Kronos stood there, trying his best to ignore the whirlwind of insanity that surrounded him, his focus trying to balance between Shadow's monologue and the absolute madness he had just escaped. Shadow had been going on about chaos and destruction, but Kronos was still reeling from his own personal nightmare. He had spent the entire time locked in a desperate struggle against a woman who had somehow weaponized the air to murder a child of all things.

As Shadow vanished from sight, Kronos turned toward Midir, raising a brow, but ignoring him for the moment. His mind couldn't shake the strange echo ringing in his ear -- MEATCHECK, in his mind like some terrible, low-budget horror movie haunting him.

"...Why the hell does he talk like that after getting his world rocked by a beef leg?" Kronos asked, his question completely sincere. He couldn't help but let out a chuckle despite his exhaustion and wounds. "More importantly though," he continued, his tone shifting to something more serious, "what was up with the way Shadow was looking at you? You guys have some kind of history or something? I mean, I get that artifacts are important, but come on... it can't be this important, can it?"

Lorin can't be trusted...

Truth be told, Midir had never placed his trust in Lorin from the beginning. However, with that mentioned, even Shadow warned them.

Lorin V. Daystar was not only the chosen successor of Indra and Texas, but was someone just as arrogant. Indra pursued scientific curiosity, wealth, and rightful social darwinism. Texas sought equality and a rightful rule under the ideals of war being mankind's nature. Unlike both, Lorin sought to rule the world through fear. It was not about whoever was worthy, but Lorin believed only he is enough to fill the void of an empty throne. The people, humanity, empathy, he had lost his view on all of it. They couldn't afford to let the artifact fall into his hands. That was the entire reason they played along with him, and making Helios sign that contract.

Midir's body began to show his control over nothingness once more, going to a specific part of the rubble and pulling out an artifact from the gaps between particles. Hidden in that nothingness was an artifact with void liquid inside it... unsettlingly still.

"Huh, so you knew where it was all along," Akihiro commented.

"I'm the one that hid it here a long time ago.."

Staring at what Midir brought up from underneath the rubble, it only confused Kronos even more. "If you know so much about it, then why did Lorin want this thing so badly? What even is it for that matter..?"

Helios, who had been watching the exchange with an amused smirk, finally stepped forward. "Midir knows more than he's letting on," Helios said, crossing his arms. "Whatever just happened, that wasn't some run-of-the-mill ability. Not the kind you could just pick up on the fly. Your ability had no mana in it. Secrets are fine, but what gives?"

Helios could tell there was more to Midir's 'ability' than he'd shown before, and the situation demanded clarity. Everyone had been fighting for their lives, and Midir is a comrade they have to learn to fully put their faith in.

Midir, who had been quiet through most of the banter, finally spoke up. "It's not an ability I was born with," he began, meeting both Helios', Zero's, and Kronos' questioning stares. "It's not something I own, either. The lack of existence itself.."

He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts before continuing. "Void Manipulation. It’s different from Shadow Manipulation, which you're family with. For example, Selene relies on creating tangible, physical shadows to function. It needs something real -- something that exists to manipulate. Void, on the other hand, operates within the empty space. It uses the absence of matter to function, not the presence of it."

The three listening exchanged glances as Midir explained, while Akihiro seemed uninterested. Midir raised his hand slightly, and the air seemed to hum around him, as though the very space between them folded.

"The moveset might seem similar at first, but Void Manipulation has one distinct advantage -- raw power. It doesn't just manipulate the nothingness around us. It can erase mana itself. If someone uses mana in physical form, like a beam or projectile, it's gone the moment I can tear it apart." He let that sink in for a second, before adding, "Though there are limits. I can't nullify mental abilities or anything that doesn't take physical form. The reason as to how I can tear apart mana, is because mana was born from nothingness. All existence was, at some point. So if the void has more to amount than the mana, the void consumes the rest of the comparasion."

Stolen story; please report.

Midir's explanation was matter-of-fact, devoid of the usual dramatics that accompanied such declarations of power.

Akihiro, who had been standing quietly, finally spoke up. His voice was calm but carried a weight of curiosity and suspicion as he walked over.

"That's not exactly something you stumble across. It's rare -- powerful. So tell me, Midir," he paused, his tone growing more pointed, "where did you come by such a power?"

