High above the city, a mighty eagle cut through the night sky with it's large wings.

But for an eagle it look weird if you pay close attention to it. It's eyes where red, and it had third eye, vertically slit currently close on its forehead.

It was none other Nier, of course.

The time was 1:43 A.M. He was already on the move, traveling from Sector 7 toward Sector 38, following the GPS coordinates Lisa had sent to his phone.

The same phone he now kept tucked in a small non-bleeding pocket he had made inside his stomach with body-modification magic.

It felt odd to think of a device resting inside his belly, but magic made oddities ordinary.

But as he think about this.

A voice slid into his mind as he flew.

'Darling.'

"Hmmm… yes, my love."

Nier murmured, angling his course through the moonlit air.

'Be a dear and take a right. Then fly straight, and don't stop. From there just keep going, and I will tell you when to stop.'

Naturally Nier obeyed and banked right, curiosity tugging at him, as he then asked her.

"Why the sudden detour?"

He asked aloud, puzzled.

'I sense Negativity being used, she replied. Or rather, the life signature of an old acquaintance.'

"A friend?"

Nier echoed.

'Friend is too heavy of a words more like a passing acquaintance I am familiar with. The power I am sensing is the power of a sorcerer of old, one who once made a contract with my youngest sister, Nuggia. She represents the Negative Concept of Dark Malevolence. Among my siblings, she is the purest, most concentrated expression of that ideology. I didn't expect her contractor to still be alive in this era... And here of all places at that.'

Nier's mind tightened.

And then he responded.

"If that is true, isn't it dangerous to go near them? You're still sealed. If Lust finds out what you're doing, don't you put yourself at risk, if you get in contact with one of your sisters?"

'That is true.'

Kaly admitted, almost fondly.

'But Nuggia is the baby of the family. She is wicked, sure, but she is quite the shy, and anti-social second only to Ha’stix, then me. We were the troublemakers among the Outer Gods. Mischief runs in our veins. Besides, if it is who I think, you are more than capable of handling him.'

Kaly's confidence felt steady in his head. Nier sighed, then trusted her anyway.

They traverse the distance quickly; six miles vanished in little more than three minutes.

But as Nier flew, Kaly initiated a conversation.

'By the way?!'

Kaly asked, shifting the subject.

'How is your Mother Third Eye doing?'

"It's… doable."

Nier answered.

"Though the city has been restless since I got it tonight, the night sky is littered with red beacons. I counted at least 13,732 of them in my sector alone."

'Well that is a good thing then.'

Kaly said.

'People at rock bottom are easier to manipulate. Despair is fertile ground for manipulation you know, if I where you, I would make sure to harvest it, and put this inherited power of yours to use.'

"That is what I plan to do though."

Said Nier, as he continued to speak.

"Also I've been thinking about what you said during our time in the Mind Womb. And I just want to say that, I know I am still rational, maybe too rational, but I made a choice some time ago. I want to make the most of our situation. I'm considering using Ishtar's curse as leverage: draw women into our circle, soul-bond them, and keep control. Preferably rich or useful woman, people that could help us build this cult even faster."

Hearing this, Kaly smiled, as she rocked back and forth within her rocking chair within her seal, as she replied by saying.

'Atta boy... Mommy is proud.'

Kaly cooed, her voice both approving and amused.

'Now take a left. Go another two miles.'

"Left?"

Nier said as be glanced at the map overlay in his mind.

"If I go that way it will puts us out of the habitable zone and into the forest."

'Just do as I say, darling.'

Kaly's tone brooked no argument.

'We're close.'

Hearing this he obeyed, angling away from the last of the city lights and into the darker sweep of trees.

Eventually, they reached the place Kaly had indicated.

'Darling, down there.'

Kaly's voice slipped into his mind.

"Hmmm."

Nier activated his Occultist eye and peered downward. Whatever he saw made him gasp.

"What the hell is that?"

He called aloud, genuinely taken aback.

'Oh my… this is a surprise.'

