Yuki didn’t hesitate.
He leaned forward and pressed his finger firmly against the glowing prompt.
The moment his skin made contact, the holographic terminal fractured into thousands of bright blue light particles, dissolving into the cool, silent air of the area.
The massive 13-sided tridecagon table went completely dark, returning to its smooth, reflective obsidian state.
Yuki sat back, adjusting his clothes as he waited for an immediate reaction.
A minute ticked by.
Then two.
“That’s it?” Yuki muttered, looking left and right into the absolute wall of impenetrable gray fog.
“No sirens? No grand system announcements? Did it glitch out?”
He tapped his fingers impatiently against the armrest of the O5-1 chair.
The silence in the massive hall was deafening, broken only by the lazy, slow churning of the mist outside the foundation logo.
It felt as though the invitation had simply been swallowed by the void.
Just as Yuki was about to pull his phone out to check the app, the air behind the remaining twelve chairs began to warp.
The temperature in the room plummeted instantly, breathing out a frosty chill that made the air crystallize.
Behind the chair directly across from him, a dense cluster of the gray fog surged forward like a living tide, rapidly molding itself into a humanoid shape.
Fwump.
With a soft vacuum pop, a solid figure materialized out of the mist, standing perfectly still at the back of the seat.
Before Yuki could even gasp, a chain reaction triggered down both sides of the long tridecagon table.
One by one, the space behind each high-backed leather chair distorted.
Shadows twisted, fog coalesced, and heavy atmospheric pressure descended upon the room as twelve distinct figures materialized in rapid succession.
Yuki’s breath hitched in his throat, his wide eyes sweeping across the newly populated council.
“Well… I guess the invitation went through.”
None of them spoke.
They simply stood behind their assigned spots like silent sentinels of a newly awakened empire, their physical features, clothing, and faces completely swallowed by the absolute darkness of the assembly’s masking protocol.
To Yuki’s eyes, they were nothing but dark, void-like silhouettes.
The tension in the room spiked as confusion quickly gave way to suspicion.
“A-A hallucination…?” a strained, panicking voice cut through the hall from one of the silhouettes.
“Am I finally losing my mind? Is this an overwork-induced coma?”
“Identify yourselves,” a second voice rang out, sharp and entirely devoid of emotion.
The rigid silhouette didn’t look at the others.
Its hidden gaze locked straight onto Yuki at the head of the table.
“Where is this facility? Who authorized this extraction?”
“Oh, my…” a slender silhouette leaned over the back of its chair, a breathless, manic laugh spilling from its hidden face.
“Thirteen players…
a locked room shrouded in fog…
and absolute secrecy?
The stakes here must be utterly divine!
Tell me, whoever is pulling the strings…
what are we betting today?
“Calm down, everyone,” a petite figure piped up cheerfully, tapping a cane rhythmically against the stone floor.
She paused, tilting her head as she realized the profound, unnatural quiet of the space.
“Well, this is unusual. It’s completely dead silent. Not a single presence, god, or spirit can be felt here. This dimension is locked down incredibly tight… though the feng shui of this giant floor arrow is still awfully aggressive.”
The voices began to overlap, a cacophony of analytical demands, manic excitement, and bewildered muttering echoing off the impenetrable fog.
Yuki took a slow, deep breath, smoothing down his clothes.
He was O5-1.
The Reincarnator.
If he didn’t take control of the room right now, this council would devolve into absolute chaos.
“Silence,” Yuki said.
His voice didn’t shake.
It carried a steady, authoritative resonance that seemed to actively vibrate through the dark stone floor, perfectly amplified by the anomalous properties of the room.
The sudden weight of his command slammed into the chamber, cutting through the chatter and forcing all twelve silhouettes to freeze instantly.
“Who gave you the right to order us around?” a rigid silhouette hissed, its elegant posture radiating a freezing, aristocratic disdain that could cut like glass.
“A bold entry,” another slender silhouette chuckled softly, leaning forward with a terrifyingly casual demeanor.
“If you want answers, you will get them,” Yuki replied calmly, refusing to back down as he met the collective gaze of the shrouded entities.
He gestured smoothly to the twelve vacant leather chairs arrayed around the long tridecagon table.
“But first, take your seats. The Assembly does not conduct business standing up.”
A heavy, calculating silence blanketed the room.
No one moved.
The shrouded figures stared at Yuki, then at each other, weighing the risks of submitting to the command of a stranger in an unknown, anomalous void.
Then, a sudden, sharp movement broke the deadlock.
The slender silhouette positioned to the left side of the table let out a soft, eager breath.
Without a hint of hesitation or fear, she pulled back her heavy leather chair and slid gracefully into the seat.
The moment her body settled, a crisp electronic chime echoed through the quiet hall.
Floating directly in mid-air right above her head, sharp white letters rapidly materialized, casting a soft glow over her dark, void-like shoulders.
___
O5-5 The Compulsive Gambler
___
The entire room went dead silent as the remaining eleven standing silhouettes focused entirely on the glowing text.
The seated shadow tilted her head back, looking up at the glowing letters hovering over her own seat.
A breathless, ecstatic giggle spilled from her hidden lips.
“O5-5… The Compulsive Gambler,” she murmured, her voice dripping with sheer fascination as she looked across the long table toward Yuki.
“Tell me, O5-1 The Reincarnator… what a fascinating label. Is this what you call me here? Is this the name of my hand in this little game?”
Yuki met her hidden gaze, his voice steady.
“It is your title in this assembly. A designation of your seat and your authority within this place.”
“A gambler, huh?” a sharp voice rang out from one of the rigid silhouettes still standing across the table.
