AS THE DATE OF CU CHULAINN’S PREMIERE INCHED CLOSER, Zero began to grow increasingly concerned for Yukan’s well-being. Ever since he’d heard the prophecy, the primary concern of his endeavors became protecting the king. The risk of the Fabled Swords falling into the hands of Kando’s grandson was too great for him to ignore. Consequently, Zero felt that leaving Yukan to fend for himself when his destiny seemed to only predict death would be going against what he had promised Oji and Kawata more than seventy-five years ago. For nearly fourscore, Zero upheld this duty with little error and he would not accept grand failure now.

To ease his mind of this threat, Zero decided to go outside for a walk. Yet, even as he walked down Granville Avenue, he felt that he could not let the risk of leaving Yukan alone during this period fade into the back of his mind. He decided to take a seat at a bench near the park on Granville and looked around at the passerby. Among the people he saw, two small children were play-fighting with wooden swords. The sights of the street were incredibly generic until he was about to leave and he saw a tall man in an amethyst cloak. The term “amethyst” is not being used sparingly, for the cloak appeared to glisten like the gemstone in question. Zero was entranced by this outfit, what with its incredibly pristine nature and a bizarre mask covering all but the right eye. The man in the bizarre attire looked in Zero’s direction and the two locked eyes. Recognizing the maila, the man in the amethyst cloak began to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Zero, finding this action suspicious, then chased after the man.

The two ran through numerous alleyways. In an attempt to evade Zero, the man in the amethyst cloak made many haphazard turns. This did little but cause him to trip slightly and allow Zero to become even closer. Time after time, the man tried and failed to shake the maila. Eventually, the two hit a dead end, with the man in the amethyst cloak being backed up against the wall.

“Would you calm down for a minute?!” Zero exclaimed, only having used a little bit of energy. “I only want to talk to you! I was just wondering where you got that peculiar outfit.”

The man said no words. He paused and got down from the wall before turning to Zero. He quickly unsheathed a knife from its holster and went in to stab the maila. Zero reacted by grabbing his arm and pushing him into a wall.

“What the hell?!” Zero yelled after the attack. “Did you think that you would get anything from attacking a maila with a mortal weapon like that?”

Insulted, the man lifted his knee and kicked Zero in the abdomen. Zero felt as the wind was knocked out of him. Seeing that he managed to send Zero into a half-prone position, the man decided to run for it. He felt that he was going to escape finally until he felt difficulty in moving his left leg. He then tripped and fell on the floor once he realized that Zero had grabbed it. Zero promptly pinned the man in the amethyst cloak down and prepared to take off his three-quarter mask. Just before he could find out about the man’s identity and get more of an idea of his appearance than his brown right eye, he completely evaporated, leaving his amethyst robe and facemask behind.

Zero, in disbelief, tried to search the clothes he’d left behind, only to realize that the robe was not made of amethyst, but seemed to have a sheen similar to that of an amethyst despite being made of a smooth fabric, likely silk. Even then, how could silk produce a glimmering effect in the sun as an amethyst does? Then, it dawned on Zero. Garnium could often make less valuable materials seem more luxurious by smelting it with a gemstone of some sort. Without the assistance of other metals, it would result in the temperature at which either one solidifies being drastically lower, allowing it to be used as a coating on materials like silk or cotton. It also allows a more impressive sheen, making it appear as if it had not been a combination of garnium and a few grams of a gemstone, but rather pounds upon pounds of the material.

Another trait of garnium was its lethality to humans in its pure form. He remembered how, on his first day in Aotoshi during the seventy-five-year long stay, a member of the border patrol had evaporated upon contact with the garnium in his burlap sack. It was clear that the only possible explanation for this abnormal phenomenon was that the man in the amethyst robe had somehow gotten ahold of a medicinal capsule of pure garnium, which he bit down upon in a way that a spy might bite down on a cyanide pill to avoid capture.

Zero then began searching his pockets. Some things in these pockets were conventional, such as a cell phone and a wallet. Within this wallet was about $36, a credit card, insurance information, a driver’s license, and an ID card. This ID was the point where Zero began to notice some more peculiar notions began to emerge. There was a strange insignia on the ID, seeming to look like an eye with an amethyst in the middle. It was at this point that Zero knew that the man, whose ID named him Engel Collingwood, was a member of some form of cult or secret organization, which labeled itself as the Saisei Coalition. He searched deeper through the man’s pockets and found a piece of paper. When he opened it up, he noted the scratchy nature of the handwriting. Nonetheless, he deciphered it and the message it presented made Zero’s blood run cold:

OPERATION CODA; JULY 21ST; LEFT HIGHSIDE TOWER, GURENOSON, AOTOSHI; ASSASSIN ESCAPE AID

It was at this moment that Zero realized the prophecy had truly begun to take hold. He grabbed the cloak and the mask before running back to his house as fast as he possibly could. All that he could think of as he sprinted toward his car was that he had to warn Yukan about this threat. He should fail to do so, the King of the Joined Nations would most certainly die, a fate that Zero would not wish upon the wielder of the Fabled Swords, especially when his daughter, Lanya, is only slightly as capable as Yukan’s testimony made himself out to be before he had access to the Omega Blade.

As he reached his car, he fumbled slightly with the keys before turning it on and hurrying to the king’s palace in Central Akuni. He drove as fast as he could to ensure that he caught them before they left for the premiere. Once he arrived, he grabbed the cloak and mask before hurrying in, leaving the car on. This was too dire a situation to worry about your car’s battery.

“I need to see the king,” Zero told the guards of the castle.

“I’m sorry Zero,” one guard began, “but you can’t see the king right now.”

“I can assure you this is an urgent matter,” Zero replied, “and if I don’t speak to the king his life may very well be at risk.”

“Nobody can speak to the king right now,” the other guard continued, “he’s gone out to the opera for the night. His Majesty has gone to see the premiere of his latest work, Cu Chullain.”

Upon this reveal, Zero felt a well develop in his stomach. He realized that he was too late and that Yukan was most certainly a dead man.

“Dear God,” he said, the words barely escaping his mouth. “Yukan’s reign is most certainly done for.”

“What are you going on about?” the first guard asked. “The worst that can happen to him is that people hate his music and boo the performers off the stage. We’ve moved on from rioting over-”

“No, you don’t understand,” Zero interjected. “I made a troubling discovery today while on a walk down Granville Avenue.” He then gave the guards the silk robe of amethyst hue, Engel Collingwood’s ID, and the paper detailing what his role was intended to be in Operation Coda. It was then that the guards also knew of the danger that Yukan was in.