OK, so there were quite a few people that were miffed about my quip on laziness in my last chapter. First of all, that was a joke; I was not trying to imply that anything as petty as laziness would keep me from writing Beautiful Chaos. And besides, I'm a sixteen year-old kid who's taking a break from school. Do you honestly think that I don't get just a little lazy every once in a while? I mean, I could be sleeping late, watching movies, or gaming my days away. But do I? No; I write for you guys. So try to understand how hard I work sometimes to accomplish something I love. Please?

And by the way, I'm not angry about it, so don't get that idea. I just want it to be understood that I love writing this story, and there is absolutely 4.7% chance of me stopping. So come on you doubters! Believe in me!

Anyway, there seemed to be a few people who didn't get the "situation" Taki was referring to with Setsuka. Remember the anomaly with the ravine and the churning earth and all that? Yeah, that's the situation. I didn't intend for that to be misunderstood.

Oh, and don't forget; Cyril is still the main character! Don't get too terribly distracted by everyone else!

"You are not going to do this, Sophitia! Not by yourself!"

Sophitia ignored her sister entirely as she stormed around her house, gathering the necessary supplies for a long trip to Germany.

"Are you listening to me, Sophie? You're going to get yourself killed!"

Sophitia spared a brief moment to respond. "I will not allow my child to be in the hands of Nightmare and that twisted bitch!"

Cassandra was taken aback a bit. Sophitia rarely ever swore. Only when she was completely enraged did she ever get so loose with her tongue. Good thing Patroklos wasn't around…

Sophitia returned to her task, leaving Cassandra to fume in frustration. There was nothing she could do to convince Sophitia that she was going on a suicide mission to save her daughter. And she wouldn't allow Cassandra to come with her either.

Not that she would let that stop her. Big sister or not, there was no way Cassandra would let Sophitia run off alone just because she asked for it.

Before Cassandra could raise another objection, the front door to Sophitia's home was pushed open.

"Sophitia? I'm home, dear."

Both Cassandra and Sophitia turned to face Rothion, Sophie's darling husband. He was already well aware of the situation concerning his daughter and Sophitia's plan to go to Ostreihnsburg alone. He had already expressed his displeasure with such a reckless idea, but he had already come to the conclusion that his wife's resolve could not be swayed.

"Ah, Rothion, perfect timing. Have you seen my knapsack anywhere? I can't seem to find it…"

"You left it under your bed, darling, as always."

"Thank you, dear."

Sophitia bolted upstairs to retrieve her knapsack, and Rothion let out a tired sigh before turning to Cassandra. "I don't suppose she's changed her mind?"

"Not a chance. You know how she gets, especially when Tira's involved."

"It's not that I don't want to go out there and get Pyrrha back myself, but to try and do it alone is ridiculous. I'm sure there are plenty of other warriors in Athens who would be willing to accompany her. Or failing that, she could at least let you go as well."

"Yeah, and people call me the stubborn one…"

Sophitia returned from the direction she had come, a knapsack fit for traveling in hand. She placed it on the table with all of her other travel necessities. "Hm… now what am I missing? I feel as though I forgot something…"

Cassandra piped in with an irritated tone in her voice. "Maybe it was your brain, sis. You seem to have lost your mind as soon as this whole thing happened."

The mother shot a glare at her younger sister, but she kept her voice level. "I have every right to respond to this as I am. Any mother would. Not that you would understand something like that…"

"Woah, hey! I may not be a mother, but Pyrrha is my niece; you don't think I'd go out there to rescue her too?! I'm just not foolish enough to go alone! That's the real difference!"

"Anyone else would just be a hindrance! Regular warriors can't stand up to Soul Edge! I've only survived thanks to Hephaestus' blessing!"

Cassandra was about to elevate the current argument to an even higher level, but Rothion stepped between the two sisters. "Please you two, calm down! I know that we are all very stressed right now, but fighting among our family won't alleviate that suffering or fix the problem. I think we should compromise."

Cassandra cocked an eyebrow at Sophitia's husband. "How so? How can we compromise on something like this?"

"Well I think that you are more than adequate in terms of being a warrior, Cassandra. I see no reason why you cannot at least accompany Sophitia."

