It was very chaotic in the stands. Lyra took a step forwards to keep herself from falling, as someone walked past in the row behind her. Due to the crowd, they were having trouble passing by and bumped into Lyra. Lyra frowned, as she realized it might have been the person's bottom that hit her head due to the incline the seats were set up in.

She cringed at the thought, but it was soon interrupted, as she heard Leerin's voice from above, yelling at one of the children from the orphanage to settle down and move back.

It was the day of the match. Everyone had come to watch Layfon. They wanted to cheer him on. Lyra smiled, watching the children. They were all calling out to him, leaning forwards, as they yelled, only to be scolded by Leering.

Down below, Layfon stood. As the successor to the Heaven's Blade, he was the first to arrive to the battlefield.

He stood there. His face and posture were completely different from what the children were used to seeing, but even so, they didn't seem to care and continued to cheer.

Leerin's voice soon came again, scolding at the boys to calm down. Lyra looked over and laughed, as the boys protested and then Leerin turned to Lyra for help.

Lyra just shook her head, "hey don't look at me now."

Leerin pouted her face in protest. Lyra looked above them to see that their father stood. He wasn't their real father, but the one who took them in.

Lyra remembered how kind and gentle he was with her when he realized her traumatic experiences with her city being destroyed. He helped her in recovering and gave her faith that her brother would come for her. She loved him for giving her that faith and encouraging her to continue her goals. He also helped her get into the school where she began her studies.

Lyra then looked over at the field, as the crowd roared with excitement. The challenger had come now.

Gahard Vallen.

He stepped forwards and the two faced one another.

Lyra could sense the dark aura coming from Layfon. Suddenly Lyra felt uneasy. It was like he was a completely different person now. She couldn't help but glance up at Leerin, who was a row higher with a group of children from the orphanage. While the kids looked excited, Leerin had a look of concern. Did she sense the change as well or was her expression just concern about Layfon getting hurt during the fight?

The commentator had stopped talking and soon the battle began.

At first it was quiet. No one made a move. Even the audience had quiet down, due to the anticipation on who would make the first move and how the other would react.

Suddenly Gahard let out a roar and soon the kei pressure was emitting from his body. Layfon himself let his kei loose and soon the two were charging at one another.

In a split second, the match was over. As soon as the two made impact with one another, their kei pressure colliding, an explosion happened and soon the arena was covered with dust. Thankfully, due to the barrier surrounding the arena, the explosion didn't affect the audience.

Lyra couldn't help but stare in awe at what just happened. Next to her, she saw the children had become quiet, trying to figure out what had happened.

Suddenly Gahard's cry was heard again, but this time it was in pain and agony. The dust cleared and Layfon was standing there unscathed. Gahard on the other hand lied a little off. He was crying out in pain, writhing around. Blood surrounded him. Lyra's eyes narrowed and she increased her kei to the direction where what she first thought was a DITE lying off from him. However, she quickly realized that wasn't a DITE, but it was his arm.

Lyra's eyes widened. In that instant the fight was decided. Gahard lied there writhing in pain. His arm was sliced off and Lyra could see there was something wrong with the way the move had been executed. That was when her suspicions began about the match. Lyra knew that something did not go the way Layfon had planned.

Looking a little off, Layfon stood staring at the scene. His expression remained the same. Lyra wasn't sure what Layfon was thinking. He never expressed himself. When asked about it later, he would just smile and give a half-hearted response and leave it at that.

Lyra sighed and watched, as the paramedics came to take care of Gahard. Layfon just turned his back and walked off. Whatever he was thinking, Lyra wasn't sure of, but one thing was clear:

Gahard Vallen was never going to be able to fight again.

xXx

The shadow was now coming closer to her. A small moan was heard with it. Lyra pulled out her DITE and waited for the figure to turn around the corner. Not being sure what it was, Lyra knew better and prepared herself. It didn't help that she couldn't sense any sort of kei being emitted. Due to that, she was hesitant to believe it was one of the platoon members. Had it been anyone from her platoon, they would have let her know it was them, even Sharnid, who surprisingly (in Lyra's mind) knew the seriousness of what was going on and knew better than to joke.

