Lass and Yuno both nodded as they headed back to the Musica headquarters to check on their friends, following down the same path they did before. To their surprise, the intricate blockade they made to cover up the lower floors had been cleared, making it much easier to move bellow than it was before. It wasn't long before they saw light at the bottom floor, compared to the other dark floors they passed while descending while also feeling a chill breeze coming up, making the temperature more comfortable than it was before. And as they entered the lowest level where the studio was, they could faintly see the both practicing through the recording room's window, being able to hear just a small sample from the door that was left open. The noise abruptly stopped as they realized their arrival, greeting them as soon as they made eye contact, both Lass and Yuno finally coming up to the door.

"Hey you guys, how are you doing?!", Terna happily greeted them.

"Had a couple setbacks while getting everything, but we're here. And you two are doing what exactly?", Lass curiously asked.

"Practicing singing for the stage! If me and Risa combine our powers, nothing can stop us!"

"You're joking, right? Risa, how many god damn times are we going to copy and paste the same strategy here? Back at Reingard, Kaci now again in Delpha? This is getting old, and you know it. It's actually pissing me off at this point, the whole reason why I tagged along was to specifically keep you out of danger!", Lass angrily said.

"I'll do what I must! Everyone looks up to me, and if I slip up or miss something like this, who knows about the consequences!"

"Screw this, honestly. Back to back to back, we fought over this and you came out on top. So here you go once again, do it. Put yourself in even more danger and succeed in your plans that never fail!"

"You're being so mean..."

"I'm sorry, but you have to hear this side too, Risa. How many times am I going to stroke your hair before I actually have to scold you for it? You come between me and Anya whenever we bicker, when it's just bickering, yet when there's actual, legitimate danger that could get someone, that being you, killed, you don't stop to think for a second?"

"I agree with Lass here. I saw via his memories, the reckless plans that miraculously worked. You need to learn to step down, not play the hero all the time.", Yuno agreed.

"I have been stepping down all my life, and look where that got everyone at! Besides, like Lass said, you tagged along, right? So let me be the one to take the hit, since I am the cause for this journey! I know you're always worried and want us to take the safe route, but that's not always the case if we want to guarantee the safety of many others. We are at the very least, grown ups, so we make cautious choices such as these, right?"

"Your arguments are getting less and less proof by the conversation. And Terna, you really are supporting her in this?", he turned to Terna.

"Hey, I'll take the front, this time. She will be my backup singer, and besides, she could use this! I believe in her like you should. I mean, have you seen her strength?"

"Oh, I know I have, but you haven't even come close to that. So what the hell are you actually believing in here? The unseen strength of a 'goddess'?"

"Her as a person! If she did this before, then imagine now!", Terna turned to Ikarisa.

"You know what, screw this. You want to be the 'adult' in the group, go ahead and act like it. I'm struggling more and more to give a shit, when every time I have to argue about the exact same things over. Go ahead and sing your pretty songs, get yourself in danger while we sit back and watch for the third time, because I'm done smashing myself against a wall while I wait for something different to happen, since you can apparently get through to me, while not even trying to let me get through to you."

Lass left them all speechless as he slammed the door behind him in the small studio as he left, stunning everyone with the harshness and rudeness in his tone, even Yuno, who hardly expected his reaction to how they chose to do things again. Ikarisa stepped at the door, getting ready to follow behind him, before being stopped by Yuno, clinging at the edge of her shirt's sleeve.

"Goddess, I assure you, it's not a good idea. Just...give him some space."

"I can't deny that it's my fault. I...I guess I am selfish when it comes to this. He's not wrong about anything, but yet...I can't back down. Not again.", she paused as she frowned.

"He doesn't get it, is all. Rather...he chooses not to. He keeps having weird dreams and nightmares about you and Anya all the time too. He cares all too well to have a close call as severe as that in Kaci. I can understand by replacing you with Lilith. No offense, we might all grow on each other one day a lot too, but look deep inside you and find a person you'd get angry and yell at if they chose logically but the logical choice was to be reckless."

"Yeah, I can see that...with another one. Him too."

Terna budged in, "Risa, could it be that you are worried more about him than yourself?"

