----------------------------------------

<02/10/1972 – 21:20 | Route 787, Junon Region, Sprawn Valley>

The team found standard comfort in the silence that followed the continuation of their ride. Route 787 is a very long linear path basically consistent of a massive bridge connecting two continents together in the same country; 11.4 miles of thoroughfare uplifted hundreds of feet above the Hollifax Ocean. Jane and her traveling companions basically have to cross this much of a distance only with the power of bicycles.

Met with the area from the retirement of the sun and its warmth came the most mystifying sea breeze of air and darkness. While the skies had yet to solidify their color of darkness, the structure itself would still be yet visible by the naked eyes, though with much elusive strain for detail. The sound of the slow waves far below melting with the low hiss of the chilling air stole more of the sound than it produced. The temperature dropped only slightly in the time between the sunset, but such a drop was also most noticeable as dry as the air became.

Jane was tired. Though several stops were made on the way for the purpose of being shoved into a Leray battle, one may not consider this a break with that much of a workout in performance. Even after fully healing from her near-death experience in Alpha Zero, the long trip ahead was still nearly too much. Rough play from every single match only serves to exhaust the body further, despite recovering from damage completely through the day; the wonders of getting tired, which still exist in the Leray zone, though delayed slightly in comparison to the effects outside. Twenty minutes of silence slipped by them ever since departing from their last little stop. The lack of conversation seemed awkward for all of them, though there was little to talk about which had not already been discussed. The long moment of silence mixed with the beautiful scenery and the briskly air was somehow comforting enough to bring drowsiness and a blissful edge of sleep towards Danny and Taylor both, but Jane was still wide-awake despite her physical exhaustion. After having done so much in one night, even her mind needed to take a break every once in a while, and perhaps the same could be said for Danny and Taylor. What is that feeling where everything else goes close to hibernation? The body performs on autopilot, the mind literally void of other thoughts - sleeping blissfully as an alternative attempt to lower stress and fatigue. Danny had this sensation, and he sensed that the others pedaling only a few feet in front of him were experiencing the same serenity.

Taylor however remained highly observant of her surroundings periodically, noticing for instance how much darker the sky became in only twenty minutes of time. Taylor could only estimate that ten or fifteen minutes have passed at the most. Even the glow of the sunset provided so much light all around her, but now that light was gone. The sky above her has been replaced by a thick black coat of the void beyond this planet's atmosphere, and decorated with lively white stars that kept the world interesting. Even the ground in front of her was difficult to see at all. The moon was in a phase that left itself totally invisible, yet she could still faintly see the wide waves in the ocean to either side beneath her, as well as the concrete blurred by the motion as it passed under her. Something nearby was providing some source of light, though hardly usable.

Jane tried to coast her bike as often as she could. The bridge had a surprising level of flatness to the earth, with no incline upwards or downwards the entire time they have been on the structure. While the guardrails prevented any risk of falling off this thing, Jane thought about all the other ways it could be scaled, even by mistake. It didn't make much sense to her why one would go through all of this trouble to cross a bridge and fight Leray wielders when people could simply teleport. Normally, criminals are the ones who use teleportation symbols to get away from the law when needed, but the process does not actually require dark magic, nor is that magic a form of spell capable of causing harm to others. Sometimes people use illegal symbols to invoke teleportation, but since that is not necessary for the process, getting marked for it is incredibly redundant. Jane didn't believe teleportation should be illegal to use, though practically nobody fights to attain the useful power.

Is it the stars? Taylor could stare up for hours if not for the constant requirement to pay attention to the road in front of her, less she slam into the back of Jane and knock all three of them down to the floor. Though her concept had a looping sense of montrum with her idea. Did those stars so far away provide even this much light to the Earth? For something so distant and insignificant to have such a large impact on the planet... Taylor couldn't stop thinking about it until Jane finally distracted her a moment later.

"I think we're getting close," she called over the slow wind. The temperature barely got any lower, while the natural wind remained dormant too. Though from the speed of coasting at about twelve miles per hour, the colliding air could be mistaken for its dormant speed as well.

Taylor luckily did not notice much of any real temperature changes. She had been warm and cozy from the beginning of wearing Danny's coat. Though even she found it embarrassing to believe that just a little cold rush of air could so easily freeze herself to death. Perhaps it was an over-exaggeration, or merely exhaustion masked with something else. Danny seemed just fine without one after all, and Jane's costume didn't look as if it were made of a warming material. At the sight of noticing the amazing outline of several tall structures closer than Taylor should have noticed, her mouth gasped as her eyes gazed upon the excitement that this trip was finally coming to its conclusion. "Is that...? That's Eldora City, right?"

"That's right!" The city was still only mildly visible due to the distance and some invisible fog that was only thin in the area around the exit, but Jane could clearly see the mixture of lights condensed into one from the building beacons and the street lamps. The collection basically stirred a glow into the lower atmosphere just above the buildings, with one separate bright white light far off to the right. Even from here, it looked like the very earth of the next continent was close enough to touch. Though it was only perspective. Realistically, Jane knew already that they had at least between two and three miles to keep going before these wheels literally land on dirt instead of stone. "We'll be at the edge of Eldora City in about an hour from now, and off this bridge."

Danny's spirits were lifted the moment he'd seen the signs of civilization ahead. The city structure wasn't all that close, but since it consists of such large and tall buildings, the illusion of feeling close to the end of Route 787 felt all the more real. "Since we got all this money, we can put it to a good hotel and rest up in style."

Jane needed not to remind herself and her friends how to conserve the credits they have all just earned for the purpose of squeezing all the power and defense they can for Leray related purposes. Danny on the other hand was getting ahead of himself. "Don't forget that your credits are best spent on equipment on our mission. If you really are coming with me back to the dark zone, assuming I do have to go back to that hellhole, you won't be doing any good by slacking off in your armor and weapons. That includes training."

Disturbed by the nagging of Jane's firm voice, Danny bargained for himself on behalf of their underwhelming victories on this bridge so far. "Lighten up a little Jane. After all we've done, we can still afford to rest one night. It's celebrate time! We'll take a five star guest room." He could imagine the place right now. A perfect view of the city, or a warm pool on the rear balcony. One massive television screen with several more channels than what could be received in Fronas Town, and beds that transforms sleeping into a pleasant fantasy for tired muscles. Room service that serves butter bread with shrimp bites. Danny only knew of the existence of such things from a show on TV, which took a video tour into one of the finest suites of stay, while one of which resided in Eldora City. Though Sprawn Valley's native food may be more or less exotic than that...

"We'll have a four star hotel," Jane corrected. Even though Jane knew living on high standards was out of the question, she was immediately tempted by Danny's offer, and excited that he had been able to lift his own spirits with them. "I'll admit that after this, we deserve a rest on something soft, and a decent roof. But don't forget about one thing you two."

"What's that?"

Jane expected that Danny and Taylor would both ask the same question at the same time, but they really were clueless for doing so. "Eldora is one of the richest places in the country. Everything cost more there because the standard of living is so high and prime. Buying the cheapest new outfit here will blow a hole in our wallets, so we have to be careful not to spend too much in the meantime."

"Will fighting these Eldora champions reward you with credits?" Taylor questioned. There had to be something gained from aiming for the top of the entire Leray nation. If anyone would know for certain, it would be the Venn family.

"I believe so," Jane answered confidently. "Just by battling those under the Champion level, I will be able to make an immediate fortune. I should probably file some deposits into the NCD."

"What's that? Some kind of bank in Sprawn Valley?" Danny sensed that the existence of a magical bank would be ridiculous, though he has seen so many ridiculous things already.

Jane confided, "I don't even know what a bank is." These outsiders and their vocabulary these days... "The NCD stands for the National Credit Depository. People who have more than carrying-around money go to buildings marked as those stations. We make large deposits there instead of carrying the entire load on our card. That way, if something were to happen, say someone steals my license or I lose it somewhere, the amount I put down is insured to me. It only costs a small fee to make deposits, and the insurance policy pays off the accidents that happen to people. Otherwise, they treat it as a place to store lots of credits in a safe way.

"So it is like a digital bank," Danny compared. Banks are supposed to hold the money of clients and insure them should anything happen. There used to be a single bank in Kalamo, one that functioned poorly until it was put out of its misery by the new unofficial kingdom.

"If that is how banks function." Jane felt mildly surprised that the comparison was so accurate to the terminology. "Digitally stored on some system I don't even know about, I'm told they're unbreakable. We need to insure some of our funds there after getting more, but for now, let's focus on the task at hand." Jane knew what she had to do, as simple as riding forward in a straight line without stopping for just a little longer.

But something new decided to get in her way yet again. Jane noticed the flash of an orange light further down ahead, not nearly close enough to crash into from here. The light flickered brightly just three times, and from the electrical based energy it used, Jane realized already that this was a physical lamp, not something being used from Leray magic.

What was it doing there? Why is there a light in the middle of the road blinking three times per phase? After another triple blink, Jane made out the outline of a person standing by the small structure, literally a tiny vertical pole with the orange light on top, designed like a hazard lamp. Reluctant to stop for any stranger, Jane slightly applied pressure to the breaks below, careful not to slip her shoes in the wrong direction with the poor visibility. Knowing the others would slow down and stop with her, Jane steered to the right of the bridge to keep some distance away from the light, but decided to stop at the same time to examine what was happening here. Installing lamps would not be worth stopping for, but one small lamp in the middle of nowhere deserved at least a short glance. After getting closer, the figure who was interacting with the lamp changed its setting, turning on the orange bulb with a constant glow.

