Sola to Romansu Book 1: Important Side-stories

by The Storyteller and his Books

Ever wondered where some of the Characters in the Story came from, or how they got where they are now? Now you have a chance to see some of them real close-up, their pasts, their battles, their believes and the choices they made. These chapters will give you insight in what happened inbetween the chapters of the mainstory, I hope for your understanding and that you enjoy it.

21. A Tale of Sword and Shield 10 Victory II

A tale of Sword and Shield

Ch10: Victory at Last, Part 2

Act 4 part 2: Trust.

Alpharia´s Pov:

"Alpharia, can you hear me?" I suddenly heard Brynhildr´s voice, after that scream had ended and I was able to hear anything again.

"Loud and clear, what is happening over there, what was that scream…, did you finish her off already?" I thought as I tried to see through the eyes of my body.

Little I was certain, that that surely was not the case and that the situation just got exponentially more difficult to handle.

It took me a single guess, to know whose fault it was…., again.

"I sure wish that would be the case…, but…, see for yourself." Hilda stated cryptically as she connected our minds back together, even across such a distance, it was amazing what you can do if you got two souls.

"What the hell did he do this time?" I wondered as my mind was connected.

"What in the world is this thing?" I asked in terror as I saw the gigantic being which Lunnare has become, if I ever saw a true abomination, then it surely was this.

I wished I could show it to Vincent and shove his stupid words back down his throat.

"Believe it or not but this bitch, after we got some good hits at her finally, called all of the ghouls that had been hiding in the shadows towards her somehow, and combined herself with them, growing in size and insanity, that damn bitch just won´t admit defeat.

She rather wants to lose all senses and reasoning than admitting, that we defeated her." Brynhildr explained and I nodded, this thing looked like straight out of a damn horror movie.

"Forget all of the monsters in Betakin´s videogames, this here is a real, genuine Monster." I muttered as I floated upwards in the sky to get myself a good look at this thing.

It was already so huge that you could see it from here, so far away from the Central Plaza.

I could only imagine how it must feel, to stand right before this huge and grotesque being.

If this is the price for them gaining more power, then I, in Lunnare´s place, would really have questioned myself if this was really a worthwhile outcome, that would justify to push forward beyond reasoning, just to gain victory.

There is a fine line between growing insanity and outright self-mutilation.

"Well, the silver-lining is, that we do not have to fear nor search for any hidden Ghouls anymore, if we can defeat this thing…, somehow…, we might destroy all the ghouls in one fell swoop as well." Brynhildr explained.

"Yeah, that sure would be the best outcome indeed…, still…" I replied although I was skeptical about it.

"Dammit this isn´t looking good…, I need to get there asap…, but first I need to make sure the people here know what to do, I can´t just leave them here out in the open without any directions and…." I thought to myself as I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists.

To anyone who would now look at me, I must look like the epitome of uncertainness, of insecurity and weakness…, well how couldn´t they, I didn´t really trusted myself that much, with being able to defeat this thing anymore, it has become too powerfull.

"Maybe…, all we can do is stalling this thing…, we might punch out enough time for anyone to leave the island." I wondered, unsure if we could make it, if our resistance would even matter.

I was about to sink back in the dark depression of insecurity.

Without having Red by my side, everything seemed suddenly so hard and difficult, almost impossible…, just how dependent was I of him?

What was wrong with me all of a sudden…, was this how I really felt all the time?

"Alpharia!" I heard it coming from down below, I floated back down only for the Mayor to approach me.

"I take it that things ain't looking all too good, right, I can see it in your face and I can feel your sibling´s feelings, guess this scream was not the enemy being defeated." He explained and I nodded, the shield conveyed the feelings of those connected by it, so it was clear that they felt the unease, restlessness and the fear my siblings, friends and I myself as well, were feeling right now.

And of course, they all also felt my insecurity and my returning depression and self-doubt.

"It seems that Lunnare called all of the ghouls towards her to heal herself and evolve to a being, capable of annihilating the entire island.

I guess, in her rage of a possible defeat at our hands, she gave up on conquering and on reason altogether." I replied and he nodded, his eyes closed in thought.

Gasps and terror were the easiest way to convey just what the people felt, due to that explanation.

I could feel their own despair and insecurity, their fear and terror…, but amongst it all…, I also felt something like…, like hope…

"Then go, go and help your comrades, they clearly need you more than we do now." Mayor Blossom stated after a while.

"But the rescue Mission, what about the…" I tried to protest but was interrupted by him as both Mr. Gelhauser and Mrs. Bishop stepped to his side.

"Leave the rescue and evacuation to us, we will surely save anyone we can find and who we still can safe…, as I said before, you only need to concern yourself with the safety of your comrades, you guys have done enough for us all already, now it is our turn to lend you all a hand…

Trust…, I have it in you, your comrades and siblings…, so you need to have faith in us likewise." The Mayor explained, getting nods from the other two and anyone around, the terror in their faces began to make way for bright hope and determination, the desire and the strength to put in some work of their own, to get back the peace we had, with their own hands.

"If you can beat this thing, that means that we are all saved, but if this thing gets to live on, maybe not only we are doomed but the rest of the Republic will be in danger too.

You need to defeat it at all costs, we will be fine, you need now to focus yourself on the battle ahead, as Mayor Blossom already said..." Mrs. Bishop continued.

"You do what you can do and what you need to do, we will do our job, you can count on us." Mr. Gelhauser stated with a thumb up, while they all nodded and cheered in unison.

"We will be the heroes you see in us, same as you will be the ones, we see in you, if we promise that, then I am sure that all of us will succeed in whatever task we get.

Lunnare and those Lycanians, they shall watch us rise, we won´t break, nor cower any longer, no matter how long they try, this is our Republic, our home, and we ain´t gonna let them take that away from us.

We will make sure they get a major defeat, in all of their plans, the right price for their misdeeds, as well as a lesson which they won´t ever forget." Garfield exclaimed while Suzanne and Michaela and all of their friends were nodding eagerly.

"You guys, you sure are brave right now…., alright, then let´s do it that way, but you better not dare to die out there, you need to return to your families and friends safe and sound, you hear me, or else all of this here would be futile effort, all for naught." I explained and they nodded.

"You too, you absolutely need to return towards us Alpharia, after all, you are one of our friends as well." Suzanne stated, she shed some more tears as she embraced me in a bone-crushing bearhug.

"Sure, no prob there, I ain´t planning on dying tonight anyways." I replied and she nodded before she let me go, and breath again.

"School and life just wouldn´t be the same without you, so you absolutely must return you hear…, and I still have to win in a match against you." Michaela explained confidently.

"I wouldn´t want to miss that, for nothing in the world, try as you may, but I won´t lose so easily, I will train even more, so I can always step infront of you, this way I hopefully inspire you to strive forward no matter the obstacles." I replied with a smile and a fist bumping hers.

"You will regret these words my dear, I swear one of these days I will beat you and taste victory against you for once" Michaela explained confidently and I chuckled before we burst out in laughter for a minute.

"Greet Betakin from us and tell him, that there will be always a place in our group for him…, and for you and your sister and your friends of course as well." Garfield nodded.

"I will, i´m sure he will be grateful to you for remaining his friend, even after all what has happened, right now we all need someone we can hold onto, even if the world threatens to crumble beneath us, that one does not even need to have superpowers." I explained and I felt myself tearing up.

"We sure will be glad to see you guys again so don´t you dare to go dying on us, you hear me." Garfield stated as he took my hands in his and practically crushed them, squeezing hard with his friends' hands around his.

They all were sending their most positive energy to me and I guess also to Betakin…, and in their minds, I could see so much, all their memories they had together with Betakin, from playing soccer, over chess and other boardgames and of course a lot of videogames, they played and studied and did so many things together that I surely was grateful that Betakin could call them his friends.

"You got some true pals in them; you better not lose them now, you hear me my brother?" I thought with a reassuring smile.

"Please come back to us safe and sound and remain friends with my daughter, as long as you are around her, knowing how strong you are, I can let her live her life on her own, with good conscious." Mrs. Bishop stated as she took me in an embrace, which only a mother can do, I felt as though that mom was here, it had the same warmth.

"I sure will, she ain't getting rid of me that easily." I stated my smile getting bigger while Suzanne smiled back.

"If you can save this island, I swear, once I have rebuilt my restaurant, I will give you a 50% discount on every meal for your entire family, for 2 years straight." Mr. Gelhauser smiled benevolent.

"I will take you up on that, believe it." I stated with a bright smile of my own.

"I will look forward to it." Mr. Gelhauser replied.

"Alpharia, it doesn't matter to me who you are and what you are capable of, as long as you do not turn evil, I will remain on your side, for I know, that I can trust you, that I can expect something heroic from you.

Heroes are not omnipotent or omnipresent, they have their failures, mistakes, quirks and stains…

But it is exactly because of that, which makes them loved by the people, because they are, in a way, just like them.

Soldiers, Billionaires, scrutinized Professors, Office-workers etc., in comics, there exists so many variations of secret super-heroes, that it is hard to tell what a hero truly is in the end.

If you live your life the way you want, then that is all that matters to me, I like you best when you can live your life fully, not when all you do is holding yourself back.

That is when you shine the most, at least for me." Miss Quiche explained and I nodded, as tears rolled down my cheeks.

In this one year of knowing her, I came to like this young woman like no other teacher before, maybe because she was in some terms still as much a teenager as we were.

She had something so fresh on her, something other teachers had not.

A real connection to her students…, at least most of them.

"I Promise, from now on I will life my life fully, without holding back any longer, even if half the world would damn me and my Family for the way we are, I learned to accept myself and this is what I will do from now on, being more accepting of things, for I too was born to fly." I explained and she nodded with a thumb up.

"Then fly high, little nightingale!" She stated and called me after my nickname which I earned for my voice a couple of years ago.

I looked over the crowd of people, all those brave men and women who decided to not sit idle by, but to fight back, knowing fully well, that it could cost their lives, there was no backdoor, no plan B, if they were injured enough, they could die, none of them had any special powers like we do…, the fact that despite that knowledge, they still decided to rise up and to fight against being pushed down, earned them my deepest respect, and made them already heroes in my eyes.

"Well then, guess I got to go, wish me luck, stay safe and sound and out of trouble, you hear me, you guys?" I stated as I flew up into the sky after seeing them all nod and cheering.

"You can count on us!" They all chanted in unison.

"Alpharia!" I heard it from below, I looked only to see everyone raising their fists up in the sky.

More than one hundred Fists were raised up high.

"WE BELIEVE IN YOU, GO GET THEM!" They all shouted in unison.

"I sure will, thanks guys." I mumbled as I showed them all my most radiant smile, before I made myself on my way.

The eerie feeling from before became stronger the closer I got to the battlefield.

Fright and desperation clawed at my consciousness, trying to get a hold of me and although I told myself to stay strong and unharmed by it, it did manage to influence me a little, but only to a small amount.

However, the warmth, the confidence and moreover, the trust the people down there showed me, was filling me up with new energy, energy strong enough to even face this foe, this enemy, I was the shield that would protect all of Bordaussie and the republic from the darkness that has cast a huge shadow upon my home.

In my new arisen worry, while I was flying, I wondered if Dad, Dahlia and Frey were alright.

We haven´t gotten any message about their current status so far, but maybe they were just too preoccupied, as to report in great detail…, I just hoped for everyone to come out of this hell, which our home has currently turned into, safe and sound, but mostly alive.

That we survive this Bloody Weekend.

Act 5: The burden of the past.

Beluga´s Pov:

If I really believed that beating both Wyvern Mechas was going to be easy, then I was dead wrong, I knew myself that they were powerfull, but I thought, now that they were damaged, that we had good chances.

However, right now, we were locked in a war of attrition, who would go down first, we or them?

"Damn it all, why won´t you just stay down!" I hissed I annoyance as I was thrown back by Dragon 1.

This thing was not going to go down easily, not anymore.

"Arrrgghh!" I heard it coming from my side as Yoshura with his two pilots was thrown back as well.

While one had lost its wings, and therefore was earthbound, but still had his laser intact, the other one still had his wings, remaining airborne, but lost part of his energy cells to power his laser.

Both were a formidable team, canceling out the weaknesses of the other one.

Even if Yoshura were to take advantage of the loss of the Laser from Dragon 2, the same still had his sharp claws as defense and a better mobility, also, in order to blast him off, I would have to keep Dragon 1 down for a while, which was not easy at all, not to mention that none of my bullets or explosives even managed to harm either of these things, even if I managed to hit their open wounds.

"They sure ain´t making things easy for us." Frey muttered as he used a door made of steel as shield, as Dragon 2 attempted to pierce his claws into it.

"If only we had some more weapons, things don´t go so well with only 3 arms." Dahlia explained.

During the ongoing battle, Dragon 2 managed to lure Yoshura in, as both Dahlia and Frey though to finally managed to get an opening on him, however this had been the plan of both Wyverns the whole time.

I just barely caught wind of what they attempted to do, as I read the body language of Dragon 1, as he ignited his laser while running up to me, but got ready for a sharp turn in Yoshura´s direction.

All I could do was to shout at them both to stop their approach and just by a hairsbreadth and a lost arm, they managed to get away before having their torso blasted off.

This saved them but also took them one of their advantages, their four arms, but with the flip they did over Dragon 2 to evade the attack, they managed to rip his power-source on its back out, taking out his ability to shoot his laser.

Still, now with having lost one Arm, Frey was only able to operate one arm any longer, which was a major disadvantage for him, as he could barely help Dahlia with it.

"If only we could send you some equipment!" I heard Aloyse voice lamenting in desperation.

The last package of equipment that was send to us, was blasted off at point blank by Dragon 1, before anyone of us could get anything out of it.

"It would just be a waste of materials, unless we could replace the arm in midflight, but that would take too long and would make us all even more vulnerable." I replied.

"Yeah, yeah I know but I feel so useless, I can´t do anything to help you, all I can do is watch you fight and hope that you make it out alive." Aloyse stated frustrated.

"You do enough with giving us updates on the overall situation in the Republic and on how the Children are faring against their opponent.

But yeah, I get where you are coming from, I wish I could get there to help them, especially after what almost happened to them, even I could feel this explosion from here." I explained and he nodded.

The Explosion and the pillar of fire that illuminated the sky send a wave of intense heat over the island, even within Nephilim I was able to feel the same.

The earthquake that followed this detonation, shook the island for ten minutes at best, but it was long enough for all the alarm sirens in my head to go off like fireworks.

"I don´t know what exactly is going on there, as their EHCA are still offline, but somehow they survived this giant explosion and are fighting back, our observation drone cannot go any further unless we want to lose her and so the kids out of sight.

Connor is trying his best to reestablish communication with them, but until now, nothing worked, they already tried to contact the ranch-lab, but there is no one picking up either." Aloyse replied sighing.

"It´s pathetic isn´t it…, that we, as adults, have to rely on children, who should go to school and learn something for their later life, to fight our battles, just because we are not strong enough to do so ourselves." I exclaimed in exhaustion, mentally and physically.

"I know what you mean…, but we should be wise enough not to treat them as mere children anymore, even if they are still young.

They were born with so much power at their disposal, power which could either change or completely eradicate the laws of nature, and we have only tapped into the pool of their power, scratched on the surface of their endless possibilities…

They have the power to change the world, so we as adults have the task to educate them in a way, that they use their powers for the benefit of the weak and powerless…, as the saying goes, great power equals…" Aloyse explained.

"Great responsibility…, I know, I know…, this is the worst speech I ever heard, especially if people use it to justify their will, to send anyone to battle who has just remotely more power and forces than themselves, instead of stepping on the battlefield themselves..., but I guess I am no better in that, even though I am here with them." I replied, annoyed and tired of hearing any of that…, I just want my family to be safe.

I just wanted it all to end, to hold my family close again.

"Hold them and never let them go again." I muttered.

"What was that?" Aloyse asked.

"Nothing…, so any ideas, because I am all out here, there must be some kind of way on how to beat them, right, ain´t there something written in that Library you received from Lady Burmilla?" I asked.

"Nothing more than what I told you before.

I guess the best way is to still hope, that you could manage, to make them blast each other off, maybe then you can kill at least one of them already, and gang up on the other one.

Destroying their power-sources is all we can do for now, after all none of our physic attacks seem to do anything, punches won´t work, they are too durable for that…, and bullets are like mosquitos to these things.

Killing their heart is all we can do or at least currently manage somehow." Aloyse answered.

"Easier said than done, it was dumb luck that we managed to destroy Dragon 2`s power-cell for its laser in the first place and we still paid an arm for it, though, in hindsight of what else could have happened, it was a small price to pay." Frey explained frustrated, while Dahlia nodded.

"Well, we surely need more of that dumb luck then." I stated.

"True." They all agreed on that.

"Well the only other thing that stands here is…, Magic…, i´m not entirely sure if this is supposed to be a joke or not…" Alphonse explained, and suddenly I gulped.

"Magic…, well that would be nice, still where to get that…, then again, I guess we really could use some Hybrid or Paladin powers over here as well, maybe then we could figure out a way on how to use them in the best way." Aloyse stated and all of a sudden, my mind went blank.

Magic…, but of course…, in olden times Paladin forces were looked upon as magic by the common folk, maybe I forgot that after Merveille and I had a long-lasting discussion about the properties of my Paladin Powers.

The Grave silence that followed Alphonse´s statement, only amplified the immense stupidity I suddenly felt.

"Wait a second…., are you kidding me right now…, General Beluga Damiens…, aren´t you supposed to be a Paladin as well?" Dahlia asked shyly and the facepalm I inflicted on myself was so loud and hard, I bet it was audible over the entire island.

"To be honest…, I…, literally…, totally forgot about that fact…, or rather I didn´t wanted to be reminded of it, there are too many bad things involved with that." I stated in a matter of fact.

"We literally could have saved a lot of time and resources if you wouldn´t have, you know." Frey stated in horrendous frustration, adding injury to insult.

"Yeah…, c´mon, just rub it in…, I know I messed up, I get it, okay…, I have no excuse for that, other than the fact that my entire family is currently in danger so it is a little hard for me to focus on trivial matters right now, but not enough with that…

Merveille is currently somewhere, where I have neither any insight in her momentary situation, nor can I currently help her out of any danger, she might possibly be in right now, at least not until we finally breached that damn Storm.

But for that we have to make sure that the Republic is safe, before we can even just attempt to do so, I am a little stressed out currently, to say the least, because we are literally racing against time here, so please cut me some slack." I replied with an harsh undertone and I know they understood me, for none of them uttered any other words after that.

However, I also know that they silently judged my capability as their leader, especially since I had been their leader for only about one and a Half years by now, also, I usually fought by myself, so it was strange in the first place for me to work with a partner.

Not to mention, that I was currently on edge, it was the first time that my children had to fight in a life-threatening battle, and that I was so far separated from Merveille…, but none of that was any excuse to lose my head and the grand picture out of sight.

After all, their life too was on the line.

As their Commander, it was my task to form strategies and tactics with which our missions could be fulfilled with as minimal derivations as possible, and if possible, without any casualties on our side.

If I was no longer able to do that, due to my judgment being clouded by worrying about my children and family, then I surely was not suited to be the commander right now.

Merveille would reprimand myself harshly and tell me to keep a calm and collected mind at all times, especially when things look as worse as they do now, for that ability she had my outmost respect and awe.

But amongst all of those explanation and excuses and whatsoever, there was a certain fact, that I never once told anyone, not even my children.

The fact that I have never once, used my forces to kill somebody or something, not ever since the day that Rebecca died, it was a damn trauma which I carried ever since, 602 years long.

I could use martial arts to kill, enhance my physical abilities or the impact of my guns and cannons, strengthen the explosions of my rockets, accelerate my bullets even further than they already are…, I could literally strengthen anything I had, to kill the enemy..., but I could not kill them directly with my forces.

I never used them to take the life of another, not even through the various wars I had lived through, while I roamed the Shepherd Republic, and previously the Shepherd Kingdom.

Defensive and support magic, yes…, offensive magic, no…, unless I want to black out halfway through, seeing the dead body of my sister before me.

"So…, about that magic of yours, any idea how it might benefit us now?" Dahlia asked after a while of dodging the attacks of both Mecha-Wyverns.

"Well, my powers are basically only the manipulation of particles and atoms which our world, our reality, is made of, so by changing the cellular and the molecular bases of certain concepts, I can create something entirely different.

I could try out if these things are vulnerable to any natural element, if we would know that, we might be able to exploit that weakness, I could make it so that you can use that element then." I explained and the more I did, the stupider I felt for not having though about that before, but as I said, it didn´t crossed my mind due to the prospect of freezing in motion if I go too far with my forces.

It had been written out of my possibilities beforehand, because I decided that…, but as we now see, it was not mine to do so, especially in a situation such as this.

Maybe my mind, as a preventive measurement from suffering the traumata in the first place, told itself, that since these beings are so unnatural, such a perversion of nature, clearly created in some sick and twisted experiment being the result of combining dark magic, Technology and Biology, that my forces might not even work on them in the first place…

However…, I really should have tried that possibility out, before deciding that, even in the event that I would freeze for a second or two.

Frey was right, it could have saved us a lot of time, time in which I could have already stood side by side to my children, fighting together with them, instead of being separated from them, so close and yet so far from them.

Then again, that time could have also extended itself, if I was to get any drawbacks from my traumata…, if only I had some way to overcome it.

I think, that ever since White told me that the Rite of Forfeit was completely unnecessary and just a damn misinterpretation of my ancestors, my traumata had amplified itself…, now knowing that I had sacrificed my own sister for nothing but a brief period of peace, for a small break in a sheer endless fight, which would have dragged itself out for all eternity…, if it weren't for my Comrades, my Merveille and myself, who managed to once and for all end the lives of Lares and Lemures.

Our Lifelong task, our burden and curse, it was finally lifted…, but at what cost…, countless of lives that had been sacrificed for nothing, just to delay an inevitable confrontation.

"Sir?" Dahlia´s voice asked ripping me out of my trail of thoughts.

"A Paladin´s magic…, yes…, maybe it could work…, I hope it does…, I hope I can do it." I stated, more to myself.

"By all means, proceed, even if its just to give us a short breather, it would be much appreciated." Frey stated, pinching his nose in annoyance and for once, I allowed this to happen.

I had been stupid and I deserved to be called such, at least this time.

Me hesitating to use all that is at my disposal, has summoned the current situation, if I had been any bit stronger than my own fear and self-doubt, I would have been able to stand next to my children making sure they can survive, doing so on my own, rather than to bet on fate.

The forces I had, I have always feared ever since…, the ability to kill with them…, for 602 years I was afraid of them thinking that all they do is bringing death to my beloved…, when in reality they could be the very thing, that could save all of them right now.

602 year…, I think I have matured enough, to know that back then I was but a little brat, barely adult for a few years, who was forced to do something awful, to hurt someone I loved for the benefit of the world.

Nowadays I know that this had been wrong, the high-priest had been wrong, my family had been wrong…, even Rebecca herself had been wrong.

If anybody once would have questioned themselves about the purpose of delaying a confrontation, that should have come and gone ages ago, then maybe all of those before Rebecca wouldn´t have died, being sacrificed for the greater good, or rather for a needless and meaningless struggle..., as well.

If we had Athena…, the Lycanians would have never been able to occupy our home and even more so, the current situation would not have unfolded itself this way, bringing the lives of millions in grave danger…, in this hindsight…, I wonder, who was really to blame for all the tragedies that went down on Ragdoll before the Lycanians came?

If I were to call out anyone, then it was most likely the Armin Clan, this authoritarian, self-important, self-centered Clan of imbeciles, who holds so much on the tradition of the Rite of Forfeit, they even posed as the majority of High-priests on the island, they were the ones who called the shots since centuries, so they were also ultimately to blame, that no one ever came at the idea of finding and using Athena, for I was sure they knew about her, but kept her secret to hold their power over the other Clans.

Anyone who would have found that Golem and used it for the benefit of the people, would have overthrown their rule after all...

Yes my life and its past circumstances have never been easy or beautiful, post-rite at least…, but in regards to the happiness I have found in my new family, I wouldn´t change the past for all that it would be worth…, even if it meant that I could get both, Rebecca and Elhiazar, back…, as well as my parents.

"Time is the cruelest thing that exist in this world, no matter how you look at it, even if it stands still for you." I though as I began to invoke my spells, reciting incantation for incantation, as I used many different elements, firing them at both dragons, once Dahlia and Frey managed to make them regroup.

The assault showed us two things, the first was, that both machines were weak to Water and Lightning, but resistant to all other element, unless it someone managed to attack it from the inside, bypassing its armor somehow, or damage said armor so much, that it just had no other option but shedding it.

The second thing it showed us, was the circumstance, that it was able to auto-repair itself, all it had to do was to consume iron, or any mineral or material that contained iron, even if just a little, so also blood, which made these things, in a war, near indestructible and absolutely murderous.

"Just die already!" I shouted with a shudder as I came to that realization, here admits the ruins of the town, they had enough iron to reconstruct themselves over and over again.

We somehow had to destroy them in a way that it was impossible for them to recuperate.

"But how, we barely are able to damage them, water and lightning do help but my powers are not endless, they might have recovered from their exponential use 2 years ago, but they are nowhere near the same level anymore.

Even if I use sand, to enter the nooks and crannies of their armor, is it hard to picture and focus on where the sand later on is, hardening it to rocks and destroying the dragons from the inside becomes too difficult, especially when they keep moving around." I thought to myself as I fired some more lightning.

Of course, this had as consequence, as I could not just create lightning from nothing, that I first had to generate a thundercloud, pulling hot and cold air together by creating a Magic crystal imbedded with fire and ice magic, it was magic I had learned before I left Ragdoll, after stealing some books about the magic of Wolven Paladins, from the forbidden section of the Grand Library in Scarborough.

However, it was also magic I had not entirely mastered yet, so who knows what might happen…, I just hope nothing goes terribly wrong.

Another consequence, was thatthis cloud was partially blocking out the light of the moon, which made these things even stronger…, maybe light did not directly injure them, like with other ghouls, but they were weakened, slowed down even, that's something I understood while fighting them.

Once they were in the shadow, their attacks came far swifter, so swift, I almost could not react to them, in order to defend myself.

Of course, they instantly used the new-found shadow area as their territory, even if it meant that the lightning would strike them more often.

I think they even took that into account, just to kill us.

"This is just nuts." I thought again.

"Sir, what shall we do, we just can´t seem to kill these bastards, once damaged they just use the iron around us to repair themselves." Dahlia asked in near desperation.

We were at fighting the same enemy, not something new and more advanced, no it was the very same one, since over 2-3 hours by now, of course desperation was taking a toll on us.

Usually we were strong, one each of us, Sky Pirates, giant creatures from Vizsla's wast forest, raging sky-hermit crabs, all of this was no problem whatsoever, but these things….

"If only we could somehow bring them to an area without iron, so that they would not manage to repair themselves anymore, all we then need to do is to ship off their armor." I thought again and out loud at that, for it was Frey who once again, surprisingly, came up with a plan.

"If that is all it takes, how about you lift them up into the air somehow, right into the thundercloud, I doubt they can fight while being airborne, at least the one without wings will surely not be able to do so, if we would just manage to defeat one already, we will be at an advantage I would say." He stated.

"Yeah, that might work." Dahlia nodded, desperate enough to try anything, if it only remotely helped.

"Alright, I will try it, but you better prepare yourself, if it will not help." I explained to them and I saw them saluting.

"I´m sure you can do it sir." Dahlia stated with confidence, confidence which I currently lacked a bit.

"It´s easier said than done, I never before had to use 3 types of elemental magic at the same time, I have a hard time keeping the thundercloud together, before it can disperse, but now I have to add wind magic into the mix, trying to set these things afloat.

I´m not sure if I can do it, but when I manage this, I surely will fall unconscious, which means, if they are then not finished, we will have far bigger problems than before." I explained to them, it was no longer any use in hiding my weaknesses, especially not now, with so much on the line.

"If they survive, we will finish them off Sir." Dahlia stated confident.

"Yes, we won´t let them regroup with their Leader, their master, and endanger the kids." Frey explained and he spoke my fears out loud.

If we cannot finish this thing off and I even fall unconscious, not only will they perhaps have an easier fight with Dahlia and Frey, no…, if they managed to get past us, they will surely go to attack the kids or the Citizens in the raid Shelter.

"If only I had more power…." I mumbled.

"Sir…, what…, what is happening here!" Frey suddenly asked loudly.

I looked at him on the monitor only to see that he and Dahlia were surrounded by some kind of greenish aura.

"What´s going on?" I asked them, thinking that maybe my monitors were broken due to the last attack.

"Sir, it is not just us, you are glowing too." Dahlia explained and I looked at myself and indeed, some kind of greenish aura floated around my body, like some layer of mist has been generated around my E.C.A as though I put on some clothes.

It was strange, scary even, as I had no idea where it came from or what it was supposed to do to us, but it also had something comfortable to it, something somehow familiar.

"Wait is this…, so they really managed to pull it off." I mumbled as I remember what Merveille once told me about her Heirlooms.

"Armatura Impervius´ power has been awakened, this is Alpharia and Betakin´s doing, their way of helping us." I stated, pride filling my chest, my body, my entire being.

These were my Children, my flesh and Blood…, and they put on a better fight than I did right now.

"How pathetic can I get…, as their father I have to stand before them, until the day comes at which they truly overtake the reins.

But as long as I breath and still have fire in me, this day has not yet come." I stated as I felt Power welling up in me.

A force, so strong, that it took my own, mixed with it, and filled my internal tank in such a rapid fashion that it completely overflowed.

Suddenly I had so much power at my disposal, if I would not now use it in the right way, I could never call myself their father again.

"Dahlia, Frey, you better hold on tight, this will now become rough." I stated as I opened my cockpit.

"S-SIR; WHAT ARE YOU DOING…, ARE YOU INSANE?" Frey shouted in disbelieve, as I sprang out of Nephilim.

"No, my eyes just have finally been opened, after I took a very good look at the stupid me from just a moment ago.

I saw how pathetic I was and it is high time for a major change.

You said it yourself, Frey…, I am a Paladin…, so why the hell ain't I fighting like one?" I replied before I landed on the ground, remote-controlling Nephilim to fixate himself unto the ground, before I faced the two enemies, who looked rather wary at this new development.

I bet they never before had to fight someone, who walked outside of their protective armor or exoskeleton/ Mecha and straight up to them, at least no one who looked so determined.

"Sir, you need to take cover, I know I say a lot when the day is long, but that doesn't mean that you have to take every word serious." Frey stated as he was about to cover me.

But I showed him to stop.

"So, you do realize it yourself, good to know…, thanks but honestly, what I am about to do, is requiring me not being in any kind of confinement, otherwise it might not even work." I explained.

"You might better take cover yourself now, go into one of the buildings…., after all…, what I am about to do is dangerous for man and machine alike, but I might be the only one to even do so now." I stated, as I enclosed Nephilim in a shield made of rocks, which grew from the ground by my powers.

"What are you going to do?" Dahlia asked unsure.

I looked at them from over my shoulder with a reassuring smile, briming with confidence.

"I will show you why I am really called, The Gale…" I told them.

.

.

.

It wasn´t just a nickname, which I received by some hunter-mates, I chose that nickname as appropriate, because of some event from ages ago…, before I even came to this Republic, before the day on which Rebecca was sacrificed.

People always said that my powers had been strong, sometimes even too strong…

One of the reasons why the rite of forfeit allowed a change in its usual unchangeable demeanor, was because my forces were on par with that of my 10 years older Sister.

Obviously, none of them both, neither Frey nor Dahlia, knew much about my past…, very little people even had a glimpse of knowing, of what happened back then, since I was not so font of the idea of sharing all that with people I barely trusted, or only trusted on a work-based relation.

"Especially this one particular moment…, until now only Merveille and Alpharia know about that." I thought.

I thought about the fact, that once in my childhood, I lost control of my powers, due to a sickness, paired with a high-fever, and almost unleashed a natural disaster, a Tornado, that could have killed hundreds, if it weren´t contained quickly enough.

After the event´s two years ago, not so long ago actually, I think it was a little over 2 months before today, Merveille and I sat together, once again as so often after these days, discussing various things, especially the non-death circumstance of Red, despite having been sacrificed in the Rite of Feasting, a Rite I had no idea it even existed, and which, although the entire opposite of the Rite of Forfeit, operated quite similar.

Another thing we talked about, was the fact on how the Medallion chose their victims…, we always thought they would search for strong bonds and this might have also been partially true…,

However, this made absolutely no longer sense, after all, before Red and Elh met on the Hindenburg they had no relationship whatsoever, they did not even know that each one existed, prior to that moment…

How could the Medallion determine their bond to be strong enough, to be devoured?

If they had never met there, whom the medallion would have chosen then?

If anything, the circumstance of the Medallion choosing Red, was what forged him and Elh together in the first place…

In hindsight, if I remember correctly, all of those sacrifices were strong paladins, or had strong forces, while the executioners had forces similar to them.

Which made me think…

What if that was the actual reason of why I had been chosen, because my powers were too strong.

It might have been the reason as to why, despite having the wrong sacrifice in the end, my Sister Rebecca instead of me, the Medallion still accepted the power…, because my power-level was similar to that of hers.

But if that was the case, why would it have had to devour Elhiazar, instead of the more powerful Elhize?

Merveille had a theory, if presented with two beings, the medallion choses the one with either the stronger forces, or the one who has the potential to grow even stronger than the Executer…

Merveille, thought, that if that was the case, was there a way to effectively manipulate this choice, like presenting them with two individuals, rather than the Medallions choosing them itself.

Once we got there, my brain immediately kicked into overdrive, and I unwillingly relieved all the events of what happened back then…, and a particular key moment began to shine out from it.

The moment the Medallion accepted Rebecca's forces, despite of me having been the original Sacrifice…, the reaction of the High-priests.

It was fury…, blind rage, which was in their eyes, they practically ripped me away from the dead body of my Sister and instantly denounced me as well as her, despite the fact that the rite had been successful, calling it a holy rite being defiled.

If what Merveille said was true…, then maybe it was I who should have died, not because of the Medallion choosing me by itself, but because someone else saw me as too strong, as a threat for them.

Once it became evident that neither did this happen, but I even became immortal, the people in the positions of the long levers, began to retaliate at me for ripping their expectations into pieces.

Their worst fear had become true, a being with extraordinary power, power too strong for them to handle or even less, to control and contain, had become immortal and nearly unkillable.

Their reign at the top was at stake.

The Armin Clan…., the Clan which called the shots in Ragdoll since centuries, had created their own worst nightmare with my survival and my forces, as well as with Elhize´s internal rage beginning to grow.

That's why they began to retaliate at us by ostracizing us, keeping us down, mobbing us out of our houses, our work, our previous lives.

It was all a ploy, a conspiracy, to mentally destroy me and her, so that we would no longer think about revenge or even to use that immense power of us.

So that we would never be able to ignite a Revolution on Ragdoll, a Revolution which could have even evolved to a pure Civil War.

And in my case, for 602 years, they managed to do just that.

Due to the traumata, which I developed, I cursed my own forces and never used them for attacking and killing directly.

If that was true, then the Armin clan, since all those centuries ago, effectively used the moniker of the Rite of Forfeit, to kill off any threats to their rule.

To be honest, regarding the Rite of Feasting, which was, as said before, something even I didn´t know about…, I could even go further…, as far as to say that every time a potential threat began to grow and become too strong, the Armin clan deliberately awakened Lares or Lemures with that Rite of Feasting, to have a reason to sacrifice said person.

Once I started thinking that way, there was no end in sight…, everything that ever bothered me about this island, about its people, began to make so much sense now.

And I hated it, hated the very fact that my sister died because of the jealousy of a few.

Something so horrendously unnecessary, something so ultimately stupid, stripped away the life of my beloved Sister.

The lives of all the people, loved by someone else, doomed to be sacrificed by the same.

I swear to all that is holy to me, that once we are in Ragdoll, the Armin Clan shall feel my wrath, one way or another, at the very least those responsible for all the deaths, they shall be held accounted for their crimes.

But enough of that, now was the time to stop dwelling in the past and rather focus myself on the present, if I wanted to have a future in the first place.

Cursed as these powers I have may be, right now I had to use them in order to safe family and friends, to safe my new home and my reason of living.

With all the concentration I could focus right now, I began to pull every bit of natural energy together, more and more, circulating around the space before me.

The Wyverns were wary of what I was doing, maybe that was the sole reason of why they did not attack…, earlier I thought they were just machines following some kind of programming, some code which enables them to move and attack.

But now seeing how they were unsure what to do, it made me think that those things really are self-aware beings, bio-engineered animals so to say.

Not that I cared much about that fact, especially now, as I was shortly before obliterating them.

The wind around us began to grow, creating currents which got stronger by the second, until the wind was almost visible due to the dust being picked up.

"More, I need to make it bigger, stronger, higher." I thought to myself as I pumped even more force into my doing.

Weather control was top-tier Magic for a Paladin, and the way I once did it, although partially conscious back then, had been Arch-paladin-format.

At least if you could trust the high-priests on that.

Super-cell-Tornado, the strongest wind-magic an Arch-Paladin could weave, three levels under a Ruby-Rank Master-Paladin´s Hypercane.

It long had been a mere speculation if that was even possible until the 9th King of Abyssinia managed to do just that in order to combat a hurricane that threatened his home.

To date only 2 Ruby-Rank Master-Paladins ever used this spell, the 9th and the 12th King of Abyssinia.

Right now, the spell I used, Tornado, in combination with the Thundercloud spell, generated the top-tier combo-spell, Cumulonimbus incus.

Of course, this too was due to Nano-technology, although I had no idea how this one worked, but if everything I did before was based on some Ancient God-tier technology, then who cares how it works, right now, I just wished that it did work.

