Anomaly One

Raindrops fell on the beautiful city of Tokyo. The thunderous clouds casted an iron-gray monochrome scheme on the city’s 23 special wards.

A high school boy ran through the crowd of black and white umbrellas. Carrying an extra-large cello case on his back, he ran just as fast as if carrying light bags instead of heavy containers. His destination: the Shinjuku Subnade, an underground shopping mall under Kabukicho.

The boy arrived at Shinjuku Station, finally getting some cover from the rain, and went to the basement floors. After a long tunnel of minor shops, the basement corridor finally connected to the Shinjuku Subnade.

A single corridor, large enough to contain hundreds of shoppers and commuters, appeared before the boy. With multiple shops and branching corridors on each side, it was a sight to behold. However, the boy ran past all of these attractions, taking a branching corridor that led to an abandoned area covered in yellow tapes. There wasn’t a soul nearby, contrary to the sparkling, bustling area before.

Four days ago, an unexpected power outage took place here. The area had to be temporarily shut down, and all the shops in the area were closed or relocated elsewhere.

The boy finally got a chance to catch his breaths. He shook his high school uniform to get rid of excess water.

Afterwards, the boy quickly inspected the nearest closed shop before pulling out his cellphone, calling for someone named “Imagawa Sanami.”

The phone rang once before connecting. A woman’s clear voice spoke up. “Jubei-kun, any signs of visible anomalies?”

The boy, Jubei, answered, “Imagawa-san, only one anomaly found: a jewelry shop. Seems like the inside has completely morphed into alien territory.”

“A quantum anomaly then. See if it belongs to the Yaddithians or Mi-Gos. If it’s Yaddithians’, secure the place. Otherwise, destroy it.”

“Roger.”

“Sorry, Jubei-kun. We’re short-handed, so you won’t have any backup. The projected threat level from Command Center is level-C. Are you sure you don’t want to wait another day? If you do, your partner, Chigaki Chiya, should be able to support you.”

“Thanks, Imagawa-san, but I’ll handle this alone. Chiya-san has enough on her plate.”

“OK. Good luck hunting.”

Jubei confirmed and ended the call. He put his phone away and set down his heavy cello case.

From the outside, the cello case looked just like any other, but once opened, inside was anything but ordinary. The interior had advanced futuristic technology that was hard to describe in words. “Alien technology” was the closest term a layman could’ve thought of.

55 years ago, on September 12th, 1990, aliens invaded Earth and sparked a 40-year-long war. Only 15 years ago, mankind finally won and repelled the aliens. During the war, mankind harvested many advanced and unknown technologies from captured alien spacecrafts and weaponries.

The cello case, officially “the Kibisis,” was one such technological advanced equipment. The Kibisis had three primary functions; the first and foremost was an “Isolated Miniature Quantum Pocket.” In other words, the Kibisis contained a tiny pocket dimension used for storage. The smallest pocket dimension could contain a tiny log cabin, while the largest being a skyscraper.

In Jubei’s case, he pulled out weapons. Not futuristic weapons, but standard firearms, such as handguns and rifles. Apparently, Earth’s metals proved to be toxic to aliens, who existed in another universe where these metals don’t exist.

Jubei equipped himself with heavy-duty bandoleers and slings filled with ammunition and small tools. He wore utility belts with ammunition and holsters for his two sidearms. Around his right leg, Jubei wrapped a thigh-strap filled with daggers. And in his hands was a Kriss Vector SBR submachine-gun, chambered in 45 ACP.

Jubei looked ready for war. Once armed, he closed the Kibisis and put it on his back again. Then, Jubei pulled out his cellphone and opened an app, “Salta.” While the app loaded, the Kibisis immediately hummed softly and connected to the app.

Once the app finished loading, a robotic female voice spoke up. “Intelligent Persona Construct ‘Salta’ has been initiated. ATLAS is ready to serve you.”

The ATLAS, which officially stood for “Anomalies, Tears, and Landings Algorithmic Search,” was a special advanced software, containing an encyclopedia and map of all extraterrestrial sightings and existences on Earth. It was equipped with an AI assistant, the “Intelligent Persona Construct Salta.”

Just because the aliens were repelled, didn’t mean they left for good. After losing in a direct battle, the aliens decided to use discreet methods to invade, involving Quantum Anomalies, Spatial Tears, and hidden Spacecraft Landings.

