<02/12/1972 – 20:30 | Lennith City, Junon Region, Sprawn Valley>

  With the sunlight shimmer barely poking at the west horizon, the area around them remained well lit, though the breeze of the passing winter was still nowhere to be sensed. With all of the commotion accumulating by the northern gate, Lennith City seemed to have much less residents than before. It was then when Jane remembered that she nearly forgot about the city's evacuation. Claudia was supposed to inform the council of probable danger and have the town evacuated within a month, even though the army was likely to run the same drill. While it wasn't expected for Jane to have gone to Eldora, defeat the champion, and return in less than a week, the population of random citizens here seemed to be heavily reduced.

  After exiting from Route 787, Jane and her team got to see firsthand how Lennith City was getting along. All of the soldiers of the General Army were gathered at the northern gate, too far for any one of them to make out Jane's personnel. Their heavy abundance of people gathering made it obvious from any angle, though it only took Jane a few more steps into the grassy floor to be called out by someone else who knew of her name.

  "It's them! Jane!"

  Tracking the female's voice with her ears, Jane spotted both Claudia and Alyssa, who immediately recognized and approached them. Despite having one extra person, Jane was already informed that Iona previously met with Claudia, though Alyssa's knowledge may or may not be in sync with that, not that it mattered now. This little reunion was one Jane expected to happen, and she relaxed at the thought that she returned to a place she could potentially call her home. Staying in a hotel room in one place for several days while meeting so many locals can do that to a person in Sprawn Valley.

  After finally catching them close proximity, Claudia caught her breath, letting Jane see how impressed she was with the development here. "I know you said you'd be back with the army, but I never thought you'd bring back so many soldiers with you." Her voice seemed slightly unhinged, having not have expected this turn of events so smoothly.

  Even right now, Jane is just gracefully strolling back in; she actually did it! Though how - was out of her line of imagining. "I had a feeling Jane could pull it off," Alyssa declared. "How's that necklace I gave you? You didn't lose it right?"

  Having been given no other chance to say anything, Jane quickly fumbled for her supply sphere, reassuring Alyssa as fast as she could. "No no! I kept it in here for a while is all. You never know with all of these thieves around."

  Taylor could feel how nervous Jane suddenly became, though it wasn't to her current knowledge that Alyssa gave Jane one of her necklaces as a token. It must really be something important.

  Alyssa giggled, "I'm just messing around. I know you wouldn't lose it. I'd keep it in that thing inside the sphere if I were you, since you're going back to that horrible place."

  "Right." As Jane agreed, she attempted to catch up with any news about the place. "How fares Lennith while I was out?" Anything could have happened, but both Claudia and Alyssa were looking well, especially today, as they were wearing dress spheres that could almost be considered something only for comfort.

  Claudia was clear in her confession. "We started the evacuation days ago, and assured everyone that they should take their time to collect all of their belongings, but not too much time. Those still here are simply sitting tight in their homes while they pack everything in, but I'm afraid this big of an army has some of the stragglers feeling safer than they should."

  "It won't be a problem," Jane promised. "Trust me. We still have some time before we can be worried about sudden expansion." Claudia seemed to be mildly surprised by Jane's confidence, but she had no choice but to remain valiant. The horrible reminders of that dark place still had her nerves shaking under the facade.

  Alyssa on the other hand was easily distracted, pointing out behind Jane. "Who's the blond? I don't think we've met."

  Iona tensed and stepped forward. She hadn't realized there were other people hiding in Lennith who knew Jane so directly. Claudia left this detail out, but it may have been on purpose to protect one of Jane's personal situations. Iona didn't know much about her at all, but it wouldn't be proper to hide behind her friends at this time. "I'm Jane's older sister, Iona."

  "But we just call her Iya," Taylor corrected. It's a nice short nickname, but Iya demanded to be called by that nickname more so than her official name. Reasons? Anyone's guess.

  Alyssa shook her hand with Iona without much expression, still getting over the surprise of having further surprises. "I didn't know Jane had a sister. Sorry, I'm Alyssa Valor."

