Vile finally returned to Zagi at his guild base, the Manor of the Wicked, headquarters for the guild Leviathan's Claw. Much to his dismay, however, Vile saw what Zagi had done to himself. Vile himself was keeping out of sight while there were other members of Leviathan's Claw in the room, though that didn't stop him from yelling at Zagi.

I told you I'd be back. Why did you butcher yourself, human?

Zagi slowly glanced to the window where he assumed Vile was hiding, "It's not like that!" Zagi had replaced his injured left arm for a shiny new silver metal arm. He showed off the amazing dexterity of the new mechanical fingers as though they were his own. The Leviathan's Claw technician was still doing some finetuning on the nerve connections. "Besides, with this, we'll be more powerful now. Nothing will stop me now!"

I have limits! My power is keyed to you, not to that attachment! Even so, I can already see a flaw with that weapon you're attaching to your body.

"Flaw?! What flaw?! There's a flaw?!"

The engineer panicked, fearing for his life, "Calm down, Zagi. There aren't any flaws. This device will be a great addition to your abilities."

So says a fearful human begging for his life. Look Zagi, it isn't flawed like it's going to break down or fail suddenly. I can just see a tactical flaw that your enemies could exploit, assuming they catch on to the arm's gimmick. They already see you as unstable, don't push your luck by yelling at me again. I can at least respect your appreciation for newer and stronger weapons.

Zagi was testing his new arm even further, rotating it as he got used to the fingers' new dexterity. "Yuri and that girl will die the next time I see them. I swear it…"

Good. Now, while you adjust to your new appendage, I'll take care of something that might help us. As Vile was out of earshot of Zagi, he started to snicker. Well, at least for me at any rate… In the end, I might have to rely on using Model W to do the deed instead of that incompetent fool. Alexei is more promising, maybe his ambitions are enough to allow me to merge with him, maybe even double merge with a Model W.

The group continued through the forest and Rita gave Karol a can of Aspio-brand insect spray, after providing a 'demonstration' with Raven. Deesh however was growing more concerned about the health of the forest. Aile was new to some of this and had to ask, "Is everything alright? I'm not noticing anything now but something clearly has you on edge."

Deesh continued to keep her eyes out on her surroundings, "You humans have lost any sense of environmental awareness. Everything here is wrong."

Shadow poked her, "Mind explaining, oh superior one?"

Deesh's tail swatted at Shadow but she easily dodged as she hovered in the air for a moment. "Beyond what behavior is normal for creatures in this realm, their aggression is abnormally high."

Shadow had to stop her, "And Halure? You're saying the monsters that attacked that city are different from those that attacked Dahngrest?"

"Yes. The attack on Halure was organized, and they had a failsafe plan to execute if the initial rush failed. These beasts were driven to madness. There was no strategy, no cohesion. They attack with reckless abandon against everything. The only thing that stopped them was the restoration of the barrier. And ever that wasn't enough since the knights and guilds threw themselves at the ones outside the barrier." Deesh's glance turned to Rita, "Just be ready for some anomaly or source to what is happening."

Continuing to push further into the forest, the monster started to thin out as an uneasy feeling started to build. What drew their attention was a giant tree with an equally large hollow with a pool of concentrated aer.

Unlike in the ruins of Caer Bocram or the barrier blastia of Heliord, the concentrated aer wasn't as spread but it still seemed as energetic. Despite everything Rita was just amazed at the sight. "This phenomena… It's to a lesser extent than Heliord, but it's the same thing." Rita's focus was completely zoned on the tree and nothing else, "The aer is running wild. The monsters, the plants… It's no doubt the cause of all these anomalies."

Shade popped out of Shadow's pack, zooming into the thick of the aer, "The density here is rampant, but also natural? Some kind of overflow or blockage that's causing this perhaps? Unlike the two runaway blastia, this doesn't seem as destabilizing."

Deesh was now snarling along with Repede, "Are we finished here? We shouldn't linger longer than necessary."

