Henry kept walking upward quietly.
The higher floors of the Order of the Third Hand headquarters felt different.
" Where are you folks hiding. "
The violence downstairs existed like another world entirely, muffled into distant tremors somewhere beneath polished walls.
Here, everything looked organized in the kind of way that immediately made Henry uncomfortable.
Intention usually meant something ugly hiding behind paperwork. He leaned near a corner.
Stepped back instantly, flattening himself beside a support column just before two people crossed the hallway ahead.
Dark uniforms. Third Hand insignias stitched onto coats.
The other people looked irritated.
The taller one muttered, swiping a security card through reinforced doors,
"I'm telling you. If this gets leaked, the Council is going to bury everyone involved."
The second person sighed.
"It won't leak. Just tape your mouth."
"You said that about Sector Nine."
"That was different."
"No. Children disappearing is never different."
Henry's expression changed.
Children?
The two entered a secure archive room. The door remained slightly open. Henry waited there for a longer.
"The nuclear facility reports are sealed, right?" one of them asked.
"Yes. Temporary acquisition logs, transport manifests, biological testing. Everything is locked."
"…You ever wonder why a two-star agent suddenly needed an entire power plant?"
"I stopped asking questions here a long time ago."
The door finally closed. Two minutes passed. Henry counted every second.
Eventually, they had left. Neither looked behind.
Henry moved out immediately.
The archive room smelled faintly metallic, rows of classified storage lining reinforced walls. Security systems blinked quietly in dim lighting.
There was a bank-grade lock on the vault.
Henry stared for a moment.
"They were suspicious."
Runic Flow gathered around his arm. Window of the Sky formed silently once again.
The black katana hummed softly.
"Let's see."
The blade descended.
CLANK!
The katana disappeared into particles.
Henry peeked inside the vault.
" That is some mess of documents. "
He read the headlines. They were some kind of projects.
"ABERRATION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM"
"PROJECT CAIUS"
"ORPHAN RELOCATION INITIATIVE"
"BIOLOGICAL ADAPTATION SECTOR"
Henry frowned. "…What?"
He flipped pages faster and then stopped.
He began reading a particular document.
"One month prior. Temporary acquisition agreement.
Nuclear Power Facility transferred to private authority under Order supervision.
Authorized by:
2-Star Agent [REDACTED]
Purpose: Restricted biological research.
Subcategory: Recovery and procurement of lost/orphaned minors."
Henry thought for a moment. He notched a side of the paper.
"Illegal biological experiment...? Why could a high ranking agent be doing these."
"Roland was supposed to visit there."
Henry reached for his phone instantly.
Dialed but the phone left hung.
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable."
Henry got shocked. Tried again. And again.
Silence filled the archive room differently now.
He looked back at the documents.
Henry realized something horrible.
"It means, Shams Raye's prediction was right. There is a third party behind this. But, why did they destroy the powerplant all of a sudden? There could be two possibilities in my opinion.
Someone is planning to create a mayhem on public or just to create false accusations on the candidates so 'They' themselves can achieve the throne."
Now the question is... who is this 'They'
....
The underground chamber smelled of wet that no ventilation system had managed to erase.
Men moved through the facility quickly, boots splashing through shallow water gathered beneath leaking pipes.
The deeper sectors of the headquarter had already begun shutting down.
Security systems failed one by one.
One man crouched beside a support pillar, attaching shaped explosives carefully.
"Two more charges here. We blow the lower foundation, whole structure will cave inward."
Another glanced nervously into the corridor.
"You sure this place deserves that much destruction?"
The first man snorted.
"Do as boss told us. I am surprised we are not burning the whole damn mountain."
A third adjusted wiring near exposed steel beams and sighed.
"Doesn't matter anymore. Orders are simple. Just erase everything and leave no evidence."
They heard footsteps coming from somewhere ahead. The men froze.
One slowly stood.
"Did you hear that?"
The lights flickered again.
Then a woman's voice came through the corridor.
"Oh dear. I want to you all in my collection so bad."
A small laugh echoed afterward.
"You boys really do make abandoned sections feel welcoming."
A silhouette stepped from the darkness.
A woman in relaxed posture. Completely unconcerned.
Something impossibly strange rested in her hand—a staff-scythe hybrid. Its shaft braided from living vines and golden wood that subtly pulsed like a heart pumping.
Leaves bloomed briefly along its frame before withering away into dust.
One man immediately frowned.
"Lady, wrong place, wrong time. Walk away before we gotta carve you up."
The woman stopped and then began laughing even louder wildly.
Like the threat itself had become entertainment.
One of the men suddenly went pale. His eyes locked onto the weapon.
"Wait... it can't be..."
Another looked confused.
"What?"
His voice lowered shaking slightly.
"Verdantia…"
The room changed. Because everyone knew the name.
One of the 23 Primordial Astras.
"Impossible! You people always reach us in the worst time possible!"
The woman tilted her head, smiling wider.
"Oh? I can't help but laugh because that is our job, dogs. Hahaha! "
She spun the weapon casually.
"My name is Julio Santana."
One man stepped backward instinctively.
"…That is not funny."
Another guy whispered to him,
"Wait, I heard Julio Santana of The Atlantis is dead."
The woman's grin widened. "Mm."
She tapped the scythe lightly against the floor.
"You know, wielders of Primordial Astras aren't supposed to tell people their names. Because it is forbidden."
