Eden, Shirayuki Office.

Kageyama was still working despite the moon already climbing to its peak. He had to arrange work and shelter for refugees from New Mesa who were his employees. One after another, he received calls from the HR department of various branches of Shirayuki. However, one call stood out among them—from Tanaka at New Soil.

New Soil was a frontier city built through the joint cooperation of all ten conglomerates. With such funding, they created a wall incorporating some of Zenith's tech, which protected the inhabitants. Unlike New Mesa, all of New Soil was within a single Reality Enforcement Device (RED) radius. The city was built three-dimensionally, with many buildings having both basements and high rises.

New Soil focused on metallurgy. Many alloys and new rebars were made there. Of course, being a frontier city, its foundry still lacked compared to Avalon's foundry. It couldn't even reach Eden's standard. But it was a step forward for humanity and Shirayuki.

"Tanaka, what's the matter?" Kageyama tapped his PDA, and a hologram of Tanaka materialized. Tanaka, sweating and looking uncertain, was displaying the typical signs of an employee caught in conflicting commands.

"Um… Sir Kageyama, that Magical Girl wanted us to pack early. They also seem eager to leave most of our equipment. Are you sure we should leave the enchanted alloy we ordered behind?"

"Do whatever Magical Girl Black Lily tells you to. I will have words when she gets here."

"But she is just a teenager, right? She might feel like she is saving our lives, but abandoning these alloys would incur a loss of more than a billion credits."

Kageyama, torn between his corporate responsibilities and personal relationships, pondered over the risk of monetary loss. The company was in disarray after the loss of New Mesa. His distrust of Guardians led to clear boundaries in their contracts, devoid of any friendly interactions. This was why the company had only three contracted girls, and those at low levels. He wasn't alone in this. Other companies, except Enra and Newstar, followed similar practices. He felt a puppeteer was manipulating the situation, aiming to monitor and monopolize all Magical Girls.

At first, he blamed Guardian Command and the Zenith, suspecting they were somehow bribed by Enra and Newstar. But after having a heartfelt discussion with Yuri, his niece, he finally came to a conclusion. Enra and Newstar had likely acquired the guardians through other means. They probably had similar luck to him: some investors had MGs as their family, and then those MGs pulled other MGs to their side. Just a few weeks after Yuri became an MG, she managed to rope Serene Night into her fold, something Kageyama failed to do for two years.

As such, he couldn't afford to sully the relationship between him and Yuri. He then gave the same answer, "Do whatever Magical Girl Black Lily tells you to. I trust her judgment."

"Yes, sir. So, the MGs are in command now? Some MGs are talking to the mayor right now. The yellow one goes by the alias Serene Night. She was raising a fuss and even had a spat with the local Magical Guardians here."

"Hm? A spat?"

"They said New Soil needed to plan for its evacuation."

"All of New Soil?"

"Yes."

"Well, if you need any direction, ask Black Lily. If she agrees, then do as she says." Kageyama repeated the answer for the third time and closed the call. Not even two minutes later, another video call reached him. He held on the urge to throw his tablet out the window. After another tap, his secretary then spoke to him.

"General Armstrong wishes to speak with you. Should I connect to him?"

"What are you doing making him wait? Connect him at once!" Kageyama almost shouted at the incompetence of his employee. General Armstrong was technically the most influential person in Eden.

"Greetings, Mr. Kageyama." The call connected at once, and Kageyama immediately put on his customer service smile. He was powerful, but he knew there were people above him he couldn't make enemies with. So, he put on his best smile and greeted the one who commanded Guardian Command and effectively 99 percent of Magical Girls and Guardians.

"Greetings, Mr. Armstrong."

"I got word from the Zenith that we should cancel the Frontier projects."

"I see. Have the other members of the conglomerate agreed to this?" Kageyama asked. If Kageyama still had New Mesa, he would deny this order at once. However, he had little to lose now in the frontiers. The only assets the Shirayuki had outside of sanctuary cities were the ones in New Soil, which were currently being moved to Shangri-La, and some random offices in other frontiers, which he could also relocate immediately.

"They didn't like it. They said it was advice, not an order. They thought they could survive for a month if Anathema attacked. I can't fault them—they have emergency bunkers from the Zenith, after all. I just wanted to let you know what the Zenith recommended." Kageyama frowned. This order and Black Lily's request to evacuate were too coincidental to be a mere fluke. He sensed something must be amiss, so he chose to abide by their request. He had decided to trust in the Zenith for now.

