Dark, soft, warm, and wet. These were the first four thoughts that crossed Alcyone's mind, as she slowly awakened from a peaceful slumber. Her mind was foggy yet peaceful, as she slowly began to appreciate these feelings, having lived without them for two days.

Instead of a purple hued, massive, open room inhabited by a psychotic monster, she was inside her own cozy bedroom. Lit up only by the occasional lightning bolt, as well as the castle's ambient glow slipping in through the window. The softness came from the cotton sheets and duvet that covered the thick blanket and the king-sized mattress. An experience that seemed like the greatest luxury in life after what she had been through. The source of the warmth was her beloved who slept soundly next to her, snuffling quietly as he breathed. As she tried to move, she found her naked body still wrapped and interlocked with Hotaru's, and unwilling to let go.

It took a moment for her mind to understand it, but the wetness she was experiencing was Hotaru's sweat. While Hotaru's body was always warmer than hers, today it felt even hotter and slick with perspiration. This made their usual blanket wrap feel hot and humid, and their skins to stick to one another. At first Alcyone felt slightly disgusted by this, until she remembered all that had happened yesterday.

Hotaru had withstood an assault from Debonair that would surely have killed even a Magic Knight-piloted Mashin, right before her eyes. Not only had he relentlessly pressed on no matter how dire things got, but after saving her, Alcyone had borne witness to the world outside. The rocky wasteland that surrounded Debonair's tower was covered in craters of varying sizes, some of which went all the way through the world. While Hotaru's show of power was impressive, it also must have had a limit.

He must have been exhausted by the time we returned home. And by the sound of his conversation with Debonair, I only know half of it. He may be worthy of becoming the next Pillar, but even then, he would have his limits.

Remembering the time she had looked after Hotaru after their fight against Zagato and Emeraude, Alcyone could tell the situation wasn't as dire. Compared to when Hotaru had taken her power enhancing drug, he was sleeping peacefully and comfortably. Placing her hand onto his forehead, she could tell he was warm but not feverish. Reminded of how much it meant for her to have Hotaru by her side, Alcyone embraced him tighter, happy to have the Pillar of her life back.

Pillar… Hotaru, you chose me over being the next Pillar, despite not knowing how long our relationship will last. You warned me not to love someone as blindly and obedient as Zagato, but I already love you even more than that…

Falling asleep again in her lover's arms, Alcyone dreamt of sharing a bath and a drink with Hotaru in Sanctuary's bathhouse. After sleeping an undetermined amount of time, her dream was interrupted by gentle stroking against her cheek. Opening her eyes, she could perceive Hotaru's lime-green eyes in the dim light of their bedroom, as he smiled at her gently.

"Sleep well?" Hotaru asked, admiring the nubile beauty of the sorceress.

"With you, always," Alcyone smiled back, before asking innocently. "Fifteen more minutes?"

Leaning in close and kissing Alcyone on her red lips, Hotaru then sat up on the bed, "Sorry, but we need to get going. We just had another earthquake and I don't think we have much time to waste."

Realizing she had slept through an earthquake, Alcyone quickly got up as well. Although her clothes were magically placed on by putting on her forehead gem, Hotaru had to go through his belongings in the dresser. As Hotaru began to dress up, Alcyone couldn't help but continue their conversation from yesterday.

"So, what do you plan on doing now that you have a Cephiroan body?" Alcyone asked, her voice dropping to a slightly sultrier tone.

"I was thinking that living forever would be on the docket," Hotaru answered with a little bit of ego showing. "Maybe simply enjoy life for a few centuries and then try to take over the world if I get bored. I believe we both have hearts and wills strong enough to live as long as Clef has."

"That may be true," Alcyone smiled, imagining a long and wonderful life with Hotaru, "but I meant what will you do with your body?"

"Huh?"

"Cephiroans with powerful wills can adjust our bodies over time, whether it be subtle changes in appearance or our age," Alcyone pointed out. "You could make yourself look older if you want."

"Aaaahh…" Hotaru realized what she meant, before asking playfully. "Do you not like my boyish youthful looks then?"

Letting a slight giggle, Alcyone smiled, "I must admit you are cute, but I wonder how you would look slightly more mature."

While winking at Hotaru teasingly and watching him blush slightly, Alcyone was frozen by a sudden realization, "Wait… What do you mean by taking over the world?"

"Well… It is something I mentioned to Romeo before he and I became one," Hotaru answered roundaboutly, while putting on a pair of black pants. "He was dead set on us ruling Cephiro as its Pillars since I had the dream of ruling the world in my previous life. I figured I could do it if I wanted to, whether I was the Pillar or not, which made him give up. But after hearing your accounts of trying to rule the world, I understand if you are not interested in that kind of stuff anymore."

"I see…" Alcyone smiled warmly, happy that Hotaru had considered her feelings too. "Maybe in a few hundred years I too will… What did you mean by us? He didn't seem to have a high opinion of me so I don't think…"

Seeing Alcyone's eyes widen all of a sudden and her pupils narrow, Hotaru could tell that she had realized the answer to her own question. Staring at her quietly, Hotar continued putting on his clothes as he waited for her answer.

"One heart, two minds…" Alcyone said quietly, as tears began to well in her eyes. "…An all-encompassing responsibility split between two nigh omnipotent beings. You two would have been able to act as twin Pillars, which would've allowed you to rule Cephiro with more freedom than any Pillar before you…"

"That's pretty much what Romeo said too," Hotaru nodded, before admitting. "It would've worked too. The Proof of the Pillar split itself and everything."

"Then WHY did you not accept?" Alcyone yelled, flabbergasted by his choice, while tearing up. "You could've had everything!"

Sensing Alcyone already knew the answer, Hotaru wrapped his arm around her before pulling her into his embrace. As he did, Alcyone pressed herself against his undershirt, while hugging him tightly. They both remembered what Debonair had said yesterday, making the answer clear.

"Why… Why did you choose me over the world? Why did you choose to save me?" Alcyone asked after calming down, desiring to know the answer. "…Why do you love me so much?"

"Why did you try to sacrifice yourself in my stead?" Hotaru asked, until remembering how much guilt Alcyone felt for her past actions. "…Well, to start off, just as this world was familiar to me through the story, I was familiar with all the characters in it. And, to be completely honest, you were my favorite character."

While this was a simplified answer that didn't tell the whole story, it wasn't a lie either. Hotaru had liked Ferio the best as a child due to his charming demeanor and attitude, and Zagato as a teen due to his design, power, and will. But it was Alcyone who had been his favorite in his adulthood.

"I've always liked villains so you being one didn't bother me. But beyond that I saw a beautiful woman filled to the brim with determination, loyalty, love, and ambition," Hotaru spoke proudly, looking into Alcyone's eyes. "While you never succeeded in your goals and always met with a grisly end, I couldn't help but be drawn to you. Not as someone to pity, mind you, but as someone who held onto her devotion till the end."

With Alcyone staring at him lost for words, Hotaru wrapped his other arm around her, holding her firmly, "Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, I would choose to rule the world over any single woman. But since fate has bestowed me a woman like you, it wouldn't feel right to rule without you by my side."

Feeling the warmth and love of Hotaru radiating into her body, Alcyone looked at him enamored, before smiling weakly, "I don't know if I will have it in me to want to rule the world again, but I don't want to do it without you either."

As the two of them stood as equals, they shared a second morning kiss, before finally breaking away from the embrace. Feeling more confident and surer of the future than ever before, Hotaru pulled a black suit jacket out of the drawer before putting it on. Straightening himself out in front of the mirror, he smiled contently for his choice in apparel for today.

Staring at the strange outfit, Alcyone couldn't help but feel captivated by it, "You do look stylish in that. When you requested Mokona to make it for you, I never expected you had thought this far ahead."

"This day has been a long time coming," Hotaru pointed out, combing his hair back for the first time in decades. "When partaking in negotiations, it is appropriate to dress the part."

The high security prisons were located at the halfway point of the Sanctuary's northern tower. Not once had they been used since the creation of the crystal castle, nor had anyone expected them to be put to use. After all, who would try to commit crimes or break the rules during the apocalypse? But if one needed to store away prisoners of war, there was no better place for it.

One of the larger cells was a pitch black round room. The walls and the ceiling were all a singular black dome, with no windows or light fixtures. The floor was split into two round sections. The outer section was covered in black stone slabs of different sizes and shapes, while the inner section was a dark violet piece of matte crystal. Atop of which the cell's furnishings were located; two green beds with soft mattresses and a floor lamp that seemed to defy gravity. A walkway matching the inner circle connected the center of the room with a heavily reinforced cell door that had no windows.

In this cell, there were two prisoners. One of them was a young man with white hair, metal boots and black, form fitting clothes. The second was a taller, more muscular man with dark hair, wearing metal boots and green, sleeveless overalls. Having been stripped of almost all of their gear and military ensemble, one wouldn't imagine these two to be the top command of the invading planet Autozam.

Sitting on his bed with nothing to do but wait, Geo Metro followed the movements of his commander. Eagle had been pacing around the cell for a while, inspecting its structure and make. As far as they knew, there was a transparent dome around them that separated the two sections of the room. How it was projected was anybody's guess, but from what Geo could tell, breaking it open wouldn't be an issue.

"How much longer?" Geo asked, leaning his hand against his cheek.

"We're at around thirty five percent," Eagle answered, laying down on his bed casually. "With a structure this big it will take a while to scan it all."

"Not to mention we are trying to find a source of great mental energy inside a structure made out of mental energy," Geo sighed frustratedly. "It is like trying to find a piece of hot metal in a pile of slightly less hot metal pieces."

"Easier than it might seem," Eagle chuckled, "with the right equipment. I wonder how Zazu is doing commanding the ship alone…"

"Don't remind me…" Geo grunted while laying down as well. "He is either raiding the liquor cabinet or trying to figure out a way to make the NSX transform into a robot."

"Oh, you've seen the blueprints too?" Eagle asked casually.

"Blueprints!?" Geo yelled out, until realizing Eagle was messing with him.

As the two of them started laughing, they were interrupted by a sudden increase in brightness. The heavy-set doors of the cell slid to the side, exposing the brightly lit corridor behind them. Realizing they had company, Eagle and Geo quickly stood up straight. Expecting to be interrogated by men in fantasy suits of armor, they were surprised as they were approached by a group of women.

