"Zac, are you serious?" Devin was answered by Zac's silence.

"Zac…Zac…" Devin sighed in defeat.

"Lord Cefketa."

"Speak human." Zac finally responded with the black mask on his face peeling back.

"I prefer Selistar." Devin groaned.

"I'm sure you do, human, speak." Zac chuckled at the rage-filled Selistar.

Selistar picked himself up off the ground. Everything had gone to shit faster than they could do anything about it. Even with his mother's accurate warning, there was next to nothing they could do to stop any of this from happening. They had far too little information on their forces. Basilisk hadn't been seen in hundreds of years. And even before then, they were a scarce sight. Yet they came riding, 7 of them.

This was a complete and abject failure on their part. They were overconfident and ignorant. And they were up against someone who planned for nearly every contingency. The best they could do now is prevent another Darkest Day situation.

"Do you have something to say, or do you just want to stare at me?" Lord Cefketa asked. Devin had been staring blankly at him for some time.

"What do we need to do to stop this?" Selistar asked.

"You already know the answer to that."

"Would you freely give your mother over to death for the sins of your father?" Selistar responded.

"I would not, which is why I never asked that of you. I expected you to do exactly what you're doing now." Lord Cefketa spoke.

"If you continue to do this, hundreds of innocents are going to die. Shaila wouldn't want—"

"Shut your fucking mouth!" Cefketa's shout shook not only Devin and his group but the ground itself. Those purple slit eyes staring into their souls made it difficult for them to breathe.

"You didn't know Shai nearly as much as you think you did." Cefketa sighed as he jumped from the boulder, the scythe resting on his shoulder again. It was clear he was preparing to begin his assault once again.

"There has to be another way. I refuse to believe that sacrificing my mother is the only way to satisfy your revenge." Selistar looked at "Lord Cefketa with determination.

"What, will you give me your father instead? Along with some other compensation?" Cefketa asked. Surprisingly, Selistar didn't give an immediate answer. Cefketa's chuckle burst into a deranged laughing fit.

"Your silence speaks volumes. But will the rest of your people accept that? From what I've heard, you've convinced everyone that I've gone crazy." Cefketa smiled.

"I may not know Shaila as well as I would have hoped. But I know you better than anyone. You won't settle for anything less than an absolute victory. If your goal was only my mother, she'd already be dead." Selistar stared at Cefketa knowingly. Cefketa in return gave him a wide smile.

"I think you are overestimating him far too much." Stefan finally joined in on the conversation.

"Fenrir now is not the—" Léonie tried to stop him.

"Enough, Gladiolus! This lizard has been getting high on his supply for far too long. It doesn't matter what creatures he has brought with him. If we take him down, none of it will matter." Stefan reasoned.

"Defeat him, and then what? Are you aware we're surrounded?" Léonie tried to talk sense into him, as she looked into the deep fog surrounding them.

They were in a clearing, but she could clearly see figures dancing in the fog around them, as well as the loud rumblings of the Basilisks moving around.

"No need to worry, they will not interfere. Even if I die." Cefketa smiled at the three of them.

"See… high on his own supply. What are we doing, trying to reason with him?" Stefan or Fenrir all but growled at Cefketa's arrogance. Selistar took a deep breath. If they could subdue Zac, maybe they could find a way to quell his thirst for revenge.

"Zac…" Selistar called out once more.

"Lord Cefketa… human." There was no desire in his eyes to talk any longer with them. All Devin saw was rage and sadness in Zac's eyes. He was foreign to the creature that stood before him. He would need to follow suit.

"Right… here we go." Selistar sighed as Zac's mask closed around his face.

"Overclock!" Selistar, Gladiolus, and Fenrir shouted in sync.

"Boot up, Black Out," Selistar shouted much to Cefketa's confusion. Why would he use that? His question was quickly answered. Instead of an omnidirectional wave, Selistar held out his hand and shot out a condensed, controlled tube of the same wave in Cefketa's direction.

"Oh?" Cefketa smiled under his mask as he dodged out of the way of the concentrated wave. As he dodged the wave, he heard,

"Boot up, Cheap Shot."

"Annoying…" Cefketa groaned as he dodged out of the way of an explosion that manifested in front of him. It wasn't just any explosion, but an antimatter explosion.

Stefan Müller, aka Fenrir, Program Zero: It allows him to produce and control antimatter reactions through touch. Allowing him to cause devastating controlled explosions that can and will destroy any known matter they make contact with. His Boot-up, Cheap Shot, gave the ability to produce antimatter explosions of any size, anywhere in his visual range for 5-second bursts.

