The party exited the ruin, returning to the entrance with the giant lion statue still standing vigilant.

The boys lead the way with Meracle while Nel remained at the rear. As they exited, Nel stopped and let out a long sigh before turning around. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Allisa was leaning against the entrance, a hand to her head. "Yeah. Just a bit dizzy."

The others then stopped and regrouped with Nel, surrounding Allisa.

"Whoa, are you ok? You don't look so good." Max said as he approached her to steady her.

"I said I'm fine." Allisa pressed on, though she sounded very wiry.

"Has this ever happened before?" Meracle asked.

"Well, there was the time she collapsed back at the forest, but I don't think that counts," Melvin said, sounding unsure. "Maybe she really is sick."

"Can't you use a spell on her or something?" Yuki asked him.

"Yeah, but I'm practically spent as is. I doubt anything I do now would have much of an effect."

Nel looked at Cliff who nodded. He then stuck out his right arm and said "Open!" Nothing happened. "No good. Looks like we're still in the barrier's effect."

"What are ya trying ta do anyway?" Rodger asked, looking confused at what Cliff was trying to do.

"Each of us has a special ring called a Void Ring which lets us open a portal to anywhere we want to go."

"Anywhere at all?"

"Yeah, provided we've physically been there at least once." He looked to the still wiry Allisa. "In the state we're in, I don't think any of us can make it all the way back to Tattoria, so this is the quickest way back."

"If we're still in the area of effect, we should exit the ruins and try again in that space outside," Nel said, once again looking at Allisa. "Do think you can make?"

".... Cause I can." Allisa pushed herself from the wall, walked forwards before partially collapsing. Max quickly caught her from falling down.

"Hey big guy. Mind carrying this?" Max asked Cliff, handing him the tablet.

Cliff sighed as he took the tablet from him, accepting 'big guys' was his nickname. "Sure."

Max then put his arm around Allisa, using his shoulder to support her.

"S-Sorry," Allisa muttered, going a little red.

"Hey, don't worry about it."

The group began to walk again with Allisa draped over Max's shoulder, staring at the ground with a blank stare. Rodger, Melvin and Meracle walked alongside her, all looking concerned by the state of their leader.

While walking, Yuki fell back to the rear where Cliff and Nel were. "Know anything about this?" He asked Nel specifically.

"Only a hypothesis," Nel responded.

"Think we should do something? It's clearly getting worse." Cliff asked.

Nel thought for a brief period before speaking. "We just don't know what it is. Unless we have more information on-" Nel then jumped suddenly, surprising Cliff and Yuki, before halting altogether. Those in front noticed this as well and turned to look at her.

"Nel?" Allisa muttered.

"Someone's coming," Nel said urgently.

Everyone jumped as well.

"What?"

"Out here?"

"Friend or Foe?"

Everyone bombarded her with questions, but Nel remained silent, closing her eyes to concentrate on her sensor ability to determine if they were a threat or not. "Two...." She said out loud. "One of them.... Wait? What?" Nel's eyes snapped open. "What's she doing here?"

"Uh, who?" Allisa asked.

"Oho! There were people here! Looks like you were right Robby."

"Robin."

Two new voices came from the entrance of the giant entrance where two figures came into view. One was a small floating boy, and the others was someone that some of them recognized.

"Wait, is that....?" Allisa looked suppressed to see one of the newcomers. It was Leone, the Cait Sith they met in Soma Rand when they were trying to cross the border into Cataka, the one who had recommended them to take the path through Sterland Forest.

"Huh?" Leone had stopped and took a closer look at who was in front of her and then looked just as surprised when she recognized them. "Hold up.... It's you guys! Haha, long time no see huh!" She said cheerfully waving at them.

"Th-That's that drunk from before, isn't it?" Yuki said.

"That's me!" Leone said with a wide grin.

"You guys know her?" Rodger asked.

"Yeah. We met her shortly before you. She's the one who directed us to take the path through the forest in the first place." Melvin said to him. "But man, this is the last place I'd expect to run into her again. Small world huh?"

