Spirit Pulse : Mugen No Sekai [IC]

[Zurvan]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
Rothschild - Bridge
11/16/2026
Monday - Early Morning

The long hallways of the SLEIPNIR are empty and silent at this hour.

Upon hearing of the return of Chiyoko, Ludwig had rushed through those halls in a mix of excitement and curiosity. Despite his eagerness, he was careful enough to make sure he didn't make too much noise so that the others on the ship could continue their activities in peace.

Whether that activity is simply is resting, or something more befitting of the Rothschild faction's reputation...

The boy would also prefer to avoid Xavier, who might just yell after him for running in the halls in the first place.

Nevertheless, the ship is really quite big. Big enough that, even when rushing forward, the boy's mind is left to ponder and wonder long enough to remember an old wound.

Hey Lydia, if hypothetically, we'd end up on conflicting sides at some point...

If you're asking about Lara, then I'd have to point out it's pretty hard for me to say anything about her with absolute certainty.

She may be my origin point, but the events that have shaped us until now are vastly different. Your memories may have formed me to fill the void she left behind, but by now she and I have developed into different people.

Still, I really cannot imagine anything that would cause a genuine rift between us. You're just too precious for that my little Lud~.

Yeah, I don't believe anything could do that either... but I once thought that with Lara as well.

So, if we were to face off on opposing sides, what would you like me to do?

Why win of course! Show that silly me the power of your conviction so I have no choice but to see my own foolishness! As long as you truly believe in the path you've chosen I'll inevitably end up losing.

And when I do, make sure you bring me back to the right side. I wouldn't want to miss your journey for the world, so you best make Big Sis proud!

A sheepish grin forms on the young Tamer rushing through. Hearing such words of sincerity from his COMP AI still have an effect on him even after all this time together.

Thanks sis, that helps.

Anytime Lud. Anytime.

"-Anyways, people were asking for you at the celebration Adala, you should really go with me one of these years!"

Hearing her voice once again, Ludwig's mind suddenly is reminded of that visage in the dreamscape crafted by Alexia. The sight of the younger Adala who, unlike the Adala Lagerkvist who Ludwig is most familiar with, had not yet been able to repress the aura of a Goddess.

The reason why is simple. It is because her voice had reminded Ludwig of the fact that Chiyoko had a Divine Aura of her own.

It'd always been a mystery that he wasn't able to place, one that she never spoke of to him, one that gnawed at his mind until he decided to give up on his curiosity.

But now, now his mind had linked those two. There was undoubtedly something about those two that made them stand out from even other legends.

And yet while both unmistakably share that kind of aura, the feeling alongside it is different somehow.

As if the energy and divine radiance they exuded had something different behind it, a different signature, or perhaps a different source?

Perhaps that's where that rumor regarding time comes from?

---Just another mystery added to the pile that is Fujimoto Chiyoko.

Without really thinking about it, the young Tamer had stopped his movements in order to not disturb those two but...

"Huh? Are you calling me lazy? I completed my assignment first, then I went to the reunion."

...now what does he do?

Clearly it would be wrong to simply stand here and listen in on what must be a confidential mission... but he'd already taken so much time off the Commander's hands.

A Commander that, by her own words, was clearly very busy.

A Commander that was going to be very busy again, very soon.

A Commander that clearly needed a little break, to catch up with a friend.

Yes...

Ludwig had screwed a situation like this up with Alexia before, so this time it'd only be proper to wait.

And thus, the ever curious Tamer lets those two legendary heroines chat without interference.

He walks out of the bridge, for once curbing that incessant curiosity of his.

...But the modern Tamer is never alone...





Appearing -unseen and undetected by the Karlfeldt Inheritor- from a cluster of butterflies is the Big Sister COMP AI.

Lydia Karlfeldt.

The girl has sneaked off a myriad of times in this fashion. Usually simply to chat with others onboard the ship, sometimes to gather information that may somehow prove useful later on.

Just like she did with Alexia.

This time simply satisfied with listening in on two friends while doing her very best to not be observed by anyone.

[Spinach]

Hyakka Onjouji
Aoyama, Brighter Days Orphanage
11/16/2026
Monday - Early Morning

As a matter of course the small girl surrendered her hair to the older one. It was only natural. After all, it feels good to have someone else wash your hair! And she would return the favor by washing Alice’s back.

“Uncle?” She repeated that word, tilting her head. The hands conditioning her hair followed the movement with liquid grace. “Mmmm… he was odd. Very odd! Belial-sensei is the type who says vague things and dodges questions, then gives concrete but equally vague advice along with it...”

She thought more about the strange man.

“I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing. But he’s strong, isn’t he? I can tell!”

She smiled wide.

“And I bet he got that strong without ever drinking the evil milk! Yuck! Pfuweh!”

The girl spent a second faking disgust, then after a chuckle, tilted her head again as she thought about the last question.

“Zerah?”

Of course, Hyakka had heard of someone with a name like that. He was a star, a super star! And a hero, a super hero!

“But I never met anyone like that…”

Which is exactly why Hyakka herself is the one who sounded the most disappointed to acknowledge that she never met him. As one who idolizes heroism and valor, Zerah Meir could be considered one of her ideals. A goal to strive to match, and naturally, surpass. Not in fame, but in spirit!

“Are you sure it was me that he met, and not,” she thought back to the ‘her’ behind the door of the ghost hotel. “Another me?”

Suddenly, Hyakka froze up as she thought a bit more about it all. Yes, that’s right. She’d been too focused on the inconsistency between what this ‘Zerah’ that she assumed to be Zerah Meir said and what she herself could remember. After all, hadn’t Alice said…

Her head spun around, eyes lit up shining like rubies beamed at the larger girl.

“You said he had something to give to me? The Zerah Meir, right? For me?”

[Airen]

Rossweisse
SLEIPNIR - Resource Wing
11/16/2026
Monday - Early Morning

‘I’ll have you know that I am a COMP of JUSTICE! Slayer of Villains, Protector of Innocents, and the Gamer Hegemon of Rothschild!’

"Justice? Bah. I could practically hear the cackling laughter and claps of dramatic thunder from all the way on the other side of the ship."

---In response to the dramatic declaration of a COMP of JUSTICE, Xavier simply opens up his arms in the natural pose of a calculating, monologuing villain himself, the slightest hint of a purposefully villainous smile on his face... Of course such a thing is a bit hypocritical, playing up the drama of his own actions like he's a villain that emerged to strike down another villain, but more often than not, 'friendly' interactions amongst the Rothschild had this sort of air to them...

Those that seek power tend to embrace that power, it becomes a part of who they are, and thus the mixing of all of these powerful egos leads to everyone 'pushing' a bit on everyone else as they assert their existence in the world...

...Or something like that anyway, in your own opinion, this ship was just a gathering place for weirdos and dorks who happen to occasionally break out into a villainous monologue over mundane activities-!

Like card games...

Poker night on the ship was truly something to behold...

Nevertheless...

When it came to Xavier, he was simultaneously one of the most open and most closed off, members of the Crew... At least as far as the Tamer populace on the ship went; where others allow their motives to fall under the generic label of "getting stronger," and keeping the reasons and plans for their future power to themselves, Xavier's goal (or at least what he claimed was his goal) was well known throughout the ship, simply put...

His desire was to forge a magic that could revive the dead; while healing magics and technologies nowadays can breathe life into a number of bodies that would have been called lost causes only a decade or so ago, there was still a limit to what they could do... So long as the soul was still present in the body, it was possible to pull someone back from the brink, but the soul departs quickly after physical death, so such magic is not so much revival of the dead as it is stopping the 'final step' of that process called 'death.'

What Xavier wants is quite simple then...

The power to revive anyone, even people that are long gone...

Of course, who he intends to revive is not known but...

His end goal is definitely something like that, an open desire, but on the flip side...

Who or what he wants to revive...

No one knows.

