Spirit Pulse : Mugen No Sekai [IC]

[Verg Avesta]

Blaise Pendragon
Demonic Server, Hali Bay
11/16/2026
Afternoon, Heavy Winds

... What have you gotten us involved with, Tsukki?

Blaise wanted to ask that question aloud oh-so-much. Honestly, it felt like this was the start of something extremely troublesome - far more troublesome than the one-eyed woman-slash-schoolyard bully who must have still been hiding around here somewhere. Probably watching the current proceedings to see if she could somehow intercept and turn the whole thing into a fight. Yes, now that he thought about it, perhaps it was best to just play along with this problem... lest it escalate in a way that would lure back the previous one.

And more than that...

--- Blaise couldn't leave things like this after he heard that tiny stomach growl.

"And I'm Blaise. Blaise Pendragon. As it happens, I can breath fire too."

In order to calm the girl down a little bit, Blaise let a small flicker of fire shoot from between his lips.

"Now then, Fia, few things you should know," Blaise started, squatting so he could talk to the child at her level. "First of all, this granny who calls herself Tsukki is a bit crazy, so if she tries to make you do anything strange, just flee. I'll give you some garlic in a bit, that should make things easier if you lob it at her face first. She's not a bad person, but she can't control her... urges... so watch yourself."

Yes, safety instructions first.

The girl should know exactly what sort of troublesome bat she was dealing with.

"Second, we're about to start cooking a whole lot of salmon right now. Both sushi and other ways. Since there's far too much for us all to eat, we're planning on opening a pop-up store in that stall over there," Blaise continued, before giving the girl an encouraging smile. "It would help us a lot if you could come over and eat as much as you can. That way there won't be so many leftovers."

The important thing here was to not pressure her into eating. Girls like her tended to be shy, and being with strangers would escalate that shyness. Thus, he would have to word his suggestion a bit more carefully. Make it seem like she would be helping them out, and not just receiving handouts.

Because dammit, he was not going to let such a pitiful-looking kid starve out here, alone on the beach.

"After we're done with that, we can help you look for your Mom," Blaise added encouragingly. "How does that sound?"

[Airen]

Blaise Pendragon
Demonic Server, Hali Bay
11/16/2026
Afternoon, Heavy Winds


"..."

---Had she even been listening to what you were saying?

Where a vampire had huffed , stomped her feet, and turned her head to the left at the insinuations that she could not control her urges (saying something about how she "hasn't bitten a single person ever, and that should prove her will is steel!") a child had gone mostly starry eyed at the sudden appearance of someone more like herself, the shy uncertain look from before becoming an awed, star-filled gaze that looks at you with a newfound, obvious interest, before...

"...Throw garlic at the bat lady, okay..."

She seems to suppress that interest? Focusing instead on the rest of what you were saying, as if wanting to prove that she had been paying attention to your little explanation of the 'rules,' as they were for interacting with the group...

Tsukiko lets out an overdramatic gasp at these words, but it's the sort of thing you've learned to ignore-!

Instead, you see the smaller girl's eyes dart from you to the food at the mention of sushi... Likely the real cause of her initial interest in this group, if she had been hiding in the bushes watching everyone before now, and well...

"...You need help eating...?"

...Your plan to phrase it as more of a request, of the group needing her help rather than presenting it as charity, does seem to work on her after a bit...

"Ok. I can do that... Uncle Kazuya always says I have a bottomless stomach!"

She sounds awfully proud of those words, like they were some sort of compliment-!

Hard to tell if they were though...

Although that name...

Uncle Kazuya...?

---Surely it wasn't that Kazuya, right?

Right?

Names were things that could repeat, the World was a big place after all, but around you...

Yes...

Around you...

Coincidences had a bad habit of being not so coincidental...

[Verg Avesta]

Blaise Pendragon
Demonic Server, Hali Bay
11/16/2026
Afternoon, Heavy Winds

... No.

Don't think about it too much.

There was always a chance that it was someone else. Common (was it?) name and all that. Besides, just because she was able to breathe fire and had an uncle named like that didn't mean anything. If anything, it just went to show how wide this world was. Hahaha, so coincidences like this happened, too! To think that there was a girl out there like this, who could breathe fire and also had an uncle named Kazuya! Isamu would get a laugh out of this one, yes, he would. A quaint little story to tell every now and then, maybe to the old geezers at the mahjong parlor. Then they would say that they've seen weirder stuff, and the world would continue to turn.

In other words, there was nothing to get nervous about.

Nothing to think about too deeply.

Just... just get to cooking already, and fill up this girl's tummy, find her mother and return to your normal everyday life.

Yes.

That was the sound choice right now.

"Alright. Sounds like you'll be dependable help, then!" Blaise said with a wry smile, not letting his true emotions show on his face. "This way then, just sit down at the stall and I'll get started."

He began walking towards the wooden structure together with the girl, but after a moment of thinking, he paused... turned around, and shot a slight grin towards the girl.

"Oh, and even if you have bottomless stomach, do leave something for the batty granny," he said, before leveling that same grin towards Tsukiko. "She gets cranky if she doesn't have her stomach filled... plus she helped out a lot today, so I say she's deserved some extra big portions."

He'd had his fun for now. The truth was, at the end of the day, he really was helpful for the vampire and her help during this trip. It was time he actually showed it - and thus, he nodded to the bespectacled girl to follow along.

He'd had to put some properly fatty tuna aside for both her and Isamu.

Then, turning around on her heels, Blaise faced the forest and the sea, the whole of the area around them and inhaled deeply.

It was time.

The cooking was to be done.

And right now, be they demon or be they human or be they whatever at all... it was time for customers to get their first taste of proper Pendragon Style Cooking.

