286 Purge 5

"I agree."

Standing over the corpse of the last imitation Hellwalker, Dax wore a dissatisfied frown as he dissolved his phalanx armour. Solaris likewise wasn't amused, the pair of 3 metre wide pure white angel wings which she had rematerialized fluttered in slight frustration as her spear made out of golden mana crystals dissolved into thin air. The reason for their annoyance was the complete lack of any evidence leading further up in the food chain, as it looked now, all the countless criminals and imitation Hellwalkers who had died today had acted on their own accords, all independently of each other and without any contact to an original Hellwalker.

(... If this really is the case then this entire thing doesn't make any sense, without someone on the 'inside' of the 125th, this corruption would never have happened in the first place, and more importantly, the imitation Hellwalkers would never have become real Hellwalkers in the first place without someone from within the organization letting them inside in the first place.)

"It's like a gigantic, headless snake all of this."

Dax didn't like this situation one bit, he felt like he was missing something major, and working in a field where missing key details could be deadly only made that worse.

"An apt analogy, but headless snakes aren't this smart. We're missing something."

With nothing more to go on with their site, Solaris and Dax decided it best to regroup with the other raid parties to see if they had found any evidence of a 'head', leaving the mess they had made all over the capital in the capable hands of police chief Hort, who's hair was getting whiter by the day.

-

"So Alice and Phillipa busted a drug production facility, Lilly and Lia happened on a drone cache collected to illegal arms trade while Mare and Terra broke up a slave processing facility while I and Solaris busted an imitation Hellwalker stronghold, and still we didn't find any trace of a leader?"

Back at his home, Dax started mission debriefing with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"That's correct yeah, it would seem we didn't succeed in wiping out the imitation Hellwalkers in one fell swoop as we had hoped."

Sharing a similar sentiment as Dax, Phillipa looked to Alice before reporting a slight success of the operation.

"But on the plus side, we managed to combat test the new generation manatech weaponry and spell formations, to say the use of mana to wage war is extremely effective would be a gross understatement."

"No shit X.O. Still, I can't wait to use it against the Emergence, that will be the real test."

"Changing the subject, while I can check for who broke the gag order I would like for the people in question to step forward on their own, it will save me some paperwork."

Jumping to the next subject, the meeting room suddenly fell silent as everyone looked at each other in turn.

"... It was me, I'm sorry."

Timidly extending an arm, Lilly looked truly apologetic as she did her best to avoid eye contact with Dax.

"It was also my fault! I failed to locate the Titan before it shot down our air support, if I hadn't done that then Miss Lilly wouldn't have had to resort to magic! If anything I should be the one to be punished!"

Stepping forward to take part in the blame, Dax only needed to look at Lia's flattened ears to see she was prepared for a harsh punishment.

"Very well, thanks for stepping forth, both of you. Solaris, will you take care of Lia?"

"... Sure."

Successfully dividing his suddenly increased workload, Dax walked over to Lilly who still wouldn't meet his eyes, her long ears dropping down apologetically as she stared into the ground in front of her feet.

"While it is unfortunate we couldn't keep manatech under wraps longer than this, you made the correct decision to save your own life Lilly, I'm glad you're safe."

"Eh?"

Looking up to meet Dax's eyes, confusion was clear on Lilly's eyes as she made a slightly daft sound. Meeting Dax's eyes closer than she had expected, Lilly showed her inexperience as she froze up in surprise, allowing Dax to strike.

"W-w-w-what are you doing!?"

Sneaking a kiss in Lilly as she was momentarily defenceless, Dax's teasing smile made Lilly's face and ears match her vibrant hair colour as she bloomed entirely red from ear to ear over the sudden sneak attack.

"It's okay to make mistakes Lia, as long as you learn from them and survive the ordeal you'll come out on the other side stronger."

While Lilly was still completely locked up, Solaris lovingly pat Lia on the head as she lightly scolded her.

