Chapter 9: Grabbed facts

10:29 AM (Japan Time), Sunday January the 28th…

"… So this is the Game Center in question. Right, Victor?"

"Yeah, Joel – kun. Let's go in and check it out."

"Sure."

"Huh? Excuse me, but… Have we met before?"

"Hmmm? Why. You were… Hikawa – kun, was it? One of Kage – kun's classmates…"

"Yes. Agoras – san… Was it?"

"Yes. Joel Agoras. I study chemistry."

A guy had come to a Game Center's entrance and had begun to talk with his Navi when Hikawa Tooru recognized him: he introduced himself.

Joel Agoras appealed to be close to 20 years of age and having a height of about meter and eighty centimeters.

His hair's color was a bright brown one and it was rather messy and forming flocks there and there while a pair of reading glasses hid his eyes.

His choice of clothing happened to be a white shirt with a collar having four buttons on it plus a teal brown coat over it which was open in the middle: he finished the set with a pair of grayish wool pants and simplistic brown shoes.

"And I'm Victor."

"Ice Man, desu."

Victor, his Navi, was projecting through the PET's holographic display.

His helmet's surface was covered in a grid of brown tiles separated by black lines and columns.

A yellowish jewel had been set on the center of the forehead: the ear-pads had his initial, the Alphabet "V" letter colored golden, drawn there.

Blue transparent shades were installed over his eyes the irises of which were brown: his face had a smooth look to it and could even be considered attractive as seen from the sides.

His main body had that same pattern printed over it and his chest emblem's edge was colored red, green and blue in different percentages while the golden "V" was set against a white background.

His shoulders had eight-pointed stars drawn over them colored red, green and blue at random while his arms also had the grid pattern printed over their skin: the forearms were colored navy blue with dusty brown bands circling around their length.

The legs kept on using the grid pattern over it and the boots happened to have the Alphabet initials "RGB" with each letter printed on their corresponding color, set over them.

Overall he looked like a combination of the three basic colors and a brown grid.

"Heh, heh! I smell a treasure!" Ooyama Dekao showed up close by.

"Guts, guts. Treasure, de guts."

"Brought forth by Doom Girl." Yaito, also close by, laughed.

"Yaito – sama…" Glyde sighed.

"Oh. Hello. Why are you all here?" Meiru was also there.

"Yikes!" Dekao gasped.

"What have you done now, Guts Man?" Roll sighed as if she expected Guts Man to have done something bad.

"N-nothing, de guts! Right, Glyde!"

"Eh… Yes, indeed. We have just arrived."

"Then you got the same mail from the PE teacher? It said "let's meet there and I'll show you my skills"…" Roll asked Glyde.

"Indeed."

"Odd. Mine said "the white rose is waiting to prove its beauty to Holmes & Watson"…" Agoras quoted.

"Who's this guy? Your cousin, Tooru?" Dekao asked.

"No. He's a friend of Kage – kun."

"Kage… Ah! You mean Miquel, yeah…" Dekao seemingly recalled.

"Is that so?" Meiru wondered.

"Wait. Didn't you show up near our school some years ago and caught that Hinoken guy?" Yaito recalled.

"Indeed."

"Ah! True! I now remember!" Hikawa gasped.

"Eh? But then… Mine said "there's a treasure hidden here: find it and become famous!"…" Dekao argued.

"Suspicious. Maybe it's the enemy's ploy."

"Oh heck. Not those 3 again." Meiru fumed.

"I'm afraid so."

"Fine. I'll show them I'm not impressed."

"That's the spirit!" Yaito encouraged.

"Uh-oh." Glyde foresaw trouble.

"And…!" Dekao began.

"You stay quiet." Meiru hissed.

Dekao gulped while Agoras seemed to be slightly surprised: he shrugged and came inside of the main room that had 4 Net Battle machines: there were several customers there and all but one machine were being used: that machine had a banner that read "MAINTENANCE ONGOING" hence why no-one was using it: Agoras examined the crowd but failed to notice anyone who stood out: he then looked at the other machines and the Net Battles taking part there.

"Go! Cannon!"

"Long Sword!"

"Beat 'em!"

"Horra~h!"

"Faster, faster!"

"Counter, counter!"

"The mail says that machine under maintenance is where something is supposed to happen. If we go by the logic of the previous incidents… There already are hidden Viruses waiting to be awakened." Victor whispered to Agoras.

"Elemental, my dear Watson… Now let's see."

