One day has passed. Yesterday was, unexpectedly, D-7’s most pleasing day as of yet. Sure, they still had a case to settle, one that involves a potentially dangerous Vassal they have not identified yet, but they needed a day to blow off some steam for a while.

“Captain Van Rosa? Spacing out again?”

“Oh. Ahem. Excuse me, Ayane. Secretary Ayane, rather.” Fein cleared his throat. Letting the soft breeze of dawn set on his face, he arranged his hair and collar as he and Ayane watched the sunrise from the balcony outside the front of the building.

“Hmm, it’s okay. We’re not on shift yet, aren’t we?” Ayane chuckled.

“I Can’t blame you, though. Watching the sunrise from here is always captivating, isn’t it?” Ayane leaned on the balcony, her ashen hair flowed elegantly through the cold breeze. Her light accented color combined with the calming ambiance of dawn almost made her ethereal to Fein’s eyes.

“It is. It never became boring for me.” Said Fein. “What made you go out for once, Ayane? Look at you, skin pale from being a shut-in inside your office.”

Ayane scoffed. “Silly. Tell that to my ability. Although it made me look like some albino-looking woman, I succeeded living with it though.”

“You’re as white as snow, but I guess it’s a trade-off for having that powerful ability of yours.”

“I can’t decipher if that’s a compliment or an insult, Van Rosa. You still haven’t seen it, yes?”

“No one has. I only heard of it in rumors.”

“Good. I don’t intend to use it. Not until the time is right.”

Fein sighed.

“Always the secretive lady. No wonder Director Henwales hired you to work here.”

“It’s not that. I’m just not secure with people. This conversation of ours is rare, at best. Speaking of the director, he went with a convoy to the High Walls. A talk is about to happen there, but I don’t hope for the Endarians to make a sound decision to help dampen the war effort, being the xenophobes that they are.”

“War effort? Don’t you mean…”

“Tensions are rising, captain. All over Alto. Boundaries between countries are becoming tighter. Stricter. And the threat of an invasion from either the Rim on the east or the Faustian Empire on the west looms. If that happens, we’re likely to face the Empire.”

“Ugh.” She sighed. “It’s hard being sandwiched by two invading continents, let alone stabilize our own, people of Alto.”

“I hope not. We had our fair share of war already. Enough must be enough.” Fein stated.

The first rays of the sun touched their faces, but the two were deeply conversing with each other to not notice the passing of time.

“I don’t blame the other continents. Alto has always been the biggest landmass in the world. The Rim centers on a drilling, perpetual vortex, and Sitis is now but a barren wasteland tainted with ichor. Naturally, they want our lands, because they had already lost theirs.”

“And we just fought each other for a century. Wars ignited because of ignorance. The Vassals put an end to that, thanks to the Organization on the High Walls, but at the cost of us being seen as a danger. And now…”

“… We are born in this time, Van Rosa. We cannot escape from our fate. If war must be the end, then so be it. I’m just hoping people won’t be idiots as much as they are right now.”

“Excuse me, Secretary Ayane?”

A young masculine voice came from behind them. Judging from the heavy footsteps, he was not alone.

“Oh. Here they are, captain.” Ayane said, as five people approached them, wearing distinct, camouflage operative uniforms. Three were male, and the rest were female. They were well equipped for recon and tugged along a collapsible tower for radio, a gearbox, and two recon snipers.

In unison, they formally saluted with a bow.

“Reserve Op B-5, reporting!”

As Fein looked at each of their straight postures, he thought that almost all of them were young for a reserve operations group.

“Are these ours? I’ve only seen a reserve op thrice…”

“Yes, captain. I had to ask permission from the director during his travel, but they’re in my jurisdiction now.” Turning to the reserve ops, she opened her mouth.

“Good morning. As an introduction, this is Officer Fein Otto van Rosa, captain of Ability Apprehension Group, Designation Seven.”

“Please to be acquainted with you, Officer van Rosa!” The five said, energetically.

“At ease, people,” Fein commanded, and they promptly followed.

“You will be serving under me and Officer van Rosa’s arm. I trust that you already are familiar with the recon description, but I’ll have to brief here again…”

As Ayane went on with her briefing, Fein rested his back on the balcony, observing her meticulous ways. The way she commanded and briefed the ops with her calm, yet dignified and commanding voice easily toppled Fein’s administrative prowess, even though they’re rough of the same age. She’s always on her desk, however, sending requests, filing important reports, and sorting documents on behalf of the director. Naturally, that attitude stuck as her second nature.

The young man on the front assumed to be the leader of the team, summarized Ayane’s briefing. “We will perform reconnaissance on Reiss’ region, and follow the descriptions given to us. We will observe extreme caution and anonymity while traversing the land. As soon as possible, report status and any relevant findings… Right…” Settling, the five operatives assumed formation and acknowledged the two with a bow.

“We will investigate Reiss and its surrounding areas immediately, secretary, and officer. You can count on us!” They said courageously.

As they were about to depart, Fein suddenly held them back.

“Wait.”

They turned back to face him.

“Take care of yourselves.”

They just nodded and immediately went to their job. After a while, the two were again left to themselves.

“They’re serious people, van Rosa. You need not worry about them.”

“This case involves the Void, Ayane. It’s dangerous, even for us.”

“We can only hope everything will go down smoothly. But captain?” She looked at Fein with her piercing, ruby eyes.

“Void Vassals cannot be reasoned with. You know how that'll end.”

Fein paused for a second. “I know. I’ve done it many times already, as we all have.”

“I’m glad you understand, but this one won’t relent on destroying their enemies. Trust me, I know.”

“Right, Ayane. But whatever happens, I’ll come back. We all will.”

