Amira and Hanabi made their way through the scattered debris of Blue Garden. "There he is." Amira grinned while making her way over to Jesse, who was finished evacuating a number of civilians to safety.

"Sis?" Jesse blinked when he saw Amira and Hanabi approach with an unconscious Weavel, putting him on the ground. "Hanabi too! What's going on here?"

"We got one member of the Fiertia." Hanabi explained while also holding up the Black Moon Shard as well. "And we got the Black Moon Star shard as well!"

"Holy crap..." Jesse was a bit stunned at Hanabi's efficiency.

"And did you hear? Feather captured one of the members of the Galactic Fleet." Amira flipped her hair. "So, that gives me a fun idea. If we're able to keep this pace up, we'll be able to completely capture every threat here."

"Justice is going after Vanessa Viscard right now." Jesse explained. "Victory went to protect Noah, but I haven't heard anything from him yet. Vanessa is one of the biggest threats. If we can capture her, we should be able to get this situation under our control."

"Elsie's here too." Amira said casually. "I saw her ship land off on the outskirts."

"...Is she now...?" Jesse's eyes narrowed under his bangs. "Justice isn't going to like that." He didn't like it either...

"What's Elsie here for?" Hanabi blinked. "Ah, doesn't matter! We have to focus on more important things first. like...!" She held up the Black Moon Star shard, but it instantly vanished from her hold. She blinked once, as did Amira and Jesse. "...Huh?"

"...Where...?" Amira was confused. It was there one second but gone the next!?

"Look!" Jesse gasped and pointed ahead. Standing off to the side of them was Alexei, holding the Black Moon Star shard in the palm of his hand.

"Is that Alexei!?" Amira's jaw dropped. He just appeared from thin air!

"Where did he come from!?" Hanabi pulled her gun out and aimed it at Alexei. Amira and Jesse followed suit, their fingers prepared to squeeze the trigger and fire. All guns were trained on the leader of the Galactic Fleet who remained silent.

"...This belongs to me." Alexei said calmly. "With this, that is two Black Moon Shards within my grasp. The path to the Black Moon and Mother grows shorter."

"This is our chance." Amira said while looking at Hanabi and Jesse. "Set your bullets to stun. If we can capture him alive, that's the end of the Galactic Fleet." The other two nodded and proceeded to let loose a flurry of bullets at Alexei to stun him and bring him down. Alexei waved his free hand casually, and the bullets all fired at him just...vanished into thin air. "Huh...?"

"W-What...they're gone...!?" Jesse grit his teeth. "But how?"

"Try it again!" Hanabi exclaimed. "I'll make sure they hit this time!" They decided to place their faith in her and fired again. Hanabi's Ether Gear activated and she proceeded to multiply all of the bullets fired, creating dozens and dozens of them. "Requiem!" These stun bullets all flew towards Alexei and left no possible room to dodge. But just like before, the bullets just disappeared. "Ah...!?"

"It happened again...!?" Amira frowned. She was in disbelief at what was happening before them. "How is he doing that...?"

"I removed the bullets from the space they occupied." Alexei explained, his Ether Gear active.

"Removed...them...?" Hanabi repeated. "Wait! Hang on, you're under arrest!"

"...Tell me. What emotions are you feeling right at this moment? What drives you?" Alexei asked the three members of the Government.

"W-What...?" Amira shook her head. "I'm sorry, you're not making any sense at all. What's with you?"

"Yeah, put the Shard down!" Hanabi huffed. "What do our emotions have to do with you?"

"Emotion is the cornerstone of the cosmos. It is what brings ruin to the cosmos as well." Alexei said calmly. "Emotion is something that controls everyone and everything, be it human or android. Something like that must be controlled for the good of the cosmos."

"...?" Jesse, Hanabi, and Amira all just looked at each other. They had on idea what Alexei was talking about.

"You are mistaken about another thing. Vanessa will not be captured. Now that I have this Shard in hand, the battle on this planet is over. There is just one thing I must take care of before that happens." Without saying another word, Alexei vanished as quickly as he appeared, leaving the three government members more confused than ever.

"Did he really just show up, snag the shard, and leave!?" Hanabi was floored, but she quickly shook her head. "I don't know what he's planning, but we can't let him get away with it!"

"I'm going to sneak onto the Galactic Fleer." Amira said, waving her hand in front of her face. She transformed into Nina Roulette, using the image that Feather sent earlier to pull this off. "Oh, not a bad look. She has muscles, too." Now properly disguised, Amira went off.

"Looks like I'm about to cover a lot of ground." Hanabi said while creating a dozen copies of herself. "I'll keep you posted if I find anything. Make sure Weavel is secure, he can slip out if you take your eyes off him."

"Got it." Jesse took a deep breath as Hanabi and her duplicates split off in multiple directions, being able to comb through the city with ease. He turned to Weavel, who was still unconscious. "Elsie being here...ugh...I can't believe I'm missing it. I want to make her suffer...but I guess Justice is going to have to take care of that..."

