(author's notes: the following is based off of one of my favorite library of ruina mods. Recommend it if you're looking for a mod with tough fights and emotional gut punches.)
Another day. More guests to handle. The screen came on and it showed a group of fixers wearing white fighting a monster in the outskirts. A big spider-esque creature with two mouths and eyes everywhere. Dangerous monsters like that are everywhere in the outskirts. At least in the city you're facing someone your own size usually. A well placed blow from a knife pipe or bat will do the trick. But against monsters like that. You'll need a EGO just to stand a chance. I didn't think anyone would be crazy enough to be out there. Let alone set up an office out there. The angel of ruina office's success in facing. The rest of the members retreated as the vice leader of the office. A girl named cygielah, of course she didn't last very long against the creature. However she soon came back. It looks like she had a mini tt2 system built into her body. It seemed that she could reverse time on herself when she dies. Killing the creature wasn't her goal. It was too keep it busy until backup arrives. And it did when a woman named paige huang showed up. That name rang a bell for me. She was a fixer I worked with in the past alongside kali. The job went smoothly but things almost went south when we hit up a bar to celebrate. Paige refused to help pay for kali's massive tab and she almost went on a drunken rampage if i didn't folk over the cash….yeah kali matured a lot more sense those days. And so has paige considering that she got strong enough to kill an outskirts beast in one blow. No easy feat may i add.
Still we got a good idea of how this office works. You have the fixers called heralds which wear white and wield longswords. And the black samurais which the title says it all. Wears black and wields katanas. Another thing to have noticed is that there's a tight bond. Considering that a black samurai named mayumi views paige as her big sister. Which makes what comes next hurt more…
As expected we're not dealing with the top dogs of the office just yet. We're dealing with a captain named yishan who wants the T corp book hoping to learn how to do what I essentially did during my time as the manager of x-394. Reverse time to bring back the fallen. She's telling this to cautious girl names beryl. Who seems to think she'll hold everyone else back and does the chores of the office. Including cooking a meal.
"Ha. so that's where you went paige." i said.
"You know her?" angelica asked.
"It was a job long ago. Back before well…any of this. Kali got piss drunk stupid and almost went into a rage because she didn't fork over the cash for more beer. I paid for it to prevent the rampage. Kali was pretty immature in her early days." i said with a laugh.
"So were you. You said yourself that who had the same view as finn." angelica said. I just nodded considering i really couldn't disagree. I noticed that roland had a pretty serious look on his face.
"Don't you guys think this office differs from the others we dealt with?" roland asked.
"I noticed four differences. One. the whole black and white thing they have going, two. The face that their vice leader has a self resurrect ability as if she has a mini tt2 system implanted in her brain. Three. The fact their crazy enough to do jobs in the outskirts. And four, it seems more like a big family rather than a fixer office." i said.
"When we started doing fixer work. There were few people i could trust. But that would lead me to getting the short end of the stick. It's in the past now though." roland said.
"So your saying you don't trust me or angelica?" i asked.
"There are few exceptions." roland said. Angelica and i smiled. Good he course correct i saw angelica lining up a punch. "Still it is surprising to see such commoteare among fixers." roland said. I shrugged.
"Probably has something do with them being in the outskirts. Sure it's got dangerous beasts that make monster like mountains of smiling bodies and nothing there experience excessive levels of nope! But if there's one bright side. It's that betrayal is a lot less likely. Considering stabbing another fixer in the back to run off with the reward most likely would end up running into another outskirts predator and getting eaten before they could even think of what to use the money for first." i said.
"Are monsters like the one we saw a common sight in the outskirts?" angela asked. Me angelica and roland all nod at the same time.
"Why do you think we put up with the city despite hating it? The only alternative is a wasteland filled with monsters the size of mansions." I said. And so we went to greet our new guest.
"Greetings dear guests. I am angela the librarian of my role's name sake. This is jon. My dear assistant." angela said. Yishan jumped back a bit startled. "Did our sudden appearance scare you?" angela asked.
