Amaya blinked her eyes open as rays of sunshine peeked through the gap between her curtains. She got up and stretched her arms before getting out of her room. As soon as she opened the door, she saw Sanji walking across the corridor and toward the stairs while donning his metallic mask.

"Good morning, Sanji," she greeted, prompting him to stop, "Going somewhere?"

The man stared at her in deep thought for a moment. He then sighed, saying, "I was hoping I could get away before you woke up."

She looked at him questioningly. "Why would you want to do that? Is there something wrong?"

"No," he hurriedly replied in milliseconds, "I mean, yes, but not with you. You've been very accommodating but I've been resting away from the forest for too long. I need to get back to prevent any other Effigies from escaping."

Without putting up a fight, Amaya nodded in understanding. Sanji's posture relaxed as he saw this but it then stiffened up again as she said, "Okay, just wait for me to wash up. I'm coming with."

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. You're staying here," he immediately rejected.

Fury slowly began to creep its way onto Amaya's visage. "Why not?"

"Tetsuya hasn't come home yet."

"Onii doesn't own me. He can't tell me what to do."

"It's dangerous in there and you don't have a weapon with you."

"I have a weapon with me and I can even kill Effigies with it."

"But it's not even yours, is it?"

"That's…" Amaya's anger immediately dissipated. She hung her head low but she still refused to give up. "That's not fair, Sanji. You can't just… You can't just push me aside. I'm as much a part of this as you are now. That old man said he'll come for Lacrima."

It was Sanji's turn to show some anger on his expression. He turned away from the stairs and walked toward her as he clenched his fist and his expression contorted. "No, you're not. You're just a girl who just happened upon a dangerous weapon that can be easily thrown away and forgotten. I don't have a choice. I lost my humanity in that forest and I'm bound to this monster until the day I die! I'm the only one who has any business being in that place. I've tolerated you for a while back there but I won't allow it any further—"

"What are you two being so damn loud at five in the morning for!? You'll wake the neighbors up!" A voice shouted from downstairs accompanied by the sound of the front door closing.

The arguing duo immediately snapped out of their dramatic mood and the lady went downstairs to greet her guest. "Daisuke, you should've knocked," complained Amaya.

"I did. You were just too into your conversation to hear it," Daisuke explained, "Besides, Tetsu gave me a spare key and I'm free to use it whenever I want."

"Just because you could doesn't mean you should," argued the woman.

"Of course it does," he countered before looking around the room and at the stairs. Confusion then surfaced in his expression. "Where's Sanji?"

Amaya's eyes widened in surprise. She rushed upstairs and checked the room that he was using while he resided at the house. She saw the curtains billowing in the wind coming from the wide-open window. She ran to it and stuck her head outside to look for him. She saw a reddish-brown figure flying away from the house.

"Dammit, Sanji, come back here!" she shouted into the air.

"Shut up! You'll wake the neighbors!" Daisuke shouted back.

Tetsuya tried to relax on his chair with multiple wires and sensors attached to a helmet he was wearing on his head to connect to his thoughts. The wires were attached at the other end to pieces of armor to his left, his right, and behind him. Once everything was in place, he stood up from the chair and it was taken away.

"First test: right arm," he announced to a team in front of him who was in charge of observing the armor's activity and his vitals. He then flexed his right arm, bending his elbow, wrist, and fingers. The arm portion of the armor mimicked his movements exactly.

"All good," said one of his people after they observed that the reaction time of the armor was as expected and that his vitals were not affected at all. The same test was done for his other arm.

"Next test: left arm."

"All good."

"Next test: right leg." Tetsuya raised his right knee while rotating his ankle and flexing his toes. Just like with the arms, the corresponding leg portion of the armor moved exactly as he did.

"All good.

"Next test: left leg."

"All good."

"Next test: spine." He then rotated his neck once and bent his back forward and backward. The corresponding parts of the armor mimicked his movements without fail.

"All good."

"Great. Take five. We're doing the teleportation text next," Tetsuya instructed as some of his people took the helmet from him and set it aside.

