Spirit Pulse : Mugen No Sekai [IC]

[Airen]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Seaside Motel ~ "The Carmentae"
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening
Weather: Snowstorm

In the face of your brazen actions, there had been no response from the others in the bar.

Perhaps it was because you had acted so rashly so quickly? Having said what you felt you needed to say, your reckless dash into the unknown was one that had seemingly taken you far beyond the ability of the others to contact you, yes...

The moment you had stepped inside of the door, into the confines of what seemed to be some sort of motel lobby, was the same moment in which you find yourself cut off from the bar in which had been up until now, the door closing behind you of it's own accord, revealing a metallic plate where the room number might ordinarily be in a normal hotel, but where instead...

Is the small insignia of a sheep?

You can hear the dim sounds of the cafe's usual song still pouring out from beneath the cracks of the door, but at the same time, you get the sort of sense that it's an impossible distance from you all the same, like the door was a wormhole of sorts through which you had stepped into...

Somewhere else?

It was an expensive looking sort of place, albeit, one with a thin layer of dust all around it, like people hadn't really been inside here in awhile... A set of stairs leads up to an obvious second floor, and more sets of stairs lead up to innumerable floors beyond them, to the point where it feels like looking straight up would be the same as looking into a sort of optical illusion that would make your head hurt... The light in here is thin, with a golden, ancient sort of tint to it, although all the windows you can see reveal the bright white light of a world in the depths of a midday snow storm...

There were leather chairs all around, the sort of comfortable ones that invite sleep to those that behold them, and...

Naturally, there is also a counter here... Makes sense, since it seems to be the lobby of a hotel or particularly expensive motel, and...

Behind that counter...

---Is a young woman, one with eyes so blue, so clear, that it's almost like you're looking into a clear morning sky when you look into them.

"...Oh hey, you're finally back."

She speaks with a light voice, pleasant but shockingly deep considering her appearance...

"Welcome back, Mr. Karlfeldt, to the Seaside Motel."

She smiles at you, although her casual stance atop the stool is not one that you would ordinarily place on a receptionist...

Although she does have a name tag...

One that reads...

Porrima.

"I was wondering when it was you would arrive here again, but as promised, we have placed the items you have lost inside of your room. Feel free to reclaim them at your earliest convenience."

Her smile reminds you a bit of Yamuna...

Otherworldly, but kind in spite of that...

"If there is anything else I can do for you, please let me know."

The smile deepens.

"We take pride in our work, after all. We are not a six-star motel for no reason~"

A bizarre person that seems to know you personally...

Encountered: Porrima

[Airen]

Eva Ellet
Saint Vivienne ~ Dormitories
11/16/2026
Monday - Evening

"...ihihihihi-!"

The bizarre entity shrieks as the woods freeze over in their entirety.

The chill fall night becomes a harsh winter storm, the trees that had been taken on nightmarish shapes in the darkness reveal their true forms as simple mortal plants; branches coating themselves in ice as trees pop and shatters, the water inside them expanding to the point the area becomes a symphony of gunshots...

Yes.

If the enemy is a copy... Then fighting oneself is a simple matter, no?

One is aware of their own weaknesses after all... Of course, fighting oneself can also be a strenuous matter as well, one could argue that no one is more prepared to fight you than you, but...

---Your shotgun like blast seems to work.

The line goes slack for a moment, whatever force that had been on the other side pausing in the face of this ice-cold storm...

Or at least that's what you think, until-

"Limpieza de sangre-!"

-your own voice emerges from the darkness, whispering a spell with all the hostility of a curse-!

---Something cold shoots up your leg.

You had been prepared for a physical attack to come from your other, ready to defend against an obvious frontal assault, as you were liken to do yourself, but-!

A point of contact had already been established between the two of you, the chain, wrapped around your leg-!

Had the pull simply been to psyche you out? To convince you it meant to pull you into the darkness while instead preparing a different strategy...?!

Regardless of what it had been planning to do from the start...

You feel an uncharacteristic heaviness assault your body.

Strength: Effects Resisted. Rank Unchanged.
Vitality: -2 Ranks. Lasts for three turns. Absolution active. Duration of two turns instead.
Agility: -2 Ranks. Lasts for three turns. Absolution active. Duration of two turns instead.
Sense: -2 Ranks. Lasts for three turns. Absolution active. Duration of two turns instead.
Resistance: Effects Resisted. Rank Unchanged.

---The chain was meant to control more than just your physical movements.

As you can feel a horribly potent curse ravage your body, you understand that instinctively...

Rather than just toss you around, this you...

---Also used it as a point of contact to inflict curses.

"IHIHIHIHIHI-!"

The giggles increase in volume, although thankfully...

That seems to be it for now-!

...Perhaps you had frozen it after all?

Either way, it seemed like you either needed to try and break the chain now...

Or refuse to give her an opening to do it again...!

Eva (?)

-Limpieza de sangre ~ Blood Purity-
Element: Bless
Rank: C

A spell named after a certain system of discrimination used in early modern Spain and Portugal. Designed to act as a bloodline curse that drags down those who are not purely human, it's so-called holy nature would not stop most from calling it what it rightly is, a curse of death towards those that fit a certain definition of 'unclean.'

Attempts to suppress all attributes of a target in a manner similar to debilitate. Effect is more potent if the target is inhuman in any way. (Otherworldly, Android, Etc.)

Further details (if any exist) are unknown.

[Zurvan]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Seaside Motel ~ "The Carmentae"
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening
Weather: Snowstorm

His senses had not betrayed him.

