A hailstorm of dawnite feathers descended upon the group as they frantically evaded the feathers.

"How can he have so many feathers?!" Iris screamed out as she desperately clung to Anthurium's vine-like hair; Ruby surrounded everyone with her mana tendrils and created an opaque mana dome to block the feathers.

"Seems like they need a breather," Vivo commented as he ceased his attack and shed all the dawnite feathers on his arms.

"D-did he stop?" Ruby confusedly asked with Sophia giving a nod.

"That could suggest, he's not trying to kill us, right?" Kiki, while clinging to Ruby's back, asked as she popped her head out from behind Ruby.

"W-wait how long have you been there?" Ruby confusedly asked, which caused Kiki to tilt her head in response.

"The... whole time?" Kiki perplexedly replied while scratching her head.

"But... you weren't there a second ago," Iris said as she looked dumbfoundedly at Kiki.

"Oh, that's because I can turn invisible," Kiki stated.

“Right…,” Iris perplexedly muttered. Sophia glanced over at Ruby, as she seemed to be heavily contemplating something.

"Something wrong?" Sophia asked the unresponding Ruby; Sophia lightly tapped Ruby on the shoulder causing Ruby to be both startled and flustered, signalled by the bright pink that appeared on her face.

"N-not really I just wondering why sensei, oh um my one not your one, hasn't shown up yet," Ruby, almost incoherently, mumbled as she lightly squeezed the tips of her fingers together. Sophia paused and pondered Ruby's words.

"That is odd-," Sophia said before an earth-shaking tremor raged through the city and knocked the girls off their feet. Kiki darted her head in every direction as the others were regaining their bearings.

"What was that?" A shocked Kiki yelled out.

Moments earlier, Zulcrestus panned his head towards Talkia and watched as the massive magic shield formed around the giant mayjorka tree. Zulcrestus began to float towards Talkia before hearing a quiet thud and coming to a stop.

"Why'd you stop?" the Hikas asked. Zulcrestus remained silent for a split second before glancing down at the Hikas.

"You two go find Charlotte and the others; I have something I need to deal with first," Zulcrestus instructed. The Hikas gave a nod before teleporting away.

"Now..." Zulcrestus said as he turned around and glared at the hooded figure, with the purple spiral-shaped pupils, standing on a magic barrier. Zulcrestus created clouds of darksteal particles and gathered them into a single large claymore; he firmly grabbed the handle of the darksteel claymore before aggressively swinging it and creating a shockwave as he aimed the claymore's blade at the hooded figure.

"...Identify yourself," Zulcrestus demanded. The figure remained chillingly silent, excluding the occasional hissing sounds as the figure scratched his scaly purple forearms and hands.

"...".

"I take your abundance of silence is a sign of resistance?" Zulcrestus asked as the hooded figure muttered to themself with a slight hissing sound in his voice.

"Abundance of silence... that's a good one, did your girlfriend think of that for you... tsk-tsk," the figure remarked; the figure let out a quiet chuckle as he lifted his head.

"Speaking of ex-friends, how did that blondie fair-," the hooded figure managed to snark before being blasted by a concentrated light beam from an overhead righteous rein ring.

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"So, my suspicions were correct; your a member of the Phantom, specifically the Phantom of Retribution," Zulcrestus stated as the beam from the RRR died down and the figure's cloak crumbled away, revealing he was wearing the same Phanton outfit, and mask, Vivo is also currently wearing.

TPoR(The Phantom of Retribution) slowly raised his head revealing he looked identical to Zalroth and Vivo, aside from having purple hair tips and purple snake-like scales on his forearms, hands, shin and feet.

"Struck a nerve did I?" TPoR snarked as he clicked his neck. Zulcrestus pulled his claymore behind himself whilst tightening his grip.

"Hardly.". Zulcrestus didn't waste another second before instantly light dashing behind TPoR.

"Third Form: Celestial Horizons!". Zulcrestus slashed his claymore in a perfectly horizontal line and sliced through TPoR's spine; TPoR lightly staggered forwards as his body and clothes instantly restored themselves.