He then grabbed his backpack and took out a sandwich that he bought at the company's cafeteria before doing the tests. He then sat down in front of a monitor and reviewed the data presented to him as he ate his snack. He wanted to double-check that nothing was missing and no obvious bugs were left in the programming. He wanted to begin the field tests as soon as possible and later that day was as soon as possible. As of the moment, only one of the armor system's configurations could be prepared by the end of the day but that was enough for him. Speaking of the configuration…

"Hey, Fox, is the disk ready yet?" he called out to one of his subordinates.

"Yes, sir. I just put on the finishing touches, in fact," a man around his age replied before handing him the item.

The disk was the size of his palm and was thicker than a normal CD. It was black in color and had bright blue lines peeking from the gaps in the surface. Instead of a hole, in the middle was a white circle with a blue symbol.

"Great work, Fox," Tetsuya commended.

"Thank you, sir," said the man before walking away to another task.

Tetsuya set the disk aside and finished his sandwich. He then stood up and called out, "Teleportation team, with me!"

"Where'd he put the damn keys?" Amaya scratched her head as she continued her luckless search.

"For what?" asked Daisuke.

"Onii's bike. You know, the remote-controlled one," replied the woman without looking back at him.

"Oh, that. The Pathfinder doesn't have any keys. It can only be activated by a device that only Tetsu has," he explained. A second later, a loud thud could be heard as Amaya felt her strength leave her legs.

"Couldn't you have said that earlier!?" she complained. She had been searching every nook and cranny of her house for too long. Sanji was now far from her reach.

Daisuke shrugged his shoulders. "How was I supposed to know what you were looking for? You didn't tell me what you were up to."

"Then take me to the forest," Amaya ordered.

"What? Why would I do that?" Daisuke asked incredulously.

The lady stood up as she responded, "My bike still hasn't been replaced and I need to get to Sanji."

"One, that's not my fault, and two, no, you don't need to. Sanji can take care of himself."

"Daisuke, I might not be the brightest but I'm not blind. I don't know what it is but something's slowly killing him. He needs as much help as he can get."

Daisuke inwardly cursed. He was impressed that she deduced that fact without him telling her anything, although he figured he was not giving her enough credit, but he regretted the fact that it made her more determined to take reckless actions.

"You can't give that help to him. You're more likely to kill him even quicker. Have you forgotten whose power you're using?"

Once again faced with her borrowed powers, Amaya could not help but feel frustrated. However, she knew better than anyone how unreliable her powers are so she did not argue back. "Fine." She then turned around and walked back to her room.

"That's something you don't see every day," Daisuke scratched his head at her reaction. He was used to her lashing out every time she did not get her way. He did not expect her to back down so easily. He sighed and walked to the kitchen, figuring that Amaya was not in the mood to cook breakfast.

As soon as she closed the room's door behind her, Amaya heard a voice in her head call out to her.

'Amaya.'

"What do you want this time, Lacrima?" she softly responded with a bit of venom in her voice.

'Do not sound so angered, your objective and mine are the same.'

The woman paused for a second. "What do you mean?"

'You want to pursue your friend to the forest. I wish for the same.'

Amaya clenched her fists as her anger began to well up. "I knew you were still after Sanji. Didn't I make it clear that I don't—"

'Do not be so hasty to jump to conclusions, Amaya. It is not the abomination who I want.'

It took another second for Amaya to recognize what the spirit meant. "You mean you want to take on the old man?"

'I have made mistakes in the past and I wish to correct the worst one.'

The statement reminded the woman of the burning questions she had been wanting to ask Lacrima for several days. "Mistakes? What mistakes? How exactly are you and the old man related?"

'Questions for another time, Amaya. We have to make haste for the forest immediately if you wish to meet your friend again.'

She hesitated to answer back. She knew that the only way inside the forest was through an Effigy and she would rather have Sanji do it for her than to have to knock a monster out without killing it to get the same effect. The longer she spent arguing with the spirit, the farther Sanji got away from her. However, she did not feel comfortable confronting Hisakawa without knowing his history with Lacrima. She needed to know so she can have an inkling of an idea about what will happen in the confrontation. If she did not have any control over her actions, she might as well know what her actions could be.

"Okay, fine, I'll listen to you but you're not getting away from this conversation. You owe me an explanation."

'You need not worry. I do not intend to withhold necessary information from you. Now, allow me to borrow your body once more. If we hurry, we might be able to intercept your friend.'

"You better not try any funny business," warned Amaya.

'I swear on my honor that I have no such plans.'

