Dio frowned, stroking Nobu's head as the girl had shifted from on his lap to using his lap like a pillow, his other hand scrolling through the data he was receiving from the Dark Sector.
The good news was that the Dark Sector wasn't active; it meant that Velber 02- Altera- was still in stasis, still contained, and still asleep within the Moon Cell. The threat of the Umbral Star was not yet approaching; had not yet stirred Sefar from her slumber.
The bad news, however, was that Archimedes was already summoned to perform regular maintenance on the core of the Moon Cell. And, based on the records, he was summoned quite some time ago. While the Greek Scholar had not yet been afflicted by the Umbral Star, he was already starting to find a deep interest in the Dark Sector.
Sadly, even with his hacking skills, he wouldn't dare go after Archimedes... Not yet. Only once he won the Grail War and received the Moon Cell's Authority- the Regalia- would he feel comfortable in confronting Archimedes.
"Good news, we won't have to worry about the Dark Sector- at least not until after the War," Dio told Nobu. "In fact, if I'm not wrong, the purpose behind this war is probably the Moon Cell's way of choosing someone who can face off against the entity within the Dark Sector- a champion."
"Mm... Then, I'll worry about it when that time comes," she said flippantly, more focused on her anime.
He merely rubbed her head, contemplating what this meant...
It meant that Twice, in his attempt to ensure his own wish for war to continue so humanity could advance, had ended up delaying the Moon Cell's ability to protect itself from Velber and the Umbral Star.
If he recalled Twice's history correctly, he was an NPC just like Hakuno. He was recorded in the Moon Cell and, eventually, his data ended up becoming self-aware after serving as an NPC and experiencing so much. Back then, the Grail War was structured differently- while death was still the norm, it was closer to a traditional Holy Grail War in structure.
He fought in Grail Wars several times together with his servant- Caster Tamamo-no-Mae- but failed to win. He inevitably lost Caster and ended up summoning the Buddha as a Saver Servant who came out of compassion for Twice. This allowed Twice to finally win a Grail War- only to learn that he, as an NPC, could not go to the Moon Cell core or he would be erased. So, he restructured the Grail War into a tournament style war and would ask the winner to grant his wish... And each time, they would be killed by Twice after they refused.
And Twice's wish?
For the world to continue in a perpetual state of war, so that technology could continue to advance.
In fact, based on the logs Dio was looking at, Twice was responsible for the current wars happening on the Earth. He manipulated and falsified information to cause terrorism and violence... With the Moon Cell's high processing speed to divine the future, and using it's records, Twice wanted to bring about a genuine Armageddon.
Dio just shook his head in distaste.
In the end, Twice was just an NPC. The real Twice had died in the Year 1999. This Twice was just a record- a record that had become self-aware and believed that the world was flawed and broken. Believed that it needed 'fixing' by forcing everyone into war so that they could walk on the 'correct' path again.
In some ways, Twice was correct... But he underestimated humans capacity for cruelty. A war that never ended- what was the point? What happened when humanity was finally put on the right path- and then War continued in spite of it? Or what if the War ended up pushing them even further down the wrong path, leading to the ultimate destruction of the entire world?
In the end... The reason Twice failed was because- in Tamamo's own words- he was just too gentle for the Grail War. He had to lose everything before he could gain anything and by then it was too late. Hakuno was different, focused entirely on the desire to survive, they were willing to do whatever it took in order to live.
Twice put others first and then put himself first once he gave up. Hakuno put themselves first and then put others first once they realised deletion was inevitable.
"Let me up, Nobu, I'm gonna make lunch," Dio told the Demon King, who immediately lifted her head and allowed him up.
While she considered Dio a good pillow, she wanted good food more.
As Dio cooked, he opened up the Chatroom to talk. He could basically cook on autopilot; he wanted to talk to the others and clear his head.
[Dio: Hey, just got some crappy information about my world- need someone to help me take my mind off of it.]
[Yumeko: Oh, what happened?]
[Dio: Turns out the various wars in my world are the result of an A.I gone rogue becoming a nihilist and modifying the information to cause terrorism and wars who wants to bring about Armageddon in the name of 'human progress.']
[Seekvaira: That... Is horrifying. How is that possible?]
[Dio: In my world, there is something known as the Moon Cell Automaton- or just the Moon Cell for short. Many years ago- long before humans became the dominant species of the planet- an Alien Race existed over 4.6 Billion Years ago. This Alien Race created the Moon Cell as an observation device, to observe and record humanity. They essentially created a Supercomputer and placed it within the moon. The unique material it is made of allows it to record things by absorbing light and reading the memories of the light. Since the Moon Cell has recorded all of human history, it was regularly used for information and was taken as absolute truth by humans once it was discovered... So, when that rogue A.I started modifying that information...]
[Seekvaira: Then everyone took that information as truth- leading to terrorism and wars over what they believed to be the truth.]
[Julie: Eek! It's like you're in some kind of doomsday movie...]
[Dio: Doomsday happened sixty years ago- this is Post-Apocalypse.]
[Seekvaira: Wait, seriously?]
