"It's the fourth wave now," Azrael is saying, jolting Caelus awake and back to attention.

He's been scrolling through the reports over his personalized virtual interface in hopes of keeping up to date with the whatever news that have been released over the course of these 12 hours. Even with the mess going on with Sector Delphinus, the technology in the Static prevails and the city continues to function. He sets the notification alert so he gets the first know on live updates, but he doubts he'll get anything more interesting than the reports of the general wellbeing of Delphinus, especially the rift. Since they're on the front lines, they will be the first to know the outcome of this fight, anyway.

While the authorities aren't taking too much control over what's happening with how occupied they are, they still manage to dispatch the Catalysts under the city's employ at their own beck and call. The batch of Catalysts who are readily available alongside the still active S-Class have all been given the preliminary instructions and communications gear—the standard protocol for any other rift attacks. The only difference this time is that almost every available professional Catalyst unit, if not all of them, are deployed to the field since the rift's activation last evening. That, and the unplanned help from the students of Arcane Academy as well as any of the younger generation from influential families here who are supposedly unauthorized to fight or use their premature and underdeveloped abilities.

A demon attack or a rift is usually dealt with in the swiftest manner, and the Control Centre with a database of all registered ability users always match the best units for action. Lately though, with the unpredictable rise in demon threat, this factor is not accounted for, resulting in more casualties, sometimes even death fatalities.

Today, the authorities have not bothered with the typical procedures of sending a squad in; perhaps they had, only to realize the threat is greater than a regular one. They barely even have time to enact their usual rules with the students, and Caelus believes that the city is still somewhat under control only because of the students fighting out here of their own will.

Everyone's here, including the people who sends out orders.

Caelus stifles a yawn, then makes to cover his nose instead, but the putrid stench still manages to overwhelm his sensitive senses. It's just like when they were back in Andromeda, the dormant rift had activated up close, the foul stench enough to wake him even near death.

This time, it's not coming solely from the rift, but the wreck and carnage all around them. Within a great perimeter, Delphinus has not only fallen into the clutches of the rift, but has been seized by all kinds of demons already prowling in the area. Yes, the City of Leatia has always housed demons among the humans, and the two beings coexist, but the rift is making all sorts of demons, latent or not, come at them hostile. The stronger and much more malicious demons come from the rift, but lesser demons that are already in their realm always hunt in numbers, which will pose as a challenge in their already thin attack unit unless there's a powerful offensive ability user in their ranks.

Which is why Caelus had been ready to roam the area with his mobility to clear out the demons en masse, and was ready to do exactly that once he dropped Lena off to help the patrol guards, but the authorities have other plans for him.

It's just as well, because he arrived just in time to help with the fourth wave. The rest of the S-Class and the stronger Catalysts have gathered as the first line of defense near the rift's perimeter, and they have all but cleared three waves since the rift's initial activity last evening.

Nothing has came out since the fourth one that Caelus helped with since his arrival, but the rift isn't closing, either. There's a pause in the fighting as Azrael makes the statement, and while it's a little strange to hang in the air all while waiting at a demon's gate for their enemy to appear, this is as good as any chance they can get for a breathing room. The others who'd been holding the fort appear lethargic. Because as long as the rift doesn't close, there is potential for more demons to cross into their realm.

Again, he thinks about what he can do instead of idling here, waiting for the next wave that may never come. With the time now, he can circle the perimeter and take advantage of his wide ability range to clear out the now hostile lesser demons and the ones that have slipped past them during the peak of the wave.

"It doesn't look like you really need my help here, and you've handled the first three waves just fine without me," Caelus attempts again.

Not only are the usual active S-class present, the stronger A-ranks are all here, including but not limited to a barrier manipulator, a void walker, a support type specialist, and a weapons conjurer. They are all contributing with their own unique abilities, and are here for a reason. Their lineup is almost flawless, but even with this first line of defense, some of the demons managed to slip through.

The mark on his collarbone burns suddenly, and if any sleep was left in his not so morning person, it's now gone entirely from the searing pain.

A voice crackles through their shared communication: "Stay where you are, Stormbringer. This is an order. We don't yet know if the rift will still be breached."

