Spirit Pulse : Mugen No Sekai [IC]

[Satehi]

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

“Something I want to do besides being a Tamer…?”

Eva gave a confused look at Alexia, as she repeated the question. Not because she hadn’t understood the meaning- all the words made perfect sense- but when put together, they had a meaning that was… just odd. Alien.

It wasn’t an idea she’d ever given much thought to.

Eva had been a Tamer since she was created- it was a decision that had been made for her even before she was capable of making decisions. As a result, she had naturally taken it for her goal- partly because she felt it would have been wrong to do so otherwise since she was a machine built for exactly that, but also because she didn’t mind. She understood that there were people who thought differently- but even if it was not something that she had decided for herself, being a Tamer was a good goal. It gave her direction, reminded her that there was a purpose in her existence.

And, it was also what her creator had expected of her, once. She had already failed their expectations once. She didn’t want to do it again.

Naturally, Eva had desires of her own- even outside of the very standard answers like world peace and happiness, but those were mainly about things that she wanted to happen. As far as things in particular she wanted to become or do…

“…There isn’t really anything in particular. I guess I’d like to become someone that people respect and can rely on… like Mr. Isaac, from the Rose Cross, if you know him? Or from the sounds of it, your student…?”

Truth be told, the subject of her own goals was a subject Eva felt awkward discussing.

“Anyways…”

Although she was reluctant- it felt like she was being treated as if she were a little girl who easily got lost- she decided to take Alexia’s offer to hold hands after all. The possibility that it would make their trip to the common room and perhaps a change of topic happen much faster was worth the risk of being seen by anyone she knew.

“Let’s go?”

[Verg Avesta]

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

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

Uh...

"........

Nani?

What?

"

No, no, no, no... this wasn't happening right now. Blaise's face, which had been all too serene before thanks to the moment Isamu, now twisted like he had bitten into a particularly sour lemon. There were far too many questions and far too many retorts swimming around in his head, and it took just about all of his mental fortitude to not make this moment devolve into an Abbott & Costello routine. Instead, he took a moment to calm down, pinched the bridge of his nose, let out a great big sigh... and stared at the young girl still struggling in the all too adoring clutches of the vampire.

... This wasn't going to end well, was it?

There was practically no route he saw here that could end well.

"... First of all - in all the ways I can say: No," Blaise finally replied, fixing a stern stare at Tsukiko. "You don't know where it's been, you don't know why it's here, and most important of all - considering where we are - you don't know what it is. So put it back where you found it. Immediately."

If Blaise was completely honest, his mind simply refused to believe that a normal young girl would be wandering around the Demonic Server all on her own. And what was it he heard about fire-breathing? Yes, it's quite like that this girl... was something far more than she appeared. In other words, it was already a threat to the fragile peace and quiet that they had acquired after deciding to just ignore the biggest trouble-maker on the beach.

Then again...

"......"

Blaise frowned as he stared at the little girl.

And sighed again.

... He couldn't just ignore this, could he? No matter what it was, it still was a child - and a particularly lost looking one.

"Or rather, just put her down. You can't keep her or take her home - she's not some kitten that you found by the side of the road. That's a child, in case you haven't realized," Blaise replied in a deadpan voice, before turning his eyes towards the girl. "... Don't worry. She won't hurt you. The fang-n-glasses over here just lacks a thing we call common sense. She'll snap out of it at some point."

Having made things a bit more clear, he coughed into his balled up fist and continued.

"That being said... are you alone, kid? Where are your parents? You're not lost, are you? Though then again, this is quite the easy place to get lost at..." Blaise said, glancing around for a moment. "Listen... are you hungry? If you want, we're just about to start cooking. You can come eat and tell us where you're coming from and where you last saw your mom and dad. I'm sure we'll be able to find them. Or, if nothing else, we can alert the authorities and have them search for them."

Yes, despite Blaise knowing that this girl could potentially spell trouble, he couldn't help it...

Seeing a lost child just awakened some instincts inside him that even he didn't fully understand. What he did know was that young kids were always hungry, often lost, and quite likely to panic if there wasn't a responsible adult figure around to support them. So he would take care of these things, at least for now.

... After all, there was not a shred of responsible adult in the bespectacled vampire that still held onto the girl.

[Kuroyuki]

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

Nothing! Absolutely nothing out of the normal are in any of those rooms as well! They were absolutely positively empty as they were supposed to be! The only thing in the other rooms was the standard issue not too soft and not too firm bed that everyone started out with! And it was so middling that almost everyone got rid of them as soon as they could! AHHHHHHH, I don’t want to talk with that smug know-it-all stowaway! I actually ended up floating in front of it for a little bit wondering if I really had to talk to them…No Hiyori! You have to swallow your pride so that you can save Ludwig and Lexie! ? You’re a COMP of Justice after all! I give the stowaway’s door a loud knock before entering.

“Excuse me!”

I opened the room to find… No one there? That’s weird. I didn’t pass her on the way in… And I didn’t find her in the hallway… Don’t tell me! She’s aiming to surprise me from behind! I can see that smug stowaway getting a kick out of surprising a poor COMP like that! Their room looked nice though for a mere stowaway! If I didn’t know any better, she smuggled her room into this room because it had a computer, tons of old fashioned books and magazines, and a mini-fridge! Not just a mini-fridge! A mini-fridge filled with caffeine! A myriad of energy drinks and coffees. Wait is that even a limited edition holiday flavor from last year?!

It was only when I realized when I decided to check the computer that I saw… Plasma marks?! When did that happen?! I am pretty sure that I wasn’t that far away thanks to this endlessly looping hallway. Like even if I didn’t sense the magical signature of the spell being used, I should’ve been able to hear the spell going off and hitting the SLEPNIR’s bulkhead! Especially since it actually did damage to it in comparison to my spell from earlier! M-maybe Genesis or someone took a repair torch to this room and that smug stowaway just happened to choose this room. Yes! She was clearly taking advantage of her mysterious aura and this atmosphere to take scary me more!

Regardless! The computer is open and has something I could read. Maybe the loop’s spell is on the computer itself. If that’s the case, then she must’ve been the culprit pulling an innocent prank even if I didn’t have time for this. So I decided to casually look at the computer. I’m not prying, the screen was left like this so anyone can just so happen to look at it like me.

And to be honest, the articles were weird! Like those weird tabloids talking about all of the crazy stuff. You would think that with the amount of information in the magical age that these kinds of things would just outright disappear! Well, I can’t exactly look for information to argue against these articles when I don’t have a connection to the web… Well actually Article #2 and Article #3 could be real. Article #2 was believable… It’s not like Ross and I followed space too much. So it could’ve happened… And Article #3 was far in the past and I didn’t know too much about Myra even though Ross had it searched earlier. Also another weird thing was that the name Mokujima showed up again… Was Mokujima.

