As Yuri returns to Magnolia she finds the hotel room empty so she starts sensing out the closest energy signal to her that she can recognize. She ends up teleporting to Cardia Cathedral where she runs into Quatra but Yuri immediately recognizes something different about the samurai.
"So do I call you Quatra or Ryoga now." Yuri says as she walks up behind the swordsman.
"Ryoga will be fine but if you really want to you can call me Quatra." Ryoga says as he turns around to face the purple haired girl. "Is there something I can help you with Miss...umm...Who are you again?"
"The name is Yuri and I'm rather curious about some things?" She says.
"And that would be?"
"One would say that your time has past and now is the time to let this generation handle the worlds issues but you had to have been really persistent about something to keep your soul alive in your family and continue to try to steal each body while growing your power as well. My Question would be what that something is?"
"How do you know so much there Miss Yuri?" Ryoga asked with an eyebrow raised and his arms crossed.
"Your Great grandchild, Kyoya told me all about you and how to spot differences in Quatra." Yuri says with a smirk while looking at Ryoga. Then the smirk disappears and her face becomes serious. "That being said Kyoya also told me that Quatra said that if you were to take over completely that Kyoya was supposed to kill you. Where is Kyoya?"
"Wow, Kyoya told you all that huh?" Ryoga asks with a small chuckle. "Well, anyway to answer your second question Kyoya is dead and I killed him."
"Is that so?" Yuri says as anger flashes on her face before regaining her composure. "If you killed him that must mean that you are quite capable."
"Don't tell me you want to find out?" Ryoga says in a whiny tone. "I mean you struggled with that idiot Leiko, do you really think that you could beat me?"
"I wouldn't underestimate Leiko if I were you." Yuri says with a chuckle. "Or me for that matter but I'm not here to kill you nor am I under any illusion that I could. I just wanted to find my three traveling companions and apparently after I left a lot of stuff happened."
"You know, I kind of like you Yuri. So I am going to offer something I never do." Ryoga says with a crooked grin "How do you feel about selling your soul to me and in exchange I won't hunt you down and gut you like a fish."
"So if I don't help you, you'll kill me?" Yuri says with an indifferent look on her face.
"Bingo" Ryoga says while clapping his hands.
"I just can't seem to get out of being a slave, now can I?" Yuri says with a frown.
"Oh cheer up Yuri I promise that in exchange for your service I will personally make sure that you remain a free woman for the rest of your life." Ryoga says as he turns to walk out of the Cathedral. "And if you do, I promise the answers you want shall be delivered to you."
"Alright then" Yuri says as she follows him out the Cathedral. "What do you need?"
"Ah Ah Ah" Ryoga says while wagging his finger. "All in due time, Yuri. But for now, Lets go for a walk."
Meanwhile Nalien wakes up to Leiko yelling at Master Crowne. As Nalien start to become more coherent he hears Crowne tell Leiko to remove the stigmata.
"Leiko, what's going on?" Nalien asks
"This asshole just expelled Quatra." Leiko yells, tears in her eyes. "And now Crowne wants Lions Mane to kill him.
"Why?" Nalien asks Leiko but Crowne answers instead.
"Quatra has become a danger to all of mankind and if he is not disposed of he could provide big problems for us."
"Problems for us or problems for you." Leiko asks Crowne. "Quatra told me about you a while ago but I wrote it off as Quatra being paranoid. He told me that Lions Mane is not as bright and sunshiny as you would have us believe. There is a darkness behind it and it is rooted in its master." she says while looking right at Crowne. "Do you know why he would say something like that? What's the matter Crowne did I hit a nerve?" she asks while smirking noticing that Crowne is showing signs of anger. "What about that would make you angry? Is it the fact that Quatra didn't blindly follow you like you thought he did? Or maybe it's the fact that there may be some truth behind that statement."
"Silence Little Girl!" Crowne shouts angrily to silence Leiko. "You know nothing about anything yet you talk like you fully understand the situation. But since you wanna ask questions allow me to ask you a couple of questions about Quatra. What makes you think that you can just blindly listen to anything that man says? Or are you just that ignorant?"
"It's not ignorance" Leiko says standing her ground. "Quatra is not crazy nor paranoid and all it took was for me to open up my god damn eyes to realize it. Quatra always left twice a month on special S Class missions, but not the ones like killing dragons or monsters that he sometime let me go with him but other ones that had a darker side to them. So I asked Tushika about the missions that Quatra went on, which leads me to my next Question. Why in the Hell did you have not just Quatra, but Apophis and Quezt as well, preforming assassination missions?"
"I think I want to hear this answer too?" Misha says staring right at Crowne. Crowne stares down Leiko but can feel the eyes of everyone in the room looking at him. So he takes a deep breath and takes a step back.
"You really did some research into this, didn't you? Well where do I start?" Crowne says as he transforms into his seventeen year old self. "I guess I'll start by answering your question. I send them on assassination missions because it is for the greater good of mankind. If these people had been allowed to live the world would be a very different place. A place filled with with chaos and murder, a place built upon the survival of the fittest. A place that my brother wants to create.
"Your brother?" Leiko asks rather confused "Is that what Mastodon is after?"
"Yes, my brother is using Mastodon to gather enough territory to launch a Coup de etat against the residing authority over Fiore. After he gains Fiore he plans to use the Military to take over the Pergrande Kingdom. Once he does that it's as easy as using their militia to take over the rest of the countries on this continent, and so on and so forth."
"What does this have to do with the assassination missions?" Leiko says.
