Editing City Series:Volume3a Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 2===

It was just before noon on the seventy-second floor of the Archs RDC headquarters building.

One wall of the hall was entirely covered with windows which gave a sense of vertigo unique to elevated areas.

Several chairs were lined up in a row. The chairs were pointed in different directions and papers covered in lots of typed text were scattered over the thick carpet.

Earlier, a press conference on Archs RDC President Huang Daquan had been held here.

Once the press conference had ended, the reporters packed inside had all left.

Only one person remained in the room. A six-winged Nein Engel sat in a chair in the center of the floor as he stared out the window.

He was the Seraph who had been on Beaufort Island the night before.

He held a multi-page report and looked down on the city of Hong Kong.

His eyes moved.

First, he saw a large park in Kowloon.

Next, it was the buildings of the coastal Tsim Sha Tsui area.

His gaze moved across the sea to Hong Kong Island’s Central business district.

Lastly, he looked to Hong Kong Cave in the center of Hong Kong Island. The deep hole looked like a giant had dug it for fun.

“It all starts with Hong Kong Cave.”

As he spoke, he heard a quiet noise behind him.

It was only the sound of the elevator arriving, so it was not worth turning around.

“I’ve finished settling things on my end, Double Lee.”

The Nein Engel did turn around once his Urban Name had been called.

Two other Nein Engels stood in front of the elevator in a corner of the hall.

One was a Galgallin. Befitting of a combat Nein Angel, his tall body had been almost entirely remade into an assault Custom Body.

No wings stuck out from the back of his black combat jacket. If not for the unique shape of his Custom Body, he would have been indistinguishable from a human.

The other was a female Nein Engel. She wore a suit and had four wings.

She was one of the Cherubim said to control light in the Bible.

She lightly brushed a hand through her brown hair which was cut at shoulder length.

“After all the work Master Huang put into making it, this means the end of Archs RDC, doesn’t it? Come to think of it, we were the only Nein Engels working here. If only we’d brought more here.”

“There is no helping that now. We simply have to continue on as Master Huang decided. Double Lee, what do you plan to do? The four ADs used in the ceremonies are one thing, but we have lost our method of creating the final one.”

Double Lee stood.

“True. I do think I made a bit of a mistake last night. I also lost one bottle of the blood taken from Master Huang’s body. Genius, I’m sorry about what happened to J-Gun.”

Her brown-spotted wings moved a bit when she heard that.

“It doesn’t really matter.” She took a breath. “He’s just a human, so he couldn’t enter heaven anyway. And I once saw a picture of his old lover. …She looked a lot like me.”

She touched her short hair as she spoke.

Double Lee shrugged when he noticed that action.

“Oh, dear. It seems I’ve offended you. What about you, Fei?”

The Galgallin’s false eyes glowed red behind his mirrorshades.

“I ordered the guard unit to leave. Even if other corporations gather, there is no clear target to protect here. I have written letters of recommendation for all of the personnel. For foreign corporations.”

Double Lee put the report he held into his pocket.

“What a pain. I was reading through Master Huang’s notes. Looking at it again, he really gave us one hell of an order upon his death.”

“Yes. If it hadn’t been for his abnormal aging, he probably could have used a different method.”

“Restoring heaven, hm? Double Lee, how is your sister? Does she know about this?”

Fei’s question brought a sudden change to Double Lee’s expression. It grew dark.

He must have noticed himself because he soon lowered his head.

“Hmm.”

He gave a forced groan of thought and looked back up. By that time, his expression was back to normal.

“Akira probably hasn’t noticed. She’s no different from a human.”

“She left Hong Kong Cave and joined the Yard instead of Archs RDC, right? That’s pretty amazing,” said Genius.

“It’s obvious she is being persecuted, though. Just like your parents.”

“Fei, wasn’t it the same for your parents?”

“Perhaps, but I have lost those memories along with my emotions. I showed you the scar from my Psyche Outer surgery, didn’t I?”

“…”

After a pause, Double Lee spoke.

“Well, that persecution will end before long. …What matters now is the final Device. In other words, the fifth one J-Gun died before completing.”

“?”

“Genius, you said J-Gun had a brother, right? Could you find him?”

“I doubt that would work.”

“Why not?”

“J-Gun once said he doubted his brother could ever make a Device.”

“…? A human of the Maldrick family can’t create a Device?”

“I don’t know what he meant, but I did hear that brother has a prosthetic right hand.”

“I see,” said Double Lee with a nod.

Tuners and Busters had to touch their Devices to send their Live through it. And it had to be with a flesh-and-blood body part.

“In that case, Genius, we will have to find J-Gun’s corpse and use necromancy on him. Is that okay?”

Genius just about said something on reflex when she heard the word “necromancy”, but she stopped herself.

Double Lee must have taken her silence as consent because he nodded.

“Good. You take care of the preparations.”

He then began to walk toward the other two and the elevator.

“Now that we have a plan, it’s time we left this place. The humans can have this company.”

He took a breath and said one last thing as if speaking to himself.

“Because we will have heaven.”

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