A girl wearing black glasses and a new elegant costume, returns to one of the Faith Organization's bases bringing them the bad news for their operation to capture Aniik.
???- I'm sorry, uh, sir, but our squad got utterly annialated. Only I managed to escape...
Antonio- Tsk... The squad from base 2, destroyed like that...? At least, did you gather any information of what happened, Millie?
Millie looks at a label in the room reading "Base 4" and then responds.
Millie- Information? The only thing I learned was that we're all incompetent and stupid.
Antonio- For real? Are you the new replacement for Kanae? Mind your speech or else I'll report this to Zaiaku.
Millie- Who's this again?
Eveyone in the hidden base gasp after hearing that question and stay dumbfounded. They can't believe this naive young woman is a member of the Faith Organization.
Antonio - Our Faithful Leader, Zaiaku...... Do you have a death wish?
Millie- Not particularly.
Antonio gets really mad and orders Millie to go to work at once.
Antonio- Listen. I don't know where the fuck you came from, but this attitude is unacceptable. Show me what you can do, or else I'LL EXCOMMUNICATE YOU!
Millie doesn't really care about being nice to him, but she has things to do in her life, so she shows him what she is capable of.
Antonio- I want you to focus all the statelites on different areas of the Lingering World.
Typing at the speed of light, Millie proceeds to focus all 20 satelites on the Lingering World in an instant and position the angles to useful spots.
"Wow.."
The other members exclaim.
"Hmph! Let's see how she handles this..."
Antonio- Hack into this building's security system.
The building Antonio points at is the tallest building in Saintdom that used to gather Holy Energy to form the Barrier.
The new analyst seemlessly hacks into the tower's system and exposes all its security layouts. On top of that she also finds out that it's currently inoperational.
Antonio- Amazing... Millie, you're way better than Kanae.... I'm surprised your talent was unnoticed for so long!
Antonio takes a better look at her and says "And also, ehm, have you always had such... Uh.. Ahem"
He shakes his head and looks away.
Antonio- Anyhow, you're in charge of everything computer related. I'll give you a raise, as well. Good work.
Millie doesn't give a shit about the raise, but she gets to work nonetheless. She tries to find a few things in the Lingering World through the satelite without the other members finding out. So focused is she in fact, that she almost misses a really important event that promptly takes place.
After proving that the Barrier has been undone, Antonio calls Zaiuaku and gives him the intel. As a result, Zaiaku decides on something and declares his intents to all units in all hidden bases.
A video of Zaiaku appears on the main monitor stationed in the middle of the room in every hidden base. With his formal costume and distinguishable mask, Zaiaku declares War with the Lingerians.
After listening to this declaration, Millie gets anxious. She doesn't have much time. She starts searching files, looking at cameras and extracting other important pieces of information.
"Cameras: Lingering World: North Shrine. There's nothing there except for ruins..."
Millie- (...)
"West, East, South... Nothing?!"
"Saintdom."
Millie double clicks the file to see the angle of the satelite above Saintdom.
"Location 1, nothing, Location 2, nothing, 3, 4, 5..."
Millie- Come on, they must be here somewhere...
"Location 6!"
Millie widens her eyes. She then closes that window and opens some other files. "Faith Organization: members: leaders: founder: Zaiaku"
Nothing appears.
Millie- Shit..
Millie searches for information on Zaiaku but her efforts are futile. There's not a single file dedicated to him. And on top of that, now that Zaiaku has finished his speech and the War is announced, Antonio is coming back to check up on her.
Waching him slowly approach her desk, Millie selects some files she has on her screen, copies them and sends them somewhere.
"Come on!"
Waiting for the process to finish scares her to death. But in the nick of time, the files are sent and Millie quickly closes the tab. She then pretends to be working on something actually useful to the Faith Organization and plays it cool when she sees Antonio.
Antonio- I see you're hard at work. Now that the War is decided, I'm proud to have such a great asset on my main unit. I expect great things from you!
Millie pretends to be smiling and then works on one final thing before closing the computer. Typing at extraordinary speed, she uses her broad knowledge of computers and code to tamper with some things extremely accurately, without leaving any evidence behind.
But in the next moment, out of the blue, all computers and the entire system in base 4 suddenly get corrupted.