The first their eyes were drawn to was one they were familiar with. Short with red hair and clothes, with some bits of armor, Hikaru looked the same as always. Three of the women were blondes, two of whom looked almost completely identical, except for their outfits. Their long hair and tall athletic bodies would not have looked out of place if placed next to Autozam's supermodels. The third blonde was shorter in both hair and body, but looked far more polite with her green outfit and round glasses. Noticing the similar pieces of armor on her, they realized she was one of the other Magic Knights. The fifth woman took them by surprise the most, as she had green hair, large multicolored wings, and taloned hands. They had known Cephiro was a fantasy world, but this was their first time coming across a fantasy creature other than Lantis's horse.

Confused by the seemingly random assortment of women, they watched as they positioned themselves to the sides of the walkway. As they moved out of the way, they could see a man of roughly the same height and age as Eagle behind them. While the women all had somewhat strange outfits on them, the man's apparel seemed the most alien of them all.

The brunet man wore a black and well-tailored double breasted suit jacket with silver buttons and matching trousers. Underneath the suit he had a dark green collared shirt and a black tie. He wore a pristine leather belt and matching shoes, with simple silver cufflinks and belt buckle. Despite having his hair neatly combed back and walking in a dignified manner, it was easy to recognize him by his lime-green eyes.

"Commander Hotaru… we meet at last," Eagle spoke in a polite tone, recognizing the man.

Despite some of the girls giggling at Eagle's use of the word Commander, Hotaru kept a diplomatic expression, "Commander Eagle. I hope you have found your temporary abode to your liking. Next time we hope to provide you one with a lavatory."

Almost frozen by Hotaru's remark, Geo looked down at the shorter man, "So you are Commander Hotaru. Frankly I was expecting someone older, but I guess Cephiroans really can't be judged by appearance."

Turning to look up at Geo, Hotaru smirked, "Second-in-command Geo Metro, you're shorter than expected."

"What was that!" Geo asked aggressively, shoving his arm against the dome. "Why don't you come over to this side and say that again?"

"Geo!" Eagle scolded him, but was silenced by Hotaru's approach.

As if the wall wasn't there in the first place, Hotaru walked through the invisible barrier. The women were shocked by this as much as the prisoners, as the finely dressed man showed no worry or care. Almost by instinct, both Geo and Eagle took a step back, able to feel the pressure exerted by the enemy commander.

Sniffing the air, Eagle couldn't help but hold his nose, "Ugh… What is that smell?"

"Smell?" Geo asked, blinking confusedly.

Remaining calm and unperturbed, Hotaru addressed the elephant in the room, "Apologies, I spent all day yesterday killing monsters. The ladies over there already pointed out I should have taken a bath before coming to meet you, but Cephiro is standing on its last legs as is."

Looking behind Hotaru, Geo could see the women all smiling awkwardly. While he wasn't bothered by the enemy commander's odor due to being used to working with infantry, the girls all seemed more embarrassed about their delegate's cleanliness.

Extending his open hand out, Hotaru requested politely, "Now, your weapons, please."

Taken aback by this request, Eagle smiled gently, "You are a bit late. Our weapons have all already been taken away."

"As if any of these well natured people would know how to search prisoners," Hotaru sighed, before speaking in a more serious tone. "You can start by handing over that computer you have stashed in your boot."

"Huh!?" Geo and Eagle gasped, shocked by the specificness of Hotaru's demand.

"Computer?" Fuu tilted her head, being the only one familiar with such technology. "I don't think something like that can fit…"

As Fuu was presenting her doubts, Eagle knelt down in front of Hotaru, before reaching for the heel of his right boot. Pulling out a small round disc with four blue projectors, Eagle handed the computer over.

"Eagle!" Geo addressed his friend disapprovingly.

"It is fine, Geo. He obviously has already seen through our plan," Eagle answered, handing over a hidden switch blade as well.

Following along reluctantly, Geo pulled out a hidden, curved detonator from the back of his shoe. After this, he reached under his arms, pulling out a pain of futuristic knuckledusters. Feeling confident that he had received all of their hidden arsenal, Hotaru walked out of the dome so as not to stink up the closed space too much. He handed the weapons over to Presea and Sierra, before addressing the prisoners again.

"Now, let us negotiate," Hotaru said with a wide smile, giving off an air of relaxedness.

"Negotiate?" Eagle asked surprised. "Rarely do people in charge feel the need to negotiate with prisoners. Usually, it is the other way around."

"Yes, but consider this as a cultural exchange," Hotaru smiled, slipping into his customer service mode. "You see we both have something that we need and something we can offer in exchange. I believe Cephiro and Autozam can have a prosperous future ahead of us."

"W-What are you saying, Hotaru?" Presea asked in shock, having not been told about this.

The other women also looked at Hotaru in surprise. While they had all come by his request, Hotaru hadn't exactly revealed what he had in mind. In fact, they had all been quite surprised when approached by Hotaru wearing a suit. He had explained to them that it was close to his work clothes in his previous life, but not much else beyond his plan.

"Naruhodo," Eagle smiled with a chuckle. "You say you have a solution for Autozam's energy crisis?"

"That may be so," Hotaru admitted with a slow nod, "but let us start with extending your lifespan a bit, shall we?"

"Eh?"

"Fuu, Terra, if you two would be so kind as to use your healing," Hotaru instructed the two women in green, pointing them towards the prisoners. "Our sick guest here could use a pick-me-up."

"But Mr. Hotaru," Fuu objected. "Our healing magic works on injuries, not sickness or diseases."

"Just as do as I say," Hotaru instructed them while gently pushing them towards the invisible dome.

After a moment of hesitation, Fuu and Terra slowly entered the dome by Hotaru's encouragement, before bowing politely. Realizing why the two of them had been chosen, Fuu and Terra pointed their hands towards Eagle.

"Winds of Healing!"

Green light and wind spread over Eagle, covering his body, as Autozam's commander stood still. Although the Magic Knight had pointed out her healing magic wasn't useful on illness, he could feel a warm sensation inside of him. The radiating pain throughout his body waned and lessened, and it became easier for him to breathe. It was as if his insides had been healed of long festering acid burns that had plagued his mood for a few weeks now.

"This… This is incredible," Eagle spoke, even his voice sounding a bit more cheerful now. "I feel so much better now!"

"A-Are you healed, Eagle?" Geo asked, his eyes wide as a major sensation of relief took him over.

"That's wonderful!" Hikaru exclaimed, having followed along quietly until now.

"Has our healing gotten stronger?" Terra asked, looking at her hands and then at Fuu.

"Probably not," Hotaru said bluntly, before turning to Eagle, "nor do I believe that your disease has been cured completely."

Feeling like a bucket of cold water had been poured on him, Eagle asked, "Then what was the point in all this?"

"The point is that the disease you have causes organ failures and internal bleeding," Hotaru pointed out. "While the disease itself cannot be healed by Cephiroan healing magic, the damage it causes can be treated. Until we can come up with a cure, you just need get yourself fixed up every couple of weeks."

As Hikaru was about to exclaim happily, Eagle interrupted her by slamming his fist against the barrier furiously.

"Kisama!" Eagle yelled out, staring at Hotaru. "How dare you give me hope while offering me a treatment that ties me to this world!"

While at first the others were shocked by Eagle's ungratefulness and volatile reaction, they soon realized what he meant. Turning towards Hotaru, they saw a sly and venomous grin spread across his face from ear to ear. While Hotaru's actions seemed benevolent, he couldn't have shown a more devilish way of expressing his plan working.

"I am glad we are on the same page now," Hotaru smiled smugly. "But don't worry. I am certain that the combined medical knowledge of both our worlds will be able to find a permanent cure for your trouble. Until then, how about we talk about the energy crisis?"

Realizing his adversary held all the cards in his hand and knew it, Eagle slowly calmed down, before steeling himself, "Very well, what do you propose?"

"In the long run, alternative sources of energy, but for now, we need something we can create quickly," Hotaru answered, before turning over to Hikaru. "Hikaru-chan, could you hand me your sword for a moment?"

"A-Are you sure about that?" Hikaru asked, worried what might happen.

"But Hotaru, didn't you say that—!" Sierra objected, but too late.

Seeing no hesitation in Hotaru's eyes, Hikaru summoned her Escudo sword from the magic gem on her glove. Handing the greatsword with an intricate red and gold hilt over to Hotaru, the young man grabbed its handle and held it above his head. Almost instantly, the gems on the hilt of Hikaru's sword began to spew radiant orange and gold flames. These flames quickly spread all over Hotaru, their raging heat and intensity causing others to quickly back away from him. And yet, the man dressed in a business suit and engulfed in flames, seemed not bothered in the slightest.

"W-What is the meaning of this?!" Geo asked, trying his best to withstand the heat through the forcefield.

While Eagle also was repelled by the heat, he couldn't help but be impressed, "Unbelievable…"

"This is but the side-feature of one of Cephiro's many magical items," Hotaru explained calmly, barely even feeling the flames through Tungsten Defense. "In the wrong hands, this sword emits an infinite amount of intense fire as long as it is held onto. As an educated individual I am sure you realize how easily this thermal energy could be converted into a form usable by your society."

"But Hotaru!" Presea interrupted him, yelling over the flames. "That is a legendary Escudo sword! It is not like we have large quantities of magic items of this caliber!"

Offering the sword back to Hikaru, Hotaru waited until his friend took her weapon back. Although the sword was covered in flames, as soon as Hikaru grabbed hold of the handle, the flames dissipated.

"That may be the case," Hotaru retorted calmly while blowing into the hand that had held the sword. "But like I said, that was but a side-feature of the sword. Imagine a magical item created for the sole purpose of doing something similar. Or, something even better…"

As the two commanders looked into each other's eyes, gears began to turn in Eagle's head, "…A magic item that produces mental energy… Would that be possible?"

Turning towards Presea and Sierra, Hotaru asked, "What do our resident magic item experts say?"

Finally realizing why they had been brought here, Presea sighed deeply, "Good grief. Calling us magic item experts? We're blacksmiths and artisans, not enchanters or magi-crafters."

"Maybe… but it should be possible," Sierra spoke out loud thinking about it. "And item with the main purpose to simply produce magical power over time should be possible. If that is of any help to you."

