13 - The Origins Of An Empath, p1

[2023]

“As such, I congratulate you on officially becoming a part of the newly formed Global Soulful Coalition Intelligence Agency.” The man in a dark uniform said. His voice was stern, every word he said was clear as the azure spring sky.

“I will now remind you of your roles within your group.”

“Asami, you will be our tactical operation support and the talented soulful that will aid our other agents. You are to aid them by enhancing the efficiency of their soul expressions. Although, I’m sure a group like the Heisei will eventually develop an interest in you too.”

“Kana, you will be the primary combatant of the group. In the case that there is a need to apply force or to fight, before informing the Heisei, your job will be to halt the enemies and keep yourselves safe until the combatants arrive.”

“Sofia, your expertise in locating things will be the agency’s primary method of acquiring intelligence regarding points of interest. We trust you to try your hardest at all times and return to us with satisfactory results.”

“Haruki, you are to be the stealth operations expert. Your soul expression will effectively allow you to infiltrate any and all fortifications that we might have the need to gather intelligence on. You will participate either in solo, or team-based operations to gather crucial information.”

“And finally, Mukawa. Your soul expression will make you an expert interrogator. I do believe that your ability to not only negotiate, but to also extract information out of people will be a key component of the intelligence machine.”

“From this moment onwards, you are all to swear your allegiance to the Global Soulful Coalition, and work tirelessly and relentlessly to aid the soulful cause. Kaito Kamiki himself has chosen you as the cornerstones of one of the most important groups within the coalition.”

“This is the end of the briefing.”

“Salvation of mankind, beneath the soulful sky.” The man said, leaving them.

...

“I never thought I’d end up like this.”

“For someone who was as much of a loner as I was, I never thought I’d be in a group that was forced to be as tightly bound together as this.”

“I never had a lot of friends in school, in fact, I was fine with not having any at all. I didn’t really care about much when it came to grades. I didn’t join any clubs or I didn’t do any sports. But it was tolerable.”

“I just remember how I cared about people too much. And a lot of times, it bit me in the ass. But I did it anyway because it was the right thing to do.”

“But these people...soulfuls...they’re different.”

Mukawa looked around at the group he was now a not-really-proud member of. In reality, this was a position that a lot of people would genuinely kill to be in. But he himself didn’t really care about his rank or callsign or whatever.

“I’m pleasantly surprised by the fact that we’ve managed to trust each other.”

He glanced at Haruki. They were in a small office area, everyone had their own computer, yet most of the time they were just bumming around while Asami and Sofia did their magic.

“I don’t hate Haruki. In fact, we’re really good friends. We just tend to disagree on a lot of things.”

“And we all came to the conclusion that it’s healthy for us. It’s important to have differing opinions. It results in all perspectives being heard.”

“Everyone, we got new info. Some new stuff we gotta take care of.” Haruki said.

“Why did I join the GSC, though? Well, I guess the money is good. My skills as a soulful aren’t going to waste, and I get some decent benefits too.”

“The main reason, though, is because I think this coalition will help a lot of people. Especially in a world as unstable as it is right now.”

...

“There.” Sofia pointed at one of the streets on the map. “He should be somewhere around here. For sure.”

“Alright then.” Mukawa sighed. “Let’s move out. We approach and surround the target, ambush it and go for the incapacitation”

“Got it.” Kana and Asami nodded.

“The mission is to eliminate, and it’s an urgent demand.” Haruki corrected Mukawa’s mistake. Everyone sighed a little, expecting yet another argument about the morality of murder for the sake of the objective. But this time, Mukawa just silently looked at Haruki.

“I’ll do the deed.” Haruki nodded. “Come on, let’s go.”

They moved out. It was night in Tokyo, the streets weren’t completely asleep, though. Their mission was to hunt down an informant who had reportedly stolen copies of extremely vital GSC documents, some of them containing information on Kaito Kamiki himself. The intelligence agency, which often acted as a counter-intelligence agency, was dispatched to take care of the threat. Normally this would be the Heisei’s task, but since they were busy, it had to be Mukawa’s job.

