Previously:

"I will stop these people if you open the gates," Alibaba told the guards, holding out a hand to signal for the crowd to wait before attacking. "If this continues on, your lives will be in danger."

"You... You will be the only one entering, right?" said the nervous guard who spoke before while the other cowered in fear.

"Yes. I, as prince of Balbadd, give you my word," Alibaba answered seriously. The guards had no choice if they wanted to save themselves from the mob outside the palace. They opened the gates. Alibaba stood before the people and raised his blade in the air. Everyone gasped when he summoned Amon's flames, creating a tower of fire. The people stared in astonishment.

"Everyone! Please wait for my return here! From now on, I will change this country!" Alibaba declared, his face set with firm determination.

Chapter 56: Djinn Equip and Assault

"I can't find him!" Faith said, jogging over to meet up with Hope and Morgiana, who had already regrouped after they split up to look for Alibaba to double check he wasn't anywhere in the hideout.

"Me neither," Hope said.

"I couldn't find him either," Morgiana said.

"Right. I don't know what he has planned, but if he's storming the palace, we need to stop him. Or, at least, we can't let him do it alone," Hope said, already running through their options.

"Yes," Morgiana agreed, clenching her fists.

"Good," Hope said, nodding her head. "Then you and I will go after him. Faith, I want you to go find Sinbad and tell him what's going on."

"And then I'll catch up with you," Faith said.

"And then you'll stay here and look after Aladdin," Hope corrected her.

"Excuse me?" Faith said, thinking she must have misheard. "If you think I'm getting left out just because of a broken arm—"

"It's because we're both worried about him, and the only way I can rush off into danger is if I know he's safe with you," Hope countered. "I'm depending on you," she said with determination.

"… You…" Faith said, raising her finger to point it at her sister only to drop it. "You know I hate it when you do that."

"Thanks," Hope said, flashing her a smile. "Let's go, Morgiana!"

"Yes!" Morgiana said, taking off at top speed.

—∞—

Meanwhile, in Balbadd's Inner Palace's villa, the Kou Empire's eighth princess, Ren Kougyoku, had other concerns on her mind. The soothing tea, sweet incense, and all the other familiar luxury items brought from home did nothing to distract her from them.

"Ka Koubun, how are Judar-chan's injuries?" she asked the man standing before her.

"Although I had already used my household vessel to heal him, his bones are all shattered; hence, there is still a need for some time before a full recovery," Ka Koubun reported.

"Is that so..." Kougyoku said, feeling down.

"Are you alright, princess…?"

"Mm… Don't you find it strange, Ka Koubun? Why does a legitimate princess such as myself have to be particularly selected for this political marriage?" she asked, resting her head on her hand. "This sort of thing… they should have just let Hakuei do it instead. She's the previous emperor's daughter after all."

"Princess, Balbadd is the south seas' main trading center. This is a strategic location needed by our empire to attack the west. To obtain such a location perfectly, as well as to receive the citizens' trust, we require a legitimate princess such as you to become the queen of the country," Ka Koubun explained.

"I know that. But I went through a lot just to conquer a dungeon, as well as receiving my metal vessel… I have longed to progress down the path of a warrior… and also… I wanted to try falling in love for once..." she said wistfully, thinking of Sinbad.

"Princess…" Ka Koubun said. "This is the emperor's order. Also, your brother is attending the wedding ceremony."

"I know that!" she said, letting out a sigh of resignation. "I'm just feeling a little confused..." Her eyes were a little sad and lonely. 'According to traditions, the wedding partners are not allowed to see each other before the wedding ceremony… I wonder what kind of person King Ahbmad is… It would be good if he is someone remarkable…' she thought. 'Ah—ah… I think I'm starting to have what they call the 'marriage blues'...' She sighed again. "Speaking of my eldest brother..." she said, deciding to change the subject to avoid feeling too depressed. "Didn't I hear that he was looking for a pair of identical twins that stole a metal vessel? There were some there the other night, weren't there? At least, they appeared to be twins at a glance… I only really got a good look at one of them. Despite her plain clothes, the one with the metal vessel was uncommonly pretty, wasn't she?" It wasn't an observation that made her particularly happy. The other girl had seemed closer to Sinbad than she would have liked. "Shouldn't we mention that to him?"

"Yes, they did appear to be identical. But the set of twins he is searching for are said to have ginger hair, Your Majesty."

"Hmm. Yes, but how many twins can there be running around with a metal vessel?"

"You make a fair point, Princess. Perhaps we should indeed mention it, yes," said Ka Kobun thoughtfully.

—∞—

"How is it, Your Majesty? These people are the princess' dowry..." Markkio said, gesturing to Enshin, Entai, and Engi, who were all kneeling before the throne. Unfortunately for the Kou princess, the only thing 'remarkable' about Abhmad was his striking resemblance to a pig.

