'There it is! After being absent for so long, could you resist any longer?' Jack thought when he felt that peculiar, familiar gaze fall on him. As he had done on previous occasions, he pretended not to notice, reacting to his surroundings.
It wasn't difficult because something serious had happened. Besides, the glance was quite fleeting, so he assumed its owner had left. The problem in front of him absorbed his attention at that moment, though.
The different laughter grew louder and louder. Along with the sound of footsteps, the entire team realized that someone was approaching them in the alley.
Soon, they saw the source of the laughter. It was a woman in tattered, bloodstained clothes who was walking with difficulty but had an unusual gleam in her eyes. She had a twisted smile on her face as she laughed with mockery and contempt.
"Humans..." Between laughs, the woman spoke in a neutral tone, very different from what you would expect, letting them know that she was not human.
The anomaly.
"What do you want?" Alexis asked, not bothering to find out who was speaking. In this context, that would be an unnecessary question. What they needed was more information about the anomaly because the situation was undoubtedly dangerous.
Any strange phenomenon, such as a curse or a peculiar event like frogs raining down, was generally considered an anomaly. Anomalies were very different from oddities, which were specific creatures. Even if a flower suddenly started dancing, it would be considered an anomaly until proven otherwise.
However, when one of these phenomena exhibited any kind of 'sensitivity,' it was considered a very bad sign because it made them more dangerous. Similar to the strange disc that Jack and Laria encountered, whatever was causing the laughter in this town seemed to have a certain intelligence, enough to convey dialogue to those affected.
"Make you laugh... Enjoy the joy... Because you will fall under its control..." Though her words were interrupted by her laughter, the message was clear.
She did this under the command of something probably superior to her. Without hesitation, Lisa projected her Pneuma bullets, accelerating them with the technique she had developed for this moment. She fired them at the affected woman in front of her.
Due to her ability to project this type of energy, Lisa only needed her sniper rifle and did not have to carry other weapons. Previously, she needed to fire the bullets for them to be effective, but she had recently overcome that disadvantage.
Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!
Pneuma's projectiles struck the woman's skin, and she couldn't stop laughing. They pierced her skin and flesh. The energy reacted with the anomaly's influence in her body, fiercely fighting and affecting her faculties, causing something other than laughter to emerge from her mouth for the first time.
A scream of pain. She writhed and huddled over as she took several steps back. Seeing that Pneuma's bullets easily pierced the woman's body, Laria decided to try it for herself.
The brunette used a movement technique, reinforcing her feet with Pneuma and accelerating her body, leaving residual images in her wake. Close to her enemy, Laria raised her leg high and brought it down hard on the woman's shoulder.
The force of the blow pushed the woman affected by the anomaly to the ground. Along with the sound of broken bones, cracks appeared in the floor. However, instead of being pleased that her blow had landed, Laria's expression changed slightly from cold to doubtful and concerned.
This was not the reaction she expected, given her knowledge of those affected by the anomaly. Like a normal woman, the woman suffered damage from the blow, fragile in the face of the power of an Operator who reinforced her body.
"You wonder..." With her face contorted in pain, the woman looked Laria in the eyes and laughed harder and harder, her tone dripping with mockery.
"You are different. Different means are required to make you laugh, to make you truly live." Gradually, the woman stopped laughing and spoke with much greater ease. Soon, a wave of black energy surged from her body, pushing Laria backward. Luckily, Jack caught her and helped her dissipate the force of the push.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Alexis shot the woman three times, shattering her neck and head with the bullets, yet she still got up. She wasn't laughing anymore, but she didn't run wildly toward them like the others who had been affected.
She simply began to tremble. Her skin began to ooze blood, but that was a minor detail because a powerful Pneuma emerged from her red-black body.
Jack moved toward the woman. His axe was reinforced with Pneuma as he swung it, intending to make a horizontal cut directly toward her neck and finish his partner's work.
The woman didn't attempt to dodge or defend herself against the blow. The blade cut through her skin, flesh, and bone, decapitating her. Instead of blood, a black hand emerged from the cut area.
Jack tried to attack the hand with his axe, not wanting to see what was about to come out. But a wave of energy hit him in the chest, pushing his body against the wall of the alley and cracking it.
Irina had approached with the same intention, holding an invisible sword that caused slight distortions in the air when waved. The sword cut through the black hand emerging from the severed neck, but only pierced a few centimeters of the limb, failing to seriously injure it.
