"You thought you alone could hold us back?" Augen asked, the card with drawings of the summer lotus leaves floating in the air right over his head before massive leaves started popping out from sprouts on the ground all around Shin, the stems twisting and facing towards their opponents before orbs of concentrated Wave formed over it.

"You know, in some parts of the Kingdom of the Eastern Sun, Lotus seeds are a delicacy, reserved only for the summer." Shin said, his eyes closed as he slowly brought the pairs of chef knives in both of his hands together, melting and reforging its shapes until a long slender scythe is revealed. Then, he moved rapidly as Fatera slammed down at his previous position, "When it comes to securing ingredients, no one is faster than me!"

"Damn!" Fatera cursed, spinning around and shocked by Shin's speed as he lunged towards each of the lotus leaves, the sharp edge on the inside of the scythe slicing up the lotus leaves and causing them to fall onto the ground. Then, he gripped onto the stems of the lotuses and pointed them back at Augen as the orbs were fired off back to their creater.

"Spring Flowers." Augen said, his fingers twirling a different card before a bright yellow dome formed around his body, shielding him from the blasts of the Summer Lotus before both cards were stacked on top of one another as far more sprouts started growing on top of the shield, separating himself and Shin as Fatera bounced forward and went after Shin in her hard mode.

At that moment, surrounded by an opponent in front and behind him, Shin reached one hand forward as a dark circular disc formed right in front of him. An item the shape of a massive frying pan acted as a shield against Augen's Summer Lotus blasts while an axe suddenly slipped onto his other hand as it let out a sharp hiss with the sharp edge slicing through the air.

"This is it!" Fatera said, sending her fist forward with the Wave covering her wrist as the red axe suddenly glowed brighter and brighter, a pattern of a skull now vibrating over the body of the axe as the sharp edge split her Wave armour wide open and sliced straight into Fatera's fist. The once injured hand now nearly completely severed in halves as Fatera's eyes shot open.

However, before the Axe could have pressed further in, Fatera reached over with the other hand, grabbing onto Shin's own arms and throwing him away, the Axe recalled by his command and leaving Fatera's limp hand.

"Shit!" Fatera cursed as a hard tingle started travelling up her arms before blood jetted out.

"Fatera!" Augen called out, sensing the damage to his companion and instantly leaping towards her before transferring a large amount of Spring Flower's healing abilities onto her hand as yellow lines of Wave held onto either sides of her hand and slowly brought them back together, "This might hurt a bit..."

"Who are you, really?!" Fatera asked, turning her attention ahead and enduring the sharp spikes of pain and physical trauma, "That Axe...I recognize it!"

"Oh?" Shin asked, shrinking the frying pan and wearing it on his back like a backpack as he pointed the tip of the Axe back towards Fatera, "How would you recognize it, Fatera?"

"Because it's one of the eleven Legendary Weapons, isn't it?" Fatera asked, breathing through her teeth with droplets of sweats rolling down her face. With Augen's Spring Flowers, it's a Shield Cast that also heals wounds rapidly based on the level of damage sustained by the individual. However, the more aggressive of healing processes are incredibly painful, as it sort of worked as a reversal for injury, so there was pain on the way back.

"Good eye..." Shin said, whirling the axe in his fingers, "The Meat Maker Axe is in my possession, from the Takumi family, a family that treats cooking like a matter of life and death, and a family that will go to the grave rather than disobey tradition... How did you know of this axe?"

"Because I fought against it." Fatera said, her eyes twitching once, "I, and someone else did, in my travels. Alongside the rest of the legendary weapons."

"Ah, then it must have been during the meeting of the legendary weapons once every seven years." Shin said shrugged, "If that were the case, then the old man was just too proud to say anything about it."

"How did it break through your Wave armour?" Augen asked, standing in front of Fatera and shielding her with his cards at the ready.

"The Meat Maker Axe is capable of even piercing the armor fortified by Sky Guardian Corp members." Shin said, "Be it the flesh of legendary monsters, scales of dragons, shells of demons, or whomever. The Axe cuts through them all, so long there is flesh underneath."

"Then I will just have to defeat ya without touching it." Fatera said, straightening up as the yellow glow of Spring Flower slowly faded into the environments besides her. She gripped her hands into a fist, the pains still echoing within her body despite how Augen's Cast seemingly instantly reversed all of her injuries.

"Oh?" Shin smirked before tossing the Axe into the air, letting it spin before fearlessly catching it right by the handle as it fell back down again, "Are you saying, you are avoiding confronting it? Are you saying it's abilities are too strong for you?"

