"5 of them, sir. No hostages, nor damage done to the building or exhibits.” A Black Guard surveyor replied.

“Odd. Usually these cultist types are all about breaking into these stupid places. What are you gonna tell me next, they’re giving away free palm readings?” Arthur said, taking a draw from his pipe.

“Shall I send in Alpha squad?”

“Why not? The new kids need something to do anyway. Same precautions as usual, don’t engage until AFTER they read them their rights this time. Activate the view on Theo.” Arthur said with a bored tone in his voice.

One of the screens in the lookout vehicle switched to a first person view of one of the cadets on Alpha team. The camera got closer to the museum as the squad moved around it. No trouble yet. Good, thought Arthur, it’d be nice to have just one emergency where things didn’t get messy. Usually the case was that they’d go in and one of them would have their arm torn off for sacrificial purposes. Cultists.

Over the microphone Arthur heard their excitement. Alpha squad never really did have much to do in their line of work. They were mostly meant to be cannon fodder in times of crisis, but Arthur had promised them that his job was to make sure they at least got out of sticky situations alive. Once again: cultists.

“Don’t get excited just yet, we don’t know what it is that you’re up against yet, probably just more cultists. Make sure to check all spaces and watch your fire, especially you, Karl.”

The squad moved into the room where the supposed break in had taken place. Everything looked just as it had to Arthur. Odd, usually with these types of felonists they’d have thrown the room into disarray; cases smashed, artifacts ruined, all that business. While it did strike Arthur’s mind, he was more than willing to let it slide. At least they were being courteous thus far.

“Over there... Sir, we have visual contact with the suspects... Karl, Jenna; flank them. The rest of us move into arrest position, don’t let any of them through.”

In the video feed Arthur saw the criminals. As the squad moved in closer to investigate, he could see that they were arranged in a semicircle, looking at one of the museums artifacts. Again he saw this as odd. The usuals weren’t keen on sticking around long, they’d take their target and start their worship nonsense there. Upon closer inspection though, he could see that this wasn’t their usual gang, at least none that he had ever seen before.

“Freeze! Drop any weapons you have and put your hands behind your head!”

The squad moved in to surround them, stun staffs aiming right in the mysterious group’s direction. They did not move. What exactly this group’s intentions were were indeed lost on Arthur. The fact that they didn’t move even when the squad has their weapons armed was starting to make him nervous.

Soon, the person in the middle had turned to face them. Something about that one made Arthur feel chills travel down his spine. The way that they moved was just nothing short of unnatural, as if she moved too... perfectly? Arthur moved in closer to the screen to try and get the best look of them as he could, to see if what he saw wasn’t just the lag between the wireless communication.

“Welcome, friends... Will you not bask in the glory of our salvation? Will you not take in the wonders of the end of the universe? We understand if the thought of such an event happens to make you all speechless.” The leader said. From the sound of that voice, it seemed like a woman was in charge.

“You’re under arrest for breaking and entering into government property after hours. You have the right to remain silent, anything you-”

“Hail, heretics. You dare disrupt the end from taking form? You must leave us now, or surrender your blood to me. Make your choice now.” The woman cut off the squad leader in quite a hurry.

“Alright, she had her chance.” Arthur said, “Take ‘em out. Try not to leave a mess behind this time, got it?”

The squad armed their stun staves and slowly started to approach them. The four men from the ominously dressed woman started to make their way toward them, unfazed by the fact that they were staring down some heavy armaments. While the squad themselves had yet to be trained fully, just about any guard mage who knew their way around a staff could do quite some damage with a high-aetherial stun staff, Arthur had thought. Getting hit with the business end of such was akin to getting hit by a truck, straight into a five-month coma should the guard decide to keep one asleep.

Arthur was sure of this as his squad moved in to contend with the cultists. He was hit with shock though as the four men stood still. Soon enough, blades had sprung to life from behind them. The squad took exception to this as they all started contesting the cultists. Arthur looked with discomfort at the screen seeing that these weren’t any sort of ordinary cultist he had seen. Especially since they were able to put up a fight in the first place. One of them was even able to hold off two of the squad at a time, blades circling about his person in a fashion that Arthur had yet to have seen until today. Then a scream sounded through the radio feed. One of his squad had been punctured, a blade going right through her armor. Arthur dropped his pipe.

“S-sir! Jolene’s been taken down! What are your orders- GAAAH!”

Another had fallen as he was distracted. Blades punching right through their armor. Arthur could only watch in bewilderment and anger as his squad was taken out, one by one. This was improbable, infused titanium wasn’t exactly the most premium armor funding could provide, but it good enough to stop most weapons, even the stun staff’s high aether punch. However, the blades that these cultists were wielding were just puncturing it as if it was cardboard. The last member of that squad could not even fight off the remaining cultists that had finished off their opponents. Soon, the last man was struck down, several blades slicing him apart.

There was a deep silence, one that Arthur had the displeasure of feeling for the first time. The communications operator put her headset down.

“Th... They’re all gone... They all got taken out, sir...”

Arthur couldn’t believe that these cultists had pulled off half the stunts and magic they were performing. The reality of it all welled up in him, sinking into the bottom of his stomach. He was just responsible for letting seven people get killed mercilessly.

“Sir... What’s our next plan of action.”

“I go in, that’s what’s next.” Arthur spoke after some silence.