AN: I'm back! I'm surprised at how much attention this story has gotten. I'm surprised anytime I post anything that people like it.

Also, I own nothing!

Alpha was observing the audience at tonight's show. The Knight Order of Midgar was running around with no idea what to do. Nearly every knight was completely irrelevant to Shadow Garden's actions, they could be easily subdued. They were also irrelevant to the Cult. It would be preferable if the Knight Order didn't get involved at all, but they were trying to rescue their Princess. There was no option but getting the Order pulled into this operation.

On the plus side, none of Shadow Garden's assets were exposed, only personnel. Even if they didn't grab everything from the Cult's facilities, the Knight Order would pick up a massive amount of intel on the Cult. The Cult would be forced to cover it up, and that could provide many leads on its own.

For now, Alpha was keeping an eye on Iris Midgar, the only one who could really threaten any of Lord Shadow's forces. She had to make sure that Iris didn't get too close to any of the Numbers, very few of them could challenge her, and they weren't participating in the operation.

Iris was approaching one of the targets, a Duke's tertiary summer vacation mansion. The numbers stationed there wouldn't be able to deal with Iris. Alpha could get in quick, work with 421, 422 and 423 to eliminate the Cult forces in there before Iris can interrupt. It would be a bit easier if there was something to distract Iris, but she needed to act now.

The Princess was leaving. Millia was alone with the new elf. The new elf with this "Shadow Garden." She had never heard of that organization, but it seemed to be enemies with the group keeping her prisoner for so long.

Of course she was an abomination now. Even if she escaped, what could she do? She could go to Princess Alexia, but the Princess wouldn't be able to help her and she would only be a burden to the only companion she had. She shifted to get a better look at the elf, the mask hid most of her features, but she was obviously beautiful with silver hair.

"Don't worry, everything will be okay." The new elf said as she approached. She rested her hands on her, and she felt something different for once as the elf's magic flowed through her. Like cool water cascading over a burn. She felt looser, like she could actually move.

She had been forced to only take shallow breaths ever since the Demonic possession overtook her, but now she was taking a deep breath. Even if it was the wet, dank air of her cell, it felt like the blessing of a Goddess to just have painless, deep breaths. That wasn't it, all her pain was gone. The dull aches, the stabbing pain up her back, the glass in her throat, the fire on her skin, the acid in her eyes. All the pain was gone, she had grown so used to it, and it was all gone.

She swallowed without pain, and looked down. She had hands, her left hand wasn't fused into her chest, she was still holding her locket. She was human again. She wasn't sure when she started crying, but it didn't matter, she wasn't a monster anymore. She wasn't an experiment anymore.

"Here, it's not the best, but it's better than nothing." The elf said as she draped the madman's coat over her. She didn't want to wear that monster's coat, just having it on her made her skin crawl. However the alternative was being naked. She was naked.

She grabbed the coat and protected her modesty. She thanked all that is holy that there wasn't a man seeing her so indecent. "Wh-who… are you?"

"I am Beta, everyone in Shadow Garden is here for you." She wasn't alone. There were others. Beta wrapped her arms around her, she felt secure. She could feel Beta's magic, and it was soothing, like life itself emanated from her. "You can find a place with us."

Millia held onto her savior, the woman's calming magic cascading over her. "Thank you."

"We should move. Stay close." Beta said as she ended the embrace, her gentle eyes taking on a steel edge.

Millia followed close behind Beta. It was weird walking again, she didn't remember that last time she really used her legs. She also didn't realize how big her prison was, as they walked past dozens of bodies. The work to get here must have been extreme.

Then Beta stopped her. Millia wouldn't say it, but she needed the break. She didn't know how long she had been chained up and caged, but she was noticeably bigger. She had breasts now, it was worrying considering that she didn't have those before the Demonic Possession. She didn't know how much time she had lost, but she knew Beta had returned everything.

She could hear some talking, but it didn't matter. She was with her savior, she was secure. She looked up at what stopped them and she froze. It was the Princess, and she was fighting the leader of this place. She tried to go forward but Beta stopped her. "Wait."

"The Princess protected me, I have to help her!" Millia could help her! She wasn't quite sure how, she didn't take her sword training seriously, she didn't know how much she could remember of her limited training. However the Princess tried to stop some of her abuse as best she could.