Still...

"But by all means continue your battle, Gamer Hegemon of Rothschild."

While most people would get the impression that the doctor is somewhat stoic, to you, who asserts your existence around him all the time, you know the truth...

"If you are the hero, then win with your own power. Impress me."

He's a bit of a bully...

A well meaning one, but a bully...

Still-!

It's not like you needed him to tell you that! You had never intended to not see this fight through, and who was he to decide what was cheating and what wasn't anyway?! Lucia had been fine with it after all, and judging by how she ultimately rolled her eyes at the doctor's interruption, it seems she's having those sorts of thoughts about the situation herself, still-!

You turn back to finish the fight, as does Lucia, each of you ready and willing to bury the other one with an Astral Finish-! It's the closest match of them all so far, a symphony of buttons, light muttering at dropped combos, whiffed supers, and the closest match you've had with the dark-haired girl so far-! Indeed, the rate at which Lucia seems to have improved at this game is almost disconcerting... The hesitance of the first round is gone, replaced by determined eyes and the beginning of a small, rival-esque smile as the match swings back and forth, but-!

It's not enough-!

You won't be able to astral her, but you can see it, a path to victory-! While she's gotten way better at blocking your strings, you'll still be able to take her out with chip damage alone-! It's not the explosive outcome you secretly sought, but one of the sayings on this ship was that "there is power in all things," thus-!

This is it-!

---Or at least, it would have been it, if not the bizarre occurrence that happens right at the end of the match; it is nothing prompted by Lucia, indeed, it's the sort of occurrence that catches everyone in the room off guard, because it was unprompted by anything, but-!

---A different program seems to force an activation inside of both your and Lucia's COMPs...

No, not just the two of you, Xavier as well...

For the A.Is it is an occurrence that feels... Strange...

Hard to describe...

Less like a forced download caused by a virus, and more like...

Some forgotten program inside of them had just sprung forth, seemingly unprompted by anything, and thus...

A fighting game screen is halted, the hologram flickers to a purposeful black, and then...

...Three similar-but-different screens appear in front of everyone's eyes.

The program itself appears to be called "DREAM-WEAVE.EXE." Running an information analysis on it doesn't reveal any real origin point for it, to be honest, it's really more like this was something you had installed a long time ago and had just forgotten, as evidenced by all the administrative permissions it seems to have on your systems, and...

Beneath the blue words on the black screen, there are a few tabs, like you were looking at an internet browser...

The first tab, labeled Hiyori : Bound has already been selected, and on that tab...

Is a list of names?

Bound

Connection Stabilizing...

Lexie Davis
Xavier
Myra Davis
Yoko Aoyama

Some are pretty familiar...

The rest of the crew are on here as well, but...

Their names are simply listed in white text, marking them as clearly different from the others, and...

"...Viruses are certainly getting stronger nowadays, aren't they?"

...Xavier's response is calm in spite of the oddity, and Lucia...

"Dream-weave?"

Seems to be having the normal response...

After all...

The hell is this supposed to be...?

Another tab on the screen does exist... But it's name is hidden, and when you try to click over to it...

It doesn't let you...

An enigmatic virus indeed...

If a virus is what this is...

Whatever it is... It's definitely suspicious...

[Airen]

Eva Ellet
Vatican City ~ Obelisk Square
11/16/2026
Morning, Sunny

“Have you been onboard before, Alyx?”

"...Once."

It's an answer given not with hesitation, but with a bit of a grimace, as if it was a memory that was somehow unpleasant for the girl to recall...

"I was testing out a new spell program... There were a few errors in the formula..."

She shakes her head, as if dismissing those very same memories, but:

"Wound up halfway across the globe, plummeting down through the sky. No idea how I managed to make it that powerful, for some reason its the accidental teleportation formulas that are the strongest ones, but, long story short I landed on the ship and they took me in for a couple of days. Mom thought it'd be a good experience for me..."

At this, she nods once towards Alisa, who somehow seems to sense the motion in spite of her blindness, cheerfully waving at your group in a way that was almost... Mischievous...?

"It was... Okay I guess."

Still, where Cosmos seems to be slowly sinking into herself at your appearance for some reason, Alyx seems to handle your presence just fine... Considering the two of them were sisters, and Alyx was obviously the taller, more athletic one, perhaps it was a simple difference in their social ability?

In other words...

It was possible Cosmos was just shy, and didn't know how to handle your presence here, then again...

This conversation wasn't exactly easy for you either-!

"Anyways, your basics are pretty much right... It's not just an anti-magic field though, every once in awhile their boss cranks up the gravity on board the ship as a form of passive training... Or at least, that's what they called it..."

She crosses her arms.

"I don't think they'll have it on while we're there, but brace yourself for it just in case," one hand going up to her chin in a thinking posture, the girl takes a moment to continue, "Let's see... They have all the normal essentials of any base, simulators and a cafeteria... But there's also a... How to say... Sort of like a town on board the ship? Takes up an entire level... Quite a few stores and restaurants, the ship can basically function as it's own mini society for awhile, it should be pretty interesting, especially under these circumstances."

She's not quite as good at giving lectures as a certain friend of yours, but...

They're informative enough...

"One of the Big Three COMP Creators is supposed to be onboard too... So the trip as a whole should be pretty entertaining, from what I can tell, all the organizations are going all out on this one. It's just as much a social outing as it is a mission really."

She jerks her thumb back towards Cosmos.

"So this one is pretty much doomed!"

"H-Hey, shut up!"

[Kuroyuki]

Rossweisse
SLEIPNIR - Resource Wing
11/16/2026
Monday - Early Morning

"Justice? Bah. I could practically hear the cackling laughter and claps of dramatic thunder from all the way on the other side of the ship."

If it wasn’t for the fact that I was sitting in the center of SLEPNIR’s Resource Wing and knew Dr. Xavier, I would’ve believed that I was walking towards the Evil Boss of some magical incident. Dr. Xavier already could nonchalantly pull that look off with his well groomed sophisticated look that some of them did especially with that eyepatch. It practically screams evil! It’s only made worse when he slowly, calmly watches the situation from a far and only announces himself after the deed has been done.

‘Dramatic thunder?! Do you take me to be one of those obvious Japanese RPG Final Bosses who merely sit in their castle?! I’ll have you know I’m the Bonus Boss that comes with the remastered version of the game!’

“So you’re still sitting in a certain room waiting...”

Actually, if I have to be honest… Everyone is eccentric. I’m not talking about eccentricity like your normal tamers. Rose Cross and Knights of the Round have their themes as the Church and Arthurian knights respectively. However, they seemed to be normal when you talked to them outside of work. Everyone here seemed to enjoy using lines from “rival” and “evil villain” characters from fiction. The one time, I got forced to attend card game night. I just let Hiyori handle it because it was just too weird! ‘Let this twisted game be reset!’ ‘My body is made of cards...’ ‘Heh, you thought I was going to just let you win? THINK AGAIN!’ Needless to say, I’ve decided to never attend card game night again despite Hiyori’s begging each week.

"But by all means continue your battle, Gamer Hegemon of Rothschild. If you are the hero, then win with your own power. Impress me."

‘I don’t need to impress you with something I was going to do anyways! Lucia have at you!’

After Hiyori and Lucia started back up, I decided to talk to Dr. Xavier. While it was amusing to watch Hiyori and Lucia actually trade evenly this time around, it felt a little weird just sitting here.

“Doctor, was the theatrics necessary? I’m sure Hiyori would’ve stopped after you used that on her because despite how she’s acting now. She is a good girl.”

For some reason, I felt like I should apologize for her behavior… Even if I know that person was fairly unrepentant in her behavior.

“At the very least, she’s a model hero when she goes out on patrol. It’s actually kind of weird because while she doesn’t stop joking. You can tell she wholly believes in protecting everyone.”

