AN: Hello everyone. I wanted to get this out earlier, back in February, but it just wasn't done. It is now, and this arc will end next chapter and the set up for the next arc will be made.

Also, I was listening to the Eminence in Shadow ost while writing this chapter, and I finished on the song "A tear ran down Someone's Cheek." The music on this anime was so damn good.

If only Cid were here. Things would be okay if Cid were here. The people attacking were gone now, but there was a new person now. Shadow. Worse, he claimed to be a part of Shadow Garden too. She wasn't sure why he attacked his own people, or why he healed the Crimson Knights, but she was not going to let him see her.

Not that she had anywhere to really hide. She was under her desk. Praying that no one would find her.

"I can't let you enter." It was Marco. Still working to protect her.

"We are grateful for the aid, but we have our duty." Glen was here too. She couldn't see what they were doing, but they would protect her. She couldn't do anything to help. All her research and she was still lacking. She didn't understand how the Eye of Avarice worked, how to stop this.

She heard a crash. She hugged her knees and hid her face. She was a little girl again, but at least this time she wasn't watching. She didn't have to see the STABSTABSTAB.

"How dare you." The contempt she heard in that woman's voice. She had no idea what she looked like, she didn't dare peer over.

"Relax Nu, he's not even an obstacle." Sherry prayed for Cid to show up and save her. Having the sweet boy come save her, he'd probably have a good book for her and a bit of chocolate.

"Take this." For a brief moment, the voice felt familiar. Not like Cid, he was gentle, kind. This man was focused, cold, commanding. She knew she had heard it before, with the same feeling, but she had no clue where. Before she could dwell on the thought she heard thuds from the desk she was hiding under.

They knew where she was hiding. She froze. She knew that was useless, but what else could she do? She wasn't a fighter, and she had nowhere to run. Even if she had somewhere to run, she probably wasn't fast enough. She could do nothing but stare ahead, waiting for her fate, whatever it might be.

Her life was flashing before her eyes. The days in the lab, pouring over countless books. Cid would often bring a few new ones for her. They didn't always fit with the research into the artifact, but they were always endlessly fascinating. The lab became lively with the Crimson Order, always with new treats that Cid would bring in. Servants would come in with refreshments, and some of the treats would be shared with them as they flirted with Marco. Alexia would relax and study, usually sticking close to Cid. That was less pleasant.

And Assistant Principal Lutheran. Her father. She didn't say it, but she should. He raised her, took care of her when she lost her Mother. When she lost everything he was there. She was safe with him. Was he okay?

"-rry! Sherry! Are you alright!" She was literally shaken out of her panicked thoughts by Marco.

"A-are they gone?" Were they going to live?

"Yeah, they both just left. Come on, we need to get out of here." Marco helped her up.

"Ri-right." She never really talked to Marco, he wasn't like Cid. The servant girls seemed to like him, so he was probably nice. She would need some of her magic tools as they left, maybe she could do something with the artifact she was studying. If she was right in her assumptions then this anti-magic field was actually a magic draining field powered by a sister artifact. She looked at her desk and froze.

Three books were on it, probably placed there by Shadow. They were all open, and they were all relevant. One of them literally had an illustration of the artifact she was studying. One of the books she kept pushing off on reading since Cid kept bringing such fascinating books for her. The third book was one she had purchased but hadn't had a chance to read, she had been carrying it with a pile of other books when she was given chocolate by that man with…

With a voice that sounded like Shadow.

She never got a good look at him, he ran off before she could identify more than his uniform. Was that Shadow? Was that some kind of message? Was Shadow Garden observing them all this time? Did Shadow Garden WANT them to succeed here?

She really wanted Cid here.

Cid was giddy. The books he left covered plenty of stuff on artifacts that should help them figure out the Eye of Avarice. It was a lot of work finding books with relevant info, it cut into his late night secret training. However this made it all worth it.

At this moment, surely Sherry was in shock that Shadow provided the notes and information that would guide them to controlling the Eye. With Marco and Glen, they will be in awe that an outsider could immediately guide them to what they need. Also, those two couldn't die yet. The Crimson order has yet to actually achieve anything, it might not survive losing their second in command. That would make his infiltration look stupid.

He wanted to stay and watch from a distance, but Nu was here. Besides, he had other roles to play. He gave a show as Shadow, time to shift to Panoptes. After he gave a few orders.

"Nu, I need you to show incoming Shadow Garden forces how to properly mold their magic within this field. Once a few are capable, we need somebody to keep the Crimson alive. For everything to work out, they need to achieve just a bit of success."