"It's okay, he's watching, we just have to trust Lord Shadow."

Millia looked out scanning the area for another person but she couldn't see anyone but the Princess and the leader of this place. The Princess seemed to be fighting well, matching the man blow for blow. She let out a shout, "I'll kill you!" Millia was in awe of her form, it looked perfect to her. Far above anything Millia ever accomplished.

And it wasn't enough. It was dodged. "I'm impressed. I had no idea you were hiding your strength."

"I'm going to make you regret looking down on me." Millia silently cheered for the Princess, she wanted to see her win. She would win! She just needed to do a little better.

The leader laughed, "I was taken aback, but you're just a poor imitation of Iris. Let me give you a taste of what I'm hiding."

Millia could briefly feel his magic take shape, it felt dirty compared to Beta's. Her gut fell. The Princess's sword disintegrated under a single attack. His attack even looked better to her amateur eyes. She had to keep fighting! She had to go help her!

"You'll never be as good as your sister. You're coming with me." Beta held her back as she pulled out a book.

Millia was about to ask what she was doing when she heard it. Someone was walking down the stairs behind the leader of this place. This must be the "Lord Shadow" Beta mentioned. His black coat with golden accents was incredible, the tails of it swaying in the wind. She wasn't sure where the wind was coming from underground, but it was swaying. His face was hidden by his hood and a domino mask. However…

He didn't feel that strong. Millia thought she could get a good feel for someone's magic, but she felt barely anything from that man. He looked impressive, but his magic didn't feel impressive. Beta's magic was like an endless stream from Heaven, she was practically a Deity who came down to be amongst mortals. Shadow felt… Normal.

"A man clad in purest black… So you're the feral dog who dares to nip at the Cult."

"My name is Shadow. He who lurks in the shadows in order to hunt the shadows." He sounded more impressive saying that than Beta.

"I see. You seem to have an ego from attacking our smaller facilities, but none of them were even close to our core members. You're just a coward who picks on the weak."

"Whoever or wherever we hunt, the result is the same."

"Unfortunately for you, a core member of the cult is here. Tonight I'll hunt you down. This is your fate." He turned his sword to Shadow. "I'm Zenon Griffey, the next one to fill the Twelfth Seat of the Rounds. Taking your life will be my achievement for them."

That was Zenon Griffey. Millia felt her stomach churn. Before she became possessed he was famous, a near-legendary child prodigy who won dozens of tournaments and a master swordsman. Even Millia who didn't care for combat or knightly ways knew his name. She was worried about Shadow, he looked so young.

Zenon charged, unleashing a brutal swing at Shadow. It looked to hit Shadow. It hit nothing. Shadow was behind Zenon, standing casually, a slightly bored look on his face.

No one moved. Millia didn't even see Shadow move. He just appeared behind Zenon. "So… Where is this core member?"

Zenon twisted, and Millia saw his face twisted in rage and humiliation as he swung down on Shadow again. Shadow disappeared again and instantly reappeared exactly where he was before. She still didn't see him move. She hadn't even felt him use magic.

Zenon suppressed his frustration. "I seem to have slightly underestimated your power. I suppose you did destroy several bases." The air started to reverberate with Zenon's magic. Millia glanced at the Princess, the power he was unleashing now was many times more intense than what he used to shatter her sword. "I'll show you the power of the one to join the Rounds."

Millia could barely keep up with Zenon, he was so fast. His blade was moving toward Shadows neck when a black blade appeared, blocking the blow. Zenon pushed into the blow. Shadow pulled back, using Zenon's momentum against him. Zenon nearly slammed into the wall, saving himself with a tumble and repositioned his sword.

Millia made eye contact with Lord Shadow, and he gave her a smile. Her heart skipped a beat, as Zenon regained his stance. "Lesson one. Spacing."

Millia was in awe. Shadow was using Zenon for a lesson. He was teaching her. He wasn't dodging or parrying, he was just out of reach of every swing. Every move was slower than Zenon. It was a gulf of skill. Then on Zenon's charge Shadow took one step forward. The swing was too full, the blade wouldn't hit Shadow. A look of panic covered Zenon as he jumped back. A small cut was on Zenon's cheek. Millia didn't even see Shadow swing.