"I will abide by your order. I will evacuate all of my men from the frontier cities."

"I see. So, you will listen to the Zenith? Is it because of your new Magical Girl?" General Armstrong asked.

"Well, maybe."

"Very well. I'm glad to see that you will at least follow us. The UNH is nothing without you guys. I've had enough of other corrupt investors denying us without even listening. We are indebted to the Zenith. However, the Zenith does not control us."

"I believe the Zenith never had any intention to control us. Do they?"

"... Hmm… You have changed a lot, Mr. Kageyama." General Armstrong smirked. "But the fact remains that we humans need to stand our ground against the anathema."

"I agree. But the fact remains that our weapons are still far from efficient against the Anathema."

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"I see that the New Mesa incident has hit you hard."

"Yes."

"Giving up, Kageyama?" Armstrong took on a more informal tone.

"No. We just need a different approach."

"Good. I shall be seeing you soon."

"By the way, General—"

"Armstrong is fine," he interrupted. Now that Armstrong was within reach, Kageyama might as well ask. The worst he could say was no.

"Mr. Armstrong, could you help me hire some of my employees?"

"Hmm… I'm not sure, maybe? Let's transfer them to the labs. Are they okay with that?"

"Certainly!"

"Then, let it be arranged. I shall give you the numbers for the R&D department."

"Thank you." Kageyama was surprised. He never thought General Armstrong would accept so readily that he was suspicious. However, he still took the offer. It would offload some burden on Shirayuki, after all. No matter what Guardian Command asked of him later, as long as he could get over this predicament, he was fine with it.

"I need to make another call soon. Goodbye." General Armstrong then exited the call. Now that some burden was off his shoulders, Kageyama could finally get some rest.

**Guardian Command, three hours earlier**

"That's odd," General Armstrong was nervous. Even though he was at the top of Guardian Command, he didn't even know why the Zenith had called him along with all the Rank A and the three Aces of Aces. General Armstrong was not a magical guardian. He knew the Zenith could bypass his information network and communicate directly with MGs through their familiars. That's why he could not afford to sour the relationship between humanity and the Zenith.

"What is it, General Armstrong?" Pink Heart asked.

"Well, do you know why I was called? This seems important." Armstrong whispered to her. This was a rare occasion where Issen, Pink Heart, and Stonewall were all present. Today was a momentous occasion. The Zenith made a call to us from their side two days ago and asked for every Ace to be present. Behind the three Aces of Aces was a group of thirty Rank A MGs sitting in chairs. General Armstrong was amazed that the Zenith managed to collect all of these boys and girls physically with a single call. Rank A and Aces of Aces are very busy and usually have robots or cameras to attend meetings.

"Stop asking questions that will be answered in a moment," Issen said, putting his legs on the table while munching on some snacks. Then, a hologram of light appeared. It was a gem radiating light, as if it came directly from heaven. Armstrong held back his disgust at Zenith's propaganda attempt. The image shown to him was obviously a placeholder, but he kept his feelings in check.

"Greetings, General Armstrong, and Magical Girls. We have come across vital information provided by one of you. It shows an image of Anathema's gate." The image then changed to a sinister black hole in the ground with a metallic ring around it. The ground was covered with black ichor, unmistakably made by Anathema. Hundreds of Anathema covered the ground before a shriek sounded, and the image cut off. The screen then displayed a world map with a red dot on it.

"Awesome! We got their base!!" Issen exclaimed, excited. The atmosphere lightened as smiles spread among the group. General Armstrong breathed a sigh of relief that Zenith seemed to be bringing good news. Humanity could not survive without Zenith, and they also knew that Zenith was pressed for resources. They could cut ties anytime they felt humanity and Earth were beyond saving.

"Good job, Pink Heart! I underestimated you! When did you plant the bug?" Issen almost laughed.

“Um… that was not me…” The atmosphere froze at once. Everyone then looked toward Magical Guardian Stonewall, but he also shook his head.

