Vol 1.8: The tragedy of responsibility

So another meeting began. As expected, Free did not show up. He had truly betrayed the organization. Meanwhile, III, Vexth, had only come to confirm that he hadn't betrayed, and then left immediately. II remained completely silent, as usual during these meetings. Now, the room was filled with a tense atmosphere, as it seemed that no one could trust each other anymore."... Let's begin the meeting. We can conclude that Free, VIII of the Nine Council, has betrayed us. Mao, the deputy minister of F.A.I.R, has been kidnapped. Balthazar, the criminal with a score of 19+, attacked our base and successfully escaped. FUN demands a large energy source from the power of IV for some plan of theirs. All of these are severe losses. First, I need you to explain why you abandoned the mission, Shird."Thous, with a face unchanged from the first meeting despite all the events that had transpired, was addressing Shird, the one who had left his mission to protect Mao. He would likely bear the responsibility for everything. Even when questioned with constant gazes, Shird remained calm, almost detached from the mission. He said something with an oddly irresponsible tone."Who could have known that Free, a very long-standing member of the organization in the council, would betray us? Right, this is my fault. I'm truly sorry and I promise this won't happen again.""..."Mobius glanced at Shird with a strange expression upon hearing his words. She showed no negative reaction, despite the fact that Shird's actions had affected the mission she was responsible for. Normally, Mobius would have been furious to the point of wanting to beat that guy up, but now she just observed. Thous made no change in his expression and continued to ask for everyone's input on the situation."At this point, I know it's not ideal, but in my opinion, Mao has always not wanted to be part of Frost Wisp and has secretly waited for an opportunity to revive Underworld. That might explain everything that has happened.""Neo! You're just trying to cast doubt on Mao because you hate her. This isn't personal, this is about an entire organization!"Yu and Setsuna immediately protested this idea, but Thous silenced the negativity in the room with a loud clap that shook the entire base."At the end of the day, all the current suspicions are merely hypotheses. No one knows if they are right or wrong. The only way to reach a conclusion is to rescue Mao, the deputy minister of F.A.I.R, first.""… First, according to reports from the staff, heretics spreading the message of Underworld have appeared at all key bases, BH included, ensuring that all the Weavers can hear it. This also serves as a mocking gesture to the organization, suggesting that when they unleash their full force, we will be wiped out in an instant."At this point, Mobius' expression finally shifted to a more natural one, filled with anger. Of course, she was the one responsible for managing the entire operation. Such significant losses could easily damage her pride."So what about their plan for a transaction?""Setsu, no guarantees were offered, and even if there were, would you trust them?"Mobius didn't trust the deal proposed by FUN at all. It was unclear if this was due to her bruised pride. Neo and Shird began to suspect her attitude—was she deliberately avoiding the issue because it might be disadvantageous to her? But leaving that aside, after Mobius spoke, Setsuna presented a video showing the interrogation of IV and VII regarding the prisoner Balthazar."Let's consider Balthazar's testimony. Personally, I believe we cannot trust Balthazar for the following reasons: (1) Balthazar hesitated for several—no, exactly 14 seconds—before speaking. I believe in those 14 seconds, he was creating a different story. (2) Balthazar is a high-ranking criminal with a score of 19+, even once a suspect for holding the G-File in 'Change The World.' His words are not trustworthy when compared to his past actions. (3) F.A.I.R obtained the remaining energy from the suicide bombing, but it was not listed in any ancient resource data. Even if it was a new type, why didn't he say 'new'? A criminal of his caliber wouldn't make such a basic mistake. And he didn't explain why FUN needed energy from me, IV? (4) He gave us the information when it didn't benefit him at all. If it was to survive from me, then it makes no sense for him to spill everything and escape without honoring the 'meet my brother' deal he made."Mobius outlined the reasons why she thought Balthazar had lied. The rest of the members were stunned by her argument, except for Thous and Lapis, who seemed to have already figured things out."Even if everything I said is true, well… it's probably only about 6%.""6%? So you mean there's a very low chance your points are true?""Yes, but if we link everything together, we can easily fill in the ridiculous gap of 94% because Balthazar acted recklessly, as if he was confident he could escape, no, as if his 'real objective' would come to fruition.""… Mobius, don't you think you've made too many subjective judgments?""If we look at the bigger picture, my opinion is the most comprehensive. Maybe I'm wrong, but consider it as the foundation for our actions."After her words, Thous tossed two pieces of paper to Mobius, each with a note:

C.C (Cosmic Coordinates) 8021967.C.C (Cosmic Coordinates) 9850246.

