The tension did not leave with the battlefield.
It thinned.
That was all.
Tempest stood at the threshold of the strategy room a moment longer than necessary, eyes moving—not nervously, but methodically. Corners. Sight lines. Doors. Who carried weapons and who didn’t. Who watched them, and who pretended not to.
Lyssa tugged gently at her sleeve.
“I’m starving,” she admitted, voice smaller now that the adrenaline had drained away.
Xeia said nothing, but her stomach betrayed her with a quiet sound that made her cheeks burn.
Tempest softened.
She knelt briefly, brushing Lyssa’s hair back from her face.
“You eat. You shower. You stay close to me.”
Lyssa nodded.
Xeia tried to smile bravely, though her eyes were still wide with everything she’d witnessed.
Tempest rose and looked once more at Azazel.
It wasn’t fear in her expression.
It was calculation.
Trust, but layered.
Her chin dipped in a small, deliberate nod.
Azazel answered with one of his own.
Then she turned, gathering Xeia and Lyssa with her as a few of the newly awakened were escorted toward the communal quarters. The door slid shut behind them.
The room quieted.
Only Azazel and Nine Breaker remained.
Nine Breaker—still half-armored, gauntlets resting on the crate—watched the door for a second longer before turning back.
Azazel spoke first.
“Nine Breaker,” he said evenly. “That’s hardly a name.”
He tilted his head slightly.
“More a title. A rank, even.”
Nine Breaker’s mouth curved slowly.
“You’re perceptive.”
He leaned back against the table, folding his arms.
“My real name is Vergil.”
He said it casually—but there was something deliberate in the reveal.
A test.
“Vergil,” he repeated with a sly smile. “And yours is a moniker as well, I assume.”
Azazel’s expression did not shift.
“No,” he said. “It’s my given name.”
A pause.
“Why?” His eyes sharpened. “Does it mean something here?”
Vergil studied him carefully.
“Depends who you ask.”
He moved toward one of the walls, tapping a control panel. A dim archive screen flickered to life—old texts, mythological references, scattered articles.
“There’s an old tell,” he began, voice lower now. “A myth. About a demon who shared knowledge and power with humans.”
He glanced at Azazel.
“A being who offered strength in defiance of divine order.”
The screen shifted—ancient etchings, stylized depictions of a horned figure standing among men.
“The name?” Vergil said softly. “Azazel.”
The word hung in the air like something alive.
“They say it means ‘to whom God has given strength.’”
Azazel didn’t blink.
Vergil continued.
“In some versions, he was a teacher. Taught humanity warfare. Metalworking. Secrets of heaven.”
Another shift on the screen—now darker imagery. Chains. A pit.
“In others, he was a corrupter. The reason humanity fell into violence.”
His voice lowered further.
“Rumored to be sealed at the bottom of the world. Bound beneath stone and silence.”
A faint smile touched Vergil’s mouth.
“a herald of endings.”
Silence followed.
The hum of the patched machinery outside seemed louder now.
Azazel finally spoke.
“And you believe in these myths?”
Vergil shrugged lightly.
“I believe myths survive for a reason.”
He stepped closer.
“And I believe names have gravity.”
Azazel’s gray eyes did not waver. A subtle current moved through the air—not hostile.
Measured.
Vergil studied him not like a threat.
Like a variable.
“in your world,” he asked quietly, “when someone awakens to power…”
His gaze flicked briefly toward the door Tempest had exited through.
“…does something come to kill them?”
Azazel’s jaw tightened just slightly.
“No…not so systemically, atleast. Death is close…but never like this. ”
Vergil nodded once.
“Then Terra is broken in a way your world isn’t.”
The two men stood in that truth for a moment.
Different worlds.
Same war.
Finally, Vergil exhaled.
“If your name is truly your own,” he said, “then I suppose the legends here will have to adjust.”
A faint glint touched Azazel’s eyes.
“Legends often do.”
Outside the room, laughter rose again—faint, stubborn, human.
Vergil looked toward it.
“Eat with us,” he said after a moment. “See how we live before you decide whether to trust us.”
Azazel considered that.
Then nodded once.
“I will.”
