★Fragment of times past ~ A Red Light in a Faint World

Everyone around her considered it a strange hobby and Celeste herself wasn't sure of where it started. It may have been after watching someone on TV or after passing by a shop in the street, but Celeste loved long, frilly dresses ever since she was very little.

Even if she couldn't afford any of them, she would still collect as many pictures from magazines as possible, and hoard all the ribbons she could get her hands into.

It was an exceptionally sunny day, the hottest day of summer.

A young Celeste stepped outside while clad in a black lolita dress that covered all of her skin. Her heart was beating fast, to think it was the first time she ever dared to wear something like this outside. Even if her family lived in deep poverty, her mother had worked hard to get this for her most recent birthday not long ago.

Of course, the only reason she finally dared to wear something like this outside is that this was the first time someone had invited her to hang out after school. Making sure to place her ring on her finger, Celeste ventured towards the mall where Alice would be waiting for her.

And then, her memories stopped, blending into a blurry mess.

★Fragment of times past ~ A Broken Light in a Red World

All Celeste could recall was a rotten dread embracing her heart. Laughter mixed in with crying and screaming, and then, she was left with nothing.

The red of love became a red filled with hate, a red filled with anger. On that day, time froze over and her life stopped moving forward.

☆

Celeste placed a hand over her forehead as she stood in the midst of the lonely streets of Glint City. She had just been holding a stone and then... what was that memory that just came to her? No, no, no, no. This is wrong, this was definitely wrong. That's not what happened at all, that's not what she remembered at all. On that day, she was supposed to have had a fun day together with Alice. They took photos together and went to a karaoke, and then she willingly handed over that ring. That's how it was supposed to have been, and yet, why was there nothing but sorrow now?

This was making her sick, enough to throw up, but then someone called out to her.

"Are you okay?"

Mirage's voice reached her. As the brunette approached her, she was followed by the boy she met earlier at the restaurant. What did these people want? Having to talk to anyone was the last thing she wanted right now.

☆

"You don't look too good, did you eat at any of the restaurants nearby?" Even though nothing came up using Eschatology, Faith didn't want to rule out the option of her being poisoned as well.

That said, the boy was also growing impatient. He tried not to look at it directly, but it was clear that this girl had picked up the Philosopher's Stone that they were looking for. Taking it would have been easy given this girl's state, but it didn't feel right.

"Am I okay?" The girl replied without making eye contact. "I'm okay."

"That's good to know. Going out in this district is dangerous. Is there anywhere you need to go? We can take you with us." Mirage could tell at a glance that this looked a lot like the woman in the picture she found. Getting on this girl's good side was also a priority.

"I'm good." She replied with a soft tone. "Is there anything you need?"

"We were looking for my friend's jewel, it looks like a large red stone, and she lost it somewhere around here. Have you seen anything like that?" Unlike Mirage, Faith didn't want to waste any more time in useless chatter, if he could get his hands on the stone, that's all he needed.

"No."

Faith and Mirage glared at each other, she was clearly lying as the boy had seen her pick up the stone as soon as they got close to the area. As much as Mirage disliked him, she knew he wouldn't be lying about it at a time like this.

"Really? That's okay." The brunette tried changing the topic. "By the way, are you a native to this city? We just arrived here so I was wondering if you could show us arou–"

This would look like a regular conversation to anyone, but Faith knew what the brunette was doing. With her Phantasmagoria locked on that girl, she was moving to take the stone while the girl only saw a regular image of Mirage.

There was no way that anyone else other than Faith would have known this, and yet, the moment Mirage's fingers reached for the stone, Celeste reacted as though she had been fully aware of what that girl was doing.

"No! You can't have it!!"

Neither of them had enough time to react. Faith and Mirage were instantly blown away, and while Mirage landed on her feet, Faith fell on his back against the cold floor. In an instant, a space of at least six meters had been opened between them.

"What was that? We weren't blown away by the wind, it's as if..." The boy rapidly got back on his feet, reaching for his weapon.

"Huh? What do you m–"

Mirage was then interrupted by several alarms coming out of the Entropy Scale attached to her necklace.

"Warning! Warning! Stage Five Threat - Event Horizon!"

"Warning! Warning! Stage Four Threat - Supernova!"

