Lanfen did not bother to resist when she was forcibly deprived of her belongings. She was barely even coherent when the armed personnel secured Lanfen's hands within large cuffs before subsequently escorting her into an arriving helicopter. When the aircraft's landing skids made contact with Yamaku City's sand-covered roads, all she could make out through the darkness with her tired eyes were the 'S.O.N.G.' emblems on its opening side-doors. If Lanfen had possibly heard of them at some point, she could not care to remember. The entire time she sat in the helicopter's seats with suited individuals at her sides, Lanfen simply stared at the metal floors beneath her feet, eyes still sore from all the tears she had shed.

An hour passed by. Possibly even longer than that. She felt the helicopter judder upon touchdown. Following her escorts' lead, Lanfen was soon brought out of the aircraft to step out onto some sort of small landing bay. Following it were long corridors filled with personnel in distinct, navy-blue uniforms. Many of them were running from one area of the place to another with an obvious sense of urgency. It was clear to Lanfen that whatever they intended to do with her, it was to be dealt with only after these people were finished with the situations they were currently occupied with. For now, all her escorts did was bring her into a large medical bay to clean up the few injuries she sustained.

Lanfen had honestly forgotten that she was even hurt to begin with. She was even growing accustomed to the bitter taste of copper on her tongue.

Once her wounds were all sanitized and treated, Lanfen's awaiting escorts brought her through the busy corridors again to finally escort her into a small, dark room. Lights from outside the room poured inside to shine onto a modest bed, a table beside the entrance, and another door which presumably led to a restroom. After a quick report into the comm beads within their ears, Lanfen's armed escorts undid her large handcuffs, handed her a bunch of plain, gray clothes, and wordlessly exited the room without even looking at her. A high-pitched ring rang in the cold air when the sliding door closed up and locked itself shut.

Standing in the darkness of what she assumed to be her detainment room, Lanfen sluggishly changed into the clothing she was given, and tossed her civilian wear inside a provided basket before dragging herself over to the room's bed. The metal floors were icy-cold to her bare feet. Her new outfit barely shielded her from the chill of the room. After everything that had happened in the past couple hours, Lanfen simply dropped herself onto the bed, and buried her tearstained face within its thick blankets. It was only when she felt her guard finally drop down did Lanfen begin to cry again. Everything which she had been holding back was released all at once, and by that point, Lanfen could not restrain her tears any longer.

"Mei..."

It hurt to utter even a single syllable. While most people would find themselves completely terrified after being dragged to an unknown location by individuals of an unknown organization, Lanfen still could not bring herself to care, for she had consigned herself to whatever they intended to do with her.

It's not like there was anyone Lanfen knew who would miss her if she suddenly disappeared.

She honestly may as well have died during the attack on the city like so many others.

Lanfen dragged a pillow beneath her heavy head and kept her eyes open for what felt like forever. Her fingers would twitch every now and then, as if just to remind Lanfen that she was indeed still alive. It was true in a physical sense, at least. Her mind, on the other hand, was a drifting, incoherent mess of scrambled thoughts, jagged memories and persisting, incomprehensible voices. She constantly replayed the events of tonight. Over and over. All to try and make sense of it. To find out what Lanfen could have done to prevent what she was still refusing to believe even until now. Her thoughts were then interrupted by the sound of a gentle knocking on the room's locked entrance.

She dragged herself into an impromptu sitting position using whatever strength remained within her body. With her sore back now slouched against the wall next to her bed, Lanfen directed her eyes at the door and watched as its locks undid themselves with a loud click.

The reinforced entrance slid open and the light which flooded inside from the corridor forced Lanfen to squint her eyes while a familiar, blonde man stepped inside the room. It was the one who led the group that had brought Lanfen here to begin with. With a tray of food clearly held in his hands, the young man placed it on the table beside the closing door, and flicked open one of the wall's switches to turn on a provided table lamp. Its dim, yellow light was the only thing which even allowed Lanfen to notice the fresh-looking meal the man had brought. The individual in question appeared only about a few years older than Lanfen herself.

"We will be giving you some time before we intend to question you," the young man spoke up in a formal tone. Whatever emotions lingered beneath his words were obviously being restrained, even to Lanfen's own ears. "You may rest here in the meantime. Until then, we'll providing you nourishment three times a day alongside any essential medical aid."

Lanfen was only capable of acknowledging his words through a slow but affirmatory nod. She then narrowed her tired eyes on the man and slowly caressed her reddish wrists. Lanfen could still feel the deep marks that had been left on her arms by the large handcuffs she was brought here in. "Tell me..." Her words were hush but clear in the silence of her detainment room. "What happened... tonight...?

The blonde man visibly considered his answer before walking over to the farthest side of the room.

After pressing a few buttons on the wall which Lanfen had not noticed, a large monitor screen switched itself on beside the control panel. Through a few more inputs into its digital pad, the man proceeded to display numerous CCTV images sourced from population centers all across the globe. Every single one of them were being visibly assaulted by the same armoured knights that Lanfen had fought off mere hours ago. Ambulances and paramedics rushed to save the dying. Fire trucks fought to extinguish buildings which were doused in raging flames of paranormal amethyst. And while some cities were already starting to report the elimination of the invading monsters, there were many others that were still in the middle of an active crisis.

"We call them 'Distortions'," the man explained, contempt clear in his voice when he pointed at one grainy image of the monstrous knights. "We're still trying to figure out where they came from exactly, but we've already confirmed them to be some form of battle automata." He clicked on another button, manifesting additional visuals and recorded sightings of the invaders. Instead of the axes and shields which Lanfen had become familiar with, the ones were wielding two-handed blades and strange, glowing staves. "... The death toll has currently risen to over 23,000 and counting. And it's only been 2 hours since their attacks first began."

'Distortions'.

Lanfen imprinted that name within the very forefront of her scrambled mind. Digging her fingernails into the palms of her hands, Lanfen tore her sights away from the screen and redirected it back to the blonde man. She hesitated to even ask her next question. "And what about... my sister...?"

He switched off the monitor and returned to the room's front door. Clearly avoiding Lanfen's desperate gaze, the man's back faced Lanfen when he decided to answer her. "I'm sorry." Those two words felt like a nail within her chest. And it was the only thing she honestly needed to finally confirm it. As Lanfen tried to hold back her tears this time, the man reached into his suit and carefully approached her. From his pockets, he pulled out a pair of smartphones. One was Lanfen's. The other belonged to Kai. "I managed to find it before we departed. You... have my condolences."

The screen of Kai's smartphone was completely shattered. Some of the internals were even visible through its broken casing. But the keychain that had been clipped onto it - the keychain which Lanfen had gifted Kai during dinner mere hours ago - possessed only a few noticeable scratches. Taking the two devices into her hands, Lanfen placed hers aside before holding onto Kai's smartphone within her shaking palms. Her fingers tightened around the device while Lanfen squeezed her eyes shut and held the phone close to her pounding chest. The sight which Lanfen witnessed when she pushed the last of the building debris aside would not leave her vision no matter how many times she tried to deny it.