Rita thought she might be able to get a snarky remake regarding their strangest companion, "Oh? Developing a fear of bugs, are we?"

Without thinking, Deesh rushed to Rita, knocking her down as something started to grid against the shield she had lifted over their heads. When Rita looked up she initially thought it was a massive serpent she was saved from, until it withdrew and her eyes were drawn to the rest of its body. A large scorpion-like insect with bladed legs and pincers crawled down from one of the trees.

Karol pulled out a lens from his bag, looking through it as he opened his Monster Book, "A Gigalarva? To think they get this large…" Magically the book's page started to be filled in with information about the Gigalarva, including its weaknesses to fire, light and dark elements.

Aile immediately shifted to her ZX form and started firing at the giant insect with her pistol, "You really should thank her. The excess of aer prevented my systems from detecting it until now." Aile then tried to use a charged shot next. After charging the pistol she fired and scored a direct hit, however when the hit exploded in the scorpion's face it only staggered for a moment, "That looked painful," though it still moved toward them into striking distance of its massive pincers.

Deesh and Estelle both moved in with their shields, blocking the pincers when they came in to strike while Yuri did a bit of sword play with the tail. Strider attacked one of the legs and Repede started to hack away on its back. While Rita started to cast one of her spells, Raven and Aile focused on giving as much damage as possible. The aer around Rita was glowing red, "Move!" Everyone moved aside now as Rita chanted, "O incandescent locus, annihilate the vulgar before me! Spiral Flare!"

The magic circle appeared before her as a massive spiral of flames shot out and crashed into the giant bug, pushing it back. The shell was still burning, and it looked to be in even more pain than before. "Not enough? I guess we need to kick it up a bit." Aile pulled out Model F, "Double Megamerge!" both of her Knuckle Busters rapidly firing into the scorpion's face.

Shadow kept her distance this time, using a long rifle that made the loudest noise yet as she started chipping away at the scorpion's armor. Even as it took damage, the tail pointed up as it opened like a mouth and started spewing several green globs of what could only be assumed to be poison or acid. Aile switched her focus on trying to gun down those falling orbs before they hit anyone. As she did the scorpion swung its tail around, knocking most of the team away.

Deesh pulled herself out of the water, "Clever. The poison was a distraction."

The Gigalarva didn't seem to have an interest in attacking at the moment. It was moving to a pool of water where its tail stabbed into the ground, and it started to drink it up as the injuries it sustained were healed.

Yuri clicked his tongue, "We've gotta stop it from doing that again. Hey old man, got any other tricks that might help out here?"

"I might, but someone needs to distract it for a few seconds next time it does that."

Aile helped Karol to his feet. "Do you mind if I borrow that bug spray. I'll try to return it in one piece." As Karol handed her the spray can, she changed to Model PX now, fading into the shadows. Raven crept his way to the next pool, though the scorpion would soon be preoccupied with an unwanted guest on its back. Aile reappeared, standing over its face, "Surprise!" spraying right into its face. Aile jumped off, running away from it after seeing Raven wave her to go.

Everyone kept away from the scorpion as it tried to drink from the next pool of water. The moment its stinger entered the water a large explosion knocked the creature back, evaporating the water instead. Karol was surprised by the size of the blast, "What did you do, Raven?"

"Oh, just a little something I cobbled together…"

Rita scoffed, "What, like raw explosives?"

The Gigalarva seemed a little angrier now, stomping its legs into the ground before it moved to attack them again. Deesh was ready, "Good, anger will make its attacks more predictable…"

Deesh rushed at it, and the scorpion tried to use its second set of legs, which also happen to be bladed like the first. Deesh blocked the first swing with her shield, as Yuri rushed in cutting off the leg. Aile jumped back away from the Gigalarva as she activated her giant energy shuriken and tossed it at the legs opposite to Deesh and Yuri. It cut through two limbs and Aile managed to maneuver herself so that on the return trip the shuriken would sever the tail.

