Chapter 21: The Debut of the Mysterious Swordsman!

After leaving Altamira be for now, the group take to the skies with their Rheairds once more. They were making their way to the Temple of Darkness to resume their pacts with the Summon Spirits. With the directions given to them by Regal, they make their way north of the Temple of Earth and find another cavern secluded in a rocky wall. After landing their rides on the ground, they began to trek into the darkened cavern.

But immediately upon entering, everyone is blinded by pitch black darkness, removing vision from even their own bodies much to their surprise. Standing still to avoid tripping a trap in this darkness, Lloyd comments in a puzzled tone "What the heck? Why can't we see?"

"It must be Shadow's influence. To think that he'd be able to affect his own temple to such a degree." Raine comments without little concern towards the darkness. Riku then brings up as he flicks his fingers to try and ignite a flame "Darkness is always one of the toughest elements. I can't even see my flames now, though it might just be the thick amount of mana in the air holding it back…"

Riku clenches his fist and waits for a response from the others. "We should probably go back to the Elemental Research Lab. They've probably done enough research to figure out how to deal with this darkness." Sheena offers up a solution to the problem at hand, and Raine nods in agreement and says "It'll be dangerous to walk through Meltokio, but I don't see any better choice. Let's go."

After performing a safe 180, everyone walks out of the Temple of Darkness and makes their way back to the Rheairds, taking off with them and making a straight flight to Meltokio. It had been quite a while since they had been in the capital city of Tethe'alla, but after they landed they find that nothing has changed in the front gates. Two guards still kept the doors locked before, forcing everyone to make another detour through the sewer to get back to the city itself.

Once there, they stayed on guard as they pushed through the hustle and bustle of city life, keeping a particular eye out for any of the Papal Knights so they don't cause any trouble. But before they pass the swarm of people and make it to the Lab, a particular figure gets in their way. It was Kratos once again, only this time he was wearing a more casual looking dark purple outfit that had extensions of cloth on his shoulders and a leather sheath for his sword.

The group immediately stops, with Lloyd blurting out in surprise "Kratos!" Instead of the man responding to Lloyd, he glances at Presea and politely asks her "I heard that sacred wood only grows in the area surrounding Ozette. Is that right?"

Presea is surprised by this question and asks "Y…yes…" Kratos nods his head and admits "I see, then that means that it would no longer exist, correct?" Presea replies in turn after a moment of hesitation "…The wood I cut is stored in the church."

"Then that's all that is left…It seems I have no choice." Kratos is about to depart after this comment, but Lloyd stops him with an extended arm and glares at him while asking "Hold on. Why is Cruxis worried about sacred wood?"

Kratos naturally replies with "Because it is necessary…What other reason could there be?" Lloyd isn't accepting of that response and exclaims to him "Necessary for what?!" Kratos glances away from Lloyd and says in a calm manner "I do not feel the need to tell you that now. By the way, Lloyd. The Summon Spirit pacts you are currently forming…you must stop."

Lloyd stares at Kratos in disbelief for a few seconds before replying "…Do you think we'll stop because you said so?" Kratos lowers his eyelids and notes "It is dangerous to engage in activities in which you cannot predict the outcome of. It may result in something you cannot undo."

"But if there is no other way to save both worlds, then we have to do it!" Lloyd replies in full force, and Kratos advises him calmly "…Be patient, Lloyd." He then walks off, only exchanging a brief glance with Riku before departing all the way. Lloyd turns towards the departing Kratos and comments in a puzzled tone "…What is he talking about?"

"He's just trying to dissuade us Lloyd. Don't worry about him, let's just go figure out how to deal with that icky little darkness, ok?" Zelos tries to divert Lloyd's attention away from Kratos' words to great effect, leading to Lloyd nodding his head and commenting "Yeah, you're right."

After a quick return to the road ahead, the group enters the Elemental Research Laboratory, where they are immediately greeted with surprise by the green-haired half-elf that helped them out before. "Sheena! And everyone else…" He says, and Sheena gets straight to the point by asking "We have a bit of a favor to ask of you all…We need to figure out how to enter the Temple of Darkness."

"Oh…You came across Shadow's darkness, didn't you? Hmm, I'm not going to question why you are after the Summon Spirits now, but I believe the answer lies within the blue candle." The man explains. Lloyd asks afterwards "Blue candle?"

