//------------------------------//
// Strike 42- A Flash of Azure 
// Story: When lightning strikes... 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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When Lightning Strikes- A Flash of Azure




Sun Fransokyo (Night)

        Immediately after hearing shots break out inside the museum, there was a change in plans in what Mistress Marevelous and Cody were tasked to do. Originally, they were trying to observe what was going on inside the facility and assist Lance from outside the building. However, they were now focusing on trying to evacuate any nearby civilians along with the hostages that were able to get out of the museum. Directing them to an evacuation center that was set up close to where the facility for the Heroes Association was. Of course, with all the current chaos going on right now, this was very difficult in order to pull off. But with Hiro and a few others from Mane Hero Six, everypony that was within the vicinity of the museum was escorted away from the facility with only minor injuries and no casualties.

        Despite this success however, during the evacuation, both of them lost contact with Lance and Aurora. They were both inside the museum at the time that this was going on and for some strange reason, anytime that Cody or Lola tried to reach them, all they got was static. It made him a little concerned for his friend… but it made his AI extremely worried for the one that, only a few hours beforehand, she saw as her mother. “Daddy, is mommy going to be okay?”

        Cody sighed for a moment before looking at Lola. “Of course she will be… I have faith that both her and Lance will be able to pull through this.” The mentioning of his friends name made her unintentionally confused as the AI looked back at her father with a puzzled expression across her tiny synthetic face.

        “Who’s Lance, Daddy?” Lola asked him as Cody looked back at her with a surprised look on his face. He had to think it over a few times to himself before actually saying anything because he did not want to give off the wrong impression of him accidentally. Taking a moment to compose himself, Cody then responded to Lola.

        “He’s a very important friend to me… Almost like a brother if I have to be honest.” He told her as Cody looked back at him. “Sometimes he and I get on each others nerves… but Lance definitely knows that the difference between right and wrong. He’s… very special in many ways and I’m lucky to be able to fight alongside him.”

        “Oh… I see…” Lola replied. “Do you think Uncle Lance is going to be okay?” That surprised Cody, but made him chuckle in response to the AI’s question.

        “Yeah, I think he’ll do just fine. He’s got Lumen and Aurora with him and they work together as a team,” He told her. “He’s got this.” Just as he finished speaking, the two of them noticed Applejack tending to a white unicorn with a spiky mane and tail that was made up of two shades of blue. It looked like the pony had taken a serious beating as he went over to them.

        “Is everything okay here?” He asked, looking at Applejack as she looked back at the teen before returning her gaze to the Unicorn.

        “She’s okay but… shaken.” The earth pony told her as the unicorn looked at them. “Her name is Vinyl Scratch and she’s been telling me that her friends not… well herself.”

        That had Cody raise an eyebrow in response as he looked back at both of them. “What do you mean, like lost her sanity or something?” Applejack shook her head in response and looked back at the unicorn as Vinyl looked back at him and began to speak.

        “N-no it’s not that… Some… thing just took control of her.” The unicorn replied, stuttering a little in her speech as she looked back at her. “Calling itself… Shabris the Damned or something like that. Oh goddess, Tavi…” Vinyl lowered her head once more, moping a little to herself as Cody and Applejack tried to comfort her. But something from Lola soon caught him by surprise as she soon caught his attention.

        “Daddy, somepony from the crowd of ponies we just evacuated is now running towards the sight of the museum.” Just as he turned around, he saw what appeared to be a tall mare run past him and into a dark alleyway towards the museum. He wasn’t able to recognize who it was at all because he only had a glimpse of it, but either this pony knew what she was doing or was just plain crazy.



Museum

        A purple coated Earth Pony mare with green eyes and a mane of different shades of light pink, and a blue Earth Pony filly with a darker blue mane and purple eyes on her back, trotted up to the police blockade. “Hello officer,” The mare started calmly. “What’s going on?”

        “Ma’am, this area is closed off to civilians,” The officer that was by the blockade informed her. “I would advise for you and your daughter to please head back to where the other evacuees are before you get yourself hurt.”

        “Oh, she’s just my student. She wanted some extra credit.” The mare stated. “What’s going on?”

        “I said that this is closed off to civilians. There’s a battle taking place inside the museum and we’re trying to not have it spill out onto the streets. Our magic department has already hinted traces of demonic magic and the heroes association has classified this as a dragon level threat.” The Officer repeated, adding a little more information. “Who are you two anyways?”

        “I’m Cheerilee, although ponies know me better as Ms. Teacher, and this is Tunnel.” The mare said as the filly put on a red mask that covered everything but her eyes. “We’re not civilians, so please step aside so we can assist in the battle.”

        “I don’t know who you are, but I’m not sure if this is something whoever you two are can handle on your own. So ma’am please take your sidekick and-.” An explosion was heard in the background as they turned around to see a brief glimpse of the Azure Striker inside dodging incoming attacks as he looked back at the other officers.

        “I hate the Association… They’re outshining everyone and they’re so inexperienced…” Cheerilee said. The officer was going to say something else in response, but another voice soon spoke up.

        “Is there a problem here, lieutenant?” The officer turned around, stuttering a little as the stallion looked back at the Red Earth Pony that was wearing some body armor over his chest.

        “C-Chief Macintosh! I-i’m just telling these Civilians to just head ba-.” The officer was interrupted as he looked over to see who he was referring to before grinning a little.

        “Why hello to you Cheerilee… I honestly did not expect to see you out here… Now of all instances really.” He smirked, turning to the officer. “Let them pass.”

        “Y-yes Chief!” The stallion soon let the mare and filly passed the structure that was blocking them off as he left Cheerilee and the filly with the chief.

        “I was in town helping Tunnel with special lessons. She wanted to visit the museum, the little archeologist.” Cheerilee stated as she walked past.

        “Really? And what lead you to come here. Was superhero retirement boring for you?” He chuckled a bit, before clearing his throat. “I’m glad you are here though, we just may need your assistance… and I’m not talking about the department here.”

        “The Hero Association?” Cheerilee asked.

        “Actually no… They’re only helping with the evacuation efforts.” Big Mac informed her before looking back at the Museum. “Two of the Power Ponies from Maretropolis were in town helping us with earlier cases. One of them is back with the evacuee’s… the other is inside the museum and in a dogfight with whatever’s inside there. We lost contact with him earlier when the demonic magic surges were detected by the PD’s magic department.”

        “Perfect. And before you ask… no. I’m not coming out of retirement.” Cheerilee added before setting the filly on her back onto the ground. “Assist these stallions in any way you can, but remember to not take off your mask no matter what they say, okay sweetie?” After the filly’s nod of confirmation, Cheerilee speed-trotted towards the entrance.

