What followed the revelation—that these rogues who were in bed with the Sungrazers—was a ghastly silence. It was a repression of horror. It was knowledge that could not be completely understood, like the inner workings of the multiverse, like the mind of a serial killer. This fear was different than the fear of the unknown; this was a fear that Alexander was familiar with: that some people were just plain evil.

Apocalyptics. Apocalyptics… Everybody heard of them. Everybody instinctively knew what they were. The Global Guards had created the term through a special designation: Threat Level Apocalyptic, any individual who commits a terrorist act intended to destabilize the current worldly security. In simpler words, anyone who wants to start an apocalypse.

A small piece of Alexander had considered this possibility, that the physical masterminds were Ordoians themselves. He dismissed it instinctively, secure in the thought that monsters did it. They were easy to hate, easy to blame, to kill. The first and obvious thought.

Well, it wasn’t like that changed. Apocalyptics were monsters just with human faces. And they were treated as such. Within twenty-four hours of the designation, the Apocalyptics would be exterminated by special operations from HSOC like the Graylords.

These were people you kill on sight, no questions asked.

Jin Tiehan stared at the six Apocalyptics, who were blindfolded by his order. He bit his lip in deep thought, dressing each down with his eyes. Officially-speaking, they weren’t designated as Apocalyptics just yet. Once Seraph and the General of the Army were notified, they had the authority to give it.

Alexander imagined that they'd be hesitant at first. This would be the first time in Ordoian history that Apocalyptics were designated within its borders. Once the authority was given, though, Ordo was allowed to use any persuasive technique to extract intel from the Apocalyptics. Once they expended their usefulness, they would be disposed of.

“Shen Jianyu, do you have [Ordo Teleport Scrolls] on you?” asked Jin Tiehan, keeping his eyes on the rogues. Some were shaking.

Alexander nodded and took one out of his [Inventory]. “Yeah.”

“We have to change our plans, then.” He turned around, facing the rest of the team with the rest of the soldiers listening quietly in the background, including Kirk. “I need to deliver the Apocalyptics to Grendel Arsenal immediately and start a long and arduous conversation with the necessary people. However, we also need to remove every scrap of food here for my Journey's research—and the public’s safety, of course.”

Alexander looked at Gul. “As Baptists, one of us needs to go with you then, and the rest stays here to make sure the clean-up goes as planned.”

“I agree."

“I’ll go,” Gul volunteered. She had none of her warm exterior which she was famous for amongst her students. “No offense to you, Alexander, but you lack the necessary knowledge and experience for the very long meeting we’ll have.”

“None taken. Here.” Alexander pulled out another [Ordo Teleport Scroll], for a total of two, and gave it to her. “I’ll take care of the B-Ranks ‘til then."

“Blackviper,” Jin Tiehan called out as he took a [Teleport Scroll] from Gul, “you will be staying and taking command of the Baptists. Make sure that not a single apple or orange goes unaccounted for.”

“What do you want me to do with the SMVs?” she asked, gesturing with her thumb to the two vehicles outside of the perimeter.

“Yatsar built in auto-pilot so you will be fine in that regard. And call for transport if you need it; I suspect you’ll need a truck or two to carry everything.”

Jin Tiehan motioned for Alexander to help move the Apocalyptics into tight, clustered groups. They mumbled under their breaths once he grabbed them, some cursing, some fruitlessly struggling against his grasp, and one was even crying. They knew their fates. No sympathy could be given. They lost that right—to be treated as human—after they disregarded humanity as a whole.

Alexander backed away as Jin Tiehan and Gul overlooked their prisoners, each having three sitting so close that they might as well be stacked like towers. The two Slayers withdrew their [Ordo Teleport Scrolls] and entered the coordinates.

“Be done as soon as possible!” Jin Tiehan said as a circle around him illuminated from the ground.

Then they were gone after a bright light.

Blackviper clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “You heard the Vice Guild Master! Collect anything and everything outside and within SSS Goods as they are relevant to the bombing last night! Do not eat or take anything—!” She paused for a second. “—Where’s the Staff Sergeant?”

Staff Sergeant Huang stepped out, bowed with his head.

