Dark clouds slowly gathered on the horizon. Their billowy, dark forms clumped uniformly together—devoid of mist or rain—but it was only a matter of time; these ominous clouds promised trouble.
With the sun hidden behind their veil, the temperature dropped sharply as chilly winds swept through the city of New Roselee.
These dismal gusts mirrored the austere exterior of the Blue Flame Stronghold. Tall walls, constructed from jagged rocks, wood, shattered concrete, and boulders, were interwoven with razor-sharp metal wires and repurposed vehicle frames. This formidable barrier served as a stern warning to would-be invaders, yet once inside, the base revealed a refined beauty.
Celes moved gracefully in loose garments layered over a form-fitting bodysuit, while the wind playfully rustled the hems of her clothes.
“What exactly happened?” Celes couldn't understand how such a drastic change could occur with the other Medallions positioned in such sensitive locations. Furthermore, the specific method to activate a Medallion was not that simple without the proper know-how.
“My guess is the lack of hints, the process of elimination, or even some eyewitnesses.” Minnie gave her piece, putting forward several possibilities she had thought of.
The absence of something oftentimes carried just the same significance as the presence of it did.
Information was just like communication, there were both verbal and non-verbal ticks of truth.
“Impossible, they couldn't have escaped my or Sapphire’s senses.” Celes shook her head in denial. This was something she had been on guard against. She also carefully checked each time upon arrival at the medallion’s location and there were never any traces of visitors.
“Yes, but you've seen them and they've seen you from a distance. Even if you took different routes each batch it's the same location. Suppose someone was familiar with the area and happened to see the medallion despite not knowing its use earlier on. Then it’s practically an announcement of its peculiarities and relevance after our continuous trips and the growing population of card masters. Also, you said talents include thinkers and pioneers right? Like the fat nerdy guy you recruited.”
Minnie didn't have to say anything else but Celes was already getting what she was trying to say, still, she continued,
“The medallions at first glance are quite eye-catching, although there are the ‘relics’ to help disrupt public perception as far as weird otherworldly monuments go, they're still very noteworthy. Furthermore, there's also the matter of natal cards. You said no one should have an appraisal card or similar deductive-type card in New Roselee correct? Even if they did it would be hard to put together clues from nothing but I think we gave them clues without knowing it. Moreover, the biggest difference and possibility for this great change is obvious as well.”
Celes nodded with a grim expression, “Me.”
She had become active much earlier in this time period, a stark contrast to her original start when she was merely swept along by the waves—now, she was the one making them. Their base was also far stronger from the outset, built under far more favorable conditions.
The most powerful charm of cards was also fully taken advantage of by her. Talents and powerful card masters could only be discovered or encountered normally and in the future, but this early on, through cards she could ‘create’ these normally scarce talents and powerful combat forces.
As a stand-alone organization their only weakness was their youth but with their first mover advantage, their competitors were far behind them.
Their primary objectives were progressing smoothly as well, perhaps a little too smoothly.
The future was already beginning to change.
This wasn't good news. The advantage of a regressor was centralized upon being able to capitalize on the knowledge of the future as they knew it. But if that changed…
‘I might not be able to meet those severe cancers I wanted to get rid of ahead of time. There's also the trial spaces, some of those were triggered by certain persons and even I have no idea how many of them started, I just know of the process and end result. This all puts us at an even greater disadvantage.’
Celes massaged her brows, it wasn't that she wasn't expecting the future to change, she just didn't expect it to change so soon. She had hoped for at least a few more weeks or months to prepare well.
How troubling.
Celes felt the greatest contributor to this situation was herself in more ways than one, the location of the first medallion was near a spawn point of forest goblins, which she had eliminated early on. This meant that many persons who would have normally died had survived thanks to her and their existence was likely what gave her away.
Still, she wouldn't have done anything different. She had saved many lives herself while nipping the more bloodthirsty activated card monsters in the bud. This act was also further extended through her teams of subordinates sweeping through the city on a regular basis since the apocalypse began.
However, now this appeared to be working as a double-edged sword against her. Nevertheless, It was the right thing to do in her opinion.
Some minor troubles and conflicts that she could overcome with her comrades, weighed against the recovery of lost lives that could otherwise never have been regained, was something she would do again and again without hesitation.
That was the person she resolved to be in this life. In the past, she did many things that she wasn't proud of, sacrificing morality for the greater good, and telling herself it was necessary that she had to. She was a hypocrite then. It was a lie she told herself to sleep better at night. Yet it couldn’t even do that.
