Author's Corner:
New chapter appears quickly, while I'm on a roll - expect the next one also soon-ish. This chapter begins another introductory cardfight - I'm sure you have guessed the participants already. However, it serves more as a staging ground - the fight culminates in the following chapter. Instead, this chapter features a massive amount of exposition, regarding Aphrodite, Lily, the regional tournament, and a character that has remained in the shadows for a few chapters now. Events are quickly moving forward now, and it won't be long until we enter structured, tournament play. However, rest assured that the plot will be anything but linear from that point onwards. There are many, hopefully pleasant, surprises awaiting in the course.
RIDE 10: Distorted Vision (1)
"Stand up, Vanguard!"
Without wasting any time, Engel and Ray had gotten right down to it, under Katherine's scrutinizing gaze. On Ray's side, a large humanoid figure in full-body grey armor, green stripes running along it, the same matching color as the creature's eyes, which sparkled with an unearthly glow, appeared. Enigman Flow, of the Dimension Police clan (5000). On the opposing side, behind Engel, a petite girl materialized, clad in a pink outfit, followed by a white cloak and skirt, as well as an oversized puffy hat, dark blue hair curling under it. She was bearing a long stave with a pink orb attached to its tip, supported by a golden ring. Sphere Magus, an Oracle Think Tank unit (3000). The first move was assigned to Engel.
"Draw." He said gracefully. Ray knew Engel used various decks - most of them featuring various female units. He even had a Dimension Police deck based on that aspect - but his Oracle Think Tank was his favorite. Ray thought he must be taking this seriously enough. "I ride the charming Battle Sister, Cocoa!" A pink-haired, long-eared nun with sleek, pink hair replaced Sphere Magus, who, according to her skill, moved to the Rear Guard. "Cocoa's skill allows me to check the top card of my deck, and decide whether to leave it on top, or move it to the bottom." He plucked out a card and glanced at it, then, with a small smile, replaced it in its original position. "I think I'll be ending my turn on that note."
"Very well." Ray sighed, painfully aware of Katherine's eyes trying to bore holes in him. He was used to fighting Engel, in some form, but he was not used to having an audience, and a rather sharp one at that. "I will ride Enigman Ripple." Flow's armor morphed, obtaining extended shoulder pads, and its linings turned crimson. A saber appeared in its arm (6000). "Flow's skill - when I ride over this card with Enigman Ripple, I can search for the next stage - Enigman Wave - in my deck and add it to my hand." He fanned out his cards, scanning for an appropriate choice, and added it to the ones he had briefly placed on the table. "Also, Enigman Ripple gains plus 2000 Power, when Flow is in the Sou. Now, Enigman Ripple attacks!"
"No guard." Engel declared. Wordlessly, Ray pulled out the top card of his deck. Karenroid Daisy - no trigger. "Damage check." Engel smiled. "Get, draw trigger." He placed Dream Eater on his damage zone. "Power plus 5000 to Cocoa, and I draw once."
"How surprising." Ray muttered ruefully. Of course, Engel had seen the forthcoming trigger and decided to leave it on top - he had no doubt that, had that been a card he desired in his hand, he would have activated a skill to obtain it. Engel's deck was based around this concept - checking the cards on top of the deck, and forcefully adding the ones you needed to your hand, while optimizing the appearance of trigger cards. "Turn end.
Engel
• Hand: 6
• Soul: 0
• Damage: 1 [Dream Eater (U)]
• Drop: 0
• Field:
(R) N/A - Sphere Magus (3000)
(V) Battle Sister Cocoa (6000) - N/A
(R) N/A - N/A
Ray
• Hand: 7
• Soul: 1 [Enigman Flow]
• Damage: 0
• Drop: 0
• Field:
(R) N/A - N/A
(V) Enigman Ripple (6000) - N/A
(R) N/A - N/A
"The turn goes back to me." Engel said. Unlike Ray, he did not seem bothered at all by Katherine's presence - if anything, he seemed even more inclined to put on a show. "On top of Cocoa, I ride Oracle Guardian Wiseman." The charming elf turned into a bronze statue of a seated man, glowing with some inner light (10000). "And then, I will call a second Cocoa. This lets me, once more, verify the top card of my deck... ah. I'll leave that one on top." He said after brief consideration. "And then I will call Dark Cat, which allows us both to draw one card." A useful card, then. Ray grunted as Dark Cat's effect produced a draw trigger for him.