While I was awkwardly apologizing, it seems like Hiyori finally got the upper hand. It wasn’t going to be the Astral Finish that she was aiming for, but a win is a win. She wouldn’t potentially risk a loss just in order to showboat. She at least knows that a loss is a loss especially when you risk a definite win.

‘It’s over!’

> !

However, in the last frame before Hiyori could finish it, my COMP noticed that something affected the game. Whatever it was, it forcibly closed the Facade Arena game and opened up a new program. “DreamWeave.” My initial response was to close it immediately and counter trace it back to the source however that urge stopped after I saw the first line.

Hiyori : Bound. Connection Stabilizing.

“...”

‘Wha...’

And in that tab was a list of names. Most of them were the fellow Rothschild members, however there were four that seemed to stick out from their white colored compatriots. I knew Xavier already due to visiting him constantly and he was part of Rothschild. However, the other three… Lexie Davis, Myra Davis, and Yoko Aoyama. I shouldn’t know them… Yet I had a feeling that I did? Maybe I can figure something out with a sear-

Summary of Lexie Davis

Lexie Davis

Older sister of Myra Davis. Active SDCD Spirit Tamer. Former member of American Spirit Tamer group DMC.

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Summary of Myra Davis

Myra Davis

Younger sister of Lexie Davis.

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Yoko Aoyama

Yoko Aoyama

Has unknown relations with SDCD Spirit Tamer Kasumi Ayume. Involved in an incident with divine spirit claiming to be ‘Izanami.’

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At my thought of searching up the three, my COMP places up three quick summaries of all three highlighted names.

“...Davis why does that feel familiar?”

Hiyori seemed to be in even deeper thought than me. It is her list after all and not mine. She let her digital controller disappear and instead materialize a rock for her to do a thinker pose on.

‘Yeah. Davis sounds familiar. However something seems off about it. But what is it? I almost feel like an old protagonist meeting the new game’s protagonist in a DLC.’

After a little bit more of thinking, Hiyori got up off of her rock and then did her best to look all stoic and cool just like one of the photos in the search results.

‘Hey Hey Rossweisse! Don’t you think that this Yoko could be my parent?’

I looked at the picture and then my COMP trying to keep a stoic face (she was failing).

“You may look the same, but you’re nowhere near close to a stoic beauty like her. Also technically… Since you’re my COMP aren’t I your mother?”

‘No way! While you may be good at traditional feminine things, you still don’t have that motherly feel. In fact, you’re closer to the straight-laced little sister than anything!’

I felt vaguely insulted yet also relieved by her statement. Because on one hand, Hiyori called me young. On the other hand, she called me her little sister. Despite the fact that I’m constantly fixing her messes!

“At least call me your straight-laced older sister...”

I sighed before seeing what Lucia and Dr. Xavier was doing. Hopefully, they could make more sense out of this than Hiyori and I...

“Umm… Did you also get a list of names with some of them highlighted as well?”

[Airen]

Cosmos Fairchild
St. Peter's Basilica
12/22/2026
Noon, Thunder Storm

"The world is strange. If you don't know what that means, then I'll have to pursue those two mysterious individuals, with or without your help."

"..."

Again.

Another moment of silence as he processes your words, continuing to judge you even now, now that he has pointed out what can only be your own dwindling mortality, the reality that your life is being threatened by some bizarre phenomena, and then-

"Would that not be rather difficult, considering you do not even know their appearance?"

-when he does speak, it's to again point out a rather difficult truth...

Indeed, there is little point to your quest for these two individuals if you do not even know their appearance or name; it would be no different from searching for a stranger, but...

"Honestly...

"Kids sure are stubborn nowadays. Literally everything is going against you, but here you are, telling me you'd keep going anyway."

A chuckle from someone who can't be much older than his early twenties.

"I could just arrest you, you know? I do have that authority."

A smooth voice.

Clear and purposeful, the voice of someone who's finally come to some sort of conclusion, and is now acting upon it...

"That would stop you from doing something dumb."

...Thus, the tension builds a bit.

Will you have to fight him? Snake-like mannerisms aside he doesn't seem like a bad person, and judging from the fact that he was a certified NWAB Tamer, it would be an uphill battle in the very best case and outright impossible for you -at least as you are now- at the worst, but...

"...Or maybe it wouldn't... Yeah, probably not."

...The tension evaporates with a laugh, and he removes his hat once more... It's a youthful face, the face framed in that pitch-black suit, and...

"Fine, fine. You twisted my arm, I'll help you out. Beating up a kid -even for their own sake- would leave a bad taste in my mouth, and leaving you alone, well... You'd go off and get yourself killed, guess I got no real choice."

He smiles.

Golden eyes flicker.

"I'll keep an eye on you so don't vanish. We'll go see this fountain of yours -lord knows I need a new place to investigate- and you can stick around with me for a bit. I'll be taking point on this one though, got it? Don't run off. We'll explore at my discretion, if you can't agree to that, I'll be sending you back home. Won't be too hard to get people to observe you for a bit until we can figure out what's wrong..."

In other words...

It's a deal with some conditions...

Still... In spite of his snake-like nature...

You really do get the vibe that this person is 'kind'... If a bit shady and sarcastic...

"As for our two mysterious figures... They seem like a Summoner and Demon pair, first image will be the Summoner. No name on her, no known history either."

He tilts his watch, and...

A hologram emerges from it.

"We do know a bit about the second one though, took a lot of cross-referencing spiritual samples to figure it out, but she's a known criminal element. Went on a bit of a rampage in Aoyama, Tokyo a few decades back."

"...Blood countess, Elizabeth Bathory. Used to go by the alias "Kurogane Tsukiko." Was never caught during her last summoning, and is quite the powerful demon according to our records. Apparently had a habit of assimilating the powers of other demons."

...That one, at least.

Certainly sounds like someone that might kill the pope...

[Katie]

Aster
The Boundary ~ Azure Horizon

The way that Burroughs looks at her—that pure, childlike admiration—makes her heart ache just a little. She is far from the ideal hero that saves everyone without hesitation, and exposing Burroughs to the truth, that this pursuit of justice had a price… It’s not something she can do. She is willing to let childhood dreams exist a little longer.

"When I figured out you were trying to look into Akarana Charlotte, I did a bit of investigation on her myself!" Raising one hand like a child in a classroom, the girl hops in place a few times as she babbles at you, "She has a device that is seemingly designed to completely absorb specific wavelengths of light and reiki on her person at all times, effectively rendering her impossible to observe for brief periods of time... The theoretical mechanics behind it were easy enough for me to figure out, but the actual power behind it is really surprising, even I can't really see her when she's using it! Makes finding her after she turns it off kind of difficult too..."

"But she doesn't use it all the time! Probably because she can't for some reason... Anyways, it was a bit of a nightmare of cross-referencing, but I was able to figure out that she spends a lot of time at 33 Thomas Street in New York City! Can't really see inside of that building either, so it's pretty suspicious, right?"

Aster is not sure if she should be impressed by Burrough’s ability to snoop around or outright horrified. If this fact was true, and it probably was, Burroughs was absolutely an existence on Laplace’s level. That talk of observing the world was not merely for show. But other than that pivotal fact gleaned from the young girls words, there was the matter of relaying the information to Ayra…

How could she justify getting a mysterious tip? That one of their foes could disappear off the radar, yet she’d been detected after all? No, perhaps that last fact was rather hard to swallow…

“Americans,” Aster says with a sigh. “Too busy meddling in everyone else’s affairs to realize they are the demons they hunt.”

“So what you’re telling me, Burroughs, is that the American government, or at least, people within it, are complicit to the Akarana family’s misdeeds?” Idly, Aster glances into the heavens, as if the myriad of stars could light the way forward. “Spirit Tamer business is supposed to be beyond government jurisdiction, but this… If it gets out, it’s messy.”

Well, she knows what Ayra would say, and so she lets her user’s stubbornness guide her forward.