"Huhu… Every one of them is rather outstanding…" Ahbmad observed smugly He looked at what was left of several bodies in the giant crater in the floor behind them. "None of my army's best fighters are a match against them."

"Yes… how about it? They can be Your Majesty's body guards," Markkio suggested.

"Alright, approved," Ahbmad said. "Dedicate your loyalty and work for me then!" The three Kou soldiers smirked under their veils. "Ah, speaking of which… what's the commotion outside about?"

"Your Majesty!" one of the guards from outside cried as he rushed into the throne room to report. "We have a big problem! There's and intruder in the palace! But he's not really a trespasser..."

"Just what the hell is happening…" Ahbmad wondered aloud, leaving his throne to step out onto the balcony to see for himself, followed closely by Sahbmad. The two brothers were shocked and surprised by what they saw. There in the courtyard below stood Alibaba, surrounded by guards, all of whom had their spears pointed at him. Their eyes met.

"Ahbmad!!! There's something I need to tell you," Alibaba shouted furiously. "Get your ass down here!!!! His amber eyes burned with determination. Ahbmad's face twisted in an angry grimace, all the more upset by the sliver of fear that infected him from Alibaba's glare. Sahbmad stared down at his half brother in astonishment, daring to hope again.

"Oya, oya… isn't he the guy from a few days before..." Markkio said, joining them.

"What… What nonsense is this!!!" Ahbmad demanded furiously, brandishing his scepter at the nearest servant. "Who allowed him to enter this palace!!!" He pointed down at Alibaba. "'Banker'! Kill that bastard!"

"Oya, oya… Is that okay?" Markkio asked. "He is a prince of this country..."

"What rubbish!!!" Ahbmad snapped. "I will never accept that trash as a prince!!!"

"Then, Entai… hurry up and carry out that order.," Markkio commanded.

"Yes," Entai said, bowing respectfully, before leaping over the railing and hopping down from one architectural feature to another until he finally reached the ground in front of Alibaba.

"What is this… I didn't ask for you!" Alibaba said, holding his knife out in front of himself defensively.

"Don't say it like that… We've already met before, you know?" Entai said, removing his veiled headdress. It revealed a face that was very human, but there was something off about the smile. It didn't reach his eyes. "Have you already forgotten?" He tossed the headdress aside. "However, there really isn't a need for me to introduce myself, is there? Since..." The sclera in one of his eyes turned black, and the skin on the side of his face turned grey and bugled out. Alibaba watched in horror as the grotesque transformation spread to the rest of his face and body until Entai had once again regained the same giant elephant-like form that he had confronted them with before. "You're going to die here after all!!" he roared.

'!!!' Alibaba thought, alarmed when he recognized him, gritting his teeth. "This bastard is…!!' With a great turn of his head, Entai whipped his trunks through the air and sent Alibaba flying back into a stone wall.

'Damn… is there even such a human!?' Alibaba thought, furrowing his brow and gritting his teeth as he pulled himself back onto his feet. He thrust his knife into the air. "Either way, I don't have time to play with him!!" He slashed the air to send out a strike of fire at his enemy. "Let's go, Amon!!" Entai responded by whipping his trunks around in a circle, deflecting the fire to send it flying back at Alibaba. "What… What the!?" Alibaba exclaimed, raising his arms to protect himself.

"I am the strongest warrior created by the Kou Empire's technology, you know?" Entai told him, dipping his three trunks into a nearby fountain. He loaded them up with water, reared back a little, and shot the water back out at Alibaba with enough force to the shatter the thick and heavy paving stones of the courtyard.

"!!!" Alibaba gasped. If he hadn't jumped at the last second, he would've been a goner. 'Damn it… just what kind of monster is this… He extinguished all the flames!'

"What… is it already over?" Entai sneered. "Then… you just have to die now..." Alibaba glared back at him, recalling Sinbad's teachings on Djinn Equip.

Envelop yourself with Amon's flames and transform yourself into your Djinn!

'Although I didn't receive much practice… I can only rely on it now!! I never succeeded in training… but I guess I just have to make this gamble!!' he thought anxiously as Entai lumbered toward him, gripping his knife tightly as he took up another fighting stance and focused on following Sinbad's instructions. 'Djinn Equip!!' he thought. He was immediately engulfed in a pillar of flames.

"H-Huh… that guy is burning himself up," Entai said, stoping to stare.

'This isn't enough. I need to compress even more of Amon's flames within this sword!' Alibaba thought. He focused hard on confining the flames to his knife. The flames began to change, concentrating more on his arms. For a moment, he thought it had worked, but then the flames scattered. "!!" he gasped, his eyes widening in shock. What?

WHAM!

Alibaba had to quickly jump out of the way as Entai slammed one of his trunks into the ground where he was standing.

'So it's still impossible, after all,' Alibaba thought, furrowing his brow and gritting his teeth. 'I can't compress them at all—!'