"Following that... call. Maiden of Libra, Silent Tom." A pale-skinned female angel, scantily clad in white rags and carrying a weighing scale (9000), as well as a man clad in gentleman's black clothing, the rest of his visible skin wrapped in bandages, and a pale ghost of a woman behind him (8000), materialized on either side of Wiseman. For Engel, who could optimize and increase his hand like that, producing a complete field so early in the game was a surprisingly trivial task.
"Now, let us begin. I will attack with Libra, boosted by Cocoa!" Ray considered quickly. He didn't want to set himself up for three damage this turn, but defending against Wiseman's attack safely would take two cards, and Silent Tom could not be blocked by the Grade 0 units most would normally use for defense. Therefore, this was the only attack he could block safely.
"I guard, Justice Cobalt!" He announced, the stream of white light flowing from the angel's scales bouncing harmlessly off the hard blue armor of the fighter that appeared to intercept it. Engel smiled.
"How predictable... then, to follow up. Boosted by Dark Cat, Wiseman attacks."
"No guard." Ray muttered. Engel pulled out a card and demonstrated it - Battle Sister Chocolat, no trigger. Ray also placed the top card of his deck to the damage zone, which proved to be no trigger either.
"And then, I will attack with Tom." Engel turned the card sideways. "However, I will refrain from supporting him with Sphere Magus." Ray blinked. It's not as if Sphere Magus was a powerful card to boost with, for a Unit such as Tom. In that case, it would normally be preferable to use it quickly, then return it to the deck with its effect in order to increase the quantity of triggers you could check into. Unless... he grunted, placing another card to the damage zone. This was going to be troublesome.
"Turn end." Engel said cheerfully.
Engel
• Hand: 5
• Soul: 1 [Battle Sister Cocoa]
• Damage: 1 [Dream Eater (U)]
• Drop: 0
• Field:
(R) Silent Tom (8000) - Sphere Magus (3000)
(V) Oracle Guardian Wiseman (10000) - Dark Cat (7000)
(R) Maiden of Libra (9000) - Battle Sister Cocoa (6000)
Ray
• Hand: 7
• Soul: 1 [Enigman Flow]
• Damage: 2 [? (U) | ? (U)]
• Drop: 1
• Field:
(R) N/A - N/A
(V) Enigman Ripple (6000) - N/A
(R) N/A - N/A
"My turn! Stand and draw!" Unwillingly, Ray was getting drawn into the mood of the battle. It had been a while since he and Engel had last had a direct confrontation. Engel way of fighting, which generously awarded both players with numerous cards to use, had a pronounced benefit - with so many cards available, both were almost guaranteed to be able to set their respective strategies into motion, resulting in much more involving, entertaining matches rather than average games, where bad luck with an opening hand could decisively hamper one's progress.
"I ride Enigman Wave!" Ripple's armor became a darker blue, and more defined wings spread out from its shoulders, its weapon also shifting to a heavy-duty blade (9000). "With Ripple in the Soul, Wave gains plus 1000 Power! And then..." Engel wasn't the only one who could increase his hand size with skills. "I call Cosmo Beak!" A sleek, silver armored flying beast, equipped with numerous cannons, materialized on the field (8000). "By Counter Blasting two cards, this allows me to power up one of my Dimension Police Units by 4000 for this turn. Wave powers up!"
"Very good." Engel nodded approvingly. "And I suppose you'll tell me what happens when Wave's power gets that high, won't you?" Ray looked up, exasperated.
"Fine. When the attack begins, if Wave's power is 14000 or higher, he gains an additional skill - that is, to let me draw a card, when its attack hits the Vanguard." He explained, even though Engel knew that already. "At any rate, call! Twin Order! Karenroid Daisy! Glory Maker!" A human fighter armed in black-and-red armor, wielding twin blades of pure golden light (10000) appeared next to Wave, supported by a purple-armored female battle robot, geared with sharp-edged blades attached to its arms (8000). Behind the Vanguard, a pale, silver-skinned female with long hair took form, her hands united in a silent prayer (6000). His field set up like that, all that was left -
"I attack Tom with Cosmo Beak!" He announced. Tom was one of the most dangerous units in an Oracle Think Tank deck. Unsurprisingly, Engel moved in to protect it.
