Gazing out of a window from the large bedroom that was eclipsed by the dark night sky from outside, the very person who inhabited the body of the girl who lived within this large estate observed the very unsuspecting city that she could see before her. Ulith with little to no light within the room itself simply sat at the leisurely comfort of the bed, sneering deeply to herself. Despite the benefits that came with inhabiting the body and identity of the heir to the Urazoe family and fortune itself, she knew that she could not simply keep to her true persona in the open at all times, much like many Selectors themselves when participating in the battles that she was very much still a part of.
"Now then..." she murmured to herself as she tapped her lips briefly with her topmost finger from her right hand "I wonder who out there tonight is having their fair share of screams and agony already?"
Though her tone was in its usual state despite no one within the Urazoe family being nearby to overhear, it was very much slightly quieter than normal, with Ulith preferring to remain this way when speaking to herself within the halls of the estate. The other reason being due to the presence of the other person that was currently asleep on the far side of the room within a separate futon on the floor. There within a deep slumber was the currently peaceful and undisturbed form of Aoi Akira, who had seemingly not moved or so much as had an ear twitch in response to the rambling of the cruel demeanoured Selector herself. Her LRIG Milulun, had also decided to seemingly call it a night for herself and was also fast asleep into the night itself.
That little fact was also why Ulith had chosen to remain calm in deciding when to speak to herself, knowing that the blue LRIG could on a whim wake up without warning and expose anything 'unwanted' to her Selector. As another minute passed by, Akira simply smiled and turned to one side within her futon, presumably having pleasant dreams for the time being. Whether they had anything to do with her affection she had for her new 'friend' for some time now or triumphing over any problems she had been bugged by lately was something that her associate did not know, but could tell that it would be one or the other.
Ulith simply kept her calm sneer directed at Akira herself, having indeed found some twisted amusement of some kind from simply playing around with her feelings after badmouthing her during her time as an LRIG whilst the latter herself still had the LRIG Piruluk in her initial run of the Selector Battles. The cruel demeanoured Selector simply gave a gentle touch to the cheek of her 'companion', wanting to simply give her more 'satisfaction' from the relationship that had seemingly cropped up between the two of them.
"Lucky-lucky... Aki-lovely..." the orange haired Selector mumbled in a sing-song like tone to herself, smiling from the gentle touch of her 'beloved'.
Whether it was using her simply for the entertainment of it all or just simply as a cheap 'attack' dog for her schemes whenever she saw it as absolutely necessary, Ulith felt that keeping Akira around, even this long with her still in the dark to her allegiance with the mastermind of the Selector Battles, was not a wasted asset at all. Thinking back on her prior statement of an 'attack' dog briefly, she deepened her sneer further, feeling that despite the occasional mishap that came her way with the most recent being attacking a 'certain' person without her permission to do so in the first place, Akira was indeed serving her purpose in the schemes she had planned out.
Reaching down into her skirt's pocket for a moment, she brought out a Wixoss card with a white backing, indicating that it would seemingly be of use to her in her White Deck within her battles. However, a turnover of the card revealed that it should have been one that would have inhabited an LRIG as evidenced by the lack of text and the seemingly open expanse within the borders themselves. The cruel demanoured Selector felt somewhat nostalgic upon gazing down at the empty space, it seemingly feeling like only yesterday since the day she first became an LRIG and came into the servitude of both Mayu and the very forces that assisted her in both the construction of and maintaining the Selector Battles from the dimension that held her White Room.
"My, it really has been that long, huh," she said in a seemingly musing tone to herself, being careful not to wake up neither Akira or Milulun with the volume of her voice "That long since the day we first met and how much had passed since then."
She then looked back to the window once more, a memory from one of her previous experiences within the Selector Battles as an LRIG having returned to the back of her mind as she willingly decided to play through it once more.
Several months ago...
Within the confines of the White Room itself, sometime after Yuki had previously gone to sleep within Iona's body, Ulith had taken the liberty of using her free passage between both the card she would normally be confined to and the birthplace of the Selector Battles themselves. After coming through one of the open gateways into the seemingly endless expanse that was the corridor which Mayu normally inhabited, she had started to wander down the giant room of many doors, gateways and windows displaying views of the outside world itself.
