Heavy Draught Warning!!

— Franchise.

Glancing back, Franchise exhales sharply. Feeling aggravated by this presence, it’s like he couldn’t rest at all. Standing behind him was a muscular, pale skinned man of the same height. A long, sheathed blade on his left hip. He always had both hands on it. An unending, tight grip, as if he was ready to draw it out at any possible moment. His wide eyes were a stained orange, and the pupils were a vicious, piercing purple. Their color was easy to notice because this man never blinked and never closed his eyes. Not even a little. His shady crimson hair was slightly long for a man, but his forehead was clear as the bangs were tied back into a small knot. Barefoot, he wore a crimson and purple cloak over his black uniform.

Written in white, across his back, the word: Annihilate.

He was the second in command of The Draught. Named Despise, the Meteor Blade.

— Despise… — He groaned.

Franchise, painfully, gets up to stare down at that unsettling man. It is said, that Despise can cut through anything in this world, perhaps even the universe. That nothing can stop his weapon. Much like Franchise and his natural ability. So, it was natural that many of the Searchers asked themselves who was the “sharpest”.

Could Franchise’s VSS Hand cut through Despise’s Meteor Blade? Or could Despise cut through Franchise? The wording of these questions mattered a lot for the both of them. Each one claims they would be victorious over the other. But no one knows the truth.

— It seems… that you… were troubled.

— We pulled through, like always. Where was your band at?

— We’ve been… summoned.

Despise spoke very slowly. For reasons no one understood. All the more reason people hated being around him. He was often compared to a robot, emotionless and task driven. It was impossible to know how he felt. But as Killerkill and the others noted, he was not there alone and by his own will. Another five members enter the room and stand around Despise. The Draught’s other members.

— We rarely get called together like this… Oh… I don’t know how to react…

Useless, The Depressed. She was a short woman with long black hair that hid her head. She didn’t wear gloves or shoes and those were the only visible things about her. Being the second youngest person on The Lapse, she was a rather new addition to team. Some say that Useless could rival Imperium’s power.

— Necessity to neutralize a nasty nobody is naturally… desired, Useless.

Slots, the Infinity Man was the tallest. Shirtless, his impressive physic was always displayed. He was bald and his expression was hidden by a dark blue ball. His VSS made his facial features disappear. And many protrusions like blue spheres were seen, over his torso, arms, and shoulders. Big enough to hide entire parts of his body, but a man could definitely be seen under those. And the mask that was on his back was that of a demon, half happy, half furious.

— Shit… I don’t like getting called over just to learn the job was already over.

Meatball, the Dinner Lady. She had a naturally hefty body, quite meaty. But her VSS implied her to continue eating. Therefore, this blonde chick carried a large backpack, filled with snacks. All for her of course. One of which, she was already gobbling on. A big bag of nacho chips. Meatball also had golden patterns over her uniform. Much like her teeth which were all gold. And in those teeth, the words “expert in pain”.

— Let’s just stroll on Depth Five for some fun. We might even find something.

Epicenter, the Little Knife. She was a tall dark-skinned woman with a silver layer of armored plates over her body. A single knife was seen, sheathed on her hip. Her dreadlocks were tied back into a ponytail and some of the strands were also silver. Although, not as impressive or loud as her crazed teammates, her presence in such a violent formation was unprecedented and unexchangeable.

— Hey, you guys look better than I thought you would!!

And the 7th was Teacher, the Craftswoman. A tanned skinned lady with messy black hair with bangs, that was also sort of tied into a ponytail. Light brown eyes, she was a dear friend of Juice and dressed strangely like the gunslinger. She always had a white hat on and even though she didn’t use guns, had a leather strap on her torso and a white hoodie tied to her waist. And with some kind of arm cannon or rifle strapped to her back.

— Sup’ Juice? — She nods.

— Teach. — Juice nods back, respectfully.

— Thought you and your crew was gonna need our help.

— Put some God damn credit on our name, will you?

Despises words cut through everyone else’s.

— If I had been there… my enemy’s head… would have been severed.

Evangelist walks to Franchise and leans on him, to stand against the swordsman. She wasn’t gonna let her least favorite guy on earth talk down on her most favorite guy on earth. And much like everyone else, she didn’t know whether Despise was better than Franchise, but she would bet all her chips on the latter, obviously.

— But Franchise did cut his head off. — Evangelist says.

— You think I can’t cut a damn head off?! — Franchise asks him.

— You lack… a power… that cannot… be acquired.

— Like you acquired that toothpick — I mean sword?

— After seeing Ejo, I thought about getting some eyedrops for you.

— Searchers like yourselves… can never win… without sacrifices.

— Once you kill an Anti-Human, you can come back and give me your opinion.

— Oh, wait, you can’t! They’re all dead. — Evangelist taunts him.

Despise glances at Evangelist.

— Must I best… their killers… to demonstrate the truth?!

Now terrified, Evangelist decided the banter wasn’t worth it. The other members were much less on edge, and fairly calm. But they did worry that the Meteor Swordsman would lash out one of these days. With the exception of Despise, the other members were not ordered by their power, capacity, or place in the team. To their Captain, members three to seven, were all equally useful. And as people say, speak of the devil and he shall appear.

— My, my… let’s be calm now.

Because of his arrival, Killerkill wanted to vomit. But greeted him calmly.

— Limbo.

Captain of the Draught; Limbo is deemed the most capable Searcher in history. He wore the thick white uniform, and like Killerkill, his sleeves were pulled back, showing his pale forearms. His long hair was a clear, dry blue. Almost like it was frozen. His nails were painted a strong blue, to match his eyes, eyebrows, and his lipstick. He was a bit shorter than most, being only half a centimeter taller than Killer.

— Despise, Despise… let’s not make little of these great heroes. They are our dear allies. We don’t know the horrors they trounced…

Limbo puts himself between the Searchers. Despise’s glare never fades but he does walk back, displaying a little less hate. Keeping her façade, Evangelist sighs internally, extremely relieved. She and Franchise sit down while the Captains face one another.

— Killergirl, sweetheart. How are you?

— We are all fine, thank you for worrying about us.

Killerkill wasn’t a fan of dealing with the other captains since she was still getting used to her position. Usually, they all acted high and mighty towards her because of their powers or their experience. But Limbo was by far the worst. He was always smiling with his eyes and always spoke with a very soothing voice. And because of these mannerisms it was very clear for everyone that had a conversation with him…

— I’m so glad to hear that.

That this bastard was always lying. Nobody ever knew what he was thinking. It was worse than facing a silent machine like Despise. It was like Limbo was made to be perverse. That being annoying and a liar and generally unpleasant was his will to live. Contesting him or calling out this behavior would serve as incentive and just make him worse. Playing along was the best thing to do. But it could get out of hand.