Mary, that was the name the person in front of us identified herself as. She sure as hell wasn't acting like either Livia or Anne. She slowly walked forward, making Angie, Clarice, and I back away to keep our distance for the time being. Mary pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at me. Was she getting ready for another attack?

"You're not Lea." She idly mutters, as if talking to herself. Mary then looks at me in disgust. "Their descendant then. Somehow, that makes me feel worse when looking at you."

"Part of me really wants to just kill you outright because of what you represent. Your very existence just reminds me that Lea and Anne had-" Her words were interrupted by Clarice swiftly closing the distance between them to attempt a punch straight to her face. My fiancée's fist was stopped a few inches from its target thanks to a small circular magic shield that got in the way. Mary raised an eyebrow at Clarice as she continued to try to force her way through the shield. "Rude. Didn't your parents teach you not to interrupt someone who is speaking, Clarice?"

Bang!

"Tsk!" Angie clicked her tongue as she leveled Livia's handgun at the Staff of the Saint, the bullet being blocked by another magic shield. So Livia handed her gun to Angie when she got changed, huh?

I hated that I was completely unarmed, but that didn't mean that I was completely helpless! I charged at Mary and reached out to the Staff. I heard her snort before using the staff to parry another punch from Clarice and smack my arms away from her. Before I knew it, she had driven the end of the staff into my gut and narrowly missed smashing the side of Clarice's head with a swift spin move.

"Please, I was a top level Adventurer back in my time. You three are nothing compared to what Anne and I had to face together." She said while turning her gaze to Angie. She made a contemplative sound and smiled at her. "Shame. You would have been a much better host."

None of us really knew what she meant, but there'd be time to try to figure out what was going on later! The three of us exchanged looks and began to move to surround Mary. She just rolled her eyes and spoke. "Kneel."

Just like that, we were all brought down to our knees. I grit my teeth as I tried desperately to get back to my feet, even pushing down on the floor with my hands. Nothing worked. I looked at Angie and Clarice and they were both failing to find any success, though Angie fired another shot at the Staff that pinged against a magic shield.

"Give Livia back to us!" I yelled defiantly at Mary, who looked at me in confusion.

"Ugh! You even sound like him!" She said in clear disgust. Well, excuse me! "Clearly helpless and defeated, yet still so confidently defiant."

"Argh!" I cried out in pain when Mary struck the side of my head with the staff. My vision swam for a few seconds and I could feel something warm flowing out from where I was hit.

"You bitch!" Clarice snarled before once again trying to get back to her feet.

"You'll pay for that!" Angie emptied the rest of the ammunition in Livia's handgun at the Staff, to no effect.

Despite it all, Mary ignored them both and kept her gaze trained on my face. "Strange, that wasn't as satisfying as I had expected."

"Who are you, really?!" Angie yelled out. "You said that your name is Mary, right?! What do you even want?!"

Mary looked at Angie with a frown. "Do none of you really know who I am? What I had accomplished alongside Anne, Lea and those morons that you call Founders?"

She clearly didn't like how the three of us just looked at each other with uncertainty.

"Who am I?" She snarled in command, compelling us to answer truthfully.

"I don't know." The three of us answered at the same time. Mary growled before flourishing the Staff of the Saint behind her, blasting the chamber that once held it with powerful beams of magic.

"So they erased my name from history as well?!" She screamed out at no one in particular. "Was stealing my sister not enough?! Was sundering my soul and trapping the fragments in relics not enough for them?!"

"Fine. I guess I'll wipe their families from existence to return the favor." Mary suddenly said in a completely calm tone of voice. She turned to me and smiled. "I'll start with you."

"We'll stop you." Clarice's voice gave her pause.

"Excuse me?" Mary slowly asked, walking up to Clarice and placing the end of the Staff under her chin. "How are you planning on doing that from all the way down there?"

"We'll find a way. Whoever the hell you are doesn't matter. We'll stop you, get Livia back, then you can fade away from history for good." Clarice's words made Mary's eyebrow twitch in irritation. "No one will ever remember you or your name ever again. You'll just become a forgotten memory."

Mary stared at Clarice for a few moments, seemingly thinking about her words. She then smiled, pulled the staff away, and patted Clarice's cheek with her hand. "You know what, you're right. Everyone would just eventually forget about me even if I get my revenge."

Alarm bells rang out with the way she agreed with what Clarice just said. Angie and I then cried out in alarm when Mary drove the end of the Staff into Clarice's stomach, making her double over in pain.

"That means that I need to do something unforgettable." Mary kept talking as if nothing happened, slowly pacing in front of us. "Something that would etch my name as the last thing that this Kingdom ever knows. Something that the rest of the world will forever remember me for."

That definitely didn't sound good at all.

"Right." She muttered, giving a faraway look. "That could work."

