(A New Fate! A New Path! Let the adventure continue!)

Bold = English Conversations

Bold + Italics = Japanese Conversations

Fate 3

The cafeteria in the 6th Hierarchical city of Yabiko's NOL Cafeteria was rather quiet for once. The usually bustling halls were rather empty as the only people who ate there was the bare minimal staff needed to keep such a facility running. The food however was still cooked to the high standard expected of such a facility as Kagura leaned back on his chair, trying to relax. "Did any of you guys bring Jin's food to him?" Kagura asked as Tsubaki nodded her head.

"I did so earlier. Jin's eating as much as he can but he's eager to get out of bed already." Tsubaki explained as Kagura sighed and nodded his head at that. "He knows very well he is the most injured out of all of us. Even with Celica's healing it's proving harder to patch him back up to fighting shape." Kagura said as Noel looked at Tsubaki with some concern. "Are you worried that Jin is going to push himself too far?" Noel questioned as Tsubaki shook her head at that.

"I'm not… I am just worried that I am not doing enough to help him." Tsubaki said out of concern as Hibiki placed down a plate of food for everyone to continue eating. "Do not push yourself too much. You must do what you can for him." Hibiki said as Hunter nodded his head at that. "If anything, if there is anything we can do to help you help him, let us know." Hunter added as Tsubaki smiled upon hearing that. Kagura chuckled before he looked at the table opposite him.

"So what are you four going to do? Doesn't Otsu need their four leaders to get stuff done?" Kagura questioned as Tetsu sipped soup from his bowl while eating the rice in front of him. "Do you really think Otsunians are that dependent on their leaders to do anything?" Tetsu questioned as Zhang Pi chuckled and took a bite from her mapo tofu. "You can't blame him Tetsu, They are not used to the idea of a city running by itself." Zhang Pi replied as both Sofia and Vlad poured for each other whiskey to drink.

"Yeah, Otsunians are free to manage themselves. We just choose to act as the city's representatives that's all." Sofia said as she drank her whiskey quickly. "Aren't you too young to be drinking alcohol?" Tsubaki questioned as Vlad chuckled. "Oh you worry too much. In Otsu, it's common to be drinking at her age! And that's not all that's common." Vlad said as Hunter couldn't help but mumble a few words to himself upon hearing Vlad say that as Vlad looked at Hunter and approached him with a grin on his face and whiskey bottle in his hand.

"And what about you Comrade Hunter? You want to drink a little bit?" Vlad questioned as Hunter looked at Vlad. "I do not want to be drunk in the middle of the afternoon thanks." Hunter replied as Vlad simply sighed. "What is wrong with you Comrade Hunter. There's no need for you to reject my drink so quickly." Vlad answered as Hunter shook his head. "Not everyone can just drink 40% alcohol in the middle of the afternoon so easily you know." Hunter explained as Vlad simply shook his head at that.

"Anybody can do so with enough practice! Look at Sofia over there! She was weak at first but as soon as she became a boss she was able to drink with the best of them!" Vlad said as Sofia blushed a little. "Oh shut up Vlad." Sofia simply said as she drank her whiskey before offering her glass for Vlad to pour into. As everyone enjoyed the meal in front of them, Hunter noticed that two people were not present on the lunch table.

"Hey Kagura, Do you know where Sora and Makoto went?" Hunter questioned. "Oh those two? Sora said that he was going to go and get some exercise before lunch and Makoto followed him." Kagura said as Tsubaki couldn't help but become immediately concerned. "Aren't you concerned that Sora would just use that as his chance to escape?" Tsubaki questioned as Noel wanted to say something before Hunter stopped her, shaking his head as he had a feeling that if Noel said anything at that moment, things may get a bit more complicated.

"Oh it's fine. The professor said she's going to have Tager watch over them while they do their exercise. There's nothing they can do that would prompt them to actually panic." Kagura said before everyone felt their communicators act up at that moment. "Everyone stop eating and get to the front entrance now!" Kokonoe said as everyone simply looked at each other and immediately reacted, understanding that such a call means that something had happened.

Without hesitation, everyone ran out of the cafeteria without saying a word, rushing towards the front entrance only to be greeted with the sight of a Black Beast head lunging forward only to be smashed to the ground by an astral fist. Everyone was simply shocked by what was happening as Tager himself stood back to watch what was going on. "Woah what the hell is going on here!?" Kagura questioned as he walked up to Tager for questions.