“Well, it’s our duty to ensure all crimes come to light, no matter where they’re from. Anything else you got for me?”

[palad1n]

Cosmos Fairchild
St. Peter's Basilica
12/22/2026
Noon, Thunder Storm

"I could just arrest you, you know? I do have that authority. That would stop you from doing something dumb."

Cosmos' body stiffens in response to that statement.

Factually and logically speaking, facing off against a certified NWAB like him would be an impossible task in most cases; Cosmos Fairchild is nowhere nearly strong or capable enough to actually win if they should battle.

However, she doesn't need to win.

No, she just has to somehow made him lose sight of her; once that happen, if her existence is as fragile and ephemeral as it seems, then he'd no longer be able to see or notice her, and she'd be free to go and investigate to her heart's content. With that in mind, her mind is immediately abuzz with spells and tactics that could be used to achieve that result; perhaps a C-rank Aster would suffice, he'd need to take his eyes off her to avoid multiple homing attack--

"...Or maybe it wouldn't... Yeah, probably not."

Only for the man himself to once again cut through her musings.

As she listened to what he had to say - requirements for her to accept if she wanted to investigate at all - her form had still yet to relax. This is her investigation, she should freely be able to explore and look for whatever she wanted, and to be honest her paranoia is at an all-time high after her mother's death; she's not sure if she could truly trust the man with this, NWAB Tamer or not...

'Let him help you.'

She took a glance at her COMP's hologram after hearing the telephatic message, where she saw a worried look clear on Illia's face.

'You couldn't do this alone - or at the very least, it's safer to have someone else with you. Not just in case you have to battle with the two suspects, but to also have someone observe you; you don't want to disappear before finding out the truth, right?'

As usual, Illia's advice is sound - though the thought of her personal safety had long left her mind - so Cosmos allowed herself to relax just a little, tension leaving her body as she intently pay close attention to what Daniel is saying. In her mind, she silently laughed at doubting the man; her gut and instinct told her that he's a kind man despite his snake-like mannerism, and really the one she should be doubting is not someone as capable as a NWAB Tamer, but herself...

She's the reason all this mess happened in the first place after all.

Quickly shaking her head to focus, she refocused her attention to the hologram that came out from Daniel's watch: A petite girl with short lilac hair carrying a book, and a silver-haired woman who's apparently the legendary vampire Elizabeth Bathory; her beautiful and elegant appearance certainly belies her true nature, and Cosmos thought she understood how the zealots could have so much hatred for demons better now. If a blood-thirsty and rampaging vampire who evade capture was the one to truly killed her mother...

Then she really has no interest in peaceful talks or negotiation, especially not if she had claimed so many victims.

Did her mother understood this feeling, she wonder? The intense fire raging in her heart at the thought of such a demon being the culprit, the desire to right this wrong and ensure that no one else would suffer like she did...

It's easy to see how it could easily consume someone's very being, driven by nothing but contempt for demons and perhaps the desire to protect humanity and humanity alone.

And how could she or her mother pacify someone like that? Now that she experienced the feeling first hand, what could anyone do or say to convince her to stand down and try a more peaceful solution if the demon in question really killed her mother, alongside other innocent people?

Silently, Cosmos bitterly laughed at herself; always trying to follow after her mother's footsteps, and yet the moment a personal tragedy happened she broke down. Despite still having God as her pillar and guidance, she wavered, broke down, and cannot help but to hate, hate, hate the one who did this.

Is there anyone more hypocritical and more pathetic? A sham of a tamer who only preached but cannot really practice what she preached, and thought differently now that she has experienced loss?

'Cosmos-'

Before her COMP could finish, Cosmos took a deep breath, clenching her fist before relaxing them, her eyes looking at the snake-like eyes of the NWAB tamer in front of her. Illia, for her part, could only look at her master with sorrowful eyes before quietly fading back to the rosary.

"I understand." She said after taking a few moments to recompose herself and committing the image of the two suspects into her memory, though she knew Illia had stored them in her database too. "Then let us go to the fountain, though I cannot guarantee to be able to quickly find it nor for something interesting to happen."

Wise Up!

Sympathy for the Devil
Strangely enough, you get along just fine with most of those that would call themselves Demon-Kind; rather than reject them outright as the more zealous members of the church do, there is something inside of you that enjoys their company...

In fact, if you were to be honest, if you were to be asked if you hated demon-kind, the answer would be no...

Is that feeling the saint-like belief that everyone should be saved? That people shouldn’t be judged by what they are? The understanding that even good demons truly do exist? Or perhaps something else? Regardless of its source, you sincerely get along better with demons than most other members of the church would and are able to better negotiate with them, to the point where they can tell you’re different from the others even at a casual glance, and will change their behavior towards you accordingly...

Being the daughter of Mary herself, and as an amnesiac with no prior view or conception on demons, it is only natural that Cosmos doesn’t hate them or even dislike them; she knows that one cannot group demons into a single group as each of them has different personalities and goals, and that coexistence with them is indeed possible.

[Airen]

Hyakka Onjouji
Aoyama, Brighter Days Orphanage
11/16/2026
Monday - Early Morning

“Are you sure it was me that he met, and not,” she thought back to the ‘her’ behind the door of the ghost hotel. “Another me?”

"Another you?"

She frowns for a moment, hands pausing in their practiced motions... This is only natural of course, while you were capable of following your own sort of logic to it's conclusion, having seen a ghostly 'apparition' of yourself the other day, the taller blonde girl lacks that knowledge, and thus, has little idea of what you mean when you refer to another you, nevertheless...

"I'm pretty sure he meant you. He knew your full name, said something about having a conversation over a table? Thought he might have been a guest speaker at the Academy or something..."

The frown deepens, as if suspicions arise, and with them...

"...He was acting a bit different than usual though, seemed to be... Glowing a bit more than usual... Literally."

Some thoughts on her own meeting with the man, still-!

“You said he had something to give to me? The Zerah Meir, right? For me?”

-When you turn at high-speeds to regard her with eager eyes, that growing concern of an older sister falls away just a bit, as if you had shocked her out of her own train of thought-!

"Uh, yeah!"

She smiles.

"It's not the sort of thing you normally pass out in a bath though, but if it's you, well... Dry your hands, and don't splash around quite so much..."

It's pointless to hide such things from you.

Now that you knew, you'd want to see it at the very least-!

"I'll have Alice bring it to you. Alice!"

And knowing that from years of experience, Alice calls out for her personal Demon, Alice...

Yes.

Alice has a contract with Alice.

---A ghostly little girl that -in any other scenario- would have the leading role in a horror film, specifically as the monster that goes around tearing people apart; she's got a small stature -about the same height as you really- pale skin, a somewhat unhealthy obsession with chasing a rabbit that only she ever seems to see, and the physical power to stop an oncoming semi-truck with a single hand...

Magically... It was even more absurd than that, yes...

Demon Alice is quite a bit more creepy than big sister Alice, she does it on purpose too, as could be evidenced by the fact that she comes out of the wall to hand you a thick leather book, before giggling to herself and sinking back into it as if that was completely normal behavior, and...

---Thanks to prior experience with this Alice, it pretty much is normal behavior when it comes to her. Halfway out the walls, hanging off of door frames, sitting in a darkened room alone brandishing a deck of cards that seem to move around a bit on their own...

She was harmless though really, just liked scaring people.

The giggling in the walls wouldn't creep you out this time, eventually she'll get bored and wander off to play with the other kids-!

Putting that aside, the bigger Alice-!

"It's a book. Seems pretty old, right?"

Explains what the demon has just brought to you...

It's an ancient leather tome (the yellowed pages make this quite obvious) bound shut with a book clasp, one made of a metal that comes across to you as a bit strange, like it was made of some other strange material you couldn't identify... The cover of the book itself is adorned with some sort of gold, patterned into a strange word "ABiYA" which takes up pretty much the entire center of the cover itself...

