"Hey there, how are you holding up?" Shige-H smirked immediately after walking into a ward stacked with crippled, burnt, and mangled bodies in various stages of repair. Just as she expected from her squad mate, Endo sat on his bed with a gloomy look with his swords placed by his bed. "I've heard that the tournament was kind of a shitshow. At least neither the Chaos Factor nor the Fennec's mercenaries moved on to the next round, huh?"

"Boss," Endo grumbled, looking worked up about something. "Mana, she…" he began working up to something that must have felt like climbing a mountain to him.

"Yeah, her mind's been replaced with a statue and she's been forced to work with the Chaos Factor, we know. We've successfully retrieved her body. I'm proud of the Stars, despite splitting up, both groups managed to fulfill their objectives," Shige-H approached Endo and pulled a chair up. While Asuka's report suggested that some urgency would have been appreciated, Shige-H knew her squad well enough to know that Endo needed some help to get back to a condition where he'd have been an asset to the squad. For someone with a pride as bloated as his, his was also the most sensitive as even the tiniest prick would've made it burst.

"Tsk… I lost!" Endo ground his teeth, clenching the edges of his infirmary sheets. "No. 1? Give me a fucking break…! I couldn't even get into the Top 16!"

"By joining the Allied Ninja and becoming a part of the Stars, you've become a shinobi. It couldn't matter less how powerful you are, your value as a shinobi is calculated by how well you succeed in your objective. It's a cold and insensitive truth, but it's how the world perceives us. In that aspect, you have succeeded and you will hear no objections from either me or the Supreme Leader–you've done your duty adequately," Shige-H sprinkled some carefully selected hard truths that she might not have wholly subscribed to, but she knew Endo would have taken the right way.

That was exactly why she was the most useful in a leadership position. She had no scruples, no personal motives except for being a useful ninja and contributing to her mission, to her squad, and her organization. She had no ulterior motives, no personal principles like Mana that would have gotten in the way. Shige-H was a leader, first and foremost. She'd have killed for her squad, she'd have done or said anything that she needed to to get her squad to perform and excel. That was because leaders were only useful when their squads performed, and Shige-H wanted to be handy more than anything. That was why she trained up to become a medical ninja back in the day, after all. To be useful…

"Mana protected my hide! After all the flack I gave her, after I've all but discounted her as a Stars member and a strong warrior deserving my admiration and respect… Even when she had no body to fight with, she challenged and fended off the entire world with just the strength of her spirit alone," Endo relaxed and released the edges of his bedsheet covers so that he didn't tear them up. "When I saw her out there, she didn't know what to do. The enemy had captured and brainwashed her, switched her into a stone prison for a body, and told her to spit in the face of everything she's worked for, to undo her whole legacy and betray her village and the Allied Ninja and I could sense the uncertainty in her with every whiff of her spiritual chakra. Yet still, one thing she never stopped doing was fighting… Even when she wasn't sure what she was fighting for when she didn't have the finish line anywhere near in sight and had no clue of what it looked like at this point, her spirit still burnt strong."

"Mana's not dead or anything," Shige-H shook her head. "We were as shocked and crushed as you are to find out that her body's been smashed, but Asuka has met someone who has salvaged the strands of her soul, even though such a thing hardly sounds possible."

"What…!? She's alive?" Endo blanked out, before full control over his body returned to him, the samurai apprentice slipped out from under his bedsheets and stood up, slipping into his sandals. Determined to do his duty, the injured and wrapped up Endo sealed his swords away for easier carrying and stood tall before Shige-H, as if reporting for duty. "If there's one soul strong enough to not transition into Afterlife after death, it's hers. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised."

"That's some high praise coming from you," Shige-H smirked and slowly stood up, then slid the chair she rested her rear on under Endo's vacated hospital bed.

"Mana may have failed to prove she is No. 1 the same way I did, however, the guts that she's shown made me eat my words a thousand times," Endo stated. "I was naïve to think that she's lost an ounce of her potential after being crippled. I may have mocked her for losing a limb many times, but she proved me to be the only clown around. If there's one thing for certain, even if Nakotsumi Mana lost her entire body and burned down in flames to a handful of ash, somehow, she'd find a way to blind her incinerator by being blown into their eyes. The way I see it now, the loss of her leg is no different from either of my battle scars from being cut–just a testament to her hardiness."

