Moments Earlier.

Lulu was slouching in her wheelchair as she was thinking to herself; She had just come back from watching the drivel that was occurring down in the hall. Due to her having great ears, she could hear what started the commotion – They mocked the Urnfoxes. The adults were saying that she had the wretched blood of Tyvetta, her mother mentioned that name to her before; The boys also mocked and derided her, saying she was a mistake, that she should die.

This was the first time she openly heard the people's aversion to her mere existence. Even though she and Karma were in similar positions Karma was significantly stronger than her; She has a boisterous, rambunctious, and proud personality and she was amazingly powerful too. Seeing her spark up slightly might have caused her stomach to churn, but watching how she fought back against them made her feel an unknown feeling in her chest, it nearly motivated her to do the same. She was nearly motivated but it was useless, she knew that it was virtually impossible, she was just too fragile – She could barely walk by herself; It was a depressing reality.

While she was slouching in her studio she heard the sliding of the door, – "Hello?" A familiar voice passed through her ears, one that she had remembered hearing moments earlier, but it was no longer seething in anger and annoyance. She sat up in her wheelchair and put her hands on its wheels turning it around – Turning face to face with Karma. The presence of the girl in her studio surprised Lulu, she never thought that they would ever come face to face with each other; Yet the look on Karma's face showed it was only a matter of time.

When she entered the room Karma was slightly amazed by what she saw – There were amazing paintings hung and placed all around the room, some in a similar style to the portrait of Lulu that was in the main hall; Yet they all shared a certain aspect in common – They displayed a remarkable amount of skill and technique. She couldn't help but gape around the room in curiosity and awe. She saw a chair with wheels placed near the center of the room, there was a lock of luscious blue hair going down its armrest, she immediately inferred who it was upon seeing it. As the chair turned to face her, her inference was proved correct as she came face to face with a sickly-looking girl that had jade-like long blue hair, crystalline blue eyes, and light caramel skin.

The girl had a collar and tubes connected to her neck, while her eyes seemed half-awake in themselves, and her legs seemed to be slightly uncomfortable. She noticed how the girl shifted her legs to a more comfortable position as they stopped shaking, causing her to understand the feeling she got from the portrait. At the moment they were just staring at each other not saying a word, while the blue-haired girl was constantly shifting her legs and hands in seeming nervousness; Karma remembered what she heard when she was in the hall and what she heard from her mother. – "Are you the granddaughter of General Bavel, Lulia Bavel?" She asked her, genuinely curious.

– "... Y-y-yes that's me... I'm Lulia Bavel... y-y-you, um... Karma of the Urnfox family... yes?" Lulu's voice slightly quivered as she stumbled on her words; Stuttering a few times. She was nervous as she squirmed in her seat, why was this girl in here? Why did she ask my name? Does she abhor me as well? These were the thoughts flooding within her head, but they were soon shut out.

– "Hehe you are right I am Karma, glad you've heard of me because I have heard about you and I'm delighted to meet you Lulia Bavel, " She spoke with a brilliant smile wide on her face; She had strode her way in front of Lulu and outstretched her hand.

"How would you like to be pals?" She stood there asking for a handshake.

Lulu was at an even greater loss of words when she uttered those words, and she even wanted to be pals with her? Though she was confused, she was overwhelmed by happiness as well, thus she couldn't stop the tears from flowing out.

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– "Hey hey! What's wrong? Why are you crying, erm, ugh." Seeing the girl suddenly burst out into tears flustered Karma as she tried to calm the girl down.

Minutes later, after having calmed down, Lulu was wiping her snot on her sleeves and sniffing her nose. – " I'm sorry. Let's be pals then. I-I would love that," Speaking through her sniffles joy took hold of her voice; This was one of her happiest moments in life – She made her first friend, pal.

– "Great you're my first pal so we have to stick together now–" Karma was also cheery, they both made their first friend, and it was a truly splendid moment for them; Until they were interrupted by the studio shaking.

Lulu remembered how she turned on the room's optional soundproofing, so if something was happening outside they wouldn't hear it. Shaking – there was shaking. And just like the shaking Karma's instincts flared up when she stretched out her left arm and pulled Lulu and her wheelchair closer to her as her right arm began to flare up, but she wasn't fast enough. There was the sound of something snapping then a crash as something slammed through the ceiling and the ground, blasting back Lulu and Karma as she shot out a stream of fire. Karma quickly got up and checked on Lulu and she was disgruntled by what she saw, Lulu had slammed her head against the floor and now her head was bleeding profusely, she must have also hit her arm since it was bleeding too.

Seeing her pal start to cry, not from being happy, but from anguish – troubled her greatly she wanted to rush over to her but she couldn't dismiss the figure that plummeted in; So she took place in front of her.

...

Karma took place in front of Lulu as if protecting her — She was covered in slight injuries, bruises, and cuts leading to slight bleeding. She was in a considerably better state than Lulu, who was covered in blood and severely wounded. Upon closer inspection, past her mop of hair, she had blood pouring down her face and arms. It was surprising that she was not screaming at the top of her lungs from the pain alone – Perhaps she was resistant to it already.

Lulu was freaking out – She was muttering to herself in a panic in between her quiet sobs, not hearing her grandmother. The sight of her state had cast a shadow over Nizael and Tavella's faces. Loudly the sound of grinding teeth came from the two women as they frowned at the metallic figure. When they came into the studio the figure's attention was completely on Karma, and it still was. It didn't take a single gander as to what they were doing, and there seemed to be a reason for that – Its metal body was slightly singed.

When she saw this thing Nizael immediately knew what it was, after all, she has confronted them numerous times. It was a Special Missions Frame – A Kritol armament.

It was a metal humanoid figure, two and a half meters in size. Although the heads could differ from frame to frame, this one had goat horns on its head and had shut eyes while its metal wire-like hair was in a half-up crown braid. Its figure was more feminine and had a piece of metal covering its mouth accompanied by multi-jointed rods popping out its back. The rods cascaded blue energy that shaped and worked with the rods to form a set of wings. The metal on the body was in a Valkyriesque garment and the chest area of the Frame continuously heaved up and down as if it were inhaling and exhaling.

The Frame's mask folded down over its chin and revealed its lips as a feminine voice void of any emotion escaped from them. – "Objective changed, target severely wounded, mission altered, recommendation: practice less-lethal weapons," It noted. The Frame paused before turning its head to Nizael, Tavella, and the now entering Helia.

"Confirming the presence of Tavella Concordia... Karma and Helia Urnfox... and the General Bavel. Destruction probability ninety-nine percent..." It analyzed the situation while confirming their presence.

"Reverting to lethal force," With that the metal of its right arm disconnected and rearranged itself into a short spear that it clasped with its left hand.

Hearing the Frame's last sentence caused Karma, Nizael, Tavella, and Helia to tense up. The ground cracked and the Frame thrust itself towards Nizael, who responded in kind; The Frame whirled around, pivoting on its heel, dipping under its spear, Nizael bent her back as she evaded the Frame's thrust strike. She clapped her hands as they were draped in light exuding extreme heat, she weaved around the Frame as she wrapped her hands around its arm. The smell of melting metal permeated their noses as Nizael positioned and threw it over her shoulder, throwing it into many canvases.

– "Sorry about ruining your art pieces Lulu, I'll make sure to get you a better room later," She spoke rather calmly.

As the Frame got up from the rubble the sound of overhead speeding ships assaulted their ears, Nizael immediately turned toward the other two women.

"Get the two girls out of here, now!"