Mankind poured all of their knowledge and research about aliens discovered during the war into the ATLAS. It was named after the Titan “Atlas,” who held up the celestial sky from crashing into the world. The ATLAS was connected to various satellites, cameras, and other confidential sources, enabling it to detect various incidents involving aliens.

With the ATLAS, Jubei would be able to gain in-depth knowledge about various aliens he would encounter. At the same time, his experiences would feed into the ATLAS as new training data.

After wearing a special headset with a glass visor, synching with ATLAS, and putting on an armband with the Insignia “BXR: Bureau of Extraterrestrial Riddance,” Jubei entered the abandoned jewelry shop.

The jewelry shop used to be a well-lit store with multiple glass stands, displaying expensive and beautiful rings and necklaces. Now, the interior turned dark and looked nothing like a store. The floors and walls used to be cheap drywall, but now, they have become hard metal surfaces, covered in strange thick black vines. The air was foul and putrid.

“Quantum Anomalies” were stable spatial tears in the fabric of Earth’s quantum reality, connecting two or more distant places together. Compared to natural “Spatial Tears,” which were accidents, unstable, and could connect Earth to random abysses, Quantum Anomalies were deliberate, controlled, and alien-crafted methods to sneak into Earth. Aliens often took over abandoned places and connected the unsuspecting space to their spaceships or homes in another universe.

Through his special headset’s visor, Jubei sent images to Salta, the AI Assistant, for analysis. It seemed the jewelry shop’s interior had become connected to the haul of a spaceship. The markings on the hard metal exteriors, the dark vines, and the smell were recognizable signs of the Yaddithians.

Normally, Jubei would bring up the rear while his partner, Chigaki Chiya, would take the front. But being on his own, Jubei treaded carefully forward. About 10 feet inside the transformed jewelry shop, Jubei only encountered a long metallic hallway, humming with power, and indiscernible voices and sounds emanating from somewhere up ahead. The noises were steadily getting louder.

Jubei pressed a button on his headset, officially called “Tarnhelm.” It had special functionalities of connecting to ATLAS, preventing the wearer from going mad from looking at particular aliens, and enabling camouflage. Jubei activated the camouflage functionality, transforming him into a low-ranking Yaddithian.

There were five alien races that invaded Earth, though they appeared at different points in time: the Mi-Gos, the Gnophkehs, the Yaddithians, the Dholes, and the Shantaks. The Yaddithians appeared in 2002 after the Gnophkehs but were driven out in 2020.

The Yaddithians were highly intelligent aliens from the planet “Yaddith” in another universe. They resembled bipedal insectoid creatures. Many were humanoid in shape, but their heads have tapir-like snouts, their bodies covered in crusty exoskeleton like a bug, and had insect-like limbs. Their kinds were split between “High-rank” and “Low-rank.” High-rank Yaddithians have bronze- to gold-colored skin with antennas and sometimes wings, as well as high intelligence. As for Low-rank Yaddithians, their skins were pale-gray to blue, low-intelligence, and wingless. During the war, the Yaddithians were notorious for building large colonies and hiding their forces within Quantum Anomalies, kidnapping humans for grotesque experimentation.

Taking on the appearance of a Low-rank Yaddithian, Jubei continued his investigation further inside. Through the long corridor, Jubei encountered many doors, leading to unknown rooms. He quickly checked each one, his finger ready to pull the trigger on the Kriss Vector SBR to kill whatever was inside. Unfortunately, in each room he checked, there was no Yaddithian. Jubei quickly moved on.

As Jubei was exiting out of a room, a Yaddithian suddenly appeared in the corridor. Seeing a disguised Jubei, the Yaddithian barked angrily, speaking in a language that Jubei didn’t understand. But it was clear the Yaddithian was asking what Jubei was doing, entering someone else’s room. Since Jubei was camouflaging himself as a Low-rank Yaddithian, the approaching Yaddithian didn’t think a human would have entered.

Taking aim with the Kriss Vector SBR, selecting two-round burst firing mode, and taking safety off, Jubei immediately fired at the approaching Yaddithian. Six rounds left the Kriss Vector’s muzzle with brief lights of fire and pierced the Yaddithian’s insectoid head. Immediately, it dropped dead to the hard floor with a frozen surprised expression.