Now providing the entire area with much additional light from some random lamp, Jane could see the person more clearly, as he could see her group as well. Noticing the three people stopping to glare on bikes, the man at the light turned and cautiously approached Jane. Jane dismounted from her vehicle to protect her defense in the event this person turned out to be some other crazy idiot wanting a Leray challenge. Danny would already be giving Jane hateful stares right now just for this, but Jane also had to know what was up. In the event this is a challenger, she would actually be prepared to decline the offer as planned. This situation didn't look usual for a hangout spot.

"Anything I can help you with?" The man's voice gave up his estimated age to the three youngsters, his tone had to mean he was in his forties. With his shaggy dark hair, large hat, and leather dress coat, he appeared to them as someone other than a random civilian.

Jane noticed a lot about this area, more than just the person greeting them. The lamp gave away a small toolbox just behind the guy, so he must have been some sort of mechanic. Perhaps this was some attempt to install lights on the bridge for the night. At first, Jane wondered why it had not been done before. Then again, natural electricity does not just run all the way out here. Installing streetlights onto an eleven-mile bridge over the ocean would be next to impossible, but he was here doing something. The electricity for this lone light probably had a tiny external power supply somewhere. Answering his question carefully, Jane dismissed his curiosity without revealing her identity. "I don't think so. I guess I just got curious with the light. We'll be on our way if this is a distraction."

"There's no need to mind me." The guy rotated in place slightly, allowing the light to shine off his face to reveal himself to the group. Jane's friends joined behind her in curiosity. "These roads can be dangerous by night. You three should be heading on to the nearest city soon."

Jane was immediately relieved. The guy could not have been a Leray wielder. Not only was he unwilling to ask for a battle, but he has already given them helpful advice and fair warning about the zone. "We'll be on our way soon." After turning around to her friends, Jane noticed how overwhelmed her legs became, burning with cramps and fatigue. "We should take a five minute break though, maybe get something to drink."

After noticing the reason Jane stopped in the first place, Danny lowered his concerns silently. Danny already pulled the supply sphere from phase space, opening the device all in an effort to pull a water bottle from the sphere. He has not had anything to drink in a long time, and hunger was only going to slow him down further. Jane found a decent place to make a rest stop near the available street lamp. While taking his time to refresh himself, Jane and Taylor relaxed too. Danny soon realized just how elegant Jane's idea was to take a break by some natural light. Nobody could sneak up on them here. Now if only there was a way to utilize a bathroom—

After settling by the lamppost, Jane got comfortable while Danny and Taylor took some time to rest their arms and legs. The stranger pulled out a paper and clipboard, writing down something in ink while standing. Jane let her curiosity out for the time being, expecting nothing less than some sort of job or duty. "So what's going on out here this time of night? Trying to install new lamps?"

After an odd glance from the stranger, the man nodded his head and reached into his coat pocket. "No. I'm no electrician." After pulling out a wallet, he opened up the sleeve to reveal a shiny badge that Jane had only seen once in her entire lifetime. "Name's Stanley Marx. I'm with the Leray agency on investigation. Official business; if you understand."

Jane agreed with excitement, finding even more comfort that the law actually patrols these parts at random, and with a Leray agent this close by, now might be a good chance to report Kira's illegal activities. "That's cool that they got this place by night now. Name's Jane. Come to set people straight?"

"Heh," he huffed. Stanly stepped slightly to face Jane while putting his badge away and folding his arms together. "Something like that. I can't give you details on official missions of our assignments, but if you would like to let me know of anything suspicious happening around here, I hope you can trust me to take care of such things in the meantime."

"I can think of several." The reactions to what Danny had announced were delayed. Realizing that he spoke so soon and randomly, he found the need to elaborate on the continued subject with the others staring at him for the confirmation. "I mean, you got everyone taking advantage of the whole battle thing, forcing others to challenge them less they receive strikes or whatever."

Stanley's eyebrows rose slightly, focusing on the boy now. "Ah, yes. The broken battle system that allows others to cheat the honest man."

"Is there a fix for that in place?"

Now answering to Taylor's questions, Stanley tried to describe all he was aware of. "I am only a Leray agent. I don't write the laws; I only enforce them. I can say I'm quite surprised that a fix has not been set into motion yet, since it has been some time."

"I hear ya," Jane replied. "Now a days, the men at the top are probably too worried about Alpha Zero to care, and it's not like they're doing anything to solve it."

Stanley let a soft silence pass them by, thinking about all three of these kids. They were obviously teenagers, though still highly intelligent for their age. Already have they realized the wrongs in this world and the system that was slipping away to dust, and yet it didn't seem like Jane or her companions had any interest in interrupting his own duties. Perhaps they could prove to be useful. "Well there isn't much happening around here than what you've described. Business as usual."

"Actually..." Jane got Stanley's attention before she forgot about Danny's little problem. "There is someone on this bridge who I would flag as a criminal, someone caught up in something big. She tried to kill me." Her last sentence carried emphasis for Stanley, as it was necessary to report the woman in question.

His body perked up slightly, fumbling for the clipboard he almost set down. "Does this criminal have a name and location?"

Jane nodded in agreement. "Kira Sandreas. She's in a black cloak handcuffed to the rail further down towards Lennith, where we came from. She won't be going anywhere for a while, so it will be a breeze taking her in."

"Indeed it will," Stanley agreed. "You've already done us a valuable service by reporting this Kira to us. We'll make sure she doesn't harm anyone else ever again."

"That's a relief. Jane kicked her ass back there, but it was a close call with someone of that speed."

Following Danny's hints about Jane's strength, Stanley continued improvising little details for his assignment. "Did she now? A Leray wielder is something I have already assumed you were, though I believed you all to be rookies." With a blank reaction, he elaborated his idea. "But to chain a person trying to kill you to a rail and report them within the same hour is quite impressive. Perhaps I can convince you lot to join our agency sometime soon. You all seem to have the power and the understanding necessary to work with us."

Jane's eyes lit up at the thought, and she could tell that her friends were caught by surprise too. "Join the Leray agency? I— I... I've never been offered that before."

"Hm hm," he laughed in a grumbling tone. "I'm sure not, but I ask of you three not to join the Leray agency directly. You seem to already have much disposition to the current authority, and yet you're very powerful at surviving in most circumstances. Am I right?"

"Wait a minute," Taylor challenged. "If you're not asking us to join the Leray agency..."

Stanley decided it was worth the shot to let the idea rip. "Allow me to elaborate on what the duties entail. I'm not supposed to let you in on our mission, but I believe you have the knowledge to come to an informed decision on your own. I'm not exactly with the Leray agency. Nevertheless, our group can perform more effective methods of cleaning up this place in the name of justice. Undercover work is often the best kind."

"Hold on just a sec," Jane stopped. She raised her voice in the tension she felt building in her. If Stanley isn't a real Leray agent, then who else could he be? Was that flashy badge just a pretty fake? "Who are you?"

"I am part of the people who understands what is good for this nation. We pick up where the law has left off, fixing problems in the world by any means necessary."

"So you lied to us?" Danny paraphrased. If he isn't with the Leray agency, then why hide what organization he is supposed to be from? Surely there can't be a top secret justice group flying around with badges undercover!

"Now - now," Stanley eased. "I haven't lied about anything at all, except for the fact that I'm just a different part of the law. This Kira you told us about will defiantly be dealt with, and with that moron out of the way, we can continue our business unscathed."

Dealt with? "You mean - to kill her?"

Answering to Jane's upset tone, Stanley continued to sound and remain perfectly calm, assuming they were only surprised at worst. "Well, what else? You already told me that she tried to kill you. Would you rather have a crazy maniac take about five years in prison only to escape and try again? Only the weak allow failures like that to live, and I have no room for weaklings on our crew."

Who is this creature? A man who could so calmly speak and even encourage senseless killing of others, with such a vile taste of morality! Changing her stance in preparation to fight the unknown person, Jane clenched her fists and placed her legs in the right spots to attack. "I asked you a question. Who the hell are you, and who the hell do you work for?" No doubt this guy isn't with the official agency, and he now sounds more dangerous than she initially thought.

It figures they would behave this way, though hopefully these children are just afraid for now. "The vision we so proudly speak of comes from the heart of our own agency. We are the Scarlets of the future, bringing order that the world truly deserves." Stanley snapped his finger in the air while continuing to identify himself. "And you would be making a big mistake to threaten me like that again young lady." Stanley knew what was going on, but Jane and her friends had to adapt to the pressing situation. Stanley was not alone right now. He had two other partners with him, hiding in the shadows with their invisible auras, but there was no need to hide anymore with what has been revealed.

Danny noticed how horrible this has turned out to be already. Stanley signaled his other two henchmen to phase out from the darkness, bringing bright auras around their bodies temporarily while they positioned themselves closer to Stanley for physical support, and Danny heard of that name before. Stanley spoke of something about the Scarlets. It was their code for the Scarlet Cult, even though these crooks do not really believe themselves to be a cult. Official name is the Scarlet Syndicate. Damn! Of all things, Jane could have kept quiet and nobody would have interacted this way at all, but then why reveal their intentions to them here? Why dress up as real agents of the zone? The Scarlet Syndicate isn't exactly the same as they were before, not after witnessing this very scene. Judging from all of the crap these people put them through in the past and how wanted they were to real federal agents, this situation has gone from scary to terrible nightmare. "It's a trap Jane!"

"I will refine my final offering to you three. I can understand that you are too surprised to understand why we are here, and upset by the fact that we had to lie to you at first to keep our cover, but now that you know who I am, I cannot simply let you go free. There are great positions waiting to be filled by people of your own understanding. You said yourself that the real law enforcers aren't doing anything about these problems you've seen, but there are even bigger concerns than you realize, things far more troubling to Sprawn Valley than such trivial matters you spoke of before. You can help us fix what has been broken, and I will personally teach you the ways of the Scarlet marksman. And of course, you will be compensated well for your efforts Jane." After a brief pause, Stanley made the rest of his offer clear. "But know this. We are still an organization that operates under the radar of the Leray agency. I'm not concerned right now with getting caught, because I know just like you do, how they can't even do their job right. Now that you and your crew know about us and our operations, refusal is simply not an option without consequence. What will it be?"