The storm I created picked up, from a low breeze, to a mid-summer storm, towards a fierce Gale and hopefully to a strong tornado.

The Thunder-cloud I had created earlier was picked up by the circular current and swirled grimly over our heads, sparking powerful lightning all around the place, to make sure I was not hit myself I also generated a powerful shield around myself.

"Guys you better take cover, this here might become friendly fire otherwise." I stated towards Dahlia and Frey.

"Yeah, I think this might be a good idea indeed, if you need us, you can find us in one of the house-ruins." Frey explained as he and Dahlia made their way over to the crippled remains of our town.

Frey didn´t even hesitated, even if I was sure that Dahlia was just about to complain, that we should stick together now.

But in terms of protection, Frey was far more level-headed…, or maybe it was because Dahlia was here, the women he loved, the women he wished to marry and start a family with.

If she were to survive with his child in her belly, then I was sure, Frey would have no regrets whatsoever…, but in case he would die soon afterwards I bet, same as I would, he would regret not to have had the chance to see his Child grow up.

Therefore, it was my duty as their commander to make sure both of them survived.

"Why being immortal for 600 years, when I could not even save those working under me now." I thought to myself.

My prolonged life must have had a reason after-all, I refuse to believe that it was just because of the curse.

The Nono I had accumulated over these two years was much but I bet it would have had already run out midway, however due to the forces of Armatura Impervius, my forces didn´t seem to deplete at all, as if something external served as a battery.

Wait…, was this here perhaps.

"Ranono?" I wondered in awe.

"Excuse you?" Dahlia asked confused.

"Nothing…" I quickly replied.

"You clearly said Ranono right now…, I might not know much about magic, Paladins and Hybrids and stuff, but even I have heard that term before…, I think I once read it in a book, as I took my break within the library on the White Whale, although I cannot remember anymore, in which context that word was standing." She explained Her eyes narrowed.

"Sigh, alright…, though I am unsure if you even understand my explanation." I stated but she just urged me to go on.

"Well, since you guys know that I am a Paladin, I assume that you also know that my forces are called Nono, they are the powers we Paladins hold inside and which we, either through our bodies or through catalysts, can manifest to the outside.

In the ancient times Paladins were also called magicians or shamans and wonderworkers.

There exist 5 stages of Paladins.

Novices are the ones who just began their training in working Magic, some learn to do so after years of training, others have since birth a given talent for such.

Guardians make up the second stage, they are able to work magic only through catalysts, Wands, crystal Ink or other influenceable objects.

Paladins such as myself have the ability to work magic without the need of a catalyst, however this also means that our magic is not endless and overworking it, ends up in total exhaustion, called magic fatigue.

Arch-Paladins are Paladins who have reached a complete understanding of the basics and some advanced techniques in most forms of magic, from Healing and potion towards physical and psychical magic, like body enchantments and illusions.

Master-Paladin is the final stage one can reach and the numbers of such, which once lived on Ragdoll, as far as my memories go, could be counted on one hand.

They are Paladins who have completely mastered one or more subjects of magic and can use them perfectly and without drawbacks, but it takes a lifetime of training and experimentation to reach that stage, even if you have some special talent.

If you reach the level of a Master Paladin, you are stronger than almost anyone else.

But in all the time I lived upon Ragdoll we had no more Master-Paladins that emerged out of the different Clans living there, I think Aventura Prisalia and Sirius Armin were the last to ever reach that Stage.

With Nono, we Paladins can use it to strengthen our body, our senses, enhance our physical abilities and generate force fields, as well, if well trained, influence our world directly, though it has its limits, something like this, would not be entirely capable just with Nono or with my meager forces to begin with." I stated as I pointed at the tornado which began to form.

"Rano on the other hand uses the forces that come from the outside…, natural energy so to say, and it has often be used by Lupycans, and in time also by some Caninu-clans, although that happened rather rarely, nowadays there are hardly any Caninu families or Clans which uses these forces anymore, maybe you find some derived forms of it far away, like the Nippon Archipelago for example, or within the Savannah Archipelago.

The life-force of trees, the flowing of water, the sturdiness of rock, the fierceness of fire, the omnipresence of wind.

Nature, Water, Rock, Fire and Wind, the five primal Elements, those are the fundamental basis on which the world, and ultimately also the mage-craft of Rano, has been build.

All other forms, such as this thunder-storm, are basically just combinations out of many different primal elements.

Ice is created out of wind and water, steel out of rock and fire, same as lava, Fog, out of fire and water, etc.…

There are tons of different sub-elements you could create, similar to a color-palette, depending on which primary colors you mix, you always get something new." I explained to them.

"Ranono, is basically just the combination of both kinds of magic

With Rano I used fire and ice magic in combination, creating crystallizations of both elements, and with Nono I compressed them both, as two opposing magic-crystals, on an extreme level together, like a Yin-Yang symbol, two halves of opposing elements joined together to make a whole.

I then, through strengthening my physical abilities in my arms, shot them high up in the sky with a grenade, letting them explode high above us, the combination of cold and hot air began to create a rain cloud, which began to attract the plasma in the air, which then formed the same even further towards a Thunder-cloud.

All I do now is create a Tornado which connects both, ground and sky and basically forms a cylindrical cage for both wyverns, in which they are trapped and relentlessly attacked by plasma lightning of high magnitude.

Their steel bodies are the perfect conductors after-all, no matter how sturdy they are, they cannot take that many hits of lightning filled with tons of megavolts.

A simple lightning can set a giant tree ablaze within seconds, imagine that happening to them, they will burn like dried wood." I explained as the same was just happening, the tornadoI created was so strong I had to anchor myself with Nono to the ground, like Magnetism.

The wyverns were heavy, I felt that whenever their tails or body slammed into Nephilim, I was literally ripped of my feet every single time.

So the tornado I had to create had to be strong and fast, fast enough for them not to find any foothold.

It was a real tornado that attacked them…, however this also meant that there was a damn tornado on the island I called my home.

I had a hard time to contain this monstrosity of natural power in one place, otherwise my creation might run havoc and devastate the island even further than it already has been, aiding the enemy, even if just indirectly.

"Sir, it is official, your powers are absolutely and definitely crazy." Frey stated over his communicator, sounding to be in absolute awe.

"I´m so glad right now, that you are on our side." Dahlia replied almost crying.

"Thanks a lot guys, at the very least it seems to work." I stated as the tornado began to pick up debris from around hitting both wyvern, who promptly proceeded to slash them out of the way.

Now understanding what I was doing, they obviously laid their focus back onto me, ready to attack.

They began to engage, rushing up to me, but before they could reach me, they were hit with more debris, rocks as well as steel and iron.

Of course, them being hit by the latter two was not really helping much, considering they could use iron to repair themselves, the one who lost his wings might even go as far as to recreate them.

However, there was a fine difference of pulling iron out of something to use it and being hit full throttle with it.

If a big Machine, like a harvester, comes at you with full speed, you have no time to disintegrate it to consumable material, the impact is just too big.

No to mention that pure stone and concrete was not consumable to them, which meant that they had to either blast things off with their laser or hack with their claws through it, but there is only so much you can do when huge boulders rain down on you like a hailstorm.

Right in the center of the storm, in its eye, was myself, who conducted this orchestra of destructive power.

"You won´t get away!" I stated aloud, as the one with wings tried to escape the storm, by flapping them helplessly.

Even his jet-thrusters couldn´t help him now, the storm was already far too strong, I could see how pieces of the ruins from an old warehouse began to break away and float into the storm, being swirled violently around, picking up speed, before, with a string of lightning, as though it showed the magnetic force between, was rammed straight into the Winged Wyvern, crippling its wings and almost managed to knock it out.

The same swayed down, helplessly floating in the current of wind, fighting with losing its consciousness as it crashed straight into the wingless wyvern who flayed around even more helplessly.

The screams both let out went under in the storm.

Meanwhile, here in the eye of the storm, everything was calm and silent, terribly silent even, no sound was to hear, as if all life had left this place.

The lightning from the Thundercloud was send all over the place, some hit the shield, others hit the storm, cutting through the wall of wind.

I was one with the storm, I could feel and almost see what was going on inside of it.

The Two wyvern held unto each other as to not be drifted apart.

It made me wonder…, what kind of relation did they have towards each other?

Brothers, sisters…, maybe even lovers, did those things even have a gender at all…, or feelings for that matter?

The mere thought, that these things were all machines was somehow no longer applying, they may look like some of them but obviously they had some sense of animalistic instinct, they were alive, truly alive.

Which made me questioning, did they even have a master in the first place or did they only attacked us because we seemed either as a threat or prey to them.

If these beasts were artificially created, logically you would think that they were to somehow be used, after all they are supposed to be weapons, otherwise what would be the purpose of creating them?

But now, looking at how they act, it was more as watching a couple of mammals on a science tv-show.

Earlier they displayed pack-hunting, one distracted the prey, while the other crept onto it from its blind spot, then both engaged at the same time taking the prey by surprise in order to kill it.

Such thinking, such strategy like no machine, without pre-programming it, could do…., unless, it was an Artificial Intelligence capable of learning.

If I go with that theory, it might mean that these beings have a certain amount of intellect, when they are currently not controlled by their master, which might have died in the crash of the Airship, leaving their containment open and unleashing them, but without someone to control them, they could just roam around wherever they wanted to go to.

It was incredible…, but also terrifying.

If we would not have engaged them shortly after their new found freedom, who knows what they would have done.

Most likely they would have been on the hunt for new nurture, and as advanced as they are, I doubt they would have not, sooner or later, found the people in the raid shelters while we were occupied.

That would have been a like an all-you-can-eat-buffet for them.

It was truly terrifying to think about such possibilities.

If Machines and artificially created beings like these were that intelligent to begin with and were able to learn even more, how far could their evolution go…, what threat would we need to have to face next?

Titano Machinae…, could they evolve like them…, if they begin to work together, in some kind of relation or symbiosis, forming packs of their own…, then the world surely was doomed, right?

"I need to nip that mere idea in the Bud." I told myself as I prepared to unleash one hell of a lightning onto them, they were in the perfect spot right now, thrown out of the storm right into the middle of the eye, with the thundercloud looming over them.

As soon as they were able to move again, the wingless one readied its laser, while the winged one spun around its own axis with the other one in tow, before throwing him straight in my direction.

They tried to shoot the laser from point blank, taking me out before I could unleash all hell upon them.

Their strategy was remarkable…, and it might even have worked, if they had been a tad faster with it.

"Your helpless flailing is unbecoming of such a proud creature, you should have known that the ones who raise a weapon, shall also die by a weapon.

You thought you had one last chance, but in reality, it was just futile effort." I thought as I looked into the optical sensor of the one who came flying at me.

"Quit trying, you beasts…., you are already dead…., Luenza, Huarem Sanctima!" I shouted aloud, as I accumulated enough electric energy in one single point of the cloud, right above them.

Like a laser, only a hundred times stronger and faster, I fired a massive bolt of lightning straight into the falling Wyverns, an infinite number of megavolts rained down unto them, destroying their armor and electric circuits faster, than they could ever auto-repair themselves.

The world has lighted up so bright, it seemed like the birth of a whole new sun.

The scream of pure agony which they let loose, went through my entire being, every fiber of my body, reverberated in my bones.

Before the earth was shaken by the loudest Thunder-roar in history.

It was so loud in this soundless space, that I went deaf for a few seconds with nothing but a loud ringing being left, so strong I wasn´t able to hear anything.

I had to close my eyes, my hearing was gone, if I were to be attacked in that second, I would be dead…

But nothing came, by the time I was able to see and hear again, all I could see was a massive crater in the ground where the lightning made contact, the remains of the two Wyverns were scattered all around.

The place I stood remained as a tiny island of kind, within a deep crater.

The head of the wingless one laid several meters away from one half of his body, only connected by long torn wires, while the limbs of the one with wings had been teared apart from it, the wings were shredded to nothing but metallic joints.

Even if they would have survived, in such a way, it should be impossible for them to fight any longer.

"I think we are done here." I stated, as I turned off my Nono shield, and used Rano to disperse the tornado, before it could run havoc.

However, just in that moment I felt how the same began to lose its momentum…, as if its force was sucked away.

"What the…., I see." I mumbled as I felt the intention of my children through the greenish aura, as the tornado was basically relocated, either way, it was good enough that the tornado disappeared from here.

The devastation that was left by it was great enough, even as necessary as it was.

"Sir, sir answer me…, are you alright, did you get any hurt?" I heard Dahlia´s frantic voice from Nephilim´s Com-system, she must have had called for me for a while now, without me responding, partially because of the storm, partially because of my lost hearing from earlier.

"Sir, please answer us." Frey shouted as well.

"I´m alright, as far as I can tell, sorry for worrying you." I stated as I looked at them from their hideout in one of the ruins.

"SIR, WATCH OUT…, BEHIND YOU!" Frey´s voice shouted as I heard a huge rumbling.

I turned around but was already too late to react, a sharp claw was shot at me, blasted forward by the laser of the limbless winged Wyvern, before bursting into hundreds of sharp pieces, all on the way to spread death and destruction whether to myself or what stood behind me.

Nephilim was still fastened to the ground, it would never make it in time to shield me, no matter what, and my forces were nearly exhausted, it took much out of me just to stay conscious.

"Bastard!" I thought as the pieces were inches away from me.

I though that this was my end, the death-flag I had set up was going to get me now.

In the next second the pieces would made contact.

Or so I thought…

"What the…?" I thought all of a sudden, as they all were blasted off by a strong gust of wind-magic.

However, this feeling that followed the unfolding of this magic came not from me, it was neither my own force nor Armatura Impervius´ force, but something entirely different, something warm, comforting…, familiar, far too familiar.

It was as though I could see her silhouette before me as so often when I was little and frightened.

Her comforting, defending and brave figure, standing before me…, was it because I thought about her so often lately?

"Sister…" I thought as the feeling vanished, as fast as it appeared.

Was this perhaps some kind of defense mechanism, some kind of magic shield she put upon me, to safe me from unjust attacks, her lingering spirit watching over me?

Was this her telling me that my time had not yet come, was this her defending me, even from beyond her grave?

"Thanks, Rebecca, I owe you one, though i´m not sure how to repay it." I mumbled with a relieved smile.

"Sir, are you alright, are you any hurt?" Dahlia and Frey asked in unison as they came rushing with loud stomps.

"Yeah I am alright, I guess even if I am no longer immortal, I am still hard to kill." I stated with a reassuring smile.

"Is this thing dead now?" Dahlia asked as she looked at the carcasses of the broken Wyverns with deep concern.

"I guess so, maybe it had one last percent of power left and instead of keeping itself alive and trying to repair itself, it decided to use it for a last attack, betting everything on its success…, though I am glad that this failed…, still we better cut all connections from head to torso, just to be safe." I explained and they nodded as they did as told.

"How did this even fail in the first place, I mean your shield was down and the pieces of this claw should have hit you at point blank, the way they were blasted towards you…, though it makes me wonder why it did not used its laser on you in the first place, if it had that much power left?" Frey wondered but seemed relieved nonetheless.

"Maybe it was not able to move its head high enough to do so, so it took the next best strategy it came up with, blasting a nearby chunk of metal to pieces and using it like a shrapnel-grenade, whether it hits the target or not." Dahlia mused.

"Whatever it was, which this thing was thinking at the end, it died, it is gone for good, whether this was right or not…, maybe we could have somehow power it down, then reprogram it…, or maybe we could have somehow tame it…, even now I cannot say if they were killer-machines or some newly created species of wild animals, an artificial, mechanized lifeform so to say." I explained and they nodded in understanding.

"Whatever it was, it was powerful." Frey replied in a mumble and I nodded.

"Indeed, that it was…, but we managed to take it down, we are richer of that experience …, also, we managed to make sure it could not kill anybody, at least not tonight." I stated and they nodded.

"Well then, shall we go and join the kids in their fight…?" Frey asked and as I turned around.

"Yeah I guess we should, though we better get someone to collect the pieces of this thing, it would not serve us well, if someone else were to steal it from under our noses, we don´t know how many New-Moon-fanatics still roam the island, but we have to count with them trying to reanimate these beasts.

Therefore, we have to collect and analyze them, to understand what exactly they are, especially their brains, I am certain that they contain massive amounts of important data…, unless I fried that now, but yeah there was no other way, still, even just from its anatomical stand, we can learn so much new things.

So, in my opinion, we should wait until they are here, the Children have fought for days, a few minutes won´t change much I would say…, although I am still concerned about their safety of course." I explained and they nodded.

I was sure they too felt it and therefore knew what I meant.

Next to the obvious situation they are in, the climate of the island has become quite cold compared to earlier, before these things attacked us, the scorching heat of the fire from before included.

Thankfully the thunder-cloud had the nice side-effect of a massive rain shower, effectively putting out every fire in the area.

Though that did not help the climatic change one bit, ever since a while it had grown colder than usual around this time, almost freezing and it is not the wind I mean, but the feeling of the tension and the atmosphere.

Something dark and sinister had been unleashed and it spewed out miasma en masse.

"Sir…, what in the world is that?" I was asked by Frey as he looked in the direction of where the tornado vanished to.

As I predicted, has the same simply being relocated by magic, most likely the kids using it to combat their own enemy and the same was not easily to beat, on the contrary, the thing I saw from the distance indicated that almost everything had gone wrong that could go wrong and still, I could feel that none of the kids had died or were especially injured.

On the contrary, next to my Children I could even feel more and more people being added to the direct influence of the shield.

Skuld´s protection was being spread among the populace.

"Tell me…, are my eyes playing tricks on me?" Frey asked unsure.

"No for I see the same, I guess?" Dahlia replied.

"If you mean a giant evil looking creature with long tentacles, fighting against another being that looks like a giant mechanized animal, then yes, we are seeing the same." I replied to them both.

The feeling from before, the sudden coldness definitely radiated from that place.

Just what was going on there, if only I could see.

The fight we witnessed from afar did not last long, maybe but 10 or 20 minutes before the tornado was once more unleashed just stronger than before.

It almost became a Super-tornado.

It lifted the black creature, of course under massive protest up into the air, I shuddered and was astounded at the same time, if I imagine how much force was needed to do that.

I was certain if something was to go wrong now, the Kids would sit on the silver-plate.

I was about to rush over to Nephilim, to get as quickly as I could towards them as I suddenly saw a light in the night sky.

"Sir, look!" Frey and Dahlia exclaimed in unison, as they pointed behind me and I looked at where they pointed.

The first rays of sunlight began to appear at the horizon, the dark clouds that loomed over the island, minus my own raincloud, had long disappeared.

Something different than the dark creature was raised in the air, alongside of it.

Higher and higher they went, until the second thing suddenly became bigger, as if something was unfolded.

"Is this…, Cloth?" I wondered in awe as I saw how some kind of brilliant surface was unfolded behind the black monstrosity, second before the first screams and cries in agony began to ring out across the entire island, but not only that, everywhere in the town, as far as that place was still accessible, I guess, floodlights were ignited which all pointed at the same spot, even the Lighthouse was ignited.

This thing, this abnormal monstrosity was literally falling apart, more and more, until a tiny little dot was remaining after nearly 5 minutes of being airborne and set out to the light-force of hundreds of lightbulbs.

But all of this seemed to not have been enough as I still felt a feeling of extreme malice in the air.

Checking the stats on Nephilim's display I quickly had my fears proven, the Black dot was a person, most likely the woman known as General Lunnare, a name the drones managed to catch during the time, as their communication and range where not yet obstructed by the heat of the inferno it had unleashed.

this black dot began to pull together massive amounts of energy out of the atmosphere, plasma as well as the lingering power of the beast it had been before.

Before the power could reach it´s peek however, some kind of brilliant light flew high up in the sky, towards the black dot and past it, before it came back down, seconds before a massive explosion occurred, a explosion strong enough, that it shook the island, similar to my own moments ago.

"I guess the kids have wrapped their battle up as well." I thought as I used my magically enhanced senses, to see what was not able to be seen with the naked eye.

The light I saw flying up in the sky was none other than Betakin, wielding the sword of Armatura Impervius, slicing through Lunnare.

I could feel relieved feelings and feelings of triumph as well as of accomplishment…

My children, all three of them, and so the kids I considered family as well, the Twins, managed to defeat their first major foe in a battle.

In that moment I was proud of all of the kids, all of what they achieved in this battle, not just defeating their foe, but also them helping people, mobilizing people, acting on their own, to their own beat, on their own accord with their own decisions, fighting like a team, with all its ups and downs…, the growth they reached during all of this ordeal.

I was as proud as a father could be…, they made it, they fought and bled, they saved lives and fought for justice…, but even more than that, they survived…, it just so happened to be their Maiden-battle after all, their first time fighting against a foe that was out to kill…, now that I recall.

"Should we get to the battlefield, to assist them?" Frey asked

"I don´t think this is necessary anymore Frey, but we might meet up to congratulate them for their first won battle later on, once we have wrapped things up here." I stated and they nodded, as we heard the noises of the turbines of the White Whale coming closer.

"The long night is finally over…, geez what a shitty Weekend…, though I am glad that we survived it." I thought to myself as I basked in the light of the golden sun for a moment, ignoring the unholy, unnatural scream that was blown away by the wind.

I think we sure had earned us a small breather.

"And tomorrow already, I might be able to hold Merveille back in my arms." I thought to myself

"I wonder what she will say…, but I am sure she will be even prouder of the kids than I am, she has always told me that the kids were born to do great things, to become great people and today they really have outdone themselves." I grinned as I thought about that.

"Wait for me Merve, we surely will come saving you, your family is soon on their way." I mumbled.

Act 7: The Price of Power

Betakin´s Pov:

Terror…, seeing such a monstrosity…, it should strike fear into the hearts of everyone in its presence…

However, all I felt was pity and disgust.

Pity for a formerly formidable foe, who lost all reasoning, because she could not admit defeat, after fighting honorably…, even with her crooked worldview, her twisted morality and my own disgust of her, I had to admit that much.

The disgust I felt now, was about how much she clung to life, to her desire for victory, that she would deliberately mutilate herself in such an abominable way, physically as well as psychically.

In Battle, you could die in an honorable way, fighting until the end, until there is no strength in you, no more fuel, before finally accepting death when it comes to you, or to give up fighting and admitting defeat and possible captivity, but this here, there was surely no honor in it whatsoever, the disgusting struggling of someone who, despite having taken so many lives already, refused death herself.

It was pitiful and without a shred of honor, you couldn´t even call it the flailing of someone standing at deaths door.

This here was done, just through pure and endless malice, the simple lashing-out of a sore loser, it reminded me of a kid throwing a tantrum, because it could not get what it wanted.

In this mannerism right now, there was not even a goal remaining anymore to this creature, other than to consume and destroy.

It was a simple but momentous act of pure spite.

I spoke of honor, because that is what both sides, good and evil, ought to have when they decide to battle things out…, we of the good side had our opinions, our believes and world-views, we thought that we were in the right, the evil side was supposed to be wrong.

However, due to Red´s words, as well as my own experiences from this battle, I learned that to everything in the world there are always two sides.

They are evil to us…, but maybe to them we are the evil ones, we are the ones standing in their way of their desires, keeping them from reaching their goals, I was uncertain but I would be more surprised, if they had no family at home waiting for them, yet here we were, killing them or imprison them.

Even if their goal is world domination, uniting the world under one banner and ruling this place with fear and punishment, rather than awe and respect…

Taking this into account, we weren´t any different to them, at least not by a long shot.

All what changes are the views and prospect we had for the future, after the battles were over, as well as sometimes the methods to achieve said future.

Two opposing sides, none can truly say that they are in the right while the other is supposed to be in the wrong…, we fight for what we believe in…., and so are they.

But we both fight with honor in our mind…, no matter the means and circumstances, we all fight for gaining something, not only for us but also for others.

But when you lose all your reasoning, when you succumb to nothing but pure twisted instinct, when all you have become is but a puppet of your own malice and your crooked personality, your entire believe, that the atrocities you commit are rightful, bringing death and destruction without any purpose, destruction for destruction´s sake, when the death of others becomes nothing but a collateral damage of your actions, then there is no honor, not even a shroud of it, left.

So much for the Pride of one of the Seats of the Dark Moon Council.

Such enemies, who fall that far, are nothing but shadows of their former self and you cannot do anything but pity them, as well as taking them out of their misery, once and for all, by obliterating them…, for once they are gone, no one will ever remember them, but the persons who killed them and perhaps those who send them.

"Guys, I´m back, what did I miss?" Alpharia asked as she arrived, before diving headfirst into her body, Brynhildr thankfully handing the reins back over to her, as the same was tired anyways from the over-usage of her full power…, she had to rest, that was for sure.

After all, it was the first time anyone of us stayed in Trance-form for more than 20 minutes…, and they did it for almost half an hour.

I would be more concerned if she wasn´t tired at all, even if they are our friends, our brothers even, I still want my sister back, the sister I grew up with, it just wouldn´t feel right overwise.

"Nothing, aside for the fact that Lunnare sure is a sore loser, as you can see.

Through the combined efforts of Yin and Yang, as well as Cetala and Alatec´s help, strategy-wise, we managed to make her bleed, more than before.

Well I guess the powers of Armatura impervius has played a huge part there, but yes, having an actual plan sure makes the difference.

We almost had her defeated, she was on the ground, my sword on her neck…., but instead of giving up and surrendering, she decided to fight back, even when I threatened to slice her throat, she did not stop throwing punches around…., once again I hesitated…., I hoped I could make her admit defeat and later on simply imprison her, maybe letting more professional people try to get any information out of her through interrogation

Despite all you can say, the value of information was just too big, we are still blind to their plans, to the greater goal and the full picture of their ambitions and actions.

If we were to know at least some details we might better prepare for their next attack…, we all know that one will come for sure, I highly doubt the Lycanians are already done with us all.

But as you can see…, she decided not to cooperate, not even in the slightest…, my bad, I´m sorry…, I guess it was just that I never killed a person directly before.

All the enemies we killed so far, died as collateral damage, as bad as it sounds…, they died by us inflicting destruction upon their machines and vehicles, or by crumbling buildings or other infrastructures, even though we are well aware of their deaths, have we never truly killed someone personally before, beside of Ghouls, whether we can truly call them alive in the first place.

Then again…, I guess this is just me searching for an excuse, to justify me having fucked up again….

Feeling how my weapon, in this matter my sword, would pierce the flesh of another living, breathing and feeling being, extinguishing its life-lights, it was something I had to first prepare myself for and in this, I lost precious time.

While on the ground, she rambled something about, not losing to some person called Mave and us puny children, and then, as I was just about to stab her heart, she used some kind of crystal phial, which she broke in her palm, there was some viscous black liquid within it, as soon as her blood and this thing began to merge, she began to transform.

Whatever this was, I knew it wouldn´t be anything good…, I should have taken her head in that moment, but I still had no idea what she just did back then.

There was something akin to a dark wave of evil energy that threw me backwards anyways, as if something just awakened violently and forced its way to the surface.

She spasmed, her body clearly wasn´t taking this development well…, it was like watching that exorcist movie, which you once forced on us during family movie night…, she bended in impossible ways while her body began to turn black, her veins seemed to be filled with something that wasn´t blood, something that wormed its way through them.

Her eyes bleed before dark liquid poured out of them.

It was so disgusting to watch, you could clearly see how her DNA was literally overwritten, her body, her entire shape just seemed to melt away, partially fell off to show bones and muscle tissue before that all turned black, she began to get consumed by this strange black liquid.

All the while howling, screaming in terror as well as laughing manically, or something in-between all that.

All she said was one final sentence, before she became unable to speak in a true sense, unless you call her grunts and screams as speaking." I explained to her and this indeed more and more sounded like a thing from a horror movie.

Alpharia, instead of either rolling her eyes or looking all disappointed at me again, just nodded with understanding, I guess she could feel all of my inner conflict during that time.

In this, the protective Aura which connected our minds, in a way, was quite useful, on the other hand it made every lie bound to fail.

Although you weren´t able to read minds with it, unless you strongly focused on that, was the aura an excellent conductor for transmitting emotions.

You feel what the others feel, but you cannot know what they are actually thinking.

"Yeah, I kind of felt the evil aura from the moment I walked back out of the shelters, as if it had intensified in the last 15 minutes I had been inside.

So…, what did she say, what were her last words?" she asked me.

I sighed as I looked towards this monstrosity.

"She said, and I quote:

Let me show you the real power of King Lycan and his Dark Moon Council, with the power of the Devil´s Blood, I shall rip you all to shreds and pull you down to hell.

Shame on you that you forced me to go Beast Mode here, but all´s well that ends in bloodshed…

So hail to wrath, hail to fury…, and let the Carnage begin." I stated.

And somehow, I just had to roll my eyes, could it get more cliché than that?

Alpharia´s Pov:

So once again we were in a mess due to Betakin hesitating to get the job done, then again, if I would have been in his position…, even despite all of my inner rage, which I was sure he felt too, I might just as well have hesitated.

We weren´t cold blooded murderers after all.

It is as he said, we haven´t ever truly killed a person directly, stabbing a sword through someone is different than to push a button or pull a trigger.

"Well, that doesn´t sound ominous at all, right?

I guess this Devil´s Blood must be the black liquid, with which she infected herself." I stated and he nodded.

"Thought if I remember correctly…, didn´t she used some kind of powerup earlier as well, that black crystal thingy…, what did she called it…., ah yeah…, didn´t she called it the Shadow trigger…, if that had been of a similar fashion…, or a diluted version…, then maybe this here was the ultimate version of it…, or the original one." Betakin mused.

"Maybe…., whatever it is, it surely makes you more powerfull, but if this is the price you have to pay, then I would think twice of using that, even in the event that I would die if I decide against using it…

Still, in a way…., on one hand I would say…, it is good news that we got to see that, now that we know, we can better prepare for it next time…, in the event that we somehow survive this hell trip in the first place.

Knowing your enemy proves to be crucial, as we have seen.

We didn´t, we had no idea what we signed up for, the moment we left the Hangar of the Ranch.

It is as the Book about the Art of War says…, If you know your enemy and you know yourself, you not need to fear the result of a hundred battles.

If you know the enemy but not yourself, for every victory you gain, you´ll also suffer a defeat.

If you know neither yourself nor the enemy, you will succumb in every battle." I stated and he nodded in understanding.

We both read the book, so he knew what I was talking about, it was a guidance we should have followed…, but in the heat of the moment and since time had been of the essence, especially due to the surprise factor of the initial Attack, we had no such time to truly prepare for all of this.

If we would have had that, we might would have managed to defeat the enemy far earlier and without so many casualties and so much damage done to the Island.

"It does not do good to think about what may have happened if…, after all the pie´s been baked already, we had a situation at hand we could only handle as best as we could with as little as we actually knew.

And still we managed to safe many people, though we have an entire island to rebuild later on, if we survive" Betakin replied and I nodded.

There is no need to beat around the bush any longer, it is a miracle that we actually managed to survive this long, but now with Lunnare being in this state, it was indefinite if we could actually still do anything against her.

"One thing is for sure, if all of those Lycanians possess such a thing, to turn themselves into monsters, then we all are in for a real harsh future, and I ain´t liking that evil premonition one bit.

One may even begin to wonder if we can actually fight back against them, if all of them transform into such a thing, what did she say…., their council is made up of 12 individuals…, so this here might happen 11 more times." I wondered as I too looked at the monstrosity before us and the ice-cold chill that run down my spine, cut deep into it.

Lunnare was barely recognizable, her facial features had been projected as a giant ash-grey mask filled with wrath and agony, the sole thing stuck in place, right in the middle of what could be just described as a flowing, muddy mass of viscous black liquid, akin to thick pure oil toppled upon something.

The maw on top of it was adorned with several razor-sharp fangs, which seemed to swim upright in a circular row, ready to bite.

Tentacles of black liquid were shooting from it´s massive torso, grabbing at anything they could find, while stuffing it all in the maw, making this thing growing in the process.

Never mind the face with empty eye-sockets, but this thing truly seemed to be blind, at least it didn´t directly attacked us, but simply felt around its surrounding with its tentacles.

"I think this thing grows through ingesting matter, preferably Bio-Matter!" Cetala explained.

"We ought to be careful, not to be caught by those tentacles, heaven´s knows what might happen to us in there." She continued and we all nodded.

"So…, how are we now supposed to defeat this thing, whatever it is…, any ideas?" Yang asked unsure, but I know that I long lost any idea on how to defeat Lunnare, or at the least how all of the survivors of this island can make it out alive, every Airship has been destroyed, there was no way of the Island, for now at least.

Even the White whale could not help us here, even if it has the capacity to transport all these people, it just was too flashy as to stealthily evacuate the people, it was like a big fat target, in case this thing could somehow feel, rather than see.

Also you can just hide yourself for so long, and we already hid for 3 days, after all, it was unlikely that we could live for many more days or even weeks underground, the tension was high already and it might border in a bloody fight for survival under each other, if things won´t change.

The diversion between haters and supporters, and those on a neutral stance, began to grow, like a ravine on a mountainside, if it grows it might trigger an avalanche that borders in a Landslide of extreme proportions.

The haters had the rage, the envy and the unhappiness on their side.

On the other hand, the supporters had their strong faith in us, which kept them all going.

Those on the neutral stance however, could swap over to one of these sides at any time.

And the more one side dominated, the more the other side begins to fight back, until it becomes a literal civil war.

"We have to defeat this thing, not just for survivals sake, but even more so that we can re-establish law and order in this place, before the last bit of a proper functioning society crumbles completely." I stated for all of them to hear and I saw the others nodding, but I also saw that Cetala hesitated.

"Can we even fight something like this…, I mean this black liquid is clearly the thing, that transforms something into ghouls, you saw how she turned that corpse from earlier into a ghoul with some similar Black Liquid, if she now managed to turn herself into a giant and more or less conscious Ghoul as well, then her mere presence is highly contagious." Cetala replied.

"Yeah, but if she is now a Ghoul, wouldn´t that mean that she is also sensitive to light?" Yin asked unsure.

"Maybe but if that is true, then she ain´t showing any symptoms of degradation through that, it´s more akin to say that she at least has a resistance against Moon Light." Cetala mused.

"Leave it to the smart heads to figure that out, so basically what you are saying, is that Moonlight is ok, but Sunlight might still hurt it…, ain't Moonlight just reflected Sunlight?" I asked my little sister.

"In a way yes, but I think what really hurts them is not the light per se, but the intensity, the UV-ratio, sunlight has obviously far more UV-intensity that the light only reflected by the moon, even if the moon is closer to the earth.

If we find a light-source with as much UV-radiation as the sun, or the next best thing, we might actually be able to put up a fight, maybe, but I doubt we find enough UV lamps to shine upon every nook and cranny of this thing." She replied.

"Or we could wait until the sun´s is up, sunrise will be in about 2 hours." Yang stated as he looked at his watch.

"Sure, but that will generate shadow in which the ghoul-particles can hide and survive, we need to shine upon it from every side, so that there will be no shadow forming." Cetala replied sighing.

"You know…, I would say that we, first of all, should make sure this thing cannot devastate the town any longer, we need to somehow restrain it, the taller it gets, the longer its tentacles become and the further its reach will be.

There are citizens out there who try to rescue all the possible survivors, we cannot afford to let this thing near them or else all we have done up until now will be for naught." Alpharia explained and we all nodded.

Her words were clear and unmistakably, even the hidden message was clear to us, if those brave citizens were to die because we could not defeat this thing, then the reputation she essentially just has build for us, would be more than just a little tarnished.

The survivors in the Raid-shelter, those on the Neutral side and those on the antagonistic side, might unite in their sudden hatred and retaliate at us, most of them out of pure initial malicious feelings, others out of grief for letting good friends and family or even just acquaintances die.

Those who hated us before, would have the upper hand in leading the masses, initiating a witch-hunt of sorts.

Through the shield I knew that she went to great lengths, for her standards, to get us this new reputation as well as the support and their faith, from a large number of peoples.

In the past, she hated to draw unnecessary attention to herself, mostly because she feared that someone, someday, might find out our secret.

She disguised herself as a normal Schoolgirl, with normal hobbies and interests and a knack for martial arts, that was as much of attention she needed to make herself normal in societies eyes, after all we were Merveille Million´s Children, even if only the people of Bordaussie truly knew about that, one of the reasons of why Red never knew about us, was surely due to both, Mom and Dad, having pulled many strings to keep it that way.

But now, not only did she exposed herself as being different in so many ways, she also ended up making a promise to all these people, no matter which side they were on.

The promise that all of them would make it out alive.

"I don´t know about restraining her, but in order to shine sunlight upon her, there is one way I can think of…, but this will be harder to execute than anything before, especially now…" Cetala mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Betakin asked.

"What we need for that kind of plan, is some giant mirror, or at least multiple ones..." Cetala explained and all of us looked at her in surprise.

Betakin´s Pov:

"Mirrors…, why would we need that for…, do you want to make Lunnare see how hideous she has become and so make her drop her hostility, calling on the last shred of self she might possess…, I´m sorry to say but I doubt that this will work any longer, the way I see it, she has thrown her consciousness and her morality out of the window…, with buckets…" Yin asked unsure.

"How about you shut up for a second and listen to me until the end, as I was not yet done talking…, I would really appreciate that." Cetala hissed, rolling with her eyes.

I had the distinct feeling that her personality has changed in the last few days, from shy and sweet and occasionally sarcastic, to a spunky and confrontational demeanor…, then again, I was sure once all of this madness was over, she will soon be back to the Cetala I know…, right now she is basically in her serious-mode.

"What I mean is that we hold her at bay until sunrise, and once that moment comes, we flung her…, somehow, the right way is still not sure..., high into the air and surround it halfway with mirrors, so that the rays of the sun hit the mirror and illuminate her backside while the sun does the rest from the front, effectively surrounding Lunnare with light.

For good measure we might even ignite the Lighthouse and some floodlights and direct the beams unto her, though I have no idea how effective that would be.

