A few minutes later, somewhere else in the world, the orange light from the setting sun seeped through the shutter-blind covered windows as the chatter from the leaving patrons of the Dragon Heart Arcade slowly exited the Arcade. Kukamo watched the group of college-aged people leave before he clicked his neck, cleaned glass cups and wiped down the bar counter simultaneously.

"I still can not believe I forgot about that rock concert happening in Delaureus and the possibility of it causing a huge wave of college students to travel through Neo Light City," Kukamo said, as footsteps echoed through the arcade. Zinvalia stomped down the stairs leading up to the employee lodging area.

"It's not just some concert, Bar Brain; it's the Kuraikall Eruption hosted by the great Kurai Melody," Zinvalia stated proudly before she sat on a stool next to the circular centre bar.

"I believe that's the first time I've heard you speak positively about someone other than the boss," Kukamo said as he placed a milkshake in front of Zinvalia.

"Oh, lay off will ya," Zinvalia muttered embarrassedly before she dug into the sundae. A black cloud formed in front of the entrance to the Dragon Heart Arcade before the sound of familiar voices swelled from the clouds. Fei-Ku (with Mei-La on his tail) floated out from the black cloud on his tail, and Xinia placed the bags she was carrying on a table.

"We're back~!" Xinia cheerfully proclaimed.

"Whoooopi...," Zinvalia murmured unenthusiastically.

"Don't be like that, Zin-Zin; I even got you something," Xinia said as she reached into one of the bags and pulled out an azure gem.

"Oops... wrong thing.". Xinia placed the azure gem on the table and reached into the bag again until she pulled out a small rectangular white bag. Zinvalia strolled up behind Xinia while eyeing the thing in Xinia's hands.

"And what might you have there?" Zinvalia asked with a hint of intrigue in her voice.

"Why don't you take a look~?". Zinvalia sighed as Xinia handed her the small rectangular bag. Zinvalia opened the bag, and her eyes widened as she layed her eyes on the bag's content. Zinvalia pulled the top part of the bag's content and stared at the metalic rainbow reflective Candy Cat Astraphia: SCG Card in a playing card sleeve (the plastic case thing around individual playing cards).

"You got me a Uber Rare Candy Cat Astraphia: SCG card?" Zinvalia uttered with a slightly positive tone.

"Why don't you check out the whole card~?" Xinia said coyly while winking. Zinvalia rolled her eyes and pulled the playing card out of the bag. Zinvalia froze as she registered the playing card as a UR Jello Cat (a cat made from dark blue gelatin with a large tail), and she slowly noticed something else about the card which made her brain almost shut off. Zinvalia raised a finger to the card and pointed at Zalina's signature on the card.

"Is this for real?". Xinia smugly nodded, causing Zinvalia to double-check the signature.

"B-but how'd you manage to get a signature from the creator of Candy Cat Astraphia: SCG?!" Zinvalia blurted out.

"I asked her, duh?". Zinvalia unamusedly glared at Xinia.

"Don't be a smartass.".

"What did Master say about bad words, Miss Moauhideo?" a girly voice asked. The two girls looked down towards the voice and saw a large white blanket wrapped up as a ball. The ball wobbled before a short young-looking girl popped out from the blanket ball: she has light tanned skin, super long azure blue coloured hair with rainbow coloured stars floating out from her hair, rainbow gradient coloured eyes with thirty pointed star shaped iris', long azure blue rabbit ears and tail, and sharp vampire fangs.

"Oh, Inaka, you're awake again," Mei-La said as Fei-Ku floated the two over to the group.

"Honestly, the majority of youngsters these days have no class," Inaka said before retreating into her blanket ball.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Also, Master wants Xinia and Zinvalia to come to his office," Inaka added before she rolled off towards the central circular bar. The two at each other before quietly sighing and walking towards the staircase.

Xinia and Zinvalia stood before one of the bedroom doors, and Xinia gave Zinvalia a worried glance.

"Do you think he's mad? Normally if he wants to talk to someone he comes to them," Xinia muttered, causing Zinvalia to groan.

