The front-line was stationed in Busan Naval Base in southern Korea, populated by commanders and high-rankers, many of whom belonged to the Otherguard Guild. Some domestics aided the effort; however, most stayed within their respective nations, preparing for an apocalypse. Just about everyone was put under strict curfew as the world navigated this crisis.

A permanent dusk had settled over the East China Sea due to the Cosmic Beasts’ influence. Large areas in Korea, Japan, and China were shrouded in this. For Ordo in particular, who was at the epicenter of this disaster, they were dealt with a perpetual midnight.

Nathan followed the signs in one of the main buildings, passing men and women in fatigues who always seemed to take a second or two to stare at him, and found the conference room he was needed in. He took out a black keycard—which gave him the temporary authority to access nearly any area here—and pressed it against the scanner. One green light later and he was inside.

He stepped into the rather dim space. A four-way projector had popped out from the ceiling. Every light except the southern one was projecting an image on the white walls: maps, pictures, documents. The walls also doubled as whiteboards. Nathan noticed some notes written in red marker, now covered by the bright electronic lights.

As soon as he entered, just about everybody inside stopped their conversations and looked up. Seven people were present.

Two hailed from the Otherguard Asian Alliance, Asia-Pacific Division: the Commanding General and Division Team Leader: Major General Tanihana and Zenko respectively. This was their area of operation after all. The Asia-Pacific was one of the largest divisions—if not the largest—in their Alliance; thus, they took lead here.

The rest were Slayers, Guards and domestics: XSTL Alter working under Gadabout (currently absent); Hunter, No.1 Slayer in Korea; Duskfire, Chief Slayer of the American Alliance; his son, Dawnfire, Team Leader of Blazing Bullets; and the young Cheonma, Guild Leader of the Demonic Cult and the current holder of the Murim-in Chair of the Three Martial Heroes.

This was a small bite of the who’s who currently present within Busan. There was a piece of every nation here and a piece of every Alliance and Division within the Otherguards.

And Nathan was the most important man here—the most important Slayer. You could see it in everyone’s eyes no matter how lofty their position was. The glimmer of adoration, respect, a hint of fear subtly hiding behind the eyes. When the world spoke of the SSS-Rank Slayer, there could be only one: him. For the longest time he disliked the attention and hid himself behind a helmet and a suit of armor. Unfortunately for him, the public loved to idolize its heroes and his distaste for the public spotlight became his "thing".

With the advice of Sera and Kashan, he had taken up a stoic, composed persona, one that matched the professionalism that the world imagined. After all, he was this world's representative. It wouldn’t do any good if he acted like Aiden or Levin.

It was exhausting, though, trying to act cooler than he was.

But the show had to go on.

He met the eyes of every person here, beginning from the closest, who was Dawnfire. One of the youngest here, about the same age as Cheonma, routinely under his father’s supervision for when he’d eventually adopt a grander leadership role in the future.

Dawnfire stiffened from being suddenly recognized by Nathan, but he held eye contact and bowed his head out of respect. Good, you mustn’t show weakness. Nathan wasn’t the kind of man who’d capitalize on his juniors' vulnerabilities but others would. He had hundreds of horror stories.

Next was his father and the rest of the individuals present. Zenko in particular flashed a flirty, fanged smile, her ivory kitsune tails lightly swaying. Nathan worked with her on a fairly regular basis, somewhere between good friends and colleagues. They were close enough where he could relax his persona but preferred not to. This woman preyed on men.

Which was fitting, considering the fox ears and all.

He finished with Alter, looking to her last. Samira Abtahi, first a widely-known doctor before becoming a Slayer. Gadabout had said she was “one of the finest healers in the world” but also “irritatingly honest”.

“Alter,” Nathan began, his tone of voice signaling to everyone that the meeting was formally starting, “where’s Gadabout?”

“Speaking with President Nkosi,” she answered tiredly. Dealing with the President of the Mandate was never a fun task, especially if you were Gadabout. He'd always complain to Nathan about how shitty and corrupt the bureaucracy was and how much he'd love to choke a politician with their own red tape.

