(A New Distortion has begun to appear. What will unfold next on our adventure? Well. Time to find out.)
Bold = English Conversations
Bold + Italics = Japanese Conversations
Distortion 20
Previously on Canon Distortion
The Plan that the Otsu Four had for their retaking of the NOL Base in Otsu was set in motion. The head leader, Meifang LapisLazuli had been separated from her troops after she decided to go on ahead and act as a scouting leader. With the base now missing it's strongest leader, it was now vulnerable for whatever was the next plan on the Otsu Four. As the plan commenced, Makoto Nanaya herself was getting ready to head towards the NOL base, ready to investigate further the meaning behind the cauldron that was hidden from Otsu itself…
And now, the Continuation of Canon Distortion.
When the NOL soldiers heard the sounds of several explosions occur at the distance, the first thing rushing into their minds was the fact that their leader, Meifang LapisLazuli was inside that blast when it occurred. Their natural response to such a thing was panic, realizing that they had been separated from their commanding officer and they needed to quickly rush to her aid. Even if she was some demon of war, nobody in the NOL should be expected to fight alone.
"W-We need to hurry and help her!" An NOL soldier shouted to his captain as the squad leaders were debating on how they should approach the ever growing situation in front of them. They could rush towards the aid of Meifang Lapislazuli but what if that was just a trap placed by the Otsu four to lure the rest of the troops in to another series of explosions. But if they left Meifang to her own devices for too long, she may become overwhelmed by the Otsu Four and the big numbers they would be throwing her way and be captured as a result.
The decision in front of them was truly a difficult one. They should be acting right now but instead they are choosing to do nothing and stand around like a couple of imbeciles who refuse to do anything. If Meifang were here, they would have waited for her to give their orders even if it was through a radio but the silence that came from her contributed to their inaction. The fear of being the one who decides on what a group of men should do next was enough to leave a squadron paralyzed the way they were.
That inaction, that fear these leaders were experiencing was something the Otsunians took advantage of as another series of explosions occurred nearby them, causing the troops to huddle up closely and form barriers to protect themselves from the raining rubble that threatened to cave in their skulls. Some NOL Soldiers were unable to react in time and were caught in the blast and those that were not under the exploding rubble in the first place were soon cut off from their own platoon.
Before they could even register what was going on, various noises were heard behind them. Turning around, their eyes widened in panic to realize it was the various NOL criminal factions, charging right at them when their pants were down. For anybody who was in the NOL that could watch this right now, this would be one of the most embarrassing moments the NOL has had the displeasure of suffering through at that very moment.
From the disorganized mess the NOL squadron had become to the sudden sneak attack the Otsunians had plotted. It was clear to anybody that the main goal wasn't to directly attack the NOL at their established headquarters in Otsu but to drain as much of their forces as possible as realizing the futility of the situation, some NOL scouts tried to radio back to the NOL base to report the trap that had been laid on them only to find that their equipment was being jammed for some reason, preventing them from the convenience long distance messaging often gave.
"Dammit! We have to return back to comma…" Before the head scout could finish ordering his men, he was struck at the back of the neck, instantly knocking him out as the Ikarugans who had called Otsu home made their appearance, silencing the scouts and ensuring that no updates about the current situation was being delivered back to the base until it was too late. "It is done my lord. We have managed to cut off the troops that were supposed to help out Meifang LapisLazuli and the scouts that were keeping an update about the situation." A ninja reported towards the ears of Tetsu as he simply nodded his head while raising his blade to deflect another attack from Meifang as Vlad fired a shot to create distance.
"Looks like your men aren't coming to your aid any time soon." Tetsu said as Meifang couldn't help but make an annoyed sound as she couldn't believe what was happening. "And I expected them to give me the backup I was hoping to have. Talk about disappointment." Meifang expressed as Sofia aimed her gun right at Meifang and released out a volley to force Meifang to form another barrier to block the would be fatal shots as Sofia was getting used to aiming for Meifang's vitals instead of her general area.