As this warning came out, two holographic arrows pointed towards Faith. Was the second arrow reacting to his weapon? Either way, that was nothing to be alarmed by. However, a second alarm then resounded.

"Warning! Warning! Stage Four Threat - Supernova!"

This time the arrow pointed towards Celeste. A Supernova level enemy was nothing to laugh at, after all, it was akin to fighting May in her powered suit. If they weren't careful things could get ugly.

"Tch, can't you do anything right? This is all your fault." Faith pulled the trigger after loading the Scarlet Grimoire with Burst Bullets.

"This isn't the time for this!!"

A large blast shot towards Mirage, and even though she blocked using the Wheel of Fortune, -she was blasted high into the air and behind two of the tall buildings just behind Celeste-

Of course, having fully loaded the Wheel of Fortune, Mirage who was never sent flying stepped behind Celeste and released a punch forward.

"Why are you attacking me?" Celeste turned her head around to glance at Mirage.

The brunette's fist was stopped by the blade of a red and black scythe. Even then, something wasn't right, even if Celeste had been using a weapon it should have still taken the impact from the Wheel of Fortune. Was she using an ability that nullified damage?

Faith had been desperately trying to analyze Celeste's moves as Mirage moved in closer, but he was then hit by a sudden barrage that came from below, almost as though he had been impaled by invisible spears. His body crashed into a car nearby, with his gun falling to the side.

Thanks to Eschatology, it was clear to him, this impact was the attack behind Mirage's Wheel of Fortune, but how did it get to him? It wasn't something that Mirage had caused in any way, and her ability wasn't long-ranged either.

"I thought that boy was the one who attacked you, but now you are attacking me? That's not fair." Celeste complained and then moved her hand to reach for the solid ground below.

It was clear to both that another attack was coming. Mirage's first instinct was to use her hook and fly away, opening as much distance as possible. Meanwhile, Faith reached for his weapon and dashed towards Celeste at full speed, he would make sure to land a decisive strike here and now.

The moment Celeste's palm made contact with the floor, the ground around her cracked and burst into pieces that were sent flying into the air. She then held her weapon with her right hand, and as she extended out her left hand, a black void surrounded her fingertips.

"If you are going to fight me, you are ready for the consequences, right? This isn't my fault."

A grin spread across Celeste's face, and immediately, three consecutive alarms went off from Mirage's necklace.

The three arrows, of course, pointed at Celeste.

"Warning! Warning! Stage Five Threat - Event Horizon!"

"Warning! Warning! Stage Four Threat - Supernova!"

"Warning! Warning! Stage Four Threat - Supernova!"

image [https://i.imgur.com/02CUE9b.png]

"An Event Horizon?!" Mirage could only think that her device was defective. After all, Event Horizon was only known to be triggered by the presence of a Velvet Burst, there shouldn't be anyone else with access to something on that level.

「And then, all the pieces of concrete flew in multiple directions like projectiles. The space to dodge them was narrow but it wasn't impossible.

There was also a red light on Celeste's hand and her scythe, as well as the crystal on her neck and the decorative horn on her head. 」

These clearly played a part in her abilities but Faith didn't have enough time to analyze them properly. The boy propelled himself upwards with a Burst Blast to get out of the projectile's range and then launched another shot in Celeste's direction. In an instant, the projectiles vanished, then landed on Faith's back, crushing him against the cold floor, and the blast from his attack ran towards Mirage from below her feet.

Using the wall of a tall building to gain impulse, Mirage kicked herself downwards, taking the impact of Faith's attack with her left arm. However, once she landed, her right arm and left leg had started bleeding, almost as though blood vessels had suddenly burst.

This was the effect of Faith's DV Burst, World Break. Whenever Faith launched a direct attack, this DV Burst would make it so that the attack will always cause piercing damage as long as the opponent is trying to defend themselves. This means that there was no shield in the world who could stop him, this included the Wheel of Fortune. Even though Mirage could still absorb some of the damage, Faith's World Break would still cause the damage to overflow to the rest of her body.

This was the worst. Fighting an opponent with unknown abilities was already bad enough, but having to team up with Faith was the worst matchup possible for Mirage.