As I said this Plan might work but executing it will be one hell of a task, we need to restrain her long enough for the sun to comes up which will be in about 2 hours, and then we have to somehow lift her into the air, which by looking at its size now, will surely not be easy, especially if she were to grow even larger.

The part with the mirrors on the other hand might be easier, basically what we will need are highly reflecting things or things with a high gloss.

Glass might be another option but that would be too breakable and too heavy to lift in one piece…., to be honest I have no idea what material we should use…, or what even is still available and whole in this town…" Cetala explained.

"… and if we use cloth?" Alpharia asked her.

"Cloth…, how so?" She replied dumbfounded.

"Yeah, you know…, like Lunnare´s men used to block the moonlight earlier..., gosh I hate to admit it but that sure was a masterful move of her…., just this time we will need it in a way, in which we can actually reflect the light, like some high-glossy silver cloth, like that chrome-foil, which basically would be equal to a mirror, then bending it around her would also be easy, the wind around would do the rest of expanding it, like the sails on the float we used to play with, at the lake near the forest, you remember?" Alpharia explained and I was in awe, similar to Cetala, Yin and Yang.

"This is …, actually a brilliant idea, we know how it works, we have seen that, so why not try it ourselves, more than the plan failing cannot happen after all." Cetala stated and we nodded.

"Now all we need to do is find us some cloth…, and then there is still the thing with the Lighthouse, we need someone who knows how to operate it." Cetala mused.

"As for the Cloth, maybe the Weaving Company of the McCallister's at the Harbor can help, they should have huge rolls of cloth, maybe they also have some rolls of chrome-silver Cloth, I think I saw that the building is mostly intact, maybe we can get some of it out., they might even know somebody who can operate the lighthouse.

Wait a second, I will call Michaela over the mental link, I think it might work similar to how Brynhildr managed to call me earlier.

If I remember right, Ashley McCallister was under those who rose to help, as far as I know she goes in your class, right Betakin?" Alpharia asked.

"Yes…, now that you are saying…, she and her family have this company since Bordaussie´s founding and have recently started a cooperation with the Persian Tailor Company…, as far as I know, Cherry and her are close Friends with each other and she is a member of the Tailor-club at school, along with Garfield." I explained and little I inertly facepalmed, she was in my class after all, so how come Alpharia came up with that idea?

"That is good, maybe you can get your friends to help them prepare things…, by the way, I almost forgot to send you best wishes from Garfield and your friends, they say that they believe in you and that they never once doubted us." Alpharia explained.

"I see…, they sure are great." I stated, visibly moved to tears….

I actually feared that maybe they would keep their distance towards me…, after all of this is over…, it would have been sad, for sure…, but I was sure with Cherry´s help I would have eventually overcome the sorrow…, but now, hearing how they support us…, all I can say is that they are just great, one each of them.

"A lot of people support us, also for them we need to do our best, the most we can and beyond that, if possible.

Everything we can, plus more…, if you understand!" Alpharia explained and we all nodded.

"Well then, we got the thing with the mirror and the Lighthouse maybe covered, but how do we gonna make this thing fly up into the air, I doubt that we can even make this thing hover?" I asked, pointing at Lunnare, still unsure about that part.

"Hmm….., I honestly don´t know …, but we need to…, Woooaaaahh!" Cetala wanted to reply but was almost knocked down face-forward in the dirt from behind, only by me pulling at her, she remained standing.

It came so sudden, a massive gust of wind rolled over us as if we were just attacked by a wind-based attack, some kind of shockwave maybe, so I thought…., however, on one hand, looking into the direction it came from, we saw nothing unusual, just the destroyed city from before, on the other hand the strong gust was still ongoing, as if the wind around us was pulled into one direction.

"What is this…, oh god…, oh god, oh for God´s sake…, you gotta be kidding me…!" I shouted, although most of it was going under in the sudden howling of the wind, which all was pulled into the very same direction…, the direction of an incoming Tornado.

"How in the world is that now coming at us, we ain't got time to deal with a damn tornado you know…" Alpharia whined.

"I think…, I think this comes from your Dad´s place, it seems to be several blocks away, but still close enough." Yang explained.

"Yeah, but then there is the question…, did their enemy created this tornado or did it really just naturally happen…, I rather doubt that, at least it wouldn´t make sense, at least not for today." Cetala wondered as she looked at this new monstrosity…, then again, In regards to the thing before us, this one was actually rather soothing to see, at least this was something natural…, right?

"Umm, I don´t really know about weather and storms in particular, but isn´t a tornado supposed to move around …, rather than being stationary at one place?" Yin asked.

"True enough, and it doesn't seem to either get closer or to move away at all." I replied.

"I think this is Dad´s doing!" Alpharia stated.

"Wait what…, okay, okay sis, I know what you´re saying, I know dad is strong and all…, but even he couldn´t…" I tried to bring my sister back to reason, but she shook her head.

"It´s not the first time…, back in his childhood when he was caught by sickness and high fever, his powers were uncontrollably unleashed because he had too much power and at one point, he almost triggered a tornado, he told me that as I struggled with keeping my forces in check and lamented that fact back in the day." Alpharia explained.

"Yeah, I think Mom once told me something similar, well of course to little ol` me, she didn´t went into any gory detail, but she said that taming such forces as ours, was never going to be an easy feat, neither for us and neither for our father, when he was young." Cetala replied, basically approving of Alpharia´s telling.

"I.., I see, I didn´t heard about that story before but if the two of you say it is so, then I guess I can trust it.

Then again, how in the world is he able to do something like that, I mean he definitely isn´t as strong as before 2 years ago, before he lost his immortality, he told us so himself, that he entirely exhausted all the power he had accumulated over the time, as they piloted Lares and Lemures, so how…, and how can we get such a powerup…, for we definitely would need it?" I asked.

"I think we already have it…" Alpharia explained after a while of thinking, as she looked at Armatura Impervius´s shield.

"You mean to say, that this green Aura was filling his energy back up and now he is able to generate tornadoes…, what the hell?" I stated as I looked in awe at this spectacular sight.

The circular cone of extremely fast winds was towering over the ruins of the city, while a huge thundercloud was sparking Electricity all around.

"You think we can do this too?" I wondered.

"Maybe, if Dad could do such a thing on his own, then we, as five people together surely should be able to do so as well, we might even go further than just lift her up.

…, although it will take a huge amount of power to set this thing afloat in the first place, we might even go devastating the place more than necessary…, but if it will be worth it, I think we can spare some debris here and there.

However, I bet that in the end only the two of you, as wielders of something that literally sucks up the energy from your surroundings, will be able to keep standing, while the rest of us will be hopelessly exhausted, so you ought to understand that once we fall away, it is up to the two of you, do you understand that.

No more dillydallying, no more bullshit, no more delays, you work together to finish her off once and for all….

No more screw-ups, both of you…, and i´m looking especially at you, Betakin." Cetala explained and in her authoritarian voice she sounded just like Mother.

But I knew that she was dead-serious, too often I let the enemy live, spared her life, showed her mercy, only to be stabbed in the back again, only for her to bring death and destruction to more people…, this had to end, and this time, I won´t hesitate anymore.

After all, regret and reflection of one´s actions come after the deed was done.

(BG-Music: Unbroken by Black Veil Brides)

"Well, I don´t know about you, but I think it´s high time we get a move on." Cetala exclaimed and we all nodded.

"Yeah let´s get to it, we already lost an entire weekend to this woman after all, no need to delay the end of it any further, however this end might look like.

Let´s see that we make it out alive of here, for I am sure, that even harsher times are ahead in the future, no need to add this thing to them." Alpharia replied.

"I´m sure together we can do anything." I stated with confidence and believe in my eyes.

"As long as we stand side by side…" Yin stated.

"…., nothing will ever be impossible for us." Yang ended his sister's speech, just like true Twins.

"After all…, we are a team." We stated in unison, our spirits united, all of us standing against the evil entity which our enemy has become.

The same of course was not stopping its rampage while we had our passionate speech phase, instead it grabbed and consumed all it could do in the meantime.

"Restraining, restraining, what to do, what to do….?" I wondered as I searched in my brain for a way to do that, while the other prepared themselves for executing our operation.

"BETAKIN, WATCH OUT!" I heard someone shouting as I looked up only to freeze as I saw one of the Tentacles of this thing rushing right to me.

It was inches away as I suddenly was pulled to the side.

"Are you insane or what, why haven´t you dodged it?" I heard Yang asking as I recognized that it was him who, in last second, pulled me out of harm's way before the tentacle rushed past us, to grab a nearby car, the same was basically assimilated by the mere touch of the tentacle and you could see the bulge it produced on the same traveling through the tentacle over to the maw.

The Creature was growing at an alarming rate.

"I…, I´m sorry, I kinda froze there for a second." I replied.

"Dude, you are freezing way too often for my taste, how about you think of something warm instead, like a hot chocolate and a warm and cozy Movie-Night with your siblings, once all of this madness is over.

You ought to stop thinking so much, if your life is in danger then move it." Yang explained as he looked deep into my eyes with as much seriousness as he could muster up.

"I guess you are right." I mumbled.

"Of course, I am right, what do you think I do the whole time, I think of almost nothing else, than to sit on the couch and watching TV with my Sis, Orphelia and Connor.

You gotta have some kind of attainable goal, after all what else are you fighting for…, don´t you have a Girlfriend you wish to return to?" He asked and asked just the right question there.

"Cherry." I whispered as I reminded myself of what else was at stake, my future with her.

The whole time her face and name and silhouette had been in the back of my head, of course I thought about her, but my family was what I thought had to be in the foreground, then again, they were here with me, I knew I could keep them alive, I could see them.

But Cherry, she was, although hopefully still safe as I assume, still far away from me right now.

"The Goal I wish to obtain…?" I stated to myself as I remembered the words, she told me, before we left the Hangar.

Flashback: 2 days ago:

"Well then guys, the Operation: Back in Control is starting in the next 5 minutes, as soon as the hangar is above ground and the Gates open!" Professor Reginald stated with a side glance at me, I noticed it and nodded, I took off my helmet and looked at Cherry.

"Cherry….., I don´t know how long it will last and what might happen during this time, but one thing I know for sure, I will not give up saving this Island, whatever it takes we will make sure to save our people, defend this island, drive the enemy out and regain control of our home.

Also we will make sure to return in one piece…, so wait for us, stay here and be save, you are going to be our next Mayor one day, hopefully…, so you need to survive at all cost, stay here and pray for us, for right now we are about to kick some ass!" I stated as I looked into her eyes, as I took her chin in my hands, I gazed into those bluish eyes, as deep as the ocean, with all the love I felt for her.

"I will do as you say and stay here…, but be sure to keep your promise, all of you, return to us in one piece…, got it…, I will wait and pray and make sure that you somehow will get a reward, something to make sure you know, that we will never forget the heroes of Bordaussie, now go and get the Island back, I think it is not my position to say, yet I will do it anyways…, failure will not be accepted, for if you fail, we might all die!" Cherry stated and we nodded, each one of us was aware of that consequence.

"You heard her, let´s drive them out, reclaim what is ours, and push them further out, where the Kurvaz will be waiting!" I stated and looked at Professor Reginald who nodded.

Flashback end:

"Failure will not be accepted…, not anymore…, get your mind out of the gutter and back into the fight Betakin Million." I stated to myself with hard voice, before I punched myself in the face with all might, so hard I fell backwards.

"Are you done beating yourself up?" Yang asked with a reassuring smile, as he held out a hand to me which I gladly took.

"Yeah, though I guess I really needed that one…, I just had to set my mind straight for once." I replied.

"Glad to hear it, you are back in the game I assume?" He asked me.

"yes…, indeed I am." I stated with confidence.

"Good to hear, for we need you, I think you are far more crucial in this tactic than you might think for now, I believe, it is your duty, your mission to finish of Lunnare once and for all, no matter in which form." Yang replied all serious, before he rushed back to his sister.

"Still the question of how to restrain her, is still remaining." I wondered as I looked at the long tentacles and the sheer size of this thing.

"Use me Master, I shall serve you well." I heard Genbusakame`s voice, as his silhouette flashed before my eyes.

"You have a Plan?" I asked Armatura Impervius.

"If I were to have a physical body, I am sure that I could restrain this thing, or at least hold it at bay for the time you will need to get your plan in motion." The voice of the noble Warrior of the North explained to me through the sword, and I saw his face in the reflection of the same, it did made talking to him easier.

Though I was aware of how strange I must look from afar, talking to the sword in my hands…, as if I had lost my marbles.

"A Body…., you mean like possessing someone…?" I asked dumbfounded.

"I rather doubt you find anyone with enough physical force to actually handle me…, but yeah, although…, the closer it would resemble to my actual body, the better I can take action." Genbusakame explained.

"A body…, a body." I mumbled, it was quite clear that no one here would be able to be it´s vessel, not even if I were to do so myself, none of us were strong enough.

And a body resembling his…, I don´t even know what to actually call his specie anyway, I remember, that he did not talked about that until now.

Just in the moment as I was about to think of a solution to this problem, the head of Ares was flung into the air, over me, before being caught by a tentacle and assimilated.

Seeing the head, remembering whom it belonged to, it gave me an idea.

"Given the chance you had a body, how well could you defend yourself against these tentacles, or against Lunnare at all?" I asked him.

"Well as you know, do I possess some level of defense myself, in my prime I was able to defend a whole continent.

An Island or two, even with half my power, surely will not be impossible, given I have a medium that is strong enough to handle such." Genbusakame explained.

"And this body…, this vessel of yours…, does it have to be organic?" I asked him and he looked at me dumbfounded.

"….., to be honest I never truly thought about that, back in olden times, usually the wielder possessed enough power to create some kind of illusionary body, so I think it is not about whether the body is organic or not, but just how strong it has been build and how long its form could be upheld." Genbusakame replied in thought.

"So, if we were to build you an artificial body, you would be able to possess it and move for a while, right?" I asked further.

"Indeed, as far as the sword somehow is connected to that body, it should be working…, that sums it up simple enough I would say." Such was the answer I got and it was all I needed.

"If that is so, then leave it to me, I will get you that body." I replied to him before I rushed over to Cetala, evading flying debris and the clumsy beats of the tentacles, telling her about my plan.

"Well, it certainly is possible, though I have no idea how long it would take to actually build such a huge body, just constructing Ares took me half an hour already." Cetala explained as she thought about the plan.

"Yeah sure, but back then you were the only one to build up the Mecha, while Alpharia kept watch, and there was the fact that you build him so complex, that he was able to absolve tasks on his own, through the AI you programmed, instead of being only influenced by your magic directly.

He could absolve task which no normal bird I have ever met can do, however for that he also needed a real functioning body with artificial muscles, high-spec-mobility, as well as a certain level of intelligence, a true artificial brain so to say, as well as the needed tools to execute your orders.

But right now, all we really need is a body which Genbusakame can possess, a body which does not necessary needs all of that special stuff, just a durable simple skeleton, durable and mobile enough, the rest could even be build out of stone for that matter.

After all, all it really needs to do is restrain this thing long enough, for our initial plan to be prepared for its execution." I explained to her and she slowly nodded as my plan began to take on a clearer image in her mind.

"If that is what we aim for, then we might just make it in the nick of time, but I still will need some time to prepare, at the very least 20 minutes and I need someone to help me, someone who would be able to use elemental magic." Cetala explained.

"Leave the restraining to me, 20 minutes should work out but I don´t know if I could do so longer." Yin explained.

"My shield-spheres are not only for defense but can also restrain a target…, however I never before had to enclose such a big target before, so this is basically all I can do for now, i´m not even sure if I have any power left afterwards." She continued and we nodded.

"As for elemental magic, father showed me a little, but for now I can only use earth-magic good enough, well better than the other elements at least, as it is the most commonly used next to wind-magic." Alpharia explained.

"Alright then we go with that, but we have to time it all perfectly well, or else this whole endeavor will fail, and it might well mark the end of our resistance.

For the First Part, we need to get a hold on Garfield, he needs to tell the McCallister family that we need as much high-glossy silver cloth as they can find, all patched and sewn together to create a giant mirror like surface, then we need mini-drones which will take the same up into the air, to spread it out around Lunnare.

Off course, we need to take into account that we somehow need to get this massive piece of cloth over towards the battlefield, and I can assure you, its going to be heavy as hell, after all we can´t just use any cloth, it has to be durable enough to brave the extreme wind currents up in the upper stratosphere." Cetala explained.

"Gone and done, I talked to Michaela but she told me that they have already split up into teams with different tasks, but she has no idea in which team either Garfield or Ashley are but they went southeast, according to Suzanne." Alpharia explained.

"I see, well I thought that it won´t be so easy, but if we roughly know where they went to, we should be able to find them in time." I explained and they nodded.

"The second step is the first attempt of restraining Lunnare, Yin we need all of your power there, you need to make this forcefield as durable as you can go, if she were to escape before everything is ready, it will be all for naught, maybe you can mix in some fluorescence to keep her at bay, if that were any possible.

In the same moment, Alpharia and I will begin the construction of Genbusakame´s Golem." Cetala continued.

"I will do my very best, but mind that it is the first time I over-exhaust my forces in such a way, I say 20 minutes, but it might even be less, so prepare yourself just in case." Yin explained and we nodded.

"Which then promptly leads to the next part.

In this third part, Betakin will initiate the definitive restraining of Lunnare with help of Genbusakame, which is bound to the Sword of Armatura Impervius, for that matter, you Betakin, are to preserve your forces until then, we will need all the time you can punch out of yourself."

"Roger that, but remember, we do not need a fully autonomous Mecha like Ares, all we need is a durable and mobile frame for Genbusakame to possess it." I explained.

"Who exactly is this Genbusakame you are talking about, I keep hearing that name but I do not truly understand?" Yang asked.

"The spirit of the sword of Armatura impervius, as far as I can tell, or at least such I assume, one each of the Swords has some kind of intelligence within itself, something that can differ right from wrong and when to use its immense powers and when not, in my case it is a quadrupedal, scaled being, with a giant shell on its back and some kind of Snake wrapped around itself." I explained.

"Hmm, a shell on its back, scaled…, sounds like a member of the Turtkames of Sulgate, an ancient reptilian race from Ragnarök, which lived there before the War of Sun and Moon…, maybe they are still active, but you rarely, very rarely, find one of them outside of their own territory, even prior to the war." Red, whom I almost totally forgot being here, as he was so silent, explained to us.

"I found some pictures of members from their race in fathers old Book, alongside of other races, which once lived on both continents before the war." He continued.

"Alright, going forth from what we talked about, so we covered the Silver-Chrome-cloth and maybe also the Lighthouse, we need to see about that, we covered the first restraining and the construction of the Mecha-body for Genbusakame.

Meanwhile all of those who still have enough power by then, means mostly Yang and Alpharia, as she has the power reserves of the Shield which she can use…, you guys need to use the Tornado, stripping it off its force, to create a tornado of our own, to lift Lunnare up in the air.

Then the fourth part has to be executed, when the sun is in full view, which might means, that we have to keep it confined just as the sun rises from beyond the horizon, then all we have to do is to lift her high enough into the air for the sun to completely shine upon her…, in the same moment we need to take the cloth with the drones skyward, to encircle her, as well as I said, for good measure shine the light of the lighthouse and floodlights upon her and so hopefully kill her once and for all." Cetala explained and it was a good plan…, but…

"Just in case, even in the event that all of this was succefull…, what shall we do if Lunnare is then still not defeated…, I mean god knows what else for tricks she has up her sleeves." I asked her.

"In case she somehow survives this assault, someone needs to finish her in midair, maybe we still can make her falling towards the plasma sea, then again, that someone might not return safely back to the island so, if that were to be the case one of us would have to make the ultimate sacrifice, unfortunately, but I doubt there is anything else we can do…, but we will have to see about that in the event that she indeed survives our counter attack." Cetala explained and sounded as neutral as she could.

However, we all knew, that this outcome would mean that one of us might be send to his death, the question was, who would it be, who would have still enough strength to actually make this ultimate sacrifice in the first place.

"In the event that I still have the force to do so, I will do so, and this time I won´t hesitate…, too much blood has already been spilled." I thought to myself.

The being infront of us was a grim reminder of all of my failures as of late, and I was sure, it will haunt me for a while, then again, if I were to die in that attempt, I at least would lay my life down for the future of my home and my siblings, I think this might be a noble way to go, if nothing else.

But I will struggle to survive until the end, Red made me understand, that the future is uncertain and that I too belong to it…, and Yang told me so as well, there was a person I absolutely had to return to and even if only to tell her how much I love her for being herself, for accepting me the way I am…, for loving me the way she does.

"Cherry, I will do my best to return to you." I thought to myself.

"Betakin, as you are supposed to spare your forces, can I burden you with the task to see that we get that cloth-mirror together and the lighthouse operated." Cetala asked.

"Leave it to me, I will get us all the cloth I can find and all of it in time, for sure." I replied and she nodded.

"Neat…, so has anyone any questions?" She continued.

"None on my end." Alpharia replied.

"Same with us, I think the plan is clear as it is, all we have to do, is to see it through to the end." Yin explained while Yang nodded towards her.

"Well, that´s for sure, alright then, time to start Operation Sunrise-Flasher." Cetala stated while I sighed.

"You know Ceta…, you really suck at naming things." I stated as I pinched the bridge of my nose and stifled a laughter.

"Shut up and get going." She sighed as she rolled her eyes.

"You should have called it, Operation Sunflash if anything!" I shouted to her as I was on my way, turning around one last time.

The only response I got was a most unladylike and unmistakably hand-gesture of Cetalia.

Remember, this girl was supposed to be only 10 years old, for that, she had, for my taste, far too much knowledge, even in the stupidest areas.

They were about to engage one of the deadliest beings on the earth, so a little joking to take the nervousness away from them, did seemed to be fitting, but there was a fine line between joking and inappropriately acting for your age…, but I decided to let it slide this time.

"You better make sure none of you die here, if there is anyone to lay his life down, it is me." I mumbled to myself.

Not because it would make me heroic, no its because this whole situation has happened, because I was too hesitant to take the next step…., and that thrice.

The first time was when I argued with the others of sniping Lunnare from afar, when my stupid and childish mind told me to rather engage in a fair fight, to fight heroically against the enemy, which caused the death of an innocent bystander held hostage by her.

The second time was when I tried to defeat Lunnare in my own way, instead of working together with the others, mainly with Alpharia, who indeed had a plan, the result of it was her using her shadow-trigger, which healed her and enhanced her abilities drastically, as well as almost killing us all with her Inferno-Fireball attack.

The third time was me being hesitant about killing her, which enabled her to use the Devil´s blood to transform herself in this thing.

"Thrice I fucked up, thrice I didn´t managed to get the job done…, for my foolishness others have had to pay the price…, but no more, I was reborn in the fire and, although I had some starting difficulties, I finally am running well and I know just what to do.

No more hesitation, from now on I will do as the situation requires, if keeping an enemy alive, results in the possible death of many innocent others, then he is better off dead.

But the final say has still Armatura Impervius…, or should I say, the heroes that came before me…, right, Lady Brynhildr?" I muttered to myself, although I was not really expecting an answer, then again, ever since Armatura Impervius's power awakened, I had the feeling of being observed, but not by evil forces, it was neutral, interested but not meddlesome.

I was monitored you might say, and it was quite comforting to know that despite me doing all I can, all that I am capable of, there is someone watching me with a critical eye, and I was sure, if I were about to go down the wrong path somewhere along the road, someone will try to stop me, one of those who came before me, some of the Heroes of old, that defended the World, the place I can call home.

Then again, I wish they would have told me when it was right to do something, even if I personally was about to hesitate again, its not good to only call me out when I do something wrong, rather than when I don´t do something I should have done.

It sure was strange, to know that there were people watching me at every step that I took, but it also meant that the entire Million Clan got my back, if that wasn´t comforting and raising my confidence, then what was?

Act 8: True Friendship

As I made my way, with enhanced speed, towards the location I felt Garfield to be, thanks to the connection of the shield´s forces, I let the events so far pass as a review before my inner eyes.

From the moment that Cetala told us about the shadows in the sky, over the moment our communication was disturbed just before the first enemies made their landfall.

All the fights and the bloodshed that followed just to this very moment.

The way I acted before began to disgust me, but even more so I felt pity and shame for myself, I tried so hard to cling to the small hope that I could end this fight without bloodshed from my side, to be seen as the shining hero I saw myself as.

It was wishful thinking, a beautiful but childish dream so to say…, but I should have known that it was too good to be true…., no true hero is born without shedding some blood at least once or twice.

Of course, this did not mean, that a hero always has to fight till the death, its far more heroic to end a battle without any casualties, no matter the side…, but only if the opponent would have a similar mindset.

No one whishes for needless bloodshed on their side, neither the good nor the bad ones, unless they are total nutjobs.

If anything, we all wish to make it out alive, out of every battle we have to face, more than coming out victorious.

But then again, there are battles which are too crucial as that we can allow ourselves to lose it, just like right now.

Defeat means that this island is doomed, a truce would mean that maybe another island would be attacked instead…., only victory can ascertain that all the people we care for, make it out alive as well, and for that goal we had to put in our best, I have to do that.

"Somehow we have to make this plan work." I muttered to myself as I kept running, through the ruins of the town.

Due to my enhanced physical abilities I managed to get to the last place Alpharia saw our supporters to be, in barely 10 minutes.

"Well, I kinda figured they wouldn´t be here anymore, but if they aren´t then where are they?" I wondered as I tried to feel Garfield or anyone else I knew.

But I was unfortunately only able to feel that they were present on this island, not where exactly they were.

"I ain't got time to search the whole island." I sighed in annoyance.

"Maybe I can help, stick me into the ground." Genbusakame explained.

"Why…, what are you trying to do?" I asked dumbfounded.

"Do I need to remind you that I have providence over the earth-element, I will use my forces to send my awareness through the island, it is a special kind of search magic, which uses the vibrations unto the ground, to become aware of our surroundings, the louder the vibrations, the clearer the image." He explained.

"So, you meant to say, that you can use echo-location?" I used and I practically could see him sweat dropping with a sad mine.

"Yes…." He said curtly and slightly disappointed.

"I guess in olden times this might have been seen as truly magical, but in our advanced technological age, this is merely something science has covered since decades." I though, that was the only way I could explain his disappointed reaction.

As he told me I stuck im right into the ground.

"Well then here we go, it has been ages since I last done that, let´s see how the Islands have changed, I haven´t truly woken up since the times of Belka Million." Genbusakame muttered.

Suddenly it was as if some kind of wave flew over my feet, like the mild waves you feel when you standing at the edge of a lake, with your feet in the water and occasional mini-waves crashing against them.

"I can see some of them, most of them are grouped but some seem to be in different locations, as if they have divided in troops of some sort, just like your sister told you." He stated.

"Can you search for someone specific?" I asked, I hadn´t much time to search the whole island, but running from group to group would prove to equally be time-expensive.

"If I would know how he look like, I could do so…., or maybe, yes I could do that, though it might overwhelm you…, are you taking that risk, especially now that you need your forces later on?" Genbusakame asked.

"If it helps the plan, I will do my best to stay strong despite of all that I encounter, I have to right the things I did wrong…, or I can hardly call myself your master." I explained.

"That is a noble demeanor, but just note that not everything went always right for my previous masters either, my first master, Brynhildr Xenovia Million, trained a long time to become the woman she was known as, in her last Battle.

Even more so when she became my master, my power was vast and almost unrestrained, she had to tame me basically, before she passed me on towards her child by the time she passed away." He stated.

"Anyways, if you are ready then grab my handle, strongly, do not let go no matter what happens…, oh and close your eyes, it will keep you from needlessly being distracted.

I will send my awareness towards your brain, so that you can see what I see, you know the person we are looking for, so that would make things way easier." He explained and I nodded.

"That would make it indeed." I replied as I braced myself and took a deep breath.

after I generated a protective shield around me, I took the Handle of the sword in my hands and closed my eyes.

At first I saw nothing, but I heard something, a light and high tone, like the chiming of a silver bell, the louder it got the more I began to see.

Lines, silhouettes, the outlines of things, stones, rocks, trees, grass, the forest at the edge of the islands and those surrounding Schwarzwald and Bordeaux, then I started to see the broken buildings, villages and settlements, I saw some people, mainly farmers, who looked distressed but unharmed, mostly.

I saw people grieving over their dead relatives, who laid on the ground in what seemed to be a makeshift lazaretto.

I saw some I.D.A. men, who buzzed around nearby, trying to get more people out of the ruins of collapsed houses and the caves underneath closed off by the rubble.

Using Genbusakame´s ability, I, for the first time in the entire weekend so far, got to see the true damage the Lycanians caused to the island.

Large portions of the forests had been burned down, most of the villages were literally razed to the ground, houses ripped apart until their very fundamental-walls.

The market place of Bordeaux looked like an intense battle was fought there.

But other than the two Towns we had fought in, the villages around us, they were awfully destroyed.

A shudder ran down my spine, just to think of how many casualties this attack must have cost us, how many deaths we had to claim.

The further I saw the more my anger began to increase, the lust for revenge had always been existent in me, ever since the first village was attacked, but now, seeing all this, it made me almost mad with wrath.

"If only we knew about a possible attack before-hand…, we might could have saved a lot more people." I thought to myself in deep grievance.

Roughly counted, the Survivors we put into the two raid-shelters, in Bordeaux and in Schwarzwald, counted about 5.000 survivors, 2.500 in each, but the island counted 7.000 inhabitants and changing, so it was unclear how many were dead and how many were still missing.

The reason Alpharia did not went to search for supporters in Bordeaux was likely because we had no idea how many Lycanians might still roam the island outside of Schwarzwald, we could not risk to get those survivors we manage to rescue into grave danger, while we were occupied at a whole other place.

But it seems that the many volunteers she managed to recruit from the raid-shelter here in town, must have divided into groups, which either searched here in town, or who moved over to Bordeaux and in the surrounding villages.

I bet they must have found cars and busses who were still mostly intact, or have been repaired as far as functionality should go.

Then they joined up with the other people in the raid-shelter in Bordeaux, which helped them investigating in the surrounding villages and settlements.

With the I.D.A. men, and their weapons they had at least a chance of survival now.

Who knows maybe the Lab personal under the Ranch directed them, somehow?

I doubt they were all lazy in there, though since communications had broken down, once our Mechas stopped functioning, we unfortunately had no idea what was going on there.

"Genbusakame, would it be alright, if you could just make a quick travel over to my home, I need to see if everyone is alright in the Hangar and the Labs, we haven´t heard from them in nearly 2 nights and one day." I stated.

"As you wish, Master." Genbusakame stated, and with a louder chime, the waves of Echoes traveled even further into the island, past Bordeaux, towards the settlements, all the way towards my home, the Million Ranch.

"Can you show me what's underneath?" I wondered as I only saw the ruins of the House and the stables…, as well as the dead animals, the Lycanians truly razed this place, ripped it completely asunder.

No tear ran down my cheek, no curse-word escaped my mouth, but the seething hot wrath became like lava in my veins.

The chiming got stronger and the stronger it got the deeper the echoes traveled, until we reached the first floors of the lab.

The first thing I saw was that there were significantly more people in there than ever before…, far more people.

They must have saved the people escaping Bordeaux and the villages, as our communication broke down.

Instead of being lazy or desperately trying to re-establish communication, they did what the times required, saving people.

The echoes ran through the people in the Lab, most of them had relieved features on their face, some were still fearful, others full of doubt, many were in wonder.

But even more so I saw the one person I really wanted to see right now.

Cherry, she was handing out soup to the people, her smile a reassuring and kind one, radiated to others filling their heart with a warmth they weren´t able to feel through merely the soup.

"Is this the person you wanted to find?" Genbusakame asked.

"No…, but she is equally important to me…, I just had to make sure she was safe." I stated.

As if she heard me, Cherry suddenly looked up and smiled to no one in particular.

Then her lips formed the words "Betakin" and it was all I wanted to hear this whole time.

"I´m glad you are safe." I heard her voice in my mind, it seems that through its forces, Armatura Impervius´s shield spread its influence even further, maybe because I was already connected, so Alpharia felt and saw those people that saved, cared and helped other people and likewise she gave them her protection, and so connected them to the shield´s power, to Skuld´s Protection.

Bordaussie was about to become one single Hive-mind, all the feelings connected, I could feel feelings of relieve, as relatives who had been apart were re-connected, their feelings and strong thoughts being conveyed over to the one they were directed to.

Parents heard the feelings of their children and viseversa.

Everyone became connected and the stronger it got the more feelings turned into thoughts.

Though it was not an intense noise or a crazy mish-mash of voices speaking all around.

No, the more you focused on a certain person, the more you could hear her thoughts, and as if the shield favored privacy, unless you focus on that person, you won´t hear what she thinks about.

Obviously, I focused on Cherry.

"I always believed that you are safe Betakin, I knew you would not just die on me…, you are so strong, you do all you can do for the island, the people…, so I will do the same, I will do all I can do.

If you promise me, once more, to return to me safe and sound, I will promise you that I will do the best I can, for the people of Bordaussie and for you once all this madness is over, your good deeds shall not be forgotten." She thought and I nodded.

"I will keep going and I will survive, I promise to keep everyone safe and to end all of this madness." I thought back with determination.

"I know you will do so…, that´s why I love you so much, Betakin." Cherry thought and I felt my cheeks redden.

"I love you too Cherry, more than you know." I replied lovestruck.

"I really don´t wish to interrupt your sweet-talking…, but we still got a job to do, master." Genbusakame stated and I nodded, I knew, as much as I wanted to, now was not the time to be stunned by love.

"I´m sorry, but I go to go, I need to find someone asap." I spoke to Cherry.

"Do that, you need to focus on your task and I will do so here, if you end this terror, we will have enough time to speak afterwards." Cherry replied.

"That we do, well then, got to rush now, see you later." I replied and she nodded.

"Let´s move on towards the next village." I spoke to Genbusakame.

"Yes master." He replied and didn´t mentioned the previous at all, despite smiling to himself.

A true Wingman.

It didn't last long, only a few villages later and I managed to find Garfield.

"There he is, alright then, now let´s see." I mumbled as I began to connect my thoughts with his.

"Garfield, Garfield can you hear me?" I asked and it was as though he could hear me.

"Betakin, Betakin is this you?" I heard his voice, but also his lips moving, so he talked, rather than thinking, fine by me I guess.

"Yes, through the power of the Shield of Armatura Impervius, I am speaking telepathically towards you." I replied to him.

"Woooah, like a true superhero-power, nice." He stated with a smile.

"Indeed, it is, but we got no time to marvel in the realm of expectation and reality of Superheroes and their powers, as gladly as I would like to elaborate mine to you.

Right now, I need you guys for an important side mission, is by any chance Ashley McCallister in your group?" I asked him, I hadn´t yet checked all of the people here, as I was glad to finally find him.

"Ashley yeah, she is right over there." He stated as he pointed in a direction.

"Genbusakame..." I stated.

"Of course, master." The same replied before expanding his echo-location ability in that direction.

And there she stood, the girl I needed most for the plan right now.

"Neat, can you get to her, I need her most for the mission, which we have planned so far, for she knows best how to handle it I guess." I replied.

"Oh Okay, wait a second." He stated slightly confused and worried, as he made his way over to the girl in question.

"Its good to see you being alright, I feared for the worst, but believed you to be fairly able to handle yourself." I stated and I saw how his cheeks reddened.

Naturally I knew about his preferences, even I wasn´t dense enough not to understand them…, and thanks to Alpharia talking with him, I got a little of his background, about his liking of me, in a more than just buddy-to-buddy way.

I won´t judge him, why should I, if I were to do that, I wouldn´t be better than those who mock me about myself, especially now, that my biggest Secret has been revealed.

"Ashley, do you have a moment?" I heard Garfield asking and I focused back at the matter at hand.

"Sure, what is it Garfield, need my help with something?" The girl asked.

"No, but there is someone who wishes to talk to you, it seems to be urgent." Garfield explained and handled the situation quite well.

"Oh, okay…., so…, well who is it, there is only you here?" She asked as she looked around confused, after Garfield brought them a bit aside from the buzzing of the others.

"Betakin, I got her, so how do you now speak to her?" Garfield asked.

"Wait I will try to talk to her, just give me a second." I replied as I tried to focus on her, but of course this was not so easy as to Cherry or Garfield.

"Hmmm, who are you talking to…, wait is this some kind of joke Garf..., really, of all times, you choose now for your lame ass jokes, we ain't got time for that right now, you know?" she stated as she suddenly got angry, thinking Garfield was just joking around.

It made the focusing on her harder, as she didn´t even tried to be calm.

"Garfield, grab her hand." I quickly said as she was about to go back.

"Wait that?" The same asked dumbfounded and embarrassed.

"Just do it!" I stated.

"If you got nothing better to do, then at least let those work, who want to work, stupid." Ashley stated annoyed as she was already on the move.

"Quick, grab her hand!" I practically shouted.

"Oh, okay!?" Garfield replied and so grabbed Ashley´s hand with sweaty palms, sweaty from nervousness.

I had to remind myself of the fact that Garfield got nervous around girls in general, but even more if he had to physically interact with them, one reason why he was so fonder of hanging around guys, maybe also the reason for his preference…, well if you are the fourth-born child and only son of the family, with three older sisters, it is only natural I guess.

"What are you doing?" Ashley asked, quite reluctant, not sure what the reason for that was though.

"Stop this, you creeping me out you know!" She exclaimed in a harsh tone, harsher than I ever heard her being.

I knew her as a kind and tolerant person…, but as much as I know, this might as well have just been an act to seem nicer than she really is…, a mask so to say, take it from someone who knows how to do so for a decade and a half.

Never the less I was in need of her help.

"Ashley, Ashley McCallister, can you hear me?" I asked.

