"Hah..." I sighed. I wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do, but I had already told Kageyama my intentions. I thought I could use Shirayuki's security department as a base for my PMC personnel. He has yet to give his reply.

  "What's wrong, Lily? You look down," Shining Arrow asked.

  We were back at Guardian Command. There wasn't much to do here, so my thoughts kept returning to my PMC. Who would lead these soldiers when I was away? Should I just pick some random soldiers? But none of them really understood how Magical Girls fought.

  "Hm? It's nothing. I just feel uneasy somehow."

  "How about we go to my café?"

  "Oh! Good idea! We can tell Shining's brother about the new enchanter class too," Red Flame said as we lounged in GC.

  "I've picked up the class, but we need Anathema's essence… I thought I'd never have to deal with Anathema again…" Sapphire Priest whined.

  The new class offered to us was related to enchanting equipment. Thanks to Elder July's ritual, Zenith had incorporated the technique and created a new class for Magical Guardians who wished to pursue weapon enchanting.

  However, the catch was that they needed Anathema's essence. So, they inevitably had to be accompanied by fighters to extract Anathema's essence from their corpses for the enchanting process. Zenith even started selling special vials for this new branch of Magical Guardians to store the essence.

  It was humbling that Zenith had understood the entire enchantment process in less than a week and was offering us support. The vials were sold for 10 points each, with each vial able to hold about 100 points of Anathema essence, calculated based on various aspects such as Anathema's level, freshness, or wholeness of the corpses.

  Kageyama had launched a stock market initiative centered around Anathema essence, promoting it as a reliable source of energy and enchantment. Unfortunately, only Magical Girls or Guardians with the appropriate class could extract it, and once again, Zenith seemed to favor Magical Girls and Guardians.

  However, a lesser vial could be purchased through Zenith for 1 point. This vial didn't store essence but rather Anathema's blood. Since Anathema would evaporate if left for a prolonged period, this vial prevented that. Ordinary humans could use it, but there was a caveat: it held much less than the vials designed for Magical Girls and only worked for specific types of Anathema—those that could bleed.

  Even when faced with such hardship, the fact that humans could finally take one step forward in using magic filled us with hope. Kageyama mentioned that General Armstrong was strongly in favor of this idea and had promised to rally the entire UNH behind the effort.

  "Y'know, isn't it actually more dangerous to be an Anathema extractor?" Red Flame muttered. "Even if your level is D rank, you might be asked to hunt with an A-rank team to harvest essence right after the kill. Anathema essence needs to be extracted within twenty minutes after death. The sooner, the better."

  "Eh? That's not how aggro works. Anathema always goes for the most dangerous Guardians. If you just sit there, they'll mostly ignore you. As long as you can handle stray bullets, you'll be fine," Sapphire replied while grumbling. "The new class was only offered two days ago, but I had already registered. We haven't hunted any Anathema yet, so I haven't gotten to use it that much. Ugh... why did this class appear now? Why didn't it appear before we assaulted the gate?"

  "We already killed tons during the gate assault. Let's take a breather! The cakes at Shining's place are great!" Red Flame said, and I perked up at the idea.

  "Eh? You want to go to my place?" Shining asked.

  "Yeah! We're in a festive mood right now. Let's go and relax," Red Flame replied.

  And so, we went to Alice's house. The cake there wasn't as delicious as ours, but it had a homemade charm that made it feel comforting. But the important part was Alice's brother. I thought Guardians were only supposed to discuss their stat allocations with their familiars, for they are extremely private, but Alice let her brother help her with it.

  An idea popped into my head: I wanted to recruit him into my PMC. Plus, he was Shining's brother, so he was trustworthy.

  His deployment strategies were good, almost on par with experienced soldiers from our security department.

  Then, a call came from Kageyama.

  "Yuri—should I call you Lily now? Anyway, about the PMC you mentioned. We have about two thousand qualified applicants."

  "Two thousand?" I gaped at the number.

  "And about ten thousand more are eager to join, but they haven't passed the fitness test. So we've put them in reserve."

  "I see."

  "Was the number too low? I'm sure if we trained some of the 10,000 reserves, we could get more."

  "No, it's actually too many. I was thinking of just two or three hundred."

  "Anyway, the funding and the men are ready. We have some Enchanter Guardians too, right? Isn't Sapphire Priest one of them? She'll do well. The headquarters are here—it's a bit cramped, and training will first be done in a simulator. Once they get a feel for things, they can be sent on missions to the Darklands. You have full support from Guardian Command. They're even willing to allocate space if you need it."

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  "Wait, full support from Guardian Command?"

  "Yes. You're pioneering a new combat system. Guardians will now operate alongside outfitted, trained humans to fight Anathema. The Guardians will be there primarily to protect the soldiers' lives. With the new enchanting technique, this is possible."

  "I see."

  This turned out to be a bigger event than I thought it would be. I didn't expect people to willingly risk their lives to fight the Anathema. Nervously, I arrived at the PMC building Kageyama told me about. Of course, I came as Black Lily, not Yuri.

  Even though Kageyama had called the building small, it was twenty stories high and packed with people sleeping in pods. When they learned I was coming, everyone lined up and gave me a military salute. They all wore black shirts, similar to mine. My black uniform certainly had some kind of military rank to it. I didn't feel out of place here. Either Kageyama had arranged it to be this way to promote me, or the designer felt this was the best design they could come up with.

  "Ma'am!" the soldiers saluted. I could only nod as I walked past them.

