CHAPTER 101: CAYAME, DIRECTOR OF THE MONOCHARA CHAPTER

It was beyond dusk when the envoys of Monochara gathered at one of the many archipelago-like Vaingall’s outskirts.

The air felt inked and charged; distant lights from the Consortium’s lands flickered in anticipation.

Soldiers of Monochara, silent and precisely formed as they were, consisted of uniformed warriors with cloaks and all sorts of weaponries and extra amenities—as if they were a band of mercenaries more than militarized personnel.

At their center, a figure with the lower body of a lion and the feminine-shaped torso of a human stood poised. It was akin to a centaur but with a lion body instead of a horse. Not only that, her size was quite massive, almost towering over three average humans in overall height.

With her humanoid torso cloaked in drifting black clouds that shimmered like onyx dew, she exuded a gaze that was far sharper than a falcon.

Kivas was already used at this point. The fact that this kind of appearance could be categorized as human, and was somehow part of the so-called humanity in this world. Sometimes, it just didn’t make sense.

It makes one wonder if the concept of Humanity was even brought by those who fills this crazy world in its beginning, or it was Fathomi’s tomfoolery with how Kivas remembered that the World Forgers were taking Kivas’ memory as a reference.

Actually, it wasn’t confirmed that Fathomi was even the very same world that the World Forgers referred to. Kivas just assumed it was, and now that she possesses far less clouds in her sight—Kivas hunched that it wasn’t all black and white as she used to think.

Regardless, flanking the sphinx-like figure were giants formed entirely from living shadow-clouds.

Their massive forms rippled with latent energy that one could sense from the constant living clouds that the Karasu’s agents often used in their departure toward Vaingall.

At the same time, a few attendants stood respectfully back, graceful and attentive, their presence reminiscent of hushed courtiers from an oriental era.

The half-lion figure cleared her throat. "I am Cayame," she declared, voice calm and bound with authority. "I direct the Monochara Chapter under the authority of the Karasu Association, and oversee the bastion that bears the same name." The clouds above her head shifted like a celestial shawl, as if the sky itself acknowledged her authority.

Kivas’ halo glowed for a moment, as if it was a sign to tell that she was the figure of authority amongst those that were present on the Vaingall’s side.

She stepped forward and spoke with measured nobility. "I am Kivas, divine ruler of the New Vaingal Consortium. I arrive not as a sovereign—but as a promised ally. We have waited to support the Monochara bastion in the defense against the Nihil that approaches."

Cayame nodded in acknowledgement. "Your presence honors us," she replied. "But before anything, we require more than one representative who engages in the briefing of our engagement strategy. It is vital we act in concert."

Kivas inclined her head. "I will join, along with my Samael and Oizys." She gestured toward them: Samael, composed and silent, and Oizys, eyes sharp under the gathering gloom.

Even without that, a director of a Guild Chapter should’ve known which one was which, considering that all authoritative figures within the New Vaingall Consortium had been greatly documented and stalked whenever possible.

The Karasu was just that hungry for information, even if it was without malice.

"Then I shall bring you three representatives to the appointed briefing."

A wide tendril of living clouds descended in a slow arc, coiling around the related individuals present like a dark wreath.

A moment later, reality rippled.

With no visible movement, the assemblage found themselves in a new realm: a lofty observatory platform suspended above the highest spire of Monochara’s bastion.

The view was stark and overwhelming. Below and around, gothic architecture rose and collapsed among mist-laced rooftops.

Towers of iron filigree pierced the fog. It was much more surreal than Kivas’ expectations when it came to architecture. Very much different from the sight from the angles directed from Vaingall.

Kivas could be seen grinning, wondering if she could replicate this kind of observatory. "I want one in Vaingall."

"We had just established a very innovative system for the entirety of Vaingall," Oizys wryly chuckled. "Are you sure that you don’t want to slow down a little?"

"We will immediately build this kind of observatory within Vaingall in no time," Samael said with a smile.

"And here I thought I had some kind of authority as the head researcher..." Oizys could only cry with a pained smile.

The scenery below was not entirely normal, as it appeared to be convexed where the sight beyond the bastion was far stretched and focused.

And through that feature, a menacing hint could be grasped.

