The grin carved onto Halloween's pumpkin was less than an understatement of his real one: a toothy smile stretching from cheek-to-cheek while his eyes were small from the joy he felt. "Fancy seeing you two nimrods here; seems that my master was right when he said there would be a few idiots guarding Babbo. And there you were, sitting in bathwater!" Halloween roared with laughter.

Coming out from the shadows was the man in a Peta-ish cloak. He held Veru's backpack, much to both Alviss and Nanashi's dismay. "Damn! Give that back!" Alviss yelled.

With a mocking "come-and-get-me" gesture, the man replied, "You can have it back as soon as I'm done with it."

"What use is Babbo to you?" Nanashi asked. "Looks like you can't use him, let alone hold him."

"Says you." The man shook his head, letting his hair flow and settle back into place. From out of a pocket, he took out the grey stone. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it was bad to assume?"

Both Nanashi and Alviss couldn't believe what they were seeing. Not only did he have Babbo itself, but one of the Arm's mystical stones! "Just who are you?" Nanashi asked, in some hopes a name would give the ma slight advantage.

The cloaked man bowed. "Former Bishop class Pyromania at your service." Pyromania's eyes burned with delight. "You two must be…The man-whore and the gay pretty boy." Halloween couldn't suppress a giggle.

"Weapon Arm: Hiraiken!" Nanashi's spear appeared in his hands. He growled, brow furling in anger. "Give us back Babbo, or so help me…!"

"You'll what?" Pyromania's voice was mocking, and he rather enjoyed seeing the sight of someone point a weapon at him; the thrill was unbearable. "Try to slice me and dice me? Hah! Try it! The only thing you can seem to do is spout your fat mouth until all our ears are dying from the sound."

"Actually, that's more like Crazy Quilt," Alviss muttered. Nevertheless, he pointed a finger at Pyromania and mumbled "13 Totem Pole."

His poles bombarded the man, and a gigantic plume of smoke and dirt flew up upon impact. Alviss sneered. "Nothing could survive that." But his eyes soon widened in terror and utter confusion.

As the smoke cleared, there stood Pyromania, completely unscathed. Arms crossed, he grinned. "Well, well. Was that the best you can do? I must say, I'm disappointed." He turned to Halloween. "I'm bored already. I trust you can deal with these two?"

For a few moments, Halloween's tongue appeared from behind his pumpkin. "Don't worry. I've dealt with worse. You just focus on getting that thing out of here." Nodding, the man disappeared into the shadows, and was gone.

Now, the only ones there were Alviss, Nanashi, the unconscious Veru, and Halloween. And instantly, the pumpkin unleashed an attack. "Weapon Arm: Fire Pillar!"

Literally pillars of fire shot up from the ground all around the three on the ground. They had to put their agility to the ultimate test to dodge all of them. And maniacal laughter coming from the ridge didn't help them one bit.

This really pissed Alviss off. He stared at the insane…whatever it was…who had chained himself to a cross. Rage boiled deep within him.

"Hey, handsome!"

Alviss turned, and was looking in Karasu's face. The crow laughed, then opened up his beak; he bit down on the boy's nose.

"AUUUGGGGHHHHH!" Alviss screamed. He began to run around in circles, yelling, "Get it off! Get it off!" Nanashi ran over and tried to help him. Unfortunately, though, they stood in one place.

Up on the ridge, Halloween smiled. He silently muttered to himself, "Weapon Arm: Inferno Whirlpool."

Underneath Alviss and Nanashi, a vortex opened up. Flames began to lick at their pants. Chuckling, Karasu let go of Alviss's nose and flew up to Halloween.

"Yes, we beat him!"

"…Does it feel warmer?" Looking down, Alviss squeaked. "FIIIIIRE!" He continued running in circles as Nanashi noticed he, too, was ablaze.

Halloween couldn't control his laughter. He leaned back as he cackled, so much that he fell onto the ground, on top of his cross. Yet his laughing persisted.

"Alviss! Nanashi!"

Both turned to the marketplace's entrance, and saw Rolan there, staring ahead.

"Quick! Rolan!" Alviss yelled. "Come and help me put this fire out!" Nanashi stepped back. "Uh…I'll just do it myself. I'd rather not have another guy touching my legs."

In seconds, the flames on the two were out. Nanashi handed Veru to his adoptive father. "We need you to hold him while we fight!" Rolan nodded. "Go get him."

But at that moment, Pyromania reappeared on the ridge; the backpack wasn't with him. Karasu flew over to him, and landed on his shoulder. "Halloween, it's time to go…" He turned to look down into the market.

"Ah, Rolan…" He grinned. "As we agreed?"

Rolan nodded. He nonchalantly walked to the ridge, and jumped up onto it. Without a look of remorse in his eyes, he handed Veru to the man.

"Rolan! Are you insane?!" Nanashi yelled. "That's your son! You're just going to give him to that…?!"

Nodding, Rolan replied, "This is for the good of the Chess, and therefore for the good of Phantom's memory." As he left, he flipped Nanashi the bird, and disappeared with the others into the shadows.

The two on the ground were dumbfounded. "That didn't just happen…" Alviss muttered. "Tell me that didn't just happen…"

"It just happened…"

Alviss felt like he was going to pass out. Why did he worry about the boy so much…? Of course, it was what the Great Elder of Caldia had told him, but…he should only have to care about himself and Bell.

"Yo! Al!"

Alviss was brought back to his senses by Nanashi's voice. "We have to go to Caldia."

Caldia

Gania came sprinting out of the tower. It was evident she was in a rush, as her dark brown hair flowed behind her, trailing to keep up. Her white dress kicked up with each step she took. Sweat littered her light brown forehead. But she wasn't going to stop until she got to her…

"Dorothy-san! Dorothy-san!"

The witch turned as Gania bolted through the door onto the balcony. She heaved up and down, taking in large gulps of air. "What is it, Gania?! What's wrong?"

"It…it's Alviss…and Nanashi…"

"What about them?!"

"They're here, with bad news…"

"What bad news?!"

"They wouldn't tell me until I got you."

Dorothy grabbed the Broom of Zephyrus. "Damn it." She hopped on, and zoomed down the corridors. In moments, she was at the Entrance Hall. The Great Elder, Alviss, and Nanashi were already there. In a few minutes, Gania was with them.

"What's this bad news?" Dorothy asked. "What's happened?"

Nanashi spoke. "Babbo was stolen."

"WHAT?!"

"Not only that. It was by Halloween and another Chess, Pyromania. What's worse, Rolan was conspiring with them; he gave them Veru without a second thought."

Dorothy dropped to the floor and slammed her fists down. "DAMN IT!"

The Great Elder motioned to outside. "Let's take a walk and discuss this." Everyone exited the tower, but immediately stopped.

Up in the sky was a sphere, an orb that was used like a TV in the 2nd War Games. A voice came from it.

"Good afternoon, Mar-Heaven. What a glorious day…"

"Wait a second," Alviss said.

"But I believe that days are not meant to last. They only turn into night…And eternal night for this pitiful world is coming soon enough." Someone's face appeared in the orb.

Everyone around the world who stared at the orb felt their mouths open wide. Their eyes shrunk, and not a one could believe what they saw.

It was Phantom.