After eventually coming to a halt within her footsteps after a brief trek, the LRIG herself had stopped by some windows, displaying various Selector Battles with all of the participants, both LRIG and Selector, finding their own struggles to be very difficult to overcome in one way or another. Such sights like this, complete with screams of agony from either one's wish being tainted or discovering that they had been deceived by their 'trusted' companions throughout the battles in regards to said wishes was always a sight of entertainment for her. Ulith giggled to herself as she watched on, finding her fill for the evening on such twisted amusement and fulfilling her desire on being one of the first to observe such despair unfolding before her.
"So you're the one Photon spoke of. How 'nice' to finally meet you."
Although she was unfamiliar with the new voice that had addressed her right at this moment, Ulith didn't really care of whether she knew it already at this point or not. Turning around, she could see the large form of one of the other beings that had assisted Mayu with her physical construction of the Selector Battles, knowing from her first visit that not all of this dimension's inhabitants would be human to say the least. The presence of Photon whom she had first met alongside Mayu was already enough for her to confirm that, not she had any care about that all in the slightest. The new being that was before the LRIG was recognizable to most who had confronted it before and lived to tell the tale as evidenced by the giant scythe it carried.
"The same that could be said of you, scum," she spoke, sneering slightly "Would I dare guess you're that 'Clown' Mayu told me about? Or would you prefer... Chaos Breaker?"
"And what if I am?" the 'Clown' seemingly asked.
"I must say, it's simply a pleasure to finally meet such a grandmaster of pulling such emotions," Ulith replied, bowing once in the Cyber Dragon's seemingly overwhelming presence "To be doing such a job for this long, I must admit, I'm rather envious of your's and Mayu's work in this filthy world."
Chaos Breaker Dragon simply ran down the nails of its right claw down the long pole of its scythe, contemplating everything that the LRIG had said towards itself. It then bent down and leaned closer towards her, studying her seemingly through curiosity and noting her unwavering expression within its presence. The Clown itself was more than aware of her initial behaviour from Photon's word, with her lack of concern for becoming an LRIG and how the system had not inhibited her desire on casting despair to all those that would dare or be unfortunate enough to cross her path, be it as she was now or as a Selector in anyone's body.
"I was aware we had such an individual like yourself within the Selector System," it spoke "But your calmness to the situation... intrigues me. Nonetheless, even I confess that your reputation in striking fear into the hearts of others within that world is most impressive."
"I'll kindly take that as a compliment," Ulith answered, keeping her traditional sneer "I've been through 'hell' itself before even discovering the Selector Battles, so it's only natural that I would master the very 'depths' to the point where my targets end their miserable existence with their own two hands."
She then walked towards the blade of the scythe that Chaos Breaker hand and ran her right hand down the sharp curve. Despite cutting the palm of her hand from running it too hard across the weapon's sharpest point, she ignored the pain completely and hardly seemed to care that small trickles of blood seeped through the ripped fabric of the glove she wore.
"Giving a person hope, then snatching it away with any of the catches to these battles..." she continued "That's how you and Mayu came to an agreement on this, correct?"
"You are indeed wise on such a subject," the 'Clown' replied in a gleeful, yet calm manner "I take it that was what attracted your attention to assisting us in our cause."
Ulith nodded once with her usual sneer, confirming the suspicions of the very being that was before her. Returning back to its original stature before it had bent down to her level, Chaos Breaker then opened a pair of gates using a dark red aura summoned from one of its claws before flying up towards it. Before it chose to leave the White Room itself, it gazed back down towards the LRIG as if it had one last thing to say to her.
"Mayu expects great things from you," it spoke before disappearing through the portal that the gates immediately closed down "I look forward to seeing what you achieve, Ulith."
The cruel demeanoured LRIG simply kept her smile in response to the Clown's farewell at this point, deciding to turn her attention back to seeking out more windows within the White Room to continue to savour her entertainment and to report her progress in the role that she was in now to both Mayu and Photon whenever she had managed to find them. All the while, she continued to sneer along the way, the sounds of more despair and agony from other nearby, immediately increasing her hunger for such an appetite much further. Chaos Breaker Dragon was certainly an interesting individual she had encountered then and one that she looked forward to working alongside for in the future.
Present Day
With her memory of that evening now having finished its course, Ulith thought over to what would presumably be going on from her current absence from that very dimension. Whether it would be Mayu assigning LRIGs to new Selectors, Photon ratting out anyone who got too close to the inner workings for their own good or Chaos Breaker adding its own tastes of entertainment to the mix, she knew that she could catch up later with the benefits of the technology the Star-vaders had to offer within the Cyberoid commander's laboratory at the far end of a dark corner of the dimension itself. Continuing her thoughts on the subject itself, she turned to a small desk beside Iona's bed and quietly opened up the drawer, only making as much noise as a very small creak.
