Blacklight: The Independent

The Unison council.

The highest governing authority group in Babel, overseeing and in charge of 90% of the affairs that take place inside it, all made up of 8 people. Babel was a city of equality between humans and borrowers, and to show that, the unison council was split into 2 groups.

The house of Power, 4 Borrowers from the Returner rankings or specially selected Borrowers for their qualities and capabilities.

And the house of Lords, 4 humans selected from different backgrounds and governing positions within Babel.

On this day, those members shall gather once more in light of an on coming storm.

**

In a dark room where the walls were so distant that only darkness could be seen, a sleek black round table stood by its lonesome. Engraved in it in gold was the letter U, and 7 chairs waited around it with the 8th being nowhere in sight.

This was the Roundtable of the Unison council, the meeting point between all its members.

Foot steps echoed as someone began to approach it. He was the most famous of the 8, known for being the strongest Returner of the current Era. God's sword, Eon Cyprus. He calmly sat down at the table, awaiting for others to arrive.

Not long after he sat, someone else would arrive opposite of him. This time a human with a somewhat cheerful personality. He had medium length blonde hair, and always carried a smile on his face, completely the opposite of his empty black eyes.

"I thought I'd be the first one to arrive today? You really are the best at everything aren't you?"

This was Asensio of the house of lords, one the 8 members of the unison council as well as the Minister of foreign affairs and communications.

Eon remained quiet, while Asensio just cheerfully laughed it off. Quite a bit of time after, someone else appeared.

"Of course you two are here first, you guys are never late to anything."

From the shadows, a mature woman with long purple hair wearing a loose orange mechanics outfit appeared. This was Julianne Harkness of the House of Power, as well as the Minister of Engineering. When it comes to all new technological advancements and construction in Babel, she would be involved in it.

"If you want to do something about it, then you could always get here sooner?", Asensio said with earnest, but Julianne took it as an insult.

"No sane person would arrive here 1 hour before the scheduled time, especially when we're meant to be far too busy for that. Are you sure you two aren't slacking?"

Before an Argument could develop, someone new interupted,

"You two always seem to be in a conflict with each other. We agreed you wouldn't talk to each other unless I was here, didn't we?"

A man with a deep voice soon emerged from the darkness too. He had combed back, black hair and deeply exhausted eyes while wearing a long sleeved black robe, and a white stole.

This was the current Minister of Justice, a member of the house of Power, Joshin Libra.

Julianne immediately withdrew while Asensio greeted him with his usual smile. Not that long after, the rest of the House of Lord's members arrived, that being the Minister of Business, Energy, and the newest amongst them, the Minister of health, Kirio Tabito.

They all sat down in their rightful chairs, as the meeting finally started. Kirio was already shaking with nervousness, but Asensio comforted her. Julianne then asked,

"I believe the one who called this meeting was you Joshin? What's going on?"

He quickly cleared his throat as he explained,

"We are all familiar with Miss Sakugo Fortuna? She's the last of the original Unison council members. It's thanks to her ability that Babel city has been able to advance so quickly."

Sakugo Fortuna, aged 127, is one of the oldest surviving Borrowers from it's first generation. Around the world, she was best known as Sakugo the prophet thanks to her unique ability to see the future. Despite the 20 million existing Borrowers around the world, Sakugo was the only one to ever show any kind of prophetic power. Because of this, the entire world was watching every word she said.

"Last night, she passed away. The cause of death being a sudden Heart attack."

The news was shocking to them all. Babel city's arguably greatest asset was now gone, creating a hole in their infrastructure. Only one question remained, what would they do now? However there was some hope left behind.

'I'm not really surprised, she was a fossil.', Julianne thought.

"Before she died however, she left behind one final prophecy."

Joshin pulled out a note from his pocket which he slid onto the table. The built in scanner quickly read it, before a camera projected its contents into a giant Hologram for them all to read.

"Before the stars fall from the heavens, the three signs the end times has come shall appear. The child blessed by the world will bring forth a revolution to the world. The Nephilim will leave his mark, forever engraving it into the body of Gaia. And finally, the beast of apocalypse will beat his crimson wings, bringing death to those who wish for eternity. Once all three signs make their wake, the anointed one shall bring salvation to all, ushering the broken world in a new era."

