I do hope you guys realize that this streak is probably one of the longest ones I've been on, right? That should go to show just how hyped I am to see your guy's reaction to what I've got planned. Anyway, I shouldn't say much else. You all know the drill. Let's just jump into this!

[-Opening Song: Gambling – By: Syudou-]

"Morality is not determined by the law. If that had been the case, humanity would have died out a long time ago, always bickering over the meaningless stuff. Never focusing on what needs to be done to keep society safe rather than what makes society comfortable. Basic morality is fine. It's when you start overcomplicating things—when you start trying to narrow down what is moral and what is injustice, that's when you start making things less about morals, and more about what makes you feel safe. Don't put your morals on someone else, just as I won't do the same to you." – A quote from Togami Hayato, June 2nd, 1917, one year before the end of World War 1.

[-Chapter 21: One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall-]

Metal struck metal, as sparks flew from the point of impact, as a result from the clashing of 3F and Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. Despite 3F being an Epic Tier weapon, and Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi being a Mythic Tier weapon, it was due to the fact that 3F was a Multiverse Weapon that it was able to properly clash with something of a much higher calibre without taking damage.

Despite Chinatsu's 100 extra Physical Strength over Jolyne, the latter was able to stay on even footing with her, which drew a nasty sounding snarl from the former. "Just give up!" Chinatsu bit out, drawing back her blade as she swung it at a different angle in an attempt to slice through her opponent. "You won't win!"

Jolyne, in turn, matched Chinatsu and blocked the slashing attack, the edges of their blades meeting again, a shockwave erupting from the impact as the ground beneath them cracked, denting into the ground below. Jolyne said nothing, only levelling a stern glare toward Chinatsu.

The two bounced back from one another, before charging in again, their weapons clashing once more. For one of Chinatsu's attacks that she unleashed, Jolyne was always there to put up a block. Jolyne was playing defensively, whereas Chinatsu was playing offensively. With each clash of their weapons, Chinatsu's frustration became more and more evident.

How? How could someone who was, by all accounts, still physically weaker than her be able to keep up? Yes, it was true that Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi was un-upgraded, and that from what she knew Jolyne's weapon was upgraded a little bit, but that should not have been enough to close the gap.

Chinatsu picked up the pace, and yet despite that, Jolyne was able to keep up. The sound of metal scraping against metal as the sharp edges of blades met each other in glorious combat started to turn into little more than background noise for each combatant, falling into a rhythm. They would clash weapons three times, burst back from one another, then close the distance again and pick up speed. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum.

And while Chinatsu was trying to make an opening so that she could use Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi's Weapon Art, Jolyne was simply biding her time. Waiting for Chinatsu to slip up just once. From her last battle with Chinatsu, she knew that her magic defences were lower than even most Level 10s.

Jolyne didn't pretend to bother questioning why that had been the case. All that she knew was that it was convenient for her given that, while she was physically strong, she was primarily a magic caster. Chinatsu still had the edge on her in terms of physical strength.

After the twelfth time they separated from their weapons clashing, and as soon as Jolyne built up meaningful distance between herself and Chinatsu, blood began to pour from Jolyne's finger tips. Not because she had been wounded, but because she had done so on command as a result of activating Blood Manipulation.

Chinatsu, seeing this as her chance to finally get off that strike she had so eagerly wanted to, closed the distance between herself and Jolyne, aiming to thrust her sword between her breasts and where her heart would have been so as to get the proper effect of her Weapon Art. Unfortunately for Chinatsu, what she hadn't expected was a massive group of nearly six foot long spears made of blood to form out of the blood spewing out of Jolyne's fingernails.

As Jolyne raised her hand into the air, her scowling expression unchanging, she thrust her hand forward toward Chinatsu as the spears rapidly closed in on her. Chinatsu had to skid to a halt and change stances from a thrusting attack to a deflecting one. She was fast enough to catch the first four spears, but the fifth one had just slipped past her defences, and impaled her through where her left kidney would've been.

As the spear tore through her, Chinatsu was made to stagger to the left as blood spewed from the wound. What made matters worse was the damage that was dealt as a result of her getting hit by the spear.

3,000.