"That I am. I've started to remember a lot since escaping some grunts that chased me...some of those memories are of others hurting themselves to protect me. I truly believe flipping the roles over will be for the better, especially when all this happened because of me."

"Could it be something more than that?"

Ikarisa giggled, "Yeah, I do love him...", she realized, "N-Not in that way though. Just that...he is an important figure to me. Had it not been for him, I actually don't know if I'd even be heading to the right direction."

"So he's leading you towards your goals?", Terna asked.

"No, I'm just pants with directions, I tell him where I want to go and he points it out.", she clarified.

"Oh.", Terna scratched her head.

"In more ways than one, I owe him, and preventing him from coming to harms way, any form of harm...I guess its's one way of owing up to him. Though, I've been recently questioning if the way I'm doing it is the wrong one."

"Once he sees you up on that stage, he will surely understand. It's natural for someone like Lass, from the little I've experienced him, to want to protect someone, especially someone as cute as you. And I won't lie, he has an extraordinary taste for friends, such as you. I've seen the opposite time and time again, how people look up to me and all my talent, powers and the rest of my kit. Lass did the exact opposite thing, and that's the main reason why I think he's always so worried about you and Anya, maybe even me, despite all of us being Obsulyte users, some powerful ones too, such as you."

"So how does the opposite hold?"

"He separated you from your powers. He is worried about Risa, the petite sweet girl with the puffy brown hair. Not Risa the goddess with seemingly endless power and lore that dates back to the world's creation. In a way, he does the same for Anya. Surely, when someone as big as her, since I've seen her dad in person while he was signing something with Musica, would have been treated otherwise if faced by others. It all started with ignoring what made you look like from the outside, and I guess it rubbed off to all of you in the end. You're good friends!"

Ikarisa chuckled, "You're a friend of ours too, Terna. If you want to be, that is. But for now, I'll do like Yuno said...best to give Lass a little space to work it out. Though right after this, I'll be checking on him as fast as I can."

"Show me what you were working on, goddess. That should ease your mind a little bit. Don't be shy, I sing a lot of traditional songs that Weis taught us all the time in celebrations."

"Surprisingly enough, I don't feel awkward singing these. Maybe because they're so...powerful. It feels like when I listen to these songs, I want to keep going, especially when I sing them instead.", Ikarisa grabbed her sheet.

"Mmm!", Terna happily nodded, "When someone summons the cliché of 'the power of music', most will laugh or squint their faces. I take it quite literally. While working out, studying, recording parts of history itself, music is everywhere, so I put my all to every song while I write it, especially in this one. Dad died for this...and I am not going to give it anything but my all to honor that. So, let's go on with the preview!"

"Alright.", Ikarisa sat next to Terna.

"And...yeap, it's on.", Terna tinkered with the studio equipment, cleaning her throat.

"Caught in a disaster

Wings broken as the fires fester, deep

A thunderstorm approaching

To it we pray that the flames in cleanses

In silence someone's laugh

With it tearing each and every one of us apart

Hollow breeze

No choice for what air to breathe

What a shame we have become

Heads down as soon as we were born"

Terna paused briefly, allowing Ikarisa to join in for her part.

"We open our eyes to see the strings

Making a mockery out of our feelings

We see ourselves jump beyond the railings

We have nowhere to believe

Not allowed in this world to be free

We march with our eyes and spirits in gloom

Facing every minute of the day of doom

Darkness overtakes the sun as it looms

No one is allowed in this world to be brought

Without being left alone from battles fought

To arms we take our destiny with us

To destroy those above who act as gods

In the abyss throw them and ascend ourselves to even the odds"

They slowly lowered both their voices as they looked at each other with a smile, having a great practice session before Yuno, who clapped his little hands, amazed by the performance before him.

"The slow start at the beginning with that kick up in the middle was so, so good! It seriously made my blood pump to get ready to slash into action, seriously! I'm a sucker for music when I work, much like Lass in his lab, so I could be a little biased. But it still was really good!", Yuno applauded, "Good voices too, the goddess's and especially yours Terna."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Thank you. Though...it's kind of weird to explain this in a way.", Ikarisa awkwardly said.

