A man in a black tuxedo stood at the center of a large, round conference table within a darkened room.
Without warning, the floor beneath him lit up, projecting a smooth, rotating image into the air. It resembled a sphere formed from interlocking octagonal segments, bound together in tight geometric harmony. A quiet hum pulsed beneath the visual as the image stabilized.
He clapped his hands once.
In response, several sections of the table responded with a faint hiss, lifting open to reveal holographic panels. Each panel displayed a silhouette, bodies recognizable in posture and outline, yet intentionally featureless. Their identities were obscured by design.
Once all the projections were in place, the man turned and walked calmly to the wall beside a towering door. There, he halted and faced the room again, standing perfectly still.
Then the door groaned.
It opened slowly, not by automation, but by force, though no hand had touched it. Heavy slabs shifted against one another, dragging through the silence as they made room for the figure approaching from beyond.
The man who entered did so with silent steps. He was tall, his long black hair falling across a coat lined with faint metallic threading. His skin was pale, and his vivid green eyes stood out as a stark contrast to the room's glow. He stepped past the threshold without ever touching the door.
The moment he cleared it, the door slammed shut behind him with a sharp, concussive crack. The impact jolted the air and sent a faint tremor through the space around it, an audible reminder of the door's absurd mass.
"Welcome, Captain Elkin. The 53rd's own Lord of Darkness," the man in the tuxedo announced without shifting his posture.
To the greeting, the one called Elkin gave a slight nod before moving with composed certainty to his seat at the table.
The door groaned open once more, this time pushed manually with deliberate force. Its impact as it shut again resounded through the room, disturbing the air with a familiar, thunderous boom.
In striking contrast to Captain Elkin, the next entrant bounded in with unmistakable energy. She wore a uniform styled after Simulum City's law enforcement.
Her demeanor, however, clashed wildly with the formality of her appearance. Her bright orange hair and lively blue eyes lit up the room, and her smile breezed past the man standing by the door.
"How're you holding up, Alber?" she beamed.
"Quite well," replied the man, now clearly identified as Alber, with quiet composure. "I trust the day has treated you kindly, Captain Nithya the Piercer."
"It's been a wonderful day! I had fun meeting the recruits. Got to watch their tests, too. Oh, and I finally got to give the opening address! My lieutenants usually never let me. They always say something about me being embarrassing or something like that. But this time, I—"
BANG!
The door slammed shut once again with catastrophic force.
"Be seated you talkative dolt." a man clad in silver armor interjected brusquely as he walked past her. He wore a stern expression and moved with every bit of rigid nobility one would expect.
"Welcome, Captain Finsten. Head Knight of the Ringers," Alber greeted.
Finsten raised a hand in brief acknowledgment and moved to his seat at the table.
"You're still as rude as ever, Fin," Nithya muttered, clicking her tongue. "But that kinda checks out."
"And just what are you implying?"
"Oh, not much. Just that stick you've got wedged so far up your—"
"I suggest you mind your tongue. While others may tolerate your buffoonery, I have no intention of letting you continue to tarnish the dignity of our rank."
"Is that right? Pardon me, noble sir, for not realizing thou art so valiant as to threaten a harmless lady like myself," she replied with mocking grace before finally settling into her seat and placing her arms flat on the table.
"Say what you will. Just understand, I do not, and will not, condone your position."
"Aw, lighten up, little Fin. You'll wrinkle your forehead faster if you keep scowling like that."
As Finsten prepared another grumble, the heavy door parted once more, though the person walking in never moved to open it.
In stepped a woman adorned in a blue and gold cheongsam, her gait measured and unhurried. A crown-like accessory glinted atop her head, and white-gold heels echoed crisply against the floor with every step.
Behind her came another woman dressed in a white and blue qipao, the true agent behind the door's movement, who then dissipated from view, fading into nothingness.
"Welcome, Captain Qinghua, Guardian of the Azure Chalice," Alber intoned.
"The weeping koi's tears have been consumed," Qinghua replied in a cryptic tone. "Yet the tongue still does not discern the bitterness hidden in salt."
"I see," Alber responded calmly. "Very well, then."
Qinghua quietly took her place at the round table.
"Hi Qing Qing!" Nithya called out with a bright wave.
Qinghua inclined her head. "May the sun have played upon the heads of its children today."
Nithya offered an uneasy laugh. "Still don't get what you're saying, but hey, same to you."
The door slammed shut in rapid succession, each impact reverberating through the room with greater force than before.
The first figure to enter wore a black haori and moved with unsettling silence, his footsteps utterly noiseless, his eyes vacant, like a fish long dead.
Trailing him was a towering man, his muscular frame discernible even beneath a heavy fur coat. His face, rugged and scarred, was paired with stiff, untamed brown hair that draped past his shoulders.
"Welcome, Captain Yoru of the Encompassing Blade. And Captain Lambert, The Breaker," Alber greeted.
"That's a strange combo. Both of you showing up at once?" Nithya raised a brow. "Special occasion?"
"A joint campaign," Yoru replied curtly.
"Yeah," Lambert followed up. "Ra'Pert got infested with a parasitic shadow bee colony. Not that it mattered. I could've handled it solo."
"To warrant two captains, yet withhold word from the rest of us," Finsten questioned, his tone stern. "Was it an entire boundary? Operations of that scale usually demand strategic standby."
"Just as the queen bee does not concern herself with the state of the flowers, the wolf is sent to the hunt, mindless of the births to come."
"–––"
They all paused, collectively trying, and failing, to parse Qinghua's cryptic phrase. The more they dwelt on it, the less it seemed to make sense.
"R… right…" Nithya offered with a nervous laugh. "Somewhere in there, you might have a point."
"Indeed," Finsten said calmly. "It's plausible the Head Captain withheld the details deliberately, to keep our focus on the new wave."
"That's just how he thinks." A voice rang out, punctuated by the familiar crash of the door slamming shut.
"Welcome, Captain Natasha, Arrow of Jarul," Alber greeted as a red-haired woman entered with striking confidence.
She wore a cropped, deep-collared jacket over a black top, her forearms guarded by fingerless gauntlets patterned with orange-yellow scales.
"Of course it is our calling," she declared, striking a dramatic stance, "to set fire beneath our uncut diamonds!"
'Here we go again,' passed through the minds of all seated.
"To shape a luminous future for this world we call our own, they are the ones who matter most!" With hands on her hips and hair theatrically swept back by some unseen force, she continued. "Our job is to ready them, to see that the hardships ahead never break their resolve!"
What followed was a long, respectful silence, only broken by Nithya's lively clapping echoing off the walls.
"Well said,"
A new presence interrupted the levity, and a subtle shift in pressure swept through the room.
They all stiffened slightly at the sound of the voice. This time, it was not a lone presence that emerged, but a formation.
Two maids, poised and graceful, stepped forward in perfect unison. Their hands rested gently atop one another at their lower thighs, their movements measured and reverent.
Behind them walked a singular figure.
Golden-blond hair, bound in a low ponytail, glinted like it had caught starlight itself. A neat braid circled the crown of his head like a laurel. Draped over his shoulders was a long blue cloak edged in gold, sweeping above his polished white, double-breasted uniform.
Not a word was spoken as he approached the round table.
Each Captain had already taken their place. And now, at last, so did he, seated at the very center.
Alber lowered his gaze and spoke with solemnity.
"Greetings, Head Captain of VEIL-00056— Lucien the Collimator."