The Four Gates Crisis

Two days. 48 hours was the amount of rest we were able to get, before work found its way back to us. Yuno was busy arranging the transference of the Gates we had been promised by the other Guilds, Cassim was arranging meetings with politicians and brands that wanted Infragilis to endorse them and I was busy making a perfect schedule for the Guild's raids on our new Gates. In just a short month and a week, Infragilis had become the second biggest Guild in Japan, barely losing to Izaya's.

That sounded all good, but I was already exhausted after the fiftieth contract I signed. From energy drinks to supplements, everyone was in a frenzy trying to get the first contact with us. Luckily, or unluckily depending on who said it, that didn't last for long. It took us an entire day of being holed up in my office, but we managed to get through it.

When I was finally about to relax, Asuma rushed into my office, clearly agitated and worried.

"Hasegawa-san, we have and emergency!" he said with urgency. I simply sat straight, got serious and nodded him to continue. "The Gates from the other Guilds are acting up! We don't know the reason, since they raided them all the same time!"

I almost facepalmed at the piece of news. I could more or less guess why that had happened. There was a reason why the Gods tasked me with cleansing souls from the Gates. Those souls don't belong to this world. If they are allowed to remain here, they disrupt balance. My guess was probably right, seeing the current situation. The presence of foreign souls on Earth is what enabled the Gates to allow the monsters to invade Earth.

"What are the Ranks of the Gates currently active?" I asked Asuma with a dangerous glint on my eyes. It was time to get back to action. "Three B-Rank Gates and one A-Rank Gate! The Japanese Branch estimated that a quarter of Japan might be lost if they aren't dealth with!"

I had made a bit of research on Gates invading Earth. Apparently, every 24 hours a stream of monsters would leave the Gate and attack anything on sight. Unless those Gates were closed quickly, the monsters would continue to come out, each time shortening the 24 hours and increasing the amount of creatures that came out. One would think that it was something easy to deal with so long as an S-Ranker was present, right? But that wasn't the case. It took an S-Ranker to hold back the amount of monsters that came out of the first wave, not to mention the second or third.

<Fuck! And they come for me because of my position as Apostle... motherfuckers!>

I wasn't really mad, but a bit frustrated. After all, I wouldn't have allowed this to go by even if I wasn't an Apostle. Japan was my home too, so I couldn't allow it to be destroyed just because. The reason I was frustrated was because it all happened because of coincidence and chance. They decided to raid the Gates at the same time, which caused a sudden influx of foreign souls that numbered on the hundreds and that disrupted the balance in Japan.

"We're lucky that its only four Gates" I said with annoyance plastered all over my face. "Cassim, take the Gamma Squad to work on the closest B-Rank Gate"

I wasn't afraid of Cassim and the Gamma Squad to lose. We might have a few casualties this time, but those were never completely avoidable in the first place. After giving the order, I quickly contacted Toshiro.

"Noah-kun, I take it you've heard of the situation, what are your thoughts?!" Toshiro said without even greeting me. Not like I cared at the moment. I simply gave him an order, something that people would've found odd but Toshiro didn't seem to mind. "Contact Izaya and Jean, get them to work on the B-Rank Gate closest to them. Same thing with Aizawa and Yugo. I wan't Kagura on the B-Rank Gate closest to my Guild, I already have a Squad working on it but they'll need all the help they can get"

"Ok, what about the A-Rank Gate?!" he acknowledged my command and asked about the last Gate. I already had an idea on what we would do with it. "I want you and those under you to personally work with me on that end! Prioritize evacuating civilians, if too much people die things might get more messy!"

He just ended the call once I was done with the orders. Not much later, Yuno, Felix and I arrived at the site of the A-Rank Gate on my bike. We were currently in Hokkaido, very close to Sapporo. As soon as we got down, I equipped the Garments of the Guide and summoned Lament. Even Felix seemed to be restless and extremely alert. Not much time later, Toshiro arrived on the scene with a group of 50 Mercenaries that worked for the Branch. I could tell they were all A-Ranks.

