It's been a couple of days ever since the World Unity Festival incident that occurred. Several days ever since Arturia's identity was revealed to more people she knew, one of those being her cousin. Ever since then, the Yggdmillennia made sure to prepare themselves against the vampire in their next encounter to occur, as even Arturia's best efforts weren't enough to defeat him, but more so drive him away that relied on luck to do so. Something that more than likely may not repeat the second time.

They devised all sorts of weapons to combat against Darnic, such as creating bullets that were several times stronger and faster than sniper rifles, having to learn that Darnic's weakness revolved around anything based on heat, as vampires tend to rely on darkness to roam around. They also treated their members that were injured during the encounter with Darnic and paid for environmental damage that was caused as well. The Yggdmillennia have managed to repair Bedivere's bone fractured arm in a rather quick pace, having to use their mechanical machinery over his limb to get it repaired with all the years of research and data that was collected from the company when Daric still took over. Agravin and Gawain were more so hospitalized on their beds, having sustained grievous injuries from the vampire.

But despite all this, they were all worried that the efforts they made with the weapons still might not be enough, hell they were hoping if it would be enough to even hurt him to begin with. It made Arturia worried as to how she would be able to fight off Darnic if she were to see him next time, and if Fiore would be able to make the weapons necessary to fight him off in time.

That's why as of this moment she took on more training to further develop her skills, having not much of a clue as to how to increase her enhanced physical stats such as her strength and speed. She got herself to train in gymnastics in the company before getting to have a sparring match with her teacher.

Arturia made a roundhouse kick at Sanzang's hip, to which her teacher grabbed her ankle before yanking her closer, getting to elbow Arturia on her gut. The teen girl grunted as she hit her back on the ground. Arturia tried to make a counter by performing a sweep kick on Sanzang, which worked as her teacher fell down on the floor before Sanzang leaped her body to get back up, and Arturia made a backflip to split some distance between them.

'I wish I could somehow get to use that move on Darnic, whatever that was to begin with…' Arturia thought back to when her speed increased exponentially for only a brief moment, the move that secured her victory. Arturia slowly approached her teacher, trying to keep track of her footing. 'I never moved that fast before to begin with. If I could somehow draw that out at will, I might stand a better chance at fighting Darnic.' Arturia saw Sanzang come at her by launching herself into the air and performing a spin kick, to which Arturia put her arm to block the kick that came at her head. Sanzang bent her back before she put her hand on the floor and spun her body to kick Arturia's right hip.

"Keep going at it just like that!" Sanzang got back on her feet and began to be on the offensive again, hurling her fists at her student as she made her go on defense. "Your concentration is on point!" Sanzang and Arturia raised their knees to clash at one another at the same time before Arturia tried to backhand Sanzang, but the teacher grabbed Arturia's wrist and ducked down to elbow the teenager's gut before getting to flip her over.

"Ow…" Arturia rubbed her back as she crouched over now. She turned around to see her teacher lending her a hand, to which Arturia accepted as she got up. "Guess you got me again."

"Are you ready to go for another round?" Sanzang asked with a smile as she already prepared herself in a fighting stance.

"Yeah, sure, just give me a few minutes… to catch my breath..." Arturia pretended to rub her back in pain as she fully got up.

It was then the doors to their dojo opened up, and the two of them turned around to look at Caules entering inside the room. "Sorry if I'm interrupting any of the training, but uh, Fiore wanted to see you." he pointed his head to Arturia. "So I'm gonna have to borrow her for a while." he looked over to Sanzang.

Sanzang nodded her head in understatement. "Just don't take her for too long, we still haven't finished our sets of training yet."

Caules nodded back before he began to walk away from the dojo, with Arturia following him in doing so. "So what is it that Fiore called me for?" Arturia asked.

"It's more so to give you an update on the weapons we made for the past couple of days." Caules answered as he and Arturia climbed over a set of stairs before having gone to an elevator. This piqued Arturia's interest, having wanted to see just what Fiore had been up to. "Fiore is gonna tell you all about it once we get there. But let's just say we've been really busy." he informed her as the elevator opened up and they got in before Caules pressed a button, the doors closing themselves as they were set on a lower floor.

