<02/12/1972 – 16:15 | Route 787, Junon Region, Sprawn Valley>

  The sunny breeze of the shiny ocean returned to Jane and her friends as they flew through the mild wind heading on the bridge of Route 787. With all of them mounted on their bicycles, it was a smooth ride of pedaling and coasting down the half-empty road towards Lennith City, and though there were several passing travelers, nobody stopped the three cycling on the road.

  Though the afternoon was becoming late, there was plenty to enjoy from the sound of the water below them. Taylor took every sensation to heart and mind in order to let herself relax, smelling some of the salt from Hollifax Ocean. She had been pedaling with Danny and Jane for almost an hour now, and there was still plenty of road to continue on. Jane estimated earlier that it would take them about four hours to reach the next city if they remain uninterrupted. While there wasn't much else to do, Taylor felt the comfort of serenity while it lasted. Danny on the other hand remained in a talkative mood.

  "So, what do you want to do after?" he questioned. For a second of silence, Danny deducted that Taylor wasn't paying too close attention, but she did realize by now how out of tune she was.

  "Huh?"

  Danny elaborated, "After we take care of the dark zone, what do you want to do next? I haven't given it much thought myself."

  "Oh." Taylor glanced at the ground in thought. Having no idea how to answer him, Taylor decided to share her level of uncertainty. "I'm not actually sure." So much has happened in little time, and that question was more destructive than she would have hoped. Ever since leaving from road J-H, Taylor played that scene back to herself over again. Jane releasing the light and power of her symbol on national television... It didn't make sense as to why it was necessary. Though Jane already took her cloak off upon departing to the road, none of the travelers passing by recognized any of them. It's for the best, but it begs the question of how many people in Sprawn Valley actually know about this.

  Meanwhile, Danny was thinking too far ahead. There really isn't anything to be done after Alpha Zero is taken care of. Taylor can't go back home. Nyar would likely just send her back himself. Plus, for all of this time to pass, she did not hear anything about this elaborate plan of Danny's to help her out of the horrible situation back home. Stuck in a poisonous chain of thought, Jane noticed their utter silence fading in afterwards.

  "If Leray magic wasn't your thing, you should have spoken up sooner."

  Taylor and Danny both glanced forward at Jane, who slowed her pace slightly to make sure her voice carried behind her. Though it wasn't her business what they were talking about, she was too bored to leave them alone.

  Danny's face turned serious. Jane was referring back to what happened in the hotel room in Eldora during their first night visit. Not only did Jane and Taylor argue about which one of them was more reckless, she also put up a point that must still bother Jane today. Danny once said that the life of Leray magic isn't for him or Taylor, despite the fact that using that magic is really cool. After what happened since, he couldn't be as certain as before. Going back to the life before ever arriving in Sprawn Valley... It would be an interesting opportunity, since he had indeed remained stuck here. After relying on magic powers for so long, leading a life without them became that much more challenging to imagine. Danny made a promise to Nyar to meet him at the Junon airport, but here he is riding away in the opposite direction.

  He was helping Jane, just as Taylor was, but his question was just as effective on Taylor as it was for himself. What did he wish to do after this was all over? Taylor still probably has some strong negative feelings about returning to her own parents...

  "Tough thing telling the truth," Jane added. Neither of her friends were saying much right now, and their deep trance of thought could be felt from here. "I sure messed that one up several times myself."

  "Jane," Danny started. "I don't think that Leray magic is lame. I just don't know what kind of career I can make out of it, or if I even want to. Taylor and I both have homes to return to." His words slowed Jane's pace even more. He could tell that Jane wanted to stop her bike completely, sensing the hesitation to follow her.

  Taylor added in the urgency to stay with Jane longer just after Danny's explanation. "I'm going to help you first Jane. We can worry about going home later."

  "That's fine with me, as long as you don't get hurt."

  Danny tried to finish what he was about to say, after Taylor had cut him off early. "But even if we do go back home, I don't know what to do then. Taylor? I was hoping you might have an idea."

  You're supposed to be the one with the idea you moron! She didn't yell at him, but Taylor at least wanted to whack Danny upside the head for forgetting about his promise he made back in the Gulop region of Sprawn Valley. He promised to have some sort of solution by now, and he is asking her now instead. Holding her emotions back, Taylor replied with, "Oh, I'm not sure either."

  Even disregarding the royal problems back in Kalamo, Taylor felt sad thinking about leaving Sprawn Valley. After all of the memories she made here with both Jane and with Danny, it wasn't something she ever wanted to let go of. Despite Fronas being so strange, it was one of the liveliest moments of her entire life. How could she want to go back and away from this beautiful place? After all said and done, it's not the magic that makes Sprawn Valley so great, not even the amount of personal freedom either. It's the adventure that counts. "I don't want it to end..."

  "What was that? Can't hear ya."

  Taylor winced slightly, spooked by the realization that her last thought was spoken aloud, though soft as a whisper. She stared at Danny while he continued watching the road in front of him. She wanted to tell him, to tell Danny that she could just stay here forever and go on infinite adventures with him, best with Jane by their side. What was there back home anyway? A cruel communist kingdom, and parents who gave right into the idea of selling out their own daughter. Danny's life wasn't as bad, but it sure didn't shine back there either like it was beginning to now. But I can't tell you that. You deserve your right to go home, even if I don't want to go.

  "Whoa!" After barely keeping the wheels to the ground due to the sudden loss of control, Jane gripped her handles tighter while applying the brakes. The immediate distraction made Danny and Taylor apply their breaks too just after coasting ahead of her.

  After coming to a complete stop, Danny disregarded whatever Taylor said before, and made sure Jane was okay, only a few feet out in front of her. "You good? Be careful on that thing."

  "Uh... Well it's not my fault the wheel decided to curve on its own!" Jane let Danny know not to torment her skills on a bike. Jane knew how to ride one perfectly. Something on the road must have caused an unsteady glide in the ground, but now that Jane was stopped and unharmed, she dismounted from her bike, deciding to take a quick breather.

  "Guess it was a rock on the road," Danny muttered quietly.

  "Hey, there's someone coming!" Taylor alerted the others while pointing in the direction they were supposed to be heading. Jane reacted by grabbing her bike and pushing it closer to Taylor, trying to make out the figure up ahead. Though the person walking their way seemed random, his path and movement did indicate he wanted something to do with the three of them.

  Jane let her frustration out more slowly towards the new development. "Agh! Some idiot probably wants to have a match with us." Her very exhale was aggressive enough for her friends to sense.

  Danny pointed out the flaw in the stranger's plan. "But we have EDS status on our cards, so we're exempt." It doesn't matter who tries to engage them. EDS status is like an upgraded format of emergency mode for a Leray wielder. Nobody has legal grounds to challenge them, thus the ride back to Lennith will be smooth sailing.

  Jane glanced at the stranger harder, though he was impossible to make out from this distance of over fifty meters, that and his overcoat concealing much of his face. Jane knew that from Danny's logic, they were safe, but there was something about this encounter she couldn't trust. "Let's put our bikes up anyway. If something happens, we won't have a ride should they get damaged." Jane pulled out her supply sphere, holding the unit up to her bike and using her index finger to trigger the capture protocol. A dark blue laser of light shot from the sphere and hit the large object, encasing the bicycle inside of a blue aura for a few seconds. Afterwards, the entire bike became compacted, liquefying into a blue mist as it got sucked into the supply sphere. This was a usual sight to see in Sprawn Valley utilizing the supply sphere's dimensional compression technology, being that nobody was able to store such large objects before the upgrade everyone received. After seeing Jane perform it successfully for the first time, Danny and Taylor were awestruck for a good moment before trying out the device for themselves.

  "Yo!" the stranger yelled. His deep voice quickly identified that he was an older male, but not much other detail was available yet. He waved his arm a couple of times, indicating his need for attention.

