Thick gray fog slowly spread beyond the enormous panes of blast-resistant glass.
At the edge of this Safe Zone stood an exquisite dome built from blast-resistant glass.
Beneath the dome was a circular council chamber.
The chamber's furnishings retained the style of the European Nation on Earth in the early twentieth century.
Hissing gas lamps, antique carpets, and stately gable ornaments.
Twelve dark wooden doors were set into the curved walls.
The back of each door bore an inlaid, lifelike portrait.
Rich red carpets stretched from the twelve doors to beneath the twelve high-backed, button-tufted chairs in the center of the hall.
Seated in those chairs around an enormous round table were the twelve people who held supreme authority over this Safe Zone.
Each person's appearance matched the portrait behind them exactly.
"Baron William, as I said before, your large-scale offensive was rather hasty. Losing over a hundred thousand Origin Sequence Ability Users in one fell swoop was a devastating blow."
The woman who spoke wore a wide-brimmed formal hat draped with a black veil and a classical dark red velvet gown. She toyed with a slender tortoiseshell cigarette holder and exhaled a plume of blue-gray smoke.
Her tone was mild, but her words were full of reproach.
Another man, tall, thin, and elderly, wearing a trench coat, agreed. "Indeed. After all, Baron William had not yet been born when we conquered the Third Domain and the Fourth Domain. He never witnessed our measured methods. His performance this time did show a little youthful impetuousness."
"Viscount Mary, Baron Henry, I don't believe we should be harsh on Baron William." A burly man in a dark blue woolen military coat spoke up. "Every action Baron William took was approved by a vote at the Round Table Meeting. Moreover, Baron William was