"Of course my lord." Nu immediately ran off.

Cid had to be careful here. There were a lot of things he had on his bucket list, but some were just difficult to pull off. He needed to get everything into position to make this work. He needed Shadow Garder ready, and they needed to be able to at least sort of ignore the magic draining field. He needed to know what the movements of the Cult were going to be, and get a rough idea of their numbers.

Cid shifted his magic, and his slime suit adjusted itself to the unfashionable uniform used by the Cult. Really, all black in the middle of the day just looked stupid. Sure, there's some gold on the wrists of the coat and cloak combo, but not enough to look good. The broach holding the cloak at the front was also a dull brown. Even worse was the mask! It was a face mask which always looked lame. Not like a Domino mask, those were stylish.

His Shadow Garden had style. The black, dark purple and gold worn by all of them. It kept uniformity and style. It also allowed them to look better during the day. Not good, dark colors didn't look good in daylight, but better than those fakes. He really didn't want to go with such an unfashionable look, but he had to to play the role of Panoptes.

He neared the auditorium, looking over the building from the neighboring facility's roof. They had two sets of guards on the balconies, one looking out and one looking in. They were all armed with muzzle loaded rifles. Well, they might not be rifles, he couldn't tell if they had rifling.

However, it was time to make an entrance. Time to be the trickster. Cid jumped off the roof.

Panoptes landed with a spin, and sauntered over to the front doors of the auditorium, a smile hidden under his mask but still reaching his eyes. He kicked the doors open and entered with a skip in his step. Lutheran's was instantly focused on him, to the exclusion of everything else.

He left himself completely open, an excellent way to show how far beneath him Lutheran was. "I hope things are going well here," a quick pause to chuckle, "boss."

"I have, for the most part, secured the academy. A few Knights tried coming onto the school grounds, but they had no way of dealing with the loss of magic. They've set up a perimeter."

"It's always fun watching people set up something that will be completely irrelevant. I suppose it does make them feel useful." A perfect spot for a military mob, watching the line but not going in as the hero.

"If they're lucky they'll die tonight, now hand over the artifact."

Panoptes wasn't sure if his smile could get any bigger. Sure he had a mask covering most of his face, but he was certain that Lutheran could tell he was smiling. "I let them keep it."

Lutheran stood there, unmoving. Panoptes really wished that he wasn't wearing that helmet covering his face. His expression was probably hilarious right now. "You… What?"

"I have my own goals. Besides, letting them keep it is going to help you."

Panoptes could practically feel the anger rolling off the man. "Panoptes! That-!" He clenched and unclenched his fist a few times, getting his rage under control. Lutheran clearly had to remind himself that Panoptes was a threat. "You said you would bring it here."

He couldn't help himself. Lutheran went from furious to submissive so quickly. He laughed. Normal at first, but he pushed it a bit to fit Panoptes. He needed to do a good insane laugh, it was an important objective on his bucket list. He'd need to shout between the laughs for this act. "This is a test! We need to see if you're good! You want to be a Round, don't you?!"

Lutheran stepped back and looked away. The first time he took his eyes of Panoptes since he entered the Auditorium. Panoptes followed his gaze to the entrance. The doors were already half opened, and another group of students were being escorted in.

Well that was annoying.

Alexia was here. Iris might have people charge in, and they'll immediately die. Now that might make everything look way cooler when Shadow Garden fixes everything, but it might threaten the stability of the Crimson Order. Still, nothing much he could do, just needed to be ready for every possibility.

"At least securing the students is going well, and we are keeping them ordered. When we leave we can secure the important ones." Lutheran muttered, walking toward the new hostages. Clearly the Princesses were major targets, Royalty is always important for some magic thing.

It was time to throw him through a loop. "By the way, Shadow Garden is here."

He froze. He slowly turned back to Panoptes. "...You didn't see fit to mention this earlier?" He was seething.

"...Wait, were you NOT expecting that?" Panoptes broke out into a mad laugh again. He needed to play this up before he suddenly stopped. "That… Does not look good for your prospects."

He flinched more than if he had actually hit him. He really wanted to get rid of that helmet so he could get a full view of how he was affecting him. "That… Doesn't matter, no matter how this goes they will be targeted. Everyone will look at this and blame them."

That sounded like a challenge.

Gamma was watching the Knight Order setting up a perimeter. They were doing an admirable job after they did a failed charge, being swiftly shot down by the muskets the Cult were using. With the anti-magic field, it was a forgone conclusion on how it would play out.

