The night was young as Juno sat by her desk, a piece of finely carved almond elderwood that took up the area just before the doorways leading out into the balcony. The light of the three moons against her back, she brushed a loose strand of her blonde hair behind her ear as she glanced between the hand-written report in her hands and the younger woman opposite her.
Sat in relative quiet save the occasional chirping of bugs and hooting of an owl amongst the trees outside, Juno would be the one to break the tense silence. The words left her mouth in an even tone, underlaid with a brewing irritation. “These numbers. I assume they’re not what you predicted.”
…
Athena smiled, not with pride or mockery, but a calmness that told the blonde all she needed to know even without her next words. “It’s pretty much exactly what I expected, though I will admit I didn’t tell anyone about it.”
“And why is that?” Juno narrowed her eyes, setting the page down and resting her chin on her interlocked fingers.
“In part, I wanted to see the look on your face.” Her daughter joked with a shrug. “But mostly, it’s because the ‘others’ didn’t think it would happen and I was overruled. They expected that we would only need to supply around twenty thousand people by the end of the first match. Whether it is due to death, disqualification, or their own will to leave mattered little.”
Studying the younger woman, Juno caught on quickly. “Our collaborators probably thought that people would be more desperate to prove themselves. To kill, even, and that would have meant point deductions and less resources distributed.”
“Essentially.” Athena confirmed. “And now, because they’re wrong, the expenses came in four times higher than expected. It’s not my fault.”
“But I assume you have a solution?”
“A couple, actually.” Her daughter smirked, pinching and twisting a strand of her bronze hair. It was a sign that her mind was working, at least harder than usual. “First, we can kick out everyone under the twenty or thirty thousand ranking. But obviously, that creates certain issues such as missing out on potential late bloomers.”
Juno blinked, her gaze shifting off to the side for a moment in contemplation before zoning back on Athena. “Well, that is something we can try later on. At a certain point, late bloomers just aren’t worth the investment.”
“Agreed. But since it’s only been nine days, let’s set that pitch aside for now. After all, Miss Scathach hates missing out on benefits and she’s too stubborn to convince otherwise, like you.” Athena reasoned. “Another option is to simply move ‘Phase Two’ forward.”
“But it’s still not quite ready...” Juno sensed that the younger woman was leading to her true pitch. As it turned out, she was right on point.
“Which brings me to ‘Phase 2.5’.”
…
The Queen of Wrath stared at her foster daughter before a single word escaped her lips. “No.”
“Oh come on, here me out.” Athena said in a playful manner, one that almost seemed unfitting to the formal white dress the brunette wore. “Essentially everything for that phase is ready. All that’s really needed at this point is to adjust the difficulty for the current condition of the participants.”
Juno remained silent for a moment, both in ponderance and exasperation as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She sighed audibly, muttering under her breath. “I’m going to fucking regret this, but what is it you’re thinking?”
Athena smiled, her silver eyes twinkling as she got up out of her seat and whirled around the desk. Once next to the blonde, the brunette would tap her fingers against the elderwood, activating the Projection-type Egos hidden beneath and bringing up a hologram. Light Screen Ego, Hololight Ego, Thousand Mystery Ego - Juno had never bothered much to learn about their names nor their few differences.
Wasting no time, Athena brought up a diagram Juno knew to be the plans of ‘Phase 2.5’. It was still rough, depicting what appeared to be a dozen lines drilling deep into the earth across various terrains and locations. Every once in a while, the lines would extend horizontally into what seemed to be rooms of diverse shapes and levels. Next to these floors were small descriptions of their characteristics and contents.
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‘Delve’. That was the unofficial moniker given to the phase that would require the participants of Black Box to dive into ‘Raids’, fighting monsters and obtaining all that was useful in the process.
“Now, I know this was designed to be implemented way later as another layer of evaluation, but I think this can work now. It could even net quite a bit of profit and cut down on the preliminary evaluation time.”
Athena did not linger long on the main page, but instead flicked to the next where long paragraphs of text were shown and scrolled down. Soon enough, illustrations of strange and undoubtedly monstrous creatures appeared on the screen. Some were humanoid, while others were anything but. They all had some name or other, as well as a ranking that determined their danger levels as well as links to more detailed descriptions.
“See here.” Athena pointed at the second line of illustrations consisting of two humanoid monsters. One was a bulky mass of muscle called ‘Bruiser’ while the other named ‘Discharger’ appeared to be a pin-cushion of flesh punctured by metallic spikes. Both possessed the rank of two and were disturbing to look at even as mere sketches.
“I think anything around their level is fair game.” The brunette said with a straight face, unperturbed. “The Bruiser and Discharger will be very difficult for the average person to deal with, but not so easy for the frontrunners. Even Hebe and Helen will have a somewhat difficult time fighting a cluster of these.”