"Y-yes! I'll engrave that onto my heart, lady Solaris!"

"Get a room, Dax…"

Sharing Terra's disinterest in Dax's open flirting in the middle of a meeting, Phillipa faked a cough to get his attention.

"So what do we do now?"

"Simple, kick back and wait for our dear police chief to dig up some leads, it's time he pulls his weight in this joint investigation of ours."

"Aha, that's so mean~"

Having a short laugh at Dax's surprisingly cruel side, Phillipa turned serious to make sure that this was what her commander really wanted to do.

"But are you sure about that Dax? Won't such a thing lead to more attacks?"

"Yeah I'm sure, try as we might, investigation is not this unit's strong suit so let's leave it up to the experts. As for the possibility of retaliation, I'm placing a temporary house arrest on all members present, you're only to leave this building when joined by me… Think of this as a short vacation before we get back to it."

---

"Does this really not look strange on me?"

"No not at all Alice, you look lovely."

With nothing else to do for the moment, Dax decided to kick back and relax with the girls, deciding to take them all out for dinner at his favourite gourmet restaurant, something which required them all to dress up. Alice wore a slightly casual brown dress with no sleeves and black stripes together with black stockings and high heels, creating an excellent pairing with her braided light brown hair which had regained the lustre it had lost when she was injured, leaving only a few strands of white.

"Come on, have a little bit more confidence in yourself Alice, you look good~"

"... That's easy for you to say Solaris."

Solaris who was much more confident in wearing fine clothes had chosen a pure white dress with a long skirt and open back, fully displaying her ever perfect 3 metre wide angelic wings which fluttered confidently around her, creating a slight breeze which made her mostly free flowing half braid blond hair flow around, almost creating a halo from the reflections her hair created.

"No really, you look great so no need to worry about a thing Alice~ Besides, I know the family running this restaurant personally, when I contacted them they set aside the entire restaurant just for us."

"You really need to have more confidence Alice, you're plenty attractive~"

"If you say so, Lilly."

Attempting (and failing) to make Alice slightly more confident about herself, Lilly played with her bright red hair as she twirled around for Dax to check out her black dress with long sleeves and an open back like Solaris' dress.

"How do I look?~"

"You look perfect as always Lilly."

"... If we have the entire restaurant to ourselves is there even a need to dress up for this thing then?"

Cutting away from flirting with Lilly who wanted to be praised for her dress for a moment, Dax placed a hand on top of Alice's head as he showed a teasing smile.

"Of course there is Alice~ I need to show off my adorable women sometimes, don't I?"

"... When you put it like that then there's really nothing I can say about it is there?"

"""Nope~"""

With Solaris, Dax and Lilly answering Alice's rhetorical question in unison there was nothing more she could do in defence (other than blush slightly of course).

After a short ride on a thematically inappropriate CAS-7, Dax and the girls arrived at a seemingly humble restaurant at the ground level of one of the urban centres of the capital after creating quite a fuss when a military transport marked with the 125th's insignia dropped them off.

"Gregory it is nice to see you again!~ Is this the new branch of the family you mentioned?"

Greeting an entirely white haired brown man with an impressive belly and full beard wearing a pair of shorts and a worn t shirt with a large hug, Dax turned a black haired youth wearing a black apron beside Gregory with the same skin tone and blue eyes as her dad.

"Long time no see Dax! Indeed, this is Francesca! She's my brilliant niece that will take over the restaurant in a few years when I retire."

"I-I'm pleased to meet you Dax."

Finishing greeting Dax while patting the head of his slightly nervus niece, Gregory turned to the women standing beside Dax, Gregory formed a large, fox like grin which filled his entire wrinkled face.

"I see you found yourself some fine but slightly unusual looking women Dax~ please, let's talk inside."

Moving inside the humble looking restaurant, Dax and the girls were seated as guests of honour at the end of some joined tables with Gregory's large family already waiting with large smiles. After taking a seat and introducing the girls to Gregory and his family, Gregory quickly opened up with the wine and the questions.