"NOW THEN, ALL OF YOU WHO ARE AROUND - ONCE IN A LIFETIME DEAL!" Blaise bellowed out so loud his voice carried over the waves. "HALI BAY'S PENDRAGON SUSHI STALL IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS, SO COME ENJOY SOME SEASIDE DELICACIES COMPLETELY FOR FREE! THIS OFFER LASTS AS LONG AS INGREDIENTS DO, SO COME GET YOUR OWN AND DON'T MISS ON GETTING YOUR BELLY FULL OF THE BEST THE SEA CAN OFFER!"

And with that, he tied on the braided hachimaki he pulled out of seemingly nowhere.

It was time to sushi - and sushi good.

[Kuroyuki]

Hiyori
SLEIPNIR - Bottom Level, Endless Hall
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

Almost the moment after I managed to hide myself inside of the cardboard box, someone staggered into the room with what sounds like blood dripping down onto the floor. Normally I would’ve jumped out of the box to help them or even stealthily casted a Dia on them, but…

"Fucking Akarana... Bitch..."

The person who staggered in started giving off major villain vibes! If the first words I heard from them are that, then the odds of them being good guys are really slim! It’s really hard for you to justify this as the antagonistic, but eventually recruitable character if your first words are that! And that’s even before I get into that whole EVIL MALICE coming from her body! Or even the fact that the room seems to be under some kind of blood red filter!

Wait! Wait! Why are they looking menacingly around the room?! There’s no one in this room! Absolutely no one at all! Definitely no one on the shelf hidden in a cardboard box! It’s merely a cardboard box! Keep moving! There’s no reason to enter the Alert phase!

Almost as if they could hear my frantic thoughts, their eyes eventually stopped on the shelf.

"Hah... You think I'm stupid? I can feel you over there by the shelves-"

Yes! You should be feeling stupid. You’re talking to a shelf and a cardboard box after all. Definitely not to a hiding COMP whatsoever! What should I do?! Should I just act like a plushie if she enters the Alert phase or should I just fight her by myself? Think Hiyori! What would Rigid Rabbit do? She would...

Before I managed to recall what she would’ve done. Someone shot something out of the closet?! Someone must have teleported in, but who!?

"Come on! Come on! This nightmare isn't impressing me!"

Miss Smug!? You’re here to save me!? But why? I thought you were here to just hitchhike on the SLEPNIR! Better yet if you’re capable of teleporting, then go grab one of the Tamers! Or use me to fight or something! Don’t just teleport in to distract this obviously villainous person and then run without me!

After that attack from Miss Smug, someone got thrown into the shelf and knocked the box I was in off. Thankfully, I didn’t get sent flying out of the box and ended up wasting Miss Smug’s distraction. The bad news… I was hitting every single corner of the box and was dizzy for a little bit… Awawawawawa!

"Stop running coward!"

After getting over my dizziness, I realized… They’re both gone and that I need to hide again! The shelf was destroyed and I probably wouldn’t have time to hide in the mini fridge… Miss Smug just came out from the closet. So that means there’s one final place, I can hide! Underneath the bed! But I’m not going to merely hide underneath the bed! I was going to take my trusty cardboard box down there with me! All of these boxes look the same so surely they won’t notice that I was in it and underneath the bed!

[Airen]

Logan Starbright & Mokujima Chris
Simulator
11/16/2026
Monday - Late Morning

Bam.

Or perhaps...

Clonk.

The sound that erupts in the room as a certain Tamer headbutts a certain Goddess... Yes, it's certainly a sound, the sort of dull thunking noise that seems to blast away all tension in the room, replacing it with something akin to disbelief, after all, in terms of faces that were hittable, this particular Goddess wouldn't score very high at all, not to mention she should have at least been able to avoid it, and yet...

"...Ow."

---Even she seems surprised, so much so that she can only elicit a mild sound of pain at the strike, rubbing at her head again and looking at you in mild confusion...

But this much is understandable.

---This type of person is possible for you to deal with; a strong person that takes everything upon herself, that smiles even when it's not okay, to make other people think that it actually is okay, in other words...

A benevolent liar.

The in-born impulse to take all suffering upon oneself, yes...

That's a flaw.

A powerful flaw, and it's emergence...

Dulls her light a bit.

Enough that you feel like the almost pouting person in front of you really is just a human for a second, but...

"Oh... I was doing it again, huh...?"

...She blinks away the pout, looking more introspective than anything else...

"Okay... You caught me, I feel a little sick, but just a little..."

She blinks.

"Humans sure are stubborn nowadays, huh...?"

And makes that remark, before smiling at you, the movement still a bit shaky:

"But 90 yen? Fancy! I'd appreciate it... Maybe I'm just hungry..."

---She isn't making fun of you with that either, it sounds sincere, painfully sincere, however, before this can go any further...

"..."

Eve -who seems to have been drawing on a piece of paper and surprisingly high quality pencil she had seemingly spawned with magic- presents a drawing to the both of you with an almost childlike hesitance, having done her best to do as Chris wanted her to do, but seemingly unsure about what the results had ultimately been, and...

---It's a drawing that's much like an ink blob in nature, at least at first glance, but... A closer examination reveals it's more like a stenciling, a drawing of many lines, of a figure that now looks to be draped in a cloak of feathers, a white vaguely bird-like mask stretching out from where the head should be...

The figure stands at the other end of what seems like a hallway, making a beckoning gesture with one hand, but...

"...Came out bad... Nothing there..."

In terms of her own art, Eve only has this much to say...?

Meanwhile, with Logan...

“Show your credentials and state your business, Miss Gaumond.”

"Okay!"

