The North PacificBoard

"...Victoria." - The woman had just about enough of standing around. After who knows how long she'd been there, simply watching, staring at her 'comrade' work, the both of them completely silent in the repurposed warehouse they were in. She had seen this girl do many a manic, often times immoral thing, but this time it was just plain not a good idea. After all, the arcane wasn't necessarily something that allowed itself to 'bend' to ones wishes without knowing how to properly handle it, and yet, there she was. Doing as she pleased with something that perhaps would work better in it's original form.

"Yes, Ingrid?" - The blonde turned to her companion after hearing her voice. She distanced herself from the worktable that she had been working on, and stood straight. She was just a little taller than the pink-haired woman that had addressed her, and from her build, one could probably deduce that she was a little stronger. Ingrid got closer to her, walking with confidence. She placed her hand on the worktable, and turned her head to the sword that Inferno had been slowly taking parts, pieces, bits of it's arcane essence off of. - "...Do you really think that this is a wise idea? Taking apart the sword of your biggest enemy; a demon more powerful than myself, and making it into a car part?" - Ingrid's gentle golden eyes looked up to the blonde's gaze, meeting it half-way. The blonde sighed, placing one hand on Ingrid's shoulder. - "...Not my best moment, but... I'm already known for cars that kill; This is just... An extension of it. A crankshaft that won't break, made of titanium and infused with the arcane powers of that horrid woman... This might just be the last part to finish that project."

Ingrid tried to speak, yet she found herself unable to vocalize what she felt. Taking a deep, sharp breath, she tried again - "...A-are you really going to finish that deathtrap?..." - Ingrid took hold of the blonde's arm, gripping it tightly. - "Inferno... What about the rest of us? What if you crash again? Are you really trying to take your own life with this... endless search for speed of yours?" - Ingrid held onto the blonde tighter, even as Inferno turned away from her. She walked right behind her, that hand of hers gripping her ever tighter. - "Look, Ingrid... I know you don't get it... You've gotten used to utilizing your charms as a demon, those looks of yours, to get whatever you've wanted. The moment you faced me three years ago... was the first time you felt defeat. Yet ever since then, you've never understood the kind of life-or-death pledge that someone raised by the smell of burning gasoline and tyre smoke like me has to the world. I cannot just leave and never race again, or stop tuning cars. It's part of my duty as both the leader of Ryshun... and as the leader of Speed Factory YM's racing team. I can't go back on my promise to that old man, Tominaga. I told him I'd make a car worthy of his time... and this might just be it." - Inferno gently walked away from the worktable, Ingrid's grip around her arm seeming almost nonexistent to her. Her steps were light and gentle, as she walked towards one of the many lifts that held her many vehicles above her height so that she could more efficiently work on them. Ingrid, for her part, didn't understand any of what was going on. She hadn't seen Inferno quite like this before. So weirdly serious... yet equally as dejected for some reason. The life that Inferno's words usually had were drowned out by some force of monotone nature that seemed to have bottled her up until now.

Inferno stopped short of one that had been covered up with some white sheets. Ingrid let go of Inferno, with the blonde kneeling down as she lifted the sheets up, revealing the front end of the vehicle in question. A late first-year Nissan Fairlady S30Z, painted in a colour dubbed 'Midnight Blue'. - "It's a weird kind of fixation that one gains for their creations. I know you'll understand one day... Not tomorrow, not next week... But I fully trust that you didn't decide to follow me around, even here or out on the road, for no good reason." - Inferno turned to Ingrid, a gentle smile on her face. The colour in her eyes faded a little, becoming slightly lighter than before. Her hair's golden colour had dimmed as well, becoming more silverish in nature. That smile... It looked almost genuine, yet so pained...

"...Be careful. Will you?..."

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Known for it's vibrant and active car culture, the Rynese Confederation is known for having some of the world's greatest minds when it came to making a car get that tiny little bit of extra speed. This, however, often resulted in drivers that did not know what they were doing, or drivers that were too inexperienced for the vehicles that they drove, to crash, racing far past the limits of their cognitive abilities, often times sending themselves to the world beyond our vortal realm. Inferno herself had gained a reputation for making the Empire's fastest cars... yet those cars were only the fastest in the hands of the best drivers. Any and all drivers that weren't already professionals often avoided her tuning services, for her vehicles had claimed many a life. Yet for the blonde, it didn't seem to pain her. To her, it was just another one that didn't understand their limits, that didn't know where those limits lie... And that had pushed themselves far past where they should be.

In a world were that extra kilometer per hour could mean winning or losing, Inferno's prowess as a tuner, and her long history as a race car driver proved to come handy, as she rocketed up in reputation. Driving anything from a JZA70 Supra to her own 787B2 race car on the open highway roads, blowing away rival after rival with unparalleled straight line speed, she had secured herself a team with people that she trusted, and on top of that, managed to keep her work life during the day - that of leading the Rynese Confederation forwards, as she had done the past 11,000 years. And in this balance between the day time and the night time, Inferno had found herself living a life that she'd define as 'fulfilling'.

Ever since the defeat of Oboro Koukawa - by far one of the toughest arcane threats that the Confederation had faced - Inferno would often say that she'd found the peace in her life. That the waves of Shuto Energy that ruled over the earth that the Confederation was founded on were calm, and that there were no more threats that she could ascertain from her own abilities as an Aegis that would ever throw away the thousands of years that she'd worked for the better of her people.

Yet, as of recent, Ingrid had noticed it. The way that Inferno spoke, and the way that she moved... It had changed. She seemed much more alert, and her voice sounded drier, sharper, often times it sobered up to becoming morose and troubled. Almost like she could feel that something lurked beyond their vortal realm...

And that it was heading towards them, alarmingly quickly.