  Danny glanced back at Jane for a second after storing his bike in his supply sphere. "Hey Jane? You know that guy?" She could have made all kinds of friends while Jane was separated from them before.

  "I don't believe so." Jane watched as the stranger continued to walk up closer, stopping him at ten meters for safety reasons. "That's far enough!" The stranger stopped, and Jane approached him alone to give the guy the bad news for the day. "We aren't in the mood to battle people right now, and I've got special permission to deny battles without strikes." After getting closer to the person, the stranger lifted his hood, revealing his face... But even after he did, it's not as if Jane or her friends felt any familiar details come to mind.

  The middle-aged man had short dark brown hair, and a beard still just growing in of the same color with his silver eyes. Other than his hair looking like it was all over the place, nothing about him gave Jane any reason to react. "Jane," the guy inhaled. "You're tough to find for such a young wielder. Or perhaps I'm just getting too old for this."

  Jane took two nervous steps back from where she was, her friends close behind her. "Who the hell are you? How do you know my name?"

  "I know that you're Jane... Don't you recognize me?" After Jane's face remained blank in denial, the man tried once more to identify himself. After all, he only met Jane for a brief moment, never to see her again until right now. "From the forest on the edge of Blue Port Town? You were standing somewhere by yourself, looking bored as ever. And then I gave you something, a spherical device. Do you still have it?!"

  His increasing volume made Jane wince back a bit further, but his careful choice of words had her memory jogging in no time. This was the guy, the mysterious person who gave Jane the unknown spell bomb that started all of this mess in the first place! She never saw his face with great detail because he was wearing that hood at the time they met, and then he ran back into the forest to get pursued by more unknown persons. "You're that guy!"

  Chapter Theme Shift:

  He noticed the other two travelers behind Jane looking at each other in confusion. At least Jane didn't blab about the incident. "That guy?" he renounced. "I prefer Gieger, since that happens to be my name. Um, doctor Gieger at your service." He began walking forward while holding out his hand to formally introduce himself.

  Instead, Jane hopped back, pulling out her daggers from her dress sphere, and holding the blades out in front of her, the quickest form of a physical threat. Gieger stopped walking and retracted his hand quickly from the surprise, about ready to curse his luck. Jane's vocal expression changed quickly, her anticipation evident in her throat. "You're the one who messed us up! You're the one who gave me that unknown spell bomb. Tell me what that thing was right now!"

  Gieger backed up with his hands in front of him showing surrender. "Whoa now! Re—relax! I can tell you everything, but first I need to see that the device is safe."

  "You start talking first," Jane demanded. After searching for so long, finally! This Gieger has finally shown himself, and now he'll have to give her answers, less she report him to the federal investigators. "I want details, names, and your involvement in that sphere this instant." Jane could sense Danny and Taylor preparing for battle as a precaution. They weren't talking because they were about to learn as much as Jane was right now.

  Gieger should have expected the subject being so upset by the way things went, but it also seemed a little less ordinary too. Did something happen to her afterwards? Maybe the people searching for that thing tried to ambush her! It couldn't be! "That sphere you keep referring to is one of a kind. The E7 Mark 64 Prototype. Hint's the name, it's the only kind in the world, and a lot of bad people want it."

  "People like you?" Jane suggested.

  Gieger snickered momentarily. "If I had it in my possession and wanted nothing more than to do bad things, why would I just give it to you? Though I am only letting you borrow the device. I was being chased in the forest back then, but those people were after their precious experiment. They couldn't care less if I escaped or not, but I finally gave them the slip."

  Jane's jaw revealed her tightened teeth for a second. The moment in her mind played through again like a flashback. Gieger gave Jane the spell bomb to hide it from the people she noticed chasing him, but the same people must not have noticed Gieger giving the device to Jane in order to keep it safe. Still... Other than the words experimental and prototype, Jane had nothing else to go on. "What is the E7 Mark 64?"

  "It's an experimental spell bomb that has no current ID. It's not in any database or manifest, since naturally it would be considered an illegal experiment. But it's also incredibly powerful and unpredictable when used on a person, something unseen and horrible. To make a long story short, I changed my mind about how the device was to be used, and my employers didn't handle it well. That's why I had to entrust it to you for safekeeping while I led them off. In the wrong hands, it could befall this place."

  "Who is they in this context," Danny projected. This man is a total unknown; Jane has the right idea to play this safely.

  Gieger took more notice of the two standing behind Jane. They seemed so composed and ready. Gieger expected them to be confused and unbalanced by his appearance to Jane, but the boy's question wasn't as important to answer just yet.

  "Well if being in the wrong hands is what you were trying to prevent, I'd say mission accomplished." Jane put away her daggers, feeling more comfortable around the supposed scientist. Somehow, he didn't feel like a threat in any manner, not after his careless introduction.

  "You mean you've kept it away from others? I'm glad to hear about that. Where is the E7 then?" Gieger saw the expressions change in the girl and boy behind Jane, though Jane remained tough and serious.

  Holding out her forearm in front of Gieger, Jane barely gave the guy enough to formulate her answer. "Let's just say that wherever this E-7 goes, I go. You weren't wrong about it being a strong spell bomb. Though you could have been more clear before you handed the thing to me."

  "You used it?!" Gieger instantly tensed in a mix of worry and anger, his eyes darting everywhere to reevaluate the situation.

  Jane could tell that Gieger was about to lose his sanity, but it wasn't anybody's fault other than his own. She felt no need to defend herself.

  "I can't believe this!" Gieger's voice began cracking due to his vocal stress. "You used the one and only E7 Mark 64!" Holding his hands on top of his head, the man approached the verge of a panic!

  "On the bright side, I did keep it out of the wrong hands."

  "You stupid brat! You don't understand what you've done!"

  "Screw you!" Jane fired back. "Do you have any idea how close you came to screwing up my whole life, my entire career? I still have little faith that I'll be able to remove this thing. And all you've done is give something unknown to me without explaining what it does."

  He defended his actions with his teeth shut, trying not to have a heart attack. "I was trying to explain it, but I was being chased and cut on time!"

  "Well I didn't know what was going on. Now it's too late to fix it either, unless you have some way of removing symbols from people."

  "I don't believe this!" Gieger began to sound like a fussing loser, pacing left and right with his hands on his head. "After everything I went through to make sure nobody would be branded with the E7 symbol, this happens!"

  "Yeah, up yours too!" Jane knew they were losing valuable time, but this was the same guy who messed everything up, and instead of giving them answers, he was freaking out over something nobody could change. Even if Jane knew what the device did, and failed to have branded herself as marked those many days ago, she would never have given it back to this idiot. What gives him the right to wield a highly illegal spell bomb? "If it's that important to you, then take the symbol back. I don't want it." Jane knew part of her offer was more of a joke, but perhaps Gieger would know of another person who could remove the tattoo.

  "You can't remove that kind of symbol you idiot!"

  Chapter Theme Shift:

  Jane's heart sunk in a matter of seconds. What does he mean can't remove that symbol? Was this an over the top special symbol that nobody in the world would be able to recognize? When Gieger said prototype and experimental, did he really mean the only one in the world? "But—"

  "I gave you one simple task, and now you're a threat to the entire population. You branded yourself Jane! They'll be looking for you now!"

  "Who's looking?" Taylor begged.

  Gieger couldn't let up on his anger for what Jane just did. "I should have known to entrust something so important to some stupid, selfish, stuck-up punk!" Before he knew it, Gieger was pushed with a force so strong, he was sent flying backwards a few feet, leaving behind the painful sensation of an intense burn to his stomach.

  Jane looked behind her, identifying the origin of that flash of bright light which slammed into Gieger at top speed. To her surprise, Danny was holding out his right hand, still supported with a fiery glyphring.

  Danny kept his hand out in case he felt the need to use it again, and proceeded slowly towards Gieger as he struggled to recover himself. "Why don't you say that one more time?" he challenged. "I'd like to see how long you can last being the one hunted. All we have to do is report what you've done to the authorities, give them a name and a face, and you'll be the one with a bull's-eye on your back."

