"Yeah, that'd be splendid," said Eliza, walking alongside Kazuki as he turned to face her.

The hallways were semi-packed with people, red and blue holo-cards stuck onto them signifying students from professors. Sarimba University… he had his student pass, but it’s been a long year since he’s worn it. The high pillars, arches and sleek windowed walls were a distinct mix of old Kasté architecture and the new Republican style. The base of the pillars and walls had a distinct colour, whilst the upper sections of the walls were starkly pale - with engrained art and murals.

“I might get an award if I finish the papers…”

Kazuki nodded. “Take your time.”

She was holding onto a multitude of documents and datapads under her arm. But the two of them were here for very different reasons… “Still... this presentation will be the death of me...” she murmured.

“It won’t. You’ve survived worse.”

“It’s... it’s a metaphor!” Eliza grumbled. “But you’re right, I have, haven’t I? Come on, it’s just a few dozen alumni interested in what I’ve researched into, right?”

Kazuki nodded. He seemingly did nothing to help ease the tension. Eliza was doing a presentation on what she found out about Kazuki’s exospine. Should have some ideas on what can be done for future development.

Something of the sort.

Kazuki scratched beside his reinforced exospine, trying his best to ward away the glances of onlookers. The low blue hue exuding from it didn't help at all. Nor did the deep blue Judiciary overcoat, the word AGENCY was slapped onto an armband.

He could see that it had the faint words 'CLND' rubbed out. Beneath that was a black contractor dress tunic.

She slowly smiled. “At least you’re finally looking sharp,” said Eliza, wearing an elegant coat over her stylish blouse, skirt, boots, cardigan and tights. It looked warm to wear. And sharper than him. Kazuki looked more like an out-of-date Merc.

Beside the black combat jackets, the dress tunic was probably the only other piece of standardised Clandestine uniform. Most were signified by Clandestine's Sigil, plastered over cheap vest-plate armour. His cargo pants probably still had the smell of iron on them. Kazuki couldn't tell, though.

"Paulus advised me to at least provide my men with some uniformality," Kazuki stated. It didn't suit him, he thought. He's the Contract-Breaker, not some bureaucrat, nor some paragon of morality and justice. "I agreed with him. We have a role within the Judiciary. For those in it, best to dress like it. Even if we aren't officers."

Eyes stabbed at him. They knew him. Some before, most after what happened. But he can feel their glares, their curiosity, anger and fear. The university was colourfully decorated, with holo-posters and all sorts of hovering decor, after a year of fighting it felt almost alien - almost.

Murmurs of Contract-Breaker and Freemuzzle were in the air.

A few passing female students gave Kazuki some looks. He looked professional, clean and snappy - but he was most certainly willing to intimidate them into looking the fuck away.

Before that could happen, Eliza caught their glares with an envious snarl. They looked away - their respect for her outweighing the hate for him. They stood outside a lecture hall. "They're looking at you weirdly. Please… if it made you feel uncomfortable, you could have gone another way."

He couldn't care what others thought of him. He cared about what they thought of Eliza… After all, he's done so much to harm her, without her even knowing. Shaking his head, he leaned against the wall, keeping his weapons and vest hidden under his coat.

"Let them gawk. A thousand times over I'll remain. Can't say the same of them," Kazuki loudly remarked.

"Kaz…" Eliza shook her head.

"It's a joke." Kazuki stood up straight. "I just wanted to make sure you got here without any hiccups."

She chuckled, "Oh, please! You worry too much, even now that I've fixed up your exospine… jeez, you have some secret reason why you're doing this?"

Her charming pink hair was ever so slightly longer than it was when he had came back to Anagora. If she braided it… maybe she'd look like Victoria.

The thought of it struck Kazuki up straight… Victoria's dead. What's the point in playing with dead thoughts, Kazuki asked himself. This is Eliza, this has always been Eliza… She lives. She will always live.

