“Handler Actual, this is Dagger One-Three, stand by for transmission…”

Oscar glanced over as his squadmate operated their Beacon. Ever since they had been rolled out, they no longer had to be so careful about communicating within enemy territory. They could outright bypass the Node networks of a city and drop information straight at the destination. There was no risk of being caught unless there was a Sovereign nearby, even in an urban environment like they were in.

In the dark basement around him there were four others preparing themselves. Whether it was doing equipment diagnostics, rereading the mission briefings, polishing blades, or doing a few practice exercises, their rituals helped them sharpen up for the mission head.

They weren’t the only ones. Other squads in different locations were doing the same. Unlike most missions though, the atmosphere was more solemn. Nobody was talking much because they knew what kind of horrors they were about to find. They only had to do it two times before, but each time, they died more inside.

Oscar knew of some teams that had to be sent to other units due to the trauma, something that only started happening recently. He had heard a rumor that someone had decided to take their own life after a similar mission. So far it was the only death that covert ops had ever sustained, which meant word reached the top, likely falling directly into Commander Cooper’s hands.

Things changed after that. Their mission schedules were shifted heavily, some teams got disbanded, and people were disappearing into the medical ward, more than what had normally been zero. Few people ever heard of them after that, and the healers only ever gave vague explanations. Something to do with a new diagnosis of psychological trauma.

Oscar didn’t blame them. When he tried to think of what he had seen during the last mission of this nature, his mind refused to recall those images. He couldn’t remember them, couldn’t bring back those feelings and sounds. He knew that wasn’t a good thing, and pushing too hard into those thoughts caused him to vomit one time.

He took a deep breath. He knew it wouldn’t be good to rip open that wound, but he would never back out of the mission.

These missions were where they did the greatest good that this world knew. What they suffered was simply the price, and he would always pay it.

Oscar checked the time for the hundredth time in the past 5 minutes. Then, when the number was on his predetermined mark, he stood up and slipped on his helmet.

The HUD bloomed, running through several checks as his vision blinked to life. He saw the others reacting to his movement.

The leadership communication network chirped with activity as the other teams came online. Oscar was silent, even though he was team lead. They were already used to not exchanging any words between teams even on a coordinated mission like this. Sensitive locations like theirs demanded such paranoid precautions. It was why nobody had died yet.

Oscar checked the biometrics of his team. Everything was green, everyone was alive, every team had all their members where they were supposed to be. Seeing that, he rested his hand on his sword, letting out a long breath and speaking.

“Let’s move.”

The deadline for mission start ticked, and all the teams spiked with activity. Oscar saw his team flicker out of view, camo systems going to full power and obscring both their figures and Aura. Theirs were especially powerful. Even being Authority 10, Oscar couldn’t sense a single one of them.

Which always made him baffled, because his suit was able to detect and communicate with them just fine. He didn’t think he could ever comprehend the kind of technology those Wonderland nerds devised. Especially when it came to the weapons. Some of them made him question whether or not they had demons over there feeding the researchers ideas.

The summoner on their team had one such weapon, a Crystal Rifle with ammunition clocking in at Authority 9. The enchantments that each bullet was coated with produced nasty penetrator rounds capable of punching through Royals like they were fodder monsters before exploding with both shrapnel and fire. It was the single most powerful and expensive weapon among their squad, given to the one with the fastest mind among them.

Alongside the armor that augmented the summoner’s strength rather significantly, and they could keep up with the rest of the team easily.

They left the basement and ascended to the city streets beyond. Completely invisible, they were albe to sneak under the noses of all the Nephilim around them. The area they were in was a hotspot for their degenerate practices, the streets coated with blood, some Nephilim killing each other nearby.

The city had been mostly corrupted by this point, few humans remaining. Those that did were either in the process of being corrupted, were in line, or were trying to escape with their lives. Those that had attempted to outwardly fight against the Nephilim had been killed some time ago. Many Magi had died according to the reports. Tens of thousands, including thousands of teenagers yet to awaken. Oscar could see some corpses hanging from wire strung between buildings, bodies carved beyond recognition, and the skin of the crests flayed off the back of their hands.

They bypassed it all, every team converging on multiple different buildings.

Oscar led his team down their designated building. They threw open the door, finding just a few Nephilim within and slaughtering them within seconds. Then they headed to a back room, the hidden floor hatch already known about in advance. After pulling it open, they jumped in and started running through the tunnels.