The figure let out a cold, analytical hum.
“Well, that certainly explains why she was the first to sit. Sitting down in an unknown, potentially hostile environment without a single shred of information… it makes perfect sense that a gambling addict would throw chips onto a blind table just to see what happens.”
“I simply love the thrill of it,” she replied, her shoulders shaking slightly as another breathless giggle escaped her hidden lips.
“Stepping into the completely unknown, with absolutely nothing but my life on the line… isn’t that the most beautiful wager of all?”
“A wager is only beautiful if the odds can be calculated, lady,” a sharp, youthful voice cut in from her right side.
The slender silhouette occupying the next spot didn’t seem bothered by the lack of information.
With a fluid, confident motion, she pulled out her chair and sat down, crossing her legs casually.
“But standing around waiting for someone else to move is a waste of my time. Let’s see what kind of cards the house is holding.”
Immediately, the soft chime resonated once more, and clean white letters knitted themselves together in the dark air above her head.
___
05-4 Young Monster
___
The remaining standing silhouettes stared intently at the new title.
The phrase ‘Young Monster’ carried a heavy, chilling weight that seemed to mismatch the casual, almost cheerful tone of the girl’s voice.
The seated figure tilted her head slightly, looking upward to read her own designation.
Instead of taking offense or demanding an explanation, a low, freezing giggle rippled through her shrouded form.
It was a sound that carried a playful retort, yet secretly acknowledged the deep, cold-blooded ruthlessness hidden beneath her eccentric facade.
“My, what a spicy nickname,” she said, her voice dripping with amusement.
“A ‘Monster,’ am I? And a young one at that. You certainly know how to flatter a girl, O5-1.”
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the cold obsidian table as her hidden gaze swept across the geometric layout.
“Oh, I see how it is,” she noted, tapping a dark finger against the reflective surface.
“Take a look at the numbering, everyone. The seats are arranged perfectly in order. It starts with our fearless leader, O5-1, right at the top, and counts sequentially all the way around, moving clockwise. It seems our host is quite the stickler for structural perfection.”
The small shadow sitting to the right of O5-4 tilted her head, clearly analyzing the pattern.
Deciding to put the clockwise theory to the test, she pulled her heavy chair back with a brief scrape against the stone floor and hopped onto the seat.
The clinical chime echoed instantly.
Right on cue, the floating white letters materialized out of the dark air, illuminating her petite shoulders
___
O5-3 Best Hacker
___
Through the pitch-black masking protocol, a proud, arrogant smudge practically radiated from her posture.
She let out a soft, unimpressed sigh, crossing her small arms before delivering a sharp, sarcastic remark.
“The ‘Best Hacker,’ huh? How terribly uncreative,” her youthful voice droned, dripping with mocking superiority.
“I suppose your group spent its entire budget on this fancy fog machine and completely ran out of inspiration for code names. I could have programmed a more flattering algorithm in my sleep.”
Publicly, she was known to the world as the “dead” legendary hacker ■■■■■■.
Being called the absolute best right to her face deeply amused her massive ego, but a tense ripple beneath her casual stance showed she was also slightly annoyed.
For someone who went to extreme lengths to fake her own death and stay off the spotlight, having someone casually broadcast her ultimate skill set to a room full of strangers was a dangerous risk of exposure.
“A gambler, a monster, and now a hacker…” a heavy, disciplined voice grumbled from one of the shadows still standing across the table.
The figure shifted, the tension in its posture tightening into visible worry.
“An unpredictable risk-taker, a fiend, and a cyber-terrorist. If this is the kind of roster you are assembling here, I am beginning to worry deeply about the nature of this place.”
The silhouette standing directly to the right of Yuki shifted, its obscured gaze locking tightly onto the head of the table.
“Answer me, O5-1 The Reincarnator,” a youthful, remarkably dignified voice demanded.
“Are these titles true? Does this space actually possess the power to read our identities?”
Yuki looked down the line, meeting the gaze of the small, petite shadow.
“Yes,” Yuki answered, his voice firm and completely unyielding.
“The titles are absolute. This space does not make mistakes, and it does not lie. It knows exactly who you are and what you are capable of.”
The shadow stared back at him for a quiet moment.
Then, with a soft hum of acceptance, she pulled out her chair and sat down.
The soft chime echoed through the silent hall, and the bright white letters knitted themselves together in the dark air above her head.
The title that materialized instantly sent a jolt of shock through everyone.
___
O5-13 The God of Wisdom
___
A heavy silence fell over the table as the others stared at the absurdly grandiose title, The God of Wisdom.
For a human to carry such a designation was either a joke or a terrifyingly absolute truth.
The small figure tilted her head back, reading the floating words with absolute calm.
Seeing the text solidified her belief in Yuki’s words; this place truly did know her secret reality.
She leaned her phantom cane against the dark table, turning her obscured face back toward Yuki.
“Fascinating,” she murmured, her tone sharpening with intense curiosity.
“If my title is this accurate, then yours must be as well. Tell me, O5-1… what exactly does it mean to be ‘The Reincarnator’?”
***
Author’s note:
Hey!
Hey!
Hey!…
‘insert Hayasaka meme’
Did you guyz guess the identity of the other members?…
Just asking…
well now that I’m writing this…
I just realized the sheer amount of characters I need to pay attention to avoid mistakes…
I even have a notepad open to keep them tracked…
My first idea for their sitting arrangement is not clockwise or the other way around…
It was a sitting arrangement with jumping 2 seats for the next…
Then I got lost…
So I redid it and just made them sit clockwise…
and now it is suddenly easier…
w0w…
I feel dumb…
=_= hehe!…