"Can anyone hear me?"
"Someone, please help me!"
"I'm here to help you, follow my voice..."
"There's something unknown in the darkness!"
"I hear the grinding of bones."
"We can't get out!"
"It's chasing us! It's using our voices!"
"It's coming!"
"Let me in! Please... let... me... in!"
Amid the chaotic noises, a bloody tableau gradually unfolded in the darkness. Those things were imitating the voices of the deceased before their death.
Perhaps sensing the arrival of the Mobile Task Force, they no longer aimed to lure prey but used this method to distract their targets, attempting to evoke the deepest fears embedded in human hearts.
The fear of certain things is etched into human bones.
For example, the smell of corpses.
In fact, in terms of sheer sensory stimulation, the stench of corpses isn't even ranked highly.
Yet, it can plunge the human body into a prolonged state of stress.
Because your genes tell you:
There are corpses of your kind here. This place is dangerous.
It's like an instinct.
It forces you to fear, makes your heart race, and throws your senses off balance.
Like the survival instinct of a drowning person, it's uncontrollable, compelling you to flee immediately.
At this moment, the whispers in the darkness awaken the most primal fears in humans. That sense of terror is far more heart-pounding than shrill screams or explosive roars.
Playing the voices of those people before their death, bit by bit, in your ears, even if those voices sound utterly normal, will make you feel as though you've fallen into an icy abyss in the depths of winter.
Flames erupted.
The Mobile Task Force—Wings of Freedom split into groups of three.
They opened fire, spraying flames into every visible space around them.
In the bright blaze, fear seemed to burn away.
Clad in Crimson-series bio-exoskeleton armor, those inside the armor couldn't feel temperature changes from flames below 3,000 degrees Celsius.
But in this sea of fire, translucent crimson monsters were forced into the open.
They lacked the organ known as "eyes."
Likely due to long-term existence in caves or underground environments with no exposure to light, they discarded this useless organ through biological evolution.
In its place were eye spots along their spines, capable of detecting changes in light.
The flames finally forced these monsters to emit their true voices—a sharp, piercing, intermittent wail.
The reason for the intermittence was likely that these monsters' vocal ranges generally exceeded that of humans, producing sounds beyond the range of human hearing.
*Hiss... hiss...*
The sound of steel cables echoed.
Captain Levi, maneuvering with his vertical maneuvering equipment, charged toward the nearest SCP-939.
The blade in his hand traced a stream of light, easily slicing through the monster's skin and severing its spine.
The monster fell to the ground with a thud.
Ninety percent of its body splattered out as translucent blood.
The vertical maneuvering equipment developed by the Foundation no longer required the design of anchor hooks, but Levi still preferred this more traditional method.
However, having anchor points did indeed increase the speed of the vertical maneuvering equipment.
"Tch!"
Levi shook the liquid off his hand with clear disgust.
Though the Crimson bio-armor prevented the blood of the SCP-939s from touching him, as someone with mysophobia, he still showed obvious signs of disgust.
The following hours became a one-sided slaughter of the SCP-939s by the Mobile Task Force—Wings of Freedom.
Most individuals were executed on the spot and incinerated.
Only a small number of distinctive SCP-939 individuals were preserved as samples, secured in place with alloy locks.
Before dawn arrived, the underground area of Academy City was completely cleared.
Deeper underground in the experimental area, traces of SCP-939 were found.
Based on simulations, these monsters were originally trapped in fossils, ejected from the seabed along with volcanic rock, and rapidly cooled in seawater.
Within the formed underground areas, due to the cold, damp environment and the dripping of nitric acid-containing liquids, the fossils eventually cracked, allowing these monsters to reemerge into the world.
(The process can be referenced to *Dr. Stone*.)
SCP-939 might be a species that lived on Earth in ancient times, or perhaps anomalous creatures that crossed the world barrier into the main world at some point.
Because too much time has passed, even genetic tracing cannot determine their origins.
But the good news is, based on the clues and traces, all SCP-939 individuals were here.
The remnants of the dark side who had moved into the underground area suffered an unexpected disaster.
This included, but was not limited to, remnants and researchers from organizations such as the "Mass-Produced Esper Plan," "Level Upper Plan," and "Deadlock," all of whom were in the underground area and were killed by the SCP-939s.
Time passed slowly.
The sun of Academy City rose as usual.
Sunlight dispelled the darkness on the land.
Sample individuals of SCP-939 were transferred to a Pacific seabed site for containment.
All externally circulated Level Upper files were deleted by the Holy Grail.
All espers already affected by Level Upper also received treatment and were disconnected from the Level Upper collective brain.
'Deadlock' was completely wiped out.
In fact, if not for this unexpected incident, 'Deadlock' might have indeed caused some trouble.
These espers, averaging Level 3 to Level 4, not only had an excellent foundation of strength but also generally used 'Level Upper' to further enhance their computational abilities.
Moreover, under the condition of becoming the next generation of the dark side, they obtained over a dozen powered suits named 'Lancer of Redemption' from the dark side higher-ups who had fled to the underground area.
In combat mode, the user would crouch down, transforming the powered suit into a form similar to a lance or motorcycle.
It possessed extraordinary acceleration and strength.
'Lancer of Redemption' could accelerate the human body to supersonic speeds.
It was like a giant lance, launching the user forward to kill the enemy.
As a powered suit, its helmet provided defense against conventional psychic abilities, and its shell also had insulating properties similar to rubber.
Equipped with 'Lancer of Redemption,' if their plans were meticulous, Deadlock members stood a considerable chance of killing any Level 5 esper, except for Accelerator.
However, the Deadlock members sent out to gather information were killed by Accelerator.
The Deadlock members in the underground area were eaten down to the last bone.
The Daihaseisai continued.
Those walking in the light within Academy City would never know, nor could they imagine, what kind of horrifying events had occurred beneath their feet.
The grand festival and competitions would continue.
Perhaps, this is the meaning of the SCP Foundation's existence.
Today, Mikoto Misaka carefully instructed her mother, Misuzu Misaka, not to wander around.
Though partly because Misuzu Misaka had a poor sense of direction, the more important reason was that Mikoto Misaka did not want her home to be "stolen" again.
Her mother had only met Haruto once, yet afterward, Mikoto was nagged all the way and subjected to her mother's "I'm experienced, I understand you" looks for an entire day.
It was utterly mortifying.
She was still a middle school student, for goodness' sake!
It was only at times like this that Mikoto remembered she was still a middle school student.
Today, she still had many competitions to participate in.
Dragging her mother along, Mikoto arrived at the competition venue.
She insisted on seeing how Haruto could "steal" her home when she had her mother tied to her side.
Then, when she emerged from the competition venue, she saw her mother approaching her with a serious expression.
"Mikoto-chan, could it be that you and Haruto already have a child together?"
Upon hearing this, Mikoto was completely stunned.
A blush visibly spread from her neck to her cheeks and up to the tips of her ears.
Steam seemed to rise from her head from overheating.
"Wh-what child?! What are you talking about, Mom?! How could I possibly have a child with that guy!"
Seeing her daughter's reaction, Misuzu Misaka pointed toward the side.