A/N: After a strange schedule adjustment for this fic's Anniversary, and a weeklong vacation, we're finally back to our regularly scheduled upload rotation!

I'll keep it brief for now, but I'm very excited for this part of the fic, as it and G were the two parts I planned the most when originally coming up with it.

But, with that out of the way, Enjoy!

Intermission 2:
The Sparks of the Ancient Past and The Ashes of the Foreseen Future

In the long forgotten past...

?'s POV:
Lunar Ruins

In the distant past, a blue-haired man, who looked to be on the brink of death as his blood oozed through his tattered armor, hobbled into the control room of a secret high-tech facility on the moon, bleeding on the walls he leaned upon on his way. While it would be wise for him to seek medical help, the man knew what he needed to do for humanity's sake, and if it cost his life to pull it off, then that was what he was going to do.

"System... All green..."

The man's voice was as shaky as his arm as he typed away at the console with his remaining hand.

"Initializing network jammer in T-minus 300 seconds... Now!"

With one final press of his bloodied hand on the main console, the room began to light up as a countdown started on the monitor, which showed the Earth as a magical glyph appeared over the moon that beamed down on the planet. With the network jammer he set up now initializing, the man let out a sigh of relief as his vision started to blur and his legs started to grow weak from the blood loss.

"It's begun... I'm sorry, but we've no longer the time, or even the words, to fully explain ourselves..."

The man's legs finally gave in as he crumpled to the floor and started to breathe his final breaths as everything faded to black, but not before he would utter his final words...

"I'm sorry... Finé..."

?

Everything fell completely silent for the man as he finally succumbed to his wounds, dying on the control room's floor as his final objective was completed. He did not know what awaited him in the afterlife, but now that he was dead, it was time for him to find out. Unfortunately, the afterlife would soon prove to be nothing like what he thought it was in the nights where his thoughts would turn towards death and its many mysteries.

When he opened his eyes once again, he was greeted to a pitch black void, only able to see himself, now fully healed and his armor now in perfect condition. While he didn't question his restored body, he did question why he found himself in such a dark place.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

He called out, but all he would hear back was the echo of his own voice, which led him to wander aimlessly in the hopes of coming across any entity that he could at the very least have some sort of company with.

After walking for what felt like hours, he finally came across something that looked humanoid, which made him sigh in relief as he approached the entity, getting rather surprised when he was finally able to recognize what he saw upon a closer look.

"Finé? Is that you?"

The entity turned around upon hearing the man's question, which easily answered his own as he looked to see the face of the priestess of whom he loved more than life itself. Seeing her face again caused him to tear up as he ran over to hug her.

"I don't know how you're here, but I'm sorry that I left you without a proper explanation. I wanted nothing more than to see you after the battle, but I couldn't risk losing you and the rest of humanity to her."

Finé sat silently as the man hugged her, not returning the hug whatsoever, which confused the man, but not as much as Finé's next words would.

"Why Enki... Why did you leave me... Why did you curse me!"

The man was confused and worried. Sure, he rarely saw Finé get upset, he knew better than to get on her bad side, but she was also quick to forgive him when he apologized for his actions, and unlike those times, it was as if his apology went in one ear and out the other, and only her fury remained.

"Finé, trust me, if I could have dealt with her in a way that would've kept me from using the network jammer, I would have done it in a heartbeat, but I-"

"SILENCE!"

Enki recoiled at Fine's shout.

"I trusted you more than life itself, and all it got me was isolation from the rest of the world, and while I feared the worst at first, I still believed that you would come back and explain yourself, but you never did..."

"Finé..."

"So I'm going to undo your curse... Take back the part of me you carelessly took away! By destroying the Moon!"

As she declared this, a giant tower emerged from the ground and began to charge an attack at the top of it, which was aimed at the Moon that manifested within the void, which worried Enki.

"Finé, I know I've wronged you and everyone else with what you consider a curse, but you have no idea what will be unleashed if the Moon is destroyed! Please, listen to m-"

"I waited far too long for any excuse you have up your sleeve, Enki! It's time for humanity to regain its lost language!"

