"No, no," Zero said, forcing a smile as he stared at the six pathetic-looking foil packs. "It's okay. It's just the foil. It doesn't mean anything." He looked up at the ceiling, as if speaking directly to the divine intern. "I believe in you, Cecil!"
He took the first pack, the one with Cecil hopelessly tangled in a celestial abacus. He tore it open. As usual, ten cards of [+10 Magical Energy] flashed, one after another, dissolving into golden motes that flowed into his body. The clones all leaned in, holding their collective breath, their fingers crossed.
Zero flipped the eleventh card. It glowed with a warm, gentle, amber light. The image was of an old, smiling man with a kind, wrinkled face and a top-knot, sitting cross-legged and holding a cup of tea.
[Iroh]
Character Origin: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Traits: A retired Fire Nation General, the legendary "Dragon of the West." An incredibly powerful firebender, but more famously a wise, patient, and compassionate philosopher. A master of the game Pai Sho, a connoisseur of fine tea, and a profound spiritual guide. He prioritizes balance, kindness, and finding one's own path.
There was a second of stunned, reverent silence. Then the café erupted.
"LET'S GOOO!" Zero screamed, pumping his fist. "UNCLE IROH! BABYYY!!"
"YES! YES!" Soma was practically vibrating, his eyes fixed on the card. "One, absorb him! Quick! You can help me make tea! LET'S GOOO!"
One, a huge, excited smile on his face, held up a hand. "Ehhh, hold on, okay? Let's wait until the rest are revealed. We need to see all the options before we choose."
"He's right," Zero said, his excitement still buzzing. He handed the precious card to One, who reverently slotted it into the first empty page of the new binder. The mood was set. The bad-art curse was broken.
Legolas's eyes glinted with a competitive spark. He grabbed the pack with the jammed stapler. "I'll open the next one."
"Not so fast," Soma said, snatching the pack with the graffiti on it. "I'll take this one."
Legolas held up his pack. "Wanna pack battle?"
"Go on," Soma said, narrowing his eyes. "What's the bet?"
"Loser cleans the loft," Legolas said, his voice a smooth, confident purr. "For a month."
Soma's eyes narrowed further. "Without the bathroom."
"With the bathroom," Legolas countered, his smile widening.
"Fine," Soma growled. "You're on."
"Okay!" Zero said, stepping into the role of referee. "On my mark. Reveal at the same time!"
Legolas and Soma ripped their packs open. The combined twenty energy cards flooded into Zero, making him buzz with the sudden influx. They both held their final card, facedown on the counter.
"Ready... REVEAL!"
They both flipped their cards at the same time.
Legolas's card glowed with a dusty, adventurous light.
[Indiana Jones]
Character Origin: Indiana Jones
Traits: A distinguished professor of archaeology with a secret life as a globe-trotting adventurer. A master of history and ancient lore, skilled with his iconic bullwhip, and possesses a cynical charm. He retrieves lost historical artifacts, famously believing they "belong in a museum."
Soma's card, in contrast, exploded in a flash of white, theatrical light.
[Kaito Kid (Kaito Kuroba)]
Character Origin: Magic Kaito / Detective Conan
Traits: A high school student and a master "gentleman thief." He uses magic, illusions, and incredible acrobatic skills to steal priceless gems, always announcing his heists with a signature calling card. He is a master of disguise and voice mimicry, driven by a desire to uncover the truth about his father's death.
"Whoa," Zero and One said in unison, looking back and forth between the two amazing cards.
Soma and Legolas looked at each other's pulls. "Mine's better," they both said at the exact same time.
"What?" Legolas said, scoffing. "Mine is a renowned archaeologist who retrieves priceless historical artifacts to put them in a museum. Yours is a thief."
"A gentleman thief!" Soma shot back, outraged. "He uses calling cards! He brings magic, drama, and flare to this mundane world! Yours is just a glorified whip master in a dusty fedora!"
"He's a professor!"
"He's a grave robber!"
They both turned to Zero and One, demanding a tie-breaker.
