“No way, this crummy school got Nightingale as a guest?” I heard Victor whispering beside me. “I thought she didn’t do public appearances.”

  She didn’t. Likely, she had important business in Ordo but this popped up in the same time-frame. With what I knew about Dr. Nightingale, she was present not because she wanted to inspire the innovators of tomorrow, but because she probably owed someone a favor. Considering her outspoken rhetoric against Slayers and the Slayer System, OU—with its renowned Systemic Works program—had to be ranked low on her favorite spots in the Capital.

  Now I know why Tsukasa was looking forward to this convention.

  To him, Nightingale was Kosmos.

  To me, Nightingale was the devil.

  We were destined to meet again eventually, when I was an adult, but I never expected it’d be today.

  “Ha… What a fucking joke,” I hissed under my breath, my sharp words apparently catching the ears of Vic and Tsukasa.

  I didn’t bother listening to the Q&A. Hell, I oughta stand up, create a shitty excuse, and leave. Yet my ass was glued to the chair, and my full attention was nailed to the hideous old hag who had more sagging skin than an formerly-obese man after turning his life around. I checked my watch, counting down the minutes until this little event ended.

  No matter how long or short it was, it’d feel like forever. Worse yet, my head was hurting. The pain was bad enough that my vision began blurring, and the only clear object was Dr. Nightingale herself.

  I began to remember.

  We first met on a rainy day as we watched the casket lower into the ground. I recalled her haggard, dusty hand shaking mine. She’d said poisonously sweet words to me. At the time, I believed in heroes, in good and evil. Sacrifices meant something back then. You were leaving behind a better world; not once did I realize that most deaths were meaningless. The notion of “sacrifice” was a myth that governments peddle, so they could expose “heroes” brave enough to show themselves amongst the general population. And our heroes would be used, sucked dry, abused and tortured, and finally culled; then the next generation of heroes would march to the offices.

  There was no honor in fighting for this world.

  The powers-that-be will destroy “family,” will destroy “law,” will destroy even “God” itself.

  There is only one determination: blood.

  Kill those who wish to do you harm.

  Kill those who have wronged you.

  Kill those labeled as your “enemy.”

  Kill, because you knew nothing else.

  That’s what you taught me, Evelyn Nightingale. You created a monster, and that monster shot you dead—but you were satisfied, weren’t you? Even after your death, you knew I would keep living and keep killing and killing until I dropped enough brass to fill a grave. Even after my death, you knew the next generation would learn from my mistakes and become greater killers than I ever was.

  You knew there’d be another Nightingale. You knew that no matter our elections—the so-called “democratic processes” that this fucking world masturbated over—the same people would still be in-charge, slowly marching society over the line of totaliarianism. Yet you couldn’t be happier.

  To you, humanity didn’t deserve freedom nor the System.

  If you had a choice, you’d execute every single Slayer.

  I should put a bullet in your skull again—

  Someone stood up beside me. Tsukasa. I checked my watch, seeing it’d been seven minutes.

  What… What was I thinking about? I can’t seem to remember anything. Did I really just sit here with a bad headache and stay quiet knowing our family’s history with this woman?

  I didn’t have time to think about my sudden bout of amnesia, because apparently, Dr. Nightingale and the engineering professor were taking questions from the audience. So of course Tsukasa hopped up like a motherfucker; he had the same sparkle of enthusiasm in his eyes just like his sister. I imagine if Dr. Nightingale was replaced by a J-pop idol, it’d be Kotone in his place.

  One of the event organizers walked over with a microphone for Tsukasa. He said, “I want to ask about a rumor going around the field. I understand if you can’t answer, but are you potentially developing Degenbrecher-inspired automechs with the United States military—?”

  A scoff left me against my will, and also against my will, I whispered, “Bullshit.”

  Tsukasa raised an eyebrow at me. Including Dr. Nightingale. I got caught on the hot-mic.

  But…

  She didn’t recognize me.

  Ha. Why should I be surprised?

  Nightingale nodded toward my direction. “I think the young man answered your question for me.” Cue laughter. Couldn’t believe I gave this piece-of-shit a lead-in for a joke. “I can confirm other minds are tackling that question, but my Degenbrechers will always be manned by a human operator.”

  Always will be. To break swords, you wanted human hands and not a machine’s.

  “Another question, then, on the same subject,” Tsukasa followed, his few words weighing lightly of resentment. “You’re the forefather of experimental cybernetics and mechanized warfare suits. With Tokei advancing automechs and similar technologies, where exactly do you see the state of homeworld defense in a few decades?”

