The Ark Of Unknown Children Program

"Do you know about the Crystal Princess? I recall that she was a prime target for my mother and me to seek out, but we could never find her. The only thing I knew was her birthplace from a village called Lumacie on the Coast of Northern Albion."

"Astria changes her location quite frequently, never staying in a Domain for more than a few months," asked Bryan.

The Butterfly Girl seemed to flinch as Bryan said the village name of Lumacie. It was as if something clicked in her mind.

"Other than her quick change of base, Astria seems to have a talent for skewering everyone in her path. Every account depicts the girl walking amongst dozens of corpses impaled by her White Crystals. She seems to travel alone and is unaffiliated with any groups."

"And the link between the Congregation and her is through the Galaxian Mage, Z," said Tomoe, glancing at Z.

Everyone stared at the Galaxian Mage while Z sighed.

"Astria Faust, she was one of the children participating in the project that I held in secret during the reign of the Congregation. Astria was not part of the 'training' program out of the six we see here. Old Man Pond caused her presumed death, and I had a hand in it."

"I was away for a minor sting operation at the Teuton Domain, and I found a village to stay at for a few months. I met a few kids that could practice small forms of Magecraft but had human lineage. I wanted to report my findings to Old Man Pond, but Baldwin stopped me."

"But somehow or rather, rumors flew, and Old Man Pond came to confront me. I had no choice but to reveal what I had found, but I didn't continue to seek out other children with the same condition. Old Man Pond ordered me to shut it down, which I did, but I couldn't help but notice..."

"Something was wrong about how Old Man Pond instantly freaked out when I told him about the children's odd lineage. Thus, in my naiveness, I researched more of the same kids with signs of Magecraft despite having human parents. That was the worst decision I've ever made."

"There were a thousand kids after the research throughout four years. So I dubbed the entire thing the Unknown Children Project. And after the third year, I have found the running theme amongst these children, which was their blood. All of the children shared the same blood as Old Man Pond."

"Since I have created case files for each child, it wasn't difficult for Old Man Pond to search for the children after he broke into my lair when I was in Albion. When I returned, Poisoned Pond greeted me with the most twisted smile I have seen in my life."

"I knew something was wrong... And I was right about it. I wish I would've stopped investigating, but I was too full of myself researching how to bridge the worlds between humanity and Mages so badly that I caused endless pain and suffering. That Pond..."

Z clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood. It sounded like the Galaxian Mage was tongue-tied as he struggled to find the words to describe the following events.

"I'll continue this recount from here on out since Z can't recall too many details now. When Z arrived from his mission, Old Man Pond invited him to one of the meeting halls underneath the Congregation's Headquarters. I'll make it brief so as not to scare the youngsters here."

"The entire room was filled with disembodied children of Z's investigation. Every child was accounted for in that thousand, but it could have been more, judging from the number of heads I could find. When Z saw it, he went berserk. The two men engaged in a duel instantly."

"I had also returned from my mission from the Briton Domain and was at the Headquarters preparing a drink when I heard Old Man Pond talking about 'a good surprise' to show to Z. It was a 'reward' for going through so much effort to find those kids."

"I would be lying if I wasn't unnerved about the sight I saw that day, but I need to be the one having a clear head amongst the two. One was on the brink of insanity, and the other was on the fence about murder and suicide. So I had to step in at one point," described Baldwin.

"In the end, I nearly strangled Old Man Pond to death when the Angry Man stopped me. After knocking the Poisoned Mage out cold, we dragged him into the main office and locked him there while we cleaned up. And when I said 'we,' I meant Baldwin mostly because I was still a wreck."