‘...So, he is Demetrio Allocca. Nevertheless, I really don’t like this stare.’ Talia was quite sensitive to being observed. This had its pros, as she could easily tell if someone was watching her. But, one of the cons was that when a person like Demetrio, whose ability was to collect all kinds of details with his eyes, was looking at her this was quite unbearable. She felt like every small movement of her muscles, each of her breathing and all the possible tiny things that she could have done was under his eyes. Of course, this got on her nerves. She took his hand in a handshake and released a minuscule amount of killing intent.

Demetrio instantly noticed it and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, the oppressive glare had disappeared, leaving only behind emotionless eyes. He seemed he was not expressing his emotions by nature. “My apologies. I have been rude. Now, should we go to a better place to talk.”

He turned to the group of ministers and more specifically at George. His face was not really showing any emotions, but his eyes alone could put pressure. “I expect a report about what happened today and the reasons behind this. Also, take Hayden Carter to a medical team.”

Meanwhile, Talia was signaling at Sanya to come to her. Sanya was walking toward her as she looked at Demetrio. He noticed her and stared for a moment before sensing an increase in Talia’s killing intent. He decided to stop, but he still asked. “Who is this girl? From her uniform, she should be a classmate of yours.”

Talia crossed her arms and changed her clothes through her earring. She was back in her school uniform. “She is my girlfriend.”

Demetrio’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the Chamber roof. “I see. Eventually, someone could have tried to take advantage of her influence on you. By showing unparalleled strength, you demonstrate that you have the capabilities to protect her. You already knew that someone would have set up a test for your powers. You used it in your favor.”

Talia heaved her shoulders “This is not the first time that I have this type of thing to do. My senior showed me the ropes.”

Talia was remembering this person. One of the oldest Protectors.

Listen closely, Talia. Sometimes people would try to plan schemes against you. They will always think that other worlds don’t exist and that we are just cons artists. Even if they believe you, they will try to use you. But! There is a simple way to avoid all those stupid problems! Strength! Strength that will render useless every pointless scheme!

Talia was also looking at the disappeared roof part. ‘...I think I nailed it, Barostl.’

Sanya finally arrived next to Talia. Her face was expressionless as she gave a light jab with her elbow in Talia’s side. This didn’t hurt at all, but Talia still massaged it with a wry expression. “I’m sorry. I should have told you before. Please, don’t be mad.”

“...I’m not really mad. This was just embarrassing. At least, I had my sport short.’

Demetrio was watching their conversation before turning around. “Follow me.”

The two girls were walking just behind him, leaving behind the wrecked building. They passed by researchers and other staff members, who were surprised by seeing them, especially Demetrio. However, all of them were running around. It seemed that what happened caused a lot more of chaos that what Talia expected. Soon they arrived inside a break room with automatic food machines and furniture to rest. Apart from them, nobody was present there. Demetrio was walking toward one of the automatics machines as he pulled out a key from his pocket. When he was in front of the machine he inserted the key inside a slot and he looked at the still standing Talia and Sanya. “Do you want to drink something?”

They looked at each other a bit surprised. Then, Talia sighed. “It’s already late. I don’t really want to stay too long. So, I’m not really up for some chitchat.”

Demetrio’s face stayed neutral and he selected a black coffee. As the plastic cup was being filled he said. “I will not take too much of your time. I already know that you are not seeking to take over the Union because you did not kill anyone back there. If all of the ministers were to die, this would have caused a mayhem. If your motive had been wealth, you would not have waited to come here. Basically, you try to limit your impact on the world, right?”

Talia smiled as she approached him with Sanya just beside her. She looked at the different types of drinks that were available. “It seems that this will not take too much time. It’s not that I want to limit the impact. It’s just that I don’t really care. I will take a chocolate milk with three doses of sugar, please.”

Demetrio took his own drink and pushed the buttons corresponding to what Talia wanted. He then turned toward Sanya. “And you?”

She was slightly nervous, but she still told him. “...Same as her, please.”

After a moment, Talia took her drink and she pressed the same buttons than before. She took a sip of the sweet drink and frowned. “Not enough sugar.”

Demetrio on the side also took a sip of his bitter black coffee. He then opened his mouth. “So, what do you want exactly?”

Talia took out cubes of sugar from her earring and put it in her cup. She lightly shook it, dissolving the sugar. “I just want to be able to do my work without interferences. In order to do this, I need something that will let me do it without getting into troubles.”

Demetrio’s face changed when she finished speaking. “What is your work as a Protector? From what do you protect the world against?”

Silence fell inside the room. Sanya was gently sipping her hot chocolate milk as her eyes darted between the two of them. Talia looked blankly at the air before answering. “From itself.”

Demetrio immediately asked back. “What do you mean?”

Talia closed her eyes. “So, Lord didn’t tell you...Abilities and Pacifica appeared 40 years ago, right? This was caused by this world’s World Transition.”

For the first time, Demetrio’s expression changed. He listened to her words like he didn’t want to let a part slip. “You know the origin of the abilities? This is the greatest mystery of the last decades. If you know something, please tell it.’

