The layers of shields rocked every time one of the shots from the defensive Casts landed down upon it. However, with nowhere else to go, the representatives from all of the forty houses finally decided to put all of their differences aside and pour all of their will to survive into a single place.

“I…need a bit more here…” One of the guards grunted before his knees buckled under him, however, the head of another house quickly stepped forward, wrapping her hand around his hips before pouring Wave into her body.

“I’ve got you.” She said steadily as he smiled back at her.

“My lady! You mustn’t exert yourself…” Her senior advisors rose up from seated, “Think about the image of…”

“There won’t be any image left when we are all dead!” She shot back, shutting up the adviser immediately, “Now sit your asses down.”

The advisors looked like they had a grape stuck in their throats, and they sat back down on the ground as the young guard bowed his head.

“If we don’t make out of this…” He murmured as droplets of sweat rolled down the side of his face, “Please know that I am eternally honored and grateful…”

“Save it.” She said, conjuring up another shield Cast that added to the layers.

Their fatigue was shared by the rest of the people as they held on. Though the firing rate of the defensive Casts had remained constant for the past little while and the mansion of the House Konig had been completely destroyed all around them, only a few of the Wave shots would land on their little bubble every minute.

Such was the nature of automated Casts. Stark wiped away his sweat before he looked at the squad of Channelers that he had gathered, thanking whatever deities that lay above that his intuition was right. However, that wasn't the only thing on his mind.

There was, in fact, another option than sitting here and waiting to die.

“If we gathered all of the fastest moving Channelers around, and we break away from the main bubble,” Stark explained when the idea first came into his head, “We may be able to draw the attention away from the defensive Casts.”

“But that meant all of them will die.” The head of House Angolia said with her eyes opened up wide.

“All of us that went out, but not all of everyone here.” Stark corrected, “It will be a suicide mission.”

“So is waiting here!” The head of House Raukis pressed his hand against one of his personal guards before he was volunteered forward, “He will do it!”

“Let’s hope it won't have to come to this…” Stark sighed, drawing his sword when suddenly, everything became quiet around him.

He looked up, and there was only silence from the sky above. Everyone was so acclimatized to the periodic shaking and rumbling of the shield Casts that they were all expecting the next hit to come at any moment by now. However, there was nothing.

Then, from the edge of their vision, Wu, Lera, Ver, and Rache with the Cerberus beside him appeared. Rache held the page of the Revolutionary Manuscript in his hands and the Cerberus carried Rote’s body in a small cocoon of Wave.

The shields melted away, and all of the eyes of the representatives of the forty houses focused on the red piece of paper within Rache’s grasp.

“It’s o-over.” Rache declared, his voice cracking as he tried to speak up, “It’s over! We have stopped Rote’s rampage against the Ethereal Realm, and we have disabled the defensive Casts everywhere!”

“Rache?” Charles Fisher dropped his jaws.

“Well done.” Stark let out a sigh of relief as he planted the sword into the ground. He looked past Rache and the Cerberus, meeting his gaze with Ver instead who gave him a little Wave with her Kraken’s tendril.

“What are you going to do?” The Head of House Angolia, the woman with long glowing white hair asked, “Do you intend to hold us hostage with that paper then?”

“Me?” Rache looked down at it the piece of paper before he tossed it high up into the air towards the crowd of people, “No. I am not interested.”

“GET IT!” As the piece of paper flopped through the air, the individuals from the different houses all spurred into action as those that said they didn’t have enough Wave to support the shields became powered up instantly.

However, before any of them could get their hands on it, a dark orb zoomed across the air before slamming into the page. The orb popped instantly upon impact before a small explosion engulfed the paper and burned it all to a crisp.

All eyes tracked back to Rache’s direction where the blast was fired from, and they saw Wu lowering the barrel of his rifle before he received a fist bump from the Cerberus.

“Nice shot,” Rache said, smiling.

“I was a knock-down shooter before I had a gun.” Wu smirked before putting the rifle back, "Just...a different activity."

“That was a grave mistake.” The Angolia woman said angrily as she hovered off the ground.

“No, it wasn’t.” Rache pressed forward as the Cerberus’ eyes lit up with threat, “That Cast had been fully disconnected from the Manuscript, and that piece of paper is nothing but temptation, and now, none of you shall be tempted anymore.”

“You are lying!” The short head of House Raukis threw his hands up, “You must have it hidden on you! Search him!”