Taking a deep breath, Mirage launched her hook closer to Celeste, ready to step in with a flying kick, only to be stopped by projectiles that manifested out of thin air. It's almost like there was no logic in the trajectory of Celeste's attacks.

Mirage launched a punch with her left arm to break the pieces of stone into harmless rubble, but then she saw a severed hand reach out from thin air.

All her internal alarms screamed at her to avoid the hand, so she launched herself to the side with her hook. Unable to reach for the brunette's face, the hand instead grabbed hold of the edge of her coat, which was torn apart into little pieces.

Even though his body was in great pain, Faith knew it wasn't the time to worry about that. As he stood up again, what he saw next made him go pale.

「Using Phanstamagoria, Mirage had stabbed Celeste with three massive swords across her torso.」

The red-haired girl should have been experiencing real and intense pain, and yet, she continued to stand there as though nothing was happening. Did she have a similar ability that could let her see through Mirage's, or had she lost all sense of pain?

As the girl focused on fighting Mirage, Faith had to figure out the extent of the girl's abilities as soon as possible. Mirage's alarm pointed at Celeste four times, did that mean she had four abilities?

If anything, there were two key things Faith was certain of:

Anything touched by Celeste's hands will shatter apart, and she can also move attacks and objects from one place to the other, almost as though she was teleporting them.

Now then, how should he approach this?

As he reloaded his gun, Mirage's yell reached him. She had been sent crashing into an electricity pole, and then the scythe had stabbed into her left leg, stopping her from being able to escape or dodge any more attacks.

ϟ"Mira!! Why were there so many Event Horizon warnings? You aren't fighting Wish and Faith at the same time, are you?!"ϟ

Claudia's voice reached her from the device attached to her necklace.

Gritting her teeth, Mirage forcefully pulled the scythe out of her skin and blocked a second swing with the Wheel of Fortune.

"No... I'm not sure of what I'm fighting here."

ϟ"Then get out of there!! Retreat!!"ϟ

"Trust me!" Mirage rolled to the side, ignoring the blood now pouring out of her leg. Since the scythe could come from any direction, she had to be ready to defend herself as best as she could. "I'm trying!!"

Wary of any incoming attacks, Faith propelled himself with Burst Blasts and launched himself towards Celeste. If she could redirect his blasts, then he had to try something different. Once she was in range, he threw out a flying punch with all of his weight behind it, but he was then launched back into the air in the opposite direction. Before he could reach the ground, the scythe then stabbed into his right shoulder and forced him into the floor, next to Mirage.

Faith bit his lip with enough force to make it bleed as he used his left hand to reach for his weapon. Seeing this attack again there was no doubt, Celeste was also able to extend space itself between her and a target. Were her other abilities related to this as well?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Are you sure you want to keep going?" Celeste asked in a calm, yet sombre voice. "If you didn't try to take anything from me this wouldn't have happened to you. So why? Why are you doing this to me? Why can't you leave me alone?"

It was clear that this was someone they couldn't reason with. After all, she wasn't talking to them anymore. She wasn't talking to anyone in particular. It was only a reflection of the wounds in her heart.

"It's mine, mine, mine, mine! Mine and no one else's! So leave me alone! Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Give it back! Give it back! Give it back!"

As she screamed, she hastily reached for a pole just behind her, touching it with the palm of her hand and making it burst into pieces.

☆

ϟ"Caro!"ϟ Claudia's voice came out from the device attached to the back of Caroline's phone, promptly making her pull it out. ϟ"Are you with Mirage? I can see the readings here too, what is going on!?"ϟ

"It's a bit complicated but–"

The long haired brunette was deeply hesitant on what to do. She could jump in to try and back them up, but she couldn't leave Eri alone at a time like this.

"Hm? Is this one of your friends?" Eri wondered as she sat on the back of the car. Even if she didn't have a clear grasp of the situation outside, hearing all the loud sounds outside was making her grow nervous.

"Yeah! Something like that!"

ϟ"Listen."ϟ Claudia took a deep breath. ϟ"Explain everything to me in detail, now. I'm going to help you."ϟ

Judging by the tone of this person, Faith's situation didn't look too good. As Caroline talked with her, Eri could only wonder if there was something she could do to help. Remembering what happened at the underground facility, she pulled out the megaphone from inside her pocket. This had helped her in a pinch before but...

