FRISK DREEMURR
—Sapporo Bank, Day 2 Afternoon—
(Intro co-written w/ Blue)
Frisk smirked, appreciating how eager Jin. He again reminded her of Gregory in basically everything but name. The kid even looked like Greg back in middle school. Actually it was a little uncanny... Frisk let out a small chuckle, thinking on the comparison as she took a seat on an office chair while Jin took the other.
The boy's head tilted slightly at Frisk's chuckle, Jin thinking for a moment before he blushed a little bit.
“O-oh, sorry if I act too excited. It's not every day you get to see information like this straight from the source. Not to mention I like to research a lot...”
“You don’t need to apologize,” Frisk said, shaking her head with humor. “I wasn’t laughing at you, just... Well, you remind me a lot of a friend of mine. His name’s Gregory. You two would get along really well, I bet.”
“You think? Guess he must prefer the indoors and reading like I do, huh... It'd be nice to meet him, if he even is anywhere near here. As great as all my friends are, they don't usually share my interests.”
That gave Frisk pause. Did Greg feel that way, too? It wasn’t that unbelievable... she and Terrence, and with the inclusion of Rian, Sadie, and Fuku (maybe even Trinity too) into the main friend group... he was a major outlier. It didn't help that things were so strained between him and Sadie.
...
When Frisk got back, she’d need to put more effort into spending time with Greg. Better her than the influence of Layla. Greg was really toeing the line of good and evil right now. She couldn’t ignore him.
“Well, speaking of interests, let’s indulge in some edification,” Frisk wagged her phone before she got into it, holding it on the desk so the both of them could see it clearly. Jin was eager to do just that.
They got into the meat and potatoes of the first image. Frisk was so thankful that Trinity had gotten her this new phone, its camera quality was amazing. So much better than the old flip phone Frisk had been using. Getting such crisp images (you could even ZOOM IN and still make things out!) would have been an impossibility on the old device.
Thank god Jin had been able to repair it.
First image: Mission Reports. The first part of it was a mission called “Bring Back The Muse” listed as a failure. It detailed how Gunvolt had been killed in a final battle with Sumeragi, but it seemed he’d taken out one of Sumeragi’s leaders too. Only the leader of Q.U.I.L.L. came back. What was really interesting, though, was the bit about someone named ‘Copen.’ He used ‘Greed Snatcher’ bullets, and those somehow had the ability to temporarily disable Septimal abilities.
Now THAT was really something. Even more interesting was that it was based on a ‘Magnetic Arts’ septima. That’s exactly what the device on top of the tower she’d infiltrated was called. If it could do that... was it possible that the blast had killed Blade? Frisk didn’t remember seeing the woman at any point after that big boom. Or did it even disable septimas? Whatever the case was, it seemed to be tied into the idea of disabling a septima.
Frisk moved on to the next file; ‘Kaleidoscope,’ a successful mission, which took place prior to Gunvolt’s death. It was mostly fluff - until Copen appeared again. There was more about what he could do. He could replicate septimas and turn them against their users. Was it possible Copen was still around? Or, at least, was his equipment? If they could get ahold of any of his gear, then Sumeragi would be one step closer to being screwed.
Attached was an image of Copen (it was labeled as such in the file, that’s how she knew). For a moment, Frisk was immediately struck with familiarity. Not because she knew him, but because he looked like an older version of Krashna. The only difference was the expression. Copen wore a focused, determined expression. Krashna’s usually consisted of sneers and fury. Their postures, their hair color and styles, even their face structures seemed similar. Copen had been fighting both Sumeragi and QUILL when he’d appeared in these files. He hated adepts all around, and sought to kill them all.
Frisk doubted he was a friendly, or heroic person.
The next picture was the file attached to the ‘Bring Back The Muse’ mission report. Jin had finished reading the page before Frisk, so she didn’t have to wait on him to progress.
An article about a ‘Glaive.’ Some kind of weapon that suppressed septimas. Was it designed based on Copen’s tech? Apparently these glaives were holding back an adept using them. Without its suppressant, the adept would ‘transform.’ That was called an ‘Armed Phenomenon.’ Blade hadn’t transformed in any way in their fight... and if she had a glaive, that meant she’d been forcibly held back.
