"That's not plausible. Earthlings have no method of extracting runes from Meisters. And I wouldn't give my rune to a complete stranger…" Stellar replied.

Jade looked at Leon's unconscious body. He was beaten down badly, possibly drained of all his energy because of what he did.

"Please don't kill him. I'll look for other ways to gain my powers back." Stellar said.

"Why shouldn't I kill him?"

"Despite everything… I owe him my life. The least I could do is to not let him die. There are other ways right?"

"Treatment's impossible for you now as he got the Virus already. It'll be tough but when you got yourself in danger, just remember that you are the one who wished for this, Stellar. This doesn't have to be hard. All you need to do is kill him before the forty-eight hour mark. Decide your own fate." Jade handed Stellar a Swiss army knife before finally walking away.

He removed the Dimensional Restriction which reverted the house to it's original form. All the damages have been fixed and the humans from the vicinity resumed their movements as if nothing happened. "Later then."

After passing through the stratosphere barrier, Jade entered the familiar scenery of SORA. But felt it's big difference now that he lost his trusted Captain Meister.

"Jade Adrian, Section 8, verified." The security system's voice command affirmed Jade's re-entry to the realm. As the electronic door opened he saw a familiar face waiting for him.

"Hey, welcome back! D'you have anything to report?"

'Shit. Of all the people…' Jade cursed before answering, "Superior Meister Chalcedony, didn't expect to see you here…"

"Actually, I was the one expecting to see you here. I knew you disobeyed my orders and still went down to Earth. Jade you are such a disobedient boy." Chalcedony hopped off the bench he was sitting on and approached Jade.

"Please don't talk to me like I'm a kid. We're the same age y'know?" Jade retorted.

"Then please act accordingly. Your hot-headed nature is very appealing to the ladies, but sometimes it might get you in trouble..." Chalcedony warned.

"Yeah. Sorry 'bout that. The meeting will start right? Let's go."

"The meeting ended awhile ago. Quartz was pretty irked, he insisted you get punished."

"Shit." Jade felt chills under his skin. Superior Meister Quartz of Division 2 is a stickler for rules, despite being their childhood friend, Jade knew that he won't possibly let this thing pass. 'Might as well stick needles and sticks in my eyes.' Jade thought.

"Haha! You're turning blue!" Chalcedony laughed at Jade's face.

'This guy…' Before Jade could retort, Chalcedony quickly said, "Don't worry, I already said there's no need for punishment as long as you gained valuable info." Chalcedony flashed a peace sign and grinned widely.

"Thanks, Chalce..."

"AH! QUARTZ!" Chalcedony exclaimed and pointed in a direction.

"Superior Quartz, I…" Jade immediately bowed but before he could apologize he was met by Chalcedony's boisterous laughter. There was no Quartz. "Damn you!" Jade exclaimed.

Chalcedony Kryos is the Superior Meister of Division One. 6'5 foot tall and has a fit and lean body. He has characteristic auburn hair and crimson eyes.

His playful demeanor is due to the fact that Jade and Chalcedony are childhood friends. Even though they have a huge difference when it comes to rank and superiority, Chalcedony didn't see that as an issue and still gets along well with his friends.

Although Chalcedony's known to be a goof ball, he is serious when it comes to work and his mission.

"Tell me about the meeting." Jade said.

"Sure. Let's go to my office."

After several minutes of walking and casual talking, Jade and Chalcedony reached the 1st Division's quarters. Each division has their own respective camps as all the Superior Meisters are responsible for the maintenance of their whole team.

The supplies and inventory to cater to the needs of their subordinates of each division is also taken care of by each respective leaders. As long as it is within the budget of the division, they could choose to upgrade or expand their properties. These are all earned and gained by completing mundane to important tasks.

The 1st Division barracks was the biggest establishment among all other divisions as they employ the largest number of squadron as well. In it, a huge training room can be seen, a Japanese inspired garden and fish pond, hot springs and many other amenities are also available. The administrative office was located on the middle of the whole establishment, where Chalcedony resides and does most of his work.

After settling down, Chalcedony started to discuss what happened during the meeting that Jade missed. "So, which first? Bad news? Or good news?" Chalcedony queried as he started to brew some tea.

"Good news." Jade answered.

"Alright. Good news is, we know what DOMA is planning now. Crystal reported it under the code C.D.P or the City Devastation Procedure."

"And the bad?"

"Bad news is, the progress is already around seventy percent at the time of reporting. Seems like they have been more careful than we expected."

"What is this C.D.P anyways?"

"C.D.P as the name suggests is a way to completely annihilate the human race. As to how it would exactly come to be, we have no idea as of now. But basically, what they need for this procedure is the source of our power, the sacred runes."

Chalcedony paused as he handed the teacup carefully in front of Jade's as he sat down in front of him and sipped some of it before continuing, "When DOMA Knights assaults the human world, we Meisters have no choice but to respond to the distress signal. In doing so, said Meister will be ganged up and killed, gaining them that rune easily, right?"

Chalcedony closed up his hands in the air as if grabbing something as an emphasis. "If the Meister managed to escape his death, he is still infected by the virus, possibly getting in contact with another human being who's even weaker than your usual Meister, making it easier for the Knights to take it away still."

"What a cheat." Jade commented angrily, "What should we do to those who lost their powers? Or to those that gained one?"

"Search for them and tell them to cooperate. If not, kill them and gain back the sacred rune of said Meisters. It's harsh, but it's the only way we can do to attempt and reduce the opponent's head start. From now on, I'd be busy researching how to stop this. I would like to halt sending anymore unnecessary Meisters to Earth for now, as it would just result in their death and another gain to DOMA's destructive plan." Chalcedony noticed Jade's unusual quietness and asked, "What about you? Did you manage to find her?"

"I did. But it's too late. She also got her power stolen by a pretentious kid. The kid who got infected was... strange. He has great potential, I just hope they won't get killed before my message arrives. I'll inform them about this and force them to cooperate if the need arises, for that is also your order." Jade kept quiet for a moment, as if to organize his thoughts, deciding whether it was alright to let Chalcedony know what he was thinking but ultimately decided to speak up,

"Also, I think it was very suspicious that we only learned of their plan this late at the game.. Seventy percent? I'm not blaming Crystal's abilities but... either she's incompetent or something has gone wrong which resulted in such a great delay. I don't like putting seeds of doubt without basis but this is just my opinion. Just know that I trust you, Chalcedony."

"And I do trust you too Jade. I just sincerely hope you are wrong."