1.

  “GRAYSON’S LOCATION: 76TH ERIDANUS STREET, IO DISTRICT, HELIOCENTRIC. STAYING AT A HOTEL OVERNIGHT. DOCUMENTS STATE HE HAS A FLIGHT SCHEDULED FOR THE NEXT DAY, PERFECT TIME. SECURITY WILL BE HIGH.”

  “Got it. I’ll tell the rest of them. Make sure to not let other companies interfere.” Elijah replied.

  Heliocentric, the biggest city in the Eastern Union and the fifth largest in the world. Thanks to several large “binds” that invested massive sums of money. It had completely transformed the city from a small town to a metropolis, and with that had dethroned Neosaka as the ‘technological centre of the world’. From this investment into Heliocentric, other “binds” followed through with other cities, completely reshaping the economy of the Eastern Union.

  However, Heliocentric, like many other cities, has a dark side to it. One that still lays hold to the traditional, old ways of the city. This was the Io district. Crime and dealings are the only things this district will offer you. It’s a disgusting fusion of the worst this city has to offer….

  “Why the hell is this ‘Grayson’ guy there?!” Miyuki shouted.

  “How on earth would we know that?” Elijah questioned.

  Suddenly, a massive structure appeared before them. It was huge, the biggest building the friends had ever seen. Something of a testament to the Eastern Union’s rapid expansion, “windows that scraped the sky” was the ideal way to describe it. On the centre of this building, above the large beams of steel, was a logo. An ‘S’ with a ‘C’ embedded with it and below a motto: “Leading the team, building the future.” This was the Sectaris Eastern Branch.

  Grand, and yet more grandeur, it was the 2nd largest Sectaris branch still operating. It has held a vast amount of records since its opening twenty years ago. The Eastern Branch’s prestigious stature only lured everyone in. Workers flooded in and out, like a constant stream. All of them were happy, overjoyed and smiling.

  It became clear to the friends that maybe they actually do follow through with their motto: “Leading the team, building the future”. To them, it looked like a perfect harmony between work and life. Something they never expected from Sectaris.

  This was the place.

  Three keycards, one held by Grayson and the two others unknown. But only three keycards, and they’ll be inside. They wondered for a moment, just a single moment… ”What actually lies beneath the corporate spiel?”

  “BEEP! BEEP!” A car behind blasted the horn at max volume, catching all of the friends off guard. Elijah realised that he was in fact stopped in the middle of a busy road. “Right.” He muttered and continued to drive.

  “By the way…” Elijah trailed, tapping his fingers onto the dashboard and creating a small “thud” with each impact. “If we don’t get these keycards, we’re blowing this place up to get these documents,” he exclaimed.

  “Hah, it’s worse to cross Dau Circle than Sectaris? On one hand we disappear off the face of the Vesta, or on the other, we get experimented on and tortured.” Itzozu laughed, “That’s just a rumour, Itzozu!” Asher responded, Itzozu looked towards Asher, “The kidnapping or human experiments?” He questioned, opting to pretend to be stupid.

  Itzozu shifted his gaze to the right, his eyes falling upon the blue-haired woman with a grim expression; she was muttering an entire speech under her breath. Itzozu tried to grab her attention but was met with a fierce, sour glare. “What do you want, Mr Red Hair?” She grumbled, “Well, Ms Blue Hair, I can’t help SOMEBODY is cursing the entire world in the backseat… So what’s up?” Itzozu asked.

  “The Kyukaze were here. They don’t ever leave Sora, so why the damn hell are they over here?!....They’re after me. I know they are!” She shouted, folding her arms while making a grunting noise.

  Elijah, upon hearing Miyuki’s words, decided to interrupt the conversation. “They’re after you?” Elijah asked. “I’m from a somewhat important family back in Sora, and I ran away. I figured it was only a matter of time before the scum came and found me.” She replied with a hint of frustration in her voice.