Chinatsu had taken 3,000 damage, dropping her below 25% HP in a single attack. All it took was taking a single blow for her to wind up like that, which immediately put Chinatsu on the backfoot. Now, instead of Jolyne being on the defensive, it was Chinatsu's turn, as Jolyne went on the offensive.

"Damnit!" Chinatsu thought as she blocked a downward strike from the battle axe form of 3F, deflecting it just in time to block another attack. Every time she would deflect an attack, her Stamina Bar would slowly chip away faster than it could regenerate. But it was better draining stamina than getting hit again.

If she did get hit again, at any point, she would die. This was exactly what she was worried about happening. She couldn't slip up like that again, because one wrong move, and it would spell the end of her.

She wasn't able to read Jolyne's stats, but if she had to guess, due to her having ascended so rapidly and having become a Draculina, there was a good chance that her HP was in the 10,000 range. Which, for someone who was only level 45, was a lot of HP. Chinatsu was level 59, and she had a flat amount of 4,000 HP.

Even though Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi did split physical and holy damage, with the amount of health Jolyne assumedly had, doing regular attacks wouldn't do much. Regular slashes and strikes would only do maybe a couple hundred damage. Which, if she had the HP pool of someone who was actually level 45, might have actually done something.

Which was why her winning was only viable if she managed to get her Weapon Art off. Even un-upgraded, Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi's Weapon Art could easily do over 10,000 damage. The only issue was that not only did it directly scale with Faith, but due to her low Faith stat, even with the lowered Requirements curtsey of The Almighty tampering with things to allow her to use the weapon, she didn't know if her Weapon Art could actually one-shot.

And if her Weapon Art didn't one-shot Jolyne…

She would die.

As their weapons continued clashing, Chinatsu continued to buy herself enough time to recover her HP, but she had been so focused on trying to deflect Jolyne's weapon that she had entered a state of tunnel vision, not noticing that Jolyne had been one-handing 3F as she was unexpectedly punched in the side of the face.

Chinatsu's physical defence meant that she absorbed most of the damage, only taking 100 damage from the blow, but due to the slight stagger, Jolyne was able to get a free attack in on Chinatsu's arm, and as soon as she did, Jolyne immediately two-handed 3F and crashed its blade down on Chinatsu's dominate arm.

The blade of 3F's axe form cleaved through Chinatsu's arm like a hot knife to butter as she took an extra 600 damage from the attack, dropping her recovered HP from 2,000 back down to below 25%, going further past 1,500 and dipping into the triple digits.

"Crap! I need to make distance!" Chinatsu thought as she hurriedly leapt back all the while blood spewed from the open wound. As she created distance between herself and Jolyne, Jolyne used the blood coming from Chinatsu's wound to create more blood spears—about a dozen of them—and flung them at Chinatsu.

Rather than try to deflect them, Chinatsu elected to dodge the spears, barely avoiding them as they pierced the ground and disappeared into nothingness. What made this even more annoying was not just that she had lost her dominate arm, and that it would be a while before it reformed due to her Heavenly Restriction interfering with The System's magical regeneration capabilities, there was also the fact that throughout the entire battle, Jolyne's expression hadn't once changed from the stone cold mask she put on.

That was one of the things that was throwing Chinatsu off. It was the fact that, no matter how fast she attacked and no matter how close of a call that Jolyne made when it came to blocking, her expression never changed. As if to prove a point about something.

The severed arm eventually stopped bleeding, which made Jolyne stop creating more spears. Though, Chinatsu had noticed that when she created spears out of her own blood, her HP wasn't affected, as she had noticed due to the health bar above her head. So her question was what had it been that was stopping her from doing it? It certainly wasn't her Mana, was it?

Chinatsu didn't know, but she was glad that Jolyne was either going easy on her, or was still trying to get a feel for Blood Manipulation. Although, the puddles of blood on the floor that she was noticing were starting to worry her.

She had no idea what it was that Jolyne was planning to use them for, but if she had to guess, she was planning on using them as traps. Maybe that was what she was doing. Either way, Chinatsu wasn't going to let her succeed in whatever it was she was doing.

