"A Neil?!" They all screamed in confusion.
There was now a faint sea blue sphere over the replica of New York. Where the entity's hand was placed, electrical currents kept him frozen in place.
This was not just any Neil; usually, they would just obscure one's vision. However, this Neil had draining properties attached to it — which could only be created by a human.
But this didn't make sense; none of them were informed that this was placed down. Did the bureau really do this?
(Project Icarus!) Simon was quick to think.
Either way, this was now their chance. Based on the way the Neil reacted to the entity, it was clear this was only meant to keep an entity inside.
When touched, it would constantly drain one's spiritual energy. But this confused Simon even more. Why did Project Icarus put a Neil over this replica world like this?
It was clear from the mechanics that this would not work on a human. If it did, then they would've been able to see it beforehand.
(Then what are they trying to keep inside? What—)
"This is our chance! Let's go!" Ezra said.
Everyone followed him in quick pursuit, except for Simon. This wasn't right — what were they planning to do?
Simon was methodical; he could tell this situation would not be in their hands once they arrived. But at the same time, he felt as if this entity was not the one the Bedeviled were looking for.
If it were, then that would be a bigger problem. That would mean that Project Icarus has a way of telling the future. With a Signature like that, it made Haruto's foresight look like child's play.
"..."
Simon looked towards the running group. He did not want to join them in whatever stupidity they had planned, but what other choice did he have?
He caught up to them, following them into an armored vehicle. Once everyone was inside, Ezra took the initiative to drive.
He was the oldest there, so everyone would naturally follow him, except for Evelyn.
At a time like this, she relied on his battle experience. But there was a difference between battle experience and cleverness, however.
"Once we get there, the entity should be weakened. Let's just go full force at it."
(What?!)
"Whoa, whoa! Ezra, what the hell is weakened to this thing?"
Everyone at first agreed with Ezra, but hearing Simon's point, they retreated. It had attacked them in the safety of their own base; there was no telling what it could do.
The only intel they had that was useful was that the royal was able to get inside their heads.
(Am I really the only one using my brain here? Why are we trying to blindly fight this thing?)
Simon did not want to follow them in the first place, so he had little time to think. He began to search the vehicle for any kind of equipment that would help the group.
Unfortunately, the only thing he found was a coin and a camera. There was still a slim chance that these could be used, so he held onto them.
Everyone was deep in thought, but Leo was the first to speak up.
"What if Simon is right? Maybe we shouldn't try to fight this entity."
"But it's weakened, Leo." Silas pointed out.
From there on, a commotion arose inside the car. Each member of the squad started to propose their different ideals and various ways to solve this problem.
All of them argued, except for Simon. He stayed quiet. Silas naturally sided with Ezra, Leo with Haruto, and Elliot with Evelyn.
The growing debate soon turned to a heated argument, but all of their points still stood.
The entity would naturally be weakened due to its spiritual energy being drained, so this was a perfect chance to attack.
But there was a problem. With how powerful it had already proved to be, the word 'weakened' was used loosely.
As for Evelyn and Elliot, they tried their best to cooperate with both teams.
Eventually, they agreed to Evelyn's terms.
They had observed that Evelyn could temporarily resist whatever ability was being placed onto them. So, they planned to use this as an advantage while letting Silas charge an attack.
This plan had some flaws. On the offside, if Evelyn did run out of Spiritual Energy, Leo would have to step in and wait for her to recover.
As for Ezra, he would be the one fighting beside Evelyn. If the same thing happened to him, Simon would step in. Elliot would serve to stop the entity in case someone neared death.
Everyone in this plan was important, including Haruto, who would use his foresight to determine and call out the entity's next actions. Simon was still not content with this plan.
This was a dangerous gamble either way, and on top of this, he had noticed something. This entity had stopped using his Signature whenever it touched the Neil.
(Does this mean his abilities only work inside of that world now?)
No matter how Simon tried to think about it, he couldn't figure it out. There were too many objects at play, too many options.
The best he could come up with was that the entity had lost too much spiritual energy to activate it again. Even still, this assumption was horrible.
He did not have time to think any longer. They had arrived at the clock tower, and they all grabbed their equipment.
Simon made sure to bring the camera and coin with him.
(If the entity can't step out of that world at all, then we can observe him with this camera if he refuses to leave.)
They all rushed down the spiral staircase, preparing for a battle. Simon couldn't help but stop as they reached the bottom. He looked to his right, seeing a dead lion.
The wound was still fresh, a puddle of blood coming from a slash in its stomach. Elliot was the only one to catch this, looking at the lion along with Simon.
"Simon, what are you doing? We have to go!"
"..."
(Something is not right.)