---Her body language seems innocent enough at first. Maintaining the aura of a cheerful person full of life, the crimson-haired reporter nevertheless makes quite a show of digging through her backpack for what you can only assume are her credentials... Of course you take the time to see what you can see, and the backpack itself is nothing particularly special (if one discounts the "Stay Safe, Love Fortuna" written on it in some sort of overly dignified handwriting, as well as the many stickers that all seem to say some variation of "Truth Seeker" and "Stay Alert, Stay Aware!") but the fact that she's going for physical proof rather than simply using some sort of holographic display was a bit suspect, even so...

"Was kinda surprised someone answered, its been quiet in there for quite awhile now! Thought I might have been blacklisted or something!"

...She cheerfully keeps chatting away at you.

High-spirited reporter, this one...

"I have a report for Director Namasaki, detailing our current planned operations within SDCD space, I was told to bring it in person as per the usual safety protocols."

...Although she's writing something now...

Which is strange.

...Again, showing you her COMP I.D would be enough to verify if she was legit or not, but...

"Here, I have the envelope right with me!"

She shows it to you.

Large, manila, as generic and old-fashioned as possible... Were it not for the runes at the top clearly binding it shut and probably also protecting it from damage, but more eye-drawing even than that, even under all this rain...

Were the words she had seemingly just drawn on it's surface with some sort of marker, namely...

'There is no one in town.'

Right in the center of the envelope...

[Airen]

Ayra Lilygrove
Nameless Forest ~ Kuzunoha Village
11/16/2026
Monday - Early Morning

"..."

---Had she been struck dumb by the revelation?

Certainly, it takes Mikagura Mika a few moments to say anything in response to your COMPs declarations, declarations made in such a respectful voice that is almost causes physical damage to one of you, yes...

"..."

For awhile, she is painfully silent.

Eyes flicker from you to your COMP, than back to you, a flicker of something like understanding passing through her otherwise stoic expression as she continues her back and forth comparison, then...

"Charmed, Aster."

She says this, the smile returning to her face, although...

It's a sympathetic smile now.

---Hard to tell how you should feel about that one...!

"I was wondering who was posting there, Ayra didn't seem like the type to use up time doing that."

The smile flickers again, still sympathetic, but with a newfound mischievous light in her eyes...

"But relationship counseling? So it's the ex-girlfriend then?"

Her eyes dart to the side.

"Not sure how I missed that one..."

A mutter, more to herself than either of you, before...

"Well, I can try."

She leans forward, elbows on the table for the first time.

"So, you're the painfully sincere one right? That would make her the cool aloof one?"

She asks you this.

And when she does...

The sympathy in her eyes almost seems to double, like...

Like...

...This was something she had gone through before...?

[Tobias]

Raz Stone
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ Brewed Awakenings
11/16/2026
Monday - Noon

Preparation. Execution. Development of the tactics of battle.

Creation of a plan of battle was not unfamiliar to a certain bard. Well did he believe in the art of war.

Emphasis on "art" of course!

Therefor working his way around Zerah and Erika probably hadn't been to hard. Oddly enough that was so precisely because in many respects they were more clever then he. After all, the reason the dark haired man had requested Erika in the first place was to introduce a keen mind and knack for orthodox tactics into the upcoming mission.

Raz, whose tactical acumen tended to veer towards the extemporaneous and improvisation had hoped to mitigate a weakness with another's strength. and Zerah? well, a skilled warrior and experienced knight brought much to the table, to say nothing of the potential benefit of one who had evidentially wielded the Sword of the World before.

But...none is so easily disoriented as the experienced trapped in surprise. For experience often brought complacency, when the inexperienced expected the unexpected, the experienced did not, They anticipated the familiar. And the tactician struggled with those who lacked tact.

So Raz's plan of evading the machinations of those who would appoint themselves his keepers had been simple, quick and effective. As a result, he had looked forward to an engaging battle and a chance to even the score with one undead fencer.

...But...if the bane of one who prepared a carefully arranged battle plan was an improviser, then the bane of the improviser was surely the unknown factor. A skilled tactician, carefully arranging the game board might arrange his strategy to account for the possibility that somebody new might take the field.

Someone who flew by the seat of their pants however, lacked that skill, only adapting to the immediate situation as it developed. Put another way, someone like Raz might be mentally agile, but he couldn't handle a problem until it manifested in front of him.

Such as what he sensed in that moment.

Around the same time that Zerah had begun realizing that there was something amiss, Raz himself had begun to feel a certain...presence.

It was hard to describe precisely. How, after all, could one describe the smell of blood yet unspilled? And yet that was the best description even the famously verbose bard could come up with. It was the aura of power. Simple, unadulterated, contained but ready at a moment's notice power. Power enough that even Raz's manifestation of malice in the form of the horde of muscles had been brought to heel.

This was concerning. After all, Raz had called this crew for the specific reason that they were as a whole staunch, ornery, not inclined to bend to the sway of a charismatic presence. After all, weren't they there precisely because they had resisted the young bard's not inconsiderable charms?

Then there were her words themselves. See she implied something had happened to Erika and the others. Or at least that was the first thought when heard the need to locate missing squires. But the shrilling currently blasting from the message board implied Erika was in no immediate danger. So was she lying? or was this referring to some other wayward crew?

Well...only one way to find out!

"Not precisely what I expected..." The kingdom's bard admitted rather ruefully to the skeletal swordsman." And yet, a customer is a customer! our match continues."

With that, the black haired man opened the door with a deep bow, a white cloth held invitingly over one arm, to be laid onto the lap of a refined lady prior to the preparation of an early afternoon's refreshment.

"Madame, and guests of course, please come in and be welcome." Raz said, indicating a nearby table. "Allow me to offer an assurance that every appetite and desire you could possibly have will be thoroughly...sated here. Guaranteed!"

