Se-Yeon's arrival, and soon, his departure from their world occurred concurrently to what the comrades, barring Stanislav, were doing. A raid on a Glowgen armory in Denver, trying to stop Gabriel Miller, Glowgen's CTO, from advancing on some soul research stuff they know about. Already obtaining two weapons stated to be attuned to a Fluctlight, and the third in the hands of two members of the elite section of the security, in truth, AST members who've gotten lost in the craziness known as dimensions.

After some battling with the security, with Drahoslav using one of the comrade's most potent abilities from their FLIC and Jaraslav battling the least experienced elite member, named Niya, an explosion ripped the walls apart, spreading tons of dust into the air.

The other two, who came by the names Shu, and Asami, protected two more comrades, Jaraslav, and Zelislav, with a combined territory from their activated Realizers. The other two's status, unknown.

The dust and debris settled. The weapon and weapon racks inside the weapon's room in the armory busted or down on its knees. Several other walls collapsed, a giant pile of dirt slid into all available homes crafted from the explosion. Shu's short black hair and Asami's lengthier hair of the same shade dusted.

Shu turns to Niya, Jaraslav, and Zelislav, "Are you guys okay?"

Niya and Zelislav nod. While Jaraslav's shortened green hair with char edges towards his two fellow comrades. Drahoslav, and Dvinaslav.

Drahoslav's mesomorphic frame, black-haired swish with purpled dyed near the edges, dropped over him. A few scorched corpses near him and a giant field of purple flames surrounding him. Nearly falling flat on the ground as a similar aura, the same that managed to burst through blast doors, fades.

Further away, Dvinaslav didn't face heavy resistance or drainage. Nor the brunt of the explosive collapse of the structure. It took more time for Jaraslav to notice, but he said to his fellows.

"They're alright, and Dvina's in better condition…"

His attention soon changed towards the clearing sky. Light from the afternoon sun leaking through to reveal a female figure that stood at the edge. Hints of a dress and twintails. And soon, the dominant colors of red and black.

Jaraslav stares at the individual, his eye twitch, "No…. No… No way… She is… Here…"

Zelislav and his short green hair with blue zigzags dyed in, and Niya, with her green hair with a ponytail, looked up. Noticing the figure up there.

"Who's that..?" Zelislav asked.

Jaraslav faces his head, "LOOK WHERE I'M POINTING! IT'S HER!"

Shu and Asami immediately noticed what's happening, with Shu pointing a device similar to a temperature gun but with a trigger towards it.

"I'm getting spirit waves… I'm seeing a number of sorts… Two twenty?"

Zelislav asks again towards Shu, "Is that a bad thing?"

"It is! That's confirmation that presence up there is actually a Spirit."

"Don't get too aggressive now. She probably isn't in the mood to deal with AST bullcrap," Jaraslav said.

Meanwhile, the Spirit descends to the ground, not bearing any weapons. For certain, leading Jaraslav to get up from his condition and beginning to walk towards the individual.

As he did, he said, "Out of all the places in time and space, Tokisaki Kurumi shows up here..."

She kept going her own way, with a slight smile on her face. Something Jaraslav completely saw through as he kept watch of his.

"What do you want?" Jaraslav asked, keeping his tone cordial, however serious.

From the sidelines, Shu slowly inches for his weapon. Mumbling to Asami, "What is he doing, interacting with Nightmare like that…"

Zelislav raises his voice, "Jaraslav's the one to engage in diplomacy first before entertaining a battle. And for him to know his name would probably influence him to do that."

Kurumi stared up at the taller person Jaraslav was, slightly laughing before beginning her rather polite response, "I've been made… Keenly aware of another Spirit. Disclosed by a Closer and what you refer to the First Spirit."

"You…"

"A male Spirit made by another man… A doctor unassociated with DEM..." Kurumi interrupts. "Perhaps you know its name, Jaraslav?"

Jaraslav doesn't respond and instead backs away from the Spirit. Instead, slowly gritting his teeth while staring towards the two people most prone to attacking when the chance allowed itself.

"How the hell does she knows this? I know she can tap into the past… But what did she do to learn these facts?"

Kurumi walks behind Jaraslav and continues, "Was the name… Élisée by chance, if my memory serves well?"

"That name is not to be uttered so casually like this-!" Jaraslav interjects./

"My assumptions are correct, then. Can you please disclose Stanislav's location..."

"Why do you want that?"