Sophitia objected outright, as Rothion expected. "Nonsense. Cassandra was already nearly killed when that strange creature appeared! Surely it is at the castle in Nightmare's service-"

"Oh, so I bet you could have taken him on all by yourself, right?"

"Maybe I could have. I probably would have fared better, at the very least…"

Rothion stepped in once again, planning to do it for good this time.

"Enough! This is not like either of you! Why are you fighting over a moot point? You both want to rescue a loved family member, how hard can it be to work towards a common goal like that? I want my daughter rescued, but I don't want to lose my wife or my step-sister in the process. You're going together, and that's final!"

Both Sophitia and Cassandra stared at Rothion in astonishment. He was hardly the man for outbursts. Silence encompassed the group, but the two Alexandra sisters soon broke out into fits of giggles and laughter, which Rothion clearly did not understand the reason for.

"What? What is so funny?"

Cassandra did the answering. "Oh, it's just so unlike you to get onto both of us at once! And with such confidence too!"

Sophitia built off of that. "Usually you just concede the point of the argument. Heh… I think you're right, Rothion. I have been stubborn in this matter. Perhaps Cassandra should accompany me… if she'll forgive me first."

Cassandra didn't even give it a second thought. "Of course, sis. No hard feelings. Just looking out for the family, right?"

"Right. I'm sure we'll succeed… we have to, for Pyrrha's sake…"

Cyril jogged along the French countryside, Amy surprisingly sleeping through his jostling movements. She must have really not slept a single wink last night.

As for him, the Sentinel had long since fallen into a trance-like state. After all, what was there to do besides move his legs and not focus on Amy's? It was inevitable that Cyril had to have his hands on Amy's thighs in order to carry her on his back, which was slightly embarrassing… but at least it was better than having his hands on her butt.

…he really shouldn't have thought of that…

…in fact, definitely shouldn't have thought of that…

Cyril battled with his own mind for supremacy over his thoughts. He struggled to evict the indecent wanderings and fill them with more important things.

Focus on the mission, focus…

Cyril gradually calmed himself down, and focused his mind on his task. Unfortunately, all of this slow walking was necessary. His Lightning Stream could not transport anyone but himself. So the only way he could travel at that speed once again was if he ditched Amy… which he would feel pretty guilty about after promising to keep her company.

Then again, what if he failed to accomplish his mission just because he was busy humoring the wishes of a little girl? Every human being on the planet would die, and for what? One girl's selfish desires?

At that exact moment, Amy loosed another yawn. She stirred briefly, but fell back to sleep in no time. Cyril sighed, plagued by the young French girl's cuteness. He couldn't help but think that Amy was trying to manipulate him even in her sleep.

Still… in most cases, the Cycle took decades or even centuries after the first sign of The End to reach the Final Consummation. Then again, there had been a handful of times when the mortal universe had been obliterated just a few days after the first anomaly. It was never a certain thing; which was terrifying considering that the subject in question was Armageddon.

But whenever the Final Consummation was truly near, the entire world plunged into chaos. Typhoons, earthquakes, hurricanes, occasionally meteors… and there was a record in Valhalla of a solar meltdown one time. The largest star in the known universe exploding was… well, absolute annihilation. Even other stars were disintegrated that time. Fortunately, that kind of thing only happened once. Most times, all life was killed off and reborn. The universe itself usually remained intact.

Point was, despite all of this mental rambling, Cyril knew that he had a time limit. He really shouldn't be wasting time with society, especially girls. What was the point of making friends if they all got annihilated because Cyril didn't do his job? And if the mortal universe really did end, Cyril would be forced to live out the remainder of his thousands of years of life in Valhalla's silence. Ten years of that had already been enough.

"Mmm… no…"

Cyril snapped out of his thoughts in order to look back at Amy. She was still sleeping, so the talk must have been a matter of dreaming. It was probably best to just ignore it.

"No… that's too high… Edwin… don't touch me there…"

Edwin? A boyfriend maybe? That's unfortunate… wait, what am I thinking?

"Geez… so… perverted…"

Cyril was now far too intrigued to let Amy continue her sleep. He made extra sure to leap over the next little dip in the road. The rough landing jostled Amy considerably, waking her from her questionable dream quite suddenly.

"Ah, what?! What happened?!"

