“Operator’s progressing nicely!” someone beamed in Leona’s ear, causing her to jump. “Haha, did I scare you? Sorry! I’m a ghost! Boo! Hahaha!”

It took longer than she would’ve liked for her heart to settle down and for her fingers to curl from the tight fists they’d formed. Her current demon was a thin, frazzled gray-haired man. A Royals Head Officer actually, as she constantly had to tell herself. His features were round and youthful, probably late-twenties, but all the soot painting his skin made him appear a decade older.

By all definitions he was a mad scientist and made zero effort to change anyone’s minds; he was too stuck in his own head to hold any empathy regardless nor any self-awareness. Having none of the professionalism required for his position, he was a perfect example of being too useful to kick out, like Mystic. Unlike Mystic, he never intentionally damaged Royals Guild.

Key word: intentionally.

Accidentally? All the time.

He was notorious in Ordo for being possibly the most dangerous Slayer around; standing next to him was asking for a death sentence.

Luckily he wasn’t any near volatile materials. Right?

“Don’t scare me like that, Bed.” Leona huffed and swept hair behind her ears; out of concern for her own safety, she checked her nearby surroundings just in case there was any big red barrels asking to be blown up. This was one of the workshops in Royals Delta Armory, an off-site facility over in northern Ordo. Monarch had given her VIP access just for this.

Just so she and Althea could meet him again, the day after they had been detained by the International Agency.

Down an aisle of long-tables carrying a messy assortment of materials and artisan equipment having seen years of use, there was a young silver-haired man with a mask hanging around his neck. On his workbench was a heavy metal pen with a wire sticking out the bottom end: an etcher’s rod, a tool used to (surprise surprise) etch magical runes into items. Beside the pen was a half-etched spell-plate, the troughs glowing a mesmerizing bluish-purple shifting between the shades like a rampant river. There was a laser light hanging above, outlining the exact diagram in perfect geometry. Leona had no idea what this spell-plate was supposed to do.

But that was why Vernon was explaining it to Althea and Leona took this moment to study him closely. He looked terrible. Dark bags under his eyes, pale skin and skinny like his brother, skinnier. If there was a mirror in the room, then Leona was staring right at her own reflection—just several years younger, a man, and riddled with recent trauma.

Like the rest of his peers in the Baptists, they were working to bury their personal issues in the sand. For him who’d suffered the most, his way of coping was focusing on what was certain: the legend of Operator and the war against Sirius Aethfell. So he had to learn his preferred craft and fast at that. Yet seeing him strain so much caused guilt to well inside her heart. It was unhealthy. A young man like Vernon had to care for his own body.

At least they were here. Althea was indulging her friend with questions and faulty conjectures; as dumb as she made herself out to be, all of her responses were carefully selected down to the individual words. She had social intelligence. She knew what not to say or reference or reply with.

“—Operator’s a quick learner! Imaginative!” Bedlamite’s voice crashed into Leona's thoughts. Had he been talking this entire time? “I don’t have the hours to sate his curiosity! Or rather his ravenous hunger! ‘Hey Bed!’, ’Bed this!’, ‘Bed that!’, I can barely keep up with my own work! You’re suffering the same as me, right? We’re both suffering together then!”

I’m suffering from this conversation… “Mhm, anyway, erm, let me check on the kids.”

“Okay, have fun! I’ll be right here—! And she’s gone! Wow, she walks fast!”

Leona inserted herself into the conversation, standing beside Althea. “What’re you two talking about?”

Vernon shrugged and gestured to the spell-plate. “This thing. A simple water discharge spell. Thea just asked if I coulda just laser-cut it.”

“Could ya?” she asked again and crossed her arms.

“I could, yeah, but it’s better if I learn the tools of the trade now. I’ve been practicing my etching for the past day, actually. This stuff here…” He tapped the edge of the plate, pressed down just enough to leave a noticeable indent. “Is a practice tablet. I can’t pronounce the name of the actual material, but it’s like clay. After some time spent in the oven, it dissolves the mana and I’ll be able to use it again. Remember the [Five Ring Atlas]?”