"NO!"

Before Enki could do anything to stop the tower, the world around them became consumed in light, forcing Enki to shield his eyes as he waited for the worst to come, but when the light dissipated, he found himself somewhere other than the void.

"This place... It's... Familiar..."

He looked around for a moment for any recognizable landmarks, when he inevitably stumbled upon a familiar temple, which told him everything he needed to know.

"The Frontier? But it was sealed away. How did someone manage to release it?!"

As if to answer the man's question, a villainous cackle could be heard as the ground began to shake, followed by an eruption as a monster emerged and swung at Enki, leaving him with no other choice but to defend himself. He fought the monster the best he could, until it suddenly vanished right as he was about to deal a fatal blow. Enki was confused, assuming the vanishing act was the monster setting up a sneak attack, but when the world began to shake again, he heard the evil cackle once more, but this time he heard a voice along with it.

"With this power at my command, I shall finally join the ranks of legends, as the last action hero of this world!"

"What? 'Last action hero'? Huh?!"

As he questioned the man's words, he looked up and saw that the Moon had looked much bigger than it had been when he was transported here. While the size change was confusing, he quickly realized that it wasn't getting bigger, but rather, it was getting closer.

"Is this guy insane?! He's going to kill everyone! I have to stop him before it's too late!"

Saying this, Enki rushed for Frontier's temple, with the goal of stopping the Moon's collision course with Earth.

Reaching the temple, Enki bolted inside, but once he reached the command center for the Frontier, he found himself in yet another new location. Taking in his new, unfamiliar surroundings, Enki began to become annoyed.

"What is with this bizarre illusion? If some supernatural force is trying to tell me something, I wish it would just be a bit more forward through more practical means already..."

As he let out a sigh, Enki kept surveying the room, seeing that he was in some sort of throne room covered wall to wall in gears of various sizes, all moving together as one big machine. Aside from that, he saw four life-sized dolls standing on podiums surrounding him. Curious, Enki walked towards one that resembled a girl with long red hair with a sharp toothed smile and equally sharp-looking claws where their hands should be. Enki reached out to touch the girl, but just as he was about to touch the doll, he heard another new voice echo throughout the room.

"The alchemy of Carol Malus Dienheim will destroy the world, bringing about the Apocalypse of All Things."

"What?!"

"In other words, I am the Murderer of Miracles!"

Enki was just as confused by this voice's proclamation as the last one, but this time, it was more concerning with what was being proclaimed. He questioned why they wished to destroy the world, but before he could give it much thought, he heard a clicking noise that immediately drew his attention back to the doll, noticing that its eyes that were originally staring off blankly into space were now focused directly on him. Not too long after that, the doll suddenly sprang to life and lunged at him with her claws, forcing him to dodge, before he was suddenly attacked by the other three dolls as well.

"So, the dolls weren't just for show, then... But I don't sense anyone else in here, so who is controlling these things?"

Enki tried to look around for any signs of life that could be responsible for the dolls, but none could be found. Ultimately finding it useless to worry about a commander, Enki stepped it up a notch and took care of the dolls one by one, taking a good amount of damage from the others as he dealt with them all at once. Eventually, he successfully took out all of the dolls, taking the moment of silence to catch his breath.

"That... Took longer than I would've liked... I'm not sure if it's part of the illusion, but it should not have taken me that long to rout the dolls. Let's just hope I can find my way out of this nightmare soo-"

As he said this, a giant hand suddenly emerged from the ceiling and crushed him flat. The hand lifted slightly to let Enki breathe, before it grabbed his broken body off of the ground and went through the ceiling.

Enki was dazed by the giant's sneak attack for a brief moment, but quickly came back to his senses, cutting himself free with his sword as he flew away from the giant's hand.

Now outside free, Enki looked at the surroundings outside of the mysterious throne room and saw what looked like a futuristic city with massive buildings, well, as futuristic as a city with huge buildings could look while being completely abandoned and in ruin.

