Akagi, Chachamaru, and Akito stared at the image of the mountain peak on the computer screen. "So what exactly are we supposed to decipher here? Portal this and that, there's nothing in this picture. Did Douma and Jeremiah really encounter something during the battle?"
"There's enough evidence to suggest there was a spacial interference in our world at that exact hour. Even the satellite caught something but space stations can't confirm that because it's not a visible portrayal."
Kurai got up from his seat and scowled. "And? What's the point of continuing this investigation?"
Chachamaru glared at the green-haired man and flicked his tail back and forth as an indication that the feline was getting sick and tired of Kurai's uncooperative behavior. "Didn't Akagi just mention that the satellite caught something? We can't just leave this investigation hanging. We have the equipment to dig out information that the world needs to know about. They're counting on us. Your whining is getting really unbearable." The feline stomped away from Kurai who scratched his hair guiltily when he was left to stand there all by himself.
"There was a temporary glitch in the servers and then everything returned to normal after the creature returned to its dimension." Akagi continued, inspecting the distorted image on the screen. There were pixels scattered all over the screen, the sharp tentacles flowing back into the portal appeared to be a blur in the picture. Anybody could pass it off as a random dark speck in the corner.
Holding his chin, Akito lifted a brow when he thought of something. "There's a high possibility Chaos was the creature behind that portal. He could've been watching the battle and decided to strike at the very last moment."
"Killing his comrade in the process. Which is strange but not surprising he seems like the type to disembowel his teammates if they disappoint him. Ever wonder what's gonna happen to the rest of his hosts once he picks-"
Chachamaru decided to cut himself off right there. He didn't want to be reminded of his fate. Besides that, Akagi had something more important to bring up.
"Chaos or not, this creature is on the loose and we still haven't found out what it is. It raises concerns because civilians aren't even aware of its existence. This entity can just open a portal to its dimension and lure people in, the least threatening possibility out of all the ones I'm about to list down right now." Placing his mug on the table, Akagi finished his coffee and watched Akito browsing through the rest of his files under the same section on his computer.
"Go on. I'm not afraid to hear it."
Everyone in the room spun around to see a boy in a fiery blazer walking towards them.
"Well if it isn't Atashi. How are ya?" Kurai waved at him.
Chachamaru blinked and smirked. "It seems like everybody wants to be part of the conversation." The feline remarked, crossing his arms.
"Has Mr Fumio gotten back to you yet?" Akagi asked the boy in the blazer.
"Nope not at all but from the looks of it, this investigation might have already been postponed without us even realizing it."
Kurai's mouth agape, he stared at Atashi who didn't make eye contact with him. The boy was serious about this. "Postponed? But we're just getting started!"
"Just getting started? We're barely making any progress with this discussion. It's just one speculation after another. A repeat of everything Douma and Jeremiah told us and the generated reports we've been getting from our colleagues in the research department. With it all boiling down to the creature possibly being Chaos without any solid evidence. It's a repetitive cycle and we might as well pause the investigation for the time being." Atashi's gaze met Akagi and Chachamaru's who were taken aback by everything he said but after a while of thinking through they agreed.
A loud applause sounded from Akito's direction. "Well done. You got back to us when Mr Fumio didn't bother to for some absurd reason that I don't wanna touch on."
"Atashi's not wrong about the entire investigation being repetitive. I mean this project was voluntary wasn't it?" The silver-haired man waited patiently for an answer.
"Well that's only because Douma and Jeremiah suspect its Chaos while doubting it at the same time. The two angels couldn't even derive anything from that bizarre incident so why should we stress ourselves over something that hasn't raised any alarm for half a year?" Atashi responded.
Chachamaru approached Atashi with a reassuring smile on his face. "Enough with the tough act. We know you're just as stressed about this as we are." The feline said, ruffling Atashi's hair.
"Hey stop it!" The boy in the blazer snapped, swatting Chachamaru's paw away.
Lifting his eyebrow, Chachamaru gave Atashi a questioning look, "Anyways, something hasn't been sitting right with me during our missions and trainings. How did you get your fiery powers back? Didn't you lose them after returning that plate piece to the museum?"
