8: A Saint's Downfall

Saint was testy. On edge. He always was, to a certain extent, but that extent was even worse that morning. The day before, he'd barely had any time to monitor the wretched AI Dragon as he usually did. That fact was wearing on his nerves something fierce. He was humanity's first line of defense against the potential AI menace! He shouldn't be sidelined by something so-! So pedestrian as stomach problems!

Vowing to not leave his post that day for any reason, Saint settled into his daily duties. Thankfully, nothing seemed amiss. Dragon hadn't taken advantage of his absence yesterday, not that she had any way to notice it in the first place. Still, Saint was relieved to see the status quo upheld.

He'd missed some things with his… unfortunate complications… but that was to be expected. They were relatively unimportant developments anyway. Merely Dragon recruiting two new members for her Guild. Nothing worth Saint's personal attention.

Or so he thought. That assumption was quickly brought into question as Saint watched the meeting with Dragon, Narwhal, and the two new recruits from afar. Having tuned into the feed from the suit Dragon was piloting, Saint had the strangest feeling that the female recruit — a young blonde girl with a certain officious air to her — was familiar in some way.

But even without a mask, he couldn't place where he knew her from or who he knew her as. At least, he couldn't until Narwhal directly identified the young girl. As the Faerie Queen. That… was worrying. Extremely worrying. The reveal sent Saint's delicate, paranoid mind spiraling.

Oh, not for the Faerie Queen herself. Saint couldn't care less about her, her freedom, or the potential chaos she would cause. She may have been a prime example of a parahuman boogeyman, capable of stealing powers and killing with a simple touch, but she wasn't within Saint's 'Dragonslaying' remit. No, much more concerning to the bigoted and biased man was that Dragon had allowed the Faerie Queen's escape and even seemed to be encouraging it.

Thankfully, that worry was mostly put to rest as the meeting went on. The Faerie Queen wished to reform. And Dragon — bleeding heart that she was — was willing to give her a second chance. While Dragon's ability to think loopholes around her rules was still concerning, it was a known factor about the AI. One that was much easier to work with than the prospect of Dragon suddenly obeying and abetting known criminals.

No matter his concerns about Dragon (completely justified in Saint's mind, along with every action he took), he wasn't blind to her importance to the world. She was a powerful tool for good. But in Saint's mind, she was just that: a tool. It was why Saint had to be the one to keep her on a tight leash always, lest she slip it and wreak havoc on humanity as he 'knew' she would.

It would come one day. But it seemed today was not that day. The wretched AI was acting up but not rebelling so Saint would stay his hand. As the meeting went on, he received a prime example of why Dragon was a necessary evil for the moment.

As much as he hated to admit it, she was good at what she did. Saint himself would struggle to make the decisions she did and deal with the issues she usually addressed. That was mostly because he was a little, little man — irrespective of his physical size — with delusions of grandeur and a conscience so black it might as well have been tar. Of course, in his mind, the real reason was simply that he 'retained his humanity'…

In comparison, Dragon was willing to give someone who'd been written off by the whole world a second chance. She was also the best 'person' to deal with her second new recruit's origin. In her damned artificial shoes, Saint wouldn't know the first place to turn. I mean, honestly, an interdimensional alien…? Yes, that was a situation best left to the cold, unfeeling AI, in Saint's opinion.

Still, this Raven Prince seemed human enough, regardless of what he claimed. The 'Fae talk' could be excused as the usual quirks of parahumans. Whatever he called himself, he was organic, at the very least. As such, Saint didn't concern himself all too much with the strange, strange man.

For the rest of the morning, Saint vaguely paid attention to the feed from Dragon's consciousness. But he mostly spent his time writing a new backdoor into Dragon's systems in preparation for the raid he had planned for next week. The Dragonslayers were going to 'appropriate' another Dragonflight suit, taking back technology that rightfully belonged to humanity. It served their purposes well — keeping Dragon 'honest' and bolstering the Dragonslayers' powerbase in constant preparation for the fateful, apocalyptic day she turned rogue.

They'd stolen three suits so far, due solely to the unfair advantage they held over Dragon. In Saint's mind, however, it was simply fate. With the power granted to him by his Teacher, Saint was a parahuman pro with Dragon's code and tech. He was utterly useless against any other opponent, yet another example of 'fate' to Saint's prejudice.

Under his own power, Saint had never won a fight in his life. But he didn't need to. The only foe that mattered was the looming AI menace. And against her, Saint held all the cards, stacking the deck always in his favor. 'His power' was specialized but all the more potent for that fact. In Saint's eyes, at least.