Mukawa did not like fighting, to him it was more of a means to protect himself. He was never an exceptional combatant, nor was his soul expression befitting a fighter. But he had to participate regardless.

They rushed to the target’s location. Haruki was the fastest - he phased through the buildings ahead of him, carving a direct path. He could phase through anything as long as it didn’t have soul prowess. Mukawa went for another route, trying to run as fast as he could to encircle the target from the North. Kana stuck around with Asami and Sofia to support them and move in from the East.

And the informant himself? He was running for his life. He stood no chance against soulfuls, he was barely a dormant soul himself.

He ran under the barely starry night sky, holding onto a briefcase that contained weeks of hard work and was a result of hundreds of lies and false promises. Just as he received a signal from his employer, he noticed someone else running at him.

Mukawa got to him and tackled him. The man tried to fight back, drawing a handgun and pointing it at Mukawa, but Mukawa’s superior strength helped him quickly disarm the man. He ended up shooting into the air. He punched the man in the stomach a few times before standing up.

The informant tried to stand up, but Mukawa kicked him in the leg with enough strength to cripple him. That was how great of a difference soul prowess played, even in the hands of someone who barely had enough time to practice with it, it was a game changer. Mukawa stared at the man.

“What’s in the briefcase?!” Mukawa yelled.

“Ah, p-please...don’t...k-kill me...” the man raised his arms. “I won’t tell anyone a thing! I promise!”

“Mukawa!” Haruki called out, reaching the scene. “Nice job, you got him.”

“I need him to open that briefcase.” Mukawa said.

“Please...I’lll...I’ll open it, just...don’t...” The man slowly crawled back. Haruki grabbed his handgun which had a silencer attached to it and shot the man in the leg. He screamed in pain. Mukawa looked at him in discomfort.

“The next one will hit your head.” Haruki said. “Open the briefcase now.”

He slowly reached for it. He tried inputting the correct information to release the lock on it, but it seemed like he was having trouble with it.

“What’s he-”

“Hey, you don’t remember your passcode?” Haruki said. “Wait a minute, is he doing this on purpose...?”

“Mukawa, why don’t we just grab the briefcase and brute force it?” Haruki asked. “I don’t have much hope in this guy.”

“Sounds like an option.” Mukawa said. He approached and grabbed the briefcase, prying the lock off with his strength and opening it. There were stacks of paper inside, neatly organized into folders. But something caught his eye in particular.

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One of the documents in the stack wasn’t a printed document, it was a ripped piece of paper with what looked like his handwriting. It had the words ‘Limited Manifestation’ written on it, sketched next to the symbol of the GSC.

“Mukawa, I don’t recommend looking through them.” Haruki said.

“Right.” Mukawa said, quickly getting up. “I guess we’re done here. Intel is secured.”

“Yeah. Just one more thing to take care of.” Haruki said, pointing the handgun at the informant’s head.

“W-w-w-wait, let me tell you something! Let me tell you something!” The man pleaded. “I-I-I’m with t-the...”

“Just spend this time on...prayers or something. Think about the good stuff.” Haruki said, taking aim.

“I have a family!” He yelled. “Please, I...I’m doing this for them! I do this only for the money, okay? I’ll...I’ll tell you everything...”

Haruki was about to pull the trigger, but he felt something push his handgun away.

“I have a different idea.” Mukawa said.

“Mukawa, this is not the time for this shit.” Haruki said. “We have a job to do.”

“I’m sure I can figure something out with Dreamcatcher.” Mukawa said, approaching the informant.

“P-please...my family...I have a wife, and two little boys at home...” The man started tearing up. “I won’t do this...ever again...”