The room grew a little quieter as Akihiro's question hung in the air. Unlike anyone else in the room, it was clear Akihiro has had some past experience with the void. Void Manipulation wasn't natural, wasn't something that could be passed down easily.

Midir turned his gaze as if the weight of centuries rested behind his eyes. His voice carried the gravitas of someone who had seen the rise and fall of eras. "Only a handful of people truly know where abilities come from. I am one of them."

He paused, as if recalling memories long buried.

"Five thousand years ago, Gilgamesh was the first to stumble upon what we now call the Sea of Void. It was there, in that infinite emptiness, that he bathed and became the first ever being to wield mana. Those who followed after him gained their own shares of the void, fragments of power that flowed into them, altering them. Those who attempted to bathe a second time -- who sought more, had their mana devoured, erased from existence as if they had never been."

Midir's eyes darkened slightly as he spoke, as though remembering those who had disappeared.

"There were some, however, who were not meant to possess shares of mana at all. Cast aside by society, considered worthless, they were denied the power others sought so greedily. But while Gilgamesh guarded the location of the Sea of Void, these outcasts discovered the entrance to the Abyss themselves. And over time, those who were deemed unworthy began to inherit traits of the void itself from being near it for too long: control over it, and the curse -- or blessing, of immortality. We became tied to the Void's will, unable to age."

He took a slow breath, the weight of his words filling the air before continuing. "We found the source of all Void: Yggdrasil, the great tree that connected the realms of power. But by the time we did, civilization had collapsed, and our era… came to an end. I am one of the few remnants of that lost civilization, kept alive by the will of the Mother of Creation."

Midir's gaze turned distant, as though he was speaking less to Akihiro now and more to the weight of history itself.

"My purpose was set long ago. I was assigned a duty. To ensure this world did not destroy itself, that humanity would not repeat the same mistakes. Two artifacts will reveal the map to the Yggdrasil. The Void is powerful, but it is also the end of all things. I was meant to guard that balance, to prevent humans from walking too far down a path of their own destruction."

A heavy silence enveloped the group after Midir's revelation, the weight of his words pressing down on them. It was a lot to take in, but it was Helios who finally broke the stillness. "Is the Mother of Creation Nyx?" he asked. Midir nodded slowly, confirming Helios' suspicion.

Helios continued, "Nyx's unconscious body was discovered by my father years ago. Turns out, she was the first ever Daystar. Void can't be passed down through reproduction, it seems. She was a personification of the void in human form. My Father understood that mana and void could not coexist, but that didn't stop him. Normally, beings of mana cannot come into contact with the void, or they risk being consumed by it. But what about beings of the void who touch mana? A small amount of void wouldn't consume the mana; instead, it would grow alongside it." His expression darkened slightly. "That was what Chronos was. He was my elder brother, and a hero. Once he discovered what he truly was, he became enraged."

Helios paused for a moment, now sharing the gaze Midir carried throughout his explanation. "Chronos was the beginning of my journey. I've fought against Cameron, Azrael, Eris… and now I'm up against Fenris, who killed all three of my siblings."

Midir regarded Helios with a mixture of empathy, though Helios continued with earnestness. "I'm not asking you to trust me yet. That decision is yours alone. But you're a soldier, like me. We share a similar duty. You don't have to do it alone anymore."

He straightened, determination shining in his eyes. "Screw Avalon. Screw all of it. We won't give the artifact to Lorin, nor will we hand it over to Fortuna. We can have our own crew under our own name, and we'll stand against Fenris and his casino. And we'll rescue Charlie from whatever he's been influenced by."

Akihiro, Helios' equal rival, chimed in unexpectedly, a spark of inspiration lighting up his expression. "How about the name Kaikuji? It means 'tides of bad luck.' It fits our whole purpose, after all."

The suggestion hung in the air for a moment before smiles broke out among them, each face reflecting a new sense of purpose. Zero turned to Helios, the student's gaze meeting his inspiration. "We've been friends for a while now, Helios, and yet I still look at you with the same distance as our planet and the sun. You've helped me with a lot of my enemies too. I'll stand by you no matter what."

A shared determination finally lit up in all their hearts, Akihiro patting Kronos' back after catching him smiling to the group for once. Maybe this crew won't be so bad.

Together, they left the warehouse, the artifact in their possession as they headed back to the arsenal to pick up the rest of their members, and confront Lorin. And after, they'll finally throw their hats into the coliseum's ring.