Back at the EN Headquarters, present time
"...and that's how it happened," Risu finished her explanation.
The EN members stood in stunned silence around the phone, trying to process everything they'd just heard. A portal experiment gone wrong, an entire building transported to a zombie dimension, an ongoing siege against millions of undead—it was like something out of a movie.
Except it was real, and their friends needed help.
"Wait, hold up," Gura said, her voice uncharacteristically serious. "So you're all still fighting in the middle of a world full of zombies?"
"Yes!" Risu confirmed. Another explosion could be heard through the phone. "And we're running out of resources! We need backup!"
"But why did you bring your whole building with you?" Kiara asked, though she already suspected the answer.
"DO YOU THINK WE WANTED ZOMBIES TO SPREAD AROUND JAKARTA?!" Moona's voice came through in the background, clearly stressed.
Fair point.
"We need you guys here!" Risu pleaded. "The situation is under control for now, but we can't hold out forever, and we need to clear the area before we can safely return home!"
The EN members looked at each other. There was no discussion needed, no debate. Their friends—their family—needed help. The decision was already made.
Calli stepped forward, her expression set with determination. "Alright, you got it. Help is on the way. Give us fifteen minutes to prepare."
"Fifteen minutes? Can you—" Risu started.
"We'll be there," Calli promised. "Just hold on a little longer."
She ended the call.
For one second, the lobby was silent. Then it exploded into action.
"MYTH, WITH ME!" Calli shouted, her usual laid-back demeanor replaced with commanding authority. She'd died before, literally—she was the Grim Reaper's apprentice. A zombie apocalypse was just another Tuesday as far as she was concerned.
Amelia Watson was already moving, grabbing her watch—her time-traveling device—and checking its charge. "I'll contact JP branch!" she called out, her detective mind already running through logistics. "We might need additional support!"
"Good thinking!" Calli confirmed.
"I'm gonna grab the fish we have in storage in the basement," Mumei said as she quickly ran off. By "fish," she meant the megalodon steak, kraken calamari, Leviathan filets, and piranha meat that hadn't been cooked yet—still raw—plus whatever remaining kraken and megalodon parts were in the large freezer storage.
Korni turned her head. "Why are you thinking about that in the middle of a rescue mission!?"
"You'll never know!" Mumei called back as she stepped into the elevator.
Kiara spread her phoenix wings, flames already beginning to lick around her body as her power activated. She grabbed her signature orange sword from where she'd stored it in the nearby weapons locker (every idol agency had weapons lockers, right?) and her blue shield. "Ina, can you make a portal to that place?"
Ninomae Ina'nis closed her art tablet carefully, her tentacles emerging fully now as she tapped into her ancient one powers. She pulled out her tome—the Ancient One's scripture that served as her spellbook. "It would take some time to find the location of that universe, but I think I can manage it."
"We'll help!" Kronii called out, already moving toward Ina. As the Warden of Time, she had an innate understanding of dimensional coordinates.
"Council, support Ina!" Calli commanded, and the other Council members immediately responded.
Sana, the personification of space itself (or at least a representative of it), joined Kronii at Ina's side. "If we work together, we can triangulate the dimensional coordinates much faster."
"I can feel life signatures," Fauna added, her nature powers giving her a unique ability to sense living things—or in this case, undead things and the ID members trying to survive them. "There! I felt Kaela and the others in this one!" She pointed at a specific coordinate on Ina's projected star map.
Bae, chaos incarnate, added her own power to the mix. "And I can calculate the probability matrices to ensure we don't end up in the wrong dimension. Because that would be, like, super bad."
"Very bad," Kronii agreed.
IRyS was already manifesting her hope and despair powers, white and black crystals forming in the air around her before solidifying into daggers. As a Nephilim—half-angel, half-demon—she was perfectly suited for combat. "How many zombies are we talking about?"
"According to Iofi's scans, several million in the city, with about half a million in the immediate area around the ID building," Ame reported, having accessed the data Kaela had transmitted with the call.
"That's a lot," IRyS said calmly. "But manageable."
Meanwhile, Advent was mobilizing with impressive speed.
Shiori Novella ran to her quarters, her archival knowledge telling her exactly which artifacts would be most effective against undead. She grabbed her magic quill and spell book, then started pulling talismans from her collection. "Ancient sealing scripts, purification spells, exorcism wards—got it all!"
She also grabbed a few items she'd impulse-bought from Amazon, because you never knew when a cursed amulet or blessed charm would come in handy.
Nerissa Ravencroft spread her raven wings wide, black feathers gleaming in the light. She grabbed her dark spear—a weapon forged from shadow and moonlight—and did a few practice swings. "Been a while since I've had a proper fight."