The playful jab stopped Kazuki in his tracks. Maybe she was right… Perchance he might let it slip, and live for himself. But he felt the pressures of the dead weigh down once again. Even without his brooch, he felt the increasing gravity push down on him. It was like a cloak of corpses…

"Well…" Kazuki paused, then sighed. He didn't want to tell her, but he might as well. Anyone listening in will know not to fuck with him. "I have a Delta Class Shard in my pocket."

Eliza's face softened to a low chuckle. Then, she realised he wasn't joking. "Wait, oh really?" she inquired, lowering her voice.

"I will meet with Professor Crankenhart. She is the de facto head of the Extragalactic Zohania Research Alliance. She's the go-to expert for Hazard Shards," Kazuki said.

Eliza placed a hand on her mouth. "Wait? Shouldn't it like... be leaking out energy?"

"A misconception. They are merely tools for energy transfer," Kazuki stated. "Though there are certain Classes and types of Shards with more... 'anomalous' effects."

Eliza opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, the door to the lecture hall opened up, phasing out of place. She glanced at it, waving at Kazuki. "Ah, sorry, gotta go. Good luck with the Hazard."

He took one wave at her, watching as she disappeared into the lecture hall. He felt more hollow than usual. Kazuki wondered if it was Ulysses in her place if it'd be easier to protect him than her… Unlike Eliza, Ulysses never made himself a target. He never felt the need to actively protect him, but Eliza? She falls head-first into danger. He closed his eyes, slowly sliding his hand down as he felt the handle of his plasma bolter.

∗ ∗ ∗

He kept his holster on standby, prepared to draw if need be, hidden underneath his reinforced coat. His exospine bristled with new components as its interlocks fixed into place. A low blue hue was present.

It wasn't as robust as when he got it, but it was repaired, for now. His Judiciary overcoat stayed on. It wasn't as comfortable as his normal clothes, or a vest-plate for that matter - but it provided some protection, at least.

Emilia's office stretched upwards with a spiralling collection of bookshelves and servers, filled with antiques. From old memorabilia to old devices from forgotten eras. But on her desk was a photo. Kazuki glanced at it, noting his parents, Emilia, Jessica and James.

"You thought about how you'd kill me, didn't you?" the Erudian-born professor asked, smirking.

Kazuki merely gave a small nod. "For a moment." He tugged at his red tie, fixing his coat. The pale unicorn, bloody phoenix and blue dragon Republic seal was covered by his holocard ID.

Even after adjusting it, the coat felt uncomfortable. It was a bit large and didn't fit him entirely.

Emilia's purple hair and peridot eyes skimmed off Kazuki's glare as she sat down opposing him. Her uplink was a custom set of emerald-jade earrings, encasing a neon uplink cord moving within. They penetrated through her earlobe, connecting to her nervous system.

The professor wore a wrap cape, hidden beneath a white lab coat. Several ID cards were pinned on a strap running along her tunic, beneath both her cape and coat. Cross-legged, she wore high heels, with a viper's eyes refocused on Kazuki.

A drone whizzed by, slowly picking up the purple, energy-filled gem on the desk. It immediately contained it within an energy shield. "I'm rather surprised that there was one so close to here…" Emilia said, gesturing towards the shard of energy. She continued to comment, "We have come a long way, The Research Alliance once scarcely used Hazards, now we use them practically exclusively."

"Svenn had it. It was a mindsnare, it's what most likely gave him strength," Kazuki said.

"Making excuses, are we?" Emilia asked.

Kazuki stayed motionless. "He's been dead for three years. His hair was white."

"You believe someone set him up with a Shard? One can only procure one above Omicron Level from the Eclipse," she said. Her eyes pierced his soul. "Nothing would have passed our ward."

"And yet he had a Hazard Shard."

Emilia nodded, placing her head on her hands. "Yes, he did. It's quite a lethal shard, couldn't have easily gone under the radar. Yet I don't know who would have enough resources for an expedition into the Eclipse Maelstrom, unless…" She allowed him to infer the pieces together.