  Iya didn't seem all that surprised to meet a friend of Jane's, but this person seemed about a year younger than Jane herself, with shorter, darker hair too. She shook Alyssa's hand effortlessly, and while she had a lot of questions, Jane and Claudia had more important matters to discuss first.

  "So you actually managed to beat the highest ranking member of the elite five!" Just now, Claudia sounded like a woman excited about getting a person's autograph. "I never realized your symbol had so much power."

  "Uh," Iona backed up a step. "You both know about that?"

  Claudia addressed Iona quickly. "Sweetie, Jane literally defeated Sir Danton on national television. And also for reasons I don't yet understand, revealed her symbol in the same broadcast after she already won the match."

  Jane briefly cleared her throat to explain herself, realizing that she left that little detail out from Iya. Though she did recall hinting at it earlier. Her parents would soon realize the truth too if they were watching. "Plan B. In the event that my unusually powerful victory wasn't enough to persuade Danton to either assist us today or step down to let me have the controls temporarily, plan B would have been to intentionally reveal my secret to Danton. This would legally invalidate my win at Eldora Tower. Danton felt pressured when I won that battle because he knew that while something just wasn't right about me, the law demanded he step down. I had to remove that pressure because it wasn't working. Even I know that battle doesn't count as a real win."

  "You shouldn't sell yourself short," Danny stepped in front of Jane, promising to her face. "Symbol or not, you battled Danton so well that I couldn't once predict your next move or action. You dismantled everything that man had to throw at you."

  "Can't say I'm surprised." Claudia folded her arms in front of her, sensing her instincts to be true about Jane. "When we scanned her aura in Lennith Academy using our equipment, you should have seen her ME levels. The amount of Magical Essence points Jane had at the time was unbelievable. But with the symbol still on her, I bet those numbers got much higher since then, so long as Jane continued to train and battle."

  "Jane's essence points are really that high?" Danny didn't doubt the claim, but it made him think about the overall design of the spell bomb. It took him an extra moment, since the concept of ME levels was new to him overall. "So the E-7 Mark 64 works fast by forcing the natural ME levels on a person to be overcharged." ME stands for Magical Essence, while MP stands for Magical Potential; the amount of percent remaining from a person's charged up ME levels during ability usage. The higher the ME, the longer MP lasts, making it appear in battle as if others are using less energy to invoke the same spell compared to those with lower ME points. ME increases slowly but gradually upon training, just as HP endurance does. With something overcharging a person's ME levels on such short notice, it's no wonder how someone like Jane was able to learn spells so quickly, conserve MP energy, and invoke such powerful spells so effortlessly. The process of that must be so unnatural for this type of situation. "I'm beginning to bet that right there was the reason the spell bomb made Jane sick when the device put that symbol on her."

  Jane was a bit impressed that Danny came to that deduction, but she went further to explain it herself. "My body had to get used to an unusually high amount of extra energy potential in such a short time. It was no wonder why I wasn't able to invoke most spells during the incubation period. All of my spells were becoming overcharged with my aura, which forces them to not only fail, but to backfire as well."

  "E-7 what?" Claudia attempted to repeat.

  "It's the code name that the Scarlets used when they made the spell bomb used to plant the symbol on my hand," Jane testified. "The classified experiment the Scarlets have been doing with experimental spell bombs created the E-7 Mark 64, which is the one and only prototype device used to create the symbol bonded to me."

  "And the Scarlet Cult made it?" Claudia felt a bit dizzy. Jane did not report this to her before in the past. The highest criminal organization was responsible for this? And the spell bomb really is a one of a kind prototype? "Jane, how in the world did you figure this all out?"

  "What the hell are you all talking about?" Iya demanded.

  Alyssa held Iona's shoulder, lightly pulling her to the side on a walk. "We really need to bring you up to speed. Luckily, I know most of what Claudia knows about Jane's situation, and I want to know more about Jane's bigger sister. I hope you can fight really well..."

  After Alyssa carried Iona off to continue their own chat with Iya showing some reluctance, Jane got back to it with Claudia. "It's a long story, and I'll fill you in on that particular detail after I inform Danton of the same news. I'll be asking you for a favor, so don't go far."

  "You're raiding the dark zone tonight?!"

