The Tiny Tots stood in the center of the lab as their gear was being handed to them by "The Puppy," as Kenji had introduced him. While they were gearing up, Sage stood in front of the cell of the Subject Alpha. He seemed to be having an episode at the moment. Sage narrowed her eyes and asked,

"What's this guy's deal?"

"Subject Alpha? He's the successful result of mixing nanites with Nevilara Mystara." The conductor responded as he put on his bracelet.

"Is that what success looks like?" Kenji was confused.

"If you saw the failures, then you'd know that's a smashing success, mate." Shango chuckled.

"He keeps talking about not having the right and not paying some price," Amaterasu said as she placed her weapons on her waist. Both Sage and Kenji looked at Amaterasu. Kenji then asked,

"Are you sure those were his exact words?"

"Yeah, positive. We heard him say it enough." Amaterasu confirmed.

"Open the cell," Kenji said as he walked towards Alpha. Sage didn't say anything as she walked to the console and opened Alpha's cell. He made a hand motion, and the cell closed behind him. As soon as Kenji entered the cell, everyone saw Alpha instantly regain his sanity and then scurried away in abject horror.

They couldn't hear anything that the two of them were saying, but Alpha Progressive became more calm. Kenji then extended his hand as a system formed over his palm. The other saw the aquamarine light, and Miko Aka Siren was the first to speak up.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's called a system, and it helps with the manipulation of Vaylora," Sage responded.

"Vaylora?" The conductor asked.

"We don't have time to talk about it right now. I was worried he was on the verge of going completely insane, but from our brief conversation, he was close to figuring things out on his own. I just gave him a little push in the right direction." Kenji spoke as Alpha's cell opened.

The others looked over at Alpha, who had a trace-like focus on the "system" that Kenji had presented to him. He curled himself into the corner of his cell, and for the first time in days, he was in complete peace.

"Ume, what's the play? I assume you have some way to find out where Seren is?" The conductor asked.

"Given what I heard about her personality and Aron's, they'll be in the main control room," Sage responded.

"I assume you know where it is?" The conductor added,"

"Not yet… We're still waiting for information. Team 3 has eyes everywhere where it's possible to have eyes. However, there are still a multitude of blind spots. Team 6 is currently investigating those areas." Sage informed the conductor, who didn't bother to ask for more details. Sage would only share with him the information she thought necessary; there was no point trying to get more out of her.

"So you want us to just wait here until we get information on where we should go?" Shango asked.

"That will lead to the best results. If they know you guys are free, they might change their priorities. Especially if they discover that you won't be affected by the kill code. Although I doubt we will have to wait for long." Sage answered.

At that moment clouds of mist rushed into the room from several directions. Those clouds of mist formed into six dreadfully beautiful vampires, with Number 6 of the Veridahn leading them. She bowed to Trigger and looked at Sage, who asked,

"I assume you've found her?"

"We have a general location. The pathways keep changing, making it difficult to pin down. But recent events may have changed things." Number 6 responded. She then went on to describe how most of the base had been frozen over.

"As expected, Mawu made the most pragmatic move. Excellent." Sage nodded with a smile.

"Understood, we'll take it from here, regroup with The Twins, and we'll be there after wrapping things up here." Trigger responded to her report.

"Yes, Lord Mythara." The squad of vampires disappeared into clouds of mist and disappeared once again.

"Who the hell was that?" Amaterasu asked.

"They are the Veridahn. A new enforcement agency created by Lord Cefketa." Puppy answered Amaterasu's question.

He took great care to be as respectful as possible to her. He saw the way Kenji's face lit up when he saw her as they entered the room. It would do him no harm to get on her good side.

"So… who wants to stay behind and deal with our guest, and who wants to come with us to grab the main objective?" Sage asked, much to the surprise of everyone else.

Before they could process the question, they all turned their heads as they heard the sounds of banging on the lab door. Ume had locked the door behind them when they came in. It didn't serve any real purpose, but there was no need to make their lives easier.