Iris was down there. She had been organizing things, she was getting a lot of assistance since her sister was one of the hostages. A surprising level of restraint, but it could be that she was expecting demands.

She also didn't have the skill to ignore the anti-magic field. Thankfully, Lord Shadow knew how to bypass this issue, and shared the knowledge with Nu. It wasn't exactly easy to make their magic threadlike, and it did leave them operating much weaker than normal. However it was much better than going in without magic. Hopefully as they used it in the Academy they would get better.

A pity Epsilon wasn't here, she would figure out the magic control near instantly. Instead they were stuck with her. Gamma the Weak. She had grown from that, she had a different title now, but the weakness stuck with her. She would be sending the numbers in, planning the rescue, monitoring the movements of the cult and the knights. She wasn't the Weak, she was the Brains.

She still wouldn't be the one standing by Lord Shadow's side as he led Shadow Garden.

She had a purpose. She knew she was useful to Lord Shadow, to Shadow Garden. It didn't change that she was left behind, planning. That the others in the 7 Shades could stand proudly by his side in combat.

Another team left, it was 222, 223, and 224. They would have just learned how to mold their magic to function properly. Gamma walked over to the teams currently learning this new technique, Nu leading them all in their lesson.

"Nu, unless my count is off, we have 45 people in the Academy now?"

"Yes Lady Gamma." Nu quickly bowed. "All combat capable members should be, at the very least, capable of still fully using the slime suits by nightfall."

"But not at 100%?"

"Unfortunately no, we are not Lord Shadow."

Gamma couldn't help but wonder, did Lord Shadow already know how to bypass the magic draining effect, or did he simply figure out how to work around it with little effort? It didn't really matter which it was, both were a display of how far above them Lord Shadow stands. Gamma hoped it was the former, it made Lord Shadow seem more attainable. If he had to work for it, maybe, just maybe, someday she could be good enough to stand by his side.

"How is the infiltration?" She could focus on duty. Trying to grasp Lord Shadow's magnificence was an exercise in futility. He would forever exceed expectations.

"It has been simple. The Cult isn't watching any entrance that requires a minimal use of magic to get in. So long as it isn't any of the main entrances, we can get in unnoticed."

"That simple?" Gamma didn't bother hiding her surprise. She expected better from the Cult. For them to do this so… poorly, it was a little insulting.

"They didn't seem to prepare anything for people who could ignore the magic draining effect. We are currently monitoring the cult forces and diverting them from the Crimson Order."

Gamma grimaced at the mention of the Crimson Order. She didn't understand why he was infiltrating them. They had so little to offer, and it forced him to spend time with Alexia, who he found endlessly annoying. Sure Alexia's a Princess, and the Crimson Order's led by Princess Iris, and he was funneling a lot of the Royal coffers into Mitsugoshi, and it was helping them more effectively infiltrate the servants of the Royal Family.

…Ok, Gamma understood. She still didn't like that he was spending so much time with Alexia. It also didn't explain why he was protecting Glen and the other two. "What is the Crimson Order doing?"

"They've relocated to the Assistant Principal's office. They have an artifact that, from what Omega has observed of their study, seems to be a counter to the Magic Drain, and the books Lord Shadow provided should guide Sherry Barnett to completing it. We are not sure when, but she seems confident it will be soon."

"Of course." Obviously Lord Shadow was on top of things. "How many did the Cult deploy?"

"From a quick count, just over 150. Most seem to be Third Children, we did find the dead body of Rex, the Game of Betrayal, in a classroom. A few Seconds were moving in on the Crimson Order and were dealt with."

Gamma smiled, the Cult was using so few people, and they didn't seem to have many Seconds. They could easily handle this. It might have been a problem getting enough in position if they didn't have Lord Shadow's guidance to overcome this anti-magic, but it was almost insulting how simple this would be.

"Nu, get back into the Academy, trust in Lord Shadow. I'm sure he has a plan, we just need to enact it."

Marco was watching the door. He felt out of his depth. He was a Dark Knight, he used magic and swordplay. He was not ready for the intrigue he was dealing with. It was why he avoided the politics life as a Noble forced him into and focused on his work in the Knight Order, and now the Crimson Order. Sure, he was up against two secret organizations, and they were fighting against each other. But at least he was mostly being pointed at the threat, or guarding a defined target.

Now, he was protecting Sherry, but he wasn't entirely sure who he was protecting her from. Was it the Cult? Or was it some faction in Shadow Garden? Why was Nicoletta here? Why did it feel like everything he was doing was in service to Shadow's plan?