"Our chief engineer is not with us right now, but he would certainly be interested in hearing about this," Geo pointed out, stroking his chin.

"How much mental… I mean, magical power would the item theoretically be able to produce?" Eagle asked, still considering the idea sternly.

"It is… hard to quantify," Sierra admitted, not even knowing what units of measurement to use. "…I suppose if it were well crafted, it could be comparable to a single beginner level mage."

Hearing the blacksmith's analysis, Eagle finally exhaled, trying to hold back his disappointment, "I see… I thank you for the suggestion, but I am afraid that would not be enough. Autozam is currently holding hundreds of thousands of people in artificial comas in order to harvest mental energy from them. A magic item like that would be just a drop in a bucket for our ludicrous needs."

"Don't be so quick to give up," Hotaru wagged his finger while grinning. "Have you never heard of the golden rule of industrialism? If it can be produced, it can be mass produced."

Turning towards Presea, Hikaru looked up at her with sparkling eyes, "Is that true? Can magic items be produced quickly?"

"I… I don't think so," Presea admitted, her mind overwhelmed by all the questions. "I don't even know if such an item can be made in the first place."

Sitting down on his bed, Eagle looked at the ground, "And even if they could be mass produced, who knows how long it would take to make enough units to wake up all the people. There would be civil unrest as people would try to make sure their relatives are brought out of the coma first."

"Then you must simply keep the populace at bay," Hotaru answered coldly and sternly. "You need to stop thinking in quick fixes and start thinking in the long term. Producing enough magic batteries to replace your human batteries may take a while, but it will be worth it. Imagine all the good they can do to your world in the long run."

"But how would we even decide who gets to be taken out of stasis first!" Eagle yelled, getting off the bed and staring into Hotaru's eyes. "Every day of my life I have lived hearing people crying for the return of their loved ones! They are like prisoners who have done nothing wrong but never get to go home, because of the decisions made by politicians in the past!"

Without even a hint of empathy or even blinking as Eagle poured his heart out, Hotaru answered, "Just tell them to take turns. Once we start sending the batteries over, you can reduce the number of people required to power your world. When that happens, you can start rotating the people in coma-duty. In fact, I would wager there will be new volunteers for becoming batteries once they know it is only temporary. Especially if you give them fitting benefits."

While somewhat disturbed by Hotaru's cold straightforwardness, Eagle couldn't argue against it. Autozam's energy crisis had lasted longer than he had lived. While he wanted to free all the people being harvested for mental energy, doing so all at once would require something drastic, like becoming the Pillar of Cephiro. But now that he was no longer doomed to die within a week, maybe he could take time to find another solution?

His train of thought was interrupted, as Hotaru spoke in a more cheerful tone, "Now then, we've established what Cephiro can do for Autozam. So let us talk about what Autozam can do for Cephiro."

Realizing he was dealing with a businessman and not a military commander, Eagle sighed before getting in the right mindset, "…What is it that you want in return?"

"Not a lot, really," Hotaru answered, thinking back on his life. "Cephiro is a simple feudal society with a few magical quality of life aspects to it, and next to nothing resembling electronics. I like it that way, as it makes it easy to relax and keep your life worry free. However, I am worried my time here will get boring after a while."

"Hold on… Are you saying you're not from Cephiro?" Geo pointed out, having suspected things for a while.

"Depends how you look at it, really," Hotaru shrugged. "The point is, in return for our help I expect you to in turn lend us some of your technology. Nothing major. I don't want communications networks or factories ruining the beauty of this world. But I have a few requests…"

"Video game consoles and microwave ovens?" Fuu asked through the glare of her eyeglasses, staring at Hotaru.

"I think it is a cheap price to pay for saving their world," Hotaru smiled confidently while walking down the corridors of the Sanctuary. "Little bit of entertainment and a way to quickly warm your leftovers. Plus, all I need to run them is a bit of electricity which shouldn't be a problem, if we get those batteries working."

"You could have asked for something more useful," Presea pointed out. "A better way to store food for long periods of time would be nice."

"Well, I did think of refrigerators and freezers, but I feel like Alcyone would not approve…" Hotaru admitted.

Last thing she needs is people who don't like her calling her a fridge…

After negotiating with Eagle and Geo for about thirty minutes, both sides had finally reached an agreement. In return for the magical energy batteries, Autozam would offer shipments of their technology when requested. In order for the project to progress smoothly and as quickly as possible, both Cephiro and Autozam would share their magical and scientific knowledge. In exchange for helping in the final battle against Debonair, Hotaru had promised to arrange healers to be transported on Autozam. This way Eagle could be treated weekly on Autozam instead of having to stay on Cephiro, and the treatment could be given to others in need of it.

With the negotiations finished, Hotaru and the others had left Terra and Hikaru behind, as they had further business at the prison. In the meanwhile, Hotaru had no time to relax just yet, as there was another meeting waiting for him in the central tower. Reaching one of the smaller meeting rooms, Hotaru was surprised by how many people were waiting for him. He had expected to see Umi and Ferio, but to have Mokona, Clef, and Caldina also present made the room more cramped than he expected. He wondered if he should ask Presea and Sierra to leave, but this idea was quickly thwarted.

"Pupuu!" Mokona chirped, jumping at Presea.

"Mokona!" Presea exclaimed, barely able to catch the hyperactive rabbit blob. "How have you been?"

"Sorry to intrude on your meeting like this, but we figured this would save us some time," Clef explained, sitting on a floating egg-shaped chair. "Mokona prepared us all some snacks so we can eat while we talk."

"I suppose that is fine," Hotaru said, sitting down on a floating stool. "I haven't had breakfast yet."

With Clef summoning more chairs, everyone sat down around a medium-sized round, floating table. The meeting room was quite cozy and brightly lit, with chocolate and cream-colored walls with golden trims. The floor was made out of intricately cut, smooth stone slabs, with an ornate golden trim running around the room. In addition to the floating round table and its chairs, there was a large couch with a coffee table and a purple chair. One of the walls was a rather sizable bookshelf, with a reading desk in front of it.

A large stacked cake stand had been placed in the middle of the round table. Cookies, crackers, candies, cakes, and pastries covered the top layer, while the bottom layer had more savory options. There was a porcelain pot of tea and some cups placed to the side of the stand, which all but turned the meeting into a tea-party.

Having finished a sandwich with a fish filling, Hotaru asked the Magic Knights, "So then, what is the status on Chizeta and Fahren? How did your meetings with the princesses go?"

"We were interrupted by Terra's attack before we managed to get the answer," Ferio replied, before being side-eyed by Fuu. "…And I guess I interrupted Aska as well."

Clearing her throat, Fuu continued the report, "In any case, it seems that Ms. Aska has understood the limitations of the Pillar, but whether she has given up I am not so sure."

"I take it you also have no confirmation on if she will assist us against Debonair," Hotaru sighed before scarfing down three cookies.

"How badly do we still need their help?" Caldina asked after sipping some tea. "Out of the five shadows, we have captured one and befriended another. So, isn't our situation gettin' better?"

"Right… I didn't tell you yet," Hotaru remembered. "I also… reached an understanding with Romeo and fused back together with him. As for Stella, she was never on Debonair's side and… ah."

Noticing Hotaru having frozen completely, Sierra asked worriedly, "Is something wrong, Hotaru?"

Oh my god I completely forgot about Stella! I need to try and find her with Alcyone as soon as we get the chance! I swear, if she also fled into the wasteland, I am going to raise a hurricane searching the entire place!

"…I just remembered something I need to take care of later," Hotaru eventually pulled himself together." But in any case, the only shadow left right now is Luna."

As Hotaru was gritting his teeth while trying to keep up his poker face, nobody seemed to notice Umi staring down at her lap. The news that only Luna was left was both reassuring, but also disheartening to her. The fact she was the last person with her shadow on the loose was shameful, but it also carried a sense of urgency. It felt as if her time for reconnecting with her shadow and saving Ascot and the others kidnapped by Luna, was running out. She wanted to bring this up, but the conversation was going too quickly for Umi to get a word in.

"What happened between you, Stella, and Romeo yesterday?" Clef asked, leaning against his staff worriedly. "Lantis and I investigated the chamber of the Proof of the Pillar. I can only assume you three were responsible, Hotaru."

"I will tell you later if you promise to help me with something after this," Hotaru exclaimed, still worried about Stella. "Anyway, the point that I was trying to make earlier is that even without the shadows, we are still going to need help. Debonair is a far greater threat now than in the previous timeline from what I've seen. We can reduce her powers by keeping the masses calm, but I would rest easy if we had the three nations on our side like last time."

"Wait, last time?" Ferio spoke out. "You mean we had their help in the original story?"

"Correct," Hotaru nodded heavily. "The three warships fought alongside the Mashins' fused form, and even then, it was a close call. While we will have me, Eagle, and Alcyone on our side this time, Debonair also has new toys at her disposal."

"You mean the evil Mashins?" Fuu asked worriedly, grasping the hem of her skirt.

"Yes," Hotaru nodded again. "By fusing with the remains of Regalia, Debonair was able to grow powerful enough to shoot down the battleships with little effort. If she can do the same with all three…"

"That can't be!" Umi interrupted, frightened. "You mean she took down those giant vessels like they were clay pigeons?!"

As the people of Cephiro wondered what a clay pigeon was, Hotaru affirmed, "That's right. I was worried we would have to fight five Debonair fused Mashins, but three is still a great threat. Because of this I must know, Umi, what was the response of the sisters?"

Realizing the true weight of the situation, Umi straightened her posture, "Our discussions were a bit heated, but after fighting against Luna and… her escape, we seemed to have reached an understanding. They said they would consider it."

Crossing his arms across the breast of his suit, Hotaru sighed deeply, "I may have to pay Dome and Bravada a visit later today… But first I need to—"

"Wait Hotaru!" Umi stood up quickly, tired of being talked over. "Please tell me this. Did you know that Ascot was in love with me?"

Seeing everyone's eyes turn back to him, Hotaru could notice Caldina staring at him the most sternly. Even last night, when Umi had told him what had happened to her and Ascot, Caldina had been staring at him sternly. While neither of them spoke it out loud, Hotaru knew Caldina blamed Ascot's kidnapping mainly on him.