While overclocked, he can now also create matter and manipulate that created matter along with antimatter. Although he hasn't had the chance to fully explore his Overclocked abilities yet,.

Cefketa fluttered through the area at speeds too fast for Fenrir to keep up. His antimatter explosions hit nothing but air and afterimages. Luckily, he was not alone. Gladiolus extended her hand and increased Cefketa's personal gravity by an extraordinary amount. Even a Chaser would have been crushed under their own weight.

Cefketa instantly turned it to his advantage. He used his increased weight to stomp the ground, causing a massive upheaval of debris, blocking Fenrir's vision. Selistar quickly acted with a series of hand motions; the debris spread apart as the space between the debris elongated unnaturally.

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The space Cefketa was traveling, was expanded beyond common sense, while simultaneously occupying the same stretch of space. In other words, while Cefketa felt he was moving just as fast as before, to everyone outside of the manipulated space, he was moving in slow motion.

"Gotcha!" Fenrir smiled as he used the last few seconds to unleash a maelstrom of antimatter explosions. Selistar created a dome of space around the Cefketa to contain the explosions after they had triggered. As the explosions stopped, Fenrir took a deep breath as he calmed his nerves.

The dust had not settled, and they couldn't see what the results of the assault were. Gladiolus sighed and then said,

"Boot Up, Spoilers" Her eyes shone. Half a second later she blinked and then shouted,

"Stefan, MOVE!!!"

Without asking for clarification, Fenrir jumped to his left. The instant he moved, he felt a sharp pain radiating from his right side, and his arm spinning in the air detached from his body. He looked over at the space barrier that held Cefketa and saw there was a gash in it. Likely whatever slashed through space sliced his arm off as well.

"Reboot, Spoilers… Shit!" Gladiolus Boot Up again only for her to forcefully end it again to prevent what she saw. She increased gravity for both Selistar and Fenrir while ducking herself. The fog behind them was slashed in half, along with the entire cliffside in the distance.

"S-S-Spoilers… Goddammit!" She stammered, barely having time to catch her breath. But the way things were going, she was the only thing standing between them and instant death. She lightened their gravities and shouted,

"MOVE!!!"

Fenrir cursed as he quickly grabbed his arm out of the air and fluttered away. As soon as he moved, the spot he was standing in exploded, as Cefketa's figure had landed on it. Cefketa scanned the area, looking for the three of them. His mask was completely destroyed, along with most of the armor that covered his upper body. However, there were no signs of damage on his skin; only faint crack markings could be seen.

Cefketa looked down at himself. His bare body was pelted by those explosions, but not even antimatter explosions could penetrate real dragon scales. It had a hard time even cracking his shedding. He then stripped away the rest of the armor as it slithered into a bracelet on his wrist.

"I can still use it to make weapons, I suppose." He mumbled. Cefketa stood there with nothing but his pants and his necklace to cover his chest as he frowned at Selistar.

"What are you waiting for?" Cefketa asked. He didn't expect much from Fenrir and Gladiolus; he refused to believe that this was all Selistar was capable of, even after overclocking. Selistar frowned at that belittling gaze from Cefketa. Since Zac's awakening, Selistar had been on the receiving end of several humbling moments.

"You two stand back. Provide support when necessary."

"Goddamn you, Renegade!!! I will not—"

"Shut up!" Selistar shouted.

Fenrir groaned; he acted the same way when they went against Roratha. Admittedly they were in a better state than they were in now. While the three of them worked surprisingly well together. However, when fighting someone like Roratha and creatures like The Anomaly, their synergy didn't mean much. Selistar carried much of the load when they battled Roratha, and things would be similar here.

He could understand that Roratha manipulated space on a level that surpassed Selistar; there was little the two of them could do without Selistar. However, that wasn't the case now. The Anomaly was just overpowering them physically. He had heard that Dragons could display abilities equal to, if not greater than Zeroes, but he had done nothing but blitz them with that scythe.

"Goddammit." For Fenrir, frustration was getting the best of him. He was certain if he had just a little more time to get familiar with his new abilities, he would not have to suffer this humiliation.

"It's fine. We'll leave it to you until we both have recovered." Gladiolus commented. She would act as Fenrir's cover as he took the time to fully reattach his arm. She also needed time to recover. While she suffered no physical damage, using her Boot Up in rapid succession took a toll on her mental energies. She was sure if things continued, they would need her to use it even more. Selistar flicked his wrist in their direction and created a space barrier around them.

