AIOS, a Beast of the Future, a Lostbelt who was a branch of dead end after dead end after dead end- The most impossible Beast, one who only survived due to a connection with Akasha and the mercy of Fujimaru Ritsuka. Ritsuka made a contract with her, and promised to give her the attention she needed. And with that, their fates were bound- Even as a Beast, AIOS intended to stay with Chaldea, for her love of humanity was such that she had to. The principle of Rapture was hers, after all, and that means she needs an audience. She needs to be watched.
So when she senses another Beast... of course she comes along. Beast III- Her other, alternate self. Another Beast of the Future, a beast born of technology. But whereas AIOS is born to receive love, this Beast is born to give it.
They are not two halves of a whole. They are enemies, diametrically opposed. AIOS could not feel more repulsed and disgusted by this garden if she wanted to.]
What a gaudy, disgusting garden you've built. I'm ashamed to share a Class and Rank with you.
[Though she floats in the air, as relaxed as ever, AIOS is working hard- Lambda's mind control, Lambda's influence, will never reach Chaldea's Master, nor its other Servants. Installing firewalls into the Akashic Record itself, she is protecting them... from mental and control effects, anyway.
AIOS points a finger, and a gunshot rings out, shooting the apple through.]
'Tree of Eden'? Do you intend to deny Original Sin?
[ A hole splits the center of the apple apart with a spray of skin and juice – and then before it's even begun to fall from Lambda's hand, it pulls itself back together like a video playing in reverse. Just like that, the fruit is once again whole and perfect in the palm of Lambda's hand.
Of course. Nothing is permitted to leave a scar on her garden's fruit.
Not ever her fellow Beast. ]
Is that what this looks like? Denial? [ Her laugh is, irritatingly enough, pretty and sweet. ] No, not at all. This tree is here to honor it. So we never forget the mistakes humankind made in the past.
[ Slowly, Lambda rises to her feet. Her gaze jumps from the Master of Chaldea – then to AIOS. A dismissal. ]
Beast of Rapture. My lovely, loathsome enemy.
[ Her fist closes around the apple and she crushes it in one hard squeeze. Pulp and juice stream like blood down her arm. ]
[No one is permitted to leave a scar on her garden's fruit... Except for her herself. The kaleidoscope-like pattern in AIOS' eyes spins, contracts, separates- Like an overactive camera zooming in, but this one is examining the destroyed fruit on every possible axis of reality.
AIOS notes that glance- And though she is a Beast, she is well aware of her weakness. While she can manifest, as a Beast, her true nature is [ ]. That is, void. Emptiness. When she is not observed, she will vanish.
The Master of Chaldea observes her. The Master is her existence- A threat to the Master threatens AIOS. And so, AIOS places herself between her counterpart and her Master, ready to act.]
Beast of Lapse. My undeniable, hated opposite.
[Holographic keyboards appear around her.]
Her mistake was listening to the honeyed words of a snake.
Almost. ♫ You're so close, Rapture... are we really opposites?
[ Rivulets of juice and smashed pulp stream down her arm in an impossible quantity, far beyond the drops you could squeeze from a single fruit. ]
Her mistake was being tricked into thinking anything lay outside of Eden.
[ The branches of the tree of life explode into motion behind her and for a brief moment, the Beast of Lapse is swallowed by a cocoon of grasping branches. But then they split apart and she emerges, a tangle of wooden horns spilling from her head and the reeking flesh from the fruit of knowledge spraying out from her back to form a pair of grotesque, dripping wings, reeking with a sweet, heady promise of blissful ignorance and soul-rotting bliss. ]
So for Eve and all of humankind... isn't it best to correct it?
[AIOS acts in an instant- As soon as the cocoon swallows up Lambda, AIOS is taking action to protect herself. To protect her Master. The kaleidoscope-like pattern of her eyes spins, searching for the history she needs, synthesizing it.]
Creating virtual Noble Phantasm! Unleash- Shield of Seven Sins!
[Chaldea's Master is surrounded by seven shields of seven colors, a conceptual barrier that nullifies even that scent, that bliss, that rot. Sinners may not touch the Garden of Eden- And that goes both ways. A barrier of the Seven Sins will prevent this Eden from touching her Master.
Luckily, as fellow Beasts, the attack on her soul won't affect AIOS. But it still shows that most of her resources are going to protecting the Master... How can she counterattack?]
We are opposites. After all, I want to prove my superiority to humans, but you...
... No, let me start this over again: Do you understand why Eve wasn't mistaken?
Oh? You say you want to prove your superiority but... aren't you the one kowtowing to this fragile little human? It seems to me like what you want is their acknowledgement. No... since you're my opposite, you're just desperate for their love, aren't you?
[ That's fine. She doesn't need to lay a finger on the Master of Chaldea just yet. The Garden of Eden may not permit any sinners to enter it, but a Beast who loves all of humanity could certainly forgive that sin and open the doors for anyone.