[Satehi]

Eva Ellet
SLEIPNIR - Artificial Park
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

A worrier at heart… that was the first time Eva had ever heard of anyone else describe Isaac that way. It was a hard image to associate with the man given his reputation- but given Alexia’s familiarity with others of similarly good repute, her words seemed to hold some truth to them. Eva was not personally familiar with Isaac, so it was entirely possible Alexia knew much more about him.

As for her other words…

“Well… it’s not really something I’ve thought about.”

She had been assigned onto this mission, so she would do it. In her mind, that was all- excitement wasn’t something that was supposed to be necessary to do her job. As such, she had no strong feelings on the matter- certainly none that could be described as excitement. Minor interest, perhaps, although Eva herself felt unsuited for it, but…

“When you put it like that, I guess…” She felt a little embarrassed saying this, given her earlier thoughts on the matter. “…it does sound a little exciting.”

… that didn’t mean the girl was immune to the feeling. The way Alexia had described it certainly made their current assignment sound very grand- it was impossible to deny that she had felt a little excited at the mention the woman had made with the heroes of the past.

“But that comparison is a little unfair, isn’t it? The scope of what they did, and the scope of this assignment are completely different in scale…”

[Airen]

Eva Ellet
SLEIPNIR - Artificial Park
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

“But that comparison is a little unfair, isn’t it? The scope of what they did, and the scope of this assignment are completely different in scale…”

"Is it really?"

A pause, as she considers your words with a smile...

"The story of those kids started pretty simply too, meeting in an orphanage in Japan after a tragedy."

And strangely enough...

Sounds other than her voice seem to disappear at these words.

"Things started small, a little incident here, a little incident there, and it turned into a story that affected the whole world... The World is funny like that sometimes, things that start small can grow quite quickly, and things that appear small may actually be quite large..."

The humming of the ship has stopped, the gentle thrum of the engines beneath your feet, the conversations you had been leaving behind, all of it somehow seems to simply fade away, until only this person remains...

Why...?

You're not quite sure...

"I'm a fan of those sorts of stories, I always remember how they start..."

She smiles.

"Like this one, I know this one, although I shouldn't know this one."

Then turns away.

"A bunch of new kids put together for the sake of making a show of Global Unity, World Peace, they find a number of distress signals in the North Pole, and eventually discover the existence of alternate realities, albeit, destroyed ones."

What is she talking about...?

"Or well, I suppose one could say they were sleeping realities... Yes, sleeping might be the better word for it. Souls are no good to anyone dead, better to put them to sleep if you wish to make use of them."

She doesn't turn back to look at you, no...

She simply starts walking forward again as if expecting you to continue following, but her voice continues nonetheless...

"One thing led to another from there, and now, here we are... It escalates kind of quick, right? Normal people just happened to be around when something extraordinary happened, and now it's their duty to resolve it, to be a sort of... Alarm Clock, as it were..."

A chuckle...

"Yes, the World is certainly strange sometimes, nothing ever goes to plan either..."

Her footsteps echo in the hallway.

The only sound that exists now other than her voice.

"Wouldn't that be quite the story, Eva Ellet?"

[Airen]

Blaise Pendragon
Demonic Server, Hali Bay
11/16/2026
Afternoon, Clear Skies

---Somehow, as if the World itself knew that the most bizarre of today had passed, the sun had crept back over the horizon, bathing the once perpetually black sands of the beach a sparkling orange, luminescent, burning with the golden flames of the setting sun...

Yes.

This is the stage, and this is the time.

Time to do what you really came here to do, before the 'curse' that followed you around decided to get any more funny ideas about attacking your everyday life, the simple pleasures, things that did not involve the more insane, turbulent waters that flowed throughout the entirety of this oh so chaotic world, yes...

---There is a certain irony in this desire of course, the majority of one's customers being demons is a bizarre thing, as is the existence of a food stand in the world of the blatantly supernatural, the Server that does not even pretend at normality, and yet...

"Hee-ho, more! More!"

...In the end, the philosophy of this world was that Demons were people too, no?

In that sense, the horde of various Jacks that had decided to flood the beach was perhaps to be expected; a roving ocean of hees and hos that shake the ground as they move, faeries of all sorts drawn to the promise of food that they can simply get for free-! But it does not stop with the minor fae, no, at one point a Minotaur appears, then some bizarre hand in a jar, a handful of talking bears, and even a titan of steel that you can't identify at all, some ancient robot that emerges from the ocean, claims a plate (for some reason) and then returns to said ocean with all the bizarre grace of an ancient machine that refuses to justify it's existence at all...

Yes.

---From the perspective of most it's bizarre, but in terms of simply functioning like a restaurant, well...

It's normal enough.

"More fatty tuna, coming in-!"

---Isamu stays at your side for the duration of it, running back and forth between the stand and the 'storage' with all the energy of a young man in the springtime of his youth-! Much like you he had pulled a braided hachimaki from somewhere -the fact that you couldn't tell where was a good sign- right after being presented with the newest member of the group, accepting the mission to both feed and escort a child home with a pure sincerity, a look of determination crossing his face as the little one sits with Tsukiko next to the shack, the two 'special customers' of this little incident, and well...

Black-hole stomachs are not a trait all demons share, no...

While they certainly eat more than most, it is the rare one that actually seems to genuinely have no limit to how much of something they can consume; such beings were drawn to the Pendragon Family (for one reason or another, god knows you don't actually know why) and you had thought that Tsukiko would simply be your burden, the food chain of sorts around your neck, but...

---The kid is just as much of one.

It's the sheer difference in body size that really makes it bizarre; a young woman at the edge of her teens (physically at least) alongside a child that hadn't even reached her first decade, and well...

They're eating about the same amount.

They're eating about the same amount.

