CH 31: Aftermath
Lex sat down on a chair with Donna and Sharon. Donna was still controlling the Archpriestess using her lasso and getting information out of her, while Sharon was directing the rest of the team as they secured control of the headquarters.
At this point, there was hardly any resistance left after all.
Lex found himself looking at Kara’s body. It was a charred mess with more holes than limbs, and each wound still had Kryptonite embedded inside it.
Of course, Lex wasn't guilty about killing her... okay, he was a little bit guilty. Not because he had killed her, since she was already dead by that point anyway, but because he had let the situation happen in the first place. Looking at the body now, he couldn't help but think that he should have given her his blood from the beginning.
It was just that he had always felt a bit awkward offering people strange magical blood. With both Sharon and Donna, he had waited until there was a natural opportunity before bringing it up.
Thinking about the body, what would happen if he used the Gacha 's resummon process and revived the body too? Would there be two Kara?
The Power Girl card, which he had already used was currently in the resummon slot and he tore it, immediately the body in front of him vanished completely as if it never existed and a brand new Kara appeared in front of him.
Opening her eyes, Kara looked around… there was a huge pile of Kryponite not too far from where they were sitting.
“Did you have to summon me here? Or more importantly… did you have to summon a mountain of Kryptonite? How are you planning to dispose of it?” Kara immediately complained, not about killing her but rather she was more offended that Lex had increased her problem by creating Kryptonite in this world too.
“Ahh…well I didn't know how weak you were from it? I thought I'd have to make up a cage from Kryptonite to capture you or something.” Lex replied.
“Can your ability like take it back too?” She asked hopefully.
“Actually.. no it can't. I tried already.” Lex answered honestly.
They were now just stuck with a few tons of Kryptonite.
At this point, Lex was hoping he had one of those Storage Box that some game characters have where he could store it all. Since his Gacha Storage was only for stuff he got from the gacha, it couldn't be used either.
<After reviving your clone inside of the pocket dimension, a takeover can be initiated. Which should be an appropriate place to dump the Kryptonite.>
Raphael suggested.
“Oh that's great... As usual, Raphael, you've got my back.” Lex almost jumped from happiness. He had not been enjoying the increasingly annoyed looks Kara had been giving him, but now the problem was solved.
Soon, Kara took the others back to their small base they've built, Sharon and Donna remained with him, mostly to keep an eye on the non dead members of the hamd.
Of course, before all that, Lex gave Kara his blood. So such a situation doesn't happen again.
A few hours later, his clone came back to life inside the dimension, which now looked very different. There was no longer as much darkness. Instead, there seemed to be a murky light filling the space. The ground remained charred black and there didn't appear to be anything else around, however the sky seemed to have cracks running through it and minor earthquakes constantly shook the dimension.
After using the Eyes of Depth and Milim Eye, he was able to unravel the core of the dimension... no, an actual Core. It was a small white sphere and, according to the records as well as Raphael's own interpretation, he would need to fuse his body and soul with it in order to become the dimension's owner. The downside was that doing so would leave him trapped there.
Since he could technically create four clones for now, he didn't particularly mind dedicating one of them to permanently managing the dimension.
Fusing the soul with the core took quite some time, but in the end he succeeded with relative ease as there was no other owner of the dimension.
Opening the portal, which was actually quite easy, he threw in all the Kryponite in it. Finally, relaxing a little.
Now, what he required most was manpower, probably a few people who would know how to handle this situation well, as more important than the battle was the aftermath.
Sure there were a few other HQ left and they'd be destroying those too but since most of the known heavy hitters as well as the Beast himself was gone, it shouldn't be too hard to take over those.
Since he was in Japan, of course the first one he was gonna Summon was a Japanese person, or at least someone who had a Japanese name.
Taking out a Background Creation Card and the Kento Nanami card, Lex tore them together.
The background settled into place around a normal salaryman who had experienced encounters with the supernatural and eventually changed professions.
The next moment, a tall blond-haired man appeared before them. He looked to be in his late twenties and was dressed in a formal cream-colored suit with a patterned tie. His posture was straight, his expression calm and unreadable, and even after being suddenly summoned into an entirely unfamiliar environment, there wasn't the slightest trace of panic on his face. Instead, he simply adjusted his glasses, observed the people around him for a few moments, and then focused his attention on Lex.
“You seem to be the one I've agreed to work for. Before we proceed, I'd like a complete explanation of the current situation as well as the general direction of my responsibilities.”
