Shadow Slave

Three more people gone, and zero new clues were found. This time, the vanished were not Awakened. One was a mundane soldier, one was a scientist, and one was a member of the civilian support staff. They did not have anything particular in common, no thread that connected them together or to the first victim. All three vanished from different locations, and had been last seen at different times.

Sunny and Verne silently investigated their living quarters, the areas they had been known to frequent in the settlement, and their last known locations. They did not find anything.

In the process, both of them grew more and more somber.

...At some point, Sunny threw a suspicious look at the other Master. What did he really know about Verne? Verne was a local of Antarctica, a career serviceman with a stellar record, a competent fighter, and a leader that was loved and respected by his men. His Aspect centered around heat transference and physical augmentation.

Not exactly something that could have been used to dispose of bodies... but then again, who said that it had to be done with an Aspect Ability?

Almost at the same time, Verne suddenly glanced at Sunny with his usual stoic expression. His eyes, however, were cold and heavy.

"I heard that you have a spatial storage Memory."

Sunny looked at him darkly.

"...So what if I do?"

Verne held his gaze for a few long moments, then turned away with a sigh.

"This is not good."

Sunny had to agree.

If the two of them were already paranoid enough to suspect each other, then the rest of the installation residents had to really be on edge.

A bit of vigilance was never a bad thing, but with how pressured people already felt, one additional burden could become a spark that had the potential to cause a violent explosion.

He sighed.

to... be ready to implement

gave him a sideways

"What kind of measures?"

at him calmly... or

...He was so tired.

"Whatever kind that works."

other Master remained silent for

am confident in my people. Even exhausted and sleep-deprived, they will remain disciplined. The civilians, however... that might be a challenge. However, the best way to resolve this issue is

for a few moments.

let's hope

next item on

victims were mundanes. That meant that they had been assigned a partner by the updated safety protocols that Verne had established. They had not been supposed to remain alone at any point, not to mention long

And yet, they had.

substantial. The mutual responsibility partners of the three victims reported the same thing... the vanished had been with them throughout the day, but at some point disappeared, completely unnoticed. The

to concentrate on servicing one

was after the remaining soldier had reported his partner's absence that the fact that two more people were missing was discovered. None of the three victims had been acting strangely or revealed any

moods grew darker

infected by the Spell a day prior, was confined to a

had turned into, preventing the

the same medical center. Inevitably, these stimulants, developed for Awakened soldiers, had put too much strain on his body. The man collapsed and swiftly died of acute heart failure in front of dozens of

Verne received the report about the deaths right after finishing the

the empty room,

Verne gritted his

all a bit suffocating,