A wary gaze meets an unexpected scene, not one of a rundown hotel, but instead a place of luxury and comfort. A sense of safety, perhaps even belonging welcomes the paranoid ESPer.

A place that he could not recall, yet...

"...Oh hey, you're finally back."

...one that he had seemingly been in before?

Was this that phenomena Chiyoko spoke of? Memories of the Soul?

Moving over to the counter, which seems about the most natural in cases like, the boy greets the gentle hostess.

"Hi... Porrima?"

Her smile is oddly alluring and disarming, but despite such things Ludwig's facial expression remains as stalwart as ever.

"I'm sorry I feel a bit... lost. You said I have a room here, could you show me where exactly it is?"

Had he truly been here before? Or was this another deception of the new world?

Or was this a long-lost semblance of what he had originally forgotten. The means to defy the script, to save other worlds beyond their own... An answer to the desperate wish of salvation from a fate of eternal suffering, that was cast into the past, only to be denied by Binit. To be forgotten, hid behind happiness and satisfied desires.

The very same existence that had dubbed Ludwig a troublesome kind, before he lost his life.

...What else had he lost, and how did such things end up here.

Did this place have some role in his revival?

Where exactly, is here in the first place?

Lydia, smell anything in particular?

Nothing alarming, other than that she knows us.

Waiting for her response, another question quickly enters Ludwig's mind.

"...And who else has a room here?"

One that may well lead to even more questions...

[Airen]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Seaside Motel ~ "The Carmentae"
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening
Weather: Snowstorm

Even in the face of an admittance that you do not remember her, the woman's gentle smile does not fade from her face.

She's a youthful looking sort of girl, around university age if you had to guess, but the sky-blue eyes are eyes that do not fit a human's face, nevertheless... They're not scary eyes, if anything, they're eyes that are so disarming in terms of hostility that it would almost come across as suspicious...

If not for the fact that they dismiss those suspicions as well...

"Of course I can, I'm aware the building is quite large, so escorting patrons does fall within my line of duty."

She stands, one arm sliding beneath the counter and setting off the rustling of what could only be a number of different keys; she messes with them for a bit, out-of-sight fingers dexterously spinning through what sounds like hundreds of different keys, before withdrawing what seems to be a simple golden key, one that she gently holds out for you to take.

"Since you seem to be lost, I will return this to you as well."

She giggles.

"Although there is no need to feel ashamed about losing your memories, such things happen from time to time, and well... This motel is not exactly the native destination for those that hail from your World, for your kind, it is normally the Velvet Room that serves as the Prakruti establishment... I mean that in the uh... Philosophical sense, of course. We have a door to that room as well, it is on the third floor, a sort of... Sister establishment in the art of nurturing souls. Although I do not think you have a key... So you may find it locked to you... Then again, Agatha has a bad habit of not locking the door..."

She smiles mysteriously at you.

"My coworkers and I were actually surprised when your group showed up. The X-Cross, I mean. I think it happened completely by accident on your end? Well, suffice to say, we are a... Beneficial glitch in your system, an anomaly, something almost completely separate from the trials you may or may not be going through... As such, this hotel cannot do very much to help you directly, we are outsiders to you after all, bound to help the heroes of a different reality altogether... But well... What's the harm in holding onto an item or two outside of space-time? My Lord has a soft spot for kids going through trials, so doing at least that much is well within our power... As is feeding you and serving as a place of momentary respite... If such a thing strikes your fancy anyway."

She starts off towards the stairs now.

"Follow me, if you'd please."

[Zurvan]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Seaside Motel ~ "The Carmentae"
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening
Weather: Snowstorm

(BGM)

---Her eyes are alarmingly distracting.

Prakruti?

In this instance, I suppose it refers to the spiritual origin of things? This place is seemingly a place of respite, connected to many more worlds than Xanadu. A nexus of sorts perhaps, but to what end and which worlds I have no idea.

It certainly is hard to deny, given the casual nature this girl had just spoken of something so much grander than Ludwig could have expected.

This place very became more intriguing by the second...

A nexus between Worlds, or perhaps it's own little hub World? And what of this Velvet Room, and this Agatha? Were they what was behind the other door that Ludwig had found himself before?

Given the hue of that door, and even the color that shined beneath it... it is certainly a possibility.

Worth a look, if nothing else.

Even now the boy's curiosity remains a constant.

The X-Cross, isn't that what Lara and Sarah are a part of?

Originally not I suppose?

Looking at the key he received in his palm, he clutches it tightly, as if to ascertain it is no illusion.

But, this is dreamlike experience is very much reality. Not that the ESPer would treat it any differently, but this was all a bit much to take all in.

The ones to answer the call of other worlds, those struck in eternal damnation, it was the X-Cross that had decided to try and save them?

The very same X-Cross that originally were to go to the North Pole, whereupon they would learn a fate more grim than the lives each of them had lived through?

Looking outside to the snowstorm raging without any sign of stopping, it wouldn't be hard to believe that this was indeed one of the Poles. The remoteness of such a place only helps Ludwig's ruminations more, as it makes sense that traveling in any supernatural capacity was seriously hampered after Binit took charge.

Without an X-Cross consisting of the original members, no memories would resurface. Without a means to venture to the North Pole, none of that team would ever venture there.

After all, what secrets would such a desolate and barren land yield?

Uncertain of the answer to such a question, Ludwig follows Porrima up as he strikes up conversation.

"Your... Lord? May I ask in whose graces I have fallen, or is it one of those types that enjoy secrecy?"

