MISSION: The South

[Dai]

Introduction

The man stood stock still, tired from the work he had just completed. Three boxes of chalk stood by his feet, all empty. It had taken him... so long to complete the circle, but now was the time. He slowly shuffled forward, eyes locked on the chalked line that lay before him, surrounding South City. He had been working on this circle for weeks, and none of these fools had noticed it. The dark-haired man grinned, before tilting his head back and laaughing wildly. It was all ready for him to activate it. He looked up, at the people walking the streets, all of the innocents. But then the military were there as well, and the sacrifice of all of these innocents would be enough to destroy the hold that Amestris held on this city. He smiled softly, and kept moving. It was time, and the shaggy-haired, blue-eyed man went onto his knees, just in front of the line of chalk. He tilted his head back in another laugh, before putting his hands onto the chalk, and infusing his enery within.

Then he heard them, the shouts of worry that erupted from the city. Now, they would be getting a show. The chalk symbols glowed, and the lightning that came from a transmutation reaction became completely evident. Now the shouts turned into ravaging screams of pain, as people began to feel their bodies slowly start to disappear into the Void. His eyes took in the scene that lay before him, hungry for more. Their pain was pleasure to his ears, as the world would be his to take afterwards.

But his look of happiness turned to horror, as yes, the transmutation was working, but he had miscalculated. It needed more. More what, though? Then he realised it - he was off on the amount of lives. It was taking in more, and he knew that he was done. He began to scream, hoping that it would alert someone, someone who could take his place, but the deed was done. He had signed the contract. And he felt it begin to disappear. First his feet, then his legs, going past his torso to his neck. And the last thing to disappear? His eyes. All he could see was all-consuming DARKNESS. Just... Darkness...

And all that was left was a red stone, in the middle of an empty crater.

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{OOC Information}

So, this is it! South City has been destroyed, and everybody is vying for it's control.

There are three factions, two sides to this battle:

Military vs Forced alliance of Homonculi and RIOTE.


No fighting on initial post, 150 words minimum, all that jazz. RIOTE members, no posting until the battle's underway, I'd say... Page 3 or 4...

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Daigoro Ito's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the scene before him. So, it was just as big as everybody had claimed. South City... was really gone. He sighed, and shook his head. How could this have been done? Who could have done such a thing? Then his eyes perked up, scanning again. He looked around, and then back to the force that stood behind him. No wonder the Fuhrer had even called them down from Briggs, this was big. South City was gone, and that meant they'd lost a valuable front on the war against Aerugo. A gust of wind blew, moving the red-headed Alchemist's hair behind him like a red river. He turned, and walked back to the Brig Gen he served under, Reila Tsukino, shaking his head slowly. This was utter horror, and Daigoro knew that for a fact. He clenched the fist of his auto-mail right hand, and shook his head again.

"It's not pretty, maam. The place is, well, gone. I'd heard stories of something similar happening to Lior back in the last war, but I'd never imagined it to be this horrible. Everything is just... gone." He sighed, and saluted his CO, before turning to the rest of the force, addressing them. He'd never held much power in rank, but he seemed to command soem form of respect.

"This is going to be tough! We are going to be defending our own homeland! Aerugo may strike any time, so we must work on re-establishing ourselves on this territory! That is our first priority! Are. We. CLEAR!? Daigoro smirked at the unanimous, "Sir!" He sighed, and grinned.

It was going to be tough, definitely. He looked towards his Alchemic elite, and grinned. They were ready, as well. It was time...