  "You are all in a world of trouble!" Gieger's voice didn't project very well since he was struggling on the ground, still winded from that Fire Bolt blast he took from Danny's attack spell.

  "No," he denied. "Jane did make the mistake of using something unknown on herself, but ever since she did, she's been paying for it. Who are you to just walk up to us like this, blaming this mess on the thing that you created?! How can you possibly judge the situation when you're the one who started it all?"

  Gieger yelled, barely able to sit upright. "I had no choice boy! You think I wanted to make something that volatile? It couldn't be helped. They forced me to develop its tech! I volunteered to make something, not realizing what I was getting into until it was too late. When I wanted to stop, they forced me to complete the prototype anyway."

  "Who forced you to?" Danny waited with the spawn of his fiery glyphring still glowing vibrantly... Two seconds... Five seconds... Gieger wasn't talking, instead letting the wind carry over the silence. "Well?!"

  Gieger weighed in thought whether it was worth the time to give them the truth about the secret organization really running the show around the nation. But before he could get a single word in, the ocean below the bridge splashed up higher than it ever had before. Some random explosion in the water forced the splash of water so far up that gallons of it jumped on top of and over the bridge near their very position.

  "Ah, what is it now?!" Jane drew her daggers again in defense, and she noticed Danny and Taylor rush towards both of her sides with their weapons out for preparation. As the massive uplifted burst of water crashed back down into the sea, the culprit of the vertical wave was revealed before their very eyes. Though as unbelievable as it was, Jane and her friends were staring at a deployable platform hovering just above the bridge level connected to something below through a vertical machine. Jane and Danny both rushed ahead to peek over the balcony of the bridge and down into the water, where a large body of dark metal maintained afloat halfway above the oceanic surface.

  Gieger couldn't believe his terrible luck, and cursed at himself for not being able to hide any better than now. He pushed himself off the ground, but remained frozen in panic as the submarine below them raised their platform with several masked soldiers standing on top, all of them wearing tough concealing armor with large machine guns.

  Danny had never seen a submarine in person before, and couldn't believe they actually run in Sprawn Valley. It was a dangerous thing to use since the Leray veil of protection can't save people from drowning at sea, but it didn't explain what a large submarine was doing around here, or why it rose a vertical platform all the way up to their level carrying almost a dozen men dressed in bright red metal armor plating. Everyone on the platform looked armed to the teeth. Jane took some steps back, reassessing the potential threat level while Danny did the same for caution.

  The platform was still dripping a ton of water from the edge, though it was large enough to carry a few more people standing near its center. Only when the machine stopped moving and elevating did the soldiers standing on top react. They were wearing some sort of underwater-based protective gear, and all reached to the side of their helmets to lift the visors and reveal part of their faces. It was then that Taylor and the others learned that not all of the people on the platform were just any ordinary soldiers. Men and women were holding heavy weapons, and the female wearing the most unique armor was most likely a commanding officer of the General Army based on her position contrasted with the others; even her metallic suit seemed to have a different design; the helmet automatically transforming to contract and reveal the face was most advance. Taylor had a new desire of question on her mind; why is the General Army unit here?

  With her visor lifted, the woman spoke up just loud enough to reach all of them. "So we search high and low all over the valley, and we happen to find you standing out in the open. Well done job hiding in plain sight amongst these kids."

  Taylor didn't understand what was happening, but the commander appeared to be addressing her statement only to Gieger. If they're friends of his, it would explain their random appearance. Jane certainly didn't seem like she had any clue right now.

  "You can leave the kids out of it Hellen. I'm through running from you!"

  "Such a bold statement from a weak wielder. As our top scientist, you should be proud to be part of the grand experiments."

  Gieger spat towards the ground. "Hardly. I assume you've come for the device again?" While he stalled for more time, Gieger noticed that the machine was part of the same submarine they use to navigate the land all the time. Seems they still have yet to be caught!

  "The man actually has half a brain. Are you going to hand it over then? We grow tired of this senseless game of cat and mouse."

  "What do you think's going on?" Danny was asking Jane, but soon understood that she wasn't the correct person to get his information from. All they could do was observe the situation from here. Gieger was affiliated with these people somehow, but it looked like some sort of falling out long overplayed.

  "I don't have it anymore," he claimed. "If you freaks would have left me alone, I wouldn't have lost the thing."

  "Hahaha!" Hellen laughed viciously. "You really think I'd believe that you of all people would lose track of something so valuable? Even if you did manage to hide the device, we can still take you in for interrogation. All units? Apprehend the subject!" With Hellen's immediate order, the soldiers on the platform activated a secret system within their armored suits; jet packs that have never been seen before by the populous. The jetpack systems were highly stable and efficient as well, running on some unknown source of flammable fuel.

  Despite how intimidating they were, Jane needed some more answers about what was going on with Gieger. The flying soldiers were heading for Gieger, and not for her own team, thus lowering the threat level against her. As the units began to carefully descend with their flying suits, Jane projected her voice to reach Hellen's soldiers. "What's this all about?"

  Hellen turned her attention to the younger ones, who all stood a defensive formation line all confused. "This matter doesn't concern you!" she hollered. "You'll all stay back if you know what's good for you." Hellen lifted her arm and gestured down to give a command with body language. The levitating soldiers nearby all responded to the command, lifting their hands and blasting Fire Bolts out of glyphrings that formed immediately on their demand.

  Though it happened to take them by surprise quickly, Jane had enough time to react to the three Fire Bolts all heading their direction. She lifted her left hand up and expended magic without having to say a word. It took some concentration to invoke her spell so quickly, though it came naturally to her and worked just as well. Jane's spell turned out to be a Farshield, forming a solid translucent wall of Leray energy in the air between her team and the soldiers in front. The shield wall absorbed all three Fire Bolts without the slightest loss in defensive power. Jane lowered the shield afterwards to figure out who the soldiers were. They can't be from the General Army, not after that type of behavior. "What kind of welcome is that? The General Army doesn't attack random civilians and wielders!"

  "You thought they were with the General Army?" Gieger knew of the truth, but it was a shame that Jane and her friends were so clueless. Being brave in this situation was not a good thing for any one of them. "Try the infamous Scarlet Syndicate. You were supposed to run away with their attention on me!"

  Hellen muttered to some soldiers left on the platform for her personal protection, "That girl's not much of a pushover to use a shield wall out of nowhere so fast." With a louder voice directed towards the teens down below, Hellen delivered her vicious identity. "It really is sad when you don't know the real thing when you see it, but I suppose people mistaking us for the General Army isn't such a bad idea."

  "The Scarlet Cult!" Jane identified. "What are you doing here?" They really look like a unit of the General Army with all of that flashy armor. How much power does this organization have?

  "What does it look like I'm doing?" Hellen pointed to the older man further away from the kids. "That man belongs to us! We're simply taking back what's ours."

  Jane glared at Gieger with hostility. "Is this true Gieger?"

  "It used to be," he admitted. "But I'm not going anywhere with these freak shows anymore. You'll never find the device!"

  Jane gasped as their choice of words finally clicked in her head. The Scarlet Cult used Dr. Gieger as the lead scientist in developing the E7 Mark 64 for its intended purpose. Gieger however didn't like the idea after learning how vile the Scarlet people were, and rushed to break the device free. That's who was chasing him in that forest so long ago, the same people chasing him now. If they think the device is hidden somewhere, nobody here other than Gieger knows that Jane incidentally used that machine on herself. Gieger created the device because the Scarlets made him do it! It's possible that he was deceived during the development. What do the Scarlets want with this spell bomb?

  "We'll see how long that stroke of confidence lasts." Hellen made another hand signal to her troops to capture Gieger, but just as she did, Jane and her friends all rushed towards the man, standing a new defensive formation around the doctor and blocking their path. The soldiers hesitated over the new development, prompting her to refine her last command. "Made up your minds have we?"