"But you must still be annoyed regardless? Not having any kind of backup for what the NOL sees as just a bunch of low ranking criminals that they shouldn't be struggling against in the first place when criminals like Ragna The Bloodedge exist." Sofia taunted as Meifang glared at Sofia and charged right at her, prompting Zhang Pi to block the attack in place of Sofia who wouldn't have lasted one blow.
"I think you may have struck a nerve on our guest here Sofia. Maybe you should temper that tongue a little bit I feel Sofia." Zhang Pi said as she pulled her blade back, drawing blood from Meifang's fist and licking it to trigger her drive once more. "Oh spare me that nice talk. If she cannot handle a little girl like me talking shit then she's bad at her job in general." Sofia retorted as Meifang simply looked at Sofia with scorn on her face. "Well Well now. Looks like daddy's girl really didn't get taught proper manners now. It's a shame he's dead now and cannot see what a disappointment she had become." Meifang said, striking a nerve back at Sofia but before she could say anything, Vlad fired a shot aimed at Meifang's foot that would have taken it off.
"Didn't your parents teach you that it's bad to bad mouth the dead like you are now." Vlad said, his normally joyful tone gone as he simply glared right at Meifang's direction with a stern look on his face. It was rare to see the normally joyful giant bear such a serious face but a nerve must have been struck for him to speak in the way he did. "Well I don't really care about what you are saying. I am just going to do what I feel like doing." Meifang retorted.
"You're right. I don't have to care about what you think as well." Meifang said as she arched her back and loaded her feet on the ground. She immediately lunged towards Vlad, her fist blasting past his face as Tetsu was quick to form some metal to force her arm to the side and open up her belly for Tetsu to bisect her in half. Meifang quickly responded by just grabbing his sword with her hand, snapping the blade for it to harmlessly pass her stomach by while her hand bled blood.
"Then we are just wasting our time trying to discuss manners with each other when it is clear that we hold manners to a different degree." Tetsu said sternly as he ignored the fact that his katana's blade had been snapped and simply attached a piece of rebar to the broken hilt, his drive reshaping the round piece of metal back to a blade for him to use once again as he swung the rust covered blade right at Meifang, prompting her to jump away instead as she knew the purpose of the rust was to try and infect her with the metal's poisonous properties.
"For once, I cannot believe I am agreeing with mere criminals on this matter. But you are right!" Meifang shouted as she kicked the blade away from Tetsu's hands as Vlad retaliated by shoving his anti material rifle's barrel right at her chest, creating distance between her and the Otsu four as he fired one singular shot that rang in the air. Normally, it would be fatal to whoever was at the receiving end of it due to the distance between the shot and the impact point of the chest being much shorter than most.
But Meifang wasn't most normal people and had already expected the bullet to be fired at her way. Instead of panicking as most people would, she took a more refined approach and calmly rolled out of the way the same time she felt the impact of the barrel hitting her chest, causing what Vlad did as a way to cause her footing to be lost to be instead what saved her from a potential fatal blow as Vlad realized what she had done and quickly followed up with a few more barrages to ensure she did not have space to react.
"And I hate complimenting my foes, but it is clear that you are much better than the average NOL officer. So it is true that only the truly high ranking ones are worth their salt over the rank and file that you flood your group with." Vlad said, his voice remaining stern as Meifang couldn't help but grin a little. "You know, for a criminal, I can never figure out one thing. Why is that you four and your groups are working together instead of apart? Surely having sole control over a city like this is much better than sharing." Meifang said, hoping to spark some sort of internal conflict in the well knit group.
"And there you go asking the questions that the media often asked us when we founded this fine city. Then again, they never really did word their questions like the way you have." Zhang Pi noted as she looked at her fellow heads, wondering if she should tell their history to this outsider or just eliminate her immediately and be done with this charade of being polite and just fight against each other.
"I see no harm telling our history to a person who clearly doesn't care about our history in the first place." Sofia said, throwing shade right at Meifang's way as the other heads do not mind telling Meifang what needs to be said and ignore the comments she would try to add after that. "We thought of that at first. After all, it makes sense for one criminal group to have a monopoly over a city rather than share it with other criminal groups. But there was only one man who saw something else entirely." Tetsu explained.
