>>37881213Branch 2: The Detective is doubtful and works with the Hero instead.
Not buying any of Magni's bullshit. Ame would instead opt for a different solution. If Tempus was as big a threat as her informant says then perhaps it's not the group but the Great Magni Dezmond instead. She agrees to his plan only with a few conditions. She agrees to give him intel about the world outside which she parades as the truth and Magni would give her intel about Elysium, how its societies work and how its overall system of magic goes. Of course, Magni, thinking this is a great opportunity to learn another world's system, agrees but isn't totally on board. Both characters would be playing 4D chess in their minds against each other. Instead of outright killing the members one by one, she convinces Magni to get to know the others better. Magni, doesn't buy this but with a little more spoonfeeding about the world outside, he agrees albeit hesitantly.
Ame takes the time to study how each of Magni's guildmates operates. Vesper is active at night, Axel is a meathead that loves to fight and Altare is as heroic as Magni claims, although when she meets him the first time even she can tell he's hiding something but unlike Magni, doesn't hold the same kind of malice. She offers to coax out some more information out of Magni, what his motives are, what his life used to be before joining the Guild. Magni makes up lies on the spot but Ame can pick out bits and pieces of truth and connects the dots. Thankful for the info, she'd tell Magni to brew up a potion based on what she learned in Elysium for her own use. She'd be aware Magni might try to change the recipe for his own gain and she would've commissioned another alchemist to make the same kind of potion out of sight out of mind.
As both Magni bides his time with the potionmaking, she intercepts Altare on a 3AM walk, petitioning him that Magni was going to betray him and his group. The Hero, insulted at the Detective's bold claims, frowned and politely told her to refrain from making such claims. Ame retorts and continues to declare these claims loudly and logically. Altare didn't like he was hearing, red crystalline horns sprout from his head, a malicious mark on his left hand, a crystal spike ready to impale Ame. She doesn't resist, clicks the button on the stopwatch and throws it at Altare before she gets impaled. Surprised, Altare grabs the watch and was taken to the same meeting spot days ago when Ame and Magni first talked about betraying the Guild. Horrified at the truth, he confronts Magni from the bushes and both he and Ame catch him in a pincer attack, unexpected and off-guard. The Ame didn't know who he was until he revealed the watch he was holding. It didn't take long for Magni to fall. Ame was pleased at the results but Altare was not. He gave Ame the watch back and told her to leave and never return. Despite Magni's betrayal, Altare saw him as a good friend and offered to bury him somewhere peaceful. The Leader of the Guild would know that each member would have their own motives and it was clear Magni's was desperate, he didn't know what and while the mystery opens up a lot of the info hidden behind closed doors, Ame couldn't help but feel she had made a grave mistake. For some strange reason, her body was commanded to leave, her mind registering the slight yellow sign embedded in his now red armor of light and leaves Elysium, destroying the path from her own world to his.TL;DR: Ame decides to work with Altare to kill Magni instead, believing he was the source of evil around Tempus at least according to her informant. After the battle she finds out he isn't the Hero she thought he was and was even given a warning to leave and never return. As if compelled by a godly force (The Hastur reference), she does as he told her, holding back the rage that he was forced to kill a friend from some stranger with good intentions.
Branch 2 was a little shortened, I wanted to add a little bit more 4D-chess mindtrickery between Ame and Magni but I just got off the clock. Branch 3 tomorrow.