"Okay then. Do your thing," the woman consented.

She then felt her consciousness take the back seat as Lacrima took the wheel. The Lacrimal Belt turned back into its original form and wrapped around her waist. Lacrima then pressed the white button and transformed.

"Henshin."

"Aer."

She then walked to Amaya's bed and grabbed her blanket. "I will be needing this. I imagine you can easily have it replaced."

'What? No, that's my favorite. It's so warm and comfy and—'

"Even so, I need it," Lacrima interrupted. She then opened the large windows and jumped off while holding the blanket above her. Using her powers, she made wind blow into the blanket, keeping her in the air and propelling her forward like a makeshift glider.

"Is everything ready?"

"Yes, sir."

Tetsuya's team stood behind a fortified glass wall, looking into a room with two mostly metal containers that had transparent glass in front. Inside one of them was a mannequin outfitted with the armor pieces used in the experiment before this one and the other container only had a plain mannequin. Decorating the walls of both containers were black disks with blue outlines.

"Commencing the first test," Tetsuya announced. He then nodded to a man seated in front of a set of controls. The man nodded back and pushed a button, turning the system on.

The disks in the container with the armor glowed bright blue. Piece by piece, the armor disappeared from inside the container. Inside the other, the disks began to glow as the first ones did. Piece by piece, the armor materialized on the mannequin, equipping it bit by bit. Once the process was over, the lights dimmed down.

The team kept their silence for a moment to make sure that everything was perfectly fine. During that moment, nothing happened so Tetsuya pumped his fist and announced, "The test was a success!"

Loud cheers rang out as the team around him and other personnel working on other tasks celebrated. Tetsuya calmly smiled but inside, he was celebrating louder than everybody else in the room. He halted the cheering by raising a hand in the air.

"Good job, everyone. Now all that's left to do is to assemble the armor system and we'll be ready for the first field test. Assembly team, get to work. Everyone else, with me. I have an announcement to make."

Everyone in the room nodded, saluted, or otherwise expressed their agreement. A good portion of the people split off from the group and went to work on finishing the project. The rest waited in curiosity, silently wondering what it was their leader had to say. Fortunately for them, they did not have to wait long as Tetsuya began to speak.

"Now I know that you've all worked hard to complete this project and I am very thankful for your contribution. However, I have decided to conduct the field tests without your help. This does not mean that I do not trust you or that I don't acknowledge your competence in conducting the field tests. As you all know, to complete this project as soon as possible, we had to postpone our progress on every other project we currently have. Now that the Arx System is nearly complete, we cannot ignore those projects any longer. I'm trusting you to continue without my presence although you can contact me if necessary. Am I understood?"

Once again, his people expressed their compliance with his orders.

"Okay, now let's get back to work!"

"We have arrived," Lacrima announced as she landed. She then balled up the blanket and threw it aside.

'Hey! You could've folded it and set it aside so I can get it back later.'

"Amaya, the cloth was torn in several places. It is better for you to replace it than to keep it."

'Okay, fine. I don't see any Effigies around. How are you going to get in?'

"With ease." The spirit then walked forward and raised her hand to the air in front of her. Golden light seeped out from her palm before forming a portal peeking into the hidden forest.

'What!? What did you do, how long have you been able to do that, and why did you not tell me you could do that?'

"I opened a gateway to this small dimension, as long as this place has existed, and you never inquired of my ability to do this," Lacrima calmly answered all three questions before stepping into the portal which closed up as soon as both of her feet were on the other side.

'Wait, hold on. As long as this place has existed? This place was created?'

"Indeed. This kind of dimension could not come into existence naturally."

'So who created it?'

"Me, along with my student," Lacrima answered. So far, her words were filled with dignity and, at times, a little mischief. However, this time, they were filled with regret.

'You mean that old dude?''

Lacrima nodded, not saying anything more as she began to trek through the trees.

'Are you ever going to tell me the history between you two?'

The spirit remained silent for several seconds as if she did not hear Amaya asking the question in her head. The woman was about to ask again but Lacrima beat her to the punch. She sighed and began her tale whilst walking.

