Chapter 1: So, Isekai?

{Operative}

The alarm went off and, through ingrained training, I woke up… or at least, I opened my eyes, turned off the alarm before grudgingly doing my morning routine. I just really hated waking up early in the morning; it was simply too annoying. But, I was a high school student so I still had to go to school. And, with that, I have to wake up early.

There was no one else in my house. Both of my parents had volunteered to join a space colonization program. Or rather, my dad was "kindly asked" to go because of some political shenanigans and my mom, who was completely smitten with him for more than 20 years, left on the second ship two years after. At least she was still sane enough to teach me how to take care of myself before, as well as leaving me a sizable amount of money for living expense. And just in case, she had also contacted her sister — a CEO of a very prestigious engineering conglomerate — in order to keep me fed and watered. It had been ten years already and monthly supplements were transferred into my account.

Not like I would need their money considering that I had one hell of a job. The eccentricities and insanity of my dad aside, he was a highly respected and fearful military commander. Before his critical injuries, his file of that period was covered in a ton of black ink. I had no idea how helpful it was in landing me a job with Security Bureau…

As it turned out, my dad had been at the forefront of the War even before it took place. Five years waging the war in shadow, he had crippled a good deal of the enemy force and was only stopped when he had lost all four of his limbs in a single op. Even that could not stop him from being a brilliant front-line commander in the war.

To say I had to walk in his shadow was an understatement. But five years within the Bureau and a few hiccups had helped me to forge my own path. Just like my dad, I would become a silent guardian of the Terran Federation, safeguarding humanity from the horror within and without. Especially within.

Munching toast while holstering a pistol around my ankle, I ran over the diagnosis of my tools. The smart-watch with direct satellites was on my wrist, and an arm-band opening up a small hyperspace arsenal was secured around my forearm. My backpack was equipped with a bulletproof lining, and I had a few simple survival tools stashed inside.

Time to earn my paycheck then.

Jumping on my scooter, I sped toward the house at the end of the block. And, right on time, Shinonono Yukino appeared through the door. She was my charge, and I was her guardian. And I was also her executioner if needed. It was a punishment that humanity dealt upon the magical kind. Harsh, brutal, but it was very effective. Mankind would push forward to help the mystic to integrate and hopefully be accepted in their society, but humans were also ready to deal with the "fifth column" in the most brutally efficient way possible.

At least the second part was not really necessary anymore; Yukino had already proved her loyalty to the Terran Federation, single-handily subdued five other witches planning for a mass summoning of demons. She saved my life in the process, and I took three lightning bolts for her. Just because.

Things were strange after that for us. High Command cleared her name, freeing more social liberties for her, but they also stuck her on me. Not that I minded, of course, she was quite cute and pleasant. A bit of a mama-bear when she found out that I had been injured —no one told me what happened after I had passed out— but she was pleasant enough to hang out with. In addition, she was quite intelligent and one hell of a lifesaver in Chemistry and Biology. It was a nice save for me because sometimes I just mucked them up.

It was being proved right now as she was quizzing me on Chemistry. More likely than not, the teacher would give us a small questionnaire today, and I hate having a bad mark on it. Yeah, it was a joke, a spy kid was afraid of having a terrible mark. But I had seen stranger things over the course of my training and career, and I had done worse too.

The two of us walked together to our classroom, pointedly ignoring the stares and whispers of every other student. Everyone thought that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, which was probably the farthest thing from the truth. Though, in their defence, the two of us were constantly staying with the other and had already turned down quite an amount of confessions already… And, in our defence, I was an intelligence operative and she was a witch. We did not do normal, even if we trying to.

Again, our class welcomed us with a series of smirks and scoffs. They were wondering why we had not proposed to each other yet… Yeah, it would be compromising. I had a job to take her down if she went rogue, being her boyfriend would be counter-productive. Being cleared or not, my pragmatic side demanded me to stay vigilant… even if my hormones were screaming otherwise. It was even harder after that freaking day, the day we first stood and fought back-to-back.

Well, the two of us had not jumped on each other for a hanky panky, even if in some of my nightmares —or wet dreams— shows it happening soon enough.

Normally, the day would go on like usual, with the whole class trying to survive the day, but it seemed God —Random Omnipotent Being, or something like that— had another idea. The moment our teacher stepped in, the floor suddenly lit up with a magical circle. It was large, covering every single tile in this room. I had seen only one magical formation as large as this one, and it was the one used by the group of five witches mentioned before.

That day was bad enough, and I had no doubt that this time it would be even worse. My watch was vibrating heavily, sensing the massive amount of mana being used to fuel this ritual. It was bad, an extreme concentration of mana could block the deployment of hyperspace arsenal, leaving me fangless. At least I was prepared for this already, having my handgun and my blade tucked under my pants, right around my ankles. Worst case scenario, I could break out…

But it meant leaving Yukino behind. And I hated doing that, and I was pretty sure it was not because I was infatuated with her…

The magical circle was getting brighter and brighter, almost blinding my eyes. This was one of the few times I hated my dad who refused to give me any augmentation. A bionic eye (the man had TWO!) would be helpful to restrict the flash, giving me the full view of what was happening. Too bad I was fully natural so I had no such luxury.

When my vision returned, the view surrounding me had already changed. The pristine white walls had gone, the lone tree seen through the window had gone… my class was not standing on the second floor anymore, nor we were still within Tokyo anymore. No, we were staying in some place like a chapel. Well, a chapel built in a circular shape, and its wall was reduced to some curving pillars. The air was blowing in from all direction, and there was no clear or distinct shape or symbol of religion, no statue or scripture of G-O-D or anything like that.

And then, one second later, I noticed something strange… Surrounding the "chapel" was a group of people with colourful clothes, styles of which ranged from nobility to religious and anything in between. There was one thing for sure though, I had never seen such styles, not in a history book, not on fashion shows, and luckily no intelligence report.

So, my class was not kidnapped by any rouge group of magical... Or any magical force that I knew of, at least…

Then, an elder man slowly stood up. He was old, probably mid-60. A robe screaming out "Catholic Pope" was being worn, but as far as I knew, it was not the real Pope's dress in the Vatican, partially because it was being held in a heavily secured display, and because the Vatican was destroyed in the War. In addition, he was leaning on a decorated staff, which was something no Pope had done. And last but not least, there was a crap ton of jewellery on him, further distancing him from the real Pope.

So, it begged an interesting question, who was he?

The man slightly raised his staff off the ground, and it suddenly started pulsing with light and magic. I knew this feeling: pure, powerful magic. I had never experienced such a feeling before, even the tests of friendly magical were not as strange as this. There was no doubt, this old religious man was a powerful mage.

But it led to an interesting question, while the Vatican did have an armed wing, using both technology and magic to counter hostile magical, Section XIII had been depleted and destroyed in the War, so how could they still field men of this calibre?

No, he was not Section XIII. There was no symbol of the unit anywhere within my sight.

So, it went back to square one – What the actual fuck was going on?

Then, the man gave me the answer:

"O' Chosen Ones, Angles of God's Justice, Heroes and Legends, welcome to America. May Lumina bless upon you. May you be glorious. May you be triumphant. Please, guide us to the victory of the War against Darkness."

Well… Isekai? Another world?

…

Fuck.