“Today marks the seventh day since the Summer Scare. While authorities are monitoring spatial fluctuations, they remain hopeful that no additional breakthroughs will spawn. Although the Big Four had resumed guild try-outs against their advice, there have not been any incidents since the breakthrough at Angels Guild. As we speak, the remaining exams are concluding and within the coming days, young men and women will be eagerly awaiting an email in their inbox."

  “...The ‘Summer Scare,’ that has a nice ring to it. Everyone will forget about this within a year.” Rector turned off the TV and swiveled in his chair, facing his three most troublesome subordinates, but his eyes were on someone else. “What do you think about this?”

  Leo, Morgan, and I stood at attention in respect for the Guild Master and Vice Guild Master of Angels Guild; and most importantly, the No.1 of the [Fabel Rankings] and the only SSS-Rank Slayer in the world, Kosmos.

  We’d first met back during the final operation before he had to return to Korea; he only found time to show up today, and not for long considering his schedule. Like always, he wore his famous [Myth Compound Armor], standing powerfully by simply holding his hands together. It reminded me of Uncle: they both used the smallest gestures to command the utmost respect, letting even the blindest and most arrogant know of this fact. They were both legends in their own right.

  Despite having used his signature, it was still nerve-wracking to stand in the same room as him.

  Kosmos tilted his head toward Rector. “Considering Angels Guild has less calls for dissolution as of late, I think we can consider the ‘Summer Scare’ a success.” (“They’re still higher than previous months. I did the math.”) “Thank you, Rector. How’s the front with the internationals?”

  Rector rolled his eyes. “I sent you the memo. Did you read it?”

  Kosmos said nothing.

  “You’re very fortunate that a fountain pen can’t pierce your [Armor].”

  “Gentlemen…” Seraph sighed and impatiently tapped her finger against her desk. “Let’s not break into another argument in front of our team. They’ve been disillusioned enough as it is. But to answer your question, Nathan…”

  She stood from her chair and presumably held a copy of said memo in her hands. She walked around and placed it firmly in her husband’s metal fingers in a way that felt PG-13. “They’re conceding this as a loss. First Class Agent Dwyer is expectedly in hot water while the eight-fourteens are wiping their hands clean.”

  I raised my hand before speaking, “Did they—whoever it is—purposefully set up Dwyer to fail?”

  “I see it more as a test than a trap,” Rector commented. “A test he failed, both operationally and professionally. Snakes like him, they’re good at shifting blame; today, he lost to a bigger snake.”

  Right. I guess Angels Guild had been fighting a long war against the Global Union since basically its inception. The Summer Scare was one of many battles between them. Knowing our government overlords, they had other levers to pull. I guess they wanted to see if Dwyer was competent enough to take down the king, and they received their answer. From the beginning, I think, trying to frame us as geddons or apocs was his first and fatal mistake—assuming if Dietrich hadn’t given him the idea.

  Whatever the case, we likely wouldn’t see Dwyer again.

  While publicly, Angels Guild was in the clear, it was a different matter internally. Our Board of Operations might harbor additional doubts regarding the current direction of the guild, especially knowing the reason why I was called here in the first place. Worrying about guild politics wasn’t in my job description, but better to acknowledge the threat than walk around obliviously.

  As Kosmos read over the memo, he nodded, his expression seemingly positive. “Good, speaking of memos, I did read Sophos’s report— (“Oh, you read hers but not mine?”) “—Conqueror, you’re tougher than you look and that’s saying something. Other than [The Fool’s Many Faces], you’re experiencing zero symptoms?”

  I glanced at Morgan. “Other than having my ear talked off, mhm. Sophos couldn’t determine what [Skill] Astraria had given me, but from the looks of things, I’m healthy.”

  Morgan huffed from my staring and nodded. “Alexander’s vacation in the Alternate Space didn’t seem to negatively affect him—aside from memory loss of the event, obviously. The same can be said for yourself, Kosmos.”

  Yeah, I couldn’t remember much after entering the Alternate Space (the name invented by Sophos). Really, the most I recall was my conversation with Astraria. Everything else was a blur, which might be a good thing considering I’d experienced my otherselves’ memories. The most annoying part was having to attend daily check-ups for the past seven days.

  Rector butted in, “I already said my piece regarding your recklessness—both of you—but for the love of all that is good and holy, think before you commit to something like this.”

  Seraph chimed, “It’s Nathan. He doesn’t have a brain when it comes to saving a poor soul.”

  Then Leo, “It’s Alex. From our short time, he feels the need to do rescue every damsel he finds."

  “I’m not that thoughtless.”