Eventually, I heard footsteps and saw the warning pop-up. Something about that timing and the general atmosphere made me decide that I need to actually follow this computer’s suggestion. I looked around the room rapidly. The closet and underneath the bed are classic hiding spots, but because they’re such classic hiding spots that means that everyone would check those locations first. I can’t hide under the desk even though I am smaller than most kids. The fridge would be a good choice if it wasn’t so filled with all of the drinks already! So that meant only one place left! The cardboard boxes on the shelf. It was halfway filled and I can use that to my advantage!

Rigid Rabbit beginning sneaking mission!

I jumped into the box and stopped breathing as best I could (I didn’t need to breathe but it felt right). No one would expect someone to be able to hide in a cardboard box! After all it’s just a box!

[Airen]

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

"A fire breathing child, I feel this distinction is kind of important!"

The vampire frowns. She's not a mind-reader by any means, but the look you're giving her in this instance is an easy enough one to read, the look that always appears when this person manages to dive head-first into shenanigans, as well...

Shenanigans seem to be drawn most strongly to her out of all of the members of this little 'gang,' or at least she would be the biggest magnet for it, if not for well...

You yourself, but that was a bitter fate you'd fight till the very end-!

"She was watching us from the bushes, her clothes and hair are a mess, not even wearing shoes... So it's probably someone who's been wandering around for awhile... Few weeks at least, judging by how messed up the clothes are..."

Of course, even as she lacks common sense, it seems some sort of maternal-esque instinct has also awakened in the vampire, enough that she's already done a casual once-over of the child's condition even as it once squirmed in her arms, but...

"..."

Where the 'older ones' talk, the little girl simply watches at first.

Her struggles cease after a bit (as she seems to clue into the fact that the person holding her actually isn't going to do much beyond that) and her gaze turns to you as you speak to her, eyes wide and unblinking like a precocious cat that has accepted the fate of being adored by humans against it's will, listening to you speak, the questions about where her parents are, if she's hungry, what she could tell everyone about her current situation, and...

"..."

...It takes her awhile to say anything in response to it.

Peering up at you with something more akin to curiosity that suspicion, the girl does seem to be trying to work over the situation in her head a bit, refraining from speaking likely because that is what her parents -whoever they are- would have wanted her to do, but eventually...

"...Hungry."

---Childhood innocence wins out.

Her words are accompanied by the growling of her stomach...

"But Mom said... Don't talk to strangers..."

Her voice is quiet.

Quiet and mostly calm... But also a tad uncertain...

"If that's the case, we just need to introduce ourselves right? Then we won't be strangers, and you can eat with us just fine! I'm Tsukiko~ You can call me Tsuki~ What's your name?"

...It's hard to tell if Tsukiko knows what she's doing or not, the more time you spent around her the more you're starting to think her original aloof, cold personality was just a very fragile mask she put up in a vain attempt to look cool, because she just...

Has a habit of saying things that can be taken in quite a few ways...

Saying you're trustworthy is the sort of thing a suspicious person would say after all, kids can still pick up on those sorts of things-!

But...

Against all odds, or perhaps because the vampire really doesn't mean any harm and she can sense that...

"...Fia... It's um... Really Fiammetta... But Mom only says that when I'm in trouble..."

The girl responds after a moment, admitting her name aloud, before...

Looking questioningly at you...

As if waiting for you to fulfill your part in this little ritual...

[Airen]

Sariel
Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

---Is he the one responsible for all of this?

It's a question that must be asked naturally, his appearance here is both convenient and suspicious, a person whose mannerisms come off as both encouraging and dangerous, as if there were two different forces inside of that body struggling for control... Certainly, his words come across as almost too reasonable, a bit too bright in this day that seems to be rapidly spiraling down the drain, and...

"..."

He takes awhile to really answer you, but...

"...On some level, the responsibility is mine."

When he does, the words aren't the expected ones; an admittance of some form of guilt, although the way he says it is with an actual, pure emotion for once, actual sadness, actual guilt, not that ambiguous voice that had appeared up until now...

"I let them lead me astray, didn't notice until it was too late. I didn't stop it, so it is my fault."

...And it's not exactly the admittance of guilt you were looking for, rather than saying that he was the instigator of things, he seemed to be saying it was his fault because he didn't stop whatever this was from happening...?

"This is a nightmare. In a quite literal sense, I just wish I had realized that sooner..."

A chuckle.

Bitterness floods the voice for a moment, then... It returns to the ambivalence from earlier.

"It's all a bad dream, and bad dreams can be... Dangerous... Especially when they're not your own, and yet they come to find you anyway... It was a convenient nightmare, the death of a parent, and real or imagined it spread through this town like a virus... Now there's no returning to the logic of the dream... It has become a simple fantasy, anything can happen, as is the nature of fantasies, the rules were bent too much, so..."

---And a return to the ambiguously worded statements, the nonsense poetry, or perhaps...

"The World is Strange, too strange, and now, everything is gathering here..."

...The best he can do under these circumstances.

Perhaps he doesn't completely understand himself...?

Either way...

"As for your other questions... Of course. As I said before, my intentions are heroic, so I will do my best in the time remaining to me."

[palad1n]

Sariel
Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

There were quite a few things that flew over Sariel's head. Dreams, Nightmares... She couldn't understand why the man specifically mentioned them, why he said The World is Strange, or what he meant by everyone gathering here, but Sariel understands that the man is blaming himself for something that's not his fault. That fact puts her at ease a little.

After all, that nature is quite similar to Cosmos' own.

That's why...

"...I understand." She finally said. "Then please excuse me for a moment; I'll inform my... friends about our arrangement, and then we can go to where Cosmos is. Naturally, I expect you to honor your words and extend your protection to them as well."

The angel in the end decided to trust him.

There are quite a few reasons why. First of all, the city is obviously not safe, and with Mary now here, getting to regroup with Cosmos would allow them to better asses the situation in a safer place. Secondly, the way to LOVELESS would likely be dangerous, which is where the man comes in; he's obviously strong, and having him would better ensure Mary's safety. Thirdly, even if communication breaks down and the man eventually attacks Cosmos, they would be prepared for it rather than having the man suddenly appears out of nowhere...

However, those are all the rational 'why,' and if Illia is here, the man is still suspicious enough that the COMP would never show him the way. The mere threat and risk of things going wrong is simply too high to be acceptable.

