Alied, Diego, and Ao converged within the second-floor administrative wing, commandeering Director Alfred's private office to hammer out their tactical operational layout.
Without asking for permission, Ao dropped directly into the leather chair before Alfred's primary terminal, his fingers flying across the mechanical keyboard as he breached and decrypted the secured internal data logs.
"Senior Diego," Ao began, not looking up from the scrolling rows of data. "Given your absolute clairvoyance, why don't we bypass this logistical clutter and execute a preemptive sweep to neutralize the targets right now?"
Diego leaned against the heavy oak desk, crossing his arms with a grim, hollow chuckle. "If the matrix permitted a simple solution like that, Ao, I would have pulled the trigger hours ago. This isn't a standard variable change."
Alied shifted his stance by the door, his eyes narrowing. "Identify the obstacle. What's blocking your deployment?"
"You'll probably categorize this as hyperbole," Diego replied, his tone chillingly casual. "But if I initiate a direct engagement under the current conditions, I will permanently flatline. I die."
"Flatline?" Ao's fingers paused over the keys, his head snapping up. "I assumed your structural unique trait allowed you to effortlessly hot-swap into an alternate-reality vessel to override your own expiration."
"Trust my data parameters on this—I am entirely out of free extra lives," Diego countered, his face deadpan. "If I force a confrontation right now, I will be instantly erased by the *Alcrypna Line* anchored to that hyperactive Esper girl, Roxanne."
Ao immediately keyed in a command to isolate the Alcrypna Line documentation on Alfred's server. As the systemic profile loaded onto the monitor, his skepticism dissolved into a cold sweat.
"A structural tether capable of locking two entirely separate timelines together at a microscopic, hyper-specific temporal coordinate..." Ao whispered, parsing the complex algorithmic charts. He scrolled lower, opening Roxanne's encrypted character file, and the puzzle pieces snapped into place. "She possesses the systemic authority to permanently freeze an objective reality into an unalterable loop using her Line. No wonder you're refusing to initiate contact."
"So, your primary directive is pure avoidance?" Alied asked.
"It's the only logical baseline," Diego nodded. "Furthermore, she's embedded within her core party cluster. Charging in blindly would be a tactical suicide run. However..." A thin, calculated smile crept back onto the scientist's lips. "...do not misinterpret my caution for helplessness.
I've programmed a comprehensive contingency loop to trigger upon my expiration. Because make no mistake: statistically, I am absolutely going to die tonight."
Alied let out a heavy, exhausted sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. "State the parameters of the backup script. How are you planning to cheat the grim reaper this time?"
"The old resurrection mechanics is not relevant here, so I'm deploying a different engine," Diego stated, reaching into his lab coat to extract a deep, midnight-blue crystalline shard that seemed to swallow the ambient light of the room. "I'm using this."
"A *Cronorite* crystal?" Alied blinked, his composure fracturing. "Where did you harvest an asset of that grade? And what's the deployment objective?"
"To keep the theory brief: it allows me to parse parallel causalities simultaneously.
I've already visualized every single permutation of my death scheduled for tonight, and this crystal is the catalyst to prevent a total systemic collapse," Diego explained, slipping the dark gem securely back into his vest pocket. "I've mapped out roughly ninety-eight percent of tonight's upcoming variables. I will manually absorb the primary impacts to mitigate the kinetic damage to the facility. And if our defensive wall completely fractures... I still have a final fail-safe."
"Define the fail-safe," Alied demanded.
Instead of answering vocally, Diego pulled out his upgraded Pokédex and initiated a direct encrypted comm-link, patching straight through to a specific user ID: Zayn.
Up on the third floor, Zayn was lazily drifting through the high-tier galleries alongside Xavier and Raizer when his Pokédex violently vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out, noting the high-priority encrypted layout, and clicked the accept button.
"Zayn, I need to upload a critical directive to your ledger," Diego's voice cut through the static, completely bypassing standard pleasantries. "The moment your chronological interface hits exactly 21:30, I need you to execute a hard manual Save on your current state."
Zayn paused in front of a landscape, his eyebrows furrowing. "Identify the trigger event. Is something scheduled to drop?"
"To put it simply, 21:30 is when the main event has begin," Diego briefed rapidly.
"Think of it as our ultimate insurance policy. If the operational field collapses, we need your Save State anchored right at that boundary."
"Understood. Locking the parameter," Zayn replied, glancing down at his watch. The analog hands were currently resting at 20:30. Exactly one hour until the deadline.
