Rebels against the New World's Chaos

Following the destruction of most cities and the massive death toll in Japan because of the sudden attack of Malignances, many of the families and clans in the Sumeragi syndicate who has little to no relevance in the organization was either dissolved or was wiped out.

Because they were nothing but lackeys of the main clans among the organization, their loss was a numerical disaster but not one that sufficiently blunted the military power of the group. If anything, the disappearance of these individuals gave way for those who remained to grow as they were made to take on more responsibilities and sometimes lead the charge in clearing operations and clashes with the Miyazono corporation's psychics.

"Hogosha Furuta…"

"…"

"We have assembled the team. We're ready to move out as soon as you give the word."

Among those who climbed the ranking and power ladder was Furuta Renjiro who used to be a mere Kanbu officer but is now the newest addition in the Amano Hogosha's ranks.

"A supply depot… To think that they are using the harbor not only for their official business with the government but also to import materials for their Replicator cells… so this is the reason why they're so brave with simply hitting us with wave after wave of cloned psychics."

"How should we approach this? Should we wear Diminisher bracelets and bomb it? Or should we make a frontal attack and aim to kill as much clones as possible along with their cargo?"

"There's no need to be so sneaky… If the goal is right in front of you, then just reach out for it."

"What?"

Fearing nothing and wearing a staunch expression, Renjiro stood up from their hiding place behind a container van and confronted the cloned Miyazono workers upfront without any hint of subtlety.

"W-W-Who are you-!?"

"How did you get here?!?"

His nonchalant stride towards the workers was not aided by any words leaving his lips to respond to their questions. Showing no expression on his face, he stretched out his hands and slowly, the metals around the armed workers began to shake and produced strained sounds.

"W-W-WHA-!?"

"Who on earth-"

""

"TRUE-!?"

In but a moment, an entire cargo ship, weighing hundreds of thousands of metric tons and carrying cargo of almost the same weight, was raised a hundred meters above the water.

""

And instantly, it was dropped straight down into the water where the combustible fuel, explosive materials and other items that the vessel carried was either destroyed by the attack or sank down to the water, never to be salvaged.

"S-S-Sir…"

"Call headquarters."

"H-Huh? Oh! What should we tell them, sir?"

"Tell them that the enemy is making their move… we have to strike their stronghold in Sagami before things elevate more."

"Yes!"

As his subordinate left to contact their comrades, Renjiro looked at the dead clones in front of him that he cleaved into pieces before he destroyed the ship. They all had to wear masks to hide the fact that they are the clones of the same person… but one thing that stuck out to him greatly is the fact that two of the three clones had something that was different from the more legible copy of the original host.

"Blue blotches… red birthmarks…"

The skin of the arms of one had a bluish hue while the other had birthmarks that are bright red.

"Genetic edits… no, these are mutations."

As the DNA of any living thing is a fragile object, things like mutations tend to happen and cause problems for those who are trying to clone a living thing and desire to have the same copy of the organism. The fact that the Miyazono corporation has allowed for defective clones like this to not only live but also help in the under-the-table manual labor like this is something that made Renjiro guess that the Miyazonos are either running out of dependable clones…

"Let's wish it's the former."

…or they are reserving the properly made ones for something more useful to their agendas.

In the Kabuki-cho estate of the Sumeragi syndicate, Renjiro was walking towards the inner sanctum while being assisted by the twins who are the only holders of the key leading to that place.

"Furuta-sama… May I trouble you with a question?"

"What is it, Enka-dono?"

"Has there really been no issues about your new body?"

"That…"

"Excuse my dear sister Enka for asking this, Furuta-sama. But as the ones assigned to watch over your welfare as the new addition to the Amano Hogosha guardians, we are compelled to report to Oyabun-sama if ever anyone among the guardians is facing any problems."

Although he failed to fulfill his mission to slay William Tetian in order to offer it up as the proof that he is worthy of ascending to the rank of an Amano Hogosha guardian, Oyabun Sumeragi Nichirin of the Sumeragi syndicate heard of his exploits from Imamura Kirin, Akari, Kaede and Kai and he was summoned to the Inner Sanctum of the estate to become the replacement to the departed Hogosha guardian.

His previously deteriorating body was reformed and his psychic power that can barely stand its ground against a psychic at the level of a Miyazono Gardener or a Hogosha guardian rose to the point that during their sparring session, it was said that Akari and Kaede, who are both strong psychics can barely keep up with him. And yet, there are rumors going around that he may have cheated death by reforming his body… but it isn't something that he wouldn't be paying for dearly.

"Overall, I am alright… but given the process that Oyabun-sama used on me to free me from the designated end of my life as a failed Replicant, I am aware that I am living on borrowed time."

