Old Friends Reunited, the War Horn Sounds, and a Grand Entrance! The Boundary Land's Eight Major War Zones

When Nanjō Emi saw Chisa get pushed into the office by her sister, she silently snuffed out the cigarette she had just lit.

—Not letting a child inhale secondhand smoke was something she could still manage.

"Have a seat, Chisa."

Nanjō Emi pointed toward the sofa at the somewhat flustered Chisa, switched off the office lights, then caused the enormous Mini-LED floor-to-ceiling screen that had somehow been embedded in the wall to light up.

"Perfect timing. You can take a look too."

Nanjō Emi tapped the chaotic area on the screen, where thick fog and eerie lights churned, then casually began explaining things to the girl who had been delivered by two irresponsible people.

"This is the 'Second Wave front line.'"

Seeing how a single sentence had firmly seized Chisa's attention, Nanjō Emi continued.

"Most of the time, though, we call it the 'Boundary Land,' located between the Deep Sea and the mortal world."

On the screen, the area was outlined by a detailed yet simplified three-dimensional map.

Through the cartoonish markers on the map and the faintly visible annotations beside them, Chisa could glimpse the outline of the enormous, complicated defensive fortifications on the front line.

—Massive fortresses, crisscrossing Spiritual Power transmission networks, and fixed gun emplacements and mobile platforms scattered everywhere.

There were also various units slowly moving among them, marked with the unmistakable insignias of the Special Affairs Division, the Onmyo Bureau, or certain family crests she did not recognize.

The whole thing felt... somewhat like an enormous SLG game map.

When Chisa had worked at the Special Affairs Division some time ago, she had often seen Kitano Sis play this kind of game.

"It's unexpectedly clear and easy to understand."

"The so-called Boundary Land—

*—is a gigantic defensive project built after the First Wave, led by