"I just want to meet him. To see the product of Élisée's work in replicating what she accomplished."

"You're interested in what Section Two did?"

"Ara ara, you caught on quickly. As expected of the intellectual of your little group of five. Odd he isn't here…"

"Our presence here is none of the business you're attending towards. Please leave, Kurumi."

Her attention soon changed to the two AST agents. "Are those two members of the AST?"

Shu immediately drew his Realizer's weapon, believing he'll need to engage her in a fight.

"Yes… But, do we have to resort to murder in this rather civil attempt to prevent an incident?"

Kurumi oddly turns silent from the instance of Jaraslav's question. Watching Shu prepare to make his move while anticipating her own for what's to happen next.

Zelislav got up, setting Niya down on the floor as he rushed in front of Shu and quickly said, "Don't try and provoke her. They're doing okay!"

Jaraslav looked there for a moment before saying to Zelislav, "Zeli, can you tell Draho and Dvina to come over here."

After it, Kurumi kept her distance close to Jaraslav. "Maybe we can agree on something here…"

"What are you talking about..."

"We don't want violence on either side. You and your… Fellow tribunes experienced far too much the costs of war."

He then mumbles, "What does it have to do with you?"

Kurumi just chuckles. Leaving an ambiguous void. Jaraslav left to his own devices and to conduct a possible decision, now that he noticed his comrades inching towards him. But, after a minute, the woman spoke once more.

"A proposal for you and your friends. Provide some sacrifices and names. Then, I'll assist you."

He kept his eyes closed. Thinking about the deal.

However, Drahoslav said, "Assist in what? I'm not going to believe such a deal."

"Under any circumstances, don't agree!" Shu shouts.

Suddenly, Kurumi rushed Shu and gave a quiet finger perpendicular to her lips. Returning to the comrade's attention the moment she regained control.

"Your call. Two minutes," she spoke again.

The four comrades huddle together, which was when Jaraslav began to speak.

"The situation is in our court. She's not willing to kill us, but she's willing to help us. Hopefully, with her own knowledge of things, we can return home and get back with our normal lives and hopefully reintegrate into society back home."

"What about our goal a week or two ago?" Drahoslav buts in.

"You said that was our plan when we got there. Things have changed now. We're in a stronger position if we accept her proposition as opposed to trying to contact this Kazuto person." Dvinaslav explained. "We won't have to wait until next year in this case."

"But there's one important factor, considering she met Se-Yeon somehow and that she knows our names and the war. Including what our actual titles are in the group." Drahoslav replies.

"To be honest, I agree with Draho on this," replied Zelislav. "It's worrying she might try and use it to assassinate us. Not to mention, she knows what Élisée has done against us. And, even did to others."

"Including Stanislav…" Jaraslav mumbles. "This deal she proposed is tough to balance… We should compromise."

All of the comrades make a single nod and a four-way fist bump.

"We can sacrifice Hamilton, Roosevelt, and Lincoln…" Dvinaslav suggested.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Dvina? We're talking about ending people's lives here!" Drahoslav interjects, fiercely staring his eyes towards her.

"Look at it this way, Draho. We won't have to handle two people and a person holding us back. We can reduce our baggage. Those three persons over there look more competent than they are!"

"We're not throwing Hamilton, Roosevelt, nor Lincoln just because they provide nothing of real worth to us. Were not that cruel?"

"How many times did we sacrifice our own men during the Battle of Kosice? When you were in charge of the overall battle?"

"We had an overall strategy in that fight that we've agreed upon. So we had to sacrifice some easily replaceable men to accomplish it."

Jaraslav, as he noticed the fighting, attempts to say over what Drahoslav said, "Dvina had a point there."

However, Drahoslav spoke rougher, "Right now, it's not apart of our plan to send people to death to accomplish our goals. Not people who had no involvement in the fighting we've been against Glowgen. Do you need your glasses, or are you too ignorant to get your arse to give a shit?"

Dvinaslav grits her teeth and stared at Drahoslav, cooking up an insult. However, Jaraslav used their pause to break it.

"Both of you need to keep your tempers in check. Cause right now, you both are worse than Nero and Caligula combined!"

Zelislav looks towards his friend, "Then you have no right to call yourself better than Trajan."

"Or Augustus," Jaraslav stares Zelislav.

Jaraslav turns his head, returning to look at Dvinaslav and Drahoslav again, "We can't hold baggage to people who're less capable than us. Especially when we have good replacements in Shu, Asami, and Niya."