At that moment, an alarm went off from Caroline's device.

"Warning! Warning! Stage Four Threat - Supernova!"

☆

Eri plugged Caroline's phone into a connector on the car's dashboard and stared at Claudia. Since the long haired brunette had just left, it was only the two of them here.

ϟ"I know it's late to ask this, but you don't have a driver's license, do you?"ϟ

"Nope!"

ϟ"Oh well, that's fine. Breaking rules is my speciality! Besides, I'll be the one driving. Ready?"ϟ

Eri took a deep breath and spun the key, turning on the car.

"Ready!!"

Faith and Mirage lay on the floor, covered in dirt and blood. They had barely managed to continue and avoid Celeste's barrage of attacks but their options were running out. Fighting a single Event Horizon was already insane, so someone backed up by so many Supernovas was overkill.

Celeste swung her scythe once again. Even at a distance of four meters, the blade vanished from thin air and reappeared above like a guillotine.

This time, her attack was stopped by a spinning kick.

"We are getting out of here."

Caroline spoke as though she was giving out an order while taking a prompt battle stance.

"Tch. We are not–"

"We are getting out of here!"

She wasn't afraid to defy Faith, after all, it would all be meaningless if she let him die here. Throwing herself to the floor to avoid another swing of Celeste's weapon, she reached for Mirage's hook.

Of course, Celeste wasn't about to let them escape. Annoyed, she took a tighter grasp on her scythe and prepared to launch another barrage of projectiles, only for a car to run by at full speed.

As the car moved by, a black haired girl peeked out of the window while holding a megaphone.

"Stop attacking us!!"

As Eri's yell reached her, Celeste's body was completely frozen in place and paralyzed.

Caroline used this chance to throw Mirage on her back and shoot the hook towards the back of the car. But before she could reach for Faith, the boy released another blast and launched himself towards Celeste at full speed.

Caroline crashed on the roof of the moving car with Mirage, but Claudia had to make an abrupt U-turn to position herself in Faith's trajectory.

Using the last of his strength, the boy extended out his arm, reaching for Celeste's hands. Yet, Celeste had now regained movement of her body and launched herself towards Faith. Their distance was abruptly closed but before Celeste's hands could reach him, Mirage launched a second hook, forcefully pulling Faith from his coat and into the back of the car.

Getting everyone on the vehicle meant Claudia's plan had been a success, so she sped away from the area as fast as she could.

They had taken great damage from this encounter, but Faith couldn't let it all go to waste. The reason he launched himself towards Celeste at the very end was to try and take the stone, but after looking at what stood in the palm of his hand, it didn't go as planned.

Staring at her own hand, Celeste was quick to realize something. Her ring was now gone.

★Fragment of times past ~ A Broken Light in a Red World

It didn't take long for Celeste to arrive at her meeting place with Alice, but something bothered her a little the moment she caught a glimpse of the blonde girl. Back at school, it was only the two of them, but this time Alice was surrounded by a large group of people. They were all wearing their school uniform still, so Celeste stuck out like a sore thumb.

Steeling herself, Celeste called out to Alice but froze on the spot as everyone's piercing gazes focused on her. Yes, it was something she was well too used to, a simple look at their faces was enough to tell that they were looking down on her. Following a few seconds of silence, laughter erupted across the group of friends who surrounded Alice.

The red-haired girl stepped forward, trying her best to ignore this situation. She would have usually ran away, but this time it was different, this time Alice was here.

"Let's go," is all the blonde girl said.

Trying her hardest to ignore the awkward atmosphere, Celeste followed Alice, but the day didn't really progress as expected.

She had no choice but to wait outside the photo booth, holding everyone's bags as they all took photos together since there was no way "they would take photos together with someone so ugly."

She couldn't say anything by the sudden inappropriate physical contact by some of the members of the group. Even if she tried to complain once, they laughed at her because "that was normal and she was just making a scene."

She had no choice but to hate her own body at the burger restaurant since "maybe we shouldn't have invited the fat cow to be here with us."

She could only sit silently in a corner after someone forcefully grabbed the mic away from her in karaoke because "I'm already feeling sick from hearing that horrible voice."