...Not that Ludwig held any respect for such things.

"And, has anyone else of the X-Cross come here in recent times?"

[Airen]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Seaside Motel ~ "The Carmentae"
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening
Weather: Snowstorm

"My Lord is... My Lord."

She chuckles again, although she does not turn to face you.

"I don't know him by any other name, except perhaps Boss... Although if you are asking what he is like... Well..."

At this she does turn around, and her eyes drift back towards the counter. Your eyes naturally follow her own, curiosity taking over where everything else is muddled, and you can see a simple door not unlike the one you had walked through to get here, door that was emblazoned with a gold plate in the shape of a crown, and a door that read simply:

The Boss.

"...A kind man who is nevertheless a proponent of tough love."

Her gaze goes towards the ceiling...

Where a patch of the upper floors seems to have been recently and obviously repaired...

"One of our last guests, seeking an audience with him, wound up being... How do you say... power-bombed through the floor... It was quite amusing."

She chuckles.

"I suppose he's a man who respects strength, but your other question... Recently... That's a fun choice of words."

She continues up the stairs, and you follow, ignoring the second floor entirely and going up towards the third, where you do in fact see that strange blue door from before...

"We are not exactly bound to time, so to say if things have happened recently or not is... Vague at best." She explains with what you are sure is that mysterious smile, although she does not turn around to face you, "To answer another way... If we are to discount the residents of the Velvet Room, who use our dining hall from time to time... I believe the last person I met was one of those... How do you call them... Knights? A Tsukiko, I believe... A tall and bespectacled woman who loved to keep secrets. Not sure how far she'll get that way... But I am an outsider, so my opinion means little I suppose."

You continue on, the third floor apparently being your destination... It's a hall of doors, doors that have quite a few familiar names on them, that is...

You can recognize a chunk of them as your coworkers.

Spaced out evenly, but all in the same general area, there's Logan, Ross, Alexia, Xavier...

All the big names really...

Yourself included (Room Number 8803) although Lara doesn't seem to be in this section... Although the hallway stretches on quite a bit further than this apparent SLEIPNIR section...

"Other than her... Well, you're the first in a long time. Or at least... A long time from my perspective."

[Airen]

Ayra Lilygrove
Saint Vivienne ~ Nurse's Office
11/16/2026
Monday - Evening

"No need to apologize, I find the idealism of the youth is far better than the cynicism of an old hag like me."

Calling herself an old hag in spite of the fact that she looked perfectly fine, the older woman simply smiles at your words, that brief hint of distaste for the world around her flickering away as quickly as it had come, as if she had found some sort of catharsis in your words, or perhaps...

...Well.

It's hard to say for certain.

"It's when the kids stop dreaming big that I'll really be worried about this place, someone throwing around lines like that with a straight face... Hahaha... I can't say I hate it. It puts me at ease, really."

Ah.

Even she recognizes it as corny... But she also seems fine with that corniness...

---An embarrassing parent type for sure, her kids should watch out-!

"Still, I didn't expect to find two knights visiting the school in one day. You're a bit more lively than the other one though, she seemed like she was struggling with something all the time. Asked a lot of round-about questions, about the curfew, and old school legends..."

"I mean, just because I'm a bit older doesn't mean I know everything about this place, you know?"

She winks mischievously.

"...Is what I told her, anyway. I can't help but dislike the... Word games people play. Just come out and ask if you want to know, you know?"

She laughs.

"Ah well, let's see about reviving your partner here..."

And starts going through her folders again...

[Airen]

Blaise Pendragon
Rooftops
11/16/2026
Night, Thunderstorm

---Slowly, you move to do as you were told to do by your sibling.

It's the natural reaction of course, Noriko doesn't go around throwing orders out for no reason... If she was doing so now, then it was because she felt that was the best sort of action for you to take, there is not a single doubt in your mind that that is the case, but...

---There's something unsettling about the shadow.

It's laughter in the wind like it's lost it's mind entirely, or perhaps...

Because it thinks Noriko confronting it is funny?

But why would that be?

...It does seem to sort of shift it's stance to reflect something at others... The childish mind of Fia had led to a more cartoon-like villainess perhaps? The sort of nightmare a child might see... One that you had been able to better look through due to your age, so why...?

Was it acting this way now because of... Noriko herself...?

What sort of inner demons do adults really hold? If this thing plays off traumas in order to devour it's targets, then...?

Your hand rests on the door.

Noriko's back is turned to you, although you can tell she is distinctly aware you are there, after all...

She hasn't done anything yet.

She continues to face the cackling shadow without looking back, but...

---She won't do anything else until you actually get in the car.

It's unclear why (other than perhaps, her naturally protective nature) but...

"...Is she gonna be okay by herself?"

Voice quiet amidst the rain and laughter...

Fia asks a simple question.

[Zurvan]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Seaside Motel ~ "The Carmentae"
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening
Weather: Snowstorm

---8803.

Your room, supposedly.

If what shards of the past Ludwig had collected were true, then it would mean he has a place here.

Proof that contradicted the World he came from, or at least what that World had become. A remnant of the past that they all shared, the united choice they had all made.

To bring salvation to worlds that needed it most... only for a Savior to then target them personally.

The Telepath looks at Porrima curiously, as if only now beginning to understand why it was that he felt compelled to go here, and yet... something is puzzling still.

"And you, what kind of person are you, Porrima?"

Was this attendant merely putting on familiar airs, was she simply here because of her service to this 'Boss', or was something else playing within her mind?

A personal stake left unspoken, perhaps?

