Ladies and gentlemen, let's rock and roll with the next chapter! Right now, it's just the eager countdown to torna - the Golden Country. Thank you season pass for letting me get it a little bit early. Anyway, let's go!

Super hero time!

Lilith: Zelda, are you ok? Things seem a little bit shaken...

Zelda: A strange new power shows itself in the belly of the beast! I wonder how it's even possible!

Lilith: the power of technology is kind of crazy, isn't it?

Zelda; There's so much to learn about it! I'm doing my best, but its all so fantastical!

L + Z: Don't forget me! The hero has come!

"Um… I would've thought that Vandham would've reacted more." Ursula gently commented from Beary's shoulder, the trio hanging back just outside of Vandham's hearing range as they made their way to the gate. "I mean, this is something very strange… and he only responded with a few questions."

"It's probably better if we don't question it. If it really means anything, I'm sure he'll tell us eventually." Kasandra dismissed, waving to the others as they approached from the remains of their meals. Ursula and Lilith shared a look; perhaps they wouldn't be so easily convinced, but the man was perfectly harmless to this point. No reason to doubt him yet.

"Nice to see you rookies know how to keep time." Vandham's Blade commented, the avian warrior leaning against the rear gate as he spoke. "Got everything you needed to do done Vandham?"

"Pretty much. I haven't introduced you lot yet, have I?" the bigger man muttered in response, jerking his head towards the Blade with a grin. "His name's Roc. One of a kind you see, he's got a special kind of weapon I haven't seen anyone else using."

"Wow, big man and Blade very amazing!" Tora praised, Vandham scratching the back of his neck as he let loose a big chuckle. From his casual position, Roc simply let his eyes roll.

"Don't flatter him too much. He'll let it all go to his head." Roc warned, a snicker escaping Nia as Vandham merely gave his Blade a gentle whack, one that was easily swatted away by a counter of Roc's own.

"Anyway, now that we're all properly introduced, let's get down to business." Vandham continued, rubbing his hands together with a grin. "We just got a job to go check out some kinda crazy energy effect. Somewhere near the blowhole area. What do ya say? Fancy being a mercenary for the day?"

"I'm down for it. But we don't work for free." Rex warned, narrowing his eyes as Vandham waved off his concerns.

"Don't worry about it kid, I'll get the lot of ya paid." Vandham explained, barely turning to look at them as he led the way through the Cleansing Springs. "Ya see, I've got one of our men down there to investigate the effect, but he just ain't got the tools to deal with it. We're gonna see if we can get it all sorted out."

The man was clearly well versed with the local area, the monsters unwilling to take them on when they saw such a large group heading in their direction. Vandham barely gave a second thought to climbing up rock walls, sliding his way across fairly narrow ledges or even leaping across caverns that for the rest of them, Blade assistance was required for. His immense size meant nothing, he was far more agile and tempered for exploring than any of them.

Their way was quickly blocked however when they came across a swirling mass of indescribable matter, concentrated just enough to hold a deadly amount of force in a space large enough to block their path forward entirely. Rex and Pyra were left open mouthed at the sight, but it barely bothered Vandham in the slightest.

"An ether miasma. Take it that this is your first one?" the gruff man remarked, continuing at their nods. "It's a whole bunch of poisonous waste products spewed out by the titan's guts. Ya know when you get gassy? Something like that."

"And how the hell are we gonna get through this thing then?" Nia questioned, not even needing to get slightly close to it to feel nauseous. "Not the kind of thing we can just walk through and there's no way we're fitting around that thing."

"Don't worry about it. Roc, you're up mate!" Vandham called out in response, the Blade only letting out a small smirk as he leapt into the air. When Roc's wings were flared out to their full size, they were majestic in the way they beat to keep the bird aloft. Each strong movement of the wings brought forth more and more wind, his own generated breeze merging with the ether miasma in a tangle of wind and waste. Before too long however, the miasma was soon overturned by the incoming storm, fading away slowly until there was barely a bad scent left in the air. "Yup, nothing to it. Come on then, let's roll!"

