The Specialists department was a heteromorphic melting pot where those with skill sets outside of the three main departments gathered. From a talisman artefact maker, to a support sniper who could set up an array formation from kilometers away, a traditional ritual barrier specialist, a druidic animal whisperer, and even an elementalist, it was filled with all different kinds of people.

The SPs called this place home, but others have taken to calling it a glorified and makeshift place where only stragglers reside. However, though less than twenty in number, it was without doubt that all the field operators here were elites who would be better utilized on a case-by-case basis rather than a standardized one. Due to this, there was no real sense of coherent structure in the department and individuals would often be called out for work with little regard for any other person.

Still, the SPs here were all on good terms with one another, and were even quite good friends to boot.

…

"Yawn~"

Similar to the way the VGs had their garrisons, the SPs also adapted an open design for their department. With two floors separated by railings, one could see the entire department, the lounge, the ADVs, as well as all the standard equipment that the guild provided. However, for added privacy, there were also rooms on the side for various offices, lockers, and bathrooms. During the day, everything would be naturally lit by the skylights, but right now all the lights had been turned on to keep the department nice and lit.

Currently, several of the SPs were on standby at the lounge as they passed the time awaiting orders. Yet, several hours had passed already since the call to muster and they still had not received any word from the top.

"Yet another night, yet another dud." Li Hua said as she tried to hold in another yawn. When the alerts sounded earlier, she had been one of the ones rudely awakened. Now, she was fighting a losing battle to stay awake with the lack of stimulation.

*Ring ring*

It was at this moment that the very distinct sound of their call line rang for the first time since the mustering order. In the open garrison, everyone heard it clearly, and it was the very thing a lot of them had been waiting for all night long. Li Hua acted on it first. She announced her intentions boldly as she sprung to intercept the phone.

"I'll get it— Gak!"

"Hua meimei, sit still please!"

But before Li Hua could even get off the chair, she was held by her hair and her head snapped backwards into an awkward position. The one who did it was Azusa, the Kitsune who addressed her with an endearing Kaplan term used for girls younger than oneself.

"Someone will get it." Azusa said, her single tail swaying like golden wheat in the wind. She was in the midst of braiding Li Hua's long hair into a ponytail and did not take kindly to having her work wasted.

Even more so when it was the person in question who came looking for help in the first place. And the reason that Li Hua could not do it herself was due to the ornate and razor sharp zhijiatao on her right hand which she was forbidden by her family from taking off. It remained a small but glaring hint of what noble culture was like back on Arca Archa.

"I got it!" Cypress, their resident animal whisperer, shouted in the distance.

"Fine." Realizing her loss, Li Hua gave up almost immediately. With her tiredness returning to her, she let out another big yawn as she began to nod off her chair.

"Hua meimei, stop moving so much."

"Okay…" Li Hua sleepily glanced at the Azusa behind her. "Say, your tail looks awfully fluffy. Do you mind if I use it as a pillow?"

"What? No! Use a pillow if you want to go sleep!"

"I promise to return them sometime within the next week… Whee~"

With one last gleeful word, Li Hua finally nodded off her chair. However, at the same time, her Kaplan tail hooked itself around Azusa's waist and tugged gently to stop her fall. For certain, it was a show of slovenliness that would typically detract from her place as one from the noble fierce beast clan of the Felid race. But this too, was an aspect of her that resulted from the staunch upbringing she had.

"Whoa! Hua meimei, don't do that, we'll both fall!"

"Huh? What's that? You look so delicious right now, Azusa… Can I take a bite?"

"No! Absolutely not! I will smack you if you dare!"

"Eh? What's that? Not even just a nibble? But you have two meat dumplings, don't you want to share one with me?"

Li Hua continued to bargain, but even then her compromises were of unacceptable terms for the scared kitsune. For just a split moment, she felt like a fox caught under a tiger's muse— playful yes, but with the monstrous physical capabilities that stemmed from her Kaplan heritage, Li Hua had the strength to still easily overpower her even while being playful.

"Brother, help me! Hua meimei is drooling at me!"

"Hungry hungry~♪ One bao for me~♪ One bao for you~♪"

"Brother, hurry!"

Sweating profusely, Azusa called out to her brother for support as a last ditch effort. In response, he came up to Li Hua with his ransom in hand.

"Li Hua, I've come to bargain." Azura offered.

"No! Azusa's mine!"

"Now now, why don't you just hear me out first? This is my trade offer: I get my sister back in one piece, and you get shrimp flavored instant cup noodles."

"Really, brother? Instant noodles?"

