If it wasn’t for the weight of sin pressing down on his heart, Vince Rayburn would have been beyond himself giddy with excitement.

Here he was, tuner in hand, Resonator by his side, sneaking into a building to take down a bad guy. The him of six months ago would have gone crazy thinking he could be an honest-to-goodness hero.

But not the boy who crept through the dimly lit halls - not this Vince Rayburn.

This was something he had to do. Not for revenge or anything like that.

No, if he were to ever meet Cecil again, he had to make amends.

Stopping this madman was the only way to ease the pain.

He jumped when a hand touched his shoulder.

“Keep calm,” whispered Mila. Her hands radiated such warmth, that it was almost overwhelming – especially in contrast with the cold, musty hallways which they crept through. He felt welcomed by her fire.

“Tch.” Faith clicked her teeth. “Of course I get put on freaking babysitting duty,” she grumbled.

“If you didn’t like it, you shoulda said something sooner,” Mila growled at the other Maestro.

“Mila.” Vince held an arm in front of his Resonator. “I’m serious about seeing this through.” His conviction was sharp, slicing through Faith’s expectations.

"Try to keep up,” warned the elder Maestro, turning on her heel and resuming their forward trek.

Althea let out a held breath, following her Maestro.

Vienna shook her head and also went along with her sister and the other null element.

“It’s alright beansprout, we got this.” Mila patted her Maestro’s back. He nodded and the group marched on.

Their part of the plan was simple, but decidedly lacking in elegance. They had a majority of the combat power between their three Resonators. Althea and Vienna were monstrously strong, and Mila was pretty handy in a fight.

So Ryo Saitou was their problem to manage. Through brute force alone.

“Here we are,” Vienna’s voice snapped Vince from his thoughts.

Faith, Althea, Vince, and Mila entered the room.

It was a stock standard meeting room. Though unlike the one at the hotel they were in less than an hour ago, this one showed its age. Several of the fluorescent bulbs were out, causing an uneven distribution of lighting through the space. The long rectangular conference room was marred by time, having accrued nicks, scratches, and stains from uncaring office workers.

Telecommunications equipment was bundled haphazardly all around the room. Perhaps this space had been converted into a makeshift closet as the original owners of the building slowly dwindled.

On the opposite end of the conference room he stood. Clad in his black suit and shades, Ryo Saitou glared down the two Maestros his opposite. At his side were the two Resonators at his beck and call – Vail and Whistler.

“Faith,” spoke the man.

“Father,” the daughter returned in kind.

“You’ve returned to me,” he noted.

“I didn’t return to shit. I came here to stop you – by force, if necessary,” Faith growled.

“Cease this foolishness,” his tone notably sharpened, his brows descending.

“You’re the one being an idiot, Dad. What would Mom say if she was still here?” Faith spat, her fist trembling as she scowled at him.

“Children are meant to obey,” the older Maestro spoke, raising his tuner. “Children who don’t obey must be taught.”

Vince gulped, the grip on his tuner intensifying. The rhythm that filled the room was suffocating. This man and his child were monstrous. The young Maestro had never experienced any sensation quite as crushing as this in his short life.

But still – he had to see this through. Ryo could not be allowed to make it to Shouri, which went doubly so for his two mechanical Resonators.

“Expect at least two Resonators by his side – most likely Sprites in human-sized robot bodies.” Shouri’s advice from earlier in the evening rang in Vince’s head.

He couldn’t claim familiarity with Sprites, but from his quick searching, lightning elements were going to be in the cards this evening. Not that he ever worked with or against the element. His naivety regarding Resonator affairs was biting him in the rear at this exact moment.

This wasn’t the time for that though. His gaze steadied as he studied the opposing Maestro and Resonators.

A distinct aura of static hung in the air – the rhythm of the two strange Resonators standing their opposite. They were relaxed, looking down on the four standing before them.

Vince’s eyes stole the battlefield to be. Besides the furniture, the space was empty. Unfortunately, that still didn’t afford them much room for an actual fight. There was going to be some serious damage to the structure. Mila remained completely focused on the lightning elements, as did Althea.

Mila’s wrists sparked wildly with her tensed fists. She was ready, that much was certain.

It started with a bang, a bolt of lightning crossing the gap between the two groups. Before Vince or Mila could make a move, the attack was parried with an instantaneous reflection thanks to Althea.

In that moment of distraction, Whistler made her move, darting across the table to attack Althea.

“Mila!” Vince cried. He didn’t need to say anything as his cat was already intercepting, fists ablaze.

Whistler and Mila met atop the table, trading blows of electricity and fire.

“Carica Traboccante, Lento,” Ryo spoke. Both Whistler and Vail suddenly began sparking wildly, from horn tip to toe.

Mila cared not and continued her assault – though the effects of the spellcasting became apparent.

“Come back!” Vince shouted.

The cat jumped back to her Maestro, not pleased. “That electricity was sapping your rhythm,” advised Vince.