Millie- We have a breach in our system! That's bad.. Somebody hacked in and corrupted everything!
All the computer screens have flickering blackscreens and are malfunctioning.
Antonio- What is the meaning of this?! And it's not only the system! All our drones and aircrafts have been also been hit!
"This will buy us some time..." she thinks while closing her light blue eyes.
Amidst all this chaos of everyone trying to get the system back up, Samei Kendomo removes Millie's black glasses and gets out of the hidden base without being seen.
-------------------------------------------
The squad of Angels lead by Aniik and Yonuro moves forward with determined steps. "Determined..." That's what it feels like at first glance, but if you dig deep down in their souls, only then can you fathom how scared they actually are.
Their defeat wasn't easily accepted. It did a number on their morale and self confidence. As a result, this sudden outburst of determination from getting everyone back on their feet is, unfortunately, nothing sort of a hyproctirical act. A pitiful last resort just to keep them going.
Their situation doesn't allow for the slightest discouragement to affect them. Sachrist is miles ahead of them. They have to keep going. They have to catch up to him. They don't have the luxury to be sad about their defeat if they want to stop him.
But the tense atmposhpere after explaining the truth to Ramael, combined with the unknown fate of her friends back in the Overworld is making Yonuro feel unsettled and psychologically insecure. Despite her desicive character, she can't help but have bad thoughts about it all.
*Sigh...*
The party's movements get slower as Yonuro's pacing becomes slower and more uncertain.
Aniik quickly catches up with how she's feeling. That determined show from earlier was just that. A show. Deep down, Yonuro's worried. So much so that she has now stopped walking.
Ramael, having thoughts similar to Yonuro, and even worse I might add, knows what's happening and has a pensive expression from looking at her friend.
Ramael- Yonuro... This pessimism you're feeling deep down, from this tragic truth and our defeat, I truly understand... It is really hard for me, too... We're in a tough spot...
Yonuro agrees with Ramael, but she makes a gesture with her right hand to stop her from talking. Ramael is slightly confused. "Was she wrong about Yonuro's feelings?"
No, that's not the case. Ramael can confidently tell how Yonuro's feeling, if she's feeling down, anxious or happy. Then, what explains this sudden gesture?
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Yonuro closes her eyes and focuses. Her Angelic Veil allows her to feel anything and everything around her.
Yonuro- Ramael. Our situation is...
Yonuro turns around and points her forefinger at the sky.
"Even worse than we thought..."
Everyone widens their eyes when they see a unit of 100 armed combat aircrafts flying above their heads up in the sky and quickly getting past them.
The soundwaves that penetrate their ears when the warplanes pass by are so loud and intense that everyone starts plucking their ears so as to not lose their hearing.
The majority of the aircrafts leave them behind, but that's not the case for a few of them, specifically designed to kill Lingerians on sight.
Yonruo- Find cover, everyone!
The girls hide between the gaps of two consecutive buildings and decide to lay low for now.nThe aircrafts, armed with heavy stationed guns, fire their first array of bullets. Their initial targets are the Lingerians in the vicinity that had neither gotten the memo from the battle with Sachrist nor the Accursed riots from earlier.
"Units one through 10, Open Fire!"
The combat airplanes make quick work of the unarmed, innocent Lingerians.
Now that there is not a single soul—apparently—left outside, the second barrage of bullets targets the most luxurious-looking buildings, especially around the area where the ministries of welfare and internal defence are located.And just like that, this marks the end of the Lingering World's upper class left standing.
And finally, the 10 "immigrant" aircrafts join the main group for a round of catastrophic bombardment. As Yonuro had sensed earlier, the situation got real worse real quick.
Yulim- Crap! What are all those battleplanes? This cannot be an attack directed by the Accursed!
Kallian- You are correct, sister... This is not a petty accursed retaliation...
Aniik- This is a fully fledged out War sign...
One after the other, the bombs continue ruining everything in the capital, once refered to as a "Holyground". Buildings erased, houses destroyed, sights and statues forever ruined. In a matter of seconds, this recreated beauty is diminished to ash once more...
The last bomb is thrown and then the aircrafts move somewhere else, where they start fighting with the Lingering World's meagre line of defense. The fainting sound of their high velocity maneauvers is the last thing that can be heard before silence befalls the city.