"Scary accurate as always." The Hoarder said as he cracked his knuckles, throwing his Chaser cloak on.

The door was blown away as three familiar faces walked into the lab. Franky was leading the group, and behind him were Helena and Hachiman, and trailing them were 30 Persequions. Franky was shocked to see that the Tiny Tots were in fact out of their cells. What was even more shocking to him was the fact that Zac was not there, instead it was Sage and Trigger.

Sage and Trigger barely paid the three of them any mind and instead turned their attention to the Persequions that were trailing them. Trigger rolled his eyes.

"You guys assimilated well with your new owners." Trigger chuckled.

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"A-Are you Aiono Murmus?" One of the Persequions asked as they looked at Kenji, who was the striking resemblance to his mother.

"That is the name my mother gave me. But I prefer Lord Mythara." Trigger answered them and turned his attention away from them as he started to talk with "The Puppy."

"I know there is no reasoning with Sage or Trigger. But the rest of you, don't do this. Things will get ugly." Hachiman said.

"For you, maybe," Amaterasu commented as she looked at her mentor with disgust. Hachiman's eyes narrowed as he looked at Amaterasu with disappointment.

"How about the usual suspects get going and leave this to us?" Bloody Mary, motioning for Teams Watabe and Micheal to get out of here. Franky and the others narrowed their eyes at Bloody Mary's words. These children were starting to treat them as an afterthought. Hachiman in particular looked at Amaterasu. He drew his blade and pointed it at her.

"Do you think you have outgrown me enough to ignore me, Amaterasu?"

"Yes…" Amaterasu said, barely sparing him a glance.

"Prove it," Hachiman said, clearly trying to goad her into fighting him. Amaterasu glared at her "mentor." Before she could say anything, Sage leaned in while looking at Hachiman.

"Would you like me to give you a detailed report of his weaknesses?" She pretended to whisper while being loud enough for everyone to hear.

"No need, I already know them." Amaterasu sighed as she looked at Hachiman.

"And I don't need to prove anything; you've already proved it for me. You're still acting like some old samurai. Grow up. We are…"

"Chasers… yes. I've heard this spill before." Hachiman glared at Sage.

"Fine… Let's make this quick; we have other things to do." Amaterasu groaned as she walked forward. He did teach her a great deal. The least she could do was humor him.

"We don't have time for this, Amaterasu." The conductor said.

"It will only take a moment," Amaterasu assured everyone, much to the annoyance of Hachiman. The Persequions and Tiny Tots alike cleared out space for the two of them. The Conductor sighed and looked over at The Hoarder, who was staring daggers at Helena, who refused to make eye contact with his mentee. There was no point in even thinking about Trigger and Franky.

"This is pointless." The conductor mumbled.

"I don't think so, mate; they need to know that we have outgrown them," Shango said.

"That's my point. They should already know." The conductor frowned. He always felt their mentors left much to be desired. They more or less dumped them all on Zac. If they paid the amount of attention The Conductor thought they should, they would have a better understanding of where the Tiny Tots stood.

From the conductor's summation, there were very few Chasers in general that could compare to even some of the more average Tiny Tots. This was not only from a skill standpoint but also their mentality.

"They leave us to be raised by a dragon and are surprised that we have outgrown them. Ridiculous!" The conductor concluded, and most of the Tiny Tots nodded their heads in agreement.

Hachiman and Amaterasu stood 5 meters apart from each other. Hachiman felt that he had learned a great deal from his encounter with Sage several days ago and, in all honesty, felt that Amaterasu was still no match for him regardless of what Sage had to say. In his mind, he was certain he could take on Sage as well if he hadn't underestimated her before.

He went to draw his blade, but before he could, he felt a sharp pain in his hand. He looked down and saw a burn hole in his drawing hand. He looked over to see Amaterasu, pointing her finger at him. She had always been abnormally fast, but he had no idea that her speed had been elevated to this level.