Lanfen heard the man slowly step away from the bed. His next few words were inquisitive but gentle. "I understand that you are facing an unfathomable loss right now. But I must ask you this: Why were you in possession of an experimental piece of technology?" he positioned himself beside the table near the room door. "I have met many people in my life, so you do not strike me as anything other than a regular civilian."

Wiping away the teardrops in the corner of her eyes, Lanfen gazed directly into the man's focused eyes, his face barely lit by the glow of the room's small lamp. "I wanted to save my sister." Her answer was blunt and matter-of-fact. "I took it into my hands because I needed its power." Lanfen's fingers grasped the sheets of her bed. "The power to get her to safety! And yet-!" Lanfen choked on her words and remembered the statement she had declared to the woman in the azure suit. The oath which she had made right to her pale face. In the end, Lanfen realized it was all just hot air. "And yet..." Her voice soon trailed off into nothingness, leaving complete silence between them once more.

Clearly aware that Lanfen would not speak any further, the blonde man wordlessly excused himself through a formal bow and went back to the door. After a few clicks on its security panel, it slid open for him to leave before it once again locked itself with a high-pitched ring. As Lanfen rested her head against the cold, steel wall of her detainment room, she could smell the aroma of the food that was left on the room table. Her stomach grumbled, but Lanfen could not bring herself to eat. She could not even bring herself to quench her parched throat with the water they had provided. Before Lanfen could try and lie down to sleep away the hunger pangs, she heard a few voices conversing right outside her room. Neither voice sounded like the blonde man from earlier.

The room entrance slid open again and Lanfen shielded her face from the corridor's light behind her hands. This time, two different men entered the lamp-lit space. One wore a black suit similar to the man from earlier. His brown hair was kept short and proper as his posture remained completely formal. The other man bore a large physique and striking crimson hair. He wore a matching shirt with a pink tie that was tucked into his breast-pocket. Without anything said, the one with brown hair handed a data-pad over to the largest of the pair, allowing him to display a pair of holographic dossiers. Lanfen wondered what they were even here for when her eyes widened slightly at the images of two familiar people on the data-pad's projected holograms.

"Cassandra Jiang Lanfen," the large man calmly addressed her in a deep voice. "So, you are the child of Keith Silverstein and Margaret Jiang Pao-Lin?" He gave her a pondering look and Lanfen slowly nodded. His expression seemed to soften when she did so. " I see. Our time is short, but I will assure you that you will be treated well here in our custody as long as you are cooperative." He closed up the data-pad in his hands and handed it over to his companion. "Even with the crimes of theft which are being charged against you, I'm sure you have your reasons for being in the situation you're in."

Sensing the smallest hints of sincerity within the redheaded man's voice, Lanfen placed Kai's broken smartphone on top of her pillow before uttering with a weak whisper, "Thank you."

The younger of the two then went over to the room's table and placed a different data-pad right next to her lingering food tray. He seemed almost concerned that it had yet to be touched. "You may read up on who we are using this," he politely informed her, tapping one finger onto the second data-pad. "While the information here is highly-classified, do take it as a gesture of our goodwill. We only wish for this situation to be handled without causing unnecessary harm."

When Lanfen decided to remain silent in response to the man's words, the two men shared a nod between them before they excused themselves from the room, and headed outside to attend whatever urgent matter that seemed to require them. Once their footsteps were no longer within earshot, Lanfen hesitantly got out of the bed and walked towards the table which was barely lit by a small, hanging lamp. The tray of food they provided her made Lanfen's stomach grumble, but she chose to simply pick up the data-pad they had given her. She then lifted a hand to wipe away a few more stray teardrops. It was difficult to see with them persistently lurking within the corner of her eyes. But no matter how blurry Lanfen's sight became, she could never forget the image of that cloaked being.

The one who had taken the life of her little sister.

With a data-pad now within her tightening grasp, Lanfen bit into her chapped lips, and tore into them until she drew fresh blood.


The barking of Chris' twin double-barrel rotary guns raged on until a ringed moon eventually showed itself in the night skies of London. Through a combination of her Symphogear and Chris' own on-the-spot trigonometry calculations, the crimson Adaptor had expertly landed every single shot she fired ever since she saw the rifts first appear in Japan's night skies twelve hours ago. Chris' Symphogear had a readied bullet for every Category-1 Distortion that tried charging in her direction, and while any regular military would have dried up their ammunition reserves halfway throughout the fight, Ichaival would sooner break apart and shatter than emit the clicking of an emptied heavy weapon.

When a confirmation of the worldwide battle's cessation was relayed throughout S.O.N.G.'s communications network, Chris was finally allowed to depart from London through a V.T.O.L. aircraft which had been requisitioned to deploy the Adaptor here to begin with. Now sitting tight within its small passenger hold, Chris' gloved hands held onto her metal harness as she solemnly gazed down onto the wrecked streets of London through the aircraft's windows. Extended deployments weren't unusual from S.O.N.G., but jumping from one warzone to another across the globe in the span of just half a day made Chris' eyelids struggle to keep themselves open. The winter cold wasn't making it any easier to not fall asleep either.

Snow as white as the Adaptor's own hair fell onto the burning roads below, slowly joining the accumulated heaps of both golden and emerald sand which were left behind whenever Chris directed the fury of her guns against the Distortion force. If Chris focused her vision hard enough, she could see ambulances and military vehicles all trying to navigate through the debris-littered roads, all while the airborne vehicle she sat in soared in the direction of Japan. The Category-1 Distortions were nothing too different from the Noise when it came to giving her a tedious, long fight, but the damage they left behind definitely wasn't as 'clean' as the carbonized remains the Noise always made out of civilian casualties.

A lingering image of the bodies Chris witnessed in London's blood-stained streets quickly made her whip out her smartphone to text a few of her friends.

Ayano Komichi, Godai Yuki, and Kaburagi Otome. Or rather, Godai Otome, now that she thought about it. After peeling off one of her mittens using her bare teeth, Chris typed in a couple quick messages to check up on the trio. No replies were sent back to her for about 10 minutes. So, when the Adaptor heard three notifications ring out one-by-one within the aircraft's passenger hold, Chris felt a sigh of relief subsequently escaping her. The global attack only occurred after Chris' reunion with her friends had ended, so she had little time until now to actually call them up. Since Japan was 8 hours ahead of London's own time-zone, it was probably already early in the morning over there by now.

Komichi was the first to send a response back to Chris. "We're A-OK!" she said, punctuating her text message with a giant heart symbol. "Hope you can get some rest soon, Chrissy."

Yuki was the second. "Komi' and I managed to get out of Mitakihara during the confusion. Outside of a few scratches on our van, we're all good."

Otome was the last. "My area was unaffected by the incident, but thank you for your concern. Please take care of yourself!"

After relaxing her tense shoulders, Chris pocketed the device, and slowly rubbed her hands together for warmth. "Thank god," she quietly muttered, pulling her removed mitten back on with haste.

Half an hour subsequently passed by while Chris waited for the airborne vehicle to finally drop her off in the S.O.N.G. submarine. The passenger hold wasn't exactly spacious, but since the Adaptor was the only one inside it, it gave her a decent amount of room for the short woman to stretch her legs in. Chris was starting to consider maybe falling asleep for the rest of the ride when the wrist device on her left arm suddenly rang with an incoming audio transmission. Judging by the caller's feather symbol and the designated number on the holographic display, Chris could immediately tell who it was. She tapped onto a holographic prompt with one finger and held her wrist up to her face before answering the call in her usual dry tone.

