Chapter 22 - Deception Game

"Takanosuke..."

Someone was calling his name... It was faint, distant, but it was there, something that sounded so familiar... He couldn't put his finger on it though, his head felt a bit fuzzy...

"Takanosuke...!"

Everything around him felt bleary, unsteady. It didn't make sense, even as the rest of his body became aware of his surroundings though his eyes refused to open themselves... Where was he, again?
He couldn't quite remember...

"Takanosuke!..."

He was being shook, gently but firmly, his blurry world shaking and trembling before it began to fade away...
All at once, his body felt heavy as he was shaking by something on his shoulder, getting as much hold of himself as he could before uneasily blinking in the slightest bit. He heard and felt a soft groan leave his lips, the dull heaviness of his head returning as he slowly opened his eyes, vision blurry but clearly able to see that there was someone above him.
"Takanosuke.." When his voice was called this time it was clearer than it previously had been, and he was finally able to determine who was calling out to him as his vision slowly cleared.

Sakyo.

The older blader stood above him, a look of hardened worry on his face as he shook him lightly with the hand that he had placed on his shoulder, slowly willing the blonde back into consciousness.
"... Sakyo?..." The blonde breathed, his voice soft and barely audible from the drowsiness that plagued him, his body feeling heavy and his head having a dull ache to it from...
What was it from?...
Wait, that's right...
Sakyo's worry visibly dissolved, a small sigh escaping pale lips at the knowledge that the Griffin Blader was alright - for the most part, at least.
Slowly did Takanosuke manage to sit up with Sakyo's help, leaning against the pillows and the headboard a bit from his remaining drowsiness that wouldn't allow him to be fully coherent and aware.
"What happened?..." The blonde asked groggily, his head aching dully as it had a couple other times whenever he had gotten those headaches; he knew why he had passed out, he just couldn't entirely remember much before that.
"You tell me." Sakyo said gruffly, "I came back and found you unconscious." Cerulean eyes stared at the Dragoon Blader for a moment, trying to work that out in his head.
Yeah, that was right... He remembered coming back to the room alone.
He remembered getting that headache that kept coming back for some reason, remembered that it just wouldn't stop...

"Sorry..." The Griffin Blader said softly, bringing a hand up and rubbing his head a bit.
"Don't worry about it." Sakyo said almost dismissively, reaching over to the bedside table beside them and pulling a tissue out of the tissue box placed there in case they were needed.
Gingerly did he bunch it up and a bit and wipe a few times at the underside of the younger's nose, pulling it away with most of the dried blood on it.
Takanosuke looked at it for a moment before looking down at his right hand - blood was still smeared on it from earlier when he had wiped away at it.
He really needed to do something about those nosebleeds, for whatever reason they kept occurring.
"Did you have one of your headaches again?" Sakyo asked, putting the tissue paper into the small garbage can on the other side of the room.
Takanosuke looked at him for a moment before taking his hand off his head and settling it in his lap. "Yeah, I think so..." The Griffin Blader said dryly, remember only the smallest bits and pieces of what had happened before he had seemingly fallen unconscious.
Drowsiness, pain, dizziness...
What else was there?
There was something else, but what was it?...

"Hmm..." Sakyo hummed softly at the boy's answer, seeming to think over the problem for a moment without getting any sort of resolution on what exactly to do.
The most logical thing would be to go to the hospital and get some tests done on the blonde, but he knew that neither of them would likely be able to afford that at all. Either way, the blonde always seemed to be fine afterwards - granted that there was still no way to be sure that the first time it had happened it had actually been that.
Inwardly sighing, Sakyo decided on the one thing that seemed the most reasonable to do at the moment. "You should rest a bit, then." The Dragoon Blader said firmly, "I didn't find anything at the library, but I suppose we could look somewhere else later if you're feeling better."
All Takanosuke did was nod, his dull ache in his head becoming even more dull as time went on and not agitating him as much as it previously was.
Sakyo couldn't find anything, so they would have to look later...

Look somewhere else...
It was only then did the blonde-haired boy finally clue in to what he had been trying to remember from earlier. There had been pain, dizziness, and there had been something else that he had seen behind closed eyelids.
He remembered now... It was blurred around the edges, but it was definitely there - mountains, closer than they were at the distance they were currently at from them...
A sign that had a name on it, the name of a place that was almost too blurry to see. What had it said?...
Wait, that was right.
"Sakyo..." The blonde said suddenly, drawing the attention of the other boy who had sat down in a chair on the other side of the room and now held some sort of book in his hands, looking up at blue-eyed boy with his own red ones. "...I think we should go to Ishioka." Takanosuke continued, drawing a slightly confused gaze from the slightly older blader across the room.

