Zeke and the rest of the squad stationed outside the morgue felt it when the entity entered the scene.
A deep tremble flowed through the concrete underneath them reaching out into the rest of the city.
Car alarms blared. Pets barked loudly and frightened pedestrians took shelter thinking that an earthquake was on the horizon.
But what was coming was so much worse.
"The Squad inside isn't responding. We can only assume that the entity may been too much of a problem even for a true masks like the moth and Beelzebub. Until additional support arrives, the rest of us will try to hold the perimeter and a small squad of combatants will advance forward to aid anyone who could still be trapped within the buildings interior." Zeke wearing a featureless mask rallied the remaining to action. Their motive - contain the Aberration before it wrecks havoc on the city or until better measures are taken.
He honestly hoped the latter wouldn't have to be the case.
"Sir!" Their voices reached him through the comms embedded within their masks.
A sharp quake ripped through the earth underneath them as the ground began to collapse, Zeke peeked through on the cracks and saw the rubble falling into an endless void and the range and speed of this collaspe was accelerating.
"Advance!" Zeke hated pushing them forward especially when he too wasn't willing to offer up his life to an entity powerful enough to give a true mask a hard time but he knew that he had no choice not because he wanted to save lives but because turning back might offer you a chance of retreat but inevitably your head will implode. A punishment for desertion within the order.
'I never taught I would have to face this monster again.' He cursed under his breath remembering how the Aberration dealt with him on that bridge.
"All remaining enforcers halt any advancement towards the building."
Beelzebub's voice came through the receiver.
Zeke inwardly breathed in a sigh of relief hearing his voice.
Ahh! A nameless enforcer screamed as his body was enveloped in a spatial fluctuation before being collapsed and replaced by another person.
"Hold!" Zeke cried out before the enforcers rained hell on the new arrival.
"Lord!" The moth mask emerged from the puddle of blood leftover from the absent enforcer.
"Fuck! I can't believe I had to use that." The moth mask cursed and shook off the leftover gore from her suit.
"Is Lord Beelzebub still in operation?" Zeke asked her in a low slow voice wanting to assess if she may have been tampered with.
"Only God can kill that monster?" The moth mask replied before pointed at a random featureless mask.
"Spatial Exchange." The moth mask said.
Her spinal insert reverberated with a deep tremble so powerful everyone present felt it in their bones. Suddenly she closed her fist and the enforcer collasped into a spatial fluctuation before being replaced with another true mask.
"The Hawk Mask - Dawn Tell." Zeke muttered the identity of the individual who emerged.
The Dawn that arrived was battered with part of his arm melted off like it was pudding sucked out with a straw.
"I was able roughly access his weight so I figured out most of his mass of course there were slight discrepanies in that assessment leading to the current state the Hawk mask is in." The moth mask explained.
"I see we will take him for examination and treatment. Thank you for returning to us in good health." Zeke bowed and signalled to the others to take Dawn away.
The void eating away at the city was still growing underneath them and a good portion of the city's base might be devoured within the hour.
"Do you have a plan for this, Madam?" Zeke stood at the moth mask's side and asked.
"Don't call me Madam ever!" She said to him flustered and angry.
"Forgive my erring. My Lady, we are at your service." Zeke prostrated slightly in apology.
"If Beelzebub doesn't return within the hour, we will perform a redraw." The moth mask replied.
Parts of the city had begun to collaspe though it was only sidewalks and minor roads but still it was enough for anyone's heartbeat to spike.
The earth underneath them trembled and they all watched in shock as the building was engulfed in a black sphere.
"Get back!" The enforcers screamed to eachother and everyone retreated about eighty metres leaving the surrounding of the unbelievable suction force that pulled them into the black sphere with incredible strength.
In the end, the building was gone along with its foundation and the earth underneath for around 200 meters.
The air tasted bitter and many things had shifted position. Though the event lasted for only a nanosecond, everyone experience it for almost half an hour as if time was dragged out.
"The ground is normal!" One of the enforcers screamed grateful that the void eating up the city was non-existent.
"What a delightful end. Wouldn't you agree?" Beelzebub's voice suddenly appeared behind them and they all looked back in shock as Beelzebub stood a few meters back in a puddle of blood possibly from an unfortunate enforcer whose life was sacrificed to enable his escape.
"Lord!" All featureless masks including Zeke bowed.
"Well that's been resolved so let's pack up."
Beelzebub said nonchalantly and began to walk off escorted by Eva.
"The Aberration?!" A shaken up featureless mask inquired.
"Gone. Except if it can escape a supermassive black hole a hundred light years away from us and still make it back in time for dinner." Beelzebub joked.
"Mister Igles. Join me, treat me to good steak." Zeke quickly accepted Beelzebub's beckons.
"Of course sir. We are not too far from a good place."
----------
"Here sir."
Zeke placed a plate of Wagyu steak in front of Beelzebub who sat in an empty floor of a luxury restaurant.
"Incredible." Part of Beelzebub's mask dissolved allowing him to eat the savory dish.
"Kudos to the chef." He complemented as he waved his fork.
"Thank you sir, I will tell him." Zeke bowed.
"Shouldn't the manager do that?" Beelzebub asked.
"I own the restaurant sir. One of many investments of mine."
"I see quite the entrepreneur. I wish Tell's son would be more like you, the lad is too dulled out."
"I hope he gets a chance to do that given the grievous injuries he sustained in his service to the order."
"I will set him up with a new arm and several internal organs if necessary. Synthetic. Organic or modified. My selection is too vast to worry about these sort of things."
"Of course sir. Thankfully the miss who saved him didn't do too damage during the transit."
"You mean that little girl wearing the moth mask? She uses an augmentation specifically crafted for her. It connects her neural base to a satellite which calculates the positions and mass of things around her and relays it back to an absurdly large device which exchanges the exact mass of anything she has locked in on with something else of equal mass in any place on earth. That is why it is named Spatial Exchange, it can also be offensive by exchanging a nonequivalent mass with her adversary causing their mass to make up for it leading to them losing a good portion of their body mass. She used this to escape the hold of that nasty thing by replacing herself with nameless masks of barely equivalent mass and for Dawn whom she had to act quickly before I activated my own play, she could only choose someone who made the average leading to him missing a few chunks here and there during the transit though thankfully nothing essential. As for the poor folks trapped in with that entity I hope they find peace. We will all meet in Xion."
Beelzebub's in-depth explanation helped Zeke understand the nature of the moth's mask.
"Thank you sir for enlightening me."
Beelzebub nodded in satisfaction, "I see considerable potential you though I am unaware whether this is good or bad but alas time will tell. Now I have a question?"
"Ask away sir." Zeke said willing to answer any question Beelzebub might have.
"What is the likelihood that Ives Rothschild lives?"