"You, what are you mumbling about?" Entai asked, raising his trunk again. "I'm starting to feel annoyed now." Alibaba leaped out of the way as Entai repeatedly beat the ground with his trunks and feet in an attempt to crush him. Alibaba found higher ground, then jumped high into the air, unleashing another slash of fire at his enemy's face. Entai just barely managed to dodge.

"Ah!!" Entai gasped. "You bastard!!" He swung his trunks again. Alibaba dodged again.

'I'll use the flames like this to defeat him...' Alibaba thought, then images of the other enemies he may have to face on his way to the throne room flashed through his mind. 'No, I can't! At this rate I won't stand a chance against the others that are probably nearby!! I have to do that!' He furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth with determination. He gripped his knife tightly in his hands. "Djinn Equip!!" Amon's flames roared to life again.

"Those flames of yours are annoying!!" Entai growled, quickly refilling his trunks with water and firing at Alibaba again.

"Ugh!!" Alibaba jumped out of the way. He braced himself and tried to block the next attack when Entai swung his trunk down at him. For a moment, it seemed to be working, but not even the fire-coated blade could prevent Alibaba from being swatted away like a fly. "Wuah!!" he cried as he was thrown across the ground. 'Must compress them… I must think of a way to compress the flames in the sword!!' he thought urgently.

"You, you're really weak! You can't even call yourself a dungeon capturer!" Entai taunted him. "Although I have no idea what you're trying to do, it will just be useless, and you will die!!" Alibaba fell backwards out of the way when Entai swiped at him with his trunk and ran, continuing to dodge the attacks that followed him while he tried to focus on his sword.

'Compress… Compress...' Alibaba thought anxiously, but there was little change in Amon's flames. 'Damn, it's still not enough!!'

"Oya… That's a Djinn's metal vessel," Markkio observed, watching the fight from the balcony with Ahbmad and Sahbmad. "His skills aren't mature, but he is also a 'dungeon capturer'."

"… That piece of junk conquered a dungeon?" Ahbmad asked.

"Yes. In other words, he is also a 'King's Candidate,'" Markkio replied.

'How is that possible? That guy is a 'King's Candidate'?' Ahbmad thought skeptically, frowning and furrowing his brow. 'That guy is a piece of junk from the slums. There's no way that bastard will have the same qualifications to become king as me.' He watched Alibaba dodge another dangerous attack. 'There's no way...' Alibaba jumped out of the way as Entai punched the ground he had been standing on with one of his front legs, shattering the stone. Alibaba was moving as fast as he could, but it wasn't enough. He was caught by the next swing of Entai's trunk and slammed into a nearby wall.

"Wuah!!" Alibaba cried in surprise and pain. 'Why, Amon!' he wondered as he picked himself up off the ground again, bleeding from big cut on his forehead. 'Why aren't you responding to me! Are you trying to tell me that I don't have the qualifications to use you!?' he thought, glaring at his flaming knife. 'Are you going to just let me die like this… Amon!?' He panted heavily, trying to catch his breath. 'At first, I thought that even if I couldn't manage it during practice, as long as I'm forced into a desperate situation, I might be able to unleash its power…. That seemed to work for Hope, but...' He flinched when Entai charged at him again.

"ORAAAAAAA!!" Entai roared as he attacked, headbutting Alibaba's body to send him flying again.

"…." Alibaba couldn't even scream. He coughed up blood. He was hit with so much force that his lungs seemed to have forgotten how to work. His body hit the ground and skipped like a stone across a pond. Alibaba gasped desperately for breath as Entai advanced towards him.

"This is a waste of my time," Entai said. He moved closer and closer, until his giant foot was raised right over Alibaba's head.

'Damn… Why is it? Why can't I do it?' Alibaba thought miserably. Suddenly, he heard himself crying, and he saw a memory of himself being held by his mother when he was younger. His kind, strong mother smiled at him and said "Don't cry, Alibaba!" He saw the late king. "I'm leaving this country… to you." He saw Sahbmad. "This is because I feel that if it's Alibaba, you will be able to save this country!!" He saw Sinbad. "Isn't it because everyone felt it? Your duty..." He saw himself running, all the people he had tried to help were calling out to him. "I'm begging you… Alibaba..." "Please!!" "Alibaba… the country…" He saw himself running. He was cut down with a slice to the throat. He fell forward onto the ground and lay there, defeated. 'Damn it… am I going to die here…!?' he wondered, clenching his fist. "You don't have any power," he heard Cassim say. 'You're right...' he thought. "You don't even have the resolve… You're a piece of junk for royalty..." he heard Ahbmad sneer. 'I don't have anything at all…' he thought grimly. Then, he heard Hope's words from when he was feeling down during their training. "What are you talking about? Faith and Aladdin believe in you." He suddenly felt someone else's hands on his. He looked up. It was Aladdin. "You are a courageous person," Aladdin told him with a smile, pointing for him to go on. "I know you are!"