All Takanosuke did in response to that, which was nothing more than a silent question, was nod a bit in response.

As far as he was aware, visions of Seers were never wrong - or at least his grandmother's had never seemed to be.

As far as he was able to tell, it meant something, and whether or not it was for better or for worse, Takanosuke had no idea.
But it was the best thing they had to go on at the moment, wasn't it?...

For what seemed like almost hours, Kyoya sat there, in his office, thinking.
In reality it had only been a few minutes, but to his own mind it felt like impossibly longer than that. Perhaps it was simply the matter of the situation that made time seem so lengthened all of a sudden, when previously it could have all gone by in no time.
But now he had spoken with Tsubasa about the previously irrelevant matters of the BTF tournament, and why exactly it had been brought all to a halt, and he had gotten the answers, and time now seemed to drag on slowly and with unrelenting patience even if it had been the shortest of seconds in the real world. Maybe it was natural though, when you were almost carefree of any burdens and then suddenly got hit in the face with a truth that seemed to weigh down everything and was much bigger than what you were.
The greenette simply smirked and shook his head at that foolish thought - even if it were true in whatever sense, saying it like that was a bit too sentimental for his own taste.

Either way, his conversation with Tsubasa only hours ago had left him a little dazed and with even more questions than he had actually cared to ask.
Besides, it wasn't like it would do much good since Tsubasa seemed to only have a limited amount of information as well, and asking anything more probably would've wasted more time than they had spent talking about the matter at hand. Practically the moment he had cut the connection between the two of them, Kyoya had called Kakeru back up to his office and told his younger brother the vague specifics of what he wanted him to look for before sending him on his way.
He had also called up a few of the workers that both he and Kakeru trusted the most, and instructed them with similar orders that they gladly obliged to, even with some confusion on what it was all about.
All that the CEO had said was that it was for important matters that suddenly came up, which had be looked into immediately, which seemed to satisfy them all fairly well - the only one he told at least part of the full story to was Kakeru, who seemed to take it calmly but not without some confusion and dazed shock that came before anything else. When he had sent all of them to do that, he set aside the papers that he had previously been working on - he would have time for them later, since they weren't due to be submitted for at least another week - and got down to his own search for information and resources.
Granted that the internet wasn't really a helpful asset in this kind of matter, he was able to use several other programs and 'applications' that they had developed over the years to his advantage, even if they currently were not providing too much help on the matter.
He had also contacted Tithi again a few hours earlier and told the purple-haired blader to contact him again in case he found anything - he himself wasn't to sure on the full contents of the Mist Mountain Shrine, but as far as his knowledge went he knew that there were many inscriptions and even some 'prophecies' written upon almost every corner of the walls that made up it's stone interior, so there could potentially be something there.
After all, Tsubasa had said that that assistant of Madoka's - Maru, was it? - had previously gone with Dynamis to the temple when they had all been trying to find a way to save Gingka with the plan of searching for something that could help them, and that that involved engraved inscriptions on the walls.
Tithi had agreed, even if he did sound somewhat reluctant to do so in being involved in all of this, but he had promised to contact him if he managed to find anything nonetheless.

With that done, the green-haired blader had gotten back to his own progressing research to which had little provide him at the moment, which was when he had subconsciously leaned forward with his elbows on his desk and laced his fingers together, staring forward aimlessly with unfocused eyes as he allowed himself to just think all of it over, mull over what he could do if possibly find anything, if there was anything to find.
In truth, this 'Alcorin' character sounded like he wouldn't just be in a civilian records of some small town - God knows where in fact he did come from, other than from the bowels of that formless shadow that had formally made up his apparent father.
Exactly what could any of them be expecting to dig up on him? The Leone Blader sighed through his nose and looked towards the digital clock on the bottom right hand corner of the computer screen, which now read 9:07 PM - seemed like time had somehow passed way faster than he had actually taken credit for, seeing as how he remembered it being around 1:00 in the afternoon when he had spoken to Tsubasa. It seemed that Kakeru and the other few workers that he had sent on the hunt for anything remotely useful definitely hadn't found anything, since of them had reported back into him yet since he had called them into his office.
Surely Kakeru would've at least checked up on him unnecessarily like he tended to do quite often, but seemingly not; well, he had explained the full importance of this task to his younger brother, so it could only be reasonable that the youngest Tategami was as focused on his job as possible.
Even still, what were any of them going to find? He himself so far hadn't found anything that deemed helpful in the situation...