"Well then, glad you have finally learned to respect one of us. I guess that makes three Stars left to teach you to respect," Shige-H jested with her hands on her hips before turning toward the door. Without being hurried, Endo followed, dismissing any attendants questioning the degree of his recovery or the shrouded, androgynous healers who mumbled something unintelligible.

"Forget it, the stars will go cold before I can respect a buffoon like Damisan. He's had all his limbs reattached to him and yet he got outshined by someone who lost one of hers. He's as pathetic as I am for letting Mana upstage me," Endo smirked while the two rushed off to where Asuka was waiting for the Stars to regroup and question this mysterious contact of hers.

"Hey, it would have been kind of you to wait for me. This place is a nightmare to navigate, it's all just one wheel full of identical-looking rooms," Damisan grumbled after stepping into a hospital room that served as the decided meeting ground for the Stars. His arrival was greeted by Asuka and Shige-H turning to him and excitement to get started in reassembling the Stars at last, as well as the curious glare of Minara Bebe and a quiet wave of his hand from Endo who stayed clear of the tight bundle of bodies around Minara's hospital bed.

"We're all here, Minara," Shige-H looked at this curious young lady who seemed to be imitating Mana with a flashier version of Mana's already plenty dapper magician's uniform, defined by eye-raking colors that only joined with the vivid pink hair of this quite literal magical girl to define an image that Mana shot for flawlessly. "We can begin."

"Hmm," Minara Bebe nodded. "My name is Minara Bebe, I am an apprentice magician from a faraway dimension that's much higher on the dimensional plane. Therefore, it would be a much more effective use of our time if we just took each other's words for face value and didn't question what we have to say too much."

"Magician, do you mean like Mana?" Damisan wondered to what extent were the similarities between Minara's and Mana's taste in outfits a coincidence. Given how this was not something that Minara had elaborated on thus far, it seemed like a good thing to ask for clarification without denying the magical girl the simple request she voiced just now.

"In some ways, yes, however… What you see as magic in your plane is the smoke and mirror tricks that the Konoha's Sorceress pulls, whereas in most higher planes, our abilities are so advanced and unbound by any restrictions you struggle with that, to any lesser planes, they are indistinguishable from magic," Minara explained. "If you descended on the dimensional scale to a lesser plane and showed the ability to stand straight on a third-dimensional plane to a first-dimensional entity, to them you'd be performing magic, whereas to you–you're just standing straight. In a similar vein, manipulation over time, fate, causality, and many other things that no warrior in your plane can accomplish comes easily to most magicians."

"You said you were similar to Mana, however, based on what you said, you two couldn't be more different," Asuka noted.

"Well… To put it simply, I began my magical studies under the apprenticeship of my master–the Paradox Magician Jishoku Quinton. My specialty was destruction magic, however, after finding out about Nakotsumi Mana, I've come to treasure what she does and I could no longer stomach specializing in destruction magic," Minara replied. "Because I found myself under the wing of one of the most respected spellcasters in all of existence, a genuine Magical Magister, similar to what you would see as a Sannin to ninja, without a specialty, circumstances drove me to adopt a spell-casting style similar to Konoha's Sorceress' tricks, until I can master a branch of magic more in line to my ideals."

"She has that sort of effect on people," Damisan smiled, turning his head to let his longing glare roam free and shoot toward the boundless sandy horizon and blue desert sky.

"So, can you bring Mana back or not? If so, it shouldn't be hard for you to make her grow a new leg besides coming back, right?" Endo spoke up from a farther away position outside of the ring of people gathered around an empty hospital bed which used to be Minara's.

"Endo," Shige-H rolled her eyes.

"Just because I've learned to respect Mana's abilities as a cripple doesn't mean I wouldn't prefer her at the peak of her potential," Endo shrugged unapologetically.

