DISCLAIMER - Characters DO NOT belong to me. They belong to 07TH EXPANSION Warning. Some of them might be acting OOC. REALLY OOC.

OTPS - None

Red text - In italic, without thoughts or whatsoever emphasis

Blue text - Underlined!

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Chapter 9 - From Radiant To Downcast

Dlanor sprawled to the marble floor, as though thrown by a powerful force. She felt a certain crack in her neck, but held her sober-sided look. She heard footsteps circle around her. They were intimidating, but Dlanor didn't quiver or shake. The room was quiet and musty of the thin atmosphere. It was filled with windows of the night sky and the lights were switched off. The trees poked the glass panes and the wind blew creepily and the veracity was only witnessed by the eyes of two priests: Gertrude and Cornelia. Only light from the moon was seeping through the torn curtains. Erika was infuriated with ire, her eyes red like crimson blood. Her shadow was dancing on the wall, but it seemed mysterious. In distortion it almost looked as though there was something monstrous about it. Erika herself was mighty and loathsome of her actions, thus explains the revolting foam of black that follows her wherever she goes.

Cornelia was startled when Dlanor's face hit the floor, sending chills down her spine. She couldn't bear to see her leader drop onto the ground like that. But this was for Erika's enjoyment. She also wanted Cornelia to suffer seeing her. But now Cornelia saw Erika snatching Dlanor's hat and threw it at her face in an infuriated temper. As for Gertrude, she merely stood straight as she was permitted to, but she too felt the same as Cornelia. Watching their leader undergoing a punishment of torture was sight-seeing.

"Where were you?" The voice said -obviously Erika- with an angry tone. "Can you believe that I, Furudo Erika, the double of Bernkastel had been humiliated by her?"

The voice was harsh and menacing and the same time mocking. Dlanor's face had a bright red mark that seemed noticeable of her white, porcelain face. Cornelia and Gertrude remained standing on duty, yet felt pitiful of their leader. Erika's face was written with wrath and rage, completely outrageous that Dlanor wasn't there to help her when she needed her to. She couldn't contain her anger, so she flung all the blame on Dlanor. The Inquisitor of Heresy had a side of her face on the floor, another side facing upwards, with the red mark exposed to the eyes of her master.

Erika spat at the mark and trampled on Dlanor's arm, "That's right! You were going tea parties and sweety sweety pie with that wretched bastard and that disgusting witch now, were you?" She twisted her heels in Dlanor's lower arm, causing her fingers to dig into the floor. She wasn't able to move her arm due to that it was pinned by Erika's shoe. It didn't hurt as much, though.

"Oh, I believe you had so much fun there, didn't you?" Erika bent down to Dlanor's side and made a grab for her hair. She held a handful of her hair, and another hand on her head as though to keep her head down to the floor. "Well, I'm really sorry to break your party!"

Cornelia tried to stop Erika, but Gertrude held her back.

"Apologies, Cornelia, but we're not permitted to stop Lady Erika," Gertrude said firmly, though she too wanted to help Dlanor. "You must not try to."

"B-But Dlanor..." Cornelia tried to protest, but Erika ignored her. She continued to pull Dlanor's hair mercilessly, her fingers tangling around her hair before thrusting them back causing a few snaps. Dlanor didn't show any signs of physical pain, but she knew it injured her inside.

Dlanor had no match against her master but only managed to say, "Lady ERIKA..." It almost seemed so but she only mouthed the words so that Erika wouldn't hear. It sounded more like 'You really are a MONSTER' if deciphered. Erika noticed this and gave a chilling laugh that was malicious and it rang endlessly in Dlanor's mind. It reminded her the dark past of sentencing those pitiful witches.

"You disgusting piece of crap..." Erika muttered under her breath, and snatched back her hand. In it were a few strands of Dlanor's hair. She stood up and rubbed it off on Gertrude's shirt. Dlanor slowly went back onto her feet, putting on her hat, as though she wasn't damaged at all. Only the smeared spot on her sleeve where it was stomped on and the slap mark stood out. Nothing else but physical pain.

As for Erika, she went back to her normal state as if she had never done anything wrong. She turned towards the stumbling Witch Hunter, "Okay, my little gray cells are tingling again. Dlanor, you may take care of things by here."

She strolled towards the window and her eyes turned back to a bright shade of blue. Outside the tree leaves still tickled the air and some of them dropped and were carried by the wind. The moon was still shining up above, just like Erika's eyes. She turned around, "As for the game...What happens next then? Gertrude?"

Gertrude stepped forward and nodded. "Allow me to speak. Shall I reconstruct the crime scene?"

Erika waved her hand in response to Gertrude. The first class priest nodded again and raised her arm to her left. Once again all four -Erika, Dlanor, Cornelia and Gertrude herself disappeared in golden butterflies, leaving the empty room to roam in the heavy silence of the night.

Tap! Tap!

"What was that?" Rosa called, interrupted from Erika's show of her chopsticks. Shannon and Kanon, the servants, stopped serving the tea for Erika and stared at the window. There was an endless rhythm of tapping at the window, and it caused everybody's attention to it. Erika's eyes were equally drawn to it, as much as everybody else. Her brows were narrowed in an alert and confused kind of manner that questioned her what was that tapping about.

Not wanting to disturb or ruin the dinner, Erika stayed in her seat though she dreaded it. Maria, who was curious and still small for her age, stood up and walked right to the window. The tapping soon came to a stop when she approached it. Feeling inquisitive and suspicious of it, Maria took the curtain in one hand. Rosa, as a mother, tried to stop her daughter from doing something dangerous. The rain may have stopped to a drizzle, but she was still cautious of Maria's actions. Seeing her out of her surveillance and to the window when she doesn't know what the hell was there seemed just as jeopardous. Or, at least it seemed risky for Rosa herself.

