Things you need to know before reading this chapter:

- Character thinking; Character reading; "Lloyd's language"

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss

Chapter 9: Converging Paths

A loud clang resounded when Guy's katana crossed with Cantabile's and the two were locked in a stand still. "This style of fighting..." Guy muttered and widened his eyes. "You are-"

He would have said more if not for the one eyed female suddenly jumping upwards to dodge Lloyd's horizontal slash from behind. Cantabile twisted her body and landed a kick at Lloyd's head. Using the force of the kick, she propelled herself into the air and gracefully landed on the ground several meters from them.

"Demon Fang!" She cried out the moment her feet and the tip of her blade touched the ground. Lloyd and Guy jumped away as a blue projectile, one that was larger than Guy's own version of the attack, was sent their way. When Lloyd landed, Cantabile was already less than a meter before him with her blade lowered to the ground on her side.

"Beast!" Lloyd had been focusing too much at her weapon and wasn't prepared to for the slamming attack. He was knocked further back when a blast of energy in the shape of a lion head was created due to the power of the attack, blasting him away.

He got up from the ground and wiped the tiny drop of blood sliding down from the side of his lips. He watched as Guy fought off their opponent using the same sword style. He had freaked out a bit when he saw Guy using similar attacks as him when they were in the ship to Baticul fighting off Oracle Knights. He had told himself a long time ago to stop wondering about the strangeness of this world, like how Anise's doll could enlarge and how the girl was able to control it with her mind. However, facing an enemy who used his own style of attack, one that he first thought he invented himself until Kratos pointed out to him that he had seen something similar before, in a planet Origin knew how far away was from his own planet was too weird.

"Heal." Lloyd felt something coursing through his body and knew that Natalia had patched his wounds up with her healing spell. He only felt a dull throb from his wounds due to his angelic senses to begin with, but it wasn't like he could tell Natalia to just focus on healing the others as he didn't need it as much as the others.

He spared a glance at the others to see if he should help the them instead as Guy seemed to be doing fine. Jade and Luke were engaged with Legretta some distance away. Anise was standing on the back of her enlarged doll before Ion to protect the Fon Master. Natalia and Tear were using their healing artes to heal the fighters.

Luke held up his sword and blocked a bullet Legretta shot at him. The agile God-General evaded Jade's spear and rushed at Luke who was lowering his blade. She did a back flip when she was close enough to the red haired boy and successfully kicked his sword away. Before Luke could react, she already had one of her guns pointing at his head. However, before she could do anything else, a small knife flew at her gun and knocked it away. She grunted as Jade chose that moment to thrust his spear at her. She performed another few back flips to get away from the Necromancer but she wasn't fast enough and the spear had inflicted an injury at her ankle.

Legretta toppled to the ground near her gun and knelt down. She hissed at the pain, she couldn't move as fast as before with this wound. She swiftly picked up the gun and pointed both her guns forward. "Tear! Why are you helping that reject?"

"Reject?!" Luke, who had just retrieved his sword from the ground, whirled around and pointed the tip of his blade at Legretta furiously. "You talking about me?!"

Jade froze for just a split second before regaining his composure, most of it anyway. "So it was you people who resurrected that forbidden technology!" He snarled.

"Jade, no!" Ion shouted from his position next to Anise and the Fon Master Guardian had to 'order' Tokunaga to use its arm to block the agitated boy from running into the battlefield. "There are some things people are better off not knowing!"

Jade shifted his attention to the green haired boy and slightly widened his eyes. "Ion... you knew?!" Yes, he had his suspicions about Ion, but to think the boy himself knew what he was and who the ones responsible of it were was just too much.

"What?" Luke directed his gaze to Jade then to Ion then back. "Stop leaving me out of the conversation! What are you talking about? It's something to do with me, right?!"

However, no one paid any heed to the boy's livid outburst as Jade's icy gaze that was full of cold fury fell on Legretta. "Whose idea was it? Was it Dist's?"

"Are you talking about fomicry? What good would it do you to know?" Legretta said dismissively, not at all fazed by the Necromancer's rare show of anger. "The die had been cast, Necromancer!"