"Noah-kun" Toshiro said in greeting, though his voice sonded worried and tired. "What are we doing then?"

"I need your team to hold back as many monsters as you can in the area of the Gate" I explained with little to no room for arguments. Meanwhile, Yuno and I are going inside and close it"

Toshiro just nodded, acknowledging my order. I was surprised at how obedient he and the others had been, considering I had been informed of everyone doing exactly as I had said. The others were already in position. Even Kagura had already met with Cassim, though she was the one making the calls.

Once everyone was in position, about two hundred meter away from the Gate, we decided to take a short moment to take a breather from the tension. As I walked by the place and looked at the fifty mercenaries, I realized how grim the situation was for them. Some were calling their families, others signing their wills and some even bought a life insurance. I sighed, knowing extremely well that some of them would die.

<I just hope nobody I know dies> (A/N: No, this isn't a flag. It isn't I said dammit! Ok it might be)

Half an hour went by like that. I discovered another vice I could take up without any danger. Smoking. The tension of the situation made me feel so stressed that, when a random Merc went up to me and offered me a cigarette, I said yes without thinking. I felt surprisingly relaxed while rolling it between my finger and taking a puff out of it every now and then. "Just great. Now I'm getting addicted to smoking..."

"The Gate is acting, monsters are coming!!" yelled the man assigned to keept watch over the Gate. Once it acted up, I decided to give them a small hand before going in. It wouldn't be much, but it would definitely help.

The first wave usually consisted of a few hundred low-rank monsters that inhabitted the Gate, and this one wasn't the exception thankfully. I was surprised when I recognized the creatures as the famous Hellhounds. This version of them was whispier, with a fiery blue fur. I was sure they numbered at least two hundred, but the problem was what came out after them. It was bigger, it had three heads... It was a Cerberus.

I didn't give them time to move once they left the Gate. I took Yuno into my arms and jumped straight for the Cerberus while using Soul Guidance. Lament began shining in a bright light and, moments later, it had cut one of the Cerberus' heads. I didn't give it time to react, besides the shrieking whine of pain it let out, before I cut the middle head. With only one head left, I simply pierced it with the bottom of Lament. With their leader dead, I headed straight for the Gate.

"I leave this to you, Toshiro!"

And without waiting, I went into the Gate with Yuno and Felix.

*

The inside was that of a cave, but it wasn't like the Rookie Killer at all. This cave was damp, dark and reeked of death. Instead of torched it was lit up by random wisps of blue fire, very similar to the Hellhounds fur.

"Why did you bring me here, Noah?" Yuno asked with doubt clear in her face and tone. I just smiled at her while walking forwards. "Well, I can protect you better if you are closer... and you grow stronger if you remain close, so I don't have to worry about you so much in the future"

I didn't bring Yuno with me because she would be an amazing help, but because she more closer to me and I could protect her better that way. She smiled warmly and stuck to me like glue. Like that, we delved deeper into the cave.

*Cassim POV*

Kagura-san and I were entering the B-Rank Gate located in Tohoku. To be more precise, in the center of Sendai. It was one of the most critical Gates, since not closing it meant losing the entirety of the Region.

Kagura-san had been quite reluctant to allow me into the Gate, but when she saw me deal with a few S-Rank undead monsters that appeared, she decided to just let me in. The excuse she used was that, if the Boss had sent me, then I had to be capable of at least that. It was clear as day that she was a Tsundere. While I wondered why not all girls could be like the Lady Boss, I felt the Gate was extremely familiar.

"This place looks like a battlefield..." I heard Kagura-san comment before looking around the place. It was an open field littered with bodies and the ground was red, bathed in blood. I felt the place was familiar for some reason, but I realized why when I saw a castle in the distance.

It gave off a dreadful and gloomy vibe, like it was dead...

"That place! It's the castle were Boss, Lady Boss and I closed a Gate!" I said, making Kagura-san open her eyes wide in shock. I then began thinking.

<But if that Castle is a Gate... and this battlefield is another one... then aren't some Gates... or perhaps all of them... connected?!>