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Location: Sumeragi HQ

Lounging in his chair, Nova looked out to the city below, smoke and fire indicative of the chaotic aftermath of the recent terrorist attack. Taking a glance at the still static camera feeds on his office computer, Nova chastised himself, "Good grief, I wasn't expecting to have to use this…" Turning his head down to his lap, Nova stared at the veritable doomsday device that came in the form of the opened briefcase laptop. The small monitor had its target coordinates honed in on the 'Amaterasu's courtyard. Nova internally shuddered at what 'Tenjian' and his ilk would have done if they got their hands on such technology.

Nova closed the briefcase, tucking it under his desk and turning his attention to the burning cityscape. Suddenly, his office desktop monitor rang, drawing the youth's attention away. Seeing Jota's name over the caller ID, Nova picked up. "Lord Tsukuyomi," came Jota's familiar voice.

Already having an idea of his trusted confidant's question, Nova preemptively answered, "Jota-san. I'm sorry, you didn't get hit did you?"

Murmuring, more to himself, rather than directly to Nova, Jota spoke aloud, "Thought so… That satellite irradiation we just had, that was your doing."

Nova affirmed, "Correct, the Sumeragi- controlled artificial satellite, the 'Star Dragon'. You have seen it in action before, no?"

The Light Septima user responded, "I thought as much, sir. It's publically a weather observation satellite and its usage during the Grande Divisor incident was covered up. But during this terrorist attack..."

The young Sumeragi representative finished his fellow Adept's thought, "Correct on all accounts. We were trying our utmost to hide its military uses but today was an emergency. So I had to use it."

With regret coloring his face and voice, Jota spoke, "I shall offer no excuses. I, a cornerstone of national defense, couldn't stand up to the challenge and thus I forced you, sir, to deploy a classified weapon."

Nova's eyes widened slightly before consoling his turquoise haired friend, "Oh no, you needn't be so pessimistic to think that only negative things came of this attack." Jota tried to interject, but Nova continued, "Though the veil hiding the 'Star Dragon' has been fully torn off, its known presence will serve as a deterrent to Anti- Sumeragi forces such as Eden. Not only this, with its display of force, the public will be assured that they are in good hands. Jota, you defended the 'Ame- no- Uzume' admirably. You did an excellent job out there."

Jota looked like he wanted to protest, but finally relented to his superior's words, "I do not deserve praise, sir. From this incident, I will continue to train as my pride as one of the cornerstones of national defense demands it. I, Jota, will continue to devote myself to Sumeragi!" With that declaration, Jota cut off his transmission.

Nova chuckled in amusement, "His loyalty is of great help indeed" The monitor rang again, this time the caller ID identified the caller as Merak. Nova answered and spoke first, "Merak- kun, good job out there"

"Yeah, don't mention it." Came the brunette's voice, "Now, as a reward, can you build me an exclusive net game or something like that?"

Humoring the notorious, lazy gamer, Nova responded, "Oh man… That might cost me..."

Subtly, Merak shifted to a more business-like tone, "Besides that, there is something bothering me. I'm reporting it just in case."

Interest peaked, Nova asked, "What is it?"

The Slothful Conjurer reported, "The system went down, yet… I don't think that Eden Adept did it."

The purple haired Adept tilted his head, "What?"

There was a tinge of uncertainty in Merak's voice as he relayed his hypothesis, "It's very probable that a third party apart from Eden did this. I don't think it means too much trouble, but I recommend more vigilance in the country's monitoring of domestic terrorist activity."

The mightiest of Sumeragi's Adepts heeded the hacker's suggestion, "I see. Thanks for the advice"

Shifting back to his much more casual, laid back attitude, the Conjurer replied, "You don't need to thank me, I just want to avoid problems later down the line because if something happens, you'll ask me to solve it, right?"

Nova nearly snorted, "Yeah, when that time comes I'll be expecting a good job."

Merak let out an exasperated huff, "How annoying… I'm signing off." Not even waiting for Nova to respond, the window displaying Merak closed.

Amusement still on Nova Tsukuyomi's face slipped off as he turned his attention to reports rolling in of the damages accrued throughout the city and Sumeragi casualties. What drew most of his attention though was towards the conditions of both Adepts Viper and Carrera.

