"A different plane? That's a lie!" 34 said in shock, beginning to hyperventilate. He had barely avoided strangling his own servant because of her, and there was no telling what she was about to do next. Tsubasa was on a whole other level.

"It's no lie. 200 years ago, St. Ezreal's Academy developed the ability to traverse plains.", she explained. "We've been conducting humanitarian aid ever since."

"Humanitarian... You said before that you were human! Another lie!", 34 called Tsubasa out.

Tsubasa showed a look of concern on her face.

"Tell me, what's your name?", she asked.

"I'm Subject 34 of The Clan." Dignified, 34 recited his label.

"I see. Your humanity has been stripped from you, beginning with your title."

"I'm not a human!" 34 barked back.

"Then what are you?", Tsubasa inquired.

34 took a moment, looking at the old woman who was frozen in place, standing in front of Tsubasa with her arms stretched out. Tsubasa had given 34 a tremendous opportunity to reflect on his past. 34 was a killer, a mass murderer for his cause. The old woman was right, 34 was a monster, but he wasn't about to admit it.

Tsubasa was on a whole other level, and with no countermeasuers against her powers, this confrontation was beginning to look like his last.

"I'm an Esper, a superior race!" 34 angrily expressed. Backed into a corner, 34 charged at Tsubasa once again. The clan would not accept defeat. One of them had to go down. "For the clan!"

34 charged forard, only to be overwhelmed by a burst of white light shining from Tsubasa. The light was so bright, 34's eyes naturally shut on their own.

34 was basked in the light, competely surrounded by it. The floor, the walls, the ceiling, the people, all gone. Nothing but whiteness remained in 34's view, and his sprint game to a stop after his target vanished. His eyes took a momemnt to adjust before he could open them all the way.

"What's this?", 34 questioned. He stood alone in a field of white, which seemed to go on for infinity. "Did I die?"

A moment passed while 34 looked in all directions, searching for a person, place, or a thing other than white. Walking didn't seem to move himeslf in this place. There didn't seem to be an up or down, left or right.

"You're not dead, yet." Tsubasa's voice filled the whiteness, as if coming from all directions. 34 was a little startled, and looked for the source.

"Where are you!? Show yourself!", 34 demanded.

"I will not. I can tell you're on a mission, wanting only to kill. I'm not going to fight you. Surely you must realize I could end your life in an instant?"

34 knew it was true. Espers of the clan who could translate other people could kill by moving their target into a wall or under ground. Tsubasa seemed to be able to translate and much more.

"I've brought you to a new plane of existence.", Tsubasa continued. "In this place, you will not hunger, age, or die. This place is timeless, physicless, and inescapable."

"A perfect prison!", 34 was impressed, but the thought quickly faded as the fear of staying her forever loomed over him. "Alone for eternity, that's more like Hell. I may as well be dead!"

"I think you misunderstand", Tsubasa went on. "This isn't your sentence, this is your trial. I only put you in here because it's the only way I can talk to you without you trying to attack me!"

She was right. Moments ago, 34 was trying to get himself killed so he wouldn't have to face The Clan. If Tsubasa wouldn't kill him, the clan would. Either way, this was defeat. 34 relaxed his posture.

"What do you want from me?", 34 gave in.

"Tell me your story."

"My story? I'm Subject 34 of The Clan. I'm here to remove the weak."

"No, not that story. Tell me the story you don't tell people. The real story, not the one that's been forced on you. Let's start with your birth name."

"My birth name?"

"You know, the name your parents gave you."

34 hadn't used that name since his childhood. It had stopped being his name since The Clan had taken him in during the war. It had been so long, he'd almost forgotten.

"I'm Subject 34." he hesitated to recount his past.

"34? So that's what people called you for your whole life?"

"No..." 34 looked from left to right.

"You're alone here. Nobody but me can hear you."

The Clan had strictly forbidden the use of birth names. One's Subject number became their sole name after joining. Alone in this plane, 34 would have been comforted, if not for the fact that he was dead either way. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"My name's Aldo."

