[NETWORK] Death of the old world, let the rule of strength begin!

[warped_ken_amada]

[Soon after a dead Falcon appears in the Velvet Room...]

I have observed this dimensional crossroads and I have been disappointed. So many of you have been blessed with great individual power, the ability to change the world, and you all squander it.

Wake up! The world you are living in is based on nothing but lies! The "rules" and "morality" are not necessary things to live in society, but cowardly artifices used by weak men to exploit others despite their lack of strength! The root of everything, what allows you to take action, what arbitrates conflicts, is power. Even the modern societies of lies are based upon it! They rely on the collective power of the masses to uphold their rotten structure! But we are beyond that.

A new age is beginning. The old world is dying, and a newer, fairer world dawns! The collective power of the masses which has allowed such perversion is weaker than our own individual, gifted power! Break the shackles of the old societies! Tear them apart! Rebuild them anew, under the rule of strength, as they were always meant to be! You who are gifted with strength, take your righftul places as rulers!

Or oppose me if you wish, but be aware that I am in a league of my own. Your robotic friend thought himself strong, and look what happened to him. In the end, you are my inferiors. Keep that in mind, and we should get along fine.

Comments

[lakebrat]

But Goro meets his eye. "I wouldn't mind smashing something either. And Boss's ghost will haunt me if I do it here."

[willowandoak]

Ren glances at the dent in the wall. He doesn't have it in him to feel guilt right now, so he just picks up his phone. From a cursory check, it seems to be unharmed.

"All right. Let's head to Nagatacho."

Goro has said, Show me Shido's Palace, but Ren's not convinced he hasn't been in there himself. At the very least, he must have the keywords.

[lakebrat]

Been in there? Sure he has, and nearly died. He checked it not long before Ren joined the team, and nearly died then, too. As his mother's delicate Palace shrinks in size, his father's has been mushrooming.

He doesn't even feign surprise at the mention of Nagata-cho—though when they get there, he grins at the delightful mural of a crudely caricatured Shido that decorates the Diet today. "Your work?"

[willowandoak]

"Nah." He gives it a quick once-over. "Maybe I'll come back and add to it, though. No brainwashed Falcon to steal my paint cans this time." He taps Shido's name on the Nav, and the world warps around them. When it solidifies again, they're on the fucking ship.

Nothing of Ren is visible beneath his outfit. It's comforting.

[lakebrat]

This is not close to the furthest Goro has ever got. If he keeps quiet, he can get quite far—though never further than the door of the ridiculous restaurant. "The Ark of Elite, really," he mutters, with audible disgust and, somehow, chagrin.

He turns to offer Ren's faceless visage a shadowed, slanted smile, through the slits of his blue-white mask. "Unless it got tougher, I'd say you and I can take this place apart. And I don't mean with paint cans."

[willowandoak]

Caradoc stirs, laconic as usual but hungry to tear into the Palace. Ren tilts his head back to take in the whole building.

"I could've done it at home," he says. His voice is less muffled behind the mask than one might expect. "Sometimes when I was pissed off, I came here and thinned the crowd. I bet either of us could do it now."

He glances at Goro. "So how long do you think it'll take us both together?"

[lakebrat]

His little grin becomes sharper in reply, devoid of humour, turning upward beneath his mask. "Less than an hour. Unless we stop to stare along the way."

So they'd better begin. Drawing his sword, he heads for the stairs.

[willowandoak]

"Or unless the rat stuff fucks us up," he says, full of fake cheer, following after Goro with his knife in hand. "But I think I've got a handle on it by now. Fifty minutes."

[lakebrat]

Waitasec. Goro turns quickly back to him, at the top of the stairs. "The rat stuff? You mean Mot?"

The coffin Shadow, like in Futaba's Palace.

[willowandoak]

"No, like when the Shido statues see you and you turn into a rat." His humorless smile is hidden behind his mask, but it's audible in his voice. "You'll see."

[lakebrat]

Yeah. Goro takes a deep breath, shoulders rising, as the impact of that one hits him. Eventually, he looks back at the door. "I don't know why I'm even surprised."

And he goes in.