"Over my dead body!" Fonons danced around Jade as he prepared the most powerful spell he could use currently. However, he had to stop his chanting and whipped out his spear to block when the other female God-General swung her katana at him.

"We are leaving, Legretta! You can't fight in your current condition." Cantabile shouted at her friend and pushed Jade back a few steps.

Legretta slowly got up from the ground. "Sorry, Cantabile." The she turned to her student. "Tear! Come back to us anytime! We'll be waiting for you." With that, she started getting away. Once Cantabile felt that Legretta was far away enough, she sheathed her sword and also retreated.

"Wait!" Jade barked and started to give chase to the retreating women. He suddenly jumped away and narrowly evaded a bullet shot his way. Knowing Legretta would cover Cantabile's escape, he opted not to give chase.

"Colonel?" Anise inquired a bit worriedly as the others also gathered by Jade's side. The Malkuthian soldier was always collected and it was unnerving to see him angry.

Jade straightened himself and schooled his expression. "I'm sorry. I lost control. I'm alright now. Let's hurry to Akzeriuth."

The others, except Luke, nodded, understanding that the man didn't want them to pry. They started walking away, leaving Luke and Mieu behind, the former still registering what just happened and the latter just faithfully stood by his master's side. "Damn it, you're keeping me in the dark on purpose! Tell me what the hell's going on!" Luke shouted in frustration.

The blue cheagle walked up to Luke and tried to comfort him. "Master, you mustn't get mad..."

Luke ignored Mieu and glared at the back of the others. "They all jerk me around and then act like I'm not even here! I'm the ambassador, damn it!"

"Master..."

"Why won't anyone tell me what's going on!? Why did Legretta call me a reject?! And everybody else is keeping all these big secrets from me! Stop making fun of me! I'm the ambassador!"

"Luke." Tear called out, having heard his complaint. The others had already left Deo Pass, but Tear noticed that Luke wasn't following and decided to go back to check on him. "Perhaps we could have explained things better, but if you're going to keep up that attitude..."

Luke glared at Tear angrily. "Stop preaching and shut the hell up you cold-"

"Stop being so childish!" The female soldier snapped.

"Shut up!" Luke shouted. "Master Van never made fun of me! He was always nice to me! He always explained things if I didn't know them! He-"

"So you're just a puppet who can't do anything without my brother around?" Tear asked sharply.

"What?!" Luke narrowed his eyes.

"Never mind." Tear started leaving, but then she paused after several steps and turned her head sideways to look at Luke. "But let me tell you something. You'd better start thinking on your own, or one of these days you're going to do something you cannot undo."

Luke glared at the back of the girl. Mieu walked up to him. "Master, please don't get angry."

"Then go away!" The angry boy lashed out at the cheagle. "Just leave me alone already! All of you! Master Van's the only one... he's the only one who understands!"

"ND2018. The dawn of holiness shall heed the call of his ancestor and through the link between them, he shall join the light of the sacred flame and follow the young scion of Lorelei's power to the miner's city." Kratos recited the Score. Although that's only the first sentence that had Lloyd mentioned in it, he decided that he had read enough.

"The light of the sacred flame... he's travelling with the replica?" Asch asked.

Kratos shook his head. "It shouldn't be correct anymore because of Luke's birth seven years ago." He knew how Asch felt about calling his replica by name, but no matter what he felt, his replica was still a human and Kratos refused to call him anything but his name.

"No. It's correct." Dist said. "Lloyd was with Luke's party when I saw him. And Asch, didn't you also mentioned that he was trying to save Ion outside Baticul?"

"Yes. Before that fool interrupted and thought I was the enemy." Asch said with bitterness. "And I also saw him again when I looked through that idiot's eyes when I told him where to look for Ion."

Dist rolled his eyes at the boy's beginning-to-get-annoying addressing of his replica. "Anyway, so the Score is right about Lloyd following Luke to the miner's city, which I suppose to be Akzeriuth. But if that happens..."