Viper was once a gang leader whose gang dominated all others in the country, his Septima power unrivalled when up against other Adepts from a similar rung of society as him. He was a recruit to Sumeragi, brought in as a response to the growing number of successful raids on Sumeragi connected facilities outside of Japan. Nova's former superiors had demanded that he scouted and, if necessary, forcibly recruited the gangster to Sumeragi. Their fight had decimated a city block's streets and he still stood in rebellion despite the unfair odds he was facing up against Nova.

It was convenient though, that on nearby televisions there was a live performance of the digital idol, Lumen, that pacified the explosive youth. He had been enraptured by the Muse's song. The youth joined Sumeragi for the sole purpose of getting closer to the idol that he had become infatuated with.

Working up the ladder, he eventually became Overseer at Sumeragi's Biochem Plant and was adequate at his job. He deployed during this night's incident with a contingent of Sumeragi Assassins and the usual contingent of soldiers and mechs. As of now, he was in a coma that would last for at least a week brought on by head trauma while also recovering from several cracked bones. The train he was on, whose destination was the Amaterasu Radio Tower, had been derailed like many similar Sumeragi military vehicles. A large chunk of his men were killed too. Troubling news.

Looking at a worse case in Carrera, Nova's frown deepened.

Carrera was from a clan of warriors that, like many other similar bloodlines that survived to the modern world, established a dojo where they remained unified and honed skills that were rendered unsuitable for practical combat in the world of firearms and mechanized warfare. It was from one of these clans did Carrera rise as a prodigy with his awakening of his Septima which he blended with his martial arts. He combined it into a self taught, specialized form called "Magnetic Arts". With it, he dominated other clans.

Unlike Viper, when given the opportunity to meet other Adepts and face them in combat, he gladly joined Sumeragi. For his preference of fighting a 'worthy fight' he had been assigned to Sumeragi's specialized Adept Hunter Squad, rising to be leader. Though he would leave his targets maimed, he was a reliable asset.

Much of his value came from his Septima of Magnetism. Though a small number of other Adepts have been recorded of having that sort of power, Carrera's variant was strong enough to even nullify other Septima abilities. He was perfect for subduing other Adepts.

To further set him apart from others and make him a more effective tool, he had been chosen to undergo Septima Glaive transfer. His Septima would be hooked up to a construct called a 'Glaive' and any Septimal energy his body produced would be siphoned into the blade. When given the 'OK' from Sumeragi, the Adept with his Septima stored in the Glaive, would regain access along with an inexhaustible supply of Septimal Energy. Their bodies, as a result of the amount of Septimal energy flowing through them, would change to a more 'weaponized' state. This experimental process was pioneered by Nova himself, and with Nova's success a second Adept was chosen in Carrera to undergo this same process.

It was a shame that the young man was now dead. From the state of his cracked and unresponsive Glaive, 'Rockslicer', the man had been killed in action. Deeper investigation of the battle site where he and his squad were last seen yielded the corpses of the Adept Hunter Squad. Early autopsies into the bodies showing a combination of gun fire and stab wounds as the cause of their demise.

A notification from his computer monitor interrupted his thoughts. Seeing it as a report, Nova opened the documentation and read. A small smile graced the young Sumeragi representative's lips, "At least that got done…" He scrolled through the documentation, satisfied that the important subjects of interest from Site O had been moved and were being securely stored within Sumeragi HQ. As he went through the images of the artifacts moved from the sight in the wake of its attack from an unknown interloper several weeks ago, his eyes caught something familiar in a picture of an artifact.

Nova immediately pulled up another window, this one being a video recovered from the data stream of Carrera's Adept Hunter Squad's drone. It recorded the opening minutes of his battle against the unknown being that presumably knocked Viper into a coma.

Though the results of the battle weren't shown due to the destruction of the drone before the fight's conclusion, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Carrera had lost the battle. That though, was besides the point. The battle, in spite of the poor lighting due to the nature and aftermath of Carrera's Septima on the area around him, the black figure of Carrera's enemy combatant was clear.

Pausing the footage of one of the clear shots displaying the unknown combatant in full detail, he looked back at the autopsy photo of the humanoid relic. The fossilized humanoid found in Site O had been found within the 'gate' room in the center of the ruin complex. Unlike the old remains of armor and advanced firearms, this one was completely intact. From the picture, it was apparent that this humanoid was female from its full hips to its moderate bust. Its body's composition was a mixture of, as of yet, unknown metals that accurately emulated the human body to a T, though what powered this being was completely unknown.