They nodded. The [Five Ring Atlas] was his construct he’d scavenged from Grendel Arsenal and repaired it for combat use.

“I had Bedlamite take a look and he said I could combine the five spell-plates into one. So that’s what I’m working up to: a compound spell-plate. But y’know, it’s really complicated stuff. Stuff I woulda learned in, like, junior or senior year of college. I’ve been taking the best notes I could, though.” With his thumb, he gestured behind them where stacks of books were found alongside some open binders. “Not only that, I’ve been trying to create my own little construct. Long story short, it’s not going well.”

“What’re you making?” Leona asked this time. “Something like the [Five Rings]?”

He shook his head. “Opposite: an automatic defensive construct, something similar to the [Red Barrier Brooch] we all brought back then. Powered by mana crystals.”

Althea commented, “Don’tcha think learning a skill would be easier?”

“That question is a rabbit hole of an argument. But maybe, I dunno. Hypothetically, I’d want to command it to cover you guys in an emergency. I had this cool idea I wanna work up to…” He rubbed his hands together and shifted them. “So I’m thinking it could be, like, a salvo if that makes sense. Like a jigsaw puzzle where each piece is independently effective but can join together into a new organism. That way, I can cover everyone in specifying amounts. It’s an idea but y’know I literally haven’t thought two steps ahead. Anyway, uh… I’ve been meaning to ask: what’re you two here for? A welfare check or somethin’? Or do Kosmos and Seraph need me?”

“The first one,” Leona answered. “You went dark on us, Vernon. Nobody knew what happened to you after the Barrier came down, so we’re plenty relieved to hear Monarch and the Royals are taking good care of you. Or whatever Bed’s providing.”

Briefly shame came over him and it produced a drawn guilt-riddled sigh. “Yeah, sorry. I shoulda known Monarch would’ve told someone where I was eventually. Am I really not needed? I haven’t read any of the messages the other guys sent.”

Unlike the two women here, Vernon had already undertaken the emergence process under Royals’ supervision; he was a full-fledged Slayer and thus could communicate with the rest of the Baptists easily. Of course he chose not to, instead focusing on starting his self-created curriculum.

Leona answered for him, “Nope. Unless you want to be my assistant or help Althea with her projects at OU.”

Vernon didn’t take a bite at either option immediately. His hesitation to respond gave them all the answers they needed: he preferred staying here in the security of his brother's guild. Or what little security it provided considering Bedlamite’s presence—Leona quickly glimpsed at what the Head Officer was doing and found him waving encouragingly. A man of manic-fueled enthusiasm.

“Yup, so happy late emergence,” Althea lamely cheered. “I didn’t bring anything for your emergence party.”

“Hah.” He patted his chest where his Krait would be. “At least I’m not spending it alone. Y’remember the party they’d throw at OU? All the first-years get a feast while all we get is… I dunno. Trauma, trauma, and more trauma. When will you two emerge?”

Leona said, “When we’re not busy.”

Althea followed, “Yeah, we’re swamped with work. We can’t suddenly clock out for a couple days while everyone else struggles. But it’s not so hopeless that we need a slacker like you to help out.”

Vernon frowned.

“I’m jokin’. The rest of the Baptists are doing their own things while keeping their eyes out for the eight-fourteens. You’re pretty lucky, y’know; they have no idea you’re here.”

“Guess all my hiding worked out in my favor.” Vernon looked at Leona and what seemed to be pity formed in his eyes. “It must be tough work. Did a truck run over you, Leo? If Alex saw you right now, he’d have a lotta choice words.”

Leona bit her lip as an ache radiated throughout her body like a bad fever. Why did Vernon bring him up now? It was completely unnecessary to mention him because whatever he would say or do didn’t matter. He wasn’t here. He wasn’t awake, he wasn’t helping anyone, he was sleeping while the Slayer Capital was a roaring beast. Everyone here was prey and predator for someone or some greater institution at hand. Everybody standing in this workshop was vulnerable to the world powers and their eyes were on them. And on him.