There's no further markings, other than a small "H" at the bottom, although that H seems to have been carved into the book rather than placed there in the same extravagant manner as the title...

"At first I thought it might be a spell-book or something but it seemed blank... So I kinda get the vibe it's meant to be like... A diary or something?"

...Blank huh?

[Airen]

Aster
The Boundary ~ Azure Horizon

“So what you’re telling me, Burroughs, is that the American government, or at least, people within it, are complicit to the Akarana family’s misdeeds?”

"Well..."

She spins in place once.

"I don't have any decisive proof of any crimes, most of their stuff is invisible to me! But the Akarana family businesses and that NSA building are really hard for me to keep an eye on, it's almost like they're hiding from me along with hiding from outside authorities... That must mean they've got things they really want to hide, right?"

---She's not one-hundred percent naive it seems...

She's capable of recognizing shady behavior when she sees it at least... Of course it's also natural that someone might want to hide from an apparently all-seeing computer if they were to ever become aware of it, but...

Putting aside the light paranoia that accompanies Burroughs existence...

“Well, it’s our duty to ensure all crimes come to light, no matter where they’re from. Anything else you got for me?”

Her eyes keep sparkling as she stops spinning, turning to face you again with a light bow.

"Yes! Although they're not entirely decisive either... I do think they might be useful to you though, maybe... One is probably helpful, the other is... A little worrying really... But one thing at a time!"

A decisive nod-!

"I recently remembered that I have a sister unit! She doesn't talk to me for some reason, but I know she's down wandering around on your guy's isle! I don't know what she's up to, or what she's calling herself, but she might be worth talking to! So if you ever see someone around my height, blonde, probably kind of smug, just call her Xanadu and she should know I sent you! She should have her own records of things, although I think she's a combat unit instead of reconnaissance..."

She trails off in thought at this, then...

"As for the second thing..."

She looks around almost conspiratorially, and...

"...There's a squire on your island that shouldn't exist."

...She says something that could use a hell of a lot more explanation...

"There's one more of them than there should be... At least, according to my last count..."

[Tobias]

Raz Stone
Avalon ~ Camelot, Tintagel Gardens
11/16/2026
Monday - Early Morning

"Ah, ah! Help! Help us! Raz called out when seeing the peanut gallery start to form.

...Now you are just being mean.

Shut up and get the stream going. Send the first to the usual place, put the second one on my fan site in ten minutes.

Aye aye. Ruining a knight's social life for clickbait, got it.

The usual site, of course, was a trashy tabloid Raz had a good relationship with. The editors paid for stories he sent. Paid almost nothing, but whatever, the money just went to paying off debts. The money wasn't important anyway, it was just a way to get a handle on his own stories. Money came and went, but Renown was a more permanent reward. Raz had wanted to wait a tiny bit longer to get more footage but with a couple of squires in the area the chances of someone else tweeting about it or something rose exponentially. And sure enough, in the building crowd, the dark haired knight noted a few cellphones and small VI based computer assistances being pulled out to record the show.

Plus, ruining his social life? you had to have a social life in the first place. The bard half expected that the extra attention and dealing with the aftermath of such might serve to bring the little introvert out of his shell, which would only further Raz's long term plans which involved getting physical with the young heart throb.

"Th-this guy!" Raz said, pointing a still concealed finger at the knight, whose position of contrition actually didn't help the appearance of one accused of grave misdeeds. "He said he came to turn himself in after putting his hands on this poor girl, but now he is acting weird, and he is touching me, help us!"

[Airen]

Logan Starbright & Mokujima Chris
Aoyama, Beneath the Starlit Lake (SDCD Base)
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

---It's the flicker of the lights, the plunge of the hallway into darkness, that ultimately decides the course of fate. It's an action that prompts a number of different reactions from everyone in the room, to Logan's sudden defiant charge, adorning Chris with a coat of brilliant luminescent armor as he moves to rescue her from a situation she does not wish to be rescued from, to the pause of a Goddess, who sees through the surface level intentions of everyone around her, and comes to a troubling realization...

"Fear? No... Something else...?"

Yes.

A troubling realization...

The realization of a light that realizes it may just be searing the darkness, and is trying to figure out what she should actually do...

But even amidst all of that, amidst an insanely fast charge to rescue a hostage, there is one person's reaction who overcomes 'thought' and instead relies completely on deepset instinct, becoming a movement that holds absolutely no hesitation, and thus, a perfect movement that wastes no time in needless thought-!

That person being, of course, the android girl herself...

While the situation she had found herself in had clearly been confusing to her, it's when the lights go off suddenly -inciting a strange burst of something like fear- and when her 'hostage' grasps her and whispers that they should run, that a deepset response is triggered; rather than attempting to leave her hostage behind, as a kidnapper might perhaps be wont to do in this scenario, the android instead grasps the taller girl more tightly, protectively, leaping up back and away, and twisting her body in midair to present only her back to her newfound opponent, cradling a certain panicking girl in her arms the whole time...

---It's a movement she's clearly used to performing, a built in routine where what one protects first is not themselves, but the person that is under their care-!

Yes!

This one certainly has a past as a 'guardian,' and when combined with her survival instincts, instincts borne from some past trauma involving the darkness, the girl's feet land on the ceiling for but an instant before she is rocketing off down the hallway from whence she came-! It's not a natural movement by any means of course, while her initial leap had been done with natural supernatural grace, the kick-off from the ceiling is done with an explosive surge of reiki, done in a bizarre coding style that reminds Logan of a certain other android he encountered recently, however-!

While this dash does allow both kidnapper and kidnappee to escape the immediate area, it's by but a hair's breadth, yes-!

"...!"

---Logan Starbright is quite the agile tamer himself-!

While the over the top nature of the opponent's movement causes him to stumble for an instant, it's still just an instant, and the dash down the hallway after your target is one with a gap of only three meters or so, and-!

Coming up, a fork in the road-!

In other words, a decision-!

To the left lies a path that leads to the library and dormitories, considering the time of day it wasn't too likely for a lot of people to be in there right now... And cutting to the right... The simulator rooms were in that direction, as was the kitchen, if you went far enough ahead, regardless-!

With the android girl flickering her gaze down to Chris expectantly (still cradling the taller girl like some sort of nanny bot) and with Logan in hot pursuit (and gaining rapidly) it was time to do, well... Something...

Although...

Where had Yamuna gone...?

Robot Chan

Stats

STR: B
AGI: B


Spells

-Accelerate-
Rank: C
Element: Spirit
Spell formula that seems to energize the body through strategic reiki infusion; does not seem like normal magic, feeling more 'alien' in nature, and thus harder to break down at a glance.

[Bloble]

Mokujima Chris
Aoyama, Beneath the Starlit Lake (SDCD Base)
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

Everything explodes into action.

As the mysterious man pursues, the android girl retreats with Chris in tow. And Yamuna...? Yamuna vanishes entirely.

A second passes.

Chris finally catches up to what's happening.

She considers. In the instant she has available to her, she considers many things. Like the fear in the android girl's body language as the darkness fell around them. Like her instinctive protective actions. Like the look on the goddess' face that cuts painfully deep. Like the intersection that they're going to reach in a few moments.

Mokujima Chris considers everything, then pushes her own misgivings down and makes a decision.

Yes, since that bright person isn't visible at the moment, she can think. And so, think she does, taking everything into account.

"Right," she says to the android girl as they run. "Simulator. An empty one."

Speed and knowledge of the environment alone won't get them out of this mess. Especially not when Chris can barely catch up to what's going on without the benefits of her COMP to speed things up. They need something definitive. Something to shake up the chase. They need...

The android girl swerves, turning at an angle that momentarily scrambles Chris' thoughts and turns her stomach over. When her vision stops shaking, she sees a few open doors and one closed one, along with a series of panels. There's no time to stop and program a simulation; the other Tamer is right on their tails. It'll have to be... but how much time will she have, moving at that speed? It'll be less than half a dozen seconds. In that time, all that can be done is...