        “One last thing,” Big Mac added on. “That other power pony member I was talking about… isn’t actually a pony. Motion trackers are picking up three forms in there, so be careful. You’ll identify who the Power Pony member is because he’s the one who uses Electricity.” All Cheerilee did was smirk a little and just chuckle at the Stallions comment as she looked back at him for a brief moment.

        “Mac, after all the years you’ve known me, when have I ever not known who the big heroes are…” Cheerilee then continued into the museum. Big Mac sighed deeply. Hopefully, Cheerilee would take his advice and still be cautious nonetheless.



        Strands of shadow soon went passed the Azure Striker as Lance ducked around several of the exhibits of the museum and used them for cover to dodge any of the attacks that were coming at him. This was going to be a difficult fight for him to get through for two reasons. One was that he needed to defeat Shabris, but the other was because he also needed to save Octavia. Shabris was now using her body in order to attack both him and the Umbra witch that was right now an unexpected… but helpful ally in this fight. But the main problem was that he was trying to harm Shabris… but not harm Octavia.

        Something that was technically impossible given the circumstances.

        “What’s wrong Umbra? Too afraid to crack an egg?” Shabris asked mockingly.

        “Hardly…” Bayonetta snickered as she fired two more shots that richochet off of some museum props and grazed the back of her opponent’s head. “As for you Shabris, I’m very disappointed in you… using a mare like the one you chose as a living shield… Is this because you are too afraid to fight a lady? Or because you haven’t grown a pair…”

        “Now here’s the funny thing about that… In truth, I’d love to fight you with my real body, but as it turns out, it’s dust now… I waited too long to come back. Oh, by the way, how does it feel to know that your husband p*ssied out of raising your son? That you left your little sister alone? And that your entire family has crumbled into dust?” That was followed by a huge fist landing in Octavia’s face from the wall behind Shabris.

        “Say that again, Shabris… SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!” The Witch glared as she looked back at the Adept, who was trying to tag the body of the mare so he could knock her out with his Septima as electricity was emitted from his arms.

        “Struck a nerve… How about the fact that your parents died… And they’re oddly not… Here? Even though your demented sister Maya, who died the same day, is…” Shabris snickered through Octavia’s mouth. Bayonetta said nothing, but Lance honestly did not know what the hell this demonic bastard was talking about. He tried to strike her with his powers, but that didn’t do anything… instead, he saw her smirking before hearing something behind him.

        “Lance, look out-!!” As he turned around, he was nearly clipped in the shoulder by a shadow like spear… only to notice that it was far worse than he thought.

        “Lumen, NO!!!” The Breezie that was his partner… had a blow that nearly struck a hole through the center of her little chest as Lance was able to catch her before she fell to the floor and tried to keep her alive using Galvanic Patch. She was okay, but really hurt in the process. “P-please… stay with me…” He said, watching as the Breezie fought for her life as she tried to stay alive after suffering such an injury.

        “Maybe you shouldn’t have a Breezie with you on missions… They’re very fragile~” Shabris grinned. Lance said nothing, but just grit his teeth. Though he was relieved that the breezie was still okay… Shabris had now really pissed him off and was now wanting to make him pay for all the people that he hurt. Vinyl, Octavia, and now Lumen… and his partner was the last straw. 

        However, he did not so easily give into his emotions… because he was soon caught off guard by the sound of something approaching the three of them. He turned to see what looked like a mare with a dark purple fur coat approach them as he tried to understand who was this mare and why was she here of all places.

        “Amateurs…” The mare said boredly. “Can’t a mare have some fun without a demon ruining her day?”

        Bayonetta turned towards the earth pony before smiling a little as she straightened up her posture and turned towards the mare. “Oh my… what do we have here? Some mare decided to eavesdrop on the fun that we’ve been having… Are you wanting to just watch… or get a piece of the action?”

        The mare rolled her eyes and ignored Bayonetta. “I think you may need me.” That had both the Adept and the Umbra Witch a little surprised… and confused as well. But Bayonetta was just really intrigued.

        “I’m not normally one who's interested in a foursome, but if you insist on taking part, then I won’t be stopping you,” The Witch replied as Lance reloaded his weapon. Lumen was okay for the moment and decided to hide within the Adept’s clothes to keep herself safe in the meantime. “But what makes you think you can just strong arm a demon such as this one, Miss…?”

        “Cheerilee. Ms. Cheerilee of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I’m their mentor.” Cheerilee looked at Lance. “I believe you’ve met my students, Walker.”

        “That I have,” Lance nodded his head, looking back towards the earth pony before speaking up and saying something in response. “I heard that they learned many great things from you… Now, I’m going to presume that you know how to stop Shabris without harming Octavia?”

        “Of course…” Cheerilee said, her irises and pupils vanishing, leaving only the white of her eyes left, before she looked at Shabris. Lance’s vision started to fade, along with Bayonetta’s, before they shook themselves out of it, only to be in a broken world. One that made Lance think that they were either in some other place… or in Octavia’s Mind. Her shattered frame of mind that is. Pieces of debris were everywhere and some of the shards that looked like shattered crystal appeared to have images that he assumed were memories.

        Then, he saw the real opponent. Shabris the damned himself. And he looked just as surprised as both he and Bayonetta were on how they got in here in the first place. He was a tall stallion Unicorn with a dirty white coat, raven black mane, and crimson red eyes. Behind him was an unconscious Octavia, shackled to the ground by chains. She looked like she was suffering… and Lance was going to do everything he could in order to help free her.

        “Ah I see… Very clever indeed, Ms. Cheerilee,” Bayonetta commented. “To truly beat that son of a b*tch, we need to fight in his domain to actually hurt him.” She smirked a little as the Unicorn turned to face them. “There’s nowhere left to run, coward-.”

        “Let me deal with him,” Lance interjected, lightning crackling around him along with his powers beginning to glow as he stared down Shabris. “I have a score to settle with him and this bastard’s got a lot to answer for.”

        “Lance, he’s a demon.” Cheerilee stated matter-of-factly. “Lesser or greater, you’re not strong enough to fight him on your own.” However, the Adept boldly refused to back down. Earlier, when Lumen was hit out in the physical plane of existence, Lance felt something awaken inside of him. A storm that was brewing and ready to be unleashed. Cheerilee may have not seen it then… But she was about to see it for herself first hand along with the Umbra Witch next to her as the small glow began to form azure colored flames around him and the end of his braid now changed colors from the blond it was a second ago to light blue as he stood his ground and waited for his opponent to come at him.

        “I don’t care if he’s a demon or not… He’s more of a coward that’s afraid to get his hooves dirty than anything else.” Lance taunted.

        “You think that just because I have no body of my own means I’m a coward… I’ll show you why that’s not the case.” Shabris said, before dozens of tendrils appeared around the entire world. However, the second that they closed in on Lance, the Adept disappeared, dispersing into static electricity as he caught his opponent by surprise. Shabris stumbled a bit before sending his tendrils at Lance at high speeds. But again, the Adept disappeared in static electricity and this time appeared behind him and delivered a roundhouse kick to the face as he crashed into a stone pillar nearby.

