“....[The Theater Master].” The Beatrice girl said as she, for what Alexa thought was the first time, someone else saw the Teacher person for what he was.

  "...How did you manage to get this far into the school without triggering the defenses?" Or not, how did they not known?!?!?

  The teacher person basically did a whole transformation sequence on their faces!

  "CRADDLE does check every mana signature that walks into the school, and reports anyone that shouldn't be here to the respective people in charge, but that is not for you to worry, you have more important things to worry about," The Teacher..or well, the Theather person said, "For example, that girl there."

  The theater person said, pointing with his cane towards Alexa; where did he get that thing anyway? A second ago, it wasn't there.

  "Is trying to get her Core to pump Mana and let her move, probably to attempt to rescue you. Such brave effort…as one would expect from a Protagonist." The teacher person said, why had he pointed at Alexa then? Was someone behind her trying to do that?

  Alexa was just attempting to move because she was getting restless from being resetrained, also she wanted to try and nom Beatrice now that she had awaken a Core. It would have been better if Alexa had nomed her before the thing manifested, perhaps she could check on the court to see if some of her sweet had fell? Surely there should be something…

  Or maybe the changing rooms? If she took a shower before coming to the court maybe there was something there? Alexa would need to ask ter what shower room the Beatrice girl used.

  "And you…You have a difficult choice to make," The theater person said turning once again to Beatrice, "Either you accept your fate and turn into a life having to struggle, needing to sign a contract with some corporation to get protection, discovering ter on that said Corpo was owed by the Saintsworths…and with some luck you get into a good corpo and not another cliche one that is experimenting on humans…"

  Was it that common? To end up in a contract with an organization that did human experimentation. Alexa hoped it wasn't, because if it was…then how had she managed to nd into one of the few ones that didn't seem hellbent on such a thing, she could have made so many more advances if her organization didn't mind her chopping and noming humans here and there…

  "Or?" The Beatrice girl said turning to the Theater person, was that hope in her eyes?

  "Or you make a vow to me." The theater person said as a creepy smile formed on his face.

  Oh, Alexa knew of those vow things, it was like the one [Eleanore] had wanted to make Alexa do, and the one that she ended up doing instead of Alexa, no wait. Hadn't The [Elder] said that these things were dangerous?

  "....Will…will my Moms be in danger if I don't take it?" The Beatrice girl asked.

  "That depends, what are the names of your Mothers?" The Theater person asked, shouldn't he know them? Since he was a Teacher here?

  “....Elissee and Rona….Elissee Starcroft and Rona Starcroft." The Beatrice girl said trembling, "They are the best Moms any girl could hope to have, I don't want to make their life dangerous just because I woke up a Core."

  The Beatrice girl seemed sad at that statement, she was even crying! Why was she crying?

  "Hmm…Elissee and Rona…Elissee…Eli…Elizabeth? No, that shouldn't be, Rona….Rona…Ro…Rossaline?" The Theater person seemed confused about something, "And your Grandmother?"

  "I don't have one, my Moms said that both of my Gran-Gran died when I was young, but they said that their genes didn't pass up to us." The Beatrice girl said confused, "Why? Was something wrong with Gran-Gran Elizabeth or Gran-Gran Rossie? I think they said something about a third Gran-Gran called Rena or something?"

  She had two Moms and Three Gran-Gran? What kind of family was that?

  "....They shouldn't be on this pne, I guess they aren't anymore…But yeah, if you become public your life will turn quite interesting, maybe you could spawn your own [Story] even." The Theater person said as his smile turned…dangerous.

  Alexa wasn't sure why, but she was sure that smile was bad.

  "....Then I'll make that vow, what do I need to do?" The Beatrice girl said as she wiped her eyes, "Mom said that in the face of absolute danger, our family always stood back up."

  That was obvious, if you are in danger, then you need to stand; you can't face danger from the floor, after all.

  "And so, the seed of life stands upright, ready to protect her family," The Theater person spoke, but not the one that had a body, but the ones behind him, "Swear that you will fulfill one Wish from me, at a point in time to be determined by me, this Wish will not make you do something you wouldn't think of doing, will not harm any of your current family members or friends and you can't deny it from me."

  That seemed….oddly specific?

  "I swear-" The Beatrice girl started speaking only for the Theater person to raise his finger to his lips, that made the Beatrice girl stop speaking.

  "Swear it in your name, using your family name and the name of your family, pce your hand on your Core and try to feel the energy within, the Mana as you speak, shape your words, form your Idea and then, and only then. Speak the voice of your Heart." The teacher person said part of those things sneaking gnces at Alexa. As if waiting for her to say something.

  But Alexa wouldn't! Why?