.

.

The city was suffering incredible damage from the massive amounts of fighting taking place within it. Labilla was filming it all with her B-Cube, taking note of all the destruction that was caused all day. It was unnerving and she can't believe she was nearly swept up into it all. "What a horrid day this has been..." She mumbled. But then things were only about to get worse from this point onward. The power of the city began to flicker on and off rapidly. "H-Huh...? What now?"

Recalling hearing that Blue Garden's main generator was somewhere nearby, she got curious and decided to follow the path. That's when she encountered the real Clarisse, a little bruised simply from the aftershocks of the battle. "Oh, this is bad...!"

"Hey...I know you..." Labilla approached Clarisse curiously. "What's going on?"

"Labilla...!" Clarisse started to cry, clinging to a familiar face even if she didn't like it. Blue Garden was in such chaos, she was happy to see someone she knew. "Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Eh..." Labilla did not appreciate the sudden contact, but she would let it slide just this one. "Did you hear me? What's happening?"

"Oh, it's so bad!" Clarisse said with a frown. "A large man came barreling this way just a few minutes ago! I didn't try to stop him, he was far too strong for me. But I think he's doing something to the generator! Everyone else is so busy with the fighting, I don't think there's anything we can do about it." As she spoke, the power began to flicker more and more.

Jigan was the one standing in front of Blue Garden's generator. "I need more power..." And this was exactly the thing he needed to get said power. He thrust his hand into Blue Garden's generator, feeling a strong electrical surge flow within his body. "GAAAAAAAH!" The voltage was extremely high, painful even for an electric master such as himself. He was absorbing the power from the generator from himself, letting out a roar of pain and determination as he soaked it all in. The power of Blue Garden flickered frantically as he drained the power from the generator. As Jigan did this, his own appearance slowly began to pain, his ether being pushed beyond its normal limits. Black Lightning violently sparked around him, shooting out into the sky as a beacon to everyone within Blue Garden.

.

.

Waltz wasn't paying attention to any of the fighting going on. In fact, he was completely divorced from it, not having run into a single member of the GIU, Galactic Fleet, or Elsie's crew. "Tch...there's too much going on. I can't find him like this...where is he...!?" As he continued to run, he ended up running into Hanabi. What he didn't know is that this was one of her duplicates. "Hanabi?"

Hanabi slid to a halt, eyes widening. She didn't expect to encounter Waltz like this; they had been separated pretty much since they arrived on Blue Garden. Not to mention, she was in uniform as well, so this was a very poorly timed meeting. "W-Waltz? Where have you been? What are you doing wandering this city?"

"I'm looking for someone who should be here." Waltz said, eyes narrowing as he looked over Hanabi's outfit. "Why are you dressed like that?"

"Uh..." Hanabi scratched the back of her head. She was in no position to waste time dealing with Waltz. "The Government's hear, didn't you know? And there's a bunch of other stuff happening too! I swiped this from someone I knocked out to blend in."

"Hm..." Waltz didn't seem convinced. But that didn't matter to him right now. "Where's Jigan?"

"I dunno." Hanabi shrugged. "I've been looking for him too. Weavel had the Black Moon Star Shard! He gave it to me, but then...someone stole it!"

"What!?" Waltz stepped closer. "Who stole it? That's the whole damn reason we came here in the first place!"

"It was a man known as Alexei Alexandrite." Hanabi said.

Waltz's eyes then widened. "...Alexei..." He knew that name. "Where is he now!? I must meet with him!"

"Huh...? I...I don't know! He spoke some nonsense and then vanished!" Hanabi said. "Why do you need to know so badly?"

"That's for me to know. I know that man and I must thank him for the life he gave me." Waltz said while walking forward.

"The life he..." Hanabi blinked slowly, watching as Waltz walked past her. "Waltz...did he...?" She shook her head. Waltz's guard was down and she had a job to do. Even though this was a duplicate, she could continue to duplicate herself, which she did. Six more Hanabis appeared and they all clicked their triggers. The sound made Waltz turn around. "I'm sorry, Waltz. But you're under arrest."

Waltz scoffed. He didn't seem surprised at the betrayal whatsoever...he didn't care. "So, you ARE a government dog, huh? I should've expected this. The one who called the Government on us when we fought the Eden's Zero...it was you, wasn't it? Nobody else had a reason to make a call from inside the ship!"

"I'm glad you and I don't feel bad about this." Hanabi said while narrowing her eyes. "We were never friends to begin with."

"No, not at all. We were just co workers...if even that." Waltz said as he drew his blazing sword. "We all had our reasons for following Jigan. Personally, I didn't even care about him or anyone on that ship. The Fiertia is just a place where the strong live. None of us were friends."

"That's not true." Hanabi shook her head. "...Blair was my friend. And she's in a better place now. My job, right now, though...is to arrest you."