  Nightingale cracked a smile like Tsukasa had her favorite food in the palm of his hands. “Hopefully in a position where Slayers are less relied on. Technology is growing faster than they are. In fact, because of how powerful they are, our technological landscape will be utterly unrecognizable in fifty years. Less than that, I believe. How that will look, I don’t have the answer. I’m not a prophet.”

  Tsukasa politely bowed his head. “Thank you.” And he sat down.

  Hurray, I survived a close encounter—

  “What about you, young man?” But Nightingale wouldn’t let me go. “I can tell you have something important to ask me.”

  The event organizer wagged the microphone at me. Everyone was waiting for my answer; most of all, my friends looked really fucking confused why I was being singled out. If there was one good thing about our meeting, she had no idea who I was. If she did, she would immediately yell for security and run out the nearest fire exit.

  I shook my head and said loud enough without using the microphone, “It’s nothing!”

  “Don’t be scared, now,” she insisted.

  Well, if she insisted.

  Taking her bait, I stood and the microphone hovered over my lips. “I actually don’t have a question—it’s sort of hard to come up with one on the spot—but I just want to say: happy birthday to your daughter, and my condolences for our tragic loss.”

  Tsukasa was staring at me real badly now. It seemed like he didn’t even know about that.

  In fact, nobody in this room had.

  Only me.

  Only our family.

  Dr. Nightingale was quiet in her chair for a long second, expression stone and unbreakable. Then, finally, she spoke into her shaking microphone: “Alright. Thank you.”

  I sat down, and quickly the professor moved on to other eager members of the audience. When the next lucky bastard got the mic, Dr. Nightingale was notably quieter. Was that grief touching her rotten heart or was it something else altogether? Questions, questions, but either way, I’d done my job.

  “...Why the heck did you mention that?” Kotone whispered, leaning over to flash an angry face at me. “You don’t bring up anyone’s dead daughter!”

  On the other side, Vic was nodding. “Yeah, man, that’s messed up even for you.”

  Tsukasa was doing his best to not let steam blow from his nostrils. “Alex, I understand our previous conversation made you upset, but that was one of the greatest geniuses in the world—”

  “He has his reasons,” Chunhua cut through the noise. “Let’s not judge him harshly for it.”

  Surprising everyone, she came to my defense. Nobody continued to fight me further; though, I reckon that was due to the social environment rather than her words. And so, we listened to the rest of the questions posed by the audience; none of them were that interesting. Dr. Nightingale still seemed rattled by my question but gradually adjusted, yet she kept making glances at my party.

  Shortly after the audience portion, the professor took the stage again, had another dense conversation that I didn’t bother listening to, and that was that.

  Q&A over, and I learned absolutely nothing.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Unfortunately for her adoring fans, Dr. Nightingale was so busy that she couldn’t stay and take additional questions. The auditorium was drained as quickly as it was filled. However…

  “Let’s stay for a few minutes,” said Tsukasa, the biggest fan of them all, as we all stood and gathered our things. “I want to see if I can share a word or two with Dr. Nightingale and apologize for what happened earlier.”

  I rolled my eyes. My bad for insulting one of the worst people to exist. “Whatever, I’ll wait outside.”

  Shimmying through the chairs, I was the first to stand in the aisle, allowing an older group pass by me first—

  “You there,” and of course, I couldn’t escape so easily. Before I had a chance to run away, Nightingale was already on my ass. Well, with her old legs, I could walk and she wouldn’t catch me. “What’s—?”

  “Dr. Nightingale, I didn’t expect this!” I exclaimed, sickly saccharine, as the rest of my friends (plus Tsukasa) watched from the outskirts. “It’s an honor to meet you face-to-face. I’m something of a military nerd, so I’ve done lots of personal research on the Special Counterforce Group.”

  Nightingale slowly nodded; although age had taken its toll on the lady, her eyes were sharper than the average person my age. “Is that so?”

  I ignored the four sets of concerned eyes on me. “Mhm. It wasn’t my intention to offend you about, well, you know. Your daughter was a brilliant scientist and a better woman. Kind, warm, loving, the world needs more people like her yet but God called her early. But I’m sure she’s happy that you’re carrying on her dreams in the Counterforce.”

  Nightingale refused to lower her cutting eyes. “I would take your words to heart, young man, if your eyes weren’t telling me a different story.”

  As she stubbornly held onto her suspicion, I decided to let my true feelings bleed more through my silver eyes. “You’re a strong woman and a better mother, Dr. Nightingale, to make this trip on your daughter’s birthday. Again, you have my condolences for what we lost ten years ago. But enough about you and me. My friends have a few words to say.”