[Jay Furor]

Jay entered South City. She had heard the explosion from a far distance away. She decided that she could possibly do pretty well in the circumstances given. She might even be able to make some quick cash. She saw the destruction around her and calmly walked past blazing cinders and several corpses littering the ground. She looked perfectly emotionless, a cold hearted masterpiece of ice, singled out among the rage of people with different emotions such as confusion, pain, fear, misery and the like. She wasn't TOTALLY incapable of emotion, but she cared not for most of these people. Jay noticed a sort of military gathering nearby and decided to walk up to them. Military pays well... She went to the man addresses the soldiers and tapped him on the shoulder. "You wish to know how this happened, correct? And I want to make money. How about I help out the military by searching for the cause of the explosion, which seemed as if it may have been alchemic, and in return, you pay me, oh maybe... 1000 Cenz?" She smiled prettily, hoping that he would agree with her offer. She knew that her tracking skills were great, as she had been training with Ilona, honing her already formidible skills in finding things. She would find the cause of the explosion and, if inanimate, explain it to the guy, if human, return with a corpse, or captive if he would need to be alive for questioning. "So would you like my services?"

[Murazar Dauthi]

Murazar was with the intelligence corp, or rather the pitiful amount of intelligence people that were even lower than his techincal rank of an officer. He grumbled as they dump reports to him, he had made it clear that since there wasn't many of them they'd have to make it up for quality, efficiency, and speed. Not just any one of them, but all of them. He reported over a communications piece on his ear to Brigadier General Reila, his general that he was under anyway. For some reason she was brought down from the north.

He guessed since briggs was fully capable of running itself for a good chunk of time without a top commander in charge they'd be fine for awhile. Still he didn't like him leaving it along with a large chunk of the top people from it. He spoke calmly, icily, and almost uncaring of the death toll. " Ma'am, The entire city is wasted to the ground, it seems to be from some sort of alchemy performed there. Reports from quick-response research teams indicate that they are going to search at a steady pace before bringing information back to me for analyzation."

He paused a moment as he mused over another piece of paper hitting his desk, he then continued non-chalantly as the frozen death he was. " I'll provide you with further information upon retrieval. I'll have the scouts report to you first before me if a combat situation of any kind arrives. Although I do hope that won't happen, we can't afford to fight without a defensible location." The last part was almost a growl to himself than her, more of a wish that they wouldn't fight more for the fact that it'd be harder to kill the enemy than die. He wasn't really worried about anyones lives, but his, Reila's, and Dai's. He was thinking too fast at the moment if anyone else was around he knew and figures would weaken briggs if they died here.

[Guest]

Ilona looked at the destruction around her; even though the images sent to her brain was blurry as usual but it was plain to see that the city was nearly gone. Ilona could not hide her amazement and shock that someone could have done this in a major scale. This was her first assignment in weeks but it looks like it was going to be tougher than she thought it would be.
She adjusted her sunglasses, and started walking until she found Daigoro. Ilona gave a slight salute to him, her right hand holding her metal cane with silver inlay with a transmutation circle in the bottom. She wore a black trenchcoat with a black turtle neck, black leather pants and shockingly high heeled black leather boots. The only thing that wasn't black was her short snow white hair.
"Warrant Officer Daigoro."She said, placing both hands on her cane. Ilona did not look blind but one could presume she is..Though her walking and confident demenour makes people doubt it..
"Major Ilona Szilagyi, The Harbinger Alchemist. Nice to meet you. Guess we will working together on this hm?"Ilona said, casually introducing herself...Boy this is going to be fun...

[Guest]

Lucas scanned what was left of South City, thousands of people gone in an instant. He had killed but he had never wiped out an entire city. He had just returned to central when he was told that he had to ship out immediately before ever the other horsemen got back from where ever they were. His boss thought that it would be a good idea if he made an appearance to help out. Not knowing what to expect he had come in full armor with sword. As he approached the city, he saw a couple of people here and there in uniform but nobody that he knew. He approached two that were standing together, he saw the female of the two was a state alchemist, the other he recognized as a soldier from Briggs, he saluted her “Ma’am, Warrant Officer Daigoro. War reports as ordered. I have been ordered by my superiors to help with the cleanup of the area formerly known as South city. Do you know who is in charge here?”