Kaly admitted.

Below them, a small group had gathered. They wore plain black suits, black trousers, button-up shirts, and peaked military caps, four figures in total where present.

Three men and a woman. They stood around what looked like a makeshift magic circle.

At the center of the circle sat a tall, blood-red crystal, studded with talismans and runes in a script he didn't recognize.

The entire thing radiated a sense wrongness in him too.

What drew both of their gazes most forcefully, though, was the thing trapped inside the crystal.

A pale woman sealed in the heart of that red ice. Her hair was long and white, falling past her hips and nearly to her knees; it thoughtfully draped itself over her body. A single black horn, yak-like, jutted from her head. She was enormous, at least eight feet tall even while encased.

Around her body was a series of red marks.

Nier felt a cold sweat break out across his skin. Something about her filled him with dread.

Around the frozen crystal was a complex magic circle, crowded with more runes. Nier could sense Negativity rolling off it, but layered on top of that was an unfamiliar energy, something foreign that kept the seal stable.

"Kaly, what is this?"

Nier asked, his voice tight.

"What kind of energy is that? And what is that creature trapped in the ice?"

'Those are Divine Runes.'

Kaly answered.

'It clear that those talisman, and part of that magic circle is a by-product of some immutable magic user, that help made this seal possible to begin with.'

'What puzzles me though, some of the rune on the circle is Admission magic, could it be a humans was using Admission magic. No that is not the case here, it has to be that method, in theory it possible but not allowed, an Apostle, someone like you darling should be the only ones capable of using Admission Magic. Given us Outer Gods don't usually let humans casually use the power of our concepts.'

"So how are they doing it then?!"

Nier pressed.

And Kaly answer his question.

'An Apostle can pass knowledge to humans. If a human learns a Herald's own make shift Divine Language, they can access a limited form of their own power that being their authority, albeit far more weaker, and tethered to the Herald rather than the Outer God's full concept. But humans doing this is rare, but that is definitely the case here. Still darling, I presume those are Public Safety Agents?'

"Yeah...

Nier said.

"By the looks of the uniform they are wearing. They're clearly with the Aeloria's Public Safety Occult Squad. And let me tell yah, they are the best at what they do. They hunt Fluxes, and from what I heard about them, and the organization that is funded by the various leaders of Terra, they also conduct experiment on them too."

'I would expect no less from humans.'

Kaly murmured.

'Still...this is unexpected...all things considered.'

"Why?"

Nier asked.

And Kaly's answer made him pause.

'That woman reeks of my younger sister.'

Nier didn't understand. After the person Kaly said was her acquaintance was an old man, but this was clearly a woman no matter how he looked at it, as such it made him questioned her, as he asked.

"Wait...but didn't you say it was man we were look for? You think she has something to do with your sister?"

'Not exactly, quite the opposite actually.'

Kaly corrected.

'I sense another soul, no multiple souls in her, the old man's soul as well, from that allow we can assume his soul is trapped inside her. I think this woman may have killed him and absorbed his soul.'

"Killed him?"

Nier repeated.

"Ahhh if you don't mind me asking, was this old man you where talking about, was he a Herald like me too by any chance?"

'Oh heaven's no.'

Kaly's tone grew sharp.

As she began to explain what this man deal was.

'You see this man was a sorcerer, the male equivalent of a witch. But to make a long story short, Humans sometimes bargain with us. They beg for our power, or knowledge using the Dark Art to get in contact with us, and in the off chance they do succeed. Given our response is rare, as we think of all humans as insignificant, but if they're useful and we find them interesting, we usually give them powers too, but no, he is not an Apostle, an Apostle isn't something we can create easily. Beside most of the time when Non-Apostle's reached out to us even if we do see them an interesting or useful, in the end to us they all serve the ultimate purpose of making much needed contributing to our cult, and that all we really need humans for.'

"Really, you guys can't spam Apostle's, that is weird if you asked me."

'Well yes and no, we can and we can't spam Apostles.'