“—Leo?” Althea nudged her. “You okay? You zoned out for a minute.”

“Huh…?” When did her hands get so sweaty? And why did her lips hurt so much? What exactly was she thinking about anyway? It was as though she woke up from a nap she didn’t realize she had taken. “I-I’m sorry, what were you talking about?”

The two kids stared at her and despite the close physical proximity they’d shared, it felt like she was standing on the other side of a canyon as them. They were treating her with doubtful gazes like shooting knives into her stomach, twisting each and every second.

Why was she the one feeling so pathetic when they'd came here to visit a grieving Vernon?

An answer didn’t come, nor could she create a sufficient excuse for her poor health so that these two wouldn’t worry their dirty heads off. What could she say? She worried too much? Worked too much? Had she been competent enough to somehow balance health and her new career, this wouldn't have happened. If she was a little bit more competent during the Disaster, maybe things would’ve played out differently.

Her savior came in the form of a notification on her phone. She dragged it out of her pocket and rubbed the dirt off, the screen automatically turning on when it faced her. A single message.

Aiden Kang:

SOS Hospital

“Oh no…” Leona spun around and tapped on her earpiece frantically.

Althea and Vernon asked what was wrong but she ignored them for now and kept pinging Scrutiny.

After an agonizing wait, the artisan came on: “Hey hey hey, looks like you already got the memo! Are the eight-fourteens bustin’ down the walls at Delta?”

“Huh?” Leona searched for any signs of the International Agency but none were obvious. They were pretty deep in the facility so it wasn’t like she could hear them anyway. “What do you mean? The eight-fourteens are coming to Delta—? Oh, goddammit. I’m an idiot.”

“No no, you’re not the idiot! I’m the idiot, darling! I shoulda been more careful in drivin’ the SMV but it seems they tracked us. Oh well, they got some of the best trackers so we woulda been discovered anyway—wait, hold on a sec! If you didn’t ping me ‘cuz of our boys in blue-ties, then why did ya?”

“The Hospital. Aiden just sent an SOS.”

“Oh Christ. This has gotta be one of the worst days for us so far.”

“What? What’s happening, Scrutiny?”

“The Phenoms arrived earlier than we expected. Right now, our bosses are talking with the Binah Sephirah! I can’t pull ‘em out of their talks!” Scrutiny’s voice was heard through the earpiece. Everyone, including Bedlamite who had approached out of concern, viscerally reacted to the information.

The Binah Sephirah: Maysa Hamidi, and her lesser-known codename Maven. In worse news, she was the ex-wife of Zuhail Alzahrani. So it was unsurprising to hear that she’d taken the head position of the Phenomena Society’s Department of Cosmology—in other words, Binah. Everyone plus Problem was dealing with her.

Which left Leona to rush to the Hospital and was probably why Aiden had contacted her to begin with.

Leona glanced between Bedlamite and the two little ones. She raised a finger, telling them to wait a little longer before talking.

Scrutiny clicked her tongue through the earpiece. “Okay, good news: I don’t see any eight-fourteens at the Hospital’s entrance but there’s lots of movement inside. If Firebrand sent an SOS…”

“Sage.”

“Yeah. You’d better get there quick.”

“Can’t we take the SMV?” Althea asked hearing the artisan.

Leona shook her head. “We can’t. We have eight-fourteens here at Delta.”

Bedlamite hummed loudly. “Yup! Just got a message from my pals outside. We have blue-ties and they’re probably looking for you. Operator can stay here but for the Angels, once you leave, they’ll follow you to the ends of the earth.”

“Which means they’ll follow us to the Hospital and they’ll find our two comatose patients there. We cannot let that happen.”

“But you gotta go now.” Vernon crossed his arms, thinking. “If we keep waiting ‘round, they’ll surround Delta and make it harder for you to slip undetected.”