Agoras headed for the machine under maintenance and discreetly aimed the Link PET there: Victor silently transferred from the PET to the machine while Meiru, Yaito and Hikawa waited: Dekao got engrossed watching one of the Net Battles and wasn't paying attention.

"Affirmative. I found 10 packs of 50." Victor whispered.

"It's 10:35… Maybe they turn on in the next 5 to 10 minutes." Agoras guessed.

"There's a running process and a display saying that the maintenance will finish by 10:40 and it'll be available to use by then."

"I see. Ladies and gentlemen… You heard it." He turned to address the other three.

They silently nodded in approval and also silently sent the Navis into the machine: they opened the screens but kept the output volume at the lowest to mingle with the noise of the other machines and the mutters of the crowd.

"Blizzard!"

"Heart Slash!"

"Paladin Sword!"

"Mega Cannon!"

"10:38… We won't make it on time at this rate." Agoras muttered as he checked the clock.

"Then… Program Advance, Dream Sword!"

"Program Advance, Giga Count Bomb!"

"Program Advance, Giga Cannon!"

"Program Advance, Greatest Bomb!"

The 4 PAs destroyed most of the Viruses and Agoras checked his clock: he cursed under his breath as the machine beeped and the maintenance message vanished: it suddenly began to frizzle.

"We didn't make in on time! There are still about 150 of them!" Victor cursed.

"Devil." Agoras cursed next.

"Alright! More PAs! Program Advance, Elemental Sword!" Meiru rallied the others.

"Program Advance! Mother's Quake!"

"Program Advance! Bubble Spread!"

"Program Advance! Hyper Burst!"

"We're doing fine. Only about 20 of them left… Super Vulcan!"

"Heart Slash!"

"Glyde Cannon!"

"Blizzard!"

"You fools! This was but the prelude!" "Hell Two" (given the railgun he carried) showed up inside of the machine next.

"Oh shit." Agoras cursed.

"Ugrah!"

"Huh? What!"

He gasped and turned around to see a man amongst the crowd that had collapsed on the ground face-up all of a sudden while clutching the right leg: several gasped and a metallic sound rang out as something hit the ground: muttering filled the air as some spectators closed into the collapsed man.

"He's got an arrow on the leg!" One gasped.

"Call an ambulance!"

"Call the police!"

"Someone bring a knife to pull this out!"

"As for you weaklings… These should suffice!"

"Groa~h!"

"An army of Koopas?" They all gasped.

In effect: a large amount of Koopa sprites warped into the machine and they all quickly hid their limbs inside of their shells to start spinning and flying around in different directions, hitting the Navis from several angles at high speeds and giving them no time to counter or to move.

"This is an improvement over the Hell Hockey Program Advance! Be slowly and painfully deleted! I'll finish you off with this gun! Think of it as an honor!" He laughed.

"I wonder about that." A voice rang out.

"What! Who's there? Reinforcements?"

As a response, a hi-pitched sound began to ring out: all Koopas stopped their movements and began to vibrate before they suddenly began to explode one after the other in a row: the Navis were automatically send back to their PETs while "Hell Two" let go of the railgun and clutched the chest as if he was a human suffering a heart attack.

"M-my core is pumping energy at an increasing rate! Its energy control system has gone berserk! It'll eventually be unable to contain the energy and it'll be released in the form of an explosion!" He gasped.

"Retreat!" "Hell One" gasped.

"Roger, sir! Damn it all!"

The culprit escaped while the sound slowly died down: Agoras, in the meanwhile, was trying to help the man by using a Swiss Army knife's knife to free the arrow from the leg: he succeeded as a woman brought a first aid kit with the game center's logo.

"I brought the first aid kit!"

"Thank you, ma'am! Please give it to me. I'm going to disinfect the wound: it will surely be slightly painful. Please hold on." He told the man.

"Gruh… Y-yeah…!"

"That type of sound wave… Had an odd structure…" Roll was muttering in the meanwhile.

"Is that so?" Glyde asked.

"Desu?" Ice Man wondered.

"And whoever did that has a lot of knowledge on Net Navi cores… It must be someone with high knowledge… Golden Star?" Hikawa wondered.

"Could be." Meiru shrugged.

"Hmmm… But then they'd announce who they are, no?" Yaito frowned and argued back.

"True… So maybe it wasn't Golden Star but Shunoros?"

"Could be, too."

"… Here. This should do it for the time being. I also applied a serum just in case. Can you breathe normally? The body moves normally?"

"Y-yeah…"

"The ambulance is on the way here."

"Hey! Look there!" Someone gasped.

