Chapter 38: The battle of Invictus (2)
At the same moment Major Kraft was trading blows with Captain Grégoire, the fastest among Astoria’s new recruits had reached the gates of the fortress. When they stepped into the main square, they were greeted by the sight of all kinds of insect-like creatures.
For ordinary people, encountering a Calamity for the first time would have been a traumatic experience.
But these recruits could no longer be considered ordinary. The parasite had driven their brains to produce various substances that dulled fear, pain, and even awareness of their own actions.
On the contrary, the moment they saw the enemy, they were overwhelmed with boundless rage, an uncontrollable thirst for revenge that could only be quenched through massacre.
And so they pounced on the Enforcers present, like rabid dogs. All sorts of powers erupted in total chaos, making it nearly impossible to determine who possessed what resonance. Pastry dough, enchanted needles, poison orbs...
A person’s resonance depended above all on the deepest desire they held. If they passed the trial, they would obtain it. That’s why there was a saying: No resonance is useless — only the wielder is.
Naturally, for most ordinary people, few wished for pure violence. Their powers were often born from a longing or aspiration shaped by their life experiences — not from a desire to kill.
Of course, that only applied at the start. In desperate times, even a pen or a toothbrush could become the deadliest weapon — now imagine one in the hands of a lunatic high on hallucinogens.
Some of them, further gone than the others, didn’t hesitate to use their teeth, nails, swords, sticks, or any kind of sharp weapon to take down the pests.
Others, better armed, raised pistols and rifles scavenged from Astoria’s police stations and opened fire like frenzied fanatics.
Stray bullets even struck their own comrades — but not one of them blinked. The only thing that mattered to them was killing those damned Calamities.
From the Enforcers’ perspective, it began with shock — watching two of their own be killed by Captain Grégoire himself.