Everyone swiftly moved to the royal battlegrounds in front of the palace’s gates after receiving word of Magi’s message. The air was filled with worries and anxiety once more for the impending calamity. However, yet another obstacle was about to be bestowed upon them.

“What the hell do you mean by ‘I’m not accepting this? It’s literally written right there!” Lass yelled at the guard chief.

“So you mean I’m supposed to accept a bunch of teenagers who look like they came out of a Comic-Con, just because you handed me a soaking wet, booze-stinking note?”, the guard said.

“But you can see the insignia of the Aleria region and Reingard!” Anya pointed it out.

“Yeah, I can also see it’s been in the bar for a couple of drinks too. Leave now, before I change my mind and make you leave myself.” the guard stood his ground.

“Oh, you wanna try me, you little bitch?” Tiki menacingly approached.

“No…Tiki, please. It’s not time for that.” Hikari stopped Tiki.

Tiki reassessed the situation. “Tsk. Whatever.”

“What if we just hang out in the gardens for a bit? I’m sure you can do that, right? The palace must allow it.”, Luna suggested.

The guard stuttered for a moment. “Yes. And please, assess it as you should. This is no palace, far from it. It’s called the Common Hall. Everyone has access to it, besides officials on the inside. So long as you stop causing trouble for us, you’re free to do whatever.”

“And what about exceptions, if you may? Like, isn’t there anything we can do to gain at least a tiny bit of audience?” Terna politely asked.

“I suppose you may come into minimalistic contact with any official walking on the outside, but dare enter inside without permission and its lights out.”

“All right then. Screw it, everyone goes to the left. I seriously can’t deal with this right now…” Lass rubbed his forehead.

“Yes, Lass. We will figure something out…let’s take a breather at least.”

Everyone started moving to the left, obviously annoyed by the situation they were forced into. However, things played a little differently for Tiki.

“Pfft. As if she could ever beat the chief. Big-tailed demon freak.” one of the guards whispered.

Tiki paused immediately and froze on the spot. She watched the others go forward and patiently waited until they moved out of her line of sight. She slowly turned around and started walking towards the guard.

The guard froze on the spot at the sight of the angered Tiki. “W-Wait! C-Chief! What is she doing?!”

His chief dared not to say another word as he too gave into the mesmerizing fear. Tiki came up right in front of the guard's face. She slowly raised her leg backwards.

Tiki gave a deadly stare at the guard. “If you like my tail, then enjoy my foot too. Because a mother [REDACTED] [REDACTED] sucker like you ain’t gonna have shit for the big balls he’s trying to flex for! Die, asshole!”

The powerful, sound-crushing swing of Tiki’s leg filled the silent air, as she brutally connected with what the commenting guard treasured most. After a horrific scream afterwards, it was apparent that he would not be able to function normally after this ever again. And so, Tiki had finished dishing her private portion of justice.

Tiki looked at the chief. “Say one word. I dare you, I double dare you mother [REDACTED]!”

The guard chief, both in fear and awe remained silent, gazing at his fallen ally below. For him to witness a fate arguably worse than death, he spoke no words to avoid empathizing with his comrade's pain.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.” Tiki started walking away. “Burn in hell.” she swiftly gave the soldiers the one-finger salute.

Tiki had barely turned around the corner before she met up with the entire team again, all of them in either an arm-folded or in a face-palming stance.

“What?” Tiki asked.

“Tiki…what did you do?” Hikari asked with a long sigh.

“Nothing?” Tiki wondered why she was zoned out for.

“Then what the hell was that horrifying scream? Please don’t tell me you stabbed someone…” Lass worryingly said.

“Ha. I wish. That scream equates to what I like to call a ‘shattered family’. So can we move now? Thanks.”

Tiki passed through everyone, stomping along her way. The rest of the team left in awe, they could only gaze at her never-ending boldness.

“I find further negotiations needless. She will robustly deny all accusations.” Luna said.

“Wait, what happened, big sis?” Lina asked.

“Umm. Sweetie, I think you better find out at a later date.” Terna worryingly tried to cover the subject.

“Move forward. Now. And someone please keep in check with her.” Lass angrily said.

“I’ll volunteer. Let’s just…go.” Hikari said with a tired expression on her face.

“No. I will keep a close eye on her instead. I will treat this as my next mission objective.” Luna said.

“Umm…ok? Just make sure she doesn’t screw anything else up. She almost ruined any negotiation chances we had with that dumb stunt of hers a moment ago.” Lass agreed.

“Understood.”, Luna nodded.

Following behind Tiki, they soon found themselves amidst the training area inside the Common Hall’s garden. Deep flora and clean of dust arenas left and right, it was as natural as it was exciting to see the training grounds of Gardard's speciality. Some of them were free and others were being used, they were also lucky enough to catch some of the powerful dragon soldiers training.