He didn't even know if there was a plan, but he felt like he was a pawn on a chessboard. Then again, chess was simple. Black and White. He didn't even know for sure what sides were in play, just that he was in the middle of it all. There was a secret war going on and he didn't even have the luxury of knowing the sides.

"You alright kid?" Marco jumped, and scolded himself for his inattention.

"Sorry sir…Just, thinking."

"I see. I'm also trying to figure out what that Shadow wants. I can't see why he healed us." Glen grumbled.

"There is one reason. That this is all helping them." Marco pointed to Sherry, pouring through the books, and writing in her notebook.

"Obviously, but why keep us alive? Whatever their goal with this situation, all they need is Sherry for the artifact. Why us?"

That was a much harder question. There had to be something bigger, but he just didn't see what. "How is our investigation into the Cult and Shadow Garden good for him?"

"Well, if we assume that the Cult is pretending to be Shadow Garden as they attack the Academy, as seems to be the case, he wants us to know this is the Cult. Maybe he believes that Shadow Garden can hide better than the Cult. We don't know enough to really predict either of them."

"I knew we were going to investigate two secretive groups, but I don't think I understood what that meant. It feels like we're in the middle of a war and both sides are trying to throw us at the other!"

"And if we're lucky we'll be alive when they throw us. I know Shadow didn't keep us alive out of some moral reason, we are somehow useful."

Marco really didn't like that thought. He had hesitated against Shadow, the man did save his life. However it was the idea behind it that bothered him now. He always wanted to be the Hero of a story, saving people out of the goodness of his heart. The thought that he was saved because it was useful, it meant he would have been left to die if he wasn't useful.

This Shadow Garden was an organization that would both save and kill him without hesitation, as long as it served their goals. For now, that meant he was going to be kept alive.

Having passed by a few classrooms he saw some dead students and teachers, so he knew that the Cult was an organization that would invade a school, kill students and teachers, and unleash some kind of anti magic weapon.

They weren't even slightly ready for this.

"Um… Knights?" Sherry's voice cut through his thoughts. Marco really wished Cid were here, she was comfortable around Cid.

"Did you find what you needed, Miss Barnett?" Glen asked the meek girl.

"Ye-yes. Th-there's a f-few things I, um, we need." This would be a lot easier with Cid.

"What do you need?" Marco smiled, hoping to calm her nerves. Smiles tended to do that, except on the serving girls and maids. They seemed to get nervous for some reason.

"I-I made a li-list… It sh-should be in th-th lab." She was practically flinching away as she offered a slip of paper.

"Will the arti-" Marco felt his heart stop as a figure with a black sword dropped from the ceiling, landing next to Sherry. He gathered his wits as he drew his sword.

Glen was already lunging at the new woman, a dark elf in black and gold with silver and gold heterochromatic eyes. She deftly blocked his lunge, holding back the much larger Glen like he was nothing. Marco moved to engage. She was definitely using magic, there was no way for her to hold off Glen without it.

Marco swung at the elf, and she disengaged, jumping away from them. Then he saw it. In her free hand was the list Sherry made for them. He chanced a look at the girl. She was frozen, sheer terror locking her in place. Marco positioned himself between Sherry and the new dark elf. Sherry was the priority, he had to keep her safe.

"I'll collect these, stay put." The new elf left out the window.

Glen and Marco stood, waiting for something, anything. Marco looked up. It was a pretty high ceiling, but he couldn't see where she would have been hanging. When did she even get in here?

It was frustrating. Marco thought he was talented. He was able to fight off some of those fake Garden people without magic! But those Shadow Garden women, and Shadow for that matter, made him feel weak.

"Well, that explains why there's been no attack on this office." Glen let out a sigh as walked over and closed the window.

"Wh-what?" Marco was snapped back to attention. He hadn't even thought about why they hadn't had to deal with any enemies.

"Shadow Garden's been watching us, and they've probably prevented anyone from finding us."

"Eeehh.." Sherry released a strangled squeak as she fell to her knees. She was hyperventilating. Marco didn't know what to do, as he looked to Glen and back to the terrified girl.

"Sir Gaunt, some knights tried to get into the Academy, repelled easily." Panoptes grinned at the Third finishing his report.

Gaunt was getting reports from THIRDS. They could barely think, some of them literally couldn't speak. That he was getting reports from a Third that was remarkably capable of passable speech was sad.

