"... Mich... b... the... enem..."
"Bu... ... Civ..."
"... care? ... it!"
"..."
"..."
"... no..."
BANG
.....
"Alone... at the ed..."
"Ugh... Where the hell am I?" Michael groaned out, his head in a daze as he woke up from his dreams by the sound of a music glitching out. He looked to his left hand, finding his MP3 Player as it shut down, probably out of battery charge.
Standing up on his feet, he began surveying his surroundings. His thoughts quickly turn to confusion at the nearly alien yet strangely familiar environment of the city.
A strange crystalline substance with a vibrant, rainbow-like glow protrudes from the ground. Abandoned structures dot the land as far as the eye can see. Some of them had signs with English words written on them, while others had words written in an unknown language. On their own, they weren't weird enough. It was the fact that some of them are floating in midair on their own.
"Huh, I'm sure buildings don't float like that," Michael said to himself as he scratched his head... only to jump up in surprise as he felt a sharp thing brushing against his head that was definitely not a hand.
He takes a look at his left hand, only to be shocked to see that it has been replaced by large, sharp, green blades made with what seemed to be a crystal growth of some sort. The same as those crystals that littered the landscape. He hurriedly examined the rest of his body to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
He sighed in relief at seeing his left hand be a hand. Sure, his left arm has crystalline growth, the same as in the environment that he had seen earlier, which he hadn't noticed earlier, but it was better than having none at all.
His enthusiasm was curbed as he found the rest of his body covered in black crystal growth, with some spots emanating a green glow. In the very few places where the crystals were not present, he found only an ashy gray color where his skin should be.
"What... the... fuck..." He uttered, falling down on his backside as his brain tried its hardest to comprehend what he had just seen. His brain comes up with all sorts of ways to explain what had happened to him. All of them are utterly illogical.
"T-this must be a dream... right? Must be... I just need to wake up..." A sharp pain felt when he sliced a bit of his flesh with his new blade confirmed his worst fear. This was definitely not a dream.
"What about... A mirror!" He quickly got up and began looking around nearby, rummaging every inch of the place for a mirror as if his life depended on it.
"Found it!" He screamed out as he held out a mirror. Sure, it was shattered, but it should be good enough for his use.
With a shaky hand, he turned the mirror towards himself, tension building up in his body as he hoped to see a human face. Deep down, however, he feels as though he already knows what the answer is.
Unfortunately, he was proven correct, his hope shattering like glass when he looked at his reflection. His face stared back at him, but, instead of that of a human's, a black orb of energy greeted him.
He fell on the ground, dropping the mirror as it shattered some more upon making contact with the ground. He could only stare at the broken mirror in an unnerving silence for several minutes, his mind trying to come up with any explanation but finding none.
"He he..." Michael chuckled before descending into full-blown laughter. "Ha... haha... HAHAHAHAHA" He laughed and laughed and kept on laughing like a maniac. His laughter echoed throughout the desolate place, yet he didn't care as he continued laughing some more.
He didn't know how long he had been laughing for, but he knew for sure that if he didn't, he might completely break down.
.....
After somewhat calming down from his near mental break, Michael sat down on a nearby bench and began to assess his situation. "Think, Michael. Stay calm and think back on what happened before this all started."
He starts to recall his memories, wanting to ensure that they remain intact and unchanged. "Name: Michael. Age: 20. Occupation..." He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. There are things he'd wished he had forgotten.
His mood livened up as he remembered his fond childhood. If he still had his face, he would have smiled as his mind replayed the happy memories he, his parents, and his siblings had together. Playing video games, listening to music, or even just casually chatting with his family or friends, those were the memories he cherished the most.
His mood went down a notch, however, when he noticed a glaring issue with his memory. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember his own face or anyone else's, even his family's. Instead, their features appeared as a distorted blur, offering not even a single clue to their appearances.
"Sigh... This is just great," He quietly complained to himself. "Never mind that; how did I even end up here? Think, Michael. What was the last thing you remember?"
