We start with [Cid] congratulating himself on escaping notice as [Shadow], only to notice the large portal-door had followed him. So, we have him running in excess of 1200 kmph to escape… to end in futility as it appears right in front of him. After making a Doraemon reference, he gets in, to 'get it over with'. Cue the opening.


Minoru is still pissed, though now it's at the fact that his on-screen self couldn't even see the issues with what that portal is capable of.

Naturally, everyone else is silent, given that they don't wanna arouse his rage.

Aurora, though, feels distinctly familiar with it.


Naturally, [Nelson] has to be the one to infodump on the door. He does evacuate almost everyone though. When he tries that with the princesses, [Alexia] proves to have situational awareness, as she draws her sword and drags his attention to the {Shadow Garden} delegation. [Alpha] and [Delta], along with some Numbers, enter, leaving [Epsilon] to play villain, even taking [Natsume] hostage in a rather decent ruse. [Beta] ruins it with her rather bad acting though… who the hell smiles to act intimidated and scared? Does she have a bondage fetish?

[Alexia] and [Rose] talk about potentially leaving her to rot… [Epsilon] is on [Alexia]'s side (leaving [Beta] to rot). As SG turn to enter the door, [Nelson] acts like a villain commander and has his assassin (probably the aforementioned [Venom]) try to kill them, only he manages to cut… [Epsilon]'s tits.

Needless to say, the secret must be protected, so [Venom] was quickly dismembered. Of course, after making sure her secret is safe, [Epsilon] drags him by the face, the rest following her lead. The Princesses follow along, after a short moral debate on the lovable one's end


Minoru is still pissed, but he isn't so far gone as to not laugh at the byplays occurring.

Beta glares at Alexia… and Epsilon, who's cowering slightly, given that Alpha was also glaring at her, "Epsilon, I understand your… delicacies, but still, this mission is important."

The shade belatedly nods.

"At any rate, what was with the acting, Beta?" Alpha tilts, genuinely curious, Delta blinking.

"..."

Rose, focusing on priorities, just sighs in relief, knowing that they were safe for now. She notes that talking seems to be permitted, so she decides to try it.

"We seem to have come into a rather intriguing secret of the cult, right?"

Zeta nods, "Yeah, that fatty didn't look particularly threatened by the gate, rather kinda condescending towards it. I've seen similar runes too."

Eta contemplates that, itching to get closer to said gate. Alpha frowns, she hopes her theories will be answered there.


The princesses end up falling on top of a literally commanding [Beta], landing in a heap. Side note, [Alexia] is groping [Beta], as she so succinctly points out. Feeling brave, [Alexia] confronts an unamused [Alpha], claiming a rather unbelievable story about tripping into the gate. [Alpha], using it as an exposition opportunity, accedes to this BS.

Cue infodump on the history of the legend (No seriously, do we as the authors have to transcribe all that shit when we're reading a reaction fic of all things?). [Nelson], being rather defensive in this author's humble opinion (not, he was actually being defensive), asks about the point of this entire infodump. Good question.

A good answer: We search for the truth. Good on [Alpha], asking the real questions! Particularly about the fact that she looks an awful lot like the damn Hero- rather, Heroine [Olivier]. Standard {Cult} wanting something more than the revival of [Diabolos]- which is bad in itself. Lessfindout what they really want- by invading their {Sanctuary}!


Beatrix sees the resemblance. Naturally, she wants to get involved. So does Iris, but everyone else has their focus elsewhere. Aurora winces at every word spoken in the infodump.

She may not remember much, but it was enough to make her cringe.

"Oh yeah, like they're doing anything good!" Minoru yells out again. "Dammit, this is the worst possible outcome!"

No one questions him, seeing as he'll probably explain that later.

Beta personally seems to understand to a degree, as Minoru-sama once told her that "trying to revive the big bad leads to some sort of final act! And there's this whole bullshit plot twist on betrayals and people close to protagonists dying" in a fit.

She told an excited Delta as much while Alpha silently stares at a guilty looking Zeta.


Meanwhile, [Cid] opens a door into a white void, greeting someone. He claims that the sitting [Aurora] summoned him (though there are hints of unwillingness in her current position), but she denies that, saying that she's got hazy memories… though their spar was fun! They converse, like the adorable dumbadasses they are, and then he asks her for a way to exit.

Again, hazy memories prove an obstacle, so she stops him from leaving, claiming that he shouldn't leave a beauty trussed up in a straight-up straitjacket- she has a point- so he releases her, rendering her naked, though he comments that he thought it was a training method. She, stating the obvious, calls it avant-garde.

