"Ver..." Fatera said, turning over gingerly before she calmed her own breathe and accepted the pain in her back. Then, she marched towards her opponent in the earth-shaking battle and reached a hand towards her, "That was a hell of a battle." "Shut it." Ver rolled her eyes, though she still took Fatera's hand, "You didn't tell me that you weren't taking anything before seriously! I am pissed, damn it!" "I was trying hard!" Fatera said, throwing her hands out in an exaggerated fashion, "Of course I was, I just call the power up the Hard Mode because it is harder than my baseline! That doesn't mean I wasn't trying before!" "Uh huh." Ver turned her head, looking all pissy as Fatera carried her onto a chariot before they shared a ride back. It was humiliating alright, and Fatera is for sure going to brag about it for a good little while. "Hehehe...ya mad cause I won, not cause I didn't take things seriously before." Fatera giggled, tickling Ver in the chin as she sulked and turned her head away in annoyance, "Salty girl~ Salty girl~" "Shut up!" She said, "Just let me...be mad for a bit!" "Hey, I am not going anywhere." Fatera said, tapping her fingers along the handrails of the chariot, "Ya is welcome to challenge me for the status of top dog at any time." "You bet." Ver said, reaching over with a fist despite still not looking directly at Fatera, "That's a promise." "A promise to beat ya up and show ya what's up when summoned, yah." The journey back to the Winter Wars resort seemed to have gone by in the blink of an eye. And as the chariot slightly wobbled with the turbulent currents atop the mountain range, both Fatera and Ver dozed off with their heads resting on each other's shoulders, and Fatera's head ended up on top once again. Though neither would like to admit it, this battle had taken more out of them than they realized. Ver was brought right into the medical ward for her check-up, while Fatera shoved aside the guild of medics and said she will take control of her own health by her own hands, which really means she is going to sit in the hot baths for a while before taking a day-long nap. "John." The medics said, bowing his head before moving to the side as John King stepped foot into the medical ward with Ver still steadily asleep under the resting Cast, "Nothing but a few scratches. She is in prime condition for the Conversion." John King nodded as the medic packed up and departed the room. He waved his hand and turned on the light's intensity within the room, his red skin glowing lightly under the warmth of the lights and brown hair brushed back nearly. A faint angelic glow emanated from his body with the activation of his Wave, and his fingers extended forward and hovered over Ver's body. "I would not do that if I were you." A low rumbling voice swept up from all around John before the entire room appeared to quake slowly to the sound of a beating heart. A thin layer of dark fluid emerged from ambience and covered the stiff wooden flooring all of a sudden. John scanned the entire room quickly before turning his attention back towards Ver, when a single eyeball formed over a black gooey gel over her left breast. "The Kraken, I presume?" John said, a mystic smile rising up his face as he stood with a sense of relaxation that caught the Kraken off guard, "I did not know why that a legendary beast like you would choose to manifest in that girl." "That is none of your business." The Kraken said, "Step away, or die." "You do not scare me." John said as the Kraken's eyes widened and an aura of intimidation filled the room. A gust of wind whirled around Ver's body and formed a barrier of air around her. John merely observed the Kraken's actions, creating a firm solid bubble around himself too by pressing his Wave outward. "You will learn." The Kraken said, its voice rumbling. Then, bolts of dark lightning shot out from Ver's body and slammed into John's body. He moved, a glowing brush pen suddenly in hand as John gently concentrated the Wave within his body through the pen. A track of Cast lines was written into the air, and the ink left behind by the tips of the brush pen solidified before activating even as he was creating the Casts. With sets of rapid footsteps, John danced around the Kraken's lightning strikes before creating a three-dimensional Cast in midair around Ver's lying body. Then, as the lines of Cast glowed in the air, the Kraken's lightning became fully contained within the cage he had so elegantly and simply created. The eye on Ver's chest twitched, and a sense of unease traveled through the dark fluids before even more lightning shot out. "Uh ah." John said, wagging his finger as the Kraken tried to teleport Ver out using a Whirlpool Purple, but somehow, the connection of the Wave to the outside world appeared to have been severed, "You are now a property of the Union, and you will be converted for a greater purpose. Welcome to my Temporal-spatial Cage Cast." That was when the doors to the medical ward was opened, and a Guild of medics worker walked in. "Get out!" John said, spinning around rapidly with his brush pen at the helm, "Did you not see the sign?!" "I...I am sorry." The man said, bowing down slightly before he turned his wrist forward as lines of Cast glowed over his hand, "But I am not an idiot, John." "Yes. Yes you are." John said, stabbing his brush pen forward as an offensive Cast formed from its tips and dashed straight towards the intruding man. At the same time, he waved his hand, further activating the cage Cast as it flashed a bright light once and disappeared into thin air, the medical ward now cleared out as if Ver had never even been there. The man lunged forward, shouting angrily before he threw his hand forward, "Void