        That… caught Bayonetta by surprise. “Well… this is a new development… He wasn’t doing that a few moments ago.”

        “It may be new.” Cheerilee started, before noticing something else. Something that seemed like… music. It was odd to her because she wasn’t aware of what it was. But if she looked closely enough, she could tell that the power was not coming from Lance in particular, but from the breezie that was with him. It was her Anthem… and it was helping the Adept in taking on Shabris.

        “You can’t stop me…”

        “Heh… We’ll see about that.” The Adept smirked, looking back at him and waiting for him to make his move.

        “You’re an annoying ape, aren’t you.” Shabris appeared behind Lance, before impaling him with his horn. All that did was cause Lance to smirk as he soon grabbed Shabris’ head with one of his hands.

        “You fell for it.” He grinned, sending a massive amount of electricity through Shabris’ system and pushing him back a little bit before using one of his skills to patch up the wound. “There’s more to me than you might think, but by the time you realize that, I’ll already be through with you.”

        “You have no idea who I am!”

        “True… but what I do know is that you hurt too many people that I care for and I’m going to stop you before you hurt anyone else… Because you have no idea what I am capable of.” He warned him as his powers glowed brighter. In that moment, the small glow from before it was vibrantly lit ablaze as he was surrounded by the azure aura of not just his own power, but also from Lumen’s Anthem as well.

        “Septimal… SURGE!!”

        “Demon Force!” Even with the new power increase, there was one thing that Shabris still could not understand. It was when he tried to hit him earlier and failed to do so… twice. What he did not know was that this was one of Lance’s new abilities. A passive trait named Prevasion. As long as Lance had a little bit of energy to spare, he could disperse into static, making certain attacks useless. And the more times that Lance used it… the angrier Shabris was.

        “Even if you stop me, you’ll never be able to save this damned world…” The demon sneered. Only for him to get blasted in the face in the process. Lance had a feeling that he would use his words to try and distract him from the task he was trying to accomplish. But his sole purpose right now was for him to defeat Shabris and rescue Octavia… and to do that, he can’t so easily be distracted by this demonic monster. “You have no idea what you’re doing… I’m the hero here… This world is falling apart, there are too many evil beings in this world!”

        “Yeah, one of them being you,” Lance replied as he tagged Shabris with his gun using the Orochi bolt and began to shock him with his septima. “The world has changed since you had last seen it. True, it may not be perfect… but it still my home… and there is no way in HELL I’m letting you take that away from anyone!!” He slammed his hand into the ground, causing some of the chains he would conjure from his Voltaic Chains skill to emerge from the ground and try to strike Shabris. The demon may have been quick, but if the chains didn’t get him, the lightning definitely did shock Shabris for sure.

        Shabris was hit, but didn’t cry out in pain. Instead, he continued. “Octavia’s own friend betrayed her… Her parents, while for our cause, abused her. What kind of world do we live in?”

        “She NEVER wanted this life at all!! You FORCED her to be part of something that she didn’t want and you manipulated her into setting you free! You talk about betrayal and the thing is, Vinyl never betrayed her… You manipulated her into thinking that… and that is what cowards like you do. Use others when you can’t do something yourself!” Lance’s outburst lead to more of his attacks locking onto Shabris as the intensity of his electricity increased, damaging Shabris even more. “If you had actually asked her for what she wanted, she wouldn’t have wanted any of this. You did nothing to help her… all you did was make her suffer!! What the hell is your part in all of this? Why would someone like you want to control somepony that never wanted to be in a damned cult in the first place!?”

        “Because I have no choice…” Shabris snarled, his red eyes glowing intensely.

        That… had him stop. “No… choice?”

        “I can only posses a willing host… Somepony who was willing to stab themselves with my knife… I was forced to serve Corrode in life, but I died. And so he forced me into that dagger so that the Hollowed One would be my new vessel…” Shabris said.

        “But why would you serve Corrode? I get that you were forced since you just said it,” The Adept mentioned as he holstered his weapon. “But… why?”

        “I was a half vampire in life… I hadn’t matured as one to get beyond a lesser vampire, so when he promised to free me in exchange for my freedom from imprisonment, I’d have to pledge myself to him… Little did I know that by doing that, I, as a lesser vampire, was bound to his soul for eternity… Not even in death can I escape him.” Shabris then grinned. “But I’ve come to accept his way of thinking!”

        “You always have a choice…” Lance interjected. “There is never a damn instance where you do not have one… The Cult made Octavia think that she had no other choice and look at what you’re doing to her. You have her chained up to a wall and look more like a prisoner than anything else. Shabris, there always is a choice no matter how grim things are.” The Adept’s words did little to help Shabris though as he continued to glare back at him in anger and rage.

        Shabris laughed. “Corrode wants me to finish his work while he’s sleeping… I am only a puppet in a bigger picture. Your heroic philosophy doesn’t work on me though. I’m forever Corrode’s servant, in life and undeath… Don’t get me wrong, I don’t actually care for Octavia at all. I only exist to serve my master.” Shabris then sent a fireball at Lance. The Adept dodged it, but in turn, the projectile hit his weapon and knocked it to the floor. However, the Azure Striker focused less on that and more on Shabris.

        “Well, I care for Octavia and so does a lot of ponies… and the only way to show that to her is to STOP YOU!!” 

        “You can try all you want… Octavia’s not leaving my control…” Shabris laughed as he healed.

        “You can’t kill him Lance!” Cheerilee shouted. “Octavia’s sorrow is feeding him! You need to free her and force Shabris into her place!” Upon hearing this, Lance grit his teeth as he had the power around him die down as he turned his back on Shabris. For a moment, the demon thought that he was running away… only to realize that he was in fact, trading places with the Umbra Witch that he was fighting alongside as she now decided to take a turn at thrashing the hell out of the demon.

        Meanwhile, the Adept soon rushed over to Cheerilee and got down to her level as she was trying to help Octavia. “What do I need to do?”

        “We need to unchain her without damaging the chains. We’ll need them for Shabris.” Cheerilee stated calmly.

        “Like undo her shackles?” The Adept questioned, noticing the cuffs around the earth pony’s hooves on all four of her legs.

        “Yes,” Cheerilee touched Octavia’s forehead with her forehoof. “Touch my hoof and we’ll wake her up. After that, we need to convince her to stop wanting Shabris.” The Azure Striker nodded his head, but first used his abilities to pull his weapon off of the floor and holstered it before touching Cheerilee’s hoof.

        Octavia jolted awake. She looked out of it slightly. “What’s… Going on…?”

        “Octavia? Are you okay?” Lance asked her, 

        “Who are you? Was… Was it all a dream?” Octavia asked, almost hopefully.

