Lera's walking.

She's walking. Along the endless road of her story, she kept on walking.

Then, she found Wu standing next to her, matching her pace with a smile on his face. He looked like his old self as they kept on going, and they were talking about food.

Lera glanced at the boy, and she smiled. Then, she looked down at the road for a second, avoiding a medium-sized rock before turning back. Now, Wu carried his disguise Cast, and he followed Ver that somehow appeared not too far in front of her.

They were walking.

In the middle of the endless dry plains is the dirt road that they were walking on.

Now, Lera had to match their pace.

As her feet continued spinning underneath her body, the figures of Wu and Ver continued moving further and further away from her. She reached one hand forward, and she called for Wu's name, but hearing that call, the figures simply moved even faster.

A wild wind brought forth a ruthless storm of dust, swallowing Ver and Wu whole and leaving Lera alone in the dirt road.

She kept on running until her feet cramped up, kept on screaming until her lungs hurt, and suddenly, she felt a firm pressure coming from all around her, and warmth started to infiltrate through her defenses.

She tore open her eyes, and she saw Wu's worried face so close to her. He has taken off his disguise Cast as he held her close. Her body was trembling, and her tears dotted his pillow.

"Lera...you were shouting..." Wu said, as Lera blinked a few times and wiped away her tears. She pulled Wu close, feeling his warmth and sniffing his shoulders as he comforted her by patting her head.

"Sorry..." Lera said slowly, her voice muffled as her chin pressed into Wu's shoulders with every spoken word, "I...am always causing you trouble..."

"Well. This time really is my fault..." Wu said as Lera bit into his shoulders quite hard as punishment, "Ouch!"

"That's what you get for lying to me..." Lera said, leaving the toothmarks on him and pulling herself back to look at the boy, "Now...tell me everything."

So Wu did, whispering all that has happened into Lera's ears as she held onto his arms and listened quietly.

"I wanted to call out to you so much...I wanted to tell you everything...when you came to see me, I was..." Wu said, his voice low and pained.

"I understand." Lera said slowly before she reached in and gently kissed him on the cheek much to his surprise, "Ah...I didn't mean to..."

"That was nice." Wu smiled before he poked Lera lightly in the cheeks as she spun away in embarrassment, "I didn't want to risk Charlie telling the truth and getting you involved that early, but in the end...none of it really mattered."

"And my stupid tantrum has put you in this horrible position..." Lera said, growling under her breathe with immense frustration, "Stupid Lera! Stupid Wu!"

"It's going to be okay." Wu said, rolling around and letting Lera go as she half-turned to look back at him, "I promised Ver that we will talk about this, so let's do it."

"FINALLY!" Ver said, kicking down the door and walking in as Wu suddenly sat up on the bed and Lera tried to hide underneath the blanket, "Can you two lovebirds get to the matter at hand please?!"

"Were you waiting outside all this time?" Wu asked before Ver threw a hand forward and tossed the blanket covering Wu's legs and Lera's body aside with the Kraken's tendril.

"DOESN'T MATTER!" Ver shouted, as Lera sat up slowly with a red face, "Lera! Why are you acting like you have just done the deed?"

"We didn't!" Lera said quickly as the squeaky door slowly closed again, "Not today!"

Ver's eyebrows raised at the remark as Lera made a face and covered her mouth.

"...Anyway." Wu coughed awkwardly and took a seat on the edge of the bed before Ver joined him at the chair, "So, we have two and a half-day to prepare for this Ring of Fire thing, and I am allowed to have someone else fighting beside me."

Lera lowered her head as Ver crossed her arms in front.

"I suppose I just wanted to talk this through with both of you." Wu said, sighing, "Lily and Charlie are going to throw whomever they can get their hands on towards me, and..."

"Cut to the chase, Mr Savior." Ver said impatiently before she leaned forward and let her dark blonde hair dangle over Wu's shoulder, "Lera, no offence, but I will be fighting beside him this time."

"What..." Lera wanted to protest instinctively, but when she stopped for a moment and thought back to all that has happened, did she really deserve to have this chance? Wasn't she the one that put Wu in this predicament?

But is it even about a matter of deservedness? Shouldn't it be whoever that's going to be the best fighter alongside Wu? Shouldn't it be whoever has the best synergy with him?

"No. I need to fight beside him." Lera said, standing her ground, "I have been fighting beside him this whole time!"

