Hello everyone and welcome back to what I hope is an interesting chapter of Stand Up, the LRIG! Hope you enjoy!
Selector Battlefield: With Ren and Ruko
(Selector Infected Wixoss OST: Battle ~ Culmination)
"Fanatic Illusion!"
The silent air across the darkened battlefield was abruptly broken by the declaration of the attack at hand. A loud roar sounded across the entire area as Dragruler Phantom charged through the air, holding out the blades that he carried downwards as he took flight towards Iona who merely remained still on her Selector's table, seemingly not concerned about the situation before her. Her situation you may ask? Her Selector had no Life Cloths remaining on her table, meaning that this single attack would be more than enough to end the battle. Said Selector being Ruko herself, was more than prepared for this occasion, having already dispatched of her opponent's SIGNI with a previous two ARTS during the same turn to reduce the risk of losing said battle as she revealed a card from her hand.
"Mac Lir!" she called.
The Shadow Paladin unit appeared in front of Iona, generating a green circle in front of it. Dragruler Phantom raised up his sword before thrusting it forwards into the barrier, resulting in sparks flying off. Although several cracks appeared in the circle, the repelling force eminating from within was enough to push back the transformed Mordred Phantom, resulting in his attack being a failure, much to his chargin as Mac Lir himself vanished from the battlefield, doing nothing more. Dragruler Phantom took flight and returned back to the LRIG space on Ren's table, the cardfighter of whom could only look forward at Ruko, seemingly not as annoyed as the Shadow Paladin unit from what happened. In any case, he appeared to be somewhat smiling.
Quite impressive he thought By taking advantage of the damage dealt by Dragruler Phantom, you've managed to set up a much more effective use of a combination between Ancient Surprise and Death Beam which I failed to notice after using my own. Then again, given what happened in your battle with Kai, that's to be expected.
"I'm confused."
"Eh?" Ren blinked for a moment, seemingly confused himself from Iona's sudden comment.
"You've failed to defeat me this turn and yet, you still believe you have a small chance of hope?" the LRIG spoke "Given that you only have two cards in your hand, only one Life Cloth and 3 cards in your Ener Zone, your fate is sealed."
"Who knows?" he mused "But... I wonder how Ruko will respond to the situation."
Ruko herself had her eyes closed throughout the whole conversation. The only thought on her mind was defeating Ren after her attempts to force him to turn back from the Selector Battles via a surrender had been for nought. As the field remained silent for a few more moments, she opened her eyes, her gaze now directed upon both the Shadow Paladin user and Dragruler Phantom.
"Final Turn!"
Ren slightly tensed up at this declaration, having already known that Ruko had been serious throughout not just her actions just now, but her plays throughout the entire battle. He was well aware from Kai's warning about Iona's attacks resonating with the fragment of the Seed that was embedded inside him, but so far, at least to him, that didn't seem to be the case. Ren knew that he felt small glimpses of Reverse leaking out from Ruko's LRIG deck and there was several moments throughout their clash when it appeared that the Selector was trying to keep that dangerous power restrained. Perhaps this was the moment where she would bring out the source or rather the form of the whole calamity. Iona closed her eyes, keeping a hidden smirk under her expression as she went deep into thought.
Finally, it is time. A simple Grow is all I need to instill the same terror that Kai felt into Suzugamori and then...
"It's not worth it."
The LRIG's eyes widened in shock as she glanced backwards, noticing Ruko had chosen to speak out for herself, as if she somehow read the LRIG's thoughts on her own. From the sound of what the Selector was saying, it appeared that she had no intention of Growing Iona into her Ultima/Maiden form as she felt that the current scenario wasn't worth using it in. The Selector held up the three cards she had in her hand before throwing them all at once into the three SIGNI spaces in front of Iona's LRIG space. The SIGNI that appeared were two Code Anti Vimanas to the left and right spaces whilst in the center appeared Healing Revenger. This choice had somewhat ticked off the LRIG, irritated by this turn of events, much to Ren's slight surprise.
"Why?!" she demanded "Why are you not using my true form?!"