[Dai]

Spoiler:

Daigoro blinked as the girl tapped him on the shoulder and asked for 1000 Cenz to help search for the cause of the destruction. He sighed, and nodded. He didn't really want to let her go, looking at her age, but it was to be inevitable. So he reached into his pocket, counted out 1500 Cenz, and handed them to the girl with a small smile. The smile belied that fact that he was sobbing inside because of his own now-brokeness. Oh well, hopefully the Military would reimburse him for whatever he had used...

"Go ahead. But I want you to report back to either me or Brigadier General Tsukino over there after you have gathered your information. And I want you back alive. Understand?" He asked, before turning towards the next voice that spoke to him.

"Harbinger, huh? Fair enough, I guess we will be working on this together..." Noticing the visor that covered her eyes, he blinked. Of course, he remembered now. He'd heard stories of an Alchemist of the State that was blind. This must be her. And then another person spoke to him. Daigoro sighed. He was only a freaken' Warrant Officer! What the hell? The way these people spoke to him... He sighed again, before shaking his head.

"In charge? 'Sfar as I can tell, it's Brigadier General Tsukino," He motioned with his head, "Over there." He sighed again, before surveying the area once more. Just bloody great. At least it was warmer here than Briggs. Pity, the cold kept him on his toes.

[Jay Furor]

Jay smiled and accepted the money with obvious gratitude. "No worries, I've done harder stuff before. Ever heard of the Delta Squadrant? It's an old military squad I used to be in. And now I'll get started on that case." She noticed Ilona there and gave a quick wave and small smile. She then walked off, towards the blast site. She figured it would be the best place to look for anyone who might have survived, that could tell her what happened. Then, a thought struck her head. "Did he think I would die?" Jay laughed as she continued her search. "Me? Dying on some little job as this? Not in millions of years..." She reached the center of the blast site and noticed a peculiar looking red stone. "Now what could this be?" She reached done to pick it up before placing it into her pocket. "Maybe I can sell it to someone for some cash..." She scanned the area and found nothing else so she began walking back towards the militant whom she had been talking too. Her thoughts were bumbling around, hitting different things that she was thinking about...

[Guest]

A lone figure could be seen making it's way in the direction of the huge crater. But no one was watching the lone traveler. It seems that this stranger made sure to approach the ruins from the opposite side from everyone else, but maybe it was pure coincidence. Scion was drawing near his objective. West City HQ wanted to know what happened firsthand, from a trustworthy agent - so Scion was sent on a "little" reconnaissance mission.

Scion finnaly stepped inside the ruins that surrounded the crater, alas there weren't even much of those ruins. Presumably a few houses on the edge of the city weren't completely obliterated. Just remains of a wall or two, they reached only a meter in hight and weren't really visible. Scion came closer and touched the remains, he remained this way for a minute and then pulled his hand away...

"What do you think?" - a quiet, cold voice sounded from beneath the hooded face. To a stranger it would seem that the man was just mumbling, as if asking himself what happened,- "You think so? Not much to work with..." - Scion grew silent and made his way to closest corpse. Not the best looking corpse he had seen in his life, but not the worst either. He crouched near it and touched it's head, again he waited for a minute and released his grip from the lifeless body.

It seemed he would have to cooperate with the people on the other side. It would seem they were Military as well, but that was no surprise to Scion. He began making his way around the crater, as stealthy as possible... he would not want to encounter hostile forces alone.

[Reila Tsukino]

'Over there' was a place away from all others where Reila crouched, her hand covering her mouth. The brigadier general's subordinates were busy milling around in the distance, silhouettes against the blue sky, looming over the earth as if nothing had happened. Everyone around her was frantically searching for the cause of the obliteration of an entire city. It had been something simple--an easy task like stepping on an anthill, only... there were no bodies left behind--no traces, no perpetrator...nothing. Nothing, but a faint line in the dust--something no one was supposed to notice. But she did.