“Wow, big sis! Look! They’re doing hand-to-hand combat!” Lina jumped up and down in excitement.

“Hmm.”, Hikari nodded. “Indeed, a very refined style, I’ll give them that. Though you should see them with their mighty spears and their mighty lances! They could shatter the ground and turn mountains into dust, their opponents always feared them as they respected them!” Hikari said with an upbeat voice.

“Wow!” Lina gazed in amazement. “Really?! That’s so cool!”

“Heh, let me at 'em and I’ll show you amazing.” Tiki flexed in front of Lina. “I will-bleh-what the hell?!” she received a powerful strike to the head by Luna.

“Absolutely not. You cannot cause any more disturbance to the training and guarding procedures for the day. I will, however, allow you to spectate.”

Tiki rubbed her head. “Why you-“, she exhaled heavily. “Fine. Mind you, you’ll be standing in front of me in one of those days!”

“I’m sure you guys will, but look! They’re popping off!” Anya excitedly looked at the soldiers training.

Everyone then averted their eyes from the blabbering and looked towards the soldiers in training.

“Sen!” the female soldier vigorously moved forward, launching a frontal punch.

“Nice one!” the male soldier blocked the hit. “Keep it up!” he pushed the female soldier back.

The female soldier giggled. “Easy for you to say. You always thought-heh!” she launched an uppercut into a helicopter kick. “You got the edge!”

“But I-“, he grabbed her leg. “Know what I’m doing!” he pull her close and tried to go for a suplex.

“Hehe! Watch this! Hap!” she slapped his neck with the tip of her tail, causing him to release her. “Sare!” she dropped down and swiped both his feet off the ground. “Seya!”

The female dragon soldier finished it off by jumping high up in the air and facing towards him. She then dashed down from mid-air, crushing him down into the ground with a mighty punch, cracking the surrounding area and stunning him briefly.

“Wow! Awesome!” Lina hopped up and down in excitement.

“But is he…all right?” Anya said.

“They always are. Look.” Tiki pointed out.

The male soldier got up and shook the female soldier's hand, smiling at each other throughout the process.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Hah. And after it all, they just pop a smile.” Lass smirked.

“What happened? Can’t deal with the hard looks and going soft?” Tiki nudged Lass.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. At least smiling guards more an audience than beating the ever-loving shit out of someone.” Lass folded his arms.

“Nah-ah, I beat the ever-loving shit out of his future as a family man. He, in general, got lucky.” Tiki corrected Lass.

“She is making it exceptionally hard for me not to punch her in the face right now.”

“Oh, you wanna? Come on!” Tiki provoked him.

“Lass, don’t.” Yuno tried to stop them.

Luna let Lina go. “Seize this pointless fighting at once. Need I remind you the importance of the situation given to us and the priorities which-“, she gazed at Lina. “Wait. Where is Lina?”

“Uh, guys? Look!” Terna pointed at the battlefield.

Lina had gone in front of the female soldier and started talking to her.

“You let her down for a second. Wow, she’s fast…” Hikari said in amazement.

“Kinda like you when I leave you alone for 5 minutes,” Tiki said.

“Fair point, but still.” Hikari sighed.

“I have to retrieve her at once.” Luna stepped forward.

“Oh come on, I think you’re just being a little strict right now,” Yuno said. “Let her live a little, she’s just looking up to things.”

“I kinda agree with Yuno here, Luna,” Lass said. “Nothing bad is gonna happen. Besides, she’s a soldier and in a public training ground no less. Should be the most common thing she runs across given how many children come and go from this area. Look around you.”

“I…suppose you have logic behind your statement. I will not intervene for the next few moments of the immanent future.”

“Always talking like some sort of robot, come on Luna, live a little,” Tiki said.

“I don’t understand. Am not breathing?” Luna checked her pulse.

Yuno sighed. “Don’t even try.”

“Umm…” Anya lowered her ears. “Terna. What’s this?”

Lina took a few steps away from the female soldier as she did the same. They turned around and faced each other.

“What the-oh no, no!” Terna yelled. “Lina, don’t! It’s not like the movies!”

Luna’s eyes widened. “I must intervene immediately.” she started heading towards Lina.

“Come on Luna, cut it out.” Tiki grabbed Luna. “She’s a professional. Most likely, Lina got caught up in the excitement and asked for a training match. As if she’s going to at all hurt Lina, she will probably start punching the air to give her a good time.”

“I do have to agree with Tiki here. Let the kid have some fun for a while.” Lass said.

“You do not understand. I was never afraid of Lina getting hurt. Her frame is more than perfectly capable of helping her defend herself and her physical capabilities only back up that statement.”

Tiki and Lass’s eyes widened. “What?”

