents they are supposed to be meeting.

Once they went away, Vergilius used a dolly and stacked the four boxes there and began pushing it towards a certain building. “Roll roll, push push, Charon wants to do it too” She asked beside him.

“Maybe next time, not this time, these stuffs are high risk” Vergilius softly rejected her request which caused her to pout slightly, “then Verg should buy Charon ice cream”. Hearing that Vergilius simply chuckled, “Of course, how many scoops should we buy?” 

For a bit while their idle chatter was about ice creams.

They reached the Devyat’ Association’s building as he went in. The Fixers who saw and knew who he was gasped in surprise, some who knew he might hold their breath, some stared at him with eyes similar to Don Quixote’s.

“I’d like to request a delivery. Make this one a quick one” He told the administrator on the front desk. “Y-yes, of course, here are the options we have,” they began explaining it.

“Give me the options where you can take these boxes and arrive on the destination on the same day. Make sure to add more extra layers of protection and make sure to guard these properly without it breaking until it arrives at the destination, the Flounder Portship. The receiver shall be Limbus Company Carrier Vessel” He pointed out the address of where the LCCV is docked.

The request was ridiculous. Ridiculous demands of when it needs to arrive equals a ridiculous amount of payment for it to get prioritized and done properly. Though in a more polite manner, the front desk officer explained that as well to Vergilius, who simply said his company can pay it in full, there’s no need to worry about the money.

The admin began calling his company to confirm the payment then. After a while preparing for the payment, Charon got bored and tugged at Verg silently. He simply gave her a strawberry milk candy as an apology which she happily gave.

“Alright, we have confirmed the payment amount and method, let’s continue to the next location to prepare and drop off the items”

Verg was immediately treated as a VIP, they even offered to push the dolly or take the boxes from him, he declined, saying he will properly let his hands go from the items until he sees they prepared it fully and properly.

On the next location, they began putting more layers of protection on the four boxes. Fabric woven from special materials, special metal alloy boxes, and so on. 

While it was being prepared, a Devyat’ Fixer introduced themselves to him. They were from Section 2, they were chosen due to how highly-prioritized the mission was.

“May I know what is inside the three boxes? We will keep the privacy of clients and each item, of course, but as your company also asked for item refund insurance if something bad happened to it, may I ask what it is so that we may take proper, full, responsibility if something happened to it?” 

Vergilius hummed, “Simply said, you could say they are… Eggs of unidentified creatures. If it were to break, what will hatch from it is not merely a newborn creature, but rather a fully formed, mature monster. If such a scenario happened, I’d assume the first thing you need to do is figure out how to fight them and beat them up, until they fainted and revert back into an egg form. If that cannot be done, then I’d assume your survival instinct would prioritise itself to save yourself, which would be rather troublesome. I need you to deliver this to Flounder Portship while they are safe in their egg form.” 

Hearing that, the high-grade Fixers were glancing around at him and the boxes, dumb-founded at the explanation, but also they believe that the Red Gaze wouldn’t joke around like this, especially with how much money was poured for the mission.

“All four of these boxes are…such eggs?” “Ah, no, only 3 of them, the last one is a bunch of paperwork that is as important as those eggs, though”  he confirmed the contents. Hearing that, the Devyat’ Fixers began to put extra protections, on the boxes and on their own selves. 

They thanked him for the blunt honesty and his confirmation after he deemed the protections were safe enough and finally decided to let go of his hands off them and left the building.

“Verg, ice cream” Charon reminded him of his promise. “Of course, where should we buy it?”

“Dunno, Charon wants the sweet ones. Three scoops. I like number three, curvy.” “Three is a good number, isn’t it?” He hummed and followed her as she dragged him to the ice cream shop.

———————————————————————————————

Yuri’s Side

On The Same Day

POV: Yuri’s POV

We were informed that the Devyat’ Association Fixers has been sent here to deliver the Cores of the Abnormalities. It seems Limbus Company paid the price for the super express one and paid so that high-grade Fixers are responsible for its safety upon arrival.

We asked the team members to stay inside the LCCV to prepare themselves and us team captains are on the dock to receive the Devyat’ Fixers.

Soon enough, one of the ships docked itself on the port and as the stairs and descending from the ship were the Devyat’ Fixers uniforms. They saw us and our uniforms and the badge.

“The… .Limbus Company Carrier Vessel, right? Please do a confirmation of receiving here” They asked us to sign the paperwork and their boxes unlocked with a certain mechanism. Me and Micah signed it and the others took one box each. It was quite hefty, with Scene’s being the lightest as it’s filled with paperworks instead.

“Please do the unboxing in front of us so that we may confirm it arrived properly without any damage.” They asked professionally as well. Micah began unlocking and unraveling all of the boxes carefully, revealing three cores.

One was in the shape of an egg formed by muscle fibers with a vertical mouth in the center revealing sharp teeths. One was a bunch of tree branches with tons of yellow eyeballs underneath and a cyan butterfly resting on the top. The last was something that was covered with linen or some sort of white clothing and wrapped further with thorny vines and roses. “The paperworks is also fine” Scene confirmed.

“Everything seems to be well,” Micah confirmed to the Devyat’ Fixers and thanked them for their efforts to arrive here quickly. “Yeah… just doing my job.” “Hey, just to be sure, you guys are trying to safe-keep these things, right-“ “oy! Hush it! That’s the client’s privacy!” It seems mr. Vergilius told them something about the Cores and they couldn’t help but be curious about it

“Yes don’t worry, they are delivered here to us so we can make sure they are contained safely” I tried to reassure them. “I see, well then, we’ll be going our separate ways now, since our missions for you guys are done” They nodded and thanked us, or well, the company for contracting with them for the delivery mission.

“Let’s put them in the Containment Units immediately, it has been quite awhile since Refraction Railway” Micah asked and we hurriedly put them in the Containment Units and we gathered around again as team Captains for the LCCV, together we the team members

“These are Abnormalities not from L Corp Facility. Take Caution. We don’t know anything, how to take care. Trial and Error are the only way. Gather as much Information as you could. Gather and round them up, for everyone to read.” Montag started the briefing, as the Information Team Captain.

“Please bring anyone physically injured or mentally wounded to Safety Team’s sick bay. Be fast when retrieving anyone injured. We don’t know anything of what type of damage these Abnormalities will do.” Scene briefed as the Safety Team’s Captain.

“Make sure to keep an eye and read the data from the Information Team properly so we can assign who will go work on what Abnormality properly. Keep an eye on the Work Type and Virtue Type preferences so that we can keep the casualty loss at minimum. Remember, having a high stat doesn’t always mean something good on some Abnormalities.” Micah made sure to drive a point.

“When the Information has compiled we will be making proper safety and training manuals for others. Remember to make this properly, as it will be used not just by us but later by others who will join this ship in the future.” Rouge added.

And finally, I took a deep breath. “Our duty is mainly suppression. Suppression of the Abnormality, suppression of panicking Employees. It’s an unpleasant job, I can imagine, but it is absolutely necessary. We are chains that will hold the Abnormalities down, we are the safety to the guns that are panicking Employees. We need to be strong to prevent casualty damages, to prevent more deaths. And that’s why I ask that you keep an eye on each of your teammates, co-worker, and friends. And make sure to act fast during emergencies” I stopped my speech, it might have sounded rude to the others, but I don’t know what else to say. 

Our briefing ended and immediately, Montag and Scene made a bunch of copies of the Log report made by the Sinners for everyone to read. Even if with no data on how to take care of these Abnormalities, at least we can get some advice on how to combat them.

“TETH, HE, WAW - one of each” Montag hummed. 

“How many WAW gears do we have?” Micah asked.

”We got 4. 2 Ebony Steam, and one of each from My Form Empties and Drifting Fox. Same for weapons.”  Rouge reminded him. 

“Then you four wear it. I’ll use any HE with healing ability for now. Yuri, can you lend me your Legerdemain and Fluid Sac Gears” Scene asked.

“Sure. Give me Sunshower or Ebony Stem, I have more compatibility between those two.” I asked.

And so on, discussion was done as we began sending out Employees for trials and errors for the first day.

———————————————————————

June 984

POV: General POV

It has been a month since the incident in K Corp. and since we received the new 5 new Abnormalities. Though it’s not like they could bring any of them to LCCV, the EGO Gears produced from them was still a boon.

Though they rarely need them to fight off the Mermaid and Whales, since the ship crews helped them with it, they would ultimately need them when they receive the Abnormalities in due time.

As a week has passed and they have gotten used to living in the ship, the Team Captains had an assembly for them one evening, mentioning that there were briefing videos that they need to know given by the higher up management.

The video was put on a video player and the one speaking in the recorded video was the LCE, Limbus Company’s R&D department.

They explained how LCCV was using one of the Golden Bough they got from the LCB Sinners as one of the base operating systems, and to be able to produce EGO Gears, later on they will also need to use Enkephalin as a power source as well. The Enkephalin will, of course, come from the Abnormality they will receive later.

They explained, and with Yuri confirming it while the video played, how LCCV uses a system more similar to Lobotomy Corp HQ rather than L Corp. branch facility. This was apparently LCEs attempt on a trial period using this system, in Micah’s gaming term, the people in LCCV are beta-testers. 

The difference in L Corp. branch facilities, is that all manners of information gathering on the Abnormalities all purely came from the Employees and the Manager responsible to them doing trials and errors, figuring out what was the best and worst for the Abnormality and what was the most and least efficient way to gain energy. The surplus Enkephalin produced from each of the Abnormality - called PE Boxes - was used to craft the EGO Gears.

The Lobotomy Corporation HQ on the other hand, has the ability to ‘buy’ the information of Abnormality, making the process of trial and error and the number of Employee deaths in that process much fewer than what happened in the branch facility. This was done by exchanging some of the PE Boxes of each Abnormality.

An example video was put in the recording. One such Abnormality that was infamous in the Lobotomy Corporation HQ was Scorched Girl, a TETH level Abnormality whose EGO has been personally tailored several times for the LCB Sinner. 

When an Employee worked enough time with Scorched Girl, they could use some of the PE Boxes produced by Scorched Girl to ‘unlock’ more information and past records of Employees working on it, as well as its work and caretaking preferences. Similarly, they could also use the PE Boxes to craft EGO Gears. 

The higher level the Abnormality is, the higher the cost to unlock more information. Still, the trial and error phase still exists as it is needed to do some work blindly without any guidance to acquire the necessary PE Boxes to later unlock more information.

Again, it was emphasized that using PE Boxes to unlock more information was only a luxury that can be done once they have gained enough PE Boxes and have some surplus to use.

Still, the Team Captains told the others, this system would be a great benefit for them to prevent the number of deaths and the LCE encouraged them to use them.

As the information unlocked from the Abnormalities later can be viewed publicly, the decision on what information is to be unlocked from what Abnormality is the responsibility of the Team Captains. Whether to use the PE Boxes to unlock more information or craft EGO Gears will be decided later on based on the situation and condition at the time.

Montag and Rouge also added that this easier system does not mean they can lower their guard, manual information gathering is still essential as the information unlocked only tells them what Work Type is preferred, but not what type of action translates to what Work Type.

The information unlocked also only prioritizes caretaking logs, combat logs are scarce as L Corp Employees are generally aren’t trained combatant like Limbus Company agents are. With that in mind, Scene added that they still need to take care to memorize the combat logs given to them by the LCB and add more new information when they can find it to prevent further casualties.

——————————————————————————————————-

July 984

“Well then, as we agreed, the TETH Abno Faelantern will be put in the Training Team. I’ll get the WAW one. Joint command is still a thing, so Micah can still assign anyone from any department to any Abno. Who will take the HE one?” Yuri asked as they had an urgent meeting on the same day they received the Abnormalities.

“I’ll take it.” Micah chuckled, “just because I’m in charge of ordering around you guys, doesn’t mean I don’t have any responsibilities. Montag, you are in charge of choosing for us which information to unlock alright~?” “Sure” Montag nodded.

“Well, then for now, we’ll do our job as usual, the trial and error phase of figuring out what type of work it prefers, et cetera” “Be careful everyone” Rouge and Scene excused themself to brief each of their own team.

“Micah, the one on me is WAW right,” Yuri started asking him. “Yes it is, be careful-“ “No that’s not what I meant.” Yuri hummed. “Would you mind assigning only level 3 and above Employees, Team Captains or not, to this Abno, Sign of Roses?” She asked suddenly.

“Well, yeah, it is WAW, that is my plan, but why specifically do you need to state it?” Micah asked back. “I’ve got a bad feeling about it, is all. When I read Hong Lu-ssi’s log about it. [Draining my blood. Bodies weren’t the only things falling—people’s resolve did too.] Something about it made my gut feel weird.”

“Is it not the usual description of Black Damage?” Micah asked, but Yuri shook her head, “it’s a bit different, I think…..” The feeling was too ambiguous to put into words. “I’ll try working on it for now and tell you later.

Chapter Text

Day X1

The workday begins on the same day after the meeting. Yuri was assigned to work on Sign of Roses. 

It felt weird. It felt like she was in a rose garden in the high school she attended as a student. Yuri came from a low-to-middle class economy family, but her family managed to get her to a prestigious school, for the sake of the future. It was hard.

Even there, she was bullied for her quirkiness of focusing towards certain things stubbornly. But she dare not complain, after all, her parents worked their life and blood to get her here

The scene reminded me of the perfume she smelled when she graduated university. Her mother put it on her during graduation day, she was told to stand proud and tall because she got the job offer to work on L Corp branch right after graduating. They put their expectation that one day Yuri can also work on an actual Wings’ HQ from this path.

She got out of the place. Her head felt refreshed like she washed her scalp with mint scented shampoo and yet it felt like her energy was so drained like she lacked sleep last night even though that is not true. Yuri checked the Record Panel then.

[Insight Work - Yuri] [Normal]

Fearing the Normal work result would cause the decrease of Qlipoth Count, Yuri checked the Abnormality’s Qlipoth Count on the top of the Containment Unit’s door. It was still 2, and 12 PE Boxes were produced.

She sighed in relief and returned to tell the Team Captains and her own team about the Abnormality. Her suspicion about Hong Lu’s report and her own experience confirmed it. 

[Sign of Roses does Pale Damage. This is the first Abnormality that does this. Be careful]

Another Disciplinary Team member was assigned to attend Sign of Roses as Yuri worked on Wayward Passenger in the meantime. On the way there, Yuri wondered why her work was deemed Normal. ‘Perhaps that’s just the Abnormality’s preference’ she thought to herself and shook her head off. Time to work on this one.

When she entered, she saw the distorted W Corp logo on the creature’s armor, as per Meursault’s description in his Observation Log. ‘It does look similar to the one Don-ssi wore in her W Corp Identity…’ Yuri thought to herself.

”Well then, I’ll be working with you for now. Let’s see… I’ll do some cleaning for today, alright?” Since it was humanoid, Yuri thought it would be okay to strike a conversation with it. She searched for the cleaning supplies in one of the wall’s hatch.

The places she was supposed to clean wasn’t bathing the Abnormality, but rather the Containment Unit itself. Sometime certain Abnormality, to a certain degree can affect their surrounding passively, so regular Insight Work in the form of cleaning their environment are needed.

This time, what was growing all around the walls were…. Bunch of vísceras. Yuri has, fortunately or unfortunately, been desensitized with such gore, but still it couldn’t be helped that it makes her question a lot of things.

’What kind of emotions that birthed such a creature? What was being embodied by its existence?’

’What kind of work does W Corp. do, that looks tormented and lost?’

So on and so on.

Yuri shook her head of any unnecessary thought and concentrated on scraping the visceras off the walls and floors. Even if she wants answers, it really isn’t a need for her. Not that she can get the answers from this creature, she thought.

As Yuri worked, she realized Wayward Passenger has been following her around, watching over her work.

At some point, it also grabbed one of the cleaning tools and somehow joined her in the cleaning. Attending to places Yuri couldn’t reach due to her height. It seems the visceras also growing up to the ceilings.

As Yuri is figuring out how to dispose of the bunch of viscera parts into the trash chute, Wayward Passenger seems to be teaching her how to do it, by molding it into meatballs like playing with clay, and then disposing of it. Yuri feels that she wants her to use this method as well, so she does it.

Her work time in the Abnormality ended. It seems it was deemed a Good result. “What’s with that guy…. He seems rather cordial for an Abnormality…..”.

Yuri felt the interaction was weird, it was like hanging out with a fellow co-worker. It’s not like the over-friendliness and kindness that Fairy Gentleman does. 

Yuri returned to the Main Area and met the team member that was supposed to attend Sign of Roses after her. “Yuri-ssi, how was Wayward Passenger?” She asked Yuri. Yuri told her what she felt. When she does, the team member chuckled, “even though you told us not to get too friendly with the Abnormality, you yourself seems to be doing it” “Eh?” Yuri was confused at the remark.

“You called Wayward Passenger ‘that guy’. I also noticed sometimes you call other Abnormality ‘that child’” She wasn’t mocking Yuri, she was just pointing out a habit Yuri has.

“Ah….” Yuri hummed, “it was a habit from back where I used to work, I suppose. I won’t deny that I also used to be very interested in Abnormalities. I know not to befriend them, and it’s not like I want to know more about them in the way a normal relationship would do. It’s a bit hard to put it into words. Maybe I still have the same feeling of interest towards them even until now….”

“At any rate, how was your work with Sign of Roses?” “Ah….” Yuri changed the subject and the team member fidgeted. “I um… well,” She began sharing her experience in the Containment Unit.

Apparently the scent of roses reminded her of her dead grandmother, who loves roses. It reminded her of the dreams she had to give up as she walked on into adult life.

“The work result was Good, and…..” She took a deep breath as she shared the bad news to Yuri, “the Qlipoth Count decreased to 1…. I-I don’t understand… I- the work result said it’s Good… so why….”

“I see….” Yuri sighed, “so it’s that type of Abnormality… does that feed on our life, literal or not. By putting our lives at risk, it produces energy more efficiently for L Corp.” She fell silent.

When she heard that those types of Abnormality existed and L Corp would prioritize making it produce more energy rather than the safety and welfare of its Agents, an unknown form of rage would boil inside her, especially now that her survivor’s guilt has slowly been getting better.

“At any rate, now that the we’ve only 1 Qlipoth Count left, be on your high guard. Don’t worry, thanks to you, at least we got enough PE Boxes to unlock some information. It will take a longer time, but I think it is safer to do work that produce Normal amount of PE Boxes for that Abnormality.” Yuri reassures her.

At the end of the work day, Yuri reported all the findings she got so far to Montag, from her teammates as well as others who worked on Sign of Roses. The two decided to first unlock the information regarding the type of work preferences.

———————————————————————-

“Hmm… it seems we could unlock Management Guideline information already for Faelantern, still… even if it’s TETH we need to be careful, I wonder which information we should unlock-“ on the other side, Rouge’s decision making moment was cut short when he heard a scream in the hallways.

“Wh- it came from that way- Soneya died?!” Rouge got a warning in his tablet that someone had just died. Montag and his team went there as Yuri investigated the other source of scream. The other was Yoshiya, someone who was working on Sign of Roses and went pale and panic upon getting out.

“Yuri! Sign of Roses’ Qlipoth Count went down to the panicking Employee, take care of that one quickly!” Micah gave out orders.

On Montag and Rouge’s side, they arrived in the hallway and someone bleeding to death, possibly the employee called Soneya, the other one was whimpering and panicking. “Did they…. Killed Soneya?” A teammate behind Rouge on guard question.

The panicking person screamed and retaliated, “N-NO! No! I’m not- I didn’t-! I didn’t kill them! I’m not a murderer-!” The panic led them to run away from the hallway even further towards the other location. 

“Wh-wait!” Rouge needed to catch up with them but Montag obstructed his way. “No, don’t” Montag held his hand out and pointed to the floor.

A small sapling with a cyan fairy was resting on top of it. “Faelantern breached. It’s not detected.” He explained and Rouge understood what he meant. Rouge then proceeded to give out orders to his teammates. “Kill it, but do not attempt to come into contact with it. If it dived underground, tell us over the comm and search where it is manually. I’ll get the panicking employee and take care of them.” He explained as Montag told the same thing to Micah and Scene.

On the other side, Yuri was trying to catch up with the employee but they were running around at such high speed. “Dammit….!” The fatigue from working with Sign of Roses this morning was still affecting her. When she looked up from panting, she realized she had lost the panicking employee. 

“Crud, where are they now-“ when she looked around, what she found was instead, Wayward Passenger looking down at her. “What-“ She readied her weapon, ready to fight, tired or not, but Passenger ignored Yuri and instead walked away, as if beckoning her to go with it. 

Creeped up and on her high guard, Yuri followed, ‘I’ll still need to subdue them anyway, might as well stick close’ Yuri thought as it ripped open space in front of her. Logical questions thrown aside for now, Yuri followed it. She also told Micah about the breaching Wayward Passenger.

When they arrived at the next location, which was already in the Information Team’s hallway, Passenger immediately noticed the panicking employee and grabbed them using one of its meat tentacles.

Yuri readied her weapon again, “what are you planning to do with them?”. Again, Passenger merely ignored them to open the space. For some reason, the employee carried by the Abnormality didn’t resist the carrying thought they still muttered with insanity.

Yuri followed them through the ripped open space and arrived in a different hallway where Passenger took another Employee to its other meat tentacle. Yuri saw across her and the Abnormality was Montag and Rouge, clearly just as dumb-founded as her.

“Why is that one picking up panicking employees like collecting sacks of potatoes?!” Rouge whispered as he walked towards Yuri. “I don’t know?!” Yuri whispered just as confused.

After all of the panicking Employees were picked up by the skinless humanoid, it walked towards the Main Area and dropped them off there, where Scene and Micah were just arriving.

The last two Team Captains stared confused at the whole situation as the Passenger merely dropped the two panicking Employees to the seat and patted their heads. 

It made a guttural sound towards the team captains, which snapped Scene back to reality that she needs to attend to the injured employee. “Were you informed? Of this?” Montag asked Micah.

“That it’s breaching so casually?? No! Look, the Qlipoth Count is still at 2 and the Facility system didn’t warn me of this. I only found out it was breaking thanks to Yuri.” Micah also told Rouge that they have hunted down Faelantern.

“Last time I was contacted they told me that its main body resurfaced above ground, I sent backups to them so the Suppression should have finished by now, but please check on them again” he asked Rouge and Montag.

Throughout the whole conversation, the Passenger simply watched, or roaming around the room as if bored or lost. Feeling a bit awkward, Yuri ended up suggesting that she will escort it back to its Containment Unit, which it happily obliged and followed Yuri back to its chamber.

At the end of the day, they found out that for Sign of Roses, Employees that panicked during work will be deemed as Bad work result.

While if they died, it would be a Good work result. Yuri sighed, hating how her gut instinct was telling the truth.

That this was the type that Lobotomy Corp. at its heyday would exploit their lives for, just for the sake of energy production. 

Yuri asked the Team Captains to continue working on that Abnormality carefully and making sure they keep maintaining to get Normal work Result, as they found out that both Good and Bad work result will decrease its Qlipoth Count.

They also found out that Wayward Passenger’s thing is just like that. It will escape whenever something causes its Qlipoth Count to decrease.

Whether it’s the work result or panicking Employees. They also found out information that it will grow aggressive and combative if it were attacking while it was passively breaching

As for the ‘murder’ case, as Rouge suspected, the employee didn’t kill their friend Soneya, but rather the two simply stumbled into a breaching Faelantern, whose breach went undetected by the facility’s system.

Soneya was charmed to touch it and impaled by the Abnormality due to that. The Employee went into full panic due to seeing someone who was just talking to them just a few seconds ago, suddenly died. Yuri could sympathize with the poor chap.

—————————————————————————

Dante’s Side

POV: General POV

“Let me tag along with y’all! I could be your guide in the Lobotomy Corp. Branch!” Pilot asked them, assuring them that he is quite capable.

”Indeed, this was to be a joint operation with the LCCB where they were supposed to accompany us to the Lobotomy Corp. Branch. What is your decision, Dante?” Faust left the decision to her Executive Manager.

Dante pondered to themself, they assessed the situation and Pilot’s well-being. They would have agreed, if Dante knew how strong he is. Yuri might’ve set their bar too high, but Dante worried that if he is not as capable as her, he might not make it out alive.

<Tell him that while I appreciate his offer, I decline. I’m worried that he won't make it out in one piece> Dante finally answered. Ryoshu seemed to agree and Heathcliff smugly told Pilot to be grateful, since they just saved his life.

Faust explained and translated Dante’s answer, “Mr. Pilot, remain on standby until the After Team or LCCV arrives. Then, return to base and report your findings.”

Pilot sighed in defeat, “Ah…. So they declined, huh? The stories were true I don't hear nothin’ but the ticking of their clock…..”

“Executive Manager, in their endless generosity, has aso deigned to thank you for your offer. Remember that as you return.” Outis added.

“Alright… W-well then, best of luck to y’all….” Pilot sighed again, “o-oh, may I ask you a favor as well… um, if by some unfortunate luck…. You found them perished in the duty ....” Pilot took out something from his LCCB vest. “Can you retrieve these from their remnant? Um… these are called Abnodex….”

“Oh, I know that thing! The thing Yuri used to equip those EGO stuff right?” “Y-yeah, guess the rumors were true that you guys are close to her. Technically retrieving these from the dead agents is the duty of LCCA, but with the whole Calamity thing… I thought it might be better if more people can retrieve them….” Pilot begged them

“If that is supposed to be the duty of LCCA then it does not fall within our duty to do so” Outis huffed, but Faust disagreed, “the technology behind Abnodex’ are important as Limbus Company’s trade secret which is why they need to be retrieved upon death. Not only might it pose the risk of enemies getting their hands on Lobotomy EGO like the Technology Liberation Alliance did, to them it is as important as identification dog tag in the military.”

Upon hearing the last part, Outis fell silent, “we’ll see what we can find” she compromised a bit.

Ishmael was the first to leave the area, having received the necessary information they needed. While the others, mainly Yi Sang and Sinclair, were consoling Pilot, whose emotional dam finally broke down and cried a river on the spot.

Of how much he worries and misses his teammates. How they sacrificed themselves to save him, the rookie of the team. Yi Sang and Sinclair gave their words that they’ll save them and bring them back home.

They returned to the dock where they first arrived and saw Vergilius and Charon seemingly bored. Charon’s excuse was that her three scoops of ice cream disappeared so quickly.

Vergilius was applauded by the intels they got and he and Faust discussed Ishmael’s wish, contract and insubordination. Ishmael in exchange, promised not to get out of line again.

<He’s not going to answer me anyway, but…. What were you two up to?> Dante asked out of curiosity.

”Dante is asking a meaningless question,” Faust translated.

”Don’t let them rub off on you, Dante. What, was I actually  supposed to bring a tub of Whale ice cream for everyone?” Vergillius gave them a teasing smile.

Dante grumbled at the comment as Faust came close to Vergilius, “Vergilius, there’s something you need to know, about Mr. Pilot, the LCCB Agent we found.” They discussed something in whispers but everyone kept an ear to that.

“Ah, yes, the items have been sent to LCCV. I have received reports that they have received it. Here,” Vergilius handed Faust something, “this was their latest coordination variable”

We wanted to ask, “what’s LCCV?” But no one asked yet. Either on guard of Vergilius’ reaction or some others were too busy with reacting to other stuff around the town, such as Don who insisted they buy some ice cream for the trip to Lobotomy Branch Facility.

“According to my calculation, if this was their latest position, with the highest speed they could achieve. At least, 2 days, at most, 7 days till they arrived here.” Faust told Vergilius

“Then it’s your call if you want to wait for them till they arrive or not.” Vergilius glanced at Dante and then at Ishmael, “considering we have one impatient shark with us right now”

Upon that, Faust explained to me what LCCV was, it was essentially a gigantic carrier vessel which carries around Abnormalities.

It seems by some way or another, Verg had sent the Abnormalities we encountered last time in the Refraction Railway Line 2. They are supposed to come here with the After Team to pick up the Abnormalities from the Lobotomy Branch Facility of this district.

<Am I right to assume that this means Yuri and others will come here?> Dante asked, <if so, I guess that joint operation with LCCB can be done…. But…> Dante understood the meaning of Vergilius’ glance just now towards Ishamel.

<Okay, let’s wait for 2-3 days, preparing for rations and stuff will need time anyways. If after that LCCV hasn’t arrived, we will go on our own like our original plan> Dante told Faust and explained the situation to others as well. Ishmael just nodded emotionlessly.

——————————————————————
This chapter’s fanart: Rouge, the Training Team Captain

Chapter Text

Day X2

Right before LCCV embarked on its voyage, Yuri and the Team Captains went on a full restock shopping trip.

It was then that she met Harpe, the Middle member again. They chatted for a while, but it seems they forgot to ask what and where Yuri was going, or not feeling and suspicion at all that she was shopping in bulks.

Unexpectedly, instead, they asked to exchange contacts with her to keep in contact, because they deemed Yuri interesting.

Micah gave her an eye signal from afar signaling to accept the offer and she did. More information on how Middle’s rules works is better after all.

Once the exchange was finished, Yuri excused herself to meet up with her friends and once they’ve gathered, they also quickly returned to LCCV to begin their workday.

They finally could begin producing some EGO Gears from the Abnormality they have right now. Rouge had everyone in his team wear Faelantern’s EGO Gears, as well as making sure each of them bring a manual watch or timer to keep track of how long they have been inside.

As the fairy’s charm could affect their sense of time and cause disorientation, Rouge asked them to ground themselves into reality with their own clock.

Things had gone well in that department for that regard. They also found out that Wayward Passenger loves involving itself in cleaning and interacting with others.

For its social needs, it would prefer if the employee kept talking to it and let it listen to their voice. If the employee is a smoker, then Wayward Passenger would prefer they have a smoke break together.

Even when it was passively breaching without anyone panicking in sight, it still listens to others’ rambles cordially. They rarely speak and mainly communicate with gestures, but they got used to that form of communication, since they got used to Montag’s. 

The Employees found out that if they guided Wayward Passenger back to its Containment Unit, it would give them movement speed buff, so that has been encouraged to the point some would fight for that duty.

On some occasions that the work result was Good, it also gives them a Charge Barrier which protects them from certain types of damage. Yuri and Micah got the EGO Gift from them and EGO Gear from this Abnormality is in the process of being crafted as of now.

”The only issue left is this one…..” Yuri sighed, Sign of Roses was annoying to deal with, as it made her more introspective everytime she entered, but someone had to do work on it.

Some members from LCCB and LCCA are absent from Abnormality duty today due to having to communicate with the main team that is doing the main mission with LCB’s main mission.

While some others were asked by Captain Melville to help with their fight with the Waves, Mermaids and Whales .

Nevertheless, Yuri entered the Containment Unit for Sign of Roses. As usual, cyan smoke and pale roses with dark brambles are growing all around the room

. Her duty today was to trim the decaying roses, she had to be careful when she unraveled the brambles as it would cause her even more pain than what is normal. 

The scent of roses was so thick she could feel it in her tongue. Rose flavored, no, rose scented chocolates. One of her richer coworkers from the L Corp branch loved sharing those to others. She had tasted it once. Despite how much more blessed their life was, that child also died in that sudden facility burial.

Yuri sees a dead person in her feet. The rippling effect of the pool of blood in her feet resembles a blooming rose and its petals. A dead person, separated into two halves. It was part of her work as Fixer before joining Limbus Company.

Yuri sees not pale cyan but blue roses. Blue roses are symbols of impossibility. Flickering beneath the blue light and blue roses were her beloved, dead friend, Aya.

Yuri sees herself wrapped in the brambles. The other Yuri asked Yuri, “when will I be free from the stigma that binds me to a fallen Wing? Is there a reason why I had to come out alive from that living hell?” As it gasped and cried out, the petals scattered around the room.

Yuri was still in between the realm of illusion and reality, and spoke to no one, “There is a reason, this place- these people now need me. I’m not bound anymore within the brambles that is the stigma of being a remnant of L Corp. Rather, it is now a scar that everyone can see and learn from it, from my body.”

“I will be alright, so let me open my eyes….” Yuri was awake the whole time, but she finally felt like she had just woken up from a long lucid dream. Standing there in the reality of the cold floor of the Containment Unit. A crown of roses wrapped on her head. 

Yuri walked out of the room and checked the Record Panel as usual.

[Insight Work - Yuri] [Normal]

She sighed in relief and decided to take a break on the Main Area. Now that she had some time on herself she decided to put her questions into writing.

Why is it that when someone faces themselves through constant insight, the roses deemed it as mediocre. Why did it show illusions of their pasts?

Why does it react positively when someone follows their instinct and prioritizes self-love, blooming in glory, especially when they die? Did it absorb their essence of existence as a nutrient?

Why does it react negatively when someone represses themselves?

Why does it reject someone who refuses to oneself?

Is it because such emotion won’t help it yield anything?

Yuri vomited all her questions into her personal notebook. Only some friends know she does that. She does not expect anyone to answer her questions, and that she knows she shouldn’t think too much unnecessary thoughts. So she put those questions there in her book. So that she can quell down her curiosity at least.

—————————————————————————

Morning shift for Yuri went well, and work continued as usual in the evening. Everyone was present as LCCV continued their journey to Marlin Portship.

Yuri was going to clock out since she worked the early shift when the second level alarm blared.

”Sign of Roses’ Qlipoth Count reaches 0! Everyone, be prepared! The last work was Insight, the Employee that died was Georgine! Everyone, be prepared for incoming AoE White Damage!” Micah announced in the comm.

He also announced what gear Georgine was wearing as that also gives us an info what Sign of Roses would be weak or immune to.

Sign of Roses appeared in the biggest Main Area, the sub-captain of Safety Team and Training Team already ordered an evacuation, though some was unlucky enough that they were too late and Sign of Roses appeared from the ceiling of the room and impaled the poor employee.

Said Employee and Georgine’s corpse was bound with vines and crucified on its wooden plank body with rose thorns. White roses began growing and blooming all over their dead bodies. Brambles were growing inside the room. The trapped employees were panicking due to the whole chaos and the White damage affecting the area.

Yuri the attack. Thankfully, they now have three ranged attack weapons from the Lantern EGO, AEDD EGO and Ebony Stem EGO. They began shooting their attacks from far away.

Those that have speed buff began walking towards the center to attack as well but it was too risky, Yuri called them back as she didn’t want to add more panicking victims.

Just then, suddenly, the space was ripped open and from there appeared Wayward Passenger.

“What the- Everyone stopped attacking for once!” Yuri ordered them to stop, they argued against her order but gave them a stern order to retreat. “Micah,” “Yeah. It’s Qlipoth Count is at 1. This is Passive Breach” Micah told her the situation.

“Everyone retreat to the area! Just evacuate! Don’t try to attack the Rose or Passenger. Don’t try to do any attack at all! We don’t want it to convert into Active Breach mode due to a stray attack.” Micah barked more orders to retreat.

The others begrudgingly obliged, “How are we supposed to free and save the others then?!” Someone argued.

Yuri and Micah locked the door with an electrical fence and transparent light screen. This way, they are still protected from the collateral damage, the brambles won’t grow any further, but they can still safely observe the situation.

“We’ll do that later. For now, we’ll just accept its help at subduing the rose. If we attacked together with the Passenger and a stray bullet got shot at it, it’ll be pouring oil to grease fire.” Yuri answered the angry teammate. And true to her words, one of the Roses’ attacks reached Wayward Passenger, angered, it began attacking the rose-wrapped wooden cross.

“How are you sure it’ll win? That’s a HE! Roses are WAW!” “I don’t know,” Yuri answered him frankly. “We’ll just have to wait it out. Even if it gets defeated, I’m sure it’ll do significant damage for us to defeat the Roses much more easily.” She sighed.

Micah called for back up. Scene’s Safety Team arrived and geared themselves up. “Everyone prioritizes rescuing the others while the Roses are distracted with the Passenger” Scene took the command this time. Her team was trained for speed and accuracy, so that part went well.

Yuri waited for the battle between two monsters to finish. It took a while, it took a really long time, probably longer than that time they had to work overtime because Shock Centipede breached Containment.

She watched as it ripped open space everytime its attack was being clashed. Distance or the speed-slowing brambles wasn’t an issue for the Passenger, it can simply appear at a different location and continue its high speed attacks.

Yuri kept her eyes peeled open to study its combat style. She also let others who were too injured and too tired to fight to retire and act as support instead. She and Micah insist others to keep on watch duty.

After hours, as expected, Passenger lost and its Suppressed Core remained in the room, but the Roses still stand still, with only a few roses left on its body, meaning it has been severely weakened by Passenger. 

“Well then, let’s finish the job” She sighed and grabbed her new weapon, the Garden of Thorns’ scythe and did a finishing blow with others. The Roses died and reverted to its ovate form.

Yuri asked others to retrieve them and return them to their Containment Unit. She saw brambles staying inside the room. This room was so wrecked and the roses won’t disappear until tomorrow, so they could only start cleaning up tomorrow.

She saw how there was nothing left but petals from Georgine and the poor employee who died on that wooden plank. No body, nothing to bury, nothing they can collect to pay respect for remembrance sake. Yuri sighed and asked Micah if she could finally clock out for the day and he let him.

Yuri spent some hours relaxing on the deck, watching the ship crew do their work as her role for the day has ended for now. It was then she received a call from Harpe.

It was unexpected but apparently they merely called her just to gossip. ‘Is that even allowed in the Middle….’ Yuri thought to herself but didn’t make the comment and said she’ll lend an ear.

It was then she heard of what happened in the club yesterday, about a lady named Smee, about some people barging in the club and stealing some stuff, wreaking havoc in it. 

“They even stole our Big Brother’s VIP super special Hair Coupon! He saved money for that shit for years because the queue itself takes years! Jeez, how awful those thieves were!” Yuri connected the dots that it was LCB that did so.

They were rather infamous for letting brawn talk first, something that Captain Caiman really dislikes since After Team has to clean up their mess. 

Yuri asked what would happen to the thieves and Harpe explained how the information has been spread Middle-wise and everyone has put the person’s face in their Book of Revenge.

Yuri subtly asked them what the face looked like so she could also avoid such an awful thief. And when she received it, she couldn’t believe her eyes. They really did it, it was Heathcliff-ssi. He really stole that shit.

Yuri wondered if there’s a way to return the coupon peacefully. She knew it was futile. The impending doom of overkill beat-em-down session will definitely come upon the Sinners, but she still wanted to help them, lessen their damage or Sins at least.

So she consulted Micah for a plan, as she knew he was the stealthiest between all of her friends.

Chapter Text

Day X3

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to feel conflicted, annoyed or amazed at its stupidity or the stupidity of the employee that angered it….” Rouge sighed.

“Rouge, you got time to talk, you got time to move.” Montag huffed.

For some stupid reason, yes, as in, someone stupidly attacking it out of sheer jumpscare surprise of the moment, Wayward Passenger is now actively breaching.

It opened several spaces to dimensions unknown. They are currently closing it one by one so it won’t get buffed and so they can bait it to appear at a specific location.

”Rubra here! It appeared on Hallway C!” Someone said in the team comms, “And uh… ah, it stepped on the Faelantern’s fairy….. Fairy’s real body emerged and it’s now fighting each other out of annoyance…. I think.” Rubra somehow did a live commentary instead of attempting to suppress any of them due the sheer nonsense of the things happening in front of their eyes.

It’s another Abno versus Abno scenery. “When did that one even escape….” They added with a smaller voice.

“Okay, wait there. Stall it until backup arrives. Let it defeat Faelantern in the meantime” Yuri told over the comms. “Let’s continue closing as many dimensional rifts as we can,” Yuri told her team in different locations. 

Rubra, Montag and Rouge finally caught up to Wayward Passenger, they clashed with it until it opened another dimensional rift and cowardly escaped again.

“If this fight’s been anything to go by, it’ll soon emerge from one of the dimensional rifts. If we can intuit its next point of emergence, maybe we can deal a fatal blow against it before it fully emerges from the dimensional rift” Micah suggested to Yuri.

Yuri looked around at the rifts and somehow chose one out of pure gut instinct. “Close the others and leave only this one” she pointed out.

Soon the Passenger began crawling out of the dimensional rift that Yuri selected. Though it sensed Yuri’s presence before it emerged, it didn’t have enough time to act before Yuri swung her weapon at it.

“Welcome home, you cowardly dog” Yuri hissed and jumped behind its back and trapped it between her scythe’s blade and her body, kicking it so it got slashed by her weapon.

The EGO power of Pale damage surrounded it as it finally remembered what fear of death feels like, it hurriedly closed the dimensional rift as it fled back into its safety. That seems to have destabilized the dimensional rift.

Of course, it can’t possibly use up all of its energy to continue hiding, so the entity begrudgingly opened a rift in the space in one of the Main Area to escape. But it was quickly ambushed by Yuri from behind it.

“I don’t know what you were, but if you were someone who worked at a Wings, then surely you remember…. This feeling of death, looming above us like oxygen everyday. I will remind you of it , until you fall asleep .” Yuri threatened it and kept her slashing going, she spinned her scythe to parry and clash with the energy blade attacks.

“Trapped in artificial lights and artificial environment everyday, in and out, let me remind you the beauty of life and natural death out there” Roses grew on the scythe and as she slashed, pale cyan roses also grew from the wounds she inflicted on the Passenger.

It finally subdued and Yuri sighed, “Suppression done” she announced on the team comms. “Has Faelantern’s Core returned to its Containment Unit? I’ll return Passenger’s Core. Can someone who can still move help with cleaning up?” She asked for help as she picked up the muscle fiber-covered egg.

“That was rather intense.” Micah chuckled. “What’s gotten into you?”.

Yuri sighed, “the past few day’s battle has been rather time consuming, I think the EGO Resonance gotten into me.” She has calmed down now, but when she engaged in combat lately it was as if she turned into a different perso.

"Ah, right, when the EGO gotten into you, talking into your head and affecting you, mind melting naturally as if you were same being. Been there myself” Micah hummed, “please make sure to stay as yourself, for as long as you can, Yuri” Micah asked. “I know, don’t worry” she reassured him. 

As the clean up process was quickly done, Yuri wondered how much distance was left till they arrived at Marlin Portship and what the LCB is doing right now.

What about the others, the LCCB members that were doing a preliminary survey? She hoped that at least someone could return home with them.

————————————————————————————————-

Dante’s Side

POV: Dante’s POV

We saw how big the LCCV actually is when they were docked. Today was the last day we could spend time waiting for their arrival as I promised the Sinners that more than this, we will leave on our own. So this was good timing for us.

Upon arrival, the Team Captains descended, Yuri was one among them. After one of them led the pleasantries, Ishmael abruptly cut off our reunion with Yuri and Pilot’s reunion to his co-workers by asking that we should embark quickly. Rodya tried to calm her down again but Yuri also interrupted us. It was unexpected, but she was stern in her words.

”I agree we need to embark quickly. But before we go,” she specifically approached Heathcliff, “Heathcliff-ssi, please take out all of your belongings.” From her intonation, that was not a request, that was an order.

“H-huh?! What’s this suddenly?! And why me?!” Heathcliff argued. 

“Please take out all of your belongings.” She repeated sternly, not taking any other answer.

“And why should I?! What does that have to do with our mission huh?! What, you suddenly grew more backbone from your promotion now you are trying’ to extort me, or suspicious enough to do a safety check on me or what?!” 

Yuri sighed, “please don’t make me do this,” with a single click on her tablet she shifted into one of the Lobotomy EGO. It was familiar to be, the one used by Dongbaek, Sunshower

”I repeat, and maybe I should clarify this time. Take out all of your belongings, and return the thing you stole on that day from the club” Yuri threatened again. I knew that she was serious.

<Heathcliff, maybe you should do as she told> I also asked Heathcliff, <We will clear up the misunderstanding if you really didn’t do any stealing> I tried to pacify the situation to make sure Ishmael who was impatient and has a thousand yard sate right now, still in that calm state.

”Geh….” Heathcliff forced himself and fished out everything in his pocket.

Despite that, Yuri is still unconvinced. She repeated her request for him to take out all of his belongings. I could see even she felt anguish needing to do this.

Heathcliff clicked his tongue and he finally finished his pocket out for more, the stuff he took out were borderline trash, paper scraps even.

Yuri took one of them and unfolded and cleared its creases as best as she could. She showed it to her friend, the LCCA’s Micah if I remember correctly and it seemed he nodded. “Yep, that's it alright”

<That’s it… what? What is that?> I asked. Yuri unequipped herself off the EGO Gears and sighed, her back slumped while this time, Micah equipped the Sunshower EGO this time.

“Huh? Why are you using that?” Yuri herself didn’t expect what he did.

“Well, those people would probably have remembered Limbus Company’s uniform right? Even if I’m just on a stealth mission, I better wear a ‘disguise’. This is the least inconspicuous form of EGO and gives me quite the defense I need - if things went south when I’m returning this. See ya.” With that, Micah went out with the slip of paper they took from Heathcliff.

“Sorry about that,” she sighed, offering to help tidying up and picking up the stuff Heathcliff took out. It seems they found the item they needed, which means the thievery accusation on Heathcliff…. Was true.

<Heathcliff…?> I asked for an explanation.

“W-what, I didn’t know whose it was and hey a safe looked precious and it was nearby and open due to the shock from our fight, so of course I can snag a thing or two right?!”

“Out of curiosity, Yuri, who and what was that thing that he stole?” Gregor asked.

“A VIP Hair salon Coupon that belonged to the Big Brother of Middle in charge of this area….” she sighed.

“I… got my own connection of information within the Middle. How and when will it be informed to me will be random and unreliable but I knew to trust the information because it came with evidence and from an insider” Yuri looked away after taking care to tidy up Heathcliff's belongings and handing it to him.

Everyone went pale and silent hearing that. There were some who were relieved they seemed to have avoided a grave danger from what Yuri did, some others seemed resigned to a certain inevitable doom, even Ryoshu.

I was unsure if it was because of Yuri’s information bomb drop or the fact she got an information connection. Plus I didn’t know how scary and who or what Middle is, so that was the first thing I asked.

<What’s…. The Middle? Just a mere mention of them alone seems to … shock and intimidate a lot of people. It seems they also have traumatized Pilot??>

Sinclair was the first to answer me, “I heard that, the Fingers, which the Middle is a part of…are… on a completely different level from our average Syndicates. I’ve never met any of them face-to-face before, but…” the both of us looked at Heathcliff when others provided their versions of explanations.

<Heathcliff… DId you even know who, what, or where these coupons were for?>

“Of course not… bloody hell. It got colorful kitty stickers on it! You’ve got to be absolutely barmy to assume that it’s the safe of the Middle’s Big Brother, right?!” He tried to give himself excuse but Don whine in disappointment instead.

“We became naught but little thieving rascals? Wherefore hast thou committed such villainy, Sir Heathcliff… Thou has not once given a second look at a hair salon, yet why….” Don cried to Heathcliff

“I-I’ve got my reasons….” Heathcliff tried to defend himself.

<W-well since Yuri’s friend has returned it to them, surely we are pardoned from that ‘crime’ right?> I tried asking them.

“I’m not so sure, Dante. We did strike Miss Smee….” Yi Sang reminded us of that one.
“I’m not so sure either….” Yuri seemed pessimistic for some reason.

Micah returned and unequipped himself as soon as he arrived. “I’ve tried slipping the coupon back into his Book of Revenge. There are some issues 

though” he explained.

“My eyes are prosthetic with an X-ray scanner, see. And according to the information I scanned, it seems inside the page I slipped in, there’s another piece of paper inside. According to the thickness I felt when I slipped the coupon in and the size, and according to the information Yuri gave. That was probably photographic evidence of his crime. And considering “Middle never Forgets” as their motto, his name is probably already written in the book. Meaning, will your punishment be pardoned and lessened or not…. The possibility is still small” Micah shrugged and sighed, “we’ve tried our best to help you lessen your future doom, good luck henceforth”

<So we better prepare ourselves then…..> I sighed. I asked the others for more explanation and confirmation of how dangerous a Middle Big Brother can be, and considering Yuri knew the information from an insider, involving her could also risk having her name written in their Book of Vengeance.

<Faust,> I called her and asked her to translate sternly, that we will change our plan and will not go with LCCV on our side. Explaining the risk that could happen, now that Middle is confirmed to appear and involved in our situation. 

“With that, I ask the LCCV to be on standby until the After Team arrives and picks up after us and the Abnormalities we found.” Faust ended the explanation with what proper procedures will follow up after we leave.

“Affirmative” “I appreciate the explanation” The two team captains wished us for our luck as we left for the busboat. I turned to the Sinners, apologizing that I made them wait for over 2 days for LCCV to arrive only for us unable to accept the help.

“It’s okay, bud. Better than us feeling guilty for asking their help and turns out we sent ‘em to their death sentence.” Gregor patted me.

“It was a wise decision you made, Executive Manager, fret not much about it” Outis tried to console me.

“We did end up having enough time to pack up lots of food and ration for the journey anyway, cheer up!” Rodya assured me, it seems she bought more than just food during the last few days.

<Alright, let’s go guys….> we let Mephistopheles take us to our destination, with nothing else to do but prepare ourselves, mentally and physically.

——————————————————————————————————

Location: Lobotomy Corp Drilling Ship Entrance

I could still hear Faust’s weak voice. Not only she told me how to self-detonate, she told me how hopeless the situation is right now. She even told me that I could save the Abnodexes we found from the pallidified LCCB members to the sea, so that LCCA can recover them later, safe from the self-detonation explosion.

“…..Even though this may be the end of LCB, the world…no, Limbus Company must continue to exist… Dante, you must make a judgment call.”

——————————————————————

Chapter Text

POV: Yuri’s POV

After being told to wait for further instructions, we let Pilot join our ship and rest. His wounds have been treated by himself and he has recuperated enough, so all we  needed to do is get him a room. Working day with Abnormalities continues as usual.

I saw Rouge consoling himself and Pilot. It’s more like they were bonding due to Pilot’s missing team captain, Haru, was apparently Rouge’s acquittance.

They came from the same background, same town. Separated after entering high school and only reunited when both just coincidentally joined Limbus Company at the same time.

I told Montag how interesting fate seemed to be for them. Montag suddenly curiously asked what my background was.

“Ah, my mom is just some office worker in the Nest, not working in the Wings of District 4, though. Same as my dad, but he quitted much earlier than mom, due to… well some stuff happened in my family….. I really wish they’d just divorce early on really…. I think I’m perfectly fine living with just my mom…” I shared with him some of the memories I recently recalled when Sign of Roses was affecting me. My high school life and how I worked in the old L Corp Branch facility.

“After the Facility Burial, I was trapped for 59 days before digging myself out. I have lost contact with my mom. From what I heard, she moved out with some procedures to a different Nest. I’ve been trying to find a way to get in contact with her. I do hope she’s doing well….” I told him how my maternal grandmother was actually from the much richer ground in a different Nest.

My only regret was that I couldn’t grant  my mom’s dream to visit that town, and put away my late grandmother’s ashes at her birthplace. I told Montag how Sign of Roses’ scent also pulled out some memories I nearly have forgotten about my grandmother from the depth of my brain.

”How about you Montag? How bout your fa-“ I stopped the question. I forgot that his ‘family’ was a bunch of Sweepers.

“I was divorced” his answer was instead left me surprised instead

“YOU WERE DIVORCED??? BY A SWEEPER??”

“Ah- no. She's a normal human” He further elaborated. I had only recently found out that he was older than me, and that wasn’t as surprising as his identity as a former member of Sweeper. But for some reason this takes the cake.

Sighing as he doesn’t seem to want me to have further misconceptions, he talked as much as he could before we reached the Main Area.

”I was born in Sweeper Society, Outskirts”

“Sweeper was a good profession. There, everyone looked up to Sweepers. I became a Sweeper when I was 18. My title, Fireman. A type of Sweeper.”

“Very isolated. Not allowed Book from The City. Filthy. Don’t Question, don’t think unnecessary

”Married in early 20, normal girl I told you.”

“At 27, befriended a teenager. Very curious girl, I became curious too.”

“Started questioning the Sweeper Society. Why must we clean, why must we burn, why is stuff filthy “

“Smuggle books from City, keep and read them.

“Wife found out. “Father” Beatty found out. “Father” is commander of my team. Told me stop questioning, just obey”

“I met new friend, Faber. Very curious. We plan to escape. Divorced by now”

“Tried to escape. “Father” found me. Mechanical dog bite me here and there”

“”Father” brought me to Mother. Mother burned me. Left to dead”

“Faber found me. Wounds taken care. They memorize books from City. I like books, I memorize them too”

”Several years, traveling with them. We managed to enter The City. Faber somewhere in the City, I recruited by Limbus Company”

Thus he concluded the story and went away to take a break while I was trying to digest his story, still a bit dumbfounded at how he just dropped all of that information to me.

—————————————————————————————————————

In the Main Area, I saw Micah cutting some newspaper clipping. I looked at some curiously, he noticed that I was staring and explained that he found some cheap bookstore that had old stuff for sale.

“I thought it might be interesting to read some old stuff once in a while. Sometimes complex reading actually refreshes the brain instead, you know. Never have I expected I’d find this gem” he gave me one of the biggest ones and I sat down to read it.

[Around 40 years ago, before prosthetics enhancement was a trend. There was a man who was so fixated with the concept of soul.

‘Can the soul be transferred? Can the soul be trapped? Can the soul be preserved and immortalized?’ Was what he probably questioned as he did his modus operandi.

That was the story of Pied Piper of 38. 

In the summer of Year 938, the schools are having their usual summer breaks. Many restaurants are bombarded with families taking their kids to eat outside, so as to enjoy their holiday.

One such restaurant is a pizzeria, where after days of such rush hours, parents are reporting that there were kids missing for days, not returning home after eating there.

Not only that, perhaps due to its summer, organic ingredients rots easily, and thus, for some unknown reason, disgusting rotting stench was wafting around in some restaurants.

No matter how much cleaning product and air perfumes are used to hide the stench. It is unavoidable.

After thorough investigation, it was found out that corpses of kids were stashed inside the animatronics that were used as server robots there.

It wasn’t just stashed, no. They were implanted, their nerve systems were forcibly intermingled with the wiring and operating system of the robots, as if they merged into one flesh-mech suit horrid combinations.

It was later found that the culprit, the technician and the engineer who created the robots, did the same to other robots in other restaurants that use his inventions.

The investigation reveals that the number of children found in such conditions could be double the number of the reported missing children.

As for the reason why the culprit was called a Pied Piper, it was because he was disguising himself using a costume suit version of the characters he developed, luring them in for the kill]

“Back then years ago he was a famous Urban Plague you know,” Micah pointed out the newspaper clipping in my hand, “but the rank was only that high because of accumulations of complaints coming from rich people. Some kids from rich families were killed, the rich parents visiting the establishments complained about the stenches and the ugly appearance of overnight wall repainting, and it happened in the middle of a Nest. It also became infamous with how much those several establishments tried to cover up the crime.”

“Though, where it happened in the lower economy class area or the Backstreet, it would probably only rank up to Urban Legend. Nowadays? With the increase in the violences of crimes in The City? It’s probably just very hard to solve Urban Myth” Micah laughed it off and folded the newspaper clipping back to the table. 

I saw and tried to read other crimes on other clippings. All of them have different threat ranks, but not everything was as old as that 40 years old newspaper clipping. The others are at least 1 to 10 years old. Some cases, in fact, felt familiar.

“Are these….” I just realized something, “Distortion cases?” I asked Micah warily. “Oh! Good guess~” He laughed it off.

“Perhaps yes, some of these count as Distortion cases.” He held the 40 years old one again, “I wonder if this counts. I should make a scrapbook of this and ask the members of LCD of their thoughts about it” he chuckled, darker than usual.

“Were you….. somehow involved with this case?” I curiously asked again, referring to the 40 years old case.

“In a way. I can’t tell you why yet, but yes, I’m deeply, inter-connected to this case. It is also the reason why I joined Limbus Company,” he explained. I already knew, and he admitted, that he himself has a hidden agenda in the company, one that he assured me won’t put me in harm's way. If he’s unwilling to elaborate more, then I won’t force him.

—————————————————————————————————————

Curious as to why I was suddenly bombarded by my friend’s backstory, the moment I met Scene, I had my guards up mentally, thinking she might drop another unthinkable backstory. But when I casually chatted up about my past to her, she shared her past as well to me, but it wasn’t as dramatic as the others.

Simply said, like me and Rouge, she was a Nest-born, except her mother was far more influential than ours. She was apparently a nurse in M Corp’s rehabilitation center. Scene looked up to her mother and profession. She sent an application to work at M corp once she graduated, with K corp and L corp as her second choices.

After her applications were rejected, she went through some vocational training schools though, so that she can put more on her CV besides her name.

The moment she tried to apply again after graduation, her hometown was involved with a Distortion case. To enter the HQ of Wings, one usually has to pay up for the entrance exams, but now that she doesn’t have the privilege of money to pay for more entrance exams, she joined whatever job that was currently recruiting, and that was Limbus Company.

Cargo was apparently a distant family member that recommended the job for her.

I thanked her for sharing her story with me. As we continued taking care of the stocks of medicines, we were disrupted by the blaring of a second-level alarm.

That could only mean one thing. Either mass panic happened out of nowhere, more than 1 Abnormalities escaping, or specifically that one is breaching.

The PSA that blared after the alarm confirmed my suspicion, Sign of Roses was the one breaching. The only issue was, which version of breaching is it doing right now. Micah in the PSA informed us that the one marked with the Crown of Thorns was Pilot.

“Why him?! He’s too under-leveled to work with WAW Abnormalities??” I ran and met Rouge, asking that question.

“I didn’t know! He did ask if he could wear HE Level EGO Gear and his proposal was approved since we had spares produced from recently. But wh-ah…..” Rouge muttered something but shook his head. “Anyway, that’s irrelevant right now. We need to find him and stop him from reaching the Sign of Roses.” 

“You do that, I’ll beat up the Sign of Roses while it’s in its vulnerable state” I sighed and raised my speed to reach them. The other team captains seem to have understood what they needed to do as well. Some searched for Pilot to stop him, the other half went to beat up Sign of Roses. Micah informed us of its current type weakness.

“Destroy its wood planks! The brambles this time will be dealing Black Damage, so we won’t be as lucky as before - being helped by Wayward Passenger, we gotta do it on our own this time, but let’s go!” Micah led the team that was going for Sign of Roses.

The raid battle went on for a while, with Micah and Montag making the team attack it in team rotations to give others time to recuperate for a few minutes. 

I did the coup de grace on it, making the wooden cross fall down and break down, the brambles dissipating into petals. The other team succeeding in stopping Pilot from reaching the Sign of Roses also contributed to our quick suppression for this case.

Once he snapped himself back from reality, the Crown of Thorns has dissipated into petals from his head as well. Scene injected him with SP Ampules for the time being as Rouge stared at him menacingly, demanding an explanation of what happened.

He meekly told us that once he learnt that Rouge was Haru’s friend, he felt even more responsible for them going missing on the mission due to Middle’s  and Twinkhook Pirate’s involvement. The survivor's guilt made him want to prove himself useful and prove his worth.

He decided that perhaps, doing a good job with the Abnormalities, providing us with more Enkephalin to use would be beneficial for us. 

He read the data on Sign of Roses that weaker stats produce better work results with it. But he also realizes that he’s too underleveled for working with it, so he asked to be lent some HE level Gears.

The first work with it was Good, as predicted. But his knees went weak during his second work with it when Sign of Roses did its usual mechanism of binding its victim to old, heartfelt memories, making him confront himself, his own weakness in spirit and soul, the work turned into Repression mid-way and thus the work result was Bad.

Pilot realized he was on the verge of panic attack when the Crown of Thorns appeared on his head and Sign of Roses started breaching. And thus his explanation finished.

“You….” I sighed, “did you not read its management tips? Both Good work and Bad work results decreases its Qlipoth Count….” I sighed, perhaps my tone was perceived as a tone of disappointment, that Pilot jerked in fear and apologized profusely.

“No, wait, stop doing that. I was saying that out of concern…..” I sighed again. “I told everyone again and again, but maybe we forgot to tell you, but when we work with such types of Abnormalities, or any Abnormalities in Limbus Company in general, we prioritize the safety of others rather than energy producing efficiency. There’s no need to try so hard to produce more energy for us at the cost of your life…..” I tried to explain, but perhaps what I spoke out, and what Pilot heard, all fumbled and jumbled, we both were in an awkward mess now.

Scene decided that it’s best that Rouge handled Pilot for now. Both in terms of safety training and work drills. That would make things less awkward between us and between him and Rouge.

“I agree…. That seems for the best” I hummed, “Sorry for making that awkward just now…. I’ll excuse myself and clean up after the mess made by the Sign of Roses just now….”

“I’ll help” Montag nodded and followed after me, we ended up sweeping after wood chips, bramble vines, and rose petals that were scattered all over the Main Area.

—————————————-

It was the next day, when Micah received the call from After Team, I tried to overhear whatever I could gather, but it seems so many complex things were being discussed between them.

From what I could gather though, their discussion also includes our next order of things to do.  “Alright, got it. I will relay the information to the others.” Micah ended the call.

“What did the After Team tell you?” I asked from behind him. “Right, about that, let’s gather up the other Team Captains first, shall we?” He smiled calmly, but I could feel that he was also worried about something.

“So it seems LCB had formed their plan on how to retrieve the Golden Bough, that was apparently inside the Pallid Whale, one of the Calamities of the Great Lake” Micah relayed the information, all of us team captains had gathered and sat in the meeting room.

“From what information they have gathered, confirming that there are no Abnormalities in the Lobotomy Corp Branch Facility, it seems the Abnormalities also went inside the Pallid Whale. So the After Team will be on standby near the LCB to retrieve the Golden Bough they will get as well as the Abnormalities inside the Pallid Whale. It seems they plan to kill it from inside to do so.”

”Once LCB returns here to Marlin Portship, LCCA will also deliver to us the Abnormalities here. Then they will join us in our return journey to the mainland but where we will be heading will be different from where we came from. It seems Limbus Company also has a branch HQ in District 20, that will be where we’ll also be heading.

Here’s the dilemma we are facing unfortunately, due to…. Pilot’s team perished during duty, LCCB are currently lacking in manpower…..” he also offered a word of consolation to Rouge, who had a confirmation of the death of his friend.

Rouge gulped but calmly asked Micah to continue the meeting first, prioritizing professionalism for now.

“And so, we can’t take our sweet time returning to the mainland using the same route we did before, as it took a month for us. The LCCB will disembark on one of the Portship in the middle of the route and get into a faster boat to return and go to District 20’s HQ. You guys will disembark, whether or not LCCV will receive Refracted Railway Abnormalities before or after doesn’t matter.” It seems us disembarking when there was a point of no negotiation, it was an order from the higher-up.

“It’ll be risky, this means the rest of us in LCCV will manage at maximum 10 Abnormalities on our own, but you LCCB guys are highly required for the works in District 20” Micah explained more.

“The reason being that…… LCB is expected to do many side jobs, side quest you could say it in gaming terms.” Micah sighed

“As you know, Limbus Company is advertised in the public as a new corporation specializing in taking care of Distortions cases. So the LCB, not just the Golden Bough main missions, also needed to do these side jobs.”

“Which requires us LCCB to gather information too, regarding the Distortion cases and missions they will take on, right?” I asked Micah and he nodded.

“I have a question though, after us LCCB, the After team, and you guys LCCA left behind in LCCV all have arrived in District 20, what will happen to LCCV and the Abnormalities within?”