She also summons clothing from… somewhere, and pulls him into an adventure, since the {Sanctuary} is a memory prison from ancient times- at least a millennium ago. Also, more magic's absorbed the closer to the centre of the {Sanctuary}'s core. She comments that she wants to be protected by a knight at least once, casually grabbing onto his arm as they go through the door that was behind her, facing them now..


SG growl at Aurora, who's taken to grabbing his arm in reality as well.

"So, why the lie?" Minoru asks, being casual, since at least he'll be taking care of business for real now.

"Well, would you've helped me after I just summoned you for a fight?" She asks.

"Yes." Of course, he's unique, so he answers in the affirmative.

She blinks then smiles sweetly at that.


The scene shatters into a new scene. The {Sanctuary} with the larger group, as they explore history. Look, I'm gonna assume all of you readers are avid fans of the series. If not, go ahead and watch the series. You'll probably get into it as well… so, cue infodump of the past- with experimentation occurring out the wazoo. Fun! Also, what the possessed truly are. Horrific indeed.


Everyone except Minoru and SG proceed to retch their guts out at the horrific scenes. In Minoru's case because he's seen this shit and isn't bothered by it… Seiichi ponders whether he should receive therapy or not (why he hadn't before was a mystery, negligent parents much or master acting?)

And on SG's, because experiencing it is worse… they long ago accepted it. Aethra decides everyone's getting therapy later.

Aurora looks green, but suppresses her urge to puke, she knows this is important. Beatrix has issues with that due to Alpha having been once possessed.

Alpha notices her aunt's genuine (if still tranquil) rage and gently holds her hand, feeling a bit grateful.


[Cid] and [Aurora] are on a relatively nicer trip through Memory Lane, given a child version of her is crying in a garden. They gotta end the memory to advance, so [Aurora] slaps the child to end the memory, shattering into a new scene.


Minoru stares at Aurora, who flushed in embarrassment. The others don't comment, wisely.

Alexia does recognize she'd probably do the same to her past self though. That or a good yelling for being stupid.


[Alpha] explains [Olivier]'s real quest- not to defeat [Diabolos], but to extract more of its cells for experiments. [Nelson] tries to make the {Cult} seem noble, to save face since he's part of it. Meh, he's exposed anyway. She also explains briefly the {Cult}'s actions of harvesting [Diabolos] to gain its life force- resulting in the steroids that {Cult} members use- apparently it's an imperfect version, since the real solution is being shown, despite [Nelson]'s insults towards [Alpha], who exposes [Nelson] as a {Cult} executive- specifically #11, [Nelson of Avarice] of the {Knights of Rounds], using the memory and his faces. Also, flaws, cue joke about age taking his hair by [Alexia]- it falls flat since he lost it from stress, but still, the flaws are explained.


The horror on everyone's faces was nicely done… Unfortunately, this isn't art, so it was disturbing how horrified the viewers were by this. Seiichi and Aethra too, since the facilities were rather modern- proof of Minoru's thoughts. Oddly enough, he was smiling.

"I think I'll start with ripping their hair and moustache out, hair by hair. Then I'll skin them in portions starting from the most sensitive places. Then I'll start grafting their fat off, making sure that nothing kills them, and nothing cures them throughout this process, THEN I'll…."

Then again, his cheerful monologue of what he'd do to the Knights of Rounds should he ever meet any one of them could also be the source of the horror. Doesn't help that they're all staring at him.

Aurora at any rate had the worst reaction, nearly hyperventilating, Sherry and Rose doing their best to hug her down.


[Nelson] makes his grand villainous reveal… only to be skewered by an uncaring [Delta], who proceeds to drop him into the water below. Of course, she starts making platitudes once [Epsilon] points out that she wasn't to do that till they ground out all the info from him. [Alpha]'s stare doesn't help any. Then again, he ain't dead, so problem solved? They're taken to a white void, where [Nelson] declares battle. This scene ends with [Delta] going absolutely feral on the clones that he summons.


So, that happened. Delta IRL cowers at Alpha's stare. Minoru's own stare doesn't help.

"Hmm… data based clones…" Eta focuses on that, "... could… work…"

Zeta perks at that, also realising it.

Minoru shuts that down. "I dunno why none of you are even trying to sense the magic currents emanating from the screen- I freaking pointed it out back when I first unleashed IAA on-screen!" He sounds irritated. "In any case, since you didn't realize it, let me tell you the source of Nelson's clones- any magic absorbed from Aurora/Diabolos and anyone else not authorized to enter the Sanctuary will automatically be at the present Knight of Round's disposal- ergo, he/she's got control of the damn Sanctuary's magic. That's the only way he can even summon that many clones with his- and yours currently- control."