A moan was heard again and the figure soon turned around the corner. Lyra instantly had her DITE restored, brought both hands up to her sword and readied her stance incase they saw her and wanted to attack. However Lyra instantly tensed. Her eyes widened, as she saw who it was. It was the red haired girl, Shante. She seemed to waddle as she walked. That's when Lyra realized that the girl was sleepwalking.

Lyra lowered her sword and watched as Shante walked towards her. She couldn't help but smirk seeing the girl walking towards her. The expression that was normally full of fierceness and hostility, now expressed that of an innocent little girl.

But Lyra knew she couldn't just let the girl wander around in her sleep. What if she were to head outside and get into trouble? Not only that, Lyra sensed the familiar feeling close by. If Shante wandered out there in her state, she would easily be attacked. Lyra had to lead the girl back.

But how?

Waking the short girl up wasn't an option either, as the girl would instantly feel threatened and attack.

"How troublesome…" She let out a sigh, and ran her fingers through her hair.

Big mistake.

As soon as Lyra had let out the breath, Shante's eyes shot open. She looked straight at Lyra and growled. Suddenly she was running towards her. Lyra blinked at the sudden speed and barely had time to move back. As she landed, Shante was already behind her. Lyra grunted, blocking her. She was surprised by the strength. She jumped back and then fixed her posture.

"You really do pack a punch…" she muttered to herself. Shante growled and then continued to attack.

Confusion slowed Lyra's movements, as she struggled to block. What was going on? Why was this girl attacking? Did she despise them that much that she would try and sneak attack in late at night? No… the captain of the fifth platoon would never have let her do that. Something else was happening, but Lyra wasn't sure what. What was she supposed to do? There was no way she could fight back. If she did, then she would risk harming the shorter girl. The only way she could get a hit in was if she actually tried, but that would mean she would have to increase her kei and then that would concern the others and they would come out. Perhaps that was the best option, but at the same time, they should have sensed trouble with how Shante was attacking.

Due to her thinking and not actually focusing on the fight, Lyra was kicked in the side. The impact from the kicked caused Lyra to go stumble back. Now Lyra had decided. The kick was hard and painful. Anymore and she would get unnecessary injuries. With that in mind, Lyra prepared to fight. Shante let out a growl and crouched down on all four, like a cat ready to pounce. She was about to charge again, but then another voice stepped in.

"Shante!"

The red haired girl instantly spun around and growled at the new presence. Lyra herself looked up and saw it was the fifth platoon's captain, Gorneo Luckens, walking towards them. Through his stern expression, Lyra saw a glint of confusion, which proved to her that this wasn't planned by the fifth platoon.

Lyra watched as Shante growled at Gorneo. Seeing her crouch, Gorneo stopped in his tracks. He glanced at Lyra, who stood there, prepared for whatever was about to happen. The two made eye contact, but that was it. Shante launched herself at Gorneo and began to bombard him with punches and kicks all of which, the captain easily blocked. Lyra was surprised by how he was barely fazed, but then again, it was either because he was used to it, or he wasn't expressing any trouble.

"Shante enough!" he protested. It was obvious he didn't want to strike her back, but at this point Lyra could see no other option. No matter how much he called out to her, she wasn't waking up.

Shante finally jumped away, but she didn't stop there. She jumped back towards the wall and went to launch herself; however, she jumped much higher than she should have.

Lyra watched as the girl charged again only to crash into the low ceiling. She could only cringe, hearing the metallic noise ring from the collision of the wild girl's head. Shante seemed to have frozen up, experiencing the pain and then she fell to the ground passed out.

Both just stood there for a second, unsure of what happened, but then Gorneo let out a sigh, walking forwards. "I'm not exactly sure what happened there, but I do apologize for that."

