Fon Ventorian Mansion - Dining Hall**Arbeit macht Frei still playing**
As Sheila arrived at the hall, not everyone was gathered yet. She sat near Vineria and Kenneth. Meanwhile, Lady Crimson sat on the other side of the table, near other participants of the reunion.
???: So that girl is Sheila huh? She every bit as cute as I imagined her to be. Don't you think so Victor?
Victor: Not really.
???: Wow...you must be really picky about your girls...
Lady Crimson: More like he doesn't chase after them like you usually do...Besides, he was married once...But he lost his wife.
???: Oh...I'm sorry man...That was insensible of me...
Victor: Pardoned.
Vinny: Sigh...This guy never changes...
Sheila: (Wasn't expecting Mr. Victor to show up too...And also not expecting to finally hear something about him...)
???2: I see...so you're the one with that unique power.
Sheila: Y-Yeah...Lady Crimson told you about me right?
???2: That is correct.
???: Geez...Where's our illutrous Queen Saika? I've been dying to see her marvelous face once more...
Maid: Now now Mr. Leoric...You know she doesn't mind flirting unless it's aimed at her...If she hears that you...
???2: She already did...
???: Say wha-ARGH!!!
The man in glasses got hit by a flying chair, knocking him to the ground. The maid skillfully picked the chair that was thrown and put it gently in the floor.
???3: I've told you many times that I don't want your lecherous words directed towards me.
???: Owch...
???4: You seriously never learn your lesson...
Vinny: Well, they are here now.
???4: Yusagi Getsuki...It's been a while...
Sheila: Eh? But Mr. Barry...we didn't even meet once...
???4: It was my obligation to memorize the name and faces of the students of our school.
Kenneth: That's...impressive...
Sheila: I heard you were dedicated to your studies but...wow...
???3: So Yusagi is really alive...She's going to be glad when she hears about this...
Sheila: But...
???3: I know...we still have to keep your identity a secret.
Sheila: How is she doing by the way?
???3: She's still doing what you've entrusted to her.
Sheila: (So that kid is still safe in her hands...)
???3: You'll be the one to tell her that you're alive and well when this is all over Yusagi.
Sheila: Yes...but can you guys please call me...
???4: Sheila Runn right? Very well. It will be a pleasure to work with you from now on.
???3: Reamy, is dinner ready yet?
Reamy: It's almost done Master Saika.
???3: Very well...Now then, how about we formelly introduce ourselves to Sheila?
???: Good idea! I'll begin...I'm...
Vinny: My dumbass of an assistant, Leoric Ferdinand. After Master Akari dissapeared, someone decided that it was funny to pair me with this four-eyes that can only see the first pair of breasts that cross his sights.
Leoric: Hey! You ruined my...
Vinny: Flirting routine, yes...
Leoric: You're impossible...Lady Akari wasn't like this...
Vinny: Get used to it! I've promised that I would work you to the ground didn't I? That includes make sure you have eyes on the mission, and not on a pretty face.
Leoric: Sigh... (How did it come to this again?)
Sheila: You guys sure do get along...
Vinny: Guess so...
???2: I'll be the next then...
Leoric: *low tone* Why it couldn't be his sister?
Carlu: She'd probably kick you in the forbidden zone if you went with your usual antics with her.
Leoric: How did you hear that?
Sheila: Is Leoric always like this?
Vinny: Just be an enough jerk to him and he'll stop...eventually...
???3: Eventually huh? Got it.
Leoric: Look what you've done you wrench maniac! Now Saika hates me.
Vinny: I was doing the world a favor. You all can thank me later.
Sheila: Hehehehehehe...
Leoric: Oh man...
???3: Now then...let's get back to the introductions...
???4: Again, pleased to meet you, My name is...
Sheila: To think that I would talk with two of the most of the popular students of my school feels surreal.
Saika: Wait, I'm popular? How?
Barry: You didn't know?
Sheila: Yeah! You are known as the Mysterious Princess of the Ventorian Family. The girls envied your beauty, the boys wanted to ask you out...but you always seemed to avoid us commoners, which kinda added to your charm.
Saika: Well...I'm busy most of the time...So I never really had the chance to make friends at school...
Vinny: She takes her job a bit too serious...
Saika: It's called dedication to a cause!
Vinny: See? She has no time for fun whatsoever.
Saika: You mock me about not having friends...but you're the same with your obession with machines.
Leoric: Can confirm that. She only really talks during missions. You have to be a tech nut to speak her language, or else she'll ignore you.
Vinny: Urgh...Can't argue with that.
Kenneth: Maybe it's time we start the reunion for real?
Barry: Quite...Lady Marilee Cid Crimson...You may begin with your report.
Marilee: Right then...Today I...