“It seems LCCV will be stored for future purposes when needed, while the Abnormalities will be taken care of and put in the Limbus Company’s District 20’s HQ. Essentially we kind of have our own Lobotomy Corp Branch Facility” Micah answered my question.

“I wonder if that’s a good and safe decision…..” I muttered, but it’s not like we can question and disobey the higher-up’s order for now.

“Who knows, maybe they think putting Abnormalities in different facilities will prevent catastrophic casualties by putting them all in one location” Micah shrugged. “That’s all that I was told to tell you guys, please inform all of your teammates about these informations”

Micah concluded the meeting and left the room to inform our team. Slowly, Montag and Scene also left. I patted Rouge who was crying silently, “…. Need to inform Pilot about their situation…..” he muttered before also leaving the room with me.

Chapter Text

Canto 5, Yuri’s Side Part 2

It’s been a week since the incident with Pilot making Sign of Roses breached. 3 days ago, the Sinners had returned to Marlin Portship. They were also staying for a while, not just to recuperate mentally but also stocking up their ration for their return journey.

They also brought with them the Abnodexes of our fallen comrades, though only some of them were intact, the others were broken, apparently from the battle against the Middle’s Big Brother. On the other hand, the Golden Bough arrived safely and intact. We received it from the Sinners and it was put inside LCCV the same day they arrived at Marlin Portship.

We in the LCCV were also waiting for LCCA to bring us the Abnormalities from the Lobotomy Corp. Branch Facility, so we hung out with them for a while. Micah and Montag handled the Observation Logs we got from the Sinners, so we knew what we needed to prepare to work with them.

I was in the middle of going to the Sinners again when a Devyat’ Association Fixer reached me. “Are you from Limbus Company, miss?” They asked me out of nowhere. “Huh? I mean- yeah…” I was using my LCCB uniform which had the name of the company on it, so maybe that's why I was approached.

“A letter for one of your employees” they produced a letter from their bag. With how wrapped and the high quality the layers of protection around it, I could potentially guess how important it is. I thanked the Fixer and took the letter from them.

“Now then…..” I read the front of the letter, the address of the sender. It was written in a beautiful series of cursive handwriting, it was almost a calligraphic beauty on its own. “From Wuthering Heights, T Corp. Nest”. 

I hummed, reading the sender was T Corp Nest, I assumed this had something to do with the Sinners’ next Golden Bough or Distortion missions.  “Anyway…. Do I hand this over to Manager Dante or the Guide, Red Gaze….” I pondered. I decided to decide who to hand the letter over later when I met them.

Fortunately, I did have an appointment with them, it’s more that they invited me and Pilot to a barbecue dinner on Mephistopheles.

As I joined them, I saw Manager Dante was busy with keeping everyone on leash. Their banter, arguments, and antics were always fun to watch, but still, since it seems they were busy, I decided to approach mister Vergillius.

“It’s you, pinky.” Charon greeted me, “Do you bring sweets for Charon again?” She asked. I apologized, that no, this time I did not. She pouted and huffed annoyedly and I apologized again, but quickly changed the subject to talk and greet mister Vergilius.

“What is it?” He asked coldly. “I received this letter, I think it was meant to be for you guys…” I handed off the letter to him. He opened it with a nearby knife and read the content of the letter and nodded.

“Got it, I will relay this to them when the time’s right.” Once my duty was finished there, I joined the Pilot in helping with the barbecue that night. Overall, we spent the night well, and our bellies were full.

The next day, Micah announced that the After Team has arrived and is waiting for us in the dock. We welcomed them, took the Suppressed Cores from them and put them in their designated Containment Units we have prepared for them.

The After Team will be joining us inside the LCCV after we from LCCB departed from the vessel on one of the Portship in our return journey’s charted route. In other words, for the first half of the journey, they can’t help us with taking care of the Abnormalities. 

The After Team also brought more Abnodexes that the Sinners couldn’t find, we had one day off to pray for their remembrance, but with the After Team now here with the new Abnormalities, this signifies the end of our stay in Marlin Portship.

We began preparing for our departure. On the same day, ration stocks, hygiene products, and other daily life needs were bought in bulks. The LCCV’s ship crew were also preparing for our departure as well.

Finally on the next day, I said goodbye to Mister Gregor and the others, promising that we will meet on their next mission.

—————————————————————————————————————

Our voyage started early at dawn. By the time I was awake the next morning, I could feel the swaying from the sea waves.

As before, we held a meeting to brief everyone else and discuss how to take care of the new  Abnormalities yesterday before I said goodbye to the Sinners. Today, we will relay the information from that meeting to our teammates. 

The important thing we found is that 2 out of the 3 new Abnormalities are WAW Risk Level in threat level. And 2 out of the 3 new Abnormalities were also Aberrant versions of the original one from Lobotomy Corp. HQ. We planned to use the information we got from the original Abnormalities from Lobotomy Corp. as a clue on how to take care of those 2. 

We gathered everyone in the Main Area for a briefing. We gave them a heads-on of what will happen soon, that we will begin the “trial and error” phase of working with the new Abnormalities until we get all the necessary information and get used to working with them.

“For now, as we wait for the HQ to send us the data of these two original versions from Lobotomy Corp. HQ,  let’s see what we can do for this one.” I grabbed and waved  the bundle of paper containing the data of Ambling Pearl.

“Thankfully LCCA also managed to recover the Abnormality datas from the L Corp Branch Facility, so we have something to start the work with.”

I began skimming and summarizing what we could read from it, since the non-digitised data are made from materials that have been pallidified, some of the writings are also too illegible to read. So we also had to rely on the notes written by the LCB Sinners. It seems the one responsible to write for this one is Sinclair.

“Let’s see, from their encounters so far and the logs made by L Corp, the slimes it creates are toxic to us, but also toxin to its own internal organs. So it requires frequent cleaning. However due to its toxin, assigning the same person doing the cleaning - Insight Work several times in a row will result in their death by toxin.

Similarly, due to its toxin, leaving it and not cleaning its slime for a while will result in it being aggressive due to the toxin and the Qlipoth Count lowering. It seems the pearl inside it is its weak spot, so the combat logs suggest us to constantly attack and try to pry open its shell, so that the weakness is revealed.

Something about larvae is mentioned here but the rest are too hard to be read - what are these watery smudge stains….” I sighed and let the papers be rotated around for others to read, much like Pilot,  we also have rookie LCCAs joining us here.

“For Pilot and the rest of the new recruits, I suggest try working on the TETH level first.” When Micah said that, some people glared at Pilot, probably due to him fucking it up and tried to work on Sign of Roses - a WAW level - the last time. 

“We have the previously admitted Faelantern and also this new one called Skin Prophet. It seems to be an aberration of Skin Prophecy…..” I looked at Montag who nodded, and gave me some printed papers.

It seems he had finally received information from the HQ, “Both gives out a buffing effect for those who have Prudence less than 3. This would generally be a boon for you all, except if you have raised your Prudence so high, yet you suffered from panic attack, then the buffing effect doesn’t just disappear, you will also die. Do be careful about that” He said it so calmly, but making sure they know any Abnormalities are to be taken seriously. 

“On the other hand, it seems  we should be glad it is also a non-breaching Abnormality, sure when it’s Qlipoth Count reaches 0, it’ll do something to the facility, but we should be safe from fighting it, unlike with LCB''

“Lastly, Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent” Montag held two different kinds of bundles of papers. “Similar caretaking tips, as the original, The Dreaming Current.

But troublesome when escapes. All 12 LCB members drowned once. Properly work together, team work important. Especially about the Fluorescence stuffs.” As usual, he refuses to elaborate more until he himself learns more about it.

Both Micah and Montag let their papers get shifted around for others to read and take personal notes of before they are assigned where to work and when to start their work.

”I’ll handle Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent, can you take Ambling Pearl first, Yuri?” Micah asked me. I agreed, the both of us knew the fact that both of those Abnos are WAW level, unlocking their information takes priority, and only so few can take them on, the two of us included.

———————————————————

Day X1 (Same day)

I went to the Containment Unit of Ambling Pearl, and a putrid stench welcomed me immediately. Once I was fully in the room and the door locked, I could see a giant clam that was in the corner of the room growing several legs, black and thin, walking towards me. With each step it takes, fetid green muck spills from its shells.

I went to the wall where the cleaning supplies are stored and took some of the tools to clean up the goo, using the squeegee to drag them to the disposal hatch.

Once everything was considerably cleaned, the door was unlocked and I tidied up and returned the tools to the wall closet and went out. I knew I did well, but I checked the Record Panel anyway just in case.

[Insight - Yuri] [Good]

Sighing in relief, I checked the Abnormality’s page in the Abnodex, the Good Work result gave me enough PE-Boxes for me to unlock the information on the Abnormality’s favorability for other types of works.

‘It’s safe to do Instinct Work and Repression Work with it, dunno with Attachment but if the pattern is consistent just like other Abnormality, it probably gonna end up as a Bad Result.’ I messaged Micah about what instruction he should give out next to the others, either other types of works or Insight but don’t assign me again for the time being.

———————————————————

Micah Side 

POV: General POV

 A giant abyssal fish with many cracked fluorescent turquoise LED tubes sticking out of its back floated in the room. Much like some specific type of Abnormality , this one can affect the environment of the Containment Unit to a certain degree.

The sound of water splashing from the deep sea echoes throughout the room.

The voice speaks.

'Yes. The deep sea is a dark place.'

'But at the end of that dark path is a light.'

'Because there are things that shine in the dark there.'

'Let's go there.'

'And we'll shine brighter than anything in that dark place.'

'We were all abandoned, yes. But we all had dreams, too. Remember?'

'Well, let's make our dreams come true. Let's sink together into the depths.'

The dim fluorescent lights impaling the entity's back flicker.

Micah hummed hearing the voice speak. It spoke in such a mature accent despite the childish words.

“I read the data of your counterpart, The Dreaming Current. I heard about how it was the story of a terminally ill kid that was drugged for experiments to the point of only seeing hallucination to keep away the pain and suffering and how the drugs is also why it survived past its life expectation. 

The child, chasing an impossible dream, living in a dream world. I thought since you are an Aberrant of it, you’d be the same. Hah” I chuckled and huffed at the fish

”As I thought, your obsession with something was similar yet completely different” he mocked the fish. “You sink deep into despair, blinded by your own obsession, but you fully know it. Fully conscious of your decision, you sink by your own volition.

Truly you resemble those kid s and that man at the same time” Something in the scent of the deep sea in this room set him off. He fully knew when he entered what he was supposed to do, but the passive provocation of the fish made him remember his past a bit too intimately for his comfort.

”You want me to go there? To the deep sea? Chasing after the shadow of that man? Fuck off” He yanked out the fluorescent lights that has been glowing far too bright for his artificial eyes. “If I ever sink into the depths it will be after my duty is done. I have far too many things to do on the surface right now”

Micah hissed and went out of the room and checked the Record Panel, fully convinced he’d have a very bad work result, since he thought his work inside had accidentally shifted to Insight Work.

[Repression - Micah] [Common]

He was relieved that it was still within the Common range, but still, he did realize he flubbed the fuck out, as the Qlipoth Count reduced to 1. 

Micah received Yuri’s message and also replied in the group about the situation of the result of his work on Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent, sighing with annoyance. “I’ll take a break and eat some candies before switching work with Yuri….” He began eating the candies that he were supposed to try and give to the Abnormality

—————————————————————————-

Going back to the Main Area, Yuri met with Micah, she saw his countenance wasn’t the usual calm and collected self. “Are you okay? What happened in the Abnormality’s room?”

Micah perked up and tried to hide it behind his usual reassuring smile, “It’s nothing~ the words it said just annoyed me a bit too much~” He sighed, “It reminded me of my awful past” he simply shrugged it off.

Yuri blocked his way, wanting to have more explanation, MIcah sighed and decided to sit nearby to talk with her, she sat on the other table’s chair but facing him silently.

“I’m…. The way it speaks about wanting to chase an impossible dream, a self-destructing dream that drags everyone down to sink and drown with it. Thinking that everyone would want the same thing. I hated it…. No matter how much loyalty you have to someone, I am my own person, I can’t just blindly accept that I want the same thing as the other person I admire…”

“Anyway I’ll be fine. Ah right, you can give these candies to someone else who plans to work with it or if you want to work with it, please try to do Attachment Work with it.” Micah gave her several wrapped candies. Other members, newbie or experienced agents also visited the Main Area once their first Abno work was done.

“Seriously? That wasn’t so bad, was it? You just need to maintain the Normal Work Result, not Good not Bad right? How the hell did you fuck up that badly? Pilot. I’m talking to you. Oy” Someone was berating Pilot.

“I heard of the reports you know, that you fucked up and made Sign of Roses breached, and caused your entire team got involved with Middle, it was so bad that even LCB now ended up in their Book of Vengeance as well.  Thanks to that now LCCB is understaffed and even had to rely on us to take care of your mess. It seems LCCB thought we were soooo bored and have too much free time that we can help clean up not just LCB’s mess, but your mess as well huh?”

“Hey-“ Yuri was going to step up but Micah held him back, seeing as Rouge is coming up to defend his friend.

“Well sheesh, sorry for disturbing your so called free time, Grausam. If you are really that dissatisfied with our work, why don't you try to work with what we usually dealt with here. Surely, a senior operator like you can handle all types of work with the Abnormalities here right? Or was that time with Sign of Roses just now a fluke?” Rouge taunted him and dragged Pilot away from him.

“Just because you are a senior member doesn’t mean you get the rights to haze our rookie, uncooperativeness will only lead to demise here”

Due to the incident in th L Corp Branch Facility, Pilot is essentially an ‘orphan’ employee, not belonging to any team. For a while now, Rouge has included him in his Training Team, at least until the official transfer notice to his LCCB squad is confirmed.

Grausam, the older employee who was berating them huffed, going away to work with other Abnormalities. Micah sighed, “We sure got some interesting people joining us this time….” He looked around and found someone suitable.

“Calnie,” he called out an employee, “between Ambling Pearl and Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent, which one you want to work with?” Micah returned to his usual casual and chatty self immediately.

“Eh? What? Uh, hold on…..” The person named Calnie suddenly pulled out their Abnodex to check on something. “Hm…. I’ll work on the whale one” they decided so quickly.

“Eh? You sure? We haven’t unlocked every information there is for both of them, wouldn’t you want to take more time for consideration? They are WAW level, after all” Micah was caught off-guard at how easily they decided on things that it was concerning for even him.

”Well, it was simple for me to decide, the Pearl one looked disgusting with all the slimy stuff. The Dream whale one though, it looked pretty with all the glowing stuff around it right~? I read the log of its other version, the Dreaming Current, seems pretty friendly, so I assumed it’d be the same. Oh, is Attachment Work okay with it? I’d like to try to pet it if I could” They rambled on and on.

Their reasoning was so out-of-the-box that Micah and Yuri internally questioned their professionalism. But Yuri sighed, “Well, if thinking that one is cute makes you want to work well with it, I say let them go for it. Make sure to try and not bond with it too much though”

“Roger! So is petting it as Attachment Work okay for me to do, if so, I’ll try to work with it now?” Calnie asked excitedly once they got the permission, “Sure, other than petting you can try these” Micah took out several candies from his pocket. “The original Dreaming Current prefers candies with artificial flavorings such as grape candies. If you want to, you could try finding its candy preference too”. Calnie took the candies happily and thanked him as they went on.

”E-excuse me!” Someone else approached Yuri, she turned to him. “My name’s Kai. Uhm… Ms. Yuri, I heard you previously worked at L Corp?” The new member, named Kai, greeted Yuri. “Huh? Yeah, just the branch facility of it in D Corp though…. Not the actual HQ, why?”

”But still, it’s amazing you still get to work in one of the Wings!” Kai excitedly shook her hand. “My name’s Kai. My dream is to work in W Corp, like my brother Kaerel does. But well, I thought, I probably wouldn’t get accepted on my first try immediately if I sent my CV without any achievements in it.”

“Ah, so you applied here for those achievements and experience in working?”

“Yeah, I heard most of the Insight Work done on Abnormality, as well as what LCCA does is a clean-up job right? The department in W Corp that I wanted to join is the Warp Train Cleanup Crew, like my brother does. It’s a type of field work where you clean up Warp Train apparently. So hey, it suits my goal, you know if I got some experience here~?”

“Why would a Warp Train - that takes only 10 seconds to teleport you elsewhere…. Need to clean up….?” Yuri muttered, “ah well, Wings have their own secrets I suppose”.

“Yeah, wish I got more info and can tell you, but my bro’s signed an NDA for that, sorry.” Kai laughed and apologized.

“Oh no, don’t apologize, I mean, we also got some NDAs, when you were recruited, you signed them too, right?” Yuri whispered and gossiped with Kai, immediately feeling a bond with him, “oh yeah, that one. Yep. But anyway, yeah, I want to join the Warp Train’s Cleanup Crew for that. You know, making sure those passengers ride on a clean train is also a good feeling, so they can enjoy their journey, even though it’s only a few seconds. Gotta make sure they enjoy their vacation - at least that’s what my brother says.”

“I see, if so, then this Abnormality is a good choice for you.” Yuri recommended Ambling Pearl to him. “It requires periodical cleaning. Be careful though, as the slimes are toxic, make sure to clean your own clothes after getting out as well.”  “Got it! I’ll keep that in mind!” Kai excitedly started reading the caretaking notes for it.

The first day working with the new Abnormality and new workers went well that day.

——————————-

Day X3

The works went well, Kai learnt how to clean up Ambling Pearl, Calnie found out the preferences of Dream. Calnie seemingly a bit disappointed when they found out the favors for Dream will never reach Good Work Result, but only Common. Micah told them that it’s okay and as long as they maintain that balance it should be fine.

“Cleaning up Ambling Pearl from time to time is fine, but the Black Damage it does to me from the putrid smell of the room has been getting to me…. Is there any other Abnos that require cleaning that won’t be doing too much harm for me?” Kai sighed tiredly, arms spreading on the table.

”You are doing a pretty good job for your first assigned Abnormality being a WAW Level though, do you. have experience in doing this kind of job? Also, sure I’ll look up if there’s another Abnormality that suits you as well.” Yuri chuckled at his complaint.

”Thanks, and yeah, I had a Fixer License the moment I turned 20, Kaerel, despite being in W Corp, had some connections and recommended me to work in which Office and which work I should choose. Most of them are clean-up jobs since he knew I wanted to be in the Cleanup Crew, some of them even were like, cleaning up the crime scene from Shi Association work.” He admitted it so casually, but I do believe that such a job would exist in the City. 

“Nice, ah right, here…. Uh, wait are they escaping right now… oh, no, no they didn’t. They are still in their room. Alright, why don’t you work on this one next?” Yuri pointed to the Wayward Passenger’s room.

“I do the clean up work with this one? Cool, gotcha I'll just do that….” Kai lifted himself up and went to the room. Yuri decided to work on Sign of Roses again, even if they have unlocked every information and EGO Gears, doesn’t mean they can't ignore them and only focus on the new ones.

As Yuri left for that, Micah returned from working with Skin Prophet. “Ah! Why did you do that! You knew I wanted to equip that EGO Gears!” Calnie groaned as Micah entered the Main Area with her arguing with Grausam in front of the QR Code ATM machine.

“Shut it. I fulfilled the requirement to use them. A newbie like you would surely just suffer EGO Corrosion wearing this one. Why don’t you wear a suitable one, like the Skin Prophet one.”

“That one’s too weak for me, I’d just feel unsafe wearing it! Plus I don’t like its creepy design! I told you from the first thing today I wanted the Whale’s EGO, why are you being mean?!”

“You are the one being childish here!” The two were arguing about who gets to equip the Blind Obsession EGO Gears. Micah sighed at the stupid argument and pulled Calnie away from him, asking them to relent and use something else for now, and if they want to talk design and defense-wise, there should be other EGOs that fits their requirement.

“At any rate, Grausam, do me a favor and work on Skin Prophet too for the time being?” “Huh?! Why me-“ “I know it’d be an easy job for someone as experienced as you, which is why I chose you. We need more sample data you see” Micah shut him up with a logical excuse before he could argue back.

“Sample data? Of what?” “The Skin Prophet boosts one’s Prudence stats right? I’d like to see what it does to one’s Sanity and resistance to White Damage as well. As well what is the highest level could be buffed by it”

“Hmm. Sure, I suppose I can do that, my Prudence is rather low after all” Grausam nodded wisely, behind Micah’s smiling face, he was commenting, ‘I think that was pretty obvious to figure out from the get-go that you have low Prudence with the way you behave’. He didn’t let the comment out though, and just made a way for him to go to Skin Prophet to work on it. 

“Even though my Temperance also fulfilled the criteria to wear the EGO….” Calnie whined and extracted any other EGO they could wear for now. “Oh right, Micah-sunbae, I found out some stuff about the Dream Whale”

“You’ve been saying that for a while now, it seems to be the way people nicknamed the Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent huh? ”Micah asked.

“Well duh, the real name was mouthful, it should be fine right? It wasn’t a term of endearment” Calnie cautiously asked as well.

Micah nodded and hummed, “it should be fine. Anyway what findings did you get?” He pointed to a chair and table so they could talk at ease.“So what’s the finding you got?”

“Right, about the candies, it seemed to prefer sour and salty candies instead, like the sea salt candies or sailor candies. Oh and also, any type of Insight Work, be it just a form of self-reflection or cleaning the place seems to be its dislike. Next is Instinct, it prefers food over playing for that type of work it seems.”

“That’d be useful information, you should submit it to the public server so everyone else can read it. And remember just because you always have Common Work Result without getting any Qlipoth Countdown so far, doesn’t mean you can let your guard down.” Micah warned them again, “I know, I know, don’t worry~” they shrugged him off, feeling confident but thanked him for the time anyway.

Micah sighed and Yuri returned from working on another Abno, it seems she worked on Ambling Pearl while Kai was working on Wayward Passenger. “You look tired” there’s an egg sized pearl hanging from her neck now like a necklace, it looks slightly green and off-white too, cloudy white. “What had just happened?” Yuri asked.

“The intranet that’s supposed to connect us to the EGO Database with the other facility - LCCU is having a shutdown. Meaning the newbies that are joining us just now back on U Corp. won’t have access to download the EGO Gears from LCCU - like Rime Shank or Sunshower and stuff. We are still safe as we have downloaded most of them, but we still won’t be able to download the EGOs from LCCU right now if you need a new one from that place. Meaning all of us are stuck with only EGO Gears from the Abnormalities here. Since the choice and amount is limited, the newbies have been giving me a headache by arguing of who gets to wear what…... Is that the EGO Gift of Ambling Pearl?” He asked, pointing at her necklace, trying to distract himself from the subject “Yeah,” Yuri nodded, “Huh, interesting we haven’t got a necklace type so far right? Also why are you working on that and not Kai?”

“I thought it’d be bad if he kept working on it and get poisoned, so I asked him to work on something else-“ As she was going to explain it to Micah, Kai himself came stomping into the room, screaming

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” He screamed at Yuri when he found her. “What the- that thing, the appearance is-“

“Indoor voice Kai….” Micah warned, Yuri groaned at the sudden loud noise. Kai begrudgingly nodded and spoke in smaller volume to Yuri, demanding explanation.

“Why is there, here, that creature, is a monster wearing the uniform of W Corp’s Cleanup Crew?!”  Kai asked Yuri, who pushed him away to give herself some space. “I did figured it was a W Corp uniform, but huh, for it to be specifically the Cleanup Crew…” She sighed, but was a bit glad some of her personal questions were answered.

“Why are you being so calm about this?! Did you know from the start- what is going on-?!” Kai slammed his hand on the table, surprising Yuri again. Micah sighed.

“Can you calm down first? Yuri can’t explain anything at all with you facing her and not giving her any seconds to process an answer” Micah warned sternly and he finally sat in front of her, facing her silently for an answer.

“Firstly, you did sign an NDA and received an explanation of what Limbus Company does right?” Yuri asked that first.

“Yes, we are to retrieve the creatures called Abnormalities from the L Corp’s Branch Facilities as well as searching for the Golden Bough for later the LCB department, the ones called Sinners to retrieve later, and sometimes we will also need to search for info for Distortion cases as well” Kai tried to recall.

“Right. The Abnormalities and Golden Bough are said to be the source of energy production for L Corp, you can connect the dots this much right?” Micah asked, “but as for what is the Singularity of L Corp, even if we were told what it is, it’s still hard to understand for people like us how it works. A creature being born out of concept, emotions, tales, and other stuff. For all I know, Wayward Passenger is just another one of such things. Creature born from the concept of someone who knows what W Corp works are like. Maybe it was an actual human being, maybe it was not, who knows. It is a living concept and it just so coincidentally represents what people think or experience of what W Corp technology is like.” Micah shrugged.

“….” Kai pondered for a bit. “My brother never told me what W Corp’s singularity and how it works or what his works are like…. I see, so maybe they share some similarities…”

“Well he signed an NDA, we also know as much about W Corp’s workers as you do, in other words, nearly nothing at all. At any rate, as you signed an NDA as well, can you promise us not to share your findings here to your brother as well? Your brother can hold up professionalism to not spill any information at all about his work, surely you can do the same. I’m sure the Limbus Company wouldn’t want to get into trouble with something as big as an entire Wing” Yuri sighed and asked him as well.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I don’t really like having to hide something from my brother, but I won’t tell him anything either. I won’t let you get into trouble with a Wing” Kai smiled, having calmed down, “but still, if curiosity got the better of me, and I want to try to figure out stuff about W Corp and Wayward Passenger on my own, can I talk to you two?”

“Of course, any new findings about Abnormalities could save our lives, working here.” Micah chuckled and let him go, sighing after the dangerous storm had passed. “I think we did well avoiding the bullet there.” Yuri laughed awkwardly too after Kai left.

“I’ll keep an eye on him, but considering how much he followed his brother’s footsteps, I think we can safely say he’ll also keep it a secret as much as he does” Micah hummed. 

“Anyway, what we need to keep an eye on isn't just the fact that he could be a blabber mouth, it’s that.” “That?” Yuri pointed to the floor, Micah could see trails of dark green goo from where Kai walked before. “Is that…. Sticky Muck?” “So it seems, thankfully the Qlipoth Count is still at 1.” Yuri checked from the monitor of her device. “Mm.. okay, let’s be careful then.” Micah noted it. Thankfully the rest of the working hours of that day went well.

———————————————————————————-

Day X7

During the morning shift, while the others continued working on the Abnormalities, the Team Captains were having their emergency meeting. Some people have reported an increase of critical thinking, concentration, or decision making ability for some people who were blessed with Melted Paraffin. Though some of their colleagues also expressed an increase of outbursts of energy, and haughtiness of being able to do anything.

“Hmm….” Scene compiled all the opinions that came to her about the effect of it and discussed it with Micah at one point. “This effect felt familiar to me…. Right, it does feel like the side effect of drug addiction….” She mentioned. “What drug?” Micah asked cautiously.

“Hmmm…. Do you know about the Mad Students case? Parents feeding their kids illegal drugs they got from Backstreets that they heard could make them smart by increasing their concentration and information absorption capabilities. The side effect of overdosing from using such drugs felt similar to this effect of Melted Paraffin” Scene recalled an incident that happened once in the Nest she came from.

“The increase of energy outbursts and haughtiness needs to be monitored carefully then,  they might make them do something reckless. Plus an increase of emotional state will also make them more perceptible to any form of sanity attack or panicking, which might cause them to die” Micah asked her Safety Team to keep an eye on people blessed with Melted Paraffin, Grausam included in the list.

———————————-

Morning shift ended normally even after the meeting. Yuri was passing by Rouge so they decided to chat for a bit and walk together until they reached the Main Area.

“Lunch time soon~ wonder what the ship chef cooked for to-“ The Second Trumpet blared its alarm. “Or maybe not, let’s go, we got something to beat up first”. Yuri patted Rouge’s back as they headed for the upcoming battle.

The PSA announced that it was Ambling Pearl that escaped. Yuri arrived at the location first with Rouge, the other Team Captains arrived later. While Yuri tried to fight and beat it up, trying to make it open its shell to reveal the Pearl, Rouge reported to Micah. Apparently, some sort of miscommunication and false rumor happened.

After seeing several people who mainly did Insight Work infected with Green Muck, one Employee suggested their other friends do other works other than Insight, despite the order that Micah gave them. This leads to the accumulation of toxin inside the Containment Unit and why Ambling Pearl is enraged and escapes right now.

“Everyone watch out for your feet!” Yuri called them back to be aware of the battle. The whole area they are in had poisonous goo and putrid smell all around, it lowered the employees’ defense due to them trying to fan away the smell from their bodies. “Defeat the green slimes first! Don’t let Ambling Pearl consume them or it’ll grow stronger!” Yuri warned.

”The ones that are geared in Red Damage or piercing weapons, follow Yuri’s directions.” Micah commanded as well.

Yuri had recently felt more comfortable in the Sign of Roses EGO Gears, so that is what she’s using right now.

Scene is using the Sunshower EGO Gears and opens the umbrella to shield her team from the fluid attacks.

Montag is wearing the EGO Gears from My Form Empties and is hacking away at the  Green Slimes.

“Scene. Poisoned from Green Muck, they are stuck.” Montag called out. The infection from the Green Muck Larvae made their movements significantly slower and they were too late to escape.

Some were paralyzed from waist down, some were burned from the corrosive fluid. Some were vomiting and defecating on spot from the fluid getting into their body. Scene sent her team to take care of them, shielding them on the way. One of such people was Kai.

There were others too, a pair of twin ladies and 2 more newbies were rescued as well. Pilot also came to rescue them by using Skin Prophet’s EGO Weapon and shooting at the Green Slimes or the Ambling Pearl’s tentacle that’s going after Scene.

Once Montag saw them taken to safety, he joined Yuri and Rouge’s battle against Ambling Pearl’s main body. Grausam was also one of the people joining in. He tried to charge forward despite Yuri’s warnings. 

“Grausam! Retreat!” “And why should I?! Didn’t we have to continuously beat it up until it revealed the Pearl?!” Grausam continuously tries to pry the shell open, only for it to spew out more corrosive fluid, raining it down on Yuri and the others.

“Thanks to the EGO we weren’t fully harmed… but the others….” She looked back at everyone wearing weaker EGO Gears. “Goddammit,” Even she was starting to get annoyed at the guy.

”Yuri. My Gear is that of Ambling Pearl itself, I should be safe, I’ll position myself as your shield, but my weapon is a cannon-type, it takes time to charge, so please distract it and give me a chance to shoot it at the right time.” Rouge asked. “Okay.” Yuri nodded, trying to distract it as Rouge charged up his weapon

Grausam tried to pry the shell open to no avail, only breaking his EGO Weapon in the process. “Grausam, enough! You are just putting yourself and others in danger!” Yuri tried to pull him back, which was only replied with a growl.

Micah arrived on time and struck him at the right spot and made him unconscious, “someone who’s only disobeying the order is a liability to the team” He sighed and let Scene dragged him away. 

Yuri and Montag thanked them and continued to beat the shell rhythmically. To protect them, Rouge stood in front of them, using his weapon and armor as a shield when they retreated away from the fluid attacks.

After a while, Ambling Pearl, who is cornered, attempted to devour one of its Green Slimes. When it does, it slightly opens the shell larger than when it usually does to spew out fluids. 

“Now!” Yuri pointed out, Montag prevented the predation by slashing the Green Slime first and Rouge clicked the trigger in his cannon and shot out the bullet. The EGO Weapon’s bullet is also a type of toxin, similar to Ambling Pearl’s own toxin.

The Damage Type was ineffective but the poison still took effect as it screeched and gurgled, the shell flapped open properly now.

”Alright!” Rouge immediately reached his hands out to take the pearl out. “Taking its gem would be equivalent to taking its reason for existence away. It may fall apart without it” Yuri commented as she watched Rouge struggling to take it out.

The acidic burning sensation from the slime was creeping up all over Rouge’s arms as it went inside the staggered shellfish. It felt like lava. But despite all that, Rouge prevails and claims the gem with his hand.

When he pulled out the Pearl, Ambling pearl screeched, it tried to quickly regenerate something new in its maws. “Oh no you don’t” Yuri and Montag stabbed the inside of its maws and dragged it out and hacked it with their blades.

Rouge meanwhile threw the Pearl from overhead and made it crack on the floor with impact. And when that wasn’t enough, he used the butt of his cannon to crush it entirely like trying to make a powder out of the Pearl.

When it was completely shattered, as if losing its meaning of life, Ambling Pearl echoed a gurgle again, its attacks are significantly weaker now, even after the shell is closed. As if trying to protect the newly forming Pearl inside its mouth, it focuses more on defending instead of attacking. 

But the Team Captain, merciless in their beating, quickly subdued it after its Pearl was destroyed and it reverted to its ovate form. “Suppression done, please take the egg back to its room” Yuri asked Montag and had everyone else’s wounds taken care first before her own.

Kai and every other newbie witnessing the battle was flabbergasted at the intensity of the battle that day.

——————————————————————
This chapter’s fanart: Rouge, the Training Team Captain

Chapter Text

Day X8

Grausam Side

POV: General POV

That morning, Grausam was called out to a meeting with the Team Captains. While they acknowledge how experienced he is in this type of field work, his disregard at the combat orders were blatant insubordination. Essentially he was scolded through and through. But he merely gave a lip service apology that he will take this as a hard lesson and will not do it again.

‘Yes I might have lost my patience with Yuri for a moment and acted a little efficiently when she butted in, but how could someone so delicate know anything of value? She survived the Facility Burial in the old L Corp by pure luck! And she didn’t even have that much fieldwork experience afterwards as a Fixer. She was the one so foolishly ordering me to stop attacking. We had to pry it open to get to the Pearl, how would I know it would snap my EGO Gift in half? And the whole fluid attack, the others should have geared up properly, that's their fault.’ Grausam gruffed, never admitting out loud but believed completely he was not at fault at all.

‘I deserve some praise here. Seriously, I've endured being put under the team with the absolute worst captain.’ He sighed. He didn’t even have time to request for a new weapon. He had to use the standard assigned weapon for today until the new weapon request is approved. ‘Even then, this is a far much weaker Weapon… is this the only thing available?’ He sighed.

Despite being warned to not work on it too much, Grausam insisted on working with Skin Prophet again. “My Prudence has increased, I should do more so that it increases more and more. That’s right. I deserve this. I need to get stronger, prove myself worthy. Unlike those rats….” He muttered to himself.

He was supposed to do Instinct work here, but the muttering of self esteem issues caused the work to shift into Insight Work. He didn’t realize it but the Qlipoth Count went down by 1.

———————————————

Finally his request for the weapon was approved. He got the 9:2 EGO Weapon, a pistol that can deal White Damage. Grausam looked around at the Main Area. 

“Whoa-! What the heck?! Why are you out this time!” Pilot jolted and tried to guide Wayward Passenger back to its cage.

Kai was frantically making notes trying to memorize stuff to not make a mistake, it seems he became anxious after the Suppression yesterday.

The twin sister newbies that were rescued by Yuri were giggling at how cute Faelantern was. Calnie was happily preparing entertainments or snacks they could feed Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent for the next Attachment Work.

‘I’m not like them. Nothing. I’m a very professional and experienced worker. I’ll show them how proper field work is done.’ He scoffed and looked down at them.

Suddenly the first Trumpet alarm blared. Several rooms have turned dark as well as if a black out also happened at the same time.

In the Main Area Grausam was also having a black out, the people in the room shouted out, searching for the light switch. And even though Kai found it, the room still wasn't getting any bright.

Grausam, who had Melted Paraffin still lighting up on top of his head, smelled some wax, figured what was going on. He calmly felt the wall, when he felt some parts were covered with hard wax and smoke, he realized this was a mountain of melted candles. He needs to light them up. 

Grausam bent down and let the fire transfer from his head’s candle to the candle on the wall. The candle’s light magically spread itself to the whole wall and the whole room was brightly lit and slowly, the actual lamp lit up the room, fixing the situation.

Grausam groaned, holding his head from the severe headache that was caused from it. He could feel his candle melted a bit.

“Hey dude you okay?” “What was that?!” Some people were still confused, some thanked or asked Grausam out of concern.

Feeling annoyed at being worried even by small fries, Grausam slapped their hand away. “That was the effect of Skin Prophet when its Qlipoth Count reached zero. It doesn’t escape but it makes several rooms have black-outs. Do you not read the manual?” He hissed at the newcomers. 

“You can technically attack the candles with Red damage to light them up, but it’s faster using the candle on top of one's head if they are blessed by Melted Paraffin. Grausam huffed, “It’s painful for my head but I’ll take care of it” He power walked to other locations, using the web camera functions in the Abnodex’ map app to see which rooms had black-outs.

Grausam barged into the other two rooms, solving the issue quickly. The people in the third room praised him, which made him feel better despite the splitting headache he got. It was as if his own brain was melting when the candle melted each time he lit up a room. It hurts, but he didn’t mind it.

Grausam lives for the praises he gets. Even if it felt like a rope loosely tied up on his neck and the pain from the headache made him have to take a deeper breath.

One newbie named Will praised him and followed him around like a puppy dog even after he exited the room. Usually he would have shrugged such a person away from him. Useless interaction like that merely eats up his time, but this felt nice. He wanted more of this validation.

“Oh, what’s that?” Will suddenly said and stopped mid-talking and approached something he found interesting.

When Grausam looked in front of him, Will wasn’t there anymore, he was slightly higher. Roots of a plant. Suddenly stabbed him, it was a direct fatal impalement, the eyes on the roots, leering back at Grausam.

“What the-“ someone who was just talking to him, died just so suddenly the. next second. That was normal in his field of work. That is normal in The City. But his brain couldn’t process it.

He screamed in panic,  he used his EGO Weapon to shoot at it. The Faelantern at first disregarded it, expanding more of its roots as if blooming and then retracting it back down to drag Will’s body underground to digest.

The whole roots burrowed, but more stems of it can be seen encroaching to chase after Grausam as if planning to move to another location, or was it to feast on Grausam?

Grausam didn’t know, he was in such a state of panic that all he could think of was shooting at the roots with his EGO handgun. It was futile and ineffective. “No…. Nononono…. This can’t be happening. This can’t-“  the candle in his head melted even more, he couldn’t think straight. He tried to run away from the location. 

He mumbled random thoughts. “The hallway is coated with blood and brain fluid… you can see it too, right? We need a mop and bucket…. We have to clean it up… I was… what was that kid’s name… I was just talking to him… I can still hear him…. I can’t stop hearing it…….” He talked to no one beside him, “My head, everything is collapsing, I-…. They are calling me. That’s right, this was the prophecy written, the truth of this world…..” Grausam lifted his EGO Weapon, making the gun’s mouth face his temple.  “I will go…. Insert myself in that page, in the record….”

Someone shot his arm with the same weapon from afar, they were lucky enough, the shot hit his hand and made the EGO Weapon flung away.

“Use the M. Corp Vial! He’s panicking and Suicidal!” Scene commanded the other Safety Team member to handle Grasusam. “Inform other teams that Faelantern is on the loose somewhere! We can’t detect it with a camera so everyone needs to keep an eye on it and on each other! Warn them not to be charmed by the Fairy!” 

After Grausam was injected with tranquilizer and M. Corp Vial to restore his Sanity, he panted. He looked around and tried to process what happened, when he did, he looked at the Safety Team. “I see….” He gathered enough information and remembered what happened.

“I-…. Thank you,” He awkwardly apologized for the embarrassing display of action. “Are you sure you are fine?” Scene asked, she noticed the Melted Paraffin had completely melted and the flame no longer lit.

“Yeah, don’t worry-“ Grausam’s speech was cut short as he felt more and more of the candle’s melted wax are dripping from his head. “What the… was it this much candle all the-“ In front of him, he saw Scene horrified. “H-hey! Stay with me!  Hey!” She tried to hold his hand.

“What-…. Are you talking about…?” His sight slowly obstructed with something white. At first only on one side, and slowly, both sides. He can no longer see. “Wh-……” and soon he also no longer can talk.

Scene witnessed it first hand, the process happened quickly in real time but as she witnessed it directly, it felt so slow, and so detailed. The candle on top of his head kept melting, more and more, slowly his head looked misshapen. Grausam’s head also slowly melted, turning white like a candle.

As it melted, Scene could see what’s inside…… there’s nothing inside his body. Just the same white waxiness, melting as if his whole body was a wax all this time, no brain whatsoever. Slowly both of the upper half of his face melted, but he could still utter some words, and when his whole head melted, Grausam no longer talked and just stood there.

When the melting process reached the base of his neck, the whole process sped up and became much quicker, ending in seconds before Scene could process what happened. His whole body just liquefy into off-white wax liquid, and just like melted wax, it slowly solidifies on the spot as well.

Everything melted, his being, the hands Scene was just holding, and even his EGOs.

’Calm down… calm down calm down… You can’t panic right now. Many other people from my team just witnessed that death too, they would also be panicking right now. I need to keep my head up, I need to treat them and prevent them from doing dangerous things….’ Scene lifted herself up, her knees staggering, her hands still felt hot from the melted wax from Grausam’s hand.

“Inform others and make a report about this incident. Keep calm and make sure to take care of others and yourself.” Scene clapped to snap everyone back to their reality.

Chapter Text

Day X9

POV: General POV

“So, this is the chronology of what actually happened. First, after the meeting to warn him for insubordination and despite warning of the danger of working with Skin Prophet, Grausam still decided to work with it.

At some point, his Prudence was probably maxxed out, his disruptive behavior increased, but not to the point of disturbing others actively through-out the day. He also had his request for a new EGO Weapon approved.

Afterwards blackouts in three rooms happened due to Skin Prophet’s Qlipoth Count reached 0. Then as an attempt to finish it quickly  and not wanting to rely on others, Grausam lit up all the candles in each room. Signs of diminishing sanity were observed in his behavior at the time, but he ignored everyone’s advice to rest.

Then without warning, Faelantern was on the loose and one newbie who was with him at the time, Will, got charmed to it and was eaten right in front of him. This caused the last remaining Sanity depleted completely from his mind and he went on a suicidal panic attack. Scene stopped him right before he could kill himself.

What we didn’t expect at the time was that we didn’t know yet that his Prudence was maxxed out. So due to that, the side effect of Melted Paraffin took effect.

When someone with max Prudence went on a panic attack, the moment they returned to sanity, they died. And it seems they died in the form of a melting candle. The EGO Gears he’s wearing, Blind Obsession Suit and 9:2 gun also got destroyed with him when he died.” Micah sighed as he summarized the report.

“It really is such a shame that such a capable employee with high leveled Gears just died that way but….. God….” Rouge was conflicted. On one hand, he disliked Grausam’s attitude the whole time he joined their facility. On the other hand, even he didn’t want him to suffer such a gruesome death out of nowhere like that.

“Was there any other victim due to Faelantern’s escape?”

“None, thankfully, just that one person Will” Scene sighed in relief, it seems Yuri and Montag’s quick search paid off well.

“Tell the others who feel like they need some psychological consultation to come to my office. Me and my team will help them.”

“Um, yeah, I don’t think they’ll come up on their own. Some people force themselves to work harder as a coping mechanism” Scene and Rouge argued and decided they might need to make the session mandatory for some people.

“Can I ask you to make Kai included in this? It seems he’s grown frantic after the last few breachings from the new Abnormalities…..” Yuri asked as well. “We get Abnormalities breaching nearly everyday and at least someone dies once a day, but I suppose it has taken a  toll on him, alright. Let’s include him”

Exiting the meeting room, the Team Captains began assigning the others their new duties.

The twin girls, Nao and Mao tend to Faelantern, when one works, the other keeps an eye on the camera to search if it got loose. A

nother newbie named Celeg now tends to Skin Prophet. Warnings of dangers on the side-effects of raised Prudence have been educated to them, all that’s left depends on their own discretion on their own action.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day Y4

Work continued as usual, but Kai’s condition has sent even Yuri to worry. He kept mentioning he had to clean the place, be it any rooms, Containment Unit or himself. Yuri stopped him on his way, just after he just finished working on Ambling Pearl.

Despite it being mandatory and Yuri reminding him, Kai insisted he did not have time to go on some counseling session and do his work, and rake up achievements as he originally intended to do when he joined the company.

“If someone as experienced as Grausam could die so easily, I’d be scared for my own life even more now!” He insisted he needed to get stronger, so he won’t die easily. 

As Yuri was worried and tried to chase after Kai, the second-level warning alarm rang through the facility. The two of them heard through the PSA system that it was Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent that escaped, and that Calnie was incapacitated. 

“Safety Team, sent someone to rescue them! Both of their health and sanity looked bad, they are also unconscious.” Yuri asked Scene and the Safety Team as she scoured through the map in the Abnodex’ tablet screen. 

“It’s in the Right Wing, Training Team’s Main Area” Micah announced. “Combatants that have Red or Slash weapons, go there.”

“We will be diving into those flooded area, which will significantly slow us, so make sure to equip speed-buffing EGO Gifts as well. Those that have great physical endurance, prioritize destroying the flotsams in each room. Another group, go to where the whale is. Make sure to prioritize destroying the Fluorescence sticks on its back to quickly make the floods in other rooms recede.”

Yuri and Micah were assigning who goes to what team. She is to go up against the Whale itself. Other team captains are going to the flooded rooms. Yuri assigned Kai to destroy one of the Flotsams as well in one of the flooded rooms.

“Can you do it?” Yuri asked if he believed in himself. “I think so…., yeah, I think I can.” Kai nodded and went to one of the rooms. The room he entered was the same as Pilot’s. Or more specifically, Pilot was in the room when the flooding happened. 

Perhaps because of the flood’s SP-healing ability, Pilot and the others trapped kept calm and tried to swim away but couldn’t due to how slow their body felt. It also looked like they were in pain because the flood caused continuous Red Damage.

Kai pointed to the Flotsam and asked their help to attack it if they could still swim towards it. Once the flotsam was destroyed, it shattered into several Fluorescence shards, which he distributed for others to hold, this way, the continuous red Damage and drowning feeling lessened significantly, and they could breathe a bit better.

On Yuri’s side, they were fighting against the Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent itself. Deflecting its attacks and making sure attacks get through inside its body. As Micah got the Blind Obsession EGO this time, he acted as her shield sometime.

Montag threw himself up by jumping and scaling the wall and getting to its back, and used the EGO of My Form Empties to slash and destroy the Fluorescence Sticks on its back.

The sound of waves crashing and then receding could be heard in other rooms, Kai realized that the flood was no more, and everyone who was floating mid air due to the water are all now coming down.

Thankfully, the endurance given by their EGOs had them avoid fatal blows from the height. He had helped them stand up and checked other rooms, thankfully the other rooms also no longer have floods. Unfortunately those that didn’t get to have their share of Fluorescence Shards are now suffering from headaches from the mental attack pouring on their head.

Kai asked Pilot to take others to rest while he tried to join the battle against the Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent.

He touched his EGO Suit, he got the Dimension Shredder’’s Suit on and its Weapon as well. He had hoped that these clothes that were so similar to his brother’s uniform would give him the same strength.

Entering the room, he began helping the fight, though he perhaps couldn’t hear others were ordering him to retreat instead. They realized he actually had open wounds here and there, perhaps due to the effect of the Red Damage from the drowning. It was dangerous for him to kept fighting and yet he forged through, slashing with the Dimension Shredder knife on the sides of the whale to make it bleed and gash.

Eventually with combined effort, the whale was defeated. “Yuri~! Look! I defeated it! Heheh, aren’t I strong now?”  Kai laughed with confidence now. He felt much more refreshed.

Perhaps due to the flood also fixing his sanity, he felt so strong just now in the fight. He was sure Yuri would agree, that he was useful and proved his worth in this fight.

But Yuri slapped him instead, “There’s a difference between being strong, being courageous and being impulsive. You were the last. What were you thinking?! We ordered YOU to retreat because you had wounds all over! That was dangerous!”

“Eh, I wasn’t that badly hurt now did I? Plus in the CIty, anyone can die easily anywa-”

“That doesn’t mean you can just throw away your life so easily?! Especially since you have such a dream of working in a Wing?!” Yuri seethed out and took  deep breaths and calmed down, “take care of your wounds first before continuing to work on Abnormalities as usual”

“What’s with her problem?” Kai huffed, he did get first aid treatment but shrugged Yuri’s warning, confused as to why she would be angry like that. Was perhaps someone she knew died in the past from being reckless? Who knows, Kai wasn’t that interested in her past anyway.

He took a bit of a break before continuing to work on Ambling Pearl. As he walked there, he tried to remember what was the last work he did with it before the whole containment breach happened.  “Ummh… I kinda forgot, whatever, doing an Insight Work should be safe right?” so he decided, as he entered the room.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day Y6

[Field Operation Report

Subject: Incident Report - Field Operative KIA Due to Negligence

Date: 16 August 984

Date of Incident: 14 August 984

Location: Sector Beta-1, Information Team Hallway, LCCV

Subject: Kai, LCCA Agent, Level 3, ID #8472

Last Work Done: Insight Work on Ambling Pearl (O-02-21-11)

Summary of Incident:

At 1400 hours, Agent Kai commenced Insight Work on O-02-21-11 as per SOP of Insight Work for the specific Abnormality. Agent Kai, despite being briefed on the necessary precautions, neglected to remember about the precaution of working with the toxin slimes of O-02-21-11.

At approximately 1410 hours, Agent Kai is seen cleaning up the Containment Unit of O-02-21-11 Upon attempting to mop the filthy slimes to the trash chute inside the Unit, the slimes from the O-02-21-11 went up to Agent Kai’s body without the subject realizing what happened.

O-02-21-11, known for its highly toxic defense mechanism, exposed Agent Kai to severe poison that infected his already open wound from the previous Containment Breach event that happened at 1300, one hour prior to this event. Agent Kai immediately exhibited symptoms of acute envenomation, including paralysis and respiratory distress and gastrointestinal discharges.

Safety Team unit arrived on scene at 1420 hours in front of the Containment Unit of O-02-21-11 to administer emergency treatment. Despite efforts, Dr. Smith succumbed to the toxic effects at 1430 hours.

Conclusion:

Agent Kai’s death is attributed to gross negligence in the adherence to safety protocols. The incident underscores the critical importance of strict compliance with operational guidelines when handling Abnormalities. Further review and reinforcement of safety measures and reminders of Abnormalities’ preferences are recommended to prevent recurrence.

Action Taken:

•   Immediate debrief and review of incidents with all field operatives.
•   Reinforcement of mandatory safety training protocols.
•   Implementation of additional checks on Last Work Done recorded in Record Panel each time before working with an Abnormality, as well as reminding field operatives to consult to    the Abnodex each time if they are unsure of the Abnormality’s preferences.

Report Prepared By:

Agent Yuri

Field Operations Commander / Disciplinary Team Captain

ID #4523

End of Report]

Yuri stretched herself and straightened her back from the bad posture. She had to type the report of the event of Kai dying due to him being part of her team.

The evidence inside the CCTV of the hallways and inside the Containment Unit showed that Kai seemingly forgot that he himself had done Insight Work prior to the Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent’s breaching. After the scolding she told him, he then forgot to check the last recorded work on the Record Panel.

There was audio evidence that Kai himself saying that Insight Work should be safe anyway, which has been proven fatally wrong.  It is true that the slime produced by the Abnormality is poisonous in nature,so a constant cleaning through Insight work is necessary. However, due to the nature of its poison, having the same Employee work Insight work too much will result in the Employee dying from the toxin.

This had been briefed to the Employees the moment they unlocked all the information from Abnodex, as well as reports of people dying due to working Insight Work on it back to back, be it from LCCV crew members or from the L Corp  Branch Facility it came from. 

“You finished?” Micah asked, he too was tasked to make a formal report of the Containment Breach of Dream-Devouring Siltcurrent and what happened during the event of trying to suppress it. By some unlucky mistake, Calnie, who usually was doing alright working with it, achieved the usual Common Work Result, except this time, for some  unknown reason, the Qlipoth Count decreased to 0, resulting in the breaching. Thankfully, Calnie was alright, but they rested for a few days to fully recover. 

“Yeah, I think that’s all,” She sighed. “I’ll mail it to Montag so he can relay this to the higher-ups and use this as a way to update the Abnodex server-wide” Montag handles all sorts of Information as the Team Captain now.

“How far are we again from the mainland? To the  Portship where we get off and use a faster boat to get to T Corp?” Yuri asked. “According to Captain Melville, if they can weather all of the Waves without any issue, it’d be in 2 more weeks”

“And then another week to get us to T Corp. So I get three weeks….” Yuri sighed. “Three weeks of what, exactly?” Micah asked. “Three weeks of thinking about how to deliver this news to the deceased family. Specifically Kai’s brother, Kaerel. As it turns out, he was also assigned to work at W Corp’s Warp Train Station at T Corp.” Yuri whined, “I’m just thinking of how sad that brother would be hearing his little brother died in a job where he was pursuing to be just like him.”

“Plus not only that, the whole issue of Wayward Passenger has been seen by him, the whole issue of how that guy might have revealed to us what W Corp’s Singularity indirectly. Not only that, our work with Abnormalities here is supposed to be the company’s trade secret too….” Yuri sighed and pulled out a book from her bag.

“This is Kai’s diary. As I was cleaning his room as part of the mourning yesterday, I found out that he wrote everything about the Abnormalities here. If we are to return every personal belongings of the deceased to the family, how am I supposed to explain the stuff going on that’s supposed to be a secret?!”

“Can’t you just not return it? A diary is a personal thing, he probably wouldn’t know Kai kept a diary anyway.”

“What if he does? What if Kaerel knew Kai kept a diary even though Kai didn’t know Kaerel knew about it. Kaerel was apparently very secretive about W Corp’s Singularity, he probably kept an eye on Kai just in case -  so he wouldn’t figure it out until his little brother joined the Wing and finds the truth.”

“Mmmm…. Can ignore that possibility, yes.” He sighed. “Alright, give that to me, it's a generic notebook given to us. There should be spares of the same type of notebook in the warehouse. I can try to mimic his writing and make a fabricated diary where I censor out everything that's a trade secret.” Micah suggested.

“You can do that?!” “It’ll take time and won’t be perfect, but yes. I’ll make sure to finish it within the next three weeks. So Yuri, you yourself gotta practice how to be discreet and diplomatic when giving out the news to the bereaved later.” “Ungh…. Yes, I suppose I should…..” Yuri sighed as she clicked the Send button in her Email.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 984

LCCV finally arrived at the small Portship town where LCCB members were supposed to disembark. “Up till the end we didn’t receive new Abnormalities huh….” “Perhaps the LCB’s Refraction Railway  hasn’t happened yet” Yuri and Micah conversed for the last time. He was there to say goodbye to her as well as giving her Kai’s fabricated diary.

“Oh, thanks” She took it, “make sure to read the content so you know at least, but at the same time, pretend that you didn’t know the content when you are talking with Kaerel. It’d be weird if they found out we read the deceased’s diary.” Micah warned her and she nodded, thanking him again this time for the advice.

“Kay, I’ll be getting off now. Good luck from here on out, especially if they are really going to deliver new Abnos here.”

“God, I hope not, but yeah, good luck with your Distortion related jobs there too. Ah right, before I forgot, the active team leader for LCCA there is Caiman. Even after I arrive at T Corp, she’ll probably be the one taking charges as well.” Micah explained.

Yuri remembered Caiman, other than Cargo, she’s one of the people in LCCA that hates the LCB for all the mess they cause after every mission that the LCCA had to take care of. “Wait, what do you mean after you arrive she’ll be the one-?” Yuri was confused at the way he spoke just now.

“Some technology in this full body prosthetic of mine is probably borderline or straight up illegal in T Corp, I already asked the higher up to allow myself to be more on the downlow this time. I will still help you guys of course, but maybe not so much on the surface. Oh right before I forgot, here you go.”

Micah handed her another thing. It looked like a blueprint of some sort. Several of them in fact. “What is this?”

“This is the blueprint for the artificial eye socket. Remember a few days ago you told me that now that you have some money to splurge you wanted some prosthetic enhancement surgery in place of your lost eye? I think rather than getting one new eyeball, it’d be better if you just put on a new eye socket, and then later on ask a Workshop Office or other inventors to make you new eyeballs. You’ll get to have several new eyeballs with different specs that way!” Micah presented the idea proudly.

“You’ll be getting the surgery on the LC’s headquarter anyway. With their high-end money backing us up, I’m sure you’ll get a good eyeball anyway, this is just a slight modification from that. IF you want a more assured quality for the eyeball, I suggest you send a request to the Tres Association and ask them to contact this number and make a contract to hire a Gear Workshop Office to make you the eyeball~!”

“Was that Gear Workshop the Office you came from? So this is basically just an advertisement to me….” She huffed, “Honestly, I still have a lot of questions, like, why has a Workshop Office managed to make such a sophisticated, high-end technology like your body, but ah well, you probably don’t plan to answer me anyway. Alright, I’ll reconsider it then.”

Yuri also took the blueprints. She made sure to securely put both books inside her bag and double-checked to lock it as she disembarked from the LCCV with other LCCB members. Not even an hour later, they have transitioned into a new faster boat that’ll take them to T Corp in one week.

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EGO Sets for Canto 5 Abnormalities:

Ever wondered what Limbus Abnormalities’s Managerial Tips/ Managerial Log is like in Lobotomy Corporation style? Here’s a link and preview for Abnormality Entries for Canto 5 Abnormalities:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pm2szJbIBeMHjeyIA_wMOTJ-GnIXh_8ZiwFbgHJfM0Q/edit?usp=sharing

Ever want to try to see and play around with all the fanmade EGO Sets so far? I made a picrew for private use now!
Currently available face/hair sets: Yuri, Montag, Micah, Effie, Saude, Samjo
Will be updated as fanfic goes

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2299509

Chapter Text

September 984

POV: Yuri’s POV

On the day we arrived at T Corp, the moment we entered the Nest through the formal procedure, the unfamiliar yet expected event happened. I began to be unable to see colors. Others, the surroundings, even my own color.

My pink hair looked like a dark brown with the sepia hue filter covering the entirety of our sight. It was less than two weeks since we boarded the fast ship from the Portship to here. We have informed the HQ that we are arriving today, and as I expected.

As soon as we got off the ship, we were greeted by other LCC members who immediately took us to Limbus Company’s HQ in T Corp. “Welcome, thank you for the hard work so far” the one who greeted us the moment we arrived at the HQ was Manager Saude.

“Oh, this was… unexpected that you are here” I smiled at her, somehow missing her face after a while being in the sea, even though it was only 3 months or so.

“Yes, well, there’s still some issues with this Nest’ HQ, they are calling more people from other branches for help.” She dismissed our questions at first to help us go through the formal procedure to enter the nest.

We received a pocket watch for our identification tag for living in this Nest for the time being. “This watch is also our wallet, determining our time, our luxury of living and the speed of how we move here.” Manager Saude explained.

“So, what issues?” Rouge asked once the formal stuff has been settled, “Yes, the intranet server for the EGO Database is still in shutdown. All other intranet servers to see other internal datas are still working, but there’s still an issue with giving out codes of another EGO from one branch to someone on a different branch.

Essentially, those who were assigned to work here but haven’t downloaded the EGOs before August are only equipped with the LCC’s standard duty sets.”

“Ah, that’s why you and others were assigned, because you’ve downloaded some EGOs,” I asked, “Yep, me, Effie, Samjo and others are here. It is also one of the reasons why we rushed you to come here, sorry about that.” She confessed.

“No, it’s fine, you need help with situation like this” Montag answered, for once clearly. “Can we settle down, put stuff first in room?” He asked so we could have more leisure in talking about stuffs.

“You’re right, here, let me give you your dormitory keys and take you there,” Saude-ssi guided us there. She asked how LCB was doing from me and Pilot’s perspective when we met them. We told her how they missed her too and was congratulating her promotion.

“Has there been any news from them? Did new Abnormalities appear from the Refraction Railway?” I asked. As much as I have conflicted feelings working with them, having some here would help the others greatly, in terms of weapons and protection.

“No news about such a thing so far though, if we see the pattern, I’d say it’s inevitable such an event will happen, right?” She voiced the same opinion as me.

“If anything I heard something about encountering an Outskirt creature is what happened, something about how it ended up decorating the whole bus with Christmas decorations…..” Saude was just as confused as I was when I heard that news. “Christmas is still 3 months away though….” I commented off-handedly.

After we put our personal stuffs in our rooms, we changed to our work clothes immediately, then went into the meeting room that Saude-ssi prepared for us. We were briefed and told several things there. First, the promotion of Rouge, who was the most senior between us three, especially in his effort in trying to train the newbies.

Next, about our duties here in T corp Nest. Montag will go with the LCD and other teams to search for Distortion cases that LCB will help solve. While me and Rouge will investigate the L Corp Branch Facility of T Corp. Nest.

“Do be careful as we have heard news of suspicious movements of people coming in and to. We have sent Preliminary Survey Team 4, but they never responded back after some time. If you could, please bring them back, in any form you could find them.” She instructed.

“Effie will go with you, as for Samjo and Pilot, Montag can you guide them?” She asked him. Montag simply shrugged and nodded, “if they can understand me, then sure”

Once the briefing finished, we began meeting with each of our own teams, it seems Samjo and Pilot somehow hit it off. “Hee, I guess I was lucky I had downloaded all the TETH Gears and some HE Gears then….” Samjo told Pilot, “Yeah, at least you got some! Most of the Abnormalities in LCCV are WAWs! I’d rather not risk EGO Corrosion, you know…”

We told them about the team distribution and they immediately fell silent as they looked over Montag then to me and Rouge. “It’s okay, calm down, Montag is an experienced investigator.” Rouge assured them, “you’ll be fine, after all me and Yuri personally trained you!” He truly was better at this sort of duty for training others, I thought.

“Hey,” I just remembered something. “Since our mission to L Corp is still a few days away, do you mind if I finish up some personal stuff?” I told Rouge about the eye thing me and Micah discussed.

“Mmm, as long as they can assure you'll be able to go out for the mission at the designated date, then sure.” Rouge nodded.  “Great, I’ll make an appointment quickly then.” I said, thanking him and leaving the team immediately. I could hear them whispering something about my impulsivity, but I couldn’t care less. It is better I do this quickly.

—————————————————————————

“You say you need to be on an on-field mission soon, as soon as next week?” The doctor asked me, “hmm… There is a way, the T corp is currently collaborating with K corp for their medicines. It's a special technology that accelerates the time inside a specific space, they are using it to observe the long term effect of a drug for clinical trials on diseases in a short period of time.”

“If you want that, we could technically let you use them, some of the usage fee will be deducted from your wage, is that alright?” I told them it was alright. So I signed the informed consent for the procedure. 

And so here I am, on the operating table as they are putting the gas mask on me. The anesthesia began to kick in inside my body.

—————————————————————————

When I opened my eyes, I was on a hospital bed, the surgery for my eye socket was done. With this, whatever prosthetic eye I will get should fit in nicely as a new eyeball. I remembered their instruction to stay in this time-accelerating chamber. They would instruct me when to go out.

Until then I decided to ponder about other things. Including the stuff Manager Saude told me in the meeting just now.

—————————————————————————-

“You wish to return the belongings of one of your dead subordinates to their family? That’s not really your obligation, but if you insist….”

“I see, so you were well prepared for his background with a family that works on W Corp….”