"You can't stop my birth... Hehehe," a female voice laughed as an attack similar to the one that had affected Jack now fell upon Irina, pushing her backward.
The woman affected by the anomaly was torn apart, her body becoming debris on the ground and revealing the entity hiding inside her.
It was a completely black figure with few physical features defining it as female. A red crack on its face simulated a smile, and two bright crimson dots served as eyes.
The amount of Pneuma it emitted gave it an imposing presence, causing Jack, who had recovered from the previous blow, to break out in a cold sweat. What stood before him was not an oddity, but an anomaly, the embodiment of one:
The Incarnation of Laughter.
Everyone had this thought the moment they heard the figure's laughter. It laughed, mocking and enjoying the fact that it stood right in front of them.
Without saying a word, the group ran out of the alley, looking for an open space where they could fight without getting in each other's way.
But how could they simply leave without the Incarnation of Laughter intervening? With a simple movement, the entity moved so quickly that it seemed to have teleported. It appeared in front of Jack and extended its claw-like hand toward the man's face.
The entity moved too quickly for Jack to react in time, but his sixth sense was no mere talent. Although his eyes couldn't follow the figure, his supernatural sensory ability could. This caused Jack to instinctively release his Pneuma.
His body used the familiar technique to follow his instincts, causing him to twist and back away in movements beyond what a person could consciously perform.
He had done this when fighting the steam armor several weeks ago, and he was repeating those actions now. Perhaps because of the intense fighting during this period, his body had grown stronger. Instead of suffering significant damage like last time, he was only sore.
His muscles trembled with pain! His mouth opened slightly as he tried to take in more air. Unlike other instincts, the survival instinct pushes the body to its limits in short bursts to avoid danger.
This put a huge strain on his body, but as long as he was alive, nothing else mattered. This is what makes one of the eight primal instincts of human beings special: it keeps them alive at all costs, even if they are injured.
The whole situation happened in a very short period. Lisa provided timely support to Jack. Noticing her partner's movement, she pushed her sniper rifle and fired at the incarnation, which easily evaded her attack.
"This is a very rare occurrence, but sometimes an anomaly can take physical form. I don't know why something like this would be in a small town like this one, but it's beyond our level," Laria said coldly, staring at the Incarnation of Laughter, who continued to laugh.
"Instead of being afraid... why don't you laugh with me? Be happy with me!" the anomaly spoke again before lunging at the team once more.
Jack pushed his sixth sense to the limit. He raised his axe in front of his body and reinforced his weapon and himself with Pneuma. He defended himself in time from a punch by the incarnation, thus giving his teammates a chance.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Laria attacked the entity's neck directly with her Pneuma-reinforced scalpel. Her attacks left marks on her enemy's throat. Instead of blood, something similar to black sand appeared.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
At the same time, Alexis fired several shots from her enchanted pistol, wounding the creature's torso and causing it to take several steps back. Irina stepped forward and crouched as if she were about to draw her sword.
The girl concentrated her Pneuma on her invisible sword, creating a vague distortion in the air accompanied by a constant humming sound. Her right arm bulged and filled with green veins as she removed the limits of the muscles in that limb.
Swish!
Irina's hand moved at high speed, her Pneuma sword cutting through the air and delivering a powerful blow to the enemy. A mark appeared on the incarnation's chest, and its laughter stopped.
Black sand spurted from its body, and screams came out of the crack that served as its mouth. Laria stepped forward and kicked the entity in the abdomen, sending it flying toward one of the alley walls, just as it had done to Jack a short time ago.
Its body hit the wall hard, causing cracks to appear. Small objects floated above the Incarnation of Laughter, and soon, a series of explosions engulfed the entity, causing a wave of heat.
Alexis used his Pneuma hands to deliver the blow, hoping his explosives were powerful enough to eliminate the threat. But then, that mocking laughter was heard again.
"This body couldn't take it anymore... but it doesn't matter. This form is useless, so let's discard it." From the smoke and flames, a black figure crawled out. The Incarnation of Laughter was in terrible condition.
It was covered in burns and missing limbs. Although it was trembling with pain, it continued to laugh, viewing everything that had happened to it as an extremely funny joke.
Bang! Boom!