Chapter Seven:The Answer
Re: Chapter Seven:The Answer
The communal hall of Anti felt louder now—not chaotic, but alive.
Azazel sat at one of the long metal tables, a dented tray in front of him. Spiced rice. Roasted root vegetables. A strip of something smoked and salted. Real food. The kind that required time. Intention.
Across from him sat a young man with oil-stained hands and a nervous smile.
“I was fixing transit rails,” he said, shrugging. “Nothing special. Just… one day I felt it.”
He pressed a hand to his chest.
“Like the planet inhaled—and I inhaled with it.”
A woman beside him nodded eagerly.
“Yeah. Like gravity shifted. Like the ground knew my name.”
Another chimed in from down the table.
“I could feel everything. The concrete. The pipes. The air pressure.” He laughed weakly. “I thought I was losing my mind.”
The laughter around the table wasn’t mocking.
It was familiar.
Azazel listened without interrupting.
“And then?” he asked quietly.
Their smiles faded.
“And then the Nullborne showed up,” the woman finished.
The oil-stained man swallowed.
“I barely understood what was happening. Things were bending. I couldn’t control it. And then…” He glanced toward the far end of the hall where Vergil stood speaking with someone. “…if it weren’t for Nine Breaker, I wouldn’t be telling you this story.”
Murmurs of agreement followed.
Same pattern.
Day-to-day survival in Terra’s forgotten districts.
A sudden surge.
A connection to the planet.
Then the hunters.
Azazel sat with that.
It did not align with Vescrutia.
On his world, naten was as natural as breath. No awakening rituals. No catastrophic surge. Children learned to shape it before they could properly write their names.
Here… it was rationed by fate.
Or design.
A shadow fell over the table.
Vergil.
He carried two short glasses, amber liquid catching the warm light.
“Do you drink?” Vergil asked, extending one toward him. A smirk tugged at his mouth. “You hardly look old enough.”
Azazel accepted the glass without hesitation.
“I’ve already fought in two battles since I landed here,” he said evenly. “I’ll have the drink.”
He examined the liquid briefly.
“No ice.”
Vergil chuckled under his breath.
“Fair.”
They moved slightly away from the table, leaning against a support beam near the edge of the hall.
The whiskey burned in a clean, honest way.
Azazel didn’t flinch.
Vergil took a slower sip.
“Old scars?” he asked casually.
Azazel lifted his sleeve just enough to reveal faint silver lines tracing his forearm—scars that shimmered slightly when the light caught them.
“Lightning,” he said simply. “And something that tried to swallow a mountain.”
Vergil blinked once.
“…Right.”
He rolled his shoulder, wincing faintly.
“Collapsed an overpass on myself during my second year running Anti,” he admitted. “Didn’t know my limits yet.”
Azazel glanced at him.
“You still don’t.”
Vergil grinned.
“Probably not.”
The humor faded gradually as the conversation shifted.
“Naten,” Vergil said, more seriously now. “No one on Terra has good information about it.”
Azazel looked at him.
“Explain.”
Vergil leaned back against the beam, staring into his glass.
“Naten isn’t new here. It’s ancient. There are carvings older than recorded history depicting it. Ritual sites aligned to energy flow. Geological anomalies that match surge signatures.”
He tapped his temple.
“But officially? It doesn’t exist.”
Azazel’s eyes narrowed.
“Who is suppressing it?”
“Buried it,” Vergil corrected. “Reclassified every discovery. Redirected research funding. Shut down academic programs. Any scientist who got too close either recanted… or disappeared.”
The warmth of the hall felt thinner now.
“Naten scarcity is engineered,” Vergil continued. “The planet still produces it—but access is suppressed. Like there’s a choke point.”
Azazel thought of the awakenings.
Violent. Chaotic. Unstable.
“In Vescrutia,” he said slowly, “naten is ambient. Children are taught control before power ever overwhelms them. Awakening isn’t an event.”
Vergil’s eyes lit—not with fear.
With hunger.
“Control before surge,” he murmured. “So the instability here isn’t natural.”
“No,” Azazel said. “It isn’t.”
Footsteps approached.
Tempest.
Her hair was still damp from washing, clothes changed into something simple but fitted for movement. Xeia and Lyssa were nowhere in sight—likely still eating, or finally resting.