"Someone set him up. Someone powerful enough to mindsnare him, gave him a Hazard Shard that made him stronger," he said.

"Obviously," Emilia replied, gesticulating as she picked up a pen and pointed it towards Kazuki, approving his evaluation like an over-the-top professor would. "It's a Delta Shard, powerful, yes, but not as powerful as other Hazard Shards out there - most Omicron Levels and below would fracture if used improperly. Though, you ignore the fact that they might have crafted a higher shard using fragments. T'would take much refinement out of specks of dust."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Kazuki nodded. "Can you find anything out from it using yours?" he asked.

She shook her head, passing a hand over her neck as an invisible, holographic necklace shone out. It was a halo of light and steel around her neck, floating and rotating. And on it: the only existing Shard with a higher than 99% purity. The only Zeta Class Shard. Kazuki turned his head to a few of the drones around the room. Something was off about them...

It struck him: They weren't being powered.

"My Hazard has its utilities, but sadly it does not allow for that," Emilia said. A powerful shard was kept in place around her neck, constricted in power by the 'necklace'. "It does... however, allow me to contort reality, so you finally noticed it? I would have expected you to have felt something wrong earlier... Perhaps I enhanced some aspects to a... faulty degree?"

She placed one leg over the other as another drone tied her hair up for her, carrying everything she might need. Using her Life Shard Hazard, a filled cup was within Kazuki's hand. It simply... existed there. There was no setup, the drones did nothing. It just happened to be there.

She gestured to the cup of tea made for Kazuki. "Please, courtesy of the Research Alliance, tea from leaves that no longer exist," Professor Crankenhart said, the necklace around her neck glowing with a low hue of purple. Kazuki's eyes landed on it. It was the 'Life' Shard.

There was nothing alive about it, but a mere tool for energy to be converted into an effect. Magical? Perhaps. Logical? Most definitely. Dangerous? Undeniable.

He was displeased. Kazuki did not like being made a fool out of. He placed his eyes forward in a glare.

"Don't worry, Kazu, the Life Shard doesn't contaminate." said Emilia, "If you desire to have a hazard shard, I'd be happy to arrange one for you. Though, It'd be hard to justify to the other council members - considering you added enough fuel to nearly spark a second shadow war before you even started the rebellion. Or perhaps that was your... that green-haired one that bribed his way in, what was his name again?"

Kazuki placed the cup down, ignoring her little trick. "If you can't help me with finding the source of the Shard, I'll leave."

"Not yet, now that you are here: I might as well convey a message to you."

"Get on with it," snapped Kazuki, in no mood for sarcasm or to care. "Tea and biscuits are for friends"

"Sure, if you may let me." said Emilia, "An Alliance between EZRA and the AGENCY. We can… help each other. I was on the verge of negotiating a deal with Director Chizuru before you had to blow it all up."

"Director Chizuru… sure," said Kazuki. She was most definitely lying, he thought.

"Yes, Chizuru shares my view on Hazards," Emilia said, her face unrelenting in the lie. Kazuki will have to ask Chizuru later, when he's free to visit her private world. "We've both conducted research back in our youth about a possible link between the star-essence trapped within brooches and Hazard Shards."

"Sure."

“Nevertheless, despite both being the product of long-dead Star Gods, they’re quite different. Tell Chizuru to look into it, will you? If you get the chance, of course.” Emilia then peered straight through Kazuki. “Perhaps each brooch is a Hazard unto its own? You rarely wear yours, for… obvious reasons, I presume, the same reason why you’ll never use a Hazard Shard.”

Kazuki narrowed his gaze. “And what is that?”