  She leaned back into her chair, clutching her face between the two palms as she shouted obscenities into her hands, the noise muffled. “I wish my family would just forget about me…” She trailed.

  “Hm. Miyuki, didn’t you say that they sent a lower section because they ‘underestimated us’? Wouldn't your family know not to?” Itzozu questioned. Miyuki doesn’t respond to this question, however, and just sinks lower into the chair. Itzozu let out a little air from his mouth with a slight chuckle and decided this was the perfect time to pat her head.

  The soft fabric of the glove rubs against hair in a circular motion, creating a whirlwind of Miyuki’s hair. “HEY!! Stop that!” Miyuki laughed, attempting to brush his hand off her.

  “Not until you wipe that silly frown off your face.” Itzozu shouted. “Okay, okay!! Whatever.” Miyuki replied. Itzozu, satisfied with this answer, lifted his hand from Miyuki’s head and shifted it to the seat.

  The friends calmed down for a while, taking in the scenery of Heliocentric as it slowly came into view. Slowly but surely, the grand building of Sectaris faded away as the view of the largest city they’d witnessed began encroaching.

  Somehow, it was even larger than any Edessan city. Bolstering nearly double the population as Edsa.

  “Would probably be best if we have a map for a city this large.” Elijah mutters; his voice was just barely audible enough for Asher to pick up on it. She looked at Elijah and was about to speak before… ”Yes, you can have my phone.” Elijah sighed.

  Elijah pinched his phone from one of the corners and handed it towards Asher, who promptly took it off his hands. She typed in the passcode and then continued pressing the buttons for a solid minute before she eventually found a map of the city.

  The map showed four large sections of the city named “Districts”. The northwestern district was named “Europa” and has the highest density of skyscrapers in the city. Then the northeastern district was named “Ganymede” and had a rich food culture with a middle-standing economy. The southwestern district was named “Callisto” and was the industrial sector of the city that flaunts a massive investment from “Five Industry”, and finally, the Io district is at the southeast. The largest population, however, a majority of it, lives in bad conditions with crime.

  Quickly, the friend's mood started to drop as the road exit towards the Io district came into view. It looked terrible. The road looked hardly paved, with massive potholes that could be described as craters littering the road, making it an extremely deadly road.

  “Okay! We die here; we’re going to get robbed and die a painful death.” Asher panicked, clutching onto Elijah’s jacket with one hand and holding one of her twintails in the other. “For goodness sake…” Elijah thought, while patting her shoulder.

  Eventually, the car came to a stop in a parking garage just outside of the district. ”Parking closer would be nice…” Elijah thought, pinching the bridge of his nose… ”The last time I parked somewhere like here, my car was stolen… Best not to.” He concluded in his head, taking a sharp turn to the left. With a swift pull of the gearstick, the car reversed and parked just outside of the entrance to the Io district.

  As the friends walked through the entrance….

  “Just as filthy as Chthonia.” Miyuki complained, kicking a small pile of trash collected at the ground. Mounds of trash with varying sizes littered the ground, making the ground into a brown wasteland, a pungent smell of rot infiltrating their lungs.

  Asher pinched her nose and held her hand over her mouth; a greenish hue was painted on her head. The friends had all smelt the same thing as Asher… It was a smell much worse than what they’d smelt in the previous slum; this horrid stench had embedded itself into their very brain.

  It was rare for Elijah to side with Miyuki’s “sixth sense”, but this was one of the times where he really did consider what she said, “someone of great stature like Grayson… Shouldn’t ever be somewhere like here.“ He contemplated aloud.

  The only thought that coursed through his mind, the only thing that could make sense to him, was that he was purely here to get agents off his back. Miyuki, who was adamant he wouldn’t be here, and the handlers, who probably had to spend more time researching; it could’ve been the perfect cover.