  "We all are," Taylor confirmed. Carrying out her bow to show off her special strength, Taylor made her natural attempt to persuade Claudia that everything was in capable hands. "Us and the General Army. We're all going in, and we're all coming back out alive."

  So these two are Jane's friends, the same people who bravely bombarded her with questions regarding Jane. They supposedly went off into the dark zone and snatched Jane out without suffering from a single scratch. Right now, Taylor appears seriously powerful, wielding a weapon totally alien to herself. Danny's stance seemed percussive to, though he wasn't wielding his weapon openly. With only a short pause, Claudia replied, "I'll hold you to that. Go and get caught up with the army then. I'm sure they don't like waiting for more than a full hour."

  "Teleporting morons!" Danny muttered aloud. "Just make the most important team walk all the way here; ignore the fact that we could have teleported too."

  Jane nodded a refusal. "Mmm! It's okay. If we did try to teleport here, I wouldn't have found Iya on the bridge behind us. She would have lost my trail in Eldora, and that's not something I would have wanted to happen."

  Danny rebuttaled, "You're awfully optimistic about things." It was hard to argue with the logic though, the way it all turned out. They would have missed the Scarlet Cult too, and the truth about Gieger. But Iya isn't even that strong with magic, so wouldn't that be useless anyway? Jane probably still wanted to know about her sister though. "Oh well. As long as things go smoothly from here."

  Taylor punched the back of Danny's upper torso, causing him to stumble slightly. "They will. Keep your head on inside of that hell, and we'll both be okay."

  "Alright! Alright!" Even Taylor was calm and confident about the mission. Danny had to push out any and all doubt. With Jane and Taylor to follow with backup of the entire army, nobody here has to die.

  "I'm glad to see you'll be going in as a team this time instead of running in alone," Claudia lectured. All three of them were in a state of peace, despite how prepared they were to go to battle. It's an incredible thing, but even Jane Venn appears to be looking better. Last time, her solid rush into that death trap seemed so meaningless and stupid, but this time, she is doing it to save Lennith City.

  Jane signaled Danny and Taylor to follow her lead. "Come on! We need to meet up with Danton and figure out what the plan is." With that, Jane led both of them towards the army, leaving Claudia to stand in wait for her next chance to talk to Jane again afterwards.

  Chapter Theme Shift:

  Once Jane's team got close to the barricade of soldiers all crowded around, speaking to each other in a large informal conference, the talking grew silent quickly, drawing out the immediate attention of Sir Danton. Standing beside him were the other four elites that Jane managed to defeat in the battles of the Eldora Tower. From there, Danton greeted all of them formally.

  "Glad to see you've made it to the force." Upon noticing Jane and her friends again, the three of them stood out by how prepared they appeared to be. Jane with her ceramic Sphere Gauge E-4F Armor and hidden dagger blades tucked away as usual, Danny with a strong blade, the HT-T2 Mark 55 Seeker T-Sword, and Taylor with the Marine Eagle bow equipped to her back over a strap holster. All three of them have prepared themselves for the fight of their lives, considering that is what's at stake this time. Jane seemed to uphold every intention she had so far. Despite being marked, she wasn't hostile in any other way at all, just a determinate young woman capable of accumulating followers and giving anybody a bad fight. Every second that went by, Danton has had more chances to assess Jane's own character, and in doing so, she's been less of a problem to deal with than other people of closer circumstances. No; Jane Venn is not a hostile creature at all, and she isn't even tempted to keep the power of her own symbol. Most unusual...

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "We all made it here," Jane replied. She was soon distracted by the other members of Danton's force, the other elite soldiers she battled before all walking out and taking a formation behind Danton. Two behind him on the left, and two on the right. Cleo, Krysta, Mainne, and Brock.

  Danton wanted to explain the reason behind this without delay. "It appears that my team wishes to accompany us on this operation."

  "Operation Restore Outback!" Jaen blurted. She couldn't help getting excited about fighting with Danton's entire team, as well as restoring the Outback to its former glory.