"This destruction... Was this the work of that giant?"

Shocked by the damage, he looked back over at the giant he broke free from, seeing the damage he caused it with his blade. However, what happened next would shock him further: The monster suddenly flashed brightly as several portals opened on either side of them. The portals kept still for a brief moment, before collapsing onto them as the flash of light dissipated from the monster.

Enki was confused at first as to what that light show had accomplished, before looking back at the hand he was held in and noticing the missing fingers were once again attached to the giant's hand, which immediately made Enki realize what the monster was.

"A divine weapon?! But how could humans get their hands on such power? Was this done by that 'Action Hero' that unsealed the Frontier?"

"We will use the power of the gods to break the curse of Balal. With their power, we shall seize the Lunar Ruins!"

For the third time in this bizarre illusion, Enki heard yet another unfamiliar voice, and just like the last one, their proclamation was concerning. However, unlike the last two disembodied voices, Enki was able to find the source of this one in the form of a trio of feminine silhouettes and a male figure standing behind them.

Enki didn't think much of the group at first, just seeing them as nothing more than adversaries, but it was when he took a closer look at the male figure that he recognized something about him.

"...Is that... The prototype human puppet? How is he active? I saw to it that he was shut down and scrapped!"

"Unsurprising. Your lack of foresight shows just how imperfect your supervision and leadership truly is, Enki."

Enki felt the hairs on his body shoot up upon hearing the voice of an all too familiar adversary, making him raise his guard up and scanning the area as best he could to look for them.

"Shem-Ha?! But that's impossible! The network jammer should've sealed you away!"

As he shouted this, the world around Enki vanished, returning him to the void that he had started out in upon first waking up.

"Make no mistake, Balal has been working perfectly to seal me away for eons, but as previously stated, you lacked the foresight to see that it wouldn't last forever."

Enki was confused as to what Shem-Ha was talking about.

"'Eons'? Our fight happened not even a day ago!"

Hearing Enki shout this, Shem-Ha laughed.

"Disappointing, but comedic."

Suddenly, a quick flash of light appeared before Enki, revealing a woman with white and pink-colored skin with silver hair and equally silver armor and a golden vambrace on her right arm.

"You write what you've been seeing as an illusion, but in reality, it is an omen. One that neither you, nor those Symphogears that your beloved priestess created can stop!"

"What are yo- GAH!"

Before he could finish his question, Enki was interrupted by Shem-Ha stabbing him through the chest with a laser sword, which was quickly followed up by a silver coating covering his body from where the stab wound started.

"It's a shame that you won't be around for my return, Enki. Because I would've loved nothing more than to see your face when I finish what you stopped me from doing."

Enki snarled at Shem-Ha as the silver continued to cover his body, which made Shem-Ha smirk.

"Unfortunate. You would've made a fine trophy with that look of disgust on your fa-"

Before Shem-Ha could finish taunting Enki, he spat up blood and shot it onto her face, which made her smirk fade away as her face returned to a neutral position as she pulled her sword out of Enki's chest and prepared to deal one final strike to end him.

"Farewell, Enki. You will not be missed."

Saying this, Shem-Ha delivered the final blow to Enki's head, killing him on the spot.

After feeling himself die once again, Enki woke up in a cold sweat. It took him a moment to calm himself down, but when he was finally able to, he felt around the places Shem-Ha attacked him in, letting out a sigh of relief when there was no sign of injuries.

"Good, it was just a nightmare." Enki sighs, before looking at his new surroundings: a field of flowers with a serene sunset in the sky. "Where am I now, though? I've never seen a place like this on Earth before. It's so... Peaceful..."

"That is because it is not from your world, nor is it from mine."

Hearing this voice, Enki readied himself for a fight, but before he could threaten the newcomer, they quickly made themselves known.