The noise from the Kriss Vector SBR was noticeably loud, drawing attention. Jubei could hear movements from the end of the corridor. He casually approached that direction.

A few seconds later, more Yaddithians appeared. They barked at Jubei, still seeing him as a Low-rank Yaddithian, probably asking him questions about what happened. Without answering, switching to full-auto firing mode, Jubei mowed down the new Yaddithians with the Kriss Vector SBR, emptying the remaining 24 rounds in the magazine. The Yaddithians dropped to the hard floor, some dead and some still clinging to life.

Jubei changed the empty mag for a new 30-round mag. After that, still in full-auto, he killed the barely-alive Yaddithians, spraying at least 20 rounds within a couple seconds with a single trigger pull. The Yaddithians’ lifeless insectoid bodies laid cold and motionless as green blood spread on the hard floor.

From the connecting corridor, more Yaddithians appeared. They saw Jubei, as a Yaddithian, killing other Yaddithians. Some shouted something, causing some to quickly run back, while others barked orders, leading others to run into a different corridor, but they didn’t approach Jubei any closer. They had no weapons. That meant the others went to get weapons and reinforcements.

Suddenly, the ceiling emitted a strange alarm.

Salta suddenly spoke up. “Warning: Camouflage jammed.”

Hearing that, Jubei’s camouflage glitched and flickered, disappearing. A moment later, the other Yaddithians saw Jubei’s human appearance. They roared with anger and shouted insults (probably).

Jubei quickly released an onslaught of bullets at the roaring Yaddithians, emptying out the current mag in his Kriss Vector SBR. Some Yaddithians got hit in the arms but survived while the rest quickly took cover. Jubei also took cover, hiding behind a pillar in the middle of the corridor. He quickly inserted a new mag to his submachine-gun.

Salta suddenly spoke up. “Notice: Camouflage jammed. Shield is still applicable. Please proceed with caution.”

Hearing that the “Shield” was still active, Jubei quickly stepped out and open-fired at the hiding Yaddithians. He intended to finish these ones off before reinforcements arrived. As he fired away, Jubei would stop and run forward before shooting again, alternating while gaining distance.

Once Jubei got close enough to the group of Yaddithians hiding behind the walls, Jubei pulled out a couple grenades from his bandoleer. Pulling out the pins, he threw one grenade into each corridor, and then jumped back. A few seconds later, the grenades detonated, blasting fire at the hiding Yaddithians. Their screams were immediately drowned out by their deaths.

Jubei reloaded his Kriss Vector SBR and took cover, just in time. From the different corridors ahead of him, the reinforcements of Yaddithians finally arrived, each armed with an energy rifle and some carrying plasma swords at their sides.

Like an unstoppable wall, the Yaddithians formed two lines. The first line of Yaddithians served as the line of defense. They held up plasma shields in front of them. The second line of Yaddithians carried the energy rifles, and they open-fired at Jubei, who was hiding behind a square pillar.

The blasts from the energy rifles penetrated through the pillar’s hard metal, melting it through. Jubei had to duck down and run off to hide within an adjacent corridor to escape the rain of energy blasts. As for the hard walls and floor, they were thick enough to stop the energy rifles’ blasts, which only left behind dark red burns.

Once the rain of energy blasts died down, Jubei stuck out an arm, holding the Kriss Vector SBR, and open-fired randomly. The bullets flew randomly, though some struck the energy shields but were easily repelled. Seeing that Jubei was still alive, the Yaddithians continued firing more while they slowly advanced towards Jubei’s location.

Jubei set down the Kibisis and opened it. He reached inside for a new firearm. The Kriss Vector SBR was good for tight close-quarter-combat, but it was powerless against the energy shields.

From the Kibisis, Jubei pulled out a Mossberg 590A1 pump-action shotgun with a 20-inch barrel. With fluid unhurried motions, Jubei swapped out his bandoleers with spare ammo for the Kriss Vector SBR into chest and belt shell holders for his shotgun. Even as the rain of energy blasts got closer and closer, Jubei remained calm.

Salta spoke matter-of-factly. “I recommend one incendiary, one birdshot, and the rest slugs. The Yaddithians’ energy shields can be disrupted temporarily with spontaneous energy flares.”