  I didn’t let her respond and instead pivoted toward my three idiots (plus Tsukasa). Awkwardly, they huddled closer to one of the most influential women in the world—more influential than Seraph, even—and for everyone but Tsukasa, that warranted some fear and apprehension.

  For Tsukasa himself, he manned the vanguard and protected his heart with his arm. “Dr. Nightingale, thank you for coming here. My name is Tsukasa Okano—”

  “Okano?” Nightingale asked, her previous suspicion wiped away upon recognizing that name. “Okano… You wouldn’t happen to be related to Naoki (直樹) Okano, would you?”

  Okay, looks like I wasn’t the only person here who had connections to Dr. Nightingale. Finding Kotone once again hiding behind Chunhua, she was… Well, she was completely hiding behind her, so I couldn’t tell what she thought about this multi-layered coincidence.

  Tsukasa was glowing. “Yes! That’s our father!” (“Our?”) “My sister is also here, but that’s unimportant. I’m following my father’s footsteps in Tokei, and he has many stories about you. He said you’re arguably the second smartest human on the planet. During every collaboration with you, he felt like a grade-schooler in a college-level class.”

  The flattery was enough to bring the witch to a smile. “Your father has been pleasant to work with. One of the brightest minds at Tokei Industries in my opinion. If I can ask, though, I’ve heard he’s been sick.”

  Tsukasa’s enthusiasm was tempered. “Y-Yes, he’s been very sick, yes. We’re affording the best care possible, but we’re making our peace with the inevitable.”

  “I see… I suppose I should pay a visit to Japan eventually, but thank you for telling me. A son should follow in his father’s footsteps.” Nightingale looked past Tsukasa and at the three Angels.

  Vic awkwardly waved and inched forward; like a kid afraid of touching a dog for the first time, he shook Nightingale’s hand. “Hi, uhm, Victor Taslim.”

  Nightingale cocked her head to the side. “At the risk of sounding like a broken record, but I recognize your surname as well. Do you know Ethan Taslim?”

  Christ, did everybody have secret connections to Nightingale without me knowing? Your turn, Chunhua, go ahead and tell me that the good doctor sold military-grade weapons to the Maolin Sect.

  Vic sputtered hearing his brother’s name pop out of nowhere. “Y-Yeah? He’s my brother. He’s an—”

  “Expeditioner, I know.” Nightingale put a finger on her chin, taking a moment to remember something. “He personally rescued my men once.”

  “Huh. He never mentioned it—actually, I guess he can’t mention anything about his work.” Vic glanced at me while I stood next to another shitty older brother. “Glad to know he’s doing something productive.”

  “We’re glad to have him.” Nightingale then turned to the girls. “Now, the pretty woman with the green hair. Can I ask for your name?”

  Chunhua sweetly smiled. “Li Chunhua.”

  “‘Li’ is a very common surname.”

  “I’m from the Jianghu, Dr. Nightingale.”

  “Well, that clarifies things. At least there’s someone whose sibling or father—” (Or uncle.) “—I didn’t know personally. What about the girl trying to hide behind you?”

  Before Kotone could speak up, her brother had instead: “That’s my sister.”

  “Really? A pleasure, then. Are you also working in Tokei Industries like your brother and father?”

  “We’re Angels,” I announced, fully knowing what her reaction would be. “Except for Tsukasa, everyone you just met is happily working for Angels as swords.”

  Nightingale’s fake pleasantries collapsed for a moment, yet she maintained a precious expression like any grandmother would have. “Really? To think I’ve been surrounded by Angels this whole time, a cultivator included. And you, young man, who’s so passionate about the Counterforce.”

  I faked a laugh. “I know everything about them.”

  “Well, pray that you never become one of our targets then!” Nightingale also faked a laugh. “You and your friends would be dead faster than you could say ‘mercy.’”

  I bit my lip, doing my best to not maniacally laugh in her face. “It’s not a smart thing to underestimate Angels Guild, Dr. Nightingale. Kosmos won against Cross.”

  “They fought to a stand-still, and that precisely gives credence to my research.”

  “And Cross is retired.”

  Nightingale held a standing glare, hatred of many things burning in her pale eyes. “Whatever you say, young man.”

  For me, however, my hatred was concentrated on a single subject and that was her. “I think you should hurry home, ma’am, and take the rest of the day to mourn your daughter.”

  “You should do something nice with your weekend, young man, and think about what I said. It may be your funeral.”

  No.

