Organu had been much farther than they anticipated. It took them almost five entire days before reaching the limits of the small village. Like most settlement from after The Invasion it was surrounded by all sides by a wall.

As expected they were stopped in front of the gate by a middle aged man holding a pistol. Thankfully contrary to the guard of Bajoon he didn't pointed his weapon at the group but still looked at them with a supicious look. ''We don't get much visitors in this corner of the country. State your business strangers.'' He said in a deep gravely voice.

All three of them showed their ID cards to the guard and Xofamai spoke up. ''We're members of the Ding Dong Resistance, someone has asked our service to investigate the mansion that appeared in your village.''

The guard seemed to relax slightly at that. ''Finally, the mayor told me to wait, but I was just about to go rush inside the mansion myself. My daughter disappeared about a week ago. I don't want to be too optimistic but I really hope she's still alive.''

Oliver and Clara shot a worried glance toward each other while Xofamai frowned. ''So I assume the mayor was the one that asked for our service? Would it be possible to talk to him before we enter the mansion?''

The guard putted his pistol back in his holster and nodded. ''I'll guide you to him, come with me.'' He opened the gate and let the three Chosens walk inside of the village.

They found the mayor inside of a small tavern, not many people were inside at this time of day and the few that were there were all old people who did not paid them much attention. The mayor who was a man with graying blond hair and a dark fancy suit turned around and caught side of the new arrivals and tried to give his best welcoming smile.

''Ah hello there! So I assume you three are the three Chosens sent by the Resistance?'' At Xofamai nod he continued. ''Well as my request letter probably arleady mentioned a mansion appeared a few weeks ago and has been a blight on our town ever since. I worry for the safety of my people especially the three girls who have gone missing.'' He said the last part with a frown that showed how truly old the man was.

''Can you tell us more about this mansion? When did it appeared and is it the first time there's a mansion in this village?'' Xofamai asked with a serious tone.

The mayor scratched his chin thoughtfully. ''Well to tell you the truth there was a mansion here and it was at the exact same spot where the new one is. It was owned by a wealthy family that used to live here. But the family all died of Influenza during The Great War and the mansion was eventually destroyed to make way for a public park. I wouldn't know how the mansion looked like since it was before my time, but it might be the same one. But I don't know how an old mansion could suddenly reappeared like that after more than a century.''

''We also heard that people who tried to enter got attacked by apparitions can you tell us what they looked like?'' Xofamai asked in his usual emotionless voice.

''Well that's the strange thing, most people reported something completely different. Some people say they were attacked by demons straight from a horror story, others by wild Elestia and some were attacked by giant spiders. Not Elestia, just giant regular ones.''

Xofamai nodded, ''I think I'm begining to get what we're dealing with. Thanks for the information, we'll be on our way.''

Once they were outside Clara was the first one to talk. ''So what do you think we're dealing with?''

''It could be either a Mind or Death Elestia but I'm leaning more toward Death.'' Xofamai replied.

Clara frowned thoughtfully. ''Why is that?''

''The way illusion work between these two Natures is different. Mind Elestia can do anything they want with their illusions as long as they have the imagination to do it. Death Elestia on the other hand can only create things out of memories. For example that mansion, I'm pretty sure it was created by the memories of the land. It's not just people that can remember, the land itself has memories of time gone by and that's how this mansion came back to life. A mind Elestia would have no way to know a mansion used to be here unless they searched for that information. But apart from the Kitsubi most Elestia are not really keen on research.''

''What about the apparitions? That sound like something a Mind Elestia would do to scare away predators.'' Clara countered.

Xofamai nodded. ''Yes but from what the mayor told me the apparitions seem to be specific to each person. Almost as if the Elestia searched throught their memories for their phobia and bought them to life. A Mind Elestia would need to be a few meters away from a person to search for something that specific in the mind of someone.''

Clara reluctantly nodded in agreement. The group arrived of the old mansion and it was like they walked inside of a horror movie. The Mansion stood tall and was devoid of any lights, the trees surrounding it had all wilted and died and the grass had turned to an ash gray color. What was once a park for the public now almost looked like a graveyard, only the tombstones were missing.

As they approached the mansion something began to form in front of it. A large serpentine figure appeared out of thin air and roared at the three of them. Oliver face paled when he recognised the creature before him. ''B-Boreas?! But we killed him, I'm sure of it!'' Oliver took out a brown Draconid gem from his pocket by instinct and was about to call the name of his first Elestia.

But Xofamai stopped him by placing a hand of his shoulder. ''Don't worry Oliver just continue to walk toward the mansion.''

Oliver looked at him as if he gone nuts. ''Are you crazy?! We're going to get killed!''

Xofamai shook his head. ''Trust me you won't, this is just an illusion to scare away everyone that try to enter inside.''