Zero tapped his chin. "Mmm... Kaito Kid is pretty cool. The magic tricks, the style..."
"But Indiana Jones is a classic," One countered immediately. "The knowledge, the adventure... he's incredibly cool, too."
"It's a split," Zero chuckled. "Tell you what. We'll hold the winner until the Hub meeting tonight. Let Erwin and Sebas cast the tie-breaking votes."
"Fair," Legolas said, adjusting his sleeve.
"Good," Soma said, crossing his arms.
They both handed their cards to One, who carefully slotted Dr. Jones and Kaito Kid into the binder alongside Iroh, the collection of heroes growing.
Zero looked at the three remaining packs. "I want to try something," he said, more to himself than to the others.
He didn't tear them open. Instead, he laid them side-by-side on the counter and held his hands over them. He focused. The faint, glowing blue Abyssal strings, which he and One had just proven they could create, emerged from his fingertips. They were no longer wild and chaotic; they were precise, like a surgeon's tools. The threads snaked around the foil packs, slitting the tops with perfect, surgical precision.
"What are you doing?" One asked, fascinated.
"Experimenting," Zero replied, his voice a low murmur of concentration. The thirty energy cards floated out of the three packs simultaneously. With a wave of his hand, the Abyssal threads herded them, pulling the golden motes of light into a single, controlled stream that flowed into his chest.
"What..." One whispered, watching the display of fine control.
"It's just a good way to practice," Zero said, though his smirk betrayed his pride. The thirty energy cards dissolved.
The final three character cards were left floating, facedown, in the air. With another gesture, the threads flipped them over.
They all stared, completely and utterly baffled.
The first card showed a gloomy-looking high school student with long, unkempt hair, but the art also showed him with his hair up, revealing nine piercings and intricate tattoos.
[Izumi Miyamura]
Character Origin: Horimiya
Traits: A high school student who appears to be a gloomy, bookish otaku at school, but secretly maintains an edgy appearance with nine piercings and large body tattoos. He is exceptionally kind, gentle, physically resilient, and surprisingly domestic (a skilled baker).
The second card showed a man with intense eyes, dark, cracked magic surrounding them, conjuring a blade of pure, distorted space.
[Kaecilius]
Character Origin: Doctor Strange
Traits: A former Master of the Mystic Arts who became a zealot for the dimensional entity, Dormammu. Capable of bending the laws of physics and reality, conjuring spatial weapons from other dimensions, and manipulating dimensional energy. Driven by a desire to overcome mortality.
The third card showed another man, this one with striking white hair, a different-colored eye, and an elegant, dark coat, holding a wand.
[Gellert Grindelwald]
Character Origin: Fantastic Beasts
Traits: A powerful and charismatic dark wizard, considered one of the most dangerous of all time. A visionary, a silver-tongued manipulator, and a master of complex, elemental magic. Driven by a belief in magical superiority "for the greater good."
Zero, Soma, and Legolas stared at the three cards, their faces blank.
"I have no idea," Zero said, "who any of these people are."
"These must all be from... after," Legolas agreed.
Soma, however, was squinting, his head tilting. He pointed a finger at the Kaecilius card, then at the Grindelwald card. "Hey... wait a minute," he said slowly. "Don't those two guys... have the exact same face?"
They all leaned in. He was right. The underlying bone structure, the distinct features—despite the different hair and magic, they were clearly the same person.
"Ah, I get it," Zero said, snapping his fingers. "It must be like those old movies we watched. They're just... played by the same actor."
"Are we not going to talk about the gloomy-looking high schooler with all the metal in his face?" Legolas asked, pointing at Miyamura.
The other three immediately turned to stare at Soma.
"Oh, what?" Soma said, throwing his hands up defensively. "Just because I'm the one who came from an anime world, you think I know who every single anime character is? I don't know who this guy is, either!"
But One wasn't listening to the argument. His eyes were glued to the two magic-users. Kaecilius. Grindelwald. The same face. The same actor. But more importantly... he read their descriptions again. "'Bending the laws of physics and reality.' 'Manipulating dimensional energy.' 'Master of complex, elemental magic.'"