"I use Healing Revenger to attack Dragruler Phantom!" Ruko interrupted.
Nodding to the Selector's command, Healing Revenger ran across the battlefield towards Dragruler Phantom. Ren glanced across towards the cards in his hand, gazing down on them closely. They were Hellrage Revenger, Quesal and his own Dark Revenger, Mac Lir. He knew that although he had a chance of blocking one of Ruko's attacks with Quesal, unless he managed to get a Life Burst from his last remaining Life Cloth, the Selector's second or third attacks from her remaining two SIGNI would be enough to end the game. Sighing for a brief moment, he made no further actions as Healing Revenger raised up her blade and slashed down the front of Dragruler Phantom, knocking him backwards before the unit retreated back to Ruko's table. The impact of the slash was enough to send the last Life Cloth flying up into the air. The card flipped over before landing face up in Ren's Ener Zone, revealing that it was Blaster Dark Revenger "Abyss". Ren pouted for a brief moment before looking back at Ruko who seemed far from finished, now that the end result was within her grasp.
"This is the end," she spoke "The Vimana on my left attacks!"
Vimana held out her hands in front of herself as she formed a sphere of dark energy within her palms. When the black sphere had grown large enough, she motioned her hands forward, unleashing the dark energy as a devastating beam that struck Dragruler Phantom directly, engulfing Ren's table in a massive explosion. When the smoke had settled, Dragruler Phantom was down on the ground, indicating that the battle was over. The Shadow Paladin user did nothing for the moment before he glanced over towards Ruko as the battlefield went black.
(End Music)
Ruko's School: Inside
When the two of them regained consciousness, Ren blinked for a brief moment, having needed a few seconds to redajust himself back to the real world that he was still standing in. Looking forward, he could see Ruko panting for a few seconds as a dark red aura briefly surround her for that period of time before it suddenly faded away. Then it suddenly hit him. Although he had lost the battle, it appeared that the Selector's efforts to restrain Reverse through not just her own willpower but by not calling out the form of Iona that was empowered by Link Joker had spared him from falling to that power again, after barely managing to unconsciously resist it the first time for long enough for Aichi to defeat the Reversed Tatsunagi Takuto after the Shadow Paladin user lost to Kai beforehand at that time.
Despite this though, he knew that although he managed to narrowly escape being caught up in Reverse for a second time, the fact remained was that nothing had changed, aside from 1 strike to his loss tally in the Selector Battles. Ruko was still under the strain of Reverse, still eating away at her willpower and he now knew that even his own skills were not enough to break her free or even try to show her some sense about the situation. Sighing bitterly, he let out a smile to try and get the disappointment out of his head.
"Well then, I suppose Kai was right about your conviction," he mused "I guess I was a little careless back there."
Ruko walked towards him with something clasped in her hands, this not being Iona's LRIG card that she was holding out before her. It was wrapped up in a piece of cloth, concealing whatever it was from sight. The Selector looked up at Ren as if she was expecting him to take it. Needless to say, he accepted her 'offering' out of curiousity before seeing her turn around.
"Ren, I need you to pass on a message for me," said Ruko "To Aichi."
"I'm all ears," Ren replied as he briefly glanced down at what he had been handed, curious as to what it was.
"When he finishes his battle with Ulith," she explained before pointing at the window, her finger directed towards an all too familiar building in the distance. "Tell him I will be waiting, when he is ready." And with that, she walked off through the corridor, leaving the Shadow Paladin user to himself. Ren although somewhat bewildered by the turn of events knew that the Selector was serious in what she was saying. Her mention of Aichi battling Ulith this very moment had also raised some intrigue of the scenario. He didn't know much about her from Kai, having been informed to keep his guard up around her if they happened to encounter each other. His trail of thoughts was interrupted when he heard several footsteps rushing into the corridor.
"Ren!"
Ren turned around to see that Naoki had called out to him, hurrying towards the Shadow Paladin user as fast as he could whilst keeping Kai steady on his shoulder. They eventually stopped just short of him, with Naoki nearly out of breath from his efforts.