His mind then recalled the events leading up to his waking up in this place. Being conscripted, fighting the war, being labeled a traitor after a gunshot to his captain's head due to their... disagreement, getting thrown into a penal unit, and then...
Michael's head goes blank as the memory abruptly stops. He held his head with his hand as he tried his hardest to remember the last memory before he was thrown here. He was pretty sure he and the rest of his unlucky soldiers were given a suicide mission to capture a research lab of some kind. Yet, there was nothing, not even a glimpse of the operation in his memory.
ROAR
Michael's thoughts were interrupted, however, when a loud, inhuman roaring was heard from a distance. He was instantly alert as he looked at where the sound had come from, his bladed arms in front of him in a defensive stance while his other hand tightly held on to his MP3 to keep it safe and sound.
One by one, they revealed themself. A group of humanoid monsters sporting sharp blades as arms, covered in black crystalline substance, and lastly, glowing orbs, which he decided to name the core, where their heads should be, the same as him.
Michael, having lowered his guard, watched on in confusion as they walked past him without so much as a glance in his direction. An idea then formed in his mind. A stupid one, but an idea nonetheless.
"Hey! Can you guys talk? Do you know what we are or where I am?" Michael asked, hoping that maybe these monsters had some kind of intelligence to talk.
Every one of them, except one, ignored his attempt to strike up a conversation with the one who was bothered, merely casting a glance at him before continuing to their unknown destination.
"Okay... Looks like they don't possess any intelligence or sentience at all. Or maybe they're just shy." Michael jokingly reasoned, which helped lift his spirit up a bit. "Welp, no point in staying here and waiting for something to happen. Might as well walk around and see if I can learn what I am or where or what this place is."
Dusting himself off, he took a short walk and made his way to the place of interest he had seen earlier. An abandoned orphanage of some kind, with a sign above the entrance saying 'Eridu's Orphanage', accompanied by the unknown language below it.
Michael quickly noticed that the letters of the unknown language seemingly correspond to the English alphabet. "Hmm... Looks like this place's writing system is interchangeable with English, which means the writing system is probably the same. Thank fuck. I was not looking forward to learning a new language. Although considering the state of this place, I doubt I'll use them. Still, can't hurt to learn them, I guess..."
Entering, the place certainly has seen better days. The wall and floor are covered in those mysterious crystals as he goes from room to room.
Strangely, the bedroom seems to have the highest concentration of them. More pressing, however, were the numerous slash marks that implied that whatever happened here might have something to do with those monsters earlier.
Fortunately, whatever had happened here appeared to have occurred a long time ago, as there were no corpses or blood present. Scratch that, in fact, there seemed to be nothing organic at all, no decaying food, mold, plants, or even insects. Weirdly, any and all signs of life were completely absent, even though the place should have been crawling with them.
Setting that thought aside, he searched through the orphanage for anything valuable. He found a bag, which he used to store his broken MP3 player, as well as a somewhat intact children's ABC book he had discovered. "I'd hoped to find a book that has information on what or where I am, but oh well, guess I'll have to explore some more."
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a shiny glint on a nearby desk. As he picked it up, he realized it was a coin of some sort. He also saw a few banknotes scattered around, but they were in an unknown currency.
Michael shrugged his shoulders as he nevertheless picked them all up and haphazardly threw them into his bag. "Money is money. Who knows, maybe it'll be useful." He quietly muttered to himself. After he was done scavenging anything valuable, he made his way outside.
Just before he exited, a fallen picture frame on a nearby wall caught his attention. He picked it up and inspected the photograph that was still inside.
The image itself was unremarkable, showing a group of orphans alongside what Michael guessed was their caretaker. At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary photo, but upon closer inspection, he noticed something very unusual. Firstly, there was a pair of robots resembling rabbits. Secondly, some of the people in the photo had distinctive features that stood out.
