~~~

“You have to hurry. The Children meet in ten minutes somewhat five blocks away from you. Every second matters. We will join you as soon as we can.”

“Got it, Sacred. Thank you for the information… and sorry for this unpleasant task.”

“Don’t mention it, Dasnor. That’s the job an Exorcist is supposed to do.”

The Amber ended the call and got pierced with three pairs of eyes: Niji was observing him with anxiety, Rebecca with impatience and Dammit with the total understanding that things would soon get ugly.

“We’ve got the coordinates,” Dasnor displayed the map on his smart. “This building, midnight. That’s our chance.”

“It’s almost the time!” Rebecca vaulted over the bar counter. “Go, go!”

Dammit dashed aside the Golden. “Holey moley, right now? Shouldn’t we get more people?”

“Are you scared of a bunch of fake Viols? Easy peasy.”

“Easy shmeezy, and who’s going to die first? Me, apparently! We got almost wiped out at Fiber’s!”

“No worries, we have Dasnor now.”

Rebecca shoved Dammit out of the Blue Cat, and Dasnor and Niji followed them. The city at night greeted the enforcers with invigorating autumn embrace, pumping them up for the fight. The girl gazed at the broad back of the Amber and, bracing herself, asked, “What’s with that Viol?”

“You can guess what.”

“Dasnor?”

“We have no time.”

“Dasnor!”

“Do you want to get this box or what?!”

Angered, he turned sharply to the Elementalist. She withstood the icy sting of his gray eyes and nodded.

“Then think only about the goal,” the squad leader said.

The mage grabbed Niji with Dammit and soared into the air. Rebecca tried to keep up after them, teleporting along the rooftops.

October 27, 2025

Izumi was sitting in the driver's seat of the PRISM minivan, scrutinizing over the projection from the control panel which showed a 3D model of the nearby building and the surrounding area. Dots of different colors were moving on the diagram. The Sage squinted in bewilderment, then looked away from the image for a couple of seconds, checking what was going on outside. From his seat, he could observe Aoi talking to Dasnor Hunt right in the middle of the street. Izumi shook his head and reached for the thermos mug with coffee in the holder. After a while, his boss flopped into the seat next to him.

“My thanks to your informant,” she said. “Otherwise, we’d have arrived at the wreckage.”

“I am extremely surprised that you’ve agreed to this fight. I wouldn’t say that we have too much time at our disposal. In addition, this might attract too much attention.”

“We will be sorting things out for the rest of our lives, this is inevitable. Especially those two. There’s nothing to fear: no one will dare to kill in my presence. In the end, Shadow can restrain himself. And Dammit, though being a total moron, knows his job. So just enjoy it and fiddle while this sinful city burns…” suddenly, Aoi smiled. “This battle looks like a dance, huh?”

Izumi touched his spectacles, and for a moment the lights of street lamps flashed in its glass. “An action RPG game with top graphics, I’d say.”

“Alright, to business. Have you finished scanning the area? The brawl won’t take too long, so we must move fast.”

“Please take a look.”

Aoi inspected the projection. “Two Viols inside and a Celestial. The converts can’t be detected, so we can only guess their numbers.”

“I have noticed something else here.”

“Namely?”

“Do you see it?”

The indicators were moving in the image: two light blue, two orange and one of azure, yellow and red.

“Well, that’s the fight right ahead of us.”

“Yes. Anything strange about it?”

Aoi thought it over for a while and replied, “Not a clue. It seems fine to me.”

“Only two orange indicators while it should be three. It seems that after the incident, Elia and Elio’s auras merged into one.”

“Um… yes... probably,” the commander nodded and looked out the window.

Outside, the officers celebrated their unconditional victory over the M.A.G.E. members.