Two men one taller than the other stood talking to one another in a large cylindrical space, above them a large glass cylinder twinkled with light. The walls were covered with paintings a Rembrandt here, a de Matteis there spaced out evenly by the mass array of book shelves that stretched upwards towards the ceiling. The two men were dressed like simple business men in suits and could of been going to any place of business to conduct an important meeting if not for the time. The taller man was towering in height and thin as a twig almost as if he had no fat or muscle to really speak of and he stood slightly hunched over. His face was composed of what seemed to be entirely of sharp lines almost vulpine in appearance was small glaring eyes a dark brown in cover. Though this meek appearance was thrown off by a closer examination of his hands what where calloused and thick with long fingernails sharpened almost like claws, kind that only came through years of physical labor or maybe throttling necks.

His companion only came to about the middle of the taller fellow much more squat and compact. His black suit unlike his companions was wrinkled and seemed to fit him all too well anymore meant for a smaller man. He was not necessarily a fat men per say but his did have a strong mass to him, his arms threatened to rip through the sleeves with the bulging muscle and he had little to no neck to speak of just one large square brutish chin. He had a full beard that came down to his sternum and strong large eyes that took up a majority of his face with an almost pit bull like head structure. Unlike his companion he was wearing gloves of white, meticulously cleaned to not show a speck of dirt at all. The way he moved and was speaking to his companion suggested that he may be the subordinate in the pair but they seemed to be more likely to be partners. An unlikely pair the two as it were, the fox and the wolf.

"So I believe you have heard Mister Wulf." The tall man asked his short companion as he sipped at a glass of red liquid in his right hand, the liquid coming up against his mouth and staining it blood red in color. They way the tall man asked suggested an air of excitement and of anticipation about it.

"Of course I've heard Mister Fox. It's all the big news in the world of the Magi. A reality convergence in Jizakai City they say the city will be alight with fire and blood. A fun time don't you think." Mister Wulf replied licking his lips as he smiled reveling exaggerated and large canines that shined with a predatory delight.

"Oh certainly. In an unrelated note what would you think of a Japaneses Vacation Mister Wulf? See the sights, meet the people? I hear Hokkaido is beautiful this time of year." Mister Fox asked quizzically his hands clasped together and moving the large fingers interlocked and flexing showing the strong veins popping through.

"Well we haven't been to Japan since the affair at Honnō-ji have we. Going back would be splendid idea Mister Fox." The small man laughed deeply, a dark laugh that simultaneous filled the room and sucked the life out of it like some sort of leech.

---

A man dressed in the clerical clothing of a priest and a women dressed in simple garbs walked the grounds of St. Peter's Square in intimate conversation. The man was tall and broad shoulder, bespectacled and of apparent Irish descent. He held himself in a calm and friendly manner as if anyone and everyone could be his friend. He had in his hands several dossiers filled with information that he casually flipped through while he talked to his companion. Each one had a picture of a person and several lines of information most seemingly biological data heights, weights etc but others including Magery proficiency and other more exotic items. His companion was a smaller women with black hair and apparent South American descent she had strong and fierce brown eyes and the way she carried herself suggested that she had some sort of power, an earpiece was fitted into her left ear and she would occasionally stop to listen more clearly to whatever it was saying. As the two moved through the crowd of tourists and religious pilgrims taking pictures and the like they discussed business casually.

"I assume everything is ready for next month?" The man asked as he thumbed through another dossier his hands were clean and the nails seemed to be trimmed with a high level of care to the roundness of the curve to the approximate length.

"Yes Father, all our agents are ready to move and reconnaissance operations have already begun. We just need your approval on who we are going to send." The women explained and what she said was the truth. Preparations have been going on for some time known, church operatives had been sent to get a very solid understanding of the city before things went down. Like most invested in the Convergence hundreds of thousands of dollars were being pumped into these operations to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible.

"Good, good we must not let these heathens seize more power. We must destroy it, at first opportunity for that is the Lord's wish." The man proclaimed sternly as he flipped to the next person and he stopped for a moment at the face. It was a young girl with a pretty face, bright blue eyes and long blonde hair. He looked over her profile and hummed to himself. Her magery skills were impressive to say the least. He turned to his associate and showed her the picture. "And who is she my dear?"

"Anemone Shibuya, she is one of Akio Shibuya "children" part of his breeding program as you are well aware. She has Japanese proficiency and her skills are developing quite well so we figured we would throw her in. If you would rather we did'nt we could change it of course...." The women asked curiously, as her companion had not shown any interest in any of the faces that had been displayed to him so far.

"Just keep tabs on her if you may."