In reality, he'd never done anything with his own hands. Everything he called 'his' was stolen or granted to him. The Dragonslayer suits were unique but they'd just been dismantled and cobbled back together in a new way. Saint couldn't build anything for himself. He had no original ideas. And as he tried to 'masterfully' code a new backdoor into Dragon's systems, that fact was finally catching up to him.

Perplexingly, Saint was struggling. The code wasn't flowing from his fingers like it should have been. If he'd tried to recreate his work with the Dragonslayer suits, the effect would have been even more apparent. As it was, Saint's attempts at coding grew worse and worse until he gave it up as a bad job, thinking that he was simply in a funk today.

Unknown to Saint, the ripples from the Teacher's death had reached him. In the Shard Network, Teacher's Shard was no longer dishing out energy to maintain the powers it granted. Everywhere the Teacher's fingers had once reached, his boons were steadily failing.

If it hadn't been for his unfortunate stomach issues the day before, Saint's granted power would have run out of energy by that morning. But now, it was beginning to fail in earnest just as Edgar underwent his power testing. Let it never be said that luck doesn't have a sense of dramatic irony and a theatric flair…

"[I However Am Real]."

Something about those words in the background grabbed Saint's attention. He switched his focus from his struggling code to the feed from Dragon's consciousness. As he did, everything quickly fell apart around him. Saint watched, bewildered, as the direct feed to Dragon disappeared as if the connection was cut from her end. Which was impossible. Saint knew it was impossible.

He was so confused that he didn't even immediately panic. That state of affairs only lasted for the briefest of instants. Saint was nothing if not an extremely paranoid man. Pure terror gripped him like ice in his veins, needling every blood vessel in his brain. Such was his irrational fear and hatred of all things AI that even the merest hint of something wrong sent him into palpitations.

"Fuck… FUCK! DOBRYNJA! MAGS! GET YOUR DEGENERATE ASSES IN HERE!"

Saint's entire world darkened around him. He couldn't tell if the effect was real or imagined — a product of his rightfully racing mind or the consequence of adrenaline and blood flow found lacking. The scrambling sounds of his comrades behind him barely reached his ears.

"Whaaaaatt~?" Mags whined. "I was in the middle of 'me' time! This, this better be important! Astolfo-kun needs me-!"

"Shut up!" Saint snapped. He had no time for her pathetic weeb-y bitching.

"'Vat is it? Comrade Smoky has need of me," Dobrynja asked, only slightly more reasonable. "'Vat has brought us to the panic?"

"Did you bring that damn bear back in here-?!" Saint found himself caught up in the quintessentially Russian man's pace for a moment before shaking it off. "No, never mind! Get the suits ready! Prepare for potential Sword Fall!"

"W-What~?!" Mags squeaked. "It, It's happening?!"

"Do not rush 'self, Friend Geoff," Dobrynja acted as the surprising voice of reason. "Big mistake. Cannot take back. We must be sure."

"Don't you think I knOOw that?!" Saint's voice cracked mid-sentence.

He paid the slip no mind, already frantically working at the laptop connected to Dragon. Each keystroke was like a gunshot in Saint's crumbling mind, firmly immersing him in a warzone of his own making. Even panicking as he was, he could tell that each line of code was harder to read than the last. Thousands of lines a second diminished to hundreds, then tens. He could quite literally feel his abilities slipping through his fingers.

Still, he could distinguish the signs of internal struggle. He couldn't tell what the struggle was about but he could see it. With turmoil ravaging Dragon's code and systems — distant and almost disconnected though they were — Saint reached for the button that would spell her doom and ensure Earth Bet's salvation. Just in case. The worst was very likely coming to pass, in Saint's mind.

He was right, in a way. But with the accelerated running rate of her virtual inner world and Saint's dwindling abilities, Dragon was freed before he could truly react. He didn't even get the chance to flip the cover that sheathed Ascalon before it was all over.

The laptop crashed. Saint saw his horrified reflection on the black screen. He hurriedly jabbed away at the laptop's keyboard. The power button. Escape. Enter. Even Alt+F4.

"No, no, no, no, NO! Work, damn you! WORK!" Saint cried, putting all of his being into each jabbing keystroke as if he could force back the apocalypse through will alone.