Kratos hand glowed green again as he sought the part of the Score about Akzeriuth's destruction. "The young scion of Lorelei's power shall bring his people to the miner's city. There, the youth will turn power to calamity and be as a weapon to Kimlasca, destroying himself and the city."

Asch frowned. "But Van's trying to overturn the Score. Why would he let the replica fulfill my part of it?"

"Maybe it's because he's not the real you?" Dist rubbed his chin. "The power here is referring to your ability to cause hyperresonance on your own. When Van wanted to replicate you, he specifically said he needed one that also has the ability to do that. And now that he knows you aren't dead, Luke is... disposable..." He dropped his hand to his side and lowered his head. "To Mohs and Van, the replicas... they are all disposable... so long as there's another one that has a more similar power to the original..."

They all knew that more replicas had to be made if they were really going to go along with Van's plan to overturn the Score, as to their current knowledge, only the presence of replicas could derail the Score. And Dist was the only one who could do it, even if he didn't want to. Well, the other scientists could also that, but they weren't as good as the God-General yet in fomicry.

Dist had let the others carry out the experiment again when Mohs wanted to replicate Ion while he supervised, and that had led to what they now dubbed as the tragedy in Mount Zaleho until Dist finally decided to do the replication himself due to the others' incompetence to create a perfect replica.

That tragedy had had a great impact on the scientist, so much so that he had even tried to commit suicide when he was in Derris Kharlan, though part of his sudden urge to do so could be due to Shadow talking to Kratos in the room next to the lab he was working in. After that, it had still taken them a long time just to get the man to tell them what the problem was and Asch had to agree that that was probably the most disturbing event he had ever heard of. However, Dist said that he had seen even more horrible ways to dispose failed replicas and Asch didn't want to even imagine what could be more disturbing than throwing newly born replicas into the mouth of a volcano.

But then it was a delayed reaction, because Dist was only hit by the full extent of all the inhumane treatment of replica half an year after that accident. According to the God-General himself, he had felt weird and maybe a bit sad when that happened, but he hadn't given much thought to it. Before, he had viewed the replicas as guinea pigs, nothing more, nothing less. It was only after he became friends with the Fon Master Guardian and, through her, the new Fon Master, that he finally understood why he had felt his heart clench when Mohs threw the replicas into the volcano. He wasn't able to see the replicas as mere guinea pigs anymore and all the past mistreatment he had indirectly taken a hand in when dealing with the failed replicas had finally caught up to him.

Kratos was about to say something when Dist breathed in deeply and looked up at them again. "The Score is talking about you, Asch, not Luke. As long as you aren't the one that die, Van would have successfully deviated from the Score." His eyes narrowed. "But due to the planet's memory, the only way to make sure that you won't die in Akzeriuth in the future is to destroy the city. And to do that..."

Asch widened his eyes as he finally understood what the Score meant when it said he was to use his power to destroy himself and the city.

Luke stood near the entrance of Akzeriuth and covered the lower half of his face with his arm. "Wh- what is this?"

Jade briefly scanned over the miasma covered city and took in the situation. "This is worse than I imagined." The concentration of the poison gas was so high that the purple mist had significantly decreased the visibility, making them unable to tell where the bottom of the city was.

The entrance guard, or who they supposed to be the entrance guard, was sitting against the cliff. He looked lifeless and dead to the world if not for the barely visible rising and falling of his chest. Natalia and Lloyd immediately went over to him and knelt down beside him. The princess started channeling the fonons in her body to heal the man.

Luke looked at Natalia with a mixture of worry and irritation. "H- hey, Natalia, they're dirty. Get away from them. You might catch something."

Natalia stopped her chanting at the words and felt as if a spike had pierced through her heart. The old Luke would never say something like that. She bit her quivering lips and turned to glare at the boy she once admired with all her heart. "What's dirty? What am I going to catch?! Don't say such stupid things!" She pushed back the pain she was feeling in her chest and turned back to the man to continue tending to him.

Guy seemed to want to say something, though no one knew if he was going to confront Luke or comfort Natalia when a man ran towards them. "Did you all come from the Kimlascan side?" He asked once he stopped before them.