"Sorry, while I might be able to restore Konoha Sorceress' body to its state before her crippling injury, that's not quite my specialty. As such, I might botch such a spell and cause far more harm than good. Moreover, if my spell ended up backfiring, I wouldn't be able to undo it, because while her injury is a third-dimensional occurrence that's easily alterable with magic, a spell of a magician can only be undone by a higher magician specializing in counterspells. I'd prefer merely to return Konoha Sorceress' soul to her body," Minara politely refused that request.

"You can do that?" Damisan exclaimed in surprise.

"I might, however, for that to happen, we will need Konoha Sorceress' soulless body," Minara turned to Asuka, likely because Asuka promised such a thing.

Shige-H pulled out a storage scroll and unraveled it on Minara's hospital bed, weaving a hand seal and undoing the storage seal with a vocal popping sound and a cloud of dust picking up indoors. Bit by bit, the seeping smoke slithered all the way to the opening on the walls leading outside and began trailing out through the hole, spreading across and gently landing on the resting arena and the busy construction work that was necessary to restore it to a presentable condition for the upcoming Top 16 rounds.

"What is that snot all over her?" Endo's left eye twitched in disgust after seeing Mana's body flop onto the hospital bed only for Shige-H to cover her up by wrapping her in the cover sheets.

"The Conductor stored Mana's body in some sort of containment tube. This mucus must have helped keep her in suspended animation without lasting harm being done to the body," Shige-H explained.

"If you think that asshat would have fulfilled his end of the bargain, you need to get real, boss," Asuka sneered. "He only watched over Mana's body because he must have intended to store other minds and souls inside of it, or puppeteer her as his personal foot soldier."

"It sounds like securing this body was troublesome," Minara sighed. "Konoha's Sorceress is lucky to have such fragile friends willing to go this far for her. It makes me glad."

"Fragile? Out of all of us, which one labels herself a magician, yet can't be of much use at all?" Endo scoffed at this comment with his trademark crudeness. "Maybe we should have been talking to your master in the first place? He sounds like a more capable ally to have."

"He is," Minara didn't argue with that assessment. "However, my master is even more of a wild cannon than I am. He is a specialist in paradox magic. His magic is also second to none in terms of raw power, because of how specific, chaotic, and centered it is. That means that unless something is part of a paradox, he risks of fumbling the spell too."

"And if your master fumbles the spell, from the sounds of it, there's not a single magician in all of your fancy otherworldly magical dimensions that can fix it, I take it…" Shige-H surmised the point to which Minara was getting.

"Exactly, that is why my master is burdened to be so responsible with his magic. He isn't overly fond of intervention in the first place. He is a magician who believes that no plane that's unable to reach the higher planes is deserving of magical intervention on their behalf. However, he fought to build a nexus on this plane regardless, because the other Magisters outvoted him. He isn't someone who would approve of me using my magic in this case either, nor would I use it if it were anyone other than Konoha's Sorceress in this bed," Minara explained.

"Okay, so what now, how do we put Mana's soul from that magical gemstone of yours back in her own body?" Asuka leaned over Mana's soulless body. There was a time when Asuka would have loved to see Mana this helpless and would have without a doubt exploited such an easy opportunity to kill her, however, ever since the affair in Boulder Town, Asuka decided to work alongside Mana instead, even if it didn't compel the Kirigakure orphan to like the ninja magician.

"That's a fine point," Shige-H pondered. "Yamanaka Kiyomi said that any Yamanaka ninja worth their mettle should be able to switch Mana's soul from a stone vessel to her own soulless body. Given that Mana's trapped in that magical sapphire, that hardly seems like an option now."

"That might not be a problem," Minara's lips turned upward as she waved her magical wand in front of her, swiping with her free hand fast enough to snag the gem from its core without it being apparent until Minara showed her hand with the gemstone pinched between her fingers. With no one willing to applaud her as Mana's audience applauded the magician during her shows, the offended apprentice magician blew out her cheeks and groaned before placing the gemstone on top of Mana's body.

