New Game+

Meryl was confused at Seeker\'s answer.

"The Plague of the First Born? As in, one of the Ten Plagues of Egypt?" Meryl asked Charles.

"Yes. The more I studied it, the more I was certain. It is definitely that plague. I have it as well. It tries to kill me since I\'m also the first born, but it can\'t seem to work. It might be because of my Unlocking. The virus itself can\'t keep up with the explosive growth and strength of my body. After all, when one becomes an Unlocked, the disease that can affect us are small."

"True. Even cancer becomes a way for us to grow stronger." Lynd nodded.

"That\'s right. The virus itself is unique. While it is airborne, it is very difficult to spread. That\'s because this virus has a very, very low reproductive rate. Truthfully, as a doctor, I have to say that it\'s almost impossible for this virus to even exists! This virus has no known sources and origin. With low infectious rates and poor reproductive rates, this virus could easily be stopped. And it doesn\'t seem to have any capacity to mutate."

"So we can\'t weaponize it."

"That\'s why I brought it here to infect you three. You three are the only Unlocked around that can be safely infected by this virus other than me."

"Safely infect us? A disease that mysteriously can use Realm and kill firstborn will be injected to me?" Meryl frowned.

"It means we have the means to stop it. If you set aside all the Unlocked who aren\'t firstborn, we only have a few where we can experiment it on. It won\'t work on Meng. The virus would be devoured. It won\'t work on Amir, who has a ridiculous recovery rate and very strong anti-bodies. Same with the vampire lady. On Rosa? It would just get frozen. The Tyrant Empress? The virus would probably fall in love with her." Seeker listed.

"As for the others, like Lowengren, they would have no way if directly attacking the virus. Arthur, Typical, Hermes, Richie, and so on will die if they are infected. Also, they are too far away. It\'d be difficult for Charles as he would have to go all over the world. So instead of that, he chose to go here and inject it on us. We can use our Paths to attack or weaken the virus. Me and Lynd through using various abilities and you who can purge your body of such great heat that it can kill the virus."

"Gardo?"

"He\'s with Arthur now, and he\'s not a first born," Charles explained.

"First, you make me sell myself to pervert, and now you want me to take on a deadly disease..." Meryl started pulling her hair in frustration as he glanced at Seeker.

"Think about the possibilities if we weaponize this? We could weaken or kill even Presiders if we\'re lucky."

"Fine. Get me infected by this thing. Wait... Will I have to keep my distance from Danny? I haven\'t been with him in a while, you know."

"Danny\'s not the firstborn. Geez, for his girlfriend, you really don\'t know a lot about him. He\'s adopted." Lynd insulted.

"How did you know?"

"I read his file like any good General would do."

"Well, I don\'t do a background check on my boyfriend before dating them. Unlike you, oh good General, who is an accomplice to pedophilia." 

"Ouch. That\'s gotta hurt." Charles commented on the side.

"Still... I have to say; I\'m quite startled how that one date I got you for defeating the Covenant would end up like this." Seeker laughed.

"You\'re not mad that I didn\'t pursue Arthur?" Meryl asked.

"No. This timeline is so messed up. Arthur\'s obsessed with his sister. The reason she fell in love with you was because you reminded him of her. Of course, eventually, he fell for you for real. I know because I was with him during his last moments. Did he liked talking with you?" Seeker asked.

"Yes. He said that it was fun having to talk with someone like me where he had to explain everything along the way. But honestly, I did give Arthur a chance. I was waiting for him. But he never made a move. Then Danny showed up and asked me to go on that date, and I agreed."

"I don\'t blame you. Arthur\'s been rather busy after all. He has been planning the direction of all Unlocked."

"I know. I don\'t blame him. I guess just like everything in your memory, something different will turn out." Meryl laughed.

"I don\'t know... Between the two of them, Arthur has the higher chance of surviving this storm." Seeker sighed as he gazed on the many docking submarines.

"What are our odds now? The odds of our victory?" Meryl couldn\'t help but ask.

"Against Presiders, we probably have a thirty percent chance with what we have. But against Principals... no chance at all. We have to Overcome, guys. That\'s the only way." Seeker smiled.

"Then I guess I have to marry Alean when I get the chance..." Lynd pondered.

Meryl and Charles were frozen at Lynd\'s words.

"What? If the world\'s ending, might as well go for it, right? I\'m sure Harker won\'t complain."

"But what about you, Zeek? We\'ve been talking about everyone\'s love life. Charles has rekindled him, and Meryl and me got a new one... What\'s your plan? Are you still planning on stealing the Kristine who ends up with me on your future, or are you going for that Presider?"

"Wait! Hold up! You and Kristine?! And Seeker took her from you?!" Meryl reacted.

Even Charles\'s eyes went wide open.

"Damn, son!" Charles reacted as well.

Seeker chuckled.

"Are you a bit bitter, Lynd?"

"A little. I mean, Kristine Sythia? THE LordChokeMeSenpai was supposed to be my girlfriend? Who wouldn\'t be? Especially now that you are treating her the same way, Arthur treated Meryl."

"I messed up! I admit it. But, I will say this, our relationship was nearly strained because of her. In a way, you could say you stole her from me."