"That was my pops. He was the one who said that we should share the wealth. We should divide our territory and handle what we are good at. The other heads agreed to that and that was how the Otsu Four was born. Not out of necessity or a desperate bid to unite our power bases like your media has been trying to peddle. But because my pops said something smart and everyone else agreed we should follow." Sofia explained, clearing her throat a bit as talking about her father still struck a nerve deep within her.
"And we as the other heads of the original Otsu Four before Sofia's pops passing agreed to keep Otsu under the rule of the four instead of uniting our organizations as one. And we will not accept anyone who tries to slander the name of the Otsu Four in any way, regardless if they are just a nobody on the street or some high and mighty noble who has never had to fight for anything in their life." Tetsu said as the other heads simply nodded their heads in agreement.
The way they spoke to her, the wording that they used, they shouldn't have meant anything to her but for some reason, Meifang felt like a nerve had been struck and she was unusually and irrationally angry at that moment. "You're right. I don't care about what the Otsu four means to you all. You're all just a bunch of criminal scum who deserve to be locked up and spend the rest of their days rotting in a cell for all I care." Meifang said with venom as she entered stance, ready to face off against them once again.
"Maybe you're right about that. Maybe you're wrong too. Regardless, we aren't really here to discuss semantics and what the world sees right and wrong. We are just here to fight and only fight right?" Tetsu said, his hand on his katana that was fully repaired ready to slice anything in it's path as Vlad simply placed a hand on his shoulder. "Indeed Tetsu. So let's get to the fight already. We don't need to waste any more time than we have already." Vlad said as the Otsu four and Meifang Lapislazuli looked at each other.
...Putting aside all talks in favour of letting their weapons do the talking….
While the NOL and Otsunian forces clashed with each other, Makoto Nanaya was comfortably sneaking her way inside the NOL Base. The commotion that happened as well as the sudden realization that troops were being pinned in a battle between two fronts has prompted troops to act immediately or risk more Otsunians pouring their way towards the NOL base and overwhelming the troops stationed there with their bigger numbers.
This bold attack forced the NOL to separate their troops to try and stem the bleeding before it got worse. However it also left gaps in their troops that anybody could exploit to sneak past as Makoto had done so and was now doing in order to find the elevator that would take her to the cauldron, the one thing she had been trying to look at this whole time. She would have gladly decided to join in on the battle if she did not have her memories of Sora intact and that was probably what a version of her was probably doing at that moment.
'Come on door. Show yourself.' Makoto thought as she continued to creep past several NOL troops and made sure she was in the shadows, not daring to expose herself for any moment. If she did get caught by the NOL now, it would have wasted all of the effort the heads had put into to try and hide her from the NOL and get her to where she is now. That and she would definitely be screwing herself over the last possible chance she may have to finally getting back to Sora. To finally having the answers her mind so desperately seeked.
"Status report now!" A voice shouted as Makoto couldn't help but peer her head around the corner as soon as she recognized whose voice it was. "We are currently trying to mobilize the 3rd and 4th infantry division to go and intercept the Otsunians. We are also making sure we have enough men to guard the NOL base should an Otsunian force decide to attack us right now." The NOL soldier explained as Makoto got a good glimpse of Tsubaki, her eyes sharp and her body movements stiff but firm.
"Then have those remaining at the base to station closer to the base and I want men at the roof right now acting as overwatch! As for the 3rd and 4th infantry divisions they can move immediately to support our currently pinned troops!" Tsubaki ordered as the soldier quickly saluted her before running off as another came rushing towards her. "Are you here in regards to the airborne division offering their support for this attack?" Tsubaki questioned as Makoto used that as her chance to sneak by while Tsubaki was not looking at her direction.
"Yes and there is bad news, the NOL airport was attacked again by some Otsunians and what appeared to be remnants of the Ikarugan army from the civil war. We are trying to force them back but they are preventing our troops from being able to head into their aircraft out of fear that would get blown up before they can take off." The soldier explained as Tsubaki closed her eyes to think for a bit while Makoto looked at a nearby building map and noticed what she was looking for.
