[Skill Activation: Full Body Restoration]

Alexander violently coughed as an intense heat swelled within him, centralizing in his arteries and exploding outwards from there on like a broken dam. He groaned, arms shaking, looking up to see one of Graylord’s healers kneeling beside him.

Several Graylords were knocked down but despite the immediate injuries, they performed spectacularly. After all, they had been trained for chaos. Multiple operators spoke at once in precise wording and jargon that he couldn't readily understand, let alone having the current mental capacity to process everything around him.

They communicated clearly and calmly underneath a hail of red bolts. The entire team had pressed themselves against a wall with three operators erecting a protective barrier, shielding everyone against the onslaught.

Against the crimson bolts firing from the windows' reflections.

“The glass!” Alexander howled, hoping someone would hear him. “Shoot the fucking glass!”

The healer noted his words and yelled at the nearest operator, relaying him the message, and that operator repeated it to the others.

Quickly the word was spread and all available operators began firing whatever firearms and magic they had at the attacking windows, breaking the panes in a discombobulating cacophony of shattered glass, lasers, ballistic and magical discharges. They fired until they destroyed every window in sight.

The attack stopped.

Alexander felt his wounds healing. Not back to brand new but enough where he could stand without support. He thanked the healer and touched the sore spots where the lasers had hit him. Bare skin. The [Bodysuit] had a self-healing property so it’ll stitch itself back together in some time.

“Maintain the barriers!” ordered Milkor, pacing around and taking stock of the situation, giving out orders in no uncertain terms. Once he was done, a fierce glare settled on Alexander, then snapped to Jin Tiehan and Blackviper, the Martials.

The four met in the middle, with Alexander limping his way there.

Milkor scowled, red in the face. “Conqueror, Blackviper, you were present in Scorcher, yes? I thought Pereyra was confirmed to be dead.”

They glanced at each other, dumbfounded by this.

Blackviper spoke first, “I've personally seen Pereyra’s corpse myself and can attest that it should be locked in a laboratory deep underground. As far as I know, it doesn't have any revival-type magic, only hyper-constitution.”

She wasn't wrong about anything. Pereyra was dead. Since this concerned the natural order of the world, the System would've notified everyone if something changed. Or that was what Alexander hoped, as he wasn't as knowledgeable in cosmology like Problem. Regardless of the how, they would know if Pereyra revived itself.

So it'd be impossible for the Sungrazers to be alive.

Alexander thought out loud, "Let's think about this: if it really was Pereyra..." He gestured to the bare spots in his [Bodysuit] where he was hit, "...I'd be dead and so would half of your operators. Whatever we're dealing with, they're able to use the Lesser Watcher's powers for themselves. That's an undeniable fact. But they're also weak compared to the real thing. That's also undeniable.

"So what if... What if we're being attacked by a fragment, a piece of Pereyra that was left behind after its death?"

“That's a...possible theory,” Milkor said after a few moments of contemplation.

Intrigue curled Jin Tiehan's lips, who was unflappable as ever. “That's an interesting theory, Conqueror. This Fragment that you claim to exist, did Problem or even Alma share this possibility with you?"

Alexander shrugged. “No, but it’s the best answer I got because everything BV said is true. If Pereyra’s corpse—what’s left of it—has been moved or altered in any way, I’d be the first to know about it. Hell, I bet Seraph’s yelling at whoever’s in charge to check if that’s the case right-fucking-now.”

“Could this supposed Fragment be Carn, then?” Milkor proposed. “We know he allied himself with the Sungrazers, so it's not out of the question that he—" His expression contorted in disgust from what he was about to say, "—that he'd ask for power. But why Pereyra, and how?"

“Maybe, maybe not. I have no fucking idea. But let's head down and—!”

A noise startled everyone. Alexander didn’t know how to describe it in certain terms: it was the sound of a warship’s horn horribly blared through a broken loudspeaker, so loud that Alexander swore he’d go deaf. He fell on one knee, clasping his ears, and then all of Gnosis Facilities began to shake and it felt ready to collapse at any moment.

From the windows of Gnosis Facilities, crimson artillery fired from the reflections in odd geometric lines and stretching curves. Just like what'd happened in Scorcher. The Fragment was literally turning the building itself into a weapon. And they were stuck inside. Alexander had enough experience to know that regardless of the Fragment's strength, it could level the entire block.

"This is a problematic situation, isn’t it?" said a familiar voice in his head.