Jebba's outlook lead onto the Sternum Arch, Vandhma casually filling the time with all sorts of random trivia about the place. Apparently, fairly good place if you wanted to pick up some good meat; Armus in the area were pretty domestic even without taming and there were a couple of tucked away spots for fruit if you searched hard enough.

Of course, just as he said that, Vandham was forced to stop the group from ascending any further, a rather fearsome version of the animal appearing in their path.

"An Ardun… just what we need." The man muttered as the horned beast, much like a triceratops, paused in the middle of the pathway, casually nipping at the small blades of grass that pocked out of the earth. "Rex, any good with that anchor?"

"Yeah, I get by."

"Hand it here." The boy only required a moment to perk up his eyebrow before he was dutifully detaching the tool from his left forearm, gently tossing it over to Vandham. It looked absolutely miniscule in his hands, but from the look that came to the mercenary's eyes as he held it, it didn't seem to matter a single bit.

The Ardun didn't know what happened to it, for the wire of the anchor had wrapped its way around the beast's leg before it could respond, a quick tug sending it sprawling on its back. Considering the size of the creature, it had to require a great amount of strength to pull off, but Vandham didn't look as if he needed to even breathe any harder.

"Woah, that was awesome! I never thought of using it that way!" Rex exclaimed as Vandham handed back the anchor, the salvager attaching it back to his gear subconsciously. "How do you do something like that?"

"Trick's to pull it towards ya at just the right moment. Get it taut, and they'll drop like flies." Vandham explained, pulling the dual scythes from his back as the Ardun clamoured back to its feet with an angered roar. "Now then, why don't you give it a try? First of all, someone break its stance!"

"On it! Dromarch!" Nia called out, Tora already in the face of the rampaging Ardun with his shield. A strong headbutt meant the Nopon was being pushed back, but in the face of steel as well as Poppi's boosters shoving her forward as Tora's support, they managed to throw the beast back. "Butterfly blade!"

With Dromarch shooting a wave of water at the creature's face, it was unable to fend of the twin ring attack, leaving it recoiling back with a guttural growl. Rex, sitting quietly at the side lines, rapidly deployed the anchor, nervously waiting as it coiled around the beast's leg, just as it gad for Vandham. His effort was a lot more visible as he pulled back on the line, but it did its job, sending the rampaging Ardun down to the ground.

"Let me follow up on that!" Lilith suggested, Beary's claws upon her hand as the little thief leapt upwards, a series of uppercuts that eventually sent the Ardun into the sky, spinning out of control as the launch went to work. With barely a moment to think, Lilith quickly swapped over to Kasandra, flipping in the air with the hammer held proudly in her hands. "From rapid upper to armadillo down! Smash!"

The attack sent the beast hurtling back down to the ground, just in time to be hit by the flames of Pyra and ultimately be roasted from the inside out. After a brief check over the body to see what heat could be taken from it, a smirk appeared on Vandham's face, turning to Rex with his arms folded.

"You managed to get it after seeing it done once. Ya got skills kid." He praised, Rex turning his eyes away with an awkward chuckle. "Drivers use all sorts of arts, but that doesn't just mean using the power your Blades give you. There are arts that use your own strength, or take advantages of your enemy's. There are all sorts. A driver's job is to be smart with his art and protect his Blade. Remember that it's a two way thing, be aware of the power coming out of her and maybe you won't end up like you did against me. Do that, and you'll be a true driver for sure kid."

"A true driver… am I ready?" Rex questioned. Admittedly, he was the least prepared for being a driver; Tora had spent a huge amount of time preparing his own artificial Blade, Nia had already fought as a part of Torna and Lilith had been aiming to join the army for as long as she could remember. Rex meanwhile had been thrust into the position completely by accident after touching something he shouldn't have.

"Course you are kid. That technique? Took me five years to get that down." Vandham answered, the entire group's eyes widening at the statement. "You though? You saw it once and you already aced it like it was nothing. With Nia, Tora and Lilith? You lot are one fine group. Kid, you've got a bright future ahead of you."

