As soon as the call to begin rang out Rean initiated the battle with an instantaneous Crimson Slash, but his fellow Divine Blade had the same idea and countered with his own Crashing Wave. The two attacks collided and canceled each other out in an explosive light show. Anticipating what was coming next, Rean shifted to the fifth form.

Immediately after Arios vanished in a burst of speed. Despite having expected it from the greatest user of the second form in existence, Rean was almost caught off guard by the raw speed the older man utilized. It was only thanks to countless spars against Fie that he was able to keep up, and even she paled in comparison to him. Still, he was able to keep up, if barely, and stopped Arios's Gale with his Crescent Flash, forcing the elder man back.

Utilizing the brief opening, he switched to the fourth form and closed the gap with his reliable Autumn Leaf Cutter. Arios was able to block the multitude of slashes, but that was expected. Not wanting to give Arios the chance to utilize his speed Rean pressed the offensive.

With repeated clangs the two tachis kept meeting each other as every swing was blocked by the other. It was discovered that in a contest of strength they were fairly evenly matched. Still, this beat engaging him in a battle of speed as he knew he was at a disadvantage there. Nothing to do but keep at it and seek out any openings.

He briefly contemplated using his ARCUS to surprise the older man with an art, but immediately discarded the idea. Practically he wasn't nearly as skilled as someone like Toval or Emma and doubted he could get off anything more than the most basic of arts in time. But more importantly, while there technically weren't any rules against it, using something that wasn't the Eight Leaves in this duel felt wrong, and he suspected that Arios was treating the fight the same way. He was determined to keep it to a sword fight unless something drastically changed.

He tried to break the stalemate by evading an attack instead of blocking, but the slight upturn on Arios' face told him that he was expecting such a move and the older man aborted his swing. With the younger swordsman slightly out of position from the dodge he was forced on the defensive. While the attacks were nothing he couldn't handle, his ability to take the initiative was greatly hindered and he was forced to rely on quick counterattacks when any openings presented themselves.

After one exchange that forced Rean back a bit, Arios committed to a more powerful attack, launching himself into the air and slamming his blade down on Rean's position. Understanding just how powerful his Avalanche Cleaver would be, Rean evaded by leaping back. Despite having evaded the attack successfully Rean knew that Arios had accomplished his goal of separating the two fighters and knew what was about to come.

Seeing the older man adopt a very familiar stance, he was forced to do so in kind. While he knew he could never match the master with the second form, he believed he could at least go fast enough to endure the storm. With a flash the two swordmasters vanished as both unleashed their Arcane Gales against the other.

To the average spectator it appeared as if two flashes of light were appearing at random points, with emphatic clangs in between. The more seasoned fighters, however, could see the exchange more clearly. As the two darted back and forth the Divine Blade of Wind was playing the aggressor, with Erebonia's Ashen Chevalier forced to block each exchange, but was able to do so well enough.

At the conclusion of their techniques both fighters ended up where their opponent had started at. In unison they spun around and launched blades of energy towards the other. Yet again the attacks collided and canceled each other out.

"This has been a fun warm-up." Rean was enjoying himself thoroughly. While technically he did cross blades with Cassius Bright, that was more of a test. This was the first time he was able to face another Divine Blade as an equal.

"Indeed it has, but I think it is time we stopped holding back." Arios would admit he was enjoying himself too. He was starting to see why master thought so highly of the youth opposing him.

Murmurs arose from those comments. They were holding back? For the average person watching this was already the most crazy fight they had ever seen.

"I'm... kinda annoyed." Lynn admitted to her fellow Bracers. "It takes both of us giving everything we have to get Arios to go all out, and to see some guy so much younger than us doing it by himself..."

"Is Rean going to be ok?" Aeolia asked, concerned. "I know the duel is only until first blood, but Arios can get kind of intense when he goes all out..."

Fie was unconcerned and smiling happily as her partner held his own. "He'll be fine. We have faced down plenty of scary people before." And plus, the fight had already taken over five minutes so she was eating good tonight. Yay for irresponsible gambling!