"Already back at base, Chairwoman?"

"Indeed, I am," Tsubasa answered, sounding formal as ever. The azure Adaptor's new position within the Kazanari household made the woman almost hesitant to simply relax until Ogawa and Maria pestered her enough to do so. "Maria, Akatsuki and Tsukuyomi are still on their way here, so it's only Tachibana and I for now. I was simply wondering if I could check up on your end of the situation as well, Yukine."

Chris didn't know where to start to even describe their current situation. "Well, I'm doing plenty fine myself," she mused, resting her aching head against the hard wall of the passenger hold. "But the world just got hit pretty hard, huh?" Chris' tone turned far dryer than usual. "Can't help but wonder on how the fuck are we even gonna clean up after this mess."

Despite the crimson Adaptor's crass language, Tsubasa did not disagree with the core of her words. "As the Head of the Kazanari household, I intend on ensuring that we will be able to rebuild after this, Yukine," she sharply declared. "The number of lives lost thus far is already difficult to fathom. But we must push on regardless for the sake of those who could not. There are still countless people who will require help long after the end of this fight."

"No arguments there," Chris said, silently appreciating how stalwart the Head of the Kazanari house could be in times like these. "Hey... Chairwoman," she added, hearing Tsubasa respond to her call for the woman's attention, "I think I'm gonna take a nap while I'm on the way, but before I get to that... you wouldn't have happened to hear something about some new Symphogear-Wielder in Japan, have you?" Chris let out a small yawn that she did not bother to hide behind her hands. "Maybe I was just hearin' things, but I could've sworn there was something about that being screamed over the comms."

Tsubasa was initially silent before she responded, "Your assumption would be correct, Yukine. Tomosato detected a seventh Aufwachen signature in Japan merely 12 hours ago. Ogawa and Tsuchiya have already apprehended the Wielder, but for now, we'll have to save the questions regarding it for later. We can solve the mystery of the SG-r04's return and its mysterious user after we've counted our losses."

It was definitely one hell of an evening, Chris thought to herself. They already had their hands full dealing with an enemy who just practically appeared out of nowhere. Now, here she was, hearing about how a failed lab prototype is suddenly now up and running with a confirmed Wielder to boot. Chris probably shouldn't have betted her money on the SG-r04 getting chucked somewhere into S.O.N.G.'s storage pile, but there was no point in crying over spilled milk right now. Finding a new Candidate with their current resources was like finding a piece of hay in an ocean of needles. And that was before they even considered just what the world council intended to do with a next-generation Symphogear in their current situation.

"Well, whoever that new Wielder is," Chris continued, now getting herself comfortable in her seat for a well-deserved nap, "let's just hope they can help with whatever's comin' next."


After downing his fifth steaming cup of Tomosato's coffee mix, Commander Genjuuro sat back in his command chair, and loosened his shoulders to take in the proverbial weight of their situation. The last of the invading Distortions had just been eliminated, and with their global battle having finally ended, the bridge crew of the S.O.N.G. submarine were now allowed to rest for the time being. Fujitaka, Tomosato, and most of the operators were either sleeping at their posts or chatting amongst each other with mugs of caffeine in their hands. Those who had left for a meal in the mess hall or an extensive nap in the vessel's sleeping quarters were replaced by their reserve personnel for the time being.

Either way, the Commander felt that the crew had earned their moment of respite, especially after several grueling hours of hastily organizing a world-wide counter-attack.

Glancing over to the deployable benches which had been set up on the sides of the bridge's main entrance, the gathered Adaptors themselves were also using the time they had right now to recollect their strength. Shirabe and Kirika were leaning against each other while they slept. Since they insisted that it was better for their blankets to be distributed equally among the crew, the two shared a single blanket of their own to keep themselves warm. A half-asleep Hibiki sat next to them, her smartphone in hand as she slowly texted messages back home to Miku. At the bench on the other side of the entrance, Tsubasa laid down with her head on Maria's lap. Maria herself slouched against the wall while both of them were in the middle of a deep slumber.

Even with all the powers that were granted by the Symphogear, the Adaptors were not immune to something as simple as exhaustion.

The command center's doors slid open and Commander Genjuuro got off his post to welcome the arrival of Yukine Chris. Having already changed into her Adaptor uniform like everyone else, all six of S.O.N.G.'s Symphogear-Wielders were now back in the underwater vessel without any notable injuries. "Good work out there, Chris," he said to the short woman with an almost fatherly smile of approval. "Our personnel in London have much to thank you for last night."

"Yeah, and thanks for the quick ride, Old Man," Chris dryly replied, looking over to the other resting Adaptors. "Guessing it's time for our usual briefin'?"

Nodding at Chris' assumption, the Commander gestured for her to start waking up her fellow Wielders as the Commander disposed of his coffee cup into a nearby bin. A few friendly words to Maria and Tsubasa brought them out of their slumber, and a playful bonk on Hibiki's head made her brain kick itself back into gear. But when it came to Shirabe and Kirika, the nudge in the shoulders Chris gave them would not rouse the two women out of their comfortable cuddle. A subsequent blunt comment from Hibiki on how the pair had grown taller than Chris by now only provoked the red Adaptor into stripping them of their blanket. Fortunately, the fiery act actually managed to wake up the groaning duo.

All six Adaptors eventually stood to attention. With Hibiki right in the center, some of them were still clearly exhausted from their extensive fight when Commander Genjuuro formally addressed the gathered women.

"Hibiki, Tsubasa, Chris, Maria, Shirabe, Kirika. In spite of the casualties which we were unable to prevent, your efforts have managed to save more lives than we can even fathom," he said, arms crossed over his chest. "We were caught off-guard, there's no doubt about that. But it still didn't stop us from preventing a disaster that a world-wide attack like this could have caused in full." Genjuuro looked over to the monitor screens. All three of them have yet to show any signs of further enemy activity. "While I would like to act as though this battle is this last we've seen of the Distortions, that likely isn't going to be the case."

"They can send as much as they want, we'll scythe 'em all down anyway!" Kirika eagerly boasted, prompting the twin-tailed woman next to her to calmly agree with the blonde.

"I'm just relieved that we managed to protect our university," Shirabe calmly added, "even if there were still a few people who ended up getting hurt."

To the Commander's left, he could see that Tsubasa did not share the same sense of hopefulness which the duo had, prompting Maria to comfort the swordswoman by wordlessly grabbing onto one of her hands at her side. Even though Tsubasa was the first to actually return to the S.O.N.G. submarine, the extensive paperwork that she had to deal with as head of the Kazanari Household kept her well-occupied long after Hibiki, Kirika and Shirabe had returned as well. Such was the duty that was placed on her shoulders. Meanwhile, Chris and Hibiki appeared to be taking the situation far better than Tsubasa. While the global battle was undeniably a tragedy, the fiery spirit of Genjuuro's personal student wasn't so easy to dampen.