"Goodness, I think I'm gonna spew." Nia sarcastically whined from the side line, a hand moving to her mouth in a yawn. A smirk still made it to her face though. Tora too perked up after the speech, his admiration for the man clearly growing by the second.

"Biggypon have really scary face, but actually quite nice!"

"Yep! Sussed me out, furrypon! Now let's meet up with my man before he gets chomped up." Vandham ordered, leading the charge towards the Great Blowhole. After the sight of the drivers demolishing the rampaging Ardun, the gathered Rhinons were much more hesitant on attacking, moving back to their cautious grazing as they strolled past. Their actual location though, the Soulcrest Summit, required a fair bit more ascending however, the steep slope unforgiving on their feet.

"We made it!" Lilith sighed as she started to pant, Rex not that much better beside her. "This is why I only do short trips back home…"

"Come on, it wasn't too bad you lot." Nia dismissed, stretching out much like the feline she shared traits with. "Grow a spine and let's get this over with."

"That's fine for you to say, you rode on Dromarch's back!"

"I used the resources I was given. Ain't my fault."

"Hey Vandham, are these new recruits?" a brunette in a dark forest green suit was knelt down next to the fallen corpse of a titan, a strange device held in his hand as he scanned over the body. The device had a black handle leading to a base of red and silver, wings folded up on the sides while a translucent ring sat over the top, a strange energy being drawn from the titan's corpse into the space between with a white glow. "It's just as you though, the energy signature's coming from here. Definitely isn't old age that killed it."

"Nice work Xander." Vandham replied, waking over until the sudden trembling of the ground had the drivers all draw their weapons once more, inhumane screeching echoing as the now named Xander jumped behind them. "But it looks like it isn't just the energy effect the dead titan stirred up…"

The creature that appeared was based upon a spider, if said spider had gone through a horrific mutation that turned into a hulking behemoth with giant fangs, its abdomen and eyes glowing a vicious crimson as it slowly approached with far too muscular legs. The elder Arachno wasn't alone though, for just behind it, a humanoid mass of monstrous muscle followed behind, a crystal of blue breaking through the creature's entirely black body as it snarled in their direction – the monster had managed to resonate with a Blade. Putting out its hand, the Blade summoned a lance and with that, the battle was on.

The beam of resonance did limit the Blade's movement seeing as the Arachno it was attached to didn't really acknowledge it, but it did mean that when the leg slammed down in front of Rex, it was far more powerful than it would normally be. Nia, trying to move round the side for a sneak attack, found herself right in the fire line of the Blade's attack, only Lilith pushing forward with Kasandra's shield hammer open preventing her from getting skewered by the rocks that burst forth from the ground.

"Vandham, where did you find these people?" Xander questioned as he held forth his device, a red glow appearing when he focused it onto Pyra before switching to Black and white as they moved over Kasandra and Ursula respectively. "The boy and the girl are generating a much larger amount of energy than a regular Blade-driver combo and the trio over there are pushing more through the affinity bond than a human should be able to take. Doing so should be causing major stress on her body but… it doesn't seem as if there's any issue."

"Never said they were normal, did I?" the big mercenary answered, perfectly casual yet still prepared for even the slightest chance that a stray attack could land on Xander. The boy as he was couldn't do all that much, but if he was careful… "You gonna scan these lot?"

"… I'll try my best. Cover me?" there was no answer, for Vandham was already by Tora's side to keep the aggro focused on them, letting Rex and Nia focus their attention on the Blade. A soothing aura covered them all as Beary turned back into knuckles, Lilith dashing forward to intercept the talon that threatened to stab through Xander.

"You need to move back!" the thief called out, only to stop when she saw a white energy leave Ursula and move towards the device he was holding in his hand, coalescing into, of all things, a strange card that Xander plucked out from the space. Turning around, a dark black stream then left Kasandra's core, another card forming as the brunette moved back. "What are you doing?"

