Paris had just recovered from the magic quakes of a few hours ago. City employees were picking up the glass that shattered of various buildings, tow trucks were displacing cars that flipped on their side and prevented traffic from flowing smoothly. The occasional ambulance siren was heard in the distance and a few Hunters were helping out police and firefighters to secure perimeters where damage was more pronounced.

  After the incident, Mr. Vieuxvin had allowed Jeanne to go rest at home and she jumped at the occasion, not to recover though. She was worried about people getting hurt so she instead went to one of her House's branch to get more potent medicine and gather her equipment at home. There she was, in light armor with her trusted spear and shield, going around in the city on an equine-looking summon she borrowed when visiting the branch.

  It seemed that most of the work had been done already, by more experienced Hunters and conventional forces. Good. Jeanne ignored her trembling hands and breathed in slowly. She hated being a Hunter. But things needed to be done. And people were in need.

  She had power, and as dumb Lukas was, he was right. Powers came with responsibilities.

  Three years ago, her mom had been stuck in a Portal, and Jeanne, powerless at the time, couldn't do anything. She didn't want that trauma to happen to other people. She wanted to protect and for a foolish instant, she wished that she had power.

  This drive must have resonated with the will of the Star of Chivalry, who granted her the ability to block the strongest blows, and to recover from most injuries. A last gift came in the form of a summon-able golden shield.

  And truth to the Star's promise, Jeanne discovered during her first Portal dive that she could now stop literal tons of muscles with her frail legs and noodle arms. She could trade blows with orcs and stop projectiles of fantasy siege machines that could otherwise pierce a bus.

  The shield she was gifted was truly a testament of A Star's power. No matter how many times it got hit, it never bent, it never caved in.

  Despite this, she was not invincible. Her body was as impregnable as a fortress, but her mind was still one of a 17 years-old girl. Death was still foreign to her.

  Her second Portal dive was supposed to be easy. Herself, a novice-rank Hunter was among at least a dozen Senior, or A-rank powerhouses. Everything would have happened smoothly, if not for the double-Portal.

  The secret boss, who, for the first time, made her defenses falter. It shattered them even. The frost giant that had been waiting was massive. And Jeanne remembered the feeling of relief when its mace was eventually stopped by her shield. But Jeanne also remembered the terror she felt when she looked back at her teammates. Half a dozen impaled by shards of ice.

  All senior Hunters, dead in a single strike. She hadn't protected anyone. Her chivalry was dead and the shield shattered when the second strike hit her.

  It was all in the past now, but it happened for five more dives. Deaths she could have prevented.

  The leader of the Branch, Leo the SpearFlame had reassured her multiple times but the weight was still taking a toll on her mind.

  The straw that broke the camel's back came when Pierre Mayar, her brother's childhood friend came to the household, claiming that her brother had died because of an unknown entity. The Administrator, the being who was supposed to protect the people in the other dimension, had failed. He had lied.

  Since then, Jeanne couldn't bring herself to act.

  She couldn't hear about people her age gossiping and idolizing a deadly profession. She couldn't stand people who put their faith and their lives in the hands of entities who could not keep their promises. She could only continue to follow her wish of protecting people. Maybe why Chivalry had let her keep the powers she grew used to.

  The Star's words had left her perplexed at the time. But her conviction had strengthened with these few words. She would only care about protecting the unfortunate souls at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

  Jeanne got snapped out of her musing when a policeman came to her.

  "Miss ? What are you doing out here ? Oh, nevermind. You have a Hunter license. Sorry to bother you."

  "It's fine. Actually, monsieur. I wanted to ask something. I was looking around in the streets with my System window and it seems that most trouble has been dealt with. How come ? Especially since the mana-quakes were intense. There should have been a lot more damage."

  "Well guess we can thank the high-rank Hunters on standby in the city. They prevented a lot of people from being hurt. I don't know what's happening behind the scenes of your Houses of whatever but they've kept causalities to a minimum."

  "Ah, right. Thanks for answering my question. Have a good day sir."

  "You too, young miss. Be careful in your next Portal!"

  These are the people you swore to protect Jeanne. The ones unable to defend themselves against Portals.A shield that will not falter again... the girl thought to herself as she fastened her steed's pace.

  This day is a weird one. I hope that nothin-

  Huh ?!

  An instant ago, Jeanne was in one of the numerous streets of the French capital. Now her astral form was floating in space, along with countless other Hunters. The normally bright realm of the Stars was strangely quiet and dark.

  A deep rumble echoed in the darkness and the Hunters turned toward the source. There was nothing. Only themselves. Then, a glitchy form manifested before everyone's eyes. The... Administrator. What was he doing here ? Wasn't he supposed to be recruiting another world ?

  Something cracked in the fabric of space and the overseer of the Universe didn't get the chance to finish his sentence. Instead, his form glitched again and vanished without leaving a trace. Although they couldn't speak in their astral forms, the Hunters could discern each-other's astonishment.

  Jeanne blinked and she was back. It was almost as whatever happened never took place. The only differences were that the whole city was shrouded in darkness, as if night had fallen earlier than normal and the oppressive atmosphere in the air. Jeanne looked up and her mouth opened agape.