“You can try.” Rache crossed his arms, “All of you seemed to have forgotten why we are really here. The Ethereal Realm is governed through strength, as proven through the Ethereal Tournament, yet all of you still sought the easy way out here and now. At this current rate, House Fisher will be victorious by the next tournament.”

That statement caused an eruption in the crowd, however, before chaos ensued, a single chime drew everyone’s attention as the chatters quieted down.

“The Fisher boy is correct.” At last, the representative from House Konig spoke, “Head home. Comfort your people, and thank the Fisher boy for saving all of your lives here and now. This matter of the defensive Cast and the Ethereal Conference is henceforth closed.”

“It can’t be…” Head of House Militar stepped through the crowds with his heavy armor when the House Konig representative looked at him, and his pressure through the Wave froze him in place instantly.

“I said, it’s closed.” He said, “Now if you don’t mind, I have a destroyed mansion to attend to.”

It wasn’t long before the first of the chariots lifted off the ground, and the individuals started dispersing. Rote’s body had been slowly decaying away, as his physical form quickly lost its form when the Wave within his body drained away into the atmosphere.

Rache watched him vanish into dust, and he let out a sigh. He heard the sound of splashing fluids as Ver emerged from a Whirlpool Purple right beside him.

“So…what are you going to do now?” She asked, “You, and the Cerberus.”

“Prepare.” Rache said, noticing the dark blonde hair of Ver for the first time, and he couldn’t help but admit how beautiful she actually was, “The top ten houses had regular sparring sessions to keep our senses sharp for battle, and I am sure after the stunts we just pulled...they will have some extra motivation in their punches.”

“Well, just letting you know here,” Ver smiled before she reached her hand forward as a tiny Kraken shell emerged from the center of her palm, “I will win the next Ethereal tournament.”

“We will see about that.” Rache looked down before he picked up the shell, “What’s this?”

“Shrak’Ahk said it’s a gift for the Cerberus,” Ver explained before turning and looking at the rising sun over the landscape down below. The defensive Casts that rose out of the ground and stayed there now looked like gigantic monuments instead as crowds of people slowly gathered around it with curiosity.

“I needed no gift!” The Cerberus protested when a Kraken’s tendril emerged from the side of Ver’s arm and slapped him across the shoulder.

“Thanks. For him.” Rache gestured at Ver with the shell in hand, “So…what are you going to do?”

“Nobody is going to spar with the 38th ranked house exactly…” Ver chuckled.

“But once I've invited you to come once, they would fight you seriously!”

“Thanks for the offer.” Ver said, looking back at Lera and Wu who were fixing up their broken pieces of armor together with Stark next to them, “But I have just realized I had always experienced the most amount of growth when I am out there, adventuring with them.”

“Well, then let’s hope we meet at full strength in a year.” Rache said, “Both me and the Cerberus look forward to knocking you on your ass.”

“Keep the trash talk until you hit perfect Synchrony~” Ver said, opening up the Whirlpool Purple underneath her feet.

“Where will you go next?” Rache asked, “As far as we know, PORA’s influence on the Eastern continent had been fully vanquished, right?”

“There may be some sleeper cells being left behind, but I trust that you can take care of them in the Ethereal realm?” Ver said, stepping one foot into the Whirlpool, "Tolonia and Varous...they can take care of themselves."

“Rote had some old documents that I can sieve through.” Rache pinched his chin, “A bit of an adventure for me, I suppose…”

“And we will be heading out West.” Ver said, “Compared to there, the Eastern continent was nothing but a playground, and I want to know why.”

Rache nodded at Ver as she waved and vanished into the whirlpool. Then, he turned around and enjoyed the first day in the Ethereal realm after the Incident without being accompanied by Rote.

He felt for his beating heart and bit his lips.

For all of his faults, he had been there with him, at the very least.

“Stop crying.” The Cerberus said when Rache slapped the Kraken’s shell onto the neck of his middle head, “You are making me sad too.”

“Why are you sad?!” Rache complained before he emptied his nose.

“It’s not every day you get to see that damn Kraken again…” The Cerberus said as the Kraken’s shell slipped down onto the ground. His middle head lowered and examined it closely before picking it up with his tongue and crushing it with his fangs.

A jolt of Wave exploded outward, and the Cerberus’ eyes lit up.

It was in fact, the Kraken’s memories up to this point. As he traced through its Wave, he also travelled through time with it.

Rache felt the Wave of the Cerberus becoming calmer and quieter, and he leaned against the armor of the beast as it rested its three heads against each other.

And there it was, two losers sitting under the sun.