"huh, wait what?" She asked as she looked around dumbfounded and back to Garfield, before her mine turned angry.

"I swear to god Garfield, if you just want to flex your ventriloquistic abilities, then do that after this horror is over, you hear me?!" She stated enraged and was about to pull her hand away.

"Don´t let go." I stated and Garfield nodded, holding her hand even tighter.

"Garfield this is enough, I know things are scary but that doesn´t mean you can just force me to something and…" Ashley stated, looking deep into Garfield´s eyes.

"How about you calm down for a second Ashley, its me Betakin, Cherry´s Boyfriend…" I stated.

"Waah, wait what?" She asked even more dumfounded than before.

"Calm down, breath in and out but calm down first." I stated and after a minute or so she did as told, calming down significantly.

"Alright, I´m calm, so would you kindly tell me, what the hell is going on here?" She stated.

"Well, I guess you seem calm enough now, anyways as I said before, it´s me Betakin, I am currently speaking through Garfield´s touch as you seem not focused enough to listen to the thoughts of others, you are far too stressed for that, so we had to take rather radical measures, sorry for that…" I explained.

"Oh…, okay, alright, apology accepted…, so what was it, what do you need of me?" she stated.

"Woah…, that was easy…., what´s with you…, didn´t you just accused Garfield of being a stupid ventriloquist?" I asked her, dumfounded myself.

"I saw a ghostlike appearance in form of your sister, Alpharia Million, just half an hour ago or so, so I doubt anything can surprise me anymore…, at least nothing super-natural." She stated her cheeks reddening.

"Ah okay…, anyways, about what I need of you, do you have any idea about the status of your parents' company, is it still standing?" I asked.

"Well, the last time I ran past it, it still stood halfway, the rest had already caved in though…, but why are you asking…, what can a tailor company probably do to help you?" Ashley asked.

"We need cloth, silver high gloss cloth, with a chrome like surface, and lots of it." I stated.

"Ooookkkkaaayy…., what for?" She asked.

"We want to mimic a giant mirror, we need it to reflect the sunlight once sunrise is happening." I explained as curtly as possible.

"Alright, but why…?" She asked, still unsure if I was right in my mind.

"Because these things hate light right, especially Ultra-Violet light, like sunlight?" Garfield asked and finally used his thoughts rather than his mouth.

"Indeed, Lunnare Wolfenstein, the enemy's commander and hopefully the last one of the enemies, who still stands, has finally given up on reason all together, however she has transformed herself into a monstrosity which, if uncontained and undefeated, might devour the entire Island.

So, we came up with a plan, but for that we need a giant mirror that reflects sunlight and which is still flexible enough to be wrapped around this monster, so that we can shine light upon it from every side." I explained.

"So basically, what you need of me is a chrome-colored-cloth with which you basically would have a flexible mirror, which you can wrap, due to the force of wind, by somehow flinging this thing high up into the air, around this thing, am I right?" Ashley asked and I was stunned for a minute or so.

"This. Is. Actually the whole plan we came up with…, how did you…?" I asked.

"Oh Please, do you honestly think your boys are the only one who watch Superhero movies and has fantastic but almost unrealistic plans.

And the mere fact that you come to a tailor for help, while still having those fancy suits on, tells me that you surely aren´t here to get yourself a flashy cape for free, am I right?" She asked me.

"Why in the ever-living hell would I need a damn cape…, what´s a cape even good for?" I asked them.

"I think that is a highly aesthetic question, but yeah, I too don´t really understand the appeal of capes, I mean in recent years we have seen hundreds of heroes, who can do well enough without these things, but…, I guess that´s just my opinion." Garfield explained and we looked at him in annoyance, after all, this was purely a rhetorical question, no answers needed.

"Anyways…, back to the plan…, do you think something like that would be possible, do you even have that much silver cloth, and durable enough not to tear so easily?" I asked her.

"I think we had a role of Chrome-metallic-fabric somewhere, but I am unsure if it is big enough for patching together a huge mirror, though it is durable enough, I assure you, It is used mainly by the firefighters and as fire proximity suits, when working in the iron-forge on the other end of the harbor, so it is fire-resistant to boot.

Well even if we have it, I doubt that this will be all clean now, with all the dust, rubble and ashes and sooth around.

It might take hours to clean them.

If you want a surface that can reflect light like a mirror, than it ought not to be sullied in any way, unless you want to have shadows here and there, and as far as I understand from the previous conversation, then darkness is this monster´s thing.

While it can survive in Moonlight, as that one does not reflect as much UV-light as a mirror in the sun, the same would be enough to kill it, somehow, but if there is even a bit of shadow, it could use the same to escape in last second.

Am I right so far?" Ashley asked.

"Indeed, that's the default in this plan, so we wanted to use the light-beam of the lighthouse and the still functioning floodlights as addition to this plan, just in case that this very situation would happen, but for that we also need someone who can operate the same.

Still, if we do not find some kind of mirror, big enough to wrap around it, so that every nook and cranny is being shined upon by light, then this thing might escape again by splitting up.

And it grows through consumption of matter…, so its not farfetched to say, that it might return to this size in barely a few hours.

It is the unfortunate truth; shadow is our greatest enemy in this plan." I stated and she nodded.

"I understand, well I will see what I can do, the company stands in the harbor district of Schwarzwald, and even in the event that we have enough, do we need a way to transport it, such roles are darn heavy, the bigger the role the heavier it becomes, simple physics." Ashley explained.

"Let that be my worry, I am not so far away from the Company, mind if we meet up there, I´m going to look around already, thought you have to hurry, once we have all the cloth we need and are sure it is clean enough for the plan, then the same will be set into motion.

Which however also means that we have then only about 20 minutes to patch a mirror together, so bring as much people as you deem right, let's see, the mirror should be at least 1.000 square meters to be sure.

The longer we need, the bigger this thing gets." I stated and they nodded.

"Roger that, I will take a hundred people with me, meet you there in about half an hour, is that alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, that should be alright, once the sun begins to rise, we should be ready, the higher she is the more intensity she has, but as I said, the longer it takes to defeat this thing, the bigger a foe we have to fight.

If we take too long it might become too big to wrap into the mirror, and it might even go as far as to return back to the shadow, if that were the case, then we have lost, then it can always return…, unless we somehow manage to destroy its core." I replied.

"Yeah, I can see that…, I just hope we have enough cloth left for the plan." Garfield stated.

"This must work, otherwise we are out of better options you know." I replied.

"I see, still, with the Lighthouse we might have a problem…" Garfield explained and Ashley didn´t looked as happy either.

"W-What do you mean, what kinda problem?" I asked them.

"Well, you know that, ever since 2 years ago, after the events of the attacks of those evil Hybrids, there are two families, whose members operate the Lighthouse, right?" They asked and I nodded, I knew that far, even though I never took that much interest in it, ever since Gerhard Leuchtmeier, the old Operator, has deceased two years ago.

"Yes…?" I asked unsure at what he´s getting at.

"Well…., can you guess who they are?" Ashley asked.

"Wait…, no, no don´t tell me…" I replied but their mine which I saw as silhouettes was all I needed.

"Vincent´s family is under them." I stated with a mental facepalm, as a matter of fact I feared that I would need him for anything in our endeavor for the rescue of the island…, and of course it had to be one of the more crucial parts I needed him for.

"Indeed, the Vaughn Family as well as the Ambrosius family got the job to operate the Lighthouse, changing ever month, and this month it was the turn of the Vaughn family…, and well, we… kind off had a falling out with Vincent and Raphaella, not to mention your Sister kinda made them lose their face…, I highly doubt that they will give you the key or help you operate the Lighthouse, even if we were to explain things to them.

They might as well just say, that you would only use the Lighthouse to lure the Lycanians here…, geez they really have it out for you, they seem to be the leaders of the haters." Garfield explained and I sighed.

"Yeah…, once they are riled up, they do not comply in anyways, my father and mother often had problems with them, even before Vincent and Raphaella were in both our class and that of Alpharia…

Geez, but we need the Lighthouse to defeat Lunnare…, as I said, it is necessary, even if the sun cannot kill her instantly, the Light might hold her at bay long enough, for the sun to practically eat away at her." I explained.

"Is there really no other way, not that I complain, but we might just cut it close enough with the mirror, but without the Lighthouse it might fail, do you have like, a plan B?" Ashley asked.

"Only one…, and it might well be my final plan from then on." I replied and silence ruled the conversation.

"I…, I see." Garfield mumbled.

It was easy to determine what my words meant.

If this plan were to fail, all I could do were to sacrifice myself, by throwing Lunnare, with myself in Genbusakame's Mecha pushing and shoving her, off this island, while she is stunned by the sunlight.

"Let´s hope it doesn't come to this." I stated and I saw them nodding, sorrow and uncertainty on their faces for all to see.

"Cherry wouldn´t like this…, by the way…, how is she, do you know if she is still…?

I think I heard Alpharia saying that she was safe at your ranch, but I am worried…, I guess you haven´t been to your Ranch in a long time, right?" Ashley asked and I admit, I had wondered when she might ask this question.

"Cherry is alright, I just spoke to her earlier as I was on the search for Garfield and you, she is in the ranch´s Hangar, they evacuated the people of the several settlements around towards the safe underground Hangars.

She´s meanwhile helping other people with sharing soup, she told me to do what I can do, while she was to do likewise…, of course I did not told her about the plans…, I don´t know how she would take it…, but I promised her to return to her safe and sound, so I cannot let this chance pass by, even if it would mean that I owe Vincent Vaughn one, of all people." I replied and she breathed out in relieve.

"That makes me happy…, to know that she is safe and sound." Ashley replied and I understood that very well, Ashley and Cherry were childhood-friends, almost as tight as sisters, so of course they were afraid of the other´s uncertain fate, if I had enough time to speak with Cherry, she might would have asked about Ashley as well.

"Dang, a secret hangar, just like the Cat-Cave in Catman Begins…" I heard Garfield mumbling as he was almost ready to geek out again, before he suddenly went silent and looked as though he thought about something intensely.

"Garf…, you okay there, buddy?" I asked him while Ashley looked at him in worry.

"Maybe we have another chance…, you know.., for the Lighthouse!" Garfield explained.

"What do you mean?" I asked him dumbfounded.

"Well technically seen, all we need is someone who knows how to operate the Lighthouse, we do not necessarily need both, the Vaughn´s or the Ambrosius´s, or even a key to open the door, right?" he asked.

"Yeah that´s about right, I guess, but what are you getting at?" I asked him.

"If that is so then leave it to me, I will get us the lighthouse, no problem." He explained.

"Huh…, but how?" I asked.

"Let´s just say, I still have a favor open from a certain person, she might well be the only one who can help us with that." Garfield stated.

"Garf, for the love of all that is holy, stop beating around the bush and tell me what´s what…, if there is a derivation in the plan then I need to know about it before it happens, we have no time for surprises later on." I stated a little more serious.

"Yeah, okay I got it, I wanted to make it more exciting but I guess you are right.

Well do you remember Lena?" He asked.

"Who?" I replied unsure as to whom he meant.

"Lena Seewolf, you know we had her as an exchange student in our class, 2 year ago, you remember?" He asked.

"Yeah, I do…, so what about her?" I asked him in return.

"Well as a matter of fact she is the Granddaughter of Gerhard Leuchtmeier, the daughter of his daughter, Yvonne Leuchtmeier-Seewolf, she told me that in her youth she often visited him during holidays and he often took her with him in the night up to the tower and she once promised me, when she went back to Pharaoh, to show me how the Lighthouse operates, though that was to the time as her Grandfather still lived." Garfield explained.

"That´s nice and all, but how can a girl, that lives in Pharaoh, now help us while we are on Bordaussie?" I asked him confused.

"Well as a matter of fact, they are currently here for the holidays, visiting the old Mrs. Leuchtmeier, Lena and I are friends after all and we do text each other from time to time.

I think I saw them in the Raid-Shelter, as far as my knowledge goes, her Grandmother still has a Key to the lighthouse, just in case something was to happen, but as we mainly need someone to operate the Lighthouse, we could make do, just with Lena." Garfield explained and I nodded in approval.

"Do you know where she is momentarily?" I asked him.

"I think she was supposed to be with the Mayor in the Field-Command-Center, which they have established not long ago, she and her family were to help re-establish communications towards the outside via radio and to operate the Lighthouse in case of reinforcements arriving." He replied.

"Alright, Ashley, can I burden you with getting hundred people to help you with the cloth, once you have them assembled, get into busses and come over here.

Garfield, you need to get to the Field Command-center and speak to Lena and her parents about the plan.

Meanwhile I will make sure to look into the Company´s Building if I can find anything before-hand, but you gotta do your tasks fast, sunrise is soon upon us, if Lunnare flees into the shadow or splits up, all of our planning was for naught." I explained.

"Roger, you can count on me." they explained in unison.

"Neat, well then, gotta go, meet you there asap and I mean asap." I said and they nodded.

"Until then." Garfield replied.

"See you later." Ashley stated.

I pulled my awareness back to myself before letting go of Genbusakame.

"Is that really your Plan B, Master…, to kill yourself…, if all else fails?" He asked and I could understand him.

"If it is the only way to save my home, I am willing to sacrifice myself, but I will make sure you survive and can find a new master, don´t you worry." I replied to him.

"I don´t care about that…, what I care about is the fact that you are willing to die for other people, you are after all not just anybody…, if you die here, it might take ages until the next suitable master is being born or found by me.

Especially now, where dark forces are on the rise again, we need the seven swords more than ever before, the Lycanians are not the only danger out there you know, in ages before they rose to power, there had been several conflicts and Supernatural problems across the world, although mainly in Abyssinia and Ragnarök.

And not rarely have those conflicts been brought by evil forces from antiquity, the echoes of the fall of Elysia, so to say are just one of many reasons for conflicts arising, the Juno´s-Plague is another."

Genbusakame´s voice became mysterious and warningly, whatever he talked about sure was to be taken serious.

"I take it that with the Juno´s-Plague, you mean the hidden Titano Machinae?" I asked and he nodded.

"There are hundred, what do I say, maybe even thousands of them, dormant at numerous locations across the world, dormant but still partially functional, waiting to be reawakened to once more spread death and destruction.

Ever since my creation I´ve encountered too many to count and many of them me and my Masters barely were able to defeat, if it weren´t for the unity of the Seven Swords.

Alone they can barely hold their own against a large number of enemies, but together, they can save a whole continent.

If one of you were to fall away now, the chances for victory over the dark forces would be significantly less than before, especially in my case.

As you have assumed right, was I often used as shield while the others defend, but this also meant that I was the final defense, should the enemy break through, my role was not less important than that of the other swords.

It was precisely because I got their back, that they could even fight properly in the first place, without holding back." Genbusakame explained and took away any doubt I ever had in my role as a member of the seven swords.

"Just because we are known as the Shield of the Lunar King, does that not mean that we aren´t supposed to attack ourselves, its very much the contrary actually." Genbusakame explained, but that kind of confused me.

"Now what do you mean by that?" I asked and it seemed as if he was thinking about his answer for a short while.

"Explaining everything might take some time, but since we got some to spare, while we make our way towards the Tailor Company, let me tell you a little about the past and the rise of your Clan, and what significant role it played in the past history, okay?" Genbusakame asked and since I had nothing else to do, then to run and listen, I agreed.

"Well, then, several Millenia ago the Million Clan, as we know today, once originated out of the royal Xenovia Clan of Armenia and the Million family, a small clan of Lupycans and members of other races, loyal to the Council of the Eclipse Republic, to which also Maranell Wolvenra, later known as the Lunar King, belonged.

Originally, Brynhildr Xenovia was the youngest Princess of the Kingdom of Armenia, before after a revolution and coup-d'état in their home, the Young Princess came as a war-orphan of barely 5 years towards the Eclipse Republic, after her mother died, shortly after their arrival, on sickness and injuries inflicted on her during their flight and persecution.

The Eclipse Republic, during the time known as the Era of the Belligerent states, was a huge remote Geothermal Valley, deep within the arctic Mountains of Arsalande, nowadays known as the very northern edge of North Valhalla, well hidden from all eyes, which sported a large Village and several tinier Settlements around it.

Ruled was it by the High-Council, to which several Members of different Races belonged, it was the progenitor to the Council of Sun and Moon, prior to the First War of Sun and Moon.

All the people living there were either widowed or orphaned due to the ongoing wars, some even deserted their homelands as they wished to live free, free from dictatorship and free from being forced into an army that disregarded life as a whole.

The Dictators they had to suffer under for so long, were not caring for their own men, send to battle and death, or to keep war-prisoners alive for negotiation, instead they even went as far as to execute them in public to set their statements to other nations.

Others were even used, as either Test-subjects for their own sick experiments or they used them as Biological Weapons, by infecting them with rare contagious diseases, then letting them escape back to their homeland, where they infected anyone, they came into contact with, innocent or not.

Those madmen at the top disregarded every ethic, as long as it served the purpose of conquest and expansion.

Brynhildr was a victim to such a treatment, as her own family had been betrayed by members of their own High-council, before being persecuted, as they had to flee out of their own homeland, unless they wished to be killed by their own people.

Once she became an orphan, that had close to no idea of what exactly happened around her anymore, and who was in total shock of having just lost anyone dear to her, she was then raised by a Polar-Kumear, known as Malvina Orion Million, who was a member of the Million Family by marriage to the Lupycan Ezekiel Million and originally an Orion Valkyrie, the first and original one so to say.

She was it who encouraged a rebellious movement against the dictatorship of Donduros Bearfrost, which enabled her to free numerous men and women of all 4 Kumear tribes, several years prior to that day she met Brynhildr for the first time.

Little was known about her past before her rebellion, but according to my first master´s telling, she once told Brynhildr, that she used to have a younger sister, barely adult.

They both were orphans by war and so used as disposable Child-soldiers, divided in two units.

Sigrunn Orion, Malvina´s little Sister, was in a unit, alongside other children, who only had basic combat knowledge, which was sent to battle against foes far superior than herself or her comrades, they were used as diversion, disposable cannon-fodder so to say, to confuse the enemy while the main-forces, under them the teenage Brynhildr, attacked at another place, unbeknownst to her.

Her sister and many others died in that battle, but their bodies and her surviving comrades, were returned by the Panda-Kumear woman, known as Panmora Pandaria, who had lived in the Eclipse Republic since the time of its founding.

She was an enemy to Donduros´s dictatorship and might as well have been the one who killed their families and comrades, which she did not denied as she too fought in the battles which were forced upon them, but she showed far more compassion to them all, than even their own home did, to whom they were disposable and forgettable pawns and nothing more.

Asking where she came from and why she would do such a foolish thing as to come into enemy territory, all alone, Lady Panmora explained that she came from a place free of prejudice, where all races can live in harmony and where no one, who did not wish to fight, was forced to do so.

Where everyone, who on the other hand wished to take up arms, would be helped to be prepared as best as they could be and taught to survive and save lives, rather than to blindly fight and die to hold the enemy back.

Little did Malvina knew, as she looked at this woman, who seemed so weak and fragile, compared to her own battle-proven physics, but who still radiated an aura of immense superiority, that before her stood the very woman, who would later become the first Queen of Valhalla, the new home of the 4 Kumear tribes, after the fall of Arsalande.

It was then when she decided to take matters in her own hands, especially after she was denied to bury her own sister, which corpse was instead taken away from her by her superiors, to be used as bio-chemical weapon, alongside the other casualties of her sisters Unit.

Years later, after a successful rebellion, which earned her and several hundred Kumears their freedom, Malvina lived in the ever-growing Eclipse Republic as a normal woman, after she was helped in saving these people by none other but the Kumear forces of the Eclipse Republic, led by Lady Panmora.

Though still a warrior at heart, she vowed to only ever take up arms again, if it was to defend and to fight for what was right, just like her Idol, Lady Panmora Pandaria.

It was here that she and the other Kumears could finally properly mourn their lost ones, those who died on the battlefield and who never returned.

Those lost and forgotten to their superiors, the least of their families even got any belongings of their deceased family-members back, not even a word of condolence from anyone but the few survivors of the same units.

The 10 survivors of Sigrunn´s unit were the first to tell their condolences towards Brynhildr, as her sister used to be their leader and died trying to protect one of their own, one of the survived.

Initially, it was not easy for them, none of them knew what it meant to live in freedom, something they all had yearned for, ever since they were born in this hell.

Over the course of the years in the Republic, after a rough start and some difficulties, the Kumears of Arsalande finally learned to live together with other races, even going so far as to marry members of such races, their shapeshifting abilities were finally used for other things than espionage missions, an ability they never understood where it came from as the reason had long being shrouded in mystery and eventually lost in history.

Malvina, after meeting with him often during training, as he was member of the medic-unit, and falling in love with him several months later, married the five years older Lupycan, Ezekiel Million, but due to the rules of the dictatorship of Bruno Dondurma, those women born to fight, were neutered to do so without distraction, which meant that she and Ezekiel would never be able to give birth to children of their own, a fact that devastated Malvina.

Before her time here in the Republic, that fact never really bothered her, but now, it came as a hellish curse to her, a grave and dark reminder of her past.

But her wish to raise a family should still be granted.

One day, she was asked by Lady Panmora and the rest of the Council, if she was willing to raise an Orphan, that recently arrived in the Republic with devastating news.

She was asked if she was willing to raise her as a daughter and eventually, if she wished so, as a warrior.

Accepting the offer without hesitating, from that day on, Malvina raised Brynhildr to become a warrior, just like herself, she trained her in all the martial arts and sword styles she knew and, with the time the woman gained a large followership under her tribe, as well as under the female members of the other Kumear tribes, which had long abandoned their peaceful demeanor and were ready to take up arms, to fight for their freedom and the safety of their families.

The first students she gained, were the Ten Survivors, who, despite once being send to combat regardless of their lives and barely made it out alive, decided to re-enter this world of bloodshed, their reason was to ensure that the sacrifice of their comrades and of their leader Sigrunn was not in vain, that they would raise to become saviors, who save and protect others just like she did.

Brynhildr was the first and until today, only official Lupycan member of the Orion Valkyries and she rose to become one of their strongest warriors, both as a Valkyrie, as well as a Lupycan Warrior." Genbusakame told me and I was in awe, in no book I ever read before, I ever read about that, but I was sure he would not lie to me, after all he was old enough to know history firsthand.

"Through her deeds in battle and her kind and caring nature taught to her by her adoptive Mother, she was quickly chosen as the wielder of Armatura Impervius, though that happened years later, after the Eclipse Rebellion and the establishment of both the Abyssinia Empire and the High-Kingdom of Ragnarök.

However, was she not the only one who became strong and famous, her older sister Skuld Xenovia survived the manhunt as well and she too believed to be all alone, until she and her sister met on the battlefield, as her forces were surprisingly aided by the Eclipse Republics forces, as they tried to take back Armenia.

After the Fall of Armenia, she decided to stay with her sister and her adoptive father, after Malvina died, protecting her sisters of the Orion-Sisterhood.

Years later by the time Brynhildr became one of the seven swords, Skuld fell in love with Marikos Wolvenra, Maranell Wolvenra´s little brother and she gave birth to a daughter, Valencia Alkali Million Wolvenra, named after her late mother, Alkali Xenovia, Queen of Armenia.

She became, after Skuld, the second wielder of the Shield of Armatura Impervius.

To the same time, after marrying her adoptive father´s younger cousin, Sirius Million, Brynhildr gave birth to her son, which she named, maybe out of a lack of creativity or just because, Valentin Orpheus Million Wolvenra, after her father, King Orpheus Xenovia.

Valentin was obviously the next in line to inherit the sword of Armatura Impervius.

To the surprise of Skuld, two years later, after the events of the Dragon War and the chaos that emerged out of the whole ordeal, she gave birth to her son, Reval Maranell Million Wolvenra, the next King in line to the throne of Lunaris, after his father Marikos.

On the request of her husband Marikos, Reval´s second name was to honor the name of his Uncle, so that even though his last deeds were in no way favorable for himself, as well as his own reputation, the Name of Maranell Wolvenra should never be forgotten by their folk, for all that he did before the Dragon-war´s tragic end.

Ever since the days of the literal Witch-hunts, which the Wolvenra´s and their followers had ignited in order to find Ferros Wolfenstein, Traitor and Murderer of High-Queen Ciarella Wolvenra and Empress Arcana Melizera, the Name Maranell Wolvenra, in the eyes of the Wolfensteins, became a red flag and was rewarded with severe punishment if mentioned.

Cutting all the ties they ever had to them, the Wolfensteins quickly left Lunaris, after the rage and the persecution had stopped.

Until today it is unsure where they went to exactly, though rumors spoke of a hidden village they had founded, along several settlements in diverse lands, and from which they conducted all the operations of those several separated communions, a fact which should prove to be crucial.

Those Settlements should centuries later help Lycan and his followers in their conquest and function as bases for the vast army of Lycanians.

It was also rumored that from all those settlements, the Wolfenstein Clan, as retaliation for their fallen brethren, was hunting down Maranell as the same wandered around the world on the search for Ferros Wolfenstein.

More than once they should have send assassins after him, on the other hand, every now and then, Maranell should have arrived, in disguise naturally, in one of the settlements, to search for Ferros, however, until today, he apparently never managed to find him.

Upon growing up in a world that was post-war and on edge, with all eyes on the new King of Lunaris, it was only logical, that both Valentin and Valencia were raised under constant protection, but they weren´t raised all sheltered, they knew enough to even survive outside of the Land, if ever necessary.

Their days however were spent within the walls of the castle town Nirvana, where they learned how to fight and how to defend others, as well, as in Reval´s case, on how to rule and reign fairly, carefully and rightfully.

Growing up as childhood-friends, both, Valencia and Valentin would in later years upon reaching adulthood, become a couple, despite the fact of them being cousins, though this was nothing extraordinary for Royalty and the common folk of that time and age.

As Valencia had inherited the power to wield her mother´s Shield, while Reval could not do so as coming more after his father, at the time as both of them came of age and in a marriageable age, it was then decided to branch the families in two from there on out, the Million Family and the Wolvenra Family, one would produce the Kings and the other the Defenders of Lunaris.

Reval became the first Patriarch of the Wolvenra Clan, who would further lead the Kingdom of Lunaris as their Kings and even sometimes as their Queens, though that happened quite rarely.

Valentin and Valencia continued the bloodline of the Million and produced that way a Clan, in which both Sword and Shield were inherited from father to son and from Mother to Daughter as a long-lasting Tradition.

As the Pair of Weapons however only ever answered to one Master each, they always had to be taught by the previous wielders, as far as possible, to use their forces properly, to ensure the correct functionality of the immense powers in times of dire need.

Of course, his sister being a chosen of the Shield did not mean that Reval was on the other hand just a powerless King, on the contrary, he was taught all of his father´s abilities which made him a powerfull Wolven Paladin himself.

Although it was their right to rule, Reval, on request of his father declared, as a royal decree, that, should ever an heir of Maranell Wolvenra be born, the same was to become one of the Candidates for the next King in line.

If that was the case, then a grand election was to be held, by which the folk would have to vote, whom they would like to follow, based on the Reputation and the deeds of the candidates, one of both had to be chosen, Marikos´s Heir or Maranell´s Heir.

Another decree was the fact, that should the line of Wolvenra ever die out, the right to rule would go towards the Million Clan, as in their Veins still flew the Royal blood of Armenia and the blood of the Wolvenra.

That's why your family is known as the Shield of the Lunar King, but why you have still ancient royal blood in your veins and the right of ascension." Genbusakame recalled the past to me and I had to admit, I learned more by listening to him, than by reading all the books about our family which I could find in Pharaoh´s library or at home.

"This was very informative…, I thank you for enlighten me.

Though this does make me wonder…

Say, what exactly happened to Armenia, has there ever been made an attempt to reclaim it?" I asked.

"Oh indeed, there had been several attempts to do just that, but unfortunately none was ever successful, as you can imagine.

More than once the expeditions never returned, or if, only a few of them and what they told were worse than any horror-story you can imagine.

Ten Expeditions, over the course of hundreds of years went by, all of them with different to no results at all, until, per another royal decree, centuries after the Kingdom had fallen, it was decided to give up on it, to erase Armenia out of the books and the future Maps, out of history so to say.

Armenia, ever since, has become a lost kingdom, nowadays, by many and most, held for nothing but a figment of imagination." Genbusakame replied.

"Sad to know…, but if it is really that dangerous there, then maybe it is for the best…, but what exactly is so dangerous about that place?" I wondered, was there like a giant beast or something, that had its lair there…, a Titano Machinae for example…, or what else could it be?

"Ghouls…, Armenia used to be an Island Kingdom, only connected to the mainland of Elysia by four giant bridges in each of the cardinal directions.

To be honest, the entire Castle town of Nirvana, nowadays known as Moonstone, was inspired by Armenia, it's like a New-Armenia for the few survivors of that place.

By the time of the fall, the whole island was colored black from Ghouls, millions of them.

Just like millennia later Lunaris, Armenia had to be set afloat, all connections to the continent were broken away and the island was pushed away into the sky, never to be reached by anyone, unless they wished for a quick death.

Occasionally, ghouls, capable of flight, managed to escape the island but otherwise they remained on it…, thought in the years of the Royal decree, also a guards-corps was established, the Armenian Guard, an elite unit of Ghoul-killers, surrounding and guarding the area, in several miles of perimeter around the island, residing on several tinier islands around Armenia.

They made sure the place was kept hidden from anyone who wanted to land on the island or to fight and destroy anything which tried to escape the island." Genbusakame explained and I nodded in understanding.

"I see, well I guess that´s good to know…, still, this might mean that if Lycan knows about Armenia…, and let´s assume, as a Wolfenstein, he does, then this might become one of his targets as well, I mean, it´s plain to see that they primary use Ghouls as vanguards in battle, it would only make sense…, unless they tried it already and deemed it unable to reach the island…, do you know if there is any way to contact the Armenian Guard?" I asked him, if Lycan would manage to get his hands on an Island full of Ghouls, the future looks grim, to say the least.

"Son, I only know that they were established millennia ago, I have no idea if they are even active anymore, less whose momentarily responsible for them…, if I would guess I would say that King Maranell might know about them, but that´s just me speculating." Genbusakame stated with a sigh of self-disappointment.

"Well I guess that´s that then, anyways it looks like we arrived…, strange, although I ran all the way here I hardly feel any exhaustion, does the sword somehow give me extra stamina?" I wondered.

"Unless it´s for fighting your stamina gets not drained, as the swords fills it back up faster than it can drain in the first place, however, in combat you have to draw out far more force, also for exhausting magic spells, that's why you spend far more stamina there, as when you simply run around." Genbusakame explained and it did sound plausible to me.

"I see good to know, well I guess all I can do now is wait, I just hope they arrive quickly, we are playing on time here after all.

If this thing gets hit by sunlight before all preparations are made, it might escape before we can capture it…, then again, I haven´t seen any feet on this thing, so I am not even sure how it would escape?" I stated as I thought about it.

"Maybe it dissolves and divides itself just to reform itself somewhere else.

I think there was a member of the Million-clan, who once wrote up a theory on Ghouls after researching them, that they are actually cells, Photophobic micro-organisms, which huddle together like a hive, with a central core-cell acting as command-center and higher consciousness of them.

In his report he wrote, that destroying the core-cell helps to destroy the ghoul, however not the cells themselves, they then go on the hunt to reproduce as well as to search or create a new core somewhere else.

The ground they roam is pested with these things, that's why it´s so dangerous fighting a ghoul, even just a little clump has enough of these micro-sized bastards to infect a grown man and turn him, over short or long, into a murderous, mindless monstrosity.

To do that to yourself, you have to be completely nuts." Genbusakame stated and I nodded thinking of Lunnare.

I was right there with her, she could have broken that vial on me, stab it into my knee or something, I was close enough, she could have turned me into a ghoul and watch me attack my own comrades, that's what I could imagine that Bitch doing…

However, mutilating yourself…, I think she was more desperate for a victory, for killing us barehanded on her own, than even I or anyone else was…, as if her very life was on the line.

She knew I was too soft for war and killing, yet…, if she would have given up, I would have imprisoned her and that's that.

But she blew her chance of killing at least one of us, by injecting that Devil´s Blood into herself, turning herself in a monster we might manage to subdue somehow.

Just how big was her fear from death…, or was it some other reason?

Perhaps a way to gain more power…, but I doubt that she can return to her original state before transforming, so what´s the point in doing that, if you lose every self-consciousness?

Then again…, there was that other option, the stupidest option of all though…, she was in love, most likely with Lycan, and tried anything to impress her chosen one, destroying his enemies, capturing new bases of operation and conquering the world for him.

But if she were to be captured and interrogated, a fool who lets herself being captured…, of course that is not the way she wants to be remembered by Lycan, not that she might ever return to him anyways, who won´t be amused about his plans being thwarted.

So she resolved herself to instead destroy everything around, make a clean slate of this island for him to conquer and use at his own volition.

"Either way, her life as Lunnare has ended." I thought as I looked at this growing monstrosity from afar.

I was maybe about 5 blocks away from the central plaza, but its size was still gigantic.

I really hope that we can make it in time.

"Well, I guess I should begin already." I told myself as I opened the gate to the partially caved in warehouse-hall of the McCallister Tailor-company.

"Speaking of a spooky atmosphere." I mumbled as I invoked a simple light spell, which generated balls of bluish lights, balls filled with flammable gas, pulled together from my surrounding, these gases are floating all around but their quantity is low enough as to not affect the health, unless they are being compressed, for example in a partially airtightly closed space.

Then they can cause massive hallucinations.

A simple spark can cause larger masses of this fleeting gases to spontaneously ignite in mid-air, on the other hand there is also a possibility of it merging with another type of gas and oxygen, which triggers a chemical reaction.

This spontaneously causes an effect, that would look from afar like will-o-wisps, spooky spectral apparitions out of ancient folklore, often mistaken by the ignorant observers as Ghost-lights.

Due to the light these balls were radiating, it was easier to make out the layout of the Warehouse as well as the color of the fabric I could find.

"Shouldn´t we look for the light-switch instead?" Genbusakame asked.

"Sure but I rather want to wait until more people are here, given the case, that there could still be some Lycanians out there, they might try to ambush me, once they spot me alone in here." I explained.

"You really think there are still some out there?" I was asked.

"I would rather be surprised if there weren't, remember, the invasion began days before Cetala and Alpharia managed to take down their airships, the first wave hit us fully unprepared, we lost precious time before we first engaged them, who knows where they had been to by that time.

Gaining territory, as well as bases and a place for a HQ, who is overseeing the operation, is essential for every successful invasion.

The more secret bases you have, the easier it is to ambush an enemy, if he thinks he has you in his pockets.

We might have taken the mothership of their squad, but who said that this was the only base of command out there?"

"I guess you are right about that, but how do you then expect a group of people to make it here in one piece, if they are out there?" He asked.

"Because, if you would have occupied a place and then see how a large number of rebelling people move in one direction, you do not attack them right away, if you are smart, you first see where they are, you basically lead them right to wherever they are heading before you ambush them.

I know I take a massive risk there, but it´s even more risky to think there are no more of these bastards around, just because we destroyed their Ships.

Before we separated, Father told us specially to roam the city and extinguish the fires as far as we can, but to also keep an eye out to capture every remaining Lycanian, and well we have been engaged in the fight with Lunnare for hours, I wouldn´t be surprised if by that time, they already made their way further into the island.

Not to mention that there could still be some people of the New Moon Society around, waiting for their time to act." I explained.

"I don´t know Master, but that looks to me as if you do take on some massive risks to me?" Genbusakame wondered.

"Well let me ask you, can you use magic on your own or do I have to hold you for that?" I asked and he seemed surprised by that question.

"I do have some powers to autonomously use on my own, without being wielded, but those have their limits, especially since I only have half of my power…, but what is your game here, asking me this?" He asked.

"Its for strategy and tactics, since you command over the earth, it enables you to attack enemies, like partially enclosing them into stone, or to knock them out in a way, immobilizing them.

Even when I seemingly drop you to the ground, if I were to be threatened that is, which means that if that were to happen, we could capture all of them, in one feel swoop, right?" I asked.

"In a way yes, but as I said, my forces have limits, not only in strength but even more so in duration and capability, unless you hold me again, I am not sure how long such a feat will be able to be upheld.

If we had to deal with too many people, it might not work on all of them, you know." Genbusakame explained.

"And that´s where traps come in handy.

It is like delayed magic, we store magic in a place and by the time of the right activation we trigger them with a magic signal, like a wireless trigger, this way we do not have to directly deal with a large number of people right from the get go.

We could hold some of them inside and others outside, all we need to do is keep a constant watch over echolocation to trigger them in the right moment.

Also, isn´t iron part of your domain as well?" I asked.

"Well yes, iron is naturally occurring in the earth, so naturally it is able to be controlled by me, if it were to be connected by the earth, if it were in the sky it might take more time." Genbusakame replied and I think with the sky he meant airships and the like, but here we have a building made of iron imbedded into the earth, per its fundament.

"Well that makes things even easier, after all we are in a place where iron is prominent, they might think they got us caught in there, once surrounded, but once they enter, or even just come close to the building, they are caught in there with us." I stated with a smirk…, I know you should never count your chickens before the evening, but in my opinion this plan was perfect…, of course there was a lot of luck involved, since I was the only one who could fight…, just in case I would really need a Plan B, if Plan A would no longer work.

"I know what you said before and I know it might not be save and that I swore to myself to not give in to any potential risks anymore, that's why I already start to looking around, instead of waiting for the others, if, by any circumstance, their arrival would be delayed, it would A. halt the entire plan and B. it might even go as far as to get these people in danger.

We need that cloth, one way or another, but getting these people in potential danger, is just plain reckless either, so I have to put in some scouting work beforehand, with Echolocation we can look in a radius of how far again? I asked.

"In a circle it works for about 10 miles." He explained.