Jubei performed a quad-load, fluidly inserting 8 rounds into the Mossberg 590A1’s loading port. Holding a birdshot shell in his right hand, Jubei added an incendiary round, Dragon’s Breath, into the shotgun’s exposed ejection port, before cocking the shotgun’s forend pump to load the 9th round in the ejection port into the barrel. He was now ready.

As the rain of energy blasts continued almost nonstop, Jubei, carrying the Kibisis on his back once more, jumped out into the line of fire. Instead of being pierced with hot energy blasts, melting through his flesh, the Kibisis hummed softly, and a virtual shield, composed of hexagons, manifested before Jubei’s body.

The Kibisis contained three primary functions. The first was the isolated pocket dimension, used for storage. The second functionality was the “Augrez-Terry Field,” a special virtual shield made with alien technology that could withstand other alien weaponry and attacks. It was a powerful shield that could block most known alien weaponry, but it wasn’t omnipotent. The shield didn’t provide 100% cover and had an “energy output,” which decreased the more the shield was hit.

As the Augrez-Terry Field took on the brunt of energy blasts from the Yaddithians, Salta spoke up. “Shield’s current energy output: 97%...95%...”

Taking aim with the Mossberg 590A1, Jubei fired the first shot, an incendiary round named “the Dragon’s Breath.” Fire and sparks shot forth from the muzzle, flying towards the Yaddithians’ energy shields. A moment later, a burst of sparks flared up from the Yaddithians’ side, and their energy shields glitched, becoming inactive momentarily. The burst of sparks also shocked the Yaddithians, throwing them into confusion.

Jubei pulled back the forend, ejecting the used incendiary round, and then loaded in the birdshot round he was holding in his hand with fluid motion. Returning the forend pump to load the birdshot round into the barrel, Jubei fired his next shot, aiming at the Yaddithians holding the energy shields.

The birdshot round exited the Mossberg 590A1’s muzzle and spread out its tiny pellets. The spread of pellets hit the Yaddithians, injuring some and throwing them into confusion. The birdshot round wasn’t meant to kill but to create more confusion.

With the Yaddithians responsible for the line of defense in disarray, Jubei continued walking forward. He ejected the birdshot empty shell and immediately pushed the shotgun’s forend pump up, loading the next round in the mag tube. Then, Jubei simply fired round after round at the Yaddithians responsible for the line of defense. Each round released a loud heavy drum-like sound.

Eight shots fired. Jubei quad-loaded the next set of shells while continuing to walk forward. Even if the Yaddithians fired at Jubei with their energy rifles, the Augrez-Terry Field blocked all of their attacks. Its current energy output was at 90%, more than sufficient. With the next rounds loaded, Jubei continued firing at the Yaddithians one by one with slugs.

Seeing that Jubei was taking more and more of them down, some Yaddithians retreated into different corridors. The remaining Yaddithians still tried their best efforts to take down Jubei, but the Kibisis’s Augrez-Terry Field rendered their energy blasts ineffective. They quickly fell to the power of Jubei’s Mossberg 590A1.

After killing the last Yaddithians blocking his path, Jubei took cover behind another corridor. Like before with the Kriss Vector SBR, Jubei smoothly transitioned over to a new firearm. This time, Jubei armed himself with an HK416 assault rifle with a 16.5-inch-long barrel, and loaded a 30-round mag into the receiver. Loaded and ready, Jubei stepped out of his cover and proceeded.

Before him was a fork. Earlier, Jubei saw several Yaddithians flee in either corridor. Since Jubei didn’t know how big or how many Yaddithians lived here, he would just have to hunt them all down.

Turning to the left corridor, Jubei went down this path first because he saw more Yaddithians run this way earlier. That meant something important was hidden over here. And Jubei was correct in his assumption.

The left corridor seemed to be a nursery or school. He saw many young and baby Yaddhithians and their guardians scrambling to safety deeper into the corridors while other Yaddithians, armed with either an energy rifle or a plasma sword, rushed forward to buy time for their escape.

With the HK416 assault rifle in full-auto, Jubei hosed the Yaddithians down with a rain of bullets. The HK416 was capable of firing 860 rounds/min. Jubei emptied out the 30-round mag in mere seconds before reloading another 30-round mag into the receiver and continuing to fire.