But even then, even still, Alice was still there, and she could spend time with Alice this way, so it was okay. As long as Alice was there, everything would be okay.

"So, what's up with you?" One of the girls approached her. "Are you trying to dress up like an ugly doll or something?"

Following this, she emptied out a glass of soda all over Celeste without remorse, prompting even more laughter from the group.

"What's wrong, pig? You don't have anything to say?"

"Hey, leave her alone can't you see she's only going to look uglier if she cries? I don't want to see that."

"Wait, wait!" Alice was quick to stop everyone, rapidly approaching Celeste. "It was my bad."

Despite being at a loss for words, her heart warmed up fast as soon as Alice approached, only for it to be soon stabbed by sharp daggers.

"Hey, if you are going to hang out with me, don't embarrass me." Alice then pushed her onto the floor, following with a sudden kick. "I can't be friends with someone who looks so stupid. Oh! I know, I'll take this as a payment for embarrassing me, it doesn't really suit you."

Alice took the ring as the sobbing girl didn't show any resistance.

☆

Celeste could only collapse on her knees in the middle of the street.

These memories weren't real, there is no way they could be real. She was supposed to have given the ring to Alice after the best day of her life. It wasn't like this, it wasn't like this, it wasn't like this. And yet, and yet... why did it hurt so much?

Hiding behind an electricity pole, and glancing at the girl from a distance, a blonde-haired boy then adjusted his glasses.

"That's odd, this isn't how it was supposed to happen." Viktor was lost in thought for a moment. "Originally, Faith should have killed Celeste here and taken her Velvet Objects."

▲ A.S. App (Raiko): It's clear that something altered the course of this route. Was it that girl?

"Yeah, Mirage. Someone like that wasn't supposed to be here. I guess it's natural for those beyond the horizon to alter the hearts of those around them, maybe we should take a closer sample."

Having said this, Viktor walked towards one of the abandoned buildings and opened the door. After walking inside, he wasn't in that area anymore, but rather, he found himself inside his room full of monitors and empty bottles of soda.

He smirked after staring at his hand which held a tiny star with two orbits around it. It looked identical to Wish's good luck charms.

"Well, this is fine too. Show me what you'll do next, Faith."

☆

Leaving Noa's car behind, they moved into one of GHOST's medical trucks. The vehicle was being remotely piloted by Claudia while Caroline and Eri helped the other two.

"Those were some pretty nasty wounds, I'm surprised the bleeding stopped so fast." Eri focused on wrapping Faith's shoulder.

"It's probably thanks to Noa's food earlier, knowing her she added healing properties to it. Things would have been much worse for us otherwise." Mirage suggested.

"Tch, I still don't think we should have run away." Faith glared at Caroline. "I don't like this."

"Look, I didn't want to retreat either, but we aren't going to accomplish anything unless we come up with a good way to deal with that girl's abilities." Mirage crossed her arms. "I just hope those weren't because of her using Elizabelle's stone though."

"They weren't." Faith was fast to deny it. "I didn't see anything come from the stone, but that doesn't mean the situation isn't bad. You saw it, didn't you? She can destroy things by touching them, if she does that to the stone it's all over."

"Considering she didn't want to hand it over, maybe she won't destroy it, but..."

"We can never be so sure, we have to get back there."

"Wait, there's something I'd like to confirm. Your gun and that sword Wish was using, those were the Velvet Objects that were created back at that place, weren't they?"

"Yeah." Faith didn't like to have to give any details to Mirage, but they needed to put together all the intel they had a time like this. "I know what you are getting at, but these should be the only two Velvet Objects that exist."

"Velvet Objects?" Caroline looked at both confused.

"You could say that they are weapons that let you use a special ability."

Rather than just letting you use an ability, they were leftovers from the project to create Velvet Bursts. Of course, he didn't bother to explain something Caroline wouldn't have understood.

"Then, I think there might be more out there." Eri cut into the conversation, placing her megaphone in the middle of the circle where they sat.

"Huh? There's no way this is a Velvet Objec–"

After all, Faith had even held this item before and it was nothing but a simple megaphone with a few extra functions added in by May. But he was interrupted by Mirage's alarm noting the presence of a Supernova threat.