Arturia didn't really say anything as she waited till she got more information from her boss. She and Caules waited for less than a minute before they reached their destination, with the doors opening up as they walked over to where Fiore was at, who was examining over at the firearms that rested at a table. Fiore turned her head when she heard the sounds of an elevator door opening up. "I'm glad you came by. I wanted to see what you think of the process we made so far." Fiore remarked as her employee and her brother stepped out.

Arturia looked over at the weapons that were seen in this area before looking back at her boss. "I see that you've been rather busy… just what kind of stuff did you make in this place?" she walked over to Fiore and looked down at the firearms on the table. "So… how much do these things pack a punch?"

"You mean the cartridges?" Fiore looked over at a handgun. "Well… in normal conditions these things would be rather powerful, the bullets inside these are like rocket launchers, but just compressed. And their firing speed is over 3 times faster than an M1 Abrams Tank Shell shot." she saw Artoria widen her eyebrows over this. "Thankfully these things don't explode on contact like rocket launchers, because bullets pierce through things." Fiore looked over at her right to see other sets of weapons that were hanging by hooks. "We also got to make weapons suited against vampires such as the different types of bombs—"

"Already?!" Arturia lit her eyes up in wonder as she threw a grin. "That sounds awesome! How did you guys even get to make stuff like this?!" she already wanted to have them in her arsenal in her next encounter with Darnic.

"Well, as you should know, the Yggdmillennia have existed for a long time, and made tons of money since the day they were first announced. Because of the vast amount of data, the proper research, the right people, the tools in our disposal, we can make tools like this rather quickly" Arturia saw Fiore make a small frown. "Although…"

"Although what? With this much stuff that you made, this should be more than enough to put serious damage against Darnic, hell maybe even kill him!" Arturia exclaimed.

"That would be true, if all of these were finished…" Fiore saw Arturia's face shift into confusion. "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but the Yggdmillennia are on a rather tight budget. We've gone through constant competition with other companies when my uncle was still the head of the company, and we've been running out of money when the military deals that were made were getting cut short, along with our funds. It also doesn't help that my uncle destroyed the entire test grounds, so now we're focusing all our energy on this. But even so, all of these aren't close to being properly finished. These are just prototypes, really." she explained.

"Oh…" Arturia replied, seeing what her boss was saying. "So… how much time are you gonna need?"

"A lot of time, something that all of us won't be able to have." Fiore clenched her pants as her face descended into that of worry. "But… are you sure that my uncle is still out there, somewhere?"

Arturia slightly shifted her gaze away. "Well… it would be easier to say no, but that would just be putting the work you pump in be for nothing." she looked back at her superior with a firm look. "But, as I've seen in movies, you can't really confirm that someone is dead unless you find the body."

Fiore made a sigh. "I see then... I'll do the best I can to protect this company and all the people. You can go back to your training. I'll give you an update if I made any progress."

Arturia released a sigh as she got back to where her home was at, walking over to the front yard before she got to knock over at the door, having been released from her work. She waited for a little bit before she heard footsteps coming over and unlocking the door for her, turning out to be Kay who opened the door.

"Hey, you're back." Kay said, showing a smile at seeing his sibling return home. "How did everything go?"

"It went pretty well." Arturia answered as she got inside the house, with Kay closing the door. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just making sure if you're still alright." Arturia looked at Kay with a questioning look. "I mean, has your body recovered from that fight you were in yet? It's only been a few days, are you sure you should still be moving around so much?"

"I feel fine for the most part." Arturia grabbed her shoulder and moved it around. "I still feel a bit stiff, but it doesn't bother me very much. After all, I'm the only person that was the least injured out of my colleagues. And I guess I seem to recover rather quickly as well…" she remarked, having noticed that despite her injuries not being severe, the fact she managed to recover so quickly from the beating she took from Darnic took her by surprise.

"I'll say, I don't think I ever saw you heal so fast like that. Is it some other ability you have?"

Arturia thought about it for a moment. It could be possible that was the case, and she wouldn't be surprised if it was. "I don't really see any other way how I could recover so quickly like this, so that may be the case. And while I do appreciate your concern, Kay, you do worry a bit too much."

"Look, I know we're not exactly related by blood, but you and Morgan lived with us for as long as I can remember since you got adopted here. You guys are like my own siblings, I don't really want anything bad happening to either of you, and it doesn't help that you're going on your own doing this vigilante stuff. Fighting off a couple of small crooks is one thing, but going off against a supernatural vampire just seems to be out of your league, don't you think?" Kay replied to this, making a small frown in doing so.