Caelus sighs. He'd honestly leave, except a good radius from the rift is surprisingly clear of demons. Perhaps it's optimistic, but maybe the students who are fighting of their own volition are very efficiently making a difference. Besides, he'd only arrived not too long ago, and the ones that have been here longest look weary and in need of a break.

Rephrasing his ask, he says, "Shouldn't we rotate? I can take over from here while the others rest up and restore their strength."

It's no use if they are fighting in a lethargic state, he means to elaborate, but Caelus chooses not to say this. The final say is always still with the authorities, especially for the S-Class with the marks binding their loyalty. He wonders what the A-ranks will possibly gain from all of this, and is curious on how readily willing they are to be on the front lines—but he supposes that's what every single ability user in the City of Leatia wants ultimately: fame.

He is just surprised that with all things considered, and with the city going through tumultuous times, that these people aren't backing down at all.

To his left, Inessa shoots him a grateful look from his few words. She looks burnt out; she's one of the few who needs a great deal of physical strength to actually execute her abilities well. Leaning against Azrael, she has much definitely fared better. Azrael, on the other hand, sends him an odd look with a raised brow, as if he's misheard him, and it's almost as if he can hear the silent judgement in passing: Since when do you notice things, or care about us?

When the silence looks between them stretch too long, Caelus realizes he's been staring in a daze as he and the others await for command's verdict through their communicators. His thoughts usually drift away from conversations, his eyes usually unable to stay on something or someone for too long, but he's rather fixated on the sight of Inessa leaning against Azrael today, where Azrael holds and supports her gently on their shared hoverboard. The one Inessa had been using had long ago been destroyed; she's one of the more aggressive fighters among the S-Class.

"What, you have something against this?" Azrael notices his out of the ordinary attention, then points in between them to the fact that he and Inessa are extremely close, and Caelus thinks he imagines his grip tightening over her shoulders.
"Only she can share with me, though. I wouldn't want anyone else here. Get Thanatos over there to share with you or something."

"No," Caelus says instantaneously, but he forces himself to look away when heat rises over his face, thinking of something else. "It's nothing."

He is saved from Azrael's prying look when a female voice gives in new orders over the communicator: "All S-Class, and Squad 2, please retreat to temporary base. I repeat, all S-Class—this is with the exception of Stormbringer—and Squad 2, please retreat to temporary base until given further orders."

The rest of the more powerful Catalysts leave almost immediately without hesitation, their exhaustion giving in to relief at this new order. They glance once at Caelus, as if in silent gratitude, nodding as they leave and promising to return.

"You gonna be fine by yourself, kid?" Azrael asks.

Caelus settles for sitting on his hoverboard. The sudden movement jerks the tech and he flips upside down, but the gravity locking technology in his favorite mobile transport holds firm as he rights his centre of gravity and realigns his position once more.

"There's not going to be one anytime soon." He refers to the wave of demons. Then, turning off his side of the communicator to disallow any eavesdropping, he tells Azrael, "I would be able to hear them if they are close to the barrier dividing our worlds. As it turns out, it's deathly quiet. Almost like it's dormant again, though I can't say for sure. But you know—the authorities won't let us go until this is completely gone, now that it appears active."

Azrael gets the hint, and turns his off too as he levitates closer with Inessa. "I suppose we can only do our best to keep the demons away while higher ups make up their—wait," he pauses, frowning. "What do you mean, you can hear them?"

"You can't?" Caelus asks, then suddenly recalls why he'd voiced out in the first place. "Point is, I think it's simply a waste of resource to put us all here. Besides, you're all battle worn. When you're done recharging, clear out the demons in the vicinity instead."

"Who gave you the right to give orders?" Inessa asks teasingly, with none of her usual quirkiness.

"Just be careful," Azrael warns, glancing once at the still open rift—sitting right there, gates opened wide in beckoning, with nothing passing through. It feels eerily like the calm before a storm. "I know you're strong, but that doesn't make you invincible."

Caelus waves him off. Unfortunately, he still isn't alone; the authorities know better than to leave him alone here. Squads 1 and 3 are here with him on standby, consisting of a balanced group of Catalysts with ranged attackers, physical abilities, and support type ones. A quick tune back into the general communications tells him that they will be awarded a break once Squad 2 has finished, and will rotate as such unless the next wave breaks through.