While grabbing Luna, Tiki gave ample amounts of time for Lina and the female soldier to start their sparring session.

“And remember, I don’t want you to go easy on me since I won’t do the same! I need to protect big sis and everyone, it’s the only way!” Lina said full of excitement.

“Hehe. Sure lil cutie.” the female soldier whispered. “Such vitality. What a kind little girl, almost reminds me of me when I started here.” she then said out loud. “Ok, ready?!”

“I am as ever!” Lina yelled as if she couldn’t contain her excitement anymore.

“And sta-ghng!” the female soldier got punched by Lina. “What the-“

In what seemed to be less than the blink of an eye, Lina had disappeared from one side of the training field to the other and delivered a devastating punch right into the stomach of the soldier. The sound of flesh being punched was echoing all the way back to the rest of the team.

“What?!” everyone but Luna and Terna said.

“Oh no…” Luna and Terna said.

Lina giggled back at the soldier. “Turns out I got the first strike! Time for a wombo combo! Sare!” Lina swept both the soldier's feet off the ground. “Heh!” As she did a perfect, 180-degree leg split kick upwards, sending the soldier flying. “Hap!” she jumped after her. “Torea!”

Lina delivered a final, obliterating axe kick directly onto the soldier's back, smashing records and the sound barrier while sending her downwards onto the ground. The sheer force of the impact had dust running away and flower petals flowing all around.

“Woohoo! Victory!” Lina giggled as she jumped up and down from her now uncontainable excitement. “That was so much fun!”

Hearing the ruckus, a bunch of soldiers from the nearby training grounds came around to see what was going on. Seeing their comrade with such devastating wounds and a tall standing Luna above her, it didn’t take them long before they came charging right at Lina. Not batting an eyelid, Lina turned and faced the dozens of soldiers head-on.

“Oh! Yay, more training?! Let’s go, hehe!” Lina took back her fighting stance.

One after the other, all of the soldiers came right for Lina and one after the other they all got knocked out cold by seemingly a single blow. Like bowling pins were hit in one strike, Lina just kept tossing them around as if they were mere snacks.

“Hop!” she upper cutted a male soldier. “Heh!” as she elbowed another one. “Se!” as she jumped up with all her might, punching another soldier down. “Tha!” as she performed an excellent helicopter kick. “Sei!” as she performed the splits while upside down, taking down two more soldiers.

Lina then closed her splits and backflipped to another side of the arena, zoning out the pouring soldiers in front of her.

“Lina! Refer from doing that!” Luna yelled.

Lina did not hear Luna. “I’ll show you my will to protect big sis!” she widened her stance and put one hand behind her waist and extended the other forwards. “Ultimate finish! Yin Chi Punch Overload! Haaaya!”

With that, Lina thrust her hand behind her back downwards, smashing the ground and overloading it with an energy of sorts. The ground almost immediately gave in and was cracked into bits as it desperately tried to force out the immense amount of energy emitting from Lina’s body. Bodies and rows of soldiers were sent flying left and right, as Lina retracted both her arms and began doing yoga breaths to calm herself down.

Lina took a deep breath and exhaled. “Hooo…” she cracked her stance. “That. Was. Awesome! I love it here, it’s so pretty and there’s so many cool soldiers and stuff!” Lina kept yelling and celebrating.

Everyone looked at Lina with awe except, again, from Luna and Terna who instead tried to get rid of the sweat on their foreheads.

“Oh, man. Oh no…with her beating up so many soldiers…” Terna worryingly said.

“We may have accidentally forced ourselves into a scenario of war.”, Luna said blankly like always.

Tiki, Lass, Yuno, Anya and Hikari snapped out of it.

“What in the ever-loving, flip-flapping [REDACTED] was that?!”, Tiki said while still stunned at the sight of a victorious Lina.

“She faced so many…” Yuno said.

“With such power…” Hikari said.

“Whom the hell gave the little girl the muscles of an adult gorilla?” Lass said in awe.

Anya turned around. “Explain right now.”

Luna sighed. “Lina is not your average girl. Much like me, she was mechanized and her abilities skyrocketed as a result of it. However, her metabolism and growth came to a pause after being forced into an inferior frame. It simply boosts her power to absolute perfection and precision.”

“So the little one is a lab rat too. Good. Now explain exactly why, if the augmentation only boosts her powers, she is capable of pulling off some crazy Tai Chi shit.” Tiki said.

“That’s just my sister,” Luna replied.

“Excuse me?” Yuno said.

“Yeap. Ever since I ran away from Tiki that day, I came across and played with Lina in her room. She wasn’t exactly keen on a lot of dolls and stuff…unless they were life-sized training dummies. She also seemed to love a bunch of martial arts movies.”

“Wait, this sweet and innocent-looking little girl is a martial arts expert?” Hikari said.