But that's why the biggest reason why Sariel did this is not out of any rational reason; no, the reason why Sariel did this is a simple one, yet one that is almost unthinkable for an angel.

She decided to believe in him.

Indeed, one of Sariel's abnormal qualities that differentiate her from most of her fellow heavenly hosts is that she often wanted to believe in humanity's capability to do good. Sariel wanted to see the best in people, dislike fights, and is overall an optimist who believe that everything can work out if people just talk with each other rather than fighting; and the man in front of her, despite all the warning signs and suspiciousness, hadn't attacked her, nor had he turned down the opportunity to talk, and his self-blame for her is practically a sign that at least, his heart is in the right place.

That's why she decides to trust him, for now.

With that, Sariel slips back into the bar and closes the door before the man could see Mary and Saria; if nothing else, her wings should have done a good job of obscuring his vision, and the moment the door closes and she's back to facing the two, Sariel takes a deep breath to calm herself down.

Goodness, the amount of anxiety she's feeling right now is more than the entirety of her life combined.

"O-okay. So," She began in a low voice, her voice trembling a little. "The plan for now is to head to where Cosmos is. T-there's a man outside who's looking for her, but he promised that he'd talk with her before doing anything and to protect us on the way there, so I think... I think that's what we should do. Of course, Lady Mary should don the hood up just to be safe..."

If Saria failed to recognize Mary before she lowers the hood, then the man outside shouldn't be able to recognize her just from a glance either... hopefully. God, she's practically just grasping at straws now.

"C-Cosmos is in LOVELESS, by the way... We'll go together, but I think I'd have to leave in the middle of the way to see how Lady Lailah is doing and to report... If -if anything happens, please protect Lady Mary, Saria." She paused, realizing that maybe she should explain some things better first. "Oh, um, currently aside from us and Lady Lailah, everyone in the city - angels and humans alike - seems to have vanished, and Lady Lailah is currently with a Foreign Goddess who is approaching the city while seemingly wanting to destroy it, but-but it's not her fault, someone has apparently programmed her to do so, and there's footsteps all over the city so it's not safe, which is why maybe regrouping with Cosmos would be the best course of action..."

God, is she even making sense? Could Mary and Saria follow her? But there's no time, so little time to decide...

Of course, she knew that Mary could be stubborn, and she might be reluctant to leave the city... And in the end, Mary is still the Pope, so she should have the final say in all this. So Sariel clasped her hand together in front of her chest to better calm herself down while looking at the revived Pope, her eyes seeking answers and approval.

"Of-of course, that is merely what I thought we should do... If Lady Mary thinks it's a bad plan and we should do it differently, then... then I'd follow it through, no matter what."

[Airen]

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

---Ultimately, things come to a sort of truce.

A break from the running, the social anxieties that some sort of outside force seems to have used to play the group as a whole like a fiddle; certainly it seems like you must have been baited into coming here, the timing of Eve's awakening, the coincidentally empty simulator room, the temporary disappearance of the Goddess, all sorts of little things that had lined up and drawn you into this place, yes...

---It seems like some sort of mastermind must exist.

Of course, the idea that someone could break this far into a Tamer base is an absurd one; if there are areas that could be thought of as impregnable, this one would certainly be one, considering the implications that it lies in a sort of 'dimension' all it's own, an in-between space that serves as a defense for the "Soul Sea," that is said to sleep beneath Aoyama, but...

It also cannot be denied that something is going on, and to that end, a few orders (or perhaps suggestions) are given and taken, and thus:

-In terms of camera footage, there is... Nothing wrong? Things happen as they appear to have happened, with Chris and Eve running into the room with Logan not far behind... The door does seem to close on it's own however, although it's impossible to tell through footage if this is because someone had used magic to close the door directly or hack it shut...

There is no sign of the blue haired girl from earlier in it, she doesn't seem to exist at all, but considering her apparent power-set that wasn't surprising...

Still, with what access to the cameras you can get, there is something more surprising about the footage from a few minutes ago, namely...

---It cuts out for a bit, all camera cut off for a minute or two, and when it all comes back online...

No one is around anymore...?

At least, no one seems to be in the common areas, things like bedrooms and the lower floors aren't things you can access, but the guest areas that had been thriving with life just a few moments ago... Are now empty.

Empty and silent.

Although there is someone standing in a raincoat outside by the front door, shivering a bit in the rain, as if waiting for someone to let them inside...

As for Chris, well...

Yamuna simply beams at you getting along with Logan now, although the way she's standing and looking around the area makes it seem like she's a bit on guard herself, looking, perhaps, for the girl that had apparently locked you in here awhile ago, but...

"...Can't pick up a trace with my senses alone."

...It seems even the senses of a Goddess can fail, still, when it comes to Eve...

"..."

When she hears her name called, and is told she should do whatever she wants, the girl takes one last look down the hallway (frowning as she does) before walking back to Chris, and...

"...Instructions received from Administrator. Preliminary scans show that Mokujima Chris can function as a secondary Administrator, I will protect you until you reunite with... Daisuke, was it? I will submit to an inspection at that time, to ensure no further damage was sustained..."

She blinks, then...

Extends her hand.

"Contract?"

A simple question, made with the tilt of her head...

[Rafflesiac]

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

One firm, confident handshake with proper eye contact (from his end, at least) later, Logan strides to the console to review the video logs. Nothing out of place pops up. Not that many traces would be left behind on a digital log like this in the first place, given her nature. May as well go over the current footage on the off chance Verity’s presumed ‘others’ aren’t as careful.

The screen goes dark. Logan switches feeds to another camera to no avail. He brings up each accessible camera - and nothing. The outside can’t be observed. The blackout’s during the last few minutes, when I spoke with Yamuna and then with Chris. Verity’s handiwork? No, it’s too obvious that something’s different from normal. Then is it that reality ceased to exist for several minutes? How patently absurd. Time catches up to the present and the world reasserts itself on the screen. But it’s strange. It’s far too strange.

“No one’s around?” he mumbles unconsciously. In the SDCD? Their home base, moments before a major operation?

I don’t like this, Logan.

The hallways filled with bustle and chatter, the common rooms filled with casual conversation, the libraries filled with readers and relaxers - all empty. All silent. He can’t help but think of the simulation he left mere minutes prior. Then his eyes catch a shivering figure on the very edge of the screen, standing outside the base in the rain. A victim? A perpetrator? Either way, they’re a lead.

Logan turns away from the terminal to address the group. “There’s no sign of her. However, the feeds cut out during our conversation. Once they returned, they displayed no people or activity save a figure at the front door. I’ll-” He digs his fingers into his palm, and then draws Amelia from his pocket, twirling her once as she expands to full size. “I assume the camera’s been tampered with in some way to display dummy footage, but I suggest we move as a unit to confirm the situation.”