"It's a holy candlestick that negates the power of darkness. You that here?" Raine explains and then inquires of the man, who nods and proceeds to detail to the group "Relying on ancient documents, we succeeded in creating it here in our lab."

"Then, could we borrow one?' Lloyd politely asks, but before the man could offer it to them without hesitation another half-elf with glasses and slick back blonde hair blurts out angrily at the group "Hey! It's these guys' fault that Kate was arrested! You can't help them!"

The group flinched in surprise, with Lloyd in particular commenting "What? Kate was arrested?!" The green-haired half-elf explains hesitantly "Sigh…Kate is going to be executed for harboring criminals and helping them escape."

"It's because of us…Damnit!" Lloyd slams his fist against the wall behind him in anger, with Colette pointing out "We should go and save Kate!" Soon afterwards. Lloyd pulls his fist away from the wall and says "Yeah, but how?"

Regal offers his knowledge to the group with a simple suggestion "How about participating in the matches being held at the Coliseum?" Zelos is a little puzzled by this and asks "Huh? Why there?" Regal explains in great detail "It was originally constructed to watch fights between prisoners and wild beasts. There is a passage inside the prison which allows prisoners to be taken into the Coliseum."

"Oh yeah, I guess you'd know about that…Yeah, Kate is probably somewhere down there." Zelos points out. The blonde half-elf begs of them "Then hurry and save Kate!" The group wastes little time in leaving the laboratory and moving straight for the western side of Meltokio with Zelos' guidance, eventually arriving at the lively Coliseum.

The roars of the crowd could be heard coming from inside, and Lloyd comments in a worrying tone "I hope Kate isn't being forced to fight before the execution…" "Don't worry about it Lloyd, they don't do that here." Zelos reassures his buddy with his words, to which Lloyd thanks him for a moment later.

Upon entering the Coliseum, the group finds a receptionist at the desk a few feet in front of them along with a few armored guards moving around. Thankfully, none of them were Papal Knights, meaning caution wasn't necessary. Even so, there was another issue that needed to be discussed before they approached the receptionist. "Hold up Lloyd." Regal stops the group with those words, and once they turn to look at him Regal explains "We shouldn't go sign up for battle quite yet."

"Why not? Kate could be executed at any time!" Lloyd is puzzled by this matter until Raine picks up Regal's intentions and explains "Regal has a point actually. Almost all of us are recognized as criminals in Meltokio. If we go into an event largely organized by the Church of Martel, there's no doubt we'll be arrested. The only ones who have a chance of entering safely are Presea, Zelos, and Riku."

"That's well and good, but I think you're overestimating Presea and Riku's chances here professor." Zelos comments in a somewhat serious tone, and as everyone looks at Zelos he further explains "Considering Kuchinawa's connection to the Pope, there's no doubt he spilt the beans that Presea's gone rouge and Riku's on our side. I'm the only one who can feasibly fight for Kate's sake."

"If Kuchinawa's information is a reason for concern, then you aren't safe as well, Zelos." Riku points out, to which the Chosen wags his finger and replies "Ah ah ah, you forget, I still have my status as the Chosen, and I'm loved by everyone in Meltokio! If they tried to arrest me, they'd risk complete and utter panic from the citizens."

"…Zelos may be exaggerating a bit on the 'loved by everyone' part, but he does bring a good point." Sheena begrudgingly admits, but Raine says in rebuttal "You are being far too arrogant about this Zelos. You think the Pope won't have enough pull to turn the people against you?"

"Not really, no. But if you're gonna be so concerned about this, then I got an idea on how to make things better." Zelos smiles and starts to dash for the exit, but before he leaves he turns and says to the group "Wait here for a bit, I'll be right back!" He then runs out of sight, leaving the group confused but stationary for the next few minutes.

Eventually Zelos comes back, but in a rather different garb than what you'd expect him to be wearing. He had on two ivory gloves and a fancy ivory top hat with a white feather sticking out to the left side. The most noticeable thing though was the beaked white eye mask covering Zelos' face. "W-What the hell are you doing in that get-up, Zelos?!" Sheena looks at Zelos and exclaims as though the Chosen had lost his mind.