"Spirit Unification!"

"Qinggong!"

While they were different abilities, both effectively did the same thing as both combatants felt a massive surge of energy burst from inside them. After a few seconds both resumed their stances. This time they didn't need to utilize the second form to vanish from the average person's eyes.

Now their clashes created minor shock waves and their speed was enough to create mild gusts of wind. Again and again they clashed, but the situation remained the same. In terms of strength they were evenly matched, but Rean lagged behind ever so slightly in speed and experience.

"Geez. Was the old man holding back against us?" Randy complained as he and the rest of the SSS, sans Elie who was watching alongside her grandfather, witnessed the fight. Sure he knew that working together they could overcome either sword fighter, but he wasn't sure if the SSS that infiltrated the Azure Tree should have been able to win.

"...No, I don't think so. I think it is more like..." Lloyd struggled to find the right words. "Like his heart wasn't fully in it when we fought him? Here he's free to go all out without worry." Lloyd had spent a lot of time alongside his brother's partner during the occupation and knew more than most the burdens the older man still struggled with, even to this day.

"I know Rean is strong, but to keep up with Arios..." Juna couldn't help but be bothered at just how strong her former instructor had become. Had the gap between them even shrunk a little in these last two years?

"Don't be so hard on yourself Junie. It can be hard to notice your own growth, but trust me when I say you have grown a lot since you first arrived at Thors." Somehow Randy was able to understand her thought process and responded accordingly.

"Heh. It is always so adorable seeing Randy acting as a teacher. I can see why your students adored you so." Tio couldn't resist the chance to poke fun at the eldest member of the team. Despite that her eyes never strayed from the fight. While not being the most combat focused member of the team she was easily able to keep up with the action thanks to her enhanced senses.

"He's right though. You've grown so much since those days at the Police Academy. Hold your head high Juna and know that I trust you as an integral part of the team."

"...Thanks guys." Not for the first time did Juna marvel at how similar Lloyd and Rean were with their penchant for corny speeches.

Back in the duel, both fighters were still trading blows as they sped around at maximum power. After one particularly vicious exchange of blows Arios's eyes narrowed as he noticed a potential weakness in his opponent's form. Deciding to test his theory he committed to a full offensive.

To Rean's credit, despite being caught off guard by the uncharacteristic assault he recovered quickly and was able to deftly fend off each of the man's blows, but doing so left him slightly off-balance, which was exactly what Arios was looking for. Before Rean could fully recover he put some distance between the two and prepared for another Gale.

Seeing his opponent setting up for a Gale and not being in a position to utilize the second form himself, Rean opted for a repeat of the beginning, shifting into the fifth form and prepared to counter the attack with another Crescent Flash. What surprised him, however, was when Arios launched his attack it wasn't actually a Gale, but something similar. Rean hurriedly tried to swap back to the seventh form as it dawned on him that this wasn't an attack he wanted to counter, but Arios was already upon him.

Unlike the Gale, Arios didn't try to speed past him and attack from different angles, instead opting to attack head on with a flurry of blows, almost reminiscent of Rean's Autumn Leaf Cutter. Rean frantically parried each blow, but was unprepared for the older man to leap into the air and strike him with his full might. He could do little but place his blade in front of him and block with all of his strength.

The clash was so powerful that a few viewers nearly fell over from the shock wave it released. Visibility was hindered by dust kicked into the air. Once the dust cleared away everyone bore witness to the two fighters with their blades sheathed talking to each other as if they hadn't just been fighting a crazy fight. Arios looked exhausted but otherwise fine. Rean also looked exhausted, but was sporting the tiniest of red lines on his face. A cut that barely broke skin, but one that decided the battle.

"Did you understand what happened?" Arios murmured as the two quietly conversed.

"I did. It's something I know I need to work on, but wasn't expecting you to notice so quickly. You live up to your reputation."

"As do you. I can see why master is so confident in your ability to succeed him eventually. I don't think I will be able to beat you in a year or two." Arios admitted readily. Rean was stunned at that proclamation. Did his master really see him as the one to succeed him?