He turned to Jin Tiehan who was oddly smiling. Everyone was hearing his voice despite the artillery fire.

"A technique of mine, most effective in situations like these. Milkor, do you have skills to safely land from great heights?"

Milkor nodded, pointing at the operators specifically. Four of them. The Graylords realized what was happening and split themselves in four equal groups with the lead operator at front. Following along in a confused haze, Alexander continued to battle the overwhelming noise as a magical chain was wrapped around his waist, attached to the others in his group.

So they wouldn't separate during the free-fall.

There was the first time for everything, but shit, nothing prepared him for this. He never went sky-diving before, let alone with artillery fire going off around him.

"Good," Jin Tiehan continued, "I will stay back and obliterate the windows into a fine mist so debris wouldn't be a concern. Inform Delta to escape and whenever you are ready, go ahead and jump. It’ll be over within the second, but be prepared for a shockwave."

The respective operators made their preparations for the spontaneous jump. Milkor, who was behind the lead in the middle-left group, flashed the OK sign with his fingers. One-by-one, the four operators returned the sign.

Everyone placed a hand on the operator's shoulder in front of them.

They ran to the open windows, the same windows that they had shot out. Initially Alexander fumbled with his footing but kept himself going, pushed forward by the operator behind him, yelling unheard words of encouragement. One-by-one the Graylords leapt out of the Gnosis Facilities, and finally he did, cursing over the sounds of Fragment’s artillery, feeling the cold air striking him.

Above and below him were lasers, and they’d be jumping right into them.

[Skill Activation: Graylord Operations - Gagarin’s Return]

[Skill Activation: Records of the Righteous Cultivator - Thirteen Palms Devastating Thunder]

The pull of gravity decreased to a fraction of its full strength. Alexander was no longer falling but gliding through the air as smooth as an eagle's flight, being pulled along by the lead operator, who propelled himself through a steady stream of magical discharge.

As [Gagarin's Return] activated and a few breathtaking moments passed, Gnosis Facilities exploded.

Alexander distinctly heard thirteen explosions and glanced back against his better judgement. Engulfing the building was a thundering blanket of blue energy as ripples of lightning tore through the façade like claw marks, ripping out foundation and structure.

A mist sharp as snow rushed against his face—glass. He blinked a few times to force the particulates out—it was then he realized that his glasses, which aided in communication, was missing. Once his vision was clear, the building was rendered into an unrecognizable state. The windows were destroyed, exposing the obliterated interior of each floor to the elements. Metal bars stuck out like hangnails, glitter danced in the air and reflected the chemical starlights above them.

And the artillery disappeared.

What an amazing technique. Jin Tiehan had exhibited such a high degree of control that even the shockwave produced from [Thirteen Palms Devastating Thunder] didn’t injure the Graylords during their slow descent.

It took a few minutes for the Graylords to touch down on ground level again. The magical chains connecting Alexander to the others dissipated. He stumbled onto his sore knees, coughed from inhaling the glass and whatever-else, and followed the Graylords out of the building's immediate vicinity.

They stumbled onto the aftermath of the short burst dealt by the Fragment, a sight that Alexander was familiar with: torn streets, derelict cards, ripped buildings, burning smell that might never leave him at this point. He peeked in the direction of Gallery Street, recalling the memories then, and that was all he thought on the subject before Jin Tiehan reappeared.

Not a spot on his robes.

“Conqueror, are you alright?” Jin Tiehan asked casually as though he took a short trip to the grocery store.

Alexander rubbed his ears. “I wish I was a high-ranker.”

“Someday.” He turned to Blackviper who was covered in a thick glittery layer of fine glass. "How was the descent?"

“Nothing special," she said, wiping the glass off.

Milkor got off the comms and informed the team, “Alright! Stay alert. The Fragment may use the reflections surrounding us as points of attack. If it's anything like Pereyra, then it is watching us! We will regroup with Delta and the Duskheads on 3rd Street through the alleys. Conqueror, Martials, go and contact your people.

“Let’s move, Graylords!”

In unison, the Graylords cheered and everyone began their trek to 3rd Street, taking the least dangerous route there.

Beside him, Blackviper and Jin Tiehan were speaking with the Journeys through the System.

Alexander entered the voice call for his current party: “It’s Conqueror, you guys alive?”

“Hey Conqueror, what the fuck was that?” Althea immediately spat. “We killed—!”