'There are two ways to make them: make a True Apostle like yourselves, which is sacred but also limited, or make something like the old man, by granting the human a narrow Authority which isn't even an authority but an ability instead, or just blessing them with forbidden knowledge.'

She paused, then explained.

'And before you asked, creating a True Apostle is costly. Every Outer God must spend half of their current Waking to make one, no matter how much they have. I had nearly twenty million Waking; but I spent half of that to craft you leaving me with only nine million plus. True Apostles like yourself are meant to be our true representations. You are my perfect vessel, my embodiment in Mind, Body, Soul, and Idea. But humans can instead become something else, something we just label as a "Fake Apostles," but we call Fake Apostles like this Bishops. They basically just get a gift, knowledge, or a wish, but not an Authority.'

'In Karter Abram's case... The name of the Bishop I was telling you about.'

Kaly continued.

'My sister gave him the power of Death Inheritance For every person he kills, he gains ten percent of that person's physical attributes. Strength, speed, endurance, stamina basically everything. In return, he acted as a mouthpiece and muscle for Nuggia's cult.'

Nier's eyes widened.

"That is kind of overpowered."

"And to think this woman might have ate his soul. Any ideas what she may be?"

'I think she is a Horrid, and an elder Horrid at that.'

Kaly's voice darkened.

'Her unique marking, horns and size give her away immediately, I know a Horrid when I see one, and this one is quite old.'

"Horrids?"

Nier had never heard of a flux like that.

And Kaly knew this, as such she began to explain.

'Horrids come from the Umbra.'

She explained.

'They are soul-eating monsters. When they consume a soul, they can take that soul's abilities and memories. But what is more dangerous is their singing, when a Horrid sings, it infects people with suicidal compulsion. And the infected will feel the urge to go out of their way and enter into a heavily dense public area, and that person then proceed to kill themselves in public, and that is where the true nightmare starts, as their death sparks the same urge in others, a chain reaction that can wipe out entire nations within a single night, and less than a week they can drive an entire species to extinction. The Horrid then feeds on the souls of those who died because of the compulsion... as after death, the souls of the dead are then drawn to the Horrid body, like metal to magnet, and moth to flame.'

She then went on, continuing where she left off.

'An elder Horrid is way worse. They don't just eat souls, they cultivate suffering as well that a soul takes with them after death. After devouring someone soul, they weave that person's pain into living familiars that are monster like, turning them into living weapons, or soldiers of war, but are very powerful give that each familiar they make, awaken a special ability in relation to the suffering they where born from. They will even go as far as to lure someone into pure happiness for years, then crush them with the bleakest horrors possible, because suffering strengthens these Elder Horrids as well.'

"And can you kill them? I mean she is clearly sealed here, Public Service only results to Sealing if they can't kill the Flux in question from what I heard as well."

Nier asked, but the answer he got shocked him.

'Not easily.'

Kaly's answer was blunt.

'Horrids are effectively immortal in the conventional sense. They're beings of memory you see, and not living souls. They are born when a lonely person dies, and that loneliness give birth to Horrid entity within the Umbra. As long as even a single person remembers them, they can return even after being killed. That is why someone sealed this one like you may have expected, containment is often the only practical solution to effectively dealing with a Horrid. Kill one here, and it will be ressurected wherever a memory keeps it alive. They persist so long as someone somewhere knows they exist.'

Nier swallowed, staring at the frozen figure and the runes that bound her.

"That is quite a horrifying revelation."

'You have no idea just how powerful these things can grow darling, in the past Elder Horrids where effective known as God Killers, and avatar slayers.'

"..."

'Still though, I want that woman as a vessel.'

"Not to sound like a pussy, but I don't think I can beat her."

'I know you can't beat her, not yet atleast, still I am glad I followed my better judgment and made you come here, we know where a powerful vessel is now for the taking. The problem however is the sealed person in question, and Public Service.'

Said Kaly.

Right after, Nier notice something rather puzzling.

