Later
After wallowing in self-pity, Caelus stops sulking and follows the HIA's senior club member to the monitor room, watching Phil's simulation in the Virtual Reality. Wise and Belle were invited to watch as well, and they accepted it out of curiosity. They were also offered a headphone with a mic so they could communicate with Phil.
'Oh, Aeons, that was embarrassing,' Caelus thought as his cheeks turned slightly pink while remembering how Phil and Belle comforted him. 'I'm so glad that I just dramatically cried about the loss of opportunity and didn't whine about it. That'll be extra embarrassing.'
"....Belle, for the love of all Aeons, please stop patting my back," Caelus comments as Belle stops before giggling a bit.
"Sorry, but you seem like you need it," Belle teases.
"Well, now I don't," Caelus grumbles as he looks at the monitor displaying data about Phil's physical body. If not for him being a Thiren, his physical data would be abysmal, and even for Thiren standards, it was low. The only saving grace is his insanely high IQ.
'Okay, the data scan is scary,' Caelus thought with a grimace. 'Not to mention, the plot regarding Section 6 getting trapped in Virtual Reality. Now, I'm glad the scan didn't pick a single thing from me. Aeons, I'm an idiot.'
"Wow, Phil's IQ is almost rivaling you, Wise," Belle says in an impressed tone.
"You should see what kind of equipment he designed and built," Caelus says.
"Now, I'm curious," Wise muses.
"The problem is mostly the lack of good materials," Caelus says. "And....his lack of self-confidence."
"...how do you think he'll fare against the simulated enemies?" Wise asks in concern.
"Honestly, I had no idea," Caelus admits. "Given how the enemies are simulated based on the player's data to make it fair, I had no idea how he'll fare."
"Have you ever seen him fight?" Wise asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes," Caelus nods.
"What's your opinion on his fight?" Wise asks.
"If he fights anyone head-on, I say he's suck ass," Caelus says bluntly, causing Wise to sweatdrop and Belle to facefault. "But his strength lies in his intelligence. If he's gonna fight, he needs to use every bit of his brain cells to outsmart his enemies."
"Given how smart he is, he would be easily outsmarting them, right?" Belle asks.
"Knowledge from books is often useless if you can't apply it in real life," Caelus says, earning silence from both Wise and Belle. "You can memorize every type of strategy you can find in the book, but if you can't apply it, it'll just crumble away, which always ends horribly."
"...you don't seem to have any faith in him," Belle mutters.
"I do have faith, but I can't overestimate him and dismiss his flaws. It'll only encourage him to be reckless." Caelus says. "I...don't want him to take off more than he can chew, and ended up seeing his corpse lying in a Hollow."
"..." Belle wisely shut her mouth and looked away sadly.
"Alright, Phil." The club member's voice caught their attention as they paid attention to the monitor displaying Phil in the Virtual Reality. The world in the Virtual Reality seems to replicate an abandoned and ruined construction site with tons of scraps scattered around. "Let's start with some easy enemies."
"Okay," Phil's voice can be heard through the headphones.
"Good luck with your fight simulation, Phil!" Belle exclaims.
"B-Belle!? What are you doing in the comm!?" Phil asks in surprise.
"The club members offer us to watch your simulation, letting us see what we should expect from their virtual reality game," Wise explains.
"And seeing how it works, I can't wait to try it as well!" Belle exclaims before pausing and glancing at Caelus, who tries not to show his disappointment. "A-ah, sorry..."
"It's okay," Caelus says with a forced smile. "Don't mind me...."
'Don't be upset. Be glad to avoid the hacker's plot!' Caelus thought. 'It'll give me more advantage against future Exaltists' plot. You should be happy, Caelus....'
"..." Belle awkwardly leans closer and pats Caelus's back in sympathy once again, which makes Caelus clench his fists.
'Not helping, Belle!' Caelus cries internally.
"Alright, level one enemies, deployed," The club member announces before typing several buttons on the keyboard. The screen displays Phil with several low-level Ethereals appearing out of thin air and surrounding Phil.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
With Phil
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Phil curses as he rolls away from an Ethereal attack and runs away from the crowd.
"Why did you guys summon the Ethereals around me!?" Phil asks incredulously.
"To add some thrills for our players! If we summon them far from you, it'll be like a typical game you played on your computer or phone!" The club member exclaims, which made Phil growl in annoyance.
"At least give me a weapon or something!" Phil exclaims.
"Sorry, but given how you leave a blank on the weapon section while filling the form, we expect you to fight without one," The club member explains.
"Why did you leave it blank in the first place?" Caelus decided to ask, and his tone displays his incredulity.