[Dio: Yeah... Basically, a group of Dead Apostles- basically vampires- performed a magic ritual involving the revival of a group of royal dead apostles... However, the problem is that the ritual was performed too early and something went wrong. This resulted in all the mana, the magical energy of my world, drying up. It resulted in a movement in the Earth's crust and caused a pole shift, and so the Earth's natural resources ran dry and have run out. Plus, natural disasters and biohazards occurred in a huge amount of numbers...]
Come to think of it... Dio wasn't sure how some anime existed in this world given Japan had collapsed in 1999... Maybe it was just some world shift in the world he was living in, resulting in anime still being made and published by those dedicated few who used the Moon Cell despite constant terrorism.
Dio couldn't help but wonder... Once he became the Sovereign of the Moon Cell, once he was able to safely log out... With Billionfold Return, was it possible for him to find a way to restore the world's mana? It would certainly be worth a try, at the very least.
[Shadowheart: That's awful. I don't know what some of those terms mean, but... From what I understand, your world essentially underwent numerous national disasters almost constantly? Plus, your resources ran out... I presume that means things like metals, oil and such?]
[Dio: Yep. World is ten shades more fucked than any of yours.]
[Dio: So, anything interesting happen in any of your worlds?]
Despite only having the chatroom for a couple of days, Dio had noticed something during some other chats with the girls- time differences.
The time flowing between their worlds wasn't 1:1, it fluctuated depending on the world. It meant that by the end of his 7 Week Grail War, Seekvaira could very well have already started the Youth Devils Gathering even though that wasn't meant to be for another year.
If that wasn't enough, the time between worlds also was in flux. Sometimes it was faster, sometimes it was shorter- you never knew when it would speed up or slow down.
[Julie: Yeah, something crazy happened! Supposedly, kids all over the world have started to hear their Bakugan talking! Like, actually talking as if they were alive! There aren't a lot of confirmed cases, but the fact there are confirmed cases...]
[Seekvaira: It means there might be more to the Bakugan than you originally knew when you and your friends created the game and its rules... How interesting.]
Dio watched the conversation for a moment, realising that Julie's world was approaching its 'canon.' He likely wouldn't be able to intervene in Julie's world; regular fighting wasn't in line with the 'laws' of the world... Still, he was sure Julie would be able to manage things just fine.
[Dio: Let me ask, are there any advantages to talking Bakugan gameplay wise?]
[Julie: From the few confirmed cases, it seems so. Talking Bakugan seem to have a higher G-Power level, and their personal ability cards tend to be more versatile and provide more power bonuses.]
[Dio: From the sounds of things, it seems like talking Bakugan are going to become the Meta- the mainstream- in your world soon then. Of course, I'm not looking down on any of your Bakugan, but you might want to try looking for your own talking Bakugan when you get the chance.]
[Julie: Good point... Oh! I know! Bakugan Valley!]
[Shadowheart: I'm sorry, you have a valley named after the game?]
[Julie: It's a name that players nearby have named it, you can find Bakugan in that Valley pretty easily. With such a huge number of Bakugan in the Valley, I'm sure I'll find a talking Bakugan! And if I find any others, I can share them with you guys! Do you have any preferences on Attribute?]
[Dio: I'm a Darkus guy through and through, personally. If you can find a Pyrus though, I'm sure Nobu would love it.]
[Yumeko: I'm rather a fan of Pyrus myself~]
[Seekvaira: Mm, I suppose if I were to choose one, I think Ventus suits me rather well.]
[Shadowheart: I suppose... If you were to get something for me, I would choose Darkus as well.]
[Julie: Got it! I'll let you know how it goes!]
Dio smiled to himself, pleased. With that, Julie would get her talking Bakugan much sooner than in canon. Before, she'd only gotten her Gorem after losing to her childhood friend Billy and deciding she wanted her own Partner Bakugan.
It was a small shift in the timeline- but the smallest of shifts could lead to the biggest of changes.
Besides that, Dio was also curious on if she'd actually be able to find more than one talking Bakugan. She only found Gorem in the original series, but maybe that was because other people had also gone to the valley and scooped up a lot of talking Bakugan. If she was going there earlier than in canon...
[Dio: Be safe, Julie. I'm going to enjoy my lunch.]
With that, he closed the chatroom and set lunch on the table. Nobu, smelling the food, immediately flitted away from the TV and sat at the table- eager to eat Dio's cooking.
Dio debated on telling Nobu about Twice and his Servant Saver... However, he decided against it for the moment. Let them focus on one week at a time, he could tell her about them once they'd won the Grail War.
"So, learn anything interesting besides about the Dark Sector?" Nobu asked between bites, humming happily as she savoured the food.
"Not really," he told her. "Well, besides the fact the Moon Cell summoned a Servant of its own to do Maintenance on its systems- the Greek Scholar Archimedes."
"Oh?" Nobu's eyes lit up. "Interesting, but irrelevant for the moment. For now, I command you to stop doing all that hacking crap- let's enjoy the rest of the day off as a lazy day, got it?"
He chuckled, "As you wish, my Demon King."
Nobu just grinned widely and took another bite of food, satisfied.
Even with so few words, the two continued to grow closer.
***
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