Previously:

"Keh… It doesn't matter what kind of sword you have!" Hassan said, stepping forward with the intention of taking down Alibaba and then paying her back. "Oushou Mutou will just melt them!" He charged, raising his blade high over his head. Alibaba ran forward to meet him.

"Stay behind me!" Alibaba told Hope. Having seen the acid sword in action, she didn't need to be told twice. Alibaba swung his sword and sliced the blade of the yellow fog Metal Vessel in half.

"Wh… What!?" Hassan said, stunned. Alibaba ducked past him and he and Hope lunged at the rest of the Fog Troupe members

"Ku…!!" They gritted their teeth and braced themselves, preparing to counter attack. They never got the chance. Hope snapped several of the blades in half like pocky sticks, and Alibaba sliced through the rest like butter.

'Amon's sword will cut through anything with its heat,' Alibaba thought. 'In other words… an offensive sword!' Alibaba cut Cassim's blade and held his sword near Cassim's neck. He had him now. "Draw back your troops, Cassim. I'll make you draw back with all my strength."

Chapter 59: The Black Rukh's Djinn

Alibaba stood with his sword held next to Cassim's neck. Hope kept an eye on his followers to make sure they didn't get any ideas about trying to free him.

"Prince Alibaba has completely suppressed the enemy inside the royal palace!" one of the guards cheered.

"!" Sinbad said, watching them. He stared at Hope. 'She jumped down just like that… How strong is she in that incomplete state?' he wondered. 'And Alibaba successfully materialized his Djinn Equip weapon! Of course, unless that man withdraws his troops, there's no way to end this rebellion...'

"..." Cassim was kneeling on the ground with his eyes cast in shadow. "Alibaba, I'm not going to do something like withdraw my troops," he said, slowly standing up. He took a step closer to Amon's sword. "If you want them to withdraw… I would rather die!"

"!" Alibaba was startled.

"I've decided this long ago; you should've also been prepared," Cassim told him.

"..." Alibaba furrowed his brow deeper and sweat slid down his face. He was appalled.

"So, do it. Do it," Cassim said, stepping forward. "Do it!" He stepped forward again so that the skin on his neck sizzled and burned from the heat on the edge of Amon's blade. "I'm telling you to kill me, Alibaba!!" he shouted.

"Cassim… you!" Alibaba said, gritting his teeth.

"Although he's been captured, he still won't pull out his troops," said one of the palace guards watching.

"Then there's no benefit to stopping him. At least by killing their leader, the morale of his men will break…!" another said. Hope frowned.

"Or you'll turn him into a martyr and make them more determined than ever," she said. She didn't want Alibaba to have to kill his friend—she didn't think he would ever forgive himself if he did—and she wanted to stop the fighting with as few casualties as possible.

"Killing him is the only way! If he kills him, it'll all be over!" the second guard argued.

"Ku..." Alibaba gritted his teeth harder. Cassim stared at him with a grim determination, refusing to back down. "Ku..." What should he do? "Ku..." Could he kill Cassim for the sake of the country? Would the fighting really stop, or would it be like Hope said? The longer he took to decide the more people were getting hurt and dying. "Damn it!" he cursed, drawing back his sword to strike.

"Alibaba!" Hope exclaimed, but he was already undoing his Djinn Equip, and his knife swung harmlessly past Cassim's neck as he attacked, not even leaving a single scratch. Cassim looked back over his shoulder at him with wide eyes. Alibaba fell to his knees and stabbed the ground with his knife.

"As if I could do that, you idiot!" he told Cassim, on the verge of tears. "Cassim…! Withdraw your troops!" he pleaded, turning around to face him with tears in his eyes. "If we stop right now, the rebellion will end! Then, who knows how you will be treated, so…" Alibaba was trembling, desperate. Desperate to save both his friend and his country. "So!"

"… You're really soft..." Cassim told him with the hint of a wry smile. He leaned down a little to put his hand on Alibaba's shoulder. "You think so too, right?"

"Any coward can kill. It takes courage to save a life," Hope said sternly, frowning at him. Alibaba looked up at her. Cassim glanced at her, looking slightly surprised. Cassim laughed.