        “Octavia, listen... Please, we are trying to help you,” Lance proceeded to speak to her as he tried to help the earth pony as best as he could. “This right now… is not a dream. But we want to help you right now… What do you remember?”

        “Vinyl… She only asked to hang out because of my sisters…” Octavia’s face went blank. 

        “Octavia… Listen… Vinyl really cares about you and… she’s not been herself ever since she last saw you.” Lance told her, placing a hand on the earth pony’s shoulder. “She didn’t ask to hang out because of them… she did it because she really cared for you… Vinyl would never betray you Tavi… she was just scared of what you would think if you found out who she really was.”

        “Then why would she contact me, and then you heroes show up that same day… Shadowmere warned me, but I didn’t listen.” Octavia’s eyes teared up.

        “Octavia… Listen… sometimes we all do things we don’t normally do if it involves someone we care for… After Vinyl took you home that night, her powers caused her to hear what happened to you that night and for the next few days, she blamed herself for having that happen to you… Heroes like her and I do what we do on a daily basis because we believe that at the end of the day, we can be able to save lives. Especially those that we care for… Right now, Vinyl’s a wreck… because she believes she failed to save you.”

        “And I’m pretty sure that reuniting with you would be hard any other way for Vinyl.” Cheerilee added. “Seeing how your family keeps moving.”

        “How did you-” Octavia started, but stopped. “Nevermind… What am I doing!?” The area suddenly shifted, the world slowly repairing itself as her shackles fell off.

        “Right now, Shabris is trying his best to control you. Force you to think that Vinyl betrayed you and such… we’re trying to help get rid of him and make sure that you can be yourself again.” Lance told her, turning his head to see Bayonetta still fighting against Shabris, who didn’t even realize that the shackles had come off of Octavia.

        “No… That’s what you’re doing.” Cheerilee stated coldly, before Lance and Bayonetta woke up in the real world.

        A few seconds later, Octavia dropped to the floor. Cheerilee’s eyes went back to normal before she calmly trotted to the exit. When Lance got up, he looked back at her before asking the immediate question that was on her mind. “What the hell did you just do-!?”

        “I saved her, and stopped a demon. What else is there?” Cheerilee grumbled coldly.

        “If that’s the case, what happened to Shabris?” Lance then retorted. Before Cheerilee did that trick of hers, she didn’t see the demon die off or disappear in any way, so his immediate assumption was that something happened to him. Like if he was resealed away or-.

        “I made it so he’ll suffer the same way Octavia did… With extra security.” Cheerilee said bluntly before trotting towards the door.. “Now, I have a filly to take home.”

        “O… kay… that still doesn’t explain where he is though.” The adept pointed out. 

        “I told you to not break the shackles…” Cheerilee replied simply.

        “Uh… The shackles never broke… Wait… are you saying that you sealed him… inside of her?” Lance asked upon realizing what she meant and also remembering something that she said earlier. “Like you used the shackles on him instead?”

        Cheerilee nodded, “Yes. He’s connected to Corrode, so his death would only free him.” What the earth pony said now made sense to him, but also around now was when Bayonetta was rising back up to her feet as she looked at the familiar scenery around her.

        “Aww… and it was almost time for the best part.” She complained for a moment before looking back at Lance and Cheerilee and the rest of the carnage that was around them in the present moment. “So what did I miss?”

        “Ugh… Why do my teeth hurt… So much?” Octavia groaned as she stood up. She was back to normal, save for a pair of fangs. Lance, noticing this, looked back at Cheerilee and stopped her for a moment.

        “Cheerilee… did you notice that what you did now had some… side effects?” He questioned her, pointing out the fangs to the mare just as she was about to reach the door and step outside now that the chaos had subsided from earlier. “Besides, wouldn’t you want to explain to her what just happened?”

        “I told her in her mind… She’ll remember. Melody,” Octavia looked at Cheerilee, confused. “You may want to run… You’re a vampire now.”

        “Wait wha-?” Lance replied, before noticing Cheerilee bolt out the door. “Hey, what the hell!?! This doesn’t help fix things!!” He sighed shortly before turning to notice that now with all the chaos winding down… somepony was coming their way. It took only a moment to realize who it was, but it wasn’t him who said who it was.

        It was Lumen. Who was still recovering, but knew who it was. “It’s Vinyl!!”

        Octavia flinched. “I… I need to go…”

        “Sorry, Miss… but I believe you can’t leave this one.” Bayonetta replied. Before she could reply, Vinyl soon showed up… and seeing Tavi made her eyes water up a little as she soon pulled Octavia into a hug before she could say anything.

        “T-tavi, you’re okay!!” Vinyl cried out. “Dear Celestia… I am… really sorry for everything, Octavia. I just-.”

        “It’s… Okay…” Octavia said quietly, weakly wrapping her hooves around Vinyl hesitantly.

        “T-tavi… I’m sorry for everything… It’s just… I really care for you… and the thought of you getting hurt just… makes me think that I’m not being able to do my best to help protect you,” She told her. “T-there was something I wanted to tell you… but I was really… really afraid to share it to you with everything that was going on.” The Unicorn’s horn lit up a bit as she held out something for her. “I like you Tavi… I like you more than a friend and… well… you are very important to me… and I want to show you how important you are.” It was only then that Octavia realized what that something was as Vinyl dismissed the spell and in her hoof laid out something she never expected. It was a ring, and a beautiful one at that. Gold with a small cut diamond in the center.

        “I don’t want to lose you again Tavi… you are more important to me then anything…” She told her, holding her closer.

        “B-but… We- we haven’t even gone on a date…” Octavia’s emotions went all over the place. “How can you think of… Of that… With me?” 

        “Honestly… when I saw you again for the first time in years, it felt like a date to me. I just… don’t want to lose you after everything that’s happened.” She replied, telling her while trying to wipe the tears away. “I’ve missed you… and I sure as hell do not want to lose you again.”

        “I… Of course!” Octavia hugged Vinyl tighter. Lance was glad to see that the two of them could be happy, despite the hardships that both of them had been through in order to get to this point. It almost reminded him of his relationship with Max, even though his relationship with her and theirs weren’t quite exactly the same. He was just glad that they could be happy.

        Of course, there was still one other person that he had to thank as he turned around to look at the one other lady in the room. “Hey uh… thanks for… well everything.” He told the Umbra Witch that was in the room. 

        “You’re welcome dear… I’m glad to see that someone here other then that pest earlier has some sense of manners.” Bayonetta sighed to herself. Lance was curious as to who this person was, but soon realized three things right away. One, the dagger of peace that was originally on the floor and also the cause of this entire mess was gone… Two, his father was nowhere to be found… Three, the emergency exit door had a small splash of paint on it as it was left open. Meaning that the only thing he could think of was that his father took off with the dagger that caused this whole charade to unfold in the first place.