"Room 2. Register Users Mokujima, provisional COMP, admin." Chris barks out as soon as they're close enough, using as few syllables as possible. "Set Custom Program B4. Teams. Users Blue. Dupes, Blue, twenty, slave."

Nearly every Tamer uses the simulation room for training on a regular basis. Even a lazy one like Lexie. The default scenarios are enough for most, but Chris is a tinker who can't help but tailor things when given a chance. Thus, she has set up certain custom scenarios for herself and Daisuke. This particular one has never gone beyond level five.

Of course, none of those scenarios account for this sort of situation. The world isn't so convenient. But this one might allow a certain opportunity.

As they run, Chris grabs onto the android's hand and holds it as tightly as she can. As an apology for scaring her earlier, but also...

She traces out kanji on the girl's palm as she speaks, that can't be seen or overheard by their pursuer. Instructions and reassurances, and a promise. Chris would've preferred to mouth them, but her mouth is currently occupied with other things. Such as...

"Guests Red."

They jump through the door, Chris still specifying voice-controlled options. Not much time left now. If only she could stop a moment and program things to her specifications. But... this'll have to do!

"Set secret exit open, admin only," she calls out, and finally, her last specification, before they're too far away to program it...

"Set level nine."

The girl and the android vanish into the simulation... as whatever is within spins up to the maximum allowed difficulty level, capable of instantly defeating even veteran Tamers far beyond Mokujima Chris' level.

That zone of death created for him...

Will Logan Starbright hang back, or charge into it blindly?

[Verg Avesta]

Blaise Pendragon
Aoyama, Devil May Cry
11/16/2026
Afternoon

"I mean, you're the type that likes to fight, right Kid? I'm pretty sure you and I have some... Things in common after all."

Blaise grunted and folded his arms, keeping his eyes trained at this suspicious old guy.

"I fight if there's a good reason for it. No true man raises his fist just for the hell of it, or on those who don't deserve it. Sparring's a different thing, yeah, but I'm not the type that just looks for fights without reason," Blaise answered, standing his ground at the attempts of figuring out what sort of person he was - he had nothing to hide after all. "That's why I keep the streets clean in Ayoama too - because there's always some punk or a thug thinking they can make the days of others miserable. And they don't understand any other language than fists."

Spoken with conviction, like a true delinquent-hunting-delinquents. There were many things that Blaise had learned from his "Ane-san" of the big mansion, and this mindset of an old school, Japanese-style chivalry that went against his western looks was one of them. However, it was a way of life he admired, and refused to budge from. Therefore, he wouldn't stray away from it, no matter the situation.

Though...

"... Of course, from what I understand, demons are the worst thugs and miscreants there are. Because whenever they're here, they cause trouble for citizen and tourist alike," Blaise added, and slammed his fists together, small grin forming on his lips. "So going to a visit in their hometown instead and laying down some law on those with heads harder than stone doesn't sound that bad. If they wanna run roughshod all over my town, they'd best be prepared for me to return the kindness."

Behind, Kaguya could barely contain her excitement.

After all, there was one thing that got Blaise's blood pumping unlike any other...

... And that was paying eye for an eye for those who had wronged him and his city.

--- The demons being, usually, the number one most problematic culprit!

[Airen]

Blaise Pendragon
Demonic Server, Aoyama Gate
11/16/2026
Afternoon, Heavy Winds

---Transportation through the "Spirit Pulse," network was always mildly uncomfortable; the sensation that emerges when one uses it is much like being squeezed through an always-too-small tube, the world spinning away in a vortex of colors as the 'floor' beneath your feet disappears, throwing off your sense of balance, and granting a 'delightfully' intense feeling of vertigo...

Yes.

There's a reason that people who use this leyline transportation network tend to feel severely ill for some time afterwards... The weaker one is on a spiritual level the worse the symptoms apparently become, and when that bit of information is taken into account, as well as the fact that you yourself are far from weak spiritually and still feel the momentary urge to fall over upon emerging at your destination, well...

For civilians it must be an agonizing method of transportation, thankfully...

"Never gets any easier... But hey, worst part of the trip is over with already!"

...The majority of the group takes it pretty well; Tony doesn't seem to acknowledge it physically at all, just making a crack at it verbally as he walks out of the terminal, Tsukiko grimaces for a bit before shaking her head and powering through the waves of nausea with sheer grit, while Isamu...

Well...

For a moment, he falls over onto a single knee, supporting himself with a fist pressed into the dirt... It's not entirely unexpected, as the youth was probably the 'weakest' of the four of you, but...

The frustrated look on his face at this is a bit new... As if he had just realized that himself...

Regardless, he too starts to shake it off after about half a minute or so...

Still, it's a necessary evil...

While most places in the world could be reached through purely physical means, the Demonic Server was special in that the use of magic or magitechnology was a requirement to enter it, after all...

---While the human world was still in the midst of an era of magitechnology, the Demonic Server was a world that was completely submerged in the supernatural, a world where the balance of power shifts, and where humanity must abide by a different set of rules, those rules simply being however far their personal power can carry them, yes...

That's the way of the Demons.

Make your way with power, those with strength made the rules, those too weak to defy those rules were forced to obey.

Rules of nature.

---You'd been here a few times on school trips, always escorted around by the staff, but right now...

"Alright kiddos, which way do you guys think? Towards the sea shore? Storm Lucifer's Castle? Forests? Go as wild as you'd like, I'm here to make sure everyone gets back home in one piece."

Tony himself, who had got you all into the Spirit Pulse terminal without a fuss (getting a remarkable amount of respect from the attendants, almost like he was some wandering war hero) turns to face you all at the top of a nearby hill, one that overlooks a bizarre world that always seems to have shifted itself around a bit everytime you've been here...

Today for instance...

There was a roaring wind all around and thick grey clouds in the sky; the area directly to the north of the terminal starts off as simple empty plains devoid of life, but quickly becomes akin to a lake of fire as one continues ahead, a lake of fire that surrounds a castle that you're pretty sure belongs to Lucifer... To the east, the path dips a bit, giving way to the sounds of a roaring ocean echoing through a mountain pass, and to the west...

A forest.

A simple, silent forest.

But considering the nature of the Demonic Server, a "simple forest" could be quite the subtle hazard...

Nevertheless...

"We're here to make a big scene right? So it should be the castle. Straight to the boss."

Tsukiko seems to both get and not get while you're here... Although her will to just rampage also seems to be there, while Isamu...

"...Don't those woods look familiar?"

Seems to be staring at the ocean of trees off in the distance...

Although he's also...

Still trying to catch is breath it seems...

Although whatever his mutterings about the forest seeming "familiar" are, you don't feel that way...

If anything...

The castle in the distance was the one that triggered a strange sense of deja vu...

Not from spying it in class trips either...

[Verg Avesta]

Blaise Pendragon
Demonic Server, Aoyama Gate
11/16/2026
Afternoon, Heavy Winds

Blaise frowned.

Deja vu?

Have I been in this place before?

Walking down that street...

The blonde youth stared down at the road that eventually gave away to plains in the north, before turning into a lake fire that apparently sat beside the castle of the supposed "leader" of these demons. Just like Isamu had apparently gotten some sensation of having seen the forest before, so did he feel about the lake and the castle... and the blonde youth didn't exactly believe that was a good thing. After all, past was a dangerous thing, especially if you didn't remember it... and poking at it without any proper reason, all on your own, was a sure-fire way to get one's plain, ordinary, comfortable days messed up.

Well, now I know it's my time to go.

Blaise turned away from the road leading north.

If he had a feeling like that, and if his mother sometimes visited there... yeah. No.

Blaise had no intention of running into either his past or his mother today, in here of all places. He knew better than that.

