Paul's eyes widened, as he stared at the image on the tablet Shizuka had given him, then he glanced back at the man in the paused video screen.
He then spent a good minute looking back and forth between the two. They were completely identical.
Paul frantically looked for any sort of deviation between the two. But he couldn't find anything. They had the same hair, the same outfit, everything.
Inside, Paul's mind was trying to come to grips with the reality of the current situation. This went against everything that he knew about Abilities.
Sure, there were some crazy Abilities out there, and Hikiko Tsukuru's Ability had always been on the more ridiculous side of that spectrum, but there was a huge difference from being able to make things like Glathrium and literally pulling a fantasy character through a TV screen!
Eventually, Paul let out a sigh.
He brought his wristwatch up to his chest and activated a special function accessible only to him as the Head General. The Ability to send out communication calls to multiple individuals simultaneously.
The wristwatches on a small group of five people on the base began to beep erratically.
General Duke heard it as he was heavily panting and his fists clenched as he stood in the middle of a destroyed office.
Sergeant Dillon, who was standing in front of Duke's office with a concerned look on his face, heard it as well.
General Nathan, who was doing paperwork in his office with a notable look of misery on his face, also heard it.
Sergeant Leo, who was just about to retire to bed, now wearing a white gi with a black sash, similar to the outfit one would wear in a fighting dojo, heard his wristwatch beeping erratically.
Finally, Faye, who was lying back on her bed, heard it.
"To all who can hear this message, report to the regular meeting room in one hour," Head General Paul's voice replied over each of the wristwatch's speakers. "It seems a special meeting is required to go over…"
Back in his office, Paul glanced up at Shizuka and saw her tight expression.
"...current events."
He then ended the communication.
***
Back with Starrk, he continued climbing the gigantic chain links, occasionally hopping from one to the next with Sondio. However, he had realized over this long trek across the chain that he couldn't use the technique constantly. It seemed that the process that had reverted him to a Gillian had also significantly reduced his Spirit Energy. And since the Sonido technique expended his internal Spirit Energy, using the technique repeatedly quickly exhausted his reserves and left him winded.
Starrk looked like a mess. Both his body and his clothes were soaked in sweat. But finally, at long last, he managed to reach the last chain link. Looking up, he saw that the chain disappeared into the front of the landmass, as if driven in there with an enormous stake.
However, there was still a significant distance between the chain and the actual surface of the landmass.
Unbothered, Stark then began walking up towards the actual landmass, solidifying the Spirit Energy in the air around him to form stepping stones like stairs.
Back in his universe, this technique was commonplace, with everyone, regardless of whether they were Hollows, Shinigami, or spiritually-empowered Humans, being able to use it. Back where he came from, the strange energy known as Spirit Energy was abundant in the world. Spirit Energy wasn't just some internal energy source; it was something every living creature produced. From the smallest of plants, insects, or bacteria, to the largest of animals and people.
Anything that lived produced Spirit Energy. And the Spirit Energy from these entities would constantly flow out of them and into the world.
Unknown to Starrk, this world had its own name for this power. Long ago, before the rise of Abilities, back in the era of Ray Talen and the Bronze Continent, this energy was known as "Mana". And in those days, the ability to harness that energy was known as Magic.
Of course, Mana still flowed through the world. But over the countless millennia, people just naturally forgot how to harness it.
Starrk climbed higher and higher on the steps of solidified Spirit Energy, climbing up the vast, rocky exterior of the landmass.
Until finally, he reached its surface.
Unlike the rocky exterior, the surface of the landmass was thriving. It was covered in lush greenery and dense forests covering the landmass.
***
Back on Military Base 2, the group of seven slowly began to arrive in the meeting room. Naturally, Head General Paul and Sergeant Shizuka were the first to arrive. They were then quickly joined by General Nathan. Then, by General Duke and Sergeant Dillion. However, General Duke looked noticeably angrier than usual. He walked as though the world itself had personally offended him. He crashed down hard into his seat, causing it to shake.
A few minutes later, Sergeant Leo appeared.
As he did, the others all turned to look at him.
Rather than changing back into his military uniform, he was still wearing the white gi, which appeared to be his night attire.
"Just because I'm blind doesn't mean that I can't tell that you're staring," he replied, a look of mild amusement on his face.
"That's because you're out of uniform, shit head!" General Duke snarled. "Do you see any of us in fucking pajamas?!"
Sergeant Leo turned to General Duke.
"I haven't seen anything since the day I was born," he said with a straight face.
Duke gnashing his teeth in annoyance. He looked as if he wanted to slug Sergeant Leo. Hard.
At that exact moment, Sergeant Faye arrived. Much like Leo, she too was still wearing her night attire.
The others all stared at her, with the exception of Sergeant Leo.
General Duke's eye began to twitch.
Shizuka turned to Paul.
"That's what you get for calling a meeting at last notice, especially after curfew," she replied with a smirk.
Paul let out a sigh.
"Let's just get this over with," he muttered.
***
Starrk walked down the winding path made of circular stones towards the castle. As he looked to either side of him, he saw thick trees that reached high into the sky, as well as numerous lush bushes.
While not as far as a trek as that infernal chain, it was still a significant distance to the castle. As it was placed in the center of the landmass, and how it only took up 80% of it, the castle was a noticeable distance away from the edge of the landmass.
Eventually, he reached the castle itself. And if Starrk hadn't seen that it was a castle from the mountain peak, he wouldn't even know that it was a castle. Standing in front of it, all Starrk could see was a mass of translucent crystal that reached high into the sky. Starrk saw an utterly massive flight of crystal stairs leading up to a large door that looked as though it could be its own building. The door's surface was carved in several ornate designs.
Seeing the stairs, Starrk let out a sigh.
"More climbing," he muttered.
He stepped onto the first step and began his ascent.
***
Back in the meeting room on Military Base 2, the seven officials were now all sitting in their assigned seats.
Paul leaned back into his seat and let out a sigh.
"Alright, first matter of business," he replied, causing them all to turn to him. "I'm sure that most of you in this room are already aware of this, but I unfortunately have to report the failure of our earlier Salvage Mission on Planet Pioletic."
***
Back with Starrk, his legs were starting to feel like jelly. He had no idea how many stairs he had climbed. He had stopped counting after the first three hundred.
However, step by step, he eventually reached the top.
As he stood in front of the door, it looked even bigger than it had before. It looked as though Starrk was standing in front of a massive monument instead of a door. He could see a massive line going down the door vertically, splitting it in half, indicating that the door was actually a set of double doors.
It made him think, if just the door was this big, then how colossal was the actual castle?
However, it was at that point that Starrk looked over and noticed something on the far left of the entrance.
It looked somewhat…out of place. Rather than looking medieval like the castle or natural like the vegetation, it looked mechanical and artificial.
It was a solid ring made out of some silver metal, clearly made of four pieces put together, as there were lines along each of its cardinal directions, like a compass. Inside the ring, it was glowing light-blue.
Stark could see numerous strange light-blue translucent pixels floating out of the glowing circle. However, they appeared to be floating upwards out of the circle. As if the circle was producing the pixels in the same way that a campfire produced smoke. The circle also seemed to have a propulsion effect, forcing the pixels upwards like a fan.
Starrk narrowed his eyes.
"What the hell is that thing?" he asked.