Naoto advances towards Vektor while saying:

"Let's do this, guys! Take down the invader!"

The battle in the Valley of Music begins. Naoto flies at high speed towards Vektor, who keeps his guard up. Instead of attacking, Naoto simply flies in circles around Vektor, who is distracted as he tries to avoid letting his guard down, which ironically gives Hiki time to disappear from his field of vision while Noburo advances on him without him noticing.

The moment Vektor notices Noburo's attack, the only thing he has time to do is defend himself using his sword. Noburo then lands a punch on Vektor, who even after defending himself, is pushed back 3 meters due to his opponent's immeasurable raw strength. After yet another moment of distraction, Naoto begins to attack incessantly while flying.

Vektor barely dodges Naoto's attacks, which leaves him open to more powerful punches from the super-strong Noburo. Each punch has the impact comparable to a heavy stone being thrown from afar. Exhausted and in pain, Vektor loses his will to fight after suffering a considerable amount of damage, but still remains standing.

Vektor manages to dodge a punch from Noburo, but from there, the situation reverses, as he takes several aerial attacks from Naoto, until he is finally knocked out by a punch from Hiki, who was hiding. Despite not being as strong as Naoto and Noburo, Hiki's punch hits Vektor in a blind spot, that was completely unprotected and open to attacks.

Defeated once more, Vektor finds himself almost without the strength to stay standing, but he refuses in any way to remain lying on the ground, forcing his body to get up while trying to ignore any pain he might be feeling. Without hiding the exhaustion on his face, he holds his sword with all the strength he has left, surprising Noburo:

"I see you refuse to fall before us... I admire your willpower, but it's too late to resist. This is the end!"

"(Damn it...!)"

Noburo throws his last punch at Vektor's face, a truly lethal blow. However, his fist forcibly stops moving mid-flight, much to his confusion:

"M- My fist... won't move... What's going on...?"

Vektor also gets surprised for a moment, until a familiar voice says:

"I'm absent for just a little while, and this happens...? Geez, you really are hopeless..."

Vektor instantly looks to his side and finds his best friend...

"Sych!"

"Your mom knew you would get into trouble and sent me to help you. You can rest now. I'll take care of those three by myself!"

After saying this, Sych lowers one of his hands, which was raised, which in turn cancels the pressure he was putting onto Noburo's fist, who moves away and reunites with Naoto and Hiki.

Naoto then challenges Sych:

"You just said you're gonna take care of us three by yourself? Now that's some confidence... Do you have any idea who we are?"

"The Musicians, I suppose. I am-"

"It seems that you know us. Therefore, you really are a fool if you think you can challenge us. Now I ask you: Who do you think you are?!"

Naoto flies at top speed towards Sych, who just by raising his left arm, paralyzes Naoto in the air and drops him to the ground. With his fist recovered, Noburo advances against Sych, who with his right index finger, stops Noburo's punch, who falls down from the pain he feels in his fist. Sych then says to Naoto:

"Do you want to know who I am? I am... the most powerful among the Unique... The guardian of the Drenn lineage, Sych!"

"Sych?! So that means..."

"The one you just defeated is the current apprentice of flames, Vektor Drenn."

The Musicians lose their composure the moment they hear this. Hiki takes a while to digest the information:

"Vektor... Drenn?! What does a legendary Drenn do on this island?!"

"As you should have already imagined, he's here to activate the Burning Silver."

Noburo, being the first to recover, apologizes to Vektor on behalf of his entire team:

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"I see... It was our mistake for not thinking about this possibility. Please forgive us, we are deeply sorry."

"F- Fine..."

Vektor is still not used to all the respect he receives from the inhabitants of Netern Island just for being of Etykiran bloodline. Considering that there can only be one apprentice per Etykiran family, it must be rare for an apprentice Drenn to visit Netern Island. Well, in that case, this is a good moment to take advantage of such hospitality. It's either that or constantly risk his life.

Hiki uses his healing power on Naoto and Noburo, who recover instantly. Soon after, he uses his healing power on Vektor, who still had injuries from the battle.

Healed, Vektor puts away the Burning Silver and retrieves his backpack from the ground. With everything pretty much resolved, Vektor asks Hiki for a favor:

"Hey, could you heal Kder? He has a really serious wound that probably won't heal on its own."

"Sure. Since we're in the Valley of Music, it's my job to heal the injured who come through here. But next time, make sure to take him to a hospital."

"Okay... That was the original plan, actually."

"Just out of curiosity, how did he get injured?"

"A guy appeared out of nowhere and attacked him while he was distracted."