Estelle and Rita both casted spells of light and fire elementals respectfully. The Gigalarva was starting to get unstable with only one leg and trying to support itself with its pincers, leaving it vulnerable to Karol as he used his broken blade to perform an uppercut to its face.

Strider was biting it last leg as the deepstalkers climbed onto its back to spray their acid and weaken its armor. Repede quickly moved underneath it, drawing out his dagger and went into a spinning jump, punching through the scorpion's softer underbelly chitin. The scorpion staggered for a moment before completely collapsing onto the ground.

But their victory was short lived as more Gigalarva started to encircle them. Karol started to freak when he saw more than a dozen of them approaching, "There's more of 'em!"

Everyone gathered into a defensive circle, as Yuri and Raven got back to back, Raven dramatically threw his arm over his face, "Ah, so this is the end! Farewell all my dear fans the world over."

"I'll make sure you grave reads, 'Here lies the world's biggest sap.'"

Raven nudged Yuri, "You're s'posed ta say somethin' like 'We'll make it through this together!'" Yuri's eerie silence wasn't helping, "You're not gonna say it?!"

"Could you shut your mouth until we're through this crisis, old man? You're not helping."

Deesh snickered to Rita, "We could always use him as bait. Give us plenty of time to run while they fight over the scraps."

"H-hey! Then hurry an' do somethin' about that aer, genius mage. It's the magic user's turn this time."

"You say that, but…" she glanced at the tree for a moment, "If I knew how I would have done it already."

Aile turned finding a white-haired man in an aristocratically decorative red cloak with gold shoulder guards falling from the sky. He was carrying a strange purple sword with a hollow center, as if the outline of a sword was all someone wanted the smith to forge.

Then with a wave of this strange blade across the ground a wave of energy was released around them as the most spectacular sights happened before them. A circle formed around the strange man with symbols shaped like swords started to float from the ground and rise up.

Rita was in a stupor as she watched the rampant aer literally being cut though by this action. Somehow this caused the wild aer to calm down once more as things seemed to return to normal. Even the monsters seemed less aggressive now with the aer thinned out.

Raven's rather mischievous disposition seemed to sour when he spotted the man whom he promptly called, "Duke…"

Duke didn't seem to care he was recognized, or want to have much to do with them. However, he did give them a solemn glare and warning. "…Stay away from the aer krene."

"Aer krene?" Rita, even with everything she had learned from Aspio, had no idea what that was. "What's that? You mean this place?"

Duke's gaze turned to the burrow. "Springs of which are the source of all aer, scattered across the world. Those are aer krene."

Deesh already noticed, but Karol called it out to everyone's attention. "The monsters are leaving…"

Aile looked relieved, "It would seem that they calmed down when the aer did."

Yuri looked around, "This isn't the kind of place you just go for a walk," though he smirked, "We would've been dead without your help, though. Thanks."

Duke was about to leave before Rita stopped him, "Wait! What is that sword? What did you do!? And what was going on with the aer?"

Duke himself seemed more bothered than upset, "And what would you do with that knowledge?"

"What?" Duke's question seemed to have caught Rita off guard. "Obviously, I would…" she stopped pretending, "No, I thought, if I knew, I could stop the blastia from running wild… like the one from before. But…if the problem is with the aer, what am I supposed to do?!"

Duke looked to the tree, "This was a distortion. A natural phenomenon."

"A…distortion?" What is he saying? Can his sword manipulate the aer? No…it's more like it pushed it back. But directly interfering with the aer should be impos— Unless… That power is the Rizomata formula…

Leaving Rita with her contemplations, Duke walked off on his own, disappearing into the forest as mysteriously as he had appeared. Estelle tried to get her attention, "Rita? Are you okay?"

Rita was really deep in thought, turning her gaze back to the aer krene. "I can't tell anything from checking things out here. I have to see some others."

"Then you have your next objective," Deesh started to leave the area, "Find more of these hidden aer kranes of which Duke spoke of. It won't be simple, but at least it's a goal."