But even before that, what exactly is she? By her own account, time works differently here, but her eyes alone betray an otherworldly origin. She hasn't exactly been shy about not being from the same world as he was, but what does that make her?

Simply a generous third party, in a conflict that even now eludes the boy's memories?

...Are things ever that simple?

"You sounded like you knew me and while I don't doubt that... Did I make you any promises that have gone unanswered?"

Of course, such a thing is highly unlikely, but all the same a sense of responsibility hangs around the boy.

As if a desire has begun to sprout to make this place, a second home...

And as such, it would not do to start off on bad terms with the owner and its occupants.

Of course, Ludwig's natural curiosity is laden within his questions. It's not every day you enter a sentient door, let alone that behind it you find answers you sought, a place of respite to rest, along with a friendly face who certainly seems infinitely wiser than the inheritor was.

"...And as a final question, could you tell me. Does Lara Karlfeldt have a room here... does Liesl?"

[Airen]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Seaside Motel ~ "The Carmentae"
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening
Weather: Snowstorm

"I am... The receptionist."

The woman smiles, in as mysterious a way as ever.

"I serve my Lord because he created me, although I also wouldn't leave if given the opportunity. At least not yet."

She says this simply.

"It is common in these sorts of places, for instance... The Owner of your World's establishment, that is, Igor... He is a doll that a human made once, one that took on a life of it's own and chose to dive deep into the unconscious... The native beings that you might find here, they are not humans as you know them... We are all bound by... A curiosity of sorts, I suppose. In the potential of the human spirit. To see how far you can go, how far limitless potential really stretches..."

The smile deepens, and her eyes shine like stars...

"You do not have any particular connection to me though, so you don't need to worry about that, there are no lingering debts. As I said before, I am the receptionist, it is only natural that I know everyone who has come through these doors... At least to some extent."

Eyes shine in the dim light.

"Whether or not that changes, well... I am an outsider. Someone continually looking for what lies beyond the curse of 2038... Is there a benefit to a connection with me for someone like you? Impossible for me to say."

"But as for your last question, no..."

She shakes her head in a gentle manner.

"I have never seen a Lara Karlfeldt or a Liesl Karlfeldt, nor do they have rooms here... Although I have heard the names."

[Airen]

Mokujima Chris
North Pole
???/??/???

"...I see."

She doesn't turn around, perhaps out of respect for your wishes?

While Robin doesn't care about privacy, and has actually gone out of it's way to move into a position in which it can still see your expressions, the shorter brunette woman just continues to gaze into the distance where you had used to be...

"That's not so uncommon, it happens all the time, you know? Even to me. Even to the people you might think are strong and perfect on the surface. Everyone loves taking shots at themselves..."

Again that more tired voice, more down to earth, lacking the airs of the eternally cheerful aunt she normally put on...

"Why didn't I do this? Why didn't I do that? Why am I so weak? Why do I always act like this? Why is it so difficult for me to change? Is it something like that?"

Her back shifts against your own, a sign that she's absentmindedly touching her own hair...

"We're all our own worst critic, you know? The World needs more self-love, and less self loathing... Least in my opinion..."

---For you, it's an emotionally vulnerable moment, which is why...

It seems Robin is showing mercy, and not using the camera you're sure it has on it...

[Kuroyuki]

Rossweisse & Hiyori
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ Streets
11/16/2026
Afternoon

"I know, right. I told them sleep streams were all the rage nowadays, but apparently it's not acceptable conduct on a radio show~ They just don't get the modern crowd, I mean, who listens to the radio nowadays anyway?"

‘Well it’s their loss! I’m sure they lost a bunch of listeners! I’m sure they’re a bunch of boomer geezers who can’t keep up with the times.’

I watched Hiyori join Mikoto in her head nodding. I think Mikoto might be a little irritated about being fired from her job… Typically people don’t have an opinion on the radio, or it was very neutral.

"Well, maybe those American military types might... Could be some value in old technology that no one uses anymore, means that no one's really looking for it anymore either~ Might not be able to use certain things either, like VCR tapes? Can you imagine trying to find a VCR nowadays? Or an IBM 5100? Sometimes the perfect way to hide something is to go super old school~"

‘IBM 5100? What games were on that again? Was it the original Oregon Trail?’

“Hiyori… It’s the second laptop ever created and they didn’t really have any noteworthy games. Umm it only really had simple games like chess… And Oregon Trail came out ten years later in 1971.”

‘Oh!’

Hiyori had a look of confusion until I looked up online what the IBM 5100 was and what was on it. For once, Hiyori didn’t know the answer to this random fact about electronics and video games… But it could be because she preferred more modern games.

"Miss Charlotte taught me that, told me I should keep all my stuff in old technology, makes it impossible to hack from afar~ Although I think she might just be paranoid you know? Then again, people do say she's actually one of those U.S government CIA spooks~ Explains the suit I think! Totally pulls that look off, right? You guys here as her fans?"

That was one of the merits of using older technology. You couldn’t access it from the internet or its related connections if… It wasn’t on the network in the first place and unlike physical media like paper. Someone can’t view its contents or easily steal it without getting past the old-fashioned encryption methods on it.

‘Her fan?! I’ll have you know that to Miss S-’

I place a hand over Hiyori’s mouth before she can call her Miss Smug. I'm sure Charlotte Akarana wouldn’t mind after she met Hiyori, but until then I think Hiyori should refrain from calling her that. How do I smooth this over now?