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“Well, let’s fix that problem, I’m a shielder, remember?” she hissed back to him.

Right, he wasn’t used to defensive play. Shouting attack spells was easy to do when the enemies weren’t conscious of your actions like Scherzando. Especially with Mila preferring hand-to-hand combat didn’t dissuade the idea of just brute forcing through the problem. This Maestro was different. Ryo Saitou could give the best of them a run for their money. Vince needed to think smarter, not stronger.

Once more without Ryo’s intervention, the lightning Resonators began their attack. Bolts of lightning crossed the room, but Vince was already mid-cast: “Riffletore Musicale, Forte!”

Two barriers went up to reflect the attacks, however this time the attacks broke through rather than being stopped by either Resonator, throwing them into their respective Maestros.

“L'Ordine di Gabriele, Lento!” Vince groaned. He further winced as a ton of rhythm was torn from his body. He couldn’t let Mila fall, even if it hurt him. He licked his lips as he readied his voice.

Mila scrambled to her feet, her wrists re-igniting in a blaze of resistance, her eyes glowing with intense blue rhythm as she radiated an aura of rhythm around her body from the shielding spell.

Althea hung back, keeping her gaze locked on Vail – the posturing was reciprocated. Hare and Sprite were supporting the two battlers in the center of the room.

Whistler and Mila exchanged intense blows. Though with L'Ordine di Gabriele providing a boost to Mila’s defenses, her reckless assault was emboldened. The cat was swinging furiously, and landing glancing strikes. Her scrapes only needed to be that, as the intense heat radiating from her fists was enough to steadily sap her opponent.

Both Faith and Ryo were holding back from calling spells. Faith must have called some spells in Rubato before they entered. Maybe Ryo did the same? Or perhaps it’s something to do with those advanced robot bodies.

Either way, the whole fight would come down to who gambled on their support attacking first.

And it was Ryo: “Fulmine di Zeus, Ultrissimo!”

“L'orizzonte Scudo, Lento!” Faith called out in response

Vail snapped a hand out, gathering the rhythm provided to her into one point.

Althea held out her hands, which glowed a brilliant white. Instantly Vince knew what Faith’s spell was intending to do and made his distance from the Maestro and her Resonator by diving away from them. He didn’t look back to see what would become of them.

A bolt of lightning unlike anything Vince had ever experienced tore through the air, the electrical equipment in the room bursting from the surge of power flowing through the space. His hair immediately stood on end attracted to the unbelievable current. Rather than going at its intended target of Mila, it headed towards the hare and her Maestro.

An explosion of concrete, wood, metal, and other building materials rained down on Vince who kept his head covered.

With the lights destroyed, all that remained was the glow of Mila and Whistler, who continued to exchange blows despite the horrifyingly powerful spell that was just loosed into the room.

Where the chaos should have ended there was another burst of material crumbling, this sounded like something falling, and crushing a mess of machinery.

“Roccia Fusa, Legato!” Vince called.

He watched as Mila landed a hook and then unleashed the ball of lava point blank.

“AAAAUGH!” Whistler screamed, falling to her knees. “YOU BITCH!” Electricity began to gather in her slowly disintegrating arm.

Vince knew he didn’t have much rhythm left, but still – he needed this to end. “Lanciafiamme, Fortissimo!”

A wave of fire overtook the lightning Resonator before she had a chance to get her spell out, ending her resistance.

Mila stood up straight, keeping her wrists ignited despite the pain radiating from them. “Where the hell did he go…?” breathed the cat.

“Mila?” Vince shook the dust covering him off as he got to his feet.

“That Ryo dude is gone,” she breathed out, extinguishing the flames by her side.

“Faith?” Vince asked.

No response.

“Can’t feel her.” Mila made her way over to her Maestro. “It’s okay, relax,” she said between heavy breaths.

“What the heck even happened?” Vince could feel the exhaustion rapidly consuming him, but the pounding of his heart kept him wide awake.

“From what I felt… that wasn’t the hare standing next to y'all, it was the Lyrebird,” Mila said as she guided her Maestro out of the room.

“What…?” Vince gasped.

“I guess at some point the hare split from us and the Lyrebird took her place,” Mila mumbled. She held up her arm and briefly reignited the fire around her wrists, giving light to the scene of the battle they had just left.

Robot parts were scattered all around the room, but also in the corner of the room where Ryo had been standing was a large gaping hole in the ceiling, and a giant boulder occupying the spot where Vail had once stood. Her mechanical form scattered about the room with only fragmentary sparks alerting one to their presence in the otherwise dark space.

“I guess Faith planned this from the start,” Mila guessed. “We were a good distraction, I think,” the cat let out a gruff laugh.

“Where’d they go? That man and Faith?” asked Vince.

“...good fuckin’ question kid. After casting an Ultimate spell like that, he ain’t gonna be doing much else,” she mused. “Let’s see if we can find that… uh Faith,” Mila patted her Maestro’s back.

Vince allowed himself one last look back at his battlefield. Was what they did heroic?