Given the chance to do things right, she would be a better person this time and not act like she was, in ill-fitting clothes.
Of course, saving people by itself wasn't all to blame for the changing future, the process in which she achieved this through monopolizing a lot more cards, buildings, areas and so on all had significant impacts for the development of the future. Both good and bad.
Celes thought back to the Black Iron grade card in her collection, seized from one of her relatives, [Replication Puppet] it was a peculiar summoning type card that could take the form of its target, once the target race was set, it couldn't change. She knew it as belonging to a heroine in the Last Days. That person used it to infiltrate many bases and had a great impact on women's rights and was a core member of one of the world's most powerful organizations, the Sisterhood of Medusa.
Yet she had unknowingly intercepted it through her actions. Without this natal card then that person would likely be unable to replicate her previous feats.
She might have indirectly doomed several persons in different flavors of tragedies. Through her greed and selfishness.
Minnie saw through her somber mood and quickly added, “There's good news though.”
Celes turned to her with a raised brow.
“We've achieved four of our seven short-term goals. Our population has hit 3,000, with 70% of residents actively contributing to the base in some way. We’ll strive to continue this ratio going forwards. Our two active scout and combat teams have cleared out 90% of the monsters in the marked areas. We've stationed personnel in key locations, sourced from the Red Vulture team, expanding our influence from here to the high school building in the north and city hall in the east. Base fortifications are nearly complete as well.”
“The merit system is fully operational, and several of our base products—including IDs, clothing, and other essentials are in circulation. Missions are being posted and completed on average every five days. With your mother’s help, we've also begun implementing our plan to foster a sense of unity and belonging among the residents. I think we're making solid progress where that's concerned.”
“We’ve also made headway on the escape tunnels throughout the city—the special team was a perfect fit. Just three persons have managed the unimaginable in such little time. The low cries and liquid from the Yellow Spot Spirit Ladybug have been a godsend for silent mining, we've also stockpiled enough of the liquid as instructed. So far, thanks to them, six of the eight major escape routes are usable and also nine of the sixteen alternative tunnels.”
Within the Blue Flame Stronghold, each natal card was carefully chosen amongst those viable to act as natal cards.
Celes ensured to carefully select cards useful to the base, combat roles were restricted to only four teams with supporting cards mixed within all of them but everyone else almost purely had auxiliary, non combat and supporting natal cards for a variety of reasons. Amongst them, Celes had several small teams of three to five persons with very specific roles to play.
Minnie continued her updates.
“Unfortunately, we still don't have anyone to head the shadow intelligence corps. There's also been no word on the talents you wanted to recruit, except for ‘Charlie’ and ‘Sutherland.’ They’re still reluctant, and the process is taking longer than I expected. We’re also still awaiting word on the targets as well.”
In the future, as far as leadership was concerned, Celes was in some ways a figurehead and Minnie was the true centerpiece for the Blue Flame Stronghold allowing them to attain the great heights they did with little internal strife and civil disputes. Of course, without the hard power brought by Celes such a situation would never have lasted for long.
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Celes had already informed Minnie extensively about their prior development path in the days of the future past. This included all the hiccups that they encountered along the way in addition to their current goals. Doing so with the intention that Minnie could do an even better job, and up until this point she had proved to be just as amazing as Celes had remembered.
Celes was beyond grateful for her existence.
Everything was right on track.
The only issue was the sudden appearance of an abnormal amount of external Card Masters, not a lot but enough to be concerned.
“What should we do?” Minnie asked for direction.
While she was able to achieve many things concerning politics, and skillfully arranging human resources necessary for maintaining an organization, she had yet to grow into the savvy necessary for direct physical conflicts and the reverberating repercussions they could have.
That is, the savvy for war.
Being self-aware, Minnie trod very carefully in such matters and didn’t do anything without Celes’s express orders.
“It can't be helped, we have to advance several of our plans due to their interference, we might also have to hold off on the targets not related to other organizations in the city and those who only pose a problem in the far future.”
Celes shook her head, in view of the changing situation they had to prioritize accordingly. She might even have to increase the ratio of Card Masters in the base sooner than she had wanted to.
Just then, Minnie froze in place as if she was electrocuted but Celes was unperturbed.
Minnie’s [Spiritual Link Insignia] could bridge great distances and there were few spaces capable of blocking the transmission of thoughts.
The messages were also instantaneous and could affect emotions as well as one’s psyche which was useful for handling mental stress and attacking. However, the latter effect needed other aids to have real effects in combat.
