Bellum Plaza, 2/2/2033, 10 a.m

  As the crowd started gathering for the annual ritual, Sora, Rob, Yui and the others were there, anxious to know about Kettei’s whereabouts. After all, he hadn’t come back after he went to their rescue. As they looked for him, the sound of a gong echoed, calling their attention. In the middle of the stage, Lady Rowina walked towards them, as she started to speak up:

  “Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, there aren’t the usual six people” She started, with a smirk: “However, that doesn’t matter. Behold, the prisoner number fifty-seven, the fugitive of Bellum’s son, Kettei Izawami” She added, stepping aside to reveal Kettei, chained up. Lady Rowina then proceeded to walk towards Kettei, as she started to absorb his magic and trying to corupt it, but whilst the absorption part was working, the corruption wasn’t. As Yui, Sora and Alice were being held back by the rest of the group, Manuela and Fatima rushed there, albeit tiredly. Obito turned his head, smiling:

  “Hey, you two. Any news?” he asked, concerned

  “Yeah, we pulled off an antidote, but we only have one shot” Manuela replied, smiling weakly. In a flashback, Manuela and Fatima worked to pull off the Phoenicia Flora based antidote, staying up all night, only pulling off a vial at dawn. Back in the present, Rob nodded at the statement

  “It means either we pull it off or we fuck up” he admitted, solemnly. Their conversation was interrupted, however, by a laugh. Not Lady Rowina’s, but Kettei’s. The perplexed members around them looked at each other, as one asked sternly:

  “What are you laughing at, blond fuck? Is this hysteria?” he asked, in anger

  “Oh, not at all. I’m laughing to how stupid you all are!” Kettei exclaimed, as he roared, overcharging the magic chains that were sucking his magic and breaking them, much to everyone’s shock, including Lady Rowina, whose eyes widened, but smirked

  “Well well, wasn’t expecting less from someone who did wonders in Falkia” She smirked, as she punched him across the face, as Kettei blocked it, before counterattacking with a well-placed kick to Lady Rowina’s stomach to gain distance, before teleporting away behind Manuela, grabbing the vial from her hands, much to her annoyance

  “What are you planning?” Manuela whispered, as Kettei dropped a few drops in his hand, as he casted a wind spell that carried those particles around the kingdom

  “Given the limited quantity, the effects will be noticeable in a while. There are registers in their base. Go and give the antidote to the ones you find, but don’t go too crazy” Kettei ordered, as Manuela grabbed the vial back nodding, before giving two droplets of the antidote to Mia, who got back to normal. The latter, alongside Obito and Manuela, headed to Lady Rowina’s base, as Kettei resumed his attack.

  He started by kicking her feet. However, the elf matriarch was quick to respond by blocking and throwing a punch, which hit Kettei in the face. He however yanked his leg away, before throwing a few punches, who however got quickly blocked and parried by Lady Rowina. As Kettei noticed his friends fleeing, he used a quick step to move away a little, smirking as he chanted an arcana spell

  “Arcana magic, tier 3, Arcana Hope” he whispered, as he blasted her with an high-concentrated magic beam, which Lady Rowina started to absorb. He noticed that not only she needed to keep a certain position to absorb his magic, but that he could instanteanously transmit it to the ones she controlled thanks to the Qinshì Lì. That’s when he got an idea, looking towards Alice as he teleported to her: “I have a plan. I need you to hold her for a while as I help the others by administrating the antidote” he explained, calmly

  “What? Why?” Alice asked, doubt covering her face: “Can’t you beat her?”

  “Oh, my physical strenght is enough to buy them time, but such operation requires time. You would fare much better against her given your lack of magic. You have an edge” Kettei explained, as he teleported to the group. As he did that, Alice started to fight Lady Rowina.

  She started attacking relentlessly with a combination of punches and kicks, to which Lady Rowina struggled to keep up as many of Alice’s attacks hit the target. Not having to worry about her magic being drained, she kept going, putting the elf matriarch to the ropes. As the fight progressed, Kettei grabbed the files after a long research, as well as the antidote, teleporting from house to house to administrate a few droplets per Qinshì Lì infect, as the influence slowly started to wear off, the negative energy wearing down eventually as Kettei went back to the battlefield, seeing both Alice and Lady Rowina worn down. In a desperate attempt, the latter released a series of chains, but Kettei quickly jumped in between, taking the hit as the chains sunk into his flesh. Lady Rowina started to laugh maniacally, as she started to absorb his magic, unaware of what happened in the past thirty minutes