"You already know this but I was a mage many centuries ago. Us mages are not unlike the people you call scientists. We seek to uncover the secrets of the world but the secrets we seek are much more hidden than those that could be uncovered through science. I journeyed around the world, looking for other mages and seeking to learn about their discoveries. That journey took me to a country called Japan. However, instead of mages, I found only the remnants of a natural disaster. The only survivor from the village I visited was a young boy named Hisakawa. I could not find it in my heart to leave him behind in another village he did not know of so I took him and raised him like a son.

"I taught him everything I knew. My specialty was my knowledge of creation, represented by my control over the five elements. This belt was originally a tool that would raise my control over those elements while sacrificing my ability to create in situations when I have little magic power left but I digress. He could not learn everything I knew but he discovered other secrets that I did not know of, eventually leading to him having a specialty of his own: life force.

"I could create bodies of living beings but I could never breathe life into them. Hisakawa could create souls from nothing but his magic power. Seeing his talent, an old dream of mine was revived, a dream of creating my own world. Using my knowledge, I created a small dimension within a nearby forest in the country where I was living at the time, which was here, and I forged bodies of every living creature I could think of. He gave each of those bodies lives of their own. Nothing you see here is natural. This small world is our creation. Our masterpiece."

'So why did he kill you? You make it sound like you were living in perfect harmony with each other.'

Once again, Lacrima was silent. However, Amaya could sense that it was not because of contempt or an unwillingness to answer. She felt like Lacrima could not answer even if she wanted to.

With a choked voice, Lacrima replied, "I wish I knew why as well."

Amaya became silent in surprise. She expected her to react in rage. Before she could ask more, a voice called out to Lacrima.

"I had a feeling someone broke through the barrier. How did you do it and why?"

Lacrima turned around to face the inquirer and saw an armored monster with a metallic mask hiding his lower face.

"I did not 'break through' the barrier. I merely opened it like one would open a door," replied the spirit, "As for why, your friend wished to see you and I wished to meet with your creator."

Invictus' posture visibly tensed. His hands slowly clenched into fists and he began to shake in anger. "He did not create me," he growled in a low voice, "He ruined me."

Ignoring his anger, Lacrima said l, "Regardless, I have come to see him."

"Well, you won't," Invictus asserted, "The longer you're here, the more you put Amaya in danger."

"You are mistaken. I am capable of protecting myself and Amaya."

"Not against Hisakawa!" he shouted at her, causing her to flinch, "I've seen how you fight. It might've only been for a short while but I know you won't stand a chance so go back outside and—" A shrill cry from a creature then made itself known throughout the forest. Invictus clicked his tongue and sighed. "Now you've attracted one of those things."

"I will dispose of it," said Lacrima as she prepared to take off. However, the masked monster stopped her before she could start.

"No, I will. As I said, you're going outside. Now," he commanded before flying off to the source of the sound.

Once she was sure he could not see nor hear her, she began running in the direction he went but a voice from behind her made her stop in her tracks.

"It's just the two of us now, master. I heard you wanted to talk."

Amaya once again felt Lacrima's anger. She almost felt like she was being burned by the rage. Lacrima turned around and glared at the old man behind her. She growled, "Hisakawa."

"I would advise you not to fight me," he calmly spoke as if he was facing a normal human, "The child was right, you stand no chance against as you are now. I believe you are aware of that yourself. So, what did you want to talk about?"

Lacrima's fists tightened further but Amaya felt her anger dissipating. "Why…?"

Despite the question having only a single word, Hisakawa nodded in complete understanding. "The Effigies were our first creation together. They were far from perfect so you gave up on them. I, however, find value in our creation and I cannot risk you getting in my way so I transferred your soul to that crutch until I can perfect the Effigies. I did not anticipate your awakening while they are still incomplete so would you kindly go back to sleep?"

"… I will not allow that."

Lacrima pressed the red button on her belt, prompting energetic and upbeat music to play from the belt. She then went through the motions to change her suit's abilities.

"Ignis."

The white parts of her suit changed to red and seemed to burn like fire. Before anything else could be said between the two, Lacrima charged at Hisakawa while cocking her right fist back. The same fist burst into flames before she sent it flying forward. The old man saw it coming and moved his head out of the way before pushing her outstretched arm to the side with his left hand. His other hand was coated in a red eerie fog and he rammed it into the woman's midsection. Lacrima staggered but forced herself to remain standing. She gripped his left shoulder tightly and set her hand on fire. He shouted in pain before covering the area with the same red fog. Before he could counter, Lacrima pulled her right fist back again and landed a flame-covered punch on his face. He stumbled backward due to the blow and she used the opportunity to blow out a jet of flames from her open palm, forcing him to cover his whole body in the red fog and jump back.