“I’m going to stop you before you start ranting. Um… We’re more than just fans of Miss Charlotte. So would it be possible for us to meet her for a little bit before her lecture?”

During this time frame, Hiyori wouldn’t stop struggling until I brought up possibly meeting Miss Charlotte. She then started nodding up and down frantically.

[Airen]

Rossweisse & Hiyori
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ Streets
11/16/2026
Afternoon

"More than just fans huh..."

Her long, drawn out voice accompanies a slow pan up and down your forms.

"...Kinda scandalous."

---Wait a second.

What did she mean by that?

"I know she has that bishoujo energy, but you're kinda young don't you think?"

A hand rises to her chin, fingers tapping away in thought...

"Ah well, I won't judge. No laws are being broken I suppose~"

There is definitely some sort of misunderstanding happening here-!

"But sure, just go in the entrance, up the stairs and into the second door on the left. Miss Charlotte always gets a Dr. Pepper before big speeches, I think she only lets herself indulge in sugar during stressful situations~"

She flashes the both of you a thumbs up-!

"Good luck-!"

---Thank God the other adults had already left.

[Verg Avesta]

Blaise Pendragon
Rooftops
11/16/2026
Night, Thunderstorm

"..........."

It's a simple question, really. One that doesn't really warrant a second thought, only reaffirmation. After all, the tiny girl before him seems confident in their sister's ability to turn this desperate situation around.

And yet...

It gives Blaise a pause.

His mind runs a hundred miles an hour, as a realization of sorts dawns in his mind. It's a guess, really, but as a theory it holds water so far. When confronted by Fia, the nightmare had taken form of someone terrifying from her past... yet, undoubtedly, an almost cartoonish villain - a horror movie monster if there was any. However, when Blaise himself had come face to face with the thing, it had shown him... the face of his friend. No, not just friend. Someone he cared a lot about, more than he perhaps wanted to admit at times. That is, the vampire he couldn't help but to worry over, having practically forced his help upon her. And now, when confronted by his sister, the beast... it took the form of a truly eldritch being, a laughter echoing in the wind as if this was exactly what it had wanted.

It made the blonde boy frown.

--- An image appeared in Blaise's mind. A metaphor, really.

When a single person stood in the waters of a lakeshore, the reflection of the moon from the night sky was perfect. Clear. Absolute. It became accurate and definite. Yet, if many people trudged those same waters, the ripples would break the picture, and the silt from the bottom of the lake would cloud the brilliance. It would became muddied, unclear... almost unseen, as if it wasn't even there.

No, even more than that...

To Fia, the nightmare had been an opponent she could not surpass alone. But Blaise had been able to see through it, clearly. To an adolescent youth, the fears of a child were mere bedtime horrors. Yet, the older you got, the more concrete and powerful the fears that remained with you became. Therefore, the umbral form that writhed and cackled before Noriko now... if it was made out of her own deep traumas... then...

--- It would be, just like with Fia, impossible for her to truly defeat.

"... You sit in the car."

Blaise finally made his decision and opened the door of the police vehicle, putting the girl down on the backseat. He then placed his hand on her shoulder - a firm and rough, large hand upon a small girl. In that moment, the boy started to understand just what this strange feeling was that had been driving him tonight. This must have been... yes, this must have been what Noriko felt when she saw him, troubled or in trouble. An an umistakeable desire to protect the child welled up in his chest.

Therefore...

"She might not need it... but I wanna make sure. Tonight's been troublesome enough," Blaise said as he stood back up to his full height and let go of Fia. "So I'll go have her back. Even if she's looking a bit weird right now... that doesn't change who she is, right? And we both know she sometimes bites more than she can chew, leaping before she looks."

And with that, and an encouraging smile, Blaise shut the door of the car and turned around.

"Kaguya."

Blaise's words rang out as he started towards the back of his sister, and the looming threat.

"Yeah?"

The invisible partner on his side manifested.

"Be ready."

Whether to win or to flee... it felt like they needed to give it their all.

And as Blaise approached the two who were facing off, tumultous thoughts ran through Blaise's minds. If his theory about the powers of this nightmare were right, then they had a good ploy to use here... but he wouldn't like the outcome himself. After all, it meant becoming the source of the form given to their opponent, to make it something that his sister could easily defeat. But what would that be? What did the boy fear, what trauma lurked in his own heart?

For a moment, he imagined many things.

--- His home, abandoned, being all alone in this world that he had shut himself out of for so long.

--- His friends, Isamu and Tsukiko, sneering down at him, having finally revealed that they had been playing him for a fool all this time.

--- His school, a place of worming, writhing rumours and accusatory glares that followed him wherever he went, full of hatred.

--- His memories, the gaping void that existed somewhere at the back of his mind, with nothing to be found there.

--- Or, perhaps...

".......!"

Blaise shook hs head, driving that last thought away. Instead, he put power to his step, and the stone cracked a little under his foot as he took his place by the side of Noriko, defiantly glaring at the opponent before them.

"... Sorry, sis. Change of plans. I think I finally understand you a little better," the boy said with a hint of a smile. "Having a younger sibling rely on you... it changes your perspective a lot, doesn't it? So, I don't think I can let her down here. Instead..."

His eyes calmly analyzed the form of the monster before them.

"--- This is just a theory, but that thing takes it's form based on who it's confronting, doesn't it? At least partially. In which case... well. The fears and worries of a teen should be a peace of cake for you, no?" He asked with a sideways glance towards his sister. "So, let me take the point. Whatever it turns into, you'll have easier time to defeat than... whatever this unholy mess is."