Reila stood up, dropping her hand from her mouth to wipe sweat from the sides of her face. It was hot, the sun glaring down at her small form, splaying a shadow about the cracked pavement. She watched the heat come off of it, wavering in the air and blurring the horizon. Squinting, her eyes shone like gold swaying just beneath the surface of a cool river. Upon locating Dai, she merely watched him as an abundance of people came up to him. She smiled in admiration, her mind in a daze of shock. She wished he would notice and come over to her, but it was clear that he was much too busy to see. She absentmindedly ran her hands over the rim of her navy blue military skirt, wishing she hadn't worn the white wool leggings with it today in this heat. Maybe it wasn't as hot out as it seemed to her, but briggs had become her home, blizzard and all.

She dropped her hands slack and stared blankly at a forlorn rose bush where white chalk slithered through its roots. It couldn't be...she didn't want to believe it. Before she knew it she felt tears ebb at the corners of her eyes, threatening to flood her status with weakness. She looked up quickly, scanning the clouds for strength. Her hand clutched at the device she knew connected to all her trusted briggs members. She switched the channel to Dai's--the only one she felt she could trust with her weakness. She checked to make sure only he could hear her. Reila would have gone to him where he stood in the distance, but she didn't trust her legs. She sank to the ground again, swallowing the tightness in her throat, and in a wavy voice, managed to speak. "Dai..." She tried, desperately, her breath catching obviously. "Please...I--uhm... It was..." She buried her face in her knees, moving the receiver closer so she didn't have to speak loudly. "Human...transmutation..." She bit her lip hard and squeezed her eyes shut. All those people...were used for power. Whatever reason that power was needed for...would in no way be enough to repent for the lives of those humans that were lost. She shuddered, her fear breaking from her and spreading its wings wide. She tried to hide behind the rose bush so that only Dai would see her if he looked. "Could you... come here?" She was done ordering, right now, Reila sounded as broken as she felt--not an alchemist, not a brigadier general, but a human being.

[Aurelius Schwartz]

[I'm officially declaring that there is no posting order. This should be good inspiration for you to keep up and also to allow for this thread to continue moving.]

[Guest]

Yochi didn't speak to anyone when she arrived. She was too in awe and disgust of the destruction that had been caused. She had arrived with the group from Briggs. She headed down towards the city planning to scout the outside looking for signs of what had wrecked it. The only thing she could think of that would be able to wipe out a city completely like this would be alchemy. She had heard of alchemy this big, but hadn't believed it. However, she soon found the remanants of chalk lines and sighed deeply for a moment before her eyes blazed in anger. She hated those who used alchemy for evil, she didn't even like to see it being used in combat unless absolutely necessary.

She almost threw up in sheeer disgust of this. She wanted to find and punish whoever had done it. Little did she know they had already suffered their punishment. She looked carefully thinking in her mind. There was no doubt about it. This was human transmutation and no ordinary human transmutation. It was to create a philosopher's stone. She switched her radio to talk to her officer which was Dai. Of course, her orders were recieved most often from Reila, but Yochi was Dai's right hand man or woman in this case. However, she couldn't get through to him. It seemed someone else was on the channel. She ran over towards Dai instead speaking as she got nearer to him.

"Daigoro It was definately alchemy. Most likely to create a philosopher's stone." She had journeyed many miles before she went and took the state alchemy exam and had heard and learnt many things including how the philosopher's stones were supposedly made. She spat on the ground. "Sorry sir. Sacrificing an entire city for such a thing is just disgusting."

