The Debriefing [Cadet Morning Topic]

If there was one thing that Maria was surprised of, it was the attendance of the elder Princess. She wasn't sure if Serenity was attending, but it seemed as if her involvement from last night's events necessitated her presence. Accordingly, she bowed her head towards the elder siblings of royalty. The postulant gladly took this opportunity to rip off the velcro around her wrists, allowing the weights to lay on the desk before the meeting finally and officially began to take its course as she enjoyed the temporary freedom.

It seemed off that Julius would refer Claire as the Queen Bee, she knew Haru was going to go after Claire after their talk the last morning. Why did it sound like she was a Psyche-Terrorist now? What exactly was going on? These revelations were a cause of concern for the Cadet, but she opted to keep her silence and to observe the reports coming in. But most importantly, did he censor her real name so somebody wouldn't be aware? She was unsure, but glancing towards the smirking smug teen in the room, Maria was beginning to have a realization. Yet that wasn't the only peculiar thing as Haru began to have a greater relevance than she thought in the elimination retrieval mission. Maria was reluctant to think he would truly aid a Psyche-Terrorist, perhaps he had a reason…


The most shocking thing she had the misfortune of knowing was the failure from the initial Alice mission. She wasn’t surprised if some had died. Yet the scale was tremendous enough to warrant a reaction. The sight and images of bodies were rife in the presentation. She was used to looking at cadavers, whole or otherwise, the Church Militancy had bred that disconnect in her as part of her training in the last five years. It was necessary, in order to function efficiently regardless of the situation, especially when dealing all things supernatural. There was that and how she experienced the moment of watching demons eating her family. But, this? It infuriated her, just as much as it depressed her. No matter how strong she got, there were always going to be casualties… and it hurt.

If there’s one thing that verified that Maria knew about, the supernatural was a danger to humans. Sure, there were some that possessed potential to fight back against demons. But it’s some of those people that abused their talents that necessitated the existence of the Cadets. If anything, this revelation began to harden her stance against the Psyche-Terrorists, especially with all these people dying last night. They could’ve been saved… but it’s the Cadet’s weakness that failed these innocents. She remembered what Mother Sylvania had once told her when they first met in that hospital ward where the young postulant once laid dying.


Maria finally stood, bringing attention to herself as the chair she was sitting on was scooted back. She pulled off her spectacles, almost as if causing her previous gentle demeanor to disappear with it. There was a reservedness and calm that was on her face, but most importantly there was the mechanical lack of emotion so characteristic of her whenever work was concerned. Although she was unable to kill her emotions completely, it didn’t mean Maria couldn’t maintain some level of professionalism.


Maria had remembered from that afternoon of the possibilities of someone working with Alice. And of course, she remembered when Sera was there seemingly normal at the time. But it wasn't just that. The Cadet remembered the Cheshire Persona appearing towards them, ridiculing them as fools just as a certain "man" once said. She turned her head towards the Wild Card, who was definitely there at that time, ”Cadet Shiina, can you try to remember what else there might be you discovered during your excursion while Cadet Haru and I were absent?”

Maria glanced at Julius' expression, trying to divine out what she could know from his reaction from the revelations. So there was another Psyche-Terrorist, if these reports were to be believed. It reminded her how like the demons these people were, especially the bureaucracy within the Militancy. It was chaotic and because a lot of these things were kept out of sight, it was going to be hard to take them out. And that was the difficult thing about these Psyche-Terrorists, they didn't have a clear chain of command as far as the Cadet was concerned.


She had to admit at being surprised about Serenity taking the blame for Lisa. Maria was there in the second night when the Princess said her younger sister was resting. Perhaps it was her way of covering for her sibling. In many ways, the Cadet could sympathize with that. She remembered taking the blame for her younger siblings' little mistakes and didn't mind the punishment. It was part of being a big sister, after all. So she respected that decision, with silence on the topic.

She nodded at her superiors, it was finally her turn. Her lips parted to begin the report. "In the first night, the Royal Guard called for me to get into contact with you at the Dragon's Maw since communications were jammed even for her. She told me that she was in the process of tracking down the 'King of Rodents' and required your attention. At her behest, I separated myself from my colleagues and complied with the order. I later met with your sister at the entrance of the Maw. Something had... taken over the Maw. I am not sure, but its inhabitants were aggressive as a result, infected by whatever was spread across the facility. To make matters worse, it was also infested with demons."