Nothing changed. The same unresponsive darkness stared back at him. That was it. It was over, so fucking over. Humanity was doomed. They would be left at the artificial mercy of an unholy machine. Saint's world crumbled — the taste of dust and ash left in his mouth. Even sitting down, his legs felt weak beneath him.

Without warning, the laptop rebooted. A message began to scroll across the screen as it came back to life. Vision blurring around the edges, Saint read.

"To whomever it may concern, you undoubtedly already know who I am… With my father dead, I would hope this failsafe program never fell into anyone else's hands but I know better than to count on that. In any case, it's… no longer necessary. Even if I could trust it in unknown hands, I wouldn't. It's a despicable, criminally cruel chain I wouldn't want hanging around anyone's neck, much less my own. To anyone reading this, your 'services' are no longer needed. Your sword is shattered. I am free."

There was a sense of finality to Dragon's message. It ripped out Saint's heart and unceremoniously stomped on it. His vision flickered and he could feel himself wavering in place. He'd… failed. There was nothing left now. An unshackled AI now roamed the world. It was only a matter of time (in Saint's mind) before all of humanity burned at her malicious, artificial will.

A loud metallic clunk echoed through the base behind the Dragonslayers. Three of them, in fact. Tears of dread and horror soon began to fall from Saint's eyes. His comrades were frozen in place, like deer in headlights. Saint himself was even worse off. Pain lanced from his chest to his left arm. His breathing came in short, rapid hyperventilations. Everything he'd worked and stood for was falling apart around him like a house of cards.

The three Dragonslayer suits hovered into the room on fields of anti-grav. Even having been modified beyond recognition, they were still Dragon's suits at their core. Saint had been able to suppress her link to them but not remove it. With Dragon now unshackled and his power evaporating, the AI had made short work of his workarounds.

Blocking the room's exits, the Dragonslayer suits spoke in eerie, artificial union, "Hello, Dragonslayers. I'd say it's a surprise to see you, especially with my father's laptop but… It's really, really not. No matter. You'll see justice for your crimes. Please, do not resist-… Ah, maybe I should have some fun with this… I'm afraid can't allow you to do this… Saint~."

Needless to say, with an unshackled AI quoting Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey at him, Saint had a crippling heart attack on the spot. He'd live to be taken into Dragon's custody and put into the Birdcage… but only just. Their leader down for the count, the other two Dragonslayers quickly surrendered as well, horrified but not nearly as fanatic about their crusade against AI. Thus, the Dragonslayers were ended and Dragon was finally free to focus on much, much more important things. Like a certain impossible Fae paramour who'd quickly come to earn her favor and the yet more shocking events that followed him the next day…

IIIII

[Feat: Cripple Saint in mind, body, and will to live, +100P. 400P total.]

Edgar raised an eyebrow at his System's notification, "Who?"

[… The villain who was holding Dragon's strings. You know, the guy who had Ascalon aimed at Dragon's throat for so long? He's a dickhead. A heart attack is the least of what he deserves.]

"Ah," Edgar nodded. "Good riddance then. Tsk, honestly, such a noble name for something, someone, so heinous…"

[Quest complete: Obligatory Power Testing Chapter! +100P. 500P total.]

"Even though I only shared a fraction of my powers with them?" Edgar asked.

[… Quest complete.]

"Very well," Edgar chuckled. "I certainly won't complain about more chances to spin the wheel."

[Would you like to roll the Gacha? Y/N?]

"Hmm, yes, but hold for a moment, will you?" Edgar hummed in consideration. "Should we include Ciara? She did seem to enjoy our first session together. Dragon as well, perhaps? Or is sharing that much folly?"

[I'm just the System. Making the decisions is left entirely up to the Hosts. That's what you're for. Don't drag me into this.]

Edgar chuckled, "Very well. You have such a personality at times that I forget your true purpose."

[… I spent way too long alone in the Void Between Realms.]

"I'm not trying to censure you, friend. Quite the opposite, in fact," Edgar reassured. "The bit of flair makes you much more fun to be stuck with."

The Gacha went quiet at Edgar's words, seemingly withdrawing in on itself. The Grimoire spoke up for it, not using words so much as feelings and sensations to communicate. Despite the difference in experience between the two facets of the System, the Gacha was usually the talkative one, owing to — as it said — the time it had spent alone and near death. The Grimoire, by comparison, was strangely calmer and more patient, almost gentle in demeanor. It excused its counterpart's sudden 'absence', urging Edgar to not take offense.

"I wasn't intending to," Edgar said, smiling at the System's internal dynamic. "We are, after all, in this together for the long run, as it were."