"Zelos? My dear madam of voluptuous nature, I am not a man that goes by such a name. I am an identity of pure mystery, whose mask causes all ladies to swoon!" Zelos hams things up with a fake accent, which causes Sheena to just slap her face and groan in pain.

"…Well I have to admit, this is unorthodox, but it should prevent you from being recognized by those high in the stands." Raine coldly points out, which leads to Zelos gesturing at her with one hand and commenting "Such a cold reception, I suppose thou is not a fan of my work."

"Zelos, you can cut the act while you're around us." Lloyd comments, even though he's somewhat enjoying Zelos' act. Zelos replies in turn "Forsooth, Sir Bud, I am just acting as I normally would."

"Ok you two, before you get too out of hand, need I remind you that Kate needs to be rescued?" Regal tries to set the group back on track, to which Zelos nods his head and points out "Fine, fine. But before I go handle the Coliseum for us, I think it's only right that I come up with a name for myself."

"A name? You mean like a superhero?" Riku questions, which leads to a little confusion from the group before the teenage Overlord notes to himself "…Didn't I already say that I didn't want to do this anymore." He then points out as a short explanation "I'm just saying that because he's wearing a mask to hide his identity. So what do you want to call yourself, Zelos?"

"That's a good question…Oh! How about the Chivalrous Cavalryman?!" Zelos enthusiastically tosses out an idea, and Sheena replies with blunt sarcasm "More like the Cantankerous Charlatan."

Zelos looks at Sheena and replies "Hey, I am NOT Cantankerous, Sheena!" He doesn't even realize he didn't bother to respond to the other part of the name by the time he relaxes himself. Lloyd thinks to himself for a few seconds before snapping his fingers and saying to Zelos "I got it! How about the Nobleman of Tethe'alla?"

"Hmmm, Nobleman of Tethe'alla? Short and to the point, I like it. Alright, I guess I'll go sign-up under that name, thanks Lloyd!" Zelos is happy with the idea and begins to head to the receptionist desk, while Lloyd gives him a confident sounding "Good luck Zelos, we're counting on you!"

Zelos smirks and says quietly to himself "Heh, you do, huh? …Damn it Lloyd." Putting himself back into a cheerful demeanor, the masked Zelos walks up to the desk and looks at the lady manning it, letting out a gentle cough before he comments "Ah, my sweet young lass, I desire so fervently to enter this fantastic Coliseum competition!"

The lady peaks up, and immediately cracks into a swooning smile as she says "Ah, it's you, Chosen Zelos. I'm surprised to see you coming around here, especially in such a silly looking getup." Zelos chuckles nervously and comments "Ah-Ah no. I'm not Zelos, I am the Nobleman of Tethe'alla, hero of the ladies and honor of Meltokio!"

"Hehe, is that so?" The lady humored Zelos' actions with a blush on her face, and in turn Zelos winked past his mask and commented "Yes, I believe so. So, am I to be entered in this fine competition, my dear?"

"Absolutely. I will sign you up for a four round battle." The lady reaches for a clipboard and writes down "The Nobleman of Tethe'alla" on it, after which Zelos bows his head and comments "I thank you, my dear. And if it's not too troublesome, I would like my not-as-beautiful friends to be allowed to spectate without any fuss or muss."

"Are you referring to the group standing behind you? For you, 'Nobleman of Tethe'alla', it would be an honor. Just enter the Coliseum through the left, and your friends shall enter the stands through the right. Your match shall begin in about five minutes." After the receptionist lady says this, Zelos nods his head and nonchalantly moves to the left side of the area, where the guard there opens the way to the inner portion of the Coliseum.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group walks towards the right side of the room, where the guard there opens the way to the stands, allowing them to climb the staircase and get a fantastic view of the sand filled arena below. After finding a surprisingly empty row of seats, the group sits down and takes in the cheerful roar of the crowd around them. The Coliseum was likely filled with over a thousand citizens, which made the noise that much more prominent.

"I've never been in a Coliseum before." Riku comments in a rather enticed tone of voice as he leans forward slightly to get a better view of the arena itself. Regal comments "I would assume no one but myself has been in one before."

"In that case, could you tell us how this will work for Zelos?" Raine asks in a curious tone of voice. Regal nods his head and explains "Zelos will fight a four round battle against increasingly stronger foes, and once he is done he will be escorted to the cell area, where he'll either wait for another four rounds or leave for the day. He's not a prisoner, after all."