"I stole the girlfriend of THE Seeker Carlean? I\'m definitely an Overcomer." Lynd laughed.

"It was a pretty complicated time. Missions were keeping everyone apart, and you rose to Ranked Hero and became the World Champion. One day, Kristine just passed by and gave me that apologetic look. It was harsh and painful, but it is what it is."

Cliff was seen running down the hallway.

"I didn\'t get the last sentence. What did you say?!" Cliff shouted as he approached.

The group looked at Cliff and judged him.

"You were... eavesdropping on us?" Seeker asked.

"I was on my way here, and I heard Charles talk about the Plague of the First Born from the floor below. So I decided to wait until Charles is gone. But then there was some group of Unlocked rushing on this floor to prep the arrival of the sub, making your words a little distorted." Cliff explained.

"Charles, Cliff is an only child. Give him the Plague."

"What? No! Wait! I was just curious what happened!" Cliff began to retreat.

"Anyway..." Seeker continued as he spoke in a softer voice.

"I guess I have to explain the details of what happened. Now that Zeraphine is here. Honestly, I can\'t tell the story of Zeraphine without explaining my relationship with Kristine. The relationship between me, Zerahpine, and Kristine was very... chaotic, to say the least. In that timeline, I met Zeraphine in a very casual way. I was working in one small medical insurance company."

"Is it MedServed?" Charles was curious.

"Yes. That same company I tasked Cliff to connect with the big groups and is currently being supported by the Diamons. It\'s sort of my thanks to them, I guess. Anyway, Zeraphine went by Zera then. I was on break and went to a Piercing themed coffee near the office and met her reading some Veil-Stacy fan fiction story. This was how I knew she was a fan of A Game of Attractions. I am a solid Veil-Tiff fan, as you all know..."

Lynd and Meryl rolled their eyes.

"Still fighting for that love team?" Lynd shook his head.

"Anyway... Our conversation began because that fanfiction portrayed Tiff in a rather... negative sense. That fanfiction was somewhat famous, and most Veil-Tiff fans hated it. The writer tried to use everything in the canonical story to create a stupid fan theory and used it as a basis."

"Wait... A fanfiction writer? I recalled you asked Cliff to abduct another possible Unlocked who was a fanfiction writer!" Lynd recalled, and he immediately looked the name up on his comm device.

He then turned to Seeker in horror.

"Nutterballs! You... You made her an Unlocked, so she can\'t write the fanfiction!" Lynd was horrified.

"Well, I couldn\'t kill her..." Seeker shrugged.

"Madman!"

"I regret nothing!" Seeker assured.

"Can we please move on with Zeraphine?"

"Anyway, Zera\'s real appearance is slightly more beautiful than her current avatar or whatever that is... But for a Presider who could have whatever techs, she didn\'t look that amazing. I wager that she didn\'t allow herself to undergo any possible vain technology to make her more beautiful."

"So that\'s why she became friends with Charm!"

"Right. We chatted and became frenemies. Our common denominator was that we hated Radia."

"Who\'s Radia?" Charles asked.

"Another girl linked to Veil in A Game of Attractions." Meryl answered.

"I hate her too..." Meryl sighed.

"What? Why? Radia\'s awesome!"

"Of course you like her. Fair skin, playful smile, and a manipulating attitude. That\'s practically Miss Alean!" Meryl shook her head.

"The story. Get back to the story!" Charles urged.

"Anyway, our relationship with Zera wasn\'t that special. We became good friends. Since both of you often went out of town, I was mostly stuck with her. Slowly, we became best friends."

"Best friends? As in, at me and Lynd\'s level?"

"Yeah. Several lockdowns made it difficult to travel then. I was stuck somewhere at Malay-Pangea, and for some strange reason... she was there..."

"Wait, what? She\'s a Presider! She could be anywhere! Could it be...?" Meryl asked.

"Probably. She was starting to like me then. I tried to replay my memories, but it\'s very conflicted. At that time, the war was mainly in Africa and Russia, and the area in Jordan became the main battlefield between the two countries. So Pangea wasn\'t greatly affected. The need to fuel the war in Russia and Africa made our economy boom because of the purchases of our soldiers and techs. But when the Aragarians revealed themselves... I can\'t deny the facts before me. Zeraphine used her connection to save me. And in a way, she saved you guys as well. Charles was also among the members who were saved."

"She saved us."

"That\'s why I told Cliff that he had to be careful in gauging Aragarians. Zeraphine really cared for us."

Lynd could feel the emotions that Seeker felt the most and was silent.

"Wow. If you put it that way... It makes it hard to kill her."

"No. We should." Seeker refuted.

"This is why my present self can\'t help but despise her. It was because of her that you died. When I asked her about it in our final confrontation, she said she really liked and cared for you two. But her simple whims of saving us was her problem. The problem with her simple decision got so big that some Presiders died."

"What problem?" Meryl asked.

"Come on, Meryl! She saved Meryl Mikado, the Empress of the Sun. The World Champion, Lynd Indigo. She saved me, Charles Lindmitt, the scientist responsible for figuring out the Unlocking. And whether she knew it or not. She saved Seeker Carlean. THE Seeker Carlean.." Charles answered.