[Guest]

Ilona, knowing that she shouldn't wonder from the group are area, decided to stray away anyway, deciding to have a closer look at the area. She tapped her cane on the ground hand, creating a loud THUMP sound and began to inspect the area. It's been a week since she became a major and her work was somewhat still carefree and easy but Ilona never liked keeping dogs...
So someone tried to create the red stone but look's they succeded..If so where are they now...Or have they tolled with price already..? These thoughts wondered through Ilona until she saw it; near the crater, a part of a transmutation circle. A human transmutation circle. Because of the rubble, it has long worn off but this part, any maybe other parts of it, were still clear...But what suprised Ilona was the monsterous size of the circle....
"Well...Looks like we got something..Not much but better than nothing..But we got no other evidence..."Ilona said, sighing, crouching down to the transmutation circle.

[Guest]

Layus stood watching the nothingness that had been South City. It was so barren, there was almost nothing left anywhere...Had this place really been a city? Teeming with people and tasty things to eat, now it was full of nothingness and dirt. There was a corpse on the ground of a dead animal or something. He couldn't tell what it was since it was all mangled and torn but hey food is food, and with that he took a bite out of it. "Bleach...what the hell, ugh..." he threw the corpse away wondering why he had even considered eating it in the first place. Really...there was nothing here at all to stop his hunger. Layus couldn't even remember why he was here in the first place. He remembered Father telling him something about cooperating with some group of people. He said they'd have food for him if he worked with them. But he couldn't help wondering where the food was? He looked around trying to see if he could find anything worth eating but there was nothing. His stomach grumbled, "Mmmmmm" he whined, "...gotta find something..."

A breeze then ruffled his hair, causing his blue hair to sway and bobble on his head. He caught a whiff of something strong, a familiar smell... It seemed people were nearby. "Yum~" he said with a grin, he hoped that these people were the ones that would be his lunch. Where was that group anyway that he was supposed to be with?

[Murazar Dauthi]

These reports were getting bad, human transmutation was positive. So that was the cause, the effect was obviously not enough material at hand to work with to create a philosophers stone. Or ressurect a human, the circle could have been used for either considering the actual transmutation circle was gone now. He spoke through multiple recievers and transmitters. Listening, debriefing, and compiling a comprehensive scenario of what had happened in his head.

"This is Charlie Three of Butcher Platoon, we have reports of some chalk lines; but nothing to indicate a exact transmutation circle. Out."

" This is Echo One-Oh-Five-Five, we have found what seems to be a corpse at a possible center of the transmutation circle. Going to bring in gear to analyze the body. Out."

"This is Zion Romeo Niner, we have finished a compilation of a variety of samples and are proceeding to Overwatch Two-Seven for analyzation. Out."

Murazar leaned back in his chair as he listened to multiple more conversations before speaking aloud on all the frequencies." This is Delta One of Overwatch Two-Seven, I am reporting to the General. Stand Fast on all reports until I give the signal for otherwise. Out."

He turned all other frequncies off for both the recievers and transmitters, he switched to the brigadier generals frequency. His calm, frigid, uncaring of the smell of slowly rotting corpses and grit from the destruction. " We have a confirmation on more information. Where is your position general? Over." He waited several moments before adding a second frequency, which was Dais'. " Dai, I think you need to hear this too. Tell me where your coordinates are and i'll move to both of your positions asap. Over."

He paused, his face contorting into a frozen fury. Why the hell is she not here? This is the Temporary Headquarters! She should be here getting reports and getting a bigger picture of it! Why am I the only one stuck here?!? Why am I the only one getting the reports from everyone? I'm a mercenary, why am I the only one responsible to my position as a leader? Why the hell do I even have to go to them, when they should come here and stay here! It is their Duty to be here and give orders and recieve reports. This is not how a leader acts, this is absolutely pathetic. I'm going to end up dying under this general if she's out in the field when there is absolutely no reason to be there, and every reason to be here!

As soon as a lower ranking soldier came up to present his report, which was pretty much what murazar had heard over the radio frequencies. He snapped back at him icily, "I heard the reports. Go back to your position!" He didn't raise his voice, but his temper which was rare had obviously been set off. The kid, or a kid in murazar's mind backed off fast to where he was sitting previously. He hoped the general or dai wouldn't reprimand him over the reciever since he was still patched in.