  Cleo huffed at her remark. "Oh is that what we're calling it now?" How can a person be so excited to rush into danger? Jane just seems like a silly girl who has the misfortune of betting involved with terrible things. This can't be the same power that defeated himself and Sir Danton. "Hey boss? Are you sure it be wise to take these kids into a restricted zone? I'm not sure they'll be okay."

  Jane defended herself on the spot. "Didn't I kick your butt this same morning?"

  "You cheated," Cleo corrected.

  Danton refused to let an argument begin between anyone at the moment, and shouted, "Enough!" He only continued after the silence endured, causing a lot of other soldiers to look his way and gather around to figure out what the fuss was all about. "We have a mission to uphold here, and we are beginning the operation on the same night. If all goes well, we should reach the Den of Purity before O-one hundred hours. There will be no breaks, no stops, and no mercy shown against the enemy. I've already briefed my soldiers on the method of entry and procedure. But as for you three," Danton made sure that Jane and her friends were paying close attention. "It's time to discuss the operation's strategy."

  Danny and Taylor got closer to make sure they could hear everything properly, and Danton cleared his throat once, ensuring he would not need to repeat himself on the matter. "Okay. Here is how this will work. I am dividing the General Army and our forces into seven separate brigades. Each one of the seven brigades will have a certain amount of well-armed soldiers and at least one elite specialist well-trained in the arts of Leray magic." Danton held onto his idea firmly in belief, taking Jane's earlier claims of the dark zone's weakness to full throttle. "I need to have at least one local Leray agent take part in the operation to monitor our progress, and G-section will have that covered. Sergeant Gains will be accompanied by fifty of our loyal men."

  Danton took a short breath, realizing there was a lot more to say. "Team Krysta will have Krysta here as the assault team leader with soldiers assigned to her. The same can be said for team Cleo, team Brock, and team Mainne. And then there will be myself with a few well-trained men I happen to know personally. That right there is six. The seventh squad will be yourself and your friends, accompanied by twenty-five heavy hitter soldiers. You will be team JDT."

  Jane was impressed at first, especially since he realized what JDT really meant to her after such little time, but the thought of splitting the entire army up seemed to be counterintuitive to the purpose of bringing so many soldiers in the first place. As Jane opened her mouth, Danton continued talking over her.

  "Our seven divided teams will have a distance limit!" Danton spoke louder to ensure everyone was reminded of this detail all around him. "We will begin the invasion as one large group to perform recon and battle at the same time. Once we split up, remain no further than one square kilometer apart from each team in different directions. This will ensure we do not become surrounded by monsters, while giving us a quick option to regroup should something go wrong. Team JDT will be the unit taking lead out in front down the main path to the Den of Purity. My team will remain in the center of all other brigades. Team Cleo and Mainne will take west flank, while team Brock and Krysta have the east flank. Once we reach the target destination, we will apprehend our target Brightworth alive. That is all."

  Mainne had of course chosen a new suit of dresswear to take on the journey here, consisting of an elegant battle suit that looked half as elegant as the one Jane was wearing during the tournament. For this, she stood out somewhat to Jane and her team members, as they only had the imprinted memory of her wearing an ice dress. Mainne stepped forward and then turned around to project her voice towards the soldiers of the General Army. "Lethal force will be advised against the creatures in Alpha Zero. Do not take any type of damage while in that zone! Healing items won't have any effect people!"

  Krysta addressed Jane and her team out of the surprise to herself. "I never expected to be having to work together like this Jane Venn, but after this, you and I will need a rematch, without that symbol trick of yours. Of course, feel free to use it all you want in the dark zone."

  Even Krysta and the others realize the very benefit of having this symbol on her. In this state, Jane very well can be considered a living weapon. But she's also human just like everyone else, capable of making her own decisions, mistakes, and improvements. Right now, fighting to save everyone and their homes was the only option she was content with. Jane inhaled the brisk air to calm herself momentarily. "If I can remove this thing once it's all over, I'll take you up on that."

  "Alright!" Brock exclaimed with excitement, right in Krysta's direction. "I like it when Krysta picks on a particular target. Makes things more interesting."

  "Why did I have to be paired with you?"