"Oh, I see you've caught up," Ren mused "I suppose you managed to recover your deck?" Kai nodded to confirm that things that sorted themselves out for himself. That was when the Kagero user noticed the wrapped object that was in his hands.
"Ren, what is that you're holding?" asked Kai.
"Ruko gave this to me after our battle," Ren answered before sighing for a brief moment.
"You battled Ruko?!" he gasped "What happened?!"
"She won," the Shadow Paladin user replied "But I wasn't reversed due to her not growing Iona to her Reverse form and somehow restraining that dangerous power."
"Thank goodness," sighed Naoki "The last thing any of us want is to deal with one of us being reversed again."
"That's true..." murmured Kai "But that doesn't change the fact that she and any Selectors near her are in serious danger."
Ren nodded in agreement before then turning his attention to the object that lay in his hands. Unwrapping it carefully, his eyes suddenly glanced closely at what was unveiled before the three of them. Naoki let out a silent gasp whilst Kai's eyes could only widen at what he was seeing. Wrapped inside the cloth appeared to be a deck of cards, a Wixoss deck to be precise from the topmost card that was facing them.
"This is..."
The topmost card of the deck that Ren had been handed with was a form of Tama. A Level 4 form to be more precise named Tama, Full Moon Miko. It depicted Ruko's former LRIG in a most cheerful state compared to the state she was currently in during her current bout with Aichi at this present time. The boots on her feet were much longer than normal, extending as far as her knees with a single wing attached to the top of each footwear. The ribbons in her hair were also replaced with giant feathers of the same colours and she also possessed sleeves of the same colour scheme. A white ring with several outward pointing spikes hovered behind Tama along with a few smaller white rings beside her as she clutched what appeared to be a trident based weapon in her two hands. Ren gazed over towards Kai, his suspicions now confirmed.
"It would be safe to assume that this was Ruko's original deck, before Iona became her LRIG," he spoke. The Kagero user nodded in agreement before taking the deck from Ren and placing it in his trouser pocket. Looking over towards Naoki, the other cardfighter nodded in agreement, knowing exactly what he had on his mind.
"We better hurry," the Narukami user said.
Selector Battlefield: With Aichi and Ulith
Meanwhile at the other field, Aichi kept a determined gaze towards Ulith, showing her that he was serious in his intent to defeat her and save Tama from the Selector's clutches, hopefully finding out exactly why the LRIG was behaving the way she was. Meanwhile, over in a nearby tower from within the multitude of buildings in the background of the battlefield, Leon and Hitoe appeared from a flash of light, Yuzuki having been held gently in the palms of the Selector's hands. They quickly went over to the windowsill to get a closer look, wondering how this battle would turn out. Whilst Tama just gazed blankly towards Blaster Blade, not saying anything at all, Ulith however looked closely at him, intrigued by the fact that this was indeed the real swordsman standing before her, albeit downsized to battle Tama on even ground.
"So you're the fabled Swordsman of Light, Ahmes," she spoke "We finally meet."
"How do you know of me?" Blaster Blade asked sternly, keeping a sharp gaze directed towards the Selector.
"I've heard many things about you, as I have already done with Aichi," Ulith replied "But how I've come to know about that, well, that is something I will not drop. For now at least."
Blaster Blade said nothing in response before gazing over towards Tama herself. From the way she was looking, her behavior and appearance disturbed him greatly before he turned his attention back to Aichi. The cardfighter looked back to his avatar in return, both seemingly having the same thoughts on their minds for the moment.
"Let's go, Blaster Blade," said Aichi.
"I understand, my Vanguard," the swordsman replied "Be careful." Aichi nodded in response, having not needed to be told twice about the circumstances that lay before him.
(Cardfight! Vanguard Unreleased Soundtrack: Tachiagre! Boku no Bunshin!)
"With Blaster Blade's Counterblast, I send Hastall to your Trash Pile!" he called.