It's both heartwarming and horrifying to watch, a scene of obvious bonding between two girls as they mercilessly tear apart sushi in a quest to sate an insatiable appetite; they make a game of it at times, sometimes torching small bits a bit more with the girl's fire breath before cackling and devouring them without mercy, a newfound friendship born of consumption-!

---Was it a mistake, letting those two stay so close together?

A part of you prays you never have to find out-!

But still, time goes on, and slowly, a chunk begins to be torn out of your resources... There's about an hour or so of operation time left, and the beach has somewhat cleared of the jack horde from earlier (although the talking bears are still around for some reason), but then...

"...Oh, so this is what you were doing today, huh?"

A familiar woman slides into view, right in front of your little shack.

She doesn't seem out of place amongst the demons, and indeed, no one really notes her presence as odd...

Yes.

Voice tired, but eyes warm as always, a certain sister of yours...

"Running a food stand is just like you..."

Smiles as she regards not just you...

"Is this one of your friends from school?"

But Isamu, who was currently running back with another shipment...

She sounds proud of you for some reason?

Or perhaps hopeful?

Although...

It seems she doesn't recognize him from last time...

[Katie]

Ayra Lilygrove
Nameless Forest ~ Kuzunoha Village
11/16/2026
Monday - Early Morning

I hate you, Aster.

Aster: She’s offering life advice! She’s not even being judgmental! I think I made the right call.

Ayra, obviously, does not feel that way at all. Her face contorts into an embarrassed smile—a pale reflection of the turbulence that lay in a maiden’s heart, like the surface of the ocean in contrast to the depths of the seas. This is almost the worst situation in her entire life. Maybe third worst. Or fourth, if she remembers that time they’d almost been caught in St. Vivienne’s library.

Unfortunately, the cute yet shallow expression on her face does nothing but accentuate the blush in her cheeks, and she truly feels like this is a fate worse than death. In her humble opinion, Ayra would rather take the sheer pain of all her hospital stays at once than be living through this moment. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what is happening, and the only thing she can do is suck it up and withhold the urge to cry.

"So, you're the painfully sincere one right? That would make her the cool aloof one?"

“I-it’s not—It’s not the same as that, really.” She can read the sympathy all over Mika’s face, the attempt at making a parallel, but if Ayra is being confronted about this, she can only tell the truth. Maybe they’re like that now, but in the past, before it happened, that wasn’t the case.

She turns to Aster, not knowing if she’s looking for validation or not. The AI gives her a pitying smile and takes the reins instead.

“Maybe Tsukiko is like that now, but back then, she was the joking, easygoing type. And while it’s true my owner’s quite direct…” Aster pauses, and Ayra can’t tell if this is going to segue into a backhanded compliment or not, “She’s someone that would rather hide her emotions. As long as she hides behind that veil called ‘justice,’ her heart will be safe.”

Really, even in moments like this, she can’t tell if Aster is insulting her or not. There has to be people with less infuriating AIs. And honestly, she doesn’t understand. Of course she’s being true to herself—she’s following the justice she believes in. Still, her AI probably has a more objective look at the situation than she does, so she keeps her mouth shut.

“Sincere, aloof… it doesn’t describe them both. I think the better word is ‘dishonest.’ They’re both people who act on their heart but never say what’s on their mind, you know?”

“I’m not going to stand for any more attacks on my character, Aster…” A frustrated sigh leaves Ayra’s lips. Just as she thinks Aster is going somewhere, she’s getting attacked once again.

“Come on now, I never said you were a bad person…”

[Airen]

Hyakka Onjouji
Dark Side of the Moon
11/16/2026
Monday - Early Morning (?)

---And so, the journey to the distant Moon Palace begins in earnest.

It's a journey not made at a walking pace, a flying pace, or even a running pace no... It's a journey accompanied by the screeching of tires along the surface of this rather bizarre moon, the mark of the vehicle that a certain 'older sister' of yours had 'borrowed' from the building's outdoor garage (which had seemingly followed you alongside the rest of the property) grabbing the keys from beneath the seats of some crimson convertible that seemed to hail straight from the early 90s, in other words...

---A long lost relic of the past.

Clean leather seats, fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror, and a driver that put on a pair of sunglasses before slamming on the accelerator and launching off towards the distant silver city...

It's certainly a scene.

Almost spielbergian in nature, the sort of scene that would have seemed outright impossible two decades ago, back when the world had been more simple, the supernatural had still been under wraps, and those that dabbed in the spiritual side of the world did so with a certain almost religious respect, different from how casually things were nowadays, yes...

In many ways, the scene is absurd, but...

---You're not really the type to think about those sorts of things, so they simply pass you by...

To you, perhaps the ride itself is more stimulating? One would not think that the moon has wind, it is, after all, entirely devoid of air; and yet there is something that feels like the wind blowing through your hair as you go, something that feels like oxygen entering your lungs, and something that feels like the gentle warmth of the sun on your skin, in spite of the fact that -scientifically speaking- this place should be absolutely bathed in cosmic rays, a natural phenomena that might as well hit like magic considering the circumstances, an environment that rejects life in it's entirety, yes...

That's space.

A vast void, the unknown, a place that even magic does not typically tread, bound to the laws of the planet as it is... The current humanity is certainly looking skyward of course, there was talk of colonizing the moon, and then the rest of the planets in the solar system before continuing on, but...

For now, this darkness remained untamed.

A great void, one that you feel strangely at home in in spite of yourself.

---There's peace in that darkness, in the glittering lights, a serene quiet that can't really manifest itself anywhere else, but...

There is something odd about this space around you.

As stated before, it felt like there was wind here, and oxygen... Such things could have been Alice's doing of course, or perhaps the car's, but...

Somehow you didn't feel like that was the case, or rather, while you were sure there was some sort of life support system being maintained by Alice for the sheer sake of security, it wasn't the sort of thing that was really needed, the surface of this moon was simply...

