In an unknown location, an entity shrouded in shadows sits in a chair, shifting a goblet of red fluid. When people looked at him, most entities would feel a gap in their visual perception, as if something was denying a visage upon his presence. The strongest of the strong would see a man in a black shadow, covered in white bone armour with long, flowing white hair reaching off the side of the chair. His glasses were wire frame and his expression was one of a merciless entity.

He knew that the bull would be here soon, to speak of what happened before. An annoyed sigh escapes his lips: knowing her she would barge in with the tendency of her sign and begin demanding some kind of answers.

But for now, he would wait, enjoying the rare silence. The room he was in was dimly lit, featureless other than the stone throne that he sat upon, the sign of Libra engraved on the top of it. It was his preference to be minimalist with these types of locations and settings, especially for what was to come. A single pathway facing the chair would grant access, at least the type without breaking walls.

The halls of the place echo with the sound of loud, angry footsteps along with a dragging noise. Nothing really went as planned unfortunately. She blames these failures on a single person. If those damn soldiers didn’t show up, then this would have been less of an issue. As it was, she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

She stands before Libra with the mangled body of the tin man being dragged behind her. It looks more like a ruined doll at this point than anything that was ever alive. She groans internally as she sees the sight of Libra on the throne. The man was so full of himself that she could hardly stand being around him. And her anger was only rising now that she had stand in front of him like his lesser. He wasn’t her superior. She didn’t answer to him. He had no right to lord himself above her.

She drops the tin man at his feet like a sack of potatoes. “I’m not going to bother yelling because you already know why I’m here and how angry I am. So just get to answering my question,” she growls. If he didn’t have a damn good reason, she was going to break that throne into tiny pieces. He could be the lord of a ruined castle.

When the bull made her appearance, dragging along one of the soldiers, he had a stifled chuckle emit from him while he took a deep draw from his glass.

"I was wondering what happened to that one. I guess he didn't make the cut after all."

When Taurus demanded answers, he sighed a little. At least she skipped the foreplay of asking stupid questions, the one that Libra assumed correctly she would ask. That was one of the admirable traits of this particular 'comrade'. Right down to business.

She will be a useful slave...err...ally.

"It's simple. You played your hand a little too early, drew too much attention to yourself, and forced a response from the military. What were you going to accomplish with a small legion of weak, initiate level youma anyway? The useful ones will be revived, you know how it works." he says, swirling the glass about in his hand before than glancing at Taurus once more.

"Oh, and yes. Valdis Ito was involved...the little brat ended up on your boat, which I will say is a great show of your ability to keep it secure, and rang up big daddy president...who then rattled the general's cage, who consequently rattled mine...it's not yet time to show my hand yet, so I had to comply with a token force." he says boredly, taking another deep draw of his drink.

Always talking down to her. Well, not just her, but everyone. “I expected military force. I didn’t expect to see a bunch of robotic soldiers. There’s a rather large difference there.” Ugh, she was inflating his ego even more, but it was true. Well-equipped humans were far more manageable to his creations.

“Some of the kids are… flashy. And use up all of their power to take down a small threat. I was hoping they would tucker themselves out, and then go take them out. Didn’t matter if they were uninitiated since they just need to be there and look scary.” There was a lot of truth there. The children didn’t have much in the way of endurance. “And I would have substantially less problems if your automatons didn’t show up.”

Always with the jabs. All he was doing was drinking and living in excess. She takes the goblet from his hands, and takes a sip. “Most people offer their guests a drink, especially when they’ve been working hard,” she says before dropping it on the floor.

“Valdis Ito, huh? Is she with the other kids or is she just insane? Not that things didn’t work out for her, but most rich kids don’t run headlong into danger.”

Valdis Ito… She didn’t know whether she would to rip off all her limbs or try to recruit her. Well, no one said she couldn’t do both.