They killed anything they came across mercilessly, most enemies being multiple Authorities below them, requiring no more from Oscar than a single slash of his sword.

The tunnel they traveled down was around half a mile long, winding down further underground and revealing several side rooms along the way. They cleared each one silently before continuing on, leaving behind alarms in case anyone followed.

Their progress was swift, and after a few minutes, they came upon their destination.

The tunnel opened up into a large cave, within which was a tall temple. Carved pillars, demonic symbols, and trailing stains of blood led into the building. What poured out of it, in turn, was a harrowing Auric signature that made Oscar’s blood run cold.

They hoisted their weapons, stepping into the temple vigilantly, feeling the residual fear and terror wash over their bodies, penetrating their suits’ shields and camouflage.

They followed the entrance, finding more Nepihilim. They refrained from killing them, Oscar senging the others through various pathways. They mapped out the structure, Oscar’s HUD showing the map as it updated in real time.

He was only in charge of the frontal portion. The other teams were taking care of the other sections, all of their maps syncing and giving a full overview of the temple.

Eventually they found it, the path to the central chamber. After regrouping and giving the command, Oscar coordinated every team and started convering upon the chamber.

They found themselves in front of a large pair of doors, just one of two sets. Oscar met with the other team leader who was to enter with him, two other teams at the other door, waiting on their command.

Without further hesitation, the order was given. They placed charges on the doors, which shot out rapid pulses of magic through the enchantments, isolating them, frying them, and disabling them without tripping a single alarm.

Then the mute fields went live, all sound cutting out and illusions springing to life around them to mask their entry, simultaneously sending a pulse through the room beyond and highlighting every entity within. They were automatically categorized based their Auric and magical signature, giving friendly, enemy, and unknown targets.

Once those were in place, the explosive charges went off, blowing open the doors with a clean detonation.

Oscar flew into the room, the other two teams doing the same in the instant that his did. With perfect coordination practiced in many other missions within this God forsaken city, all four teams took their targets and swept through them all. Any unknown targets were identified and handled, most of them being enemies, some of them being friendly.

There was some resistance from three Authority 10 Royals, but they only took several more seconds to kill. With a few well placed penetrator shots from Oscar’s summoner squadmate and some coordination from the other Brigadiers in the other teams, their enemies were put down like the dogs they were.

Two minutes later, Oscar’s adrenaline started to simmer down, his eyes and Aura scanning every corner as the last enemy fell in a pool of blood. With no feeling of danger and no discernible threats, they seemed to be all clear.

He turned his head, seeing a set of barriers flickering around the chamber.

The sight of what was behind them made Oscar’s breathing pause.

The walls, from floor to ceiling, were lined with small metal cages containing children and babies of all ages. There were a dozen of them in the center of the chamber floors as well, but those weren’t alive, even if their bodies were still warm.

Even more chains hung from the ceiling, barely recognizable corpses hanging by their wrists or ankles. They weren’t even old bodies and yet Oscar couldn’t make out their genders, more muscle than skin exposed.

He looked for longer than he should have, every neuron in his brain so overstimulated that he couldn’t speak. He just kept looking around, at every little horror, every tiny contextual detail that described what had transpired in this chamber.

The limbs, the blood, even the stench that broke past their air purification systems, carried by the very Aura of this room.

Oscar took some deep breaths, using every last ounce of his willpower to try and take control of the situation.

He could feel some of his soldiers beginning to crack.

“Start unlocking cages. Healers, start triage and get the worst of them movable. Team Two, establish security. Our enemy won’t take much longer to realize something is wrong. Get moving!”

Oscar engaged them, refusing to let the silence linger any longer, lest they fall too deep into their thoughts. Most of them started running around, locks being slashed or ripped apart so they could pull out the children inside of them.

Oscar’s suit did a quick count and found 88 live children. They had their work cut out for them.

He watched their team’s summoner start giving an update to their ride out as he helped open cages and locks. They’d have a handful of silent helicopters to transport all these kids out, including a large team of healers on standby when they got back.

Over a few more minutes, things went silent again, everyone’s heads down as they worked.

“AAAHHHHH!!”

Oscar’s head whipped around when the scream shrilled through the chamber. He found one of the women looking through a door they hadn’t noticed before, Oscar sprinting over alongside a few others.

He looked through the door, freezing in fear as he gazed upon the mountain of flesh inside this new room.

And at its top stood a small tree sprout. His mind tingled when he looked at it despite him being Authority 10.