“Have any of your men eaten or taken anything from SSS Goods?”

“Not to my knowledge, no.” He looked around his charge, glaring at each of them, prompting them to speak up if they had.

Blackviper raised her voice and replied, “For your men, I hope that’s the case. Otherwise, we’ll have to enact severe quarantine protocols as designated by the Guards."

Staff Sergeant Huang gulped, and Alexander could hear everybody doing the same thing.

Nobody stepped forward and confessed, so Blackviper took that as confirmation.

With that, everybody was put on labor duty.

***

It took over an hour for SSS Goods to be cleaned out and hauled onto the trucks. The store inside was barren. Everything was taken away: from canned goods to bottled water and household items—“If you can carry it, take it,” as Blackviper said. After the market was triple-checked and cleared, it was time to leave and head back to Grendel Arsenal.

No one could say for certain that any of the items wouldn’t blow up so quietly everyone prayed for a safe escort.

Alexander and Leona rode near the back of the small convoy, sharing transport with Kirk and four others, plus the driver.

At the front, Blackviper was gliding above the convoy in an SMV with the second trailing behind her on auto-pilot. To play it safe, she wanted one or two of the Baptists to ride to make sure the systems worked. Vernon and Uprise volunteered happily. That left Althea, Victor, and Forest Master in the upper half of the column, ahead of the stuffed trucks.

“During my service in South America, I encountered Apocs three times,” Kirk said, held up three fingers. “Three times in my entire nineteen years in the Guards. A terrorist group attacked the redirection site I was in; another occupied a portal; and the last one? The last one stuck with me: we had people trying to cut deals with the uglies in exchange for power.”

“How did that work out for ‘em?” asked Private Locklin, interested like a nephew listening to his uncle’s stories.

Kirk laughed, smirking. “Not good. Before the deal was finalized, Graylord wiped ‘em out and whoever they were working with. I swear on my mother, it was like Death had arrived. Seeing them in action, I had to rebuild my definition of violence. They moved so smoothly, so aggressively that they could give Blackviper a run for her money.”

“They’re that elite, huh?” Alexander said, laying back on his seat, relaxed but still alert.

“Best of the best in HSOC, yeah. Over the years, I had the pleasure of having my unit trained by them. They’re good people, kinder and funnier than you’d expect. But I’ve seen what they can do and I thank God everyday that I’m not their enemy.

“Because a few Graylord teams are stuck in Ordo, from Alpha Squadron. I have no doubt that Seraph and the General will call on them and these Apocs will soon know the meaning of oblivion.”

“Shit…” squeaked Corporal Kriska, laughing nervously. “They have swords and rifles working together, right?”

”Well in the Guards, we work together all the time. Not like most domestics using the guild system but I get what you mean: yeah, there’s no barriers between them. Their training has completely integrated the two groups and turned them into one singular force. They don't have conflicts like we do."

”I'm jealous," said a bearded Private First Class by the name of Trevino.

"Aren't we all."

Kirk continued to speak about his time in the Otherguards, about the countries he’d visited and people he met across South America. Eventually the conversation settled on his life after retiring from the Otherguard as a Master Sergeant. Speaking about his divorce and his son, struggling with his own demons, before finding an opportunity in System Articles. He said he always intended to move on eventually, but…

Well, everyone knew how System Articles turned out.

“Hey.” Leona nudged Alexander while Kirk entertained the crew with the funnier stories during his time. “What do you think we’ll do during the eventual operation?”

“I have no idea, honestly,” he admitted, rolling his neck around and cracking it a few times. “We'll find out when the time comes, but honestly? We probably won't be fighting ourselves. Neither of us are trained in counter-terrorism. Unless you've been secretly trained by a Graylord or something."

“Haha, I'm not a supersoldier unlike someone I know."

“Whatever.” He looked out the window, watching the streets. “Graylords, though, huh?”

If there was one thing civilians knew about the military, then it'd probably be the special forces within their home country and in the Otherguards. The Graylords was officially known as 1st Special Homeworld Defense Force within Homeworld Special Operations Command (HSOC) of the Otherguard Guild Special Operations Command (OGGSOC).

