Risa, Pina and Chuka could only watch the standoff from their cage. Risa was more relaxed than the other two despite their predicament, and it showed as the other two had tears leaking from their eyes. Their focus was locked on Itami and the EDF troopers who had their weapons trained on the kidnapper and their guards. The minute felt like hours as the two groups faced each other down.

A shimmer then passed Lebedev Zhen making the group bink. Risa inwardly smiled; she knew what was coming next.

Itami resisted the urge to smile, as he also saw what was coming next. He reached out and tapped Takeda on the arm, in response she gave a barely perceptible nod. Her focus didn't move of Lebedev.

"Let's talk," she said.

"No talk," Lebedev replied. "You can talk after all my demands are met," he looked to his watch. "3 minutes,"

"Then I suggest you say your prayers," the Capitan said confusing the terrorist.

"What?" he asked.

All of a sudden, a noise made him turn.

"AHHHHH!" he yelled as he fell back.

A skull with red eyes stared back at him as well as his men. Four more dark armoured soldiers appeared like ghosts before them wearing the same red eyed skull masks.

"D…. Death's…. Legion…." one of the soldiers yelled as he cowered before them.

The lead walked up to Lebedev and looked down at him. The Legion soldier was huge, standing nearly 6,8 and clad in back and red armour. Lebedev's focus was on that skull, the fear, the terror that the mask paralysed him from doing anything. the man then activated a pair of plasma blades and removed both his arms.

Lebedev screamed in pain and terror and pushed himself away as the soldier picked up both arms up and turned to the prisoners hanging up in the cage. Saying nothing he turned and nodded to Takeda who frozen with fear as well. But she nodded back and turned to her soldiers.

"Come on, let's get them out of there," she said, her voice trembling.

She, Itami and two others made their way up to the cage while Deaths legion kept their eyes on the terrorist soldiers. With the latter's guns already taken away, the terrorists could do nothing but cower in fear. Itami just smiled, being part of the Legion as well, he was immune to the fear they oozed. Moving up he opened up the cage and help the three captives out.

"Oh, Itami thank you!" Risa said throwing herself at him while Chuka pouted.

"Get your hands off him!" she demanded.

"Why?" Risa's eyes narrowed. "He's my ex,"

Itami just sighed as the two looked to each tother with sparks in their eyes. Pina however just stared at the Legion, unsure what to make of them.

OOOOO two days later.

The limo arrived at the gate, it parked inside the walls. The door's opened and General Takuma emerged from it. He took a deep breath of air before walking over to the command centre where the guests were waiting. He opened the door and walked in to see the girls getting read to leave.

"General?" Pina said with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to apologise for what happened to you this trip," he said as he bowed. "And you inform you, of a change with our agreement to counter this matter," he stood straight and handed her a file.

Pina took it and read it. It was the same as before, but there was one notable difference. EDF traders would pay 5% tax to the Empire for all good they sell in the Empire. That was a surprise, but little else was changed. Italica was considered neutral and an EDF district with embassy would be erected in the city. Overall, she was still satisfied with what they had agreed to. Nodding she held the file under her arm and bowed.

"Thank you, and do not worry, I'm fine," she said as she straightened up.

Takuma smiled and offered his hand. "That's good to hear," he said as Pina took it and shook it. "I hope that you all have a safe journey," he smiled before leaving.

He walked back over to the limo and climbed inside. As he claimed in, someone called and the face of the EDF intel chief appeared.

"Sir, you'd be glad to know that Lebedev has given us intel on all the other warlords," the man smiled coldly. "We are able to begin Restoration operations soon,"

Takuma just nodded. "Good," he sighed. "Finally, we can start getting back too normal,"

The head just nodded before cutting contact and the limo exited the compound. Back at the command centre Hamilton was reading the document.

"Hey!" Risa said as she popped her head around the door making a few of the guests jump. "Getting ready to go?" she smiled as she entered.

"Yeah, wasn't expecting to see you," Pina said while Chuka just glared daggers at the intel agent.

"Well, debriefings take time," Risa smiled before handing a bag to Pina. "This is my side job, I just managed to finish up my project in time," her expression fell. "My other boss chewed me out," she sighed but smiled. "Anyway, this is a parting gift!" she then handed the bag to Pina who looked inside.

"Art books?" she questioned.

"Something like that," the agent smiled. "Just don't let Itami see you with them, see you around?" she waved and left.

Pina pulled out one of the books and began to read. As she turned the pages, her face became reader and reader making her retinue look over she shoulder.

"I…is this what they call art?" Bozes asked in surprise.

"So impure…" Hamilton said trying to look away but fascinated by the book the Princess read.

"Why would anyone read something like this?" Pina asked no one in particular as Kyon walked in.

"Hey you girls ready?" she asked making the them all look in her direct.

"Yes!" Pina said stuffing the book back into her bag.

The others grabbed their own bags and filed out into a limo waiting for them Itami also waited holding the door open. The group climbed into the car and grabbed a seat each. Itami was the last one in and close the door. The limo then drove into the gate.