"Of course Father. Anything else today?"

"No, no that will be all for now."

---

A lone women sat at a large desk in a large room vacant expect for six large pillars that stood in front of her. Each of the pillars was currently glowing with energy and on them where words that said Director and then a Complex with a letter A-G skipping E of course for her own complex. The voices filled the room as they all seemed to be in a great debate with one another. The directors rarely talked to one another each separated by thousands of miles, and each in charge of their own little world without disturbances. It was easier they way, the College was more productive that way. But sometimes they were forced to interact with one another. They were currently in a hot debate over the upcoming Reality Convergence.

We cannot take part it would delay our research!


Oh you shut up! We all know you are just saying that because you want to sleep with her.


The Keepers will most likely destroy it before anyone gets to it anyway.



"Will you all shut up!" The women sitting behind the desk spoke the pillars. The all quieted at the sudden outburst. "In case any of you have forgotten you elected me lead director. And I say we are going for the opportunity it presents well outweighs the risk."

"....If I may speak E." I thick Russian accented voice spoke from pillar B.

"Yes what do you need B." The women asked trying to hide the exhaustion and the oncoming migraine that was fast approaching her.

"Jizakai will be the perfect place to gather more field data for our Project Miracle." The voice asked experimentally but this only raised the other voices in anger throwing words around like unethical, torture, child destruction and other words with much more distasteful meanings.

"Silence! B if you feel Miracle is ready for a field operation on this scale you may proceeded. But we will also be sending ground agents of our own to oversee the operation as well. For while your data is promising we will need more results to make sure anything is conclusive."

"That is all I ask thank you director."

At that the conference call ended as each of the pillars deactivated. The women let out a sigh resting her head against the solid wood of her desk as she used a free hand to activate the display on her computer and started sifting through names looking for agents that they could send.

---

The magi were outside practicing their destructive imagery upon the open ground. There was hole lines of them moving in firing lanes with an instructor above counting down from five and then they all fired in unison at a clump of targets further down the way. The Pacific Wing of the Abbey of the Void the deeper you want in look more like a military encampment than a research institute as it is so claimed by the officials. Magi of all ages and genders were drilled in combat with magery, channels and standard weaponry all around, forced to ruin through PT training and when they weren't doing that they were studying and learning. Two man from an observation tower watched the proceedings from below. They were both dressed in white robes emblazoned with the emblem of the abbey of similar height and standing they seemed to be close associates, though one seemed significantly older than the other.

"The training is going well it seems." The older one remarked

"Yes, all in preparation for the Convergence, those pitiful weaklings will never expect a show of force this size. The power is as good as ours!" The other retorted confidently with great bravado.

"That is what you said the last time Ezekiel and the time before that. We of the upper order are starting to tire of your failures. We do not need to remind you what happens to failures." The older man replied his voice as sharp as a knife stinting with a vicious poison.

"Of course, the Abbey is for the strong not the meek. I will prove my worth don't you worry Laurent my men will seized the power, we will claim the day and bring this pitiful world one step closer to ruin."

"Hmph time will tell, Ezekiel time will tell."

---

Yuko Yoshiyuki let out a tired sigh reaching into her right ear she pulled out the small little transfer device that kept on playing the same recorder message to her on repeat and crushed it in her hand before discarding the small electronic pieces upon the ground. She was dressed as a normal girl of twenty years of age though from the definition in her arms and legs one could make the assumption that she was an athlete of some kind a gymnast maybe or kendōka. She was standing by one of the doors of her trains respective car, they had been moving along for an hour or two now heading up from the south to the northwestern side of Hokkaido prefecture towards Jizakai City. Jizakai was once little more than a farming village and now it was a bustling city mostly with medical technologies being the city's largest source of income. But it was still a sleepy city nothing like Tokyo or even Kyoto where you could still feel the country air among the skyscrapers with no airports you either had to a train or do to its location on the water a boat.

Later the train arrived at Jizakai Terminal and Yuko got off taking her small suitcase with her and stepping off. A smooth feminine voice welcomed the new arrivals and warned those that were leaving to mind the gap. As soon as she stepped out she felt it in the air, the magery you could almost taste it with the oncoming reality convergence Magi from all over were coming either to compete or to join in the festiveness and watch the bloodbath and every person getting off the train next to her had at least a faint sense of magery to them. As she walked out she saw something that caught her eye, a girl maybe twelve years old was holding a large white sign over her head printed on it said the following. Ms.Yoshiyuki Yuko raised an eyebrow but approached none the less. The girl was looking the other way so Yuko impatiently tapped on the sign. The girl turned and gasped stepping back before correcting herself and speaking.