  “I’m not a skirt-chaser.”

  Morgan sighed and started shaking his head while Rector looked for a gun to put inside his mouth.

  Leo shrugged her shoulders without a care in the world. “Let’s discuss why you called this meeting today. Is it because we may or may not have new members in our team?”

  Despite the exciting news, Rector looked the opposite of excited. “Yes, unfortunately, our little family is growing much to my dismay. Let’s talk about the strangest one first: Amamizu Rei. We’ve discussed the situation and came to an agreement. As long as we help him fulfill his ‘mission,’ he’ll lend his blade. Currently, he’s living with Chie and Aiden; hopefully, they don’t mind a roommate. As for his, err, strange characteristics, our expert in all-things-Japanese is away for most of the summer. In the meantime, we'll have Sophos attempt to uncover some of his mysteries.”

  I assumed we wouldn’t know his “mission” unless he shared first, which was the same for all of us. I mean, didn't he want to defeat Yomiya Yasuyuki or...?

  Rector moved on from the kid: “Victor Taslim and Okano Kotone, the ‘normal’ ones in the team. There’s nothing special I can say about them; we revealed the nature of our team and they accepted the offer without hesitation. Good, they can balance out you freaks—no offense intended. But your friend, Li Chunhua, was more straightforward with her expectations. Considering we have more than one individual with Jianghu connections, we didn’t find a reason to deny her. Unless she decides to assassinate a member of the demonic faction.”

  Leo scoffed and proudly crossed her arms.

  Unlike Rei, I knew what Chunhua wanted: the head of the man who’d framed her master. She likely outright told Seraph and Rector that she was using Angels Guild to build her strength and enter the Jianghu. With the Demonic Cult as an unlikely ally, her mission might actually be possible. It'd mean being on the same team as a demonic princess, though. I don't want to imagine how their "relationship" might turn out.

  I raised my hand again. “What about Uncle Ali and Thea?”

  “We have…” Rector shiftily glanced at Kosmos and Seraph, “...something different planned for your sister. We’re working out the details right now. As for your uncle, he will take my position: the commander.”

  Morgan and Leo were taken aback by this news. While my uncle—an ordinary human—had fought two Alternates, it was still incredibly unorthodox to have him lead a team filled with freaks and prodigies.

  Morgan floated forward in protest. “I don’t mean to insult Romanos, but is he capable of—?”

  Seraph cut him off, “There is no one better. He’ll handle your daily affairs, and seeing the suggestions he has already made, prepare for a long few months.”

  I whistled. I could already feel the pain coming onto me. Putting him in-charge was the best choice. The best yet most sadistic choice.

  Leo nudged me. “What is she talking about? What’s your uncle planning?”

  “You’ll find out soon, princess.”

  That did nothing to appease her worries.

  Rector said, “We’ll formalize these changes with a fancy document and everything. By then, we’ll be an official team, no longer an off-the-books thing. Prepare for it. You’ll surely face harassment from your peers and other challenges. Until then, rest. Take as much time as you need to recover from last week’s excitement because things will only escalate from here. And Alexander?”

  I nodded. “Yessir?”

  “We already sent a housewarming gift courtesy of Seraph. It should be arriving soon.”

  More gifts, hurray. “I’ll find a place for it,” I promised.

  “With the thousands of other gifts he has,” Leo joked—actually no, she wasn’t joking. “I’ll help him organize like the good neighbor I am.”

  Yeah, can’t believe I was living in the same apartment building as this dumbass, but you had to make use of connections. There was an unoccupied apartment and she was on friendly terms with the owner.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “We’ll let you go in that case,” Seraph said. “We don’t have anything else to share. Unless…?”

  Both Kosmos and Rector came up empty.

  “I’ll stay for a few words,” Morgan told us. “You run along and settle into your new apartment. This time, you shouldn’t be interrupted by internationals.”

  “That’s the dream.” Leo patted my arm. “Let’s go, Alex.”

  After a little bow, we made for the doors, and all I could think about was where the fuck everything was going to go.

  ***

  After the departure of Leona and Alexander, Morgan Weyer stood before the Angels. He’d saved this conversation when Kosmos bothered to appear. It took seven days of impatience, and finally, he could utter the words he’d been meaning to say.

  “...You have information on the Almagest,” Morgan accused; rather, it wasn’t an accusation. It was a confirmation of fact. “When you promised to aid in the search for Master Alzahrani, you all knew about the Almagest. It cannot be a coincidence that Astraria, a member, appears now. In fact, it must be why you attempted to contact other Slayer Worldlines. Are my deductions correct?”