"What about them?" Drahoslav tilts his head.

"I literally had to fight Niya and used Optimise to break her spirit and her Realiser. Not to mention, they're AST."

"AST? Like in that spirit story?" Zelislav butts in.

"AS unbelievable it would be. Yes, just like in the story."

Jaraslav's facial look didn't go beyond a slight scheming smirk. Before nodding to the three in question.

"Draho, how about we sacrifice members of Glowgen to balance it out? You know some names, do you?"

"I do. And you too from our hack." he smirks, "Not to mention, this is indeed the opportunity to get them off our backs by striking hard at their leadership…"

He nods, "Come with me."

Both of the comrades walk towards Kurumi. Solid that the other two were contempt with the counterbalance. A few weak friends for many powerful enemies.

"We will not accept your help," Jaraslav said. "However, we will accept your thirst for spiritual energy and time. We have a few targets for you."

"Ara. Took you long enough…" she begins to laugh. "Go on…"

"Hamilton and Roosevelt, on their way to Fresno in California. Lincoln, Charlotte in North Carolina. Gabriel Miller in San Diego, California..."

Drahoslav begins to describe more targets as described from the hacking of Glowgen Armory Charlotte. A facility they attacked to secure Lincoln's patronage. She took it into her head. Before jumping into a black and red void. Kurumi out of view, right in front of a livid Shu.

Shu rushed right at Drahoslav and Jaraslav, cursing in Japanese for a moment before saying to them, "ARE YOU INSANE?! YOU JUST SENT OVER FIFTY PEOPLE TO DEATH!"

Drahoslav pushes his hand forward, "Have you ever been on a battlefield?"

"When a neighborhood was on fire because of a Spirit..." Shu responds.

"Say that to an oil refinery in Romania. A neighbourhood's pathetic."

"Watch your words, sir. I could possibly kick your ass."

"Well, I'm not even the strongest in our group. That's Stanislav."

"Draho!" Zelislav shouts. "Don't you remember the warnings to not get him involved in this stuff-"

"Stanislav being strong my ass-"

"Shu, Nightmare literally is looking for him."

Aurus spontaneously jerks Dvinaslav to the ground as it broke free from her possession. Catching Jaraslav off guard. Forcing his foot to punt it away from everyone else.

"Blayt!" he shouts. "This isn't good…"

Shu checks his instrument again. "I'm detecting spirit waves from this sword. Asami!"

Asami follows him towards the blade. It's white finish with a blue center and a semispherical hilt shielding a watery core of sorts. Surrounded by a white watery aura. The two AST members immediately knew what it possibly meant. But, both were suddenly attacked by a voice similar to Jaraslav's but with different inflections.

"I don't like your tone towards my comrades. Cut it out."

"You're a Spirit… What do you have with them?" demands Shu, holding his gun towards it.

"I don't believe myself to be that. It gives me nightmares to hear that word. Also, I don't like using violence."

"Shut up! You're just a sword!"

"You're wrong, whatever your name is. Can you tell a name?"

Shu tries stepping on it. Only for the aura to activate, forcing him to activate his Realizer's territory to protect himself. The voice continued to speak to him.

"I suggest we discuss this peacefully, face to face, in Fresno. They need to head back too. Can you do that?"

Jaraslav notices Shu's expression. "Is there something wrong?"

"I think a Spirit is attacking me mentally!"

"What is it trying to do?" he asked.

"It's saying I need to stop and that my tone it didn't like and it told me to go to Fresno."

"Fresno? Anything else." Jaraslav tilts his head.

"It also referred to you guys as comrades? You're in league with a Spirit?" Shu questioned.

"I'm not gonna give the answer away. But we do need to go to Fresno."

"Right… So I stop trying to destroy the sword?"

"Don't destroy the sword."

After it, Shu breathes in and out and says correctly. "Yeah, we should head off to Fresno now."

"Guys! Let's go!" Jaraslav said. "Before Glowgen or the cops or the military show their eyes." 4

All together now, they marched on towards returning to Fresno to get home and hopefully decide on what to do next, now that the Glowgen situation was finally gonna reach a solution with Kurumi agreeing to off some people that got them involved in the first place.

With their help, the comrades exited a partially wrecked armory. Exhausted, in need of a shower, and a want for a break. With three AST people on board, it wasn't going to be no much more of a sprint than it already has been for the four tribunes. For the past six few weeks or so, like an ultramarathon.