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  "Jane!" Taylor called. "What's going on here?"

  Jane turned her head slightly, keeping one eye on the flying soldiers still away above them. "We have to protect Gieger. The Scarlet Cult wants to capture and interrogate him."

  Danny argued the reverse. "But I thought Gieger was our enemy."

  "The Scarlet Cult are the real enemy. Gieger might be part of this, but I'm not letting him leave here." Jane glared back at the Scarlet commander. "You hear me?! You aren't getting past us!"

  Gieger scratched his head. "After everything I said, you're going to protect me?"

  "I find it brave of you to stand up against us," Hellen commended. "But three kids and an overgrown ego isn't going to stop us from dealing with our important business. Consider yourselves collateral damage! All units attack all targets on the bridge!" The two sergeants standing next to Hellen took off as well, though remained distant while the other six soldiers descended towards the ground to battle the twerps with force. The soldiers remained airborne using their jetpacks, keeping to their tactical advantage. Hellen remained on the platform to watch and judge the conflict for herself. As soon as the first soldier fired his magical blaster weapon, the battle between them all accelerated so quickly.

  As Gieger leaped forward out of the way of an oncoming Fire Bolt in the nick of time, he kept track of all the flying soldiers nearby, but Jane took over all commands from then on. "Attack the soldiers!" she hollered. "Bring them all down now!"

  Chapter Theme Shift:

  Following her immediate command, Danny pulled out one of his other preferred weapons using magic to create an artificial version. His blaster held in a lot of power for magical damage potential, and he used his magical blaster handgun to give him long distance compatibility.

  Taylor reached for the Marine Eagle mounted on her back with a strap, setting the powerful bow into preparations with a blue crystal arrow already held back in the string. She took aim at one of the Scarlet soldiers, holding him in the direct line of sight as she prepared to fire.

  "Scatter Beam!" Danny yelled while pulling the trigger. The blaster in his hand fired over nine individual bolts of plasmatic Leray attack energy, scattering in multiple directions with the design of a Shotgun Blast. Though the skill itself was slightly inaccurate, three of his energy bolts landed on the soldier he targeted. Incidentally, the bolt also dealt heavy damage to the armored suit itself, particularly in the back of the jetpack area. The soldier took minor damage, but fell to ground with a thwack while failing to stay airborne. With a successful hit and the other five soldiers flying around ready to attack, Danny quickly switched targets. It quickly became clear that their jetpack devices are not protected by a coat of magic from the veil.

  Taylor changed her aim from the soldier flying around in front of her to where the soldier was going to be. After recalculating the potential speed of her arrow before ever using it, Taylor already accounted for the latency in her actions and where the arrow was going to aim through the arc. "Bow Charge!" Taylor released her arrow from the string pulling it back. The launch however was unexpectedly powerful, shearing a large amount of forceful wind back into her face and blowing out her hair. The arrow that sped off was just as fast as Danny's Blast Shot weapon, a speeding bullet drilling through everything. The arrow didn't even show any sign of a vertical drop or arc from the initial aim. While Taylor's aim would have been off just by a hair, the flying Scarlet soldier ended up in the path of the arrow from moving unpredictably. The arrow punched a massive force against the guy, launching him backwards and eventually into the ground. Despite the arrow only hitting the guy from the front, his impact to the ground had made him land directly on his jetpack unit, damaging the device and keeping him vulnerable to the floor.

  "Show no mercy!" Hellen ordered. The two elite soldiers standing on the platform with her were designed to hold their position while attacking from a distance, which is what they tried next. Their rifles were designed to be long-range, but their magical capabilities were also impressive in a format.

  Both soldiers crouched down using military style training, and took aim with their hands to form a small glyphring on their wrists, each of them apparently doubling on the same spell. "Water Blast!" While the spell alone wasn't very powerful, the elites brought a new purpose to the Water Blast attack, firing a very wide beam of water down towards Gieger and his new allies. Though Gieger was the target, the blast of water only affected Jane and Taylor because of their odd movements.

  Jane shook it off quickly, ignoring the effects of getting soaking wet from the nearby Water Blasts. She glanced at Danny who caught her eye, and she tried to read his mind. The only way to get anywhere in this unofficial battle is to bring everyone down to the ground. "Danny!" she barked. Danny nodded at her to confirm what idea she had in mind, but Jane would have to rely on faith alone to know whether Danny really knew what to do about the present situation. On cue, Jane used her next spell, spawning two sub machine guns in both hands for her to use. "Bullet Blitz!"

  "Bullet Blitz!" Danny did manage to formulate the exact same strategy in his head, using an easy to learn spell he mastered a while back already. Danny used both machine guns in sync with Jane and unleashed as many rounds in the air as possible, targeting only the soldiers in the air to disrupt their flight path or their current attempt to shoot back at them with magic. Though the bullets alone did insignificant damage or cause an interruption via the pain, it distracted all of the units just long enough for phase two to become viable. After his guns ran empty, Danny yelled in the same manner Jane had to himself. "Taylor!"

  "I'm on it!" she replied. Taylor rushed out several steps forward, launching a second arrow straight up into the air with a low speed by intention. Taylor then switched to her left open hand and charged Leray energy into a separate magical glyphring, chanting her magic at the same time and aiming at the arrow. "Lightning Strike!" While firing a solid electrical beam of energy into her crystal arrow flying up vertically, the crystal section of the arrow reflected that energy out in multiple directions, redistributing the lightning bolt in various directions with the form of a beautiful circular arc of blue light. Taylor thought of that designed attack by herself in the heat of the moment, and it turned out to work well. All flying soldiers were immediately subject to the electrical attack, which caused them all damage while shutting down their operating jetpacks due to the electrical overload. Finally, all soldiers were brought down to the ground.

  Hellen noticed the unique battle style of Gieger's friends, how quickly they worked as a team to bring all of her soldiers to the ground, forcing them away from the air. It was in fact a genius plan to start the battle on fair terms. Hellen wanted to know more about these people, having the amazing potential for such elegant tactical decision-making, but now wasn't the time to give in to a single one of them.

  It was at this moment that the other soldiers decided to band together while stuck to the ground. "If you won't surrender, we'll have to kill all of you. Shadow Knife!" The soldier threw two small daggers, infused with energy auras designed to make each blade transparent and difficult to see with the eyes.

  Danny immediately suffered a stinging slashing pain down the side of his right arm and left leg, the daggers digging into his skin swiftly. Though the pain was quite intense, he ignored it quickly enough to counterattack. As he was ready to, another Scarlet soldier stepped in and used magic before him. "Thunder Bolt!"

  "Thunder Bolt!" Danny and his team were suddenly faced with electrical strikes coming from four of the other Scarlet soldiers, immediately outnumbering their team while causing damage and high pain to the whole group. Even Jane suffered an electrical blast too quick for her to avoid or block out. By the time it was over, Gieger ended up becoming the guy with the better idea.

  "Enough of this! Quake!" Though he gave no good warning to the people protecting him, Gieger invoked his own magical energy, creating a spell powerful enough to shake up the entire ground area around them. However, while his spell successfully created earth elemental magical damage to all the units on the bridge, this spell ended up causing the same problems for Jane and her team, upsetting everybody's balance. There wasn't telling how effective his spell was either. For whatever reason, nobody had any of their energy scopes running right now.

  Jane became the only one other than Gieger who kept her balance during the earthquake on the bridge. Everybody else was only affected by the disorientation more than the actual damage done. Gieger had the right idea using area attacks, but his power level wasn't very high at all. She glanced to her left and right, Danny on one side and Taylor on the other already beginning to recover. "Let's attack together now!" Jane made sure it was confirmed within each of them. Danny and Taylor recovered quickly, though they stared at Jane to try and read her next thought. Jane could have meant attack individually at the same time, or take part in a singular teamed attack. Only when she chanted the name with latency in her magical charge did her idea become recognized swiftly. "Tri-Attack!"