Alibaba's eyes snapped open. He gripped his sword and drove it up into Entai's foot before he could crush him.

"WUAAH!?" Entai hollered and recoiled in pain.

'Idiot!! Don't confuse yourself!!' Alibaba scolded himself. 'Power isn't an issue at all! In any case… haven't I already…!!!' He pushed himself back onto his feet and glared up at his enemy, assuming a fighting stance. 'Decided that I won't stop my feet and continue to move forward!?'

"Bastard, I'm going to kill you!!" Entai roared, activating the further transformation of his body to become even more monstrous. His mouth elongated and his teeth sharpened like an alligator's. His tusks grew longer and sharper. Small tentacles and horns grew up and down his arms. And his whole body seemed to double in size.

Alibaba stood his ground.

'Djinn Equip!!' Alibaba thought. The flames flared up. 'Compress the flames within the sword! I don't understand how I'm supposed to compress them—!! How did Hope do it!? She said something about imagining becoming her Djinn… Compressing… Rather than doing that, I should just burn my arms instead!!' He focused the flames on his arms. 'I will burn my entire body too then!' the flames spread to cover him from head to toe. 'Have it burn more ferociously!!' He forced the flames to intensify. 'Become the flame itself!!!' The flames reached a blinding level. Entai squinted to get a better look, and before he could know anything else, he was cut down, cleaved in two right down the middle, as Alibaba shot forward and launched his devastating attack.

"W… What…!!?" Entai said as beads of sweat slid down his face, shocked. It happened so fast, he didn't know he was dead yet. But beyond his soon to be lifeless corpse stood a victorious Alibaba, holding a large black sword with blackened hands that seemed to have veins of lava flowing through them.

"I did it… So this is Amon's sword!!" Alibaba exclaimed, smiling at the blade in his hand. "The elephant monster has been dealt with!!"

"Che… What a useless thing… Is there no one who can finish that piece of junk off!?" Ahbmad demanded with am ugly grimace, gritting his teeth. A bead of sweat slid down the side of his face.

"Please be at ease, my king," Markkio said with an oily smile. "Because you still have many bodyguards left..."

Alibaba tried to run farther into the palace, but found his way blocked by several monkey-like creatures.

"These guys are…!" Alibaba said, recognizing them as the same ones Morgiana fought before. 'Those things from before…!' He furrowed his brow and kept going. "Sorry, but I'll have to finish you guys with one blow!!" He tightened his grip on his sword and slashed at them, cutting them down without hesitation. But as soon as the ones he had cut hit the ground, they began to regenerate, each half becoming a whole new creature.

"Gyuhahaha!!" they jeered at him.

'These guys!?' Alibaba thought, alarmed.

"No matter how many times they are slashed apart, they always regenerate themselves," Markkio said. "They also possess human intelligence. You could say they are the same as those monsters from the dungeon." Alibaba slashed at them repeatedly. Even though it made them multiply, he couldn't see any other option. If he stopped, they would take him down in a heartbeat.

"What an annoying bunch!!" Alibaba said through clenched teeth, wincing at the cuts and scratches they gave him. They were too fast for him to block all of them. "Amon!!" His sword ignited with flames. The mutant monkeys pounced all at once, attacking in a great wave.

SLAAAAAASH!!

Alibaba cut them all down in instant. The fiery blows incinerated their targets. The monkeys screamed as they were burned away.

'It's light! And it's very hot!' Alibaba thought, looking at the blazing blade, amazed. 'It's strong as well. So this is Amon's sword!!' He ran forward again. "!!" He had to stop short when Enshin himself landed in front of him. The hairy Enshin removed his veil to reveal a mutated monkey's face with many eyes.

"Grr…" Enshin growled at him.

"So the monkey boss finally reveals himself… Also, this number of monkeys is troublesome as well!!" Alibaba remarked, slashing his sword as more of them tried to attack him. He suddenly recalled how Sinbad had warned him and Hope to take note of their magoi capacity. He could feel his magoi running low. "Before my magoi runs out… I'll eliminate everything!!" he declared, dashing toward his main enemy, Enshin.

"Graaaah!!" Enshin roared. There was a sick crunching sound as he was silenced by Morgiana's knee slamming into his face. Alibaba stared in shock as several of the big monkey's teeth were knocked loose and sent flying through the air. Enshin hit the ground hard. Morgiana landed gracefully, standing with her back to Alibaba.

"Coming here alone… don't you think it's a bit too much…?" Morgiana asked the stunned Alibaba, looking back at him over her shoulder.

"Morgiana!!" Alibaba exclaimed. What was she doing there? "Why are you here, Morgiana?" They quickly moved to fight back to back when Enshin's minions suddenly launched into a new attack to avenge their boss. Morgiana sent any foolish enough to target her flying.

