The Vessels were busy preparing breakfast that morning but Shuichi and Itsuki were nowhere to be seen in the kitchen and even in the dining room. That was because they were the ones taking care of the still unconscious Helen who was still in a long way to recovery for losing that much Hasureiki in her body. Though Itsuki began having questions once again because of what could have happened for Helen to end up like that, he decided to let her tell the truth to them in time. Shuichi told him that Helen might have an even bigger reason as to why she was overworking herself in helping the Vessels these past weeks that she stayed with them in the Mizuhashi mansion. He even assured the composer that the Hasureiki around the area of the mansion was doing its job in restoring Helen's lost Hasureiki even without Misae's healing ability to do the trick. But that didn't ease Itsuki on one other thing that worried him at the moment, which had something to do with the scroll they read along with Akira and Natsume with regards to the other two Seitengers who weren't able to awaken their respective Elemental Guides. But the one thing they found weird was the fact that the record didn't indicate the civilian identities of the previous Seitengers from 25 years ago, only their Seitenger alter egos were written in the scroll.

xxxxxx

Unlike the usual morning where the Vessels would train immediately after breakfast and no guests would dare enter the mansion as per Hideoki's instruction, that day was an exception. Raisaki Amuro's arrival at the mansion was a proof of that. Shuichi thought that Amuro would just let them discuss the usual things-racing and stuff. But to their surprise, the topic was about the Seitengers. What added more to the shock they felt was that Amuro was able to take a photo of the team about to finish off a group of Gargonema using HyakuRei Laser. From what they could remember, it was the time they dealt with Cyone for the second time. It turned out that Amuro was there at the scene and that he nearly became a victim just because he was helping with the evacuation of the citizens at the time. When Erika asked as unsuspecting as she could about the reason why Amuro was showing them that photo, they were shocked once again when he said that he wanted to join the Seitengers.

xxxxxx

Back in the Tareus Dimension, the Great Shadow Defenders were enraged that even Orcus' plan to stop the awakening of the third Elemental Guide had failed. They were also curious as to where the pink glow they saw from the footage of the battle could possibly come from. And yet to the others' surprise, Orcus wasn't feeling the same way as they were. In fact, he was just calm about it. When Nemia asked him about it, he said that he only did that to confirm something with regards to the possiblity of another warrior coming to the Seitengers' aid. This was something that they would never thought possible if they were to rely on the old records and even the events from the ancient times. But Nemia agreed on this one possibility since the shinobi also concluded that the current Seitengers were definitely stronger than their predecessors for reasons unexplained.

xxxxxx

Shuichi was just listening to Amuro's stories with regards to the latter's desire to become a Seitenger but he fully knew that it won't happen considering the fact that Amuro doesn't possess at least a bit of Hasureiki in his body. Not only that, his friends weren't exactly into the idea of another possible member to join them at the moment. When Itsuki bluntly pointed out that the Vessels couldn't provide them the help that Amuro needed to locate the Seitengers, the racer declared that he would find them himself since he already made a promise. But before any of them could react to that and asked about he promise he was talking about, Amuro left the mansion in a huff. Around the same moment, the Celestial Shifters beeped when it detected another Tarean attack. When they checked, they saw a Triske Monster in the form of a grandfather clock began creating chaos in the town proper. It was then that Helen was finally awakened from her slumber.

XXXXXX

Much to the Vessels' worries and surprise, the Triske Monster had already hurt a lot of civilians in the area but the authorities couldn't even pass through to retrieve them because of fear for the said monster. With Misae's wind Hasureiki and Erika's light Hasureiki, the two powers combined to create a distraction so that the Vessels could transform into Seitengers without getting noticed and fight the Triske Monster after that in which they soon learned to bear the name Gurakei. Firing laser beams and even summoning their individual weapons to deal with the attacking Gargonemas, the Seitengers created a distraction for the authorities and other civilians to take care of those who were hurt by the monster. It succeeded somehow, but Gurakei attacked the team soon after using its ability to control time and slow everything down for the Seitengers. When the Seitengers looked around as soon as they regrouped, they noticed that the sky seemed to have been dyed in red, as if depicting something even more dangerous and perhaps bloody for the team. They tried to attack Gurakei one by one and even together as a team but none of their attacks seemed to hit the monster, to their surprise.