Luke stared at the man. "Um..." He supposed he should say something as he's the leader, but truly, he wasn't sure what he's going to say.

"I'm Natalia, Princess of Kimlasca." Natalia walked over to the newcomer, having already healed the entrance guard, though he was still slumping against the cliff and Lloyd was helping him sit straighter so he could breathe easier. "We've come to offer aid at the behest of His Majesty, Emperor Peony."

The man's eyes lit up. "Ah! A man named Grants told us you'd be coming! My name's Pyrope. I'm the local supervisor for the mine here. The mayor fell ill, so I'm handling things in his place."

Jade stepped up. "Where are Dorian General Grants and the rescue team?"

"Grants is inside the mine. He's attempting to rescue our companions who collapsed there." Pyrope replied. He then turned around and started walking. The party assumed that he was taking them to the mine and fell in steps after him.

Lloyd picked up the man from the ground, hoping to find a bed for him to lie on. He was unsure what the miasma was when Tear first explained to him why they were coming to this city. There was never a problem of poison gas leaking out from the ground in Aselia so he couldn't comprehend the full extent of the seriousness of the situation. He had even felt a bit weird when Tear said they were going to rescue the people here. Not because of the rescuing part, but he didn't understand why the people here didn't escape on their own.

He understood why when he saw the numerous people lying on the ground and heard groaning from literally everywhere and managed to link it with one of Guy's explanation sometime ago. Apparently this miasma had a slow effect and the effect it had on people varied depending on their physique. By the time they noticed that they had to leave the city, too many had already fallen ill and they needed a rescue party to help with the evacuation.

Maybe that's the reason Luke was in such a hurry? Because he wanted to save the people here as soon as possible? Lloyd had automatically come up with this reason as he didn't want to think of his new friend, one that had the patience to teach him some basics of their language slowly, as someone that would lash out at his comrades without any reason or just the lame reason that he wanted to meet his master.

Guy noticed his young master was still rooted to his spot, the ever faithful cheagle by his side, and thought that he might still be in shock because of what Natalia said. "Luke, come on! Think how everyone will feel if they see us looking depressed."

"I'm not depressed!" Luke huffed crossed his arms.

"Then let's catch up to the others, we still have people to help."

Luke frowned. "But I'm the ambassador... I don't have anything to do."

"Huh?" Guy blinked. "There's plenty for you to do. Transport the injured, carry things-"

"But why do I have to do that?! That's not my job!" Luke protested loudly.

Guy frowned and stared at his friend with something akin to disapproval. "Luke..."

"W-what?" Luke stuttered at the look on his servant. He had never seen Guy looking at him like that.

"You don't honestly think that, do you? Look around you. Use you head. Come on, let's go." Then he also turned away and caught up to the others.

"Master..." Mieu whispered as he saw the look of shock on Luke suddenly became one of disgust.

"Tch. Carrying them off one at a time would take forever! I can use hyperresonance to get rid of the miasma in an instant like Master Van said. But first... I've to find Master Van." He said to himself and also started following the others to the tunnel.

He had only taken a few steps when a familiar splitting headache burst out and he clutched his head. "Asch, yo- you again?"

"Master! Are you okay?" Mieu cried out worriedly.

Where are yo- you fool! Leave Akzeriuth now!

"Wh- what are you talking about!? I'm saving the people here!" He gritted out and started shaking his head, wanting to get the other out of his head. He didn't know how, but the headache suddenly disappeared. He gave his head one last shake and ran after the others. Mieu frowned but didn't say anything else and followed his master.

"Tch. The idiot shook me off." Asch said irritatingly.

He and Kratos had left Daath immediately after they realised the horror of what Van's going to do. Dist would have come too but he had to look after Reiner so he stayed behind. They were going to the warp in the forest near Daath. From there, they would go to Derris Kharlan, set another warp's destination to where the replica and his group were and stop them from going to Akzeriuth.

"Where're they?" Kratos asked as he stopped on the warp.