Music:
Project Aegis As she said that, food had arrived. There was a variety of dishes, ranging from simple and common to more "unique" and rare, these being mostly being a trend with rich families.
Marilee: As I was saying, today I sent Sheila, Kenneth and Victor to fight the mysterious group for the first time to gauge their strenght. Vineria transmitted the whole action. May you show the footage to them.
Vinny: Right boss...but call me Vinny please...
Leoric: (What's with the low voice?)
Vinny pulled a metal plate that had a summon sigil on it. She set it on the table and after activating it, a fairly big monitor screen appeared, floating in mid-air. Then, she pulled a small remote and pressed a button, showing the footage of the assault in Sayaka's House.
Marilee: The Mysterious organization hired a local gang from the Summer Area and sent them to attack Sayaka, Lilina and Kaori's homes. Of course, they were effortless defeated, but what came after was more than a match for a guild member alone. Each group had a psychic user together with soldiers usings Compact Glaive Devices. We assume this is their first field test.
Barry: I see...They saw how the guild members fared against the local gang...then assigned different types of soldiers to react accordingly to the guild member's performance.
Marilee: During the fight at Sayaka's House, another person which we assume is also a Psychic User, managed to get a hold of her and briefly hold her hostage.
Saika: What a fool...She was his objective, yet he still took her hostage...The guards had more to earn by attacking him rather than letting him leave with her alive.
Leoric: How dare he...Making a girl suffer like that.
Vinny: And there he goes again...
Leoric: Anyway...you said briefly right? What happened next?
Sheila: A guy named Xaizor showed up and rescued Sayaka, then, after fighting the kidnapper, he managed to beat him.
Carlu: Xaizor? The name doesn't ring any bells...
Vinny: I did a bit of a background search on him...He's a new student at Fleeting Memories School, he has a sister named Marina Arcadia who entered at the same time as his. Other than that, not much is known about them other than their address.
Carlu: Arcadia...Hmmm...
Barry: No...That's not a name of any ancestor family in particular. Any info on his abilities? I mean, he did defeat a Psychic User by himself.
Vinny: Right now...we're assuming it's EXS...but I guess the only ones that can tell us from sure are In-Births themselves. Maybe that Yuzuhira girl knows more since she patrols the city in order to stop fights between In-Births, so she might know Xaizor's face.
Marilee: In that case, I'll be assigning you and Leoric to visit Yuzuhira's Shrine tomorrow.
Vinny: Roger that!
Barry: So...About that psychic aura that expanded and took shape...
Vinny: It's an ability any Common-Type Psychiccer will be able to use eventually. It does seem very resistant to damage and basically works as a second body since it can carry the user even if he's injured...I bet the Guild already knows of this ability, so they might have a counter for it already.
Marilee: Switch to the footage of the attack at Lilina's House.
Vinny: Okay, I'll skip to the part where Kail is fighting the Defense-Type Soldiers. They do seem to have a way harder armor than the ones Kenneth fought. Their main intent was to hold Kail in place while their leader, who is a Septima-Type Psychiccer, invaved Lilina's home, but as you know, Victor got in their way.
Victor: I'll take it from here. Her main element is darkness. While she did have near-perfect reaction time, she relied mostly on long-range attacks, as well as powerful shield. However, the weakness of said shield is that she can't maintain it for long regardless of the damage dealt to it. She called herself Veria. Vineria, tell them about the other newcomer. I was too busy in my own fight to notice him.
Vinny: That's VINNY!!!
Victor: Right...I apologize...
Vinny: Alright...Now then, much like on Sayaka's Home, someone mysterious also appeared at the battle in front of Lilina's house. He used something that paralyzed one of the soldiers almost immidietaly...That didn't look like something our current technology...at least not yet anyway. After he helped Kail drive away the Glaive Soldiers, I decided to approach my camera as close as possible to the window...While I've got some footage, the sound was muffed so we won't know his name so soon.
The footage showed the part where Drake and Azrel where exchanging words.
Sheila: Huh? Stop right there!
Vinny: D-Done!
Sheila: That guy...I've seen him before...
Music:
Suspense
Saika: Who is him?
Sheila: Recently, a gang fell victim to the Blue Reaper.
Barry: That's a name I wasn't expecting to show up...
Sheila: I remember meeting that gang once to exchange some information, and this guy was there.
Carlu: I see where this is going...The Blue Reaper destroyed that gang, but left this one alive...which means...
Saika: We have someone that knows the Reaper's identity.
Barry: Exactly...
Marilee: While our focus right now is dealing with the mysterious organization...we can't let this sociopath to keep killing any longer. Sheila and Carlu will be charged with finding this man and...extract that information.