"Careful there, if I had been a normal person, that would've been really inconvenient for me; or are you putting in more effort just for me?" TPoR snarked while punching himself in the back to straighten out his spine, with it making a crumbly noise every time he punched his back until it was back to its original shape.

TPoR slowly turned his head and gave Zulcrestus a sinister smirk as the giant RRR behind Zulcrestus grew to around ten meters. Zulcrestus snapped his fingers and fired a light beam from the RRR.

TPoR ensnared his body in purple lightning as he activated the Lightning Amp technique and lept off the magic barrier before the light beam shattered it. A cluster of magic barriers formed in the air space followed by TPoR landing on one of them.

"Seems like you've learnt a few new tricks since our last encounter," TPoR stated calmly as he made a water mana sword.

"Don't you think you're at a disadvantage fighting me in the air?" Zulcrestus callously asked before he light dashed at TPoR as the RRR began to gather mana. TPoR dashed forwards whilst swinging his mana sword at Zulcrestus, who blocked the mana sword with the flat side of his darksteel claymore.

"Don't you think you're being overconfident thinking the air gives you an advantage?" TPoR remarked as he threw a punch that Zulcrestus deflected.

"Hardly,". Zulcrestus knocked TPoR away with a psychic wave, followed by a wind blast that sent the TPoR flying; TPoR quickly backflipped, landed on a magic barrier and dodged a reining winds blade that flew past his face.

"My-my, it's quite rare to see people possessing Tempest Force style of wind magic, nowadays," a female (who looked like a female version of OG Zalroth but with pale yellow hair tips and pale yellow eyes) mentioned as she was laying on a floating platform, made of mana, above Zulcrestus and TPoR. The woman went to talk again but her platform was struck by TPoR's water sword, which shattered on impact, and almost caused the woman to fall off the platform.

"You better not interrupt my fight with another one of your expositions dumps, Determination!" TPoR shouted at The Phantom of Determination as she struggled but eventually managed to climb back onto her floating platform.

"Boo~, you're such a bore Retribution but Omen told me to tell you that if you don't do what you were ordered to do he'll put you in that endless illusion again," TPoD snarked as she raised her hand as it started to glow a bright blue. TPoR flinched at the mention of endless illusion before he darted his head and pointed at Zulcrestus.

"Count yourself lucky Magistrai-," TPoR managed to say before his body suddenly glowed a faint red and rapidly pulled towards TPoD. The male Phantom's body magnetized to the female Phantom's hand as she aimed it slightly upwards.

"You better not," TPoR said with TPoD giving him a cheeky wink as his body's glow shifted to blue.

"You biiitttcc-!" TPoR yelled as he was sent flying so far into the air and so fast that his swear was cut off. TPoD layed back down on her floating platform and panned her head before remembering Zulcrestus was here.

"Oh... so... would you consider just letting me go without any hassle... plez?" TPoD awkwardly pleaded with a crooked smile on her face.

"No," Zulcrestus callously remarked as he snapped his fingers. TPoD hoped he was just saying that to stay face; however, she nervously chuckled as a torrent of light mana beams erupted from the RRR and made a b-line for her.

TPoD made her body and the floating platform glow bright blue before the two were instantly propelled in opposite directions with TPoD, maintaining her lying down position, was sent flying into the air; whilst, the floating platform rapidly plummeted towards the ground.

"That was close," TPoD remarked relievedly before watching the light beams curve and home in on her, along with the RRR tilting in her direction as it continued to fire light beams.

"That isn't how light's supposed to work!" TPoD yelled as the light beams drew close. She raised her hands in preparation to counterattack when a rainbow-coloured squared-shaped portal appeared above her before she disappeared into it, followed by the portal disappearing as well.

Zulcrestus disappointedly sighed as he snapped his fingers and all the light beams and the RRR dispersed into white mana particles.

"They're such a hassle," Zulcrestus commented as a loud thud erupted from the ground. Zulcrestus glanced downwards at the crater caused by the floating platform, along with Alex and Kai with their faces in the gravelly path. Zulcrestus sighed before slowly descending.