"Well… This was supposed to be a simple training exercise but then they proceeded to combat training." Tager said as everyone could see Sora and Makoto, panting lightly, slightly dusty as everyone noticed the arm that Makoto had attached to her arm being a prosthetic arm. "Alright Tager, why don't you start from the beginning, and at least tell us if we need to prepare ourselves for a bloodbath." Kagura said as Tager nodded his head at that, recalling what had happened.

...Just a few minutes ago…

FLASHBACK
TAGER POV

"So how are the subjects right now?" Kokonoe asked through my radio communicator as I observed my targets simply running around the premises, working up a good sweat. "The subjects are currently on a light jog, nothing out of the ordinary." "Good. Now keep it that way. We don't know what they may be planning." Kokonoe replied immediately after hearing my response. "Are you sure such a response is needed? They are clearly on our side." I questioned as even for Kokonoe's standards, she was being rather paranoid. "Just do it already! I got some other things I need to keep up with." Kokonoe said before ending the call.

"Hey Tager! Come on and join us! Work up a sweat and power up with youth!" Makoto Nanaya shouted, waving her singular hand right at me as I sighed. "You know that I am not really built for running. I would just slow you two down." I replied as Makoto simply tilted her head at that as the man behind her simply chuckled with his eyes closed. "Oh don't mind Makoto. She's just feeling like she's got energy to burn because she slept a lot." The man, Sora Minakaze explained.

"Oh come on Sora! I hibernated like crazy for the past few days! I need to burn off all that stored fat I had gained and make sure I am in top fighting shape!" Makoto explained as Sora simply shook his head upon hearing that. "That's fair enough but don't you think that running around would be enough exercise for you?" Sora questioned as Makoto stopped her jog, causing the man to bump right into her.

"In that case, some light sparring will do the trick." Makoto questioned as I cannot help but question the relationship between these two. I am aware that the professor has told me that Makoto and Sora are currently dating but at the same time, I do not know Mr Minakaze well enough to know how true that statement is. "Light sparring? While you don't have an arm to use?" Sora questioned as Makoto pouted upon hearing that.

"Well I'm sorry that I am currently lacking an arm! But yeah, I don't really care I just wanna bruise with you for a little bit." Makoto explained as I heard footsteps coming behind me, rushing past my arm as it became clear high heels were clicking. "Then I got the thing the doctor ordered!" The voice, a woman's voice shouted as I immediately knew who that person was as they tossed what looked to be a prosthetic arm towards Makoto's direction.

"Oh sweet! Thanks for the arm Caroline!" Makoto said as Caroline Patricia Smith said with a smile on her face. "Oh don't mention it. I have been preparing that for you for the longest time already! You don't really need to thank me for anything." Caroline explained as I couldn't help but clear my voice upon hearing that. "You both know that where we are right now doesn't provide much space for a fight." I said as both Makoto and Sora looked at my way.

"What do you mean Tager? Most NOL bases are pretty big! Anybody can fight inside them if need be!" Makoto said as I couldn't help but shake my head upon hearing that statement come out of her mouth. "Just because something is big and spacious does not mean one should fight inside them in the first place." I answered as Makoto looked down, as if disappointed by my statement even though she knows I am correct.

"Then what about the entrance? That area's big enough for us to spar at." Sora suggested as Makoto's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing that. "Awww that's a great suggestion honey!" Makoto said as she swiftly gave him a kiss on his cheek as she grabbed the arm off Caroline's hand and immediately took off for the entrance. "Makoto wait… Dammit." I said, expressing some frustration as Sora approached my direction and simply placed his hand awkwardly on my arm due to him being too short to actually place his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry about things Tager. I promise to go easy on her." Sora said as that was not what I was worried about at that moment. "I am going to need to keep watch over you you know." I said as the man simply nodded his head towards me. "I know. I am expecting you to keep watching over me as we spar. Something tells me we are going to go full intensity soon." Sora said before taking off. "Ahhhh Don't you love to see two love birds just do their thing?" Caroline said.

