Team Watabe and Team Micheal walked out of the portal that was created by Trigger. The conductor looked at Trigger and sighed. The Conductor thought he had made tremendous strides in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, while he strolled, Trigger seemed to be soaring. The conductor tightened his fist; this just motivated him to achieve even more than he already had. He looked over his shoulder down the hall where they had been moved.

"They are surprisingly quick to respond given the situation." The Conductor looked at the frozen hallway filled with Persequions… no,

"These are Theronites." The conductor's eyes narrowed.

"How can you tell?" Sage asked.

As far as Sage could tell, the Theronites wore the same minimalist black cloaks as the regular Persequions. Shango stood next to the Conductor and answered Sage's questions.

"It's the way they carry themselves, their presence they give off." The conductor nodded his head in agreement with Shango's assessment.

"Really? They all feel the same to me." Trigger responded, much to the surprise of the rest of the group. They all felt the same as Shango and the Conductor.

"I agree with Trigger. They don't seem like anything special. But maybe we have just been desensitized." Sage reasoned.

They had spent the past few days with creatures that gave a presence that far exceeded anything any human could produce. Sage just shrugged her shoulders.

"How many Theronites does Heka have?" Trigger asked,"

"We don't have an exact number, but we're sure there are more active Theronites than Chasers." Siren, aka Miko, responded.

"Ah, well, that's a relief." Trigger nodded his head.

"Why's that?" Amaterasu asked.

"There are about 40 of them here. I'd feel bad killing a significant portion of them." Trigger smirked darkly down the hall at the Theronites filling the hall in front of them. Amaterasu gave him a worried look.

"They aren't making a move…" Manic said.

"Of course, there aren't; this corridor is wide, but not wide enough for a full-scale battle to break out between groups of this size." The conductor responded.

It was the only reason the Theronites didn't make a move themselves as soon as they saw the Tiny Tots come out of the portal. The Theronite standing in the front walked forward and called out to Watabe,

"Conductor!! What is the meaning of this? Have you truly betrayed humanity and joined hands with the monsters?" The conductor didn't get the chance to respond. Trigger stepped forward,

"I would ask if you have forgotten your duty. But I think we all know the answer to that." There was an undeniable command in Kenji's voice.

All the Theronites in question balked at the sight of Kenji. The Conductor was also taken aback by Trigger's sudden change. The boy had always been talented but more docile than he could stand. However, now he stood in front, leading them as if it were natural. He didn't know what he had experienced until now, but something had changed. Amaterasu looked at Kenji's back but couldn't understand who she was looking at or whether it was a good or a bad thing.

Trigger looked very much like his parents, so it was easy for the Theronites to determine who he was. This put all of them in a weird position. Most of them believed him to be who they were waiting on. Others hoped that he would be, given the state of things. And others hoped it was true simply because they were tired of waiting.

"Please, stand down. We do not wish to fight you." The Theronite earnestly spoke.

"Shameless. You speak of not waiting to fight me but do not grant my requests? You are supposed to wait for and follow Auranthos' Threnos. They now stand before you… move." Kenji responded.

"As much as I would like to believe that to be the case,. We can not fully determine that you are indeed the one we are waiting for." The Theronite sighed.

"Is the woman you are protecting her or her husband, Auranthos' Threnos?" Trigger asked and received no response.

"Is their existence more important than Heka?" He asked another question and got no response.

"SO WHY DO YOU INSIST ON STANDING IN MY WAY?!" Trigger shouted as his eyes turned into slits. Everyone felt a trembling sensation run through their bodies. It wasn't the air; the ground that quaked; they all felt as if the world… Creation itself shook in rage with Trigger.

"She is the only one who can properly lead the Persequions, right now. We have not yet fully recovered from the devastating void left by the Darkest Day. If she also dies…Aron… you might as well plunge us into chaos." The Theronite reasoned.

Some of the Tiny Tots sighed of understanding, but they knew it changed nothing.

"All the more reason to move out of my way. The quicker and cleaner this ends, the less chaotic we can make things."

Trigger spoke solemnly to the Theronites. He truly did not want to kill them, but he had come to his own conclusions over the past few days. He could no longer be hesitant or doubt his decisions. He knew what needed to be done. He owed them nothing but contempt; still, he offered them a way to cut things cleanly. If they refused to take his olive branch, that would be their own foolishness.

"You should be grateful that I'm the one here and not Cefketa. You'd all be dead right now."

"Please, don't force us into an impossible decision." The Theronite all but begged.

"An impossible decision?" Trigger sighed as he heard the Theronites' plea.

As far as Trigger was concerned, life had been a series of impossible choices and ultimatums. There were very few times since he entered this world of monsters that he felt fully in control of his life, and that was because he didn't have the strength to take control of it.

Now he stood before these Theronites, who stood before the impossible because they did not have the strength or influence to follow what they believed to be true. Trigger looked at them with a bit of disgust.