She needed to end this quickly. She couldn't allow for anymore time to pass. So, she did the only thing that she could think to do in a situation was dire as this. "DIVINE BOOST!" Chinatsu roared, activating one of the only spells that she had at her disposal.

Divine Boost doubled the casters physical strength and defence for 30 seconds. It wasn't a long time, but it was enough to hopefully make a significant difference. Charging forward, Chinatsu returned Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi to her inventory, then brought it back into her non-dominate hand to press an attack.

Once again, the two fell back into the familiar rhythm of clashing their weapons against one another, though unlike before, due to the boost in physical strength, she was finally putting Jolyne on the back foot, forcing her back ever so slightly as her expression finally changed to include narrowed eyes and a toothy sneer replacing that stupid scowl.

If this had been Chinatsu's dominate hand, though, she would've already landed the blow that she needed to land to activate her Weapon Art. As the seconds counted down, Chinatsu started to pick up the pace, increasing the flurry of attacks trying to force an opening on Jolyne. 3F slipped, allowing for Chinatsu to finally land a single attack.

Unfortunately, it was a slash and not a piercing attack, and even though it did 1,600 damage, her HP bar barely even budged compared to Chinatsu's. However, before Chinatsu could do a follow up attack with the intent to pierce, Jolyne snapped her left hand forward and grabbed Chinatsu by the throat.

Having not expected the sudden grab, Chinatsu had no defence for what came next. Dismissing 3F, Jolyne straightened out her hand and thrust her arm through Chinatsu's stomach. Had it not been for her doubled Physical Defence, that would've killed her. Instead of doing the rest of her, albeit still recovering, 900 HP, it only did shaved off 450. Pulling her arm out, she then threw Chinatsu across the arena, only for Chinatsu to stop herself from taking any arena damage by using Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi to slow her rate of impact and stopping her trajectory just inches away from the wall.

The progress on her arms regeneration slowed, as her system was now focused on healing two major injuries. That was when Chinatsu clued in to what it was that Jolyne had done. "The bitch knew my defences were doubled! She must've remembered how Divine Boost worked from when I had no choice but to help her kill Kokichi. She impaled me not in an attempt to kill me, but to divide the time it took for my regeneration to heal my arm between two injuries!"

She'd give Jolyne this: She was smart. But then, how did she know that her regeneration was already slow? Unless she was taking a guess based on how long it was taking for her arm to regenerate? That was a possibility. Whatever the case was, she now had to wait even longer to regain her dominate arm.

Pulling Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi out from the ground, Chinatsu did the only thing that she could do. She charged forward yet again, just as the final five seconds of Divine Boost were about to tick down to zero. She pulled her arm back, ready to attempt another thrusting attack. Jolyne stood there, her expression blank.

Was she stupid? Was she really just going to let her do it? Was she that cocky to think that she could survive a Pure Holy Magic attack?

The difference between Pure Holy Magic and regular Holy Magic was that Pure Holy Magic ignored resistances. It didn't matter how high of a resistance to Holy Magic someone had, it was simply bypass it to deal whatever the raw damage should be. Blasphemy Magic had a similar thing in True Blasphemy Magic. After all, Holy and Blasphemy were two sides of the same coin.

Just as Chinatsu was but an arms reach away from making contact with Jolyne, the tip of her sword mere inches away from reaching their goal, Divine Boost ended and a five minute cooldown began, and as soon as it did, Jolyne pinched the tip of Chinatsu's weapon, stopping her dead in her tracks.

Even just the force unleashed by the blade was enough to whip up a massive shockwave of power, cracking the wall behind Jolyne and leaving a small indent with fissure web cracks in the cement.

Chinatsu's eyes widened, as Jolyne frowned, her eyes gaining a disappointed gleam. "Oma. Give up," Jolyne said, her tone of voice filled with nothing but scathing frustration. "Earlier, you told me that I couldn't win. Yet, here we are, and I've taken next to no damage. Meanwhile, you're barely clinging on to life."

"Shut up, you dreg! I made a vow to God that I would slay all Vampires. You included! Add to the fact that you killed my brother, and I have more than enough reason to kill you! This is my revenge!" Chinatsu barked as Jolyne shook her head, the disappointment in her eyes doubling.