"Wait, don't tell me you intend to use a spell!" Damisan barked out in terror. "Didn't you just say that carries a risk of you botching it? Having Mana grow more legs or losing the one she has is one thing, but when the botch of a spell involves her very soul and mind… Well…"

"Don't worry, I am well aware of the risks. I don't intend on using a spell, I believe that the soul sapphire should do the trick all on its own," Minara playfully put a blue top hat on her head with a cute wink and tapped it with her wand, causing it to tip over on her head, almost falling off but not quite.

"On its own?" Shige-H muttered with her and Asuka leaning in closer to the soul sapphire to examine if it was about to do some sick magic stunt. Damisan approached closer too, however, he was pouring with sweat, as if nervous about the entire thing. Endo tried acting indifferent by pressing against the wall with his back, but even he could have been caught narrowly squinting with one eye open to make out what was happening.

"There is a process called Soul Diffusion that can be observed to occur naturally throughout the planes. Even the lower ones. Because it's a natural process, there's no need for magic to be used at all," Minara explained with gusto and a dancing pep to her step, trying to imitate Mana's energy on a stage but ending up looking more like a sleazy snake oil salesman.

"Soul Diffusion?" Shige-H squinted, struggling to believe in something this vague as a viable way of saving an invaluable Stars asset. "I'm aware of the ordinary diffusion that occurs in cells, is it something similar?"

"A nice observation, it is, in fact," Minara clapped, leaning in passionate anticipation for Soul Diffusion to do its work. "Souls tend to move on their own toward viable vessels, even bypassing impossible magical or physical obstacles at times. However, the process can be sped up by removing as many such obstacles as possible, such as placing the soul sapphire directly onto the desired vessel."

"Huh? Sounds hokey!" Endo cast an accusatory remark in Minara's way. "She's just lying still, what the heck kind of hack fraud magician are you!?"

"That's odd…" Minara scratched her head, looking troubled. "Usually, Soul Diffusion is extremely efficient with vessels that vibe with the soul in question. You'd think that there would be no vessel that's vibing with Mana's soul more than her own body…"

"S-Shit…" Damisan cursed. "You guys don't think that the artificial heart we put in Mana way back after she's been blasted by Ion could be the reason, do you!?"

"Wh-What!?" Minara jumped up as if the Allied Ninja splashed her with cold water. "You're telling me that her entire heart's been replaced with some sort of mechanism? A heart's the real deal, you guys! It's the core of one's soul! No wonder her magical energy was so shoddy!"

"Are you telling me that your Soul Diffusion bullcrap won't work because Damisan stuffed a puppet heart inside of Mana way back?" Endo growled, rolling back his sleeves.

"Can't you maybe ask some other magicians that specialize in healing magic to help Mana get a new, fully biological heart?" Shige-H looked up at Minara with worry.

"No way!" Minara grabbed hold of her hat to keep it from falling off her head and down on the sandy infirmary floor. "Good luck convincing a magician, even one specializing in restorative magic, to walk to this remote plane and restore the heart of a third-dimensional entity! In case you haven't noticed, we're not the most progressive! Unless this plane's got a nexus, they won't move a finger!"

"A nexus, you say?" Asuka pointed up with her finger in her personal eureka moment. "Don't you magicians intend to establish one if you win the tournament?"

"Yes, then more and more magicians could walk to this plane and help people all over with magic, they'd even accept promising entities as their apprentices and teach them magic," Minara nodded.

"That thing you tried before, Soul Diffusion. You said that it's more powerful when there are fewer barriers. Could you, in theory, use your destruction magic to destroy the soul sapphire and let Mana's soul free?" Damisan looked up with desperation brimming in his expression.

"Damisan!" Shige-H scolded her squad mate.

"I could," Minara nodded. "Theoretically, it's sound, but… Incredibly risky. The liberation of Mana's soul would undoubtedly assist in the efficiency of the process, however, if Soul Diffusion still fails, Mana's soul would end up unprotected by the soul sapphire in the physical plane and would end up torn apart by the same laws of Soul Diffusion. Her soul and mind, her very essence, would end up scattered across every individual primal particle comprising this plane. You could imagine it easier if you imagine a spoon of sugar melting away in boiling tea. She'd effectively be gone and beyond restoration at that point."

