A little disoriented by the abrupt change in surroundings, Ais instinctively lifted her head and leaned it against the wall, giving her back a stable support. Before she'd had a chance to feel relieved about not having fallen over, she noticed that the room had new occupants.
Where did these five come from? Every one of them feels at least as powerful as the local Watcher team captain.
She studied the new arrivals with quiet puzzlement: four men and one woman. Their appearance was similar — black thin coats with matching trousers and hats. Unlike the Nighthawks who had brought Ais here, all five of these individuals wore blood-red gloves, which stood out strikingly even in the dimly lit room.
The apparent leader — a middle-aged man — was exchanging a quick, brief summary with Alec Howard. The other four wore appraising expressions as they stood with the original three Nighthawks and observed Ais. The bespectacled young man was clearing the recently-used ritual altar.
Seven people staring in unison produced a fairly significant pressure. The four red-gloved Nighthawks in particular — whose strength was evident at a glance — were more than Ais cared to endure. She dropped her gaze after a few seconds.
"These five red-gloved Nighthawks are far too capable for a standard city Watcher team. How did they get here so quickly? Did the ritual power transport them?"
"And is this many people really necessary? How many are you even trying to catch?"
Ais had no idea that, since shortly after the war ended — less than two years ago — the church had significantly strengthened communication between headquarters and city-level Watcher teams. Any discovery of a valuable lead connected to a cult was now immediately relayed via ritual to the central cathedral. The "Red Glove" unit — whose minimum requirement for membership was Sequence 7 "Nightmare," making every member capable of forcibly pulling anyone within a hundred meters into a dream at the cost of their own ability to act — would then be rapidly transported to the scene by a high-Sequence Beyonder.
This was feasible precisely because the post-war period had seen the church sustaining an intensive crackdown on all manner of cults, which had so dramatically reduced cases of supernatural crime across the board that the Red Gloves — previously occupied almost exclusively with chasing dangerous rogue Extraordinaries — now had the capacity to support city-level Watcher teams in handling more difficult cult members.
"A notably cautious Witch. Our best chance of catching her is probably still having this young lady draw her out, Alec?"
The Red Glove leader, silver-haired and trim, turned to look at the informant — who had legs that were, frankly, quite striking — and made the assessment.
"Not a single suspicious individual matching the description she gave appears anywhere in my memory."
Howard confirmed after a careful mental review. Catching the glance Ais gave him as she stood, he added simply:
"This is Cormac Terrence."
Ais nodded and looked at this Watcher whose eyes were so pale they were nearly colorless. She considered her words carefully:
"I'd be happy to serve as bait, Mr. Terrence. I just don't know how well I can play the role."
Terrence waved a hand:
"Don't worry — there's very little you need to do. First: take actions that look reckless but that the Witch would find plausible."
I sincerely thank you for not using 'becoming a woman' as your example. Ais was already frantically nodding to cut him off before he felt the urge to illustrate.
Terrence seemed to trust Ais's intelligence. He went straight on:
"Second — simply keep this with you."
He said it as though something would follow, but made no move to produce anything. Just as Ais was puzzling over this, an invisible something wrapped itself around her left wrist.
Cool to the touch. Feels like a spiritual entity. So he can command spiritual entities… she assessed.
"You should already sense it," Terrence's voice followed. "Just pretend it isn't there. And finally — when you're talking to the Witch, don't be too obvious about your nerves. Just don't let her spot something wrong within the first few seconds and bolt. Simple, right?"
Ais was pressing her fingers to her left wrist, feeling nothing at all. She nodded.
In the next instant, she found herself back in the semi-awake dream state from the ritual examination — but nothing around her had changed at all.
Is this because his Sequence is above mine? Or a different application of his ability? If I didn't have this anomalous partial consciousness, I wouldn't have noticed anything was wrong at all.
But with that small sliver of wakefulness, Ais could clearly sense that while she was still standing, her eyes were gently closing. What she perceived as "seeing" was actually just her mind's imagination.
Once she'd roughly worked out what was happening, she saw Terrence speak:
"So tell me specifically what you're planning."
Wait — he didn't actually move his lips. The voice appeared directly in my head… That was when Ais understood why Terrence had suddenly used his ability — he was protecting her dignity.
In her slightly altered state, Ais explained to Terrence her plan: to appear to redirect her anger toward the five ordinary people who had joined the three Extraordinaries in pursuing her.
And in the process of answering, Ais herself never moved her lips either. What she said existed only inside her own head.
After she finished, she felt a brief moment of disorientation. When her eyes opened, the scene around her was identical in every detail.
Two people in a walking-dream state, holding a private conversation — impressive. If not for that peculiar wakefulness, I'd have assumed I'd simply closed my eyes for a blink. I'd never have realized I'd been under his influence. She noted this inwardly with genuine fascination. And she could imagine that if the person being influenced noticed something was wrong, they'd be able to break the effect easily enough — the nature of the method practically guaranteed it.
"Alright, Alec — take her up to the surface. We need to make preparations." Terrence said.
Howard nodded, directed Ais to follow, and turned to the bespectacled young man:
"Warren, you're also free to rest."
Warren, who had been standing slightly at a loss, nodded promptly, tapped out the star pattern on his chest, and said:
"Yes, Captain. May the Goddess watch over all of you."
The others returned the gesture. Except Ais.
After Howard and Ais left, one of Terrence's teammates couldn't hold back:
"Captain — is that Witch really clean? Going to a church to report someone voluntarily — that was genuinely her own idea?"
Terrence nodded:
"For now, treat her as clean. When she entered the dream state, my eyes didn't react. Maintain necessary vigilance and observe for the time being."
On the other side, following Howard back through the route they'd come, Ais grew more curious and more worried with every step. Just before reaching the church, she finally gave in and asked:
"Watcher, sir — is that Witch really that difficult to handle? Is this many people really just to ensure she's captured?"
"Partly that — Witches are very skilled at disrupting divination, and once they escape, they're considerably harder to track down again.
But more of it is because under the church's current intensive crackdown, while these cults have restrained themselves considerably, they've also started showing faint signs of cooperating with each other. A captured cult member might give us a breakthrough in an entirely unexpected direction.
So now whenever a cult member lead surfaces, we first report it to headquarters and cooperate with whoever headquarters sends. This is itself a form of the intensive crackdown."
Author's Note (this chapter): Ais studied the new arrivals: four men and one woman. Their appearance was similar — black thin coats with matching trousers and hats. Unlike the Nighthawks who had brought Ais here, all five of these individuals wore blood-red gloves, which stood out strikingly even in the dim light.
寒枫落雪 The Red Glove rapid response unit.