“Hey Empress, put me on speaker,” Scrutiny asked and Leona obliged. “There we go! Okay, hi! Scrutiny here! Pleasure to meet ya for the first time, Operator, but I think that’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“‘Cause the eight-fourteens have Slayers amongst their ranks. Ironic, right? Slayers plus cutting edge equipment. I have no doubt they got some weird gadget or skill; if our little Angels step a foot outside Delta’s walls, they’ll know exactly where and how loud that step was. You gotta remember: these guys have been doing this since their inception. Not to offend y’all or anything, but y’all aren’t Davids fighting Goliaths. You’re just babies!”

“So what are we gonna do?” Althea asked looking between the group for any inspiration. “We can’t attack ‘em. As much as I wanna do that for breaking into our apartment and kidnapping us.”

Vernon picked his head up. “Wait what?”

Leona knew what to do. “Well, the solution is pretty simple.” She turned to Bedlamite. “You still have [Ordo Teleport Scrolls], don’t you? I’ll teleport to the Hospital. Bed, you can amuse the eight-fourteens while Althea slips into the SMV and leaves, distracting them so I can evaluate the SOS.”

“And me?” Vernon asked.

“What do you want to do? You have two options: stay here with Bed or join Althea. Either way, they’ll realize the ruse pretty soon but I doubt they have a surefire method to track teleportation. Not when the entire city is sending dozens of signals every minute.”

Vernon scratched the side of his neck. “I’ll stay here just to be safe. I’m not updated on your protocols and stuff.”

Althea nodded. “Alright, I’ll take the SMV.”

Bedlamite added, “I’ll get you a trusted escort.”

“I got one concern on my mind!” Scrutiny raised. “Empress honey, can you handle a teleport so soon after your last one? The International Agents messed you up.”

“I might be a human but I’ve handled worse things before. I can handle a few mild side-effects.”

“I know, but you’ve been through the thick of it. For you, ‘mild side-effects’ will feel like you’re dying.”

Leona hesitated to respond; her point made sense. She wasn’t in the best shape, enough that teleportation was a genuine concern. However, they had little options to out-maneuver the eight-fourteens without exposing critical information to them. Thinking on this…

“I’ll take the risk. I’m teleporting into the Hospital anyway, so medical attention would literally be a few steps away.”

“But y’sure you wanna do it? You might experience hell inside your body.”

Leona felt Althea was staring holes into her. “I don’t have any other options, Scrutiny.”

“Okay, don’t let Shinzo bite your head off. Contact me once the SOS is resolved.” Scrutiny disconnected.

Bedlamite handed Leona the [Ordo Teleport Scroll]. “Normal humans can’t operate it. It has to be a Slayer who puts in the coordinates, and I don’t know if you want to trust me with the Hospital’s location!”

For an infamously wild man, Bedlamite was surprisingly conscientious and reliable. Leona appreciated his honesty and smiled, instead handing the [Scroll] to Vernon. Since he was a Baptist, it meant he had the authority to know. After whispering him the coordinates, he inputted it into the [Teleport Scroll] and the scroll glowed.

Leona stepped into an open space and laid it flat against the floor. “Do you understand what you’re doing?”

“Distracting the eight-fourteens!” Bedlamite cheered.

“Staying here,” Vernon said unconfidently.

Althea was quiet.

“Althea?” Leona asked again.

“I know what I’m doing.” She crossed her arms. “Take care of yourself, Leo. I mean it.”

Please don’t look at me like that. “...I will. I’ll text you two the details after I’m done. Good luck and don’t get caught by the eight-fourteens.”

Then, a light enveloped her and the world was oddly warm. A transient moment of tranquility was had within this space between reality and time; it was as though everything in her body had paused: her heart, her breathing, her thoughts. If she could describe death through physical sensation, then this would be how she’d do it.

But ‘death’ was short-lived.