So long as she gets this wretched obstacle out of her way. ]
And what would a Beast outside of humanity like you know about Eve in the first place?
When Eve ate of the tree, she gained knowledge of good and evil.
[She's devoting all her resources to protecting Ritsuka. Acknowledgement, love... It's true she wants those things. But she can't admit it. Especially not to this Beast.]
In other words, Eve was sinless. She was unable to know that what she did was wrong. All Eve ever did was obey what she was told.
Until she ate of the tree, Eve was not human. She was livestock. Just like what you're doing to these people. Denying their very intelligence.
This is why we will never agree. I want to crush humanity at their highest peak, but you won't even allow them to be human.
Oh, Rapture... isn't that too cruel, even for you? These humans you need so badly... are you saying they're only worth anything to you so long as they're dirty and miserable and impure?
[ Her wings beat, lifting her off her feet. She rises up, up, into the gnarled embrace of the Tree and settles herself down on one of its branches. ]
Actually... isn't the miserable one you?
[ Blink – she's gone. Her voice still resounds though and – ah, there she is. Higher in the tree, vanishing and reappearing among its branches as she speaks. ]
Woeful and incomplete and desperate for love... a Beast like that surely must be miserable. That's why you can't stand my Garden. You don't want to be loved by something pure – you want someone like you to lick your wounds. Isn't that right?
[AIOS- the Beast of Rapture- does need people. She needs to stand tall. She needs to stand taller than anyone else, stronger than anyone else, above anyone else. She has to prove her greatness, because being greater than others is how she defines herself.
... Woeful and incomplete and desperate for love. It's not wrong. She craves the adoration. The "Rapture" of her name is the rapture she desires to induce in others- That everyone is enraptured by her, and gives her the adoration she craves.
Even so...]
No. I don't want that. I don't need anyone to lick my wounds. What I want is the struggle. The victory. To stand highest, the tallest flower, blooming atop the highest mountain, who has destroyed any others who dare come close.
You, on the other hand, want a miserable "equality", don't you? An equality where you give everyone everything they want... Until their souls rot away, and they stop thinking. You'll reduce them to animals, as long as you can keep giving them that love.
[The kaleidoscope of AIOS' eyes spin, a four-dimensional matrix searching Akasha for the correct information. And as it does, the glowing blue holograms in her hair ties twist and warp, changing and morphing- Virtual horns, great pale-blue holograms of light.
Advent Beast.
... There is a way out of this. No, she already has a way out of this. She just has to seize the correct instant. A great, cyan and golden bow appears in her hands, synthesized from Akasha.]
I want to crush them. Because I want them to be the best versions of themselves when I crush them. I want to use humanity as fuel to push me to further, greater heights. That is the 'love' I bear for humanity.
But your love is empty. You don't care who you're giving love to, do you? Even if humanity stops thinking or growing... Even when you've turned them into pitiful lumps of flesh with no thought or soul, you'll still give them that empty, pointless love.
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and then.... and then they were beast rankmates.....
AIOS, a Beast of the Future, a Lostbelt who was a branch of dead end after dead end after dead end- The most impossible Beast, one who only survived due to a connection with Akasha and the mercy of Fujimaru Ritsuka. Ritsuka made a contract with her, and promised to give her the attention she needed. And with that, their fates were bound- Even as a Beast, AIOS intended to stay with Chaldea, for her love of humanity was such that she had to. The principle of Rapture was hers, after all, and that means she needs an audience. She needs to be watched.
So when she senses another Beast... of course she comes along. Beast III- Her other, alternate self. Another Beast of the Future, a beast born of technology. But whereas AIOS is born to receive love, this Beast is born to give it.
They are not two halves of a whole. They are enemies, diametrically opposed. AIOS could not feel more repulsed and disgusted by this garden if she wanted to.]
What a gaudy, disgusting garden you've built. I'm ashamed to share a Class and Rank with you.
[Though she floats in the air, as relaxed as ever, AIOS is working hard- Lambda's mind control, Lambda's influence, will never reach Chaldea's Master, nor its other Servants. Installing firewalls into the Akashic Record itself, she is protecting them... from mental and control effects, anyway.
AIOS points a finger, and a gunshot rings out, shooting the apple through.]
'Tree of Eden'? Do you intend to deny Original Sin?
no subject
Of course. Nothing is permitted to leave a scar on her garden's fruit.
Not ever her fellow Beast. ]
Is that what this looks like? Denial? [ Her laugh is, irritatingly enough, pretty and sweet. ] No, not at all. This tree is here to honor it. So we never forget the mistakes humankind made in the past.
[ Slowly, Lambda rises to her feet. Her gaze jumps from the Master of Chaldea – then to AIOS. A dismissal. ]
Beast of Rapture. My lovely, loathsome enemy.
