*
"What's the news on Eterna?" (Mastermind?)
"Wouldn't that be your specialty? I'm sure you heard from 5 other channels before asking me..." (Shield bearer, {Nerve})
A medium sized figure speaks to a larger figure with an air of authority. He wasn't as condescending as the other heavenly kings, but there was a quality to his voice that made anyone want to earnestly obey. It wasn't a particularly alluring or guttural power voice. It was the voice of the ordinary with the weight of accumulated experience. The oldest heavenly king, it took hundreds of years for any one heavenly king to manifest in this world, because Eterna took possession of all magic on earth.
Then the issue with all the Traces popping up and causing potential casualties... That was akin to these outside forces from the heavenly kings hacking Eterna's defences, manipulating what is in the possession of others without getting their hands dirty. The best that Eterna could do was to exploit her own authority over the magic. If a little bit of magic got hacked and turned into a Trace, she would use the rest of the magic that wasn't hacked to form a cage, this was the 'Event' that existed outside of time and space. Like a specific segmented cut of the timeline, excised and eliminated. Excise one second out of the timeline and no one would notice a thing.
"... I need to maintain multiple channels-" (Mastermind?)
"To maintain a high standard of veracity, got it. We've been through this many times..." ({Nerve})
A routined exchange at this point, the two couldn't help but smile to themselves.
"You sure have a lot of {Nerve}... Speaking to your boss like that..." (Mastermind?)
"Haha... Comes with the seniority. You might be the oldest, but you're not alone." ({Nerve})
"...!? They... They've arrived at the previous hideout. It's dangerous, they have back tracking capabilities, particularly it must have been the work of Sariel. " (Mastermind?)
Cold sweat dripped down the back of his bodyguard, the taller more well built man. To say the least, they weren't magical girls. The fact that they were built male, meant that they could only be Traces or their evolved counterparts, Remnants. It wasn't hard to conclude, the boss was a heavenly king and he had many Remnant subordinates.
"Then the best course of action would be to isolate or kill of Sariel first." ({Nerve})
"Thankfully we withdrew as a precaution and wiped our traces. When it comes to detection and concealment, none would compare..." (Mastermind?)
"Right? To an intelligent enemy, you would be the hardest to fight." ({Nerve})
He speaks softly, his rugged stature didn't betray any commonly associated features. He was no meat head, he was the guardian of the shorter figure before him, a figure evidently a heavenly king with the height of a average adult. Standing at around 1.8m, he was dressed like a modern person an his features were young but not too young. They were adult like, but it lacked all the wrinkles and stresses of a full time job.
His jacket, shirt, and jeans were all too casual, as if he were meant to hang out with some other delinquents behind any other backalley. Meanwhile the wilder of {Nerve} was roughly 2m tall, his honed muscles shaped smoothly into one another like a carefully chiseled sculpture. His large build was enough to intimidate without the use of any magic, any biological being would feel fear upon realising he was an enemy. As for allies no other presence felt more reassuring.
His lips creased into a smile as he observed the surveillance footage with his master. Displayed clearly over a monitor were the magical girls exploring their previous hideout for clues. His boss was something akin to a walking data centre, always equipped with advance radio tools for detection and concealment. Even then he had a habit of executing operations through analogue methods, like using a portable printer and other electronics. Before manipulating his own magic, he would first use the old fashion way of reconnaissance.
That was the current method employed to spy on their enemies. There was no such sophisticated mind games or plans adopted ahead of time, they simply placed a small camera in their previous hideout and moved out with all their analogue and electronic instruments. As it stood, {Nerve} was even holding a stack of papers with a portable printer and shredder physically in the present.
"... 11508 years... It took precisely that long to prepare, but all the pieces are finally here. Even so, it feels like preparations are never enough." (Mastermind?)
"It doesn't really matter what they do. The gears of destiny have begun spinning for a long time, rather we've barely arrived at the end point where they stopped and the rest of the machinery begins." ({Nerve})
"When did you bother to pick up any eloquence?" (Mastermind?)
"... You rubbed off on me the bad way." ({Nerve})
"Oh come on..." (Mastermind?)
The camera was placed ahead of time for their own security. It was a simple arrangement but quite effective at its job, since it's normal technology the magical girls couldn't detect it. None of them had electricity based powers. Lastia could indiscriminately bombard the area with {Feed}, but at that point she'd be bombing the entire floor of that building without rhyme or reason.
"Speaking of which, how are Eterna's agents doing?" (Mastermind?)
"... I know I basically work as a compiler, since the information is readily sent to your mind... Haa~
Her agents, in other words the tactility of her senses, the sentinels have been making some moves. In terms of progress for our plans, they are the ones who are most disruptive. Slightly more than 20 select individuals who miraculously rose to the level of A grade.
They don't stand a chance against you in a solo battle, but being a non combat type makes a group battle pose some risk to your life. Our subordinates are not nearly as numerous, and sometimes our movements are detected. It has been a long game. " ({Nerve})
"... No thanks to Eterna. Her barrier makes it exceedingly difficult to interfere with the world, to the point that Observer and Calamity can only manifest every few hundred years for a short time.
We were able to manifest and operate for one year for every 100 years we are impeded by the barrier. This comes to a grand total of 115 years ever since the age of abundance calendar. " (Mastermind?)
" Regretful indeed... Trying to pop this bubble of a world has been... Quite demanding. "({Nerve})