"No worries Risa, you're not a miracle worker. I had a decent of auto-tuning go into her mic while we sang together. I gave her a few basic vocal lessons to avoid some voice cracks and everything, but of course, she needs a little bit of help going on stage as a day , zero practice first timer."

"Of course, but that still didn't matter to me when the song was just that great! What do you call it?"

"Anthem Of The Abyss."

"Kind of dark for a name...but the setting isn't exactly the brightest either, so it was a little bit expected. So, are you two going to keep goin? Surely, there's more to it!"

"Yeah, that's almost a third of the song there. We sing them in parts for practicing and then stich them together to make a cohesive song come out of it. There could be another way to do it, surely, but I really only got used to this one. I have kind of a bad memory when it comes to remembering things for a long time, so this way helped me out the most!"

"Alright, then I'll leave you two to it and go check on the others up there. Got to catch up to Lass as well."

"I'll try to do my best. Tell him that too, please.", Ikarisa sadly pleaded.

"I will, goddess."

Yuno nodded as he started heading upstairs quickly, flying above all steps and quickly reaching the lobby floor, managing to even catch up to Lass, who slowly and angrily walked towards the exit and regrouping with him.

Yuno flew by Lass, "Hey, you know...they made a very sick song down there. It's actually adrenaline inducing."

"Good for them."

"Come on. They are doing their best you know."

"Yuno, I don't care. It's their business."

"Dude, just come out of it already! I know she's doing the same old, but that worked a number of times."

"Come out of what? We have no compass here, we were sent to do one thing and we have to do 10 other things to get to it, we're choosing all the worst ways to go about it and it just feels so...bad. I struggle to understand why she does that all the time, love or something? Hell, I'm starting to feel more and more useless around her. It's not jealousy, I'll tell you that for a fact. But at base value, what have I done up until now? It's almost been a month already since this started and I don't see anything done. I just can't help it...if I can't be the least bit of service then what exactly is my purpose?"

"You have done some serious service according to her. Your powers alone have proven a massive tool in need to get through things, both in the tournament you got money for and much else."

"Yes, the same powers I had forsaken long ago. What have I done exactly? Powers aside?"

"I think you're hustling too much, you don't need to be doing something every second of the day to be productive, Lass. I tried to, and I was cooked in just two days of trying to do so. It'll come."

"I just don't know when it'll come, but I don't feel like it'll be soon anyway. Plus, with all this use of Ikarisa...it feels wrong too. She's such a good person to me and everyone around her, yet because she carries the shit she calls powers, like me, she deserves to be used as such? Reingard, used her powers to literally blow up, Kaci, her plan to blow everything up again, now Delpha? What is she gonna do, pull a railgun out of her ass and charge it with her powers to blow something up again? It'll kill her someday, quote me on that, and kill her for what, when we could simply take a safer route."

"Have you considered the fact that she might be doing this on purpose, this time at least? Terna must have been the one who coerced her into participating, yet...the goddess seems to really like it.", Yuno chuckled softly, "Honestly, the same way with Lilith. It's kind of addicting for them, from what she told me when she started doing sort of the same. Addiction to confidence they never had before. From your memories, I see her so cowardly and shy off the start, but right now, within the span of a month with everything that happened, she grew much bolder, granted only around you, but it's so nice to see. I think you should honestly lean into it, you don't quite know a lot about her past, so who knows how it's really been for her up until this point. One thing is for sure though, you need to take a step back and look at her. She's as bright as ever."

Lass briefly paused his walking, "I see it...but I'm scared. I don't want to lose her, when I could do anything to prevent it. Same thing with my dad. I could've done something then too, but I ran."

"You need to learn to open up to others. Or, at least someone other than Anya. You two are a weird chemistry, but hey, I ship it."

"I'll ship you across the Ethereal Sea instead.", he quickly answered back, "I don't quite know why though...Anya feels different to me. I talked to her about things I never thought I'd do to another person...but I can't push her into playing middle man for me and Risa. It almost feels like we are intentionally setting barriers with each other, me and Risa. Rather, she's not letting me break them, that is."