"... The demons over there are intelligent, right? And bureaucratic? That means they're the least of our problems in Aoyama... if anything, they're the ones who clean up after us on this side when we boot the troublemakers back. No reason to kick down the door of the chivalrous men on this side," Blaise grunted, shaking his head at Tsukiko, before looking at Isamu. "As for the forest..."

He stared at it.

He stared at it hard.

He could practically see the illusions woven into the canopy of green, and in that moment he knew...

"--- Fairies are dicks. Let's not."

... He wanted nothing to do with that place, either!

"What say we take a stroll down the beach? I missed last school trip to the beach for obvious reasons... maybe should've brought my swimming trunks. Though I guess I can swim naked," Blaise said, taking a step to east while Kaguya nearly fell over from the suggestion. "Not only that... beaches are places where people and demons alike lose their inhibitions. And that causes trouble. Lots of trouble. From overly eager men hitting on women who don't want it, to fights and even thievery. And then that pours out into my town... Yeah. Beach is definitely the place for hooligans. Delinquents, biker gangs and ridiculous pompadours..."

Suddenly.

He felt it.

That chivalrous urge that took over him whenever he saw those good-for-nothing delinquents with no sense of honor or how to be a man, instead of taking their frazzled emotions out on innocent people like mere animals.

Blaise's hand clenched into a fist.

"This is it... the Shonan of the Demon Server - the Jun'ai Road of this place!"

Fire of dragons had been lit, and it refused to to die down.

Which is why, he was now walking forward, his back straight, not about to look back.

Besides...

"--- If we beat the biker gangs there, we'll still have time to stop for a beach yakisoba afterwards!"

Beach meant beach food, too!!!

[Katie]

Aster
The Boundary ~ Azure Horizon

"I don't have any decisive proof of any crimes, most of their stuff is invisible to me! But the Akarana family businesses and that NSA building are really hard for me to keep an eye on, it's almost like they're hiding from me along with hiding from outside authorities... That must mean they've got things they really want to hide, right?"

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Aster replies. Perhaps Burroughs had a firmer understanding of reality than she thought… or, honestly, basic deductive capability. Maybe there wasn’t really a need to lecture the girl after all. “Though, are you saying that there’s plenty of places you can see openly? Like say, Avalon?”

Truthfully, corruption exists at all levels, and Aster is not one to believe that even the Knights are exempt. Though, if it’s just her and Ayra doing the shadiest looking things behind closed doors, she can live with that. It is not that she wants to point fingers at the beloved people they work with, but justice is blind. Better to be fairly suspicious of everyone than to be stabbed in the back.

"I recently remembered that I have a sister unit! She doesn't talk to me for some reason, but I know she's down wandering around on your guy's isle! I don't know what she's up to, or what she's calling herself, but she might be worth talking to! So if you ever see someone around my height, blonde, probably kind of smug, just call her Xanadu and she should know I sent you! She should have her own records of things, although I think she's a combat unit instead of reconnaissance..."

“I’ll keep that in mind…” If Burroughs is a reconnaissance unit, what kind of monstrosity would this Xanadu be? Her processors are not cut out for imagining a foe whose physical might matched that of Burrough’s intelligence gathering abilities. Still, if she was an ally, just like Burroughs herself, getting into contact with her would definitely be good, unless communications broke down, which in that case…

Aster lets out a small sigh, impatiently tapping her foot. Honestly, perhaps she was being strung along, hook, line, and sinker, and this was a trap. Impossible to verify unless she and Ayra acted on Burrough’s information, and then it’d be too late. For now… she’d have to assume the best.

"...There's a squire on your island that shouldn't exist."

"There's one more of them than there should be... At least, according to my last count..."

“Explain.”

There’s a sudden seriousness in Aster’s voice, contrasting her casual tone from earlier. In a way, it was as if her own question from earlier was answered, but not quite.

“Tell me the date since your last count. I suppose this is a matter different from a new recruit, right?” Did someone fabricate their records? No, that wouldn’t make sense. While there were many tamers working for the Knights of the Round, ‘squire’ generally referred to the pool of candidates being given tutelage under the Knights themselves, and Aster doubted that a Knight or their COMP would ignore someone suddenly being under their care. Serena, especially. Unless…

“Before you give me the answer, let me pitch an idea. It’d be possible for someone to fake being a squire by altering the memories of those involved, right? Alter the Knight in question, Serena, and… No, that’s too complicated.” The solution Aster proposes is hardly simple, after all. It may be possible to dupe a Knight and Serena, but Merlin on top of it? Almost impossible. The probability would be astronomically slim. But not out of question. Just severely unlikely.

“Do you know who it is?”

[Airen]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS ~ Parking Lot
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

"...Well, I may be able to do something about the maze if it comes down to it."

---Unlike Alyx, Daniel's choice in vehicle was quite a bit more practical, albeit a bit old-fashioned at the same time... While cars weren't your particular area of expertise, a quick scan of the vehicle in question reveals it to have been created in the late 1960s (specifically, it seemed to be a black 1967 Shelby gt500) a particularly classic vehicle that while well maintained, seemed to be mostly untouched by magitechnology...

But it was clean, and warm, far warmer than the ill-fated ride on Alyx's motorcycle that had served as the starting point to all of your troubles...

---Yes.

This scenario certainly feels similar to that one in a way, it was dark and dreary outside, grey and black clouds rolling along the sky like wandering gods of storm; the rain pelts the windows and body of the car in a rhythmic deluge, flashes of light illuminating a city that is far quieter than it normally is, where even the low-ranking angels that usually wander the sky have seemingly decided to not challenge the rule of the planet itself...

It's the sort of scenery that doesn't do much more than dredge up painful memories, thus, you pay a bit more attention to other things, like how Daniel seems to be a guy with old-fashioned taste in things; he's still got a working cassette player in here, a pair of green dice hanging from the front mirror, what seems like an old box radio (from the 1980s) resting on the floor near your feet in the passenger's side...

One could perhaps say it's a bit strange, considering the man doesn't seem to be much older than twenty-four, but with the advent of magitechnology came a desire for the old sciences in some people... It was much like gathering up old antiques, some people do it simply for fun, or because they want to own pieces of 'history' before the really go out of style, although...

Looking in the back... There's a VCR back there... One made in the 80s...

Ancient.

Truly ancient.

---Regardless, it is only able to distract you for a little while, or perhaps, because the trip itself is so short, it's the sort of distraction that simply doesn't need to hold up for very long, after all...

"Alright... Loveless."

Pulling into a parking lot that is semi-empty (just like the last time) the towering figure of the world-wide shopping mall chain somehow comes across as ominous to you, like some of sentient monster that was clearly hiding some sort of dark twisted secret, but...

"We should be in luck today when it comes to navigation; my sources tell me the princess is here, so I should be able to have her turn off the interior fields for us."

Stepping out of the car even as he explains some surprising things, the man motions for you to stay put for a moment, withdraws a black umbrella, and then comes around to the other side to let you out under the cover of it...

It seems that now that you've passed his examination (or seemingly passed it anyway) a few of his more... Abrasive traits with being replaced by chivalrous ones?

"That might be a painful conversation though, she's been having a rough time of things herself, so before all that... Have you been eating properly? Do we need to stop somewhere inside before continuing on the investigation? I'd appreciate it if you tell me now, rather than later on, we might not be able to just stop for food once we get started with all of this mess."

It was almost...

Mother hen esque?

[palad1n]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS ~ Parking Lot
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

The ride to LOVELESS was quiet, filled only with the rhythmic sound of the rain pelting the car.

Just like the ride on that fateful day, black clouds covered the sky as the heavens let loose; unlike the cold ride with Alyx, the car provides warmth and total protection from the rain. And yet the atmosphere and silence in the car is far more deafening than the cold ride with her sister, even though she was forced to sit in the side car while the occasional rain drop managed to get past the barrier and pelleted her face.