As the two remaining cards from the Royal Paladin user's Ener Zone moved to his Trash Pile, Blaster Blade raised his blade high into the air before striking it into the table's surface, causing a blast of light to travel across the battlefield in a straight line towards Hastall, Medium Spear, striking the SIGNI head on. As the light disappated, Hastall fell to the ground before vanishing from Ulith's table as the card moved to her Trash Pile. The Selector gazed there for a moment before glancing back to Aichi, her earlier smile having not left her expression, indicating that she was not fazed by this move. The cardfighter turned his attention to the cards in his hand, knowing exactly what to do next.
"I summon Epona, Gallatin and Cynric!" he called.
From left to right, Bringer of Good Luck, Epona, Knight of Silence, Gallatin and Honest Seeker, Cynric appeared in their respective SIGNI zones on Aichi's table, each stanced and ready to strike at his command.
"I'll start with Epona and Cynric attacking your remaining two SIGNI!" he called.
Cynric took aim at Healing Revenger with his crossbow stylized weapon before shooting out several light beams which struck the Shadow Paladin unit head on, banishing her from the field. Epona grabbed ahold of his beetle's reins as it took flight and charged across the battlefield towards Servant D2 who remained still as she was. The Royal Paladin unit slashed down the front of the SIGNI with his sword, banishing her from Ulith's table before flying back to Aichi's own table. Tama gazed aimlessly on towards Gallatin, expecting the next attack to hit her dead on. Speaking of whom, the Knight of Silence was already rushing across the battlefield with his sword sheathed out. The LRIG remained motionlessly still as Gallatin slashed past her before retreating back to Aichi's end of the battlefield.
Ulith's next Life Cloth revealed the Spell, Arc Aura. It glowed, indicating that Aichi had ended up triggering off another Life Burst in this battle. The Selector's smile remained as it was, as she felt that it wasn't necessary to increase it. At least in her view, not yet.
"With Arc Aura's Life Burst," she spoke before holding out her hand in front of her "I down Blaster Blade!"
Before the Swordsman of Light could react, he suddenly felt all of his strength leave him as several black sparks raged throughout the LRIG space, shocking the Royal Paladin user in the result. This also resulted in the card that represented him downing itself, preventing Blaster Blade himself from attacking for the rest of the turn. Aichi could only look on at his avatar in concern as the sparks eventually disappeared, leaving the swordsman panting as he clutched onto the sword that he wielded and was also named after.
"Are you alright, Blaster Blade?!" Aichi asked in worry.
"I... I'm alright," he panted as he got back onto his feet, gazing over towards Tama and taking a closer glance at her expression, making note of her dull, seemingly lifeless eyes. Aichi gazed over towards Ulith who remained smug with the result.
"Turn end," he said.
End of Turn 4
Aichi vs Ulith
Hand - 3 : 3
Life Cloths - 5 : 5
Current LRIGs - Blaster Blade : Tamayorihime, Shooting Star Miko
SIGNI : Bringer of Good Luck, Epona - Knight of Silence, Gallatin - Honest Seeker, Cynric : EMPTY - EMPTY - EMPTY
Ener - 0 : 4
"They're tied for Life Cloths," murmured Yuzuki "But Ulith seems to be keeping up a good defence."
"Indeed," replied Leon "By sealing Blaster Blade's attack before it had even began, she didn't have to waste a Guard SIGNI at that point."
(End Music)
Hitoe said nothing to interject on the matter, looking closely down from the tower towards Aichi. She couldn't help but take note of his determined expression in the face of Ulith, after remembering her last battle alongside Midoriko coming to a most unfortunate end. Part of her still wished that she could have found out about the consequences of winning and losing the Selector Battles sooner so that she could have taken their final battle together more seriously or better yet, find some of her newfound belief in herself that had emerged in her previous battle with Akira sooner before then, so she wouldn't have broken down at the last moment. But even she knew for an iron clad fact that she couldn't change the way that things had already happened and that said newfound belief was only recently possible thanks to a morale boost from Aichi.