"She thinks she owes you one. She's insanely grateful for all you did to her and this is her form of paying you back. Keeping you out of harms way. That's coming from her by the way, word for word. But much like the hotel incident where you saw her...'her' in full view, she doesn't really get it, which is sometimes funny, I'll admit. It's honestly so weird, how she sometimes does things like this, not understanding anything at all and causing an unintentional scene because of the fact she's bad with people and at other times, she does all that wacky and brave stuff you'd never expect from her."

"Only makes it harder for me to understand her, honestly. But I can't help it, because of that fact, to just be a little more protective of her. It feels almost undeserving for her to go through dangerous or otherwise harmful situations for who she is, like that party up at the palace we went to."

"Relax it's been just a month. Give each other more time, like I did. I were to make such thoughts back home in one month since the Shadowers attacked, I'd go crazy. Get to know her better, at least better than you do now."

"Sounds solid. Now, let's get going again, we have more work to do and the clock is ticking for us to get it done."

"Let's see how a cunning thief of a blade can build a parade float."

When they headed out of the lobby area of the headquarters, they were both surprised to find the open area very laxed and with most of everyone who worked on the float gone to other positions. They were even more surprised to find a giant, glamorous parade float ready to head out. The stage was a clear glass white, bellow the floor being square flashing lights, with a metallic front that ended in a half circle walkway, headlights all around the edges and above the main stage. On the very open area of that stage, there was enough space for multiple people to walk around, installed with two multi level benches for people to sit on, hinting the fact that it was where the rest of the soldiers were to stand. There was no backstage, other than a giant screen covering behind them all, with a very particular looking device standing on top of it. The under side of the entire float was around 2 meters tall, more than enough to fit a person, and thick enough looking so that the metal could not be easily pierces. In front of it all was a stretching Anya, looking at the float and seemingly admiring her work, striking her thinking pose as she gazed at it.

"Hmm...I think adding anything more would be overkill. Don't want to make it look like a circus.", she whispered.

"Anya, what the hell?", Lass was amazed.

Anya turned around, "Oh, hey big guy! Fancy what you see?"

"How did you build it this fast?", Yuno admired.

"Obviously, I did it off screen."

"Yeah, that explains everything doesn't it.", Lass sighed in annoyance.

"Hey, plot aside, it's done, and very well done indeed. The thingy hanging above the screen is the shield generator, down bellow we will fit the lights and sfx crew, so I made that area thicker than me for protection. I'll join down there too, since I plugged the Obsulyte core, just to keep it in check. Lora will be at the front with you guys, so I think that settles everything. How are our two stars doing?"

"Amazingly. I loved the song they wrote, seems long too, so it should last throughout the entire way towards the town hall.", Yuno answered her.

"Good! So, once we get the go ahead and everyone finishes their drills, were off!", Anya happily said.

"So, you knew about this plan too? Always the last to know.", Lass angrily said.

"Hey, you were out and about in the storage houses. I was planning to tell you about it, but I got caught up with work and everything."

"So long as we don't wind up dead in a ditch...", Lass submitted, once again.

Before they could briefly relax and regroup their efforts to set out for the town hall, Lora sprinted towards their direction, along with a bunch of her soldiers, all jumping into viacles and getting ready to head out immediately. Having lost her breath, she briefly stood before everyone panting, as they quickly looked around, trying to realize what was going on.

"Get them both...we're heading out...now!", Lora said as she panted between words.

"Lora, what the hell happened?!", Lass anxiously asked.

A crying female rebel passed them by, followed by a bunch of her friends as she left a trail of tears behind her. Yuno acted first as quickly flew up to her, asking if she was alright before being shoved away, scared that she was hurt from a surprise attack. To his relief, no wounds were visible on her, flying back towards his friends to reassure them.

"So, if she ain't hurt, there's no surprise attack, right? What is everyone dashing for?", Anya wondered.

Lora caught her breath, "That girl was notified by the hospital, they checked her father in and he had her mother and her as his next of kin. Couldn't find her mother, so they called her. Her father has been shot, in critical condition. Guys, the bastards swapped to live ammo."

Lass's face dropped, "You've gotta be shitting me."

"Get Terna and Ikarisa loaded, right now, we're off!", Lora jumped in a car next to them.

"I'll go get them, you guys get ready!", Yuno flew towards the Musica headquarters.