Bodies of Yaddithians and green blood littered the hard floor behind Jubei as he continued. He massacred each and every one of the Yaddithians without mercy.

The corridors he was following led to a second floor, where even more helpless Yaddithians cowered. However, it was protected by a thick wall that no amount of bullets could penetrate through.

Salta spoke up upon seeing the thick wall through Jubei’s visor. “Searching…searching…Found. Previous encounters of Yaddithian spaceships showcased similar obstructions. Most were 12-inch thick of unknown Yaddithian metal. But they can be penetrated. Estimation: 5 bunker duster warheads.”

Setting down the Kibisis, Jubei opened it and reached for a new firearm. He pulled out a Panzerfaust 3, an anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher. With five bunker duster warheads in tow, Jubei stepped back to the end of the corridor to create distance between him and the thick wall of unknown Yaddithian metal.

With Panzerfaust 3 loaded, Jubei pressed the trigger. The bunker duster warhead burst through the Panzerfaust 3’s muzzle, leaving Jubei disoriented and almost falling off of his feet, and slammed straight into the thick wall, detonating with great heat and fire, shaking the entire corridor almost violently.

Jubei coughed hard as the acrid smoke from the detonation mixing with the putrid smell of the Yaddithians’ living space assaulted his nose and burned his eyes. Jubei had to pull out a mask from the Kibisis in order to function without issue.

Once the smoke cleared, Jubei could see that the bunker duster warhead left a large gouge in the thick wall, but not enough to penetrate. Without further inspection, Jubei loaded another bunker duster warhead into the Panzerfaust 3 grenade launcher and fired it again at the thick wall. Another major explosion and tremor took place, releasing more acrid smoke.

A larger part of the thick wall had been blown away, leaving a tiny hole at the bottommost layer. Jubei loaded and fired another bunker duster warhead at the thick wall. Another explosion and tremor happened. This time, a larger hole appeared in the thick wall. Jubei fired a third and then a fourth bunker duster warhead until a hole large enough for a human with the Kibisis could easily walk through unimpeded.

WIth the thick wall no longer an obstacle, Jubei stored the Panzerfaust 3 back into the Kibisis and re-equipped himself with the HK416 assault rifle loaded with a new 30-round mag. Jubei passed through the thick wall confidently.

On the other side were more corridors, but the smoke and fire from the thick wall spread far and wide. Jubei could hear many hard and loud coughs.

Following the coughing sounds, Jubei arrived at multiple rooms filled with young Yaddithians, accompanied by unarmed adult Yaddithians. Aiming his assault rifle at them, with full-auto firing mode, without mercy, Jubei open-fired at the Yaddithians, their painful screams filling up his ears but soon drowned out by gunfire. As soon as his gun clicked empty, Jubei immediately reloaded a new 30-round mag and continued firing until all the Yaddithians perished. Then, he moved onto the next room and repeated the process. Both young and adult Yaddithians dropped like flies.

During the war, the Yaddithians captured many humans and performed grotesque human experimentations. Based on secondhand stories, the grotesque human experimentations involved swapping body parts with other alien lifeforms, transferring their human brains into jars while transplanting their bodies’ organs into the Yaddithians, and having them watch their own bodies being mutilated by beasts from other universes while retaining full sensory. The victims involved adults, teenagers, and even babies.

“Nothing personal,” Jubei whispered. “If our roles were reversed, you’d do the same to me.”

Jubei killed off the last of the young Yaddithians, who gave him wide-eyed shock and disbelief expressions as they breathed their last. He ignored their frozen expressions and turned around to head back in the opposite direction.

With the harmless Yaddithians massacred, Jubei still had more corridors to explore.

Jubei requested Salta to bring up a map of the current location. Salta did as requested, and within the visor, Jubei could see a map, based on his own traversal of the Yaddithians’ lair. Salta created it based on the processed images from the visor. The map even included additional information like where Jubei encountered Yaddithians, how many died in which corridor, and noticeable landmarks. Thanks to the map, Jubei quickly backtraced to the earlier fork.

Jubei took the right path at the fork and began hunting down Yaddithians.

Unlike the left path at the fork, where only young and helpless Yaddithians lived, this side contained more battle-ready Yaddithians who opposed Jubei’s path. He even ran out of ammo for the HK416, forcing him to switch back to the Kriss Vector SBR.