The two were finally reminded of where they were as the crowd got over their shock and started cheering the conclusion of the battle. Not every day the average civilian could bare witness to such a heavyweight fight and they were more than willing to show their appreciation to the pair. It wasn't long after that when their closest companions arrived to congratulate the pair.

"Daaaaaaamn! That was one crazy fight!" As always, Randy was the first to speak his mind.

"I'm impressed. Sure I had heard the stories, but those tend to exaggerate things, but to go toe to toe with Arios at full power?" Lynn was now a believer in the Ashen Chevalier. Alongside her Aeolia nodded in agreement.

"I just want to know what happened there at the end." Juna was confused. "The fight seemed to be going normally and next thing I knew it was all over."

Adopting his instructor pose, Rean set about enlightening his eager student. "Well Juna, although I have been working on mastering all the forms of the Eight Leaves, my ability to swap forms isn't yet instinctive. Arios must have noticed it during the fight as he feinted with a Gale knowing I would switch to the fifth form before he changed to a completely different attack that the fifth form was ill suited for. I wasn't able to adjust in time and he caught me before I could form a proper defense.

"It is an opening that only another practitioner of the Eight Leaves would have noticed." Arios defended Rean. "And despite that you still almost managed to block Aeolus's Fury."

"Even so, Your superior speed and experience were going to prevail sooner or later." His opponent humbly countered.

"Hahahaha this is great!" Grace cheered as she approached the group. "People are buying my Special edition in droves. Everything is turning up good for Grace~"

"Don't you mean 'good for Crossbell'? Tio deadpanned.

"Of course. Of course. But what's good for Crossbell can also be good for me. Stick with me Rean and together we shall be stars."

"Guess what Rean? You're famous again." Fie finally entered the conversation. She knew just how much her lover hated the attention so she delighted in rubbing it in.

"Oh! That interview I did with the two of you is in the special also. I can already tell that people are really interested in the Bracer Guild's Sylphid and are excited to learn more about the girl who stole the Ashen heart."

"...Shit." Even Rean joined the others in laughing as the girl suffered a karmic backlash for her comment.

"Regardless." Arios couldn't quite hide his smirk as he took enjoyment from his younger colleagues suffering from Grace's attention, "We should be getting back now. Michel needs to explain the details of our upcoming operation."

"Oh? Can we come too? Chief is gonna tell us tonight, but I wanna know now." Juna chimed in impatiently. She wasn't the only one either as Randy and Tio also turned expectant looks onto the Bracers and their leader.

The Bracers shared a look. "I see no problem with that." Rean stated carefully once he was sure nobody had any objections.

"We do have a handful of support requests today, but I guess it's ok if we hold off a bit. I'm kinda curious myself." Lloyd admitted.

"Excuse me?" A soft voice called from behind the group. Rean couldn't quite hold in the wince as he saw who it was. "I heard about the incident and was wondering if I could offer my assistance?"

"Who's she?" Fie whispered when she saw the flash of recognition in Rean's eyes.

"That's Rixia Mao. She was actually at the Olivert's wedding, but we never got the chance to talk. I've met her once before... we fought during the occupation."

While the two were conversing privately the group had apparently agreed to allow her to assist, and the expanded group of Bracers, Police, and assassin made their way back to East Street.

Rixia must have noticed the hints of his unease. "That was an impressive battle Rean Schwarzer. If you had fought like that during our last encounter I'm not sure what we could have done." That drew a few curious looks, but most of the group already had knowledge of the battle that took place in the Geofront.

"Thanks, but I'm sure you guys would have found a way. You were fighting for a cause, after all." Although her only reply was to shoot a brief smile at him, it did a lot to relieve the tension that he had been feeling.

"That was a suspicious reaction to a simple smile. Should I be getting worried?" Fie asked suspiciously. While she knew there was nothing there it was always fun to tease Rean about it.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny, Fie."

The large group soon arrived at the Guild building and made their way to the meeting room on the second floor. It was a bit cramped, but everyone eventually got somewhat comfortable. Once everyone was situated Michel coughed once before beginning.