Strange.

Vaguely earth-like...

Was this the result of the 'Logic' as the rabbit had called it, or simply this place's nature as something that does not follow the rules of the Logic?

It's hard to say.

Such things aren't your specialty (although spotting the two tiny crimson spheres -eyes- that seem to be following parallel to the car in the distance was your unconscious specialty) but...

"Official Occult Club activity huh?"

---With things having fallen into a comfortable sort of groove, the sunglasses wearing Alice glances over at you in the passenger's side (hand still clasped with the rabbit, who seems to still be having a minor panic attack in the back, mumbling something about "it's gonna go bad, I can feel it") and raises an eyebrow...

"Jumped into a club already? That's pretty fast. Good job!"

Before praising you?

"I was worried you might be the type that joins the Go Home Club..."

She shifts slightly in her seat, then-

"So what were you saying earlier? About some Amala.net thing?"

-does her best to make conversation, or perhaps, simply clarify a point you had brought up earlier...

"Some sort of weird website?"

Sounds like she hasn't heard of it.

[Rafflesiac]

Logan Starbright
Simulator
11/16/2026
Monday - Late Morning

Aleta cheerily responds, making small talk he’s not particularly inclined to respond to. She exudes normality, or at least a harmless quirkiness; definitely a ‘my pace’ type of person giving how she’s fishing for some sort of physical evidence instead of submitting an electronic key. Really, why is she drawing this out?

’There is no one in town.’

: Amelia?

: Yup. No ice cream selfies, no guerrilla lives, no delinquents in mechs fighting Personas, nada.

They’re in a Silent Realm. Was Aleta the culprit? His instincts said no, but the fact that she’d been drawn in like him made her relevant to the situation. Which of course begged the question: Who was?

“I see,” he responds. “One moment.”

Logan addresses the group. “The person at the door is in the same situation we are. I suggest we meet up with them while keeping an eye out for any possible culprits once you’ve made the necessary preparations, Chris.” They’re looking at a paper that Eve's holding with some sort of image on the other side. It’s vaguely unsettling. “Something important?”

---

Spoiler:

Auto-Skill: ???
Spells Set: ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, Eye of the Fates
Spells Used: Eye of the Fates
Heat: 6/10

[Bloble]

Mokujima Chris
Simulator
11/16/2026
Monday - Late Morning

"...Mm."

Chris is silent for a moment, taking in everything, pondering, though it's nigh-impossible to tell what is being pondered with her face as stony as it is.

Finally she raises her arm... and pats Yamuna on the shoulder.

"No ramen," she decides. "Chicken noodle soup."

Yamuna is sick, after all. And she needs to get well, or else she'll get worse.

"It'll take... some time. To cook. So... please vanish until then." The powerless human girl then proceeds to, without breaking a sweat, give the Goddess of Life she'd previously been too terrified to talk to a suggestion that sounds almost like an order. An act as ridiculous as a fresh-faced army cadet thinking to take command from one of the most powerful officers in the entire organization.

"We are already under attack." Is her simultaneous message to Eve, glancing the android's way as she stresses the word 'vanish'. "In all likelihood, that is her 'illness'. We must first grasp its form and parameters. If it were a normal illness she would be the last to contract it, not the first, and I would already be feeling the symptoms. So we must ascertain whether it progresses like a normal illness as well. If I am correct... either 'proximity' or 'observation' are needed. You possess an auto-skill capable of separating her from our enemy, who is now observing us. Could I ask you to make use of it? Without being able to get past their perception block, this is our next best option."

Right now, the most powerful among them is the one most in need of help.

“The person at the door is in the same situation we are. I suggest we meet up with them while keeping an eye out for any possible culprits once you’ve made the necessary preparations, Chris. Something important?”

"...mm. Important...? Yes."

She turns to Logan. Nods once, sharply.

"Sure. But. It's dangerous."

Dangerous to let in a stranger, or-.

"For them," Chris clarifies. "After all. The culprit... is here. Watching. Since they... trapped us. In the simulation. No... even before that."

How long has the SDCD base been compromised? Clearly those famed barriers can't keep out the enemy when it counts.

"So... let them know. To proceed. Is risky. To their health."

Chris gently takes the paper from Eve, tracing out the figure she sees in the mass of lines with her finger. Displays it to Logan. Perhaps he'll see the 'important' part. Perhaps he won't.

"If they're willing... to take that risk... we'll meet them first."

With that, she steps out of the room, giving the others only seconds to follow along.

No sense dilly-dallying. The enemy is only too happy to wait for them to die, so clearly they should hurry instead.

Besides, she has gathered enough information now.

"The enemy has not fled. They are nearby. Meaning they are wary of us, but also need to be close by for some reason, whether to keep tabs or keep their 'illness' going. They will thus follow along to keep spying on us. That is their weakness. There is a bend in the corridor where there is only one possible location from which they can continue to observe. If you access the floor plans of the base, you'll know it. Given what your mind's eye saw... I've calculated their rough distance and shape. We don't need to be able to perceive our opponent. We just need to arrange the situation so that they happen to be where we launch our attack, and so that they do not expect it. That's possible with the resources at our disposal. Given their reluctance to expose themselves, the probability of an attack from us being effective is high enough to act on. Please communicate this to Logan's COMP as well."

Enough information to stage a counterattack.

[Satehi]

Eva Ellet
SLEIPNIR - Artificial Park
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

“… I’m afraid I don’t quite follow.”

That isn’t to say Eva Ellet does not understand the contents of what she’s being told.

The first story was extra details on the incident a couple decades ago- the accuracy of which was impossible for her to judge, since she only knew what was public knowledge. Maybe Catherine would know more, but honestly… it was of secondary importance compared to the second story.