Cyril didn't answer that hasty question, but he was sure to give her another response. "So, Edwin? Is that your 'perverted' boyfriend?"

An amazingly deep blush took over Amy's features. "Y-y-you… how do you know about that!? You didn't say you could read minds!"

"I can't; you were talking in your sleep. Quite loudly too…"

Amy gripped Cyril around his neck. "What did you hear?!"

Prying her hands off of him before answering, Cyril could barely contain his amusement. "Just something about your perverted boyfriend Edwin touching where he shouldn't be. So-"

Amy thumped Cyril in the back of the head. "I-I-I don't have a boyfriend you imbecile!"

"So then what were you-?"

Amy tried her best to find a way to answer without sounding like a complete loser. "He…he's… Edwin is just… a fictional character from one of my books, OK?!"

Cyril tried his absolute hardest to avoid laughing, as he knew that Amy would attempt to pulverize him if he let out so much as a snicker.

"Uh… I see, um…"

Amy hung her head in shame. "You're silently mocking me aren't you?"

"No, no I'm not! I'm sure that's pretty normal for girls your age…"

Amy didn't seem convinced at all. "No It's not… it would only be normal if it was about someone real… I'm pathetic…"

"Should I agree with you or tell you that's not true? Which one would make you feel better?"

"If you really cared about how I felt you wouldn't have let me know that you overheard my dream, you bastard."

"True enough… but don't worry, I promise I won't tell anyone. As long as you keep the insults about me being inferior to a minimum."

Amy sighed in defeat. She really couldn't stand being made fun of for her secret fantasies.

"Fine; Just put me down. Being carried like this isn't boosting my confidence."

Cyril was pleased to find that Amy wasn't completely full of herself. He liked a woman who could recognize her faults; even if it was unwillingly. "As you wish, Mademoiselle. I hope you trust me to keep your secret."

"I don't have to trust you; if you tell anyone you won't live to regret it."

Cyril placed Amy's booted feet on the ground, and wondered how a young girl could be more intimidating than the demon that had taken Tira.

"So, is he going to be OK? Huh? Is he going to be OK Miss?! Well?"

Xandra leaned over the body of the stranger she had encountered earlier, Navi rambling incessantly in her ear. Her helmet did a little to block out the noise, but not nearly as much as Xandra would have liked.

"Fairy, your comrade will be more likely to reawaken at full strength if you will stop distracting me. Your silence will also improve your chances of survival."

Navi held her tongue for a few brief seconds, but her worry for Link was too much to remain silent.

"What are his chances for survival? Are they high, low, or somewhere in-between?"

"…do you not value your life, creature? Be silent, or be dead."

This time Navi kept quiet. Despite the 'kindness' Xandra was showing by assisting Link, she seemed most… sinister. Or her words did, at least.

Now that the grassy clearing Xandra had located was quiet, she could focus on the progress of nature's healing. She didn't really possess any healing powers, but Xandra did have the capability to accelerate the body's natural recovery. With that, she could regenerate the energy this stranger had lost from his strange methods of transportation much more quickly than usual.

After all, he was completely unharmed physically. His body was in perfect condition. He had just used too much stamina at one time, leading to unconsciousness. With a bit of accelerated recuperation, this stranger would be awake again in roughly half an hour, at which point Xandra would be able to determine if his existence was worth preserving.

But until the time of his imminent awakening, Xandra was content to listen to the beautiful resonance of the surrounding forest. Now that the fairy had finally found decent motivation for silence, the short wait would be pleasant and peaceful…

"This is… not quite what I was expecting, Taki-sama."

Taki and Setsuka stood along the edge of the same ravine Taki had observed a few days prior, but the area hardly looked the same anymore. It looked like a combination of an earthquake and hurricane had swept through the place simultaneously. Boulders were overturned, tress were uprooted, huge piles and deep gorges of disturbed dirt… the whole place looked like a disaster area.

The even more worrisome aspect of this situation was that the area looked even worse than when Taki had left it before finding Setsuka.

"Really Setsuka-san, that kind of honorific is hardly necessary. You are just as much of a person of honor and respect as I, so we should definitely be of equal status."

Setsuka seemed very pleased that Taki thought of her as an equal, but she couldn't help but try to deny the renowned Kunoichi's praise.