The man spoke in a tired but professional voice.
Thankfully, the Gacha allowed all summons to learn the dominant language of the Summoner, meaning Nanami was speaking fluent English. Of course, with Raphael, Lex didn't really need that feature, but it certainly made communication between summons significantly easier.
“Oh.. you're that kind of person. I think that Sharon here should be the better person to talk to. She knows all the tactical stuff.” Lex replied as he pointed towards Sharon, who immediately pulled out her phone and started showing Nanami documents and such.
“So I suppose I'm here to handle the aftermath of the situation.” Nanami concluded after a long conversation with Sharon.
Meanwhile, Lex was thinking of Summoning a few more people, but also thinking about what if he doesn't use the background Creation card, what effect it'd have? Could he just ask Cortana to arrange digital documents and for physical ones he'd have to do some digging but it shouldn't be too difficult.
Going over all the remaining Character Cards he had available, Lex eventually stopped on one in particular.
Derek Hale.
According to the card description, Derek had experience leading packs and dealing with the sort of messy interpersonal problems that inevitably appeared whenever large groups of people were forced together. Since Nanami seemed far more suited to organization, logistics and administration than acting as an enforcer, having someone who could handle the rougher side of things sounded useful.
Besides, they were effectively taking over part of a criminal organization.
That was bound to require a different skill set than Sharon's usual approach.
Without bothering to use a Background Creation Card, Lex tore the card.
A moment later, a man in his twenties appeared before them. Red eyes immediately scanned the room before settling on Lex.
"What do you want?"
Straight to the point.
No confusion.
No questions about where he was.
No existential crisis.
Just business.
"Well, that's efficient," Lex said. "You need to work with that guy over there."
He pointed toward Nanami.
Derek followed the gesture and visibly paused.
"You want me to work under that suit?"
The disappointment in his voice was impossible to miss.
Nanami adjusted his glasses slightly.
"You seem disappointed."
"I prefer working by myself."
The answer came immediately and with enough firmness to make it clear this wasn't a new opinion.
"Hm."
Nanami considered him for a moment.
Rather than arguing, he simply opened one of the reports Sharon had prepared and placed it on the table.
"Then perhaps we should begin with results rather than titles."
Derek folded his arms.
"I'm listening."
Nanami nodded slightly.
"In the upper levels of this facility there are approximately three hundred surviving Hand operatives. These are the individuals who surrendered after the death of their leadership."
Derek's expression didn't change.
"Okay."
"I need them categorized."
That finally earned a little more interest.
Nanami continued calmly.
"Some surrendered because they fear retaliation. Some surrendered because they were employees rather than believers. Others are undoubtedly waiting for an opportunity to betray us."
A new file appeared on the screen.
"I need those groups separated."
Derek glanced at the information before looking back at Nanami.
"You want me to figure out who's lying."
"Essentially."
"And if I find the ones planning something stupid?"
Nanami looked entirely unbothered.
"Then I trust your judgement."
For the first time since arriving, Derek's expression softened slightly.
Not much.
Just enough.
"Fair."
Lex quietly stepped away from the conversation.
The two of them continued talking for nearly an hour afterward. By the time Nanami began discussing infrastructure, logistics, recruitment and long-term stabilization plans while Derek provided practical insights into managing violent groups, Lex had already decided they would probably work surprisingly well together.
More importantly, both Sharon and Raphael considered Nanami trustworthy enough to handle most of the aftermath.
That alone was worth a great deal.
After helping refine several plans and reviewing them with Raphael one final time, Lex left the situation in Nanami's hands and departed alongside Sharon and Donna.
The following days were spent systematically dismantling the remainder of the Hand's infrastructure throughout Japan.
Without the Beast, the Archpriestess and most of the organization's senior leadership, resistance collapsed rapidly. Several facilities surrendered outright while others attempted to fight and were destroyed. A significant number of surviving members were simply too dangerous to leave alive. Between demonic corruption, resurrection rituals and decades of atrocities, there was little justification for mercy in many cases.
By the time December began, the Hand as a major organization effectively no longer existed.
Smaller remnants undoubtedly remained hidden throughout the world, but the power structure that had controlled them for centuries had been shattered.
With their work in Japan finally complete, the group returned to the United States.
Naturally, they teleported.
After spending the last several weeks traveling through mountains and jungle, none of them had any desire to waste half a day sitting inside an airplane.