[Los Angeles — LAPPD]
Back in the secret base of the LAPPD branch of the Los Angeles Police Department, in the underground area of the Central Bureau, Theresa was presently enjoying a special blend of tea as she wished to keep herself awake to work on a certain important document that she had on her hands. She was trying to find out what kind of investigation the previous Director was undergoing and how it could have led to the assassination of such a high level hunter.
There were very few organizations out there in the supernatural world that specialized in assassination and were simultaneously skilled enough to pull off something like that and all of them were not the kind she would like to mess around with for no reason whatsoever. Simply put, they were all above her pay grade and she had no love for overwork.
"You awake?"
She glanced toward Makoto, her apprentice, who had just fluttered open her eyelids after a rather deep session of meditation and image training.
"Don't worry about me, silly child. Finding your Truth is just the start of your journey, you know, and… If I had to be honest with you, even if you do find your Truth any time soon, it will take you years before you even manage to evolve that Truth into your very own Phantasm Realm."
"Mei-sama and Cecilia-sama were already at the Phantasm Realm at my age."
Theresa could only give a bitter smile at that statement. However, she did not try to insist by saying that Makoto shouldn't compare herself to monsters like those two.
She may be Cecilia's sister but the difference in talent between the pair of sisters couldn't be any more different. Even after twenty years of arduous training and climbing the ranks to become a Director, she was still weaker now than the Cecilia of 21 years ago. For someone who had already touched the realms of a Zodiac at that age, a Director like her was cannon fodder at best in Cecilia's prime.
"Perhaps—"
!!!!!!
She was not allowed to finish her sentence before a piercing sound filled the air and a red alert light flashed throughout the entirety of the underground branch.
"Oh… No…"
Theresa stood up with clear disbelief plastered on her face. She recognized this alert single. How could she not recognize it? It had only been such a short time since she had last heard it, after all…
"What the fuck?"
"Ma'am!!! We have a very big problem on our hands here!"
Someone barged into her office at breakneck speed with sweat covering every contour of his face. He didn't have the time to think about decorum as he barged into the office of his superior in such an unsightly manner. The news he had to deliver to her took precedence over everything else. "We are receiving reports of a calamity-level event occurring as we speak. But… The readings show that the magnitude of the threat… is even higher in scale than the summoning of Surtr all those years ago."
Theresa's expression became grave and she released a sigh of utter dismay. This situation was beyond her control at this point. The only way to face such a calamity was to have a Zodiac in their midst but she knew for a fact that there was not even a single Zodiac close to Los Angeles right now. Meanwhile, Cecilia was far from her prime and she would be damned if she put this burden on her sister who literally had a foot on the grave in these times.
'It seems like it's time to sacrifice my life.'
She could only chuckle to herself with a self deprecating laugh at that bitter thought before she materialized two guns into the air and wielded them in both of her hands. They were also Divine Weapons that had been crafted thanks to the gift she received from Cecilia. Her own personal Divine Weapons were made with cores that came from Hel.
She had chosen this place to transfer to because she thought it would be a cushy job for her but it seemed like that decision would be the reason for her to meet with an early death.
"Prepare the evacuation of the civilians, announce the red alert throughout the city, and tell all private organizations that we have now entered martial law. I am officially taking full control of everything and every force of the city and will try to gain as much time as possible for everyone to leave this place to safety."
All those criminals and private organizations were given so much freedom for a moment like this. Everything had a price and it was time for them to pay them with their life.
She didn't expect them to sacrifice themselves for this scenario but they would need as much help as possible from them and she was sure as hell going to milk them for everything they were worth.
"Boss."
"Don't look at me like this. Perhaps I might survive, who knows?" She chuckled and stopped Makoto who was about to speak, "Now tell me, where is the ritual exactly?"
"We are trying to locate the—"
He was just about to finish his sentence but… the red alert suddenly stopped… As if the previous scene had been a lie, causing Theresa to look at the ceiling with a frown and a sense of confusion coloring her eyes…
"What the…?"
Meanwhile, the assistant who had brought the news tilted his head as new information was being shared through his headset in real time.
"Huh…"
"What is happening?"
"It seems like our detector malfunctioned. It is not detecting any more of such intense activity. We only detected a weak demon activity in Malibu."
Theresa narrowed her eyes at those words, "You are telling that this very expensive device that cost the equivalent of billions of dollars to actually make and maintain had a malfunction? Are you joking with me right now?"
She sneered, "Something ain't right. Go and talk with whoever is responsible for the maintenance of the machine and make sure to find the place where the first signal was shown."
Someone was trying to induce them in error and she would not let this happen.
Once her assistant left, she sighed. Feeling a little dumb for her earlier reaction.
"Perhaps I should ask to be transferred to another place?"
Two calamity-level events in the span of a single month was a never before seen happenstance and she had a certain nagging premotion that this was just the beginning of all the fiasco. She couldn't help but feel incredibly bitter when she thought about that.
"Is it really a malfunction?"
Theresa shook her head at Makoto's words. "This isn't some kind of machine created with imported or fraudulent pieces. This thing cannot malfunction. This only means that someone's power was able to interfere with the reading ability of the detector."
Cold sweat gathered on her forehead.
This wasn't a simple question of power but of specific law and ability.
She didn't know what kind of devil could stop the machine's reading but whoever it was… could shift the precarious peace they had been trying to build up over this era.
Taking her phone out, she dialed a number before holding it against her ears. It seemed like she would have to once again ask for help from the church. At the same time, she spent a message to the national agency so that they could help in moving people away from the beach and the sea areas.
"What a way to start Thanksgiving."
This was going to be a very shitty day, she could already feel it in her bones.
(AN: I received a Dragon gift on WN, so today there will be three chapters rather than just one. Thanks for the gift.)
This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om