"Th-that's not true, Taki-sama. I have done nothing worthy of being the equal to someone who has done so much for the people. I truly admire what you stand for and your dedication in carrying it out. I can't help but use that honorific when speaking with you."

Taki let out an inward sigh. She didn't really care for the admiration of others. She did what she did because that was what she believed in; she wasn't looking for praise. Still, it seemed that it would take a while before Setsuka understood that, so for now, she let the matter rest.

"Well, I suppose I can't change your mind on the matter, so let's just focus on the problem at hand."

Setsuka nodded in agreement, her blond hair waving to and fro with the motion. "Indeed. I have never seen anything such as this. Was it the work of a demon?"

"No. I have mastered the art of identifying the handiwork of demonic powers, and there are no traces of it here. Whatever did this was of a different nature entirely. Of course, an unknown enemy is far worse than one easily seen…"

Setsuka scanned the carnage once more, using her umbrella to block out the noon sun.

"Is there any way to follow it? Does it leave any kind of trail at all?"

Taki frowned in dismay. She had already searched for any such trails to follow, but had found none.

"Unfortunately, I have found no such thing. The only trail we have to follow is the rumors of the people."

"Rumors?"

"Yes. If we assume that this kind of thing is happening elsewhere, then it is likely that it will be a very frequent topic among the people. Perhaps we can follow it to its source, if it even has one."

Setsuka was a little amazed that a master ninja like Taki had a plan so plebeian. But then again, the Western Geisha couldn't really think of a better alternative. That being the case, she just agreed with her beautifully curvaceous companion.

"I see. That is a very practical approach, Taki-Sama. But where should we start?"

Taki, crouched as she usually was when observing things, rose to her feet quite quickly, causing quite the bounce in her awesome assets. Even for a straight woman like Setsuka, is was hard to ignore them…

"There is a village near here that probably noticed this phenomenon themselves. That would be the best place to start."

"Is it far?"

"Roughly a day's walk from here. Not a problem."

Setsuka thought of all the terrible things that could happen to her beautiful kimono in just one day of travel.

"Indeed… no problem…"

Hilde brushed her fiery red bangs out of her eyes. The damp strands of hair offered no resistance to her slim fingers. Warm streams of water poured down onto her well-sculpted body, which stood nude in her personal quarter's washroom; the newest 'shower' innovation was quite intriguing. Using a large water basin that refilled itself with the water that was cleaned once down the drain…

The Wolfkrone strike force had finally returned to the castle after the punishing days of torrential rain, and almost every soldier that had been a part of the disastrous expedition was now washing away the filth and grime they had wallowed in.

In this aspect, Hilde was no different from her soldiers. She was just as glad to be home as her troops were, despite the incessant bitterness of having never even gained sight of her goal. What could possibly be a more humiliating defeat than being conquered by the wind and rain?

Hilde looked down at her own body, her mind blank. She found it hard to think, and instead focused on a water droplet racing its way down her chest. It served only as a momentary distraction for her as a consecutive rapping on the door disturbed the Wolfkrone princess' thoughts.

"My Princess? Lieutenant Luana wishes to speak with you."

Hilde sighed. There was no doubt that Luana would try and lecture her on the futility of her plans. An 'I told you so' was inevitable.

"I will speak with her when I am finished. Thank you for telling me."

"B-but Princess, she says it is most urgent…"

Of course it was. Luana labeled anything she wanted done as urgent…

"I understand. But she will have to wait."

"…it's about… his Majesty, Princess. He has left his chambers-!"

The poor servant outside the washroom door stumbled back in surprise as Hilde slammed the door open in her face.

"What did you say!?"

The young servant covered her eyes in embarrassment; Hilde had completely neglected to cover herself in her astonishment at what was said.

"Pri-princess! I-I-I I'm sorry! I should not see you like so!"

Hilde grabbed a nearby a towel to cover herself with. "Forget that, now what did you say about father?!"

"H-he's left his chambers! He's in the dining hall now!"

Hilde dashed into her room, looking for anything to throw on so she could go out and find out just what the hell was happening; and if her father might have come back to her.

"Hey, hey! It looks like Link is waking up! Hey! I think Link is waking up!"

Xandra gritted her teeth in annoyance. Despite being on the opposite end of the clearing, Navi's voice was far louder than it needed to be. Didn't that irritating nuisance ever speak in a normal tone of voice?