"And then he'll free Kate? So once the four rounds are over, we'll leave for the entrance and wait for him there. Sounds simple enough." Lloyd comments, leading to Regal nodding his head again and saying "Assuming that Zelos is successful in defeating the monsters. Remember, these are fights to the death, so there will be no such thing as 'mercy' from the owners."

"He may be a goof at times, but I know Zelos can handle himself in battle." Sheena says. "It's starting guys! Quiet down!" Lloyd enthusiastically says, leading to a sharp retort from Genis "Lloyd, I think being quiet ruins the purpose of a Coliseum."

"…Shut up Genis." Lloyd bemoans after a momentary pause. The group then watches as the two gates open up, and an announcer walks out from the southern one that causes the crowd to go quiet for a few moments. The man roars up to the crowd "Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to today's competition in the Meltokio Coliseum! Introducing, in the southern corner…"

In expected fashion, Zelos emerges from the southern gate performing some sort of suave tap-dancing maneuver with oddly enough a rose gripped between his teeth. "Wait, where did he get THAT?" Riku comments in a very confused tone of voice. Zelos plucks the rose from his mouth and gives it to the announcer guy, commenting in an accented tone of voice "Perhaps this will help thou get the ladies."

The announcer, very confused by what the man just said, says to everyone as Zelos walks out and waves his arms out towards the audience "U-Umm…This is the Nobleman of Tethe'alla, everyone!" Lloyd lowers his eyelids in disbelief and comments "…Boy, he's really not being subtle with his disguise, is he?"

Raine slaps the front of her forehead and sighs, saying to Lloyd in turn "I'm starting to believe that we should have just gone for a straight forward jailbreak at this point." To which Riku replies "We can still do that, it'll save us a lot of trouble at this rate."

Regal looks around, commenting in a rather surprised tone of voice as the audience cheers "…It seems no one has noticed Zelos' true identity. A fortunate thing for us. We'll just wait and watch things out."

After sitting down and waiting for the battles to begin, the announcer introduces Zelos' opponents, three armored criminals that wield a shield, sword, and glaive respectively. Zelos pulls out his sword and shield and smiles while waiting for the signal from the announcer to begin fighting. Once it's time to start, Zelos is the first to charge at his opponents.

It doesn't take long for Zelos to deal with them, and the next two rounds go by in an equally swift amount of time. The Chosen's skills were undeniable even on his own, and the crowd was really getting into the swing of things by the time Zelos sheathed his blade for a moment after the third round was over. While the corpses of the three ogres he dealt with were carried out of the battlefield, Zelos turned towards the audience and swung his arms out, blowing kisses for all the pretty ladies out there.

With the group, Colette, Genis and surprisingly Presea were really getting into the battles, their faces alight with excitement as they pumped their fists into the air in unison with the crowd. Meanwhile, Riku is leaning back in his seat while commenting loud enough for the others to hear "I have to admit, it's taking a lot of effort to not join in on the excitement. Guess that's the warrior in me talking, though."

"It's a good thing that Zelos is facing convicts and monsters though. Had he been fighting anyone like Regal, then I'd be disgusted by this whole affair." Raine solemnly comments. "…It seems that I was concerned over nothing, they appear to be going easy on the monsters today, probably because they recognize 'The Nobleman of Tethe'alla' as a newcomer."

Down below, the announcer is about ready to introduce the final opponent, when all of a sudden a Papal Knight runs out and whispers in the man's ear, causing him to pause for a few moments much to the concern of the on looking group. The Papal Knight runs off, and the announcer looks up at the audience while saying "It seems we have a change of plans for the final round! Introducing in the northern corner…!"

Suddenly, the ground starts to tremble beneath Zelos' feet, causing him to stop his showboating and turn around towards the gate as he notices a hulking creature emerge from within the depths of the Coliseum. The announcer makes a run for it as the back of the creature brushes against the top of the gate, breaking it apart with it's bony spikes as it moves.

Regal's eyes widen in shock, and with a sharp gritting of his teeth he notes "Damn, it seems the Pope is watching the affair today." "Huh? What are you talking about Regal?" Lloyd asks, to which the man quickly replies with "The Pope is the only one who ever authorizes this dragon to be used in the Coliseum. For this to be happening, that means Zelos' identity has been discovered, and the Pope is hoping to kill him here and now."