He could hear a truck in the distance, and that was when I saw it, a large cargo truck was driving

 on clear path to this place.

"Hmmm, well that is unexpected."

'I sense humans in the cargo darling.'

"Humans?"

'Yeah... Ahh, I see where this is going.'

"Care to explain."

'That seal is weakening, my guess is that their trying to reinforce it with a Sacrificial Ritual.'

Nier didn't say anything else, rather he continued to spy on them from up above.

And the moment, the trucked arrived, another man stepped out of it, and went to talk to the tall clear skin man wearing an eye patch, his single green eye being covered by his dangling brown hair locked on the other man wearing full military armor and was heavily armed with a loaded Anti-Freak Shot Gun.

The armed man looked at the clear skin man, his face hidden behind his full body armor.

"Captain Snake I presume?"

"Hmmm."

The man just nodded, as he talked.

"We are from Alpha-3... As per our orders we where sent here by HQ to dropped off the convict's you guys requested, and to also keep guard while you complete the necessary ritual to keep F-377 sealed." Newest update provided by novel•fire.net

"Take them out, and do the normal procedure to prepare for the Sealing Ritual, we still have time before 3 A.M. If our timing is off by even one second we will need to wait for the next Full moon. So make it quick, if F-377 manage to escape it will be death of all of us, and the extinction of the Human race as we know it, capturing this thing wasn't easy you know we lost many brave man subduing it."

"Yes sir."

The armed man said saluting to Captain snake.

Moments later, the armed man, went to open the cargo, the metal locks echoing as they pull it back, and the moment he did that, several more armed figure came out as well, leading a bunch of death row prisoners out of the cargo. Thirty in total was what Nier counted.

They had sacks over there head, and they where chain together, arms and legs both

Moments later Captain Snake then went to the female Public Service Agent.

She was clear skin like him as well, shorter about 4"11. She had both hands behind her back, and her head was down, making hard for Nier to see her face from where he was up in the sky.

Looking at them with the Occultist Eyes, Nier saw their heart where all wooden, and it was absorbing Gaian Energy from the Atmosphere.

"No doubt there are Hestas."

*But that man is the strongest among the four... Captain Snake ha, I have never heard of him before, but I can tell he has the most power among everyone there to the point it's like comparing three flash lights to a pool of lava."

Nier said to Kaly, who replied.

'It would make Sense Darling, given their line of work, I can bet you the organization behind them are far older than the cleave, it goes without saying the Military is Working with the church... Still I do wonder which God those Divine Langauge belongs to. At the very least, it's not Catholicism... They detests Pagon Gods... However I am sensing the attribute of Death, and Life from those Divine Runes. So it's probably a God related to Life and Death.'

"Fascinating."

Nier said, all of this was fascinating.

But his attention was soon drawn to another when Captain Snake grabbed the woman's shoulder and said.

"Selene, you know what to do, Host the Dimension."

Selene just smile and responded.

"AYE-AYE captain...

With that she looked forward, then up to the sky, and that's when Nier finally got a proper looked at her. She had golden eyes, and blue scelera, her hair was dark grey, and she looked beautiful as she was also very young, but that was far from it, looks where indeed truly deceiving.

Because when Nier looked at her, his Occultist eyes basically reveal her full name, and entire identity. Selene Tupil Grey, Race: Hesta, Level: 3, Age: 53, Birth of Date: 1 September, 1973... Alignment: Chaotic Good, Occupation: Public Service Agent Lieutenant of Squad 8 (Occultist), Husband: Decease, Children: 2, Grandkids: 7, Networth: $123,743,992 Carlees, Talent: Master Martial Artist, Likes: Her Job, Dislike: Fluxes.

"She is 53, no fucking way she looks 26 tops."

Nier said and Kaly chuckled.

'I mean your 36, and you look 20 by human standards.'

"Fear enough."

Nier said.

And then that was when it happen, a bright blue light was form a couple hundred meters below Nier, but high in the sky nonetheless.