(Premonition begins to play)

Before Enki stood a figure wearing a hooded white robe and black pants, both with blue and gold accents, the hood kept the newcomer's eyes hidden as the rest of their face and their long light blue hair remained visible. "Rest assured, unlike those visions you underwent, I mean you no harm." The figure said. "Not to mention, conflict here would serve no purpose, as it wouldn't yield any result in either of our favors."

Enki was still hesitant to trust the stranger, but considering they were the first person to neither attack them out of the gate nor doom his Earth with their plans, he was willing to give him a chance. With this in mind, he retracted his blade, but still kept his stance in case the stranger tried something. "Who are you? And what do you mean by this place not existing in either of our worlds?" Enki asks. "And on that note, what do you mean by worlds, plural?"

"To answer your first question, I was known by many names throughout my life, but as most of them would mean nothing to you, you may call me Anankos." The stranger said. "As for where we are, the only logical answer to that question would be that this place is simply the afterlife, a place where all life goes after their deaths, regardless of the dimension or time they hailed from."

"The afterlife, huh..." Enki thought aloud, before his thoughts went back to the nightmare he just endured. "If it's as you say and this is the world where the dead are allowed to rest, then what was with all of those illusions I saw just now? My own purgatory before I could truly rest?"

"While I may not have a full grasp as to what you saw in your dream, but if I had to take a guess, it was no purgatory, but rather, a premonition of things to come to your realm." Anankos answered. "A similar event happened to me when I died, but in my dream, I saw my descendants at peace, as I was the only remaining hurdle that kept it from happening."

"What do you mean by that?" Enki asked.

"A story for another time." Anankos said with a slight frown. "Back to the topic at hand, unlike my premonition, you seem troubled by yours. If it would help, I'm more than willing to listen."

With this offer, Enki finally lowered his guard and sat down on the ground. "It's a long story."

"Luckily, I've got all the time in the world to hear it out." Anankos chuckled.

Smiling at the joke, Enki went on to explain the moments leading up to his death to Anankos from start to finish, including the dream sequence he went through before meeting the hooding figure. When the story was wrapped up, Anankos looked at the ground curiously. "And that covers everything up until now."

"I see... It would appear, in many regards, our worlds weren't that different from one another." Anankos stated. "That being said, your premonition is quite worrisome."

"Even if it's long after my time as she said, the thought of Shem-ha being a problem even that much later has me wishing that I could do something more about stopping her, permanently." Enki says. "But unlike her, I have no way of coming back from the dead to do so..."

"...Well, maybe not yourself, but perhaps someone else could?" Anankos suggested.

"Explain." Enki replies.

"It is true that you are unable to interact with your world directly any longer, only able to spectate the future to come, but with some help, you could enlist the aid of a warrior from an alternate reality and have them help save the world in your place, like a personal champion of sorts." Anankos stated. "However, in order for this champion to fare well in your world, it would probably be wise to learn what you can of the world around the time that this Shem-Ha would reappear, that way they could be prepared for what your world has in store as well as gather allies of similar strength to help even the odds."

"That sounds perfect and all, Anankos, but even with that knowledge from my world, I still lack the means of finding a potential candidate to fight the battles I cannot." Enki says. "And on that note, I lack the means to observe my world's future, much less anyone else's."

"That's where I come into play." Anankos stated. "I can transfer to you what remains of my divine power, not that I have a reason to wield such power anymore, in order to see your world's future, and return to the realm of the living and enlist the aid of a king who has the power to defy fate itself."

"Such a being exists?!" Enki asks.

"He was able to put an end to my degenerated self's rule over Valla, which would have also led to the inevitable downfall of two more kingdoms had he not intervened." Anankos continued. "However, even with all of the allies he gathered, fate was still in my evil self's favor, but despite the odds against him, he was able to overcome those odds and strike me down."

"Your high praise of this king is very convincing, Anankos." Enki says. "The only problem I see in enlisting his aid is the possibility that he may turn down my request. After all, it's not his world, so he would have no reason to abandon his own to risk his life in mine."

"It is true that you will run the risk of being rejected by him, but it's better to take that risk than to let the fear of rejection make you lose a perfect champion." Anankos stated.