domain!" The offensive Cast conjured up by John vanished instantly, and before the number one ranked Wave user in the Academy could react, the man had taken another rapid step forward, punching him across the jaw and shoving him to the side. Then, he rushed towards the bunk bed where Ver used to be and ran his hands all over it frantically. "It's too late." John said from behind him as the man slowly turned and revealed Wu's face underneath the hood, "It's far too late. Your little resistance is futile here, and you shall die and be tossed aside like an insignificant rock in our story." "What do you want! What is your goal! PORA?!" Wu shouted as John chuckled coldly before he whirled his brush pen around, creating three sets of spatial Casts on the ground beside him when the lights glowed and a trio of figures emerged from within. "Our goals are far beyond your understanding. Enjoy the last moments of your life." John said, slowly turning around as the three normal-looking students rose up from the spatial Casts with their eyes perplexed and out of focus, "Executors. Activate." A pulse of the Wave exploded outwards from the heads of the three before slowly extending out in a puff of smoke around their ears, and they suddenly bent themselves over backwards, holding a posture that looked like a possessed corpse being gripped by pairs of invisible hands before once again straightening up. Their pupils were turned dark, and they all activated their Wave abilities and attacked Wu instantly. "Bubble bubble!" Wu cursed, wiping his hands over the bed and picking up all that remained on it. Then, he spun around and propelled himself straight out of the windows of the medical ward with jets of the Wave shooting out from underneath his feet. The trio of executors darted forward, leaping out of the window after him before Wu hopped on the Chariot he left behind and piloted it away. "John King took Ver, somewhere!" Wu said, activating his communication Cast, "I got three on my tails! Leading them straight to you!" "Be careful!" Lera said, as Wu grunted and lowered his head before a stray blast of the Wave bounced off his armor. "Aren't I always?" Wu joked, spinning around in his seat and projecting a massive cone-shaped Void domain outward, disabling the chariots created by one of the three Executors. As they tumbled face-first into the snow, two of the executors rolled straight up before one of them manifested a massive soaring eagle that picked up the other two with its clalws and continued pursuing Wu. Aiming his Void Domain at the Manifest, Wu fired it off once more, slowing his pursuers further. But it wasn't long before they started to get used to Wu's attack patterns, and they shifted to moving on foot, hopping from rock to rock and pursuing Wu downhill as he piloted the golden Chariot away. "Are you ready?!" Wu asked, taking a steep path down the mountain range and into the snow-covered forest. "You know I always am." Lera said as she raised her palm slightly. Then, as the executors dashed through the woods mere meters after Wu, a massive Cast array lit up, trapping the three within before countless attack Casts were unloaded onto their bodies. Wu drifted the chariot through the snow as he leaped off, leaving the explosions behind. "I will take care of those three!" Ita said, directing the group of Ville college and college-less students to capture the executors, though the initial traps didn't appear to be strong enough to hold them down for long enough. Ita roared, channeling the Wave within her before leaping forward. "What happened to Ver?" Lera asked as Wu shook his head with frustration. "I was just a step too late..." Wu said, "I followed the Guild of Medics in, but John...he had already teleported her away. For all we know, she could have be anywhere..." "Any clues she left behind?" Lera asked, squeezing Wu on the shoulder and forcing him to look forward instead of down. Wu nodded before reaching into his pocket and picking up a few scales left behind on the bed. Those scales appeared to have come off the body of the Kraken like a snake shedding. But what use is it? Lera wondered, looking in closer at the scales and closing her eyes. Then, she felt a faint sensation extending out from the scale. It felt as if a light strand of fabric was attached to the piece of the scale on one end, and somewhere else on another. As she slowly traced that feeling around the scale, a small explosion went off from nearby before the group of students cheered at the successful capture (knockout) of all 3 executors. "I...I might have an idea." Lera said, holding the scale, "Ver is smart, and this must have been the clue left behind for us..." "I will leave you to it." Wu said, patting Lera on the shoulder before he turned and ran towards Ita who pointed at the three unconscious executors besides her, "Ita! How did they look?" "One solid punch is all I needed." Ita said, crossing her arms and smiling proudly, "They may dress like students here, but they do not act like them." "John King somehow...activated them, and they were turned into this." Wu said, "Mindless weapons, apparently." "That's what the conversion process is about," Charlie said, stepping forward. He helped Lera in creating the trap against the executors in such a short amount of time, "That's what they are planning to do to my sister and nine others...Ver is just the beginning." "And we will stop them." Wu said, "We will not let this happen to anyone else anymore." Then, he slowly turned and looked at his college-less and Ville college comrades, "The PORA cannot, and will not win if we fight together as one. And our battle against whatever future they intend to bring, starts right now, with all of us, together."