  Nevertheless, handlers made their judgement. “Grayson is at this hotel.” Not a ‘may’ or a ‘probably’; it’s a certainty the friends will trek to these hotels and they will find Grayson there. There are dozens of rules for an agent to follow, and one of them is to never doubt your handler; it’s considered a great insult to their line of work.

  Insulting a ‘named agent’ would almost certainly guarantee your death, but insulting a handler would guarantee the death of your career; word of mouth spreads, and now every handler knows you treat them like dirt.

  So, even if everything points to Grayson not being here and there’s only a theory as to why he’s here. The friends have to put blind faith in the handler, trusting his judgement.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  Suddenly, the tension was broken by the familiarly annoying ringtone of Elijah’s phone. He gave a swift tap of his finger and held it to his ear. His lips parted as he was about to speak, but he got cut off by the other end. “Technique fired to your left.” A mysterious voice told Elijah.

  Elijah didn’t even have time to process what he said before the friends could feel a massive burst of essence rushing towards them. Itzozu, in a flash of the moment: “Essence Technique, Overlord’s Shield,” and cast his technique, creating the same shield that has never broken. The other technique smashed against the shield, devolving into many smaller techniques like a shrapnel grenade. Then, as if it were never there, the technique faded into nothingness.

  Itzozu took a step back, holding the side of his face that had his clairvoyant eye. His face contorted into several emotions; at first he looked confused, but that quickly shifted into panic. He let out a small exhale and dropped his hand… Then turned to the friends. “My eye didn’t see that… Haha, I see…” Itzozu trailed, his voice cloudy with a hint of disbelief. “I think it's a barrier… One that can conceal techniques…” considered Asher.

  “Oh great! Some cowardly guy who’s taking invisible shots…” Miyuki growled.

  After the brief disbelief, the red-haired guy held his hand up to his eye, his lips slightly parted, and like a soft lullaby, he whispered, “Essence Technique, Enchain…” But something was different. The incantation didn't end just yet.

  The infernal dance, the forever ballet of flesh and malice sinew… One beast, several sinners conjoined at the helm of the source, the ego. We all join together as one singular entity for this eternal chivalry, humanity.

  Dozens of silver chains erupted from the Itzozu’s back, thrashing violently across the street; all that was unfortunately caught in the vicinity of the cold metal was sliced. The chains held no regard for anything, just pure, unfettered violence. However, Itzozu wasn’t done just yet. He clutched one side of his face with the palm of his hand, the soft fabric of the glove providing little relief as a cold ring shocked his face. There was a symbol that appeared across both eyes; it looked like a short “p” with a horizontal line across the middle.

  Suddenly, the chains caught on fire, unleashing a devastating cacophony of steel and flame, setting everything around the friends ablaze. The friends looked in awe as their faces were lit by the hellish colours of red and orange.

  Chains slashed and cut through shoddy street lamps, abandoned cars and crude buildings made from sheet metal and stone. The chains weren’t sharp yet could cut through everything like butter. Yet… Even after all the flashy destruction, neither the barrier nor the technique caster was found.

  Though, it didn’t take too long for the caster to reveal themselves, right behind the friends they appeared. They wore a similar outfit to the Kyukaze: a black suit and helmet with a slightly larger respirator. This person had a couple of differences to distinguish themselves; there was a large mark of red paint across the helmet, and on their chest was “Bosu” below the Kyukaze emblem. They also wore a chain around their neck.

  “You bakatare… didn’t expect you to wipe out my division so fast. Damn Imperative and their sloppy practices…” They acknowledge their voice was obviously full of fear, but their helmet masked that under confidence.

  “I’ll show you not to mess with the Kyukaze, ruler of the Soran streets, and considering your rank, I’ll surely be promoted to leader of the fifth – no, the leader of the fourth division!” They shouted in excitement.

  “Hah, only dreaming of the fourth? You can’t even be the main character in your own dreams!” Miyuki laughed, stabbing the Kyukaze bosu directly where it hurt.