"Because I wish to become your strength," Morgiana replied seriously.

"I didn't tell you this because I knew you would say something like that," Alibaba told her.

"Hope-san is on her way as well. Her injury slowed her down, so she insisted I go on ahead," Morgiana explained.

««« Flashback «««

Hope winced, panting as she struggled to keep up with Morgiana, who had already gained a huge lead on her.

'Oh gosh—it really hurts to run!' Hope thought, grimacing at the excruciating pain in her side. She couldn't take it anymore. She stopped and leaned against a wall to catch her breath. "Morgiana!!"she called, getting the other girl's attention.

"!" Morgiana stopped and looked back at her. "Hope-san, are you alright?" she asked, furrowing her brow a little with concern.

"Yeah. I'll be fine. But I can't keep running like this," Hope replied, still a little breathless. "You go ahead. I'll catch up."

"I can carry you," Morgiana said, moving to go back for her.

"No! Go on ahead. Alibaba needs you more, and… there's a chance I may drag you down if do go with you..." Hope said grimly, feeling another hint of despondency creeping up on her. 'Please! Not now!' she thought anxiously, gripping her side.

"I can easily carry several people..." Morgiana said, not understanding her meaning.

"It's not that… I have an illness that's started to act up again…" Hope explained. "I'll be fine on my own, and I'll tell you all about it later… but first, we need to help Alibaba. Right?"

"Right," Morgiana agreed, though she was still concerned about leaving the older girl behind, especially if she had an illness that was troubling her. But she saw the determination in Hope's eyes. "We'll be waiting for you."

"Yeah," Hope said, making herself smile a little to reassure her. "See you there."

»»» End Flashback »»»

"Not her too!" Alibaba said. "Don't you get it? I didn't tell you guys because this is something I have to do alone."

"We know," Morgiana said. "You still have something that only you can do, hence the reason you're fighting right now..." She narrowed her eyes as she watched Enshin pull himself back onto his feet. "But that thing you need to do, isn't fighting these guys in this kind of place, right!?" Alibaba stared at the way she had placed herself resolutely in front of him, but something else caught his eye.

"!!" he gasped. Looking up, he could see the distant gleam of his eldest half brother's crown. 'Ahbmad!!' he thought, narrowing his eyes.

"Let me handle these guys," Morgiana told him, referring Enshin and his minions.

"Stop fooling around. Do you think I'll let you do this!?" he asked her incredulously. How could he abandon her to fight these things on her own? The monkeys charged.

"I'm not fooling around," Morgiana told him. "I'm serious." She took a deep, deep breath, clenching her fists. She exhaled a deafening roar at her enemies.

"GYAAAOOOO!!"

The monkey's froze in their tracks, trembling with fear. Some of them covered their ringing ears as if they were in pain.

"Alibaba-san!" she said, turning around to face him. He too had covered one of his ears and appeared a little unnerved. "It's fine." She smiled at him. "Although I look like this, I'm actually very strong!!"

"Ah, I see..." he said, sweat-dropping. 'I know that already,' he thought.

"Get going then!" she said, grabbing hold of him.

"Eh?" Alibaba said dumbly, wondering what she was up to. She lifted him up off of the ground. "Uh… eh…?" She tossed him high into the air with all her might.

"Guwaaaaaah!" Alibaba yelled as he sailed over the wall blocking his way to the next part of the palace. He had to stab the ground with his sword to break his fall.

"Hurry up and go!" Morgiana called to him from the other side. She stood with her back against the gate that was normally used to go through to where Alibaba now was. Her arms were stretched out. "I won't let you guys pass this door..." Morgiana told Enshin and the other monkeys.

"It's no use, little girl… even if you cry or beg today, I will never let you off..." Enshin said, towering over her. "Before, you couldn't even keep up with our speed!" Morgiana stared at him, unimpressed.

"So… you think that is my real strength?" Morgiana said coolly. She began hopping up and down on one foot.

"….!?" Enshin said, confused by her behavior.

"If I use my real strength… You guys will be the ones crying," she assured him.

—∞—

"What?" Sinbad said, staring at Faith. "Alibaba stormed into the palace?"

"Looks like it," she replied with a shrug.

"What should we do, Sin?" Ja'far asked.

"For heaven's sake… Just as the allied nations I summoned are about to arrive..." Sinbad said, holding his head. "This means that now… it won't be easy to resolve this by solely political means..." He straightened up. "No. You said Hope and Morgiana went after him?"

"Yep," Faith responded, though she didn't know whether they had decided to stop him or help him.

"We might still make it in time." Sinbad stepped out of the room, intent on going after them. "I'm heading to the palace."

"Yes," Ja'far said.