It was a sound plan, yes - as long as he hadn't misunderstood something.

That being said...

[Kaguya.]

He called out, telepathically this time, to his partner.

[Banchou?]

For a moment, he hesitated. It was something he never wanted to experience again, not after feeling that terrible sensation once. But now, with things looking this dire... well, if it all went to south, there was one more thing he could try.

[... Prepare for that, just in case,] he quietly gave the mental command. [But only if we've no other option.]

He could practically feel the invisible partner of his do a double-take of horror at the thought.

[B-buh, wha... a-are ya outta yer mind, ya doofus?] Kaguya admonished him in his mind, in a way she rarely did. [I-it's an honor, yeah, but that don't mean it ain't also---!]

Blaise simply, wordlessly, shook his head.

[We can't take any chances,] the moonlight youth spoke. [If all other options fail...]

And steel flashed in his eyes.

[Cut away all vexations.]

[Bloble]

Mokujima Chris
North Pole
???/??/???

"...I've been unkind to it. That child. The one... you might have made."

The expression Robin sees is, as usual, completely blank. Chris stares right through him, through the buildings, into something that isn't there. Her eyes twitch.

"It was caution. A possible enemy. Evidence arrayed against it. But really, I was just angry. Angry enough to justify, and stubborn enough to stick to it. So... it's frustrating."

Her arms are folded, and she shivers in the cold.

"Sensei. T-there might be... someone better for this..."

Promising not to criticize the world is the same as promising to criticize the self. And there is much about Mokujima Chris to critique. She told herself she would become something she was not. Now, a year later she sees herself in the same place as where she has started.

One might say this conclusion was reached through self-loathing. But the alternative would be not admitting it in the first place.

"D-do you still think self-love is the s-solution?"

[Zurvan]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Seaside Motel ~ "The Carmentae"
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening
Weather: Snowstorm

Bound by curiosity.

Eyes shining like stars.

An uncomplicated relationship.

---How refreshing.

"I see. Thank you, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance once again."

Yes, this place would certainly function better as a place of respite than his room on the SLEIPNIR had become now.

A place of comfort to escape towards, should such a desire ever arise. The comforts of escape are rather tantalizing as things stand, even moreso given the course Ludwig would set himself upon.

The future is of course not set in stone... but all the same his future looks grim.

A future of self-wrought misery, the denial of dreams of the heart, one of continuous fighting.

"Not yet huh."

Of course, whether the fighting ever truly ends is an impossible question.

To live is to struggle after all, but eventually all things must end.

Even worlds end sometime, regardless of whether the souls of such a world defy this truth.

Perhaps one day, the children of man can salvage from the rubble of worlds lost a means to overcome destined death.

But that is a story for another time.

For now, one can only hope to try and make a difference, to meet out the promise they had made and to save the worlds cast into eternal suffering.

The lifting of their curse has been long overdue.

"I hope your curiosity will be met with approval in the end then."

The ghost of a smile can be seen on the boy, along with the vibrant smile of another just behind him.

"As long as hope persists, mankind will seek it. With the courage to find hope, together they are capable of allowing one to touch the untouchable, to reach the unreachable, to see the invisible. To do the impossible..."

Lydia fades back into the aether as Ludwig turns to open the door.

In some strange way, this place may really have been just what was needed. A simple interaction, to reinforce his own beliefs.

A place for the wandering to regain what they had lost, in more ways than one.

And so, door 8803 opens to the Inheritor of Unity...

[Rafflesiac]

Logan Starbright
SLEIPNIR - Hallway (Outside the Hangar Bay)
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening

"But you don't know Ada huh? Not too surprising... She's a uh... How to say... Not a hikikomori exactly... But she keeps to herself... Think she's like eighteen? She's one of Merlin's students."

“As old as me, then.” How truly curious then that they’d never interacted, not even once. She certainly hadn’t made herself known in the Squire IM chat or forum. Before Logan realizes it, he’s already speaking. “Did she show up after I left?”

: Wait, I thought we weren’t digging any deeper.

: With just this, it’s still me catching up on missed events. I’ll stop before I hit any real landmines.

: And besides, it’s Raz Stone’s hidden sister, or someone pretending to be one. How could I not be curious about that?

: Just be careful, alright? The last time you encountered that guy you nearly died!

: Oh, but this Knight’s meal should be infinitely better!

Logan watches Eliza pull a veritable rainbow of ingredients from her lunchbox. She really did prepare for all sorts of things. Is that lettuce glowing? I feel like I’ve seen that pepper in the Demonic Server before too.

"But what about you? How have you been doing here?"

Logan blinks as she looks at him expectantly. “That’s, um… Just the usual stuff. Training in the simulator, going on missions, that’s all.” The awkward silence demands to be filled. “I recommend Simulator 9 for general training. Simulator 13’s probably cursed; the difficulty settings always seem to fritz out there at the worst possible time. If you’re not looking for a fight, avoid Simulator 7; it’s the largest simulator, so we use it as a free-for-all combat zone. Watch out for Loki though. When I first came here, he impersonated the Commander and tricked me into opening an airlock mid-flight. He’s basically a more sadistic Merlin, so he’ll definitely try to ruin your day. And then there’s Xavier. He probably won’t bother you, but if he thinks you’ve been training for too long he’ll try forcing you out. It’d be one thing if he wanted to use the simulator himself, but he just insists on getting in the way instead. I’m fighting him again next time, and I’m not going to lose.” Memories of dislocated limbs and humiliation call forth remembrance of the assailant on the race track, the sneering Dead End, and the Goddess stained with despair. He holds Amelia’s frame between his index fingers, slowly wiggling her back and forth. “I say that, but… I don’t know if I’ve gotten any better. I learned a few new spells, sealed some Demons too, but,” Logan sighs and continues, “lately I’ve been losing when it counts. Not catching up. Not keeping up. I’m still too slow. It makes me wonder if I’ll ever…” He shakes his head. “Sorry, that’s not what you wanted to hear about. I don’t have any problems with the gravity or anything anymore. That’s the unofficial prerequisite for being a Rothschild Tamer, so at least going by that, I belong. I’m still working hard, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

"Enjoying yourself? Made any new friends?"