It was only when he was grabbed and yanked away by his summoner that he regained himself. His legs gave out, and he ripped off his helmet, vomiting on the floor.

He only took a few seconds to regain himself, the summoner pulling the others out of the doorway before slamming it closed. When Oscar stood up and found others running over, he waved.

“Get out of here! Go back and start getting those kids out! That’s a FUCKING ORDER!”

He didn’t realize he had screamed until a couple seconds later, the others turning around slowly and going back to what they were doing.

Oscar heaved for air while kneeling, turning to look at his summoner.

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Bradley was his name. He was holding the woman who had screamed, trying and failing to get her to calm down. She muttered incoherently, trying to slam her head on the floor.

Oscar stood and walked over to them.

“Did that thing do something to her?”

“No, nothing. That thing looked like a Death Shrine, but it’s just a sprout. We’ll have to destroy it, but it’s not powerful enough to do anything to her. She’s just…”

“Yeah…”

Oscar nodded, feeling his consciousness wavering.

He had only looked at it for several seconds, and yet his mind still flashed with those images of teeth, nails, hair, bones, and whatever else had been mixed into that unholy creation. Oscar didn’t want to fathom what they were trying to do.

He looked at the woman. She was from another team, but he knew her name was Andrea. She continued to mutter to herself, sobbing within her helmet uncontrollably. Oscar couldn’t help but think that it was good she didn’t have children of her own. Nobody within these covert teams had any, only a few having spouses. This was why.

Eventually, Bradley brought out a device and tapped it a few times before placing it against her helmet.

“I need to override her suit. She’s having a breakdown.”

“I’ll give you my authority.”

Oscar gave him his clearance. Only a team lead could give permission to do so.

After the exchange, Bradley punched in the command. Andrea’s suit injected a sleep potion, and gradually she passed out, unmoving.

“I’ll take care of her.”

Andrea’s team leader walked over, picking her up. Oscar nodded and looked around.

The other teams were loading the children into wagons; they couldn’t possibly carry them all. After making sure they would survive the return trip and the worst of them were taken care of, they started preparing.

“Everyone fall in. Team Two, scout out our path and bring down the birds. Team Three and Four, start moving our cargo. We’ll bring up the rear.”

Oscar gave the command, Bradley sending the signal to their ride out.

Right after, Bradley turned to him.

“Sir.”

“Hm?”

“We got word from Command. They want us to bring in that sprout.”

“That tree at the top of that mountain of flesh? Do they really expect us to climb it and pull it out?”

“Yes sir. The order came directly from the Commander.”

“…Fuck.”

Oscar cringed. Not at the fact that this command couldn’t be disobeyed, but that he’d have to enter that room again instead of just leveling it.

Bradley sighed.

“I’ll grab it, sir. Just in case. We don’t know what kind of Psykic afflictions it might try to hit you with.”

“…”

Oscar didn’t respond, just looking at his summoner and silently nodding.

Bradley walked back to the room, Oscar putting his helmet back on and following. The two entered, Oscar shuddering when he saw the flesh again.

It took everything he had to not focus on the details, just watching as Bradley jumped, his jetpack providing a bit of extra thrust to get him to the top of the mountain.

Then he grabbed the tree sprout, his hands sparking with Psyka as he pulled. The tree and its roots were ripped from the mountain, shredding everything it had been rooted to and dripping with blood as Bradley quickly came back down.

They left the room, Oscar leaving behind charges. Bradley just dragged the tree behind him, his hand still flashing with mental clashes.

“We should move quickly sir. This thing is fucking mean, even if it’s not powerful.”

“Right. Let’s go.”

The two started running, the rest of Team 1 waiting for them.

Leaving behind the central chamber, they ran through the temple toward their exit, quickly finding their way back to the other teams. They fell in behind the wagons of children, blazing through the tunnels, which were much wider than before after being expanded by an Earth Warlock.

It took a fraction of the time to get back to the surface where they found the other teams. Their exit was amidst a plaza, Nephilim all around despite it being the dead of night. Still, nobody noticed the gathering teams, illusory formations surrounding their gathering.

Then, the helicopters descended.

Five of them lowered and surrounded the teams, more troops jumping out and slaughtering any nearby Nepihilim that got too close. Oscar watched as the children were loaded into the large transport helicopters. Up above, his HUD pinged and showed the gunship several thousand feet in the skies, cannons trained on their area.