[Guest]

As Scion drew closer to the Military base, he could see they were allies. "It's a good thing humans like to mark their alligences with flags and signs" - thought Scion, it really made his job easier. He continued to the base, without drawing attention to himself, but without hiding either. He unconsciously began tapping the sheath of his upper sword, Lilith, with his fingers, while walking. His eyes darted from side to side, memorizing and watching the surroundings. Then he spotted a lone crouched figure nearby, away from the camp. Whoever it was - it seemed as if they were busy. Nevertheless Scion decided to come closer, if they were a freelancer - it meant that they could find out what happened faster than the Military. If they were a Military - it was suspicious.

As the scout came closer, he could hear muffled breathing and could see that a woman was crouching in the grass. Scion noticed she had very long hair, a good feature to remember a person, should he need to remember her. It seemed like she was in pain, and even if she did speak - Scion could not hear anything. A high, sweet voice broke the silence:

"Nii-san, she's an Alchemist... I could feel her doing something minutes ago..." - the words echoed through the world, filling everything with it. But only Scion could hear this. He lowered his head, covering his eyes with the tip of the hood.

"Damned Alchemists, they are everywhere... wherever I go they are present. Destroying cities, killing people and crouching in pain." - Scion's words were meant for his sister alone.
On the surface he remained silent, watching the girl, whoever she was Scion could not see any hint of being in the Military.
Things could not remain this way forever... Scion had to know where to looks for an officer in command, so he had to break his silence. A sudden voice sounded from behind the girl's back, as emotionless and cold as ever:

"Ahem, excuse me, but can you tell me where to find the commanding officer of this operation?"

[Dai]

Daigoro sighed. These people were getting to him, and the Brig Gen was nowhere to be seen. That was strange, with her not there and Xan nowhere to be found, things were going to shit, and quickly. As Houka spoke to him, Daigoro nodded absent-mindedly while she spoke, mostly because he had worked most of that out, but also because another, smaller voice was coming over the radio. He blinked, it was Reila. And she seemed... scared. He blinked again, before Mura spoke. He sighed again, and then looked around him. A slight whisper of golden hair behind a rose-bush was all that betrayed Reila's position.

The Ishvallan's red eyes narrowed, and he turned towards Houka, with a slight nod.

"I... need to investigate something of my own. Trust me, listen to whatever anyone has to say, and then relay it back to me. Briggs frequency 111.25. Understand?" The frequency he had just given her was his own private line. The only other person who knew that was Reila. Oh, and Xan. Looks like he'd be changing it, soon.

As he walked along towards the bush, taking occasional, random turns, trying to shake anybody that bothered to follow. As he neared the bush, he slowed down, noticing the militant behind her, and speaking to him quickly.

"She's currently busy. Her current stand-in is back where I came from, just go straight behind me. Name's Houka. Can't miss her. He then spoke into his own receiver, not really caring about what the guy did from then.

"Mura. I'm with the Brig Gen now. I'll tell her anything you tell me. 52.111." He knew that Mura would understand. It was a usual thing for him, giving the frequency in reverse. He then reached up to his ear, and changed it to 111.25, and moved behind the bush, seeing the woman crouched there. He looked slightly unhappy, before kneeling down behind her and putting a hand on her shoulder, making sure that he wasn't in 'speak' mode on his receiver.

"Ma'am? You called?" This woman... wasn't the Reila Tsukino that he knew. But he wasn't surprised. Right now, every one of these soldiers were wondering how somebody could do this. Most of them had, at least, worked out what it was. Daigoro... hated this sort of thing. He hadn't wanted to see suffering. He wanted to stop things like the Ishvallan war. He closed his eyes, and nodded. His voice then calmed down to a more informal tone.

"The people need you. You command respect, and that's all they need. Even if you don't feel that way, you need to show them that you're strong." He sighed, before moving next to her and sitting down.