"It is hard to know the truth sometimes," she spoke to herself as she slowly removed the contents "When tales are told and promises are made."
Laying them out onto her lap, the contents of the drawer appeared to be three rather small, but noticeable human shaped dolls of some sort. The moonlight from outside that came through the window, made it clear as to who those dolls represented, each having familiarized coloured hair to make it easy to give the resemblance and a pair of beads on the heads to act as 'unsuspecting' eyes to what little expressions they offered from the lack of a mouth. But lack of such details did not matter to Ulith in the slightest and with Iona's body also offering the beneficial skills of the crude, yet effective craftsmanship she already had to make these dolls, one could tell that these people were ones that the cruel demanoured Selector had kept her eye on for one reason or another.
The first one, with strands of orange fabric for her hair and a single stitched line of red across her right cheek to represent her scar, made it clear that this particular doll represented Akira herself.
"I'm sure 'Aki-lovely' would be wise to remember that lesson," said Ulith "One way or another, she already has proven to be of use to me. Now I watch and remain curious as to what unfolds for her next as she clings desperately to her final Selector Right she holds with Milulun."
Moving it to one side, she picked up the second doll which had a simple grey coloured hairstyle represented in the fabric.
"And as for you..." she continued, seemingly as if she was speaking to the actual person it represented* "To think you were the whistleblower when I first started my run of despair before the Selector Battles. Here now however, you no longer have any power over me and frankly, wherever the hell you are now, good riddance."
Tossing the doll aside in a seemingly violent swing, showing her discontempt for the person she was rambling to herself about then, she picked up the final doll she had taken from the drawer. And that was when her smile had deepened to its fullest as she imaged the person onto what it represented by the blue hair and the tiny ahoge present on the top.
"Sendou Aichi..." she breathed "To think such a person with that kind of bravery exists that's not native to this filthy world."
Gently pressing one finger on the face of the Aichi doll she had constructed, imagining his kind smile at first before it changed into concern, followed by shock, horror and eventual despair over whatever it was that had happened in the back of her sick, twisted mind.
"Pouncing on him right away would be rather foolish at this point," Ulith mused, noting the result of their previous encounter as she pulled out what appeared to be a small pin from the drawer "I need... no, I want to get to him, slowly, painfully..."
With her hand that was not holding the pin, she used her free thumb to gently rub over his face, her twisted expression having become much more sinister with every brush over, imagining his overall anxiety as he continued to remain unaware of what his actions in the Selector Battles could bring to those around him.
"Though I must admit, his brave face, even when still oblivious to the consequences of his actions in the Selector Battles..." she continued before moving one finger to her lips "It is a rather cute one."
Finally, she held out the Aichi doll a little out in front of her as she moved the pin she held in her other hand towards the right shoulder, keeping her sneer exactly as it was.
"I will be seeing you again... very soon."
And with the completion of her threat of what she had planned for the Royal Paladin user to come in the near future, in one swift motion, she pierced the right shoulder of the doll with the pin in an instant, as if she had seen the object in front of her like that of a voodoo doll. She knew that it wasn't as such, but then again... who said she didn't have to imagine his pain in one way or another?
Within an instant, Aichi had immediately woken up from his futon within the living space of the apartment that Kai had rented out. Checking all around him to see his remaining companions were still there with him, he immediately sighed in relief. He wasn't sure whether he had awoken from a bad dream or something else within the night air that made him uneasy now, but right now, he couldn't exactly sleep with that and whatever had been on his mind since the incident earlier in the evening that led to the current scenario now.
"Why... do I feel this way?" he pondered with unease, wondering why he was so worried.
Even more so than usual. Over wondering what it was that was making him feel this way. Or rather... who.
And there we go! So as a brief apology for being unsuccessful in getting out the next chapter of Stand Up, the LRIG! before the end of 2017, I thought I'd give you a bit of a further insight into Ulith to make up for the lack of her presence in Arc 3 and setting up for greater things with her much later on into the fourth arc's Wixoss world half. With that said, I hope you've enjoyed this and I wish you all a happy new year as we go into 2018! Until next time fellow readers, this is farewell... for now. *cue evil cackle here*
*I'll leave you guessing as to who Ulith's second stitched doll is.