(HSOC had a partner: Expeditionary Special Operations Command (ESOC). These guys and their acronyms…)

"Graylord" was the colloquial name for the unit based on their founder, the titular Graylord, back during the early days of the Otherguards. Today, their reputation was built on the bodies of terrorists and Apocalyptics. Some of their most famous operations had featured in documentaries and movies; some retired operators wrote books about their time, telling wild and unbelievable stories.

And soon, Alexander was going to meet the Graylords themselves.

This week only got crazier and crazier…

“Hey Baptist,” Private Locklin called, breaking Alexander from his thoughts. “What ‘bout you?”

The two Baptists in the vehicle glanced at each other.

The Private elaborated, "Err, both of you, I guess. Me and Babin here—" A female Private First Class waved, “—we were talkin' about you guys earlier. We don't know nothing about you or what you are or anything like that. Kirk wouldn't tell us anything, so what's your story?”

Leona shot a look at Alexander: Should we amuse them?

Up to you. I don't care either way.

She nodded and instantly her demeanor changed as though she turned into a different person. Leona sat back in the uncomfortable seat and crossed her legs, wearing a doubtless smile, posturing like the queen of a castle. A useful tactic, she had told Alexander once, whenever she had an important interview or a meeting.

She told the Duskheads, "Our story? Well, initially we didn't have a story. We weren't supposed to be in the fight to begin with, but you can say the same thing to the fathers who went to work that morning and died with his skull split open, and the mothers who were thrown off rooftops, and the children who had to watch their classmates be slaughtered. This isn't our place but the Sungrazers made our home a warzone, so now it's our responsibility to push them out."

"It gotta be nice, though," Trevino said, subtly resentful. "Having a direct line to the high-rankers."

Leona laughed and playfully patted Alexander's thigh. "You think so?"

"Yeah. Feels less legit than, I dunno, self-made Slayers. People who know nobody. Won't get everything handed to them on a silver platter."

"Well, I'm a martial princess so I can't say anything about myself but..." Leona turned to Alexander, prompting him to enter the conversation. "...my TL here is a different story."

"Eh?" Alexander acted dumb and glanced between the Duskheads here. "What's up?"

Trevino was put on the spot again. "Is what they say about you true, Baptist?"

"You caught me. I'm actually a sleeper agent embedded deep within Global Law and I have to kill anyone who knows about my secret identity." Alexander laughed at his own joke and shook his head. "Seriously though, what do they say about me?"

Trevino shrugged. "That you saved a lot of guys during Scorcher—" ("Yup.") "—that you confronted the Comets—" ("Yup.") "—and you apparently punched one. And all the other stuff after that."

"Yup, yup, and yup. Let me tell you something." Alexander leaned forward on his seat, staring at Trevino eye-to-eye. "I don't give a shit what you think about us, alright? We're here to do our jobs and make sure those trucks up front don't explode and create a thousand fucking portals for us to deal with. Okay?"

"Okay," replied Trevino and sat back in his seat.

Alexander knew better than to argue about reputation here. It'd be better to divert focus back to the mission at hand, but that came at the cost of making the atmosphere awkward.

He sighed, scratching his cheek. "Now I wish Jin Tiehan didn't have to leave for Grendel. Working with him is a rollercoaster, Jesus. You're scared shitless at one moment, then completely amazed in the next. All those rumors surrounding him? They don't do him justice, honestly."

"How's it like working under him?" Babin asked.

Alexander exhaled, thinking. "He's not actively terrifying, if you understand what that means. Jin Tiehan, and Blackviper too, are Slayers first-and-foremost. They are people who have no need for reputation. They want only one thing: competence. As long as you do what you need to do—or even trying to do it—you'll be respected. They'll even help you.

"I guess that's how it goes in Martials Guild. Everything is decided by meritocracy. Like the Journeys. Underneath Master Jin Junjie, it doesn't matter how long you've been a Journey for. If you don't show results, you'll be replaced. It's a ruthless culture but that's why Martials is one of the best guilds in the world. They cultivate monsters within their ranks. Yeah, genuine monsters..."

"Speaking of monsters..." Leona took the microphone from him, segwaying into a story about Martials.