A red tempest churned—the approaching Nihil, massive as a war-forged storm, loomed in an almost motionless threat from the observatory. In reality, it should be rushing toward Monochara bastion at the speed of a jet fighter.

Even from that distance, the surface could be seen alive with pulsing eyes and jagged teeth, roiling blood vapor forming a churning cylinder that dominated the skyline.

Cayame turned to the group. "Below, you see our bastion’s two clock towers," she said, sweeping her arm toward twin spires standing opposite each other across the central plaza. "Each conceals a long-range weapon. Respectively from the left to right, they are the Mara Clock Tower that houses our etheric cannon, and the Nox Clock that houses our void-lance array."

Samael, eyes narrowed in focus, studied the instrument-laden city. Oizys tilted her head, absorbing every architectural detail.

At the same time, Kivas stood centered. Her job was to be elegant and divine while Samael and Oizys did all the complex thinkning.

"This entity—the Nihil—cannot be approached directly," Cayame said as her tail flicked once behind her, the black clouds still curling around her limbs. "Its current scale and density render standard countermeasures ineffective. Our simulations confirm that engaging it head-on with infantry or traditional ordinance would be functionally equivalent to suicide."

"Well, that should be obvious," Samael commented right in front of Cayame’s face.

"You know that it is somewhat rude to directly insinuate that in front of the person briefing us," Oizys casually added, seemingly not caring about manners as much as Samael.

Kivas on the other hand, didn’t find any problem with it, since she knew that the Karasu Association should expect those kinds of attitudes from these two sickos.

"Then what kind of method you’re going to take?" Kivas asked to mask the tomfoolery from the two idiots that she brought.

Cayame stepped forward toward the curved glass wall of the observatory, pointing to the two vital clock towers. "Our answer is precision. Each tower houses a long-range device engineered not to annihilate the Nihil, but to provoke a targeted reaction.

"A mass-destructive response is outside our doctrine, and frankly, beyond our engineering traditions. This isn’t Karasu’s strength."

She then leaned her humanoid torso forward. Her fingers tapped against the view. "Instead, our plan is to force a controlled destabilization. The etheric cannon and the void-lance array will both fire on calculated trajectories. The impact should fracture the entity’s integrity, breaking it into smaller, fragmented anomalies.

"At that scale, our forces—and yours—will be able to enact eradication protocols sector by sector. And if we’re lucky, a distortion might happen amongst the chaos and scatter the pieces of the Nihil into all sorts of locations, which will weaken their link even more."

Oizys glanced at the storm from their height. The red spirals of the Nihil continued to pulse at the edge of visible space, inching closer, alive with grinding pressure and sick rhythm. "That’s a sharp ’should’ you’re using," she commented. "Also, don’t you think that scattering all of those Nihil’s pieces will just cause more chaos in random places?"

"Well, that’s the thing," Samael chuckled, but her expression barely changed from her usual deadpan. "Who cares. Beside, the Nihil’s pieces should be weak enough that way, to the point where the respective regions could handle them with breeze. Free laborers!"

"In a way, our mindset is quite aligned, Endless Dragon," Cayame nodded in understanding.

Kivas folded her arms. "And if your projections are wrong?"

Cayame turned to face Kivas directly. "That’s where your Consortium shines." Her voice was calm, but the undercurrent was firm. "Our intelligence concluded that the New Vaingall Consortium holds enough divine-grade firepower and unconventional force capability to deal with the current Nihil in a way, should our initial strike fall short."

"Are you sure that your association didn’t put too much expectation on us?" Oizys raised an eyebrow, the same kind of person who holds off multiple deadly warheads without letting a single bit of destruction or side-effects befell Vaingall. "Like, we’re not that strong."

Oizys shrugged.

"As much as we want to work freely, we prefer mutual benefits," Samael added.

Samael had already known about the extra compensation, and she had already elaborated those in the meeting back then.

However, she just wanted to see the current direction, clarified it and made the whole thing a little bit more personal than official.

A brief silence passed before Cayame replied, "If that moment comes, and you do succeed in completing the fragmentation by your own means, Monochara will recompense far beyond our initial arrangement. Access, assets, intellectual property... Exclusive privileges extended by the Karasu Association itself."

Right after that, Kivas could feel Samael and Oizys celebrating beneath their poker face, screaming "YESSSS!" within as they shoot champagne and scatter confetti around within their mindscapes.