"No, this is definitely one." Mirage cut in. "Come to think of it, didn't you use it back there?"

Mirage's phone began to vibrate, and after picking up the call, Claudia appeared on the screen.

ϟ"Hihi. I can help explain that."ϟ

"And this is?" Faith raised an eyebrow.

ϟ"Just a passing by detective!"ϟ

"Uh-huh. Go ahead and explain then."

ϟ"Sure! I ran a scan on that megaphone after getting a reading, and it isn't a regular item, that's for certain! We used it back then to save you, too! Hey Eririn, want to run a little test for me?"ϟ

"Sure!" The black-haired girl smiled enthusiastically. It seems like she got along with Claudia almost too well.

Following her instructions, she grabbed the megaphone and pointed it at Faith before giving out the following order: "close your eyes."

The boy's eyes immediately closed, and no matter how hard he tried to open them back, it was as though his body wouldn't follow his commands, it was terrifying.

It didn't take long, however, before he could open them again.

"What is this?!" He grabbed the megaphone, examining it thoroughly. Sure enough, it now looked like it was shrouded by red light through Eschatology.

ϟ"Mind you, we only found out by accident, but it seems like this megaphone can make someone obey any order. There was no time to measure any other parameters or how long the effect lasts, as well as whether it can be used consecutively so that's why we only used it to stop your enemy and escape."ϟ

"How?" Faith's blood was running cold. "Does this mean there are other facilities like that out there?"

"Facilities using others as test subjects, sure, there always have been out there somewhere in the world, but nothing on the same scale. None out there should have the means to reproduce a Velvet Burst or Velvet Objects. I'm not sure of what to tell you, I know this shouldn't be happening, but at the end of the day it's easier to believe more of these artifacts were created over believing someone can also use a Velvet Burst like us."

"Tch. This is the worst." If Celeste was using Velvet Objects that explained a lot, especially how she had access to so many diverse abilities. But even then, these were extremely rare relics, how did she get her hands on so many?

ϟ"Well, what we need the most right now is intel."ϟ Claudia shrugged. ϟ"That's why there is somewhere I need you to go to."ϟ

After that, the medical truck stopped by a familiar location. The Castle of Hope.

☆

They carefully approached the castle but decided to go through the main entrance after seeing there weren't any enemies around.

What awaited them, however, was a much more terrifying scene than any of them imagined. Caroline was quick to cover Eri's eyes as Faith and Mirage stepped forward. The place was full of blood splatters all around, along with tiny chipped bones spread across the floor. It was as though a massacre had taken place here.

"Where is everyone?" Mirage looked around, she didn't want to accept it, but it all pointed towards all the members who lived in this base having been cleaned out.

"Wait." Faith picked up one of the chipped bones. Even though it looked like a regular bone to the naked eye, there was clearly a metallic circuit inside it. After finding a tiny switch on a side of the bone, Faith flipped it.

It was a similar mechanism to the items stored inside Silver Memories, but a lot more disturbing. After flipping the switch, the bone reconstructed itself into the shape of a living human in the blink of an eye.

A young girl with short brown hair now stood in front of them, staring at them with a blank stare.

"W-W-W-W-What is this?!" Mirage stepped back, clinging on Caroline's arm.

"Hello?" Eri was the first one to approach the girl after swaying Caroline's hands away. "Are you okay?"

"Please input a command."

"Wait a second," Mirage brought a hand to her forehead. "It's almost like this isn't a human being."

"I... don't think it is..."

Scanning the insides of a person with Eschatology is something that never crossed Faith's mind before, but now that he took a look, there was clearly more machinery inside than anything else.

"Please input a command." The girl repeated once again.

"Can we use this chance to run a test?" Faith asked looking at Claudia through the phone's screen.

ϟ"Sure thing! As it stands this person appears to be in standby mode. Tell them to upload their data on the phone and I'll analyze it."ϟ

"Upload all your data to this device."

Faith held up Mirage's phone and the girl nodded. She pressed her fingers over the screen, and sure enough, a large amount of data was sent over to Claudia just like that.

"Upload complete." She answered after a few minutes. "Please input a new command."