"What?! Then we have to help him!" Lloyd is about ready to stand up and leap into the arena, when Raine lifts her arm up to block him while quietly commenting "Lloyd, if you do this now, you will only hasten Kate's execution. Besides, don't you trust Zelos to win?"

"…No, you're right, sorry Professor." Lloyd sits back down, though he groans slightly at the matter at hand. On the battlefield, Zelos draws his sword as the hulking dragon pulls the remainder of his body from the Coliseum and immediately stands himself upright, towering over the Chosen with his brown-thick scaled hide and multitude of sandy, spiked protrusions.

"Heh, this must be a really special day if a big boy like you is here to fight me." Zelos takes the matter with little concern, even when the dragon opens his mouth and roars loudly at him. Zelos then leaps back as the dragon swings his tail at him, taking some time to examine his opponent before making any foolish attacks.

Meanwhile in the stands, Lloyd feels the need to ask Regal "Say Regal, you said you fought in the Coliseum before, right? What do you know about the dragon?" Regal slowly replies "…Remember how I said that Coliseum matches are fights to the death? What does it say when this dragon is still alive? There is not a single competitor strong enough to put a dent in that creature's hide."

"…Rodyle bred this dragon, didn't he?" Raine asks, to which Regal replies "I would say that is a fair assumption, considering his connection to the Pope. Even after death that man still manages to get in our way…"

Speaking of the Pope, in the highest reaches of the Coliseum the golden garbed Pope is seen sitting down, ruffling his brown mustache as he held his hooked staff in one hand and rested the other on the side of his body. While he looked at Zelos fighting the dragon, Kuchinawa appeared beside him and walked up, causing the Pope to comment "Kuchinawa…What news do you have for me?"

With a whisper, Kuchinawa's words cause the Pope's eyes to widen in fear before he proclaims "Rodyle is dead?! No…He was the only reason we were able to keep that dragon from going after the audience!" The ninja says "Should I deal with the creature?"

The Pope hesitantly shakes his head and comments "No. The Chosen is down there right now. Let the dragon kill him and his likely nearby friends, and then we'll destroy him." Kuchinawa bows in agreement, and then backs off. In the arena, it is only with the help of his swift leaps that Zelos is managing to avoid getting torn apart by the beast's lunging claws and gargantuan tail.

"This guy just doesn't let up! Come on Zelos, you need to find it's weak point." Zelos lands on the ground and begins waving his shielded arm in front of his body, preparing a magic spell since he felt sword strikes would be ineffective. "THUNDER BLADE!" He proclaims swiftly as he swings his hand into the air and summons forth a sword of divine electricity that he sends crashing into the back of the gargantuan dragon.

But the sword bounces right off of him after releasing a small shockwave with little to show in the way of phasing the creature. The dragon turns around and opens his mouth while Zelos' flinches in surprise and leaps back, avoiding the flames that come out with great agility. "You got to be kidding me, magic isn't going to work either? …Or maybe it's not regular magic that I need to be using here…"

Zelos looks around, and notices that the audience is starting to run out in a panic as the dragon was showing little regard for the environment around him as it attacked. Lloyd and the others were still watching from afar, causing Zelos to scoff and note "Got to get out of sight first…Wait, I got an idea!" The Chosen smiles, and after backflipping past another tail swing from the dragon Zelos quickly casts Thunder Blade on the ground in front of the dragon.

The sword of electricity cracks through the ground, opening the way to the jail quarters down below, to which Zelos comments "Bingo!" He then dashes forward, outrunning the lumbering dragon as he slides straight into the hole he created before the dragon can impale him with his claws.

The creature's bulky hand rubs against the edge of the hole, bringing debris down with the Chosen as he lands on the ground in front of the jail cell that was conveniently holding Kate. The half-elf scientist was surprised by the man's sudden appearance along with the commotion going on outside and commented "W-Who are you?"

Zelos quickly turns to face Kate and comments "Oh, the uniform." He then pulls his masks off and gives her his suave grin while saying "To you, my dear, I'm Zelos Wilder, and I'm here to rescue you!"

Kate lets out a gasp of surprise at this bit of news, while up above the dragon continues to try and claw through the hole to reach Zelos, his frantic behavior causing even more of the audience to evacuate, while with Lloyd's group Regal is swift to point out "It seems Zelos has chosen to take the more direct route to free Kate. We should hurry to meet him."