"As you are all aware, the Red Constellation has taken over the Ancient Battlefield and fortified it against us. Given the presence of Sigmund Orlando we can assume that most if not all of the corps is there. A large-scale attack by the CGF would end in disaster, so it has been decided that a smaller, but more precise strike will be needed."

"The initial strike will come from a few small elite teams drawn from the Bracer's Guild and Special Support Section. Our job will be to infiltrate the Battlefield, create chaos and confusion, and hopefully target their leadership. We haven't finalized these teams yet, as a couple Bracers from outside the state have offered to assist and we suspected a few private citizens might join as well." He finished with a pointed look towards Rixia, who merely nodded in acknowledgment.

"The CGF is going to establish a perimeter outside of the battlefield while providing security to Armorica and the other nearby villages just in case. Once the action begins they will commit a force to mop up the Jaegers. The CPD will remain in the city, but will be vigilant in case they try something like they did a few years back."

"Called it." Fie whispered just loud enough for Rean to hear her. He merely responded by nudging her gently to shush her, but she could tell he was amused.

"The operation is planned for three days from now. Right now the CGF is monitoring the area from afar, and I have even heard rumors that Heiyue is assisting in the observation."

"They are." Rixia confirmed. "While he doesn't intend to get involved personally, Cao has no love for the Constellation and is willing to work with the authorities to see them expelled from Crossbell. He's also the one who informed me of the situation, knowing that I would want to get involved."

"I know they said that we had a week, but how can we trust their word that they won't lie and attack earlier?" Lynn asked dubiously.

"Uncle might be a bloodthirsty monster, but even he wouldn't attack unarmed people without at least some reason. I guess he could do it to provoke the CGF, but that defeats the purpose of the one week ultimatum. I'm pretty sure he wants us to come and wants us to be fully prepared."

"Right. That's the conclusion we came up with. For now, I want you dears to work as you would normally. Expect to be extra busy these next couple days as we prepare. I imagine the same thing will happen with the SSS and your support requests."

"Aww do we have to? I finally got Tio and Fie in the same room with me. I want this moment to last forever." Aeolia, of course.

Fie shared a deadpanned look with her fellow victim. Although no words were spoken, the message was clear. 'Do you have to put up with this all the time.'

Tio merely sighed in exasperation. 'All the time. It is quite exhausting.'

Fie just nodded slightly. 'You have my deepest sympathies.'

'Thank you.'

Everyone just stared at the odd scene. To outsiders it would just appear that the two petite girls merely stared at each other with blank looks, but Rean and Lloyd couldn't help but chuckle as they understood their partners well enough and found the interaction hilarious.

"Anyways. Thank you for the information. I'm sure we will be in contact soon enough. For now, however, we have a full day of support requests to get to." Lloyd's declaration caused Juna and Randy to groan, Tio to roll her eyes, and Elie to nod her head in support.

"Right, and I need to get back to Arc en Ciel before Ilya realizes I am missing." Once the SSS and performer were gone the Bracers left to do their own missions for the day.


Unsurprisingly, Rean found his days of relative anonymity had come to an end. Between those who saw the fight, those who read about him in the Crossbell Times, and those who heard about it thanks to word of mouth, it appeared that everyone knew the Ashen Chevalier was in Crossbell now. While annoying, he was better at coping with it and it wasn't nearly as stifling as some of those early days in Erebonia.

It helped that most of the people who knew of him had also heard of his adorable partner. Fie, unlike him, still wasn't quite used to the attention and Rean found her suffering hilarious, not that he would ever admit that out loud lest he suffer bodily harm. Still, he suspected that she could read his mind as she glared at him after yet another group of people started whispering and pointing as the duo passed, either that or she just blamed him for the situation at large.

As predicted, the day had been quite busy as they worked to accomplish as much as possible before the operation, but as usual it was nothing they couldn't handle. None of their requests had taken them outside of the city so they were able to get a lot done. Their final task was a simple monster extermination request that took them deep into the Geofront. After that they exited the underground labyrinth in the Entertainment District and started to make their way back home when they encountered a mostly familiar group.

