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In light of recent events, I believe we're past due for more information gathering. First, I'd like to discuss the tower we encountered last month. There were... interesting messages scrawled across its surface, which I thankfully wrote down before its destruction. They read: "This remnant- Carved from [...] First Impact Remains [...] Meant to be left alone. The Tears used it in their ritual- Now it's out of control, changing everything it can" The Convoy Database regards the Silver Tears as effectively the antithesis of the Steel Wardens. Reverent to the moon and its "blessings" (the transformations). I've no doubt they're the ones behind the scattered shrines we encountered some months prior... And, obviously, we're well acquainted with those wretched Wardens, with their hypocritical obsession with "purging" this world of monsters. The words "First Impact" stick out to me as significant. I actually spoke with Blake-san about it as well, and she encountered similar mentions of an impact in scavenged books that had a great deal of information scrubbed clean. There is clearly something that one of the factions does not want us to discover. Given my previous findings, we know that something of significance was broken in two, that the moon goddess suffers in anguish, and a ritual failed, with us as replacement participants to "share her pain" and "put the ritual right." But now, thanks to that sagebrush, some of us have been gifted with visions, and I believe that if we share our findings, we can come closer to the truth. In my case, I witnessed a woman dispatching a monster before turning to panicked civilians and murdering one of them in cold blood. Presumably, she went on to kill the rest of them, but the vision ended there. For the sake of this post, I believe the most pertinent information is: • Where you had the vision. • The description of the vision... An optional detail: • The object that sparked the vision. Mine was in the battleground, and the vision came as I tried ripping the sword from a fallen cyborg's hand.

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It's interesting. I'm wondering if one of the fragmented clips might actually be a glimpse of Nirvana. I'll send it to your phone.

[He takes only a moment to do so. It's not a whole lot, several pieces of video and broken up audio, difficult to ascertain the timeframe between everything.]

[That's... incredibly striking, and it takes a few moments for Akechi to formulate his response.]

So, by the sound of it, their "Nirvana" was claimed by an opposing power or faction. Another group, presumably the Tears, drew glphys and runes, and someone "broke" the world... I almost wonder if that monster was their punishment.

Or...it's where people who haven't been tainted by monster or cyborg parts remain, but either way, it doesn't seem to be a place of interest for these guys. But then this is only one memory. I couldn't get any others.

Still no real 'why's...

That monster seems to be something they came across when they were trying to rub out those runes. Possibly. There aren't any time stamps so who's to say how long between each sequence.

That's the difficult part, isn't it? We still don't have a cohesive timeline, and there's not enough evidence to completely compile one. This is still forward momentum, of course, especially if others continue contributing information regarding the visions... Though, Serph-san may have interesting insight as well, given the uncanny parallels between his world and our current set of circumstances.

It is more than a little frustrating, but we're still at the point where any information is better than nothing.

Yeah?

...is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I'm decidedly unsure. The details weren't exact, but it's quite a curious parallel. A blackened sun instead of a broken moon. Humans turning to stone rather than being metallic Husks. Only those who became demons or remained underground avoided or in domed cities such a fate, and the demonic "virus" was spread via scientists. Their transformation was instantaneous, unlike ours, but the "Nivrana" they sought ultimately was a desolate earth. I can only hope the Nirvana we seek has a more favorable outcome.

I don't know, it seems like there are plenty of external factors that potentially exacerbate our transformations even now. And then there's what I saw in that vision, which still makes no sense, but with how fast they changed, no less concerning.

...yeah.

When I received my vision, the distress caused me to sprout a scorpion's tail. The dreams expedited other aspects of my transformation, and now I have ears not unlike a big cat. The sensory overload is... unpleasant, but I'll adapt. Truthfully, I almost wish the changes would consume me already, so I can stop fretting over what will change next. I've gotten a preview of sorts, from one of the Moon Warps, but when it ended, most of the changes receded.

Is that what happened?

[So even emotional distress... Man, he hates this place.]

I'm sorry, -cat ears-?? I'm having trouble trying to figure out what you've been turning into.