Oscar’s communicator suddenly pinged, the sender coming from that gunship.

“Incoming enemy forces spotted. Engaging.”

The gunship’s barrels flashed, shells slamming into another block of the city with a massive explosion that shook the entire area awake.

Oscar started to feel the approach of some more powerful enemies, a helicopter zooming over their heads and coming to an aggressive stop, weapons trained on one particular street.

He saw some armored Royals and Nephilim, as well as Corrupted, turn the corner of a building and charge straight toward them.

The helicopter above engaged the instant they did so. Turrets went to rapid fire, lighting up the enemy with snapping explosions.

Oscar shouted.

“Move! Now! We have one minute!”

The other teams were already hastening, wagons being lifted and emptied. They had to be careful with these fragile children, but time constraints meant they were a bit more aggressive with transferring them.

Soon, Oscar jumped into one of the transports. He gave the signal after all hatches had been closed.

“Everyone’s loaded! Get us out of here!”

The helicopters all ascended with that command, Oscar pressed into his seat with how hard the helicopters peeled away.

Soon they were in the sky, more comms coming from the gunships.

“Targets neutralized. Maintaining observation.”

No more shells were sent as all of them rose to the skies and beyond the reach of any more potential high Authority enemies. Oscar sighed.

The ride was silent afterward, all of them simply waiting as they flew to their destination.

It wasn’t long before they descended. The surroundings looked like they were in the middle of nowhere, but when the helicopters flew past a barrier, it revealed an entire operational base.

They lowered to the helipads, everyone jumping out as soon as they touched ground. Oscar made way, allowing the incoming troops to help unload.

The children were ferried onto transports before getting taken away to the medical wards. Oscar just stood and watched.

Once all the children were gone, he turned to his team, who were standing nearby.

“Everyone needs to see a healer before we retire tonight. I’ll be checking logs. Bradley, you’re with me. The rest of you are dismissed.”

Oscar waved, Bradley following behind, still dragging that small Death Shrine.

They made their way to the medical wards where Oscar had been instructed to head, Bradley seeming a bit nervous as he got the same message. Oscar noticed and asked.

“What’s wrong? I can carry that thing if you need me to.”

“No, it’s not that. Have you ever met the Commander before, sir?”

“No, I haven’t.”

Oscar shook his head, taking off his helmet. This base was entirely Sector 4, so they weren’t required to hide their face like at the Glass Desert.

Bradley shifted a bit, rereading the message, which told them both where they needed to go as well as the fact that the Commander was there.

“Well, at least to us, he’s a bit difficult to stand in front of.”

“To us as in Sector Four?”

“Well, that and summoners especially. There’s a reason he’s known as the most powerful summoner. I’ve looked up to him ever since I joined Iron Legion. Things became different when I got offered to join Sector Four though. Every summoner who wants to join covert ops has to meet him personally. Seeing him in Iron Legion had been one thing, but when I met him for my interview, hell, I just about left a different person.”

“How so?”

Oscar raised his brow confusedly. He knew John Cooper was a legendary existence within Iron Legion. In his eye though, General Polly was doubly more terrifying. That woman was absolutely ruthless with them. She was the orchestrator of every catastrophe they carried out, the mind behind their black operations.

Bradley took another deep breath.

“Well… Just don’t bullshit him. Don’t hide anything, even in your mind. The man is damn near fucking clairvoyant, can detect your thoughts before you even know you have them. I know people think that General Polly is the terrible mind behind our operations, but I can assure you, that man is the sole reason for what we do.”

“Is that right…”

Oscar went quiet, Bradley still looking uncomfortable. He just ignored it, thoughts stirring in his head.

Eventually, they found themselves near the medical wards, entering a building to the side. It was there that they found the person they needed to meet.

John Cooper, in the flesh.

Beside him was his wife, Umara Cooper. Oscar had seen her a few times before while the Line was still active. She always baffled him, containing such power within her incredible beauty.

Though, he wondered what possessed her to always wear that oversized hat.

He shook those thoughts out of his mind before looking back at the man in charge. Beside him was the commanding officer of this base, General Burris.

Bradley gave the sharpest salute Oscar had ever seen from him once they were in front of John Cooper. He followed soon after, Oscar taking the lead.

“Dagger One-One and One-Three reporting as requested, sir.”

“Evening, gentlemen.”

He turned to them with a neutral face, his eyes quickly falling on the tree that Bradley continued to hold. He put out his hand.

