Chapter 202 - The Wights' Plan(Part 1)

Point-of-View: Aku

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"Uh...that's our plan? Really?" I frowned in bemusement, "It seems a bit, I don't know...convoluted?"

"Maybe so, but it's very likely to work," Remarked one of the higher ups. 

"I mean, yes, but...who knows what kind of security measures those sheltered humans have come up with in the last few months," I muttered, as I glanced at my right hand, the tip of my index finger missing. 

That barrier I encountered back then...it was practically invisible, and if you walk into it, you'll be disintegrated before you even realize what's happening. Even my intangibility is useless against that. 

We haven't spied on them or anything in a while, but we have kept out of the range of those tiny surveillance drones of theirs, so just as we have no idea how much they've progressed, they have no idea what we've been upto lately either. 

Naturally, we'd been making plans to take them down, along with that so-called Sanctuary of theirs. If they'd taken the initiative and attacked us preemptively, this war would probably have already ended. We may have numbers, but they've got the weapons to make up the difference. 

Not to mention that they've got their own fair share of powerful individuals, including...him. None of our Anomalies have powers that can compare to his time manipulation, he's one of the biggest threats that the Sanctuary poses. Above all else, we can't afford to fail to kill him. 

"Aku, are you listening? We're finalizing this plan, so go spread the word. Take as many as possible, and ensure that this operation succeeds." 

"Huh? Oh, er...yes, sir."

With that, I excused myself and left, informing some of the Wights under my command about the higher ups' decision and then telling them to go inform whoever else was going to be involved in this operation. 

We're currently somewhere in the country that used to be Mongolia, preparing to launch our attack. The date is the 23rd of December, and we'll commence the operation in about three or four days. How long it'll take to reach the Sanctuary with the method we're opting to use is uncertain. 

Normally, I'd be all for such a wholesale massacre, but I'm not too thrilled about this one since it's so risky. There's far too many unknown variables at play, not just regarding the enemy, but our own forces too. 

I may have followed the will of the higher ups all this time, but it's certainly not because of loyalty or because they've brainwashed me like they've done to most of everyone else here...I just wanted to have some fun and kill some people, without much of any risk to myself. 

And I figured that, since I'm an Anomaly with a really useful set of powers, I wouldn't be put in all that much unnecessary danger, considering that I'm pretty valuable and all...but no, the higher ups determination to wipe out all the humans in the Sanctuary trumped their desire to keep their weapons safe. 

Oh, and side note, we'd started using the same terms that the Sanctuary does, like XFE, Anomaly and whatnot...I think that's only because the higher ups decided that those terms sounded better than the ones we'd been using. 

Going by their logic, no one can accuse us of stealing those terms if we just kill everyone in the Sanctuary, because then there'll be no one left to accuse us of anything at all. All that there'd be left are us Wights. 

"Ah, there you are, Aku. So, you've been chosen to lead this grand undertaking, have you?" A voice suddenly addressed me, snapping me out of my thoughts. 

"Huh? Oh, it's you, Syoi. Do you need something?" I sighed as I plastered a fake smile onto my face. 

I can't stand this guy. He's a Prodigy Wight, and considered to be the strongest of the lot among the Prodigies, in terms of raw physical strength, anyway. He's tall and muscular, and one of the most mutated Wights around. His entire body was covered in dark green scaly, rough skin, he had a long, flexible tail and wide wings. 

His jaws protruded out forward like an alligator, though not quite that long, and he had rows of razor sharp fangs and pointy claws on his hands. He had sharp yellow eyes and a row of spikes straight back across the middle of his head, down his spine and along his tail. 

I'm a Wight that retains more human features than most others, most of my face looks sorta human. There are plenty of other Wights like that too...but there are plenty like him too, ones that show no trace of human features in their appearances.

In my experience though, it doesn't really make a difference or affect someone's personality, it's nothing more than an appearance thing. 

"Hey, I'm talking to you, Aku!" 

"Hm? Oh, sorry, did you say something?" I responded, having completely missed whatever it was that he said. 

"Fine, I'll repeat myself...you may have distinguished yourself during your long-term infiltration of those vile sheltered humans, but I'll be the one to get the glory this time!" He declared confidently. 

Oh, right, I forgot to mention, this guy's totally brainwashed by the higher ups, which is a big part of why I dislike him so much.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will," I muttered dryly, before walking away, acting like I had something to do...and then let out a sigh of relief when he didn't follow me, instead wandering off in a different direction. 

If he thinks a mere Prodigy stands a chance against real Anomalies, he's an even bigger fool than I thought. Yes, Prodigies are powerful in terms of sheer destruction...but we Anomalies are like magicians, our powers aren't nearly so simple or straightforward. 

Anyway, the plan that the higher ups had come up with would involve several of our Anomalies combining their powers in order to get past the Sanctuary's defenses, not to mention slipping past the bases that they've been building. 

And that's never been done before, several Anomalies using their powers in unison like gears in a machine...of course, we'll take the time to test it out to see if it actually works or not, but beyond that, I don't think the higher ups plan on sparing any more time for additional tests. 

I do get where they're coming from, if we leave the Sanctuary alone for too long, they'll advance too far forward for us to catch up, so we can't waste too much time, but...this is being far too impatient. New inventions don't simply just roll out overnight, it takes time, and even more time to fully implement them. 

Having spent some time in the Sanctuary and gotten somewhat accustomed to their technology, I might be the only one who really understands that though. So there's no point in arguing, especially when most of the other Wights have been brainwashed by the higher ups. 

Have to admit, a part of me wonders if defecting to the Sanctuary would be a viable option, like Hebi did. But it's probably too late now. I killed a fair number of people while in the Sanctuary, not to mention that they might experiment on me and stuff because of my powers. 

The best case scenario that I can think of is that this operation succeeds and we wipe out the majority of the inhabitants of the Sanctuary, particularly their Anomalies and Prodigies, and then we live in the Sanctuary ourselves. It'd be a huge waste to simply destroy the nicest place to live in the world right now. 

Now, then, I suppose that I should gather all the Wight Anomalies who are going to play major roles in this operation, so that I can relay to them exactly what they're supposed to do. I then closed my eyes and focused on my telepathic link... 

"Hey, Sai, can you hear me?" 

After a brief silence with no response, the two-way connection formed, and he responded... 

"Oh, Aku? What is it?" 

"I need you to contact the following people and send them to me as soon as possible. I'll need...," I began, before telling him who I wanted him to contact. 

"Okay, sure. But I don't have telepathic links set up with all of them at the moment, I'll contact those that I do have connections with and ask them to inform the rest if they run into them."

With that, he cut the connection, presumably to contact the others. I then headed to my tent and sat down with a sigh, before pouring myself a cup of water and drinking it. Ugh, so nasty. I miss how good it felt to drink the water in the Sanctuary, it was just so refreshing and...clean. 

Any water sources we find out here are toxic and contaminated with radiation, and while we're resistant to that, meaning that it's safe to drink for us, it doesn't change the fact that it tastes like crap. The meat of Mutants and mutated plants taste awful too...once we take over the Sanctuary, I can finally get this literal bad taste out of my mouth for good... 

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