"Fatera..." Augen said, his feelings outreached and enveloping Fatera's body. He can feel her urges, feel her anger, and feel her aggression. However, after all that's happened...

"You, Fatera, the one who always clashed head-on with your opponents, the one who never runs away, is afraid of an ax from a chef?" Shin laughed, taunting Fatera further as her body started shaking despite her restraint.

"Shut...shut up..." Fatera cursed when Augen's hand suddenly found its way onto her shoulders. Then, a gentle chill spread throughout her body, cooling her down and making her relax as if she had taken a sip of a summer cocktail.

"Remember what we talked about." Augen said, and Fatera turned to him, flashes of their brief yet unrevealed shared past coming to the top of her mind once again, "Remember what true strength is."

"It's winning." Fatera smiled, "Because I am the One who Wins."

"That's the one constant in all the future I saw." Augen said, "You got this."

Fatera nodded as the calming chill from Augen's touch faded away, and she turned to look at Shin with intense focus. In a lot of ways, Fatera is just a big kid, and she needed someone like Augen to reign her in from time to time.

Shin's mouth was still moving, him trying to sway Fatera and make her attack recklessly, though Fatera heard none of those meager words anymore. Instead, she pumped her Wave back and forth within her body, pooling her own power further and further before she entered into her Killa mode instantly. The dark aura pouring out from her body and seeping into her red-tinted Wave armour.

"Tsk." Shin grunted and took half a step back, the Meat Maker Axe at the ready as Fatera vanished from his sight. He had volunteered himself to take on Fatera, knowing that he will be able to exploit Fatera's mental weaknesses and her match up against the Meat Maker Axe, but somehow, that blind skinny Caster with green hair just seemed like the perfect compliment for Fatera, being the brain for her brawn.

He was the chef ready to take control of this battle, ready to create a masterpiece of a meal with Fatera as his one ingredient, but she had just come back to life and flopped away from the chopping board.

Fatera landed like an asteroid right behind Shin, the impact sending him flying helplessly into the air as he flung his arms helplessly and trying to regain control of his body when Augen set up countless Summer Lotus blasts and prepared to incinerate Augen when suddenly, a single string of blood wrapped around Shin's waist and pulled him out from the line of fire.

The orbs of Waves instead clashed into one another, creating an explosion and a black cloud that rose through the air.

"You okay?" Shin rapidly opened his eyes when Braka's voice came from behind him, "Lily asked me to help you."

"I am fine." Shin nodded towards his fellow countryman from the Kingdom of the Eastern Sun, "I apologize for not being to take her down."

"She isn't alone, and neither will you anymore." Braka said, thinking back to those stirring words told to him by Yuna the night she reached her hand out to him, "Let's fight this together."

"Hah. You are right...Cooking is a team sport anyway..." Shin said, standing straight up before he took a deep breath in and regained his composure once more as dozens more cooking tools started materializing around his body, spinning in stable orbits before all of their sharp tips were pointed towards Fatera and Augen, "How's our plan going?"

"Swiftly." Braka smiled, slicing his wrist against one of Shin's orbiting knives and drawing more blood from his body.

"Then let's finish them quickly." Shin nodded, cracking his knuckles and charging forward.

"We also have been stalled for too long." Augen said as Fatera agreed with a nod. Then, Fatera dashed forward in her Killa mode, her movement so quick that even the sand underneath her feet wasn't quick enough to be pushed out of the way, the heat created by her movements melting them in place instead.

Braka immediately moved to intercept with Fatera as Shin followed shortly behind him. Even with their expert Wave sensing abilities, Fatera's still moving way too fast for them. As Braka was still stuck in building up his attack, Fatera's fist already neared his body.

That was when a frying pan suddenly appeared over Braka’s stomach and met her punch. The clash knocked her attack off to the side as Shin's creation shattered and returned back into his body.

"Take this! Blood Blade RISE!" Braka said, forming a long thin blade in his hands as Fatera immediately caught onto it, her fist already ready to counter. She had seen this before, and she knew she could break it apart just as easily as breaking up a rice cracker.

"YUP!" Shin shouted from right behind Braka, when the Blood Blade within his hand suddenly retracted back into his body, the Meat Maker Axe teleported onto Braka's hand as Fatera's freshly healed knuckles neared it once more.

The skull pattern hummed in anticipation and prepared to break Fatera's flesh apart once more when suddenly, a harsh gust swept through the battlefield.

"Forbidden Autumn: Decaying Inevitability!" Augen said, a storm of a splintered card orbiting around his arm as grey cracks formed from his elbow downwards and started spreading through the ground, turning everything he touches to dust.