Jane grinded her teeth from the barbaric thought that she would ever team up with these bad guys. The Scarlet Cult were the ones responsible for the theft of several items from vaults inside of several different training facilities. It took Jane little time after entering Monoc to learn that the Scarlet Cult didn't only target Dakota's vault, but the vaults from half of all other facilities in the entire continent, and they were also the ones who infiltrated and stole sensitive data from the servers under the Tilsit lighthouse facility. These guys don't care about justice, and they only hurt anyone who gets in the way. "So your proposal is to join you or die?!" Jane's aggressive response to all of the bad memories related to these assholes forced her voice into a rage, while her muscles all tensed up in preparation for an impending battle. "I'd rather watch you go down in blood! The Scarlet Cult are enemies of the state. You can't hope to get away with everything you've done in this world!"

Danny and Taylor, despite never seeing Jane this upset with so much valor both nodded with each other for their agreement, backing to the left to prepare themselves. They didn't want to battle after all of the hard work they have done, but this was the Scarlet Cult, the criminal of all criminals - here to outnumber Jane. After that aggressive speech, the enemies here were sure going to try and kill all witnesses.

"I'm sorry that we could not come to some sort of arrangement Jane. Well then, shall we test your true power against real justice?" On cue, Stanley's guards ran away from him, towards the direction of Danny and Taylor, who had gained much distance from Jane in a failed attempt to try and surround the man in charge. Jane and Stanley were now facing each other, ready to try anything, while Danny and Taylor were confronted by the other two henchmen. Being split up like this wasn't exactly a good thing, especially with an entire team of people fighting to kill. Before Jane could even react, Stanley released an odd magic that immediately formed a Siriean dome around them. The dome was smaller than average, trapping only Jane and Stanley inside of the thing.

Simultaneously, the other two Scarlet members enabled a second Siriean dome to trap themselves inside with Danny and Taylor. Two Siriean domes were adjacent to each other, almost touching if not for their smaller size. Something about the dome in question was different as well, matching the same profile as the dome Kira used against Jane. Without even registering as an official Leray battle in the rule set system, the dome only allowed light in from that orange lamp off to the right, while reducing its penetration level by 50%. Just like Kira's dome, this one had the properties of blocking out light and preventing anyone from escaping. This wasn't a formal battle or a normal Doom Shield spell. It's another type of Siriean dome, one that traps people inside until the creators of such a dome become completely incapacitated. It has the same effects as Doom Shield, but is not invoked on terms of an agreement to combat, rather a shield forced upon people to make sure a battle happens with or without consent, going all the way to the end.

Jane knew already how this was about to go down, as an unofficial battle between herself and one of the Scarlet leaders. At the same time, her friends were fighting the man's henchmen by themselves too. Jane knew this detail wasn't good. Jane's friends had her back until the henchmen scoured away their personal space to separate the three of them, but at least those two would be fighting together as a team. After handling things from Alpha Zero, Jane knew that being alone one on one would be just fine with her. Jane would not be able to escape from the dome, and since her friends failed to destroy Kira's shield, that idea was already out of the realm of possibilities. This would not be a normal fight, rather one that goes all the way to the death. It would however be even worse than the fight with Kira. Kira simply wanted a revenge kill, but these guys are organized and powerful as they already are with the known rumor to use dark magic against their opponents. Jane knew already that she needed to be on her guard. She could only hope that her friends knew the same. Jane wasn't certain who was about to try something first, so she engaged her energy scope in front of the man, coaxing him to enable his own scope. From the corner of her eye, Jane could see the same stuff happening to her left with Danny and Taylor.

----------------------------------------

Chapter Theme Shift: Sundays are For Warriors ~ Sonic Librarian

----------------------------------------

image [https://i.postimg.cc/2SQzq8Xg/S3-Jane-N-035.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/qvs3krcv/S3-Marx-N-000.png]

Taylor kept herself alert, remembering to engage her own energy scope. Danny was going to be fighting right next to her, which was a comforting thought, but they had never actually battled together as a team before.

Danny realized that since his enemies were not identified, nor were they willing to enable their own energy scopes, he would have to do the favor for them. After using some more familiar Leray magic, Danny forced energy scopes to appear above the henchmen, adding a fitting name to their custom identity.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/4xyx0T80/S3-Scar-Hitman-N-000.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/8PPpFSVC/S3-Scar-Marksman-N-000.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/mg29jJfX/S3-Danny-N-000.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/KzzfkjQN/S3-Taylor-N-000.png]

With the area around them so well lit by the dome's own natural light, Jane knew she wouldn't have too difficult of a time seeing what was actually going on around her. Stanley was standing only a short distance away, ready to take any hit from distances that were not short range. Jane would need to get even closer to physically assault the Scarlet leader, but even now, she sensed that her enemy would be charging up for a magical attack right at this very moment. She needed to buy herself time from the very beginning of this fight.

"Gyrobreak!" After releasing only a small amount of MP energy, Jane correctly sent the magical shockwaves deep into the ground, causing the entire world to shake and tilt around them. It was interesting to see this distortion field work so effectively even on top of a not so sturdy bridge to handle the passive effects. As Jane's Gyrobreak spell took effect, even Stanley was having somewhat of a problem keeping his balance straight. Neither one of them could be sure whether they were close enough to the others for the spell to effect Danny and Taylor's battle as well, as the tilting of their entire balance and view made that impossible to determine at the moment.

Despite Jane having the first turn, Stanley realized that it was only a terrible attempt to buy herself some time while removing his own accuracy from the field. Stanley was much more confident about killing these intruders, since he knew several levels of advanced Leray magic that would go far to deal heavy amounts of damage to just about anybody. While the earth was shaking too much to line up a clear aim of sight on Jane, Stanley charged up his energy anyway, chanting and invoking the spell he was soon to release in front of him. "Firesurge!" Just after taking out his long sword, which had been his primary weapon for the match, Stanley plummeted the end of his glowing blade into the concrete with as much force as he could, releasing the energy of his magical spell into the wave he created.

Firesurge is an ultra-refined spell with a power level of eight, mastered from the simple skill known as Shadow Wave. Firesurge combines the elements of Crush Wave and Shadow Wave together with a fiery elemental aura, giving the entire Shadow Wave properties to deal both earth elemental blunt damage along with fire elemental magical slashing damage inside of the attack shell all at the same time. It's harder to learn, and much more devastating in damage dealing potential.

Jane couldn't be too sure though about spells she had not really heard about before, and only guessed on how potent the attack aura could be coming from a known powerful Scarlet fighter. Instead of thinking to react, Jane had her hands up and out already, projecting her Leray magic all around her in a bubble to create a power shield around her body in the form of an aura. Doing this with the entire world tilting all over the place wasn't easy, but Jane knew she needed to at least try and shield off the oncoming attack. While in the safety of her shielding aura, Jane saw the Firesurge version of Shadow Wave, which basically appeared to be an orange glowing Shadow Wave twice its original size and three times faster in traveling speed. The wave slammed into Jane's shield despite the inaccuracy from Stanley with Gyrobreak running, and Jane's aura formed several hexagons everywhere to indicate the high amount of damage near the lower frontal regions of the aura. The wave blasted with a powerful force, exploding into a fiery mist as it failed to do any real damage. Even at the end of the strike, Jane felt disoriented by now as her concentration on the shield needed to be higher in order to keep it going at such low power. In just one single simple attack, Stanley managed to invoke a high damage-dealing spell despite being caught up in Gyrobreak, giving Jane every reason to panic.

After dropping the shield, Jane knew she just needed to attack Stanley, it mattered not what exact strategy she could try and use for the moment. Pulling her daggers into her hands, Jane infused magical energy into the blades until they had a red glow to them. "Armor Breaker!" Jane yelled the name of her attack spell the moment she threw the blades as hard as she could, simultaneously ending the Gyrobreak spell just in time to properly aim. While the glowing red daggers spun in the air with speedy momentum, Stanley must not have expected the Gyrobreak to end so soon, ironically throwing him off balance from lack of preparations and adjustment. Stanley did not trip on himself, but the problem kept him in place, just as the piercing small blades cut right through his chest with a stinging burning pain spreading all over.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/tg9VJcDt/S3-Marx-N-001.png]

Stanley noticed immediately how much damage Jane's simple attack did with little effort, and he had not expected such an elegant block with the use of a rare version of power shield. Such a defensive spell was even outside of his own boundaries and characteristics, though the fight has only begun.

Jane felt much better already about scoring damage against the guy in just one hit. Scarlets are obviously not invincible, and it would be surprising even now to see one get distracted enough to pull out healing items. If they could do it, so could anyone. Off to the side, Jane noticed the battle from the other two had already begun, with Danny and Taylor beginning their assault against the grunts.

"Let's get them!" Danny immediately prepared to attack the bad guys in front of him, disregarding any particular strategy for this battle. With Taylor behind him to provide cover of some sort, he was confident enough to immediately rush in with an attack, chanting the name while already on his sprinting feet. "Hammer of Might!" Danny's invocation didn't take too long. The yellow glyphring formed above his hands to drop the massive hammer into his grasp. The hammer itself looked more like a brightly decorated hammer used for blacksmiths to flatten blades of metal. Despite the weight, Danny managed not to let it slow him down as he charged towards the enemy on the right, the one marked as the Scarlet Marksman.