Nel's eyes narrowed at Leone. There is only one thing of value all the way out here. No way some ordinary adventurer would come to this place without a good idea on where to go. Her eyes then drifted to her partner, Robin Wind. And that one.... He's no ordinary traveler, I can tell just by looking at him. He's also difficult to read.

"Aren't they the people you directed to that death-filled forest?" Robin asked Leone, floating down to her level.

"That's them." Leone nodded grinning.

"Thought so..." Robin hummed rubbing his chin.

"So what's new with you guys, huh? Kinda look like you went through hell." Leone then looked at Allisa who was still clinging to Max for support, and then grew a cheeky smile. "Ohho, so you're his squeeze huh? Hmmm... can't really blame ya. Kid's pretty hot after all."

"Huh? Squeeze." Allisa then turned bright red when she realized what she was talking about and shoved Max away. "I-Its not like that! I'm not his.... Whatever you said!"

"Aw I'm just messing with ya! Hahahaha!!!"

".... See she's still the same even sober," Allisa grumbled.

".... L-Leone?"

Allisa heard Meracle saying something quietly. Looking at her standing beside her, Allisa noticed an expression that she hasn't seen on the quite cheerful cat hybrid before. Her eyes were wide-open with disbelief, her tail was completely stiff, sticking straight up.

"Huh?" Leone then noticed Meracle, and when she did her eyes widened. "No way! If it isn't the Arch Sages little screwball!" She said in her usual cheerful manner. "Long time no see huh?"

Meracle reacted by gritting her teeth and shifting her stance.

"M-Mary?" Allisa said, confused by Meracle's actions. She wasn't alone; everyone else saw it as well.

"Do you know her?" Melvin asked.

Meracle nodded. "....I-I don't like that woman!" She snarled.

"Ouch, bit harsh." Leone said to her. "You still sore over that business in Evendail? You remember about 70% of that was your fault."

Meracle cast her gaze downwards. "I-I..... You tricked me!"

"Didn't I tell ya, we're just bitches who use other people. If anyone's ta blame its cause you were so easy to use and manipulate." Leone said, giving her a large grin. "Besides, I couldn't've done it without ya, 'partner.'"

Meracle's fists clenched in response.

"What are you talking about?" Allisa said stepping in front of Meracle, glaring at Leone. "What did you do?"

"Remember that stuff about the border being closed back at Soma Rand. Well, I'm the reason it was closed." Leone said proudly.

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. "It was you?!" Cliff blurted out. "You're the reason we had to cut through that forest?!"

"Yep." Leone nodded shamelessly. "Well, me and Robbie here."

"Robin."

"Oh, and not to mention the little kitty over there." She pointed to Meracle. "Ya see, me and her go way back. I was kinda a mentor when she was your average alley cat living on the street and a good one at that. Best pickpocket there was around. Well, except for me of course. Although she would always go on about how she wanted an honest life so tried many times ta start over a new leaf and ended up screwing up every job she got.

"Bout a year ago she tried ta steal from the Arch Sage and ended up getting caught. After that, she tried ta be one of her aids and took another stab at turning her back on being a thief.

"Anyway, bout a month ago, after I joined the group I'm with, I got a job at stealing the treasure from the Duke of Everndail. Someone caught wind of us and hired the arch sage ta protect it, with included the kitty over there." Leone pointed to Meracle who hesitated.

"As luck would have it, she was the one who was directly guarding it. All I had ta do was approach her when she wasn't on duty, do a bit of lip service and that dumb kitty led me right to the treasure where I swiped it right in front of her."

Everyone then looked to Meracle.

"Mary..." Allisa recalled the stuff she said before about how she simply said she screwed up in a big way, and the look of pain she showed when she was forced to bring that up. Although, that couldn't compare to the look she had now.

"I-I...." Meracle muttered, trying to say something to defend herself, but just couldn't find the words. "I trusted you.... and...."

"Aw, are gonna have to go through this again." Leone continued, sounding too casual for the conversation. "You trusted me? Please. Like I said back then, all we'll ever be are bitches that use and abuse anyone for your own gain. That's exactly why I kept ya around all those years and you know it."

Allisa clenched her fists.