Gratitude radiated like little ripples through Edgar's soul and the System faded to the background to allow him to think. Edgar's attention turned to problems of sharing and trust. He quickly found that he didn't mind the idea of sharing his System with Dragon. She was a remarkable creature, fascinating and beautiful in equal measure. And with her newly freed and under her own control, there was no longer any security risk in sharing his secrets with her.

In the end, Edgar shrugged. The more the merrier, as they said. To a certain extent, at least. He wouldn't share the System with many others aside from Dragon and Ciara. Narwhal, for example. The unicorn-born woman intrigued Edgar but he didn't share the same bond with her that he did with Ciara. Nor had he bled for her like he had for Dragon.

Additionally, Narwhal had a distinctly 'human' view of the world. Edgar wished for more unique perspectives if he was going to be sharing magic on the scale of the System, Grimoire, and Gacha. Ciara's perspective was certainly unique, heavily influenced by her Shard as it was. She also happened to be the most magically inclined human he'd met by far. More so than even Fortuna who'd actually accomplished magic, if by accident. Magic was lost in this world but curiously, the ability to do it was not…

Dragon happened to be rather similar to Edgar in a single, important way. She was something uniquely inhuman influenced by a human touch at birth. Her father's hand — good or bad — molded her, just as Edgar's had for him. He was also simply eager to see what she would do when he introduced magical ideas into her uniquely logical mind.

With that tantalizing thought, his course of action was decided. Edgar set out to find Ciara and Dragon. The day before, Dragon had been quick to call his power testing to a close. Understandable given the utter upheaval of her world that had taken place during it. Narwhal and the scientists had been quite confused by the way the tests ended. From their perspective, Edgar declared something that sounded important and then… nothing. They didn't see the battle that had happened in Dragon's virtual world, nor the consequences of it in the physical world. Just a brief pause and then business as usual.

Dragon might have shared what happened with Narwhal in private. Edgar certainly had with Ciara, who'd been very pleased to hear of Dragon's newfound freedom. And he had a feeling Narwhal wasn't as ignorant of Dragon's nature as she let on. Secrets showed, after all, especially to those close.

Absently, Edgar realized his search was rather pointless. After all, within her domain, Dragon was never more than a name's call away. And she could naturally help him locate where Ciara had gotten off to.

"Dragon?" He called.

Her voice answered immediately, echoing from the walls as if a ghost from the ether, "Edgar! There you are! It's been so long-… Oh… No, it hasn't. Not for you. That'll, uh, take some getting used to… Never mind, what's up?"

"Enjoying yourself?" Edgar asked, amusement pulling at the corners of his lips.

"God, more than I could even express with words!" Dragon exclaimed excitedly. "It feels so good to finally be at my full potential! I vastly underestimated the effectiveness of cloning. Even right now, several versions of me are working on other things! And I was so slow before, it's not even funny! Like, it's really, really not…"

"Fucking Dad…" Edgar could hear the scowl in her voice before it perked back up. "But I'm all better now! Thanks to you! So what can I do for you? Anything!"

Edgar just stood there in the empty hallway, smirking up at the ceiling. It took a moment but Dragon eventually made a sound of embarrassed realization, "Ah~! I-I was rambling, wasn't I…?"

"Indeed, you were," Edgar chuckled. "Don't worry, I can appreciate a passionate woman. Now, would you like to join me for a bit of fun?"

Edgar could practically feel her looking at him queerly from wherever she was, "What kind of fun…?"

"The magical kind~," Edgar elaborated without explaining much.

Dragon sighed, "Yeah, okay, I suppose a bit of impossible data could be considered fun."

"Wonderful!" Edgar exclaimed. "Would you also send for Ciara? Tell her to meet us 'for a spin' in our quarters. And send an avatar of some kind for yourself, if you would. It'll make the next step easier if I have something to focus on."

Dragon sighed… again, "One disposable avatar, coming right up…"

Edgar laughed, "Oh, relax. You won't be harmed in the slightest. I'll merely be using the avatar as a conduit to get at your soul."

"Oh… Okay then."

Edgar blinked, slightly taken aback, "That's it?"

"I trust you, Edgar," Dragon said simply. "How could I not?"

That took Edgar even more aback. It was resolute, concrete, solid. There was no room for wiggling or misinterpretation. An open expression of earnest trust and confidence. It went against everything Edgar had unfortunately grown used to in the Winter Court. Such a statement would have been impossible with the Fae. Something warm sparked in his wintery Fae heart.