The damage dealt to the structural aspect of Saintdom is massive. Using the intel from the satelites and other well harvested pieces of information, this powerful aerial unit destroyed all the ministries of the Lingering World and the country has well and truly fallen into chaos. All order is lost, just how all hope is lost for the future of the New World...
After leaving their hiding spot and walking onwards for a couple more minutes, the girls see this misery with their own two eyes. And the climax of this desperate looking scene comes when they finally arrive at the hyperboop system in Saintdom.
Yonuro- It's all... gone... Completely destroyed...
Along with the capital, their hopes are also crushed. Their only means of travelling to the West Shrine in time is destroyed.
Yonuro kneels before the ruins of the fastest train on earth and tries not to cry. Loss after loss after loss...
"We won't stop Sachrist like that..." This thought haunts her. As the leader of the group is down in the dumbs, the others can't help but feel nothing else but sadness.
Yonuro- Fuck!
Yonuro punches the ground that is free of broken pieces of marble and glass. She then remains silent for a bit so as to not make it obvious that she's crying by talking. Everyone is silently looking down, gripped by pessimism and despair...
But at that moment... A dim light of hope appears in front of her eyes.
"I'm sorry... I tried to stop them..."
Yonuro wipes her teary eyes and gets flabbergasted when she looks at her wrist.
Her discreet bracelet shines for a brief moment and then, a realistic projection of a person manifests in the form of a nostalgic Hologram.
Yonuro- SAMEI! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!
Yonuro can't help but smile after seeing this nostalgic face of her friend.
Hologram Samei- Oh, I've missed you so so much, Yonuro...
The hologram almost tears up.
Hologram Samei- Wait wait, come here Geord, it's Yonuro!
Geord- WHAT?! 'COMING!
Geord almost trips on his way to the repaired-with-tape kitchen table.
Geord- Hold on. How does this work again? Uh.. Fuck.. Eh... Ah, I got it!
The hologram changes from Samei to Geord.
Hologram Geord- Hey, Yonurooo! I'm so glad to see you again!
Yonuro- Geord! I—I— I have no words! You two are incredible...
Hologram Samei- Haha, I wish we were! I was just lucky to notice that the words "No Signal" from the hologram model on my laptop were gone, so I tried to contact your bracelet and voila!
"The New World must be the cause for this." murmurs Aniik as she approaches to say hi to her friends.
Aniik- Heya!
Hologram Ikki- Hello, Aniik!
Ramael- Wait, who's this?
Yonuro and the other Angels widen their eyes upon looking at the unfamiliar face.
Ramael- Woah, you made a new friend guys?
Samei introduces her brother to the others and then Yonuro does the same for the other Angels. This brief moment of relief is what they all needed. A genuine smile in desperate times can give you the courage to move on and fight against all odds.
Apart from this precious moment, however, they quickly fall short on happy things to talk about. The circumstances on both parties are pretty dire after all.
Hologram Samei- I really want to keep on talking with you guys like this, but we all know we can't do that...
Everyone has a pensive expression as they know this too well already.
Hologram Samei- The Faith Organization has officially declared War with the Lingerians of the New World... I believe these ruins that surround you are due to the warplanes they sent to bring catastrophe upon this alien land.
Yonuro- The Faith Organization announcing the New World War... Sachrist wasn't basing his fictional stories on nothing, apparently... His inspiration was the future...
Aniik- Wait wait, how do you know all this stuff, Samei? We thought you didn't even know that the New World was created!
Hologram Samei- I snuck into the Faith Organization's fourth hidden base pretending I was one of their members that Ikki got rid of, Millie Sebastien.
Everyone widens their eyes and Yonuro takes it a step further and asks for everyone's safety.
Yonuro- What-what-what-what. What? What the hell happened?! Where are you guys now? Is everyone safe?
Hologram Samei- Yes, we are safe but... Look. We're in Geord's house which, after the devastating earthquake, has been on life support. The kitchen table I'm standing my laptop on for instance is put together with duct tape. I wouldn't say we're safe per ce, but at least we managed to fend off the Faith Organization's assult unit, which invaded Geord's out of nowhere, looking for Aniik.
Other than that, your dad is also safe, Yonuro, just like my old man. The rehabilitation centre just like my house weren't hit by the earthquake that much. We were lucky with this one.