"What is—?" Before he could finish, Amaterasu's image faded away, and Hachiman felt intense radiation on the back of his neck. Amaterasu's blade was drawn inches away from his skin. It was not only Hachiman that was in shock but the Chaser and Persequions there were stunned as well.

They had seen her speed during the banquet, but what she just displayed went even beyond that. More of them would be cut down before they knew what had happened. However, none of them expected her speed to overwhelm Hachiman to such a degree.

"How?" Hachiman mumbled.

"You underestimated me because you don't understand me. However, every time we've spared, I studied everything about you. From the way you carry yourself down to the way your right pinky moves before you draw your blade."

"Really? I didn't notice that." Sage said excitedly from her place in the crowd. That would be another note to add to her Hachiman files.

"You said you heard the We Are Chasers spill before, but did you listen?" Amaterasu experienced tremendous growth when she first started out with Hachiman, faster than anyone else. But she quickly felt the gap close. There was only so much she could do with swordsmanship alone. When she asked Hachiman, he gave her the advice one would expect from an old samurai.

"Focus on your blade, fight more and more opponents so they pick apart your flaws, and learn from them," Amaterasu repeated what Hachiman had told her time and time again.

"What is wrong with that?" Hachiman seemed to be going through a crisis at the moment. His mentee had made such quick work of him he felt infinite shame.

"Nothing… if you want to be forged."

"Is that not what we want? To be forged into the finest weapon?" Hachiman asked.

"Fire is not forged. It blazes. Fire has no form but can reduce everything that does to ashes. This is what Sensei Zac told me." Amaterasu responded.

At her words, Hachiman closed his eyes in defeat. He had experienced two great defeats, as a warrior at the hands of his pupil and as a teacher at the hands of Zac. Amaterasu removed her blade from his throat and walked away. Hachiman stood there stunned for a moment and asked,

"How do I grow from here?" He asked.

"I'll give you the greatest piece of advice you have given me. The origin of everything is nothingness. So forget everything you've learned and start over." Hachiman closed his eyes and nodded his head. A portal opened as Teams Micheal and Watabe began to walk through it.

"Wait! You can't—" Franky tried to stop them from leaving, but Kenji looked over his shoulder at Franky and said,

"There is nothing you can say that will change our minds, and there is nothing you can do that will stop us from doing what needs to be done."

The Persequions and Chasers there did nothing more to stop them. Some of the Persequions there fully supported the idea that Kenji was Auranthos' Threnos. Not only did those individuals not want to stop him, they felt the urge to go assist him. However,

Bloody Mary, who was leading the remaining Tiny Tots, looked at the contingent of Persequions and Chasers there and asked,

"I suppose we all can't just sit around and let everything blow over?"

"I suppose you won't let us just leave and chase after Team Michael and Watabe?" Franky answered her question with a question of his own. Bloody Mary let out a sigh.

"Shame really… Alright. Keep everyone we know alive… kill the rest." Bloody Mary gave the command.

Meanwhile, on the surface, Zac sat on a boulder in an area surrounded by dense fog, with his scythe resting on his shoulder. He looked down to see Devin, Léonie, and Stefan picking themselves off the ground as their wounds and ego slowly mended. Stefan spit to his side and grumbled,

"What the hell… He's just toying with us."

They had decided to test the waters to see how powerful Zac had become. During the process, what they learned was that they were no match for him in any way shape or form, from a physical aspect. They could not contend with his speed, and at every physical clash they were overpowered.

"It seems we need to take him as seriously as we did Roratha," Léonie added.

To this point, none of them had overclocked or even used their boot-ups. They didn't think they would need to. But the reality of the situation was made apparent to them. Zac could have killed them in their moment of arrogance, but it was obvious that he was enjoying himself. As far as Devin was concerned, this was a good thing.

Once they had finished evacuating the non-combatants, the full weight of Heka's might could bear down on him.

"What a disappointment." Zac commented,

"Zac, is there really a reason to—"

"It's Lord Cefketa…" He cut off Devin.

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