Taylor tried to cover Danny from this distance right here, targeting the other guy to interrupt his chances of stopping Danny's assault. "Bow Charge!" The invocation of Taylor's weapon spawning spell was slightly slower than Danny's spell had been, since it was a while since using her spells in the first place. Bow Charge was hardly a powerful long-range attack, but one that used very little amounts of MP energy. A bow and arrow formed out of another yellow glyphring into her hands, the arrow glowing from being covered in a magical aura. Bow Charge is simply a single hit with an arrow from this weapon, which is possibly one of the most useless things Taylor could do, but any user of this spell has the option of adding magical damage to their arrow to increase the effectiveness slightly. With a maximum power level of two, it might not be enough.

Taylor was already in position though, and it had to be done. Taking aim at the Scarlet soldier on the left marked as Scarlet Hitman, Taylor pulled back on the string with the arrow ready to fire, and released the arrow to let it fly into the man standing on the left. The glowing sharp object quickly flew all the way ten meters down the field, piercing the spot right between the man's left arm and shoulder just as Danny was in close range of the other guy. While watching to make sure he would be okay, Taylor took some notice of the stat changes on the other energy scope.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/MpLp2rNp/S3-Scar-Hitman-N-001.png]

"Hayah!" Danny put all of his muscle into swinging his hammer at the enemy like a maniac, using the powerful blunt force of his physical combinations to do as much harm as he could to the guy. The Scarlet Marksman simply stood there and blocked each impact using his defensive stance while putting his hands and legs in the way of each strike. It was the usual normal way in Leray matches to block attacks, but Danny did not expect it to be so effective. After the attack was over, Danny's hammer disappeared back into the yellow glyphring that formed to swallow the end result of the spell, and the man who Danny assaulted wasn't fazed even in the slightest.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/T3KT9J1M/S3-Scar-Marksman-N-001.png]

Just after realizing that Danny was much too forward about his plan of attack, the two Scarlet soldiers briefly exchanged a glance, and then focused their eyes on one of each the overzealous teens. The Marksman targeted Danny with an impending magical attack while the other targeted Taylor from afar. Both of them were about to use the same spell, while their opponents backed away in fear without a good sense of how to block it.

"Dualcast!" Both soldiers managed to surround themself with a temporary magical aura that would allow them to attack immediately after that, using up to two different spells at the same time with their invocations sped up so much from the Dualcasting effect. "Lightning Strike!" Both soldiers were using their powers simultaneously in the same level. Holding out both their arms, each wrist became the center of a spinning jade color glyphring belonging to electrical invocation spells. Danny was hit by the strike first, two separate lightning bolts slamming into him from such a short range all from the same guy, zapping him in place while the pain and intensity of an electrical shock took over his other senses.

Taylor was hit by the same thunder, only coming from the other soldier hitting her from long range. Lightning Strike was impossible to dodge, but Taylor was hit by two Thunderbolts as well, giving her the shock of her life while the damage against her accumulated. Well after Taylor was done with the shock and recovering from the strain and drain to her body, she glanced quickly at her energy scope to check how badly their plan played out in the end.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/Hxh2QmhC/S3-Taylor-N-001.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/RZsHDdvM/S3-Danny-N-001.png]

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Danny quickly tried to get away from the enemies, retreating back to the direction where Taylor was positioned, but his entire body tingled from the sensation he suffered earlier. All of his physical movements felt slower than they should. Neither enemy was about to back down here.

"Meteor Strike!" Stanley summoned a lot more of his energy, increasing the damage rating on his next attack spell assuming Jane would not be able to dodge an area attack.

Jane noticed that as the battle with Danny and Taylor had already started from the light show happening back there, she had her own problems to deal with right now. Her own target seemed to be a lot more focused and coordinated than she previously thought. With several swarms of hot red meteorites falling down from the sky penetrating through the dome shield like phantom objects, Jane had to cross her arms again and project another shielding aura just to protect herself from all of the hits.

As the meteors began slamming into the concrete ground, the entire area began to quake violently. The burning glow around each falling rock lit up the area with much more light than Jane expected, though the dark skies above them were likely the cause of that happening. At least three meteors hit Jane's power shield directly, immediately weakening the rest of her aura and making it hard to keep it going. Another meteor struck the ground just aside from where Jane was standing, causing additional shockwave damage to the shield, but after it was over, Jane quickly dropper her aura, not allowing it to fail on her own watch.

Now that it was her turn again, Jane didn't let Stanley even get to think about how powerful her defensive skills were. Stanley doesn't deserve a fair fight with what he has been doing lately, and Jane was going to throw everything at him. "Knight Dance!" Just after creating another brighter blue aura around her entire body, Jane rushed in towards the Scarlet soldier to begin attacking at a closer range. Jane kept her daggers tucked in, only needing to use punches and kicks against the guy. Jane's Knight Dance was effective in infusing her fists and feet with magical attack energy to heavily increase the damage with each hit, but she also kept up with her quick and sudden movements to evade and dodge by sliding, despite the fact that her entire combination kept the man too busy to interrupt her. After slamming the guy's chest several times in the face and the gut, Jane finished her last winding kick with the bottom of her shoe, gouging the guy right between the legs and pushing him further away. Just as the combo sequence was over, Jane's aura faded again while she took her time to retain her distance from Stanley while assessing his stats.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/BvNPKCVW/S3-Marx-N-002.png]

"Agh!" Danny hugged his right arm after side lining himself with Taylor. His nerves were freaking out already, his arm tingling more than it had been before, a sensation worse than a limb falling to sleep momentarily. "These guys mean business."

Taylor gave Danny a mild glance of anger. "This time we do it together!" She waited for Danny to agree to the terms. At the very least, it was a better strategy than touch and go. Seeing that he nodded his head slightly, Taylor focused on the Scarlet soldiers again. Both of them were eager to attack, but the direction of this could go either way. There wasn't any time to talk about the plan of attack or the strategy. Danny will simply have to get lucky guesses on which spells to use form a distance. With her arsenal of long-range cold spells, Taylor knew she at least had a good shot at this fight. "Now!" she hollered in Danny's ear. "Rotation!" Taylor quickly worked to invoke her wind elemental magic to create a powerful tornado to start in front of her.

Danny followed Taylor's lead and timing, proceeding to try and disrupt his opponents to prevent any chance they might have of stopping Taylor's Rotation attack. "Earth Glave!" Shortly after lifting his arm in an odd movement, Danny's Earth Glave attack went first, shoving magically formed dirt and earth rock up from the solid concrete. The wave followed by this shoved both of the Scarlet soldiers slightly into the air, forcing them to land on the ground for some additional damage. Since it was the first spell to strike both targets, Taylor's traveling twister was about to be right on top of them at the same time. The Rotation attack sucked in both Scarlet soldiers as they were stuck off their feet, dealing wind elemental slashing damage to both of them shortly after being slammed with earth elemental blunt magic. The combination seemed both odd and random, but it worked effectively this time to maximize the HP reduction to each soldier, as both spells ended up landing on both enemies with how bunched up they were together.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/KYgvZDhr/S3-Scar-Hitman-N-002.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/0yhPHKK6/S3-Scar-Marksman-N-002.png]

After a brief evaluation of what just happened, Taylor allowed herself to rest before both of her enemies got themselves back together. "That was a nice touch you did there."

Danny was amazed by how well that worked out. He never had a chance to battle alongside with Taylor in the same fight before, so this was already unusual for the both of them. Though something about his teamwork actually working with Taylor felt amazing to him in its own way. "Thanks. That Rotation spell was a good mark too."

Taylor shifted her stance just as she noticed the soldiers getting back to their feet, already preparing to use magic again for a retaliation attack. "Don't let your guard down Danny. I need your help to get us both out of here."

Stanley and Jane stared at each other blankly. Both were prepared for what might come next. Stanley tried to go first, lifting his sword up while imbuing magical energy into the blade and causing the metal to glow with a smoky red aura. "Dark Slash!" He swung his sword in a spiral set of movements, launching dark red crescent shaped phased projectiles in the air. The odd looking projectiles spun rapidly while traveling, but they lifted high into the air before coming to crash down towards Jane.

While trying to figure out what kind of skill or magic was part of the unusual sequence, Jane anticipated the magical slashes in the air incorrectly. They looked like glowing guillotine attacks that had been shrunken down to a size smaller than one's hand, but their movement patterns shifted mid-travel, now all heading for Jane. It was too quick to react to, much too speedy to try another power shield. All of the unusual projectiles sliced into Jane's skin in several places, there had to be at least a dozen of them. The cuts burned with pain while the total amount of hits in general drained a bit of Jane's stamina in unusual ways. After it was all over, Jane noticed that a section of her lower leg actually drew some blood draining down the side of her limb, totally an unusual response to taking Leray damage.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/y8dMK6CF/S3-Jane-Red-004.png]

Jane didn't believe her eyes. Despite the overall damage dealt to her being light in total, the attacks forced her energy scope into a critical state. After what she had studied, Jane was certain of it now. Whatever Stanley just used, it had to be the work of direct dark magic. It's the only way those things could have drawn real blood and cut open a suit to do that. Jane was far too healed already for her energy scope to complain about taking normal Leray damage. It was all the proof she needed. So Dark Slash is a dark magical attack Stanley can use with his sword.

Already did Jane realize that she was still thinking too much. She already considered a high probability that these criminals may try something like this, and all she needed to do right now is win the battle. After taking out a single dagger for her right hand, Jane infused all the energy she would need to try her next attack. Though her skill was charging without the need for a glyphring, this one in particular took a moment just to wind the energy up. Jane slashed her glowing dagger through the air while aiming at Stanley, crossing the slicing motion twice in a cross. "Splice!" The resulting magic created a single bright white thin line in the air that traveled quickly towards the target. Jane slashed twice to make two lines at opposite angles, though both of them were on a linear crash course towards the man.