“Clear the channel,” Gul cut in. “We’re glad to hear you made it out safely, Conqueror. As you heard from your sister, we have more than a few questions but that can wait. What’s the status on Bravo and Charlie?”

“Good. We got attacked by you-know-what but didn’t take any casualties luckily.” Alexander patted his chest, specifically a hole in his [Bodysuit] revealing an ugly bruise underneath. “We had to jump out of Gnosis Facilities while Jin Tiehan popped the windows during our drop. Everyone got off relatively clean. How about you?”

“We took cover inside a basement and we’re just coming out now. Command’s in chaos from what happened. Seraph already heard about the development and she’s currently having her men check Pereyra’s corpse.” Gul sighed, cursing in Korean. “We might have to fight another Comet again.”

As I expected. Seraph’s tearing up hell. “I don’t think so, but let’s reconnect at 3rd Street and discuss our next move.”

***

All parties gathered inside a large underground seating area for a rather lavish restaurant, or what had been anyway. It looked more like a barn than a fine establishment. Because it was trashed beyond repair, no large reflective surfaces remained. That meant security.

The Dawn Baptists, the Martials, Milkor and a few of his Graylords, and key members within Task Force Duskhead (including Kirk) were present.

From the quick information exchange, Alpha Team took casualties from the artillery but they weren't devastated compared to what happened in Scorcher. As for good news, they confirmed the complete neutralization of the OBDs, removing the fear of an immediate portal-based counterattack. But as seen on the faces here, the OBDs were the least of their worries.

Eventually Seraph was available to discuss further action in regards to Operation Wolf Prowl, entering through a voice call on physical device. Now the question was this: whether or not they ought to continue the operation while the iron was hot. Having confirmed that there was a cosmic presence, though, made things complicated. Unimaginably complicated.

Because her people, who were in charge of observing the corpses of Pereyra and Tewfik (or what remained of them), stated there had not been an external or internal change in their composition. So they were ruled out as the culprits.

After Seraph finished briefing everyone on her side of the situation, Alexander stepped up and explained his thoughts on the matter: “I think we’re dealing with a new entity altogether. Something that's less than the Comets, but more than us. A Fragment, as I’ve been calling it, of the Lesser Watcher, Pereyra.”

He explained his Fragment theory: some sort of living being that possessed powers from entities originating from the Space Beyond (such as the Comets). Although no one could pinpoint the reason why, the Lesser Watcher wasn’t done with Ordo yet even a week after its death. This conclusion was drawn because of its lackluster strength compared to Pereyra, who could tear high-rankers in half due to its lasers—and of course, the fact that the Comet itself was dead.

And if the Fragment was Carn, then it would give them a solid answer to several questions: how Carn was able to avoid detection thus far and coordinate an entire bombing effort against Dawns? Having the Watcher’s powers would both make it trivial and conceal it from Ordo’s surveillance methods.

But they lacked the necessary pieces to tie everything together. The remaining Sungrazers—Ikeya, Wonder, and Kreutz—Carn’s Apocalyptics, the bombing spree, the actions taken over the past week.

There was something missing.

Seraph picked up her head, an epiphany working through her eyes. “It’s Pereyra’s demesne.”

“His demesne?” Milkor asked, head canted. “What do you mean?”

“Alexander—excuse me, Conqueror—is most familiar with Operation Scorcher’s original plan. At the beginning, we wanted to locate Pereyra’s base of operations for a speedy subjugation. We knew it'd taken up refuge within Dawns in order to acquire intel for Tewfik, who would've attacked Pillar Dawns."

Alexander nodded, remembering this from way back when. “Yeah, Pereyra probably implemented a demesne to hide itself from us but we couldn’t find it, not after the Tormented Flesh handed us a roadblock.”

“Correct, we abandoned the search and altered our plans, resulting in the operation that you know it as. We achieved our objective and moved on, thinking that would be the end of things. Especially for Pereyra. Because normally, when the user dies, the demesne would disappear as a result. However..."

Seraph bit her lip. “…If the Sungrazers maintained the demesne after its death, that would fulfill the condition of this ‘Fragment’ that Conqueror theorized: having an existing piece of a cosmic entity present. Following what we already established with Carn, the Sungrazers allowed him to hide in Pereyra’s demesne and he adopted its powers that way.

“It’s why Dawns was targeted again, because the demesne has always been located inside the borough.”

Milkor nodded, opening up his System. “My demesne specialists will be on the case. They can find it."