Enjoying myself? It’s not like I came here to make friends. “This isn’t the SDCD, you know. People don’t really talk very much or anything. I heard someone tried setting up a card game night once. All of the people who said they’d be fine with it forgot and ignored him to train or go on missions. He learned how to throw cards through spells and steel after that though, so it worked out for him in the end.” Amelia facepalms. “One of Rothschild’s many tragedies.”

“But as for friends, it’d be Astra. We train together often, and occasionally try different foods.” He palms Amelia’s frame, his hands now at peace. “Back when I first became a Rothschild Tamer, it took me everything I had just to make it to the nearest simulator, Simulator 5. She always trained there, for much longer than anyone else. It made me wonder ‘if I went to sleep and I came back, would she still be here?’ She didn’t mind if I trained there along with her, so I did. Seeing her work so hard made me feel like I had to do at least that much if I really wanted to be stronger. Somewhere along the way, Astra started talking to me. We started collaborating during training and the occasional mission, and she challenged me a lot to see who could last longer or beat more enemies. She said we were friends a bit later.” He’s not aware of the smile on his face. “I’m glad I’m her friend.”

Suddenly, Logan snaps his fingers. “Ah, there’s also Ludwig. We have disconcertingly similar circumstances, so we ended up talking during a training run in the Demonic Server. Though I’m not sure that really counts as a friendship. We’re probably just coworkers.”

It’s Logan’s turn to shift the conversation. “How have the others been? Ayra Lilygrove’s a Knight, but what about the rest?”

[Airen]

Logan Starbright
SLEIPNIR - Hallway (Outside the Hangar Bay)
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening

A symphony of emotions had seamlessly crossed the older woman's face as she listened to you speak of your time aboard this ship. Patiently waiting through awkward silences when they appear, hands busy with the newfound task of browning ground beef (having already handled the spices with disconcerting speed) the woman had simply listened in that way that older family members tend to do at their most benevolent, smiling gently and nodding along with the tale at what she felt were the most dramatic moments... Of course, that smile does falter for a time when it comes to hearing the beginnings of self-deprecation crawl their way out of you again, falters in such a way that you can almost see the metaphorical math running across her eyes as she tries to figure out the best way to cheer you up, but...

At the mention of Astra, and the warm friendship you shared with her, well...

---A sort of proud light had taken root in her eyes, like a teacher succeeding at something they themselves didn't think they could do,, and her expression, a small smile...

It's just as proud, emerging as a reflection of your own...

One that becomes marked with questions however, a natural curiosity, when it comes to your mentioning of Ludwig as possessing disconcertingly similar circumstances...

Although as someone who respects privacy, she suppresses that curiosity.

---For now, at least.

Of course, much like a fussy older sister might, she is caught slightly off guard when the conversation is thrown back her way, a series of blinks creating a different sort of silence as she has to hastily adjust her thoughts for the sudden shift in conversation, but finally...

"Well... If you know about Ayra being a knight now, you know that Tsukiko is one too, right?"

She questions, not sure of exactly how much you expose yourself to media nowadays. Of course you did know that, when it came to members of your squad back in your squire days (that is, the 4th Avalon Investigation Squadron, supervised by Knightess Eliza Cross) you did put in a modicum of effort to keep up with their personal lives, or at least, as much effort as you could from catching the reports on global news channels...

"Although she and Ayra uh... Don't quite get along like they used too..."

Well... That's a surprise...

They used to be bound at the hip, and if you could remember right, Tsukiko was always giving Ayra those longing looks when her back was turned, those looks that made you very, very aware of how you had somehow wound up being the only guy in a squad that was otherwise composed entirely of women...

Actually, now that you thought about it, life had always sort of done that to you huh?

---Was it a blessing?

---A curse?

Either answer would inevitably be fatal if you were to ever expose it to the light of day...

"Sara is... Still herself I suppose... She always loved your taste in spell names, pretty sure she's been trying to copy your Eye of the Fates too... Something about keeping the spirit of a lost comrade with her, it's actually quite cute to watch~"

Sara Cross, that is...

Eliza Cross's younger sister.

She'd been pretty young back then, only allowed to tag along on E rank missions, day to day mundane duties in essence...

She'd always cheered really hard when you said your spell names out loud... Now you knew why...

Although the fact that she remembered you at all was sorta baffling? Was this part of that bizarre curse you seemed to live life under?

Best not to think about it.

"As for Jessica... Well... Don't tell anyone this..."

She looks left and right, in a conspiratory sort of way, before winking at you, leaning in close, and...

"She's the current pink phoenix ranger-!"

...whispering that right into your left ear before pulling back and winking again... A series of innocent movements that nevertheless triggered a very specific and very complex sort of sensation, but also raised another question, namely...

Who the heck was Jessica?

[Airen]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Seaside Hotel ~ Room 8803
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Evening
Weather: Snowstorm

Naturally, what you find waiting for you on the other side is a hotel room.

