So this is REALLY late, and I really apologize for this. Also, I know this is abrupt and sudden, but I'm cutting off the Valentine's day event. I've hit a very large wall, and I've decided that I'm better off starting off another story.

So anyways, if you guys are still sticking around, thanks. If not...well there's honestly not much I can do about that except keep trying to make more chapters.

Well, let's get started again...

The "No Name" Headquarters was left near empty as most of the inhabitants were out enjoying a festival in town. However, a certain young girl with blonde hair wasn't among that group.

Hikari trotted along the halls, looking around for any interesting spots or passages that she may be able to use for future references.

Mugen was outside near the fields, practicing his technique for battles with her brother. Kyle was at the rooftop taking a nap. Otome was practicing cooking (with mixed results) and Ryo was following Kurousagi and the others in town. Most of the other kids who seemed to be around her age or younger had left for the festival, while the remaining ones would also stay behind to help clean up.

Hikari continued to travel further along until she came to the entrance of a library. She entered to find shelves of books lined up across the large room. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that dust had gathered on the shelves, but there were many spots where dust had shifted and left clear lines, as if books had been taken out. Some of the lines were a bit cloudy while others had virtually no dust at all.

"Come to think about it, Izayo-nii said that he had been doing a lot of reading here…" she thought to herself.

Izayoi, her brother from the same world, was out around town looking for some fun. She wanted to go with him, but he insisted that he'd probably get back quickly, and told her to wait at headquarters. She was disappointed, but she understood and agreed to stay behind, as long as he promised not to make any moves on the girls.

In an attempt to make time go by faster, she went to the library in order to search for any good stories or interesting history books that she could occupy herself with. While not as studious as her brother, the young blonde enjoyed reading and would sometimes spend several hours engrossed on printed pages. In a world like this, she needed to learn as much as she could to try and aid her brother in some way (though she doubted that he needed it in the first place).

As she went further in, she heard some shuffling elsewhere. She slowly walked along the shelves while following the sound to find a young woman with long silver hair in a gothic-style dress sitting crossed-legged. It was Cecilia, another one of the summoned who arrived with her.

Hikari didn't know much about her, but then it didn't seem like anyone else knew much about her either. Cecilia seemed like one of the more antisocial ones who kept to themselves. It wasn't like nobody tried, but it felt like she was trying to distance herself from everyone else on her own accord. Though it didn't make sense why.

The younger Sakamaki couldn't help but admit that this woman was very attractive. Choice of clothing aside, her appearance seemed to emit a sense of maturity which was in a league of its own compared to the girls at "No Name". Her pointed ears and pale skin seemed to give the impression of the beauty found in elves that Hikari saw in books, but the contrast of color in her eyes from the dark black on her right and the rough silver on the left seemed to scream "otherworldly". There was no hint of blemishes on her skin or any kind of flaw which may bring anyone who was looking back into reality, making it doubtful whether this was a real person or just some illusion conjured up.

To Hikari, this was a bad sign. Her brother was much smarter than he seems, and she knew that he wouldn't just fall for any temptress who would try to seduce him. But he was still a healthy young man, so he might fall victim to her charms if he wasn't careful. She needed to make sure that she could read her emotions at any time to keep him safe.

She went up to the young lady, who was currently reading a book titled "The Grimm Fairy Tales". After getting close enough, she coughed a couple of times to gain her target's attention. Cecilia briefly glanced up at her before turning back to the storybook.

"Something you need?" The elegant-looking woman asked.

"What are you doing?"

"Reading. It's the Grimm fairy tales in their original version, so there's a lot of gruesome and gory details that's been left out from the ones you know of…"

"Like the girls in Cinderella shaving their feet to try and fit in the glass slipper? Or Rapunzel getting pregnant which is the reason the Witch blinds the prince?"

"…sounds like you know quite a bit..."

"I'm young, not ignorant…" She sat down next to Cecilia, who closed the book softly. "I don't mind hearing about that kind of stuff because Iza-nii is stronger than all those monsters, so he can easily protect me…"

Cecilia smirks.

"So your big brother is supposed to be all-powerful huh? Tell me, what if there was a monster that even he couldn't beat…"

"I doubt it…"

"Hypothetically, let's say. What would you do then?"

"Why?"

"Just answer the question…"

Hikari thought for a moment.

"I guess…I'd just have to accept it. I mean if something stronger than my brother came along and beat him, I can't do much about it…"

"Then why put so much faith in him?"

"Because he's my brother obviously. He's family…"

The alluring woman suddenly raised her eyebrows in frustration after the girl said "family".

"Hmph…"

She suddenly opened the book again and started moving her eyes to make it seem as if she was actually reading. But Hikari could tell that this was just a front.

"Is there something wrong with family?"

Cecilia pretended not to notice, but Hikari continued to ask over and over without showing any signs of relenting. The festival group had left only recently, so she was in no hurry to end this conversation.