Atashi looked up at the large feline. "I'm the Heir of the Throne now. It's been passed down to me by Eonith." The teen told him. "I carry Serath's legacy and watch over his treasure now. So I still have my powers to uphold this position I've been granted."
"Really? That's so cool."
There was a document lying on Akito's table. The man picked it up and read through the details. "What are the chances that the creature was just a diversion for Ryukushu to get away?"
"That's unlikely, we saw his reaction. There's no way that was intentional, Ryukushu was scared for his life back there." Akagi replied. "It killed him and left him there to rot."
Blinking at the report, Akito slot the document into the shelf on his desk and looked up at the ceiling. "Well that's true. His sword left a crack in the sky which almost led to his dimension consuming ours. The metalogical intervention might've disrupted the flow of space and time which is why another creature decided to take matters to their own hands and track down the cause."
"And that led to Ryukushu's demise." Akagi added, Chachamaru, Atashi, and Kurai nodding in agreement.
"But it's still strange that Ryukushu didn't see it coming, he should've known. After all, when the Sagi-chi was going around murdering their victims in cold blood it didn't take place in just one location did it? Ryukushu was feared by many, rumors started spreading fast when he came back."
The green-haired man looked at everyone in the room nervously. His teeth chattered, sending fearful shockwaves to every fiber of his being. "None of this is making any sense you guys are scaring me for no reason."
"If that's the case you're free to step out of this room." Atashi flickered his eyes to Kurai who backed away when he made eye contact with the boy in the blazer.
"Why is everyone attacking me?" Kurai whined.
"The distortions caused by Ryukushu's sword and presence were just wavelengths to the creature. That's why it had no problem traveling within the rift of space and time while Ryukushu's dimension was colliding with the human dimension." The silver-haired man continued. "This creature's existence doesn't appear to be reliant on any law based on the fact that it came all the way here to annihilate Ryukushu through an unstable journey. Ryukushu's actions weren't a threat to it but to the entity it appeared as though Ryukushu was trying to challenge the entity's presence."
The minute Chachamaru was about to open his mouth to speak, Akagi faced everyone in the room with a serious look on his face. "I say it's not reliant on the laws of the universe because it was the only being that dared to confront Ryukushu in such a situation. The Unseen is another dimension that would've most likely dealt with Ryukushu but they didn't. They could've sent an entire swarm of their inhabitants but they chose to stay out of it."
"But isn't The Unseen just a concept for the other dimension that's inaccessible to humans?" Kurai asked.
"No there's evidence that The Unseen exists. Spirits lurk in The Unseen, the same ones that unplug your console when you're in the middle of a boss fight. It's annoyingly creepy." The feline said. "They can visit the human world but humans can't visit them. Ever wonder where these spooksters vanish off to on camera or why some people insist that certain areas are a gateway to The Unseen? Because it exists, simple as that. It's not just a concept, it's one that exists for us to understand how the world works beyond the human perspective."
Clearing his throat, Akagi stepped forward and glanced at Kurai who didn't know what to make out of Chachamaru's explanation. It's understandable if he's puzzled but since he was a part of Atlas where various types of research is done, he should know better than to embrace a surface-level mentality.
"Kurai, the cat's right. We've had investigations that involved inhabitants of The Unseen such as that haunted mansion we stumbled upon and the abandoned mall in Montana. It's deducible from the similar characteristics and behavioral traits that they share. Sometimes going as far as to reveal their origin when least intended. The analysis of these encounters through the cryptographic captures prove that a specific location is the center of these occurrences."
"Ya know my stray friends once saw several inhabitants from The Unseen gathering at a field during the night. At least a dozen of them were poltergeists, it was odd and terrifying at the same time. According to them, they were planning on trashing someone's home. Those things can be cruel." Flicking his tail, Chachamaru hissed when he felt the shudders creeping up on his skin.