It’s clear that what Alexia was referring to was not some simple fanciful story. The north pole, global unity… it was the very mission they were now onboard for. Considering her status, and her apparent recent venture out into the cold, it might have been reasonable to assume that Alexia was simply sharing information that she had recently gathered, information that shouldn’t be shared just yet for various reasons, but…

Even putting aside how she would have learned the details about parallel worlds she was mentioning just now, there was just something off about the way she was describing it.

“You’re talking about the current assignment, right…? Alternate realities, being put to sleep for future use… By who? How do you know all of this?”

[Airen]

Eva Ellet
SLEIPNIR - Artificial Park
11/16/2026
Monday - Morning

“You’re talking about the current assignment, right…? Alternate realities, being put to sleep for future use… By who? How do you know all of this?”

"..."

For a moment, silence.

The woman stops walking, her voice does not reemerge, as if she herself wasn't exactly sure of the answer to it... Yes, perhaps it is something like that, an aura of uncertainty that seems to surround the woman like a cloak, that almost makes it seem like she's actually something vaguely inhuman, like the light around her doesn't bend quite right in her presence, focusing either too much on her or not enough (it almost seemed to shift back and forth amongst the two extremes) but...

"Is that what I'm talking about?"

...In the end, she says this before anything else, spinning back around in place to face you again with open arms, a teasing smile on her face...

"It's just a story I know. I shouldn't know it of course, but I do... Maybe I saw it on a television show once?"

The bizarrely inhuman aura fades away with that smile.

"Then again, I do say strange things from time to time, I have a bit of a taste for the fantastical, and things get mixed up in my head all the time... Besides, it's not like I remember everything about it, I know some parts, like how this isn't the past, how you should never travel alone if you can avoid it, how the mission can't be known to the general public, how perhaps you should question your attendant a bit more on what she thinks about the World, and even that it's okay to rescue the sleeping lands one at a time, so long as that rescue is complete before the date of Christ's birth... Yeah... I guess I know a few things."

Her hands rise up, and land on her hips.

"But the who? The why? I should know... Yes, I probably should know who's behind it all, but I don't, and neither do you, which is unfortunate..."

She frowns...

"Ah well, I'm talking mostly nonsense anyway. Don't look too deeply into it."

...And then starts off again.

[Airen]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS, Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

"..."

At first, the taller girl says little in response to your words.

While you have asked her a question, an inquiry as to how she managed to avoid the absolute depths of the despair that was dragging you whole into it's depths, the girl seems to understand instinctively that she should listen to everything in it's entirety before answering... It's a decision made by someone who was clearly experienced when it came to social activity; considering her obvious nature as some sort of modern day nobility such things are perhaps to be expected, an impossible to pierce poker face, and eyes that quite cleanly look through everything around her...

An impenetrable shield and an infallible sword in other words, but...

"So it's okay, Miss Sofia." She said, once again giving a resigned smile as she laid her hands on top of Sofia's. "It's okay. I'll be okay, at least until all of this is finished. And then... And then I'd finally do the right thing, and find peace at long last."

...When you reach this point...

You see a single crack.

The twitch of something on her face, and then-

"No."

-the world shifts.

"I don't think you will."

It spins, sways and twirls, your vision going haywire for a reason you cannot understand immediately, namely...

That you have been physically moved from where you lay.

"Troublesome. Stubborn. You do not listen."

Manhandled practically, by the princess that has just thrown you over her shoulder (in a blur of motion that makes next to no sense) and started for the door...

"Complicated relationship? Are you serious child? I do not care if the two of you get into a fistfight the moment you see each other, family is family, grief does not wait for things to be less complicated, all relationships are complicated, that girl already thinks you hate her, so you better fix that before it goes too far."

...Her voice is firm.

Firm and decisive.

Much like the one-armed grip she has on your waist!

Quite strong, this one-!

"And someone who has only brought misfortune and tragedy? You've got quite the case of tunnel vision, Fairchild Girl, seeing only what you want to see, set on digging yourself into a hole, but I will not allow it."

A firm declaration.

"I will show you you are mistaken, I know what an unloving family is Fairchild Girl, I know what being the unwanted child is... And your family was not unloving, nor were you unwanted, not in the least."

One that seems to have some connection to her sudden decision to -literally- drag you along with her...?

"So come with me. It will be an abuse of privacy. But I simply do not care right now."

Seems she didn't really plan on explaining it either-!

[palad1n]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS, Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

The moment Cosmos realized that the blonde princess has picked her up single-handedly, she lets out what could only be described as a surprised squeak as she tried to break free.

"W-what do you think you're doing?! Put me down-!"

But even as she struggled against the girl's iron grip, she listened to what Sofia has to say, whether she wanted to or not.

And--

"You don't understand! What do you know about me or Alyx? What do you know about our relationship to say that so easily?! Saying as if it's not that complicated, when it is!" She punched the girl's back, to no effect. "What if meeting her only makes things worse? What if meeting her releases some of our - some of my pent-up feelings?! There's a good reason why she thought I hated her, and the same could be said about her! I'm sure deep down Alyx would have myriad reasons to hate me!"

She denies what Sofia is saying.

"And while you're right that my family is not unloving, nor am I unwanted... that's only because they're good people!" Cosmos exclaimed even as tears started to form. "Of course mother would love me! Of course mother won't cast me out! But that's because she's mother! She'd do the same to anyone else! Mother and Aunt Alisa were too kind to see me for what I really am, so of course they loved me, even when they shouldn't have!"

She denies what Sofia is saying.

"You're saying that I am mistaken? Just look around you! This is the result!" She screamed. "Mother and Aunt Alisa dead, the joint mission gone wrong! I'm not wrong! I don't have tunnel vision when the state of the world is evidence enough!"