"Trust me, I've got this as long as I don't get attacked!" Poppi took to the skies, ramming the shield's drill into the arachno's body to push it back, putting her in the perfect position to release brown energy to form a card for Xander, while Dromarch was stationary protecting Nia as she healed up the wounds they had all managed to accrue. All that was left was for the suited boy to hurry over to Rex, Pyra's core releasing a fiery red energy to bring forth the final card. "Right, collection complete! Time for me to show off what I can do. Pyra!"

"Huh?" the boy shouldn't even know her name, yet Xander wasn't speaking to the Aegis. Instead, he had taken the card form from her core's energy and brought it back into the space of his device, the ring turning red as the energy dispersed, forming a complete copy of Pyra down to the very last detail at his left side to follow his every move. "Wait, is that me!?"

HOMURA!

"Brighid!"

KAGUTSUCHI!

FUSION MATCH!

And then a completely different card was put through, turning into purple energy as it swirled around to form the Jewel of Mor Ardain, the blue flames upon her flickering gently as she too mimicked Xander's every move like a puppet. With Pyra to his left and Brighid to his right, the brunette formed a much more intimidating sight, a smirk coming to his face. While they were all stunned by the copies, Xander pushed his device high into the sky, pulling the red trigger on the side so that the wings folded out and the ring, which was currently half red and half purple, turned golden.

"It's time to bring the heat!

BOND UP!

FUSION BLADE: BURNING IMPERIAL!

The two Blades standing by Xander suddenly fell onto his being, red covering Pyra and purple covering Brighid as they converged to form gold over Xander's body. As the golden light faded away though, it was not to show the forest green suit he had been wearing before. Instead, an armour of various reds protected him, as if a male version of Pyra's own clothes made more defensive and more… conservative. Over, a long coat styled after Brighid's dress was draped upon Xander, her gloves turned into gauntlets as Xander pushed his arms forward.

"With this, the final test for the Combo Arc is complete. I'll have this fight done in a second!"

His strength was incredible, a single punch burning an imprint of his fist into the Arachno's face, a dragon formed of flames following his kick as it smashed into the spider. The drivers present were stunned speechless save for Vandham, the man sitting back with a proud look as fire built up around Xander's body.

"What is this?" Rex muttered, his sword lowered as the monster's Blade tried to intercept Xander, but it was too slow. "He… he fused with a copy of Pyra and Brighid!?"

"Nova Haze!" a circle of blue and red flames protected Xander from the onslaught, allowing him to leap over the brown beam launched from the Blade's chest to form a cross with his two arms, blue building on his left and red building on his right. "And to end it, Burning Azure!"

The eruption of flame consumed both of the enemies, dragons of fire twisting and turning as they took their time chomping down on the spider and its ally until there was no energy left in them. The Arachno slumped to the ground, left for dead while as soon as its Blade fell, a burst of light took its form and left only a dull core crystal in its place.

"Xander here is one of the smartest guys we've got for the Garfont Mercenaries. He's helped up organise foraging trips, supply distributions, you name it: need a brain to sort something out and he's your man." Vandham explained, the armour that had formed over Xander fading away in a burst of fire to leave only the untarnished suit beneath. "Thing is, he's been working on his Combo Arc thing for ages, but he couldn't make it work."

"A general all round measuring and scanning device that allows me to run a number of calculations both digital and based around the data extracted from a Blade or monster's energy." Xander commented around deep breaths. "The Blade fusion capability is only a recent investment, but I don't have the ability to resonate – by combining the data of two compatible Blades and using that to form armour, I can tap into the abilities of your standard driver even without the ability to resonate. Only thing is, I have such a narcoleptic combination of Blade data cards that until I managed to get yours, I hadn't managed to find a compatible pair."

"I'm going to have to wait before I can extract the data for the Arachno's Blade. After all, there's nothing I can do with a dull crystal save for wait until it is ready for awakening." Xander commented in addition, carefully picking up the crystal. The sight of the crystal had Tora deflating slightly, Lilith's concerned look having the Nopon waving his wings.

"Tora cannot resonate. Stinky monster can resonate. Not fair…" the mechanic lamented, only to perk up when Poppi beside him spoke.