Typically Sakugo's prophecies were random, but they always had a 100% success rate of occurring. One could say that whatever she foresaw was set in stone, making fate unbeatable in a sense.

Just because she could see the future, it didn't mean that she understood everything she foresaw. As a result she had to describe the future as best as she could. This was one such situation.

Although no one in the room could understand the figures it described, it was incredibly obvious that this was a doomsday prophecy. One which foretold the end of the world.

Eon of course, didn't really care and was awfully nonchalant about this. Everyone else was naturally alarmed, bar Asensio who still had that abnormal and nonchalant smile on his face. Kirio then asked,

"How can you look so calm?? The world might end at any moment, yet you act as if this is natural??"

"Calm? I'm shaking in my boots right now, this is just how I always look. Although you might not see it clearly, the world is covered in chaos. All we can do is a put up a brave front and try to take hold of it, because no matter what we do, true peace will never exist. Anyhow! Let's try to decipher this prophecy, shall we?"

After a long 2 hour discussion, they couldn't think of anything. They tried to interpret some of the text as a metaphor for something else, but the ideas they had seemed too absurd for it to be possible. Asensio then questioned,

"This beast of the apocalypse, what if it's a type of Aether Beast?"

Aether beasts are creatures made of Aether. Rather than just being typical constructs made using projection or being produced by an Ideal, they possess a consciousness allowing them to think for themselves. Because of this, Aether beasts are stupidly rare, with only an estimated 1 in 5 million Borrowers possessing one. Due to their physical bodies and nature, they cannot survive without a Borrower, and typically stay and obey the one that made them.

Joshin added,

"It could be? We'll have to inquire Rank 5 about it. I'll send a Returner to go ask him."

And with that, there was nothing left to discuss. Just before they all departed, Kirio nervously brought something up, while also putting a file down on the table.

"So are we just going to ignore Gehenna city? We really to need to do something about it."

Asensio sighed.

"That place is starting to become an eyesore... and we've found no luck in finding the Rune yet either. Julianne? I think I have a fantastic idea! You need a test site for Stellar right?"

Suddenly she got incredibly aggressive,

"Are you insane!? You realise that there are innocent people in their too, right!?! It won't just kill them all, but Gehenna would be wiped off the map! You know about Ryujin's relationship with that place! Do you want to make him our enemy??"

Kirio knew something had to be done about it, but killing everyone in there too? That was just too cruel. Even as he said that, he kept that same compassionate smile. Something was seriously wrong with him.

Joshin was about to intervene, but then Asensio suddenly apologised.

"I'm sorry! Clearly I spoke out of line. Your the only one with authority over it anyway, if you don't want to use it, I understand."

He still had that same honest smile on his face, which irritated her. But this was probably the best she was going to get. Continuing this argument any further would cause more problems rather than get anything solved.

Silently, she left the hall along with several other members. Passively the meeting concluded leaving a new tension between it's members, however one thing had been made clear, the world was in grave danger.

Most of Sakugo's prophecies are made public before a disaster comes to pass, but this was the one situation where it would cause more harm than good. Her death would be made public only a week later, and contents of the prophecy would be kept hidden while only being made available to high ranking Returners, as well as other important figures.

**

Akira hadn't turned up to university that day. Because of this, a certain someone's murderous tendency's had been unleashed upon another unsuspecting family. Yet again another family was wiped out in one night, with it's executioner already making his escape.

Germaine was walking in the back of an ally, with broken street lights flashing down on him. He muttered to himself while contemplating,

"Akira? Where did you go? Do you hate me that much? Are you avoiding me now? I'm sorry... I really am..."

As he heard heavy foot steps approaching up him from up ahead, he jumped back a couple steps while also preparing to attack. The mysterious figure drew closer, but he was surprised to see it was just another Black bone gang member. He was stronger then the average gang mate, but Germaine didn't think he would be a problem.

"You! Your that famous killer aren't you? Walking in suspicious places, right after committing a murder really isn't a good idea."

Germaine immediately fired a blast of wind towards him, but the Junk member punched it with his right arm, deflecting it in one hit. He seemed to be wearing a brass knuckle.

"Look, I'm not your enemy. My name is Jericho, and I've been sent here from Gehenna. You've been invited to take part in the Growing celebration."