"I am offering you mercy. Call off the duel, and we can both walk away from this alive. I don't see why one of us has to die here," Jolyne said as her expression became somewhat sympathetic. "Don't you have people who care about you? Who love you? Why would you throw yourself into a death battle knowing that there are those out there who still want you to be in their lives? This doesn't have to end this way."

By the Lord Almighty, maybe she was right. Maybe, just maybe she was right. She clenched her eyes shut, as Sumire's concern-filled expression imprinted itself into her mind. What she'd give to be lying next to Sumire in bed, snuggled up in the cotton blankets that Sumire bought her as a birthday gift, watching Sailor Moon with the lights off.

The love of her life was just a quick press of a button away. She could go home, nurse her wounds, and call off whatever grudges she might have. Her inner voice of reason was telling her to do just that. To do what she knew she wanted to do.

But, at the same time, she knew damn well that if she let this Vampire go, all that would happen is more death and destruction would follow in its wake. She had heard horror stories from Jupiter regarding what he'd seen Vampires do on other worlds. Turn otherwise upstanding citizens into pawns, transforming people into violent monsters for the sake of their own amusement. Create sex slaves out of anyone with a pulse, heedless of age or gender.

Vampires were nothing more than beasts with the face of a human. It didn't matter where they were, how they were made, or what noble intentions they might have otherwise had when they turned, all it took was time and the corruption that laid therein. Vampires were beings of carnal desire. Blood, sex, and debauchery was all that they cared about.

And standing in front of her was one of the strongest kinds of Vampire. Still a fledgling, but that wouldn't be for very long. She knew it, any other Paladin would tell you that would be the case, and even other Dracula's or Draculina's would confirm it.

She thought back to Sumire's face once again, only this time, she saw the fear and terror that laid in her eyes and super imposed that to the scenario where she did walk away, and Jolyne awoke to her fullest potential as a Draculina.

Forget the Tragedy thrusting the world into an apocalypse.

Forget the Frenzy destroying the world and leaving nothing but an empty shell behind.

If Jolyne had fully embraced this path in life—which she no doubt had given her transformation into a Draculina—then the world would be left as nothing but a hunting ground of monstrous creatures. Humanity would be made a source of food, and the Undead would rule. Coupled with that wretch Makaria being a Necromancer, and any other person who was magically inclined who used what could only be described as Black Magic….

A sneer plastered itself on Chinatsu's face as she felt a boost of adrenaline rage through her body. Enough time had passed to where her HP had finally recovered to at least 50%, and while the wound in her stomach and her severed arm were still fixing themselves, it didn't matter.

"Your false words mean nothing to me, whore!" Chinatsu growled as she put all of her Physical Strength behind one last push, splitting through Jolyne's hand and tearing through her arm, taking Jolyne aback as Chinatsu roared "CLEANSE SOUL!"

In the blink of an eye, a brief shimmer of golden light radiated from the tip of Chinatsu's Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. The small shimmer of golden light then exploded into a massive ball of Pure Holy Magic, encasing Jolyne in it's power as she screamed in a mix of both pain and rage. The ball of Pure Holy Magic then proceeded to swirl and congeal into a smaller orb of power, before shooting like a beam and blasting Jolyne into the wall, burying her in Gods Light made manifest.

Chinatsu watched with a mix of both delight and triumph as Jolyne's health bar continued to fall and fall. A victorious smile made itself apparent on her face. "This is for my brother, you disgusting wench! When you get to hell, tell Lucifer he's next! He and the rest of his disgusting kin!"

Then, in a final burst of power, the ball of Pure Holy Magic imploded, making the hole in the colosseum wall even deeper. As the ball of magic faded from existence, Chinatsu stared at Jolyne, her body seemingly charred and smoking. Her head was bowed, and she looked to be dead. All she had to do to confirm that was to look up at her health bar and see—

There was still 25% of it left.

Chinatsu's eyes widened.

The burns all over Jolyne's body were being rapidly replaced by fresh skin, as Jolyne slowly craned her head to look back up at Chinatsu. Gone was the sympathetic stare from just a few seconds ago. Gone was the frustration and annoyance of having been dragged into a battle that she didn't want anything to do with. Gone was the pity that she had felt.