“Far from it.”, Luna corrected Hikari. “She is a martial arts perfectionist. Ever since she met with the Wandering Phoenix during Operation SkyFire, she was obsessed with all things revolving around martial arts. However, her mentality which I try to heavily emphasize is still far from developed, and keeps getting in her way.”

“We accidentally unleashed a death machine…” Lass said with the most amount of worry.

Before they could say another word, screams and yelling came from across the gardens and training grounds. Bit by bit, the voice only got louder and louder before the figure behind it appeared fully.

“What the actual hell is the meaning of all this? My guards are reduced to adult-sized toddlers and my soldiers are being erased off the face of Riza!” the voice approached them. “What?! You!”

“Why do I have to deal with this,” Lass started to regret his life. “Every goddamn time.”

“You’re the little shit that made Kalimo a thing of the past! I would remember that face anywhere! What, humiliating us in the KoK wasn’t enough, you came to beat our army to a pulp as well?! I’ve got no issues starting a war against you specifically, if that’s what it takes to shut you up!” the female dragon commander moved in.

“Hey, for one your guards harassed me.” Tiki shrugged.

“And for two, a couple of dozen of you “soldiers” attacked an innocent little girl!” Lass yelled back.

“Innocent?! I saw everything on the replay system, you call that innocent?! It’s a walking death machine! What kind of abomination-ack.”

“That is my little sister.” Luna pressed her scythe along the commander's neck.”

“Do it and there will be no end to your hell.” she bluffed.

“If you insist.” Luna pressed forward.

“Can everyone please calm down?!” Hikari yelled.

“This is really getting out of hand…” Yuno prepared for the worst.

As yelling stopped and the intensity of the standoff filled the atmosphere, everyone dared not to say a word but freeze on the spot. Looking at each other, hands on their weapons, it was apparent that the situation was under no one’s control, and the worst seemed to be coming. However, another loud voice broke the silence and a gentle finger pushed away Luna’s scythe from the female commander's neck.

“Can you all calm down? If anything, your utter stupidity and lack of self-control led you all here. That is true for both sides.” the man pushed away the scythe further, giving it back to Luna. “Why are you even here? Again, this goes for both of you. Dant-Uh, Lass and Ikarisa should have already been inside the palace and you, Rein, should have been up with the patrols in the sky.” the man said.

“Easy for you to say. I received word that all hell broke loose in the training grounds, what am I supposed to do? Get the vehicle of choice and get high?” Reina said.

“Ah, you are actually helpless. Mortals always dared to be the same.”

Lina approached the man. “U-Umm…mister. Did I do something bad?”

The man sighed. “No, kid, you did not. Matter of fact, I did something bad for not immediately attaining the meeting when I received word of you reaching the Victorian grounds.”

“Hah. Now I get it. Drima, right?” Lass said. “Magi told us we would find you here…however, are we sure-“, Drima cut in.

“Yes, the Sentinel with the name and title “Drima Of Treason” would indeed still be under the gods' control and not dare to betray them.”, Drima rubbed his forehead. “I swear, the audacity to give me such a meaningless and distasteful title is beyond all comprehension.”

“You look…not that menacing. Are we sure this is the right guy?” Tiki said.

“Yes, a mindless ape with a powerful battle suit, I am the one. But I did not expect someone who puts her nerves over her head to know the simple fact that not all Sentinels are built for combat. Now, we have a lot to catch up on, especially with you, Ikarisa.”

Hikari nodded. “Yes Drima, it’s been a long while…I’m actually glad to see you again.”

“Same here.”

“Finally, a friendly scenario…well, relatively speaking.” Terna rejoiced.

“Hmph. Whatever. Catch up all you want, but if you piss me off again I swear on all that I have, I will wage war.”, Rein left.

“Not like she even has the authority to,” Drima whispered. “And in any case, why weren’t you accepted inside the Common Hall with Magi’s letter?” Drima asked.

“Easy, it was soaked in vodka,” Yuno said with a straight face.

“Of course”, Drima facepalmed. “I told her to make a holo-call and she said no. Email and she said no. And then it came down to this. Why do I always get stuck with the brutes?”

“Mr Drima, does that mean you will let us go inside the place where the super awesome knights go?!” Lina excitedly said.

Luna stopped Lina. “Hold it. I will not allow you to derail again for today and if you do, I will punish you.”

“Yes, I’ll take you in with my permission. Only took you about 3 battalions worth of soldier beating to alert me instead of calling out to me…” Drima sighed. “Mortals…so…idiotic. Hurry, all of you, before I get into more trouble than it's worth for being the person of interest you caused all this for."

Moving cautiously between the beaten-up soldiers, everyone nervously made their way inside the Common Hall, following Drima around every corner. It was only a few moments before he was to reveal his works of a marvel...