"Oh! It's Rixia and Sully. And that must make you Ilya." Rean greeted the three women.

"Ilya? As in Ilya Platiere?" A confused Fie asked as she looked between her lover and the unidentified woman. Sure she had seen her at the wedding, but never talked to her to connect the dots.

The older woman giggled. "It's nice being the unknown one for a change."

"Hello Rean, Fie." Rixia greeted cordially. Sully merely nodded in greeting.

"So you're the ones that they have told me about. Hmm..."

The ace of Arc en Ciel turned to Rean first. "So you're the brute who attacked my Rixia, huh?" She ignored the cry from said girl as she got up in his face as he paled considerably. "I should punish you severely for your actions, but I also heard that you helped out Arc en Ciel while I was gone..." Being unable to make up her mind she reluctantly shrugged. "Just know I have my eyes on you."

Turning to Fie her entire demeanor changed. "And what have we here?" The woman started sizing her up, checking her out like she was a piece of meat while she circled the uncomfortable girl while muttering to herself. "I've decided! You are perfect! Come to Arc en Ciel tomorrow and I will set you up!"

"Huh?" Fie was completely befuddled.

"Oh no, not again." Unlike her, Sully seemed to understand what was going on.

"Ilya, no." As did Rixia, who tried her best to stop her mentor.

"Oh come on! Just look at her. She would be perfect as a dancer."

Seeing the two Bracers completely confused, Sully elaborated for their sake. "Ilya has a bad habit of abducting people she thinks would make good dancers. She did it to me and Rixia both."

"Yeah, and look how well that turned out. Both of you are stars. I know she'll be just as good." Ilya would not be denied.

"Ilya, please." Rixia pleaded. "It worked on Sully and myself because we had nowhere to go. Fie is a Bracer. From Erebonia. Who is getting married soon." She made sure to emphasis each point so that Ilya would get the hint.

"I'll admit, I am a bit curious, but she's right. Me and Rean have things we gotta do."

"Fiiiiine." She reluctantly conceded. "But how about you check out our show before deciding for sure? I can get you two tickets to a show next week."

The two Bracers shared a look. They had actually been curious about seeing a real Arc en Ciel show, but found out that tickets were sold out for months in advance. "That would be great." Fie agreed.

"Thanks." Rean added his two mira, not that Ilya cared what he thought.

"I hope you enjoy the show and change your mind, but I'm hungry. Come along you two, dinner waits for nobody." Rixia and Sully bid their farewells before the three left.

"So that's Ilya Platiere. I wasn't expecting her to be so..." Rean trailed off as he struggled for the right word.

"Weird?" Which Fie provided.

"Still.. You a dancer?" She certainly was agile and flexible enough. He could actually picture it. Her leaping around with the grace of a fairy, wearing a dancer's outfit...

"You're imagining me in one of those skimpy outfits, aren't you?" She smirked as he flushed, confirming her observation. "I won't deny that it could be fun, but I'm happier where I am now. Traveling the continent, meeting old friends and new weirdos, beating up the bad guys. All the while looking after my adorable junior partner."

"Speaking of 'looking after your adorable partner', what are you getting us for dinner?"

"Huh? Why am I the one getting dinner?"

"...Did you think I forgot all the mira you won at my expense today?" He shot a pointed look towards his partner, causing her to pout.

"I was hoping you had... But wait! Shouldn't you be the one rewarding me for believing in you so much?

Rean let out a long dramatic sigh. "Fine. If that's how you want to be, I guess I'll go without. So greedy. You are starting to sound like Sara."

"H-hey you can't go saying things like that." She knew he was trying to get a rise out of her by comparing her to that useless drunk, and dammit it was working. "Fine! I'll buy you your stupid dinner, but you're gonna have to live with the fact that you just called me Sara."

"And it will haunt me for the rest of my life. But for now, Vingt-Sept awaits!"

"What? I thought I was supposed to pick. And why did you choose one of the most expensive places in Crossbell? Rean!?"