  BECAUSE SHE WAS STILL FROZEN HERE! AND HER NOSE WAS ITCHY! SHE WANTED TO SCRATCH HER NOSE AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH

  "I….I, Beatrice Starcroft, swear on my family's name, in the name of my Mother. Elissee Starcroft and in the name of my second Mother, Rona Starcroft. I will listen to one [Wish] from [The Theater Master] and fulfill it to the best of my capacity. This one [Wish] will not harm me, or any of my current loved ones, be family or friends." The words seemed to resonate with something, Alexa wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed to fill the area and slowly condense within the Beatrice girl.

  "Good, that should do the trick," The Theater person said nodding, "Now let me just think…Yes, this should do the trick," The Theater person said nodding, he took the ball that had fallen and crushed it with his hand, "Now follow the Script and all should be fine."

  He then grabbed the Beatrice girl by the scruff of her shirt and pced it near the wall, a simple kick from him was enough to open a hole on the wall and what followed was him throwing the ball in there.

  "The stage is as follows: The Protagonist failed to account for her talent and attacked with great gusto, the support character managed to deflect the attack, but in doing so, she destroyed a wall," The words that the theater person said seemed to stick around, Alexa could see them turn into memories and slowly attempt to enter into her mind.

  “[Detected a stray strand of memories…analizing…comparing…Memories are incongruent with stored data…]”

  Of course they were, Alexa attempted to review the new memories and found that the way that the Beatrice girl had moved didn't match what she knew, she wondered if someone would even fall for tha-

  “[Warning, original database is being purged, attempting to restore…failed. Original memory file has been lost.]"

  ….What?

  “[Host has lost the original strand of memory, as it was stored on the short term memory slot it was deleted.]”

  …Well that was stupid, she still remembered what happened, she used the weird fist tecnique and the Beatrice girl awoke a [Core Power]. How could she have lost that memory?

  “[Host memories are stored in several pces.]”

  “[First, on the Consciousness Stream.]”

  “[Second, on the brain.]”

  “[Third, on the back up storage within Main Core.]”

  Of course, that way if any of the three was damaged the other two could help her recover her lost data. Then what was the one affected?

  “[Host’s memory stored within the Brain has been affected, till the trojan can be deleted it is advised to not restore the memory lost unless needed.]”

  Dang it.

  "And done, even the Protagonist will have a hard time remembering that you are a Core User." The Theater master said with a smirk on his face, "Now y down there, I'll return everything to normal, using my Real Core Power is exhausting so I'll need some rest, but I look forward to your achievements as the true Daughter of the Starbright that shouldn't exist."

  "... I'm Starcroft, not Starbright." The Beatrice girl said confused, Alexa was also confused, she had never heard that name before, but it sounded fake. Like someone who wasn't smart enough to think of a good name and just stuck together two phrases or something.

  "And like that, the world resumed advancing, the Protagonist ended up wondering why it felt weird, as if time had stopped, but her Core Powers showed no evidence of anything happening, so she quickly forgot about it." Alexa would not forget this as easily! "After all, she had managed to defeat two enemy contestants easily enough. Perhaps a tasty reward would await her at home!"

  Alexa wanted more Mango Cake! She had seen a cute Cake with slices of mango atop! Imagine! Mango-fvored Cake with extra mango!

  "Alexa!" Alexa was suddenly called and she found herself being able to move, at the far end of the court was the Beatrice girl on the floor, to her right was a hole and in front of said hole was the destroyed ball.

  Had she missed her shot? No.

  “[Host was able to return the attack but some unfortunate side effects came by, memory of the events is under review.]”

  So…" Main Core made a mistake and now Alexa needs to deal with it, I see." Alexa understood everything quickly.

  Main Core really wasn't as smart as he thought he was.

  "What was that? You can't use that against normal people!" Glory continued screaming at her from behind. "We will get penalized!"

  …So she was worried about that, yeah, that made sense. But Alexa was sure that her attack shouldn't cause that much destruction. It was a ball, a rubber ball filled with air, there was no way her attack would cause as much destruction.

  “[Releasing preliminary data, host is advised to only use this as a reference when speaking with others, the data is still being evaluated.]”

  And a memory of the events pyed out on her mind, how Alexa had hit the ball…how the Beatrice girl had barely managed to….redirect it?

  Somehow she seemed…wrong, her body was not moving as it should, not considering the amount of force her attack was implied to have, and then, somehow. She managed to redirect the ball to a wall?

  And the ball burst out when making impact but also managed to break it?

  Something stank in that, physics didn't behave like that, it would make more sense if the Beatrice girl awoke a Cor-

  “[Martial Artist Desgination: Beatrice Starcroft did awoke a Core Power, uploading memory file.]”

  And then in Alexa's mind a memory pyed out, the same start but…different outcome, this time Beatrice blocked the attack, but somehow her body and the ball seemed to behave differently, this time the ball stuck to her arms and pushed her against the wall, the Beatrice girl's arm seemed damaged and the ball was intact.