"…"

"This body is strong, healthy and would never fail me in battle… but I am aware that it wouldn't be like this for too long."

Renjiro took off his gloves and on both of his hands, his nails that should've been whitish or a flush of pink is now jet black… as if it was covered by lacquer. But this isn't nail polish nor artificial coloring. This is his real nails which to him, signifies that he isn't going to last long in this new body of his.

"Still, I have made my choice… The Sumeragi group took me in during a time in my life where I believed that I have no place to belong and no future to look forward to and changed all of that for me. I met all kinds of people unified in their desire to return our lives and our world to how it was before our enemies changed it to fit their agendas."

"Furuta-sama…"

"Before I die, I will not take a single step forward for all of us… If in exchange for my life, I can bring us nearer than ever before to our goal…"

With a resolution stronger than any steel, Renjiro stepped into the Innermost courtyard of the Sumeragi estate.

"…then so be it."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

In the Sunogahara-cho settlement, there is the surface level administration that is responsible for the day-to-day functions of the town mainly manned by civilian appointees or elected officials but headed by the S.S.S who provides protection for the town and a connection to the semi-functional national government currently stranded in New Tokyo.

The acting mayor of the Sunogahara-cho settlement, Nakamura Yuri, leads the town during the day when she mostly faces the daily affairs of this safe haven alongside the regular and slightly disturbing virtual meeting with the official designated to be their liaison with the government.

However, by night, Nakamura Yuri's responsibilities shift from civilian affairs and into the work that she has been doing for a long time.

"Yurippe…"

"I'm going to be honest… Calling you here wasn't something that I wanted to even consider, Ephraim. However…"

"…present circumstances have brought someone like me to the picture?"

"Correct. I'm glad you haven't lost your edge yet."

In the basement of the town hall of Sunogahara-cho, what remains of the S.S.S have not ceased their activities just because they have lost their comrades to either enemy attack or encounters with Malignances. Here, the then small basement built simply as a storage room for the town hall have been expanded into a fairly large complex of about seven rooms that hold downgraded yet still greatly functional departments of the S.S.S.

"Chaa's expedition team managed to reach our bunker in Ginza and clear out the rubble left there a year ago. From the last report that reached my table, he said that much of the Armory was still how it was when they left it and because of that, both the Psychic and normal security forces in our town can expect to be well-armed not only because we've reclaimed our weapons but because they also got to take the equipment they left there."

"I see. That's good."

"There's also Takeyama's computers and server array in the same place that was reclaimed. Once he gets it up and running, we can finally let the folks to access the internet and ease things up for them."

"…"

"The same goes to Yusa's communication system in the abandoned command room. She says that once the expedition teams bring that equipment back here, we would have a secure and dependable communication line with our teams outside the town."

"Just get straight to the point, Yurippe. Both of us know that you didn't call me towards here just to tell me what the S.S.S has been up to for the past few months, right?"

"…"

"Even if I was suspended, I was still considered as an indispensable individual in our settlement, not just because of my power as a Psychic, but also because of my non-combat skills that we needed to stabilize the situation in the town."

As Ephraim spoke those words, Yuri looked troubled as if Ephraim's words hit the metaphorical bull's eye that she is covering up.

"So please, Yurippe. Just tell me why I was called here now."

"…I wasn't just telling you what we have been up to for a while. I also wanted to tell you that things are on the upward trend not just in the safety of the town but also our welfare capabilities towards the public."

"And that means… what exactly?"

"It means that we shouldn't depend on your strength alone to secure our settlement. As you have said, you were indispensable because of your skills and experience at the things that we critically need… but there is also the part of this which you may already have deduced by yourself… the fact that you are unmatched by any other Psychic in our ranks made you the last line of defense in case of an attack."

"I see. I guess I did become the de facto defender of the city in case we got attacked when our combat teams are away."

"Right… which is why I am designating your indefinite suspension null and void and immediately in effect."

"What?"

While Ephraim was bewildered with the sudden announcement, Yuri took a folder from the drawer of her table and handed it to him. He opened it and saw that it was all of his documents, both those that are openly-accessible and top secret, stamped with Yuri's seal and at the back was a redesignation form that is already filled up and signed by Yuri, only missing his own signature that would officiate its contents.

"You've screwed up royally before, Rai. You've caused innumerable deaths and destroyed the recovery of the world from its past apocalyptic experiences. The fact that it wasn't something that you predicted is something that I took into consideration when I lowered your punishment to that of a suspension rather than expulsion… or worse, execution."

"…"

"However, no matter how much I think about our current situation caused by that blunder you did, I don't see it as something avoidable. Our intelligence reports about the Mori cult has long predicted that they'd be making their moves and it would be a disastrous one. With your involvement, we still didn't manage to stop it but we at least have a first-hand account and the closest possible insight about what happened there… and trust me, I've been using it as our trump card to remain autonomous from the government and the Miyazono corporation."

