Abandoned Factory

[Ravan]

-Stocke takes some moments to ponder the question-

"I don't know what the fatal flaw is precisely. I do believe that it may be linked to desire, though. Think of it like this. As we became more powerful, did we not also feel more content with ourselves? Like we were finally reaching a goal? A metaphor for this would be a fire. At first it burns brightly, but eventually, it starts to die down and fades away. This may be the flaw behind DICE, and this may be why we received less DICE eventually. That is merely my guess, however."

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

"That's a bad thing? Last I checked men train and grow stronger of their own volition, until they reach the limits of their own body. The DICE are a method to grow as strong as one desires, isn't that a great thing?"

[Daedalus]

"But desires change as people grow strong. I know mine have. I've discovered sides to me I never knew existed. Some of which I wish didn't."

[Ravan]

"It would be a good thing ordinarily. Let's think of it from another viewpoint, Adell. If the world is what needs to be changed, spreading DICE around it would thus change it by X's logic. So far so good, right? The issue is if everybody receives DICE. What is different from our world without DICE, and a world with DICE other than that everybody is now capable of harming each other even moreso? It's like handing a larger gun to every soldier in the world. It doesn't change the original premise, it just makes it much more grandiose."

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

"Some people train to be fighters and play sports. Other train to become doctors. Among us all we have that same split and plenty others. Not all of us are built to cause harm nor heal. I like fighting, not hurting. The gun depends on the man, hand it to Yuuji and he would shoot us all, others will just use it to grow happier. Ted Wane was one such man, he had no interest in the DICE conflict and just wanted to run a successful corporation."

[John Dark Souls]

『:sigh: How pitiful... Did nobody bother speaking about this to mayor... The lifespan. The meteorite, yes, that cube that lies over there. It decreases the lifespan of the people around it. The closer and more you hand around it and dice, the lesser your lifespan grows. Remember the people blowing up in dice? That is what happened to them. They have been hanging around dice for a year since last dice war. And now their bodies couldn't handle it and fell apart. Us too, we don't have much time, especially around this big cube over there eating through our life right as we waste our time talking here...』

[Ravan]

"What doesn't change is that you can't moderate over all of the people using DICE, Adell. If it were as simple as telling someone to stop inflicting pain and suffering upon others, I don't believe the world would be in the state it currently is in. The gun does depend on the man, yes, but what do you do when the man is impossible to stop? What happens then? A number of people would be put down by that man, and he would be able to carry on without any care for the lives he's ruined. While you may enjoy fighting, others may use DICE to their own ends. It shouldn't have been distributed at all, it only creates a disturbance in balance, and that will only lead to more pain and suffering towards others, directly and indirectly."

[Ravan]

"I suppose I should explain things from the beginning. When I arrived here in Avrak City, I was rather curious as to why I was hired. I was sent to put Erald Platinum into custody. This led to me pursuing him and learning as much as I could about the circumstances surrounding things. What were the DICE? Why did we receive them? For what purpose do they exist? These questions were all things I sought to answer, so I investigated, I spoke to a variety of people, and I learned. I learned the secret of their origin."

"To begin with, I spoke with Emna. I was hellbent on discovering a secret he had been keeping, partly due to it being my quest from X, and partly due to wanting to understand just what these DICE were. The results are as Ms. Underskott had mentioned. He found a meteorite two years ago. A lesser man would've died from what he had been exposed to. That meteorite gave him power, a ridiculous amount of it. That's exactly why you were so handily beaten by him, Adell. Emna is immortal, so he could withstand that power. Us on the other hand... how long do we have left? It's not too late. Emna can destroy our DICE, and we can refuse to participate in this savage game. We're all being manipulated by X. He himself will not go to "meet" this entity he wishes to summon. He would rather have one of us face it. Erald faced it, and was soundly beaten. What chance would any of us have?"

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

"I don't much like exploding...."

[The Viscount]

*The Viscount begins to laugh.*

"Who gives a **** about the lifespan? There has to be a way to reverse it by adjusting someone's body's personal timeline at a molecular level."

"I don't care if I've damned myself, I'm confident I can fix it. Yes, as soon as I return to my own world, my own world whose energy sources are rich and plentiful!"

"This is nothing compared to my own plague. All I want... Yes, all I want is more power! The power to return, and destroy all of those in my path! That pesky fool, Arthur. That pestilent assassin, Sigma. Yes, even that militia leader, Benjamin Kenshin..."

"I will destroy them all, and I will return to my rightful place!"

[Ravan]

"Again, it may not be too late. We can forfeit our DICE to Emna, and he can destroy them. That is potentially one way to get rid of this... curse."

[King V]

-Erald walks in carrying a scythe-

"It looks like you're having quite the discussion on DICE, but I think you're missing quite a few things."

"Let me share this interesting fact with you. From my analysis of DICE, while the material DICE is created from is extremely volatile and saps one's life force, DICE themselves have been refined and require much less energy to operate. If one used DICE for over 50 years, they would only lose about 1 year off their total lifespan, that is how far DICE have been refined from their source material."

"However, that is not the reason why the others exploded. Try a little harder."

[Daedalus]

"There is another that I have thought of. A way to defeat Erald, who surely seems to be the one spoken of in this journal as the antagonist, as well as remove the dice from the world."

[The City [EclipseZwolf]]

"X is looking for the answer, plenty of people have died for this now. I don't like the sound of running away and making their death's meaningless. For Once I agree with the Viscount, I say we can find another way."

[Ravan]

"I don't know about you, Viscount, but I have my own country to return to, and I can't afford to die just yet. There's a war to be fought, and it will only end in the desertification of my home if I don't return."

-Stocke momentarily pauses to listen to Erald's words-

"The reason they exploded is because time was up for them. When 6 A rankers gather, they need to fight to the death. It took us two weeks or so to reach A rank. They didn't resolve the competition. They refused to kill each other. This led to them dying as we, a new group of A rankers took their place. That's one potential argument. To you, Erald, I must ask you. Have you lived 50 years using DICE? How can you be so certain that only one year of our lifespan is shaved off by using DICE? Not even that, could you even live for 50 years after obtaining the DICE? You'd have to stop before hitting the A rank, or else you'd be called upon for the competition to challenge God. We hit A rank within two weeks. I did at any rate. If anything, your days are numbered the instant you first obtain DICE. That desire for more strength burns away your common sense as you transcend what you're meant to be. It makes you forget. Memento Mori, remember that you are mortal. You were the one to research their secrets the most according to Barin, but you refused to reveal them. Unless you feel like sharing some stunning revelations about these DICE right now, I don't see any reason for us to listen to you."