  But somehow, blocking a ball ended with the Beatrice girl puking out blood…That…. physics also didn't behave like that, nor biology for that matter. So…Alexa had two series of memories and neither made sense, on the first the Beatrice girl's body moved more like a someone pupeetering her from above…

  And on the second, while her body seemed more natural, it behaved against most of the rules of physics that Alexa knew…

  “[Notice, Core Powers do not follow the same normal rules of Physics.]”

  …Dang it.

  So, somehow the Beatrice girl had faked the memories and impnted them on Alexa? That…

  “[Updating memory bank with new data, brace for upload.]”

  ….Well that made more sense, when Alexa got the full memory data back, she tried her best to not gre at the Teacher person, he had modified her memory? Rude.

  The teacher person didn't seem to act different or anything, if something was going on, it was the fact that he seemed smug, but well, if Alexa had modified the memory of everyone around and no one noticed, then she also would be smug about it.

  Dang it.

  "The match will be paused!" The voice of the teacher with clothes too small for her said, wait why?

  "Why?" Alexa asked as she was confused.

  "We need to check the mana sensors, that ball had more destructive power than any normal person should be able to wield." The teacher person said, Alexa…could not argue against that.

  "She is using the limiter!" Glory compined from behind, "We all are!"

  And then Glory pointed at her own neck, there stood the Choker that…was meaningless on Glory (For now), actually… shouldn't…Oh, right, normally the normal kids didn't wear one of those….If the Beatrice girl had been wearing one, then she wouldn't have been exposed at awakening her Core, Glory truly was smart; this way, when she inevitably became a Core User, no one would know since the Choker would limit her Mana, and Core Power.

  "And that is why your team hasn't been disqualified, the problem is that we know that she is a Core User," The teacher referee person said pointing at Alexa, "And while her Core Powers are limited, you can't argue that this…is not something a normal person can do, Core User or not."

  And the teacher referee person said, pointing at the hole in the wall.

  "Alexa didn't do that," Alexa said pointing at the ball, "When Alexa hit the ball she made sure it wouldn't burst, since Alexa doesn't know if that would be against the rules or not."

  "It is against the Rules, but in this case it burst away from you, so you will not get penalized for that part." The teacher referee person said, so Alexa would still get penalized for other things? That was just rude.

  "What is the veredict CRADDLE?" The teacher referee person said, looking at the big screen on the ceiling, the one that kept the count of the points and team members of each side.

  "No evidence of the use of Core Powers from Alexa Saintsworths, possible use or potential of becoming a Core User from the other students." The CRADDLE person said, and that was quite something to hear, so everyone in Alexa's school was a candidate for awakening Core Powers?

  Then, this pce was truly a pce worth coming back to take a meal.

  "That's enough CRADDLE," The teacher person(the one in charge of her css) said standing up, "Any Core Awakening during these events is a private affair, if the student manages to not expose himself, we will not expose them!"

  Alexa almost believed him, if not for the extra set of memories she had that is, she would need to attempt and decipher what type of Core Power had the Beatrice girl awoke to.

  "Well, that wall wasn't broken by a normal ball." The teacher person with very little clothes covering her body said as she gred at her Teacher person, the one in charge of her css.

  "You are correct, CRADDLE. Was that wall broken by a student?" The man with gsses and plenty clones of himself cackling behind the rends on reality asked.

  "No," The CRADDLE person said.

  "Was it broken while someone was using Core Powers?" Asked next as he walked towards the Beatrice girl.

  "Yes," The CRADDLE person answered next.

  "Is the one who did a threat to the students?" That one was probably a yes too, right?

  "There is no evidence of that person being a threat to the students." The CRADDLE person answered. And Alexa doubted that one very much, wasn't The Theater person like…actually very dangerous and feared? How was he not a threat to Alexa and the other students?

  "Did Alexa Saintsworths or any of the students participating in this event break the rules?" The Teacher person said next as he turned to look at Alexa.

  "None of the students has broken any rule, under the common rules of engagement if a student awakes a Core Power while the event is going on, the first fre of their power is forgiven, if said student wishes to continue participating then they must wear one of the Core Powers inhibitors." The CRADDLE person said next.

  "In that sense my css was smart, they all are wearing the chokers already. If Miss Beatrice Starcroft wishes to continue…or if one of her teammates wishes to do so, in case they are the one to awake the Core Power…" The teacher evil theater man person said, turning to stare at the remaining member on the field, then to the other two standing near Glory, "Then you will need to put one. Do you want them?"

  "Amm…." Alexa raised her hand at that point.

  "Yes Alexa Saintsworths? Do you have anything to add?" The evil Teacher person said turning to her, a dangerous smile on his face.

  "The Beatrice girl is out of the area and she didn't caught the ball, she is out." Alexa said, for some reason, the people seemed to look at Alexa weirdly.

  "Hahahahahahahahahah," That is for everyone besides An who was ughing, and Glory who was giggling at the back.

  What? This was this, and that was that. And in that, she was out!