Once her mastery was higher, she could even transmit images through thoughts and create links with persons whilst they were unaware serving as unknowing double agents. However, these were feats only possible in the far future, not for a Tier 0 Card Apprentice to attempt.
“I just got word that Xia has eliminated two of her three targets, the third escaped.” Minnie paused for a moment as if someone was speaking to her invisibly then later voiced.
Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
They were just mentioning the incomplete goals and received an update not long afterward.
Celes nodded to herself, satisfied with their rate of progress.
“Escaped? That’s odd, Xia’s a great shot and she only makes a move once she’s certain in these types of matters. Who was it?” She queried. She chose Xia for the job not only due to trust but also due to her methodical thinking, carefulness, and ability. In their local archery and hunting competition, Xiao had been the four-time championship winner. Most importantly, before they met a certain group sometime in the future, she was the best suited for such matters.
“Timothy, the one with the [Thousand Language] talent.” Minnie replied.
Celes’s expression was overcast, this wasn’t good news.
Timothy was not the strongest of the three targets she had given but he was certainly the most cancerous. He was amongst those at top of the orange list she had compiled for the city.
His talent, while useless in combat, found far more insidious applications. Not only did he collaborate with alien races and wild monsters by trafficking humans to them, but he also brokered robberies that destabilized nearby human bases. As despicable as that was, his depravity reached new heights when he struck a deal with lesser demons. This pact led to a catastrophic event, later known as the Carnage of the Black Spring, where the unleashed demons wreaked havoc, causing tens of thousands of casualties, including both ordinary civilians and powerful card masters.
It was something she was adamant on stopping along with several other incidents similar and greater in scale. It could even be said that the Carnage of the Black Spring was the starting point where everything went wrong, culminating until New Roselee was eventually destroyed in that incident.
His escape was something she very much didn't want to see, such slippery fellows would be far more careful once startled. It would be much harder to get to him from now on.
“She said they had help, some masked men in black.” Minnie.
Them again? Celes looked annoyed.
“Send Gilly to meet with Xia and try to obtain traces of the enemy, her Hundred Fragrance Seeker profession is largely complete since we had most of her socketed cards to begin with and we recently got the last one. This is already the third time unknowns have interfered with our missions at key moments, we need to escape from our passivity by seizing the initiative.”
She quickly ordered.
Professions were rated as common, uncommon, rare, or perfect, determined by various factors—including the strength of individual socketed cards, their combined effects, resistance to certain influences, and effectiveness against specific monsters and races.
Most professions remained incomplete until reaching Tier 3, primarily due to the limited number of innate card slots and the rarity of essential professional cards.
Among Team Blue Phoenix, Gilly was the only one with a fully developed profession. On average, most individuals started with a single card slot, which expanded based on their natal card and advancing through realms. However, Grey Ash and Blue Stone Grade natal cards offered no guarantee of additional slots.
Gilly, however, had four card slots.
Celes only selected the very best for her team; they all had perfect professions. Humanity could typically create only common or uncommon professions due to the system’s immaturity.
Yet, Gilly’s Hundred Fragrance Seeker—a perfect rated profession—had been unearthed from a ruin of the Card Primal civilization. It utilized her five slots, including her natal card, creating a seamless synergy between her abilities.
When she first demonstrated her powers, even Celes was astonished. Fifteen years into the future, finding such a complete and powerful profession would be rare. She could count those she knew on one hand. It was an unexpected fortune that she was able to foster such a powerful profession at such an early stage, with it they could achieve many of their base objectives with considerably less effort and also deal with opposing forces with little chance of being blindsided.
This was why Celes immediately dispatched her to the ambush site.
If there were traces to be found then she would find them and they would tug on the end of the thread until they unravelled whatever plot was amiss.
A cold glint flashed within the depths of her azure pupils, Celes wasn’t one to be on the receiving end for long. She had pledged to have total control over New Roselee by the year’s end and she intended to follow through on this goal no matter the cost.
Boom.
Thunder boomed high above the skies, and flashes of white lightning streaked across heaven’s dome.
The inhabitants of the Blue Flame Stronghold cowered in fear being twice shy from the seven-day calamities. The powerful weather was alien to them, the thunder they knew wasn't so horrifying nor were the lightning bolts so big.
These were the darlings and symbols of the New World, a grim reminder that the world they knew was gone and something else had taken its place.
**
Elsewhere in the city, to the far north, within the dark basement of an industrial warehouse.
A small pile of corpses forming a strange, dark color palette of skin was arranged near a repurposed ventilator shaft for burning.