"It's still rather reckless for Makoto to immediately go fighting after just waking up. She should be trying to ease herself into her rehabilitation, not like this." I explained as Caroline simply shook her head. "After spending some time with that woman, that's just not the way Makoto Nanaya likes to operate. Besides, she just wants to spend time with Sora. Doing things with him." Caroline explained as I cannot help but look at her with a confused look.

"Does such quality time include beating each other up?" I questioned as Caroline shook her head. "They just want to be near each other. You try being separated from something for so long that you feel like you are missing something." Caroline said as I cannot help but feel my head ring upon hearing those words. "In any case, I need to finish my final tweaks on the Mark 2, Sora's going to need it before his fight." Caroline said before leaving me alone.

"Looks like I am still on babysit duty." I said to myself, sighing as I took off for Sora and Makoto. "This is Tager, Both Sora Minakaze and Makoto Nanaya have decided to stop lightly jogging and instead proceed to light combat." I explained as Kokonoe simply groaned. "Just make sure they don't destroy the place alright." Kokonoe simply responded before ending the call. I guess even a genius scientist like her would have her limits before just moving her issues to me.

As I made my way towards the front entrance, I can hear the two lovebirds conversing. They are aware that right now we are in the middle of a tense situation no? The world is ending around them yet at the same time they had this carefree air around them. I am certain they understand the severity of the situation but at the same time they should try and show it a bit more to the people around them. But it's not right to judge them right away, only when they make mistakes that are too big to ignore.

Soon we arrived at the entrance where Makoto stretched her body a few times before attaching her newly given arm on her stump. Sora in the meanwhile stepped to the side and cracked his neck a few times. "Not going to fight me with any weapons?" Makoto questioned as Sora simply shook his head. "Caroline's taking care of the Rev System for the time being. But don't worry, I didn't let my hand to hand get rusty." Sora said as Makoto smiled hearing that.

"Well I will be the judge of that. Now put those dukes up and let's do this thing!" Makoto said as she was exuding an energy she was not emitting before. "Fine fine. Just don't come to me crying when you lose." Sora retorted as Makoto grinned before starting the sparring session off with a quick dash in towards Sora and swinging her prosthetic arm in a tight hooking motion that Sora was able to dodge by… phasing through the attack?

"Oh come on Sora! You cannot already be using Balmung against me!" Makoto complained as Sora scratched his head. "Sorry Sorry. I just wanted to check something real quick." Sora commented as I decided to begin recording the conversation in front of me only for the words to start making no sense to me. They must be speaking in a different language right now, time to put the translator that Kokonoe had put inside me to work.

"Well at least don't do it again. I want to be able to hit you, not a ghost." Makoto said, clearly me catching them mid conversation as they had been talking for some time. "Alright Alright Makoto I promise to not do it for this sparring session. At least until it inevitably gets more rough." Sora said as Makoto couldn't help but pout upon hearing that. "I won't get rough! Just more intense!" Makoto shouted before throwing a punch right for Sora's head that prompted him to weave his head past the attack.

Makoto winded her fist for another punch but Sora was quick to throw a counter of his own, prompting Makoto to block by raising her prosthetic arm up to do so. The two briefly stared at each other before relenting from each other and simply staring. I cannot help but question if this was truly a light sparring exercise at this point. Sora then lunged towards Makoto, jumping into the air before delivering a heel kick that forced Makoto to block as she retaliated by lunging at him with an uppercut aimed towards Sora's jaw.

Sora himself parried the blow by simply swatting it away with a kick, causing him to roll on the ground as Makoto gave chase, not letting him get away to recover as she threw a few more rapid punches that prompted the man to dodge. It was then I noticed energy begin to gather on her fists as Sora was swift to take a step back as Makoto threw a punch that was clearly faster than her other punches, dodging it in the process as Sora panted a little bit.

"Oh come on! Already tired?" Makoto questioned as Sora simply smirked upon hearing that. "Do you really think I would be that tired out from just a few light punches?" Sora teased back as Makoto must have perceived that comment as cheeky and instead of dignifying him with a response, she simply responded by charging up towards him and throwing more attacks his way. The barrage of punches coming Sora's way would have overwhelmed most people but he was unfazed.