"Heh. Heh-heh! I could never be like that. See ya…" he said and took his hand off Alibaba's shoulder and kept walking. The palace guards and soldiers immediately swarmed around him, stopping Cassim in his tracks. They had him trapped with their spears.

"Arrest the rebellion's ringleader!" they shouted.

"It'll be fine if you don't obey," the lieutenant said. "Even if you aren't here, your corpse will stop the rebellion!"

Sinbad looked on with a frown, while a bead of sweat rolled down the side of Morgiana's face.

Hope watched Cassim with a furrowed brow, hoping he wouldn't do anything to get himself killed in front of Alibaba, who had his head bowed, unable to look up at them. Cassim looked from Zaynab's face to Hassan. Both of them had been captured.

"…..." Cassim looked up and then he half smiled.

"!?" The guards and soldiers were startled by his odd behavior in the face of defeat.

'I don't have a choice,' Cassim thought, recalling how the veiled person from the same organization as Banker told him how to use his weapon. If the time came when he required more power, he was urged to use the power to change the future that lay within his weapon. But, in order to use that 'vessel', the requirement was that he must lose his life. Cassim raised his damaged Metal Vessel high over his head. Alibaba raised his head, and he and the others all watched as Cassim stared up at it and took a deep breath. Cassim stabbed himself with its broken blade. Alibaba's eye's widened in horror. Everyone was shocked and disturbed by Cassim's actions.

"Wh-What… is he thinking!?" the soldiers asked.

'I know he said he'd rather die, but that's...' Hope thought, aghast.

"Watch… people from the slums…" Cassim said, pulling his Metal Vessel back out of his torso and pointing it at the soldiers surrounding him. His white clothes were dyed red with blood. "Citizens… nobles… royalty… everyone…" He raised the broken blade high above his head. It was dripping with his blood. "This is the proof… of obtaining hidden power!!" The guards looked nervous.

'Hidden power? ' Hope thought, eyes widening slightly. 'Don't tell me...'

"Assemble! Everything return!" Cassim shouted. Hassan and Zaynab were surprised when their weapons and the pieces what were left of them floated away from them.

"As I thought… because of all that guy's blood—his life—flowing out… drawn towards the sacrifice, the Household Vessels are all assembling at one point..." 'Banker' mused from his high perch. "To the owner of the 'black vessel'..." All of the pieces of each weapon flew straight at Cassim, stabbing him all over. Hope watched with wide eyes as they sank deeper into his body and small tentacles formed around the wounds that grew in size and number to create wing-like shapes on his back as his skin turned black like coal. He also grew in size. Cassim's arm trembled but then he clenched his fist and his mutating body began to change into a more stable form. His arm became smooth and shiny with claws at the tips of his fingers. The final phase of the transformation spread from the tips of those claws to tips of his toes.

"Wha… What the hell is that!?" the guards and soldiers cried in fear.

'Is that a Djinn Equip…!?' Hope thought, continuing to stare at it with wide eyes. It looked like a Djinn, only black.

"Ridiculous… That's impossible…!" Sinbad said, glaring down at the Dark Djinn. It moved the tentacles on its back and they became sleek bat-like wings.

"A black… demon…!?" Zaynab exclaimed in shock as she and Hassan trembled in fear along with the soldiers holding them. A third eye opened on the Dark Djinn's forehead.

'That's Djinn Equip!? No! That's a Djinn itself!' Sinbad thought, gritting his teeth.

"It's not your normal Djinn…" Banker said. "It's a Djinn created by training our black rukh… With the black king at the center, this world will become covered in darkness… our new conscript!" The Dark Djinn leaped into the air and stretched its wings. It let out an inhuman roar.

"Wha..." Morgiana exclaimed. The crease in Sinbad's brow deepened.

"What is that!?" Alibaba cried, standing up.

"It looks like a… Djinn!?" Hope said, furrowing her brow with confusion and concern.