        But there was something else that was on his mind as he looked back towards Bayonetta. Over the course of the fight with Shabris, he had thought that somehow, she was… well… important. Like related to him somehow other than just being a displaced. He didn’t necessarily think of what to ask her though… but it was someone else who had commented on that same thought.

        “Hey Aurora, is it just me or does this lady and Lance look similar to one another somehow?” Lumen then asked, getting the strength to fly up and return to her usual hiding space in his hair.

        “They’re both human… One’s blonde, while the other has black… I see no real resemblance. And if they ever were, then it would’ve been lost when they were Displaced. Aya was one Displaced that happened-”

        “Oh? So I take it that you met my sister already, did you?” Bayonetta spoke up, surprising Aurora since she could hear her… and also surprising Lumen and Lance upon mentioning the whole sister bit with Aya.

        “Sister?” Aurora asked, dumbfounded.

        “Aya’s my younger sister, yes.” The witch replied. “Why do you seem so surprised?”

        “Wait, hang on… If Aya’s your sister… and she’s Lance’s aunt… that would only mean… No… But that seems impossible!!” Lumen protested, speaking up and catching both Aurora’s and Lance’s attention.

        “What seems impossible?” Lance then asked.

        “Lance, if what she’s saying is true…” Lumen replied before looking towards the Adept and Aurora as well. It took her a moment to think over what she wanted to say before telling her the first thing that came to her mind. “Then this lady here…… She’s your mother.”

        “Woah, wait a second…” Lance replied. “My mother died when she gave birth to me, how the hell can she be here if-?”

        “Fate has a funny way of  giving you second chances when you least expect it.” The woman replied, before looking towards the Adept. That had Lance caught off guard immediately… and left him speechless as he tried processing everything.

        “Okay! What the buck…” Aurora stated, confused.

        “Maybe it’ll be best for you to come with me…” Bayonetta replied, looking towards Vinyl and Octavia. “Sorry ladies, but I’m afraid we must depart for the time being. Congratulations though. You two look perfect together…” With that, Bayonetta had the two of them follow through a door that she opened… and found themselves in the strangest of places.

        It looked like an old rundown bar that had a very dim set of lighting as both the Witch and the Adept walked into the room. “Welcome… to the Gates of hell. It may look a little rundown, but the owner of this place may be just the person that can answer any questions you three might have.”

        That surprised Lance for a moment. He was still skeptical about if this woman was actually who she said she was, but hopefully whoever the owner of this place is, they could help a lot. “And who would the owner of this place be?” That was when he heard some footsteps and saw someone new step out. The owner looked to resemble that of an african american male in appearance with a shaved head and everything… but he soon realized that he wasn’t exactly a human the moment his thumb lit on fire in order to light a cigar.

        “Well… who do we have here… The Azure Striker from Maretropolis no less… and his two companions no less.” He spoke, taking a puff of smoke before cracking his knuckles. “I’m surprised that you found your son so quickly, Bayonetta.”

        “Can I go home…? My head’s hurting…” Aurora groaned.

        “Sure Aurora. Tell Twilight that I’ll be back soon okay?” The Adept replied, letting Aurora return back to base for the meantime as Lance looked back at Rodin as he took a seat near the bar. “Okay… Mr. Rodin-.”

        “Please, Gunvolt, just Rodin is fine.”

        “Then if that’s the case, just call me Lance then,” he insisted. “I believe I have a couple of questions that you can answer.”

        “If it is about Bayonetta, then I can confirm that yes… she is your mother.” Rodin replied, causing the Adept to be confused even more. “Some Displacers like myself have reasons for doing what we do. For her, I gave her a second chance… which is very hard to come by sometimes. Originally, I brought her here to help me stop the Angels from Paradiso that wandered too close to the earth so that way they could not interfere with daily life for Ponykind.”

        “So you forced her to bring her here?”

        “Force, no. I do not force anyone to do anything. I used to be an angel until I fell from Paradiso,” Rodin told him. “I just merely gave her an offer… One that she accepted. However, it was unexpected from both of us for you or any of your friends and family members to enter here too…”

        “Didn’t you bring us here like you did with Bayonetta though?” Lumen asked, leading to Rodin shaking his head.

        “I did not… My only Displaced actually is Bayonetta herself.” Rodin replied, taking another puff of smoke before noticing something with Lance’s equipment. “Say, would that happen to be your weapon?”

        “Uh, yeah… It kind of took a bit of a beating during the fight with Shabris.” Lance admitted before looking back at him.

        “May I see it?” he asked. Turning to Bayonetta, who nodded her head yes, Lance took out his bolt pistol and let Rodin examine it. For a moment, he thought that the bar owner had basically stolen his weapon… but it wasn’t until he came back that he gave the weapon to the adept… along with something that looked like ammunition clips. “Your gun’s still functional, but I added something too it. I made some changes to how your weapon functions so that way your bolts and your clips are two separate components of your gun. Different clips you have can affect both the amount of targets you can tag at once and also the strength of your septima as well. I also took the liberty of naming them too.”

        When Bayonetta saw that… and saw the names, she soon laughed a bit. “Oh that’s just hysterical… You named the clips based off the same archangels that you had me take their halos all those years ago.”

        “Hey, I’m calling this as my blessing to him,” Rodin replied, handing the gun back along with the eight clips in question. Raphael, Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raguel, Zerachiel, Ramiel and finally… Lucifer. “Besides, I think you should be glad of the fact that you’re with your son after who knows how long.”

        “That I am thankful for.” Bayonetta replied, taking a moment to hug her son and be with him… until something else interrupted them accidentally.

        Aurora appeared next to Lance, her eyes wide in a horrified manner. “Why me…”

        “You okay, Aurora?” Lance asked her, concerned. “You look like you just saw something you can’t unsee.” That was before she heard Bayonetta giggling in response as she looked back at the two of them. “What’s so funny mom?”

        “That’s the same look your cousin had on his face when he saw your father and I in the bedroom.” Now Lance just facepalmed himself, groaning in response as he looked back at Aurora before looking back at her.

        “Wow… that just real nice. Really helpful right now.” He said sarcastically as he 

        “I saw aunt Twilight… And Reaper…” Aurora shook her head. Trying to purge what was inside her head as he looked back at the two of them with a faint blush on her face. “T-they were…”

        “There’s no need to describe it Aurora, I think we’re good.” Lance mentioned to her.

        “So, what’re we gonna do about the vampire. We don’t want another Kaoru incident.” Aurora got off topic.

        “I think Vinyl can handle Octavia for the time being. If they need any help, they can just call Hiro or us.” Lance mentioned to her before turning to Bayonetta and Rodin. “It’s been one hell of a night… no pun intended. But I think Aurora and I need some rest.”