In fact, now that I can see the man fight without his drive that I had seen in footage, I can tell that he was fighting with experience by his side. He was not as dependent on his drive like I had originally thought as he allowed a fist of Makoto's to slip into his armpit in order to transition into an attempt on a choke hold. Makoto was quick to respond by preventing Sora from locking in the choke hold attempt, breaking the throw as the two looked at each other.

"You know Sora… I feel like I can go a bit harder." Makoto said as both me and Sora looked at her with curiosity in our eyes. "Do you feel like letting those black beasts out to play for a little bit?" Makoto questioned as immediately I knew I have to voice out some concern here. "Now that is enough here Makoto. I thought that you said you both were just going to be lightly sparring!" I voiced out as Sora simply had his eyes closed.

"Sure. Just for a little bit. I promise I won't go too hard on you with them." Sora said as I couldn't believe my eyes as I saw a massive portal form behind the man's back. Immediately I activated my radio communicator in order to send a quick message to Kokonoe. "Kokonoe, there is no time right now. Get everyone out here right now!" I said, ending the message before she could even think about questioning me as to how I allowed this to get as far as it did.

"Oh? A little bit huh? In that case…" Makoto then began to form a portal behind her own back as I could see the shocked expression that Sora Minakaze had before he slowly smiled and smirked a little bit. I do not know what those two are thinking throwing their power the way they are but the fact that Makoto Nanaya is even able to manifest an ars magus circle is even more alarming as she was doing so in a world without Seithr.

"Then let's get serious!" Makoto shouted as in front of my eyes, I saw two forces of nature manifest in front of my eyes that I did not think I would get the pleasure to see more than once. Not that I even want to witness one of them a second time in my life time in the first place, The blackened form of a Black Beast head forming behind the man and a gigantic astral fist manifesting behind the woman. All I knew was this…

...I was going to bear witness to two forces of nature clashing against each other…

FLASHBACK END

"And that is the current situation." Tager summarized as everyone who was watching could only simply watch as the two lovers clashed against each other. Sora and Makoto had shrunk down the size of their attacks but it did not change the fact that Sora was attacking with Black Beasts while Makoto was punching them away with just her bare hands. Tager could understand the silence that was greeting him at that moment as everyone couldn't help but feel like they were watching a rare moment in their lives.

"Shall I attempt to stop them?" Hibiki questioned as Kagura immediately shook his head. "Even if they are sparring, the speed they are going at you will just get caught in the crossfire." Kagura said as Hibiki relented from pulling his blade out. "Besides, they won't notice us right now with how high pace they are moving right now." Kagura continued as Hunter nodded his head at that. His hand then reached towards Draco as he felt the maw on his hip simply begin to warm.

"So this is the power of the Black Beast…" Tsubaki said as everyone continued to watch the fight happen in front of them as Sora and Makoto were unaware of the growing crowd happening in front of them as Sora grabbed Makoto's wrist when she over extended her punch and used it to attempt to slip behind her back to toss her to the ground. Makoto replied by simply stepping forward to parry his attempt, keeping them locked in a grapple as Sora used a Black beast head to try and slip Makoto's footing off her ground.

In any normal circumstances, even with her enhanced senses, such an attack would be enough to take her off guard. Yet for some reason, her senses were heightened to a point where even an almost invisible attack like what was coming at her would not have been enough for her to react and act at the same time was now within her grasp. Raising her foot to avoid the Black beast, she stepped down hard on the beast to kill it instantly, giving her the footing she needed to land a punch right on Sora's chest as he was coming in.

Sora then felt the impact slam right into his stomach as he went flying off the ground and crashed to the hard concrete underneath. He coughed greatly as he slowly stood back up and looked up to see Makoto charging in for another punch. He couldn't help but think how weird it was for Makoto to be going as fast as she was at that moment. Could it be that her contract with him had enhanced her fighting power even more?

'Now's not the time to be thinking this kind of stuff Sora. Focus on the objective!' Sora thought as he raised his Black beast left hand to block the next attack. He could feel the impact course through his body as if it was his other arm it would have break easily. Taking a deep breath, Sora immediately replied by delivering a flying knee right to Makoto's chest, striking Makoto's breast as it was enough to bounce it towards her head to strike her with mass.

