In a café near Central Park, a young woman was typing on her computer. Her hair was dyed bright pink and she was dressed in a gothic style, with chunky boots, fishnet stockings and a short but torn skirt, with a black, cat-eared hoodie. Her make-up was done so she looked ten years younger. No one would recognise this Moonlight Dagger.
The past four parts of her investigative report had been published in the New York Times to critical acclaim. While there were calls for her to surrender herself to the authorities for over twenty separate murders, investigations had commenced into Crimson Moon Publishing and its CEO had gone into hiding. She typed the final paragraph of her report before reading it over to check for mistakes. Smiling, she inserted a USB stick into her computer and transferred over the final document.
While the first four articles outlined her experiences working in Isekai Inc., the final article provided the proof of their wrongdoing, their crimes and their overarching scheme. She had discovered the truth behind the Technomancer, and what he wanted to achieve. When she read the story, her heart was touched. It was very romantic; however it was no excuse for doing what we was planning. While his plan would take many centuries to complete, the Technomancer was immortal, and had the time to wait till it was done. After all, her soul wouldn’t be going anywhere. The cycle of reincarnation was broken, and the fate engine predicted that they would meet again.
Pulling out the USB, she pocketed it, packing her laptop into her black, cat eared backpack and left the café. She thought about catching a cab to the drop-off point but thought better of it, her savings were not much, and there was no way she could access any of her bank accounts; it would let both Isekai Inc. and the cops know where she was. She walked down the path, keeping an eye on those who passed her by towards the subway station across the road, her left hand always in her pocket, around the finished product. She knew that she was number one on the hit-list and many people were out for her life.
Once the final part was out though, Crimson Moon would be finished and she would no longer need fear from being assassinated. And based on what she researched, this would be one of the last times that Crimson Moon could be taken down before it was too late. By then, she would not need to worry about her life, as they would be scrambling for safety. She could spend the rest of her life relaxing in a prison cell, knowing that she saved the world. ‘Is this what its like to sacrifice yourself for the greater good?’ she thought to herself as she waited for the little red man to turn green.
As the red man turned green, she started to walk across the road. But… she felt something. Something that she had not felt in a while, something learned from her three years as Isekai Inc’s assassin; killing intent… turning her head, the world slowed down as if in slow motion… she knew her mistake as she looked to the truck’s driver seat, seeing a familiar face, she should have destroyed the fate engine no matter what. She didn’t even have time to press the button, just try to leap out of the way. But alas, Truck-kun was a professional, even with her years of experience, she could never match up to her teacher.
Pain. She felt tremendous pain as the truck hit her lower body, crushing her legs and pelvis. As the truck pulled to a stop, she battled through the pain to reach into her pocket, her life was fading, she couldn’t let them win. She must stop Isekai Inc. no matter what. Those where the thoughts that went through her head as she pressed the button of the device.
It was if the world has stopped as he left the truck, taking a step down, looking at the dying girl before him. The world wasn’t moving, no one was paying attention, this was the benefits of a murder arranged through the fate engine. As he reached the girl, he bent down, and fumbled through the pockets of her cat-eared hoodie. He pulled out a USB stick, but couldn’t find what he was looking for. A disturbed look on his face, he grabbed her backpack, leaving the dead girl on the side of the road. Pulling out his mobile phone as he climbed back into the truck, he spoke, ‘it wasn’t there.’
‘Did she use it?’ the voice on the other end, somewhat irritated.
‘Does it disappear if she uses it?’ Truck-kun asked as he started the truck, his free hand looking through the backpack.
‘We will soon find out’
***
It was a quiet day in the Shanghai office as a young intern looked over the operations screen for the master computer. Noticing an odd error, he turned to his supervisor and asked, ‘Boss, what is a 921 error?’
The supervisor looked at him, and pulled out a manual, ‘I don’t know, we’ve never had it before. Let me check,’ he flipped through to the last page of the technical manual for the master computer and his face paled, turning to an operator beside him ‘Call Director Hua in immediately! I don’t care if he is in hiding, this is vitally important!’ he turned to the intern and asked, ‘What is the code of the system?’
The young intern was flustered, he had never seen the supervisor loose his cool like this as he struggled to find the system code on his monitor, ‘551Z-002’ he replied.
‘Put that into the Fate Engine. I want a title and a synopsis immediately!’ he turned to the chief technical officer who had just barged into the room, ‘Did you know there was such a thing as the 551Z series?’
‘Isn’t that the final product Director Hua has been developing? What happened?’ the technical officer asked.
‘We have had an unauthorised use of the system. Location, New York City. Were there any operations going on there?’
The operator of the fate engine was looking at the screen as the title was calculated, ‘I recall the fate engine calculating something to go on in New York today, but there was no system use attached to it. This must be an independent use’
‘Then how did they use it?’ the supervisor was loosing his cool.
‘Boss, I’ve contacted Director Hua, he is coming in right away!’ the operator said.
‘Boss the fate engine has calculated the name of the story.’ the fate engine operator stated, though he said no more, as if frozen by the revelation of the title.
The supervisor rushed down to the monitor, ‘well what does it say?’ but he paused in shock as he read the words on the screen: ‘The War Against Isekai Inc.’
Awwwwwww yeah!