"Dammit..." Kyoya thought to himself bitterly, "Of course Hagane had to get himself killed just so that I could through all of this trouble for it."
But of course, that was just like the redhead.
Shaking his head again, Kyoya leaned back in his chair while crossing his arms, thinking how exactly he could find any way around this dilemma.
Clearly, Tsubasa hadn't been able to come up with anything as of yet, which could most likely be caused by his evident lack of sleep and supposed stress. Fortunately for himself he was naturally well rested and able to think as clearly as he was possibly able to, his mind and eyes sharp as they looked for some way to figure out just how to find this guy.
Nothing was impossible, he knew that for sure from all that they'd been through, so there had to be some solution...
What managed to pull him out of his deep thought process was the sound of the automatic doors opening and closing, signalling that someone had entered the office and was most likely seeking to speak with him. Kyoya's blue eyes made their way over to the side of the room, seeing that one of the workers he had sent to look for anything useful, Mura, had come into the office.
"Hello, Director." Mura greeted politely and solemnly. Kyoya let a small smile twitch at the corners of his mouth, sitting up properly in his chair.
"Hello Mura, I take it you found something?" The green-haired man asked, looking at the black-haired intently as he waited for her report.
"Not particularly, no." Mura answered solemnly, her black eyes scanning the papers that seemed to be stapled together in her hands, "Kakeru and the others are still researching as much as they can, but so far not much progress has been made."
Kyoya made a small sound in his throat, a smirk making its way onto his face and revealing his sharp canines from underneath his upper lip. "Well, looks like none of us are having too much luck." The Director said with a small bit of amusement, "I'm not surprised though... It isn't exactly the most well talked about topic."

"So you've found nothing either..." The dark-haired woman said carefully, her voice still professional and flat. "No, but I'm working on it." Kyoya responded, his sharp blue eyes opening half-way and gazing at the woman out of the corner of his sight, "Nothing seems to be coming up with anything useful so far, but I have a few ideas I intend to look into..."
Narrowly, Mura seemed to raise an eyebrow a bit, though her expression remained calm. "Such as?" Kyoya pulled his eyes away from her and looked at the open screen of his laptop in front of him in a suggestive manner.
"Well, you know that what I asked of all of you involved both the Bridge To The Future tournament - directed by Tsubasa Otori, and the God of Destruction from seven years ago, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, since I obviously haven't been able to find anything with the means I've used so far, I'll have to take a bit of a different approach..." The green-haired man explained almost slowly, glancing over at Mura for a moment before standing from his seat, "Since this whole thing is relatively connected to Nemesis, I plan to look a bit more into that - lore wise, that is." Slowly, the CEO walked about halfway around his desk, making his way over to one of the windows that lined one side of the wall. "I'm thinking that if one of us looks more into the history and religious backstory of Nemesis, we might be able to find something more reliable than what we've found so far."
Sharp blue eyes wandered off to the side, as though in a gesture to look over his shoulder to gaze at the woman near the other side of the room.
Those eyes narrowed slightly, the green-haired man falling silent for a moment, as though he were listening, waiting for something...
"I see." Mura said in an understanding, her voice still calm and steady, "That's quite a clever idea." Kyoya allowed a smirk to come to his lips, placing one of his hands on his hip as he seemingly gazed out the window towards the slowly darkening world.
"I'm glad you think so. Of course, it's only a theory, but I think we might actually be able to get something out of it."

"Well, it might work." Mura said solemnly, black eyes never leaving the Director as she quietly set the papers she had been holding down on the corner of his desk. The black-haired woman stepped around the desk until she was right across from where the sharp-eyed Director stood, her own eyes remaining stoic, almost expressionless.
"Yes, it could..." Kyoya said slowly, his own heart pounding in his chest as he knew what it was that stood half a dozen meters away from him, "But I guess you wouldn't want me finding out, now would you?"

Mura's eyes, previously stoic, widened slightly upon their own accord, taken by surprise even in the state where no such thing should shock her.
It was all in one moment did Kyoya whip around, pulling two things off of his belt in the same movement before letting out a war cry he hadn't used in ages.

"Leone!"

A bright green aura surrounded the man, an aura that surrounded the Bey he launched within seconds of docking it. Mura, in her relatively stoic state, did nothing but watch as this happened, waiting for Fang Leone to make impact with her, which visibly seemed to be looking to shatter bones at the speed it headed towards her at.
However, it didn't hit its supposed target as it raced past her, the force of it making her move back a step as it made contact with the wall on the opposite side of the room of which Kyoya stood.
The black-haired woman glanced over her shoulder briefly, an uncaring look on her face as she watched the Bey that had flown at her quickly race back to the other side of the room back to it's blader that it knew.
"You know, from what I've heard of you..." Kyoya began, his eyes narrowed with their predatory gleam, "You do specialize in deception, don't you, Alcorin?"
The only reaction he got was Mura's calm face - the one that he could not be sure was actually hers...