Makoto felt her world get rocked but there was no time for her to focus on the pain she was feeling as she sensed that Sora was continuing his assault on her, trying to end the spar with a take down to the ground. Makoto then felt her her legs get grabbed, an attempt to take her to the ground being made on Sora's part. Makoto then felt an aura of seriousness briefly emit from Sora as she knew Sora was going to go for the kill.

'To think that Sora's actually taking me seriously. Good. I need this.' Makoto thought as she placed her hands on Sora's shoulder while pushing her body forward. This caused Sora to duck lower and brought his head closer to Makoto's knee. This allowed her to raise her knee in an attempt to land blows right on his head. To protect himself from this potentially fight ending set of blows, Sora formed two black beasts to bite on Makoto's knee, holding her in place while not harming her with their teeth.

Makoto tried to pull her knees away to get her footing back but the beasts clung tightly onto her knees, locking her in place as she saw Sora get up quickly and begin to deliver a series of strikes right on her head, varying up the angles of his punches to force her to block a wide variety of angles. Makoto felt her guard struggle to keep up as she had no time to form a barrier to protect herself from the barrage hitting her.

With continuous effort, Sora was able to force the guard of Makoto to finally break. Her arms drooped down as she felt her normal arm lose it's strength, forcing her to simply guard with just her new prosthetic arm. The punches she was able to block was now reduced and she knew she was going to eventually get overwhelmed however Sora was not going to let her off the hook as he delivered a kick that opened Makoto's guard completely.

'Oh shit! I cannot…' Before Makoto could finish her train of thought, she felt the world around her begin to slow down. The sensation she was experiencing was very much different from what she normally would experience as she noticed Sora's own movements slow in front of her eyes but that was not all. As she saw the knee get closer to her head, she turned to see herself standing to the side, as if she had not been grabbed, her fist coming down Sora's head.

"What am I?.." Before Makoto could finish her train of thought she could feel the knee of Sora slowly hit her in the cheek, making her head slowly recoil as she realized she needed to act otherwise what she was experiencing now was going to be the fight ender. 'I need to get out of this situation… Right now!' Makoto strongly thought as Sora himself felt a strange sensation strike him as he turned his head towards a direction he felt he needed to look at.

As he did so, he felt Makoto suddenly vanish from his touch. As that happened, Makoto had already appeared right in front of him, her punch coming right down for his head as he raised his arms to guard, preventing her from landing solid impact on his head. Sora's eyes widened upon seeing what he had just seen while everyone else watching couldn't help but blink several times. "Did...Did Makoto just vanish?" Kagura said Hunter felt the maw on his hip grow even more warm.

"The beastkin's awakened the power…" Draco echoed in Hunter's mind as Makoto herself blinked a few times, realizing she had just done something she had not done before. Her body trembled greatly as she felt a sort of backlash strike the back of her mind. Sora looked at Makoto with concern in his eyes as he recognized what Makoto had just done, After all, he's done the very thing she has done several times.

"Balmung…" Sora said as Makoto looked at her fists and then back at Sora as she soon pieced together what she had just done. Makoto then felt something strain her mind as she felt her body suddenly become numb all over the place as Sora instinctively approached to make sure she was alright only for Makoto to raise her hand to stop him. "No Sora. Let's continue." Makoto said as everyone could see the pain that she was in and wanted to advise her to stop and have her current state be checked… Everyone except Sora Minakaze.

"Alright. But I am stopping you should things get any more worse." Sora said as everyone else couldn't believe what they were hearing. Before anybody could raise their objections to what they had just heard, both Sora and Makoto immediately bumped their fists on each other, jumping away from each other as Sora this time took the initiative to attack Makoto, allowing her to experience the same sensation she felt before as Sora soon found his punch sailing past where he hand thrown and Makoto already halfway towards her punch.

This was all the confirmation Sora needed to have in order to understand that right now, Makoto had managed to gain access to his drive, to see what he could see and act in that space. As Makoto's fist came for his head, Sora was quick to use his own drive to avoid the counter blow as everyone else could only see what seemed to be high speed dodging and weaving, their blows barely missing each other as the other threw their next punch.

"Noel… are you able to keep up with what is going on?" Tsubaki asked as Noel looked on at what she was looking with some fear present in her voice. "No. I am barely able to make sense with what is happening. All I can understand is that they are barely dodging each other's attacks with the minimal amount of movement needed to do so." Noel explained as Hunter simply placed his hand on Draco, feeling the Nox Nyctores and it's heat grow.

