Fiends.
They appear as a part of everyday life. They're Streia who take their special gifts for granted, using them to abuse people and harm them.
It is like Magi are heroes while Fiends are the villains. They are like yin and yang. If one exists, so must the other.
"So, it's our job, alongside the JMF, to maintain the order of Japan and capture Fiends."
Yusaka explained.
She pointed at the image of a pillar building on the electronic board.
"When we capture them, we put them in the high-security prison for Magi. It's on its island. The prison is called Babylon. It's a prison where we put Fiends and other villains who have Streia abilities. Do you all understand?"
The three rookies nodded their heads.
They were the recruits of the Ironhide Squad. Aria, Shou and Isla. Originally, there were only supposed to be two recruits but they left a space spare for Aria. The act was influenced by their pity for Aria after her loss. Even if she was in last place, her abilities were still valued.
It was hard for her to accept being put into the Ironhide Squad due to pity.
They all nodded their heads to Yusaka's explanation. The board changed to a man. No, a person. The gender was indistinguishable. The person wore a black mask and a faint blue hoodie. Their eyes were azure—quite the elegant colour.
"Is that not...?"
Aria spoke up.
Yusaka nodded.
"Verglas. A Fiend with over two thousand kills."
"Two thousand?!"
Isla exclaimed.
"Verglas. The Rime Fiend. Ranked A. They have been active for three years. Two thousand confirmed kills, five-hundred and sixty-two unconfirmed kills. 12 accounts of destroying government official buildings. Escaped from the only prison break of Babylon two years ago and has not been seen since."
Shou gave an analysis of Verglas.
In other words, he was a villain even among Fiends.
Fiends had ranks from S to F.
Sinful Rank.
Abominal Rank.
Baleful Rank.
Calamity Rank.
Demon Rank.
Evil Rank.
Fiend Rank.
It ranks them by the number of atrocities committed. Verglas was high in the rankings.
"Exactly. You three along with Yuma and Rika will be sent on a mission to hunt him down and capture him."
"Three rookies and two professionals hunting down someone who's of the Abominal Rank."
Aria pointed out.
"This generation is tougher than others, even as rookies. It seems to be the same for other organisations too. Recently, The Council had a newcomer complete a prison escort mission. Their car was attacked and the newcomer defended against the group of Fiends from BLOOD."
Isla whistled.
(Now that's impressive. I can see why they're pushing us to our limit then. If one organisation seems weaker than another, the latter will pull its punches against the former.)
"So us, the Ironhide Squad from Avalon, have to keep up with the rest. We've balanced out the squad. It may seem stupid but we believe that you all can defeat Verglas."
Yusaka smiled.
It was a very twisted and unfair smile. Isla could not help but wince when seeing it.
"What happens if we can't?"
Shou asked.
"Then that would simply be it. You would be dead and Avalon would lose face."
She said, almost neutrally.
·———·
They were debriefed about the mission. The last time Verglas was supposedly spotted was in the Miyagi prefecture in Sendai in the Aoba ward.
The reason the word 'supposedly' is used is because the image that someone captured is not clear. It showed a person wearing a blue hoodie in a crowd. Not a very good or clear piece of information.
The image was only one of two pieces of information. The other was a piece of information from a trustworthy information broker. Although the information had no evidence to prove it, Yuma, the leader of the squad, deemed it trustworthy due to the source itself.
"So, how are we supposed to find Verglas?"
Rika asked Yuma.
The squad were in a hotel room. They had an entire month for their mission. They had to find and capture Verglas within that time.
"We've received information that Verglas has been around here for the past couple of days. It comes from a trustworthy source but no evidence."
Yuma explained to them.
He grabbed the cup at his side and took a sip of tea.
"Even if we're being misled, it's fine. While we're at it, Morisa-san has also given us the task of capturing any extra Fiends in the area."
He smiled and looked at the three rookies.
"So, what do you think we should do first, dummy trio?"
Isla looked at the other two, who seemed to be thinking.
She could never tell what Shou Murakami was thinking but Aria seemed to have a plan in mind.
"We survey the Aoba ward. We can dispatch familiars to help us search. Eventually, if they are here, we'll find Verglas."
She proposed.
"Nope."
Yuma rejected the plan without hesitation.
"Huh?! Senpai?! Why?!"
"It'll take too long. Our goal is the quickest, most effective way to find Verglas."
"But that's the best—"
"No, we simply need to find Fiends."
Isla interjected.
"Huh?! Fiends aren't our main job though! Sure Morisa-san did tell us to capture them, but still—!"
"Use your brain, meathead. The branch of information among Fiends is known to be fast and reliable. It means that information spreads quickly among them. If one has seen Verglas, then we'll know that they're in the city for sure."
Both Yuma and Rika looked at each other, smiling. Shou closed his eyes after hearing Isla's explanation.
"Hah?! There's no way that that will—!"
"Exactly, Isla is correct. That is the most efficient way to find Verglas. It's also productive since along the way, we will also be capturing other Fiends. Sometimes, you need to think outside of the box, Aria."
The brown-haired girl glared at Isla, who lightly chuckled under her breath, almost as if to make fun of Aria.
The girl swallowed her anger and turned away from the white-haired girl.
"I swear..."
"Rika and Isla will search east of the hotel while Shou, Aria and I will search west. Tomorrow, same groups, we'll search north and south. If we don't find anything, we'll move around Aoba and search again."
They all nodded.
"We'll meet back here at 8 pm. Until then."