“I think the plan you prepared with Micah already sufficed. But keep in mind this fact. In the foreseeable future, Limbus Company will probably have a collaborative mission with W Corp. Make sure this meeting of yours keeps in mind our company’s name and our relationship with them stays cordial.”

“Hmm? The Singularity of W Corp? That’s not my business to find out, and even if we do, what can we do with that information? 

Yuri, you too, if you had, by any chance, found out what the Singularity of W corp is by your own sneaking and tweaking with the Abnormality or something else, do keep that information to yourself. For your own sake too”

——————————————————————————————

‘That was the advice Manager Saude gave to me. Well, I suppose, I have no choice but to agree with her.’ I looked up at the ceiling, the new bandages on my face felt tighter than my usual eye patches. ’even if I did find out what W Corp’s Singularity is, there’s nothing I can do now, is it?’

‘I hated it, this nihilistic point of view that the City cultured in me.’

Exhaling, I tried to reorganize my thoughts and all the facts I have gathered, ‘even if there’s nothing I can do about it, as long as I keep it to myself, there’s nothing wrong with trying to figure out the answer myself, right?’

I tried to connect some dots into lines in my head.

The way Wayward Passenger behaves, the words it muttered and talked sometimes, even if it were gibberish. The way its EGO whispers in our mind.

Based on the EGO Database of the Sinners that I had access after I became team Captain, the way they talked. It indicates wandering for a long time. It is a Passenger but with W Corp uniform.

‘A Passenger of Warp Train, an Employee riding the Warp Train? Why would such a person be transformed into such a creature though?

I remembered the rumor that T Corp has some collaborative work with L Corp, R Corp, K Corp, and W Corp. T Corp…. TimeTrack. It makes time, longer, shorter, or repeated’

‘Wayward Passenger’s code was T,  it means it was an Abnormality based on a form of Trauma. Was there such a big incident in Warp Train History that traumatized a collective of human minds formed an Abnormality version of Warp Cleanup Crew? No, such a thing would definitely be on the news. It would be big news even if it’s just a one time incident…. Unless it’s not an incident but rather, it was actually so common ….’

’What was considered common in that situation though… That it is common for travel with Warp Train actually takes so long?  But Why? If they do want to use T Corp technology why not shorten it, why did they make it long? Actually, why DO they need to use T Corp technology? What do they gain from working with each other?’

‘Let’s shift gears and think about T Corp first. Their main product is regarding time itself, one of the widely used ones like the box that keeps food warm. How does it work, I don’t know. Singularity doesn’t make any sense to begin with. But I know those boxes are not powered with stuff like batteries or Enkephalin. What if the box itself needs time….. where would they get the time for it-‘

That was when the dots connected and realization hit me that the nurse had been banging on my door, trying to get my attention to get me out of the room quickly. It seems I overextended my stay here from the supposed time.

I might have aged a bit more than the intended 2 weeks, but at least I know the wounds in the eye surgery have healed. I quickly went out of the room and changed my clothes and had my bandages changed. They prescribed me some meds and I discharged myself out of the place.

——————————————————————————————-

Trying to distract myself from the possibility that I had discovered a horrid truth, I tried to search for Tres Association. While I was walking though, I was hit by someone’s big luggage.

“Oh dear! I’m sorry, are you alright?” A lady’s gentle voice spoke to me, she was wearing a kind of frilly, but elegant and simple maid uniform. She crouched down and helped me stand up. The gesture was so fast, I didn’t realize I was being helped.

“Oh no! Your hand’s scratched!” She flipped the hand she helped pick me up with. It seems when I fell, I scratched it on the pavement.

The lady pulled out a handkerchief and dragged me to the nearby faucet. She used the water and wrapped the handkerchief on my wound, “There, at least that’s first aid done for you!” I could see the handkerchief has an embroidered name, “Erica”

”Um… it’s just a scratch, you didn't do this much for a stranger like me….” But I smiled still, “but I’m grateful nonetheless. Thank you. But this handkerchief… it’s yours isn’t it, you even embroidered your name….”

“Oh, don’t worry, I have extras. You can have that one” She insisted but I still feel bad. “I’ll try to return it. May I know, well, I know your name” I pointed to the name Erica embroidered on the fabric, “so may I know where you live?”

“Oh! I’m a Butler working in Wuthering Heights! It might be a bit hard for you to visit me in the estate, so we can meet up one day here in downtown if you insist?” Those words were extremely familiar. It was unexpected. ‘She was from Wuthering Heights? Does that mean she was the one who sent the letter for Heathcliff-ssi?’

I decided not to dig any further as we just knew each other for now. “That seems like a good idea. Also I noticed that’s quite the big luggage you have.” I pointed to the big bag that hit me. “Oh yes! These are my weapons, it's a Butler’s standard duty weapon. I wanted to go to the Tres Association to have them receive their usual maintenance.”

“Tres? What a coincidence, I was also searching for their office location!” I spoke back, a bit excited and happy I met someone who knows their way around more. “Oh? Then let us go together then!” Erica then begin leading the way to the office in the city

————————————————————————

POV: General POV

“I see, so you are going to commission them for a new eyeball prosthetic….” Erica hummed after hearing Yuri’s story of why she needed to go to Tres Association.

“Yeah, how about you miss Erica, what's it like, your job that requires regular weapon maintenance? You said you were a… Butler? What’s that?”  As much as it is embarrassing to admit, Yuri was clueless this time. Her cluelessness is why she was also a curious bud.

“A Butler is a Fixer that is contracted specifically to serve only one individual, a family or whoever lives in the estate itself.” Erica calmly explained what her job entails, from being a nanny to taking care of intruders. 

“Here we are.” Erica guided her in, she told her where to write up a commision contract with the Association itself or an Associate Office, while she herself went to the maintenance area. 

Yuri nodded, and went to the place she pointed. First, she made sure the Gear Workshop Fixer Office that Micah mentioned was really affiliated here, and sure enough, it is. Then she wrote the commision contract, as well as the fee that she is willing to pay up.

Next, she wrote the specifications she needed from the eyeball prosthetic. This was the hardest, she didn’t know what she wanted yet nor what was within her budget or not. But one thing for sure she knew is that she wanted to be able to react differently. React more quickly, so she can help more people.

Once she submitted that, she went to Erica’s side. The Butler was sitting so gracefully as she answered questions from the Workshop Fixers about her weapons usages. “Oh, are you finished?” “Yes.” Yuri sat down for a while with her. “So uh, I got work to do in a week or so, is it okay if we meet up after that? I’m not sure when yet, maybe in a month or so”

“Of course, should we meet up near the park with the faucet where I washed your wounds? I pass by there sometimes as I go downtown a lot for weekly shopping. We can meet up when we pass by each other.” Erica said, not minding the fact that both of them probably have a hard time matching each other’s schedule, they were strangers after all.

"Sure, that does sound good.” Yuri chuckled and agreed. She left the office after that to return to her dormitory to rest.

It wasn’t until she got her new eye, that she met her again. There, at Wuthering Heights….

———————————————————————————————

Yuri took some deep breaths. 2 days after the surgery, she had packed up everything. All of Kai’s belongings, practicing what she needed to say. She went on the bus and went to the W Corp Station of T Corp Nest. Internally, she rehearsed her words. She needed to be respectful yet firm, mindful of the delicate balance between disclosure and confidentiality. 

As she arrives, she starts to feel the weight of her responsibility on her shoulder, but the sight of the train station leaves her in awe for a while.

The station was huge. It seems to have incorporated the cultural elements of T Corp. Nest itself, the ceiling was so high. It was also the first time Yuri saw the Warp Train itself. Shaking her head not to make her mind wander back to the stuff she discovered, she went to the Customer Service room for help.

“Excuse me, I have an appointment to talk with the Warp Train staff by the name Kaerel. Is it possible to meet him today?” Yuri asked the staff there.

“Kaerel?” “Yes, of the Warp Train Cleanup Crew. Please tell him I’m from Limbus Company and I’m here with the belongings of his late brother.”  Yuri calmly elaborated further.

“Ah, yes, hold on, let me communicate it with the Cleanup Crew.” They allowed Yuri to sit down as they used their internal communication to explain her situation.

“We have arranged a meeting room for you to meet Kaerel. but it can only be used for less than an hour, is that alright?” “That seems plenty of time for me, thank you.” The staff guided her to the meeting room. She calmly sat and made sure to review the items she brought and the stuff she needed to talk about.

The door was opened soon enough and a man in the W Corp uniform appeared. The uniform surprises Yuri, he wears the obligatory blue pants, black shirt with W Corp logo and a hat with W Corp logo, but none of the armors in his hands or the chest plate with W Corp logo that she has seen on some of the Sinners’ Identities, or Wayward Passenger itself. ‘Maybe this is what they look like when they are still on-the-clock.’ Yuri merely thought.

”Thank you for coming here,” “No, thank you for the time as well” Yuri bowed and thanked him. “I had received the news of his death, may I see his last belongings?” “Of course” Yuri handed the bag to him.

Micah had perfectly fabricated the diary, just in case. Now that the owner is dead, the diary would surely be read by the family, and true enough Yuri had predicted that and Kaerel did start reading it.

‘Now the judging starts….’ She thought to herself, she kept a poker face but her heartbeat was so palpable she wanted to punch herself to shut it up.

“I’m sorry, I wish I could have brought you better news than this.” “Don’t be, live in the City is just like that. May I know how he died, at least?” Here it comes, the important question.

Yuri shook her head and kept a calm demeanor; she might have emulated Saude’s gracefulness a bit as well. “I'm deeply sorry, Mr. Kaerel. Due to the sensitive nature of our work, I can't disclose the specifics. Please understand, it's to protect both our operations, as Limbus Company and W Corp will soon have a collaborative project. I’m sure someone from a Wing as secretive as you would understand.” 

Kaerel sighed, “I understand. I‘ve heard of the future project work too. I heard that it was so special that we didn’t need to use amnestic meds for your employee for this project to happen. I know the rules. Thank you for coming here to tell me in person.”

“I offer you my condolences. If there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to reach out. Kai was an exemplary team member, and he will be sorely missed.” Yuri wanted to end it here peacefully, but Kaerel kept talking for a while, asking how Kai was doing, how he worked, how he socialized with others. Yuri tried to answer as much as she was possibly allowed.

“Knowing him, it was probably his own personal blunder rather than a safety check fault,” Kaerel sighed and laughed sadly, accepting the fate his brother had died.

“Do tell, since you didn’t need to use the amnestic meds, does that mean you have…..” Even Kaerel doesn’t want to voice and address the elephant in the room so bluntly, “even if we know the truth, we have no intention to go up against W Corp or use it to overturn the current status quo” she silenced him before he could continue the questions.

And with that, her duty for the bereaved was done. Yuri returned back to the dormitory after winding down in a nearby restaurant, eating to calm herself down.

Chapter Text

“Gamma 1, reporting. The time is 1625 hours. We followed the GPS signal Delta 3 sent us to pinpoint the location of their team before communications to HQ was cut off. Traces of people coming in and out confirmed, there might be some suspect who infiltrated  Point Terza. Confirming arrival at the site.” Yuri confirmed her team’s position as they arrived at the L Corp Branch Facility.

“It is currently raining at Point Quinta, the drop-off point, and visibility is down to about 500 meters. All units, please exercise caution”

“Gamma 2, reporting no hidden enemies within the perimeter of the Point Terza- wait!” Rouge reported something. “I saw someone in white uniform entering the facility. Gamma 1, permission to breach”

“Gamma 1, Gamma 2, take the building!” Yuri commanded as they went inside. It was hard getting used to the near-militaristic jargon, but smooth operations needed them, as she was taught so.

“Site B  clear!”

“Site A clear as well, is there anything to report?”

“Well, I suppose the layout is your typical L Corp layout, the gore and grime of the dead employees from Facility Burial or poor sods that tried to treasure hunt here only to be eaten by Peccatula or Abnormalities…. But….

The corpses seemed weird” Rouge reported. “It’s a bit different than usual, it looked… neat and tidy. How about on your side? Anything suspicious?”

“Alright, we will keep an eye on that as well. As for my side…. I noticed that the Peccatulas looked different from the database we had for them. Their risk levels are more dangerous, and they are much stronger and resilient. As if it’s an evolved version from before. We need to make sure to report this to HQ as well” Yuri said over the comm, “We will start moving towards the Main Area” 

As they walked forward, Rouge’s team encountered an Abnormality. “Encountering Abnormality in site C, engaging in Combat,” surprisingly, Yuri also replied the same, “Encountering Abnormality in site D, begin Suppression” Yuri announced.

On Rouge’s side, what he encountered appears as a headless human body dressed in a floor-length gray coat. In the headless body's hand is a portrait with the head part blurred.

The coat curls inwards as it reaches the ground, holding an oversized, skeletal face with its mouth open. Two massive arms with textures resembling bundles of sticks emerge from the entity's back, with four-fingered hands that touch the ground.

'I am the butler of this house.'

'My master had a very unfortunate life.’

'Yet I do not recognize your faces.'

'I cannot help but be wary; perhaps you seek to mire this manor again in sorrow.'

'Sad, sad things happened here. Many sad things.'

'I still carry with me my master's portrait because no one remembers them anymore.'

'How is it? Can you see it well?'

The butler-like creature spoke directly to Rouge’s head.

“I can see the Portrait” Rouge bluffed, better not to anger this creature when they don’t know anything yet.

‘If you claim so, then allow me to inquire’ it summoned several portraits, framed in wooden frames, all of its faces blurred. ‘Which of these portraits is that of my master?’ It asked Rouge.

Rouge could feel an EGO Resonance from one of it, the one that also resembled the Portrait in the Abnormality’s hand. He confidently stepped forward and pointed a finger at one of the portraits. 

The monster stood still for a moment, then replied affirmatively. ‘You are familiar with my master. Though you are an interloper still, I see not a bringer of sorrow.’ The monster, still holding a portrait, looked back at the Master’s portrait with an expression of longing, and appeared somewhat less hostile. “It’s guard is down, now!”  Rouge commanded his team to start the combat.

———————————————————————

On Yuri’s side, they entered a room that was as if in the middle of a big thunderstorm. Storm clouds clouding their ceiling, purple lightning striking through the wispy cloud. But upon further inspection, it was not the storm cloud itself. It was a giant sheep with a grey thundercloud in place of wool.

A spherical purple 'core' can be seen at the center of the thundercloud, from which purple bolts of lightning are emitted. It has a small black head with curved horns and a pair of glowing purple eyes. The body is supported by four long, skinny legs ending in claws. Multiple white spikes can be seen sticking out from the storm cloud.

“Good lord, those legs were so dark and long, I couldn’t have seen it,” said someone after Yuri stopped them from going forward, nearly being stomped by it.

The sheep began to thrash wildly, it also tried to ram over to Yuri, which she held back with sheer determination. “Search for its weakness!” She coughed, “There should be something around that can weaken it!”

“There’s something there!” Someone pointed out and another helped Yuri get to it. It was some sort of electrical generator box. Around the box were large cables strewn about, at the end of each cable was a gigantic plug. Yuri connected the dots that they needed to plug these cables to the sheep.

“Someone must sneak in and plug these cables into  the sheep. No need to rush, we can do it one by one, the others would be in more danger, but we must distract it so it doesn’t notice that we were trying to plug it behind its back” Yuri volunteered to be the one distracting it and assigned someone nimble and fast to plug the cables.

“Remember to distract it completely, don’t let it know we are trying to plug it.” Yuri warned as they executed the mission. Some people were rammed by the sheep, some were electrocuted.

Yuri tried to mitigate the damage as much as possible, making sure they survived. Alas, some were fatally injured and were ordered to retreat. They were given K Corp Ampules at least so they can still walk out safely.

——————————————————————-

“Gamma 1, reporting in. We have finished the Abnormality Suppression here. Meetup at the rendezous point at Point Septa. Did you manage to retrieve the Abnormality’s Core?”

“Gamma 2, reporting in. Roger, we also had just finished sending the injured ones out. Heading to Point Septa. And no…the moment I tried to grab it it disappeared into thin air for some reason…...” Yuri communicated their positions to Rouge and promised to meet up at one point. Rouge told her what happened, as if it was preordained by fate that they weren’t supposed to receive the Abnormalities they just fought just yet.

As they both headed to Point Septa, they began to see more gruesome view. LCCB Uniforms, other Fixer or Syndicate clothings or weapons, all ripped and strewn about. It makes one wonder what happened there.

Some corpses were naked and displayed like a mannequin, while the clothes were displayed differently like in a shopping mall. The corpses and clothes were multi colored, as if someone ripped them apart and sewn them back into one art multi-colored art piece. There were also cubes that seemingly made out of meat, compressed with some sort of technology to achieve that form. “This is awful….” Someone nearly barfed at the view they see. Yuri steeled herself, “Pick up their Abnodex, at least we’ll get some remnants of their identities.” She ordered.

After a while, Calnie, who was on Yuri’s team called her out, “Captain, I was trying to pair up which Abnodex belong to who based on the faces of the corpses here, it seems there to be a mismatch.” “Mismatch?”

“Yes, some of these Abnodex’s owners are not here. For example this one,” Calnie showed the biodata of one of the Abnodex’s owners, from its Profile menu. In it were the picture of a young lady named Sana with green hair, “yet I do not see this Sana at all so far.” Yuri remembered her, Sana was written as an Assistant Manager of LCCB, a fairly competent and strong Agent who focused her training more on the defensive side.

“I see….” Yuri decided to keep that Abnodex with her, at least if she met Sana, she can return it, or at least as a memento if she had passed away. They finally met up with Rouge’s team at Point Septa as they entered the Main Area.

The sight was grotesque, everything was decorated like it was a display atelier. Corpses of people sewn or painted with the bodily fluids of Peccatula or whatever body part of Abnormalities they managed to get their hands on.

“Captain! They are still alive!” Someone from Rouge’s team called out. And Yuri confirmed it, they could see some of them were still panting, breathing painfully.

”Save anyone that still can be saved!” They weren’t impaled as to keep them preserved in their ‘natural state’ but it would still be hard to regenerate them back to their previous state.

As Calnie tried to rip open the bindings on one of their LCCB  friends, something stabbed them instead.

”Can you please do not the artwork Alina painstakingly made? Newbies like you are not invited to do a critic in my atelier~” Someone approached, their heels clicked with intimidation each step.

“No…. Why would they be here….?!” Rouge hissed. The outfit, a three coiled ring, were signs that the person is a Maestro of the Ring.

”Oh my, quite the intriguing outfits you lot wear. Perhaps Alina should use you as our new project?” She referred to their EGO Gears, “ah, do keep your distanza okay, it was hard to display them after their much futile struggle~”

”Everyone else, focus on rescuing LCCB members. Me and Rouge will try to distract her as much as we can.” Yuri commanded them to disperse.

Seeing the others trying to ruin her artworks, Alina starts to get annoyed, “I’ve had enough of your ridicolo act, I was being merciful to warn you to keep your distanza. Fine then, you shall not be a display showcase, but a mere pigment.”

Alina raised her hand and called out 3 more girls. One had a coiled ring, the other wore normal non-uniform Fixer clothing. And one girl with an LCCB uniform. All of them had dark red wine bandages binding them and controlling them.

“SANA?!” “Yuri tried to call out to the last one.

“Ahahahahaha~! You knew her! Very well, this shall be amusing! Sana! Go against her! Mayu, Fool Girl, stop the others! All right then, Let’s Party!” She ordered Sana, the LCCB member, to attack Yuri and Rouge. The other two were controlled to fight off the LCCB members trying to free their friends.

”Kyahahahahah~! Aaah…. Fantastico, just superb, seeing former friends trying to kill each other. More… give me more complex expressions more~! Show it to me, let me capture it with the lens of my eyes!” Alina cackled.

“Sana snapped out of it!” Yuri screamed. “Yuri! The bindings might have something to do with it!” Rouge told her as they were trying to use the rubbles as walls to block Sana’s gunshots. Yuri was going to point out that Sana had some sort of familiar looking horns on her head, but that isn’t an issue right now.

“Alright, let’s give it a try.” They both moved forward, trying to use their weapons against Sana, but Sana, being a defensive expert, blocked all their attacks before it could reach her bindings.

“Yuri, I’ll distract her, my defense is as good as her and your weapon’s sharper than mine, go do her from behind.” Rouge whispered as they switched positions.

The other two girls were also strong opponents, the student, Mayu, uses an extremely sharp spear that functions to pierce enemies and also as a paint brush or palette knife, while the one merely called as Fool Girl uses some sort of scythe tonfa on both arms.

“This is taking too long, I shall join in this danza” Alina sighed as she began pulling Rouge away from Sana, making their strategies go awry.

“Now, come at me! Let me make a beaute out of you!” Alina taunted Rouge as he battled him. Some of his attacks went in, some were deflected.

But still, Alina doesn’t show any pain, “Ahahahahahah~! This attack felt sooooo familiar with those Abnormalities’ attacks!! Encountering them truly has changed the course of my life!” Alina sped up, the clothings made by the Ring’s technology made all of the attacks futile as she kicked and dug her heel deep into his torso.

"Right before my eyes… you’re going to cease functioning! Huhuhuhu, be grateful~ for you will be part of Alina’s magnum opus!” 

“Shit! Rouge!” Yuri struggled against Sana and finally got her scythe into the bindings and the moment she was released from her bindings, lights returned to her eye.

“Huh? Captain Yuri-“ “Sana! Transform to your EGO Gears!” Yuri didn’t give her any time to regain herself as she immediately asked her to protect the others, giving her the Abnodex she found.

Sana looked around and nodded and equipped her EGO Gears. The Legerdemain EGO Suit, EGO Weapon Sunshower, and her EGO Gift was My Form Empties and Ebony Stem.

“Huh…?” Yuri looked up, the ram horns didn’t disappear as she equipped her EGO Gears. Was it perhaps not something sewn or attached to her head, but rather. “Did you… receive an EGO Gift from that sheep Abnormality…?” Yuri muttered, but stopped her unnecessary thoughts as Sana already ran to protect Rouge from Alina.

Yuri quickly administered the last K Corp Ampule she had on her person to Rouge and pushed him away as she quickly helped Sana with fighting Alina. Rouge retreated from the battle, instructing everyone instead to free the bound and brainwashed subordinates from their bindings to stop their attacks for a bit.

”You…. MOTHERFUCKERS! What have you done! You pink stronzo, Alina will rip your hairs out!”” Alina screeched. “Huh?! Why my hair?!” Even Yuri was creeped out.

“Hair stays intact even after the body decays, I will kill you and keep you hair as a reminder how much you have ruined Alina’s artwork. Then when the right time comes, I will burn it till there’s nothing left reminding the world that you've lived!”  Alina chuckled as she explained her sick ideas.

On the subordinate’s side, more and more people were freed, including her student, Mayu and the Fool Girl, who introduced herself as Karin in her daze after she was freed.

When the two were freed, Karin immediately saw Mayu’s face and stood up on guard, despite the pain she visibly still felt. Mayu looked around and connected the dots, and when she saw the destroyed and freed ’artwork’ she had a blank face of anger.

“Cazzo, more of them were freed. Those girls and artworks were Alina’s Magnum Opus. How dare you ruin Alina’s Atelier like this….! Mayu, show them no mercy!” She ordered, as Mayu happily oblige, dueling the LCCB and Karin. Karin grabbed her tonfa. One for shielding, one with the scythe to parry her spear. 

Alina’s rage grew with her strength. Her attacks grew in intensity, to the point Yuri and Sana had to keep a distance from her.

At one point, she was slowly exhausted, but still her madness doesn’t stop, in fact, it intensifies. “This is not how it’s supposed to be… yes..! The world… the world should be painted with the beaute Alina envisions! This is wrong! I shall repaint everything! Kya-hahahahaha! That’s right!”

Alina’s form changed. She was the same, but it was as if artistic tattoos were forming all across her skin. The blood dripping from her turned into a sickening paint color with something growing rapidly from it. It was out of norm. It was creepy, especially with her laughter.

“Ah..hahhahaah! This feels amazing! Aahhhh, Alina felt a burst of power from within…. Superb, just superb! I, Alina, am so emozionata at the moment. How could I not, with my magnum opus nearly complete? Can you Foolish People not see? This brilliance… This sensation, as though stepping onto yet another higher stage! I feel as though this is how I’m supposed to be! Such rush…. Oh, stupendo! Such excitement…!”

“That’s….” “Distortion….” We have read some cases, and had correctly assumed this one to be such cases. A case of someone suddenly transforming into something so grotesque.

“Get away from her! We don’t know what her bodily fluids can do! Quickly!” Yuri ordered as she saw how half of Alina’s body had turned into a disembodied body of colorful painting. Everything it touches grew some sort of disease, something like a fungal infection but worse.

“Aaahhhh~ I see, so this is my Distortion! Such a beautiful form! More so than those Peccatulas and Abnormalities~! The power of new beauty will drive the world mad! Be grateful~ Now you shall be part of this new world I shall paint! Yes, you can be the background color~! Now let us begin, the ENCORE!” Alina spread her arms wide as waves of diseased paint began spreading from her and flowing and filling the room, “EXIT THE AREA QUICKLY!” Yuri carried Rouge and began running away from Alina.

Alina’s cackle haunts them as they try to run away from her. As a Maestro, she was more than capable of annihilating them and that was what she was attempting, she stopped them on their tracks by surfing on her own waves of paint and appearing in front of them, stomping some easily one by one.

“First, you lot who ruined Alina’s atelier, then next you team Captains who ruined Alina’s magnum opus!” She went to the other side, attempting to do the same to Yuri’s team.

“I’m not going to let you!” Sana opened her umbrella to shield them and thwacked her, “come forth… resonate with me…. Shield me from this wave!” Sana took a deep breath as her next attack had the effect of Black Damage on Alina. 

“EGO Resonance Attack works…” Yuri saw it and took a deep breath as well, “Bloom, flower of sins….!”  She stabbed Alina and pushed her away.

From her wounds, orange roses bloomed, it exudes a pale blue colored smoke “oh dear, what could this be, such a mystifying color….!” As Alina got distracted, Yuri continued their run towards the exit.

“Merda! They ran away….!” Alina clicked her tongue as she continued her chase. But before she could, she felt something stabbed her in the chest from behind. “What the-“ 

Yuri felt something. Something came up from behind her, further behind from Alina. It was intimidating. If Alina was like a walking weapon, then this felt like an impending natural disaster. There was nothing she could do against it.

“…?” Rouge coughed up as he felt his leg was no longer wrapped in Alina’s paint. “Her paint stopped reaching us?” He looked back towards where Yuri was staring and was shocked at the spot as well.

A gigantic Abnormality was standing behind Alina, stabbing her with its sword. It wears a crown. And the whole body was wrapped in the same dark red bindings that wrapped Sana and the others.

“It’s that creature….!” Karin gasped. “That Maestro brought me, Sana and her own student as a sacrifice towards that thing! Then she ripped a whole bunch of the red bandages to control us…. I think…,” “No, you are right, as soon as I lost my Abnodex, the first thing I saw was that thing as well….” Sana shivered. 

“You… foolish King! I gave you chances to work with Alina, I even gave you ingredients to be your Retainers and this is how you repay me?! How dare-“  Before Alina could say another word, the King lifted its sword from her torso and easily decapitated her.

When she saw that her teacher was easily killed, Mayu felt her life had come to an end and accepted her doom as the King spared a glance at Yuri’s team. 

“Everyone moves quickly. Quickly than before. We can’t, we must not fight that thing, not at our current condition.” Yuri warned them and told them to move quickly and silently. They gave it their all. All of their energy and life to exit the place and escape that thing.

“We are just gonna let an Abnormality prowl around like that?!” Someone asked. “No, that was a good call,” Rouge said, “at our current condition it’d be just a futile death trying to fight that thing. That thing is… WAW Level Abnormality…”

“Uh, but we do deal with WAW Level Abnormality everyday anyway, what’s the difference-“ “The Qlipoth Deterrence doesn’t work in this area.

That thing is unrestrained by any means. As a general rule, if you fight an Abnormality in the wild, open area like in these kinds of places, their risk level increases by 1 or 2, in terms of combat. Their classification for our management and LCB’s combat risk level may stay the same, WAW stays WAW. But let’s just say, their version of WAW is different from our version.

They can win their battles because they have that regenerative technology from Manager Dante’s power. We COULD technically win against it too. But our depleted supply of regenerative medicines and our current physical and mental well-being are not suitable, the wind is not in our favor, so to say.” Yuri explained, not stopping for a breather to explain all that.

Once they reached the exit, they contacted the LCCB truck that was supposed to take them back. They brought Karin with them to the HQ for now, to have a talk with her regarding what happened.

“It is too bad that one student seemed to have died by this point… but thanks for saving me, sorry I couldn’t express my gratitude properly just now” Karin thanked Yuri as she was taken away to a different medical office.

Yuri, Rouge, Sana and Calnie were taken to LCCB’s medical office and had their wounds treated as well as an interrogation of what happened in the facility.

Chapter Text

A week after the incident in L Corp. Branch Facility of T Corp.

“So you were trying to use your Abnodex to take pictures of that Sheep Abnormality after you suppressed it… and that was when you were struck from behind and lost your Abnodex there?” Yuri asked Sana, as she was helping her manage the reports. “

"Yes, the other team gathered a lot of information regarding the Abnormalities that were housed in that branch Facility, I was thinking to see and cross check if it was one of them. I remember after we plugged it, it became very calm like an ewe, sleeping and dreaming peacefully. I unconsciously sympathized with it and petted it. That was when I felt something prickly like static electricity circling around my head and when I touched my head, ram horns were there. I didn’t know that you could get an EGO Gift that way….”

“Eh, something weird happened to me too regarding my first few EGO Gifts as well, I haven’t joined LCCB at the time. It was why I also survived nearly being killed by the Golden Apple” Yuri chuckled ironically. 

 “You guys seem to be doing well even after I heard what happened~” Someone’s familiar voice spoke out. Yuri turned back and there he is, Micah and Scene. “We’ve arrived~ Sorry it took a while” Scene chuckled, “how are you doing Sana?” “C-captain Scene! Yes, I’m doing well!” 

‘That reminds me, although Scene is from LCCA and Sana is from LCCB, Sana is part of the Safety Team in LCCU…’ Yuri pondered, “huh? You still haven’t got the new eyeball? Did you forget to post a commision contract?” Micah looked at her face, “No, I did. I just haven’t got the time to visit the Association again to see if it’s finished or not.”

“Ah, that sucks, but it’s okay cuz I have brought you some souvenirs.” Micah pushed a box and opened it with a “Ta-dah!”

“… Is that an Abnormality’s Suppressed Core?” Sana asked, unsure what to feel at this kind of thing being a souvenir. “Yep, I was summoned by LCB’s Guide, mister Red Gaze to retrieve this. It seems to be an old Abnormality they’ve been fighting for a while but for some reason, could only be extracted recently. On that note, there will be few more coming in a few days, since I heard a new Refraction Railway was open. From what I’ve gathered, it seems the route is much easier than before, so they might finish it up quickly for us to extract the Abnormality~” Micah chuckled.

Yuri was oddly silent and inspected the core. “Correct me if I’m wrong but is this… Blubbering Toad?” Her comment caught Micah off-guard, “wait you knew?”

“Yeah, branch facilities rotate and trade their Abnormalities frequently so that Abnos of the same origin series don’t meet each other. I have met this one for a while, though it was not a permanent resident at the D Corp.’s Branch Facility. It’s a non-breaching ZAYIN Abnormality, which would be easy for new recruits to take care of.  The EGO Gears we can get from it should be feasible to be used by them as well.” Yuri hummed.

“I see, so we got some head start in gathering information this time then. Talking about new recruits though….” Micah turned around to see the person who has been awkwardly eyeing them, trying to see when she can butt in the conversation, “is she one?”

“Ah-!” Yuri and Karin shouted at each other. “No, I’m not”, “No, she is not” the both of them said simultaneously.

Yuri motioned Karin to enter the room as she introduced her to him. “She is a Fixer that was heavily involved in our encounter with the Ring in the L Corp Branch Facility. She has signed a contract under Öufi to keep a secret about what happened rather than taking the amnestic meds. We kept her as a partner for Limbus Company in case we needed outside information.” She explained.

“N-nice to meet you. And thank you for the partnership. I came here to say thanks as well for the treatment and the discounted charge you gave me for the medical bill, as well excusing myself for now.” Karin bowed herself out, “may we meet again, see ya” and with that she was out.

”So it was true the Ring was involved… first the Middle, now the Ring. LCCB sure has pure luck with encounter rate with the Fingers….”

“Its’s a luck rate we don’t need or want” Yuri bantered with Micah. “We might need to investigate why there’s a Ring here. You’ve informed the higher-ups in your reports about them right?” Micah asked.

“Right, considering many Ring members are also researchers, we need to figure out and keep an eye on what they were researching in the Branch Facility. Though, if it were up to me, my guess is that they are researching Abnormality and Peccatula, based on that Maestro’s words that is.” Yuri shrugged.

”Anyway so our new duties will be, taking care of this Abno and upcoming Abnos from Refraction Railway, as well as searching information about Golden Bough and Distortion cases as per LCCB’s standard duty huh…”

”Oh right, I heard you guys didn’t find the Golden Bough there. Well even if it existed, I don’t think you can pass by the Maestro to get it. Anyway, yeah that sounds about right. As for us LCCA, same as you with the Abnormality management, as well as the clean-up after LCB finishes their job with Distortion cases.” Micah sighed and did a tired, resigned fist bump with Yuri.

“Good luck to the both of us” Yuri replied with a fist bump as well.

”Also, it isn’t just Toadie here, since LCCA has arrived that means so does LCCV Abnormalities, so we are actually getting 7 Abnormalities here” Micah added with an oopsie face. Yuri just fell silent, “yeah uh, can we get mental preparation last supper first,” she was holding back her frustration at least this time.

“Good idea, I’ll invite the other 2 Team Captains, you in for it, Scene?” “Sure” Scene chuckled at their usual interaction

——————————————————————————————————-

October 984

POV: Yuri’s POV

Another two weeks has passed since the incident with the Ring. LCB had just finished a big case of Distortion, one that apparently involved Blade Lineage and Kurakumo Clan, two infamous Syndicates opposing each other.

Due to the thing with the Monolith, the apparently Distortion-causing artifact, two of its surviving members are currently being treated in LCD. One is called Aeng-du, another is her mentor and the mentor of many Blade Lineage members called Kim.

“And so, here are our newest members. Aeng-du and mr. Kim” Manager Saude calmly introduced them after explaining what happened and who they were.

“I know this comes as a surprise, but keep in mind that Limbus Company recruits anyone regardless of background as a Syndicate or not. They will stay here as part of their rehabilitation, or at least, as they claim, until they are fully ready to rebuild their Syndicate. Formally, they’ll be part of LCCB”

The two silently bowed their heads after introducing their name, and no more. A very short and concise introduction, but at least Manager Saude has explained everything for them. 

After the introduction, their day as newbies today started with the usual LCCB briefing with other new recruits. I was in charge of the briefing together with Rouge. Later on, Samjo and  Montag will be in charge of the briefing in LCCU with the Abnormalities.

”Is there any other question?” I asked after the session ended, “if not, let's go to LCCU, your next briefing session will be held there.” I guided them to the elevator to go down. Fortunately the issue with the intranet has finally been fixed, meaning they’ll have more access to TETH level EGOs.

Samjo was the one who mainly talked during the LCCU briefing, due to Montag’s circumstances. He is also now able to interpret Montag’s speech and relay them to the new recruits. 

“Even with the new system, please make sure to submit any new findings you found on the Abnormalities and their interactions with certain stimuli or situations.” Samjo explained as Montag directed him what to say with whispers. The new recruits were at first weirded out by the fact the leader of the Information Team itself was like that but they got used to it after the end.

“For now, ZAYIN, Blubbering Toad. Gear, with that or TETH.” Montag asked. “For now, the newer recruits could start with working on our only ZAYIN level Abnormality, the Blubbering Toad. We have fully digitized the EGO Gears so you can start requesting and getting a download for it to gear up as your armor and weapon. Or you could ask for TETH level ones if you think you are confident enough to withstand them.” Samjo explained.

“Allow me to pose a question, Samjo-sunbae” Aeng-du asked politely. “Perchance, may I be allowed to wield my own blade rather than the one provided from those digital contraptions? As you know, we of Blade Lineage live and die by the blades, I trust them with my life. It seems my mentor also thought of the same thing.”

”Eh… hmmm…” Samjo asked Montag. “Technically, by blade, swords, we have EGO swords, but for Aeng-du, the level is too high. If you feel more confident using yours, feel free.” Montag doesn’t see any issue with it. As long as they survive, no one is obligated to use what the LCCU has. “But I will, ask higher up first. Will inform you later”

“Thank you for the answer, Captain Montag” Aeng-du seemed to have understood what Montag meant.

“Well, then that’s it for the briefing, anyone got questions?” Samjo asked as he was barraged by questions soon enough and tried his hardest to answer it with Montag.

Once the questioning ended. Micah asked them to go and do their work with the Abnormalities. “Captain, can we work on Ardor Blossom Moth again?” “Please?” A pair of twins, Mao and Nao asked Micah. Nao is the one who has longer hair and Mao is the one with thicker eyebrows. They both came up asking for permission to work with certain Abnormalities.

“Again? I suppose we do need more information on its gimmick and effects, sure.” Micah let them go but called Montag and Scene, “keep an eye on those two."

“Huh? Why? Nothing wrong with them working on the new Abnormalities we got recently from Refraction Railways right? If any, this increases the amount of information we’ll get” Scene asked.

“Sure, I agree with that, but these two have been so insistent on working with it for the past few days that I fear that some sort of charm or enchantment was affecting them.” “Hellterfly’s Dream’s effect perhaps. And its other effects too.” Montag pointed out his new findings and typed it to properly explain it to them.

[While Hellterfly’s Dream buffs them and increases their HP and their success work rate with other Abnormalities, it has been observed that others near them when they were walking around were infected with something. They dubbed this effect Ardent Flower. We have observed that those affected with Ardent Flower won’t be able to receive the Warm Embrace or Hellterfly’s Dream blessings.

And also, we found that its Qlipoth Count is not only affected just from Work Result, but also the status of mortality.

There were several Abnormalities in L Corp HQ that are sensitive to the amount of Employees dying in the facility. During the past few days, we found out that despite the Work Result being Good, when someone with Warm Embrace or Ardent Flower dies, the Qlipoth Count decreases by 1.

If that’s what happened to someone it barely know or love, could you imagine what’ll happen when it detected someone who has bonded with them - someone with Hellterfly’s Dream, died?”]

“Big chances are it would breach automatically, huh….” Rouge sighed, “alright, I’ll keep an eye on them” Rouge continued doing his work as he also kept an eye on them.

He spread the news to Pilot as well, as he was part of his teammate. Yuri was also informed and told her teammates later on, just in case, as she has seen some of them affected with Ardent Flower just from talking and resting together in the same area.

——————————————————————————-

“Mmm yeah, this department has some of them, 4 of them at least. Tsuruno, who was near you when you got affected by the Ardent Flower?”

Rouge tried to do a headcount of all the people who were infected and tried to retrace the infection line. “Hmmm… I’ve been with Felicia from the Disciplinary Team. She asked me for help writing reports.”

In the Disciplinary Team, Yuri did the same head count and found there’s 3 of them infected and asked the girl, Felicia, “I was with one of the twins! They were around the Moth’s cage. Can’t you believe it? I saw all the names they worked on were mostly those two!” Felicia admitted.

“How is it in the Control, Safety and Information Team?” Yuri asked each Team Captain.

“There’s no issue here.” “No Issue here” Scene and Montag replied. “There’s 2 of them here, yes, although, something else concerns me more…..” Micah sighed.

“A certain Employee has been disregarding the safety protocol we’ve been telling them.” Micah huffed. “They shrugged away the Wayward Passenger who was roaming passively. Thankfully it doesn’t count as an attack on it, though it was clearly growing borderline pissed just now. They got bored of working with Faelantern and worked several seconds shorter than the required time needed.”

Yuri sighed, “I know that person, it was Celeg wasn’t it. Sorry, yeah that person seems to be very stubborn. Perhaps they thought being able to violently use brute force is all that is needed to manage the Abnormalities….  I have been sending them to work at Blubbering Toad for now and while they were angry, they at least know not to direct order…..” She apologized.

“Was anyone hurt from the Faelantern’s breach?” She correctly assumed, as apparently it did breach. 

“No one was hurt. Yachiyo hunted it down before it could” Montag informed that his team member has suppressed it before it could charm and devour someone else. A sudden cry was heard, the cry hurts everyone nearby in the Disciplinary Department.

“What the fuck was that?!” Felicia asked, holding her head down. “That’s…… the echoing cry of Blubbering Toad….” It didn’t hurt as much for Yuri. 

“Eh? But… Does that mean the Qlipoth Reaches 0? Will it run away then?” Felicia asked, readying her EGO Weapon. “No, Felicia, Blubbering Toad doesn’t breach….” Yuri sighed and tapped her to put down the weapon for now.

“Blubbering Toad get to 0 and cry when Bad Work, or Temperance Level 1” Montag informed and reminded them. “Very hard to get Bad Work with it, that’s why it was suitable for newbies.”

“So even something easy like the Toad could get annoyed at that Celeg person. Do they really just have that much of a dogshit of a personality?!” Felicia was even surprised.

“Felicia!” Tsuruno called her out for being rude in the middle of an online meeting with the Team Captains. “No, it’s fine. She isn’t wrong either way. Their virtue stats need some… improvement. A lot.” Rouge sighed. 

“Micah, do you mind if we also assign them to the Skin Prophet? Perhaps an increased Prudence would help his mentality and work success rate a bit.” Yuri asked. “We’ll make sure not to assign them in other places that make them vulnerable to White Damage.”

“Got it, I’ll allow it.” Micah sighed and decided to conclude the sudden meeting there. Thankfully the cry of Blubbering Toad also ended at the same time.

——————————————————————————

“Naarrrrgghhhhh……” Yuri sighed and relaxed on the couch. Rough heaved a sigh as well “That was tough, thanks for being here, Rouge” She sighed. She could address him casually now since she received her promotion as well in LCCB recently. 

“It’s fine, it is my duty anyway, but still….. He sure is stubborn…. His curiosity reminds me of you though” Rouge huffed. They were having a counseling session with Celeg, thankfully the child agrees on working with their orders to work on low level Abnormalities or now that won’t endanger him or others.

”We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.” Rouge hummed, “oh right, when will you take a day off to install your new eyeball again?”

“Oh, it’s the day after tomorrow, don’t worry.” Yuri assured him. “You sure have lots of schedules that require you to go out lately. The Warp Train family one, your eyeball issue, oh and when we investigate the L Corp Branch Facility together.”

Yuri could only laugh awkwardly at that. “Actually they are going to ask me, well us LCCB to do more of it, specifically investigating Distortion cases with LCD”  “Oof, good luck to both of us.” Rouge sighed and the two decided to go back to the dorm to turn in for the day

—————————————————————

The Second Trumpet blared across the facility. The PSA says Spiral of Contempt has breached. Someone had averted their eyes against its stare back in the Containment Unit.

The creature, one who is the embodiment of feeling superiority, felt satisfied that the vermin beneath it doesn’t dare to stare back at it. The work was result was Good because the creature was satisfied but this also caused the Qlipoth Count to decrease to zero.

It breached by emerging from underground in one of the Main Area. “Hit the Hands first!” Micah commanded. “Captain! I already requested assitance from Disciplinary Team!” A girl named Iroha shouted. “Thank you!”

Back up from Disciplinary Team did came, Yuri included in it. The girl named Felicia donned the Legerdemain’s hammer and jumped to crack the Hands. While Iroha tried to shoot at them with Ebony Stem’s bowgun.

“Hyeahh!!” Someone screamed as they tried to punch the other Hand. Yuri noticed that it was Celeg. “Celeg! Fall back! I did not assign you here!” She had only assigned people strong enough to face against Spiral of Contempt, so them being here was unexpected

“Oh shut up already, I just need to punch this hands right? Even I can do it….” They huffed. “Celeg, this is an order.  Fall back. You are not strong enough for this” Yuri ordered again. “Or what? You going to write me off as an insubordination?” Celeg huffed.

Yuri had her hand full fighting off the main body with Micah that she could not pull him back. Unbeknowst to them, the main body has its Gaze not into Yuri or Micah, but those that attacked its Hands.

Suddenly, it retracted the Hands underground and reappeared again, this time scooping up the Employees it Gazed the most, and Grasped them.

“ARGHH!” “URGHH!” “IROHA WATCH OUT- GEERNGH….!” Several victims that fell for the Grasp, including Celeg, Mao, and Felicia pushed Iroha away from the Grasp and got herself Grasped instead.

For as long as the Abnormality held Contempt for them, they will suffer within its Grasped. The sound of something breaking and cracking could be heard from within the Grasped Hands.

“Feli…cia….?” Iroha panicked and banged at the hands. “FELICIA!” She screamed for her friend’s name. “Call for backup! Those that have blunt weapon will work.” Yuri pulled Iroha away, the Spiral of Contempt were more focusing on torturing those that it Grasped. 

“We need to quickly break its Grasp to free the Employees. The longer time goes on, the more suffered that employee inside”  Yuri said as she tried to break free others.

Backup from the Information Team and Safety Team came. Someone older named Yachiyo managed to break Felicia out, she had difficulty breathing, presumable a broken leg and broken ribs.

Blood begin seeping out of the clasped hands. “Oh no…. Oh nononono….” Yuri realized that a lot of blood came out from the one that trapped Mao within. “Mao!” Nao tried to break her free and Yuri came to it.

“Shit, here too.” Cargo sighed at the grotesque sight on the other Grasped Hands that were broken off. Inside was the corpse of Celeg, mangled, cracked open and pressed to the point of unrecognizable, only their EGO Gears remained.

Scene retrieved the Abnodex from within the corpse, it was broken but it was their duty to retrieve the Abnodex of those who had fallen.

Yuri tried to break free the Grasped Hands that Grasped Map with Nao. They finally broke it. “Oh no…” “MAO!!!” Nao screamed to the corpse of her twin sister, bleeding profusely and not breathing in the broken stone palms. Yuri got a bad feeling about this.

“That’s it!” Micah shouted on the other side. Spiral of Contempt gurgles as all of its playthings are broken out and too broken to die. “It’s staggered now! Prepare to beat it up-“ “MICAH!” Yuri interrupted him and dragged him away

“EVERYONE THAT USES WHITE DAMAGE WEAPONS COME WITH ME, EVERYONE ELSE CONCENTRATE ON USING THIS CHANCE TO BEAT SPIRAL OF CONTEMPT!”

She gave order instead while gripping Micah’s wrist hard. “Ow- Yuri what’s-“ Micah stopped his words as he stared to where Yuri stopped to stare. 

What he saw was alarmingly beautiful. But also terrifying. The Hellterfly’s Dream that was fluttering behind Mao’s head suddenly lifted her corpse and it increased her in a cocoon of fire, immediately incinerating her in a sudden cremation. The process doesn’t stop there, however. The cocoon opened up to ashes and dust from Mao’s presumed body and belongings, then those ashes and dusts flew away, as if there’s a breeze that blew them away, it all flew into a different direction.

Everyone was weirded out at the sight, but Yuri snapped them “I repeat! Everyone with White Damage! Follow me!” She ran out rallying Micah and everyone else. Micah is no longer in her grip due to her letting him go when she witnessed what happened just now.

Everyone snapped back to reality and questioned her order, but decidedly followed her. Some stayed behind as per the order to finish off Spiral of Contempt.

“Mao… Mao!!! No don’t leave me…!!! Don’t leave me alone!!!” Nao followed. She was in the state of panic but still followed Yuri’s group.

—————————————————————

“And that’s why- whoa!” Rouge was giving a briefing to some newbies when the dust and ashes suddenly flew into the room. Followed by Yuri’s group. “What happened?!” He asked. 

“That’s….” Yuri looked up. “Mao!!” Nao cried out when she arrived at the room. The dust and ashes consolidate into one spot in midair. It gathered until it formed a rather solid form of a cocoon and from the cocoon emerged the Ardent Blossom Moth.

“EVACUATE THE NEW EMPLOYEES! We will begin the Suppression of the Ardent Blossom Moth!” Yuri announced. Samjo scurried them out and Pilit immediately locked the door on one side.

“Argh!” “Eek!” “Hot!” Everyone who was affected by Ardent Flower previously was having a burning sensation. “It burns everyone infected?!” Yuri hissed. “Shit, everyone would be in danger!” Micah hissed as well. Both of them were also infected so it affected both of them too.

“Target its wings first! That should weaken its strongest attacks!” Micah ordered. They concentrated their attacks on it. “Leave it to me! Senior, please take care of Nao for now, she’s mentally unwell!” Tsuruno jumped to ambush it from above, successfully breaking a part of its wings.

Rouge tried to hold Nao back, “Mao! MAO! It’s me! Don’t leave me behind!”  “Nao, that is not your sister anymore, that’s an Abnormality!” “NO THAT’S HER!!” She struggled and argued.

Suddenly someone came and smacked her from behind her neck. It was Aeng-du. “I apologize for staying behind, but the thoughts occured to me that this would be a great learning opportunity for a green horn such that I am. And I apologize for knocking her out of light suddenly. Tis’ would seem she was losing. Sanity from losing her kin to that creature, I had thought this would be the quickest and safest way to ensure her survival to another day.” Aeng-du asked if she could take Nao out of the room.

“Go.” Rouge escorted her as she carried Nao and he unlocked the room and locked it back again for safety.

”Hiyaaaaah!” Tsuruno spinned and kicked it to completely destroy and stagger it. “Now! Get its wings!” It seems she was periodically healed to due Hellterfly’s Dream that affected her. Fortunately she wasn’t charmed by the Abnormality enough like the twins and fought by their side right now.

”Did that body part break off…?” Tsuruno asked after they got their chance to beat it off. Unfortunately, no it’s not broken off yet. “Oh no… TAKE COVER!” Micah ordered as it unleashed it’s strongest move, Ardor Blossom Star. The move caused Burning Embers to also infect the previously non-infected Employees.

“It burns!!” “Help!!!” People were burned alive as they were standing around. Yuri hissed at the pain and ordered the ones that didn’t panic.

“Keep attacking and breaking off the wings.” She led them. Once the part was broken off for real this time, the Moth fluttered more lower to the ground, weaker.

Micah could see it, a dark shadow lingers at the center of the flaming moth. Its form was vague and mercurial, yet somehow he knew by instinct that that shadow was the very core of the moth.

“We need to separate that thing from the flames…..” Micah muttered. “Micah?” Yuri asked as she prepared her weapon but Micah signaled them all to wait. “[Turning off pain receptors of all parts of the body.]” He muttered to himself, 

He reached out towards the flames, as if not caring he reached out through the burning fire. His fingertips burst into bubbles and it exposed the skeletal prosthetics underneath, but he didn’t care.

This body can be fixed, but human lives are eternally lost. Reaching inside the core of its body before the moth awakens, Micah wrestled the dark thing from the flames and hurled it away from the fire.

It was a clump of ashes and dust vaguely in the shape of an infant. He threw it hard to the floor until the clums broke off into a normal pile of ashes and dust. 

And with that, the fire and embers of the moth and the Employees immediately subside. Those infected before and just now no longer feel the burning sensation. In exchange, the blessings also disappear from others who were blessed by the fire moth. It was as though the flames had never burned.

The only proof that it ever burned was the look at Micah. His EGO Gears broke and burned, his entire arm was burned up to half of his face. and his skeletal prosthetic was for all to see. “It seems I have avoided dying this time, for real” He chuckled with his usual teasing tone, but clearly that also stressed him out. People will question his identity more with this, but he could care less right now. 

Because it was not important right now, as the Ardor. Blossom Moth revived itself. This time, all of its body parts are broken. It was merely a cinder, a remnant of its perfect self. “Let’s finish this off quickly” he grabbed the Dimension Shredder knife. His EGO Suit, which was of the same set, is now broken and won’t be able to protect him properly. So he had to finish this quickly.

—————————————————————————————

“Are you sure you don’t need some treatment as well? Our team also has some engineers…..” Scene asked. As it turns out, Sana was one of such engineers, designated to help those with prosthetics.

“No need, I can manage even with this.” He wiggled his steel skeletal fingers. ‘Plus my entire body was custom-made, it’d be too complex for Sana. I can manage to make my own spare arm for now, perhaps she can help with that. And perhaps a new face plate.”

“An entire…. Arm from the scratch?” Sana hummed, “It might be a bit too hard for me to make one of the same quality like yours but if it’s just for temporary use….” She began discussing it with Micah for a while before going away to prepare for it.

Yuri and Montag checked on him. “Are you sure this is okay?” She asked. “Your identity…” “It’s okay, if it’s this much, they are bound to know sooner or later anyway. My real reason being here, for my Master and searching for ‘that’ person and all, is still a secret after all~” He whispered the latter half to the two. Only they knew.

”Besides, don’t I look creepy and cool. Like this? Human who revealed itself to be part machine. I guess it’s pretty common in the City, but hey aesthetic wise, I think I look pretty damn heroic” He joked.

His pain receptor was still turned off, he knew the moment he turned it on, everything would all come at once. Might as well joke about it while he still can.

“Right, Yuri, about your request for the eyeball prosthetic.” Micah suddenly changed the topic.

“Yeah? I was gonna retrieve it tomorrow.”

“Right, that thing, see, uses T Corp’s technology, one of the high grade ones. Meaning it uses lots of energy. Not that you need to refill yourself with some junk oil like some crappy physical enhancement of course, but Master suggested not to use it every so often, meaning it might not be suitable for day-to-day daily life use.”

“Oh……” Yuri hummed, “Well I’ve gotten used to being one eye and wearing eyepatch, nothing will be different then.” She shrugged. “And it was pricey, yeah, I gotta use it carefully. Also what happens if I use them too much in a day?” Yuri asked.

“Well… uh you see, it seems Master had his hand on some T Corp tech that was also used on L Corp. Don’t ask, trade secrets. But as it was used on L Corp, that means it worked effectively when using Enkephalin. But as we can’t really possibly use Enkephalin produced here for personal use….. the same substance from your own body is used instead.” Micah hesitantly explained.

“Ah, I remember Mephistopheles feeds on Enkephalin produced in the human brain as fuel. I see…. It all makes sense now. Abnormalities were human thoughts embodied into solid form, and they produce Enkephalin. So it would make sense that the actual human brain can produce the same substance….” Yuri accepted the fact calmly.

“So what’ll happen to my brain if I use the new Eyeball?” Yuri insisted on knowing.

“Depending on how severe the overuse is but definitely the first sign is some mental strain, similar to White Damage” Micah scratched his head with his normal hand.

“Okay, thank you for the warning. I’ll be careful.” With that, Yuri can take the eyeball and know to use it safely.

—————————————————————————-

Doesn’t mean that they could rest peacefully right after though. While the clerks helped them with the clean up, the Team Captains had to make a whole report of the incidents of the day. All the Abnormalities that breached, all the information they gathered from fighting against it, and all the employees that died from the suppression.

Yuri herself could only sleep when it had reached nearly 3 AM. “Ummmrgghh…. I’m so glad LCC facilities count as a residential area, I could sleep peacefully knowing Sweepers won’t get…..me……” She looked at her notes. “Oh right….. what time am I supposed to get to the Tres Association again…..” She fell asleep before she could read her notes.

—————————————————————————-
EGO Sets for RR3 Abnormalities:

Ever wondered what Limbus Abnormalities’s Managerial Tips/ Managerial Log is like in Lobotomy Corporation style? Here’s a link and preview for Abnormality Entries for RR3 Abnormalities:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f2un9tyM4KAxlAIojZzn6bM7Ey9DKO426Llbr8C7cA4/edit

Ever want to try to see and play around with all the fanmade EGO Sets so far? I made a picrew for private use now!
Updated with better thumbnails for each options +  toggle buttons to adjust position and size for some items
Will be updated as fanfic goes

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/2299509

Chapter Text

POV: General POV

“Oh crud!” She woke up a bit later than the intended time. She was supposed to have met up with the Tres Association Director to retrieve her new prosthetic and help order a new one for Micah at 9 AM. But it’s already 8.30.

“Shit, I also haven’t had any breakfast…” Yuri grumbled and decided to pick up something on the way there to eat. She and Micah had been allowed to take a day off for today so she had used this chance to finish her own personal business.

Picking up some sandwiches to eat on the road, Yuri looked at the hours. She would be late at this point, she had thankfully, managed to inform them that she would be late.

‘But at this rate this won’t just be 5-10 minutes late now, am I….’ The traffic there was worse than she thought. She decided to walk  there instead to get there faster than using public transportation. 

Yuri passed by the park where she met Erica, the Butler. She always had her handkerchief with her whenever she went out. So that she can return it anytime, the moment she met her.

Today it was empty as usual, however, there was a difference. There was a sudden rustling behind the bushes and the trees in the park. “Erica?” She asked curiously. It might not be her, but she still curiously checked it out. And boy, did Yuri regret that action.

Behind the bushes was an old man with a maroon red jacket worn as a cape. On the ground was a man tattooed all over his body with cloud patterns, and for some reason his arms, detached from his bodies, blood all over the ground.

Yuri wanted to scream when she finally clicked on who they were. ‘W-wait! That logo and clothes, isn’t he a member of the Thumb?! And that tattoo pattern must be the Kurakumo Clan from the report! I did hear the Clan was a subsidiary group of the Thumb but what are they doing here?! And in broad daylight too?! Are those arms???? That guy’s arms??? Why is it amputated, ripped away from him?? Huh?? What the hell is happening here?’ Questions after questions appeared in her head. But her body stayed stiff expressionless.

Yuri finally snapped into reality when she heard the footsteps of the Thumb old man coming to her. To which she immediately bowed down to apologize. “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt whatever is happening here. I’ll pretend I didn’t see or say anything.” And with that she was going to power walk herself out of the situation.

“Now now Missy, it’s fine, we knew you stumbled upon us by accident~” the old man gripped Yuri’s shoulder hard to stop her. “In exchange for letting you go peacefully. Can you do some errands for us? Do it, and we’ll let this be bygones smoothly.” His grip on her shoulder hardened.

“O-okay…. What is it?” She asked, trying not to show she’s freaking out on her face as much as her own heartbeat.

“First, please buy some first aid kit or some healing ampules from this shop” He wrote something on a notebook and gave Yuri the paper he ripped out from the book.

“Next, please go to the Tres Association, meet the Director of this section, Deimos, and give her this. Tell her that it’s Dionysius who sent you.” He ripped another paper from the book and gave it to Yuri.

“Go now, quickly. If you do good, this old man will add another extra reward to pay you!” He laughed. His imposing stance clearly indicates Yuri to not meddle or question what happened to the Kurakumo Clan member. 

“R-right, I have errands in Tres Association anyway, this is the same direction, so I’ll take care of it…..” she muttered and excused herself. Clearly still on guard. And after she exited the park, Yuri ran as hard as she could, putting her own life to get to Tres Association as quickly as possible.

————————————————————————-

Yuri quickly arrived at Tres Association when it was 9.45

She introduced herself as Yuri from LCCB who had prior appointment with Director Deimos. Which thankfully, was the same person she needs to meet for her prosthetic and the one that the Thumb person needs her to deliver the letter for,

She sat down for a bit, panting. She can’t talk without panting. And her breath hitched when the Director arrived to meet her. “You’ve finally come. The Limbus Company Clearance Before Team Captain…. Miss Yuri. I appreciate the fact that you informed me that you’d be so late” Yuri could feel the sarcasm seeping from her words.

Standing up and looking towards the speaker, Yuri was confronted with a pair of green eyes. So vivid it felt like it was inspecting her very being.

Deimos’ looked very disappointed but soon forced herself to chuckle and an ironic smile. “But y’know, here in T Corp, not all of us have much time like you fellas.” She chuckled more and guided her elsewhere for her commissioned item. “Very well, I’ll try not to waste your precious time, let’s get to business….  Miss Yuri.”

Yuri could shiver from all of the insults, but she can’t deny she made the grave mistake of being so late to meet the Director.

Arriving at another room. The Director slid a box on the table, “Open it and check if it’s as you specified, then we proceed to the billing.” Deimos said.

Yuri opened it. Inside was an eyeball, gold or hazelnut for the iris, it looked very realistic like a normal eye, were it not for the end part was a wire port to connect to the port inside her eye socket. The one she had surgery for recently. 

She read the letter specifying the specs of the prosthesis. It could do the things she asked, and like Micah warned, the special mode will have some side effects. 

“It is as I specify, yes.” “You need to prove it by wearing it first. We don’t take after-purchase complaints, especially one you ordered to an Associate Office.” Deimos specified. It made sense, one shouldn’t complain about what one ordered to an Office but complained to the Association instead.

“Oh, okay, hold on…” She tried to wear it but was confused. “….have you never used any prosthetic eye, Miss Yuri?” Deimos got a bit concerned at how awkward she is. “Um, no, this is my first time actually.”  She tried to push it to her eye socket to no avail.

“No wonder, here, let me help” Deimos stood up and walked to stand beside her, teaching her how to use it. “Relax for a bit, make sure you know where the port is. It’s a straight line from behind the pupil. Okay, I’ll push it in now.” She did it so quickly that Yuri was surprised at how painless it is and only surprised when she heard something click in her head.

”I think it clicked- ow… wha-…” Yuri could see, but it was blurry, mostly blurry from tears covering her vision in her new eye.

“Ah, your surgery is one that retains the original tear gland and tear duct is it? Don’t worry, it’s just your body trying to adapt to it and lubricating it. Take your time until you can see properly. You are not myopic or use any sort of glasses, are you?” 

“Ah no…” Yuri blinked several times until she got comfy. Finally soon enough, she could see properly, for the first time, from both eyes. She has a sense of depth and distance again. “Whoa….” She was amazed.

“Sorry to disturb your emotional moments, but can we move to the billing now?” Deimos coughed.

"Ah right,” She prepared her money and checked the billing list that Deimos brought out. Making sure it is all correct, she paid the rest of the payment for this commission. Yuri decided to continue using her eyepatch for the day and slowly get used to her new vision bit by bit as to not strain her own energy.

“Ah right, before I forgot….” Yuri took out the notes she got from the Thumb old man, “Someone asked me to give this to you,” she handed the note to the Director.

Internally Yuri tried to question why a Director of an Association has a liaison with a syndicate as big as Thumb, but the City, corrupt is its middle name, this kind of thing probably happens behind the scenes sometimes.

Deimos took the piece of paper from her and read it. “Did you know the old man who gave this to you?” she asked. Her green eyes are judging Yuri again, digging for the truth.

Yuri felt she needed to be truthful as well so she confessed, “no I don’t actually, I kind of accidentally witnessed him…. Doing his business I suppose. He suddenly asked me to do an errand in exchange for letting me go without any trouble.” Yuri pulled out another note.

“Truth be told, he also asked me to buy some medicines from these shops but I don’t know what these meds are or where these shops are….” Yuri showed her the other note

Deimos read it and sighed. “Very well.” she put on her jacket, “I’ll show you where it is, might as well teach you their actual market price.”
—------------------------------------------------------------

Yuri was surprised at how casual Deimos left the Association building. She merely said “I’ll be out for stuff,” to her employees and they just casually accepted that their boss will not be in her office for a while.

On the way, Deimos also explained that the shopping lists are actually a bunch of different items. Medical kit, bullets, spare parts, etc. 

