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.

be ready to implement

gave him a sideways

"What kind of measures?"

stared at him calmly... or coldly,

...He was so tired.

"Whatever kind that works."

remained silent for a

be a challenge. However, the best way to resolve this issue is to prevent it from happening in the first place. For that, we need to understand what is going on and stop more people

few moments. Eventually,

let's hope that we

the next item on the

word. This time, all three victims were mundanes. That meant that they had been assigned a partner by the updated safety protocols that Verne had established. They had not

And yet, they had.

but

while his comrade turned away to concentrate on

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 discomfort prior to their vanishing. There was simply nothing for Sunny and

grew darker and

One was a scientist that had reported symptoms of being infected by the Spell a day prior, was confined to a

preventing

of military stimulants from 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

Verne received the report about the

in the empty room, where only the

Verne gritted

all a bit suffocating,