Yuri followed, "Since we're done here, let's get back to Dahngrest and meet with the Don."

Rita couldn't stop thinking now, following behind as she contemplated the issue aloud, "Anomalous aer conditions result in blastia going out of control, which in turn leads to monsters turning vicious… If this is related to the 'distortion' he was talking about, then it might not be only this forest that's affected."

Aile however had other issues about what just occurred, "That man called it a simple distortion, a natural phenomenon. If so, then there should be natural means by which to calm said distortion."

Shadow caught on, "Then the question shouldn't be what caused the distortion, but why was that sword needed to calm it?"

Deesh huffed, "I have an idea, but I really don't like the possible implication."

Before Deesh could elaborate her thought several roars erupted as several monsters rush past, fleeing deeper into the forest. Deesh pulled her stalkers away to keep them from attacking when a loud thunderous voice cried out, "Oi, what're you lot up to?" Upon hearing the boisterous voice Aile noticed Raven immediately dive into the bushes to hide.

Karol was surprised to see it was, "Don!"

Estelle couldn't help herself when she saw a few of the men following Don were still bleeding. "Your wounds, please, let me see."

She started to glow as the wound on the man's arm disappeared. "You can use healing artes? I'm grateful."

Some of the Don's men collapsed from exhaustion following his lead and fighting monsters. As they waited to be healed, Don looked up to some of the bugs that were still visibly fleeing. "The monsters we were fightin' suddenly turned docile as pups and ran off. What happened?"

Aile glanced back, "So it would seem us calming the runaway aer did more than just calm the monsters immediately surrounding us."

"Runaway aer…?"

Rita picked on what the Don just said, "Hey, old man. Do you know something!?"

Don pulled on his beard, "Well, my old friend, Belius, used to say something about it."

"So, it's true that Don and Belius are friends…"

Deesh glanced to Karol, "Who's Belius?"

"The Duce who rules the Coliseum of Nordopolica."

Don brought them back to the conversation, "So what's this about runaway aer?"

Karol rushed to his idol, "That's right! We all stopped the aer from going crazy! It looked pretty bad, there was just monster after monster, but we—"

"Boy," Don's voice cut through and Karol immediately stopped, "Those are the sort of things you keep to yourself."

"I—I'm sorry…"

Don seemed to understand what Karol was trying to do, however. "You don't do deeds like that so other people will notice. You do them so that you can protect your town and your friends." Don then quickly glanced to one of the trees, "Hey, Raven. Quit hidin', you!" Raven slunk out of the bushes now, "Our man ain't givin' you trouble, is he?"

Raven quickly protested, "Whaddaya mean, 'trouble'? The one doin' most of the work 'til the monsters got quiet was me, after all!"

"Wh-Whaaat?! Raven's a member of Altosk?!"

Deesh wasn't at all surprised, "That would explain the smells…"

Don then smashed the pommel of his sword against Raven's chest, "Ouch, gramps, cut that out!"

Raven quickly ran behind Deesh as Don yelled at him, "Shut up, you!"

With that spectacle over with, Yuri walked over. "Don Whitehorse."

"Yeah?"

"I know we've only just met, but I have something I need to talk about."

Before Yuri could say, one of the Don's men rushed forward. "Don, sorry to interrupt." He then whispered something, ensuring only the Don heard.

"I see." He turned back to his men, "All right you dogs! Time to head out!" He turned back to Yuri, "Well then, let me apologize. But I gotta head back to Dahngrest to take care of some business. Come by the Union and you'll have my ear first chance I get. 'Til then, you'll hafta excuse me."

Yuri smirked, "Sure thing. If I've got your word, I don't mind waiting."

"Hmph. Even my enemies aren't that brazen with me." Don continued on with his men, "You lot'd make a good guild."

Yuri smirked at the thought, "A guild, huh…"

Karol wanted to make sure Yuri was still onboard with the idea, "We're gonna make one, right?"

"Well, we'll see." Now they had the promise that they'd get the Don's ear the group made their way back to Dahngrest themselves.