Memory 18

[itsalluseless]

Memory: Fucking magic battles, how do they work?! [ep3] (Significant Neutral)
Game: Team presentations with Hatter (not played)
Day: 202
Form: What appears to be a large-ish candy, in Emerald green. It tastes sweet when you lick it, but doesn't convey the memory—it also doesn't break if you chew on it, or . . . hit it with a hammer. You have to swallow it whole.

To kick off the third game, Beatrice sets up a series of unbelievable fantasy scenes: she arrives in Kinzo's study with Ronove only to set Kinzo on fire right in front of the servants. Then she summons the Stakes, who fight and defeat Kanon. Just as they're about to finish him off, Shannon stops them with her shield, though it cannot hold them for long. While Beatrice loses her composure and rages at how contented Shannon is to have fulfilled her love, Genji quietly and respectfully mercy-kills the two other servants, and in turn Ronove does the same for him.

After the scene in the study, the Stakes go on the hunt for more sacrifices, brutally attacking and killing Gohda in the kitchen. However, when they corner Kumasawa in the rose garden, they're stopped by a mysterious barrier. Kumasawa turns into Virgilia and proceeds to have a magic battle of epic proportions with Beatrice, ending in her own defeat.

Throughout all this, Beatrice mocks a dumbfounded Battler; how can he deny magic when he's seeing it with his own two eyes?! He ends up crouching under a table, refusing to give up but unable to keep going on. Finally it just becomes too much for him and he escapes into the garden where the battle took place.

......I don't know what's what anymore. After being shown something that screwed up, how could I resist...

I wandered aimlessly through the rose garden. ......It was raining and windy, but that didn't mean my body got wet. ...There was just a feeling of isolation as I wandered amidst the wind and rain without an umbrella.

BATTLER: ...............Maybe, ...I lost to that person's game a long time ago.

...Actually, in the last game, I wonder whether we hadn't reached a clear resolution. After all, I had surrendered for a time. So the world had been tinted with witches and magic.

......Right now, Rokkenjima is a different world, where witches stride around openly and fire off strange magic. ...It isn't a matter of accepting it or denying it.

Maybe I had mistakenly assumed that I was playing a game on an even footing with Beato. I had already been defeated in the last game, ...and this may just be the signing ceremony of my surrender.

Just now, a terrible battle had unfolded in this rose garden. I had seen it with my own eyes.

I kicked the ground. ......Obviously, the ground was hard. And a puddle splashed. Several towers had split this ground, sprouting like high-rise buildings.

......The more I kicked this ground, .........the more it felt like that really couldn't be possible. But, because of that, I couldn't explain it with anything other than magic anymore......

BATTLER: ......A closed room with the key shut up inside. That one again. I know that that's often used to prolong detective novels. ......But, ......still... That big flashy thing...... Damn it.........

VIRGILIA: ............It seems that my disciple has caused you much trouble.

BATTLER: ...Huh? .........It's you...

I was suddenly spoken to, so I turned around, ...and in the rose garden arbor, ......was the Predecessor Beatrice, who Beatrice had supposedly defeated a short while ago.

BATTLER: .........I was sure you'd died. So, you were alive.

VIRGILIA: No, I died. ...Now, I am nothing more than a defeated chess piece loitering outside the chessboard.

BATTLER: You're Beato's teacher, right? So, in other words, you're a witch too.

VIRGILIA: ......Yes, that is correct.

BATTLER: Heh. So, in other words, ......that means witches really do exist? And I'm not the one who can defeat her. That'd be you, since you can use awesome magic, wouldn't it? ...I'm just useless now. There's nothing I can do anymore...

VIRGILIA: ............Oh, my. Have you surrendered completely?

BATTLER: What do you mean, surrender?! How should I explain that?! Towers sprouting and falling!! Huge giants holding shields and throwing spears! Aaah, just remembering it makes me feel weird, now even reasoning's useless, isn't it?!! We've left the level of tricks and explanations with human culprits!! Aaaaaaaaaaahh, damn it damn it damn it damn it!!