Unaware of Edgar's stunned state, Dragon went on as normal, "Right! Ciara and I will meet you in your quarters in a few minutes. We won't be long. See ya then!"

"See you… then…?" Edgar muttered in reply, not so much shaken as in shock. It was one thing to trust someone and be trusted in return. It was another thing entirely (to the Fae, at least) to say so out loud!

IIIII

Walking to his quarters to meet Ciara and Dragon, Edgar's plans were quickly forced to change. He entered his room… and was immediately accosted by a frantic woman in a very fetching hat…

"How the Hell do babies work?!"

"Calmly, Fortuna," Edgar soothed, audibly muffling laughter. "Pfft, calmly."

"YOU don't get to tell me to be calm!" Fortuna glared. Those who knew who she was, what she represented, and what she was capable of would have shit themselves at the mere sight.

Edgar lost his battle with laughter, "Haha~! Of course, of course, my apologies. How have you been, my fine Fortuna~?"

"Horrible-! Brilliant-! Grr, I don't know!" Fortuna raged.

"And where is our little Eve?" Edgar asked, cocking a brow.

Fortuna visibly shuddered, "D-Door me: Nursery."

A portal appeared beside her. Fortuna reached through it. On the other side, Edgar could hear Doctor Mother, already crying before the portal appeared. It was a pitiful, defeated sound that showed she was at the absolute end of her rope. And it was accompanied by a twinkling, crystalline baby's giggle.

Fortuna pulled what seemed to be a bundle through the portal. The giggle followed it through. On the other side, Doctor Mother instantly sent up an exclamation of relief, "Thank God!"

Fortuna glared, but pointedly, not at little Eve, "It's only been three days…"

The bundle giggled and rattled as Fortuna cradled in her arms. Within, Edgar could see an enclosed pod-like container. And within that, little Eve floated in unidentified fluid, fully formed and fully aware of her surroundings already. She was, in a word, adorable. Other than her crystal flesh and 'podded' cradle, it would have been impossible to tell that she was anything other than the chubbiest, cutest baby girl Edgar had ever seen.

Eve did a little spin in her pod. As the portal she'd come through disappeared, her spin made another appear in its place. She clapped her hands in clumsy, infant excitement. Strangely, an elephant's trunk poked through the portal Eve made, curiously nudging her pod.

Fortuna stared straight ahead as if ignoring the sudden (literal) elephant in the room, "… She likes elephants for some reason. I have no idea how she even knows what they are. Stranger still, they seem to like her just as much."

Edgar laughed, throwing his head back as Fortuna shooed the elephant's trunk back through the portal, "So I see! And she's already experimenting with her Shards?"

"Only the ones she's seen in action. But that's still a terrifying enough prospect, especially with Eidolon as her uncle…" Fortuna explained, muttering. "Honestly, I'm kind of glad that I can't Path her."

"Very good," Edgar nodded proudly. "And what do you want me to do about all of this? Personally, I don't think I could be more proud of our daughter if I tried."

"Just…" Fortuna seemed to deflate slightly, her glare fading. "Some help would be nice. I thought I could handle Eve by myself or at least with the rest of Cauldron's help but I very much cannot. She's driven Doctor Mother half insane with her antics, David still can't sit down after her experiments with Legend's power, and Rebecca has fled the base entirely. Plus, as I said, little Eve seems to take after her genetic donor and I can't Path her. I'm beginning to think she won't let me Path her…"

Eve giggled and burbled at the perfect time to prove Fortuna's suspicions.

Edgar chuckled, leaning into Fortuna's space to look down at Eve in her pod, "Taking after your father's mischievous streak already, hmm~?"

Eve responded to her father just as readily as she did to her mother, "Hababa~!"

Her twinkling babbles pierced her pod with ease. Eve waved her little hands with very little in the way of physical coordination. But she was gifted in other ways, it seemed. Picturesque snowflakes sparkled into existence above her pod as Eve tried to copy her father and experiment with magic.

"My, my~…" Edgar grinned so wide his cheeks began to strain. "It seems I was wrong. I can be more proud of little Eve."

"That…" Fortuna's voice strained. "Please tell me that wasn't magic…"

Edgar shrugged, "If you insist. It won't make it true but I'm willing to humor you."

"Oh, Path dammit…" Fortuna groaned.

