…..
Anis:....is that it?
Neon: I think so. It certainly looks whale-like.
Anis: wow. You've got good eyes.
Neon: naturally. I don't wear these glasses to look pretty.
Anis: commander, is that our target?
Varakiel: yep.
Anis: how should we proceed?
Varakiel: We first need to bring it down, then we take it down from the sky.
Anis: okay…but how?
Neon: I know I always say my firepower could pierce a hole in the sky, but that's just a figure of speech…
Rapi: we're not equipped to shoot down such a large transport aircraft, at least not one at that altitude.
Varakiel: hmm…I could use magic to pull it down but it will take hours.
Neon: what is that thing anyway?
Rapi: codename: Mother Whale. It's a massive transport aircraft that's been in use since the first rapture invasion.
Neon: That long? It must be really old then.
Rapi: correct.
Neon: shouldn't we be calling it grandmother whale then? Hehe.
Anis: Er….yeah, that's uh..real funny. Hehe.
Rapi:...
Neon: rapi, the least you could do is pretend like it was funny.
Rapi:...how highly humorous.
Neon:...thank you.
Rapi: It's clear that mother whale is still in service. It can transport large quantities of materials by flying at high altitudes. It's still capable of its primary functions, that's why it's still active. Not many of them were shot down during the initial invasion, either.
Neon: alright then, allow me to repeat my question from before. Master, what's our next course of action?
Varakiel: We first need to bring it down, then we take it down from the sky.
Anis: aren't you being a tad unrealistic? How can we possibly take down something that's waaaaaaaay up there? How come we're chasing after this thing anyway? Weren't we done with searching for the vapaus manufacturing method?
Neon: yeah, we already got the recipe,
Anis: it is nice sitting here watching a flying whale up in the sky. We have more important things to take care of.
Rapi:...as a matter of fact, i'm rather curious myself, commander. Is there any reason in particular that we're attempting to take down the mother whale?
Varakiel: Well, you know I need to fix my arm right?
Anis: yeah? What does your missing have to do with a mother whale?
Varakiel: well,....it's complicated….
....
2 days ago.
Cecil:...what did you say?
Varakiel: Do you think it's possible to absorb Rapture's body parts to reinforce my body? Since you know, I have Rh x blood, whatever is on raptures is destroyed by vapaus.
Cecil:.......
Cecil remains silent for at least an hour.
Cecil: it...might be possible, at least in theory. But if you obtain that kind of power, there will be a whole lot of other people wanting to get their hands on it.
Varakiel: i managed to contain nihilister by myself for a little while, i doubt a regular human or nikke can do much.
Cecil:...you're someone of particular renown in the ark, you'll be detected the moment you use your strength, the entire ark will know about it.
Varakiel: That's what I am expecting, the first step of my plan to change the ark is approaching and I need an extra boost of power, but time is running short. I can't gather that much strength so fast right now.
Cecil:....it looks like if i don't help you'll do it yourself.
Varakiel: Well I have a very capable researcher even more than you lady cecil, but she's quite busy and doesn't know a lot about raptures and Rh x.
Cecil: Even more than me you say?....very well. If you insist on throwing yourself into the fire, I won't stop you. To be perfectly frank, this piques my interest as well. Is the first time someone has told me someone is more capable than me so boldly, be sure I'll make you change your mind.
Varakiel: I will be the judge of that, heheh.
Cecil: hmph, you will need the parts however.
Varakiel: But just not any part is it?
Cecil: yes. The Strongest Rapture around here beside Nihilister – codename: Mother whale.
…..
Anis: Hey, Commander. Are you listening to me?
Varakiel: Sorry, I was just remembering what Cecil told me about the mother whale. I'll explain everything when we get back to eden.
Anis:...
Neon:...suspicious.
Anis: Wowee, the commander's keeping secrets!
Neon: I knew it. This happens whenever someone starts dating.
Anis: well. I suppose everyone has at least one or two dirty secrets, even the commander.
Varakiel: is not a secret, is a surprise for later, and don't worry is nothing bad, is just that, me and cecil aren't 100% it would work either, so if we fail at least we don't want to look like we just wasted precious materials and time.
Rapi:...I see. I won't pry any further then. But still, We need a way to bring down mother whale. Unless you have a plan?
Varakiel: Yep, we're going to join with Johan. He's waiting ahead of us. He'll help us come up with something.
Rapi: Understood. Let's move.
Anis: why aren't Papillon and Dorothy here?
Rapi: I hear papillon is down with a cold.
Anis: good grief. She could at least have the decency to come up with a half-decent lie.
Harran: I suppose Dorothy is feeling "Fatigued" as well.
Anis: go figure.
Rapi: Is it okay for those two to be left alone?
Harran: Are you worried about them?
Rapi: I'm worried about everything except those two.
Harran: hehe. I see. Well, don't worry. Right now, each of them wants something from the other, but neither side is willing to budge an inch. They're not going anywhere.
Varakiel: yeah.
…..
2 days ago again…
Varakiel: mother whale? Like, an actual whale?
Cecil: Correct.
Varakiel: I see, so that's the strongest rapture around here….and I assume by that name that it has plenty of materials to work with.