"Is Lux not with you this time?"

"No, sadly she's working."

"Ah that's too bad, I hope I can get to see her at least once more before I pass… But enough of all that dark talk, I'll go get the food ready, please help me out, Francesca."

"Ah, yes."

Getting Francesca who was quite taken aback with Solaris' wings to come help him with the food, Gregory disappeared into the kitchen as Alice leaned over to quietly ask Dax a question which had been burning inside her after taking a look at the back wall of the restaurant.

"How do you know these people Dax?"

"I came across this restaurant a long time ago when I first arrived at the capital and quickly befriended the owner, that's her over there."

Pointing to a series of pictures framed on the back wall which all had Dax with different people as their subject, Dax continued his explanation.

"After getting to know the owner really well, I also became friends with the entire family… That was some 9 generations ago, I've been making it a habit of coming here every time I'm in the capital to greet the new members of the family."

"Ah, I see."

Being reminded in the vast age gap between Dax and her, Alice had a melancholic smile on her face as she glanced over all the pictures, finding Dax with the same kind of happy smile in each of them.

"Don't worry, form now on you girls will be in these pictures too."

"... That's right."

Looking forward to spending that many years together with Dax, Alice formed a warm smile on her face as she joined hands with Dax under the table.

"Thanks for the wait Dax, I've put out all the stops for this one so I hope you and these fine girls are hungry!"

Emerging out from the kitchen with countless plates of delicious looking food, Gregory wore a large, warm smile which Dax sadly couldn't return.

"I'm sorry but it appears that'll have to wait."

Rising from the table Dax quickly put a damper on the happy mood as he turned to face the entrance to the restaurant.

"I'm really sorry about this."

"It's fine Dax, you've taken care of me and my family for so long."

Once more apologizing to Gregory while the rest of his family was still left in the dark, Dax's attitude changed from that of a happy family acquaintance into the commander of the 125th.

"I swear to god if you break down that door I'll skin you and all of your buddies alive with a rusty fucking spoon!"

Putting a hand on his pistol which he had holstered under his suit, Dax shouted at the entrance which had all the curtains drawn down. After a minute's silence, a polite knock was heard from the door which Gregory responded to, albeit very annoyed.

"Come in, the door is unlocked!"

In response to Gregory's shout the door opened as the small and cosy restaurant was suddenly flooded with members of Division 14 and Galactic navy military police in full tactical gear, all pointing their sharply loaded rifles at Dax.

"What the hell is this!?"

Roaring in rage when he saw how his guest was treated, Gregory drew the attention of a few of the police officers who pointed their weapons at the old man, something which truly enraged Dax who stepped in between them.

"Point that weapon at anyone except me in here again and you're dead buddy, final warning."

Speaking in a low almost animalistic growl laced with bloodlust, Dax made it clear that his threat was 100% genuine.

"Lower your guns people. The only thing you're doing with that is pissing him off, and we definitely don't want to deal with a pissed off Hellwalker, we don't have the armament for that."

Stepping in to deescalate the situation before it turned way too bloody to handle, police chief Hort appeared with a stiff smile on his face.

"Dax Alpha-4, you're officially summoned to an indictment hearing behind closed doors in the Galactic senate concerning recent events, refusal is sadly not allowed so please follow with me immediately."

"... A simple call would have sufficed."

Removing the hand he had placed on his pistol, the tone of Dax's voice made it very clear that he was still extremely pissed off.

"I'm sorry, but with recent events being what they are, neither the senate nor the special counsel gave me that opportunity, please follow with me."

---

Thanks for reading~ Autor Gamma here with a quick announcement 

(I'll move this to the author's notes in a few days) 

While it will still be a few weeks before you guys see this (unless you're in me and Zad1333's discord, link in the story bio) I'm very excited to do this thing and I want to thank all current, past and future readers for their interest in this story.