"Cyborg. It is technically incorrect to use robotic since there is a little bit of meat left in them." Libra says with a snide smile. "Again, it's not as though I wanted to send them...but priorities." he chuckles as Taurus begins to go in about how the kids were. With a small chuckle, he proposes the next question.

"Attrition will bear down on them soon enough. Between the random energy harvesters they uncover along with the more...aggressive attacks like yourself, the human mind breaks. Despair and hopelessness will overwhelm them and then there will be a delicious execution at the end of it..." the insane one says blinking once Taurus comes, takes his glass, and then breaks it. The fluid that Taurus drank would be incredibly acidic and have the faintest taste of blood. Whatever her tastes, she will likely find a sharp reaction to the fluid. With just the slightest scowl, Libra shrugs when asked about Valdis' allegiance.

"Definitely the latter, probably the former." he says as he then smirks a little.

"Of course, you complain about the cyborgs, but did you know that they have a civilian corporation contracted to build something that could be just as problematic?" he says as he waves a hand and an image of the SHOGUN mech is created in the air in front of them.

"...Could be troublesome if too many of them get made, no?"

Taurus looks down at the mangled ‘cyborg’ as Libra calls it. “I think there’s been enough stripped from them that they lost any entitlement to the human category. I think robot is more appropriate.” It was a philosophical distinction really. If she were to list the things that essentially made something human, they would be lacking in all but a few points.

The beverage would probably be a good enough analogy to Libra’s personality and company as anything she could think of. She swallows the drink down besides not enjoying the taste. It was the point that matter, not whether she enjoyed making. “You really don’t keep anything palatable around, do you?”

She acknowledges that there is some truth to what he says. Their side could handle a war of attrition, and she very much doubted the super teens were prepared for that. “That’s a fair point… However, I think some of them might already be mentally broken, and it didn’t really stop him from trying to damnedest. I wouldn’t underestimate what the damage could do in a more long, drawn out war. Not saying, they would win, but I think we’d lose more resources than anticipated.”

She tilts her head to the right as she looked at the image. Maybe she was little out of the loop, but she didn’t get what he was worried about right now. “Huh? Is that a tank with legs? Because I’ve had no problem taking down any number of weapons, so what’s the problem here?” She was the bull… she could probably break anything with enough effort.

"Should I always assume the raging bull will come in, throw her weight around and then pillage me for refreshment in the future? Shall I make you a plate of sod for you to graze upon?" Libra says with a chuckle at the remark that she had made of making things palatable. The nerve of the intruder to steal his glass then complain about what was inside.

"You alone cannot be on every front of every battlefield." Libra explains when Taurus' confidence about handling the tanks was brought up. "If enough of these get produced, they will be able to inflict considerable damage on a growing scale. This means lost time energy harvesting to defend outposts and even Obelisk bases. Further reviving dead and valued soldiers also draws energy. The scale could reach one such that the act of final victory is delayed. We have already been delayed two weeks from the original projection due to Scorpio's death and his actions and results that led to it all. Now if the humans get more powerful weapons on top of the teenager team could delay it further. Virgo is growing impatient as we near the critical mass of energy.' he says with a small hand gesture.

"After all, the battery we call Japan can only recover the total reserve at a stable yet limited rate. It's a matter of prevention and securing the final blow."

“No, you shouldn’t. I try not to make a habit of coming here. Partly because you have no understanding of hospitality. But maybe I rather eat sod. Have you thought of mixing blood with something that wasn’t battery acid? Because you have obviously have no taste buds or a clue about complementary flavors.” Iron and battery acid was what it tasted like. She doesn’t believe for a second that he could actually enjoy that.

She stares at the SHOGUN for a while. “I’m kind of surprised that it came from Japan. Their attitude has typically been ‘not our problem’. Honestly, I thought the Americans would make a pain in the ass. However, I guess Japan has more free time to make interesting technology.”

