Inside the same facility deep beneath Umbrellas, in one of the rooms.
A woman with long, brown hair and dressed in a white lab coat was examining a corpse of an old man.
The very same corpse that Michael and Dean had defeated in Tosla.
Suddenly, the scientist heard knocking on the door. Upon opening it, a man in a black suit entered.
The man was covering his nose with a handkerchief. After the scientist closed the door, the man removed the handkerchief.
"Are things going well, Dr. Aria?" asked the man.
The scientist, or rather, Aria sat on a chair as she typed on a keyboard.
"That symbol on the forehead. I couldn't find a faction that uses it," she said in a raspy voice.
The symbol on the corpse's forehead is an angel inside a circle holding a book in its right hand and a trumpet in the other.
"And I was looking through Umbrella's historical records. Not a mention of that symbol."
The man hummed, and asked, "Anything else? What else have you found out?"
Aria pointed at a tall machine next to the corpse.
"I couldn't access the brain with the MCE. It's like…"
She paused for a moment, and continued, "It's like the corpse's brain is preventing access to outsiders, if that makes sense."
The Memory Cache Extractor, or MCE for short, is a machine used for reading the memories of a dead person. The invention of this machine was met with disapproval at first, but it eventually spread throughout the cosmos.
The man raised an eyebrow, confused. "What? Wouldn't that mean it's still alive?"
Aria shook her head. "No, definitely not. But I don't know why the MCE isn't working."
"Anyway, I will do my best in extracting the corpse's powers and abilities. And its memories, of course…"
The man nodded. Then, he said, "A well-planned expedition in Tosla, and all we got from it was a corpse. What a waste…"
"I wouldn't say it was a waste, Mr. Nuro," said Aria. "The Visitors who survived that expedition have interesting tales to tell us about the dream sequence they experienced."
"As for that dream, there's definitely something bigger at hand. I very much doubt it was the undead king who put them in that dream. Ah, and that bright light appearing on one of Tosla's moons is also something…" Aria took a sip of her coffee.
The man, known as Nuro, shook his head. "No matter. Keep up the good work, Dr. Aria."
With that, Nuro left Aria's own personal office.
Suddenly, she locked the door.
She then turned her attention to the MCE.
She took a seat in front of the tall machine, and pressed a button. The screen revealed a video of someone writing something on a book in a first-person point of view.
Aria paused the video, and leaned closer to the screen. She zoomed in, and squinted her eyes, revealing more of the dark circles under her eyes.
With her usual, raspy voice, she said, "Transmigration… Interesting…"
Portal Chamber, 6:02 p.m., Friday, 24th of January.
Donovan appeared with a bright flash of light.
He fell on both of his knees. On his right hand was his umbrella, and on the other was his black suit.
His shirt was soaked with sweat.
Tiero quickly approached. "Donovan! Are you okay?"
"W-Water… water…" Donovan begged for water.
Tiero reached for his hip flask. "I don't have water on me, but is liquor alright with you?"
Donovan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Nevermind…" he said.
After putting away his hip flask, Tiero said a "good job" to Donovan for finishing the mission.
But Donovan didn't stay long, and he already flew away.
After arriving home, Donovan dropped his umbrella and suit and grabbed a glass, filling it with cold water.
He made sure to drink slowly. After that, he sighed in relief.
Finally… home sweet home… F*ck that desert… Bad idea…
Why would they even have suits for uniforms if they're gonna send Visitors to a desert planet…? Goddamn…
And I smell like pure sweat. Better take a bath.
Five minutes later, Donovan was taking a shower.
11-Dest-71… I'm never going back to that planet ever again.
Sand as far as the eye can see, hot, sand in my shoes, sand in my eyes…
Too bad there wasn't a Reaper-type. I'm… uh, no, I don't think I'm ready for one just yet…
After taking a shower, he enjoyed himself in the tub for ten minutes before going out.
Thirty minutes later, after having dinner, brushing his teeth, and everything else, he sat on the sofa and opened the TV.
I wonder what's happening on other planets?
He kept switching channels, and found nothing interesting. Until…
He came across a news report of a planet being invaded by Annihiliths, and being met with destruction just a few minutes later.
And the same news channel also talked about a man suddenly dying in a cruise spaceship.
The news channel then played a video recording of the corpse, but they censored it.
…Except for the umbrella beside it.
Donovan took a closer look, and recognized the umbrella. It was the umbrella of a Visitor. In other words, the person that died was a Visitor!
What? What the heck happened?
Donovan was quite astonished by the content of this news.
"Damn Annihiliths…" he said.
"And rest easy, Visitor, whoever you are."
Hm, did Umbrellas even send aid to the planet being invaded? I have no idea, since I was on that desert planet all day…
Well, I hope they did.
After a few minutes, Donovan switched the TV off and went to the refrigerator.
But as he opened it, he was reminded that his fridge was empty, devoid of any drinks.
Uh, I should go shopping tomorrow…
What a bummer.
In his previous life as Leon Valentin, his refrigerator was always empty. He'd rarely go shopping.
Two hours later, Donovan simply went to sleep. Since he didn't want to ruin his new sleep schedule.
10:03 p.m., same day.