"Which means that they can't force us to go back into their fold…"

"…and they will surely try to undermine us in another way."

Finishing each other's sentences, both Yuri and Ephraim understood that there would surely be some movement by their enemies sooner than they may expect.

"I get it now… so you asked me to be brought back into service because you received intel that there would be an attack against us?"

"Not Sunogahara-cho exactly… more like our allies who share the burden of running this place with us."

Yuri turned her computer monitor around and showed Ephraim a clip from the news in New Tokyo.

"The Yokohama harbor bombing, huh?"

"Right. We were informed beforehand that the Sumeragi group were investigating an off-the-books shipment to the Miyazono corporation designated to be delivered to their stronghold in Sagami bay. The one who destroyed both the ship and the shipment was no other than Furuta Renjiro, your teacher and former team leader."

"Furuta-sensei, huh? He sure gave it his all to ruin the enemy's plans."

"You're right with that… but this is not the end of this, at least according to him."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The ship contained parts and materials for Replicator cells. He may have destroyed the supplies, but he knows that it would take long for the Miyazono corporation to just get another shipment. So, as he said in his request letter, he intends to break the furnace rather than the wheel of the cart carrying the iron ore."

"Well, well… It seems like he at least still knows how to have fun. Does this mean that I'm being sent there to help him out?"

"Exactly… I know that you would've liked it better if Mana-chan would be with you, but unfortunately, she's with the rest of the Psychic Services to wipe out a Malignance nest north of our position. You'd be solo from the S.S.S in this one."

"It's alright. Mana and the others are doing their best for all of us. I can't trouble them with my selfishness and desire to hold onto nostalgia."

With his mission clearly stated, Ephraim proceeded to the armory room where he acquired his weapons and other equipment before heading to the garage where he was reunited with a vehicle that he once drove as part of his patrols around the old city.

"How bold of you to come here with on that motorcycle…"

"I was told to come as soon as possible. Given the state of the city, I don't believe its necessary for me to explain why I can't get here on a car."

"Oh please… I don't think even a hundred Alpha-class Malignances could ever manage to make you break a sweat."

"Well, you're not wrong with that."

As soon as I arrived at the main gate of the Sumeragi estate in the heart of Kabuki-cho, I was talked to by Moriyama Kamaji-san, the gate keeper of the estate and one of the Amano Hogosha guardians of the organization.

Unlike before when he often just sat in front of the gate, leaning on the wall like a drunk who passed out at the street, Kamaji now either stands on sharp attention by his place or sits down on a plastic chair that was supposedly given to him by Akari-san.

From what I heard, he injured his lower back after getting into a fight against a late Amano Hogosha guardian based on Okinawa and since then, had difficulty standing straight unless he staves off the pain using his Astra energy, but it ends up exhausting his power. It was only after that aforementioned Amano Hogosha guardian died that he finally accepted to receive treatment for that injury and when asked why he waited for so long, he said: "I don't want the old man to come here and take my backbone again".

"In any case, I've heard that things are starting to pick up for what is left of the Sumeragi group."

"You're not wrong with that… we managed to secure almost all districts of the city that the Miyazono group has no interest with or isn't in their "must have" list. As usual, most of their strongholds are around Tokyo bay which they use as a buffer zone between Old and New Tokyo."

"And the strongest ones are focused on Sagami bridge…"

"Right. We've poured a lot of resources and time to find a weakness on that part yet we haven't had any concrete weaknesses to make use of to assault that place."

"No weakness? Do tell me more."

Since he judged that there wouldn't be any harm on leaving his station for a while, Kamaji-san and I walked inside the estate and sat by a nearby tea table where we talked about it over coffee.

"First of all, the Sagami stronghold is what medieval Europeans would consider as a gatehouse. Are you familiar with it? Those enormous parts of a castle wall that are the most defended in a battle?"

"I've read about them in a book, yes."

"Good, that makes things easier to explain."

He stretched out his hand partially to the ground where he manipulated small particles of the soil and shaped it like a 3-dimensional bird's eye view map of Sagami bay.

"These buildings over here are rented out to normal people as apartment complexes, but they are owned by middle management employees of the Miyazono corporation. Those employees are innocent, they thought that being awarded those properties are their reward for being loyal employees, but in reality, they are just convenient pawns to hide the fact that this is hideout for their Psychics coming back from raids in Old Tokyo."

"Hideout? You mean to say that none of the tenants found it strange to see random people coming and going into their buildings?"