"The hole in the fence, these assholes scouted us out and realized what happened!", Lass angrily said.

"Big guy, focus.", Anya snapped her fingers, "Get ready for the battle, I'm heading inside the float with the SFX crew. I won't be directly involved in this battle, so you've gotta tank the front lines, ok?"

"Alright, I'll head out first then. Tell Yuno to come find me after!", he went along with a group of rebels.

It wasn't long before Terna and Ikarisa both met up with Anya outside, quickly boarding the under side of the float as it also started to move towards the main road. As Anya opened up her phone, the news instead showed a horrifying scene of mixed emotions, the raging crowd having a number of braves facing against all forms of authority, while another considerable amount was screaming and retreating in fear of them switching to live ammunition, showing scenes of further chaos. Fires raged on and on as rapid response teams were unable to get to their location, and a slew of people involved, as well as bystanders in the mob were being carried away by medical emergency teams left and right. Worse yet, the first few white blankets were laid on the streets, covering those who succumbed to their wounds.

"Lass found an opening in the fence behind the warehouses after he moved in to check on some rustling. They...they must have scouted us out and realized what we were doing. We wrote it off as just a cat but...no way it shifted so suddenly.", Yuno remembered.

"Neviro...damn you!", Terna angrily yelled, sobbing softly after.

Ikarisa stood by her, "I'll help you win. This will not fly. Anya, how long until we arrive at the location?"

"No more than fifteen minutes. I'm booting everything up right now, and the rest will be handled by the crew. Once we're there, a few soldiers will jump up on stage and take position on the benches, where maximum effectiveness will be achieved. We will light everything up and it's your take from there, alright you two?"

"W-Wait, my sheets! We only god halfway up the song, I don't remember the rest of the lyrics!", Ikarisa got anxious.

"Stand by me.", Terna told Ikarisa.

"What?"

"Stand by me and read both my movements and my lips while I'm at it, after we get off the first half."

"Terna, I was supposed to be in the back, the spotlights and everything are just...I hate them!"

Terna softly exhaled, "Stay behind for the first half that you memorized. If you don't want to, I'll keep up the performance solo. I can do it solo too, so no worries there, alright?"

Ikarisa nodded, "O-Ok. I...I'll see."

"Quick decision making you two, we got a show to get on. Yuno, once we're there, you know what to do, right?", Anya asked.

Yuno nodded as well, "First thing I do. I have to make sure Lass stays in total control. I'll get ready to jump right now.", he went to take his position.

Meanwhile, at the very front lines, Lass had already exposed himself to all the danger there could be, along with Lora. Behind him were a slew of rebel soldiers, mixed with the raging mob of people seeking their freedom. In front of them laid a mix of mass police enforcements and military with heavy equipment, even tanks and special mobile weaponry all pointing at their direction.

"This...this is bad.", he looked behind him.

"I'll size up to them any day. Let them bring it!", Lora yelled.

A military man stood on top of a tank, "Seize all forms of resistance now. Lay your weapons and walk back slowly, or we will be forced to open fire.", he spoke through a megaphone.

A man threw a rock towards his direction, directly hitting the forehead of the military soldier, causing him to bleed as he started to scream back, "What else were you gonna say, you little shit! Your mother is standing behind me somewhere here. Hell, she might even be dead!"

Another woman stepped forward, "You are all disgraces to your families, standing on the opposing side!"

A rebel joined in, "Brainwashed pieces of shit, I hope you can never find a stable living after this, you don't deserve it! Strip them of their rights and diplomas, send them to burn!"

The soldier, still looking as young as the rebels on the other side, covered his face as blood drooled down to his chin. He slowly dropped back, feeling lightheaded from the blow, being grabbed by his colleagues, before being dragged back and everyone on the other side turning to face the rebels directly, hands shifting rapidly around their chest as they all rhythmically cocked their guns and rifles.

"Wait, Lora, stop that guy, he's yours. This is devolving to something much worse than what I thought. It's an uprising, not a civil war!", Lass worried at the hearing of those words.

"This can't be stopped by anyone, mister Raiden.", she took cover behind a car, "It can only stop by itself, and started by others. Take cover!"

"What the-", Lass instinctively dropped down and took cover.