Stifling a low chuckle, Akagi relished in Kurai's changing expression. The green-haired man was convinced now. "They're always cruel. Oh- by the way, while poltergeist is the singular form of the plural noun, it also has a different referential term. Poltergeist is actually the name of the demon who is part of the trio of Ableism consisting of Oscolus and Vireheight."
When Akagi said that, the other four exchanged bewildered glances with each other. How does Akagi know so much about all of this? Chachamaru's ears twitched.
"The poltergeists that people normally refer to are the descendants of the original who goes by that name. They're the inhabitants of The Unseen and much like other vengeful spirits they go around causing trouble in people's homes, sometimes consuming leftovers while contaminating them." The silver-haired man watched Akito roll his chair away from his desk quietly to listen to his explanation. "Although these spawns count as separate entities from the demon, Poltergeist, there's another possibility that could answer their residence in a place where they could easily reach humans. The spawns are little versions of Poltergeist that do his bidding so he doesn't have to manifest in the human world when his spawns can do it for him and carry his wariness with them."
Kurai choked on his own saliva. "Where are you getting this information from? We don't have anything about the Poltergeist!"
Glancing at Kurai, Akagi stepped away from Akito's desk and diverted his attention to the green-haired man once again.
"You don't know this because you've never read the old reports of Atlas. There's a case in one of the folders from the 1960s, it just happened to find itself in our headquarters. Presumably someone must have brought it up as a potential investigation to be revisited."
Both Kurai and Akito froze, they've never heard of anything like this before. Indeed there were old reports but there was no mention of an investigation that involved Poltergeist or any similar connection to the cases.
"That would've been a longtime ago. In one of the old mansions back in Portugal there was a boy who had a clown doll that spoke to him whenever he was alone in his room. The most significant thing it told him was about inviting a few more lookalike friends over to play some sort of game which had three different prizes and on that same night, his parents heard numerous knocks on the front door after dinner."
"They didn't answer the door out of immense fear. When the boy told his parents about the conversations he had with the clown doll, they moved out of that mansion immediately the boy leaving his toy behind. About a year after the mansion was abandoned, Reuters came and found it completely empty there was no clown doll in the room however... they found something rather peculiar and disturbing. There were writings and drawings on the wall explaining the game the clown and his friends wanted to play and the prize was a lifelong friend. Three names were written on the wall of the room and they were Poltergeist, Oscolus, and Vireheight. The winner of the game of hopscotch gets to pick a friend but there were consequences; The life force of everyone that the winner knows will be drained by three years annually which will leave the winner alone with his lifelong friend until he's deceased. The descriptions weren't clear but that's what the witnesses managed to decipher."
"Guess what? The clown doll went by the name, Poltergeist. An entity manifesting itself in a children's toy. That family narrowly escaped but at the cost of their beloved mansion."
Everyone stared at Akagi who was getting ready to leave the room. "Where do we find these reports?" Kurai whose mouth was agape, thought about the story that Akagi told them, he couldn't believe Atlas conducted such an intensive investigation many years ago.
"Nah we've got some important work to do. Those folders are covered in dust now." Akito responded to Kurai's question. "Anyways this still doesn't answer the main question. Why did that strange creature decide to confront Ryukushu but not The Unseen residents? I get that Ryukushu is this big scary guy but couldn't they have just taken him out all at once?"
Chachamaru followed by Atashi kept their eyes on Atashi, waiting for the silver-haired man's response. "Think about it Akito, you often hear or see swarms of vengeful spirits teaming up with one demon but it's never the opposite. Why is that?"
The answer was crystal clear to everyone now, especially to Chachamaru and Atashi who already figured it out a while ago.
"Because of the differences in strength? I know the average demon is far more dangerous than the average ghost. Might I add, calculative and strategic when it comes to their decisions in a battle." Akito spoke.
"That's right, this can be derived from Douma's battle with Vascalidon at the old building. The angel's opponent wasn't playing around, he came all the way from the depths of hell just to help his buddy Ryukushu. Fighting two demons at once is something even the most experienced fighter would oppose to regardless of the luxurious rewards that await."
