Flugel logged in. The headache was immediate. Network strains cause poor connection, and poor connection means strain on the mental link between a user and a Schicksal PC.

“Mr. Sogabe, do you read me? I’m observing you from the outside.”

“Loud and clear.”

SIGMA: Glowing Genesis’ Boundary.
Of course, it was empty, and the BGM had been replaced with the occasional audio tear, which rang like loud static inside Flugel’s head. It was a grass dungeon, fitted with steampunk details to match R:2’s aesthetic. In its time, Flugel had been a casual player, but that fleeting experience was enough to plant the idea for the VR Scanner used in conjunction with the Schicksal PCs in his head.

The Schicksal PC was a temperamental and unrefined technology, and with even with Flugel’s mastery of it the toll on him was immense. He groaned.
“Are you okay, Mr. Sogabe? Don’t strain yourself. If it’s too much, I’ll disconnect you.”

“Don’t worry about it. This isn’t my first time.”

Flugel navigated through the dungeon like any R:2 player would, dispatching enemies as they came along. It wasn’t long until he found the data anomaly that lead to Qua Holme. He tore it open.

Qua Holme had once been home to Masato Indo. Now there was only an empty block of ice.

“It’s been almost 6 years already, huh…?” Ryo said quietly to himself.

Another data anomaly. Vegalta was hiding behind this one.

“You’re close now, Mr. Sogabe.”

He went in.

Vegalta looked like a mismatch of a variety of The World’s entities. It lumbered over toward Flugel.

“This reading.. AIDA! No, wait… a corrupt monster? Mr. Sogabe, I can’t seem to get a clear read on this thing!”

“It’s both.”

The monster let out its digital scream.

“This is an AIDA that’s latched on to something left behind.”

“What?”

“This is Tarvos.”

Tarvos—The Avenger. The long sought after missing piece. It had been hidden in plain sight—in The World itself. AIDA found it, and redirected its amplified data-collection functions to the whole server itself, causing its decay.

Flugel aimed with the Brieler Rossle, and fired. Vegalta contorted inwards, and left behind a sealed data core expressed graphically by a bird cage. The data itself was titled “vegalta_highlights_2015.zip,” seemingly a collection of football footage.

Flugel loaded the file into his P-COM.

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