        “One thing before you go, Mr. Walker…” Rodin spoke, catching his attention. “It may be best for you to know of something that transpired while you were fighting that demon in Sun Fransokyo… While you were in combat, the combined power of both you and the Muse of your breezie companion set off something that had not been seen before in years. It set off a Lifewave. A powerful force of nature that is responsible for many things in this world… It’s been lead to believe that it’s responsible for the first ever unicorn and pegasus to ever exist in the world along with other species, but the one you set off is… rather unique.”

        “What are you talking about?” Aurora asked.

        “Lifewaves normally come in one of six stages… Each that affects one of a few forms of life… However, the one that Lance set off is the seventh stage. The Septimal Stage…” Rodin told them as he smothered his cigar into the ashtray he had. “It is from the seventh stage that Adepts like yourself are born… You, Mr. Walker, are responsible for bringing a new generation of Adepts into this world.” That had Lance speechless… He had originally thought that only he and Chrysalis were Adepts. Adepts that did not get their powers from that such as Sumeragi, but through natural means… now, because of him… more of them were to soon be born in this world… and he now definitely felt the weight of the world on his shoulders in that moment.

        “So more villains… Wonderful!” Aurora laughed, almost maniacally.

        “Or…… more heroes…” Lance thought, thinking this over. “You know Aurora… maybe this is a good thing… I’ve actually been thinking of something I wanted to propose to Twilight for a long time now and this just gets me even more excited to do it.”

        “What?”

        “You know how the Cutie Mark Crusaders have their own team, Chrysalis has hers and Mane Hero 6 has theirs?” The Adept asked, getting a small nod from Aurora. “Well, I was going to suggest about what if I formed my own team. Ash can be on there, you can too… and with the fact that these Adepts would be coming out soon, I want to give them a second chance.”

        “Wouldn’t that be a first chance?”

        “True, but think of Ash. She was never given a chance. I don’t want there to be any adepts that would end up in the same position she was originally in. I want to help them the best I can and set an example for them too. They don’t need to fear there gifts.” Lance replied as he looked at Aurora in response. “And I would really like for you to be a part of it too.”

        “I’m going wherever you’re going, whether I like it or not.” Aurora chuckled. Lance smirked at that, but in doing so, his spiritual companion thought of another question to ask. “Hey, what’s our team’s new name?”

        The Adept soon heard the question and thought it over… before coming up with a name. It was one that he originally remembered back home… and that he thought it would be good given that Nova had already formed Sumeragi. “QUILL. The Quorum of Unrestricted Intelligence, Law and Liberty… or QUILL for short.”

        “Mist and Quill, what next?” Aurora sighed.

        “Who knows.” He replied. “The world is a strange place… but something tells me that things may just get a little more interesting around here.”

        “May? You know we just left a demon vampony in the hooves of a team that only accepts six member, and she may need someone to help her become a hero, right?”

        “Well, I want her to be comfortable with her newfound position first before I ask her about it. She needs time to get adjusted to her new changes first.” Lance replied to her statement. “You don’t just immediately try to pressure her with something when she’s still trying to get used to your surroundings. Hell, Lumen didn’t pressure me into trying to join the power ponies when we first met.”

        “And you think Vinyl can help her? They may be close, but I doubt Hiro’s team would know how to handle a vampire, let alone a seventh teammate.”

        “Some things take time, Aurora. I’ll contact them about how things are going in a week or so and then I’ll see how things are going.” Lance told her before stopping for a moment to go back to where Bayonetta was. He may have just found out that she was indeed his mother, but he did not want to forget about her. Taking the chance, he hugged her for a short amount of time before looking back at her.

        “I’m glad I got the chance to finally meet you.” He said briefly before Bayonetta responded.

        “Same here… You have definitely grown up a lot, my son.” She said, shortly before the Adept walked out of the bar with Aurora as well. When they opened the door though, they surprisingly found themselves back in Power Pony HQ and the Azure Striker sighed to himself after looking down at his hands and having some lightning surge from it a couple of times before returning his gaze to Aurora. 

        “Hey Aurora. Other than Twilight right around now, where is Humdrum and everypony else… I get that Applejack may still be at Sun Fransokyo, but what about the rest of the team.” He asked her, letting her sync with the terminal that was in the main control room.

        “Radiance, Zapp, and Saddle Rager are out on patrol. Fili-Second’s fast asleep. And Humdrum’s...” Aurora stopped for a seconds. “Right behind you.” That had Lance turn around for a bit, surprised to see the young dragon that was standing right behind him since he looked to be half awake in that present moment.

        “Oh… Hey Humdrum. You look a little exhausted.” The Adept pointed out as the dragonling rubbed his eyes a little and looked back at him. “Did you get enough sleep?”

        “Hardly…” He groaned a little. “With all the racket I was hearing, I mostly laid awake.”

        “No sh*t.”Aurora deadpanned.

        “Both of you be nice…” Lance sighed. “Besides, it's more likely that you two could be able to get some rest now than earlier.”

        “Lance… I’m a friggin’ ghost… I haven’t slept since the night I was foalnapped, then my throat was slit.” Aurora growled.

        “I’m sorry Aurora, I didn’t mean it like that.” He told her apologetically. “I meant it as like taking a break. Hell, you’ve been helping both Cody and I non-stop, so you should just take a break. We’ve already had enough excitement for one evening… and I still have something I need to check on before I get some rest myself.”

        “And what’s that?” Aurora asked, her attitude shifting.

        “Remember what Rodin said about more Adepts showing up? Well, before that happened, there was only one other Adept besides myself who did not need to rely on a glaive from Sumeragi to control their powers.” The Adept explained. “Of course, she’s been busy with preparing for a turf war happening in the near future, so I was just going to give her a call and see if she was available or not… But beforehand though, let’s check on Sparkler and see how she’s doing.”

        “I’ll get her up on the main comline.” Humdrum replied, tapping a few keys on the keyboard as Aurora phased into the computer as well. After a few seconds, they were connected to Sparkler and Lance soon heard the mare respond to him calling her.

        “This is the Maretropolis Police department, what’s your emergency?” Sparkler’s voice asked.

        “Sparkler, is that you?” Lance asked out of confusion. For a moment, he thought that she would recognize the caller ID and answer him like how she did the last time around. Something definitely did not sound right with this. “This is Lance Walker, I was calling to check in and see how you were doing at Maretropolis PD.”

        “... I got demoted. Stuck answering nine-one-one calls.”

        “Ouch… Sorry to hear about that.” Lance commented before sighing to himself. “I would ask about how you got demoted, but I think you would not want to talk about it.” That was when a thought came to him and then he spoke up once again. “Hey, Sparkler… can I ask you something?”

        “I suppose.” Sparkler replied.