"They are the best humanity has to offer?" Trigger mumbled under his breath.

"I shouldn't have expected much. They're only human." He thought to himself.

While he could understand their position and their feelings, this changed nothing. Whether he initially wanted to or not, he was now walking the path of a ruler. So he would need to act the part and hold fast to his convictions.

"I'll make things infinitely easier for you to decide then. Move out of our way, or die." Trigger spoke in no uncertain terms.

They may not see it, but he could see it clearly. This was the path that led to the fewest deaths. The Theronites showed signs of hesitation, but ultimately none moved from where they stood. Trigger sighed in disappointment. The Theronites readied themselves. Trigger displayed his hostility, but nothing really changed.

The two groups were essentially in the same deadlock as before; all that changed was that it was clear that things were coming to a violent end. Trigger looked back at the Conductor and asked,

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"How do you want to do this?"

"Oh, are you willing to listen to a human's commands?" The conductor teased,"

"A human's no. But I'll listen to yours... for now." Trigger responded, and the conductor began to laugh. He looked over at Shango. The two of them could have full conversations just through eye contact. Both made hand motions; The Conductor signaled for Amaterasu, and Shango signaled for Bumi.

Amaterasu stomped the ground; as she did so, she instantly reversed the temperature of the ice that had penetrated the ground. The ice melted almost instantly. Before the Theronites could respond, Bumi shouted,

"Well alright!!!" He let out a bellowing laugh. Bumi motioned his hands as if trying to rip the air apart. With each motion, the ground quaked and the hallway expanded by dozens of meters on all sides. Shango stomped the ground and created localized quakes under each Theronite.

As the Theronites were trying to keep their balance, the Conductor spoke.

"Alpha Protocol." At his words, the Tiny Tots, aside from Shango, Manic, Amaterasu, and Trigger, spread out.

Trigger looked over at Amaterasu and smirked as a pair of guns formed in his hands, and his black, faceless mask covered his face. Amaterasu smiled back as she placed her hands on her blade handles. The two shoot forward, and a psionic wall appears around the Theronites who are still reeling from the Tiny Tots' initial attacks.

The Conductor and Shango both noticed during their stay within Heka that the Theronites didn't seem very organized or team-oriented. They were just a group of individuals with extraordinary talents. But from where The Conductor and Shango stood they were just slightly above average targets for their teams.

The quaking under their feet ceased, but they were still bound within these tight quarters, thanks to the psionic cage created by Manic. By the time they could process what was happening, all the light and sound had been drained from their senses thanks to Siren and Mirage.

The blue shimmer of light streaked through their ranks. However, they would not easily fall. They had their pride and were no less talented than these Tiny Tots. Amaterasu did not hesitate to go for kills. However, even in these tight spaces and being robbed of their sense of sight and hearing, the Theronites avoided fatal injuries. However, they were in no position to counterattack.

Trigger weaved through their ranks with Amaterasu. The two performed a graceful and deadly dancing duet. They feed off of each other's movement seamlessly. They always had an unspoken chemistry, when it came to fighting side by side. Surprisingly, none of their slashes or shots hit their marks. At least not in a way that could cause any fatal wounds. Both Trigger and Amaterasu had to admit it was rather impressive.

The Theronites were not as battle-tested as the Tiny Tots. But they had spent decades encountering and dealing with countless abilities. More than the Tiny Tots could have imagined. While they were momentarily on the back foot, they recovered quickly. Trigger and Amaterasu looked at each other.

"Pull out," Amaterasu called out.

"Right." Trigger nodded, and then the two left the enclosure as quickly as they had entered it. As they left, The Hoarder flew in from above; his body was glowing with power. Manic opened the top of the psionic cage he had created for the hoarder to fall through.

The Theronites instinctively tried to dodge out of the way. They were all still blind and deafened. The hoarder clashed in the middle of them, and his stored energy exploded around them. The Theronites were blown away along with the Psionic walls. The dust cleared, and everyone expected to see bodies spread out along the ground.

Instead, they saw all the Theronites on their feet. They all looked worse for wear but were ready to continue fighting. The hoarder stood there in the middle of the 40 Theronites and sighed. The Theronites, who were still blind and deafened, all pinpointed Hoarders' location.

Without speaking to each other, one of the Theronites slashed the air with their hand. The hoarder jumped to the side, but their left arm was bisected. Before the Theronite could make another attack, a root exploded from the ground to bind them. The Hoarder used his stored energy to quickly reattach his arm.

As his arm was reattached, another Theronite arrived at his location; they sent a flurry of blows, and the Hoarder responded in kind. He infused stored energy into each of his attacks. This increased his power and speed to levels Hoarder believed to be unimaginable. Hoarder fully expected to overpower the individual in question. However, not only could he not overpower the person in question, but the person in question matched his speed. Being blinded and deafened didn't affect their ability to keep up with the hoarders' attack.