'Alibaba-kun… what on earth did you go to the palace for?' Sinbad wondered grimly as he marched down the hall. Faith moved to follow him, but then she heard someone speak up from Aladdin's room in the opposite direction.

"Hey… this child seems to be..." a woman in the room said.

"Heh?" said another woman, looking from the hall back to her and Aladdin.

"Seems to be what?" Faith asked, turning to join them instead. She paused in the doorway when she saw. His eyes were still closed, but Aladdin's hair and clothing were moving as if there was a breeze blowing around him. Faith thought she saw a flicker of light. "What the…?"

—∞—

Meanwhile, Hope found herself trying to negotiate with some very stubborn palace guards.

"No way! We're not letting anyone else in!" one of them said firmly. They were probably in enough trouble already. Hope sighed, wishing she could just jump over the wall like Morgiana probably already did.

'Fine,' she thought, turning away from them. 'If I can't go through or over, I'll try going around. Maybe some of Alibaba's old tunnels are still there?' She walked around the side wall, tapping stones and feeling for drafts. She got lucky within the first minute of searching. "Bingo!" She managed to wiggle several smaller stones loose and pried them out of the wall to reveal exactly what she was looking for. 'I wonder where this leads…'

She crawled and crawled for what felt like ages. Just as she was beginning to feel claustrophobic, she reached the end of the line.

"What?" she said, confused by the abrupt ending. "A dead end?" she started feeling around in the dark for something, anything that might open up a new path for her or at least give her a clue to where she was. "Ow!!" In her panic, she bumped her head and felt the ceiling of the tunnel move. "Ohh..." she said, pushing up with her hands. She came up through a trapdoor in the floor that had been disguised by a rug in what appeared to be a hallway. She quickly pulled her self up out of the tunnel and closed the hatch behind her before brushing herself off. "Now where am I?" she wondered, deciding to move forward even though she had no clue where she was. Forward brought her to a grand room that could have been a ballroom. She suddenly felt as if she was being watched. Hope spun around and found herself looking up at Engi, who was standing on the landing at the top of the stairs leading to the next level. Hope stared up at him. She was not prepared for this. "Sorry, wrong room," she said with a straight face and quickly tried to leave before her exit was blocked. No such luck. Engi quickly raced along the next level, which was more like an open balcony encircling the whole room, and leaped down to cut off her escape. Hope quickly stepped back to put more distance between them. Engi ripped off his veil and smirked at her with his feline face.

"You don't seem very confident today," he sneered at her, holding up his sword, which gleamed cruelly in the light. "What's the matter? Scared without your little friends?"

"I'm just having a bad day," she replied truthfully. The thing she was most afraid of at the moment was that her minor down episode would get in the way of her Djinn Equip. She suddenly realized that in her hurry to catch up to the others, she had very stupidly left without taking some kind of weapon with her. All she had to fight against Engi's sword would be her bare hands if the Djinn Equip failed. 'Come on, Ipos!!' she thought urgently, focusing on concentrating her magoi on her ring, picturing her partial Djinn Equip. "... Spirit of Wisdom and Valor," she began, building more power with each word, "in the name of my magoi, and my will to grant me a greater power, feast and dwell within my body..." She took a deep breath and focused on taking in and circulating the new power she could feel flowing throughout her body. "I order you and your members, come forth, Ipos!" Whether it was because of her illness or something else, there was once again no outward change. But she did feel a little stronger. Not that that was much consolation in the current situation.

"Ahahaha!" Engi laughed. "I see what happened before was just a fluke. Some dungeon capturer you are!" He dropped all pretense of amusement and glared at her like a predator stalking its prey. "That was my favorite sword you broke." He lunged at her. Hope threw herself to the side to avoid the stab of his blade and rolled out of the way, and back onto her feet to deliver a sweeping kick. He jumped and she missed. He swung his sword down at her, but she pushed against the floor and slid herself between his legs and out of harm's way. She jumped back onto her feet and fleetingly wondered if she should run and look for a weapon in another room, before Engi cut her thoughts short with another swift attack. This time he aimed to cleave her in half, but Hope managed to catch the sword between her palms before it could slice her from the head down. Her arms shook with the effort. Engi was inhumanly strong, but fortunately so was she, thanks to Ipos. But Hope didn't know how much longer she could hold it. She took a chance and pivoted to knee him in the gut, breaking the tension so she could move the sword aside. She took advantage of the opening it created and pushed. Engi fell backwards, and his sword clattered out of his hand, sliding across the floor. The race was on. Hope ran as fast as she could with her broken rib, and Engi scrambled to get back on his feet. Her fingers were just brushing against the discarded blade's handle when he swooped in and reclaimed it. Hope immediately ducked around the sword before he could straighten up and headbutted him, striking him on the chin. She almost succeeded in knocking him out, but it wasn't good enough. While he was still dazed, he tried to take another swing at her, but Hope dropped to the floor and hit him with a sweeping kick, knocking him off his feet. The sword clattered out of his hand again. She dived for it and caught it. But it gave him time to catch her. With a nasty snarl, Engi pounced, throwing himself at her with his claws ready to shred her flesh. Hope didn't have time to think. She rolled over with the sword clutched tightly in her hands. "Ungh…!" Engi groaned, eyes wide when he landed on the blade, impaling himself. He coughed up blood. Some drops of it fell onto her face and clothing.