“I believe you.” Mukawa said. “He probably looked through the documents. I need to somehow convince him that what he saw was a lie. If I use my divine acclamation and implant a certain memory that whatever he saw in those documents was a lie, or a hallucination, or just...a dream.”

“Mukawa...” Haruki said, taking aim once again.

“I know what I’m gonna do. I’ll take care of him and he won’t die.” Mukawa said. “If I use my divine acclamation, we won’t need to kill him.”

“D-d-d-d-divine acclamation?!” The man screamed in terror. “Please, no! D-don’t!”

“Relax, it’s painless. It’ll just mess with your memories a little.” Mukawa said. His soul presence started to gradually flare up. “Haruki, return the documents.”

“How do you know he hasn’t made copies? Or that he doesn’t have a way to verify what he saw?” Haruki asked.

“Because, as I said, the method I thought of will avoid a pointless death.”

“Pointless?!”

“Okay, a point-full death in that case!” Mukawa raised his voice. “If I can avoid a pointless death, I will.”

“Mukawa, we have a concrete objective.” Haruki said. “Move aside, I’ll eliminate him.”

“For fuck sake, would it hurt you to trust me a little?!” Mukawa yelled.

“P-p-please, let him...let him do what he wants...” The man continued pleading. “I can’t...leave my family alone. Please.”

“Nobody’s talking to you.” Mukawa said. He took a deep breath, but he felt three soul presences approach his location.

“Good thing. You secured the target.” Sofia said, approaching the scene. Kana and Asami were behind them, Kana ready for combat, Asami tired from running. “What’s taking you so long to...oh...”

Sofia understood exactly what was happening.

“We can get away with this without killing him.” Mukawa said. “Asami, enhance my soul expression. I’m gonna try to pry the information out of his head.”

“No, the only method is killing.” Haruki said.

“Actually, I agree with Mukawa here.” Sofia said. “We don’t have to kill him.”

“Huh...?” Haruki asked, surprised.

“We just knock him out and hand him over to the GSC.” Sofia said. “If they ask us why we haven’t killed him, we’ll just say that we, as intelligence agents, believe that he has valuable information. Besides, we don’t even know who employed him, how much he was paid, or how he got the information in the first place. The fact that he has access to the info means there’s a hole in the GSC’s security or there’s a lot of rats running around.”

“Oh hell nah.” Mukawa shook his head. “They’re gonna put this guy through things way, way worse than death.”

“Or, if we tell him that you’ll handle the interrogation, they’ll let us take care of us.” Kana said. “Either way, we need to hand him over. Now.”

“I’ll knock him out.” Haruki said, approaching the pleading man. He looked at Mukawa for a few seconds before that. “You can’t pull these stunts too much.”

“Stunts?”

“One day, you’ll be in a situation when you’ll need to act.” Haruki said. “And you know damn well which choice will be the correct one.”

“Well, until that day comes, I’ll enjoy my life with as little unnecessary murder as possible.” Mukawa sighed.

“I hate it when people die.”

“I hate it even more when they get killed by someone else.”

“And I hate it even more when they get killed because they get caught up in a political game or a larger conflict. I just hate death.”

“That’s why Haruki keeps calling me out for being an empath. And I never understand why.”

“Empathy is something all humans must have.”

Mukawa suddenly froze up.

“You guys...” Mukawa said, taking a step back. “I think we should get the fuck out of here.”

“W-what?” Haruki was surprised.

“Someone’s coming this way. Knock him out fast and drag him the fuck out of here.” Mukawa said, his breathing suddenly erratic. “We’re leaving, now!”

“There’s a target roughly five hundred meters away from us, and it’s approaching...” Sofia said, not even believing what she saw. “It’s fast. It’s...”

“Already almost here.”

Haruki quickly punched the informant as hard as he could in the jaw, putting him to sleep. He tried to lift his body, but would soon be motionless completely. He let go of it and took a few steps back. It was too late to run away now, even if they did run, they wouldn’t get away.