Hitoe made a mental reminder to herself to thank him later for his help earlier in the evening, slightly blushing from just thinking about it. Turning her attention towards Tama over on Ulith's table, the Selector could only stare on in horror at the LRIG's expression, not exactly liking the seemingly lifeless look that she was having around her. Yuzuki having sensed her Selector's discomfort looked at Tama as well and nearly had almost the exact same reaction to what she was seeing below her. Although Leon had not been around Tama for nearly as long as any of the other cardfighters, he too could only share his disgust of the scenario in silent agreement with both Hitoe and Yuzuki. Back on the battlefield, Ulith drew her cards as her smirk grew wider, slightly discomforting Aichi in the result.
"Um... Ulith, I have a question," he murmured.
"And what would that be?" she mused.
"I was wondering about how you ended up in the Selector Battles," Aichi answered "It's just... I heard from Kai-kun that before Iona became Ruko-san's LRIG, you were Iona's LRIG."
My... He's already played into my hands and I didn't have to do anything. I guess Photon was correct in him being somewhat gullible.
"Very well then Sendou," said Ulith "If you want the truth that badly, then I'll tell you."
(Cardfight! Vanguard Unreleased Soundtrack: Crawling Chaos)*
"Things of beauty... Things of power... Things of splendor... Things of justice... I love seeing all of them being broken," she spoke, her tone appearing soft to the ear, but with her smug exterior mixed with the words that she said before she then opened her eyes, her gaze directed upon Aichi. "All things are at their most brilliant when they are being broken. Don't you agree?"
"What do you mean?" he asked. The cruel demanored Selector closed her eyes, her smile having somewhat nerved him. Little did Aichi know that was indeed the reaction she expected to see from him. He didn't know about this and unfortunately for him, neither did Blaster Blade. Ulith smiled for a few more moments as she began reminiscing everything that she had been through up to this point.
Flashback; Ulith's Memories
"It started off small. I kept on breaking various things."
A small white butterfly was resting on a flower in the middle of a large meadow, darkened greatly by the tone of the clouds that were present in the sky above. It appeared relaxed, its wings moving up and down, very slowly. A figure, blacked out in the vision which was presumably Ulith herself moved out through the tall grass towards the flower, reaching out for the butterfly resting on top with one of her hands. All appeared calm from this reminiscence of past events until... SNAP! The figure clasped her hand shut in a hard instant, crushing the poor unfortunate insect to death.
"They went cold in the palms of my own hands."
The air around the meadow became cold and eerily still after what had just happened. All was silent for the moment as the now dead butterfly slid out of the figure's hand and landed on the hard ground beneath it. Her earlier expression had now become far more sinister, a creepy looking smile now present on lips as she gazed at the lifeless insect that she had crushed.
"When I was young, I was able to decieve the adults around me. But that didn't last very long at all."
Present
"Then it struck me that it's fine as long as no one finds out," Ulith continued "All that is required for me to do is leave a scar in a place where it cannot be seen."
"Cannot... be seen...?" Aichi murmured.
"That's right. That way, no one will speak of anything about it." She then opened her eyes once more, her gaze directed right upon the cardfighter, again making him feel even more uneasy. "Tell me Sendou Aichi, Ahmes. What is the softest place of a person that you can't see from the outside?"
The Swordsman of Light's eyes widened in horror for a brief moment, having realized exactly what she had been talking about at this very moment. He resumed his sharp gaze upon the Selector, seemingly disgusted about what she was bringing up and where her explanation was leading up to.
"You can't mean..."
"Indeed. The heart," she answered for him "Of course, I don't have any taste for inflicting pain directly through my own two hands. I just lead people to hate themselves. To hate their lives to the extent... where they end their lives themselves."
Aichi could only gasp in shock, horrified about everything he had been hearing so far. He was well aware that Ulith was someone that he could not afford to take lightly according to what little Kai had already known and told him about, but the things she was now revealed to have done, on her own volition no less, the fact that she enjoyed breaking others for her own amusement, the thought of which made him feel sick on the inside. Or at least, in a sense it did. He was not the only one feeling this way though. Up from the tower, whilst Hitoe covered her mouth, unable to even think about everything that Ulith had done to the people around her, both Leon and Yuzuki could only stare down at the Selector in anger, having not expected her to be capable of even this much cruelty to everyone she came across. Said Selector kept her composure smug as she continued her explanation.
