"The intangible, mischievous and deadly Dark Fae... Now. What do we know about them?"

In the office of the first branch, in front of a blank whiteboard in the center of the living area, there the chief stands in a strategy seminar, where all her underlings, in exception to Anastasia, Samuel, Kai and Udin gathers, though with the addition of a certain Cyclop admin sitting on the sofa, forced to listen to her yaps.

"Ehm... So, they are a subspecies of Fae, which makes them closely related to elves. With that, they have quite the large capabilities in terms of magical prowess and expertise, but what set them apart from Elves is that they are simply... Intangible. Able to modify their body to a degree where the law of physics and common sense doesn't apply. To a certain extent at least," She pauses to turn to the white board, "Which means..." Her hand move to draw a crossed out fist, "Physical attacks won't work on them."

"But!" She suddenly snaps to her audience, causing them to slightly jump, "That doesn't mean they're invincible."

"See, their body are made of intelligent, individual cells that are able to divide and reconstruct in an instance and at will. But with that, they are weak to heat. If they were to... Say, put themselves too close to a campfire, they'll slowly and surely crumble to ashes, of course, we can speed up that process, just with a bigger flamethrower."

Ren and Sion both gulp at those words.

"But! We can't be too confident ourselves... They all do have their own methods to evade their own weaknesses." The chief continues, turning back to the white board.

After she looks at the board for a bit, she slaps a picture onto it; a portrait of a woman with black long and messy hair and a pair of sharp purple eyes, staring coldly through the picture, "Enters; The Butterfly Phantasm. The culprit of the attack two days prior. A member of an elusive criminal organization called; 'The wings of freedom' as they titled themselves."

"She mastered an ancient illusionary technique that has been passed down from fae to fae. Which enables her to scatter her body into swarms of butterflies, while also making her able to create decoys of herself that are able to do the same. On top of that, she's extremely agile and unpredictable. So an unplanned encounter would be death for all of us. Well, just you all. Excluding me." The chief walks back and forth in front of the group as she explains.

"Not to mention her partner in crime, The Fallen Angel," She once again slams a picture onto the white board, this time a portrait of a green eyed man looking sharply through the paper with one of his eyes covered by his wavy black hair.

"Don't be fooled by his charming appearance. He has the capability to take down an entire Knight squadron by himself. Just like most Archangels, he uses his feathers as both his offense and defense. But, from what the other agencies have written in their files, the feathers of this one particular Archangel are far more durable than others. Which means we might need more firepower. But then, it's not really our job to fight in the first place. Those dumbass Knight Overseers won't listen to me so here we are," She stomps the floor with utmost passion as soon as she mentions the Knight Overseers.

"Question," Sitting on the sofa with her legs on the coffee table, a certain unicorn leans back as she suckles on a lolipop.

"Yes Amura?" The Chief stops her relentless pacing and takes a glance at her.

"Can't I just beam them?"

And at that, all pairs of eyes gaze onto hers with lids half closed.

"What? It's a legit question!"

"Hmm... I suppose that's possible. But, I'm afraid that your spells is too slow and too destructive in nature. We don't want to have any collateral damage right? But well, if you really need to use your explosive magic, then... I'm afraid all the payment bills will be held onto you."

"...Welp, that's a shame."

And gloomy gazes could once again be seen, targeting the unicorn.

The chief claps her hands, alerting the group, "Well then... Anymore questions?"

"..."

"No? Oka-"

"Where's Udin and Kai and the siblings? Also... Why is she here?" Kao, the happy-go-lucky sharkman asks nonchalantly without raising his hand, only pointing his thumb to the tall menacing cyclop sitting beside him.

"They're currently occupied with a mission on Mor'. So sadly, they can't join us today. And as for the presence of our trusty receptionist here... Well, I specifically requested her help. Which she kindly accept."

At that, Cathy rolls her vertical eye as she crosses her arms, though after a second or two, she sighs and turn her head to the masked woman, "So Chief, what do you mean by the Overseers not listening to you? Does that mean we'll not be getting any support from the other agencies? I mean from what I know, or... Basically, what people with common sense know. It'll need more than just one branch of mostly non-combatants to execute whatever you're trying to do," Leaning and raising her head back, Cathy says.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" The Chief tilts her head.