"But what about the dragon?" Lloyd asks as he and the others rise to their feet. Regal replies "The Pope's men should be able to tame it. So long as everyone is evacuating, we have nothing to worry about." The group then makes a mad dash for the Coliseum entrance, which proves a little difficult thanks to the abundance of citizens trying to make their way out.

Meanwhile, back with Zelos and Kate, Zelos throws his 'Nobleman of Tethe'alla' costume off and looks up at the dragon, where he proceeds to wave his shielded arm out in front of his body while Kate comments "What are you going to do about that dragon?!"

"Heh, don't worry about that my dear, I got a little ace up my sleeve. Just don't go telling Lloyd and the others about it, ok~?" As a circle of bright light forms around Zelos' feet, angelic feathers rise up as Zelos quickly chants "Oh sacred powers, cast your purifying light-" The dragon opening his mouth ready to send flames at the Chosen forces Zelos to quickly say "Blah blah blah, JUDGMENT!"

Raising his hand into the air with all of his might, Zelos then quickly takes out his sword and cuts through the iron bars holding Kate in her cell, and he sheathes his blade while commenting "Ok, we're out of here!" While Kate is completely befuddled by the Chosen's words and actions, she isn't really in a position to say anything as Zelos quickly picks her up and tosses her over his right shoulder, after which he sprints towards the exit of the confinement area.

The dragon is then burned straight through the head by a single beam of holy light, which proceeds to crash straight into the jail area and send a tremor through the entire Coliseum before it dissipates into the afternoon sky, leaving a headless, bulky corpse in the middle of the arena much to the Pope's confusion.

Back with Zelos and Kate, the Chosen manages to climb the stairs out of the confinement area, where he meets up with Lloyd and the others just as they made it to the entrance. "Zelos, you're alive!" Lloyd says in a tone of surprise. The Chosen cracks a half-hearted grin thanks to his minor state of exhaustion and comments "No time for that now Lloyd, we got to bail before-"

"There they is! The wanted Chosens and their followers! Kill them all!" A large group of Papal Knights starts to charge the group from behind with their pikes and swords. Lloyd figures out what needs to be done and proclaims "No argument here, lets bail!"

After Zelos passes Kate off to Regal's arms, the group runs straight out of the Coliseum, with Lloyd commenting to the half-elf scientist "Hehe, sorry to drop this jailbreak on you suddenly." Kate leans her head back in Regal's arms and comments in a flustered tone "I-It's fine…I-I'm just surprised you came to rescue me."

After running down the stairway in the middle of Meltokio, Raine is quick to comment "We can't deal with the sewers this time, not when we have so many guards after us!" This causes Riku to run ahead of the rest of the group while clenching his right fist and stating "Well, if subtlety is out of the question!"

He throws his fist at the closest part of the Meltokio wall, sending out a giant bullet of air that breaks the stone apart without harming anyone nearby. "Well, I suppose that's better than nothing…" Raine comments quietly before she and the rest of the group sprint through the newly made hole. Once on the other side of Meltokio's wall, Riku flips around and waves his hand at the debris, picking it up and throwing it all back into place in a rather sloppy manner. But it was enough to stop the Papal Knights from pursuing.

Making a run straight for the Rheairds parked outside, Regal helps prop Kate up behind Lloyd, since he is too big to accommodate her on the seat of his Rheaird. Once everyone was ready to take-off, Lloyd asked Kate "So where do you want to go now? Do you have any parents that can keep you safe?"

Kate went silent for a moment, her eyes glancing down in a melancholy manner before she says
"…Can you just take me to Ozette?" Lloyd is surprised by this request, leading to him pointing out "Umm, Ozette is in ruins now…You sure about that?"

"They wouldn't think to find me there…" Is Kate's response, and without any further debate Lloyd nodded his head and took off on the Rheaird. After a short flight with his friends, Lloyd and the group ended up at the blackened remains of Ozette right outside Presea's untouched former house. Once there, the group joined Kate so they could make sure that everything was safe for her at the moment.

But before they walked too far, Kate turned around and bowed before the group, saying in an appreciative manner "Even though I did such terrible things to Presea, I thank you for rescuing me." Lloyd replies in turn once she lifts herself up "You helped us escape Sybak and you were about to be executed because of that. Of course we were going to help you out, Kate."