"I guard with Victory Maker!" He declared, a dark brown hawk soaring in front of its airborne opponent. Cosmo Beak's cannons made short work of it, but they now lacked the firepower to take down their original target. Regardless, that was not Ray's true goal.
"I boost with Glory Maker! Enigman Wave attacks the Vanguard!" At total power 20000, it was an attack that was unlikely to be met with resistance this early in the game, so Ray prepared to perform the drive check - but...
"Guard!" Engel said unexpectedly. "Chocolat guards, and by dropping an Oracle Think Tank from my hand, the attack is nullified!"
Ray stared. Granted, it was usually a good option to try and block on-hit skills such as Wave's, but using a perfect guard for it, this early, was too much. What kind of confidence in his ability to retain and increase his hand did he have? "Drive check." The golden icon of a critical trigger shone on the top right corner of Justice Cobalt. Perhaps it had proved the smarter decision, too - with the appearance of a critical trigger, Engel would have needed two cards to prevent his damage from escalating - thus, guarding the attack that would provide Ray with an extra card was the best choice. "All boosts to Twin Order. Boosted by Daisy, Twin Order attacks Wiseman."
"Damage check." Engel stated. "Once... no trigger. Twice... get." He revealed the third card, as he placed it down next to the other two. "Miracle Kid, draw trigger. Wiseman gains plus 5000 Power, and I draw."
Ray nodded thoughtfully. It looked as if Engel remained one step ahead. However... he looked at the field more carefully. Something was off - it took him a few seconds to realize what it was.
The triggers. Dream Eater, Victory Maker, and Miracle Kid had all appeared so far. All of them were draw triggers. In Vanguard, a deck would contain sixteen trigger cards, no more and no less, and up to a maximum of four heal triggers. Given that it was almost common sense to include four heal triggers in one's deck, and that one could use up to four copies of any given card in a single deck - then it was possible that Engel's trigger lineup consisted of twelve draw triggers, and four heal triggers. This was an important realization - it meant that the damage that could be dealt from one attack was limited to one. Satisfied, Ray nodded. Armed with that knowledge, he could plan ahead and adjust his game.
"Turn end." He said.
Engel
• Hand: 3
• Soul: 1 [Battle Sister Cocoa]
• Damage: 3 [Dream Eater (U) | ? (U) | Miracle Kid (U)]
• Drop: 3
• Field:
(R) Silent Tom (8000) - Sphere Magus (3000)
(V) Oracle Guardian Wiseman (10000) - Dark Cat (7000)
(R) Maiden of Libra (9000) - Battle Sister Cocoa (6000)
Ray
• Hand: 4
• Soul: 2 [Enigman Flow | Enigman Ripple]
• Damage: 2 [? (U) | ? (U)]
• Drop: 1
• Field:
(R) Cosmo Beak (8000) - N/A
(V) Enigman Wave (9000) - Glory Maker (6000)
(R) Twin Order (10000) - Karenroid Daisy (8000)
Engel smirked. "Ray-chan, your thoughts are so obvious." He said airily. "And that is the problem with your game... such a flat, one-dimensional approach, will never reach the true elegance required to excel! My turn!"
=/=
In the old arcade store, Raven Drive, Lily Ayen, former member of Team Stormdrive, was sitting on the cardfight table equipped with Law's prototype virtual reality system. The glass of tonic Law had had ready for her as soon as the match was over sat in front of her, untouched. Her attention was focused on the girl opposite to her - Aphrodite - who was greedily gulping down her own refreshment. Aphrodite was a mystery she intended to unravel.
"Ah, that was great!" The girl exclaimed cheerfully, finishing her drink. "And that was a fun match, miss Lily!"
A fun fight. It was often said that, when you stopped doing something for the sake of doing it, and started treating it as a means to an end - whether that end was money, or fame, or any sort of reward - all fun was removed from it. Lily, who had stood at the cruel stage of the regional tournament, could believe that. People rarely enjoyed a match - their only satisfaction seemed to come from triumphing over an opponent. She tried to remember how long it had been since she had genuinely enjoyed a battle. Probably before she began working her way towards the regional tournament along with her team. Most certainly before those days during the regionals.