"Huh? What do I mean by what?"

"..."

Both stares to each other silently for a bit.

"People in this branch are mostly combatants no?"

At those words, Cathy tilts her head in the same manner as the Chief's.

With that, the masked woman sighs and palms her forehead, "It seems like you need a thorough reminder of the state of this branch. See, all of the people in this room, excluding... Maybe Sion, me and you, are all muscles with no brain. I've come to terms with that and decided that I'll pick the easiest cases possible for them. But yet, they..." The Chief looks at her unmentioned underlings one by one, "Still sometimes, managed to fail."

"Why do I keep them around you ask? Well, first of all. I'm a kind person, without their position here, I'm 999% certain that they'll be starving on the streets by now. Or perhaps, they'll work as janitors in a cheap fast food branch, or maybe as a prostitute in a dirty streetclub. One is better than the other but both are equally bad in oversight."

"Now who would let that happen to these cute, yet incompetent maggots? And watching them keep trying just to fail to meet the lowest set bare minimum are always a joyful experience. That's why I... Keep them around," The Chief says without any shame, all the while looking at those she's talking about right in their eyes.

"..."

'W-What an asshole...' Her underlings thought in unison.

"I see. My apologies then. You can continue," Cathy closes her eye as she crosses her legs.

The Chief once again claps her hand, "Anymore questions?"

Ren raises his hand with his eyes hidden by the shade, "What's this... 'Wings of Freedom'?" He raises his head, now with bold eyes, "are they dangerous?"

Realizing the concern on Ren's voice, Sion, who's sitting beside the former, bumps Ren's arm with his. When he glances at him, Sion answers with his three pairs of determined, cyan eyes.

"Well... Like I mentioned earlier... They are a criminal organization with goals unclear and unknown. Elusive, heinous, deadly, terrifying, inhumane, those words all could conclude their characteristics. They're the culprit of some mysterious massacres and terrorism around the city, due to that, everything related to them is strictly confidential and kept away from the general public. We've been chasing them for years, but sadly, to no avail."

Ren shakes his ears as he tries to catch more dubious information, whether he likes that information or not.

"They are currently in search of cursed and ancient artifacts. Why? We still don't know. But what we do know is that an auction for one of these artifacts is to be held in a hotel far in the expensive side of town. And from my inside source, these two people are the ones assigned to receive the said artifact," She points at the two pictures attached to the white board.

And at that, Sion and Ren slightly widen their eyes. To think that she is now a member of a criminal organization, it spurs their stomach to the brim.

"Calm down... She must've had her own reasons right?" Sion whispers to Ren as the chief continues to yap In the background.

"I know... But it's just hard to believe..." Ren lowers his gaze together with his ears.

"I... Couldn't believe it either. But like I said, she has her reasons. If not, then... She wouldn't have saved you that night..." Sion slaps Ren's back gently, causing his ears to perk as he regains his smile.

"Yeah... I guess you're right."

As they both look at each other with determined eyes, a ringing bell could be heard, coming from the chief.

"Ding ding ding. The planning will now come to order."

-----

Clanks, bangs, and jingles all echoes throughout the stage as feathers, butterflies and bullets dance in a fascinating and intense waltz. Through flurries of iron-sharp feathers she cartoonishly spirals out of their reach. From sharp, deadly blades she bends and contorts her limbs to grotesque accords. The doppelganger is taking on both of the dangerous assassins with relentless pace, unable to exhaust nor sweat.

As cascades of feathers and the silent whispers of knives continue to chase after her, the Chief gracefully twirls in a ragged manner like a broken puppet, while her gun, held by her contorted limb aims for their head.

"!!!" A clank, the impact of a silver bullet and black wings soar across the stage.

"Tch. This shitty doppelganger is pretty good," Landing to the stage, the Archangel whispers to himself as he opens his wings before clapping them to his front, shooting out more of his feathers to continuously swarm the doppelganger.

"What? Getting soft now?" Azayaka reforms beside him with a smirk, though before he could retort, both jump away from another bullet shot by the chief.

"Now, now! Stop talking. Entertain me for a while longer..."