"What is this?""One is the location where Mao is being held, according to my hypothesis, and the second is the place where FUN, or rather Underworld, is most active in secret.""… How did you deduce that?""Just a bit of reasoning, but let's act based on it."The Weavers, except for Lapis and Thous, were skeptical about the authenticity of the coordinates, but putting that aside, Mobius suddenly realized she had been standing on the table this entire time. After Neo reminded her, she awkwardly sat back down, displaying a bit of cuteness with her complaints: "You should've reminded me sooner, you idiot!""So… who should we send to rescue Mao?"The room fell silent after that question. Going down the list, Thous and Lapis would not participate in the operation, Mobius wouldn't be directly involved, Free had betrayed them, and Setsuna, Neo, and Yu were seriously injured. The only one left unharmed was Shird."Let me go. I'm the only one in the group who hasn't suffered damage directly. I'm the one who let Free escape and caused Mao's kidnapping, so I'll take responsibility and end this. And Mao, I'll rescue her.""... Haizz... how ironic..."Mobius' angry expression softened as she heard Shird's words. She stood up from her chair heavily and took weak steps toward the person she loved. Perhaps... only Shird's presence could bring this out of her."... This mission isn't hard, but... good luck."Shird had expected a hug, but all he got was a light pat on the shoulder. His face went blank for a moment. He wanted to say something, but it felt like a ghost was choking him. He didn't know what to do... nothing at all.Yes, it was just nothing.

"..."

Clank, clack,…

Countless other sounds replayed in the pitch-black place, outside the glass chamber, emotionless monsters with sickly disgusting data, those were the papers recording the condition of the test subjects.

The experimental project called Neprom, short for Nemesis Program, was built to find individuals who were close to the so-called "Link". They experimented on all kinds of subjects like children, adults, even other races, and as a way to force the project to continue, they also combined humans with animals like cats, dogs, bats, etc.

"The E412 experiment was an absolute success, "Ban"."

"Intelligence, body, toughness,… you useless people have created a perfect life form."

"…"

"Come on kid, maybe I should give you a name, how about "Mao"?"

"…"

"… Aren't you happy, thanks to you this project can stop, we don't have to suffer anymore, come on, smile, let's celebrate the project's great success."

The sound of applause and that cursed smile echoed throughout the labs, now, E412 seemed to be sinking into nothingness, she couldn't feel anything, except the desire to die.

"Should we dispose of the remaining experimental objects?"

"Let's do it."

It was unclear when after the above sentence, E412 was now, holding a crude knife in her hand, and surrounded by one, no, many corpses of those dressed in white. E412's eyes now had not even a trace of life, it was just nothingness. Looking up ahead, she saw a dim light from the door, it was unclear whether it was really dim, or it was blurred by those red liquid drops.

Immediately after, the surrounding scenery changed, at this moment, our catgirl Mao, was standing in a pitch black space, here, she was the only white thing. Glancing back and forth, she saw nothing, it was like nothingness, she could not see or hear anything.

"Alright, looks like I'm here again."

She walked back and forth even though she couldn't see anything, then she saw a door with a sign: "E412". Having no other choice, and unable to retreat, she opened the door and what greeted her eyes were countless corpses of human hybrids. The thing sitting in the middle of those corpses was a storage chamber with the number "E412", not interested in the corpses, she walked forward and looked at that number with a hazy, dead gaze.

"... No color… no shape… no soul… who are you…"

The chamber began to crumble, as Mao retreated in fear, it shattered and what poured out were ghosts with tears streaming down their dry cheeks and laments that sounded like the deepest nightmares of humanity. Too scared, Mao ran away despite her ignorance of how thick the darkness ahead was, it seemed that death was nothing compared to her fear at the moment.

After running aimlessly for a while, she fell down and when she raised her face forward, she saw a man crying. Surrounded by people dressed like mafia with a girl around 15 years old in the center wearing a criminal outfit with cat ears and tail, wasn't that... Mao?

