Chains Of Pride

"Sir, we have lost all traces of Kyros Numani. We have reasons to believe she may have been trying to establish contact with the Amachi sisters, and…we think she may have succeeded."

An intelligence officer within one of the bases of the association was making a report to a lanky looking man who appeared to be in his late 40's.

His face soured when he heard the report to him, "What?! That woman should have been captured ages ago, and you're telling me she may have made contact with the sisters?! Damn it!! That would explain why you're unable to find her, but damn it! Wait a minute, this could be good."

As he said this, his expression changed as a creepy smile ran its way across his face.

" HQ's been blowing their gasket over their inability to find them, but what if I was the one to capture them? Hahahaha!" The man laughed at this, nearly coughing at the end.

"Uhm sir, shouldn't we inform HQ about this? They did say that anything regarding the sisters must be reported to them immediately." The intelligence officer asked.

The lanky looking man went by the name Oren Huntik, his head snapped in the direction of the officer when he heard his question.

"Are you crazy?! HQ's been beside themselves ever since the sisters fell off the grid, and now someone we've been tracking down might have found them?! This could be my chance to get promoted from base head all the way to regional director! Allocate all resources to locating clue for Kyros Numani immediately! We find her, we find the sisters I'm sure of it!"

"Yes sir, understood, I'll be sure to relay your orders." The officer quickly left Huntik's office.

When he was finally alone, Huntik sat back in his chair with a satisfied smile on his face. Before long, he received a message from the phone on his desk, "Sir, the regional director is here to meet you."

When Huntik heard this, he immediately got anxious and scrambled to answer the phone, "L-Let him know I'm c-coming!" He did not dare to keep the regional director waiting for too long. After all, though he might be aiming to become one, he was not one yet, and until then, they were not existences he could afford to offend.

When he rushed out of his office, he headed straight to the primary meeting room. When Huntik arrived, he saw a handsome man in his early 30's already waiting, he was sitting in the head seat, something Huntik chose to ignore and plastered a smile on his face as he came to greet the regional director that encompassed his base.

The regional director did not care for the fake smile he was given, and simply decided to get this started, "Hello Base Head Oren I'm here to inquire of any new developments in the Taliums you have obtained this month, or in any of the ones under your authority so far."

"Ah, no Regional Director Cheever! No new or additional developments were observed this month either."

That's right, the regional director Huntik referred to was none other than Cheever Machyal, the one who had first arrived to save the Director when the girls sought to escape the grasp of the association, the former head researcher of Exélixi Research institute.

"Ever since the incident with the sisters, the association while still locating, detaining and controlling any Taliums they found, had a new goal. They knew now there was a higher realm to these beings, and wished to know how to achieve it and trigger the same change in the Taliums under their control. However, they weren't about to undo the restrictions they had over them.

Some time ago, a test was conducted where they released a Talium they had under their control, the result was…disastrous. The Talium then proceeded to wreck their shit and tear them a new one. It was only through their preparations that this was all done in a reinforced room where they were finally able to bring the rebellious Talium back under their control.

Ever since then, all sorts of tests barring the release of control was conducted. This was why they sought the sisters above all, their capture was paramount to an entirely new understanding of these beings. Maybe they could finally apply these changes to regular humans such as themselves.

Machyal's expression became downcast when he heard Huntik's reply, "No changes, huh? 'Sigh' I see, fine just give me your report on all the new Taliums you subjugated this month. Which reminds me, have you any leads on th-"

Boom!!

Before Machyal could finish asking his question, an enormous explosion sounded in the distance, followed by the loud blaring of the Klaxon Alarm!

Machyal's face turned ugly when he heard the commotion, "What the hell's going on here!?" He quickly gestured for the base head in front of him to get a handle on the situation.

Huntik wasted no time and pressed a few buttons on the table they were sitting around. Not long after, a holographic panel appeared in front of him. On the screen in front, the image of a fl.u.s.tered head guard could be seen shouting orders.

"Status report! Sentinel, what's going on out there?!" Huntik was totally beside himself, one minute everything was fine, and then the next, the world's biggest shitstorm decided to stroll through? What the hell kinda logic was that?

"Sir! We're…bzzzt…attack!" The connection was failing, the increasing damage to the facility wasn't making it any better.

"Sentinel you're breaking up!! Repeat! Who's attacking us?! How many of them are there?!?" Huntik was firing off questions, but all he got were broken answers.

"Ther-…bzzzt…of them, it's...tzzzt…dark here. We…bzz…Taliu-…krrssshzzzttzzz." The connection failed entirely right after, only a static screen was visible.

"Hold on, was that sentinel about to say Talium?! What Talium was powerful enough to actually atta-…" Machyal's expression changed into one of near excitement. He quickly commanded the base head in front of him.

"Quickly bring me to where we can oversee the entire base, and mobilise the Taliums we have under our control!" Machyal had a good idea of what was happening, and if it was as he thought, he might need even more than what they had available.

Huntik looked at him briefly, before asking with a confused expression, "T-The Taliums? O-Okay, how much should I mobilise?!"

"Yes!!" Was the only response Machyal gave before he left the room in a rush, not giving the base head the chance to lead him to where he needed to be, that being the surveillance room.

"The hell does that even mean?! Damn it all, I'll just have them all mobilised." Huntik fished a device out of his pocket to relay his commands before he ran after the departed regional director.

…

Rikona wasted no time, she shouted orders and left to the Taliums beside her. In the earpiece she was wearing, she spouted another set of the same. "Kura!! Take squad two and head over to the south sector to execute the rest of our plan!"

"Got it! Operation up the a.s.s is a go! Over." Kura's excited voice which came from the earpiece caused a smile to spread across Rikona's face.

"Alright bunny, you know how it goes, rampage and run wild, over!" When she said this, she ended the transmission and continued on her way. The chains extended from her back majestically as she led the Taliums on.

Bang! Bang! Ba-Bang!!

Numerous high powered machine guns were being fired in their directions, Rikona had erected a barrier that deflected the bullets, ricocheting them in all other directions.

She afforded the assailants a cold glance before passing an order over to Zutto Shu who was beside her.

"Okay big boy, take them all out, I don't sense an iota of a Talium's aura from them." As soon as she spoke, the usually impassive Talium revealed a menacing smile that unnerved even the Taliums beside him.

He easily stormed out the barrier erected by Rikona, of course, this was because it was meant to keep things out, not let them in. He leapt high in the air and landed with a resounding boom, smashing the ground with his fists. A powerful shockwave spread out, heading towards the guards.

Boom!! Dhuum!!

Before long, numerous explosions were sounding out, pandemonium and chaos run rampant. Rikona however, didn't look back, knowing that Zutto Shu was able to take care of himself.

"Uhm, Master where are we headed now?" The soft voice of Yang Min made its way to Rikona's ear as the young Talium hurried to match pace with her.

They were currently making their way across the expansive grounds of the base. "We're heading to their surveillance room, we need to effectively blind them. Then after that, we are going to effectively, wreck…their…shit!"