  Although Seraph and Rector exchanged uneasy looks, Kosmos was stalwart. He confirmed, “You’re correct, Morgan, but even after all these years, we hardly know anything about them. We’re in the dark as much as you are, which is why we abstained from drawing any hasty conclusions.”

  “And now?”

  “Now? We’re even more confused.” Kosmos sighed and put a hand on his hip, looking at the many trophies on the walls and in displays. “The Almagest had nearly destroyed our Worldline during the Terrors. Multiple times. But Astraria? She threw a wrench into everything we'd previously theorized. But our leads haven’t completely run dry…”

  He stared at a decorated, stylized map of the world. Specifically, his object of focus was Korea. “The Taeyang Group likely has a connection to the Almagest, and we know they’re planning something big. That’s why we’re prepping Althea to infiltrate Baekyong Academy during the fall semester.”

  Morgan, underneath his hood, bit his lips. “So our next battlefield is Korea? Will we get our answers then?”

  Kosmos put a finger on the Korean Peninsula, seemingly grimacing. “Your lips to God's ears, Morgan.”

  ***

  “Alright, what did they get me…?” I tossed the box-cutter aside, ripped the tape and packaging open, and pulled out a bronze statue depicting wings glorious. It didn’t seem cheap. You could count every individual feather, and on each feather, you could count every ridge and bump. Not bad for my signing bonus, but I preferred money, not conversation pieces.

  “Ooo, fancy.” Without asking, my sister snatched my gift and felt its weight in her hands. “How much you think this will go online? Thousand bucks? A million won?”

  “A million won is around seven-hundred dollars, US.” Leo came around and filched the thing. “And don’t talk about selling your brother’s trophies. Maybe he wants to put it inside his room.”

  “I don’t really decorate my room.”

  “He can’t decorate for shit.”

  Leo clicked her tongue and shook her head side-to-side thinking. “We’ll put it in the living room.”

  “With what shelf?”

  “He gotta make the shelf first.”

  “Okay, how about I throw it out the balcony?”

  “It’ll fly.”

  “It got wings.”

  “I so look forward to working with you guys.” Leo placed the trophy on a random surface before grabbing a box and moving to the kitchen—wait, that’s my shit, isn’t it?

  “Hold on, princess—and she’s gone. Well, guess we need to add a few things to the shopping list and pray I don't go broke.” Knowing her, she was going to drop that box and everything I’d paid top-dollar for would end up in pieces.

  “Well, our funds are more or less infinite at this point.” Uncle Ali came into the living room with a couple suspicious-looking cases.

  Althea snapped her fingers and pointed at them. “How many guns are you smuggling into our apartment?”

  Uncle held his new toys up. “These are clean.” We squinted our eyes. “Most of them are clean.” Narrower, until our eyes were straight lines. “They have papers.”

  I asked, “Are those papers forged?”

  “They exist. Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to bury them in my room.” Our uncle, as wonderfully prepared and paranoid as he was, briskly walked down the hall as if his new toys weighed nothing.

  At the same time, Leo came out of the kitchen and just caught the cases in his hands. “How many damned guns is he smuggling into your apartment?”

  “They’re clean,” Thea said. (“Most of them,” I corrected.) “They have papers.”

  “...Who, exactly, is your uncle?” Leo asked, flabbergasted. “From what Auntie told me, he’s ‘a surprisingly charismatic man.’ She doesn’t say that about anyone, and no one talks with the Cheonma that casually.”

  “Who indeed.” My foot kicked against a bag that hadn’t been unpacked. I started working on it, setting a few things against the wall to organize later. These were decorations meant for the living room.

  Althea whipped her phone out and began checking her messages. “‘Tis the question, ain’t it?”

  “Here I thought I knew almost everything about your family.” Leo kindly kneeled to my level and helped me. “Give me some hints, though. I’m interested.”

  Ha, she would have a heart attack if she knew the truth, but I indulged her: “It’s nothing special. Our parents taught us how to defend ourselves; Uncle taught us how to fight. We learned how to work with anything that falls into our grubby hands. Iron, blades, blunt instruments—” (“Pencils.”) “—too Hollywood, but alright.”

  Althea put her phone down. “Jackass, you stabbed two guys with pens. What’s the difference—?”

  I stopped sorting through the decorations. “Pencils are way too brittle. You’d need to stick it into some really soft tissue or their orifices, like their ear canals or up their nostrils or eyes. Besides.” I went back to sorting. “Didn’t you stab that guy in your sophomore year?”

  Leo stared at her. “You did what?”

  “Okay, look, I didn’t stab him. He pulled my hair, so I turned around and drew on his neck with a sharp-ass pencil.”