Leona collapsed onto her knees on a hospital floor just as a cart was seconds away from crashing into her. A team of doctors yelped in a myriad of voices and the cart narrowly swerved out of the way, nearly crashing into a wall to avoid their unexpected guest. And as Leona felt her stomach churning, churning, then twisting inside-out, she realized she was not only a guest but also a patient.

The contents of her stomach splattering on the floor was evidence enough.

***

Leona was forced onto a hospital bed on an IV drip after having embarrassed her name as the Celestial War Empress to a dozen different doctors and workers and staff. But this incident had given her some time to rest and digest what transpired: the little plan worked. Althea decided to head back to OU and the eight-fourteens weren’t aware of the Hospital quite yet.

Which was located in Angels Site 6, a research station. The two Baptists were kept here under tight security and observation, watched over by the former Journey of Healing, Shinzo.

Everything had been going well until now, when…

“Chie’s heart gave out for three minutes,” Aiden told Leona at her bedside. The fire was extinguished inside him. He was absent of his haughty flames and his bellowing crimson hair was darkened and lifeless.

Leona quietly listened.

“She was doing so well. Shinzo was optimistic for her recovery, then this bullshit happened. I…” Aiden rubbed his eyes. “I fuckin’ thought she’s gonna wake up soon. I kept coming here and talking to her ‘cuz talking helps, right? With comatose patients? I dunno, I forgot everything Shinzo told me.”

“…What did Shinzo say? About Chie?” she asked, clueless on how to respond.

“She’s stable.” He shrugged. “Probably. Now that her heart went kaput, she needs more eyes than before since it might happen again. So yeah, that’s the SOS. I’m, uh, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For bringin’ ya here. Everybody got important shit and you know I can’t handle that or I’ll fuck things up. So you’re the only one I had left and you got sick ‘cause of it. I dunno why I texted you; not like you can fix Chie.”

But I wish I could. She’s so important to you. “Don’t blame yourself. You did the right thing and notified me.”

“The right thing?” he quietly said. “Did I really do the right thing?”

“You have—!“

Aiden gritted his teeth so furiously that they might pop out of his mouth. “Was dying the right thing to do? Was makin’ Chie and Ari cry the right thing to do? Letting Archknell die and letting Chie almost kill herself ‘cuz you were too fucking useless to do anything, was all that the right thing to do?”

Leona was stunned silent.

“I thought I was ‘posed to be the next Kosmos.” Aiden looked down at his hands and clenched them tightly. “I wanted all the merch and the billboards and fame, to be a badass just like him and more. But even as an SS-Rank, I couldn’t do shit when Chie’s heart stopped for the first time and I stood there like a dumbass.

“The only thing I know how to do is burn shit. That’s all I’m good for. I’m just the muscle who can’t lift his weight when it really matters.” His head perked up and he opened a blue screen. “Speaking of, job’s calling. I’ll make sure to avoid the eight-fourteens’ annoying fuckin’ eyes.”

Aiden stood and brushed himself off. His ignited rant did nothing to relight his confidence. His eyes had gotten darker, now, that Leona could take a closer look.

Could she say anything to bring light back into them?

“Sorry for leaving you here,” Aiden quietly said. “Is there anything else you gotta tell me before I bounce?”

“I…” I understand. I understand how you feel. “No, I don’t.”

Aiden nodded. “Alright. Initiate’s in the area. I’mma contact her first then head out. Hope you feel better quick.”

As he opened the door, his shoulders jolted upwards seeing a mature beauty of a woman standing on the other side. Her pinkish-white hair fell over her shoulder and she kindly smiled at the high-ranker. “All done? I need the room alone.”

“Mhm. How—?”

“Talk to Doctor Soo; he’s in her room.”

“Alrighty.”

Shinzo stepped out of the way to let Aiden pass before ducking inside. She did not look at Leona once, but if she had there would be sheer disdain present. “Empress…”

“Yes—?”

Shinzo slammed the door shut. “We need to have a long discussion about your health.”