World Underneath: With Light
01: A More important Matter: Tara has taken on a bet with her supervisor, Andrew, that she can get notoriously asocial Nero go to go a team-building event. She's pretty sure she's got him convinced, when his "unwavering worship of Lumiere, the legendary hunter," manages to ruin her chances.
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02: Sleepless Friday Night: Nero takes his dedication to Lumiere very seriously, to the point where he is the head of a Lumiere fansite. There's a poll to determine the top ten hunters in Linkon, and someone is trying to destroy Lumiere's chances of being at the top of the list. At the top of the site is a bad photo of 'Lumiere,' along with an article with a very inflammatory headline. There's a declaration that "the first sin is deception," along with video footage of a flash of light outside a florist; the man who appears there has "a face etched with wrinkles."
Nero takes his role as a 'Lightchaser' very seriously, and is thus determined to see what is actually going on. He ends up using some questionably legal techniques to access the raw footage from the security camera, and proceeds to post a breakdown of the evidence that proves the person in the video is not Lumiere: build, movement, and Evol particle readings.
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03: The Introvert Bites Back: The next section of the article is about how "the second sin is pride," and uses the example of Lumiere not appearing at an event; Nero finds evidence that the rumor was spread in hopes of forcing Lumiere to make an appearance; he posts that information and proof.
In his youth, Nero had sent a message that he wanted to meet Lumiere, and received the response, "Instead of looking up to the light, why not become a light that illuminates the world for others?" This is what inspired him to become a hunter.
The next section declares "the third sin is sloth: shocking! Lumiere actually sleeps with Wanderers!"*1 There is a photo of Lumiere napping with a Herte Knave, an Intelligentia type Wanderer. Nero points out that the Wanderer is wearing light cuffs, and that its blade isn't shining, "indicating its Protocore Energy has been depleted."
The next three days last forever, and the negative evidence provided against Lumiere "(crumbles) under scrutiny." Lumiere is accused of hoarding and auctioning Protocores, in addition to hacking hunting leaderboards. The subway attack with the Tezcatlipoca was an elaborate hoax, etc.
During all of these shenanigans, Nero finds that the only common thread he can find is the involvement of one Shen Xinghui.
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04: Has The Light Vanished? : The last section of the article contains a few documents (directly transcribed below.)
"...Light Evol has been detected. Evolver's Evol limit cannot be defined. Ant attempts to probe its limit triggers a special neck suppressor, which prevents the Evolver from using their full power. The techies can't explain it. No physical form detected, no scars, and the energy suppression field acts like a Protofield anomaly. After conducting a series of experiments in the lab, the techies finally unraveled the suppressor's mechanism. They boosted its threshold and got a basic understanding of some of its mechanisms."
Immediately following this is a "close-up of someone's throat, the Evol suppressor pulsating as a vicious, constrictive red ring of light. And then, there's a bit of silver in the corner. It's a tassel earring." Nero is so genuinely distressed that his Hunters Watch keeps beeping a health warning.
Shen Xinghui walks into the office and finds Nero; upon asking if he's alright, Nero shows him the photo of the captured Lumiere and announces that Lumiere could be dead. Shen Xinghui suggests he go home, but Nero's Hunter's Watch moves from beeping to giving off an alarm; Shen Xinghui gives him a paper bag to breathe in, and says that Lumiere is probably okay now, but Nero is despondent.
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05: A Little Chat: Nero's online persona has been voted onto the 'Top Ten Hunters' leaderboards.
Nero finds Shen Xinghui and tells him that he "figured out one of (his) secrets." Despite Shen Xinghui's obvious confusion, Nero tells him with great confidence that Shen Xinghui is clearly Lumiere's biggest fan. Shen Xinghui doesn't say much in response, but Nero assumes he's right, anyway.
"Pinned by QuantumSocialite Lumiere is a beacon in the darkness, guiding us to forge ahead. And I believe, with unwavering certainty, that his light will continue to shine in the future. Because there's light everywhere."
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*1, ....I thought I had words but I really honestly don't.
I really like Nero as a character; a sincere nerd is always nice to see. I also resonate with his reaction to the images and notes about the collar; I, too, was Extremely Distressed to find out that my assumptions/guesses about the collar were correct.