An incoming transmission subsequently appeared on the bridge's central monitor screen, scaring some of the operators to abruptly end their rest as the audio transmission originated from none other than the United Nations itself. The Commander promptly furrowed his brow at the familiar symbol of U.N. while its ID code marked out the caller to be the world council's spokesperson. "Fujitaka, answer it," Commander Genjuuro ordered, his body now facing the monitor screens.

Holding back a yawn with one hand, the operator connected the line, allowing the diplomatic voice of the council's spokesperson to address them through the bridge's speakers. Despite the events of the past day, they sounded as polite as they typically were during their usual conversations. "Greetings, Commander Kazanari. It's certainly a relief to see that you and your forces have managed to weather the storm."

"The feeling is mutual, Spokesperson," the Commander responded, sitting back down at his post again as the Adaptors silently stood to attention behind him. "You could say that the lack of communication from the council thus far felt like an ill omen to us regarding their safety."

"I assure you, Commander, the council possesses some of the best security one can afford outside of heretical technology," the Spokesperson replied, almost with a tinge of amusement. "Although they are disappointed by the devastation which has been wrought by our new foe, the world council shall extend its gratitude to S.O.N.G. for its efforts in pushing back these horrendous attacks on our lands. Were it not for the assistance of your Adaptors across the world, many a life would have been lost. We can only pray that those who could not be saved shall find eventual peace in the afterlife."

44,000 casualties and rising, the Commander mentally noted. Even if it felt almost like a miracle that the global attack claimed such a relatively low number of lives, the bloody massacres that were carried out by the Distortions were nothing if not wanton butchery. At this rate, the casualty count was nearing the same numbers of the infamous concert attack which had been carried out by Noble Red nearly half a decade ago.

"As for matters unrelated to this global tragedy," the Spokesperson continued, shifting the conversation with ease, "the council is relieved to hear that not only were you able to retrieve the experimental SG-r04, but apparently, it had been activated in the defense against the Distortion menace. Would you care to elaborate on this?"

The sudden mention of the SG-r04 caused one of the Commander's nerves to twitch. "... It was awakened by a civilian," he curtly stated. "We've already apprehended her, but we only intend to start asking questions after we've settled the current situation with the Distortions, and the damage they've incurred," Genjuuro explained further, quietly wondering if the retrieved relic interested the council more than the lives of lost civilians. "Alongside that, while we were able to recover the SG-r04, we were sadly unable to obtain any information regarding the 'leader' of these Distortions. All we have for now is a recording of the message they broadcasted before the attack began."

"The latter is quite understandable. The enemy essentially had the opportunity of surprise on their side. Still..." The Spokesperson's words turned firm. "The council is currently demanding for S.O.N.G. to formally deploy the SG-r04 against this new threat as soon as possible, Commander Kazanari. The United Nations in general desires your Adaptor Corp to double their efforts in the face of this new enemy, even when they're currently considering utilizing a contingency plan initially proposed by Kazanari Yatsuhiro years ago."

Upon hearing this news of the Kazanari household's involvement, the Commander looked over to Tsubasa, who was evidently aware of this judging by the look she gave him. He then glanced back at the central monitor screen and said to the Spokesperson, "While I will not disagree to the notion of bolstering the Corp's numbers, we must at least consider the possibility of the SG-r04 having been tampered with before we retrieved it," Commander Genjuuro argued, knowing full well that the Sword of Damocles was nowhere even halfway completed before it was stolen. "We are not even aware of who managed to complete the SG-r04 to begin with, let alone how its completion was even possible."

"Do whatever you must to quell your worries, Commander Kazanari. But the council's order remains as it is," the Spokesperson suddenly declared. "Even if we may have to consider the possibility of recruiting the person currently accused of its theft, the deployment of a next-generation Symphogear is crucial in the world council's willingness to continue your organizational efforts. Especially when it's clear that there's only so much that six Adaptors can do to defend our world." Their intent now made clear, the Spokesperson politely proceeded with the end of their conversation. "... Do be aware that I am also doing whatever I can to maintain S.O.N.G.'s reputation within the United Nations, Commander. Neither you nor I are currently in favourable positions with them."

Commander Genjuuro did not brush off the Spokesperson's words, but talk was cheap compared to full-on action in the man's eyes.

"Good luck, Commander Kazanari. May luck favour both you and your forces. Until next time."

The transmission ceased, letting the bridge crew and the Adaptors all relax once the symbol of the United Nations vanished from the central monitor screen. While some of the operators went back to their much-needed rest, a few others chose to instead check their terminals for any updates they had received during their respite. Commander Genjuuro himself got out of his command chair with a subtle grunt of frustration before turning around to see that not a single one of the Symphogear-Wielders themselves appeared to enjoy having to deal with the world council. It was a feeling he shared but would never actually voice considering the professionalism that was demanded by his position.

The atmosphere of the bridge soon softened up again. Unsurprisingly, this allowed Hibiki to step forward with her hand held up to signal an eager question.

"Master! I want to ask if we can know more about the new Adaptor that Tsuchiya brought in."

Having expected to hear this from Hibiki as soon as it was convenient for her, Commander Genjuuro looked over to Tomosato as the operator finished pouring another cup of her own coffee mix for herself. "Tomosato, please bring up her file." Upon hearing a quick confirmation from Tomosatso, a subsequent input into the operator's terminal brought up the Wielder's acquired profile on the central monitor screen, giving them all a good look of the woman who Genjuuro had met with inside one of the vessel's rarely-used detainment rooms. The Commander was at least glad that they managed to bring her in without any form of physical conflict.

'Cassandra Jiang Lanfen'. 22-years old. Born on the 1st of April, 2027. Filipino-Chinese descent. A graduate from Lydian Academy and a resident of Yamaku City in Japan. Judging by the information which Clan Hida had gathered on her, Jiang held no records of any criminal activity in her past, nor did the woman ever once participate in anything that would make her a suspect of collaborating with the Bavarian Illuminati. Retrieved CCTV recordings showed her to be partaking in regular day-to-day activities in the time leading up to the Distortion incursion, but when it came to the timeframe where she was witnessed using the SG-r04, no footage existed to portray her actually receiving the relic pendant.

"The same age as the Dummy, huh?" Chris remarked while the others looked on in wonder at the recordings of the SG-r04's first ever usage in an actual battle.

"We'll be questioning her on how she attained the SG-r04 once she's had her time to collect herself," the Commander stated, gazing at the CCTV footage on the three monitor screens. "I don't think she's in any condition right now to be answering anything." When Hibiki lifted her hand to obviously ask why that was the case, Genjuuro recalled the information that Kagero had provided him earlier, and carefully elaborated on the woman's circumstances. "... From what Tsuchiya has reported, her younger sister was apparently a casualty of last night's attack. He found the woman sitting by herself in the ruins of Yamaku City after she had repelled the attacking Distortions."

Once Genjuuro's words had visibly registered across the six Wielders, it wasn't surprising to see that out of all the Adaptors who heard this, it was Maria who subsequently appeared to be the most sympathetic with this Jiang person. While Tsubasa tried to awkwardly hold onto Maria's hands to try and ease her newly-wedded wife, the Commander looked back at his terminal, and noticed a notification that was coming from the submarine's research facilities. He promptly approached his post and clicked on the interface to answer an audio transmission from Professor Elfnein.