”First stop is this shop,” They entered the first shop. “‘Elcome, what do you need today? We have lots of wares for you~” The person greeted them, but Deimos immediately replied to the greetings by making a beeline to the counter, immediately going up to their personal space. 

“Greetings, I would like to grab some diluted K Corp Ampoules, please? How much for one or two of ‘em?” She smiled confidently. “Righto, hold up,” They pulled out the boxes of ampoules. “That’d be 4 thousand Ahns.”

Deimos acted disappointed and sighed annoyed, “Are you kidding me? That’s too expensive for a single ampoule isn’t it?! That’s the cost of a single bullet, and this is the diluted version we are talking about!”

“You know buddy, saving a life means saving a potential client, a potential future wage for ya, must it be as expensive as taking a life too?” Deimos tried to pressure and persuade them. “How bout a cheaper one, like 1 thousand for one, and I’ll buy 3 of them in exchange?”

”No can’t do pal, K corp products are having a bit of an inflation right now. Heard they are having some sort of internal shit going on, with one of the Department Directors betraying them or stuff.” Yuri turned her head away, pretending she didn’t understand what the man implied.

”Oh and that gives you the right to up the price TWICE of the market price. Look I know how hard it is, especially life in T Corp, but surely this price is negotiable?” Deimos sighed.

“I said, No, I can't do that” The shop owner stubbornly said. “Ah well, can’t be helped then, let’s go missy, I know a shop that can give us a better price than this” She intentionally pretended to turn away and get out of the store when the shop owner finally relented. “Fine, 3 thousand per one ampoule, no less.”

Yuri was certain she saw a devious smirk from Deimos face just now, though it disappeared the moment she turned back. “Go lower, 1500” “Fine, 2500.” “Nope, still won’t buy, 1700 or I’ll leave.” “Okay fine 2000, market price.”

“That’s the market price for undiluted, what we are buying is half diluted ampoule,” Deimos chuckled, “you don’t even know that as a merchant?” The shop owner grumbled. “Fine! 1800, I can’t go lower than this!” Deimos smirked, “Pleasure doing business with ya~!” She bought some more extra ampoules as well. 

Yuri took mental notes to learn about the K Corp ampoule market price after that, only for Deimos detected what she was thinking and correct it. “2000 was in fact, the market price for diluted ampoules, by the way.”

“Wh- but just now you said?” She looked back at the shop. Deimos just hummed, “do whatever you can to get cheaper price y'know, you gotta be able to survive that way.”

In different shops, Deimos bluffed in different ways. “I mean, I totally did not hear you sell these for cheaper prices for the Comma Gang. Liaison with different factions is good and all, but I think you shouldn’t treat your clients differently you know? Weren’t you doing business with Comma Gang’s rival, the White Weasel Gang too? Not so much an exclusive provider eh?” 

“We are talking about a material that is banned by N Corp here, are you sure you want to sell it that expensive? Weren’t you in trouble for having that in your possession and that’s why you want to get rid of it quickly before a Taboo Hunter catches up?”

“Oh, I remember you, weren’t you the one whose house was visited by a T Corp Collection Staff. How did it go? Was there a problem with your Time Tax? Hmm…. Is that so, how bout I help you get rid of that thing, for a price as high as…. This?” Deimos made a hand sign for the price.

Yuri learned that day that this was not a “learn the market price” lesson but rather a “bluff, haggle, and threaten” lesson.

Their to-do list was filled with checks soon enough until they got to the last three items. “Those items are from here,” Deimos dragged her to the last place and Yuri read out the shop sign. “KlingKlang… Pub…?” Yuri got confused, “Eh…? Pub??”

“Yeah, those are side dishes, snacks to go with alcohol, don’t you know?” Deimos went in. This time, she was genuinely more polite and ordered the food to go.

Deimos sneaked some order to eat at the location as they waited for their go-to order. “Eat up, you must be.  Hungry after walking that much.”

As if predicting that, Yuri’s stomach grumbled and she apologized for that, accepting the food but made sure to replace her money for her share of food after they got out of the pub. “Now to the park to meet Mr. Dionysius”

-----------------------------------------------——————

‘How did I get myself into this situation????’ Yuri asked herself. Next to her was Director Deimos. Her hand has a death grip on Yuri’s shoulder.

Next to her was the formerly known as Kurakumo Clan’s captain, Jun, who now has his wounds treated and wrapped in bandages. And next to Jun was the old man from Thumb, Dionysius. 

—————

A few minutes ago

They arrived at the park soon after their shopping trip was done and went to the forest behind the park where Yuri said Dionysius should be waiting for them.

Walking until they found the forest clearing, what waited for them were Dionysius and the man from Kurakumo whose arms are now crudely bandaged.

“Why hello there, Director Deimos, I’m glad my message finds you.” Dionysius chuckled and greeted Deimos cordially.

Deimos also replied the greeting jovially, “It has been a while Mr. Dionysius, I bought all your needs. Here you go.” She handed it to him.

“Good good, ah, missy, can you use these medical kits to treat that man’s wound?” “Eh-“ Yuri was planning to run away quickly but stopped again by the man. “Okay….” She took some items from the bags and went to the man.

“Jun, keep your promise. Do not try to attempt regrowing your arm with those ampoules. Cast away any memories or personal attachment to your arms, it is no longer yours and it does not exist anymore.” Dionysius emphasized. “Yessir!” Jun replied, despite the pain, he still managed to answer him respectfully.

Yuri tried to not question why he was not allowed to regrow his arms despite being allowed to get proper first aid like this, but nonetheless she treated the wounds. “I will be inserting the ampoules now” She prepared to stab him with it and Jun closed his eyes, trying to not attempt any form of regrowing his arms by thinking about it. Cast away any unnecessary thoughts of his arms, it is gone now, it’s his punishment. 

As Yuri treated him, Deimos chatted casually with Dionysius. “Surely you realize this kind of delivery is a Devyat Thing, not mine y’know. My service doesn’t come cheap~” Deimos went on a haggle mode again, but less pressuring this time.

“Of course, to pay a Director like you directly delivering this as well as agreeing to my commission request, I have prepared these.” He took out several heavy bottles from the big bag he brought with him.

”Drambuie from the Zaganos Brand, 950s series.” He took it out. “A favorite from my personal stash, do you think this would be enough?”  Deimos went wide eyed at it. So does Jun.

Meanwhile Yuri was confused. “Is it that special?” She asked, whispering to the man. “A whisky with an age of at least 30 years is a truly special thing. That’s something that can be about….” Jun whispered a large number to Yuri’s ear, “on the auction market.”

Yuri now looked just as wide eyed as the two just now. ‘Why would a man from the Thumb offer such a thing??’

“I think I figured out what your commision would be based on the shopping list you asked me to do and your subordinate’s condition over there. Very well, that would be an acceptable payment.” For behind-the-scene transactions like this, it is better to not leave an actual record of your transaction. In a way, non-monetary payment like this works better.

“Very good! Now that that’s settled, shall we have a drink? You surely bought the food I asked for?” “Yep, they are in the bags too.” Deimos pointed out.

“Great! I brought some reishu and soju that matches them, let’s drink and have some delicious food for now!” Dionysius produced the alcohols and the drinking cups from his bag as well.

———————-

Deimos and Dionysius laughed together and had a blast drinking together and eating the snacks she bought. They so blatantly discussed their behind-the-back liaison, that is to say the Thumb’s bullets’ wholesale purchase and restock apparently.

‘It seems that while that man isn’t as high as a Capo, he held an important position as the bullet restocking specialist due to his liaison with Director Deimos….’ Yuri tried to distract herself from the awkwardness of the situation by analyzing stuff.

Yuri looked at Jun, who was catatonic but his scrunched up face seems to indicate it’s not like he lost consciousness with wide open eyes. He noticed Yuri staring at him and they felt a bond of being stuck in this awkward situation.

Jun can’t escape due to his lack of arms, and the presence of Thumb. Yuri can’t run away because Deimos is holding her in place, to the point that she entrusted Yuri to hold her drinking glass.

After several glasses, Dionysius sighed and turned to the other two. “Well then let’s get back to the main topic for today for a bit,” Dionysius changed his seat so he and Jun are facing the two ladies.

“I’m sure you have figured it out but I’d like you to make prosthetic arms for this lad, Jun.” He used this chance to introduce Jun. “As I told you before, he was formerly the Captain of Kurakumo Clan, the subsidiaries of the Thumb. Due to some mistakes he did, we have enacted the punishment by the law of Thumb, that is to take away his arms as well as his identities within Kurakumo and Thumb. He is no longer one of us and will no longer be under our protection.”

“You sure are rather generous for someone who will be ‘no longer under your protection’, giving him prosthetics and all.” Deimos commented. “Hmm, I would rather not waste the second chance in life that I have given him, he has much potential as a young man.”

“Second chance?” Yuri muttered, accidentally voicing her curiosity, “ah- don’t mind me, sorry…..” she tried to distance herself and made herself smaller. 

“Eh, I don’t mind. Basically, in general, his insubordinations and lists of mistakes would have cost his life usually. He failed to protect his subordinates and lost the ‘merchandise’ he was supposed to bring back to us. This would have cost him more than a pair of arms, but I used my authority to be merciful here,” Dionysius sighed. 

Yuri finally connected the dots. Jun was the Captain that Aeng-du mentioned in her reports. ‘That means he was connected to the whole Distortion of the Blade Lineage Mentor….’ Without Yuri realizing, Deimos also felt that Yuri knew something about Jun. She was staring and observing her reaction about Jun’s story.

Moving on, Deimos asked “what’ll happen to him then, after I make and give the prosthetic arms for him.”

“That’ll be up to his fate. My help for him ends there.” Dionysius huffed “there are limits of how much I could help him, I used the excuse to restock bullets from you, my liaison to come here as well.” 

Deimos nodded, “got it, let’s discuss the specificity of the specs” she patted Dionysius and death gripped Yuri “don’t run away yet, for your own sake. And also, if you knew something about that guy Jun, use this chance to talk about it with him.”

She released her grip on Yuri before moving to talk with Dionysius in a private distance. Yuri faced Jun, she came closer and asked him. “Was the merchandise he meant…. A black stele…?” Yuri asked.

Jun’s eyebrows perked up. “You knew? Are you one of the- no, they dress and speak differently. You don’t have that District 21 accent on you….” Jun tried to analyze. “Were you with that group that had a big clock head?” He asked and Yuri’s silence confirmed it with him. 

“Heh, what a twist of fate.” Jun chuckled in irony. “So…. What happened after I knocked out? Your group did something with the Blade Lineage girl right? When I woke up, the Thumb had already arrived and none of those Blade Lineage peeps and the stele were there.” Jun asked.

“We retrieved it.” Yuri couldn’t disclose much about how Limbus Company researches Distortion, not around a Thumb executive.

“Both of them and the thing,” Yuri said. “So they joined your side eh…..” Jun looked around. “Lucky them, I got nothing more on me. I’m now merely Jun. Not a Captain, not a part of Kurakumo Clan. Even if I’m grateful of sir Dionysius’ mercy on my life, I got nothing in my life now…..” he shrugged and looked at his stubby arms “I suppose I’ll try not to die like a sewer rat, at least”

Yuri hummed. ‘It does feel like a pity, if he was given a second chance in life like this but with no certainty for the future.’ Yuri hummed. “I have a suggestion for you….”

—————————————————————

On the other side, in LCCV

“Sana, have you read the new announcement they made? It seems to apply to LCB mainly but since we also fight with Abnormalities and Peccatula, might as well give it a read through too….” Scene showed her laptop screen.

“Oh, what is it? Hmm…’changes on how Abnormalities, Distortions, and Peccatula are categorized.’” Sana began reading the article.

[Regarding Risk Levels:

From here henceforth, the categorization for each entity will be updated automatically after Limbus Company HQ has confirmed the validity of the Observation Logs submitted by LCB]

”Must be because both us and LCB encountered those new types of evolved Peccatula recently….” Scene commented as she let Sana continue reading. “Oh the documents seems to be written by LCD department”

[The former L Corp., also known as the Lobotomy Corporation, used to contain and manage the Abnormalities that we’ve faced in their branches. Even. Taking into account that their strengths were suppressed by the Golden Boughs, there was a pretty significant difference between their Risk Level categorizations and the actual risk involved in facing them.

We received similar reports from different departments, and so the LCD department investigated this issue. So far, there have been five categories of Risk Levels: ZAYIN, TETH, HE and WAW and the highest one, ALEPH.

We have received reports that there has been a significant disparity between the categorization standards branded onto them by L Corp. and combatants’ experience with them in the field.

Due to this, there will be overhauls to those standards, by Limbus Company’s standards. Lobotomy Corporations used each Abnormality’s enkephalin production capability as well as the complexity to take care of them as the standard to categorize them into different Risk Levels.

Abnormality with more complicated, difficult management conditions produced more enkephalin, but they were also harder to fight.

From here henceforth, the standard used by Limbus Company will be better to reflect the combatants’ own field experiences, so combatants will know what to expect from a fight. The new Risk LEvels will be based on the actual risk of each Abnormality poses in battle]

[Regarding Distortions:

So far, Limbus Company has been using the same subject classification codes as Abnormalities for Distortions. But it has been pretty clear so far that there is a big difference between them, enough that we have considered giving this new group a distinct classification code. This is mainly due to the fact that unlike Abnormality, Distortion could be completely slayed.

Regarding Peccatula:

Similar to Distortions, due to their differing nature, Peccatula will be given a classification code scheme different from the Abnormalities as well, including the newly recently discovered versions Peccatula.

The different classification basis for Peccatula will be different due to Abnormalities and Distortions both have elements of uniqueness that is missing in each individual Peccatula; considering this, it has been deemed that Peccatula will be classified by its type and its alternate forms. Updates regarding Peccatula will be informed once new version of them are found.

LCD On-site Investigative Reasoning Team Leader, Moses]

“That’s some drastic changes,” Yachiyo of the Information Team sneaked up behind them. “Hmm? Yachiyo, weren’t you on a half day shift today?” “Yes I am. I just needed to retrieve some medicines from the Safety Team’s dispensary.” 

“Medicines? What do you need? For who? I’ll get them for you.” Sana asked. “For Captain Montag, our teammate Anansi dragged him to a bar and he vomited everything he ate after he got drunk” Yashiyo sighed. “Samjo is helping them take Captain Montag back to his room right now.” “Oh dear…..” Sana chuckled but helped her get the needed medicines.

——————————————————————

A few weeks later.

“Wh- WHY ARE YOU HERE TOO?!” Aeng-du turned to Yuri. “Captain, I demand an answer, why is this individual here?!” 

In front of her was Jun, now joining LCC. It was Yuri’s idea to recruit him, and unexpectedly both LCC and Jun agreed on it. 

“Hey, watch your attitude, the Cap’n here personally recruited me. And ‘sides, be glad I’m in a different LCCB Team, so we don’t have to see each other's face often except down here!” Jun hissed.

He got a pair of cybernetic arms. It was nearly the same standard quality ones given to Kurakumo clan Captains who needed prosthetics, except he could also feel pain.

It seems it was part of the special specs Dionysius requested, parts of his punishment. It was to drill it to him that these cybernetics are his new arms for his new life.

“It’s okay Aeng-du, we also got some good news for you. Your mentor, mr. Kim had recuperated fully, he’ll join in LCCB activities and down here as well.” When Yuri said that, Aeng-du perked up. “Truly? Now that is auspicious news for me indeed. Is he here today? Where might I be able to find him?” 

“Ah, since he was a mentor we thought it’d be better if we assign him to the Training Team. I think he’s currently training some people there too.” Yuri explained.

“I see, tis truly unfortunate we are not in the same team, but it is truly a wise decision for you to assign him there. Now if you’ll excuse me, I shall extend my greetings and reunion with him.” Aeng-du sprinted to the Training Team.

“Now that’s some treatment difference,” Jun sighed. “Oh right, I heard that she was allowed to dual wield with her old sword and an EGO Weapon. Do you mind if I do the same?” He asked.

“Sure, you have your own sword too huh?” Yuri tilted her head to inspect it. “This is a new one. My old partner was confisticated, as part of my banishment from the Kurakumo clan.” Jun explained.

“I see. Right, allow me to thank you for taking the offer I suggested to join here and not snitch to the Thumb about our involvement with the black stele….” Yuri sighed. The LCC probably recruited him to keep the information network safe too.

“They made it clear I’m no longer part of them, nor a second chance to join them. I got nothing that will benefit me even if I snitch to them.” Jun shrugged. 

“I see, well then for today your task can be-“ Yuri was going to help him but a PSA suddenly announced something. It was not about an Abnormality breach.

“Attention, Agent Yuri, Montag, and Micah in LCCV, you are all hereby summoned to the sortie hall. I repeat-“ the announcement repeated the same thing one more time.

“Sorry about this, I’ll ask someone else to assign you your duty for today,” Yuri excused herself from Jun and gathered with the other two Team Captains. Saude and Effie prepared a vehicle for them.

“Good. You are here. Use this and the special siren, and head immediately to Wuthering Heights.” Effie said, “we’ll take care of any public complaints from you speeding up, so go!”

“Wuthering Heights? Isn’t that where the LCB….” Yuri asked “Yes, they sent us a back-up request. Rather distressing one too. So go now. We’ll replace your duty today as team captains in LCCV.” Saude pushed her in. Micah was in the driver’s seat.

“Make sure their mission went smoothly. I wish you the best, return safely and good luck” Effie patted the door after he closed it.

‘The Wuthering Heights…. The LCB….’ She reached to her pocket where she saved the embroidered handkerchief safely. ‘Erica…..’ 

————————————————————————————

This chapter’s additional fanart:

Yuri (She had enough)


Deimos,  Dionysius (@sblm_kamis Tres and Thumb OC), and Jun

Chapter Text

POV: General POV

LCB Side

‘The enemies will win at this rate. When that happens, I’ll have to turn my clock…. Again and again. Until when? They outnumber us with their endless army of Identities….’ Dante thought desperately.

They had already pressed the emergency button to ask for help from LCCB and LCCA, so someone surely will be sent here. ‘But when will help arrive?’

The large evolved form of Peccatula was coming for the Sinners, when suddenly red slashes appeared obstructing the view of the Sinners

“When you lose sight of your path, when you no longer know which road to take…” Red blood barrier protected the Sinner, “the guide will show you the way, Dante.” Vergilius appeared out of nowhere

<Vergilius…?>

———————————————————-

Yuri’s side

We headed immediately to Wuthering Heights. As told, we tried to go as fast as possible, while trying not to disobey as much traffic law as possible. When we arrived we saw a thunderstorm surrounding the great mansion, and only in that area.

“Wuthering Heights is an apt name,” Micah commented. “They said the order to back up the Manager comes from the underground area, let’s go quickly there.”

We rushed through the storms. There were nearly no security personnels, the Butlers all incapacitated or murdered all across the floors, there were some that seemed like from Öufi Association and some sort of Syndicate. 

“What happened here…” Yuri muttered as they reached downstairs. It was even worse there. The scene looked otherworldly. Armies of some sort of melty people that looked ghastly and evolved peccatulas swarm the whole area.

“This reminds me of what happened in the D Corp Nest branch facility….” Yuri muttered. Embodiment of someone’s heart, like when Yuri witnessed the Smoke War from Gregor’s memories. 

“Let’s clear the path quickly, get to LCB” Montag called her back to reality. He quickly donned his usual sets of EGO Gears. “Yuri.” Micah called and gave her something. It was the EGO Weapon, Dimension Shredder’s knife. “Huh, what- why would you give this to me- what about you???” Yuri asked.

“I tampered with the Abnodex a bit. I will ask to make this a permanent upgrade for us Team Captains at least, so we can double wield EGO Weapons. I heard some Team Captains in L Corp can do it too~”

He summoned Blind Obsession’s sword instead of his weapon. “Keep that with you just in case” Yuri begrudgingly nodded and continued their path forward.

————————————————————————-

LCB Side

The endless onslaught of the Peccatula and the Wild Hunt began swarming toward Vergilius. “Family….” Vergilius hummed, “a word I haven’t heard in such a long time. What a….blood-drenched word it is.”

Blood poured from Vergilius head like sweat and tears, seeping from where the crown dug under his skin. And a blood mantle began to ripple into existence once again.

<Let’s leave this to Vergilius. We have to keep moving> Dante said to the other sinners and signed to Vergilius, “<LCCB and LCCA backup help will come soon. I know you might not need this help, but I still need you to return safely>”

Vergilius merely huffed “not only are you talkative today, you are rather overprotective, Dante. Don’t worry about me. Just go” he shooed them away.

As Dante left the area with the Sinners, Yuri, Montag and Micah arrived. “The Red Gaze….” Yuri muttered seeing the sight of him in his EGO form.

Vergilius didn’t pay them any attention, “you don’t have time to be gawking, save your own self in the current situation if you want to help me finish this quickly”  They nodded and resonated with their EGOs immediately to attack the Wild Hunt.

—————————————————————————

After a while, despite the help from the Team Captains, the army still was endless. Yuri attempted to take off her eyepatch and tried to use the special mode in her eye, only for Micah to stop it. “Save it for later,” he merely said.

“So. What happened here. Massive mess and chaos” Montag asked Vergilius. Vergilius at least still have the energy to explain to them.

“Two Golden Boughs exist here. They brought out a catastrophic miracle as you can see here.” He explained. “How are there two of them??? In one place to boot?” Micah asked.

“We assume one was purchased by the Edgar Family Heir, Linton. The other…. A third party… I’m assuming. From the information I gathered when I got here, all evidence seems to point to Director Hermann of N Corp.” Vergilius said. Yuri stopped on her track. 

“Director Hermann of N corp….?” “Yuri!” An evolved Peccatula was going to strike her from above, but she easily slashed it and killed it. “Is that true?” She asked, staring back at the Red Gaze with intense emotion. “Like I said, it is highly likely. Ring Researchers are also involved here.”

“Ring….” She muttered. She remembered the corpse she saw in L Corp branch facility, decorated in a twisted atelier, Sana and others controlled for their experiment, Rouge fatally injured by the Maestro.

‘Director Hermann….’ She thought back to what happened at D Corp Nest. She survived the Abnormality’s attack but to her weakness, the Golden Bough was stolen from them. The LCB’s first ever debut mission. Failed due to her, failed to the Golden Bough stolen tight in front of her eyes.

Intense emotions boiled in her. Regret, rage, desperation, wanting to improve, wanting not the history to repeat. It was like back then. Back when she fought some Abnormalities, heavily affected by the EGO Gifts. 

“Excuse me,” Yuri faced Vergilius, “would it be alright if I make way to LCB’s side and help them instead? If Director Hermann is involved that means the second Golden Bough might be from the D Corp Nest where I was involved. They failed their mission partially due to me at the time. Please let me make amends, let me take responsibility by helping them!” She demanded.

Vergilius sighed, “doesn’t seem I can stop you. Sure, feel free to go.” He looked at her EGO Gears. “Make sure you stay as yourself,” he added.

Yuri realized it was implying to EGO Corrosion, she could feel it’s starting to take effect due to her intense emotion and prolonged battle outside Qlipoth Deterrence effect. “I will” With that Yuri ran out towards the LCB.

————————————————————————

Yuri’s POV

I equipped several EGO Gifts one by one to speed up my movement speed to catch up with the Sinners.

Ebony Stem, Screwloose Wallop, then when I put on Telepole and wolf ears grew on my head, I could hear more sharply of people speaking.”Nelly…. You… that’s not true right? You wouldn’t be…. Betraying miss Catherine and Heathcliff right? You raised those two!” It was Erica’s voice, mr. Heathcliff and someone else, presumably Nelly.

Nelly explained the reason she betrayed them. Because she was afraid, afraid that she can’t escape the fate of being dragged by Heathcliff and Catherine’s misunderstanding and obsession with each other. That she viewed the mirror worlds and saw how every Nelly in other worlds suffered the same fate every time.

”You, as someone who worked in this accursed Manor, being the closest with the two, were also dragged by these two every time. Why are you on that side, Erica? I would’ve expected you to understand my feelings the most…” Nelly huffed

“I-….” Erica couldn’t answer.  “It’s okay. It’s not too late. You were just ignorant of our doomed fates. They consumed every minute of our life, little by little.”

I added more EGO Gifts to get to them. Sloshing, Dimension Shredder, Effervescent Corrosion, Ardor Blossom Star.

“You betrayed her just because you saw the possibilities of the future?!” Erica tried to retort. “It is not that simple Miss Erica” that sounded like Miss Faust.

I was still confused at the sudden talk about the mirror world and future possibilities, but she explained something as well. “The knowledge of Mirror Worlds can suck the meaning out of every struggle, everything that one has worked for their entire life, and plants the seed of doubt in their heart.” 

Nelly told them how easily she manipulated this so-called miss Catherine, played by her hands, leading her to her demise by feeding her information that in mirror worlds, she will always suffer, Heathcliff will always suffer. “She never once doubted me, even as she closed her eyes forevermore in that coffin! As naive as any other sheltered child, a caged bird.”

When I arrived at the location, I could finally see the one named Nelly, chuckling smugly, “I suppose it wasn’t only naivete, but also her own temperament. She was the kind of person who always had to be the center of everything.” Nelly extended her hand to Erica. “But please, do not deny every memory we’ve shared together. The pity I felt for you… are all my honest feelings.”

“Even so,” Erica sounded pained. “Even so, I never suffered. I, too, treasure our time together in this mansion, all four of us. I was never unhappy with the two of them. I was broken up when the two went their separate ways, but I still wish to support them. And what did you do? I realized it now, you were never there to support them. I was always confused why you often took the fireplace management duty, I saw pieces of papers burnt there. I thought it was just old paperworks that Miss Catherine asked you to burn, but I know now. You burned them! Heathcliff’s letter to Catherine, and her letter to him!” Erica confessed.

“How could you do that?!” She screamed in pain. I could see mr. Heathcliff’s face was shocked. Perhaps an internal turmoil at the truth of what happened.

“I do not wish to deny the times we’ve spent together too. No… I never lived a life full of hate or animosity. I am just struggling desperately to change my destiny.”

“Move,” Heathcliff cut her off. Nelly denied him.

“It’s futile, the ther Heathcliff is already there, and the tale shall end.” I was going to question them about what they meant by the other Heathcliff, but it seems Manager Dante is preparing everyone else for combat instead.

I tapped their shoulder to signal them to let me join in the fight. “You both have always believed my words as the truth, not even realizing any moment that I had manipulated you both.” She chuckled, “You two have mired more people than you could imagine into your business. Yet you do not even talk to one another, nor do you ask questions. Do you really believe that you deserve to move on? No more. The tale ends here.” Nelly prepared to battle as well.

”I-“ Heathcliff’s voice got cut off, and as if he suddenly went away, his existence disappeared suddenly.

“Wait, where did mr. Heathcliff go?” Hong Lu asked. “A predictable ending is it not? He returned to the Backstreets the moment he knew of the truth, to where he belonged. Poor dear Heathcliff. Once again he turns his tail, tasting nothing but defeat and despair,” Nelly huffed.

<I will try to go get him back> Manager Dante signed to me, <Please back us up in the meantime> they asked me, and prepared the Identities that’ll I’ll fight together with.

<Faust> “I am ready.” What she wore looked familiar to me. It must’ve been an L Corp style EGO Gears. I did hear something called Walpurgis Night allowed them to gain Identities from far back in the past where L Corp HQ were still active. This might be one of them

<Ishmael> “Kngh… I’m, ready.” She groaned in pain. That horn, and the uniform resembling Rabbit Protocol, must be an R corp Identity.

<Gregor> “Have we found our prey?” He said, he looked at me with sadness and remorse in his eyes. With only one hand, he patted my head and equipped his saber.

<Outis> “Ah…. Heading out?” She looked… uncharastically sloshed, rather than the usual formal miss Outis.

<Ryoshu, I’m counting on you> he added the last Identity. This one surprised me the most. Miss Ryoshu wore the same uniform as Erica and Nelly. “Ready, as per that foolish Master’s orders.” He looked at Erica and Nelly and huffed, “S.A.D. You are a failure of a Chief Butler.”

“What happened here-“ Erica muttered, “She is my chief butler.” This version of mr. Gregor simply said. “She must have taken the same role as Nelly in the Mirror world,” I whispered to Erica.

She was slightly surprised I had arrived here out of nowhere, but thanked me for the explanation regardless. “Let’s move forward,” She prepared her weapon as the battle against Nelly started.

Nelly was unphased at the form of Ms. Ryoshu and mr. Gregor took. As the combat starts, it was obvious they were meant to parallel each other, as their martial arts style were similar.

“Hmmph, and you call yourself a family to them? A little glimpse of a future was enough to dismiss everything?” She taunted Nelly.

”You are merely interloper to me, I’m used to handling such your cases,” Nelly smugly replied, the moment she evaded her attack, ms. Ryoshu ducked and gave way to ms. Outis who sliced through and managed to get an attack in. “Ah~ did I hit ya too hard?” She slurred and chuckled before putting up some distance again.

Mr. Gregor led the way for the next attack. Slashing his saber to parry against Nelly’s knife throws. “Move, we shall hunt the cause of our nightmare.”

But as the attack didn’t do as much damage as he expected, he retreated to make way for me and ms. Faust who used her EGO Weapon, unleashing violent downward swing with her EGO Weapon. The metallic ringing coming from her weapon seems to have affected Nelly a bit, which gave opportunity for Erica’s attack to connect.

Nelly took some distance, unfortunately this was a bait for Erica, whom Nelly targeted Erica next. Despite their similar martial arts style, she overwhelmed Erica. The hit paralyzed her. “ERICA!” I screamed, I was too far away.

I could hear the familiar sound of an umbrella thwacking at something hard. “Spread Out!” The familiar voice shouted and defended Erica. “Heathcliff….” Erica sighed in relief. “You are back….” “That clockhead was being very noisy, so I decided to try a bit harder.” Mr. Heathcliff huffed.

“Nrgh… Finally, was your mind so weak that a taunt was all it takes for you to just disappear like that?” Ishmael-ssi suddenly said. “Yuri, you have something up your sleeve right? let’s go. I’m all charged up.”

I nodded, I deactivated Dimension Shredder’s Gift and quickly took off my eyepatch to activate my prosthetic eye.

[Activate Alternate Gear - Imaginary Time?] it asked me, and I said “yes”

The moment I said that, I perceived the world weirdly. It was as if everything moved much slower and I could react much quicker, avoiding her knives with much ease. Mr. Gregor and Ms. Ryoshu attacked from behind.

I used the second EGO Weapon Micah gave to me. ‘Please let this work!’ I slashed through the space and ripped it apart and went inside, reappearing behind her and smacking her with my other weapon, the Garden of Thorns’ scythe.

Now that Nelly was staggered, the Sinners went all out at her. But she propper herself rather quickly, sighing, “you lot seems to have gotten somewhat confident…” she opened something. “The dimensional attache case…” Erica hissed and prepared hers as well “Be careful everyone, that weapon can unleash binding chains!” Erica told us.

The binding technique that Nelly unleashed would target a person and reduce their mobility. “Mr. Gregor!” I shouted “To the left!” He heard it and avoided it in time.

I lead the way this time, since my eye could perceive time differently on different eyes. The vision caused me some headache the longer time goes, this must be the mental strain Micah warned me. I told those who were targeted and where to avoid.

That was when I could hear Mr. Gregor’s warning. “Yuri!!”

———————————————————————————-

POV: Dante’s POV

A knife came very close to Yuri’s neck, she avoided it on time by parrying it with her own knife, but next thing I knew, chains were binding her.

“ARGH!!!” She screamed in pain. “I should’ve done this from the start.” Nelly said. “Interloper apprehended, now for your dissolution” She prepared her attache case and stabbed Yuri from the multiple blades going out from it.

“Dargh!” She screamed in pain, blood drenched out from the bindings. “Yuri! No!” Gregor ran towards them. <Wait, something’s strange….> I questioned what I saw. <Is that…petal?> I was sure I saw teal colored petals from Yuri’s blood. Soon enough, cyan roses began to grow from inside Yuri’s body. Each rose emits a pale blue smoke. 

Faust seemed to have noticed, “Stay away from her,” She warned and pulled Ishmael away, “Ow! Slow down, my head’s hurting!”

“What is th-“ the roses grew beyond her body and to the bindings, to the chains, the more the chain rusted, the more the roses bloomed and emitted the smoke. “Kagh!” Nelly coughed, blood dripping from her mouth. “Poison?!”

“The pale flower of death bloomed in the face of sin and despair.” Yuri appeared out of nowhere. “Check mate” She had her scythe on Nelly’s shoulder.

Flowers began growing and took roots in that side of the arm, rendering its function completely useless. “Now.” The roses bloomed and bound Nelly this time and staggered her. I understood what she meant. <The enemy is staggered. It’s safe to attack, now everyone> I gave out the order for the all out attack.

———————————————————————————-

“Kgh….” Nelly was fully incapacitated. The thunder struck again, “Another power outage…..” Sinclair sounded concerned. “Are you okay, Heathcliff?” Hong Lu asked. Everyone had returned to their normal state, while Yuri was being treated by Erica.

“No, it still hurts like hell. But… I will move past you and make my way to the rooftop, Nelly.” Heathcliff exclaimed.

“Heathcliff the Erlking will not be my future.You, him… you both had access to every knowledge, but made the same choices anyway. Not me. I’m going to make a different choice.”

Heathcliff looked at Erica and helped her stand up. “Thank you so much for looking after us, Nelly. It must have been very hard.” Erica said as well.

“I’ll give you a new future, Nelly. I’ll give you freedom. So start writing your own tale, or whatever else it is that you wish to do.” Heathcliff and Erica leave Nelly, and quickly make their way to the rooftop. Nelly collapsed to the floor, making an odd noise that sounded like a mixture of laughter and sobbing.

———————————————————————————-

Yuri’s POV:

Mr. Gregor checked on me one last time before the Sinners group left me to go to the rooftops. It seems their final enemy is there, the so-called other Heathcliff. “Make sure you stay alive alright? Stay safe?”

He patted my head. “Um…” I wanted to reassure him, even with a white lie, but I couldn’t move much. The mental strain was getting to me. When he was away, I could feel my consciousness slipping to drowsiness.

But that’s when I saw it. Nelly was nowhere in the room. ‘If what they told me were correct, that would mean Director Hermann was involved in this incident… but Nelly caused the whole issue to happen….. That means the mastermind…’

I remember what Miss Faust said just now. That giving the mirror that can see Mirror Worlds to break someone’s mind was the intended outcome. ‘The intended outcome…. For Miss Catherine that was discussed… or….’ I connected the dots and jolted myself awake, slapping my cheek to not fall asleep.

“The intended outcome was for Nelly as well. Director Hermann was the one who gave her the knowledge of Mirror Worlds. I propped myself up. “Not the time to fall yet, there’s still things I need to do. Things to amend…” I tried to climb the stairs. It was no use. It was too high up and far away. 

“Everyone…. Sorry, but please lend me your power.” I put back the eyepatch and equipped again all of my speed buffing EGO Gifts. “I need to catch up to them quickly!”

———————————————————————————-

POV: Dante’s POV

On the Wuthering Heights Rooftops, Moments Later

Nelly took away the Golden Bough, she used the opportunity where we were too tired to catch up to her and snatched it. “Finally, there isn’t anything left.” We were caught off-guard.

“Nelly… are you taking the Golden Bough?” Heathcliff asked. Nelly stood atop the railings of the rooftop and gazed down at us.

Most Sinners were either fallen or unconscious. Erica was injured in the leg and abdomen, she could only scream Nelly’s name in pain.

In Nelly’s hands she held the Golden Bough that appeared to have been pried from the rooftop. “But Heathcliff, you are a good, kindhearted boy, aren’t you? I’m certain you’d understand. I suppose I will bring this to the one who first showed me the mirror shard.”

Heathcliff could only protest with a pained growl. “You know it’s futile. You and your friends… have fought battle after battle, pushed yourselves past the brink of exhaustion. How will you stop a Chief Butler who has waited for this precise moment?” Nelly chuckled smugly, despite looking as tired as we last saw her. “They can turn the clock, but I will no longer be here once the hands turn once.” She pointed at me.

”Sure. I can’t stop you now. But…. I’ll get it all back. The Golden Bough. My Catherine.”  Heathcliff vowed to himself. Nelly looked at him confused.

“Catherine? Who are you talking about? I can’t say I understand what you are talking about, Heathcliff.” Nelly looked genuinely befuddled. 

“That name…. No longer means anything to you or anyone else. Nothing but an ink stain remains where she once stood.” Heathcliff looked back to Nelly.  “But she’s never been clearer to me. So, so clear that. It can never be erased.”

Nelly prepared to leave. “Well, if you are that desperate…. Then I hope your wish shall come true one day.  It is said that the Golden Bough can make any wish… any heart…. come true.” She prepared to leave when suddenly we heard a small thump.

“Huh?” Nelly, she looked back. Heathcliff was aghast and I couldn’t believe what I saw either.

There was a small Dimensional Rift opened around her upper arm, it cut off a whole section of that arm and caused the arm that held the Golden Bough to fall off the floor. It didn’t stop there, a bigger space was ripped open and the arm and Golden Bough fell inside it.

“Wait- No! I need to bring it back to that woman!” Nelly tried to pry open the space but she was bleeding out and from the stairways that lead to the rooftop, Yuri came out.

“Thank God I was on time…..” She looked completely exhausted. “I return this to you, so you can still… write your story…” She threw the arm to the floor and hugged the Golden Bough and looked at it fondly.

“Was this …..the one from D Corp Nest? Or the original one from this Nest…..? Either way… with this I can finally…. Make amends….” She kept it tucked to her safely but her losing consciousness nearly made her fall back to the stairway.

”Yuri!” Erica’s adrenaline kicked in and she forced herself to stand up and rescued her, pulling her to her chest as the two fell to the floor. Yuri had lost her consciousness, the Golden Bough safely in her hands. The other one was burnt in the coffin.

“The Golden Bough is burnt white. It appears that someone has made off with the other.” Faust asked

<Nelly…. Is gone….>

“She must’ve gone to her. Hermann….” Gregor sighed. Every Sinner has been revived for now. Heathcliff took Erica to a room to get her wounds treated. Ishmael went with him to take care of Yuri instead.

”I got the Golden Bough that the lass got for us.” Heathcliff returned. We discussed the coffin and as I expected, everyone forgot about Catherine.

Sinclair asked if it’s the name of the person in the coffin. While Faust said that Micah will call on After Team to retrieve the coffin.

The mansion was covered in a specific color now. The patches of violet colored flowers. Heathcliff told me that the flower is called Heath.

“They endure it all and wait” Heathcliff explained what he knew of the flower. “I also heard scientist calls them by another name, Erica”

“Clockhead.” He came close to me. “Erica also remembers.” He mentioned it suddenly. <Really? How did that happen….> I asked. 

“She doesn’t remember as clearly as I do, but she recognized the name and cried, saying it was the name of someone she clearly loved, but she can’t remember her face, shape, form, voice. She was in her memories but at the same time not. She said it was as if looking at someone’s bedroom and knowing someone has lived in it, but she doesn’t know the face of its owner.” He explained it to me privately.

“There is still hope,” he smiled smugly, “we can still get her back.”

—————————————————————————————

This chapter’s fanart: Yuri

Chapter Text

“Yes. Understood. Thank you for the guidance once again. I shall take my leave” Yuri stood up from the seat and left the meeting hall.

“Yo, how did it go?” Micah’s body has been fully repaired.

“They told me that due to the incident and Manager Dante manipulating time for a while at the time, the LCB, and by extension me, since I was there, were supposed to pay a big sum of fine or we’d go in jail. My fine is much smaller than theirs since they merely think I’m just a companion to them.”

“Thankfully I also got a bonus paycheck for helping them get one Golden Bough back safely at the incident. They are using that paycheck to pay my fine so technically speaking my bank account is safe for now.” Yuri explained.

“And as part of my punishment I’ll need to work with the Preliminary Survey Team that’s investigating Distortion cases, the big ones that LCB will handle soon.” Yuri added.

“Oh, that’s good to know. Money’s not in the red and you get a chance to meet them huh?” Micah hummed. “What you gonna do now?”

“For today, resting” Yuri sighed.

Yuri walked back to the ddorm with Micah, “Hey, Micah. Was the technology inside my eyeball, illegal?” She asked suddenly.

“Huh? No technically not. It is patented, since L corp apparently need it for god knows what reasons. What my master made is a modified version of it.” Micah assured me.

“Does that mean that you can do the same thing? The slowing time vision?” I asked. “Perhaps I can~” Micah chuckled “Then why did you….” ‘Die so often’ Yuri was going to say

“I came here partially to investigate this company, I told you right? I needed an excuse to escape shift duty sometime.” Micah laughed awkwardly.

“A bit hard to do now, with me promoted as a Captain. But at the same time it allowed me to more access to some information” He arrived at his bedroom door. “See ya, have a good dream and rest~”

I nodded and walked more until I reached my bedroom door and went inside. I opened my notebook. I called it Unthinking Notebook nowadays. I use it less as a diary and more about vomiting out my thoughts, ones that I can’t discuss with anyone publicly.

[Truth be told, I was extremely angry at Nelly. I know I’m not supposed to. I don’t know her circumstances. Perhaps I should have sympathized with her a bit, as we both once had no freedom in our work, struggling everyday.

But traitors like her. Like Hopkins. Like Dongrang. Those who threw away everyone behind to survive alone. For some reason irks my nerve. I will not confess this feeling. Especially not to Erica who is grieving apparently, probably due to the betrayal.

Talking about Erica, it seemed now that she’s unemployed since the whole Edgar and Earnshaw families are ruined, she tried to apply here.

I still remember when she helped me at the night where we stayed at the Wuthering Heights mansion to rest until LCCA came.

She asked me tons of questions of what LCCB and LCCA does. She wanted to join LCCB so she can still stay by Mr. Heathcliff’s side to help him. Once she knew how dangerous the work is after I explained to her, she decided to pack up the same night so Mr. Heathcliff can’t refute her decision since she was already prepared to move out.

When morning came, true enough, Mr. Heathcliff at first didn’t allow her to join LCC. Once he realized how determined she is, he allowed her on the condition to join as LCCA instead, as he knew LCCB would be in much more danger for running into un-suppressed Abnormalities.

Her interview starts tomorrow, so unfortunately I can’t be there to meet her and cheer for her as I need to start working on investigating the Distortions. I heard the case is called Time Killing Time]

———————————————————————————-

The next day me and Rouge were in charge for investigating it. “So he helped them? Mr. Kim?” I asked about the progress of our 3 new recruits, Aeng-du, Mr. Kim, and Jun.

“Yeah, he still tutored Aeng-du but also Samjo, Pilot, and other newbies. They are less reckless now, so casualty lessened lately. We discussed together all about training manuals and optional extra lessons. I must say, even though EGO Weapons can automatically teach you how to use it, actually knowing how to handle each weapon helped them fight better.” Rouge explained until we came to a cross section where we gone on a separate way.

I saw someone similar. It was Director Deimos. She was reading a newspaper. I tried to sneak some views in to see what she’s reading.

[A Dramatic Conclusion to the Mysterious Disappeareances at T Corp.!

SHOCKING! The Perpetrators to this mysterious case has been revealed to be none other than the prestigious Edgar Family, appaling the general public.

With small assitance from some wandering bystanders who happened to be lost in the area, and with the admirable heroics of T Corp. Class 3 Collection Staff on the scene-]

‘What the-…. This entire article is entirely untrue! This is just fabricated news to make the mass idolized T Corp. staff more!’ I thought until I realised Director Deimos was staring back at me.

“Ah!” I shouted a bit surprised. “You finished reading?” She asked calmly. “Yeah, sorry, was just curious what you were reading because you looked incredibly concerned at the news….”

“You shouldn’t sneak on me like that then.” Deimos huffed. “But concerned is an apt description.” “You knew someone from the Edgar Family, or someone working for them?” Yuri asked. 

"Yes, There was one lady there, she had captured heart of many with her gracefulness and beauty.”

“Including you?” Yuri asked and Deimos coughed to detract her from the assumption that was totally correct.

“Anyway, she has this motherly aura that enraptured those who are infatuated with her. Not only that, her willingness to be responsible for so many tasks from household chores, child-rearing, taking care of interlopers. She handles such difficult tasks as easy as walking. Oh oh, I haven't got to her gentle voice when she speaks about her the masters she’s taking care....You must hear it! It is like a lullaby to your ears!"

’Is she talking about a Butler working there?’ “Wow she has your heart in clutches…..” I commented, “Who might she be?” I asked curiously.

“Hmph, but of course only one individual is able to do that, the Chief Butler Nelly !” He chuckled proudly.

“Oh.’’ Yuri commented, “oh” was the only thing commented but in her mind, flashbacks are flooding back to her consciousness. 

‘AAAAAAA I STABBEED HER SHOULDER WITH PALE DAMAGE!! I DON’T KNOW IF IT’LL STILL FUNCTION AGAIN AFTER THAT! AND I  RIPPED APART HER OTHER HAND TO GET BACK THE GOLDEN BOUGH!’ Yuri slightly felt guilty, knowing the truth of what happened.

“Unfortunate that they didn’t mention her here, even though she’s their Chief Butler… I wonder where she is…”

“Probably with N Corp.’ Yuri internally commented. ‘My Unthinking Notebook will be filled again tonight won’t it….’ “Anyway Director Deimos, I was asked to ask around about this….” She began her interview, “have you heard of the case of Time Killing Time?”

————————————————————————————-

Bonus Episode:

Night at the Wuthering Heights.

“Is that all you need?” Yuri whispered, she was helping Erica secretly pack up to move out. “Yes. Thank you, sorry to touble you.” She whispered back and patted her head.

“You should go back to sleep and rest, you must’ve been tired from all the battle today.” Erica assured her everything will be fine.

“Nah, I can’t sleep. I slept too long in the evening. Can I walk around the mansion. It’s rare I get to check out and go inside such a big estate that isn’t a office.” Yuri asked. Erica chuckled.

“Sure, but there are debris all around. Be careful on your steps.” Yuri nodded and left her.

She strolled around the mansion. She saw a woden hallway. The hallway has a window where one can see the estate’s forest from it.

She checked out all of the rooms, wanting to see how rich people lives in it. She tried to jokingly sit on the couch or beds, before moving to a different room.

She arrived in big room. Whose was it? She didn’t know. It was so big so it probably belonged to one of the Masters Erica served. But the furnitures were too ladylike for a guy.

“So… A Mistress?” Yuri wondered if the lady who lived here old or young. Definitely not a kid though.

“Hm…? Something is glowing there.” Yuri walked towards the window. “Shards?” She touched. It reflected her, so it must be a mirror not a glass shard from the window. “Wait- this is….” Yuri curiously peered into the mirror shard.

She saw the Mirror World of Liu Association. She was a newbie Fixer who recently joined Section 6. She was trained by Mr. Gregor and Mr. Meursault. But it seemed she was often invited to dinner by other Sinners in this Mirror World

In the Mirror World of G Corp., she replaced Tomah, the recruit who admired Gregor. The bug like enhancements on her body was also similar to his.

In the Mirror World of District 23 Backstreet, she was one of the chef in R.B. She’s Gregor’s assistant. Apparently her eyes is missing because she wanted to try eating it. Yuri of this world seemed like a feral ang giggling girl.

In the Mirror World of Rosespanner Workshop Fixer, she was also a new employee that mainly handled all the menial tasks rather than going out on fieldwork. She also designed her own eyeball prosthetic.

In the Mirror World of Zwei Association, she was in the Section 4. Gregor was teaching her the basics of going undercover and protecting someone from afar. He told her to act casual and bought her an apple pie while he smokes next to her.

Despite being a First Mate of Twinkhook Pirates in the Mirror World of U Corp, Gregor gave her a special treatment. Always letting her sit down rather than being a human ashtray. He taught her how to use the pistol and threaten uncooperative ‘clients’

In the Mirror World of Kurakumo Clan, Yuri is a Wakashu working under Captain Gregor. He insisted that Yuri should always button up and wear extra layer when they go out to a scuffle at nights. Yuri always thought this doting treatment was a bit embarassing. She was also the one who manages him when he’s too sloshed after drinking party.

In the Mirror World of Edgar Family…… Yuri was not beside Gregor. But looking futher, from another perspective, it can be seen. It was her body, at least. She was wearing a high quality dress. But her head was not there. She could hear someone villainous cackle with deep menace. Yuri recognized that voice, it was Heathcliff. But he sounded older. Yuri connected the dots that this must be the Other Heathcliff, the Erlking. She realized that Yuri of that world was killed by him, and that was one of the main cause of the Heir, Gregor, going on a path of revenge.

So far, except for the last one, Yuri finds all of her possible futures in those Mirror Worlds were interesting. She tried another swipe on the surface of the mirror shard to see if there’s more.

What Yuri sa was shocking. Similar like before, she has died by the time she saw herself and Gregor. But Gregor in this world was also an LCB Sinner like the one she knew. The events back in the D Corp. Nest replayed. Hopkins betrayed them and ran out.

She nearly died from the toxic fumes. But either she was unlucky or this Yuri was really different, this Yuri didn’t chase back Hopkins and beat him to use his corpse to save the Sinners. This Yuri didn’t get any EGO Gifts, and she seemed to be more clumsy in battles.

The same event happened, that Yuri found the Golden Bough within the Golden Apple. She was relieved and excitedly tried to retrieve it only to be consumed and overwhelmed by it. Without the protection of the EGO Gifts, she surely has died by now, but Gregor desperately hacked at the apple, as if hoping Yuri was still alive from within.

The Golden Apple’s trickery played as it dangled out Yuri’s head, mimicking its voice and memories to talk to Yuri. Director Hermann and the N Corp. members arrived at the location. One of them stepped on Yuri’s head and crushed it beneath its leg and the Golden Bough was lost, stolen by N Corp.

“I see…..” Yuri hummed. She felt oddly calm. “That was quite the Mirror World. No, perhaps this world is the Mirror World instead?” She hummed, “I wonder if the Sinners of that world end up getting it back when they reached Wuthering Heights….” She stood up, her eyes tired again. “I should give this to Yi Sang-ssi or Ms. Faust tomorrow morning.”

——————————————————

In The Morning

“Look Erica, you don’t know how dangerous working in this company is-“ Heathcliff tried to argue but Erica cut him off. “I AM a Butler Fixer. I am more than capable at taking care of myself and defending myself. Please, Heathcliff, let me this one selfishness to be near you, even if it’s just same workplace. You are the only family member I had left…..”

Heathcliff sighed, “fine… but on some conditions….” He listed them off. Erica listened intently, assuring him she’ll be fine.

“Yi Sang-ssi, here you go.” Yuri called him out and gave him something. “This is… Mirror Shard?” He inspected it. “Yuri-ssi, where did you find it? Are you okay?” He asked, concerned.

“Yeah, I peered and checked out some Mirror Worlds. In one of the big bedrooms, I think it's for a lady who lives here.” She explained. Heathcliff and Erica paused their argument to listen to Yuri’s conversation for a bit.

“I’m fine, don’t worry.” She assured them they are alright. Faust ended up doing a bit of impromptu check-up on her, Gregor fumbling around her due to concern.

“She seems fine. Out of curiosity, ms. Yuri. What might your Fortitude Virtue Level be?” Faust asked.

“Hm…. Haven’t had a check up since we returned from LCCV, but last time it was 4? Definitely not less than 3.” Yuri answered her.

“I see…..” She nodded solemnly.

“That will be all. Don’t worry Herr Gregor she will be fine. Please calm down.”

“A-ah.. .Alright…” Gregor sighed in relief. “Seriously? You look into it despite Frau Faust telling you it could break your mind???”

Yuri realized his familial affection for her was always there, be it in this world of other worlds. She chuckled at it. “I was curious. Can’t be helped~ Don’t worry about it.”

If anything, Yuri felt that the knowledge made her feel grateful for her life. ‘It should not be taken for granted,’ She thought. ‘I must continue living, to tomorrow’

—————————————————————————

Edgar Family’s Late Young Lady

Chapter Text

Intervallo 6.1 Yuri’s Side Part 2

POV: Yuri’s POV

Due to the Time Killing Time Distortion, we of LCC weren’t allowed to work outside LCCU until LCB took care of it, then the LCCA team was sent to help with the disposal along with LCA and LCD.

There are no new Abnormalities either because the last battle took place in the literal mansion of Wuthering Heights rather than an L Corp branch facility. Presumably, no new Abnormalities will arrive until at least another Refraction Railway.

This became a good chance for others to train the newbies. Mr. Kim was a great addition to the team helping with training them, but so does mr. Jun. Samjo and Pilot got some training from both of them.

Micah told me that I should probably also train with them, and I agree. Those two were battle veterans, and they both still spar each other, this time without killing involved.

Thing is, I’m still pondering which style of swordsmanship I should follow. I observed both Jun’s Kurakumo Style and mr. Kim’s Blade Lineage style for several days. 

During one of those days, I dreamed. I dreamt about the things I saw in the mirror shard. The one where I followed mr. Gregor as we both worked for the Kurakumo clan. He was talking about how alcohol is useful to get to know who are the bad subordinates in your troops. 

“Mr. Gregor, you should’ve saved that speech when the recruits ain’t around…..”

“Huh, they are here?” Mr. Gregor as he slurred. I could only sighed and the me in the dream turned to the other underlings.

“Listen everyone, just because our Captain is often seen sloshed, doesn’t mean that he’s just some drunkard. Everyone got that? Answer me!”

It was like watching a movie as I saw my own body move in that scene. Helping pour some more to mr. Gregor’s glass.

Truly, Yuri of that dream wished this meeting would bring some gravitas to how important this man actually is. But Yuri, in this dream, seemed to trust Gregor as her captain.

This Gregor seemed genuinely fond of the way of the blade. He loved to wield his blade. But he was also disappointed to join Kurakumo too late.

But he was someone whom the other subordinates trusted and so I could agree with this Yuri, he deserves some respect. “Let’s split the cloud!” I could hear him commanding.

When I woke up I decided to talk with Jun. He was staring at his cybernetic arms, warming it up as usual. “Whassup Captain? Need to assign me something?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “I want you to teach me your way with a sword.” I was convinced, after seeing that dream and reading the reports, I connected the dots that mr. Gregor took his place and role in that mirror world, though, a more sloshed version.

“Mine? I think that bamboo hat dude would be better at teaching you.” Jun looked towards Kim that was nearby.

“Don’t put yourself down, you did gain a fair share of people wanting to be trained by you” I complimented him.

“Okay but why me specifically?”  He asked. I couldn’t possibly say ‘I saw myself in another world in Kurakumo Clan so I might actually have an affinity to it’.

“Intuition says I might be better at following your stylethan his.” That’s all I said. “Oh boy, that girlie gonna hate both of us for this.” Jun scratched his head but agreed to teaching me anyway. And so began my days training under him to learn his style of swordsmanship. 

“Why did you suddenly ask me to train you  for swordsmanship? Don’t you have those LCCB guns and EGO Weapons” Jun asked as he oversaw my swing practice. “

Not always.” I huffed and stopped swinging to answer. “We can’t actually always use EGO Weapon. We can only use them in places with Golden Bough. Such as the L Corp facility or  around the Manager, Dante.”

“That clock head eh.” Jun hummed. “I’ll explain about EGO Corrosion after I finish this set” I continued with my swinging practice soon

—----------------------------------------------------------------

POV: General POV

A few weeks later

<These are the Abnormalities from the recent Refraction Railway> Dante signed. The ones assigned to pick them up were LCCA’s Erica and Micah.

“Alright, we’ll bring them back safely~” Micah nodded and inspected that the documents pertaining to their observation logs are also there.

“How are you doing Heathcliff?” This was one of the rare chances Erica got to interact with her family so they allowed them some time to talk.

“Good. At least this one isn’t as hard and as long as the second time this happened. That green train fucking with us both in body and mind” He gruffed. “Kinda feel bitter about the type of enemies this time though….”

“Bitter?” Erica asked. Faust turned to Micah for elaboration. “The last time LCC went to an L Corp facility, did you fight an evolved form of Peccatula? How about Peccatula Invidiae?” She asked.

Micah tilted his head confused. “Evolved Peccatula, yes. The latter, I don’t think we ever encountered a new species of peccatula. What do they look like?”

“Hmm, they look like us.” “But when we whacked them to death it just turned into a pink mass blob of flesh with eyeballs.” Ishmael and Heathcliff explained. “That’s why I said it’s bitter.” He explained further.

“I guess it reminded you of Erlking Heathcliff?” Erica hummed, “we’ll tell others to keep in mind about those kinds of enemies. Does that mean they are as strong as the original?” “Terribly so” Yi Sang answered her question.

—----------------------------------------------------------------

“Eh? To P Corp. Nest? Wait but that means-” Yuri fumbled her answer, “to the north?”

“Yep, with Warp Train. That’s the only way we can go somewhere so far that quickly.” Saude explained.

“O-Oh….” Yuri nodded, she had a bad feeling about this. ‘Warp Train….huh….’ 

“As you surely have known, LCC doesn’t get that much allocated funds, so for this kind of travel you guys will travel on the Economy Class” Effie explained. “Those lucky clowns from LCB get to have the first class VIP car though.” he huffed.

Yuri wanted to ask what’s the difference but she knew knowing the difference won’t change the fact she’ll ride in the Economy Class car.

“Alright, I will inform the others. Will that be all?” she asked. “Oh, well, we were going to ask you to buy the tickets for us.” Effie asked,

"I’ll go with you since handling it alone would be too much, so let’s go on the same day as when LCCA took back the new Abnormalities” Effie said

And so here she is, queueing with many other people in the ticket booth for Warp Train. “In this day and age they can’t even let us buy an online ticket…” I sighed.

“Purchase and seat reservation can be done online technically but you still need to redeem the ticket on the counter. The Company already helped us with the purchase and seat reservation so all we need to do is actually just redeem the ticket.” It seems cancellation and reschedule also need to be done on-site.

I could hear other people talking around us. “Oh come one, if it's gonna take just ten seconds to get there anyway… Why should I buy the more expensive ones? It’s a waste of money for me, man” some guys were arguing with their friends.

“Dude, trust me. You’d want the first class ones. You get more free snacks and drinks there. Plus a family member of mine always insists I take the first class.” the other argued. “

Oh you mean your lucky brother who gets to work on a Wing unlike us?? Dude, a first class seat is worth 2 months salary, I gotta save some money for myself! Sure I make a bank from this work trip, but… a first class ticket is probably a waste of money, right? If that’s all the difference I might as well save some money for myself and buy myself a good grub when I arrive!” He seemed convinced to just go for the Economy Class.

Yuri felt guilty, especially since she may have figured out the Singularity of the W Corp. But nothing can be done. She silently moved forward with the queue line.

Unnecessary thoughts are swarming in her mind. She does want to know, but is it worth it? If she wants to know the truth, how does she do it?

Asking the LCB won’t necessarily give her answer as she knows they aren’t obligated to tell her the truth. Recording it? The W Corp. might get us into a taboo hunter.

‘A way to record without being found out…..’ 

The thought stayed with her until they returned back to LCCU.

Yuri announced to everyone else that in due time they are going to P Corp. nest, a head start before LCB arrives there. Some cheered happily, since they never had the luxury to ride on something like a Warp Train. Some looked forward to what it's like in the north part of the City.

Yuri tried to smile with them, hiding her distress until Montag came to her side. “You okay?” he asked, concerned. “I am. Let’s talk together when Micah arrives.”

Micah arrived a few hours later. As it was already late, they merely put the  Abnormalities’ Suppressed Cores safely in the Containment Unit. Micah gave the information from the Observation Logs to Montag.

“Hmmm… same Abnos.” He commented. Without much talking, he showed the documents to Rouge and Yuri. The two skimmed reading it and noticed familiar descriptions and similarities.

“Wait… electric sheep that’s screaming and running around and need to be plugged in?” “A butler-like tree creature thing that carries around a portrait….”

“This last thing…. Sana!” Yuri called her friend from the Safety Team.

Sana came in quickly once she was pagered in and asked to read something from the report. “A king that sits on a throne, bound with red clothes all over its body…..” Sana gasped.

“That’s it! That’s the thing that the Ring sacrificed me into! It bound me and turned me into its Retainer! I got freed when you guys ripped the bandages away from me. It appeared after all of us were freed.” Sana recounted the event in L Corp.

“So you guys encountered the same thing but didn’t bring back the Cores? How incompe-”

“It was not there” Yuri cut off someone’s insult. “When we defeated the Abnormalities, the Cores were not there. We couldn’t retrieve it. Plus at the time, a member of the Ring was Distorting we had to prioritize survival by running away. Criticize us only once you’ve tried fighting an Abnormality that isn’t deterred by the Golden Bough’s Qlipoth effect” for some reason she did not spare any time to jab them off with words.

“Anyway, we did retrieve their caretaking information from L Corp. at that time” Rouge tried to dissuade the situation.

“We’ll compile it and give it to you Montag so you can start making a protocol or some sort.” “We’ll work on it,” Montag nodded.

Yuri calmed down after she walked away. She tapped on Micah’s shoulder. “We’ll need to talk.” She asked in a serious tone.  

Micah nodded. “I heard about it, we’ll be boarding Warp Train?” I nodded, confirming it for him
 
“Don’t show distress right now. Yuri, you are a captain. If you show distress, they’ll think about how dangerous the Abnormalities are instead. Raise their morale for now. We’ll talk about it once all information about these new guys are unlocked. I got some stuff to prepare too.” Micah patted her shoulder too and she took deep breaths and followed his advice to calm down. “Alright. Let’s do this for now”

Chapter Text

“Okay, We have connected the Generator to the PE Boxes harvesting system”

“We also have changed all the UIs for Repression Work into Plugging Work”

“Extended cables are added to the Plugging for Containment Breach events”

“Room insulation are added for safety measure”

The clerks and technician are clamoring as Micah and Scene made everything work perfectly. The unit for Dreaming Electric Sheep was more specialized as it has a special type of work needed. Instead of Repression, it is called Plugging Work.

Montag and Samjo are currently briefing everyone about it. How periodically electrical energy from the Sheep must be harvested to prevent it from overflowing and it running away. 

“We will now begin the work with Abnormalities for today” Yuri announced and clapped, signaling the start of the day. She told them to not just prioritize the new Abnormalities but also the others as well.

“Yuri,” Scene approached her. “Nao has recuperated, she might join for today as well.” Yuri nodded and went to Nao, “Nao, how are you doing?” Nao jerked up, “I-I’m doing fine. Sorry to worry you and…. Trouble you last time….” her glances flitted and never met Yuri’s, awkward at talking with her.

“Don’t worry. As long as you are okay. I’m sorry to ask for your help when you might have wanted to grieve for Mao for longer…..”

“No it’s… fine…if I work, I will feel like I was with Mao last time, because last time she was here, we were…. Working together. I want to cherish the last memories I had with her by hanging around here…. If you don’t mind” Nao nodded.

“Alright. Pick your Abnormality for now. Stay safe.” Yuri patted her shoulder and told Micah to keep an eye on her track of what Abnormalities she worked.

Portrait of a Certain Day

Samjo went to work on the Portrait for that day.  The reason being it’s a TETH so it should be safe for him to work on it. People were telling him to start working on HE level already and he did try to work for some, but for now, he wanted to play it safe and work with this one first.