Tempest didn’t sit immediately.
She listened to the tail end of the exchange.
“The Nullborne,” she said, folding her arms. “They’re clearly part of it.”
Vergil glanced at her.
“How so?”
“They don’t attack H.O.U.N.D.,” she said flatly. “They only target the awakened. They’re selective.”
Azazel nodded once.
“The Nullborne keep the secret of naten by killing those who access it.”
Tempest’s jaw tightened.
“And H.O.U.N.D. keeps the secret by kidnapping the ones who survive.”
The words settled heavily.
Vergil didn’t argue.
He finished his whiskey in one measured swallow.
“So,” he said quietly, “we have suppression at the institutional level… and extermination at the biological level.”
Azazel’s voice dropped.
“Which means someone benefits from Terra remaining unaware.”
The communal laughter across the hall felt distant now.
Tempest stepped closer, lowering her voice.
“what are nullborn?” “I killed a few but their bodies never reveal themselves.”
“No,” Vergil agreed. “they dont.”
A beat of silence.
“No one here knows what they are, but maybe h.o.u.n.d
Then Azazel asked the question none of them had voiced yet.
“What happens,” he said, “if the awakenings stop being rare?”
Vergil’s expression shifted—not to fear.
To resolve.
“Then,” he said, “this planet changes.”
Tempest looked toward the door where Lyssa had disappeared earlier.
“Or it burns.”
Somewhere deep beneath the patched metal floors of Anti headquarters, something hummed—old wiring, overworked generators.
But beneath even that…
There was another pulse.
Subtle.
Waiting.
Azazel sat at one of the long metal tables, a dented tray in front of him. Spiced rice. Roasted root vegetables. A strip of something smoked and salted. Real food. The kind that required time. Intention.
Across from him sat a young man with oil-stained hands and a nervous smile.
“I was fixing transit rails,” he said, shrugging. “Nothing special. Just… one day I felt it.”
He pressed a hand to his chest.
“Like the planet inhaled—and I inhaled with it.”
A woman beside him nodded eagerly.
“Yeah. Like gravity shifted. Like the ground knew my name.”
Another chimed in from down the table.
“I could feel everything. The concrete. The pipes. The air pressure.” He laughed weakly. “I thought I was losing my mind.”
The laughter around the table wasn’t mocking.
It was familiar.
Azazel listened without interrupting.
“And then?” he asked quietly.
Their smiles faded.
“And then the Nullborne showed up,” the woman finished.
The oil-stained man swallowed.
“I barely understood what was happening. Things were bending. I couldn’t control it. And then…” He glanced toward the far end of the hall where Vergil stood speaking with someone. “…if it weren’t for Nine Breaker, I wouldn’t be telling you this story.”
Murmurs of agreement followed.
Same pattern.
Day-to-day survival in Terra’s forgotten districts.
A sudden surge.
A connection to the planet.
Then the hunters.
Azazel sat with that.
It did not align with Vescrutia.
On his world, naten was as natural as breath. No awakening rituals. No catastrophic surge. Children learned to shape it before they could properly write their names.
Here… it was rationed by fate.
Or design.
A shadow fell over the table.
Vergil.
He carried two short glasses, amber liquid catching the warm light.
“Do you drink?” Vergil asked, extending one toward him. A smirk tugged at his mouth. “You hardly look old enough.”
Azazel accepted the glass without hesitation.
“I’ve already fought in two battles since I landed here,” he said evenly. “I’ll have the drink.”
He examined the liquid briefly.
“No ice.”
Vergil chuckled under his breath.
“Fair.”
They moved slightly away from the table, leaning against a support beam near the edge of the hall.
The whiskey burned in a clean, honest way.
Azazel didn’t flinch.
Vergil took a slower sip.
“Old scars?” he asked casually.
Azazel lifted his sleeve just enough to reveal faint silver lines tracing his forearm—scars that shimmered slightly when the light caught them.
“Lightning,” he said simply. “And something that tried to swallow a mountain.”
Vergil blinked once.
“…Right.”
He rolled his shoulder, wincing faintly.
“Collapsed an overpass on myself during my second year running Anti,” he admitted. “Didn’t know my limits yet.”