  Itzozu glanced at Miyuki with a troubled expression before letting some air escape his mouth; he relaxed his shoulders and pointed up high, towards the person in the sky. “We wouldn’t want Grayson running with his tail between his legs. Go on, I’ll handle him.” Itzozu simply replied, overestimating his enemy

  “Yeah! We’ll mess him up! (kill him)” Miyuki agreed; the friends had no hesitation for Itzozu, after all – no one is as strong as him.

  The friends waved Itzozu goodbye as they ran towards Eridanus Street. They heard the crashing noise of metal impacting the floor and the sound of a great wildfire. Burning everything in Itzozu’s sight.

  Eventually, they reached the hotel. The outside was nothing out of the ordinary for this district, damp wood and stone crudely crafted into a vague ”“building”-like shape, as if a kid had drawn it. Pipes were roughly cut and fashioned across the roof, dripping a slow but endless pool of water.

  Slowly, they stepped inside.

  Creak, the planks of rotten wood cracked, bent and snapped under the weight of the friends; each noise echoed tenfold across the dark, cold rooms. It was extremely dark, with only a single candle lit at the end of the room, the outside light was being strangled by the damp walls behind them. Asher cast a light technique that provided a more comfortable search.

  With the small light from Asher, the friends (minus Itzozu) could see the front desk, and slowly the entire room was mapped out in their heads. They were in the reception area; two hallways went down to the first-floor rooms, and a front desk was situated in the middle of these two hallways. To the left of the front desk was a stairwell to the higher floors, and to the right were archaic vending machines with food far past its expiration date.

  Something else was in this hotel, an even bigger issue that couldn’t be ignored. “Urrrugh, this water is filthy….” Asher whined as her legs up to her knees were soaked with murky water; that was the bigger issue. The entire lower floor is submerged with a pool of knee-high water.

  What sort of disease lurks in this water?

  Walking through the pool of lukewarm water, the friends reached the front desk. On the front desk was an old computer with several exposed wires, the side panel was torn off with wires ripped, dangling from the computer to the water. “This place is abandoned…” Asher muttered while brushing her fingers against a broken keyboard.

  Her eyes trailed off the keyboard and landed on a soaked sheet of paper. She carefully picked it up by pinching the corner; she winced as the wet, sloshy paper made contact with her soft skin.

  She held the light to the paper and began reading. “Even if the assembly vanished ten years ago… We now have Zeno… I hope they can bring you back; they promised.” Asher lingered on the last part as her mind raced with thoughts.

  “I found a really sad note…” Asher alerted the friends.

  Elijah and Miyuki huddled around Asher’s light to also read the note, but their attention was diverted after a loud bang could be heard upstairs. It followed with several smaller thuds until the noise dissipated.

  With the poor condition of the hotel and the lack of anyone, the friends knew this noise had to be near or Grayson himself. With a deep breath, the friends headed to the right.

  The staircase was cold; shattered windows lined up the walls, letting a frigid breeze sweep in. Asher shivered in the cold as they made their ascent. eventually reaching the door where Grayson is rumoured to be. Asher slowly grips her hands around the handle, but with a firm push…the handle doesn’t budge.

  She whispered an incantation, and the lock on the door snapped, providing much easier access.

  The door opened and revealed a shoddy hotel room, with wallpaper stained and creased, damp carpet and mould creeping up on the roof and, most importantly, an old man sitting at the edge of a cracked, stained bed.

  He had short grey hair and a grey beard neatly shaved. He wore a black suit with a blue tie and had a blue rose in the suit pocket. His eyes were heavy like he was a war veteran; he chuckled softly as the friends came into view.

  “It was only a matter of time before someone came for it. I suppose you need my card? Whatever you need access to Sectaris for…” He questioned; his voice was raspy. He sounded like a wise old man that would tell you countless tales.

  Grayson reached into his trouser pocket, rummaging around for a split moment before pulling out the blue keycard; it had four dark blue stars and said “Sectaris Clearance” in a bright white. Grayson then threw the card. It bounced along the carpet before landing right at Elijah’s shoes.