"Wow Quatra only told you the bare minimum, didn't he?" Crowne says with a sigh. "I sent them on assassination missions to clean up a mess that both me and my brother caused."
"What do you mean?" Misha asks
"A long time ago my brother used to give the worst kind of people power. These people were people whose ideals went along with his. So as a defense I started giving what I thought were the right type of people power to rival his people. I'm sure that I don't have to explain that when you realize that when you have power you start to feel like anything is possible, that authority figures can't touch you. Quatra's missions were to simply kill those that we instilled with power." Crowne finishes and looks around the room before his eyes landed back on Leiko. "The reason why Quatra is so dangerous now is because he is no longer the Quatra that you knew. His name is now Ryoga and he was my original mistake.
"Might I cut in?" The elderly woman with the white button up asked.
"Of course Titania" Crowne says "You have the floor."
"Wait...Titania?" Leiko says with a shocked look on her face. "so that must mean that you're..."
"I see that you have heard of me."
"What women wouldn't know one of the three strongest female mages in history, Erza Scarlet." Leiko says with excitement. "The fight you had with Kagura at the magic games long ago is still one of the best fights ever."
"Well in the last games I saw you do extremely well in a fight against the mage from Lamia Scale." Erza says giving Leiko a rare compliment. "But anyway back to business Leiko, what if I were to tell you that there is a way to get Quatra back without killing him?"
"What are you talking about?" Crowne says rather confused.
"I guess you aren't all knowing after all." Erza says causing Leiko hold back a laugh.
"So how do we do it?" Leiko asks
"Before I tell you how we do it I need to explain a couple of things. You brought up Kagura earlier didn't you?"
"Yeah, but that was just a fight though, what does she have to do with this?" Leiko asks making Erza facepalm.
"What is Kagura's last name?" Erza says trying to help guide Leiko through this.
"Mikazuchi"
"Now what is Quatra's?"
"Mikazuchi" Leiko says. Then she starts to think. "Are Quatra and Kagura related?" she asks after a moment of silence.
"Yes, Kagura is Quatra's great aunt and Ryoga's younger sister."
"So what does this have to do with getting Ryoga out of Quatra?" Nalien asks having been paying attention to the conversation.
"Actually its the opposite." Erza says " Kagura came and talked to me about Quatra. She told me that if Quatra were to ever lose control that I was supposed to use a sealing technique that she taught me to get him back to normal."
"So now that Quatra has lost it?.." Misha chimes in.
"Its just a matter of finding him so that we can do it." Leiko says excited, she then turns serious as she looks at Titania. "If you teach me how to do it, I can find Quatra and have him returned to normal. Then by doing that, Quatra can stay at the guild."
"I won't allow it" Crowne says looking at the girl in front of him. "I ignored Ryoga for too long and I won't do it any longer."
"I'm not talking about Ryoga!" Leiko yells irritated. "Fine, if Ryoga gets sealed up wouldn't it be easier for you to keep an eye on him if you know Quatra is at the guild."
"Well Crowne you can control your mages, but now it seems like Leiko is no longer a Lions Mane mage" Erza says coolly. "That meaning, that she is now free to do what her heart desires." she then turns back to Leiko and materializes a transparent orange cage made of magic the sizes of her hand. "Come closer."
Leiko walks up to Erza and gets the orange cage shoved into her forehead. "So how do you feel?" Erza asked after she was done.
"I have a headache" Leiko responds while holding her head up.
"That is just your brain processing the new information." Erza explains. "The secret to the sealing technique was just placed in your brain unnaturally because of the lack of time I had to teach you the right way."
"What do you mean?" Nalien says as he walks up next Leiko.
"She is right" Crowne says as he starts walking out the door. "Leiko I hope you know that sealing technique cause if Ryoga is too out of control I'll kill him myself."
"What is going on?" Leiko says.
"You smell him right Misha?" Wendy says with a serious tone.
"Yeah." Misha responds then looks at Leiko. "I need you stay calm and think rash with whats about to happen next."
"What is going on?!" Leiko responds frustrated. But the answer is cut off by an announcement on the PA system.
"Be on high alert! A man just killed two mages and is making his way..." A familiar voice makes himself known by killing the man making the announcement. He then takes the mic.
"If there are rumors as to who this man is, Let me kill the rumors. The name is Ryoga Mikazuchi and my goals are to kill two people who are currently here. Some people here know me as Quatra though. Anyway, will Vaurol Crowne and Leiko Archon come on down to the principals office to receive their punishments. I will give you five minutes, after that the body count will rise and every minute my partner Yuri will kill someone at random. Doesn't that sound like fun." He finishes as the mic cuts off.
"Damn you Ryoga!" Crowne says. "See this is why he needs to die Leiko."
"Well he only asked for the two of us. At least he isn't killing at random so lets just give him what he wants" Leiko says as she gets ready to go.
"I wouldn't do it if I were you" Yuri says as she teleports into the room putting everyone on edge. "This is my warning to you Leiko, the only reason he wants to kill you is to permanently kill Quatra." and with that she teleports away.
"What did that mean?" Nalien asks but Leiko picked up on it immediately.
"Crowne, are you going?" Leiko asked looking at Crowne
"Of course."
"Then teleport us both there." Leiko says more determined then ever.
"Alright, but if you die I will kill him so at least you wont be lonely." Crowne says as he grabs her shoulder and like that they were gone.
"Please stay safe Leiko" Misha says after they left.
Short little Chapter but the good news is I am absolutely sure that I will put these out in more frequency and apologize deeply to the readers for the wait