Alcorin took pride in his skills of deception, especially since he was capable of taking it to a different level with the powers he had been born with.
One simple word, and the human mind would break under his fingertips, left wide open for him to control to his will until he had no more use for them. He played with them like puppets, strings wrapped around every joint and limb, no free will but for the struggling consciousness that was unwilling forced into the very back of their corrupted minds.
Simply marionettes, the source of their lives connected to the strings that he pulled. It was the same as he pulled the strings on Mura, watching idly from afar, seeing in through the windows of Kyoya's office, seeing everything through her speech and the strings that he controlled with his own mentality.
Kyoya wouldn't see him, of course not, but he could see him perfectly well.
And when Kyoya had figured out his, or 'Mura's', act as quickly as he did, he really wasn't all that surprised.
After all, he was a smart person, so one of his little messengers had described.
Even with the very minor dilemma that he had figured it so quickly, a small smile made it's way onto the albino's white lips, a small chuckle escaping from him. It didn't matter that he knew of the variety of abilities that he had, that he knew of his games of deception, because soon enough Kyoya wouldn't be a problem with him. Even though none had been truly present to hear his words, he had warned what would happen should another Legendary Blader get in his way.

"How persistent you all are..." The psychopathic control freak said with an amused sigh, "It seems I'll just have to do something about the lot of you, now won't I?"
Yes, he would definitely have to.
Then he would have to get back to focusing on Zyro and the rest of them, not to mention Sakyo and Takanosuke of who still seemed to be on the lookout for him as well...

Honestly, none of them knew when it was time to quit... The mere thought reminded the albino of that wretched little being, and he sneered slightly in irritation.

"We'll see how long all of you hold out... But for now..." That smile reappeared on his face, cat-like eyes narrowing and glowing with their demonic heritage, "Let's play with you... Shall we?"
In that decision, he moved the strings...

Out of what could almost be described as boredom, Kakeru lightly strummed his fingers on the keyboard, just lightly enough so that they wouldn't type any unwanted words into the 'Search' bar.
He wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed from the time that his older brother had given him this assignment to now, but he knew that it had at least been hours.
So far, neither him nor the 3 other of his colleagues had found anything. Kyoya had told him what it was that they were trying to look, even if the entire prospect of the situation was a bit much for his mind to full comprehend.
The younger Tategami had obliged to look regardless, but even still... How did someone even find the child of a god, anyway?

Kakeru simply sighed and shook his head, leaning back in his chair and gazing up towards the ceiling.
Maybe Kyoya was having better luck with it, but who knew at this point? Glancing over to the side a little bit, the green-haired assistant saw that both Tamaki and Nori were still trying to find something that could be a potential lead for them, but it was evident that they were both running out of hope to find anything as well.
Crossing his arms over his chest, feeling both bored and hopeless, Kakeru glanced over to where Mura had previously been sitting, the chair still pushed out with her announcement that she would be back shortly. She had told the remaining three of them that she was going to go and report to the Director their progress so far, even though they had very well come up with nothing, and then had gone on her way.
She had been gone for a few minutes now, but it would probably take a little bit to discuss the whole assignment with his brother anyway.
She had also probably been pretty eager to get away from the desk after that small little spider that had bitten her finger from under it when she had placed her hand on her knee - Nori had tried to kill it with a hardcover book that had been laying around, but had remained unsuccessful in the attempt.
The youngest Tategami hummed quietly for a moment before looking back to his own computer, tapping his right index finger against the crook of his left elbow in thought.

He wasn't entirely sure why (maybe he had an idea of why), but something about all of this was giving him a bad feeling.
He really hadn't been told much about this god-child-guy, or whatever he was was, but something about the last few hours, almost since they had been given this assignment, just kept gnawing at the back of his mind and he wasn't sure why.
Director Tsubasa Otori seemed to be the one who had most of the situation under control, and his older brother had evidently offered to help out with the new situation that they had only very recently been introduced to after an apparent month of being in the shadows.
From the way it sounded, those back in Metal Bey City seemed to be handling the situation fairly well (or at least as well as anyone could handle something like this), so there shouldn't really be anything to worry about other than finding something that would prove helpful to all of them.

But no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that that was true, something just felt so... Off.
Unsure of what to do, Kakeru glanced up towards the ceiling with his eyes, almost as if trying to see through the upper floors as to determine why something felt wrong.
But of course, he wasn't able to do that. Surely his older brother would be able to figure out something if they couldn't...

Eyes of blue and black were locked onto each other, one pair staring into the other with a predatory gleam, while the other pair stared back in a stoic calm that didn't suit the situation whatsoever.
However, Kyoya could hardly bring himself to care on what Mura's (was that even her?)expression was. "You do specialize in deception, don't you, Alcorin?"
For several moments, nothing was said by the other, black eyes and a stoic face staring blankly at him as though completely indifferent to the fact that she (she?) had nearly been killed by the bey that he wielded - and perhaps she really didn't care.