"That sure will come in handy when we need to find the people enclosed by rubble…, but they have to hold out a little longer, we first need to make this island safe again, otherwise it will not matter much even if we could get them out of the rubble, they would still be in danger.

Anyways, if we can confirm if there are any enemies in the area around us, we can make better plans and default plans should we need them." I explained

"I guess that makes sense, though all of that, rides on me being able to use my powers properly, as I said, I haven´t used my forces in over a thousand years, not to mention that I still can only use 50% of all my forces.

I won´t say it does, but it might become quite the gamble there, just to warn you." Genbusakame replied.

"I know but I know that you are not stupid nor weak, I know you can well decide where you need to focus your priorities, if you were to have to act on your own."

"May that be as it is, do you really think that everything will run smoothly?" he voiced his opinion.

"Well, at least I hope so…, but yeah I ain't totally counting on it, I bet that at least one thing will go wrong, maybe not all of it, but just one thing could dwindle our chances for a successful operation dramatically.

So let´s pray that it will not come as far." I replied.

"Hmm, I´m not sure, that praying will help much here." He mused.

"You might be right about that, …, and even if, to whom should I pray…, clearly Lady Yulungur has better things to do, than care for the petty conflicts of our races, she has a world to maintain after all, as well as keeping it afloat." I wondered.

"You might be surprised, but she cares far more than you think…

I think you might underestimate her involvement in this world, my Master.

She isn´t just the one who monitors everything, she is also the one whom we even have to thank for our all existence…

I can imagine thought…, it is surely not easy being all three, Creator, Judge and Executor, I can imagine that every time she has to reset the world, due to it falling to chaos, it rips her apart, at least inertly…, after all, every failure is a setback to fulfilling her most important promise." Genbusakame explained and here in the darkness and with the frail light of the light-balls, it was hard to tell that I paled at these words he so casually threw out.

"Wait…, reset the world, don´t tell me…, she was responsible for the events 2 years ago…, with Baion, Blank and Nero…, at least partially…, and what's that about her promise…, a promise to whom?" I asked confused.

"I´m not so sure myself in how much she was involved, as I am unable to move, if I´m not awakened by my master of that time, all I can tell you is but the things I hear whenever your mother and father spoke in the office, I was placed within.

I did hear that to some degree she knew about Baion and what his original purpose ought to be, before he somehow became corrupted and awoke with a doom-perspective, instead of a neutral and analyzing one.

Making himself the judge above all else, not even listening to anything Lady Yulungur tried to tell him.

He thought himself to have to carry out his mission, no matter what.

A Mission I am not entirely sure whom he got it from…, but I would guess it has to do with Lady Yulungur, even if she was not the one to give him his mission.

That is how much I personally know about Baion.

Still, I know about Lady Yulungur from thousands of years ago, back then as I was still in the possession of King Maranell, although I never got to meet her personally, I am certain it was and surely is most likely not her intention at all, to cause conflict in the world or to severely punish us for all of our misdeeds, I think it is quite the opposite actually….

However, the mere appearance of the Three Temporal Golems, created by King Maranell, as well as used by King White Savage the first, as Keepers and Guardians of the Divine Flute as well as Lore-keeper of the Ancient Divine Guardian, Sumear the Elysian, does indeed indicate that the meeting of her and Red Savarin was not just a mere coincidence, but might have been orchestrated from the very beginning.

As if Red Savarin had to meet Lady Yulungur at one point in his life…, and well the emergence of Baion made this matter even more pressing.

Otherwise, why wasn´t the divine flute found in all these ages before, as far as I remember, from hearing the report which your mother and father discussed, they did find the first piece within the depths of an Ancient Paladin Training Ground on Mau.

If it was mere coincidence, why did the Guardians´ Realms opened their gates, right at the moment, as Elh Melizee and Red Savarin were near them.

The Flute was to be found and assembled by him, to enable Red Savarin and his crew to gain a possibility to reach the old earth, where they came face to face with Lady Yulungur herself, who asked of them to save the world, as Baion threatened it, and where she gave them the ability and the tools to do so.

On the other hand, why acting just because of Baion…, why not because of Bruno Dondurma, or the growing threat of Lycan.

As you might understand now, usually Lady Yulungur does not interfere with the daily life of us all, unless it concerns the fate of the entire world.

As for the promise she shall have given and to whom, all I know is that it has been an event from ancient times, most likely before the beginning of our world, I honestly do not know much about it myself, but I did hear it being mentioned in King Maranell´s office, as he talked to someonecalled Susanono and Amaterano.

As far as I could understand, they seem to be the Observers and Correctors, in our world, assisting, to some degree, the ones known as crucial for the world´s continuation, mainly what people came to call, the Ancients, immortal beings, or at least immortal until their purpose has either being fulfilled or overtaken by a newer version of themselves.

However, there is one single exception to this rule, as far as I know at least." Genbusakame explained.

"And that would be what…, or rather whom?" I asked.

"The Race of the Elyan, they were originally designed to keep an eye on the world, to keep it safe, as near immortal beings of great Wisdom, Power and Courage…, but unfortunately, during the Beginnings of the Era of the Belligerent States, as almost all of the other nations drew their swords against them, for keeping all the secrets of the world from them, this mission was unable to be executed any longer.

They had to defend their own people from the ones they once had sworn to protect, in the end the Elyan left this world, traveled far away up into the sky, after too much of their blood had been shed, to many of their people died.

Some say that all of them perished after such a long time…, others say that perhaps they found a new place to live, far away and hidden from all eyes.

I cannot truly say what happened to them myself, but apparently some of them stayed and merged with the Repturui Clans, to found the new Nation of Volca, one of the 10 Kingdoms of the Abyssinia Empire.

And still, back then, with the flight of the Elyan, a lot of their secrets were taken with them, all but some, which were shared under the rest of the world´s folks, or those who were still left alive at the end, those few worthy of keeping them, mainly the 20 new Kings, the Council of the Eclipse, under them the 2 Overlords, Emperor White Savage the 1st and High-King Maranell Wolvenra, who acted as Chairmen of this Council as well as Monitors of the other 18 Kings.

Also, due to her marriage with King Odrim Garontrias, Queen Panmora Pandaria, as represent and first new Queen of Valhalla, was one of those 20 Royals to receive this special Knowledge.

The 20 kings and Queens were obviously not just Chosen on a whim, but by keeping a record of their deeds in the Eclipse Revolution this far into consideration, as well as the choice of their own people." Genbusakame explained.

"After the many Tyrants and dictators, the folk needed people they could relate to, people they could trust again.

One such example was Valhalla…

The new Kumear Nation that emerged out of Arsalande, named after the ancient Land of Fallen Warriors, their version of the Ancestral Plains.

Queen Panmora was an essential figurehead of the Revolution, she ignited the spark in one of the Kumears of Arsalande, Malvina Orion, which resulted in her giving this spark further until a revolution flared up in Arsalande, in which she managed to liberate a huge number of Kumears from the shackles of a cruel fate and introduced them into the loving and accepting society of the Eclipse Republic.

Through saving Malvina Million in that way, to fight for herself and those she cared for, rather than for people for whom she is but a number on a paper, for people, for whom her life does not matter whatsoever…, it gave birth to the Million Clan as we know it today.

The group around those two, Maranell, White and their later wives, Ciarella and Arcana made the impossible possible, they ended wars and conflicts that went on for decades, some even for centuries.

In Time of their escape from hostile and uncaring caretakers themselves, they were found and raised by the Two correctors, Susanono and Amaterano on orders of their Creator Lady Yulungur, when they were not much older than you, receiving a mind, indoctrinated with the rules and beliefs of the ancient generation of the Elyan, as well as the will and desires of Lady Yulungur…, so yes in a way you could say the she directly influenced the world-history and might even have done so in recent decades.

But what her ultimate goal is even I cannot tell." Genbusakame explained,

"Werther for World-prosperity or for her own amusement, she is who controls it all, at least to some degree." I mumbled as this revelation sunk into me.

"Indeed." Genbusakame nodded in approval.

"Maybe one day, someone will truly understand what this is all about, what her plans for the future are…, and what happened in the past before us.

Just what her goal in all this is…, and if she can truly be trusted…, for all we know she could have major ulterior motives for helping us, like preserving her own little zoo from outer influence." I mused and I could tell that he wasn´t so sure how to answer upon this.

"Anyways, I think we lamented enough about the possible future, I think it is high time we get on with searching for the fabric already, as far as my senses and your echolocation go, there seem to be no enemies in here at all, or better said, there are no signs of life in here whatsoever." I replied to myself, after I focused back on the task at hand.

"I guess so." Genbusakame only said, maybe still thinking about our conversation from before.

"It seems to me that I might not be as wise as I always thought I was." I heard him mumble but chose to not comment this at all.

With a Pocket lamp, I began to search in the accessible parts of the factory for the Silver Cloth which I sought for, but expect of giant rolls of white, black and colored fabric I was, even after minutes of searching, not able to find anything.

"Strange, wasn´t this here supposed to be the Cargo store, but I could not find it in here…, can it be, is it really located in the collapsed part, if yes, this plan is doomed to fail." I muttered with my head hung low.

Nearly 20 minutes had passed, and I knew the longer I sought the bigger the Danger I would later have to face, would become.

"Betakin, Betakin are you there?" I heard a voice saying, as I thought to have seen the shine of pocket lamps.

"I´m in here, in the Cargo storage." I replied a bit louder than intended.

"Ah there you are, I brought everyone…, have you found anything by now?" He asked but my mine seemed to answer his question.

"I, I see." He sighed.

"So we assume that the Fabric we seek, might be under all that rubble?" He asked and I nodded.

"That would be the case, if you do not know where to actually search for the right thing." Ashley, who entered with a bunch of people explained, before she gestured us to follow her, leading us into another, still accessible, compartment of the Storehouse

"Obviously special treated fabric is not kept together with ordinary fabric, to exclude the possibility for a mix-up in a customer´s orders, especially in those areas of work, where protective gear is a must.

If Fire-fighters would wear uniforms with normal fabric, they would light up like torches in the darkness, during the middle age.

No special fabric has a separate storage unit in our Factory, here, behind these gates." Ashley explained as she opened the same.

In there you could see several big rolls, neatly packed in plastic, fabric of similar colors as those outside of this unit, however, alone the feeling and the weight of the fabric, that laid around here, was so completely different to the touch, that this was unmistakably something more specialized.

"Here, this is the one we need and fortunately there is still plenty of it, 5 rolls, with this, we could build such a giant mirror twice and double layer it, for more durability.

And the Machine is also undamaged, we can us this to make the first Few Quarters, all we then have to do is to put them together on-site with a few of the portable sewing-machines, that would also take the weight away which we would need to Transport all the Rolls, at least it would be easier to handle." She explained and I nodded while listening to her.

"We went to the I.D.A building and were able to find us about 50 flight-drones, one each can pick up to 25 kg, so we can transport at least almost one roll with them alone, according to Mr. McCallister, each roll has about 1,2 tons, and is about 4 miles long and 2 meters wide.

So 2 square-meter make up to 0,300kg, if the mirror would be 1 mile long, we could make it 40 meters wide, if we use all 5 rolls, 4 miles long, 10 meters wide, dividing the length through two and adding them to the wideness, makes 2 miles and 20 meters, dividing that through 2 again, we get 1 mile and 40 meters, I think this should be big enough, after all that would be almost 65 square miles." Garfield explained.

Maybe, but to make it really unable to miss a spot we could make a double layered mirror, it would still be 1 mile long and 20 meters wide, I think that should suffice plenty.

"Taking the Truck for 4 rolls, we can transport all of them within those few minutes you need to prepare for the rest of your Plan, and if we do it the way Ashley told us, we can shorten the time we would need to put the mirror together." Garfield explained, as the Portable sewing machines were loaded upon the truck, it were 100 machines, easy to handle, strong and fast enough to sew a lot with them, without taking too much time.

We also took about 2000 rolls of silver yarn with us, to patch the squares together, who knows if even that is enough, I just really hope so.

"Alright, load 4 rolls up onto the truck, the fifth one we will directly put to use and cut it here at this machine, cut them into square pieces of 4 square-meters each, means a cut of 2 meters long, we should get at least 2.000 pieces out of one roll, then put them into bundles of at least 20kg, but not more than 25kg, or else the drones might not be able to support the weight." I stated and everybody nodded.

If my calculations were right we would use 48 of the 50 drones, if we keep the weight at 25 kg each, each bundle would pack about 42 squares, making it roughly 2.016 squares out of one roll.

Ashley and Garfield rounded up the incredible number of 115 people, coming in 3 busses, 1 minibus, and 1 truck, luckily, thanks to my echolocation, we were the only ones in the entire block and the loading of everything took at least 30 minutes.

The Drones were linked together by Mira O´Neil, one of Garfield´s Friends, she was real Technic-nerd and apparently even won some youth-awards in that category.

She and her team managed to swarm-control the drones, making 5 swarms with each having 10 drones, these drones were crucial, for the coordination on-site, as a means to distribute fabric and yarn, without taking people away from sewing.

With help of the 50 drones, we could pick up a max of 1,2 ton, so we had to make sure the mirror was not heavier than this, best be we make it only 1 ton, each square had to be only 2,4 kg, so we had 417 squares to sew together within half an hour with only 100 people and 100 machines, if each of them manages to sew about 4 of them together and 17 in addition we get to that number we need to make this mirror.

"I´m confusing myself with numbers here." I thought as my head spun around and countless number swirled all around infront of my eyes, but yes, we can do this, I was certain about it.

"If we then would manage to sew the squares a little askew, then we might stretch the length and wide of it for another 2 meters or so…, this can indeed work." I said to myself.

"Betakin we are ready to go, are you coming?" Garfield asked.

"Yes, I just gonna tell Cetala that we are on our way and I will ask how things are going with Lunnare." I replied a I climbed into the bus, as the Colonna of vehicles drove off, nearly 40 minutes after my arrival here, I was gone for an hour by now.

"Cetala are you there, we are ready on my end, we now drive in close vicinity to the battlefield and begin Project Patchwork-Mirror, as soon as the same is halfway done, I will come over for Part 2." I thought as I connected my mind with her.

"Alright but make it quick, sunrise is in about 45 minutes, so far we somehow hold her at bay with Yin´s and Alpharia´s powers but as we said before, those might soon run out, also this thing begins to eat away at the island, after we took away all of the buffet from it." Cetala explained and I nodded to myself, the sight I got through their eyes was enough to let chills run down my spine.

"Yeah I know but I am certain we can make it, we have a 115 brave people here to help us." I replied.

"Neat, what about the Lighthouse?" She asked and I looked at Garfield.

"Has the lighthouse been covered Garf?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yes, Lena is already on her way towards it, she said she would contact me over the I.D.A. Radio, once she is ready." Garf explained.

"You heard the guy." I thought back to my sister.

"Well as far as I can tell, this runs smoothly for now, let´s hope we can continue like this." Cetalia thought.

"Indeed, well then, see you later sis." I replied.

"Yeah, be safe big bro." She stated and I could feel her worry.

"Always and likewise." I exclaimed.

"See you later." Cetala replied, her voice full of confidence

"I hope we ain´t getting attacked on our way to the place we need to be." Ashley mused as she looked outside the window with much worry.

"Even if there were enemies anywhere in the vicinity, they would have attacked by now…, especially if you don´t know why so many people gather up, all of a sudden." I thought to myself as I observed the surroundings through Genbusakame´s ability.

Thanks to the quick pacing of the Factories machine, the first roll was cut in squares in no time and packed in boxes and even on the battlefield, while the other hundred people sewed, we had 10 people who would cut the cloth of the rolls on the carpet cutting machine, which was makeshiftly installed on the loading area of the truck, and staple the same into packages for distribution by the drones, controlled by Mira and her team.

It was a gigantic undertaking that was planned and this here was but a mere part of the overall plan, the hardest part stood yet before us.

Act 9: Genbusakame, the Kids and the People of Bordaussie Vs Lunnare, the Insatiable Maw

Alpharia´s Pov:

How to keep a gigantic beast of pure evil magic, corrosive and venomous to the touch and without mind nor reason or morale, at bay?

Not possible…, unless you are a Paladin and a hybrid to boot.

Psychokinetic powers were both mine and Yin´s expertise, although her powers were due to her Hybrid powers, I had mine neglected far too long as to suddenly be proficient in them, contrary to that, I used my dad´s heritage, of being a Paladin, by creating a cage, or better said more of an arena, made out of pillars of Luminous Stones, taken from the harbor´s cargo halls, around the grotesque figure of Lunnare, while dodging the wild swings of its 8 tentacles.

The Luminous stones came from the few mines, built upon the smaller islands, surrounding the main-island of Bordaussie, their bio-luminescence was due to a chemical reaction they had to oxygen, it was thanks to some kind of chemical component, akin to phosphor as it was auto-rechargeable by UV-rays, which dispersed its energy slowly when exposed to normal air.

It was used in various areas, but mostly as Street Lamps in the villages on the island.

The more you put together the brighter the light, and right now, light was all we could use to keep this thing at bay, dodging her tentacles, was a near acrobatic act.

Let me tell you that I dodged more, than I was able to truly do anything against her.

In the end, due to Cetala's idea and my command, it was decided that we should rather keep it from consuming anything, which might be able to at least halt its rapid growth, however we did not make our calculation with the little of intellect this being has…, or should I rather say, its hunger was simply insatiable, so insatiable, that it did not cared what it ate, and so, upon caged by light, it rammed its tentacles into the ground, eating away at the island itself, letting them circle around it.

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me!" I cursed aloud, as I ran with enhanced speed, dodging one of the many tentacles that swiped through the ground like a carousel.

"How are we supposed to stop it from consuming the ground?" Yang asked in sheer desperation as we regrouped

"Who knows…, but maybe it eats through the island, and rips itself through the ground into the airy abyss of the Plasma Sea, you know, like in the comics, or cartoons, when they are sawing a circle around themselves, only that in there, it is often the background that falls, rather than the main character." I stated with a grim smile.

"You do realize, that if she indeed falls through the island, she will have all the shadow she needs, heck if she were any smart, while ripping open the damn ground she could even splice herself and move her parasites into the darkness of the soil beneath our feet, and believe me, the last you want to have is having the island filled with killer micro-organism, worst case would be, if she finds the Float Crystal that way and decides to eat it, then the island will fall for sure and everything we have done up until now will be for naught." Cetala stated with a deadpanned expression.

Although a little taken aback by her sudden agressiveness was I well aware that this kind of outcome was less than favorable, for any of us even Lunnare herself.

The Float crystals are exactly what they sound like, they helped the island to float upon the Plasma-sea, the bigger, the better, but sometimes Quantity outmatched Quality, the more float crystals an island has the higher it floated, unless it was too heavy, then it just stood still in position, or floats to the side bit by bit over the course of decades.

On the other hand, the more an Island has, the more chance it has, to remain afloat, even if it breaks apart, Float Crystals are basically said the opposite pole to the Plasma-Sea´s Magnetic field.

As the islands normally drift ever so slowly within the sky, they are not truly fixed in position, even if they are gigantic, however the bigger the island the bigger the float crystals have to be, in order to support them.

No one knows where they came from, if they have always existed within the continents, even before they were raised into the Sky…, maybe they were the reason and the way, the island even raised up in the first place.

Nor do we know, just how many there really are, if they have a limited number or if they occur naturally, growing like crystals do, but the destruction of one of them can have devastating consequences for the island it belongs to.

From dropping to the Plasma-Sea, to breaking apart into numerous fragments, an Island without a Float Crystal is absolutely doomed….

Unless it floats by machine-power, like the new areas of Basset, which float through the rotation of gigantic propellers, built at the edge of the island to support it and take the additional strain off, of the Float Crystals.

If they were to fail one day, a big portion of Basset would collapse and dive straight to the Plasma-sea.

If this were to happen here…, brr I wish not even to think about it…

"Yeah, I get where you are coming from, it does us no good to even imagine that, then again, as hopeless as our situation seems to be, black humor is all that remains.

If she keeps consuming the ground at her feet, she will grow and grow and there is nothing we can do about it, the plan is underway but we are not yet in a position to get this bitch airborne, where she cannot consume anything anymore.

Unless, and I hate to think about it, she somehow manages to feed on Plasma, if that would be the case we are truly lost, for there is nothing we can do, when there is plasma in the game, unless we wish to die in vain." I replied and she sighed, she knew I was right, we currently were out of options, there is just so much one can do with hybrid or Paladin powers.

Luckily, as long as we keep our distance of 80 meters, she will not be able to reach us, her tentacles by now reach for 60 meters, which is a lot, considering the fact that her main body is stationary and unmovable, so it seems at least.

The maw, as we called it, was composed out of a large trunk, that stood upright in the ground, on top of it you could see what seemed to be its mouth, countless rows of razor-sharp deadly fangs could be seen.

The tentacles either came from just beyond the mouth, or from within, those 3 of the 8 Tentacles had the ability to consume organic and non-organic Materia, by sucking them in through the small mouths on their ends.

The others were more used to grab things and throw them into the Maw, or to defends its main trunk from any harm by circulating around, alongside the trunk, spinning like a bey.

Admits the black mass, that made up this beast, was a single piece of its body that stood unmoving, even if the trunk circled around itself, that piece seemed to be a mask in shape of the death-face of Lunnare, before she transformed.

It was a mask filled with pure rage and agony.

She could not see through its eyes that much was clear, otherwise the motions of her tentacles would be far more fluent, than the clumsy beating and touching it currently does.

But exactly because of those unpredictable movements, it was hard to fight or to just dodge her, most of the time it was us who were airborne, as the ground around her might have become infested by now.

We stood on Yin´s Forcefields, Sky-path, a special technique she had trained for times that we would be airborne, whether voluntarily or not.

Her forces usually used to shield her, were used to create platforms in the sky for others to stand upon.

Of course, everything she did with her forces consumed massive amounts of energy, so holding us in the air with them, was easier said than done, she had to be aware of all of our positions, to not let anyone accidently drop, while focusing on another one.

In this moment she had most of the work to do, for she secured our mobility, therefore Nikateb defended her with his shielding-powers, while Betakin was away.

"Our situation is really the least favorable, right now…, I am all out of plans and the sun will rise in the next 20 minutes, if Lunnare is being hit by sunlight and tries to escape within the ground, then we can forget this island." I though as I looked around me, the Central Plaza was almost unable to be recognized as such anymore.

"Our forces are running out as well." I thought as I looked at the others, everyone was exhausted to say the least.

"We need to start the operation soon, otherwise it is bound to fail." I mumbled to myself, as I wiped the sweat of my forehead and out of my face.

"Cetala, can you hear me?" I suddenly heard Betakin´s voice in my mind, and the tone it had made me smile, maybe we can turn this situation still around.

"Loud and clear, bro, tell me something good." I demanded.

"Sure, the operation is underway, we have arrived at the location and our supporters have already begun to patch the mirror together, I am coming over to you now, for phase two." Betakin explained and I nodded.

"Alright make it quick." I stated but only seconds later I heard his reassuring voice next to me, clearer than before.

"I´m ready when you are." He exclaimed having changed positions with his Hybrid-twin, Nikateb.

"Good, Yin, it is time for phase two, do your work." We stated and she nodded.

"I´ve been waiting for this, I wasn´t sure how long I could keep myself from using the reserves I have saved up for this." She stated before she began to use her paladin forces in order to create a cage made of rocks around Lunnare to completely restrict its movements, as the same instantly began to eat away at its confinement, the same had to be constantly renewed.

"Now it´s your turn, you got 20 minutes at most!" Yin stated and we nodded.

Betakin´s Pov: (BG-music: State of mind by Divide Music)

"Alpharia, Cetala, i´m counting on you." I stated as I began to focus on my own task.

"Roger that, here we go!" They replied loudly before they held each other´s hand, while each laid one hand on my shoulders, to focus and fuse our forces together.

Alpharia´s bigger pool of energy and Cetala´s technological Wisdom, combined together they could build anything they wanted, if they had the means to do so…, and with me and Brynhildr´s Sandbox at their side right now, they had just that.

There is always a limit to what you can do alone, in life, you need others to help you improve yourself, or to help with that which you cannot do yourself.

If they build the skeleton, I was to build the external armor.

"Genbusakame, I am counting on you!" I thought in my mind.

"Of course, Master." He stated as I stuck the sword inside the ground to focus my energy into it.

"Take the luminous stones and the Diamonds from the mine´s surrounding Bordaussie, we need a strong and resilient armor which will not be easily consumed by Lunnare!" I stated aloud as, I felt how the ground around us shifted, I felt how the few mining-Islands around us were connected by small rock-bridges piercing into them, and through the same the Diamond, Rocks and Luminous stones were pulled towards us, as if they were pulled by a magnet.

Obviously, being the sword of earth, the same could move landmasses, but he could not let Rocks float, or form them from nothing.

even if there was sand-dust in the air, it would require some time to make a ball the size of my fist…, same goes for grinding diamonds to dust and transporting them over the air-way by winds as dust clouds.

it all required enormous time, time we did not had, even if it would maybe have been more easier to build the armor that way.

So to compensate this, we pulled the rocks of our surroundings together, to create what we need.

It was rough and looked more like messy clay-dolls, than the actual limbs of an animal, but by the time the four of them were done, we began to build the torso.

As the same was defended by a strong shell, we had to make sure that the same did not hindered the legs from moving around, so we mutually decided to first build the torso and then the shell around it.

This golem was to become as big as a middle-sized house, so mobility was essential, it did not meant much if it was too slow to move around.

Then again, alone its colossal size might make it slower.

"Genbusakame, how are you even going to dodge, let alone defend yourself against the Tentacles, they might not be that fast but still fast enough?" I asked him myself, right now we had to get any information that we could.

"Well defense might be possible by raising rock-shields, on the other hand mobility…, well let´s just say I have to run really fast." Genbusakame explained and I sweatdropped.

"Well, that might not really work out a you intend it..., running around is one thing, but how will you stop if you are in full motion, you might just crash into the next best building, you do realize the bigger an object the longer it needs to pull the brakes." I replied.

"How about adding jet-thrusters on the shells, I mean its not like you try to create a new lifeform, this golem still is going to be a machine.

All I do is moving this thing, but it is not necessarily a body in which my spirit would dive into, I only take possession of it as long as it is required." Genbusakame explained and I nodded, he was right about that.

"Is there a problem, Beta?" I heard Alpharia asking.

"Well I forgot to think about one thing in this plan." I exclaimed.

"And that would be what, we do not really have the time to make any grave adjustments to it you know, one mistake and it will all be over, and that possibly to the worst." Cetala replied.

"I forgot about the mobility of this golem, Genbusakame said he would try to run around very fast and use rock- shields to dodge the tentacles, but still, in full motion the braking distance is just too big, who knows how much we would destroy in the process." I explained.

"Yes, that is indeed a problem…., hold on, didn´t you said that Genbusakame has some kind of snake wrapped around it?" Cetala asked.

"Yes…, why are you…, hold on do you mean to…., that might actually work, if Genbusakame itself is a being composed out of two Heads…?" I stated, well more asked the being in question.

"Indeed I am, both of my heads share the same body and mind, even if they can act separately." Genbusakame explained.

"Then maybe you do not have to move that much on your own, if we can make it, that the Snake´s head uses most of the mobility to attack, the Main body can focus on defending, say, has this snake any special abilities…, if it were to perish, would you perish alongside?" Cetala asked.

"Well no, we might be one but it is more akin to say that the Snake´s head is like an additional limb, which I can freely move around but which also can have a mind of its own if I allow it , killing it just means that that limb is severed from my nerve-system.

Otherwise than that, it does hold a certain ability to use water based techniques, though not as much as perhaps the Guardian of Oceans, Leviathan can do." Genbusakame explained and gave us so also information of what I had assumed myself.

"Leviathan…, The Guardian Spirit of the Sword of Water, I assume?" I asked though the answer was already clear.

"Indeed, it has been ages since we all last met, but I can tell that a meeting is already about to be assembled." He replied.

As I had not all the time of the world to waste on conversations right now, I did not ask any further questions, but it did interest me a lot of what he meant with all of this.

"So we have defense and attack covered, going from the immobility of Lunnare, we might not need to run around too much, but simple dodging must still be possible, so if we strengthen the legs and insert shock-absorbers and massive springs, we might be able to leap out of the way of attacks, if necessary." Cetala explained as the steel of the remaining parts of the crashed mothership was used to construct various parts of the inner skeleton of the golem.

Thanks to Alpharia´s forces, what Cetala constructed in her mind also constructed itself in reality, all the things, for which steel was not sufficiently available, were constructed out of stone, a way, in which my forces played their part.

"Is the Snake part of your body or just wrapped separately around the shell?" Cetala asked me and I relayed the question towards Genbusakame, as I did before.

"No, the snake is part of my tail, so to say I have no end and no beginning, it stands symbolic for eternity and longevity.

At least, so it once was said by the King." Genbusakame replied.

"I understand, so it can act as some kind of movable weapon." She mused as the construction of the torso was done so far and she began to construct tail and Head, while I kept creating the outer shell, at least 5 meters thick, made of Rock, Diamond and Iron as well as Luminous stones, to keep Lunnare from reaching out for it, unless it wishes to feel pain.

Thanks to the many crystals we managed to get out of the islands, we built a cluster of several big crystals, put together by smaller ones, who would act as the joints, the cores which allowed this giant construction to be moved.

the main core was not in its head though but deep embedded in the middle of the torso underneath the shell.

This way we could control it from the inside and did not have to worry even if one of his heads would be caught or bashed off.

As long as the cores are intact, we can always reconstruct this Golem.

"Maybe we should put some armor on both heads as well and on the legs, this way she cannot attack them so easily." Cetala mumbled adding new things to the design of the Golem.

As long as it gets not too heavy, this much should be fine.

"Guys hurry up, I cannot hold her much longer!" We heard Yin shouting.

"Almost done!" We shouted, as the main head was done constructing.

Additional to the diamond mixed into the earth, it also had an iron helmet of sorts wrapped around the head.

The Shell was made of the densest rock and steel we would find, several larger diamonds were embedded in it as well for more durability.

"All that´s left is the Snake´s Head!" Cetala stated and I nodded as I began to imagine how the snake, which I saw on Genbusakame, looked like.

It looked fierce, with a pair of mighty fangs and two bony neck-shields on his head, one on each side, its body was at the very least 80 meters long

Additional to the 50 meters of body-length which the main-torso possessed, as well as the 20 meters of neck and head, the whole golem was 150 meters long and about 80 meters wide, with a height of around 60 meters.

"Shall we go for an iconic roar?" I asked Cetala jokingly.

"As nice as that would be, I doubt that we got the time to choose one, but since Genbusakame is going to overtake the reigns soon anyways, I bet he has one of his own." Cetala smirked.

Alright I think we are all done, what do you think?" She stated after 5 minutes.

"I guess so, I mean as it does not require to possess any weapons, I can hardly say that this is a Mecha, but from a golem´s point of view, I guess this is as much as we need, all it really needs now is the operational spirit so to say" I replied as I attempted to put the sword into the socket connected to the Main-Core-Crystal in the middle of the torso.

"Wanna see this from outside?" I asked Cetala.

"You are sure you can do this on your own?" She asked unsure.

"C'mon, how hard can it be, its like moving a hand-puppet…., although it is a massive hand-puppet, still all I have really to do is to provide this thing with energy, while Genbusakame is moving it." I replied and she nodded.

"I guess that is simple enough." She sighed.

"Hey you guys still have your own part to play, don´t forget that." I stated as I looked at them both.

"You have to get this tornado, to throw her in the air, once the mirror is done and the sun rises." I replied and they nodded.

"Be careful, if it becomes too dangerous, do not hesitate to leave the golem behind." Cetala stated, as she and Alpharia made their outside, out of the Golems Turtle-mouth.

"No fear, I will." I stated with a reassuring smile, which put them at ease, at least I hoped it did.

My task was simple yet hard, I had to confine Lunnare in one place, making sure she could not flee, however this required of me that I would do that until the last moment, until the tornado would sweep her into the air.

None of us had a real idea how Lunnare was momentarily capable of standing in the first place, if it had fixed itself into the ground somehow or if it was but standing there, upon the earth, with some sort of feet.

The whole shape this thing has meanwhile taken, was so grotesque that this really was a question we had to answer soon, especially if we talk about the needed intensity of the Tornado.

A Big tornado can rip houses asunder, so regarding its size, this thing surely must have a considerable weight by now, at the very least we had to count with up to 10 tons.

"Well, I guess we just have to wait and see." I mumbled to myself.

"Betakin get ready, we soon will begin the operation, green light in 5 minutes." Cetala´s voice stated in my mind.

"Roger that." I replied.

"How´s it looking Garf?" I asked in the radio.

"Quite good, the first half of the mirror is done, in approximately 20 more minutes we might be done with the other half, if you can hold this beast down until then." Garfield replied.

While we made our way to the designated place, many more people, from both Raid shelters and the Hangar joined us, apparently Mayor Blossom, after having been told about the plan, mobilized them and told them to lie in wait until the convoy was rolling, to make sure no enemy would attack them beforehand, our initial manpower had doubled from 100 to 200 people, with a lot of the neutral party finally joining us, which also meant that the workload was done twice as fast, the stores whose warehouses were still halfway standing were plundered for their thread and sewing machines, in order to amp it up to 50 sewing machines running nonstop to get this ball on the road.

A Mirror made out of Fabric, 1 mile long and 40 meters wide, even if they would not be able to patch the other half with the finished one together, had we two pieces of around 500 meters each.

That should be enough to flash that bitch.

"Say Genbu…, how long do you think we can hold her?" I asked him.

"Let´s see, I think 15 minutes should be possible at max, although the light of the luminous stones might hinder them, am I uncertain that they will really hold them off entirely, and beyond them, this Golem has too much shade in its nooks and crannies in which they can slither around and invade." Genbusakame explained and I nodded, I thought as much, it would have been nice if the luminous stones could do the trick but ultimately, they did not produce enough light to really reject them, they could only hold them at bay as long as they were shining, they were just not radiant enough.

Once take out of its natural habitat, a normal fist-sized luminous stone holds his luminescence for about one hour at most, before it becomes nothing but a simple rock.

"I see, this will be a really tight schedule, for sure." I muttered as I counted the seconds before the five minutes, which Cetala announced earlier, would be over.

"Do you think Lunnare is still somewhere in there?" Genbusakame suddenly asked.

"Hard to say, never mind her body, but her soul, or at the very least her consciousness, might still be somewhat intact, at first I thought it was but instinct, but the way it nourished itself, after they made it unable for it to consume any matter, does lead to my assumption, that this thing still holds some kind of intelligence, even if but a little.

So maybe Lunnare still exists, within the Main-core of this thing, how much of her is still intact though is irrelevant, I doubt that even if she would survive the exposure to the sun, that she herself will vanish as well, in the end, I guess we have to end her life ourselves, unless we want her to return back to this state." I explained and I heard his murmur in approval.

"Say, what exactly happens to ghouls when exposed to Light, I mean I know they avoid it but I still don´t truly understand it?" I asked him, as I thought about the just discussed.

"As far as I know they die, they literally are so sensitive to UV-rays, that they burn to ashes when exposed, at least that used to be the case but I guess the closer they are to the original, the stronger and the more resistant they are, I guess that is the reason why Armenia is still lost.

According to what I still know, the experiments on ghouls conducted there, were made with a substance known as Devil´s Blood, I have no certainty about it but I think this might be the blood of Marohumt, if yes, what those bastards tried to create there was the purest and strongest form of the Ghouls, Dragonkins.

As they are extremely intelligent, it is almost impossible to restrain them, which means that fortunately they did not succeed with that, as far as I know, however they created other upper-level Ghouls in the process.

Who knows maybe over the centuries since its fall, there might have one or two Dragonkins emerged out of the chaos there, it is a possibility, wouldn´t you say?

I don´t know what happens when a ghoul eats another ghoul, if they then even do that in the first place, though it is highly possible that through such practices stronger ghouls will emerge forward.

I think that when a ghoul infects a living being, the strength this one then possesses, becomes degraded in comparing to its master, it´s own offspring however becomes even more inferior to itself.

The normal level 1 Ghouls as we call them, might be the end result of countless experimentation.

The thing Lunnare became before this abomination, might have been around Level 5, as she still contained her entire sanity but enhanced her abilities.

However, after she used this second enhancer, her sanity crumbled almost completely, alongside her body, her power on the other hand increased significantly, so I am not sure if it is degradational or not…, or just a stadium before another metamorphosis." Genbusakame explained.

"Like a Cocoon?" I wondered as I looked through the eyes of the others at this thing.

"If that is the case, I do not wish in the slightest to see what comes out of it, once it is done growing." Cetala replied, having heard our conversation.

"Neither do I, we will stop her before she becomes too strong to handle." I assured her.

"10 seconds!" She replied.

"Roger!" I replied, as I began to focus on the task at hand.

"Well then, shall we Genbusakame?" I asked.

"I will follow your Lead, young Master!" The same replied as Yin´s shield fell.

.

.

.

As soon as Yin´s shield faded away Lunnare instantly beated her tentacles in all direction spinning around like a dice.

It was now or never, I had to somehow restrain her.

As I felt how Genbusakame's presence increased and filled all of the empty space within the golem, it was as though I could see it with my own eyes, emerald green energy, the inside matched the outside appearance and I could feel the vast pool of energy flowing within this confined space.

I felt how the golem began to stir awake.

"It has been ages since I last received a physical body, and one such perfectly sculped on top." Genbusakame explained as he connected his view with mine, I was able to see what he saw, both himself and the Snakes head, just as if I looked at two monitors, one showed what was right in front of me, the other showed the view from above the torso in 70 meters of height.

Additionally, I was able to feel what he felt, this did makes it easier to control him I guess, on the downside I wondered just how much I will feel.