VIRGILIA: Calm yourself. ......I am nothing more than a piece on that child's game board. After being removed from that board, I am no longer a being who can do anything. But you are that child's opponent. Because as long as you do not give up by yourself, you will always have the power to strike back at that child.

Shut up! Weren't you also reciting strange spells and summoning towers and spears?!! What do you mean, strike back?! Are you saying you'll teach me magic too, and make me take part in that massive magic battle?!!

VIRGILIA: ......If you wish, I could teach you a bit about magic.

BATTLER: Oh, just what I wanted! Please, give me some awesome magic to smash her chest in one blow...!! Hah, don't screw with me!

VIRGILIA: I hear that in Japanese magic, there is a ceremony to pray for rain. Do you know of it?

BATTLER: Rain ceremony? That thing where you throw stuff into the fire and offer a dance? ......That's not magic. They say that the fire causes an updraft, and as a result, rain clouds gather. That's supposed to be an accepted scientific phenomenon.

VIRGILIA: Oh? ...I had believed that it was a form of eastern magic, but it isn't magic? I had believed that people offered sacred fire to the heavens, as well as a dance of respect, so that your entreaty for rain would reach the hearts of the gods.

BATTLER: Maybe people did that long ago. But most occult things like that have a scientific explanation.

VIRGILIA: Why do things burn? Isn't that because phlogiston is contained in the material?

BATTLER: ......No, things burn because of a chemical reaction. Lavoisier abolished the phlogiston theory.

VIRGILIA: Why does heat transfer through objects? Isn't that because caloric is contained in the material?

BATTLER: ...I'm pretty sure that was abolished by Joule. Heat is energy, not a substance.

VIRGILIA: You have studied well. Your knowledge is correct.

BATTLER: ...It's just some random facts.

VIRGILIA: Phlogiston, caloric, and eventually ether and god's love. ......All are powerless before a scientific explanation. In the past, I was told that an apple falling from a tree was thanks to god's love, so that humans would be given food.

BATTLER: The love of god instead of gravity? ...Well, that's probably the remnants from the period when religion rather than science was used to explain everything.

VIRGILIA: That is correct. In the past, humans called the limits of their knowledge, ......no, ignorance itself, magic. ...Just like the rain ceremony we were just talking about. Did the people of ancient times realize that there was a scientific explanation, that fire gave rise to heat to cause updrafts which called clouds? Even without understanding, they at least knew of the result.

BATTLER: ......That probably happened a lot. That thing called knowledge of the ancestors. Even without understanding the reason, through long experience, they knew that they would achieve a result. ...Phenomena whose principles they didn't understand were probably the same as magic to them.

Just like this person had just said, ancient people who didn't understand the principles had probably believed that, through the rain ceremony, their wish would reach the heavens and make rain fall. To them, that was certainly magic. As long as they didn't understand updrafts...

VIRGILIA: If you push an electrical switch, a light turns on. ......Children do not know the scientific principles behind why a lightbulb lights up, they only know the result when they push the switch. If they obtain a result without knowing the principles, isn't that magic to them?

BATTLER: .............That's pretty interesting. ...Well, logically, that's true. ...For example, I don't have a clue why the Braun tubes in a TV show a picture. However, I think it's completely normal to see things shown on a TV. Even if I don't understand the principles behind Braun tubes, I at least know that 'if I push the switch I can watch TV'. ...It's exactly the same as having a rain ceremony without understanding updrafts. ......In other words, if I don't know the principles, even TV is the same as magic, no, could you say that it is magic?

VIRGILIA: Do you know how Braun tubes are constructed? Have you ever taken one apart and looked inside?

BATTLER: ......Nope. I think I read about it in a book or something once, but it was complicated and I didn't have a clue. I think that when electrons hit a fluorescent material, it creates luminescence or something like that...