"Lesson 2. Magic."

Millia was confused, she could not feel any magic coming from Shadow. However now he was moving many times faster. Zenon was still attacking, but Shadow was waiting for the attacks. Before Zenon started to strike Shadow was in position to parry. He was no longer slower, the speed matched. It didn't make sense. She was focusing, trying to see what he was doing.

Then she felt it. For a brief moment as their swords made contact, magic flowed to hold it back. It was absolute efficiency. Normally people have a constant flow, Shadow only used magic when it was needed. Even when he was just moving, a brief spike of magic as he pushed himself off the ground so his step would be faster, a brief spike of magic to move his blade into position to parry. A brief spike of magic when he parries Zenon's attack.

That wasn't even taking into account his skill. Not a movement was wasted. It was simple in its perfection. No flair, no flourishes, nothing but what was needed.

"Mediocre swordplay…" Millia felt a flash of anger at the Princess for that, but she realized that the Princess was right. It was all absolutely basic. There was nothing special, it was purely every bit of waste eliminated. It was the bare basics dominating the genius Zenon.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Zenon screamed, magic pouring out of him. It was so wasteful. Zenon charged, and Shadow avoided every blow easily. It was blind rage, nothing but power and fury. A raging fire that was incapable of doing anything to Shadow.

"Pathetic…" The Princess muttered. Millia had to agree. Zenon was famed even before she became possessed, for him to be reduced to this.

Then, Shadow attacked. It was mocking attacks, tiny cuts appearing, despite all of Zenon's efforts he could do nothing to prevent any of the strikes from hitting. Zenon eventually fell to his knees, bloody and barely able to keep his sword in hand.

"So, Mr. Next-gen-Rounds, is that all?" Shadow actually sounded disappointed.

"Y-you bastard! Show me who you are! Why do you hide your identity when you possess this much power!"

"We are Shadow Garden, we hunt in the shadows and hunt down shadows."

"You're insane." Zenon forced himself to his feet. Zenon pulled a pill bottle from his breast pocket "I'll need to be serious to humble you. No one can stand against the Cult. With this I shall be awakened and surpass all human limitations. An ordinary human would break under this power and eventually die. But those in the Rounds are different. Only those who can manipulate this devastating power have the privilege of joining the Rounds."

Zenon opened the bottle and poured the pills into his mouth. "I am a Third Awakened." Zenon's wounds disappeared, his body growing as his magic power exploded. The water going wild, being pushed away from them. Millia was certain that he had more raw magical power than she had ever felt before. It was more power than she thought possible, and she was absolutely certain that it was irrelevant in the face of Shadow. "This is ALMIGHTY POWER!"

Zenon charged forward, a straight thrust. Shadow didn't even move, his black sword stopped the blow. He didn't move. Shadow punched Zenon. Millia couldn't believe her eyes. Shadow didn't deign to use his sword after the first block. He was just beating him down with one hand, still avoiding every blow, still barely using any magic. Zenon's last attack was two massive swings, with so much magic flowing that it was visible. Shadow looked bored as he ducked under them and kicked Zenon in the chin.

"Lesson 3. Power." Magic flowed out of Shadow. It was dense. Millia didn't know magic could be this dense. She saw a transparent purple wall form of pure magic. It spread further from there, encasing the Princess. It came to her and Beta.

It was magnificent. She felt Lord Shadow's power surrounding her, it felt so gentle. Beta's power felt like life itself, but Lord Shadow's was beyond that. It was Almighty, the only thing worthy of comparing it to would be a deity. Even against a God, Lord Shadow would be more divine.

Zenon swung at Lord Shadow, but it was meaningless. The blade shattered when it made contact with Lord Shadow. Lord Shadow was saying something, but she couldn't hear it over the thrum of his magic. Lord Shadow's magic expanded, tearing apart the stone and disintegrating Zenon. As it came toward her Millia was at peace, she had nothing to fear. It came over her, and it did nothing to her.

She simply felt it come over her like a gentle stream.