Xandra rose to her feet, eager to interrogate the awakening stranger. She was still very angry about the damaged trees from earlier. A few paces was enough to bring Xandra's figure to stand over the humanoid being known as 'Link'. It was certainly a name that made no sense to her, although it could have had some actual significant meaning.

The green-clad man at Xandra's metal tipped feet stirred slightly. He furrowed his brow and shifted around a little, but his eyes did not open.

At this point, Xandra's patience was too short to wait for this man to awaken on his own. She kicked him in the ribs, only refraining from damaging the protective cage as an afterthought.

The assaulted man flinched, completely caught off guard by the unexpected blow. Navi darted forward in alarm.

"Hey! Don't do that!"

Xandra didn't even spare the fairy a glance. "Silence. I have no time for this man to go through his wake up routine. The life of you and your friend rests in my hands, so I suggest that you follow my wishes."

Link was quick to wake up now that he had been booted in the side. His eyes shot open and he rolled to his feet, not knowing whether he was really under attack or not.

It didn't take the Hylian long to analyze the situation. He already knew the location of every person in this situation, and was formulating several plans for getting Navi away from the green-trimmed metal clad stranger in front of him.

It was impossible for Link to see past the reflective black visor the strange figure wore, so he really couldn't use facial expressions to judge the possible enemy's intentions. And he couldn't see his sword or shield anywhere…

"As I am sure you have realized, your weaponry is not nearby. If you try to oppose me, creature; I will not hesitate to shred you. You have angered me enough just in your sleep."

Link was surprised that this stranger, who was most definitely a woman judging by her voice, had already found a reason to dislike him. His enemies usually waited until he was awake to find a reason to kill him, at the very least…

"Please, I am sorry that I've angered you. I offer my most humble apologies."

The armored woman seemed taken slightly aback by such a mellow answer.

"Hmm… the apologies of a mortal like you are worth little. However, you are in no position to be even a minor threat… are you prepared to answer whatever questions I have? Refusing will result in immediate death."

"It seems you are leaving me with little choice… although I would have cooperated willingly…"

That comment seemed to be amusing to the metal woman. "Hmph. A creature like you possessing enough cognitive power to even understand 'will' is laughable. But regardless of your delusions, you should at least be intelligent enough to answer my queries. But you'd better hope that I find your answers satisfactory."

Navi looked like she wanted to say something, but was too afraid to speak up. Link could understand her fear; even though this stranger before him had a level tone of voice and passive movements, she had a certain menacing aura about her.

"Very well. I am ready to answer any questions you may have. But if I do, you must promise to leave Navi unharmed."

The stranger cast a glance back at Navi. "Your fairy friend will remain completely unharmed so long as it maintains its current level of quiet. You will find that acceptable."

Link found the way she said that funny. Apparently, he didn't have a choice as to whether or not he found it acceptable. He was just told that he would accept it as it was.

"I guess I will."

"So, now that we have come to an understanding, however much of an understanding a being like you may possess, we may begin. Clearly define your species to me. What variation of elf are you?"

Link remembered having a lot of people asking him about being an elf last time he had traveled between worlds… this woman just asked the question with more eloquent words.

"I am not an elf of any sort; I am a native of Hyrule, where these 'elves' do not exist. However, I have been told that I resemble that race quite a few times before."

The stranger before him was thrown of only slightly by the unexpected answer.

"Nonexistent you say? That should not be possible in this world… where is this Hyrule? You may use the continent of Europe as a center point to define the direction."

Link scratched his chin in confusion. He could easily recall a place called 'Europe' from an adventure a long time ago… but it was a little fuzzy. The only thing he clearly remembered was the young girl he had befriended…

"Umm… I'm afraid I don't know the location of Hyrule relative to 'Europe'. I'm not even sure if it exists in the same world…"

Silence ensued between the conversationalists. The stranger remained silent for several moments, as if lost in thought. After some deliberation, she came to a verdict.

"An inter-dimensional traveler? I suppose that makes sense."

Whatever answer Link was expecting, that certainly wasn't it. "It does? I'm the one traveling, and it doesn't even make sense to me…"

The metal-clad woman turned on her heel and scanned the forest behind her. "Me and my kin have been aware of alternate dimensions for many millennia. It is no surprise to an enlightened mind like my own. However, regardless of your origin, I must still destroy you."