  Danny figured out what Jane meant with that word, and Jane already had the glyphring of ice around her wrist. He put effort into charging a fire glyphring around his wrist, while Taylor took the same approach with an electrical glyphring on her side. By the time the attack was unleashed, all three elemental bolts of energy were shot at different targets, landing successfully on each soldier. The other three unaffected soldiers reacted to counterattack quickly. The Tri-Attack had executed so beautifully, though the factor of being outnumbered quickly dwindled its overall effectiveness.

  "Sereing Blast!" One of the Scarlets used a less common spell, creating a white colored glyphring that grew in brightness intensity and spun rapidly just before firing a large beam of magical energy towards Jane and Gieger. Jane tried to jump out of the way, but wasn't fast enough to dodge the beam shot of Sereing Blast. It's a spell that overloads a natural glyphring and fires non-elemental energy at the target with a lot of firepower.

  This was just from the first soldier who was ready to attack. The other unit behind him used a different spell simultaneously, targeting Danny in the process. "Drainga!" Using an invisible aura mostly impossible to dodge, Danny ended up losing about 10% of his HP, stolen right out of him by a drain in magical based stamina, and in the same process, the soldier using that spell replenished the same amount of his own HP by design of the spell. Stealing health from the enemy, he felt completely healed and ready to try something again.

  Danny lifted the sword from his back in response to taking a higher amount of damage. He wanted to attack immediately, and charged energy from his hand into the blade while holding it up high. "Crimson Blade!" As his steel sword suddenly burst into a fiery aura of magical flames, Danny prepared to attack with close range tactics, his sword now powered up with extra energy from the crystal at the end of the blade tip. However, the next Scarlet soldier beat him to the punch before he could travel just two meters.

  "Air Strike!" Firing an oncoming barrage of magical based explosive rounds on the ground using an aerial based area attack, Danny, Taylor, and Gieger were all blasted with these explosions, pushed back, shoved down, or blown away by the power of each small explosion causing heavy damage to all of them. Jane on the other hand had a power shield aura around her body, which she turned off as soon as Air Strike ended, but she soon regretted how selfish her level of protection became. Her entire team just took heavy damage while she remained safe.

  "Stop playing around and take Gieger!" Hellen had to shout out the command she had initially given her team. They were on the winning side, but the battle itself was taking much too long for comfort.

  Jane watched everybody else stand up, quick to recover. Even Danny's blade still has its fiery aura of energy infused into the metal, but now all six soldiers were rushing in on foot for close combat tactics. They have to counterattack right now! "Everyone fight back!" She pleaded. Jane kept herself in the same order, pulling out her daggers and infusing the tips with magical energy. "Mako Strike!" She took aim at the nearest soldiers first, protecting Danny and Taylor who were out in front of her trying to recover for their own counterattacks. Jane's Mako Strike spheres launched from the tips of her daggers, drilling fast through the air and blasting two different soldiers with their respective energy. Each blast had more physical force than it did magical damage potential, though it was the idea behind the spell in question. After tripping up two of the soldiers, Jane launched two more spheres at the next closest units of the Scarlet Cult, sending one more sphere at Hellen who was standing on the platform.

  After getting up to fight back, Taylor put away her bow to try one of her homemade spells against the enemy team, throwing frozen ninja stars in various directions. "Ice Shots!" By spawning and throwing ninja stars while infusing each one with ice elemental magical energy, Taylor managed to significantly boost the damage level and factor of each ice shot projectile. Not only did it deal fair piercing damage, each hit to the soldiers would have to feel chilling cold to the touch, lowering their average body temperature and hopefully slowing them all down. Taylor repeated her spell multiple times for each soldier nearby, while Danny took over from there.

  After stepping up and having more time bought for him by Taylor's brilliant blitz attack of Ice Shots, Danny decided to make use of his Crimson Blade while it was still in effect. Danny also had a homemade spell nobody but Taylor knew about, and while it was still in the experimental stages, now was the best timing possible to master the effect. "Summon Hell!" Danny infused more energy into the end point of his flaming blade, swooshing it from right to left as hard as he could. In the same process of releasing that magical energy did he manage to create three flaming photons, all fired from the base end of the Seeker T-Sword. Summon Hell was his own idea, reforming the concept of Crimson Blade to attack from afar utilizing an evolved form of the same exact spell. When Crimson Blade is active, Danny made use of that energy in the sword by amplifying the current power inside of the blade, and turning that energy into fiery bolts of photons carrying fire elemental and non-elemental magical energy at the same time. Not only did all three bolts leave behind amazing crimson colored trails in midair behind them, but Danny was also capable of using his other free hand to take full control of the flight path of each photon that he launched. Though this time, his initial aim was already good enough to wreck the soldier he was aiming for. The impact against the targeted soldier was so powerful that it knocked him back eight feet while forcing him into a double backflip before falling on his back.

  Amazed by the real power of his own spell, Danny tried it once more on another soldier trying to target Taylor. "Summon Hell!" Swooshing the blade from left to right, Danny created the same effect as before, firing three powerful crimson photons at the soldier. This time he took control of their flight path just as a measure of practice, connecting his concentration to the auras around the photons using a telekinetic process. He intentionally changed the direction slightly, and reverted the course back to the initial travel path to prove he could control his own spell. After landing his attack on the next enemy soldier, Danny's Crimson Blade effect had worn out, but his level of damage was still effective.

  Still the adrenaline everywhere in battle, other Scarlet soldiers were capable of fighting back without much of a draw. "Exa-Plasmosis!" The soldier took aim at Gieger instead, since the other three kids appeared to be more than capable of self-defense. After firing a vibrant green photon bolt at the scientist, the soldier was shocked at the effects it had on him.

  "Dampen Field!" As Gieger shrouded himself with a dark blue support aura, he waited for the plasma bolt to slam into his body, bracing himself for the force. As the magic hit him on target however, Gieger showed very little reaction from the painful effects of the spell. It wasn't to the Scarlet's knowledge that Gieger had managed to train himself in the arts of magical defense while he was away, using an ability like Dampen Field to his advantage. Dampen Field creates a support aura that reduces the damage received by all magical based attacks for two minutes, or until enough damage negates the field. As for the soldier who just tried to bring him down and secure his mission objective, his defeating expression became Gieger's next pleasure of sight.

  Though she spoke through her teeth at a low volume level, Hellen demanded a better response from the two elites standing next to her. "If you don't fix this situation right now, our master will deal with you both directly."

  The elites responded rather quickly out of the fear that their boss would not tolerate a single slip up in the mission, especially over three brave kids that have already stepped far out of line. "Laser Storm!" While chanting the name in sync with the other unit next to him, the elites used the same spell together, powering up their long-range magical area attack by force and frequency. In a matter of seconds, lasers blasted down from the sky in all directions. One of the scarlet soldiers was unfortunately caught in the radial area due to the lack of a Siriean dome, but the battle was never official in the first place.

  Jane and the others panicked while the enemy Laser Storm bombarded all of them at rapid speeds and searing burning sensations of painful blasts of piercing magical damage from the falling lasers. Gieger ended up becoming the most protected person with his Dampen Field, though the field itself failed on him in just a few more hits. Just as the laser storm was beginning to let off, it was Taylor who pushed herself back up. She charged a lot of magic and concentrated, ready to attack by the time laser storm ended. All five unaffected Scarlet soldiers were now rushing into to fight back, but Taylor had one more homemade spell designed just for this situation. "Cold Spin!"

