"Just keep holding, Aster. The others should be here soon." Mary assured. She and Sorano were doing their best to take care of Aster until the others get back with Tony, but the longer it takes, the more worried some it's going to be.

"Is your friend someone tough?" Sorano questioned.

"You could say that. He's considered an S-class wizard in our guild." Mary said.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it." Sorano said. "He didn't get to become that for nothing. We just need to wait for them to show, and then I'm sure everything is going to be just fine." Mary did feel a little better, but they aren't aware of just how bad the situation became. Celina has been revived, but she surprisingly turned against Skull Legion and is looking for Salus herself. True, Maru is on his way back with Tony, but what might happen if Aster hears that Celina is back?

...

Celina

Celina might have been a revived, but her objective is unknown. She's just roaming around the forest and appeared to be looking for Salus herself. What she didn't seem to be aware of was that Boomer and Kage were following her under Dante's orders.

"There she is. Now, let's teach her a lesson." Boomer said.

"Wait." Kage said with him preventing Boomer from doing anything. "If she really is looking for Salus, we can use that to our advantage. She'll do all the work for us, and Master Dante attempted to revive her to use her power over enchantments to break whatever seal is over the weapon."

"I see what you're saying." Boomer said as he liked the sound of that. "We have her find it for us, then we swipe it from her when she unlocks it. You might be a walking piece of misery, but you sure do make sense." It would seem they were going to have to wait a little longer because Celina is going to end up doing what they need her to do. With Kage using his shadow magic, the two of them followed after Celina without her knowing anything.

...

Yukina

Meanwhile, Yukina found herself faced with Salon. Yukina is trying to buy Maru and the others the time they need to get Tony to Aster, but Yukina now has to face a member of Skull Legion all on her own. With how powerful and dangerous they've been told, this could get ugly for Yukina.

"You don't honestly think you can take me by yourself, do you?" Salon questioned. "With my beautiful and lovely hair, you don't stand a chance. I'll have a more difficult time getting the knots out than finishing you off."

"Go ahead and try." Yukina said with her trying to be brave.

"You can act tough all you want, but I can see the fear in your eyes, as you should be afraid." Salon said with her getting serious. "Flowing Locks!" She stretched out her entire hair and had it flow at her like a wave. Yukina jumped out of the way as hard as she could. "No you don't!" She had one strand stretch out and whip Yukina right in the back. "My hair isn't just lovely, it's dangerous!" She coiled her strands and used them like spikes. All of them came down at her, but Yukina was able to avoid them.

"Oh man. How am I going to beat her with her hair doing crazy stuff like that?" Yukina questioned. Then, she got smacked by a strand once again and was knocked down.

"Just stay down. That's where you and your friends belong." Salon said.

"Someone sure is confident, but your kind never wins in the end." Yukina claimed with her still trying to fight. "White Fury!" She unleashed some of her snow magic, but Salon wrapped her hair around the trees and lifted herself off the ground and avoided the attack.

"It's pointless!" Salon called with her trying to attack Yukina again, but Yukina fought back by blasting the hair with snow and stopping it in its tracks. Her hair also became brittle after being exposed to all that cold. "My hair!"

"That apparently worked." Yukina said. "Her hair might be magic, but it's still hair."

"How dare you." Salon said with her stomping down on the ground and looked pretty angry. "Don't you know hair is a woman's pride and joy. It's like our crowns. As a girl yourself, I would have expected you to understand."

"Oh boy... Now she's mad." Yukina said with her not liking how this was going.

"I was going to thrash you around, but possibly let you go so that I could go after your little friends, but not anymore." Salon claimed. "Now that you've damaged my hair, you're dead." Now Salon was serious and angry. She stretched out her hair and wrapped it around Yukina. "Now die!" She lashed her hair around and smashed Yukina against whatever she could. Yukina was bashed against the trees and the ground, and Salon wasn't going to stop until she made sure Yukina was as good as dead. To add the finishing touch, Salon gave Yukina a good throw right through the forest with Yukina taking even more damage. "That should do it, but I better make sure that finished the job." Salon went to make sure Yukina was finished. If Yukina is still able to fight after all that, how is she going to beat her?

...

Maru

Maru and the others were still on their way back to Aster. However, Maru kept looking back as his mind was somewhere else.

"What's the matter? Don't tell me you're still thinking about that woman we saw earlier?" Ginger questioned. Tony still felt guilty for actually giving the enemy what they wanted, but he didn't really have a choice except to revive her.

"A little, but I'm a little more worried about Yukina." Maru said. "We left her behind to deal with a member of Skull Legion. Ginger, you have Tony. I'm thinking I should go back to help her while the rest of you keep going."

"Wait, Yukina is fighting one of those creeps by herself?" Sandy questioned. "Maru, why didn't you say so sooner? Yukina isn't as strong as you are. We should go back and help her."

"Hold on just for a moment." Ginger said. "She's a member of your guild, as well as your friend, isn't she? If that's the case, shouldn't you try believing in her? She wanted to stay back so that we could rescue Tony and your little friend. Besides, we don't really have the time. We can't afford to keep going back when Skull Legion could be getting closer and closer to unlocking Salus. I understand that you're worried about your friend, but the truth of the matter is that we can't afford to go back." As much as Maru wanted to go back to help Yukina, he knew that Ginger had some valid points.

"You're right." Maru said. "We can't waste too much time. We're just going to have to hope that Yukina can pull through and then meet up with the rest of us when she's done."

