Ben looked at the scene before him, his go-to person lying on the floor bruised and injured shaking the hand of the person who did it. He released his grip on Apollo and made his way over to Celia.

"Having fun down there? Look comfortable." He said jokingly. "What do you think of him?"

Celia does not say anything, all she did was look up at the ceiling as she processed everything that happened within the span of what felt like a few moments.

"He's a brute." Celia said as she used her undamaged hand to get up.

Apollo turned around and looked at Celia's hand. "You're a good fighter, and using the dead is impressive, although a bit unrefined." Apollo said as he bent over and placed his hand with a cross hanging from his fingertips.

Ben watched from the side as Apollo spoke a single line as an odd-looking ruin in his eyes appeared, like wool the veins and skin started to sow together. As Ben watched Kal'tsit and Amiya walked up,

"Interesting employee you have, where did you find him?" Ben asked as he tried to look for any animal features on Apollo.

"He was recommended by one of our operators when they were in Lungmen." Kal'tsit said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"I see. Can I borrow him? I feel like him and Celia will enjoy each other's company if he's as battle hungry as I think he is."

"We'll talk about it, where are you going next?"

"Columbia, we got a job there so adding another strong fighter doesn't sound too bad."

Kal'tsit looks down at Apollo who was rising to his feet. "How do you feel about Apollo? Are you willing to go to a country you've never been to without us?"

He turned his vision to the cat lady. "I don't see why not." He turned his gaze to Ben. "Guess you have a new worker for now if the Boss Cat wants it."

As Kal'tsit and Ben started to talk with Celia close to them, Amiya stayed behind. She considered herself to be good at starting conversation with most people and Apollo was never someone that pushed any of the people on Rhodes Island away.

"Mr. Apol-"

"Just call me Apollo. I may be older than you, but you don't have to be formal with me. You remind me of Marth and Suzuran." He said as he started to heal himself as a light green glow came from a magic circle he made. "Also, I would appreciate it if you don't go into my head or whatever like before if that was what you were doing. You just have to ask; I don't have much to hide."

Amiya's ears flicked up in surprise at how Apollo found out.

"So, I was right, I won't ask who asked you although I can take a good guess." He said as he stood up recovering from most of the injuries. "I'm not sure what y'all at the top do but you need a better poker face. Take it from me, people are both the smartest and dumbest things you'll meet."

"Yeah, Kal'tist said the same thing and I'm trying. I just tend to be a very expressive person." Amiya replied as she thinks back to when she was placed so high up within the company.

Apollo could only rub the bridge of his nose. "I'm sure Kal'tsit knows what she's doing. She has a good head on her shoulders, plus I'm starting to sound like an old man." He said as he made his way out of the training but before he left, he looked at Amiya one more time. "Do me a favor, if anything happens to me stay with Marth. She would break down if she were left alone at the current moment."

Before Amiya could respond Apollo had already left the room.

Celia, Kal'tist and Ben walked the halls of Rhodes Island as they watched the peaceful chaos happening around them. Four kids of different races ran down the halls, likely playing some game of tag as a Victorian song played over the intercom that has been getting popular within the company. Many of the other older operators rested on the side making sure that the kids didn't do anything stupid.

"I will say every time I come here, I'm impressed, it's nearly always a fun time here." Ben says this as he looks at one of the kids, focusing on the dark horns coming from their head. "Managed to create a place where even the Sarkaz are welcomed and the sankta here tolerate it."

"I can say the same for you, a well-known sankta like yourself with a Sarkaz as their right hand. I can only imagine the backlash you get from your people." Kal'tsit mentioned.

"I managed after a few years; in time they accepted it although some of the more devoted people still look at me as if I committed a sin." Ben replied as he looked at Celia as she still had an unpleasant look on her face from losing to Apollo.

"Hey Kal'tsit who is that new guy you got. Is he a Sarkaz?" Celia asked.

"He is not." She replied.

"Then where is he from, you know my art is an old Sarkaz art that was kept within the region. Yet he was strikingly like mine." Celia added on as she replied part of her fight.

"How so? It didn't look too like me, but I did come in near the end." Ben asked. "Maybe he is a demon, it looked like my art did more damage than I thought, angels and demons are natural enemies Afterall."

"Apollo has a wide range of arts techniques in his pocket, so maybe his homeland has something similar. You'll have to ask him yourself for that." Kal'tsit explained.

Ben could only rub his chin, feeling the stubble where his small beard once was. "I was hoping you would tell us more about him, after all you and I have worked together since the Babel days. We both helped each other a lot, so could you offer your hand this time Kal'tsit?"

A deep sigh escaped her as she gave her answer. "Sadly, I don't have much information to give. For better or worse he's the operator that we have little to no knowledge of. He was recommended by one of our medical operators and he does his job well. He works well with everyone. Any personal details will have to come from him."

Ben felt his eyes narrow to the words as he quickly ran through the few interactions, he had with Apollo to find anything of note. "Celia, what do you think of-" Ben was confronted by the fact that Celia wasn't next to him even though she was there a moment ago.

"As sneaky as ever I see." Kal'tsit said.

"Might have to keep her on a leash, I'm sure she won't cause any more trouble after the beating she got."

As Kal'tsit and Ben continue their conversation, Apollo and Amiya are left alone in the training room.
"Celia is as strong as ever, good to see she's doing ok after these last few years."

As Kal'tsit and Ben talked Celia quickly made her way back to the training room as questions went through her head, what the thing around Apollo was during the fight was. As she traversed the halls, the top of her head started to heat up not out of frustration but rather due to something else. The edges of her vision start to blur slightly as the color of the blurred parts of her vision.

Seems that power of yours has a drawback."

Celia quickly looked behind her to see the person she was looking for. Apollo stood there as if he saw Celia at a coffee shop. In hand was a cup of a drink with a sucker in his mouth like always.

"I'll have to say, that was a good fight back there. Although you made a lot of mistakes that would have gotten you killed, the spirit was there and that is good enough for now." Apollo said casually as he took a sip out his drink, yet as he did, he noticed a certain look in Celia's eyes. A look he knows very well, he lets out a heavy sigh and takes the sucker out his mouth. "Celia, find an answer for yourself. The more one understands themselves the more they grow. However, don't fall for power, you might be called a demon by the world but don't allow that to be true for you. You're an adult but sometimes we get lost in that title and forget to learn something."

Apollo said that before walking off.

"Hey, you didn't even hear what I was going to ask?" Celia expressed.

"But I gave you the answer, you may not want it, but you'll need it. Trust me." Apollo said without stopping as he turned the corner.

Celia, still not satisfied with his answer, chased after him but when she turned the corner, she found that he was not there anymore, as if he had vanished without a trace.

Flashing red lights filled the halls with a loud alert sound ringing through everyone's ears. The sound of stomping boots could be heard over the alarm if one were close enough.

Remember men our orders are to find and capture the traitor, they would like him alive but if needed lethal force has been authorized. Our target is a former recruit, name is Shen. His doesn't have any arts but, he has a mean punch so keep your distance."

As the group of guards made their way to the last reported position the smell of iron filled their noses as they make arrive at the courtyard. Along the cold stone ground lay the first round of guards that was sent towards Shen. From a quick look from the leader, he was able to see that all five of the guards were still alive, although significantly wounded.

"Don't worry sir, I already called a medical team for them. We must keep moving to capture the traitor" One of the guards said.

"Good work let's keep moving. I want my raise."

With that said the squad of men rush towards the location in the hopes of capturing their man.