Because it was, in some form, just another day. It was supposed to be just another mission, even if it started before dawn. It was dark and cold, yet the presence of her sister brought familiarity and warmth; the last time she would ever felt that way, before her world was turned upside-down.

Absentmindedly, she wondered what Alyx is doing right now. Training? Gathering information?

Not that it matters.

Now, she's in a car with a stranger. A NWAB agent, but a stranger nonetheless, someone whom she doesn't truly trust, and he only came with her because their interest happened to align. Nothing more, and nothing less.

As her eyes vacantly stared at the sky, Cosmos realized how lonely she felt. Of how much she missed Alyx, Aunt Alisa, and her mother, and how those blissful days spent in their company now seems like a far-off dream. A quiet sigh escaped her lips as she turned her attention away to her hands instead, unable to look at the scenery that reminded her of the past so much.

She doesn't know how to describe the heavy feeling in her heart.

Melancholy?

Nostalgia?

Longing?

She shouldn't be daydreaming like this; she should focus on the task at hand, on what could possibly happen once they arrive and found the fountain. Strategy to use if she has to face the two suspects, sacrifices she might have to make, cryptic hints and clues to decipher... Not wallowing in past memories that bring nothing but pain, a reminder of her failures and sins.

So she tried to look around the car instead, idly noting how it was filled to the brim with antiques that she's only ever seen and read about in books; items that are far older than she is, who had certainly seen and experienced much more things than she ever had in the ten years of her life.

But before her thoughts could once again spiral into another tirade of self-depreciation and self-hatred, the car came to a stop at the semi-empty parking lot of LOVELESS, exactly just like that fateful day, and Cosmos couldn't help but to feel some form of dread as her gaze now rest on the mall. Even though she had gone there countless times, even though the mall was the only place that could offer her some sense of adventure whenever she felt jealous of Alyx's tales of exploits outside of Vatican, Cosmos couldn't help but to shudder.

After all, this was the place where everything went wrong.

The place where she made her final, fatal mistake.

It's only natural for her to feel somewhat apprehensive at seeing the place once again, under similar weather and circumstances.

And yet--

"We should be in luck today when it comes to navigation; my sources tell me the princess is here, so I should be able to have her turn off the interior fields for us."

That man easily broke her out of her musings.

Just as her brain started to process the information on what he said - particularly the princess he mentioned - the NWAB agent had already withdrawn a black umbrella and opened the door for her, positioning himself as to allow her to get under the umbrella without getting wet.

For a few seconds, she blankly stared at him and his gesture, the barest hint of surprise apparent if one looked closely enough. She was a tamer and an adult, a little rain won't be harmful for her, and yet the man who reminded her so much of a snake is apparently now showing her a chivalrous gesture, and for a moment she imagined Isaac standing there instead of Daniel, his ever-perfect smile gracing his features.

At least, that was what she thought at first.

But--

"That might be a painful conversation though, she's been having a rough time of things herself, so before all that... Have you been eating properly? Do we need to stop somewhere inside before continuing on the investigation? I'd appreciate it if you tell me now, rather than later on, we might not be able to just stop for food once we get started with all of this mess."

She was wrong. Daniel currently doesn't act chivalrous, or gentlemanly.

He was... motherly.

And just for a second, his image was replaced with that of her mother. Shielding her from the rain with her umbrella, fussing over whether she had eaten well, making sure she's all good and prepared before going on a mission...

Come to think of it, she has never asked her mother to accompany her to LOVELESS before.

Once again her heart ached, and Cosmos looked away from Daniel.

She doesn't need any more distractions. She doesn't need any more reminders. Eating before the investigation would only bring painful memories and regrets that would distract her from the investigation.

Besides, she doesn't feel hungry even though she had not eaten well for the past week; nothing else matters compared to potentially fixing this mess, and people had survived by eating far less. Not to mention her time is limited, and sooner or later she'd disappear anyway. So she opened her mouth to reject his offer--

"Yes, eating sounds like a good idea. We'll accept your offer."

Only for Illia to answer in her stead, her hologram materializing outside the car.

"... We don't have time to waste, Illia." She retorted, annoyance clear in her tone as she looked at her COMP. "I'm perfectly fine. Rather than wasting time eating, it would be better to--"

"No. You will eat first before doing any investigation."

"Illia--"

"You haven't eaten well for the past week, Cosmos; in fact, you've barely eaten anything at all, and only because Doctor Lynx was checking on you." Illia said in a matter-of-factly manner, her tone firm and leaves no room for argument. "Today, you've only had tea and cookies for breakfast, and you've skipped lunch. Do you want to collapse before finding the truth or to run out of energy when facing the killers?" The blonde COMP asked, and seeing her master averting her eyes, Illia kneel to be on the same eye-level as Cosmos before speaking once again, her tone still firm but unmistakably gentle.

"I want you to succeed Cosmos, and you won't succeed when your body is barely holding up. So please, eat something first before going to the point of no return."

Illia is right, as always, but Cosmos doesn't - couldn't - agree when doing so would give her more time to think, to reminiscence and think of what-could-have-been. Illia should have known this too, so why? Why insist on this?

And yet, any retort that she wanted to say died in her throat when she looked at her COMP. Her COMP, who is so similar yet different to Mary, looking at her with a look of concern and finality at the same time.

Because she wanted what's best for you, her mind supplied. Because she wanted you to succeed. Because she cares.

Admitting her defeat with a quiet sigh, she gets out of the car and gets under Daniel's umbrella as the man graciously closed the car's door behind her. Illia nodded with a small smile before once again returning to her rosary while Cosmos locked her eyes with Daniel.

"You've heard her." She gestured to the mall. "I'll have anything as long as the portion isn't big."

[Airen]

Rossweisse
SLEIPNIR - Resource Wing
11/16/2026
Monday - Early Morning

“Umm… Did you also get a list of names with some of them highlighted as well?”

---As it turned out, the answer to this was the expected one.

Bound (Lucia)

Connection Stabilizing...

Eliza Cross
Sara Cross
Liane Cross
Sarah Starbright

Bound (Xavier)

Connection Stabilizing...

Hiyori
Ariel Lynx
Irmina Von Einzbern

---Identical screens, but with different sets of names entirely, at least for the most part... While the three of you all share the greyed out portions for most of your crewmates, they all do make some sort of appearance on your lists, even if the importance of them varies from list to list...

Yes.

They are certainly personalized to some sort of degree...

"Connection stabilizing... Some sort of synchronization program?"

Regardless, the first to speak is Xavier... It's not too surprising, considering his nature as one who was often pouring over magical formulas and program theories, he was probably the one most suited to figuring out what exactly it was, since the A.Is seem to be drawing a sort of collective blank over it... It's a program that has administrative authority as if you yourself had authorized it's installation, and yet had been hiding in the background of your ongoing functions like some sort of virus...

So it's quite bizarre, still...

"Not feeling any sort of supernaturally induced connection... Although I suppose connection stabilizing means it's not at one-hundred percent quite yet... Whatever it is..."

...With all three of you eventually coming to a sort of stand-still on this problem, eventually...

"...Should we show it to Genesis?"

Lucia makes a suggestion, and...

"This would be his area of expertise... So it's probably the efficient option."

Xavier ultimately agrees with it.

---Genesis.

A mysterious android that had been a part of the crew for as long as you could remember, hell, one who had been on this ship so long that he easily outranked the rest of you in terms of seniority, being up there with the Chiyoko and the Admiral herself in terms of years served... As an android himself, specifically a form of antique Spirit Suppression Weapon (having been found as a relic rather than built by any registered Spirit Smith) he was quite the talented COMP Smith, serving as one of the ship's two on-board technicians, the other one being the ship's pilot, Anna...

"You coming, Ross?"

Although, considering Genesis's perfectionist nature...

If you go to him about this...

You're probably going to miss the initial arrival of the other Tamers...

He was always quite thorough...