This time it seemed as if Stanley was too occupied right now to deal with evasion therapy. After all, Splice moves in the air at an amazing speed, and is naturally hard to avoid when drilling on a diagonal angle. Even after dealing real time damage to Jane, she was still capable of such high-powered skills. As the cutting wave drilled through Stanley's entire skin, his teeth clenched and his body fell slightly, and the second wave that sliced him afterwards burned his entire chest along with other areas. Splice has a popular tendency to cause the most amount of physical pain and damage at the same time, but Jane really didn't hold back at all on this one. Even Stanley had a lot of trouble trying to recover himself after taking such a hard slash, the pain was nearly overwhelming to all of his thoughts.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/LXXYBZcJ/S3-Marx-N-003.png]

Refusing to let some stingy woman take the victory, Stanley knew he had to change some of the rules immediately, or suffer a humiliating defeat. "You think I'm giving up that easily? Armor of Darkness!" Stanley quickly invoked a support spell, surrounding his entire body with a flashy red transparent aura known as Armor of Darkness. Armor of Darkness is a support spell that temporarily renders one invulnerable to damage without the need to constantly focus on keeping the shield up; like an automated power shield that allows one to attack while defending. The downside to the unlimited timed darkness shield is that the aura is not unlimited on the amount of damage it can take, and since it can only be invoked twice per battle, Stanley's choice is only a temporary game changer. Still, the way Jane reacted and froze just after Stanley's spell took effect said enough. Jane wasn't so sure any more about how effective her strategy will be against a different kind of energy shield. Some girl and two companions crossing a bridge, they may be tough Leray wielders, but nobody can best the Scarlet Syndicate.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/LXbqy8SN/S3-Marx-N-004.png]

Even his own energy scope reported a deep change in his status. Technically, Armor of Darkness is closely related to a spell designed to utilize one's heavy armor's aura in order to make one invulnerable, though even without wearing any metal gear, Stanley managed to make the spell work with just a leather jacket anyway. Since it must have been designed to be worn even in battle, it made some sense as to why it worked here and now too. Had his clothes not been a technical dress sphere or suit infused with magical protection, the skill would have likely failed to invoke.

Over where Danny and Taylor were battling, much had happened since Jane was fighting with the Scarlet leader. Only a few spells of light were exchanged, but Danny ended up taking a heavy hit from one measly Magical Blitz attack. Taylor wasn't in a position to protect him even now. Being separated by a short distance of a few meters left of him, Taylor had to try and target the person targeting Danny with another impending attack.

"Drain!" Danny caught the Scarlet soldier to the left off guard with a quickly invoked spell. The drain spell cast an odd dark glowing glyphring under the Hitman's feet. Before he could even notice what was going on, Danny's spell literally sucked life energy from where the man had been standing, drifting a barely visible mist of magic now seeping into Danny's skin. A bright green aura surrounded him for just a quick second in time, and his health was replenished by five percent, as the enemy targeted lost 10% of his vitals.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/yd46W3Vq/S3-Scar-Hitman-N-003.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/R0WH5t0w/S3-Danny-N-002.png]

Taylor invoked another attack spell just as the Hitman was being drained, not realizing that Danny had unintentionally swapped targets with her. But her move was well coordinated, because the Marksman was already trying to charge up some unknown glyphring attack against him. Taylor released her own magic, throwing the spawning sharp objects as they formed in her hand. "Ice Shots!" Using the similar modified spell from before, Taylor threw several ninja stars at the Marksman, only the stars that spun in the air were also frozen in a coat of ice. The ninja stars hit fast, and though the damage dealt was very light, Taylor knew that her spell was somewhat more effective than normal Ninja Stars after adding ice elemental damage on top of them. Even now though, both soldiers didn't seem tired yet.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/QM5hLNcf/S3-Scar-Marksman-N-003.png]

Now realizing they have a good window to fight back, both Scarlet soldiers decided to attack the two kids from where they stood together, using different spells for different targets. The Hitman aimed at Taylor while the other guy had his sights on Danny. He charged up a large pale colored glyphring formed in front of him, and though the invocation was lengthy, his energy charged directly into the rotating disk. "Sereing Blast!" upon releasing the attack, the glyphring happened to be the medium of the attack spell, sending all of that energy into a white beam of energy that had the same radial size as the rapid rotating glyphring. The beam was shot immediately with an unlimited range on approach to hit Taylor. Though because it was a light beam, there wasn't even time to register in Taylor's mind what was about to happen. Taylor took the damage immediately, as the blast penetrated her body with an evanescent hit of light and magic.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/kGRysH0R/S3-Taylor-N-002.png]

While keeping sight of everything happening, the Scarlet Marksman unleashed his powers on Danny, a spell that did not rely on the use of a glyphring. "Creshendo!" he hollered. In response to using an unusual magical attack, seven phantom phased pillars of dim light beams hovered in place, all spawning from the ground drilling up tall into the air above Danny while surrounding him from different angles. Before Danny could figure out what was happening, all of the phantom beams slammed into him at once with a powerful force that was enough to crush the concrete underneath him. Danny fell on his back from how powerful the attack was, and the damage done to him in the end was terrible considering the other hits he took before. Creshendo was a spell he didn't even know about until just now. The user creates all of these phantom light pillars together that surrounds the target from all sides to crash onto a single fixed point. That means dodging it is actually easy, if only he knew about it previously.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/KYCgZYKw/S3-Danny-N-003.png]

Jane could only hope that her team wasn't having as many problems as she was right now. There had to be a few spells powerful enough to break through Stanley's tough shield, though most of the strongest spells would end up exerting the most of her own energy. "Crimson Flare!" With little choice but to keep on battling as best as she could, Jane created another large sphere of fiery magic homing in on Stanley's location.

Though the man literally didn't mind it at all. Instead, he held his sword out, and casually walked into the magical bubble of damage. Upon coming out of the sphere, Stanley's aura still remained with his health unchanged, the red coat of light around him bubbling with incredible visual effects for sight. He then used his sword to infuse some more magical energy into the blade, causing it to glow with an orange-yellow color just before slamming it into the ground. "Crush Wave!" The sound of his voice was slightly interrupted by the clinging of the metal sword on the ground echoing all around, while the spell activated the second tier of Shadow Wave. Jane saw the Crush Wave heading for her, a modified version of Shadow Wave carrying chunks of rock out of nowhere. Jane was amazed already that the bridge had not been destroyed at this rate. Then again, the bridge was designed to withstand powerful Leray attacks in the first place.

Jane put her arms out again to shield against the ground wave attack, just in time for the wave to slam into the aura and deal damage to Jane's power shield. The wave lasted for a while, causing several hits in once place just before exploding with more chunks of rock heading every which way. Jane lowered her shield just afterwards, after barely managing to keep up with a powerful hit like that one, but Stanley had another attack coming her way, already anticipating Jane's shielding technique.

"Crush Wave!" It was the same spell sent in unison, another shockwave carrying debris on the ground towards Jane. Jane knew it was impossible to avoid it a second time. Invoking power shields takes a little time in between to have that kind of concentration rebuilt. Knowing that there was no possible way to block or dodge the attack, Jane went with her gut to try and power up any random magical skill that may be helpful while Stanley watched to see what came next.

Just as she used up about forty percent of her entire savings of MP energy, Jane chanted the ability's name while sending the auric wave all around her. "Zero Zone!" The entire world became black and white quickly, as the Crush Wave slowed down to a complete and total stop. Somehow the Siriean domes were still functioning, but the intensity of the shields were incredibly low and mostly transparent now. It almost seemed to flicker from here, noticeably refreshing all of the made up hexagons all around constantly at a slower rate, but with time stopped entirely, that had to be nothing more than a visual illusion. Jane took advantage of her new opportunity, using the time stopping magic to get back at Stanley. Jane first went with a full rushing charge towards the man, but before getting too close, she noticed something else in particular.

The Armor of Darkness that had been protecting him was completely gone, even though it was functioning a few seconds ago. Jane gasped aloud upon the several details coming to mind, and a similar situation that happened to her while in the dark zone. The red aura that showed its working effect could not run to protect Stanley with this new refresh rate, simply because that requires elapsing time to run. Jane had slowed time to a near halt, which included the effects of the darkness shield. Wonderful! Jane can kick this guy's butt now without having to worry about the technical details, but she worked quickly on the timer she was limited to. With her daggers in her hands, Jane got in close and slashed the guy's body with several dagger strikes.

"Blast Wave!" Jane took a step back to create several explosions on the field, including the area where she and Stanley were positioned. While Jane likely had the chance to make her spell here work in this immediate space, she chose to freeze her own spell in time outside of the current aura first. That way, when Zero Zone ends, the Blast wave will trigger only then, dealing enough damage to knock his Armor of Darkness right off. So the spell didn't trigger yet, though Jane's MP levels were running low in response to using the spell in question.

"Knight Dance!" Deciding to keep it close range for now, Jane transitioned into another combination of magically infused punches and kicks, not even bothering to try and dodge or jump around too much. After getting in enough hits, Jane backed away to a safer location just before finishing her combination. Time had not started back up yet, but she had a sense that it would begin again very soon. Just as she reached a safe zone, Jane turned towards Stanley again and used her last spell for now. "Spirit Arrow!" Firing a phased arrow through a colorless glyphring, Jane's oddly transformed spell still worked as intended, as the arrow was launched from the barely visible bow, traveling through timeless air and piercing the man's skin. Not only would that do spirit elemental damage, the result should slow the guy down soon.