A space that always seems a bit too clean, where floors and beds are cleaned in one's absence, where it never quite feels like one's home because it's a place of temporary rather than permanent residence... Of course, there's no denying that your own nature makes it so that you would never settle too deeply into your main home if you had it, even your room back on the SLEIPNIR was somewhat sparse when it came to your personal belongings, but...

There were some personal touches here, things other than the four-poster bed, closed closet door and other furnishings that were likely given by the hotel itself...

Namely...

There was a white-board pushed up against one of the walls, one displaying a rather large image of Neptune and the rocks surrounding it's orbit, an image that has been clearly marked in a few ways, with a red circle blatantly drawn around one of the objects in orbit (labeled 2001 UQ18) with your own handwriting seemingly stating that it was a "flaw in the system," whatever that meant...

It's quite bizarre.

Seeing your own handwriting, but not remembering doing it yourself, yet...

That's not all that awaits you here, gaze moving from the image of Neptune to the bed, a closer look reveals... The items you had gotten from your expedition into the server with Logan? You can somehow feel the familiar steel 'looking' at you with vague contempt, as if trying to say you sure took your damn time but being unable to vocalize this because it is steel and therefore definitely not alive in any capacity, there was also a jacket that looked... More or less identical to Lydia's shell as a COMP, albeit, obviously missing a core, and then finally, sitting next to all of that...

A... Letter of some sort...?

No... It looks like a single page that's been ripped out of some far larger report...

ARCADIA Report #3

---To be frank, looking at what's going on now, I don't think we were ever meant to be anything more than imaginary beings.

I don't mean this in a philosophical sense of course, I think our being alive is perfectly valid and that no one should be able to deny us that... But I do think that our emergence from imaginary space was a possibility that Arcadia never actually thought could occur, to be frank, I think we were meant to exist mainly as metaphysical reiki generators, human enough to feel, human enough for them to use as a replacement for the energy once provided by their slain creator, but not human enough that we would ever actually will ourselves into material reality and become a threat to their empire.

Looking at the evidence, it makes sense.

The Worlds we found below us in the imaginary space have all hit some sort of roadblock, an event that stresses the populace massively (increasing reiki generation) and is meant to wipe them out in a certain point of their development, before repeating the events in an infinity loop. In other words, it's a manifestation of the Great Filter, a "final boss" of sorts that appears to stop "imaginary beings" from "actualizing" their existence, keeping dreams as dreams and leaving the material world to only a single absolute ruler.

What determines if a World deserves to actually exist in the material plane or simply remain as unfinished dreams.

For us, it was the entity known as Great Devourer.

According to the Travelers from Tsukuyomi-jima, their own was an entity known as the Rogue Flame.

Both insistent on the fact that our populace, humanity as we knew it, was not "real."

There is evidence that these two battles took place simultaneously in the Imaginary Space, that we each helped the other become "real" and triumph over our adversary.

At the very least, our two worlds entered what we now know as material reality at the exact same time.

However...

Our mistake at the time was assuming that we were the first civilizations to do this, to be frank, considering the level of technology we're facing off with now...

Arcadia has been here a lot longer, and I don't think they appreciate us invading their reality.

Superpredators never do.

[Airen]

Blaise Pendragon
Streets, Outside the Soba Shop
11/16/2026
Night, Thunderstorm

"...No. Not this time."

Noriko's ultimate response to your words is rather simple, but filled with that unrelenting conviction that she has seemingly been her standard tonight. Her eyes do not leave the shadow before her even as you approach, shadow whose laughs are beginning to sound more and more like choked sobs and gasps for air, it's body twitching in a way that had seemed quite eldritch at first glance, but that now, now that you were really able to focus on it again...

---Were like the spasms of a dying person, the twitching of nerve endings firing fruitlessly, desperate attempts to keep a body alive even though the end has been set, yes...

It's not something a person your age wants to see... Violence is one thing, the world as it is nowadays had a lot of fighting but death was something else entirely...

No matter the age, no matter how casual and almost anime-esque battles became, there was a certain sort of horror that still existed in the line behind the usual battles, where a "fight" instead became a "battle to the death," or a "murder."

Noriko is staring at this twitching, laughing, crying, gasping corpse.

She doesn't blink, and thus the haunted edge to her uncharacteristic razor-steel eyes is readily apparent... But there's no shock in these eyes either, just simple haunted recognition of the twitching form in front of her, form with similar body build but longer hair, form with a similar sounding voice, possessing similar cadences in how it laughed and cried, like how people might sound alike from growing up in similar environment and-

"I appreciate the sentiment, I really do, but this one's on me."

-one that grows more still as you approach, fog-like shadows erupting from the body to engulf it as you approach, as if...

"I don't want it anywhere near you. If that means I have a tougher time I'll suck it up."

...As if it was reacting to your approach, albeit... In a different way than it had when it was with you and Fia...

---Noriko seems to realize this too, as her immediate response to this is to shove you behind her -hard- and take a step closer to the now engulfed shadow herself.

"Now go! Wait for me in the car! If it turns into him we-"

Engulfed shadow that-

"...Hey now, don't baby the kid, Nori."

-suddenly speaks with a different voice.

A familiar voice, deep but quiet, powerful and yet... Somehow unassuming...

"Let him try his luck. Be a big man. He isn't strong enough to do it, but letting him at least try is something right?"

---The corpse is gone.

In it's place, from the heart of the amassing shadow...

"We can see how long it takes for him to start crying."

...Comes the voice of your father.