18 Prelude to Battle

Alexandria watched on as heroes and villains alike standing together side by side.

At time like this, it truly felt like Humanity was whole.

In face of overwhelming power, humanity has no choice but to band together.

Alexandria knew that fighting the Endbringers is a losing battle. They would either stall long enough for Scion to appear, or to stall long enough for the civilians to evacuate.

Still, they would fight on.

And so she looked at the winged creature floating above the city orbited by a cloud of debris.

Simurgh, the youngest of the Three Endbringers, and the hardest to fight.

With Behemoth, you only need to stay away from the Kill Aura.

With Leviathan, all you have to do is to avoid the water echoes.

But with Simurgh, you have to look out for the scream.

A scream that not only would incapacitate you, but it would also turn you into one of it's puppets.

One by one, the capes gathered, waiting for her speech to increase morale. Waiting for her to give out a strategy that would make most of the come alive.

Most. They all have accepted the fact that for each Endbringer they fought, more of their numbers will be thinned.

Just as she was about to say something, a 'Hole' akin to Doormaker's portals opened, garnering the attention of almost all the capes present.

And out came one of the most enigmatic and most sought out capes.

Codename: Phantom, or most commonly known as Bookmaker, with the final classification of Trump-12.

If Alexandria didn't know any better, she would have suspected her to be another Entity similar to Scion/Zion.

"Oh my," Bookmaker's voice was as soft as bells yet it reached everyone present. "I hope I'm not late to this party."

Alexandria's eye twitched. To be treating an Endbringer fight as a mere party? Is this person right in the head?!

Shaking away these thoughts, Alexandria approached the white clad girl.

"Bookmaker right?" She asked. "Are you here to fight alongside us?"

"If not, then why would I be here?" Bookmaker stared at her like she was an idiot.

CAN I PUNCH THIS PERSON JUST ONCE?!

With a wave of her hand, one of Dragon's bracelet suddenly appeared on Bookmaker's wrist.

Pressing the green button once, she recorded her name and affiliation.

"Bookmaker of the Ars Goetia"

Ars Goetia, on the the Grimoires that is said to be written by King Solomon, and commonly goes by the name of 'Book of Demons'.

In a way, Bookmaker would be akin to the devil.

Due to the PRT unable to effectively stop the distribution of the flyers, more and more people fell to Bookmaker's schemes.

Those whose wish was granted forgot about their encounter with her. Those whose wish was granted also lost something important to them. Their home, their car, their figurines, all sorts of stuff. There is no rhyme nor reason for what the Bookmaker will take once you've made a deal with her.

She could still remember the man whose eyes were stolen in exchange for a winning lottery ticket. Even with Panacea, the eyes could never be healed nor regenerated. It's as if the eyes didn't exist so there was nothing to heal.

Before Alexandria could float back to the podium, another figure walked out of the 'Hole'.

A thin woman with thin limbs and tall stature clad in black mist with a pair of Black wings sprouting from her back.

"Bookmaker, why didn't you wait for me?" The girl's voice had a hollow ring to it, as if she's speaking through a tunnel.

Bookmaker turned towards the new figure and smiled. "Because, my dear Raven, are too slow."

And with the flick of her hand, another Bracelet appeared on the woman, Raven's wrist.

Ah, she's probably one of the unfortunate ones to find themselves under Bookmaker's employ. Probably as payment.

Shaking her head, Alexandria floated back to the podium to offer her speech.

After which, the capes deployed to counter the menace known as Simurgh.