--This is the tip of the iceberg.

A peek to Cosmos Fairchild's years of pent-up thoughts and feelings, distorted and corrupted by the tragedy that struck her very world.

"So don't you dare act as if you know me! You don't know anything about me! You don't know how twisted I am! So don't suggest things like meeting Alyx as if it'd be easy and somehow fix everything!"

The girl keeps on struggling even as her own COMP stayed silent, knowing that words would be useless.

Illia could only hope that Sofia knew what she's doing.

After all, the darkness and distortion in Cosmos' heart runs deep, and won't be so easily dispelled.

Wise Up!

Freedom and Security
Mundane Trait?
If Alyx represents “Freedom” - openly expressing how she’s not religious, making friends, and being the typical rebellious daughter - then Cosmos represent “Security,” being a devout believer, keeping to herself and being the typical model daughter. Her desire for security - a normal, everyday routine where nothing bad happens to her and her family - is great enough that Cosmos is very averse to risk-taking and content in being a loner and sheltered girl for the past ten years, living in her own little world.

However, the temptation of freedom became greater everyday. Her sister’s freedom, after all, seemingly only invites friendship, admiration, and even respect rather than scorn and danger to the girl herself or Alisa; in fact, that very freedom seems to make her seem reliable to both her mother and aunt, and even made her a candidate of being the church’s ace. It was this feeling that made the feeling of envy, bitterness, and perhaps even resentment grew within Cosmos’ heart; after all, was she not the good daughter who acted according to her faith, law, and even societal expectation? Why did she distanced herself from everyone else, spent her time alone in the library, carefully watching her own actions and words and even quenched her desire for exploration by going to Loveless if Alyx is doing just fine, even performing seemingly better than she did by being rebellious?

After ten years, doubt started to creep into Cosmos’ mind. Slowly, she started to question things, wondering what a mission outside the Vatican is like. How it feels to meet tamers from other organizations. How it feels to have friends outside of her family. How it feels to be relied on by your mother and aunt. Looking at Alyx with both envy and admiration, a small wish was born in her heart, yearning to let security go for the first time and allow herself to taste freedom, no matter how little. Forgetting that letting go of security means exposing yourself to the possibility of uncertainty, and perhaps even despair…

If Intertwined Destinies represent their rivalry and how Cosmos doesn’t want to ever lose to Alyx, then Freedom and Security represent a small part of herself that envied and resented Alyx for being better than her, the darker side to their rivalry born from her rather low self-esteem that’s only kept in check by her faith and mother.

[Airen]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS, Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

---The spark she had lit goes off.

A rampage born from all the bottled up stress, from the casual manner in which she had just observed your life, behavior and relationships, acting as if she simply knew all the answers while you were too blind to see it, yes...

---There is certainly cause to be angry here-!

Attempting to pry her off of you, striking her with your fists...

It's all strangely useless.

While she's clearly a human being, and isn't visibly wearing a COMP, she takes your blows and struggles with a clear supernatural ease... In your current state it takes you awhile to understand why, why she's been so strong all this time in spite of being seemingly clear of any equipment to enhance her abilities, but...

---It's the Mall.

The Mall itself, the whole building... It's a COMP.

Specifically...

It's probably her COMP.

The way the doors open as she approaches them of their own accord, the way the lights follow along after her to light her way, how the very atmosphere of the building seems to bend to serve her in all aspects...

It's much like being inside of a Phase Shift, a Pocket Reality designed to accommodate the existence of the User...

One of the highest tier.

No.

So powerful that you're not sure it's a traditional Phase Shift at all, but...

"Look around me? At the world? As proof? Fairchild Girl, I don't swallow 'truths' that a clown seemed strangely eager to want me to believe."

...Eventually she speaks, as she heads upwards, towards the mall's third floor, still holding your struggling body with a single arm.

Although her words are strange...

Like speaking with JESTER had made her doubt something...?

Regardless...

"But putting that aside, it's true Fairchild Girl, when it comes down to it, I don't know very much about you."

She continues on.

"But I wouldn't say I know nothing, unfortunately, since I myself was something of a twisted curse on my family, I am quite adept at noticing when others are the same... Fortunately for you, you're nothing like me in that regard, you're simply a girl who was unfairly targeted by monsters."

She says it bluntly.

Calmly.

A bizarre statement.

"To think all of this is your fault is unreasonable, the World did not break because of you."

So saying...

A restaurant "Moon Under Water," comes into view in the distance...

Seems that's her destination...?

[palad1n]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS, Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

At some point, Cosmos has stopped struggling. Whether that's because she realized it was useless or because she just got tired is unknown, but perhaps the realization that the whole mall is Sofia's COMP is something of a shock enough to calm her down.

And while she had continued her rant even after that for a while, a certain phrase from the blonde had stopped that too.

The world did not break because of you.

It was akin to a cold slap that silenced her immediately.

After all, did that not reveal how arrogant and conceited she was for thinking exactly like that? Even though she had never done anything worthy of note, suddenly she's important enough to break the world?

A part of her rejected it; after all, the reality is that her mother and Aunt Alisa is dead. This alone is a proof that she had been a cause in the world going wrong.

But it forced her to think, to calm down, and when she saw their destination--

"Moon Under Water? That's where you're taking me?" She whispered, and almost lets out a laugh at how ridiculous it is. "Why would bringing me to a restaurant prove anything?"

She knew the place; even with LOVELESS' ever-changing layout, she had passed by it numerous times, though she never even once stopped by to eat in a restaurant like that. After all, she had always came alone, and thus had no reason to enter such a restaurant by herself.

Still, she doesn't give any further resistance aside from that comment.

Perhaps because the image of eating together with her mother in that restaurant - now a dream that could no longer came true - prevented her from giving any meaningful resistance.