"You do have a point, I guess..." Enki agrees. "That just leaves me with one final question: Why?"

"Why what?" Anankos asked.

"Why are you helping me?" Enki replies. "After all, this isn't your world to worry about, yet you're willing to give up your divine power for me to have a chance of saving it."

Anankos was silent after that question, but after a moment, he spoke. "I failed my world. I destroyed everything I once held dear to me, despite my best efforts to quell my growing degeneration. Had it not been for my son, the new king of Valla, I would've destroyed the rest of the world as well." Anankos stated, before lowering his hood to show Enki his red eyes. "I know offering to help save your world will not help me atone for my sins, but at the very least, knowing that I could at least try to help save it, that would give me some solace."

Enki saw the look in Anankos' eyes and could tell that he was being genuine when saying this. With that, his mind was made up. "Very well. If you really want to help me out, then I would be a fool to decline your offer, Anankos." Enki says. "That being said, how exactly will this power transfer work?"

"Like this." Anankos proceeded to hold his hands out towards Enki as a ball of light manifested in his hands, before it slowly began to float over to Enki. Eventually, the ball touched Enki, and was quickly absorbed into his body, causing a light glow to appear around him, dissipating as quickly as it formed. "With that, you should have enough power to head to Castle Gyges in Valla, where the king resides, enlist his aid, and prepare him for what is to come when entering your world. Bear in mind, once you've used up all of my remaining power, you'll more than likely begin to fade away from the realm of the living and return back here to the afterlife, so try to limit how much of it you use in your world when doing research."

"I'll keep that in mind." Enki replies. "I seriously can't thank you enough for this, Anankos. When I get back, I'll try and find a way to return the favor."

"There's no need to pay me back, Enki." Anankos chuckled. "But if you must return the favor, you can do so by telling me more about what your world was like, as I'm sure you're probably curious about mine own."

"I would like that very much." Enki says with a warm smile. "Alright. Here goes nothing!"

"Good luck!"

With that, Enki started to fade away, starting off on his quest to enlist the king of Valla's aid, where his journey would take an interesting turn...

Present Day:
One month after Kana and Hibiki defeated Adam

?'s POV:
Bavarian Illuminati Base, Europe

In the halls of an Illuminati base, a group of three women and a boy in gray jumpsuits quickly and quietly searched for an exit to escape. Word had gotten around that the Controlling Director of the Illuminati, Adam Weishaupt, had been killed by S.O.N.G., and now all of the Illuminati's bases were being raided by the United Nations. However, unlike all of the hooded figures within the base who had already been detained, these four were doing the best they could to run away from their pursuers, eventually managing to get into a supply closet and barricade the door, allowing them to catch their breaths as the agents tried to break in.

"We've finally managed to regain our freedom in the wake of the dissolution of the Bavarian Illuminati." The oldest of the three women said.

"Right... Because when I think of being 'free', I totally think about getting chased by people with guns!" The second oldest woman replied sarcastically.

"Personally Millaarc, I'll take being chased by strangers with guns over those horrible tests the illuminati made us endure day in and day out." The boy says.

"I'd rather have to deal with neither scenario!" Millaarc said.

"I'm sure we'd all like to be as far away from either scenario as we can, Millaarc, but we have to get out of here first in order to achieve that much." The eldest woman stated.

"But how are we going to do that now?" The youngest woman asked. "If we go out there, they will more than likely capture us."

The youngest woman was right. In their current predicament, they had no way to safely escape without getting caught. However, that's when the boy of the group gets an idea, but not one that any of them would like. "Actually, Elsa, there is one way that we can all escape, but it'll be risky..."

"What are you thinking, Ashe?" Vanessa asked.

"I'll distract the armed men and lead them away from this closet. When I'm gone, you three can find a way out and then I can meet up with you once I shake the men off of me." Ashe suggests.

"Are you insane?!" Millaarc shouted. "Just because you don't suffer from the same thing we do when we use our abilities doesn't mean you can stand a chance against that many guns!"