The man approaching the scene was a soulful they could only theorize would be behind the operation. Otto Richter approached the scene.

“You did well, Albrecht.” Otto said to himself approaching the soulfuls. He summoned the Replicator. “I will handle the rest.”

“But strangely enough...”

“They left you alive.”

“Fuck...fuck!” Sofia exclaimed. She took a stance, but it was already too late. Before she could even try to make a move, Otto was already in front of her. He grabbed Sofia by her face and tripped her with his foot - slamming her on her back. The impact was strong enough to break the asphalt beneath them. He struck her with his blade, but not with its sharp edge - he used the surface of the blade to deliver blunt attacks. He knocked Sofia out.

“Sofia!!!” Kana yelled at the top of her lungs. “Asami, call the Heisei right now! We’re under attack-”

Otto was already next to Asami, swinging the blade at her and knocking her out. Haruki and Kana, in rage, threw themselves at him.

“F-fuck...”

Mukawa, however, was confused.

“He’s not...finishing us off? Damn it, does he plan to do to him what we wanted to do to his agent?!”

“You two, get the hell back!” Mukawa yelled.

Kana was already trying to pick a fight with Otto. She struck him in the stomach with a jab and shot a right hook at his face, both landing clean but doing little to no damage. Otto just looked at her, a little amazed by her resolve. Haruki tried to sneak behind him, his blade was in his hands. Otto knocked him back with a back kick, it launched Haruki back a few dozen meters.

Kana swung her arm as hard as she could. Suddenly, her right hand started to glow with a special red light, and her fingers, for a brief moment, looked like dangerously sharp claws. Her presence flared up and she swiped at Otto.

“Claw!”

Otto had to dash. But the parts of his torso and arm that were scratched by the attack were now bleeding, with the wound being even a little deep in some places.

“Interesting.” Otto muttered to himself. His wounds quickly regenerated. Kana tried to swipe again, but Otto grabbed her arm mid-motion and used it to swing her through the air and pummel her into the ground.

“It’s the two of them left...I shouldn’t let either of them have a spare moment to call for reinforcements. The documents are nice, but I feel like I’ve stumbled upon something even better here.”

“If I have enough time tonight I’ll look for the manga books that Erwin is talking about all the time too.”

He started utilizing his weapon more. He launched a powerful slash of soul prowess at Mukawa - but not at him directly, but the ground just in front of him. The impact knocked him back and temporarily acted as a smokescreen.

While that was going on, he felt something pinch his cheek. Those were the bullets from the handgun Haruki was firing.

“Mukawa!” Haruki yelled. “Kill the guy and destroy the documents, fast!”

Otto looked at him in slight disappointment and rushed at him as quickly as he could. Haruki was able to actually land a counter pretty nicely, striking Otto with a strong left uppercut. He tried to swing his blade at him but Otto quickly weaved to the side. He unsummoned the Replicator. He grabbed Haruki with his left and used his right to land a nasty punch on his jaw, putting him to sleep.

“Shit...they’re all...” Mukawa thought, getting up and catching his breath.He looked at the two tasks that Haruki requested him to do, but he knew he couldn’t. “I need to call for reinforcements.”

“Screw that, I need to act!”

Before he could start flaring his presence up to use his most advanced ability, Otto threw Haruki’s unconscious body at him, knocking him back. When Mukawa stood back up, Otto was already in front of him.

“Don’t use your divine acclamation.” Otto said, holding the freshly resummoned Replicator at Mukawa’s throat.

“What the hell are you gonna do to us, huh?!” Mukawa barked at him. “If we go missing, they’ll find out that you’re behind this. The Heisei’s mad dogs will pay you a visit.”

“They won’t find anyone missing.” Otto confidently said.

“...huh?”

“I don’t intend to kill you or to kidnap you.” Otto said. “I’m more keen on finding out just who the hell you are. And most importantly...”

“I want to know what kind of operative couldn’t kill a defenseless target.”