"Why? What have I done to earn your anger?"

Turning back to face Link, the woman spoke her reasons. "You have scarred a sliver of the Mother; such blasphemy is unacceptable. As the only true vigilant of the Mother, I must protect her from your kind, or avenge harm to her beauty."

Her strange words served only to confuse Link further. Things like 'the Mother' and 'vigilant' really didn't make sense without an explanation.

"I do not understand. What have I damaged? I will do my best to fix it."

"The harm you have caused cannot be repaired in any short amount of time. There will be no repayment. Prepare you-"

The stranger suddenly stopped speaking. Nothing that Link could see had happened to her; she had just dropped her sentence. After a few seconds, she jabbed her index finger at Link.

"You will stay here. Something tragic has just taken shape. If you leave this place, I will hunt you down. You cannot escape my sight, so you'd do well to heed what I say."

With that, the stranger swirled a strange looking cloak around her body. It looked like she completely shrunk under the cloth, until eventually, the cloak disappeared altogether and a falcon took off into the sky.

Link watched the bird go, and wondered what could be so important that an inter-dimensional anomaly could be completely ignored.

Tira tiredly leaned over the small cradle Pyrrha rested in. After forty long minutes, Tira had finally managed to convince the little Greek that there was no need to be afraid of the dark, and Pyrrha had fallen asleep.

Holy crap… I think dealing with this may have actually given me a little more respect for that Athenian bitch.

But not enough to stop calling her a bitch?

No, because she's still a total bitch.

It's a good thing that little Pyrrha-Pie can't hear all these bad words.

There was actually silence in Tira's mind for a brief moment, as her dark side was speechless in disbelief.

Did you seriously just say that? Did you seriously just nickname the damn hostage!?

What, if we have to pretend to be a mother, we might as well have a good time with it!

We are not her mother! We're just the damn caretaker because Nightmare can't find anything for us to do!

Not too surprisingly, Tira's gloomy side had a debilitating effect on her jolly side.

Tell me about it… it's like Nighty doesn't even remember that we're around…

Did you just say 'tell me about it' and then keep talking? How am I supposed to tell you about it if you don't let me?

I'm not in the mood for your logic!

Tira delved into another silent argument with herself, but it didn't last long. An interruption from behind the insane girl fortunately disrupted her thoughts.

"Tira, Master wishes to see you…"

Tira turned to face Solnholfen, another ex-Birds of Passage member. He used to be Tira's superior, after her mentor had been slain… both sides of Tira hated him with a passion, but he was now no more than an empty malfested husk: killing him would not be satisfying in any way.

But her dislike for the man was pushed aside in her joy; it was about time Nightmare had something for her to do again. Still, Tira made a deliberate effort to shove Solnholfen out of the way as hard as she could before dashing off to the throne room.

"I still don't understand where we are going. In fact, do you even know where we are going?"

Amy trailed slightly behind Cyril, as she was unable to maintain the pace of the virtually never tiring Sentinel ahead of her.

"I actually only know the general direction we need to go. I'll have to find specifics later."

Amy couldn't believe how carefree this idiotic man appeared while saying that. "So we're just walking in the general direction? You seriously don't even know our destination? How on earth have you survived this long?"

Cyril turned to give Amy a smile. "I have no idea myself."

Merely rolling her eyes, Amy decided to return to the task at hand. "So, Cyril; do you actually have a plan for stopping Armageddon, or are you just dealing with things as they come up?"

"Hmm… well, there's a very general plan; find the Catalyst, destroy it, and the universe is saved."

"You make it sound so simple."

"If only it were. Truth is, even though The Four have vast knowledge of hundreds, maybe even thousands of eons, they do not know what the Catalyst is. It could be anywhere, and it could be anything. So in reality, stopping the apocalypse is a matter of hide and seek."

The more Cyril spoke of his mission, the more unbelievable it seemed to Amy. It was almost like one of those elaborate schemes swindlers sometimes came up with in order to impress women. But Cyril had already demonstrated many of the abilities he claimed to have, and even if he hadn't, he seemed to be the honest type. Still, it could have been a facade, but Amy found that not only did she believe him, but she wanted to believe him. She didn't want to find out that Cyril was just some lying scum… she wanted him to be everything he said he was.