VIRGILIA: That book was a fake. Actually, there are small people called gremlins shut up inside the Braun tubes, and they do their job with magic.

BATTLER: Huh?! That's stupid, there's no way...!

VIRGILIA: How can you deny it if you have never looked inside a Braun tube?

BATTLER: ......I've never looked inside, but I can state that small people like that definitely don't exist!

VIRGILIA: Since there is no Braun tube here, that is impossible to prove.

BATTLER: Y, yeah, it is impossible to prove right now, ...but later I can take apart a TV somewhere and show you, and instantly win the argument!

VIRGILIA: So, in other words, my 'magic theory', that gremlins are shut up inside Braun tubes and display the picture with magic, is impossible to disprove until we can verify the contents of a Braun tube, right?

BATTLER: .........Erk, .........what the hell, one of those? Are you trying to say it's a 'Devil's Proof'? That's your favorite trick, you witches.

VIRGILIA: A 'Devil's Proof' is a form of underhanded sophistry formed by claiming that it is impossible to prove a negative fact. However, it is different from what I am talking about with Braun tubes. That could be resolved just by taking apart a single television.

BATTLER: .......You're right. It really isn't a 'Devil's Proof'.

VIRGILIA: The scientific theory you propose, and the magical theory I propose. ...One of those is the truth. And which one it is can be ascertained as soon as you look inside the Braun tube. However, until the instant that happens, we cannot deny each other's theories. So while there is only one truth, until you look into the Braun tube, you can make two conflicting truths exist at the same time. ......A different universe where, in a case that only one truth must exist, two can exist at the same time.

Is the cat in the box alive or dead? If you open the box, you will know the answer. You will know the truth. However, until you open the box, you can claim that the cat is alive, and you can also claim it is dead.

Each of the two parties make a claim that is the 'correct' truth, and even though the two sides are conflicting, neither can win the argument as long as the box remains unopened.


In other words, two truths exist at the same time. Even though there can only be one cat in the box, it is packed with a living cat and a dead cat, in a strange parallel world.

That is what Rokkenjima is now. ......This island is now a different world where a science theory and a magic theory exist at the same time. ...To a resident of the world of science such as yourself, at a glance, it may feel as though this island had been sucked into a world of magic.

While that may be correct, it is not accurate. Strictly speaking, it has been moved from the world of science to the gap between that world and the world of magic. So at a glance, it appears to you as though the world is tilted towards the magic side. ......But actually, this island is now in a perfectly impartial position with relation to the two opposing worlds.

BATTLER: ......I don't really get it... The gap between reality and magic? A perfectly impartial world? How's that? Hasn't everything been going really bad for me the whole time...?!

VIRGILIA: Then perhaps you could think of it this way. This is a trial. Think of it as a court where you and Beatrice are laying out opposing claims. It's like a Braun tube trial. That child claims that there are tiny people inside the Braun tubes. And she explains one thing after another, talking about the lives of the tiny people, what they look like, what type of magical power they have. ......And you?

BATTLER: ......Well, I study in a library, and argue back by explaining how Braun tubes are constructed.

VIRGILIA: At that moment, both your claim and that child's claim exist in the court at the same time. ......If you listen to that child's claim, you may hear it as though it were the truth. See it as though it were the truth.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
You truly were shown that.

BATTLER: ........................

VIRGILIA: At this moment, on Rokkenjima, witches and magic certainly might exist as truth. ...However, until the moment that the cat's box is opened, that world is an uncertain wave function. The entire situation can be explained by both sides at the same time. However, there is one truth. That truth is contracted by observation, and countless arguments are weeded out to become one truth. It is like when, in court, the judge makes his judgement. The two truths from the prosecutor's and the defense's claims, are contracted by the judgement, and become one.