"Do you have any news for us, Professor?"

"I do, Commander," Professor Elfnein responded. "First of all, I must report that after analyzing the SG-r04, I can conclude that the prototype Symphogear is indeed fully-functional. I also cannot find any traces of tampering within its internals as it appears to have been completed without any deviation from the original planned design." Her explanation lifted some of the concerns off the Commander's shoulders, but the fact that it was even accomplished by an unknown party continued to concern him. "In addition to this, I have also completed an analysis regarding its recent Wielder. Using combat data I've gathered from the SG-r04, I can confirm that Cassandra Jiang Lanfen is indeed a naturally-attuned user of the Symphogear system."

"We've finally discovered another one after all these years, have we?" Tsubasa calmly commented, her fingers still tightly intertwined with Maria's.

"Thank you for the work, Professor, and do rest up when you can," Commander Genjuuro suggested before turning off the transmission so he can look back at the gathered Adaptors. "Now then... does anyone have any other questions?"

"Will we be able to determine when the enemy will attack again?" Maria quickly asked, prompting Fujitaka to speak up from his post as he folded up a thick blanket in his hands.

"With the information that the Professor's decrypted, we've updated our sensors so they can start tracking the energy signatures emitted by both the Distortions and their rifts," he said, hiding another tired yawn behind one hand. "So, as long as our information is correct, we should be able to detect the locations of the rifts before they're even fully open. This'll give us a chance to be ready the next time those Distortions come knocking on our doorstep."

With her arms held up in the air for a good physical stretch, Tomosato chimed in as well. "Our operators have also confirmed that the information we've extracted from the Bavarian Illuminati's data-codex matches up with everything we've seen so far. Right down to the exact details of the enemies' capabilities, defenses and weaponry."

Relieved by the fact that they won't be caught off-guard again by the time of their next assured battle, Commander Genjuuro faced the six Adaptors again to finally relieve them of their duty for now. There was a lot to take in right now and the brain can only handle so much information before it eventually combusted into flames. "Rest up while you can," he told the six women, knowing it was what they needed most right now. "We don't know when or where the Distortions are going to strike next, but as long as we're prepared, S.O.N.G. won't be lacking its efforts to continue saving lives." Genjuuro gave them a sharp salute. "Carry on."

After the Adaptors dismissed themselves from the bridge through their own unified salute, the six women turned to the entrance of the command center, and presumably headed for the submarine's sleeping quarters. But while all the others went on their way to go catch up on their strength, Hibiki proceeded to stay back by herself, most likely to ask the Commander just one more question. It was one which Commander Genjuuro was expecting to hear from her the moment they received word about bringing in a new Symphogear-Wielder.

"Master," Hibiki said, now standing by herself, "will it be alright if we could try and talk with this 'Jiang' person?"

The urge to reach out to someone and understand them was an essential aspect of Genjuuro's student, he had no doubt about that. Sadly, the Commander could only answer her with a slow shake of his head. "Right now, the council's prohibiting us from making unnecessary contact with her until we've retrieved the information we need," he stated, subconsciously remembering the lifeless look he witnessed in Jiang's purple eyes. Genjuuro had not seen eyes like those for the longest time now. "... For now, you'll have to wait until then, Hibiki."

Although she was obviously disappointed by his answer, Hibiki's determined smile did not leave the woman's face. "Whoever she is, I've got a feeling that she's not as bad as the council thinks she is," Hibiki easily claimed, holding up a clenched fist as she winked at the Commander. "S.O.N.G. has a knack for bringing in lots of great people, doesn't it?" Her cheeky observation got a small, honest laugh out of Genjuuro, and with those words said, the woman turned towards the bridge entrance so she could try and catch up with the other departed Wielders.

Hibiki's bright spirits were always appreciated during times like these.

As Commander Genjuuro heard the command center's double-doors close back up, the large man looked over his shoulder to wordlessly stare at the bridge's three monitor screens. The demands that the world council was placing all on S.O.N.G. could not be argued against so easily. Regardless of whatever plans the Commander could muster in their skirmishes against the Distortions, the sheer scale of this new conflict undeniably necessitated an increase in their defensive forces. The addition of even a single Symphogear-Wielder alone could bolster their organizational capabilities tenfold. And yet, no matter how convincing this path before them appeared to be, Commander Genjuuro could not stop himself from growing concerned about the power which lingered within the now-completed Sword of Damocles.


Lanfen rarely bothered to switch on the lights of her detainment room as the hours went on completely uninterrupted. Her captors provided her spares of the grey clothing Lanfen had been handed upon her arrival, and although the clothing itself barely looked like anything more than a prisoner's uniform, Lanfen had little to complain about when it came to the steaming, hot waters of her containment room's bathroom shower. The meals they regularly gave her tasted just fine, but Lanfen was capable of only stomaching a few bites before her body would start throwing up more than what she had initially ingested. Water had an easier time staying in her stomach, at least.

Judging by the time that was displayed on her data-pad's clock, it had been 34 hours now since the Distortion rifts first appeared. In that timeframe, Lanfen spent the hours tirelessly scrolling through the information that was available on the data-pad. The first thing she perused were the public articles which were all easily available online. Through a quick read of their contents, Lanfen caught up on the devastation that had been caused by the Distortions, and as casualties of the invasion came to a final count of 48,084 lives, Lanfen felt a sickening sensation brewing within the pits of her stomach. Countries everywhere were mourning their dead, all while the Kazanari Humanitarian Front did its best to rebuild and assist those who were affected by the world-wide attack.

Once she had read her fill about the global disaster, Lanfen accessed S.O.N.G.'s main database to learn of their countless missions against paranormal, world-ending threats. Whatever S.O.N.G. intended to do with her, Lanfen was under the assumption that they wouldn't be letting go of someone who had seen information like this so easily. With the details of the organization practically laid bare before her eyes, she couldn't think of an end-point which did not involve her somehow getting further involved with them. Noise. 'Alca-Noise'. 'Auto-scorers'. And now, Distortions. S.O.N.G. had matched each and every one of these enemies with the power of so-called relics shards just like the one Lanfen had utilized.

And yet, even though Lanfen managed to acquire such an incomprehensible, near-limitless power, she still failed to protect her own little sister in the end.

Lanfen wielded the paranormal strength of the Symphogear system and she was still completely helpless in the face of that cloaked figure.

The mere memory of that encounter practically ignited a proverbial fire within her eyes.

Beneath the thick blankets of her bed, Lanfen's braided hair had turned into an unkempt mess, letting it strew all over her pillow while her latest tray of food sat untouched on the room table. When Lanfen decided to draw up a faint, mental image of that cloaked murderer, she gritted her teeth together, and grimaced at the thought of it still existing in the realm of the living. As Lanfen quickly attempted to bury the memory of the bloody sight she had witnessed beneath the debris of a broken, burning building, the woman tightened her grip around the data-pad, rose up from beneath her blanket, and mindlessly hurled the device against the wall with whatever strength she had left in her.