  At the funeral, you ignored the crying children and spat on your daughter’s coffin.

  That’s the first day I truly learned hatred.

  Without addressing the others, Dr. Nightingale turned and left for the rear-exit. A few bystanders had been eavesdropping on our conversation hoping to attract her attention next, but she was a stone wall unable to be reasoned with. She walked by zealous fans and visitors, even the professor from earlier, and disappeared behind the stage.

  Good. Fuck her.

  “...What the fuck was that?” Vic asked for the class. “Are we gonna get targeted by the CF now?”

  I wiped my lips. “They can certainly try—”

  Tsukasa patted my shoulder. “Who are you? You clearly have a history with Dr. Nightingale.”

  I patted his shoulder in response but harder, enough to shake him around a little. “A wrong question to the wrong person, but I didn’t know we were standing in the presence of Tokei royalty.”

  Kotone peeked over Chunhua’s shoulder. “It’s not like that, Alex—“

  I loomed over her brother. “No wonder you were so eager to drag Kotone out of this crummy fucking city.”

  Chunhua became extra attentive, turning from neutral to hostile. “What? What are you talking about—?”

  Tsukasa stepped away from me, arms raised like I was about to sock him. I might. “Do we need to have this conversation now—?”

  “Once you steal Kotone from us, do you plan on hooking her up to a few machines and seeing what happens? Or what? Lobotomize her and have a fucking pet esper to perform your nasty experiments on—?”

  “ALEX!” Vic grabbed my arm and tugged hard. “What the fuck is wrong with you today? You’re—hey, your nose, it’s…”

  I took a couple fingers to my nose.

  It was bleeding.

  It wasn’t a terrible bleed. I experienced worse.

  But seeing my own blood, it was like my brain was suddenly reminded of my own mortality. A headache came on again, the same one that bothered me before the Q&A kicked off. Shit. I held my hand there to stop blood from staining the ground and carpet.

  I gulped, sniffling, feeling a sick warmth over my scarred hand. “Fuck me, it’s fine. I’m alright, I’m alright! Just, shit, let me find a napkin.”

  I turned around and stepped forward—

  Vertigo, worse than alcohol.

  I think I blacked out for a second, because next thing I knew, I was sitting on a chair with Vic and Chunhua flanking me. Kotone thrusted a few napkins into my hands, and sloppily, they found their way into my nostrils.

  [Skill Activation: Advanced Health Link]

  “Okay, let’s figure out what’s wrong with you this time. I—oh, that’s new.” (”What’s wrong, Victor?”) “Uh, well, judging from the readings of [AHL], he’s experiencing conceptual disassociation, which doesn’t make fucking sense ‘cause a certainty-based [Skill] like [Certain Shot] doesn’t produce these effects—”

  “Sophos…” I squeaked through whatever-the-fuck-was-going-on-with-me.

  Vic leaned his head closer, an ear toward me. “What? Talk to me, dumbass. Tell me what’s going on—”

  “Sophos…” I repeated, “...I think I need Sophos for this one.”

  Conceptual dissociation? Sounded right. It couldn’t be a coincidence that I blacked out for seven minutes. My mind and body were out-of-whack. Ha, shit. Guess seeing Nightingale in-person triggered something in me. Even after two months, it seemed the Scare left me another gift other than [The Fool’s Many Faces].

  Tsukasa in the back of the group looked bewildered. “Sophos? Why in the world does she have a part in this—?”

  [CALLING: Sophos]

  “Hello, my beautiful Conqueror!” her stupid voice blared from the System. “I was waiting for you to finally call me! A genius like me gets restless without her muse.” ("You personally know Sophos?!”)

  Vic butted in, “I don’t know why we’re calling you and not Sundrop, but Conqueror’s experiencing pretty bad conceptual disassociation. I can’t determine which type—”

  “Ego,” I weakly muttered. “Ego.”

  Vic opened his mouth but flies came out for the first second. “He says it’s ego dissociation—”

  “Victor, listen to me carefully.” Sophos dropped her immature tone, finally sounding like a proper Guild Master. “Give me your coordinates now. If I’m correct, his condition is not exactly ego dissociation but it’s functionally identical. Traditional healing methods likely won’t work.”

  “It’s because of you-know-what, right?” he asked.

  “Mhm, so—”

  “We’ll stabilize his ego. Alright, I got it. Watch for any [PMs] from Forest Master.” As soon as he said that, Chunhua was already grabbing our coordinates and Sophos ended the call.

  Victor slapped the side of my leg and said, “Okay jackass, let's hope you don't turn into another person."