All of it had been replaced with one thing, and one thing alone.

Rage.

Chinatsu did not want to be on the other end of that. Blind panic and fear was what had driven her to do what she did next, as she charged forward as fast as she could. If she could just get one more Cleanse Soul off then she would win. She would rid the world of this filth. She'd avenge her brother! She'd—

The sound of her foot splashing in a puddle of blood. Two feet in diameter and three feet long, Chinatsu had less than a second to react, and unfortunately for her, Jolyne was faster than even that. With a simple flick of her wrist and a snap of her fingers, over fifty spears shot out from the puddle, and impaled Chinatsu in every direction conceivable.

She didn't even get a chance to say a single word.

One moment, her foot had just barely graced the puddle of blood, having stepped in it for less than even half a second. The next moment, she was stopped dead in her tracks, spears of blood piercing every inch of her body as Jolyne stood up, dusting herself off as her HP began to fill back up.

All of the other puddles of blood began to levitate toward Jolyne as she opened her mouth a small bit, funneling the blood back into her body as her HP replenished instantly. As for Chinatsu, her HP had hit 0. The bar above her head began to crack as Chinatsu's eyes widened.

"It's over," Jolyne declared, walking past her and not giving her the time of day. "I gave you a chance. Told you to give up. I didn't want this. I never wanted to be your enemy. I never wanted any of this to happen. We could've been friends, but you chose this."

As Jolyne said that, Chinatsu's body began to crack like a porcelain doll, fragments of light beginning to waft off her slowly degrading form as tears began to take shape in her eyes. A part of Jolyne felt bad, but another part of her felt as if this was justified—no, knew this was justified.

Sparing Chinatsu a glance over her shoulder, Jolyne continued. "Instead, you decided to make me your enemy. Your grief and anger controlled you to the bitter end. But, on the bright side, at least you might be reunited with your brother. Take solace in that."

As Chinatsu's hand turned into nothing but particles of light, so to did the severed limb on the ground, and Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. Then, not even a moment later, the rest of Chinatsu's body began to turn into particles of light. The last thing that Chinatsu ever did as tears fell from her rapidly fading form was utter the name of her girlfriend, her voice a pathetic whimper, before fizzling out into nothingness.

And as if she had simply ceased to be, Chinatsu Oma was gone.

Jolyne stared at the puddle of blood that wound up being Chinatsu's demise, before reabsorbing it too. For as angry and as disappointed as she was, Jolyne did not feel pride in her victory. She was not happy. She didn't even feel the slightest bit of joy. All she felt was hollow.

"Sumire, eh? I'll have to remember that name. It would be cruel of me to leave someone's partner uninformed about their other half's death…" Jolyne thought as something came slowly falling down to the floor. Jolyne extended her hand, as the small glowing orb of light landed neatly in the palm of her hand. As soon as it did, a pop-up appeared.

[Blessing from The Greater Will]

[Valued Champion. For successfully overcoming a Duel of Judgment, you have been rewarded with the choice of unlocking either a spell slot, perk slot, or trait slot early. Be advised that this does not take away the reward you receive at the end of a Mastery Dungeon. This is a gift from me, to you. Continue serving The Multiverse, and more rewards like this one will be yours soon enough]

Jolyne stared at the tiny shard of light in the palm of her hand, and couldn't help but gawk at what she had just read. "A blessing…?" Jolyne muttered. She was rewarded for killing another System User? Granted, it was only because of the scenario that had just occurred, but still. She also had to assume that each Blessing would be different.

Nevertheless, she didn't have to think very hard on what it was she wanted unlocked. The only perk that she had currently happened to be the only one she really needed. Vampiric Seduction was okay. She wasn't looking to build some kind of perverse harem to follow her. Granted, it could be good for harvesting more blood, but she also didn't want to fall into the trap of getting blood drunk.

She didn't know if that was a real thing, but from "her" memories, she recalled that in a lot of vampire-related media that such a thing was a possibility. If she really needed blood, she'd simply hunt for it without any aid. Besides, it wasn't as if she was going to pull random people off the street and drain them. She wasn't evil.