[Bloble]

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

"Contract?"

Chris stares at the proffered hand for a moment, before the light of recognition flashes in her eyes.

So she'd found an internet connection after all. Good. At least it wouldn't get boring down there.

"Mm." Chris nods, reaching out to take the hand, and pauses at the last second. "One condition. I'll protect you."

Immediately testing that connection, Chris asks a question:

"Did you see something in the hall?"

“There’s no sign of her. However, the feeds cut out during our conversation. Once they returned, they displayed no people or activity save a figure at the front door. I’ll - I assume the camera’s been tampered with in some way to display dummy footage, but I suggest we move as a unit to confirm the situation.”

The other Tamer says something ridiculous, drawing an expanding metal rod - must be his COMP - from his pocket.

Mokujima blinks. Ponders. Sighs.

"...not the cameras," she deduces quietly. "They already fooled... our perceptions once."

Rather than something simple (and largely pointless) like tampering with camera footage, it's far more likely that whatever technique the perpetrator used to travel right under the SDCD and Yamuna's noses was just turned upon them once more, in a different manner.

"Phase shift? Different layer? Alternate dimension...?"

She mumbles the ideas, mostly to herself, hypothesizing. There are other possibilities as well. Like the thought that that they never left the simulation to begin with. This could all be an elaborate recreation of the SDCD base and they'd be none the wiser for it. Chris' hand finds the long object in her pocket, and she is reassured. If that's the case, there is still an escape route. Lastly it's possible that there is no trickery. They're here, as normal, and everyone else in the base was simply kidnapped. But that, of all ideas, is the most ridiculous one. If someone had attacked the SDCD base over the course of two minutes, when the cameras came back on at least half the rooms would be smouldering craters.

Yes, for now, a phase shift or perception trick is the most likely explanation. And also the most convenient.

"...my room," she suggests. "Will need... tools."

The solution is simple. She just needs to come up with a way to pierce that veil. To perceive something that has fooled even the Goddess standing next to her. To see what cannot be seen.

Chris is confident she can manage it.

The woman steps over to a panel in the wall, pulling it open with a click, revealing a console within, which she immediately accesses, her fingers a blur. She can at least download the data for the simulation they were trapped in, unless it was deleted as well.

As for the figure at the front door that Logan had mentioned.

"The base is, fortified. Can't... breach easily."

This is the SDCD headquarters after all. Whoever's waiting out there in the rain clearly can't get in. Not unless someone from the inside opens the door for them at least, which Chris has no intention of doing.

"I'll give you... the intercom password."

Don't have to let them in to talk to them. Far better to converse from the safety of the base. Logan's COMP should be able to make the necessary network connections. Not like anyone else is using them right now. Whether that figure he's talking about is yet another victim of the perception-stalker or a natural predator of their realm will be for the Rothschild Tamer to find out.

Finally, she glances back at Yamuna.

What, exactly, is the goddess thinking in this situation? What does that bright person wonder, when the humanity she is so attached to suddenly shifts in front of her eyes? When even she finds herself tricked? That troubled expression on the goddess's face is alien to Mokujima Chris. She is seeing it for the first time. It's worrying but also reassuring, to know that the goddess can make that sort of expression.

"Are you... alright?"

At the very least, with her light dimmed this much, she's not as difficult to approach.

[Airen]

Sariel
Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

"---I want to see him."

Ultimately, Mary's stubborn nature wins out.

While many think of the woman as the purest of saints, someone who can't get irritated or angry, who won't act recklessly or purely off emotions, the reality of the woman's existence isn't quite that simple...

Certainly, the woman is a form of saint.

An idealistic person with sky-high morals, willing to offer salvation to those that would ordinarily be forever bound to hell, a woman that could smile and talk about "world peace," in a way that made it seem like something that was truly achievable, but...

"Before some stranger gets anywhere near Cosmos, I want to see him."

...Ultimately, she is also a person, a human, and humans can be emotional-! She had listened to everything you said without making much of an expression at all, simply thinking as you described the current situation to her, but she ultimately disregards the advice to raise her hood, and instead marches off towards the outside -towards the man- with those words alone, refusing to cower in the face of whatever this phenomena was, and...

---That much shouldn't be surprising, after all...

---Regardless of the frailty of her body, the woman was not made of glass.

Her spirit had never once been that weak, and-!

"Wait, milady-"

-it's impossible even for Saria to stop her, as the young woman seems incapable (or perhaps simply unwilling) to grab the woman to stop her in her tracks, and thus-!

"..."

"..."

A new situation occurs.

The pope staring down the fashionable youth from earlier, a silent but intense energy in her stare, one that he responds too with the same cool energy he seemed to take everything else with...

It's bizarre.

---You had gotten the feeling that he had a 'similar' aura to Mary earlier, but now that the two of them are standing right across from each other, locked in a sort of silent test of wills (or perhaps character, as Mary has always been good at seeing through lies when she wanted too) the feeling you get...

It's like there's just one person here, or rather, for a single instant...

Their aura feels almost exactly the same... Similar in a way that is reminiscent of siblings, but...

"...You're hanging in there huh?"

Ultimately, the man chooses to shatter the silence first.

"I thought for sure your soul had been taken already... No, it seems like most of it was... But you're getting stronger rather than weakening..."

He frowns.

Staring at her for a moment more, before...

"...Ah. So that's what happened, you have a rather insane protector..."

He chuckles...

Then seems to leave it at that, while Mary...

"..."

Seems to silently judge him a bit longer, before...

"...This one seems like a good kid."

Her more serious expression melts away to the usual smile.

"I think I can let you see her."

---Quite the brazen woman after all, huh...?

[palad1n]

Sariel
Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

The moment Mary took the reins, there was nothing that Sariel could do but watch.

It was a display of the Pope's stubborn and hard-headed nature, one that Sariel rarely saw, but any objections and fears for her safety melted away the moment the woman said her reasons why. Indeed, while Sariel has always been fond of Mary, this kind of reaction was new...

After all, all of their interactions has always been done in peace, in the Inner Gardens, and Cosmos has never been involved in something bad or serious that warranted Mary to act differently than her usual self; but seeing her now, eyes held firm with unshakable conviction as she marched outside to see the mysterious man, Sariel felt a certain feeling in her chest as she saw Mary's motherly instinct in action for the first time.

Warmth, and perhaps happiness and relief.

'She loves you, Cosmos...'