Azazel glanced at him.
“You still don’t.”
Vergil grinned.
“Probably not.”
The humor faded gradually as the conversation shifted.
“Naten,” Vergil said, more seriously now. “No one on Terra has good information about it.”
Azazel looked at him.
“Explain.”
Vergil leaned back against the beam, staring into his glass.
“Naten isn’t new here. It’s ancient. There are carvings older than recorded history depicting it. Ritual sites aligned to energy flow. Geological anomalies that match surge signatures.”
He tapped his temple.
“But officially? It doesn’t exist.”
Azazel’s eyes narrowed.
“Who is suppressing it?”
“Buried it,” Vergil corrected. “Reclassified every discovery. Redirected research funding. Shut down academic programs. Any scientist who got too close either recanted… or disappeared.”
The warmth of the hall felt thinner now.
“Naten scarcity is engineered,” Vergil continued. “The planet still produces it—but access is suppressed. Like there’s a choke point.”
Azazel thought of the awakenings.
Violent. Chaotic. Unstable.
“In Vescrutia,” he said slowly, “naten is ambient. Children are taught control before power ever overwhelms them. Awakening isn’t an event.”
Vergil’s eyes lit—not with fear.
With hunger.
“Control before surge,” he murmured. “So the instability here isn’t natural.”
“No,” Azazel said. “It isn’t.”
Footsteps approached.
Tempest.
Her hair was still damp from washing, clothes changed into something simple but fitted for movement. Xeia and Lyssa were nowhere in sight—likely still eating, or finally resting.
Tempest didn’t sit immediately.
She listened to the tail end of the exchange.
“The Nullborne,” she said, folding her arms. “They’re clearly part of it.”
Vergil glanced at her.
“How so?”
“They don’t attack H.O.U.N.D.,” she said flatly. “They only target the awakened. They’re selective.”
Azazel nodded once.
“The Nullborne keep the secret of naten by killing those who access it.”
Tempest’s jaw tightened.
“And H.O.U.N.D. keeps the secret by kidnapping the ones who survive.”
The words settled heavily.
Vergil didn’t argue.
He finished his whiskey in one measured swallow.
“So,” he said quietly, “we have suppression at the institutional level… and extermination at the biological level.”
Azazel’s voice dropped.
“Which means someone benefits from Terra remaining unaware.”
The communal laughter across the hall felt distant now.
Tempest stepped closer, lowering her voice.
“what are nullborn?” “I killed a few but their bodies never reveal themselves.”
“No,” Vergil agreed. “they dont.”
A beat of silence.
“No one here knows what they are, but maybe h.o.u.n.d
Then Azazel asked the question none of them had voiced yet.
“What happens,” he said, “if the awakenings stop being rare?”
Vergil’s expression shifted—not to fear.
To resolve.
“Then,” he said, “this planet changes.”
Tempest looked toward the door where Lyssa had disappeared earlier.
“Or it burns.”
Somewhere deep beneath the patched metal floors of Anti headquarters, something hummed—old wiring, overworked generators.
But beneath even that…
There was another pulse.
Subtle.
Waiting.
Re: Chapter Seven:The Answer
They moved the discussion back into the strategy room once Tempest confirmed Xeia and Lyssa were settled with food.
This time, Vergil didn’t stand alone.
Two others joined them.
A broad-shouldered woman with copper-brown skin and tightly braided hair leaned over the metal table, sleeves rolled up, grease beneath her nails. Her eyes were sharp, calculating.
“This is Rhea,” Vergil said. “Logistics. Keeps us fed. Keeps the lights on.”
Rhea gave a short nod. “Barely.”
Beside her stood a thinner man, tall, with wire-frame glasses and a habit of tapping his finger against his wrist as if counting something invisible.
“And Dr. E. Virek,” Vergil added. “Energy mapping. He tracks surge patterns.”
Elias adjusted his glasses. “Tracks is generous. I observe chaos and try to find rhythm.”
Azazel folded his arms.
Tempest leaned against the wall.
Vergil rested both palms on the scarred table.
“We were hoping for your help,” he said simply.
Silence stretched.
Azazel broke it.
“Help? In exchange for…”
He said Direct and Uncompromising.