“Are we going to start the meeting without the others?” asked Tanihana, sitting at the back with a laptop in front of him.

“Well.” Nathan crossed his arms and allowed a pause to settle in. For emphasis. Kashan had taught him that, said he had learned it from a book. “You all were having an involved discussion before I came in. Zenko—” her fox ears perked up, “—fill the details in for me.”

Duskfire whispered something to his son. He nodded.

Tanihana swallowed and turned to Zenko. She gestured towards the eastern wall with a picture of the now-deceased Zagan. “We’ve sent out personnel to triple-check that Zagan has been slain. As far as we’re concerned, we can officially confirm his demise. While I would love to celebrate, we still have six other Beasts to contend with. Once we killed three more, then maybe I’d say we can bring out the saké.”

She leaned over Tanihana and pressed a few keys on the laptop. The eastern wall now had the images of the remaining six Cosmic Beasts: Baal, Paimon, Beleth, Asmodeus, Vine, and Balam. Each were in different sections of the mesosphere with some drifting towards the edge of the stratosphere.

Operations had dictated that the present Slayers would work in rotations. They would sustain their assigned Beast in constant combat so none would attempt to attack a populated area. After an hour or so, they’d be switched out for another rotation. Meanwhile, people on the ground would establish an operating plan to slay them, like earlier when Nathan had volunteered to end Zagan alone after confirming his hyper-regeneration ability. The current structure was working thus far.

“I’ve suggested…” raised Cheonma, who was at the western wall with Hunter. He eyed him. They were working together despite their rivalry. “...That we focus our attention on Paimon next.”

Nathan jogged his memory on Paimon. He recalled his power but stared at the young master for a moment or two. “Why?”

Tanihana sat up in his chair, folded his hands together interested in what the boy had to say. Meanwhile, Cheonma would look to Hunter for assistance, but all he did was coldly shrug and turn away.

Not even Dawnfire earned this level of scrutiny from his peers; one part was his father’s influence and another was his relatively low-level leadership position. On the other hand, Cheonma was the Guild Master of the Demonic Cult, ranked in the top fifty of Fabel. And despite the scary name, the guild was one of Korea’s sweethearts. With Cheonma having to inherit such a prestigious guild, all eyes were on him, and he surely felt the pressure.

“We’ve…” Cheonma began after a heavy, focused breath, loud and confident, “...we’ve done enough analyzing of Paimon’s capabilities. Zenko.”

She raised an eyebrow, fox ears flickering, and turned to Nathan. He nodded.

Zenko gestured to Tanihana, and he pulled up any relevant reports that detailed Paimon’s abilities. Currently, Paimon was floating between the mesosphere and the thermosphere, the furthest up there.

Cheonma went on to explain, switching between the wall and Nathan, “In your absence, Kosmos, I took it upon myself to match details with any researcher or Slayer involved. Paimon’s main ability hasn’t received any further developments. I’m certain that Hunter and I will be able to work around its limited clairvoyance and slay it.”

Nathan turned to Alter next.

She cleared her throat and spoke, “I can collaborate on Cheonma’s claims. They’re true. Paimon has been closely studied for the past day and we purposefully changed the rotations to introduce a variety of magics. No significant changes were observed. We’ve confirmed the extent of its clairvoyance as far as our current means were able; it’d be difficult to slay Paimon, of course, like any other Cosmic Beast we've faced before. But...

“Both Slayers, here, have dealt with worse.”

Nathan hummed. There was one other person who needed to speak. “What do you have to say, Hunter?”

Hunter hadn’t said anything this entire time. Quite notorious for that. While Nathan’s stoicism was an act, Hunter was the real deal. To an awkward extent as the rumors said. Regardless, he was one of the few who had experienced a monumental Second Emergence and took Korea by storm, reshuffling its leaderboard and became an international sensation.

At this point in time, no one rivaled Hunter's esper abilities.

Nathan felt nostalgic. He had that same effect with Ordo and thus felt a certain kinship with Hunter. But he was still his junior. Like Cheonma, there were expectations that had to be met. Guild Masters were the face of their guilds but No.1's were the face of their country's.