Carlu: Understood! I'm counting on your net of informations Sheila.
Sheila: Leave it to me! This Blue Reaper might have a valid reason to do this...but killing is still wrong.
Barry: Well said.
Vinny: I guess we can resume the footage now. I'll skip to something more interesting...this!
Leoric: Why is he giving Lilina a kid's toy?
Vinny: We have no idea...But it's suspicious as hell. Since I couldn't get his name on this recording, we might have to make do with his photo instead if we want to search for him. And the worst part is that she's still keeping it anyway.
Barry: We'll leave this task with the guild. Anything else?
Music:
The Story so far
Marilee: No. That's it for the event at Lilina's Home. Now then, for Kaori's battle with another Psychic User who is most likely the leader of the operation.
Saika: What about the battle at her house?
Vinny: Nothing stood out other than a stronger Glaive User that had an almost even fight against Mr. Detective and of course, their Psychic User who identified herself as Nana. Other than that, nothing new. They do know that Jerry is a Psychic User.
Carlu: He'll have a harder time from now on for sure. Maybe someone will replace him as Kaori's guardian.
Vinny: Now then...I couldn't approach the camera that close as I've noticed that they also have a surveilance device, which is most likely how they has assigned different groups to different places. They would know that they were being watched.
Barry: I assume he was the leader because after his defeat, there were no more attacks...correct?
Marilee: That's right, please proceed with the report Vineria.
Vinny: Okay...But it's Vinny though...
Vinny: Anyway, After Kaori and Andorina managed to run away, they've bumped into Mia.
Saika: What a nice coincidence. They've met a valuable ally.
Vinny: However, after being surrounded by more Summer Area thugs, the head honcho of the operation showed up and managed to hold Andorina hostage.
Saika: Seems like this time, they've got the right person turn into a hostage.
Leoric: These guys really are cowards...
Saika: You're only saying this because she's a girl.
Leoric: That's not true...She's a civilian and we must always protect them...
Vinny: According to my background search of Andorina...she has a boyfriend already.
Leoric: KAH!!! (First Victor and now her...)
Vinny: So tough luck you cougar.
Leoric: ...........
Carlu: And, he's broken...
Vinny: ANYWAY...They had to meet with his demands. The man gave a Compact Glaive to Kaori and she activated the device. Judging by her taking aim at Mia for a while, what we suspected about the glaives having some sort of hypnotic brainwashing program inside of the devices is in fact true. However, it seemed to not faze Kaori, as she soon opened fire on the man after he released Andorina. As you can see, she's truly a Psychic User, due to being able to extend her aura like this.
Barry: I can see that this man is also a formidable foe. I'll revise the combat footage later on.
Vinny: Okay, I'll skip to the final part, where the guy was saved by this man.
Music:
Open War
Barry: Him!?
Saika: ...
Marilee: You two know him?
Barry: Not personally...but I do know the name of his superior officer...
"His name is Murakumo. He approached the mayor and offered the services of his group, called Gessellschaft. Right now, his group is responsable for reinforcing the military force of the city, as well as upgrading the maximum security prison with better equipped guards."
"The Warden of that Prison is called Amaterasu Abarai, also a member of Gessellschaft. Nothing much is known about him...which can be said the same for the entirety of Gessellschaft actually."
"The Man in the footage is named Adler. It is believed that he was once part of an organization that researched ancient ruins. He's the one responsable for the E-Soldats that currently reinforces our military force. These Soldats possess some sort of electric ability as well as advanced combat skills."
Barry: The question now is...what is he doing here?
Vinny: Well...I forgot to approach the camera after the Psychic User was defeated...so I didn't get anything from their conversation...Though I think Mia might know about it since she was there.
Saika: In that case, I'll ask her about it when I meet her. This is important...Why a member of the military is helping out the member of the msyterious organization?
Barry: That's a good question. (Not wanting to sound paranoid...but this looks like it goes deeper than we might imagine...)
Marilee: That's all. Vineria, deliver him the disk with the footage, we can't risk sending this to him by e-mail.
Vinny: Right...But it's Vinny...not Vineria...
Sheila: (The boss really refuses to say her nickname.)
Leoric: Man...that's a lot to take in...
Carlu: And it's our job to memorize all this info. The Mysterious Organization, The Blue Reaper, Gessellschaft...These are looking to be tough foes to face for sure.
Leoric: I don't need you to tell me that...
Vinny: Alright...If you don't mind me, I'll eat dinner...My food is probably cold by now.
Saika: You can repeat if you want.
Vinny: Really? Thanks a lot!
Sheila: Been a while since I've eaten homemade cooking, so I won't hold back either.
Kenneth: All I can say is that you won't regret it.
Barry: Yes...let's pause and enjoy the food for now.