  "Listen up, you're going to be extractors. You'll need to earn your own weapons. For now, we'll provide you with Darkbane bullets for this operation. Are we clear?" the sergeant announced, holding up a lesser vial provided by Sapphire Priest. "We used some Fomorian Hounds to make these bullets, courtesy of Sapphire Priest. Show her your gratitude later."

  "Guardian Command has granted us access to the nearest usurpation zone just for this mission. Do your best, gentlemen," the sergeant added, then saluted.

  "Yes, sir!"

  Shining Arrow and Red Flame Darkness were also present. Each of us was assigned a team of ten men. We were supposed to head to the simulation room, but as if on cue, an alarm for an usurpation blared, and a new quest notification from Zenith appeared:

  [New Quest! Support the Earth Liberation Forces!]

  [Description: Support ELF against Anathema usurpation. Ensure no casualties among the soldiers while they eliminate Anathema and extract blood.

  Soldiers: 10/10

  Essence: 0]

  [Difficulty: Easy]

  [Reward: 500 Points]

  The soldiers whispered among themselves, nervousness evident on their faces. But the sergeant quickly chided them.

  "What are you waiting for? Get your gear! This is not a drill! We've been blessed with real-life action! Everyone, on the double! Magical Girl Black Lily, please accompany them and ensure their safety," the sergeant said, saluting me. We all departed in a Seinjet Trailer.

  The troops, totaling over 30, dismounted near the usurpation zone. I looked around and noticed reporters on the scene. Knowing that I was curious, Felicia flashed a news channel where reporters were discussing new methods for defeating Anathema.

  "What rank is this usurpation again?" I asked Felicia.

  "Rank D."

  "So, below level 60, huh?"

  "Yup. It won't be any trouble for you, but for our new recruits, it could be a bit challenging. It depends on the Anathema inside."

  I summoned three clones, but a radio call came through with a warning.

  "Black Lily, please note that this operation is intended to be handled by our troops only. It's to show that we are capable of clearing usurpation zones by ourselves. Please only interfere if someone's life is at stake."

  "Roger," I replied. Shining and Red Flame also confirmed. I was a bit startled to realize our radios were connected. Once we were inside the zone, we spread out; Shining, Red Flame, and I each took a squad of 10 soldiers to raid the usurpation.

  "Fomorian hounds!" someone called out.

  "Alpha 1! Shoot it. Beta team, harvest!"

  My soldiers killed it, and the second team immediately began the harvesting process. One person lifted the body while another slit its throat, funneling the black blood into a cup. By the time they finished, the vial was a tenth full. When I asked Felicia about it, she said it was worth about five essences.

  "Sapphire Priest would get about twice that amount using her new class," Felicia noted.

  "Should I change classes too?"

  "There's a one-month cooldown when changing classes, and it has to be done in your leisure, when you are untransformed. The process took about twenty minutes. But you'll keep all the levels and skills you've gained, so some people switch classes regularly. It's up to you. Will you continue with your current class, or will you switch."

  I picked up my guns—the assault rifle, sniper, and shotgun—and followed the team. Each team was split into two groups: one for harvesting and the other as soldiers. Both groups were equipped with guns, so there shouldn't be any blind spots.

  "Watch it. Another one is coming!" Alpha team ducked and fired another round. I almost yawned out of boredom. They played by the book, So it is pretty safe. The usurpation happened in one of Eden's offices, so we learned the layout through the strategic communication by Alice's brother.

  "Watch out! The big guy is here! A Fomorian Gorilla! Aim for the head!" A soldier ran toward our position. I was about to shoot, but Felicia stopped me. A Fomorian Gorilla is slow, so this team got lucky—they should be able to handle it on their own. I need not interfere unless they are within a range of less than ten meters from any soldiers.

  Bullets rained down on the armored gorilla. A Fomorian Gorilla has a mouth on its hands, and its face is hollow, with fangs protruding from the mouth. I almost shot it out of reflex, but Felicia warned me to hold off. It was soon taken down with a barrage of bullets.

  As the usurpation cleared out and the harvesters quickly approached the gorilla, reporters stepped forward to deliver their news coverage. I wondered why the usurpation suddenly ended, and then I realized Shining's team had found the curse seed and broken it.

  The soldiers cheered as the reporters shared the good news with the media. A soldier, nicknamed Ace, bragged that he had broken the curse seed using the guns.

  "Felicia, the Darkbane bullets are just an imitation of Silverbane, right?" I asked.

  "Yes."

  "Was this victory really that special?"

  "Yes. The purpose was to show that humans can defeat Anathema using their own tools—not items bought from Zenith. The Guardians producing the bullets are still learning, and we need a continuous supply of Anathema essence to keep refining them. This shows that a step forward was taken."

  "But realistically, can we still fight higher-level Anathema?"

  "The enchantments aren't limited to guns and bullets. Humans are researching armor and equipment, too. Although I believe Magical Girls and Guardians will still lead the fight, at least humans will have a role, instead of just sitting around relying on Guardians to save them."

  "I see."

  It wasn't their problem—it was mine. Why was I feeling uneasy about this result? I should be supporting them, not doubting their every move.

  They did well; they had beaten the Anathema. Humanity had taken its first step toward fighting back. That's what I should be celebrating.

  "Lily, you've got a phone call from a man named Jonathan," Felicia said. "He wants to discuss your engagement."

  "Hm?"

  "Wasn't the engagement canceled? Why would he want to talk things out?" I muttered aloud, before a realization hit me.

  Wait a minute, how did he get my phone number?