Catalyst shook her head. Like Jin Tiehan, she didn’t seem to be particularly excited about what was going on. Unlike him, she was just tired of life in general. “I don’t want to insult you but this is a cosmic-grade demesne. Only Kosmos is rumored to have a demesne on that scale and he isn’t here.”

Alma was biting his thumb anxiously.

“Alma?” Seraph raised. “Do you have something?”

“No no no, ignore me,” he said, shaking his head more times than necessary, earning a vicious glare from Cataylst.

Jin Tiehan hummed and stepped forward, standing next to Alexander. “Take the alchemist's words lightly, Seraph. We know Fragment Carn is here and it's watching us. Give the order now and the search will begin immediately. We can't afford to wait, not after what'd happened to Dawns.”

Seraph opened her mouth but paused before speaking. Her eyes shifted to brandish a glimmer of straight suspicion. The moments ticked and she seemed to realize that he was correct—they needed to seize the opportunity now before it’d disappear forever. Suspicion turned into resignation and she nodded.

“Find the demesne,” she ordered. “I'll alert the rest of the borough and have them report back if they find any suspicious locations. Search every building, every room, if you have to. And once spotted, do not enter without informing me first. Guild Master Jin, Milkor.”

“Yes?” Jin Tiehan replied eagerly.

Milkor raised his head in acknowledgement.

“You'll take lead of ground operations. Milkor, after I’m done speaking, bring your operators here so we can discuss how to tackle this. Jin Tiehan, you have your Journeys and they can take care of themselves. You will be on the ground leading the search with the Duskheads and my Baptists, and any other force if necessary. Prepare for a long night. That goes for everyone.”

The two men nodded.

Seraph said next, “Gul, Conqueror.”

Both Alexander and Gul stood at attention.

“I will redirect the Problem Children here and have Aiden—Firebrand—assist you.” Seraph sighed, taking a moment to recompose herself after speaking for so long. “We'll distribute orders once we come up with something solid. Does anyone have any questions?”

Alexander raised a hand. “I don’t have a question but a reminder: when we deduced Pereyra’s ability…” He paused, having a subtle grief numbing the soreness he felt. “...Hidden gave us a good idea: scrutinize the normal, not the abnormal. Meaning, Pereyra was able to observe us through a natural phenomenon: reflections, something we never would’ve considered otherwise.

“Its demesne might follow the same premise: don’t bother looking for abnormalities but look for something that is uncannily normal. I hope you understand that, it might be hard to get at first.”

Milkor shook his head. “No no, I understand. I’ll pass it along to my specialists.”

After questions were taken and answered, the Baptists plus some Duskheads left the seating area. They passed a team of Graylords, of which addressed the Baptists with positive expressions as they took their place down below.

“Hey Conqueror,” Kirk said, before their groups separated, “if you need anything, hit me up on the System. Get some time to rest, got it?”

“You too. Scream if the windows start attacking you.” Alexander waved goodbye, watching as Kirk catch up to his unit.

The Baptists decided to rest in the restaurant's kitchen. Alexander walked through the aisles as they tidied the place a little, throwing up fallen pots and pans into the sinks, sweeping broken plates underneath cooking stations. He patted Leona's shoulder as she cleared a tabletop so she could check her gear, and he glanced across the room where Vernon pulled out a leather pouch stuffed with tools and [Five Ring Atlas] settled on a work station, with Althea taking a chair beside it, chatting with him.

Victor was raiding the attached room for anything nice to eat with Kaiya helping him. Alexander shared an exhausted look with Chunhua.

"Make sure you eat something while we have the time!" Alexander said, loud enough that his voice echoed. "I have a feeling we'll have a repeat of yesterday!"

A hodgepodge of "Yup-yup!" and "Got it!" and "Thanks!" echoed back.

Professor Hei couldn't help but chuckle, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Make sure you eat something too, Conqueror. We might have the same position, but I am a superior-ranking Slayer. That means you listen to me."

"Uh huh." He brushed her hand off. "Take care of yourself as well, seonbae. I'll be off contacting the others." [AN: Seonbae (선배) means "senior" in Korean.]

Alexander walked off to a corner where he could keep an eye on everybody while he raised his [Private Channel] belonging to the Dawn Baptists, checking in on the rest of the team. Apparently, the Problem Children had a new member: Votary.

"...Jesus," he muttered to himself, knowing it hadn't been that long since he jumped out of a building. "Fragment Carn, huh? Nothing is ever simple. We'll find you, you sick bastard."