It was an obvious thought. It doesn't take a genius to know that, but sometimes it's the most obvious that's the hardest to be seen and acknowledged...

Her feelings to reunite mother and daughter only gets stronger in the face of such a display, and...

"...This one seems like a good kid. I think I can let you see her."

The moment Mary said those words, all tenseness left her body as Sariel breathed a sigh of relief. The Pope is a good judge of character, so this should mean that her initial assumption on his character was correct; not to mention the sheer similarity between their presence. Looks like believing in the man, as dubious as he is, was the correct choice after all, and Sariel felt positively happy and relieved that her actions brought an understanding rather than inviting a fight.

"O-okay, with Lady Mary's approval we can now go to where Cosmos is." Sariel finally said with a relieved smile. "Lady Mary and Saria knew where she is, so they should be able to guide you just fine, and in exchange I expect you to really honor your promise... To keep them safe." She looked at the man with a pleading look. "I'd want to follow along, but there's one last thing I should do, so there's no need to wait for me."

Namely, reporting to Lailah and see how she's doing.

The matter of the Foreign Goddess is an important one after all, and an additional intel would be invaluable for the party; even if it went bad and she'll die... well, she'd be fine and can return to Cosmos' COMP.

"If there's nothing else, then we shall go our separate ways and reunite in Cosmos' presence." Sariel said as she started to flap her wings and hovers a few inches above the ground, looking at Mary in particular. "She... To call Cosmos missing you would be a massive understatement. I believe only you can mend her heart, Lady Mary, so please... Do save her."

[Airen]

Sariel
Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

---And thus, you depart to return to Lailah.

Trusting that the action will not be a mistake -whether it be because of your own gut feelings or those of the Pope is irrelevant- you leave everyone else behind in your haste to return to where your superior angel was last spotted, at the side of the fallen Goddess near the traditional entrance to the city. It's a journey made with both haste and caution, while entities like you can afford to be 'slain' to a certain degree (as your existence will eventually be restored by the flow of humanity's cognition) coming back to 'life' as it were was a process that could take an indeterminable amount of time...

Sometimes hours...

Sometimes days...

---Regardless of how long it would take, it felt like the gap would simply be too much in this case.

Call it a deepset instinct if you wish, but it feels like if you did happen to die... You wouldn't return in time to intervene in... Whatever this was...

This 'nightmare,' as the youth from before had called it, and thus...

You move with caution.

---But things aren't quite as bad on the return trip, strangely enough... While the fog remains intense, and the buildings remain strangely empty, the city's magitech barriers had come online, an invisible sort of 'dome' surrounding all of it in a protective field; it's a different barrier than that produced by the harmonizer towers, something that can be distinctly heard and felt with the physical senses, a droning 'hum' of reiki, taken from the leylines beneath the city, moving to cover everything in a dome of magic. Most cities have these sorts of things nowadays, an emergency barrier for if something 'unexpected' happens, but this is the first time you had really seen one turn on in this area, after all...

Normally the angels are more than enough, but...

It seems that things are coming to a head, the World is Strange, and things that would not normally happen are happening in rapid succession, as if the laws of probability had switched around, and likely had switched places with the unlikely...

Nevertheless... You don't encounter any monsters on the way.

No more humans either, no friendlies, no hostiles, just you...

Just you.

---For the longest time, an agonizing time, it's just you.

But then... At the end of it all... In a journey that takes such a strange amount of time that even you're not sure if it was actually short or long, you...

---Come across an unexpected scene.

"..."

Part of you had expected to come back to find a battle, Lailah fighting off the unknown Goddess, instead...

She is kneeling next to her fallen form with a hand outstretched over her body, mumbling something in the angelic tongue, Isaac leaning against the wall of a building, arms crossed and gaze fixed emotionlessly on the scene before him, while just up ahead...

Alyx and a -strangely familiar- blonde woman, along with a completely unfamiliar young girl (looked to be somewhere in her early teens) with grey hair, are gazing out into the distance, just outside the city, where the fog is at it's thickest.

"..."

No one other than Lailah is saying anything, but...

Where the others are showing a stoic sort of bravery, or perhaps determination...

The grey-haired one is twitching nervously a bit...

[palad1n]

Sariel
Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder Storm

When Sariel finally arrived at the scene after an agonizingly long flight, she stopped in the sky, unnoticed and unseen for now as she observed the situation. She was expecting a fight, perhaps even a situation where Lailah is losing or, worst-case scenario, is already defeated...

But not this. Not Isaac, Alyx, a grey-haired girl, and a blonde angel that seems awfully familiar; not Lailah who is kneeling next to the Foreign Goddess, muttering something in angelic tongue.

It's strange. If practically everyone in the Vatican has vanished, including the angels, then having these number of people remaining isn't actually that weird. Perhaps the spell missed some, perhaps they were exempt for some reason, but seeing that Lailah, Saria and Mary didn't vanish, having a few other people around isn't that strange.

But still, Sariel felt uneasy.

Her plan was to report to Lailah, but now her superior is busy doing something... and while she wants to trust people, to trust humans, the blonde angel... gives her a funny feeling. Like she should recognize her, but doesn't. She trusts Isaac and Alyx, and wouldn't have minded to report to them instead to tell them the good news, but...

Sariel swallowed. The hypocrisy of trusting a total stranger just a few minutes (?) ago while distrusting the angel that's sticking with Alyx isn't lost on her, but she just couldn't help it. Maybe she'd be able to trust her later, but for now, she deems that she should be cautious, and thus began to descend gently, the flaps of her azure wings heard clearly as to not startle everyone.

She supposes Cosmos and Illia did influence her, in some ways.

"Ah- Alyx, thank goodness you're okay." Sariel said with genuine relief as she landed besides the white-haired girl. Better to be with someone she knows to reduce some of her nervousness. "Lady Lailah asked me to look for people, and - and I already sent them ahead to where I think Cosmos is, but..." She gestured at the Goddess and the activated defense system, fidgeting as she does so. "W-what is going on?"

[Airen]

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

"Did you see something in the hall?"

---Eve tilts her head again, this time in the other direction, before actually answering the inquiry...

As if she too, was testing the stability of this newfound 'connection.' It certainly felt fine, surprisingly fine actually... There are normally minor synchronization issues when it comes to using a COMP that is not one's own, small things like static interference over the mental connection, or an inability to gather immense amounts of one's reiki without it spiraling out of control, but this one...

Is... Fine...?

It feels about the same as being synced with Daisuke, no major issues, although a look at her thoughts...