A slow, analytical smile spread across his face. He looked up at Zero, his mind already connecting their Abyssal Weaving breakthrough to these two new, powerful magical paradigms.
"I've decided," One said, his voice quiet but absolute.
The others all turned to look at him.
"Uncle Iroh, right?" Soma said, his face lighting up with excitement. "Let's go! You can help me with the café! We'll make the best tea in the city! It'll be amazing!"
"No," One replied, his eyes fixed on the two dark wizards. "I'll take both Kaecilius and Gellert."
Soma's excitement vanished. "What? Are you serious?"
Zero just chuckled, a knowing look on his face. "Figures." He was already walking to the espresso machine to pull a fresh cup.
"But... but Iroh!" Soma protested, following One as he walked to the binder. "Dude, think about it! He's wise! He's nice! He makes tea! We could have... philosophical discussions and play Pai Sho! He's the 'Dragon of the West'!"
"Soma," One said patiently, his voice already sounding detached. "I'm not here to make tea."
"But the other two? They're bad guys! One's a crazy zealot, and the other is a... a magical... super-Hitler or something!"
"They are powerful," One stated simply. "And their magic aligns with the research. It's the most logical path to understanding the Weaving."
He carefully slotted the [Izumi Miyamura] card into an empty page in the binder, closing it with a soft, definitive thud. His decision was made.
Zero placed the fresh cup of espresso on the counter, pricked his finger, and let a single drop of dark blood fall into the black liquid. "Here you go."
One took the cup, but set it down for a moment. He picked up the [Gellert Grindelwald] card first, choosing it as his primary. "This one," he said. He pressed it to his forehead.
The card dissolved into a torrent of white-hot light and flowed into him. The transformation was immediate and dramatic. His body stretched, growing from Zero's average height to a commanding 6'2". His demonic horns receded, shrinking back into his skull until they vanished completely. His entire facial structure shifted, the familiar "Zero" features chiseling themselves into high, sharp cheekbones, an aristocratic nose, and the intense, recognizable visage of the actor who played him. His casual clothes melted away, reforming into an elegant, dark, 1920s-style suit with a long overcoat.
He took a deep, slow breath, a new, cold power settling into his bones. "Haaaa," he exhaled. It was his first breath as Gellert Grindelwald.
He then picked up the [Kaecilius] card and the blood espresso. He drank the espresso and, without hesitation, absorbed the second card. The transformation was less structural but more unsettling. A network of dark, cracked, crystallized veins spread around his eyes, a permanent, sinister tattoo of dimensional energy.
"Whoa," Soma said, taking an involuntary step back. "That's... uncanny."
Legolas, however, wrinkled his nose, his elven aesthetics deeply offended. "Eww," he said. "Change back. You have a serious case of panda eyes. It's not a good look."
One raised an eyebrow, touched his face, and then, with a flicker of concentration, the dark, cracked veins receded, leaving his face clear and unblemished once more. He was back to the pure, dashing Grindelwald form. He immediately began patting the pockets of his new suit, a look of mild confusion on his face.
"What are you doing?" Zero asked, sipping his own coffee.
"I guess the card doesn't come with a wand," Gellert replied. His voice was no longer Zero's; it was a smooth, accented baritone, laced with charisma and a chilling self-assurance.
Soma stared at this new, imposing, and vaguely familiar-looking man who was, just minutes ago, his identical clone. "So... who are you now?"
The clone turned, his striking, mismatched eyes landing on Soma with a quiet intensity. "Gellert," he said. "Gellert Grindelwald. I'll take that name."
Legolas took a sip of his tea. "Mouthful. I'm just calling you Gel."
…
Sebas was perched on the stone gargoyle of a high steeple, a silent, veiled statue cloaked in the shadow of darkness. It was five days until the next Silent Night. It was, as always, the perfect time to ruffle the criminal underworld.
A flicker of movement, and Kai appeared, kneeling beside him, his breathing controlled. "Duke Orion's servant gave me this, Master," he said, his voice a low whisper. He held out a sealed scroll.