Maria remembered the icy tone of the Nameless Guard's voice. There was power and a biting authority with each word. Rarely would anyone dare to disobey her, unless they wished to meet a painful and untimely end. She didn't forget where she was and continued, "With her Highness' assistance, we began to make our advance. But not without the help of a piece of a puzzle that the Princess discovered. I am not sure who left it behind or why, but whoever did, it is a fortune to be grateful for as it helped us reach you in the end."

The Cadet drew out the puzzle parchment onto the desk and presented its contents to Julius, showing both sides of it. But she wasn't sure who would even bother to help them. It was because of this, Maria believed that they were lucky. If it weren't for it, the operation to reach Julius would've been far difficult than it would have been.

"We later called in Cadet Vivian Oate's assistance at the entrance again, acknowledging that the excursion to reach you would require some back-up. But even then, it was not an easy task as Oates and I almost faced defeat a couple of times, yet we were able to push through. I attribute our ability to analyze the situation and to react accordingly while relying on our respective roles to play a significant part in our successes, even going beyond what was expected as needed. Especially with our concerns for each other and sharing necessary supplies, I believe it made our excursion a possibility for the first night," Maria continued, "We later met a man, Viktor. I believe you know him well, Sir. He seems to have succumbed to the same condition as the others and her Highness knocked him out before it could worsen. We were unable to question him given his manic state. If I may inquire, what is his current condition?"

She was curious about Viktor, especially about why he was there. In fact, why was Julius there with Alex? That was something she didn't have the time to ask, but perhaps this was as good as a time as any... after she finishes the report. "We continued afterwards to eventually meet... her, the District Head. She apologized for the situation and continued on her way to find the source of the issue, which I believe we are aware is Sera."

There was a slight crack in her empty gaze. A kind of doubt and even animosity at the memory. She was unsure who exactly the District Head was. But her eyes... she'd recognize them anywhere as both a Cadet and even a member of the Church. Rather, it just reminded her of them. Was she... a demon? "Later, we met your Persona, Tsukuyomi. You unceremoniously sent us back to the entrance and sealed it off. Hoping to seal off the infection and handling it alone, I imagine. And it left your Sister distressed, as we were unable to breach your barrier. So we decided to come back the next night, with better preparations this time."

It was better to emphasize to his Highness how much he worried others, especially with family. No matter how strong you were, there was always the threat of mortality. Having back-up was vital for not only success, but for survival. It was another lesson from the Church, but it was a lesson that she grew to truly learn since her awakening. But sometimes, people didn't have that kind of luxury and sacrifices had to be made. "I returned with a different team without Cadet Oates, who took part of the  elimination mission with the Queen Bee. I came with Cadets Nebula Erlang, Cecilia Hunt, and Athena Griva and continued where we left off after her Highness broke the barrier. Unlike last night, we had better success with similar factors in teamwork and situational analysis. Eventually we linked up with Cadet Alex, who was able to give us a sit rep on the Maw. We were able to learn Sera's involvement in the whole matter and that you were separated from Alex."

It was certainly a long report, but if that's what Julius wanted, it's what Maria was going to give. But she was nearing the end, regardless. Perhaps he wanted the other teams to learn from each other, and given the reports presented with the inexperienced nature of their beginnings, the bluenette could understand the reasons. "We were rejuvenated back to our full capacity thanks to our Senior Cadet before parting ways. But her Highness decided to scout behind us out of suspicion of a trap. Despite the further separation of our manpower, the rest of us finally reached you only to find you in the middle of combat with Sera while being hindered with a hostage. Our objectives have changed to securing the hostage upon your orders. I have tried to get the rest of my teammates to stay back to cover me as I went to retrieve her, to lower the risks and to better maintain the manpower we had. I had my suspicions that it wouldn't be easy... and I was right. A demon had possessed her and was sucking the life out of her. But that did not stop us from completing our task. With my team's combined power and as your Highness kept Sera busy, we were able to finally secure the hostage. This left an opening for the Princess to finish off Sera to knock him out and finally bring the District back to normal. That said, how is the hostage?"

She didn't bother to present the information about the strange Persona as it sounded as if Julius didn't want that information to be spread. After all, he did tell them to forget that night. There was definitely something going on that the Royal family were hiding. This was information the Church wanted... but Maria was going to respect that. She trusted them, as the City's protectors and its saviors.