"They must have taken control of all satelites from the R.C.S.P. and issued an attack from those signals..." Aniik assumes from Samei's intel. She is upset that Sachrist also mentioned this in his story. "This bastard... He knew everything all along..."
Samei is reserved with her words and takes a moment to think. Purposefully, she doesn't mention the gruesome death of Kanae Tokiyama, for obvious reasons.
"Things are already desperate. I shouldn't tell them about Kanae... It'd do more harm than good." Thinks Samei while carefully ommiting this important detail while explaining.
After this brief moment of silence, it's now Samei's turn to ask the others--
Hologram Samei- Enough about me, though. You guys... What the hell is going on over there?!
Quite a reasonable question from Samei's point of view. Seeing Aniik and 3 Angels, who should be doing their duty, all free roaming in the Lingering World, heavily injured and desperately looking for something, isn't all that normal one could say.
Yonuro painlessly bites her lips and starts explaining their situation to Samei, Geord and Ikki. She tells them about the grand betrayal of the man who they all trusted, the one who they all fought for, the Omniscient Archangel, Sachrist.
Midway through, Ramael bursts into tears after being reminded by all this. Yonuro tries to help her friend keep it together after such a tearful breakdown and Aniik takes over to finish the explanation.
The expressions of our friends back in the Overworld are shockingly painful to watch. To realise that Yonuro's journey and duty as an Angel have all been a lie, that Ramael's 400 years of obedience were nothing more than blindess by love, and more importantly the thorny road that they all have ahead of them.
The undeniable truth is that they lost to Sachrist. And they never know if they can defeat him next time. Omniscience... This power should only be reserved for godlike beings like us. These mortals... I feel sorry for them. What a torment omniscience must be for them...
Despite feeling complete from the wonders of the New World, I won't close my eyes until I see this unfair thing overturned. This Unbalance He created... It must be undone...
Hologram Samei- I have no words... This is all— Too cruel...
Hologram Ikki- What are we going to do...?
Silence fills the telecoms in both parties. On the one hand we have the unstoppable force, the Faith Organization, declaring the New World War, and on the other we have the most fearsome man on earth, the Accursed Angel, Sachrist.
Seeing everyone slowly give in to despair and lose hope makes Geord act up. He takes a step forwards so that the camera points directly at him and does what he's best at.
Geord- We can't let that bring us down, everyone! What if the end goal is far way from us? We're gonna speed up and reach it! What if there's no possible solution to our problem? We'll figure out another way! We'll carve our own path!
No matter how bad the situation is, we all have to move forward! If we stop now, then all our efforts will have been for naught. The future we all dream of doesn't come easily. But it will never come if we stop trying to make it happen!
Geord has everyone attached to his speech, moved in every sense of the word.
Geord- So what do we do? We will keep on fighting! You guys will find a way to defeat Sachrist, and we over here will find a way to bring the Faith Organization down! If we keep on trying, then the path in front of us will open. It's never too late. We will create a future that we're proud to live in!
This genuine boost of morale Geord provides is invaluable. Sachrist's power isn't all that spectacular compared to this spectacular talent of Geord's. This hopeful, moving, motivating and desicive speech is a trait worth admiring over any omniscience or unbeatable power.
In their hearts, hope overshadows despair. Calmness beats anxiety. Mental stability and decisiveness overcome insecurity and hesitation.
Geord- Carry on, everyone. I wish us all the best of luck.
They all clench their hands and answer back with a simple, decisive sentence.
Samei, Ikki, Geord, Kallian, Yulim, Ramael, Yonuro, Aniik- Let's do this!
*The holograms vanish*
Even though they just vanished, everyone's hopes are only shining ever brighter. As Geord said previously, when you look at things from a different, more hopeful angle, the road in front of you will open. Aniik now gets that more than ever.
Aniik- Who said that we need the hyberboop system to get there? Didn't we all learn how to make a stupid hexagon in middle school?
The others all get excited and gasp at this new pathway Aniik has unlocked with Geord's help.
Yonuro- You're right! We can teleport to Sachrist's Holy Shrine with a medium sized portal!
Aniik- Eveyone! Follow me! We're paying those accursed siblings a visit right, the hell, NOW!
Everyone yells a decisive and hopeful "Let's go!" and follow the road that has just opened up ahead of them.