*
Spontaneously, reddish black towers sprung up from the earth, piercing the skies. They were so massive that they uprooted the immediate surroundings, leaving countless people homeless. No one understood the significance of these towers, local magical girls tried to attack them only to face zero feedback from the towers. Their attacks were largely absorbed, seemingly as if they hadn't done anything in the first place.
The sentinels were the only ones who would roughly be able to sense that the towers have the durability of A grade magical shields. What's unbelievable was that... A thin film of the tower's material had such durability, but what if they accounted for how massively thick the tower was? How many sentinels worth of shields would that stack up?
"... We can assert that the tower is composed of the same signature as that unknown magical girl.
She bears a resemblance to Lastia from Residential zone 2A, and her appearance would correspond with Lastia's disappearance as well as the development of that tree. " (Code {Nerve})
"... That spontaneous explosion had a trace of her skill, that much was ascertained by {Denouement}. The girl who rebelled against god, it's Lastia.
What doesn't make sense is how. How did she do it? Are we able to reverse it? If it was possible to simply undeify her, we could easily kill her. A grade pawns, we have plenty of. In a game of numbers, she'll easily get crushed.
However, now that she has somehow evolved... " (Code Master, {Denouement})
If they were placed in public, one would have sworn they've seen them somewhere else before. Their stature was so ordinary, they could walk peacefully among humans before the bombardment ever happened. Mastermind had sleek black hair, a lean build that hid his muscles skillfully under his clothes, and a sharp pair of fierce eyes.
{Nerve} had a far more burly build. Standing together constantly gave the impression that he was the bodyguard of some rich man's son, with the mastermind being that son. Their faces were better than average, most people would admit that they were conventionally attractive, but not so much that they would stand out. They were plenty capable of blending in by merely walking in silence. However characterising him as a braun and no brains type would be a fatal mistake.
"Mentioning your skill name... Have you gone careless?" ({Nerve})
The mastermind smiles slyly, his lips drawing a crescent towards his cheeks as his eyes narrowed in amusement.
"That just means I trust your skills that much more.
You pulled your weight and created a central hub concealed by {Nerve}. We're practically in another dimension." (Mastermind)
He straightened his tie over his suit, fingers manuevering with practiced ease. His slender digits moved with a supple flair, wasting no time as his legs carried him forward to his goal.
" Unseen scenario B, new deity level enemy manifests. Mild disruption from the elimination of every dispatched mirror type C grade modified Trace.
The majority of our forces are left untouched, it is not the worse case scenario. Reorganisation with this base as its core is already a reality we've reached. We just need to pull out the anti divinity measures, a nascent god that's just been born would get crushed instantly. " (Mastermind)
"... Your hubris is yet unmatched, I wonder what face you will make the day you fall? " ({Nerve})
The Mastermind's face contorts as if tasting something bitter. A dark greyish patch hangs above his mouth, causing his head to look like a mannequin, with his lips as the sole facial feature. He dons a sleek black 3 piece suit, yet he didn't look so bulky under all 3 layers of high quality cloth. His slim stature gave off the impression of youth, but his posture screamed out how he was an old ageless man.
"A mere bodyguard shouldn't be saying that sort of thing! In the first place, why is your barrier immobile! Some tough guy you are, we were practically sitting ducks." (Mastermind)
The man he was addressing wore a similar suit, it was practically the attire of their organisation. It stood out the least in human society, but poked out jarringly in the realm of mystics. His sleeves were stretched taut, and every movement seemed to push the tension of the fabric.
"There you go again... Just because I'm a little bigger and stronger than you, you like to paint the reality that I'm a mere dimwitted bodyguard. Remember who is handling the data flow and encrypting for you...?" ({Nerve})
He was noticeably taller and wider than Mastermind, and as he had suggested, they were closer to partners than a subordinate relationship.
"Ghh! You're right, old habits die hard. Oh well, it comes with being a simulacrum. Let's get back to business." (Mastermind)
***
"That concludes the report, is there anything you wish to comment on?" ({Nerve})
The Mastermind props his elbows onto the desk, caressing one hand with the other. His chest heaved imperceptibly, his breath held still.
"No. Looks like it's all going well, proceed." (Mastermind)
"... Got it." ({Nerve})
{Nerve} leaves the office sitted in the centre of the bunker. Even in a bunker, the Mastermind kept up appearances. However, the fact is that they're in a bunker. That simple distinction meant that things have already begun to grow out of control. One might say that the very fact they had a bunker prepared, the presence of numerous contingencies, meant that reality is still within the bounds of the overarching plan schemed up by Mastermind.
Lastia rebelling against the owner of the garden and ruling deity, Eterna could never be something they predicted. Fighting a new deity level entity, even if they're just a new born was dangerous. She's still able to dish out S grade level attacks casually, and the upper bounds of her power will remain yet unseen. In the first place, it was impossible for a normal human to achieve this unless one of the sentinels achieved a miracle and gained a divinity.
It was simply that, a sheer miracle. However impossibility becomes a possibility when it comes to magic. In the end Mastermind had still successfully prepared against this scenario and prevented a complete annihilation of his forces. He preserved most of his troops, and the ones that got destroyed only consisted of precision strikes by minimal forces, such as the artillery bombardment ritual equipment and the mirror type Traces.
In this matter, {Nerve} had no choice but to bow his head down to Mastermind's capabilities. It's almost as if reality was following his plans, rather than the other way around. Mastermind himself didn't seem to notice it, he was also successfully surprised, but he remained calm and branched off execution of his plan into one of the contingencies. In this regard, it didn't matter how much better {Nerve}'s computing power was. He had the capability to process more task at once and coordinate large scale operations with it, but he could never read the developments of reality as well as Mastermind did.