"I have a feeling that assumption will follow me wherever I go…" If that was the case, this was going to become progressively more and more annoying. But, that aside, she also dismissed the idea of unlocking another trait slot. For the time being, all she needed was True Vampire.

That left the only obvious slot that she needed to unlock. A secondary spell slot. Her hand closed around the small orb of light, and as soon as she did, with the thought in mind for her to unlock a secondary spell slot, she felt a rush of power and the sensation of something heavy being lifted off her shoulders.

She played with the idea of equipping Vampiric Hypnosis but ultimately decided to re-equip Blackened Domain. It was by far her second strongest, currently usable, spell. She saw no reason as to not use it. Granted, Void Snatch was also a good choice, but when Blackened Domain was such a good catch-all ability, and she had what was essentially a better Void Snatch in Blood Manipulation.

As soon as she finished selecting what she needed to select, when next she blinked, she found herself back in her dorm bedroom as she slumped against the wall, finding herself back in her unbuttoned shirt and barely hanging on bra. That was when she remembered what it was that she had been doing prior to all of what just happened, and was even further reminded when she saw Hajime pacing back and forth muttering to himself, shirtless and clearly in distress. The moment his eyes snapped onto her, his expression lit up with both joy, concern, and worry.

"Jolyne!" Hajime exclaimed as he rushed over to help her up. "What happened?!"

"Two words. Chinatsu Oma," Jolyne grumbled, scowling as she spoke. Hajime's expression darkened slightly as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"What happened? Did she hurt you? How the hell did she do that? Are you okay?" Hajime asked rapid fire as a smile teased Jolyne's lips.

"Ever the worrywart," Jolyne quipped as she tapped the tip of his nose, prompting Hajime to flinch back a couple of steps. Jolyne began to button-up her bra and shirt as she sighed. "I'm sorry, Hajime. I… I can't continue right now. Maybe some other time."

"No, it's alright. I'm not in the mood either. I'm more worried about you to care about sex," Hajime said as Jolyne smiled.

"God, what did I do to deserve someone like you?"

Hajime kissed her on the forehead, brushing some of her hair over her left ear as he smiled. "Everything and nothing at the same time."

Jolyne giggled. "That was corny as all hell."

"It's the truth, though."

"Stop!" Jolyne joked, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink as she gently shoved him, prompting him to snicker.

After a few moments passed, Jolyne's expression turned from normal to somber. "I had to kill her," Jolyne muttered as Hajime blinked, taken aback. "I didn't want to. I gave her a chance to surrender. Told her that it didn't have to end like that…" Jolyne trailed off, her eyes casting an upset glare to the floor. "I know I should feel good about it. That I defeated someone who had only ever wanted me dead. But… Every time I looked into her eyes, the only thing I saw staring back at me wasn't hate. It was grief."

"It's not your fault, though. That Kokichi guy… He was infected by, what was it again, Madness? That's what you called it?" Hajime asked as Jolyne nodded. During the two weeks before Kotoko had gotten kidnapped by The Kuzuryu Clan, she had told him about The Flame of Frenzy and how to look out for it, just in case he ever ran into someone with it and so that he could alert her about it as soon as he possibly could.

It was for his safety. She was going to tell Kotoko once she had the chance to, but she had yet to have a moment when she wasn't busy doing something and or simply forgot to do so. The last thing that she wanted was for anyone who she was close to get infected by The Flame of Frenzy. The mere idea of it was sickening, because that meant she'd have no choice but to put them down.

Hajime pulled Jolyne into a hug, placing a reassuring hand behind her shoulder as she rested her head on his shoulder. She shouldn't feel sorry for herself. But she did. She did because she hated having to kill someone who, while they made mistakes, didn't deserve it.

Chinatsu had put her into a lose-lose scenario. A final "fuck you" before she died.

Jolyne pulled herself away, letting out a frustrated sigh as she slipped past Hajime. "Put your shirt back on. I'm gonna go on a walk. I need to clear my head."

"You want me to watch over Kotoko?" Hajime offered as Jolyne blinked, before looking back over at Hajime, smiling.

"Please. I won't be gone for long. Just long enough to not feel like shit," Jolyne replied as Hajime nodded. Truthfully, Jolyne didn't know how long that would be. For all she knew it could be an hour, perhaps two. Whatever the case was, she just needed to have some time to herself to think.