"Gee, it sounds like someone's awfully resistant to the idea of the magicians winning the tournament. I wonder why that might be?" Asuka teased Damisan with a wicked smirk. "And you go ahead calling me the mean one, here you are offering us to play Russian Roulette with poor Mana's very essence."

"I'm not calling for anything!" Damisan objected with a violent refusal. "I'm just… Trying to help us work this out. To understand our options."

"I say go for it," Endo finally opened his eyes fully and approached Mana's serene and helpless body with an excited grin plastered all over his face. "Because after everything I've seen this woman do… I don't believe she even can fail, I refuse to accept that she can simply vanish away. The Soul Diffusion will absolutely work if we maximize our odds!"

"Okay, I can understand Damisan putting enough of his stakes on some other team, but you too?" Asuka pressed her hands to her hips in objection. "For your information, some of us actually want and need Mana alive, you madmen. Since I've no objections to backing the magicians on this, the reasonable call is still to wait, right? I mean… One of these restoration magic users can surely make Mana grow a new leg, no problem, right?"

"No problem," Minara nodded after Asuka looked at her for confirmation.

"Alright, boss-lady, what's the call here?" Endo turned to Shige-H for the decisive vote.

"There's no vote to make," Shige-H shut the notion down. "I'm not risking an impossible-to-replace asset of the Stars and the Allied Ninja on this. Mana can come back on her own time. Our mission objective's complete, there's no urgency to restore her."

"Well, you might not have much of a choice…" Minara scratched her head. "Tomorrow, my master will walk back to the Magistus plane in which the Magister Citadel is located. There's not a chance of him allowing me to leave a magical soul sapphire behind, even if he'd believe the magicians to be able to win this tournament and establish a nexus, eventually."

"We could kick your ass and steal it from you," Asuka leaned over Mana's body, with a direct threat.

"You could try, however, even if you were to defeat me, I would deny the very existence of odds of you guys against the Paradox Magician, possibly the strongest Magister," Minara shrugged, visibly fretting over the puzzle herself.

"Tsk, damn it!" Damisan slammed his fist against the rail of the hospital bed in hopeless frustration. "If only we had time, maybe we could have these healers transplant one of our hearts into Mana, then the Soul Diffusion would work for certain!"

"That would work, yes," Minara nodded, albeit crushed by this admission more than anything. "However, time is an issue here…"

"It would take a whole day to determine if any of us is even a viable transplant," Shige-H groaned. "Damn… There might legitimately not be another way."

"It's two-on-two," Asuka crossed her arms. "Don't you just love democracy?"

"I could kill Asuka," Endo raised his hand, turning to Shige-H. "Would that count as a two-on-one vote?"

"There's no need to do anything this drastic," Minara admitted. "There's another reason I won't perform a destruction spell on the soul sapphire."

"Huh, why not?" Shige-H looked up as if pulled from the bog of despair by Minara's voice.

"Because I no longer practice destruction magic. I've sworn away from it ever since seeing Konoha's Sorceress shows," Minara explained. "Just like Konoha's Sorceress refuses to take a life, I've refused to embrace my destruction magic."

"So, what's your new specialty?" Damisan wondered. "It wouldn't happen to be restoration magic, would it?"

"Sorry, I don't really… Have one," Minara scratched her head, embarrassed by the admission. "I still use stray jinxes in battle, but they're a far cry from genuine destruction magic. Other than that, I guess I just kind of… Do magic tricks. You know, switcheroos and the like."

"Great…" Endo rolled his eyes. "Would this Soul Diffusion work if I smashed the soul sapphire to pieces?"

"No, a magic trick is exactly what we need," Damisan slammed a decisive fist into his open hand with a look of relief. "It'll buy us the one thing we need–time to figure it all out."

The Stars and Minara Bebe alike leaned in closer to Damisan to hear his plan for a magic trick that would fool a master magician such as a genuine Magister of the Citadel of the Magistus Plane