Lyra blinked, "you mean it hasn't happened before?" she felt stupid for asking a question like that, especially with the look Gorneo gave afterwards. He just shook his head.

"No, this is the first time I've seen it happen," he explained. He sighed, scratching the back of his neck, "however, this isn't the first time she's sleepwalked. I came out here realizing she was missing."

Lyra just nodded her head slowly. She wasn't sure what else to say exactly to that. Though luckily she didn't need to. Suddenly Lyra felt the aura again. She turned her head, instinctively. It was much closer now.

"What's the matter?" Gorneo suddenly asked, seeing the reaction.

"Something's not right here," she replied.

"What do you mean?" Gorneo asked.

Lyra bit her lip, while thinking, "I'm not sure exactly but I sense something out there."

"We should get the psychokinesis to investigate," Gorneo decided.

"I rather not until I've confirmed it myself."

Gorneo turned his head at that response, "you just said there's something out there…"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure what. Besides, she would have sensed it already along with the others," Lyra explained.

"Then how do you know that something is actually out there?" Gorneo objected. After all, he himself didn't feel anything off — at least off from what they were already feeling. In fact none of them felt it. Even back at the machinery when Zuellini was attacked. None of them sensed the attack coming and for that reason Zuellini was almost captured. It was thanks to that man.

That man! He had been there every time they appeared. There was a possibility he would be here as well. Now she definitely needed to go out!

Lyra then looked at Gorneo, stubbornly, "call it instincts if you will, I know what I'm sensing. I've sensed it before," She was starting to feel annoyed now. It was true. She knew what she was sensing. She had encountered them enough times now to recognize the aura that was slowly heading their way. With them here, Lyra knew they had to be part of the reason behind what happened to this city and she would only find out by following them; however with the fifth platoon captain not letting her go, she was going to miss her chance.

Meanwhile Gorneo continued to look at her, unsure of what to think. The most obvious thing to expect would be questions as to what she was sensing and where had she sensed it before. However, Gorneo didn't ask any of that. His eyes were narrowed, but he then let out a sigh and picked up Shante, tossing her over his shoulder.

"Wait here," he ordered and then he turned around and started to walk back.

Lyra blinked, watching him leave. She wasn't sure whether she should listen or not. After all, he would just come back and continue to try and stop her. The only reason he told her to wait was probably to take Shante back so that she didn't wake up and try attacking them again.

Lyra just let out a sigh, leaning against the wall. She could still feel their presence. Just what were they doing exactly? She couldn't help but get the uneasy feeling that it could be a trap. But something was stopping her from getting everyone involved. Perhaps because she believed this was her fight and shouldn't involve them unless if was necessary. Lyra shook her head. She wasn't sure why she thought that, but either way she wasn't going to change her mind.

The captain hadn't been gone long. He soon returned, but instead of stopping and continuing to protest he just said, "Alright, let's go."

Lyra blinked, "huh?"

"With that expression, it's pretty obvious you're going to head out either way. Might as well go now, rather than continue to argue and waste time," he remarked, as he started to walk past her. "We may be part of different platoons, but we're from the same city and we should look out for one another and if I can't stop you, then I might as well go with you," he added.

Lyra could only blink. She was planning on protesting, but he then called out to her, "let's go. If what you sense is close by then we still have time to catch up to them.

Lyra just nodded her head slowly. The two then headed outside of the building where Lyra stopped to look around.

"Can you at least explain to me what you're feeling?" Gorneo asked.

Lyra bit her lip, "well that's a bit difficult…"

"Difficult?" he repeated.

"There's someone close by. Well someones. It's more than one person, but I can't exactly explain how I know," she explained and then turned around.

"You're not making any sense right now, you do realize that right?" he remarked.

Now Lyra frowned, "well I did say it was difficult to explain. You're the one that keeps insisting." Suddenly she saw them. Three glowing objects shot across the area. Lyra's eyes narrowed.

"Bingo."