  “Your magic is mine! AHAHAHAHAH!” The elf matriarch laughed, as she tried to transfer the magic to one of her minions, but to no avail

  “Try surviving this first, then you can keep it!” Kettei yelled back, as he willingly made more magic flew into the chains and towards her body, forcefeeding her the mana as Lady Rowina started to enlarge slightly, as he kept pouring more and more magic on her, until Lady Rowina exploded, the stolen magic returning to their respective users, much to the cult’s horror

  “When did you come up with that?” Alice asked, looking at him

  “Back when Sora and the others were kidnapped. I offered myself in exchange for them. I had time to make a plan and find the list the others have used to neutralize the Qinshi Lì” Kettei explained, calmly, before looking at the crowd: “They can move on with their lives free, and that’s what matters” he added, as he walked out of the plaza

  “Where are you going, Ket?” Sora asked, looking at his seriousness

  “The castle. My mother and the king may be going there as we’re talking. If you don’t see me around by 7 pm, come search for me” Kettei replied, as he put on a shattered mask and teleported to the castle, where Hotaru was about to kill the chief in command. However, as her blade was about to connect, Kettei kicked it away

  “Well well, isn’t this a surprise” Hotaru smirked, as she wielded her weapon

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  “I won’t allow your crazy utopia to be a success” Kettei replied, his gaze serious

  “Me gaining the scrolls would be easier if you weren’t in the way, Kettei” Hotaru snarled, looking at him

  “Then why conceive me? Or Yui? Did you want a family or was this part of your idea?” Kettei asked, angered.

  However, Hotaru charged at Kettei sword in hand, as Kettei parried with his staff and counterattacking with a kick at her legs and following suit with a kick to her face as she fell. Hotaru quickly responded with a flurry of magic attacks, some hitting Kettei, some not

  “Arcana magic, tier 2: LUZ NOVATIO” Kettei chanted, chanting a spell, before casting it

  “Nox Magic, tier 3: NOX TENEBROSA” Hotaru responded, as the two spells nullified each other, before the fight kept on going with a bunch of physical attacks and magic spells. Neither of them seemingly getting the upper hand and actually, with the blond Izawami having slightly a disadvantage with his injuries

  “You aren’t going all out, son. Why do you hold back?” Hotaru asked, clenching her sword

  “I don’t need to go all out. Not here where it can cause quite the chaos” Kettei responded, wiping some blood

  “Well then” Hotaru whispered. Before Kettei could process what happened, Hotaru teleported herself and Kettei to a forest between Bellum and Falkia: “Now you can go all out” she added smugly, before tapping into her transformation. Her dress and hair turned from respectively white and blond to black and dark purple. Just as she transformed, Kettei followed suit, his hair turning green and his eyes going red, a greenish-yellow aura surrounding him

  “Shall we fight, mother?” He asked. However, he didn’t wait for an answer before he attacked, keeping her from casting any spells and relying just on physical strenght, to which he had an advantage against Hotaru’s petite 160 cm figure. However, as he was about to lend the knockout blow, she dodged at the last second, getting at a distance and panting heavily

  “Were you trying to kill me just now?” Hotaru asked, angered

  “Goodness, no. If I wanted to, I would’ve killed you already. I’m showing you how different we are, mother. Your forte is magic, I’m pretty much built in every fighting aspect. In short, I can kill you whenever I want. Try get in my way again, and you’re history” Kettei explained, calmly

  “You’ll have to catch me first” Hotaru retorted, as she cut her arm slightly, before she summoned a giant snake with red and white features: “I’ll give you two some playtime. Shin-Wa, kill him” she ordered, before opening a darkness portal and leaving, as Kettei was left there to fight the snake. Despite his best efforts, he was still too tired from the earlier fights, as the snake was overpowering him due to it just being summoned. As it seemed like it was about to strangle Kettei, a darkness and wind dagger cut the snake’s tail, freeing the elder sibling of the Izawami household. As Kettei gasped for air, he looked towards the woods. From the darkness, Yui and Sora walked towards him, smirking:

  “Sorry we kept you waiting, Kettei” the pair said in unison, stepping in front of him

  “Took you a while, but at least I’m not dead. How did you figure out where I was?” Kettei curiously asked

  “Alice got worried you weren’t coming back. It’s been an hour since you headed to the castle and she asked us to look for you. Then you transformed and tracing your energy was easy” Yui explained

  “Alice, huh? Looks like that redhead does have a sweet spot for me” Kettei chuckled as he sat aside.