"So you're really just flying blind here. Exactly how much time do you have to find this Catalyst?"

"No one is sure. All that The Four know is that The End is destined to occur within the next century. Could be sooner than later, or vice versa, but who can tell? The only sign of the End's proximity is by looking at the anomalies…"

Amy was both worried and intrigued. Having less than a hundred years before the world was destroyed was pretty scary, but all of this business was quite interesting as well.

"Anomalies? What kind of… anomalies are you talking about?"

"It's mostly strange happenings in nature. Massive tornadoes, cataclysmic earthquakes, fiery rain…"

"F-fiery rain?!"

"Don't worry, that usually doesn't happen until a few weeks before the End. The most we have to worry about right now is deviation from nature's course: rotting earth and turbulent skies, still oceans… judging by these anomalies, the End is still fairly far off. We have time, for now."

"For now…"

Cyril cast his dark sapphire gaze at Amy. "Worried?"

The young French girl couldn't help but wonder if Cyril asked obvious questions on purpose. "Of course I am! Who wouldn't be worried about total annihilation!?"

For some reason, Cyril found that funny. "Heh, so you do actually fear something besides loneliness! But there's no need to worry; I already told you that I would save the world. And I'll definitely protect you, Amy."

Something about that final part was embarrassing for Amy. The fact that Cyril used her name while saying it made it even more so.

"Suddenly your face is really red. Do you need me to carry you again until you've caught your breath?"

"Absolutely not, you fool! I'm only like this because of you! This is your fault!"

Amy stormed ahead of Cyril, ignoring her fatigue. Cyril watched with dismay, unable to find out what he could have possibly done wrong.

Xandra flew into a disaster below, which she had detected while trying to interrogate her quarry. Below her falcon form was a raging inferno, decimating the landscape for miles. She could sense the anomalous energy emanating from the catastrophe, meaning that this fire was not natural or at least not caused naturally.

Xandra's heart filled with panic, watching her beloved nature burn below her. Nothing was more destructive than flames… nothing was more hateful to the Mother.

Changing form in mid-air, Xandra fell to the ground a hundred feet below with a loud thump that kicked up dirt. Orange flames climbed towards the sky all around her, crisping the leafy canopy and scorching the bark of her beloved trees.

As much as she wanted to act immediately, Xandra didn't know what to do. This affected area of the forest was massive, and she didn't possess any type of anti-fire capabilities. In a desperate attempt to eradicate the flames, Xandra pushed a large gust of wind towards one of the pillars of flame. But instead of doing anything to weaken the fire, it seemed to only make it stronger, as if her wind was feeding it.

Xandra let out a blood-curdling scream of rage. The inability to defend what she loved tortured her soul. If only Theron was here; he could have easily frozen the flames with his sub-zero abilities.

There was nothing Xandra could do here. Nothing she could do to protect the Mother, and it infuriated and frustrated her to no small extent. This frustration continued to build and grow as the flames climbed higher and higher. She had to stop it! Had to exterminate the flames somehow…

Xandra knew there was some sort of secret regarding fire and air; Demeter had revealed to her Sentinel many of the secrets of nature. But she couldn't remember what it was at the moment…

Something to do with fire's connection to air… but that was so broad, what good did it do? Xandra decided that she would try a larger burst of air, but in all directions. She would start by drawing all of he air towards her, and then blowing it outwards as forcefully as possible.

Xandra proceeded with this plan and gathered all of the wind in the area around her, creating a powerful vacuum with her body as the epicenter. She could only hope that the outward blast would manage to put out the flames.

But something else happened that was unexpected. When Xandra finished gathering all of the air in the vicinity, all of the flames slowly dwindled to sparks, and then disappeared completely. How strange; it was almost as if the vacuum itself had been more effective than blasting the wind at the fire. Xandra was unsure of why this was the case, but she was well aware that she needed to release the stored air, before the vacuum caused an anomaly of its own.

Unfortunately, there was no way to do this gently; the air had to be released all at once. Xandra released her hold on the concentrated air around her form, and it blasted outwards in a powerful wave of force that ripped several leaves off of their limbs, and even tilted a few of the slimmer trees nearby.