"But you were always a naive little kitty even back then. Tried so hard ta run away from that life when you know that it's the only thing you can actually do. You know the saying, once a thief, always a thief. That's completely true in your case since you'll always be a screwball through and through."

"SHUT UP!!!" Allisa exploded, surprising everyone. She slowly turned, shooting an angered look at Leone. "Just shut up you bitch! Stop treating this like it's just some kind of joke!"

".... Allisa." Miracle muttered.

Leone then scoffed. "Sheesh, why should you care? I mean, you can't've known her for that long." Her persona then suddenly shifted as she looked amongst the others. "..... Now that I think about it, what are all of you doing here anyway? Something tells me runnen inta you guys isn't just a coincidence."

"Finally caught on huh?" Robin said to her, pointing to Cliff. "Look. That's the other half of the seal they got there."

"Oh I get it. You're with the arch sage, huh? Explains why the screwballs here." Leone sighed and put a hand to her head. "Well, this is awkward. Definitely didn't see that coming."

"Hold it," Cliff spoke up, looking at the stone tablet in his hands. "What do you mean by 'other half?'"

"Exactly that," Robin said to him. "That 'treasure' my partner was talking about was the other half of that giant coin. It was the treasurer of the duke of Evendail, supposedly passed down the line for generations. You guys were in Soma Rand, you saw how badly they wanted to get it back. Wasn't just Cataka, they closed the borders across the dominion."

"They closed all their borders? For this?" Cliff glanced back to the tablet in his hands.

"Guess that thing really is dangerous like that light said," Yuki said, pushing his swords cross guard with his thumb. "Especially if they went through such lengths to catch the thief."

"But it's just a wired coin thing? Why would it be dangerous?" Rodger asked.

"Huh? What's that?" Leone said looking at Rodger as though she only just noticed him.

"What’ya mean 'what's that?!'" Rodger snapped, jumping out of the group and pointing directly at Leone. "I have a name cat lady, and its Rodger D Huxal, a proud adventurer and a real man! Remember it!"

Everyone behind him just stared blankly at Rodger for his rather pointless outburst. Leone, on the other hand, looked up to Robin.

"Seriously what is that?" She asked, ignoring the fact that Rodger visibly cracked like a stone.

"I think it's a Samiet," Robin said, not sounding so sure. "You know, from Sterland Forest."

"Oh, the midgets with tails right?" Leone continued, not sounding so sure.

"Who ya calling a midget!!" Rodger exclaimed.

Leone ignored Rodger and looked back to Allisa. "Uh, listen. We're kinda in a hurry so I don't suppose you'd be willing to just hand that over?"

Allisa didn't respond. Everyone else put their guards up while Cliff hid it behind his back, out of Leone's site.

"Thought so," Leone sighed. "Whelp, only one thing left ta do." She then crouched down, putting one had to the ground. When she glanced up, she looked more like a predator than she did before.

Allisa quickly summoned her sword as the others took a combat stance. But before Allisa could bring her blade up, Leone had covered the distance, staring directly into Allisa's eyes with a wide smile.

Before anyone could even respond, Leone kicked Allisa in her belly, rocketing her back, crashing into a wall near the entrance, blood escaping out of her mouth.

"Sorry," Leone said playfully lowering her leg. "Nothing personal."

"WHY YOU!!!!" Max then charged towards her, throwing a faired up right hook.

"Ohhhh, pretty hot." Leone simply sidestepped out of the way, still with a playful expression. "But too slow." Max turned around with both fists flared up, about to launch another attack when Leone round kicked him in the side, sending him flying away.

Yuki then rushed up, drawing his blade and taking a swing at Leone, fully intending to slice her in two. Leone however, dodged by jumping up, somersaulted and landed on both feet to Yuki's face, using him as a springboard before launching herself towards the bewilder Cliff.

Cliff reacted quickly, moving the tablet in his left hand behind him while using his right arm to block Leone's incoming drop kick. He grunted as his feet dragged along the ground. It hadn't been too long since the level up so his muscles hadn't had time to recover.

Leone smiled as she somersaulted back, skidding to a halt. "Seem a bit winded their big guy."

Cliff didn't answer, keeping his right arm up.