The familiar stature, and now clear details of gold armor and fabric of Carrera's final opponent's ebony form that displayed this creature's alien nature, made it apparent that it was the very same figure Nova saw from the low quality pictures salvaged from the wreckage of the Arctic base. Its form held a startling resemblance to the fossilized humanoid found in Site O. In spite of the thick crust that had been built on top of the female subject's body from a millennia of rotting underground, its features of metal wrapping around its bust, forearms, thighs, and over its head in an oddly back heavy helmet, were all too similar to the alien being that ran amok on Sumeragi forces earlier that night.

This observation sparked many trains of thought about what the being was, but as quickly as these thoughts surfaced, Nova quelled them in an act of self control.

Taking a calming breath, the one bearing the title of 'The Mighty' muttered to himself, "I can't lose sight of the bigger picture. Despite how much I want to investigate more, this is just a small detail in the events tonight. There are far more important things that I must do."

With a moment of pause, Nova closed the windows of the alien fighting Carrera and of the Site O documentation. He needed to take full advantage of the position he had been put in with Eden's attack, and that would take his entire focus to succeed in the endeavors he had in mind.

Location: Apartment 325

A drawn out breath escaped Hayden's lips as he reclined on his couch. The entire apartment was dark, only lit up by the lights outside. Making eye contact with Umbra, who had his back leaning against a wall and his form shrouded in shadow, Hayden got up to the bedside desk and prepped the fabricator.

With the machine warming up in the background, the Tenno pulled up his laptop. Taking a wireless mouse, he opened a window to his social media account. Spending a minute to type, he gave a status update then waited.

During this time, the Tenno began sorting out pots and pans. Taking a look at the time with his phone and seeing how late into the night it was, Hayden consigned himself to eating a snack.

It was as he rifled through his fridge did a slightly synthesized male voice come from his laptop, "Operator? Are you there?"

A slight smile graced his lips as said Operator closed the fridge door and appeared within view of the laptop's camera.

"Oh Operator it IS you! tOoK yOU LoNg EnOUgH!"

Stifling a chuckle, the black haired teen responded, "Yes, it's been a while and we have a lot of catching up to do."

After making sure the connection was 'airtight', with the laptop connecting with Ordis's Cephalon Weave and covered by several layers of encryption, the two got talking. From Hayden's current status as a delivery boy to his most recent independently undertaken missions, the conversation went on for half an hour.

"There was something troubling that I found, Ordis." At the Cephalon's prompting to continue, Hayden spoke once more, "I… found data concerning a special package which I intercepted and stole…" The Operator trailed off before opening one of the kitchen cabinets and taking out a box. Wordlessly, the teen opened the box, revealing its contents to the camera.

The Cephalon was shocked, "Operator, that's a…"

"It's a Kuva vial." Finished Hayden, as he took the vial from the box and held it up to the camera.

"That's not the only thing I found that came from the Origin System in this country." The Operator continued, "There is a site where ancient Orokin technology had been discovered by Sumeragi more than a year ago. It's somewhere underground and I know little else of its location. Considering the advancements Sumeragi has made with its technology, such as its nation encompassing barrier, and the nearly finished construction of an orbital station called "Firmament", we might be seeing the rise of something akin to the Orokin Empire." Especially if what experiments Pamela Isley endured under Sumeragi custody are the norm with these 'Adepts'. "It's for this reason, Ordis, I will need you on standby as I will likely be doing more overt operations to sabotage and steal from Sumeragi besides the original objective of information gathering and thievery."

There was silence between the two Origin System natives as Cephalon Ordis processed the information just revealed to him and the change in mission objective. The Cephalon spoke up, "Tell me Operator, how did you find out about this infor-"

Before Ordis could continue, his Operator's phone rang. Shifting on his stool, the Operator took out his phone and his gaze narrowed upon seeing the Caller ID. Dark grey eyes glinting with a serious aura drifted between the laptop camera and Umbra, who had been listening to the conversation in the background. Sticking his pointer finger over his lips as gesture of silence, the Operator held his phone upside down and covered both the front and back cameras before answering the call, pointedly denying the request for video call.

Unexpectedly for the Tenno, the expected smug face of Teseo didn't come onto the screen. Instead, the visage of a youthful Chinese male with white hair appeared.