With that done, Xandra analyzed the damage around her. The forest was devastated. Hardly a single tree remained unscathed. She fell to her knees, silent in her agony, and bitter over her failure.

"So, Signore Auditore; Italia no longer adventurous enough for your tastes? Or are you looking for new women to chase after?"

Ezio turned away from the coast of Roma to speak to the ship's captain.

"Not quite, Signore. Although finding a few lovely ladies to share my travels with is never an unwelcome thing. I only find it unfortunate that Leonardo did not have time to accompany me. He needs to leave that workshop of his every once and awhile."

Ezio had traveled with this very captain quite a few times; in fact, he had been the captain of the ship that had first taken him to Venice with Leonardo, and Ezio had made frequent use of his services ever since.

"How is your villa doing, Signore Auditore? I hear it is prospering quite well."

"Si, everything at the villa is muy biene. My family is keeping it in shape while I'm away."

"Hm… I see. Anyway, the coast of Greece should be within view by day's end. I'm sure you are more than ready to leave this rocking vessel after so many days of travel."

Ezio looked out over the waves. He didn't mind ocean travel, but he preferred to have his feet on solid ground. More importantly, there were almost never any women aboard sailing ships; only sweating sailors, which the Italian playboy obviously didn't have any interest in.

"Yes… I am definitely ready to get off this ship and onto the shore; I'd much rather be searching for some beautiful Greek women than some seagulls over the sea. I hear there are some beautiful blondes in that part of Europa…"

"You don't actually have a plan for this do you?"

Siegfried and Ivy both stood in the Valentine Mansion's alchemy lab, peering at Soul Calibur, which rested on a long table that had been cleared of other alchemical tools and ingredients.

"Well I've never tried to read the mind of a bloody sword, so I think a little bit of uncertainty is inevitable, Schtauffen. Besides, seeing as you have no knowledge on this matter whatsoever, your opinion has no weight here. Be silent so that I can focus!"

Siegfried backed away from the English lady. There was no point in arguing with Ivy about anything; ever. It was impossible to win a verbal debate even if the alchemist was in the wrong. But if Ivy could discover what was wrong with the Spirit Sword, then that would far outweigh the negative aspects of her character.

From the spot Siegfried had moved to, he had an excellent view of Ivy's entire figure. She wasn't wearing her usual dominatrix like attire, but a red regal outfit that was far more fitting for someone who was supposed to be a noble. Siegfried could vaguely remember Ivy wearing this outfit way back when he was still Nightmare, before Inferno had been defeated by that Chinese trio…

Strangely, Siegfried wasn't really attracted to her at all. Ivy had a very striking figure, but even looking directly at her, Siegfried didn't really find any interest. Maybe it was because he was too focused on Soul Calibur's condition to worry about women. He had far more important goals beyond such carnal desires.

"Bloody hell…"

Siegfried's thoughts were disrupted by Ivy's expletive. Her demeanor spoke volumes of frustration.

"Have you run into a problem?"

Ivy glared back at the man. "You really have no idea how difficult something like this is, do you? This sword is far beyond the minds of a human. How am I even supposed to find out what the problem is? I'd have to investigate many other aspects of Soul Calibur to even begin to comprehend its inner workings. Who knows what I'll have to do in order to…"

Ivy's voice faded away as Siegfried gradually tuned it out. She would have a far better time ranting to someone who understood even a sliver of all of this gibberish.

Well, this is at least 3,000 words shorter than I promised… but it's been nearly a damn month, and at this rate, it would take me several more days to finish up here. I think you would all prefer a slightly shorter chapter half-a-week earlier, right? Besides, this leaves a lot of stuff to write about in the next update, because several characters were left with cliffhangers.

What I really need is some advice on how Link was in this chapter. Did he speak the way he normally would? Was his personality correct? I know very little about Link as a character, so I could definitely use the reader's help here.

As a final note, I really appreciate those of you who endure the long waits and occasional rants to stick with this story and support me in writing it. It's because of supporters like LoveMadness, Arcane Valor, Sven, Unfortunate Guy, Lektorr, Azure Heart, Lucius, JerichoCross… you know I can't list everyone, but you know who you are, and I hope you know I truly appreciate your continuing support.