Just then, the Zero Zone effects began to fade quickly, while Jane's low MP began to catch up to her in the form of exhaustion and fatigue. Several dozens of random explosions blasted the entire field just as the color of the world returned in part, and the red aura around Stanley's body phased back on again since it was able to. The explosions would soon take care of that little detail. The earlier invoked Crush Wave simply continued on a linear path to the edge of the Siriean dome, not prone to harm any person inside due to Jane's change in physical position.

Stanley had no idea what just happened, but he was hurting everywhere, he felt incredibly dizzy, and now there were several explosions right on top of him. The first blast knocked him back several feet, while collapsing his red protection aura on the spot, and after being hit by another blast from behind, he nearly became immobilized by the incredible pain and damage taken.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/L5gJGF6R/S3-Marx-N-005.png]

Both of the other soldiers were having a rough time with the new challengers too. Danny and Taylor were proving to be a painful dose of teamwork. Though it made little sense as to how they so quickly figured out Leray fighting, it was of little concern with the two soldiers' new idea. While both aiming their arm up above Danny and Taylor's position, they each chanted their spell, concentrating more than they did in the past. "Heat Seekers!" Just after forming two large orange glyphrings, the magical release formed about six large missiles launching into the air from each glyphring. Since both of the brothers did this at the same time, together they formed twelve large missiles now locking on to their enemy's heat signatures. It's a rare attack spell that is difficult to achieve, though very effective in dealing damage.

Danny and Taylor both saw their impending doom, as the missiles actually fueled themselves with a ton of speed, heading straight for them. Danny thought quickly about what he might try, assuming that the name of that spell is as accurate as its literal form. "Triple Fire!" Danny launched three Fire Bolts all at once, clustering them together intentionally, but his aim was nowhere near the missiles or the enemies. Instead, he controlled the direction of each Fire Bolt to travel in a spiral line from where he stood to a far off path to the right. He then steered the bolts just before they hit the dome wall that trapped him and Taylor in this place.

Just as he learned from before, one can slowly degenerate their own magic in use to telekinetically control existing projectiles. It's much easier to do with your own spells though, and you can also change the physical location of specific medium-ranged attack spells too with more expended energy. As planned by Danny, the missiles suddenly changed course, confused by the new heat signatures formed by the three Fire Bolts winding around the entire battle area. At the last moment, Danny changed course again, aiming the Fire Bolts directly at the Scarlet soldiers. Just as the bolts impacted on them, the explosive result caused the turning missiles to head back in the direction of which they came. The Scarlet brothers were supposed to be controlling their missiles too, but being blasted with Fire Bolts totally disrupted their concentration. Now with a loss of control, they could do nothing about the twelve massive missiles about to slam into their own location. After using their own spell against them, Danny watched as the explosion that followed swallowed up much of the entire field, giving off a bright new source of light.

Taylor was immediately impressed that Danny had such an amazing idea and thought process in such little time, but she wasn't about to simply let it slide either. Anyone would have thought that both Scarlet soldiers were dead at this point, even as the blinding light still had not faded, nor did the smoke. But Taylor had a feeling that both were still alive, and that means they can simply whip out healing orbs all day long. "Electric Arrow!" Responding to the feeling in her gut that this battle was not over, Taylor took her careful time in invoking a difficult spell while the smoke, dust, and light cleared away.

The bow formed in her hand like in any other skill, though the color of the wooden material was a nice stylish shade of blue. The arrow was glowing the same color with electrical magic energy inside. Taylor simply held the arrow back and waited for the first chance she got to aim and shoot. That chance came rather quickly, since the Scarlet Hitman quickly tried to crawl out of the smoke, dragging himself through the ground in plain sight. Taylor let go of her arrow, letting the man have it.

The immediate moment the arrow stuck into the man, a high voltage of electrical energy was discharged into his body for additional Leray damage, giving him a painful zap while draining him of more energy. As the piercing shock was over, the man struggled to move at all, wondering what happened to his accomplice.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/mDYL9ZDP/S3-Scar-Hitman-N-004.png]

Danny had the same idea, using the time they had to remain relentless. He pulled out a sword using a tiny amount of magical energy, planning on mixing that alone with another spell. The Hitman had already been in too much pain to move, so Danny wanted to target the other guy, waiting for the smoke to thin out more. "Rush Assault!" While his body began to glow with a white auric color, Danny ran at a nearly impossible speed right into the dusty area, holding his sword closely. After finding the other Scarlet soldier struggling to stand up and keep his current balance, Danny let his combination rip, mostly slashing into the guy's flesh with his blade. The rush assault spell made him faster and speedier than before, even giving Danny the idea of using his elbow and feet for hitting as well. Though the combo was very long, Danny got in as many hits as he could before backing away to leave him with the high damage the enemy already felt.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/vBsMGRzb/S3-Scar-Marksman-N-004.png]

Jane wasn't the only one distracted by the blinding light show from afar. Explosions capped the entire field inside of the other dome belonging to Danny and Taylor too. Jane didn't expect them both to be dominating the other soldiers thus far, but even from this distance, that wasn't easy to tell.

Marx checked out what was happening too, while taking that time to try and recover his lost strength. The light cleared, but the smoke in the other dome fogged everything up. Jane's friends seemed to be the only ones not rendered invisible, which practically spoke volumes about who was winning the other fight. He was losing, Marx and his team. The fight wasn't over yet, but he was confused as to how it dragged on for this long. "Who are you people?! Why won't you just lay down and die?!"

Jane noticed Stanley pull out a set of sub machine guns, aiming them at her to fire each mechanism. His rage was simply a prelude to another attack, but having his projectiles being bullets, Jane wasn't able to do anything about it before being hit from several rounds in each shell. Stanley was using the skill Bullet Blitz, though he did not have the patience anymore to chant the name of those spells. After suffering some severe piercing pain from the bullets hitting her skin, Jane noticed little change on her energy scope.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/fbTDddr1/S3-Jane-Red-005.png]

The pain of bullets to the skin was bad enough, but Jane had dealt with it before. The bruising pain in several hundred spots on her skin wasn't half as bad as it felt in Alpha Zero, and this guy isn't much to handle whether he can use dark magic or not. "I'm not afraid of the Scarlet Cult!" Jane announced proudly. "We'll make you pay for your crimes!" While slowly pulling her daggers in secret, Jane enabled her next spell, trying to put some extra power into it. "Mako Beam!" Jane used the tips of her dagger to fire blue narrow beams into Stanley. Though this was a very weak attack, Jane's hits were still accurate while her MP cost for the skill was essentially zero. It would give her more time to think about the next idea. While spinning in between two hits, Jane managed to score four beams on Stanley using her daggers from a distance, though the damage level was as non-lethal as Jane expected it to be.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/G904CgHD/S3-Marx-N-006.png]

Danny realized that it was time to try his best skill that was new in front of these freaks. Though it would be his very first real attempt, and therefore would take much time to invoke correctly. "Taylor! Cover me!" Danny charged his energy slowly, creating a glyphring that wasn't quite complete in front of where he stood. The glyphring was out of phase, and thus wasn't fully formed yet.

Taylor had to attack the guys now or else Danny's big magical invocation would be interrupted. Anything good enough would have to do. "Magical Hammer!" Taylor summoned a massive hammer in the air above where the two men were standing. Both of the Scarlet soldiers glanced up real fast to notice the giant hammer about to smash into them, and unfortunately they had just enough time to dive forward and avoid the final slam into the ground. The hit was even good enough to shake the entire bridge some more. Danny was still fiddling with that unknown spell of his.

"Come on!" He tested. Danny's glyphring was turning red as intended, but the spell just wasn't budging. He tried to imagine the entire scene happening in his head, which wasn't as easy to do with this much pressure, and with his MP energy dropping like this... "Hellfire!" Screaming the name at the top of his lungs did less help than imagining the scene unfold in his mind. Though Danny managed to do two at once, finally lifting the spell out from phase and into this world. The glyphring solidified its true form, while a massive spiral barrage of Fire Balls shot from the glyphring like fireworks.

Nobody else could have expected what was to happen next, but Danny's Hellfire spell was a powerful one, shooting a total of twenty Fire Balls from the glyphring, giving them homing properties, and taking on the shape together of a massive spiral of Fire Balls to confuse the enemy on where they will hit. With homing properties on every one of the projectiles, all of them were going to hit one of the two targets separately. Danny watched the fireworks from here, while the men were being bombarded with Fire Balls. Their health declined very quickly in the process, but even after it as all over, the fight would eventually continue on. Their resilience lasted even after suffering several fiery blasts.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/rmNTmhnW/S3-Scar-Marksman-N-005.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/yx7Vyqgv/S3-Scar-Hitman-N-005.png]

"I've got these guys," the Hitman ordered. "You just get those healing orbs out now!"

"Oh no you don't!"

The Hitman didn't give Taylor a good enough chance to stop either one of them, spawning his next attack that already used the time to charge up completely. "Star of Darkness!" Because of where they were standing, Danny and Taylor were both being surrounded by the red circle associated with the spell. The invocation was quick too, trapping both Danny and Taylor inside of the Star of Darkness. The red light illuminated under the circle, immediately draining their health while the other guy was working on those healing orbs.

Meanwhile, Marx confronted Jane again with another attack, using his sword and more dark magic to keep Jane off balance. It wasn't possible to lose a battle when faced only with ordinary Leray magic, especially with dark magic on his side. Marx was about to prove it here and now. "Cutting Edge of Zero!" Stanley swung his red glowing sword in the air again while far away from Jane. Only this time, his blade created line slices in the air which looked exactly the same as the Splice spell. Only these lines were dark red with an aura of purple around them, all traveling in the line towards Jane.