"... Why are you crying?"

Mao walked over and looked at the man in front of her, asking a question that sounded silly compared to the current situation. Without saying a word, the Mao look-alike immediately took out a Nagant M1895 and fired continuously at the man. Seeing this, Mao rushed forward and pulled the look-alike's shirt to stop him, her face filled with panic and anger, but the other man's face did not change at all.

"What the hell are you doing? Stop right there!"

"This is a mission."

Raising his head, the other man responded to her words with just one word as if denying all matters such as life and emotions, then the surrounding subordinates grabbed Mao and dragged her away.

"Let me go!!!"

"... Look…"

After releasing Mao, the first thing the "Mao" did was to make her look at the countless limbs of different corpses nailed together on the same wall forming a line of words: "SAD". The woman looked at those limbs with eyes filled with satisfaction and pride, she was currently worshiping herself as a god in the criminal world.

"Ugh…"

"In ancient times, Underworld had a total of 7 major criminal organizations that made up the face of the criminal world, they caused the most terrible events in the world, world wars, drug trafficking, prostitution, gambling and so on. Including:

(1).Sigma

(2).SAD

(3).Polpot

(4).Enstaysia

(5).Narmia

(6).GAP

(7).Bolsevis."

"What does it have to do with this painting?"

"These limbs are the limbs of the leaders of the 6 failed organizations, SAD has won, both inside and outside."

Mao watched her steps, after 10 years of the "Change The World" event, everything had changed so much, but really… had she made any progress?

"Who are you, Mao?"

For the first time, "Mao" looked straight into the eyes of the Mao girl we were familiar with, it was a gaze that seemed to have completely forgotten the most basic concepts of life, emotions, etc. The "Mao" left, leaving behind an identical form, but a desolate soul, completely different from the one walking away.

...

…

To laugh, to play, to share joys and sorrows… have I ever truly achieved that? Towards positivity, but never truly being positive myself, have I ever truly moved forward? The thoughts that flooded her mind were like a sweep… unstoppable, if only I could "live", if only the light of tomorrow would shine for me, but… the only thing I could feel… was desolation…

The above thoughts exploded in Mao's mind, she fell down and let herself be devoured by the pitch-black space around her.

A beautiful body, a tail, cat ears that no one cared about, and finally a sorrowful soul, they stretched out on the curtain of darkness, like a perfect dish for the monster that was currently gnawing at her soul.

"Hey, wake up."

Mao woke up in a strange room, where an old man was giving her acupuncture, and Free was bandaging her. The scene was so funny that both of the older men were taking care of a 25-year-old girl who was as short as a high school girl. Mao blushed and rolled like a cat to the edge of the room.

"Wow, woah, woah!!! What the hell are you guys doing?"

"Long time no see, master."

"... Scar?"

Scar, one of the most important members of the former SAD organization and the deputy leader of FUN, was probably Mao's most loyal dog as the terrorist activities including the biggest financial crisis in history were also partly caused by Scar and Mao. Ignoring that, Mao, with eyes filled with anger, grabbed Free's collar. Of course, he had betrayed the organization, and even shot her four times.

"Free, how dare you betray the organization!"

"...Watch out for the wound opening."

"Ugh…"

After Free's words, she realized that her shoulders and waist were tightly bandaged, and now she could no longer resist these two monsters.

"Thinking about the Outer Party, you have truly lost yourself."

"Shut up, Scar."

"Okay, okay, rest assured, because in a few hours, the world will be destroyed."

"What?"

"I will erase and edit your memories so that you will forget all the memories of working in the Frost Wisp organization of the Outer Party and only focus on the Underworld, through which you will complete the formula of the "U" bomb, which will destroy the entire world, and if it fails, FUN will use your body as an energy source to help "U" operate at maximum capacity."

"U"? What the hell is that?"

"I have no obligation to answer this question of yours."

After saying that, Free immediately controlled Mao and put a strange device on her head, because of the huge gap in physical strength, Mao could only resist desperately and then see the words "Editing" appear. The cat girl's heavy breathing was present throughout the room, her mind was now numb with her eyes wide open, before falling into darkness that could be forever, the only thing she heard was a small, sickly scary voice.

"Wake up and serve, that is your worth."