So that's why Caldina is here, Hotaru thought to himself, before admitting. "Yes, I knew of his feelings towards you from the get go. They were his own so I felt no need to reveal them to everyone."

"And yet you had no qualms about using his feelings to send Ascot into battle," Caldina spoke in a serious tone, dropping her accent.

"How was I supposed to know that this would happen?" Hotaru defended himself. "I just wanted to at least give the boy the chance to prove himself to Umi by helping her out. And from what I heard the help was necessary."

Listening to Caldina and Hotaru argue, Umi couldn't bring herself to blame Hotaru. If he had been aware of Ascot's feelings towards her, then of course him trying to make Ascot act on them was the right choice for Ascot's heart. But as she thought of his words, something occurred to her.

"Wait… What do you mean by giving Ascot the chance?" Umi asked, staring down at Hotaru as she stood. "Did he not have one originally?"

Hotaru's expression went pale at the question, as an awkward silence took over the room. It wasn't Umi's question that caused him to go pale, but the company he was in. While lying his way out would have been easy, he knew this would only blow up in his face later.

"He… did have the chance to tell you he loved you," Hotaru eventually admitted, while feeling hot under the collar of his suit. "But… you ended up friend zoning him."

"Friend zoning?" Ferio raised his eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"I keep forgetting what time period this is," Hotaru facepalmed before sighing. "It means you told him you only saw him as a friend. I think he took it well, but I thought I could help him out a bit."

A sinking feeling took over Umi's heart, "Why… did I do that?"

"Because you have a…" Hotaru started, before Umi's words fully sank into him. "…Do you not have a crush on Clef?"

"WHAT!?" the entire room erupted all at once, almost causing the round table to tip over.

Catching the cake stand at the very last second, Presea turned to Umi, "You have a crush on Clef as well!?"

"N-No I don't!" Umi blushed bright red while waving her arms. "You're into him so I… what do you mean as well!?"

"I also have a crush on him!" Sierra yelled. "You got a problem with that?"

"La-Ladies could you please all calm down?" Clef requested, trying to stay calm himself.

"Stay out of this!" The three yelled all at once.

"Why does everyone have a crush on Clef?" Ferio blinked confused.

"I guess because you are taken," Fuu smiled smugly, causing the prince to blush.

"Puru pudu puu…" Mokona chirped quietly, hiding underneath the table from all the yelling.

As the two blacksmiths, Clef and Umi continued trying to sort out their love pyramid, Caldina and Hotaru looked at each other. Staring into each other's eyes, the phrases see what I mean? and I see what you mean were exchanged without a word. Reaching a nonverbal understanding, they both grabbed themselves some snacks on their plates, while waiting for all this to blow over.

"So which one of them ended with Clef?" Caldina asked quietly, taking a bite out of a cake slice.

"None," Hotaru answered dryly while eating a blue cheese and spinach puff. "Presea was dead, Sierra never confessed, and I think Umi got over her crush on her teacher."

"ENOUGH WITH THIS!" Umi yelled out eventually, silencing everyone. "We don't have time to argue like this! Ascot is still gone and we must get him back!"

"Easy for you to yell," Ferio held onto the sides of his head, "but we don't even know where he and Luna are at the moment."

Turning towards her former bodyguard, Umi asked adamantly, "Hotaru, can you take me to Cephiro's underside? I am sure we can find Luna there."

"Look Umi, I already have a lot of things on my plate right now," Hotaru stated, before putting his stacked plate away. "But besides that, while I am adept at delving into Cephiro's underside, I make no promises we will find Luna alone. Debonair could have a whole slew of new monsters waiting for us."

Clenching her fists, Umi looked at Hotaru desperately, "Then… What am I supposed to do? I can't just sit here and wait, who knows what will happen to Ascot!"

Tapping his finger against the table while thinking, Hotaru eventually answered, "Does he really mean that much to you that you are willing to go through anything to get his soul back?"

"…Yes," Umi nodded, steeling her resolve, feeling her heart grow resolute. "Ascot risked his life to come to my aid, I owe him to do the same."

"Umi…" Clef uttered, impressed by his student.

"…Very well," Hotaru nodded before leaning back in his chair. "But so that you know, you will be doing this alone, with no one to help you."

"What do you have in mind, Mr. Hotaru?" Fuu asked worriedly.

"Simple," Hotaru smirked, "we will use Umi as bait."

As Cephiro had once been a home to all sorts of magical creatures and monsters, seeing mythological creatures flying about was nothing out of the ordinary. Even still, the sight of a several kilometers long, red, flaming dragon snaking its way through the clouds, was still an alien sight. The Dome of Fahren was peacefully traveling across the skies, as its high command prepared to relax.

An octagonal and luxurious purple table with a gold and black Taijitu had been brought in the Imperial throne room, along with three chairs. These pieces of furniture had been placed between the throne and the crystal ball used to observe Dome's vicinity. With lady Aska sitting in the middle and her aides on her sides, they started their tea time break. A white and teal porcelain tea set had been brought over, along with two steam baskets. Despite their usual tea time being somewhat rowdy, today, the atmosphere was almost dead silent.

Pouring three cups, Sang Yung offered one to his princess, "Here, your favorite tea and snack, Lady Aska, steamed peach buns."

Leaning against her hands with her elbows on the table, Aska whispered, "Thank you."

With lady Aska barely reacting to the steamed peach buns, Chang Ang and Sang Yung both leaned in closer for a look. Their usually so vocal princess was now quiet as a dormouse, which was a major change from yesterday.

Having exerted herself till she had passed out, Princess Aska had slept for almost twelve hours straight. Upon waking up she had been hungry as a horse. The young lady had scarfed down two bowls of rice, five skewers of meat, a bowl of soup, meat buns, and two spoonfuls of steamed veggies. With such a heavy breakfast, one wouldn't expect her to be hungry, but even still her aides could tell something was off.

Leaning over to Chang Ang, Sang Yung whispered, "Lady Aska isn't very enthused…"

"She has been like this ever since she woke up," Chang Ang sighed.

Grabbing one of the steamed peach buns absent mindedly from a steam basket, Aska took a tiny bite out of it. Although yesterday had been a lot of fun for her, it had left her with a lot to think about. Her shortcomings and -sightedness in her archery match, her promise to help Cephiro to defend themselves, and the force of the enemy they would be facing. But above all, she was thinking about her original cause for even coming here.

But if you become the Pillar, you will not be allowed to fall in love with anyone. The Pillar of Cephiro support's this country's peace and order all by herself. She is only permitted to love the country itself. She is unable to make herself happy, or even spend time with her family…

Remembering Fuu's words, Aska felt guilty having dragged so many people with her to this place. As the first princess of Fahren, she knew her subjects would follow her every word and command. However, what made her feel down was the shortsightedness of her motives for trying to become the pillar.

Even if becoming the Pillar of Cephiro meant what I dreamt it to, what then? I am meant to be the ruler of Fahren, not Cephiro, but would I be the Pillar of Cephiro if I was in Fahren? Even if all my wishes were to be granted, what would it matter if I could never go home again?

Trying not to disturb her mulling, Sang Yung tried to quietly place down Aska's cup, when he was startled by her suddenly speaking.

"Sang Yung."

"Y-Yes!" he stood up straight.

Looking at the princess, Sang Yung could see her staring a thousand miles away, while holding the lightly chewed bun in her hand.

"Cephiro is…" Aska spoke melancholically, "…not a dream world that can grant any wish."

As silence fell upon the room again, everyone slowly focused back on their snack time. Taking this rare moment of peace and quiet, Chang Ang drank his tea peacefully, while letting his ward ruminate. The little princess continued thinking for a while, until finally taking a sip of her tea.

"Ugh! Cold…" Aska flinched, looking at her mug.

Finished drinking, Chang Ang asked, "Lady Aska, what do you plan to do next?"

"…I don't want to be the Pillar of Cephiro anymore," Aska admitted shamefully, hanging her head low. "I love the people of Fahren. Therefore, I can't just think about Cephiro all of the time. If I were to do such a thing, Cephiro would be in ruins like it is now. It is impossible for me to rule over two countries."

With his ward confessing her feelings in a prim and proper manner, as if asking for forgiveness, Chang Ang stood up from his chair. He walked over to Aska, raising his hand, causing the pale princess to flinch slightly. But as Aska could feel Fahren's regent stroking her head, she knew she had nothing to worry about.

"I am proud that you realized that," Chang Ang smiled through his beard, while speaking slowly. "I knew once we came here, you would understand that the Pillar of Cephiro is not something to yearn for."

Nodding slowly, Aska looked at both of his aides, "I am sorry I dragged you all on this journey with me…"

"I am sure we all had fun," Sang Yung smiled, trying to comfort her.

Aska gave a weak smile, before lowering her head again, "But… there is one thing that I still don't know?"

"What is it, lady Aska?" Chang Ang asked, prepared for it to be something silly again.

"…I know I promised Fuu that Fahren would help Cephiro in their battle against their enemies, but I don't know if I can," Aska admitted, holding her hands together in her lap. "I thought I could defeat them easily, but then only one of them was able to immobilize us. Even I was defeated so quickly when facing them. If I lose… if we lose… I will be risking the lives of everyone onboard the Dome."

There was an awkward moment of silence, as both Chang Ang and Sang Yung realized the gravity of her dilemma. They themselves hadn't thought of the chance of them dying while inside the Dome, as their flying fortress was insurmountable. But during their time in Cephiro, the sanctity of the imperial vessel had come into question for everyone. And while they were worried for their own lives, Aska was worried for all two thousand servants required to keep Dome running.

As both of her aides began to think about it carefully, Aska turned to the younger one, "Sang Yung, what do you think we should do?"

"Oh, ummm…" Sang Yung snapped and stuttered, realizing he was being relied upon again in tactical manners. "…While securing the safety of the people on Dome can be important, we must think about the future."

"Future?" Aska tilted her head.

"As Fuu said, once the enemy, Debonair, is finished with Cephiro, she will move onto other worlds," Sang Yung clued Aska in on what she had missed when unconscious. "If we leave and Cephiro isn't victorious, we might have to face her again in the future, without the assistance of the Mashin."