“Allow me to take that from you, Chief Bradley.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bradley pulled it over, allowing John Cooper to grasp it. Unlike Bradley though, his hand didn’t spark with Psykic conflict. Instead, it was the tree that went docile.

John Cooper simply held it and stared at it, Oscar evaluating the man all the while.

He was definitely large. Oscar had never seen such a tall summoner before. He was built like a wall too, a body perfect for a knight.

Yet not only was he just a summoner, he was Authority 8. Two Authorities underneath himself. He wondered why Bradley, who was Authority 9, was so intimidated by the man.

He couldn’t feel anything from John Cooper, the most powerful summoner to ever live.

Eventually, the man frowned. It was his wife that noticed first. She asked with a wonderful voice that soothed Oscar’s soul just by hearing it.

“What’s wrong?”

“…They’re getting smarter. The fact that they’re beginning to see through our illusion tech is bad enough. We can roll out the next generation, but that’ll only hold them for so much longer.”

Oscar inwardly nodded. Previous missions had been completed without a single soul noticing their existence even when a helicopter was right next to them. But recently, that had changed. The fact that they had to fight off an entire unit of guards at all meant that their tech was losing its edge.

Something was seeing through them.

Umara asked again.

“What would be able to crack adaptive camouflage?”

“I don’t know. Either something Conceptual, or a new generation of Scouts. We’re gonna have to adjust protocol and move faster.”

He went silent before looking between Oscar and Bradley, the latter still stiff as a nail.

“Thank you, gentlemen. Apologies for asking you to grab this for me given what it was rooted in, but this could be a valuable lead. If you have nothing else for me, you two may go.”

“Sir.”

Bradley saluted and was about to turn, freezing when he noticed Oscar not moving.

Oscar decided to do away with any hesitations he had. What he had just seen did a good job of lowering his reservations and nerves, even in front of John Cooper.

“Commander, I have a question.”

“I probably have an answer to it.”

John Cooper looked up at him, the entire room dead silent. Even the nearby doctors were moving carefully, as if a misplaced sound would spell their death.

Oscar carefully chose his words.

“I have a question about the raids, sir. I’ve never been able to see the data, but after seeing the city, I’ve realized that as we destroyed more towns and villages of Nephilim, they’ve flocked to the cities, which have resulted in their spread increasing by incredible rates. They’ve completely taken over several major cities, millions of Nepihilim roaming those streets and spreading to other population centers. I understand that as Iron Legion’s Commander, nothing happens without your approval. I just don’t understand why this was how it had to go.

“It seems our efforts have only made things worse. What’s going on in the next building over is just a small glimpse of what we’ve caused. I can’t fathom how many children have been killed ever since the cities started getting corrupted. So please, tell me why it had to happen like this. Please tell me we weren’t the ones that caused this.”

“You doubt whether or not we caused this?”

Oscar frowned, seeing John Cooper’s twisted face, as if he were looking at an idiot that just vomited on his shoe.

He sighed in clear resignation.

“Fine. No, we didn’t cause this. We aren’t the ones out there torturing, killing and drinking the blood of children. The enemy is doing that, and what’s happening with the cities now was an inevitability. It was only a matter of when, not if.”

“…So you accelerated what was going to happen, brought it forward.”

“I’m controlling the pace of my war, and make no mistake, this is my war. There are five fronts in my war and I’m making sure that I’m the one leading the tempo in all of them. I need to coordinate every note, every pitch, every bar, key, and time, or what can be equated to those things. I’ve already shifted the symphony onto my tracks and anything less would mean the deaths of…”

He suddenly stopped when his wife placed her hand on his shoulder, catching himself and clearing his throat.

Oscar just stood there, hands trembling as his mind flashed with thousands of images.

Until John Cooper slapped his shoulder, all of them disappearing from his psyche.

“Apologies. My answer is timing. Now, I’ve gotta break this Death Shrine open, so I’ll see you gentlemen later.”

He and his wife quickly walked away with the general, Bradley remaining rooted until they were out of sight.

Then, he smacked Oscar.

“What would possibly possess you to do that?!”

“…I saw things.”

Oscar muttered, Bradley tilting his head.

“Saw things? What things?”

“…I don’t know if I should tell you. He might kill me if I did.”

“…You know what, I believe it. Let’s get the hell out of here. I’m done with today.”

Bradley pushed Oscar along, the two leaving like they were about to be caught stealing something.

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