The Music Speaks

Sebastian confidently traverses the woods and advances towards the enemy base. The base in question is still out of sight, but Sylvia assures me that it is close. For now, all I can do is cautiously march through the tall trees and thick bushes in hopes of eventually reaching the destination. The impenetrable darkness of the woods is alleviated by the night vision function of my suit, as such, I do not worry about something noticing me before I notice. Almost as if reading my mind, S.O.N.G. speaks to me.

"Warning: Unknown human vital signature detected – please exercise caution!"

I had expected this cutting-edge piece of technology to have a few more surprises for me but did not expect it to be able to detect an enemy before I did. Upon hearing its words, I look for the enemy in question and I find him rather quickly. It is a man who seems to be in his mid-40s, carrying a plasma cannon, the most advanced piece of weaponry ordinary humans can wield. If fully charged, it can seriously harm a 1st stage [enlightened], granted it hits its target.

His purpose in patrolling the surrounding area is made evident by the headlamp he wears wrapped around his cranium. A communication device can be seen attached to his ear, ready to call for reinforcements at any moment. I prepare to use the sound of idleness to quickly subdue him when the air whistles and his head separates from his body. The Sympholance, rotating at an extremely high speed, slices through the patroller like a hot knife through butter. After dividing his body in two, Its rotation slows down, and it returns to the hands of Sebastian. He speaks through his communicator.

"Don't bother capturing the non-[enlightened], it is unlikely they'll have anything useful to give us! Forward young ones!"

'The Cyclone of Melodica...'

It is widely known that Sebastian's first ability is something akin to telekinesis. It has been displayed in movies, he has mentioned it in television programs and that is what he tells the general public. This sets him apart from other [enlightened] because they generally do not wish to share the principle behind their [melodies] as it could put them at a disadvantage against their opponents. Sebastian, however, would always say 'Let them come! The Sympholance fears no one!' which played a major part in his rise to fame. According to him, he uses the ability to rotate the Sympholance at incredibly high speed, turning it into flying chakram which he can decide to wield as a spear if needed.

One would expect the Sympholance to be modeled after a wind instrument since it travels through the air at high speeds, but Sebastian specifically demanded it be modeled as a chorded instrument which needs to come into physical contact with other objects to be played, similar to the warchord. As a result, when he becomes serious, his Sympholance is made to shred the ground in a specific manner, allowing him to hit the right chords and imbue it with his [melody]. This provides him with much greater control over the instrument, or at least that's what he says, but just now he simply used it as a piece of metal and threw it at the man with the plasma cannon.

Without sparing a moment for a dead man, we advance further into the woods. We come across a few non-[enlightened] individuals which Sebastian swiftly takes care of. Every single one of them suffers the same fate as the first man, with no way to defend themselves. In front of a second stage, even the plasma cannon is nothing more than a heavy piece of metal.

Finally, we arrive upon a patch of land with not a single tree or bush, just a few first-stage [enlightened] sitting around a campfire, inconspicuously. As I observe them from a distance , a voice speaks to me, it's Sylvia this time.

"Alden, activate the anti-camouflage feature"

"Alright."

Learning from my previous mistakes, I give S.O.N.G. a clear and concise directive.

"Activate 'anti-camouflage vision'"

"Command registered – Activating: camouflage-piercing vision"

S.O.N.G. executes my command, and it is as if a veil is lifted from my eyes. Even the [enlightened] sitting by the campfire disappear making space for an entirely new scenery. What shows itself before me now is a rather large cubic-shaped building standing tall in the center of the forest. In terms of aesthetics, there is not much to say about it. Its walls are made of a dull grey material and there are no windows anywhere on its surface for as far as I can see. There is a single entrance guarded by four first stages and one other man who seems vastly stronger, most likely a second stage. On the roof, there are more men and women stationed who appear to be either spotters, snipers, or both. None of them are [enlightened] except for the one in the middle, I am uncertain what her stage is. All of those on the roof are wearing dull grey clothing, attempting to blend in with the structure should anyone see through their camouflage technology. From this distance, I cannot be certain what sort of weapon they carry, I simply assume that it is best to not be hit by it.

"Masks on friends!"

Is that another feature of the suit?

"Activate, uh, mask?"

"Command registered – Activating: Identity concealment technology. Do you have a preference for the face you will wear?"

"No? Whatever's fine."

"Understood! Facial features successfully altered!"

"The time is now! I will take care of that second stage! Deal with the rest!"

Sebastian rushes in without even waiting for an answer. He immediately goes for the second stage who painstakingly blocks his initial attack. The man stands at a similar height to Sebastian, completely bald with a muscular build. He wears a cap on his forehead with some sort of strange crest I do not recognize. It looks like.... a strange spiral? One side is black, the other white and each side contains a singular dot of the opposite color. Truly bizarre, now that I think about it, those patrolling the woods also wore it somewhere on their clothes. I think it was called the yi-

[Correction]

What am I saying? It is just some strange spiral symbol, probably one with no meaning.

Contrary to expectations, the man that Sebastian is fighting wields two miniature sharpsongs in the form of daggers, both clash against his Sympholance, chords are played, notes are blown.

"W-what?? Who are you?! Identify yourself!!"

"Villains have no need for my name!"

Their battle commences.

As soon as their instruments clash, I do not hear it, but I am certain that the enemies have rang the alarm, and more units will surely soon rush out, well, that was the plan. During our strategic meeting, Sylvia had already explained the layout of the plant, explaining that there were no windows and only a single, heavily guarded, door. The plan was to attract attention and force the enemy to send reinforcements which would inevitably mean that their doors must open. Quite a simple plan, but with the information at hand and one of the strongest second stages in existence, it is a realistic one.

Ivana and I go for the [enlightened] on the ground while Sylvia scales the wall to reach those on the roof. She quite literally digs her fingers and toes into it and climbs at an impressive speed. I would be terrified if I saw such a monster approaching me, they might outnumber her, but I am convinced that her opponents will stand no chance.

Leaving the second stages to their battle, the four first stages rush in our direction as well. As I've mentioned before, when engaging the [enlightened], the ideal fighting style is to simply incapacitate them before they can play their [melody]. Following this simple principle, I strike my shield and momentarily immobilize the dark-skinned man running in the forefront, I aim straight for his neck. A fair-skinned woman wielding a warchord, slightly behind the dark-skinned man, swings her instrument in my direction, but I do not falter. Before her instrument can cause me harm, it is stopped in its tracks by Ivana's sharpsong. Mine stays on course and with no other obstacle, slices right through the man's neck. The three other [enlightened], shocked, jump back slightly and get into a battle formation

I have killed for the first time, but surely not for the last.