Overseers of the Mirage

It was dark. Only muffled voices broke through the silence.

"I thought there was only supposed to be one winner?" A deep voice spoke.

"There was. This wasn't supposed to happen. I didn't think the Pendant could be used like that." A lighter voice replied.

"Hmm… You don't expect me to allow you to grant all four of them a grand prize, do you?"

There was silence before the answer. "No, that would just be a waste of resources for nothing more than a mirage to retrieve the Sin of Wrath."

"Well we've got him now. Our operation is complete."

"What do we do with these kids then?"

"They're also Sins, you know." A third intelligible voice joined in.

"You know them?" The light voice asked.

"The girl was one of Ariel's. The tall one and the scrawny one were Jophiel's…"

"And the one with the curly hair?"

"He was one of mine."

The deep voice looked into some documents prior to. "The Sin of Pride was yours, Chamuel?"

There was a silent nod. "He was the one who blasted my head off…"

The lighter voice began to chuckle. "A mere subject landed a finishing blow on the All-Knowing Eye? Who would have ever thought?"

"A small feat." The deep voice grunted. "I don't think we need any more than what we already have."

"So, what do we do with the four then?" The light voice asked. "We don't have any use for them?"

"No. Throw them back out onto the streets. Their grand prize is granting them continued life instead of dying to our hands right here and now."

"But haven't you been wanting to take them back ever since they'd escaped?"

"Only because our fragile secrets resided in them. But with how downscale the Cardinal Nexus is now, they won't pose a threat even if they expose who we are, or what we do." The deep voice grew passion into his words. "Don't you two realize that our vision has already been seeked out through the natural growth of this society itself? This country has grown power-hungry, and with that, a hierarchy has been established."

"A hierarchy of power, of the strong and the weak… The people step on the weaklings, while the strong factions dominate…"

"And who established that very foundation? Who began the downfall of this nation that led to the very hierarchy we are seeing today?" The deep voice smiled. "Wrath. Reed Regardius. It's just as MONA had prophesized, he truly was the Catalyst. Not only will he perform well as my super soldier, but he will become the very symbol of our mission. He IS the establishment of a hierarchy of power, and is the reason why we are now at the top of that hierarchy."

The lighter voice could barely hold in his excitement. "To think this would all work out in the end… Finally being able to step over the Cardinal Nexus, as we've always wished." He sighed. "It was one long century…"

"Praise MONA for granting us timeless bodies. We must not waste a single second of this exclusive opportunity we'd been provided."

A shiver of forbidden whispers swept through the room like a cold breeze.

"You four pose no more threat to our power anymore, especially now that you lack the other three." The deep voice turned to the lighter one. "Uriel, have them taken out of here."

"Sure, Michael." He called over some units. "Seraphim A, Seraphim Z, carry these contenders out of here. Leave them at the edge of Enoch District, just outside of the tournament's boundaries."

The group left the room, leaving just two voices that remained.

"Chamuel, I have some matters to discuss about the individual you'd chosen from Jenzaya's Extinction."

"The one in black? What about him?"

"He proved to be a useful defender for Specialized Phase E, but I observed that he went rogue a couple times."

"Rogue?"

"He eliminated about six squadrons of Angel units we'd deployed for that Specialized Phase instead of working with them."

"That's odd. I thought we'd programmed his brain to tell friendlies apart from enemies."

"We did, but according to researchers in the Garden, whenever he sees visual of an Angel, Seraphim, or even a Cherubim, his brain waves fluctuate heavily. So heavily to the point that it distorts his limits set on our instruction."

"I see. I'll have a look into him myself."

"Good, because he's a handy prospect."

Footsteps led out of the room, leading just the deep voice alone.

"Our time is very soon. All the pieces have fallen into the right places, and it's only a matter of time before we enact the grand scheme." Michael looked up into the white light above, sensing more than just blinding luminosity.

"We will avenge you soon, Mother. You won't have to wait any longer.