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Central Control has discovered some abnormalities. You should personally check them over, just to be safe.

...Hold on then. I'll get the door.

The monitoring units in the dome were performing an emergency scan. We noticed a concentration of algal bio-signatures here.

Thanks for informing me.

Not a problem.

Since you're already participating in Tullia's case, there was no reason to cut you out partway.

A place where the dome and the ground meet... This former experimental field for road-side coral.

Though it can't compare to the specialized setups at the Institute of Ecological Art, it's much better for seaweed breeding than small-scale hydroponic tanks in a room.

Whether it be in her nature, or out of an ulterior motive, Tullia did not apply for authorization to use this space. She found it on her own, without telling anyone.

Tullia...

We can't say for sure if there is a Church hideout here, or if Tullia is still within... In short, stay alert.

Team 1 has already formed a defensive perimeter around the neighborhood, and will monitor the roads. Irene, go with Team 2. Enter via surface roads.

As for the roads connecting the dome and the mezzanine, leave them to me.

Got it.

Move out.

Who's there?

Have you found something, Praefecta Secunda? Do you need reinforcements?

Somebody blocks her path. Or more precisely, prevents her from leaving.

The one in her way lurks in the shadows formed by the angles of the buildings, their entire body blending into the darkness save their eyes. Eyes that Secunda are all too familiar with.

...Stick to the plan.

Secunda cuts her comms.

...It's been a while, 'Magister.'

Blandus, the weapons technology advisor for the Waterway Program, and an expert in Class IV weapon R&D, correct?

...You're not from the lab.

No sudden moves. If the bristles of this longbeard combtooth grass pierce your skin, you'll quickly fall into a tormented dream, where you'll sense your consciousness being slowly torn apart.

The variety used for euthanasia has been bred to be milder, but wild ones are still plenty cruel.

You may look half-dead, but I know for a fact that you're the sort who really cares how they die.

Church of the Deep?

Don't you dare touch the anesthetized Hunters!

What an odd fellow. Even as your life is threatened, you think of them first?

You may care for the Hunters, but you've never trusted the Abyssal Hunter project itself. You question its rationale, its damage to the nature of humanity, and all the sacrifice it requires.

You took part in it, but only so you could personally control all the risks entailed.

You experienced its demise firsthand; saw the extensive project, interlinked with so many others, come to a hasty end after an uncertain failure.

So I doubt you'd want to send these survivors, freshly returned to Ægir, back onto the battlefield.

No, you don't understand. What I do is only to protect them from further harm.

So why not halt the procedure? Stop them from joining the battle for the Waterway Program?

The surgery is fully automated, I can't just stop it.

Sever the oxygen pipeline below the operating table, and it'll cut the procedure short. Don't think we don't know that.

If you won't do it, we can do it for you.

After you finish 'handling' the Hunters, Advisor, come take a walk with us. Explain the principles behind the Class IV weapons, as well as how to shut them down.

Stop! If the operation is forcibly terminated, the Hunters will be irreversibly harmed—

Scum.

The 'researcher' stops in his tracks. He dares not step forward, yet dares not move back, for a lance has pierced his torso, his blood dripping down its shaft.

If you do not wish me to ram this straight through your chest, let go of your hand.

What are you doing here?

Don't ask pointless questions, Secunda.

You're investigating Tullia, too. Did you find anything?

She is simply an ordinary data scientist who got caught up in this. She discovered something she shouldn't have. Attempted to warn the authorities, but failed.

You were too slow. What she encountered has nothing to do with her past.

The battle outside the city, the abnormalities within, the Sea Patrol staying uninvolved with the Waterway Program. You've noticed many oddities, yet at the same time, your attention was so easily diverted.

You mean... Cassia?

Precisely.

You were once so focused, and keen as well.

So the day you decided to leave the Abyssal Hunter Lab to join the Sea Patrol, I believed you had reflected upon yourself and chosen a more suitable path.

It seems that was not the only time you have allowed emotion to cloud your decisions.

...Aside from your clothes, you haven't changed a bit in five years. Especially not how you talk.

Whether as a researcher or a Hunter, you'd never refuse to hear a student's questions, but would refuse to answer if you thought the question itself was wrong.

There are no worthless answers. Their worth lies in the questions.

Questions are the most effective means of tempering your thoughts, and your questions were always most pointed, Secunda.

Then there should be no fault with my original question. What are you doing here, Ulpianus?

This is the scene of a Sea Patrol investigation. A fugitive Abyssal Hunter like you should be laying down his anchor and making clear his position.

Gladiia and the others have proven an effective force in the battle for the Waterway Program, while despite also surviving, you chose to return to Milliarium like this.

...That's more than enough grounds to attack you.

Their return will only make the situation more volatile. Even through Tullia's case, it's clear that the so-called 'Waterway Program' is riddled with issues.

Ægir has learned nothing from the failure of the Abyssal Hunter project.

What are you going to do?

Prevent this nation from sliding into the abyss.

I'd say you're looking awfully like our enemy now, though.

Doubt me as you will, Secunda.

(Shrill crying)

What's happening in there?

A ordinary Ægir, doing all she can.

But Ægir will no longer show her any respect.

Who're you—?

Irene...

Ulpianus?

Nobody responds. The Hunter has already faded into the shadows.

What the—?! Why aren't you asleep?!

I'm not the only one.

Hello. I suggest moving the hand carrying that whatever-grass away from the advisor's neck.

You—

Arghhh—!

A fair hand tightly grips the plant held by the 'researcher,' its glistening tentacles struggling fiercely as they are nipped off one by one.

I told you to move it <i>away</i>.

The real researchers are in the instrument recycling room, probably injected with paralytics. They won't wake up for a while.

I also took care of the goons in the corridor.

Did you leave any alive for questioning?

They won't die before the Sea Patrol takes them away, at least.

Gladiia, Laurentina, Skadi...

Blandus stands in the center of the operating theater. The Hunters step towards him, over the intruders lying flat on the ground.

They do not lower their weapons.

Not going to explain the trick you played with the regen gel, advisor?

*sigh* My dearest Blandus, just to be clear, we are no fortune tellers.

Swordfish thought something was off from the start.

We've undergone hundreds of surgeries. We've probably spent more time sleeping in gels than in our beds.

You should know that even if the operation failed to restore us to our full potential, we would still have returned to the battlefield.

As I told Ulpianus when he came to me, all I wanted was for the participants of this program to live like normal people again someday.

I wished for my fellow people, who'd come from all walks of life, to have the chance to finally return to their former lives.

Skadi could continue her life of wandering, hammering away at complex lighting arrays while taking pictures of the seabed nobody else would understand.

Laurentina's skills could let her become the next shining star of the Institute of Physical Art.