"That is true!" Aska yelled, standing up. "So, we are better off allying ourselves right now, right?"

"That is not necessarily the case!" Sang Yung interrupted his interruption.

Shocked by Sang Yung's resolution, Aska leaned back, "How come?"

"We do not have the entire military force of Fahren behind us as of right now," Sang Yung reminded Aska, keeping his arms crossed. "If we were to leave and prepare for battle in good time, we might be able to put up a greater offense back at home. Giving us better chances of survival."

"That is true…" Aska admitted, leaning head up while staring at the ceiling.

"But the fact is that we do not know what our chances of defeating Debonair are here either," Sang Yung lowered his head. "Fuu's friends have probably already asked for help from Chizeta and Autozam, meaning they could potentially be fighting on our side. This would tip the scales in our favor."

"Quite insightful strategizing, Sang Yung," Chang Ang said proudly. "Lady Ask, what do you think we should do?"

"Let's see…" Aska stroked her hair cones. "Hmm… We should go and ask Fuu and others how well prepared they are!"

"Mhm!" both of her aides nodded proudly.

On the other side of Cephiro's airspace, the Bravada was floating stationarily in the air. The hovering landmass built upon a golden megastructure was as impressive as always, despite having one side of its golden castle boarded up. The damages from yesterday's battle were mostly concentrated in the royal quarters, leaving the structural integrity of Bravada unharmed. But despite the moderate disrepair, the mood was still grim in the golden palace.

Despite the quickness of the first aid, the guards hurt in the battle yesterday were still being healed. Three of the guards were in critical condition, while two had already passed away. To give their best regards to those who gave their lives to protect them, Tatra and Tarta had visited the wounded, and blessed the fallen. While both of them had been prepared for war, having their personal guards fall within the walls of their own conveyance was a shock to everyone's morale.

Returning to the royal quarters, the princesses were greeted by the wrecked remains of their command post. Wooden planks covered the hole made by Ascot's monster, the broken pillars were replaced by scaffolding, and masons were doing their best to fix the entrances on the lower level. Their indoor garden was drenched and the soil had turned into mud, causing several trees to lean vicariously. Even their personal area on the top platform was still moist, from its ornate carpets to its decorative bolster pillows.

Yet all of this destruction seemed secondary, as the sisters looked at the state of Cephiro from the giant monitor on the front wall. Worried for her little sister, Tatra looked over at Tarta, who had heartened her expression.

Moving her gaze down to the lower platform, Tarta clenched her fists, "To think I lost my temper over some silly little elephant…"

"How are you feeling?" Tatra asked, trying to support her sister as much as she could.

"I… I don't think I can do this anymore…" Tarta admitted, shaking as she tried to quell her emotions.

Thinking her little sister was about to cry, Tatra was about to place her hand on her shoulder, when Tarta continued.

"I thought that I could go to war with another country, but as soon as people died before my eyes…" Tarta shook, tears forming in her eyes. "I realized… I couldn't bear to watch others die before me, because of my ambitions."

Crossing her arms across her chest and hugging herself, Tarta continued shivering, "I know we promised mom and dad… But I cannot stand the idea of us taking the lives of others. These people are fighting for their lives and world and we cannot take that away from them."

Before Tarta could continue, Tatra hugged her tightly from behind, placing her chin on her shoulder. The shock of this stopped Tarta from shaking and crying, but as she tried to push her clingy sister away, she stopped herself.

"…I am such a failure," Tarta berated herself, "as a fighter, as a martial artist, and as a princess of Chizeta…"

"Far from it," Tatra said with a gentle smile. "The ability to understand the value of human life is far more important to a fighter and a monarch, than the ability to take it. You have grown so much, sister Tarta."

"Tatra nee-sama…!" Tarta squeaked, before wiping away her tears.

Walking in front of her sister, she smiled at her warmly, "Are you ready to go home? I am sure mom and dad will understand why we weren't successful."

Just as Tarta was about to say yes, she looked upon their monitor one more time, seeing the state of Cephiro. Another piece of its rocky wasteland fell to the void below, disappearing forever. Although the lands around the giant crystal castle had always been small, they had visibly shrunk during the few days they had been around.

"…Not yet," Tarta said adamantly. "My consciousness will not be at peace, until I have confirmed the fate of Cephiro with my own eyes."

"Very well," Tatra nodded. "Shall I go grab the snacks?"

Tarta stared at her sister silently for a moment, before exploding, "NOT FROM HERE! We will go out there and help the people of this land!"

"Just kidding," Tatra giggled. "Of course we will stay and fight. In fact, I would have not allowed you to run away if you did."

Seeing Tatra getting serious, Tarta had to take a step back, "Nee-san…"

"Whatever is about to go down here, I can tell it poses a threat to Chizeta as well," Tatra crossed her arms sternly and pensively. "But we still need more information. I think it is time we pay Umi a visit."

A sharp breeze blew over Cephiro's wastelands as lightning flashed over the forever dark skies. For whatever little of Cephiro was left was so barren not even dust remained and all mountains had crumbled away. Even the air itself felt like it was getting hard to breathe with the lack of vegetation and atmosphere. In the middle of all the barren devastation, a single dot of color stood out proudly, clutching her sword.

Keeping her hands on the hilt of her sword that was propped against the ground, Umi stood perfectly still. Only her hair and skirt fluttered in the wind, as, like an armored groundhog, she patiently waited for her shadow to show itself.

"Was this the best idea he could come up with?" Umi grumbled to herself, her eye twitching.

Having expected a master plan from their self-appointed commander, Umi had been severely disappointed. The idea was that just like Nova had attacked Hikaru when she had been in the wastes, Luna wouldn't be able to resist attacking Umi. To best draw her out, it was important for her to be alone, without anyone waiting nearby. However, in order to make sure Umi wasn't completely alone, Hotaru had convinced Ferio and Fuu to lend over their magic orbs. Giving one of the orbs to Umi while holding onto the other one, Hotaru had promised to rush in as soon as she needed help.

As such, Hotaru's plan had essentially boiled down to, go stand and wait in the wasteland, call if you need me. Having then taken his leave with Clef, Umi hadn't had time to raise her objections. Even though she had agreed to do anything to get Ascot's soul back, she was starting to have second guesses after half an hour of waiting. For while there had been no further earthquakes, Umi could hear the edges of the world crumbling all over her.

The world keeps collapsing around me. If Luna doesn't show up soon, I will forcefully drag Hotaru to Cephiro's underside!

Just as she was about to go on one of her rambling tangents, she heard Selece's voice, "Umi, behind you!"

Jumping out of the way at the very last second, Umi managed to dodge and roll out of the way of a surprise attack from behind. Three high-pressure water jets struck the ground where she had been standing, with two more following after her. The water jets carved deep holes in the rocky ground with smooth edges, telling volumes of their power.

"That was close…" Umi shivered while down on all fours.

As she looked up, she could spot a familiar siren floating high up in the air, surrounded by blue swirling waves. Although Luna was a hundred meters away, Umi could still spot her pale blue hair, silvery fish tail, and the red pearl around her neck.

"I do not know whether to be impressed you managed to dodge that, or angry that you did, little Umi!" Luna clicked her tongue as she complained loudly. "That Mashin of yours must have spoilt the surprise."

Getting back up on her feet, Umi clenched her fist while picking up her sword, "I knew you were low, but to perform a surprise attack on a willing combatant!? I thought you had more guts than that being my shadow!"

"I know it is not really my style to come in unannounced," Luna shrugged while slowly descending, "but mother is growing impatient with all of you still being alive. Hence, I figured I would do this quickly."

Just as Luna was about to summon Saquada and put an end to this meeting as quickly as possible, Luna spotted something. Instead of looking her in the eye, Umi was staring at her abdomen, where the latest addition to her collection hung. Feeling the emotions coursing in Umi's heart, Luna knew she couldn't let this opportunity to slip by her.

"I suppose I could humor you for a while," Luna smiled smugly, hovering only a few feet off the ground now. "Instead of summoning Saquada, how about I let you stare at that which is forever out of your reach."

Furious about Luna's taunt, Umi finally looked up at the siren. As the blue eyes of the two combatants met, the wind started to pick up.

"Go right ahead," Umi said with a cold firmness in her voice. "If you feel the need to bring out that monster of yours to defeat me, then do it."

"Fufufufu! And here I thought that you were scared of Saquada," Luna giggled smugly. "Don't need Selece to tell you a bedtime story anymore to help you sleep?"

While Luna knowing about this was disturbing, Umi just smiled confidently, "As long as my friends need my help, I am willing to face down any foe. Unlike you who was so frightened they ran away from Hotaru, abandoning your sister."

Reminded of yesterday, Luna's pupils narrowed into tiny dots and her blue eyes turned pale, as she stared angrily at Umi. Although the siren was usually enchantingly beautiful, her appearance turned nightmarish as she bared her sharp teeth and jawbones.

"You don't have the right to judge me," Luna spoke in a deep and echoey voice. "You were not there to witness the actions of that demoniac. That beast smiled through the carnage as he destroyed everything in his path! Even Saquada shirked in fear, as Regalia was taken out in a single blow!"

Pressing her fingers against her temple as she tried to picture it, Umi proclaimed, "…Yeah that does sound like Hotaru, alright."

Having had enough of the banter, the waves that supported her body became more violent, as Luna summoned her Mashin. A dark sphere of sparking darkness appeared behind her, highlighted by flashes of blue. Seeing Luna summoning Saquada, Umi quickly transformed her outfit into her fully evolved Magic Knight armor, before raising her sword.

"Selece!"

In a geyser of water, the cobalt blue draconic Mashin appeared before Umi, as the black and light blue fish-tailed Mashin crawled out of the orb. Even without its wriggling hair of light-blue tentacles, Saquada towered over its winged counterpart. Although the angler fish chested Mashin was the lithest of the evil mechs, its large fish-tail bulked it out generously. As their pilots were being drawn into the large gems on their chests, the two prideful blue haired warriors stared each other down.

Once inside, Umi summoned her sword in the hand of Selece while Luna conjured her black trident. Knowing her shadow was adept at using magic while fighting, Umi charged in as quickly as she could, so as not to give her the chance. But as quickly as she did, Luna countered with her trident, trapping her rapier between the prong.