"You're overthinking it; he's probably just in the middle of something and wanted to talk to us the second he knows you returned... or something like that.". Xinia nervously chuckled, agreeing that Kukorama only ever gets mad when someone interrupts his research.

"The door's unlocked," Kukorama said from behind the door.

The duo eventually entered Kukorama's room and was greeted by a wall of stacked slightly rectangular, thick duskstone (a shadowy dark grey stone) tiles covered in various alchemy circles and inscriptions. The duo manoeuvred around the many duskstone tile stacks until they arrived at Kukorama's desk where he was sketching on a drawing pad while staring straight at his computer screen.

"Whatcha drawing?" Xinia asked as she and Zinvalia stood in front of Kukorama's desk.

"The finalised version of those," Kukorama said while gesturing to the papers on his desk as he kept his gaze fixed on his computer screen. Xinia and Zinvalia took a peek at the papers on the desk and looked at the drawing on them; the drawing was of various sword hilt designs, with the only unifying trait between the designs being the tree root aesthetic and a large hole socket around the guard area. Kukorama put his drawing pen down before swivelling his chair to face Xinia and Zinvalia.

"Zinvalia, I would like to take the duskstone tiles to Fox, and then I want you to oversee the operation." Kukorama requested. Zinvalia firmly bowed before her shadow wrapped around all the duskstone tiles before storing them in her shadow storage.

"I'll get some Black Mist pellets from Fei, and I'll head out imminently sir," Zinvalia said before she marched out of the room.

"So, what did you want to see me for?" Xinia asked. Kukorama rested an elbow on his desk.

"Given I saw you with the disciples of the gods during my endeavours in Talkia, I would like a report-style retelling of what happened after I left Talkia," Kukorama stated.

"Ok..., after you left, I managed to win the tournament and got the two azure gem prizes.".

"Ok.".

"Then Zalroth and Magistrate Zulcrestus suddenly left before the city suddenly went into lockdown.".

"Do you know the reason for the lockdown?".

"Well, from what... a reliable source told me apparently the tower thing in the centre of Lake Vesovian suddenly reawakened and transformed into a giant mecha.". Kukorama placed a hand on his chin and faintly hummed.

"So, my alchemic energy was potent enough to jump-start the Ne-Lon Tower," Kukorama remarked, causing Xinia to blink blindly at Kukorama.

"Wait... that was you!".

"Not intentionally, If I had known, I definitely would've stayed around to try and keep it from activating during the day.".

"Huh?" Xinia uttered in disbelief.

"Anyway, what about Kyubi?" Kukorama asked.

"She's in the custody of Zalroth's daughter?" Xinia said quietly.

"I see... well... actually this might be more beneficial than having her with us," Kukorama thought aloud.

"How so?" Xinia asked. Kukorama was about to respond but caught three sets of eyes peeking through the crack between the door and the door frame.

"Do you need something you three?" Kukorama asked, causing the three girls to flinch before slowly waddling into the room, revealing the three to be Mei-La, Fei-Ku, and Inaka.

"Are you talking about the abyssal slime girl with Lady Minia?" Mei-La asked.

"Do you have some info about her that Xinia doesn't have?". Mei-La glanced her eyes upwards before deciding to respond.

"Well, we overheard that the doctor said Kyubi had some seeing problem and that they'd need to take her to...," Mei-La said before getting stuck on the location.

"Morikuta Hospital," Fei-Ku said.

"I see-". Kukorama paused before looking down at Fei-Ku.

"As in the one in Delaureus?" Kukorama said slightly sternly, causing all three girls to flinch. Fei-Ku slowly nodded, and Kukorama pressed his face into his hands and groaned.

"What's wrong?" the three girls said in unison.

"I'm going to need to revise the plans for the angorthite weapon operations.". Kukorama rubbed his face. Inaka asked Kukorama if he'd like her to him an iced fruitcake as she climbed onto his lap before she led down and fell asleep. Kukorama tiredly exhaled while muttering he should take a break before he returns to his design work.