Alexander sighed and looked out the windows, observing the surroundings for any suspicious activity. But his thoughts were on another subject once he mentioned the word "monster". He was reminded about Jin Tiehan's words right before their spar and when he was learning [Mana Impact]. About their nature as fighters.

As prodigies. As demons greater than men.

Dad knew this. He had seen it before in Ringwonder. It was why he refused to let anyone else teach his son. He knew exactly how dangerous his boy could be and did everything he could to make him a man first, not a machine.

Alexander looked down at his hands covered by his [Ironcloth Gauntlets], all bloody and dirty.

Eventually Leona ran out of stories to tell and the cabin became quiet, with the only noise being the crunching roads and the scratchy voices hissing through the radio.

“Hey Kirk.” Alexander didn’t know why he called out to him, probably because he was sick of the silence. “How were things after Black Paladin?”

“What you’d expect.” A second or two passed, and Kirk looked conflicted. “Do you two know what happened at System Articles after we left?”

Him and Leona nodded. A day after Dawn Baptists was established, Alexander had asked Seraph about System Articles and what happened to the people there. Since she put out an alert on Carn, the underground tunnels were found and investigated almost immediately. The troops there discovered “more bodies than a graveyard” and a looted vault, the doors busted open.

Since then, nobody could find Carn. In fact, Seraph had said it was downright unnatural because Slayers with advanced tracking magick were assigned to the case and couldn't find him. They only found members of his gang, who had zero information about their leader's whereabouts. Literally no one knew where this motherfucker was.

Thinking about it now, since Apocalyptics were in the equation, only someone as psychotic as Carn would work with the…

Alexander’s eyes widened. “Wait, you don’t think…”

Kirk recognized the conclusion that he drew and could only solemnly nod. “Yeah. The rogues we nabbed? They've been present in other incidents across the city with equipment they shouldn’t be in possession of. Could be Carn’s, couldn’t be, we didn’t know until…”

He shrugged, gesturing the obvious.

Leona uneasily added, definitely anxious now, “Let’s wait until we get confirmation back at base—”

Suddenly everyone lurched forward, banging themselves against whatever was in front of them. Alexander managed to catch himself, held onto the door latch tightly. He couldn’t see what was going on up front.

The radio was going off, filling the cabin with frantic chatter. Alexander didn’t know what was being said right now but everyone was rightfully anxious knowing what was at stake.

“What the hell’s going on?” Corporal Kriska asked, rifle already in hand, switching between the windows. “Should we go out?”

“Hold on, I got Baptists up front.” Alexander entered the party’s call: “Hey, the fuck’s happening on your end? Why did we stop?”

Vernon responded right away, his words ramming together, “We got a truck on fire.”

“I don’t like this,” Kaiya muttered, her teeth clenched together. Their SMV had been put on auto-pilot, automatically following Blackviper’s throughout the trip.

Until now, where both SMVs were stopped, overlooking the situation down below. Moments prior, they were about to cross the avenue until a flaming truck rolled in, stopping in front of the convoy’s head. Everything was engulfed in flames, and the chassis underneath was charred black to a crisp.

“H-Hey Blackviper, what’s the call here?” he asked, torn between glancing at the surrounding buildings and the road below.

Blackviper growled and turned on the military radio on her end. “No one is inside the vehicle—” (Vernon ascertained that her cybernetic vision told her such,) “—push straight ahead. I repeat, push straight ahead—”

A blue magical missile crashed into the side of Blackviper’s SMV. It rocked with the force, tilting over like a capsizing ship but quickly righted itself; the protective canopy shone. Then a second missile struck, then a third, then a fourth, a fifth—a sea of them.

Vernon screamed but couldn’t hear himself over the explosions, scrambling for the radio while Kaiya was shouting into the call. As soon as he grabbed the front console, something slammed to the left and knocked him over the driver’s seat, and he folded over the armrest. Before he could even look back, something caught his attention in front of him.

Across the street, a silver gatling gun was fortified at a window and a man wearing a bandolier was stationed behind it, his hand grasping the construct.

“Oh,” was all Vernon could squeak before the SMV dropped.