In the middle of her yap, another cast of shadow paints itself above her, before a torpedo-like airstrike performed by the Archangel lands, which she dodges by quickly flipping back before it hits. Though after she regains her footing, from behind her, the dark fae dashes out of thin air, brandishing her blades towards the chief's torso. But the chief simply contorts her upper body forward to her knees, before her legs spring up to the fae's face like a jack-in-the-box, causing the latter to scatter to butterflies.

As the assaults from the assassins followed by the Chief's marvelous and flawless evasion occurs, behind the dark and cramped curtain, Ren, Amura and Cathy still sit like a hen on its eggs, watching the pleasantries.

From the start of the plan, Ren can't take his eyes off of his childhood friend. How she is so cold without questioning what she did and how she is so relentlessly accurate and deadly with her movement. Somehow, it makes him think if really... She deserved what's coming. If really... She has changed completely.

And what the Chief said doesn't help either.

"And Ren. With your electricity. If she refuses to cooperate, then... Don't be afraid to hold back."

Her vague words only take matters to the worst. Ren doesn't know what she wants him to do, but even then, he has never killed anyone before. Isn't a Knight's job supposed to protect? Then why would his Chief orders something so heinous such as killing?

Ah, He remembers now. The Chief is a lunatic. She's a gambler that bet on other's lives.

"Fox, Focus. Don't miss out on the chief's signal. Remember the plan, once she put them both in position. You both keep them there while I prepare the sealing process," The cyclop beside him says coldly.

"Sion and Kao should be on their position by now... But why are their intercoms silent?" Cathy adds, tapping on the radio bud attached to her ear.

"Hmm... Maybe it's just some bad signal? The weather's pretty bad today. And it doesn't help when you're on top of a skyscraper. And my horn said that there'll be a storm in 2 hours!" Amura says with a cheeky smile.

"And you just said that now!?" Ren responds.

"Heheh~ Relax~ it's not like they'll be useful anyways. They're only there in case they escape, no? But thinking back... I never knew Sion is a marksman. I thought he would just sting people and call it a day."

The moment she brings the topic elsewhere, Ren sighs, letting her goes with her own thoughts before continuing to observe the fight.

"Man... Watching the chief fight is... Pretty entertaining..." Amura whispers to herself, peeking through the curtain as Ren hums to her words.

"She hasn't even got a scratch yet. Does she really need us?" Ren responds as he stares at the chief's every move.

"I believe the chief is strong enough to kill them both. But we can't be too sure. These are dangerous people Ren. And killing them is not our goal, securing them is. That's why we're here."

And hearing the word 'kill' yet again. Ren silently grits his teeth as he lowers his gaze.

"In the case like Chief mentioned yesterday... Do we really have to... Kill them?"

At his question, the cyclop raises her brow and bows her head down, "Well... I myself don't agree with killing. But it's an order to be obeyed. And the Chief knows what she's doing," She glances away, her words littered with unsureness.

"Even if it's an order... I don't think I can do it. I don't want to kill anyone... Even people like them..."

"..." Silence strikes her gold, yet soon it breaks with a sigh, "That naivety of yours... It'll break sooner or later."

Though her words are cold and ruthless. Ren is hopeless to find any sorts of answer, and certainly, hers is not giving him any, the answer that he wants to hear, atleast.

"Akh!" Amura suddenly screams. The curtain right in front of her is now torn with the light from the stage beaming right to her.

An irony smell begins to leak, when she inspect her right hand, she sees that a black feather has pierced through her palm.

"Shit! Amura! You okay!?" Ren frantically goes to her side to inspect her wound. Gross... The way the feather just goes cleanly through her palm as if it's a knife stabbing a watermelon, it's quite grotesque, "H-Hey, Amura I know a few healing spells. Those should be enough to be the first aid to the wound. We need to get you to a doctor to check for infections after-"

With a straight and unflinching face, she pulls the feather out of her palm then drops it to the floor as if she just pulled a lottery ticket that has a 0.0% chance of winning.

How is that even humanly possible...

But then again, she is a unicorn. And Ren knows nothing about them. So he won't question it further.

"Doesn't this mean we're caught?" Amura says innocently with a straight face, bringing Ren out of his grossed out shock.

"We can't be too sure. They could've heard your scream. But it could be unintentional for all we know. We're in the middle of the firing zone after all," Cathy mentions.