"Well! This was all very enlightening, but I think I need to talk to a few people." Mary said in an utterly delighted voice. "I think I should pay a visit to a certain Principality, see if I can't convince them to accept some changes in leadership that would be beneficial for everyone involved."

Oh fuck no!

"No! Don't you dare!" I snarl out. Mary taking Livia and the Saint relics straight to Fanoss would be the worst thing that could possibly happen! Clarice and Angie shared my opinion based on how they were trying to struggle against the compulsion again.

She ignored us in favor of kneeling down in front of me. I hated how Mary was using Livia's face when she smiled at me. "Here's a parting gift for you, Leon."

"Lea's decisiveness was always so irritating. It seems that is something which his bloodline retains even now. So…" Mary placed a finger on my forehead, making my heart skip a beat. "Doubt."

My breathing suddenly became ragged. All sorts of horrible scenarios flashed in my head. Different scenes of failure and hopelessness formed in my mind. There was no way we could deal with all this without something terrible happening! Even with Black Getter F, there was always a chance that my mediocre piloting would let everyone down! There were so many ways that this would go wrong!

This was all my fault! If I hadn't met Livia, then she would have been fine! Everything would have been fine if I hadn't stuck my nose in everyone's business! I should have just stayed as a mob and coasted through my Academy days! What the fuck was I thinking?!

"What did you do to Leon?!" I heard Clarice scream out and shuddered as Mary started laughing. A strong woman like Clarice didn't need a man like me weighing her down. She deserved a man who could stand at her side who didn't need the crutch of an all-powerful ancient machine of destruction.

"Leon? Leon, love, look at me." I turned to Angie with a frightened look on my face. Oh god! Why the hell did I ever think that I deserved a woman like Angie?! She was so out of my league that I might as well have been a commoner! She was supposed to become a Queen and I took that away from her!

What about Mylene?! If word of our affair got out, she would never recover from it! I'd end up destroying her life and her family just because I couldn't keep it in my pants!

I killed Yumeria's people!

I risked the lives of Clara's family!

I cursed Deidre to a life of combat with a Getter Robo!

I left my sister in a foreign country that had something that could cause the end of the world!

I'm ruining their lives!

Everything is my fault!

I shouldn't have even been reborn!

I didn't deserve this second chance at life!

I should have just stayed dead!

Before anything else could happen, the doors to the hall burst open. I turned my head and saw a large armored drone with boxes on its sides suddenly fly in. It flew up and moved towards Mary.

Cease all hostilities! Prepare to be detained!

Control's declaration was followed by a pair of nets being fired at Mary. She snarled and blasted the nets away with her magic.

"Irritating machine!" She said, dodging away from another pair of nets. "Don't think that I'm stupid enough to fall for this twice!"

Mary turned to me with a vicious smile.

"Try not to die, Leon." I shivered at her words, looking at her with wide eyes. "I want to be there to laugh at your face as you watch your Kingdom burn to the ground."

"Ta-ta!" She added, raising the Staff of the Saint before she vanished in a flash of light. All at once, our compulsion to remain kneeled disappeared. I was quickly enveloped by Angie and Clarice in an embrace.

Control's new drone hovered near us as several priests and the bishop cautiously peeked in from outside.

"Control, Mary did something to Leon." Angie told them worriedly while stroking my hair.

I assume that the Mary you refer to is the individual who has possessed Olivia's body?

"Yes. She said that she was going to Fanoss to make them help her get revenge on the Kingdom." Clarice added with a pained expression.

That is very alarming.

Alarming didn't even begin to describe what just happened!

Leon, you must calm down. Extended elevated heart rate may permanently cause damage.

"How can I possibly calm down, Control?!" I yelled out hysterically. "We may have just ruined everything!"

"Don't despair, Leon. We'll find a way." Clarice tried to reassure me as she cradled my head on her chest.

"How could you possibly know that?" I asked her helplessly.

What transpired for Leon to become this way?

"Before you arrived, Mary compelled Leon to doubt." Angie answered worriedly.

Specifically on what?

She hesitated before shaking her head. "She didn't specify."

That is even more concerning. For now, we must have Leon's head injury treated. I shall look into ways of helping him overcome the inflicted brainwashing.

Oh yeah! My head was still bleeding! No wonder I was getting dizzy!

That was my last thought before the adrenaline wore off and I blacked out.

…

When I woke back up, I was in my dorm room at the Academy. A regular sized drone was floating at my bedside. Other than that, I seemed to be alone.

"How long was I out?" I asked out, my throat hoarse.

A little over a day. Your head injury has already been attended to personally by the bishop of the Temple. They have agreed to keep the incident under wraps for now.

Yeah, that made sense. There would be a panic if people found out that the next Saint turned out to be a genocidal maniac bent on the complete destruction of the Kingdom.

I shall alert Yumeria to bring you food to aid in your recovery. Please hydrate in the meantime.

I looked at the jug of water and empty glass that Control indicated.

"Thanks." I said after drinking a glass of water. I sighed and looked at the drone. "So…Livia."