"…Even if I told you who I really am?" Kate pokes at the middle of her glasses in a saddened manner, leading to Lloyd glancing at her in confusion before asking "What are you talking about?" Kate explains in a hesitant manner "My mother was an elf, and my father…Is the current Pope in the Church of Martel."

Everyone reacts with surprise at this bit of news, minus Riku, who sits in the back and looks rather disgusted at the Pope because of this. "You're lucky you took after your mother." Zelos points out in a serious tone of voice, but this leads to Genis looking at Zelos and exclaiming towards him "How can you only say that?! He tried to have his own daughter executed! How can anyone do that?!"

"You have to remember that it was the Pope who ruled that all half-elves who commit crimes are to be punished with death. He can't show favoritism just because his daughter is one." Zelos' explanation doesn't make Genis feel any better, and he immediately snaps back with "Then why make that law in the first place?! I swear, if I see the Pope again, he'll pay for this…"

These words concern both Raine and Lloyd, but it was Kate who looked at Genis and begged of him "Please…Don't do anything bad to my father!" Genis looks at her and says "Why?! He's done terrible things to you?!"

"Yes…That's true, but…He's still my father, and when he finally ordered me to perform experiments to turn Exspheres into Cruxis Crystals. I was very happy. My father finally needed me…" Kate's explanation was spoken in such a bizarre manner that it absolutely sickened Riku, who scowled while Genis went on to mention "I can't understand! I don't want to understand that!"

It was at that point that Raine walked in front of Genis and folded her arms sternly while saying "Genis, calm down now!" Genis is about to talk back to his sister, when Raine quickly and firmly slaps him across the face, garnering shock from the rest of the group but succeeding in making Genis' get a grip on himself.

After a moment's quiet, Colette chimes in with an empathetic sounding "I think I get what Kate's saying…When I thought Remiel might be my father, I was happy that my father had come to see me, even though I knew my journey would end in death."

"Colette, that's a nice sentiment, but Kate's situation is pretty different. That bastard used his own daughter like a tool for his own ends, forcing her to only feel happiness towards him when he depended on her for help. That's not love, that's emotional torture!" Riku gave out a rather uncharacteristically sounding response to the whole ordeal, which made even Zelos give the boy a puzzled glance before the teenage Overlord blinks twice and glances away while murmuring "…Why did I say that…"

Kate quietly comments after that matter "…I'm going to think by myself for a while about my father and half-elves…Thank you again for saving me…And Presea…" Presea glances at the half-elf as she bows her head and says in a truly honest tone "…I'm sorry." Kate then turns around and walks off to go contemplate everything that has transpired.

Colette frowns slightly and says "This is…horrible. Why do things wind up like this?" Regal replies as he rubs the bottom of his chin "Two forces will always oppose each other. Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, elves and humans, heaven and earth…" "Light and darkness…" Riku whispers to himself as Regal's sentence comes to an end.

"And those in the middle are sacrificed. Half-elves, the Great Seed, and the Chosen as well." Raine offers her own view on the matter, while Lloyd shakes his head and says "It's wrong to say that someone can be sacrificed."

"But anytime there are two people one will be sacrificed by the establishment of superiority. It's the same way with countries and worlds. Equality…is an illusion." Zelos replies in a very serious tone, while Sheena hangs her head low and notes "Birth, status, appearance, race…we're engulfed by these things."

"But…everyone has the same heart. Everyone hurts when they're rejected. But people forget that…" Lloyd's response, while idealistic, did have some degree of merit, which caused Genis to murmur to himself "The same…heart…" While Colette nodded her head and agreed "If only everyone could live thinking about each other like that…"

"…The only thing we can do is to believe in that and start doing what we can." Lloyd says, and Raine follows-up by mentioning "What we can do right now is release the Summon Spirits' mana links."

Lloyd nods his head in agreement of that plan and comments "Let's go get the blue candle from the Elemental Research Laboratory so we can form a pact with Shadow." With the matter of Kate now settled and new thoughts stirring on their minds, the group boarded their Rheairds and prepared to head back to Meltokio, where from there the Summon Spirit Shadow awaited them in the Temple of Darkness…

Next Time: The Nocturne's Glimmer