"!!" Hope gasped, staring up at him with equally wide eyes, horrified. Although she was fighting for her life, she had never intended to actually kill him. Engi shuddered, and his whole body fell limp, sliding down the sword and trapping her against the floor. He was most certainly dead. Hope lay there for a moment, still shocked. But she was very conscious of the fact that there was a dead body on top of her. She tried to roll Engi's corpse off of her but found that she couldn't. She must have unconsciously released the Djinn Equip in her shock, because she still had magoi left. But she couldn't move. It was at that moment that Alibaba came rushing into the room. He stopped short at the terrible and unexpected sight before him.

"H-Hope!?" he exclaimed, taken aback. "Are you…?"

"I'm alright, but… can you help me?" she asked with a strained voice, trying to sound calmer that she felt. "I can't get out from under him on my own..."

"Y-Yeah!!" Alibaba said, snapping out of it and immediately springing into action to help her. With his assistance, she was able to roll Engi off of her. He saw that the front of her dress was stained with blood. "Are you alright!?"

"Yes…" she replied quietly. "It isn't mine..."

"Oh… I see..." Alibaba said, looking at Engi's corpse, which still had the sword stuck in it. "What happened here? I thought you were behind Morgiana?"

"I was, but I then I used one of your old tunnels, and I guess I found a short cut. Unfortunately, it brought me to this guy, and we fought... He fell on his own sword."

"While you were holding it?" Alibaba asked.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" she said defensively, sounding hurt.

"I didn't say you did! I just… I probably couldn't have defeated him without killing him either…" he said, looking down. "So… I guess you saved me from having to do it?"

"..." Hope didn't answer, she just hugged her knees.

"Look, it's not like he was human," Alibaba continued, trying to find a way to cheer her up or at least make her feel less guilty. "He was just another dungeon creature monster. He wasn't a person..."

"… If you say so..." she said, but Hope wasn't entirely convinced. He and the other dungeon creatures the princess had brought with her seemed like they had acted pretty human to her. Just because they weren't human… did that really mean they weren't people? "You should get going," she said abruptly, recalling why they were there. Alibaba needed to help his people.

"But you—"

"I'll be alright. I just need to rest for a bit. My rib really hurts." It seemed to hurt more now than when her Djinn Equip was activated. She could tell Alibaba still didn't want to leave her alone. "Go. You have something only you can do, right?" Alibaba furrowed his brow and set his jaw with determination. He knew she was right. He couldn't waste time there. Morgiana was still fighting too.

"Yeah. I'll be going on ahead, then," he said. "If you feel up to it, could you check on Morgiana? She's fighting those monkey things in the outer courtyard."

"By herself?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I don't think she'll need me… but I'll go as soon as I get my second wind."

"Thanks," Alibaba said, and took off running for the throne room.

—∞—

Meanwhile, Morgiana continued her fight against the monkeys.

'This is no good!' she thought, punching and kicking one after the other. 'If I can just take them out in one blow….' He eyes widened as she recalled the move Masrur had used to take down a large portion of the Fog Troupe members all at once.. 'I know! That move he made before...' She furrowed her brow and gritted her teeth as she assumed the same starting position, preparing to unleash a burst of speed. Her back foot dug into the ground and shattered the stone beneath it as she shot forth like a rocket, tearing her way through the monkeys until there were too many piled on top of her to continue at speed. She shook them off. 'It's not enough! Neither my strength nor my speed… I just can't do it right now...' she thought, the crease in her brow deepening. 'If I can make it to where he is...' She needed to take out the leader. She leaped into the air, using the monkey that tried to attack her as a springboard to reach even higher and pushed off near the top of the inner gates to spring towards a tower-like structure in the courtyard to reach the outer gate, where she touched off to reach a second identical tower-like structure, pushing off that to reach back around to the inner palace gate. She kept going on and on. 'No! Both Alibaba-san and Aladdin are fighting. Hope-san is trying her best as well. No way would I ever run away!' Morgiana aimed herself at Enshin and pushed off the second tower with enough power to shatter the stone and send his monkey's flying, speeding straight through his chest to come out through his back. The monkeys screeched as the tower fell and crushed them.

—∞—

Outside the palace, the two guards guarding the outer gate were getting nervous.

"What should be do—you know the masses are building up as we speak!?" one of them said anxiously, sweating bullets. There were now at least twice as many people there now as there were when Alibaba first made them let him in.

