Chapter 2

The three observers streaked fro and back, scanning the desolation with a resonant hum. Keeping a low altitude, they meticulously examined the alleys between the crumbled houses, the ruins behind each window. One of the observers stopped over the skeleton of a man, separated from the rest of the body at its neck. Had it the ability, this observer would most likely have apologized.

"Sorry about that," a whisper was heard from within the foliage of the wing tree atop the adjacent hill. The man was leaning back on one of the main branches of the tree, with the leaves as his cover. After triple-checking the footage the observers were sending him, the man finally swore silently, spat down the tree and covered his face with his palms. As if to laugh at his hopes, the village was in the exact same shape as three days ago – the evidence he thought he might have overlooked due to fatigue back then was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah. Well. What's bust is bust. I suppose it's almost time…to leave for Askelon.. hmph!" Standing up on the branch, he input the command for the observers to retur-

"Huh?"

The man hastily stopped the observer which was about to turn away from the defiled skeleton. The observer sunk itself into the pockets of the coat draped over the figure, and dragged out a ragged sheet of paper, folded several times. Folded without regard for the privacy of the writer, the paper showed certain elegant writings but had mostly been dyed in blood, now crusted into a dull brown.

"Hmm, I guess it's courtesy to take that with me?" The man opened up the observer with a remote command, and stored the piece of paper inside. He then jumped down from the tree without waiting for the observers to return.

He lowered his head. Reflexively.

Striking shoulder first, he rolled on the grass. Evaded.

He felt a sliver of something ice cold swishing by his cheeks.

"Armor inventory, visibility mo-" In the instant the inventory blocked the man's front, a gust of freezing wind roared around its edges. The inventory rang with a deep, ringing gong but seemed to have neutralized the impact.

After a moment of gathering himself, the man sent forward the observers that had now returned to him. The hills beyond the armor inventory showed nothing, despite the complete daylight. "…White Fish?" The man shouted over the inventory with a disbelieving snort. "You're saying you're going to try and hide from another Scout?"

The man did not expect a reply. Whatever would buy him some time was good. He opened his hands slowly and began to read the flow of shinsoo. It was common knowledge that to the expert Scout, no light was necessary to see; it made no difference even if the enemy had hidden into the light itself. From the cover of the armor inventory, the man steadily expanded his area of search. The terrain, his position, the concentration of shinsoo in the area – the man took all of it into calculation and groped the slight crack in the natural flow which would alert him to his enemy's presence.

He found nothing.

However, in the moment that he realized there were no traces of disruption around him, he sensed a massive buildup of shinsoo to his back. The armor inventory barely had time to rotate to his back before it resonated again with a monstrous clang. The next moment, the man saw a green flash of a sword strike slicing into his field of view. With the hurried wave of his hand, the observers blocked the path of the attack, the inventory much too out of angle to help. The man was engulfed in searing cold wind as the observers shattered. He outstretched his hand and snatched the piece of blood-stained paper floating towards him and quickly stuffed it into his coat's inner pocket.

Coughing, he leaned back on the armor inventory. "Two, I see. One combat scout, and one wave controller…" They had erased the disruption in the flow of shinsoo resulting from White Fish, through the use of reverse-flow control. Not bad…the man pulled up the sleeves of his overcoat. He might have to borrow some…

But no new attack came. The man stood up carefully after a moment of waiting. "If it's not your intention to kill me, then come forward," he said as he brushed the grass off of his clothing. "Well, actually I gather that it'll be hard for you to kill me now that sneaking up on me has failed? This is a floor with a Guardian, after all. I trust you know who I am, given your level of skill."

"Oh sorry, my mistake!" The air in front of him wavered, and revealed a tall man clad with a large green cloak. "Didn't mean to kill you, of course. But you say scout! My skills must have been disappointing." The sneering man held a lambent light green sword, connected to a reel inventory.

"Haradah Hendo Kelvin, Fisherman, Royal Enforcement Division No. 59. I'm overjoyed to meet you, 'Witness'."

Hendo, hmm. Images of bygone memories flashed by in the man's head as he heard the name. The family head who couldn't stop sobbing; the terror of being in the disfavor of a Guardian for the first time. The light green-clad girl who sat wearily in the chair, and the winged ones who knelt before her. The promise of the day when he was first called 'Witness'.

The man soon shook off the bridles of thought and straighted his coat. "Since I'm no longer a high ranker, you won't have to address me by sobriquet. Hendo, you said. By blood?"