"Hmm, seems like it was a success," said Banker. "Our 'Djinn' transmutation… To begin with, 'Djinn' are artificial life created from rukh… Originally, they could only be created by magicians who were loved by the rukh… However, we discovered! Because of the black rukh… we could create our own 'Djinn' transmutation technique!"

Down below, they all watched as the Dark Djinn formed two balls of black fog, one in each hand.

"Well, that can't be good!" Hope said, sweating nervously. "Everyone, run!" Before anyone could act on her warning, the black fog balls were being pelted at them in all directions, one after the other. Anyone hit by them was completely obliterated, leaving behind only a puddle of blood. The Dark Djinn aimed one at her.

"Hope!" Sinbad yelled, eyes wide, but she managed to use the enhanced strength and reflexes granted to her by her partial Djinn Equip to spring out of the way at the last second. The armor on her arms was finally back, but then they reverted to just her nails being changed into claws. Sinbad exhaled a sigh of relief, but it made him curious. There was something a little strange about her Djinn Equip, and the way the rukh began to flutter around her was… His expression quickly became grim again as he watched the Dark Djinn create and fire more balls of black fog.

"!" Hope gasped when two soldiers standing only two feet away from her were obliterated right in front of her. Morgiana started jumping down to the ground. She reached her destination just in time to save two soldiers who were about to die.

"Please get ahold of yourself, Alibaba-san!" Morgiana shouted anxiously. "As it is, everyone will get crushed! Alibaba-san!"

"..." Alibaba continued to stare at the nightmarish scene before him in shock. 'Could… that be… Cassim…!?' The Dark Djinn turned its yellow eyes on the palace's balcony overlooking the courtyard.

"!!" Sahbmad gasped when their eyes met.

"H-Hey… He's looking this way!?" Ahbmad exclaimed. The Dark Jinn flapped its wings and lunged at them.

"!" Hope frowned and jumped up to the top of the wall, intending to stop it, but she could already see that she wouldn't make it in time. Morgiana clenched her fists, squatted down, and launched herself into the air.

"Haaa!" she yelled spiraling up at the Djinn to deliver a powerful kick to the back of its head before it had a chance to fire the black fog ball it was aiming at the king and deputy king. She sent the Dark Djinn hurtling to the ground. It looked like it was trying to flap its wings to regain control of the fall, so Hope launched herself at it, delivered a two legged kick, and used the Djinn to cushion her fall when they hit the ground with immense force. There was a crater around its body when Hope hopped off to make room for Alibaba to strike.

"Alibaba-san! Quickly!" Morgiana shouted. "Please kill that thing with your sword!"

"Are you Cassim!?" Alibaba asked the Djinn sternly. It didn't respond. It didn't move.

"..." He and Hope stared at it, waiting for it to do something. It didn't even twitch. It appeared to be out cold.

"I… I think you got it…." Alibaba said, sweat-dropping.

"No, that felt too easy… I think Morgiana and I just knocked it out," Hope said, frowning.

"Well, that's a relief. I don't think I could have killed him..."

"Yeah… it's hard to say if he's still in there," Hope said, understanding where he was coming from. She didn't think she could kill a friend either, even in a situation like this. But if it was a choice between them and everyone else… She just hoped she was never put in that situation.

"..." The Dark Djinn stirred, regaining consciousness. Hope saw it twitch out the corner of her eye. Before she could blink it had formed another black fog ball in its right hand.

"Alibaba!" she shouted. He flinched when he saw it too, turning very pale as he gripped his knife and transformed it into Amon's sword. Hope expected him to cut the black fog ball in half, as he did before, but instead he lunged forward and sliced the Djinn's left arm and wing off. The Djinn's amputated arm and wing dissolved into nothing.

"Did I get it!?" Alibaba asked.

"It stopped flying, but… it's still alive!" Hope said.

"Once more, Alibaba-san!" Morgiana said, coming over to join them. Alibaba ignited Amon's flames. He gritted his teeth and charged at the Dark Djinn again.

"!?" he and Hope said when a large amount of black rukh flew over the wall from the city and attached themselves to where the Djinn's missing arm used to be. The rukh turned to flesh and formed a new arm and new wing.

"It regenerated!?" Alibaba exclaimed.