  Brock ignored Krysta's obvious attempt to hide her own excitement for fighting dangerous monsters. Whenever she's acting or saying something mean, she usually means the opposite. "Look. I'm not happy at all to hear about Jane's situation. To be honest, I haven't liked where things were going for a long time. But right now, we have a job to do, and our man is finally out on the field like he should be. So let's all do our best and give them hell!"

  His words surprised Jane the most. His last statement was full of thrill and satisfaction; Brock was happy about this development. Jane fought Brock in the tower, but he always seemed to have this tough-guy vibe the entire round. Since Brock was knocked out in that match, Jane never really got a chance to learn this much about him. Right now, Brock is relaxed, almost free-spirited. If it weren't for that, he and Cleo would have seemed far too similar. Mainne tried to facade her own personality at the beginning of her own battle with Jane, but it fell apart in seconds. Is this really what the tower elites are like?

  "We depart in six minutes people. I want to see hustle!" Danton commanded the entire army, but he has not spoken to troops like this in such a long time, only since he trained about military tactics with the requirements of becoming Leray champion of Sprawn Valley.

  "Sir Danton?"

  Danton turned around, noticing that Jane still needed his attention for something other than the operation. Jane would have asked a question sooner if that weren't the case.

  "I have an update about my situation with the unknown spell bomb."

  Danton froze for a moment. When did Jane have time to perform a successful research attempt on her unique symbol? "Spit it out."

  Jane recalled the entire situation front to back. "On our way back to Lennith City, we ran into a retired engineer going by the name of Gieger. We quickly discovered that Gieger personally developed the spell bomb I used on the night of the Blue Port incident, as well as being the same person who gave it to me in the first place."

  "Why wasn't this made aware to me sooner?" Right, Jane must have prioritized Alpha Zero to come first, even while both matters are equally important. "You must care more about the mission right now, huh?"

  Giving into Danton's curiosity, Jane delivered the full story as a summary. "The spell bomb is in fact experimental, and according to Gieger - was never intended to be used on me or himself. The name of the unit is E-7 Mark 64. But shortly after meeting Gieger on Route 787, we were attacked by the Scarlet Cult who used a large submarine under the bridge as their base of mobile operations."

  "Are you serious?! This is some alarming news!" Danton swallowed. How is it that this young girl and her companions always seem to attract the most bizarre trouble?

  "The Scarlets were actually after Gieger, wanting to capture him and interrogate him for information of the spell bomb's current whereabouts. It seems that Gieger made the spell bomb under orders of the Scarlet Cult, but then turned rouge against them after realizing the power of his own creation. They were successful to capture him and leave us in the dust, and now we don't know where to find him."

  "I'll get right on it then," Danton tried. "I'll see to it that a report is filed to the emergency response team at Vanon Port. They'll scour the entire Hollifax Ocean until they pick up the submarine. This is not good Jane."

  None of this is good news, but Jane can now at least put some ease to her mind. "At least they can search for Gieger on the side while we take care of this. And the enemy doesn't yet realize that their precious spell bomb has been used yet. Gieger wouldn't give that information up, and the Scarlets we faced didn't recognize me or our situation."

  Danton nodded and had to make sure Jane understood the gravity of the situation. "Jane, you're forgetting about that one stupid stunt you pulled in my chambers this afternoon. It won't take long for a member of the Scarlet Syndicate to realize that a young female carries the symbol of the device they are after, and then trace her face back to you using the last run-in they had with you and Gieger. Soon, you will be their very next target, and they won't be happy to see that their one and only device has been expended already." He cleared his throat, sensing much regret for Jane. "They may even kill Gieger upon this rationalization."

  Jane locked her breath, noticing how right Danton was. She did expose herself on live television, and it was recorded by many unknown parties as well. The national media may be speculating this to be true too. All that has to happen now is for the Scarlet Cult to watch television or hear the correct rumor, and then that's it! If Gieger is killed, then it would be Jane's fault entirely. Then again, she wouldn't have had to do that if Danton simply stepped down... No! There isn't any point for making second guesses... "Then let's just get this over with, and prey there is a way to remove this symbol."

  Danton sighed with stress. "You three really do have a knack for attracting trouble on such a galactic scale, but a promise is a promise. We will begin the operation shortly through the north gate of Lennith, and after it is all over, I will look into emergency symbol removal methods."