—-

Alpha looked over the city, back at the clock tower. It was a little annoying that there was damage from the amount of force Delta leap caused. Still, everything went smoothly. No casualties.

The Knight Order was finally starting to get organized. All of the people they captured would be Cult assets. Alpha made sure none of the Cult assets mentioned Shadow Garden. It would be perfect, the Cult would struggle to stay hidden. They wouldn't be outright exposed, but their efforts to stay hidden would be revealing.

Then she felt it. Her Lord Shadow's power. It painted the city in violet light. To those in Shadow Garden it was a purifying light that restored all. For the Cult, it would be their death knell. She looks over a few of the numbers nearby, for some of them it would be the first time they were blessed to bask in the light of Lord Shadow's power.

—-

Iris was trying to rally anyone nearby. She was able to assemble a team of guards and knights, but so far she had nothing on why any of this was happening. The locations they had so far were not helpful. She did not see any relationship between a warehouse, a bakery, or a Duke's tertiary vacation mansion.

Then she felt it. At first it was a trickle, before it became colossal. An unending flood of magical power. Iris squeezed her blade and turned toward the power, gazing at the pillar of purple magic.

She had no clue what kind of artifact could cause that kind of torrent of power, but she had to go there. Whatever it was, it was a threat. Even worse, Alexia might be there.

"Take over here!" She didn't know who she gave the order to and she didn't care. Whatever that was, it was worst case scenario was if her sister was in that magic explosion. She had no clue what kind of artifact could have that kind of power come from it. Whatever caused that needed to be brought under control.

Iris ran, ignoring everything she passed. None of it mattered. She reached the crater the magic explosion caused, and she charged in. It was Alexia, unharmed beyond some dirty clothes. She was doing some practice swings with a battered sword.

"Alexia!" Her sister turned to her. Iris reached her sister, and slammed her into a hug. "I'm so glad you're alright!"

"I-Iris…" Her darling sister gently wraps her arms around her, crying.

—-

It was warm. And soft. Alexia squeezed tighter. She didn't go back to the dorms. Sure her dorm was a private section and no one else lived in her dorm's building, but it wasn't home. For now she was trying to sleep in her sister's bed, something she hadn't done for years. She hadn't done it since it became apparent that she wasn't a genius. She wasn't really able to sleep.

"Finally awake?" Her sister asked.

"Barely slept."

"I want you to get your rest, but we still need to get whoever dared to kidnap you."

This made Alexia sit up. "You… Don't know?"

"We haven't been able to find anything. The city is in chaos right now. There were more than 20 different attacks in the city, and with the magic artifact causing an explo-"

"That wasn't an artifact. It was some technique called Imatomic." Alexia interrupted her sister.

"..That's impossible…" Iris was clearly confused.

"And I know who kidnapped me."

"Th-that's! Give us a name and he's gone!" Iris practically shouted.

"Zenon did it with the Knight Order's help."

A silence fell over the room. Iris's was stoic, unmoving. Like she couldn't process what she just heard. Eventually she got up and started pacing around the room. Eventually, she spoke. "He was in charge of the investigation to find you."

"Did you… Accuse Cid?" Iris looked away. Alexia was waiting, even though she knew the answer. "How did you think it was even possible for Cid to do this?"

"...He was the only lead we had…" Alexia didn't know what to say to that.

"Did you see anything about Shadow Garden or the Cult?"

"A Cult?" Iris was clearly lost.

"Zenon was a part of a Cult. I was rescued by two members of Shadow Garden. There was an elf girl and a young man in black who called himself Shadow."

"That's…" Iris sat back down. "Alexia, we need to have a long conversation about all of this."

—-

Cid was enjoying his extended weekend. Once Alexia was rescued he was taken off the list of suspects. There was enough evidence to point to a large organization, and there was no way someone who wasn't even the heir of a minor barony could have some huge organization capable of pulling this off.

The Royal Midgar Spellsword Academy had a full week canceled. First because of Shadow Garden's attacks on the Cult locations in the city, then because it came out that Zenon was the kidnapper. It also gave him a chance to regenerate his finger and toenails.