She's definitely thinking in some sort of alien language, and having to translate it in real time in order to talk with you; such things are ordinarily not a problem, one of the first programs devised for these sorts of devices was a universal translator, but you can't really recognize what it is she's 'thinking' at all, although the silver-haired android seems to understand this, and is translating everything after she thinks it, but still...

It's a rough sounding language, kind of... Inherently angry?

Maybe it was just how the people from this 'Ruina' spoke to each other?

Her translated 'voice' is pleasant as ever regardless...

'No. No one's out there, such a thing is illogical...'

She straightens out her head, keeping eyes that you could now see were almost remarkably pure... Locked on your face.

'...I did get the sense that someone was looking at us for a moment I suppose, but I believe it to be a sensory error.'

At this, her face gets apologetic, although she soon moves to speaking aloud:

"As for your condition, this unit is combat capable and can easily be repaired, no need to put yourself in harm's way protecting it."

---She nods.

It's a pretty annoying thing to hear of course, a sign that she's one of those types of people, but...

Moving on to Yamuna...

"Are you... alright?"

"I'm okay."

---She smiles.

Although there's a light sense of something being wrong with her nonetheless... It's a smile that's slightly shakier than normal, and the healthy flawless complexion that so many of humanity was in love with looked a bit...

Pale?

The beginnings of something like sweat?

Did Goddess's catch colds? Because that was sort of what it was looking like...

"Just feel a bit weird... It's uh... Like I'm forgetting something important, and it's not happy about that... But I'll be fine. If you want to go to your room I'll accompany you, so don't worry about me~!"

She makes a visible effort to return to normalcy, and it's almost convincing, but...

"Phase shift...? Is it that simple...? What was it...?"

The talking to herself clearly isn't normal, nor is...

"Reverie Complex...?"

The hand slowly rising to her forehead, as if pushing back a headache...

Finally, with Logan...

With Chris handing over the 'password' as it was for the next level of the facility's systems, you can actually get into the intercoms, and more importantly, get a better look at the face of the person outside, and well...

"Uhm, hello? Anyone in there?"

...It's a woman.

Shivering outside in her bright yellow raincoat, red-hair falling around her face, face that's looking into the cameras with a look that is easy to decipher as 'hopeful and energetic,' someone whose spirits are still up in spite of their currently uncomfortable circumstances-!

"It's me! Aleta Gaumond! I'm actually here on official business for the Knights this time! No more conspiracy theory seeking reporter shenanigans I swear! I have my Tamer license now!"

And just from hearing her talk...

You can tell right away...

That this one is a bit of a weirdo...

----

Chris (Data Get)

-End of Revolution-
Apparent video file that had been used as the 'base' for the last simulation; inside of it, a town celebrating some sort of festival is completely destroyed when the planet's rotation stops, consequently wiping everything away in mere moments... That's the gist of things, but only so much can be gained from a skim viewing of it.

Feels vaguely scifi, but perhaps that is to be expected?

Stopping the planet's rotation would be insane even by modern standards after all...

[Bloble]

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

"Hm."

Chris nods slowly as she pockets the data pad. She and Eve make a good pair, both being rather expressionless. But they couldn't be more different. While one is unsure, correctly, the other... produces something close to confidence from nowhere at all.

"Your body is flawless, Eve" she replies, over the link that's more stable than it has any right to be. "It was crafted with love. There are no mistakes in your sensors. If there were, I repaired them."

So why, then? There are no coincidences. If this is the same perception-blocking trick as before, and they truly are being watched, then... how had it gone last time? According to the logs of Daisuke's encounter with that Burroughs girl? He hadn't noticed her at all, and yet, upon reviewing his data she'd appeared. The culprits must be similar or the same person, so she'll certainly have paid attention to something that simple this time, but the underlying principle of the flaw in the trick can't be repaired so quickly.

"...okay." Chris finally accepts it. "There was nobody there. So imagine someone there."

It's not as if they are unable to perceive it. It's that their minds cannot recognize it. The information was still collected properly. In that case... it's just about accessing it differently. Perhaps that's why she'd noticed something, even if it seemed like nothing. The trick didn't work completely because the target was not from this world. Eve's interface, her programming, even the way she speaks and thinks operate along slightly different lines. Chris knows that well; she worked on repairing the android herself and there is little to no resemblance to any other COMP or machine blueprint she's ever seen. In which case...

"Imagine someone is in the hall. Start with a blank canvas. No need to reference other images or the current situation. Imagine what they might look like, and what they might be doing. Be creative. Delve into junk data if you must."

If her hypothesis is correct, and the information is there, blocked off... then they just need to reach it via another route.

"Just feel a bit weird... It's uh... Like I'm forgetting something important, and it's not happy about that... But I'll be fine. If you want to go to your room I'll accompany you, so don't worry about me~!"

"Mm."

Chris glances away from Eve. Looks over the goddess. Frowns.

She takes a step. A step more decisive than it should be. Towards the goddess. Unflinching.

She reaches out, placing a reassuring hand on Yamuna's shoulder, and then...

Clonk!

Forehead meets forehead. Hard enough to sting. Hard enough to shatter a headache and replace it with one ten times worse.

Yamuna finds herself staring past a pair of lenses, into Chris' deep brown eyes. Which are watering a little from the pain.

"If you were fine," Chris says calmly. "I wouldn't be able to look at you."

It's only because that brightness of hers has faded so far, that Mokujima Chris can be so close right now.

The brightness is fading. She can understand that much. But of course, bright people like that think they'll shine forever. The conceit of the powerful is the urge to remain so. The fear of accepting one's weakness.

Good. Compared to all-powerful goddesses who can do no wrong, headstrong idiots like that are much easier to deal with.

"Come along then. I'll cook you up some 90 yen noodles."

[Airen]

Sariel
Vatican City
12/22/2026
Evening, Thunder

"W-what is going on?"

"..."

---It takes awhile for Alyx to answer.

Certainly, the girl was different from Cosmos in a number of ways, their differing methods of dealing with their grief had been proof enough of that; where one shut down completely, the other had thrown herself into a frenzy of work, of distractions, all in the name of being able to think about anything other than the bizarre tragedies that had struck her and her family, and...

---While that is, perhaps, admirable in it's own way, the look on that girl's face is proof enough of the beginnings of self-destruction... Her normally kept hair was a mess, clothes torn and burned in places; eyes a sunken hollow that showed the results of days without sleep, eyes that also bear a certain inhuman spark to them that hadn't quite been there before...

Something that doesn't seem malicious no, but certainly inhuman...

Angelic?

Demonic?

Something else entirely?

Whatever it was... The girl felt different somehow...

Perhaps it was just the obvious state of extreme fatigue?

Either way, when she does answer...

"...A lot of things."

