When my family did enter the hospital room (me being far too caught up in my thoughts) I almost ended up not noticing them looking at me with worry clear on all of their faces. Although Alexis was the odd one out - she was staring at my forehead. Specifically where that pink gem comfortably sat. Then again; not even I understood what that crystal was even there for. For me it had always just been there.

She had also seen it enough, so it was quite confusing why her mind would be so focused on it at seemingly random, yet I was not too bothered by her being a little weird. I have lived with her long enough to know that this little sister of mine was abnormal.

Not as if I could particularly complain about that; it would be quite hypocritical.

Regardless - my focus was more on the words of that (literally) little monk - I indeed needed to get stronger faster if any random human could potentially put a piece of lead in my head. Technological progress was good and all. However, I believed I had been too lax when it came to taking advantage of not only the system but my powerful race as well.

There was no doubt that I was certainly a descendent of a very powerful spirit and that only accounted for one half of my racial makeup. It was clear, even if redacted, there were two powerful bloodlines being pumped through my spiritual arteries. Else there would simply just be the single [REDACTED] in Big B.

Although it was impossible to know both… At least one had to do with spirits hence my race; that being the case it only made sense I should have put more effort into that.

My initial excuse was not having seen any other spirits which I could use as a point of reference - that could be called a lie now that I had been on that crazy train.  There were plenty of different elements buzzing around in there. In addition, there was the possibility that the psychologist was also a spirit of far greater proportions, I now understood what composed of the spirit which meant I should be able to manipulate my own form to some exte-

“Are you listening?” A rather grumpy but worried daddy broke me out of my introspection. Looking toward him - as well as the rest of my family in this life - showed they were all looking at me with narrowed eyes that attempted to look intimidating. Unfortunately for them; it only revealed their worry.

Albeit, it would be uncouth to call them out for such, I thus only lowered my head submissively as to accept any tirade they wished to force into my cute little head. “You better listen to this time - I am not joking with you Armor! Seeing you try to use that energy shield of yours, I decided to look into it, only to see that it had not even been through alpha testing. What you threw down ended up being nothing but a hypothesis. I would like to know what your plan was, should that have failed and you ended up being shot along with your sister!”

Daddy crossed his arms over his chest - utilising his height to its fullest - towering over my little frame that was huddled under my blanket.

“It is not my fault, I would have preferred pushing her over but she was too freakishly strong, I had no choice but to risk using i-it…” I found myself stumbling over my words - not due to any shame or embarrassment - I was far from being timid. Instead it was because I found my head scientist peaking around the corner of the door; having his head horizontal with his fingers wrapped around the frame.

Even though I knew Doctor Samatha (said head scientist) was a bit “different”… It was hard not to be agaust upon seeing him spying in my private hospital room like some kind of perverse staker. Thankfully I wasn’t totally discombobulated. I was quite used to him by now. Still, I signalled for him to enter with my hand, he rushed in as soon as he was given the chance.

Ignoring my siblings & parents to look toward me with shining eyes. “So you tried out the hard light shield in the field, have anything to say, any complaints about its usage since I have not had the chance to see the footage in full detail. We only managed to get a still image due to some legal issues with the copyright but I saw the shield flickering, right?”

“Hmm indeed it was very faulty. The way I see it, there _ plausible reasons for the flaw I witness, the most problematic issue would be that the battery has issues delivering enough energy quickly enough. This would explain the flickering effect that we saw - at the same time we would need to increase the size of the device thus reducing portability.”

“That would indeed be a problem…” So he said, getting a notepad out from somewhere, beginning to jot down some hasty notes with the excitement only a child could have.

“Another issue would be with the software which would be quite disconcerting on my part. It could be a syntax issue, which wouldn’t be as bad, but unfortunately I find that to be rather unlikely as I would expect it to simply not work. Does not remove the possibility as it could be with the loop. My other guess would be the parameter passing is at fault which would require us to comb through the code to-”

“Armor-Cordis Porshi…” Mother’s cold voice caused my entire body to freeze up - like a tube yoghurt that was accidentally placed into the freezer.

Turning to look toward her revealed a pair of cold eyes that were only beaten by an even more terrifying smile which she sported calmly. I knew I was in trouble and looking at my siblings, who refused to meet my gaze, showed no way to escape from this cosmic horror. “While it pleases me to have such a hardworking daughter, I cannot say in good faith that I enjoy watching you work, after all you are currently on your hospital bed at the moment.”

“Yes mother…” Before things could get worse I decided to pull my ultimate move; presenting my mother with a pair of big teary eyes. It was best to use my right to remain silent. No need to worsen my situation by coming up with some half baked excuse that will only anger the monster in front of me.

Thankfully she seemed to calm down a little while that useless scientist of mine was too busy hiding behind a wardrobe to be of any help.

I really am going to work him to death if I get out of this.

Deciding to push my luck a little, as well as letting my curiosity get ahead of my danger sense, I couldn’t help speaking up. Hoping that the appeased expression that mother was displaying was indeed a truthful visualisation of her feelings right now. “So… What happened to the shooter?”