"Is that... a sheep-girl?" Michael asked himself in confusion at seeing the caretaker in the middle of the photo. At first, he thought that some sort of event was going on at the time the photo was taken and that she was merely wearing a costume, but no, her skin was really covered in fluffy white fur. Her feet were replaced by hooves, and those are undeniably the eyes of a sheep.
It's not just her, either; some of the kids in the photo also had animal features on them. Some are subtle, like a boy sporting a pair of cat ears, while others are obvious, like a girl with antlers and a snout similar to a reindeer's.
All of them pretty much point to something that has been gnawing at the back of his mind, something he had hoped he was wrong. "Looks like I really am not on Earth anymore."
.....
After that bombshell of information, Michael makes his way outside, where he begins to wander around, seeing the sights while also reading the children's book he took, learning and hopefully memorising the new alphabet and their corresponding letters in English.
As he walked around, Michael became rather suspicious when he arrived back at the entrance of the orphanage he had just left. "Hmm... I'm pretty sure I didn't walk in a circle, did I?" Shaking his head, he turned around and this time, really focused on where he was walking as he put his book back into his backpack.
Not long after, Michael stood in front of the orphanage once again. If he still had a face, he was pretty sure he would be giving the biggest look of confusion he could. "Alright, this is getting ridiculous. Am I in PT or Stanley Parable or something? I even make sure to carefully look where I'm looking." He mumbled in confusion.
Once again, he turned around and walked in the opposite direction. Instead of walking, he now begins running as fast as he can.
Still, like clockwork, he arrived back at the orphanage, and once again, he heads off, now choosing a different direction. Yet, no matter the direction or whether he was walking slowly or running, he would inevitably always end up back at the entrance.
After who knows how many times and with the sun beginning to set, Michael gave up, falling onto his backside with a thud. "There has to be a way out of here, right?" Michael reasoned to himself in order to stay calm. "Yeah, surely. I'm not gonna be stuck in this place forever..."
In desperation, he entered the orphanage and searched the place again in an attempt to escape. Bookshelf, tables, chairs, vases. Anything not tied to the floor or walls was overturned.
Michael paused for a moment and looked at the mess he had made before realising that he had not checked the bathroom yet. Not only that, he also sensed something emanating from the room.
As he made his way there, he barged in, stumbling in the process. He was fortunate that he stumbled, as he quickly noticed a strange and colorful opening he almost tripped into.
The opening pulsates like a heartbeat, and like a computer, it sometimes creates a glitch-like effect.
"Is this a portal?" Michael asked as he checked it. He's tempted to turn around and not risk it, but with no other way, he steeled his nerves as he readied himself to enter it. "This is a very stupid idea. Probably the stupidest." He said to himself. "Welp, not like I got any other choice. Either take a leap of faith or be stuck here for who knows how long..."
Michael closed his eyes and counted down from three. "Three, two, one... NOW!" Without hesitation, he dashed to the opening, hoping for the best.
.....
When Michael's body touched it, the world seemingly turned pitch black, as an almost unnoticeable yet distinctive rushing sound was heard in his hearing. Just as quickly as he entered, he was unceremoniously spat back out of it. The pitch-black void was gradually giving way to color again.
He was now standing on top of a parking lot, seemingly deeper in the city. Looking around, he was awed by the scenery of the environment surrounding him. If the last place was strange, this place was downright surreal and dreamlike.
Roads, apartment buildings, and even entire city blocks floated in the air upside down, defying physics and gravity to the point he was sure that Isaac Newton would be rolling in his grave right now.
He gazed at the ruins of what had once been a thriving city, feeling rather melancholic as he imagined the lives of the people who once lived here.
Clearing his mind of distractions, he quickly began to explore the area, being extra cautious to avoid falling into the numerous chasms scattered throughout the area.
Not long into his journey, he had already found another place of interest, an abandoned military camp with various items and opened crates littering the ground. It must've been abandoned for quite some time, judging by how worn down it looked.
He checked the electronics first, hoping to maybe find some sort of phone or even a working generator to hopefully charge his MP3, but all of them were broken or had the strange crystals growing out of them, much to his disappointment.