Blood soaked the unpaved ground forming a crimson background to the coincidental artful palette of corpses. Perhaps only the white bone fragments, and pink and grey mush from fractured and bashed in skulls were the only stains to this beautiful scene of carnage.
“Did we have to kill so many people?” A dark-skinned man with a fresh three-fingered tattoo on his neck couldn’t help but swallow seeing the horrific scene, and the towering shadowy figure gazing upon it. The wide eyed faces of foes and friends alike staring at him from the pile was unsettling.
The shadowy figure coldly harrumphed.
“We need to establish authority, as for those among our brothers who joined them in death… it's a shame but they had to go. Their personalities were problematic to begin with, power will give them an even bigger head.”
Before the man could contest his statement the man shadow scowled,
“These mother fuckers… I watch movies, I read books, even if I didn't, with the flexing they've been doing like idiots, I wanted to get rid of these ticking time bombs before they attracted the feds. Now I just advanced plans and acted more directly instead of setting them up behind the scenes. It’s a new time. If we’re to survive then we have to be like the OGs again, like our fathers and grandfathers. We’ve lost the vision for many years now, and that’s about to change. It's the same as we’ve been taught, love our brothers and hate the other side. Fuckers like them who forsake the gang and brotherhood for selfish vanity with cars and jewelry they can't afford have fucked things up for everyone everywhere.”
“That's why I renamed the gang and made three principal rules for survival. This ain't a democracy no more, we're fucking communists now. We’ll share everything. That's the way forward. The way to survival.”
The bulky figure sported pearly white teeth in a confident grin as he made his declaration, his skin was exposed by a tuft of light, it had a granular stone texture like that of the ground rather than a human’s skin and was even tougher.
A faint three-fingered tattoo could be seen on his forehead.
Gulp. The subordinate couldn’t help but swallow seeing his imposing frame.
The same bulky frame, that bashed in the head of their former top triggerman, who gained the superpower to create mini explosions, killed before he could make a move in retaliation.
“Now tell me what Tres Noches wants, hah, that Ignacio kid, different times breed different people indeed. I thought I was quick but he was faster. He overthrew the Latin kings and other spanish gangs and pulled them under his rule in just a few weeks after the apocalypse. That kid's slick. We had to exterminate three of our rivals and only two bent the knee.” The bulky figure’s bald head was like carved stone yet it somehow reflected light like marble.
“He wants to talk about the phoenix-riding chick. The one whose people have been taking over territory at a rapid pace. They've got all the major areas now to the east and west. Metal Factories, Schools, Larger Supermarkets, Medical Centres you name it. The important buildings are all theirs. They’ve left guards at every point as well.”
The leader of the newly dubbed Three Fingered Judge gang rubbed his chin, this unknown enemy was the most unexpected one in their circle.
He had expected gangs and underworld organizations like theirs to move fast in the new world but that organization was neither a gang, related to the underworld, or even a former aboveground organization. It was formed on the spot with family and friends and expanded rapidly like unchecked rabbits.
It was troubling. They also had a lot of firepower. Hot weapons and the more dangerous superpowers.
Still… They were too strong and most of all, unknown. Know thy enemy and know thyself and that's half the battle. The gang leader remembered what he read somewhere.
“Tell him to screw off. We're not interested.” He weighed that the odds were stacked against them in fighting such an opponent, for now at least. He had only recently cemented the new regime, and now their group needed food, living resources, people to join and people to rule over and most of all, cards. Those mystical contraptions. His priorities were already arranged. Territorial wars were unnecessary for now.
His subordinate was hesitant to speak, “Well, it seems he's offered us and the others the method to create superpowered individuals.”
“?”
Well, I’ll be…
“Hah. That conniving bastard. He must have known that we wouldn't make a move easily so he throws out bait that he thinks we can't resist. Hah! As if… When is the meeting?”
The leader did a complete one-eighty.
With such a fragrant and delicious bait, he couldn’t possibly resist indeed, he imagined the others in the city would be the same.
They all had noticed the oddities in their numbers for a while, they were blessed by the gods with powers and few in number, yet weaker radishes were popping up like weeds in several areas, all affiliated with the phoenix riding chick until two or so weeks ago.
It was clear there was a hidden method to produce superpowers.
“In three days, the location will be delivered three hours prior to the meet.”
“A careful brat now isn’t he? Tell him we'll be there.”
In other areas of the city similar discussions played out, unfortunately for Celes, her heroic acts and salvation of countless lives included criminals.
Some gangs who would have been destroyed by goblins and activated card monsters actually survived, and they didn’t like her very much at all.