“Good. Well, my job here is done, then~” She smiled, but it was more of a neutral nod. Taking one last look at the rising sun, she departed from the balcony and walked.

“I’ll start to keep tabs on them in my office. I guess I’ll hole myself up in there again.” Ayane remarked, her pristine face looking back at Fein as she walked back to the front doors.

Fein chuckled. “You always do.”

She waved goodbye before swinging the doors open. The captain gave the space to himself for a few more minutes, before the foot traffic on the building started to build up.

Nothing of note happened for the rest of the morning, and afternoon dawned on the mountain. Gris perpetually nagged for the repairs to be rushed, but materials were just not flowing in smoothly on R&D. Many of D-7 gathered at the lobby, as Fein updated them on the status of their case.

“I see, the recon team was already dispatched…” Sora commented, resting one of his legs on the other.

“So, we’ll just have to wait here, then? It’s a shame that the Beaver’s repairs are slowed to a crawl, Gris.”

Gris sat on the sofa, keeping to himself. “Yep. All of my personal enhancements to it will be discarded, too. It’s really a shame.” He groaned, making the legs of the sofa creak a bit.

“Oh, where’s Enna and Gen?”

Mido pointed to the lobby desk. “There. Entertaining Stera. She’s acquainting herself with the lobbyists.”

Stera was shy. The duo had to babysit her into getting acquainted with the personnel of the building. Nevertheless, she noticeably caught up fast and was now successfully forming conversations. All the while, a smile plastered on her face as she tagged along with Enna and Gen.

“She’s fast on the uptake. You can tell that she really likes it in here.” Wiz commented.

“Everyone.” Fein caught the attention of his colleagues on the table. “This operation might take a while. I’d say this is another day-off for us. We have nothing to do at the moment except plan.”

“Well, we’d better make it productive, then,” Sora suggested, and without the consolation of his other colleagues, he initiated his suggestion. Nevertheless, he caught everyone’s attention without question.

Leaning from the sofa, he started to speak.

“I’ll start. Woodcarver. Our escaped captive. Do we have any intel on her?”

“The only definite information about her is her appearance. Deep peach hair tied on one side, and a face that’s not from around these parts.” Fein said.

“Hmm… Let me call our interrogator. Enna!” Gris yelled, and Enna sharply turned her head and pointed to herself. Gris nodded and waved for her to come.

“Yes, yes?” She asked, but saw everyone else was serious. Clearing her throat, she signaled for Gen to occupy Stera for a bit more before turning on to their tone.

“What can you say about Woodcarver?” Gris asked, and briefed her about the details of their discussion.

“Hmm…” Enna thought. “Let me see… she had a rather light countryside accent, atypical from here, and in terms of any notable physical appearance, she had this ankh-like seal on her wrist.”

“Ankh-like seal… That’s new, I’ve never seen such insignia on the many mercenaries I encountered.” Gris pondered.

“There were sects in Anzach that had ankh seals, but none was aligned to reanimation, or of the Void in general. Not to mention Anzach is pretty far away.” Wiz joined in.

“So, this insignia is not of a sect, nor a merc group. It must be another external force, or internal… We can’t deny the possibility that that Void Vassal has a private force of their own.” Sora detailed. “I guess that it’s a literal mark or a tonal seal.”

“A tonal seal?” Everyone questioned.

Sora nodded. “Woodcarver has, well, the ability to warp wood around her. But the blast she used to tear a hole on the Beaver was not of her origin. Aside from a mark, it might also be an extension of that Vassal’s power. The ‘shades’ that Stera mentioned, and the ‘lady clad in darkness?’ she might not be limited to just shades, if she can also do long-range abilities, like that seal.”

“Something tells me we’re up against a strong opponent…” Mido commented. The fact that he might have to face the Void Vassal that destroyed his town crept to his mind. However, he had a lot of questions if it were the case.

“I think. But we need more intel.” Fein emphasized. “That’s why the Secretary dispatched a recon team for us. We have to count on them to relay the necessary information about these people.”

As the others were discussing, Mido’s mind never left the thought of that unknown, formidable Vassal. Even though it was vague, he had the idea that this was the one that caused the loss of his memory. He wanted justice. But even his colleagues were shaded in the darkness. He was blind, but he needed to be strong. Without the voice, however, he does not know how to. Mido was just stuck to his abilities and currently does not have the means to surface more of this ‘potential’ that he has.

Still, he needed to be strong.

“Wiz…” He said, grabbing Wizbette’s hand.

“Oh, Mido? What is it?”

“Shades are malevolent entities, right?”

“Yep. They are naturally born of the tone’s negative amalgamations, almost always surfacing on battlefields as silhouettes of the people that died there. It’s a creepy feeling, they said…” She noticeably shuddered at the thought.

“Have you ever seen one, though?”

“No, I haven’t. I wasn’t even taught on how to combat them properly, even though I’m an Anzach priestess…” She chuckled, clutching her hand tight.

‘I wonder… How can I beat a Void Vassal?’ Mido thought deeply.

‘Meditate on the tones. Then see for yourself.’

“What?” Mido jolted by the sudden booming voice, but Wiz seemed to be the only one to notice.

“Huh, Mido? You startled me…” Wiz pouted

“Ah, it’s nothing…” He scratched his head and tried to relax on the sofa. It was quick, but Mido thought it was no mistake. It was the voice, calling out to him, still guiding him wherever it’s gone off to inside his head. He already acknowledged the fact that it was a separate entity in his mind, so it was not a stranger to him.

Wherever it is, Mido can only hope to improve his ability on his own. Following the voice’s words, he set himself to meditate on the tones, and uncover more of his ability for the rest of the day.

‘You’re there, aren’t you?’