I apologize. I am somehow unable to track her after Mary teleported away.

Dammit! This was all my fault! I shook my head, remembering that what I was feeling was all Mary's fault. "Angie and Clarice?"

They are currently speaking to Princess Hertrude and Queen Mylene about the incident and potential threats that Mary represents if she makes contact with the Fanoss forces.

"God, this is all my fault." I groaned, slapping my forehead. "I should have left that fucking necklace alone."

If you had done so, then you and the others would have remained under Olivia's unintended brainwashing.

"That would have been better than this!" I yelled back before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Control. I just…"

I understand. This is one of the many unknowns that we couldn't have anticipated. The solution of using the Saint Necklace was a speculative one to begin with.

And now, we had a vengeful ghost possessing one of my lovers who had the power to control people's minds and was in possession of three powerful magical artifacts.

You couldn't have said Final Boss any louder if your tried.

God, I might even be forced to kill Livia at this rate!

"Mary's messing with my head." I hissed while trying to shake off that horrible thought from my mind. "I can't think of anything except how badly anything can go."

I am aware. I am currently synthesizing medication that should help with your symptoms.

"You're going to give me medicine?" I asked in surprise. I had thought that we would have needed to get Mary to remove this from my head.

Your initial symptoms are consistent with acute anxiety. It may not actually be the case, but the medication should help with suppressing it until we can have Mary or Olivia to undo it.

"Thanks, Control." I said with a relieved smile. Sadly, the moment didn't last very long.

A warning alarm suddenly sounded from the drone, making me groan. "What now?"

I'm afraid that another emergency situation has transpired in Alzer.

"Is it Marie?" I immediately asked worriedly.

No, though I have already informed her and she is presently trying to call you.

"Patch her through." I sighed, might as well find out what this new mess is about. Control projected a very panicked looking Marie in her room.

"Leon! Something really bad just happened!" I sighed at her words, surprising my sister.

"What a coincidence, join the club." She looked at me worriedly before speaking.

"Oh god, what happened over there?" Marie asked and I shook my head, gesturing to herself.

"You first." I said and she immediately regained her panicked expression.

"Lelia handed Noelle to Loic on a silver platter when she went back to their apartment! What about you?!" I buried my face into my pillow and screamed at that news. After a few moments I put away the pillow and looked at Marie dead in the eyes.

"Anne wasn't actually Anne. It was actually the ghost of her crazy sister. She possessed Livia and is planning on linking up with Fanoss to destroy the Kingdom." I said, Marie repeating my action on her end. After a while, the two of us just stared at each other.

"I can't tell which one of us has it worse." She muttered.

"Does it matter?" I responded with a shrug.

"What do we do? If Serge finds out about what happened to Noelle, he'll go on a warpath." Marie started, the gears in her head obviously already spinning. "I sent out Julius and the others to keep him from doing anything stupid, but we're still stuck."

"I don't know." My words startled my sister.

"What?" I could hear the fear in her voice.

"Mary brainwashed me into doubting everything I have ever done and everything I can ever do." I explained and Marie became even more alarmed. "Until I can get the medicine that Control is making to suppress the effects, I'm pretty useless right now."

"Fuck." It was really the only way for Marie to express our current state.

I sighed and told her the first thing that came into my head. "Ask Louise for help. I know they're love rivals, but she should be able to put that aside if she knows what could be at stake."

"Yeah, better than nothing." Marie muttered before rubbing her temples. "God, why do we have to save the world? We were failures in life back on Earth."

I couldn't give Marie an answer.

…

"Thank you for your cooperation." Mary told the nice man who let her ride in his carriage after she asked him nicely. In truth, she could have teleported or flown to the airship port. She decided to take the scenic route to get used to her new body as well as properly sift through all the recent memories in her head.

She was disgusted that the incomplete version of herself had enthusiastically laid with Lea's descendant. Yet another reason for her to make Leon's death as slow and painful as possible. She didn't even want to think about the insurmountable lasciviousness of the girl who looked so much like her sister. She felt dirty for even having to possess the girl.

More importantly, she had learned the full strength of Leon and his allies. They were formidable and Mary would have had a genuinely difficult time overcoming them.

Thankfully, the lunatics in Fanoss had the perfect solution for her problem ripe for the taking. Controlling their armies and monsters along the way would also be a nice bonus as well.

Compelling the crew of a luxury airship was trivially easy for Mary and she stood in the bridge as the Captain and crew awaited her command.

"Where to, ma'am?" The Captain asked. Mary smiled as everything started to finally come together in her mind. After so long, she would finally have her vengeance for the betrayal of the ones she had thought were her friends and allies.

Anne was destined to rule everything with Mary at her side!

They would all pay for tricking Anne into marrying Lea, into giving him children, into making her lesser than what she should have been!

"The Principality of Fanoss, if you would."

Mary couldn't wait.