“There, the walking stick beside Isabelle,” Nexus said in Gaius’ mind. “That thing, it’s actually a Zeroth Armament! Take it before the others notice!”

Gaius looked around surreptitiously, before reaching out for the walking stick. It was made out of gold, like almost everything else in this vault, but there was some odd property to it. The material seemed almost alive, and as he clasped the handle, the boy could feel the Terminus in his clothes beginning to resonate with it.

“Gaius?” Isabelle asked, concern lacing her words.

The boy shook his head, and then closed his eyes. A channel of energy had begun to form between the two Zeroth Armaments, and on instinct, Gaius took out the Terminus and held it in his hand. His body shook, and the channel, which had been on the verge of taking form in his mind’s eye, was now running through him. Gaius had the feeling that a single thought from him would be able to control both Armaments, and with another thought, the two items vanished with a flash of light, turning into a ring on his right hand.

“What just happened?” Isabelle asked. “Did these two items just…”

The boy opened his eyes and raised a finger to his lips. No one had noticed the cane’s sudden metamorphosis, and given that it would be hard to explain why such an item became a ring randomly, it was for the best that no one knew anything.

“I didn’t even give you any instructions,” Nexus murmured in Gaius’ mind. “How did you know what to do?”

“Instinct?” Gaius replied. “Well, at least we got a nice new weapon.”

“I’m not sure if you would call it new, but whatever.” Nexus said. “Anyway, it can replace your Moonshot. I’ve inspected it. This is a Zeroth Armament made with Life Gold, which makes a long-range weapon.”

“The material affects the weapon type?” Gaius asked. “Never mind, we’ll settle this in a better place.”

“If you ever get around to it, Master Gaius.”

Smacking the sculpture's head, Gaius looked around cautiously once again. After making sure that the others were still engrossed in stuffing their backpacks to the brim, he led Isabelle and Nakama elsewhere.

“You guys should pick something,” said the boy. “I have enough treasures as it is, so why not the two of you pick one? Just go with what your heart says.”

“Can we do that?” Isabelle asked.

“They should have no problems with us taking one each,” said Gaius. “Go ahead.”

“Me too?” Nakama blinked, her eyes taking in every item happily. “There’s so many shiny things!”

“Just take one, the one you want the most,” said Gaius. “Listen to your heart and go forth.”

He waved his hands at them, and the two girls began to wander off aimlessly. After making sure that Kenouji was aware of what he just said, Gaius wandered off too, following his heart.

“What was that about?” Nexus’ voice echoed in his head. “Aren’t you afraid that they might just pick junk?”

“I’m testing out a hypothesis,” said Gaius. “This whole time, haven’t you also felt that there is some force guiding us towards an outcome? From ever since we arrived in the East? Our chance meeting with the Tsurugis back then, Takamagahara…”

“We were being guided here. Is that what you were saying?” Nexus contemplated for a moment, and then said, “So you think this was where we were meant to go, is that it? Like there’s something you were supposed to take from here?”

“Either that, or this is a pitstop to our real destination,” said Gaius. “I don’t like this feeling, but so far, it hasn’t done anything horrible to me or the others yet. And so long as I cannot reasonably take on a great god, I can only rely on this…road to protect me.”

“You’re being very optimistic,” Nexus replied, its voice tinged by a touch of warning. “Maybe it has kept you alive, but if your hypothesis is true, you will end up bringing disaster to everyone else around you. It is possible that your survival will be paid for with the lives of others, like what happened with Paragon Saito, if you continue to let this…fate guide you.”

“I know,” Gaius murmured out loud. “I know.”

Nexus fell silent as the boy walked towards a shelf. There were a wide variety of items stored neatly on it, but the one that caught Gaius’ eye was a small, featureless globe. It was the first thing that had caught his eye, for it wasn’t made out of gold…and it was floating off the shelf. There were many mystical things in the world of Orb, but floating off the ground on its own had to be up there on the list. Most artefacts only showed their true powers when activated, after all.

Qi roiled outwards from Gaius’ hand, bringing the globe over to him with a simple gesture. The violet sphere was cool to the touch, pushing his palm downwards slightly as it began to float on his hand.

“Huh,” said Gaius. “Mystical and all, but how do I use this?”

“This?” A voice came from behind him. “There’s a catalogue of items, complete with instructions.”

There was? Gaius repeated in his mind. Hopefully no one notices a missing stick, then.

“I got it from over there,” said the boy, who didn’t need to turn around to know that it was Kenouji. “Mind giving me a hand? I don’t know how to read these, uh, moon runes.”

Gaius didn’t want to say “Japanese”, for a whole host of reasons. By the looks of it, information regarding the Champions — like their names, even — were largely restricted to high society. Kishi Gakuen, as a school that catered to the children of the powerful and wealthy, was able to at least know Champion Solaris’ real name, but…

“The catalogue’s in English,” said Kenouji. “And then go to the relevant file over there afterwards.”

He pointed at a gaggle of youngsters flipping through papers at a table, comparing and testing out some artefacts that they’d picked up. Most of them looked like weapons, rather than just utility artefacts — it was quite the testament as to how insecure they felt right now.

Gaius glanced at the sphere, which was floating on his palm, and walked over to them.