The room was deathly silent. Every now and then, if you listened hard enough, you could hear the clink of pristine steel upon the perfect porcelain sculptures that were their dining plates. There were around forty or so people in the room, which itself was about the size of a small auditorium. Each person was dressed in immaculately urbane garb, a staple of their consummate aristocracy and high class. Sterling black suits, expertly placed ties, tuxedos made of the finest materials, long flowing dresses blinding in their beauty, slick expensive gloves that spanned entire forearms, lapel pins crafted from the most precious of metals, everything about them screamed nobility. They were truly the 1% of the 1%, and they sure as hell looked the part.

Well, except for the masks.

Each of them wore a strange chalk-white mask that covered the entirely of their face that, given the veritably crepuscular atmosphere of the place, lent the assorted dinner-goers disturbingly primal and even crude and animalistic visages—yet no one seemed to particularly mind.

After a moment, a figure towards the front of the room stood. Unlike the others, the figure was clothed in a long black robe whose coattails wisped back and forth, as if played with by the loving caress of a secret wind. If the robe were instead white, it could easily be mistaken for the lab coat of a doctor or chemist. Everyone in the room froze all at the same time, their heads turning in unison, eyes fixed upon the figure's slender profile, spellbound by the snarling fox mask that adorned its head. Slowly, gradually, the figure glided across the room, ascending a stage and standing tall before the assorted guests like some sort of higher being. It didn't take the figure long to assume the position, standing behind a very expensive-looking glass podium—a titan atop Olympus. Those in the room all gazed longingly up at the figure as one would a colossal structure or deity.

As well they should, for to them there was no higher power.

When the figure spoke, her voice was decidedly feminine, her tone light and lofty and clearly at odds with the atmosphere of the room. There was no arrogance in her voice, no sense of authority, no commanding profile. No, it was something more than that. Something greater than mere intonation or pitch. It was as if reality scrambled to structure itself after her every utterance, eager to please this woman, desperate to serve.

Her command was so unequivocal, so total, that it was woven into the very fabric of reality itself.

"Welcome," she began, scanning her head across the room as she spoke, "esteemed colleagues, to the nine-hundred-and-eighty-seventh annual gathering of the minds." She then made a curt gesture with her hand, cutting the air with her fingers, pointing towards her chest and then to her audience. "Holy Lithium welcomes you, and, as always, thanks you for your assistance with and guidance over her experiments."

Her comments were met with silent nods from her audience.

"May man of old," she continued, her tone becoming more somber, "be free again."

"MAY MAN OF OLD BE FREE AGAIN!" They shouted back, their unison eerie to anyone but themselves.

The woman did not wait for the chant to die down before continuing. "We have something very interesting to discuss this time around, my colleagues. A matter with which I would obtain your expert advice and observations."

Suddenly, the wall behind the woman came alive with lights and colors. In a moment, it settled on a picture of what could only be described as the remains of a city. It looked as if the place had been struck by a nuke.

In big bold letters along the top of the screen read: SOLICE CITY — 3 YEAR INCIDENT

"I am confident you all remember the Solice City incident, wherein the one who went berserk nearly annihilated the city." There were nods from the audience members. "This was, of course, due to negligence on part of several of His... my fellow associates, who deigned not to check their freedom in experimentation." Members of the audience shook their heads in contempt. "However!" She continued, once again making a curt gesture, pointing at herself. "Holy Lithium saw the opportunity for proper principled," she said, putting emphasis on the word, "exploration of the souls of man amidst the chaos!"

The screen once again changed. Displayed before the audience was yet another still, but this one was much different. It was an image of a being so grotesque, whose unnatural unholy appearance came so close to mind-shattering in its sheer abominableness, that some in the audience had to look away for risk of retching. This was clearly a creature not meant to exist in the world of man, to say the least.

"As some of you well know, this was my precious experiment L761. A human soul cluster—first of its kind! Despite what His other associates may claim. This one is mine." She added that last part with a hint of scorn in her voice. "A product of all our hard work!"

"The parasite," came several hushed whispers of awe from the audience.

"Yes," the woman continued. "I released the L-strain serum into the city after the Solice City incident began and attention was diverted, seeking experimental data. As expected, once L761 emerged, it caused dozens of fatalities." The screen once again changed, this time displaying several figures and charts. "In total, L761 attacked 105 humans, and completely devoured the souls of 104."