  Jane had never seen this particular spell before, and it proved how much better Taylor became with her secret training for Leray battles. Taylor unleashed her energy, creating what appeared to be an ordinary Rotation attack spell, which is an oversized tornado attack dealing heavy wind damage while lifting everything including affected persons off the ground. But Taylor implemented an extra design attached to her Rotation attack, adding in a heavy amount of ice elemental magical aura into the same field, thus making the wind shears from the twister attack below zero degrees in temperature. Because of the massive size of the tornado that shot forward and took up the entire radius of the bridge, all six soldiers were swept in, damaged by the wind elemental damage combined with the sheer cold of that air and the ice elemental magic affecting them in the same way. It was a double damage deal that only she thought of when training in magic. Not only would two different elements work together to make a new chain of magical damage, but the cold itself would totally slow all of them down from becoming so frozen.

  The Cold Spin tornado was impossible to see through as well, so it took much time as the soldiers were swept in to reveal just how much the spell affected them. Only when the spell faded naturally did their status become revealed to everyone. Every last soldier was lying on the ground, barely able to move, and painfully frozen by the wind shear that lasted for over twelve seconds of time. Jane was frozen in surprise by how much tougher Taylor became just out of her wits alone. Then again, it was herself that had inspired Taylor and Danny to become better in the first place. Now it was evidently showing.

  Unbelievable! In just one spell, that brat had all of the grounded units totally disabled and down for the fight. "You idiots!" Hellen screamed from the platform. "All of you will be dealt with for this!" Finally meeting Jane's glaring green eyes, Hellen grinded her teeth at her stature and composure that directly opposed her very plan. "You!" she growled. "You won't save Gieger from the Scarlet team. You're all a bunch of worthless kids with dumb luck!"

  "Want to test that theory?" Jane challenged while spinning her daggers in her hands. She felt happy inside that Gieger was still left unharmed. The Scarlets really wanted to take Gieger in and interrogate him about the experimental spell bomb. Jane would have to be careful not to let her symbol show during the battle, but at this rate, it would be over in just one more move.

  "Gladly!" Hellen accepted Jane's test willingly, infusing magic into her entire body and directing its flow from her hand to the sky above them. "From the rage of the phantoms, I choose you! Phantom Storm!" Minor delay followed her wild chant, after which the magic Hellen released created a bright and solid yellow glyphring in the air that could have covered the entire area beneath it. Dark clouds began to form in a mist while swirling around the yellow glyphring.

  Jane recognized the design pattern immediately, and braced herself. "She summoning!" Her warning soon alerted Danny and Taylor, all of them bracing themselves while the unusual summon began to take form. Summons weren't all that abundant in the long list of Leray spells, though Jane had never seen this particular one before either. As the glyphring activated with its energy, the entire sky above them completely transformed. The weather changed from clear to cloudy in a matter of ten seconds, the clouds covering every single spot of the atmosphere by sight, turning to a dark black while thunder and lightning began to accumulate in the same mist. At the same time, the new summon finally transcended from the yellow glyphring, showing itself to all of its enemies below while in command under the Scarlet commander.

  Flying out from the summon ring came a dragon about three fourths the size of Entiene, but this creature had much more different properties about itself, such as the fact that its entire body was translucent and see through. It's not just any dragon, but this was the face of the infamous Phantom Dragon, also known as the summon of the dark phantom world from legends. Hellen was certain that such a beast with a higher defense would be more than capable of finishing the task that her pathetic team could not perfect. Now that the energy scope on the creature was up and running, the tide of battle was about to reverse completely.

  "Let's attack it before it attacks us," Danny suggested. He took aim quickly while the Phantom Dragon made its first patrol round in the sky, forced to continue flying quickly. "Stone Fall!" After releasing his energy, Danny created a barrage of falling stones that would soon rain down in the flight path of the creature. As the creature made no attempt to maneuver around the stones that would soon slam on its head or its neck, Danny was more surprised to see that the stones completely phased through the dragon as though it were not there. At the same time, the dragon became more transparent and difficult to see. The falling stones continued downwards towards the ocean and out of sight.

  Noticing the same effect, Jane made her immediate deduction about the special ability of this particular summon. "It's a ghost type creature! You can't damage it with physical attacks!" Jane noticed how much the weather around them totally changed and transformed. The storm above them was raging with lightning and thunder, as the darkness of each cloud made the level of available light less than half the amount of previous light provided by the sun. It would be even more difficult to see the Phantom Dragon now than it was before, another special factor to be considered.

  Taylor took aim at the creature with confidence. "If it's immune to physical attacks, just use magic. Lightning Strike!" Taylor fired a bolt of electricity with a direct impact on the dragon, but in doing so, the stats changed in the direction she wasn't intending them for.

  The electrical arcs encasing the creature only served to support its respective energy, while leaving the teens in defeat. The Scarlet commander began laughing in her place. "Phantom Dragons absorb electrical energy for attack power and health. Seems you three are completely out of line." Hellen glanced at her summon, giving it the order it needed to attack. "Now use Shadow Swipe!"

  With a slight roar, the dragon in flight responded to Hellen's command, changing course and direction to aim downward towards Jane and her team. As the dragon began its descent, so did its flying speed immediately accelerate at an impossible rate. "Get out of the way!" Jane jumped to her left, seeing the phased claws of the creature nearly slash her right off the bridge. Danny and Taylor were quick to react as well, while Gieger wasn't even close enough for that level of danger. In a near miss, the swipe came so close to all of them that the wind pushed by the creature affected everybody on the bridge, bringing Danny down on his back. Incidentally, the dragon completely phased through the bridge flying below it, proving that even solid objects in the form of obstacles were of no use against the Phantom Dragon either. This creature could take advantage of anything right now.

  Danny struggled to get back up and keep track of that creature simultaneously. "We have to bring that thing down now!"

  Jane nodded, "I'm on it," as she kept better track of the nearly invisible massive creature flying back up in the sky. "Quantum Beam!" Jane fired her Quantum Beam, but despite landing her magic on the target and causing some damage, the creature didn't even flinch or change direction. The beam itself faded with the end of the attack cycle, leaving behind a pitiful measure of Jane's attack power weighted in comparison against the true strength of the Scarlet Cult.

  "It's time," Hellen commanded with her voice. "Use Sonic Thunder!" She watched as the Phantom Dragon responded to her command quickly, tripling its flight speed away from the battle area while drawing in an aura that began to attract and absorb some of the lightning bolts in the cloudy skies. As the aura became stronger, the dragon turned around to target the foes on the bridge, picking up in speed and electrical charge. Now flying at Mach speed, the creature became nearly untraceable just as it zoomed by over the bridge, blasting the area with a deafening sound of a sonic blast, combined with a windblast that transcended the strength of any tornado attack spell. Mixed in with all of that was an electric field with static-like properties, already zapping and electrocuting the entire team down below. Hellen saw some of her own soldiers on the bridge who were still down being zapped too, but they weren't useful anyway.

  Just after being blasted with a sonic wind to the ground, Jane felt the sensation of an electric shock hold for several long seconds bringing excruciating pain and burns to her skin. She wouldn't need to check her energy scope to realize how much damage was just done by that powerful attack. Somehow, the dragon was gone again, already passed and camouflaged into the windy skies again in preparation to attack.

  Gieger stood up after taking all of that damage, while Hellen confidently gauged her projected victory over all of them. "You all should have surrendered when you had the chance."

  "Stop this now Commander Hellen!" Gieger was shouting above his normal tone, directing a cease-fire. "I know that I'm your target. Leave the kids out of our business!"

  "You're about as pathetic as you look," Hellen retorted. "Everybody who opposes the Scarlet team must be dealt with. These kids are weak, but if I left them alive long enough, they'd grow up to become stronger opponents against us. And while I enjoy having powerful adversaries to face, I'm afraid my orders stand clear! These kids will be dealt with, and you will be taken into our custody." Hellen found her summon again, and gave it the next order. "Try a Dark Pulsar!"

  Gieger tensed at the thought that these people would go as far as to try and eliminate people not even fully grown. Jane could certainly fend for herself, but not against such a powerful attack spell that utilizes dark magic directly. "Jane! That's a dark magic attack!"