"But Masterpon still have Poppi." The Artificial Blade reminded with hands on her hips, the Nopon tearing up slightly before he launched himself in the purple haired Blade's arms.

"So… is it dead now?" Rex questioned, looking to the dull core in Xander's hands, the suited boy shaking his head as he tossed the crystal up and down casually.

"Remember what I said before? All we have to do is wait and then it will be ready for the next driver to awaken it." Xander explained, putting the core crystal into the small pouch resting at his hip. "Think of it as you would a computer. Awakening a Blade is like opening a file – the data within comes together to pull together all that's necessary to create the program or in this case, the energy of the core crystal forms a Blade's body. When a Blade returns to its core crystal, all that data is put away until it is next needed. The only difference is, the memories of a Blade is like the RAM of a computer – once the computer is shut down, or the Blade is returned to its crystal, the data stored on the RAM completely disappears. The Blade will be reborn anew with none of its previous memories."

"Not sure I got all of that, but waking up with no memories… that's got to be pretty rough." The salvager commented in a low voice. "To have all your past wiped out, just like that in an instant…"

"But memories can be… painful as well. They can be a terrible burden." Pyra remarked from the side, the redhead's eyes never leaving the pouch where the crystal had been put away. "And a Blade theoretically lives forever, as long as the crystal exists. It's just as well; eternity is a long time to collect bad memories."

"Pyra…"

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking that sometimes, being able to forget is a…blessing."

"Well, let's not focus on the sad stuff. After all, we've got a job to finish, right Xander?" Vandham declared, the named boy giving a small salute before he moved over to the titan corpse he had been examining. The following actions were not a pretty sight to see, perhaps something that was beyond description, but after he was done, Xander threw over a gleaming blue core crystal right into Vandham's hand.

"Wait, what? Where did you get that from?" Lilith questioned, shaking her head, okay, so the memory of seeing that event would be something she would be happy to lose.

"Well, from the titan. It's where they all come from." Vandham said. "This one's brand new and ready to resonate, like a big juicy steak before you take the first bite. It'll probably end up buddying up with a whole bunch of drivers, forgetting everything and returning to its core every time its driver dies. No matter what, the cycle continues. Drivers dying, titans dying, no matter what a Blade just lives through it all. An eternal history that we as mortals will never be able to understand."

Pyra offered up a silent prayer as the body of the titan became the energy it was formed from, fading away into the Urayan sky as barely more than wisps of blue light. It was as if there had never been anything there once it was gone, as if nothing had died… what a way to go, not even a single bone left to prove that it had ever existed save for the core crystal it had produced, one that would doubtlessly be lost in the endless number of crystals that were circulated around.

And that meant for Lilith, both Kasandra and Ursula would eventually forget all about her once she was dead, a thought that had the girl bring her beret off her head and clutch it tightly in her hands. The thought that her best friends would never remember she existed when someone else eventually reawakened them was one that brought pain to her heart, pain that was soothed by the two Blades drawing in close for a tight hug.

"The least I can do with my cards is keep a record of every Blade I come across, in hopes that should their core be lost or never awakened again, they would still be remembered. That one day I may design a way for the Combo Arc to record data formed from a Blade's memories so they could potentially regain what they've lost." Xander followed in a soft voice, holding the combo Arc close to his chest. "…Sir, shall we return back to base?"

"So Xander, you can call upon the power of Blades and use them for yourself unlike a driver, right?" Lilith questioned as they sat inside the selection of tents that constituted an inn for a place like Garfont. The two had broken away at Xander's request, the boy carefully moving the Combo Arc up and down the girl's body with the occasional noise of questioning or surprise.

"I guess you could say that." The boy absently answered, staring into the light of the Combo Arc with a look of intrigue. He had tried to explain how he read the data through 'the altering wavelengths of light that I can use to replicate binary code, or have certain patterns represent various letters and other characters', but as soon as he was aware of Lilith, Kasandra and Ursula's slightly confused faces, he dropped the issue. "I don't call upon the power of Blades per say, but use the data generated from their unique energies, which allows me to create armours that replicate the effects of Blades.