Jane saw the unusual attack coming, and from the aura it looked as if it were more dark magic being used against her. Jane thought fast to cross her arms again and invoke another shielding aura. As the bright line of light tried to cut through Jane's shield, several tiny hexagons formed in a line showing where the shield was hit, and Jane felt immediately powerless from how high the damage to her shield was. Having to immediately drop her aura, it was clear that Marx can do this all day if he could figure a way to bypass Jane's own shielding abilities. The time in between the shield damage to Jane dropping it left only less than half a second of time before she would have been affected by that last dark spell.

Just after Taylor was the one who took the final strike of the red lightning bolt from the Star of Darkness spell, Danny was still affected by the health drain on the same occurrence. Both of them have lost a lot of health too, and without enough time to do anything about the issue, it gave the other soldier the time he needed to activate their healing orbs. Taylor was slumped down a little, already appearing too weak to battle. Meanwhile, the soldiers were healing up nicely.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/D0fTbqHN/S3-Scar-Marksman-N-006.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/RhGvPPw9/S3-Scar-Hitman-N-006.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/gJRLrP8J/S3-Danny-N-004.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/7bvnWV4s/S3-Taylor-N-003.png]

The healing orbs must have been light versions of something, because at the end of the sequence, the bad guys only regained proportions of their lost health, not all of it. Still, Jane must know that they can't win like this! Turning away for a moment to call over to Jane, Danny pounded on the edge of the dome shield that forced him inside, since he was already at its edge with Taylor. "Jane! Jane! You have to shut this down now!"

Despite the dome shields naturally being partially sound proof, Jane could hear Danny's complaint all the way from here. She risked a glance in their direction. It was obvious that these people were already using unconventional methods to win, but without a way to shut down the fight, how could Jane actually help them in the immediate moment? "I'm not afraid of you Marx!" Jane pointed at her opponent and taunted his very style right in front of him. "My friends might be in trouble, but I can fight you all day long! You're going to have to throw your very best at me if you want to stand a chance!"

Stanley sensed deception in the air already, and Jane's odd choice of words began to decipher into what he took to be their hidden meaning. "Nice try Jane. You really expect me to waste all of my energy just attacking you one after the other? You want my energy to be lower than yours so that I don't stand a chance. Fine. I'll play your little game. Your shield is powerful to block even dark magical attacks, but I know a spell that will end you on one single shot! You won't be able to shield yourself from this Jane! Dodging is impossible! This is where you get to join your friends in their death! Redemption!"

Jane smirked in the fact that she got what she hopped for. After remembering how the shields react in Zero Zone mode, when time is stopped, she realized that there was a reason that all of these shields and domes have a refresh rate, the reason why they don't function well during time-based distortions. The shield is self-regenerating, constantly forming energy layer upon layer, as the old layers die out too quickly. Dome shields are impenetrable for that reason, but even the highest refresh rate cannot hold up to the incredible potential energy of a Redemption spell. Jane didn't expect Stanley to go that far. It's a mystery to how he even knows of such a powerful attack like that one, but it will do.

With the Redemption spell activated, Jane could see the green vertical beams of energy spiraling together and coming towards her directly. There technically is at least one way to dodge this attack, though rare would it be to actually get the idea in the heat of battle. Waiting for the right moment, Jane invoked her next skill while keeping her hands shut and clean. "Dark Strike!"

Jane's body vanished just like that, the spiraling Redemption beams continuing on as though uninterrupted. Jane reappeared quite a distance behind where Marx was standing. She held her hands out and released more of her magic immediately afterwards, but not towards her opponent. While aiming for the Siriean dome, Jane used much of her magic to try and slow down the refresh rate of the entire shield around them, utilizing similar time distortion effects in the simple form of her concentration. All she has to do is affect the entire dome shield around her, and exert magic in a way that stops the excitement of energy regeneration towards the entire shielding aura itself. Partial and directional time distortion magic wasn't easy at all, but Jane knew she had only one chance right now. Her second phase of the plan was already working. While Marx tried to figure out how in the name Jane managed to dodge Redemption, Jane was already weakening the entire dome shield. The changes were already somewhat noticeable, and the effect began to form unusual electrical sparks around the entire dome, while the hexagons making up the shield pulsated everywhere due to the refresh rate being low enough to see with the untrained eyes.

The beams from the Redemption kept on going and going, not stopping for a moment. They're designed to be absorbed by the Siriean dome in the end, but while Jane was dampening the shield, the first beam that managed to hit the dome completely blew a hole in the energy field, collapsing the dome around them in milliseconds. Jane however wasn't finished yet. She now had to switch targets, now slowing down the refresh rate of the other Siriean dome where Taylor and Danny were positioned. The first Redemption beam that destroyed the first dome faded away, its powers canceled with the process, but the other three that marched onward slammed into the second Siriean dome just as Jane managed to weaken this one as well. The process cost her a lot of MP energy, but she still had plenty of it remaining in her own reserves. As all three beams hit the dome shield, Jane watched as the second Siriean dome collapsed further down. Though it took three beams to completely wipe it out, her entire plan managed to work. Jane, Danny, and Taylor were all suddenly set free. Jane didn't need to exert all of Stanley's energy. She just needed the perfect super-spell.

Now that Danny and Taylor were free, Jane rushed in towards them, calling them the other way. "You two by me right now!"

"Noooo! What's going on here?!"

Jane didn't care that Marx was busy figuring out how three students managed to take down three fully trained Scarlet soldiers. All she needed right now was the closure of her friends, literally speaking. Just as Jane, Danny, and Taylor reunited together by sprinting to the same place as quickly as possible, Jane refined her earlier statement. "You two under me now!" Jane's friends didn't hesitate to think about what she was doing, they simply followed her orders to the mark while Jane concentrated on two entire spells at the same time.

While Marx and his men were finally figuring out that Jane had collapsed both shield domes and were fixated on one single point tightly compacted together, they predictably tried to rush into them for close-ranged attacks. Jane used that moment to lift her arm straight up towards the sky, releasing most of her remaining energy. "Ultima!" The light that spawned in her hands became too bright to look in its general vicinity, and the rest of the spell began to unfold itself without further assistance from Jane, the glyphring forming around that single light to help it explode into a full light screen area attack. Jane knew however that this method would harm Danny and Taylor in the process, which is why she suddenly let go of that light to invoke her second spell. "Power Shield!" Jane had to literal give this one all she had with the small amount of energy remaining in her capacity. Jane also had to lift the entire aura and expand the range slightly to make the bubble bigger, protecting herself, Danny, and Taylor as they huddled up together on the ground. Jane's shield successfully invoked just as the light screen from Ultima exploded all around them. Through the view of the shield aura, nothing but blinding white light could be seen through any angle. Every one of them had to shut their eyes for the long three seconds the entire attack screen lasted.

Jane dropped her shield in weakness the moment the light faded away. The entire bridge was smoking from the heat, though nothing had actually caught fire. Marx was down on his knees thirty meters in front of Jane, while the other soldiers behind them were completely incapacitated. In the result that followed, Danny and Taylor were unresponsive, too speechless by what Jane had done in a single minute to care that they managed victory in this manner.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/FzPQbYQH/S3-Scar-Marksman-N-007.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/L4V46sw-7/S3-Scar-Hitman-N-007.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/VsJ4zSJs/S3-Marx-N-007.png]

It was clear to Jane that Marx was hurting badly just to stay awake in that tough battle. With his goons down and the Siriean domes completely destroyed, there was nothing he could do right now to successfully kill Jane's group like he promised he could. Jane had already done it, whether Marx was ready to accept defeat or not. "Want some more," she challenged through her scratchy throat. Jane was so weak and sore just from the loss in all her MP that it was having more of an effect on her than it should.

Stanley could barely managed to stand up at all. His energy was practically gone right now, and his helpers had failed in their mission too. No! It isn't possible! "This... This isn't fair!"

Despite her own weaknesses, Jane had it in her to stand back up, slightly approaching Stanley. "What you lot do isn't fair. As soon as you pass out, I'll make sure you're arrested by the Leray agents in Eldora. You'll be spending the rest of your days behind a cell!"

"Hmhmhm! Nahahaha!" Despite how cringy he sounded, Stanley laughed through his bruises and exhaustion. "Leray agents? Hah! Those bastards couldn't catch a cold! But I'll be back one day. I'll get you for this Jane! You and your friends!" Stanley had much reason to speak as if he were leaving. His quick invocation of one last spell formed a very odd red glyphring below his feet.

"No..." Jane recognized this pattern before. This wasn't a glyphring spell. It's teleportation! In battles, the illusive act of teleportation is nothing more than matter transference, but this type of teleportation can take one anywhere within Sprawn Valley in a single instance. "Hey!" Jane rushed in towards Stanley, who was getting away before she could do anything about it. In just a quick flash and fade of light, Stanley Marx was gone, vanished into thin air as the teleportation symbol left on the ground completely disappeared with him more slowly. Jane turned around, noticing that Marx had also placed a teleportation symbol around both of his soldiers too. Even though the spell had a delay with Marx not being here, the invocation still worked. The unconscious Scarlet team vanished into the fleeting beam of light too, leaving behind no single trace of anything.

----------------------------------------

Chapter Theme Shift: Chrome Valkyria ~ Advanced Battlegrounds OST

----------------------------------------

It took several long moments for Jane to get it into her head that the Scarlet enemies were gone, teleported away like the cowards they are. Nobody left a single trace or object behind. It was as if the Scarlet Cult never existed around here in the first place. It bothered Jane to no end that they managed to pose as Leray agents with their fake shiny badges, a con that even fooled herself. What were they doing here in the first place? Why were they messing with this orange lamp on the side of the rail?