"Regardless, I have to try!" Ashe replies. "And if the worst case scenario happens and I get captured despite my efforts, I'll at least be able to rest easy knowing you three got out of here."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, Ashe, but I'd rather not leave you behind." Vanessa said. "You may not have been with the three of us that long, but you're just as important to us as we are to you."

"Which is why I'm not going to get caught." Ashe states.

"Ashe. No." Vanessa said in a more serious tone than before. "There will be no separating. We're getting out of here toge-"

BAM

As they were talking, the door to the supply closet suddenly burst open as several agents with guns flooded the room, aiming their weapons at the group. "Hands where I can see them!" One of the agents shouted, which caused the three women to do as the agent requested. Ashe, however, did not follow the agent's order. "I said hands where I can see them!"

"You want to see my hands? Here you go!" Shouting this, Ashe used wind alchemy and threw the agents into the wall. "RUN! NOW!"

"Don't gotta tell me twice!" Millaarc replied as the three women ran for the door, but Ashe stayed behind.

"Ashe! Come on!" Elsa shouted.

"Keep going!" Ashe replies. "I'll find you once I make it out!"

Knowing what he was about to do, Vanessa wanted to try and stop him, but deep down, even she knew this was the best chance for them to escape. "Don't keep us waiting for too long!"

"I promise I won't!" Ashe says, giving Vanessa a thumbs up and a smile, watching them run around the corner, before going in the opposite direction to get the agents to follow him, ensuring they do so by hitting the doorway with fireballs, making sure not to hit any of the agents.

Ashe kept running through the hallways, doing the best he could to keep the agents away from his friends, or at least, hoping that these hallways didn't make him accidentally run into them while the agents were on his tail. "These guys really don't know when to give up, do they?" Ashe says to himself, before summoning a blue alchemic circle. "Hopefully this will slow them down!"

With that, Ashe casted an ice spell on the ground, covering the floor from where he was to long past an upcoming intersection in ice. With the intersection in mind, Ashe tried his best to keep his balance in order for him to safely get off the icy floor and keep running. Once he made the turn, he looked back as he ran, seeing all of the agents struggle to keep their balance as they continued down the icy hallway, a sight that made Ashe chuckle. "These guys really took down the Illuminati? Even a novice can handle a trick like tha-"

Suddenly, while he was busy looking at the other agents, Ashe failed to see what was in front of him, which led to him running straight into something and knocking himself onto the ground. Reeling from the pain, Ashe looked at what he ran into with a mix of frustration and confusion, seeing a man with short brown hair in a black suit just staring down at him. "You really should watch where you're going." The man said. "Here, let me help you up."

Hesitantly, Ashe accepted the man's hand and got back up on his feet. "Th-Thanks. Sorry for running into you like that..." Ashe says.

"It's fine, just keep an eye out whenever you're running like that in the future." The man said with a warm chuckle. "That being said, why are you running? More importantly, why are you here? This place is dangerous, you know."

"Don't have to tell me twice about that." Ashe agrees. "And to answer your questions, I was running from these strange guys who were chasing me and my friends. I served as a distraction to let my friends escape from those guys, who I just finally managed to shake off."

"I see." The man replied. "But that didn't exactly answer why you're here."

Ashe began to sweat nervously, thinking about how to answer this without exposing himself. "Well... About that..."

"There he is!"

Just before he could explain himself, the agents with guns slid around the corner back onto stable ground as they continued to run after Ashe. "Sorry, but I gotta go!" Ashe says, running off from the man. "Nice meeting you though, mister!"

When the men got closer, the man Ashe was talking to stopped one of the men. "What's going on?" He asked.

"Sir, that kid was with three others who we're more than certain are with the Illuminati." The agent reported. "We had them cornered, but he disoriented us with some alchemy and made us lose sight of the other three."

"So that's why he's here..." The man said. "Send out a call for all units to be on the lookout for the other three. I'll help these men capture this one."

"Understood, Ogawa-san!" The agent replied.

