Festering Desire

On a certain late afternoon near the city outskirts of Atlantica, Jean was on the way home to her rental apartment from a busy day of work. Cases of supernatural related incidents had been on a rapid rise and spread from the town to the city; there were numerous reports everyday recently of citizens either found dead or missing. This was the third day in a row where she had to do unpaid overtime.

"I killed another Yoma today, but just what in the world are these spirit cores?" Jean examined a dark crystal orb in her hand as she muttered, then let out a heavy sigh.

"Just when is HQ going to allocate more manpower? I can't keep this up." The agent was dearly missing a certain boy; he was always helpful in solving the situations quickly, all in exchange of some Yoma or spirits to fill his bowel.

"M-Ms. Valentine!" Suddenly, a young man called out the agent from behind. He was the *manpower* sent from HQ; but obviously, a greenhorn like him can't possibly contribute much in dangerous missions.

"Oh, it's you, rookie. You moved in around here as well?" Jean was mildly surprised to see her colleague; she thought a young man like him would like to live in the metropolitan areas.

"Yes, ma'am!" He had a slightly redden face from talking to a woman he mesmerized at first sight.

"Your name was... ugh, sorry, it's been very chaotic lately and I have neglected you. How was your first couple days here?" Due to the recent pressures, she couldn't even remember the rookie's name.

"It's Eren, ma'am! Everything has been amazing; it was my first time seeing a Yoma as frightening as the one from today." The young man recalled the grotesque looking creature with multiple claws.

Jean spent some more time conversing with the rookie to show guidance as one of her responsibilities being a senior officer. The young man got the chance to spend more time talking to the woman than he ever had in the past couple days. But while they were walking down the quiet streets, a sharp scream immediately drew their attention to a shady alleyway.

"Rookie, are you up for some more overtime?" Jean sensed an eerie Anima festering from the alley.

"Of course, ma'am!" What an exemplary employee; the nation needs more hardworking and diligent young men like him.

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The two agents ventured into the narrow passage that led to a small park in the back streets surrounded by empty apartments; there, they saw several pieces of human corpses left scattered around the basketball court. Cowering in a corner on top of a tree were a few young ladies in middle school uniform; their frightened faces was a telling sign of the horror they witnessed.

"Stay where you are girls, I will come to you!" A certain brave soul shouted.

"Wait! Eren, don't rush in." Jean wanted to stop the eager young man from mindlessly charging into dangerous territory.

There were several suspicious little ponds of water laying around the perimeter; they seemed to be the residuals of rain, but the weather had been dry for the past few days. When the reflection of the young man appeared on the water surface as he ran past, unsettling ripples stirred on the water as well.

"D-Don't come near! It's dangerous!" Even one of the young ladies warned the blood pumped young man; she had seen how others were gruesomely eaten alive.

Within expectation, a Yoma with the head of a fish and sharp teeth emerged from one of the ponds and leaped towards Eren. However, before he could even react, Jean already punctured through the creature's head with a quick shot from her firearm. Its corpse still knocked down the young man before dispersing into faint pixels of spiritual energies.

"Rookie, get up! There are more coming! Stay away from the waters" Jean came inside the court as well to rescue the hot-blooded rookie.

The two agents readied their weapons as several more monsters surrounded their retreat; Jean remained composed and sharp, while the young man was already fidgeting even though he tried to act brave.

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A few minutes later, all of the Yoma had been vanquished mostly by the hands of the female agent. While catching his breath, the rookie watched Jean fixing her suit with gazes of admiration. In his eyes, she was strikingly beautiful and attractive during the fight.

"You girls can come down now." Jean called out to the young ladies. "Tell me what happened before we got here."

The young lady that warned the rookie was the most composed of the three girls and was the first to speak; it seemed like it wasn't her first time encountering the spirits.

"My name is Rena; I was cheering for my boyfriend's basketball match. Then, it started drizzling out of nowhere, but the boys wanted to finish the game..."

Typical kids would not concern themselves with getting wet. They celebrated when the rain ceased after the drizzling turned into a downpour for a few minutes and continued the match. No one seemed to suspect why there existed the elements on a completely cloudless day.