There was a subtle, amused sound from the unknown youth, "I had expected to converse with Hayden Tenno in video chat, but it seems that courtesy hasn't been reciprocated; unless i've got the wrong number that is."

The black haired teen's response was cold and straight to the point, "Oh no, you have the right number. I am Hayden Tenno and that courtesy won't be reciprocated no matter the circumstance. Besides, it's rude not to introduce yourself first; what's your name and who do you work for?"

A smile graced the Chinese's lips, "Where are my manners, I am Tenjian, a leader of Eden, specifically the leader of Eden's Elite, the Grimoire Seven! You, Hayden Tenno, have met one of my subordinates, Teseo. He is our resident hacker and promised you a reward two weeks ago which I will deliver to you now."

Unimpressed, the black haired teen responded with a subtle edge, "And? I know someone of such an 'exalted' position wouldn't simply give me a call just to hand out a reward."

The identified leader of G7's smile widened as he spoke, "Straight to the point, I like that. Yes, I called you to apologize, on behalf of Eden, for Teseo's actions against you. It was never our intent to antagonize or pressure you to aid us. His actions are his alone, but it was due to my inability to reign him in that caused you unneeded duress." Taking a breath, Tenjian then continued, "Now with that out of the way, I extend to you an invitation. You are an individual of great power who is not associated with the feeble weaklings under Sumeragi or any group known to Eden. It is for that, that I invite you to join us."

Dark grey eyes narrowed and glowed as their owner's originally tense look turned to visible rage, "No. Now give me my promised information and we can never talk again."

The smile on the Chinese youth's face fell away, "Can you at the very least be partners with us. I can even make accommodations for you. A higher cut. We cou-"

The Tenno's free hand tightened into a fist, "The answer is still 'no'."

Tenjian frowned, a hint of irritation on his face, "Then why? We can accomplish so much together, and you'll benefit."

The Tenno's reply was heated, "I have no interest in whatever petty conflict you and your Adepts have. And don't hang over the so-called 'debt' I accrued in the Grande Divisor. I've fulfilled that with the mission I undertook. Now give me my promised information."

Tenjian looked away, irritation and regret coloring his pale face, "... Alright. But I'll give it on one condition"

Looking up to his laptop monitor and Umbra for a brief moment, Hayden uttered, "Shoot"

Tenjian's gaze aimed squarely at the camera, eyes seemingly making contact with Hayden's, "You will not interfere with Eden's operations and we will not interfere with yours. With this, I and no other member of Eden will have to speak with you again."

The glow in Hayden's eyes subsided, "Deal."

Tenjian's anger he had picked up from Hayden seemed to fade as he gave his parting words, "The information will be delivered to you a minute after this call. Goodbye."

Wordlessly, Hayden closed the phone call and turned over to his laptop, already having an idea for what questions his Cephalon had. "It was two weeks ago," started Hayden, "That an Adept hacker named Teseo threatened me with revealing information of my person to Sumeragi if I didn't comply and assist him and his kin with an attack on Japan's National Defense grid a handful of hours ago."

Ordis was about to make follow up questions, but those were halted immediately when the Tenno spoke once more, "How he got such information on me was a combination of sheer luck and circumstantial evidence." The black haired teen paused and took up the Kuva vial and its package before continuing, "They managed to collect data detailing our calls to one another during the Grande Divisor mission. It was with this along with mistakes on my part in infiltration that resulted in camera footage of both my face and the operation I had conducted with Umbra in stealing this very vial, that Teseo gained enough information to blackmail me."

A frown took over Hayden's face as he hung his head down, "And before you start blaming yourself, Ordis, there is little use in lingering on both of our failures. From now on, we communicate with this setup. No leap-frogging off of communication lines because it's been made readily apparent there are people at equal or higher footing at tracking people down than even the Corpus." Muttering mostly to himself, the Tenno added, "and there's only one Tenno in this Star System to track down…"

Hesitantly, the Cephalon presented a question, "Despite your misgivings, Operator, couldn't it have benefitted us to have taken up -thaT pAsTY sCumBag- Tenjian's invitation and used them to secure supplies for our ship's repair? They are in conflict with Sumeragi."

Still incensed from the earlier conversation with the mentioned leader of G7, Hayden took a deep breath to suppress some irritation before speaking, "We've had a similar conversation before, Ordis. I refuse to associate myself with external groups. Far too many backdoor dealings and politics that would only chain us down and easily abandon us when we've ceased being useful to their operations. This is especially so since this world isn't even our own. Best not to be involved with people we won't ever see again after we've concluded operations here. Innocents or not, they don't matter to us."