  "Thank you," Jane phrased politely.

  Chapter Theme Shift:

  "You aren't about to leave already are you?"

  Danny and Taylor turned around to see Jane's sister wondering when Jane was going to be out of it. Jane noticed Iona too, but delayed herself an answer to continue thinking about the new opportunity. "Iona?"

  "Yes?" Seeing Jane in that tough armor was unbelievable. Just about a month ago, Jane would have struggled just to get one Fire Ball out of her hand, though her symbol forced her to grow up so quickly. It came close to angering Iya.

  Jane felt her heart pounding, but swallowed her fears and spoke to Iya as she was meant to be spoken to. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you that night." Jane could tell Iya was about to stop her and say that the apology was unnecessary, but Jane continued talking to prevent it. "So much has happened, and I know you want to help me out. I want to help you as well, and I've thought of a way you can do that."

  "Huh?" Iya reacted predictably, but both of Jane's friends had the same expression too.

  "I want you to do some heavy digging for me, both online research and physical research."

  "Jane!" Iya sprouted. Her expression seemed to be confused and conflicted with her inner thoughts, but Iya soon took a decision to heart. "Just tell me what I need to do."

  "Don't forget me too," Alyssa exposed her hidden self. "If Iya's on the same skill level as me, no reason to keep me out of the same research."

  Jane agreed to their excitement. Iona and Alyssa may make a wonderful team in forethought. "Okay then. I need both of you to find out who professor Gieger is and who he was. After you get as much information as possible, I need you both to track the movements of the Scarlet Cult, who I suspect may have a base of operations on one of the unsettled islands in the northern region of Hollifax Ocean. But be thorough and check the Gulop region too."

  "That sounds doable," Alyssa assumed.

  Jane stepped forward and grabbed Iya and Alyssa's arms with her hands. "The both of you must not engage any one of them should you find anything out. If you learn where they live, you report to me after I've returned. Don't do anything stupid."

  "You realize I've been training too right?" Alyssa didn't want to be a bother to Jane's protective intentions, but it made her feel useless in the grand scheme of things.

  Instead, Jane tightened her grip on both of them. "I said promise me you won't do anything crazy, not without me around."

  Iya's heart sank. Jane wasn't being mean or demanding. The look on her face and the glimmer in her eyes... That's the face of fear, the same expression Iya was once familiar with before. Jane really cares about her friends this much, and all she asked in return is for their safety. "I promise!"

  Being forced to copy Iona in response to causing no further conflict, Alyssa added in her answer. "Me too."

  "I'm going to call home too after you depart," Iya decided. She had to let Jane know directly. "I won't tell them about the you-know-what, but I promised that I would report your safety."

  Jane let a smile cross her face. She really missed her home back in Fronas. Mom and dad should be doing better, much more after Iya delivers her report. "Okay. You can tell them that I may be coming back home in person soon as well."

  "Jane!" Mainne called Jane over to her personally, not because the unit was leaving, but because there was something else to discuss. Jane let go of her friends and family, making sure their promises were sincere as she walked off, wishing to spend more time with all of them. Danny and Taylor stayed where they were, allowing themselves and Iya to catch up.

  "So," Iya triggered. "I see you've both taken a strong liking to my sis. Danny? I really hope you aren't falling for her. Jane can be a pain to handle in a relationship from what I've heard." Danny's face already turned a little red, but he seemed more confused and restrained than expected.

  "I'm not with Jane like that!" he defended quickly.

  Taylor hugged Danny's left arm closely to show what he meant. "Danny and I are the ones together, silly."

  "Oh!" Iya held her mouth momentarily after realizing her poor mistake. "I'm sorry about that. You both just seem so close to Jane, and I didn't see the bond between you two yet."

  "It's fine, I guess."

  "So what drew you two so close to her?" Iya questioned. Danny and Taylor being together should have been clearer, but what about the both of them has given Jane reason not to leave them behind? "From what I defiantly know about Jane, once she began to love magic so much that she trained endlessly for it, she actually went and threw away all of her previous friends. Anybody who didn't understand her love for Leray magic, she just abandoned them and left them behind. But she's kept you two around."