"Oh! You must be her! Your even more pretty than in the picture!" The little girl voiced with the sort of chipper voice that either made your hurt fill with warmth or make you want to strangle her. Though she did seem eager and ready to please so that was something at least.

"Uhhh... thanks, I guess. And you are?" Yuko asked still slightly confused and wondering if this was some sort of trick or something else. Was the girl an assassin? She did'nt look like any assassin that Yuko could imagine.

"Oh pardon me! I'm being so rude. My name is Aoi and I'm from the Magi's Affairs office! I'm supposed to escort you to the Hotel. Its going to serve as the Neutral Zone during the competition so that the likes of you can sleep easy and the spectators can watch the bloodbath without getting hurt!" She explained her chipper voice not going all too well with the images of gore and violence that is cast with the mental idea of bloodbaths.

"Yes... I know how the neutral zone works. So should we get going?" Yuko asked who truthfully at this point was frankly just tired and needed to lay down for a little bit, all the traveling she had done recently was not helping her sleep schedule.

"Alright then follow me!" The girl explained and then ran towards the door leading outside. Yuko sighed and followed suite dragging her suitcase behind her as she moved past the boundary of inside and into the summer heat. She was already regretting taking on this mission.

The waters were calm and the ferry cut through the water smoothly towards the Jizakai harbor. Koga stood at the front of the ship to take in the city’s skyline with a quiet sigh. He didn’t feel any agitation or unease, but then again he was still surrounded by rather pristine waters. The sensations carried on the sea breeze were certainly relaxing, so it would be sometime until he could ascertain the city’s effect on him. For the moment he simply closed his eyes and enjoyed the ship’s motion as it sailed over the gentle waters. Being bothered was not a concern for him; between his large stature and odd appearance the other ferry goers naturally gave him his personal space.

It would be a while until the ferry reached the docks, though Koga was well aware of the ship’s approach as his nose picked up on the scents of a modern city. It was intermixed with the scents of the surrounding countryside as to be bearable and he was relieved at that. The smell of the air served as an indicator for how well his inhuman side would be able to tolerate the city, and for the moment it didn’t seem like he’d have any major problems. The occasional visit to the surrounding untouched plains should be enough to settle his blood and spirit. With that done he finally spun about and walked away from the front of the ship to retrieve his belongings as crew members began to bring the ship alongside.

---

As the passengers were wary of Koga and his actions during the trip hadn’t exactly been “normal”, he had the gangway to himself. Probably a good thing given he lugged a sizable pack with one hand while his travel cloak trailed somewhat behind in the soft wind that rolled off the water. A slight shiver took hold of his body as he felt the concentration of Lacrimas around him, but Koga simply took it in stride and quickly left the dockyards. His cloak was untied, folded, and placed into his pack as he entered the city to reveal unassuming clothes beneath.

The existence of a Neutral Zone wasn’t unknown to Koga as he recalled the piece of information from the days when he still held allegiance. Course, he was fairly confident that the Zone’s rules didn’t apply to such a “specimen” like himself. Even if they did, being in the proximity of so many other Magi would almost certainly end with his condition being revealed, and then paltry rules wouldn’t be able to save him. Still… the gathering of Magi would be a mine of information and allow easy tracking of a good number of those who had been attracted by the Reality Convergence. With that in mind, he didn’t want to completely distance himself from the area then. Now if only he knew where the Neutral Zone for this Convergence even was in the first place… Guess he would just have to keep an eye out for people that stood out and tail them; some Magi didn’t get that fashion senses had changed quite some time ago.

The car stopped. "We've arrived." The driver casually looked outside the vehicles window, to his right was a big building, a hotel to be more precise, that didn't really look too much out of the ordinary. The passenger in the back seat was doing just the same, maybe even sharing the thoughts of the driver? Like, was such a neutral zone really necessary? And wouldn't it pretty much reveal everyone's hideout whatsoever? Well, ultimately no one would stop the young woman from changing locations at a later point, unless orders said otherwise.

"Ms. Erzfeind?" The driver now asked impatiently, maybe he disliked this place, some fear of getting blown up any second or something? Regardless, Kalten nodded. "Take care." Giving her good byes, she proceeded to get out of the car and get her luggage from the trunk. "You'll hear from us soon!" With those words, the car finally set off, leaving the magician in her casual attire all by herself.

"..." Another glance towards the building spend in thoughts, and Kalten finally set off, moving into the lobby. There, a room was apparently already prepared for her, and all she had to do was receive said keys to finally get into her room without much problems.