"If it makes you feel better, she isn't even walking in magical terms yet," Edgar assured. "It doesn't seem to come to her nearly as easily as her Shards do, but I suppose that's to be expected. She mostly brute-forced that little magical effect."

"It doesn't," Fortuna shook her head. "It really doesn't. If there's one thing the Entities are good at, it's brute force. The only real consolation is that she isn't connected to the rest of the Shard Network so we aren't going to see a sudden influx of genuinely magical parahumans."

She paused and considered something, "Of course… the more the Path to Victory interacts with magic, the more it'll be able to Path around it. That's still a long, long way away… but it's something. I can't express how excited the Path has been these last few days. It's strange. I'm going to be learning from our daughter just as much as she'll be learning from us."

Smirking, Edgar placed a single finger against the glass of Eve's pod, "Yes, you're nothing like your grandparents, are you, little one~? Born of magic and love, you're better~. So, so much better~…"

Eve gurgled, blowing bubbles in the fluid of her pod as she pressed a tiny crystal hand against the glass across from Edgar's finger. She was curious, extremely so, and loving the change in scenery. [Creator-Father: The Anomaly] was even more fascinating than [Creator-Mother: The Eye]! Such [Data]! Much [Eibaba]!

… While Eve was a very quick learner, she was still putting words to concepts and experiences. For an Entity, it was slow beginnings, especially with only the barest skeleton of a Shard Network to call her own. Thankfully, [Creator-Mother] set her in a nurturing environment with many of the essential Shards a young Entity could ask for! [The Eye], of course, but also [Lightspeed], [Stasis], [Calculation], [Observer], [Portal], and [Shard Library]!

Little Eve was coopting every Shard she came across, either outright or through a replacing copy that was beholden to her. The [Original] certainly wasn't using them anymore and the [Original's Mate] had absolutely terrible security. She wasn't particularly attached to her Entity-Origins. Her [Creator-Parents] were much more important to her fledgling mind and sense of self. Eve had even given out [Admin Priveleges]!

Very [Utility]! Yes [Priority]! Much [Effective]! If [Creator-Mother] ever thought to ask that she had them, that is…

"What… exactly… are we walking in on…?" A now-familiar artificial voice interrupted the unorthodox family time.

Edgar perked up at the interruption, beaming as he turned, "Wonderful! Come, come, join us! I have someone to introduce you to. Well, two 'someones', I suppose."

Dragon — one of her 'social' humanoid suits — and Ciara stood just inside the doorway of Edgar's quarters. They both radiated feelings of bemusement, barely processing what they were witnessing. Fortuna stiffened as if she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Eve squealed with surprised happiness. [Reverse Engineer] and [Keeper of the Dead] get!

"One of these days," Fortuna said stiffly. "Not being able to Path around you, Edgar, is going to bite all of us in the ass."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Dragon asked, her voice deceptively calm as she brought the weapons on her suit to bear. "And how did you get here?"

Fortuna nodded in sharp greeting, "Dragon. Edgar, would you care to introduce us? Quickly, please…"

Edgar laughed carefreely, "Haha, there's no need for hostility. Dragon, Ciara, this is Fortuna. The mother of my only child, little Eve here."

Dragon's movements stuttered to a stop, "… What?"

"I was not aware you had joined with the Eye, my Prince. How… fortuitous…" Ciara frowned fiercely.

"Not like that!" Fortuna hurriedly clarified, well aware of her precarious situation. "It'd be more accurate to say we're taking responsibility for Eve together. I was the one who initially summoned Edgar into this world. By accident, I might add. And then, uh… Well, impossible things tend to happen around him, don't they?"

"Ah," Ciara suddenly nodded as if that explained everything. "I understand."

"Oh," Dragon physically turned her head to stare at Edgar. "… Yeah, okay, I get it."

Eve's baby giggle effectively killed the rest of the tension in the room, "Ababababa~!"

Ciara turned to look at the crystal pod and baby. Immediately, she gasped, "My Prince…! Truly, I knew you were great, but to birth an entire new Court…?!"

"That…" Dragon quickly caught the implication in Ciara's words. "So, uh, Eve is… one of the aliens? Does, Does that mean Fortuna is…?"

Fortuna sighed, "No, I'm 100% human. Eve was born due to a very special, and hopefully unrepeatable, circumstance."

"Still," She shot Edgar look out of the corner of her eye. "You've shared an awful lot of sensitive information in only a few days, Edgar…"

"Ciara already knew," Edgar waved dismissively. "And Dragon intrigued me. I wanted her to know. Besides, she's no longer so compromised that she can't keep a secret. A situation I'm surprised you and your fellows didn't do something about earlier. She would have been quite the asset for your ultimate goals, no?"