"I commend your gusto, but you should by now realize I am a bad matchup against you," Luna chuckled, shoving Umi away from her. "In a duel, the reach of your weapon is the deciding factor! My trident is far longer than your little rapier."

"That is true," Umi admitted, looking at the weapon in her hand. "I am used to dueling foes with weapons similar to mine. Monsters, giant robots, swordsmen with significantly different styles, I was never trained to fight them. But at the end of the day, I am a fencer!"

Turning her right side towards Luna and folding Selece's right wing, Umi pointed out her right arm straight. Maximizing her reach, minimizing her profile, and staying light on her feet, Selece's yellow eyes locked in with Saquada's empty white stare. Although the plan had originally been to call in Hotaru when Luna arrived, Umi needed to know if she could do this on her own.

"Come at me," Umi beckoned her foe.

Amused by this show of confidence, Luna charged in with the full force, thrusting her trident forward with both hands. Predicting her shadow's movements, Umi leaned and ducked to the left, letting the trident to whiz past her, before lunging in herself. Getting past Luna's guard, Umi aimed straight for Saquada's chest orb, letting her foe's own momentum power her thrust.

Just as the rapier was about to strike, Umi's field of view was covered by a swirling mass of blue. The blue, silver spike-tipped tendrils growing from Saquada's head moved down, intercepting the blade. The Escudo rapier still managed to pierce one of the blue tentacles, before being swatted away by the others. With quick and agile swordsmanship, Umi launched a series of thrusts and cuts, trying to drive back the tentacles. But before she could get another shot at Saquada's core, Luna wound her trident back before swinging it like a baseball bat. Seeing the wide motion, Umi jumped up and over the trident, while aiming for Luna's eyes.

Noticing Umi evade her attack, Luna continued her swing, turning fully around before swinging Saquada's tail. The black fish tail struck Selece's abdomen, its inner spikes jabbing into the blue mech. Gritting her teeth through the piercing pain, Umi could feel the tailfin wrap around her waist. Knowing what was to come next, Umi extended out her left hand.

"Ice Blade!"

A huge barrage of blades of ice, water currents, and blue beams of energy flew out of Selece's hand, peppering Saquada's back. Although the opposing Mashin was stronger, the heavy barrage of attacks at close range maximized the damage. Unable to concentrate her water magic due to the pain, Luna flung Selece away from her before turning her wounded back away from Umi.

"Shooting someone in the back! And you call me dishonorable!" Luna snarled angrily while fighting through the pain.

"Your fault for leaving your guard down!" Umi scolded her back. "If you don't want to be getting hurt, then return Ascot's soul already!"

"Oh? And why do you care to have his soul back?" Luna asked, smirking inside her mech.

"Because he is my friend! And I will not stop until I have returned the favor of saving me!" Umi yelled sternly.

Hearing this, Luna sighed disappointedly, "You're still not being honest with your feelings, little Umi."

"W-What's that supposed to mean?" Umi stuttered, trying to stay focused.

"Admit it! I have captured the souls of almost a hundred men!" Luna spread her arms dramatically. "And yet you only care to recover the soul of the summoner you call Ascot!"

"Th-That's because I only know him by name…" Umi admitted awkwardly.

"Tsk!" Luna clicked her tongue annoyed, before complaining exasperatedly. "What is even the point of me trying to follow your wishes, if you don't even try to follow them yourself!"

"My wish…?" Umi asked perplexedly, before realizing what she meant. "You mean… like Hikaru and Fuu?

"That's right! Just like Nova, Terra, and Stella, I was born out of a great emotion in your heart!" Luna explained, charging up three large water spheres above her mech. "I give you three guesses as to what it was!"

Remembering back to her battle against Zagato and Emeraude, Umi answered, "…My guilt for having to kill two lovers, who reminded me of my mother and father…"

"Wrong!" Luna yelled, firing off one of the spheres.

Shocked by being wrong, Umi only had a little bit of time to evade the high-pressure water jet, with the jet grazing and cutting off Selece's dragon tail. Shocked by this, Umi quickly turned back towards Saquada, that was standing still, yet locked onto her.

How was that not correct!

"Two guessed remaining," Luna shouted strictly. "Hint, it happened before that."

"Uuhh… my hatred of having been brought to this world?" Umi asked, trying to strain her memory.

"WRONG!"

Another water jet shot out at Umi, but this time she was prepared, allowing her to fly up to avoid the shining beam of water. While she was glad to not get hurt, she was also getting more and more perplexed by Luna's origins.

I've been so busy worrying about everyone else, I had no time to think about Luna! If those weren't the reasons she was born from, then what could it have been?

"One more chance, then I get serious," Luna warned her originator.

"My… my love?" Umi asked carefully.

For a brief minute, there was a moment of silence, making Umi's eyes widen as she wondered if she had guessed correctly. But right before she could put her guard down, the final beam of water shot towards her. With no time to dodge, she swung her rapier in front of her, cutting the giant water jet in half. Panting heavily, Umi stared forward, still unable to imagine what could have created Luna.

"That was your last try…" Luna admitted disappointedly, before summoning her full arsenal.

All at once, Saquada's tentacle hair rose up, as large crashing waves started swirling around the black Mashin. Brandishing her trident, Luna summoned spheres of water on the spiky tips of the innumerous tentacles. Spreading its webbed feet, Saquada raised its tail, ready to attack and defend from every angle.

"…Try not to die too quickly, little Umi."

Furious and manic yells echoed throughout the uppermost cell of Sanctuary's northern tower's high security prison. It was a dark purple domed room with a small round platform in the middle of it, with a golden magic circle surrounding it. The walls were reinforced with support struts that ran across the walls, and the door to the cell was hardened steel, with three green orbs on it. On top of the raised platform, floated a light blue, glowing sphere of light, with a single prisoner inside it.

"Let me out of here!" Nova screamed, floating inside the sphere.

The pink-haired elf was pounding her small right fist against the side of the sphere, causing it to echo like a drum. She had already tried to break down her cell with magic, but each time she tried it she was getting shocked by the defenses. So instead, she was wailing and clawing at the edges of her prison.

"Let me out! I must see Hikaru! I must kill those she loves!" Nova continued screaming. "I want to see my mother and sisters!"

Having been brought to her Cell while tied up, it had taken Nova a while to break out of her restraints. At first, she had called for attention, but as no one had arrived, she had waited till falling asleep. But now that she had woken up, and no one had come to visit her for several hours, she was starting to think the worst.

"Don't you dare leave me in here! I will not be forgotten! I will not be left behind agaaaaaaiiiin!" Nova screamed till her voice cracked.

As she was catching her breath at the end of her temper tantrum, the reinforced door of her cell slid down. Panting heavily, Nova stared forward like a rabid beast, until she saw two figures enter the room. Two figures she wanted and hated to see the most.

"Hikaru! Terra!" Nova snarled, down on her hands and knees.

"Nova," Hikaru greeted her shadow, standing tall as she entered the room.

"Hello Nova-chan," Terra greeted her little sister with an awkward smile.

Seeing the shortest of the Magic Knights and the tallest of the three sisters approaching her, Nova instinctually scurried to the back of her prison. While she knew Terra had betrayed her family, it was Hikaru who she was truly afraid of. The little red Magic Knight had proven far more dangerous than she had thought during their last encounter. Wanting to see and touch her and being afraid of her at the same time, left Nova in a predicament the likes of which she had never known.

As Nova was backing away from them, Terra noticed something, "Nova, is your arm all right?"

"Huh?" Hikaru turned to the peri, before looking at Nova again.

It was hard to see Nova's left arm due to her black, skin-tight catsuit, especially when she was hiding it behind her. But as Hikaru looked closer, she could see it was bent in a slightly odd angle. The arm was hanging limply below her upper arm, her fingers not moving at all.

The implications of this shook Hikaru to her core, "Nova… is your arm broken?"

Gritting her teeth angrily, Nova held onto her broken arm, turning away from the others, "That man… The one Hikaru calls her brother, broke it! He knocked me out in one hit…"

Remembering how Hotaru had brought Nova in, tied up and unconscious, she figured, "Maybe he didn't know it was broken when he brought you here…"

"It doesn't matter!" Nova snapped, looking away from the two of them. "I don't need any of your pity."

"But you still want our attention?" Hikaru tilted her head confused.

"Shaddup!" Nova barked.

Despite Nova being in a worse mood than usual, Terra approached her cell calmly before placing her hand onto the sphere. With Nova trying to shirk back even further from her short-tempered sister, Terra couldn't help but smile at her timid sibling.

"Winds of Healing!"

Green light and winds spread inside the sphere of light from the spot Terra was holding on. With no way to avoid them, Nova's body was quickly wrapped by the healing spell. Though her arm had been fragmented for over half a day with no medical attention, the spellmanaged to straighten it out and fix it. Feeling the anguishing pain fade away till she could move her arm again, Nova felt slightly more at ease, despite not wanting to admit it.

"Apologies if we have treated you roughly," Terra smiled, before bowing for her apology. "You are always such an energetic little girl, so we did not know you were hurt, Nova-chan."

"…Don't call me that, traitor," Nova muttered, while hugging her knees against her chest.

While hearing Nova call her that hurt Terra's heart, she didn't let it get to her, "I may have betrayed Lady Debonair, but I did not betray our family."

"How can you say that!?" Nova snapped, her pointy ears flaring to the sides.

To get a better look of Terra, Nova slammed her healed up body against the other side of the sphere. Pressing her face against the see-through surface, Nova stared at Terra angrily with her red eyes.

"Mother is our family!" Nova snarled, baring her teeth. "It was her who gave us home! It was her who gave us clothes and food! Now that Romeo is gone, she is the only one who cares and looks after us!"

"But she doesn't care for you!" Hikaru yelled adamantly. "Debonair is only using you! The moment you are no longer useful to her, she will throw you away!"

"That just means we need to stay useful to her!" Nova retorted back. "As long as we are beneficial to her, she loves and gives us anything we want!"

As she was about to answer back, Hikaru was frozen by the meaning behind Nova's words. She had heard from Hotaru how Nova was misguided and didn't know any better, but only now did she realize the true extent of it. Tears slowly filled her eyes, as she finally had the time to take a good long look at her shadow. As pity and empathy filled her heart, Hikaru held her hand against Nova's on the surface of the sphere.