'No way!' Hope thought, the crease in he brow deepening. 'But that… just now, was that black rukh?' She remembered the chill she got when Judar walked past them in the crowd outside the palace and how she thought she saw something black moving out the corner of her eye. 'So I wasn't just seeing things… but what does it mean?'

"As long as the black Djinn has a supply of black rukh, it's regeneration is limitless," Banker said. "And… the black rukh is created with… People's 'grudges'." He looked out over the city at the people fighting and preying on each other. "And those are… the resentment of the world and the resentment of fate… which feeds the darkness in this world!"

The Black rukh continued to pour into the Dark Djinn, making it grow in size. Alibaba, Hope, and Morgiana stared up at it with wide eyes. It now towered over them, taller than the palace walls in a crouching position.

'The black rukh are feeding it!' Hope realized. 'We need to cut it off somehow!' But just as she thought that, she realized the black rukh were disappearing again. They were too late. It had already taken everything it needed.

'It's absorbing those black things and growing rapidly,' Morgiana thought anxiously. 'This is bad, I have to attack again!' She rushed forward, running straight for the Djinn.

"Morgiana, no!" Hope called as the Djinn turned to look at her. She shouldn't be attacking alone! The Djinn clenched its fist, and Morgiana flew into the air.

"Ah!?" Morgiana cried as she was lifted against her will.

'What the…!? How is it making her float?' Hope wondered, frowning. She was poised to run after Morgiana, but she couldn't get close if it was like that. 'I don't think she's wearing anything magnetic, so—gravity! It's manipulating gravity somehow!! That's dangerous—even time and light can be affected by gravity if its strong enough! Come to think of it, that would explain how it can just hover there without constantly flapping its wings…' She gasped when the Djinn opened its hand and sent Morgiana flying by pointing its palm at her. "Morgiana!" Morgiana flew over the palace walls and crashed into a building.

"H-Hope-san… Alibaba-san..." she said weakly, shaken by the harsh impact. She was cut up and bleeding a little.

"H-Hey… What is that..." someone nearby asked, pointing up. Morgiana followed the direction of his finger. Her eyes widened. She could see the Dark Djinn hovering in the sky, and in its hand was a ball of black fog the size of a large building.

'Th-That's… Alibaba-san's sword can't cut through that…!' Morgiana thought anxiously.

"!!" Alibaba and Hope gasped.

"Damn it!" Alibaba cursed. "As if I'll let you do that!!" He took off running toward the Djinn, desperate to stop it.

"Be careful, Alibaba!" Hope shouted, hurrying after him. "It's manipulating gravity!"

"How does knowing that help!?" Alibaba asked anxiously.

"Don't know yet!" Hope admitted.

"Prince Alibaba!?" the palace guards called. "Look! It's target is the palace!" Alibaba and Hope saw that they were right. The Djinn had its giant ball of destruction aimed squarely at the balcony that Ahbmad and Sahbmad were standing on.

"Why is it only targeting us!?" Ahbmad demanded, terrified.

"Run..." Barkak said, placing himself in front of them.

"Stop it!!" Alibaba yelled at the Djinn. Hope gritted her teeth and jumped as high as she could. Sinbad was just about to leap forward off of the balcony to intervene himself, when Hope beat him to it.

"!!" Sinbad said when she came upon it from behind, grabbing onto its neck with one hand, preparing to attack with the other. Her arms were armored again.

"!!" Sahbmad and Ahbmad gasped too, staring at her in disbelief.

"Hope!" Alibaba yelled.

"!!" the Djinn shrieked when she stabbed her hand, glowing with strength magic, into the back of its neck.

"Look, the black ball is disappearing!" some of the soldiers said. And so it was. What was sure to have been a devastating attack fizzled out into nothing. The Djinn fell to the ground, landing on its hands and knees.

'How did she…!?' Alibaba wondered.

"Alibaba! I think I managed to hit an important nerve!" she called down to him.

"Huh. Of all the luck…" Banker said. "It looks like she managed to sever both the nerve and disrupt the Djinn's magoi flow by injecting it with her own magic in just the right spot… However, the black rukh contains several tens of thousands of people's lives and her measly attempt at interference won't be able to counteract that!"