His disappointment quickly turned to delight as he found a somewhat decent-looking pistol with a single magazine strewn about near it. "No idea what model or caliber this thing is, but I can't really be picky now, can I? Judging by the size of the barrel, this must be at least 9mm."
With a bit of difficulty, since he was doing this with one hand, he loaded a magazine and pulled the slide back. Switching the safety from safe to fire, he aimed at a bucket nearby before pressing the trigger.
BANG
DING
The sound of a gun firing, followed by a bullet hitting metal, is heard as Michael whistled. "Yep. Definitely 9mm. This should do for now. Too bad I only got a single magazine, though."
Holding onto the pistol tightly after switching the safety back to safe, he decided to head closer to the ruined city, making sure to remain on the outskirts of it while staying clear of the monsters roaming around. Sure, they might be non-hostile to him, but he'd rather be safe than sorry.
The monster also seemed to be much more abundant here and even came in all shapes and sizes. Some of them had humanoid form and even wielded objects as makeshift weapons, while a few seemingly fused and became one with machinery.
"Is that a goddamn mech?!" Michael exclaimed. He silently went closer to the machine, and indeed, it was a mech, although it looked to be long abandoned with crystal growth on some of its armor plating. Still, a mech.
Equipped with four miniguns and what appeared to be missile launchers, this thing had more firepower than some tanks and could probably mow down a platoon in a matter of seconds.
"Uh oh..." Muttered Michael as he guessed that the mech's eyes glowed before promptly focusing on him. The sounds of metal joints creaking echoed as he realised just how big this robot was. "Uhh... Hello there, big guy." It must've deemed him a non-threat, as moments after scanning him with its eyes, it went back to sleep.
"Phew... That was a close one. I was not looking forward to fighting this thing with just a pistol and my blade."
It was then that a group of monsters ran past him in an almost manic frenzy. He almost instinctually asked what they were doing before remembering that they're not intelligent.
'Might as well follow them. Not like I got nothing better to do.' Michael thought to himself as he followed after the group.
.....
BANG BANG BANG BANG
"THIS IS SARGEANT DARCY FROM MERCY SQUAD! REQUESTING IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE! WE ARE OUT OF ANTI-CORRUPTION SERUM, FIVE PERSONNEL DOWN, AND ARE COMBAT INEFFECTIVE! DOES ANYONE READ ME?"
"GAHH!"
"SHIT! MAC IS DOWN! WHERE THE HELL IS OUR BACKUP?!"
When he heard the gunfire and screams, Michael's instinct as a soldier kicked in as he sprinted past the monsters. If what he's hearing is right, it means there are other people in this godforsaken place, and judging by the call for reinforcement, it means there are functioning military and perhaps even civilization left in this wasteland.
It means he wasn't the last person alive on this planet.
Hiding behind some rubble in an alleyway, he peeked his head out to see a squad of soldiers in a makeshift defensive position right by a dead-end, fighting off against the monsters, being outnumbered, and losing badly.
He counted eight soldiers in total. The scene was straight out of the battle he'd experienced; four of them were lying on the floor with blood pooling underneath them, while one of them was slumped with half of his body positioned right beside him. All of the bodies seemingly have those crystals growing out of them, which unnerved him at the implication when he was at the orphanage.
'What if all those... Shit!'
Ducking into cover as a bullet narrowly missed his core, Michael contemplated his choices. On one hand, he can help them in exchange for help himself and even extract information, on the other bladed hand, considering that he is one of the monsters that are evidently hostile to humans, there's no guarantee that he won't get shot or worse, tortured and experimented on.
As he carefully weighed the choices that he had, he peeked back up and saw a soldier throwing a grenade at a group of monsters.
"GRENADE OUT!"
BOOM
The grenade exploded, taking out at least five of them, thinning the horde, which managed to give all of the soldiers breathing room, yet more monsters were coming.
"THEY JUST KEEP COMING!"