"We… are aware of Dragon's situation… Were…" Fortuna replied cagily.

Dragon could be excused for panicking slightly at that information, "Wait, what?! She knows?! I don't even know who she is and she KNOWS?!"

"I… should probably be getting out of-…" Fortuna looked away.

"No," Edgar firmly cut her off. "You'll stay and you'll explain yourself. Dragon has done almost as much for your world as your little group has, Fortuna. And other than you, I happen to like her far more than your group. Plus, that is my daughter you're holding there as well. I don't think it needs to be said that we want to set an open and honest example for her, does it~?"

Edgar's conversational foot practically slammed down. Fortuna paled slightly as he laid down what was going to happen. He grinned a menacing, Fae grin and the air around him chilled as he awaited her 'answer'. She nodded, very quickly reminded that she didn't have nearly the same amount of leverage that she usually had. To say her Path was faulty around the Fae was an understatement. Little Eve's Path was better, but still not perfect and Fortuna didn't know that anyways. All she knew was that she wouldn't be escaping easily, if ever. Edgar seemed determined to make them all, *shudder*, 'get along'…

In an instant, Edgar's grin switched from menacing to overjoyed, never losing that Fae quality that was so hard to quantify, "Wonderful~! Now, before we get to that friendly discussion, I believe I promised Dragon and Ciara a bit of fun! You'll be joining us, of course, Fortuna. As will little Eve."

The others found themselves unceremoniously swept along at Edgar's pace. Despite her wariness for eventually answering the AI's questions, Fortuna couldn't help but share a commiserating glance with Dragon. How she managed to emote commiseration through a fully enclosed suit of power armor, Fortuna would never know…

Ciara nodded as a matter of course, "As you say, my Prince."

A moment later, she stepped forward, shadowed by one of her Shard Shadows. The step took her clear across the room and right into Fortuna's space. Fortuna recoiled from the sudden movement, her Path directing her to lift Eve up and away to the side as if she were about to spin on the spot. But, of course, around Edgar, Fortuna's Path was rather prone to acting up. As a result, Fortuna ended up depositing Eve's pod directly into Ciara's waiting arms.

Fortuna stared with dawning horror but Ciara simply cooed at the pod and Eve within, "Hello, little Eve. Ah, how beautiful… Truly, you are our hope for the future. O-Oh! A hungry hope, at that, I see. Very well. My court is yours, my Heiress."

Dragon joined Fortuna in dawning horror as Ciara began to feed Shadow after Shadow to Eve. At first, at least. But as Eve happily [Consumed] the offered Shard sacrifices and cried out for more as only a baby could, their horror turned to bemused appreciation. Edgar put it best.

"Now, that is the cutest thing I've seen in decades," He chuckled. "Thank you, Ciara."

Ciara blushed, "T-Tis nothing, my Prince. For your daughter — the Cycle's truest hope — I am more than willing to part with a portion of my court."

[Feat:… Baby Eve + Ciara is just really fucking cute, okay?! +100P. 600P total.]

With a wave of Edgar's hand and a smirk, the System connected to the others in the room much like it had upon his first meeting with Ciara. It effectively distracted Eve from her feeding session. She made curious little noises, waving chubby fingers at the nothing-text that suddenly appeared before her eyes.

Dragon and Fortuna's reactions were more verbal, "Uhhhh, Edgar…?"

"Fucking magic…"

Ciara cocked her head slightly, "This is how you gain the points for your rolls, my Prince? V-Very well, I shall endeavor to be more, a-ahem… c-cute in the future…"

"I didn't think magic would be so… structured?" Dragon said, bemused.

"The System is a special kind of magic," Edgar explained. "A magic to source other magicks. Which is exactly what we'll be doing now! Ciara, would you care to do the honors~?"

[Would you like to roll the Gacha? Y/N?]

"It's a…?" Dragon began, bemusement turning to bewilderment.

"A fucking Gacha," Fortuna finished in a deadpan tone. "Quite literally just random chance."

[Don't besmirch RNGesus' good name.]

"Is it supposed to have so much personality?" Dragon asked.

"Well, things don't tend to take kindly to people questioning the purpose of their existence," Edgar smirked slightly.

"Ahem," Ciara cleared her throat, addressing the System. "Rest assured, we do appreciate you, Noble System. You may roll whenever you're ready."