"M-Maria, dear...Come here," She left her seat and tried to usher Maria back into hers, but Maria simply ignored her. She was too engrossed of what ever was there on the other side of the window. In a swift movement, she drew the curtains open and...

A letter was there. A letter was lying there, almost wet, from the drizzle.

"Uu!~ It's Beatrice again!" Maria cheered excitedly, and quickly opened the window after unlocking it. She took the letter with no hesitation and tried to dry it with her sleeve. Rosa gasped, and closed the window and locked it shut. She then grabbed Maria's arm and pulled her towards her.

"Maria, give me the letter," She said slowly, gently with a tone that didn't seem as gentle itself. Maria shook her head and stubbornly hid the letter out of her mother's reach. Rosa sighed, despite the family's astonishment. She didn't want to scold Maria in front of her siblings, her niece and nephews and even the new guest that fate has brought to this very island. "Maria, if you please."

"Aunt Rosa, please excuse me," George said, standing up and walking over to Maria's side. He placed a hand on her shoulder, which immediately released Rosa's concerns for the time being. Maria was surprised that George had asked her, "Maria-chan, if you could give me the letter, that would be good manners, to everybody, don't you think?"

Maria surprisingly handed the letter over to her older cousin, who smiled in thanks. Rosa was rapidly healed from her depression, but the others were still watching George as he held the letter in his hands. It had the same family seal, and the same family cress. Erika soon spoke up from the absence of sound that annoyed her tremendously, "Why not you read the letter, George? Or shall I read it?"

When they arrived at their utmost destination, there was the dining table, all lined up with tantalizing silverware and candles and occupied with the Ushiromiya's including (piece) Erika. The walls were decorated with tasteful pictures, and the scenario seemed as bright as ever as realistic, despite the letter that mysteriously appeared once again. All faces were eye-wide with shock that their dessert had now chilled. Time came to a standstill and only Gertrude, Cornelia, Dlanor and Erika were aware at the scene. The environment didn't please Erika as she wanted to, but perhaps it's just boredom.

"Now then, let's start the reasoning," Erika said, feeling ready to boast up her theories again. At her cue, Dlanor stepped forward, forgetting the mark on her face.

"Let me start off, if you PLEASE. Only George, Maria, Battler, Jessica, Erika, Kanon, Shannon, Krauss, Natsuhi, Rudolf, Rosa, Hideyoshi, Kyrie and Eva existed in the dining room NOW." Dlanor stated. The color of red wrapped the words in absolute truth that validates the 14 people that were in the dining room. "Lets say that Kanon and Shannon came into the room after 23:00 with the serving cart, and the letter was placed at 24:00 at the WINDOW."

Erika swiped her her hair and bought herself some time to think.

"If that's the case then...What if there's some sort of strange device in the serving cart? It could set off which activates some sort of cause to drop the letter from a certain location to fall onto the window sill at exactly 24:00!" Erika tried, and the color of blue illuminated the words into a theory.

Cornelia too stepped forward, and said, "Allow me to speak. Let it be known that there was nothing strange in the serving cart for the whole game." Erika was taken aback at this, but she still had some spirit in her.

"Hmm...And if Genji and Gohda were not dead, then I suppose they went out too? Maybe THEY were the ones who placed the letter there! Perhaps, literally then?"

"Neither Genji and Gohda placed the letter there LITERALLY. This only applies to a certain CONTRADICTION. Or you can say Cat-In-The-BOX," Dlanor said. This meant that if Genji and Gohda were not dead, they could have placed the letter there, but not with their own hands. She also mentioned, "The tapping also requires someone's hand to tap on the window, to make a tap SOUND."

Now that Erika knew a tapping required someone's hand to tap on it, just like the knock, she said, "I'll prove Rosa would be the culprit, and if she were to leave the letter there or to do the tapping, then I guess she could be the one? What if this person X would be dressed up like Rosa and act just like her in the dining room, and Rosa herself would sneak out of the mansion to tap on the window? If so, then she should have left the letter there! Because, like you said, Rosa also existed in the dining room, but is it really Ushiromiya Rosa we're talking about here? It could be a person of a same name, thus Rosa could still not have an alibi for sneaking out! Or, if Ushiromiya Rosa would be in the dining room, then Rosa, the person X could have been her accomplice and have placed the letter there! Is there any problem with that?"

"No PROBLEMS. If you would want her to be the culprit then allow me to say: None of the servants were out of the mansion at 24:00. This means that they did not place the letter or tap on the WINDOW." Dlanor said.

Gertrude, stepped forward and said, "Allow me to speak. The windows can only be opened after 24:00. Ushiromiya Rosa was in the dining room."

"Perfect, so it's still possible. Hehehe, I can still come up with more! Maybe someone other than Rosa could be the culprit, but proving her to be is much more fun!" Erika laughed greatly, as if she would become the superior.

"So, Ushiromiya Battler, how would you counter back on my sickle of Truth?"

Wellllll I dunno but this is the longest chapter I've written so far. My mom's complaining and urging me to write more description so thats why I added more words in the punishment part for Dlanor XD Also I read Umineko Cougars and its kinda funny. Rosa acting so....haha its hilarious! Though I'm not pretty much of an AngexBattler fan and more of an AngexMammon/AngexAmakusa fan I appreciate other stories of Umineko too sooo yeah. A chapter a day , a chapter a day. Perhaps I'll continue Prior Crossings on Monday or Tuesday. I'm leaving onto Chapter 13 on Sunday so I'm also gonna continue Chapter 14 on Wednesday. I GOTTA FINISH THE COLLECTION.

ONTO CHAPTER 10~! - Nothing But A Distortion (OF TRUTHS MAYBE?!)