After all, what was it to a god?

Then, after several moments of silence between the two of them, a faint chuckling sounding from the woman across the room. Kyoya's eyes narrowed further, a dangerous look in them as he heard the sound that was not, but any standards, Mura's voice.
Only after the chuckling - more like a demented giggle - stopped, did Mura actually open her mouth to speak, her expression as stoic as ever and greatly contradicting the voice that wasn't hers.
"Well, I guess you are as smart as I expected." In that moment, Kyoya froze at the mere sound. The words matched in sync with the movement of her lips, but it was far from Mura's voice - more like 2 voices overlapping each other, mixed together to create some ungodly symphony that somehow managed to strike Kyoya to his core and make his skin crawl.
Mura's face was blank, but that voice was something entirely different, and not human.
"At least you're brighter than that friend of yours back in Metal Bey City." Mura continued on, the voice that came from her mouth seeming to smile while she herself didn't.
"I kind of expected you to be better at hiding your whereabouts, Alcorin." Kyoya said back with a sharp edge to his voice, "From what Tsubasa was telling me, you're better than this at tricking people."
A chuckle was heard from the raven-haired woman, though her features were still as blank and emotionless as ever. "Usually I am fond of making sure nobody knows..." Alcorin admitted with genuine amusement in his inhuman voice, "But where's the fun in that? It makes playing with you much less entertaining."
Kyoya's eyes glared at the woman across from him, looking into blank eyes. "I'm not interested in your games." The green-haired man said sharply, his blue eyes having a greenish highlight to them, "Besides, I already know how it is you play around. Disguising yourself as one of my subordinates is pretty low.. But if you're actually controlling her, that just proves you're a coward all the more."

A ungodly laugh sounded throughout the room, making the Leone Blader give an involuntary shiver as the sound reached his ears, almost like it was trying to work its way into his head, get at some part of him that was most vulnerable.
"A coward, huh?" Alcorin's said with malicious laughter, and Kyoya could almost swear he saw the edges of Mura's lips curl up slightly in a smirk in response, "You can call me that all you want, Kyoya, but we both know how this is going to play out... Because you're just like little Tsubasa... You care about your underlings too much to see reason. Which is why I know that you wouldn't hurt dear Mura, now would you?"
Kyoya's eyes narrowed again, frowning. "What makes you think I'm anything like Tsubasa?" Kyoya asked, choosing his words quickly and carefully with that devious part of his nature, seeking to possibly beat the psychopath at his own game that they were both fairly adept at, "How do you know if I actually care about them or not? After all, they're far below me."
Another laugh resounded throughout the room, Mura's stoic face still like a void even while the voice that came from her mouth held too many different emotions to even comprehend. "How?... Simple." Alcorin went on, a malicious intent in his voice that was capable of unnerving the strongest willed people, "Because you have a little brother."
Automatically, Kyoya's eyes widened, so foolishly unsuspecting of the mention of Kakeru that his reaction was beyond his control.
He almost felt his heart stop, his chest aching at the feeling of the sudden feeling of nervousness washing over him.

In response, there was a sound that could be described as someone smiling; just from the sound of his voice, Kyoya could almost envision the body language that went along with it.
"There it is." Alcorin said softly, his overlapping voices almost sounding soothing, "You see, Kyoya, you do care about them, just like dear Tsubasa does... I know he does because I've watched the way he's worked for a long time... And while I may have only been watching you for a few hours, I can tell you care about your underlings... All because you have your dearest brother here."
Kyoya stiffened, his pupils dilated as he stared at the woman across from him, his throat suddenly dry as that voice surrounded him throughout the entire room.
Something about the words that the supposed god was speaking was just so unsettling, so not right that it couldn't have actually been something that was spoken.
Just the simple way he spoke about his brother, as if suddenly using his only flesh and blood against him so casually was no big deal, chilled him to the bone - and that was a hard thing to do. "Not only that," Alcorin went on teasingly, "But he even works under you. And believe me, I've seen how all of you Directors work long enough to know, that if you care about one of your underlings, you often care about the others, especially the ones that you trust the most. You can dance your way around the truth as much as you like, Kyoya, but you know you care for dear Mura, and that's exactly why you won't do anything."

A growl emanated from Kyoya's throat, the dull aura around him beginning to intensify, which the Bey in front of him reacted to through a soul bond that connected them.
A small chuckle was heard, a sound that could've almost, at one time, been sweet and untainted, but now was filled with nothing but a malicious and dark intent.
"You can try and deny it all you like, Kyoya."

