Chapter Five: The Corrupted

The Commandant, already in a better mood, is currently standing in front of the seven cadets while one by one explaining the do's and don'ts of a sentinel in battle, as well as other tips on how to efficiently defeat a corrupted mechanoid. Apparently, the cadets have begun asking questions when they found a corrupted mechanoid's remnant in this ruined building.

The ruins was large, basically just an old building with growing grasses on some areas and small crawling insects. Fortunately for them, smaller life forms aren't affected by the Flare Virus that they could still continue on with their lives, probably more easier now with no humans erasing their existence every chance they're seen.

It might just be a trivial thing, but I'm genuinely happy for such insects. I'm especially inclined in liking specific bugs, there are different kinds and if I were to choose, I'd probably go after beetles.

It's a distant memory, and I rarely got memorable ones but...I do remember collecting beeteles when I was a child—it was a happy scene. I was currently crouching in front of a wall, observing a certain rhinoceros beetle crawling slowly upward. It was eating something, and seemingly unbothered by my presence. Well, that's good. I'd hate for it to go running away just because it thought I'd hurt it.

"The signs of a corrupted droid is its core glowing in red, would attack humans, and has been greatly enhanced by the virus. Unlike normal droids, a corrupted already has its system modified in a way that would allow them to detect signs of life and immediately destroy them." Alter Zielle explained, mostly because her Commandant is just sitting aorund over the corner, yawning.

"A normal droid can be powered off when acting differently and will be rebooted. But a corrupted can only be eliminated by destroying their cores, since cores power up all of humans' technology." She continued, then pointing at an image on her tablet's holographic screen. "There are different types of droids out there, and most of their cores can only be located inside which means sentinels need to completely destroy them to be able to find the core."

"Have you ever encountered a corrupted droid with more than one core?" Asked one male cadet, even going as far as writing everything on his own tab.

"Yes. Sometimes, there are cases like that and they are extremely tricky to deal with since droids will never truly stop attacking unless you destroy their core. Which is why it is recommended to destroy cores inside a corrupted at the same time ."

"What about Ferals? How do we deal with them? The textbooks said we can deal with them accordingly on the situation. What does that mean?" Questioned a girl.

"It means we must simply eliminate them as painlessly and quickly as possible." The one who answered the question this time was my Commandant, with a serious look over her eyes staring at something seemingly far.

"They don't have cores, they're humans who became Ferals because of the virus." Alter Zielle continued in understanding. "It is best to eliminate them quickly as sign of respect to the service they have done until that point.

"But how exactly do we kill them?"

"I believe the answer will come to you when you face one yourselves. Will you gauge their heart out? Break their bones? Crush their brain? Though base on your fearful expressions, let's hope it won't come to that point." My Commandant sighed, noticing the heaviness in the air because of what she said.

"The sad thing is that..." she smiled coldly, making the cadets shudder. "Unlike corrupted droids when eliminated, Ferals simply disappear like cinders fading through the air. Must be because they're humans exposed heavily to the virus that when killed, they leave no traces."

"Is that why all sentinels must abandon their family name and status when entering the JADES Organization?" One sadly asked. "What happens to their partners?"

Alter Zielle chose to answer instead. "It's a matter of whether they can still fight or not. If you're an Alter, once your Commandant dies in a middle of a link, it's no different from losing your mind and you might lose control and eventually become a Feral. However, if an Alter dies in a link, there is a possibility that the Commandant might lose its ability to properly connect with other Alters. In cases such as these, some of them eventually retires or become an Administrator."

"So it's severe either way?"

"Yes, but it's only a possibility for a Commandant and rarely ever happens. Which is why you must treasure your partner very well."

I looked away, gazing back over the beetle who is still unbothered by my presence before it. Now that I think of it, for a Commandant to lose their ability to connect, it would mean the Alter they lost must be very deeply rooted as a part of their existence that unable them to link with other Alters.

In the past, many Nexus pairs really die that the death counts are close to dozens every day. But now that most areas surrounding colonies are safe, things are usually peaceful and even if there were battles, they're mostly just corrupt droids.

"If that's the case, wouldn't it be better not to get too attached?" I recognized the girl who asked as that one from earlier, Safaron, was it?

Alter Zielle smiled. "If you don't get attached, a link cannot be formed in the first place. Nexus may give pairs temporary power to fight against enemies, but it's also a weapon that could affect both of them."