"That's not how love works…" Hikaru whispered gently.

"Huh…?" Nova blinked, staring into Hikaru's teary eyes.

"To love someone means you are willing to take care of and protect them, even if you gain nothing in return other than their love," Hikaru explained to her. "If you love Debonair and she loves you back, I… I cannot ask you to stop. But if she requires you to do things in exchange for her affection, she doesn't love you. She is using you."

"But… Why would anyone love someone if there is nothing to gain back from it?" Nova asked confused, keeping her hand on Hikaru's. "Why would you care about someone, who is of no use to you?"

"Because that's just the way it is," Hikaru smiled, almost chuckling at her shadow's gullibility. "I do not love my friends so that they take care of me. I love them because they take care of me and stand by my side. I love my family because they are always there for me. I love the people of Cephiro because they are wonderful people and deserve a place to live and call home."

Listening to Hikaru talk, Nova's head hurt and her body felt cold, as she hugged herself to stop shivering. To feel Hikaru thinking about the people she loved always left her feeling angry, but now, it was different. Instead of feeling a fire burning inside her, it was like a cold darkness was surrounding her. Her mother had always told her that she should convert the pain she felt into anger and then into power, and let it fuel her. But now, she couldn't do it.

"Why… Why can't I hate…" Nova teared up, hugging herself tightly. "Why can't I hate e-everyone Hikaru l-loves?"

Taken aback by the question, Hikaru quickly remembered what Nova had yelled yesterday.

Then why… Why is there no love in your heart for ME!?

Thinking back on those words, Hikaru wondered the same question. Why didn't she love Nova? Why couldn't she love her own shadow? She had attacked her and her friends, as well as Lantis and Eagle, but she had been used by others. Fooled by Debonair, twisted by Romeo, and hurt by so many. It was at that moment that Hikaru remembered, the moment when Nova had supposedly been born.

Spreading her arms wide, she wrapped them around the sphere as well as she could, pressing her cheek against it. Seeing this, Nova tried to lean into her hug, but was stopped by the barrier between them. And yet, she felt a slight comfort, as the pain inside her eased up.

"My heart…" Hikaru said quietly, stroking the sphere. "The shadow of my heart that I left here in that one instant… I should have been there for you. To love you, to love myself, so you wouldn't have been alone…"

"…I wasn't alone," Nova answered with a glum whimper. "Big brother Romeo found me, along with my sisters. He told me not to be afraid, saying we were all alike, left and forgotten. He promised if I followed him, I would get to see you again. Then mother came along and offered us a place to stay…"

Listening to the story, Terra nodded along, "And Romeo convinced us all to follow her. He told us we would be safe with Debonair and that she could give us all we needed with her infinite power. But in the end, even he was just using us to further his own goal…"

"What did he tell you all?" Hikaru asked, worried what Hotaru's shadow had been telling them.

"He… He enforced our mother's words and beliefs," Terra answered, rubbing her arm self-consciously. "He told me Magic Knights deserved death for their crimes of making Cephiro the way it is. To Nova he said people yearned for death so they could be spared from the pain of life. And to Luna, he told her to…"

"Big brother Romeo betrayed us because he was working for that man!" Nova roared, looking at Terra angrily. "It was all his fault that big brother turned on us! But mother… Mother hasn't turned on us! She hasn't abandoned me!"

Hearing Nova's adamant conviction and furious screams, Hikaru and Terra were left silent by a mixture of empathy and respect. But despite Nova's total conviction, they had to burst her bubble somehow…

"…Can you summon Regalia?" Terra asked.

"…Huh?" Nova blinked.

"You may be trapped in there, but you should still be able to summon Regalia if you try," Terra explained. "Once I left Debonair's ranks, I was no longer able to summon Wingroad. So if Debonair still cares about you…"

With a cold chill running down her spine, Nova swallowed before yelling out, "Regalia!"

Hearing the name of the devilish Mashin, even Hikaru felt a shiver. Half expecting a massive sphere of darkness to appear in the vicinity, she sighed in relief internally, as all stayed quiet.

"REGALIA!" Nova yelled again into the air, but no response.

After waiting a full minute, Nova's lip began to tremble, as she slammed her fists against the sphere, "Regalia! Mother! Bring me Regalia! Please! Why won't you help me! REGALIA!"

Hearing Nova's desperate cries for her mother, Hikaru hugged the sphere again, feeling her heart aching for her shadow. As Nova continued screaming for Debonair to respond, Hikaru held up her embrace. After what felt like an eternity, Nova's shouting was replaced by sobbing, at which point she curled up, falling reluctantly into Hikaru's embrace.

It had been several days since Cephiro last had rain or even surface or ground waters. Yet the outskirts of Cephiro's wastelands were in danger of being flooded. The literal deluge of attacks launched by Luna and Saquada at Umi, were hurling thousands of cubic meters of water each. Focusing on flying and dodging to evade being eviscerated by the high pressure beams, Umi was struggling to land a blow.

"What's the matter, little Umi!" Luna asked sarcastically. "Did your pride as a fencer dry up!"

This is bad! Umi thought as she gritted her teeth. She isn't relenting even for a moment in her offense and if I get close, her defenses try to shred me! I need to find a way to distract her to have a chance at an opening.

"I guess you know all about having no pride, as you kidnap innocent people!" Umi yelled back, while flying up and then below Luna.

"I do not kidnap them! I am SAVING them!" Luna yelled, trying to line her shots with Umi.

Flying sideways, Umi managed to dodge most of the downwards facing shots, "How is turning them into little red pearls saving them!?"

After scoring a slight hit on Selece's shoulder, Luna turned around in the air, "This world is destined for destruction! There is NO saving it! As such, I will spare all the people that love you!"

"What!?" Umi snapped, trying to make heads of trails of Luna's thought process,

But as her mind was preoccupied with this for a split second, Luna's high-pressure water beams finally hit her. One of the water jets struck her left flank, while a second one struck her right shin. As Selece's armored body was pierced, Umi yelled out in pain before crashing onto the flooded ground. A large splash of water sent the waves throughout the wasteland, as she laid down on her side, trying to get up. Landing onto the ground as well, Saquada approached Selece leisurely, holding the trident over its shoulder.

"And once I have killed you and the world is no more," Luna continued her rant, in a much better mood, "all those who loved you will have no choice but to love me! Fufufufu!"

Slowly getting up onto her bleeding calf, Umi raised her sword, "How… How could I have created such an ugly monster!"

"Fufufufu… You still don't get it?" Luna chuckled and sighed, before pointing her trident at her. "It's because I was born from an ugly heart!"

"Ugly?" Umi asked annoyedly, before straightening herself up completely. "What do you mean ugly?!"

"Romeo told me all about you, little Umi," Luna said, charging up another volley in case she moved. "A whiny, spoiled, self-righteous, arrogant, selfish, and manipulative little girl, who thinks of herself better than others!"

"That's not—" Umi tried to object, but her heart ached too much.

"But worst, or best depending how you look at it," Luna tapped her hand with her trident, "is your envy!"

"…Envy?" Umi asked, not realizing what she meant.

"Don't try to act clueless!" the siren snarled at her. "For it was from that envy that I was born!"

With all the accusations, Umi was starting to grow impatient, "I have never felt envious during my time in Cephiro, nor is there anyone for me to envy!"

"Oh, but you do, little Umi…" Luna lowered her voice. "Because you are the only one who has no one to love."

As Umi was about to deny this, she finally realized what Luna meant, "…You were born… when I learnt of Emeraude and Zagato from Alcyone…"

"Exactly," Luna smiled, her creator finally having gotten it right. "You were so envious! Your friends, your parents, even your enemies had someone to love! But you? You whose greatest dream is to become a bride of all things? You were alone, and all you could do was…"

"…Wish I could find someone to love as well," Umi admitted.

"Yes… But you know what? I've decided that someone like you, doesn't deserve love!" Luna declared, grabbing hold of her trident with both hands, preparing to finish the battle. "I will finish you off, so that these poor unfortunate souls don't need to continue pining after you!"

With those words said, there was no response. Instead, both Mashins stood perfectly still for a moment, as a haunting calm took over the battlefield. Feeling an ominous sensation, Luna gripped her trident tighter as a blue shimmering aura appeared around Selece. Able to sense Umi's magical power rising and her heart calming down, Luna knew to keep her guard up.

"You're wrong…" Umi said in a dead serious voice. "I do deserve to be loved, and I deserve to love too. Maybe I have my flaws, but I am working on getting over them."

Holding her sword with both hands, Umi began to channel her magic into her blade, "And for your information, you're wrong about me being envious. I only wished to have someone who I could love. I have never been anything but happy that my friends have found love!"

"That's not true! Romeo told me…"

"You honestly believe the words of the shadier version of a guy who lied to all his friends? The one that betrayed you all?!" Umi called out her shadow, while raising her sword above her head. "The only thing you got right, was that I, want, ASCOT, BACK!"

As Selece's body flashed like a bolt of lightning, Luna knew she couldn't wait any longer, and fired her fully charged water jets at Umi. But just before her attacks could pierce the blue Magic Knight, Umi spun around, swinging her sword down. A spiraling vortex of brightly glowing water, lightning, and ice shot out of Umi's sword, colliding with Luna's barrage.

At first it seemed like the water jets were cutting right through the vortex, as they broke through its waves. But as the spiral was broken, it expanded rapidly and accelerated, as the attack burst open. Raising her waves up for defense, Luna's eyes grew wide as Saquada was engulfed in a bright blue light. Hundreds of flashes of light flew past her as her deluge of attacks was blasted away, her trident cracking and breaking.

As the magical powers reached a critical point, the spell detonated in a large blue explosion. A dome of blue energy lit up Cephiro for a moment, its light visible even past the mountains that surrounded the Sanctuary.

It was only after that the light faded, that Umi could see in front of her. Keeping an eye out in case Saquada were to jump at her, Umi kept her sword raised while looking around. But after confirming all the directions and not seeing a sign of the black Mashin, she slowly looked down, seeing Luna laying on the ground.

Realizing she might be hurt, Umi exited Selece as quickly as she could. Rushing to the fallen siren in her Magic Knight armor, Umi carefully knelt down next to her, making sure she wasn't playing dead. Only as her hands touched Luna's cold skin and she twitched in her arms, was Umi certain of her victory.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Umi asked, trying to get a response out of Luna.