"A bow-gun!"

"Don't touch it, please! That's an important piece of evidence. Stay away from it until the police come, please!" An employee instructed.

"That'd be us." Oda and some policemen rushed in.

"Sir! A customer was attacked with that bow-gun."

"I see. The ambulance has arrived so we'll send him to the hospital for a detailed check-up… In the meanwhile… We'll secure that piece of evidence…"

A policeman came with a plastic bag and stuffed the bow-gun inside of it before sealing it and placing a label: the ambulance staff picked the man with the stretcher and brought him onboard the ambulance: Oda and the policemen began to inspect the area and found a pink rose partly hidden beneath the Net Battle machine: they secured it too.

"Huh? By the way… Where are the Viruses?" Dekao suddenly asked.

"You're SLOW! We busted them a while ago already!"

"Damn it! I wanted to learn how to dodge faster and…!"

"Make Guts Man lighter. As light as udon noodles." Meiru challenged in a dull tone of voice.

"E~h!" He gaped in horror.

"Guts, guts? Udon noodles? Is that a Virus, de guts?" Guts Man scratched the top of his head.

"No~…" Glyde exasperatedly replied.

"Someone upgrade his AI already." Roll fumed.

"Yes, desu." Ice Man sighed.

"We all agree!" Yaito sighed.

"Man." Dekao sighed.

"Really." Victor muttered.

"Hmmm…" Agoras looked like he was thinking of something.

"Huh? Mail from Akemi – san…" Victor whispered.

"What is it?"

"Looks like the guy from before has showed up there to tip them off about the happening here…"

"Sheesh. What a clown."

"Huh? Who's there…? Strange." Victor suddenly gasped.

"What's wrong?"

"I had the feeling a Navi crossed through the main hub of the Game Center right now but…"

"Isn't it a Police Navi?" Agoras frowned.

"No… It had an odd feeling… It was a very brief, spontaneous thing… Even for me…" Victor explained in a hush.

"Hmmm… Strange. Maybe it's Slur – sama?"

"Could be yet… Maybe it was my imagination…?"

"Strange." Agoras looked suspicious.

"Yeah, I know. But it wasn't those rascals either… Ah! Maybe it was the mysterious "XY"…? Slur – sama said she guaranteed that the man was on our side but she wouldn't reveal their identity."

"Ah! That could be the answer. If they could rebuild those 7 then they surely have the knowledge to stop those Koopa rip-offs."

"… By the way, Joel – kun…"

"I know. Sakurai – san: it is bad manners to snoop into others' talk."

"Yikes!"

Agoras had realized Meiru had been trying to hear to their conversation so he turned around to warn her.

"Meiru – chan, didn't you say that…?" Yaito began.

"Shoo, shoo." Meiru shooed her away.

"Sheesh." Yaito sighed.

"Now, now…" Hikawa tried to calm them down.

"Excuse me. Can you provide a means to ID yourself? We're compiling the names of the customers today for the witness report." A policeman walked over to them.

"Yes, sir. My driving license." Agoras took out a wallet and handed the license to the agent.

"We've got our high school library ID cards…" Meiru and the others drew those.

"Thank you very much. Please wait a minute…"

The policeman gathered them and took photos of each with the PET's built-in camera: he then returned those to them and headed elsewhere: Oda walked up to them.

"You did a good job dealing with those Viruses. You can leave already. Ah! Agoras – kun, right? I'd like to talk with you."

"Of course."

Meiru and the others left while Oda and Agoras headed to the corridor leading to the restrooms.

"Be careful. There's the possibility you Golden Star members could be attacked as well." Oda warned.

"I know, sir. Things are getting worse and worse by the day."

"I feel so annoyed...! When is this pointless farce going to end?"

"Were it so easy… We're stuck. Damn it all."

12:48 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hum. So there's something on this deep pit there. Guess it's another lame rip-off. Show your hide, you rascals. I'll show you what happens when you challenge the heir of the Kuroban family."

"Hmpf. The hypocrite came."

"Hypocrite? I never said I was a good guy. Or that I wanted to rule the world. That of the Seraphs was just displays of power. But I guess you don't care at all."

"Hmpf."

Kuroban was standing in front of a large deep pit somewhere in the Cyber World and discussing with a hologram of "Hell One".

Today he wore armor and helmet over his body.

The helmet design was compact and thick: it included silver plating around the neck and its base, a main purple and black coloring, black shades and a green symbol which looked like a unicursal hexagram colored pale green and having some unknown runes written on its circular edge painted on the forehead.