"Then we shall fight without them for now. Until they feel confident they can take to the skies you are to report to them that they shall not let the Otsunians regain control of the airport. Are we clear?" Tsubaki explained as the soldier saluted, understanding that if the airport was to be under Otsunian control again they would be pinned at the NOL base via a 4 pronged assault and with the majority of their forces right now currently under siege along with Meifang Lapislazuli engaging with the Otsu four heads, Tsubaki had to make the calls to preserve the NOL base or the worst will happen.
As Tsubaki took a deep sigh and walk towards her camp to settle on a few more matters, Makoto saw this as her opportunity to finally get close to the elevator and take it down to the cauldron. She would have loved to use that opportunity of Tsubaki being by herself to try and have a more private conversation away from the eyes of the NOL and any potential Otsunians, just her and Tsubaki, two friends talking eye to eye but she couldn't be distracted right now as much as that stung to say. She still had some time so maybe if time would allow she would take her chances of convincing Tsubaki that her ideals were being twisted when the opportunity presented itself.
'I'm sorry Tsubaki. Just not right now.' Makoto thought as the elevator closed on itself as Makoto made sure to break the security camera before she went down to the cauldron to buy herself more time as the NOL would more likely suspect that the camera was old rather than it had been tampered as Makoto finally took a deep breath as she felt the elevator bring her down to the level of the cauldron once again.
Cauldrons… What is it about them that always seem to have this kind of magical pull towards her? If she could, Makoto would have the cauldrons of the world be thrown back to where they were made and lock them forever. She didn't want anything to do with them anymore as it was a cauldron that started her on this fateful journey. But maybe she should tone down her response as it was a cauldron that brought her back her memories of Sora in the first place. To say that she was mixed about these things would be an understatement at this point.
"Just why is it every single bad thing to have happened in my life so far have had this stupid metal orb that we decided was a good idea to power our cities. Why cannot it be something nicer like a magical fairy for once…" Makoto jested as she tried to pass the time inside the elevator as she could see the lower levels approaching. The longer she spent inside this elevator the longer she felt antsy as she shook her leg greatly hoping that it would speed up the process.
As if granting her wish, Makoto finally found herself at the cauldron level. She was yet again face to face with another cauldron, another piece of history as she stared at the inactive cauldron with a nervous and cautious stance. She was half expecting the cauldron to come on at any moment when she entered as she did not let her eyes off the thing at all. She didn't dare say a word as she didn't know what was worse, a cauldron that was active or a cauldron that was off.
"Good… Stay off." Makoto said, pointing her finger right at the thing as she began to inspect the area once again, letting her old intelligence instincts kick in as she wanted to know what the cauldron was hiding if any. She had thought that with the cauldron off, the chances of her using it as a way to head straight to that gate she saw was probably minimal. The only other chance she had was to check and see if the room had any sort of clue that would have been useful to her.
"Nothing… Nothing at all…" Makoto mumbled as she had felt like she was wasting her time exploring this place. She had come here hoping to find an answer but that was just a big stretch at the end of the day. She had figured that she would check out what the room looked like and see if she could find anything before leaving. However before she walked out of the elevator, she noticed a door that led to another room most likely as Makoto scratched her head, wondering if she should spend her time checking on a room for a potential clue or just leaving now before she got left behind.
'I really should just get going back before any NOL soldiers show up… but this room… I would feel bad if I just left without checking.' Makoto thought as she walked up to the door and tried to open the door only to realize the door was locked for some reason. Makoto took a deep breath as she decided she was not going to waste any more time fiddling with locks as she made manifest her seal as she arched her back. "BIG BANG SMASH!" Makoto yelled as she slammed her astral fist right onto the sealed door, shattering it completely as the door flew off and smashed as Makoto walked through the now busted door and took a deep breath at the room she stood in.
The first thing to greet her vision was dust as she coughed and swung her hands fiercely to shoo the dust away. As soon as the dust subsided she was surprised to be standing in a well lit and rather tidy room despite the wave of dust that had assaulted her prior. Maybe her fist was enough to cause the dust from the old books that remained on their selves to blow towards her but she cared less what actually happened. What she wanted to know was why a library looking area was even next to a cauldron in the first place.