Before Akito could open his mouth to speak again, Akagi cut him off with a final explanation to the question they sought an answer to. "We know Ryukushu's dimension is capable of devouring another when it's called upon its master. The reason why The Unseen residents didn't try to face Ryukushu is because he watches over their dimension while keeping things in order in his dimension. He's a demon whose activities be it in his lair or another location affect the other dimensions existing around it. Ryukushu being a demon and possessing such power, poses a huge threat to The Unseen since he's actively roaming the universe, he's not dormant in one place, the guy chooses to take matters into his own hands."
"To sum it up, The Unseen would've been under his control the whole time period. During his journey to find the three gladiator's weapons, they were the least of his concern since they wouldn't want to take chances which would result in their dimension being wiped out. Ryukushu once being a human who then became a demon is likely to have some knowledge about The Unseen. He's definitely been lurking there, especially during his rampage which took the lives of many. He knows how it operates which is why he had them under his feet the whole time. To keep them at bay."
Yeah that does explain a lot. The Sagi-chi were feared for a reason and they weren't just referring to one society that's for sure. Chachamaru looked up and saw Akagi waving at everyone in the room with his shades on. Perhaps he might be open to another conversation like this again, the silver-haired man seemed to know a lot about the cosmos and it left Chachamaru intrigued for what else he had to share with them.
Akagi left the office, leaving the other four to continue discussing where they left off.
But there wasn't much to add. "Since this investigation is postponed, guess I'll take my leave from here." Without saying another word, Atashi swung the door open and walked out of the office.
"Ummm" Kurai's gaze met Akito who seemed just as stumped as he was.
Chachamaru chuckled and brushed a thumb against his lips. "Before you know it, Mr Fumio's gonna walk in here with a big announcement. You know what that means. See yall around."
With that, the large feline swung the door wide open and trotted out of the office towards the hallway leading to another area of the building. Scratching his chin, Chachamaru made the decision to continue walking down the hallway until he stopped in front of a door.
"Time to settle things." Tapping his ID on the scanner, the door opened revealing a spacious area with someone sitting in the middle of a concealed section with glass for walls.
Meanwhile Kurai and Akito sat in the office, wondering what the next mission's going to be.
Chachamaru stepped forward. "If it isn't my old friend. How's it like in there? You better cooperate with me if you wanna see the light of day again. No guarantees though, it's up to the management."
The man in the concealed area narrowed his eyes at the large feline, his wrists bound by the handcuffs and his body slumped, a sign that he was uncomfortable and it only worsened when Chachamaru entered the room.
"So you're not gonna say anything? Alright then-"
"If I had the power like that samurai, I wouldn't have sacrificed my group to his leadership."
Chachamaru turned around, he looked at the man, the once former leader of the bandits on Twin Island.
"No I don't think his policies would bring about any benefit to my men. They know better than to kneel down to him. Just because he forced our nation to decades ago doesn't mean we would've accepted him entirely. A notable leader and swordsman doesn't kill the innocent, if he cared about my men he wouldn't have done any of that." The former leader of the bandits sat there with a serious expression.
"Sir, they betrayed you. None of them tried to free you at the camp. They choose wealth over their own leader. That's what greed and perhaps... fear do to people."
"Maybe so but I believe they were afraid. If that man hadn't instilled that level of fear in them, they wouldn't hesitate to-" The former bandit's leader stopped when he saw Chachamaru tapping his claw against the wall, thinking about something.
The large feline realized the man had stopped talking and faced him. He heard everything the former leader had to say, despite his wrongdoings he still upholds the traits of a leader who puts his people first. Chachamaru respected that.
Unfortunately, all of that came to a devastating end. Hopefully the former leader of the bandits learns something from this.
"You know, at least they don't have to live under that man's leadership anymore. They were barely surviving under the new system that they were forced to adapt to in such a short period of time."
"It wasn't just one individual who tore our group apart, there were two. I can just imagine how terrified my men were. I must say, they were too naive."
Chachamaru nodded. He stood there, thinking about the recent events and the next segment of this ongoing disaster that should've never happened.