“We need fighters. Someone to help on the frontlines.”
Vergil, replied.
Azazel held the silence. Cut a glance at Tempest, then back to Vergil and his team.
“We should find and strike at H.o.u.n.d
Rhea’s eyebrow lifted.
Vergil’s jaw tightened.
“That’s not an option,” Vergil replied calmly. “That’s suicide.”
Azazel’s eyes sharpened.
“They are connected to the Nullborne. They are suppressing naten. They are abducting the awakened. You want to dismantle this machine?” He tapped the map. “You remove its spine.”
Elias inhaled slowly.
“Direct confrontation would trigger open military retaliation,” he said. “We are not equipped for that.”
Azazel did not look at him.
“I agree. Your first mission should be to equip yourselves.”
Rhea spoke up.
“With what? Hope? We barely hold this place together. Food shortages are weekly. Medical supplies are scavenged. Ammunition is handcrafted.”
Azazel glanced at the patched walls, the mismatched solar panels outside.
He knew scarcity when he saw it.
Tempest stepped forward.
“Wherever the materials are, Azazel and I will simply retrieve them,” she said. “in exchange for Rank and Access.”
Vergil looked at her.
“Retrieve them? From where..”
“Wherever they're hoarding them,” she answered. “If Nullborne operates across the world—if H.O.U.N.D. is engineering the Chaos and profiting from it…something larger—is coming.
Elias blinked.
“You’re suggesting guerrilla warfare?"
“Yes.”
“Unless,” Azazel said quietly. “This is just a soup kitchen.”
Tempest’s eyes flicked to Azazel.
Azazel didn’t respond.
Vergil folded his arms now.
“We arent a military, Azazel.” he stated, coldly”.
Azazel shook his head once .
“No.”
Tempest glanced at him.
“But you're clearly at war with one,” he continued. “Maybe even a few after what you showed me on that monitor.”
His voice carried something heavier than strategy.
It carried offense.
Something had been done here.
To Terra.
To its access to naten.
And he took that personally.
Rhea tapped the edge of the table.
“There is another route,” she said.
All eyes shifted to her.
“We expand operations in the Underglow districts.”
Vergil’s head turned sharply.
“Rhea.”
She didn’t back down.
“Listen. The Underglow isn’t just a festival. It’s a recruitment ground. It’s where the awakenings spike. If we establish safe corridors there—food caches, med stations, extraction routes—we gain presence.”
Azazel nodded slightly.
“Yes.”
Vergil’s stare hardened.
“Recruitment?! Rhea?”
“They are targets for hound and The null. Something about the festival is triggering people to become Naten aware,” Rhea countered. “If we’re first on the scene, they come to us—not H.O.U.N.D.”
Azazel stepped in.
“And you need a place to train new recruits.”
The word landed.
Train.
Vergil’s expression changed.
“I don’t like the direction this is heading.”
Azazel’s gaze didn’t waver.
“You don’t like ... .what, Nine breaker.”
“I don’t like weaponizing children,” Vergil corrected sharply.
The air in the room shifted.
Tempest straightened slightly.
Azazel’s voice dropped.
“Children that are already being hunted.”
Silence.
Vergil’s eyes flashed.
“They’re kids.”
“They are targets,” Azazel replied immediately. “Your enemies are not waiting for them to reach a ‘fair,’ age.”
Elias shifted uncomfortably.
Rhea watched the two men carefully.
Vergil stepped forward, shoulders squared.
“You think I don’t know that?” he asked quietly. “You think I haven’t carried a fourteen-year-old out of rubble?”
Azazel didn’t soften.
“In Vescrutia,” he said, “we train early. Control before catastrophe. You protect them by preparing them—not by pretending they are not on the battlefield.”
“This isn’t Vescrutia,” Vergil snapped.
“No,” Azazel agreed coldly. “It isn’t. No vescrutian would allow something this sick to persist but i suppose, the monsters dont hide their face…where im from.
The weight of that hung heavily.
Tempest intervened, voice steady.
“Preparation doesn’t mean conscription,” she said. “It means control training. Discipline. Naten literacy. We arent deploying children into war zones, we are arming them encase the battle comes to them.”
Elias perked up slightly.