There were several seconds of silence from Ordis's end before he responded, "As you say, Operator."

All three Origin System natives began strategizing well into midnight. Their discussion of locations to hit taking center stage once Hayden's reward for his actions earlier that night reached his phone.

Location: Kamizono Estate, Basement

The sound of an explosion tore through the mostly empty basement.

Lifting the smoking barrel, Copen grimaced as he looked over the charred dummy that stood 10 meters away from his current position.

He looked down at the skeleton of a weapon in his hand. The contraption was quite heavy and its components glowed a faint red. Formulas, calculations, and future designs for his prototype weapon ran through his head as he flicked off several switches on his contraption.

Walking over to a nearby laptop, the silver haired child genius began jotting notes for future use. "Explosions from 'Explosion Septima' currently are only as powerful as what a regular explosive can pull off. More potent data besides DNA is required; likely a Glaive fragment."

After a further few notes were jotted down regarding modular designs for Copen's ideal 'anti-Adept' weapon, the boy turned his attention on a metal capsule that emitted a purple glow.

Carefully taking it and placing it next to an organized set of parts, Copen began reassembling his disassembled 'Border' pistol. Reverence came from the boy as he rebuilt the gun, admiration of his father's, Dr. Kamizono, designs in ideal anti-Adept weapons wrapped into the small form of a single pistol.

With the internals still exposed, Copen slotted the metal capsule before completing the side arm.

It was as he tested the weight of the weapon and began setting up target dummies for weapon experimentation that a voice crept into the Copen's ear, a dead ringer of his own, "Will this weapon be enough? Will it be enough to stand up against the 'demonic' Adepts? The ebony figure? If only you-"

"Young master, your tea is ready." Came Nori's voice, the maid approaching with a tray of tea and snacks. Snapping out of his trancelike state, the young Kamizono thanked his faithful servant and dismissed her.

As Copen took a sip and took a rest from his weapons development, thoughts of the alien being he had seen earlier that night plagued his mind. The boy had read up on Carrera's frightening abilities that made him ideal in incapacitating or killing other Adepts. If his modification of his 'Border' has gone as planned, he had just upgraded his father's sidearm to become even more of a 'silver bullet' against Adepts.

Although, doubts plagued his mind as he recalled the glimpses of both the trail of destruction the swordsman left in his wake and in Carrera's final battle. The 'black swordsman' had effortlessly dispatched scores of Sumeragi soldiers single handedly without showing so much as a hint of tiring before fighting two Adepts within minutes of both fights.

Even though he had been dealt a handful of glancing blows from Carrera's power he didn't even so much as flinch from the hits when reports detailed Adepts falling to 'Magnetic Arts' from simply being in the vicinity of the Septima. He just kept fighting and eventually overcame the Sumeragi Adept when the Adept's guard was down. Copen's replication of Septimas with his current research could only allow him to use an Adept's Septima to a certain degree. With his skills and resources, would it all be enough to fight that swordsman on even footing?

Nori stood a distance away, out of sight near the elevator up to ground level. Her maroon eyes gave a hint of the worry she had for her young charge as the youth worked tirelessly in his crusade against Adepts. He had been working like this late into the night for quite a while now, designing his armor to maximize protection while not sacrificing his mobility. Now though, something was off with Copen. Ever since his infiltration of 'Site O' a few weeks back, he zones out at random intervals.

"With what I've seen so far, I can't pinpoint what has changed in Copen. I can only watch and be ready if trouble comes from this change." Reaffirming her objective, the faithful servant of the Kamizono family maintained her vigilance over Copen late into the night.

Author's Note

Took a while for this chapter to come out cause I'm juggling writing this and the other two fanfics while dealing with procrastinating and FGO events. Also I am aware of how self contradicting Hayden's actions and what he says are, Ordis does, too.

Next chapter will be a shorter followup with the morning after and the chapter afterward (Ch. 17) will be a sort of side story about a small piece of the Operator's background. Also I made a slight edit of Chapter 9 regarding his right eye socket pains. Details on Hayden's and potentially other character's pasts that wouldn't crop up in regular story progression will be detailed in these side story chapters.

As always leave constructive criticism and thoughts on the plot in the reviews. Have a good day.