Portrait of a Certain Day appears as a headless human body dressed in a floor-length gray coat. The coat curls inwards as it reaches the ground, holding an oversized, skeletal face with its mouth open. Two massive arms with textures resembling bundles of sticks emerge from the entity's back, with four-fingered hands that touch the ground. Numerous small roots can be seen between the coat and the ground, which the Abnormality presumably moves with.

The Abnormality was very butler-like, so Samjo introduced himself, “My name is Samjo, I’m here to clean your room for today” he had thought cleaning would be safe. He’s good at it.

As Samjo began cleaning up the room, he could hear the Abnormality mutter about its lost master and fellow butlers. How it misses them. “You too, I could feel that you have one akin to a Master to you, do you not miss them?” It suddenly addressed Samjo

“What-?” He turned around, creeped out at how it somehow knew his past. When he turned around, his eyes met with the Headless Portrait it was carrying. But the face part was not so blurred or headless anymore. He could see someone’s face on it. “Dongrang-nim…?” From that moment onward, Samjo saw glimpses of his past.

“Dongrang-nim, here’s the pies you ordered me to buy, sure it was tough, I had to queue for 2,5 hours.” He handed the green haired man the pies, “Oh, thank you Samjo-ssi, feel free to take one for appreciation of your hard work, sorry that I had asked you to do this.” He got one as well.

“Those people were quite an affluent client for us, should we not give them a discount to get on their good side?” Samjo asked Dongrang after the clients left, “I would love to, but being too cheap might make them question our product’s quality. On the other hand, Samjo-ssi, if it were you, how would you price this so you would buy it?” Dongrang often discusses trivial stuff with him like this. “Hmmm, a good 30% discount would be great for my wallet honestly”

“Oooooh, the enemy is neutralized, did  you see that, Chief Dongrang?” He whistled as he saw the Excision Staff executed the mission smoothly. “Indeed, perhaps you could learn a thing or two from them, you have a good throwing arm, since you said you dreamt to be a league baseball player, weren’t you~?” Dongrang teased him. “Eeeeh, too much of a hassle for me right now.” Samjo huffed.

“What did you say just now, Chief Dongrang?” Samjo couldn’t believe his ears. “Like I said, please invite the Rosespanner Workshop Fixers to a  fancy team dinner if they aced this battle. There will be prime beef imported straight from S Corp. I heard Siegfried often frequents the place too.” Dongrang smiles charmingly. “Damn, lucky guys. Very well I will contact them” Samjo was going to excuse himself. “Oh, you can come with us too Samjo-ssi. You had overtime the past few weeks right, you should let loose with us~” He chuckled and personally invited him as well.

“Oh, so you were here.” Dongrang suddenly approached Samjo, “why are you eating here? Some secretly good stuff?” “Ah, well, this is the limited edition pepper chili lettuce curry-flavored pie….” Samjo sheepishly grinned. “I bought extras for me to save in my fridge, but would you like to try some Dongrang-nim?”  Samjo offered. “Well now, how could I refuse if you offer me such limited time luxuries then. Do let me try one” Dongrang chuckled and ate with him in that secret spot.

“Oooof! Impressive strike. I suppose this is what a home-run would feel like, had I been a big-City baseball player.” He was watching a live stream of a Cinq Association Fixer dueling each other in one of the streets in K Corp. Nest. “

Samjo-ssi, I’d like to ask for your help” Dongrang approached him. “An employee is… under quite a lot of stress. Would you mind telling them something to raise their morale? If it were me who suddenly says it, due to my position, it might give them pressure instead. So you should do it.” He asked for his help.

  “Oh sure, what should I say?” Samjo turned off the livestream channel. “Here's a quick way to raise their morale: tell them that we'll reward them with free-to-use PTO as soon as this fight's over.” He told Samjo what to say.

“You sure? That’s all?” Samjo tilted his head. “Haha, well, The Department of the Year trophy is almost ours; the higher-ups will be watching me. We must keep up the pace of our Department’s superb performance” Dongrang winked.

“Department of the Year trophy…. You’re right. Please leave it to me.” Samjo happily accepted the job. “Thank you, Samjo-ssi. Our Department could work smoothly due to your many assistance. This is not just a compliment you know,  it is a fact-based statistical conclusion.” Dongrang chuckled and patted his shoulder and left him alone.

“I-....” Samjo snapped out from his trance over reliving his past when the sound of the door unlocked was heard from inside the room. “I will… be leaving now…” Samjo excused himself. He looked completely distressed with cold sweats.  He saw the Record Panel and the result of his work

[Insight - Samjo] [Good]

He was conflicted. The Abnormality deemed his work as Good, it gnawed and preyed at his emotions, at his grief of betrayal which he hasn’t completely moved on from yet.  “Fucking hell….” he cussed as he walked to the Main Area to rest.

The next one who went in to take care of Portrait was Kim. As much as he loathes cowardly ways, his form of Insight work was observing the creature, silently.

He noticed the portrait it held in its torso’s hands’. The face of the person in the portrait was blurred. As time passed, Kim could slowly see a familiar face from the portrait.

An old man garbed in a glistening white dopo robe sat opposite of Kim who wore a hat woven from horse hair and bamboo. The furnace was dark and unlit; the room was freezing. The two sat in the dark, not a single candle lit, the moonlight their only source of illumination.

Yet the moon was fully waxed and bright...

... bright enough to cast its cold light upon the black and white stones on the board.

“Second State Councilor,” Kim recognized the face of the man in front of him. The one whomst he swore and pledged loyalty to. He did not mind, he let this replay of memories continue.

“... You had the potential to become a 'Blade of Clouds' had you served the Third State Councilor instead. Is that not the title all those who walk the path of the blade in S Corp. seek? To be recognized as one of the very best in the Nest. Not even you would jest that you have never sought one such privilege.” The old man asked

Kim’s answer stayed the same, now and then.

I am your blade to wield, Second State Councilor. You were the one who chose me. A blade follows the hand that wields it. And you are that hand, Second State Councilor.

“Be my blade so that I may see this path to its end. That is my request.” The old man ordered. The Kim of the past nodded, “It shall be done”

Kim replied without a moment of hesitation. He had no reason to. Because he never questioned the fact that it was his purpose to protect the Second State Councilor. And that is why he could not even imagine that he would ever fail.

The old man perished, despite the child's vow. His skills with the blade were unparalleled; yet there was only so much that a single person could manage. The powers that be of S Corp. held resources and ploys that no single human could possibly withstand. No one in S Corp. quite knew who murdered the old man, or how he was murdered. He was killed in a manner that could never be traced.

He made his way to the borders of S Corp. His persecuted fellows who were barely maintaining their status as feathers at S Corp. Those who wielded their blades under the banner of the Blade Lineage. He would one day return to this place with them by his side.

“I had made it clear with this company that my stay here is temporary. And during my stay I will do my utmost to help them in exchange for their protection of my pupil. Her protection from harm, be it from my blade . I will return to S Corp. one day, and fulfill my vow” Kim declared.

“And what about that child? Will you expose her to danger again, all for your mission’s sake?” The creature asked in a groaning manner.

“That will be her own decision. I won’t force her to stay put here. Those who march under the banner of Blade Lineage, are those who sit at lowly social positions. It's not rare for such people to hold a deadly grudge against someone. Our target of grudge may be different from one another, but we banded together for we have nowhere else to go.” Kim left nonchalantly.  He looked at the Record Panel.

[Insight - Kim] [Good]

A satisfactory result. He returned to the Main Area as he awaits the decision from the Control Team where he will be assigned next. He encountered Samjo who was grumbling. Despite the same type of work and hallucination done to them, perhaps the effects of the mental damage were different due to their different level of Prudence.

“Though it may have ruffled you internally, it seems you were blessed by luck on another hand” he pointed to his chest. “That brooch is its EGO Gift is it not?” The brooch was in the form of a locker chain. “That just makes this even more annoying to me….” Samjo sighed.

Dreaming Electric Sheep

Sana went inside the room when she was assigned to it. “Hello, we meet again” she sat down on her knees, “I don’t know if you remembered me but after you fought me it seems you gave me this EGO Gift” she touched the curly ram horns on her head, “it seems my survivability increased due to that. So thanks a lot.” Sana chuckled, “though it also made it difficult for my friends to fight me apparently.”

Despite being an introvert, Sana’s favorite type of work was Attachment. Fulfilling its social needs and bonding with it, but not to the point of empathizing with it too much.

“For today, I brought you some brush and a picture book for a bedtime story, which one would you like?” Sana asked gently. The sheep nuzzled its snout to Sana’s lap, laying on her lap to nap. Sana petted and brushed its fur. It’s prickly. 

“Very well, let’s read you a bedtime story. I’m quite proud of this one cuz it’s my own original story.” Sana pulled out a picture book, “Once upon a time…..” She began to read.

The sheep fell asleep on her lap the whole session. As soon as she reached, “and they lived happily ever after. The end” the door unlocked for her to get out. She excused herself to the sheep. She checked the Record panel.

[Attachment - Sana] [Good]

Sana sighed in relief as she returned. She met her roommate Felicia as she arrived in the nearest Main Area. “Sana, you returned from the Sheep? Do you think it'll like brushing? I prepared the brush,” Felicia showed her a thin hair brush.

“I think it will like brushing but um… that brush, I don’t think it’ll like it. I’ll lend you the one I prepared.”  Sana lent her a proper fur brush before she rested.

Felicia thanked her and went inside. “Hey sheepy, brushing time!” She abruptly greeted it. She played with it, attempting to do Attachment Work. She might not be as gentle as Sana in her approach but the sheep enjoyed the attention nonetheless.

Felicia brushed the sheep, following its preference and wants, making sure to not force the brush through all the fur. “It’s not like real fur but it sure acts like one. It’s both fluffy and prickly.” She put both of her arms into the fur. “It’s like wearing a brand new sweater! All the static electricity!” She chuckled and ruffled its fur.

It makes a happy sound. “Oh you like that? Fluffy fluff!” She kept playing and tending to the sheep until the door opened. Her work result was also Good, which made her hum happily as she returned to Sana.

The next person supposedly working on Dreaming Electric Sheep scoffed when they saw Felicia coming out of the room happily. “The heck happened inside? I suppose the work here is that easy?” They checked the Record Panel.

“So it’s Attachment Work? Like talking with it, I guess? Ah, but I heard you need to do the Plug Work every so often. Maybe I’ll do that, they’ll be so thankful to me and owe me one later~”

An alarm was rang specifically for the Safety Team employees and clerk. Sana ran towards the designated location and was surprised that it happened inside the Unit for Dreaming Electric Sheep. “What happened?” She asked.

“We don’t know but from what we saw, the cause of death seemed to be electrocution….” Sana checked the Record Panel. Plugging Work was listed as the last work done to it.

Further investigation on the security camera footage from inside the room was given to Sana. It seemed that the person attempted to do Plugging Work but the Sheep tried to prevent it from doing so.

They insisted and went through the Sheep’s futile attempt at blocking them, in that moment, it was as if Sana could hear the Sheep’s plea from the video.

‘Please stop… stop taking things away from me… This electricity of mine is all I have left…. I … Don’t..!’ And right after that, lightning began to course through the Plug and burned the employee who was holding the Plug with electrocution. 

Sana reported what happened to Scene who relayed it to Montag. After several trial and errors with several people attempting to work with it, Montag added to the caretaking guide that anyone with Temperance level below 3 will die from Plugging Work from the electrocution.

The Plugging Work still counts, as proven from the increase of PE Boxes production for some time that day.

The King in Binds

The first person who attempted to work on The King on that day was Erica. The former Chief Butler is now not only in LCCA but also in SAfety Team

She kneeled in front of it, not meeting its face. “Forgive my rudeness, this humble self would like to know if the great King in Binds would forgive my unworthy self appearing before him.” She spoke overly formal. It was part of the Instinct Work, to feed and satiate its physiological needs. A perfect job for a former Butler like her.

“Very well. I’ll grant you the honor of an audience” the King spoke directly to her mind. “My sincerest gratitude to the ever-welcoming King” Erica lifted herself up and walked towards the King and kneeled again. 

”You have my compliments for knowing proper etiquette to greet me.” The Kind spoke again in her mind. “What will you do for me today?” He asked.  erica, still facing the floor, spoke as well.

“Today I will be checking over your physical body, vitals, intake needs milord” Erica listed it all but essentially, it all means that she will be doing work that requires physical contact.

“Hmm,” The King understood, “you may begin your work” as he gave his consent, Erica lifted herself up and began checking the King in Binds, the creature itself, the material of the bandages, the throne. She checked everything meticulously.

“These strands bandage and shackle me… when shall I be released from it?” He asked Erica.

“Unfortunately, I am not in any position to answer that.” She answered truthfully. “What an insipid answer you have….” The king merely huffed.

Erica’s work finished when the door was unlocked, which she then excused herself out, just as formal as before. Her work result was [Good], she sighed in relief and left the premise for the next person to work on it.

The next person was Jun. Unlike Erica, he didn’t bother to show etiquette, or spoke formally, but he did speak in a respectful manner.

However it displeased the King, “you dare disrespect my authority?!” It roared. “I don’t disrespect you but I have my own principle. Respect from me authority towards me is something you have to gain and prove. I don’t try to disrespect anyone’s authority, but right now my job is to stand against your way and prevent you from escaping this door” he said sternly and looked at the pocket watch he owned, measuring how much time he had left working in here. 

“If you are that displeased with the way I act, why don’t you show me why you are called The King in Binds?” He readied his sword. He readied his sword rather than his actual EGO Weapon which was AEDD’s sniper rifle. The gun was a temporary EGO Weapon until he got his hand on Binds, the EGO Weapon that is in the shape of a sword.

“You will regret this.” The King stood up and released itself from its binds and readied his sword as well. A duel happened in the room sounds of swords clanging can be heard inside. 

Repression Work, a work to restrain existence. While the other works focus on handling desires, this work stifles them. Most of the work on this type of work requires combat, which suits a veteran combatant like Jun. 

The battle only ended after the time was nearly up and Jun and the King sheathed their blade. The King laughed in a satisfactory manner. “You did good, I welcome you. You earn my respect” its hand reached Jun and its finger tapped the top of his head. A hazy looking dark red aura surrounded him before the door was unlocked.

Jun got out of the room, slightly confused by what the creature meant at the time. “Oh right, the Record Panel,” before he forgot. He checked it and it said,

[Repression - Jun] [Good]

He grinned smugly. Of course it’s Good after all he fought against that thing seriously. All he needs to do is do the same routine until he gets his hand on the Binds EGO Set.

All the other sword based EGO has been claimed by others. Micah with his Blind Obsession, and that currently-not-bamboo-hatted Kim got his hand on the Buddhist related EGO Gears. So he set his eyes on Binds. He returned to the Main Area as lunch break is nearing.

————————————————————-

Micah’s Side

The next day, Micah assigned the same people as before for each Abnormality. Everyone complied with the assignment except for Samjo who asked if he could work on Toad for some time too rather than back to back working on Portrait.

“Alright, sure. Take care of yourself” Micah allowed him as he busied himself assigning who goes where for other Abnormalities.

”It’s kinda amazing that you could keep an eye. To everything and everyone all at once. Doesn’t that tire you?” Iroha, his assistant and Yachiyo’s friend asked.

As the leader of the Control Team, his job was similar to that of a manager of an L Corp. Facility, assigning who goes where based on their preference and suitability.

”Oh I’m used to this kind of job where I need to keep an eye to a lot of things on the screen, while making sure to save and use the energy efficiently” he laughed it off. Totally not due to his many experiences as a night guard on a security office. 

“Oh, were you like, one of those security camera watchers in District 10’s casino clubs?” Iroha asked. Micah merely hummed, “You are half correct, I didn’t work for casino clubs though, he answered ambiguously and noticed something.

“…. Faelantern is missing from its cage.” He did a quick skim search from all over the place. “It’s right in front of the cage for Ambling Pearl, Wayward Passenger’s roaming near it, finishing it before it turns Passenger into an Active Breach.” He ordered Iroha.

“I’m on it!” She quickly left and readied her Ebony Stem EGO Weapon. Micah continued his watch over others through the cameras. He’ll assign himself to an Abnormality once Iroha returns. 

Samjo went to the Toad as Micah allowed after he worked on the Portrait. As before, Samjo seemed distressed after coming out from Portrait’s room, but this time it was more like he was annoyed.

‘Good, he rested at the nearest Main Area before he went to the Toad.’ Micah commented. He saw his work at the Blubbering Toad’s unit. He accompanied and comforted the Toad as it cries, but doesn’t sympathize much with it despite the emotional resonance it had with Portrait.

‘It is said that those who experience an intense emotion when taking care of an Abnormality will have a better EGO Resonance with it. I should ask Rouge to assign him a Portrait's EGO.’ Micah saw Samjo come out of the room with blue tear streaks falling from his eyes to his cheek.

‘Oh, he got the EGO Gift. With that he officially has 4 EGO Gifts. Quite the luck this guy has’ He commented.

Aeng-du had returned from Skin Prophet and went to Micah, she asked to be allowed to take care of Spiral of Contempt. “Your stat should be high enough, but make sure to be cautious and keep your eye contact with it.” Micah told her.

“I will keep that in mind” Aeng-du nodded and left the room to enter the unit. Iroha returned soon enough. “I will be taking care of Skin Prophet since you’ve returned," he excused himself.

Taking care of Skin Prophet was easy, he merely needs to light up candles and leave it alone to read. That should be all for Instinct Work.

He left as soon as the door opened to continue to watch over the camera. Iroha left to take care of Faelantern when Micah returned to the camera. Faelantern’s Instinct Work was also rather easy, just give it a feed to prey on, live feed or frozen meat. Pretty much the same as a pet snake.

This time he watched over Aeng-du. Her indomitable spirit allowed her to withstand keeping an eye against the Spiral of Contempt.

The haughty monster attempted to intimidate her by coming closer and looking at her from high up. Hot boiling blood drips from its hand and from the ground, spiky golden thorns are growing threatening her.

She hissed when any of it touched her, giving her Black Damage. But as part of the Blade Lineage, facing each other’s scar was their form of strength. This was nothing to her, who was so determined on rescuing and clearing her mentor’s name even after Distorted.

The door was unlocked and Aeng-du was let go. When she came out a spiky crown decorated her head. She checked herself out in the nearest glass door. “This is rather an opulent gift…. I feel conflicted about receiving this gift ....” She sighed.

Tsuruno, Sana’s other friend, was assigned to work on Ardor Blossom Star but for some odd reason she couldn’t enter the Unit. “Huh? Was someone already inside??” She tilted her head confused.

“Ah shit-“ Micah saw who was inside from the security camera. “I should call any nearby Disciplinary Team member…” Micah panicked and search anyone nearby the site

It was too late, as the one who was inside was a crazed Nao. The moment she laid her eyes to Tsuruno, she pushed her down and tried to punch her. “YOU! It’s YOU! You who killed Mao!” 

“What the- Stop that!” Tsuruno fought back and kicked her away. “TAKE OFF THOSE EGO GEARS! YOU DON’T DESERVE IT! THAT’S MINE AND MAO’S!” The two were using the same, complete set of Ardor Blossom Star, both Suit and Weapon, so their attacks canceled each other. 

Micah found Jun and Yachiyo. Yachiyo just got out from The King in Binds and Jun was going to go in once the cooldown finished. “Yachiyo, Jun, come to hallway B-2. Nao is panicking and attacking others including Tsuruno.” Micah commanded them through the employee intercom.

The two immediately ran to the location. Jun’s stride was quicker and wider than Yachiyo so he arrived far quicker and he quickly found Nao.

“That chick, right?” He came from behind and struck her on the neck, immediately making her faint. “Whoa- you could have used your…EGO Weapon…” “This is far quicker and efficient before more harm is done to others” Jun sighed. Yachiyo arrived and took care of the wounded Tsuruno.

Jun looked around and noticed something as the Safety Team was sent to take care of the wounded ones. “Hey,” he pointed to Tsuruno’s EGO Weapom, the floating fire moths - Ardor Blossom Star. “I think she attacked all of those that have that thing. What’s up with that? She has some butterfly phobia or shit?” Jun asked.

“Ah!” Tsuruno and everyone noticed their similarity. “No, it’s wrong.” Yachiyo as part of the Information Team explained to Jun.

“That EGO Weaapom is special, you can’t get it through working with the Abnormality. When someone was affected by a Status Effect from the Abnormality and challenged it to a fight during Containment Breach and helped with the Suppression, they all get those gifts. Last time, it breached from her twin sister’s death. It used her corpse to manifest in front of us.”

“So she was under the assumption that the creature is her sister and those who got the gifts are her sister’s killer?” Jun hummed. “Guess grief makes people do the unthinkable eh?”

————————————————————————————————

The same evening

“I heard there was commotion. Sorry I couldn’t help,” Yuri sighed. She was busy taking care of other WAW level Abnormalities so others could concentrate unveiling all information from the new ones.

“It’s fine. Thanks for the hard work today” Micah was working on a report. He was in the dormitory’s work lounge when Yuri approached him. 

“Hey Yuri,” Micah suddenly asked, “for the talk about Warp Train, can we talk tomorrow? I think we can unlock all information from the new Abnormalities soon.” He looked at his secret mail.

“Yeah, sure.” Yuri nodded. “Good I’ll set up a secret password on how to enter my room. Invite Montag, the three of us will have a discussion about it.” He said and read the mail secretly.

“Okay, good night, for now, make sure you have enough rest.” Yuri left him behind.

Micah’s secret mail says: [We have prepared a temporary flesh brain ready for you]

————————————————————————

Chapter Text

The sound of the First Trumpet resounded in the hallway to warn everyone of the danger. Though it does not breach, Portraits’s Qlipoth Count reached 0 and it is currently displaying several Master Portraits in different rooms.

“Try not to hit the fake ones! Those will give you White Damage!” Yuri commanded. 

“There sure are a lot of these Portraits…” Jun huffed. He got the effect of Welcomed in him again. “They are affected by how many Headless Portraits were given out to employees, meaning there were probably a lot of people being given them.” Yuri explained.

“Dah!” Samjo successfully destroyed one in one successful attack. The  EGO Weapon Red Sheet’s was a good counter for the Portraits who are weak to Black Damage. Soon everyone took care of all the remaining Portraits successfully.

”You did good,” Yuri commended Samjo, “feeling like you’ve grown strong?” She asked. “As much as I hate to admit it, this EGO Suit does react well with me….”Samjo sighed. He now donned the Bygone Days’ suit. “It reminded me of that guy sometime when I worked with it but I slowly got over it.” Samjo laughed ironically.

“I’m just glad you finally moved on from that guy….” Yuri laughed but due to the way she said it, everyone thought he had a major break-up with a lover or something. “Dude move on, whoever that guy is, he probably didn’t deserve you.” Felicia tried to reassure him. “Wait, what?? What are you guys talking about???” Now Samjo got confused.

—————————————

Micah was looking at the camera watching over Ardor Blossom Moth. After the incident she was finally forced to take some days off to do some psychiatric rehabilitation. 

Tsuruno was in charge of doing work with Ardor Blossom Moth this time. The Attachment Work with Ardor Blossom Star was simple. To stay there and empathize with it. But be careful enough not to get burned yourself. 

Things are going well at least so far until the noon shift came up there were screams from the cage of Dreaming Electric Sheep. 

“Disciplinary and Safety Team members that are the nearest from hallway 5-C, go there quickly!” Micah commanded, he saw Jun and Sana was the closest so he asked them to go there

When Jun and Sana arrived, they saw someone was burned but still alive from the electrocution. Behind him was a flurry of thunder clouds and fur. ”It’s breaching containment!” They warned as the sheep ran through Jun and, charging forward to a different location as the lamb cried.

Sana came to the injured person to help them while Jun chased after it. “Shit!” Jun was too late to stop it until it arrived at one of the Main Areas. “Requesting backup! Dreaming Electric Sheep is escaping!” Sana warned in the comm.

Jun followed the sheep and arrived at the Main Area, “Weakling and newbies stay out of the way! A suppression against this sheep will happen here!” He guarded the door until backup arrived. He saw Kim on the other side of the door.

“Guess until there’s back up we’ll have to fight it together, huh?” He sighed at his former enemy. “We are in luck since we both got new swords now.” He readied his Binds sword, “we must make sure the others stay safe,” Kim nodded and began fighting. ——————————————————————————————-

Yuri and Felicia arrived at the location where the fight happened. “Which Abnormality is it?!” Yuri asked. “THIS FUCKING SHEEP RIGHT HERE?!” Jun pointed out as it rammed into him with his horn. “GRAH!” He blocked it with his sword.

“Okay! Let me- Captain?!” Felicia was going to go in but Yuri turned and ran the other way.

“That Sheep cannot be fought normally! You have to return to its unit and get the Anti-Ovine Grounding Plug from the Generator!” Yuri explained. “I’ll get it for you guys since I have many speed buff EGO Gifts!”

As Yuri ran back, she passed by Sana who already grabbed a Plug, “Captain Yuri! I’m taking this one to the sheep okay?!” She announced. “Yeah! You do that! I’ll get one more and have someone get one more!” Yuri replied back.

On Sana’s side, she immediately ran to the Main Area, Felicia already helping with the fight. The sheep was manipulating lightning and electricity and screamed in pain from all the electricity it exuded out. “Shit!” The pain from the electrocution burned Felicia and Jun for a while.

 It noticed Sana with the plug and tried to ram over her but Kim protected her. “Now,” Kim said and Sana slipped from behind him and got beneath the sheep and plugged it to its belly.

It hissed in pain but it also grew more angry. “Oh, the lightning was at least less intense no- WHOA!” It charged at Felicia, ramming and trying to pulverize here. “Hey what the heck! I thought that was supposed to help us?!”

“Not enough lightning was drained. Don’t lower your guard.” Yuri entered and avoided its attacks. “It’ll try to attack me because I have the plug. Protect me for a bit while.” Yuri asked Felicia.

“Sure thing! Been fighting this sheep for a while anyway, what's a few more seconds gonna make a difference~!” Felicia prepared her weapon sheepishly with confidence.

“Taaaaaake THISSSS!” She readied her EGO Weapon, Roseate Desire and it cut through the fur for a bit, dealing physical damage as Yuri stabbed the plug to its belly. “Okay that’s 2 done.”

“One more! Aeng-du!” Yuri commanded her as Aeng-du entered the room. The ram immediately targeted her this time, which Jun parried for her. “I didn’t need your help” Aeng-du huffed. “Yeah yeah sure, whatever you say lass, just plug it in quickly!” Jun hissed. The electricity and ramming put a burden to his new bionic arms.

“Hmmph” Aeng-du ran under it and plugged it immediately. “Get out of the way!” Yuri screamed. The sheep screamed and discharged lightning everywhere until it slumped on the floor, staggered.

“Okay! Time to beat it up!” Yuri sighed and readied her weapon with everyone. Thankfully it didn’t revive back up  and got suppressed immediately into its core.

“Good management work everyone, please take a break-” Yuri was going to let them take a break when the Second level warning rang out. “What the-?! What is it this time?!” Felicia grumbled.

“Back to back Suppression…..” Sana panted, and saw  something familiar. “Those…. Oh no! I know what this is!” She warned Yuri.

“Yuri-san! Their legs!” Sana pointed to Aeng-du and Jun’s legs. Dark red bandages. It formed and slowly went up their body and covered their whole body until it stopped.

The people wrapped were then moved as if they are puppeteered and attacked everyone else in the room indiscriminately. “It’s the Kings of Binds! That’s what controlled me back in the L Corp Facility!” Sana reminded her.

Yuri tried to hold Jun back. She knew he’s probably as strong as Nelly, probably even stronger now with the EGO Gears on him. And Yuri couldn’t fight Nelly alone, so there’s no way she’d be able to fight him.

Jun’s strikes were precise and heavy, as expected from a former Captain. Even if Yuri could read it since she practiced swordsmanship with him, she couldn’t possibly avoid it all, ‘Shit-’ Yuri noticed a strike was going to go in until Kim stepped in.

“I’ll take care of him, take care of my disciple please.” He entrusted Aeng-du to Yuri, knowing she has more chances taking care of her and she nodded.

—----------------------------------------------------------

On the other Main Area, the one brainwashed and bound by the binds were Tsuruno and Erica. 

“Tsuruno! Snapped out of this!” Yachiyo begged. To think that her friend was brainwashed by the binds and now fighting her. It was hard for Yachiyo but she need to free her quickly.

Rouge arrived on the spot and shot her with his cannon EGO Weapon. “There! I slowed her down! You must break her bindings! Don’t worry the bindings won’t kill the Retainer. But be prepared, once all Retainers are freed, the King will be summoned.” He was experienced in fighting them.

“Shit. She really is strong.” Micah laughed awkwardly as Erica rained attacks on them. “Butlers are strong” Montag merely added. Erica, eyes clouded and half covered from the binds, merely sees them as interlopers. Interloper that must be sweeped out of her master’s abode. 

Erica dual wields her Butler knife and her EGO Weapon, the Bygone Days knife together. “It’s just a TETH level EGO Weapon but she resonated with it so much that it  actually showed its true potential.” He  hissed.

The mental attack affected Micah more than Montag. A certain person’s face appeared in Micah’s mind when the attack got into him but he bit his lips and relentlessly ripped her bindings away.

“Wake up. Erica. Your master isn’t that one is he?!” Micah hissed and finally ripped them away with his own knife EGO Weapon, the Dimension Shredder.

Erica snapped awake until the ribbons melted away, “huh? What happened….?” She didn’t have time to sober up before Yuri contacted Micah on the comm. “We freed the Retainers here! Prepare for the arrival of the King!” Yuri announced.

As if he was there all along, there is an entity bound to an extravagantly ornamented chair. It appears as though the entity is shooting a stern glare to their way.

It tries to say something, but its mouth is bound. Yet the words reached their mind directly. The King clapped his hands for the wonderful performance.

‘I have heeded the plea of the poor.’

‘I have pledged to torment those who tries to displace me’

‘Present thyself before the King’

The solitary king, bound to his throne, raises his arm in an unhurried motion.

The lone king gently points to a platform near you with an inviting cadence.

On it are masks, each depicting a different spectrum of emotions.

There is a mask of joy. A mask of sorrow. A mask of wrath.

‘What face shall be worn in this audience with the King’ it asked

Yuri wears the Mask of Joy. “Let this battle bring a fleeting moment of joy for the lone-king who shall reign eternal, reign unaccompanied.”

Erica donned the Mask of Sorrow “Let this battle bring a fleeting moment of solace for the lone-king who shall reign eternal, reign unaccompanied.”

Jun took the Mask of Wrath “Let this battle spark the flames of battle-joy for the lone king who shall reign eternal, reign unaccompanied.”

Once everyone wore the masks they had chosen. The King began their battle.

It lifted its sword. Yuri immediately took off her eyepatch and activated her prosthetic eye. It threw a sword without standing up from its throne towards the combatants. “Micah!” Yuri detected its direction in the slower time in her eye. “To the left!” Micah avoided it in time thankfully.

‘Thou will sink to the gloom, the void of sorrow’ The king’s attack permeates to their mind directly. ‘Resign to the fate that binds you’

“No thanks” Jun hissed. “My fate had changed that day, I’m not gonna just throw it away so quickly.” The king pulled back his sword using his bindings and sung it at Jun who charged forward to him. Jun ducked it this time and stabbed the leg of the King. 

“Like cards to be played with and discarded at the king’s whim. It seems Kings, both old and new, enjoy plays of puppets, a musical of manikins.” Erica evaded its attack. With a quick step to the side, she dodged his second attack then skittered out of range and threw her Butler knife to pin its dominant arm and came forward to slash it

“Wielding men as cold tools, brandishing and flourishing them with abandon, breaking them. And upon their inevitable shattering, the master shall fill their spot with another puppet, its absence unnoticed. That’s how it goes when you work as  Butler” Erica sighed

Micah’s attack got in as well. The King bent in pain. “Yet, this king may be quite fond of his own. To shower his retinue with ceaseless blessings” He did feel Erica was stronger than usual at her previous state of being brainwashed. “Even those he Welcomed personally were blessed”

Jun used the sword he stabbed on the king’s leg to lift himself up and jumped to slash its neck. “The King isn’t an actual living being, but that slash seemed to work.” Yuri muttered. “Jun! Destroy its throne too! That’s part of its body as well!” Yuri commanded. 

“On it!” Jun got down and locked eyes with Kim, who understood his intent, and they both attacked with intensity to destroy its throne.

The King grew excited, or was it aggravated? It lifted itself and ripped the bindings and lifted the sword personally, fighting them on his own. “To be able to cross swords to a being like you, it is an honor” Kim blocked its attacks.

“You shan’t make me sink to the gloom again. To the nihility to not do anything, to the sloth and depression. Those are the paths of cowardice that I hate the most.”

“If it’s a dance of blades you are inviting me then I shall do so, to claim your bones in the end, I shall yield my flesh” Kim prepared his sword and attacked the King, countering all of its attack with his own. 

“Prepare SP healing users or bullets,” Yuri said. “These three will concentrate on fighting him, we will support them.” Sana nodded and called for Scene. Soon enough people who could heal SP with their EGO Weapon appear and so does the SP bullet sometimes shot at the three - Kim, Erica and Jun who are fighting the King.

“Keep fighting it, don’t worry, we’ll support and protect your back” Yuri told them. Erica nodded and thanked her as they continued the fight.

Yuri guarded and protected the others who were providing support to the three of them, while Erica parried any attacks skillfully, making the way for Kim and Jun to do the finisher attack.

The two successfully destroyed the throne, and soon, some of the bindings on the King were also broken.

“Now! It’s staggering!” Micah pointed out, the three noticed as well and raised their weapon to stab its chest together. It roared in pain until it reverted into its ovate form.

“Suppression done….” Erica announced tiredly. She felt something plopped on top of her head. “Huh?”

A crown with red  bandages on it was on top of her head. “Oh my, it’s on you too,” Erica noticed the same thing was on Jun’s head.

“What the-...” Jun did feel something was on top. “This is a Gift? Prove of worth from fighting it?”I thought the gift were those bandages over your eye”

“In the Lobotomy Corp. HQ there are several Abnormalities that give Gift after you fight them, yes. But perhaps this one is special. Perhaps the King does have 2 EGO Gift? One acquired normally through managing it. One through fighting it perhaps?” Yuri theorized.

“But…. Kim-san doesn’t get the same thing even though he finished it off with them?” Sana pointed out the difference.

“Erica and Jun were brainwashed as its Retainers. Perhaps only former Retainers who joined the fight can get it” Micah pointed out Tsuruno who was still fainted under the care of the Safety Team. “see, Tsuruno was a Retainer but she didn’t get one”

“Tsuruno!” Sana sighed. She was safe. Felicia was safe. Yachiyo was safe. Iroha came to their side and it also confirmed to Sana that this means, all of her dormmates are safe. Sana sighed in relief.

“Safety Team, please help those who are injured. Everyone else, we will continue managing the Abnormality….” Micah looked at everyone’s haggard state. “After a break” he laughed awkwardly.

Yuri huffed, going alone to get her own break on another room for now but Micah stopped her. “Invite Montag, we will talk about our preparation for Warp Train at midnight” he whispered. “Here is the password……”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Night came quickly that day. All Yuri could do after work was dinner, write a report, and napped. Her alarm rang next to her in a small voice but enough to wake Yuri up.

Yuri contacted Montag to meet up with him, and soon the two went to Micah’s room. They knocked on the door and a voice asked them. “Opposite of pork is?” “Salmon.”

“Passcode confirmed,” Micah allowed them in.

“Nobody saw you or followed you here right?”

“None,” Montag confirmed. 

They had to be secretive about this talk. “Good, come in”

“Sit down anywhere you like, I’ll  be doing something,” Micah said. Cables were strung out from his neck to the CPUs.

“I’m hacking and manipulating the CCTV data so there will be no trace when you went here and when you return. Sound blocking equipment has been installed all throughout the room, so there’s no need to worry about being wiretapped,” Micah explained calmly, as if he’s used to these kinds of hacking technologies and techniques. 

“Now, let’s start with what we’ve recounted so far. Yuri, from Kai, Kaerel, Wayward Passenger, what are your hypotheses about Warp Train’s Singularity?”, He turned to Yuri. Yuri nodded and showed her spreadsheet in her notebooks. 

“Wayward Passenger. The name indicates it has been wandering for a long time. It’s called a Passenger but according to Kai, it is wearing a W Corp uniform. But why and how did an Employee of the Warp Trains transform into such a creature?” She shuffled and took out other pages. It seems she wrote it all over in different books to prevent from being found out.

“Back in L Corp, I remembered the rumor that T Corp did some collaborative work with L Corp, R Corp, K Corp, and W Corp. T Corp, in other words, TimeTrack, the product created by T corp has things to do with time. It makes time longer, shorter, or repeated,” Yuri listed.

“From the logs, we can infer Wayward Passenger’s code was T,  which means it was an Abnormality based on a form of Trauma. Was there such a big incident in Warp Train’s history that traumatized a collective of human minds to the point it formed an Abnormality version of the Warp Cleanup Crew? No. Such a thing would definitely be on the news if it were to have happened. It would have been big news even if it’s just a one time incident.  But a one time incident would have been forgotten by the community quickly. And let’s say that the incident was big, it should’ve been severe enough to traumatize a lot more than just the staff -  but that kind of incident would have ruined W Corp’s reputation for a long time by now. Yet, it hasn’t. They are as prosperous as usual. Unless it wasn’t an incident but rather, perhaps it was actually something that happened so often that it’s a common occurrence…” 

“What was considered common in that situation though…? That it’s common for Warp Train travel to actually take so long?  But why? If they do want to use T Corp technology why not shorten it, why did they make it long? Actually, why DO they need to use T Corp technology? What do they gain from working with each other?’” Yuri pulled up another page.

“Let’s shift gears and think about T Corp first. Their main product is regarding time itself, one of the widely used ones like that box that keeps food warm. How it works, I don’t know. The Singularity doesn’t make any sense to begin with. But I know those boxes are not powered with stuff like batteries or Enkephalin. What if the box itself needs time….. where would they get the time for it?” Yuri asked the two.

[ They got the time needed to fuel their inventions from the elongated time in Warp Train? ] Montag tried to ask. To facilitate the discussion, he decided to use text-to-speech, making sure to delete what he typed after every sentence spoken.

“Possibly. That means Time was harvested from the Warp trains, which is why a long period of time needs to happen in a trip. But the thing is, why the transformation into a monster?” Yuri still had one unsolved question.

“It is boredom,” Micah answered calmly. “The time elongated but people didn’t die upon arrival right? In fact they arrived safely and all claimed it only took 10 seconds as they advertised. It also didn’t seem like people who lived in those elongated times suddenly have offsprings or that kind of stuff. That’d be terrifying. Suddenly waking up 10 seconds later and you have kids and grandkids.”

“Which means there are a few things we can hypothesize that during those elongated timeline:
1. People won’t die

2. Reproduction won’t happen

3. They have the ability to fix things back from monstrous to normal

4. When they do fix things back to normal, the memory is reset into when we sit in the train”

“Their ability is to fix things back from monstrous to normal? Not from normal to monstrous?” Yuri asked, confused. 

“Like I said, those monstrous forms were created from boredom.”

“Whose boredom?” Montag asked. “The boredom of the people trapped in the train car. Think about it. You can’t die; from killing, to hunger, to thirst, to a lack of sleep. The boredom and the illogical situation would drive anyone crazy. That’s why….. They do whatever they want to their body, to others’ bodies. That form of Wayward Passenger, in simpler terms, was like someone flayed, right? Like someone peeled the skin of their entire top half? I assume that’s what happened. Staving off boredom, be it just to feel something, be it pursuing morbid creativity in the name of art. That’s what makes some humans in the City feel alive.”

“That’s….”, Yuri gulped. “How could they think to do something like that…”

“Yuri, do you think you could comprehend how those cannibal chefs in the District 23 Backstreets think? How they’re willing to kill and eat humans in the name of art. Those that were inspired by the Pianist a few years ago as well? You can’t, right? It’s the same thing. Boredom makes illogical things logical in human minds.”

Yuri fell silent and just accepted that hypothesis for now. “Alright, but it’s not like there’s anything we can do about it.” She sighed. “I guess we just gotta accept fate, considering we’ll have our memory reset anyway.”

“And that’s it?” Micah suddenly asked.

“Yuri, you have discussed and analyzed this so far because you want to see the truth right?” Micah looked at Yuri with a mysterious glint in his eyes. 

“I’d want to know the truth, yes, for my own curiosity. But also, so that we can prepare at least what is to come. So people’s minds won’t break too much…..”

“But Yuri if they don’t break, if there were less casualties, the W Corp employees would be suspicious that we knew something beforehand.” Micah suggested. 

“That is true…..” Yuri sighed. “Plus, even for my curiosity’s sake, we still don’t have a way to record the truth that won’t go against W Corp or be found out.”

“If you could record the truth, what are you going to do? Fight against W Corp? Break the status quo of the City?” He asked, judging Yuri. 

“I wouldn’t do that. I’m just a human. I just want to know things.” Yuri assured him.

Micah chuckled. “No wonder in the mirror world you are replaced by that person….” He muttered. “Anyway, I do know a way.”

“Eh-?! How-” Yuri was going to ask him but she was interrupted.

“Before that, I need to know how safe it is for us to investigate. In the City, once a Wing has fallen, their Singularity’s patent no longer protects it. Evidence from the way several organizations have tried investigating the Distortion Phenomena and its relation to L corp such as Seven Association and perhaps other Wings, right?” Micah asked. 

Yuri nodded. “That’s right, apparently those tattoos the Middle used are one of such fallen Wing’s Singularity being used. Though they said they forgot which Wing it was from..”

 “Wait they who- who told you that???” Micah found her answer unexpected. 

“Harpae told me,” she said. Micah fell silent with his mouth open, clearly dumb-founded at the fact a member of the Middle so easily gave out the information to her. “What? You told me to keep in contact with him, so I reply to any chat messages from him now and again….” Yuri sighed.

Micah snorted, “You are right, but so far, Limbus Company is the one that has researched both Distortion and the L Corp’s Singularity extensively. Which is why even our LCCs are becoming familiar with the process - the truth of how Abnormalities existed.” 

“Yep, apparently according to Jun, both the Thumb and the Kurokumo Clan once tried to get their hands on the L Corp-related information too. He felt conflicted that he knew more than those two organizations the moment he was banished.”

”Oh boy.” Micah laughed awkwardly, “Anyway, so basically the knowledge of L Corp’s Singularities nowadays are not only known to us but also some of the Wings, right?”

“Probably. I assume Wings who worked with L corp like R Corp, W Corp, and T Corp would have some knowledge of it. Ah, and K Corp considering they supplied L Corp’s healing ampules,” Yuri nodded and returned to the topic. 

“Here’s a good question for you,” he turned to Yuri. “Those Wings merely think of us as an upstart handyman company. But do you think they knew that we know about L Corp’s Singularity. That we probably know much more than they do?“ Yuri hummed at the question. “Good question indeed, I don’t think they’ll know that we know that much, but they definitely will hear some rumor about us….”

“Have you read the email from higher up just now? That the LCB will be having a mission commissioned by Warp Train which is why they will be in the VIP car? Kinda doesn’t make sense if they have a mission why they get to ride in the VIP seats, but I suppose the higher-ups have their own plans…”

“If the higher-ups planned for Limbus Company to work together with W Corp, that means they would have had to know each other's cards. Perhaps they knew we knew their cards.” “Cards?” Yuri asked, “Perhaps in this company we aren’t the only ones who have figured it out…” Micah kept muttering while Yuri still hasn’t understood yet.

“[I don’t think W corp knows that we know their secret]” Montag understood instead and answered his question. “This morning I went out. With Saude.” He felt that it’s quicker to say verbally than typing. “To redeem tickets for LCB this time. They all get VIP. But Charon and Vergilius’ VIP Car is different. From the Sinners.” Montag hummed, “The guide doesn’t help on missions, except that one emergency. That means he wasn’t allowed to help this time.”

“Even without Sinners’s, special circumstances. Vergilius is Color. He could potentially survive, won’t turn into monster. He could live to tell the tale. Risky for W Corp.” Montag added.

“Ah!” Yuri finally caught up and connected the dots. “So in other words, someone other than us three could have figured things out. W corp probably doesn’t know we know their secret…" She’s connected the dots.

“That actually makes it risky though. If they figured out what we planned to do, wouldn’t we be in danger of breaking their taboo or something? If W corp knew that we know their secret, they probably would have written it off as a collaborative thing.”

“Well…. Risks always exist in life, I suppose,” Micah merely shrugged. “Besides, what we will be doing is not breaking any taboo. I think.” 

“You did say you have a way,”, Yuri asked. “So what is it?”

“Let’s talk about our second topic. What am I?” Micah suddenly asked.

Montag typed and answered this time. [Someone who is a full body prosthetic, or claims so. But in reality you are physically more similar to Sweeper. You don’t have a real, any organic part of your body left. Neither a beating heart or a human brain. Full body prosthesis at least needs one of those, especially the brain.]

[Are you a human?] “I am a human, I was born as one. I died as one. My body is no longer a human, but my soul still is, even if it’s moved to an electrical brain and heart” Micah reassured Montag.

“Soul?” Yuri asked. Micah pulled out the files containing Distortion cases, “remember this one, the one I mentioned happened decades ago? The Pied Piper?” He showed the two of them.

“The culprit is my father. And I am, by accident, one of his successful research results, in immortalizing souls.” He admitted. “I have thrown away my birth name though,”

“Do you believe souls exist?” Micah asked suddenly. The two nodded. “[Even if I’m not religious I do think it exists]” “I heard Distortion was caused due to your own soul twisted from your original desire, at least that’s how I summarized and interpreted the reports so far” Montag and Yuri explained.

“One way or another. Every time I die, my soul moves to something else. As long as it’s human-like in shape. It was just coincidentally the first time it happened. It was my own corpse body that it moved into. So I didn’t realize it.” Micah explained

“When did you realize it?” Yuri curiously asked. “During my second death. Master picked me up and realized what happened. And made me this new body” Micah explained.

“Alright….. why are you telling us this though?” She asked. “Because I trusted you two would believe my story. Others, most City citizens would simply brand me as a humanoid AI. The Head would have hunted me down otherwise.” Micah smiled calmly but turned sour soon.

“And that is precisely the risk I’m in. As we have summarized what’ll happen in Warp Train, we’ll be deformed into monsters and then reformed back into human when we arrive. This poses a risk of revealing what I really am.” Micah explained

“[Because your body doesn’t even have a human brain]” Montag guessed what he meant. “You guessed correctly.”

“Which is why, as the day of our departure grows near. I will prepare a flesh body for myself, manipulate its face with cosmetic surgery. I will ‘die’ and transfer my soul there.”  He calmly explained.

“I won’t die in front of the public like last time so don’t worry. It will happen during the day off where we are allowed to pack up and shop for our move out.”

“Will there be no side effects?” Yuri asked, “with your identity, memories, sense of self….”. “It wasn’t an issue so far, though the downside is that compared to my electrical brain it lacks its more superior function for hacking and recording” Micah admitted.

“In other words I can’t actually help you and record stuff in Warp Train to save my own secret when I use the flesh body”

“Oh” Yuri nodded, “I suppose we’ll just let it happen as per the norm then” she didn’t mind her curiosity not sated, as long as her friend’s safe.

“Not necessarily. My body can’t record it but there’s another way to record it.” Micah hummed. “How?” Montag asked, he got too curious now that he’s involved in the conversation. After all, he originally was banished from Sweepers because he too, searched for the truth. He’s also a natural truth seeker.

“‘When the mind doesn’t remember, the body does. When the body doesn’t remember, the soul does’ I had heard such saying years ago from some stories.” Micah hummed. “We will utilize that”

“Body remembers, muscle memory?” Montag asked. “Yes. We can try, for example, to bring a seed or sapling of something that is long living. I heard there’s a plant cultivation kit from S Corp. that allows you to plant and cultivate crops even in undesirable places. Advanced hydroponics you could say.” Micah explained.

“It could be used as a food source too but more importantly. We will develop a habit between us. The perennial crop must be something that can produce something edible. Like fruit trees. For every specific time range we eat a fruit. Then we take a seed for every generation and save it for safekeeping.This should help us count how many times has passed, and hopefully the muscle memory will trigger something in us, some memory maybe, after we ate the fruit when we arrive.” Micah explained

“Of course this is all just a hypothesis. The outcome could be completely different. They could catch on to our act. The memory erasure could possibly erase everything including muscle memory. Who knows.” Micah shrugged. “At the very least as long as my body is safe, the seed is safe. I can analyze the seeds. They will surely inspect our belongings and make sure everything stays the same when we arrive.” Micah added.

“How about your robotic body?” Yuri asked. “Bring it with me of course. As part of the cargo in the freight car” Micah answered. “To transfer back I’ll need to die near it and then dispose of it” Micah hummed.

“Leave it to Sweepers” Montag suggested, “dismember too just in case.”

“That seemed like a good idea. They’ll cleanly dispose of it with no trace. That means we gotta….” Yuri hesitantly continued, “kill you right before their active hours. And escaped quickly before they chase us as parts of the trash they sweep” 

“Very thankful that you seemed ready to help me.” Micah hummed. “Let's hope nothing went wrong.” They chatted for a bit more.

“By the way, what did you say in the mirror world I was replaced with?” Yuri asked out of nowhere before they left the room. “Ah. When I picked up the Abnormalities Cores last time I also witnessed how they battle and saw Manager Dante and those ID cards thingies. One of them was Miss Faust’s and one of such mirror world Identity was her looking like you. So I thought, perhaps in that mirror world, she took your place.” Micah hummed.

“Oh.” Yuri got curious about another thing as well. “By the way, since the Pied Piper is your father, that means you were alive back then? That means, right now you are… fo-” Yuri didn’t realize it as she was counting his age but Montag immediately closed her mouth.

Montag saw Micah’s face. It seemed the topic of his age is rather a sensitive topic but he hid it with his usual calm smile. Yuri finally caught on to the face Micah is making. The similar smile Saude uses when saying “don’t ask too much.”

“Never mind. Let’s return for now.” Yuri said and released herself from Montag’s grasp before concluding their discussion and returned to their own bedrooms. Micah hacked the recording of them ever coming to their rooms and deleted any records of their discussion for safety measure

————————————————————-

this chapter’s Fanart: @wutheright’s OC, Erica. Please check their oc account at @WH_Erica in twitter.

EGO Sets for Canto 6/ RR 4Abnormalities :

Ever wondered what Limbus Abnormalities’s Managerial Tips/ Managerial Log is like in Lobotomy Corporation style? Here’s a link and preview for Abnormality Entries for Canto 6 / RR4 Abnormalities:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZlWSSaRM9f77Fh4pxwrvFOuTNRTWAYg_n52lOaXqXpI/edit

Ever want to try to see and play around with all the fanmade EGO Sets so far? I made a picrew for private use now!

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Chapter Text

We arrived at the Warp Train station. All of us were here, LCC members, both from Before and After Team, those assigned in T Corp. are all gathered here. 

Apparently it took up to 2 full train cars and 2 more that have civilians in it as well. Captain Caiman and Captain Saude were in the latter, the 2 train cars with the civilians. 

As for the usual five of us. Me, Montag, and Rouge are in the same car with the LCCBs. Micah and Scene are in the other car, full with LCCAs.

”Everyone please make sure to be on standby on the correct platform of our ride. Our train is PW618” Saude warned everyone. 

We waited for the train to arrive. Micah came to me. “Yuri, are you okay?” He asked. I covered my mouth. “Was my anxiety showing?” I asked him. “No, it’s not, you just looked like you were out of thought.” He assured me.

“I didn’t want to break the rules too much, so although I did delete the record of our discussion, I informed the others.” He told me. 

I tried to stay calm. “By others, who did you mean?” I asked. “Scene, Rouge, Saude, Caiman. They merely know the general thing that we will attempt but not in detail. It seems the knowledge of W Corp’s Singularity has been known to them anyway as someone in a higher position - like us,” Micah answered.

“We agreed not to communicate this yet with others, at least until we are inside the Train where I’m sure after we arrive the memory erasure will delete the knowledge anyway. Anyway, by the higher up, it seems our ‘plan’ has been accepted as some sort of research experiment. So don’t worry, even if we failed, they’ll defend us, to a degree” Micah hummed. I‘m still not sure what he meant by that they’ll be defending us and how they’ll defend us, but nodded anyway.

As we waited for the train to arrive, I decided to chat with him to distract my mind. “Is that your new body?” I asked him. “Yeah, as long as the brain is organic, the rest is whatever, machine or flesh, no one would care.” He shrugged. “So your usual body is in the freight car with our luggages huh…” I hummed. All of our luggages has been stored earlier this day, since we registered them as luggage in the counter.

I then saw a familiar face. “Is that…?” I approached the man and Micah followed out of curiosity. “It really is you, mr. Kaerel” I greeted him.

Kaerel turned to me. He seemed to have recognized me. The one from where his brother worked before his unfortunate demise. “Ms. Yuri, what a coincidence. So you are going to board the next train?” he asked.

“Yeah, my company reserved several train cars since we will all be going to P Corp. Nest.” I motioned to the others. “I heard that your company reserved at least 4 cars,” He nodded. “Good luck on your job.”

“Yeah you too.” I said instinctively without any reason.

“What?” He stared at me bewildered and confused.

“Ah-” I realized that I had created a misunderstanding or made him suspicious of me, “sorry, that was….out of habit!”

“Yuri’s the type that says “thanks you too” to waitresses who delivers food~” Micah teased, doing a follow up to erase my suspicion from Kaerel.

“Okay you don’t need to call me out right now,” I pouted, “but at any rate I heard from Kai that your job entails cleaning up trains after we arrived anyway, so um, good luck on your job, for real this time” I added another pile of lie.

“Of course. Thank you, miss Yuri” Kaerel chuckled at their comedic act. “The train should arrive soon so you better go back to the line where your carriage will be,” he shooed them off politely.

As he said, the train arrived soon. We knew because the PSA informed us. “The next train departing is WARP Train PW-618. All passengers please check our pass and make sure you are in the correct carriage for travel. And remember:  Watch for it. Warn us. We’ll all be good.” It read out. “All passengers please board the WARP Train PW-618”

The clueless one was amazed, happily boarding the train. It is an expensive train after all. One ticket is worth one-two months salaries. The civilians that rode with our train cars were especially excited.

As we all got inside and searched for our seat, an announcement rang out again. “Attention all passengers. Please fasten your seatbelts.”

”What’s the point of these seatbelts if we're gonna arrive in 10 seconds anyway?” Someone asked. “Eh, courtesy I suppose.” Their seatmate merely shrugged.

“We will be initiating the warp in 10 minutes. Please do not open the doors while the train is in warp.” The announcement said again. I closed my eyes. The anxiety from last night had me slightly sleep deprived.

————————————

General POV

-1 hour in-

Yuri was awakened by the murmur of the employees starting to panic.

”What’s happening here?! It’s been an hour since we departed, but the train still hasn’t arrived at its stop!” It was Tsuruno who spoke up first.

”WARP hasn’t had any accidents in the past few years though, why did this have to happen to us….” Yachiyo sighed. “Should we bust the door open? I wanna complain!” The brute of the group, Felicia complained.

“N-no don’t! The warnings said you’ll get sucked out into space if we try to open the doors while the train’s in warp!” Sana stopped her.

-20 hours in-

“It’s nearly one day…” “I’m going to lose my mind…” “Where are we even right now….” People were starting to panic.

Yuri sighed. Taking deep breaths. In and out. In and out. Things are proceeding as she expected it will be. ’We don’t know if they’ll record or watch over us. I don’t think they’ll bother to check what’s happening to us considering we might be stuck in here for a long time though…’ . She took out her knife and cut off the seatbelt.

She looked over at Montag and Rouge. Their eyes met and they knew immediately what to do. She stood in front of them with the two team captains and clapped her hand loudly. Loud enough for it to silence the murmurs. 

They immediately knew it’s Yuri in team captain mode and slowly the ruckus died down. “Everyone calm down. The Limbus Company wouldn’t put us in danger by making us ride a faulty train. I’m sure there’s a reason why this happens.”

“For now. I need everyone to calm down. Those that are panicking and causing disturbance to others are subject to immediate suppression as usual like in LCCU.” She threatened. “Jun, I’ll be asking you to watch over everyone and snap anyone panicking” she ordered. “Roger that,” Jun nodded.

Yuri looked around. Kaerel was nowhere to be seen. Actually, she had noticed his absence a few hours ago. 

‘He’ll probably be back on the time to clean us up and fixing us back….’ She huffed and returned calming anyone panicking.

-8 days in-

“This is clearly strange…” Samjo groaned. “According to the research in the human body back at K Corp, at maximum, humans can last without drinking for 3 days and without food for 7 days. We clearly passed that time frame yet we didn’t feel any hunger or thirst.”

It wasn’t only Samjo who felt that way. At first some were eating candies or drinking out of habit or anxiety. Jun and others watching over them like a hawk helped prevent any panicking, but still, the atmosphere was getting eerie and everyone seemed more tense than usual.

“It won’t even leave a dent on this door…. How’s on your side, mr. Kim?” Pilot asked as he tried to use his weapons on the exit door. ”It is of no use. My blade cannot pierce or slash through this.” Kim replied. 

“Should we try using our EGO Weapon?” Felicia pulled her Abnodex and it buzzed like an error. “Wha?! I can’t access my stuff?! We stuck with standard stuff in this shithole?!” She kicked the door angrily and returned to her seat. By now everyone has cut through their seat belts and walked around.

—————————————-—

-17 days in-

“Aeng-du. Be Awake” Kim woke up his pupil. “Hah! Truly sorry for my discourteous appearance, dear mentor” she sighed. “…. Did I … fall asleep?”

“Everyone’s sleepin’ anyway. Got nothin’ to do so they got bored.” Jun explained. “You slept about 3 days straight, we are at least around on the 17th day”

“And still no help has yet to arrive….” Aeng-du started to show concern as well. “What are the Team Captains up to?”

“It seems they found that manual communication can still work, like walkie talkie radio waves. So they are working with other cars that have LCC members in it. They are going to bust open the connecting door to connect all 4 cars.” Samjo explained.

There was a sound of something being broken down. “Door opened!” Someone cheered. And they met up with their friends on the other side. It seems Saude and Erica successfully calmed the civilians in their train car as well.

”I’ve used WARP trains quite often. It always arrives on time, 10-second trip to the destination!” A civilian said. 

“God… what do I do with all the work I missed…” “I hope my family reported me as a missing person at least….” They all had different concerns.

”As a former Feather, I know this kind of malfunction should surely be fatal to W Corp’s image. It’s strange they haven’t made any response for this long…” Samjo hummed, sympathizing with blue collared workers.

“No one has shown malfunction or distress in vital physiological function.” Scene checked on the civilians. She eyed the others to be just as active in talking, even if just pretending not knowing what happened.

“Let’s wait a bit more. Time is all that we have.” Saude hummed, pretending to be worried as well.

———————————————————

-35 days in-

“KYAAH!” Montag was awoken with the sound of someone screaming. “What’s wrong?! What happened?” He asked around.

“Everyone, wake up!” Caiman woke everyone up as well.

Micah was looking over at the window where he could see what happened to the other cars. “So it finally happened….” He hissed looking at the hell occured in the next carriage.

“WatcH mE! WitNeSs mE!!!! AHAHAHAHHAHA!” Someone cackled madly on the other side.

There was someone peeling off their own skin. Arms, neck. They dig through the muscle of their own neck and ripped it apart as if they can’t feel any pain.

“H-How are they still alive??!” Sana was creeped out at the scenery as she watched it.

Some barfed at the scenery. Some fainted on the spot. Some with stronger mental fortitude could stay up and be forced to witness it happen not just to one passenger in the next car but also several.

”Disciplinary Team.” Saude took command. “Can you join the civilians over there to quarantine that, to another carriage. Furthest from here.” She looked at Yuri.

“Got it.” Yuri took up arms with some others. She braced herself going to the next car. 

As she entered the carriage, the crazed person came to her and ripped more blood vessels but the blood didn’t scatter, sprayed or smeared on her. The blood stayed with the body like a sticky slime. Look AT ME! Isn’T This AMazing?! How Funny!” He cackled again. Yuri stabbed him with something which made him drop immediately.

“The hell is that stuff?” Jun asked. “Drugs. It seems medication can still work on them.” She noted. “Ask the civilian which carriage is the quarantine one” She let Jun ask them around and they carried them there.

Upon the trip there, she had to do the same thing to several other crazed people, at least 2 per each car she passed through until she returned to the LCC’s car, panting tiredly. Either from the physical or mental stress.

“They are not dead even after you guys arrived there….” Scene hummed. “I clearly saw arteries were cut. Blood spilled all over the floor but it wasn’t completely separated from the body.”

“Yuri, drink” Micah approached her. “I’m not thirsty….” She shook her head.

“Still, drink. You need to keep remembering. Remember your true nature as a human. Your habit as a human” He reminded her of their plan indirectly. She sighed and gulped a bit before returning his bottle. “Thank you” He  patted her head to comfort her.

”That person was still talking to us even though it clearly said it felt pain y’know.” Felicia added. “Creepy”

Montag came to Micah this time. “How is the plan?” “Going well. I have been activating S Corp’s cultivation kit. It is growing at its normal pace even without being watered or fertilized.”

“Still. At normal pace it takes about 3 years for it to bear fruit.” Micah sighed. “We need to be patient, it’s only the beginning.”

“What fruit did you choose in the end?” He asked. And Micah merely gave a wistful smile. “Apple tree and grape vines”

—————————————————————-—

-102 days in-

“10 of 30 carriages are now quarantine. Suicidal number increasing” Montag returned from recon with Yachiyo and Samjo. Samjo panted as he had barfed right before arriving in their train car.

“Welcome back, Yachiyo” Iroha hummed as Micah also welcomed Montag. “I’m home - though it no longer felt weird saying that, ironically….” Yachiyo sighed, chuckling with irony. Even if the world was crazy, she still had her beloved friends keeping her grounded.

LCCA and LCCB’s 4 reserved train cars were at the front most. With Saude’s car that has civilians in it numbered as carriage 1. Right behind them was the VIP First Class car.

“It’s okay… Our people in this car are still staying strong.” Some passenger said. “It’s all thanks to you LCC people! Man, I should ask your company to give you guys a raise when we arrive!” Some even commended them. 

“We all count on you guys a lot. Sorry to trouble you…” A kind old woman even wiped Samjo’s sweaty face. 

By now, every LCC member has donned their uniform, just in case, to be ready for combat anytime. All the civilians have known them on a friendly term by now. The other two adjacent cars have also integrated slowly into this community.

“You guys are so professional and collected that it calms us down as well. It’s reassuring to have this many professionals around…” some youth said.

————————————————————

-129 days in-

“Carriage 18 is already full of half-dead people. Anything beyond carriage 19 is beyond saving.” Effie returned with Pilot, Tsuruno and Rouge this time.

“They are breaking into other carriages and playing with people’s bodies like toys….” PIlot burped but not vomiting yet. What is there to vomit anyway, his stomach content was empty.

”So my hypothesis was true,” Micah hummed, “boredom caused them to think of pain as a way to kill time.”

“They are crawling around with limbs barely attached… Actually I even saw some who tried to attach someone else’s arm to themselves. It worked just as well since the blood connected them all together like spider web…” Tsuruno added.