Arturia slightly looked away from Kay's gaze before looking directly into his eyes. "I'm sorry about that... I didn't really mean by—"

"I know what you meant, all I'm saying is that you should be more careful on what you're up against here."

Arturia nodded her head. "I'll try to. Though now if you excuse me, I'll just rest a little bit." she told him as she headed over upstairs.

"Sure thing. Lunch is gonna be ready soon as well." Kay replied.

Arturia headed over to her room, opening the door before she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She sighed in relief as she finally got back to her comfortable room and could take a breather for now. She got to her wardrobe just so she could go back to her more casual outfit.

It was then that Arturia heard the sound of knocking coming behind the door. "Can I come in?" the young teen could hear it was Jeanne's voice speaking through.

Arturia was slightly surprised by this. "Uh, hang on, just let me dress up first!" she exclaimed as she got to take off her uniform. Before long, Arturia managed to dress up in her more casual outfits in under a few minutes, putting her uniform in a drawer. She got to the front of her door and unlocked it, letting her cousin step in before closing it. "So, what brings you to my room?"

"I just wanted to talk to you about something…" Jeanne got to Arturia's bed as she sat on it. "Something that's been on my mind for a while, about your… vigilante activities."

"Oh…" Arturia couldn't tell where this was heading over, but she didn't think it would be anything bad considering how Jeanne handled her identity reveal rather well for the most part. "Well… what do you wanna talk about that?"

"So… how did all of this come to happen to you?" Jeanne asked, and she saw Arturia raising one of her eyebrows in confusion. "Why exactly are you doing all of this vigilante stuff to begin with?"

"Well… it happened around 3 months ago or so, where I was about to graduate very soon. My class and I went to Columbia University as a field trip, and I won't get into too many details but it was mostly getting to see different types of spiders, and one of them involved these super-spiders that uh…" Arturia tried to remember the guide's explanation on what those spiders were. "They were basically just a different bunch of spiders meshed into one, and I got bitten by one of those when I got distracted on taking some pictures with my friend." she explained her origin. "And uh… after that I woke up in a hospital, and there was this doctor lady that checked up on me. Before I knew it, I felt pretty much fine, and I was released soon after. On my way home, I spotted someone getting mugged in an alleyway, and I… kinda stepped in."

"Why though? Were you aware you had your powers?" Jeanne asked.

"Well…" Arturia scratched the side of her head. "I don't know why honestly, it was just an instinctive reaction. I managed to stop the mugger, and it was when I noticed that something felt different about me. After that, I tested out to see what was happening to me, and before I knew it I understood I had superpowers."

"Well that would explain it… but why is it that you do all this?" Jeanne may have known her cousin's identity, but she wasn't aware of the reasoning why Arturia did what she did. "It doesn't really seem necessary."

Arturia thought about this for a while. At first, she hadn't been sure how to explain it properly, as she felt as though she did it out of instinct, but she remembered back to her talk with Irisviel at their backyards. "Well… I felt as though I should help people." she answered. "It just really seemed like the right thing to do, because originally I did want to have a job revolving around becoming a cop, or the bodyguard job I have right now. Maybe it's because of the household I lived in for so long and was taught all the values of human behavior, morality, and so on and so forth. I was given a position of power, even though it was an accident, so I wanted to use it for something in handy. Although…"

Jeanne could see Arturia lowering her head slightly, stopping her reasoning for only a moment. "Although what? Did you have something else in mind?"

"Well… to be honest, I was just mostly involved with small-time crimes, such as mugging, robberies, theft, all the petty crimes you can name. I never expected myself to be involved in some vampire business that's going on as of now." Arturia shrugged her shoulders. "And it's not really something I should back out of either, because I need to step in on this due to what destruction Darnic is capable of. Now do you see why I get to do all this?" she then got to sit next to her cousin.

"I suppose I can understand the reasoning behind it now…" Jeanne answered, turning her head to face Arturia. "But with everything that's happening now... I just really can't help but be worried for you."

"I can understand that, but I'm not really alone in this, remember that I have my boss to help me out right now." Arturia put her hand on Jeanne's shoulder, giving a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine, I promise you that."