"But I've seen some S-Class Commandants who have two or three Alters beside them. Is that normal?"

"For an S-Class Commandant, yes." The Alter's smile faltered this time. "It shows that S-Class Commandants are different from other classes. Their Mental Intern-Drive or MIND is strong enough to link with two or three Alters that they can basically choose, or even link all at the same time in battle if they wish for it."

"As you may already know, MIND is that one fraction inside our brain that is capable of connecting with others. Some have weak MINDs while there are those who have a very powerful Mental Intern-Drive. MIND also decides our synchronization rate with our partners."

"But it is dangerous." The Commandant warned after Alter Zielle spoke. "One wrong move and the rest of the Alters might get corrupted. Linking three Alters at the same time means having to control three people's minds to keep them sane from the Flare Serum."

"The first ranked S-Class seems to be very strong then." One cadet said. "We've seen her battle records in lectures once and she singlehandedly defeated an army of both droids and Ferals by linking with seven Alters. The battle was so fast and intense too, but the enemies weren't able to defeat her at all."

"Ah, yes, the Battle of Cassiopei five years ago. She protected that entire city from Neuro Invasion. Without her, the Voltron Colony in the east wouldn't have had survived at all. The amazing thing is I heard she was only a cadet like us around that time and forcefully linked with those seven Alters who had already lost their Commandants from the war." Said another. "Now the Colony's just a Supply Zone though."

"To link with an Alter already on the brink of being corrupted shows how powerful her MIND is."

"I wonder how she is now."

"I heard those Alters retired, but they were saved from turning into Ferals thanks to her."

"She currently only has one Alter though.

"Must be because she can just link with whoever if she wants to."

"But I heard the the rest of the S-Class have two or three Alters."

They all stopped their chattering when Commandant Yeona stood up, having that rare serious façade again. "I heard you're all potential S-Class, but I do not recommend on having more than one Alters or allow your Commandant to have so."

"Why is that?"

For a moment there, I thought she was going to say something important but then she eventually grinned playfully. "You wouldn't want to be branded as cheaters by other Nexus pairs, would you? Having more than one Alters is more or less the same as betraying your first partner or seeing your Commandant cheat with others, and other Nexus pairs see it as an insult so it would simply just ruin your reputation."

"It is not illegal to have more partners, but it indeed doesn't look good and even dangerous to be exact. It usually results to a decrease in synch rate with your original Alter or Commandant, causing the lose of trust." Alter Zielle explained.

"Then why do most S-Class still do that?"

"Because they're the kind who only cares about power and treat their partners like toys they can discard and replace." Commandant Yeona answered, causing the cadets to keep their silence. "If you don't want to be seen like that, then simply stick with one. Oh, it's different if you're into nandroids of course. It's obviously fine to get as much as you can, especially when they're on sale."

That single statement made the cadets laugh, easing the atmosphere. Commandant Yeona has always been good at shifting conversations, but I can't help but think she just really loves her collection. As my Commandant's closest friend, we've been into their dorm plenty of times before and so naturally know how she even got an entire room filled with her toys.

Nandroids are small or mini robotic toy-like machines usually modelled from popular animations shows or games. They're really popular as collectibles recently, so many people often buy them to be displayed or give as presents.

They can move for a bit and even recreate their iconic lines so they're mostly well-sought both in online shopping or not. Because of their popularity and feature evolution for years now, they've been getting more and more expensive.

"We have explored this place well so far, now let's go back to the truck. We've wasted an hour here already." Commandant Yeona said, checking the watch on her wrist.

The cadets soon followed her out of the building and walked towards where we last left the truck. I was, as usual, lagging behind the Commandant as she watched over the cadets from the back. However, one cadet saw her and began walking alongside the Commandant after a short greeting while at the same time checking the device she was holding.

"Commandant Alestrandra," greeted Safaron. "I have a question, I hope it's not too presumptuous of me to ask something so personal."

"That would depend on the question." As usual, the Commandant spoke with such an uncaring tone.

"In that case," she turned around, lifting the device on her hand facing on my direction which made the three of us stop. "Why is the Tracking Device not picking up any life signals from her? Instead..." she pressed something. "...if I shift it to core signals, only then the Device would actually notice her there."