"How do you wish to proceed master?" Genbusakame asked, as the body began to move forward.

"Not sure, I could try to see how far this dark mass reaches." I replied.

"What do you mean, with that, you mean how far into the ground it reaches?" Genbusakame asked.

"That too, but mostly I mean how far Lunnare is hiding inside of this mass of black goo." I replied.

"Wait you mean that this isn´t Lunnare, you do realize that the theory with the cocoon was just me assuming things but this must not necessarily be true, and even if, how would you even safely get in there?" Genbusakame asked unsure.

"We do have a way…, it will become risky either way but I think this might be the easiest way so far." I stated as I looked through the Snake´s eyes.

"I hope you have not forgotten the sharp Fangs of this thing, how will you guarantee that it cannot just close its mouth and bit of the head?" Cetala asked.

"That will be your mission to keep the maw open while the Snake Head peers inside, if I assume right, then Lunnare should be either in the middle of at the very bottom of this pit like creature." I replied.

"I see, indeed, if this think is taller in size than what we see, there is no way to say if we could truly hold it locked in one place by Genbusakame, even if he were to use the entire golem to hang unto it.

On the other hand, we cannot just bombard this thing with spells that might splatter its body in all directions, otherwise we could forget the whole operation with the mirror in the first place.

So, trying to locate its core is indeed the best way to understand this creature and to formulate any kind of strategy against it, as for now we still have way too little information about it." Cetala stated approvingly.

"The worst thing that could happen would be that we lose the Snake´s head, which might add towards its mass.

However, you ought to be careful, if it would indeed manage to bite of the neck, it will also have a way to enter the golem, if that happens, you have to get out of there as quick as possible.

You are taking a great risk there, Brother." She stated and I nodded, I was well aware of this, but it might as well be the only way to defeat Lunnare.

"I will be careful, I promise!" I replied, as I sat the Golem in motion.

"You are the Radiant knight of so many people, Brother, if we were to lose you, I don´t know what might happen to the moral of the people out there, who are fighting alongside of us, let alone to our own." Alpharia explained and I knew what she tried to say…, but her words also gave me an idea.

"A radiant knight…, this might be what we actually need right now." I thought as an escape plan formed itself in my mind, as I looked at the sight infront of me.

The Golem was running up against the Mass of Evil infront of us.

"Genbusakame, use chains made of iron and luminous stones to hold down the Tentacles, pull them away from the Maw." I commanded in my mind, as I imagined my plan.

"Of course, master." He replied as I saw how chains burst out of the ground, clad in a greenish shimmer, which wrapped themselves like snakes around the 5 tentacles.

"Guys you need to immobilize the other 3 tentacles but do not get too close." I ordered them.

"Easier said than done, how are we supposed to do that?" Alpharia asked.

"With your Hybrid Powers and Paladin Powers combined, create matter and change the same to a form fitting your purpose." I replied as I increased the speed at which the Golem ran.

"Wait Betakin are you about to body slam into this thing?" Cetala asked.

"Exactly that." I replied.

"Are you actually out of your mind, how will you get back out if you get stuck!?" She asked enraged.

"This I will look at when the time comes." I replied.

"You are nuts brother, don´t do that!" She shouted in near desperation.

"I know what I do." I replied.

"No clearly not, you have lost your marbles when you think such a plan will work!" Cetala shouted as I saw how she was about to jump in my way.

"Cetala, please get out of the way." I stated, I was in a full run, there was no way I could pull the brakes now and not impact with her.

"No I…, I won´t let you!" She stammered with tears in her eyes.

"Cetala, everyone just trust in me…, I know I messed up so much in this battle…, but now it is my time to make things right again!" I assured them.

"Just what are you planning Master?" Genbusakame asked unsure.

"The same as before, peer inside and find Lunnare, defeat her and end this horror." I replied.

"Betakin, please I beg of you!" Cetala pleaded, still floating infront of us.

"Trust me sister, it will be alright." I stated with full confidence as we were only a meter away from her.

"I…I…, I trust you!" She stated as she looked at me with determined eyes as she leaped out of the way.

"Cetala, no, what are you doing?" Alpharia and everyone else asked in desperation and shock as she stepped aside.

"Don't you dare lose; you hear me brother!" Cetala shouted.

"No fear, I ain't going to, I promise!" I replied as the Golem ran past her.

"Just what did you plan, tell me?" Genbusakame asked completely overwhelmed.

"How fast can you reform your body?" I asked him.

"It depends, in which shape do you want to?" He asked dumbfounded by this kind of question especially in this kind of situation.

"Once we body slammed into it the trapped tentacles will stretch and most likely rip, if not we will cut them off latter, I bet that upon a possible impact of such a big object, the black mass will fortify itself, after all, as a maw bend on consuming things, it would not help it much if its body gets blown to bits, especially not when the core is in its midst.

On my command, you will retract your spirit out of the Turtle´s head, seconds before the impact and instead move it towards the Snake´s head, to move it along with the Snake part of your body.

I will reshape the Golem to become a Snake, enlarge it to colossal size and wrap it around its body, squeezing tight as far as possible without squishing it to bits.

With the abilities of the snake, we will gather the moisture out of the air, thanks to the thundercloud of father there is enough of it around the island right now, we will use it as a water laser to blast of the 5 tentacles, of course Lunnare will try to retract them to use them as a attack again, but if we confine them in cages of Luminous stones we can at least hinder her from doing that anytime soon.

Once the Golem snake is wrapped around and we see, due to the impact, how far this thing reaches inside of the ground, Alpharia and the others will use their forces to call upon the Tornado, to lift us with this thing into the air, if it is confined like this it cannot latch itself so easily back into the ground.

The snake´s head then moves inside of the maw, if it is as I think the Lunnare will act as the heart of this thing, so we have to separate her from the Black mass and enclose her in Luminous stones as well to make it inaccessible for the Black Mass to reconnect to her.

As long as this thing is in the air she will not liquify again, unless she will be completely separated from the core, leaving it vulnerable for attacks, if she were to flow through the cracks of the Snakes body and be blown away by the Tornado, instead I am sure she will try to close the gaps to trap the Snake head in darkness until she finds a way inside." I explained.

"This is beyond risky Master; how will you even make it out alive of there, there is just too many uncertain factors in this kind of Plan?" Genbusakame asked unsure.

"He is right, it is too risky, I knew I should have stopped you!" Cetala stated angrily at herself.

"Betakin you Idiot, how can you play with your life this way, I WON´T LET YOU!" Alpharia shouted, as she was about to engage us, in order to stop me, I was only a few meters from the Maw away.

Even if we ran with full speed, this Golem was still slow, it was perhaps comparable with a massive Aircraft, like the Golden Roar.

It was not fast, but once it would crash right inside of something, it will leave a massive impact.

Of course, only if nothing were to slow it down before that.

"ALPHARIA, STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND HOLD THESE TENTACLES STEADY!" I shouted at her and she was visibly taken aback.

"But you…, you…" She stammered, as she was about to cry again

"Obviously I will not go in there completely naked, if I wear an Armor made out of luminous stones, I will be able to hold out for at least those 15 minutes, it all depends on isolating Lunnare from the Black Mass, enclosing her in a space with Luminous stones will disables her from willingly commanding the Black mass.

We need to defeat this huge mass of Ghoul-particles, which moves around and attacks as well as consumes thing, if all of these cells are bound to their command center, what do you think will happen once said command center is taken out of the picture.

The cells will scatter to flee into the shadow, but up in the air, exposed to sunlight from both sides, there will be no shadow to flee." I explained.

"But what about the snake body, given the case all of that works out, they will have the snake body to hide in, until they will fall back to earth, right?" Alpharia asked and Cetala nodded.

"Do not forget whose master I am, Genbusakame holds dominion about all earthen matter, which means that it will be an easy feat for him, to break open a rock on a molecular base and turn it into fine dust instead, once in the air, they will have nowhere to hide." I explained.

"…, I don´t know…, I don´t know if I can ttrust this kind of plan…, but I trust you…, so if you think this kind of plan will work, then I will not interfere, but if it fails and you seem to be in danger, I will pull you out no matter what you say." Cetala stated.

"So do I." The other agreed.

"Thank Guys.., I see you when it is all over." I stated and although I was not yet certain that I could keep that promise I was willing to make this plan work.

"Master, brace for Impact!" Genbusakame explained as we were inches away from Lunnare as Genbusakame launched itself into the air, jumping at the Black Mass.

"Alright shift now to the Snake Body, I will be on my way." I stated as I took out the sword from the control-slot and began to reform the shape of the Golem.

Instead of scattering the Control-crystals throughout the body I began to put them one after another in the new body.

Since the Snakehead had already a body of 80 meters it was relatively easy to us the rest of the golems former torso to enlarge the Snake´s body.

The formerly luminous stones that had been on the shell and mixed into the armor were instead moved towards the inside, with the biggest of them as spikes on the outside to basically, upon wrapping itself around Lunnare´s body, act as hooks.

It was as if you were wrapped around by a chainsaw, the more the body constricted, the deeper the spikes went.

More than the body, it was important that the inside of the Snake´s mouth and the hollow head were covered all over in Luminous Stones, effectively creating a den made out of them.

Closing the mouth would make it an Arena of sorts, for me to fight Lunnare´s Core.

The Body Shook violently as it impacted with the Black Mass, which let a painful scream out.

"It…, it actually worked, Lunnare was dragged back, this thing is not deeply rooted in the ground just barely five meters under the surface.

I think Betakin was right, the upper part right underneath the maw must be hollow, while the rest from its middle down to the ground must be filled with the black mass and all the things it consumes in order to grow." Cetala explained dumbfounded.

"Told you so." I replied as I saw the sight from outside, through her eyes.

Lunnare indeed had bene dragged back several meters, its tentacles stretched extremely thing.

The last few Meters of the Snake´s Body were wrapped around it, while the original 80 meters loomed right over the maw.

"Genbusakame, use the humidity to create a water-laser to cut of the tentacles." I commanded.

"Right away, Master." He replied, as the Snakes spirit had control over water, it was easy to gather the humidity in the area, until 8 large bubbles of water floated around the Snakes head.

As all tentacles were immobilized, Lunnare had no way to defend herself against it.

With a concentrated shot, the tentacles were each cleanly cut off by a high-pressure water-beam, one out of each bubble.

As soon as the tentacles fell to the ground, Genbusakame's spirit overtook the reigns again, to control the round beneath them and enclose them in the remains of the Turtle-Golems remains made of luminous stone.

"So far everything worked out just as planned, now on to the more difficult part." I mused as I looked at the Maw.

"Cetala can you and the others keep the Maw open?" I asked them.

"Well, we can try the same way, as we held the tentacles in check earlier, but I bet the Maw is significantly stronger." Cetala replied.

"Not to mention that it just closed the moment the Tentacles were cut off." Alpharia explained.

"I bet I can do something about that, on my command, One, Two, Three…!" I exclaimed loudly and then constricted the snake body even more, resulting in Lunnare screaming in pain, opening the Maw slightly, enough for Alpharia and Yin, which meanwhile has recovered her forces so far, to force the maw open with her Paladin Magic and her Hybrid Forces, creating hooks and chains, with which they pulled each side of the Maw open, additionally I created forearms with claws on the Snake´s Body, to force the maw open, needless to say that Lunnare tried instantly to sink them into her mass.

"Be careful brother, Lunnare most likely will try to consume you." Cetala explained.

"Yes, but it will take its time to do so, while I can constrict her far faster, which means if she does not fortify her own body, I might even crush the core when I will constrict even more." I explained and just as I thought, instead of the Snake-body basically sinking into the body the same felt resistance instead.

The more constriction was added the deeper the spikes went and the harder the outer shell became to resist against it, on the other hand this also meant that the Maw had to get harder as well, which enabled me to force the maw open wide enough for the Snakes head and neck to pass through.

"Brother the sky turns bright already!" Cetala exclaimed loudly, indicating that soon the first rays of sunlight will be seen.

"Alright guys, we need the tornado, Garf, how are things on your end?" I asked as I used the radio, to ask for the situation at Garfield´s position.

"We are done, the last meter has just been sewn together, we will send it now over to you." he replied, and I was relieved, just in time.

"Splendid, then you need to get it here, but be careful, we will now create a Tornado to get Lunnare and myself Airborne, unless you wish to be thrown around and slammed into the ground, miles away from here, or worse thrown out into the open sky, I advise you to keep the mirror on standby until Cetala gives you the signal, then when we reached the highest possible point and they dispel the tornado, then we might only have about 3 minutes or so until We reach the ground again." I explained my plan.

"Roger that, we will wait for the Signal and then send you the drones with the mirror." Garfield replied with determination in his voice, before the same turned sad all of a sudden.

"Make sure you will be safe up there, who knows what will happen." Garfield stated, although he had not the details of the plan could they observe the situation from afar, I guess he knew that my plan was highly dangerous and basically a suicide mission.

"I will be, thanks bro, wait for my return." I stated with a warm feeling inside, the warm feeling of being loved.

Garfield and I we knew each other since Childhood, even longer than I knew Cherry, and even though his sexual preference only ever emerged in the recent years, have we always been close together.

Whether I was the reason for him to feel this way, or not, him being worried about me, filled my heart with this special kind of warmth and fuzzy feelings.

I will not even declare my love as a lover to him, but he knew I loved him as family.

"That must be enough for him." I muttered under my breath, as I thought about all this, as I initiated the 3rd phase of our plan.

"Cetala I will now enter the maw, I think you can now bring the Tornado over, this Bitch ain´t going anywhere soon." I stated aloud.

"Alright, we will do so, be careful in there, once inside we cannot do anything for you, keep that in mind, we will try to lift you up for 8 miles, which gives you perhaps half a minute until you reach the ground once you fall, I will contact you when we do." Cetala explained.

"Roger, I will do my best to end things in there as quick as possible." I explained, as I began my descend into the inside of this monstrosity.

.

.

.

To say that it was dark in here was an understatement, the darkness which filled this space was as sinister as it gets.

The Snake-head´s armor was made of luminous stone, wich provided at least a little light in this seemingly endless void.

"A bottomless pit indeed." I mumbled as we dived deeper.

being inside of the head while it dove downwards was obviously not easy and highly dangerous, it was to assume that as soon as the Luminous stones outside would get weaker, the walls will literally close in on us, until the entire head will be consumed.

Focusing on my descent, obviously took my mind away of all the things that happened outside of Lunnare, but I knew I could count on my siblings and friends, while I play my part, they had to play theirs.

"Master, are you sure that we can find the core down here, what if she moved it already away, upwards for example?" Genbusakame asked unsure.

"And risk it being hit by the emerging sunlight, I don´t think so, now that she knows what will await her on the outside, the core is best saved deep within her trunk, I am certain that we will find it here." I explained and it did was the most plausible action, then again, this thing had already lost most of its sanity so who could really say if it was still rational enough to think things through.

"Once we will find it, we will separate it from the body and enclose it in here and then destroy it." I thought to myself, it was actually a quite simple plan, but it was bound to have a lot of complications, such I was sure about.

"This sure is an uncomfortable atmosphere in here…, such an eerie feeling." I muttered, the living darkness around us was following our every move the deeper we descended, the more I got the feeling of never being able to see the light of day again.

"Master, I think I can see something!" Genbusakame exclaimed loudly.

"Where?" I asked.

"Over there, this oval-shaped cocoon-like thing." He stated as my view was shared with his.

Indeed a few meters under us I could see something, what seemed to be a cocoon of sorts.

it stood straight in the midst of a net of strings attached to the walls of the trunk.

"Alright this must be it, at least I can feel an immense sinister energy radiating from it, swallow it." I commanded.

"As you wish!" He replied as he was about to open the snake´s mouth only for it to suddenly rock violently.

"What was that, what´s going on?" I asked him.

"It seems that the Walls are attacking us, they put some strings around the mouth, preventing it from opening, I think they finally got the gist of our plan." Genbusakame explained.

"Dammit we ain´t got time for this shit now, we almost reached our height limit, we need to hurry things up in here." I mumbled as I looked through the Snake-head´s eyes, only to see that the walls indeed seemed to be more active, not just the mouth but the entire neck was about to be covered in strings which would hold us down here for the Maw to consume us.

"Can we somehow increase the radiance of the spices as well as the luminous stones outside?" I asked Genbusakame.

"Maybe, if we channel energy directly into the stones themselves, we can perhaps stimulate the chemical reaction, though that is only a theory, it might as well only lead to the radiance being burnt out faster than before." Genbusakame suggested.

"Well, it is better than nothing, let´s do this!" I exclaimed loudly as I used the sword´s echolocation to access any of the outer skin of the Snake, every Luminous stone I could find I charged with energy out of the Crystals inside of the Snakes body.

It managed to recharge the stones just as we were almost completely covered in dark strings, however in the process it took out the entire energy, we previously had used in the additional body of the Snake, which resulted in the constriction easing, up allowing the trunk of the Maw to liquify again and to pull the body inside of itself, in order to digest it, which would definitely make this thing growing in size again.

"I will detach the neck from the rest of the body, if we do this, we will be able to move again." Genbusakame explained and I nodded.

With a sudden rocking the Snakehead moved again, shaking of the loose Strings which grew weaker due to the light of the luminous Stones and with a big open mouth it swallowed the cocoon whole.

I used my sword to cut of all of the remain strings allowing the snakehead to close its mouth again, effectively trapping the cocoon inside the hollow space of the head.

"Gottcha!" I stated in triumph before I had to dodge the now loose strings which still hung on the Cocoon.

The same suddenly began to levitate, pulsating sinisterly, while I could see the silhouette of something moving inside.

"You have no where to run, get out and face your punishment!" I shouted and as if it heard me, the inside of the cocoon stirred even more.

"How dare you disturb me when my transformation is but only to 50% complete." A sinister voice exclaimed, more sinister than anything I had ever heard.

But I knew I could no longer back down, this here was the endgame and I had to win it, otherwise this island was doomed.

"Well, if you would have told me the right address, I might have got to you earlier to pick you up for our date, i´m sure am sorry for the wait but now that I am here, I hope it is not you who lets me stand out here in the cold.

you do not need all that make up an those puffed-up dresses, just step out the way you are and you will be just fine." I replied in a mocking tone, even though I had no idea what would await me now, but either way, I had to be brave and face it.

"You should be careful of what you are wishing for, little brat, sometimes you wish for the wrong thing." The Sinister voice stated as suddenly the cocoon began to tear apart from the inside, the first thing that I felt was a sinister feeling radiating from the tear, the next thing was heat, immense incredible heat.

Before I could really react to it the entire cocoon caught fire, the light was bright enough to illuminate the entire place, rivalling the radiance of all those countless Luminous stones here inside of the Snake´s head.

I bet, if this would have happened outside, the entire Maw would have collapsed from the inside.

In this regard, maybe it was necessary for us to intervene, on the other hand, she just told me that her transformation was only complete to 50%..., who knows what might have happened at 100%.

Even amongst the flames that emerged out of the cocoon, I was able to make out the silhouette of this new being, this new form of Lunnare. and let me tell you, I was glad that she was not complete, the power she radiated was as though as if she could melt the entire island at will.

Thank god, the Head was layered with extra dense rocks and diamonds and luminous stones and if it weren't for the Armor I created out of the Luminous stones and diamonds earlier, during the descent into the Maw, I would be a piece of grilled Caninu Meat by now.

The being that emerged from the flames was Bipedal and indeed had much similarity with a Lupycan, heck if they would be any wilder, they would probably look like this.

The only distinct difference between her and any ordinary animal and beast, was literally the fact that she was on fire…, literally, she was the one to generate the flames from earlier that fried the cocoon, however that was possible.

"Seriously, you people are absolutely nuts, you get stranger by the second." I shook my head in disbelieve, infront of such unbelievable madness.

"Kneel before the sight of supreme power." She demanded.

"Nope…, I don´t think I will do, instead you should be a good puppy and run back to your master with your tail between your legs." I replied as I drew my sword, ready to literally go down in flames, if I die here I will take her with me.

"Foolish mortal, you will but only die here." She replied as she used a ball of fire, which she threw at me.

I cut the ball with Armatura impervius and the same literally exploded, but thanks to the armor and the Shielding forces I was unscathed, however it was just getting hotter and hotter in here.

"You know, I've been hearing that kinda often lately and the more often I hear it, the less I believe it, at least not when it´s coming you." I stated as I commanded the ground beneath me to attack her with spikes piercing out of the ground, unfortunately she managed to dodge them.

"Such rubbish, I should inform you that I became a lot stronger than before, while I was only using fire as a tool before, it has finally become my element, I am death , I am destruction, I am the queen of all flames." She exclaimed in a theatrical manner, as she stretched her arms as if she tried to burn the entire den town to demonstrate her power, however nothing happened, which only earned and eye-roll from me.

"And I am the Knight of Earth and as we all know, fire ain´t really that effective against the Earth Element." I replied.

"You will kneel before me and then I will burn you to death!" She shouted with a mad glare.

"You see, that would be intimidating…, if you were any intimidating, which you are not…, kinda anticlimactic actually, I did expect more out of this Battle, but I guess I can make it back home for breakfast after all." I mocked her, in any other battle I would not have done so but somehow this battle was nowhere near of the magnitude, as all the battles before…, was this really due to her incomplete Transformation?

"I will melt you!" She shouted in blind rage.

"Sorry sweetheart, but that spot´s already taken, there is only one woman in life that can melt me…, and that surely ain´t you." I stated as I dodged her wild swings.

"Hey Genbusakame, is it just me or has she become a lot slower than before?" I asked my partner.

"Indeed, her attacks are not nearly as fast as before her transformation, maybe it is due to the process being halted in an incomplete state, it must have affected her life force and her control over her element.

Also, I think she is melting, if I see right?" He stated and I looked more closely at her.

"Indeed, I barely believe it, but she indeed is melting..., could it be, are the flames actually burning her out from the inside?" I wondered as she swung her fiery claw at me.

"Hiiiyaaa!" I shouted as I sliced with my sword at her and actually managed to cut down her arm.

"Aaaarrgh you bastard!" She shouted.

"What´s wrong, ain´t you the queen of fire, shouldn´t you be able to suck up the flames and restore your limbs….,guess the fire does not like you, after all!" I mocked her as I evaded her wild swings and fire ball attacks, which began to decrease in intensity and speed.

"All of this destruction and madness from earlier…, for this…, damn, you Lycanians suck!" I stated kind of disheartened.

Let´s admit it, I though this Boss-battle would be harder than anything before, but in regard to all what happened before this moment, this here was almost insulting.

"Brother your plan is working, the Maw has begun to disintegrate due to the sun, we will now drop you, the Mirror is also in place…, are you about done in there, how is it at your end?" In heard Cetala´s worried Voice.

"I am also as good as done here, this battle is nothing much, I think she is finally done for…, I will see you later Sis!" I replied as I made my attack.

"Shall we end this now Lunnare, once and for all!?" I shouted at her as my sword made contact with her waist, earning a terrible howl in rage and pain, her remaining claw tried to push it away, but it was futile effort.

"You´ve terrorized this island for far too long, and what for, only to die by your own powers, pathetic!" I stated as my Sword slowly so slowly began to slice through her side, diagonally upwards to her core, right in the middle of her chest, alongside the crystal core that generated the flames, the Flare crystal who was stuck in her flamethrower earlier.

"You just don't know when to quit, even halfdead you still try to kill all of us…, if anything, I have to comment you for your tenacity, however, this time I will not hesitate, this time I will pull through without any mercy.

I hardly believe that you deserve any last words, but since I am so generous myself, I will allow you to spout one more phrase of nonsense, just be certain that nothing you say will change the outcome of this battle." I explained and her already desperate face showed even more despair, as she indeed realized that her life would come to an end, here and now, one way or another.

"Any last words?" I asked her with murderous intent, my sword still gradually pushing forth against her hard grip, no matter how much force she put into her arm to push the sword away, it was futile effort, the sword was just about to come into contact with her Core, while her bones began to melt away.

Finally realizing that no help was coming, that nothing would enable her to survive this time, that all mercy that had been shown to her had long run out, she finally resigned her life as she let her hand fall, before her arm fell off, due to melted bones.

"If only I could have made him mine." Her voice stated in the moment as my sword sliced through her core, brimming with energy, ready to explode.

"Will you remember me, King Lycan?" Her voice asked hoarsely, before she began to burn away, melting to a pile of disgusting burning goo, I had no idea about the heat she radiated, but for bones to melt, it had to be extremely hot and yet Armatura impervius had no burn-marks or any notches due to this battle.

Act 10: Seven V´s for Victory

And with that last slash this horror was finally over, Lunnare was no more, the light that suddenly began to shine from the outside, indicated what Cetala told me earlier.

The Maw disintegrated, the cells had lost their central organ, or so it should have been, for this sinister ball of darkness floated here before me in the morning sun, as soon as the remains of the golem fell to dust to not allow a single Ghoul-cell to make it back to the Island.

"This horror ends now!" I said as I aimed and pierced my sword straight into the evil core.

It was hard as concrete to say the least.

I could feel and hear how the crystal core splintered more and more, before it shattered to pieces, the dark energy, which the core contained, burst out of it in a violent shockwave, miasma was spreading around me but disintegrated just as fast as it emerged, due to be bathed in sunlight.

This time I did not hesitated, this time I pulled through with what I decided for myself, this time I ended what should have ended long ago.

The rays of the sun warmed my face with a gentle heat, warm and cozy nothing like the flames of hatred, which Lunnare radiated.

In the far distance I could see the light of the Light-house, the giant mirror before me reflected the rise of the morning sun perfectly, as if someone had caught it on a giant Canvas.

The long horror was finally over, Bordaussie was able to breath up again, the light of the sun illuminated this island, as though it was symbolistic for the ray of hope in all of us.

It was not just me who fought, not just me who dealt the final blow, this was made possible by all of us, friends and rivals united, our supporters and even those formerly neutral ones, we all worked together, because we were all people of Bordaussie.

The mirror in front of me and the light of the Lighthouse showed me the bravery of the people of this island, trying desperately to defend their own home, their own families, their hope for a new tomorrow, through the flames of war and in spite of enormous terror and overwhelming evil power.

However there was one more thing to do and that was this other Crystal, it was clear to me, it had to be destroyed before it could hit the island, who knows how much damage this pulsating timebomb could do if it broke in the wrong place.

I was still in the air for many miles, up here it could burst without harming anyone than the one who burst it.

but I had to remind myself, the flames Lunnare possessed in the end melted her, it was highly possible that my Armor would not hold out, if the source of such heat and violent power would explode right next to me…., but I had to do it.

"It is my duty, my resolve, to save the people of my home." I told myself and before I could perhaps dare to hesitate again, I raised my sword and slashed straight inside of it.

The Flare crystal began to splinter, as my sword sliced into it, but I knew, different as the Miasma from before, the energy contained in this crystal actually could still kill me.

"At last, I can rest, even if I die now, my death was at least not in vain." I told myself, of course countless of thoughts about remaining alive, of struggling to survive, raced through my mind, but in this situation, airborne, out of reach for Yin´s powers and out of power, myself, unable to focus and with mere seconds before being engulfed in flames once more, even I knew that all help would come too late, you had to be up here with me after all, to be able to still safe me.

"Is this how it ends…., might not be as bad as I thought, at least I leave with a huge Bang, knowing I have maybe become a hero to some of them down there…

At least I can see the beauty of my home one last time…" I thought as a sarcastic smile crept up my cheeks, as the Flare Crystal broke in a violent explosion that engulfed me at point-blank.

"I´m sorry Cherry." I thought, as I lost consciousness for the last time, my regret was unfortunately unfulfillable.

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I cannot tell how long I was out, but as I awoke from my lost consciousness, it was as though I heard a deep and powerfull voice speaking to me.

It told me to open my eyes and I did as told, when I did, I seemed to be within the bottom of a pit, high above me, I could see a faint yet brilliant light, the only source of light admits the darkness, and although it was faint, it was like a spotlight, illuminating the space around me.

As I looked around in confusion, the voice from before spoke to me again, but it did not sound like Genbusakame or any other voice I knew.

Although rough and deep, was this unmistakably the voice of a woman.

"We have seen your courage, we have seen your will and hope, and we acknowledge your heart, that beats for those you wish to protect, may you know them personally or not.

Your death is not yet accepted, for you still have a role to fulfill, a role all of us had to fulfill before you.

Here on this day, here in this very space, we have judged this young warrior and we came to a result…, you are worthy of our blessings, you are worthy to be the next in line, to be the next true wielder of Armatura Impervius, the Impenetrable fortress, the Sword of Avalanches.

The Power of the Guardian´s Sword shall be claimed by yourself.

May it become the force, for you to defend all those in need of protection.

We Knights of the Million Clan, members of the Knights of Seven, acknowledge thee, Betakin Anatol Damiens Million, as the newest Knight of Seven, the Knight of Earth.

Our Blessing shall give thee strength in the darkest hours." The voice stated as a strong looking, yet noble and elegant Lupycan woman appeared before me.

Although of slender build, did she possessed an air of superiority and battle prowess, which untrained eyes might overlook.

Her Aura was a steadfast and as big as a mountain.

Her silver hair seemed to shimmer like silver starlight, even down here in the darkness.

The mere aura this woman possessed, made me shudder, but it also filled my body with a warmth which came from the heart, an air of comfort surrounded me in her presence.

I knew any other person would have been forced to kneel before her, but I stood strong, it did not matter to me who stood before me, there were only a few people in the world I would ever freely bow before, and a stranger such as her was definitely not on the list…, even though she could hardly be called a stranger to me.

"Lady Brynhildr, it Is an honor to me, to make your acquaintance." I stated as I only slightly bowed to her.

"You have good courage my son…, you only kneel when you yourself feel the need to pay deep respect, as I am but merely your far away ancestor, you know that the respect you´d pay me would only be superficial, so you chose to instead face me with your own pride.

…, prideful in your abilities and steadfast in your belief…, those are the qualities a true Knight must gain in his long life…, my dear you have only ever started your journey, but I can tell, that you have the potential to surpass all those that came before you.

My gift to you is my knowledge about the powers slumbering in Armatura Impervius, I gift you with the ability of Brynhildr´s Dominion.

Brynhildr´s Sandbox enabled you to create but existing structures, but Dominion takes it a few notches further by enabling you to freely control your environment as long as it is made of earthen matter.

You can even create things that have not yet existed before, Rock, Sand, Iron, Minerals, even Plants, all shall be under your command.

But beware, for the sword has at the moment only half of its original power remaining, the other Half has been sealed in a realm beyond normal reach, only those, deemed worthy by its Gatekeeper, can gain entry to its lair, and only the Master of the Realm, can allow you to claim it as yours and leave the realm with it.

Do take caution that you won´t use this power recklessly, it might well have the force to cause landslides and earthquakes, it can even create or rip landmasses asunder, even whole continents.

Those with the power to stand their ground and defend their believe, no matter the odds, are those who stand victorious in every battle, but those with tainted hearts and blemished souls shall fall victim to their own power, sooner or later."

Lady Brynhildr explained to me and her soothing voice calmed me down, as well as filled my heart with new courage.

"At last, I shall give you this, it is but a fragment of my remaining power, but I am certain that in your hands it will once more be put to good use, may it become the first stepping stone on your path to the future." She told me as she put something in my hand, it looked like a large rock and although it was big, and weighted quite a bit, was it not hard to handle, in fact even if it seemed durable and heavy, was it in reality far lighter than I thought.

Still, if I were to describe it, it had a non-physical weight of its own.

"May it become the first of many stones to help you build a tower, a tower that will help you out of here, help you return where you belong, where you are needed.

But beware, for with every stone you place, every meter your tower grows, so will you, once you start to rise up, once you start building the path to your own destiny, you will notice that you won´t be the same as before anymore, you will change, psychically but maybe also physically.

Be aware that if you place this stone, you will accept the role of a Knight of seven, from then on, there is no going back anymore." She stated before she faded away.

Instead, infront of me I could suddenly see, clearer than before, something like a foundation, as if I were to put something into it, I realized that what she told me, to build a tower, was indeed meant literally, I had to get out of here, if this was like the Spectral plain in which I met Red´s Spirit before, than I had to find my way out.

The Longer I stayed in here the more likely it was that I really died, if there was but a small chance to survive, to live my life again, to see my siblings my father and mother, my friend…., to see Cherry again, then I had to take it.

Even if it meant that I would most likely have to march from battle to battle from now on, fighting Lycanians and everyone else that would stand in my way, in the way of justice and right, whether Red as my King would be, I as his Knight would be not far away either.

Was I ready for it…, I did not know, I had no direct answer to that question, but one thing I knew...

That it was a small price to pay, to make sure those I care for would be safe.

As soon as I placed the stone in the foundation, I felt how warmth filled me, I felt more aware of my surroundings than before, as if the light-cone just got a bit bigger.

Another thing I recognized was the fact, that I was getting observed, I turned around to come face to face with an old man, who too had a large rock for me, he gave the same to me without many words, but a warm grandfatherly smile on his face.

If I wasn´t mistaken this seemed to be Lord Valentin Million, son of Brynhildr and Sirius Million.

It didn´t lasted long before my foundation grew and grew, one by one I was visited by my Ancestors, some talked, other just smiled benevolent.

But all of them seemed to encourage me to go on, to not stop halfway, the more my tower grew the more I became aware of where I was and what was happening to me, more and more power welled up in me.

The higher the tower made of rocks became, the more I had to climb up to gain the next piece.

Like Lady Brynhildr told me, they were the stepping stones I had to use, to get out of this pit, to get back to where I belonged, to a future unknown, my future.

.

.

.

I don´t know how much time has passed, or how high the tower I built has meanwhile become…, but I understood something very clearly.

Each of the rocks I received managed to fit seamlessly unto the other before, every nook and cranny was filled, every gap closed by the natural carving of the rock, I didn´t even had to try to adjust the angel, at which I put them unto each other, I just knew right from the get go, how it will fit, it was as if I was completing a Puzzle for children.

The Higher the tower became, the more steadfast it seemed to me, no matter how high a tower becomes, without a good foundation, or good material, it will, over short or long, cave in, time will always claim its price.

However, this tower, it was the very symbolism of Armatura Impervius, an Impenetrable fortress, steadfast and unmovable, built to last for all eternity.

Another thing I understood, was the fact that it did not matter who it was, who gave me the next piece, as long as he or she had Million Blood within him or her, children, young men and women, old people, the previous wielders, my ancestors, they were a colorful bunch to say the least.

Not even the Race was always constant, it varied, from Caninu to Felineko, from Felineko to Lupycan, from Lupycan to Kumear, from Kumear to Felidion and back to Caninu, a vast mix of characters, but all of them were part of the same family, the same lineage.

It showed me that all Races can be united if they really wish so, that war was of no real gain for anyone

"Just a little more." I told myself as I kept stacking rocks over rocks.

If this was the power and the support of all the previous wielders, then it surely was immense, indeed a power which could decide the outcome of a war.

And I doubted that my comrades, the other Six Knights, whomever they may be, were in any way inferior to me, in terms of power.

I doubted all of them would build themselves a fortress made of the spark of all the past wielders, but I assume that they too must have undergone such a judgement of character and abilities…, I just am glad that Red helped me find myself, before I might would have made a wrong decision, which could have caused the death of thousands of people, if that would have been the case, I could hardly call myself with any right a knight of the Order of Seven.

It lasted, in my count, perhaps another half hour until I finally reached the light, the Tower of Rocks underneath me stood high and I admit, that the height frightened me, it was so high that I hardly could see the bottom where I started before, but still, I had no fear of falling, or of the Tower collapsing.

The lands surrounding the tower were vast and here and there you could see many settlements and small villages, these lands, they were a place called Lacrimae and it was apparently the land on which later the Capital Town of Armenia, with the same name, was built.

According to what my ancestors told me, the core of Armatura impervius was made out of the heart of a mountain from these very lands.

The Royal Palace of Armenia was apparently built out of stone from this very mountain.

Armenia…, the place at which Brynhildr Xenovia Million was born, I guess it was a lucky coincidence that the artifact, as well as its first true wielder, originated from the same place.

"This is the believe, the dreams, the memories and desires as well as the best wishes of those who came before me, and none of them is any shallow in its existence, all those feelings and emotions embedded into these rocks, they are strong, stronger than I could have ever imagined.

The Tower of the Million Family is standing tall as always, and I shall keep it at that, until the day at which I will share my rock of life with the next in Line, may it be my Son, or my daughter, or even my niece or nephew..., this legacy is something worth protecting." I mumbled to myself as I placed the last rock, it was the rock of the Grandfather I never got to know, Coronel Million, but seeing him here now, it made me tear up.

For my own sake and that of my mother, I will keep the words he told me in my heart forever.

"Family is something, that comes and stays, it has nothing to do with blood-ties or something to be measured on a Temporal scale, it does not matter how closely related you are, or how much time you have spent together, Family is what you feel deep inside, and sometimes you have to fight for it, for keeping it all safe.

Family is like a home of your own, where your heart can rest calm and be at ease, and you, you are the Guardian, the one to keep a close watch over this home of yours.

The Sword of Earth is the key and the lock to this House, this Fortress, which you possess within yourself, in there, all of your memories and those of us all, are embedded in every wall and every rock, it is the accumulation of everything we are…, and everything we stand for!

One day you too will place a Rock on one of these walls and from there, the tower will grow in height once more, as long as the foundation on which this tower has been build stays strong, it does not matter how high the tower will be build, if all of your successors believe in the future and in what their family taught them, then this tower will never ever fall.

Every member of our Family has built the foundation for the future of their children and children´s children, everything we didn´t know, we researched about, trial and error was and is our constant companion, as long as we breath we research.

For those who know something, are those who can react to it, those who are ignorant, will be overwhelmed in the long shot.

Prudentia potentia est, Wisdom is power...