Azusa shot her brother an eyeful of doubt. To Li Hua however, this was a genuine article for consideration. While she liked Azusa a lot, he was offering instant noodles! It was most certainly a difficult choice, but in truth there was only one real answer.

"…Can I keep both?"

Li Hua's choice was to have her cake and eat it too.

"Haha, but no. I want to have my sister back intact."

"…Fine. It's a deal, but you have to cook it for me. And until it's ready in my hands with a pair of chopsticks, I'm not giving her up. These are my official terms."

"Deal. Thus our contract is sealed with this verbal agreement."

The both of them shook hands on the terms of the contract, but the entire time, Azusa could only watch in mixed disbelief and disgust.

"Is a single cup of instant noodles all I'm worth to you guys?"

"A very tasty cup of instant noodles." Li Hua corrected.

…

"Hey guys, where's Samantha?"

Cypress entered the lounge then, with a phone in hand and a tall and looming guest standing behind him. It was Quies, head of Scouts, and she had work for the SPs.

…

The head of Scouts came by with a single request for them, for the three SPs versatile with barriers to dispatch to the airport's red-E rift event. Meaning that, once again, Li Hua would have no role to fulfill and both Azusa and Azura would be leaving her alone for the night.

"Damn it, it's not fair that it's always only you guys who get to go out. When will I get some action as well?" Li Hua sulked as she slurped up her shrimp flavored noodles. It was nice and salty, just like she was at the moment.

"It's okay, Hua meimei, I'm sure you'll get your turn soon."

"I hope you know that even if you come with us, there won't be anything an elementalist like you will be able to do. You'll just end up sitting out in the cold with those rags of yours."

"Only the very best of Kaplan traditional garments! This qipao: I have a dozen more just like it, because it's the very best after all."

As they got into the ADV, Azusa comforted her, while her brother stated the facts instead. Azura was not wrong though, and so Li Hua had nothing to retort as she watched the small army of man shaped paper shikigami talismans finish loading equipment into the ADVs and returning to inert pieces of paper in the siblings' hands. These were created by the siblings, and they were capable of doing all sorts of menial tasks, as well as help them with actual work related things as well.

"You know what they say, no news is good news."

Lastly, Samantha offered her own kernel of wisdom as she arrived holding a matte rifle case in each hand. With her being here, the ADV was ready to depart.

"Yes, and before you know it, they'll start to make news out of no news."

"Very true. That's why you should stay off social media, Hua meimei. People will make a fuss over absolutely nothing at all. See ya~"

The ADV drove off and the rolling shutters shut behind it.

"Would you look at them go…"

Li Hua was bored. Having finished the instant noodles, soup and all, she was absolutely bored out of her mind. When she looked at the clock, the night was still so long, only now it was quiet without the two siblings to talk to.

"Uh, I'm still here," Cypress said awkwardly.

"You smell like a barn. Hup!"

Li Hua turned her nose before she jumped high up into the air from where she stood. She went from the ground floor where the lounge was and landed with a perfect backflip onto the railing of the second floor. From here, she could see the rest of the Specialists department and whatever people were scattered about.

"O-Oh… okay… I'll go take a shower… I guess…"

…

…

The SPs arrived without incident, though the last twenty so minutes have been quite suspenseful for all three of them. They were not told much of the rift they were headed towards as the head of Scouts simply did not have the time to do so before she left. However, they were told of its name and designation at the very least.

Using the time in transit, they searched for information about the White Night on the guild's database. But even then, they were unable to dig out much of anything discernable about the great calamity. For them, who were part of the generation of Arcanians that grew up being exposed to Earth's age of information, this bothered them greatly. As a result, an endless amount of speculation happened between them before they arrived— some that reminded them of horror films, some of old legends, and some even of cosmic horrors. But when they did arrive, they had to put on their work face and get down to business.

Being the first to get off, Samantha sighed in praise as she heard what was music to her ears.

"It's beautiful. Do you hear it? This is what hundreds of millions worth of Argentum sounds like. I might never get to hear this sound ever again. Ah…"

"I don't think I've ever seen this much equipment in use in one place before. Have you, brother?"

"No, me neither. This is a first. Just what exactly are we getting ourselves into this time? "

They heard it first before they saw anything. All around them were the heavy hums of dozens of generators, electric-to-aether converters, and the all important FBDSs that were the bread and butter to handling every rift event. As for the rift itself, none of them were able to see it. It was hidden behind a thick blanket of white fog that completely filled the half-dome shaped barrier that kept its dangers in check.