I hope whoever did this dies a death that would make even the Devil himself feel sorry for.

He grimaced, and spoke under his breath.

"Why? Why did they do it?"

Spoiler:

[Guest]

Houka blicked for a moment and Dai's command then gave a quick military salute before standing there awaiting reports. She might be the new girl on the Briggs Brigade, but she was the military operation's leader's right hand woman. She glanced about over the ruined site sighing deeply to herself. She thought about the estimated total population of South City. So many people lost and just to make a stone that would allow for the law of equivalent exchange to be broken or at least she suspected it was for a stone. It was hard to think what else human transmutation could be used for in such a large amount. Maybe to revive some people, but that although it had some noble intentions, was almost as bad if not worse. That meant whoever did it had decided that the person or people he was reviving were more important then the millions who lived in the city. In her anger she snapped her fingers generating a spark. As she did so she activated her transmutation to alter the oxygen around her to a combustible level before creating a fireball which was launched at a boulder. "Whoever did this does not deserve to have been born or have the right to die. They should be tortured for all eternity for such merciless destruction and unbelievable greed."

[Guest]

Ilona stood up and heard Houka's curse. She would of said the same thing but; was she any different? Ilona probably killed as many people that was killed her before she became a state alchemist and joined the military...
"You shouldn't curse like that, instead you should save your breath and concentrate at the situation at hand.."She said quietly. Ilona did not say this in an arrogant way but in a calm smoothing way. cursing people that are already gone is not going to help, it's going to make them escape from their grasp further...Besides, whoever did this shouldn't be even living...

[Guest]

Houka Yochi took a deep breath and nodded. "Your right whoever you are." she said with a sigh then realised how rude and unproffesional that sounded. She looked at the girl for a moment. "Anything to report...Miss...erm...I don't believe I know your name." She extended a hand to the girl. "My name is Houka Yochi, first name being Yochi. Who are you?" She stood silently waiting for the girl to take the hand for a few moments then dropped it. "No time for pleasentries I understand. What do you have to report?" She was rarely polite so she was surprised she had been there. It must of been because she was trying to represent Fort Briggs properly and show she was good at what she did. It was then she heard a noise approaching from behind her and glanced across to see another person approaching. She didn't stay looking at them however returning her gaze to the girl she still did not know the name of awaiting her report.

[Guest]

A man came from around the bushes, from the direction of the base. He was a Millitary officer it seemed, and finnaly gave some directions to Scion. Now he had a name - Houka. The swordsman did not move, even after he was given directions, and watched the drama unfold. The man sat near the woman... his face showed sorrow, even though he tried not to. Scion saw sorrow many times during his life and could distinguish it by little hints.
Such drama over some destroyed city. "Are they this weak?" - wondered Scion. They were Millitary and should not flinch from such a sight... but maybe something was wrong with Scion?

He turned his head towards the crater and looked at it. No. Nothing. No fear, no sorrow, no pity - nothing. Those people that died... men, women, children - they were just nobodies to Scion. Just an empty sound.

A muffled "Hmph" could be heard coming from beneath the mask, as Scion moved past the pair sitting on the ground, towards the base. After asking a few questions he found the one named Houka. She was not alone, but with someone else. Scion approached them and spoke, his cold voice was able to freeze even a joyfull moment:

"Ahem, excuse me, are you Houka Youchi?" - he had heard her give her name a few seconds ago, but etiquette demanded him to ask her name still, -"Scion Grey, from the West City Millitary Headquarters. I am here to check up on the... incident." - he didn't say anything that he already knew. He wanted to know what they knew.