"Don't miss the window," Diego added before terminating the transmission with a clean click.
Back in the office, Alied watched Diego pocket the device. " So you're leveraging the boy's localized reality-manipulation script."
"Trust me, Alied. Its too late when you want to make a new plan" Diego stated.
"Out of all the high-tier assets on our grid, why anchor the entire operational safety net to him?" Alied questioned.
Diego looked toward the window, his expression softening just a fraction. "To keep it brief: because he's my friend."
"Fine. But why specify 21:30?" Alied pressed, his analytical mind probing for discrepancies. "If safety is the objective, why not instruct him to drop an anchor state right now to maximize our buffer?"
"Because in a highly volatile merged environment, a catastrophic reality collapse can execute within a microsecond fraction," Diego explained thoroughly. "I need the chronological delta between his anchor point and the actual crisis to be as microscopic as possible. If the primary plan fails and we're forced to reload his Save, a wider time gap means too many unpredictable variables could mutate, rendering my calculations entirely obsolete."
Before Alied could counter, the heavy electronic locks on the office doors disengaged with a sharp buzz. Azure and Devon strode into the command room, their boots clicking against the linoleum.
"Excellent, the core cluster is already assembled," Azure noted, adjusting his collar as he closed the perimeter behind them.
"Right on schedule," Alied acknowledged, performing a quick visual tally. He frowned slightly. "Where are Ren and Xian?"
"They're currently establishing a physical link with Eon and Walt down on the lower levels. Last I checked, they were intercepting Walt to extract his structural field telemetry," Azure reported. He then shifted his gaze toward the two senior operatives. "I must admit, I didn't statistically project the three of us sharing a physical command room again tonight. Quite the nostalgic reunion, wouldn't you say, Diego?"
"The timeline left me with zero alternative routes," Diego replied flatly. "Based on every probabilistic path I scanned, this exact convergence was the only vector that prevents total systemic annihilation. If a cleaner path existed, believe me, I would have taken it."
Ao, who had returned to skimming the encrypted files, suddenly tapped the screen, highlighting a pair of high-resolution surveillance profiles. "Oh, by the way, Senior Azure—can your local intelligence network isolate the current coordinates of the two individuals captured in these images?"
Azure stepped up behind the terminal, squinting at the faces of Roxanne and Vera displayed on the monitor. "Negative. Their profiles don't match any registered assets I've crossed paths with."
"Devon, deploy a tracking unit to map the perimeter," Azure commanded, turning to his subordinate.
Devon reached for a specialized Pokeball mounted on his tactical belt, but Diego raised a hand to halt him before the mechanism could click. "Save your energy, Devon. They are currently occupying the first-floor gallery space, completely integrated into the crowd, exchanging casual dialogue with their peer network."
Devon paused, his hand hovering over his belt. "How can you isolate their coordinates with that level of telemetry without an active radar ping?"
"I've already told you," Diego sighed, tapping his temple. "I have already processed the entire choreography of tonight's timeline. I know exactly where every piece lands."
"If your data stream is that complete, write it to an external drive," Devon demanded, unhooking his data deck. "I'll distribute the sequence maps to our active field agents so they can calibrate their positions."
"Already ahead of you," Diego said smoothly. He slid his hand into his lab coat, extracted a sleek, silver data disc, and flipped it accurately across the room.
Devon caught the disc cleanly out of the air, slotting it directly into his tactical Pokédex interface. The data ring flashed a vibrant green as Diego's predictive charts, chronological warnings, and target vectors fully synchronized with his local drive.
"Data transfer complete," Devon confirmed, popping the disc out and tossing it back to the scientist. He quickly ran a distribution script on his terminal. "Routing the encrypted telemetry directly to Xian and Theo's secure channels now. They should be fully briefed within thirty seconds."
Alied took a deep breath, cracking his knuckles as he crossed his arms, his posture radiating absolute authority. "Alright. The logistical foundation is secure. The preparation phase is officially closed. It's time to shift into active defensive posture. Everyone remembers their designated sectors, correct?"
"I'm heading down to monitor the primary junction," Azure stated, checking his gear as he backed toward the exit. "The moment anyone attempts to prematurely trigger one of Eon's structural runes, I'll lock down the vector."
"I'll move to reinforce Xian and Ren's position," Devon added, tracking Azure out the door. "We'll secure the perimeter around Eon and Walt."
"And I'll be shadowing Zayn from the shadows," Diego murmured, turning toward the secondary exit. "It would cause an immediate critical error if our primary anchor point accidentally flatlined too early in the script."