"Alibaba, quick!!" Hope shouted. "I'll hold it stil—!!?" her eyes widened as her armor suddenly disappeared and revealed her arm had begun to turn black. Suddenly her head was filled with images of violence and despair. And pain. "AAAAHHHH!!" she screamed in agony as it all came crashing down on her, smothering her like an avalanche of misery and angst. It felt as if everything was happening to her all at once. She was drowning. She couldn't breath. Everywhere she looked, she was surrounded by anger and hatred.

"Hope!!" Sinbad said, eyes wide. The black rukh was infecting her somehow. He wanted to leap onto the Djinn's back to help her but the distance between them was too much to jump for a normal human.

Hope was overwhelmed. The images of strangers gradually shifted into scenes from her own past. Her mother's death felt even more painful than usual. Hope felt sick, and for a moment she was tempted to just give in to whatever this was, but then she saw her sister's pained expression when she learned what happened. No. She couldn't do this. She promised.

Just when Sinbad was about to take the chance anyway, he realized she was looking up at him with clear eyes. She was crying, but she was fully present again.

"What's happening to me!?" she asked. Sinbad noticed that the spread of the black rukh had stopped.

"You need to take your arm out!" he told her.

"But if I do that, it'll be to able to heal and move again!" she said, tightening her other hand's grip on the Djinn. "It's okay—I can take it! I think I'll be okay now… as long as I don't forget myself again," Hope said, keeping up her concentration, staring hard at her arm to make sure it didn't spread any further. "Alibaba! I'll hold him down! We have to stop it! This thing has a will… I felt it! It'll massacre this country's royalty and everyone affiliated with the monarchy… We can't let that happen!" She gasped when a shadow fell over her, and it tried to sink it's claws into her back. But Hope furrowed her brow and kicked out with her leg, knocking the attack off course so that it stabbed itself instead. Sinbad gritted his teeth. The sooner they separated her from that thing, the better.

Alibaba!" Sinbad called down to him. "A revolution built on blood… creates a world in which a noble cause justifies violence! Then the cycle will repeat itself! Balbadd is falling down that path…! It has to be you! The only one who can save this country… is you, who attempted a bloodless revolution!! Alibaba!! Do it!!"

"Uh… Uh..." Alibaba shook. The crease in his brow deepened. Hope could see that he was struggling with himself.

"Cassim is in there!" she said, making Alibaba and Sinbad look at her in surprise. "He's suffering, Alibaba! Please, stop this monster and save him!" Alibaba tightened his grip on his sword.

"Uooh..." Alibaba said, concentrating with everything he had on his attack. He charged at the Dark Djinn. "UOOOOOOOHHHH!!" He sprang forward and drove his sword into its gut.

"He did it!!" Some of the guards and soldiers cheered. "Prince Alibaba!"

"No… Not yet!!" Alibaba said through gritted teeth, still pushing with all his might. 'It didn't hit—! Those black things moved out of the way...' he thought, watching the black rukh of the Djinn flutter around the tip of his blade. 'The sword… is being repelled by a strong force!!'

'This is what I don't understand…!' Hope thought, frowning with confusion. Gravity is a force of attraction… Gravity never acts to repel two objects like this! It pulls, but it doesn't push! Is it because this is 'magic'!? Or is there another force at work here…?'

'Amon… give me strength… or else it'll be too late...' Alibaba thought, sharpening his will and determination. 'Bestow upon me… the power… to pierce everything!!' Red armor suddenly formed on his forearms.

"The Djinn Equip evolved!!?" Sinbad exclaimed.

"UOOOOO!!" Alibaba yelled, struggling to move forward. "GOOOO!!!" He pierced through the Djinn's body, revealing the person trapped inside.

"… Ali… baba…?" Cassim said weakly, looking up at him.

'Cassim!?' Alibaba thought, faltering slightly at the sight of him. The flames on his sword weakened, and he was repelled backwards. "Ahh!!" He slammed into a stone wall hard enough to crack it. The impact was cushioned by some of Amon's flames.