[Jay Furor]

Jay stumbled over towards Dai. She waved slightly and smiled. "Hey! Mr. ....Whoever you are!" She had already forgotten his name... How sad. But anyways she came up to him. "Hey. I just checked out the base of the explosion and I couldn't find anything that fits what you were looking for. Except for maybe a red rock I found... Looks kinda pretty, but you tell me if it's evidence or not." She then pulled the Philosophers Stone from her pokcet, unaware of what it is. She handed it to him discreetly so as to not let anyone see it besides him. She suddenly hoped for a raise. Yeah, if he thought the stone was important, he'd have to pay out more cash! Oyah! She just stood there, waiting for a response from him, so that she could go ask Ilona what happened here, beings she had only the slightest idea, knowing it as alchemy only from hearing the explosion. She truly had no clue what had really gone on and was hoping that the red rock really WAS evidence, since that was all she had found.

[Guest]

"That is me." she replied to the man looking at him for a moment. She didn't recognise him. Then again she hadn't been to west city for a while and hadn't seen much of the military even when she was there so it was natural she wouldn't recognise someone from there. Also, who kept track of everyone they ever met. No-one had that good a memory except a computer. She should of aksed him for ID, but she didn't. "The city was destroyed by alchemy. There are remanants of a transmutation circle and it is highly likely it was used for human transmutation. Most likely for the production of a Stone." she told him quickly and quietly. "So far we do not know who the culprit was or even if they survived the alchemy themselves. We cannot confirm or deny if it was successful in making a stone yet."

She looked at him for a moment. "Do you have anything to add Scion? Just for your information my first name is Yochi." she stated calmly. "It is a custom of my family to introduce ourselves last name first."

[Guest]

"Major Ilona Szilagyi..Nice to meet you."Ilona said. She caught sight of a hooded man who introduced himself as Scion Grey and listened to him and Houka's report. Destroyed by alchemy...Boy this mess makes all state alchemists and ordinary alchemists suspects..and makes us look bad.
"There was some part of the transmutation circle left near the crater..I did not check if it was still intact but less likely..But the sheer size of the circle would scare anyone.."Ilona stated, adjusting her visors whilst fidgeting with her cane..
"If the prepatrator is alive, he would have taken the stone but if he's dead, most likely, the stone should be still in the area..if we get to it first..."

[Guest]

Scion nodded as he listened to the woman's report. Then, when she stated that her first name was Yochi he plainly replied:

"I see." - then the other woman introduced herself, so he replied to her too, -"It is very nice to meet you too." - he tried to sound as polite as could, but he was a bit surprised that nobody was shocked or disgusted by his cold voice. But that meant that the situation wouldn't get worse... for most people were startled and scared of him. When Ilona said that the alchemist was probably dead Scion lifted his head a little, displaying surprise in this weird manner. His eyebrows didn't go up, nor did his voice sounded surprised - he simply lifted his head.

"Most likely dead? Then what would that alchemist want to accomplish, if he's dead? That would mean it was just a waste of his own life and all the material. Although... mad alchemists seems like a growing tendency." - Scion crossed his arms on his chest. He pondered a while, but nothing really came to mind, -"Well... I am sorry, but I have nothing to add to what you know. All I could understand was that Alchemy was used... my knowledge is limited to that, alas."

He stopped talking and began to study the women. He would do well to remember them, and now he was... well... staring at them. He didn't take into account that people wouldn't be comfortable with this, so he had no reasons not to examine them closely. He did regret that he didn't take a good look at the man and the woman before.

[Guest]

She sighed deeply. "I suggest we scatter and search for the stone then." she said quietly before beginning to walk away over to some troops. She wanted to find the stone as soon as possible so wanted to get as many forces on it as possible. She quickly spoke to a few members who nodded and headed off knowing what to look for. She then switched her frequency to Dai's personal one. "Dai if you can send some troops to search for a stone do so. It is our way of confirming whether our culprit is alive or dead." With that she returned to her position. She had to stay there to take reports from others about this horrible incident. Human transmutation. The ultimate Taboo. So many people seemed to break it though and what they lost....wasn't worth what they gained.

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