Before anyone knew it, 3 months had already gone by, and the weather began to get colder as it did. Arturia hadn't really heard of much from any news or from her boss that related to Darnic, and everything had gone by as if he never showed up to begin with.

Well, most of it anyway. She had, however, recently heard of reports that involved dead bodies being found. But the bodies themselves were found in a rather unusual way, looking as though every bit of life force they once had was drained from them. This caused Arturia to be worried, along with most of New York being shocked by what was discovered.

And for these past few months, Arturia and Irisviel have grown closer to one another the more they hung out together, having spent the time to relieve Iris' stress, and took the chance to get to know each other better. They even enjoyed the time they spent as well, so much so that they began dating recently once Arturia had the courage to confess her feelings, to which Irisviel accepted them as of recently. As of now, the two of them were seen walking out of a restaurant together, having just been finished eating their dinner.

"Ah, that was great. I couldn't spend a better night enjoying myself now." Irisviel commented, feeling rather famished on finishing her meal.

"I'll say, the food was great here." Arturia replied back, smiling as she patted her stomach, walking next to Irisviel. The night reigned down upon them with the moon glistening far above the sky. It looked really pretty. "So I guess it might be about time that we go back home."

"It is getting a bit late, and having a good rest would help out right now." Irisviel turned her head to look at the younger girl who got to lift her spirits for the past few weeks. She got to enjoy the time spent with her next-door neighbor, having grown to be attached to the girl. "I appreciate everything you're doing." she saw Arturia giving her a quizzical look. "You know, for these hangouts of ours, and making efforts to make me feel better."

"Well... I'm just glad that I can get to help you out, that's all." Arturia answered. ''So uh… if you don't really mind, would you mind if you could spend a night with my family having dinner?"

"I don't really mind, in fact, I would enjoy it very much." Irisviel remarked with a smile. ''So when do you want to set up the time?"

"I was thinking somewhere around…" Arturia tried to think of the right time for their meeting. "Maybe at around 7 PM, does that sound good?"

"Sure, sounds good enough for me." Iri made a grin, thinking of an idea to surprise the girl with. "Although… Can you close your eyes?"

Arturia was a little confused by this. "Why?" she asked.

"It's for a surprise, and for a little 'thank you' for what you've been doing for me."

Arturia didn't understand it, but she closed her eyes anyways. She waited to see what this was about, and she felt Iri's hands clasp onto her cheeks before pulling her in for a kiss. Arturia widened her eyes in shock when she felt Irisviel's lips press against hers, taking her first kiss for herself. She just stood there being dumbfounded until the older woman pulled back, making a grin as she saw the look on the young girl's face. "Just so you know... I felt the same way about you for some time when we began doing this." Irisviel made a giggle, pressing her forehead against Arturia's. "It's a thank you for what you've been doing for me."

Arturia felt Iri's warm lips press against hers again, and this time Arturia did try to kiss Irisviel back, though with this being her first kiss she wasn't very well experienced while her hands instinctively traveled to the woman's back. "Mmmhm…" the blonde teen made a moan as she and Irisviel were absorbed into their kiss.

It wasn't until Arturia's phone rang that she and Irisviel pulled back to take their breaths. "Uh… let me just… pick that up quickly." Arturia awkwardly chuckled as she picked her phone before accepting her call. "Hello?"

"Hi, sorry if I caught you in a bad time, but you really have to get a move on by tomorrow morning." Fiore spoke over the phone, sounding to be rather urgent.

Arturia was already confused by this. She slightly moved away from Irisviel. "Why? What's the problem?" Needless to say, she was somewhat annoyed that she got interrupted by what was happening. Fiore better have a good reason for this.

"Where are you at right now?" Fiore asked.

"I'm at a restaurant with someone I know in Queens, why do you ask?" Arturia replied as she wanted to know why she was called, and what for.

"Look, just come over to the Yggdmillenia and I will explain everything once you get there, we managed to find where Darnic is at."

Arturia was both surprised and frustrated over this as she made a sigh. "Fine, I'll come over as soon as I can." she replied as she ended the call before turning over to face Irisviel.

"What was that all about?" Irisviel asked in confusion.

"I… have to go, it is getting rather late." Arturia answered, taking a few steps back. ''I'll see you tomorrow!" she exclaimed before she started running to head over to the Yggdmillennia company. Well, at least it was good to know that she finally had her first girlfriend as of now. She just hoped it would work well.