Cecilia, on the other hand, was stubbornly silent for a long time. No matter how many times or how many ways Hikari would ask, the beauty didn't speak a word on the matter. The blonde noted "family" as a sort of unspoken topic around this girl, so she decided to change the topic.

"Exactly how strong do you think you are?"

There wasn't much change, but there was a shift in attention, so it was assumed that got her attention somehow.

"I'm just wondering because if you doubt Iza-nii's power even after seeing it first hand, you must be pretty confident in your own strength." She smirked devilishly. "But then I guess anyone would think they'd be the best in anything…"

"I never thought I was the best, but I'm pretty sure that I'd be able to match your brother in whatever power levels he has, probably more if he underestimates me too much."

The girl frowned.

"It's true that Iza-nii might be cocky, but it's pretty brazen of you to think that you can match his strength like that."

"You think I'm bluffing?"

"No, but it seems pretty far-fetched to say that you're able to match someone who defeated deities and great spirits…"

"Hmph, whatever," she shelved the book in her hand. "I don't expect you to believe me, and it's not like we can just test our claims…"

"Why not? It sounds like it would be an interesting way to make things fun here…"

"Well for one thing, your brother isn't around right now…"

"Who's not around?"

The mischievous brother in questions suddenly appeared sitting on the opposite side of Hikari with the usual smirk. Hikari brightened up and quickly hugged her brother, whereas Cecilia had her eyes half-closed with an annoyed look on her face.

"Anyways, it sounds like you think pretty highly of yourself. Why don't we just go ahead and follow up with that claim?"

"No way, it's stupid…"

"C'mon…it'll be loads of fun!"

"Forget it, Kurousagi wouldn't even let us do this in the first place…"

"And when has that ever stopped us?"

Snapping his fingers, Kurousagi was suddenly rolled in on a small trolley all tied up and gagged. Yo and Asuka were pushing her in, the black-haired in the red dress smiling while the brown-hair with a cat on her shoulder just staring plainly. Kurousagi was trying to say something, but could only wiggle and make small sounds as the ropes and gag was too strong and tight for her to get around.

"...Well what about Jin….wait, forget it, I don't want to know…" she quickly answered as Izayoi was about to snap his fingers again. "Well it's not like we have some kind of stage to fight on…"

"'Fores Garo' gave us the okay to use their stage anytime we wanted, so we can just summon it using our 'Gift Card'."

Cecilia finally sighed in defeat as she realized that there wasn't going to be any way out of this.

"Fine dammit, I'll fight you." She held her hands up to her hips. "Just don't start begging me to stop when you start losing painfully…"

"Sure, just as long as you don't mind getting that lovely dress torn up for the kids to see with their innocent eyes…"

"I'm obviously gonna change you pervert!"

"So…why am I stuck as referee again?"

Kyle was scratching the back of his head as the three of them stood at the arena. Everyone returned from the festival (Izayoi and the others claimed that it became boring rather quickly, even though some explosions and other loud noises were claimed to have appeared around town for a while until the group returned), so some of the kids were interested and started watching while the others were trying to help out making meals for afterwards.

"Because you weren't really doing anything even remotely useful" Asuka called from behind. Asuka, Yo, Mugen, and Kuroneko were closer to the stage to get a good view of what was about to happen, while Otome and Ryo were busy helping out with the food (Incidentally, Kurousagi and Jin were stuck tied up right behind the ones closest to the stage, unable to do anything).

"I was staying out of people's way. That's pretty helpful around here you know…"

"Overruled! We all should have fun in this world!"

The boy with the black coat sighed in resignation, then looked at Izayoi and Cecilia respectively.

"Are you both ready then?"

"Yup"

"Yeah…"

Cecilia was clad in a suit of armor made of black and white metal that fully covered her entire body, leaving only her head open for her hair to flow freely through the wind. Her arms were crossed as she stood with a condescending look.

Kyle raised his hand.

"Then by the power of whatever the heck referees get for a battle and that other crap, let's begin…"

I've got some more news for you guys. I've decided that I want to do a joke chapter regarding a game that involves torturing Kurousagi.

Kurousagi: What?! Why would you do such a thing?

*The entire Mondaiji crew suddenly falls from the sky and lands on Kurousagi*

Shadow: Kurousagis don't get a say at this point!

Anyways, the game is simple. You may send any two words or some kind of phrase to me (Ex. "Water", "Bugs", maybe you want to tell me "Bucket of water" of "Pot full of soup") via Reviews or a PM. From there, I will think up some kind of..."accident", should we say, that will involve those words.

Rule is that the word or phrase cannot lead to any M-rated content. However I can still provide some "accidents" to clothing, though no guarantees about how far it'll go.

So you can play the game or not, it's completely up to you guys. But just consider this offer as part of my apology for making this take a long time.

No guarantees about update times, but I will start trying harder to think up stories again. Once again, sorry and thanks for continue to following if you are still reading this