Despite her many protests she had no real problem with the idea and in the end she acquiesced. Luckily they were able to get a table upstairs, so they had some level of privacy from all the prying eyes.

"So what do you think about the big plan?" Rean asked as they were served dinner.

"In theory it should work out alright. At full strength the Constellation has a bit more than a hundred soldiers, plus all of their beasts. It's a lot, but we should be able to beat it with the forces we have. There's one thing that bothers me though."

"And that is?" Rean prodded even though he knew she would continue on her own eventually.

"They are doing this without an obvious escape plan. They have to know that they will be cut-off and eventually overwhelmed. I suppose they could flee into the mountains and escape into Calvard, but there's no way most of the group would be able to escape capture that way."

"True. What I'm concerned about is the fact that all of this reeks of Ouroboros. There's a chance that we will encounter some unwelcome surprises."

"They do seem to be getting more active..."

"Either way, there's not much we can do about it at this point. As long as we stick together I know we'll win."

"Four years ago I would have called you a naive idiot for believing something that corny. But now? You're still a naive idiot, but I guess I'm one too, cause I totally agree with you." She finished with a bright smile at her Chevalier.


The next day came with the announcement to the general public about the situation. The people weren't given the full details, but were merely told that a dangerous and well-armed group had situated in Crossbell State and that non-essential traffic towards Armorica or Calvard should be avoided. To emphasis the point the CGF had begun active patrols of the region while also sending a force to the village. While such actions would undoubtedly alert the Jaegers to the incoming operation, nobody could fault the government for prioritizing the safety of the people.

To say the people were alarmed would be an understatement. Their first thoughts were of the incident three years ago where the Red Constellation seized Mainz village, ambushed the CGF when they approached, and used the distraction to assault Crossbell City itself. They couldn't help but wonder how this new group compared to that Jaeger Corp, not knowing that it actually was the same foe as before.

It was a more somber and wary Crossbell State that they traveled around as they did their work for the day. Thankfully there was no outward panic, but the air was thick with tension. It helped that the CGF, CPD, and Bracer Guild were all being very visible around the city, which allayed their worries somewhat.

The two completed their tasks with their usual aplomb, and found themselves back at the Guild on standby for any late requests. The only other person there was Michel the receptionist, who told them that he had a surprise for them later. Curious, but they had no choice but to wait if they wanted to see it.

"Whatcha reading?" Fie asked as she realized her partner was engrossed in a book.

"Red Moon Rose." He replied without looking from his book.

"Didn't you read that back at Thors?" She could vaguely recall him reading a series like that, but hadn't paid much mind to it at the time.

"Yup. But I figured it was worth a second look now that we actually know one of the main characters in the series. Kinda weird how they portray Rose as such a mature character when we know what she really is like..."

"Oh. Right. I actually did the same thing a while back." That was a bit of a surprise. Fie wasn't really much of a reader. "Did you know that Toval once swam through a sewer full of shit?"

"And I bet you tease him about it all the time" Her mischievous grin confirmed his suspicion. Poor guy. "Amazing how many people we know are in books."

"You mean like how you and Crow are in a book?" His glare could have melted Zemurian Ore, but Fie just giggled at him. "Don't worry. I'm sure some day someone will write about the Ashen Chevalier. The great hero of Erebonia who saved the world from an evil plot and hooked up with a total babe at the end."

Rean saw an opening and decided to pay Fie back for her previous reminder. "Why would they write about me starting a relationship with Captain Claire?" He asked with an innocent expression that fooled nobody.

Fie was just winding up to launch her beret at her dork of a boyfriend when the door to the Bracer Guild opened. "Hellooooooo? Is anyone here? Hi Michel!" A very familiar female voice called out from the first floor. Curious, she reluctantly put her beret back on (while promising future vengeance against Rean) and made to head down stairs, Rean in tow.

What they saw when they arrived was a pair of newcomers chatting with Michel. The two familiar faces turned as they approached. "Ah! It's Fie and Rean!"

Standing before them were Estelle and Joshua Bright.