The people who won through the qualifying rounds were transported to the city where the regional tournament would take place - in Lily's case, it was Thracia. Lily had expected that they would be treated with some form of respect. However, as soon as they reached the building specified for the tournament, they were virtually prisoners. Granted, it was an extremely luxurious, massive infrastructure - but they were not allowed to even think about stepping foot into the city itself. That much was not that strange - contact between cities was strictly monitored to begin with. However, the Tournament Hall, as the place they were staying in was called, quickly turned into a battlefield of its own. There, Lily experienced something she had never seen before. Corruption.
It was a common belief that the world, if nothing else, was fair. The more you tried, the more you earned; the more you earned, the greater your standing would be. There was severe control over what you earned and how you spent it - there was no way to get rich just by riding on some streak of luck. There was no way to skip ahead of others. To be recognized, to have value - you needed to earn those things on your own, on an even playing field. No shortcuts - not for you, but also not for your competitors, either.
This much was proven to be a fabrication - a belief that was so widespread, because it was generally true at the level that most people willing to comment on it were concerned. When the stakes were raised, things changed. Lily knew that a massive industry rode on Vanguard's competitive stage, which was one of the reasons the game had survived so long, and had been promoted so much. Cold, hard cash was involved. Behind-the-scenes deals, bribery, backstabbings - they had not seen any of that in the Tournament Hall, not in any way that they could produce evidence from, but they were there alright, permeating the air. It was no longer a contest. It was an underhanded, dirty war, with every side trying to out-do the other in every possible way. She shivered at the memory - how, on the eve of her first match, the team's sponsor 'accidentally' knocked a glass out of her hand, and when the liquid fell on the floor, the carpet began sizzling, as if acid had been splattered on it. The fighters that stepped onto the arena were so drained by this constant, silent war, that the outcome of the match was determined much more by whose side had been best able to gain an edge over the competition, rather than by the fighters' ability itself.
After their loss, Lily and the others had been convinced to quietly drop out of the scene and return to Glassvein. Most losing teams were offered the opportunity to participate in various consolation or other exhibition matches. Those, as Law later revealed, were pretty much treated as lab rats for the new virtual reality technology. Many of the teams that had stayed had now been disbanded, for no apparent reason.
You did not stay ignorant of all this, of course. You either adapted, conforming to the new rules, accepting the fact that you would have to deceive, cheat, and pull every dirty trick in the book to progress. Or you balked, refusing to play the game. Somehow, the second option resulted in a quick elimination and removal from the scene. And if you talked too much about it, worse things tended to conveniently happen to you.
Lily's question had been, of course, why. Why did all this happen? What did anyone stand to gain by turning a tournament, no matter how financially important, into such a bloodbath? Law had named three reasons.
The first corresponded to the reason that a game such as Vanguard, which was designed to be played by one person against another, sported tournaments based on multi-person teams. Cash. From the moment they entered the regionals, or even, for many teams, the qualifiers - the teams were converted from people to financial values. Each team was a unit that was destined to serve a specific purpose predetermined by its sponsor - more often than not, sponsor referring not to the person that brought forth the cash, but the major faction behind him. They were an investment, and an investment had to at least pay itself off. Even if such behavior was not specifically nurtured, it was mathematically inevitable that each group would strive to undo its opponents before the time came to face them head-on. In that sense, the fighters were merely the weapons used for a war that was fought on many different levels.
The second was a bit harder to understand. It was, as Law had put it, 'entertainment'. The minds that designed and observed the whole stage would not be satisfied by simply watching fights being duked out in the field of battle. They wanted to grasp every little detail of the conflict, every deceit, every strike delivered from the shadows. They did not drop such cash for a spectacle. They wanted a war. They wanted to see them squirm, struggle, suffer through every moment of it. What seemed to Lily like a perversion, to them, it was the purest form of entertainment.
And the third was darker, more obscure. This was still mostly speculation, and the central reason why Law and his associates were trying to reach the nationals. In the final stage that lay within the Capital, secrets were hidden - dark, dangerous secrets. Noone could form a concrete theory on what these secrets involved, however, Law had done some solid guesswork. Those who would be made privy into these secrets had to be tested in many ways, rather than just their aptitude and luck. What Law suggested was that Vanguard was merely a front for a much greater enterprise. And to unveil these secrets, reveal the truth - it was the very reason why Lily was here right now.
