"Let's be blunt. The history lesson is useless. Most people here won't—no, can't—visit the damn place. Maybe C.A.F... the Alliance, whatever they called the nation the island was part of before it was cut off during the Cataclysm." Victor cut in, hand slicing through the air.
"C.A.F.B.T. Corporate Alliance..." Nicole tried to correct him—
"All you need to know—it used to be part of a powerful federation. Was cut off. Monsters appeared. People were forced to work together. Some mutated and got powers of their own. Every city has its power source. My continent has the same power as her city." Victor threw out paragraph after paragraph of information without a care in the world. "Turns out that last part is more important than both of us expected. But let's keep that part for its own time."
"Didn't you say you'd let me do the talking?" Nicole's voice came out calm but sharp. Clearly annoyed.
"Well, you suck at it. And at this rate, this will never end. I have things to do." Victor simply retorted, losing his calm. He proceeded to ignore her and looked at the Host with a piercing glare.
"Anyway, that's all the context you need to understand. Can we continue so we can get off this damn platform?" Victor was clearly done.
"I would have appreciated it being more representable and digestible to the audience—"
"Damn shame. You got a prince and a scientist, not two performers."
The Host deflated against Victor's onslaught. He might have actually physically melted, shoulders sagging, body slouching.
"Why does he have to be so mean about it?" the Host whispered to himself.
"Why this rush? I'm quite enjoying this, actually." Nicole interrupted them.
The Host sighed in relief.
"You hypocrite. You hated it five minutes ago!" Victor called her out, face twisting into a frown.
"Oh me? No, you were just being illogical like usual. You sure you didn't eat something without being careful?" She leaned in, voice sweetly concerned as she checked on him.
A lot of things were happening in the audience. The atmosphere between those two was so heated it was hard to notice anything else.
"I am sorry to keep doing this, but please, my dear stars—back on track." The Host snapped his fingers. All empty plates in the tavern vanished.
The succubus glared daggers at him.
He sighed. Snapped a second time. A new plate appeared in front of the succubus, and a flute materialized in his hand.
The audience was suddenly awakened by very loud music.
"The atmosphere was just missing something, so everyone wakey-wakey! Our stars are about to actually get to the point. Hopefully." The Host smiled as his mask gleamed, his attire back to normal.
Nicole's hands pressed together. "I was trying to reach the source of the change—the anomaly that caused everything. If I understood it, I believed I could influence it. Change it somehow. Change the island's environment to something more favorable."
Her voice came out pleading, as if trying to convince herself before others.
"Of course, he told me it was a bad idea. That I'd have to deal with the consequences myself. Not to push it so far. But the limits he put on me were too restraining." Her voice grew hoarse and unsteady.
"I needed results, okay? I was running out of time. I needed to prove him wrong. He needed to understand I could change. That I'm more than just his trophy."
Her eyes reddened. She tried to hide it, cursing the Host under her breath.
"Huh. As careless as usual, old friend." Victor's remark came out cold.
"Of course you don't understand. You're a bastard who embraced being a trophy above everything." Her eyes told him exactly how she felt about this conversation continuing.
"Is that what you think? Really?" Victor leaned back. "I might be cruel and cold sometimes, but I'm not delusional, Nicole. And we both know this gate never had a higher purpose. It was always personal reasons first, greater ones second."
His voice was surprisingly gentle.
"Believe what you want, Victor." Nicole's fingers drummed against the cube. "Anyway, I have to admit—I overstepped myself a bit and ended up opening a portal to his world. At the time, it didn't make sense. I was confused back then. And to make matters worse, the Arbiter seemed to notice it."
She took a shaky breath.
"And to top it off, another incident happened that seemed to be tied to all of this. Happened in a school of all places. A rift similar to the one Victor left in the lab—one I didn't manage to close. And it was leaking power at an unprecedented rate. It was as if the world was playing with me."
Nicole's hands shook as she remembered one of the worst days of her life.