”…. We can’t stop them from damaging their own bodies, but we must not follow the same path. Forcing pain onto others is unacceptable!” Iroha’s speech raised the passenger’s morale at least.”

”This trip might last for eternity after all…” Yuri groaned. “We need to stay together with everyone. Only then… only then we can stay as we are…”

Whenever she was stressed, Micah would come and make her drink or feed something. It’s a wonder how he still had some resources to spare but she accepted them anyway. Even if just a gulp.

—————————————————-—

-378 days in-

The LCC continued their siege in defending the six train cars, and yet the crazed people still managed to barge in.

It was on this day that the death of the first LCC member happened. The panic had set in on them as they brutally massacre any suicidal in that car. One that barged in or even any panicking normal civilians. In the end, they had to be quarantined together with the crazed people.

“I’m sorry about this…!” Sana said as she closed the door and locked it. Scene has designated the sixteenth car as quarantine. Sana and Scene looked dejected when they returned and reported the situation.

”How was the project going on?” Micah asked in Carriage 1. Erica had been helping maintain the apple trees and grape vine. 

“S Corp.’s technology truly is a wonder, it has grown so big without needing much interference or maintenance from us.” She chuckled. “Still, these kind people have helped me to learn how to properly take care of it, so I’ve been doing it.” It seems they were a couple of winery owners from S Corp. They knew how to maintain apple and grape trees properly.

The people in their 4 trains have known the existence of the apple and grape trees in Carriage 1 and 3. Saude also sneaked some which is why there are two pairs of saplings that have been growing.

”I was pretty surprised when I heard of the project. Was confused why would you bother cultivating some agriculture in this hellhole where we can’t even feel hunger and thirst.” The husband laughed. 

“But now I’m looking forward to it. Even if I’m not hungry, and no longer excrete anything, I just hope these fruits give us some semblance of normalcy in life by eating them ....” He hummed, looking proud at his work.

“Indeed and it also now has been an indicator of the passage of time. Time is cruel but the apples at least showed us there’s still life from the way it grows.” The wife replied.

“Come to think of it neither do both of us ages though right?” She looked at her husband. “You are still as bright as a spruce as before. Maybe it’s because we are older so any form of aging isn’t visible….”

“No you are right. Aging doesn’t seem to be a concept to us humans here.” Micah pointed out. “That child was a 2 years old and it still stays the same. For children of developmental age, there’s supposed to be a lot of changes in a year. But it does not show in them.”

“I see….” The couple sighed. “In a way I suppose time really is all that we have now huh… we can’t even see the joy of growth from children….” The husband sighed sadly.

“At least we have these children. Unlike humans, I’m sure they’ll grew properly….” The wife looked at the trees. 

Sana went to report what happened in the sixth carriage to Micah and handed them something. The purpose for the expeditions to the quarantined carriages weren’t just for taking care of the suicidals. They also have to gather any materials to be a stake to help the vines and trees grew properly. 

“I’m sorry for what happened. Take a break” Micah patted her and ordered her to take a break shift. “Erica please help install this take in the other car’s trees too” she nodded at his order.

The trees had slowly became a symbol of hope in this hell hole

—————————————————————

-875 days in-

“Argh!”  Felicia was slashed in the stomach. Her intestines were spread apart but she stood back up. Using her intestines as a rope, she pulled the suicidal close and bashed their head with her baton so hard until it no longer moves, at least not from the pain dather than it being dead.

She let go of it and pushed it to the quarantine car, Carriage 13. The numbers of safe carriages were dwindling as time went by.

The others saw Felicia’s grotesque state and she also panicked. Not because of the viscera coming out of her body, but because she feared being pushed to that hellish quarantine car next to her.

“N-no! Please! I’m still sane! I can still talk to you, see?? I don’t want to harm you or others or myself! So please…” she cried. “Please let me go back with you…. Sana…. Iroha….” she called out to her friends.

Her friends looked to each other and to the others and nodded. “Alright. I’ll try to stitch you back up. Our medication is limited so we might have to do this with anesthesia.”

The others were a bit skeptical at letting someone injured that badly is still sane and should be allowed in or not. But Felicia was one of their strongest combatants, they still need her.

“I will watch over her. As a fellow Disciplinary Team member, I shan’t allow you to harm others nor harm comes to you as long as you have proven to be trustworthy” Aeng-du at least slightly on her side.

“Thanks….” She took deep breaths as Iroha and Sana performed surgery on her. She bit her arm to prevent herself from screaming, biting her tongue or attacking others from the pain. Aeng-du held her feet from kicking others as well.

After the painful surgery, they carried her back. The other reported Felicia’s condition to the HQ Carriage.

Felicia was taken to Carriage 3 when she saw the grape vines and apple tree had overgrown on the wall and ceiling by now. It might reach the next car soon enough. 

“There are flowers on it….” She sighed as she looked up. Nothing to do as she was under observation for now.

“Yeah. That means there might be fruits soon,” Sana stayed by her side. “Lookin’ forward to eat it…..” Felicia laughed tiredly.

On the other side, after the meeting concluded, it was decided that, as long as any LCC or civilians doesn’t became insane and try to harm others, they might still be allowed in their safe zones, such as the case for Felicia.

Yuri looked up to the trees that were growing.

“Are they genetically modified? They don’t seem to be your usual trees” she asked Micah.

Micah chuckled, “astute observation. Yeah, these are the types that are modified to be able to grow in any environment. Including metallic walls and ceilings. Their growth pace however remained the same. I asked that their growth pace isn’t altered specifically so we can use them as a measurement of passage of time.”

“So it’s also parasitic? Do they grow in human flesh as well?” She half joked, half asked seriously.

“Interesting question… we’ll see about that” Micah shrugged.

——————————————————————

-1196 days in-

Yuri has returned from the expedition. As with other previous expeditions with the other LCCs members. Some were harmed in the fight against the suicidals and had their body mutilated. Yet because of the virtue of their mental strength, they mostly stayed sane.

Some civilians were wary at first, but they trusted their heroes. They risked their body and life going out of the safe carriages to protect them, so they didn’t dare disrespect them.

“Yuri!” Micah ran to her excitedly. “Come here! Come look! At Carriage 1!” He dragged her without letting her rest or breathe a bit. Yuri merely panted and sighed when she arrived.

“Look!” Micah pointed up and Yuri looked to where he was pointing and lo and behold. It was a ripped red apple. “...!” She gasped excitedly. “It’s our first ever harvest!” She hugged him out of excitement. Micah let her go quickly, “don’t get too excited yet! There’s more to see!” he pointed out. The grapes are also ripe.

“There’s also some in Carriage 3, they are rather underripe though, still sour even if you try it.” He picked one apple and gave it to her. “Here, Try it.” He gave her one.

She bit into it. The juices of the apple flowed in her, the crunch, the sweetness. It has been so long. She hasn't felt any hunger or thirst in the past few years, but dear god does she felt like she missed the sensation so much. It was nostalgic, it felt refreshing, it reminded her of the human life that she has. 

“Before you finish eating that one. I want you to keep this in mind,” MIcah stopped her for a moment. “I want you to remember and build this as a habit. Eat one apple a day, and give the seed to me.”

“Eh?” she tilted her head confused. “It’s part of our agreement and experiment. Building a muscle memory habit so we remember a bit at least about this time we are experiencing.” He reminded her.

“You can give me the seed after eating. Or while you eat one. But always give at least one seed to me. To me only, and not anyone else.” He explained. “This is merely to assure you the habit is built consistently.”

“Okay but why do you need the seed?” She asked, confused. “I’ll be cultivating it and saving each seed of each generation. I want to know how many generations of apples we will cultivate until the end of our journey.”

“How many generations… Ah! Are you planning to compare the seed of the first generation and the last generation’s seed to know how much time has passed?” She connected the dots and Micah nodded, “That’s right.”

“But, um… Will the seed be okay? Will it not be reverted or reformatted and cease to exist when we arrive in the future?” She tried not to discuss the W corp Singularity too much when there’s civilian passengers nearby.

“I have my own way, let’s just say, it's a T Corp. related invention” Micah hummed ambiguously. “You’ve stopped eating. Feel free to continue to eat.” he reminded her.

Yuri looked at the apple in her hand. “.... I feel bad being the only one eating one whole apple. Can’t I share some with the others?” She asked, clearly feeling guilty. Micah pondered. “I suppose you can share it as long as you yourself have eaten a substantial amount once a day and give the seed to me.” He hummed.

“Okay, then, here you go,” he ripped apart the one apple she’s holding and shared it with fellow team captains. They all reacted just as emotionally as her. “It’s unbearably sweet but refreshing…. “ “As expected of S Corp.’s modified crops.” “It tastes good….” They all complimented the apple Yuri shared. 

“Micah,” she called him and handed him a bite sized apple and the seeds, “for you too” Micah was touched that she remembered him despite clearly he was already full prosthesis previously and not needing to eat that much. He thanked her and kept the seed.

Since then, it has become an unspoken rule that everyone eats a bite-sized apple once a day. They all must share with each other, no hogging one whole apple or one whole group of grapes.

The trees had become a symbol of hope. It also gave them a refreshing routine to guess what they’ll eat today. LCC began to cultivate them on other carriages as well. It seems it could grow on the cushions of the seat, not needing soil or water at all.

By the time they have reached the fifth year, cultivation of the apple and grape trees has spread up to the tenth carriage. The first 4 carriage where LCC resides are overgrown with trees and vines, despite the blood and gore that also stains their flooring, the greenery at least gave their eyes a refreshing natural scenery.

Chapter Text

-7 Years in-

Up to 6 carriages have been overgrown with trees now. Meanwhile, the number of the sane civilians and safe carriages has also dwindled to 10 carriages.

”Even with our support, it is hard to get used to the boredom and uncertain future, though I suppose we might be the record of people with sanity longest in Warp Train,” Micah joked.

“Read a book in the Outskirt. A human could survive, at least 10 years in uninhabited island. But that because they have, lots of things to do, to think, for their survival. Here, not so much to think or do, stewing in gloom, they go crazy.” Montag added to his comment.

Yuri told them she was gonna go on the expedition now that it’s her shift to go out. “Bring an apple with you!” He threw one to her. “Are you my mother or what….” She sighed and accepted it.

As Yuri went out that day. The suicidals surrounded her, but this time, they weren’t outright attacking her. Instead, they sniffed her. 

“You, smell sweet. We see you sometime, and others with same clothes, smell sweet. What is it?” They tried to talk, as much as they could in their current state.

“Sweet?” Yuri tilted her head. She also raised her hand to stop others from attempting to attack immediately. “You mean this?” She took out the apple Micah gave her.

The crazed suicidal sniffed and looked at it, as if it knows what it is but forgot. Yuri ate a bite to show that it’s real. Chew and gulp. She saved the seeds to give to Micah later.

“Here, try it” She cut a part of an apple, bite sized, and handed it to the suicidal. The former human, with its one normal hand picked it up slowly and put it in their mouth. Even if their face was now partially just muscle fiber and skeleton, no skins on it, Yuri unflinchingly observed them eating it slowly. As if following her example, they chewed and gulped.

“Ooohhh… OOhhhh….! I- I… I -I. Have… tasted this….. Mom…. I was fever…. Mom….” They teared up. As if they haven’t cried for years, the dam bursted, “MoM….. I was… riding this Train to meet her… She’s sick…. Mom….”

Yuri gave a bite sized part of an apple to every other suicidal in that carriage. “Please share your apple ration to the others as well,” she ordered the others.

They did as told, though some did it begrudgingly. “Why would we even need to do this? The apple and grapes were limited to begin with….”

“We didn’t need to eat or drink to begin with in this train.” Yuri hummed, “They are still living humans, they deserve this shared hope and joy as well. Nostalgia pulled up anyone’s happiest memory. Rather than tiring yourself fighting them every time we meet them, don’t you think cooperating would be easier for our eternity here?” Yuri suggested.

“Eh, I suppose, anyone would be happy to receive free food!” Felicia said, despite the mess on her body, she was as happy as usual. “Plus as much as I like to fight, thing’s been getting boring. Ah, I don’t mean I’m going insane, though….” She corrected herself. “I mean, feeding and taking care of them? Gives us something new to do and we are used to this right? This is like working on an Abno~” 

“I think it is rather rude that you compare an actual living human to that of an Abnormality, but I suppose you are correct in some way,” Aeng-du sighed. “To think the very technology from the Nest I escaped would be the source of hope here… How ironic”

When Yuri returned from the expedition, she gave Micah the seeds and told him what happened, as well as Aeng-du and Felicia’s interesting opinions about it.

“Taking care of them as if taking care of Abnormalities…. that’s one way to put it.” He chuckled. “It would be best for our morality too if things stayed cordial yeah, we could try it”

Since then, sometimes, when an expedition team is sent out to the unsafe zone carriages, they are to share their apple of the day with the suicidals there and report how they react.

They reacted positively, as the fruits reminded them of their human lives. Slowly, up to Carriage 12, all the suicidals were friendly to the LCCs.

———————————————————

-10 Years in-

The suicidals have been friendly to the LCCs up to carriage 15. Those who were separated from their family due to one being suicidal has slowly reconnected. For better or worse, emotionally or physically. But, as long as they don’t harm others, they let them have fruits.

It seems domestication and society integration were slowly happening with the suicidal. ‘If we are good, they give us fruits’ were their simplistic line of thoughts.

But on the other side, the fight at LCC has also grown intense. The suicidal from the earliest quarantine carriages were growing stronger as they merged with each other, forming a large meat monster.

The ‘deaths’ of the LCC members increased. Their resource on fixing others has dwindled, that they ended up thinking, ‘as long as I still have my sanity, everything’s a way to go’

These people ended up reverting to merging themselves as well into a meat monster. They volunteered to stay with the friendlier suicidal and not part of the safe zone carriages, fear that their appearance would scare the normal passengers.

Fellow LCC members still interacted with them cordially, they do guard patrol together sometimes.

“Would it be fine if we cultivate the saplings here as well.” They asked. “It would give us, give them something to do as well.”

“I would like our community to be of equal standing too. It seems some people have begun thinking that the carriages are separated by hierarchy and battle with the crazed suicidals is a faction war.” Micah negotiated

“I won’t deny the faction war,” The second head in that merged body said, “but what do you mean by the carriages are separated like hierarchy?”

“They seemed to think that carriage 11 to 15, filled with friendly suicidals are the commoner or the slums, like Backstreet. Carriages 1 to 10 instead are for those of higher social standing, like a Nest. Specifically they began to glorify those staying in our 4 first carriage where the LCC’s HQ are in, referring to us as if we are royalty” Micah explained.

“It seems they feed on the feeling of superiority complex of living in the safe zones while also dumping the responsibility of making sure they are safe to us LCC” Micah sighed. “Anyway, which is why I agree on the idea of spreading the growth of the tree here, up to carriage 15 if possible, so we’ll all be truly equal”

“I am glad to have you as my captain.” The heads said in unison and agreed on tending the growth of the saplings. They taught other suicidals how to tend to the trees as well.

Soon, in some years, up to carriage 10 has harvestable fruits and saplings have grown in the 5 carriage with suicidals. Yuri’s hypothesis was proven correct. The trees could grow even on the walls that have been painted with gore and blood. It was merely part of the nutrient to them.

———————————————

-25 Years in-

“Rouge!” Scene screamed as she went to rescue him. The gigantic suicidal caught him and ripped his head apart. Then his arms, his legs, then bisected the rest of his torso.  There were many forms of disgusting sounds of bones and meat being ripped apart and crushed. As if kids were playing and mutilating insects’ body parts, it cackled madly after Rouge could no longer move.

Scene tried to salvage anything she could of from Rouge, ‘he’s still alive, we all stayed alive within this timeframe….. I need to stay calm…..’ She thought but as soon as she said that, another suicidal caught her in her legs.

The bigger one, after finishing his time playing with Rouge’s body, was annoyed that Scene was taken away from them, and grabbed Scene’s upper half.

“IT HURTS! STOP! IT HURTS!!!! ARGH-!!!”  They played tug of war with her body until it ripped apart.

On her last breath before losing consciousness, Scene regretted that she sent a distress signal asking for support. 

‘Yuri…. don’t…’ She saw Yuri run in a rampage. ‘Don’t come here…. they are too strong….’

Yuri managed to fight them at least for a time. She was in shock seeing the scenery in front of her. Her friends were merely treated like a dog chew toy. ‘Unforgivable,’ she thought. “I will make sure to put you in your place and lock you up again!” She hissed.

The second one that was playing with Scene’s legs up till now grew pissed and formed a blade from meat and bones and ambushed Yuri, stabbing her from behind and beheading her. Her head fell down.

Yuri’s vision was suddenly weird. First she saw the monster in front of her, and suddenly she was on the floor.

She is still alive, she felt her heart still beating, there’s a pool of blood connecting her to her body, she can still see, hear, feel, she just can’t talk.

’I must fight,’ she kept thinking, ‘I must bring them back.’

By some luck, the suicidals were playing with those three’s bodies. Using Rouge and Scene’s legs as golf sticks and their head as a ball, the momentum had shifted Yuri’s head to be closer to her body, enough that she could see it in her side view.

’Move…’ she begged. ‘If you are my own body then move. Beat your heart, pump the blood to the muscles. Move your bones, and muscles. STAND UP!’ She forced all of her mind to control her body.

It did move. It is her body after all. She managed to circulate the blood even to her brain to move her body. ‘If I think of my body as a singular sack of fluid…. I can try to control it and move it at will….!’ She hissed as the body slowly sat up and stood up. 

The headless body grabbed whatever melee weapon nearby. Bags, knives, bats, bones of others, once her body was close enough, she shot some rounds at point blank range.

It wasn’t enough to stop them of course, it was still one versus two. But then she heard a more deafening sound of gunshot.

“Now you’ve done it, you bastard….” Micah growled as he came forward. He was calm, but Yuri could feel, even as a detached head, he was furious. A cold, chilling fury. “I’ll make you wish you were dead ” he announced as he used the emergency guns from his prosthetics to bore holes onto the suicidals. They winced in pain and got more aggravated.

It was unbelievable scenery. To Yuri, Micah was anything but rageful. He was always calm and collected but a bit whimsical and teasing her sometimes, making playful pranks on her and others. But here, he was rampaging.

Was it guilt? Was it regret? This was the first time Yuri saw so many expressions on Micah. Even back then, whenever he knew his fate was doomed from Abnormality fights, he always stayed calm to make sure Yuri’s safe.

Something came from Micah’s side, punching him and making him fly, hitting the wall. Part of his side was ripped apart, dented and revealing his mechanical body inside the human-like skin.

The creature was going to hit him more, but Montag came to Micah’s rescue. He used hooks and scythes from Fixers in the train who have turned into suicidals hacking them to small pieces. Once Micah gained enough sanity to stand up, he disposed of them with Montag to the quarantine zone.

Micah’s anger subsided slowly, but the feeling of fury, guilt, and regret was still there. 

“Montag, gather everyone’s body.” Micah took Yuri’s head on his hand and hugged it gently, the other arm, approached the headless body that was standing still. It was panting, as if it’s still alive.

“It shouldn’t have been like this…. I promised myself to keep you safe. This shouldn’t-.... This shouldn’t have happened to you guys….” His eyes teared up. “It should have been me! I had suffered for years! What else is one more torture within this hellhole! Time is all I have got. Others shouldn’t suffer, it’s enough that I alone suffered….”

“I was flayed alive, skin alive, disemboweled alive, trapped in a burning fire and iron maiden. I could withstand this kind of torture, It should have been me… not you guys….” He started sobbing.

“I’m sorry… I ‘m so sorry… I promise you, I will put you back together. All of you guys. I will…” Micah sobbed. 

One time in his past life, he had promised the same thing to someone. Someone whose name he no longer could remember. “This won’t be an empty promise like last time…” He muttered.

————————————————————————

-50 Years in-

Something popped out  from Yuri’s head. Her head which is now dangling straight from the chest cavity through blood vessels and muscle fibers only. She looked down and see it was something orb-like.

“Mngh….” she muttered. 

Rouge noticed it as well and tried to call out their friend.
“Mi…cah…”

Scene called him as well, their minds have melded into one, though mostly Yuri is the dominant one due to her body.

“Something…. Fell….”

Miraculously, the two were able to talk more than Yuri, they became her translator, her mouthpieces.

Micah had just returned from his expedition with Montag. The two are their main caretaker nowadays.

Micah no longer had the upper half of his left side face. One could see the bare iron skeletal and muscle beneath the skin.  His cheek has been slashed. He looked like a slit-mouth woman in the youkai lore. Muscles and wires seen beneath the skin. 

“Hmm? What is it?” he regained his usual serenity. In fact, he acts even more big-brotherly now. “Ah, it’s your eyeball Yuri” he took it for safety. “Normal metallic objects has began to degrade it seems.” he commented

Montag had returned as well and brought them some fruits. Grape for the two of them, apple for the big girl.  Montag looked like he had some parts of his skin ripped apart. His arms and legs are someone else's, it is asymmetrical but it also made him look taller.

As for why Micah looked even more in a worse state than Montag, it seems his reasoning and morals have slowly loosened out, he became reckless, insisting that others shouldn’t get hurt and only he deserves to suffer, he once said a few years ago.

Micah took the apple and cut a piece to Yuri, “it’s time to eat, here’s your apple for the day~” he fed her personally. Yuri opened her mouth. Chewed and gulped. Despite not having a neck anymore, she still could feel food going down her throat. “Sweet” Scene spoke for Yuri, “thank you” Rouge said to Yuri as well.

“You welcome, I have some for you two as well,” Micah fed the other two heads and took some grapes for himself as well. “You eat too much Montag,” he reminded Montag.

Montag merely shrugged. “Promise me you rest if I eat,” he merely said. Begrudgingly, Micah agreed and Montag sat somewhere to eat.

“Nearly  all suicidal people up to Carriage 20 has calmed down after they tried eating our food. Agriculture has spread up to Carriage 17 successfully” Micah reported to Yuri.

“Some people have begun referring to you as our leader, the goddess of the trees.  I have no reason to correct them. For they are partially right, you had helped them reunite with their old selves by diligently sharing the foods every time you get out. You only fought when neccesary. To you, whether they are meat people or normal human, crazed suicidal or sane, everything is the same as you. A truly equal society, nothing’s better than peace I suppose.” Micah rambled.

Yuri finished eating her apple and spitted out the seed, she used her overgrown hand to gently hand it over to Micah. The muscle memory has been built properly so that she still retained this habit. Micah thanked her and kept the seed as always. Inside his prosthetic body.

———————————————————————

-100 Years in -

Yuri has been going around to the deeper and further carriages. Spreading the hope in the name of apples and grapes. 

Creatures that resembled her friends, Aeng-du, Jun, and possibly Effie were accompanying her. Like an escort knight to their leader.

Their appearance has also drastically changed. A mish mash of flesh, machine, and plant life growing on them.

Case in point, in the eye socket where her eyeball prosthesis was, apple blossoms grew in it. Covering half of her face with flowers.

Most of the crazed meat people they met have considerably calmed down. Even if their greed still retained sometime, some of them attempted to attack Yuri’s group to rob them for the fruits. But it was futile as Yuri merely slapped them away, threatening that if they aren’t willing to share, they won’t be given the fruits.

They returned from their journey only once when the violent suicidals agreed to calm down and share the fruits with others in the carriage.

When she returned home to her own carriage, the people welcomed them.

“The Tree Goddess has returned!” They cheered. Some happily asked her how it went.

“It went well…”

“They get along well….”

She merely replied.

“As expected of the hero of Elcici town!” “The Tree Goddess of Elcici town, our savior!” 

“Oh great Goddess” “we crafted this for your cape” “a mantle from all of our old clothes!”

“Now that we have been freed” “ from the restriction and limits of our old body” 

“This a symbol of our live” “onto you our symbol of hope”

At one point they named their community Elcici Town. Derived from the letters LCC in their uniform.

At one point they became their leader, hopes piled up on them.

She merely bowed down so they can put on the patched quilt-like mantle made from their clothes onto her.

“Great Goddess, the Pruners called for you” someone led her to the deeper carriage and she followed them.

The Pruners, refers to her best friends. Micah and Montag. Their bodies are now half meat half weapons. Organs that aren’t supposed to be growing there are implanted on their bodies in an attempt to survive by salvaging whatever they found. They all wearing matching flower crowns as a sign of who they are.

“Yuri, you have returned” Micah turned to her. “Look at this,” he pointed to one of the trees. “This was the first ever sappings we took care of, one we brought here, remember?” He asked. “It has wilted now, its life ended as we predicted. And now a newer one took its place.”

“…..” Yuri tilted her head,

“Brought here?”

“Remember?”

“Brought here….”

“From where….” She was slowly starting to forget things. Things that are supposed to be important to her.

“It’s okay, don’t force yourself” Micah extended his hand to her. She gave the apple seed to him. As usual. “Thank you” he hummed

Montag called her down. He gave her something. A crown made of leaves and vines. “We match” he muttered and pointed to his head, Micah’s and hers

————————————————————-

-500 Years in-

Elcici town now has extended up to all 30 carriages. It has its own law and rules. Mainly that one must agree to be civil and share the fruits. 

All of the crazed individuals found hope in the fruits. It tasted new but also nostalgic at the same time. It reminded them of something, something from so long time ago.

Jun-Kim, Effie-Saude, Pilot-Samjo, and other  merged people that were important to Yuri have now become the peacekeeper, patrolling each carriage as guard.

Peace has been achieved. The people glorified The Tree Goddess and the Pruners. No one dares to attack or defy the goddess as long as the Pruners are still there.

Everything acted like this is their normal new lives now. It was truly a peaceful town. They see their new form as their new identity. That this is what they are meant to be. 

Despite the peace, mental degradation has kicked in to Yuri. She was much less talkative and babbles in a nonsensical manner. But somehow the Pruners still understood and manages to communicate with her.

“Go home?” “When?” “Where?”

“Soon.” Micah answered as he patted each head on Yuri’s body, “soon” he reassured them. His living flesh brain was also starting to lose some sanity. He is starting to forget things too.

——————————————————————

-1500 Years in-

Something clicked open inside Micah’s brain. It was an electronic time capsule. It was supposed to unlock and reminded him of an old memory, a knowledge from bygone days. To remind him of his duty, of who he is.

But in his current mental state, he merely sees the memory given to him as a prophetic dream.

That day, the Pruner, Micah, gathered everyone to announce the prophecy he had a revelation about.

“In some years, the fated Blue Gardeners shall appear here. Reveal and present yourself to them. For they will deliver to you what we have wanted for so long. The longing of freedom”

“The release from this flesh, let’s all return together! To our home!” He announced. Everyone looked up at him. The apples and grapes has allowed them retain some sanity. The words meant a lot to them for some reasons unknown to them

“To go home?” “Home!” “Let’s return together!”

“That shall be the day where we return from ‘we’ to ‘i’. From ‘us’ to ‘me’” Micah added.

Micah turned to Yuri and hugged her. 

“I promised you,” 

He made a promise to someone a long time ago

“I will fulfill it this time”

To someone whose name he no longer could remember

“I will put you back together”

Chapter Text

-874793 days in-

Several humans with blue uniforms appeared inside the train.

“Commencing train cleanup mission. Let’s bring those passengers to their seats.” The captain, Kaerel spoke.

“…. What the-“  he was stopped in his tracks as others came inside the train as well.

“What’s the matter captain- whoa!” Someone from behind him also jolted seeing the scenery.

“This is…. A forest? No… it’s vines so… vineyard?” Someone else came to the inside of the train tried to comprehend the scenery.

They are more used to a train splattered with viscera from wall to wall, ceiling to floor. Not this.

“It is rare but there are some cases of someone bringing seeds or saplings that end up growing inside the train.” Kaerel noted.

“But this…” the other Cleanup Crew named Argo commented, “these crops are clearly well taken care. Its not merely overgrown, they clearly retained intelligence enough to maintain it”

“For a hundred years?? That’s insane. Why would they need to do that. You would have realized by 1 or 2 weeks you don’t feel hunger or thirst in this train” someone else named Saka commented.

“Perhaps they were bored. But still, somehow managing all these individuals to take care of these trees for hundreds of years…” Kaerel hummed. “No, nevermind, who knows what they were thinking. These people have set their own rules and laws and perhaps their culture this time was to take care of these”

“Let’s go further” Kaerel announced to his group.

——————————————————————

The further they got in, the weirder things got. 

First, the individuals were much more friendly than we ever experienced. They cordially followed us to their seats even after seeing others slashed for us to silence them.

Second, they insisted on calling us The Gardener and sharing fruits with us. They wouldn’t take a no. It seems sharing fruit is their law here.

There were traces of battles and destruction and gore here and there but it was overshadowed with the overgrowth of plants. Unlike when most passengers dress themselves with meat and hide their own body, here they dress themselves in plants. Letting vines grow on their body, or make flower crowns out of apple flowers or just leaves.

The further they went in, the weirder yet more familiar it became. 

Traces of battles. Fresh wounds. Merged people have been hacked into pieces, to the point our jobs were only setting and tidying them up in their original designated seat.

“Hey we might finish our job quickly tonight captain!” Argo commented happily.

“Was another team summoned to work on them? Perhaps from the P Corp. Nest station?”  Saka tried to guess.

“I don’t know. Let’s continue forward,” Kaerel felt this nagging weirdness. They barely battled, barely any resistances from them.

The next carriage was filled with combatants. They used to be Team Captains, guarding something important. 

“Good. Finally a good fight,” Argo chuckled but took the battle seriously. “Yeah it was kinda weird we came up all the way here barely not fighting. Finally, this is how its supposed to be y'know” Saka commented

“Our main job is actually tidying up and seating the passengers, not combat, but you are right, this feels more natural like our usual job.” Kaerel felt as if the situation of the combat was artificial, as if it was a forced battle, an unskippable scene in video games. But he still took care of them nonetheless.

The next as they finished the battle they went to the deepest carriage. Carriage 1.

Before they could step in though, there were sounds of an ongoing battle happening. “An internal conflict??” Kaerel assumed.

“We’ll enter the carriage when their conflict is done.” Kaerel said, “for now, rest”

Saka rested but Argo peeked at what happened in the next car. “Whoa damned. They hacked that big creature. Dethroning? Coup d’etat kinda thing happening perhaps?”

Saka got curious and checked out. “Wait, these people were supposed to be in the other carriages. Ugh, we have to carry them out to their seats huh. Why can’t they be in the same carriage they were in originally….”

“Boredom makes them want to move around, you should have been briefed about this back as an L1, Saka,” Kaerel said. “That’s enough rest. If they have finished their thing let’s get in”

The last two were the strongest fighters Kaerel encountered. “I did hear about you guys from the other crazed individuals. The Pruners. The guards of your leader.” He charged up his weapon.

“So where is your leader?” Kaerel asked, not really hoping for an answer.

“Thou are looking at it,”  Micah raised his leg, the unexpected coherent answer had Kaerel’s guard down as Micah kicked his head until Kaerel’s face kissed the floor.

“See?” Kaerel was forced to face Yuri’s head on the floor. A garland of flowers crowned over her head.

“You killed your own leader? Guess you really are crazy,” Kaerel huffed and stood up. He shouldn’t mind it. These crazed individuals’ way of thinking aren’t normal.

But that answer. It was definitely a coherent answer. ‘But how…? A shred of intelligence to form society is common but answering properly?’ Kaerel thought. ‘Whatever. We must finish this job first’ Kaerel finally slashed Micah.

“How’s your side?” “Yeah we are good, we are going to put them in their seats now.” Argo and Sama already left the carriage.

Kaerel picked up Yuri and Micah’s body parts.

Then properly seated them. Kaerel was in a conflict. ‘Does this mean I have successfully avenged my brother?’ He thought. The answer was no. Because he didn’t even have the chance to battle and ‘kill’ Yuri. Yuri was already ‘killed’ by Micah the moment they arrived

“Let the L1 and L2 get in, as well as other clerks. We're gonna need help cleaning these trees.” Kaerel said.

————————————————————-

-10 seconds later-

Yuri opened her eyes. “Huh?” She looked around. “We have arrived?” 

“Wow, that really took only a blink!” “As expected of a Singularity huh, it took no time at all!” “Aww man, I was gonna fall asleep just now…” everyone clamored.

Yuri met Montag’s eyes as they exchanged glances. The two checked each other's bodies with only sight, making sure they were both okay and sighed in relief when they were.

“Do you remember anything?” Yuri asked. “Nope,” Montag shook his head. Neither does Yuri. Their memories were completely wiped, or nothing happened at all.

Micah barged into their carriage. “Alright people! Get out now~ or the managers are gonna be furious!” Micah clapped his hands to shoo everyone out. “You doing okay you two?” He approached the two.

“Fine. You seem okay too.” Yuri looked at Micah. “Ahaha, I sure do. You should get out now.” Micah pushed them to the train’s exit. “I still have some stuff to do.”

“Okay? See you then. Meet us up in the dormitory ‘kay?” Yuri was confused but let him go.

Micah approached Kaerel who was pretending, or well, blending in with the other passenger.

“Hello there” Micah greeted him.

“Ah, hello,” Kaerel pretended to be aloof, but still, not expected to be greeted. “What’s the matter? Got any complaints if so, it’s better if you gave the input at the Customer Service office” Kaerel said.

“Ah nah,” Micah took out something. Onigiri and coffee milk. “Just thought I’m giving you this since the journey was so fast, I wasn’t hungry yet. Didn’t want this to go to waste. You look oddly tired after all” he chuckled.

“Ah, thank you” Kaerel accepted with gratitude. Micah left him behind, but not before saying something ominous

“Thank you for the hard work, we all arrived safely thanks to you” he hummed and left before Kaerel could catch up to him.

———————————————————————

“Okay let’s do this.” Micah said in the dark. They gathered in the HQ’s public bathroom to make this an easier job to wash off the blood. “Are you sure you really won’t die, like, permanently?” Yuri asked, still unconvinced about the whole immortal thing.

Micah put his robotic body on the bathroom floor, fully clothed with a raincoat. Montag was using a disposable cheap hazmat suit. While Yuri, for some odd reason, said she felt more comfortable in the apron and rubber gloves and rubber boots fit.

“Don’t worry, though I don’t want you to feel panic or guilt over killing me.” He grabbed the sharpest knife, “So let me do this” He took it and stabbed it through his chest multiple times. “Gun would make this easier but far too loud” he forgot this body doesn’t have a sense of pain thus he could still talk. Once he felt like he had exsanguinated himself enough, he could feel the feeling of death looking over him. An old friend to him by now, he laid his head on the stomach of his robotic body, “I’m going to bleed out soon, so watch over the door for me” he wheezed weakly and closed his eyes.

Yuri kept an eye, it was terrifying to see Micah in this state but she tried to believe in him. She finally sees the body no longer breathing. She checked his wrist and chest. “No pulse” She muttered to Montag. They both waited with bated breath until suddenly the robotic body opened its eyes.

“Every organ is functioning normally” He muttered  and began to sat up. “Oof that was cold” Yuri gasped at how casual and calm this happened. She was nearly tearing up, fearing he never opened his eyes again. “Thank goodness….” She sighed. “Let’s dispose now.” Montag said. And they both prepared to mutilate the corpse.

—————————————————————————————————-

Yuri began cutting the meat in an orderly manner. It was as if she instinctively knew how to do it. No one ever taught her how to be a butcher. Back as a Fixer she never bothered to do this. Kill what the client requested and done deal. That was her job.

”You need this much of a force to cut the meat cleanly all through its bones.”

“A broken bone is no good, the bone marrow makes a good soup stock.”

”Make sure to cut the fingers cleanly. They make a nice texture for the hand pies”

“Oh, that’s a good cut, you didn’t waste any meat on the bone, good job”

”Not a good quality enough to be served on the bistro but, I can safely say you are qualified enough to be an assistant”

She could hear the sound of people talking in her head, despite not wearing any EGO. 

The blood flowing all around blurred her vision a bit. She could see the meat all the same but it was not on the same bathroom floor. It was as if she was cutting them on a cutting board. As if in a trance she muttered, “what a waste of good meat, we could have co-“ She stopped herself from finishing the sentence when she realized what she was going to say.

“Yuri?” Micah asked when she snapped back to reality and Yuri suddenly hit her head on the nearest clean wall. “Oof” Montag winced at the hard hitting sound. “You okay?” “I’m fine.” She shook herself off. She must stay as herself. At the very least she must do that. No matter what she can’t lose herself.

“You worked so efficiently we actually finished far quicker. Let’s rinse all this off and dispose of it outside the residential area” Micah packed it up in several bags. “Oh right, before I forgot,” he dissected the torso part even further to dig through the intestines and stomach. As if trying to search for something, he hummed and nodded, “found it” he pulled out something and cleaned it on the water and pocketed it.

 “By the way, your body was actually filled with a lot of mechanical parts, more than I thought, despite you calling it a flesh body…” Yuri asked. “Cuz I already revealed myself to others as a full body prosthesis user during that one Moth event, having a fully unenhanced flesh body would be too risky of a contradiction. And in term of combat, mechanical parts suit my combat style more.” He hummed.

They quickly sneaked out and rode on a rented motorbike that Montag rented this morning. Once they arrived, it was already 1.30 AM, “let’s be quick and put these in different places. We will meet up at 0150 at maximum.” Micah quickly got on his toes to dispose of it. Yuri also went to the nearest trash dumping location. They all met up 15 minutes later and rode back quickly. “Hopefully the Sweepers quickly dealt with it.” “They will,” Montag assured her.

————————————————————————————————————

“Okay. Let’s try this.” Micah pulled out an apple and grape. He let the two eat it.

“Yeah. No. No memories came up.” Montag said

“None from me either. How about you, Yuri?” Micah ate a bite as well 

Yuri was the grape and shook her head. Then when she ate the apple, she merely said, “no memories, just the fact that I felt like…. I have been eating this a whole while that I think I don’t want to eat apples for a while?” Yuri hummed, she ate the apple and took out the seeds and unconsciously give it to Micah. Micah also instinctively receive it without questions.

“Eh?” 

“What?”

“What you two doing?” Montag got confused.

Micah chuckled then turned into a laugh. “Oh boy, so muscle memory does retain. Or maybe you’re special due to your exposure to the Mirror Shard?” 

As it gives more questions than answers, they decided to rest for the day. That day, Yuri had a dream where she became an apple tree, watching over some of her friends, letting them eat the fruits she produced. Around her was Montag and Micah, dressed like ancient senate member with grapes and leavy ivies crowning their head,

She woke up with a headache, not helped that she was suddenly called to the office immediately.

“I’ll need you to go to the Hana Association to discuss LCB’s next mission here. We’ll need a 2 liaison, one that’ll work with LCC, one that’ll work with LCB” Effie read out his orders for Yuri

“….. yes, come again?” A confused Yuri asked.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chef Yuri was based of thess fanarts by Maranja

https://www.tumblr.com/tangentrina/750479359568199680/someones-gotta-show-the-rb-rookie-the-ropes-and

https://www.tumblr.com/tangentrina/744058513542758400/streets-of-flavor-yuri-rbs-butcher-took-her

Chapter Text

“I’ll need you to go to the Hana Association to discuss LCB’s next mission here. We’ll need a 2 liaison, one that’ll work with LCC, one that’ll work with LCB” Effie read out his orders for Yuri

“….. yes, come again?” A confused Yuri asked.

————————————————————————————————————-

General POV:

Yuri woke up in the bedroom of her new dorm. She dressed up and tied up her hair with a black ribbon as usual. Dressing up in her usual LCCB uniform, she got out and walked the hallway towards the mesh hall for breakfast.

“Hey,” Micah greeted her. He saw Yuri was staring in a certain direction. To the west. “Seeing something interesting?” He noticed something was different from her appearance. Very slightly but it hasn’t kicked in to him yet what it is that bugging him about her.

“….” Yuri nodded to reply his greeting and continued to stare towards the west. “Next to this is O Corp.’s Nest right?”

“Yes, why?” Micah asked as Yuri shrugged off her feelings for now and walked with him to the mesh hall.

“The L Corp. Branch Facility there is the biggest, right after the L Corp. Headquarter.” Yuri began to explain. “When I tried to research what happened there, apparently it’s one of the heavily affected areas during the White Nights and Dark Days. While most facilities had their Abnormalities running amok within the same area, in that branch facility, nearly all the Abnormalities are seen to have escaped from the whole Nest. To this day, no one knows where they are.”

“Are you trying to search for the Abnormalities or help the former employees there?” Micah hummed, “that’s quite the sudden goal.”

“No, I’m just…. Curious, that’s all. Back when I was wandering around, clueless as to what to do after I survived the Facility Burial….. a certain Fixer helped me. They helped me get a Fixer license and got me to an Office, former Office now.” Yuri hummed, there was a slight tinge of nostalgia in her smile.

“They told me that they helped me because they mistaken me as someone they knew. Their former team captain back in L Corp., who also wears a black ribbon like I do.” She added her explanation. “We cut contacts after that, perhaps they are still searching for that Team Captain. I find it heartwarming, not everyday you see in the City someone cares for someone else as much as they do…..”

”Don’t worry, I won’t run off doing something completely unrelated to Limbus Company for now. I’ll still be doing my own job.” Yuri chuckled as they sat together on the same table to eat after getting their own foods from the queue line.

While eating, Montag was staring at them from behind. “Oh, sorry, do you want to eat together with us? Yuri, let’s make some space.” Micah and Yuri scooted over for Montag, who gave a small “thanks” to them.

“You two look similar.” Montag suddenly said mid chewing, which gave him confused glances by his colleagues. “Hair. Similar hairstyle. Micah’s hair now longer, straighter.” He commented.

“Oh come to think of it, your hair does…. Wait, they can grow long???” Yuri had also just realized those facts. As she glanced to the back of his head.

“You didn’t realize I’ve been using this hairstyle since day 1? Also it’s been more than half a year, of course my hair grew.” Micah answered the last part so nonchalantly, “I thought they were artificial???” Yuri whispered.

“They are, and they can grow. I asked it to be made that way. I want to know the passage of time to my body sometime.”  Micah hummed.

Montag stared at Yuri’s face, “Yuri, no eyepatch.” Mentioning that, Micah finally noticed what’s the difference today. “Oh right, you aren’t wearing your usual black eyepatch! That’s what has been bugging me!”

Indeed, today, Yuri didn’t wear her eyepatch. Her golden eye prosthetic is visible now.

“Yeah, I found out how to use the eye normally without activating its special skill. I thought I should get used to using it. Of course, sometimes the lights are too blinding so maybe I’ll keep using the eyepatch from time to time.” She laughed

“Like a pirate?” Micah joked. “What do you mean?” Yuri tilted her head confused.

“Don’t you know? Pirates wear eyepatch so that if it’s dark, one of their eyes can still be used because that eye is already used to the darkness. That way they can still fight in the dark with one eye and navigate their ship!” Micah rambled his trivia proudly.

“Interesting. Maybe I should do that,” Yuri took the joke seriously.

After their breakfast, the team Captains of LCCB are called for a meeting. It was their usual briefing and distribution of duty, led by Effie and Saude.

First, they were briefed about the collaboration with P Corp and with other Fixers. They were briefed about the main issue that LCB will tackle, La Mancha Land. What it is about, the Risk Danger Level of it. 

The contract with P Corp. is that the LCB has to work on a case that will be ‘drastically’ different from previous missions.

Because this contract was technically an Open Contract, posted by Hana Association. The Association that overlooks operations of Fixers.

Though this also means that the Fixers that will join LCB for this mission aren't just any Fixer. They will be from established and well known Offices or Association.

From P Corp. itself, the liaison that we will be contacting will be from their Archival Department. 

“I’m sure ever since we’ve arrived here you’ve seen many missing person flyers. Many of them are old, faded letters, and some are new ones.” Effie reminded them, “as a matter of fact, none of them has returned home.”

“The land where the happiest smile blooms. The ‘amusement park’ of fables and legends, La Manchaland.” Saude clicked the powerpoint to the new slide.

The issue about La Manchaland has something related to Bloodfiends, vampiric being that has terrorized The City multiple times, one such case was the infamous Blood-Red Night a few years ago. The case about La Manchaland itself has been categorized as an Urban Nightmare case by Hana Association.

It first appeared in the Backstreets of P Corp 2 months ago. It was an Urban Plague three days after its first appearance and has quickly escalated to Urban Nightmare

Coincidentally, apparently, LCB will also be dealing with another Bloodfiend-related issue in the Warp Train they will get abroad. Yuri was glad that despite the things that ‘happened’ in her train, it was a normal trip for them at least.

“While it was confirmed that an L Corp. Branch Facility did exist in this Nest, signs of its existence had gone completely around the same time the current La Mancha Land issue happened.” A team led by Rouge with Aeng-du in it is supposed to investigate it.

”As for Montag, Samjo is used to negotiating with Wing corporates, so use him to get to know what P Corp. wants from us from this collaboration project,” Saude formed the team for those two.

“Yuri, I want you to get in contact with the Hana Association. Make sure we have two liaisons that’ll work with us for us in this mission. One for LCB and one for  LCC later on.” Saude assigned Jun to go with Yuri for this assignment. “This will be the content of your discussion and negotiation, read and study it well.”

”That’ll be all for now. Oh, and also, please inform everyone we will have a department-wide OS Update for the Abnodex” Effie added. “This applies to both LCCA and LCCB, Caiman is handling the LCCA side.” 

“Essentially you will notice that now there is a time recorded function in the device. From now on, if you were to use EGO Gears outside the LCCU Facility, especially when it’s nowhere near Manager Dante’s Golden Bough area of effect, you will need to activate this time record function the moment you equip your Gears.

We will be keeping an eye on your recorded time of how long you guys can use EGO Gears without Corrosion starting to affect you. This also helps to know your limit and keep an eye on each other when signs of Corrosion have started to appear.

The other new function is the function to dual wield EGO Weapons.” Effie ended his announcement.

As everyone was dismissed and Yuri was trying to stand up and go out of the room, Saude stopped her.  “Yuri? Micah? Sorry about this, but there’s another assignment I need to give to you.” Saude told her.

“Yes, what might it be?” Yuri asked. “The LCD Department has specifically asked to meet you to talk with you two. Behave well, you two.” Saude warned them.

Micah and Yuri looked at each other, confused but nodded. “Very well it’s just a talk. I’ll prepare myself to depart tomorrow then.” Micah answered fot both of them

——————————————————————

From the collective report and check in with other teams, Yuri has noted several things.

From P Corp., they had asked Limbus Company to keep the collaboration a secret from other Fixers. But their goal is essentially not the eradication of La Manchaland, but rather to bring whoever or whatever created La Manchaland alive to P Corp.

As for La Manchaland itself, P Corp. itself gave the statement of how long it has actually happened. “It is speculated that the origin of La Manchaland dates back two-hundred years in the past, by a conservative estimation. This has been determined based on photographic evidence, and the level of decay of the buildings and materials retrieved and analyzed from the phenomenon,” Samjo explained. 

“Building made of blood. Blood of human 200 years ago.” Montag added during the call with Yuri.

From Rouge they got information of where the L Corp. branch facility. “It was in this location. The same location La Manchaland was witnessed to have appeared.”

“It disappeared when La Manchaland appeared 2 months ago, either destroyed or merged with the phenomenon. Meaning the Fixers and LCB could potentially meet Abnormalities from that place too in La Manchaland.” Rouge read out his report.

Yuri thanked them for the information as she slapped herself lightly on both cheeks, to raise her spirit and put her work mode on as they enter the Hana Association’s building.

The liaison they will meet first is Han-ul, a Grade 1 Fixer from this place. They read out the negotiations that has been placed down first by the higher ups of Limbus Company to Hana Association to confirm if these points were true or not.

Yuri confirmed it and then added another clause from LCC. “We want a list of the participating Fixers for this mission. Every last one of them, up to the details of their contract. As well as any new information of La Manchaland to be shared with us.”

“In exchange, LCC will help you retrieve any Fixers that died and had cloning insurance policy placed upon themselves. If they didn’t die, then we’ll try to rescue them. In such cases we don’t mind if you need us to share the K Corp Ampules to help them, though we do have a limit on how much we can spare for them.”

“…..” Han-ul hummed, reconsidering the option and nodded. Her stern and cold replies intimidate Yuri but she manages to stay calm the entire discussion.

“Very well I accept this additional clause. As for the healing items, I’m sure these Fixers should have realized their own limit and brought their own HP Tablets but, if they don’t, then that’s their own fault to begin with. If you do spare them some K Corp Ampules, make sure to write a receipt of it, we’ll have them pay for it themselves later on.” Han-ul answered Yuri’s request.

“I will talk with my colleagues to see who can accompany you later for this mission.” Han-ul left the room and let them leave  as well.

Soon, as they waited in the lobby, Han-ul returned to them bringing someone with her.  It was someone with a very familiar face to Yuri and Jun.  

“Miss/Madam Deimos??!” The two shouted seeing the face, while the other person was completely confused as to who they are, and why he called him that.

“Wait, why are you here Miss Deimos??” Yuri was the one who spoke first. “Aren’t you supposed to be in T Corp. Nest?”

The man finally understood what happened. “Oh, so you two have met my twin sister. My name’s Phobos, I’m her twin brother.”

The two were giving an understanding “oooh,” at his explanation. Jun muttered wondering who’s older between the two.

”It seems one way or another you all have known each other. Very well, I shall leave you two be to talk it out.” Han-ul immediately left them. 

“… Sorry about her, anyway, for proper introduction, again, my name is Phobos, I’m a Grade 1 Fixer that will be working with you.” Phobos seemed more easy to talk to, unlike Han-ul, was what Yuri and Jun thought. And for Yuri, she didn’t feel the same intimidating feeling of being perceived through her layers like Deimos does.

They were led to a room where there were many documents displayed already. “I was helping Han-ul manage this to begin with. Let’s compile this together,”

He explained which pile contains information of Fixers that do have cloning insurance, and which one does not. What Office and Association they belonged to

“Fanghunt Office…. They are Bloodfiend-hunter specialists?” Jun read.

“Paula of Zwei Association Section 3 and Camille of Cinq Association Section 3. Their contract is mostly about rescuing their clients….” Yuri read out as well.

Once the pile was properly separated, Phobos gave them a copy of the lists of Fixers that did have cloning insurance on them. In other words, the people they will need to retrieve and rescue as part of the joint operation.

”Are you sure the data is all we need? We don’t need to meet the actual people?” Jun asked. 

“That would be too hard and take up too much time, they are scattered as it is right now. We could spy and see what they looked like when they gathered with LCB later on, for now, no need.” Yuri sighed.

“Oh about that, I might have the suggestion of a solution for you. That guy, Camille, would often live stream his Fixer activities, I’m sure being the attention seeker that he is, he would do the same.” Phobos suggested, “although, due to the restrictions in this case, I’m sure Han-ul will prohibit that as soon as the mission officially starts.” 

“Live streaming huh… I rarely watch anything live streamed….” Yuri hummed, she never got the chance to watch anything that was live  due to her work schedule, preferring to watch recorded streams or pre-recorded videos.

”Thanks for the suggestion, we will be leaving now,” Yuri exchanged contacts with Phobos and left the Hana Association building. 

“I will be meeting up with LCD now, feel free to have your own free time,” Yuri said to Jun. “Eh, I’ll go back with you for now.” Jun insisted on going with her.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Jun finally spoke out. “I heard that back in District 20, you went to investigate the L Corp. branch facility there.” He asked. “And met Ring Maestro, and somehow… survived?”

“We just managed to retreat, we didn’t have the strength to fight her, not after she became Distortion. Thankfully at the time one of the Abnormality killed her, so we managed to escape safely.”

“Okay but that means you managed to fight toe-to-toe with her before she Distorted?” Jun whistled, “man, I know you aren’t one to be underestimated, but damn….”

“I only won because I used EGO Gears when fighting them. It increased my fighting prowess and defenses significantly.” Yuri explained.

“I thought using EGO Gears in places that don’t have Golden Bough or not near the clockhead manager wasn’t allowed?” Jun asked this time.

“It’s not that it isn’t allowed. It is just that, without Golden Bough, you have an increased risk of EGO Corrosion from wearing it too long, especially if you resonated with it too much.” Yuri explained. 

“I didn’t get any Corrosion due to two things. First, I only equipped the Gears during combat. When it was time to explore and survey the area and stealth, I already de-equipped it. So my time wearing it is short, not the entire survey mission.

Second, as a former L Corp employee, or well, now, someone who worked in LCCU with the Abnos, my body has adjusted to wearing EGO most of the time, so it increased my resistance from EGO Corrosion thus it would be hard to happen. Probably, it will only when I’m completely not mentally well.

There were theories from the Limbus Company’s R&D department that said that high-level Employees are already somewhat ambiguously human due to the EGO Gifts affecting their biology. The stat requirement you need to mee to equip the EGO Gears are the minimum stat necessary to fend off Corrosion on your own, but it doesn’t mean unqualified Agnts can put on suits they’re not qualified with. It just

Compared to me wearing Binds EGO for hours versus a newbie wearing Binds EGO for the same time. The latter will have a faster rate experiencing Corrosion, because the EGO’s whispers will be affecting them more greatly than it does to me.” Yuri explained it all and waited to see if Jun got it all.

Jun slowly nodded, “got it, so that’s why they gave us the stopwatch function from now on huh….” Yuri was glad Jun understood her rambles.

———————————————————————————————————-

They had arrived at their base and that’s when Yuri went her separate ways from Jun. Her destination, to the LCD.

Entering the room, she was greeted by someone in a maid uniform, “Oh, you have arrived! It’s finally nice to meet you!” The maid approached her in a very friendly manner. Yuri could see a pair of fangs and the blood red eyes. It somehow piqued her interest.

“Ah, forgive me for the rudeness, My name’s Aiste, I’m a Fourth Kindred Bloodfiend, right now working as a maid of LCD” She did a curtsy bow. “Nice to have finally met you, captain of LCCB, Yuri.”

“Wait what- Maid- ah… uh….,” Yuri was too confused at the sudden reveal of who she is. “Um… I have a friend who is a Butler Fixer, are you… something like that?”

“Oh? No, no. Though I wish- eep!” Something bonked the top of her head. Yuri saw a smoking pipe that hit her head.

“Sorry about that, and no she isn’t a Butler Fixer, she just likes to cosplay in maid uniform, but essentially she is a clerk and one of my bodyguards here.” The old woman with black and white hair spoke. “Nice to meet you as well, I’m the LCD On-site Investigative Reasoning Team Leader, Moses.”

Yuri nodded and introduced herself, since Moses was technically a superior here. 

“Let’s talk more inside so it’ll be more relaxed. Aiste, if you are so keen on cosplaying a maid, then make us some tea.” She ordered.

————————————————————————————————————-

POV: Yuri’s POV

Moses began to brief me about the familial system of Bloodfiend, the Bloodstreams while Aiste was serving them tea. She also told Me how she had also met one of the Bloodfiend Elders, also known as the First Kindreds. The one she met was one called Larriere that made their own place to stay in the Former L Corp. Nest. Their dialogue was really amicable; it could even be called a tea party instead of a discussion. 

Moses expressed her opinion that she used to believe that Bloodfiends were no different from Distortions, but now, she has a different opinion regarding that. While it still stays true that their essence is similar to that of Distortion, their true origin is still a mystery. 

Moses then began to explain the information regarding the Bloodstreams. It is said that the primogenitor, the very first Bloodfiend, wielded unimaginable power and could embrace countless humans And turn them into their Kindreds. However, starting from the Kindreds of the first generation after the primogenitor, which are referred to as the First Kindreds, they were restricted to creating only two Kindreds of a lower generation in their long existences. 

When a Bloodfiend of a higher generation creates a lower-generation kindred, the one that embraced them is called a higher Kindred, the one that’s been embraced is called a lower Kindred. It is often the case that Kindreds higher up the bloodstream wield a much greater power than the ones beneath them.

Each Bloodfiend’s power and idiosyncrasies often vary depending on the higher Bloodfiend’s abilities. However it is usually impossible for lower Bloodfiends to revolt against someone higher up the bloodstream. While there is no physical barrier stopping them, there is an intense psychological barrier preventing them from doing so. Such acts of revolt, going against the bloodstream is called ‘filial impiety’

Just as how ‘blood’ became their axis of value judgement, so does this idea of inviolable relationship between family members get imprinted into the core of their very being. Upon being turned, Bloodfiends experience that extreme level of twist in their moral judgement.

Bloodbags are a different story. Dregs that failed to become kindred, literal portable bags of blood to replenish in time of need.

Another weakness of Bloodfiends is that they have an irrational fear of water. It doesn’t physically harm them but for some reason most of them would be disgusted and fear water, especially running water. 

Though this apparently only applies to some of the lower kindred, the higher a Kindred in the bloodstream, the more they usually have overcome their fear of water. Blood eventually does get thicker than water, after all.

”And that’s all. Do you have any questions?” She asked me. I nodded. “I think I get it that moral-wise, not every Bloodfiend is, well, predatory to humans.” Evil or bad seems too strong or too ambiguous of words to use here. “As evidenced by that First Kindred that has a dialogue with you.”

“So uh, why are you telling me all this, and why is… A Bloodfiend is working here?” I pointed to the door where Aiste had just made her exit a few minutes ago.

“When she turned into Bloodfiend, normally there’s supposed to be a sort of subtle brainwash that forces people to accept that the bloodstream is their new family. And as I mentioned before, this includes a mental block that prevents lower Kindred to fight against higher Kindred, preventing filial impiety.

But in her case the event that led to her being turned was so traumatic that her own self persisted, she can’t inflict filial impiety but she also hates herself so much she attempted to suicide multiple times for decades.

It was then the higher Kindred of her family lost their life to the First Kindred for filial impiety. The First Kindred took pity on Aiste and foisted her on me, because they heard of my connection to L Corp’s First Kindred, Larriere. They told me to keep her safe from Bloodfien-hunter specialists Fixers, in exchange Aiste is keeping me safe as a bodyguard when I travel.”

I nodded as I listened to her story. “Right, so now, my question is. Why are you inviting me specifically to this talk?” I was still confused as to what they were asking me to do.

“There are two things.

First, you are to know that, within LCB, there is a Bloodfiend. It’s not like they are purposely hiding their identity. But rather, they completely forgot about it and their powers are hidden with a certain limiter put on them. The mission in La Manchaland will be the key and their confrontation to their past.

Second, I got the information regarding what P Corp wants and it is, unfortunately, a conflict of interest with us LCD. P Corp. and us LCD want to meet the person who created La Manchaland. Which I suspect is a First Kindred in this case. I want you to help us get a claim on that person, before P Corp. does” Moses explains.

“I heard you are rather close with the LCB, so I’m telling you this in advance, so as a friend, you know what to do when you are confronted with the truth as well. As for the second mission, Aiste will be your partner in working on that.” Moses added.

I absorbed the information that Moses told me. “I don’t think anything can really surprise me that badly considering everything that I’ve seen in the LCB’s journey. Don’t worry, I will try to accept them as a friend of mine, no matter what they are” I smiled confidently.

“Next is you.” Moses pointed to Micah, “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m here to assess you personally.”

“Assess me?” Micah tilted his head, acting innocently.

“Some of the higher ups told me what you are, so I had my suspicions on you. First of all, lemme ask, do you two know about Personalized EGO?” Chief Moses asked the two of us. 

I nodded and answered her. “There are two main types of EGO. EGO extracted and borrowed from an Abnormality, and EGO manifested by oneself.”

“Tell me what you know about the latter,” Moses questioned me again, it felt like a pop quiz now.

“Following the White Nights and Dark Days, the increase of people manifesting their own EGO or Distortion has become rampant. It is theorized that the two are intrinsically linked. As such, the line between distorting and manifesting EGO is a thin one.” I explained what I knew. 

”There are no morals between if EGO is based on good morals and Distortion is based on bad or evil thoughts. What’s important was the fact that EGO is a manifestation of one's own dominance over your own desire, and Distortion is when you manifest something you decided impulsively during a weaker state of mind.” I explained further.

”Good. Now let me teach you something more.

There are three types of EGO so far when you manifest an EGO.

Effloresced EGO is the usual thing that happened. It is distinct and personal from person to person, Essentially it manifests in the form of an armor. It compliments the individual rather than mutating and overtaking them like Distortion does. When this happened, you gain a complete immunity to Distortion

Volatile EGO is when you manifest EGO partially. People who had this happen still had a chance to develop Distortion.

Next is what we call here in LCD. It’s the same as Effloresced, except it manifests in an object that is around you or something you are so familiar with and have a bond with. Perhaps it is one and the same, and we are just using an older term for it.

We call it Psychoment.” Chief Moses took her smoking pipe and blew a white smoke to me. The slight hazy dizziness was familiar to me and I jolted.

“White Damage…”

“Correct, this is my Psychoment, it allows me to use all the 4 types of damages that L Corp. uses.” Chief Moses apologized.

“And you,” she turned to Micah, “I suspect you are the same, Effloresced, perhaps in the Pscyhoment type.”

Micah kept a calm smile, “why do you say so? What made you think so?”

Moses pointed to her temple, “much like that one member in LCB, my eyes can distinguish people with Distortion, even if it’s just a bit, even if it hasn’t fully ‘bloomed’ yet.”

“The only ones completely immune to any Distortion in my eyes are those that have their EGO fully Effloresced. You were one such person in my eyes.” Moses explained.

”Tell me, what are you, exactly?” Moses glared at Micah with an evaluating eyes that of a doctor.

“I’m a human.” Micah answered confidently.

“I have suffered grave injuries since decades ago and one by one, my body parts have slowly changed into that of prosthesis.

Then in one accident around 20 years ago, I died, in a manner similar to disemboweling.” He glanced at me in a gentle manner, as if trusting me.

“I didn’t even realize I died, or if it was called EGO at the time. But I realized, I can’t seem to die.

I remember dying in a fire once. 

I remembered I can still control ’my body’ to move, so I thought I just escaped death like before.

Later on, I realized. I did die. I’m a corpse. No. I AM controlling the corpse of my own body, moving it like usual,” Micah told his past so nonchalantly. 

“After that, I found out I have the ability to move to different ‘bodies’. I won’t tell you what happened next, but I’m grateful to certain people who helped me. The current Workshop Fixer that gave me my current body is the apprentice of someone I know.”

”That Workshop Fixer learnt about my special… feature, and made me my body. Disregarding the fact this means I might have broken a rule of the Head.” Micah chuckled, “I mean for all I know, they might have counted me as a humanoid AI that they banned, right? That’s why I kept it a tight lipped secret up till now~” 

“Though, I feel compelled to tell you the truth, Chief Moses. You’ve already seen through me anyway.” Micah told her why he confessed.

“Not everything, you didn’t confess everything yet,” Moses insisted

“You only asked me what I am, not why I’m here, joining Limbus Company. I have many reasons to do so.” Micah chuckled.

“It seems even though you are a ‘cat’, you are very loyal to this ‘Master’ of your body,” Moses hummed, “I know you are playing a double agent role here.”

“Limbus Company itself doesn’t seem to mind, as long as I don’t endanger them. I’m forever grateful for that fact. And yes, I am devoted and grateful to my Master.” Micah shrugged her off.

“Does that answer all your questions?” Micah tilted his head, still smiling calmly.

“Not yet, I still want to ask.” Moses hummed.

“Ah, so the interview isn’t finished yet~” Micah chukled, “what else do you need to know?”

“I have with me, another person like you, whose Psychoment lets her possess another ‘body’. Only that she is permanently stuck inside said body right now.”