  "Well..." Danny knew what to say, but it was harder to put into words than it was in thought. "To be honest, I don't really believe Jane had friends back then before we showed up. Jane seems capable of determining who her real friends are just like that."

  Taylor tried to fill in the missing blanks. "What Danny means is that... Jane just wants her friends to care about her. Jane wants people who know how to treat us all right. Of course she loves Leray magic though. She's always been that way." Taylor seemed happy to explain the way Jane was, happy that Jane is still the same person inside after everything that has ever happened. "I can't really explain why, but I know that I'll give a lot up to make sure Jane is happy and successful. And I know that Danny feels the same way about her too. Even Jane shares that between us both."

  "Passion is a fragile thing I suppose," Alyssa guessed. "After all, I didn't think I was capable of so much until Jane showed up at my academy, pretending to be a novice and all. It really pissed me off for a while."

  "But it's more than that." Danny knew it was true. "Jane is capable of letting her passion mess up her entire thought process, we've both seen it happen more than once before. Despite that, her heart is always in the right place. Taylor and I want to make sure it stays that way."

  "But what about your lives? Don't you have places to be too?" Iya simply waited for a response, but Danny and Taylor were both intensely silent after being asked that. Both of them seemed like they either couldn't answer the question, or didn't want to. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to intrude in..."

  "It's fine," Danny assured. "You just let us worry about that for now." Even Taylor seemed okay about it for the moment, but Iya did have a point. He had been putting off the Junon airport where Uncle Nyar would be waiting by now, likely since a long time ago, and he never called home since that night in Fronas to give anybody updates. Taylor has a big problem, being selected for royal work. If she is recruited back into the Banshee Kingdom, she'll lose her entire freedom, as well as the only company she could call family forever. Even Danny thought it was horrible, but maybe Nyar can do something about it... If only—

  "Hey guys! Come on! We're leaving now." It was Jane, calling Danny and Taylor back already and ruining what moment they were having with her sister.

  Iya sent them both on their way. "You two make it back in one piece, ya hear?" She saw Danny and Taylor wave at her as they approached the large crowd of soldiers behind them.

  "They'll be fine," Alyssa believed. "Besides, Jane just gave us both a mission of our own." Jane is finally trusting her to do something for a change. Alyssa could remember all of the moments when Jane tried to enlist in the school, but she did so illegally, with the assistance of Claudia. All Jane did was twist her motives to hide the truth that she was marked. Even during that time, she could fight so well and adapt so quickly. A person who can move like air and then go as far to defeat the champion... Sure, the symbol has to give her unfair advantages, but personal skill goes into battling as well. And right now, Jane is willing to face dangers she'll never personally understand. It's so brave, so wonderful!

  "That's right. And since it helps me directly in the same situation," Iya realized, "it's best we get started immediately." With the Scarlet Cult out of the picture, Darius won't be in the equation anymore, but this only happens if they both do their jobs right.

  Alyssa wondered what Iya meant by her situation, but she could simply ask about that at any point in time. They still have all night to get started.

  Jane regrouped with Danny and Taylor, who seemed to be looking refreshed from their talk with Iona. "So what do you think of my sister?"

  "I like her," Taylor began. "And I hope she trains really hard and learns fast. A match between the two of you is one I want to spectate for sure."

  Jane laughed momentarily, for the first time in weeks. Iona learning to become a powerful magic wielder was defiantly a time for the ages. Her parents would never expect that either, but Jane knew she wouldn't personally mind having that happen someday. She can finally reconnect with Iona after all of this lost time. "Maybe it will happen someday. Anyway, it's time to get moving. Are all of you prepared?"

  Danny took stance with Taylor, pulling out their main weapons and taking a defensive stance that was already well practiced. "Yes," they both said simultaneously.

  Jane smirked while glancing behind her. "We'll show Danton just how good JDT really is, so let's not let anyone down."

  On we march! Danny shouted it in his head, realizing that all of the other teams were already doing as much, passing by the northern gate of Lennith City towards the path to the Outback. Soon, they will be in Alpha Zero again. Unfortunately, the steaks are much higher.