"Alibaba!" Hope and Sinbad shouted.

"GUOO..." the Djinn growled and reached up to grab Hope while she was distracted.

"Kuh!" she gritted her teeth, but before she could try to pry its hand open, it threw her, and she was hurtling through the air on a direct collision course with Alibaba. Alibaba closed his eyes, bracing himself for impact. Hope couldn't think of how to stop herself without hurting him. An equal blast of strength magic in the opposite direction she was flying might cancel it out, but it would hit Alibaba and injure him just as much if not more! Hope squeezed her eyes shut, praying Alibaba would get out of the way. She felt herself slam into someone in a way that reminded her just how much her ribs really hurt, and small but strong hands grabbed hold of her. Hope opened her eyes and looked around. It was Morgiana! Morgiana gritted her teeth and braced herself, sliding back from the force Hope was thrown with, but she stopped before they hit Alibaba. Everyone was safe.

"Are you alright!?" Morgiana asked.

"Morgiana…!" Alibaba and Hope exclaimed, so grateful and glad to see her.

"That guy can use strange techniques… that either attracts or repels people…!" Morgiana said, looking up at the Dark Djinn. She gasped when she saw Hope's black arm. "Your arm…!!" Hope pulled her sleeve down. Her Djinn Equip had fully deactivated itself again.

"We'll deal with that later," Hope said, holding her her infected arm. "More importantly, about what you said… I think its using gravity magic..." she said. "But I can't account for that repulsion force… it's not like magnetism, where there are opposite polarities that attract and repel each other… All I can think is that it's somehow changing the direction gravity pulls on an object?"

"The direction gravity pulls on an object…!?" Alibaba said, furrowing his brow gritting his teeth in frustration. 'what should I do…? If I can't even touch it then Amon's sword can't cut through either!'

"Ah, but… look at that!" Hope said, pointing at the spot where Alibaba attacked the Djinn. "Something's leaking out… could it be magoi?" It looked like when the same thing happened to Ugo before. "The leak could be interfering with its recovery," she said, perking up. "That means the previous attack was effective…!"

"!" Alibaba said.

"Alibaba, if you can use an attack stronger than the previous one… I think it'll pierce through!" Hope said hopefully.

'No, it will definitely pierce through!' Sinbad thought, impressed by what he could overhear of her deductions. For someone who didn't know a lot about magic or magoi, she sure was catching on fast!

"I got it!!" Alibaba said. 'That means I need more power...' He removed the container of oil from his belt and poured it on the ground. He lit it with Amon's sword, and then let it absorb the magoi from the flames. The Dark Djinn held its hand out in their direction, and Alibaba was pulled towards it. "What!!?" The girls watched with wide eyes as it paused, holding Alibaba hovering in the air. It opened its mouth wide, forming a black fog ball in it.

"!!" Hope gasped. 'Ipos! Come on, Ipos!'

'Damn…!! Even though I absorbed the magoi from those flames… just a little more...' Alibaba thought, urging his sword to power up stronger. 'Damn…!' he thought, squeezing his eyes shut. "….?" Alibaba suddenly realized he was kneeling on the ground. He looked up. "Ah!?" The army and palace guards had charged the Djinn, attacking it with their spears. "The military…!?"

"Everyone, attack at once!!" Sahbmad ordered. "Don't let that monster advance!!"

"Thirteenth squad, attack!! Twenty-fouth squad, flank on the left!!" Barkak ordered. The soldiers swarmed around the Djinn, attacking it from all sides. Alibaba and the girls stared with wide eyes.

"Everyone… don't be reckless!" Alibaba said anxiously.

"No, wait!" Hope said, pointing at the Djinn. "Look at that!" More magoi was leaking out of it.

"It's effective!" Alibaba said, amazed.

"There's no way we'll hand it over to this kind of monster… We have to protect… this country at all costs!!" one of the soldiers said, determined not to back down.

"He stopped. Now's our chance…!" Alibaba said, standing up.

"This won't do! You have to concentrate even more power into the sword!" Sinbad said, joining them.