“Naten literacy…”
“Yes,” Tempest continued. “If awakening is chaotic here, it’s because there is no framework. Your planet is sick. If we teach them, their stability could heal the planet. ”
The Dr nodded slowly.
“That I can get behind.”
Vergil exhaled through his nose, pacing once across the cramped office.
“You start teaching combat, war preparedness” he said without looking at Azazel, “and we cross a line.”
Azazel answered evenly.
“The line was crossed when the first child was killed.”
The words cut.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
Just true.
Vergil stopped pacing.
His voice, when he spoke again, was quieter.
“You don’t understand what it does to a society to normalize that.”
Azazel’s eyes didn’t flinch.
“You don’t understand what it does to a society to leave them helpless.”l
“Enough,” she said softly. “We’re arguing philosophy, not purpose.”
That pulled them back.
Barely.
Elias cleared his throat.
“If we establish a controlled position in training in the Underglow districts—framed as theater workshops—we could establish a presence in the culture. This gives us data of naten resonance during the festivals.”
Rhea added, “And expanding presence gives us supply routes. Quiet ones.”
Vergil stared at the table.
Then at Azazel.
“You want to hunt H.O.U.N.D.,” he said.
Azazel tilted his head slightly.
“Better the Hunters.”
Vergil held his gaze.
“If we build a presence in the underglow it would give us a better chance of getting them away from hound.”
Tempest watched him closely.
After a long moment, Azazel nodded once.
“I dont wanna play theater,” he said.
Vergil allowed himself a thin smile.
“...Yea, it seems you wanna play wargames.”
Outside the strategy room, laughter echoed again.
But beneath it—
This time, Vergil didn’t stand alone.
Two others joined them.
A broad-shouldered woman with copper-brown skin and tightly braided hair leaned over the metal table, sleeves rolled up, grease beneath her nails. Her eyes were sharp, calculating.
“This is Rhea,” Vergil said. “Logistics. Keeps us fed. Keeps the lights on.”
Rhea gave a short nod. “Barely.”
Beside her stood a thinner man, tall, with wire-frame glasses and a habit of tapping his finger against his wrist as if counting something invisible.
“And Dr. E. Virek,” Vergil added. “Energy mapping. He tracks surge patterns.”
Elias adjusted his glasses. “Tracks is generous. I observe chaos and try to find rhythm.”
Azazel folded his arms.
Tempest leaned against the wall.
Vergil rested both palms on the scarred table.
“We were hoping for your help,” he said simply.
Silence stretched.
Azazel broke it.
“Help? In exchange for…”
He said Direct and Uncompromising.
“We need fighters. Someone to help on the frontlines.”
Vergil, replied.
Azazel held the silence. Cut a glance at Tempest, then back to Vergil and his team.
“We should find and strike at H.o.u.n.d
Rhea’s eyebrow lifted.
Vergil’s jaw tightened.
“That’s not an option,” Vergil replied calmly. “That’s suicide.”
Azazel’s eyes sharpened.
“They are connected to the Nullborne. They are suppressing naten. They are abducting the awakened. You want to dismantle this machine?” He tapped the map. “You remove its spine.”
Elias inhaled slowly.
“Direct confrontation would trigger open military retaliation,” he said. “We are not equipped for that.”
Azazel did not look at him.
“I agree. Your first mission should be to equip yourselves.”
Rhea spoke up.
“With what? Hope? We barely hold this place together. Food shortages are weekly. Medical supplies are scavenged. Ammunition is handcrafted.”
Azazel glanced at the patched walls, the mismatched solar panels outside.
He knew scarcity when he saw it.
Tempest stepped forward.
“Wherever the materials are, Azazel and I will simply retrieve them,” she said. “in exchange for Rank and Access.”
Vergil looked at her.
“Retrieve them? From where..”
“Wherever they're hoarding them,” she answered. “If Nullborne operates across the world—if H.O.U.N.D. is engineering the Chaos and profiting from it…something larger—is coming.
Elias blinked.
“You’re suggesting guerrilla warfare?"
“Yes.”
“Unless,” Azazel said quietly. “This is just a soup kitchen.”
Tempest’s eyes flicked to Azazel.
Azazel didn’t respond.
