Author's note: Thanks for waiting! Well, have you missed me? Also, for Pyrrha's fight with Zasalamel, since the latter wasn't in SC5, I made his SC4 Ultimate his Critical Edge. Anyhoo...

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Remembering the seemingly countless times she was allowed to go outside, Pyrrha smiled, almost faintly. Because of that, there was a small yard outside that she would frequent.

Despite having permanently malfested, she was content, happy even; and there was nothing anyone could do to stop her.

Except...

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As she almost innocently walked further, almost close to the woods, a man in black had been in close watch. Since his last fight with Marie, it had been quite a long time that he's found another good challenge.

I believe I find that weapon of hers to be quite familiar, he thought to himself.

Those thoughts still in his head, he would eventually find Pyrrha tending to some wildflowers. His presence was enough for to stop herself, turning her head and seeing him with an almost curious gaze.

It was quite clear that after having turned, she had been changing from scared and almost weak-willed to...something resembling that of a spoiled trickster. "Excuse me, but...who're you?" she asked.

"So the rumors are true; two siblings will become enemies, after all." Zasalamel replied.

"Are you referring to me and..." It didn't take long for her to retch in disgust before she added, "Patroklos?"

"It seems to me you're well-acquainted with each other."

"Not anymore. Besides, I might consider recruiting you into our army. What do you say?" she asked.

A smirk appeared on Zasalamel's features, before he replied, "I work alone. But if you wish to fight me, very well."

"Fight you? How exciting!" Pyrrha exclaimed, before taking out her sword and shield, now transformed into Soul Edge.

On an additional note, her right arm had drastically changed, and had a glowing eye to boot. It prompted a bit of a memory to flash before him, as he recalled once wielding Soul Edge in a previous life.

Alas, that was many years ago, and as much as Zasalamel wanted to dwell on it, he had no time to do so. With Kafziel in his hands, he made his first move.

Though Pyrrha narrowly dodged one of the swipes, she was hit a few more times. However, her eyes glimmered darkly as she said under her breath, "Don't make me wanna hurt you!"

Almost instantly, she fought back. Though he took a hit or two, he smirked as he attempted to levitate her off the ground.

With her finally in the air, he rose up, and struck her again. Pyrrha crashed to the ground, and he attempted to attack her again.

However, she blocked with her shield, and successfully carried out a counter attack. Though he was initially caught off-guard by her, Zasalamel bit back with several more hits, before he tried to summon some spells that would lead her out into another dimension.

The eye on Pyrrha's shield suddenly noticed, and wordlessly beckoned her to get up. Quickly, she brought herself back to her feet, and lunged for him.

Sinking her blade into him, she pulled off her Critical Edge by flinging him up. She would then deal more damage as she hurled him into the sky, before he landed almost harshly.

"So what do you think? Was I any good? Huh? HUH?!" she asked, almost anxiously like a petulant child.

Zasalamel smirked as he would bring himself back up, and said, "So you are quite capable of using Soul Edge at your disposal. I am nevertheless quite amazed."

"Then does that mean you'll join me and Tira? And Nightmare, too?"

He sighed whilst closing his eyes as he replied, "I'm afraid not. As I've said before, I work alone."

"Oh, poo!" Pyrrha pouted and crossed her arms.

"But I do at the very least look to forward to seeing who prevails and who dies trying."

As he said those words, Zasalamel vanished into the woods.

"Hey! Didn't you use to wield Soul Edge like I do?" she attempted to ask, but there was no response. Regardless, Pyrrha was more than happy to know that she'll find - and perhaps kill - her former friends.

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The villa that was nearby Cassandra's house was quite modest, having four bedrooms for all of them to have a much-deserved rest. Though Patroklos and Marie had one bed for each of their rooms, the rest of the Mad Hearts Neo settled with the ones with double beds.

As the young man sighed in content as he admired the night sky, he noticed Isuzu, who had managed to find some whiskey in the wine cellar. She made a disgusted noise as she asked, "What is this crap?!"

This caught Patroklos's attention as he walked over to her, and replied, "That's whiskey. I don't know why Greece had something like it."

"Ugh...it tastes really different than sake, or even wine."

"I know you're not liking it, but I won't judge you." he told her. He then had something on his mind, before he asked, "So what brought you over to Lasberg back in Germany?"

Isuzu raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Didn't I tell you about that some time ago?"

"Gah...!" Patroklos shook his head, and then came up with another inquiry. "What were your parents like?"

This instantly prompted Isuzu's eyes to widen in surprise, before she sighed. "Well...as you can see, my father was from China, and my mother from Japan. They...had a very intimate relationship, and she ended up pregnant with Riku. Then, my mom believed him to be dead, but he was thankfully still alive and married."

The story of her past made him smile as he said, "I'm so glad things turned out well for your parents."

"Plus, they had two more children, me and Natsu."

Patroklos nodded once more. "Do you think you'll ever see your siblings again?" he asked.

"I might." Isuzu replied as she smiled back. "It'll probably be a matter of time before that ever happens."

As she took another sip of her whiskey, the blond got up. "Well, I better get to bed. I've a feeling I might enjoy being here for a while. I hope the rest of you feel the same way." he told her.

"I agree wholeheartedly. Goodnight!"

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Temporarily parting ways, Patroklos returned back inside, and was greeted by an unexpected presence: Athena. Both smiled as she asked, "It's nice to return home, isn't it?"

"I bet. There's just something I wanna bring up, by the way." he replied.

"Yes?"

"Is...Ares doing any better?" Patroklos asked.

"He seems to relent a bit over my decisions but...I-I doubt he'll be your mentor again." was her response.

He breathed a sigh of relief; truly he had changed for the better when Athena took over Ares's duties in the first place."

"Come to think of it..." the goddess of wisdom cupped her chin in thought, before something came to her. "I doubt Cassandra has ever met Marie's own mentor."

"You mean Freyja?"

Athena nodded. "Tomorrow, I suggest Marie introduce Freyja to Cassandra, and that way, your and Marie's mentors will have a complete proper introduction."

"Sounds good to me." Patroklos said, nodding his approval.

And so, another night concluded...

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It's possible that I'll bring in another side story in which Marie introduces Freyja to Cassandra, before we move over to Chapter 15. With that said, ciao!

With love for my fans,

Chrissy