BATTLER: .........To say it in your words, ......this island right now is the world right before looking into the Braun tube, right...? Therefore, the science theory and the magic theory cannot be denied. And since they cannot be denied,

VIRGILIA: Both can exist as truth. Therefore, both witches and magic can exist. ...However, at the same time, your opinion which denies that also exists as truth. .........It is a world where two conflicting things can exist at the same time. And, it is a world where the conflicting truths cannot disprove each other. .........Have you been able to understand...?

BATTLER: ..................In other words, ......no matter how much awesome magic Beato shows me, ...that is only a claim from the 'magic theory', and it doesn't disprove mine. So, 'no matter what kind of magic Beato shows me, in this world, that cannot become proof that magic exists'.

VIRGILIA: That's right. That child will probably even try to explain an apple falling from a tree with magic. That child might shake her staff and pluck the apple with magic, and claim that she dropped it to the earth. However, that would be nothing more than another one of her claims. None of her claims can block your opportunity to make a claim. ......In that sense, this world is quite 'impartial' to both sides.

BATTLER: .........I, get it.........Still. By that argument, if I show a sound argument with my 'science theory', and it collides head on with her 'magic theory', I also cannot win against her. Furthermore, the final judgement won't come until we peek into the Braun tube. .........Where is the Braun tube in this world? ...It means there's no reason for us to argue. ......Wouldn't it be alright if we just got along and peeked into the Braun tube? If there really is a tiny person in there, it's my complete loss. Otherwise, it's my victory. ......Why do we have to hold this debate without looking into the Braun tube?

VIRGILIA: That itself is the 'game' which that child has challenged you to. Maybe, instead of a court, I should use chess as an example. Victory and loss is not determined by a judge. You who are fighting will decide it yourselves.

BATTLER: ......Can you win an argument with an opponent in a screwed up world where multiple truths can exist at the same time?

VIRGILIA: In actuality, did you lose the argument, and surrender like this...?

BATTLER: ............Heh. ...Heheheh.

VIRGILIA: That is all the advice I can give you now. If you wish, I can occasionally give you advice.

BATTLER: ......Sure. Thanks, that really helps. ......I'll avenge you.

VIRGILIA: Hoh-hoh-ho, thank you. I am looking forward to it.

BATTLER: What's your name?

VIRGILIA: ...Beatrice used to be my name, but now that I have surrendered it, I do not have a name. .........So, I shall take a temporary name. ......Virgilius. ...No, what about Virgilia.

BATTLER: Virgilia. Valkyria? Wasn't that the name of a legendary goddess?

VIRGILIA: No. It means the one who is a guide to Beatrice. ......I will guide you to that child who waits at the summit of the Mount Purgatory. It should be a fitting name for that kind of guide.

BATTLER: To think that I'd accept help from a witch when I'm trying to deny witches. ......I see. If this is a contradictory world where different claims can exist at the same time, that also workss. ...Ihihi, it's almost funny.

VIRGILIA: I am borrowing that child's words, but you truly are like a phoenix. ......Your will to fight has already been revived. ...Come, if your heart is prepared, return to that child, ......return to the chessboard that child is sitting at. ......I look forward to seeing how far you can fight my disciple.

BATTLER: Yeah, watch it. ............I won't listen to her babbling anymore. I'll cooly fight to the end. I definitely won't get provoked by her anymore.

VIRGILIA: Then let us return. To the seat of the battle.

Battler returns to Beatrice, living up to his word and calmly dismissing her talk of the magic battle. She is shocked, but quickly realises Battler has been getting help from her old teacher. He urges her to bring on the first twilight so they can begin the game in earnest.

What he learned:
+100 understanding how magic works!
+which also pretty much establishes that magic is not real, doesn't it
+gosh, Beato is really buttmad about Shannon and George, isn't she
+there's a connection between Ronove and Genji as well as Virgilia and Kumasawa :?a
+Beatrice is not a name, it's a title that can pass on from one person to another
+this is all very significant but what does it meeeeaaaaan