"I thought they were asking if I had any weapons in my possession. I was just being honest!" Phil exclaims. "It didn't help that they didn't give me an explanation, and kept pestering me with more questions about you!"
Phil can hear a loud smack and nervous laughter from the other side before noticing a pile of broken scraps. Phil rushes towards the pile without hesitation, starts grabbing any usable scraps he can use to fight back.
When the Ethereals get closer, a canister can be seen rolling on the ground towards the corrupted monsters. They growl in confusion before the canister exploded, unleashing a surge of electric field that stuns every monster near the grenade.
Phil comes out of the pile holding a modified staple gun, starts shooting high-speed staples at the Ethereals, right at their cores. This instantly kills them as they slowly disintegrate right at his face.
"Good job," Caelus praises. "But, don't let your guard down first. That was just level one."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Phil mutters. "Honestly, fighting Ethereals is much easier than doing your training."
"You know I can hear that," Caelus's response sends a shiver down Phil's spine.
"...what kind of training did you have?" Belle asks curiously, oblivious to the fear displayed by Phil. The bunny panicked and wanted to stop her from asking, but he couldn't even say a word.
"The one that helps improve one's combat skills," Caelus responds.
"Is that how you're able to fight so well in a Hollow? Someone taught youhow?" Belle asks.
"...will you ever believe me, I never learn how to fight at all?" Caelus asks sheepishly.
'Lucky bastard,' Phil curses internally, gripping his modified staple gun a bit too tightly upon hearing his friend's words.
"...luckybastard," Wise shares similar thoughts, and both Phil and Caelus feel a slight kinship against the one with all the luck. Then, out of nowhere, more Ethereals pop out of the scrap piles, scattering all the materials away. Phil hastily shoots staples onto the emerging Ethereals, misses a few shots before hitting the target.
"...I really need to improve my aims..." Phil mutters as his cheeks flush. He takes the chance to run away and also grabs a few scraps to make more weapons.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Back with Everyone
"It's amazing how he manages to use a bunch of scraps and turn them into weapons," Belle muses before glancing at Caelus. "So, how are your assessments now?"
"He's good," Caelus mutters. "But, like he said earlier, he needs to work on his aims, and in my personal opinion, he needs to learn how to adapt to surprise attacks or when his plan fails. You guys notice how he is very flustered when the opponents pop out of nowhere."
'And something I need to improve on myself.' Caelus adds in his thoughts.
"Geez, a normal compliment would be nice," Belle pouts.
"Like I said, I can't dismiss his flaws," Caelus explains before whispering to them. "Also, he has more experience in exploring Hollow than I, and he has also faced Ethereals, so this flaw must be fixed, or it'll bite off his ass in the near future."
"Oh..." Belle mutters, unable to respond.
"Guys," Caelus and Belle turn to face Wise, who's pointing at the screen. "You might want to see this."
"I swear, I'll make each one of you pay for messing with me!" Phil exclaims as he stands next to a moving crate similar to the one he used to collect the Ether Crystals before pressing a button on its side and letting it launch, crashing into a group of Ethereals and exploding.
Wise and Belle stare at the screen blankly before looking at Caelus with accusing looks. The trash panda didn't notice it at first as he was deep in thought.
'If he's a playable Agent, will he be Electric Anomaly like Grace thanks to his weapon choices, or Electric Support?' Caelus thought before noticing Wise and Belle staring at him. "...what?"
"...that bunny has inherited your madness," Belle says in a deadpan manner.
"...why are you calling me mad?" Caelus looks genuinely confused.
"The Dead End Butcher," Belle and Wise say in unison, earning a deadpan stare from Caelus.
"It's not madness when I really could beat it," Caelus retorts.
"Yeah, with an explosion causing a tall pillar of flames, according to Nicole and her squad," Belle says in an accusing manner.
"Hey!" Caelus exclaims, feeling slightly offended for getting accused of being insane.
"Um, guys? Anyone hear me?" They turn to look at the screen, seeing Phil surrounded by a pile of dead Ethereals. "There seems to be no more monsters in the vicinity. Is my trial over?"
"Ah, yes," The senior club member says. "Given that more people are planning to join the club, we had to cut the time short."
"Aww, it was getting fun." Phil pouts.
"I seem to remember how you keep complaining when I drag your ass into this building," Caelus calls him out without a shred of mercy. "Oh, didn't you complain earlier about the game for lack of weapons and how-!?"
"H-hey, t-that was so unnecessary!" Phil replies as he looks flustered while waving his arms wildly. "C-can we just end the simulation!?"
"Of course," The senior club member says, stifling a chuckle as he shuts down the simulation. The last thing they heard from the headphone is Phil groaning.
To be Continued