Jubei killed and killed Yaddithians after Yaddithians as he went deeper into the corridors. He must’ve killed at least 100 Yaddithians on this side, versus the 220 from the other side.

Once Jubei ran out of ammo for the Kriss Vector SBR, Jubei switched over to the Mossberg 590A1 shotgun. He would occasionally switch to the Panzerfaust 3 and fire a charged shell to decimate and scatter Yaddithians in his path before taking them down individually with the shotgun.

When Jubei ran out of ammo for the Mossberg 590A1, he switched over to sniping, using the AXSR Pro bolt-action sniper rifle with a 27-inch barrel, 10-round capacity, and chambered in 338 Lapua Magnum. When even those ammo ran out, Jubei pulled out the Barrett M82A1 anti-materel rifle with a 29-inch barrel and chambered in 50 BMG.

By the time Jubei reached the Control Room, Jubei had probably killed over 200 Yaddithians. His Augrez-Terry Field had 31% remaining energy output; and only his sidearms remained usable with plenty of ammo left.

In the Control Room, there were only a handful of Yaddithians left, all ready to shoot and kill Jubei, including a Wizard. Amongst the various alien races, “Wizards” were special entities who could use unknown abilities. To humans, those abilities resembled “magic” itself. Hence, they were called “Wizards.” They were either the leader of a pack or the wise advisor to a king of the pack. Jubei heard from veterans that Wizards were tricky to kill.

Jubei threw a flash grenade, followed by his last remaining hand grenades at different locations, into the Control Room. First, the flash grenade detonated, blinding the nearby Yaddithians. Then, the hand grenades detonated a couple seconds after. Many of the Yaddithians were hit by the grenades’ shrapnels or explosions. Immediately, Jubei jumped in and used one of his sidearms, a CZ P-10 C Ported handgun, chambered in 9mm with 15-found capacity. He quickly closed the distance and unloaded the 9mm full metal jacket rounds into the closest group of Yaddithians.

Four shots each to the head, three Yaddithians fell to the ground. Jubei smoothly ejected the near-empty mag and reloaded a new one. Then, he continued firing at the Yaddithians. He had at most 4 more seconds before their sights recovered.

By the time the Yaddithians’ sight recovered, Jubei had already killed nine of them, leaving only one Yaddithian and the Wizard left.

The remaining Yaddithian open-fired at Jubei, whose Augrez-Terry Field activated. At the same time, the Wizard raised its staff, causing several alien glyphs to materialize around it. At Jubei’s feet, the alien glyphs also appeared.

Jubei jumped out of the way. In the area he was previously standing, the alien glyphs glowed red, and a sudden spatial tear manifested, creating a vicious vacuum that gouged at the very fabric of reality. It only appeared momentarily, but it left behind a burst of rushed air, trying to fill in the void, and a large chunk of the hard metal floor missing. If Jubei had stood there a moment too late, Jubei’s body would’ve instantly vanished like they never existed. Not even the Augrez-Terry Field could protect him.

Before Jubei could catch his breath, the Wizard unleashed more alien glyphs, glowing red at Jubei’s feet and in the air. Jubei got up and ran in an arc around the Wizard, avoiding the alien glyphs, while letting the remaining Yaddithian’s energy blasts slowly eat away at his Augrez-Terry Field. Like before, the red alien glyphs activated, causing spatial tears to devour the air and large chunks of the hard metal floor.

Ignoring the Wizard for now, Jubei needed to take out the remaining Yaddithian. He closed in on the remaining Yaddithian, who continued to fire energy blasts at him. When Jubei got too close for comfort, the Yaddithian stopped and pulled out its plasma sword. Dual plasma blades generated from either ends of a short rod-like device.

The Yaddithian slashed the plasma sword at Jubei with experienced movements. Unlike the other Yaddithians that Jubei killed, this one was definitely a veteran warrior. Jubei’s Augrez-Terry Field collided with the plasma sword’s dual plasma blades, causing sparks to fly off. Then, at point-blank, Jubei pointed his CZ P-10 C Ported handgun and fired multiple rounds, but Yaddithian easily dodged the bullets, though one hit in its left shoulder.