He wore some curious armor over his body: it was colored with purple tones on the outer edges but black on the center: the same forehead emblem was set on the middle of his chest.

His shoulders were black ellipsoids with purple outer edges and green fluorescent runic symbols drawn over them: his arms "skin" was black.

The armor over the forearms had an external golden rim from which three parallel golden lines extended until the fingertips.

The feet armor started at the knees and used a tint of purple for the outer edges but the main armor kept on using the black motif: silver-colored lines extended parallel to each other until the feet fingertips.

The unarmored body "skin" was also black in color and had intricate green fluorescent patterns running down its sides, front and rear.

"Fine. Bring it on. Come! Dexia Sword, Aristeros Shield!"

A white shield with an odd drawing on the center of its body followed by a blade colored white, having a golden hilt and the same emblem on the hilt's center formed out of nowhere and he gripped it with the right hand while the left hand held the shield on place.

"Rise, Haos! Time to bring chaos into the world and to destroy it! And I shall rule over the survivors!"

"Oh shit."

A gigantic humanoid-shaped monster with a transparent liquid-like skin showing its skull and the neck bones plus other organs began to rise from the depths of the pit: it roared and brought down two massive arms towards Kuroban's position but he simply jumped to avoid and made his blade glow in a green fluorescent color: he aimed it at the monster and a thick continuous green beam of energy shot off it and towards the skull yet it was bounced off and scattered into several other beams by the "skin": Kuroban landed some meters away as the monster howled and swung the arms again and again: they suddenly became a mass of tentacles that shot forward to try to catch Kuroban but he began to quickly slice them up: Kuroban's shield glowed and shot a powerful beam at the head: it blew up the "skin" and exposed the skull inside: the "skin" suddenly regenerated and got thicker and less translucent: the monster kept on with the relentless attacks so Kuroban fumed.

"Fine. You pissed me off. Come, High One!"

"What?" "Hell One" gasped.

A large fireball formed on the sky and flew at a mad speed for the monster: it hit the face and burnt away the new "skin" while breaking down into serpents of flames that began to coil around the body while breaking down into smaller and smaller that got through cracks and openings on the "skin" to begin burning the monster from the insides: Kuroban jumped and formed a tornado that carried away most of the liquefied "skin" when it was attempting to regenerated followed by an earthquake that made the walls of the pit collapse and trap the monster.

"W-what's happening?"

Pillars of flames rose from the depths of the pit followed by javelins of ice plunging into the body from several spots at the same time: the "skin" began to freeze from the inside and shatter away there and there so the monster's organs and muscles got exposed: the monster howled and began to spit slime bombs around that made the terrain corrode but Kuroban was constantly moving around the air at high speed to make it very hard for the monster to actually hit him.

"It can't be! It's the ultimate monster!"

"In the game, maybe. But in reality things work different. Especially when you face me without knowing what I can do."

"I thought you were but a politician with a funky armor!"

"Hah. You really fell for the misinformation, didn't you?"

"GRRRRR! HELL TWO~! WHY DIDN'T YOU PROPERLY INVESTIGATE IF THOSE REPORTS WERE TRUE OR NOT?"

"B-but! Sir! You, sir, said that…" "Hell Two" began to argue back.

"Is that all you can do? Huh? What happened to your knowledge you used to boast about? Huh?"

"T-that is…" He trailed off, apparently knowing the other had a point.

"I FEEL VEHEMENTLY DISGUSTED!"

"I am sorry, sir!"

"LIKE THAT SOLVES ANYTHING!"

"Yes, sir! I know, sir!"

"Heh." Kuroban snickered.

"Young Kuroban? Do you copy? I have gotten new data."

"XY? Fine. I'm a bit busy but I hope to be done in less than 10 minutes from now so…"

"Understood. I shall contact you again."

"Wait. Maybe I'll end sooner than I thought… High One! Target the exposed core!"

Kuroban spotted that the program's core was exposed: another fireball flew diagonally across the air and impacted the core: it merged with it and began to form large flame serpents burning up the body from the inside outward thus slowly deleting the mass of the monster: the core then glowed and imploded: the energy release wiped off the remains of the body and the whole pit.

"By all the…! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! EMPTY HEAD MAN!"

"B-b-but…!"

"NO "BUTS"! MORON!"

"You, sir, said that… since it had the Net Police seal…"

"GRRRR!"

The hologram vanished and Kuroban sighed in relief: he then formed a holographic screen.

