Galileo casually trod on the tile floor, nonchalantly passing the guards around him. He was once again adorned in his visage as the infamous golden mask, though he did not expect to be seen on that particular venture. The Covenant had been struck far harder than Galileo had expected from that one destroyed hideout. Although the measures which took that one out were the most drastic, there had been simultaneous raids all around the world on that day. As a result, the Covenant was basically uprooted and incapable of operating on any level. Thus it might as well no longer exists as the remnants had mostly gone to hiding.

Since Galileo had made precautions to destroy all and any documentation of his identity, though as far as he knew his name or exact address were not even on the papers, Galileo felt rather secure despite the recent events. He was confident he could at the very least escape unscathed the weapon of mass destruction he had witnessed and was even musing the idea of trying to suppress the explosion in its bud and investigating it from up close.

Galileo slipped through yet another cluster of guards and found himself in front of a gate that led deeper into the facility. Since the Covenant was gone, Galileo needed a new source of information. Surprisingly he only knew of this one Foundation facility. The usual soldiers he fought during his work for the Covenant were always deployed from remote and temporary hideouts and had never seen an actual facility like this one. The only reason Galileo even knew about the place was because of the double agent he had killed who had been dispatched from here. Admittedly, their intelligence control was top-notch, and so was the security checkpoint in front of him.

There was only a single gate at the end of a long corridor and there was probably another such long corridor behind the doorway. On the side there were various devices meant to enforce an identity check. Besides an ID card slot, Galileo could also see what he believed was a slot for blood samples as well as retina scans. Moreover, there had been a thick layer of fortified glass on the wall to the right, presumably serving as a window for observation. Passing through walls was not exactly easy for Galileo, especially when he had to simultaneously maintain his invisibility. He had been waiting for over an hour when a person in long white lab coat finally approached the door. Galileo naturally snuck right behind the man, making sure to suppress the wind his movements caused. The verification process was excruciatingly slow, especially after Galileo had already waited for such a long time. As soon as the gate finally opened Galileo slipped through, finding himself in a completely different place.

Rather than the previous plastered walls, the new corridors were built purely out of metal. Galileo felt countless intense currents of electricity surge in cables behind those walls, though that ability was not yet quite developed enough to sense their source.

With far more caution than before, Galileo trod through the area, considering where to head first. The facility seemed enormous and there was no map anywhere, nor was Galileo such a master of infiltration to quickly locate what he needed. Galileo was not even completely sure what he was looking for in the first place. Definitely some information that would let him uncover what had happened to the Gods of old as well as the location of other facilities. Yet he was not really sure where to begin. Whether he was supposed to run around, listening on to conversation in hopes the speakers would let something important slip, or whether he should just locate the most important people and drain their memories with his green flame.

As Galileo pondered those options he surprisingly saw a familiar face: Among the people in the white coats, he spotted Quinn’s fiance, Igor. That definitely piqued Galileo’s interest as he followed just a step behind the man. Now that he looked at him Igor was fuming as he quickly made his way through the corridors. Eventually, he arrived in front of a door and with a slip of his ID card he entered, Galileo just a step behind him. Inside was the merger of an office and a laboratory. On the right side of the room were desks with various equipment most of which Galileo didn’t even recognise, while the left side had large tables and computers as well as sizable stacks of paper. Moreover, there was an unfamiliar woman sitting in one of the chairs on the left.

“Igor, what took you so long?” she turned around as soon as he door shut.

“That bitch called me to say she is not coming,” Igor fumed as he slammed into his own chair.

“What!?” the woman was startled, “We cannot finish the experiment in two. Doesn’t she know that?”

“Of course she fucking does!” Igor yelled, “She just doesn’t care. This entire place is just a joke to her, she doesn’t even care she is stuck at the lowest clearance. If not for her connections up at the top I would have demoted her to Casualty class long ago.”

“Fuck,” the woman cursed, “We had promised to wrap everything up by today. All of us will get into trouble.”

“Why would the little damn princess care about any of that?!” Igor went red in the face, “She is probably somewhere goofing around with her new boyfriend.”

“Aren’t the two of you engaged?” the woman raised an eyebrow in stun.

“Yet she is still hellbent on humiliating me at every occasion,” Igor scoffed back, “What sort of moron would believe they just play chess overnight. Damn her as well as her mother for coercing me into this shitstorm of a relationship.”

“It will all turn out well,” the woman stood up from her chair and walked over to Igor, leaning perhaps a bit too close into him, “I had confirmed that rumour. The facility director is going to step down soon. Considering all your contributions you are the front runner for the position. When the time comes it will not be too difficult to arrange an accident,” she motioned with a finger along her throat.

“You are right,” Igor said as he turned his chair and stood up, ignoring the woman’s advances, “We should get on with the experiments.”

Hearing what they had just spoken about Galileo frowned. It was not difficult to guess that they spoke of Quinn who was apparently also in the employ of the Foundation. That raised some questions, as Galileo was beyond certain he had felt a not-insignificant amount of magical power within Quinn while the Foundation vowed to either chain or eliminate all things supernatural. Her choice of vocation did not particularly disturb Galileo, though he might have to make the effort to create extra countermeasures against any accidents. Galileo still had yet to defeat her in chess after all. As he hesitated on what to do next Galileo suddenly felt something approach. It was fast and powerful and that was by Galileo’s standards.