"I don't like this, the charm father gave us is acting up." Azusa tugged at the small pouch strung from her neck.

"I agree. Let's go talk to someone first. I can't get a sense of what's going on from back here." Azura nodded.

…

"Head of Scouts!"

After they passed all the ADVs parked ahead of them, they came across Quies, who had arrived before them. They called for her attention before seeing what she had been looking at. It was a truly ghastly sight. There were dozens of emaciated figures pressing up against the face of the barrier like the way zombies would press up against a window in a horror film. However, this was only what they could see, with there being countless more buried silhouettes masked by the fog.

"These are the white walkers, victims of the White Night reduced to mere husks of what they once embodied. Being magically sustained by the fog, they are cursed to wander for an eternity in a hell of endless white being unaware of even their own passing. The gods truly have no mercy if this kind of calamity is allowed to exist."

Quies turned away from the rift and welcomed them.

"As you can see, a lot is going on. I'll need you three to get to work right away. You siblings, I'm already familiar with. But the other one, your name is Samantha, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am. My name is Samantha, an array formation Specialist."

"What can you do?"

At Quies's question, Samantha felt a heavy gaze loom over her. It made her feel chills run down her back at the way it seemed to overly scrutinize her of all her details. She swallowed hard. This was in fact her first time meeting the head of Scouts, despite the fact they were visited earlier, and it was way more intimidating than she had expected. To ease herself the only way she knew how to, she answered Quies's question.

"With my expertise, I'm good at setting up defensive barricades and strengthening stationary objects. As long as it doesn't move, I can help it stay that way. Aside from that, with specially produced cartridges I can also lay down basic array formations from up to a range of four kilometers with my rifles using AI assist."

"No, I mean what can you do for me here?" Quies corrected.

"Oh! Well, the crux of an array formation is always meant to be in the center, but I don't think going there will be possible at this point. I would have to dive head first into those things. But, I did notice walking by that the FBDSs here could be rearranged into a more optimal formation. If we let the FBDSs take the place of formation anchors, I believe the barrier output can be increased by nearly double."

"Will there be any complications?"

"The only issue I can foresee is that everything may have to be moved around, and we might have to reboot the entire system to synchronize the FBDSs."

"Very well. I will approve your plan. You can have the SGs assist you. But work quickly. Time is crucial at the moment. Things will only get more dangerous from here on out if the rift isn't appropriately contained."

At that, Samantha got to work immediately. Quies turned to the Kitsune siblings next.

"As for you two, what can you do for me?"

"We can start to survey the leylines in the area using our shikigami. Once that's done, we can use the talismans in our possession to serve as anchors for a large-scale ritual barrier. While it won't necessarily bring as much benefit as the array formation that Samantha may be able to set up, the advantage is that it won't need any further maintenance once it gets going."

Azura spoke on behalf of his sister as well and he explained exactly what they planned on doing.

"Excellent. That will do. I will leave it to you two. If you need any assistance, just ask the SGs."

With Quies's approval, both Azusa and Azura got to work. They each took out a stack of paper shikigami. With an arte cast through their other hands, the shikigami all came to life one after the other. Being animated by their artes, the shikigami contained their intent and when they picked up into the air, they all began to scatter like birds. Before long, they would have scoured every inch of the airport grounds to find what the two were looking for.

"—Ah…!"

As the last of the shikigami left her hand, Azusa suddenly went pale. Trembling slightly, she grasped the charm hanging from her neck. Just now, she had felt her blood run cold and she could only turn to her brother to confirm her feelings.

"B-Brother, do you feel that too?"

"Yeah, I do…"

Gulping slowly, Azura repeated her exact same motion. When he grasped the charm resting over his chest, he could only turn towards the rift behind him, before suddenly and without so much as a warning, both the charms combusted into a ball of black flames that just barely licked their faces.

"You two, what was that?" Quies asked concerningly. She had no idea what had just transpired, but even if she was no talisman specialist, she knew it could not have been good.

Azusa's voice shook as she stared wide-eyed at the remains of the charm in her hand.

"I… That was supposed to be a charm to help warn us against malicious omens. Our father gave it to us when we were young. I don't know what could have overloaded it like this, but something truly terrible must be on its way."

…

At that moment, a terrible screech tore through the cool night air. It came from the direction of the rift and the awful voice sounded like nothing from this world. Instinctively, it made the siblings cover their ears and clench their teeth in pain. Quies however was seemingly unaffected and she turned around with what could only be described as equal parts rage and horror blatant on her face. Then, with two simple words said, she took off flying towards the source of the noise.

"Night Warden!"

…

…