Instantly, Lyra increased her speed, hurrying forwards, "Come on! This way!" she called back, ignoring his protest. However, when she glanced back, she was surprised to find that the Captain reacted fast enough to keep up with her. Then again, with what they just experienced with Shante, that shouldn't have been a surprise.

They hurried out onto the streets, following after the lights, which were up ahead. Lyra shifted her glasses and then channeled the kei up towards her eyes. It was them! One of them turned around and she made, what she believed to be, eye contact with it. They then turned away and moved on.

"Hurry!" Lyra called and increased her speed.

"Mind telling me just who they are?" Gorneo asked from behind, keeping up with her.

"I think they may hold answers as to what happened here. I'll explain in detail later. We need to stop those people!" She replied, seeing them turn down the hall. Lyra hurried on and spun around the corner. As she appeared, she suddenly found herself face to face with one of the Wolf Masked Men. He had a hand raised, ready to shoot out a kei blast. Lyra's eyes widened, as she realized it too late.

As the blast was shot, Lyra felt herself being pulled back and Gorneo stepped forwards, countering the attack with his own Kei blast. Lyra could only shield herself as an explosion happened. Around them a cloud of dust had formed.

"You really should have expected an attack like that," Gorneo's voice came before her.

Lyra could only pout, trying to think of a retort. Had this been Savaris, she would have argued that she could have retaliated, but this was the younger brother, who was much different. Lyra wasn't exactly sure how she should have responded to him. So far, he was much different from the older brother – attitude while.

The dirt slowly began to settle. Lyra realized that the masked men could have taken this time to plan an attack. Gorneo seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Stay alert," Gorneo warned. Lyra just nodded her head. The dirt soon began to settle.

Lyra's eyes widened as she realized that they were gone.

"It seems they've escaped," Gorneo frowned. Lyra bit her lip, mentally cursing to herself. They missed them… Glancing at him, it was obvious he was disappointed, but also confused, "just who were those?"

"Honestly, I'm not exactly sure, but… they appeared in Zuellini before, trying to capture her," she explained. While the president had told her to keep it quiet from everyone so that they didn't panic, considering they appeared before them now and he wanted an explanation, she had no choice.

"If these masked men are here as well, and based on previous encounters, most likely this city's fairy was captured, leading to havoc," she replied.

Gorneo blinked, "that doesn't explain the distress signal. Judging from the looks of it, this city has been gone for a while."

"And yet we receive a distress signal a few days ago…" Lyra added, thinking, "perhaps there are people still here and hiding right now?"

Gorneo shook his head. "If they were here, our psychokinesis would have sensed them already."

That was true… from what she had observed, Felli was very skilled in obtaining information. While it was slow at times, her information was precise and accurate every time and considering how she had scouted the city many times now, she would not have missed out on an important detail such as survivors.

Suddenly she felt Gorneo tense and turn his head. Lyra looked up at the movement and looked around as well. That's when she heard it as well. There was a quiet tapping sound that came. From the pattern it came in, Lyra could tell that it was someone walking with a limp. Following the tapping a moan suddenly came, which made a shiver travel down Lyra's spine.

"Is that a survivor?" Lyra asked, slightly hopeful.

"I don't know… but something doesn't seem right," Gorneo replied, with his eyes narrowed. He had slipped his DITEs into a pocket in his gloves, ready to restore. Lyra had brought her DITE up as well.

The steps were getting louder and a moan soon came again. This time they were able to make out a word with it. Lyra's eyes widened as she heard it again.

"Hhhh….elllllp…" the moan came and a figure came into view.

"It is a survivor!" Lyra thought excitedly and hurried forwards to help.

"Wait, don't!" Gorneo called. Lyra paused in her steps, as Gorneo called out. Looking at the figure, she saw it lift their arm, but the next part made her widen her eyes. Suddenly something went shooting out from the arm.

Luckily Lyra was fast enough to duck and roll out of the way, as the object went lashing out, hitting the wall behind her. The object contracted back. Lyra looked up to see a huge hole in the concrete wall. She blinked, trying to register what happened.