'Just what kind of scientist would need something like this.' Makoto thought as she inspected the room closely to see what kind of clues she could gain from exploring. Her fingers touched every single inch of the room as she didn't want to leave a singular stone not turned if she could help it as her mind wondered as to the mysteries this room was providing her. As she spent more time in this room, things were beginning to piece themselves in her head, things that she swore she had seen despite the fact that this was her first time in this room in her life.
As her eyes scanned the long untouched books, her eyes couldn't help but catch a glimpse of something that was on the ground. Makoto reached down to grab the item of her attention as she couldn't help but stare at what was just an old piece of paper, the white pages long having turned yellow due to age as Makoto held it gently to ensure she didn't break it due to how brittle it felt. The writings themselves made no sense, seemingly scribbled on without any rhyme or reason.
'Now why would any respectable individual go through the trouble of building this room only to have ineligible handwriting.' Makoto thought as she found it strange. Whoever was residing in this place was clearly a skilled individual as they would have most likely not tolerated such bad handwriting in the first place. Even writing in cursive would have been acceptable over this nonsense Makoto was reading but for some reason Makoto's eyes couldn't leave this piece of paper alone as she began to look for similar looking pieces of paper all over the ground.
Soon she had managed to gather several pieces of the same scrawled up paper that had nothing but gibberish on them as her eyes scanned even deeper for the meaning of the words. She had hoped that by deciphering the garbage writing in front of her, she would be able to piece together the things she would need to do to figure it all out. Instead, she simply suffered a headache as the words were not making sense. In fact her current situation was not making sense as she couldn't help but loose her cool for a moment and toss the papers into the air, scattering them all over the place before her eyes were drawn over to what seemed to be a dusty tome.
Makoto sighed as she couldn't help but check out this tome and see what it was all about. She figured this was just a last ditch attempt for her to try and make sense the clues that had been provided to her and at first, it seemed like she had truly struck a dead end and was just wasting her precious time now. But when she flipped through the pages and realized that some of said tome's pages were missing, Makoto couldn't help but turn back to the scrap of paper and immediately began to compile all of the papers again and inspected them even more carefully. It was here that she finally noticed something was strange about them.
The first thing was that the pages were torn in such a way that they could have only been torn from a tome as the pages had rough edges from where the paper had been torn from. The second part of this puzzle was how this book too was written in the same gibberish that made no sense alongside the pieces of paper on some of the pages while the other pages seemed irrelevant. Finally, when Makoto got a good glimpse at who owned this book, she couldn't help but notice the name, The Great Sage Nine was on the cover.
This made Makoto begin to wonder more and more about about the place she was standing at and what it meant. It was then she looked at the table she had placed the tome she had found on and suddenly things were beginning to click in her mind. The layout of this room, the tons of scattered books and texts, the fact that one of the books had Nine's name on it. This room was familiar to Makoto Nanaya because this room was in her latest dream. The dream she had about the mystery woman who she suspects might have been the last Continuum Error before Sora.
But why? Why was a room like this even built in the first place? Why build a cauldron in a place like Otsu, a hierarchical city that was not considered a hierarchical city for the longest time. "Truly a most fascinating piece of history we have found ourselves in. Don't you agree Makoto Nanaya?" A voice questioned as Makoto immediately turned around to do a punch. Her fist landed on something hard and metal as she felt her hand be grabbed and lifted into the air as soon she came back face to face with Relius Clover as Ignis had her hand pinned to prevent her from fighting back.
"I did not expect to find you snooping around here. You seem to have an attraction towards cauldrons I see." Relius said, his eyes staring right at Makoto as she could have fought back against Relius right now but she decided for now to not retaliate, the moment he tried his whole mind break thing on her again she was going to snap. She still couldn't believe how lucky/unlucky she was to be meeting Relius Clover here once again. All she wanted to do was just die with how Cauldrons and creepy old men wearing masks seem to come to her like moths to a flame.