  As he did so, Yui and Sora drew their swords, before looking each other in the eyes, nodding

  “Nox Epilogue: Impulso Nocturna” Sora chanted, as his body got engulfed in a dark aura, his right arm turning reddish

  “Wind Epilogue: Xiphos” Yui followed suit, as her body got engulfed into a windy greenish-blue aura, as six blades formed behind her back, mimicking a pair of wings

  Together, Yui and Sora fought the giant snake, as Kettei lent against a tree. Just then, Alice sat beside him, having just arrived

  “Ye good, Ket?” She asked

  “Not really. I’m tired and injured. In a day I had my magic sucked, some chains stuck on my shoulder, fought my mother, then that fucker of a snake was strangling me… It’s still midday at best, so yeah… Fuck my life” Kettei whined, but there was an hint of sarcasm in it

  “Let’s get ye to Manuela so she can patch you up. That is, if you can keep up the pace” Alice smirked, as she helped Kettei stand up

  “Sure. Yui and Sora got this, as it looks like” Kettei commented, smiling as he stood up thanks to her help, as the two walked away and back to the others. There, Manuela tended to Kettei’s wounds, who luckily weren’t that deep, as said wounds quickly regenerated thanks to her abilities

  “Alright, this should do. Good news, your shoulder is looking good, so you can fight at your full capabilities again” Manuela solemnly commented, checking on his injuries

  “That’s good to know. Thank you, Manuela. Sorry for the bother, again” Kettei responded, calmly

  “Ahhh, no biggie” Manuela said, shrugging, as after a while both Yui and Sora came back, both in base

  “That snake was dealt with, buddy. And you look better without those injuries” Sora commented, leaning against a wall

  “Thanks, although… It kinda pains that my mother is the villain. I wonder how deep is their alliance. No worries, next time I’ll come across her, I will make sure she leaves in a casket” Kettei said, coldly, his tone sending shivers down Sora’s spine

  “Don’t make something you’ll regret, Kettei” Rob chimed in

  “Only if required” Kettei corrected himself, as Riku nodded

  “I see you know what you’re doing, just don’t let it get to your head” Rob said, crossing his arms: “Do you have enough energy to get us back to Tempest?”

  “Nope, you guys better get the train for once. I’ll join you though” Kettei replied sarcastically

  “Fair enough. Let’s go. The next train should be in twenty minutes” Rob stated, as Kettei teleported everyone to the train station

  As the train arrived, Kettei and Alice sat together, Rob sat alongside Rika, Sora with Martha and Manuela with Fei-Yang. Yui sat next to Rosalba as everyone rested. Suddenly, Alice spoke up

  “So, how long will it take for the Qinshì Lì effects to fully vanish?” she asked

  “About a few days, but the cult won’t interfere” Manuela replied, smirking

  “How so?” Kettei asked, chiming in into the discussion

  “You see, whilst you were fighting, I had a meeting with them. Like I suspected, they were moved by fear towards Lady Rowina. Her death will make them go back to their regular life” Manuela explained, yawning: “Now, can I sleep? We have a long ride towards us” she added, before closing her eyes

  As Manuela drifted off to sleep, Alice closed her eyes, laying her head against Kettei’s shoulder, which made him blush, but eventually wrapped his arm around her shoulders. That made Sora and Martha snicker and giggle

  “Looks like Kettei is a bit of a softie, huh?” Martha whispered to Sora’s ear between stifled laughs

  “Yeah, a big blond teddy bear” Sora whispered back with a smile, which cocked Kettei’s attention

  “What are you two talking about?” he asked, sleepily

  “Oh, how you’re a big teddy bear” Sora replied, laughing

  “Fair enough, you’re not this girl I’m holding” Kettei responded, sassily

  “All jokes aside, Kettei” Sora looked towards him, his tone shifting from laughing to serious: “This is the second time we save people from other kingdoms. What’s next?” he asked, calmly

  “Well, I think we have some time before someone comes asking for help. With our queen gone, we won’t be able to receive communications as we used to, that’s without saying the king will have freedom over the next political decisions. In short, I don’t know” Kettei responded, sighing: “But I would use that time to spend time with Alice, getting to know her better”

  “I would do the same with Martha. We deserve a small break after all” Sora admitted, leaning back to his seat.

  The train firstly stopped at Falkia, where Manuela and Fei-Yang dropped off, then went to Tempest. However, at the station of Tempest, something unexpected happened, as Tom Peeters was waiting for them there alongside some other people

  “Is Kettei Izawami here?” Tom asked to Sora, calmly

  “Yes, why?” Sora responded

  “I need to talk to him, privately. It’s an urgent matter” Tom admitted, as his eyes said everything. Something was horribly off