As the five from Wu's squad rose while the five from Nana's squad fell, the Battle Segregation Cast's effects dropped off at last. The individual slices of battlefield started joining back into one another, and the images of the rest of the forests frozen in time started melting away, revealing the true extent of destruction in the aftermath of battle.

"Ver!" Wu immediately noticed Ver who's sitting down besides Nana's body, her body bruised and battered with a pair of blades held in her hand. She waved and smiled back at him as he helped her up.

"Well...that was crazy~" Fatera said, looking over at Augen before her eyebrows shot up, "Augen. Ya used it again, right?"

"Just two of them." Augen said, stretching his back out as the kickback from the Forbidden Autumn and Spring Casts started giving him echoing pains all throughout his body. He grimaced as Fatera came to his side and picked him up, "I can walk by myself!"

"Yeah. Ya look like a piece of paper flopping about." Fatera rolled her eyes before walking by Lera who strolled towards Wu and Ver.

"I knew all of ya would win." Fatera said, looking around at the group of five before glancing towards the thin coiled blade in Ver's hand, "Is that..."

"The Water Weaving Sword." Ver said, helped up by Wu as she wound the sword around her hip like a belt, the same way Nana did, "Nana mentioned something about what happens when all the legendary weapons are put together..."

"Never heard of it." Fatera shrugged, "But the next time the users of legendary weapons gather, it's gonna be really awkward."

"Nana...no..." The tall girl, Leila crawled towards Nana's body with tears in her eys, "No...no..."

"I am sorry." Ver said, walking by her, though she ignored her apology.

"No." Rez, the boy that are able to manifest into pure energy, and Kei, the little girl with black bangs covering her eyes walked straight past Wu's squad.

"That's just...the way things are." Kei murmured, "Another test in our journey."

"Wait..." Leila asked, looking around frantically, "Where...where is Peta?"

Augen grunted in pain before he reached into his pocket and took out the small dagger. Then, Fatera took in and placed it on the ground next to Nana. Leila cracked into a bawl, and Wu's squad moved on in silence, leaving them be.

Their next stop is the stronghold that will then provide them with the second captured stronghold. In the meanwhile, Ver went back and quickly recaptured a third stronghold that belonged to one of the squads that ambushed Wu before the attacks from Nana's squad.

Now with three strongholds, they sat somewhere in the middle of the pack, with the number one ranked squad already taking control of six strongholds by now. The shrinking bubble also continued progressing inward, eliminating the squads that were unable to continue, or the squads that were simply too broken down and injured to do so.

With only a total of six remaining squads left in the summer selections, Wu's squad were the only groups anywhere near their region of the forest, and they were able to swept up one more stronghold before taking a short break to rest and recover.

Based on the speed of progression of the outer radius of the bubbles, Wu and Augen anticipated that there is at least half a dozen hours before they will have to progress further. And after what was essentially non-stop action ever since the start of the Summer Selections, this rest is much needed.

The groups took turns taking power naps, or rather, that was the idea anyway. Wu and Lera simply cuddled for a little while with Lera simply being too worried about everything to sleep. In comparison, Wu slept like a baby, though she was content just watching him breathe slowly and steadily as if there wasn't a tournament going on out there.

"Ya...okay?" In the meanwhile, Augen, Fatera, and Ver sat out in the main hall of the stronghold with rations of food sat in the middle. Fatera tapped Ver on the knee, who appeared unfocused with the Water Weaving Sword in her hand.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Oh~" Ver made a playful tone as Fatera glared at her, clearly no appreciating her making fun of the attempt at caring for other people (other than Augen), "Yeah...Just a little shaken. People have come for me for a lot of reasons, but for this..."

She gently placed the Sky Splitting Sword, miniaturized to match the length of the far thinner Water Weaving Sword, next to the new sword itself. Then, she picked up a packed sandwich and started chomping away, "I don't know. It's really strange, almost felt as if I am holding onto something that doesn't belong to me."

"Well, that ain't true." Fatera cut in, "If ya defeated the previous holders, don't ya get to keep the sword? Wait...does that mean the Sky Splitting Sword is mine?"

"Fatera!" Augen interjected, and Fatera let out a chuckle and shook her head.

"Just kidding!" Fatera said, looking towards the boy who took a sip of water and shook his head.

"It's not about whether you are worthy of the swords or not." Augen said, "It's all about how you use it. The Forbidden Casts that I use are forbidden because of the destructive potential they can bring to friend and foe, and that's the historical perspective. I don't agree with that, and it's part of my life's goal to prove that point."

"Do you ever wonder if the powers of the Casts are too much to handle?" Ver asked, her big eyes locking onto Augen.

"Every day." Augen smiled, "But that's what keeps me going forward and getting stronger. Well, also Fatera. She pushes me forward too."

"That's right~"

"She does push too hard though. I had to use the Forbidden Spring to bring myself back to-"

"Hey! Don't go around spreading rumours!"

Augen let out a chuckle, and cut the story short right there.

Ver was content just meditating there while conversing with the Kraken when it's Fatera and Augen's time to rest, and Wu and Lera leaned against the stronghold's window, the two of them keeping an eye on the impending bubble that slowly approached towards them.

"You know what's the plan next?" Lera asked, her eyes scanning the forests and the structures floating above them in the distance.

"We move towards the central area." Wu said, flicking a switch in his Void Suit playfully as the clicking sound started to annoy Lera, "That will mean the remaining six squads are going to be there...waiting for us."

"As we are to them." Lera added, and Wu nodded before Lera reached and grabbed his hand just so he would stop touching the switch.

"Those that take the initiative in battle typically have the upper hand..." Wu said, "That would be the case in a vastly more simplified world. But it's not always true. That's the balance in battle. Those that moves first are also the ones who make themselves the targets. But those that moves last will also put themselves on the back foot."

Lera nodded, and she rested her book of Casts on the sill of the window before her eyebrows suddenly crunched up together, and she looked at the bubble far out in the distance before pointing a finger towards it, "Is it just me, or is it coming towards us rather quickly?"

Wu followed her point, and his heart sank. That wasn't how things were supposed to be with the previous known rates of movement of the bubble, but how things were supposed to be doesn't matter anymore. At the current rate, what were once hours are now minutes.

They need to get going.

Augen didn't take much to wake up, but Fatera was one unpleasant sleeper when interrupted. However, being able to shift the blame to Principal Khan for not sticking to his schedule was one hell of a motivator. As the group ran through the vast plains of the forests, the last of the strongholds soon emerged itself in front of them.

"Prepare for the siege with Matty as the lead from above, and..." Lily's voice cut through the forest when Wu stopped suddenly behind them. She turned around to the familiar faces before a smile formed on her face, "Look who's finally here."

"Hi Lily." Fatera waved her hand before wiping a line of sweat on her forehead.

"Took you all long enough." Lily said, as Fatera laughed and fist bumped her.

"What's going on here?" Wu asked, looking at the trio of strongholds positioned surprisingly close to one another.

"The special strongholds. Each one worth three strongholds." Lily replied, turning around, "And the Union squads had been hogging them ever since the beginning."

Then, she lowered her voice further, "The very beginning. There was no way they could have hadit for so long."

"Right. So...what's the plan?" Wu asked, "We take them down together, and then...fight for supremacy?"

"Deal." Lily said right as Yuna jumped onto Lera's back and Shin poked his head around Ver right as she brought up the topic of the Water Weaving Sword, "I have been looking forward to this. Us working together."

"Well, I am sure this won't be the last time."