After he unleashed his I am Atomic he got Beta and the new girl Millia out of there. He went back to his dorm, and looked over some of the Cults documents he carried with him. Their codes were irrelevant to him, Shadow Garden had way better encryption. It didn't take long to read what he had taken. He's since destroyed them. Now that he had the information, he could do it.

This gave him a bit of an edge on Shadow Garden, especially since he was very certain that I am Atomic destroyed any other info the Cult had at what was clearly an important facility. It had to be important, they kept a Princess imprisoned there.

It seemed that after taking the Princess and doing whatever they were doing to her, the Cult would be targeting some business they didn't control called Mitsugoshi. Considering that the Cult seemed to have plans that utilized every large business in the Midgar Kingdom to target this Mitsugoshi it would probably be fun to interfere, even if he couldn't save that company.

He also had to avoid his sister, she had been babying him and wouldn't leave her alone at first. Then it came out that Zenon was the kidnapper. Cid got his alone time, and the Knight Order had a few more reasons to fear his sister.

For now Cid was relaxing on the roof on the Academy's main building, waiting for Alexia. She had left a message for him to meet her up here.

The door slowly opened, Alexia coming out. "Good, you're already here."

"It's not like we have school."

"That's true, Pooch."

Cid shot her a glare. "I'm still going to charge you for calling me a dog."

"So cold Pooch." Alexia mocked as she tossed him a couple coins. "Anyway, you can relax if you want. I made sure that everyone knows how stupid they are for accusing you of kidnapping me. This incident has been resolved on the surface, but I can sense something brewing behind the scenes. Iris is preparing to dispatch a special brigade, and I plan to help her. So we're only just getting started."

"How anyone thought I could kidnap a Princess alone is insane."

Alexia winced, "I really dragged you into that mess."

"I don't blame you, you aren't the idiot who accused me." They stood outside together, Cid watching as she fidgeted there. She clearly had something else to say. "Can we go inside? It's hot as balls out here."

"Wait! There's two things I have to say."

"Here?"

"Here," she confirmed, squinting and looking up to the sky. "First, I want to thank you. You said you liked my swordplay, right? Well, I know I'm late, but I really appreciate it."

"No problem."

"I finally like it. Not that I attribute that development to you."

"Did you really have to add in that last bit?" Cid sniped back. It was hard holding back that it was obvious that Shadow made her like her swordplay. That little impromptu lesson was so cool, it let him show off, give a little guidance to some new girl joining Shadow Garden, and it would hopefully make Alexia less repellant.

"It's the truth." They lock eyes, and Cid's the first to look away.

"Anyway, if you've learned to like your swordplay, that sounds good to me."

"Yeah, it is." She smiled as she looked back to the sky.

"So what's the second thing?"

"We've pretended to date until now, but Instructor Zenon died in that incident."

Cid grinned, "So I'm not needed anymore." He could finally stop being a fake boyfriend now.

Alexia looked extremely uncomfortable. "But I do have one proposition… If you're alright with it…" Her eyes were darting around, and Cid was starting to feel nervous. This wasn't happening. "Maybe we can do this a little while longer?"

Cid gave a big smile, but inside he was panicking. She was developing feelings for him. He did not want to date a Princess, but he already told Alpha that he was sticking close to Alexia to watch her. He made sure Shadow Garden knew that he was following her because the Cult wanted her, to cover that it was a coincidence that he was close to this incident. If he turned her down how could it justify doing something that would clearly make him keep distance from her.

"Could we not? This fake dating thing is really annoying. No more fake dating, just friends and see if there's something more from there." Cid really hoped this would work, he didn't want more romcom nonsense.

—-

AN: How will Alexia respond? I've already decided.

Yeah… This took a while. I rewrote that fight like 3 times, and it took a while to settle on Millia's perspective. I think I'll try using more of the minor members of Shadow Garden and their perspective, since that's a view we rarely see. I imagine that for most of them, they've never seen Shadow before.

Anyway, I haven't stopped writing, so yeah. Some are obvious, like Iris never has a moment with the mutated Millia, that also means she never meets Alpha. There have been some subtle changes as well, like in the last chapter when Beta met with Shadow, he treats her less like a subordinate and more like a friend he's sharing a drink with. In canon he thinks they're friends pretending to be subordinates, here they're subordinates he kind of wishes were friends.