That was a terrifying thought.
There was another article, one Frisk paid more attention to. ‘Magnetic Arts.’ It was here that something new was mentioned, something called a ‘Lifewave’ that seemed to be like a kind of lifeline between an adept and their septima. The Magnetic Arts could disrupt that connection, separating an adept from their powers for a moment.
So what was the point of Sumeragi’s Magnetic Arts machine? Was it supposed to be a safeguard against enemy adepts, the few that seemed to exist? Did Demerzel plan to steal away the powers of those under it? Could it disrupt more than an adept's powers? What if it could disable Frisk’s connection to her SOUL? She’d need to ponder on it.
Frisk moved on to Lifewave Research (conveniently right after learning about its existence properly. If it had been mentioned before, she hadn’t remembered).
The Lifewave page gave an idea of adept categorization based upon their septima. 1st to 3rd stages were called ‘Primordial’ and seemed to just be regular people and animals. Frisk thought back on the chart Mr. Black had shown her for categorizing ‘Magical Aptitude’ not that long ago. Those were based upon Star categorization. ‘Class M’ were people with no magical aptitude or active SOULs. Animals were considered equivalent to that, too.
4th stage adepts were called ‘Tetrad,’ consisting of spiritualists and ‘ESP’ users. So probably weak, relatively speaking. Identical to the next Magical Aptitude of Class K, which were people weak and inefficient with magic.
5th stage adepts were called ‘Quinary,’ which were just stronger versions of Tetrad, same as Class G magic-users. Then were 6th stage adepts: ‘Senary.’ Their description was vague, Frisk thought. They left a mark on history and were regarded as ‘Saints’ and ‘Spiritual Beasts,’ whatever that meant. She supposed it could be reflected by Class F magic-users, those were the most common type of magic-using opponents she’d fought.
Finally was the 7th stage: ‘Septima.’ So all those before hadn’t been? Just spiritual or psychic-esque stuff? This was what an Adept truly was, down from the weakest to the strongest. So really it wasn’t all that comparable to Magical Aptitude. Still, continuing with that idea, next would have been Class A magic-users, which were essentially a cut above the rest and masters of their SOULs. Class B was even higher for those that could be considered the best of the best of the best, which boiled down essentially to a number of people in the entire world you could count on one hand, one of them being Asgore.
There were three other Magical Aptitude classes, but they weren’t really a known quantity. Class O was theoretical for essentially those with god-like power. Frisk hadn’t told Black about her past ability to destroy and create timelines, but figured that would qualify for Class O. Class T was for people who could use magic despite having no SOUL, like Flowey. Class S essentially just represented Demon and the Empty, since they used some form of unknown ebony magic. And finally was Class X, which were individuals that couldn’t be classified under any other class. The ‘unknown’ quantity.
The rest of the article retread ground Frisk had read last night, but she did find this ‘septimosome’ interesting. Something earlier had mentioned it could be manipulated or even surgically extracted (if she had read it right). Did that mean adepts were born with some kind of new organ? The septimosome?
Frisk moved onto the next image, under a file simply called ‘Journal.’ Had it been written by Moniqa? It seemed that way, the entry was mostly just the author venting their frustrations about the situation. Seemed Gunvolt was the glue that held it together, and now they were ‘in a hole they can’t dig themselves out of.’ Frisk had seen the result of their defiance. They’d been buried in that hole.
The entry gave a name to QUILL’s leader. Referring to him as ‘Asimov’ was a lot easier than ‘Sheeps Leader’ which Frisk thought was a little silly, but whatever. The next image continued with the journal entry, detailing more of Moniqa’s dialogue. She was the only human in QUILL, among a team of adepts. There was really nothing else there but a stronger insight to who Moniqa once was. Frisk reached into her pocket and pulled out Moniqa Albrecht’s ID. Poor lady, wanted to fight for the oppressed, moved from Germany to Japan to do it, only to wind up...