"We are not going to do anything Draco… Not right now." Hunter warned quietly as he could only quietly watch what was happening in front of him without acting hastily. While everyone simply continued to observe what happened in front of them, Sora and Makoto continued to spar against each other. Both were aware that they should end this spar soon so that they can discuss what was going on with Makoto but at the same time, they wanted to at least be the last one standing.

Was this spar for anything? Not really, they were doing it because they wanted to. All they wanted to achieve from this spar was to at least be the one who wins at the end. Call it a competitive streak between boyfriend and girlfriend or just being sore losers, Sora and Makoto were going to give as much as they can from this spar until they have to stop. Sora started by going for a sweep to Makoto's feet as she tried to use her new ability only to feel a backlash hit her in the back of her neck as she simply jumped into the air and attempted to stomp on Sora's hand instead.

Sora was quick to move his hand away from such a stomp. Even if it was done on his left hand and he would not feel pain in doing so, Sora did not want to give Makoto a chance to pin him down on the ground. Sora quickly sprung from the ground, delivering a high kick to Makoto's stomach that she blocked before she retaliated by firing an astral fist right down on Sora's head which forced him to protect himself by making a Black beast manifest and devour the arm before it could get closer.

Makoto sensed what Sora was trying to do and focused her vision. Seeing what she wanted to do, she simply continued her punch as Sora saw the astral fist of Makoto Nanaya simply phase right through the Black Beast in order for her fist to continue it's path towards Sora's head. This greatly alarmed Sora as he used another Black Beast, sacrificing it as a barrier as he rolled on his back, panting greatly as he saw Makoto simply flinch even more, clear that the strain of what she was experiencing was starting to take it's toll but Sora had a feeling that Makoto wanted to keep going.

'So...So this is the world through Sora's eyes.' Makoto thought as she could see herself recoiling from what seemed to be another attack and another where she was able to get away. Allowing the events to play in front of her eyes, she waited until she saw the left hand of Sora come flying her way, knocking her the same way she saw in her vision as she acted in the last minute, dodging the attack only to see the arm move in an unnatural manner to grab her prosthetic arm.

"GOT YOU!" Sora said as Makoto looked closer to see that Sora had not extended his arm but instead remained where he was, a Black Beast head biting down on the prosthetic as she felt herself being pulled towards Sora at that moment. Makoto tried to use her new ability at that moment but the strain finally caught up to her as she had to make an executive call by ejecting her prosthetic arm out before she could be pulled fully in towards Sora for whatever finishing blow he had planned.

While she was safe from the approaching attack, she had a struggle trying to recover from her actions as she realized she was down a hand and Sora was coming in for what felt like a finishing strike. Makoto had to react fast otherwise she was going to lose this spar and while this spar had nothing in it, she didn't want to lose for some reason. Whether it was the adrenaline getting to her or the rush of her first fight in some time that didn't have some kind of high stakes attached to it, Makoto just wanted to let it all out at that moment.

"I'M NOT DONE YET!" Makoto yelled as she pushed past the pain she was feeling as Sora felt a strong sensation hit him at that moment as his eyes began to see multiple copies of Makoto approach in front of him but he could sense that there was something not normal about what she was doing. As the Makotos charged in front of him, Sora knew that most likely there was a trick behind the Makoto clones in front of him.

Sora Minakaze knew better that to allow Makoto to enact any plan she would have with her clones so instead of letting Makoto charge in with her clones, Sora took advantage of his new ability to summon the heads to the Black Beast towards two of the clones while he went for the one in the middle. Before he would have been forced to make a choice between the clones in front of him but being able to handle several enemies was a great boon to his current abilities.

The black beasts rammed themselves into the Makotos in front of them, making them vanish as Sora knew immediately that he was facing off against the real Makoto and without hesitation, threw a punch towards the Makoto right in front of him. The moment he did so however, he felt Makoto simply become air on his fist as he realized that even the Makoto in front of him was a clone which should be impossible since Makoto normally could make at least two other copies of herself to use whatever she wanted them unless.