"You want me to what?!"

"I need you to collect Darnic's blood sample." Fiore nonchalantly replied to Arturia as they were both seen on the same floor that Arturia saw weeks ago, difference being there were more weapons to be seen.

"Why?! How am I even gonna do that?!" Arturia wanted to know, having no clue as to how she would be able to just find Darnic and take his blood without causing a fight. "What do you need it for anyway?"

"Have you already forgotten what I told you over the phone? I did tell you we managed to find his current location." Fiore answered this as she pulled out her phone before opening up her gallery and showed Arturia a picture of an old rundown building.

"How did you even manage to find him?" Arturia asked.

"You have heard the news of the people that died, right? The ones where people's bodies were drained the life out of them on top of buildings?" Fiore saw Arturia nodding her head. "Well, we did send a private drone to collect a trail of small destruction that Darnic left behind on those rooftops and the number of bodies he murdered along the way. Surprisingly it didn't really take us very long to find out where he was hiding. And the reason why I would need you to go after him is just so we could analyze how his blood works and how to counteract it to enhance our weapons. While they are strong enough to restrain him, they're just not enough to put him down for good."

Arturia made a sigh, seeing what Fiore was talking about. "So how do I just fight him off? I don't know if you remember, but I got my butt kicked since the last time I fought him. And I really doubt he would just kindly let me take his blood without having to beat the crap out of me, cause I can see that going really well." she sarcastically spoke.

Fiore made a giggle out of this. "You don't have to worry much, I can send in one of the drones to assist you in combat, although the space where you may have your battle might be cramped up…" she then put her fingers on her chin, making a small frown. "Although the one thing I'm rather confused about is that we managed to find Darnic without much trouble to begin with, it's almost like he wanted to be found, due to the trails he left behind that can make it easy once the puzzles are put together. You would think that he would be a little more careful…"

Arturia shrugged her shoulders. "Don't really know what that's all about, it's just a good thing we know where he is now. Since you do need that blood sample, I'll get to it as fast as I can."

Fiore made a smile. "Glad to hear that, but just be careful, and make sure you take some of the weapons to back you up as well."

Arturia was seen swinging in broad daylight in her costume, with a drone accompanying her as it led her to where Darnic was located. Arturia let go of her web as she landed down on one of the rooftops as the drone ended their lead until it pointed to a rundown apartment building.

"So this is where he's been hiding?" Arturia asked, her costume now having been fully seen, having added more protective gear on her and another mask of hers that matches the protection. "Well it seems to work for someone like him…" she commented before she leaped off to the torn building, snagging a web at it, entering through one of the empty holes at a second-story window.

Once Arturia got in, she saw that the place was filled with darkness, with some added light flickered here and there to uplift the darkness, but thanks to her enhanced vision she didn't have to worry about that. What did worry her was the unsettling atmosphere that settled from the inside with how eerie and quiet it was.

Arturia tried to make sure to stay as silent as possible, with the drone hovering next to her. If Darnic was in here right now, she wanted to catch him by surprise and not the other way around. She slowly walked towards the ruined walls, making sure to keep her guard up and be extra vigilant so that her danger sense could kick in at any second.

The drone was following her close by as well, making sure to spot anything that seemed remotely off and attack it. Arturia kept traveling further down the darkness, turning her head in every direction to watch out for any side of an attack coming to her. She had the needle ready to take Darnic's blood the moment his guard was down.

She turned over a corner and went deeper. As she turned over the left corner, she widened her eyes when she felt that sense of danger ringing in her head. He was here. Behind the mask, Arturia clenched her teeth in anticipation of whatever was about to occur. Nothing was happening as of yet, but Arturia kept walking onwards, her whole body filled with tension. She saw a case of stairs leading upwards to a floor above her.

Arturia widened her eyes again as Darnic burst through a wall on her right and threw a right hook at her, forcing Arturia to bring both her arms in front to block the attack. She managed to successfully block the attack, but got sent back flying through a brick sidewall. "Gugh!" Arturia grunted in pain as she nearly fell down from the force of impact handed to her, but she still stood her ground.