Michael saw a monster, a little bigger than the rest, charge up something on its head before spewing a black liquid at one of the soldiers. When it made contact with the soldier's right leg, black crystals rapidly spread from it to his torso in a matter of seconds.
"AGHH! MY LEG!"
As he heard the three remaining soldiers desperately fighting off the horde of attackers, the conflicted feeling in his heart gave way as he threw his backpack down and readied his weapons. Maybe it was a sense of camaraderie or the simple fact that he doesn't like needless death and suffering; whatever the case, he made his choice. "Curse me and my bleeding heart..."
In a flash, he sped forward from cover and, with a squeeze of his fingers, fired a bullet into one of the monster's core. Like glass, the head exploded, leaving colorful particles behind on the ground before its body followed suit.
'So that's what happened when they die...'
Clearing his head free, he pushed forward, dispatching the monster one after another, with the monsters themself being oblivious to him being hostile to them and not the soldiers, allowing him to sneak up behind them and kill them with a single well-placed shot.
'This is too easy...' The monsters then seemed to sober up as a group of four of them turned around and began bumrushing him. Taking aim at one of them, he pressed the trigger.
Click
The clicking of his pistol was deafening as he quickly threw the now-empty gun as hard as he could at the nearest enemy, which managed to stagger it long enough for him to swing his bladed arms hard on its core, destroying it.
Two of them swing their blade at him, which he managed to thankfully react in time as he parried them both, being pushed a few meters behind.
While he's busy locking blades with the two, he sees the third one just behind them, charging up an attack, probably the same one that hit the poor soldier, and no doubt aimed towards him.
In a panic, using all of the strength he could muster, he positioned the two monsters he'd tangled with so that the projectile would hit them instead.
It worked as the two monsters staggered forward when they were hit, weakening their hold on his blade, which he took advantage of, delivering a clean strike on both of their heads, killing them.
The one before tried to spew its attack again, but Michael gave it no chance, closing the distance, ramming its body into a nearby wall, and stabbing its upper body repeatedly until his blade hit the brick wall behind it.
After dispatching them, he looked back at the battlefield and grimaced at the sight. While they had managed to kill all the monsters, the soldier who had his leg hit earlier is down, not from the injuries but by seemingly his own hand, judging by the gun right beside his head.
The other one, meanwhile, seemed to be hit by multiple projectiles, his body growing crystals rapidly and a sickly green line spreading across.
"UGhh... Ca...NT" The soldier's voice was heavily distorted as he called out for help. "SAr...ge." He held his mutated hand out in desperation at the last remaining survivor as his head slowly turned into a core.
The same as him and the monsters.
Michael charged forward as fast as he could, pulling his blade back before, in a single, clean motion, cleaving off the mutating soldier's head, his remaining blood spraying onto his body and stopping the transformation in its tracks.
He was glad he apparently had no stomach as he would surely have thrown up whatever was inside at the sight of the gory mess. Michael sighed and turned away from the messy sight. Some might say that he should've gotten used to the sight long ago, with all the things he saw and heard while on the battlefield, but perhaps not getting used to them was a good thing. It at least allowed him to retain some humanity, which he found rather ironic in his mind, considering what he is currently.
Turning around to the last remaining soldier, Michael paused as he saw a haunting sight that he was all too familiar with.
The soldier's eyes are empty, her face emotionless. Her gaze is on him, yet it's as if she is peering straight through him. Her left hand weakly holds the radio, which she had used to call for reinforcement earlier, a transmission coming out of it.
"This is Captain Magus. Obol Squad is on route for support. Hold out as long as possible. Do you copy?" When the voice receives no answer, it repeats again. "Is anyone still ali... Bzzt." The transmission was cut as she turned off the radio.
Michael widened his eyes when he saw her calmly raise her right hand, which was holding a gun, and position it at her temple.
"WAIT NO!" Michael shouted, running and stretching his arm to stop her, knowing damn well what she was going to do.
She must've heard him speak in the last seconds as her eyes widened in shock, but by then, it was already too late.
