Princess Parasoul Renoir's Story

With Zeta gone, the migraine attack (and hypnosis on Lucas) subsided. Parasoul steadied herself as she got off the ground, her Egrets weakly waking one by one (as if from a bad dream). "Nngh...I better...get a head count. How many have we lost?"

While Parasoul and the Egrets were busy with casualty report, Chaperon was helped up by Alastor. "Are you alright, milady?" it asked.

"{catches breath} Nothing a good black tea won't fix," Chaperon replied.

Lucas stood up, shaking any trace of mental suggestion out of his brain. "Dammit, now Zeta's on the loose...! Could this day possibly get worse..."

As for Lightning, she set her focus in the direction that Zeta and Garrison fled in. "..."

-----

Damian and Camilia opened the door of the Templar base, shocked to see all the damages left by Garrison's attack.

The surviving Gracchus members slowly get up and scatter, once again to fade into anonymity...

Ninjacker merely sits up, breathing heavily.

"That... was no victory." he coughs.

Lightning had already left before anyone could say anything to her. Oh well...

Parasoul met up with Chaperon. "I'm...terribly sorry you got caught up in that, Chaperon."

"No, it's alright, Parasoul," Chaperon replied. "Helping each other is kind of a civic duty of us leaders, isn't it?"

-----

Meanwhile, Lucas headed back to the Templar base. About time, too - it's in the dead of the night by now.

"Lucas...?" Camilia spoke up with concern.

"...We got a new situation," Lucas replied. "Like we didn't have enough to juggle right now..."

"Whoa, easy now," Damian said. "You look about ready to hibernate. What say you get your rest?"

"{yawn} I...I can stay up a bit longer."

"Are you sure about that?" Camilia asked. "Come on, even soldiers shouldn't task themselves like this."

Lucas just went inside, seeing if there was any updates. Sure enough, it brought up a new alert - some kind of interference coming from Solum City. "What the - ?" He brought up the visual feed...and in one area, around one of the higher buildings, there was an intense blur. No visuals or sound could be found in that area.

Soon enough, Ninjacker gets to his feet and climbs down off the rooftop. He then surveys the destruction in the area, shaking his head.

"...Oh yes! There was something else you needed to see me for besides...?"

This caught Parasoul off-guard. "(?) What - ? There wasn't anyth - (!) Oh. I see...Well, can it wait until tomorrow? It's a little late in the night for that."

"Understood," Chaperon replied. "Well, shall we, Alastor?"

"Of course," Alastor replied. And so, the two headed off for the next bus to Fantasma.

-----

Lucas focused on what was transpiring in Solum City, as did Damian and Camilia. If anyone's using a radar jammer, they can't likely be up to any good.

"Can you at least tell what kind of jammer it is?" Damian asked.

"About to," Lucas said, typing in a few commands in this regard. "Even if the satellite can't tell what's happening within the jamming radius, it can still tell us the jamming type." Soon, the computer gave a result... "...Electronic. So, most likely Haven-tech - "

Just then, what looked like a shot flew out from the jamming radius and struck Zenmei through the head, dealing an incredibly severe injury.

"!!!" This certainly shocked the three! But why did they target Zenmei??

Congressman Sean Uldrich arrives at the area where the abyssal portal had stood not too long ago, looking at the wreckage all around. A crowd of reporters surround him, attempting to record his every word.

"... And this is why Haven's defense is more important than ever!" exclaims Uldrich, gesturing towards some destroyed buildings. "Our own capital city, laid siege to by a horde of nightmarish monstrosities! It could happen again at anytime, and our soldiers would be just an ineffective then as they were now! That is why I am not only introducing a bill to double Haven's supply of nuclear weapons, but I also plan to bring in several other new defensive measures as well! Please, people of Haven--every single one of us must do everything in our power to keep such destruction from happening again! Let the government of Haven know that you do not want this to happen yet again!"

"(!) Nuclear?!" Parasoul reacted. With this, she made a path past the the reporters to have a word with Uldritch. "Congressman...I do hope you were planning to let the other world leaders know about this new act!"

-----

Lucas and the two dragons watched the screen as the radar jammer areas split and moved out toward the ocean, eventually fading from sight.

"Damn..." Lucas groaned, half-tired. "Another issue at hand."