Fuwawa and Mococo had jolted awake at the commotion, their guard dog instincts immediately alert. Their claws extended—not normal human nails, but actual canine claws capable of rending flesh and bone. They looked at each other, nodded, and began stretching, preparing for combat.
"Finally, some action!" Mococo said, her fangs visible as she grinned.
"We were getting bored anyway," Fuwawa agreed.
Koseki Bijou, the gem-like idol, went to her room and pulled a hidden lever. A secret panel slid open, revealing what could only be described as a treasure trove of power-up items. There were Kamen Rider transformation belts, Power Rangers morphers, various Megazord components, Yu-Gi-Oh cards (the really powerful ones that probably shouldn't exist in physical form), and in the center of it all, mounted on a special display...
The Yamato.
Not a replica, but the actual Devil May Cry weapon, somehow perfectly recreated by Kaela to the point where it was functionally identical to the original. Bijou grabbed it, feeling the demonic power thrumming through the blade.
"Okay," she said to herself, "no accidentally destroying the building this time. We're destroying zombies instead. Much better target."
Justice was mobilizing as well.
Elizabeth Rose Bloodflame grabbed her massive red greatsword, Thorn. The weapon was nearly as tall as she was and burned with an inner fire. She'd ordered it custom from Kaela months ago, and it had never let her down. "To battle!" she declared dramatically, because of course she did.
Cecilia Immergreen retrieved her white lance, which had the unique property of being able to transform into a violin. She wasn't entirely sure why Kaela had designed it that way, but it looked cool and functioned well, so she didn't question it. "We'll need transportation," she said practically.
Gigi Murin was already way ahead of her, grabbing her Chaser equipment—oversized rocket gauntlets that looked like they belonged in a mecha anime. She also grabbed a shovel (for reasons she'd never adequately explained to anyone) and a shotgun (for more obvious reasons). "On it!"
Raora Panthera, the pink-haired panthera, extended her claws and grabbed a pistol from the armory. As a former businesswoman, she wasn't as combat-oriented as the others, but she had sharp eyes and sharper reflexes. She also grabbed some flashbangs because she'd watched enough action movies to know they were useful. "Ready!"
Elizabeth raising her greatsword "Let's go to the hangar and drive our vehicles!"
Cecilia stops running for a second "Our vehicles and mechs were all destroyed that one Tuesday, remember?"
Silence. There was a deep silence in the halls.
Elizabeth's jaw dropped "What!?"
"Did you forget we had a mech battle!?" Cecilia gestured with her hands. "Gigi's Ferrari is gone. Kronii refused to be used her Bugatti. Even the 'Drift King' trophy is melted. That Buffalo Tuesday took everything except the Van"
"Oh yeah, I forgot!" Elizabeth made a remembering expression as she raised one finger with an 'O' shaped mouth. "Wait," she turned her head, "what about yours, Gigi?"
"My Ferrari is still in the shop from the Buffalo incident," Gigi said.
"Of course!" Elizabeth exclaimed, raising both hands while still holding her sword with one. "It all comes back to the Buffalo incident!"
Elizabeth sighs, turns around, and continues running with Cecilia, Gigi, and Raora. "Then let's get the Justice Van!" Elizabeth declared.
"You mean MY van," Cecilia corrected automatically, but she was already running toward the south wing hangar. "But it's too small for a big group!"
"We don't have a choice!" Gigi called out as they ran. "We should have requested a spaceship!"
Raora was already pulling out a notepad and pen as they ran. "I'm gonna put that on the list for the next construction order."
The south wing hangar was a mess. Most of the vehicles and mechas stored there were still damaged from previous incidents—mainly the Tuesday shenanigans that seemed to occur with disturbing regularity. Calli kept meaning to send the repair orders to Kaela, but things kept happening.
Gigi's Ferrari was currently in the shop to be repaired, Kronii refused to get zombie guts on her Bugatti's leather seats, and Mumei had forgotten where she parked her giant owl and owl themed Leopardon.
That left only fully functional vehicle in the hangar was the Justice van—Cecilia's personal vehicle, which she'd lovingly maintained and repaired herself. It was a green van with "JUSTICE VAN" painted on the side in bold letters. It looked absolutely ridiculous and completely out of place in an idol agency hangar, but it ran perfectly.
Calli's voice boomed through the hangar's PA system. "ATTENTION, PLEASE! ALL MEMBERS OF EN, GET READY IN FIFTEEN MINUTES AND GO STRAIGHT TO THE SOUTH WING HANGAR!"
Members streamed into the hangar from multiple directions. Gura clutched her trident, its three prongs gleaming with ancient power. She'd been carrying it around more often lately, ever since the Devil Trigger incident made her realize she needed to take her divine weapons more seriously.