"So, how did you like Tokyo?" he asked with a smile. "Other than the kidnapping part?"

"Well," Pina started as she sat upright in her chair. "While I did enjoy the trip, I will not be bribed by such pleasantries," she said trying to convince them that she wasn't all that impressed.

But the looks she got told her no one fell for it, making her stay silent. "Be honest Princess," Rory teased, "You enjoyed yourself,"

Pina looked away from the Oracle who just smiled.

OOOOO

Emperor Molt could only sigh as one of the senators stood in front of him. This man before him dared to challenge his decisions, him the Emperor. It annoyed him to no end.

"These decisions," the senator said. "Have effected our lands in such a way, that not only are the peasants starving, but the taxes are coming in with less. And this isn't counting the fact that our military forces have failed to retake the holy hill of Alnus! I ask why? Isn't our military meant to be the best in the world? Why have they failed to take the holy hill?"

"You dare speak of our military in such a way?" a general asked. "They have defeated nations more powerful!"

"And when was that?" the senator shot back. "Years ago! When our power was at it's peak! Have you not heard the reports? The enemy at Alnus has weapons that prevent us from even getting close!"

"And what evidence do you have of that?" Molt asked seeing a chance to silence this dissident.

"Do you deny the reports?" the senator asked. "The ones made by your own nobles who says the enemy has weapons that can kill from leagues away! That the ground explodes beneath them! Do you reject those reports?!"

"I reject anything that doesn't have a modicum of evidence behind it!" Molt shot.

"Then you are a fool father," a new voice added.

All eyes turned to see Princess Pina walk into the senate dressed in her royal attire. "Princess," the senator whispered.

"Pina," her father growled. "How dare you come into the senate without being invited,"

"You would do well to listen to what she has to say," another voice said and all eyes turned to see Rory mercury walk into the senate.

The room turned cold, and the air became thick with tension as Emroy's reaper walked to stand next to Pina. She could hear whispers of her name being talked around the building. But she ignored it, this war needed to end now.

"Rory Mercury," Molt stood and bowed. "To what do we owe the pleasure,"

"For you to listen to your daughter," Rory said making the emperor's eyes widen. "All of you need to listen to the Princess, Emroy does not approve of this war,"

That made the room fall silent. "The enemy at Alnus hill, who also go by the name of EDF, have weapons that can destroy an entire country," she looked to Rory and nodded.

Rory nodded as well and moved to the centre of the room. Once in the middle, she then placed the spike of her scythe where she stood and closed her eyes. The room then began to wave like a mirage and began to reform. The senators and Molt just watched as their surroundings turned into large buildings made up of glass and metal. The senators and emperor looked up in awe around them as the surroundings solidified.

"This," Pina started. "Is the world beyond the gate,"

"Such magnificence," someone muttered.

"This is what the world was like, 20 years ago," Pina said making eyes look to her. "This is what it's like now," the scene around them changed to one od devastation that none in the room had seen before.

Even Molt's jaw fell in amazement and shock. "What happened?" he found himself asking.

"The world beyond the gate, faced a devastating war. One that nearly wiped out their civilisation," Pina continued and Rory changed the images to the ones she saw in the museum.

As Pina explained what happened, Rory showed the images in response. Both the Emperor, generals and senators couldn't pick their jaws off the ground as they watched what the Oracle showed them. While none of them knew how magic worked, they knew that Rory was showing nothing but the truth. It had happened before; another Apostle had showed them what was happening in another nation trying to get some emotional response from both the Emperor and senators.

By the time Pina had finished, there was still shock and awe at the other world. But the message she gave was clear, the EDF, despite being weakened, was a force that the Falmar Empire could not hope to face against. The technology, the tactics, the weapons, everything they had simply outclassed the Empire.

Molt fell back into his seat trying to processes what he had just seen. He rubbed the side of his head and looked around at the senators and generals, they were in the same place as he was. Unsure how to proceed.

"Emroy has seen these fine soldiers, the warriors of the EDF the moment they entered out world," Rory said, not raising her voice, but her tone made it clear about what her Patron thought. "He has seen what they fought for. Their right to exist. Because of this, any military action against the EDF will not be favoured by the God of war, nor will he support any such action unless the EDF are the ones who provoked the attack,"

"Then what do you propose we do?" a senator asked.

"The EDF have agreed to talks," Pina said. "But they wish to show you their weapons. Magic is an unknown thing to them; they see it as little more of mythology. A fantasy, it doesn't exist in their world. So, they wish to show you what they are capable of,"

"A show of power…." Molt muttered before standing. "Very well I accept the invitation," but as he said that he could feel his power slipping.

Maybe opening the gate was a bad idea after all.

OOOOO Alnus base

In the Space command centre, several operators checked the stars frequently. They weren't expecting to find anything, so the job was easy. But it was also one of the more serious ones. While EDF High Command didn't expect the Aggressors to be in this universe, they didn't want to take the chance. The 2nd war made that very clear.