Speaking on Sunbreaker (Takashi Agera)

Speaking on Sunbreaker (Takashi Agera)
Date of Cutscene:	30 May 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower - Board Room
Synopsis:	As expected, Takashi is summoned to the Obsidian Boardroom to speak about Sunbreaker to some of the most dangerous individuals in existence. No pressure, right?
Cast of Characters:	Takashi Agera
Tinyplot:	Sunset of Sora

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Walking into a company board meeting was probably intimidating for a lot of people. But walking into Obsidian's Boardroom - that was a step up. While the company had a publicly facing board of human faces, that was all a front. The real Board of Directors of Obsidian consisted of, frankly, some of the most powerful users of Dark Energy, the leaders behind the Dark Generals. They made for a kind of dissonant group - Director Hoshina, who basically looked just like a suit-wearing man at any other corporate meeting, sat next to Joker, a clown demon in a full jester bodysuit. Two men in full face metal masks - though if that was to hide their identity or for some other purpose, Takashi didn't know. And you can't really make an assumption of anything by just their visuals - the ones who looked like average humans, like Precia Testarossa or Dr. Souchi Tomoe, were no less dangerous than the clearly more fantastic individuals.

But the room itself exuded this raw feeling of palpable evil and dread. It wasn't like the Dusk Zone - the Dusk Zone was comforting to him. This room was not. He moved from the door through to the front of the room, in henshin as Riventon.

"Riventon - you're here because of your previous close work with Sunbreaker, who now calls herself Sunset of Sora." Professor Tomoe began - the first time he'd spoken to Takashi in some time. "Her sudden eruption in power - to where she wouldn't be out of place taking a seat in this room, if we gave them out on power alone - and the destructive force she has become, is what has made her a topic of attention for this Board. As someone who both worked closely with her and prides himself on the research of magical phenomena, we would like your perspective and for you to answer a set of questions." he began.

Riventon nodded. "It's true - I was the one who located Sunbreaker originally, when she first arrived here." Riventon began. "Currently, Sunbreaker is experiencing a vast increase in power, but there's more to it than just that. I don't know what caused this situation, but my guess is that it was severe emotional turmoil mixing with Dark Energy and some unique aspects of her physiology."

"Unique aspects?" Asked Director Dune, leaning forward. "What makes this girl unique in this way?"

"Several things. One, she's from another world than ours, an offworlder, and as far as I'm aware the only example of a crossing from her world to ours. Secondly, Sunbreaker has been a... highly experimental individual. She's absorbed the energy of Witches and their familiars to see what happens, for example. There's no way of knowing if that changed something about her in her core, or if it interacted with her unique origin." he explains.

"We could always force-feed someone else some Witch goo and see if they become a weapon we can use." Joker suggests, laying as he is in the chair and gesturing a bit with his arms.

"I wasn't with Sunbreaker for all of her experiments; I have no idea if she's done something else that's the actual catalyst for this situation. I merely brought up witches because of her emotional state. Much like a Witch, Sunbreaker's current overriding emotion isn't anger, but despair - as confirmed by Director HawkMoth." Riventon says, gesturing to the man who nods.

"Her destructive streak has been useful at sidelining our enemies, at least." Queen Beryl noted.

"While that is absolutely true, the nature of her destruction has proven to be detrimental to us as well. I've taken the liberty of reaching out to several of my peers and compiling the data, and the amount of youma we've lost as an organization, across the spectrum, to Sunbreaker's hunger is staggering. She drains anything she comes in contact with..." he begins as Axion creates a floating screen, upon which he displays a graph of the data showing a massive increase in lost youma over the appropriate time period. " ... she has no regard for friend or foe, and we've had to pull a lot of resources from the field. And this is only what I could confirm - it's possible she's responsible for some further missing agents as well."

Queen Mirage slammed her fist angrily upon the table. "Like Phantom, he's been missing for some time and I bet she had something to do with it!" The obviously on-edge Queen of the Phantom Empire exclaimed. "You can't tell me he lost to some of the damn sparkles."

"It's possible." Riventon admits. "She certainly attacked and drained some of the DG Girls - and she helped me train them, so if she's willing to unravel her own work in this state, I can't think anyone else would fair better." Riventon replied. "She's emotionally unstable, uncontrollable, and as my data shows..." he begins, the screen changing to a different technical-looking readout "... she's increasing in instability. And unpredictability.

"I for one find the current situation deeply entertaining", Gaito replies with a scornful smile. "Sunbreaker has failed me already, so to see her become a monster by her own hand is simply delightful." He drinks from a glass of wine he is holding. "And once Tokyo is destroyed, Aqua Regina's final limiter on my power will be gone."

"So, Riventon... in your opinion, this isn't a viable course to try to follow?" Precia inquired, leading the question with the answer she wanted.

"I think she's doing harm to our plans. She's going to fall apart before she destroys enough of our enemy's assets than she has cost us already, and we may end up coming out of this situation losing more than they did." he says. "You also have to consider that her threat is going to drive them to work together and prepare better - it's going to escalate things, and it's always been Obsidian's policy to make steady gains while preventing our enemies from rallying together. This goes against that, and I think we shouldn't take credit or try to repeat it... I think it's best to not think of her as a weapon right now so much as a natural disaster. Best to follow in her wake, accomplish what we can at the edges, take advantage of the situation itself, and wait for it to die out." Riventon answers. "That way we can maximize our gains from it."

"Sure, she's not working the way we are, but... You know, I really never liked the whole 'slow-and-steady' strategy..." Joker began.

"Is that so? I think Emperor Pierrot would be disappointed to hear you weren't aligning to our strategy..." asked an unfamiliar voice, apparently from the corner of the room, as Joker's eyes went unnaturally wide. Fear painted on the strange clown's face. Just the sound of the voice alone pierced into Riventon's skull - like a headache but worse, and he coughed from the sharp pain. He'd never heard that voice before, but there was something about it that was so nightmarish he would be very happy never hearing it again. A quick look around indicated it was discomforting to the Directors as it was to him. It seemed to come from a man who was heavily obscured by shadow, leaning against the wall in a corner of the room for a moment before vanishing.

"... but-but of course I'm going to follow our p-plan to the letter!" the clown-jester finished as he swerved course, stammering.

"Of course." the voice said. For a moment, Riventon thought he could see a shadowy figure walking around the room - for less time than an eye blink. And he didn't like looking at that individual, turned his eyes away anytime he thought he saw him. Like some sort of presence just barely within the world. Something that didn't belong there. He didn't know WHAT he was seeing, but he had an idea WHO. He didn't like it one bit. Was he even seeing him or was this just a projection, an avatar? He wasn't sure, the image seemed to change in attributes whenever he caught a flash of it, and his eyes really didn't like looking at it anyways.

"We're going to take advantage of the situation before us. As we always do. Anything further seems risky. You are dismissed, boy." the voice said. Riventon bowed to the room, and power-walked to the door. He'd never been so happy to get out of someone's - or something's - presence in his entire life. He immediately jumped to the Dusk Zone in search of solace and calm.