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.

have to... be ready

gave him a

"What kind of measures?"

stared at him calmly... or

...He was so tired.

"Whatever kind that works."

Master remained silent

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

few moments.

hope that

the next item on the

partner by the updated safety protocols that Verne

And yet, they had.

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 scientist and the staff member had been

his comrade turned away to concentrate

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

grew darker and

that had reported symptoms of being infected by the Spell a day prior, was confined to a secure room in the installation's medical center, and quietly passed away in her sleep. Several Awakened monitoring the

the dead scientist had turned into, preventing the repeat of the safe

Inevitably, these stimulants, developed for

received the report about the deaths right after

the empty room, where only the two

Verne gritted his

all a bit suffocating,