  “You can have it. Take it and leave, or kill me. It’s not like anyone cares about an old man like me… Hah… Haha.” Grayson let out another small chuckle as the friends all looked at him with concern.

  Usually, they have to fight tooth and nail to get what they want, but now they can get what they want without even a fight. They looked at each other for a moment before Miyuki walked forward, slowly stepping towards him.

  “Oh boy, here we go…” Elijah thought to himself.

  She gets closer to Grayson and puffs her chest. “Looks like you’ve been through a lot. You know it’s selfish to keep your wise tales to yourself?!” She shouts. Grayson’s pupils shortened; he expected death, but to have someone so interested in his life?

  “Haha… Haha, alright. Let’s make this a deal, shall we? You can have the keycard; I don’t have a use for it anyway, and I’ll tell you a few stories from an old geezer. In return… you end my life.” Grayson let out a genuine laugh, ending with a sorrowful sigh.

  Miyuki looked confused; she had slaughtered many people before, but somehow this was different…

  “Well, I suppose I’ll start.

  “Back in my day, when the Assembly had sprung up… They were looking for members of their ‘directory’. The directory was the highest group of the Assembly. Before I joined, I was a manager of Fives Industry…”

  “So I was brought into the directory; how great! I was promised a lot, but did I get any of it? No, anxiety and trauma were what I got. During my hellish time there, I saw and contributed to great advancements with our “profound” technology, but as with most companies in this sorrow-filled world, our roots spread too close to the machine.”

  “One singular enforcer was sent, and our company collapsed from within… Oh, I can still hear the screaming.” Grayson clutched his head as his breathing got heavier.

  “We collapsed, and from that collapse, a void was created for companies to exploit. Starting the Grand Winter.”

  “Then… Out of the Grand Winter, a new company emerged, Sectaris… I remember everything.

  Five years ago.

  2.

  I was minding my own business, sitting on a carved park bench, watching over the endless rolling fields of green. Until someone came up to me, they wore a dark blue suit with a red rose in their pocket, and they had dark blue hair with a middle part. I remember how long his hair was; it was to his shoulders.

  “Sup, old man? I’ve heard a lot about you from Mirror Assembly; say, why don’t you hear me out?” He asked me; I didn’t sense any hostility in his voice, and I didn’t have anything to lose, so I decided to hear him out.

  “Say, I’m the CEO of a new company, a fresh one without the corrupted minds of the laws we all follow. It’s called Sectaris…”

  I immediately lost interest upon hearing that, Sectaris has recently been criticised by people for its horrible practices, even worse than the Assembly… But it’s almost like they read my mind.

  “I can bring your wife back.”

  “What…?”

  “I said I can bring her back.”

  “Hah, don’t mess with me, kid. I may be old, but I’m not incompetent.”

  “Of course, you were once a Named Agent, correct? I came to you for this reason, your strength. I can bring your wife back under one condition: you join my company. I promise, everything will go according to the prophecy.”

  Madmen.

  The Assembly was obsessed with the same exact thing, “The Prophecy”, a script written hundreds of years ago that precisely details future events; it’s been somewhat accurate so far, but who’s to say there aren't a thousand written? If you guess everything, then, of course, some parts of “everything” will happen.

  Though, my love for her was too strong, so I accepted.

  3.

  “That’s all I’ll tell you, kids. I’m sorry, but the rest are memories I want to die buried with.” Grayson sighed, looking at the friends.

  “Now then, let me leave this earth, along with the Assembly.” He muttered. Miyuki held her sword to his neck and sliced it down, killing him instantly. Miyuki’s expression was down as the friends left the hotel.

  The friends left the hotel with one of the three key cards needed to enter the gates of the inferno, Sectaris. They took one step outside and saw a massive scale of damage, as Itzozu was laughing…