AN: I wonder how far I will go with this, ah well, if I'm going to make a story I'll at least ensure I have all the elements set up. Or at least, for what I can bother to think of. Ichika is going to be a person with the most gender imbalanced social links collection, ever. I already planned all the links, man, poor guy.
Infinite Links, oh dear...
A certain place between dream and reality, mind and matter
"How… unusual. I can safely say that I did not expect you to arise from the Sea of Souls to speak with me." A bizarre-looking man greeted courteously while sitting on a certain velvet couch to the robed man that appeared in front of him.
"Different seasons call for different actions. Unfortunately, this particularly season is one that shall end with calamity." His surprise guest spoke slowly, equally as calm and courteous as the Proprietor of the Velvet Room.
The grey robe covered the entirety of the man's body below his neck, a long grey beard and a similarly grey-colored hood covered his head.
The most discernable features were his wrinkled and expressive face, his brown eyes and strands of grey hair behind his head not hidden by his hood.
As for the more bizarre looking man that was sitting down, he was wearing a formal grey suit, white gloves, and a clean white handkerchief in his front pocket.
The most unique feature of his appearance the very long nose, next to that, were his pointed ears and large eyes.
"Ah, yes. The cards have foretold as such." Spoke the long-nosed man, before looking down to release a sigh of disappointment.
"Then it's time make fate change it's course… or at least, realign it in such a way that victory is possible." The older robed man stated with conviction, before trailing off at the more moderate words used later.
"That would be interfering with humanity." His conversation partner that looked stranger than him, replied with an amused smile.
"That sounds familiar… isn't that what your master and his nemesis were up to since the beginning of time? Must I remind you of the boy who was fated to die the moment that thing was sealed into him?"
"Touche… I sense that you desire to propose a plan of action."
"Certainly so. To put it in as few words as possible, I propose we give him a 'head start'."
At the standing man's proposition, the long-nosed man could only chuckle before agreeing.
"*Chuckle* Yes, that should even up the scales quite a bit. And I suppose that you are volunteering?"
Shrugging, the robed man grinned, thinking back to an important moment of his life.
"How could I not? A chance to be 'born again' brings back good memories. Of course, I do have some pride as a 'learned' man during my time."
In a warehouse, somewhere...
The boy felt weak.
It was not a condition borne from physical weakness.
Whilst physical reasons were the cause of his predicament, it was something else that battered the boy into such a sorry state.
The boy cursed his own weakness, in his mind and with his tongue.
Those words were like a curse upon himself, chaining his mind and body in a way that his physical bindings of rope could not.
'Had I been stronger, then Chifuyu-nee would not be in trouble.'
His mind drifted back to his abduction, masked professionals had busted down his door and by the time he noticed, he had chloroformed cloth over his face.
'If I had been more aware, If I was smarter, If only I was stronger…"
Then he would not be such a burden, the boy thought.
'If I hadn't let myself be kidnapped…"
His kidnappers were waiting patiently, leaning or sitting on some crates within a warehouse with the lights dimmed. They were chatting on various things, mostly about their little job.
"How long more do we have to watch the brat for?"
"Until the boss gives us the signal to pull out? Duh!"
"Eh? I bet some good money over Orimura Chifuyu losing this Mondo Grosso version 2. I say the signal is when my bank account gets updated."
"Damn, I should have thought of that! Could have made some money over that monster forfeiting to save her little brother!"
"Shouldn't we, I don't know, just run? I mean, she IS the best IS pilot in the world."
That one mercenary, who was the voice of reason, was left unheeded by his associates.
"... I'm just going to take a toilet break." The man with common sense decided to take a very long toilet break, along with his car keys. His compatriots didn't particularly care.
A genius (Tabane-nee to the boy) was able to make a powered exoskeleton suit called "Infinite Stratos" (IS).
She revealed its power a few years ago in an incident everyone dubbed the "White Knight incident" where a single IS suit (piloted by a certain Chifuyu-nee) stopped over 2000 ballistic missiles single-handedly, in addition to defeating the world's combine military effort to apprehend it - without any human loss of life.
Then, the blueprint of the IS was distributed evenly over the world with the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction.
In addition, the suit may not be used for militant combat as dictated by "Alaska treaty".
On a side note, only women can pilot an IS.
In theory, the introduction of the suit should bring peace and happiness to the world.
But of course, the nature and desire for war never changes.
The only thing that had changed were the 'means' of war.
The Mondo Grosso tournament, was pretty much a global replacement of war using 1v1 battles between IS pilots to showcase a country's superior power… among other things.
'A person like me is just a burden to others, to Chifuyu-nee.' In the meantime, the boy, Orimura Ichika, continued to curse his own weakness. He hated this feeling of being an unnecessary yoke upon his sister, preventing her from achieving glory and success.
He knew his sister, she would come for him even if the world gave up on him.
A headache came upon him, suddenly, filling him with great pain.
"Uargh!" He grunted.
"So you will give up then? Do you intend to always be a good little hostage? To people who hold weapons to your head or threaten what you believe in?"
A voice rang through his head, it sounded like a calm, collected and kindly old teacher much like the one he had in his elementary school asking him questions that should lead him to an answer.
'No….No, Nonono!' How could he answer anything else? He yelled in his mind.
"Then what will you do? When the world attempts to crush you, will you lash out? Will you cower? Or perhaps, buy time and strike at the most opportune moment?"
Having grown up with his stern sister, along with the fact he lived in a country that emphasized the needs of societal order more than the individual, the normal answer that he would have hated would be to 'cower'.
But lashing out blindly would also result in mistakes, pain and even death.
'The last one of course! It's the least dumbest choice. I was already dumb enough back then…'
"They are distracted right now. What will you do?"
Looking up, Ichika could see that they were indeed, not noticing or bothering with him at all.
Resolve filled his heart, body and spirit.
'I'll get out of this mess myself! I swear it!'
"I see. Your prayers have been heard."
As the voice in his head completed that sentence, pain coursed through his body like electrical iron rods were inserted into his spine.
"HaaarrgGGHH! UAAHH!" Ichika screamed loudly.
"Oi, someone shut him up!" Some mercenary call out from behind some crates while he was smoking a cigarette.
"You wanna kick a kid while he's down?"
"...Point."
"This is our covenant then. To put it in simple terms, a contract."
"I am Thou, Thou art I…"
"Be reborn in spirit.
For what you believe is worth fighting for, you will hide among your enemies with duplicity.
And when you have become learned, apply wisdom and strike at their hearts!"
"Ha… that's enough already." Ichika finally muttered after he stopped screaming.
"Hmm, what's with this kid-" The mercenaries were caught off guard as Ichika's body became engulfed in white flames, before the flames exploded outwards, pushing everyone and everything around it to several meters back!
"Call my name."
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you loud and clear." The small figure who re-emerged from his flame covered body, came back with a mask on his face and without his rope bindings.
And the boy, was smiling calmly, creeping his abductors to no end.
To a group of trained men, staring at a child they had kidnapped that had suddenly displayed supernatural powers had shaken them into a panic, but they still managed to default on their Modus Operandi.
"S-shoot him!" Namely, by shooting something to death.
"Too late!" Ichika declared and tore off the mask on his head, noting the pain but paid it no mind.
His body was once again wreathed in flames, his eyes briefly turned gold before fading back to it's natural color as a robed figure formed behind him.
"I am, a Judge of the Sanhedrin and Embalmer of the Messiah, Nicodemus! Now be judged by the Law that God has laid forth!"
"Makouha!"
Arcana List
Nicodemus - Orimura Ichika (Fool)