Emergency Meeting in the Dead of Night

The Hero Association's alert signals fell into several broad categories:

D-Rank—Large-scale hostage-takings or attacks carried out by ordinary criminal gangs. A team of C-Rank heroes or a B-Rank hero on duty could usually handle them.

C-Rank—Disturbances caused by criminals with superpowers. A B-Rank hero or higher had to confirm the culprit's abilities, then promptly dispatch the right personnel to pursue them.

B-Rank—Large-scale criminal groups with superpowers, such as the Avengers Alliance. Heroes on duty could not handle threats at this level alone and had to contact their superiors.

A-Rank alerts, without exception, involved attacks by Astral Monsters. S-Rank meant a witch had appeared, and an S-Rank hero had to be on-site to direct the response.

As for SS-Rank...

"Is everyone here?"

A young man in a Hero Association uniform strode down the corridor and spoke to the woman in uniform beside him.

Qi Yun pressed a hand to the earpiece hooked over her ear and replied:

"Meteor has brought everyone to the conference room. [Thousand Eyes] came from Spike City to help and brought [Palette] over from Harbor City on the way. I'm trying to connect to the citywide camera network."

"Good. I think we should contact the boss too and see what he has to say."

"Leave it to me."

They reached the conference room just as she finished speaking. Pushing open the door, they met the eyes of everyone seated around the table.

Every registered S-Rank hero in the Rongcheng Hero Association, [Thousand Eyes] from the Spike City association, and—

Magical Girl Hyacinth and Magical Girl Dandelion.

Everyone watched in silence as the young man took the seat at the head of the table. They accepted the folders he passed out, then saw the gold-stamped words [SS-Rank Highest Alert] and [Top Secret—Destroy After Reading] on the covers. The