“I don’t doubt that Cheonma and I could slay Paimon by the day’s end, maybe early tomorrow morning, but…” Hunter let out a sigh, rubbing his eyebrows. “I can’t say I necessarily agree with this next step.”

Dawnfire whispered to his father who silently listened as austere as he was. His presence unsettled the young Slayers, Nathan noticed, from the moment he first walked in. The pair had taken several sneaking glances by his way. It wasn't everyday you'd fight side-by-side with a half-demon, let alone a half-demon on the side of humanity. And so uncompromising too. He saw Cheonma and Hunter not as juniors but as fellow warriors; if their duty was derelict then they'd be removed, simple as that.

Cheonma’s lip twitched, scowling at his partner. “And you said this—?” He stopped. “Why haven’t you mentioned this earlier?”

“Because I was thinking,” answered Hunter irritatedly. “We've slain Belial and Purson first due to the threats they posed, had posed. Belial with his weather manipulation and Purson with his time dilation. Then Kosmos slew Zagan knowing his regeneration would outpace us eventually. They posed a greater threat to the future, so we snipped them in the bud now.

“So while I'd say that Paimon’s clairvoyance is concerning, it's not as of an immediate threat as Baal."

“Baal? But its ability—” Cheonma stopped with a hiss, intentionally biting his own lip. “Why do you think that, Hunter?”

Hunter rolled his eyes. “If you had a formal education, then you’d know exactly what I’m talking about—”

“If I recall correctly, you’ve attended a backwater academy while I was personally taught by my master. I’ve read the same textbooks and all the studied the same monotonous protocols, just the same as you. But they were read by the distinguished previous Murim-in Chair and not a washed-up low-ranker.” Cheonma stepped closer to his partner, lightning sparks practically bouncing off his head.

Hunter’s lips creased ever-so-slightly. The electric blue tone in his eyes brightened. “We’ve taken four casualties due to Baal’s gas, and right now they are locked down and quarantined for an undetermined amount of time.”

“Disease control, yes, I understand,” Cheonma replied bitterly.

Nathan recalled the protocols regarding disease control; the Global Guards were rightfully strict about this (but it didn't stop them from conducting research). Since the Emergence, the threat of an infectious disease was quite high. Some expeditions were downright forbidden to embark on for anyone, if it was discovered that the world had perished due to a plague. Only in special circumstances could you enter, and that required permission from the highest officials in the Guards, including Gadabout.

Hunter nodded. “Belial was a major threat because it had taken out several Slayers using rain and lightning, but Baal’s the worst of the two. With what we’ve discovered, we have to treat its subjugation similarly, if not exactly, to Zagan’s.”

In other words, destroying Baal completely to remove the threat of a different kind of outbreak. Just like Zagan and his hyper-regeneration, a single piece of Baal may house pestilence.

“So you’re advocating to devote our resources to slay Baal first?” Cheonma smirked and clapped his hands together, held them there. “So something worthwhile can be said with that mouth of yours. ‘Take out the most difficult first.’ Not a bad strategy at all. But we need manpower and preparation to match the threat level. For Paimon, it’s only us. As you said, we could slay it by the end of today.”

Hunter went on to reply, but Nathan observed the others’ reaction. Alter, Zenko, and Tanihana were quietly discussing with one another about the proposition. As perceptive as Nathan was, he wasn't an expert in reading lips.

So instead he drifted to the father and son. The latter shrunk in Nathan’s approach, and the former had no reaction at all.

“Cheonma’s correct,” said Duskfire quietly. “Taking the necessary protocols and channels into account, it'd take a day for us to prepare for Baal's subjugation. As much as I prefer cutting through red tape and expedite the process, this is the one exception that we cannot be lax on.” He sighed. “It might be more worthwhile to whittle down the list so we can free up more resources.”

“Hunter might've argued to slay Baal first, he made a good point: We’re most likely eliminating Baal like Zagan.” Nathan crossed his arms, keeping an ear on the conversation. They were half-bickering half-debating. “While the current rotations have more leniency when it comes to damaging him—Baal—we’re risking an epidemic if a single piece of mass goes unaccounted for.”