"BIG BANG SMASH!" Makoto yelled as she threw a massive astral fist right in front of Sora's face. Sora instinctively had the Black Beasts attempt to stop the attack, only able to crash right onto the Astral fist only for the Black Beasts to be overpowered and Sora to be struck by the attack, sending him flying in the air as he came crashing down on the ground, making sure he tucked his head in to prevent it from being dropped as he couldn't believe what he had been struck with.

Sora simply laid on his back, allowing him to process the blow he had been struck with as he could hear footsteps approach him as he raised his head slowly to see a crowd begin to form around him as he shook his head. "Are you alright man? That was one hell of a wicked right to take to your face." Kagura said as Sora simply nodded his head before slowly standing up. "Are you alright Sora? Do you need some healing from Celica?" Hunter questioned as Sora shook his head at that.

"Don't worry about me. Despite how painful that punch looked, I am actually fine right now." Sora explained as everyone else nodded their heads upon hearing what Sora had just said. He then looked at Makoto as the girls surrounded her as it seemed that she had fallen over the ground herself as this prompted him to run to Makoto's side and hold her gently in his hands. "Hehehe. Looks like I win huh?" Makoto said as Sora chuckled upon hearing that before simply kissing her in the lips.

The girls simply blushed upon seeing this sight. Noel couldn't help but look away as Tsubaki did the same on the other direction. Makoto herself blushed as she realized she was being kissed in front of her two best friends as she felt Sora part from her lips. "Was that enough of a reward for you winning this spar?" Sora questioned as Makoto simply nodded her head upon hearing that before Sora offered a hand for her to stand up on.

"Hehe. Worth it." Makoto said as she instinctively extended out her stump of a hand for Sora to grab. However when she did that, everyone else stared in shock as Sora meanwhile was unaware of what everyone else was seeing as he helped Makoto up to her feet, feeling something soft as he grabbed the prosthetic arm that Caroline had made for Makoto to give to her. "Here you go Mako…" soon Sora stopped speaking as Makoto couldn't help but wonder what caused the sudden silence.

"What's the matter Sora? You sound like you just saw a ghost?" Makoto said before Sora simply raised the arm in question as Makoto's widened upon seeing what everyone else was seeing at that moment. The hand that Sora was holding was not a human hand or a robotic hand but something else entirely. The hand Sora held in front of Makoto was similar to her astral fist that she would normally make manifest with her distortion drives, now floating in front of the group as a black void with red glow to match current look.

"What in the…" Before Makoto could finish her statement, she felt a sudden sense of exhaustion strike the back of her head as Sora immediately caught her in his arms as he realized that she had just fainted in his arms. "Oh damn… We are going to need a bed again for Makoto." Sora said as everyone understood what that meant and immediately rushed to get some help. "Kokonoe this is Tager, the sparring is over and Makoto's fainted again." Tager said as everyone couldn't help but panic.

"Makoto! Makoto you got to wake up!" Noel said, everyone becoming worried that Makoto was going back into a coma as Sora for some reason felt a strange sensation of calm hit him at that moment. "The girl's simply tired out from awakening her power… Your power Balmung." Draco said for Sora to hear as he turned to see Draco on Hunter's hip. Sora did not bother giving the maw a response as he simply nodded his head towards it, returning his attention to Makoto as he saw her slightly move on the ground in what seemed to be a pleasant sleep.

Scratching his head as he cannot help but wonder what kind of power Makoto had just unlocked for herself…

GREETINGS LOST SHEEP OF FANFICTION!? HOW IS EVERYONE DOING ON THIS FINE DAY!? I personally hope that everyone has indeed been having a good day and hope that reading my story has made your day in some way. If you all are wondering how I am doing, I am doing fine myself, life is finally coming back to a sense of normalcy and we can finally go back to normal life after years of living in stress.

SO WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT TO OUR HEROES!? HOW WILL MAKOTO REACT TO THE NEW POWERS SHE HAS UNLOCKED WITHIN HER!? WHAT ABOUT SORA MINAKAZE AND HIS ROLE IN ALL OF THIS!? IS HE THE KEY FOR MAKOTO NANAYA TO UNLOCK EVEN MORE OF HER POWER FOR THE WORLD TO SEE!? ALL THIS AND MORE FOR THE NEXT FATE TO RESOLVE!