BANG
.....
"Area clear." Trigger called out as she unscoped after scouting the area where they last received Mercy Squad's coordinates. "No signs of Mercy Squad."
"Roger that. Dammit. Looks like we're too late... Squad, scatter, and investigate the area. Maybe we can find their belongings or their Bangboo here." Magus solemnly ordered.
"Affirmative." Soldier 11 simply replied as she went about investigating the area.
Seed cheerfully passed by Orphie and Magus on her scooter. "Sure thing, Captain Magus. I'll also put Seed Sr. on search mode as well."
"Much appreciated." Magus thanked. As the squad, including Trigger, searched the area, Magus felt a tug on her body. "What is it, Orphie?"
"Everyone, over here!" Orphie calls out to the rest of the squad, who promptly stop what they're doing.
They all reconvene at where Orphie's pointing, finding eight assault rifles leaning on a mound of debris with eight ID tags hanging off their barrels.
"Looks like a makeshift grave," Trigger remarked. "This can only mean one thing."
"Yeeaah... Someone must've arrived before us. It's no wonder this place looks clean; it must have been looted." Seed continued.
"I also found a few spent bullet casings and a handgun in an alleyway not far from their position. They also seem to be old, judging by the condition of the casing." Soldier 11 added as she showed the squad the bullet casing.
Indeed, just like Soldier 11 said, both the handgun and casing were filled with corrosion and a bit of Ether Corruption on their surface.
Trigger grabbed the casing and inspected it further with her ether vision and smell. "I recognize this. It was a standard issue 9mm pistol and rounds that were used ten years ago, before the fall of the Old Capital. Production has long since been discontinued, replaced by the much newer 9mm rounds that are much more powerful. It's remarkable that it even managed to fire, considering how long it must've been inside Hollow Zero."
To say Magus was livid would be an understatement, her digital eyes turning red with flames coming out of her barrel as her mind came to a single conclusion. "Is it those damn Hollow Raiders, Rebels? Whoever they are, they dared attack a soldier fighting Ethereals and loot their bodies?! When I find them..."
Before Magus could say what she intended to do with the hypothetical individual, Orphie managed to calm her down. "Calm down, Captain Magus. For all we know, Mercy Squad could've been wiped out before the Raiders or Rebels arrived." Orphie argued.
To further calm Magus, Trigger whips out her harmonica and, leaning on a wall, begins playing a shortened version of 'Homecoming'. The squad listened intently as she played the sombre music.
After she finished playing, she turned to Magus. "Not only that, whoever they are, they certainly are not a monster, considering they took the time to make a makeshift grave." Her visor turned then blue. "Captain Magus, do you believe that someone went out of their way to do all this, is an evil person?"
"I..." Sighing, Magus relented. "No, they certainly are not. But still, just because they didn't kill them doesn't mean they haven't done anything wrong. They certainly aren't here with proper authorization. This is Hollow Zero for crying out loud. A single wrong move here and they can kiss their life goodbye. That, and stealing the Defense Force's equipment."
Trigger agreed with her. "Agreed. Although considering how deep we are in Hollow Zero, they must've had some great navigation skills."
"Whatever the case, Squad! Retrieve the tags and their belongings." Magus ordered, to which Obol Squad obeyed immediately, carefully storing the identification tags and personal items, leaving only the rifles where they were.
"Ehn-ne ehn. (There's something over here.)." Suddenly, Coalby, Obol Squad's Bangboo, grabbed their attention and pointed to a pile of rubble.
Seed scooted to it and, with a little help from Seed Sr, cleared the rubble, finding what presumably was Mercy Squad's Bangboo. "This must be their Bangboo. It's broken and almost fully corrupted, though."
"Great job finding it. Maybe we can extract any recording from it when we're back at the outpost." Said Magus. "Squad, return to base. Our mission is done here."
.....
Isolde watched Hollow Zero from the edge of Scott Outpost. Waiting for Obol Squad to return, hopefully with any survivors of Mercy Squad. Yet, deep down, she already knows that its hopeless.