Thankfully mother didn’t make any more moves; seemingly having been sedated enough by my trump card thus letting me let out a breath I didn’t even know I held. Especially since I didn’t need to breathe.

“They ended up catching him although there was no way for him to escape in the first place…” Brother looked rather… Conflicted upon saying that. There was the obvious hatred he held for someone who nearly killed his little sisters - still there was also obvious confusion. This obviously left me also quite confused since they had apparently caught who they were meant to catch according to him.

Although, based on his exact words, it likely had something to do with his supposed inability to escape which was certainly strange. Fortunately daddy didn’t see a reason to keep me in the dark. “When the American law enforcement arrived they found him with disabled legs; judged to be through completely natural causes. Considering they found him on top of a building that led to some questions of how he got up there in the first place. Not helped by the fact that he was incoherent…”

“Something about this seems eerie… Perchance, could we request an interview with him, even if he could not be coherent we may be able to understand something if we can see him” A reasonable request however it was met by a shaked head. Something about “American red tape” making it difficult to see behind any curtains they wanted to be placed up.

Would not surprise me if this guy was not the criminal but just some poor minority they wanted to use as the fall guy… It is a very American concept after all.

Say, Big B, could I possibly…?

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<< {mission}.[American Justice Or Looming Death?] For {user}.[Armor-Cordis Mantis] >>

<< {mission.description}.[There was an attempt on Alexis Porshi’s little life and the American authorities say they have judged they have found the correct suspect. Only problem is that they will not let anyone else see him. In addition, what little information you could gather, has informed you that the supposed suspect is someone who should be incapable of performing the act resulting in nothing adding up… Maybe there is something else going on?]

{mission.goal}.[Find The Suspect But Do Not Let Law Enforcement  Link This To The Porshi]

{reward.packet}.[+5 Lvl, Spiritual Arts Basics, +Fortify [REDACTED]]  >>

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I am certainly happy with what is being presented to me but, at the same time, I cannot help feeling like this is more akin to repairs than rewards… What else could that mystery fortification be for - other than what had apparently caused me to collapse on the ground. The mystery element in this pie that caught the attention of those two powerful figures.

Either way; this made it obvious what I needed to do…

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*ヨ尺ヨヨ~廾丹山*

Rain fell down as a drunken man stumbled out of the federal building he once called his work place; a bottle leaving his hand to shatter against the reinforced glass of the building as he turned. Letting an endless list of profanities leave his mouth as he walked backwards. Clearly not allowing a single gripe with the organisation goes by.

Not noticing the static slowly building in his ears.

His rage wasn’t surprising since he had just been fired a few days earlier - that result also wasn’t surprising since a member of one of the wealthiest families nearly ended up on his watch. How was he supposed to expect someone would actually try to assassinate a little German girl? He had been helping protect real American’s for over 20 years (in other words the wealthy) so why should he be fired over the near-death experience of some girl from that shitty empire.

While backing up he eventually bumped into someone, or something, causing him to stumble forward before lashing out backwards having found a living target for his furry.

“WATCH WHERE Y- W-WHAT THE F-!” At first his voice was filled with anger yet when he turned around he was overcome by a sense of deep seated fear. Even his vision was filled with static - as if he was looking at it through an old monitor from the 20th century - adding to the unsettling feeling that was born deep inside the core of his being.

Like his whole body was immersed in an ice bath, all heat he previously felt from his alcohol fueled rage calmed completely, being filled with an uncertainty & instinctual nervousness. Meeting with a figure that towered over him by a good few feet. Yet there was no sight of their legs as a long hooded cloak fell across their entire figure; however this was no normal cloak.

Like darkness & disruption given form - a fiery form that seemed to billow with cold winds that weren’t previously there - the cloak obscured nearly everything about them. That was except for a few more traits that revealed the figure to be anything but human.

His eyes only barely managed to reach their ribcage; the only problem being that their bare white ribcage actually jutted out from the shadowy mantle. That ribcage didn’t even appear to have anything but abyssal blackness behind it - being far larger than any human could possibly have had. A thought reinforced when he turned his gaze to look up at the hooded figures visage… Or rather the lack of one.

A elongated skull like that of a deer, along with two long crooked antlers that proudly pointed towards the heavens as if taunting them to strike them down, only with three eye holes instead of one. Within those holes were small crimson lights (more akin to drops of shimmering blood) silently flickered like flames.

It did not even let him continue screaming out as a long (unnaturally white) arm exited from the cloak to slowly press one of their elongated, claw-like, fingers pressed softly against his lips.

“己廾廾廾.”

That inhuman voice contrasted the soft cold-dead finger tip; feeling as if it pressed a little more he may just pop despite the lack of strength behind the digit.

No matter how much he wished to beg for help, the monster seemingly stole even the strength in his body made to resist torture, causing him to collapse on the floor. Only able to silently look toward the figure as it silently looked away from him. Almost as if he was not even worth the effort it would take to kill - although such thoughts quickly vacated his mind when another arm came out holding some kind of hand scythe attached to its rope.

It was that day he believed he met death.