"Who… are you?!" Darnic demanded to know, making ragged breaths as there was sweat pouring from his face, gritting his teeth as he glared venomously at the costumed vigilante. Who was this person? He's never met her as far as he was aware. "Where did you come from?!"

Arturia figured not to speak at all, or if at all, being worried Darnic might figure out who she was by her voice even if it was muffled by the mask. But something was odd, she could see that Darnic was breathing heavily, and didn't understand why that was the case as he looked to be rather tired from… something she guessed. 'I just gotta remember, I came here to get a blood sample, I don't have to win against him.' she thought to herself as she prepared herself for another attack.

'Something is wrong with me… I just don't understand…' Darnic felt as though he was about to blow a short fuse. 'My body… it feels as though it's failing me. These past few weeks my hunger can never be satisfied, no matter how much blood I take! And my movements felt more heavy and sluggish as of late. I don't understand what's happening to me!' the crazed vampire thought to himself, becoming more agitated as the costumed woman in front of him wasn't saying anything. "Answer me! Just who the hell do you think you are?!"

Arturia didn't say anything, as she merely raised her index finger and waved it back in an attempt to provoke Darnic. The vampire was just about to lunge at her in anger, but he previously failed to notice the drone that accompanied the hero, and as such it began to fire strong bullets at the vampire right in his skull. "Nngh!" Darnic raised his arm to protect himself from the onslaught of bullets that came at him. Arturia took this as her chance as she leaped right over at the vampire and took her opportunity to attack. Darnic, while shielding himself from the strong bullets, tried to backhand Arturia, only for her to reveal she faked a hook and instead slid downwards between Darnic's legs and got behind him before making a horizontal spin kick at Darnic's neck, launching him through an interior wall.

Since she already fought Darnic before, she took notes on improving herself so that she could fight him better next time. Since the space they were in was rather cramped, her strategy as of now would be to dodge and hit him at a proper time. Darnic got back up as he glared at the woman in front of him before going ahead to leap right at her. Arturia managed to dodge by leaping above at the ceiling, making Darnic miss his shot before Arturia came back down and webbed the vampire's leg to make him fall down. Arturia made a flip over to Darnic before kicking him in the gut hard enough for him to spit out blood.

'Is it just me or is this easier than last time?' Arturia thought as she backflipped away when Darnic tried to backhand her. 'Really easy in fact. What's up with that?' she put up a distance from her opponent.

Darnic got back up again, his lower lip trickling with blood while his body started shaking. He made a cry as he charged at Arturia again, raising an uppercut at her only for Arturia to leap away backwards and a fire web at Darnic's eyes. Darnic hissed as he tried to tear away the webbing, and Arturia leaped in the air before twisting her body to launch a double ax handle at Darnic's head, making him stumble backwards and grunting at the pain he felt. Arturia added a spin kick at Darnic's guy and made him go flying till he hit against a wall.

"Do you think that… this will be enough to—" Darnic started coughing as he tried to get back up again, only to be seen struggling to do so. "Just… who do you think you are?!"

Arturia was confused by what was happening. Darnic looked as though he was sick. "I'll get you for this… just you—" Darnic cried out in pain as he fell down on the floor, and Arturia was stuck on what to do. Should she just take his blood while he was like this?

To Arturia's surprise, Darnic came at her faster than he was before and managed to get a clean blow by throwing a right hook at her face, to which Arturia barely got to raise one of her arms in defense before getting launched back, the armor on her right arm breaking apart as she crashed through a wall. The drone acted up and began to fire bullets at Darnic when the vampire ran towards the fallen vigilante. Darnic hissed from the pain before trying to attack the persistent drone, and the drone quickly used another weapon to fire at Darnic, firing what seemed to be a missle before it opened up and a bright flash of light blinded Darnic as he hollowed out in pain.

Arturia slowly got back up as she tried to recover from the pain she felt. She heard Darnic yelling, and while holding her arm she started walking back to see what was happening. Arturia saw Darnic crouching down, and the droid took this as its opportunity to take Darnic's blood by injecting a hooked line onto his back, and Arturia made sure to shoot multiple webs on his hands just so he wouldn't try to attack the drone. The drone took a few seconds to take Darnic's blood before it retracted.