Which brought her back to the present. Her fight against Aphrodite had, indeed, been a good one. She would not succumb to claiming, even to herself, that the girl's sudden attitude shifts, as well as her certainly unexpected aptitude, had been responsible for Lily's defeat. But nonetheless, this was not good enough. Such a victory against her, while no mean feat, certainly did not suffice to permit survival on the harsh stage of the tournaments. And furthermore, it did not answer any of the numerous questions Aphrodite's personality - no, her mere presence - had raised.
Law, who had been standing between them, ushered the girl out of the room, encouraging her to familiarize herself with the store downstairs. That left the two of them alone. Their eyes locked - Law's were unreadable, as always, and he wore that tiny smirk that he usually did in those situations.
"I will admit that she has skill, unnatural skill for her age and background." She forestalled him. "I will also agree that she is unique, in a very intriguing way. But why? How does any of this make for enough reason to bring her here - to get her involved in this?"
"Did you understand it?" Instead of responding, Law countered with a question of her own. "Don't tell me you haven't yet figured it out... the very reason I was able to bring her here in the first place."
The gears in Lily's brain started rotating quickly. Indeed, it was certainly beyond strange that a child, even an orphan, could be offhandedly kept in the Commons, even by someone such as Law. However, if Law had managed to convince the proper authority that he was responsible for her - no, if he actually [i]was[/i] responsible for her - and coupled with the way her speech patterns and attitude seemed to be dancing from one point to the other...
"Multiple personality disorder." She said slowly. Law nodded, beaming. The girl had the mental disease which caused one's ego to separate into two or even more distinct characters - usually associated with different mannerisms and personality traits, but could go as far as incorporating entirely different aspects of one's life, including memories and experiences. Law had mentioned having studied psychiatry to some extent - conventional medicine without at least some expertise in psychology was considered almost useless these days. If he was the doctor assigned to her, then there should be no problem for him to bring her to Raven Drive and keep her in the Commons. It wouldn't be completely within the boundaries of acceptably lawful, but for someone like Law, it would be child's play.
And yet, this really didn't explain anything. Multiple personality disorder was certainly a rare phenomenon, but it was quite easily treated these days, and Aphrodite didn't seem to be suffering from such a severe case of it - her different personalities seemed mostly interchangeable aspects of the same core, with slightly different traits emphasized in each, and there was no involvement of memory lapse. Certainly, switching between so different attitudes could catch a potential opponent off-guard, but Law couldn't be seriously be banking on that.
"It sounds to me like you should bring the girl to the hospital, rather than the arena." She noted crisply. "If the poor child can be treated, then - "
"But that's where the interesting part begins." Law said. Lily would liken him to a child himself, barely containing his excitement as he both wanted to blurt out his secrets, and keep the audience guessing. "She can't be treated. There is no way. I tried every possible method, but even after several months of treatment, there is not even the slightest sign of the separate personalities either being unified or discarded. In fact, I have not yet been able to ascertain the development stage, and birth trigger, of each personality. Whatever caused her to develop those alternate personas has had some serious impact on her psyche. I have a feeling that, for all intents and purposes... she has really split into separate people. But, while that is certainly unfortunate, I maintain an open mind - it is definitely not a terminal case, and given the proper stimulation, she can even grow to benefit from this state."
"So why have you brought her here?" Lily demanded, slowly losing her patience with how Law was dancing around the subject.
"Because, my dear, there is something very special about her indeed." Law smirked. "You must have observed her three split personalities. The innocent, child-like one. The calm, collected one. And the aggressive, forceful one. These are almost a textbook case of the disorder when triggered by severe mental trauma at a young age - death of parents comes to mind. The mind forms a 'protector' - the aggressive personality, which is suited to handling things perceived as outside threats. It also produces a socially-developing aspect which handles the delicacies of interaction with other people - that would be her calm personality, designed to maintain a distance, avoid bonding, for fear that the destruction of such bonds will result in further pain. And it also seals the fragile, innocent portion of the person into a third aspect, sheltered from all such harm. As you also must have noticed, these personalities are overlapping each other - even when another has taken over, the remaining personalities still experience the events, only indirectly, as if they were removed from the facts. There is no memory loss, and each separate ego is only vaguely aware of the others. If it could be termed as such - it is a mild case of the disorder, unlikely to result to any harm, if the situation continues unchanged. However..." He took advantage of the dramatic pose to sip some of the drink he had poured himself. "As it turned out, this was merely the foreground. Only yesterday, something unique happened. For the first time under my observation, a fourth personality took over and spoke to me."