Jubei jumped out of the way as more red alien glyphs appeared around him. Once the red alien glyphs activated and dissipated, the Yaddithian rushed in, using the burst of rushed air as a cover. It swung its plasma sword at Jubei, who jumped back to conserve his Augrez-Terry Field’s remaining 22% energy output.

The combination of the Wizard’s red alien glyphs and the Yaddithian’s sword attacks managed to push Jubei back. Jubei had to be careful of the red alien glyphs, and the Yaddithian was able to dodge or cut down his bullets before pouncing with incredible speed.

After avoiding another red alien glyph attack, Jubei fired multiple 9mm rounds at the plasma sword-wielding Yaddithian. Click! Click! Click! His handgun became empty. And taking this opportunity, the plasma sword-wielding Yaddithian lunged forward with extreme malice.

Seeing that he didn’t have enough time to reload, Jubei reached down and pulled out a dagger from his thigh-strap before throwing it at the Yaddithian, who swatted it out of the air like knocking down a fly. Moments before impact, Jubei reached down to grab his second sidearm: a Taurus Raging Hunter 460, a five-round large revolver with a 6.75-inch barrel, and chambered in 454 Casull. He immediately aimed at the Yaddithian’s chest. A powerful round escaped the large revolver’s muzzle; the recoil itself was powerful and threw Jubei’s hand up into the air violently.

The Yaddithian tried to intercept, but the 454 Casull bullet moved too fast and powerful. The Yaddithian couldn’t dodge in time and got punctured in the right breast area. The 454 Casull bullet penetrated cleanly through the Yaddithian’s body, leaving behind an adult thumb-sized hole as an entry wound but a human palm-sized exit wound with green blood oozing out.

The powerful bullet caught the plasma sword-wielding Yaddithian by surprise. While still in shock, it stopped running abruptly, freezing from the pain spreading throughout. With its initial running momentum still active, the Yaddithian crashed into the hard metal floor beside Jubei’s feet with a loud dull sound. Before the Yaddithian could do anything more, Jubei fired another 454 Casull bullet into the Yaddithian’s head, causing green blood to splatter like blowing up a watermelon.

Jubei didn’t have time to catch his breath. With only the Wizard remaining, the Wizard unleashed even more red alien glyphs, surrounding Jubei in an instant. Jubei threw himself into the hard metal floor instantly, barely avoiding the many spatial tears biting at him.

Rolling onto his feet, Jubei quickly aimed his large revolver and fired at the Wizard. The large caliber round flew through the air and attempted to strike the Wizard in the chest. However, before impact, an invisible wall appeared, protecting the Wizard and deflecting the 454 Casull round in midflight. A barrier seemed to be protecting the Wizard, but a visible crack appeared, though it quickly repaired itself.

Turning tail, Jubei ran back to the entrance of the Control Room as more red alien glyphs appeared. Taking cover, Jubei reloaded his Taurus Raging Hunter 460 revolver with 3 new rounds and reloaded his CZ P-10 C Ported handgun with a new mag.

For strange reasons, the Wizard didn’t continue to attack or pursue Jubei. Either case, it worked out good for him.

“Salta, analyze the footage of the barrier earlier. And what do I have left available in my arsenal?”

“Analyzing…Analyzing…Analyzing complete…The Wizard seems to be protected by a self-repairing barrier. Similar cases have been found in previous encounters. The barrier can be shattered, but based on recorded footage of current and previous encounters, there is a two-second self-repair phase. If the barrier is broken through, estimation: five seconds needed for the self-repair phase to complete. That is a tiny window you can exploit. In regards to the remaining arsenal in your Kibisis: one bunker duster warhead for the Panzerfaust 3 grenade launcher, three mags of 9mm for CZ P-10 C Ported handgun, and 21 454 Casull rounds for the Taurus Raging Hunter 460 large revolver. Would you like me to construct a plan to destroy the barrier or how to exploit the self-repair phase?”

“No thanks. I’ll handle it.” With that said, Jubei set down the Kibisis from his back to the hard metal floor and pulled out the Panzerfaust 3. Like Salta reported, there was a single bunker duster warhead remaining.

This time, Jubei didn’t wear the Kibisis on his back again. Instead, he chambered the bunker duster warhead into the Panzerfaust 3 grenade launcher. Taking quick aim, Jubei fired the bunker duster warhead at the Wizard.