Cecil: Indeed, I also did some experiments with the vapaus component found in your blood before. I wanted to determine if it could be implemented into offensive weapons, including bullets, or defensive equipment like armor. Unfortunately, every attempt resulted in failure. The components that make up vapaus disintegrate once they're synthesized with metal. They simply do not mix, and I can't ascertain the exact reason since the sample was so small.
Varakiel: oh, you found out about the Catalyst issue already, maybe my evaluation of you was too low.
Cecil: catalyst issue?
Varakiel: As you know, I already told you that I can create my own vapaus bullets right?
Cecil: Yes that you did.
Varakiel then unsheathes the weapon on its back there a blade with a scarlet edge is presented to cecil
Varakiel: this one was created by my family using vapaus, the core of a rapture, goddesium and some other raw materials.
Varakiel hands the sword to cecil.
Varakiel: You can inspect its composition . I have another one to spare.
Cecil:...i see….
Cecil was inspecting the sword…..
5 hours later.
Cecil: Now I understand, Combine goddesium and rapture parts into a weapon and use that for vapaus as a catalyst, but the amount must be exact for it to not break.
Varakiel: *nod* initially vapaus and goddesium are incompatible.
Cecil: Yeah, I discovered that already, and I even tried combining it with rapture parts before, but everything ended in failure.
Varakiel: *nod* but you never tried mixing Goddesium and rapture parts before right?
Cecil: Indeed, probably it was just my moral telling me that such things shouldn't even be combined in the first place, but I guess I can't let that stop me from winning this war as well.
Varakiel: heheh, sorry you had to discover it this way.
Cecil: *shake* This will help us greatly to make stronger weapons.
Varakiel: But there's a but.
Cecil: Yeah, i will shall never use it to recreate heretics, or nikkes with that formula, there's the risk of them being able to communicate with this queen, or be directly corrupted or lose control.
Varakiel: *nod* with just realizing that you already surpassed the whole ark by 100 years.
Cecil: So should I say Eden is 200 years ahead of the ark? *giggle*
Varakiel: heheh, so there it is.
Varakiel hands over a small notepad to cecil.
Varakiel: Here is the method to fuse Goddesium and rapture parts, and to be honest, all of this was thanks to snow white.
Cecil: Snow white? How?
Varakiel: she used rapture parts on her body to keep it moving.
Cecil: I see, the fact they were compatible is scary enough but to use it to repair right into the field…..just what are raptures exactly.
Varakiel: Who knows, but that doesn't matter, they killed billions of humans, I don't care if they did it for "survival" or because "they didn't know better" I wouldn't care if they are here for some reason like that, for me they are just monsters.
Cecil: Good, just focus on saving nikkes. And as for heretics…..if you can reason with them or capture them to undo whatever the raptures did to them, is up to you. Honestly I would prefer if you destroyed them as well.
Varakiel: Oh don't worry, I have my own plans for the heretics right now...…
Cecil: but still….this method of synthesizing…..i managed to create my own bullet of vapaus with human cells before but it wasn't durable…..but if what you said is true, then this method would allow me to not only create bullets, but also weaponry, armor…..are you sure you want to lend this to us?
Varakiel: *nod* consider it a gift and an investment.
Cecil: investment?
Varakiel: For when i take control of the ark, i will need strong allies, i am not asking of you as one of the leaders of eden, but as Cecil: the scientist.
Cecil:...i'll see what i can do.
Varakiel: That's good enough, hehe. So, tell me more about the method you used for those vapaus bullets. I need to write it in my report when I go back.
Cecil: So you realized I gave you a fake creation method….
Varakiel: Of course, if I didn't then I would be far away from taking control of the ark, wouldn't i?
Cecil: and still helped us.....*smile* It seems the trust those nikkes have on you isn't misplaced, you are a good person that will change the future.
Varakiel: *nod* Now tell me, I am curious!
Cecil: So I discovered that vapaus won't decompose if you use human cells.
Varakiel: I see…..wait, whose human cells did you use?
Cecil: if you must know. I used some of mine. Would you like me to tell you where I extracted them from?
Varakiel:.....was it from here?
Varakiel holds Cecil's left hand.
Cecil: Impressive, was it luck?
Varakiel: *shake* I noticed you were trying to hide it and I also saw your hand was quite stiff.
Cecil: it seems you can read people very well too, just what you can't do, you keep giving more and more surprises.
Varakiel: *smirk* oh but this is one of my greatest surprises. Tell me have you heard about the theory of magic?
From varakiel hand a white light begins to shine.
Cecil: !!!? what the!?
Varakiel: hahaha, i finally took away that stoic expression of you cecil-chan~.
The light lands in Cecil's hand and the wound under her glove heals instantly.
Cecil: i-instantly!?.....wait…..you said….magic!?
Varakiel: *nod* the theory of magic, the theory that humans can be capable of using what is denominated mana, in the air around.
Varakiel then waves his hand and a ball of water floats on his hand.
Varakiel: this is the greatest legacy of the Fateburn family 50 years ago. Magic.
Then a flame appears on his other hand.
Varakiel: The ability to control magic….this is my secret to end this war, once and for all.
The flame and the ball of water dissipates.
Cecil:.....
Varakiel: *nod* as expected, you're speechless. Hehe, so want to hear about my whole plan now?
Cecil: *nod* *nod* *nod*
Cecil says with a spark in her eyes.