Frisk set the ID down and rubbed at her eyes, leaning back in her chair as she breathed in a deep sigh. There were a few more images to go. “Just digesting...” she assured Jin, taking a moment to think it all over before she lowered her hands and leaned forward, moving on to the next picture.
“Project Gunvolt.”
Should be an interesting one—and it was.
The septimosome of the original Azure Striker had been surgically removed, and it was used to create identical adepts. The Gunvolt that had died for QUILL’s goals was a kidnapped orphan, inducted at the age of nine. He was the first recorded success of the experiments. Asimov broke him out and he joined QUILL under the name ‘Gunvolt’ because he couldn’t remember his real name.
Some of that, Frisk had already known a little about from all the other stuff she’d been learning. This article, however, filled in most of the gaps and gave her a fuller picture of who Gunvolt had been. No other successes had been recorded after him, at least since the files had been updated. Frisk had a strong feeling Blade was a product of Project Gunvolt. She had the same powers described, after all. Yet Sumeragi wanted GV’s for the sake of limitless energy to use. Blade didn’t seem to be a battery for Sumeragi, so clearly their intent for the project changed when Demerzel took over.
Frisk had no idea for the other Falcons, but Blade specifically could have been taken in like the other subjects. Her unquestioning devotion to Sumeragi and Demerzel made more sense now. Similar to most members of the Messiah, she had been taken in and brainwashed from an early age.
All of the people that Frisk knew who’d turned against the Messiah had all been people already wanting out, or wanting change. She’d never managed to convert anybody with a strong and unwavering loyalty. Of course, her opportunities were few and far between, and her attempts even less so. If Blade could be converted, that would be fine - but Frisk doubted it. Blade would end up like Blink, Blind, Warmth, Psycho, or Amphis and Baena.
That’s how it always went in Frisk’s experience, anyway.
The final image was for a file titled “The Muse,” which Frisk didn’t think could be as insightful or interesting as the others, but she read anyway. Turns out, it did fill in some gaps and pose other questions. The Muse had been the manifestation of a septima, and it was intended to be weaponized by Sumeragi as a means of essentially enslaving adepts worldwide. The Muse’s songs could do that, but localized, such singing could apparently boost an adept’s capabilities. Frisk briefly thought about a Messiah lieutenant named Blue, a member of the Italian sect. Gregory had encountered him during his own adventure while Frisk was in France. The man was able to play music and passively boost his allies through his Loyalty SOUL (the music-playing was cosmetic, he could give the boost without it).
So had Sumeragi succeeded in obtaining a power similar to the Muse? Is that the reason for Blade’s loyalty, instead of simple indoctrination? Come to think of it, Frisk was pretty confident that there wasn’t a single adept fighting back against Sumeragi in the modern day, not since QUILL’s defeat, Gunvolt’s death being the catalyst. There was no telling when Azimov had died, but it seemed pretty obvious that his end had been the end of QUILL as well. Even if he hadn’t died, old age would have caught up with him by now.
If there really was some kind of mind controlling going on... that changed everything. Like, LITERALLY everything.
Frisk set down her phone and leaned back again, crossing her arms over her chest as she thought. The biggest takeaways from the intel gathered were obvious. Copen’s technology, its connection with Magnetic Arts, the existence and potential of septimosomes (and literal human cloning, to a lesser extent), and of course the powers of the Muse and what that implied. These files were from a very long time ago. Sumeragi definitely didn’t just drop the whole thing when Joule died, that wouldn’t make sense.
If Blade was the modern product of Project Gunvolt, and the Magnetic Arts machine a byproduct of Copen’s technology, then there was most likely something that served as the modern Muse. Definitely not Ghiaccio or V1. Or that bear T’s group had fought. Maybe the next encounter at the factory the away team was headed to?
...No, that didn’t make sense. Sumeragi would hold a new Muse tightly to their chest. Either Demerzel itself could be the Muse, or something very close to it was.
“Hey Jin...” Frisk looked over at the boy after they’d both properly stewed on all that intel. “How likely do you think Sumeragi has a muse that’s... controlling the minds of all those adepts?”