Vergil folded his arms now.
“We arent a military, Azazel.” he stated, coldly”.
Azazel shook his head once .
“No.”
Tempest glanced at him.
“But you're clearly at war with one,” he continued. “Maybe even a few after what you showed me on that monitor.”
His voice carried something heavier than strategy.
It carried offense.
Something had been done here.
To Terra.
To its access to naten.
And he took that personally.
Rhea tapped the edge of the table.
“There is another route,” she said.
All eyes shifted to her.
“We expand operations in the Underglow districts.”
Vergil’s head turned sharply.
“Rhea.”
She didn’t back down.
“Listen. The Underglow isn’t just a festival. It’s a recruitment ground. It’s where the awakenings spike. If we establish safe corridors there—food caches, med stations, extraction routes—we gain presence.”
Azazel nodded slightly.
“Yes.”
Vergil’s stare hardened.
“Recruitment?! Rhea?”
“They are targets for hound and The null. Something about the festival is triggering people to become Naten aware,” Rhea countered. “If we’re first on the scene, they come to us—not H.O.U.N.D.”
Azazel stepped in.
“And you need a place to train new recruits.”
The word landed.
Train.
Vergil’s expression changed.
“I don’t like the direction this is heading.”
Azazel’s gaze didn’t waver.
“You don’t like ... .what, Nine breaker.”
“I don’t like weaponizing children,” Vergil corrected sharply.
The air in the room shifted.
Tempest straightened slightly.
Azazel’s voice dropped.
“Children that are already being hunted.”
Silence.
Vergil’s eyes flashed.
“They’re kids.”
“They are targets,” Azazel replied immediately. “Your enemies are not waiting for them to reach a ‘fair,’ age.”
Elias shifted uncomfortably.
Rhea watched the two men carefully.
Vergil stepped forward, shoulders squared.
“You think I don’t know that?” he asked quietly. “You think I haven’t carried a fourteen-year-old out of rubble?”
Azazel didn’t soften.
“In Vescrutia,” he said, “we train early. Control before catastrophe. You protect them by preparing them—not by pretending they are not on the battlefield.”
“This isn’t Vescrutia,” Vergil snapped.
“No,” Azazel agreed coldly. “It isn’t. No vescrutian would allow something this sick to persist but i suppose, the monsters dont hide their face…where im from.
The weight of that hung heavily.
Tempest intervened, voice steady.
“Preparation doesn’t mean conscription,” she said. “It means control training. Discipline. Naten literacy. We arent deploying children into war zones, we are arming them encase the battle comes to them.”
Elias perked up slightly.
“Naten literacy…”
“Yes,” Tempest continued. “If awakening is chaotic here, it’s because there is no framework. Your planet is sick. If we teach them, their stability could heal the planet. ”
The Dr nodded slowly.
“That I can get behind.”
Vergil exhaled through his nose, pacing once across the cramped office.
“You start teaching combat, war preparedness” he said without looking at Azazel, “and we cross a line.”
Azazel answered evenly.
“The line was crossed when the first child was killed.”
The words cut.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
Just true.
Vergil stopped pacing.
His voice, when he spoke again, was quieter.
“You don’t understand what it does to a society to normalize that.”
Azazel’s eyes didn’t flinch.
“You don’t understand what it does to a society to leave them helpless.”l
“Enough,” she said softly. “We’re arguing philosophy, not purpose.”
That pulled them back.
Barely.
Elias cleared his throat.
“If we establish a controlled position in training in the Underglow districts—framed as theater workshops—we could establish a presence in the culture. This gives us data of naten resonance during the festivals.”
Rhea added, “And expanding presence gives us supply routes. Quiet ones.”
Vergil stared at the table.
Then at Azazel.
“You want to hunt H.O.U.N.D.,” he said.
Azazel tilted his head slightly.
“Better the Hunters.”
Vergil held his gaze.
“If we build a presence in the underglow it would give us a better chance of getting them away from hound.”
Tempest watched him closely.
After a long moment, Azazel nodded once.
“I dont wanna play theater,” he said.
Vergil allowed himself a thin smile.
“...Yea, it seems you wanna play wargames.”
Outside the strategy room, laughter echoed again.
But beneath it—
The team