ϟ"Okay! Give me a moment while I look through this."ϟ

"Wait a moment!" Mirage forcefully grabbed her phone back. "I don't think this is okay!"

ϟ"I'm sorry Mira, but we really need to know what's going on."ϟ

"Hmm." As much as Eri knew this wasn't supposed to be a human, she couldn't help but feel otherwise by looking at them. Curious, she held her megaphone and asked: "Tell me your name."

"Serial Code: 000000117 - Master: Claire Amano."

"Master?" Caroline tilted her head.

"Wait, I recognize that name! These were supposed to be the people missing from the Blue Sector! What do you mean they aren't human?!"

ϟ"I may have an answer for that."ϟ Claudia sighed. ϟ"But I don't think you are going to like that answer, I'm sorry Mira."ϟ

"Explain."

ϟ"Well, first I need you to go keep going. To put it simply, I was able to dig up quite a bit of intel after Mirage gave me the data May took from this place and the data you just downloaded is letting me see the full picture."ϟ Claudia began to explain as they made their way to the third floor of the castle. ϟ"I'm sure you already noticed, but if you look at the actual layout of this place, this isn't a castle, this is a pyramid. Pyramids were said to have that shape thanks to many perfect calculations so they could connect with the energy of the universe, but there's another thing pyramids are known for..."ϟ

The massacre-like scene didn't get any better after reaching the third floor, with many more of the bone-like devices spread across the empty room. The screens showing different sides of the city seemed to have been smashed as well, and the device that used to be by the corner of the room was now gone.

ϟ"Everything I told you is as far as I can go, I'd love to stay and investigate further but–"ϟ The sound of loud gunshots, breaking glass and running steps could be heard around Claudia. ϟ"Looks like they already sent someone after me for knowing too much. Huh, I think it's a sniper."ϟ

"Focus on protecting yourself then! I'll figure something out here!" Mirage yelled into her phone.

ϟ"It's fine, it's fine. This is just another day for me, but you should be careful too. Do keep me updated on anything you find!"ϟ

And with that, the call was cut from the other side.

"So, what now?" Faith looked around, but nothing in particular stood out from his scan.

"As much as I hate this, we need to work together for once."

"I don't want to."

"Don't be stubborn at a time like this!! We have to do it and you know it!!"

"Tch. Fine." Faith sighed. "But if this doesn't work I'll make you pay for all the time you and your friend wasted."

Phantasmagoria wasn't an ability that created illusions, but rather, an ability that modified the filters on other's senses, letting them perceive or stopping them from perceiving different layers in the world. For example, if Mirage made someone see a snake it meant that somewhere in the many layers of the world, there was a snake in that place. If she went with someone to a haunted house, she could likely make the souces of the apparitions visible. Of course, it's not like Mirage could fully see everything stored in the world's layers just like that, it was a tricky ability, and more than anything, it was a matter of feeling what was there in order to bring it forth.

On the other hand, if Mirage brought something into the world's main canvas, Faith would be able to see it clearly before she manifested it, this meant that Eschatology could endlessly extend the options Phanstamagoria had.

The two stood in front of each other and closed their eyes.

If Phantasmagoria could bring something hidden away from the world and Eschatology could interact with it, they could manifest something that wasn't there before.

A desolate desert, a broken castle, a passageway with strange scriptures on the stone walls, a lonely house. Going through all the available options, Faith reached for his answer.

What manifested at the centre of the room was a tall, metallic door. The door looked misplaced, held by nothing, and as though it went nowhere, but that clearly wasn't the case.

"Let's go."

Faith wasted no time to move onward.

Stepping into the ethereal door, they were met by a long, dark and cold corridor with another door by the end. After passing by at least three more doors, they stood inside an immense, metallic room, almost as big as a large stadium.

The temperature grew colder and colder. The room was tinted with a bizarre blue light, and several, wide and metallic pillars stood all across the room with many circuits and cables connected into each of them.

Faith's vision grew blurry. Sickness and anger were boiling together into absolute disgust.

Looking into the pillars with Eschatology, it seems like Claudia's prediction was correct. After all, pyramids are also known for being a graveyard. A resting place for a collection of souls.

In this artificial heaven, a dormant human being was trapped in deep slumber inside each shining pillar.