Asch stood next to Kratos, also on the warp. "In Akzeriuth already." He called for the required amount of fonons to activate the warp and closed his eyes. He never felt comfortable using the warps and he closed his eyes whenever he warpped. He felt the familiar tug on his body's fonons. Moments later he opened his eyes and saw the city of Welgaia.

"You go to warp zero three first. I can get to the control room to reset the coordinate faster on my own. And if you pass by any angels, tell them to prepare several wing packs packed with Rheairds and medical equipment." Kratos drew out his wings and took off at a breakneck speed.

Asch nodded, even though Kratos wouldn't be able to see it, and ran to the designated warp. They had to hurry. It's impossible to set the coordinate of the warp destination to somewhere inside Akzeriuth as they didn't know the situation in the city. They also didn't want to know what would happen if a person was standing on the set destination or got stuck in something solid because of bad luck.

"Locrian Sergeant Grants!" They halted at the call and turned around to see an Oracle Knight coming up to them. Lloyd tensed, but upon seeing that none of the others had a similar reaction, he supposed this man was not here for Ion. He heard the man said the word 'Grants', perhaps he's looking for Tear?

His questioned was answered when Tear walked up to the man. "Grand Maestro Mohs had sent a message regarding the Seventh Fonstone."

Ion perked up at the mention of the missing fonstone. "The Seventh Fonstone!? Don't tell me it's been found!?"

"Fon Master!" The soldier saluted once he realized who the one that asked the question was. "We found a fonstone that might be it after the Grand Maestro sent a message to let us know that there's a possibility it might be here. But we can't be sure until we excavate it."

Ion nodded and looked at Tear. "Tear, please go confirm the Seventh Fonstone's authenticity. I'll go with the others and catch up to the vanguard."

Tear reluctantly nodded. "Alright. Please take care of the villagers." She then left with the soldier.

Several minutes later she felt something was wrong as they were leaving the city. "Is it not in the city?" She asked.

"We found it in one of the cliffs outside the city and it's too large to transfer it into the city."

Tear raised an eyebrow at that but didn't comment. If the fonstone's that large someone should have stumbled upon it already. She decided against commenting on it and silently followed after the Oracle Knight. They went to a cliff-side that Tear thought to be where the fonstone was held. However, when she stopped before the cliff and looked down, she saw something that shouldn't be here.

"Tartarus!" She gasped and whipped her head to the soldier beside her. "What's the meaning of this?" She narrowed her eyes and gazed sharply at the man.

She heard footsteps and saw Oracle Knights appearing from behind some of the larger boulders. An ambush? She went into her battle stance, prepared to fight her way out if need be. But why me alone?

"Lady Grants, please put away your weapon and come with us. We don't want to hurt you." The man before her said.

Tear recalled how Major Legretta and Major Cantabile had showed up with the intention to stop her and not catch Ion. It didn't make sense, but she could safely assume that the Six God-Generals, and maybe also Van, didn't want her to go to Akzeriuth.

"Judgement!" She heard someone shouted and reddish light pillars started raining down on the area taking out Oracle Knights here and there.

"Wh-" Tear stared in amazement when the soldiers that were hit cried out in pain before falling to the ground.

"Who's there?" The man nearest to Tear shouted after the pillars of light ceased falling onto them after several seconds.

The question was answered by several more cries and the sound of blade meeting metal and flesh. Tear turned to the direction of the source and saw two men plowing through the sea of Oracle Knights. Her eyes widened as she took in the appearance of one of them. "Asch!"

Anise bumped into Lloyd who had suddenly stopped. "Ouch! Lloyd, why did you stop?"

Guy glanced backwards at Anise's words and saw that the twin swordsman had indeed stopped. He also noticed the expression of shock on his face and walked up to him. "Lloyd, are you okay?" He asked, worried that the man was affected by the miasma but just didn't know how to tell them.

"What is it now? Master Van is just ahead!" Luke sneered, causing Natalia and Anise to glare at him.

Lloyd ignored the others and turned around so that he's facing the entrance of the tunnel.

"Lloyd?" Ion asked and placed a hand on the man's arm.