"I must admit that hurt," Hisakawa casually commented as if he only suffered a scratch. Amaya noticed that where a burn should've been, there was only unscathed skin being shown through a burnt hole in his kimono.

"I haven't hurt you enough yet," said Lacrima as she set both her hands on fire.

"And you will never get that chance."

This time, it was Hisakawa who made the first move. With surprising agility for his appearance, he moved inside Lacrima's range and slammed a palm against her chest. Lacrima grabbed his wrist with both hands before it could do any real damage but the fog around his limb prevented it from being burned.

"Your body enhancement magic has greatly improved," praised the woman. Amidst all of Lacrima's different emotions at that moment, Amaya felt a small tinge of pride. "When we last fought, you could not defend against my elemental attacks."

"You are mistaken, master," the old man denied, "You simply grew weak."

Hisakawa rammed his shoulder against the woman, forcing her to let go of his arm. He tried to land a left punch but she deflected the blow and landed three of her own: two punches to the chest and a front kick to the chin. As the old man reeled back, Lacrima did not give him a chance to rest. She blasted fire at his unprotected legs, forcing him to jump up. Realizing he was now open to attack, Hisakawa raised his two arms in front of his body but instead of another blast of fire, Lacrima ran forward and landed a flying kick against his guard, making him soar backward. However, he landed on his feet with his guard still up, skidding to a stop. He then hastily threw a punch toward the charging Lacrima but she sidestepped the blow and slammed her knee into his midsection. Tiny spittles flew out of Hisakawa's mouth as he groaned in pain. Once again, she blew a torrent of flames out of her open palms but this time, the flames were enough to cover him.

"Enough!"

A fist covered in dark red fog came out of the big fireball and planted itself onto Lacrima's helmet. She reeled back in pain but immediately after, she began to feel weaker and weaker.

"W-what did you do?" she stuttered.

The flames subsided, revealing a disheveled and burnt but calm Hisakawa. He answered, "Over the years, I've tried to learn how to create a soul. My first step was learning how to destroy one. I had wished it would never come to this. After all, you still have much to teach me. However, whatever secrets you have learned, I can uncover them myself."

He then raised his hand to deliver the final blow but a green ray of light intercepted it. It did not wound him but it was enough to stop the attack from happening.

"Keep your hands off her, you damn dirty geezer!" shouted a boisterous voice.

Both the old man and his former master turned their heads to look at the intruder. Amaya immediately recognized the figure, or rather, figures.

'Daisuke!? Onii!?'

The speaker blew on his pistol's barrel as if there was smoke coming out of it. Beside him was his bespectacled friend holding two odd items in both hands.

"I was wanting to find an appropriate target to test my new system against. I just found one," declared Tetsuya with barely veiled fury in his voice.

However, Hisakawa just smiled despite the threat. "I invite you to come closer and try."

One of the items in Tetsuya's hand was a silver rectangular object with rounded corners. The centerpiece was a transparent glass dome with a hollow interior. The left side of the object had a slit where a small object could be inserted into. In his other hand was the disk that was given to him by his subordinate. The symbol in the middle was one of a rook piece cracked and split along the middle.

He placed the first object in front of his waist and black straps shot out of the sides and wrapped around his waist to secure itself. With his left hand, he inserted the disk into the slot on the side of the buckle. It fit inside perfectly but a part of it was still sticking out of the side. He placed his left hand under the part sticking out before spinning it by raising his hand to the air beside his face.

Techno music then started playing from the belt as it spoke one word.

"Reading."

Tetsuya then stretched the same hand in front of him with his palm facing forward.

"Henshin."

In another part of the forest, Invictus landed as he spotted an Effigy. As if to confirm he had yhe right one, it cried the same cry he heard. It was covered dark brown feathers. It had curved talons on its fingers and toes and a hooked beak on its face. On its back was a folded pair of wings.

"So you were the loudmouth, huh? I hope you're ready for a—"

He was interrupted by a similar sounding cry coming from above him. He looked up and saw a similar looking Effigy flying over his head.

"Ah, crap."