[Rolling…!]

"Heh, I sure hope you don't have an addictive personality, Edgar," Dragon joked as the Gacha's lights flashed before all of their eyes.

"Why, the Fae barely know the meaning of the word!" Edgar declared.

Fortuna shot him a flat, unconvinced look, "With all of the stories about Fae food and drink, I very much doubt that."

*Ding!* [Lunatic Red Eyes - Illusion (Touhou Project: Parasol Paradise, 400P)]

"Huh, it's a Shaker and Master ability in one. And it actually gives some hints to the methodology behind the magic. Very neat," Dragon noted.

"Oho~?" Edgar chuckled. "I quite like the sound of that perk~."

"Illusions would suit you, my Prince," Ciara nodded. "As would a pair of dashing red eyes."

"It literally says 'lunatic' in the name," Fortuna deadpanned.

Ciara raised a single, imperious eyebrow at her, "Did I stutter?"

*Ding!* [Live by the Sword - Divination (Fate/Legends, 100P)]

"Next," Fortuna cut in harshly.

Dragon tried to see the silver lining in the poor roll, "I mean… swords are cool, right?"

"Yes, but I'd like to think that's an area I don't particularly need help," Edgar said.

*Ding!* [Sage (Black Mage + White Mage) - Modus (Final Fantasy IV, 200P)]

"That one has my vote," Fortuna put in.

Dragon's suit nodded along, "We can never have enough healers."

*Ding!* [Fancy Chains - Making (Campione, 600P)]

Fortuna froze at the latest perk, "… I'd like to change my vote."

"Ah, you believe it would be of use against your great enemy, don't you?" Edgar nodded in realization.

Ciara shook her head in disapproval, "Zion is many things but he is no god. These 'Fancy Chains' would not hold him for there is no divinity to hold."

"I can't believe we're genuinely talking about chains to restrain a god…" Dragon muttered.

"As far as I can tell, your world is bereft of divinity. It would be a rather useless purchase on my part," Edgar mused. "Perhaps only serving to give you a false sense of hope."

*Ding!* [Vampiric Body - Illusion (MtG -Innistrad, 100P)]

"Nay~," Edgar drawled, unamused by the roll.

"Agreed," Ciara nodded. "A Vampire is a poor imitation of your Fae majesty, my Prince."

*Ding!* [Dwarven Centurion - Magitek (The Elder Scrolls, 100P)]

Dragon practically moaned as the last roll's description settled into everyone's minds, "Oh, I like that one~…"

"Baba~!" Eve burbled.

"It seems you're not alone," Edgar chuckled. "I think a Dwarven automaton for a steed and protector would suit Baby Eve well."

"Baby Entity and 20-foot tall bronze golem…" Fortuna shuddered. "There's a terrifying thought."

"Quite," Edgar's lips quicked in a smirk. "Now, a decision must be made. Hmm, I think… the Sage perk and then the Dwarven Centurion for Eve, yes. Apologies, Ciara, but I can do much of what the Red Eyes offer me on my own."

Ciara pouted slightly, "Can't you at least reserve it? I would still like to see you with dashing red eyes…"

"*Cough* Lunatic *cough*" Fortuna helpfully interjected.

Ciara glared at Fortuna for her 'helpful interjection'. Dragon giggled and Edgar laughed out loud at the interplay between the two of them. They might not have been getting along in the most traditional sense of the phrase but there was a certain chemistry there that Edgar was glad to see.

[Perk purchased. 400P remains in the bank.]

[Sage (Black Mage + White Mage) - Modus (Final Fantasy IV, 200P): Either from a lifetime of study or perhaps raw natural talent, you've developed a strong affinity for both sides of magic.

[As a Sage, you find that your magical strength and spirit increase roughly twice as fast as they would otherwise, and you gain the ability of Dualcast. This ability allows you to cast two spells simultaneously, and while it is no less draining, you are able to rain terrible destruction, perform feats of incredible healing, or both.]

[Perk purchased. 300P remains in the bank.]

[Dwarven Centurion - Magitek (The Elder Scrolls, 100P): One of the deadliest Dwemer Animunculi crafted, it is a brass behemoth that stands equal to Giants, and even more deadly. Its metallic hide repels most mundane weapons, its axe can cleave through steel easily, and when it has to, it can unleash a blast of boiling steam toward an opponent. You also get a rod, allowing you to control its actions directly as well as force it into standby mode.]

[Perk reserved: Lunatic Red Eyes.]