Through the small curtain tearing, Ren takes a peek, the archangel doesn't seem to notice, he only continues with his battle against the chief.

Just as one last measure of safety, Ren once again glances to his right, towards the pink haired woman.

"!!!"

Alas, she's no longer there.

"WOOOOO!! YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT CHICKEN SHIT!" Through the curtain her voice screams, she is now running towards the archangel with her unicorn horn already formed. As a whimsical sound of clattering crystals echoes around her, her hands take a firm grip on her horn before they pull out a condensed form of crystalized energy that cracks and shapes itself into a pink and faintly transparent lance.

With her magical weapon now in hand, she dashes towards the Archangel, who is still occupied by the chief.

"That idiot!!"

And when Cathy glances at Ren, he too, goes to chase after the first.

"THOSE IDIOTS!!"

Landing onto the wooden stage, the Archangel's eyes still lock themselves to the Chief, yet when he senses the changing wind behind him, he spreads his wings wide as a shield, thus with a loud clank, something impacts them with a tremendous force, enough to throw him a few jumps away.

Flapping his wings for a softer footing, he sees that a pink haired woman wearing a blue coat is approaching, holding a magnificent spiral-bladed crystal lance that glows mystical pink. She raises her head to reveal her eyes glowing with the same color and light, though they're overshadowed by the brightness of her majestic unicorn horn.

"Huh. So this is all your scummy knights doing huh?" Noticing the Knight insignia on her tie, the Archangel points the tips of his wings at the woman as if they're a pair of giant gripless greatswords.

The woman tilts her head and smirks, her free hand signaling a shrug, "I don't know. But all I know is that you caused this," She displays her palm that is soaked in blood, though the moment he sees it, those red liquids evaporate into thin air, revealing a perfectly undamaged skin underneath.

"Are all Knights really bothered with petty shit like this? No wonder you all suck at your job," He replies, sharpening his feathers.

"Well, I wouldn't say all Knights..." Without a warning, from her displayed palm, four glowing ribbons shoot out towards the Archangel. From their sudden nature, they manage to each find their way around the stems of his wings, yet he doesn't react, only tilting his head back arrogantly.

"Heh..." She smirks, in response to his arrogance, "maybe the Knights you meant..."

"Is just me?"

"!!!"

With a cracking sound as if she's clenching onto ribbons made of glass, she closes her opened palm that holds those ribbons. Instantaneously, those ribbons all begin to condense back to her with an immense speed, shocking the Archangel with its tremendous power, thus sending him flying towards her.

The sharp tip of her lance glimmers with its magic as she prepares to stake the bird as if he's barbecue meat.

But luckily for him, at the very last second, his feathers manage to cut through the ribbons that are holding his wings back. Thus, with a powerful gust of wind, he is able to flap away from her stab inches before it pierces the center of his chest.

"I take it with that, you'll take me more seriously?" Amura taunts as she tilts her head in the same manner as he did.

"Tch... "

Then, clashing of magic and feathers blare across the stage, the unicorn and the archangel start their duel with magical grace and deadly premonition. As a certain doppelganger keeps herself preoccupied with an elusive dark fae.

And meanwhile, in between the battles, stand the fox with his skin sweating and his eyes shaking as he constantly glances left and right, towards the different duels each taking place at the same time.

"Ren. Explain to me why you're not following the plan," The chief, landing behind him out of nowhere, calmly says.

"Gah! Would you stop appearing so suddenly like that!"

"Hmm? You still question that in the middle of an intense battle?"

"Tch... Amura ran off first! I was trying to stop her!" He points to the unicorn who's still battling her opposition.

"Hmm... Is that so?"

"Yes! It is-"

The chief's head retracts to her neck like a whack-A-mole's mole, dodging another thrust performed by the dark Fae by mere inches.

"Tch!" Ren grunts as he ducks down, allowing Azayaka to pass above his head as she performs her horizontal lunge.

As the dark Fae scatters again to a cascade of butterflies, the Chief's head shoots out to where it is supposed to be. Now, with Ren covering her back, she can focus on reloading her silver ammo instead of dodging clusters of attacks all the time. Or At least that's what she ought to do. As she tries to fit the whole round of bullets into the cylinder at once, her butter fingers clumsily slip the handful of silver bullets away, causing them to scatter and roll around the stage like slightly weighted marbles.

