Original Members Pt. 1

---Tatsuya Shiba.

Mahesvara; the God of Destruction; and, in some respects, "Demon King".

An individual that was born from the will of the Yotsuba siblings to destroy the world, which was their way of revenge for robbing everything from them. However, due to the fact that his supernatural powers dominated much of his Magic Calculation Area, this drawback restricted him from using magic spells other than what he was inherently born with. Thus, in order to remedy this problem, the Yotsuba siblings performed several operation on Tatsuya at such a young age.

And the result was deemed "insufficient".

Insufficient in the sense that even though the experiment allowed him to use the likes of Systematic-type Magic, it was at the cost of significantly lower activation speed and power compared to an average magician. An additional side effect also caused him to lose much of his strong emotions with the exception being those what he feels for his own sister, which is arguably the only thing reigning his overwhelming power.

Suffice to say, he was made to become an emotionless weapon of destruction that was waiting to be unleashed, should anything happen to his sister.

---But alas, the same individual who could bring about the end of the world couldn't help but show a puzzled expression as he looked at a holographic display that suddenly appeared right before him...

「Welcome to the Multiversal Chat Group!」

「A trans-universal messaging app that connects individuals across different realities, one that bridges the gap between the boundaries of universes. Do you wish to join?」

「Yes」「No」

Tatsuya stared down at the screen as he contemplated.

What puzzled him wasn't exactly the existence of the hologram itself. After all, such technology dated centuries ago, it shouldn't come as a surprise to him at this point. The only question was how did it appear?

"A hacker from the USNA?" Tatsuya narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the screen in question.

If this was any normal circumstance, he would have immediately directed a counterattack against the hacker, but quickly suppressed that idea. As far as he was aware of, the screen wasn't connected to any nearby network as if it was "out of this world". Furthermore, Tatsuya found it strange that he didn't find anything on the information dimension, something that allowed him to look at the information body of an object.

In other words, this "screen" in front of him didn't have any discernable information associated with it -- referred to as eidos -- which is impossible since anything that has a physical body would leave its imprint regardless if that object exist on a different plane.

With that in mind, the facts only seemed to corroborate his conjecture -- everything seemed to be pointing towards the machinations of an otherworldly being.

Indeed...

Now that he think about it, Tatsuya just recently encountered beings which hailed from another dimension. Yet those parasitic beings still left a trace in the information dimension despite how mystical their properties were, so Tatsuya surmised that this screen must have been materialized by a higher being. At least higher than those parasites, he thought.

Though from his initial assumption, the only way to truly ascertain this mysterious screen was to accept the invitation it offered. But what was that about connecting individuals across different realities?

Sighing, Tatsuya wordlessly tapped the「Yes」button. He noted how the tactile sensation had similar feedback to a typical hologram he was accustomed with, and braced himself for what might occur afterward.

In retrospect, it might have been a hasty decision...

「Thank you for accepting the invitation to the Multiversal Chat Group! Please wait while you're being connected. You may now refer to the attached appendix for more information.」

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Wisps of ember danced around in the moonlit night as the fire crackled and popped, wading through the darkness encroaching upon the slumbering world.

A faint outline was illuminated by the fire -- a striking silver colored eyes, blonde hair, and a bewitching smile. From the organization she was previously associated with, she was famously known by her epithet, "Teresa of the Faint Smile."

She was the present No.1 among the Claymores, an association of modified humans that were attuned with yoki to fight against awakened beings -- Yoma, which were monsters of disproportional strength and absolute savagery.

Currently, Teresa is looking at a holographic notice and back to the sleeping Clare who was nestled in her thighs. The same smile that graced her face never faded despite the oddity of the situation, but the faint ripple circulating in her eyes could hardly be hidden.

Teresa simply shrugged away at that. Perhaps she was overthinking much due to the wariness she has recently developed as a result of present status as a fugitive after defecting from the organization. Which is understandable, given the constant threat to her life as well as the well-being of the child she took under that prompted her to be constantly on-guard.

Naturally, her biggest concern wasn't towards her own life. She was the strongest after all. Mind you, this wasn't an opinion as much as it was the truth. Even by the organization's standard, nothing ever came close to her power, be it fellow Claymores or Yomas combined as a testament to her abilities. Teresa was also fully confident in being able to subdue any adversary that come her way. It's just that protecting Clare was a different story altogether.

Unlike Claymores, Clare was weak and feeble like any normal human, with just a slight squeeze from her arms and she would be dead on the spot. Cruelly put, she was nothing but a liability for her continued survival. Nonetheless, Teresa found that she was a blessing who rekindled her lost humanity that she wouldn't change for anything. Even if she was given another chance at life, she would retrace her action just to have another chance to meet Clare once again.

In the first place, it was for this reason that she hesitated to accept the invitation despite how much it intrigued her. Although this seemed too peculiar to be an elaborate trap laid out by the organization, Teresa can only assume it came from a different mean. But as to what purpose the purpose were? She wasn't interested. But what ever that may be, it could unnecessarily endanger Clare.

For a while, Teresa thought under the dim of the night.

If it truly connected individuals across different realities, this would likewise open up innumerable possibilities. Who knows? Perhaps someone out there might vastly overpower her. The world was large after all. What more for an entire universe?

That said, the same goes true for individual character, not everyone would civilized nor can you expect from them to hold the same values as you do. Though inexplicably, she felt like it wouldn't be a problem for her, worse comes to worst.

Teresa merely gave a chuckle at this arrogance.

"Of course, I'll turn them to dust if they so much as touch a strand of Clare's hair," Teresa hummed as she tapped on the「Yes」button while caressing the little Clare's head with her other hand. "Now, let's see."

「Thank you for accepting the invitation to the Multiversal Chat Group! Please wait while you're being connected. You may now refer to the attached appendix for more information.」