He demonstrates the technique in question in the void, shocking the others, since he summoned 100 clones, which were all now running about.

"I replicated that technique unknowingly early when training- and there's a simple drawback to it- The damn thing uses your mind power to control- so your limit will vary, but your control over the clones is split based on the number of clones you produce. I actually developed the bionic perception acceleration to counter it, but it was much more useful to use in-battle."

Eta frowns, Zeta ears flapping sadly while a curious Claire wonders how many techniques he has under his sleeve.


Since [Alpha], [Beta], [Delta], [Rose] and [Alexia] were separated from the rest of the group, the rest of them miss the absolutely brutal display of [Delta]'s violent tendencies- her 'hunt'. Turns out that the absorbed magic power drains to the {Cult} members… Though [Delta]'s response is to enter manic joy mode at the amount of 'prey' she gets to 'hunt'.


Naturally, Delta's mania being on parade scares SG, this time making Delta pout at not being allowed to hunt the ones on screen right now… To be fair, she asked and was denied the opportunity to make said hunt… particularly since it would've been Minoru's clones she was hunting.

Rose shivers anyway while Claire vows to never make Delta her enemy. Too much bloodshed.


Meanwhile, [Cid] and [Aurora] are moving through a black void, with [Cid] literally matching [Aurora]'s footsteps… on account of him actually walking under her. Of course, he isn't about to peek above/below… before they're dumped into another memory, this one of a battlefield… Naturally, he calls her heavy… Fair, she did decide to land on his sprawled ass after all.

After they right themselves, and ignoring [Cid]'s delusions, we come across a crying [younger Aurora], in a crater. Considering the scene, crying seems appropriate. As [Aurora the older] borrows his sword and moves towards [Aurora the younger], a dead soldier… twitches? Zombie Attack interrupts, leading to [Cid] bridal carrying her as they fight the {Sanctuary}'s rejection. Of course, they banter in the face of death and rejection. Note [Cid]'s closed right eye in all this, this is important


"What is a virus and antivirus anyway?" Aurora asks, baffled while Beatrice wants to fight the zombies.

Minoru launches into an explanation about the basics of code and the way code affects a computer- which was basic knowledge. Then he explains what a virus and antivirus is. Naturally, this is new info, and so Eta absorbs it rather well, planning on replicating computers. Seiichi, absolutely supporting this, gives Eta the information needed to make a computer.

Gamma supports the idea, the computer one anyway. New possible business!


We switch to Epsilon's group, who are walking around a chemical storage facility. This makes them discover said zombies as well. [Epsilon] walks through one of them, ignoring [Chi]'s hesitance, and reveals that they are shades of the {Possessed}, triggering both [Chi] and [Omega]'s flashbacks as she herself does one. Glass breaks and they're reading books upon books of info… which they proceed to record using Rolapoids… another one of the recreations from {Shadow Wisdom}. But before that, the magic absorption has begun again… and [Epsilon] loses her tits again… This time, she intimidates [Chi] and [Omega] who witness it, to forget that it ever happened, as she fixes the issue.


Alpha just deadpans at Epsilon as she despairs at the situation. Anyway, Minoru smiles at the byplay. He can't wait to meet all his future subordinates…

Ignoring that though, he also transfers information on batteries and electricity to Eta, along with the specifications for a digital camera… since losing pictures would be bad.

Beta immediately writes that down, fully agreeing.


[Cid] reveals that he's been modifying his body since childhood, as he and [Aurora] bash and banter through the attackers, [Aurora] being a completely normal human at that. That said, they have no time to be wasting, so [Cid] apologizes as he slashes at [Aurora the younger], leading to glass shattering… to a dome? The camera pans down to show the duo at the centre of the {Sanctuary}. How, well a chained door and the gilded sword in front of it is a huge fucking clue!


Well, there it is, Shadow beat the others to the centre. Tension builds as they watch.


We return to our scheduled bloodshed and gore as [Delta] smashes through the veritable army of [Nelson] clones that attack them, much to his and the Princesses' abject shock. As [Delta] loses her slime, she uses the rest of it to keep her absolute privates covered as she proceeds to shatter a recovering [Nelson]'s confidence by using a large slab of slime to smash the 1000 clones he'd summoned. Note that [Alpha]'s joined in the bloodshed with a psychopath's smile.


Alexia, who'd taken to petting Delta's head as a stressbuster, again retracts her hand on seeing it, reminded of her brutality again. Delta's pouting again.

Sherry awkwardly tries to keep the petting, much to Delta's joy.