"But being the child I was back then, I failed in my objective. A simple mistake led to discovery and so I had to behave myself until I was certain that the case had died down. I acted like a sweet girl and made... 'friends'. However..."
Flashback; Ulith's Memories
"I just had to break someone. The long boredom was so great that I was the one who felt like dying."
Ulith wandered across the streets, seemingly appearing friendly and open to the people walking around her, if only those same people were aware of what really lay beneath that seemingly innocent enough appearance. Speaking of appearances, the Selector's true appearance represented that of a young middle school girl in a dark blue school uniform and she also appeared to have fairly pale skin along with purple hair. When there were no more people surrounding her in the street, her traditional cruel smile had appeared in place of her previous expression, showing her impatience into bringing more harm to anyone unfortunate enough to be on her mind. At this time, a truck from the road in front of her drove by, the one word imprinted on the side of the trailer bringing her attention to it.
"But then, as if fate had answered my call..."
Ulith at some point later in the day had been successful in obtaining her own Wixoss deck, the box clutched gently in her hands as she opened it up. What she found inside had surprised her indeed, but at the same time, was the catalyst to the point of where she now found herself.
"I met... an LRIG."
Present
"Being a Selector is wonderful!" she called out loud, her expression seeming far more crazed than it was earlier. "There's no need to worry about others in the battlefield. You're free to hurt anyone as much as you want. Adults, law, common sense, none of that has any relevance." Aichi couldn't find anything to say to her with the way things were being explained to him. Ulith smirked as she brought up one hand upwards, almost in a clawed like motion.
"I broke them all to my heart's content. Stepping on the wishes of others to make them lose hope and their spirit. Even to this very moment, I can still relish in their screams as I will yours. I wanted to be within this. Within this vortex of sorrow, hate and regret. That was why I wished to become an LRIG, even if it meant being in the service to both the mistress of the Selector Battles and the forces around her!"
(End Music)
Flashback
(Cardfight! Vanguard Unreleased Soundtrack: Raul Serra's Theme)
"You mean... I can become an LRIG?"
Ulith was standing deep within the confides of the White Room, where the mastermind of everything behind the Selector Battles was standing before her. Mayu gazed upon the soon-to-be-LRIG, seemingly surprised that she asked this question, not just from her seemingly casual tone but from the way she said it. Normally, most Eternal Girls in her presence after finding out the truth of the Selector Battles would wallow in despair for the feeling of deception coming across them before she would banish them from her domain to a new Selector that she could simply choose of her own free will.
"That is correct," Mayu spoke "But I'm curious. You seem to not be... overwhelmed by this. Why is that?" At this moment, Ulith held her head down, concealing her trademarked sinister smile from the person she was conversing with.
"A never-ending cycle of lies, deceit and... despair," she mused "That is the purpose of these battles. Or rather, one of those purposes." She then held her head up to face Mayu once more. "Am I wrong?"
Mayu said nothing in response, seemingly curious as to what Ulith was trying to say to her. She already knew that there was more than one purpose she had in mind to creating the Selector Battles herself, with some 'outside' assistance of her own. The mastermind was already deep in thought over the whole subject. Ulith had intrigued her somewhat. At first glance, it would appear that she had already managed to figure most of her 'little game' all on her own. However, even Mayu knew that there had to be more to what the newly appointed Eternal Girl was saying or she wouldn't be acting so confident.
"You are correct," she answered "But there is something I must ask in return. Why tell me this?"
"I can tell from your expression, that we both share something in common," Ulith replied.
"Go on."
"I can sense a great deal of resent, eminating from you," she spoke "This White Room, is not a part of the world that I am already acqainted with. That resent... that is directed at the world outside of this dimension. Right?" Mayu said nothing in response, her gaze still trailed upon Ulith as she spoke out before her. Truth be told, the former Selector could already tell from the mastermind's expression that she was indeed correct in her guess.
