"My apologies for the delay," Himika Akaba said with a clipped, formal tone as she entered her office. Said delay had been the incessant questions of one Mr. Sawatari, demanding information about his son. Information that Himika was reluctant to give – it was unwise to reveal more information than necessary to the public about the state of war. The only necessity was to keep morale and faith high – but as most did not even believe in the current state of affairs in the first place, rendering even that unnecessary.

The disbelief was of no concern to Himika – as long as she could continue to train students with no obstruction, it was of no matter what the public opinion was. It was perhaps even beneficial – she did not have to devote attention to keeping the city calm and could focus on the war effort. Still, Sawatari was an annoyance. Not for the first time, Himika wondered why Reiji had brought Shingo Sawatari into the Lancers' fold. For all her son's cleverness, it was careless of him – not only did involving a rich politician's son bring unwanted attention, the boy Sawatari was not particularly skilled with dueling – certainly far from Lancers' material. He had not even made it past the first round of the Maiami championship. She hoped that Reiji had some great use for him that she couldn't see, because the alternative meant that a mistake had been made. And, thought Himika, wearied by keeping pleasant throughout the earlier exchange, we can't afford mistakes.

"I'm ready to give my report, ma'am."

Himika's eyes snapped to the young girl rising from her seat. This had been what she had come for. It was absolutely necessary to survey one's forces and the battlefield to the best of one's ability. Unfortunately, Himika's resources were limited in this regard.

It was not something she ever thought she would use, let alone rely on – fortune telling. Such a thing was superstitious and fanciful. But, with no way to contact Reiji and his Lancers across dimensions, Himika had nothing else to turn to. It was fortunate, at least, that Mieru Hochun's clairvoyance had proved sound so far – although Himika had no real way of verifying the girl's reported visions, she had provided details that were highly unlikely for the girl to have known. When describing duels taking place, Mieru's report of cards in play matched exactly to the Lancers' decks that LDS had on file – unless the girl had gotten into LDS's private records without being caught – a thing Himika found highly unlikely – it seemed that Mieru spoke the truth.

Besides, it was too much of a risk not to make use of Mieru. If her powers were real, she was a liability if she acted outside of LDS control. She had been closer to the events of the Maiami championship than almost anyone besides the Lancers themselves, and it would be useless to modify her memories if her powers would just reveal it to her again. At least as long as Mieru was reporting – accurately – to Himika, the liability was tempered by her usefulness as an asset.

Mieru took out her signature crystal apple and raised it in front of her face, the same as she had done many times before since Himika had started these sessions.

"I see…I see…" Mieru intoned. Himika never saw any change in that apple – whatever vision Mieru called forth was visible only to the girl herself. Himika had no choice but to trust.

"First," Himika instructed, "report on the status on the remaining original Lancers." In previous reports, Mieru had informed Himika of Dennis's betrayal (which she and Reiji had both suspected after running an analysis of his deck), Selena's capture, and recently, Kurosaki's injuries that had taken him out of commission. It was not only bad news, however; Mieru had also reported on the acquisition of additional allies. Those were of secondary importance to Himika – it was the Lancers that she had put her faith in, it would be the Lancers that would win this fight.

Mieru stared intently into her apple, her face scrunched in concentration. Finally, she began her report.

"Gongenzaka is injured," she said, a hint of worry in her voice. "And Sawatari's duel disk has been damaged – he can't defend himself, but he's unharmed."

Two injured, one traitor, one captured, and one disarmed, Himika mentally tallied, then grimaced. Over half the Lancers were compromised.

"Tsukikage…" Mieru trailed off, then renewed her concentration on the apple. She stared, unblinking, before finally breaking her gaze and looking up at Himika with a somber expression. "Nothing. I can see nothing – he's gone."

Two injured, one traitor, one captured, one disarmed, and one dead. Things were not looking good. Tsukikage had been very capable, and while fatalities were perhaps inevitable…they would have to rely on their allies now. Himika would make sure to ask for their status after this.

"Reiji…" Mieru started, and Himika tensed. She always did, at Reiji's name. She always feared the worse – if Reiji fell, it was over. He was the center of the Lancers, the only one clever and capable enough to challenge Leo. Without Reiji, Himika would never be able to thwart her former husband's ambitions. Even if she could recover Reira, he was not a weapon effective enough yet.

"Reiji is unharmed, as is Reira. They are with Sakaki Yusho, and talking with a bald man – he looks to be the leader of this place."

Confronting Leo, Himika thought with some relief. Mieru had already confirmed in a previous report that Yusho was on their side. The critical moment was upon them now – she was going to have to ask Mieru to remain to continue to monitor the situation. Waiting until tomorrow could be too late.

"Darling…I mean Yuuya," Mieru said hastily at Himika's sharp disapproving look. "Yuuya is…" she cut off, her face going pale.

Even Himika saw the change in that crystal apple, as the core turned darker than night. The darkness grew and advanced towards the surface in every direction. Mieru gasped, and the ominous vision vanished as the apple fell from her hands.

"Darling…" Mieru said slowly, trembling.

"What was that?" Himika demanded. Though she knew nothing of fortune telling or mysticism, common sense and intuition was enough to tell her that the situation wasn't good, whatever it was.

"That dark presence…that dark presence that threatened to consume him and the other soul within him. It's stronger. It's going to…!"

"Slow down, child. You're speaking words that make no sense to me."

Mieru took several deep breaths, then started over.

"During the championship, I found da…Yuuya, and he was not himself. He was screaming and biting and very frightening…I looked into his heart to see what was wrong, and I found that he had two souls within him. Then another presence appeared…a dark, inhuman entity trying to consume them both. And now…it's succeeding."

Himika tried to process what Mieru had said as the girl tried to control her shaking. She had seen the footage of what Mieru had described, the Sakaki boy thrashing about like a feral animal – but to attribute that to some dark mystical force? It was almost too much, but Mieru had never lied to Himika, and there was no denying that Yuuya was involved in many unusual situations since he had first come to Reiji's attention with the inexplicable discovery of Pendulum Summoning.

A sense of dread crept over Himika. The forces of Academia, though powerful and terrifying, were still of the world of the mundane. She had confidence that through Reiji, they could be dealt with. Something magical, something beyond her comprehension, something that shook those accustomed to magic to their core - not to mention something that came from within the Lancers – that held an unknown and unlimited potential danger.

"You're dismissed," Himika said. Mieru looked up at her, perhaps to question if she should seek information on the Lancers' allies, but Himika shook her head. "Go. There will be no more reports after this." This was out of her hands now. In truth, it had been since the Lancers had departed, but Himika had clung to knowing the status of her army as though it would make any difference. Now that magic was involved, she could no longer deny the futility of it.

As the door clicked shut behind Mieru, Himika released the frustration she had barely kept in check in front of her. She tore the pictures from the wall, shoved the furniture, threw the papers, the computer, everything across the room – until there was nothing left to take her anger out on. She stood, breathing heavily as she stared at the results of her outburst – things strewn about and shattered.

Just like everything she had worked for.