“She’s stuck?” I asked instead, rather curious of the case now.

“She’s now a walking and talking teddy bear. She can still fight, she still has combat related ability at least. She still has her living body, stuck in a life support machine in a cryo pod. She needs her real body to survive even if her soul is stuck somewhere else. But your case is different.”

“You want to research me to help her?” Micah asked.

“If possible,” Moses took a whiff of her smoke, normal smoke this time, “Then I’ll give words to the higher up that you are a safe entity,”

Micah hummed, “I suppose I don’t mind but… I don’t know if my case is any help really. Because my EGO, or Psychoment as you call it, has certain requirements to be fulfilled for me to activate the soul transferring ability. It’s not something I can control willingly, but I can trigger easily.” He glanced at me for a bit and continued to stare back at Moses.

“I need to die.” Micah said bluntly. “For me to transfer to another body, I need to die. Or in this case of a robotic body, completely, even if temporarily, shut down.”

“And the body itself has specific requirements. I can’t just transfer to any nearby inanimate object. It needs to be at least humanoid or… shaped like a living being to me.” Micah added his explanation.

“So let’s say I kill you and give you a teddy bear,” “I might be able to move to that thing, out of survival instinct.” Micah answered Moses’ hypothetical question.

Chief Moses hummed and mused that it really was interesting. “I assume this ability has occurred even before the White Nights and Dark Days, since you said it first happened several years ago, perhaps even 10-20 years ago. Though rare, I did hear some people were able to do so even before the event, though it was never researched properly at the time.”

She blew another smoke upwards, “I heard that’s how some famous Color Fixers get their title, so maybe that rumor was true.”

Chief Moses nodded, and stood up.

“Good, that’ll be all for now. Go exchange contact information with Aiste, she’s waiting for you two outside.”

Micah caught me staring at him, “How are you feeling?” He asked out of concern, “sorry for suddenly telling you my backstory there.”

“You did say you felt compelled and I understand that, I felt like if I was in your shoes, I would feel like I need to confess everything in front of her.” I hummed

I looked at the sky, “I need some time to digest all this information, sorry, but I need some time alone,” Micah understood when I told him. I went home to my dorm alone. I caught myself staring at the two new contacts in her phone. Phobos of Hana Association, and Aiste of LCD.

————————————————————————————————————-

That night Yuri had a dream. A man in front of bleeding from self harm, whipping himself. No matter how much Yuri tried to stop him, he wouldn't stop.

The man that embraced her, her Father, her higher Kindred, Gregor of this mirror world is a Bloodfiend. There were talks about ‘plan’ that Yuri was unsure of what they meant.

An unbreakable bond formed from the blood, one that most Bloodfiends cannot break.

The sound of whipping echoed in the confessional room with marble flooring.

Gregor assured Yuri that he was fine. He insisted she not follow what the others are planning to do. He urged her to continue taking the hemobar and comfort the others that are suffering. She was the nun to He who is a priest.

But Yuri was not fine, she was hungry and just as thirsty. Listening to the confessions of other suffering Bloodfiends just adds up to her mental fatigue.

Gregor knew that, and how he is responsible for making her do that. Responsible for both of their suffering. 

She was turned into Bloodfiend because Gregor thought it would save her from the misery of dying.

The ‘plan’ begins. That was the first time Yuri saw joy in Gregor in decades, as they feasted on the blood of humans for the first time in years.

———————————————————————-

This chapter’s Art: Aiste (+ Sprite Edit)

Chapter Text

Yuri woke up extremely thirsty, maybe even hungry. She partially remembered the dream. She knew what it was, a thing that often happened ever since she glimpsed on the Mirror Shard in the Wuthering Heights.

A dream of her mirror worlds.

It usually doesn’t affect her daily lives so much, doesn’t really carry to her real self unless she was in a trance or intentionally does so to mimic the fighting style.

But, perhaps because of the upcoming mission and meeting Aiste, the thirst was really getting to her.

Yuri wandered until she reached the mesh hall. It’s not like she’s out for blood. Her hunger and thirst was completely human. She rummaged for food or fruits to snack on. Juice or milk would help her too right now, so she searched for milk that she can heat up.

“Can’t sleep?” Micah entered the mesh hall, bed hair and all.

“Nightmares,” Yuri merely said. “How about you?” 

“I'm nocturnal to begin with, but I was stuck on a voice call with an old friend. He’s in this Nest, so I’m planning to meet up with him in a few days.” Micah explained.

“I’m hungry, and well, mainly thirsty. I’m going to make some hot milk, maybe cocoa. You want some?” Yuri asked.

“Sure, let me make us something to eat as well.”  Micah took out some tools. Bread, tomato sauce and mayonnaise, sausage and mozzarella cheese.

First, he cut the sausages into thin pieces and sauteed the sausage first so it’s slightly done. Then squeezed some tomato sauce and mayonnaise in together in a swirling pattern in the white toasts. Next, he put the sausages and shredded mozzarella cheese on top of that.

Lastly, he put them all on a small oven and waited for it to be done.

As he waited, he asked me a question. “Look, I know you might still feel weirded out after you hear my story but-“

“Huh?” Yuri tilted her head confused.

“I’m not weirded out. I just needed some time to process it. I still think of you as a friend. To me, you are someone who masks their feelings, has a secret, but also genuinely cares for others you are close with. You enjoy seeing someone’s reaction to your teasing and prank but you are observant and make sure everyone’s doing okay. 

I think you are as human as everyone else,” Yuri sighed, explaining her opinion of him.

Micah was dumbfounded at first but turned to chuckle, “you really are headstrong and accepting aren’t you?”

“Am I?” Yuri tilted her head. “Had you not noticed? The people whom you saved and by extension, recruited, had their life because of you.” Micah tried to explain.

“If you hadn’t stopped Samjo, he probably died a stupid death back in K Corp, proving something completely wrong from what he believed. Had you not offered the job to Jun, he would probably die a rat’s death even after getting prosthetic. Hell, he probably wouldn’t get any prosthetic if you hadn’t stumbled upon that Thumb old man.”

“So thanks. Thanks for accepting me, as usual.” Micah gave a genuine laugh as they continued to wait for their food.

“Well if there’s anything I have a comment on it's the fact that I think it seems impractical that you can only activate that EGO when you die. Then again, since I have seen LCB Sinners die and revive multiple times, I have no comment either on what goes your way” Yuri added.

“That’s the only issue you have with me…?” Micah was dumbfounded yet again.

The smell was nice. Yuri gave him his hot cocoa and they drank in silence until the ‘ding’ of the oven was beeping.

Micah took out the pizza toast from the oven, “be careful, it’s hot” he warned Yuri. Yuri took one of them and ate them happily. It was exactly what she needed right now. Something light, but still meaty and juicy, the tomato flavor was something she unexpectedly was craving, perhaps due to that dream.

She finished her own portion quickly, something that Micah laughed at. “Wow, that dream must have really exhausted you that you devoured that quickly.”

“You should be glad we are still on standby duty tomorrow, so it’s a bit lax and you can still take more naps after this.” Micah hummed.                                                                                                                        

”Even if it’s called Standby duty, LCB will arrive though, so…. Can I even take a nap?” Yuri sighed. “Just sneak in a few minutes or so in the car, should be fine,” Micah shrugged.

“Go back to sleep if you still need it then, I’ll do the dishes,” Micah offered to help and Yuri thanked him, leaving the dishes to him as she got a few more hours to sleep again.

————————————————————————————————————-

POV: Yuri’s POV

The big day happened. We have received news that LCB has arrived at the Warp Train station.

I sighed in relief, then all the LCC team began their sortie. The LCCB will help the Hana Association. The LCCA will retrieve any Abnormalities and information that the Sinners found. The LCD…..

“Miss Yuri! Please come this way!” Aiste waved to me from a distance.

‘Right. I’m supposed to have double duty. Both helping LCD and LCCB….’ I nodded and fist bumped my team, which included Jun, “I’ll be heading out first then,”

“Hmm, Good luck Captain!” Jun snickered and I left my team for the time being.

I joined Aiste in her car. The car was big, like the usual SWAT vehicle to transport us soldiers, except the compartment behind us resembles an ambulance’s more than a SWAT vehicle.             

As Aiste drove us to the location of La Manchaland, I began reviewing my mission.

Something did piqued my curiosity though.

“The fact Chief Moses told me about the fact there’s a Bloodfiend within LCB. And the fact LCD wants to take back the cause of La Manchaland….

Was the culprit of La Manchaland a Bloodfiend that’s related to LCB’s Bloodfiend?” I asked Aiste.

“Yeah….” Aiste nodded. “You can think of it as we are saving your friend’s family member~”

“From P Corp?” I hummed back, “I suppose that does motivate me a bit, wouldn’t P Corp start complaining though? I heard they threatened to try steal other Golden Boughs if we didn’t grant their end of the deal”

“That’s the stuff higher up will need to handle, not our place to be concerned~” Aiste chuckled.

We arrived at the location. There’s many Fixers there. Aiste handed me binoculars and let me see who’s there. I could see the Sinners, surrounded by other people. Cinq uniform, Zwei uniform, and other uniforms of different offices.

We waited until the time they depart to La Manchaland happened, Aiste parked a bit further than the lot where they will depart.

“Let’s buy some food, it’ll still be a while after all,” she said as she parked in the nearby convenience store.

I bought for myself some reheated packs of bento, while Aiste just bought…. Tons of powdered fruit flavored drink mix.

She opened the blood pack, poured a bunch of different flavored powder and shook it a bit like a barista then slurped it with a straw.

I stayed bewildered silently, “does that even taste good??”

“It is atrociously sweet, so it tastes good actually,” Aiste laughed, her fangs stained with redness of blood.

“Huh,” I hummed, “so LCD provides you with your daily blood needs?”

“Yep, thanks to Limbus Company’s collaboration with K Corp, we received these. It’s not like I need to drink a whole pack everyday to survive. Technically speaking, drinking directly from the skin feels better, even if it’s from a corpse, well, living one tastes better though. But I can’t always do that, so these work too~” Aiste slurped her blood pack mix slowly.

I nodded, “so those are donated blood packs from K corp huh,”

“Oh, not always, this one is actually an artificial blood pack, that’s why it tastes more awful and needs more seasonings~” Aiste laughed.

“I see, I suppose it’s possible for them to even create artificial blood, that’s news to me, interesting….” I continued eating my bento with her. She stared back at me

“What?” I turned at her. “You sure are as weird as the LCD people, so calm and collected even when I tell you all this.” Aiste chuckled seeing my mundane reaction to what she just said about herself.

“….. I think seeing you enjoying your food is far better than, say, being forced to play a staring game with a creature that will kill you the moment you glance away from it for a few seconds. Plus it’s interesting to learn about new things to me,” I ate my meal calmly while explaining my reasoning.

“I did hear L Corp. people are so numbed by whatever they have experienced working with the Abnormalities but wow, it’s that bad huh,” Aiste commented back.

“By the way, why do you specifically need my  help to help with the Bloodfiend rescue?” I finally asked “out of every other LCCB member I meant.”

“To rescue the Bloodfiend, we’ll need human blood. Not necessarily tons of it, but the memory, the emotions, the life experiences, those essence of life is what actually nourishes us.  Immortality sucks and boredom is our poison that slowly kills us, which is why I’m fine with tasteless blood like this as long as I’m not bored. Roleplaying as a maid in LCD helps me with that too~” Aiste chuckled.

“Technically speaking, you and that guy, Micah, are the best candidate. Except that guy probably has motor oil as a blood, eugh,” She expressed her distaste to Micah, “I could smell it from miles away. Then I heard that you hang out with LCB a lot, meaning you probably share the same experiences as them, so your blood would be really helpful for this mission.”

“I see…. So you are going to let him suck my blood?” I asked, just in case. 

“Oh no, I’m going to extract blood directly from you, even slashing and making a small wound should suffice since it’s not a lot of blood. Not to the point to make you anemic,” Aiste assured me.

“Still… as long as we are not too late and the other LCB members participate… that would be really helpful and increase our chance to help them….” Aiste hummed.

“You said that… this Bloodfiend is like a family to one of the LCB members right?” I asked Aiste, who nodded, “Then I’m sure… they will help them. They are like family, all those 12, or well, 15 of them….” I assured her this time.

I checked my phone if there’s any changes to the LCB in the area, and found Samjo recommending a link to a streaming website, asking me to open it.

”Ah, I did hear one of the Fixers is the type that streams their work, is this one of them?” I opened the link, and it redirected me to the website.

In front of the screen was a haughty-looking blue haired Fixer. Yuri recognized him from the list from Hana Association, “I was right, this is Camille,” she hummed.

Aiste leaned into her shoulder to watch with her. Yuri ended up putting the phone on a phone stand for them to watch together.

”Wow. Chat, is this for real? There was a huge brawl by the entrance! It’s a real amateur hour out here, guys. Can you believe I gotta stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these idiots for the contract?” Camille positioned his selfie stick enough that Yuri and the chat can see the Sinners around him.

He ran around for a while, visiting every corner of the empty lot, trying to get every detail in the frame, and suddenly started striding towards the Sinners in an annoying gait.

“Hello, yes, you guys over there!” He called them out. Don Quixote replied excitedly, “H-hast thou called upon us?!”

“Do you mind loitering around somewhere else? Shoo, you’re getting in the way of my viewers, guys.” He made a shooing gesture, ignoring Ishmael’s argument, or as if he decided that her words weren’t worth entertaining.

”Oh, you wanna know where I am? Hold onto your seats, guys. I’m at the Backstreets of District 16. Yep, where P Corp. is! Oh yeah. Remember the P Corp. 150 Vintage Semi-permanent Canned Ice Cream unboxing and review livestream? Yep, the very same. Unfortunately, I’m not here to eat ice cream today.” I could hear the rambles of the Sinners from around them, ms. Don Quixote’s especially, even through the rambles of Camille to his chat.

His chat really loves him, they are responding to him positively, I could see that.

Suddenly a lady interrupted Camille and entered the screen. “So embarassing… Do you really have to clown around with that thing while on a mission?”

“Wow! Hey chat, look! Allow me to introduce you all to Paula from the Zwei Association. She’ll be my sidekick in this mission.” Camille introduced her. I remembered her too from Phobos’ list.

”Listen, I’m not your sidekick—“ “As you can probably tell from her outfit she’s a Fixer from the west, just like myself. The Association sometimes sticks me with sidekicks like her against my will for some contracts. A joint operation, you know? Hm? Oh yeah, totally. I know I really shine when I work alone~ But what can I do? Gotta do what the higher-ups tell me to do. You get it, right~? Well, why don’t you say hello to my dear fans anyway, Miss Paula?” Camille continued to cut her off, Paula remained silent for now.

The livestream continues for a while until it seems they are summoned to the Command Tent. I recognized the Hanna Fixer there, Han-ul. “She was a Grade 1 Fixer, I think,” I told Aiste who nodded and is now eating… mini sausages. ‘When did she buy that??’

“Damn, that’s the Red Gaze huh? First time seeing him in person,” Aiste hummed, returning to her previous position on my shoulder. “You want some? There’s fries and nuggets too in it,” she is holding a pack of fried food with several skewers to pick out each item.

“Mmnn,” I took a skewer and ate some nuggets from it.

”Chat, are you seeing this? Crazy, right? Look, that’s none other than the Color Fixer Red Gaze himself, in the flesh. This is no mere backwaters, Backstreets operation we’re talking about.

Remember my pregame stream? I told you guys that this had to be more than an Urban Nightmare! Oh, you’re worried about me? Guys. Listen. All I need is your support to….” Camille’s ramble was cut off by Han-ul’s warning suddenly.

“From this point onward, any recording activity, save for official work-related recordings with prior authorization from the Hana Association, will no longer be permitted.

Should you be caught in violation of this decree, the Fixer Association will be levying penalty points to your name. And we who are gathered here must be well aware of the consequences of accumulating too many penalty points. Fixer License suspension, grade demotion….” Han-ul began listing her threat.

“Well, chat… seems like it’s the curtain call for tonight’s show. I’ll give them a valorous, noble fight, and I’ll see you guys next time. Oh, and don’t forget casting your votes for the ‘Fixer I want to have dinner with’ contest. It closes at midnight!”

The Hana Fixer’s cold declaration fell upon Camille and the Fixers inside the command tent. The stream immediately ended right after that. 

I shrugged and Aiste began tidying their empty paper dishes as the stream ended. 

“I’ll buy us some drinks. What do you want? Coffee? Since we’ll be waiting for a few more hours?” Aiste offered.

“Coffee is good but I can’t handle black….” I warned her.

“Cafe au lait it is then~” she chuckled and went out of the car to order more stuff from the convenience store.

She returned with a cup of cafe au lait for me and hot cocoa for herself. She seemed to have taken lots of freebie sugar and creamer and pocketed it for future use.

A structure resembling a blood red moon appeared in the sky a few minutes later and it suddenly tore open.

“It has started,” I commented. “Now we wait for six hours….”

—————————————————————————-

As they waited, Camille’s channel in the website suddenly said he was currently live streaming. 

“Huh?” I looked to Aiste, who was just as confused as she pressed the live stream.

It really was Camille, introducing and showcasing what it's like inside La Manchaland. The attractions and all. Camille asked the fans to keep this stream a community secret as there will be no recorded version of the stream to leave no trace to Hana.

“Is he insane or an idiot…?” Aiste sighed as the stream actually lasted for a few minutes as suddenly combat began, and from the screeching sounds Camille made, it seems the enemies are not a very good sight for the viewer’s eyes.

“At least he spared the innocent viewers from gore…” I hummed. Aiste nodded in agreement as they drove closer to the empty lot to welcome the LCB and the new ‘guest’.

—————————————————————————-

Another few more hours and suddenly there’s another live stream from Camille’s channel.

“Again?! God this guy is stupi-“ Aiste complained but quickly stopped as she heard the sounds from it.

In front of the screen was a crazed Camille, Paula was seen having a panic attack and losing her mind near him too. The hold on the selfie stick was unstable and janky, making the screen shake so much. There were blood red roses around them, growing evermore.

What’s more terrifying was the nonsenses Camille and Paula were rambling.

“What’s with those eyes?! Stop! Stop it! Stop staring at me!”

“It’s so off… everything is crumbling apart….”

“I can’t- stop… stop eating my mind……I’m about to lose my mind!”

“I know I’m ugly no matter what I put on- stop it! Stop! Stop digging my past!”

“This monstrous flower is eating me inside out— Get off! I need to- protect my client!”

“ENOUGH! Just… disappear already! ARGGHGHH!”

“I’m sorry- I’m sorry for being born- stop it- I already know I’m a failure—so stop!”

The selfie stick was dropped mid their rambling and the stream was forcibly put to stop, record of it terminated immediately by the website’s administrator due to violating the guideline.

The both of us, and perhaps many others, were so shocked at seeing what they witnessed in the stream just now.

”Wh-what was that?! A full blown mental breakdown livestream?!” Aiste asked. 

“No… their condition is… unnatural. It’s…

Either Distortion or Corrosion. At least that’s how it felt to me….” I tried to analyze

“This is bad. If it’s either of those cases happening, fighting them will be hard if they survive when it’s our turn with Hana cleaning the Fixer’s mess.” I warned the others in her work group chat.

—————————————————————————-

We finally arrived on the empty lot with Aiste, descending from the truck and walking towards the Red Gaze.

“Ah… Captain Yuri.” He greeted her with Charon eating snacks around him. “Pinky, looks different.” She noticed some changes in me as well.

“Ah yes, it’s probably my eye, the first time you see me with this eye, yes? It’s a prosthetic eye.” I chuckled.

“Looks bling bling” Charon merely commented and went back to her snacks.

I looked around, Mephistopheles was parked nearby as well. “Sorry, question, but before they go to La Manchaland, did Manager Dante pull some Identities from Mephistopheles?”

“That they did, something wrong with it?” The Red Gaze looked back at me. 

“Nothing much, just…. Wanted to confirm something later with them.

“….. Are you here to fulfil our deal with P Corp.?” Mr. Vergilius asked us. “No,” the two of us answered together.

“I’m here for a joint mission with Hana Association, but before that, I will be helping LCD first.” I stepped back to allow Aiste to introduce herself.

“Good day to you, Red Gaze,” She bowed politely, a curtsy bow befitting of an actual maid, “I’m called Aiste, a Fourth Kindred under LCD’s protection.”

It seems to have clicked something in his mind when he mentioned who she is. “I see, so that’s what the LCD has decided to do….” Vergillius gave a small chuckle. “Proceed then, I’ll handle what’s to come with P Corp.”

After a while the orb opened and revealed the so-called La Manchaland, now partially ruined. And at the center of it, was the Sinners. They all looked pretty beat up and tired, Manager Dante was in the middle of turning back their clock

In the center of it all, Ms. Don Quixote was sitting, weeping and crying with someone laid on her lap. That’s when it clicked for me. The Bloodfiend was her, the family member we are trying to rescue was hers. We walked towards them.

———————————————

POV: General POV

As soon as La Manchaland was opened after the Elder Quixote was on the verge of his death, Yuri and another lady waited for us. She’s dressed like one of those Butler Fixer, like Erica does.

<Faust… are they…> Dante asked Faust, who seemed to be judging Yuri and the other person. 

“Although I’m unsure why they sent LCD and LCCB member here but yes, it is possibility something related to the deal with P Corp.” Faust explained.

“Ah… right, the deal with P Corp. Where we have to bring back the source of the phenomenon back to them,” Ishmael reminded the team

“Oy, oy, for real? The lass is still grieving here, can’t they let her have a moment for a bit?” Heathcliff complained in Don Quixote’s stead.

Don Quixote, trying to wipe her face from her weeping, flinched as she heard Yuri’s footsteps get closer.

“Ah…” She looked up at her. Yuri tried to remain calm and give a reassuring smile and went to Dante’s side.

“Don’t worrry. We are here to help you instead,” Yuri patted his shoulder. 

“By the way, I have questions with you, and I’m sure Miss Faust will have questions for me as well, I’ll answer them soon.”

<Questions?…> Dante asked back but Yuri already continued walking to Don Quixote.

“Lady Yuri… I—… please, permit me a few mere moments… I want…. To be with the last of my kin, even if just for a few minutes….” Don Quxote pleaded.

“Miss Don Quixote, calm down.” Yuri chuckled, “I’m not here to take him away.” She introduced Aiste this time, who bowed in time as Yuri introduced her. “This here is Aiste, a Fourth Kindred under LCD’s protection.”

Just like with Vergilius, Faust asked if “this is LCD’s decision,”

“Yes, this is what LCD decides, the higher-up also has agreed with Chief Moses’ directions as well” Aiste convinced her.

“We will need to revisit and talk with P Corp. again later then… but as long as this action is approved, then please proceed.” Faust relented.

The rest of the Sinners looked confused, but Yuri kept a reassuring smile to them. As if to say, “Don’t worry, everything is going to be fine.”

“You are not… taking him away?” Don Quixote wiped her face, “prithee.. what dost thou mean….?”

“Well, we still need to take him away, per se. But rather than to P Corp, LCD will take care of him, much like how they have been taking care of me~” Aiste explained as Yuri rolled her sleeves and took off her glove on one hand.

“Aiste, I’m ready. Miss Don Quixote, please do this.” Yuri asked her to position the elder Quixote’s mouth on a lifted chin and open his mouth. “Keep this position the entire time okay, though if his mouth is flooded, feel free to close it and give him some time.”

“Give…. What are you…. Wait—“ Yuri readied her combat dagger as Don Quixote was still befuddled while keeping the position she was told to. 

Suddenly, Yuri sliced her wrist, making sure an artery was slashed through, blood was pouring out from her wrist. She was hissing through pain the entire time. Aiste made sure her wrist was positioned right above the First Kindred’s mouth.

Making sure she bled directly to his mouth.

Yuri contracted her muscle to keep the blood from pressure higher. “Aiste…,” She signaled, and Aiste quickly gave her the HP tablet for her to gulp down and quicly put her aside. The slit wrist was healed immediately. 

“Ouhh…..,” Yuri sighed and held her head for a bit. “The tablet heals you but it doesn’t recover the lost blood. Rest for a bit,” Aiste nursed her a bit.

The other Sinners, especially Don Quixote, watched what had just transpired.

“Yuri, you…. Feed him blood?” The first to speak was Gregor, voice full of concern.

“We did say we are going to take care of him,” Yuri insisted “Any reaction?” He asked Aiste who was sterilizing the knife.

“Yeah, I saw his gag reflex activated, it forced the blood down to his throat. But consciousness hasn’t returned yet. But the Bloodfiend instinct should have kicked in by now, to search for more of the blood.” Aiste diagnosed.

“So it really isn’t enough,” Yuri sighed. 

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Yuri took the knife back from Aiste, holding the blade part carefully, letting anyone pick it up from the handle part.

“We will save her family. Right here, right now. Her only last family member. He’ll need lots of blood to recover himself. Mine’s not enough.

She has a family of twelve here. I’m merely the replacement of her role since Bloodfiend can’t feed another Bloodfiend.” Yuri instructed.

“Wait, let me get this straight, you are planning to break the collaboration deal with P Corp. to bring the culprit, and instead take him into LCD for protection?” Outis tried to confirm it. “And how did you know this one is a Bloodfiend? Were we the only ones out of the loop regarding this information?”

“Oh no, I also didn’t know. I was only told there’s a Bloodfiend between you guys and I’m tasked to help that Bloodfiend’s family,” Yuri answered her question. “And you summarized pretty much everything, Madam Outis.”

“Unbelievable…” Outis merely sighed. “Executive Manager, are you sure we are to proceed with this? As much as I want to sympathize and help her family, to break a deal with a Wing is… rather risky.”

<Faust told me the action has been approved> “Indeed, though proper and further negotiation will still need to happen between me, Vergilius, and P Corp. As soon as we return”

<So it’s fine, if you want to help them, feel free Outis, Yuri did say he needs more blood> Dante glanced at Yuri who’s still wiggling the blade to see if anyone’s willing to take and give some blood donation.

“Alright, I’ve made up my mind.” Sinclair spoke and took the knife from Yuri. “Aiste will give you the HP Tablet later to heal you,” Yuri told him. “Thanks,”

He walked forward to Don Quixote and prepared th slit his wrist as well, “You know I… know very much the pain of losing your entire family and blaming yourself. Even if this time it was a means to mercy kill them. I don’t want you to dwell in guilt and regret, so… please let me help you,” He slit his wrist as well and let the blood sipped to the First Kindred’s mouth.

Aiste made sure to stop him and give him the HP Tablet. As Sinclair rest, Aiste sterilized the knife and offered it to the next person, Heathcliff.

The cycle continued on. Someone would offer words of consolation and slit their wrist, give blood, get HP tablet, rest, knife sterilized.

There were signs of jerky movements on the First Kindred’s limbs and gulping movements, but still, it was as if he was stuck in a sleep paralysis, not opening his eyes.

“By the way, while we wait, let’s have our talk.” Yuri stood up to talk with Dante and Faust (who had her turn to donate blood already).

<Talk?> Dante asked. “Yeah, I wanted to ask if you pulled some new Identities from Mephistopheles recently?”

<Yes I did, right before we went inside La Manchaland. Why?> Dante answered.

“Was one of such Identities… La Manchaland related. Specifially, one of the Mr. Gregor’s new Identities?” Yuri asked

<Yes, how did you know that?” 

“Was his title, the Third Kindred - Priest of La Manchaland?” She asked again.

<That is …. Correct, how did you know that?> Dante was creeped out by how much Yuri knew of the Mirror Worlds.

“Remember how after I was exposed to the Mirror Shard in the Wuthering Heights, I told you I had dreams of what I am in other Mirror Worlds? And how all of them were the same Mirror Worlds as Mr. Gregor?” Yuri reminded them.

“Well that ability persists. Sometimes I can’t really control it, sometimes I can lucidly decide which Mirror World I want to see in my dream. That dream of La Manchaland was the first time I got it, so I thought it must be a new Identity of Mr. Gregor,” Yuri hummed.

“Excuse me— did you just say you can lucidly choose the Mirror World you want to see… through dream?” Yi Sang approached her quickly as he finished his turn. “And you did not suffer any lash back side effects? Mentally?”

“None so far, sir. Probably just an annoyance really, since sometimes the memory is so vivid it leaves me disoriented with a headache, but it doesn’t disturb my day-to-day activities.” Yuri convinced him. 

Faust hummed, “Miss Yuri, I will ask to have you get checked up properly later on, but continue. What dream did you have?”

“Hmmm, in that dream, my title was Nun of La Manchaland, Fourth Kindred of the Priest, so I worked in the confessional chapel too.” Yuri tried to remember her dream. “No side effects, though I did wake up with thirst and hunger. Got some late night snacks and everything’s taken care of quickly,” She described the following event as well.

”You what?! OW—!” “Gregor, stop moving around! The blood won’t get into his mouth properly!” Gregor was trying to get back to Yuri to ask for more detail but was stopped by Ishmael.

”I see….. Next is my turn questioning you,” Faust hummed. Yuri seemed prepared with her questioning.

“How did the experiment in Warp Train go?” What came out from her mouth was completely unexpected.

But it seems to be the opposite to Yuri, who calmly answered, “It went… eh, as expected. Yes and No.”

“Elaborate,” Faust asked more.

“So the experiment went well, it worked as we expected. The trees, the muscle memory. 

Yes, because only Micah, who is a full body prosthesis with in-built record mechanism managed to get a full footage of what happened. 

And apparently since it counts as a Mirror World experience, some of the memories of what happened also appeared in my dreams.

No, because other than the two of us, none remembered what happened. Though it seems some muscle memory is retained in some of us.

All we could conclude is that we don’t want to eat raw apples and grapes for a while.” Yuri explained to Faust. “More detailed reports will be sent to you after this, if you want to give it a read.”

“I will give them a read, please ask them to send it to me immediately.” Faust nodded.

Yuri nodded, Dante asked what exactly happened and while Yuri walked away to check on the Sinners, Faust told Dante of the experiment they did in Warp Train. The other Sinners overheard it too.

“A-are you sure you are okay?? I mean— memories of that much time,” “I’m fine, I’m fine! Really!” Yuri huffed, trying to reassure Gregor.

”Anyway, have all of you fed the blood yet?” Yuri tried to change the topic. “We did, I was the last,” Outis spoke.

“There is still no sign of awakening though….” Sinclair told them, “even though Ms. Aiste told us physically he’s fine by now.”

“Either it's genuinely sleep paralysis or… he chose not to wake up… for some reason…. As if giving up…” Aiste hummed and whispered something to Yuri.

Yuri looked back at her, “Do I really need to do that…?” “Give it a try,” the two whispered.

Yuri sighed and looked around. “Aah, at any rate, we need to prepare to take him by the truck that the LCD prepared before the Hana Association Fixers arrived,” There was a twitch on someone’s eyebrow

“Oh, that Han-ul lady right? Wasn’t she with the Guide?” Ishamel asked.

“Ah no, different guy. The liaison we have is a guy named Phobos.” Yuri hummed, “oh and by the way he has a twin sister back in T Corp. A director for the Tres Association , you know, for Workshop Fixers ? She helped me get this prosthetic eye.” She pointed to her golden eye.

Another eyebrow twitch, and a finger curled and jolted.

”Why are you working with the Hana Association anyway?” Heathcliff asked this time. 

“LCCB has a different mission this time. LCCA is to retrieve the Abnormalities and the L Corp. data as usual. But for us, we are to work with the Hana Association to retrieve data of the identities of the fallen Fixers.

Some of them might have a Clone Insurance Policy on their ID. We’ll need to identify if they are dead or not, who has such insurance. They had deemed that anyone turned into Bloodbags or Bloodfiend but completely expired, count as dead.”

“Which all of them might be, I assume.” Outis remembered how much they had to slaughter to continue on their mission.

“Not really, I’d assume at least some of them survive, though intact? I’m not so sure, but hopefully they are.” Yuri disagreed.

“Who might you assume still be surviving?” Yi Sang asked, “if there’s a way for you to save them, you should.”

“I plan to, yes. Anyway, I would assume the EGO Corrosion would increase their survivability…. Cinq Association’s Fixer - Camille and Zwei Association‘s Fixer - Paula, they might have survived.“ Yuri mentioned again.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a tall man approached Yuri and grabbed and shook her shoulder. 

“EXCUSE ME, YOUNG MISS, CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT THESE FIXERS YOU MENTIONED?!” The First Kindred, fully awakened, screamed in excitement.

“AAAAAHH! Space! Personal Space!” Yuri screamed Back and tried to push him away.

“No- wait! Please tell me more—Ough!!” He suddenly vomited blood to the ground.

“FATHER?! WAIT, NO DON'T MOVE TOO MUCH!” Don Quixote screamed just as loud as him. She pulled him back with Aiste to calm him down and Yuri kept a distance, rubbing her head from the scream fest.

“Well that worked out unexpectedly well….” Yuri sighed.

<… What did?> Dante asked.

“Purposively mentioning the Fixer related stuff. We had hoped it would trigger some good memories that drag him instinctively up and awake.” Yuri explained.

”All that talk was… on purpose, to wake him up? That’s… actually impressive, we didn’t even notice…” Sinclair laughed awkwardly.

“Well, there is some truth to it though. Anyway, Aiste. Drag him back quickly to the truck. Hana and LCCB-LCCA are arriving soon.” Yuri ordered.

“Right, on it. Sorry about this, Sir.” Aiste apologized as she dragged him away, “Wait! No, please tell me more! Sancho- no, Quixote! Please tell me more as well-“ His speech got cut off the more he dragged away.

“Ah….” Don Quixote saw as he was dragged away, though now in full health.

“He’ll need some time to recover slowly, but he can take his time to learn more about Fixers and modern stuff as well.” Yuri patted her.

“True, 200 years ago, there aren’t as many Fixers as diverse as there are now….” Don Quixote sighed with relief with a slight chuckle, “I'm sure Father will enjoy learning about new stuff. Thank you Lady Yuri.” She thanked her.

“Don’t be, feel free to write letters to LCD for him, you should tell all about your adventures personally.” Yuri hummed as she waited for LCCB-LCCA began to gather.

——————————————————————————

When the LCCB arrived, Dante noticed some familiar looking faces in the group. Those familiar faces also recognized Dante and approached them.

“Hey it really is that Clock captain!” Jun smirked, “we meet again eh, you weird folks, though as allies this time.”

“You are…” “The K.K.C. Captain,” Ryoshu reminded the other who he is.

“That’s me, though I’m no longer part of Kurokumo Clan, or Thumb. Completely ex-communicated after the failed mission.” Jun shrugged, “then the Captain picked me up, so here I am.”

“Oh- uh… sorry about that,” Rodion laughed awkwardly, knowing they are the reason he failed his mission for the Thumb. “Wait by captain, as in, Yuri?”

“She has a habit to pick up failures who failed in their work it seems,” Samjo appeared from behind Jun. “It has been a while, you all.”

“You joined this mission, Samjo-ssi?” Hong Lu asked. “Good luck~”

“Thanks, it shouldn’t be too hard since we are just identifying corpses.” Samjo hummed. “The big battles would be for the more combat oriented peeps, like this dude,” He pointed to Jun casually.

“Hey!” Jun hissed. “Alright guys, that’s enough, let’s gather with the others” Yuri clapped to get their attention. They walked towards a different space and did a sortie. Phobos stood beside Yuri.

<Though I already heard she has become a Team Captain, it still… weirded me out how capable she is now….> Dante saw how she managed the sortie and distributed the team and their duties.

“It’s a progress one should celebrate is it not?” Yi Sang watched over as well.

“Alright. Everyone, as there is no Golden Bough around, if you are going to Equip your Gears, remember to activate the stopwatch function first to keep an eye on how long you have been using them to reduce the risk of Corrosion. Keep an eye on others too so you can prevent your allies’ Corrosion as well.”

“Jun, you use the Binds later on.” Yuri specifically asked them. “The EGO Gears aside, they were rather strong Fixers to begin with. Empowered with EGO Corrosion to boot. We’ll need to overpower them just in case.”

”Yes Ma’am.” Jun nodded.

————————————————————————

As they entered the ruins of La Manchaland, the LCC and Phobos saw how the battlefield was chaotic incarnate from the previous battles LCB did there

Remains of bloodsoaked Fixers were all around. Those that became Kindred and those that failed and became Bloodbags.

To the Hana, these counted as 'death', so he asked Yuri to identify and count them as dead.

"Especially mark the ones that we know have Cloning Insurance on them" he added.

"Romero.... Fanghunt Fixer..." Yuri nodded and checked him on the list.

As they continued to the next room, it was a room covered in blood and brambles. There appear two familiar and rather famous Fixers.

Camille of Cinq Association and Paula of Zwei Association.

"EGO Corrosion detected." Yuri hummed and equipped her own Gears. 

"What does that state mean? Do they count as alive or dead?"  Phobos asked.

Yuri observed them quietly. They could still communicate it seems. She could hear nonsenses mumbled by them, they still felt slightly.... human.

"I think it's not too late for them. If you want to, can we still rescue them and count them as alive?"

"Hmmm... I suppose making sure there aren't too many deaths isn't a bad idea. Alright, we will rescue them. You handle Camille. I will take care of Paula"

“Alright, if you want us to rescue them, then remember this. The cause of this is something called EGO Gears, yes, something similar to what I’m using right now. Except unlike them, my body has adapted to using them.

So all you need to do is to rip out any unnatural body parts that are connected to the Gears. In this case, those roses.” Yuri gave him some advice.

“Alright, I’ll try to separate Paula so you can concentrate on fighting Camille then.” Phobos went on a different way from Yuri, making sure the two Fixers are separated for now.

—————————————————————————-

Phobos’ Side

Phobos took off his long coat and put it elsewhere, making himself more mobile for the incoming fight.

In front of Phobos was the knight, clad in heavy plate armour dulled by patches of creeping red vines and blood stains, standing motionless. Her greatsword, etched with dark red ivies of corruption, on her hand. On her face, an ominous rose-shaped entity pulsed with malevolent energy, its roots puppeteering the knight like a marionette.

Phobos crouched low as she began her wide swing, his spear gripped tightly in his hand. His target, according to Yuri’s instruction briefly before they separated the two Fixers, was the sinister rose’s hold over her. The rose’s thorns dig deep into Paula's body, absorbing her life blood and sense of self slowly but surely. Phobos exhaled slowly, his focus razor sharp. This wouldn’t be a quick fight. It never was.

The knight’s head snapped towards Phobos. “Canggghhh ….. let yoouhh…. Througggghhh……!” The greatsword swung down with terrifying speed, cleaving through the air. But Phobos has already sidestepped, the attack missing him by a hair.

He moved like a specter, circling the knight with precise, measured steps. The spear lashed out, a feint, before striking low at the knight’s knee joint. Sparks flew as the tip scraped against the metal, but it was enough to stagger the knight, forcing her to shift her weight.

The greatsword came again. “Quessttshh….. Client… Your shield….” Paula muttered as she did a diagonal arc that could have bisected him. Phobos rolled beneath it, coming up suddenly behind the knight. His spear stuck the exposed vines at the back of the armor. 

Phobos pulled out some of the rose buds of Paula that way. “Keeeeehnnhggghhhh!!!” The rose reacted with a hiss, its petal twitching angrily as the knight let out guttural growl. The roots tightened around the warrior’s body, forcing him upright. “Crush….. enemies…!”

Phobos didn’t relent. He wasn’t there to overpower the knight, he was here to dismantle her. His strikes were calculated, probing for weaknesses. He darted forward, slashing at the entangling roots on the knight’s right arm. The tendrils recoiled slightly, loosening their grip. 

The rose retaliated, sending a whip-like root crashing towards Phobos. He spun away, his spear slicing cleanly through the writhing appendage. “Khhhnggh!” The knight, as if sensing his distraction, charged forward with surprising speed. The greatsword arced downward, which he tried to deflect with the shaft of his spear. He clenched his jaw and managed to overpower her. As soon as the greatsword was pushed upward, Phobos used an enhanced strike towards the sword, breaking it in half.

The knight’s heavy breathing and muffled rambles could be heard. Her movements slow under the strain of her own corrupted body. Phobos saw the opening, he drove his spear onto the largest rose on Paula’s head. With a single fluid motion, he yanked the rose out of her head, drove its tip to the center of the rose.

“AARGGHHHH!” The knight convulsed as the flower screeched, its petals curling inwards in agony. Phobos didn’t hesitate. He spun the spear in his hands and drove it to the wall, impaling it's through its core. 

As if it's on its last resort, the rose began to creep out its last remaining roots towards Phobos. “Shoot,” Phobos tried to shift his body at the last moment, he couldn’t move as he was impaling the rose.

“Shut it,” someone’s voice resounded and suddenly another weapon stabbed itself to the rose. “Sink already,” it was a member of LCCB, Jun, with his EGO Gears - Binds.

The sword let out a bunch of red bandages that wrapped the rose he was impaling. It created some sort of melting reaction as if acid was poured on the rose as it hissed for one last time and crumbled away.

“Now for you,” Jun took off his sword and stabbed it to the ground, letting more red bandages appear and wrapped Paula.

The reaction was different this time, it was as if Paula finally calmed down from her delirium. The greatsword slipped from the warrior’s fingers as he collapsed to her knees, gasping for air. 

Phobos stepped back, watching as the light returned to the knight’s eyes. Phobos swished his spear to clear it out of any dangerous stains. His gaze made sure to observe Paula’s current condition.

“You’re free now,” Jun sat beside her. “These Gears should have some mental damage healing properties.” He explained to Phobos.

“We…. Failed the contract, didn’t we…?…. I couldn’t rescue any of my targets, and more than that… I couldn’t protect anyone… They’re all dead….” Paula finally spoke properly.

“Unfortunately, yes. It seems we had a severe lack of judgement in the survivability rate of anyone entering La Manchaland.” Phobos tried to converse with her. “We will try to discuss it with your clients for the compensations, not everything was fully your fault. You cannot rescue anyone who was already dead to begin with before your contract”

“Haaah… still, looks like I’ll be leaving a mark on the honor of the Zwei…” Paula huffed a breath. Jun handed her a HP Tablet as he let go his EGO Gears away from her.

“Thank you, I’ll repay you for this, Hana, and…. L-… CCB?” She tried to read Jun’s uniform and stood up.

“Hmm,” Phobos nodded, “Huh, I thought those tablets are supposed to heal everything properly?” He asked Jun.

“It’s probably because their last memories before Corrosion was their head being eaten alive… so maybe the HP Tablet couldn’t recover her proper form.” Jun hummed, “at least that’s what my former-K-Corp-Feather co-worker told me what would happen,”

“So I’ll have a lasting injury on my face to add to the insult of my failure, constantly reminding me of this mission?” Paula hummed, “I suppose it’s fair,”

“We kept telling you it’s not your fault though….” Jun huffed, the stubbornness of the Zwei felt familiar to him, the feeling of failing to protect someone.

“At any rate, let us reconvene with your captain Yuri” Phobos. “Are you sure she’ll be okay that you left her alone to come help me?”

“Eh, she should be fine, she isn’t alone. I’d be more worried about the LCCA Team,” Jun hummed as they walked back together.

“Ah right, my long coat, where did I put it?” Phobos looked around and stared down to Jun’s feet in horror.

"Huh?” Jun turned to where he was looking and stared in horror as he picked up…

The Hana's longcoat, previously pristine white, now stamped with his boots’ footprints and stained here and there.

“Oh- uh-…..” Jun stared back to Phobos, “Yeah, uh, I apologise for this… I’ll…. Compensate it later…”

You better be, Phobos silently glared at him with his green eyes, which made Jun winced for a bit.

—————————————————————————-

Yuri’s Side

In the desecrated chape, stood Camille, his slender figure posing in his fencing stance, with an aura of a dancer’s grace, yet corrupted by twisting vines that snaked up his limbs. 

His rapier gleamed as Yuri carefully stepped to his range of combat. Every movement he made was calculated elegance, his steps like a waltz woven with death.

Across him was Yuri, gripping the Garden of Thorn’s scythe. She activated her prosthetic eye’s hidden skill, Alternate Gear - Imaginary Time.

Her golden eye began to see things in a different time frame, while her silver eye burned with resolve as she studied her opponent. The rose-like Abnormality clinging to his back, its pulsating vines puppeteering her movements. 

“The viewers—…..Stop—-gghhh it…! Stop.. stop staring at me!” Camille struck first. His rapier flashed forward, a lightning-quick lunge aimed at Yuri’s chest. She twisted her body, the blade grazing her robe as she swept her scythe in a wide arc. He leaped back, his movements impossibly fluid, his footwork so precise it was as though he danced on air.

“Forgive me,” Yuri muttered, her voice low and resolute. “But I will sever this Corrosion.”

“Enoughhh-… kkrggh! Chat! Stop it! Stop sayinnngghhh— that!” Camille responded with a flurry of thrusts, his rapier blurring as he closed the distance. Yuri’s scythe was a weapon of reach and arcs, but against his speed, it struggled to find openings. His blade makes shallow cuts to Yuri's body. On her cheek, on her shoulder, on her side. Still, Yuri remained composed, her scythe spinning in graceful sweeps that forced him to keep moving.

She wasn’t aiming for him—yet. Her eyes tracked the pulsing vines coiled around his arms and legs, watching the way they tightened with every movement, controlling him like strings on a marionette.

“Just… disappear already—…! I need to— the contract!” Camille pivoted, spinning low before lunging again, his rapier aimed for Yuri’s throat. This time, she met him head-on. Yuri had summoned a second weapon, the Legerdemain, the apple end of the weapon had been stabbed by the rapier and intercepted the blade, locking his weapon in place. With a surge of strength, she shoved him back, kicking Camille away on the abdomen. The force breaking his poise and sending him skidding across the floor.

As he regained his footing, the rose creature screeched, its petals shivering with agitation. A vine lashed out from his back, whipping toward Yuri like a serpent. She sidestepped, the scythe’s blade severing the appendage in a single, precise motion. The rose howled again, its grip on Camille visibly tightening as he clutched his own head, trying to remove the roses on his head, his movements faltering for the first time. The rose retaliated by keep corrupting Camille’s mind.

“Enough-! Stop with those eyessss—…kkkegggh…!”   “I’m ugly, I know that— already! So just ….disappear!”

“This is not you,” Yuri said, her voice carrying both concern and determination. “I will free you.”

Yuri surged forward, slamming the Legerdemain weapon with one hand, the apple part that was partially broken emitted white smoke that covered Camille’s sight. Then, in that fogged scenery, her scythe spinning in wide arcs. Camille parried the first swing, his rapier catching the curved blade and redirecting it, but Yuri followed through with the shaft, striking her midsection only to reveal it was but a mental illusion created by her EGO Weapons and the real Yuri was lower, she kicked him again sending him stumbling.

”Stop saying such sad words. You don’t know what happened out there, do you?”

Camille stood back and pressed his attack, While Yuri readied her scythe. Each swing forced Cinq to retreat further, his once-flawless poise breaking under the relentless assault.

Finally, Yuri saw her chance. As Camille lunged again, his rapier narrowly missing her shoulder, he sidestepped and swung his scythe in a low arc. The blade sliced cleanly through the vines constricting his legs. 

”There were still people worried about you, your fans are still asking what happened to you. They look up to you,”

Camille, hearing those words, froze, his movements jerky and uncoordinated as the rose’s control began to waver. The rose, not giving up on its control over Camille, began regrowing its blood-red roses over him all over again.

”Persistent are we? Well then,” Yuri leaped forward, her scythe cleaved downward, but not cutting down the roses just yet . “Let’s see whose rose is stronger, yours or mine.”

Deep blue roses began to bloom all over them, starting from Yuri’s forearm and towards Camille, the deep blue roses uprooted and neutralized the blood red roses. 

“Bloom nobly, prideful flowers of sins,” Yuri chanted as she gripped both roses and ripped them all out from Camille’s body in one single pull. It was painful for her as well but it had to be done this way.

Camille collapsed to his knees, his rapier clattering to the ground. He gasped for air, her once-vacant eyes now clear but filled with confusion and pain.

Yuri knelt beside her, the scythe resting against his shoulder, as Legerdemain emitted more white smoke to heal his sanity for now. “It’s over,” she said softly, his voice calm but weary. “You’re free.” She handed him a K Corp pill, “HP tablet,” she explained

Camille’s trembling hand reached for the tablet and he immediately chugged it down. Then he reached the rapier, but it was not to attack. Instead, he clutched it tightly, grounding herself as he regained his composure. He looked up at Yuri, his voice barely above a whisper. “Thank you…..,” He immediately fell silent and unconscious.

Yuri noticed the healing from the HP Tablet was incomplete, there was permanent facial disfigurement on his face, “Keloid too, I suppose the feeling of the rose taking root on his face imprinted in his mind that deeply,” she traced the texture of his scar gently.

“Now to carry him out….” Yuri picked him up and slinged him over her shoulder. ‘Come to think of it, I wonder why the flowers that came out were that color…. It was pale blue with Nelly, but it’s deep blue now,’ she thought back and tried to see the difference.

——————————————————————

As she walked out, she bumped to Scene who was panicking. “Yuri?” She turned to face her. “Yuri! Help! Mi-Micah is…!”

Bad gut instinct kicked Yuri immediately knowing his track record. “Where is he?” She immediately asked.

“In that room! H-He forcibly locked us out to let us return safely!” Scene hyperventilated. 

“Scene calm down, you are LCCA’s combat medic aren’t you?” She put Camille down, “I’ll ask you to take him to Jun and the Hana Association Fixer, Mr. Phobos. I’ll take care of Micah,” she ran towards the door.

—————————————————————————-

Yuri went inside the room where Scene said Micah is in. He saw the egg - the Core of an Abnormality on one end of the room and on the other end of the room, is Micah on the floor, leaning on a half sitting position to the wall. 

The blueish sparks from electricity of his wires were shining around him, his limbs were ripped apart and his abdomen was missing.

Yuri ran immediately to his side. “Micah!” She quickly kneeled in front of him. “What the heck happened to you?! Oh my god- shoot, what do we do, everyone might see- no, before that, what kind of Abnormality– no first, we need to-”

“Hahaha…. You don’t even panic and cry about my death anymore…” Micah chuckled with a cough, “you’ve grown strong Yuri….”

“THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR THIS MICAH!” Yuri hissed and scolded him. “Tell me what I should do for now. Do you need a corpse – a body to possess or–”

“Don’t worry about this body, I already contacted my Workshop Office to retrieve it. They have their own way to slip through and take away my corpse. I’m assuming it takes about 3 days to get this body fixed. I have written a day off request letter. Hold on…” He closed his eyes, “there, I emailed it to the higher up already…..”

“Next, about the Abnormality, don’t worry, it’s a HE, not really particularly dangerous but it is a very speedy type that can do long range attacks like sniping, binding you to place.” Micah heaved his breath. The drowsiness indicates he is soon going to die,

“It might not be as dangerous as you assumed but….  You know my other side of my job right? I got… stuff to investigate, so….”
“You are using your death- day offs to get a chance to snoop around?” Yuri asked, cutting off Micah. Micah’s nodding confirmed it.

“I don’t know what you need to investigate and why, nor will I ask. I’m sure you have your own reason. But… your body.”
“Yes, my EGO - heh, it’s nameless right now, but I have been calling it Body Surfing, will activate soon….” Micah chuckled.

“I can do the transfer alone but in case you are curious, and since you’ve known too much about me, I might as well show you. Put your hand inside my stomach cavity.” He guided him with his hand and glances.

Yuri gulped and carefully put her hand inside the open stomach cavity, “Down more… right, do you feel that egg shaped device? That thing will open soon, it’s a pocket dimensional space device. Similar to what some Fixers use as a bag to store their weapon. My spare body is in it.” Micah explained.

“Well,” the thing Yuri felt at the tip of her finger did click open. “Try to put your hand in it.” Micah told her and she did, cautiously.

“I feel something fluffy and hairy,” Yuri told him, “That’s… my spare….” Micah couldn’t finish his sentence as he stopped functioning soon enough.

“Micah?” Yuri tried to check on his corpse. The fluffy something in her hand inside that device began to wriggle around.

“This is his spare body right? Alright, I’ll… try pulling it out,” Yuri took a deep breath and took it out, and to her surprise the spare body….

Was in the shape of a black cat.

“Huh? Wait, this is….” Yuri tried to comment on it before the cat suddenly opened its eyes and spoke in a familiar voice.

“Hey,” “WAGH!” Yuri nearly dropped the cat. “Micah???”
“The one and only~” Micat laughed.

“Mmnrrghhh….” Yuri groaned, “this thing you have is very hard to get used to….”
“Understandable, anyway, for now, feel free to go back and explain to LCCA that someone else has been sent to retrieve my body. And after that, let’s meet up in the next room,”

“Huh? Why are we going to the next room?” Yuri asked, “If this is related to your secret job, then I don’t think I should be there…”

“Hmm, true, but…. I just need your help to look around, I just needed… someone to talk about with…” Micah said that with an uncharacteristic gloom in his voice.

Though confused, Yuri nodded and agreed. She left him and met up with Scene, saying the same thing Micah told her to say to LCCA. “I’ll also be doing one more round patrol to see if there’s anything amiss, see you outside.” Yuri excused herself and met up with Micah in a different room.

“Good job, let’s go~” Micah climbed to her shoulder as they walked around La Manchaland.

They see the scenery, the rides, the route of the parade, the attractions. There were written guides and instructions here and there. Some felt familiar to Yuri due to her dream.

“You know…. I… in my dream, even though I was called a Nun, and Mr. Gregor’s Fourth Kindred… It felt like I participated in the Parade more than in the Confessional. They needed someone that exudes ‘calming cheerfulness’. Someone different from the Princess’ gracefulness and elegance, to contrast her but also to support her.

So…. the Barber - Ms. Outis, coordinated my clothes to have more purple hue to match the Princess of the Parade….” Yuri told Micah.

“Interesting, a purple colored Nun would be a pretty thing to see indeed,” Micah chuckled, climbing to Yuri’s shoulder.

“As for me… I won’t tell you how I know this, but… I kind of have a way to know what happened here.
You’ll probably hear it more in the LCB report but, the First Kindred that was dying before, was the original Don Quixote.
The one you knew as Don Quixote, was her identity after an amnesia. Her previous identity was someone called Sancho, the original Don Quixote’s right-hand woman.”

Yuri nodded, not bothering to ask why he knew all this. Listening to it all objectively, deciding to compare what he knew with what she will receive from LCB’s report.

“When she returned here, her memories as Sancho also returned. This homecoming was her journey to mercy kill her own father and end the rest of her family. A journey of atonement for not stopping his sins before.”

“.... I see, so that’s why she was grieving and weeping.” Yuri hummed, understanding what happened now.

“... I’m a bit jealous. That she can weep. Because it means, she was loved by them, and in return, she loved them so much that it was painful to stop them, to mercifully kill them by her own hands.” Micah hummed.

“Do you see yourself in Don- Sancho’s position, in some way?” Yuri asked the reason for his jealousy.

“Perhaps. I wanted, no I needed to stop my own father. And my own sister who somehow became his successor…. But I… I don’t know if I ever was truly loved by them, or truly loved them.

I admired my father, I think.
I wanted his recognition, I wanted his acknowledgement.
I knew I wasn’t his favorite son, I was a violent and unruly kid.

I knew he sent me to my death. I would do everything as long as he turned his back on me. To face me. To tell me I did a good job. I-.....”

The cat's body curled around her body.

“I don’t know anymore….” Micah sighed.

“Anyway you can leave me behind for now,” Micah jumped off Yuri’s shoulder, “I’ll do my own job from here on.”

“I’ll probably re-appear in front of you as a cat again, as long as my body hasn’t been fully fixed. I told Caiman in my letter that I can still manage the Control Team remotely since I have the same cctv program in my body. My body’s a living PC after all~” Micah chuckled before strutting to a different place.

“Okay…. ,” Yuri did not grieve for his death or loss now. She saw how he fulfilled his promise to her the first day he met her.

That he won’t die and make her worry about his death.

That this separation will be temporary and they will meet again in a few days.

“See you again,” Yuri chuckled and waved him bye.

She met up with the LCCB-LCCA members and Phobos, exiting the ruins of La Manchaland.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bonus Episode 1:

Yuri reviewed the compensation and budget reports of the recent mission in the Ruins of La Manchaland.

The amounts of the HP Tablet and K Corp. Ampoules used by her team and the ones she used on Camille and Paula.
The amounts of normal bullets the LCCB used

Other expenditures listed by other members were compiled in the printed document given to her - for her to review as a Team Captain.

“.....” Yuri noticed one point that didn’t make sense to her in the mission report
“Bleach???” she took off her eyepatch to properly read it. It was submitted by Jun and was written

[Bleach to compensate for the dirtied long coat for Hana Association’s Fixer and Quick Laundry Service from the In A Sec Laundry Shop - 4500 Ahn]

“Aren’t these about twice the price of 2 K Corp Ampoule….???” Yuri sighed at the price.

Yuri ended up calling Jun to explain and elaborate what happened and went to apologize to Phobos together when they returned the dirtied long coat from the laundry shop the next day.

——————————————————————-

Bonus Episode 2: 

“And that’s what happened,” “Indeed~” at night, Micah returned to Yuri’s side as Micat. She had slipped out of the dormitory and contacted Montag.

She then told him about the truth of Micah. His Personal EGO, and why he’s in a cat form. 

“Got it,” Montag nodded, “Micah gave birth to his cat body.” He concluded, perhaps as a joke.

“Can you please not say it like that???” Micah whined, he was being a shoulder cat, hanging on Yuri’s shoulder.

“Well I took it out of him, and it was true that the pocket space device was shaped like an egg. So it's more like cesarean surgery….” Yuri argued the joke back.

“Don’t agree on the birth joke?? Yuri?? Yuri, why are you siding with him???” Micah slapped his cheek. Yuri merely commented how realistically squishy beans are, and that Montag should try squishing it too.

“It is squishy,” Montag agreed and kept squishing it. “Stop that! This feels weird!” Micah hissed, being toyed by his friends

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Please also check out the side story of an oc of this AU made by my friend here:

https://archiveofourown.to/works/62356297

This Chapter's fanart: Phobos

Chapter Text

Yuri was inspecting the area around her, specifically those items now installed on each corner of the room.

Apparently a new product from K Corp. The Ampoule, now in a gaseous form. It will activate every certain interval, healing everyone in the room both physically an mentally.

It was installed in each floor’s Main Area. This was apparently something Scene proposed to help with the rescue and healing of others. So that they at least receive some sort of first aid treatment before the Safety Team comes too late to them.

“The issue is that they only agree to install them in the Main Area. Meaning if something fatal happened to someone in the hallway or elevator…. They’ll have to drag themselves here first…” Scene sighed when she explained what they are when they were being installed.

“Still, this is a huge help,” Yuri assured her, “Hopefully this prevent further unnecessary deaths”

As Yuri went to one of the tables to read on a report regarding the Abnormality logs left behind in the newly found ruins of the L Corp branch facility, Rouge came in with his hands full carrying a box.

“Rouge, what are these?” Yuri asked Rouge, who was delivering a bunch of CDs and putting them on the shelves in the Main Area.

“They are records. Battle Records. It was something my Training Team and the Information Team has been making. Safety Drill, safety measures on working on Abnormalities like the Abnodex and Record Panel, tutorial on how to use Abnodex, strategies on Suppressing Abnormalities or panicking Abnormalities, tactics when working in the frontlines as our main LCCB or LCCA.” Rouge explained excitedly.

“It has records of. Battles and how to take care, Abnormalities, from other branches. Deaths, and Suppression as well,” Montag asked, as he carried another box of Battle Records.

“That’s… interesting,” Yuri hummed, “do you mind if I take a look at some of them?” Yuri asked. “Sure, which ones do you want?”

“Mmmm…” Yuri suddenly remembered what Micah said last time to her.

“Hahaha…. You don’t even panic and cry about my death anymore…” Micah chuckled with a cough, “you’ve grown strong Yuri….”

“The old, earlier ones, from when I first started working in LCCU,” Yuri picked some CDs from the shelves.Though Micah is absent, he still took control as the Control Team Captain by remotely giving orders from another place. And thankfully, there were only 2 new Abnormalities for now, one of them was non-breaching Abnormality to boot, so to Yuri’s standard, the work was rather peaceful.

Because it was peaceful and calm enough, she could watch those Battle Record CDs she borrowed. Whenever she remembered Micah’s words on her, she wanted to do some self-reflection, comparing herself to the past version of herself.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Good! We killed it! The head’s broken! Now’s our chance!” Someone shouted on the screen. Yuri tried to run towards them, trying to warn them, “No! It doesn’t work that way! Watch out!” Yuri screamed as before her voice could reach their ears, ebony roots stabbed them in the stomach.

It reminded Yuri of Aya’s death. So sudden and right in front of her eyes. They were just speaking and suddenly, they dropped limp on the floor. The flora kept growing, crowding the entire area’s floor. 

The backup Yuri called doesn’t seem like it was going to arrive soon. “Shit… It’s going to leave soon… I need to–!” Yuri ran towards the Ebony Queen’s Apple frantically and raised her standard-duty weapon to bash its body. It still managed to run to the ground, reappearing in another room.

Yuri told the backup that came later and quickly Suppressed it with their help.

—-------

When the employee that has turned into Statuehead was found roaming around by Yuri. She had a flashback of what happened at her own branch facility.

The last person sacrificed to the Statuehead before Yuri managed to escape….

“Alex….” Yuri gulped and readied her weapon, “no, your name may be familiar but you are not them. You are… Elli, wasn’t it?”

“Sorry about this…” she had to attack her own ally, as a way to break them free of the brainwash. 

Yuri managed to break free the employee of its statue head. “A-are you okay? Umm… Elli?” She asked, checking on any wounds.

“That fucking hurts! What the hell?! What did you do that for?!” It seems they were completely conscious when Yuri attempted to beat some senses to them.

“I-I need to do….. this before you turn into something more dangerous…. The Burning Statuehead, they—“ Yuri tried to explain.

“Shut up you creep!” Elli hissed, “what makes YOU think it was justified to beat me up just break me free of that thing.  I was totally fine before you  appeared!”

“No— roaming Statuehead counted as Panicking Employees as they can’t control their own bod—“ Yuri kept trying to explain her point.

“Whatever, I guess that’s what you expect from a deserter like you,” Elli huffed. “Wha-“ Yuri was taken aback by the sudden insult.

“Think about it, how would it be possible that only you survived a whole ass Facility Burial of a Wings Branch Facility. Must have been pretty heartless of you, you probably ran away prioritizing your own safety. How many people did you leave to die? How many did you betray?” Elli took Yuri’s silence as confirmation and left her in bitterness.

“No— we… we tried to be fair and square about it, but even then, surviving that— I—“ Yuri tried to argue back and Elli already left him.

‘Why was it so wrong that I survived that event….? Until when do I have to keep living with this stigma…?’ Yuri sobbed internally.

————————————————————-

Despite what happened, Yuri woke up the next day, she was notified to work on Golden Apple.

Golden Apple. An Abno she often worked with. For better or worse, she has an affinity with it. 

Indeed, the more one hates the Abnormality for calling them out of their true selves, the more one resonates with the EGO crafted from it.

The Golden Apple emits White Damage, meaning it’s a mental damage. To some, it smells delectable. To others, it smells rotten.

To Yuri, it smells so sweet that it was nauseating to them. So it was easy to reject its offer.

But not with Elli, the smell kept tempting them to eat a part of the Abnormality.

