One day, a young man awoke from his slumber. Rubbing the sleep off of his eyes, he reached down beneath his bed for a flat object. Bringing the said object to his view, he pressed a button at the side and a screen lit up on its face. On the screen was the time of the day, and it displayed "7:55 AM."
"Woo... Cutting it close there, body of mine." he said, "Almost missed the time our grades would be released."
The young man sat upright on his bed, and focused his attention on the flat object. Pressing a few buttons, he opened opened a program and typed in a string of letters in a provided field. After inputting a few letters, a list of results appeared dropped down, and he pressed the first item.
"Come on, you piece of shit service." he cursed as he waited, "Work with me here... Piece of shit country..."
Finally, after three minutes, a new image fully loaded and the young man was brought to a login page. In the username field, he inputted a string of numbers, and subsequently inputted his password in the next field. After that, like before, he waited for another few minutes to be logged into the server.
Having been brought to his account page, he shifted his eyes slightly upward and the system clock displayed "7:59 AM." Shifting his eyes a bit below, the server clock displayed the same time.
"One minute left..." he said under his breath, "I suspect the servers will be DDoS'd again."
He scrolled the page down and placed his thumb just above the link that said "View Grades" and waited for the clock to strike eight o'clock. Luckily, the server time also displayed the seconds and, seeing the time, he only needed to wait for another ten seconds.
Ten, nine, eight... ...three, two, one.
The clock has struck eight, and he pressed on the link to view his grades. As he had expected, it took a long while to load. Longer than when he first opened the page and when he logged in combined. After another minute, his browser changed to a page that displayed, "Secure Connection Failed."
"Fucking hell!" he cursed out loud, "We paid so much shit for our tuition and you can't even handle 20,000 requests!?"
The young man pressed on the "Try Again" button until finally, after ten minutes, he was brought to a new page. This page displayed a list of coded letters with numbers next to them. The numbers were a mix of 4.0s, 3.5s, 3.0s, and so on until 0.0s. At the top of the list was a letter code that said, "INTLLAW (International Law)" and next to it was a number.
He stared at the number emotionlessly for a while. After that, he pressed the button at the side of the flat object and the screen turned off. He lied back down on his bed, covered his eyes with his forearm, and let out sigh.
"Huh, I expected to be a lot more emotional than this." he commented, "I suppose the light within me had already died after all. Ha... Hahaha..."
Suddenly, a shadow was cast upon him.
"What's wrong, Father?" said a woman's voice.
Peeking from his arm, the young man directed his gaze at a young woman seated upon a windowsill above. The young woman wore a white dress that freely fluttered as the air outside came through. She also had long silver hair that, coupled with the sun's brilliant radiance behind her, gave her a seemingly divine image.
"Nng..." grunted the young man.
The young woman leapt off the window and landed next to the young man.
"Depressed?" she asked.
"Dunno..." he replied.
"Happy?" she asked again.
"Dunno..." he replied once more.
The young woman knelt next to the young man, and laid her head on his chest while looking at his face covered by his arm. The young man, having felt her on his chest, let go of the flat object and brought his now free hand on her head to stroke it.
"Better?" she asked.
"Somewhat... I guess..." he replied.
The young man silently stroked the young woman's head. His fingers smoothly combed through her silky hair having lost his sense of time.
"Hey... Do you want to see him again?" he asked her.
The young woman, who had fallen asleep from his hands, awoke to answer his question.
"I'm not sure..." she replied, "Shouldn't you decide that on your own?"
The young man finally removed his arm from his eyes, and sat upright. The young woman also stood up, and sat next to the young man.
"After all, Father..." she added as she placed her head on his shoulder, "You have the power to break the chains of Fate that bind us."
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Pamana Island, within an unknown room.
A young white-haired and red-eyed woman was giving a report before a black-haired and brown-eyed man. The man was Alexander Dalaram, the person responsible for plunging their world into chaos. The two of them were looking at a large screen that displayed the world map.
"By fourteen hundred hours, Ismael and his family had successfully captured Malmstrom, Barksdale, King's Bay, Minot, Mojave, and Kodiak." said the young woman, "Malachi and his family have begun extraction of all missiles and rockets within the said facilities. All other facilities were, unfortunately, destroyed. At the moment, Ismael is leading his family to... Father? Is something wrong?"
Alexander was staring blankly at the screen while the young woman was giving a report. When the young woman called for his attention, Alexander snapped out of his stupor.
"Ah, eh? What is it, Carmel?" asked Alexander.
"Father, you've been spacing out." replied the young woman named Carmel, "Father, if you're tired, we can put this report on hold for you to rest."
"No, no. I'm fine." said Alexander, "I just had a strange feeling well up within me. Anyway, continue with the report."
Carmel looked at Alexander for a while longer before she continued with the report.
"Then... Where was I..." she said, "Ismael and his family is heading towards Kazakhstan to secure the Baikonur Cosmodrome and Malachi's will be heading to Russia to secure the Yasny Cosmodrome. Also, we had received reports of a strange group of people engaging Saul's family when they were about to wipe out the coalition in Tokyo, Japan."
"What do you mean?" asked Alexander as he raised a brow, "Let me see the feed."
Carmel waved her hand before the screen. When she did, the world map disappeared and it was replaced by a video that revealed a large fortress under siege. Alexander watched as the first few minutes was in their favor up until a pair of young girls appeared. One had a bow, while the other jumped down and transformed into a massive blue bear.
"Magic...?" gasped Alexander in surprise, "Where did they come from?"