"And I see you still like to keep me under your sights… Clover." Makoto said, speaking with venom as she refused to forget what this man has done to her and her life. Relius couldn't help but chuckle as much to Makoto's surprise, he gestured with his hand and prompted Ignis to release it's grip on Makoto much to her surprise as Makoto stared at Relius with the most intense glare she can give him.
"I simply wish to check on the progress of your soul… and my, your soul indeed is changing colours before my very eyes." Makoto couldn't help but shiver hearing that as she figured that Relius must have some knowledge about this room and opened her mouth about to ask. "If you were going to ask, No, I do not have any knowledge about why this room exists… but I do think I am able to piece together it's purpose." Relius said as Makoto couldn't help but tilt her head hearing that as she wanted to so badly get away from this situation as her instincts told her that staying was a bad idea.
"Yeah? And what is the purpose of this room then huh?" Makoto taunted, trying to rush the man to speak what his wacky theory was so she could just get the hell out of here. "I believe we are in the birth place of all Nox Nyctoreses. The workshop where Nine the Phantom worked tirelessly on creating the weapons that ultimately saved mankind 100 years ago." Relius theorised as Makoto couldn't help but shake her head in disbelief. Them? Standing in the birth place of Nox Nyctoreses? That sounded like crazy talk.
Yet the more thought Makoto put into it, the more what Relius said could possibly make some sort of sense. She then shook her head feverishly because she didn't want to be agreeing with the words of a madman who was interested in turning her into some sort of weapon to murder people with. "Nine's workshop huh? If that's the case smartass, tell me why she would decide to build this place in the middle of nowhere instead of working at Ishana, where all magic was done 100 years ago." Makoto countered, hoping to break through Relius's logic.
Relius: It is simple really. This workshop was designed to be an escape from that life.
Makoto: An escape? Why would a sage like her want to escape from a place that would have given her everything she needed to make the nox nyctoreses work anyways?
Relius: Because those same people were nothing but old antiquated individuals who were against the idea of using magic to progress mankind. When she created Ars Magus, she was met with disdain from her council and was seen as a sort of black sheep from that point onwards.
Makoto: For someone who didn't live through that time period you sure talk as if you know what you are talking about… You some kind of Observer or something like that?
Relius: Me? An Observer? I do not desire being locked up and being forced to quietly observe while I am unable to act. As for how I know all of the intricacies, that will be for another time should we meet again.
Makoto: As if I want to meet a bastard like you again.
Makoto's words were the most sharp they had ever been. Repeated confrontations against Relius had hardened her heart a bit so she wasn't as afraid as she was the first time. Yet her body continued to scream for her to get away, to get rid of the useless talk and just go away immediately. "The point is, Nine herself was human and she required a place of quiet where she can work on her plan to save humanity. And this was what she built." Relius said as Makoto couldn't help but look at him, not in awe but in shock by what she was hearing.
"Alright then. Say this is truly the workshop where all Nox Nyctores were born in, what is your proof." Makoto demanded, wanting to make sense of everything being tossed her way, just trying to find the key word to say to shut down Relius's attempts to converse with her. Relius simply walked right past her and picked up the tome that she was gathering the ripped up pages for and opened it. He scanned the tome for a bit before she witnessed Relius simply raise his hand and the words began to unscramble in front of her eyes, shocking her as she could finally read the title of the tome itself.
"Nox Nyctoreses, The creation of Mankind's hope." Makoto said as Relius simply smiled. "This enough proof for you?" Relius questioned as Makoto shook her head. "No… that was just a coincidence. I refuse to believe that you just conveniently are able to decipher words that are clearly scrambled." Makoto accused, believing what Relius had done was in truth just a magical spell to make it seem like he was just deciphering the words when in truth he was trying to pull the wool over her eyes.
"Please. I do not find it necessary to lie to you about this. After all… you came here with the hopes that you would be able to find a way back to your dearly beloved." Relius said as his words sent chills down Makoto spine. The way he spoke truthfully about what he had just done was enough to make her take a few steps back. She would have ran away if her legs were not frozen in place to the ground. She was beginning to regret ignoring her flight and fight responses as she was now getting something she may not have asked for.