Leone was about to launch herself at Cliff again, intent on taking her prize when Nel suddenly appeared behind her, preparing to swing her short blade towards Leone. "Think I'll fall for that Red?" Leone snickered as she kicked back-

"Huh?"

-Only to hit the air.

As though reacting on instinct, Leone quickly leaned back as a sharp blade swung overhead, missing her by a hair's width. Leone was about to make a counterattack when Nel drew out her dagger; ready to strike her while she was staggered. Leone then immediately backed away, looking up at Nel with a wry smile. "Pretty fast there red."

Nel didn't respond to her, holding up her dagger.

****

Robin hadn't moved from his position close to the entrance, watching as events unfolded. He kept his eye on Nel, looking intrigued. Not many humans can match a Cait Sith in terms of speed and reflexes, and Leone's the best in that department. His eyes narrowed. And that hair, could she really be.....?

****

Nel quickly glanced over to Cliff, who was breathing heavily. Melvin stood beside him with his wand out, even though it was more just for show since he had used most of his mana in the battle with the lion and hadn't recovered.

Yuki meanwhile had just gotten back to his feet rubbing his nose. "Shit.... That drunks way tougher than she made out to be back at Miltesa."

"True, but she's still fighting all of us at once. She's good, but she's no match for all of us if we gang up on her." Cliff said. He then chuckled humorlessly. "That's what I'd like to say anyway."

Melvin nodded in agreement. "We just came out of that fight with that lion where we're in absolutely no condition for another tough fight."

"Ha, does sound like a bad joke when you put it that way," Yuki said.

Meanwhile, Allisa had just freed herself from the wall and was struggling back to her feet again, coughing while clutching her belly. "T-That hurt...."

"Allisa!" Max then ran up to her. He'd been kicked away by Leone, and the first thing he did was running to Allisa's side. "You ok?! That looked quite bad!" He said with urgency.

"Don't worry..." Allisa said with a whirly smile. "Not the first time today." She took a glance towards Leone up ahead. When she did, she felt her hand tighten into a fist. Leone...

When they first met back in Soma Rand, she couldn't have predicted that she would become their enemy. True she was annoying and got drunk shortly after their chance encounter, but she never seemed like a bad person. At least, she thought.

Robin hovered down towards Leone. "That Red head is quite dangerous. Need a hand?" he asked.

"Na, I got it." Leone said preparing to pounce again. "They're all pretty beat up anyway."

"Good point. The guardian must've given them a tough time. Hm?" Robin then floated away as a large boulder was flung aimed at Leone.

Leone dodged it by leaping out of the way, allowing the boulder to crash onto the ground hard enough to shatter the earth. Leone grinned as she looked at the culprit. "Well well, where'd someone like you've been hiding?"

Rodger stood atop his 'Ga Ga Golem' with a wide grin. " I'm a proud adventurer of Sterland Forest. Best remember the name this time round." Rodger lifted his hammer and pointed it at her. "Name's Rodger D. Huxal! And you'd better remember that this time Cat Lady!" The golem moved in response, scooping up a part of the ground before throwing it towards Leone.

"Rodger, huh?" Leone stood still while the bolder few towards her, even landing right on top of her with a loud thud.

"All right!" Rodger celebrated.

The rock, however, was split down the middle, and standing in the center was Leone with her left leg raised up.

"Huh?!"

Leone grinned widely and leaped backward behind the two pieces of the boulder that were thrown at her. "I'll tire ta remember that." She then kicked both parts of the rock, both hitting their mark, shattering the Golem to pieces.

"Wahh!!" Rodger let out a yelp as he fell as the golem crumbled into pieces. She just kicked those rocks back?

As he was falling, Leone appeared in front of him swinging her right leg out prepared to finish the airborne Rodger off.

Crap!! Rodger gritted his teeth as he brought his hammer forwards as Leone swung towards Rodger.

Moments before the hit, Miracle rushed in, pushing Rodger out of the way while countering Leone with a kick of her own, succeeding into forcing it upwards.

"Not bad screwball." Leone said menacingly.

Meracle was about to kick out again with her other leg when Leone applied more pressure to her right leg and launched Miracle back to the ground.