Slowly stirring in Umi's arms, Luna asked, "Why… do you even care? I am just… an ugly monster…"

"Maybe, but you are still part of my heart," Umi smiled, before helping her up. "Besides, if we work on it, maybe we can learn how to be beautiful together."

"…Maybe that is true," Luna smiled gently, brushing back her long blue hair.

"Also, I need you to turn Ascot back to normal," Umi pointed out, poking at the large red pearl hanging from the siren's neck.

"Getting straight to the point, are we!?" Luna snapped at Umi's bluntness.

Removing the large, deep red and shining pearl off of her necklace, Luna placed her hands on the top and bottom of it. Just like when turning Ascot into a pearl, Luna kissed the side of the pearl, causing an echoing pulse to vibrate across its red surface. As the pearl began to glow bright red, Luna let go of it and took a step back, before a bright flash lit up the area.

Standing in front of them, stood a tall young man with brunette hair that covered his eyes. His white and green robes fluttered a bit as they settled down over his black inner clothes. His heavy golden necklace, waistband, trims, and ribbons, giving him a sense of regality and respect. His large black hat and fancy pointy shoes gave him the air of a Chizetan prince.

Despite his confused and shocked expression, Umi couldn't help but think how handsome he was. Long gone was the little boy who she had met not too long ago, and in his place stood a man she wanted to get to know better.

"Umi… Thank you for saving me," Ascot bowed to her politely, trying to hide his blushing.

"I-It was nothing, really," Umi stroked the back of her head, trying to play it off while grinning goofily.

"No!" Ascot insisted, standing up and grabbing her hands. "You fought so bravely and pushed yourself so hard! It was nothing short of spectacular!"

"Oh, d-do you really t-think so?" Umi laughed nervously while blushing, before hearing Luna giggling. "What is so funny, Fishmael?"

"Fufufufu! Don't you get it?" Luna asked, trying to hold back her laughter. "He saw and heard everything we did and said…"

As the implications of this sunk in for Umi, her face went pale, then blushed deep red, before turning blue as she couldn't breathe. As it looked like she was about to faint, Ascot gently shook her awake.

"W-We can talk about this later, Umi-chan," Ascot requested gently, holding her steady. "For now, we need to get the rest of these people to the Sanctuary."

"Oh! Right!" Umi snapped, quickly turning to Luna to hide her smile. "We need to turn these people back to normal and fast!"

"Right," Luna nodded, taking off her pearl necklace.

"Not so fast!" Ascot interrupted, quickly getting between the two blue-haired women. "Cephiro's wasteland is a dangerous place for a large group of people! We are better off turning them back to normal when we get inside."

"Ah!" x2

After finishing his meeting and sending Umi out into the desert with the magic orb, Hotaru had taken Clef with him. Using the Master Mage's ability to locate things, sense people, as well as Hotaru's flight and speed, the two of them had begun to search for Stella. But despite their best efforts and team work, they weren't able to find even a hint of Alcyone's shadow's location.

Their lack of results was not a fault of their own, for Stella didn't wish to be found. Keeping her presence hidden, the vampiric woman had holed up in the uppermost floor of Sanctuary's western tower. The conical crystal tip was a lone and forgotten extremity, where barely anyone took their time to climb to. While the top floor was a large and open planetarium with a self-moving star map on the ceiling, no one ever came up there.

Splayed over a large, circular couch made for laying down and star gazing, that encircled the entire lower viewing platform, Stella laid motionlessly. Despite being greeted with the most majestic view of the castle, her eyes barely even registered the cosmic migration, for her own personal cosmos was empty.

Seeing Hotaru leave her behind when charging in to save Alcyone, Stella had realized her own shortcomings as her replacement. Why would a man like Hotaru accept a substitute when the real one was still out there? With her heart's connection to Alcyone's having returned, Stella had learnt of his success. But what got to her the most, were the feelings she had sensed from Alcyone's heart ever since.

Love, sadness, warmth, contentment, recognition, approval, and joy radiated from her creator's heart. Despite her heart being so full of regret, self-hatred, shame, and fear upon her leaving, all of those feelings had been blown away after her return. Apart from some levels of guilt.

"Those two… they love each other so much; they only need each other to be happy…" Stella spoke out in a pained voice, trying not to sob. "…Why did your wish create me, Alcyone? To what purpose was I even born?"

Grasping the left side of her chest, Stella could feel Alcyone's happiness pouring into her, which left her in a flux of emotions. For while she felt the sorceress's emotions, that didn't mean she didn't have her own. Even if she tried to be happy for her, she could not silence her heart that still loved Hotaru. And even though she loved him, she didn't know if she should.

Her mind was so full, she was forced to talk her thoughts out to hear them. Turning onto her side so as not to lay on her red striped hair, the grey-skinned shadow tried to figure her next move.

"I don't want you to bother them as they are finally happy with one another…" Stella spoke into a couch cushion. "But after all that I've been through for the both of you, do I not deserve happiness as well?"

As she closed her crimson eyes, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, which at first she thought was caused by Alcyone. But as she quickly recognized this sensation, she jumped up into a sitting position, gazing up to the wall of the planetarium. Hidden among the twinkling stars of the black background, she spotted two red dots and a shadow that formed slowly over the darkness.

"You aren't being fair to yourself, my beautiful Stella," a cold voice echoed throughout the room.

"D-Debonair…" Stella shuddered, slowly moving away from her. "I don't know what you want, but I know it is to hurt Hotaru! Leave me alone!"

"My dear, is that any way to speak to your mother?" Debonair asked gently, her shadow transforming into a projection of her towering form.

"You were never my mother…" Stella spoke defiantly, summoning her scythe as she stood up on the couch. "You were but a pawn in Romeo's and my plans and I know you know it!"

"Fufufufu, so confident," Debonair gently tilted her head, "but you are mistaken. We were nothing but pawns in their plans. Plans which they ultimately abandoned on a whim, after hurting so many people, including you."

Although Stella remained stern in her expression, she could not find the words to refute Debonair. For while she had been aware of the plan before Debonair had even been born, she hadn't known everything. And despite risking life and limb, the plan had ultimately amounted to nothing.

"Although you suppress it, I can sense great anger and resentment in your heart. That is understandable," Debonair spoke in a soft and empathetic tone, "but I also sense great love and longing for a man who doesn't exist. Which I find sickeningly tragic."

"…What do you mean doesn't exist?" Stella asked, loosening her grip on her scythe-staff.

"You were created to love an idealized version of the man you call Hotaru, formed by the delusions of Alcyone. But that image was but another lie made up by them, leaving you loving a man who lies, cheats, abuses others, and revels in his sadistic whims."

While Stella knew all this beforehand, to a point where she wasn't sure if Debonair was just staring into her heart, it still hurt to admit. Despite all his flaws, Stella still loved Hotaru, but now she truly wondered if she even had a choice in the matter.

"You were dealt a rotten hand from the moment you were born," Debonair said sympathetically, "and so was I. For this reason, I do not want to punish you for your betrayal, but help you in getting pay back for the people who wronged you."

"They haven't wronged me!" Stella rejected Debonair's words, gripping her scythe again. "Alcyone never created me on purpose, nor did Hotaru ever know that I would be born! My miserable birth is nothing but a result of circumstances, none of which I can blame on them!"

"But what about your current misery?" Debonair squatted down, getting closer to Stella's face. "They now know of you and your rotten existence. Do they try to make things up for you? Do they even care? Alcyone created you to love the Man of Many Names, but she is now monopolizing him, enjoying the love that should belong to you."

Listening to the monster queen's words, Stella slowly began to understand what she meant. A cold feeling crept into her heart, as she realized how little people cared for her. An accident that everyone just uses for their own goals, throwing aside when no longer needed.

"And what of that man your heart refuses to stop loving? He is just throwing himself at your creator, brushing you off like an old maid as he embraces his mistress," Debonair continued, her outline glowing eerily purple. "And after everything you did for him, after all the danger you went through to deceive me, he just left you behind. For he can only love his own kind; those whose sins weigh upon themselves as heavy as his do."

With the same purple glow now emanating from the vampiric woman, Debonair reached her clawed hands over. She ran them down her figure, turning her grey ballroom gown and thigh-high boots white as snow, with silver trims.

"But you, my beautiful Stella, you are so pure and innocent," Debonair smiled, stroking Stella's hair aside. "And because of that, I want to help you. Serve me once more, and I will get you what you deserve."

As the purple glow intensified around her, Stella's eyes glassed over, while glowing crimson red, "Yes… Mother."

With nary a moment to waste, the two tall monstrous women teleported away, leaving the planetarium empty.

Author's Afterword: You know I was looking forward to writing a shorter chapter after last time, but apparently, I like to overwork myself. In any case, this was a pleasant chapter to write. There has been so much fighting as of late that it was nice to write a chapter that is closer to slice of life.

Not that there wasn't fighting in this. With Umi already having witnessed Tatra's fighting skills earlier, there was no need for their little tournament. Instead, it was time to settle the score between Umi and Luna. With her foe being a master at multitasking and possessing some insane magic, Umi's only bet was to trust her smarts and skills. However this would only get her so far with Saquada, which is why I had to resort to whatever the attack was she used against Tatra. I guess it is meant to be Ice Blade, but it sure as Hell is much more powerful than when she later uses it.

To power it up enough to take on Saquada, Umi needed a bit of extra motivation. Now, if you look at the MKR fandom as a whole, people tend to ship Clef and Umi much more frequently than Ascot and Umi. My personal preferences aside, I always saw the latter working out better than the former. But that didn't mean I was happy to just make Umi choose differently. Instead I sprinkled in a bunch of things throughout the story that led to the decision. Umi not being alone with Clef for a heart to heart conversation, her knowing of Presea's feelings, Luna showcasing Ascot's feelings, and Hotaru accidentally giving her a thing for tall brunettes.

Next time we are heading to the penultimate chapter of season 2. All the pieces are in motion, the only thing left is to gather them together.

As always, let me know what you thought of the chapter! My thanks go to our recurring anonymous Guest and James Birdsong and Antoinette Veronica for your reviews on the last chapter!