My father once told me this, it is apparently the original Creed of our Family, but it has long been lost in shame, due to a certain Circumstance, an Event of the past, which has put a shadow on our family, and although we know the truth, most of the other people don´t.

In order to keep an even bigger secret, we had sworn to keep it to ourselves, for this secret could well cost us everything we have, all of us.

Ever since that day, our family adopted a new creed, Quaere et invenies, seek and you shall find, it is a promise to ourselves, that one day we may find a way to reverse what has gone wrong, to repay this debt we have carried for so long."

Those were the words he said and they resounded with the memory of my mother´s words, the shame he spoke about, Mother only once told us about it and from then never mentioned it again, but the story she told us had burned itself into our hearts, the shame, the debt our family carries was just too big to be constantly reminded of it, and yet did we had to promise her, to never forget it, until one of us can repay it.

The Corneria-Catastrophe, this is our cross to bear, the greatest shame of the Million Family…, the very reason why my family fled from Nippon.

Not due to persecution…, but because our family could not bear the sight of what we had done, what happened through one of our inventions, it was the one single time we showed cowardice and it was bound to haunt us all for the rest of our lives, until it would be resolved by one of us.

But from what grandfather said, this shame, this catastrophe was not entirely what happened back then, something far worse happened, something worth to lie about for the next few centuries.

A secret, which is far more important to guard, than the horrific disappearance of Three Islands within another dimension, by our hands, five-hundred years ago.

"Quaere et invenies, finally I understand these words which stand on our crest and the reason that knights such as us, have almost completely moved over to become researchers instead.

All the wisdom we accumulate shall be used to one day reverse the Vanishing…, it is the greatest hope for the future of our Family, the reason why the Tower stands steadfast as ever, no matter how many centuries pass by.

The moment I reached out for the light; this clarity filled me with pride.

"We Millions, over short or long, always correct our mistakes and from them solutions, we will never cease to learn."

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.

The first thing I felt, after the blinding light infront of me, was the cool breeze of the wind, I felt the heat on my hands, the air was filled with the faint smell of smoke, mixed with the smell of grass and burned flesh.

My entire body ached, not to mention the horrible pounding behind my eyes and the awful ringing in my ears.

The very fact that I could feel pain, was an unmistakable sign that I was still alive.

Lightly charred, but alive.

"Betakin…, Betakin can you hear me?" I faintly heard my father´s voice calling out to me.

The blinding light from before began to subside and not long after the colors of my surrounding returned.

I heard the busy murmuring of people all around me, even if it was hard to filter any particular sound over the ringing noise.

I guess I was brought in the field Lazaretto rather than a hospital, most likely because of the power outage that still ruled the city.

"My son, do you know me, do you know who I am…, please, if you can hear me, say something." Father called out to me in sheer desperation, I have never seen him so afraid, though I more heard it out of the faint voice, rather than truly seeing it myself, my vision was still a little too blurry.

After I was finally able to focus on anything, I opened my mouth to speak, but I almost could not hear my own words over the ringing…, I was uncertain if that would leave any lasting defects.

"How long was I out?" I thought and hoped to say, I was unsure if it came out right though.

"About 5 hours, its shortly after 10 o´clock am, we already began to wrap things up here, the White Whale and the rest of the Kurvaz, under lead of Sir Quebec, has meanwhile arrived with supplies and support, as well as the Disaster Response Team of the I.D.A., after we managed to find and destroy the Jamming Signal in the Lycanian Mothership-wreckage.

Anyways…, how do you feel…?" Father asked me and after the ringing began to subside, I could hear him more clearly.

"Awful, my body hurts all over and my head is pounding…, geez…, remind me that I will never do such a stunt again." I replied and, Father and everyone around, family and friends sighed in relief.

"You…, you hotshot…, don´t you dare to ever worry me like that again, you hear me." Father stated jokingly as I managed to set myself up, with help of him.

"Don´t worry, I ain´t planning to do so anytime soon." I replied and he nodded.

"I´m proud of you son, you did well." He stated as he embraced me.

"Betakin…, brother…, you are such…, such an Idiot!" Alpharia who appeared infront of me, stated aloud, almost shouting, as she towered over me, her eyes puffy red from crying and her voice trembling with both relief and fear…, as well as anger, as it seemed to me.

"How could you worry me so much…, dammit, thanks to you I am an emotional mess right now..." She said in a hoarse tone.

"Sorry to worry you…, but thanks anyways." I replied.

"You damn asshole…, don´t you dare die on me, you hear." She replied in a harsh tone as she pulled me into a bearhug, which would have been nice if it wasn´t currently so painful to receive.

"She´s right, you are a damn idiot…, you owe us big time for all the worrisome hours you have pulled us through, and all the tears we shed." Cetala exclaimed as she too came in for a hug, needless to say that she was I no better state than Alpharia.

"Yeah..., I know." I only replied, as I held them close to me petting their heads.

"You guys need a special invitation, I almost died here, you know." I gestured to Yin and Yang who were unsure how to address me, fidgeting uncontrollably.

It was really hard to observe…, even after 2 years, they still seemed wary of showing too much emotion, or of coming too close to us, no matter how often we told them that we are more than just teammates and friends…, we are a family.

"Betakin!" They whined before they too threw themselves in the mix.

"Yeah, just forget that I am hurting all over." I thought to myself in mild sarcasm.

"You really did it…, you were so flashy and gallant, so heroic…., like a prince out of a fairytale." Garf stated with shiny eyes full of admiration and adoration… and I gotta admit, his affection made me blush a little, but only a little.

The way he and the others looked at us, filled me with pride, I was worried that we may be seen as abnormal and that they might keep their distance at us, now that it was all over…, but I hardly saw anything of that when I looked in their relieved and smiling faces.

"Oh, stop it you…, i´m not that great…" I replied but his smile just got brighter.

"Good Job up there, brother…, but I think you could have done this a little less risky, don´t you think?" Red asked as he patted me on my shoulder.

"I will see to do so, the next time I am in that kinda situation, which hopefully does not happen so often…, I still don´t fully understand what I am capable off, especially now that Armatura Impervius has awoken from his century-long slumber…, but whatever it is, what I can do, I will give it my best." I replied and he nodded, before I felt him patting my head before pulling me into a hug, the fact that he was physically able to touch me, despite being in spirit form, was incredible.

But even more so it was incredible, that he could stay here for so long.

After all it have been hours…, I guess that just showed how much stronger he is compared to us.

"Do that, I know you will have many people who will support you, either way, well done Bro, all of you, without you Bordaussie would not have managed to pull through, that is for sure, although I cannot say that it all went down unscathed, is the damage done to this island still in the possibilities of being rebuild in about a year or two.

Still, unfortunately and for that I do not blame you or anyone else but the enemy, do we have to claim a lot of casualties." Red explained and I know what he means.

"As of current, we confirmed 500 casualties so far, 1.500 people are still missing…., on the other hand, thanks to your effort, 5.000 people could be saved and they are currently at saving what and who can be saved out of the rubble.

It might be a weak consolation, but still…, for you 5 kids alone, to hold out for so long and make it happen that so many people survived, not to mention against a whole enemy Battalion, which surprise-attacked you, this is an outstanding feat.

Not to mention the battle against Lunnare, the fear of dying, all those negativities, this thick miasma floating around, you managed to overcome it and not loose your heart along the way.

It makes me proud to be your older Brother." Red stated and this did drove tears in my eyes, but more so in Alpharia´s, who just stood there and cried like there was no tomorrow, she sounded just like a castle-hound.

"There, there." Red stated as he pulled her in a hug and patted her head.

"Well then, now that things are wrapped up so far, I think I finally can take my leave and…" Red explained but that only earned him the protest of Alpharia.

"Wait you are leaving us already…, but we only just got to meet you…, after so long…." She stated her mine one of shock and sorrow.

"Unfortunately, I do have to go now, I know that this is sudden, however you have to understand that I am not exactly free myself right now, there is still a lot to prepare on my end as well, before we breach the Devil´s throat…, and I can imagine that my Girlfriend Elh might be freaking out by now anyways, she was with me when I entered this trance, after all I have been gone for almost 7 hours by now.

Also, I gotta report this incident anyways, we need to see where Lunnare came from and what her ultimate objective was…, though…, I may have an idea about it." Red explained as he seemed to be in thought.

"Oh…, and what would that be, I would very much like to understand, why all of this has happened to us?" A voice asked and as we turned around, we saw Mayor Blossom walking up on us.

Cherry walked beside him, but as soon as she laid eyes on me, she came rushing at my side.

"Oh Betakin, I've missed you so much…, just look how you have been injured, you overdid it again, haven´t you?" she stated as she carefully hugged me, more carefully than the others at least…, and casually made me feel her well grown bosom, on my half naked and bandaged chest.

I suddenly became aware, just of how soft to the touch she was, of course we kissed quite often but I rarely really got to touch her or hold her in this way, especially not half naked, I think the most skin she ever truly showed me was when we had that pool party last year, for her birthday.

Of course all the boys gave me death stares, as a girl she was at the top of the entire female student body after all, as one of the 3 Queens of Middle school as the Beauty-Queen, alongside Alpharia as Brawn-Queen and Mira as Brain-Queen.

But even with that title, she was a girl like every other girl as well, she lived, laughed, loved and so also worried.

"Well, considering what was at stake, there was no way I could not overdo it, I had to give it my all after all, go all out to save this island…, to save everyone, Family, Friends, our home…, and especially you." I stated and I saw how she flared up deep red.

"T-t-thanks…." She stammered as she blushed furiously, before resting her head on my chest.

"I was worried…, I was terribly worried you know…, I don´t know what I would do without you…, I would not know how to live on." she stated and I nodded, patting her hair.

"I know…, if I would have died there, I would have left this world with a whole bunch of regrets…, therefore I just couldn´t die, not before all regrets could be solved at least." I replied and she looked at me, deep in my eyes.

"I´m glad you have survived…, and so grateful." she said before she cupped my head in her hands and leaned in, her soft lips touching mine.

It was enough to send my mind flying.

I only heard Red and Mayor Blossom´s conversation as mere background noise anymore, even though I was certain that it was most likely very important.

Right now, none of that mattered, the whole world faded away into oblivion as Cherry gave me the longest kiss we ever shared, and let me tell you that it made me feel things I haven´t felt before…, proper things and not so proper things.

Red´s Pov:

"Mr. Red Savarin, I assume?" The man infront of me, apparently the Mayor of Bordaussie, Mayor Blossom, asked.

I guess, since he saw Alpharia in her spirit form, he did not seem to react all too surprised and skeptical to my ghostly form.

"Indeed, greetings Mayor Blossom, it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance." I replied and he nodded in approval.

"Earlier you said that you might have an idea, as to where the Lycanians were heading, or what their objective was, right, may I ask of you, to elaborate your thoughts on this, please?" He asked.

"Of course, sir.

As of now this is though only my theory, but I think the Goal they had was the Island of Akita, or more precisely, the Gyzeh-Mountain Range." I explained.

"The Gyzeh-Mountain range you say…, what would they believe to find their, there is nothing but rock and sand and occasionally snow?" Mayor Blossom asked in sheer confusion.

The same was understandable, the island of Akita was a Big Tundra with hardly any vegetation, although the landmass was vast, was the soil almost completely infertile and no one ever managed to cultivate any land there, it practically was an abandoned place ever since the Shepherd Republic´s establishment after the Revolution.

Not to mention that the island was surrounded by a constant Mist, which blocked most of the sunlight.

It was however, different from the Devil´s throat and Armenia, totally accessible.

There was just no real reason to land there, the few creatures to have made their habitat there are not even worth hunting down, there are apparently no ruins of any ancient Villages or anything of the like, that would be valuable for archaeologists, perhaps only one thing at all was of value down there.

There are books and rumors that describe a Castle in the middle of the triangle shaped Mountain Range, surrounded by the 3 Kings, the highest mountains of the Gyzeh-Mountain Range, one at each corner of the triangle with the Castle on top of a fourth mountain within the middle.

It is said that the Castle houses a massive secret bibliotheca of ancient texts and scrolls but that the same was hidden somewhere in the castle, no matter how often the same was searched through, the bibliotheca was not able to be found.

In the end the Island was basically nominated as a Natural Reserve in lack of better usage.

Ever since the Revolution this Castle was deserted, the only ones who lived there were Members of the Island Ranger Service, which kept the wildlife safe from poachers, not that many ever really came there, the fog was too thick as to properly navigate and sharp floating cliffs made the passage towards the island almost impossible, unless you knew where the so called gateway was, a passage in this rock-formation, where middle sized aircrafts could fly through to bring supplies to the Rangers living there.

"You think that these madmen would have cared for exotic animals, or how shall I understand this?" The Mayor asked me unsure.

"Hardly I think…, in my opinion it´s about the location as a whole, it would make a perfect military base after all.

If I remember correctly that was what I had been before at one point in time.

I think it is roughly 2.000 years in the past, that this Region came to be, as fragments of an ancient Continent, the governing forces and the people of this continent were simple farmers and merchants, none of them really had that much of military experience but the few men and women of the Guards Corp that usually guarded their Capital City, refunctioned as an army.

Still, they were attacked by enemies that came from Ragnarök during the times of unrest, during the beginnings of the War of Sun and Moon, an enemy that far surpassed their manpower and technology as well as their military power overall.

This Enemy Nation was fiendish in every word as they did not come to conquer the Continent, no, they came to destroy it, or at the very least that was the end-result of all of their actions, not to mention the despicable atrocities they committed against the populace.

I won´t go into the gory details, but experimentation on Felinekos was one of their main agenda.

Anyways, during that time, the Local army was as well as powerless against the overwhelming technological advantage that the enemy possessed, from high advanced tanks to armored airships, the attacks committed back then were just like what happened a couple of days ago here in Bordaussie.

Death from above, you could say.

The Castle of Akita became one of their strategic Bases, according to ancient reports and investigations however, it had already been in their hands for at least 10 years, effectively forming a mini nation on the continent, most likely it was used as outpost, in order to act in case of emergencies…

Formerly, as far as my knowledge, which I have acquired these past few hours, before I came here, goes, the Castle was before that time frequently used by Thieves, after the old duke that once possessed it had died without an heir.

Ever since this Castle has been defiled so often by bloodshed, that some even say that it might be haunted by now

And it was discovered, although its true location is unknown to this day, that this Fiendish Enemy Nation had built a certain secret Hangar for a massive Weapon, with which they wanted to overtake the entire neighboring Regions…, or it should become a weapon that could keep any other enemy out, once they have overtaken the Continent, making it their new home.

It was most likely constructed in these ten years, in which they build up this mini nation.

No one knows how this weapon looks like or whether it is used for sky-invasions or Land-invasion.

I cannot even say if it is supposed to be a Titano Machinae, or really just a weapon built by this Nation.

All that was left behind by them, was a document which described their efforts and discoveries so far in detail and in this report there stood one single word out, a word, or a name, which was most likely the moniker of this Project." I explained to them.

"What name, how is it called?" Beluga asked, who had listened well to what I told them.

"The word was Bismarck V." I replied but none of them seemed to know something, until someone cleared his throat behind us.

As we looked, an elderly man approached me, according to Mayor Blossom, this was the old Mayor, Ex-Mayor Alberto Petal.

"Bismarck V., I think I read about that once…, when I was invited at the court of Aegan, though that was a couple of decades ago, I resided there for a few days and was allowed to visit the Royal Bibliotheca before my audience with the Queen to that time, I´ve read many books and also translated texts from old reports of the times before the Shepherd Republic, to the times of the Free lands of Gasco, which you just told us about.

If I am not mistaken the Name Bismarck appeared quite often in books and reports, shortly before the establishment of the Republic, as the name of the Emperor Gustavus Bismarck van Berman the 10th, the Highest Authority of the Invading Berman Nation.

If I am not mistake, that man had a daughter, Princess Victoria Bismarck van Berman, a woman who was forced to reside in a Nun abbey, until the age of 20, contrary to her wish to enter the military or study politics.

However, unknown to her father, she did not learned reverence for their God in the Abbey, but rather sought to obtain Knowledge for politics.

She made it her goal to mend all the things, what her father and their former government had broken.

In the end, her father was forced to resign his position as Emperor, as part of the punishment for his crimes, due to pressure from his council, as well as the remaining council of Gasco, who sought reparations for the damage and Atrocities committed to their people.

After all, instead of conquering the continent, the Emperor´s chosen General literally obliterated half of the Continent, while the rest was split apart by the reawakened and unleashed Titan, Vanargand before the same could be killed." The Ex-Mayor explained.

"Apparently, after this, his daughter instantly claimed the throne for herself, in order to start negotiations.

She became the rightful Empress, after fighting for her right of ascension, which she as a woman should actually not have, at least back in their time.

She fought hard under the pretext, that men would literally do anything for power and possession, even almost committing genocide.

In the end the Folk, who has seen the absolute gruesome cruelty with which their army and their higher ups, the men they trusted to protect them in times of war and strife, destroyed the lives of countless innocent people, who never had even so much as spoken a bad word about them, elected the eloquent young Noble as their new Leader.

By her decree the Berman Nation began to help rebuild Gasco from the ground up, it was thanks to her efforts that the Later Republic could return back to its formerly peaceful days.

She held negotiations with the higher-ups of Gasco about reparation and public apologies, as well as seeing to that the old Council and everyone responsible for this completely wrong attack from their side, was to be punished severely.

In the end she even sentenced her own father to death.

A circumstance which shocked everyone, Gasco´s people as well as the Bermans, but it also ultimately showed the resolve of the Empress, to move forward to a future of mutual co-existence.

The reason for the initial invasion, so the words of her father, during his interrogation by the Gasco Forces, was that the Civil wars on Ragnarök essentially had surrounded them and was closing in on their homeland, so they sought to obtain new land through their Airlifts.

Since Gasco was so vast with just a few Settlements here and there, as well as the fact that their men managed to live there for ten years without any problems, it would have been ideal to evacuate their own people, that was initially the plan.

However, since there was no distinguished Main-Authority in the Free Lands of Gasco, instead of holding political talks, General Shveinz Hax, to that time General of the Berman Invasion Battalion, suggested a more forceful approach, also because it was a near race against time.

In order to obtain habitable land, the emperor gave him free handling of the situation, a fatal mistake in the long shot, as we have seen.

This madman was hellbent on finding the remains of Vanargand and reawaken the same, from which he believed it to be a God, the same God, which the Nun Abbey and every other religious house in Berman revered.

His approach included the phrase, by every means necessary, in the most gruesome and immoral way.

His death was not really mourned, not that he had any family that could have still be disappointed and ashamed by his actions, he was alone, in life as in death.

In the coming years, the Berman Empire fought long and hard in order to keep the little of land at Ragnarök, which they still possessed, from invading forces, getting a taste of an unrightful invasion themselves.

Once her time was up, the Empress, even though the mother of a Prince, which would have normally inherited the throne, resigned her position in favor for King Maranell Wolvenra´s proposition of opening up a route for her people to flee to the remaining islands of Gasco, where he would establish a monarchy under the rule of some trusted allies of his own, in this way, his secure hand would reside over both Gasco and Berman.

That was shortly before the descend of Ragnarök.

Ever since, both Berman and Gasco have been united under the Shepherd Monarchy, even today you still find some traces of their history in Andalusia but even more so in Aegan, the last island left to the Monarchy." Ex-Mayor Petal told us, after we had sat down to listen to his story.

I guess I still can stay a few more minutes.

"So this weapon was named after the Empress back when she was just the Princess, I´m kinda sorry for her, I can imagine myself a better gift than a massive Weapon for my birthdays." I explained but a little I reminded myself of the fact, that the Scarlet Wolf was initially a weapon as well, same as D.A.H.A.K.

"Guess we aren´t so different after all." I thought to myself, before I made up my mind, I had to get a move on when I wished to keep the Lycanians from destroying this Republic, the way the Bermans destroyed the Free Lands of Gasco.

Father´s Book about the History of our World was by all means a big help to understanding the past.

"Take it from someone, who lived through all those eras himself." I thought with a smile

"Anyways, this is all I have to say and report, I really gotta go now, or else people will get worried.

Beluga, I trust you to wrap things up here before you come, I might not have yet met them, but I bet that Merveille and the others are just fine, they surely will not die so easily, so take your time and prepare yourself as best as you can, from the look of it, this will become a harsh trip, and I cannot even fathom of what will await us in there.

Rest as long as you can, but be aware, once you decide to enter I doubt that there will be a way back, before we manage to liberate the island, from whatever has taken a hold in there, so make sure that you have no regrets whatsoever.

Well then, I see ya later." I stated as I stood up from my place, I felt Alpharia´s sad glance in my back but I knew she would understand, I´ve been here long enough, it was high time that I get a move on myself.

Even though I believe them to be safe, it still is better to make sure of that myself.

"Be careful out there, brother…, we will soon meet again." Betakin stated as he looked at me with pride and admiration.

"We sure will, after all you are my knight." I stated and he nodded with fiery determination.

"I sure am and I won´t disappoint you anymore." He replied.

"That´s nice to hear, well then guys, gotta go." I stated and this time for real, after a last wave at them I ascended into the sky and made my way back to my own body, I really hoped that Elh kept it safe, wouldn´t want to be treated and handled like a broken Mecha.

Beluga´s Pov:

"Geez, just when I think nothing can surprise me anymore, this guys just overthrows my common sense yet again." I huffed with a drawn sigh.

"Anyways, I think it is high time that we plan our moves from here on out.

Alpharia and Betakin, as you are surely aware, is it, to my great discomfort, a given that you have to accompany me.

As Wielder of the Sword and Shield of Armatura Impervius it is your Ancestral mission to follow the newest true heir of the Royal Family of Lunaris, in this case Red, and to join up with the rest of the Order of Seven.

I literally have no idea what will happen there on Ragdoll, how it will change us, but I know that you are strong enough to pull through, and with Red on your side, you surely cannot go wrong…, although you better not tell him that, or else it might go to his head.

Anyways, while we are away, it would be better for you Cetala, Yin and Yang, to lay low for a while, I will ask Sir Quebec if he might take you in his custody for the time being, until we will return…" I explained to them, as I turned towards my youngest daughter.

To say that she was not amused was an understatement, the face she made was one of extreme anger.

"Whoa…, what…, what´s wrong, did I say something wrong?" I asked her.

"Oh…, oh my…, its nice that you actually understand and accept your own mistakes, father..." She stated in a harsh and bittersweet tone, dripping with sarcasm, which not only shocked me but everyone around.

"Now listen here little missy, I…"

"No, you listen to me Father…, you honestly believe that I let all of you go alone…, to a place you have no idea if you are even returning from it anytime soon…, how dare you belittle me like that, haven´t I helped saving Bordaussie, wasn´t I right within the danger myself…, why are you now treating me like a little baby that needs protection, that needs someone who babysits her?" Cetala asked, her anger growing from second to second.

"Look, if this danger could have been able to be avoided, I would not have let you fight in the first place, you understand?" I explained to her…, at least I tried.

"You act just like Mother, when she forbade us from fighting against Blank and Nero…, the whole damn reason we even have these powers in the first place…, yeah nice going father, thank you for messing up our lives, only to keep us from fulfilling our destiny, our purposes in life." She spat out in anger and I think this was more the influence of Alpharia, as her older sister going through her own emotional hardships, showing through, after all she often went to Cetala for advice, despite being the older sibling.

"Hey, this has nothing to do with all of this Cetala, there is a right time to play the hero you know…" Betakin tried to intervene but to no avail.

"Oh, you better shut your damn mouth Betakin, don´t you dare telling me anything about heroism…, in case you have forgotten, your darn heroism almost cost us our lives, you know.

This here, is not about playing hero or trying to become one, this is about what is right to do and what is required to do right now, and yes, it has everything to do with this…, the only reason he takes you two with him, is because you are the wielders of this fancy sword and shield combo, otherwise he would not even think twice of taking you guys along, he would put you on the reserve-bench, just like me.

I´m sorry that I do not have a magical archery set, or a magic gun or the like, that can prove that I am just as essential in the upcoming battles than my older siblings.

I´m sorry that I am only good for Local invasions." Cetala stated and although the issue addressed all three of them, she was the only one to truly complain.

"Cetala I can understand that you wish to prove yourself, but think of Yin and Yang, how do you think they would feel, if they had to stay with a total stranger to them, all alone, even if I trust Quebec much?" I asked her but she only snorted.

"So, you try it that way now..." She replied with crossed arms and a haughty tone in her voice and I had to admit, her entire behavior right now slowly began to annoy me.

"Cetala, please give it a rest, its only to make sure you three are safe and…" Alpharia tried her luck but just like her Brother, the poor one was shot down by her Younger Sister.

"In order to protect us you say…, that´s the same as saying that we will just be a burden to you, I am well aware that we are not as strong as you three are, we have neither the experience of father, nor the vast power-pool you gain from the sword and the shield, all we have are our wits and the powers you both, mother and father, have given and taught us.

You ask me how they feel if they were left with Sir Quebec all alone…, how do you think we feel, when you go somewhere where no communication can reach, have you any idea how worried we will be, we might even get sick of worry.

Hell, we are already worried sick with only mother being gone by now.

Also, am I quite certain that currently Sir Quebec has far better and far more pressing things to do, than to babysit 3 children, who are not even his own.

As you know yourself very well, was Bordaussie not the only Island being attacked, there is tons of work for him.

Even if we would stay here, it would only add to his workload, because beside of labor-work, I have no idea about politics, logistic etc., all I know is how to fight, how to put my Paladin and Hybrid powers to good use.

If we however join you on your trip, we can help you far better, you do not have to worry about us because we will be together with you.

You don't want us in danger, yet you leap right into Danger yourself, ain´t you contradicting yourself there a little too much?

You talk about our feelings, yet you have no idea how we feel in the first place…

For all we know you could be gone for months, probably even years…, you honestly think that I would just sit idle by, when I have no idea what happens to you, do you wanna make me an Orphan, like Mom?" Cetala explained, and honestly, even if it annoyed me, she was right.

I tried to tell her, that I knew how she would feel, but in reality, I just knew what I assumed she would feel.

A little she was right about this going the same way, like for her mother when her family vanished, she was left at home and from one day to another became an Orphan, especially when her Grand-Parents died, she only had me to hold unto…, I still remember the countless nights at which she woke from nightmares or in which she cried herself to sleep, in which she clutched my arm just to not feel Lonely.

Cetala, who was closest to her mother, was also the one most worried about her disappearing, that I was sure about, even if she did not truly showed it.

Or maybe she did just showed it right no, her complaining, all of her arguments, were after all just superficial if you look at it in great detail, in reality she just did not want to miss out on being the first, to close her mother back in her arms, once we would find her.

It was something I had to acknowledge, something so harsh to bear, especially for a father…, the fact that Cetala was not just my little girl anymore.

The Little girl I knew and even nowadays always saw in her, was no more, long gone.

She became a young woman who knew exactly what she wanted and thought of ways to obtain it.

Not to mention that her smartness, her courage and her power was already far above average for a beginner-level Paladin

Red said so himself, they managed to fight off an entire enemy Battalion for most of the time, the three of them alone…, even before the sword and the shield awakened, before either myself or the Twins or Dahlia and Frey arrived as backup.

Their enemy was easily over a thousand members strong, they were hopelessly outnumbered and greatly outwitted and still, it was Cetala, who managed, with her wits and creativity, to bring down their Mothership and foil their strategy of darkening the light of the Full moon, for the ghouls to do their gruesome business.

In the end it was her, that saw the signs before the Attack happened…, that alone would be a major reason to take her with us, she had the ability to see past the camouflage technology of the Lycanians.

Honestly speaking, there was far more pros to take her along than there were contras…, but especially because I am a father, I want to keep my children safe, even if it is just my youngest daughter in the end.

The Children are the proof that Merveille and I existed, that she and I loved each other, of course I would rather damn the whole world, than lose one of them.

"Sir…, Mr. Damiens, if I may…, I too think that we should accompany you, although I have no more argument, that hasn´t yet been discussed about, I too wish to do all I can for saving innocent lives…, you saved our life when it was turned upside down, when we were branded as villains right from the get go, without anyone caring about our side of the story.

You listened to us, you took your time to help us, understand us, even went as far as to comfort us when we were shortly before throwing it all away.

You and Ms. Million are the ones who gave us courage and a whole new perspective on life, you showed us, that although we were in a pinch, we might just had to make the best out of this new found reality, that we had to continue the game with the cards we´ve been dealt with.

I, and I think I can speak for my sister as well, we too wish to save Ms. Million and her comrades, for we just owe her so much…, too much, as to idly sit by and watch how the rest of her family puts themselves into unknown danger by trying to safe her, while we might be safe up here…

Although, with the New Moon sect so deeply rooted in the Government, it is certain, that the matter with safety is no longer a given for this Republic.

We might even become a target to them, now that we managed to keep them from overtaking Bordaussie, if I remember right, some of them even already made their move before, on all three of your Children…

I don´t know what we can do, what exactly we might be good for down there, but if we can help to get things done at a faster pace, once we are down there at Ragdoll, then we are willing to put in the work." Yang explained and both Yin and Cetala nodded.

The whole time he had his passionate speech, I looked at them, their mimic, their gestures, none of them were unsure, or made in haste, one each of them had a meaning, but more so, I could see it in their eyes, they believed every word of this claim.

And it was a good claim…, damn was it good.

It completely erased every barricade and barrier I wanted to put up, to block their reasoning to me, but they just broke through like a damn wrecking ball.

My test was not in vain, they had the resolve to fight, the resolve to do anything to safe those they cared for…, honestly speaking I would not even have needed this test, the earlier Battle showed me plenty of how strong their resolve was…, but still, as a Father I had to make them see their options, especially to those who still had a choice.

"Sigh…, alright, I get it, I bet even if I keep forbidding it to you, you will find a way to get down there either way, just like when you were about to meet up with Red behind our back…, so it might as well be better to take you guys along in the first place, this way I might at least be able to defend you, in case anything were to happen.

And you are right…, I don´t know whom to really trust outside of my circle of friends and acquaintances, and as a fact, most of them are already down there in the Devil´s Throat, Quebec surely will have his hands full with cleaning out all the trash within the Kurvaz up here, as well as to mend all lose ends of the Government, as far as possible and that might take a while.

And yes…, we don´t know how long we will be gone…, your mother…, all she had done before Baion´s betrayal, was for the sole goal of finding her family, including working with Baion in order to gain knowledge about the ancient technologies, all for the sake of breaching the Storm-system of the Devil´s throat, in which her mother, and also supposedly the rest of her family, has vanished for 25 years…, and now that she managed it, she might not be able to come back on her own…., unless we go get her.

There is just so much one person alone can do…, even though she is not alone, but you know what I am getting at.

If you guys get in danger once again, I at least want to be at your side, this time I was not able to directly help you, but next time we will face it all together, as a family." I stated and they nodded.

"I…, I´m sorry for speaking out of tact…, but I had to make sure, you hear my opinion without interrupting or belittling it." Cetala stated with an apologetic puppy-glance, and I could only sigh, she knew damn well that this always worked when I am mad at her, which rarely happened in the first place.

"Well, I guess that this settles it then, the White Whale will be soon ready for traveling towards our next destination." I stated as I looked at the same.

"You think it is wise to take this huge thing into enemy territory?" Mayor Blossom asked unsure as he eyed the gargantuan Airship.

"I know what you mean, but since I don´t know how many of the New Moon society bastards still run around in the Republic, it would be worse when they manage to get their hands on this thing.

Also is it from all the Kurvaz Airships and Aircrafts the one with the newest and most advanced technology so far, as well as with the strongest most Plasma-resistant Jacket, we might even be able to make it through the Storm-cloud unscathed, at least for most of the time.

I guess it depends on how thick it is." I explained and he nodded.

"Well, I hope you will get there in one piece, and find your wife unscathed…, I can imagine how the kids must feel.

Back then, 2 years ago, after all this mess with those Two Titans, I had no calm minute in all the time as I searched for my wife, to get any lead to her whereabout.

It lasted about 4 months until they managed to find her dead body under the rubble of a massive building, back in Pharaoh.

After those days I more and more threw myself into work to keep myself from grieving…, but over this, I forgot that I had a daughter to care for, she was all I had left and I almost didn´t cared about her anymore…, you cannot imagine how much I hated myself back then…, but it hurted you know, every time I looked at Cherry, I saw her mother in her and I was reminded of what I had lost.

The two of them could have been siblings.

Back then, when I was not there for her, your son was and he helped her far better than I could have ever done so myself.

I might not have known him that well before, even though I knew about your secret, and honestly, after all this mess with the other Hybrids, I was about to forbid her from seeing him any longer…, but he made her smile, he could comfort her where I had failed…, and alone for this I will ever be grateful to him." Mayor Blossom told me and it filled my heart with pride to hear him praising my son.

"Your Son fought and bled for people he barely knew, he and his siblings fought to defend our home, and it is more than I can tell about myself…, I am forever in his debt, that´s for sure." He continued and I got what he wished to say.

"Now…, I don´t think this is all as true as it sounds, sure they fought Lunnare and the other Enemies, but honestly…, without the people of Bordaussie believing in them and fighting alongside them in their own way, without you motivating them as their mayor, all of this might not have gone by as it has, it might even have gone worse or not worked out at all.

None of you should belittle yourself, everyone who helped saving their home, deserves deep respect from my side." I stated before I snorted.

"Geez, isn´t that exactly what my daughter complained about before, me belittling her, after all she has done for this Island…, I guess as a father, you never cease to learn." I stated and he nodded.

"That is true indeed." He replied.

"Betakin!" I heard it behind us, and I turned to see Connor and Orphelia rushing past us, to meet with the Kids.

"I´m Glad that Cherry has friends with which she can play and truly communicate with, there is just so much a father doesn´t understands about his growing daughter." He stated.

"An Amen to that." I thought with mild amusement as I looked at my Children chatting away with the other Kids, when shortly before, they were still in a Battle to the death with the Enemy.

"Children are sure amazing, they truly show us what having a heart and courage means…, Cherry really has grown, that I must acknowledge as painful as it is to me, as her father, to see her grow up and possibly someday away from me.

She too fought, in her own way, to keep the people safe and give them hope, at least that´s how I was told…, and the pride I feel for her is more than enough, to fill up the Swimming Pool in our Garden." Mayor Blossom chuckled in amusement.

Let me just say, it was the biggest Swimming Pool in all of Bordaussie.

It was mainly used for Birthdays for the Neighbors Children whose parents could not afford it, to throw a big Birthday Party, or when Cherry invited her friends over for Summer Break, of course my children also often visited there.

Since both, Merveille and myself weren´t as often at home as we wished to be, we did not dare to build a Swimming Pool in our Yard, mostly out of safety measures, in case something was to happen and one of the children might almost drown.

Of course, that could also happen in other peoples swimming pool, but when there are so many people around, there is surely a lesser possibility of someone drowning, as if it were just 3 kids.

Not to mention that Mayor Blossom´s Part-time Housekeeper, Mrs. Mittens, kept a watchful eye over them every time.

There was no one better suited for babysitting than her and she was known for it throughout the Island, her schedule was always packed, and Merveille and I often used her services as well, when neither of us both were at home, or packed with work to finish.

To the Children she was like a beloved aunt and to the Parents, like a gift from heaven.

She had such a way with Children, that they always cried tears of sorrow when she had to leave, and always smiled when she returned.

It was a shame that she died, but after all she was already over 90 years old and had long fought with sicknesses.

I still remember her Funeral, the same went over an entire week, as the whole Island wished to attend it, so they had to do it Village by Village, each day the People of another village came to visit her Coffin and speak their prayers.

It was akin to a State-funeral.

Something like this we only knew when the President died, or back when Aegan´s Queen, Meredith Shepherd, the mother of the current Queen Acerola Shepherd, died.

"She might have been another of those, whom I would have entrusted my Children to…, and I knew she would have defended them with her life." I thought to myself as I remembered her smiling face, the last time I saw her alive.

I think the reason she loved and cared for Children so much, was because she herself lost her children, before they could grow to adults.

It was mostly not known and also not by Elhize, but Mrs. Mittens was a Paladin herself, moreover, like both Elhize and myself, a refugee from Ragdoll, one of a few apparently, so it was more akin to say, that she was far over 90 years old, but, due to her wish, I did not ever tell anyone about it.

I know that, whenever Lares or Lemures awakened, our best warriors tried to keep them at bay, until the Rite of Forfeit was completed and they fell back into their slumber, and more than often this battle claimed the lives of countless people, not always just warriors, but often also innocent people who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Mrs. Mittens was special however, for with the last of her forces, she defended Bordaussie herself, with a Shield of extraordinary proportions, rivaling that of what Armatura Impervius currently had shown.

I knew so because of what Cetala told me back then.

The feeling she had, that Mrs. Mittens was with them, close to them, even when she was the whole time at home, but it was not only Cetala but a lot of people, at the Funeral, said the same, that they could feel the warm touch and hear the reassuring voice of her.

It was the day after that, that I visited her and confronted her with my knowledge, there she admitted to be an Ex-Master-Paladin, that used to fight alongside the likes of Aventura Prisalia, Merendor Melizee and Sirius Armin, the ancestors of the 3 Noble Clans of Ragdoll, which made her at the very least roughly 1.500 years old.

"I´m certain her mother would have been proud of what she accomplished today, maybe even prouder than myself could possibly be." Mayor Blossom stated as he let his glance wander over the remains of the once so beautiful Valleys and Hills.

Instead of risking another ambush in the town, the field Lazzaretto, as well as the command center of the Resistance, had been build in the Schwarzwald Forest, between all three, the two Raid-shelters as well as the Secret Hangar at the Million ranch, which on one hand simplified the communication between them as well as the strategic coordination.

Luckily the Resistance had many War-Veterans in their midst, who helped them with advice and actions concerning tactics and strategic planning.