Meracle managed to recover before landing and launched herself back at Leone as she landed, determined to land a blow.

Meracle leaped off the ground, spinning while flailing her legs out towards Leone, who still had the same grin that she was wearing before. Just as Miracle swiped her legs overhead, Leone ducked, much to Miracles' shock.

"You really aren't playing around here huh?"

Leone then sent her fist into Meracle's gut, winding her and launching her back, tumbling across the ground.

"You always were a tough bitch, I'll give you that." Leone said as she watched Miracle get back to her feet, clutching her gut while trying to get her breath back. "Too bad I'm a tougher bitch, huh?"

Her mischievous smile then disappeared as Allisa appeared behind her swinging downwards towards Leone, gripping her sword with both hands. Without even looking behind her, Leone reached out her right hand on instinct and grabbed Allisa's arm, locking the two in a deadlock.

"Surprised ya could still move after a kick like that." Leone snickered, turning to face Allisa. "I kinda had this feeling there was more ta ya."

Allisa clenched her teeth as she tried to break free. ".... Leone, don't you have any idea what you're doing?"

"Huh?" Leone tilted her head in confusion.

"That thing is a key to something that's potentially dangerous. Don't you realize that?"

"Cause I do. I just don't care." Leone grinned sinisterly.

"What?!" Allisa's eyes widened in disbelief. "What do you mean you don't care?! If whatever this think locks is let out, it could hurt so many people."

"And what do I care if a few sorry bastards are getting hurt. All I care about is that big fat reward I get from completing this job."

"....... You're just doing this for some reward? What kind of selfish reason is that?!" Allisa snapped, pushing against Leone's grip.

"What? You think I have some tragic backstory and noble ideals?" Leone's said, sounding more serious, fixing Allisa with a sinister look. "Sorry to disappoint ya, but I don't have any kinda redeeming story like that. So long as I'm still alive and can live with food and booze, I don't give a damn about other people."

Allisa felt her gritting her teeth in anger. She then forced herself off Leone and teleported way, keeping her blade fixed on her.

Leone grinned as she took a defensive stance. "Sure ya wanna keep this up?" She asked Allisa. "I mean come one, you all look like you're ready ta drop dead any second."

She wasn't completely wrong. In Allisa's case, she used nearly all her mana to defeat the lion. As a consequence, her body felt incredibly heavy. And she wouldn't admit it, but she still felt dizzy from her attack earlier.

"Kinda look like you're gonna be the first to drop." Leone said with a grin. "Well, you brought this on yourself."

Before she could attack, Meracle had launched herself at Leone again, launching a right kick to Leone's exposed back. As though sensing it, Leone pivoted and raised her right leg, blocking the attack with her shin.

"Someone's sure in a hurry ta get their ass kicked, huh screwball?"

Meracle gritted her teeth as she swung her left leg towards Leone's face, which she blocked with her arm. Meracle jumped back in response.

Allisa then teleported towards Leone followed by a downward slash, but Leone effortlessly dodged similar to how she dodged Max before with a similar cocky expression. Allisa was about to take another swing when a dizzy spell hit her and she momentarily lost her balance and fell forwards. C-Crap! Not now...!

"You seem really out of it, huh?" Leone said with a smirk. She was about to strike when suddenly a dagger shot past the back of Allisa's head, catching Leone by surprise. She moved her head out of the way as fast as she could, the dagger passing by her left cheek, leaving a small cut. "What the he-"

Nel then appeared upside-down grabbing her dagger just as it passed by Leone with her right hand as her left hand gripped her short blade.

Leone reacted just in time, leaning backward just as Nel swung her short blade, only just missing Leone. Whoho, Red sure is fast!

Nel landed on the ground with her right hand and spun around, quickly with her legs flailing out, catching Leone's neck, sending her flying left.

Leone recovered, flipped in the air and skidded across the ground to a halt, grabbing the spot where Nel had kicked. "Damn, Red sure is no joke."

Suddenly the ground around Leone rose up all of a sudden, forming into a furnace like structure around her. "Wha-?"

A few feet away, Rodger had both hands on the ground with Max standing beside him. "Alright! Fry her!"