"A fourth personality?" Despite herself, Lily was growing increasingly interested in the story. Law nodded, taking on a busineess-like tone.
"This one was clearly not the others. For one thing, she was quite clearly aware of her status and the presence of the other three, and noted that they were 'sleeping' - which I took to mean they were not only dormant, but suppressed, evidenced by the fact that Aphrodite maintained no memory of our conversation after she reverted to one of her more common aspects. It also seemed as if the others have no knowledge of her existence, but she still has a solid grasp on the events that the girl has experienced - I suspect she might have some form of access to the others' memories, since I do not believe she is permanently in touch with the outside world like the others are. She definitely knew who I was, and greeted me by name. If you thought her collected personality was acting mature, you should have seen that one. She smiled and told me she had done some research, and found out some of the things I was involved in. She proceeded to talk about some very interesting subjects. Do you know what the Ark of Vision is?"
"I don't." Lily muttered. She still felt shellshocked from that barrage of information.
"Me neither." Law admitted. "But she does, and she claims it is related to the things we're looking for at the national tournament. Yes, she went as far as to mention that. She was, in fact, the one who suggested I bring her into this. You understand I was still skeptical, of course - the fact that she had found out so much about me was impressive, not to mention unnerving, but without hands-on proof, anything further could be just as much guesswork as anyone else's speculation. Somehow, I did not think so. I thought she was telling the truth, and I thought that her current mental state, maybe even her parents' death, was the result of her finding out things she wasn't supposed to. However, that was not enough. There's a valuable proverb - 'trust your instinct, then take what your instinct tells you and prove it'. Without something tangible, I could not simply go out of my way to involve her, not when so much was at stake."
"So I take it she did provide you with something tangible?" Lily asked.
"Oh, yes." Law nodded. "We had a cardfight, her and I. It was a pretty good match, too - she won, but I thought I had done rather well, even if I'm a little rusty. Only, she was keeping these notes throughout our fight. When we were done, she handed me the notes she had made. And that's when I decided that she was telling the truth."
"What was in those notes?" Lily, fully immersed in the story, demanded.
"Everything." Law responded. Detailed analysis on hand composition, deck composition, minute decision-making based on observation, probability - analysis of body language, generally, planning out the whole fight before it even began. By reading these notes, I understood that she was a genius beyond my imagination. In those seconds between each move, she had the time to factor in everything. By reading them, I understood that from the beginning, my defeat had been meticulously calculated and executed, one certain step at a time. Everything had been accounted for, calculated, dealt with. What amazed me even further was that she could depict all of it on paper, in clear, succint form, easily readable. All doubts were purged from my mind. Even for nothing else, there was no question at all that such a person belonged in that world. I'd have so wished to talk more with her, but she informed me she couldn't remain 'awake' for long, and reverted back to her childish personality. Regardless, I immediately brought her here. You saw some of her natural talent, but this is nothing compared to what I witnessed. If we are lucky - you will get to see it, soon enough."
Lily processed the implications. If Law was telling the truth - and she did not believe he'd lie to her at this point, about something like that - then it both added credibility to Law's choices, and opened substantial opportunity. It was awfully convenient how this seemed to have happened coincidentally at the same time that they were looking for members - as far as the timing was concerned, Lily was certain Law was keeping a few things under wraps, but she would not press the subject now.
"So, I assume you want her for the team." She said finally. "I won't have any objections to that, she seems more than qualified. What of the third member? Unless another one of your orphan charges turns out to be the lost great-granddaughter of the game's inventor, we still have only a week left, and our search for candidates has not yielded the best results so far."
"About that." Law mused, resuming his business-like expression. "I've been thinking. How about we gave that boy Alex another shot?"
"Not again with him." Lily groaned. "You're only interested in him because he reacted to Herley's injury. I agree that's important, but it means little in the long run. In here, he was just like an impressionable child. Besides, he doesn't really have any ability to speak of in the game. We can't use such a guy."