As it began to expand, it spread like a blanket being spread in the air, and the expansion was basically quick as hell too, because under five seconds a barrier that covered half a mile was created.

As space began to warp, and then everything change, the people inside the barrier suddenly disseapear as they warp out of existence from Nier point of view, alongside the seal Horrid, when Nier looked at this he had a lot of questions, but Kaly already seem to get gist of her abilities.

'What a fascinating Human... Hahaha... I would also want her a vessel too.'

"What the hell did she do?"

'She made a copy of the space around the seal, and use that copy to make a personal dimension over the copied space, essentially creating an overlay space. It basically made two existing places at once existing in the same third dimensional space. Essentially she created a dual dimension within a finite area, this means that for anyone she doesn't invite inside the original space they will just pass this area completely in the new space, and not coming in direct contact with the seal, but for those that are invited in they will reached the seal.'

"Wow, I know the Public Safety has a lot of freaks in their ranks, but this is the first time I am seeing them truly work their magic."

'I mean you could easily kill everyone there, except that Snake guy, and that Selene girl would give you a run for your money, but one good hit with Black Scorch would end it in seconds, still that Snake guy is something different, he is way too much for you to handle as you are now, that man is a perfect Hesta, he has reached the Ultimate State.'

"You mean Level 5?"

'Yeah if I had to guess all captain are probably Level 5 Hestas. If that is the case they are on par with Ancient Witches no doubt, or someone like your Mom.'

"Again with Witch thing... I really need to read my Mother's Journal, still how strong are ancient witches?"

'...To give you context, one Ancient Witch could easily destroy the world with time and planning. If this world didn't became balls deep into the supernatural, and humans still had their normal nuclear weapons, even if all nations team up together one ancient witch would be enough to take out all of humanity within a single night. Keep in mind Witches of today are not like Witches that exist in the Age of the God's. Today a witch is classified as a normal superhero that is a Hesta or has some kind of special ability. Old Witches are all being that have contract's with literal Gods, High and Outer alike. As such they have knowledge of multiple Divine Language, Special abilities like for example your Third Eye, and even Mythical Weapons. If I remember correctly your mother had Artemis Moon Bow. Where it currently is, I have no idea but that weapon uses the light of the moon to hit the very soul of a target essentially vaporizing it into non-being, and it could hit you anywhere within our Solar System. At full power that thing could target and kill an entire city worth of people in one shot.'

'She also has my Curse Womb, that was how you where born you know...due to one of her contracts in the distant past she sacrifice her Womb to the Outer God knows as Malginix the Druid in exchange for the forbidden knowledge to make potions using Gaian imbued plants... Essentially making her one of the greatest alchemist to ever live, but with the womb I gift her, and with her first child as the sacrifice for it that being you, it gave her the ability of Omni-procreation, with it she could conceive life with all forms of life and Non-Life regardless of them being physical and non-physical beings or things, meaning even a wet dream could get her pregnant, or even a ghost, hell even a tree, or something as simple as normal dildo would knocked her up easy.'

'She even had Odin's Truth Eating Ring, it had the power to absorbed knowledge from books, Script, people, and anything of the universe, and assimilate it to the user. All of this made her quite the fearsome woman, it is how she made Lisa, hell if you see an Ancient Witch as you are now, just run, having something like that as a Yandere is a fate worse than death, you should know, your father is a perfect example of this.'

"..."

Nier remained silent after hearing that as he sighed and said.

"And that Snake guy is as strong as one of those freak's of nature?!"

'Afraid so darling.'

"Oh well, they already set up their dimension, it make no sense to stay here anymore, I can't take these guys right now."

'True... But we know where the seal is now, this is a great find for our first night exploring darling, we will definitely come back for the Horrid... Now off to recruiting.'

"Yeah."

With that Nier fly back, aiming for his original destination, Sector - 38.

But what Nier did not notice was the fly following him from two miles behind. Yet, even from this distance it saw him as clear as day.