Shouri sighed. His gaze graced the clock ticking away on the red tuner he held.

  8:45 PM

  September 10th, 2018

  It had been a long time coming. Nearly eight long years; a nightmare length of time. Finally, this evening was going to be it – he was going to put this horrible terror to rest, one way or another. It wasn’t a solo crusade to his demise either. Gathered with him were the people he trusted most. A crack squad of talent from Riterra and Luna alike.

  The man who stole Mila and Shouri’s future together, the creature who feasted on torment, the demon who wrought suffering – he would be brought to justice today; Shouri would ensure it.

  The “strike team” as it were had gathered in a conference room at the hotel Elijah was staying at. Thankfully it was a luxury hotel, so a big conference room was available for their use. Six Maestros, ten Resonators, the one Natural waited in silence.

  They all awaited the results of the current reconnaissance mission being carried out by Vienna. Confidence was high in the game plan they had crafted, though blind confidence was the seed of failure, or at least that’s what Shouri made up on the spot to keep everyone in their seats while Vienna did her work.

  Truth be told, no one knew what to expect. Even with perfect knowledge of the building’s layout and staffing, it was very well possible for them to get steamrolled by insanely strong Maestros and their Feroce Resonators. Or maybe hundreds of feroce Resonators would be unleashed onto the streets of Quiretteh as a mutually assured destruction-type gambit. The most disappointing outcome would be stumbling into an abandoned building.

  No matter the scenario they could cook up, the group agreed that night would be the best time to start. At least this way the foot traffic would be down to hunters who could reasonably be expected to fight back in case their plan resulted in some spill out into the public.

  “They’re still there,” Vienna’s voice drew the room’s attention. The girl wasn’t immediately visible, but that wouldn’t be a problem for long as she lifted the veil of her tail and returned to the visible spectrum.

  “What’s the situation?” Faith questioned, leaning back in her seat.

  “Oddly calm.” Vienna pinched her brows together.

  “Think it’s a trap?” asked the older sibling.

  “Definitely. They’re not geared up for war, but the roadblocks we discussed are there.”

  There was a moment of silence while Shouri mused over that intel. Finally, he lifted his head to meet the expectant crowd before him.

  “They’re waiting for us,” Shouri grunted.

  “More than likely,” Vienna agreed with a nod. “But they are there.”

  Hush fell over the room once more. There wasn’t an eye in the room that wasn’t on the de facto leader of this raid. “We’re stopping him tonight,” Shouri announced, earning equal parts relief and excitement for the gathered talent. “As soon as Vienna and Miro plot the data, we’ll get started.”

  With that, Vienna took a seat next to the Natural, and the two began rapidly updating the schematics of the facilities on the laptop computer Miro was on. It was simply too dangerous for a Natural like him to waltz into a den full of hostile Maestros – so he was going to keep an eye on the situation – the laptop being now linked to the many tuners shared between the six Maestros in the room.

  “The experiments are far in the building,” Vienna spoke up as she worked.

  “Very far,” Miro noted, brows raised in surprise.

  “He would definitely intercept anyone we sent that deep into the building,” the Lyrebird glanced up from the screen, looking her sister dead in the eyes.

  “That’s us then,” Faith said.

  “That was the plan,” Shouri agreed with a nod.

  “Excellent. I’m pleased our previous planning session was not wasted.” Elijah stood up, checking the time on his tuner as he did so.

  Shouri looked around the room one more time, noting the other Maestros were rising to their feet. It was clear everyone was ready to go. He took in a breath and exhaled deeply. “Alright, let’s get moving then,” Shouri declared.

  “’bout time.” Vienna too got up, leaving Miro to finish up the last bit of data entry. Slowly the rest of the strike team filed out of the room, leaving only one Maestro and his three Resonators left.

  “Girls?” Shouri turned to his trio. “How are we feeling?” he asked.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Nervous,” Pacifica spoke first.

  “Let’s rock bossman,” Rebecca said in contention with her watery counterpart.

  Shouri looked to Taika.

  “Ready to go to hell.” The lunar fox smiled. “With my Maestro,” she added with a titter.

  The Maestro in question couldn’t help chuckling. “Of course.” His attention turned to Pacifica. “It’ll be okay.”

  She jumped into his arms, barely avoiding taking him down in the process. “I don’t want to lose you,” admitted the otter.

  Taika and Rebecca felt the same, their confidence cracking under those words. Shouri motioned for them to bring it in – which the two vixens complied.

  After sharing a tight hug, they broke off.

  “It’ll be okay. We’ll be together no matter what,” he assured them.

  With three nods in the affirmative, Shouri and company followed the rest of the Maestros out.

  The march was quiet, uneasy. Through the storied streets of Quiretteh the group tread, a tale of their own being woven this Monday evening. As expected, the foot traffic that shared the outdoors with them was mostly of fellow hunters and their Resonators. Mainly the night crews getting ready for the hunts that occurred on the outskirts of the massive capital city.

  It was no surprise that even in the city center there were flocks of hunters heading towards the edges of town. Quiretteh must have looked like a buffet to the hordes of Scherzando that occupied the plains of the peninsula.

  But tonight, these six hunters weren’t after Scherzando – they hunted another monster, one who wore human flesh.

  Colette was the most out of her element, having to be quietly re-assured by Kaira the whole time. Faith and Vince were tied for the calmest of the group – both wore absolute concentration on their faces, their mood infecting their Resonators.

  Shouri thought it kind of funny that the oldest and youngest of their group were the most focused on the operation.

  Emily and Elijah were discussing the overall strategy, being grouped up in the Resonator rescue part of the plan along with Colette.

  There was a part of Shouri that wished he had taken a chance to see the results of Elijah’s training before dishing out jobs, but that was a mistake he could analyze another time. He had his own role to focus on after all.

  “I’m taking down Ilea Vim.”

  “You? Why?”

  “We’re the best suited to take down any Feroce Resonator, and Ilea probably kept the best for himself.”

  It wasn’t that Shouri was gassing himself up, it was simply a fact – they were the only ones with the capability to subdue and cure a Feroce Resonator at the same time. It did bug him a bit that they were the only ones to possess that quality, but he wasn’t going to turn his nose up at the opportunity.

  The side conversations lulled to silence as they approached the site in question. It was a standard office building. There were a couple of lights on deeper in the building, giving the structure an eerie glow to it. There was no signage posted anywhere on the structure, further adding to the mystery of the building’s purpose… for the general public.

  Shouri had been appraised of the situation before, but it was still surprising to see them just out in the open like this. The building's blueprints acquired by Elijah didn’t show anything special, however, it was well within the realm of possibility that off-the-record modifications could have been done to the building. At least Vienna was able to scope out some of the building beforehand and update some of their maps; so they wouldn’t be going in with entirely outdated info.

  Emily, Elijah, and Colette took to the building first with their band of five Resonators.

  Next Faith, Althea, and Vienna entered with Vince and Mila close behind her.

  Finally was Shouri and his trio.

  “We’re the only group alone,” Taika noted.

  “To be fair, you and Rebby can fight on your own, which only Vince has that luxury with Mila,” Pacifica reminded her fellow Resonator.

  “It’s cause we’re the ass-kicking group,” Rebecca wrapped her arms around her teammate’s necks.

  Shouri couldn’t help his smile, though it quickly faded as he focused on the eerie building that towered above him. He took in a deep breath, his hands tracing the trio of tuners that lived on his hip. A touch of rhythm tickled his fingertips as they graced the cases of the devices.

  With a sharp exhale, Shouri stepped forward, into hell itself.

  “Alright, our turn.”