"To all "Shunoros" members… I've got a meeting somewhere from now on… There are no orders apart from the usual ones… Gray, Urateido and Siegfried… Behave. Ernst… You know what I expect from you… The others… Behave as well…" He ordered.

"R-roger, aibou." Gray Thunderbolt gulped.

"R-roger, sir." Most of the others nervously replied.

"Understood, sir." End Angel calmly replied.

"Good. Over and out."

"Found ya! Give us the tech!"

"Huh? Hmpf. Shadow Nova leftovers…? No. More like Crimson Lobby leftovers… You fools… You won't get anything until you realize how powerless you are? Fine. I'll teach you your powerlessness!"

A bunch of Heel Navis had showed up armed with Swords and Cannons and were trying to force Kuroban to give them something: Kuroban grumbled.

"Zetsumetsu Meteor!" He roared.

"Huh? Wha~t?"

Several meteors began to fall down focusing on each Heel Navi and hitting them with precision: the blows sent them flying away several meters and easily knocked them out.

"There. Got the lesson? By the way. Shadow Man! Hiding on the shadows won't help you. I know you're there."

"Sheesh." Shadow Man emerged from a rock's shadow.

"As you could see, that guy is my enemy too. So I'm not responsible for that guy wanting to have revenge on Colonel. How about you go and take part in the next Ninja Gaiden game, anyway?"

"Sheesh."

"Hmpf." Dark Miyabi fumed.

"Maybe they'll send an assassin for you next."

"Let them come… They're all mere imitators…" Dark Miyabi was hardly impressed given his dull tone of voice.

"What should I do, my Master?"

"Plug Out."

"I see you are finished." XY brought up over the radio.

"Yeah. I'll be there soon enough. Once I make sure I'm not being trailed."

"Good. The other 2 are on their way here as well. I shall be waiting."

Kuroban formed a Dash Condor and began to fly away.

If XY summons us to a meeting then that must mean that he's got decisive evidence of those clowns' identity… Let's hurry there…

11:13 AM (Thailand Time)…

"… Been a while, Kuroban…"

"Burai… You got here faster than I, huh? Fine."

"I have just arrived as well. There were some annoying mice trying to stalk me… They reeked of Saudi Arabia agents…"

"Hmpf. Fools who imitate the Crimson Lobby and think they can make business out of our technology…"

Kuroban stepped into the plaza of the large dome structure where XY and Helios and the others lived at: he found Slur there followed by someone else named Burai.

Burai had a helmet which had been painted using a black and red color-scheme: it was a partial guard given how it revealed his hair in its entirety: the hair which was flying straight upwards in a wild and chaotic manner.

The helmet also bore a pair of transparent purple shapes having the shape of the Alphabet letter "X" which seemed to be layered across his helmet.

His throat was guarded by a silver neck-guard, somewhat similar to a gorget: his ear-pads were small greenish domes.

He wore a smooth and plain black cat suit which began at his jaw line with his suit's emblem colored in a crimson red color: the catsuit ran uninterrupted along each limb until reaching the elbows and knees.

Starting from those spots, and, with the exception of his right arm, they were further covered in solid-looking black armor: and this black armor was further alloyed with a red slotted coil with a single red spine forming around the left wrist plus the feet ankles.

He also bore two knobbed spaulders made of what seemingly was the same material over his shoulders to protect them.

His right arm, by comparison, bore a thick black bracelet circling around the wrist: it turned his right fist and forearm into a mass of burning purple flames the brightness of which was constantly shifting.

He looked dull and serious as he leant his back against the tree and crossed his arms.

"You have come. Good. Come." XY hovered towards them.

The other 3 simply nodded and followed him towards the armchairs: another 2 had been added: the 3 visitors sat on the left row while XY and Helios were sitting on the right row.

"Refraction doesn't take part?" Kuroban asked XY.

"No. While he did disable those stupid programs a while ago in that Game Center, that is all. He did most of the investigation but he does not realize the full meaning of it." XY replied.

"Since it involved us…" Helios shrugged.

"I shall transfer the relevant data."

XY formed the data cube and opened it to form three small black stretched and thin cubes made of some smooth material that seemed to absorb light: they hovered towards each of the visitors and they caught them with their right hands: some information was transferred and they silently waited for something: they all then suddenly gasped.

"By all the…" Kuroban cursed.

"I see…!" Slur gasped.

"But then…" Burai muttered.

"Indeed." XY confirmed.

"So… All were smokescreens… Save for one thing…" Kuroban realized.

"But how does that tie up with their title?" Burai wondered.