Back when the warp was happening by the tower, my legs had changed. And the claws I had when I ended up part Naga during the storm had come back, but those went away once things cleared up. Leo got rid of the bird feet somehow, I think. He'd had a unicorn horn and it managed to heal my injuries too.

The wings stayed though.

A chimera, most likely. Horns, feathers, talons, sharp teeth... Spines along my back, wings, and now, feline ears and a scorpion's tail. In my fully transformed state, I also had a long snout that ended in a hardened tip, like a beak. I could transform into a larger, more bestial state as well. As a side note, Sephiroth-san is curious if the files from the cyborg remains showed any signs of virus or other forms of corruption.

Wow, that sounds like a mess.

[Tact, he does not have.]

Negative, at least from what I was able to pull, and I think I was fortunate enough to get that much considering most of the others I tried to extract fell apart or were already pretty messed up before I could get it connected to anything else.

I think in this case age was the main factor of "corruption." If we come across anymore cyborgs I may have to do some brain surgery.

Oh, it's very messy, especially when everything from the waist down is still human. Your brother called me the avian equivalent of a "reverse mermaid." I figured you would have assessed the files before sending them to my device, though, and I fully support any tinkering with their remains going forward. Call it spite, but I think they deserve it.

[He can't help for a snort of a laugh on his end.]

That sounds like a very Leo thing.

Oh- well I'm not throwing files around if they're potentially going to wreck things, who do you take me for!

I ran it through the computer systems I pulled from that truck and run everything through my scanners on my own computer thereafter.

Certainly no big loss if there's less of them, I guess. And if they're not going to be directly forthcoming with information if we ask nicely, well...

I'd be happy to tear them to pieces, though I'd be careful not to damage any vital bits of machinery. Too much damage to their CPUs may make it harder for you to work your magic.

Tearing things apart while being careful seems contradictory. I think it's also a case-by-case basis as to how much of them is mechanical. If we aren't outnumbered then we can be more precise about how we take them down. And if not, you can go all out, sound good?

Fair enough. It'd be a shame to interfere with such pivotal scientific research. I just have a lot of ire for those damn hypocrites.

Completely understandable. But unfortunately purging the system does not provide adequate answers.

It's a bit of give and take, isn't it? It'd be simpler to eradicate them, but that would rob us of vital information and resources. A more sentimental sort might even argue that we'd become as vile as them.

Always. More so around here I think.

But yeah, you get the picture.

...and how much of wanting complete eradication is you talking or this new self we seem to be incubating?

Mostly, it's a bit of hyperbole and spite. Another part is... pragmatism, I suppose. If they cannot be reasoned with, and they refuse to see us as anything but beasts to slay, then we have no choice but to fight in order to secure our futures. That being said, mercilessness comes easier to me than most people here. Most, because one of our fellow drifters tried murdering me in cold blood, despite us being complete strangers.

[Well that just makes him feel loads better about being around strangers. At least most of the people he's met have been more or less okay, so far as he's been able to tell.]

Wait, seriously? Guess there really is a lot we don't know about whoever gets brought in. I'm not sure that there's a specific qualification that pulls certain people here.

But put in that way, I guess the 'us or them' argument is a fair one. I wonder if there's a central command that influences them. It really is a shame all we get are focused perspectives and no real information.

I'm inclined to believe it's fairly randomized. Moral character hardly seems to matter. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been brought here at all. Or, if we view this place as cosmic punishment, then it seems unfair that you and your brother arrived. Really, I have my doubts that there's any grand plan. Perhaps those who summoned us simply took whoever they could get. But, yes. It's not impossible that there is a chain of command, and that by taking down whoever is in charge, we may free the other Wardens. I imagine the Phantom Thieves would find that far more preferable.

Great, so we're just winners of the worst lottery ever.

Phantom Thieves?

They're... allies of a sort. A group of ragtag teenagers who had the power to access the world of the human mind and heart. They used their abilities to literally change the hearts of corrupt adults, who were otherwise untouchable.

Huh...

That sounds very abstract.

[The only matters of the heart Donnie understands are related to the physical organ, its function and structure, etc, etc.]

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