The satellite view was shifted back to Ekiyu and Zenmei. Seeing Ekiyu crying over her mortally-wounded friend brought about a nostalgic fear in Damian's heart - he knew how hard it is to see someone close to you suffering. Lucas turned the camera back a bit to the rooftop where the jamming radius used to be...and saw something shocking.

"(!) Wait...what's that?"

Dropped there was a sniper rifle - a rather traditional one, at that. The satellite did a close scan of this weapon - it matched the same kind that Marshall Judah's department uses.

"(!!!) Judah...!"

Seeing this angered Lucas. So, he stood up, ready to exit the base.

"Lucas, where are you...?" Camilia asked.

"Going to give the ambassador a piece of my - !" However, Lucas succumbed to late-night fatigue, nearly falling asleep where he stood.

"I know...This isn't a good situation at all," Camilia said, bringing Lucas over to his bed. "But you gotta mind your health, too! First thing in the morning, okay?"

"O... {yawn} ...kay..." With that, Lucas fell asleep on the bed. Damian and Camilia were also a bit tired, so they too went to sleep at the base.

"Please, princess, I haven't even brought up the bill in congress yet. I have no obligation to share proposals for my own country with others." replies Uldrich. "And besides, the other world leaders will know now."

"But it does raise concern," Parasoul stated. "Do you even know how long a nuke-struck area would be poisoned by the radiation - and how much area it would cover, in fact? I'm afraid nuclear explosions are the hardest kind to contain, even in a smaller area."

Some of the reporters gasp and turn back to the television cameras, some saying things about Parasoul not wanting to defend Haven, others saying that she will shoot down proposals about defense even before they're formerly reviewed and altered (as congress is wont to do).

"All of this has been taken into account, princess, and will be addressed in congress. If the bill does get through, these nuclear missiles will be developed with the latest in cutting-edge technology and installed with several safeguards. There would be no risk of any nuclear explosion here in our beautiful nation! If you wish to ask about such matters further, I'm sure one scientist who will be working on the project would be glad to indulge you!"

Uldrich gestures towards Ninjacker, who is completely oblivious to the media scene going on and examining some rubble.

"I certainly hope so..." Parasoul replied.

Uldrich wanders off with the crowd of reporters to another area, continuing to talk and talk and talk. Soon afterwards, a pink-haired girl clad in blue, ninja-esque garb hops up to Ninjacker.

"Excuse me, mister, but have you seen a guy in a black overcoat around here?" asks the girl. "Looks super-duper old, can't tell any good jokes...?"

"No." replies Ninjacker bluntly. "Now leave me, girl."

"Aww, someone's a grump!" says the girl, sticking her tongue out at Ninjacker before hopping away from him.

"Again, I'm not saying this is your doing," Lucas said to Judah. "But do you at least know of anyone that might be connected to this - ?"

"We might at least have a clue as to the motive."

Entering is Parasoul, carrying her laptop.

"Recently, our surveillance caught a trace of an unidentifiable signal - just a trace, but it contained some...shady notes," she continued.

"(?) How shady?" Lucas asked.

"...See for yourself." Parasoul opened the laptop and showed the file that she presented to Chaperon. Lucas was shocked to see that it contained information on beings that were considered "supernatural" and/or "inhuman".

Judah looks over the file, rather unimpressed by the whole thing.

"It points to me, of course," said Judah. "I take it you're here to accuse me too, Princess?"

"Then you'd be too quick to assume," Parasoul replied. "At the moment, I cannot make any solid conjectures."

Lucas felt a bit embarrassed on that note, considering he nearly lost his cool with Judah over the issue.

"If I did want to make any theories, one would be that someone stole your artillery for the purpose of aiming the heat to you," Parasoul continued.

"Really?" asked Judah. "I was just telling Mr. Vinisha here the same thing. He didn't seem to believe me. Something about having little reason to believe me since I turn on people."

"Oh?" Lucas responded. "And I gave the same theory that Commander Parasoul gave after I listened to your explanation! So I suggest you drop that and start taking this matter seriously!"

Parasoul gave a stern leer to Lucas for losing it, to which he responded by calming down. "...Sir."

"I'm taking this matter completely seriously," said Judah. "And I can do my job of looking into it MUCH more efficiently without an upstart Templar and his princess friend barging into my office. Dismissed."