"Oh… I thought, even if you did need that Combo machine thing… there was someone else like me." Lilith explained in a quiet voice, Xander pausing in his research to give his subject an empathetic look. After all, he was fully aware of the strange amount of ether flowing between her and her Blades through the affinity line subconsciously, an amount that should've been too much for a body as small as her own issues.

"Honestly? If you don't mind me being cold for a second, I don't think there's anyone in the world who is like you. If they tried to call upon the amount of ether you share with Kasandra and Ursula, they would probably die from frying their bodies from the excess energy." Xander stated, flinching at the look that came from the girl before continuing on in a much softer voice. "But that shouldn't be something you feel weird or bad about. Being different is something to celebrate and all it means is you could end up a far more powerful fighter than any other. You share a stronger bond with your Blades than any other; that should never be something you should feel upset about."

"She will have a stronger bond with the Blades than any other."

A sudden wave of pain flashed over Lilith's eyes, the girl falling back onto the bed as Xander suddenly stood from his position in concern.

"What just happened?" the boy asked, a hand resting on Lilith's shoulder, but the girl didn't respond. Curling into herself, there was nothing she could to ease the throbbing headache that suddenly came onto her, pounding away at her head no matter how tightly she grabbed it. "Lilith? Lilith!? LILITH!"

Soon afterward, she lost consciousness.

"Father, the world beneath. Do you think I could ever visit it?"

The babe had grown into a wonderfully curious child, even if her mental growth was limited to the age her body showed; despite being thousands of years old, she was mentally only the seven year old girl that she appeared to be. It made for a… relaxing change from the solitude of torment he had inflicted upon himself as punishment, the once dark chamber he slumbered within now commonly lit up with the recreated sun's light as he showed off the world he created to her, his daughter… Magdalene. He had not known where the name came from, but it suited such a faithful and kind girl.

"The world beneath, Alrest… it is dangerous for one such as yourself to visit it." He warned, not moving from his position as he gazed up towards the projection that filled the air. "There are monsters who would seek to eat you and people who would seek to use you; without someone to look over you, you would be in too much danger."

"Then why don't you come with me father?" Magdalene questioned, innocent green eyes looking upon his withered broken form with not a single speck of disgust within them. "All you do is sit there every day, surely you would want to visit the place you created?"

"I do not deserve to, my dear child." He immediately answered, closing his eyes with a deep sigh. "I have failed far too many people to ever think of ending my punishment. I have given them a chance to grow into a wonderful world, and that sort of world does not need a person like me tainting it with their presence."

Magdalene simply nodded, returning to her complacent dancing around the room that the pair resided in, high above the cloud line. She had grown used to the desolate room that her father stayed in, only venturing out to explore the rest of her home whenever she deemed it fun to try and pay with the machines responsible for her protection. She was fully aware that she could create any toys she desired, an ability she shared with her father that he was reluctant to explain the origins of, but why would she need toys when being around her father and images of Alrest made her happy enough?

Her abilities… Magdalene had never truly experimented with them. Her father had constantly drilled it into her that they were far too powerful for a mortal to ever handle, that the responsibility one held for their creations was enough to break a man if they weren't dealt with carefully. Yet Alrest was a bustling world surrounded by a sea of clouds, incredible titans holding so many people and animals upon their backs as they lived in a sunny world, and it had all been created by her father! Surely she could at least try to use her power? But what to make?

It started off as a ball. A simple, golden ball that she would toss into the air, and it would fly away so she could chase it, and then she would catch it and send it away and the game would start all over again. It was fun and for many days, her father would never realise that when she went out to play, it was to play with something she herself had created. But then, she thought, what if she made it something more? So she did.

She made it into a remote.

Now, that by itself doesn't sound all that interesting, but to her it was wonderful; now, the robots that at first didn't listen to her were giving her gentle cruises around her home, dancing in the air like ballerinas and doing all sorts of things to make her happy. All she had to do, was press a button she put on the side of the golden ball, a glowing golden energy emanating from it every time she did so.