"Whoops," And like a five years old, the supposedly most intelligent and cunning chief in the intelligence agency goes on her way to pick up the bullets one by one.

With a blank face Ren stares at her from a few steps away, with cheeks puffed, eyes half lidded, he waits for her to finish her shenanigan.

And she said we're the incompetent one.

Breaking away his distraction, his ears perks to a sudden tingly sensation. To that sensation, he ducks down. Thus he avoids an otherwise deadly encounter with a deadly thrust of a blade, performed by non other than Azayaka.

Ren turns to her to see that even when she is standing far, looking away from him, he still could feel her cold glare.

"I thought I told you not to look for me," She says, with words sharper than her blade.

He gulps, silenced by her word. As she slightly looks back, revealing to him her sharp purple eyes, her body turns into a flock of butterflies that soon surrounds and overwhelms him. Then from many directions at once, she reforms and scatters repeatedly, ricocheting from side to side, slashing him with perfect accuracy and succession with every dash.

His right cheek, left knee and calf, together with both his shoulders draw blood. As he let the burning sensation of his raw flesh meeting the air seethes in, he releases a sudden shockwave of blue electricity, causing the butterflies to back off and become one again a few steps away in front of him.

"Azayaka, please! I don't want to fight you!" With his glassy eyes he begs, just for them to meet hers that are as sharp as her blades.

Even with his puppy-like eyes, Azayaka stays silent. With a speed rivaling his lightning, she suddenly appears right beside him with her eyes hidden by her hair. As he flinches to her sudden ambush, she swings her blade towards his forehead. Though fortunately, Ren throws his head back at the last second, missing the blade by slight inches before he stumbles and falls on his back.

"Ggh!" As his back meets the wooden floor, another hard thud pressures the center of his ribs.

"That naivety of yours..." With her heels laid onto him, Azayaka points her blade towards him, "It disgusts me."

As the stage's light hit her back, the shadow covers her front, thus causing her abyss-like purple eyes to glow even more brilliantly, but instead of beauty, they carry with them an excessive amount of disappointment, pity, and anger.

Ren's pupils could only tremble as they meet with hers, "A-Aza..."

"!!!"

In the background, Amura crashes onto the stage with the Archangel's boot pinning her shoulder down. With her Knight uniform now ripped and tattered, her mouth drizzles with blood as she maniacally smiles at her opponent.

"Tch... Typical. A deranged woman who somehow managed to become a Knight. No wonder why The Wings wants you all dead," He says as he looks down at the unicorn, pointing his sharp feathers right towards her eyes.

Without fear, she simply tilts her head as she raises a brow, "Hmm? Deranged? Heh... You're funny hot stuff..." She let out a few rounds of giggles, "Well, as you see, I simply just enjoy fighting," She smirks at him, followed by a series of more giggles, "And at least... I don't kill the innocents. Unlike you."

At that, he only glares at her.

"Heh... Eheheheh..." With a sly smirk, she mocks.

"Tch..." Yet, those giggles only last for barely a few seconds.

"!!!"

A sound just the like of a guillotine cutting through one's neck echoes throughout the stage.

"..?" To a sudden sensation of loss, Amura blinks twice.

"H-Huh..?" Watching how he stares daggers at her, she glances slightly to her left, to see that her arm has been chopped off from her body.

"Tolerance to pain," He says as her blood drizzles out from her tube-like wound like a fountain.

"That's the proof that you are deranged. Just. Like. Us."

At those words, Amura only smirks once more. It is true that she doesn't feel the pain from her wound, yet it still does hurt. For her ego, at least.

"Wow... So poetic... You don't know adrenaline exists, huh?" Her eyes stare at the ceiling emptily as the Archangel releases his footing from her.

"Hah. About to meet your creator, huh?" The Archangel mocks as he turns and walks away, "So much big talk just for this, don't expect me to end it fast. You deserve to suffer," He spreads his wings, preparing to take off. Before that, he glances towards his left, where a few distance away, his friend is dominating another knight, a white fox too weak to even stand up.