"Maybe you are right." Law allowed, not for the first time. "But I have a good feeling about him."
"You said, and I quote - trust your instinct, then take what your instinct tells you and prove it." Lily retorted. "Whatever hunch you have, you yourself said that you won't act it out without evidence."
"Which is why I want to give him another shot." Law filled in smoothly. "A chance for him to prove himself, and a chance for me to gather that evidence." Lily rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Do what you want, just don't bother me with it, not unless it's serious." Law chuckled slightly.
"As you wish. I have some work to do around the city. In the meantime, will you entertain Aphrodite here?" Lily nodded - she did not particularly enjoy staying indoors to watch the girl, but if she was going to be a member of her team, she might as well get to know her better. Maybe in the process, she could learn a few more things about her.
=/=
Thank you for your assistance, Bartholomeo Sage. The raspy voice that echoed through the empty, black chamber seemed to resonate directly in the blonde man's ears. Yesterday, he had brought and delivered the item that had been named the Vision Gate, and he had been awarded with the honor of a personal audience with the Pantheon. Apparently, this delivery had been of such great importance that it warranted the attention of the Capital's leaders.
"I am glad to have served you well." Sage bowed deeply. Such pleasantries were not part of the decorum, as he knew from the limited times he had been addressed by the Pantheon. But it never hurt to cover one's bases.
You are troubled. Another voice observed, in the same, deathly tone. Your mind is clouded by doubt, by fear. Sage felt cold sweat drench his clothes. They could read his mind. As much as he tried to hide his emotions behind his composed expression - a skill necessary to survive in that line of work - there was nowhere to hide here. Tell us, child, what is the cause of such dread, when you are standing on the sacred grounds of the Capital?
"I..." Sage started. He was uncertain. If he told the truth, would he be executed? It seemed a very real possibility, when the truth essentially amounted to directly questioning the orders and decisions of the Pantheon. If he lied, would he be believed? The chances of that were slim. "I was wondering - what is contained within the box I brought? If I am allowed to know, of course." He added, a tad too hastily.
There was silence, oppressive, iron silence. For an instant, Sage wondered if he was indeed about to die. Then -
Just as the name describes, the Vision Gate is a portal that will allow the sight of man to reach ranges beyond what can be currently perceived. Concepts long lost to humanity, whose very image has been buried in history, will be opened. Man has blinded himself, in an attempt to shield his eyes from the horrors that lie in the shadows - but with the Vision Gate, we will demonstrate that beyond even the darkest night, the light of hope will always burn brightly. To restore the sight we have forsaken - this is the ultimate purpose of this artifact.
"I - I see." Sage could not even pretend to understand the meaning of what he had been told. He was praying for a quick dismissal now, banking on the slim chance that he would survive this meeting. "I pray that you will succeed in your valiant efforts." He muttered what he hoped passed for an appropriate response.
Since you are so eager to learn, to help, we have a different task for you. The voice speaking now was different than all the others, and in Sage's ears, it seemed to be pronouncing his death sentence. Enter the Vanguard national tournament. You will find details on the procedures in your office. There, you will be able to witness the power of the Gate first-hand, and be able to ensure its success.
"Vanguard?" Despite himself, Sage couldn't conceal his surprise. "What could that possibly have to do with anything?"
The virtual reality system that we have established will be the staging area of the Gate's opening. Another new voice explained vaguely. The national tournament will be of critical importance to this. You will know, soon enough.
He was not told anything else, but somehow, he knew he was dismissed. He walked out of the chamber, and his world instantly blacked out. A short amount of time later - his clock informed him that a minute and twenty seconds had passed, although that didn't necessarily indicate anything distance-wise - he came to. He was still alive - for now. And no matter what plans they had for him, he intended to stay that way - even if it meant competing in this national tournament they had assigned him to.
Character Section:
Name: Raynold Davran (Ray)
Occupation: Student
Age: 15
Height: 1.82m
Weight: 76kg
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Silver
Hair Style: Unkempt, short
Physique: Regular
Deck: Dimension Police
Name: Engel Utaro
Occupation: Student
Age: 16
Height: 1.84m
Weight: 77kg
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Blonde
Hair Style: Long, straight
Physique: Slim
Deck: Oracle Think Tank