"Jane!" Danny called. After pulling Taylor to her feet, Danny had pulled several items from his pocket. Picking out the healing orbs, he handed one to Taylor, and rushed another into Jane's hands. "I'm glad we made it through that fight, but we've all been injured."

Jane concentrated on Danny's words and expression. The danger from all three of those men was very real. "How badly? Did any of you take real time damage?"

After distracting the two using the bright light of the healing orb, Taylor allowed the device to completely replenish her strength, immediately registering on her stats.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/mZcxKgRC/S3-Taylor-N-004.png]

As expected, Taylor's health did not fully heal, though Jane had already deduced that the cause was more about a lack of physical rest than any real time damage. After all, the energy scopes are handy for reporting real time damage, something her own was still doing above her head. Because of the orange color on Taylor and Danny's energy scopes, Jane already had a good guess to say that her friends would come out of this just fine.

"I think we're okay for now," Danny confirmed. "You on the other hand should use one yourself. I'm surprised your health is still so high, but you must have gotten hit by something."

Jane examined the back of her right leg where a cut had previously been made from the attack she was hit by earlier. Danny followed the attention from her gaze to her gash. Though it drew some blood earlier, the cut was not nearly as deep as Jane believed it was, the seal on her skin already made by natural real time healing. She felt fine physically, other than the total exhaustion from having such a low MP energy amount. Danny used his healing orb in front of Jane, while Jane used one on herself. In the meantime, she thought more about what the hell happened here.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/cCSgn5Bc/S3-Danny-N-005.png]image [https://i.postimg.cc/bvS4G6Jr/S3-Jane-Red-006.png]

Despite the high stats of her body, Jane chose to ignore the real time damage on her for now. It only appeared to be a scratch, one she could shake off without an issue. "I'm fine. I guess I got lucky not to take as many hits..." Jane trailed off in her thoughts. It was so much quieter now, total darkness surrounded all of them. Their only light source right now was the orange lamp to the side of them. Now that Jane thought about it, perhaps the lamp here was nothing more than a lamp. The Scarlets must have been using this area as a rest spot for whatever mission they were trying to achieve.

"I don't understand. I thought you beat them with whatever you tried," Taylor concluded. "So where is everyone?" While waiting for a response, Taylor disabled her energy scope for now, since it was not relevant.

Jane disabled her energy scope too after Danny's, and answered to Taylor's curiosity to the best of her memories. "They used teleportation symbols. They invoke magic that allows travel to anywhere in the world in a single instance. Normal teleportation takes longer to charge, but teleportation symbols remove that charge-up time, and without a Leray agent around, it cannot be traced. They could be anywhere!"

"Teleportation is illegal, right?" Danny pondered. That's what he heard from the agents back at Tilsit. His curiosity about the entire process gave him some knowledge, but nobody bothered to give himself or Taylor permission to try and learn it. "Assuming what you're talking about is totally different from what we've seen in Leray battles."

Jane refreshed Danny's memories of the subject quickly. "Correct. Matter transference is what happens in battles, not allowing the user to actually escape the dome around them, but with the other process, you can teleport in and out of anywhere that isn't being blocked. Regular teleportation is legal only for the agents, but relying on symbols to instantly warp around is illegal, since it often uses a forbidden type of magic. Places like the Verlith Prison are immune to teleportation for security reasons, same with the inside of Siriean does, but our enemies were allowed to escape, just after we went through all of that too."

Taylor, finally feeling recovered crept closer to Jane and Danny for comfort and reassured them about their win. "Don't feel bad. He did say he was going to kill us all, but we all fought together. They may have escaped, but we've prevented them from doing their job, both on this bridge and by keeping us alive."

Danny agreed, "She does bring up an excellent point. As long as we're stuck outside of civilization, there is not much we can do about it right now."

Jane turned to face the city lights in the distance, their destination still too far away for those lights to help them see the road. "We're reporting everything that happened here the first chance we get. Stanley Marx, Scarlet soldiers, even Kira. I can't just be okay with letting killers run around as they choose."

"We might have a problem with that." Danny waited for the two to look his way in order to properly point out the issue. Danny then pointed to what he had seen. Though difficult to make out since the objects were further tucked in the shade of night, all of the bicycles they dismounted from before were sitting against the rail where they left them. Only the metal was still smoking, and the tires were completely flattened.

"What happened to our bikes?!"

Jane came up with the answer for Taylor quickly, thinking back to any possibility in which the bikes may have taken a few stray hits from magical attacks. "It was Ultima," she announced. "After destroying those domes around us, Ultima had the potential damage range to affect everyone and everything in a four to five hundred meter radius. That's why the Siriean domes exist in the first place." Jane got much closer to the bikes with her friends, realizing just how toasted their rides were. "Ultima isn't a spell powerful enough for its heat to warp this metal." Nor did it. The metal was burning hot, but just as straight as it was designed. "But the heat alone would have been enough to pop holes in these tires. Our vehicles are completely useless now until we take them in for repairs."

Danny sighed of stress. "So we're walking the rest of the way from here? That could take several more hours." Without bikes being capable of getting stored into supply spheres, this trip would drag on into next morning.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Jane held onto her bike, still capable of rolling the thing with the force of a simple push. The vehicle was too bumpy to try and ride, but at least Jane didn't have to scrape it across the heavy cement. "It's not long from here, and we should be close to the exit of Route 787. Either drag these things with you or don't. They're too big to fit into the supply spheres, so this is the only way."

Danny argued with the details of their purpose. "Shouldn't we invest in a better way to travel? I find it hard to believe that with all of these magic powers, nobody has figured out a solution just by improvising."

"If you can think of something better, please let me know about it." Refusing to keep it up, Jane was suddenly in a rush to get going. They would have to walk with these bikes under their hands just to reach Eldora City before it's time to fall asleep.

"One more thing before we go?"

"What now?" Jane's tone was aggravated by assumption that Danny had nothing useful to say.

Danny wasn't about to say anything. He pulled out another orb from his pocket, the green top device he kept from one of the earlier wins. This is the Endurance Booster orb Jane gave to him after the match with Liam. "I know this normally doesn't work outside of battle, but people around here are finding ways to cheat. Until that gets resolved, I see no reason why I should have to wait before using this thing."

Jane didn't know what to say. Normally she would be against the thought. After all, invoking an entire battle just for the sake of using unknown items is the reason she got into this huge mess to begin with. Then again, a Defense Booster wasn't an unknown item, and a battle would not normally be needed to cheat the system of the orb's early activation. Jane saw Danny struggle just to activate the device, unsuccessful in powering the thing up with his magic.

After staring blankly at her right hand, Jane gave herself an idea, one that she didn't feel comfortable with in the first place, though Danny's reasons were well founded. After all, if he is coming into Alpha Zero, he would need all of the help and support he could have, no matter how they were obtained. "Let me try." Jane walked up to Danny, placing her hand on the top of the orb without taking it from his hand. After a few seconds of concentration, Jane's magic managed to trigger the initial light in the device, after which she quickly let go as to not be the person to absorb its effects.

"Wha— How can you do that?"

Good question, but one of easy suspicion. Jane knew it had something to do with her mark. It does even more than most people realize, providing her with enough energy to overcome the greatest obstacles without even feeling the difference. Danny's orb lit up in his hands, after which his energy scope appeared momentarily to report the permanent change in his stats.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/DyhLJmCK/S3-Danny-Def.png]

Jane then followed where Taylor was standing. She waited on Taylor's confused expression until Taylor realized she was being asked to pull out the orb she won from Liam's match. An MP up spell bomb, also only usable in battles, unless one has Jane's crazy unusual skills. "I have a feeling that this mark I have wasn't intended for me, that the spell bomb I used on myself was designed to specifically break the natural rules that Leray enforcers try to keep functioning every day. Such power could be used for other things I wouldn't have in mind."

"You mean, a spell bomb that was meant to do bad things?" Taylor held out her orb, waiting for Jane to activate it for her.

Jane continued speaking while placing her right hand on the orb. Her hidden symbol even in its passive mode has the power to overcharge Leray energy into physical objects already infused with magic, bypassing the security mode on the devices in question. That must be how. "Yes. Imagine the chaos that would follow if someone else got a hold of this crest. They could break the very foundation of the protection that each and every citizen has. Some criminal could have obtained my powers instead, and then used it to destroy this entire world." After lighting up the orb, Jane let go again, allowing Taylor to absorb its effects while bringing up the energy scope for only a few seconds before fading away on its own.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/zfppGKwv/S3-Taylor-MP.png]

Jane accepted what she just did for them. "You'll both need that extra boost should you accompany me into the Dark Zone. I still suggest you simply pack your bags and go back home, but I won't force you to do as you don't want to."

"We want to help you see this through," Danny cleared. "Going home can wait right now. Sprawn Valley isn't our native country, and it certainly is a very strange place, but the people in this country are still real people. This Alpha Zero threatens the lives of innocents, and all three of us have the power and will to stop it. I'm not going anywhere until it's been resolved."

"Then I'll protect you two for as long as I'm here." Jane got back to her bike, and began pushing it forward again. "Come on. We don't want to arrive in Eldora too late from now."

Danny got his bike and pushed it the same way Jane and Taylor were doing. It was going to be another long walk before making it off this bridge. "It's too bad they couldn't make a spell to fix objects. Just aim at these things and repair it all." After receiving no reply, Danny simply assumed such a spell was out of the question. Having to stroll away from their only good source of orange light, Danny kept his senses sharp. He would simply refuse to battle anyone who might jump out and challenge them. Strikes are more than acceptable now. After that ordeal and Jane's real time damage to prove what happened to them, they really could declare an actual emergency to prevent strikes.