  A black ring-shaped mist with grey interior had appeared in this short interval. A Portal. But how big was it to tower over buildings ?

  Jeanne felt her phone ringing and answered right away. This was... the boss of the Branch. Leo the SpearFlame.

  "Miss Jeanne. I assume you can see that Portal that appeared a few seconds ago."

  "Of... course. My stuff is already with me. Do I need to pack more ?"

  "That'd be safer. Send me your coordinates, we'll teleport you to the Branch. Supports and rookies are gathering artifacts and consumables as we speak. I gave the order to regroup a kilometer away from Portal site and since you're part of our front-liners, I wanted you there rapidly too."

  "Ah, understood. I've sent you the street I'm in."

  "So you were right. The seventh EX-rank Portal. And maybe the biggest one by a large margin. Just to confirm, what were the mana level-readings for the other ones ?"

  "Six to seven-thousands miasma particles per second. Double the flux of an S-rank Portal. But this one is releasing..."

  "Ten-thousands. A death wish for someone who didn't bring anti-miasma protection. How much time do you estimate we last ? With full protection buffs and purification skills ?"

  "You Pierre ? A day. As for the majority, ten hours in the boss room, most likely."

  Pierre tapped his right temple and his System window materialized before him. Data displaying his mana reserves, his overall state of mind, skills, inventory, equipment...When he looked at the Portal, the interface started glitching and shut down completely.

  The man sighed heavily and turned to the trio of Apostles of Knowledge.

  "It seems you're getting this effect too. None of us can use our windows on the Portal itself. We're quite in a pickle then. We don't know what creatures are waiting on the other side, we don't know their danger levels, their abilities, so we can't prepare countermeasures."

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  "Didn't you assure us that this Portal would appear in eastern Europe ? And unless my geography is all messed up, this is far from any Slavic country. At least no-one was deployed for now. When can we expect reinforcements ? And when will the Portal open ?"

  "Doesn't seem like the rift has matured enough. The center is still whitish and grey, when it should be pitch black, just like its outline if it were ready to open. So about ten hours. Maybe twelve ?

  But don't worry. The Houses of Justice and Faith are regrouping in Germany to come all at once. Thousand Iai called in to let us know he was on an emergency flight. Buster, Phase and Lightyear are already on site with The Purifiers.

  We're waiting for the tanks of Chivalry."

  "Everyone seems to have gotten the message. We can't let a situation slip up from our hands again. Let's hope we solve this as fast as we can."

  The Empyrean Mage, the oldest and wisest of the trio checked his phone and frowned.

  "It's already a mess. My phone's getting blown up by news reports and AI articles already."

  "Pierre, aren't the ones of Chivalry supposed to be part of your House ? Why aren't they here with the rest ? I recall Leo was the one to speak about allying some time ago."

  "They've been distancing themselves from us. They're staying by themselves more and more. Jeanne is refusing to speak to me and Leo has been having talks with other Returnees."

  "But why ? You have the strongest House, the more widespread Constellation backing you. Why would Chivalry try to distance itself ?"

  "Pierre !" a fifth voice boomed. A giant of a man with bulging muscles and a bald head was advancing in the crowd of Hunters that were crowding the place. His One-Piece looking grin and the golden gloves he was wearing were giveaways of his identity.

  "Buster... You were quick."

  "N- no, he just tagged along when I... was about to teleport my men." a meek voice intervened and a head with a white-haired bob cut popped out from thin air.

  "Huh... Phase. Good to see you. Still as shy as... ever. How are you guys doing ? Did you bring your folks with yourselves ?"

  "Y- yeah, Buster and Lightyear, they kinda profited from my generosity."

  "Nope!"

  "Absolutely not! Plus we promised to pay you back. A month of expenses on us, remember ?"

  "Oh, y- yeah."

  "Well I'll be damned. How many did you guys bring ? One hundred members ? Three hundred ?"

  The teleportation master Returnee started to cry rivers in a cartoon-way and pointed at the hordes of Hunters coming out of a dozen blue circles.

  "They made me teleport five hundred hunters. I can't anymore..."

  "Oh... That's quite a lot. Did you bully her ?!"

  "Leader. The Hunters of Chivalry have arrived."

  "That's great. Now we can start briefing about a general strategy until we get more details."

  -

  "-but our usual strategy of the shield and the spear can be a double-edged sword. If we manage to breach into the enemy lines and the breakers end up being surrounded by strong enemies, no-one will be there to assist them. And splitting healers and buffers won't help. If the tanks can't hold to catch up to the rest we'll end up with two fronts, one unable to deal proper damage, the other unable to sustain damage. A rubber hammer and a glass cannon."

  "Yeah, even with my teleportation, we don't know where we'll warp. it could very well be in the middle of a side-boss room. If the warp spreads our forces too thinly it's over for many, even if we only allow B-ranks at the minimum.

  ... Speaking of which, shouldn't we rise the minimum rank for this operation ? I have a very bad feeling about this." Phase nervously stated.

  "We don't have much of a choice. The creatures on the other side work as swarms, and only overwhelming power or numbers can stop enemies in that number. We have overwhelming power, but in limited quantity. S-rank Hunters are too few and can't do everything alone."