Back to [Cid] and [Aurora] discussing what they need to do. As they need to pull the gilded sword, [Cid] tries… pushing it further in… instead of easily pulling it out as he qualifies to pull it out. He even puts effort into pushing it in. WHY!? He even does this as he waxes about not being able to pull the sword out for fuck's sake!


Minoru's receiving multiple glares as he watches in disappointment… He's scowling himself though.

No one lectures him as he's not happy himself.

Aurora blinks, he's a descendent then?


[Alexia] doubts [Delta] being a {Shadow Garden} member since her blade… doesn't exist. [Beta] tries defending it, saying that she's a musclehead. As they return to the entrance, [Epsilon] reports the completion of info-gathering, so they refrain from fighting the [Olivier] that [Nelson] re-summons as they have no interest in it. [Alpha] has to intimidate a battle-hungry [Delta] into it though. As they leave, [Nelson] plans on saving face with the Cult when he's notified of our duo invading the centre. Then he has [Olivier] follow him while he goes to confront them.


The group is interested in seeing who'd win between Olivier and Minoru… before they remember that he ain't got no magic to use. Dread follows that for everyone but Minoru, who smiles secretly.


[Aurora] and [Cid], having played tons of games of Tic-Tac-Toe by carving it on the ground, converse on her desires. As they do so, [Nelson] arrives, ruining the development of [Cid]'s trope of Protag-kun's appearance at that time. The clue- he's bald. Of course, our villain gloats and monologues, before siccing [Olivier] on [Cid]... and he should be overwhelmed by her attacks, but he strangely isn't, even commenting on [Olivier]'s empty mind. Anyway, once his back's slashed, [Aurora] gives herself up to [Nelson] to protect him… only he rejects that and berates her for that. Naturally, Olivier tries stabbing at his stomach… triggering a red paper sketch of each present character's expressions… before [Cid] grins and says

"GOTCHA!"

And proceeds to grab her wrist, breaking it as he flips her back-to-chest and bites off her jugular, making her disappear in a flash, as he talks about the sturdiness of the Human body. [Aurora]'s in too much shock to even comment, as he makes his own psychopath smile. [Nelson] wonders if his head's on right.


It's safe to say that SG, Rose, Sherry and Claire all screamed at the scene in question.

Also they put Minoru back in seiza again to lecture him on the importance of keeping his body safe. After that, he goes and kisses Aurora, seeing as she's in shock. That breaks her out of it, and she blushes… before lecturing him herself.

Klaus is shocked and scared of this psychopath. Seiichi is laughing his guts out at their reactions. Aethra is… sighing in complete agreement with Klaus, but mostly exasperated at the cringeness of it.


[Cid] repeatedly taunts [Nelson] as he starts his villain monologue again, summoning hundreds of [Olivier]s to kill him… only for [Cid] to USE MAGIC! His explanation is simple- if your magic is being absorbed, then knead it dense enough that it CAN'T be absorbed. Apparently even the Witch of Calamity, [Aurora], is uncertain of its simplicity. As the [Olivier]s attack him, he comments on the simplicity of their movements, before the earlier stab bears its fangs. No problem, since [Cid]'s about to blow through everything… and deploys the same barrier that he used against [Zenon]. Naturally, [Aurora]'s in disbelief- at both his plan and the amount of magic he displays

"I… AM… THE ALL-RANGE…" he gets stabbed by [Olivier] in the heart, and he gets to her ear] "atomic"

Naturally there is a purple explosion to end all explosions in {Lindwurm}, since the blast breaks through the {Sanctuary}, and is thus very visible to everyone, including [Alexia], [Rose], and [Natsume]. In a black void, [Cid] destroys a chained demonic hand.


"BLOODY HELL!" Minoru, surprisingly, yells out. Turning to Seiichi, he mentally asks 'Is this why you wanted me to know about all this!?'. Seiichi simply nods, as does Aethra. They do so with a solemn expression, as well, leading to Minoru dramatically falling to his hands and knees and despairing..

Alpha decides to broach the subject out loud. "Minoru, why does this bother you? It's your attack…"

"Because apparently, my IATARA can break through the space-time continuum!" he yells out. "The Sanctuary is in a subspace! That means Space-Time magic is in play! A sub-dimension, if you will! MY IATARA is meant to destroy in all directions- in other words, be indiscriminate in its objective. Imagine breaking a hole in the air, only to use it as luggage space! That's the Sanctuary in a nutshell, only larger! Normal attacks should never be able to break through!" Minoru mentally reclassifies IATARA as an attack to be used if and only if absolutely necessary.