It turned out, the Seitengers were trapped inside a dome that allowed Gurakei to manipulate the speed of time that put the team into an extreme disadvantage. At least, Helen was able to figure that part out. However, she came too late to do something to prevent her friends from being trapped inside the dome. What she had to do at the moment was to locate the possible root of the dome for it to form and prevent the Seitengers from getting out. Maybe from there, she could figure out a way to do something. But as she was doing it, she soon noticed someone familiar around the area outside the dome trying to defeat the other Gargonemas trying to involve other civilians trying to escape from there. She recognized him as Shuichi's racing rival Raisaki Amuro and couldn't help commenting about the guy's recklessness despite his bravery. Despite still feeling weak because of the help she provided the last time, Helen knew she must do something if she wanted the Seitengers to get out of the situation even if it would be just for the meantime. She took out the Astral Shifter from her pocket and gripped it tight as soon as she made a firm decision on what she had to do.

xxxxxx

The Seitengers were definitely in a pinch at that moment when they couldn't even land any of their attacks to Gurakei. SeitenFire, SeitenWater, and SeitenEarth were beaten the worst since it was given that those three were able to awaken their Elemental Guides. However, the dome where they were at somehow prevented them to at least summon their Elemental Guides' powers for them to use. Gurakei was about to throw a machine gun-like finisher attack using the rod it had been holding all this time towards the three male Seitengers whose transformations were now disabled. But SeitenWind and SeitenLight used their bodies as shields to protect their friends. Blocking that consecutive attack had not only disabled their transformations and rendered them unconscious and terribly injured, but had also unleashed a bright light from one of the female Seitengers. However, it was still unknown as to whom it could possibly come from since everything went too fast for them. Not to mention that the intensity of the light was too much for them to notice anything from the moment it was unleashed. Everything seemed hopeless for the still conscious Seitengers, in addition to the rage they felt because of what happened to Misae and Erika. But it immediately stopped when a beam of pink light appeared to have come from the top of the dome and struck Gurakei before it could even fire another finisher attack towards the Seitengers. The beam of light seemed to be powerful enough to weaken the Triske Monster and slightly destroy its rod and the Seitengers noticed that the dome was starting to disappear because of that. But that wasn't the only thing that surprised the Vessels. When they raised their heads to see the situation, a pink warrior was standing in front of them, facing the direction of the Triske Monster. The said warrior faced the Vessels soon after, revealing the helmet having the figure of the six-winged bird acting as its visors and the lotus symbol on both the top of the helmet and the upper chest of the warrior's suit. The warrior was holding a fan-like weapon that seemed to resemble a peacock's tail, only colored in pink. With the spell "Pink Crescent" thrown to both the Triske Monster and one of the dome's "clock roots," the Vessels were able to escape death somehow. But before Shuichi could even ask or even thanked the warrior that saved them, they were suddenly teleported to the garden of the Mizuhashi mansion, much to the two elders' surprise.

xxxxxx

None of the Great Shadow Defenders were able to see what happened inside of Gurakei's Time Dome. But Orcus was sure of one thing. The development he had been anticipating had already happened if he were to based it on Gurakei's testimony. But he could feel that something wasn't quite right with the situation, especially with regards to the identity of the possible Vessel Support casting pink-colored Hasureiki that helped the Seitengers. Besides that, he was also concerned with the identity of the pink warrior from Gurakei's testimony as this was the first time he'd heard of it for the past 5,000 years of the Seitengers' history.

xxxxxx

Even though Helen was just recovering, she still surprised the others when she was able to heal Shuichi, Eichirou, and Itsuki but she had barely did so to Misae and Erika. It seemed that the damage the two girls sustained was too much for Helen to heal with her current powers. Around the same time, Shuichi talked to Helen and advised her not to overdo herself with the help she was giving to the Vessels. But Helen assured that it was okay since it was her job as a Vessel Support. However, Shuichi couldn't help feeling that something was off with the way Helen described herself as a Vessel Support. When he tried to use his ability to discern thoughts and memories through touch, he was perplexed when he wasn't able to see anything from Helen's mind at all, as if something was preventing him from learning anything about her at all.