"Well, I guess it was one of the rogue MGs, huh? Well, whatever. The info is still the same! Geez, they should stop playing invisible heroes. Hey, Zenith! Does this mean we are going to assault this base?" Issen's excitement washed away their suspicion, except for Armstrong. Since the image was not taken by their girls or boys, its veracity or authenticity needed to be verified. So, he posed the question.

"Zenith, may I ask how you obtained this image?"

"It was sent through a familiar. They used a marker skill on the Tyrant Behemoth that escaped. The information may not be entirely accurate, but we should try nevertheless," explained the Zenith. The fact that they didn't mention the name indicated that the MG who provided the image wished to remain covert. If it was about the Tyrant Behemoth that appeared in New Mesa, then there were only 19 possibilities. We could narrow down the guardians who used the skill.

"Thank you, Zenith," Armstrong replied, bowing.

"Hmm? Does any of our newbies have such a powerful marker? Why, though?" Issen muttered. Armstrong could only shake his head. To Issen, Rank E and below were still considered newbies, even though they comprised almost half of the MGs.

"... I see. So that's how it is…" Issen smirked and winked at Pink Heart and Stonewall. They both nodded.

"So, General Armstrong, Zenith, disregarding how you obtained that information, are we going to scout these coordinates, or are we launching a full-scale assault?"

"We shall assault the gate at once. If we succeed, it will be a major setback to Anathema's invasion of Earth. As this matter concerns not only Earth, we shall assist in a more direct manner." Zenith made a shocking announcement.

"We shall lend you Agneya, our best Arcoplasma cannon, along with fifty shells and two engineers. It shall be mounted on a new expedition ship. After the assault ends, you need only to return Agneya and our engineers. May the fire of hope be with you always."

"Thank you, Zenith," I stood and bowed.

"Now, on to another matter. The assault will be conducted in two weeks. We advise that humans concentrate their efforts on the frontier cities evacuations." Zenith made another bombshell announcement. Not only was Armstrong bewildered, but the other A-rank MGs were also disturbed.

"W-why?"

"What do you mean? Are you saying we should abandon our efforts to retake our Earth?" one of the A-rank Magical Guardians shouted. His friends quickly calmed him down.

Silence permeated for several minutes before the floating light gem continued its speech. "The fall of New Mesa and the appearance of the Anathema Gate indicate they are trying to besiege Earth. By limiting the places humans can live, they think they can build the gate to invade the next world. We need to concentrate our forces for the gate assault. We should not spare the manpower to protect frontier cities when Sanctuary cities are at stake."

As the silence continued, the Zenith added, "We do not ask you to abandon frontier cities but merely to evacuate them for a month or so."

"I see." The MGs all calmed down when they heard it was a temporary evacuation. However, General Armstrong nursed his head in frustration. Unlike the naive teenagers, he knew how stubborn the conglomerates were. They had poured billions of credits into these projects. Evacuating meant all of their investments were at risk.

Unlike Old Earth, money wasn't everything, so corruption could be held at bay. However, this also meant more friction. The conglomerates were dissatisfied with the Zenith since MGs never listened to money. Moreover, the scandal involving the Salemni Group and Zenith clearly backing the MGs by forbidding exclusive and binding contracts cast further distrust between the conglomerates and Guardian Command.

By this point, Armstrong was strongly considering abandoning the conglomerates. However, humanity needed hope, and Zenith would not be our leader. Humanity could not leech off Zenith forever. Humanity still needed these conglomerates if they wished to build an economy and expand outside once the threat of Anathema became nil.

The Zenith then promptly ended the call and left a giant teddy bear as a direct communication line between Guardian Command and Zenith.

"Why a teddy bear, though? Was Zenith female? Such girly stuff…" Issen and the male guardians frowned, but the girls were fine with the bear. Some even hugged it now that the tense meeting was over.

"Is this a military discussion or kindergarten? I thought all the people here were supposed to be at least twenty years old," Armstrong sighed to his secretary. Leaving the teddy bear alone in the meeting room to entertain the MGs, he returned to his office to call the conglomerates about the plan to evacuate the frontier cities.

Out of everyone he called, only Shirayuki explicitly agreed. Of course, typical of such massive corporations, none of them outright rejected his advice. Most of them simply said they would discuss it with the board committee. But to Armstrong's ear, it was the same as refusing.

"Well, as long as one or two of these conglomerates survive, humanity can still go on," Armstrong muttered to no one.