Tears began to form around the corners of her eyes as she described the slaughter following the unexpected shower. Being observant of the situation during the chaos, the young lady was quick-witted to lead her friends onto the tree and stayed far away from the water.

"Don't worry little girl, we are officers from the bureau, where do you live? I will walk y..."

It was then, blood spilled out from the young man's mouth. With shock, he looked down and saw a grotesque appendage pierced through his guts from behind. At the back, there was suddenly a nightmarish monster in the form of a bull frog next to a creepy man in a black robe. The appendage was the creature's tongue.

"Eren!!!" Before Jean could react, he was pulled away at an inhuman speed and entered the creature's bowel without any chance to even let out a cry.

"Oha big one for my first catch. You dogs of the organization had been pestering us for too long. Now that I finally got the time, you will have a taste of the abyss." The voice was half broken and hoarse.

"Dammit, you are one of those lunatics."

Jean could tell right away from the abomination under the man's control; only those fanatic cult worshipers were insane enough to dare risk their soul contracting an evil spirit. She turned back to the young ladies and shouted.

"You girls, run now!" The agent can't guarantee their safety against an opponent of this level.

"Ah no, not so fast. It won't be good if anyone who saw me were left alive." It was a matter of time before their presence in the town was known, but the later it is the better.

The abomination next to the man screamed in a deafening shriek, freezing its victims in place. Within the suspense, the ponds of water turned rottenly green and began to spread. The air turned stale and the ground began to decay, a certain lump of disgusting mosaic emerged from below and blocked the path of their escape. They were now trapped inside a domain only capable of being conjured by a high tier spirit.

At this moment, Jean took out a long gun barrel embedded with runes and attached it to her pistol. She charged her Anima while holding the firearm like a musket rifle and decisively fired the shot at the creepy man in robe. However, a fodder spirit similar to the earlier fish heads appeared before her target and tanked the explosion. In this swamp biome, the man could summon as many fodders as he wants.

"Heheheh, did you think I would risk my life fighting you head on? An Anima user like you would make a great sacrifice for the abyss." The man had already prepared a trap for the female agent.

Jean noticed her feet began to sink, numerous tentacles that surfaced from below entangled her limbs and crawled through questionable regions of her body. The same was happening to the girls hiding at the back, they all slowly submerged into the swamp regardless of their desperate struggles.

"Phew... I am getting old. To think I was frightened by her attack." The battle may have seemed easy for the man in robe, but the whole setup had consumed a great deal of energy.

The nightmarish abomination dissolved into a black mist and flowed inside the man's body. At the same time, the domain of swamp quickly retreated into the void, returning the park to its original form. When all was settled, he fell on his knees from the pain pinching in his flesh and organ; the price for hosting an evil spirit was not cheap.

"Seems like I missed the party." A mature feminine voice sounded from above.

"Who is there?! Name yourself!" The man looked up and saw a busty nun standing on a street lamp; she carried an intimidating scythe behind her back.

From his vantage point, he could almost see the absolute territory hidden underneath her scantily clad clergy attire. Her luscious thighs in net striped stocking were generously exposed in full view. However, the man was already way past a certain stage of enlightenment to have even a flicker of arousal lingering in his mind. His soul was devoid of ordinary worldly wants.

"A mother of two who is looking to go home asap and cuddle her daughters."

While the words were spoken, the busty nun vanished from the man's sight. The next thing he knew, his vision seemed to be floating in the air; he saw the woman behind his decapitated torso with her scythe swung to the side. Before his consciousness was about to fade, he heard the siren of police alarming from afar.

The busty nun took a glance at the setting sun and was satisfied with finishing her work before the night. She took out a phone as she gradually vanished into the dark alley to avoid the police.

"Granny, the job is done."

"The woman and the girls? Well, there was no one else left when I arrived, only bits and pieces of corpses lying all around."

The busty nun could hear a heavy sigh across from the phone.

"Fine, I will trust your divination for once."

The massacre at the park made it to the next day's headline. Corpses of eleven middle school children were found in pieces, with three girls reported to be missing. An unknown corpse of man that might be related to a certain terrorist organization was found. Two agents were also reported missing in the later updates. The parents of three girls had made many attempts to appeal for a wider investigation, but were to no avail.