"Obol Squad, reporting in. Mission completed." The voice of Magus interrupted her thought as she turned around to face them.
The distinct lack of any other person besides Obol Squad was all the confirmation she needed. "I take it there are no survivors?"
Magus answered Isolde's question. "No. We only found their tag and personal belongings in their location." The entirety of Obol Squad, except Seed, lowered their head in solemnity, which Isolde also did.
"No need to blame yourself, Magus. No one could've predicted that Hollow Zero would suddenly distort with no warning whatsoever." Isolde assures. "Now then, follow me inside for debriefing."
Obol Squad entered the camp, greeting Captain Roland, who was present. Magus wasted no time in describing their rescue mission, with the rest of Obol Squad contributing their thoughts whenever they could.
Isolde's and Roland's expressions grew serious when Magus revealed pictures of the makeshift graves found by Obol Squad. They waited until she finished her debrief before speaking up.
"Looks like we have an interloper on our hands. Captain Roland, your thought?" Isolde asked.
"Unacceptable. After this debrief, I'll open an investigation on this matter." Said Roland as he shook his head in disapproval. "The last thing we need is more Hollow Raider roaming around Hollow Zero. Captain Magus, I believe you said you've found Mercy Squad's Bangboo? I'll have one of our Bangboo technicians extract the recording data from it."
Magus nodded as she signaled Seed to hand over the Bangboo to Roland.
"No need to bother our technician. Since I'm here, might as well help you all out." Ray, the researcher from White Star Institute, interjected, grabbing the Bangboo instead, much to Magus' and Roland's annoyance.
She went over to her computer, connecting the Bangboo to it, and began extracting any recording she could find. "Hmm... Not good, a lot of data has been corrupted, no worries though, the most recent recording should still be somewhat intact."
After a few minutes, Ray was done extracting. She instructed Roland to dismiss the other personnel who were not involved.
Closing the tent for a bit more privacy, Ray played the recording, showing it to the rest of the group.
The recording starts off with the Bangboo already trapped in the rubble and a few soldiers already down, the videofeed glitching out presumably due to the damage it had sustained.
They watched as the five remaining soldiers were reduced to four, Sergeant Darcy desperately asking for assistance on the radio as another soldier went down.
As the battle raged on, the visuals began to get more and more distorted as the Bangboo fought on to stay online.
Suddenly, a second set of gunfire was heard, to which the Bangboo managed to shift around to look at where the gunfire was coming from.
There were many things the group was expecting to see. A Hollow Raider, a Rebel, or even just a regular civilian who may have been trapped in Hollow Zero.
What they didn't expect to see was an Ethereal, a Tyrfing, wielding a handgun and dispatching Ethereals after Ethereals in a very quick and efficient manner. Like those of a trained soldier.
When it ran out of bullets, it fought them in a CQC using tactics that, while crude and rough, helped it gain the upper hand.
The videofeed then switched back to Mercy Squad, which had lost another soldier to a self-inflicted gunshot while the second-to-last one was beginning to get corrupted.
Before the soldier became fully corrupted, the Ethereals from earlier rushed over and put down the soldier.
The videofeed then panned back to Darcy as she raised her gun to the side of her head.
Just as the Ethereal suddenly lunged at Sargeant Darcy, the videofeed cuts off, and the group was treated to their own reflection on the black screen, showing their dumbfounded expression.
"I... I..." Magus wanted to say something about what they just saw, but the words kept eluding her mind.
The rest were also in a state of disbelief. Sure, they have heard and seen Ethereals, both natural and from corrupted beings, having some form of habits. Whether they were instinctual or deliberate, no one could really know.
This Ethereal was completely different. Not only does it deliberately attack its own kind, but it also wielded a firearm with skill and handling on par with a trained soldier, something which has never been recorded in all of history.
"That Ethereal was certainly unusual," Orphie commented after taking a moment to recover first.
Safe to say, Obol Squad was sworn to secrecy right there and then.