"Maru, are you sure?" Sandy said.

"Yukina may not be the most passionate fighter, but she's tougher than she looks." Maru claimed. "As much as I'm worried about her, we have to have faith in her." That's what you do with your fellow guildmates in battle. Maru can only hope that Yukina really can make it on her own.

...

Yukina

Maru was right about one thing. Yukina is tougher than she looks. Taking some of that hits and still able to walk is a good sign. She took a pretty rough thrashing, and is in a lot of pain, but she's still able to walk.

"Oh boy... That girl is hardcore when it comes to her hair." Yukina complained. "I hate to be her hairdresser. I've got to keep moving, but how am I going to beat her?" She kept wandering around the place until she came across a clear opening. "A meadow... Wait. Maybe I can use this. There's certainly a lot less for that hair of hers to grab. Not to mention less stuff for her to bash against me...except maybe for the ground."

"There you are!" Yukina got worried now. She looked behind her and saw Salon was there. "I am amazed that you were able to get up and stay in one piece after all that, but I'm afraid it's the end of the line."

"Not yet." Yukina claimed. She ran into the meadow to hopefully use this like she hopes.

"Do you honestly think that's going to make any difference?" Salon said. She stretched out her hair and tripped up Yukina. "It doesn't matter where you go, but it's your call on where you want to die." She claimed with her stepping into the meadow.

"Big talk for someone that can't deal the final blow." Yukina said.

"Are you saying you want me to kill you now? Not a problem." Salon said with her getting her hair ready to do just that. Despite that, Yukina kept trying to fight back as she unleashed a blizzard right at Salon. "Hey! I warned you to be careful with my hair! All this cold is bad for it! Besides, all this snow isn't going to save you!" She stretched out her hair again and was able to grab a hold of Yukina with it.

"Not again!" Yukina said. Then, she was lifted up in the air.

"Quite the hairy situation you got yourself in!" Salon laughed. She threw Yukina down as hard as she could and smashed her against the ground. It was starting to look like this was the end right here. "You think I can't deal the final blow? I could, but it's better to stretch it out." Salon claimed with her standing right over Yukina and kept her pinned down with her hair. "Someone like you would have done better against your average opponent, but I'm a member of Skull Legion. Six wizards that will bring pain to all. Do you know why we call ourselves that? It's because the skulls of our victims is what we leave behind in our wake. We want the world to experience pain. It's something someone like you that works for a light guild could never understand. You work to make a profit, but we're fighting for something greater to us."

"What could that be that you're willing to hurt so many to have it?" Yukina said.

"Why am I bothering telling you? You're about to die." Salon said with her coiling her hair around Yukina's neck to strangle her and end the fight...as well as Yukina's life.

"You might be strong, but even you aren't without weaknesses." Yukina claimed.

"Is that so?" Salon said with her getting right in her face. "Too bad you couldn't exploit them."

"Your hair might be powerful, but your strength is also your weakness." Yukina claimed. She held out her hand right near Salon's hair and blasted her with all the snow and cold she could. Whatever she was doing was working with Salon's hair started to retract without Salon really doing anything.

"My hair!" Salon cried with it feeling so different. She also had a hard time using it now. "What did you do to my beautiful hair?!"

"Sometimes, you just need to get to the root of the problem." Yukina claimed. It would seem that by trying to aim for the roots of Yukina's hair, it caused even more damage to them like how damaging roots of a tree hurts the tree itself. She had to take this opportunity to end this while she still could for one big attack. She gathered all the snow she could and formed a giant snowflake in her hand "Snow Magic: Winter Strike!" She threw the snowflake as hard as she could. That had to have been her best spell. It flew right at Salon like a bladed saucer and struck hard. It was like she was hit with a cold force of winter. Thankfully, it was enough for the fight to end there. Salon was taken out after that last attack. "It's... It's over..." Yukina was glad it was because that was about all she had left. She dropped to the ground and collapsed from exhaustion. "I can't believe there are five others that are just as strong as she is. I barely have any magic left after that, and my whole body hurts. Hopefully, Maru made it back to Aster." Yukina did all that she could. Hopefully, she can still regroup with the others.

...

Dante

Dante was still in the cave and was hoping for some results. Although, he wants those results to be good news. With Salon's defeat, Dante felt something. He placed his hand over his chest and closed up his robe.

"I don't believe it. Salon has actually been defeated?" Dante said. "One of our own has been defeated much sooner than I anticipated. We can't afford to lose much more before we get our hands on Salus. I was told this Celina is a powerful enchantress that might be able to undo Salus' seal, but does she really plan to have all that power for herself?" He walked out of the cave and looked out to the forest. Somewhere in there is the power he desires, and he's not going to let anyone get in the way. "Regardless, the power will soon be mine."

...

Celina

Celina continued searching for Salus on her own, and it seems like she knows where she's going. With Kage and Boomer still secretly following her without her knowing, Celina soon found herself at the entrance of some sort of cavern in the ground.

"Down there." Celina made her way down into the cavern. "It's here."

"Did you hear that?" Boomer said with him and Kage emerging out of the shadows, but kept themselves hidden. "Salus must be here somewhere, but I don't see anything."

"Just be patient." Kage claimed. It didn't seem like there was anything out of the ordinary, but Celina just proved that wrong. Using her knowledge and skills with magic, Celina clapped her hands together and released some magic power and caused six pillars to emerge. It would seem that the weapon that they all have been searching for is there, and Celina really seems to be claiming the weapon for herself.