"Got it!" Max then let out a flaming roar, sending a pillar of flames converging on the entrapped Leone, who only realized too late that she was trapped.

"S-Shit!?"

Suddenly, the wall behind Leone shattered. The pillar of flames when suddenly dispersed as something flew through it, striking Max in the chest.

"H-Huh?" Max skidded back in shock. Embedded just below his left collar bone was a thin silver arrow. "Wha-What the?!"

"Whoa Max! Are you ok?!" Rodger yelled with urgency.

"Y-Yeah... don't worry," Max gritted his teeth as he pulled the arrow from his chest. The arrow disappeared quickly after that. "What the? It's gone?"

Meanwhile, Leone coughed as the dust from the ruined hole settled. "Man.... That was too close."

"You still alive in there, Leone?" Robin floated through the hole with his bow in hand.

"I think so...." Leone nodded. "Thanks for the save though. That could've been ugly."

"No kidding. You would've taken some serious damage if that hit you."

"Guess I owe ya one Robby."

"Robin."

Meanwhile, Allisa and Miracle remained where they were, shocked at what happened. Nel, on the other hand, gritted her teeth as she looked at Robin. I thought there was something strange about that boy. The simple fact that he could not only defuse Max's breath attack but also pierce him means he's no ordinary opponent. Nel evaluated.

Back at the rear, Cliff, Melvin and Yuki were also stunned by what happened. "What the hell.... What just happened?" Melvin membered.

"Damn! They were so focused on that cat girl they forgot that there was another one." Cliff said, gritting his teeth.

Yuki didn't say anything though his grip on his sword tightened. He remained behind with Cliff and Melvin since neither was in any condition to contribute to the battle due to the previous fight.

"Don't worry about us," Cliff said to him. "I still got some fight left in me."

"We're all worn out from that last battle. If you still got some fight left in you then you should help them." Melvin added.

Yuki glanced at them and nodded.

Meanwhile, Robin floated forwards, looking very intrigued at Max. "Surprised you're still alive fire boy. True that arrow lost allot of momentum with that weird fire attack but even so, it should've drilled a hole through you."

"Ha, like that'll kill me," Max smirked, holding the small hole on his shoulder.

"What the heck was that anyway?!" Rodger blurted out.

Robin held out his bow and pulled on the string. "This." A silver arrow then materialized on the bow. He then loosed the arrow that shot like a missile towards Max. Before it hit, Yuki rushed in and shoved Max away, intercepting the arrow with his sword. The two forces meet with a massive outburst of wind. Yuki' ground his teeth as he pushed against the arrow upwards, where it slammed into the sending with a powerful force behind it.

"Huh.... Another weird." Robin whistled.

"What the hell was that for Sword Bastard?!" Max snapped as he shot back to his feet.

"Shut it!" Yuki snapped back, pointing at the devastation above him. "Unless you wanted a hole in your chest."

"What kinda arrow was that? It was crazy powerful." Rodger gawked, looking at the hole that was left in the ceiling.

"Oh, that's nothing major," Robin said nonchalantly.

Back at the girl's position, Nel glanced back to Allisa and Meracle. "Go to Cliff and Melvin." She instructed.

"Nya?"

"What about you?"

"I'll keep those two off with the others." Nel continued. "No matter what we need to get that tablet out. Help them reach that opening then use a void ring." She glanced over to Cliff who was still at the rear with Melvin. Cliff looked in her direction and nodded to Nel, as though he understood the plan.

"But-" Meracle was about to object but Allisa put a hand on her shoulder, giving Nel a serious look. "You'll follow right?"

Nel paused before answering. ".... We'll be there."

Robin prepared another arrow, aiming it at Yuki, Rodger and Max. "Ok, let's get this over with." He said to Leone. "I'll take these guys on. You steal the coin thing."

"Kay." Leone said enthusiastically.

Max and Yuki braced themselves as Leone launched herself towards Cliff and Melvin while Allisa and Meracle charged to intercept her. Nel charged towards Robin while his attention was aimed towards Max, Yuki and Rodger.

The party was in bad shape from their previous battle and were in bad shape for the imitate battle with their two unexpected opponents. Unfortunately for the heroes, things were only going to get worse.