Just as she opened the door to her bedroom, and just as she stepped out, she had to stop herself mid-stride to prevent herself from running into Kotoko. "Kotoko? What's—"

"Come with me, please! It's important!" Kotoko said, grabbing Jolyne's wrist and forcing her out of her bedroom. Jolyne didn't have time to process what had just happened as she was unceremoniously dragged out of her dorm apartment, down the dark blue painted halls of the dormitory building, down a flight of stairs, and then out of the building and into the afternoon sunset.

Cupping her forehead to try and ease the building headache and confusion, Jolyne blinked a few times as she tried to reorientate herself. For someone half her size and weight, Kotoko was surprisingly strong and fast.

"Guys! I brought her! I told you I wasn't kidding! She can help you, just like she helped me!" Kotoko exclaimed as Jolyne finally collected herself as she stared down what had to be the strangest grouping of kids that she had ever laid eyes upon.

From left to right, the first and most important thing that she noted about them was that they were all dressed in the same school uniform as students from The Elementary Division, and that one of them was in a wheel chair.

Then came their actual appearances. The first, and also most concerning one, was a boy with a large stitched together mask cobbled together out of various bits of leather and what appeared to be metal tubes sticking out from various spots at random. The only identifiable features about him was his golden yellow, seemingly dead looking eyes.

The second one of the four was another boy with short blue hair. He had two pointed cowlicks on either side of his head that looked like horns, and his skin was sickly pale. His eyes matched his hair, and if Jolyne hadn't known any better, he appeared to be rather erratic based on how his fingers were twitching. Either that, or he was very impatient.

The third kid was a boy with spiky red hair and tanned skin. His eyes were an electric blue and he had a bandage on his left cheek. There were also faint bruises on his neck, and from what Jolyne could see peeking out from his uniform sleeves, his left wrist was also bruised.

Then, there was the fourth and final kid of the bunch. She appeared to be the only girl in the group, aside from Kotoko that was. She had short green hair with a large red ribbon sitting gently in her hair. She, much like the blue-haired boy, had pale skin. She also had matching eyes to her hair.

However, there was something else in there, too.

Something that made Jolyne go white as a ghost.

"Hello. I am Towa Monaca. A pleasure to meet you."

"No… Mono, don't tell me…"

There was an orangish, yellow flicker in the back of her eyes. It was very subtle, as if hidden. But anyone who knew anything about it would recognize it the second it appeared.

"Utsugi-chan has told Monaca a lot about you, Brooks-san. Please, Monaca wants to be friends," The girl, Monaca, said as she adjusted herself in her wheelchair, clapping her hands together as she playfully tilted her head.

[I'm afraid so, Jolyne…]

"Big sis! You've got to help them! Please!" Kotoko exclaimed as a mountain of pressure found itself stacking and stacking atop her. Jolyne's eyes only continued to widen as her pupils shrank into even more predatory slits. And while she didn't show any kind of malice—not visible anyway—Jolyne felt as if she made the wrong move, things would only go from bad to worse.

But Mono was already a step ahead of her on that regard.

[That child has been infected with The Flame of Frenzy. Directly from The Lord of Frenzied Flame themselves.]

[-To Be Continued-]

[-Outro Song: Paradisus-Paradoxum – By: Myth & Roid-]

A bit shorter than the last couple of chapters. However, that's primarily because this was mostly combat focused. However, the same can't be said for the next chapter. That one's gonna be a bit on the larger side. Anyway, that's for next time. Before we call it quits for this chapter, though, I still have to respond to reviews/comments. So, I'mma do that!

(Qoutev) Sunky Addict: Yup! I mean, not everything could be break neck pace. Sometimes things need to slow tf down.

(FF) Aiden: HappinessCharge was not a spelling mistake. That was how the title was spelled. Also, I like Transformers. Let me make my references in peace.

(Ao3) JustSomeoneCooler: That's what happens when you've deluded yourself to the point of insanity.

(Ao3) void_boi1: Juzo is a bitch, so he deserved it. Never liked him. He deserves everything bad that happens to him and more.

And that's about that. See you all in the next one! Peace!