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Vesper\'s throat itched as the growing headache she had from earlier in the day bloomed into a full-blown migraine. This was why she never took breaks. Because surely, this was the result of her having indulged a passing whim of wanting to talk to those mysterious possible Imperial spies. Maybe this had been all planned, for that cute girl to distract her from doing her duties while the rest set explosives all over her damn city.

Truly, she could never let her guard down.

"Report!"

"H-Head Intellect, warehouse three has been utterly destroyed," one of her men fearfully relayed, the news already making her head throb in pain before he continued. "An explosion rocked the building around an hour ago, and it has kept burning ever since."

"You mean it\'s still burning?!" Vesper yelled out in disbelief, her hand already digging into her right-hand pocket as she pulled out a rectangular-looking device with a screen on it. "What in the world are the firemen doing then?! [Oversight]!"

Ignoring the fact that her fingers were still itching from the lack of having a cigar in her mouth, she activated her [Manifest]. With a flick of her wrist, the device on her hand sprang to life, its glass screen disintegrating into countless motes of light as an entire replica of the city sprawled out in front of her. Focusing in on the burning warehouse, her vision was immediately replaced by a bird\'s eye view of the entire area.

"What in the hell..."

A familiar pain thrummed inside her head as she stared at what had befallen the important warehouse. Somehow, almost half of the building had been turned into what looked to be some kind of pink goop. Its sheen suggested that it was wet, and yet somehow it burned in a way that almost reminded her of burning rubber.

"Is the basement area affected?" the Head Intellect asked, her entire world still focused on observing the warehouse and the people around it. "Did the fire at least spare the Research and Development wing of the building?"

"N-No, Head Intellect," she heard from beyond her vision. "Based on the reports coming in, the entire basement area had been... Had been turned into some kind of sweet pink substance."

"What?"

Waving her arms, Vesper directed her [Manifest] to dive into the burning building. Her vision was immediately replaced with black smoke, before it was then replaced with bright pink as she forced her vision to go deep into the underground facility located on the premises. Sure enough, the reports of the poor sod had been correct. Despite the dimming lights, she could see the extent of the damage that this mysterious attack had wrought. What was once bright and clean metal hallways had been replaced with bright pink slop. The heat burning from above had melted some of the slop on the ceiling, and based on how the whole building seemed to sag, it seemed as if this goop had turned even the warehouse\'s very foundations into a soft pink gooey mess.

Shaking her head, the Head Intellect cut her connection with her [Manifest], her chest tightening as she braced herself against her table. In front of her, [Oversight] shook as it forced itself to become compact enough to be stored inside her pocket again. Taking a deep breath, her knees shook as she took her [Manifest] and stored it back into her pants. It was painful to use her power to constantly keep an eye on the city, but it was even more draining if she wanted an actual view of what was happening.

"H-Head Intellect?"

"I\'m fine!" she growled out, her eyes burning with anger as she breathed through her teeth. "Call.... Call for an emergency meeting... I want all Intellects present by the time I get there!"

"O-Of course!"

Letting out a breath, Vesper was barely managing to hold on to consciousness as she watched the messenger leave. As soon as the doors to her office closed, she collapsed onto her seat, her chest heaving as her head and chest had a contest on who was going to give out on her first.

"M-Medicine..."

Shakily, her hands pulled at one of her desk\'s drawers, her vision already blurring as she relied on feel to fish out the bottles of pills she needed to keep herself alive. Taking out two pills from each of the two bottles, she popped them into her mouth and swallowed them dry.

"N-NGHH!!"

Her body arched in pain, her heart agonizingly flailing against her ribcage as the medicine cocktail forced her body to keep going. She knew that taking both painkillers and stimulants was going to kill her sooner rather than later, but she didn\'t want herself to go unconscious especially now with Centrax under attack from an unknown foe.

"I-I\'ll just sleep for a week after this," she growled to herself, clawing her way up to her feet as she stood up. "I\'ll let the idiots on Board run this city for once..."

Hissing, the Head Intellect took a few deep breaths as she waited for her body to cooperate. After she was able to move without her legs collapsing from under her again, she finally made her way to the meeting she had announced earlier. Judging from the time, she was only going to be around half an hour late. Using her [Manifest] always took a toll on her, especially after she decided that she wasn\'t going to stop using it to keep a constant lookout on her precious home.

"You\'re late, Head Intellect."

"Seeing as I was the one that called for this meeting in the first place, I can afford to be late as I compiled some data from the incident," Vesper coolly defended herself, taking her place behind her podium as she stared at the Board of Intellects. "As of now, warehouse three is utterly unsalvageable, and with it, progress with a few projects had been destroyed."

A burst of outrage followed her announcement. That was something she expected. Even she was no exception to it as that specific warehouse held one of the key components she was having fabricated for Project D. Nevertheless, said component wasn\'t a critical part of the overall project anyway. It was replaceable, unlike some of the other things she was developing right underneath everyone\'s noses.

She inwardly sighed at the sudden reminder. She knew she should check on that facility sooner or later, but her failing health had reduced her power\'s range considerably down to only just beyond the city outskirts. She vaguely remember some of the foreigners coming near it, but hopefully, the guards there would actually do their job for once.

"This is unacceptable!" one Intellect cried out in anger. "Have the culprits been apprehended?"

"Not yet," Vesper growled out. "Either way, why are you asking me that when another Intellect\'s supposed to be in charge of security?"

And just like that, she watched as the entire room fell silent, all eyes going to the Intellect in question as he visibly shook in his chair. The anger was palpable, and it was clear that he wasn\'t taking the news well.

"Well, Intellect Knowles?" Vesper coldly addressed him. "Can you explain exactly what happened?"

"My men are still conducting their investigations," the Intellect in question growled out. "One thing\'s for sure, however. This is the work of an enemy [Manifest]."

"A Somatic then," another Intellect hummed in consideration. "Has anybody claimed responsibility?"

"Both the Republic and the Empire isn\'t showing any kind of activity that suggests they might be responsible," another one replied. "The local rebel groups have also remained silent as of now."

Vesper narrowed her eyes. The more she was hearing about the situation, the more she was starting to suspect the new foreigners that had entered her city. "Any word on the key suspects?"

"You mean the foreigners, Head Intellect?" yet another Intellect chimed in. "They\'ve done nothing so far except for completing a few Contracts we handed out to them. Although..."

"Although what, Intellect?" Vesper curiously barked out.

"No one had seen them ever since," the Intellect pointed out. "Only two of them had completed their respective contract, with the last one still being left pending despite how easy it was to theoretically complete."

Vesper squinted at that revelation. "So some of them are missing..."

"Correct," the Intellect nodded. "And there\'s also been some reports of a disturbance in the protected forests by the outskirts of the city."

The Head Intellect froze, her eyes wide at what she just heard. "You mean that there\'s been an incident of trespassing in the area?"

"A few of the guards there have noticed that some of the trees had been damaged," another unsuspecting Intellect replied. "There\'s also been- Head Intellect?"

Before the poor board member was even finished speaking, Vesper was already walking out of the room. Her heart hammering in her chest, the fear and paranoia had turned into seething anger as she ground her teeth. "This meeting is over! Get the situation under control in the city!"

"And where do you think-"

"I\'m going to check the one facility that we can\'t afford to lose!" Vesper barked out. "If that falls, our efforts will be set back by about-"

[*boom*]

Her heart sank, her [Oversight]\'s passive vision giving her a glimpse of yet another explosion happening in her city. This time, however, it was right on top of the very facility she was hoping to save.

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Nobody\'s reading my stuff anymore huh... Understandable.