"Hmmm…" Slur seemed to be thinking about it.

"Wait a minute… The other day, Ernst…" Kuroban muttered as if he'd realized something.

"End Angel?" Burai asked for confirmation.

"Can I leave outside for a moment? I want to look up a little thing online: I need a couple minutes. That would explain the reason for those guys' titles…" Kuroban requested.

"But of course." XY shrugged.

"Do what you must do." Helios merely replied.

Kuroban nodded and stood up to form his "black hole" effect when warping elsewhere: both Burai and Slur looked surprised at his reaction.

"In the meanwhile… XY. Can Refraction be trusted?"

"Of course. He obeys. Orders are absolute to him."

"Fine. Did you figure out what happened with his reports to his previous CO? Who else had access to those?"

"Only another 2… I asked the rest of the Exploration Council to send them back to me… And they complied. Least they want is to anger me or Master Helios." XY explained.

"And I assume only the very top of the Exploration Council are aware of Refraction's current status, right?"

"Yes. Only 4 of them. Some pressure from us was enough to make them swear they would not say a word about it to anyone else. So in total only about… 10 people know about our existence and Refraction's current status. 3 of them have been stripped of their authority and have had a memory lock placed on them to make them forget about what they got to know… So there is no danger of them talking. They got reassigned to different places and they cannot contact each other. Their actions and transmissions are monitored." Helios detailed next.

"Good. This information is too sensitive. There are case in which information like this cannot be made public. The consequences could be beyond computation." Slur nodded in approval.

"At least most people think that what happened with the Mu Continent time ago was a sci-fi film… And most have forgotten by now. So there's no danger on that front either." Burai intervened.

"Excellent."

"And, anyway… With so many rumors and conspiracy theories and made-up stories… People eventually think that complicated-sounding talk must belong to those categories and do not pay much attention. A benefit of modern society… It is easy to mingle information or to make it unbelievable by making others think it is but a made-up tale." XY calmly shrugged.

"I'm back." Kuroban came back.

"So?" Helios asked.

As a response, he transmitted them some data: they looked slightly surprised at the results.

"I see. They must think they are very literate indeed." XY commented with a hint of irony.

"Hmpf. Mere children." Helios shrugged.

"It was pure luck that I realized. Ernst happened to unknowingly have the key…" Kuroban admitted as he sat down again.

"We were talking about how the info Refraction gathered is under custody of XY and Helios and that his former superiors can't remember it and thus can't leak it." Slur summed up for him.

"Phew! Better. What about Kyutora, though?"

"They altered the report: there was a space-city there but no traces of life… The data had degraded over the millennia and nothing was salvageable… A dead city. Nothing indicates what happened to the other 2 space-cities." XY explained.

"Good enough. That should take interest away from Kyutora."

"Besides. They keep a strict monitoring of all traffic between the home-world and the colonies. Any ship that veers off-course will be immediately detected and intercepted."

"So they've already foreseen that as well…"

"We make sure to put some pressure from time to time: they shudder thinking they anger us and thus put more energy into the job." Helios admitted as he tapped the right armrest.

"What are you going to do with Dullahan and the other 6?"

"I have thought about it from time to time. I think I will reconvert them a bit, erase their memories of the past, rebuild their personalities, and grant them to qualified humans across the world. They will be programmed to do helpful things and reject any "evil". I will make sure to erase their useless "ego" too… As for Dullahan… I think I will do something along those lines too yet… That man is SO stubborn, they might detect my intentions and hide a piece of their memories or personality somewhere in the body to then go berserk after the remodeling. I need to think it better." XY exposed to them.

"Hmpf. So my little tale inspired you in the end." Slur looked rather amused, for once.

"I will admit that, Slur. But I thought it would be fitting to make them be the very contrary of what "they" did."

"It is fitting. Ironic, even. Go on ahead. They are your men, you have the right to do what you see fit." Slur shrugged while smiling.

"Yeah. If that'll get us rid of the headache Dullahan is then go ahead."

"Master?" He asked for approval.

"It is your project, XY. You take care of it, like always."

"As you desire. By the way, you children… Hating those three children will not make you stronger or help stop them. It is a matter of analyzing several options and choosing the most fitting one. Never forget that!"

The other 3 got serious and nodded in understanding at Helios' warning since he'd suddenly gotten into a rather serious mood.

"Hatred does not make one stronger. They make one weaker. Revenge… Is but a momentary satisfaction… After it only awaits… Loneliness and despair… Remember it… We shall prove we are above those…!"