“An unidentified aircraft is rapidly approaching!” a loud voice suddenly sounded in the speakers as the lights switch to diode red and alarms began to ring throughout the entire facility, “Repeating, an unidentified aircraft is rapidly approaching! All personnel is advised to take cover,” by the time the voice in the speaker finished, whatever was upon them had already arrived. The ground and walls shook as though an intense earthquake struck and cracks rapidly spread along the metal walls.

“Who the fuck!” Igor who had fallen down to the ground managed to yell while Galileo felt tremendous amount of divinity gather outside, preparing for an attack. Such a power could only be mustered by a skilled demigod or perhaps even a God, and Galileo knew of only one such being left in the world. Since there was not enough time, Galileo merely spread a barrier around the room he was in.

With a blinding flash, everything was enveloped in a golden blaze. The walls melted down and then disintegrated while the people inside were blasted to smithereens and then turned to ash. Although Galileo’s room was still better off thanks to his protection the walls and ceiling were still gone, revealing the devastation all around them. And just as Galileo had expected, above all that there stood a single Archangel, her wings spread wide and nearly outshining the sun with their overcharged radiance. Though to Galileo’s surprise Angelica had suppressed her charm to a great degree, as her usually constant twisting of flesh was surprisingly uniform: Her limbs did not change their length too often and her torso was not contorting constantly; Even her hair was merely switching in the shades of blond rather than all colours in the spectrum. The archangel looked apathetically down on the devastation she had caused, and within that stare Galileo recognised her underlying nature. Galileo found it rather ridiculous that Angelica was so afraid to admit what she really was most of the time, and it took an impulse of rage for her to truly let loose. He had witnessed it once before as Angelica razed down a tribe of savages which had murdered a group of missionaries. And that was merely one example Galileo had seen with his own eyes as he was passing by. There were definitely many more such occurances over the centuries.

“That is enough, Angelica,” though Galileo often liked to look onward he still had to interfere when Angelica raised her palm towards the two surviving people beside him. He was still wondering how he would interrogate them and whether he would allow them to live. With that in mind Galileo’s form was revealed together with his golden mask and ocean blue robe.

“It’s you!” Angelica froze, her palm still raised. Galileo clearly felt the fear and apprehension in her gaze. The terror his very existence brought upon her.

“Golden mask!” Igor exclaimed as he noticed Galileo basically right beside him. The man seemed absolutely flabbergasted at the situation.

“Are you now working with them!?” Angelica demanded, though her hands shook.

“What If I were?” Galileo laughed and saw Angelica’s expression contort, even more than it usually did in his eyes, “Though don’t worry. I was merely trying to find out some information. Since you have just killed most of my sources I will need these two alive.”

“I… cannot let them live,” Angelica eventually managed to say.

“Oh,” Galileo frowned, “So, do you believe that the right to decide is within your hands, Angelica?”

“No!” she immediately replied, “But still I cannot let them go. The Foundation, they dared. They dared kill my kin!” fury which defied logic churned beneath that gaze. Galileo could only sigh. Even though he could defeat Angelica 10 out 10 matches, capturing or killing her was a different matter. Back then he had ambushed her off guard and exhausted, yet still barely managed to capture her. Although Angelica was technically not a God, and as an angel she never would be, her power surpassed minor deities and could equal some beings far more powerful than a demigod should ever be. Galileo shouldn’t be the one to talk about that though. He was technically also not a God after all, despite his overwhelming power which often lead to being mistaken for one.

“Fine,” Galileo eventually nodded. Although he was currently significantly stronger than when he had gone to capture Angelica, he would rather not go for anything less than 100% chance when it came to possibly turning an archangel into a crazed bloodhound with his scent, “Let’s find a compromise,” he stepped towards the woman, placing his hand on her forehead. It was ideal if Angelica remained apprehensive rather than hostile. Green flames burst forth and devoured the woman in an instant. Then he stepped over to Igor who was still lying down on the ground.

“Go away!” the man struggled futilely as he was pinned down by simple telekinesis.

“Igor, was it?” Galileo said. The more stress, terror and surprise the man felt, the more Galileo would be able to scry from his memories. Based on the previous conversation with the now dead woman Igor would know a lot and was definitely worth the effort. Since that was the case Galileo knelt down in front of the man, and carefully lifted his mask. This time he was especially careful about satellite footage and looked only downwards at Igor.

“It’s…” when Igor recognised Galileo’s face the latter's hand was already placed on the former’s forehead. The moment Galileo saw that moment of utmost shock, his green flame devoured Igor, “Happy now?” Galileo looked down and the angel nodded and redirected her gaze. Galileo was about to leave when he noticed something was off. Following Angelica’s gaze, he noticed that there had been one more place which was mostly intact. Thick divinity completely different from Angelica’s in nature emanated from the room as a young boy, perhaps 8 at most, stumbled out. Galileo stared at Angelica as he recognised what they had witnessed.

“Even I hadn’t expected this…” Angelica stared at the boy, flabbergasted.

“Well I will be damned,” Galileo glanced back at the boy, “A divine Godseed.”