Chapter. 16

Lance stepped back out the find Alisa leaning against a wall. "Hey Aly, you feeling any better?"

Lance placed his hand on her shoulder. "Get away from me!" Lance held his hands up and stepped back. Alisa took a breath and turned to face him. "I'm sorry, I just..."

"I know. It's a lot to take in. Our own children has come to help us. Our children. On the plus side, It's proof that I'm not gonna die." Lance raised his hand to Alisa's shoulder but held back. "You need a hug?"

"Yes, very."

Lance held Alisa gently as he stroked her hair. After a minute the two separated. "We still have work to do, a future to save. You ready to go back in? You can sit this out if you want."

"No, let's go back in." Alisa opened the door as returned to the lab with Lance right behind.

Lance took a seat by the door. "Okay. Ready to get started."

"Daddy!" Torri climbed up onto Lance's lap.

"Hey little one." Lance ruffled her hair, he glanced to the older Torri to see her warm smile. "Let's get back to it."

Paylor pushed up his glasses. "Right then! On to the matter at hand. It's great to see you all back in fighting trim. Hehehe! Oh, Alisa and Kota you pulled off quite a recovery. I know we've been pushing you hard since the beginning. In truth, I wish we could afford more time. I'd love to give you a vacation."

Kota shook his head. "Nah! I don't wanna lose my edge. Wouldn't want the tickets to the gun show to sell out, if you catch my drift. Hehehe." Kota flexed his arms.

"Hell yeah bro!" Vale stood up and high-fived Kota.

"Vale..." Leo shook his head.

Paylor gave a smiling nod. "I'm glad to hear that from you Kota. A little confused but mostly glad."

"We're ready to enter the battlefield, but have you come up with a way to defeat the second nova?" Asked Alisa.

"In a way, Alisa. You see, Licca and I put our heads together and advanced a number of theorems and strategies. The only one that held any water, however, was god arc delicacies."

"Ohhhh... Wha?" Asked Kota and Vale.

"I think he means, what?" Alisa as she tilted her head to think of the term.

"It means a choice or expensive food." Said Leo. "Still not sure how it fits here."

"It's an odd term, I know, but it does have merit." Explained Soma. "When we slay aragami, our god arcs take in a part of their bias factor. The problem is, the nova works the same way. The clash of those similar factor is nullified."

Paylor nods. "Hence, we must make our god arcs stronger, yes? We must devour aragami, rare ones, that the nova has never encountered."

"Sounds promising." Said Alisa.

Lance cracked his knuckles. "Alright, let's get on the hunt for those beasts!"

"I won't be easy." Soma spoke up.

"Is it ever?"

"It never is. Some aragami have eaten artificial nova fragments, making them very rare."

"To the point of one of a kind."

"They're perfect targets, but also about the nova's sheer power."

"Oh!" Paylor points up to the ceiling. "Perhaps we should call them 'dreadnought class' aragami! That sounds dreadfully frightening,yes?"

"Uh... Yeah. Dreadnought. Pretty, pretty frightening there, doc." Said Kota.

"Good thing you didn't lose your edge." Said Alisa.

"They're called dreadnoughts, Alisa! Dreadnoughts!"

"Do you even know what a dreadnought is?" Asked Lance.

"Do you know what it is?"

"It's a type of battleship introduced in the early 20th century, larger and faster than its predecessors and equipped entirely with large-caliber guns." Explained Leo.

Paylor let out a cough. "As luck would have it, we already have leads on a number of potential dreadnoughts. I know it's risky to send you on such a hunt fresh from the hospital bed, but if the nova reaches them first, we lose our advantage. So I ask, are you all up to the challenge?"

"Do we have choice?" Lance asked with a grin.

Kota pumps his fists. "Oh, you know we're up to the challenge!" The room went silent. "Whatever, I'm totally not scared of dying and being eaten by a giant monster, no way!"

"Amen!" Vale jumped up to his feet. "Let's do this! We got a world to save!"

Lance shook his head as he smiled.

...

As the sun rose high in the cloudless sky Lance was on the roof of the den grooming Kirito. The lift door opens and Leo steps out. "Hey Leo."

"Hello dad. You got a minute?"

"Yeah, what is it?" Leo reached out to pet the griffin but got peck for it. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." Leo took off his glove to check his hand, finding a bruise. "Kirito likes me in my time."

"What about your brother?"

"Never let him on, too hyperactive." Leo let out a sigh. "Dad, when we find the aragami with nova cores. We can't let Vale join us."

Lance patted his griffin and stepped back. "You think he isn't up to the task?"

"He isn't one to take thinks seriously and gets hurt a lot for it."

"I get that you're concerned for your brother. Let me be the judge of that, I'll talk to him and see if he'll be an asset or not. okay?" Lance patted Leo on the back. "Come, sit with me." Lance and Leo sat on the ledge. "So what's your time like?"

"My time is... Not sure what to call it. From what you and mom and what I read the nova was roaming around the world, spreading the virus."

"I know that, what are things like at home?"

"It's nice. We live in a big house outside of the den. You and mom retired and gave your god arcs to us. Torri took Tsubaki's job but still goes out with us on missions. Honestly I don't know where she gets the energy."

"She doing okay?"

"Yeah, she loves it."

"That's good." Lance looked up to the blue sky then back to Leo. "Hey Leo, can you tell me about the saga? Like who is it?"

"The saga was a Gods Eater of some special unit. They say she got her power and from there on lead every mission. No one got hurt thanks to her 'visions'."

"What's she do now?"

"The saga doesn't talk about but she stopped fighting long before I was born. She gives advice to everyone before they go out. One day as Vale and I were seeing a vision of our next mission-"

"How does it work?"

"The saga waves her god arc and stabs the air to create a crack in space, then pulls it out to open a window to the future."

"That would be cool to see."

Leo nods. "We saw a vajra walking around then it turned to us and tried to jump out at us."

"Really!"

"The saga closed the window and cut the vajra and half. Still had to fight it but still, that's when the saga realized that her power had grown. A lot of people talked about how to use it when You came up and told her about going to the past."

Lance grinned as he shook his head. "Still the voice of reason. So you and..."

"Ren, Torri, Vale, and myself." Leo let out a sigh. "The Torri here is not all that different from the one i know but it's not the same Torri, and Ren... Not even close. I hope the two I know are okay."

"They'll be fine. No idea about time travel but you got to have hope. Still, what was the saga's name?"

"Don't know. Everyone just calls her 'the saga'."

Lance tilted his head. "No one ever asked?" Lance phone rang, the duel wielder stood up and answered. "Hello? Yes..." Lance's face changed to a scowl as he tightened his grip on the phone. "Understood." Lance hung up and put away the phone as he rose to his feet. "Time to go to work Leo."

"They found one?"

"Yes... and it's a Caligula."

! #$%^&*()_+}"?:{

Okay so... really sorry this took so long. Too many good games came out and I can only beige play for so long. But it's thinning out now and I'm back. ;}

Please review, it keeps us writes going. till next time CG out. PEACE!