Ashe kept running from the guards to the best of his abilities, but he knew he couldn't do this for long. He could feel his vision start to blur, his legs were getting tired, and he knew the next time he went to use an alchemic spell to slow down the agents, it would probably end in him passing out. "Gotta... Get to... The others!" Ashe says to himself between breaths. Suddenly, as he turned the next corner, he saw the brown haired man in a suit again, almost as if he was waiting for him. "You again?"

"I know this isn't the ideal time for us to be running into each other again, but I'm here to ask you to come with us." Ogawa said.

"'Us'?" Ashe asks, before his question was immediately answered by the agents that were pursuing him, blocking the hallway as more appeared behind Ogawa. "You're with them?!"

"I'm afraid so." Ogawa answered. "Under better circumstances, I would be fine with letting you leave and having that be the end of it, but considering that you're in one of the Illuminati's bases, it's not exactly the best look for you to be running away from us..."

"It didn't exactly help that the second my friends and I were seen by you guys that you decided to chase after us with weapons in hand!" Ashe shouts. "Besides, after everything we've been through, we want nothing to do with the Illuminati! So please, let us go, and I promise you'll never see any of us again!"

"If you come with us peacefully and answer our questions, we'll let you go if you genuinely have nothing to do with the Illuminati." Ogawa said. "If you really mean no harm to anyone, we'll let you go. You have my word."

Ashe scoffs at Ogawa's proposal. "The last time someone promised me I'd be fine, I ended up as a Guinea Pig for the Illuminati." Ashe says, as water started to swirl around him, but he acted like he didn't even see it. "My friends have waited far too long to be as far away from this place as we can, and I'm not gonna let another empty promise put me back in that situation!"

"This water... I've seen it before!" Ogawa said to himself, remembering another person who would engulf themselves in water for a transformation. "Everyone! Fall back! NOW!"

"RRRAAAAWWRRGGRR!"

Just as Ogawa suspected, Ashe suddenly transformed into a dragon. Knowing this would happen, Ogawa ran away with a few of the agents as Ashe began to throw around the agents that still surrounded him, knocking them unconscious against the hallway walls, before he charged wildly past them, and eventually, through several walls before he would break out of the base.

"What was that?!" One of the few agents that escaped the rampage asked aloud. "He just transformed!"

"Should we get the military involved?" Another agent asked.

"No. If this is anything like we've seen before, he would just tear through the military and keep on running. Not to mention, with the massive forest around here, it would be easy for him to pick them off one by one." Ogawa said. "For now, organize a search party to go after him. Try to find a way to contain him, but without lethal force. When you do that, let me know."

"Understood!" The agent said, before going over to the unconscious soldiers to assess the damage.

Meanwhile, Ogawa could only stare off at the gaping hole that Ashe had left in his wake. "His powers to transform, they're exactly the same as Kana-san's... If the wrong people get a hold of him first, that could spell trouble for possibly the entire world..."

"We need to find him first."

Two Months Later

Kana's POV:
Astral Plane

Meanwhile in Japan, Kana Kamui and her girlfriend, Chris Yukine, found themselves enjoying some time together in the Astral Plane's hot spring after a long day at school. "This is the life..." Kana sighs as she soaks in the relaxing waters. "It's hard to believe that so much has happened this year, and it's not even over yet!"

"You can say that again." Chris agreed. "Honestly, if you would've told me a year ago that we would be fighting off against someone who would have destroyed the world with a floating Château and another person with godlike power at his disposal, I would've called you a lunatic."

"Really puts last years feats of an ancient priestess who wanted to shoot the Moon and a psychopath who wanted to commit genocide with that Moon to shame." Kana chuckles. "I don't think even my Papa had to deal with that level of chaos when he was my age..."

Kana let out a sigh when she said that last part, which immediately caught Chris' attention. "Somethin' wrong?" Chris asked. "You've been acting... Off... This past week and a half."