"Now… let me see those pages you found and what they could mean." Relius mused as he leaned in at the pieces of paper that Makoto had found and picked them up, his eyes scanned them carefully before he tried the same thing he did to the book to find out the secrets of the pages. Makoto then heard a curious hmmm come out of his mouth as he lifted the pages before his eyebrows were raised behind his mask in intrigue.
"Most interesting indeed… now this is something I did not expect." Relius said as this was enough to prompt Makoto to try and leave at that moment. As much as she hoped that this place would have had her clues. It seems that she was about to stumble onto another crazy world secret that she shouldn't know and this time really did not want to know. "Form the contract…. Make us whole…" The voice… the same voice she had been hearing this whole time spoke up once again. But this time it felt a lot more vocal, a lot stronger as Makoto collapsed to the ground, holding her head in pain as Relius observed and saw something most interesting.
"Intriguing, your soul is being beckoned by a being…" Relius said as Makoto looked at him, her forehead sweating as the only thing that was stopping her from being paralyzed at that moment was the fact that she was face to face with Relius Clover and she did not want to deal with this man any longer she had to. "O-Oh yeah?! Well I don't want any…" Before Makoto could finish her sentence, the voice spoke even louder, her head feeling like an echo chamber as Relius continued to observe the phenomenon in front of him with great interest.
But before Relius could be allowed to observe any further, footsteps were heard approaching their direction. Makoto bit her lips as she realized that her simply dip in and find out what is going on has become much more complicated as in front of her was the steely red possessed eyes of Tsubaki Yayoi as Makoto clenched her teeth. With the voices in her head and the people around her, this was the worst possible situation she could have found herself in and she was simply dreading everything.
"I did not expect to see you return here Makoto Nanaya… and to be with Relius Clover of all people…" Tsubaki said as Makoto felt in her gut that talking to Tsubaki right now under these circumstances may be futile but she had to try anyways. "I came back because I was worried about you Tsubaki. You're not right in the head right now Tsubaki! You are not yourself can you see that!?" Makoto yelled as Tsubaki shook her head.
"I do not care about the words of a criminal. I shall put you down now that the chance has presented itself to me." Tsubaki said as she made the Izayoi manifest out of her hand. Makoto bit down on her lip seeing this as she knew she had to fight to make Tsubaki see some damn sense and to get away from her current predicament. "Y-You always got to be the stubborn one every single time." Makoto said, raising her fists up as Relius cleared his throat.
"Do make sure to leave Makoto Nanaya alive. I have a need for her Major Yayoi." Relius said, finding this to be the convenient excuse he needed to have Makoto apprehended and brought back a secure NOL facility where he could observe Makoto to his heart's content, ensuring her soul was the perfect quality for his next detonator. Tsubaki tensed a bit before simply nodding her head. This small gesture was enough to give Makoto some hope that the friend she knew was still in there, buried by the brainwashing she needed to get rid of.
'Even if the circumstances I want to fight you in are not ideal… if I can get you to see the light Tsubaki… for me… Noel and Hunter… I'll do anything.' Makoto said, clenching her fist as she assumed a fighting stance, ignoring the ringing in her head as she did not notice the tome that Relius had set down begin to glow as Relius himself couldn't help but notice what was going on and become slightly intrigued.
...As he couldn't help but begin to observe what is going to happen next with intrigue…
GREETINGS LOST SHEEP OF FANFICTION!? HOW IS EVERYONE DOING ON THIS FINE DAY!? Well. We are almost done with 2021 and is it me or does 2021 just feel like 2020 on repeat? Just a thought I would drop on you guys. It's something that has been coming on my head and yeah, can't get it out of my head anymore. Regardless, I hope you all have had a better 2021 than me with how things have been panning out and life has not been too hard on you guys.
SO WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT!? WILL MAKOTO'S FIST FINALLY REACH INTO TSUBAKI'S SOUL!? WHAT IS THE SECRETS OF THE WORKSHOP OF THE GREAT SAGE NINE!? WHY DOES IT EXIST IN OTSU OF ALL PLACES AND HOW WILL RELIUS CLOVER INTERPRET EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED IN FRONT OF HIM!? ALL THIS AND MORE ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF CANON DISTORTION...