"But they're just surrounding the castle gates and not doing anything?" said the other, also breaking out in a nervous sweat.

"Prince Alibaba said 'I'll change this country so just wait'!!" a woman holding a baby said as she stood with the rest of the anxious and hopeful crowd that had gathered.

"I'm going to see this country to the end of its course!" the man standing next to her said, gritting his teeth.

—∞—

Inside the palace, Alibaba was running up the stairs leading to the throne room.

'I had brought oil with me to start a fire if necessary, but there're no more hindrances before me, so it looks like it won't be needed!' Alibaba thought. He could see the door to the throne room was flanked by two palace guards. 'Yeah, my enemies aren't monsters… I… I came here to fight with him!!!'

Several of the guards inside the throne room jumped when the door suddenly slammed open.

"!!?" they gasped, startled to see the intruder had reached them so easily.

"Abhmad!!!" Alibaba shouted, eyes burning with determination. "I came to settle the score!!" Sahbmad and the palace guards stared in astonishment. The Banker smiled. Ahbmad frowned. The guards moved to intercept him, but Alibaba's attention was drawn to something else. In the middle of the floor was a giant crater with what looked like the remains of pieces of bodies scattered in and around it. He recognized enough of the clothing to tell that they had once been palace guards and soldiers. 'What is this… was it done by those monsters!?' he wondered, frowning and furrowing his brow. He wanted to show it to Hope. He bet she wouldn't feel so bad after seeing this.

"… Banker, those bodyguards or whatever were utterly useless, were they not?" Ahbmad said, still sitting calmly on the throne.

"Yes… However, it seems that in that battle, he has used up almost all of his magoi… He can only use his Djinn once more, if at all," Markkio replied.

"..." Alibaba was surrounded by guards. "From here on I won't be needing the Djinn's power. The people in here are different from those monsters. They're all citizens of Balbadd. I don't intend to kill them," he said. "Ahbmad. I came here to dismiss… this country and imperial rule from you!" The guards didn't seem to know how to respond to that.

"W… What is going on…?" one of them asked as they began to mumble among themselves.

"..." Ahbmad stared at them. "Kill him," he ordered.

"!?" they gasped.

"What are you doing? Execute the rebel," Ahbmad told them. "According to the Banker, he no longer has any power. Just do it..."

"All of you, stand back!" Alibaba ordered, holding his knife out to the side. "I've come here as a prince to settle things with Ahbmad. Do you really think this country can continue on as it is? All of you should have already realized the state the country is in now!!" The guards looked uncomfortable. He could see that his words were affecting them.

"Kill him," Ahbmad ordered darkly. "That thing is just trash from the slums. Don't pay him heed!" The guards who had surrounded Alibaba closed ranks, trapping him with their spears.

"Let go!!" Alibaba yelled, frustrated.

"L… Let go of Alibaba!!" Sahbmad commanded them with a trembling voice, sweating nervously.

"?" Ahbmad said, looking down at the deputy king in surprise. "Sabhmad!?" His younger brother was looking at him with an expression that was something between a grimace and a glare. "Haha… why did you shout like that? You scared me. You stand back now."

"B… Brother, I-I… I…!!" Sabhmad said nervously, clenching his fists as he struggled to get the words out.

"?" Ahbmad said, puzzled by his odd behavior. "Don't bother. You all proceed with the command. Kill that thing!" he told the guards.

"Barkak!!" Sahbmad yelled. "Please capture and suppress the royal guards!!" Barkak immediately sprang into action and, with moves too fast to be seen, disarmed all of the guards who had surrounded Alibaba.

"Ngh…!? You lapdog of the first king… I knew that you were rebelling against me, but have you finally lost your mind… Barkak!!" Abhmad seethed angrily. "The rest of you! Don't listen to this worthless person here either!!" he yelled, pointing his scepter at Sabhmad. "This person is just an accessory! Just a fool who has no right to speak in politics! You all know that already, don't you!?" Sahbmad trembled.

'Alibaba came all the way here… Alibaba is also trying his best...' Sahbmad thought. 'I should also take responsibility…' He clenched his fists. 'I have to do it… If I fail to fulfill my duty now… when will I ever fulfill it?'' He suddenly lunged at his brother and tore the scepter away from him. He slammed the scepter against the ground before him.

"!?" the guards gasped.

"I order you in the name of the deputy king! Absolutely no one can disturb this discussion between the third prince, Alibaba, and our present king!!" he ordered fiercely, shocking everyone in the room. "All of you, lower your spears now!!"

"De… Deputy king…!?" one of the royal guards said, shocked.

"What should we do now…!?" another asked, confused. They were all sweating nervously, unsure whose orders they should be following.

"This is… you bastards… so you teamed with the rebel…?" Ahbmad said darkly. "Sabhmad, this is your coup d'état!?" Sabhmad stood tall, determined not to back down.