Nexus Awakened (An Isekai LitRPG Gender Bender Story)-Chapter 1143. The Flock

The warning did the opposite of what it was supposed to achieve. People flocked into the streets rather than taking shelter. From a distance, the scene was no different from ants spilling from their nest. Thousands of tiny, insignificant dots crowded the streets, spreading into alleyways and the highways in hopes to escape the imminent assault.

What they did not know was that escape was impossible. The warning only arrived after the Isolation Sphere crash landed, so they could not have known the immediate ten-kilometer vicinity was contained.

Also, the existence of the Isolation Spheres was largely unknown by the public. One could not spot them once they were launched from the Nexus, or even when they were deployed outside of a small quake. Given the Nex Megalopolis’ long history of random quakes and Dungeon appearances, it was easier to blame the outcome on a Dungeon rather than the Head.

As a result, few people were aware of how the Head deployed their units, let alone how they handled threats. The stories of firsthand accounts were unanimous, however. First, there were ten minutes of silence following the warning, or chaos depending on the population.

Then, what followed could only be described as a wave of death.

* * *

Once the first three minutes passed, the crowds screamed and dispersed. People shoved into the nearest homes; others banged on doors, begging to be let in. Blood spilled into the streets, and bodies became twisted as they were trampled.

The Black Wings did not care much about these people. The instructions were clear. Stay home, and you are allowed to live. Of course, the Black Wings had varying degrees of discretion. Morally speaking, slaying people randomly on the streets would leave the Head with a terrible reputation.

However, there have been enough incidents where seemingly innocent people were manipulated to attack the Black Wings.

Thus, there was an unwritten rule that one could follow if they were not able to seek shelter.

“Darling… Hands on the wall. Eyes at your feet. Don’t turn around.”

“Why? Why is everyone so afraid?”

A father surrendered his body to the wall. His eyes begged his young daughter to follow in suit. Countless people flattened themselves against windows, walls, and doors along the highway with their backs turned to the road.

Normally, hysteria would have the crowd screaming as they fled aimlessly. However, the hysteria they experienced was controlled. Their bodies instinctively submitted to the imminent wave of death, whether they knew it or not.

“They’re coming.”

“Who is?” 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The girl asked as a woman uttered a prayer beside her, and in the very last few seconds of the ten-minute countdown, they heard a trumpet, followed by a deafening horn.

“Warning. Warning.”

“This section of Dangolda has been contained by the order of the Head.”

“Please remain calm and obey the instructions of the Black Wings.”

“Failure to comply will result in immediate termination.”

Alongside this was a warning that marked the beginning of the Black Wing’s incursion. At once, the long stretch of the highway: which was vacant: was suddenly invaded by hundreds of women wearing black uniforms.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

* * *

They moved as a single organism, with squads of five splitting up to cover alleyways, like water spilling into cracks. Sonic booms blew several people off their feet, whilst others bled from their burst eardrums. The Black Wings moved at near supersonic speeds, causing them to appear like a black blur, and why firsthand accounts referred to them as a ‘wave’ of death.

Cracks constantly formed along the highway, shattering vehicles, wagons, and the like which were left behind. Of course, owners of these objects would be reimbursed, but that did little to reassure merchants.

Though, it was unclear whether they were emotional because of their lost goods, or because of how easily they could lose their lives. One misstep from the Black Wings would be enough to slaughter several dozen innocent lives. Within the first minute, the Black Wings had expanded kilometers into Dangolda.

Accompanying the sonic booms was the crack of gunfire. Highly penetrative rounds obliterated two story buildings in a single volley. The swarm poured through before the dust could settle, and they repeated the process until they had completely spread themselves thin in as many groups of five as possible.

To the onlooker, it appeared as though they were creating shortcuts without any consideration of the inhabitants.

However, this could not be further from the truth.

Attached to the collars of each Squad Leader was a device called the CognitO Locator. It projected an invisible pulse which interacted with the minds of sapient beings. This was linked with an Atelier Lens created by CogitO called the Locator Eye. It served as a radar which marked living beings through walls within a fifty-meter radius.

Static scrambled in the CognitO Transmitters of the Black Wings before they received a message from the Ravens.

“Buildings of this area code use old building protocols. Follow the orders of the Squad Leader. Murders are only as strong as their weakest link.”

One Black Wing among the hundreds asked a question.

“How do the Squad Leaders know which buildings to break? I can’t tell them apart.”

It was their first time serving as a Black Wing. Just yesterday, they had finished graduating from the Ascelpien with exceptional potential. The speed at which they moved made it difficult for her to identify which buildings were included in the briefing.

The Ravens answered:

“They have had 10 hours to examine the old blueprints. Remember who it is that guides you.”

“It is a simple task to count and mesmerize as few as nine thousand buildings.”

“The Squat Leaders assigned are Thrums who are well adapted to memory tasks.”

“You will serve as their weapons.”

The Black Wings held the highest percentage of Thrums out of the Healers. It was rare, if not unheard of for a Thum to be a Healer. Despite this, 10% of the Black Wing population were made up of Ex-CogitO Thrums, and another 3% were Thrums who manifested their healing powers but suddenly became Black Wings at some point during the conversion process.

It was suspected that White Doves could only be Healers of rational, pure mind and soul.

Thrums, by contrast, often acted out of impulse, embodying chaos. This was managed of course, and interestingly enough, Black Dove Thrums were not entirely beholden to their mental disorder.

For instance, there was a Black Wing who suffered from schizophrenia. Under normal circumstances, and through CogitO’s protocols, they’d be classified as Type III Thrums (Severely impaired), which were Thrums who deviated from baseline ‘Wellness’.

Wellness, to CogitO, measured baseline cognition. If it was impaired in any way, then one was considered a Thrum. That was not to say that a Thrum with a mental illness was considered to possess low levels of cognition.

Type I, Type II, Type III and so forth were merely dots along a standard deviation chart, so a Type III could either fall further in favor of or against Wellness.

In any case, the Squad Leaders who spearheaded the Flock were highly functional Thrums with photographic memory. They did not need the Ravens to relay geographical information since they had already memorized the layout before the assault.

Terrified eyes were cast downwards, as people who managed to find shelter steered away from the windows. Furniture rumbled under the boots of countless Black Wings, and unstable structures that were not built according to the Brick and Mortar Association’s Code crumbled to dust.

There were three phases of a Black Wing incursion. The first was to sweep across the contained area as quickly as possible. This was to grab a foothold into the area, as well as to establish their presence before the true assault began. The second phase, which followed two minutes into the assault, was the introduction of the White and Sanguine Doves.

“H-Heal… It’ll be ok, little guy. We’re the good guys.” A White Dove assured a child as she provided healing magic.

Their legs had been crushed under a stone that had come loose from a nearby building.

The White Doves were primarily brought for civilian support. Healing Bullets would only incite further chaos. They were more or less moral support and were considered angels among demons.

The Sanguine Doves, however, were used to absorb unique injuries from the general public. In a way, the Black Wings were encouraged to inflict as much havoc as possible so that the Sanguine Doves could amass unique injuries, which later could be used to extract information out of prisoners.

The Sanguine Doves: all five: made up the RedTribution Body of the Head. Since the beginning of their inception, they had maintained a 100% information extraction rate.

As one can imagine, their methods were brutal even compared to Black Wings. First Generation Sanguine Arts ensured prisoners remained conscious throughout the procedure.

Often, it was enough to simply leave them sleep depraved in an Isolation Sphere for one hundred days (ten days in Universal Time) or splay them across a ceiling with a rake and leave their nerves to airdry for ten days. Still, this was quite tame for the Sanguine Doves.