Sinner System

"You sure?" Inquired Aria, as she glanced at Rex.

"<Yeah, I can feel it. The Spirit Realm is connected to Earth now. I don’t know how to go about accessing it, though>," Replied Rex with a shrug.

"Hm...yeah, my Spirits are saying the same thing," Nodded Cleo in response.

"Mhm, same here," Added Jaden.

"Well, it’s not particularly relevant to us, since all of us are at full capacity with Spirits," I mused thoughtfully.

Hey, Ai-...

<It’s already done>

<I began reverse-engineering the Spirit Link Ritual after we found out that the Spirit Realm was going to be linked to Earth>

<I finished it a while ago>

Oh. Cool. Would’ve been nice if you’d mentioned it sooner, though.

<Well, there was no point since the Spirit Realm wasn’t connected yet>

I guess that’s fair.

<Incidentally, I’ve also reverse-engineered the other Spells Scrolls we obtained from that world>

<If we hand over this information to the HUC, they should be able to replicate those on Earth>

Sounds good. Mind compiling everything in my I-Watch? I’ll send the info over to them.

<Done>

Today’s the 25th of May, 2172, it’s been almost three weeks since Leto escaped. I was currently hanging out with the other X-Aces, we’d met up earlier today to train and spar together. We used the basement at my and Aria’s new place for it.

We’d wrapped up the training session a little while ago, and were currently chilling in our living room, when Rex spoke up and informed us that he could sense that the Spirit Realm was now connected to Earth.

Baraqiel is currently training with mom, she’s pretty good at instructing others, so I brought her in to help me with his training. He’s made great progress lately, he isn’t too far off from reaching a level where he should be able to make a significant difference against Leto, once we finally face off against him again.

But that said, we still haven’t come up with a way to eliminate him for good. It’s only a matter of time before he finishes making his preparations and makes his move. And unless or until someone comes up with an effective idea, we’re fighting a losing battle.

"What are you doing, Kai?" Inquired Aria curiously, as I tapped on my I-Watch display.

"Ai has analyzed the Spirit Link Ritual and a few other Spells from the other world. I’m sending the info to Lachlan, just typing up an explanation. Alright, done aanndd...send," I replied, as I emailed the details to Lachlan.

During the press conference after we came back from the other world, we did bring up the topic of the Spirits. And later, we informed the HUC that the Spirit Realm will eventually be connected to Earth.

"Guess it’s only a matter of time before other Hunters are able to use Spirit Fusion too. Huh, I wonder if Spells will make Support Mages redundant?" Muttered Cleo in response.

"Yeah, that’s certainly a possibility. But those Spells are limited use, right? They burn out after a given number of uses. So, I’d say there’s still going to be a need for Support Mages," I surmised after mulling it over.

"Mhm, I’d say Detectors won’t have much to worry about. Even if their Magic can be replicated by these Spells, I can’t imagine they’d be as versatile. Not so sure about Healers, Enchanters and especially Protectors," Added Jaden with a frown.

"<I’d say we’ve got a much bigger concern, none of that will matter if Leto ends up destroying the world as we know it>," Responded Rex with a sigh.

"Yeah, if he manages to kill even one of us and turns us into his undead forces...everyone’s screwed," I remarked grimly.

"Is there really nothing we can do besides training? There has to be something we’ve overlooked," Sighed Cleo, looking stressed.

"I don’t think so. I mean, between the six of us, not to mention the Apostles, Spirits, the HUC, Baraqiel, and my mother, we’ve got a lot of people who are aware of the situation, but not a single person has been able to come up with anything. Our only option might be to come up with something entirely new," I sighed wistfully.

"What about the Spells, maybe some kind of Sealing Spell?" Suggested Ciel thoughtfully.

Ai? Think that’d be possible?

<Not anytime soon>

<I don’t have a frame of reference for that, I’d need to conduct hundreds of tests and work my way up to it step by step>

<I can begin now, but it would likely take several months to over a year, at the very least>

"That option’s not going to be on the table anytime soon. Back to the drawing board-...well, I guess we never left the drawing board, we’ve done nothing but draw a blank this whole time," I replied with a shake of my head.

"Too bad we can’t send him to another world or something, like how that Hero Summoning Ritual transported us," Responded Aria with a wry smile.

"Would it be possible to send him to that world through the Spirit Realm? Like, we throw him into the Spirit Realm, and somehow get him ejected out into that world?" Spoke up Cleo.

"<No, it doesn’t work like that. There isn’t a physical entrance or anything connecting the Spirit Realm to Earth. It’s hard to put into words, but essentially, the connection is intangible. We can’t actually enter the Spirit Realm, and Spirits can’t enter our world unless summoned using a Spell>," Rex informed her.

"Yeah, my Spirits were just telling me the same thing," She nodded sheepishly.

"In that case...what if just beat the shit out of this guy, to the point where he gets traumatized and loses his mind to such an extent that he becomes a vegetable?" Suggested Jaden with a shrug.

"That’s unironically our best option at this point. The problem is, he’s already plenty crazy, so I don’t know if that’ll actually work. There’s also the fact that his sense of pain is extremely dulled in this undead state, so it might not even be possible to mentally break him in that manner," I replied, slumping back on the couch and staring up at the ceiling as I let out a strained sigh.