Talia had suddenly a troubled face. “Well, I knew how they appeared, but I don’t know why they manifest like this. However, I have to talk about this to explain why a world needs a Protector. First of all, a world has an age. As it ages, its ‘weight’ will also increase. The result of this is the increase of energy and entity capacity, which are the world capacities to bear living beings. In the first stage of a world growth, it will be the entity capacity that will significantly increase, while the energy will be basically non-existent. Also, what I mean by energy is not really the energy that we see in the physics laws. It's more like the energy in a certain form. Anyway, when a world reaches a certain point, something will occur. A World Transition. At this moment, the world enters into a second phase.”

Demetrio held his chin as he was analyzing her explanation. “...Then, the energy that you are talking about appeared after the World Transition, right?”

Talia nodded while drinking a bit of her chocolate. “Yes, this is called a Surge of Energy. There are several forms for this energy to appear, like mana that I’m using, or the genesis crystals that are lumps of energy. They are the most common. But, there are exceptions. like earth’s abilities. It’s unknown why the energy manifested this way and why some people, like me, don’t have an ability. But to put it simply, the ability users are using the energy produced by the world to manifest their powers.”

“Abilities had been caused by the Surge of Energy...But, what about Pacifica?”

“The apparition of new lands is indeed quite rare, but not unheard of. One of the hypothesis is that an excess of energy had appeared during the World Transition, causing physical modifications in the world.”

Demetrio nodded before asking another question. “So, what happens after.”

Talia finished her chocolate and threw her cup in a bin that was a few meters from her. She crossed her arms and looked blankly at the air. “A huge amount of energy in only one moment, the world doesn’t really like it. I know it sounds illogical, but the enormous quantity of energy that is produced disrupt it. The energy used by the entities is too little as it is replenished after a moment. One of the ways for the world to deal with it is to increase its weight to cope with it. The other way is to try to decrease either the energy or the number of entities.”

Sanya seemed to have understood what she implied by this. “...The world will try to kill the living beings?”

Talia took a second before nodding in reply. “Yes, this is what is called a World Stabilisation. It’s the very long period of time where the world will try to eliminate the beings that use the energy. The way to this has always been different. It can be the creation of a new race that will be attracted by the ones that use the energy and will prey on them, or anything else. However, it will always be something that threatens the lives of the those that uses the energy produced, or those whose entity is too big. They have been named Energy Hunters.”

Her words gave Sanya cold sweats. Nervousness filled her voice. “T-Then, one day, something will appear and it will try to kill us?”

Talia hurriedly patted her lover’s head. “Don’t worry. It takes centuries for this, and it’s in the earliest moments. Generally, the Energy Hunters start to appear only after one or two thousand years. So, for now, it’s ok”

Demetrio looked like he was not thinking the same. “Will the world try to kill every lifeform and if it's the case what would happen? And how long will the World Stabilisation lasts?”

Talia sighed as she expected this question. “The world doesn't really want to kill everything, but the problem is that the only way to stabilize is to balance the energy and the entities and reduce the entities is the way that the world takes. If every lifeform disappears, the world would die out. It would only be an empty shell filled with nothing but Energy Hunters. However, if the first lifeforms survive and eliminate the Energy Hunters, at some point, the world would grow big enough to become stable. Of course, during this period, the amount of energy will still increase, however the world weight will catch up. The Energy Hunters will stop appearing and the world would be classified as an Old World, a world that passed its World Stabilisation. It’s also a world big enough to have a transcendent on it. As for the length, it depends on the world. There is no set time.”

“...So, that’s why we need a Protector of Worlds.” Demetrio drank the remaining of his now cold coffee. Sanya did the same.

--------------------------------------

In front of the Research and Development Building.

“I will prepare something along the lines of the thing that you requested. If you need something more, please contact the person that was assigned. Her name is Yui Haruka. I saw her inside the Chamber, so you should have already met.” Demetrio was looking at Talia with Sanya just beside her. The sun was starting to set, meaning that it was time for the two girls to go home.

“Why did you assign someone for this task?” Talia was not against the fact that Yui was making the link between her and the government, but she still had not really done anything that would justify her role. In response, Demetrio remained expressionless.

“I wanted to go to your school myself yesterday, but the ministers were against the idea. Instead, they decided to send someone that worked in the Center. Do you want me to change the person?” Talia waved her hand.

“No, it’s ok. It’s not important who is in charge of this. Anyway, we will go now.”

“I can prepare a car for you if you want.” Demetrio could easily ask someone to send them to their home.

“Don’t bother.”

Saying this, Talia turned toward the clueless Sanya. “...Eh?”

Talia placed her left arm under her back and her right arm under her legs. She then lifted her, making Sanya flapping her arms in panic. In the end, she circled them around Talia’s neck. Talia turned toward Demetrio with the surprised Sanya in her hands. “Then, we should go now.”

She lightly bent her legs and jumped in the direction of a nearby building top. She was hopping from building to building. A few seconds later, she was nowhere to be seen. Demetrio was looking at this with his usual face devoid of emotions. He turned toward in the direction of the Abilities Quarters. “Energy Hunters...I have to talk to Hakam.”