"These past months have been rather humbling." Selistar glared at Cefketa.

"I'm sure they have been. It's always hard to understand how truly powerless you are." Cefketa laughed.

"That's not what I mean… I've had my hands tied several times, and everyone seems to have forgotten who I am!!!" Selistar shouted as the space around him quaked under his rage.

"Are we ready?" Cefketa whispered while not moving his lips.

"Yes, we're ready." Number 3's voice echoed in Cefketa's ear. Cefketa could hear something crashing into a wall in the background. But the calm in Number 3's voice made it clear that The Twins and The Bone Collector had things under control.

"Good. Run it!" At Cefketa's words, screens appeared within the halls and rooms inside the base. On those screens, they saw Selistar looking down on a bare-chested Cefketa, who began to float into the air to meet his eye level.

"We forgot who you are? Then tell me… Who are you?"

"I am Selistar Murmus, the strongest Persequion in history!" He shouted.

"Show me!" Cefketa smiled.

Selistar vanished from sight, appearing before Cefketa, and sending a series of blows. Cefketa responded, deflecting and parrying the strikes with his scythe. The speed of the two was something that only a few living creatures on Earth could keep track of, let alone keep up with. Cefketa found an opening within the torrent of blows; with a twirl of his scythe, he opened Selistar's guard and sent a slash across his chest.

The force and pressure from that slash caused the sky to rumble and split the clouds. Selistar was blown into the sky. Once he came to a stop, there was not a single wound on him. Not even his clothing showed signs of wear or tear. There was just a cracking noise as a spatial barrier that surrounded him began to heal.

He frowned as he cracked his neck. He looked at Cefketa in the distance, sending a lightning-quick jab to his side. Cefketa's head jerked in the opposite direction. He was struck by the space-defying blow. Selistar struck at the air repeatedly, each strike finding its mark on Cefketa's body.

Selistar felt like he was punching against an unbreakable wall each time he made contact with Cefketa's flesh. While Cefketa was disoriented from his barrage, Selistar made a pulling motion as spatial chains bound Cefketa's arms and legs. Selistar maintained his distance as he assumed a fighting stance and sent a flurry of blows through space. Each blow focused on Cefketa's solar plexus.

"More!" Selistar shouted as he forcefully increased and decreased the space of his arms to increase the speed and power each strike could produce. Selistar felt a chill run down his spine, as Cefketa's head was down, but he didn't struggle. None of the hidden monsters were making a move either.

"No… more!" Selistar refocused as the speed of his blows increased to the point that his arms were just streams of light. Each ray of light struck Cefketa's solar plexus. Rays of light crashed off Cefketa's body, and finally, Cefketa raised his head. Selistar's eyes widened as he saw those glowing purple slit eyes and a wide smile on his face.

"ARRRGH!!!" Selistar shouted in frustration and determination as he sent out a final strike. An explosion of light engulfed Cefketa. The spatial chains that bound him shattered. Once the light dimmed, Cefketa was floated there, slumped over, with his arms at his side. He still held his scythe in hand, making it clear he was still conscious. Selistar groaned but expected as much.

"I knew you wouldn't let me down, Devin." Cefketa started to chuckle as he straightened up. He placed his scythe on his shoulder, and Selistar looked on in shock at the "wound" on Cefketa's solar plexus. There was a spider crack glowing with light, extending from Cefketa's solar plexus across his abdomen.

"I actually felt that!" Cefketa began to laugh hysterically. Since his shedding had begun, his sense of touch had vanished.

Even his spars with the 2nd seat, Vaerros, the Titan Orc War Chief, didn't produce any wounds he could feel. Cefketa was smiling from ear to ear, while Selistar's frown deepened.

"I promise, you'll be feeling a lot more than that," Selistar responded.

"I hope so!" Cefketa instantly closed the distance, teleporting to Selistar and sending a slash that could part the seas. Selistar smirked with annoyance as he sent a chopping slash to intercept it. The force of their clash caused the air to quake. They clashed again at incomprehensible speeds. Only the sounds of their thunderous clashing and unhinged laughter signified what was happening.

"Are you ready?" Gladiolus, asked Fenrir as she kept her eyes glued on the two fighting above them.

"Yes." Fenrir groaned as he moved the shoulder of his reattached arm around. He would admit that he underestimated the power of a dragon. Even if it was a hatchling, it was not something that could be judged by common sense. He would have to truly try to kill him if they were to survive this encounter.

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