It's without a smile.

Just a tired, tired shrug...

"Lailah is trying to undo the possession on that Goddess over there, as for the barrier..."

Her gaze returns to the distance.

The blonde angel next to her -tall, inhumanly beautiful- smiles at you.

It's a smile that's impossible to read, but again, a flicker of something like nostalgia gnaws at your mind...

"There are... things out there. Legion-types. A sort of spiritual parasite... They're not very smart, tactically they just do the basics, attack the weak point, that sort of thing... So we put up the barrier and made the weakest point right here... They'll attack this place instead, easiest way, funnel them in so we can work as a unit."

She sighs.

Her voice is emotionless... Not out of choice, just...

It's like she's been drained dry...

"...Not that they will any more, they don't need too. It's almost the 24th... Even if that's only true for this place, that's good enough, it fulfills a condition in the cognition... Saviors can more easily appear on this day... And the definition of a Savior can be quite broad indeed..."

A humorless laugh.

"Ah damn... I'm doing it myself now. Being too damn complex and vague... Sorry. Isaac would know the mechanics behind it better than me, Mr. Perfect was always good at teaching... I guess you could say we're waiting for a final boss to come rolling through here?"

She says it bluntly, using banal terms, terms that are far too casual for the situation at hand...

"We forgot the mission. The X-Cross. Now they're pulling something right out of our heads, letting it grow here, in this city removed from the rest of the world... It won't be the real thing, but that won't matter much."

She shakes her head.

"Providence will descend here."

Her eyes narrow.

"All we can do at this point... Is hold it here as long as we can when it does... Sucks, but these things happen I guess..."

Providence?

That word again...?

The youth from before had said it, and now that you were hearing it again...

What was this... fear... Erupting in your chest?

It sends a shiver all throughout your body...

...And you can't place why.

[Sariel Intermission: God Slaying Sword END]

[Rafflesiac]

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

Chris dismisses his theory offhandedly, immediately suggesting a more troublesome one. He wants her to be wrong. He suspects she’s not.

"...my room. Will need... tools."

“Armaguses and such? Very well then.” Anything that helps the other Tamer defend herself should improve the situation. Her COMP seems to be worryingly absent; perhaps she’d submitted it for maintenance. Chris sends him the necessary data - something that raises Amelia’s hackles briefly - to check on the mysterious figure in the rain, so he does.

"It's me! Aleta Gaumond! I'm actually here on official business for the Knights this time! No more conspiracy theory seeking reporter shenanigans I swear! I have my Tamer license now!"

The Knights, huh? Logan’s never heard of her. That doesn’t necessarily disprove her statement; the shine of the Knights tended to blind others to the presence of the squires. But a quick search of her turns up nothing but farcical inevitably retracted conspiracy theories and several minor incidents. By all appearances, this Aleta was nothing but an irrepressible nuisance. And the Knights, the eternally image-conscious nights, accepting a borderline paparazzo? That’s as absurd as the rumor that eating a full course dinner cooked by Raz Stone grants you eternal life.

Logan holds Amelia to his mouth like he’s speaking into a drive-through mike. “Show your credentials and state your business, Miss Gaumond.”

As stated prior, there is no such thing as multitasking. Logan elected to focus on contacting Aleta Gaumond, so while he saw and heard Chris address Yamuna, he did not prioritize that situation. He concentrated on detecting any suspicious actions from the woman at the gate instead of the subtle fluctuations of the sunlike aura surrounding him. But.

But.

"Reverie Complex...?"

Logan stares at her. A hand reaching for her forehead. Signs of increased perspiration. The involvement of Verity. Something forgotten.

"The one person that could have tampered with the memory systems would be a member of the X-Cross, someone stabbed everyone else in the back, and I'm not sure who they are... Is it just one? If not, how many are there? What sort of people are they? Were they my friend once?"

Is that how it is?

The curtain’s been peeled away and they’ve been shuffled backstage. The props and actors are replaced for the sake of the new play. The script lies on the stage; is it right? Who’s to say?

Logan Starbright questions. No one has the answer. He stares. He thinks. He…

Watches in shock as Chris headbutts the Goddess Yamuna with all the force she can muster. It’s like an exercise ball popped in his face, deflating the tension in the room along with it. One thing at a time, Logan. Gather information, assess it, then come up with a plan. Predict enemy attacks and counter them.

His gaze sharpens. And keep an eye out.

---

Spoiler:

Auto-Skill: ???
Spells Set: ???, ???, ???, ???, ???, Eye of the Fates
Spells Used: Eye of the Fates
Heat: 3/10

[Airen]

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

---You make it inside just in time.

Moving what few items were in your way in order to more properly fit inside, the moment in which you lay down beneath the lid of the box and silence your -unnecessary- breathing is the same instant that someone walks into the room, or rather...

---It's the same instant someone staggers into the room.

"Fucking Akarana... Bitch..."

It's the voice of a woman, young, around twenty or so, although you can't see her face without potentially exposing yourself to her eyes... Still, her voice sounds labored, heavy, like she had just run a couple of miles before getting here -or perhaps had gotten in a fight- and the way that the footsteps sounded now, it was...

Somewhat uneven?

Like the person was wounded?

---There was a definite sound of blood -or some other falling liquid- too, light drips on the steel floor, but...

While such things might ordinarily incite a protective urge, your own sixth sense, the part of your soul that was truly in tune with the 'flow' of reality, is telling you one thing and one thing alone, namely...

Do not let this person see you.

There is an... Unreasonable amount of malice echoing out from her like a wave, so potent that you could almost imagine the room being bathed in crimson light... Of course such things are simply a part of your imagination, there is no crimson light here, but the 'feeling' of her presence is quite heavy, and-

"...?"

-amidst her labored breaths, her muttered curses about some "sneaky Akarana bitch" (Ms. Smug perhaps?) you can feel her eyes scan the room as if she's looking for someone, probably said Akarana person, but more importantly than that...

You can feel when the eyes land on the shelves... That her curiosity gets piqued...

Had she sensed you in here?

...It's difficult to say, times like these, someone might just get impatient enough to start attacking random things or spiking their hostility in an attempt to get someone hidden to come out... It's a sort of bluff that relies on tricking the sixth sense, and one that has you seriously considering whether you've actually been seen or whether this person just wants anyone around to think she's seen them, but...

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

...before it can come to that, before you have to choose one way or another...

You can see a flash of blue, feel a burst of Reiki from the closet on the other wall of the room (some sort of secondary presence seeming to just 'pop' into existence inside of there) and an explosion of sound as there's more swears from the first woman, the sound of laughter from this mysterious 'other,' and then...