In his opinion, this entire arrangement is a complete waste of time here, and pitifully a poor management of resources: the powerful ability users, who are here sitting idly—well, hovering idly.

Caelus floats apart from them as they begin their casual chatter amongst themselves, lowering their guards as well. Even they can begin to tell this area seems to be as quiet as it can get; they've done their jobs since last evening, clearing out the waves before his own arrival. Strangely enough, the hardest part of this appears almost over, if there isn't a next wave. Without new—and usually stronger and more dangerous—demons coming through from the rift, they're left with those that have overwhelmed them initially and the ones that are going berserk because of the dimensional gate's opening.

As he watches Azrael and Inessa, the two even have the strength to take out every single demon within almost a three mile radius. Azrael steers the hoverboard without a hint of fear for falling while Inessa jumps freely and transforms spontaneously into whatever weapon according to feasibility and range—sometimes Azrael himself wielding her weapon form. And when she transforms back, their arms are linked, and Azrael pulls her back only to take over while now Inessa guides the hoverboard.

No demon can get past them, they don't even stand a chance against the duo that fights as if this is a dance of their own.

Caelus had meant for them to check out the other areas, especially the outer perimeter where the general patrol guards might be struggling, but this is just as well. That way, when the rift truly doesn't act up and sprout another wave of demons later, they'll be free to go, hopefully within the half hour.

Now that the demons within the vicinity are slowly being eliminated, it's like a breath of fresh air to Caelus who can not only sense them, but sometimes hear them in an ancient garbled tongue. And with that, he can finally find what—or who—he's looking for without getting a headache from all the mixed senses.

For the courtesy of obeying the authorities, he simply stays near the rift for a good ten or twenty minutes before he starts to slowly hover further and further away from the rest of the team. He keeps his communicator on, just for the sake of his fellow S-Class. They've definitely been through enough difficult situations together.

That, and to lie and say, "I see something. I'll be right back."

There are minor protests, but not too much now that command have to look after the dispersed groups of ability users after Caelus' statement earlier, and still keep track of their movements. It's going exactly as he planned.

He begins to disappear in between buildings, going lower. Taking some demons out of the way as he goes, it may as well be impossible to find his friend in an entire sector bathed in battle and chaos. But he need only get to a certain location, and he'll naturally be able to search for him.

Alone, he travels fast, even with many obstacles—broken and falling structures, ashes and smoke in the way, the occasional stray ability power or gunfire, and the demons that are naturally drawn to him. He takes the opportunity to eliminate some on the way, much to the gratitude of some struggling fighters.

When Caelus eventually arrives near the end of the sector, the row of elegant mansions are no longer glittering and shining as they once were, but are smoldered in battle ash. There are a few groups of ability users belonging to the higher houses, defending their home.

Easily, he spots House Velasquez grappling against something large and still growing: it expands like a tumor on the field, pulsing and attaching itself to its surroundings like an infestation, and the ability users around it are trying to get out of harm's way. Its front, the face—if you can even call it that—is a constantly rotating mass of fused ribs and skulls, and is facing three individuals who are obviously the ones putting up the best fight and holding it off from further destruction.

Caelus is surprised this particular creature managed to slip by their first defense; but then he suspects that this may not be its initial form, or it could be that it was originally a latent type demon of this world that has come to evolve in this way from the rift's activation. Either way, there is no way they would have missed such a demon.

As it grows and shuffles forward, it is obviously hungry for the ability essence combined from the three powerful ability users standing tall to face the demon: a Hasegawa, judging by the dark hair of the woman in her forties, and another two he knows better—Damaris and Roen Velasquez.

Caelus pauses, considering the area. The creature is indeed the greatest threat by far, but there are minor and lesser demons in the area, no doubt will soon be increasing in number if they defeat the big one with their abilities. After the fourth wave, he isn't too keen on using his abilities too much because they might need him as a backup just yet, since most of the powerful ability users need to rest up before they are ready for action. Even if he is quite confident the demons across the realm aren't yet ready to cross over—their wails are usually extremely jarring when a rift is active—something tells him that he better conserve his energy, especially now that he's more or less confirmed his own growing suspicion that this particular rift's activation isn't a mere coincidence.