  "Something is bugging me. May I speak please ?"

  "Please do Leo. Share your thoughts."

  "... We do know that what's in Portal... is a dragon of The Horde. Aside from you Arch-Mages, who are saying that it must be more powerful than the corpse DracLabs studied... there's one thing. Some creatures behind the Portal will inevitably be... Reptilzs. And those are far more intelligent than the usual monster out there. I'm with Phase on that. B-rank Hunters will get torn to shreds. It's better to not include them in the dive force."

  "But we would be cutting off half of our manpower. And... we do have a measure to make things easier for us. We can still use the shield and spear strategy, with a variation. Some of you guys may already know about this but we've been working on this project for quite a while with the Knowledge and European militaries.

  The idea was to convert unused military vehicles into mobile bases, to create outposts during Portal dives. Of course those were still relatively small for our needs so we tried to see if we could combine them, power-rangers style. The tests were successful and we get this." Pierre pointed to a rectangular form hidden from sight by a giant cover.

  A group of Hunters pulled the cover to reveal some sort of office-building-looking thing, elevated on giant tracks. Guns and other equipment of varying calibers were poking though holes and hatches. There were few words that could be used other than gigantic and overkill to describe that thing. Many Returnees and Hunters in general started to raise their eyebrows while reporters were taking shots left and right.

  Pierre continued his explanation, under the expectant eyes of his companions.

  "This is an LTPDV. The Long Term Portal Dive Vehicles. These things are made to block about four-thousand miasma particles per second just with their walls. They're equipped with magic cannons, regular ammunition for magic-resistant enemies, explosives, a proximity electric dome, a med-bay, parts can be disassembled to dispatch lighter, faster vehicles and-"

  "So that's a mobile fortress, it seems handy."

  "Correct. These things, if they prove themselves to be effective, will allow Hunters to set strongholds and push forward more efficiently without having to worry about miasma contamination. Moreover, it would allow tankers to not waste their breath during the first phases of a Portal dive.

  Of course, all of that is purely speculative. These machines still need to be tested."

  "So you plan to... test an invention in maybe one of the most dangerous Portal we've ever seen in five years ? Not very wise. And more reckless than courageous. But who am I to question this decision ?"

  "Leo. It's not like that. Think about it, it'll ease your burden, and you'll be in a better shape when it truly matters."

  "I am still unsure, but I will observe. Everyone. Raise your hand if you wish to embark on this thing. If you wish to still march in formation, do not."

  The Returnees and the many Hunters unfamiliar with the way of the Star of Chivalry rose an eyebrow as only a handful of Leo's followers rose their hand.

  "Alright. Now that it's settled..."

  "That was so boring... That's a lot of supplies, chief. Why do we need all of this ? And will we even be able to carry all of it ?"

  "You have your spatial bag, right ?"

  A nod answered Leo's question and he hummed.

  "Then you'll have enough space. Just remember that the new spear you commissioned can fold in half. Don't worry about it breaking, the joint is made from wyvern bones and tendons that were laying around since the DracLabs incident. Ah, don't make such a face Jeanne. I got these legally."

  "Why were so against these vehicles being used, leader ? I get that we're trying to break off from the House of Courage, but on paper these prototypes seem to be a good way of saving lives."

  "Yes. On paper, those creations seem to be amazing. But I see a huge downside, two actually. The first is a purely monetary one. Do you really think Branches like ours will be able to afford such vehicles ? We're a big Branch, but even then. So what about small ones ? Not everyone will be able to get something like that. And besides, the odds of us being replaced by these machines are quite high. Just remember how many times we're getting blamed for letting some enemies through.

  The second downside is the sense of false security these mobile bases will create. There's this common misconception that the monsters we slay are practically mindless. But like us, these creatures adapt to a certain degree. The moment they sense that we want to protect these vehicles, they'll swarm in. And with less stalling from out part to hold them off, the vast majority of Hunters is going to have problems.

  Besides, what about big creatures like golems and giants ? These slow and big targets with many people inside will be like candy for them."

  "... I see. Kinda. So basically you see it as a job-stealing coffin."

  "Essentially yes. But I just can't believe they're sending a prototype in a Portal like this."

  "Actually, there's... a second one."

  "Oh... what a great day."

  As if responding to the man's lament, the Portal sent a wave of mana that shattered the crystalized miasma that had been piling up on the sides.

  This was the signal.

  "Alright guys. I want twelve triangle formations of twelve men! Six formations per vehicle. We advance first before vehicle number 1! Shields at the ready! Commander Jeanne. You take the three formations on the left. I take the right! I leave vehicle 2 to our backers. I don't want a single monster in our perimeter!"

  "Yes sir!"

  The tanks of Chivalry advanced in their heavy armors to disappear in the dark light of the Portal. Then the titanic engine of the first mobile base roared to life. Soon enough, the prototype vanished too and the rest the Hunters on foot followed, with the military close by.

  ...

  ...

  ...

  It seems that... I am not welcome here.

  I will have to... explain myself. Don't fuck this up. I still need to see the white-haired cutie.