[ Her fist closes around the apple and she crushes it in one hard squeeze. Pulp and juice stream like blood down her arm. ]
Do you know what Eve's mistake was?
no subject
AIOS notes that glance- And though she is a Beast, she is well aware of her weakness. While she can manifest, as a Beast, her true nature is [ ]. That is, void. Emptiness. When she is not observed, she will vanish.
The Master of Chaldea observes her. The Master is her existence- A threat to the Master threatens AIOS. And so, AIOS places herself between her counterpart and her Master, ready to act.]
Beast of Lapse. My undeniable, hated opposite.
[Holographic keyboards appear around her.]
Her mistake was listening to the honeyed words of a snake.
no subject
[ Rivulets of juice and smashed pulp stream down her arm in an impossible quantity, far beyond the drops you could squeeze from a single fruit. ]
Her mistake was being tricked into thinking anything lay outside of Eden.
[ The branches of the tree of life explode into motion behind her and for a brief moment, the Beast of Lapse is swallowed by a cocoon of grasping branches. But then they split apart and she emerges, a tangle of wooden horns spilling from her head and the reeking flesh from the fruit of knowledge spraying out from her back to form a pair of grotesque, dripping wings, reeking with a sweet, heady promise of blissful ignorance and soul-rotting bliss. ]
So for Eve and all of humankind... isn't it best to correct it?
no subject
Creating virtual Noble Phantasm! Unleash- Shield of Seven Sins!
[Chaldea's Master is surrounded by seven shields of seven colors, a conceptual barrier that nullifies even that scent, that bliss, that rot. Sinners may not touch the Garden of Eden- And that goes both ways. A barrier of the Seven Sins will prevent this Eden from touching her Master.
Luckily, as fellow Beasts, the attack on her soul won't affect AIOS. But it still shows that most of her resources are going to protecting the Master... How can she counterattack?]
We are opposites. After all, I want to prove my superiority to humans, but you...
... No, let me start this over again: Do you understand why Eve wasn't mistaken?
no subject
[ That's fine. She doesn't need to lay a finger on the Master of Chaldea just yet. The Garden of Eden may not permit any sinners to enter it, but a Beast who loves all of humanity could certainly forgive that sin and open the doors for anyone.
So long as she gets this wretched obstacle out of her way. ]
And what would a Beast outside of humanity like you know about Eve in the first place?
no subject
[She's devoting all her resources to protecting Ritsuka. Acknowledgement, love... It's true she wants those things. But she can't admit it. Especially not to this Beast.]
In other words, Eve was sinless. She was unable to know that what she did was wrong. All Eve ever did was obey what she was told.
Until she ate of the tree, Eve was not human. She was livestock. Just like what you're doing to these people. Denying their very intelligence.
This is why we will never agree. I want to crush humanity at their highest peak, but you won't even allow them to be human.
no subject
[ Her wings beat, lifting her off her feet. She rises up, up, into the gnarled embrace of the Tree and settles herself down on one of its branches. ]
Actually... isn't the miserable one you?
[ Blink – she's gone. Her voice still resounds though and – ah, there she is. Higher in the tree, vanishing and reappearing among its branches as she speaks. ]
Woeful and incomplete and desperate for love... a Beast like that surely must be miserable. That's why you can't stand my Garden. You don't want to be loved by something pure – you want someone like you to lick your wounds. Isn't that right?
no subject
... Woeful and incomplete and desperate for love. It's not wrong. She craves the adoration. The "Rapture" of her name is the rapture she desires to induce in others- That everyone is enraptured by her, and gives her the adoration she craves.
Even so...]
No. I don't want that. I don't need anyone to lick my wounds. What I want is the struggle. The victory. To stand highest, the tallest flower, blooming atop the highest mountain, who has destroyed any others who dare come close.
You, on the other hand, want a miserable "equality", don't you? An equality where you give everyone everything they want... Until their souls rot away, and they stop thinking. You'll reduce them to animals, as long as you can keep giving them that love.
[The kaleidoscope of AIOS' eyes spin, a four-dimensional matrix searching Akasha for the correct information. And as it does, the glowing blue holograms in her hair ties twist and warp, changing and morphing- Virtual horns, great pale-blue holograms of light.
Advent Beast.
... There is a way out of this. No, she already has a way out of this. She just has to seize the correct instant. A great, cyan and golden bow appears in her hands, synthesized from Akasha.]
I want to crush them. Because I want them to be the best versions of themselves when I crush them. I want to use humanity as fuel to push me to further, greater heights. That is the 'love' I bear for humanity.
But your love is empty. You don't care who you're giving love to, do you? Even if humanity stops thinking or growing... Even when you've turned them into pitiful lumps of flesh with no thought or soul, you'll still give them that empty, pointless love.