Emilia simply placed a finger forward, pointing directly to Kazuki’s chest, then to his head. “Don’t you find it strange that ancient, billion-year-old star gods’ remains can be used by any human?” She turned her head to a mosaic glass ceiling up above, showing the Long Crusade. One panel was the exodus of Terra before its destruction. Beside it was Crusaders. And then beside them was the battle that ended the Crusade... The battle that secured status quo post bellum. Now the aliens have fled from the core of the galaxy. The core was man's space. Nothing less.

“No.”

Emilia found his response amusing. Kazuki didn’t know why. “Alien precursors and the current aliens praise these Star Gods, these Celestial beings - dead as they may be… I wonder how they must think: seeing us toy with their corpses.”

Kazuki’s cup refilled as Emilia distorted the lines between reality with her Hazard. He calmly took another sip. “I don’t care. I doubt the Star Gods would care either. They’re dead.”

“True, that may be true. Erudians from where I’m from claim that their Goddess is beyond age of one of the Celestial Star Gods, always ever-present to protect the galaxy from the depths of the Eclipse Maelstrom’s deep void,” said Emilia. “I find all of their mutters rather humorous; don’t you agree?”

“Why are you telling me this? What the fuck are you playing at?”

Emilia shrugged slightly. “You have an open mind, metaphorical of course - I believe… we could be fine allies, one day.”

Kazuki grunted in frustration. “What will you do with the Shard?”

"Store it, research it, destroy it if need be. The shard is nothing special to EZRA, so I won't take special considerations for it. Now, about our alliance?"

She smirked at him. Emilia Crankenhart. Genius scientist and the leader of the Extragalactic Zohanian-based Research Alliance. Ironic, considering that she was a Hazard user herself. But Kazuki remained still as she leaned back against her kura-bear hide chair.

"Sure. I'll donate ten thousand men into your meat grinder," jeered Kazuki, standing up and twisting around. "Unlike you, I care for my men's lives. And if that's all you have to say to me, I take my leave."

"Sure, sure, Kazu. But, you'll eventually realise that my deal is far more generous… A storm is coming…" she trailed off. Kazuki paused for a moment. "And what about your exospine?"

"What about it?"

Emilia let off a small smirk at Kazuki. "Please, let's not pretend like we don't know you're slowly dying…" She twirled her finger around playfully. "Without Jessica, every passing mission, operation, and action is killing you. You haven't told her, have you? Does Eliza know this? Your... poor... sweet lamb?"

He didn't care, if there was someone not even Archius would approach: it'd be Emilia. And by that fact alone, she uneased Kazuki. Even if she was a family friend and was his professor, he had no intention of allowing himself to be turned into a pawn.

"If you're done, I'll be leaving."

She had one last remark to spit at him. "I find it so ironic… you don't see yourself as a Geminorum-Ryzaku, do you?"

Kazuki's limbs cooled off. He slowly allowed his glare to glance around Emilia. Yet she was not affected, simply smiling at him.

"If I had a standardi for every time one of your noble Lautrasians tried to intimidate me… I'd be the richest woman in the galaxy," she said. "I find it so fascinating…"

He snarled at her, "What?"

"That your blood were the lucky ones blessed with the phoenix's writhings. The fact that almost every Ryzaku alive doesn't even look like the Ryzakus of old…"

Her words left Kazuki without much to say. He didn't want to think about it at all.

Professor Crankenhart continued, "I'm speaking of hubris… We humans have always been hubris-filled people, thinking we can conquer one another, fighting wars of resources and extermination against the aliens that came before us… Yet, we allowed them to live, after wiping out so many of them!"

"Mercy," Kazuki stated. He understood why mankind bled the galaxy to its core. "It was suitable."

"Still, the hubris of killing thousands of Xenos races, just to allow a few of them to exist after the fact… It's hubris, Kazuki, the thing that pushes us forward. Sure, they might thrive in the edges of the galaxy, far from the heart of mankind and in the satellites surrounding us, but it's rather a shame…"

"What has this got to do with anything?" asked Kazuki.