Looking back at Libra, she realizes she never got a real answer. “So you never answered my question. Why are these things so worrisome? I mean, plenty of the youma could take on a tank without dying. They'll only break these out for what? What they call a Category 4 or us? It's the rank and file you need to worry about, but I doubt they'll see them in action much. And both us and the better youma are capable of handling a tank well enough. This was one just walks instead. What aren’t you telling me?”

Libra simply smiles smugly at Taurus' remarks about the drink and hospitality. At least Taurus had a certain honesty about her. She knew the score, where she stood, and where things were. At least most of the time. Taurus kept pushing for more information, to which Libra just sighed. While the pursuit of knowledge was admirable, even among lower minds, the knowledge that there was a limit to any other's intellect made bequeathing it tiresome.

"While the energy economics is half of the thing as I already explained...there is another factor at play. The lead behind the company that produces these things is one of the lost Seven Great Youma that Lady Virgo once employed. In the distant past, they were sealed within mortal souls bound by powerful crystals that kept their powers mostly at bay, though the abilities would still manifest to a lesser degree. Ignorant of the truth, these seven souls, once reincarnated, had no idea of their true destiny or what they truly are and could be." he says, waving his hand as the image of the mech disappears, replaced by the image of Jun Kaneko, the blue haired businessman.

"Jun Kaneko...the reincarnation of this current generation of The Prophet. As you might guess, the Prophet is capable of predicting and analyzing the outcome. Cleverly, he figured out how to harness this power and then use it to produce technology well beyond what should be currently achievable. Leo has been attempting to sway him, because even he has to admit that he sees the end of existence with his powers, but Kaneko has stubbornly refused. My concern...is that he continues to develop technology that become more and more efficient at killing youma, which while alone might not cause our defeat, it would increasingly decay our finale." he says, his expression shifting to one of boredom.

"Virgo would prefer he be converted and kept alive, but his stubbornness has begun to wear at her patience...at this point it may be preferable to kill him and wait for the next reincarnation."

“So basically, he’s cheating,” Taurus says at the mention of the blue-haired business man being the prophet. This wasn’t really worth her time though. “Well, if Lady Virgo wishes to sway him, then I’ll keep a distance from him. If she wants me to get rid of him, she’ll tell me herself.” She gets the faint impression that Libra is trying to manipulate her into doing something that might end poorly for her. “However, I have no intention of acting just because you are implying I should.” She seems to study him carefully, “I somehow wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t your words that sent Scorpio into a situation that would cause his demise after all.”

“If keeping up a low profile is what is important, then I’ll do what I can,” she says, heading toward the exit.

"He's beating the 'system' of normal technological advancement I suppose...cheating is one way to put it." Libra says with a darkened chuckle when Taurus declared her intentions. The stubbornness of a bull as always. She was always passive, sometimes too much so. Following orders was good, but initiative was also valuable.

"Sometimes, initiative is a very attractive feature but I suppose you wish to only charge when the gate is open and the matador is in front of you..." he says with a condescending laugh. When the accusation that he was somehow responsible for Scorpio's death came about, he laughed openly. His eyes would shift to the mass of metal and meat on the floor, before back to Taurus.

"Perhaps 'Scorpio's Demise' is premature. The old ones don't necessarily die that easily.." he says, but makes no further comment as Taurus turns to leave and would not do so unless once more confronted.

Taurus shrugs. She was prideful enough for the taunts to anger her. However, she knew well enough to keep her wits about her in the presence of him and a few of the more manipulative zodiac. Killing Jun without Lady Virgo’s permission could end badly for her a wide range of ways. “If you really believed that was the best course of action for any of us to take, you would have done it yourself already…”

Looking back, her glare hardens at those words about Scorpio. She didn’t know exactly what he was insinuating. “If he starts walking the Earth again, I’m sure we’ll all find out somehow.”

As she exits his domain, she really wishes he was the dead one instead. She can’t really shake the feeling like Libra got exactly what he wanted out of that exchange, and that was incredibly unnerving.