Otherwise, this ragtag bunch would not truly know what to do in that kinda situation, the least of them had any military experiences after all.

"After the fires are gone and silence and peace have returned, the whole attack, these three days of terror and misery, seem like they have been just a gruesome Nightmare, that has meanwhile passed by.

It vanished as swiftly as it came, and those who survived it have to live on no matter what…, for the sake of those who died, we must show the world that we are still standing strong, that this attack has not broken us." Mayor Blossom exclaimed as he kneeled down to pluck a flower from the ground, which bloomed here in the forest.

"It is astounding Mr. Damiens…, although we have tried for around 10 years to cultivate this flower, she never bloomed anywhere else but in this forest.

Even when we recreated the climate or took the soil of this forest along, the seeds just wouldn´t sprout…, as if she knew she would be planted in foreign soil, even with something familiar around her.

The children of Bordaussie, native or not, need this island, this home of them, to sprout and become each a flower on their own, a flower, resilient and steadfast, unbreakable by none, a flower that knows to fight for its right to bloom.

Take that home away from them and they will never be able to spread their roots and create offspring ever again.

Once…, there was a plan to cut down a portion of the Forest, to enlarge the town…, but due to the discovery of this flower and her rarity, as well after a few demonstrations of our local farmers, who all knew of this flower as a healing-ointment against various severe sicknesses, the plan was once again overwritten and another place was found, at which constructions are already underway.

I remember that my grandmother used to use ointments made out of these flowers whenever someone in the family was injured, it prevented infections, which would otherwise become severe enough to kill.

I guess in old times this was used as a means to avoid an early death through sicknesses, so its no wonder that the old folks were so against the idea of razing part of the forest.

To them this flower is almost divine.

I guess, it is thanks to those flowers that this Habitat remains, a place not only for them but for a whole bunch of animals as well, which might have lost their home if we were to pull through with our plan.

Similar to this, the Kids defended their home from the invasion of foreign forces and managed to make them retreat.

Your children fought from the beginning and then the other two kids, led by 2 young coordinators, to the best of their own abilities, came for help and together they were able to do what most had already lost their hope of it happening, they drove the enemy out." He stated as we looked both at My children and their friends, Yin and Yang as well as Connor and Orphelia.

They have put in a lot of work today, and obviously I am just as proud of them as I am of my own children, all of them gave it their all from the very start.

"Seven Children made the first step and we all just followed, but it was this first step that started our Resistance against their forces.

Trientalis Europea, that's the name of this Flower, also known as Chickweed Wintergreen…, or Sevenstar, due to its characteristic seven Petals…, I think that this might be a nice symbol for them, don´t you think?" Mayor Blossom asked.

"To do what exactly?" I replied with a question of my own, I wasn´t really sure where this conversation was going…, but I had a slight presumption, and honestly, I was not sure how to feel about it..

"I will be frank with you Mr. Damiens…, the Republic needs heroes , now more than ever, people they can trust in, when all else fails, once, when you and your wife told me about S.I.T.K.A and the secret Hangar and Lab of the Million Ranch…, I admit, I was at first skeptical, but who could have blamed me…

Children, with the force to shapeshift and bend metal to their will, even having knowledge of using the force to command the elements…, I was shortly to dismiss this knowledge as a mere bad joke…, but in regarding to today, I could not have been more wrong to think that way.

The Children were exactly the heroes that this Island needed, not some guy who comes from outside, and turns our life upside down, just to vanish again when it´s all done, not caring for the aftermath of his actions.

Not that I mean Mr. Savarin with that or anything…, he has shown me that heroes come in all shape and forms, that there is a hero in all of us, all we have to do is to find him and bring him to the surface at the right time…, still…

There is only so much a normal mortal can do.

If anything, what we would need in case of another attack, are local heroes, people that would neither betray us, nor just suddenly leave us behind.

Heroes that grew up and who knew how special this place is and what would be at stake if it ever were to be destroyed.

People who have a home to defend, that's the kind of Hero I wished for, back then when Mr. Savarin saved our World, twice, I hoped he would stay as the beacon we would need…, however he always was on the move as a hunter, here and there.

I bet if he would have been somewhere around Bordaussie, then maybe your children would not have had to fight…, maybe things would have turned out different…, still, even if far away, he managed to find a way, to help us all when we needed it most.

That's when I understood…, A hero is not something constant, it is not part of the Natural System.

A Hero always rises when there is a need for one to rise, when the world is set on fire, from the prayers and the wishes of the people, a hero will arise.

Not because he has been summoned or because he was born with extraordinary powers, which only shall be used to eliminate the threat, no a hero arises because he has gone through the same hardship's others went through, and instead of kneeling, he chose to stand up instead, to not just hope and pray, but to actually do something with his own abilities.

A Hero, or that which people see as one, is someone who acts, rather than to wait that someone else does it, that is what Red Savarin showed me on that day.

He never chose to be a hero, or to become the center of attention in our Republic, he rose to act heroic because there was a dire need for someone to do so.

It was not his hidden powers that defined him, but the way he used them, once he became aware of them.

People began to call him a hero, because he was the first to step up, but if you shed a few more lights on the events of back then, you will quickly see that he wasn´t the only one to get in the action back then.

But some people knew him, saw him on the newspapers, they talked, and those they talked to, talked to others, and so more and more the rumors and the image of this gallant hero was born, even if only 50% of this very image was actually accurate.

There is an old saying which reminds me of this situation.

A good story sells itself twice as nice, but the Truth surely becomes priceless over time.

"I think it stands out of question, especially now that I have seen this…, that Red Savarin is by no means an ordinary person, if I would take a wild guess and if the words of your daughter are true, which I believe, then Red Savarin has been a Hybrid all along…, but different from those who used their powers to dominate, he used them in order to protect.

As there is good and evil in everybody, in every single race there is or ever was, there surely must be good hybrids as well as bad ones.

I think, if people would have gotten to know earlier, that He was a Hybrid himself, this whole prejudice against them might not had have any ground to sprout, it was that secrecy of those involved, that nurtured the soil on which rumors, false accusation and racism began to grow.

And it are those which ultimately lets people like your Children and those other Two kids, hide themselves, shut themselves away from the world, in a way they curse what would make them extraordinary, because other people began to see it as a sickness, a curse so to say.

I remember the reaction of one of those that did not support your Children in their battle, who even refused to do so…, It was a girl in the age of your eldest daughter…, she was totally flabbergasted and unbelieving of the fact that Red Savarin should be a Hybrid himself, even going as far as to cry and yell, it was as if her entire world suddenly crumbled to the ground.

I bet she had it all painted out, him being that Galant hero who could never do wrong, the one, to one day sweep her of her feet and carry her into the sundown…

Although it sounds extremely cliché, can I well imagine myself how she thought all this…, and then well…, then the truth was slammed in her face with unmistakable harshness.

The Hero she admired was not so different from the villains he defeated…, the shock she must have gotten might have been too much for her.

Heck the shock I had when I heard it myself…, then again…, it does not change the fact that he saved the world twice.

You cannot choose your family…, or to whom you are born, not that this would have any importance, his origin does not define how he grows up…, what he becomes in the future, is up to him." The Mayor explained and I nodded in absolute approval.

If Red were as smart as Merveille…, brrrr, I don´t even want to imagine that…, I like him most, when I still have a winning chance against him, just in case.

"That our home was saved, is to a part also thanks to him, alone for that I will be ever so grateful to him.

Anyways…, about what we talked about earlier…?" He asked.

"Ah yeah…, the thing with this whole Bordaussie Rescue team business.

Honestly speaking, I ain´t so sure this would be a good idea, I don´t like the idea that my Children, as well as the Scale-Twins, will be bound by one island only, I get that you want to seek protection for your people, anybody, with as much responsibility as you bear, would want that, but in the end, I doubt that they would stay here when there is trouble on other islands.

Now if we talk about a Region Wide operation team instead, then there is already the Kurvaz and S.I.T.K.A.

Although with all what is going on under the surface, I do not think that the Kurvaz will hold much influence anymore…, after the disaster with General Bruno and the newly surfaced infiltration of the New Moon Society, I can believe that people already lost their faith in them, in my opinion they are pretty much done.

Not that I was ever that much attached to them in the first place, the way they treated Merveille, as she tried to reason with Bruno, to bring him off of his destructive path…,honestly, I only took the leadership of the Jade Palace, because Merveille asked me to do that, she needed someone in place whom she could trust.

Well, it only really added to our workload and we barely got to see each other, we hardly could see our children growing up either…, so yeah, good riddance if you ask me.

If they would ever start from anew, they will need a Leader, which people can trust and have faith in…, and I am certain that this might become Red, or at least he and his Staff of the Scarlet Wolf.

I bet it boils down to this in the end.

People know and trust Red, therefore having him in charge would be logically the best step, publicity wise at the very least, then again, with Merveille, Opera and Sir Quebec at his side, he hardly can do much damage on his own.

I don´t know what it is, but he has definitely changed…, the whole time he was here, it felt as though I looked at someone else, someone I barely recognize, from the day before.

It sure was Red, but not the Red Savarin I knew.

Elhize told me a bit of what went down, before we teamed up at Basset, but I am uncertain that I truly understood everything, I got the gist of it, but I am certain that there is so much more going on under the surface.

Well…, who knows wha might happen in the future, for the time being I am glad that we somehow survived this battle, though the next is already on its way, so my joy might be short lived…, gotta stay happy as long as I can, I guess." I replied and he nodded.

"Yeah, I guess you are right, now that I think about it myself, having them exclusively for Bordaussie´s protection, might even mean to them that they would be held prisoner on this Island, or under observation due to their uncertain affiliation.

Which is naturally in no way my intention…, I don´t want them to misunderstand me, especially since Betakin and Cherry are in a relationship…, but yeah, also for her sake and safety, I hope the Children will at least consider to take up the role as this Region´s protectors.

Heaven´s knows we can use a few of them in our current times.

I could now jam out the common speech of great Power equaling great responsibility, but if I be honest, caring for ensuring the safety of my Citizens being guaranteed, is my job as the Mayor, in case they would decline and rather wish to become a self-governing special response team instead, then I guess it is fine too.

You got my blessings at least." Mayor Blossom exclaimed as he looked at where the Children were.

Contrary from before, they were no longer peacefully chatting under each other, but they were about to throw hands with some other kids…, I guess those must be the hater-party´s youth, as well as the girl the Mayor talked about.

"I guess we better go mediate…, that is also the job of a Mayor, to mediate in times of civil unrest." He stated and I nodded, as we made our way towards them.

"Hmmm, on second thought, I do not think this will be any necessary." I said to him as I pointed at a particular spot behind the crowd.

The crowd that had begun to form around them, indicated that things might get ugly, unless someone steps in, and that someone was already on his way.

Alpharia´s Pov:

Of course, the situation boiled down to this, it couldn´t have gone down any other way.

Where there is support from one side, there is inevitably also hate from the other side.

The People of Bordaussie were split, in the Neutral part that was on one hand appreciative for the protection and the safety we provided, on the other hand however skeptical of what our true intentions, for helping out, were…, or at least where our alliance stood.

The Supporters were that part who actively helped saving their home, Bordaussie, those who managed to get off their asses and into the fray themselves, knowing very well what we had to deal with.

And then there were them, the people who now stood infront of us, and tried to make their opinion heard, in the simplest way they knew, by bitching and biting…, they were the Haters.

"So you just gonna leave now or what, after all the damage you have done, you just gonna walk away as if nothing happens!?" Raphaella shouted outraged with totally unjustified rage, mind you.

"For the last damn time Raphaella, we are not out of hot waters yet, there is still a battle to fight for us, if we do not cut the root of this evil off, then there will come more and more of such invasions.

Can´t you get that in that pea-sized brain of yours?" I replied dryly, as I glared at her, while Betakin had to literally hold me back, before I could perhaps slug her…, believe me I was shortly before doing so.

"Yeah right, this mysterious battle in that mysterious place, what was it called again, Ragdoll…, never heard of it…, anyone else…., see, no one knows about this place, so I think that all you spout is but bullshit." She literally spat in my face.

"Of course, people wouldn´t know about it nowadays, the Island hasn´t been accessible for the last 300 years due to the Devil´s Throat´s velocity.

However, as you should know by now, has the same began to get weaker, allowing Airships to pass through, willingly or unwillingly…, or do you honestly think that both, the Royal Envy, as well as the Golden Roar, just vanished in thin air?

Get a grip girl, otherwise you just become a laughing stock here." I replied with just as much ferocity as she did.

"The only Laughing stock here is you…, who knows what the Kurvaz has planned this time, everywhere where you Millions are involved, something bad just follows.

Why don´t you just leave this place, get of the island and back to where you came from!?" Raphaella just continued to slander me.

"I was born on this Island you bloody Idiot, where the hell would I go to if not here!?" I asked her and I was raring to throw some fists in that dolled up face of hers.

"Anywhere is better than near us…, just go, leave this island, there are a ton of other places you could mess up, why has it to be here?" She replied in a near desperate tone, not hiding the venom in her mouth though.

"Betakin, I swear to all that is holy, let go of me so I can slug this stupid bitch!" I shouted as I struggled to break free from my brothers hold.

"Stop it Alpharia, fighting among us is not going to help anyone!" He shouted trying to keep me restrained.

"Tell that to this fucking Bitch!" I shouted, I was out of my mind with rage…, how long do we have to let us being ridiculed by people like that, haven´t we just risked our life to save these peoples?

"What´s it going to be Witch, will you now curse me with your magic, will you suffocate me without touching me, or break my neck…, or will you miraculously throw me into the next tree with your psychokinesis, like that other monstrosity over there did…, yeah don´t think for a second that I do not recognize you, you witch.

You are that Libra-girl, that killed those People in an Alley in Pharaoh, 2 years ago, and your brother killed some people in a park there the same night.

There were rumors that you escaped Law enforcement and went into hiding somewhere on this island, guess we now know who hid you all the time, not that it is anymore surprising.

If that is not evidence enough for your wickedness, then what is, I guess birds of a Feather flock together, right!?" Raphaella stated with a nervous but wicked grin.

Honestly, I was not sure if she was stupid or downright suicidal, if I were a least bit as nasty as the way she described me, she surely would be dead by now.

However, that she now attacked Yin, who had to go through so much already, really let the barrel overflow.

"Betakin, unhand me, now!" I shouted at my brother.

"No, you only going to make yourself unhappy." He stated in exhaustion, still restraining me.

"Maybe, but at least I can satisfy my anger!" I replied, struggling even wilder.

"C´mon, do it, show us your true colors, witch, everyone will see how you really are, c´mon use your devil´s powers to hurt me!" This Crazy Bitch really had no brain at all, so it seemed.

"Believe me Bitch, I don´t need any Special powers to beat that plastered visage of yours, into something more artistic, my fists will surely suffice!" I shouted as I finally broke from my restrains as I pushed Betakin aside, and just as I was to show this Bitch the way of the Fist, Vincent had to launch his own assault, stepping between us.

"Back of Slut, get away from my Girlfriend." He stated as he held up a metal pipe, ready to bring it down, but before I could react, Betakin already rushed past me, his fist connecting with Vincent´s Face.

"NO ONE CALLS MY SISTER THAT WAY!" He shouted in complete outrage, as he brought down a slugfest of Fists on that idiot´s face.

It seemed that now all hell would break lose, but a mighty voice at the right time, managed to bring order to the chaos.

"Alright you little fellas, that is quite enough, we do not need this crap right now, we got enough problems on our hand either way." Sir Quebec´s warm and yet powerful voice exclaimed loudly, as he held each boy in one hand.

"Let go of me old-timer, I will beat this Asshole to a pulp!" Vincent shouted in rage.

"Excuse you…, what was that, I wasn´t quite listening, did you say something right now?" Sir Quebec asked, as he laid a heavy paw on Vincent´s shoulder, before he got close to his face, way too close and intimidating.

So much I think Vincent shit himself a little, it would explain the sudden stench.

"No-nothing sir…"

"Yeah, that's what I thought, I think it's the age, I often seem to hear things, just now I thought to hear someone calling me an old-timer…, even though I am but 50 years old, not that old wouldn´t you think?" He asked, as we clearly could see how Vincent, and anyone around him, paled as white as a sheet.

It wasn´t just Sir Quebec's imposing stature, but also the sheer experience of a military veteran, that made them back off.

"No, I would say you look quite young for your age sir." Vincent quickly exclaimed, at least here he clearly knew that he would not win this fight, by a large gap.

"Oh you flatterer, if you were a girl I might even blush by now…, anyways, I see a lot of empty hands standing around here, my men and I could clearly use some help to clean up that huge pile of rubble over there, otherwise we might be here until tomorrow, you know, and I got places to go and places to be, you know." Sir Quebec stated, as he gently but demandingly pushed Vincent in the wished direction, while looking at all the others of the Haters Fraction, who knew no other way but to obey.

It was his aura that had them all on edge, the aura of a seasoned veteran, always ready for a good brawl.

"This ain´t over Million!" Vincent stated aloud as he was towed by Quebec to the aforementioned Pile of Rubble.

"Aah, there it is again, I keep hearing things…, must be the age, maybe I really do get old." Sir Quebec stated as his grip around Vincent´s shoulder slightly tightened.

"It must be the Wind Sir." The same quickly replied, his expression one of utter terror.

"Aye…, must be the wind indeed!" Quebec laughed heartly before he walked away, not without winking at us.

"Alright…, this really took all the boiled-up steam straight out of me…, but boy, seeing Vincent being scared shitless is the best thing today by far." Betakin stated with a grin, as he dusted of his clothes and inspected his knuckles which were scraped up, as well as his bloody lip.

"Geez, and I had just patched you up…, you really need to care more for your health, Beta." Cherry stated as she looked at him in worry.

"Yeah…, i´m sorry, after all of your effort, i´m just going to ruin it all again." He stated apologetic and I just shook my head.

"Thanks for defending my honor, brother." I stated as I hugged him heartfully.

"T´was nothing, anyone would have done that, if someone would insult a family member." Betakin replied in embarrassment, as he crawled his neck with a blush.

"But they sure getting rowdy…, of course it was expectable that they would not stay silent, but that they already now start fighting against us…, or was it just Vincent and Rebecca´s over-eagerness…, hardly I would say." He mused.

"Even if, what is the point of all this, I mean I cannot remember to have seen even one of them helping to liberate the city, or saving someone, they just barricaded themselves in the raid shelters as soon as we were out, even after everything was over they refused to open them up for nearly 2 hours before the mayor could finally coax them out.

A lot of people could have been helped far earlier, if it weren´t for them being stubborn and acting all idiotic." Garfield replied.

"I guess it is not necessary to understand them, all you have to do is avoiding to get mixed up with them.!" Michaela stated with a huff as she stood by my side.

"And what did they mean with the Twins…, it looked like they knew you from way before…, but even I can tell that I don´t know them, I just assumed they were members of your team…, ain´t that right?" Suzanne asked as she looked at Yin and Yang, who both kept themselves in the background and so quiet, you might even forget that they were there at all.

The former insult of Rebecca to them, surely did not passed them unscathed.

They managed to live with the shame because no one mentioned it much afterwards, but to have someone saying straight in your face that you are a monster, as well as listing up any apparent crime you should have committed, although in this case the crime was but self-defense.

"They are the Libra twins right, I saw the news back on television years ago, they fled the Law enforcement of Pharaoh after falsely being accused of murder, though it was plain to see for me that they only ever defended themselves and then were persecuted in a literal witch-hunt, that was shortly after the attack at the Republic by those evil hybrids, so people had a lot of prejudice to them.

And well, their situation did not truly favor their standing back then…

But wasn´t there some trial a few months after that, in which their innocence was declared, after evidences were found that the cameras records were manipulated by members of the I.D.A forces, in order to gain a scapegoat for all of the damage that was done during the Attack since the true culprits could not be found?" Garfield asked and the two paled.

"Indeed, they were officially declared as innocent under the pretext of self-defense against their assailants, after the corruption was discovered and the real records were shown, about the initial attacks before their forces manifested, as well as when Gilmore Libra, their father, was forced to reveal the real medicinal files of the Hospital.

In their it was remarked by the leading surgeon, that the organs they got transplanted into their bodies, did not match with the description of the file attached to them, but back then, in a hurry no one really checked on them anyways, to confirm their origin.

The kids needed new organs quick, so as long as the blood-type was the same as well as the Blood clean, no one checked if those organs were truly the ones requested, and regarding the fact that their bodies accepted them without much of a problem, for almost half a year, no one really dared to question where those new organs came from.

That and the huge amount of money which Mr. Libra paid, in order to make them safe his Children.

Well, that was before the incident, during the investigation afterwards, the real file was found, attached to the wrong container, in which those mysterious organs had been declared as being token from the bodies of those 2 hybrids for examination.

The Mix-up must have happened during transportation and only in the lab of S.I.T.K.A. the mistake was found, as the D.N.A.-analysis found a match, despite them two never being registered in an official list.

Logically the surgeons could not just take the organs back, so in a mutual agreement, the whole incident was kept a secret until the day of the Trial.

Of course, did the trial end in both the surgeons, as well as Judge Libra, to lose their authorization in their previous jobs, meanwhile the Children were officially declared as innocent but out of security measures they were to be observed for the time period of 5 years, for that our Mother and Father offered the Judges, to take them into their custody, although that had been their plan all along.

What the twins needed was a family…, or at least people that could understand them and whom they could trust, so who was better for the job than us who lived our whole lives with similar forces." Cetala explained to them in a way that was easy to understand and accept, I was thankful to her for handling it, I knew both Betakin and I, we would surely have tangled us up in making excuses and defending them.

We were far too involved with both of them after all, Betakin and Yang were like real brothers most of the time we were in private, or at least then when they were together.

Yin and I acted like sisters, often seeking the opinion of the other about love, life and fashion.

Cetala was more on a superficial basis with them, she neither hung too much at them but also not left them sit in a corner, I guess she cared for them in her own way.

Most of the time the two of them lived with us on the ranch but were privately tutored in the Hangar underneath, but they had to make regular half-year check-ups for the government, in which they had to spent a week at the White Whale, to have their vitals and the progress of their forces documented, just as it was the case before the attack.

They are as unique as everyone of us is.

So for Rebecca to call them Monsters, was totally inappropriate, just like everything that leaves her mouth.

They are people just like you and I, all they did was live their lives as normal children before that attack turned their lives upside-down.

We help them bringing them back in the usual bounds and being a support to them whenever they feel like the weight of the world would be dropped upon their shoulders." She continued and I nodded before I sighed.

"In one thing that bitch though is right…, and I hate to admit that more than you think…, but when people don´t seem to understand you, it is only logical to keep the company of those who go through the same, so yes, I guess she was right when she said that birds of a feather flock together…, but only in this she was right." I explained and we all nodded.

"If…, if I may…, we…, we are so grateful towards Lady Million and her family, so if we can do something for them, than we will do so to the best of our abilities." Yin stated with a really cute confident face and clenched fists.

"Geez, you are always so lucky Alpha, this girl is real sugar…, so sweet, so cute." Michaela explained, as she embraced Yin heartfully, who was fully surprised by that and began blushing furiously as well as squirming in sudden embarrassment.

"Well…, no matter your past, it is without a doubt a fact, that the liberation of Bordaussie is also to a big part thanks to you, if you would not have arrived in time for supporting Beta and the others, then things might have gone terribly wrong here, for that you have my outmost gratitude." Garfield expressed his thankfulness by shaking Yang's hand wildly, who was equally surprised like his sister, but not only Garfield, a lot of people from the supporter fraction, that had stood around on our side, during the earlier commotion, came to congratulate them as well.

For the first time in over 2 years, the Twins were the center of attention once more, but this time around, they stood in a far more favorable position than back then.

.

.

.

"So…, now that that has been taken care of…, what is your plan from here on out…, I mean I heard that you guys have to leave us in order to search for your mother, but that surely ain´t the only reason you are leaving right?" Garfield asked.

"Unfortunately not, it were nice if it would be only for that…, there might be a war breaking out soon, inside of the Devil´s throat, between the Republics forces and the Lycanians.

They have occupied father´s homeland for the last 300 years." I explained while Betakin nodded.

"Your father´s Homeland, you mean this ragdoll place right, but if it was occupied how did your father managed to get out?" Michaela asked unsure.

"Well he simply wasn´t there, by the time they came, he had already left the island for good, or so it was before mother ended up there a couple of days ago." I explained.

"Wait a second…, how can it be his homeland, where he was born and on the other hand not be the place where he lived when they attacked, especially when you say they occupied it for the last 300…., years…., hold on a second…, how old exactly is your father?" Suzanne asked dumbfounded.

"620 years old!" all three of us replied in unison.

"Hold on…, what…, are you kidding me, tell me you are kidding me right?" Michaela asked in pure shock, more than I though she would feel about this reveal.

"Hold on…, why does this shock you so much…, don´t tell me you…, you were…?" I asked in shock myself, I never even though about this.

"Well, he does not look that much older than us…, or so I thought and I gotta admit, he was totally my type, strong, intelligent and courageous…, but now, hearing that he is actually older than my grandmother…, I don´t know what to believe anymore." Michaela explained blushing deep red.

"When the hell did this even happen?" I asked unsure.

"A couple of years ago…, you know, back then when I almost drowned in the lake by the forest, when all of our families had that big picknick together to watch the cherry-blossom-trees in full bloom.

We went to take a swim, but I suddenly cramped and you could not really reach me as I was drifted out on the lake, drowning.

Your father saved me, and brought me back to the shore princess style, he even performed CPR on me…, I guess that's when it happened, when I must have become attracted to him." Michaela replied, her blush getting even redder.

"Yeah I understand…, but you knew he was together with mother…, and my father to boot?" I asked her.

"As if that would matter to love, of course I knew my sudden DILF fantasy would never come true, but still, at least let me keep dreaming…" She replied.

"Geeez…, alright, as long as it only remains as dreams, I guess I can live with that, although it is pretty awkward to know." I replied.

"I knew you would understand." Michaela stated fidgeting.

"Alright, after this awkward display of sudden affection, let´s go back to the main topic, shall we…, so you say that there might break a war out on Ragdoll?" Garfield asked unsure.

"Yeah, though that isn´t the only current battlefield as far as we know, the other Free Regions, the Nippon Archipelago and the Kingdom of Prairie, are equally under attack right now.

This massive Invasion must have been planned by a long shot, so that we have to spread our forces over the whole Republic unable to truly fight at one place at a time, with our battalions spread thin, as well as the corruption that has already rotted the trunk from within, our resistance greatly depends on the outside help from King Maranell and the forces of Shangri-La." Betakin explained.

"Wait you mean the wolf king of Legends, the king of Ten Moons…, He is really still alive and kicking?" Garfield asked in shock and surprise.

"Indeed he is, I think otherwise a great chunk of Armatura Impervius´s power would have dwindled by now if he weren't…, and we should be grateful that he is still alive, due to that our Brother Red, as we know him today, was able to live and grow up in the first place, he is his heir and so the prince of Ten Moons.

On the other hand, that makes Alpharia and myself a member of the Seven swords, his Royal Knights, advisors and bodyguards in one…., although I don´t really know if it then should still be called Seven swords…, but just adding, `and one Shield´ to it sounds equally silly…, I will ask him but we may or may not have to change that name." Betakin replied before losing himself in thoughts again.

"I think you read too much into this, from ancient times ago, it has always been called Seven swords even if the Shield of Armatura Impervius has always been an addition, according to history, the Shield only came to be because the original size of the sword was far to big for anyone normal to wield, so it had to be remodeled after its creation into something handier.

However, instead of just throwing the enchanted excess steel away, they embedded the same into a shield, effectively creating a second Sword, just in shield form.

So in order to keep it accurate, it should be called the Eight Swords, but since the eighth one is in shape of a shield, they just kept the name and made the Sword and the Shield one unity, making it the only pair in the group, also, since the King himself shall possess a equally sword, as strong as all the other Seven, they already have an eighth sword.

Although as far as my knowledge goes, no one ever has seen the sword since its first and only use in the rumored Dragon War.

Anyways most of that happened in the far past so it should not really concern our present, we just have to make sure that none of the mistakes of the past will be made again, then we should be good to go I guess." Cetala stated.

"Maybe, although the past will always be our teacher, at least that´s what mother always says." I replied and she nodded.

"Well, she ain´t wrong with that." Cetala replied.

"Still one thing is clear, whether we go to find our mother, fight a war or to explore an unknown territory, our leaving is bound to reap a lot of resentment from the Haters and maybe also from the formerly Neutral parties, after all and that is undeniable to anyone looking at it, that the town is mostly in ruins.

Of course, they cannot really say that all of it is our fault, I mean we surely did not bombarded half of the town…, but yeah, we did kinda trashed the entire central plaza in our last fight, alone for that they can rightfully make us responsible, so our leaving might mean to them that we run away from our responsibilities, and I bet the hater-party will use that in their hate-paroles, you have seen Rebecca and Vincent.

I wonder how our life will go from here on out, if we return from Ragdoll alive?" Betakin exclaimed and we, means the Twin, Cetala and myself nodded, this was the question in the back of our heads, which we tried our best to avoid asking.

"Well, you know whom you can trust, if that is any comfort to you, I mean we all have seen your bravery, every one of us did, so I think, although they might complain about all the damage, it is also undeniable that thanks to you most of us are even alive, let alone free." We heard a voice saying as Miss Lorraine appeared together with the Mayor, Mr. Gelhauser, the Leuchtmeier Family, the Bishops and Michaela´s family, which had finally be found, fortunately alive.

"If it weren't for you, holding of the enemy long enough for help to get through, we might have died on dehydration." Michaela´s Father, Mr. Toronto, explained and both, he and his wife shook our hands wildly and with big and tearful smiles.

"Thanks to you our daughter is safe and sound…, I cannot tell you how grateful I am." Mrs. Toronto explained as she too burst into tears.

"Now, now Amanda, we said we would not cry and make a scene here, didn´t we?" Mr. Toronto gently reprimanded his wife.

"Yeah, yeah I know…, but thanks to them I can still embrace my daughter…, as we were trapped in that cave for two days, I almost went nuts from worry about Michaela, you too, don´t you deny it, Walter." Amanda Toronto exclaimed as she glared at her husband, who raised his hands in defense.

"Guilty as charged, I guess!" Walter Toronto nodded with a smile as he held his wife and daughter close.

"Many People owe you their lives, so don´t think that all of us would suddenly avoid you, or stay still when people would try to go against you, sure it takes time to accept this, but this is the same at every catastrophe that happens.

We are vary of what we don´t know, what has either not been there before, or what was hidden all along, but eventually we all accept it with the time passing." The Mayor exclaimed and we nodded, I guess he was right about that, although I did not truly cared about Rebecca accepting me either way, as long as she left me alone, I guess we are good.

"Kids, it´s about time to depart, please say your goodbyes and get on board, we will take off in ten minutes." We heard Father´s voice shouting loudly.

"Yeah, we are coming!" We replied in unison.

"I guess this means goodbye, for now at least, but I am sure we will soon be back." I stated to Suzanne and Michaela.

"I don´t care how long it takes, as long as you promise me to come back safe and sound, we will always bee waiting for you." Suzanne explained while Michaela nodded.

"Geez, you guys, you make me tear up you know." I stated as I embraced both.

"You guys truly are the best." I exclaimed as I held them close.

Out of the corner of my eyes I could see that Garfield said his goodbye´s to Betakin, Yin and Yang, who both looked dumbfounded but also relieved and I guess also somewhat grateful.

Betakin and Garfield hugged and I think Garfield flew straight to cloud nine, instead of parting instantly, Betakin held him close for a little while, maybe as a reward, as good friends this was as much as he allowed himself before it might get awkward.

Betakin was tolerant and he held Garfield in high regard, as a friend and comrade, that much was clear, but I hardly believe he would ever reach that shore, not that Cherry would ever let him Sail away anyways, at least not any time soon I guess.

Speaking of the same, of course their reunion was more heartfelt than any before, maybe also due to the fact that soon they would have to part again, the way both gazed into each other´s eyes could make you jealous…., at least I was, I proudly admit it.

Inertly I sighed, I also wished I had someone who loved me in such a way as Cherry did to Betakin, someone who would long for me when I am not close, who would cry for me when I am about to go…, someone who would kiss me in the same manner as both did right now.

I was honestly so desperate for that kind of love, that I did not even care anymore whether it came from a boy or a girl, I just wanted to obtain what I had always thought I needed to distance myself from, due to my secrets.

If I would know that either of them both, Suzanne or Michaela, would swing that way…, let´s just say, the sleepovers might become too spicy for them.

No matter the thing with Love, right now we had different and far more pressing problems to solve.

"From here on out the real challenge begins, I bet Lunnare was not the only one with the ability to transform in such a way, and we might encounter more of that Dark Council, we ought to be careful, if Lunnare was the 7th seat of 12, that means that there are at least 6 others who are far stronger than her." I stated and the others nodded.

"Indeed…, and that might not even include Lycan and his personal Bodyguards, if each of them leads a Battalion, or even almost an army of their own, we are in for a rough ride." Betakin replied.

"He´s right, if we assume that the majority of Ragnarök lies in his hands then we are hopelessly outnumbered, therefor we need to seek alliances with the other Free Regions, and if possible, also with the remains of the Abyssinia Empire and Shangri-La.

If we add all of them, we might at least have a better chance as if we each fight on our own.

We need a capable leader to motivate all of the people to join, having Red might be their best way to recruit people…., but I am unsure that he would take the leading role for that, I mean, if he becomes King one day, he will be far too occupied." Cetala explained.

"I guess you are right…, but it will be hard finding anyone more trustworthy for the people, after all he saved the Republic and the World." Betakin replied.

"I guess that's right…., but I think we will see about that, when it happens…, anyways it's about time we get a move on, otherwise they fly without us." Yin explained as she gestured towards the Docks, where the White Whale just finished loading things for our next travel.

"Well, I guess this means goodbye, at least for now…, while I am not quite sure how long we will be gone, I really hope that all of you stay healthy and take good care of yourself, right." Betakin stated before he was embraced by Cherry who cried tears of sadness…, but I guess some proud ones were also in the mix.

"And that says the one going off to war…, you know I've read in many novels about such a scene, where somebody goes off to war and the parents and siblings and lovers stand there, waving until he is unable to be seen, it is always a heartwarming and exciting scene…, so I used to think at least.

But now, that I am experiencing the same, all I can say is that I do not wish for you to go…, even if I know that you have to, that your destiny can only be found there where you are heading…., geeez this really sucks…" Garfield explained with a long drawn sigh, before he crawled his neck, sighed again before he walked up to Betakin.

"Sorry, but not sorry." He just said before he kissed Betakin on his cheek, much to the shock of everyone else.

Though it was more that fact, that he was brave enough to do so infront of everyone, especially Cherry, that astonished us.

"I won´t apologize…" He stated blushing as he looked straight at Betakin, with a stubborn and serious face.

"Even if you hate me now." He continued.

Betakin was almost in a daze as he reached his hand up to the cheek that had been kissed.

But instead of doing something as tactless, as to rub it back off, he actually just held his hand against it, before closing his eyes and sighed but smiled.

"Thanks…, I guess." He just said, before he pulled Garfield in a one armed hug.

"I will keep this life that you so cherish and I will return, I promise you…, I promise all of you." He stated aloud, as he also embraced Cherry, Connor and Orphelia.

"We all will come back home…, perhaps even as heroes." He stated and all we could do was to nod.

Coming back home as heroes…, quite the undertaking I would say.

"Let´s keep it at `coming back home alive´, I guess that will be hard enough." I thought as I looked up in the sky, the future was unknown to us, we could predict what we wished to happen of course, but ultimately, life, fate and the great big universe, all three of them, had their own plans for us mortal beings.

All Life comes to an end one day, its at us to make sure how we will meet ours.

"A Wise man once said, Heroes are born in the darkness, forged in battle and defined by their sacrifices…, I don´t know if this works for us as well, but if fighting to safe others and coming back home alive, to those who eagerly await us, makes us heroes, then we might as well just make it." I mumbled as my siblings and myself made our way over to the White Whale, the future unknown lied ahead of us.

"Let´s pay heed the squall…, shall we?"

(ED-song, Reality by Divide Music)

To be continued in the main-story…

A/N: Phew finally done…, as you are surely aware I had needed months, literal months to write this chapter and I guess it shows itself in the worldcount, this is by far the biggest Chapter I have ever written and although I am unsure if (for you at least) this is any satisfying as an ending of this side story to you, I do hope that it pleased at least some of you.

Of course is this Chapter packed with information for the upcoming Books and the last few Chapters of the main story, which are still in work and yes, I am sorry but it might still last a long time until they are done.

if even just one of them chapters will become as big as this one, then I guess I will need a long time to write them, but note that I am already on the move.

In anyways, after this story comes the next one called Valhalla Rising which will show you the events after Tereza Gelatorias met up with some of her old friends from Valhalla all those Kumear who have heard the call of their home through FLNB and who made their way to the Korat Archipelago to assist their Queen in the upcoming Battles at Ragdoll, but before they can do so, there are some hurdles to overcome.

1/3 of the Story is meanwhile already written and will soon be posted after a quick overview, before the rest comes in the next few months.

I will not promise that I can finish it by the end of the year as I have also a lot on my plate privately, but I will do as much as I can.

Anyways I really hope you like the Side stories so far and you could cheer for my OCs a little bit, while they fought their own battles.

As we now know, your enemy is not always you only opponent, sometimes your mind makes just as much of a formidable foe than any enemy can do.

In order to unlock the power within you, you will first have to accept yourself, just the way you are, if you know yourself that way, you will be able to draw the most out of the power you possess.

I hope you consider to leave a review, I would really appreciate it, likes and favorites, suggestions or constructive critics are also welcome, but be sure to stay respectful.

Sincerely yours truly.

The Storyteller and his Books.