Said blader froze at the words spoken - not because of how or what was spoken, but because that voice now seemed closer than it previously had.
"Believe me, you can do anything you want, attack her all you like... I won't stop you... But then... I wonder what little Kakeru would think of that?" Kyoya's eyes narrowed, trying not to let the words of the inhuman sociopath get into his head and twist him around to his leisure - he knew how Alcorin worked from Tsubasa's input on it, and he was not about to become one of his puppets in this game of his.
"Leave Kakeru out of it." The Leone Blader said sternly, his eyes giving off a dangerous gleam as he looked at the brainwashed woman across from him, "He's not involved in this like I am, so don't try bringing him in."

"Not involved? Oh please..." Alcorin chuckled, his unworldly voice everywhere and yet in one place at the same time, "You've alreadyinvolved him in this, Kyoya, I didn't have to do anything.." Kyoya glared at the woman across from him, almost as if trying to see the physical form of the separate entity that controlled her in his growing irritation.
"The moment you agreed to help Tsubasa, you're dearest little brother was brought into it too." The demi-god mocked, his voice so close to the greenette that it he could have been behind him, just feet away, "After all, how would you ever be able to keep a secret from the only family you have? You care too much about him to keep such a thing from him... And that's what's going to get him killed."

Kyoya's eyes widened, his heart almost threatening to stop in his chest at those words.

His entire body froze, his breathing hitching all in the same motion which almost made him feel like choking.

"What, did I hit a nerve on that one?" Alcorin asked, almost sounding genuinely confused in a way that was clearly mocking him.
All Kyoya did in response was stand there, entire body frozen as thoughts invaded his mind uninvited, thoughts that he would have never even brought into his mind until now at the simple thought.
Kakeru had worked beside him for years, and not once had he even thought of the possibly that he could get his younger brother killed in their line of work - after all, what exactly were the odds? TC was a huge office building that they all worked in with regular outings in the field with those in the lower standing, why would he really suspect such a thing?
As much as he tried to will away those thoughts, force the words out of his mind that just seemed so enticing, Kyoya was well aware that Alcorin had hit a nerve; both of them were.
But even with the incredibly unbearable subject that he had never once before brought to mind, the Leone Blader knew very well that it was all just apart of trying to win the game that they were both wrapped up in.
Before Kyoya had time to even compose himself, or saying anything in response, Alcorin spoke once more, and the green-haired blader could hear him smiling.

"You know, it's just so typical... It seems to be the same with all of you..." Alcorin went on, "The thing that always sets all of you humans off, the one thing that seems to get to every single one of you, is having the people you care about the most put on the line." A small chuckle sounded, "Pretty bland after awhile, but, hey, it makes things all the more easier for me. It makes it just somuch easier to break all of you down into tiny pieces... But sometimes, all it takes to crush the human mind is just a single word. Your dear Mura proves that quite well..."
Kyoya wasn't stupid, he knew what Alcorin was looking for.
A way to break him, and using his younger brother was definitely a sure-fire way of doing so if anyone had to immediately guess.
There was something about those words, that god-forsaken voice that just made all of it sound so convincing, something unnaturally manipulative about it, that almost made him want to fall as another victim too it... Almost.
Kyoya knew this game, and he had played several times with people that were just regular people, powerful CEOs who were convinced they could twist him around their fingers just because he was much younger and supposedly less experienced, and he usually ended up winning on most occasions - he was not going to let Alcorin be the one to bend him backwards.

With that final thought, confidence and stubbornness being the only things that kept him standing, Kyoya forced all his previous thoughts from his mind, blocking them out and refusing them entry as he trained himself on the one thing that was actually important at this very moment.
Tossing a few locks of his long hair over his shoulder, Kyoya scoffed slightly as he fixed his sharp blue eyes upon his opponent.
"Well, either way, it looks like words are all you've got, Alcorin." The greenette said, his voice firm and steady in his resolve.
From the brief silence that filled the room, with seemingly nothing to be said from the other entity, Kyoya could only guess that he had let down the god - at that, he smiled smugly.
"I honestly find it hard to believe that Gingka could be killed by someone like you... You seem like all talk more than anything."
For several moments, there was still silence from the demi-god in the room, Mura still standing there motionlessly until her captor decided to speak, and even then there was still a smile to be heard in his voice.
"Is that so?..." Alcorin's almost body-less voice spoke, amusement flowing through it as if he knew something that Kyoya did not, "Well then, if you want to prove me wrong, then by all means, Kyoya..." Mura's pale arms spread out on either side of her at an angle, her body language clearly saying that she would welcome whatever he would throw at her, "Give it your best shot."
Light blue eyes narrowing, predatory instinct flashing in them as the green aura around him intensified, Kyoya looked towards the Bey in front of him before throwing his hand out towards his opponent.
"Gladly... Leone!"