xxxxxx

Shuichi went out that night to think things through at least for a while and to do some strategy thinking before they faced Gurakei again. He was thinking of going to the cliff like he would usually do when he wanted to clear his mind or think. But at the thought of Amuro and his desire to join the Seitengers, Shuichi decided to go to the racing stadium instead. Just as he had initially guessed, Amuro was there. The said racer was driving the car like a madman, but Shuichi could still tell that Amuro was being careful as he drove it. When Amuro was done driving and was somehow satisfied with what he did, that was when Shuichi decided to approach his friend. Amuro admitted that he was hurt when Itsuki bluntly pointed out that Shuichi or any of his friends couldn't help him and he didn't have what it takes to become a Seitenger, which was true in some way. But Itsuki did have a point in that. The racer Vessel gave Itsuki's words a second thought that, perhaps, in some ways, he was mistaken on one part of it. However, he couldn't risk his friend's life in an unpredictable battle the Vessels had with the Tareans. He said his worries to Amuro in a way that he was speaking in behalf of the Seitengers. But Amuro was truly determined to become a part of the team.

xxxxxx

Back in the Mizuhashi mansion, Itsuki was rereading the scroll in hopes of finally discovering something that could provide answers to their questions. It was then that Erika finally regained consciousness, much to his relief. Misae followed suit, as Eichirou loudly announced to everyone in the mansion that only made him smile in relief and joy. When Erika asked for the details of the events as soon as she lost consciousness because of Gurakei's attack, Itsuki didn't leave one detail as to how he had witnessed it. As expected, Erika was surprised to know that another Seitenger existed in the modern era aside from the five of them and it was someone who wasn't even written in any records with regards to the 5,000 year history of the Seitengers.

xxxxxx

When Shuichi returned to the mansion that same night, he was relieved to see both Misae and Erika finally regained consciousness and seemed to be doing well despite the obvious weakness they were still feeling. When he asked where Helen was, they said that she was probably in the basement of the bookstore doing more research. For some reason, he felt worried for her since Helen was also recovering so he went there to check on her. He did find Helen there, busy looking for something that could tell them about possessing Hasureiki even if it wasn't inherited like those of the Vessel Supports or couldn't be passed on like those of the Vessels. Helen surprised Shuichi that Amuro could possibly become a Seitenger if and only if he would be chosen by any of the Heavenly Spirit Guardians other than the main five that governed the five regions of the Hundred Heavens. That would mean Amuro should possess a certain reason greater than his life that could be used as a driving force for him to become a Seitenger and fight for justice.

xxxxxx

It was the next day when Gurakei attacked once again. But this time, the scope that the dome encompassed was wider than the last time and the clock roots became invisible for a normal person to see. The number of victims from last time increased that it was indeed frustrating and they were all trapped inside the dome, making it impossible for the authorities to provide help. Helen was able to discern only two out of the possible twelve that she noticed previously but it won't be enough until the Seitengers themselves managed to destroy all of the twelve clock roots to fully destroy the dome. It was around the same time that the Celestial Shifters beeped, giving a foreboding signal to the Vessels on what they had to do.

xxxxxx

When the Vessels arrived at the scene, they didn't even have the time to prepare themselves when Gurakei's Time Dome already activated and enclosed the five of them in it. Inside, they did see not only Gurakei but also another Tarean that they had only seen for the first time. Much to their shock, that Tarean introduced himself as one of the seven Great Shadow Defenders, Karkino. The fear they initially felt upon getting enclosed in the dome intensified knowing that they were already facing one of the Great Shadow Defenders. Despite still recovering from their last encounter with Gurakei, they had no choice but to fight their enemies heads on if they wanted to save the civilians trapped and unconscious inside the dome. And so they transformed into Seitengers and fought both Gurakei and Karkino.

xxxxxx

Outside of the dome, Kanako, Akira, and Natsume were doing their best to help Helen locate the other clock roots around the dome since destroying those roots would be one of the ways for them to defeat Gurakei. It was then that Amuro noticed all four of them, especially Helen casting her Hasureiki to locate the clock roots. Around the same time, Kanako began suspecting that perhaps it was Helen who had been helping the Seitengers all this time in terms of the energy color of her Hasureiki. None of them (Kanako, Akira, and Natsume) could cast their Hasureiki that way and in fact, they were unaware of what energy color could their Hasureiki possibly had. Amuro tried to convince Helen to help him become a Seitenger, but Akira and Natsume seemed to be against it. However, Kanako had a different opinion about it, especially when she finally noticed the scroll that Helen had been holding all this time. But before any of them could say anything about it, the dome soon disappeared. What shocked the five people outside the dome was the fact that there were many unconscious civilians than before, and also the five Vessels were already struggling to stand up and fight despite their injuries. Helen soon recognized not just Gurakei in the field but also Karkino. Amuro was more shocked than usual when he saw his rival that injured. It was then that he realized why Shuichi and the rest were somewhat adamant on disagreeing about making him a part of the Seitengers. When Amuro saw that Karkino was about to end the lives of the Vessels with a powerful lightning attack, he soon found himself running towards the struggling Vessels and blocked the attack with his own body, shielding his friends from getting killed by it. At the same time, a bright light emanated from Amuro's body and distracted the enemies once again. For some reason, that same light also weakened the two monsters that made Gurakei retreat once again, but not Karkino. It wasn't long before Amuro collapsed from the injuries he sustained that also enraged Shuichi. When Kanako and Helen approached the unconscious Amuro, they were both surprised to learn that Amuro wasn't dead yet, but only extremely weak. Taking out the larger (still unnamed) cylindrical item in her possession, it transformed into a rod with a push of a certain button. Helen tapped one end of it once to the ground and unleashed a pink-colored lotus rune circle beneath her encompassing the five weakened Vessels, the unconscious Amuro, Kanako, Akira, and Natsume. In a matter of seconds, the said people found themselves teleported to the garden of Mizuhashi mansion once again. Shuichi was supposed to go after Helen and go back to the scene of the attack but collapsed and lost consciousness soon after before he could even take a step.