'When did he…?' Hope wondered, surprised by how quickly he and Barkak seemed to have suddenly appeared.

"Concentrate… even more than this…!?" Alibaba asked, taken aback. How was he supposed to do that?

"I'll help, too," Sinbad said, placing his hands on the sword. His hands glowed, and Hope knew he was using another magoi technique. The Djinn roared and sent some of the soldiers flying. The soldiers got back up and charged again. Morgiana ran forward to help. Hope tried to activate her Djinn Equip again.

'Everyone…!!' Alibaba thought, watching all of their efforts while Sinbad poured more magoi into Amon's sword. 'I'll use this one attack to…' Sinbad removed his hands and Alibaba charged towards the Djinn. He jumped high into the air. 'End it all!!' Alibaba was a foot away from its head, when Judar appeared. The magi raised his wand and fired a blast of magoi at Alibaba, swatting him down like a fly. Alibaba almost landed harshly against the ground by Sinbad and Hope, but Morgiana caught him at the last second.

"Ju… Judar!!" Sinbad exclaimed. After what Ugo did to him, he had expected him to be out of commission for longer than this!

"Hey… is this fine?" Judar asked boredly.

"Yes, sorry for troubling you when you've just recovered from your wounds, Magi," Banker said, standing on top of the wall opposite them.

"Is there any worth in killing that kind of guy?" Judar asked, looking at Alibaba.

"He has already interfered with our 'flow' many times, and that brown-haired girl is helping him," Banker replied. "Furthermore, I reckon he and she will become troublesome existences in the future… Well, if she survives, that is..." he added, eying her black hand. He couldn't remember ever seeing someone get infected so easily. It's not like she was mixing her magoi with the Djinn's. "That's why it's better to get rid of them now." Alibaba and Sinbad glared up at them. Hope furrowed her brow.

"Compared to that, what's going on…?" Judar asked. "I feel like I'm overflowing with power..."

"You have a body that went through depravity. The black rukh in the surroundings will naturally add to your strength..." Banker answered.

'This is… This is the worst...' Alibaba thought. 'That attack just now led to the release of the highly concentrated Djinn Equip. My magoi is depleted, too. How can I catch up to that guy!?' he wondered, sweating nervously. 'What should I do… What should I do!!!?'

—∞—

Outside the palace, it was complete chaos. Everyone was fighting and attacking each other.

"Die, pigs of the royals!!" a man in rags shouted as he stabbed a richly dressed man. He grabbed a woman next, preparing to attack her. Two ropes with darts attached to the ends wound themselves around his arm. Ja'far pulled them tight, forcing the man to drop his weapon. Ja'far grabbed him by the head and pulled him back away from the woman.

"Are you okay with not going to the palace?" Masrur asked him, holding a mountain full of people who needed help.

"But…!! We just can't ignore it… this kind of situation…!" Ja'far said. There was a little girl crying by the bodies of her parents not six feet away from them. "But, how is Sin going to fight against that monster in the palace without his Metal Vessels… Damn, what can I do…!?" Something caught his eye. "…?" He turned his head to look at it. Something was shining in the sky. "That's…?"

—∞—

Meanwhile, The SML brothers were making their way through a part of town that had caught fire.

"… This is just like hell..." S Nando said, looking around.

"Mama, mama, where are you?" a child screamed, holding his stomach and bleeding from one eye.

"Stop it—!!" one man pleaded with another, who had his sword raised, ready to attack.

"Damn… Why did this happen…!?" a man with a ponytail cried, holding the hand of a burn victim.

"Someone… Someone, save us..." two mothers cried, cradling their children. People were screaming and crying all over the place, young and old. Two children were trying to wake up their dead parent. And old man prayed beside a bloody sword that had been discarded.

"!?" M Nando gasped. He pointed at the sky. "What's that?"

"What is that..." a little girl asked, also looking up.

"Flying towards here… a bird…?" a woman holding her baby said. Up in the sky was a gathering of white rukh flying together in the shape of a huge bird. And in the middle of that bird, flew Aladdin on his magic turban, accompanied by Faith. Together they sped towards the city infested with black rukh, their expressions grim.