Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Central-Southern Region Corridor, Central Region, Base Gecko
"General Maden, high-level soul energy and rule power disturbance has been recorded across the wire." In a hurry, the deputy general rushed into the base’s general’s cabin, skipping all formalities and protocols.
"What’s the fuss? Those Southern hicks love to play in mud. It could be just that," the General nonchalantly said as he continued to practice his martial arts in the privacy of his cabin.
"I’m afraid this time that’s not the case. Our scouts reported that one of our Demigod-realm spies is being chased by a Southern Demigod," the deputy general informed while sharing the reports he received from the scouts with the General’s grimoire.
Maden stopped practicing martial arts and summoned his grimoire while asking, "Was their identity confirmed?"
"Yes. Though we cannot connect to the latter’s grimoire as the pursuer from the south appears to be blocking all modes of communication around them, our scouts were able to get a read on the soul energy signature of the latter. I ran through the database and found a match, but my privilege level wasn’t enough to open the dossier linked to it. So, I hurried over—" the deputy general explained as the general went through the report and cut-in, confirming, "She is one of us."
"It’s special agent Lois Forger. She had gone M.I.A during a mission in the Southern Region and was believed to be captured by the Southerners. It seems she managed to escape," General Maden said as he got dressed in his uniform and headed out of his cabin while the deputy followed, waiting for his orders.
"Advise all units about the friendly asset returning to base and to take a position in the designated corridor [GRID] to [GRID]. Leave no position unmanned and don’t engage until I say so," General Maden commanded his deputy as they flew to the sky to get a view of the asset from a vantage point.
"Yes, sir," the deputy general agreed, his voice clipped and precise. "Should I arrange a designated recovery team to intercept the hostile at the border and secure the target?"
"Not unless you want to send them to their deaths. Look closely. Don’t you recognize who the hostile demigod pursuing our asset is?" General Maden said, pinching the middle of his brows as he summoned his grimoire, calling for backup.
"Is that — no way! She is doomed. I will put in a request to erase all her records in our database following the protocols," the deputy general was thunderstruck seeing the silhouette donning back from head to toe, pursuing their agent, who keeps vanishing and appearing out of thin air, as if using short distance teleportation to escape her pursuer’s devastating attacks.
"No. Contact Base Ursus and inform them: the demigod being pursued is our agent. They are to provide immediate assistance. If they refuse, tell our soldiers to cross the border and apply pressure. Hurry, it doesn’t appear she can hold on much longer," General Maden ordered his deputy general, ensuring adequate backup was en route and would reach them ASAP.
"Huh?" The deputy general was confused by the general’s orders.
In a dire scenario like the current one, where there was no hope of recovering the asset, they would do everything to erase and deny any connection to the asset to avoid backlash, but here the general asked them to do the exact opposite of that.
"Right away, sir!" the deputy general agreed after a moment of confusion, noticing that agent Lois’s pursuer was dressed in black from head to toe as if they were trying to hide their identity. He immediately understood that things were clearly more complicated than they appeared on the surface.
Location: Southern-Central Region Corridor, Southern Region, Base Ursus ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁
"What the heck were our men doing? How could you meatheads let two rogue demigods get so close to my base? And how dare they stir up a ruckus? Do they take me for a joke?" General Welshman screamed at his deputies as he went through the report.
Usually, in an incident , demigod soldiers would immediately take action and detain the two unknown demigods. However, they all received a ’do not engage’ command on their grimoires through the base’s secure network.
Ultimately, the clueless deputies sought their general for clarification before taking action. The general too had no clue and was contemplating if he should contact the field marshal about this. However, he didn’t dare to go through with it without having all the facts.
"Sir, do you think the snobs from the central region are up to their tricks again?" one of the deputy generals asked, causing Welshman to frown but then shaking his head he said, "If they could hack our secure network they wouldn’t waste it here and now. It is not them."
General Welshman and the deputy general flew to the sky, and from a vantage point monitored the two rogue demigods. One appeared to be desperately trying to cross the border while the other seemed to be resolute in stopping the former even if it meant killing her.
"Sir, don’t the martial arts of the silhouette in black seem familiar?" the deputy general pointed out, causing others to focus on the Martial arts of the demigod in black. Soon, General Welshman exclaimed, "That’s Field Marshal Lorn."
"Why is she dressed in black from head to toe like an assassin—" one of the deputies blurted, but soon he closed his mouth, understanding something can only be thought but not said out loud. Clearly, something that would require the Field Marshal to hide her identity was above their pay grade.
"General, Base Gecko just contacted us claiming the card demigod who was trying to cross the border as their own and are requesting us to assist the card demigod. What do we do?" the deputy general reported as soon as he was updated about it by his men.
"Pretend the message was lost—that we never got it. Advise all units to take positions and run interference just in case their soldiers are stupid enough to cross the border."
The general issued the orders with perfect calm. His confidence stemmed from knowing his side had Field Marshal Lorn, one of the top ten strongest in the Card World. If things escalated, they would finally get the chance they had been looking for: a chance to give the snobs from central a bloody nose.