  Jane cursed under her breath upon hearing Gieger's sudden warning, and changed her offensive stance immediately. "Everyone next to me now!" Jane's voice carried, though the dragon didn't change its mind about what to use. By the time Jane located the transparent creature flying more slowly facing her, Danny, Taylor, and even Gieger found their way close to her. In that moment, Jane concentrated with difficulty.

  The Phantom Dragon charged up its energy into its mouth, ready to release the Dark Pulsar spell. It's a buildup of dark energy in the highest form of magical damage potential, all bundled up to explode with a huge radius to make it an area attack as well, fired from this aerial position. As the dragon spat the pulsar sphere towards the ground, Jane was soon to be flattened.

  With a heart-filled scream, Jane released all of her energy in a way that required her total focus and unwavering bravery. She sent out the energy affiliated with her ordinary power shield, projecting the field to become much larger in order to protect all four of them in the same field. It required much more of her MP energy to project it as strongly as she had, but once the shield was finally up, the pulsar collided into the energy field instead. The collision caused a bright flash signaling the explosion, as Jane struggled to hold the shield together while tiny hexagons populated the entire radial area. By the time the blast began to die down, Jane let go of her concentration on the shield, collapsing to the ground because of the energy it took out of her by that higher level of protection. Danny and Taylor were immediately concerned by how drained Jane suddenly became, but they also lost their focus on the battle to let their guards down at the same time. Jane hunched over in pain and disorientation, too winded by how much energy this took from her in the end. Gieger was simply stunned by how powerful Jane's level of protection was before her symbol could even come online and reveal itself. His own invention has this much power, even against dark magic.

  By the time the smoke and dust from the blast cleared away, Hellen flipped out finding all four of her targets in normal condition. They appeared to be shaken by the last attack, yet totally undamaged considering it should have knocked all of them out in one shot. "What's going on?! How are you still moving?!"

  Gieger gave Hellen a long stare-down before replying. "It seems you've underestimated the children you've just tried to kill. Perhaps it is you who should surrender."

  Not so fast, Hellen composed. "I still have one more trump card left... Slay them with Doom Bolt!"

  Taylor freaked, "How many attack spells does that thing know?" After helping Jane get back up, they noticed the Phantom Dragon take its position yet again, creating a very similar looking attack. Doom Bolt likely had the same properties if not a faster speed boosted from sacrificing its overall power. Still, taking a direct hit from one of those could be just as deadly to all of them. "Back me up Danny!" Taylor took her position in front of Jane, keeping her eye on the dragon up high as it became visible from its bright magical build up. Jane felt so weak from her last stunt that she couldn't move. Any attempt to try and push herself up only left her laying lower. Taylor aimed straight at the bolt of dark energy as it was forming in front of the monster. "Molecular Boost!" Though Taylor didn't know if there was an initial origin to the ability she picked up a while ago, her glyphring from the spell split up into multiple copies of itself, spanning halfway up into the sky in a straight line parallel to each other.

  Danny recognized Taylor's spell, though never understood its design until just now. She created the idea in the moment of a flash. Danny used his own magic, infusing magical energy into his sword just after pulling it back into his hand again. "Crimson Blade!" Just when his blade became encased in a fiery aura, the Phantom Dragon launched its Doom Bolt downward. "Summon Hell!" Danny got right behind Taylor without getting too close to harm her with the blade, and slashed sideways to launch three fiery photons of energy from the tip of the sword. As the photons flew through two of the many glyphrings Taylor had created, the small flying lights completely transformed into a solid crimson colored beam that filled the entire vertical radius of the glyphring spawn at the same angle, the beam amplifying from the power boost and colliding straight into the oncoming Doom Bolt directly.

  Jane was immediately impressed by that performance, something she never even thought of before. The beam crashed into the bolt of dark energy, forcing it to explode long before it was able to reach the ground. The blast radius was massive enough to blast wind in all directions, but then by forcing it to detonate so early, everyone was left unharmed. The Phantom Dragon continued another patrol around, while Hellen was left to simmer in the confusion.

  "What kind of crap was that? Phantom Storm is supposed to be unbeatable. All of you should be unable to move! What's wrong with this summon?"

  Gieger finally saw a way out of this horrible battle. Jane was in fact strong enough to defeat everyone here with her team helping her out, but this summon needed to be erased immediately, and he knew of one particular method from a while back that should suffice. "I think this has dragged out long enough. Link Breaker!" Instead of using magic or forming a glyphring, Gieger attracted everyone's attention with another one of his unknown devices, a spell bomb. Though with the realization that he understood this design very well, Gieger activated the unit, tossing it up into the air as the device exploded with the magic it was designed to use. As the light from the sphere's activation grew, the Phantom Dragon flying around wailed in response. Another yellow glyphring identical to the summon's creation formed in the sky, while the dragon was transformed into an untraceable mist that got sucked into the glyphring without any other way out. The process happened so quickly, and Hellen was much too shocked to react in any way to prevent the spell bomb's effects.

  Link Breaker. It's one of the spells Gieger recognized, carrying one of such spell bombs on him for situations like this one. The spell used by the bomb's activation forces all nearby summons in the area to unsummon, returning to their original dimension without the ability to be recalled for over an hour of time. By using it to create the summon disruption field, the Phantom Dragon was now forced to disappear back to where it came from. Though it would have been useful sooner, Gieger only thought of the unit a moment ago, waiting for the correct time to use it. With the impressive light show over, the mood became quiet, but still hostile.

  "How dare you!"

  Taylor could hear Hellen's anger from here, not just from the tone in her voice, but from the stress in her body language. Now that the dragon was defeated, this would be the best time for a counterattack. She glanced at Danny, who was still ready to do anything with his crimson blade in hand. "You want to do the honors from here?"

  Danny grinned at the idea. There was no other target left to attack except for the people on the platform lifted up from the submarine. While he was preparing to launch his own spell, the sky above them began to change again, the weather trying to go from dark and stormy to clear and sunny again. "Summon Hell!" he yelled while slashing his sword in the air. Danny formed three additional fiery photons of energy that he controlled in order to hit the Scarlet commander directly. Without any other way to dodge the attack, it was soon to be a direct bull's eye!

  The sudden absorption of Danny's photons melting into oblivion suddenly revealed an invisible power shield, surrounding only the upper platform level completely from all sides. It appeared that the platform was running some sort of generator of magic that protected the platform from magical damage. Danny was immediately upset. "Oh, come on!"

  Hellen chuckled slightly as she was still well protected. "I have to hand it to you for defeating my summon Gieger, but I'm afraid play time is over." She snapped her fingers, after which there was silence in the air momentarily.

  After a flash of light had gone off behind him, Gieger was suddenly embraced with the crushing grip of people dressed in metal gear, while another red soldier snapped on special glowing cuffs to his hands, blocking the use of Gieger's general magic. By the time the others realized what was happening, three Scarlet soldiers were apprehending and surrounded Dr. Gieger right before their very eyes.

  "Gieger!" Taylor snapped. She lifted her hand and fired an Ice Bolt immediately, but the other soldier did the same with a Fire Bolt, which naturally drilled through the Ice Bolt, crashing into the girl's face as a result. Taylor was knocked down in response, while her team had to deal with the situation.

  Jane knew something needed to be done fast, but where did the new soldiers even come from? The others were starting to stand up and recover from Taylor's Cold Spin attack, but all six were accounted for. The other two elites were on the platform. That could only mean three soldiers were hiding in plain sight the entire time, now trying to take Gieger. Before Jane could do anything however, red symbols circled underneath the Scarlet soldiers, as a light red aura surrounded all of them. Jane could feel the effect already, rushing in to stop all of them. "Noooooo!" In another flash of light, all four of them materialized into thin air, the symbols fading shortly after from the ground. They teleported, right in front of her, and Gieger was forced to teleport out as well.

  Taylor couldn't believe her eyes. The Scarlet Cult just snatched Gieger and teleported out. After all of that fighting!