"You maggots! I'll make you pay for this!" Darnix exclaimed in anger before he got to tear through the webbing and grabbed the remaining web line, yanking it just hard enough to make Arturia be thrown like a ragdoll as her body crashed against another wall. Darnic then pulled the string of webbing to him as he raised his fist, ready to end Arturia.

But Arturia wasn't done just yet as she let go of her web so she could avoid getting hit by him, and as her body fell down she reacted quickly by putting her hands onto the ground and flipped her body to give herself momentum as she kicked Darnic's stomach, making him grunt as he somewhat stumbled backwards. Arturia tried to take this as her opportunity to escape by leaping onto the walls next to her before leaping forward and punched a wall, making it break apart and Arturia wasted no time by jumping through the entrance, going in broad daylight where Darnic wouldn't be capable of following her. The drone followed her closely as it escaped as well.

'Damn… that was a close one. Even with all this protective gear, it's still not much of a defense.' Arturia thought to herself as she swung in the air with her left hand. 'Still… What was happening to Darnic back there? He looked as though he was sick if anything. I don't really know what that was all about, but hey, I got his blood sample at least. All I gotta do now is give this back to Fiore and my work here is finished.'

Arturia managed to come back to Fiore and gave her the sample that would be needed to use against Darnic. Fiore informed her that the reason why this was required was more so to build a venom against Darnic as a counter. However, as Fiore was not well suited for biology, she would have to find someone to work on the venom.

Until then, Arturia was free to do whatever she wanted until she was notified, and in this case she could finally go back and spend time with her family for Christmas, bringing her girlfriend along as she did. In this case, she was running a little late with the dinner that her family made and were waiting for her.

Right now it was around 19:15 as Arturia sas walking next to Irisviel, with the two of them approaching Arturia's house. Irisviel noticed how her girlfriend sometimes held her own arm, watching as the snow fell down. "So… why do you hold your arm like that? Did something happen?" Irisviel asked.

"Nothing really…" Arturia could still feel the stings in her body from the blows she received in the fight. "It's just I kinda bumped into someone and fell down. It's barely even recognizable."

Irisviel looked at her with an odd look, but she decided not to question it as they arrived at Arturia's house. Arturia knocked on the door, and waited for a bit before the door swung open by Morgan. "About time already. I wasn't allowed to have any food till you came back, just what took you so long?" Morgan complained before looking over at Irisviel. "Oh, hey Iris. Merry Christmas." she politely grabbed the woman's hand and shook it.

"Come on, I couldn't have taken that long." Arturia replied as she took off her jacket and put it somewhere to be hanged on. "I'm not even half an hour late."

"Hey, you're finally back!" Jeanne called out from the kitchen. "About time, Morgan looked like she was gonna eat everything once she saw what was on the table."

"I can't ignore delicious food once I see it!" Morgan exclaimed in a somewhat exaggerated manner. ''And I waited long enough as it is!"

"So... I take it that father isn't really gonna be joining us this year?" Arturia asked.

Kay sighed as he scratched the back of his head, walking towards his step sibling. "Unfortunately so, but hey, we can still get to enjoy Christmas either way. So, yeah, everyone can just sit down and feel free to dig in, cause we prepared a lot."

"Thanks for letting me come to your place, the food here does look great." Irisviel commented with a smile as she went ahead to take a seat of her own. ''And it's nice to be somewhere warm in exchange with all this cold happening outside, along with the snow."

"It's not really a problem, frankly I'm glad you accepted to come over here. After all you're our neighbor as well, and we've known each other for years." Kay replied back as he took his own seat, sitting at the front of the table.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's dig in!" Morgan exclaimed.

'So… Now I don't really have to do anything besides just enjoy myself and spend time with others.' Arturia thought to herself as she began to eat the food in front of her. 'Still... I do hope that venom Fiore was talking about gets to be made in time, cause I don't think anybody knows what Darnic's next move is gonna be. Speaking of Darnic… what was happening to him when I fought him back there?' she thought back to her fight with him that happened merely hours ago. 'It was weird, and I'm not sure if that's supposed to be normal or not. I told Fiore about it and she's not sure herself on what that was about.' she shrugged her shoulders. 'Well, no point in worrying about that now. Just take the rest of the day off and do nothing.'

This took me way longer than I thought to finally update this damn thing, and I don't exactly like that, but hey here it is as a present for the New Years for you people. As of now, the next chapter may be second to last if not the last chapter of this story.