"It's a "live and let live" world out there now, Rai-kun. To these people who definitely cannot afford the then-expensive and now-enormously exorbitant cost of living in New Tokyo, these residential buildings in Sagami is their only haven… even if they have to look past the fact that they're probably not wholly safe in there."

"I see… Sunogahara-cho is more secure in that respect then."

After he explained the buildings at the cusp of the area, he then formed a few other buildings that resembles office buildings.

"Right on this part are buildings that are either closed down or semi-occupied. Just like before, on paper, it is owned by unrelated individuals, but upon further investigation by our men, we found out that the owners of the property are either dead or entirely fictional."

"Ghost employees… no, ghost owners?"

"Both. The dead owners are employees of the company who died after the "Apokalypse" and they attempted to get clean from the company's darker side. From what we gathered, they tried to escape with what they managed to get out from their dealings in the Miyazono corporation but was promptly hunted down and executed by their Psychics."

"It only happened after the Seers of Death let loose of the Malignances?"

"Yeah, we think that that event shook their hierarchical structure with supervisors and managers trying to loot as much money and property from their below the table dealings and the common workers discovering how their supposedly "clean and honest" work led to this outcome. In short, everyone wanted to leave the corporation, but to the Miyazonos, even the dead has their uses."

We moved towards the last few buildings before the bridge itself and there, I noticed something that shouldn't be there if memory serves me right.

"Is that… an Astra energy generator?"

"Close. It's both a generator and an emitter."

To normal people, the word "generator" wouldn't be much of an issue, but to Psychics, attaching the words "Astra energy" to it is something that isn't only bad… it's greatly messed up and disturbingly worrying.

"Tell me… did they use humans again for it?"

"…Yeah."

"Damn it."

Astra energy is produced by the brain. Therefore, there is only one way for a generator to be created, and that is no other than lobotomizing people and attaching their brains into a circuit that induces it with pain in order to produce the greatest amount of Astra energy.

"It is also one of the reasons why they only got to fortify this place after the "Apokalypse". The amount of dead and half-dead people after that event gave them enough people to use in creating this stronghold. With an Astra energy generator in there that is attuned to their Psychics' astra energy signature, their fighters would basically be buffed to an unsurpassable degree, that we'd need ten times the quantity of psychics to fight them off."

"Quantity… the one thing we don't have."

As I repressed my sense of annoyance and hatred for the Miyazonos for subjecting people to that kind of fate, I thought through how this would go once we got sent there.

"That look… you're not thinking of bringing out your all just to break open this place, don't you?"

"…If it ends up like that, it will be like that."

"You stupid brat… You know what happened last time when you let yourself loose."

"You guys got stronger too. I know that you can stop me."

"That's not the point!"

Kamaji-san hit the table and probably because he was using his psychic power, the force of his punch made the ground reverberate slightly.

"You wield too much power for the safety of those around you, Rai! It took so much for those around you back in Old Tokyo academy to stop you and the last report we received about your mission with the S.S.S mentioned that you could've lost control once again!"

"And I said, I trust you guys and the strength that you now wield!"

"-!?"

"If push comes to shove, I want you guys to stop me even if it will cripple me. I've heard it again and again from the others… at some point, I will become a loose cannon that would bring more harm than good. My only wish before I get to that point is for the fight, I will get into to end all of this once and for all."

"…"

As if he didn't like my answer, Kamaji-san stood up and walked out of the courtyard and back on his place outside the gates.

"…Don't I have the right to show my resolution sometimes?"

"The problem isn't your resolution… the problem is who it came from."

"Furuta-sensei."

"Hey! It's been a while."

Suddenly, Furuta-sensei appeared out of nowhere and took the seat that Kamaji-san was sitting on moments ago.

"I implore you to understand Kamaji's position in this one, Rai-kun. Things haven't been nice for him, you see."

"What do you mean?"

"After I took the position of an Amano Hogosha guardian previously held by his master, Kamaji also formally accepted his position as one."

"Formally accepted… what do you mean? Isn't he already a Guardian long before?"

"He is. But pride kept him from accepting that position. He believed that he is unworthy of it unless he has proved his resolution towards the old man… which is why he was pissed when he heard almost the same words from you."

I get it now… so that was the reason why he didn't want to listen to me and my desire to end the evils of the Miyazono corporation. He is frustrated that he was unable to prove his worth… and that he knowns that it will ultimately be meaningless for those who will be left.

"Anyways, I'm glad to have you here, Rai… You're exactly the person that I need to pull off this one-of-a-kind task."

"What… are you planning anyways, Sensei?"

What left his mouth next made me realize that there is a greater danger than what I am seeing right now.

"We're going to give those Miyazono goons a taste of their bitter medicine. And in order to do that, we will have to catch Malignances… and let them loose at where it hurts the most for the Miyazonos."