        “Well, I was going to propose an idea I had to Masked Matterhorn about forming my own team like how there’s the Cutie Mark Crusaders in Centrail City and such. When it does get approved, would you like to be on it? I’m going to have Ash be part of it as well.” He asked her, thinking that the mare would not want to stay around at the Police Department all day and be answering phone calls for a living.

        “Beats working here. Sure, you’ll need my expert talents anyways.” Sparkler boasted.

        “Glad to hear it. We’ll call you again once the team is up and running. I’ll make sure to tell Ash you said hello as well.” He added, not wanting to hang up just yet because he wanted to hear a response from Sparkler first.

        “Okay, but don’t call me. I’ll send you my new address, so once you’re in Maretropolis in person just come over.” Sparkler said, before hanging up. Lance smiled at that, taking a moment to compose himself first. Excusing himself from the room, he soon pulled out his communications device and dialed a number for the other adept that he was mentioning earlier. 

        Soon, his phone was connected to the other one he was trying to contact as someone else picked up on the other end of the line.

        “Hello? Is this the neighpon restaurant?”

        “Chrysalis, it’s me.” Lance sighed as he took off his jacket and set it on a nearby coat rack. “Can I talk to you for a moment or are you busy right now?”

        “I’m not Chrysalis… wait, how do the ponies at the neighpon restaurant knows Chrysalis’s name?”

       “Sonata, give me back my communicator!” That soon explained what Lance was hearing in the background as he heard a new voice on the other end of the line… and for that matter, one that he recognized. “Hello, who’s on the other line of this transmission?”

        “Hello to you to Chrysalis,” Lance chuckled for a moment before speaking up. “It’s Lance. Are you busy right now? Because I can always call back later-.”

        “Actually, I think I might need your help with something. Mind dropping by here for a few?” She asked, just as Lance put on some more casual clothes for him to wear.

        “Sure thing. I’ll be there as soon as possible.” He told her, hanging up the phone call and walking out of his room to tell Humdrum that he would be back sometime later before going to the rooftop and using his abilities to transmit himself to Chrysalis location.



        It was only just a few moments ago that he had called her, but it was around now that the Azure Striker had soon arrived outside of Chrysalis’ hideout. He originally thought about transmitting himself into her office, but decided to play it safe and knock on the door like anyone else would. Though, the second that he was going to knock, he began to hear the chaos that was going on inside.

        “W-Wait a minute! Maybe we can talk about this? Oh dear Faust, not the chair!”

        “You call yourselves Adepts!? I seen three year olds that can do a better job then you two.”

        “Not the face, not the face!” Lance was about to ask what the hell was going on in there, but had to react quickly once the door was slammed open and out came Chrysalis and Kaoru. Flying out of nowhere and into the ground. He turned to find the two of them slowly getting up and wondered what actually happening. That was, until he slowly turned around to see someone completely new standing by the door.


        


        “Thirty years of being chronologically asleep and this is what I have to wake up to? A bunch of pansy ass Adepts? How pathetic.” Lance just raised an eyebrow at the girl as he looked at both Chrysalis and Kaoru before looking back at the girl in confusion. Strangely enough, she reminded him of Nicko, the Rune Slayer Displaced that was quite powerful, but one who would seriously get angry if someone commented on his height. “Who the hell are you, candy ass?”

        “Who has an a** made of candy!?” Aurora gasped excitedly, looking around.

        “Excuse me?” Lance asked, to both the girl and also Aurora… who just happened to return to him. “Chrysalis. Just who in the world is she?”

        “We found this weird container underneath the base. When Adagio opened it up, we found her in it.” She replied, causing Lance to look back at the girl in question.

        “If that’s the case, then let me ask you the same question,” Lance then retorted back at the girl in question. “Who are you?”

        “I asked you first, piss ant.” She snapped at him angrily.

        “Watch it… My name is Lance… but I’m an adept that goes by Gunvolt in the field,” He replied, channeling electricity through one of his hands to demonstrate his Septima. “Now that I’ve answered your question, would you please answer mine?”

        “Not bad, but if you think that’s going to intimidate me you need more that that little man.”

        “Who said I was trying to intimidate you?” Lance then questioned. “Besides, that was only a brief demonstration of what I’m capable of. I’m not trying to pick any fights here.” This still wasn’t helping him and the girl had not even said her own name yet. “I only wanted to talk to Chrysalis, but it seems like what she wanted to talk about included finding you as well… So, like I said twice now, who are you?”

        “Gibril, and as for that little demonstration of what you’re capable of… it’s weak.”

        “I’m not trying to fight you, so I only needed to show off a little bit. That was only a small percentage of my full power… Besides, I should’ve expected some new adepts to be showing up, but I honestly did not expect one that was once human like myself.”

        “Kid, I've been here for the past thirty years even before you and the rest of you shrub lords came along.” Gibril mockingly boasted like she was suppose to prove something with that statement.

        “You just said you were asleep for thirty years.” Lance replied to her, noticing the difference in her story. “I believe you’re contradicting yourself… Besides, one of the reason why I wanted to talk to Chrysalis was for the exact same reason… More Adepts are going to be turning up now and it’ll be more than just us three.” Just as he finished saying that, he heard a small yawn and then saw Lumen emerge from his hair as she looked at them.

        “Lance, can you please cut it out with all the racket?” She yawned, before noticing Gibril. “Hunh? A little girl? Lance, who is she?”

        “… What did you call me…?”

        “Oh god, Lumen, why did you HAVE to say that!?!” Lance thought to himself as he changed clothes to his combat gear with the snap of his finger. Gibril, the same adept from before… was fully pissed off right now at what Lumen just said. What happened next though was not like anything he had seen before. A book, almost similar to the books on magic that the Masked Matterhorn kept in her room soon appeared in front of her and the moment she cracked it open, a dark surge in power swirled around her, changing the girl's appearance from the one that she originally had earlier… to her Adept form that she now had turned into.





        “I was going to spar with these two to see how the new generation of Adepts are, I think I’ll see how you fair out first seeing how by looking into your eyes you have some combat experience.” That at first surprised Lance, but soon, he became a little more intrigued in order to try to see how He would hold up against Gibril.

        Especially since it allowed him to try some of his newest techniques. “If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get.” He replied, letting some of his septima flow around him as he looked back at the adept in front of him. From the ground, she conjured spinning metal blades that whizzed past his head as the Azure Striker used his speed to dodge incoming attacks and stay on his toes while trying to land a tag on her.

        “Nice reflexes kid, but don’t think that’s all my attack can do.”

        “I never doubted that you just had one trick up your sleeve.” The lightning adept replied, channeling his flashfield as the lightning from it connected with some of the tags that did land on his opponent. Lance’s priority right now was to see what Gibril was capable of and also figure out what her Septima was. 

        “So, a lightning user huh? This should be an interesting fight.” He heard his opponent comment as some blades soon formed from the ground, having him barrel out of the way. One moment though, Gibril was directly above him and planning to attack from above. But… Lance had a surprise waiting.