"...we already read the invitation. We only get the books if we successfully finish the ordeal right?" yishan asked.
"Yep. step through that door and be ready to fight for your life. Win and you get the book you came for. Lose and your more books for the shelfs…listen. I saw how close you guys are with each other. So i'm warning you. From the lowest of rats to even powerful syndicates like the shi have tried this. And they have failed. So i implore you to leave. You will only find death here." i said. Trying my hardest to get her to leave. But unfortunately it didn't work.
"If there's a chance we can bring back our fallen comrades. Then we'll gladly take the risk!" yishan proudly announced. I sighed.
"Don't say you weren't warned…may you find your book in this place." i said. This one was taken by the floor of philosophy. It seems binah has finally decided to get off her lazy ass and get into the ring. Fine by me. Means i have a chance to see her get her smug grin get punched in. considering her previous job before ayin got a hold of her dead body. It's a very slim chance. But a guy can hope right? Yishan and her heralds did managed to put up a fight. Flexible and versatile but lacking in experience. But still binah wiped the floor with them. And speaking of wiping the floor…it was cleaning time woohoo…
The next day. And we're back to the office with paige waking up from a bad dream. That's a given. Considering there's not many people in this world that have much to have a good dream about. Still her and cygielah got their minds off it with a game of chess. Unfortunately beryl soon came and became the bringer of bad news of what happened to yishan. And so after a speech the office grabbed their swords and headed into the library.
"Second visit we're getting the top dogs. Usually that doesn't happen until the third visit." i said. I then noticed the look on angela's face. "What's wrong?" i asked.
"One of them, cygielah. May have somehow connection to the tt2 protocol. She seems to reconstruct her body by going back in time. Does she also experience the same pain of wandering through endless time like i did?" angela asked.
"Considering how pissed off paige huang got when she died to that monster. It's obvious that she wants cygielah to not used that ability as much as she can. Why would she do that if there was no consequence to using it?" i responded.
"Fair point…shall we?" angela asked. And so we greeted our guests. "Greetings dear guests. I am angela the librarian of my role's name sake. This is…" angela said only for paige huang to interrupt her.
"Jon?" paige huang asked.
"I knew you were crazy paige. But to set up a fixer office in the outskirts? That's utter insanity." i said shaking my head.
"Well glad to see your back to being yourself after…whatever happened at that lab. But i never thought you'd be apart of something like this. Did you kill yishan!?" paige demanded to know. I sighed.
"I tried to get her to leave. To turn around. But she wouldn't listen. She believed she could find a way to resurrect those who fallen, bring them back the same way the way your vice operator can cheat death…but alas she failed the ordeal." i said.
"Stubborn idiot!...thanks for trying at least." paige huang said.
"I'm going to give you the same warning. The battles awaiting you are ones your not likely to win. You'll be facing kali paige. I don't think i need to tell you the danger level. You know first hand how dangerous she is. And cygielah. An ex-arbiter has taken an interest in that little trick of yours. I implore you. Turn back if you value your life." i said.
"We're not leaving without yishan's book." cygielah said.
"I'm fine with taking on kali. I still owe her for that stunt when i refuse to pay for her drink!" paige huang yelled.
"Oh come on i prevented that disaster! Why are you still pissed about it!? Ugh you and her a lot alike…may you find your book in this place." i said. And so the two side by side receptions began. Binah the arbiter vs cygielah the immortal and gebura the red mist vs paige huang the black samurai. After a long battle of both receptions. The heralds and black samurai fell. But the two leaders managed to get away. We got an book cygielah albeit incomplete. We got something from her. Perhaps her ability. But paige huang she wanted to stay and fight despite being at death's door but her little sister forced her to retreat and knocked her out. Mayumi stayed and died for her to escape her last wish being for her to live on as gebura's sword cut her down. The two argued. Cygielah wanting to retreat but paige huang hurting through the lost of their fallen companions. I casted a healing spell on both of them.