The Chief is now nowhere in sight. But the Triangle artifact still lies on the center of the stage unharmed, glaring its many eyes to its surroundings. With that, a perfect opportunity to grab the triangle comes to mind. Finally, they could now go home and be done with the mission-

"Woosh."

To a change of wind coming from behind him, he turns around.

"Tch!"

"!!!"

A clank echoes the moment he does. Amura greets his wings once again with her crystal lance, held by only one of her arms plus a crystal arm that replaces her decapitated one.

"You thought I was done right... Well, think again! Ehehehehe... AHAHAHAHA!" Amura grunts and giggles, as she widens her eyes to meet the Archangel's.

"Tch... You... Fucking... Psycho!"

As another duel broke out with clankings of crystals and feathers, on the other side of the stage, Ren still lies beneath Azayaka's gaze with her leather boot on top of his shoulder.

"Aza... Wait... Please..." He says with a trembling voice, clashing his soft eyes with her sharp ones. His body keeps on shaking as he grabs her calve, attempting to bring her down, yet to no avail.

At that, she immediately grabs his collar and raises him up, before turning him around for his throat to meet her blade, "If you stop squirming like that, I can end it quick you know."

"Ggh..." He grunts, trying to break his wrists away from her grip, yet his body somehow feels so suddenly weak, as if he just woken up from a really sore morning.

C'mon... Why can't I release my magic???

He keeps on trying and trying, closing his eyes and focusing his mind, trying to conjure his magic around him. Yet, no matter how hard he tries, it all produce only a minor spark that soon evaporates to thin air.

Then he sees that from her current display of her blades, they are carved with dimly glowing seals attached with mystical runes and symbols, dimly glowing dark and purple, with a hint of blues the like of his magic. Though those blues soon fades, as if absorbed by her blade.

"Aza... Why... Why are you doing this? Why can't we just... Talk..?"

At that, she simply lowers her head as she closes her eyes, "I could ask the same to you," She moves to whisper to his lowered ears, "If only you just simply... Forget about me... Then this wouldn't have to happen."

"Aza I..." He looks down, his eyes glimmering like glass.

"I... I'm sorry... Ren," She stays silent at those words that are imbued with bittersweet melancholy.

But Aza... I still care about you...

No matter if you like it or not...

You're my best friend... After all...

It all comes down to him yet again with two choices that each represents different endings to his will; he could still stay true to his inner self, that is to fill in this empty hole within him, to reconcile with her after all this years. Now that she's here, his buried dream is now so close, yet so out of reach. She wants him to leave her alone, from the moment they reunites with the moon accompanying them, yet he is unable to do what she wants, or rather, he doesn't want to bid by her will, to just leave her again after all those years without her.

Maybe he should do as she says.

Maybe he should leave her alone.

Maybe he should just... Forget about her.

Just like how she always wanted it to be.

This is all just one "lucky" coincidence after all...

Right?

...

...

...

No...

I refuse...

I made my promise... Aza...

I'll definitely. Bring you home again.

"Everyone! It's been quite the performance today. But I'm afraid that it might have to end..." Suddenly, the Chief's voice booms across the stage from its center. Thus all eyes glue themselves onto her, from the fox's now determined blues, the dark fae's sharp and emotionless glare, the unicorn's battle hungry chromas, and the Archangel's furious pair of hawk-like pupils.

With all those eyes on her, the Chief tilts her head and takes one step back.

"Well then... Let us all welcome the most magnificent curtain calls!"

Like an ending to a real stage performance. The Chief bows down as the red curtains behind her slides open.

And Ren's eyes widens at the sight. As the unveil reveals a certain green eyed cyclop standing tall. Her eye is opened wide, her pupil now thinned to a serpent-like slit.

"Domina Gorgon's Art: Petrification!"

Her words let themselves out in snake-like whispers. Yet, they echo across the stage as if they're set on the loudest volume. As her pitch black hair glows with malicious green, her eye conjures in front of it an infinity symbol that pulsates a sudden green light. It explodes with the sound of a fallen mic into blinding whiteness that engulfs everything in its vicinity.

But at the last moment, just before the flash impacts them, Ren releases himself from the distracted Azayaka's grip, he turns her around, before he embraces her as he covers her eyes tightly.

-----