Glancing once at the trio trying to hold off the mutating demon, Caelus flips off his hoverboard and lets himself fall, gathering the air over this altitude. Compression the air from his newly conjured barrier, he forces the ionization through, and with a blast of plasma shoots the energy in a clean beam through the demon.

He gathers the air to soften his landing, but isn't quite too good at this and stumbles, just in time to deflect the raining mess of demon carcass and its dark blood in blown bits and pieces, his very own handiwork. The barrier he now creates over himself has never been more useful, making sure none of the gore touches him. He braces himself for another attack, but then slowly drops his arms as he realizes that blow was enough to tear the demon apart and just sufficient damage to stop itself from regenerating. Soon, the mess begins to fade into the open air as everything turns into ashes and drift away.

Through the dissipating demon, Caelus crosses cautiously over to the three, who are just beginning to lower their weapons and arms charged with their own abilities.

The woman is the first to say she wants no part of this, muttering something about increased strength of ability essence and that she is done helping the Velasquezes, and hurries off to help her own house. Roen simply gapes, jaw wide open, as he does whenever Caelus uses his abilities out in the open without restrain, and a few delayed second laters he simply laughs, nearly dropping his sword and much to the disapproval of his strict father by his side.

"That was disgusting," he points out between a cackle.

"Good to know you still have it in you to joke," Caelus says by way of greeting as Roen shuffles forward to meet him.

"What, did you come all this way to meet me? I'm touched—"

A shriek—no, a combined echo of them—signifies that they have indeed drawn the attention of nearby demons.

Roen is quick to collect himself, raising his sword and already quickly drawing an illusion that lures the fastest demons right into the barrier so they sizzle into the Great Walls of Micah and die out themselves. Caelus picks up where Roen misses, and a storm he conjures is enough to take down all the demons left confused by his friend's illusionary tricks. They work like this for a while, through several fast swarms of lesser demons. Despite the non-stop attacks, the two find their momentum with each other, and even if a demon gets close enough, Roen is an extremely skilled swordsman. Caelus handles the range, while Roen guards their front.

Before long, the demon activity slows. Even the fights around them are now concluding as this part of the sector is slowly being reclaimed. While demons will still react to the use of their abilities, a big chunk of them have been taken out by force.

A solid presence behind Caelus draws his attention back, and he doesn't need to turn his head to know Roen is leaning against his back for support. They both catch their breaths from the rapid fight, eventually easing back into a relaxed stance once the hostile demons are gone. The creatures are still in the area, but definitely less in numbers, and are scattered enough for the rest of the gathered ability users from the houses to take care of the remaining ones. They are no longer swarming them in a crazed frenzy; the wave is over, for now.

Caelus almost lets his guard down. If he had, he would have missed avoiding the sharp drop in temperature, followed by a merciless glacier of ice hurtling his way. Reacting on battle instincts alone, he turns and grabs Roen and shuffles to the side just as he deflects the blow with a powerful slice of air. They both roll to the ground, just as a temporal rift in the space tears open—not the usual demonic kind, but something Caelus has definitely encountered before.

They narrowly avoid the monstrous arm that tears through, and a low grumble that resonates through the space as an electric blue light bathes them all in temporary blindness.

Even with the handicap, Caelus grabs at Roen, making sure he's close, and he can feel his friend still clutching the blade toward his chest tight, keeping his guard up despite the blind. Caelus swirls the air around them, making them the eye of the hurricane, ensuring nothing or no one gets within striking range while they are momentarily visionless.

As the sudden ambush settles for a breathing space, Caelus tugs at Roen's collar and yanks him back, putting distance between them and the attackers who are just revealing themselves beside Damaris.

Damaris, who, all this time throughout the entire demon swarm and since Caelus' arrival, hasn't lift a finger to help.

"You were the ones near Roen and I that evening, back in this exact spot," Caelus states out loud, looking the Shadow Syndicate in the eye as he recalls the presence he'd sensed, not quite demon, right before the authorities caught him and Roen for breaking curfew that night he visited the House of Velasquez.

Beside him, Roen appears perplexed, looking from his friend to his father.

Caelus closes his eyes. His friend isn't supposed to have to pick sides.

But here's a confrontation he himself can no longer avoid—time to deal with the people who'd been following him around since the very beginning, since he first got attacked. They've never stopped.

And here they are now, the Shadow Syndicate making an appearance before him.