"I warned you both that this was a death trap and you failed to listen. You lost. Now leave." i said. I turned around. I heard a scream of rage and someone rapidly approaching i moved out of the way and gave paige huang a chop the neck.
"Damn you jon…give them back you bastard!" paige yelled as tears went down her face.
"Leave now and never return! Only death awaits you…and mayumi's death will mean nothing." i said, i turned around and walked away. Only to feel a blast of powerful emotion behind me. I turn back to see that paige huang had manifested an ego weapon consisting of a double bladed katana and an EGO armor that came with a white crown. And a chess themed jacket with one white wing.
"Jon…i refuse to let their deaths be for nothing…which is why i'm going to take you down and get their books back." paige said as she looked towards cygielah. "Are you still willing to go forward with me?" she asked.
"...i believe in you. Let's go." cygielah said as they both turned to me. I couldn't believe this…
"What's your problem!? Mayumi gave her life so you could live on…yet you insist on fighting a battle you can't win!? Fine then!" i yelled as i snapped my finger and teleported us to my battlefield and activating my E.G.O. "you want to die so bad and be reunited with all those who died for you! Fine i'll grant your fucking death wish!" i yelled. Cygielah eyes went wide but paige huang charged. It was a long and grueling battle. Not only because paige huang was even deadlier thanks to her new gear from her mind and cygielah's ability to not die. But because this was a battle i didn't want to fight. Paige is an old friend. I wanted her and cygielah to leave. To live like mayumi wanted. I was gonna bring them back. Both her and yishan. They both proving more than anything that they deserved to be brought back. But these two just wouldn't back down. It was a long fight but they were soon at their end of their ropes. Paige huang was badly wounded. And cygielah's ability to reverse time was reaching it's limit.
"Sure enough, looks like this is it for me. We're both reaching the extent of our limits. But you know what? I've already witnessed too many people die. Hundreds, maybe even thousands. I was already numb to all of this. All the partings and long hours of suffering i've experienced in the past have brought me too much pain. But one day you came into my life and gave me renewed hope and even encouraged me to have faith and communicate with other all sorts of memories i didn't want to remember are flashing through my mind like a torrent but those days with everyone are the days i don't want to forget the most." cygielah said to the unconscious paige huang. She stood up and unleashed her last resort, a time vortex. I won't deny. It hurt like hell. But i was still alive. With her last bit of strength she warped away paige huang out of the library. She fell on her back. "I couldn't even say goodbye…" cygielah said. Tears going down her face. I walked over to her and fell to my knees.
"I'm sorry…i'm so sorry." I said. It was all I could say. I didn't destroy a fixer office. I tore apart a family that truly cared for each other. I felt guilty for what happened to street light office…but this? This was more than i could take. I felt a hand on my cheek.
"I know…i could tell that you didn't want to fight us…that anger you felt. It wasn't due to our refusal to leave. You felt as though our choice made mayumi's sacrifice pointless…I know you feel as your a monster. That you're no better than the arbiter that took your family from you…but no monster would feel regret for this. Your strength and compassion are what make you the white messiah. Never…lose…either." cygielah said as she closed her eyes as her own ability swallowed her body. The book yet remained. I picked it up and brought to angela i said nothing as I went to bed. I spent the night trying to collect my thoughts. This was the hardest reception yet. Not just because the angela of ruina office was tough. I know i can bring them back…i'm planning too. But the pain i saw in them. The tear filled goodbyes. And cygielah's farewell to paige. I'll never forget that…ever. But i refuse to make myself numb to the suffering of others. It's as she said. That compassion for others is what makes me the white messiah.
The next day and another reception…and god dammit it was the angel of ruina office again. Paige made it back. But she was not okay. Taking out her anger and sorrow on poor beryl by lifting her by the shirt and blaming her she threw on the ground as monsters of the outskirts had found their office. She managed to kill the clockwork monsters but in the end of it all she couldn't take anymore and was distorted into the king of the endgame.