"You may want to wreak despair on the outside world," Ulith continued "But whilst you are somehow trapped in this dimension, the Selector Battles are your only means to do so." Her lips then pursed an even more devious smile. "I can help you. I too could care less about what happens to the outside world, as long as I too am satisfied with the emotional destruction that is inflicted. I can sense, that you need eyes and ears for this filthy world, so I will be willing to make you an offer. I will continue to play along with your little game, becoming an LRIG and Selector forevermore. In return, I will act as your eyes and ears for the outside world so we can flush out any... 'rats' and I will also have free passage to travel between both it and your White Room."
"Very well then," spoke Mayu as she rose up from her negative hued throne and walked over towards Ulith. Her gaze then turned to behind her, as if she was already expecting someone to join them at this very instant before looking back at the former Selector.
"But first, there is someone I think you should meet."
As if on cue, Photon suddenly leaped out from one of the open window frames that were present on the walls of the White Room. He landed perfectly still on his feet, maintaining a brief stance as he did so before gazing over towards Ulith and walking over to both her and Mayu.
"I heard everything," he spoke as he glanced over at the former Selector who didn't seem the least bit bewildered or surprised to see the Cyberoid for the first time. "So you will be an outside acqaintance?"
"That is correct," answered Ulith "A pleasure to meet you."
"Call me Photon," the Cyberoid replied.
The former Selector said nothing, but kept the same expression she wore earlier on her lips, having not changed for a single moment since she announced her bargain with Mayu. Speaking of whom, the mastermind coughed for a brief moment to bring both Ulith and Photon's attention towards her.
"Ulith, if I heard correctly from observing your battles, remain still," she spoke. She then raised up a hand towards the now-to-be LRIG and summoned up a swirling smog of darkness that engulfed her in an instant. A dark red aura surrounded Mayu as she focused her power upon Ulith for several moments until the swirling darkness in front of her faded, as did the aura around her. The newly changed Ulith that now stood before her possessed pale skin, short white hair and purple eyes. She had minimal clothing that greatly resembled tights, with white on the torso and light purple on the leggings. The newly changed Ulith also had light purple shoes and white gloves. In addition, she now sported light purple bandage wrappings on her right wrist and on her head tied like a ribbon. As the now-LRIG took a brief moment to observe her new appearance she briefly turned her attention back to Mayu who held a seemingly gentle smile.
"That appearance is fitting for you beside 'her', the person I will assign you to next," she spoke before raising an arm towards one of the open windows, a dark vortex opening up within the gap. "Now go!"
And with that, Ulith went through the vortex to find her new Selector, so that she could resume her acts of emotional breaking terror to anyone unfortunate enough to cross their paths.
(End Music)
Present
(Selector Spread Wixoss OST: Battle ~ Limit)
The air remained eerily still within the dark dimension of the Selector Battlefield, now that everything about Ulith had seemingly come to light before everyone that was present at this time. Whilst Ulith had remained as smug as she normally was, over in the tower, Leon, Hitoe and Yuzuki couldn't find the words to describe the things that the Selector-turned LRIG-turned back to Selector had done to her unfortunate victims. None however felt more distraught about any of this other than Hitoe who said nothing from where she was standing and Aichi who had his head held down, still trying to process everything that he had just heard. Blaster Blade could only silently feel disgusted by all of this, but right at this very moment, this wasn't his main concern. Behind him, he hear the sound of one of Aichi's fists being clenched tightly, the cardfighter seemingly angered in his current state with one or two tears flowing down his cheeks.
"You... you knew about how the Selector Battles worked... that people would be hurt... and yet...!"
"Aichi!"
Aichi opened his eyes and quickly looked down towards Blaster Blade, realizing that the Swordsman of Light had called out to him. Most of the anger that had been pent up inside of him had faded away, at least to a controllable extent. Blaster Blade knew that although he managed to bring the Royal Paladin user's attention down to him, he was well aware that this alone was not going to be enough to prevent the current situation for the cardfighter to get any uglier.
"I understand how you feel. I too feel angered by all of this, but you can't lose focus on why you are here!" he called "Remember why you're battling her!"
"... I got it..." replied Aichi as he wiped away his tears, the anger in his expression having seemingly vanished. "Sorry, Blaster Blade."
