Chrono X Angel, Book 5: Winds of Change

Chapter 6

Over the next couple of weeks, Usoko slowly adjusted to a one-armed lifestyle, though it was far from easy. Her entire center of gravity was thrown off now, and she found herself tripping far more often than she ever had before. She was angry at herself, in more ways than one, for this situation. She should have been able to dodge such a well telegraphed move from her doppelgänger, and yet in the moment she had frozen up and allowed herself to fall into this state. At the very least, once a temporary prosthetic was given to her to aid in balancing while a personalized one was being made, she was able to stop falling over as much. The only upside to the whole situation, was that thanks to both the incredibly advanced technology GARDNA had at its disposal, and her homebrewed health potion, she was able to fully recover in mere days instead of the months or even years an ordinary human might have to go through.

Over the course of the past several days, the interrogators at GARDNA had successfully wrung what information they could out of the captured cultists, and what they had found out was unsettling. The cult, Megáli Anarchía, was far larger than initially thought, in fact this cell was only one of five which existed in Japan alone. Their goals were simple: destroy the masquerade simply because they wanted to. There was no higher purpose, no moral reasoning for it, they simply wanted to watch the world burn. Anarchy between humans and monsters, nothing more and nothing less. They reported to a mysterious entity who gave the cells their own tasks, and who they seemed to fear more than any threat of torture or pain. The girl this cell had kidnapped, Abigail Wilson, had been interviewed as well, though not much new information could be gleaned from her. She was a Vampire, it was clear from her red glowing eyes, but her lack of fangs baffled the science team. Dr. Kuma had run some tests on the girl, to ascertain whether or not she was perhaps a Dhampir but all DNA analysis performed on the girl indicated she was 100% pure stock Vampire. How then, she was able to exist in the sun, continued to baffle them all.

"She could have a rare mutation," offered the doctor as a possible explanation, "Daywalkers do exist, the reports are quite credible, though I've not seen one in all my years. Otherwise, I cannot explain it."

While perhaps not the end all be all of science, Dr. Kuma was well respected by both Lydia and Modred as well as the medical community at large, so the topic had been dropped for the time being. Given the girl's heritage, it was decided that Nonami would be housing her for the short time until they could escort her back to her home on the eastern coast of America. Nonami's entire team was being mobilized for this task in fact, and they were to be joined by Cryptidranger once they arrived in California. Though they would have no choice but to fly across the pacific to America, the plan was to drive convoy across the continent until they arrived at Abigail's home in Salem, Massachusetts. The 43 hour drive would be done in one continuous-as-possible drive, across four vehicles. Normally one would think an ordinary girl should not have required so much security, but it was clear Megáli Anarchía wanted her for some reason and it was assumed they would try to get their "Goddess of Fear" back. If the cult was as far-stretching as was claimed, there was little doubt they would not run into at least one fight against its members.

Another upside to the capture of the cultists, was that it led to an exact understanding of the Tulpa creation process, and also by sheer luck, how to thwart it.
By making contact with someone, a person trained in the process of Tulpa creation could reach into that person's deepest mental recesses and dredge forth their darkest fears. Those would then be given substance by the cultist, a formless gray blob of thought energy summoned from their own will, which was then implanted with the fears of the touched individual. The fears would come to life in whatever physical form would cause the most dread for the victim, and the cultist would use the fear and chaos energy the situation would inevitably create to power themselves up further. Only one tulpa could exist per person, but the appearance could be changed simply by sacrificing the prior look for a new one. Otherwise they could be summoned at will without needing the same victim over and over. During a test one day an odd discovery was made when one of the cultists, trying to make a break for it, attempted to make a Tulpa from Nonami who had been in the room with Lydia at the time. Nothing formed, in fact the proto-Tulpa seemed to be in severe pain before abruptly disappearing. This intrigued Nonami, who on a hunch brought Rei in and invited the cultist to try again, only for the same result to occur. It was when she brought Kristina in that a successful Tulpa was created: a giant wereboar that had been exceptionally cruel to Kristina as a puppy. The beast was easily dispatched, but it left Nonami wondering. What did she and Rei have in common that she and Kristina did not?
Proximity to one another? Doubtful, as she had been teamed with the werewolf since before Rei had even been born. Combat experience against tulpas, and knowing what they are? Possible but she doubted it. Tulpas were not illusions, knowledge that what you're facing is not real would not help you against one.