Duskfire hummed in deep thought, brushing a thumb against his trimmed beard. “Let me change the subject. I was thinking about Paimon’s clairvoyance. Dawnfire, what do you know?”

Being suddenly called on by his father, Dawnfire nodded and stammered, “It allows Paimon to foresee our attacks and react.”

“Yes, so it’s similar to Purson's time dilation ability. But…” Duskfire pressed his lips together, frowning. “...Clairvoyance isn’t necessarily a defensive power. You could use it defensively, but by its very nature, it’s a supportive power. I recall Pereyra of the Sungrazers acting as the team’s ‘scout’, the ‘Watcher’.”

Nathan raised an eyebrow underneath his helmet. “You’re suggesting that each of the Beasts play a role?”

“I am. And if my theory is correct then Paimon might be the most concerning Beast here. Assuming they have some form of communication, then he could relay information to the others. Because by the very nature of clairvoyance, we don't know how far it can see into the future until well after the fact."

If Duskfire's theory was true, that Paimon's clairvoyance had a greater reach than they anticipated, then it would mean he foresaw three of his allies' deaths. Either the theory was false, that Paimon couldn't see that far into the future, or he allowed them to fall like pawns for the greater picture. Was this Kreutz's doing?

Again, they didn’t know. Clairvoyance was a scary, scary thing.

“I haven’t considered that,” admitted Nathan. “It would make sense considering the Sungrazers’ organizational structure.”

As communications were stunted to and from Ordo, most likely due to the Sungrazers' interference, only a few messages were able to be pushed through. One came from Morgan Hoshino, Problem of Glory Guild, where he had described a tentative theory that the Space Beyond had more structure than anyone thought. Even Master Alzahrani. Something to consider later, when the disaster was over.

“It might be best to allow the Koreans to subjugate Paimon while we focus our resources on Baal,” concluded Duskfire, glancing at Nathan. “With reinforcements if they need it.”

“Well, let’s wait until Gadabout returns to finalize that decision—” Nathan’s breath left his helmet white. Condensed. Needles prickled his skin.

In the instant after, the entire conference room was brought into action. Hot, ivory balls of foxfire levitated above Zenko’s shoulders, her pink irises glowing violently with energy as if on the verge of explosion; Alter stayed back, a tense expression marking her; Hunter had an oppressive blue aura engulfing his entire body, ready to collapse the entire room; Cheonma equipped his shadowy black-blade that hissed like a viper; Dawnfire lifted his arms as the latest to react, his hair levitating by magic; and meanwhile, awkwardly, Tanihana slid back in his chair, a hand on his radio, ready to call it in.

Duskfire huffed, steam oozing from his mouth. He glared at Nathan.

Because an interloper had suddenly appeared in the room. Someone that Nathan had the misfortune of knowing rather personally.

She arrived like a rushing avalanche: sudden, all at once, and disastrous, bringing with her a frost that lowered the temperature in the room to an uncomfortable chill. A heavy, burdensome white coat covered the entirety of her body, patterned intricately with a wintery design of gold, blood red, and black. A hood settled on her head, thick as hides. Although the coat concealed her frame and what laid underneath, Nathan could see edges of a dark-colored dress dangling at the bottom.

A woman who fancied herself with mystique. You saw it plainly from how she held herself: tall, measured, always counting the number of eyes upon her. Watching through her thick, operatic navy mask that covered her entire face. You could discern no personal details other than her height. But in previous conversations, Nathan had caught flickers of snowy hair and piercing blue-crystalline eyes.

She took a heavy breath, coming out white beneath her mask. “Kosmos,” she called, eyeing him from the side, "it's been a long time."

Nathan tensed. “What are you doing here…?”

She was an old face that the veteran high-rankers recognized if they had been around during the Great Crisis...

“Cassiopeia.”

The Fifth Constellation of the Almagest, the Frostbitten Harridan, a key member in the rebellion that had dismantled the Hundred Realms once governed by the Dragon King, Helodrake Aethfell.