"I welcome you to try!" Waltz said with an enraged yell. "But I won't let you stop me from reuniting with Alexei! I don't care if you're the real Hanabi or not...I'll cut you down all the same."

.

.

Justice was locked in combat with Vanessa. He used Meteor to speed around and gain the advantage, speeding ahead to land a kick to Vanessa's stomach. It was a direct hit and she flew backwards into a building, only to disperse into mist after the impact. It was a fake. "Tch..."

"What's the matter, Justice?" Vanessa said while appearing in front of the law enforcer with a mocking smile. "You've found me, but it doesn't look like you can catch me!" She aimed a kick at Justice, but he was able to avoid this quickly. with his speed. But just as he avoided one kick, Vanessa appeared above him and slammed her heel into his temple, sending him rocketing into the ground.

"Gah!" Justice hit the ground hard, but he quickly caught himself and shook it off. He could feel the blood trickling down his forehead from that simple impact, but...he couldn't trust it. "It seems...finding you was just part of your own game."

"Oh, did you notice?" Vanessa snickered. "You already know how my Ether Gear works. I was waiting to be found, because now the Ether in this area is under my control, as is yours. Everything you see, everything you feel...no matter what, it's real to you. Your brain can't help but process the information I'm feeding it. Are you really bleeding right now? Who knows...but your body seems to think so, and that's all that matters." As she spoke, multiple copies of herself began to circle around Justice.

"You are troublesome." Justice took a deep breath. He couldn't afford to be swept up in Vanessa's game. His brain was perceiving everything as real, and if he took a 'fatal' injury, real or not, it would be the end of up. He slammed his fist into the ground and this kicked up a massive cloud of dust that none of the Vanessa's responded to, except a single one. Justice saw his opening and sped forward at blinding speeds. He didn't just strike one, but every single Vanessa present with Meteor. Real or not, he wasn't taking his chances. "Dance of the Meteor!"

"Kyah...!" Justice's flurry of blows worked. He did strike the real Vanessa and she tumbled from the heavy impact. It wasn't enough to take her out, but now that he had an opening he wasn't about to waste. Vanessa narrowed her eyes, but before Justice could come in for another attack, everything stopped.

Justice threw a punch at Vanessa to knock her out, but he wasn't attacking Vanessa. His fist was stopped by Alexei's open palm. "That is quite enough."

"Alexei!? Justice's eyes widened at first, but he then jumped back, thinking this was just another illusion. "You can't fool me."

"There is no one to fool." Alexei gestured to the area around them. "I have removed Vanessa and her Veil from this space. They are elsewhere. What you see before you is reality." And as he spoke, he held up the Black Moon Star Shard in his hands. "I believe you and all the others involved are looking for this, correct?"

"What? How..." Justice didn't like where this was going. Alexei was the very last person that needed to get his hands on that shard!

"Your subordinates had it. I took it from them." Alexei calmly explained. "And with this..." Right on his cue, Elsie arrived onto the field after detecting where the Black Moon Star Shard was. "Another guest comes to the fray. Elsie Crimson, it is nice to meet you at last."

"Elsie!" Justice narrowed his eyes at Elsie as well.

"James? And..." Elsie glanced at Justice, then Alexei. A black bolt of lightning then dropped down from above on the other side of the area. This was Jigan, but his appearance drastically changed. His ether marks were a dark yellow, and he had bull-like horns on the top of his head. By absorbing the power of Blue Garden's generator, he was able to push himself into Overdrive. "You again!"

"There is the last guest." Alexei said while turning to Jigan. "Every major player that wants this shard is now right here in one spot. This will make things easier."

"Hand over the shard, pretty boy." Jigan said while grinning. With his new surge of power, he felt unstoppable! He didn't even know who he was up against, but that didn't matter to him. This was his chance to reign supreme.

"This is a mess already." Elsie did not lie the direction of his confrontation.

"I am Alexei Alexandrite." Alexei introduced himself to those who didn't know him. "I am the one hunting the Black Moon Star Shards with one purpose in mind. I seek its power to find Mother and be granted the power to change the cosmos for the better."

"So...you're the one who destroyed Midi's Orbital Gate." Elsie clenched her hand into a fist. "What sort of change could possibly be worth all those lost lives!? Whatever change you intend to create, they won't be around to see it!"

"Your anger blinds you to it." Alexei said while staring at Elsie. "There is but a single thing worth destroying for the betterment of the cosmos. It is the one thing that controls both man and machine alike, for one reason or another. It is a sickness a plague that has infested the cosmos since the dawn of time."

"What are you talking about?" Justice asked. Knowing Alexei's motives would at least bring them one step closer to stopping him.

"Haha, it sucks for you. Because whatever your plan is...I'm the one who's going to get that power!" Jigan told Alexei.

"The sickness that I intend to erase from the cosmos..." Alexei stared at the Black Moon Star Shard in his hands. This was his second one...and with the remaining three he would soon collect, his goal already felt within reach. "Is emotion itself. I will make emotion disappear from the cosmos."