The data-pad made a loud snap when its screen shattered against hard metal. It was probably loud enough for someone outside to have heard it, but Lanfen didn't care.

While pieces of the device now laid scattered across the floor of the dimly-lit room, Lanfen drew in a shaky breath, and found little satisfaction in what she had just done. Instead, she only felt a growing sense of remorse rising within her chest. Squeezing her sore eyes shut again, Lanfen buried herself underneath her blanket, and tried to lie down until the memories of that night ceased to haunt her. She had run out of tears hours ago. All Lanfen could do now was stew in the shadows of her detainment room, unsure of when S.O.N.G. would come back to finally deal with her. A part of Lanfen almost wished that her Symphogear hadn't saved her from the attack that indirectly took her sister's life.

The detainment room's blankets felt far thicker than ones Lanfen kept in her own bedroom.

Her pillow would've been perfect to sleep on if she was capable of closing her eyes without falling into some sort of nightmare.

Now that she had nothing to keep track of how much time was passing, Lanfen stared at the ceiling above her, and occupied herself with a memory that she had not recalled for some time now.

It was the evening before the day of their parents' memorial service. Lanfen remembered hiding away in her bedroom so she could cry for hours on end. Since Kai had yet to understand at the time what had even happened to their parents, Lanfen refused to break down while she was still within eyesight of her younger sibling. Kai was only 11-years old then. No child deserved to hear what Lanfen required days just preparing to tell her. The look that Kai had on her face when she finally realized why their parents wouldn't be coming back was an image Lanfen could never fully purge from her memory.

But when the two sisters actually attended the memorial service itself, Lanfen had not shed a single tear during the occasion, not even while her sister cried freely at her side. Lanfen didn't permit herself to do so. Not when Kai relied on her to be her dependable older sibling. She held onto Kai's hand for as long as she could during the memorial service, and had donned a proverbial mask which shielded every emotion beneath a stoic façade that nobody but her sister could see through. As Lanfen found herself donning that same 'mask' again just for a moment, she slowly turned her head to gaze at the two smartphones which were resting side-by-side on the room table.

The keychain that Lanfen had bought for her sister dangled freely from Kai's broken smartphone, its material barely stained by the rubble it was found underneath in.

"I'm sorry," she weakly pleaded, even if there was nobody for her words to ever reach.

The silence of her detainment room was unbearable.

Two hours had passed - or maybe three - by the time Lanfen heard a knocking on her room door. It felt too early for her to be receiving lunch as her breakfast had yet to turn cold on her room table. Within moments, the door slid open, and Lanfen shielded her eyes from the corridor's blinding light while a familiar blonde man placed himself at the doorway with his hands folded behind his back. He casted a brief but concerned gaze over to the remains of the data-pad on the floor before turning back to the unkempt woman who was only now pulling herself into a sitting position.

"They intend to question you now," he calmly said, stepping inside the room. "Are you in any condition to do so?"

Lanfen wordlessly pushed aside her blanket and combed one hand through the sides of her aching head. She had no more tears to shed. Not for today, maybe. Her mind at least felt clearer than it had been compared to the past day or two. Desiring to get this over with as soon as possible, Lanfen swung her legs over to the side of her bed, and felt the cold, metal floors making contact with her bare feet. "... I am," she curtly stated, now standing up on her own two legs.

The blonde man appeared to doubt her claim, but he voiced no argument while another suited person came into the room with the same handcuffs they had brought Lanfen in with. After taking the large, metal cuffs off the person's palms, the blonde approached Lanfen and opened up the device through a few inputs into its digital key-pad. "My apologies. It's standard procedure," he said with a genuine tone of empathy. Lanfen gave no response other than to lift her hands for him to restrain her. "They say you haven't been eating your meals."

"I'm fine. I didn't need it," she muttered, wincing slightly when the large handcuffs subsequently secured themselves around Lanfen's forearms, effectively encasing them in what felt like an unbreakable, steel coffin. The sheer weight of the restraints made it difficult to even hold up her arms as Lanfen noticed the pair of footwear which the blonde man's companion had also brought for her. It made sense that they wouldn't be escorting her barefooted, Lanfen mused to herself, putting on her sturdy shoes without complaint. When she finally escorted out into the open corridor, Lanfen needed to squint her eyes just to prevent herself from being blinded by the sudden shift in brightness all around her.

The sound of their thumping footsteps filled the cold air while Lanfen followed her escorts throughout numerous identical corridors. Even if she still had no idea where they actually were, Lanfen could at least tell that it was some sort of official headquarters. There was a low rumbling somewhere in the distance - something akin to a loud reactor or engine - but Lanfen could have been mistaking it for something else. That thought aside, the curious looks that Lanfen was receiving from the base's crew felt almost palpable. The sight of her in handcuffs was apparently a point of interest for all who passed by them. Lanfen only cared enough to notice how they were all dressed in the same navy-blue uniform of S.O.N.G.

Eventually, the trio halted in front of a door at the end of yet another unremarkable corridor.

"Please, head inside," the blonde man instructed with his redheaded companion beside him.

Following his orders, the door slid open so Lanfen could step inside the small room that she had been escorted to for her 'questioning'. As the blonde man and his companion waited outside, a camera which was hanging in the corner of the room's ceiling immediately directed its lenses right at Lanfen, causing the brown woman to instinctively tense up beneath its gaze. Situated in front of her was a table where two familiar men waited for her. One of them was the large man with red hair, and the other was his brown-haired companion in the black suit. While the redheaded man sat down on a chair, his aide remained standing and gestured for Lanfen to sit down with a data-pad held underneath one arm.

Lanfen's designated seat was purely made out of hard metal. With her spine now slouched against the backrest of her chair, Lanfen placed her restrained forearms on the table to alleviate the weight they placed on her. She honestly didn't know whether or not she should've waited for the two men to speak up first.

"My name is Kazanari Genjuuro, Tactical Commander of S.O.N.G.," the redheaded man eventually began, resting his elbows on the table between them. "This is one of my personal aides, Ogawa Shinji, and we are the ones who will be asking you questions regarding the events of the past few days. Will that be alright with you?" He was formal, but not distant. Stern, but not harsh. If anything, he seemed to be just as uncomfortable as Lanfen was beneath the piercing gaze of the room's security camera.

Lanfen hesitantly nodded. "I've no complaints."

Taking his data-pad into his own two hands, Ogawa projected a holographic image from the device, showcasing a display of the red pendant that Lanfen was given during the Distortion attack. "This is the SG-r04, Sword of Damocles, an item which I'm sure you are familiar with by now," he said, inputting another command into the data-pad to bring up recorded CCTV footage of Lanfen's fight against the Distortions. "The SG-r04 is a property of both S.O.N.G. and the United Nations. Before you had utilized it approximately 39 hours ago, the SG-r04 had been stolen from our possession by the Bavarian Illuminati. May we know where and how did you attain such an item?"