Still, the low quality of the people Gaunt was using would make this so much better once everything was in position. None of them have noticed the Student Council President and Alexia passing a knife so students could cut their bindings. Also, the students were smart enough to wait, none of the secretly freed students have risen to fight.

"Have you figured out where the Crimson Order went?" Terrible question to ask, the Thirds aren't smart enough for that.

"No, Sir Gaunt." The expected answer.

"Useless!"

Panoptes sighed. Gaunt was lucky that Panoptes wasn't actually a part of the Cult testing him. There were only two areas that haven't been checked, since the thirds sent haven't returned. Sherry's lab, and the Assistant Principal's office.

They were such obvious targets. He could really understand why Gaunt wasn't a Round, and he sincerely hoped Gaunt wasn't important. It would be a real letdown if the Cult wasn't impressive.

"There's only two places that no one has reported information on. The Lab, and the Assistant Principal's office. Either the Crimson Order has been massively underestimated, or Shadow Garden is protecting them." Panoptes hoped his giddiness came through.

Gaunt actually growled at that. "If that's the case, I'll need to send a stronger force. Or you could do it yourself."

"It's far better for my superiors to see what they'll do. I am only here because I am their eyes. Be sure not to forget your place." He could practically hear Gaunt grind his teeth.

"This isn't a test anymore. You're just using me to measure Shadow Garden's capabilities."

"Obviously." Panoptes wanted to laugh. Gaunt's forces weren't competent enough to get a measure of Shadow Garden. It made him a disappointing villain. However, he was playing a role, and it always made things easier when you agreed with a target.

Gaunt was pushed beyond annoyance, past his fear of what he assumed was a servant of the leaders of the Cult. He was actually mad now. Just not mad enough to lash out. "Very well. Once this is over, you will see that I am fit to be a Round, and you will regret your impertinence."

"I'll be watching." Panoptes announced with a laugh as he left the auditorium. He knew enough for his fun.

Once outside he kept an eye on the patrolling cultists. Panotes cheerily skipped along to a spot out of sight of the cultists, and the slime shifted back to his school uniform. It was still too bright out to be in all black.

Cid jumped up to the roof top and watched. Some of the cult's forces were being pulled back. It seems that Gaunt was even taking people who were monitoring the entrances. He wasn't dumb enough to actually leave it unguarded.

Cid jumped to another building in the school, getting a better view of the cult's targets. All of them were starting to pull back. This was actually a bit impressive. It was hard to coordinate and command people who were so far apart, especially since they didn't have radio or anything like that.

If he had to guess, Gaunt likely changed his half of the eye to drain his forces magic for a moment as a signal for them to retreat to the auditorium. A great way to send simple commands, but very limited and only one way.

However what excited Cid was just how many Shadow Garden agents he could pick out. There were a lot of them, out of sight of the cult and using their slime suits to full effect. He just might be able to check off one of the difficult items on his bucket list.

"Nu." Shadow grinned as she landed behind him, still looking down on the Academy.

"My Lord."

"How's the Crimson Order proceeding with the artifact?"

"Omega delivered the tools they needed to prepare it. They are working on it in the Assistant Principal's office."

"Excellent, all is proceeding as expected. When do you think the artifact will be ready?"

"We're uncertain. We also don't know what the artifact does." She sounded uncertain, he supposed it made sense. It seemed like he was dropping some rare artifact into a competing organization's lap.

"The artifact is the other half of the Eye of Avarice. It should disable the magic draining effect." Shadow smiled as he turned to face Nu, giving him a good view of the cultists massing at the auditorium. They were going to make a big push to secure the artifact.

"That's…" That was awe. Truly a perfect reaction, though it was quickly replaced by confusion. "But, why not have us complete it? Why use them?"

"It is as I said, if I want the Crimson and the Princesses to serve their purpose, I need to give them some measure of success." Perfect, now if they did anything successful against the cult it was all a part of the plan. Nu nodded in understanding. Shadow pointed behind her. "Now then, let's focus on the moment. You need to deal with that."

Shadow shared his plan. A simple one, but with the numbers they had it should be simple. There was only one thing he needed now, and it would all be perfect.

Shadow rushed through the empty school. Gaunt really was putting everything into attacking the lab and the Assistant Principal's office.

Shadow opened the door to the classroom he needed, and "No… This ruins everything…"

AN: Cid's day has been ruined, and I hope this cliffhanger makes you suffer. That being said, this arc will be ending soon. Cid got to have his fun, for the most part. Now though, he has to deal with something truly nightmarish.

But yeah, comment, review, let me know if you enjoyed or hated it.