“What a complete and utter farce.”

The virtual board room fell silent with grim expressions before the burly man continued.

“You should know your failure reflects poorly on all of us. Even showing your face here is embarrassing.”

Hurling venom-tipped words he continued berating his subject until finally there was an intervention from the figure at the centre of the screen.

They were fair-skinned with an androgynous face and long blond hair tucked behind their ears. Even while approaching middle age, they were maturing gracefully and would stand out from a crowd with ease.

“Now Mr Walker, these are unprecedented circumstances.”

“No shit Isaiah. The reason I supply these fuckwits with cutting-edge armaments is so that they can deal with those unprecedented circumstances by blasting them to pieces. If the current South American United Front are too incompetent to use them properly, they need to be replaced.”

Isaiah sighed and shook their head disapprovingly, but they were too slow to prevent an outburst in return from the SAUF representative.

“You..! How dare you! Thousands of my people died, show some respect!”

“Respect? I only respect those who get results.”

The man called Mr Walker sneered once more and crossed his arms in his luxurious leather seat. He was a titan of a man, with his muscles nearly bursting out from his tailored suit, and his square-set face was lined on either side by neatly trimmed mutton chops.

He looked to be in his late 40s and bore a fixed grimace, as he directed his stare of open disdain toward the representative.

“If it weren’t for those terrorists, we wouldn’t have had an issue! There isn’t anybody else here that would have fared any better in their own territories!”

As the representative blurted out their argument, murmurs echoed around the group, and the various other delegates for international anti-demon movements shared hushed words.

Ishitake Shinichiro flared his nostrils, watching the playground bickering in disgust.

Though their objective should have been the same, almost everyone else in attendance considered their geopolitical standing above the threat of the demons and would do whatever they could to appear stronger or more capable than the others.

Though the SAUF certainly weren’t wrong for thinking that almost anyone else would have met a similar fate in the same situation, hypotheticals were empty air here; all they’d done was sabotage their position for a cooperative bargain.

Isaiah, the mediator for these meetings, gave Shinichiro a pleading look through the screen - to which he reluctantly cleared his throat.

“The terrorists are the reason we’re here today. All of you have seen the footage, this is not something we can ignore.”

“So you thought you’d waste my precious time just because some Argentinian dissidents threatened your little lab rats? I don’t give a shit if your pets die, Ishitake.”

At Shinichiro’s side, Conrad tightened his fists, and Aoi bit her lip. They were wearing their military uniforms and had attended as first-hand witnesses of the event, but it was more of a formality than anything.

Shinichiro stared back at Mr Walker without flinching, as he dismissed the man’s provocation.

“Not dissidents. Terrorists. International terrorists, from our investigations.”

“So we’re going to argue semantics now?”

Sensing he’d done his part as best he could, Shinichiro calmly looked towards Isaiah once more, who gave a grateful nod before following on.

“What’s important, Mr Walker, everyone - is that we believe these terrorists intend to begin initiating similar acts worldwide. No matter which country, having a group of peoples deliberately inciting swarms of lesser demons in numbers not seen since the Cataclysm, will cause innumerable deaths.”

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“Tch.”

Mr Walker clicked his tongue and sat back in his chair, silently glaring at Shinichiro.

“We know frighteningly little about this group or what their aims are, but from what we’ve seen so far any action from them should elicit an immediate and firm response.”

Isaiah looked at the various members in attendance and seeing that the most troublesome one had lost interest in arguing, they continued.

“I hope in light of this tragic event, cooperative efforts can be strengthened as we face this new enemy from within.”

Whether unenthusiastic or not, the various delegates each nodded their heads in turn, including the South American representative, who gave a deep bow in response. The cooperation wasn’t restricted to military only - humanitarian efforts were at an all-time high, and they certainly needed every able hand they could get. Even Mr Walker raised his chin, though not before rolling his eyes.

“Any information on the terrorist group will be shared as a matter of urgency, but for now, we only know one thing.”

Isaiah gestured to their side towards one of their assistants off-screen, before a satellite image appeared, showing a clearly displayed name that had been written in the rubble near Bahía Blanca.

“Their name, is Kharon.”

******

After hours of deliberation and discussion, the large monitor finally went dark, and the three of them were left staring at their reflections.

“It’s over…”

In his relief, Conrad let slip his thoughts, before he turned slightly to judge Shinichiro’s reaction. After being subject to such a meeting, his already lofty respect for the man rose ever higher, and he struggled to imagine the stress of dealing with such narcissistic characters on a semi-regular basis.

“So it is.”

Shinichiro remained looking forward, but his stone-stiff posture had softened.

Aoi remained silent beside Conrad, as the two of them waited for further instructions. Shinichiro was technically their boss at the end of the day, and even though they shared the same building as him, he was reclusive, and they rarely saw each other face to face - never mind being up close in a high-strung meeting with international bigwigs.

“Adrian Walker.”

The two of them tensed up as he seemed to read their minds.

“What are your thoughts on the man?”

In a rare occurrence, Shinichiro seemed genuinely interested, as he turned around to face them with one of his thick, bushy eyebrows raised.

“...He’s disgusting.”

Aoi’s pretty face twisted as she spoke.

Conrad hadn’t heard her speak in such a way for the few years he’d known her, but from the subject of conversation, he wasn’t entirely surprised.

“His attitude, the way he disregards and taunts others… and the way he ogled me when he visited Helios before. He looked at me like I wasn’t even human.”

She was beautiful, and received a lot of affection from others on the island, but was known to always rebuff their advances gracefully. If she felt this much, it spoke volumes of the man himself.

“And you, Conrad?”

“His overly aggressive demeanour… it seems somewhat fake.”

Conrad scratched the stubble on his chin lightly as he collected his thoughts. It was a feeling that was hard to describe, but Shinichiro raised his head, his sharp eyes falling on the two of them.

“Hmm. Impressive, but not quite. He is a volatile man and certainly sees all others as tools, but most of all he is shrewd.”

Shrewd certainly wasn’t the first thing that came to mind after their time with him, but the man before them had over a decade of experience when it came to dealing with Mr Walker, so they remained quiet and listened to what he had to say.

“A man does not rise from the streets to his position through brute strength and ignorance alone. If you underestimate him, it will not be long before you find a knife in your back, whether figuratively or literally.”

The two of them felt a chill down their spines and resisted the urge to check behind them, swayed by the candid words of the director.

“Humanity only has two choices: to submit, and do business with him, or to put their faith in us, and the future we represent. As it stands, he has either crushed or absorbed every one of his competitors except Phoenix, and he will not miss his chance should it arise. Do not give him the opportunity.”

They gulped, with cold sweat beading on their foreheads. Knowing that the world’s largest arms manufacturer had you in his sight wasn’t a pleasant thought, and the one man they were being shielded behind had warned them personally.

“You are dismissed.”

The two of them bowed, and quickly made their exit.

Ishitake Shinichiro was left alone in his office once more, as he returned to his favourite place, watching out the grand window overlooking Heliopolis.

It had been over a decade since his ambition to build Phoenix Academy first began, and though his deep conviction still held firm, he could feel the wheels of fate beginning to turn once more.