Lanfen remembered the pale face of the person in the suit who had bestowed the SG-r04 upon her. "... It was... a woman. A woman in a blue suit." It was difficult to muster any precise details just from their brief meeting. "Blue hair. Pale face... I was running and... she saved me after a Distortion had cornered me and-" Lanfen felt her skin crawl when she remembered the sound of torn fabric and crunching bone. After taking in a practiced breath, Lanfen pursed her chapped lips and tried to continue. "I... I didn't get her name. But when she asked if I wanted the power to save... my sister..." She drew in a shaky breath. "She gave me the pendant. And told me to sing if I wanted to use it."

"Did she ask for anything in return?" Commander Kazanari inquired, visibly listening to her story with intent.

"... No. She didn't," Lanfen whispered, unsure of whether or not that woman was even real at all. "It was given to me just so I could save my sister..." Repeating those words felt akin to gargling metal needles in her mouth. Lanfen had 'saved' no one. No one but herself. That was the one thing she knew to be true out of all the things she had claimed. With her gaze now placed on her weighty handcuffs, Lanfen tightened her throat, and waited for the next question to come.

It was the Commander who asked this time. "Do you have any past experiences with paranormal events such as the Noise?"

"No," Lanfen quickly answered. "I've never encountered the Noise myself. Or paranormal creatures... Not until recently, that is." Out of curiosity, she shifted her eyes just for a moment to take a peek at the camera on the ceiling, and when she saw its focused lens still directing itself right at her, Lanfen couldn't help but reflexively stiffen her shoulders. Silence subsequently followed as Ogawa showed the Commander something that was on his data-pad. Her gut feeling told her that their next question wasn't going to be a pleasant one to answer.

After taking a look at his aide's touch-device, Commander Kazanari looked back at Lanfen, and furrowed his brow. "Do you have any next of kin?"

Relatives. Lanfen honestly needed to hold herself back from scoffing at the mere mention of it. Clenching her hands however she could within the metal coffin that were her handcuffs, Lanfen thought about her distant aunts and uncles from both of her parents' sides, and quickly felt disgust dancing on her lips before she bitterly answered the Commander's question. "... My sister was the only family I had left in my life." Her words came out like a verbal sword-thrust. "If any of my relatives are still out there, then they'd want nothing to do with me."

With her questioning now at its apparent end, two men calmly took in her answers, and considered them for a lengthy amount of time underneath the watchful gaze of the room's observational camera. Their expressions betrayed nothing about what they were thinking, so Lanfen simply waited while Ogawa typed away on his data-pad faster than she could even perceive. The Commander, on the other hand, was looking right at her with a subtle hint of concern in his eyes. He definitely was not the type of person she had expected him to be despite the man's fierce look. When Ogawa proceeded to whisper something into the Commander's ear, the large man quickly stood back up before crossing his arms over his chest.

"Thank you for your time," he calmly said. "We will be returning you to your room now until further notice. For now, we will-"

"My parents." Those words leaped out of Lanfen's throat before she could even think. When the Commander halted in his speech, Lanfen met his surprised gaze, and voiced a question that sounded almost like a plea. "Did you... know them...?"

Commander Kazanari and Ogawa exchanged a knowing look with one another, as if wondering whether they were even allowed to answer her question. As the camera in the corner of the room maintained its watch on them, Ogawa kept his data-pad underneath one arm, looked back at Lanfen, and politely addressed the woman's curiosity. "The late Keith and Pao-Lin were indeed once operatives of S.O.N.G., Miss Jiang. You have our apologies, but this information had to be kept classified purely due to the nature of our organization." He held one hand across his chest and gave a short bow. "I hope you can understand why we needed to keep your family in the dark."

Lanfen did not know whether to be mad or grateful that it took this long to even know why her parents were taken away from both her and Kai-Ming. Why Lanfen had to be the one to essentially raise her little sister. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Lanfen gave a slow nod anyway, all while whispering an almost-inaudible utterance of her appreciation for the information. When she heard the door behind her open back up again, Lanfen stood up from her chair and wordlessly followed the blonde man from earlier out of the room. She didn't bother looking at Commander Kazanari and Ogawa while she did so. Her purple eyes were already finding it difficult to focus on the metal path that was right ahead of her.


The distinctive hissing of a sliding door eventually snapped Lanfen out of a momentary, mental daze. By the time she was escorted back into the shadows of her detainment room, only one of her formal escorts still remained with her, most likely because of the cuffs that were still locked tightly around her forearms. Once a couple inputs were placed onto the handcuffs' security keypad, the metal coffin proceeded to loosen their grip on her, letting the blonde man finally relieve Lanfen of her heavy restraints. As he left the item on the detainment room's table with a low thud, Lanfen took a few steps back from him to notice that the broken data-pad on the room floor had already been disposed of.

Still feeling remorseful for her sudden outburst, Lanfen caressed her deeply-marked wrists before scanning the man before her with tired, purple eyes.

"Your name," she spoke to him in a low voice, getting his attention. "... I never got your name."

He gave a polite smile and folded his hands behind his back. "You may call me 'Tsuchiya Kagero'," he said, suddenly sounding far more casual than when they had initially met a while ago. "You are Cassandra Jiang Lanfen, are you not?"

"I am," Lanfen curtly replied with a nod, taking a note to remember the man's name. Making conversation with her captors wasn't exactly an easy task for Lanfen. After making herself comfortable on top of the room's bed, she removed her uncomfortable footwear, practically kicking them off into the corner of the room. When Lanfen glanced back over to Tsuchiya again, she sensed a sudden sensation of empathy within his eyes, and tightened her lips together. "Thanks for... retrieving my sister's phone," she whispered to him, finding it hard to truly voice her gratitude. "It means a lot to me."

Tsuchiya responded with a formal bow. "I'm happy to assist however I can. Even if our experiences seem to be the other way around, it's admittedly pleasing to see someone who just so happens to be similar to me in a particular way." His strange remark made Lanfen perk her head up in confusion. Evidently noticing this, Tsuchiya held up one of his wrists, and pulled down a sleeve of his suit to showcase a pink, white and light-blue armband. The familiar colour pattern immediately made her understand what Tsuchiya really meant before the blonde man suddenly held one of his fingers to a comm bead in his ear.

While light from the corridor provided what little illumination there was inside the darkened room, Lanfen could faintly hear something being relayed over to Tsuchiya.

"Understood," he eventually said into his comms after about a minute or so had gone by.

Without another word sent towards her direction, Tsuchiya abruptly marched out of the detainment room, prompting Lanfen to glance over to the room table, and rest her tired gaze on the two smartphones which were lying on top of it. She heard the room's lock resound in the cold air and subsequently dragged her body over to the table so she could slowly hold up Kai's broken phone within the palm of one hand. The toy that hung from it by a chain softly jingled, causing a cold shiver to run down Lanfen's spine as the memory of her sister's cloaked killer briefly reappeared before Lanfen's narrowing eyes.

She felt tears trailing down her face once again.

But they were not tears of sadness.

Instead, they were tears of blooming, incandescent hatred. Malice. Wrath. Bloodthirst. Lanfen could feel a proverbial flame burning within the pupils of her eyes. A fire conjured purely out of the loathing she possessed for both her sister's murderer and the Distortions who had thoroughly ravaged their world for some incomprehensible 'crusade' against Humanity. The hand which wielded the Sword of Damocles ached at her side. It ached for the sensation it had felt when she cleaved her way through the Distortions one-by-one. With pursed lips, Lanfen reached for the toy that was attached to Kai's smartphone and gently detached it from the broken device.