But where did you go from there? Years after she had first made the golden ball, and she really did need to come up with a better name for the golden ball than 'golden ball', the idea had come to Magdalene that maybe she could do something even better, something that might even allow her to visit the world below.

She wasn't going to go against her father's words of course, she wasn't just going to go crazy without a plan; this was an operation that required careful thinking and planning. How proud her father would be of her!

She had seen them. Blades fighting by the sides of their drivers, protecting one another to drive off the monsters and create homes for themselves. Her father had explained how they were created, how they were born from another world's life forms and monitored through the processors known as the Aegis'. If she could connect with the processors, then maybe she could learn more of how Blades worked and fought and maybe, just maybe, she could learn how to protect herself like them!

It was locked away deep in her home, but the machines around her were more than happy to lead the way there thanks to her handy golden ball. Two processors given form as crystals sitting within their home, processing incredible amounts of data on everything that the Blades came across. All she would have to do, was link the golden ball to their core crystals, like a master control…

Like a master core. Yes, that was a much better name than 'golden ball.'

He wouldn't know what had happened until Magdalene skipped back into the room with her newly christened master core in hand, a single look being all that he needed to understand just what the simple toy was capable of. How had she managed to do such a thing without him noticing, something so incredibly dangerous?

"Look father, look what I made!" the sort of thing you would expect to hear a child showing a painting or clay sculpture to say, not the creator of a key that could manipulate, process and reproduce the data of every single Blade currently in existence! "All I have to do is push a button and…!"

"My child, don't!" Pulses of light caused him to turn away, a withered arm covering his eyes as his heartbeat reached a dangerous level. He had seen what the power of the Blades had been able to do to those who weren't strong enough to activate their crystals, just what was going to happen to dear little Magdalene when she was accessing the power of all of them at once!? "Magdalene… Magdalene, are you alright!?"

But she was fine, for she was happily hugging the new arrival that was standing by her side, a blue core crystal shining within the awakened Blade's chest despite the fact that the golden core Magdalene had created still floated beside her head.

He could feel the virtual exchange particles between them, the energy going back and forth between Magdalene and her Blade far stronger than any he had born witness to in the world below. By connecting that core to the trinity processor, Magdalene had become something far more than a simple child, even with the curse she bore.

"So that is how it will be…" he breathed out, watching the two interact with one another blissfully unaware of the oddity they were. "She will have a stronger bond with Blades than any other…"

Lilith awoke with a start to the sound of fighting nearby, the words of a mysterious man still echoing inside of her head. Getting to her feet gingerly and placing her palm to her forehead, the grey haired girl stepped out of the tent despite the innkeeper's warnings, only to be forced to chuck herself to the side when a blast of electricity smashed into the rocks behind her.

"Well, looks like one of the main actors has finally gotten over their stage fright." An armoured man in blue declared, pushing back red glasses as he brandished a pair of ether edged swords. The Blade hovering beside him, a female covered in silver like a dazzling butterfly, was tauntingly weaving through the air, a thick red aura gathered around her as she did so. "Now that the stage is set, it's time for the grand finale!"

"Lilith, watch out! It's a guy from Torna!" Rex called out, but Lilith was already having to duck and weave her way around swords that were far too fast, a cry escaping her as a foot shoved her into the others with little grace. "His name's Akhos. He's coming for Pyra!"

"Oh, don't get me confused." Akhos interrupted with a small tut, flicking his swords to the side. "While I did come to face the leading lady herself, the Aegis, getting our hands on Lilith will be just as useful!"

And that's it for now! Hello there Akhos and Obrona, you bring up a PM I received about how things may change with you. Kasandra's luck can do a multitude of things to play around with canon and I have plenty of ideas for what I could change... whether those ideas make it in, you'll just have to find out. Xander joins the mix, using various armours formed from combining the data on Blades - he does not use the power of Blades themselves, just data based on them. Join us next time for a shocker of a battle!

Super hero time! See you next time!