  "You've all done well to defend yourselves," Hellen commended. "But I've got things to attend to now..." After noticing the other six soldiers down and recovering, she shouted at all of them for their insolence. "Get up you worthless goons! You'll all be warping to the brig if I don't see some action right now!" The wind began to pick up slightly as the weather finally became clear with the sun high in the sky again.

  Jane turned around, wondering what could be done to stop them. There was no doubt about it. The submarine was still below them, and that was the current base of their operations. It's where Gieger is! But just now, all six of the other soldiers were using their own teleportation, likely to the same location. At the same time, the platform Hellen was standing on began to descend gently. "Oh no you don't!" Jane fired a Magical Blitz attack towards Hellen, but again was thwarted by the artificial power shield surrounding the system. Instead of helping protect Gieger, the Scarlet Cult was about to get away with their abduction safely. Jane and her team rushed towards the edge of the bridge, only to watch as the platform descending speed increased down into the black metal submarine floating just above the water.

  Jane clenched her fists, unable to imagine what to do next. She tried once more to shoot a Magical Blitz attack towards the submarine's base, but the force of the magic simply bounced off of the object, totally unscathed by her constant magical damage. Danny and Taylor tried some of their own attack spells, but none of them reached down that far before the machine began its dive back underwater. "Dammit! They got Gieger!"

  Danny couldn't believe what he just witnessed. With a short gasp of the realization, he rushed towards the opposite side of the bridge, holding himself over just enough to see the water below. The waves on top did show the relative position of the machine underwater, but only for a few more seconds before it was too late. Without anything left to do, the underwater machine descended below the visible salt ocean beneath the bridge, trailing further out of sight. The air all around them became vacant of the noise that once was.

  Chapter Theme Shift:

  Jane's heart was still pounding, all from the loss of MP energy used to shield her team from the last attack. Her limbs felt weak and numb, but so much just happened so fast. There was still nothing left to do about the situation, other than to report it to any Leray agent. The submarine was long gone by now, making its getaway swiftly. That was the true power of the Scarlet Cult, containing various loyal soldiers who all use Leray magic and dark magic for the purpose of evil. And they just took Gieger away!

  Defeated by the development, Danny pounded his fist on the metal rail he was leaning on, cursing in his head at the failure. "Damn them! Gieger was our only lead to learning the truth about your symbol." Turning around, Danny noticed the sad expression on Jane, following up with an apology. "I'm sorry Jane."

  She perked up immediately, her eyes as serious as always. "Why should you be?" Jane questioned. "You and Taylor fought better than I ever expected you to. You used amazing powers I've never thought could exist."

  "But they still got away!" The anger in his voice changed his entire tone.

  Taylor knew that Danny could easily feel down by letting Jane down. "Danny," she exhaled.

  Jane nodded in denial. "It doesn't matter. We still learned something from that encounter." Jane glanced up at the bright blue sky, squinting to block out the sunlight. "Gieger is the name of the man who gave me this symbol. The spell bomb used is called the E-7 Mark 64, and the symbol does all sorts of unknown and unusual things to the human who uses it. We can also assume there is only one in the entire world, now used on myself and forever bound to my body. Gieger must have helped the Scarlet people create the device, and escaped with the machine after realizing what horrible use it had for this world. Yet despite what he learned from us, Gieger chose to keep the news about the machine a secret from the enemy, fighting on our side because he still opposes their actions."

  "I already know this," Danny grumbled.

  Jane didn't change her gaze, letting herself feel the calm wind blowing her hair back in the breeze. "I'm just stating all of the facts. The Scarlet Cult made the symbol I wear on my hand, and nobody but Gieger understands why that is. As horrible as it is that Gieger got kidnapped by the enemy, we still know things we didn't know previously. I think we'll have an opportunity to find Gieger and rescue him in the near future." Jane turned back around, facing Danny and Taylor who were so focused on her logic. "But we have to move on to Lennith City and report what has happened. We can't ignore what's happening with the dark zone."

  "Hold on!" Taylor fussed. "Why would Gieger be on our side? He's the one who made you transform into having that symbol stuck to you. I thought you hated that thing!"

  "I do hate it," Jane admitted. "And I'm angry at that man for allowing such a powerful and dangerous machine to fall into the hands of some stupid girl who got too curious for her own good." Jane understood Taylor's frustration. It matched Jane's every time she had to battle ever since she had the symbol in the first place... "But it isn't Gieger's fault."

  "I beg to differ."

  Answering Taylor's uncertainty, Jane commented on the situation of her past. "Gieger gave me the device because he was being chased and followed by those same Scarlet scum, and he must have been running out of land to be chased through. Giving it to me, it would throw off the Scarlets, what they were really after all along. Gieger trusted me to keep the device safely hidden because he couldn't stand for the Scarlet Cult to have it. Could you imagine?" Jane didn't even want to consider the scenario, but Taylor needed to know about it. "Think of how much worse off we would all be if the Scarlet leaders got their hands on this device and then used it on themselves." With a momentary pause to allow all of them to process the thought, Jane elaborated on the bad news. "They would certainly use such a symbol for terrible things. They're already dangerous people without something like this. We don't need invincible enemies."

  "But that doesn't justify what Gieger did," Danny argued.

  "Maybe it doesn't." Jane glanced at her hand in despair. "It brought a lot of pain to me because I didn't want to have the symbol, and so far it doesn't seem possible that I can remove it, but at least I can fight to use this thing for the right reasons. Gieger never meant for me to use the spell bomb on myself. If he did, he wouldn't be so surprised to learn of that a moment ago. That mistake is still mine alone."

  Taylor or Danny couldn't respond with anything that would fault what Jane was saying, but it didn't make sense as to why Jane was so calm even now. How is she so composed after what just happened?

  "In any case," she continued, "Gieger will be interrogated for as long as he is captured. If I'm right about his intentions, even people like that won't break him. Gieger may rather die than to let the Scarlet team have the truth, which is why we need to let Danton know what has happened. While we take care of things in Alpha Zero, he can send someone to hunt that team down and rescue Gieger. After that, we can take him into our own custody and get information our way."

  She thinks it's all that simple... Taylor couldn't make any of this feel right in her head. They should be chasing after that underwater vehicle right now, but there wasn't really a way to do that. Leray magic doesn't allow people to infinitely float on the water's surface, nor does the veil protect one from drowning. There wasn't any way to follow that thing. Since Danton's team would be the only one that can use teleportation, they could in theory be more efficient in hunting down those guys, but where could they go? How would a hunter find people hiding so far below the ocean?

  Danny had other moments on his mind. The submarine that was used to capture Gieger and house their operation was incredibly unique and sophisticated. The metal material simply made even Jane's magical attacks bounce right off the upper layer of the vehicle. The only metal in the world that could do that is Leray resistant metal, the same steal used to build the training rooms inside of the vault and dark rooms of Leray training facilities. Additionally, that artificial power shield generator blocked magic so easily without the slightest hint of a strain on the platform. That type of technology is high grade. So where on Earth are these criminals getting their material and team members from in the first place? How many Scarlet soldiers are in the entire syndicate? How powerful is the entire team, and what are their intentions?

  With a strong exhale, Jane decided to stop wasting time. The loss of Gieger was already depressing herself and her friends, but wallowing around aimlessly wouldn't help the situation at all. "Come on," she commanded. "We need to get to Lennith City. We can let our bikes back out and use that to go faster."

  Danny and Taylor complied, but without so much as a single reply. Both were in a trance trying to figure out what to do about the Scarlet Cult. Jane wanted to proceed with the original mission, but was there any difference between each threat? Gieger is a person of interest now, and so are the Scarlets. They have to be able to find them somehow... Jane. Danny focused on her entire body language, determining what sort of plan she has to fix this mess. Jane has to have something already in mind, though underdeveloped and flawed with a few details. She always comes up with the bright ideas. She'll have to come up with another way to help find Gieger.