At it's comrade's call, Leone's face bolt pulsated in roar with the spirit of the lion it contained, its aura the exact same as its blader's as it took heed to the exact orders it was given, taking off at lightning speed towards the brainwashed woman across the room.
Mura's face was simply stoic, her arms still stretched out in invitation to the attack that was to come - but of course, Kyoya knew that she that was only because of what Alcorin was commanding her to do.
Leone, much with the predatory instinct that the lion was born with, leapt into the air at full speed, the dim wind current channeling through the room giving the Bey the extra strength it needed to fire itself towards Mura, who stood there waiting for the impending moment when the king of beasts would strike her down like it had so many others before...
But Leone never struck her.
Not directly; it shot past her once more, it's fierce edges just grazing her cheek and sending her stumbling back with the force of the winds that it's power created, unfit for the confined space of the office.
Unlike before, Leone pulled itself back from crashing into the wall, landing squarely on the floor behind the black-haired woman and maneuvering around to the side, where it stood still in waiting for its next orders. Kyoya glared at his opponent, his stance ready for whatever attacks Alcorin would throw (if he threw any), his sharp canines just barely showing.
"Well, are you going to fight me or not?" The Leone Blader challenged, "From the way things sound, you didn't just show up here to challenge me to a petty fight, now did you?"

(A smile crossed his face, so sweet upon a white face that it was anything but normal)

For several moments, there was no answer, before a small chuckle emanated through the room that didn't fail to make Kyoya shiver as an unpleasant tingle went up his spine.
"You're clever, Kyoya..." Alcorin said in a way that almost sounded like a genuine compliment, Mura's lips moving to fit with the voice as it spoke, "A bit too clever for my taste, though..."
Before Kyoya had time to react, Mura thrust her hand out in front of herself, and invisible force seeming to grab onto him and force him back into the wall, several feet from the ground.
"Maybe we should stop playing around... After all, there are far troubling little pests that I have to deal with already. Besides, what's one more less Legendary Blader?"
Kyoya struggled to breathe, trying to move his body to get himself free but finding almost everything to be locked in place by something he couldn't see - was this part of the extent of what Alcorin's power could do?
Abruptly, whatever was holding him against the wall disappeared, allowing him to drop to the ground. Gasping slightly for breath, predatory instinct called out to the green-haired Director, telling him to get up before the god could make another move and fight for his own survival. Growling slightly, Kyoya got to one knee and raised his head in a war cry.

"Leone-!"

Kyoya never finished his command to his Bey, his heart almost stopping in his chest as his breath hitched, looking at who should have been Mura.

But it wasn't.

It was Kakeru.

Standing there with a blank expression on his face, staring at him with blank, black eyes that could haunt someone's soul. Kyoya knew, in that moment, that he should've known better.
"What, can't bring yourself to hurt your dearest little brother, Kyoya? Alcorin spoke before an unbearable laugh sounded in his ears, Kakeru thrusting his hand out in front of him just as Mura had, and that same invisible force clung onto the Leone Blader and lifted him into the air, almost seeming to grip him around his chest and dangerously close to his neck.
Kyoya grunted slightly in discomfort and perhaps frustration, but was unable to take his eyes, dilated and haunted, away from the form of his younger brother, who stood there with a vacant expression on his face - a face that, in a reality that Kyoya knew all too well but was unable to realize in time, wasn't actually Kakeru's.
"Now this is just precious..." Alcorin said with a childish giggle lining the edges of his voice, the sound coming from Kakeru's mouth just as it had Mura's, "You keep talking with such big words, but you really are as pathetic as I thought." Even while he stared at the form of his younger brother, Kyoya could hear the sound of a smile in those words, "You love your dearest younger brother far too much to even consider hurting him... You couldn't even bring down sweet little Mura. I thought your main idea was survival of the fittest, Kyoya?"

A laugh emanated through the air, and the greenette suddenly felt the force that was originally around his chest and torso wrap around his neck, cutting off most of his airway and making him abruptly gasp for breath that he could barely gain.
"If you hadn't fallen for such a petty trick like this, you might have actually been able to do something for dear Tsubasa and all of your other friends." The demi-god taunted, merciless in his onslaught of manipulating words that dug themselves into Kyoya's ears, trying to force their way into his headand wrap everything that was most vulnerable about him, "I mean, honestly, you should know perfectly well how it is that I play from all Tsubasa was telling you... If you really knew, if you were really that smart, you would know..."Kyoya, in his struggling state, opened his previously shut eyes and looked down towards the false form of his brother, which now had an eerie smile etched onto his face in the place of Alcorin, staring at him with black eyes that weren't his, "... Eyes are the windows of the souls, after all."

