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[callbacks]

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[crouching_sin]

Combination spells... interesting. It sounds like it adds a whole extra dimension of things to think about in battle, though. Interesting, but maybe a bit complicated.

[callbacks]

its something you just kind of got to go with intuitively as it happens
or thats how i roll anyway
im not sure how much most of us explored it in the first place and hey it cant be that much more complicated than demon blending

[crouching_sin]

I suppose that's true. At least the summoners don't have to draw the circles by hand since the app does it for them, or that whole section of Tokyo would be covered in chalk and paint or whatever.

[callbacks]

that sounds handy
do the summoners need to have any kind of like preexisting magic aptitude to use it or is that not how it works

[crouching_sin]

Not in the least.

They do, however, have to survive whatever demon comes out of the COMP first. I tried to program it to have a low level demon be the initial summon, but it didn't always work. Only defeating it let someone use it, because otherwise the demon wouldn't recognize the strength of the person commanding them.

Again with the demonic hierarchy being 'who can beat up who'.

[callbacks]

is this before or after they get the soul resonance physical power up thing

[crouching_sin]

After. The Harmonizer boots up with the summoning program.

[callbacks]

phew ok
so its kind of like getting your starter here
and then you use that one to fight and get introduced to other ones you might like better
yeah?

[crouching_sin]

Basically, only you have to punch your starter into submission before you can use it.

And not everyone survives that part.

[callbacks]

r
right
i guess thats kind of a different experience

[crouching_sin]

It's not as if I didn't try to remove that part, but... well.

I was under a somewhat tight schedule without a firm deadline. 'Within the month' doesn't tell me if I have five days or four weeks.

[callbacks]

yeah time crunches are tough
and
well
i mean
i guess its fair
for the demon to have a fighting chance at deciding if it wants to listen to some punkass summoner dragging it out of its business stabbing pitchforks into peoples asses or whatever
but um
did
you tell the kids you gave the comps to about that before you gave them the things

[crouching_sin]

[And there's the million dollar question, Dave.]

I told the organization that I made them for that it would happen. They didn't spread the word as much as they probably should have. Then again, they were pushing for Belberith to win the War and remake the world into whatever sort of hellish setting he was imagining.

My cousin wasn't part of that so no. He didn't get the memo. I knew he'd get through that easily, though. It's not like I wasn't looking out for him.

[All of his plans hinged on Kazuya reacting as expected. ... And then things went off the rails.]

[callbacks]

[Dave doesn't answer for a little while.]

you said he was seventeen?

[crouching_sin]

[Oh no. Oh no no no. He does not like where this feels like it's going. He can't justify it. Not to anyone. How could they ever understand?]

Yes. And my brother.

A fragment of him, anyway.

[callbacks]

[Wherever Naoya thinks it's going, it takes Dave some time to get there. The words come haltingly, one by one.]

my brother
was a lot older than me
and it seems like maybe he knew what was going to happen
to our planet i mean
he trained me
and made sure i could handle myself
but

he never did tell me anything
and
he could have

thats all im saying i guess

[crouching_sin]

[At least it didn't jump immediately to 'I hate you'. This... he can handle. Maybe.]

I'm sure he had a reason. I don't know him, but...

... If he cared about you, which it sounds like he did, I'm sure he had a reason for what he did.

[callbacks]

yeah
what was your reason

[crouching_sin]

[There's a bit of a pause on his end. There's no good way to put this kind of thing. But he'll try.]

I wanted to make sure he had grown as strong as I thought he did. To make sure that he was ready. He couldn't rely on me forever. I wanted him to know that he could do it.

I wouldn't have let him die. His first fight happened fairly close to my apartment. I was counting on him to get through it, though. He was the only human capable of wining the War. Letting him just die there would have been stupid.

[callbacks]

i guess
bros reason couldve been something similar



hes dead now so i cant really ask

[crouching_sin]

I know how that feels.

You want to just yell at them and ask them why the hell they did something, but you can't.

It's a weird feeling.

[callbacks]

ahah well i cant really imagine yelling at him
but yeah it would be nice to just
you know
know
what his reasoning was for a lot of things he did
but chewing on it hasnt gotten me anywhere for the past three years so shrug

[crouching_sin]

True. Some things you have to just accept that you can't know.

People are confusing. And they always have been, honestly.

[There's a reason he's spent so much time with demons other than for revenge.]

[callbacks]

hear hear
i mean
i was wondering if it was just me since i spent so much time in the company of aliens given that earths population was reduced to absolute zero
but if you say its true then im happy to concede bafflement

[crouching_sin]

No, it's not just you. I thought I knew what was going on but even after a few rounds of reincarnation I started realizing that no, maybe it wasn't just me, people are hard to figure out.

Some people, at least. Others you can read like a book because they fall into the same patterns.