"Sorry... It's just... It's just hard to believe that it's nearly been a decade since I last saw my family." Kana says. "I mean, sure, I still have Lilith and technically Serena here with me as my family, but even then..."

"You wish that you could still see them, even if it's just for a moment, right?" Chris asked. "Trust me, I've had nights like that myself. But those nights have been happening less and less with you around."

"It makes me happy to hear you say that, Chris." Kana says.

"And who knows? Maybe someday I'll actually get the chance to meet your folks!" Chris shrugs. "Considering what we have seen when it comes to relics, alchemy, and even divine power, it's not too farfetched to say we could end up finding a way to go back to your world, even if only for a quick visit."

"That would be nice." Kana says, wiping a tear off of her face. "Sorry for ruining the mood for a moment there."

"It's fine." Chris replied. "You can make up for it by getting me the best present you can for my birthday. You do remember that it's coming up, right?"

"How could I forget? I have to make up for the present I got you last year somehow." Kana says, before letting out a small chuckle. "In my defense though, you looked cute in that dress I got you."

Chris blushed profusely at Kana's teasing. "Sh-Shut up!" Chris shouted as she splashed Kana in the face with some hot spring water, which made the dragon girl laugh even more.

Shortly after that, the duo got out of the hot spring and back into their normal clothes. However, before they could go about thinking on what to do next, they suddenly received a call from Genjuro. "Kana here. Chris is with me."

"We need you both to come to HQ as soon as possible." Genjuro said. "The others are on their way here as well. We'll catch you all up to speed in person."

"We'll be right there!" Kana says, hanging up the call.

"What do you think that was all about?" Chris asked.

"I'm not sure, but it sounds serious." Kana answers. "Regardless, let's not keep everyone waiting."

And with that, the duo ran off to the exit from the Astral Plane to S.O.N.G. HQ to start their next adventure. What will await them in the command center this time? Only time will tell...

A/N: And with that, we end the intermission chapter!

So now you finally see how Enki ended up in Valla and kickstarted everything that has happened in this fanfic. Now, I'm sure there's a lot of questions as far as what he could and couldn't do with Anankos' divine power, but for the sake of not wanting the notes section to be a chapter in terms of length, I'll go over the most important ones:

"Why didn't he just use that power to stop Shem-Ha's return himself?" Mostly out of wanting to honor Anankos' request to search out a champion to help deal with her return, and a possible fear of Shem-Ha outlasting however much power Enki was given, as it would use a majority of said power to revive him, and not to his former glory.

"How was he able to meet Anankos, a being from a different world entirely?" Simply put, at least in this AU, I'd like to believe that the afterlife could be one multiversal resting place for the dead. But that's a topic for a different field to discuss.

"Why does Anankos have this kind of power but Enki doesn't?" To make a long story short, while exact details on what their races are capable of are very limited, I believe Anankos and the First Dragons are closer to divine power status than the Custodians (Considering the latter didn't really need a specific set of weapons to get killed, and clearly lacked divine power's regen bs to boot)

And finally "Why didn't Anankos just resurrect himself if he had all of this power?/Why can Enki temporarily revive himself if he doesn't have this same godly power?" While I just said that his power is not like divine power, I still believe Enki would have something akin to Anankos' power to help add to what he was given in order to fulfill his mission. Call him broken if you want, the man's still 6 feet under at the end of the day.

And that covers the ancient past, now onto the present!

Yes, Ashe is finally in the fic! While there wasn't much for him in this intermission, aside from showing some close relationships and such, Part 5 is going to have a heavy focus on him alongside all of the Noble Red shenanigans in XV, but I'd rather not spoil all of the fun in that regard for now :)

Lastly, while the conversation in the hot spring was mostly filler for Chris and Kana, the "Dress" that Kana got Chris for her birthday last year is in fact the dress used by her Idol AU self "Christina". Just kinda thought it would be a funny nod to XDU.

But with all of that out of the way, I just want to thank you all again for sticking with this fic, and I hope you're all as excited as I am for the final part! But for now, I shall see you all in the next chapter!