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

The shelf next to you explodes as someone is boldly thrown into it.

Wood scatters, books and papers flying wildly as the sound of laughter leaves the room, footsteps echoing throughout the hallway at a sprinting pace, while-

"Stop running coward!"

-a second set of footsteps -those of the original person- chase after the first.

Considering the cyclical nature of this hallway, that doesn't mean they'll be gone long, but right now, in this moment, there's no one else in this room...

So, you...

[Airen]

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

"Someone like Mr. Isaac, huh?"

Remarkably giddy about the fact that you had taken her hand in spite of your reservations about it, the older woman starts your journey with those words, seemingly intent on actually giving some commentary on your answer...

"Rose Cross... You must mean Isaac Angelos, then? The Church's Golden Boy?"

It sounds like a question, but she clearly knows that's the correct answer, as could be evidenced by the sudden sharpness of her grin-!

"That's a good one! In terms of people to emulate, Mr. Phoenix Ranger White, Right Hand of the Pope, Volunteer in the local orphanage, Grandmaster Pianist and honorary Knight of the Round isn't a bad one to go for-! Man of many talents Isaac, I can see why the young ones might find him charming~"

She laughs.

"His only flaw really is that he thinks too much, always thinking, he can't help it. Can't stop himself from doing it even though I'm certain he knows it's not the greatest thing in the world... Always a storm behind his eyes, constantly thinking about the future, he won't be able to enjoy the present in that way... Although I suppose he's always been like that, even since he was a boy, he's a worrier at heart."

And speaks of him in a manner that makes it seem like there's some sort of history there...?

That's strange, because Issac is something of an enigma... People know who he is of course, and that he's a man who seems functionally capable of doing basically anything, but personal details about his life and likes are sparse, his smile is perfect, he's the most wanted bachelor in all of the Vatican, and that...

Was basically it...

So to hear this person speak of not just the Commander of the Rothschild, but also the most mysterious member of the Rose Cross with that same sort of almost familial tone, well...

It's strange.

Still...

The lunch area gives way to steel halls, digital screens with bizarre lettering lining everything in a fashion that made it more and more clear this ship really was something out of a science fiction novel, (although funnily enough, some of the crew members seemed to be watching some sort of anime on some of the screens) but...

"Still, a bit of resistance towards personal goals hmm...?"

This comment brings your attention back to the smiling woman.

"Okay, okay, in that case... Are you excited about all of this?"

She gestures at the world around you with her one free hand.

"It's the first official cross-faction assignment with all the Major Players in attendance, a landmark adventure! The start of a long but rewarding journey, like those kids that saved the world a few decades ago!"

---A pause, then:

"Or something like that? Kids do still have a sense for adventure nowadays, right...?"

The smile is sheepish now.

And she's making it seem like a bit more of a big deal than it apparently was... Then again...

This person was also obviously overdramatic.

[Airen]

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

---Even beneath the ambivalent glow of his training as a Knight, you can sense when Zerah's thoughts go from "hahaha," to "are you kidding me?" His face doesn't give it away of course, the vague smile that always exists continues to exist, but it's the twitch in the eyes -towards the outside- and the twitch of his rather sharp ears -as if suddenly straining to pick up on sound- that give away the fact that the other shoe has dropped, yes...

Certainly, Erika Winters must have left him in charge of this place.

Considering her nature as one who wants to do things as by-the-book as possible, when the girl heard this was a sneaking mission, she must have put some precautions into place in an attempt to contain you, but...

It's not enough.

Foolish to think one person would be enough, and indeed-!

---A different sort of storm has certainly appeared on the outside.

A storm of footsteps to go along with the storm of rain, the mark that your 'summoning ritual' of sorts had certainly been successful; indeed, this is perhaps the one avenue Erika hadn't expected for you to use (as could be evidenced by the fact that you're pretty sure one of the people posting on that forum right now, the one swearing up and down that this is supposed to be a sneaking mission, was probably Erika herself) as it was representative of calling one's sworn enemies down upon oneself, but-!

The deed is done.

---In a futile effort of token resistance, Zerah automatically moves to block the door with his body.

Of course, this is Aoyama.

If there was one city in the world where if you pointed at someone at random, that someone would have superpowers of one sort or another, it would be this city; the citizens in this place are relatively unshakeable, they've been attacked by a literal Kaiju more than once, live in a town that itself seems to be alive, with streets not always leading to the same destination every day (especially when those streets are being walked by outsiders) and where the occasional vengeful spirit is dealt with less like a literal monster, and more like a homeowner coming home and finding a wasp hanging out in the corner of their house, in other words...

More of a "this is sort of annoying, but I'll deal with it myself" vibe, than an "ahhh evil spirit, call the tamers" vibe-!

...Tamer or not, this was a city where the mob of civilians could be a very very real threat to basically anything-!

In other words, if enough of the locals wanted to get through that door, there was basically nothing anyone could actually do to keep them out forever, and yet-!

"Alright, everyone stop. Stop."

...Again, something seems to get in the way.

A female voice from outside, one that had appeared quietly, from a different direction than the crowd of what you could only assume were Muscle Men... A woman with bright pink hair a bandaged left arm, and an aura that...

Wasn't exactly...

Readable?

Was she a Tamer? Something else?

Whatever it was... Her casual stance in front of the growing crowd outside carries a certain authority to it, enough that the crowd does in fact stop at her command, and...

"Ibaraki-sama!"

---The roar that comes from outside from the crowd is sort of amazing; they all cry out in unison, not out of fear but more out of respect, like everyone had just seen their mentor or something...

Was she some sort of coach?

Body builder coach?

Gym teacher?

---The more you see of it, the weird this all gets, but this is Aoyama-!

Weirdest ward in the World!

The Magic City!

"You can tear him apart after I'm done with him, I have some questions I need to ask first, alright? Tamer business."

---Their response to this is a simple unanimous salute.

What the hell?!

It's the sort of obedience that a Knight could only wish the squires would show, then again, the squires being disobedient when necessary was probably how the Knights had gotten this far in the first place, but...

Putting those thoughts aside...

The woman comes up to the door, and...

"...Raz Stone, Zerah Meir. You two are in there, right?"

Asks a calm question through the metal of the door, on the other side of the traditionally fogged glass...

"I have some questions to ask you... As a representative of the SDCD."

---This is a bit strange, since everything had been cleared already by the higher-ups, but...

"May need your help locating your... Delinquent squires."

...This is the line...

That really makes things seem off...

"I'm coming in, if that's alright?"

It doesn't really sound like she's asking for permission, or rather...

She's just doing so to be polite-!