"Sometimes, the true pride lies in what must be done that is right," Emilia said. "Just like how in the end… Man stayed its hands from extermination, and to this day, there are still dozens of species that thrive on the edges, away from human space. Sure, they are wary of us, but in the end, those human states on the fringes of the galactic arms co-exist with them. One day, you'll have to make the right choice, Kazuki."

Why was she telling him any of this? The 'Xeno threat' after the Crusades were simply populist movements, their threat was all but gone by that point, those that had dealt the damage were exterminated, leaving those that were already willing to coordinate, even before the Crusades. Mercy saved them, especially the races under duress from the slaver states. But he will not offer mercy.

His enemies will use anything to drive him to the ground. Unlike the aliens of old, there was no reconciliation. There was no misunderstanding. Under duress or not, his enemies have caused so much harm.

There will not be forgiveness, he thought. What would his detractors say? He is the Contract-Breaker, nothing more, nothing less. And he does not offer peace to those fools that conspired against him.

"I know I will," Kazuki sarcastically sneered. "Justice shall be served…"

"Though the Eclipse falls." Emilia sighed.

Turning around, he left the room, leaving Emilia by herself.

∗ ∗ ∗

Emilia's smirk quickly turned into a frown. Kazuki's such a bore! Never was one for fun and games, much like his mother and father. Fucking hell, why does everyone seem to lose touch with enjoying life now days? She mulled over it as she dialled up her phone, activating the hover-touchpad as she called a number.

As she sent the call through, the picture of a brown-haired, blue eyed woman appeared on the phone. She looked bright. A voice came through, "Oh my, Emilia? Why, how have the years been?"

"They've been fair." said Emilia, "And you, Misty?"

Misty Geminorum-Ryzaku. The famed Anagoran inventor, and Kazuki's mother…

"Tiresome… but I'm still kicking. Yuki's all grown up now, graduating this year," said Misty.

Emilia rolled her eyes. She never understood why people had kids. Too much of a hassle. She got to the point, "And your son? I just talked to him…"

"Oh…" Misty trailed off, "What did Kazu say, might I ask?"

"Not much, but he's still doing well, not like you'd care. I wonder why…" Emilia snarled at Misty, "But with things now coming to a close, Kazuki can stand on his own two feet. Even after you practically abandoned him…"

Misty immediately shot back, "Do you think I wanted to? Do you think I wanted to separate myself from my own son, just a year after it? I understood he was far safer with them than me… But of course, you wouldn't understand, human empathy was never your strong suit."

"Neither is yours. Don't worry, we can both be awful, terrible people together." said Emilia, "Miss ol' Merchant of Death."

"Tch. What do you want with my son?" she snapped back as an argument brewed.

"It's simple," said Emilia, grabbing the cup meant for Kazuki and sipping from it, "His freedom. I want his mind to be free."

Misty paused. "And why should I allow that?" The tone of her voice changed immediately. To the uninitiated, it must have felt like knives in their ears, but to Emilia, she merely smiled at such an emotional response.

Emilia played around with the Life Hazard, taking out a few necklaces and dangling them from her fingers. "Because Kazuki's old enough to look after himself… He shouldn't live any longer believing lies," said Emilia. "And plus, those drugs will wear off eventually, and when that happens: who knows what he'd do?"

"Over. My. Dead. Body." Misty coldly replied. "That is my son you are trying to manipulate. And as long as he bears my primogenitor name, I will ensure that you never lay a finger on him. Call this number again, or any number associated with me: and I'll ensure that you meet a similar fate as your 'colleagues'. Life Hazard or not. You are still a human, you seem to have forgotten that many times, Emilia."

Misty cut the phone line, leaving Emilia to hear the subtle buzz that hummed across the uplink. For all of Misty's talk of peace and invention, some of that savvy defence contractor is still in her. She sighed… "My… you really are overprotective…"

Looking out of the window, she glanced up at the endless crimson sunset sky - perched with sky-islands, highrises and bright neon lights of all cultures, magnitudes and forms.