Hendo Kelvin snickered with a hint of displeasure. "No, fortunately no. Simply borrowed the power of the family to stake a spot in the Enforcement Division…"

Upon a wave of Hendo's hand, another person appeared. The newcomer, wearing a queer sort of fleece over himself, spoke with a ringing, but cracking voice. "Royal Enforcement Division, No. 67, Lo Po Bia Ren. Pleased to meet you, sir."

"So you're the wave controller. And a ventriloquist…and from the appearance and smell, I suppose also an anima? Or do you just not take baths?"

"Sharp as expected, sir," replied the Bia ranker. "But wash, why would I wash my dolls?"

Kelvin stopped Ren with a dismissive gesture. "Shut up. I don't want to hear about your disgusting habits." Turning to the man, Hendo Kelvin smirked with teeth. "We've come here to…escort you with us, dear sir."

The man brushed his tangled hair out with his fingers, and sighed deeply while gazing at the clouds. What a farce, after three days of resting he was tired already because of these kids. He asked with a humorless voice. "Why, did the squad commander say something about the village? I'm guessing he hasn't heard from Princess Maschenny yet? If it's because of that, I can explain to him-"

"Ah," Hendo cut his words with a sharp motion of his hand. "No, actually no. It's true we are part of the Royal Enforcement Division, and it is true that we were sent here to investigate the matter of this village…but the place you need to go with us right now, sir, is not the headquarters."

He raised his eyebrows and stopped the corner of his mouth from curling. "What do you mean? Where else but headquarters if you're here on duty of the Division?"

"You needn't mind, sir. Now, if you please. While we're still talking and not resorting to other things." Kelvin was no longer laughing. Instead he was glaring at the man as if to imply the depletion of patience.

The man, having been staring at the sky this whole time, let out a sputter of laughter and glanced upwards at Hendo Kelvin. "Then you're here for the Guardians' Power? If so, I don't know who sent you but that someone is very mistaken about something important."

Kelvin stepped forward. "I don't know, sir, I don't know. We haven't heard anything about the reasons. We but received the orders to escort you, sir. Now. My guess is we'll have to take you with us."

The sword in Kelvin's hand started to shine brightly. "This sword…it's called 'The Headstand". Have you heard of it, dear sir?"

"I've held it. It's quite a decent sword. Though that's not the original name…but I heard the sword got that name from the fact that the wielder always ends up killing the defeated from above? It's a pity…"

"Ohhoh, you're different, yes, you're different indeed. Then, you're confident you can take on both Ren and myself, and this sword?"

"Well, it doesn't matter much to me, really. As long as you really wish to take me with you, those kinds of things are irrelevant…"

With a sigh, the man lifted one hand towards the sky. "As above," The man stretched his other hand to the ground. "So bel-"

The man held his breath. No, his breath was stifled. A crushing grip of shinsoo was being thrust onto his throat, winding him. Behind the smirking Hendo Kelvin, Ren was corralling the shinsoo towards the man. And in the instant that his words were choked out, Hendo Kelvin's sword flew into the man's vision with a flash before he had time to do anything.


The sword hit the ground with a thud as Kelvin followed it to the grass, unable to stand its sudden weight. Behind him, Ren had lost the control of shinsoo and was writhing in the dirt.

"B-but…this…no. You…you couldn't finish! The words! You couldn't finish, how-" Kelvin trembled with rage, breathing heavily under the shinsoo pressure. "How did the Guardian's Power…when you couldn't speak…"

"Pack inventory, visibility mode," the man withdrew his pipe from the inventory and calmly started to smoke. "You young fools. You have so much to learn even after ranking."

"Don't you know that promises are kept even without words?"

The man turned off his pack and armor inventories and turned around, about to descend the hill. He figured he would be quite late to Askelon. That damn Holt, the kid was going to make him buy dinner again. Ah…where would he get the money to replace the broken observers…maybe he should sue these kids for recompense…

The man's all-too-realistic worries were interrupted by a grab of his ankles. It was Kelvin's hand, shaking with the effort to move. "W-wait! We have to take you with us! If not, then we!"

The man shook off Kelvin's hand with a slight flick of his foot.

"Whatever you want and whatever your master is searching for, has nothing to do with me. You knew this already, from the day you first reached the highest floor. Just because everything you want is on top of the tower doesn't mean you can enjoy all of it."

The man started to walk, drawing a breath of his pipe. Watching the exhaled smoke rising, he stopped for a moment.

"I saw so many main characters disappear throughout my life. I'm certain there must be a big reason to take me with you. But you know, one thing I realized through these long years is that reasons don't make anything come true."

Kelvin remained silent, perhaps from the weight of the shinsoo.

The man cleared his throat with a cough. The bitter smoke clouded his vision.

"It'll wear off in about three hours. But I can't guarantee anything – the Guardian on this floor is terribly forgetful…"