To eat a part of it, to have some temporary relief from the anxiety of. working in the City.

The sweet apple scent, reminding her of the apple pie their family used to make on Christmas and other holidays. 

‘It should be okay right?’ Elli thought. ‘I have suffered enough, it should be okay to indulge in pleasure a bit. It’s not like it’ll cause harm to others, just a bite’ Elli put their mouth to the Golden Apple.

How delicious the poison was, Elli thought, consuming more of the apple. It was good, wasn’t it? Soft and sweet, not unlike a pie.

…Soft?

Elli started to choke, for the apple was never an apple. It was only a disguise of one, the bright golden glow a fake for the wriggling chaos that hides beneath the exterior.

The Golden Apple has long started to rot, and now inside a warm body, it grows and grows, abandoning the facsimile of an apple and starting to consume the very body of its victim. 

They started to cough up, frantically trying to get that piece out, but alas. Spitting out only revealed the illusion. It was a chunk of wriggling, disgusting, blood covered maggots.

It was too late.

The pain inside was unbearable, burning and sizzling. It was moving, they thought with horror, inside their body. The sweet, sweet scent of apples slowly became sickening. The maggots were eating them. Burrowing into her organs, slowly eating away each chunk of flesh until nothing was gone. They have consumed it, and it will consume them in turn. 

Their body is in agony, chaos ravaging in it. Blood poured out of their mouth, and their skin was starting to become numb as they wriggle through her veins, chewing through the stomach, then the skin, then the heart and delicate tissues and nerves, a buffet for the entity.

Soon, the apple has consumed them, leaving only an empty head to use as another, sweet, sweet apple.

As Yuri was discussing with others about the issue of crafting her an EGO Weapon, the danger alarm rang. An Abnormality has breached.

——————————————————-

The next time Yuri met Elli, their head was dangling from the Golden Apple.

Muttering about their shitty life. Muttering how everyone should experience the same suffering so they can enjoy the taste of the Apple as well. How everyone who suffered like them should join them.

Yuri raised her new weapon, the EGO Weapon, Legerdemain. 

To deflect its attack.

Yuri tried to convince herself that that was no longer Elli, the employee she knew.

That the mutterings of the head was merely something the Abnormality had read information about from Elli’s brain, repeating it without any meaning.

“How many did you kill to survive?”

“How many did you betray?”

In this City, it was kill or be killed. It couldn’t be helped. Even your own (former) ally, to prevent them bringing more harm to others. 

Because that was the duty of the Disciplinary Team.

“Yuri, that’s enough” someone tapped her hand, releasing her from the trance, it was Micah. The head of Elli used by the Golden Apple was no more. A disgusting creature had replaced it. It was the False Apple form of it. She didn’t know when the new form had appeared, she had bashed everything in.

The Abnormality soon reverted to its ovate form, the core was taken back to its Containment Unit.

“How are you?” Micah asked, concerned but also checking if she was showing signs of being in a panic or aggravated state.

“I’m… fine I think. I-I didn’t mean to— I thought I had to, Suppress it, before it goes to others.” Yuri tried to take some deep breaths. 

“It’s okay, it’s fine. You are fine. Thank you for preventing the worst case scenario” Micah patted her back, “go get some rest, I’ll handle your next job” he covered for her as Micah nodded, too weak to argue.

————————————————————-

“So how was it,” a voice resounded near her ears. Yuri could feel her eyeball heated up slightly.

“Micah, stop wiretapping to my comm device and hacking to my prosthetic eyeball.” Yuri sighed as she turned off all The Battle Records videos.

“Yours was made by the same Workshop Fixer I was created from, it was pretty easy since I have internal access to its firewall~” Micah didn’t even apologize. “So? How was it? Seeing your old self?”

“……” Yuri sighed, “no wonder my late senior was worrying about me and hesitant about making me a Team Captain. There were issues there that could have been prevented properly were I do more action and less talking, and be quick about  Suppression,” Yuri reviewed herself.

A logical, but objective self-reflection, but still she asked for his opinion, “have I grown since then?”

“Obviously. People looked up to you. They trust you. They knew as long as you are around, things will be fine,” Micah chuckled.

“A certain someone told me that to hold expectations is to trust that person. You're never running from it, from failing to meet the expectation of others." Micah hummed

“Because I know if I ever ran from that responsibility, it would just be the same as causing many indirect deaths…..” Yuri hummed, “and I know I can trust others to help me,” she heard the alarm ring, so she stood up to see what happened.

“Of course, we can continue trusting each other. Anyway, that was Rose Hunter. Floor B2,” Micah directed her.

—————————————————————-

Hurting Teddy Bear

Alysse was a newbie who transferred from the District 11’s Limbus Company HQ to District 16’s Limbus Company HQ in P Corp’s Nest.

Actually, many newbies were assigned there due to it having far less Abnormality right now compared to other branch HQ.

He was assigned the Hurting Teddy Bear whom he had read preferring Attachment and Repression Work before.

Before he went to work, Samjo approached him. “You are one of the new recruits, Alysse, aren't you?” Samjo asked.

“Yes, Sir! Nice to meet you, I’m Alysse. As for my affiliated team here, I haven’t been assigned yet as I’m still new here.” He spoke politely to him.

“Hmm, I did hear only once you reached Level 2 or 3 will you be assigned to a Team… Alright, let me ask you a question, think of it as a pop quiz. I noticed that you were heading to the Hurting Teddy Bear, what work were you planning to do with it?” He asked.

Alysse hitched but tried to keep a confident smile, “I was planning to do an Attachment or Repression Work. Specifically, perhaps a hug for the Attachment Work, and… maybe… pull out those nails out of it? I’m still unsure if that act counts as Repression or Attachment Work…..”

Samjo sighed, “That counts as Repression Work, but your answer is wrong. You shouldn’t do that work.”

“Huh? But… it said in the Abnormality Work Favor listing, there’s a very good chance of receiving Good work results doing those Work Types, so…”

“Just because it is preferred and favored doesn't mean we should do that. Receiving Good Work Result will lower its Qlipoth Count and when it reaches 0, it will increase the damage it does when we work with it. While the effect is mild and it doesn’t breach, learn to see the risk and benefit of that before you decide on what Work Type you want to do,” Samjo taught them, taking notes that such risk and benefit calculations must be discussed and taught in the Battle Records as well.

’I should consult Captain Montag and Captain Rouge about this issue after this….’ Samjo judges how Alysse reacts to his lesson.

”Got it, does that mean I should do Instinct or Insight Work Type?” Alysse agreed on Samjo’s advice, “it will produce low Enkephalin production, or at least average, but it's better to be safe right?”

”Yeah, at least that’s my opinion. Hurting Teddy Bear also gives you speed buff when you get Nailed — er well, get hugged by it. It deals continuous damage to your body in exchange for being more speedy. That’s another risk and benefit you must take into account.

If you still insist on doing the Insight Work though, I suggest cleaning its Containment Unit, that’s what I do too when I start working here. Build your virtue stat pretty quickly, safely, and easily too — well, depends on the Abnormality.” Samjo gave more

”Got it! I used to work in the janitorial department too before I joined here, I can do a good job of that!” Alysse nodded and entered the unit, thanking Samjo one last time before the door was locked.

‘Well well well….,’ Samjo huffed, ‘Finally comes the time that I’m the one giving advice working with these creatures I guess…’ 

He had been braving himself working with HE-level Abnormality ever since Yuri departed to the Great Lake, so in a way, he is climbing the ladder to be one of the more experienced employees in the LCCU.

”Things should be safe for now…. I’ll consult about the risk and benefit thing after we clock out and if the Captains will spare me some time ....”

—————————————————————————

Rose Hunter

The sounds of whipping responded in the Containment Unit of Rose Hunter.

There was a screaming of an Employee in the inside as well. They were whipped relentlessly, lasso bounding their body. An apple was hiding behind their feet.

“I will repeat my question,” the Hunter asked, still riding his horse made out of barbed vines.

“I am on the hunt for someone. It needs to  be taken care of urgently. What I am looking for is an apple that will become a princess, not knowing its rightful place. It must have passed by you the moment you entered this room. Tell Me Where It Is Hiding.” he slapped his whip to the floor again.

“I told you– I don’t know!” Kris insisted on lying as they endured the pain.

“You do not know? I see. If that is the determined trajectory of this tale, then it must be followed. Yet…. How would you explain that thing hiding behind your leg?” The entity asked Kris with an air of hostility. It must have been annoyed at the fact the human kept denying it. And the Apple, careless, revealed itself to be trembling behind their leg.

After a quick deliberation, Kris decided to lie to the entity about what happened. That they didn’t know that was the apple it was searching for. That they mistook it as a pomegranate. 

“You say that it is a pomegranate, not an apple? Do you take me for a witless imbecile?”  The hunter mocked them back. “Enough talk. Make way, or suffer my wrath!” The hunter was going to mount on its horse when the door suddenly unlocked and Kris ran out. Running as far as they could, away from that thing. But being both mentally and physically exhausted, Kris staggered in their stride. 

Due to their lies and  low Prudence and Temperance status, The Qlipoth Count was lowered by 1 immediately and due to the Bad result, it immediately lost another count, resulting in 0 Count by the time Kris managed to reach a Main Area, hoping its an area with people in it, that willing to help them.

Only to find no one in it.

The alarm rang, signaling the Rose Hunter breaching containment.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Samjo was running towards where he was informed the breaching was happening. As he arrived at where the Rose Hunter is supposed to be contained, the creature mounted its horse and galloped towards someone. Someone who is the weakest mentally, someone who also was too slow to avoid its attack.


That someone being Kris. The barbed lasso struck them hard. Vines coiled up onto his legs, his body, his arms, the thorns biting into every inch of their skin. It hurts, the screams ringing in their own ears, the blood pooling right at the edges of the wounds, rolling down onto the floor. It felt warm and cold, they would shiver if they could. With every struggle, the vines would bite down, tightening. The sight of Kris, struggling in vain as they dangle from the vines, seems to have invigorated the Rose Hunter.

Samjo arrived on the scene when he heard Kris’ screams. He tried to shoot it with the AEDD rifle from afar and the Rose Hunter noticed him. It began galloping towards Samjo immediately. 

It began spinning its barbed lasso and lashed it towards Samjo. “Suppression, start,” something was chanted near Samjo. WIth lightning fast reflexes, Yuri kicked him out of the way while she also parried and deflected the barbed lasso to the side. The lasso, deflected, flies in the other direction. The Rose Hunter hesitates, surprised by the turn of events.

Not allowed a break after it let his guard down, Yuri stomped her legs and leaned forward, running towards the Hunter and took out her weapon, Garden of Thorns to stab its horse to get up there. The horse neighed with pain.

“No time to explain! Gather everyone with White or Piercing Weapon! Especially those that can do long range attacks! Gather everyone that has Ebony Stem Weapons as well, like Iroha!” Yuri gave command to Samjo. “I’ll handle this alone for now so go!”

Samjo, without questioning, immediately ran out of the room to gather the backup she needed.

“Follow the predetermined path of the tale,” The Rose Hunter regained itself. It began attacking Yuri with another Lasso. Yuri ran back, keeping some distance from it. The Rose Hunter tried to chase after her, dragging with it the bloodied and bound Kris, slowly being cocooned by the growing vines, limbs bound by thorns and coloured red with every moment passing, in its other Barbed Lasso. “Be ensnared, for that is only right!”

“Not to me, this is not my tale ,” Yuri stared at the employee. She needed to save them quickly, they were bleeding and staggered from the loss of blood.

“Then get lost! The apple, I need to search for that fugitive! Where did you hide them?!” It lashes another lasso, Yuri felt the sounds of people coming to the same room, she let herself be caught, but only by her weapon. She held the weapon in her hand with such strength, not minding her hands got hurt from the barbs.

She needs to be the one catching this thing, and not let the thing catch her. She needs to lock them in one spot until everyone is ready for a shootout at it.

“Backup’s here!” Samjo announced as he brought long range attackers. “At it!” Yuri let go of her weapon to avoid another lasso attack and avoid any stray bullets from her own allies.

“Iroha! Get behind me!” Yuri summoned her other weapon, Legerdemain and covered them both in an illusory smoke that hides them from the view of the Hunter, allowing Iroha to shoot it with her Ebony Stem weapon from its blind side.

It weakened after a while. Yuri tried to go to the Employee, Kris, who was tied up and bleeding, dragged around during the fight. She cut off the lasso, releasing the poor worker, which fell onto the ground. By then, the thorns were still digging into their skin, the movement widening and stretching each pores, blood flowing almost endlessly. Although the employee tried their best, the thorns, unfortunately, were able to strangle around their abdomen and chest, causing fatal wounds as it dug into the liver and lungs .
She cut off the lasso, releasing the poor worker. Stunned at his own prey being released, The Rose Hunter slowed down for a few seconds.

“Carry Kris to the Main Area first to get healed at least, before the Safety Team can take care of them.” Yuri asked Felicia while the Rose Hunter was distracted from its loss of prey.

But because it was also pissed it no longer has its prey and the battle has dragged far too long, it became more aggressive, using two lassos at once to lash at people. Capturing some.

“Argh!” Iroha, their main attacker was also caught. Yuri looked around and picked up her other weapon. “Some of you, focus on saving our allies with me. The rest keep attacking the Hunter!” She hissed as she barely missed another barbed lasso.

Tsuruno came in with a scream, releasing her Ardor Blossom Star to burn at the lasso Iroha was trapped within. Yuri also managed to rip apart another lasso.

Rouge and Scene helped with their own weapons, Effervescent Corrosion and Faelantern. When it finally hissed from being burned and melted here and there, that’s when everyone did an all out attack.

“Suppression, done” Yuri mutters around Samjo once it has reverted back to a Core form. “Take it back to its Containment Unit.” She ordered.

Scene brought everyone to the Main Area first before she patched them up in the infirmary, telling Samjo and Yuri that they need to go there afterwards as well. “We are low priority since we just get scratches here and there, we can take our time,” Yuri sighed and relaxed now that the crisis is finished.

Samjo noticed her change of behavior and mode switch so quickly, as well a specific habit he learnt that she does sometimes.

“Why do you do that?” Samjo asked Yuri suddenly.

“Why do I do … what?” Yuri tilted her head confused.

“Sometime, when you need to begin an Abnormality or Employee Suppression, you’ll mutter something like… “suppression, Start!” or when you have safely deemed it’s ended, you’ll say… “Suppression, done”.... Why is that?” Samjo asked her.

“Oh… that’s…” Yuri began telling him what happened in the past, the same thing that happened in the Battle Records she saw just now from the Battle Records.

“Maybe it’s because I panic easily myself when I’m needed to do Suppression. Sometimes I would be in a trance, in a berserk, though not a rage berserk. Perhaps it was my own mind’s way to dissociate me from all the painful and uncomfortable stuff that I needed to do. Running away and going on an autopilot, as long as the job’s finished anything goes–”
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You shouldn’t do that, at least, I don’t think you should. Even if they are Panicking, and we need to suppress them, they are still our allies, even those brainwashed and eaten and became part of the Abnormality.

In this line of work where you don’t even have time to properly mourn and give them proper burial, at the very least I think….

You should face them head on, when you have to fight them ....” Micah told her.

“Then what do I do–” Yuri asked, agreeing to his opinions and hitching her breath.

“Make yourself mentally available to them when fighting them, don’t run away–don’t go on autopilot. There are ways to control this if this comes unconsciously….

How about you have a switch? Something like a habit, to signal your body, “I need to do this work, be prepared” and then another signal to tell your body “it’s finished, we can take a breath now”. That should work if you build that as a habit, and it’ll be a good habit to pass down to others who has the same issue too, whether going berserk or feeling too scared but need to stand up~” Micah suggested

—————————————————————————

“And that’s what happened” Yuri explained the origin of her habit. “As for why that habit, I remembered my team captain in L Corp. Branch D-02 who used to do that. They’d do it in a loud voice too, to signal everyone to get serious. And when they said it was done, we all would be relieved immediately. They were very reassuring words to hear back then for me….” Yuri laughed awkwardly.

“.....” Samjo stared back at her, “Okay but you do that on your own though, you don’t always say it out loud, sometimes it's a whisper of your own, sometimes it’s loud enough for everyone to hear. Though I do agree some people did follow your example,” Samjo huffed.

“Whoops~” Yuri laughed awkwardly, “At first it was too embarrassing to say that habit out loud, since it was personal. But the moment I became Team Captain, it just became natural to say it out loud sometimes….”

“It’s a good habit though, maybe it should be a mandatory thing. Like a format when you have to report something in a specific way.” Samjo walked with her to the infirmary afterwards.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Yuri was called by someone to go upstairs, to the lobby room

When she arrived, what she saw was Aiste, sitting awkwardly, trying to engage in the conversation of the other man who continuously asked her and monologuing over her. Aiste tried her best to keep up with his pace, answering as best as she could, but also kept glancing around to see a chance to escape. 

And she saw that chance when she saw Yuri walking towards them. 

Yuri tried to assess the man next to her, it was the First Kindred whom she and the LCB Sinners saved a few days ago. 

“Aiste? I heard that you wanted to meet me?” She asked as she glanced at the man awkwardly as well. The man kept a calm, cat-like smile that reminded her of someone else she knew.y room, saying that someone was waiting for her.

”AH! Yes, well it isn’t really My Business, but this gentleman wants to meet and talk with you,” Aiste pointed to the man.

The First Kindred bowed slightly as he greeted Yuri, “though this is our first encounter, I realized I have never properly introduced myself to thee. I am… you could say, a family to the one you know as Quixote. As for my name... I have given that name to her so…. You may refer to me as Alonso.”

”Oh right, nice to meet you as well, my name is Yuri.” Yuri bowed a bit, instinctively as she introduced herself. “So I have been told.” Alonso nodded.

“And that’s the thing! Sorry, can you help him?” Aiste apologized for dumping the issue to her. Yuri dragged her to the side to whisper privately.

”What the hell, Aiste??” Yuri whispered back, “Sorry! Even though I’m technically his senior in LCD, instinctively I can’t disobey a First Kindred, even though I’m not part of his family…..” Aiste apologized. “He kept asking about modern Fixer stuff, and about LCB’s Don Quixote, I tried to answer the former as best as I could, but I think talking about the latter would be better if it’s with you since you are closer to her….” Aiste sighed.

“Well, I will pick you up later when my shopping trip is done, go talk as much as you can until our friend picks us up. Seems he’ll take a while to finish his mission.” Aiste bowed as she excused herself out, as smooth as a maid would do.

Yuri turned to Alonso, the awkward silence after Aiste left was quickly cut short as he suddenly greeted him. “I heard that not only hast thou oft helped my daughter Quixote, thou hast also cooperated with her new family to help me. Truly, the noble heart of a Fixer is within thee as well.”

“Umm…. I’m not sure if my help with her side of work is that significant, but I’m glad if I could help them when my timing can collide with theirs ....” Yuri tried to speak politely as well.

“That is still enough, though thou are not part of her family, thou are still within her social circle, a friend of hers. And I’m glad for that.” Alonso chuckled, “I am glad she is blessed with such friends in her adventure….”

“Please tell me, what has she been like ever since you knew her? The Quixote in your eyes, what is she like?” Alonso asked.

Yuri looked at the man, he clearly was a worry-wart father figure. But still, something about him, his atmosphere, his vibe, the emotion behind that smile. 

‘It felt familiar….’ Yuri thought to herself.

Yuri looked up to him, “then in exchange, would you mind telling me what she is like, before she is who I know now as Don Quixote?”

”You wish to know more of her past? Hmm… very well, though I will respect some parts of privacy, I think I can share some with you~” Alonso began telling her what Don Quixote’s former personality, Sancho, was like. 

Yuri nodded. It was interesting to know more about the side of Don Quixote that she never knew. The jaded, stern, yet capable part of hers. Some things remained the same though, her care for her friends and family, trying her best to fulfill their interest, the way she tried to save others, even through mercy killing recently. 

“And that was the Sancho that I knew~ oh and also, she has a talent in cooking, especially sweets. Perhaps now that her memories have returned, she could return to such a hobby?” Alonso added. Unlike Aiste, Yuri didn’t feel forced to hear all of his monologue since she asked for this anyway. 

“And how about in your experience knowing and getting along with her?” He asked and let Yuri have a turn to talk now.

“I’m sure you have known, but not all Fixers are heroic or noble. Most of the time, we are duty-bound instead, by money and contract. Unfortunately, that is the bitter and sour reality living as a Fixer.

But if living like that can be…. Associated with such flavor. Then Ms. Don Quixote, she… either tries to add more sweetness to life, or somehow manages to find any positivity in whatever sour and bitter stuff life throws at her. 

She never regrets saving a kid, even if it had to mean they broke a rule and had an entire team decimated.

Back when the La Manchaland mission was issued, I heard while others tried to prioritize saving whoever they were paid to save or just doing their work, the only one who cared enough to find a way on how to save every other victim was her.” Yuri tried to explain all that she knew of her.

She tried to explain as best as she could about the Mirror Worlds and Identity system. Yuri tried to explain what she knew of Don Quixote was like from other Mirror Worlds, especially the ones she had witnessed summoned in front of her. 

”That’s interesting to know. It seems we were truly alike in that sense then~” Alonso chuckled. “Truly, I’m glad she is living the life she has now…”

“Say, is there a way for me to keep in contact with her?” Alonso asked, “I know, I’m still under probation and probably has eyes on me, but still, is sending her a letter possible? I wish to exchange stories with her if I could…” He had such puppy eyes when he made the request to Yuri.

“It’s not like I can say yes or no, but I think…. It’s better if you ask your leader in LCD, Chief Moses…” Yuri answered and saw Aiste waved her hands from afar, shopping bags on both of her hands.

“Aiste!” Yuri waved her hands back and Aiste came to her side, “I finished my shopping trip! Oh— Our pick up man isn’t here yet…..” Aiste sighed and put all the shopping bags down.

“Aiste dear, may I ask you a question?” Alonso began discussing the possibility of exchanging letters to Don Quixote. 

Micat appeared soon afterwards, while they were still discussing it, he asked what happened here. Yuri updated him on what their talk was about and what happened.

“Hmm… I did see the LCB just now on my walk,” Micat climbed on her shoulder to talk in a whisper. “Don Quixote remained in her cheerful self, though, sometimes, the solemn, more mature and lucid self does come out. It was as if she’s playing a character, a persona, but breaks it sometime when things get too cringy and unhinged even for her standard.” Micat reported what he saw to Yuri.

“Ah.” Yuri clapped her hand and walked a bit far from the Bloodfiend, “that was it. That’s why I felt your vibe with Sir Alonso and uh… Don Quixote… similar… more than what you mentioned before…”

“How so?” Micat got curious, Yuri hummed and began explaining, “You both, based on your description of the current miss Don Quixote, uses smiles and laughter to mask something more solemn, you both were saved by someone, father-figure like, perhaps even though you guys are like co-worker, it was also family-like relationship. I dunno much of how close you guys are in the Gear Workshop Office, but based on how you told me sometimes you guys interact, and how much trust and respect you have to your Master….” Yuri hummed.

Yuri did not know that Micah had also started trusting the LCC crews as another found family to him, despite being ‘just a coworker’. “Oh and you guys are also secretly nerds. Been to your room several times by now, you uh… sure have lots of merch to a certain furry fox character… Oh and the fact you three are actually far much older than you guys looked like,” “Okay don’t call me out on the last part.” Micat huffed and stopped her.

Yuri turned around, it seems the Bloodfiends have finished their discussion.

And yet, their pick up has not arrived.

“That guy sure is late…” Aiste huffed, “what kind of guy is he?” Yuri asked.

“Hmm… come to think of it, he also has some similarity as you, Yuri,” Aiste suddenly told her.

“Huh?” Yuri, “how so?” She got curious now.

“He used to work in L Corp’s. Branch Facility. In some other Nest,” Aiste hummed. As she said that, a car suddenly parked itself in the parking lot. Aiste looked at it and got out of the lobby room to go to the car.

The man that came out of it was probably as young as Yuri. He’s wearing a formal fit, with black trousers and button down, pin-striped teal vest and emerald tie, tying the outfit together is a dark azure coat hanging down from his shoulders contrast to the brightly colored chain link holding it on, incongruous with the rest of his outfit, his shoes were boots that looked like more like something you’d climb with than wear to dinner with splashes of color but somehow still manage to keep that same fancy vibe with the rest of his outfit.

What was interesting to Yuri was his face. Eyes that are multicolored, ethereal but unsettling like sunset mixed with verdelite. His hair was as black as night and yet there were locks of different colors here and there.

“Sorry I’m late—“ [humpph! How dare you make our great selves pick you guys up like some sort of taxi! We demand compensation! Especially with how tiring our own mission was just now! We were just planning to rest, and recharge ourselves, and here you people ruined our precious schedu— Gyagh—!]

As if it was a comedy routine, the moment the man opened his mouth, a pixelated creature appeared beside him out of nowhere, flailing its pixelated hands angrily at Aiste, until the guy pulled it back from its… curled tail(?)

“Enough, we were on the same road going back home anyway,” the man sighed, “sorry about this.” He glanced at the others and apologized, “please ignore this one.”

“Well, our guy has arrived so see you around~” Aiste and Alonso excused herself as they climbed to the vehicle.

Micat, interested in what that pixelated creature was, tried to hack it internally. Yuri merely had thought it was some sort of AI assistant. ‘Though rare such an expressive AI could exist…. I suppose as long as it’s not humanoid, it’s safe from the Head?’ Yuri tilted her head, curiosity had gotten to her again, especially knowing the person was apparently a former L corp Employee like her.

Suddenly something heated on Yuri’s neck. “Ow!” Yuri hissed ws Micat suddenly jumped off her shoulder.

Micat’s robotic body was overheating, he even was hissing at the young guy and its pixelated helper.

The guy merely shrugged at Micah, while the creature stuck its tongue out, [do that again, and you will lose another life, cat.]

“Huh? What- whuh—“ “Sorry about that, but if the chances allow us, I’d like to talk with you as well,” the the guy left to get to the driver’s seat while Yuri was still confused as to what had happened secretly between the two.

“What the heck happened just now?!” Yuri whispered as she picked up Micat, his body was still slightly warm.

“That’s my question as well??” He huffed, “that was the first time I failed at hacking…. I thought that was such an interesting AI assistant, very expressive as if it has its own will. So I wanted to take a peek at its program but not only it fought back, it tried to get inside  me as well…..” Micat burped out a smoke from his mouth. “I had to cut the connection quickly and it made me overheat!”

“Ummm…. Maybe try not to invade their privacy, no matter how curious you are…” Yuri sighed.

“So you say but you were also curious about that former L corp guy right?” Micat chuckled, “I saw your expression,”

“….. okay, fair,” Yuri sighed and cut the conversation short to stop the awkwardness.

Internally though, Micat was excited. Someone actually managed to resist and outhack him? Unbelievable. His pride and curiosity wants to get to know more about this person.

Though, if it’s not relevant to his mission, then it wouldn’t be his priority right now.

‘Talking about priority, I need to call them soon—‘ Micat planned to spend the night as a cat too that day, asking Yuri to drop him off somewhere in one random alleyway

——————————————————————

Location: ???

Micat was sitting on a rooftop. Electricity flickers around him as he contacts someone else.

Someone from outside the City.

He began telling them stories of what happened so far.

“……And that’s what happened, Manager Dante yet again unlocked another ability from their Sapling of Light. First it was called Pigritiae, now it's called Superbiae.” Micah explained what he knew had happened, what the ability is about.

“I see, thank you for the information as alw-“ The man on the other side of the call tried to whack something away from touching him.

Noises from other people leaked out from their side to Micah’s side as well. It seems there was a commotion on the other side.

“It appeared here as well!” “Oh dammit not again?!” 

“I guess they do appear more frequently and get more aggressive as Christmas is nearing…” Someone complained but the combat seemed to continue nonetheless.

“Um… is this a bad time to report?” Micah asked.

“No, it’s fine, this is something we are used to dealing with. We knew the risk of living in the Outskirt the moment we decided to reside here—“

“You look nice~ome! We can make you into a nice sweater-ome!“ “Yeah-ome! A turtleneck sweater-ome!” Several gnome’s voices  was heard from the call before the gnome screamed in pain.

“Don’t worry about it, I can continue receiving your report so keep talking,” the man ordered Micah sternly. “Is there anything else you’d like to report?” he asked

“Very well, if you say so, and ….no, the other information I got…… have incomplete data. It would be misinformation if I report that to you, I’ll find out more before I could report them to you….  –sod- nim” Micah ended the call intentionally in a glitch, a precaution to anyone wiretapping.

Another person called him, his cat ears twitched.

“Master?” He referred to the caller.

“Finished repairing your body,” the caller told him, “get back here now,”

“Gotcha, I finished reporting to the other side too~” Micat meowed. “Figured, saw your call history.” His master replied

“Did they send you your payment?” Micat asked, “yes, samples of unidentified ores and other stuff found outside the City.

This might be a better energy source than Enkephalin, but I feel it also has some volatile chemical makeup… I’ll do some research on it somewhere safe, so I might be slow in response if you contact me starting in a few days…”

“Very well, please be careful Master,” Micat turned off the call and jumped from the roof

To return to his body.

Chapter Text

It was just the usual meeting for the Captains, weekly meetings to see if there’s anything amiss. So far, thanks to the lack of Abnormality of this branch for now, there was lack of death, and so it focused more on training simulation to prepare them for any scenarios. Rouge has been staying up late with Montag to make more and more Battle Records

And so, after one such meeting Rouge suddenly slapped the table and stood up announcing, “let’s all go out together this weekend” He said, out of desperation.

“What?” Yuri tilted her head, “what do you mean by that?”
“I mean think about it, this week was the one week where our day off shifts all coincided, Micah has returned to work too, so let’s all go out on an outing, there’s a shopping mall in P Corp. right? Let’s go there!” Rouge excitedly announced.

“Also the whole LCC department is going to have a Christmas party soon. Might as well use this chance to buy some gifts for the gift exchange event.” Rouge added.

The others immediately agreed, as Captains, they rarely had the chance to relax nor the opportunity to shop, so they might as well, indeed.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Yuri and the whole gang of Team Captains arrived in the lobby of the shopping mall.

“Well then, where should we go?” Yuri asked,

“Hmmm, how about we say to each other what we want to buy first?” Rouge suggested.

“I wanted to buy some new earrings and piercing myself,” Rouge said
“Hmm… new sketchbook and coloring markers I suppose?” Micah took note.
“New books,” Montag simply said

“New clothes and new notebooks yeah,” Scene said as well

“New ornaments or accessories I guess?” Yuri tilted her head.

“......” They all wanted different stuff, “Okay then, me and Yuri will buy some clothes together and all the trinkets and small stuff. You guys go to the bookstore?” Rouge suggested. And so they agreed and split into two.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rouge and Yuri ended up going to the accessories shop first. Rouge was checking out the piercings. Yuri never had any part of her face pierced so she doesn’t know what to look around for. She did find some hair ties, ribbons, or scrunchies that looked cute enough so she ended up buying them.

‘I wonder if I can buy some for the Sinners, some of them even the guys have rather long hair, I saw even Yi Sang-ssi’s hair has grown longer for a tad bit….” she hummed. She ended up choosing some colors for them anyway. She also bought a pair for Charon. She bought several that are patterned with weird food patterns as the Christmas gift.

Yuri Saw Rouge was testing the piercings on his nose, eyebrow and lip. Not really putting them in, more like just putting it around that area and checking himself in the mirror if it looks good or not.

“I didn’t know you have other places pierced,” Yuri hummed, helping him choose by voicing her opinion when he asked which one looked good.

“I rarely use them ever since I joined LCCB, thankfully the hole hasn’t closed up yet.” Rouge chuckled. “I used to have my ears chock full of piercings, you know. Were it not because I was accepted to LCCB, I might have a navel piercing too by now.”

“Some Workshop also make enhanced piercings too, but for now I just want something purely accessory.” Rouge hummed as he paid for the stuff he bought with Yuri.

They went to the toyshop next. “I thought you wanted ornamental trinkets?” Rouge asked.
“Yeah but I’m in the mood for more…. Less fragile stuff, since we are in P Corp and all” Yuri checked them all around. “Less fragile figurines… yeah that might be an interesting gift idea. If nothing else, it can be used as a gag gift.” Rouge joked.

“Huh?” She looked at something. “50% sale discount?” Yuri looked. It was Fixer merchandise. Specifically Camille’s merchandise. “His goods discounted?”

“Oh yeah he is. I heard he broke a significant rule right in front of the Hana Association, so he got demoted to…. Was it Grade 6 or Grade 8? Anyway, his reputation is rock bottom now. Many of his fans left him and his fame dwindled. There are still some hardcore fans sure, but his goods are just piling up in the storage now! So yeah, putting up a clearance sale now.” The store owner was checking his own stocks explained to Yuri.

“Demoted huh…” Rouge whispered to Yuri. “Better than straight up having his license revoked you know….” Yuri did feel pity, but it can’t be helped what with the livestream he did, under Corrosion or not. “I’ll take the keychain please,” Yuri took one Camille shaped keychain. “Miss Don Quixote might cheer up a bit if I give her this” Yuri told Rouge. “Then I’ll take that nendoroid, the one that’s still under the 50% discount sale.” Rouge added a purchase.

Yuri looked around more to see something cuter for herself. But alas there was no such thing that she liked. They went to the thrift shop nearby. “Hmm?” she stumbled upon a yellowish teddy bear. The eyes were more black than white for some reason, and it wears a cute purple top hat and purple ribbon.

Yuri immediately fell in love with it. “What is this??? What are you??? Hello??” She lifted it up happily. “Ah that, it’s a merchandise from decades ago, something about a limited edition that you can buy only at the restaurant it is a mascot from. I guess collectors would be delighted if they could have them, but so far due to the restaurant’s reputation, I don’t think any collectors would come get it. Do you want it?” The older lady managing it let Yuri have a discount. She happily purchased it as well as other old toys in the shop.

“There are others from the same merchandise too, if you want to,” The older lady directed Yuri.
‘Huh.. this fox one seemed familiar….’ “I’ll take this yellow thing then,” She chuckled, having fun with the purchase.

“Time to meet up with Scene for clothes shopping, it seems she asked me to come with her,” Rouge looked at her phone to see if there’s any messages from Scene.
“Can I come with you? Scene always complained that my clothes lacked something ....” Yuri hummed. 

“Sure! In exchange let me style both of your hair. I've been dying to try it out, you have such nice long hair but you always kept the same hairstyle. Hell, the rare moments you changed your hair tie could be counted with hands too.” Rouge sighed. “..... I change them on my off hour or day off you know, It’s kinda to help me anchor my mind when it is  work mode and when it is off work hours…” Yuri pouted.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scene was buying some notebooks and stationeries for herself and some planner for the Christmas gift when she saw Micah comparing two different sketch books and testing some colors on a test paper.

“I didn’t know you could draw,” Scene and Montag sneaked behind his back. “Huh? Yeah, I draw to train the dexterity of my fingers. I always drew even before I became full body prostheses, when work is boring but I needed to stay awake during the night shifts.” Micah showed some of his works he took pictures on the phone.

“Those are cute,” “You draw good,” Scene squealed and Montag nodded.

“What are you buying notebooks for Scene?” Micah asked, it is a good chance to learn more about his co-workers.

“Well, actually it’s also partially for my job, taking inventories for drugs and taking notes for Abno or taking notes of everyone’s mental state….. I guess I’m kind of old fashioned huh?” Scene hummed.

“Not always a bad thing, I think I get what you mean, like the texture and feeling of forming shapes with your own hand to a paper,” Micah tried to guess based on his own experience. “Yeah! That kind of thing is nice~” She chuckled.

“Mm-hmm,” Montag typed something on his phone [I think I get it, I like reading more books than E-book. The feeling of swiping and turning pages, folding the ears to mark or slipping your own bookmark.]

“I guess we are a bunch of retro stuff lovers then~” Micah laughed it off as they paid for the stuff.

“Montag have you found books you want to buy?” Micah asked Montag. He shook his head. “Have read most, old classic stuff, mysteries novel interesting but…. hmmmm…. “ Montag tried to ponder, “Something lighter and funnier…. Refreshing…”

“Hm? In that case, how about buying what’s trendy recently?” Scene suggested and pointed to the Light Novels section. “This kind of stuff should be light enough, it’s usually cartoony themed and even made into an animation.”

“Modern stuff… Okay, I buy some for the Christmas gift” Montag perused the options while Micah was checking out the comic books, but found nothing interesting for a Christmas Gift idea. Scene excused herself as she went to meet up with Rouge and Yuri to buy some clothes.
—---------------------------------------------------------------------

“Uh…..” Yuri whined. “It…. fits me I guess….” She came out of the changing room, wearing new clothes that Scene chose for her. She wears a blue jacket with a white blouse underneath, combined with a red miniskirt, knee-length stockings and black shoes. The jacket has an ivy leaves pattern on her sleeve. Her sleeves cover her hands a bit.

“Good, next try this one, it’s a bit frilly but with your stature, a slightly casual lolita would suit you too!” Scene excitedly shoved another piece of clothing. “Scene, this is the fifth piece of clothes you made me try!” Yuri whined.

“Nonsense, you are pretty and it’s a waste to not dress you up.” Scene showed a more passionate side of herself that isn’t shown much in her LCCB work mode. Rouge nodded, agreeing. 

Yuri begrudgingly agreed and changed to the new clothes. She now wears a black blazer with a black belt over a white collared shirt with a lavender bow tie, along with a white skirt, long black stockings, and plain black shoes. The black blazer is a bit puffy on the shoulder part and the cuffs on her wrist are pleated, giving the “slight casual lolita” vibe Scene mentioned.

“Hmmm….” Rouge pondered, “I think you would look even better if your hair is tied in a tiny pigtail or side ponytail, don’t you think so, Scene?” He was seriously considering styling her hair like that.

“I’m not wearing a pigtail! I’m not a kid?!” Yuri returned back to the changing room. “Give me something more formal-casual please????”

“Tche, fine, I’ll take the ones you are wearing instead…..” Scene sighed disappointed. She began to search for something that fits Yuri’s taste and needs. She ended up with a white buttoned shirt with puffy sleeves under a pink wooly sleeveless jumper dress. Her belt is brown with a gold buckle. Her pants reach her calves, but it is billow,  long and pleated, and it also doubles to look like a skirt depending on the way she walks. And her shoes are brown boots. 

“Oooooh!” Rouge and Scene hummed, agreeing this looks like the best on her. “Come here, let me style your hair a bit.” Rouge led Yuri to a place to sit with a mirror on the front. He ended up giving her a simple braid from the pig tail she usually had, the tail part became a braid now and he tied it with an additional ribbon to end it. The bow in her hair is white with black stripes.

Now satisfied, Scene began searching for clothes for herself.  “Rouge, can you also braid my hair to match these clothes?” Scene ignored Yuri’s plea and chose something for herself instead.

“Oh, sure, there’s a mirror and chair there, let’s do something simple.” Rouge snorted and styled Scene’s hair. He braided a pair of small braids that were tucked behind her ears. Once he tied it with colored ribbon, he let her change her clothes now. She wears a green button-up with black ribbons near the cuffs and a black ribbon bow tie, tucked into a plaid, pleated, light brown skirt with a belt around the waist and two dark brown lines along the hem.

“Well?” Scene showed herself proudly. “Yep, looks good,” Rouge agreed. Finally the shopping ended, they paid it all. God bless for their promotion and their bigger paycheck.

They met up with Montag and Micah soon. Rouge got another idea and dragged Micah suddenly to braid him as well. The idea was so out of left field Micah had his guard down and didn’t resist and by the time he realized it, he was already in front of the mirror and Rouge was messing with his hair.

While Rouge was doing that, Montag gave Yuri a bag filled with books. “I thought titles, interesting. Short, can be doable read, during work, finishes quickly.” It seemed he found some books that piqued his interest.

He was also avoiding getting his hair styled. Last time he allowed Micah to do it to him. He got a weird hairstyle. He’s not allowing anyone to touch his own hair, for the time being.

“Oh so you ended up buying those light novels? What is it about?” Scene who went to the bookstore with him peeked at the title from Yuri’s side.

The first book has a title that read “I Was a Sickly Guy In My Previous Life, Died, and Reincarnated as the Legendary Red Mist?!”

The second title was “Tiger and Dragon - Forbidden Love Story of Syndicate vs Fixer in Disguise”

Yuri was speechless at the choices he made.

“Wh- what even- no, I shouldn’t be judgemental, I mean, if it’s your taste—“

“It’s not. I read heavy text, classic stuff.  Got tired of that. Need something refreshing, new. Modern plot lines, interesting, never read it.” Montag hummed, there was a tone of anticipation and excitement in his usual broken speech

“Oh, taking the “I wanna try strange new foods” approach, are we? Let me see the- PFFT—! Snnnrgh… wait Hold- hold up…” Micah took a single glance, finally escaping Rouge. He had his pigtail braided, but unlike Yuri, it was braided around his head like a crown and the tail part was left as is. He saw the title and immediately tried to stifle a laughter at how ridiculous the plot seems going to be.

“Well… I’m sure, if… ssnnrkk, the real thing is still alive, it wouldn’t mind… this kind of thing either…, p-probably…..” Micah tried not to give away his identity but still it was hard not to laugh, knowing the fact such a novel existed and the real thing is on the Outskirt.

“Bought copies, you can give to Don Quixote, and the one in LCD” Montag happily shared them with Yuri. “O-....Oh, okay….” Yuri took the bag with her.

“This third title for the Christmas Gift, bought a copy for myself too” Montag showed it. It was a mystery novel titled “Mystery Cases of Shorlock Helmes,”, it was a story where a fictional Grade 1 Seven Association Fixer are solving cases of mystery deaths.

Interestingly all three titles seemed to have been penned by the same person, Kusch Irene.

“By the way what did you end up buying, other than clothes?” Micah asked curiously.
“Hmm? I bought some other stuff, maybe some souvenirs for the Sinners too… Oh, and this” Yuri rummaged her back.

Micah immediately jolted, and if his skin could change color, he would have paled by now. Instead, he showed an awkward smile and half a step back.

“O-Oh… What did you get there, Yuri?” He asked, trying to keep a calm smile, he can’t react negatively when Yuri was clearly loving the small toy, which was a small teddy bear with black eyes and a small top hat. “This plushie I got from a thrift shop! Apparently it’s a mascot from a now run-down restaurant? Isn’t it cute??” She chuckled. “Y-Yeah…. Cute….” He gulped, “Better…. put it back on the bag… so it doesn’t get dirty, yes?”

“I also bought this in case you guys didn’t get any good Chirstmas gift present, you can use this if you want to?” Yuri took out the other yellow one. “I don’t know if this is a duck or a chicken though….”

“ It’s a chicken ,” Micah convincingly said, “And sure, I’ll take that,” ‘And give away that accursed thing immediately in the party’ He added internally. “Thanks Yuri, I didn’t get any good gift ideas in the bookstore so this’ll help for the party.”

“Yeah, don’t worry.” Yuri chuckled. “Well since we got all that we want to buy, shall we eat lunch now?”

“Good idea, the food court section has a nice window terrace, let’s eat there!” Rouge led them again. Micah spent the entire day some distance away from Yuri for some reason. Montag is confused why Micah is hiding behind his back but lets him regardless.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Yuri went to Mephistopheles and shared the souvenirs. They all enjoyed the new accessories. Don Quixote especially squealed in a high tone when she saw the title of the novel and the Camille merch.

‘Guess getting her old memories and personality back doesn’t lessen her love for Fixer stuff… that’s good to know,’ Yuri had to bring up the news of his demotion, which Don Quixote also whined sympathetically.

“Um… Charon those are hair ties, don’t you want to wear it on your hair instead?” Yuri asked.
“Nuh uh, cuter here on Charon’s wrist. So Charon can see cute things while driving. Thanks, pinky”

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Christmas Party started at the eve, it works as a dinner party too.

Several tables have been laid in the office. Some are grilling things, Some are making a hot pot. Cake and fried foods are served elsewhere as a buffet. There were some alcohols served too.

“I-... didn’t know you can be a glutton, sir,” Pilot chatted with Rouge, who had tons of food on his plate.

“Don’t you know, eating while drinking prevents you from getting too drunk or choking yourself, cuz you force yourself to slow down.” Rouge continued to eat anyway.

“Bring it on you bastard!” “Yeah!” Jun and Felicia sat together on one side.
“Hmph! My Teacher and I shan’t be defeated by the likes of you!” “....” Aeng-du and Kim on the other side. The two began having drinking contests. Using big mugs to gulp alcohol after alcohol down their system.

“Tsuruno! Can you help me with the gifts!” Scene called her out. Tsuruno was in the middle of eating competition with another girl, apologizing for having to quit midway. “On it!” She followed her.

“Um…” “Whoa!” Sana sneaked up behind Jun. It has always been an inside joke that Sana’s presence has always been near undetectable until she started speaking. “I was delivering those that got gifts sent to them. We’ve inspected them all to be safe, so this one's for you…”

“For me?” Jun did not expect someone to send him something. He has been disowned by the Clan and all after all. The gift contained an alcohol called Souginryuu, produced 12 years ago.

The sender was written in a code that Jun immediately knew was Thumb’s code, and he quickly deciphered the name to be Dionysius.

“Why and how did that old man know where I am?? The fact he sent me this knowing it will definitely get to me.. What the hell does he want?!’ Jun groaned.
“Are we going to use that alcohol for the next round?” Felicia ignored his internal struggle and asked if they could continue their drinking contest.

Micah was getting some food when he saw Montag standing next to him, from the edge of his eyes. He has a party horn on his mouth “What’s up Mon, you need help with something? Want me to get something for you or help you explain some foods for you?” Micah asked

*Fweet* He poked Micah’s cheek with it.

“...? Montag?” *Fweet*
“What? What do you want, big guy?” *Fweet*

Montag merely replied by blowing the horn and poking his cheek with it. He was twice weirder than he already is.

After a while being only replied with squeaky noises from his paper horn, Micah finally noticed the slightly flushed and grinning lips on the usually stoic Montag.

“Dude are you drunk??” ‘Who the fuck gave him alcohol??’ Micah asked as Montag began Fweet-ing someone else’s faces as he left Micah.

“What the fuck–” He was going to catch up to him until Yuri came to him, headbutting her head while giggling to his chest.

“Micah~! Heheheh! Thanks for all the help you gave me this year! Hope we can help each other next year too~!” The flushed face clearly indicates, she too, was a lightweight and is drunk like Montag (who was now Fweet-ing and annoying Samjo who was eating roast beef.

“Real grateful you bein’ here–hicc-” Yuri hiccuped and slurred, “you were like a big brother I neve ha-eeegghhh……” And then vomited to Micah’s legs.

“YURI??! Yuri what the fuck, girl! Scene? Scene! Oh shoot she isn’t here!” Micah panics as he puts down his food and helps Yuri clean up instead.

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The gift exchange even happened after everyone had eaten and cleaned up the space a bit. Micah already changed his pants, Yuri had a headache but he has calmed down. Someone gave Montag to eat something chewy to keep his mouth full and not disturb anyone else.

The gift exchanging was done with a random number being called and taking a random number that isn’t the same number. Everything was covered in newspapers so no one can peek at what's inside.

Micah’s Chica plushie was received by Caiman who stared at it like she wanted it to die miserably.
Yuri’s food pattern scrunchy was received by Effie who took it happily.
Montag received Scene’s planner and notebook, he happily inspected it and planned what he wanted to write there.

While Rouge’s little Camille Nendoroid was received by Pilot. Pilot did not know the man it's based on, just commenting how they both have curly hair.
By coincidence, Saude gave Yuri a new hair tie that she tried on but let her hair down immediately because tying it adds to her headache.

Kim received the weird novels Montag bought and made no comments on it.
While Micah received a “Coloring Book for Adults.”
“.... I suppose that fits me...” He took it happily.

‘Should have given him the one for elderly,’ Montag and Yuri thought but did not want to tell him.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After they had fully sobered up, Micah told Montag and Yuri that he will never let them get drunk without supervision after the chaos they put him through.

Chapter Text

Yuri’s POV

“It seems the time is here for them… well for us first…” Saude-ssi suddenly spoke in the middle of the meeting. “Ah, yep, I was wondering when it will happen, guess it’s soon?” Effie-ssi added. “Indeed, as soon as tomorrow that is,” Caiman-ssi nodded along. “It seems they want to prioritize their time with those idiots from LCB, so we are asked to come first before their turn,”

“Um…. What is this thing you guys are talking about?” I asked, a bit wary.

“A certain measure to verify the status of each employee in Limbus Company. First LCCA and LCCB will have theirs first, then LCB,” Saude-ssi explained. “In other words, it’s time for the Limbus Company’s regular check-up” they finished their explanation. I paled slightly at the words of regular check-up

“The higher up has scheduled for each department’s turn for the regular check up. First will be LCD, which is today, then LCCB LCCA tomorrow, then soon enough, Sinners from LCB.” Effie-ssi explained. “It was repeatedly delayed due to several limiting circumstances on their end ” Caiman-ssi added. I’m already used to her venomous words for the Sinners at this point.

“Honestly, it was because of them that the higher up has been hounding us to make some time for the check up” Caiman-ssi added another spit to her words on them.

“I see…..” Montag nodded. It seems only me and Rouge knew what ‘regular check-up’ means. Montag seemed clueless as he came from Outskirt. Scene was a nest-born nurse student. ‘Micah is…. Can we even do a regular health check-up on him?’ I thought.

Both me and Rouge gulped down. “Why don’t you explain to others what regular check-ups are like in Fixer Offices usually for Montag?” Effie-ssi pointed to me and Rouge, which we both jolted.

“It… depends on the Office, but most of the time it is a test of battle. You can’t get out until you finish the tests….” Rouge sighed. “Oh? Back where I came from it was more like measuring heights, weights, running some basic fitness tests…” Scene hummed.

“I was a newbie in my Office but it is just like what Rouge said, L Corp. combined both the combat test and what Scene said as well.” I laughed, “The more stressful ones are psychological tests though, that took the most time, annoyingly”

“So where will this regular check-up take place?” Micah asked, preparing to notify everyone else as well.

“At the Headquarters.” Saude-sso explained. “Not the usual temporary branch office that houses LCCU like usual”

“Eh? The Headquarters? Then how will we get there?” Micah asked.
“Yuri has met someone from there actually,” Saude-ssi added.
“Eh? Wait? I did?” Now I'm confused.

“First, let’s explain the means of transportation. “You see, Miss Faust and LCA have been working together with a new Wing-aspirant company that developed the Backdoor system in LCB’s Mephistopheles.”

“.... Are they planning to take the place of L Corp?” I asked warily.
“No, they plan to be the new W Corp.” Effie-ssi answered my question
“W Corp’s situation was that bad??” I asked.

“There were news of the mysterious disappearances, both during the era of the Library, and the recent Bloodfiend-related case” Caiman-ssi answered.

“Anyway the fruit of that collaboration is a technology that is similar to Backdoor, but without the corridor. Remember when we had to walk for a while to reach the Refraction Railway’s door?” Effie-ssi reminded me of that situation. “It’s now more advanced, a direct connection from one door to another. Like a warp portal, in some movies I suppose.”

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the explanation, we made the announcement to everyone. Of course, most complained at the suddenness of the situation. Some had already plans of their own, but alas, the HQ summoned them so they had to cancel them all.

Soon we arrived at the supposed vehicle that will act as a ‘portal’. The interior was mostly metallic, filled to the brim with some complex machines. “This thing looked… extremely sturdy….” I muttered.

“Assistance with P Corp. it seems,” Saude-ssi said, “he? But the La Manc-” She immediately stopped what I was going to say by putting a finger over her lips.

‘.... so despite the First Kindred being with us, P Corp. still worked with us?....’ I have no comment for that, if I’m not allowed to speak out. Why risk biting more than I can chew?

“Come to think of it, this place looked far larger on the inside.”
“Yeah, that is what P Corp.’s Singularity is about” Effie-ssi and Rouge talked behind me, “No wonder they got interested in La Manchaland….” I did remember it has such a bigger interior compared to what was observed from outside.

Saude-ssi and Caiman-ssi began to tinker with the machine there with practiced movements before the energy cables began lighting up and the said that they are ready to receive us.

“Welcome to the Headquarter, this is the floor of the LCE Department.” Saude-ssi let us in as we followed her.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LCE.

I had heard about them a lot, and now I remembered what Saude-ssi meant. Indeed I have met one of their researchers.

The department was the one researching Abnormalities, Distortions, and Peccatulas. Some Abnormalities, once we have enough information about them, are transferred temporarily and rotated regularly to LCE and to other branch quarters of the LCCU.

The one in charge of that was LCCA. Cargo of LCCA explained that it was something about re-classification of the danger level and codes of the Abnormalities. The same was apparently applied to Distortions and Peccatula

 A man with glasses and some sort of… uniform was standing silently waiting for us.
“This here is Hohenheim, the chief researcher of this company, and also you could say, the leader of  LCE Department.”

“.... that suit kinda reminds me of AEDD, don’t you think?” Pilot whispered to Samjo who nodded. Aeng-du shushing them down.

“Ah, yes. Allow me to introduce you all to Marton and Alyssa, two of the few researchers directly in my command.” Hohenheim called the two.

“Ah!” I pointed at the dark-skinned man. “Oh, we meet again,” The man smiled slightly at me.

“You know him?” Montag asked. “Back when I first joined, I had slightly faulty EGO Gifts stuck on my body from the Abnormalities there due to the L Corp Branch Facility system not working properly.” I explained.

“Indeed, to have such an interesting case right after the official mission had just started. Was quite the sight that you came in that state, horns stuck in your head and some sort of bulging veins on your cheek” The man named Marton laughed.

“Eventually the data from L Corp Branch Facility you gave us and the situation of the EGO Gears in your person lead us to the invention of Abnodex and the digitisation of EGO Gears you guys are more used to wear in LCCU” Marton explained.

“Wait…. But your AEDD is different from our version of AEDD though,” Samjo asked Hohenheim, who was wearing one, “why is that, if I may ask?”


“Yours were something that was crafted based on EGO Gears we scavenged from the L Corp Branch Facility. It is much closer to what the L Corp Employees would wear in the bygone days.” Hohenheim pushed his glasses up proudly.

“Ours however is from an attempt of our own brand of extraction. Successfully, I might add. You could say it is closer to what LCB is using, but also in between that and the Lobotomy Corp EGO” he added his explanation.

“This is a product of thousands of repeated experiments and subsequent failures that have been meticulously conducted and studied in order to extract it with an acceptable level of stability.” Hohenheim huffed, “But of course, I managed to do so,”

“....” We looked to the other one, Alyssa, with the Ardor Blossom Star EGO, she just silently shrugged as if saying ‘we’re used to this’

“In a matter of stability, what you guys used is more stable, level of EGO resonance and attunement to one is easily achievable, perhaps because of your long exposure with working with the Abnormalities…. Receiving the EGO Gifts and all.” Alyssa hummed.

“Is it really that different?”  Samjo asked back.

“The matter is, EGO Gifts extracted or produced by L Corp. are something akin to a body part of Abnormalities, implanted to you. Using them for a longer time and receiving so many. It would make sense that you are slowly losing your humanity.” Alyssa added, “hence EGO Corrosion can happen if one’s virtu stat is mismatched or lower than what is needed”

Though it must be prefaced that E.G.O gears are standardized equipment, when juxtaposed with E.G.O gear from L Corp., depending on the degree of attunement to the Abnormality, the idiosyncrasies of the source may be utilized with greater flexibility. Yet, the degree to which that attunement and synchronization are achieved may resultantly allow the user to be devoured. This is reflected in their appearance, more closely resembling the source Abnormality than E.G.O of the former L Corp. do. E.G.O disintegration is not unlike decomposition of compost" Marton added. Hohenheim soon left the room to prepare the combat battles we are going to be having.

“So in other words. L Corp EGO is more stabilized, but the EGO Gift can slowly corrode us from humanity permanently. LCE EGO are less stable but can provide more firepower when needed. The effect of EGO Gifts are also more short term and temporary?” I tried to surmise.

“.... you are roughly correct, and yet you are oddly calm about the notion of losing your humanity.” Marton hummed.

“What is there to panic about, as long as I stay sane and I can keep my colleagues from harm, I see them as a benefit, if any,” I shruged.

“It seems your mental health has improved rather greatly ever since our first meeting when you just had your therapist. You act more like a proper L Corp. veteran now.” Marton commented

“Do I?” I tilted my head.

“I had not the experience of laboring for the former L Corp., yet I hear that some researchers employed here at LCE were employed there, once. The bizarre tales of their employment are quite… Mm, they certainly conjure all kinds of peculiar emotions.” Marton chuckled, “Had it not been from Miss Faust’ insistence that you are to work under LCCB so you can take care of LCCU and its Abnormalities, you probably would have been recruited to work here instead. Your insight and experience working with Abnormalities would have greatly advanced our experiment.”

“I am honored you think that much of me, but I’m not that great….” I shook my head humbly.

It seems the others had their tests first, the Team Captains such as me would take it later as it will be much longer time to examine my combat capabilities.

“How about emotional stability? When we wear EGO Gears styled from Lobotomy EGO, it does feel like talking with the aspects of the Abnormality inside the EGO,” I asked the two assistants.

“The research to resolve the emergence of emotional instability when equipped with an extracted gear is currently underway, but it isn’t really on the highest priority right now,” Marton explained.

“Does Abnormality breaches here too? Do you guys use the Trumpet system as well?” Rouge asked curiously. “Abnormality containment breaches are a rather commonplace occurrence here. It may perhaps be more frequent than it was at the former L Corp., given that the application for Abnormalities here is more for tasks rather than simple energy generation.

Distortion subjects, however, may exhibit signs of calming upon engagement in dialogues. Perhaps this is an indicator that they may indeed be reverted to their human forms—no matter how slim the chance may be. And yes, we do use the Trumpet system as well”

“You guys really take care of all huh, Abnormalities, Distortions, and Peccatulas. Must be real busy,” Micah hummed, “Makes senses that containment breaches are more rampant here”

“Ah, but the reports from you guys, all the logs, does help minimize the casualties.” Alyssa added, “so really, we are thankful for that….” She glanced at Montag, “Indeed it is quite the rare chance to get a glimpse and learn the language of Sweepers as well” she nodded sagely.

‘Ah, she meant those strings of numbers Montag often put in his footnotes…. He’s still doing that huh,’ I was so used to it that it had slipped my mind.

“Yes, truly those reports and logs from you guys are truly a boon for our research to go smoothly. Some of the members in LCE have experience working on Lobotomy Branch Facilities, but most of them were researchers rather than on-site agents like you are.” Marton complimented Yuri, “none of them were as experience as you especially, with hands-on experience handling the Abnormality so we had always looked forward for your reports”

It was an unexpected barrage of compliment for Yuri, who was only ever stigmatized regarding her background working at the fallen L Corp. Only the closest colleagues of her, of whom she had proved herself as a proper captain, do they respect her.

Seeing how Yuri stuttered and flustered at the compliment, Montag took charge forward to change the subject. “Can we see, new classifications?” Montag asked, quite curious. As it will be his and Rouge’s job as well to update every information regarding Abnormalities classifications too.

“Sure, here you go. With the Distortions, we added the letter codes of what Sin affinity it is attuned the most.” She showed the example from the case of The Time Ripper.

“For the Abnormalities, we now added the number 1 to 8 after the risk level to indicate that even in the same risk level, they can be different in terms of strength. For example, ARdor Blossom Moth is now WAW-5, compared to Sign of Roses which is WAW-6. This means Sign of Roses is more troublesome and more dangerous.”

“Wait, it's WAW?” Scene interjected and slipped between us to see the data. “It was HE when it first came in, right?”

“When we heard of its effect being able to infect too many people and cause mass casualties, we decided to up the risk level, plus the tendencies to self-destruct under certain circumstances, so yeah, we had to. Sorry for the trouble,” Alyssa let them see it.

“What’s the weakest and the strongest?” Montag asked again, still rather curious of the new classification and flicking the pages of each Abnormality in the tab that Alyssa lent him.

“That would be Blubbering Toad for ZAYIN-1 and My Form Empties for WAW-8” Alyssa commented.

‘Of course it’s those two….’ Both are ones I’m familiar with, annoyingly so I merely sighed internally.

From there onwards, they continued to chat and asked the two research assistants about how LCE works compared to LCCU

“Do you guys extract Enkephalin too?” Samjo asked

“LCE extracts Enkephalin in PE-Box forms and even employs a former L Corp. branch researcher… It would be no hyperbole to say that LCE has, in every way that matters, succeeded Lobotomy Corporation. Though we are still quite busy playing catch-up, we will one day surpass them.” Alyssa proudly explained.

“Why do you guys need to make two different versions of EGO Gears? Why not use the same as we do? Not to be rude for your fruits of research, I’m just curious.” Pilot asked.

“It’s fine. The reason why we made two different versions was so we could compare the two. In research terms we have the term Experimental Group and Control Group.  The Control Group is a group of subjects that do not receive the  modification, but are otherwise treated to do the same thing as the same as the Experimental Group. You guys with your Lobotomy EGO Gears are the Control Group with your more stable and standardized gears. Your work results are compared to us, LCE EGO, as the Experimental Group” Alyssa answered again.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After a while, I merely listened until it was time for our turns to get ‘checked up’

The ordeals were simple.

We are to form teams of 2 or 3s. We went with the usual group of friends. Me, Micah and Montag. Scene and Rouge.

Defeat Peccatula Class 1 with TETH Level EGO. During that I used the Impending Day, Lantern and Bygone Days EGO Gears with some EGO GIfts that add to my attack power.
Defeat Peccatula Class 2 with HE Level EGO. I used EGO Gears from both Legerdemain and AEDD, adding defense and healing based EGO Gifts to help me.
Defeat Peccatula Class 3 with WAW Level EGO. The EGO Gears I chose this time were Ebony Stem and Garden of Thorns.

Once the combat battle was done, I sighed as we rested in the nearest branch.

“Now now, no time to rest just yet, we will still be doing other tests, gotta go quickly so we can finish this in a day~” Saude-ssi chuckled as we get dragged elsewhere.

Basic medical tests were done, blood extractions included.
Written tests such as basic tests about comprehension about life in the City are like. Organizations and what it does. Quizzes about Abnormalities. Then the most annoying thing. The psychology tests.

At least unlike entrance exam psychology tests, this doesn't take as much time. Not many types were used.

I used to hate them alot. Despite the instruction saying to just be myself and answer honestly and quickly, I would always tend to overthink things like, “if I answered this, what would the result be? Would they perceive me as a dependent person that constantly needs help?” “If I said my taste of preferences in things I like is like this, would that make me sound like an antisocial person that can’t fit in”

So on, and so on, and I would redo my answer on each question multiple times, and make them invalid anyway.

At any rate, at least that kind of test wasn't done this time.

“Thank you for your time today and your willingness to cooperate properly for the regular check up.” Hohenheim-ssi announced as it seems most of the tests were done.

“On that note, I would like to have a personal talk with you, Captain Yuri,” Hohenheim-ssi suddenly asked me. “I have provided the room, please come here,” He suddenly guided me elsewhere as well.

I told Micah and Montag of what happened and where to search me as I followed Hohenheim to another room.

It seems the other room was used for something else, an experiment of some sort. I could see some sort of black  structure standing in the middle of that room.