Juno raised a brow. “You’re going to bother ‘clustering’ these things for them?”
“Of course. Anything for my family.” Athena grinned mischievously. “But it’s not like either of them have seen it, so maybe I’ll go easy on the first round. I’d be surprised if more than a hundred participants outside those from the Isles have explored deep enough into the Lost Empire ruins to encounter these things.”
Juno nodded her head in agreement. The ruins of the Lost Empire were infamously treacherous, with creatures that should have only existed in nightmares. Aside from the mana crystals that formed deep beneath the earth and the remains of technology almost impossible to decipher, there was little reason to delve into them. The Great Isles were different however. Where the strongest gather, there were bound to be some adventurous or simply crazy enough to explore those depths, and explore they did. Almost all the locations marked for Phase 2.5 had nine levels down where most would stop at one.
That said, the majority of participants were not from the Great Isles. Out of those who were, only a few had experience in such a field.
“I’m sure you’re clear that the casualty rate will be high.” Juno said, more of a statement than a question. “Likely to the point where less than twenty percent of them will make it through whatever assignment you’re assigning them.”
“Well, yeah, but we’ll have some ways to mitigate that. First of all, I suggest setting this up as a sort of ‘trophy hunting’ event. We can make the goals both to exterminate monsters as well as to gather as many mana crystals as possible. That’ll make it interesting to our ‘greater’ patrons.” The brunette replied, already having thought out a way to circumvent negative public reception. “For mortal patrons, well, they’ll be mad regardless, but we can explicitly state that the participants can quit at any time to minimise damages. We’ll probably also need the editorial team to cut out the mana crystal bits. Don’t need the world to know how rich we are, or rather, Skye.”
“That sounds fine…” Juno began, a finger to her temple. “But clearly you still have some bits to iron out before bringing this to the Council.”
Athena nodded. “Mhm. At the earliest, this will probably be ready in the third week, so after the second match. Which means…”
The Queen of Wrath sighed, understanding the young woman’s meaning. “We’ll bear the expenses until then.”
“Oh don’t be so glum. It’s not like we’re the ones paying for this.” The brunette smiled. “The ‘Great Isles of Dawn and Skye’ are in charge, after all.”
“That’s true.” Juno tapped her fingers. “Yet there’s always the chance they’d put the blame on us.”
Athena raised a brow in question, leaning against the desk. “You don’t trust your good ‘friend’?”
“I trust her to put Skye first, just as we do Hearthwood.” Juno replied, eyeing her daughter with a critical gaze. For a moment, she was silent, contemplating.
…
“It has just occurred to me that you keep adding fuel to this mess of a fire.” The blonde said, her tone stern. “It may just start raging out of control.”
“Maybe.” Athena shrugged, unperturbed. “But I think this is necessary.”
In that split second, the young woman’s moon-like eyes that shifted sideways flashed with an eerie light. Combined with the pleasant smile on the brunette’s sculpted face and the glow of the moonlight, Juno suddenly felt a sense of unease despite knowing that her daughter would never attempt to harm her. That said, there was just something disconcerting about the young woman.
An owl that could see everything - it was as if she were holding the world in the palm of her hand. Like she was playing with everyone’s strings, guiding them through layers and layers and layers of plans only she could see the end of. The entire program that took the funding of nations to establish was just a game to her, an illusion that could be blown away with a whiff of air.
When Athena spoke, Juno could not avert her eyes, feeling as if an eon had passed in silence.
“‘The world is cruel and unfair’.” The brunette said, twirling a strand of her hair and suddenly feeling philosophical. “One day to the next, people try to get used to the unfamiliar, only to find more dropped at their feet without warning nor reason. They try to hold on to what they have, so that they may obtain the wealth of freedom, only to find that they are now held down by the very things they coveted.”
Athena kept her gaze toward the balcony and the colourful woods beyond. “Black Box took away everything, but the participants still seem rather comfortable. We need to push them to breaking point.”
“...’Pain is a powerful motivator, and failure a great teacher’.” Juno raised a hand and placed it gently on the brunette’s head. The mother in her wanted to comfort her child. She may have been a stoic woman, but she was not without such instincts.
Turning her head upon the gentle touch, Athena grinned, her demeanour returning to her usual gentle joyfulness. She took Juno’s hand and held it. “An unfair reality granted equally to all. That’s what Black Box aims to create.”
Juno smiled, amused as the young woman swung their arms side to side like a giddy child. Sometimes she had to wonder if Athena was really the same age as the fourteen year old Sera. They certainly had moments where their behaviours aligned like mirror images, not to mention the amount of time the two spent together.
Stopping in her childish actions, the brunette exhaled as if she were getting something off her chest.
“No point in coddling them. Only those who adapt to the chaos have a chance to stand at the top.”