Sebas took it. He broke the wax. It was a copy of a shipping ledger, detailing the movement of "artisan goods" and "textiles" to a private warehouse. But at the bottom, it was stamped with the unmistakable, intricate seal of the First Prince.
"Hmmm, interesting," Sebas mused. "Did you read the content?"
"I wouldn't dare, Master," Kai replied, his head bowed.
Sebas held the scroll out to him. Kai remained perfectly still, his gaze fixed on the rooftop at his master's feet. He did not take it. He did not read it.
A small, almost imperceptible smile touched Sebas's lips. Good. This one is being forged into a proper spider. "Now," Sebas said, his voice a command, "you can read it."
Only then did Kai take the ledger. His eyes, trained by Liane and Ren, scanned the contents quickly, his mind absorbing the details, the dates, the shipping routes, and the royal seal.
"What do you think?" Sebas asked.
Kai's face remained impassive. "I am a soldier, Master. I will say what you command me to do."
Sebas's faint smile vanished. "You are thinking like a slave." He turned his veiled gaze on the boy, the hidden pressure of his disapproval a heavy weight. "Look at me."
Kai looked up, meeting his master's intense, unseen eyes.
"Broaden your vision," Sebas commanded, his voice cold. "See what is ahead of you before you step onto the battlefield. A soldier reacts. A spider acts. Come. I will show you what I mean."
Sebas didn't jump. He simply stepped off the edge of the steeple, a silent drop into the night. Kai, his heart pounding, followed.
They landed on a rooftop overlooking the Cardinal Wolves' new headquarters. Kai landed seconds after his master, his small chest heaving, his legs trembling from the exertion of the full-speed chase across the city's rooftops. Sebas, in contrast, hadn't even mussed his suit.
He smirked. "What do you think about this... now?"
Kai looked down. The TCW base was a hive of activity. Men were checking weapons, reinforcing doors, and moving supplies with a new, disciplined urgency.
"The strong will lead the pack," Sebas said, his voice a low murmur. "Even without realizing it, Guilon is copying my methods. Our methods. This ledger," he tapped the scroll, "will push him further into his own hubris. It will make him believe his ambition is not just his own, but aligned with the throne."
Kai processed this. "But, Master... won't this just give him a podium to look down on us? Make him think he is more powerful than our shadow?"
"Does it matter," Sebas countered, "if a king looks down from his balcony, unaware that the shadows he casts are the very ones that control him? Think ahead, Kai. What happens when a man like Guilon believes he has the secret support of a Prince?"
Kai's eyes widened. He understood. The higher they climb, the harder they fall. He didn't wait for another command. He nodded once, then dropped from the rooftop, a ghost disappearing into the alley below.
He scouted the area, his movements silent and precise. He spotted his target: a low-level TCW grunt, grumbling to himself as he hauled a heavy, leaking bag of trash toward the street-side bins.
Kai moved. He slipped into the shadows by the bins, placing the ledger on top of a different, overflowing bin, tucking it just enough so that it was precariously balanced. He vanished a second before the grunt arrived.
The TCW member burped, then heaved his heavy trash bag, slamming it onto the overflowing bin. The impact dislodged the scroll. It fell, rolling out onto the ground and coming to a stop right at the grunt's feet. A perfect, "accidental" discovery.
"What's this shit?" the grunt muttered, bending over to pick it up. He was illiterate, but he didn't need to read the words. He recognized one thing: the golden, embossed seal of Averidane Royal.
His eyes went wide with a sudden, greedy understanding. He didn't know what it said, but he knew what it meant. If this was real... this was his ticket. His way to get in good with the big boss himself, Guilon. He stuffed the scroll into his jacket and hurried back to the HQ.
Kai reappeared at Sebas's side, as silent as he had left.
"All clean?" Sebas asked, his gaze still on the city.
"Yes, Master."
Sebas smiled, a cold, thin expression hidden by his veil. "Ahhh," he mused, looking out at the darkening city. "What an interesting Silent Night this will become."
**A/N**
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**A/N**