Sasami arrived at the office as he had for the last few months. He was a man of science sure, but had you told him before he was assigned to this department what existed beyond human sight, he would have laughed you out of a job. Now that he saw it with his own two eyes on a regular basis. He knew it was true. There was life beyond life. A scientist named Isabella Lankanotvitch had pioneered the technology in her private lab and upon completing her project, it is said that she ended her own life, haunting her lab so that she could control and prove her theory, resting in peace when it was proven true. She had built a visor that could sense what this division grew to call spectral force. The visor was taken by the government and her entire existence was covered, this division being built around what they had learned from her research.

Sasami Akahito had been a young and upcoming scientific mind with some training in engineering. He had been sent here from the military research division for his performance. When he first arrived, this room was empty of all but a series of visors built from her research and 3 interns to his name. Despite this, upon seeing this technology, he realized the brilliance. These were no children. They were young intelligent minds like his own. They were trying to fill this room with people that could be easily disposed of but had everything it took to make this work. They had progressed so far since then, just trying to get a nice blanket of coverage with this technology around Japan. They had placed the lenses in traffic cams, security cameras, and even hiding a few cameras of their own.

Needless to say, with such coverage of Japan, Sasami was amazed at the data they had collected over these past few months, overly happy that he was now seeing an exchange between the subject they called Holy Archer and the subject known as the Flaming Blade. The Holy Archer seemed to crush a small ring and then the true fun began. The Masks, their name for the corrupt soul eating monsters, seemed to come out of a hole in the sky. Sasami bent close to the main projector screen they had built for the office. It was used for group analysis and for interesting events and this was the most interesting events since they witnessed the birth of the Flaming Blade into his current form.

Lars Kovacs sighed, "Shouldn't we try and do something?" Lars was a scientist born and taught in Russia but had come to Japan to seek new challenges. Luckily for him, he had been here since the beginning. He was mostly a numbers man, working with experimental power sources and analyzing unknown materials. Sasami and he never really needed to think about their personal lives, tending to agree professionally. Lars didn't talk much about Russia but Sasami suspected that he left because of personal reasons.

Shalia Nomina laughed, "Oh, Come on! We are pretty sure that traditional weaponry doesn't effect spectral beings and we don't have enough data to generate spectral force yet. This is the perfect chance to get that data." Shalia… a scientist from India. She spoke Japanese regularly, claiming she learned it in high school and loved it so much she decided to take the first project in Japan she was offered. She was notorious for being fast and loose with the rules but known for making great progress in energy projection and chemical analysis. This had lead to many an insurance claim on her labs. Sasami and she were two different people. He believed there was power to numbers and she believed the only way to get those numbers was through reckless behavior. Despite this, Sasami had to admit that without her, behavior in the first week, they wouldn't have learned that they could repurpose the visors into eye gear of their preference.

The last of the original team was a quiet American scientist who generally preferred to sit quietly in the corner, trying to avoid conflict but always right when she spoke. Her name was Monica Newman. Sasami never knew what it was she had done before being as most of her profile breakdown for the project was classified. Despite this, he suspected she was a theoretical physicist based on most of her comments being about things that they had never seen done by their subjects but seemed to be possible based on her data. That being said she said simply, "As I expected. The spectral force released by that object is what drew the Masks. We can suspect now that they hunt by sensing volumes of spectral force and seeking one of note."

Lars nodded, "That explains the attack on the living girl. She was practically oozing spectral force. Perhaps it is latent in the human body."

Sasami paid no attention to the rest of the banter, paying more attention to the weapons the two were using and the effects they had. He heard echoing in his mind words that Monica had said right after Holy Archer appeared. She was right that the two seemed to deliver two different types of spectral force. Archer was seemingly slaying the creatures while Blade was dissipating them. Or as she put it, Blade helps the Masks to pass on while Archer just seemed to slay them. The church motif was not wasted on Sasami, who had been raised as a Christian. He watched it quickly and mused quickly that if he was slaying the Masks then leaving the church had been his best decision.

The data flying by on the screen, split screening to follow each target, each attack, was of interest to all of them. They had developed this system themselves based on all of their combined sciences that would give them the data they needed in a manner that only those in the project would understand. Seeing this data made it clear that they would need to either take a fragment of their own life force to continue this project or use the lives of others. They could use those already sentenced to death, but even that didn't sit well with Sasami. He would rather give his own life for science, as the very scientist that made this technology possible than take life and death into his hands.

Shalia spoke seriously for the first time in ages, "Alright, so these weapons side by side show that Monica was right. I say we break our research in half. On the one side, we can research the Blade's abilities and how to replicate the effect. On the other side, we research how to use Archer's power. His doesn't seem to require out of body experiences."

Sasami then had an idea come to him like divine providence. "Out of body experience? I researched during my weapon research if such things were credible. With our gear, we could induce such a state, observe it, and use the data to see if we can replicate the weapons."

Lars nodded, "Good idea. Run all of the data you get by me and I'll give you some ideas on how we can contain spectral force. Shalia and I will work on duplicating the force produced by the Archer. Our combined skills should have it at least cracked by the end of the month."

Sasami nodded, "Monica and I will begin research on Blade's abilities then. That being said, before we go our separate ways, anyone have a new name for our division? Bureau of Spectral Research and Development doesn't really seem to be taken seriously."

Shalia laughed, "I still say ACES is the best name for us."

Lars shook his head, "No. Too cocky and contrived. I say we just shorten it to BSRD."

Then the quiet voice again spoke up and just like usual, she ended up being right, "May I suggest…. ARCANE?"

They all entered deep thought, trying to figure it out and whether or not they should embrace it. After a few minutes they all nodded sliently. That would be their title. Their mantra. It accepted that to the common folk, what they research is absurd but, just like the alchemists of old, they were masters of yet unknown science. The only problem was their numbers. To make this work, they would need more members. Engineers, soldiers, spies… anyone. As long as they were willing to cooperate, they would be more than welcome.