Immediately, the Wizard reacted by activating all of its red alien glyphs, thinking that Jubei had run back inside the Control Room. Instead, the Wizard was greeted by the bunker duster warhead, which exploded upon crashing into the barrier, detonating and releasing a large explosion, shattering the barrier like glass. The Wizard coughed and thrashed wildly as dark smoke got into its eyes, nose, mouth, and lungs.

The self-repairing barrier activated. Jubei immediately bolted towards the Wizard, running with an incredible burst of speed. Without the Kibisis on his back, Jubei was finally free to move as fast as he wished.

1 second passed. Jubei had already crossed a third of the distance.

2 seconds passed. Jubei crossed two-thirds of the distance, already reaching the brim of the smoke from the bunker duster warhead’s explosion.

3 seconds passed. Jubei already plunged into the dark smoke and reached deep within the Control Room, where the Wizard stood. Thanks to the visor he wore, Jubei could see the Wizard’s heat signature and silhouette.

4 seconds passed. Jubei took aim and unleashed all five rounds within the Taurus Raging Hunter 460 large revolver. Jubei couldn’t see, but based on the Wizard’s silhouette suddenly jerking in various directions before falling to the ground, he could confirm that his bullets hit the Wizard’s body.

Once the dark smoke cleared away enough to see the other side of the Control Room, Jubei stood in front of the Wizard, towering over it, with his other sidearm, the CZ P-10 C Ported handgun aimed at the Wizard’s head. Apparently, the five 454 Casull bullets hit their marks, but the Wizard was still alive, albeit barely clinging to life.

Jubei and the Wizard locked eyes for a cold moment. The Wizard’s tapir-snout twitched angrily. As it opened its mouth to spit something, Jubei unleashed all 15 rounds of 9mm full metal jackets into the Wizard’s head.

Click! Click! The handgun became empty in Jubei’s hand. And the Wizard became lifeless.

As he walked back to the Kibisis, inserting new 15-round mag and 454 Casull bullets into his handguns, Jubei kept up his vigilance. He heard that some of the Yaddithians possessed technology to turn themselves invisible, even to infrared and sonar. Jubei didn’t see any on the way, so a Yaddithian could still be lurking somewhere in plain sight.

Slinging the Kibisis onto his back, Jubei pulled out his cellphone and dialed for Imagawa Sanami.

Despite being deep within Yaddithian’s lair, his cellphone managed to make a connection. The Kibisis had three primary functions. The first was the isolated pocket dimension for internal storage. The second was the Augrez-Terry Field. Lastly, the third was the “Surpassing Quantum Telecommunication Network,” a special communication module that enabled Earth’s telecommunication devices and internet service providers to connect within alien territory. Thanks to such a revolutionary feature, mankind was able to prevail deep within alien territories during the war.

Jubei’s phone connected. Imagawa Sanami’s clear voice spoke up on the other side. “Jubei-kun, did you finish?”

“Yes, Imagawa-san. I just cleared out the Quantum Anomaly. It was a Yaddithian’s lair, containing at least 120 children, 260 adults, and 1 wizard. I didn’t find any archives or labs, so I can only suspect this was a nursery of some kind.”

“Fascinating. Just goes to show that more and more of them are planning to secretly raise families on Earth. Whether that be for their own survival or raising an army, we don’t know. Anyways, congrats. You’re free to come back to rest, restock, and take on a new mission. We have more Shantak nests and Mi-Go mines to take care of.”

“Roger.” Jubei ended the call and took one last sweeping look in the Control Room before heading out.

Touching the visor, Jubei commented, “Agent No. 86, Mori Jubei, reporting for post-record purposes: Mission No. 402 of the Bureau of Extraterrestrial Riddance has been completed.”

Suddenly, Jubei quickly spun around and aimed his large revolver at a particular direction, firing all five rounds at a wall. A moment later, the ordinary-looking hard wall glitched like a broken TV screen, slowly revealing the last Yaddithian, who hid with a cloak of invisibility.

The Yaddithian wore a look of surprise on its insectoid face before falling to its knees on the ground. Jubei loaded the large revolver and fired two shots, causing the Yaddithian’s head to explode like a crushed watermelon.

“I can still feel your murderous intent.” Jubei holstered the large revolver before taking off. “Mission Over.”