Kyoya's eyes widened, almost completely forgetting the need to get air properly to his lungs before he was slammed hard back into the wall behind him, feeling the wind getting knocked out of him which did not help with the current strangulation.
Even as he was somehow pressed even harder against the surface behind him, Kyoya still tried doing all he could to struggle, to get away from this manipulative psychopath, gripping at whatever was wrapping itself around his neck and pulling in a desperate attempt to get air to his lungs; yet all of it did nothing.
"You know, Kyoya..." Alcorin began, "This is quite similar to way I killed Dynamis... But, you know, he was struggling a bit more. I didn't really have a feel for playing with him though, he was far too much trouble...
The thing that held the Leone Blader pulled him forward for a moment before slamming him back again, this time the distinct sound of sharp 'cracking' reaching the ears of the CEO.
It was only then, through the unbearable force that was pressing against him, that Kyoya felt something cold pressing against his head and back that couldn't have been the walls - Alcorin was pressing him against one of the windows. Still trying in vain pull whatever was choking him away from his neck, Kyoya glared weakly at the form of Kakeru, who he knew was just Mura possessed all the more by this psychopath.
".. Asshole..." The Director choked out, his ears alert to the sound of the slow cracking on the glass behind him, his vision becoming blotched with black spots as he fought for air.
"How mean..." Alcorin responded with a small laugh, "...And to think, Kyoya.. You could've avoided all of this-"

"Chimera!"

Along with an unexpected cry came a light that Kyoya was able to barely recognize, the false form of Kakeru turning its head in partially stoic shock before being blasted away by something that Kyoya didn't see before he dropped to the ground, to forceful pressure that had been trapping him releasing its grip and allowing him to fall to the floor.
Mura, now reverted back to her original form, slowly got up from the floor and onto her knees, her stoic face twitching slightly from the pain that her brainwashed self didn't mentally acknowledge and looking towards the entrance to the office with blank eyes.
Only when the dust from the sudden attack disappear did she see who was standing there.
Kakeru, his blue eyes fierce, stood there in the doorway, his launcher out in front of him from firing off his own Bey - Chimera - which spun near the center of the room about where she had originally been standing.

(Red eyes narrowed, his smile disappearing at the sudden appearance of the younger Tategami, displeasure written all over his face)

"Leave Kyoya alone!" The younger greenette demanded, lowering his launcher and glancing towards his bey, ready to fight to defend against whatever it was that was here, whatever was after Kyoya, whatever seemingly had Mura in its grasp as well - Kakeru didn't know much about the situation, true, but he knew enough to guess what was going on.
For several long moments (Moments, minutes, hours, what was the difference?) the two stared at the other, blank eyes staring into determined ones, eye contact never breaking in a discussion that didn't exist, couldn't be exchanged.

(He frowned, and flicked his hand to the side - there was no point here)

It was only after those long moments of staring did Mura suddenly collapse to the ground, her body faintly quivering from the aching that likely made it's way to her brain even in her unconscious state.
Kakeru then let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, his shoulders sagging in relief as his heart beat fiercely in his chest from the anticipation and nerve-wracking tension, and it wasn't going to slow down any time soon.
"Kyoya!" The youngest Tategami cried out, his face contorting in worry as he hurried over to his older brother, Divine Chimera making its own back to him as he ran past.
"Kyoya!..." Kakeru knelt down beside his older brother, taking him by the shoulder and rolling him onto his back, "Kyoya, please, answer me..."
The younger of the two brought his head down and hovered his cheek over his brother's mouth, desperate to feel a puff of warm air on his skin - but there was none.
Biting his lip, panic starting to set in, Kakeru pressed his ear gingerly against his brother's chest, looking, listening, for a heartbeat, praying that he was still alive...

And he found one.

Faint, but still there - but if he wasn't breathing, it wouldn't be there for long.
The green-haired assistant sat up straight again, his blue eyes - the ones that matched his brother's fairly well - darting across his brother's beaten body, turning his head and looking towards Mura near one of the other walls...
"Dammit, dammit, dammit..." He cursed internally, barely able to think properly in the situation he was presented with.
Breathing frantic, Kakeru turned his head and looked towards the doorway of the office, where several concerned workers now stood, wondering what all of the commotion and noise was about.
"Somebody call an ambulance!" Kakeru commanded, a pleading look in his eyes as he looked at the small group of people for a moment before turning back to his brother, hearing fast footsteps becoming lighter in the background as someone went to do as ordered.
Entirely lost, panic mode settling in place, Kakeru whimpered softly as tears came to his eyes in the anxiety and confusion of it all, trying to clear his mind with the hopeful fact that an ambulance would be on its way. But it was impossible - there was no comfort to be gained here.