Ulith however remained intrigued from their conversation just now. She had almost succeeded in making Aichi lose control over his own emotions for the moment, but that was only the start for what she had planned for him. The Selector revealed Kukri, Small Sword from her hand before throwing it into her Ener Zone as Arc Aura and Servant D2 moved to her Trash Pile.
"Shiro, grow!"
A brief series of flashes rose up around Tama, her appearance not changing by much with the exception of her weapon changing to a more trident based spear and the ribbons in her hair had also grown even larger. Ulith's smile could make Aichi tell that she wasn't even close to finished.
"And, Swift Advance!" she called as she revealed the Spell from her hand "Superior Grow!"
Another series of flashes rose up around the LRIG, this time changing her appearance vastly. Gone was the armour covering the front and sides of her dress as well as the ribbons in her hair and in the place of those ribbons were giant feathers. If only Aichi had known beforehand, this form was indeed the exact same form that Kai just now had seen from the topmost card of Ruko's original deck. This form was indeed, Tama, Full Moon Miko. At this point, Tama herself had finally found a form of emotion from her current state and it wasn't a pleasant one to the eye. She appeared to be smiling, but with malicious intent, much like Ulith who currently held the LRIG in her possession.
Speaking of whom, the Selector placed down Energe, Original Spear to the left SIGNI space whilst Skull Witch, Nemain appeared to the right. Healing Revenger's card moved from Ulith's Ener Zone to her Trash Pile as she discarded Code Anti Nebra from her hand before drawing another two cards and then immediately summoning another Energe, Original Spear. She sneered at what she obtained before glancing over towards her Trash Pile, taking note of the cards already there before then turning her attention over back to Aichi. and Blaster Blade.
"Now then... the fun has only begun," she spoke "I use my Charging ARTS and have my SIGNI attack!"
After another copy of Healing Revenger entered her Ener Zone straight from the top of the Selector's deck, the two White SIGNI along with the Shadow Paladin unit nodded in response to her command and charged across the battlefield towards each of their individual targets. They quickly overpowered Epona, Gallatin and Cynric, banishing them from the field as their cards moved to Aichi's Ener Zone. He sweated for a brief moment before looking on ahead just in time to see Tama charge straight at Blaster Blade, engaging him for a brief moment before quickly slashing down the front of him, knocking the Swordsman of Light off balance.
"... Shiro wants more...!" the LRIG called "... Shiro wants to battle more...! More pain...!"
She then retreated to the table where Ulith was seated as Blaster Blade struggled up onto his feet. Aichi looked on down in concern for his avatar, wondering if Tama's attack had hurt him far more than he anticipated.
"Are you alright?!" he cried in worry.
"I'm... fine..." replied Blaster Blade as he looked on down the battlefield towards Tama, taking note of her expression and the words she just said right now. Something is off with that girl and I'm certain my Vanguard knows of this as well. If my suspicions are correct, there is only one power capable of twisting her normal behavior.
Ulith said nothing, making a simple gesture to signal the end of her turn. Aichi said nothing in response, but kept a close gaze upon the Selector, with one thought running through his mind.
Ulith isn't like anyone I've faced before. She already knew everything about the Selector Battles and that didn't stop her from taking advantage of them to hurt anyone she wanted. I... I will stop her before she hurts any one of my friends!
Little did he or anyone else know or notice was that a small, but brief pinkish glow flared up within the determined expression present in his blue eyes.
(End Music)
Uh oh. It appears that Ulith has already figured out how she can get under Aichi's skin and that's certainly not good for the cardfighter, especially when he now has to face Tama, still behaving strangely, head on in order to save the LRIG from the Selector's hands. Can he save Tama and overcome the cruel demanored Selector or has fate finally decided to play its own cruel hand upon him? Find out next chapter as Aichi's own morals and everything that he believes in are about to be put to the test against his most terrifying opponent yet! Don't forget to follow, favourite and/or leave a review and I'll see you all again next time, hopefully without as much of a wait (just barely managed to get this one up by the edge of my schedule).
*This first plays in Episode 127 when Яeverse Takuto breakrides Twilight Baron.