As the rant progresses, the ramifications of the attack affecting Lindwurm as well dawns on the rest of the group… Horror and shock are the only expressions left.

Claire thought, squinted, "Is everyone seriously ignoring the giant ass arm?" Okay, the other thing is important too and will give her nightmares, but c'mon!

Beatrice silently tilts her head while Klaus frowns at that. Aurora looks a bit pale too.


[Cid] wakes up to a lap-pillow from [Aurora] as they discuss things, her apologizing for the deception- she summoned him- and him casually moving his heart to avoid death. She then thanks him for everything… and then leans to kiss him as she asks for him to kill her when they next meet.

Meanwhile, [Alexia], frustrated, asks [Natsume] and [Rose] if they aren't frustrated by the lack of info. She refers to the Princesses' inability to do anything, even judge the situation as was presented. [Rose] agrees. [Natsume] pretends to agree, given that she's really [Beta]. So the three form an alliance for sharing information, to save those precious to each other.

All this, as {Lindwurm}'s now resembling Venice. [Alpha] and [Epsilon] discuss the events and future actions as [Chi] and [Omega] ferry them in a gondola. Sidenote, apparently, [Aurora]'s other name is [Diabolos].


"To be precise, Aurora was possessed by the demon from a different realm, whose name is Diabolos. Now, please put your sword away" Minoru calmly states, defusing the tension.

"How sure are you?" Iris asks, not trusting him as much.

"I've been reincarnated from a different realm, Iris… Do you not think that other realms exist?" Minoru retorts. "We're but a small realm in a cluster of realms, each better than this realm. That's the biggest issue- The Cult is messing with shit they don't understand, and will eventually doom the realm if they go too far. Why else would I up our training?" He spits at her. "DO you really think the power-hungry cult is going to stop at that realm? They'll challenge other realms and bring danger to ours. I will not allow them to mess with those I care for in that way!" Minoru exclaims, extremely pissed at the Cult's idiocy.

Iris flinches, slowly backing away while Alpha ponders. They saw a kid Aurora crying at absolute destruction (wearing lab clothes), so either Aurora herself originates from that other dimension or she was an experiment like Olivier herself. The former is more likely, but how? Did they just implant the demon on her and it eventually took her over, thus the giant ass arm or she herself isn't human to begin with?

And for that matter, how did they even learn about another realm? Beta returns her glance, thinking the same thing while Aurora looks horrified.


The other {Shades} and {SG} are shown doing work- [Eta] sleeping on blueprints- [Alpha] sees [Epsilon] playing the piano and reminisces of the past, where they managed to create a Japanese house in the bandits' hideout using 2x4s. All this as [Alpha] and [Cid] plan their training and give them hope. She snaps outta it at [Gamma]'s report of Orianan Royal Chancellor [Doem Ketsuhatto/ Pervy Asshat]'s arrival


Wholesome scene. Everyone smiles.

Ah, Oriana, Rose finally relaxes a bit at the mention of her country while Aurora blinks between tears. The name was oddly familiar.


[Alexia] and [Iris] discuss the need for investigation and the issues with King [Klaus Midgar] not wanting to rock the boat. Of course, [Iris] thinks that IAA is the result of an {Artifact}... laughable. The reason- no human could ever hold that much power. But that ends with some fanservice, as they do this in a sauna of all places.


Iris flushes in embarrassment, as she's now met 11 people with that much power.

Klaus, knowing what he does now, is shaking his head at his refusal to make a move. No reason is good enough to NOT investigate after that.

Alexia grins at Beta, "Do give me info, Natsume," translation: everyone saw that promise, bitch, you owe me that much.

Beta grits her teeth, barely concealing her rage.


[Rose] is practising the blade as she reflects on the blade she witnessed but twice in her life. As she does so, she hunches over, finding signs of being {Possessed}. Cue ending featuring [Beta], [Delta], and [Eta].


"Well, after this, we only have one arc left, split into three episodes" Seiichi states. "After that, we'll let you train and then send you back. OK?" 'We'll call you back for a second viewing at around the end of this arc. K?' he mentally assures Minoru.

Rose, who's happy to be in his arms after news of her possession is given, simply nods with a grim expression.

"Oh yeah, want us to take it away?" Epsilon asks, she's quite proficient at it.

Rose nods gratefully.

"Hmm, Oriana, wonder what marvelous art we'll see," Gamma looks absolutely excited, Sherry nodding.


AN: Sorry, sorry! My (Seiichi) break (for detoxing) took longer than anticipated, so this was waaay late! As an apology, this is the longest chapter yet! Enjoy!