  “See?” I laughed, shaking my head. “It’s a miracle she graduated, princess.”

  “What 'bout you?” Finally, Thea got off her ass and began putting the decorations away to their tentative spots. “You have a hundred stories about beating up some junior in OU. What about Chunhua? You guys had a big rivalry.”

  Leo showed interest. “Really? You and the orthodox girl had a rivalry?”

  “Something like that. We met, I mouthed off, we fought, I unexpectedly humbled her.” I pulled out a few trinkets, smiled, and gently set them down. “Rinse and repeat until we decided to be mature. Look at us now. Good friends!”

  Thea snorted, patting my shoulder which really made me suspicious. “They fucked.”

  I nearly dropped a picture-frame.

  “We did not fuck—” Leo stared at me wide-eyed as if she thought I was a virgin. “—Christ, stop staring at me like that. We went out for three dates—three-in-a-half dates. Alright? Three-in-a-half dates. It didn’t work out, so we stayed as friends.”

  “You didn’t fuck her? She’s gorgeous!” Leo asked, disappointed—wait, what?

  “Why do you sound disappointed—? No, I didn’t, and you know what? I think that’s the last thing I’m saying about my lovelife.” (“Sexlife,” chimed Thea.) “Shut the hell up, you goddamn imp.”

  Leo raised her hands. “Alright, then how about this: what’s for dinner? We could order something. I know a few places, and this time, we won’t get pizza.”

  “Or Alex can cook something up. Y’know, it’s been a while since we had something home-cooked,” Thea nudged.

  Ugh, figured she’d ask that. I was more frustrated that I favored her suggestion; it’d felt like a long time since I spent time in the kitchen. Putting it off any longer, I might forget how to use a knife—plus, with our hefty paycheck, we could really splurge on our first real dinner at our new apartment…

  The girls were waiting for my answer.

  I sighed. “I’ll see what’s at the grocery store, but we’d better go now. Unless you guys want to stay here and unpack boxes by yourself.”

  “Sounds like an excuse to me!” Althea rushed to the door to put her comfortable shoes on.

  “It’s a date, lovely.” Leo brushed her hands and stopped at the hallway. “Ali, we’re heading to the grocery store! Text us if you need anything!”

  “Received!” Uncle replied in his room.

  As the girls filtered into the hallway to discuss recipes, I pulled out one last item from the bag: an old family photo. Mom and Dad had taken us to Niagara Falls when we were kids, so like any ordinary family, we had the perfect scenery for a picture. Look at us. Look at me and Thea. We were two stupid, smiling kids with our parents who’d given us everything and so much more.

  I stood up, wiping dust off the picture-frame, and I set it on the table underneath our mounted TV. “It’ll be a long night, but we’ll make it work. Already…”

  I looked around at our new apartment, seeing empty boxes and bags stacked on each other, random shit thrown about, mail that had been piling up—there was a disaster at every corner of the house. Despite that…

  “This is starting to feel like home.”

  “Alex!” Althea poked her head through the open door. “You comin’ or what?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be there. You guys decided on what you want?”

  I left the apartment with the girls in tow, thinking about tonight’s dinner.

  [Complete: Volume 1 - Sacrificed Star]

  [Next: Volume 1.5 - Welcome to Your New Life, Episode 1 - Farewell, Althea]

  ***

  “Kosmos.”

  “Mister Romanos.”

  The soldier sat down with the No.1 Slayer in the world, alone in his office, with nothing but the ticking clock as ambiance.

  Kosmos looked at his helmet on the table.

  For this long-awaited conversation, he would shed the name of “Kosmos” and speak as Nathan Hyun; likewise, the other man would be known as Alistair Romanos. They, against everything, were two men speaking honestly.

  Thus, Nathan offered, “Coffee?”

  ***

  “—we’re still investigating the Alternate Space, but as far as we can tell, my rather stupid knight-in-shining-armor has largely been unaffected during his stay. Is there anything else you wish to know?”

  “No, that’s all.”

  “Well, I’ll be off. Whenever we speak again, I hope there’s tea involved.”

  Sophia ended the call.

  “Ha…” And the Magician combed a hand through his ivory white hair. “How unexpected. To think they accessed the ‘Alternate Space’ so easily, and yet, we toiled for centuries to even view a single image.”

  The Magician opened his journal and flipped to a fresh page. With a pen in hand, he wrote. “Let’s begin anew, then.”

  and 3.1 is just the first part of the "Korea Arc."

  last but not least: i will be taking a 1 week break from posting chapters, then on February 25, we'll return with our regularly scheduled chapters with volume 1.5, welcome to your new life!