The portal team—Ina, Kronii, Sana, Fauna, and Bae—worked frantically in the center of the hangar, combining their powers to create a dimensional tear. Ina's eldritch power provided the framework, Kronii's time manipulation ensured temporal stability, Sana's space manipulation handled the spatial coordinates, Fauna's nature magic provided the "life signature lock" to ensure they arrived at the right location, and Bae's chaos energy served as the catalyst to actually tear through dimensional barriers.
"How's it looking?" Calli asked, approaching the portal team.
"Almost there," Ina said, her voice strained from the effort. Her tentacles were weaving complex patterns in the air, each movement precise and deliberate. "The dimensional barriers are stronger than usual, but we're breaking through."
"Need help?" IRyS offered, her hybrid angel-demon nature giving her some affinity for dimensional work.
"No, we've got it," Kronii assured her. "Save your energy for the fight."
Amelia finished her call to the JP branch, her watch glowing softly as she closed the interdimensional connection. "JP is standing by! I've got Marine, Kanata, Coco, Pekora, and Miko on speed dial if we need additional support!"
"Good work, Ame," Calli said.
The reaper turned to address the assembled EN members. Everyone was there—all of Myth, IRyS, all of Council, all of Advent, all of Justice. They were armed, determined, and ready.
"Alright, everyone, listen up!" Calli's voice cut through the excited chatter. "This is a legitimate rescue mission. Our goal is to bring the ID members and their building back home safely. We need to clear the vicinity of zombies so they can safely open a return portal without any undead following them through."
She pulled up a holographic display showing the tactical situation, based on the data Kaela had transmitted. "We're looking at approximately five hundred thousand zombies in the immediate area, with potentially millions more in the surrounding city. The ID building has defensive systems, but they're running low on ammunition and power. Our job is to create a perimeter and eliminate threats."
"Rules of engagement?" Ame asked.
"Zombies only," Calli specified. "If there are any survivors in this dimension, we do NOT engage. Our mission is clear the area around the ID building, not wage war on an entire world."
"What if survivors attack us?" Elizabeth asked.
"Defensive measures only. Disarm and retreat if possible. Remember, this is a rescue mission, not an invasion."
"Any questions?" Calli looked around the assembled members.
Gigi raised her hand. "Yeah, why do we need questions?! Let's get those zombie asses!"
Despite the tension, several members laughed.
"That's the spirit," Calli said with a slight smile. "Anyone else? Anyone who doesn't want to go, speak up now."
Silence. Not a single hand raised, not a single voice of protest. They were going, all of them.
"Good. Now be careful out there. ID branch is counting on us, and we don't let family down. Understood?"
"UNDERSTOOD!" the group chorused.
"Cecilia, is the van ready?"
Cecilia was already in the driver's seat, having climbed in while Calli was talking. She started the engine, and it roared to life. "Van is ready!"
Elizabeth jumped into the passenger seat, her greatsword propped up between the seats. "Do it!"
Ina, Sana, and Kronii raised their hands in unison, and the portal finally tore open. It was a swirling vortex of purple, blue, and green energy, showing glimpses of the gray, apocalyptic world beyond.
Through the portal, they could hear the distant sounds of battle—explosions, gunfire, and the groaning of the undead horde.
"Portal is stable!" Ina announced. "we've got a twenty minute window before I need to close to conserve energy!"
"More than enough time," Calli said. She raised her scythe. "EN BRANCH! LET'S GO!"
Cecilia slammed her foot on the accelerator. The Justice van's tires screeched as it launched forward, accelerating to a speed that no normal van should be capable of reaching. (Cecilia may have made some... modifications to the engine. Significant modifications. Possibly illegal modifications, but they were in an idol agency, so who was going to report them?)
The van shot through the portal like a bullet.
Behind it came the others. Some piled into the back of the van, some clung to the roof, and some—like IRyS, Nerissa, and Kiara—simply flew alongside it, their wings spread wide.
Gura was riding on top of the van, her trident raised high. Bijou was beside her, the Yamato strapped to her back. Ame had somehow claimed a spot on the hood, her time watch glowing as she prepared for whatever awaited them on the other side.
The rest of EN poured through the portal in a stream of determined idols, each one armed and ready for battle.
Ina, Sana, and Kronii were the last to go through. They maintained the portal's stability until every last member had crossed over, then as one, they stepped through themselves.
The moment they were clear, the three of them released their hold on the dimensional tear.
The portal collapsed behind them with a sound like reality itself sighing in relief, the swirling energies dissipating into nothing.
The south wing hangar fell silent.
Empty.
The only evidence that anything had happened was the faint scent of ozone in the air and the soft hum of the Justice van's engine still echoing in the space where the portal had been.
EN had answered the call.
Now, in another dimension entirely, the real battle was about to begin.