Devil sat in the high-backed chair, its leather barely creasing under his weight.

  His hands clasped, elbows on his knees, head bowed — not in defeat, but calculation.

  Cool air kissed whatever skin wasn't covered by his midnight trenchcoat.

  "Incident report." Devil ordered.

  Legionnaire's voice played over the speakers above.

  "IDCG Raid. Status: Success. Warden and Dusk engaged Raguel and Wanderer..."

  Devil listened to the full report.

  Red sparks manifested into a coin in his hand, rolling along his knuckles.

  His head tilted to one side as if deep in thought.

  The 80% of Doors secured were given to the GDA, along with all captured rogue Divers.

  The GDA publicly revoked the license of all Divers caught at the scene.

  IDCG guards on the other hand...

  He'd instructed Legionnaire to ask them for information "nicely".

  Even through reinforced floors and insulated walls, the screams bled faintly upward — distorted, distant, but persistent.

  No emotion crossed his face as the screams reached his ears.

  Torture was a tool for gathering information, nothing more.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  He watched the replay on the monitor provided by Legionnaire's drones.

  He isolated specific clips, analysing the fights.

  Legionnaire's drones handled both the Holy Knights and the IDCG guards very well.

  Good.

  If Legionnaire's drones were to serve as the Hunters' foot soldiers, they had to be strong.

  Next clip.

  Raguel’s white aura flared on the screen.

  The weighing scale loomed behind him.

  Intriguing.

  He'd theorised the 7 Saviours had an unknown ability.

  Yet even with footage, there was insufficient information to deduce anything about it, except its massive Heartlight cost.

  Which was why Beacons were necessary.

  The Covenant's trump card.

  People— no, fanatics supporting the Covenant donated Heartlight to the obelisks allowed them to store such massive reserves of Heartlight.

  This support made them a force to be reckoned with.

  After watching both Warden and Dusk's defeats, he realised the Hunters had to get stronger.

  He made a mental note to introduce a harsher training regimen for them after they've recovered.

  Devil stood up, walking past a desk filled with stacks of papers.

  A drone was already sorting them into neat stacks.

  Devil pinched his nose bridge.

  The thought of administrative work annoyed him.

  He glared at the stack of papers, momentarily thinking about ripping them apart.

  There was that meeting with the higher ups too...

  Devil sighed, his gaze relaxing.

  A problem for later.

  The coin dissipated as he walked towards the elevator.

  It took him to the basement.

  The elevator opened into a corridor drowned in sterile light. It stretched long and narrow, doors lining both sides like sealed vaults.

  He walked past a room with heavy machinery sounds being muffled.

  Inside, engineers were repairing Warden and Dusk's armour and weapons with Heartlight and technology.

  Their Territories were in the next room, also being repaired.

  The Hunters' equipment allowed them to supply it with Heartlight, making it adaptable and scalable with the Hunter's Heartlight Capacity.

  Paired with Devil's rule of putting all of one's Daily Heartlight into one's Capacity, it was the foundation of the Hunters' strength.

  The next rooms he walked past had a polished white interior akin to that of hospitals.

  Heartlight surgeons stood over Warden’s still form, warm yellow light threading through torn muscle and shattered bone, knitting him back together with clinical precision.

  In the opposite room the same was happening to Dusk.

  They relied too much on their Territory.

  He stopped outside the next room.

  It was similar to the previous room in its hospital white interior design, however the door was heavily reinforced, with drones outside standing guard.

  The inhabitant was a young boy, in his 20s. His hands and legs were chained to the bed by Heartlight reinforced chains which Devil requested for personally.

  Anything lesser wouldn't keep him.

  Dark chains curled all over the inhabitant's body.

  The boy was panting, failed escape attempt no doubt.

  Devil entered the room, eyes constanrly fixed on the boy as red sparks gathered near the door knob and pushed the door open, softly closing it behind him.

  Devil flicked his wrist.

  Red sparks gathered and eased the thick door open.

  The inhabitant stiffened the moment Devil stepped inside.

  Devil spoke.

  "We meet again."