Once Kai's smartphone was placed back on the table, she attached the keychain to her own smartphone with a soft click before observing the way the toy swayed back and forth on a silver chain.

When Lanfen heard a sudden knocking on the detainment room's door, she hurriedly wiped away her tears and squeezed her eyes shut to immediately recollect herself.

The door slid back open with a loud hiss and Lanfen noticed Tsuchiya stepping inside the darkened room again. This time, the blonde man held a large suitcase in one hand and a data-pad in the other. An aura of formality could be felt radiating around him while Tsuchiya carefully placed the suitcase down on the room table. After closing the room door behind him, he handed Lanfen the data-pad, and wordlessly gestured over to the room's large monitor screen. It switched on the moment Lanfen turned around to face the screen, causing the room to be bathed in its light as the symbol of the United Nations appeared right in the middle of the monitor. Lanfen could only guess what her captors now intended to do with her.

"Greetings, Miss Cassandra." Lanfen heard an affable, androgynous-sounding voice coming through the monitor's speakers. "If I am to keep this meeting short, you may refer to me as the spokesperson of the United Nations world council. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."

Tsuchiya silently stood on one side of the dimly-lit room while Lanfen returned the diplomatic greeting in kind and said, "I take it that there's something needed of me?"

"Correct. After much consideration by the council, the United Nations has formally decided to offer you, Cassandra Jiang Lanfen, a chance to be recruited into S.O.N.G. as their seventh Adaptor. In other words, a Symphogear-Wielder." Their direct statement made Lanfen's eyes instantly widen. "As you are the only thus far who is capable of wielding the SG-r04, the U.N. intends to employ you in the defense against paranormal threats, essentially ensuring the safety of our world. If you accept this offer, the council will be willing to overlook your 'theft' of the SG-r04. They will also be providing funding for the duration of your employment, in addition to whatever S.O.N.G. shall provide you, of course."

At the back of her head, Lanfen knew that this was not going to be a real decision.

All of this was just a formality. Political posturing in her eyes.

After putting down her smartphone on the detainment room's table, Lanfen opened up the data-pad in her hands and scrolled through the terms of their agreement. She immediately saw that any refusal of the offer would mean her immediate imprisonment based on Lanfen's current charges. No trial. No arguments. She was hardly surprised by the hand she was being dealt with. "Will I essentially be a soldier...?" Lanfen inquired, looking up again at the symbol on the monitor screen.

"Think of yourself more as 'disaster-relief personnel', Miss Cassandra," the Spokesperson said, almost correcting her the same way an adult would point out a child's silly mistake. "Your duty would be to effectively follow the orders of Commander Kazanari in order to carry out work which no regular military can ever hope to accomplish. Aside from that, you will be allowed to return to your old home and live out your life whenever you are not on an active mission." The speaker's tone was polite. Almost excessively so to Lanfen's ears. "A favourable proposal, is it not?"

There was nothing left for her to lose in this deal, Lanfen dryly thought to herself, tightening her grip around the data-pad's edges. As the end of the written agreement displayed itself on the device's translucent screen, Lanfen released one hand, and used it to slowly sign the proposal through a few strokes of her signature. She subsequently noticed Tsuchiya faintly tensing up in the corner of her vision. With the agreement signed, Lanfen hit the 'Accept' prompt, causing the device to ring with confirmation before it shut itself off.

"I'll do whatever I have to if it means taking out the Distortions," Lanfen quietly swore to the symbol on the monitor screen in front of her. "I can promise you that, at least."

"We look forward to seeing your results, Miss Cassandra," the Spokesperson responded, sounding obviously pleased by her decision. "You may find additional details regarding your duties within that device. Since I'm sure that you may be finding yourself already overwhelmed by your new responsibilities, you can expect me to contact you again at a later time. Until then, may the heavens smile upon your efforts, SG-r04."

The audio transmission on the wall-monitor ceased and the symbol of the United Nations disappeared from the screen, allowing the shadows of the detainment room to creep back in until both Lanfen and Tsuchiya stood once again in near-darkness. Lanfen then switched on the room's table lamp, summoning a dim light while Tsuchiya visibly relaxed himself. "You have our apologies for this, Jiang," he said with an almost exasperated glance at the room's deactivated monitor screen. "S.O.N.G. does not often carry out the immoral task of plucking someone from their former life. Sadly, this is a decision which not even the Commander is capable of going against."

"It's fine." Lanfen quietly waved off his apology, now leaning against the room table with a hand placed on her hip. "I've no former life to return to anyway... Not anymore."

Tsuchiya gave no response to her dour words other than to visibly respect Lanfen's recent decision.

Now that the proverbial die had been cast, Tsuchiya reached for the suitcase he had brought and inputted a 16-digit code into its keypad. He then gently opened it up to showcase its contents, causing Lanfen to subconsciously draw in a sharp breath at the sight of her very own S.O.N.G. uniform. Provided alongside it was a black-and-white tie and undershirt, a familiar ruby-like pendant, and a rectangular wrist device which she had seen being worn on the arms of everyone in this facility thus far. Lanfen tentatively took the device and curiously held it to her forearm. In an instant, an automatic strap deployed from the device, causing it to immediately secure itself to her wrist with a faint click.

"That communicator will be used for every manner of business related to S.O.N.G.," Tsuchiya explained as Lanfen opened up its holographic interface to explore its numerous functions. "If nothing else is required of me, I shall be taking my leave now. Unfortunately, my duties provide me with little free time." The subsequent bow Tsuchiya gave formally dismissed him from the room before he headed over to the door to undo its inner lock through a specific key-input. The man glanced back at Lanfen soon after and provided her with a friendly smile. "May fortune favour you, Jiang."

Lanfen herself could not give a smile in return. But she tried her best to give a respectful nod in place of it. "... Thank you, Tsuchiya."

The door closed itself up, this time without an audible ring of its lock, leaving Lanfen all alone in her room. Without another second wasted, she went about changing into the winter uniform they had requisitioned her, relieved to be finally rid of her prisoner clothing. In its place, Lanfen donned a navy-blue jacket, a matching pair of tactical pants, and a black-and-white undershirt that possessed the same monochrome pattern as the tie she secured around her neck. The measurements were all perfectly accurate to her body. After she slipped into a pair of boots and secured the uniform's storage pouch to her belt, Lanfen gazed at the relic pendant inside the suitcase before watching it shimmer underneath the table's yellow lamp.

With no words actually uttered between her chapped lips, Lanfen swore an oath right then and there to wield her powers for the sake of avenging her sister.

She promised to Kai - and herself - that no matter how many Distortions she would have to kill, Lanfen would eventually master the power of the Symphogear before one day finding the cloaked monster who had taken her sister's life.

As a proverbial fire within Lanfen's eyes marked her wordless oath, she looked forward to the day where she would seize her sister's murderer by the throat, giving Lanfen the opportunity to hear its final, pathetic cries before she permanently silenced it with the Sword of Damocles.