xxxxxx

Six people had been unconscious because of that encounter and Hideoki couldn't think of what to do to help the Vessels and even Amuro. Though Akira and Natsume were angry about Amuro's recklessness, Kanako finally voiced out her own opinion about the matter, especially when the scroll that she saw Helen had been holding a while back suddenly appeared just beside her laptop. It was one of the rare records with regards to a certain Vessel Support in the past gaining Hasureiki that wasn't even inherited from the previous Vessels. In fact, that person was able to attain it by gaining the loyalty and trust of one of the minor Heavenly Spirit Guardians under the governance of the Heavenly Wind Spirit Guardian. Amuro had the capability to become a Seitenger if they were to base it on the promise he was talking about before. But he still needed to gain the trust and loyalty of any of the minor Heavenly Spirit Guardians to become a Vessel of its powers and use it to fight the Tareans. So the question was: Could Amuro be able to do that?

xxxxxx

As for Helen, she was left to deal with Karkino on her own. However, if one would look in her eyes, they were seemed to be lifeless. It was like she turned it dead so that the enemy won't be able to detect something from there that he could use against her. Karkino tried attacking Helen but for some reason, there was a barrier surrounding her that even the lightning attack he cast towards the Seitengers earlier didn't have any effect on her. The rune circle was still beneath her and it was somewhat acting as a trigger for the shield to take effect. The scroll she was holding soon disappeared from her hand and her Astral Shifter appeared in place of it. Soon after, Helen extracted the blades from both the Astral Shifter and the unnamed cylindrical item and poised to a fighting stance-making her seemed ready to deal with one of the Great Shadow Defenders on her own using those twin blades. But that wasn't Helen's plan at all. When she closed her eyes as soon as Karkino started charging towards her, all she did was utter the words: "Light of dreams, please lend me your powers...". Seconds later, a bright pink light emanated from the rune circle beneath her before she opened her eyes.

xxxxxx

Kanako wasn't able to take any footage from where Helen could possibly be at the moment even when she activated her Hasureiki. It was like something was blocking it that frustrated Shuichi. He was able to regain consciousness faster than the rest of the Vessels and the first thing he did was to ask Kanako to locate where Helen was. However, Kanako wasn't able to detect anything at all. When Shuichi went out to the garden where the back gate was, he halted to a stop when he saw Helen lying with her face on the ground unconscious and still holding tightly on the two cylindrical items in her possession. Now another question flashed in Shuichi's mind because of that. What exactly happened back there with Karkino after Helen teleported the Vessels and the others back to the mansion?

xxxxxx

As it was all happening, a magical realm appeared in the scene with really beautiful looking mountain ranges, castles and such. Though they were called castles, their structures looked similar to that of a mixture of Japanese pagodas and Muslim mosques. An old man clad in white elegant robe (his face wasn't shown, though) was looking at the events happening on Earth where the Seitengers were fighting Gurakei and Karkino through a large stand-in mirror. But his attention was focused on only two people-Helen and Amuro. Once the vision on the mirror disappeared, he went out to the balcony and looked over the fields. He took out his flute and soon after, played a melody using it. Not long after, two animal-like entities-a dragon and a rhinoceros-appeared before the old man. His only words to those entities were: "It's time to set out." It seemed that the dragon and the rhinoceros understood the words that the old man said. They bowed and gave respect to him before leaving once again.