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"We do not know, Father." replied Carmel, "They just appeared just as sudden as our attack."
The girl on the screen drew her empty bow that was suddenly filled with blue light. Releasing the bow, the blue light itself became the arrow and pierced many black beasts.
"She pierced the Garms and Manticores!?" cried Alexander, "Haha! This has gotten interesting!"
Alexander intensely watched the young girl and the giant bear lay waste to his forces. Soon, three mechs fired upon the girl with the bow with directed energy weapons. A brief flash, and the girl's surroundings were engulfed with dust and debris. There, Alexander bore witness to a familiar flame that came as a wall that protected the girl.
The video feed was cut off, and was replaced by another that showed three small people laying greater waste to his forces using incredible jaw-dropping abilities. The first of the three held a pair of swords and was dashing from one end of the battlefield to another while mincing anything that got in its way. The second of the three displayed similar equipment to the ones Alexander had put to use for his forces. The only difference was the size and intensity being able to "draw" due to the longer time it was fired for. The final of the three was even more awe-inspiring that the previous two as Alexander watched it hover in mid-air and call down the wrath of god unto the battlefield.
Carmel expressionlessly and quietly watched the video on the screen. In the middle of the video, she took a glance at Alexander and was surprised at the sight. Alexander was grinning widely as though he were a child that found a new toy to play with. Soon, the sight of a massive flying vessel appeared, and another person appeared on the battlefield as well.
The new entrant conjured a massive wall of flame that caught the flying vessel's attack and "erased" it to oblivion. After that, Alexander watched as the new entrant created a massive cannon out of nothing with his flames while under intense bombardment from the vessel until the cannon fired and the surroundings shook. Once the vessel was pierced, the video was cut, and Alexander and Carmel were left with silence. The video, having finished, was then replaced by the world map.
"Continue with the GODs as usual." ordered Alexander, "Observe the situation in Japan for the moment."
"Yes, Father." replied Carmel.
Carmel left Alexander alone and went out. Alexander, having been left alone, went to a nearby wall and opened a hidden door. He passed through the door, into another familiar room. The very same room that housed a massive crystal that encased a young girl.
"First, you appeared before me..." whispered Alexander, "Then, another with same ability as I had appeared... Hahahaha... Now, this... this is fun..."
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---
"Let's play a game." said the fifth Cavaron, "I say, do you wish to know the objectives?"
Hideki placed his gaze at the playing board laid out on the table between them. It had an 8-square by 9-square field, and either side had 21 pieces of a stick stuck to a flat circle platform. On the stick was a small board with a symbol, and the pieces had a myriad of symbols.
"This here is an interesting Terran game." said the fifth Cavaron, "Somewhat like chess, but better in my opinion."
"What are the objectives" asked Hideki.
The fifth Cavaron smiled, "The objective of the game is to eliminate or capture the Flag of the opponent, or to maneuver one's Flag to the far edge of the board (the opposing back rank), subject to the following conditions:
The Flag, if challenged, is eliminated by any opposing piece, including the opposing and challenging Flag. If a player's Flag is eliminated by a challenge, that player loses the game. The Flag that challenges the opponent's Flag wins the challenge and thus also wins the game.
When the Flag successfully reaches the opponent's back rank, it has to survive one more turn without being challenged before it can declare a victory. If a Flag reaches the opposing back rank and there is no adjacent opposing piece that can challenge it, the Flag wins the game immediately. If a Flag reaches the opposing back rank directly adjacent to an opposing piece, and that piece does not challenge the Flag immediately on the opponent's subsequent turn, then that Flag wins the game. Any player may reveal his Flag at any time and for any reason; play can then continue; most often, a player reveals his Flag after it has already secured victory at the opposing back rank."
"These pieces..." said Hideki, "So we're playing a war simulation?"
The fifth Cavaron nodded, and all of Hideki's pieces lined up before him.
"Here are the pieces..." said the fifth Cavaron, "Including the flag, the pieces represent 21 soldiers with a hierarchy of ranks and functions. A higher-ranking piece will eliminate any lower-ranking piece, with the exception of the 2 Spies, which eliminate all pieces except the 6 Privates. Also, If both soldiers are of equal rank, both are eliminated. Fun game, yes? We can even taunt each other unlike the boring and quiet games of chess. Neither of us can see the other's pieces, much like how a real war plays out. Heh-heh."
Hideki faced the fifth Cavaron, "No other recourse? Fine, I'll take up the challenge."
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...
After three hours of screaming, taunting, and cursing, Hideki was crushed by the fifth Cavaron's prowess in tactics and strategy.
"Well, this is depressing." said the fifth Cavaron, "Then again, I've heard that the Japanese are mostly pacifists with no experience in war. Well, will you continue onto your sixth defeat?"
Hideki stared at the fifth Cavaron.
"Can we duke it out instead?" he asked, "I give up."
"Nah." refused the fifth Cavaron as he picked his nose, "Too lazy. Besides, you're in my domain, and that's too boring. Want a life line? Haha!"
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...
Back in reality, Yggdrasil paused their conversation for a moment.
"Hmm? That's strange." commented Yggdrasil, "Hideki's back but Cavaron is still knocked out."
Then, a knock on a door was heard.
"Come in." said Yggdrasil.
The door opened and revealed a haggard young Japanese man with water swirling around him. It was Hideki, and he strode into the room the others were in.
"Master Yggdrasil, are you well-versed in tactical warfare?" he asked, "The flame... Senior's flame was too... too... random? I have no idea how to describe the flame."
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