The moaning came again, only this time it went from a deep sound to a high, shrill cry, which made Lyra cringe. With the cry, another one followed.

"You okay?" Gorneo asked, hurrying towards her.

"I'm fine. Thanks," Lyra replied, as he reached down and grabbed her arm, pulling her up. With the second cry that came, a rumble was heard, as the wall that had the hole in it suddenly exploded. Gorneo and Lyra turned around to see multiple figures appearing from it. Hearing the growl behind her, Lyra turned around and saw a few figures there as well.

"What the hell is going on?" She asked, but then trailed off. As both appeared under the moonlight, Lyra's eyes widened as she noticed the skin was an off blue-green color. Parts of their bodies were strange looking. It reminded Lyra of filth monsters.

Lyra then tensed.

"Wait… they couldn't be… are those…" Lyra trailed off, not wanting to finish the question.

Gorneo just nodded, "yeah… looks like it."

Lyra took a step back in disbelief. Before her were two human military artists, who had been infected by filth monsters.

Lyra took another step only to bump into Gorneo, who was facing away at the other figures that had appeared from the building. They were surrounded.

"This is not good…" Lyra gulped. She could see famish looks on their faces, having not eaten. She heard Gorneo give a response, but Lyra didn't hear it. She was focusing on what the infected humans before them were about to do.

"You don't think there's a chance of reaching the human side do you?" Lyra asked.

"Not a chance. Look at them. They're starving for food. There's no way we're going to be able to reach them, especially when with fresh food before them," Gorneo explained.

As if to prove his point, the creatures suddenly attack. The one who had attacked first, lashed out again with his whip like arm. Gorneo had restored his DITES and caught the arm, which had decided to wrap around his gauntlet. Lyra took the opportunity to strike it with her sword, cutting the arm. The creature let out a cry in pain, reeling back its arm. It then snarled at her and lunged forwards. Lyra jumped back, and swung her sword down to strike the head, but it turned out to be enough to block the attack with its shoulder.

When she struck the shoulder, Lyra was surprised to feel just how hard it was. It was almost like the filth monsters themselves. She jumped back, but as soon as she landed she saw another one had moved with her, charging towards her. Lyra instantly had the kei channeling into her arm and sword. She then blocked the attack, grunting from the weight that was pushing her back. She then released the kei from her sword into the creature, causing it to become paralyzed. Lyra took this opportunity to thrust her sword into the creature's chest. Blood came squirting out. Lyra looked away to prevent her glasses from being stained.

This is what Sharnid had meant when he commented on how glasses would be troublesome. Lyra had to prevent them from getting dirty or else she would not be able to see.

Looking back, the creature fell forwards. The blood wasn't the red that how it was supposed to be. It had a tint of greenish-brown to it. Lyra frowned at that. However she didn't have time to ponder it much as she soon found herself facing another one. Lyra took a deep breath, stabilizing her kei and then charged forwards again.

Meanwhile, Gorneo was a little off fighting his own group. With the number of infected humans that were there, it was difficult to stay close to where Lyra was. They couldn't get separated in this situation. There were too many. Gorneo grunted, as he pushed back one of the filth monsters with a blast of kei and followed up with a second attack, striking through the filth monster armor. The creature was left to cry out and fall. That was the third one he had defeated.

Gorneo let out a breath and took a second to wipe the blood that had splattered on his face from the previous attack. During that time, Lyra had jumped back and landed next to him. He could see that there weren't any injuries on her, but she was panting.

Having seen the two defend, the infected humans seemed to have taken a step back as if to regroup.

"Well I think this answers what happened to the people here," Lyra remarked.

"But where had they been all this time?" Gorneo replied.

"In the sewers or something?" Lyra offered, watching the infected humans to see what they were planning on doing.

Gorneo felt his heart pounding. Fighting these infected humans was almost like fighting a larvae staged filth monsters.

"There's no way we can handle all these. We need to head back," he remarked.

"No," Lyra objected, "if we do that then we'll lead them right back to our base, and risk being attacked there."