"I see... That's really uncommon. I hope you all be careful from here on."

"We'll be careful."

"Now, show me his wound. The faster he gets healed, the better the result will be."

With Vektor's help, Hiki begins to take care of Kder using his healing power. Minutes pass while Kder does not regain his consciousness.

Unconscious, Kder dreams of a distant memory...

A fragile little boy abandoned on the streets gets mercilessly beaten up by delinquents. A young man arrives to rescue him.

But suddenly, an explosion of flames happens, and some being with a fiery aura appears. The young man saves the boy and runs away. The furious flaming being attacks each of the delinquents.

Carrying the boy in his arms, the young man runs. The boy then closes his eyes...

Kder wakes up. Vektor and Sych are close to him. Vektor feels relief:

"Ah, good, you're awake."

"Where am I...?"

"In the ruins near the altar where we were standing before. After your wound was healed in the Valley of Music, I found out that I was following the wrong path. So we came back here, and you were completely restored. The Musicians already got back to their work, so they're not here."

"Right... It all went well in the end, isn't that right...?"

"Well, kinda. Maken is out of our way, but just for a while. If I can't find a way to quickly bring together all of the apprentices, I'll soon be in trouble again."

"I see... So it's some kind of race against time...? If it keeps going like this, Hiroshi will..."

"...Sorry for asking this right after you woke up, but I'm kind of in a hurry. What's your deal with Maken?"

"You want the full explanation, am I right?"

"...Yes."

"No problem, I was dreaming about that just now... I'll start from the beginning.

My name is Katsuo.

I was born in a really wealthy family, but I was abandoned on the streets when I was a child. My life wasn't any close to appropriate, to say the least.

One day, I was saved by a man who took me to Kder Island. This man was the Kder of the previous generation, who has since become my master.

Hiroshi is the name of my master's younger brother. He is one year older than me. He was raised, educated and trained in the same way as me, and he was the successor to the title of Kder.

We were just like brothers. We even put a gold earring in our left ears, as a definitive sign of our brotherhood.

Unfortunately, one day, my master was murdered. After being shaken for days, Hiroshi began to act strangely. At one point, he asked me for help in avenging Master Kder.

Wanting to honor our master, Hiroshi and I pursued the murderer. In the ensuing battle, our enemy defeated Hiroshi, but I was somehow able to defeat him. However, after the battle, Hiroshi suddenly killed him, and finally disappeared from the battlefield.

Days later, he reappeared on Kder Island, even stranger than before, and told me that he had become Maken to gain more strength.

We faced each other right there, but he easily defeated me. I then took hold of my master's sword, which had fallen to the ground, and used it to break Hiroshi's sword.

He then said that he would eliminate the apprentice Drenn and disappeared. The sword I wielded was the legendary Kder Sword. Therefore, I decided to become the new Kder and take the task of defeating the new Maken.

Then I went on my journey to Netern Island and removed the Burning Silver from its altar before Maken could. Guess I don't need to continue from here..."

"So that was it... Sorry for forcing you to tell me all of this story..."

"Well, dwelling on the past won't help us now. Let's hurry up and dispel your curse."

"You're right. We can't waste any more time."

Vektor turns to Sych and asks:

"What's your plan now, Sych? Will you follow me on my journey to protect me?"

"As much as I want to, I'd rather take the safer, more practical option. So I'll try to find the Etykirans via an alternative route."

"Alternative route?"

"This island is not a straight path. If I head somewhere else, our search for the apprentices should speed up enough for you to find them all in a day or two."

"Nice move! It would be a great help. Thank you."

Kder then announces his departure:

"I'm going to look for Maken. If he's still hiding somewhere on this island, it would be dangerous to let him loose."

"Wouldn't you guide me around the island?"

"Don't worry. I've done as much as I could before your arrival to ensure that your journey will be as easy as possible. Finding the apprentices should be an easier task because of this. For now, our only real concern is Maken. As long as you're on this island, protecting you is also part of my job."

"If you say so... Good luck, then."

"See you soon, Vektor Drenn..."

Sych also bids farewell:

"See ya later, Vektor!"

"See ya... Be careful, you two."

Kder and Sych set off on their parallel journeys, disappearing into the mountains of the Valley of Music. Vektor Drenn walks alone in the opposite direction of the trail, until he reaches Etykiran City, the metropolis of Netern Island. Although the trail is quite long, it is calm enough for him to easily reach the end without overexerting himself. Carrying a backpack and a legendary sword on his back, Vektor takes a deep breath and faces the big city...

"Alright... Guess it's time for me to start my own quest!"