There was no sign of life from the entity kept preserved in the cold space of the steel coffin. It roughly bore a humanoid shape to its frame, covered in bumpy, blue skin.
"As you are all aware, it is rare for the Fulminare themselves to descend onto Earth. Instead, they send other species under their army," the instructor explained. "This one has been classified as a "Regenerator"--ranging from two-and-a-half to three meters in height, they also possess strength ten times that of the average human."
From behind, a "blegh" sound left the mouth of the girl behind him at the sight of the contained lifeform, though he tried his best to pay attention. Still, he couldn't deny Lily's reaction–it was a rather creepy figure to see up close.
"Of course, they've earned their name from their natural ability to recover from just about any wound to their flesh. Be it having entire limbs blown off, head included, they reform. It's these traits that have led to Regenerators being sent down to attack lately. With just a hundred, they took Fort Calm," Professor Fuchs informed.
While he took notes of every word, he glanced over, finding May raising her hand, earning the attention of the Professor.
"Yes, May?" The teacher asked, adjusting his glasses.
"If they're able to recover from all wounds, how were we able to kill one?" May asked.
The Professor snapped his fingers, briefly pointing at the curious student, "Excellent question. If you've noticed, the body of the Regenerator within this capsule is perfectly intact. There isn't a single wound–and that's the point."
As the Professor pointed right past him, he glanced back to see the pink-haired girl excitedly raising her hand, practically jumping up to get called on.
"Yes, Lily?"
"Was it a chemical agent that killed it?!" Lily asked.
"No, but that's a respectable guess," Professor Fuchs rejected, unfolding his arms as he tapped on the front of the lifeform-holding capsule. "A needle was developed that contained an artificial virus capable of shutting off a creature's nervous system."
Shin spoke up, "That makes sense…If you block the brain from sending any signals to the body, that's immediate death. It's not a recognizable "wound"...only like flipping a switch."
"Precisely," Professor Fuchs confirmed. "The needle is being produced into specialized ammunition. While it's an effective countermeasure, you have to be accurate–you will need to hit the spine of a Regenerator in order to disable its nervous system."
"Snapping its neck won't have the same effect?" Alexander asked.
"No, it would recover from that. The virus used specifically makes the target's body recognize the effect as a natural occurrence, not a foreign disturbance," Professor Fuchs answered.
From the remote held in the instructor's hand, a projector emerged from the ceiling, providing a digital screen on the air itself.
"This is footage of UNED's Tiger Squadron encountering a Regenerator in Sector Four—the very one you see in the capsule." Professor Fuchs guided their attention.
["Operation Regenerator: as the name suggests, the objective of Tiger Squadron was to locate the lone Regenerator in the sector and test out various methods of putting it down."]
—
[Sector Fourteen | 18:00]
The cityscape was left in ruins, grasped in overgrowth as nature reclaimed the building blocks of civilization. Cars were left in the streets, rusted and rotted, while grass flourished from the cracks in the asphalt.
Along the congested street overlooked by grass-clung, decaying buildings, a party of five soldiers cautiously moved.
"Recon Tiger to HQ, no hostiles detected on the main road," the soldier in full-body, sable armor spoke into his communication device. "Continuing to the marked area, Sergeant Fang out."
The upcoming intersection was left in disrepair as multiple buildings were left collapsed upon one another. A mountain of cars were scattered on the corpses of skyscrapers like decorations of humanity's losses.
On the sergeant's wrist, a digital screen pulsated, revealing a figure up ahead on the displayed map.
"Hostile inside, engage slowly, boys," Sergeant Fang ordered, readying his outfitted rifle. "Got your injections ready?"
One soldier with a southern tang answered, "Ready to tussle, Sarge."
[Private Boar]
"Let's give this freak some hell," the tall, burly soldier declared with a sharp, Slavic accent, carrying a large capsule on his back.
[Private First Class Bear]
Leading the way inside, the Sergeant kept his rifle raised, staring through the scope that revealed the area ahead without any illusion; reading any heat signature, any movement, any pulse. Each step by the elite soldiers was taken with utter silence, watching one another's backs.
Inside of the building laid upon by other structures, a lightless graveyard of concrete was tucked inside.
"Nothin' so far, Sarge," Boar quietly said, looking into each room, only finding collapsed desks and scattered papers.
The Sergeant kept quiet, moving ahead into the center of the building to what was a room full of cubicles. It obscured any real benefit of vision, leaving them each to have to carefully check each space within the abandoned office.
"It's too cramped in here. Don't like it," Bear remarked.
"I think it's just you being a giant," Boar replied.
"Better than being a runt–"
"Stay focused, boys," the Sergeant reminded his subordinates.
That was the only thing that needed to be said to silence the chatter, drawing the soldiers close as they silently checked the cubicles. An unnerving silence existed within the still air of the desolate office space, harboring nothing but the forgotten paperwork of those who used to work so diligently–
Splash.
The sudden, wet noise brought the three men at the front to quickly turn around with their weapons raised. One of the soldiers was found standing there, looking down at the puddle left on the floor.
"Gross…What is this?--" The man whose face was hidden behind his black mask questioned, lifting his boot as the soles were stuck with the slimy substance.
From above, droplets rained down, landing on the body of the man left in the middle of the aisle of cubicles. The Sergeant looked up, looking through the scope of his weapon to see the dark ceiling–
It was there in the abundance of shadows; a humanoid figure clinging to the walls like a spider nesting in its web.
"Regenerator!" Sergeant Fang called out.
The lightless room was lit up by the gunfire as each fired, though the bullets went right through the foreign lifeform's body as if passing through clay. It opened its mouth, unleashing an animalistic howl as it pushed off the ceiling amidst the hail of bullets.
Even as it was shot, the entity's body rebuilt itself as it crashed down right on top of the unfortunate soldier left in the puddle of its saliva. It landed right beside the soldier, grabbing a hold of the fighter's arm. With only a light tug, it tore the limb off, leaving a gush of crimson fluid.
"Gaaah…!" The man screamed in pain.
"Badger–!" Boar shouted. "Shit…!"
While they had the towering, blue-skinned lifeform surrounded, none opted to fire as their comrade would be right in the middle.
"Engage injections!" Sergeant Fang ordered.
All at once, the soldiers pressed the button placed on the underside of their torsos, built into their advanced uniforms. The trigger caused the cylinder capsules on their backs to push the substance into their bodies.
With the injection, the muscles beneath the fortified fabric swelled before tightening, being enhanced by the foreign liquid.