Lloyd blinked at the contact and looked down to see the Fon Master looking at him worriedly. "I..." He began, but didn't know how to continue. Both because he couldn't speak the language well yet and because he didn't know what to say even if he knew the words. Really, what could he say? He sensed someone, most probably his father, using an angelic arte somewhere outside?

He closed his mouth and drew it into a tight line. They were helping the people here... but if he didn't go after Kratos now, he might not be able to find him until long, and more might die in his world because of the delay. He still needed to wait for Verius to wake up, but he was sure the age old angel with a seemingly bottomless pit of knowledge would be able to help him with that too.

He looked longingly at the direction where that mana had come from. It's also been a long time since he last saw his biological father and he desperately wanted to go meet him now.

"There's something you have to do." Lloyd snapped his head at Jade. He could fully understand what the man had said and noticed that it wasn't a question.

Lloyd gingerly nodded. Maybe it's because of the tone. Or maybe it's because the man had rarely talked to him, he supposed that's because he's still wary of him and had been observing him during the time they spent together. The sentence had made him realize that his original purpose of tagging along this group was to fish for more information about Kratos and mana. He hated to admit it, but he needed to put finding Kratos his first priority. He had come here to look for him after all.

"Then go." Lloyd felt a non-explainable emotion swelled in his chest as he switched his attention back to the gentle green haired boy who had softly uttered the two words.

"We'll be okay." Ion continued. He was always very understanding to the others. Even in a situation like this where Lloyd was sure his action had confused the hell out of the others, evidenced by their dumbfounded expression at the weird exchange, Ion had managed to put Lloyd's need above his own.

Lloyd reluctantly nodded again. "Sorry." He whispered and ran away from them.

"Wh- wait! Where the heck do you think you are going!?" Luke shouted at the retreating back of the twin swordsman, snapping Guy, Natalia and Anise out of their stupor.

"What happened? Colonel, why did you... ?" Anise asked.

Jade shrugged. "Everyone has their own duty to perform. So should we continue now that that's over?" He ignored the raised eyebrow of the others and proceeded onward. He didn't want to explain why he knew that. The expression Lloyd donned when he slowly turned his gaze from Ion to the entrance of the tunnel... it's one that he had only seen on people that were choosing between life and death. He wasn't familiar with the expression himself but he had seen it countless times before that he could tell. He didn't know what triggered that reaction on the experienced and normally carefree swordsman, but he felt compelled to say the words out loud.

Guy frowned. They had established the fact that Lloyd wasn't a spy. But what had made the swordsman suddenly leave them? However, he knew Jade was a very cautious man and if the Necromancer felt that it was okay to let him go, he didn't see any problem with it. Though he still had a lot of questions floating in his head now.

"Tch." Luke snorted. Once again glaring at the back of the others as they went on. Everyone's like this, even Lloyd had to suddenly leave without his permission. He's the ambassador here, damn it. He was sure if he could get rid of the source of miasma like Master Van said, everyone would view him as a hero and start treating him the way they should.

"Where the hell is Master Van?" He muttered.

"Luke, let's go." Ion said when he noticed the red haired noble wasn't moving. He also heard the mumbled words. "We need to take care of the people in the tunnel first. Why are you so eager to find Van?"

"Well, Master Van's here helping people too. He'll know what I should do. I have to go find him first." Luke said as if it was the most natural thing of the world.

"Luke, the people here are counting on you, as the goodwill ambassador, to rescue them as quickly as-"

"I know, I know! You don't have to tell me!" Luke snapped.

"I see... very well, then." Ion was about to walk away when Luke suddenly cried out in pain.

"Argh! Not again!" He clutched his head with one of his hand and saw out of the corner of his eye Ion and Mieu standing next to him with worried looks.

"Master!" Mieu exclaimed.

Don't take another step!

"Sh- shut up!" He grunted out and soon the headache faded away.

"Are you alright?" Ion asked.

Luke let out a sigh. "Yes, it's passed now. Let's go."

~ Skit: Lorelei's call ~

Asch: Kratos, the Score says something about your son heeding the call of his ancestor. What was that about?

Dist: Ah, that's right, you don't know that part yet.

Asch: ?