There were gasps of horror from the audience, and even a shout of incredulity. Eventually, one of the masked audience members raised his handed, speaking over the murmurs and whispers of confusion. "Surely Holy Lithium has noted the inconsistency in these results!"

"Holy Lithium has," the woman atop the stage affirmed, once again pointing at herself. "There was a single survivor. A very lucky little boy indeed. My esteemed researchers, may I present to you my latest fascination, the BK experiment!"

Once again the screen changed, this time displaying a smattering of various government citizenship documents and other official-looking forms. Such access was not beyond this group's grasp:

+------------------------------------------------+
| EXPERIMENTAL SUBJECT BK201 |
+------------------------------------------------+

Child's First Name (Type or Print): Dominic
Middle Name: N/A
Last Name: Albert
Nicknames/Aliases: Dom, Nic
Sex: Male
█████████: ██/███
This Birth: [x] Single [ ] Twin [ ] Triplet
Birth Date: August 4, 2002 7:24 PM
Current Age: 14
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 104 lbs

Current Occupation: Student
Location: Cacophony City, Homeless
Classification: Orphan
████████: ████████████████ ████████

Weapon of choice: Random/Varied
Soul Form, Powers: Unknown or non-existent

Personality: Dom is an exceedingly bubbly effervescent person, prone to bouts of random smiles and inappropriate laughter. He loves to prank and troll people. To be expected, he's not a very cerebral person, relying instead on his instincts and emotions in order to feel his way through situations as they come to pass rather than think too hard about them. This is only an issue for him because, on top of that, he is a voracious thrill seeker that tends to leap before the idea of looking even occurs to him. It's not a very effective combination when it comes to things like his own personal safety. That is to say: he's not a cautious person by any sense of the word, even when the situation would normally require a slow steady approach to any sane human being. He'd challenge a god to a fist fight if he felt like the reward was worth it. ████ █ █████ ██████ █ █████ █ █████ ██ ███████████ ███████████████ ███████!

As such, he's brash, impatient, and sometimes comes off as flippant, rude, or recalcitrant.

When it comes to personal relationships, Dom is an open book, holding nothing back. "Too much information" might as well be stamped on his forehead. He can also be very trusting of people, including strangers as long as they seem to be nice. Where a normal person might object or question, Dominic is the type to follow those he considers trustworthy to hell and back because deep down he's an incredibly kind kid. ████ █ █████ ██ ███████████ ███████. Moreover, he is highly susceptible to peer pressure and begging from those he considers friends. Words from a friend might even make him cry if they're mean enough and he can't think of a comeback in time. In this way, he can be considered sensitive, and one who is quick to "fly off the handle" at the slightest provocation.

██ █████ █████████ ████████. He does not like being alone. ██████ ████████████ ██████ ██ ████████████████ ████████ ████████.

Likes: nice people, loves pepperoni pizza, competitions, winning, playing pranks and trolling people, thrilling actions and adventures, the free hot lunches at school

Dislikes: Scary; thinking too hard about the past, his family, or his friends; being bored; homework and the like; being made fun of, especially for being poor/homeless and especially by his peers and especially if the insult includes his height

Strengths: becomes stronger as he becomes more emotional, ██████ ██████████ ██████████ ████, highly protective of friends and those that he trusts, can stay eerily calm under pressure (when not vexed)

Weaknesses/Flaws: lack of forethought and logic, emotional, quick to anger and easily vexed, prone to self-doubt and depression when left alone

Battle Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrC_n5hUDKs ███ █████ ██████

Clerical Information ████ ███████:
██████
███
████████
████ █ █████
  

The rest of the documents were cut off at the bottom of the screen.

"How!" Howled one in the audience, standing despite himself. He wore the mask of a boar. "How could one such as he survive the parasite?!"

"Because L761 was killed," the woman said plainly. "Annihilated."

This lead to even more howls from the audience. "Impossible!" Shouted another. "O Holy Lithium, how could this cretin possibly overcome a beast rated as stronger than any Veteran?!"

It was a moment before the woman responded. "It was not he who defeated it, my dear colleague." As quickly as it had come, the room returned to absolute silence. "The boy did not defeat L761. The boy was saved from L761."

"By who?" Came a whisper. "Who?" Uttered another. "Who could have defeated the parasite?"

The screen behind the woman changed once more.

"Her," Holy Lithium announced, a sense of glee leaking into her voice as she pointed back at the screen. "It was her."