"And?" Ver countered, "Without my help last time, you would have lost everything!"

"That's not true!"

"Admit it, Lera!" Ver said, her eyes cold and her voice rapid, "You, in your current state, is barely enough to make it into the Academy! You cannot help him this time!"

"NO!" Lera shouted, jumping towards Ver when Wu suddenly rose up and grabbed onto her arms. Lera looked at Wu, and his expressions are calm and steady as always.

"Lera." Wu said, slowly lowering Lera's hand, "I promised we will talk this out. So let's talk."

"There's nothing to talk about here." Ver said sharply, "Not really."

"I agree." Lera said firmly, though she allowed Wu to hold onto her hand, "I need to be the one beside you. My Cast Array works perfectly with your powerset!"

"But..." Wu hesitated for a moment before forcing himself to talk, "Remember the one girl that we fought? The bald one with dark skin and a white tank top?"

Lera's body froze slightly before she sighed and nodded. It is true that her Cast Array and Wu's lack of Wave work perfectly together, but in the face of overwhelming power, they couldn't have done anything. Not really. Lera knew that in the Ring of Fire, they are going to encounter nobody but those with overwhelming power.

And that's the strength of Ver. Her manifest, the Kraken, was in a tier of its own. Lera, at the end of the day, is just a utility-based Caster, and when the format of fighting is limited to two individual fighters, then the two not only need to fight together but also need to individually output a level of power themselves.

Having a purely utility-based Caster that provides little damage would have been a waste of a slot, and even Lera knows this. That's part of the reasoning behind her frustration at herself.

"Ver." Lera said, biting her lips and making a stand, "You make sure Wu wins it all this time."

Ver smiled, and she whirled her hair around her finger before puffing her chest out and stretching her arms, "Of course. I am always taking care of Wu when you can't do it."

"Ver..." Wu rubbed his temples and shook his head, "You shouldn't say it like that."

"Why not~" Ver giggled, "I like teasing you, Lera. You are so earnest!"

Before Lera can find the words to shoot it back at Ver, the entirety of the Ville College suddenly shook as if there's an earthquake in the floating island. Wu's mind immediately traveled to the massive Cast that was written into the core of the floating rock the college is built on. Did what he did with Charlie also affected the integrity of the structure itself?

Wu sprinted out of the room when suddenly, Ita's face appeared in front of him before he ran her over and pushed her to the ground. Ita let out an audible ouch before she opened her eyes. Fortunately, Wu's hands didn't find their way to her petite chest, and Ita immediately kicked him in the stomach, sending him crashing into the ceiling before dropping down.

"Ah! Wu?!" Ita shouted, "Why were you running in the corridor?!"

"I thought the college is going down!" Wu replied quickly before he picked up Ita like a baby and put her back on her feet, "What's happening?"

"We have someone at the courtyard!" Ita said quickly, "She calls herself Fatera, and she said she wanted to see you!"

Wu tilted his head slightly before he ran past Ita as Lera and Ver also exited his room, "Is she attacking?"

"We were trying to hold her back, but she's...she's too strong!" Ita said as Wu nodded slowly. He reached around his gauntlet and disabled the safety before jumping down an entire flight of stairs and landing hard on the ground.

The one known as Fatera was surrounded by an entire crowd of eager Wave users from Ville college, but by the time Wu ran into the yard, all he saw were the bodies of the Ville college students as they moaned and groaned.

He looked up at the individual standing in the middle of the room, and his eyes widened before his mind registered Fatera's appearance.

The girl with dark skin, bald hair, crimson eyes, and a white tank top stood proudly in the yard with her back straight and arms out to the side.

"WU!" She said excitedly as Wu exited the building, "Ya gonna go into the Ring of Fire, correct?"

"And that's in two days." Wu said, trying to stay calm as Fatera approached him slowly, "What are you doing here?"

"Take me with ya." Fatera said, smiling excitedly as her crimson eyes glowed faintly and a small gust of wind swirled around her body, "Take me as your partner, and I will win everything for ya."

"HUH?!" Lera and Ver poked their heads out together, and their expressions were identical, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

"My name is Fatera, and I am the one who wins!" She said, pointing a finger at the two girls enthusiastically as her bust jiggled in the wind, drawing Lera's attention immediately.

Oh no...yet another big one in Wu's life...