She leaned slightly forward. She rolled her eyes.
"You are all going to die anyway."
One of the agents swore under his breath and immediately raised his rifle.
"Forget the stories! She's one person. Attack!"
Three attacked at once.
One flanked left with a combat blade while another fired controlled bursts toward Julio's chest. A third activated a Runic restraint wire meant for hostile Astra users.
Julio sighed dramatically.
"Oh God. You boys really forgot the survival instinct at home."
She lifted Verdantia lazily. The living vines around the shaft gripped.
The staff suddenly extended unnaturally, growing several meters in less than a second before splitting apart into twisting vine-whips edged with crystalline growth.
"Now deploying, 'Natural Morphing'."
The first attacker barely raised his knife. A vine wrapped around his wrist.
CRACK!
His arm twisted backward at a direction nature had never intended. Bone pushed visibly beneath skin before he screamed and fell on the ground.
The second agent fired. Julio tilted slightly as if dodging a paper ball. Bullets missed by inches.
Like somebody who had long ago stopped respecting danger.
"Oh sweetheart, you are aiming like rent is overdue."
The crystalline edge of Verdantia hardened instantly into a dual-bladed scythe.
One smooth motion.
The man's chest armor split open violently, flesh beneath ruptured from accelerated aging as though decades of damage struck all at once.
He dropped screaming as loudly he could.
Another rushed from behind.
Julio laughed.
A vine erupted from the staff and wrapped around his throat before slamming him headfirst into concrete hard enough to leave blood across the wall.
Elsewhere, two agents coordinated surprisingly well. One suppressed fire while the other attempted a Runic immobilization seal.
It almost worked.
" You guys know plenty of good tricks. "
She smiled even more wider.
"Oh."
The crystalline blade shattered intentionally.
Fragments burst outward.
Anything touched aged instantly. Every metal rusted, restraints decayed and weapons cracked apart.
The men stumbled backward.
Julio twirled Verdantia casually.
"You know, I haven't eaten properly in forever."
She crouched beside one groaning survivor.
"I think I will boil you alive." she said with a cheerful voice.
Her smile widened unnaturally.
"Little dishes. Hahaha!"
Several agents immediately backed away.
One whispered shakily,
"…She is insane."
Julio overheard. "Correct! Now, get ready!"
Julio raised Verdantia again.
The living vines gripped around the shaft while crystalline edges reshaped themselves.
Around her, wounded agents struggled across blood-slick flooring, some clutching ruined limbs.
Others dragging themselves desperately toward fallen weapons they no longer had strength to use.
Julio sighed dramatically.
"Oh, don't crawl away now." she said with genuine disappointment.
She crouched beside one man whose chest still trembled from accelerated decay.
"I was just beginning to organize dinner plans."
The agent coughed blood.
"You are—"
"A delight?" Julio smiled brightly. "NO! I AM A MONSTER!"
She gasped.
"Oh, sweetie, monster is such a lazy word. I prefer enthusiast more you know. Now, let's go!"
"Hearken." A voice came out of nowhere.
Julio stunned but in annoyance. She turned her head.
"…Oh, come on."
The wall behind the chamber warped strangely.
Shadows peeled apart like curtains as someone stepped through solid concrete.
Though the distinction between matter and physics no longer applied.
An old man dressed in dark veils worn like funeral tradition rather than fashion. In one hand rested a long black scythe.
His voice carried the softness of somebody who had spoken at too many graves.
"Child, thou wert bidden to seize these souls, not scatter them into the dust."
Julio pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Uncle, Mr. Death!"
She gestured vaguely toward the injured men.
"They were causing trouble. I am solving the trouble. I didn't do anything wrong right?"
The old man tilted his head.
"These be suspects for our current proposal. Questions remain unanswered. Thou shalt not slaughter what yet may speak."
Julio's grin twitched then widened dangerously.
"Oh, no, no, no."
She stood fully now, eyes lighting with unsettling excitement.
"You don't understand. I love corpses!"
Several wounded agents visibly recoiled.
Julio clasped her hands dramatically.
"One day, I am going to complete filling my swimming pool of decapitated body parts and tasty blood! And then I will swim in it tearing my clothes!"
One injured agent whispered,
"What the hell…"
Julio ignored him. Then pointed Verdantia toward the old man.
"Fine. You wanna stop me?"
She spun the weapon once.
"Let's duel."
The old man sighed.
The tired sigh of someone deeply familiar with impossible relatives.
"Verily, thou remainest profoundly unwell."
Julio beamed. "Awww. So that is a yes?"
The old man adjusted his grip on the scythe with slow patience, veil shifting softly as though even movement obeyed quieter rules around him.
He did not raise his weapon aggressively.
He simply looked tired.
"Child, thou hast challenged me twenty-three times."
Julio thought for a moment.
"…Was it twenty-three?"
"I am a Liar, princess. Thou hast lost over millennials of occasion most spectacularly."
Julio pointed accusingly.
"Okay, first of all... You Are Rude!"
The old man continued calmly.
"There exists no profit in repeating inevitable outcomes."
Julio grinned wider, spinning Verdantia.
"Who cares unless it does."
Then leaned forward slightly.
"But what if I am feeling inspirationally violent today?"
The old man sighed.
A long, disappointed grandfather sigh.
"Then I suppose, we begin another regrettable lesson."