"There's something i have to do. I'm not sure if it'll undo some of the damage we did now that's it's come to this, but I have to do it." i said.
"I would say that you're being a fool. Letting others suffering bother you. But that's me and your you. It's as that cygielah girl said. The compassion you have for others is what makes you the white messiah. The city is filled with the cruel and the selfish. But you. Even if you have your own demons. You shine a bright light on this dark city." angelica said.
"I thought it would be too late to save angelica that day. I would have lost her if not for you. Whatever you decide. We'll stand by you. We owe you after all." Roland said.
"Jon. you saved me as well from a century of hell. I stand by you. Not because i'm programmed too by some script…I'm standing by you because I choose too. I will never forget what you did for me…for the sephirah…for everyone in x-394. And i know you'll make this right. You always do." angela said.
"Thanks for the encouragement guys." i said as i quickly ran to where the books of the angel of ruina was. And revived the three important ones. I promised them that i would revive the others later. And i also gave the rundown of what happened to paige huang. "I know i have no right to ask. But please i want to make things right. And i need your help to do it." i said as i bowed.
"We will save big sis." mayumi said.
"We already lost too many…we're not losing the operator." yishan said.
"...she's probably gonna ring my neck for telling you this but she really did miss you and kali. She still has the photo of you three on the desk." cygielah said.
"Yeah…i really owe her an apology. Before she moved to the outskirts. She frequently visited me during the time at my lowest…and i thank her by bringing her to her lowest. I got alot to apologize for." i said. And soon we began the reception of the king of the end game. The chess themed distortion and much like tomerry or EGO philip. The stage changed to reflect them. This one a massive chess board in a grey void of swords. I didn't bring taii catt or rose for this. No. it was just me cygielah mayumi and yishan. Fighting not book. But to save their beloved leader. It was a long fight with several phases. At the end of it. It came at me as paige huang's rage came out at full force. I could feel her pain in every blow. Her sorrow her loss. Her feeling of betrayal. I fell to my knees bleeding badly. As the king of the endgame raised it's blade to finish me off. All I had was one thing to say.
"I'm sorry paige." i said closing my eyes and waiting my punishment. Yet never came i heard the sounds of metal hitting the floor i opened my eyes and saw cygielah hugging the king of the endgame. It turned back into paige huang. And disappeared into light. And in cygielah's arms was the book of paige huang. After the battle was over. I revived her.
"I don't expect forgiveness for what i've done…but i wish to make it right…just know. I'm sorry paige." i said.
"That's just like you jon…wanting to make things right. Just tell me why your apart of this? Senseless killing like this place was never something you'd sign up for." paige huang said. I then explained everything up until this point. With what happened at x-394 up until now. "So…all of this was to try to finish that stupid projects that keeps haunting you huh?...alright i'm in…but hiring us won't be cheap." paige huang said. I used the book and conjured up a much bigger stack of cash than usual. "Okay. we're not that expensive." paige huang said.
"I know that. But consider this in a long line of actions to apologize for what i did to you and your friends." i said. Paige huang sighed.
"Typical jon…you can't just sorry to someone. You gotta buy them a pony too. Nice to see you haven't changed." paige huang said. She walked away. "Well. time to go pay my other old friend a visit." paige haung said. Both me and cygielah sighed. Knowing that their was gonna be a lot more fighting in the library. As the rivalry between kali and paige huang continues after a long hiatus…i went back to my floor and used it to view the outskirts there was one thing i had to know…what happened to the last surviving member of the angel of ruina office. What happened to beryl. I soon saw fixers being chased by a snake monster. Only for a hooded figure to cut down and slay it. She lowered her hood…it was beryl. The angel of ruina.
"I know for a fact that cygielah and paige huang are proud of you…one day you will meet again. And they'll tell you that themselves. That is a white messiah promise." i said as i shut off the monitor and went to bed.