Lisa fired one of her Pneuma bullets directly at the creature's head, exploding its skull and splattering black sand everywhere. However, despite its condition, the team could still hear its annoying laughter.
The Incarnation of Laugh's body dissolved completely, and the dark Pneuma covering it dissipated into the atmosphere, confirming the end of its existence.
"Jack, are you okay?" Laria asked her boyfriend, Jack, who had barely participated in the battle against the Incarnation of Laugh except to defend the others. He simply stood still, staring in a certain direction.
"Huh? Yes..." he replied distractedly. His forehead was beaded with sweat, his hands were tightly gripping his axe, and his heart was beating wildly because of what he had just felt a moment ago.
When he defended himself from the Incarnation of Laugh's punch, he took two steps back to mitigate the force of the blow. But when he was about to support his companions and participate in the confrontation, he heard a laugh unlike any he had heard before.
Then, he felt a terrible pressure fall upon his body. It was like being in the depths of the sea. Worst of all, everything around him changed drastically.
He was no longer in the alley but in a completely dark, unfamiliar environment. Strange geometric shapes fell from the sky to the floor and then disappeared. He could hear only his breathing and his heartbeat. Despite being nervous, he remained steadfast.
He didn't know what was happening. It was the first time anything like this had ever happened to him. Soon, however, he realized that it was his fault. What had brought him to this place?
His sixth sense! When he realized this, the space around him changed and became a strange metal-covered room. There was a broken screen and, in front of it, a blurry figure. From its appearance, Jack could tell that it was a robot, not an automaton made with enchantments, but a genuine robot, often found in the ruins of past eras.
It wasn't an automaton made with enchantments, but rather a genuine robot, often found in the ruins of past eras. Often, they were in poor condition or reduced to rubble, but those in decent condition were quite dangerous.
Jack felt a strange sense of familiarity as he looked at the machine. Soon, he remembered why. This was the being that had been watching him for years! Although he had never managed to locate it, he had grown accustomed to its attention.
"Subject number 13 is close, very close," the robot said in a mechanical voice. Its red eyes were fixed on the monitor it always used, which displayed data about Jack.
"His sixth sense has improved beyond expectations. What caused this stimulation? Is it because of the global Pneuma wave? Will it be temporary? I can't wait for more data! There's no time for tests!" Although his tone was neutral, Jack picked up on nuances of emotion.
A global Pneuma wave? Could that phenomenon have affected his sixth sense, allowing him to achieve this? Jack wasn't saddened to learn that this situation was temporary. After all, his sensory abilities were already quite powerful on their own.
He had trained his sixth sense since childhood, increasing its accuracy and range. All of his abilities were the result of his efforts.
Wouldn't it be better if he reached this level on his own? He didn't get drunk on this temporary benefit; he used it as a guide to reach this level and greater heights. Although he was nervous about what lay ahead and the pressure emanating from this mechanical entity, his heart now beat with excitement, not fear.
He was especially excited because he heard that this being was close to him, which could allow him to get rid of the sword that constantly hung over his head.
"I must take advantage of the fact that they are busy playing with humans and that subject number 13 is closest to me. Isn't that a gift?" The robot began to touch the broken screen as if it wanted to grab Jack's body, which was being shown on it.
"Your body will be my body." In those bright red eyes, Jack could feel great greed. The machine in front of him was no ordinary machine.
It was a conscious entity. Then, the strange space Jack was in began to break apart, letting him know he was about to leave that state. Despite that, he watched the threatening robot.
"I'm going to destroy you," he said, emanating a sharp aura, his tone full of determination.
This happened before he 'returned' to the real world and heard Laria's call. His head hurt quite a bit, and his energy was depleted, so he was somewhat distracted when he responded to his girlfriend.
"You don't look well," Laria replied, checking his body with concern. She noticed the physical injuries he sustained while evading and his low Pneuma reserves.
"Right now is not the time to talk about this. We have to seal the anomaly first, taking advantage of the fact that the incarnation has disappeared." Jack didn't bother to respond to his girlfriend, so he took advantage of the break to organize his team's actions.
"Yes, but first, we must get rid of these affected people." Irina pointed to both sides of the alley where people were approaching, laughing hysterically with madness in their eyes.
The explosion had attracted these victims of the anomaly. Now, they had to subdue them to find the anomaly's source. Only after the seal was made would Jack search for the strange machine that wanted his body.
He would keep his promise and destroy it completely.