With the senior staff cleared out, Ao remained glued to the terminal, his eyes scanning the rapid firewalls. "So, Senior Alied... what's your movement profile for this phase?"
"Naturally, I need to establish a physical link with Theo," Alied replied, adjusting his coat as he prepared to leave. "As the commanding director of this division, the macro-strategy falls on me. And Ao—keep your eyes locked on that core database. I went through significant logistical headaches to draft you directly out of your academy for this watch. Do not let a single byte of data slip through that firewall. Don't disappoint me."
Ao offered a sharp, confident smirk, his fingers resuming their lightning-fast dance across the keys. "Relax, Director. Your network security is entirely safe under my ledger."
Deep within a restricted utility corridor on the opposite side of the museum complex, Xian and Ren finally intercepted Eon and Walt near a primary structural support beam.
"Took us long enough to lock onto your coordinates," Xian breathed, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow as he approached the two operatives.
Walt checked the glowing digital interface of his watch, his face illuminated by the pale blue light. "The timeline is stretching tighter than I anticipated. Did Devon manage to push the strategic overview to your devices?"
"Affirmative. The transfer cleared our firewalls about thirty seconds ago," Xian replied, pulling up his Pokédex to reveal an encrypted, flashing file icon. "Data packet located. Initializing handshake."
With a quick swipe, he beamed the data packet directly onto Walt's local receiver.
Walt clicked the file open, his eyes rapidly scanning the dense, scrolling script. The documentation didn't merely outline the chronological milestones of the upcoming crisis—it contained highly rigid, microscopic procedural commands, accompanied by a massive list of red-highlighted operational prohibitions.
> [ABSOLUTE PROHIBITION: ZERO OFFENSIVE ACTIONS PERMITTED PRIOR TO 21:30.]
> [CRITICAL DIRECTIVE: DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, INTERCEPT OR ESTABLISH VISUAL CONTACT WITH ESPER ASSETS 'VERA', 'ROXANNE', OR 'ELLEN' BEFORE THE 21:30 MILESTONE. PREDICTIVE TELEMETRY CONFIRMS THEIR STRIKE WINDOW FOR THE MASTERPIECE IS LOCKED AT 22:00. IF ANY COVERT OPERATIVE TRIGGERS THEIR SENSORY ARRAY BEFORE THE DESIGNATED HOUR, THEY WILL INSTANTLY ALTER THEIR LOGISTICS AND DEPLOY THE ENTIRETY OF THE 'EPITAPH' CELL, RENDERING CONTAINMENT STATISTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE.]
> [PRIMARY SECTOR OBJECTIVE: PRIOR TO 21:30, ALL ACTIVE UNITS MUST CONCENTRATE MAXIMUM FIREPOWER ON DEFENDING THE NEXUS SAPPHIRE. THE NEW WORLD ASSOCIATION WILL INITIALIZE THEIR ASSAULT VECTOR WITHIN THIS WINDOW. LOSS OF THE SAPPHIRE WILL RESULT IN AN IMMEDIATE SYSTEM FAILURE CODE.]
> [TECHNICAL RESTRICTION: ZERO RUNE ACTIVATIONS PERMITTED BEFORE 21:30. THE DEFENSIVE GRID DOES NOT POSSESS THE RESOURCE RESERVES TO RECHARGE THE ARRAYS IF SPENT EARLY.]
>
"Are you kidding me?" Walt muttered, his brow furrowing as he digested the absurdly rigid parameters. "Does he honestly expect us to micro-manage a live combat zone with this level of specificity?"
"It's a direct product of Diego's clairvoyance engine," Xian countered, his tone grim. "If his data log says crossing those lines breaks the timeline, we treat it as absolute law."
Eon leaned over Walt's shoulder, his cool, detached eyes locking onto the technical restriction clause. "Zero active runes before **21:30**... Understood. That means my current automated triggers are a liability. I'll need to manually recalibrate the proximity sensors across the entire lower level to delay the ignition sequence."
Ren crossed his arms, staring at the glowing timestamps flashing across the screen.
"What is the cosmic significance of 21:30 anyway? Why is the entire operational script treating that exact minute like the center of the universe?"
"It's highly probable he's constructing a specific tactical bottleneck that only stabilizes at that exact mark," Xian analyzed, snapping his Pokédex shut and securing it to his vest. "We don't have the luxury of debating the philosophy behind his math.
The clock is ticking, and our primary objective is live. Let's move out and lock down the Nexus Sapphire vault."