While Hoarder was locked in battle, the other Theronites went to attack him from behind, but they were intercepted by Shango. His body was covered in deep, powerful vibrations. Each swing of his fist could reduce anything he touched to atoms. All the Theronites that he intercepted, instead of blocking him in any way, they just dodged. Shango narrowed his eyes at this revelation.

They were far more synchronized than Shango or The Conductor thought that they could be. This was a mistake on their part. They shouldn't have assumed that they fully understood the scope of an ancient organization. How they seemed to ignore that they were blinded and deafened was odd. Amaterasu and Trigger dived back into the fray. It was obvious that Hoarder would not be finishing his fight anytime soon. And he was going to be leaving himself exposed to further attacks.

"Bumi!" the conductor called out as he noticed that one of the Theronites had disappeared. That same Theronite emerged from the ground behind Siren.

"On it!!" Bumi stomped the ground, binding that Theronite in place for a moment. But that moment was all he needed, as he dove into the ground. The Theronite broke the bindings placed on him and attacked Siren, who was in deep concentration. That Theronite was stopped by Bumi, who launched out of the ground. Kicking that Theronite, knocking them away.

"Sage!" The Conductor called out to Sage, who was suspended from the ceiling as she watched everything that was happening. She had deduced that one of the Theronites had a mental ability. Because of that, making them blind and deaf made no difference. That same individual simultaneously tracked their movements and coordinated their actions. They were acting as a conduit for a hive-mind situation.

Sage relayed the information she had gathered with the others. Before the Conductor or Shango could share their thoughts on what they should do next, screens appeared on the walls and in the air, catching the Tiny Tots' attention.

On those screens was an image of Zac and Devin facing staring each other down, floating in the clouds. Before the conductor could process what was going on, he heard Sage say,

"We're running a little late, Myth… Let's wrap this up." Trigger let out a sigh that echoed through the area.

"Looks like we don't have time. Sorry, Watanabe…" Trigger made a snatching motion, and all the Tiny Tots were teleported behind him, except for Sage, who was still on the roof. Sage started to giggle; dragon-scale armor began to cover her body. She then fell from the ceiling, landing next to Trigger. The other Tiny Tots looked at Sage with a shocked expression.

"Why am I not surprised?" The conductor grumbled.

"What are you doing, Trigger, mate?" Shango asked.

"What do I need to do to achieve my goals? I'll handle this, Sage." Triggers' voice was drained of any emotion as he forced it.

"K-Kenji?" Amaterasu called out to me.

"Call me Myth." After he spoke, an aquamarine light filled the area and wrapped around Mythara's body. For a moment, the system that was etched on his entire body glowed through his armor. The Theronites took a step back, and The Conductor was going to speak, but Sage held out her hand and said,

"Don't interfere. You all will just get in his way." Sage warned the others.

"I know he's stronger than ever, but Trigger can't handle 40 Theronites alone." The conductor reasoned.

"Trigger may not. But Mythara is something different." Sage folded her arms.

"Overclock." Mythara stepped forward as a system appeared behind him. As he stepped forward, the system began to turn at extreme speeds. As the system activated, the momentum in the area slowed to a crawl. Mythara shot forward through the slowed space, increasing his speed and the speed of his bullets faster than what was possible.

In the blink of an eye, he had weaved his way through the 40 Theronites, delivering point-blank headshots, one after another. His momentum stopped once he reached the door the Theronites were guarding. The system shattered against Mythara's control. He clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"It's still not good enough."

The bodies of the Theronites fell dead to the ground; none of them even knew what happened. The Tiny Tots were in shocked silence. All except for Sage, who was already walking past the dead bodies. Sage turned around to look at the others through her black mask and said,

"Catch up."

Amaterasu closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes to stare at Mythara's back. His back looked larger and more broad than before. Even if he didn't state it, she could feel that the weight on those wide shoulders was even heavier than before. She knew that as she was, she could not help carry that load.

She chuckled, she thought herself foolish for lecturing Hachiman, as she was still not satisfactory. She slapped herself on the cheeks and followed behind Sage. The others weren't too far behind her. Even Manic was at a loss for words at the situation. The Conductor and Shango were the only two that remained there.

"This isn't good." The conductor spoke.

"I hate to admit it, but I agree, mate," Shango responded.

Trigger… Mythara was far too powerful, and it seemed he was starting to see himself as less of a human. They didn't doubt Mythara, but anyone with uncheckable power could be an unstoppable threat. Mythara was the most powerful thing they had seen, and the increase of his power wasn't slowing down.

"Looks like Sage is right once again, yeah?" Shango said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" The conductor asked,"

"We just need to catch up, right?" Shango smiled.

"Right…" The conductor took a deep breath and clenched his fist. He thought he had been working his hardest. Apparently, his hardest was not good enough. He would have to triple his efforts, and even then he wasn't sure if that would close the gap between the two of them. As much as he hated to admit it, right now they were all just along for the ride, following the path plowed for them by Mythara.

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