Gorneo cursed, as he realized that. Their only option was to fight until the others sensed it.

"Very well then… but don't waste any more kei then you need to," he remarked.

Lyra just nodded her head. The two then waited for the attacks to start again, which they soon enough did. Lyra bit her lip as she prepared to attack. The infected humans came again. This time; however, instead of both taking on one, Lyra stepped forwards to attack to block the attack. It was much more difficult to block than she planned, but as soon as he was slowed, Gorneo stepped in to finish it off.

Lyra let out a sigh relaxing. It was much easier teaming up like that, though they needed to be careful as not to let their guard down towards the others. Lyra went on to deal with the next one that attacked. Unfortunately they caught on to what the two had planned and now multiple were attacking. While struggling to push back, Lyra wondered just how they were going to deal with all of them.

Suddenly a voice rang out.

"Goru!"

The voice called out to the fifth platoon captain at the same time Lyra heard her own name calling out. If Nina was here then that could only mean… Lyra didn't finish her thought, but instead released the kei she was holding in her dite, pushing back the infected person. Following that, a gunshot was heard and a kei bullet flew past Lyra's head, striking the infected directly in the forehead.

Lyra turned away, as the blood came spurting out. Her attention went to Nina who went charging past her to strike the beast before her. It seemed the bullet wasn't enough to defeat it.

Soon enough, limp bodies of those infected surrounded them. With the number of bodies growing, it seemed the infected beings decided to fall back, leaving the group with a temporary peace. They were all panting, and soon stood straight, while controlling their breathing, releasing the last of their kei.

"That was much harder than expected," Nina remarked, wiping some residue off of her forehead.

"Ya got that right," Lyra nodded, but then instantly flinched, seeing her captain glaring at her.

"Just what were you thinking, running off like this?" she started her scolding, "You know the purpose of keeping watch is to look out for any danger and if you feel it, you notify us. Not just go running off," she went on scolding.

Lyra could only stand and listen to the scolding. However, soon a cough was heard from Gorneo, "forgive me, but it's partially my fault as well since I followed-"

"Only because I went on ahead," Lyra interrupted, causing the fifth platoon's expression to change to confusion. While it was nice of him to try and take the blame off of her, it was still her fault for insisting and he shouldn't get the blame, especially since they needed to work together and with how Nina had been acting, Lyra feared that her captain may snap not meaning to, thus causing even more tension between the two platoons there.

Nina frowned, "You really do make decisions on your own too often. It's almost worse then Lay-"

"Jeez Nina, calm down. Any louder and you'll wake up all the other creepy zombie things."

Lyra let out a sigh of relief as the sniper finally appeared. With his attitude, the tension in the air would decrease, which it seemed to do, as Nina turned towards Sharnid, who was now joining the group. He stood with one of his usual looks of amusement, shaking his head at the frowning Lyra. Though the sniper did have a point as well. With what just happened, it was possible that more were lurking in the area and speaking loudly would obviously give them away.

Lyra watched, as Nina let out a sigh, calming herself. "We'll continue this later," she decided, much to Lyra and the other's relief.

"Though now what should we do?"

Gorneo was the one to speak up, after standing a little off awkwardly, watching the scolding happen. On his shoulder Shante sat, watching silently, which was surprising, though when Lyra glanced at her, it was obvious the red haired girl was enjoying what was going on. "It would be wise to head back now. Standing out here is just going to bring out more," Gorneo replied. Nina nodded her head, agreeing followed by Sharnid.

Lyra then noticed. Only Sharnid and Nina had come. "Where are Layfon and Felli?" she asked.

"Felli stayed back in the room. She had sensed something else and so Layfon went to check that out," Nina explained.

Lyra blinked, "is that alright?" Considering what they just dealt with made Lyra concerned.

"You forget this is Layfon we're talking about. I'm sure he'll be fine," Sharnid spoke up, patting her head.

Lyra blinked with each pat and then watched, as they all started to head back.

"Even so… it's not always best to assume…"