Kratos: Remember when I told you that Lorelei was once a human?

Asch: Yes... wait, you mean you are Lorelei's... ?! But how?

Dist: Lorelei married someone from Derris Kharlan and that someone left Auldrant with their children because they're beings of mana and couldn't stay behind.

Asch: And one of their children was Kratos' ancestor. Damn, I know you have many world shaking secrets, but to be the descendant of the Aggregate Sentience of Sound... why didn't you tell me before?

Kratos: There was no need.

Dist: If it makes you feel better, I only knew it because I asked him about the ability to summon.

Asch: You mean pestered.

Dist: You-

Kratos: Dist wanted to know if it is possible for him to use the pact bracelet so I told him that I am only able to do it because of my heritage.

Asch: Why would you want to use it?

Dist: I just wanted to know whether others can use it or not.

Asch: Why can't the others use it then?

Kratos: It was made specifically to react to either Lorelei's fonon frequency or his blood.

Asch: Does that mean I can use it? Dist once said that my fonon frequency is the same as Lorelei.

Dist: No, the fonon frequency we are talking about here is that of the human Lorelei. His fonon frequency was changed when he became the Aggregate Sentience of Sound so the two are different.

Asch: I see... so naturally only Lorelei's descendant can use the pact bracelet then... anyway, do you think what the Score means is that Lorelei summoned your son or something similar?

Kratos: I think it's more likely that he was aiming for somewhere else but was caught up in the Seventh Fonon hyperresonance due to the compatibility between mana and Seventh Fonon.

Asch: Seventh Fonon hyperresonance?

Dist: Van's sister tried to kill him but failed when Luke intercepted. A hyperresonance happened when their weapons clashed as they were both Seventh Fonists and apparently Luke didn't know how to control his fonons that well. The hyperresonance sent them to Tataroo Valley.

Asch: How do you know that?

Dist: Of course it's because I'm an amazing and brilliant spy.

Asch: (rolled his eyes) Kratos, what do you mean he was aiming for somewhere else? I mean, how?

Kratos: His sword, the Eternal Sword, is an artefact that has the power to bend time and space. I suppose he used the sword's power to get here, though the power of it alone shouldn't be enough to travel this far...

Dist: Hey! Don't igno- wait, the power to bend time and space!?

Kratos: Origin, the Summon Spirit of Birth who has control over time and space, is the creator of the Eternal Sword.

Dist: Right... but he has two swords...

Kratos: He's already a twin swordsman when he became the Eternal Swordsman. Origin modified it to suit him. When he puts the two swords, Flamberge and Vorpal Sword, or simply the Material Blade, together, it becomes the Eternal Sword.

Dist: A purple sword?

Kratos: … did Lloyd use the Eternal Sword on you?

Dist: Huh? No.

Kratos: Then how do you know the color of it?

Dist: Isn't it obvious? I mean, he has a red and a blue sword. One gets purple when he mixes red and blue together.

Kratos, Asch: ...

Author's Note:

Reality Hacker - Yes, Lloyd would be able to fly, but as you have guessed, it would be a while before he could do so. I also like the idea of Kratos teaching Lloyd use angelic skills, so yeah, I think I will add something like that later. I haven't put much thought about it before... so thanks for the idea^^

When I wrote the part about disposable replicas, I thought of episode 6 of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S. Devoted scientists wouldn't be able to see their test subjects as anything but guinea pigs unless something made them change their point of view.

I thought to make a skit where in the end Asch said something that made Kratos and Dist went '…' to make it a 'full circle', but I can't think of anything Asch would say to trigger a similar reaction from both men at the same time... I mean, Kratos had his death glare that shut others up, Dist had his 'amazing' logic that sometimes made others speechless because of its sheer silliness, but Asch... I don't think any qualities in his character can do something like that at all... though if you can think of something you're welcome to leave a review to tell me what he'd got and I'll try to come up with a skit to make it a 'full circle'.

Cantabile's artes in this chapter:

Demon Fang 魔神剣 Majinken

Beast 獅子戦吼 Shishisenkou

Uploaded on 11 Aug 2013.