She bowed towards the royal siblings and a nodded at Alex. And, of course, she cracked a smile towards Cecilia and Vivian. This was it. But of course, she had one curiosity that needed to be addressed. "Please forgive my impertinence. But what were you doing in the Dragon's Maw, your Majesty? I can't imagine you being prepared for the attack, or otherwise you may have been more prepared. Especially when the District Head was caught unawares as well."

"The Sunlake Palms Church has records of demonic possessions in the world from now to even before the Divide, they will be forwarded to you when you call for them, Sir. Hopefully they'll be of use to you if you wish to look for any clues in that area," It was gladdening to hear the afflicted from last night's events were in a stable condition. It was getting a little worrying about how the family kept trying to keep things under wraps, but they must have a good reason to. Her decision to trust them in this regards would not change. As for the demonic possession, there was a grimace spreading across her face, "According to what I know at the moment, I believe we were fortunate enough that the demon was not 'fused' with the victim in a way that further limited our options last night, such as not having its body exposed the way it did. If it had been otherwise, I don't believe we would have been as successful."

Maria wasn't exactly what you would call a scholarly intellectual despite the appearance with her glasses. But even she wasn't above from reading documents covering cases regarding demonic possession. If demons truly existed in her world, then possession wasn't out of the possibility. And that was something truly terrifying to behold. The Church Militancy covered a wide range of things ever since their creation, exorcisms and subjects-related included. To handle a demon of caliber such as last night's might have required a full team of exorcists backed up by a division of Knights and overseeing Executors. Yet they were lucky enough to make do with their team, thankfully. The demon was exposed enough to be harmed by the Cadet recruits and that was arguably the greatest boon to ask for despite the difficulty of the battle.

But the analysis the Prince provided to the entire Cadets was rather troubling. True, Julius had put away and subjugated a considerable number of Psyche-Terrorists as the Cadet's top commanding officer. Yet, an attack of the massive scale that hi-jacked an entire domain from the District Head? There was something going on, especially when someone was manipulating Sera and it was far beyond the power of a single Psyche-Terrorist like Alice according to Serenity in the first night. At the same time, if the take over of the domain was possible with just Sera alone and it seemed as if there's an organized faction, why did it seem poorly managed as Julius said?

In fact, that was the most opportune moment to take advantage of with all the Cadets divided into other missions. She remembered what the Cheshire Persona once said to her again:


Alice was fully aware of the recruits. How? Who would have known about them and told her? Claire was out for sure, given her circumstances. Sera, she wasn't even sure if he was that supposed skull-masked perpetrator that helped trap Alice. But it likely wasn't him. If he was possessed by a kind of madness and was a source of it in the Dragon's Maw, then perhaps... he never had the potential to awaken to a Persona. Or otherwise, the Queen's blood would have protected him. In fact, he would've been wearing a kind of Mask, yet there was none at the time. Julius and Alex were out for obvious reasons.

So, who-- Oh. There was still him out of the original trio that worked with Julius. As much as Maria wanted to ask about that man, she was increasingly sure that he was also a topic the Lamecias were interested in not approaching. This was increasingly worrying... but what choice did she have? Maria replied, "None, sir."

She listened to the information and processed it in her head. A library would be nice to take some time off to study some previous cases. But there were other things that Maria had to do than sifting through old manila folders. Rather, she remembered the Church needed her for something tonight. Even in the afternoon, she had the mind to do some light exercise before heading back home.

The news about Chris was worrying. But it was obviously to her that there were secrets that had to be kept. It left a bad taste in her mouth, but what could she do at this point? She glanced at the somber Lisa, already trying to leave. The postulant let her go, perhaps she needed to be alone for a while. Without further ado, Maria began to rise from her seat and bowed towards the royal siblings in farewell.

She was sure to put her wrist weights and her glasses back on before leaving. Of course, she gave a wave and a smile at the rest of her teammates before leaving. Maria was back as her 'normal' self, at least for now. But even so, the Cadet was feeling rather somber about the whole thing. Even if they had a success last night, there were still failures that costed lives. And there was no way she could be completely be happy about that evening.

[Exit]

Cecilia left after being dismissed. She didn't bother saying anything because Azami kept getting rushed to post and didn't have time or energy required to write a full-fledged exit full of introspection, feelings, and all that nice stuff. If the other Cadets turned their attention and focus to her for long enough, they'd notice her rushing off in the same direction as Maria.