        “Crashbolt!” Snapping his finger, a powerful bolt of lightning surged directly from his current position, striking anything that was below him or above him. This was indeed useful and to his surprise, unlike much of his other abilities, Crashbolt and one other attack did not need him to use one of his skill cards in order to pull it off.

        “Nice move, but you should know basic science when it come to lightning and metal. Especially when someone can make a lightning rod like this!” Lance just smirked, and when she tried to have a blade emerge from the ground, Gibril was caught off guard when the adept turned into static electricity and disappeared from where she was standing to the opposite side of the battlefield.

        “And now you’ve made one crucial mistake,” Lance replied, looking back at her as he brushed some of the dust off of his shoulders. “You helped me figure out your septima.”

        “Doesn’t matter if you knew or not. But I’ll give you a little bit of info. You know I can control metal after saying what I just said right?”

        “Yes and with it, I figured out two other things… you not only are using the Iron in your body to make some of your creations, but also the metal ore within the ground we walk upon to have your creations emerge from the ground.” Lance replied, smirking a little. He had a feeling that she would try something on him, and he had planned ahead of time just in case.

        “That also means I can also control the iron in your body as well.” She boldly proclaimed, lifting her arm out and thinking she got a good grip on it… only to feel something pushing her away in the process. “What the hell did you do-?”

        “Easy… I figured that with metal, there was a little bit of magnetism involved, which would explain how you would be able to pull it out of the ground,” Lance replied, looking back at her. “Opposite polarities attract to one another… but when they are the same, they push each other away… my electricity made the iron in my body the same polarity of the iron that you control. Making it impossible for you to pull it out of me.”

        “Now….I’m….PISSED!!!” She roared, the armor on her shoulders moving down her arms and forming a pair of red claws, changing forms on the fly and charging at Lance. The Adept quickly changed tactics, having to try and combat the berserker and trying to hit her with his Luxcaliber ability, only for him to miss in the moment and for Gibril to get behind him. Where his blind spot was completely exposed.

        “And you weren’t before?” Aurora asked.

        “Not helping me here!” Lance said shortly before having to narrowly dodge her attacks. He tried using his Flashfield to protect himself, only to realize that those claws could release a powerful shockwave that his Septima wasn’t able to protect him from as it threw him into the side wall of Chrysalis’ hideout. “Ugh… Damn, that hurt.”

        “Oh I’m not finished with you yet!!” She announced, causing what appeared to be one of those old medieval torture devices to form from the ground and around her as the doors slam shut, causing blood to run along the ground. But from that blood, Lance found himself trapped in what looked to be a metal cage as the doors of the coffin opened. Showing Gibril… and how she was flat out… pissed off.





        “Aw crap.” Lance mumbled to himself, looking at his bracer to check his skill cards before he said something to the breezie in his hair that accidently started this entire charade. “Lumen!!!”

        “Uh… I’m sorry?”

        “Sorry isn’t helping me here!!!” Lance snapped.

        “I’M GOING TO ENJOY RIPPING YOUR ASS A NEW ONE!!!”

        “What space would you? The rear hole is already big…” Aurora muttered.

        “Not helping me here!!” Lance shot back as he barely dodged another attack. However, he noticed that wherever Gibril had landed, there was a small puddle of blood wherever it was… and that was not a good sign. He barely had time to react when blades soon emerged from the blood, nearby trying to chop him into pieces.

        “I HEARD THAT COMMENT YOU LITTLE SH*T!”

        “Who me? Or Aurora?” Lumen asked, confused a little bit.

        “Who’s a little sh- Sorry… I’m just saying tearing Lance a new a** would be kinda gross, seeing as you’d get crap everywhere. You don’t have to be a skank about it.” Aurora grumbled.

        “Both of you, stop!! You’re going to get me killed like this!!!” He snapped, skidding backwards as he had more electricity spewing around him. Only to feel something strike him from behind as he felt Gibril’s claws along his back. “Son of a-!”

        “Pay attention to the fight idiot!” Gibril yelled as she started to perform multiple slash attacks that hit Lance while he planted his feet on the ground. “Never let outside distraction distract you. Especially with someone like me! The first Adept!” That had Lance growl for a moment… but what Gibril couldn’t tell was two things. One… she was not the first adept. He was awake and moving before she was.

        Second… he wanted to have her come at her in a berserker barrage… because it was only at this close of a range that he could execute a new power. Originally… he was going to use his Voltaic Chains ability, but thought that the chains themselves could be manipulated by her. But there was one… other ability that was to be used for close range attacks.

        “Let praise be unleashed… as blades of lightning cleave sky… yielding great glory…”





        In a matter of seconds, a giant blade of lightning that was easily twice the size of Luxcaliber was summoned, striking Gibril head on and destroying the cage that was around them. The original skill of Luxcaliber would normally require two skill cards and only be just as strong as he was. Grand Strizer on the other hand was twice as strong as Voltaic Chains, but only had a short range to whatever was exactly in front of him. 

        The impact that it had on his opponent though… was staggering. It easily knocked Gibril out of her transformed state and sent her flying into the same wall that she had thrown Lance earlier.

        “C-Cute little move you did there.” Gibril said as she appeared from underneath a pile of broken scrap metal having parts of her outfit covered in dust and scars. “Had I not made that metal clone of myself, that would’ve done a number on me. Well that and if I didn’t insulate my clothes with rubber.” She said, cracking her neck. 

        “Heh… not so much of a candy ass now, aren’t I?” He said, offering a hand to help her up off the ground so she can stand upright. 

        “Still have much to learn. But you’re better then these greenhorns are.” Gibril said as she reach for Lance’s hand as she pulls herself up, only to smirk as she headbutted him on the head. 

        “Yeah… I deserve that one after all of that.” He sighed, rubbing his forehead a little. “Hey Chrysalis, can I talk to you for a second? You did say there was something you wanted to discuss with me.”

        “She’s not going to throw stuff at us is she?” Chrysalis asked as she poked her head around the corner.

        “Only if you don’t make her angry… anything else you want to add Gibril?” The Azure Striker asked her as he looked back at the Iron Adept.

        “No...but I am going to be training these two for next few years or so depending.”

        “You mean Kaoru and Touka?” Lance then asked, confused. “They’re not adepts though…” Of course, there was something that Chrysalis had not told him yet since she didn’t get the chance. 

        “Yeah… let’s talk about this in my office.” Chrysalis said as she looked over at the giant hole of her office. “Or whatever’s left of it.”

        “Well, if there’s someplace where we can have some privacy, that works for me.” Lance replied, trying to fix up the door of her office. Something told him that this was going to be a LONG conversation.

        “Let’s go to where Adagio is at. She’ll explain what happen.” Great… even better.




End Strike 42