Sins of the Father

The event with Xavier hadn’t taken much off of the two Perfects, Maximillian ‘Shin’ Itami and Cornus Malaikin, the two self proclaimed Agents of the Apocalypse, leaving them somewhat energised after their little race across Europe.  This was quite fortunate actually, as Shin’s personal surveillance system subsequently noted a slightly more high priority disturbance coming from a distant island.

“Is something wrong?”  Cornus now inquired, seeing the look of worry on Shin’s face.

“Not yet, but I would prefer if we were to monitor this situation.”  Shin replied, drawing an inquisitive look from Cornus.

“Oh really, what is this situation?”  He pushed, causing Shin to become somewhat reluctant before answering.

“The two heralds are having their first confrontation.”  Shin stated, causing Cornus to smirk.

“You are concerned for your sons, that’s not like you Shin.”  Cornus now replied deviously drawing a slightly annoyed look from Shin.

“My sons are more than competent of taking care of themselves… however; channelers in this realm are closely monitored.  I would prefer if world was kept in the dark about this for as long as we can manage it.”  Shin explained.

“I understand… if that is to be the case then we will probably require more than just a surveillance system and so little manpower to get the job done.  Do you not have allies here that could assist us?”  Cornus inquired.

“Hardly… no matter, that will be dealt with at a later date, right now, we should see to it that this altercation is not taken too far.”  Shin commanded, powering up once again and focusing, attempting to get a lock on the position of his sons from his mansion hidden in Europe.

“I take it that we will not fly there?”

“No, I would prefer if they were not aware of our presence.  I will Edge Skim there, track my movements and follow after me.”  Shin explained, confirming the lock on and vanishing from the area.

Cornus did as instructed, and within seconds, he too found himself hovering over the battlefield, gazing down as the violent battle taking place below.

“They are rather… refined warriors aren’t they?”  He commented to himself, catching Shin’s attention.

“Indeed, these channelers are trained in almost the same way that we train our soldiers.  They do not simply possess abilities like common channelers; they design and build their forms from the ground up.”  Shin explained.

“Into perfect combat artists.”  Cornus added, causing Shin to pause.

“Well… not all of them.  Their system is impressive… but these channelers are no Oyans.  Their forms are subject to FADs, whims and trivialities… that proper blend of design and build is only found in a small fraction of these ‘players’.”  Shin explained, causing Cornus to laugh lightly.

“Pity… for a moment there I was almost impressed.”  He replied.

“Don’t be, even these that you see below you have much work to do if they want to be able to compete with anything more than your average Oyans… our soldiers would tear them limb from limb.”  Shin stated rather harshly before Cornus’ attention was drawn to the battlefield.

“Where did you son go?”  He inquired, causing Shin to scan the battlefield, somewhat puzzled by the question, only to notice Roun thrusting through a rift between the ethereal and spectral realms.

The distortions in his form were common of those who had lost parts of their core ethereal energies… no doubt as a result of his passage through the spectral realm, but there was something amidst about the entire thing.  His fighting style had become far less refined, when compared to the martial arts influenced combat style that he usually exhibited.  In fact, his current actions seemed almost savage.  This was not all that amidst about the situation however.  As a father, and more importantly a channeler with such insight into matter of the spectral nature, it was very easy for Shin to see that Roun’s spiritual energy had also changed… or more accurately grew during his passage through the spectral realm.

“This is… interesting.”  Shin sounded, drawing a worried look from Cornus.

“Interesting?  This is unheard of.”  He exclaimed, causing Shin to wave his finger from side to side is disagreement.

“Not entirely.  Our clans may be allies, but there are technologies available to the Itami people that more bizarre and sadly enough, more contraband, than those possessed by though magi wraiths, the Haiman-sa.

“Are you telling me that you people deliberately spawned this thing?”  Cornus exclaimed, causing the veil of energy that shielded their presence from the player class channelers to waver.

“Not exactly deliberately… but yes, this was the subject of a number of spectral experiments… however, too my knowledge, none were ever successful.”  Shin explained.

“You expect me to believe that this was accidental!?”  Cornus now inquired sceptically, as he felt a sudden drop in temperature throughout the area.

“Entirely, no.  My sons, all of them, have been fashioned into powerful weapons to the best of my abilities; they were subject of many enhancements over the early years of their lives.  However, one of them was more resilient to spectral tampering that the others… and as such, he was a more logical choice for a number of less… certain procedures.”  Shin explained, choosing his words quite carefully.  But even his diplomacy could not help to prevent the disdain that Cornus felt for his actions.  Luckily, it would be time for them to bring the battle to an end, giving Shin a much welcomed relief from the conversation.

As the Herald which Roun and Ryuu had become and that which emanated from Shade faced off, the two Perfect rushed into the fray, quelling the erupting energy and soft reverting all those involved.  They would separate the two teams before returning them to their respective strongholds.