A spaceship went through Umbrella's barrier, landing safely on top of a tall building.
It was raining.
The door on the rooftop opened.
A rough-looking man in a jacket and holding an umbrella came out. "Finally, our goods arrived. Come on, boys."
More people came out, holding an umbrella over their heads because of the rain.
Then, they waited behind the ship, waiting for it to open.
As the ship fully landed, the doors opened.
"Take everything, chop chop! Hurry up!" yelled the rough-looking man.
As the rest of them were about to enter the ship with the intent to carry the boxes inside of the ship, they smelled something foul.
"What the f*ck is that smell?!" shouted one of them.
Suddenly, one of them yelled. "Wait, hold on! I'm detecting somethi—" But before he could finish his sentence, the others watched in horror as his head was decapitated and fell to the ground.
"What the hell?!"
They immediately panicked.
But the three people inside of the ship were immediately sliced in half.
Now, only five people remained outside. They immediately readied their umbrellas.
"What the f*ck is inside that ship?!"
"Someone, shine a light!"
One of them took out their phone, and turned on the flashlight.
But they saw nothing.
"It's probably hiding behind the boxes!"
One of them then yelled, "Call the—" But once again, their sentence was cut short as their head was sliced in half horizontally.
"F*ck this sh*t, man! I'm out of here!" A man with long hair turned around in a bid to fly away.
"Hey! Come back here!"
But then, he found himself having lost the strength to activate his umbrella's flying ability.
And the next second after that, he fell to the ground, sliced in multiple pieces.
Now, only three remain.
Despair filled their bodies.
The one with the flashlight suddenly dropped their phone because of the intense fear they were feeling.
The three of them were only at Shower Rank. They weren't built for this kind of situation.
"P-Please! Please spare us! We won't do anything! We won't tell a soul! Please spare us!" one of them shouted, their lungs about to give out.
The rain intensified.
Suddenly, three tentacles emerged from the darkness of the ship.
Then, the three tentacles grabbed the three Visitors.
They screamed, begging for mercy.
The tentacles then entered their mouths.
A few seconds later, the tentacles dropped their frail, pale, fragile bodies… or corpses.
The slimy tentacles retreated back to the darkness.
A figure walked out—some kind of creature.
It took four steps forward, and the two tentacles behind it had let go of the two pilots of the ship. They were dead.
It had a humanoid form, but some kind of black liquid covered its exterior. Its face had white blots, and it was constantly shifting.
It also had a long tail with a sharp blade attached to it. It had eight tentacles in total.
The creature looked around, and took two steps forward, stepping on the pool of blood.
Suddenly, its tentacles, as well as its tail, started to shrink, retreating into its body.
Then, its form started to wriggle and shift. Its exterior began to resemble a human.
After a few seconds, it has fully transformed into a man! It had black hair, and a beard.
The creature looked at the prey it had killed. Then, clothes appeared on its body.
It touched its throat, and after a few seconds, it spoke in a deep, echoey voice, "Ah… Mr. Joramiel, where are you…?"
It touched its throat again, and spoke a simple "ah," and it was no longer echoey.
After that, the shape shifting creature jumped off the building.
Five minutes passed.
A large, flying vehicle arrived on the same rooftop.
Figures in heavy armor dropped down from above, approaching the ship.
One of them picked up a phone that still had its flashlight function on.
Two of them entered the ship.
The others examined the corpses.
One of them, the team leader, then said in a deep voice, "Command, this is Alpha-1. Target is not on-site."
"…"
"Ship's clear. No movement, no heat signatures."
"…"
"…Roger that."
After that, one of them said with a sigh, "This is the work of a Blot, no doubt about it. Look—black liquid, clean slices, tentacle marks…"
"F*cking hell. Of all the nights to deal with a Blot, and it just had to be on the night of my anniversary."
"Come on, we've dealt with stuff worse than this. Besides, it should be easy to spot a shape shifter in a city full of Visitors."
"No. This city has nine million people. It'll be like finding a needle in a haystack."
"Move it, leave this to the UBPD to clean up."
11:57 p.m., same day.
"Attention. Attention."
Vehicles flew high above the sky, sounding an alert.
Many Visitors were immediately woken up.
Donovan woke up in a daze, confused.
Then, he saw that his TV had been turned on, even though he left it off.
He saw the following words on the TV, and heard the same words from outside:
"This is not a test."
"At 10:31 p.m. local time, multiple ships entered the barrier, carrying deadly aliens known as 'Blots.' These aliens are capable of mimicking human appearance, behavior, and speech. They are also capable of swiftly eliminating life forms."
"The barrier has been temporarily closed off."
"Residents are advised to remain indoors."
"If you observe someone whose features shift, voice distorts, or whose reflection does not match, do not engage."
"The Bio-Optimized Operations and Tactical Squadron, short for 'BOOTS,' are responding."
"Repeat: this is not a test. Please remain alert and stay indoors."
Donovan turned the TV off, fear and dread filling his heart.
A Blot…? Shape shifters…
He immediately ran towards his umbrella.
What a horrible thing to wake up to! And it hasn't even been an hour since I slept!
The blue light coming from a billboard outside shone through his apartment room.
Then, there was knocking on his door.