Aldo remained in the plane of white for months. Day and night, Tsubasa would listen to more of Aldo's story. Time didn't seem to matter to Tsubasa, her ears and voice were always present whenever Aldo had something more to say. He recounted losing his mother and father. He recounted The Clan's recruitment. He recounted his days in confinement when he stood up for other cell mates. He recounted killing hundreds of innocent people, and how it felt good to exercise power over them.

Little by little, his conciousness returned, and a feeling of guilt swept over him. He begged for Tsubasa to kill him, and she refused. Aldo tried to kill himself, but there was no means to do so in his endless sea of light. Tsubasa wouldn't allow it regardless, somehow able to monitor Aldo around the clock.

As Aldo hit the rock bottom of despair, Tsubasa offered him a new start. To join St. Ezreal's academy, and put his abilities to work, this time for good. With a path of redemption at hand, Aldo accepted.

Aldo awoke in a hospital bed, with an oxygen mask over his face. Trying to sit up, an intense pain came over the back of his neck.

"Oww!"

"Don't sit up so fast", Tsubasa said as she entered the room. "A nurse will be here shortly. You've been unconsciousness for five months."

"Five months? What are you talking about. I've been awake non-stop for five months in the plane of light you put me in!" Aldo's eyes spasmed as the light from the laps in the dim lit room hit his eyes. "Why are these lamps so bright?"

"You haven't used your eyes in five months. Take it easy."

Aldo looked down at himself, covered in a hospital gown, with an IV in hand, and a feeding tube in his throat.

"What the hell, Tsubasa? I was fine a moment ago, now I feel like shit! What has really been happening for the past five months?"

"I suppose this is abnormal for your native plane." Tsubasa started to explain. "You've been in Cryptic Isolation for five months. It's an Esper ability which pulls your consciousness into my own. It's how I defeated you back in the Human's stronghold."

"I've been trapped in your Astral realm for the past five months? Then that plane of white light?" Aldo was shocked.

"A fabrication in my mind. I bluffed that you were on a different plane. Your consciousness was only compartmentalized within my own."

"Then the fight, and the old lady at the Church?", Aldo wanted to hear the whole story.

"I made a copy of her appearance. As you fired Ionic Shock, I injected you and your partner into my consciousness when you blinked, along with your Ionic Shock. Everything from there was in my Astral Realm."

"So that's how you stopped our attacks."

"That's correct. You were in my lucid dream. I was in control of everything."

"So you didn't actually take away my Esper abilities?"

"I did, but only in that Astral Realm. Your abilities remain here."

Aldo looked at his palms, relieved to know that Ionic Shock was stil a part of him. He looked at Tsubasa. In the real world, would his Ionic Shock have any effect on her?

"If you're thinking of picking up where you left off, I'd be happy to put you back in Cryptic Isolation for another five months."

Aldo put his hands down on his lap. He swallowed, feeling the feeding tube rub against his throat.

"I'll pass."

"Good."

A nurse entered the room, adjusting the bed to the seated positon and removing the feeding tube from Aldo's face.

"There's just one more thing I want to know." Aldo asked. "How was I defeated so easily?"

"Your native plane is years behind St. Ezreal's. Your people have a lot to learn."

"How did you pull off a projection like Cryptic Isolation?"

"When I went through the front gate of the Human's stronghold to cut you off, I began a Remote Viewing projection to observe you. I saw how you acted towards your subordinate and the fallen men. That was enough to figure out your personality and state of mind, the prerequisite for injecting your consciousness. From there, it was easy, a lucid dream. Meanwhile, your body was collapsed on the church floor. All I had to do was grab you and plane shifted back home."

"That's incredible. I really had no chance." Aldo shook his head.

"In time, you'll learn Cryptic Isolation too." Tsubasa encouraged.

"That's all fine and good. But when will I get a rematch?" Aldo was itching for another fight.

"You're free of The Clan now, but you'll have to get used to how we do things here. We're the good guys! Once you get up to speed, you can expect a rematch." Tsubasa smiled.