Oliver very relunctantly put back the Draconid Gem inside his pocket and slowly walked toward the old mansion with the rest of the group. Just as he had said they passed throught the Winter Dragon as if he wasn't even there and they were now in front of the door. The illusion of the Dragon disappeared as soon as they had passed him and now the only sound they could hear was the heavy wind that passed throught the dead branches of the trees.

Oliver and Clara looked at the door with trepidation clear on their face. They felt like at any moments something horrible would burst out of the door. Xofamai was the first to move and he gently turned the door knob. As he opened the door it creaked loudly. Then Xofamai cursed when he saw what was on the other side of the door. Both teens fear-filled gaze turned to confusion.

Behind the door was white fog so thick they couldn't see anything beyond it. It was so thick that to Oliver it almost looked like a wall of cloud. ''What is this?'' Clara asked with a baffled look in her eyes.

Xofamai sighed deeply before turning to the two teens with a grim expression. ''I was hoping it wouldn't come to this but I had my doubts. This is a Memory Maze, only a very powerful Death Elestia could create a place like this. It's a place filled with the fear and regrets of the people surounding it. The Boreas we saw was just an illusion, but inside a Memory Maze the memories of the people take physical form and will attack anyone foolish enough to enter it.''

The two teens gulped at that, but Oliver took a courageous expression. ''We have to save the people of this town, beside this can't be any worse than Boreas so let's do it!'' But just before he could cross the doorframe Xofamai stopped him and shook his head.

''No, you should stay while me and Clara go inside. Memory Maze are not made for normal people. It's filled to the brim with life force, it's so saturated with it that an Elestia could probably fight for an hour and not break a sweat. Me and Clara can take it, but if you enter your risk the chance of being reshaped by the maze. There's no telling what could happen to you.''

Oliver clearly wanted to protest but Xofamai expression told him he would have none of it and he went to sulk away while both Xofamai and Clara made their way inside the mansion. When he saw them enter inside the fog he felt conflicted. Finally he glared toward the fog. ''Screw it they're gonna need my help if that Elestia is really as powerful as he says.''

Knowing he wouldn't hear the end of it Oliver ran inside the mansion and the door slammed loudly behind him...

- - - - -

Clara turned around when she heard the sound of rapid footsteps and facepalmed when she saw the form of Oliver entering inside the mansion. ''What are you doing here?! We told you it was too dangerous for you! When will you learn to not go headfirst into danger?!''

Oliver was about to respond to her but as if to prove Clara's point he was sudenly engulfed into a flash of light. Oliver felt his body twitsted and dislocated in ways that shouldn't even be possible. But for some reasons it didn't hurt at all. But once his vision cleared he realised that everything around him had grown much bigger.

''W-what happened to me?'' He asked in shock

Xofamai frowned and sighed deeply. ''This is why I told you to not come with us. This place is saturated with life force, so much so that it has become almost sentient. Life Force produced by Elestia see humans as incompleted creatures and try to correct them. I imagine the serum that the Cult of The Great Ones created is an inferior offshoot of the same concept. This place has turned you into an Elestia.''

Oliver panicked at that and looked over his body in a panic and saw that he was covered in a navy blue fur. ''Do you mean to tell me I'm going to be stuck like that forever?!''

Xofamai crossed his arms. ''That's why I told you to stay outside. But luckily for you, you're not the first person to make this mistake. From what I heard You'll probably turn back into a human once we kill the Death Elestia and leave this place. Provide we survive the maze in the first place. But be careful, I heard a legend that people who die in a Memory Maze stay stuck as an Elestia even in the afterlife.'' Xofamai said with one of his rare smirk.

''You're messing with me, there's no way that's true... Right?'' Oliver asked in an unsure tone. But then he looked down on himself once again and noticed something very important. ''My clothes are gone!'' he yelled with a horrified face.

Clara gave him a reassuring smile. ''Don't worry Oliver, your fur hide everything.''

Oliver shook his head frantically. ''That's not the point! My Draconid Gems were in my pockets! What happened to Sandy, Bolt and Snowy?!'' He asked in a panic.

''Maybe they'll come back once we leave this maze.'' Xofamai said in his best impression of a reassuring voice.

''I really hope so.'' Oliver muttered under his breath. Before walking foward with a determined frown on his face.

''Don't go too far ahead on your own, this is a dangerous place.'' Xofamai said before following him, Clara was not far behind.

Thus far the mansion hadn't looked like it was anything out of the ordinary except for the fact that many objects scattered around the rooms and hallways had been obsolete for a long time. They could see a bulcky looking camera laying on a desk along with black and white pictures of a family. In one room they foud an rotary phone along with an old typewritter with a paper that was half written. Clara curiously took it and read it over but was dissapointed when it was nothing more than a calculation for the taxation of the year 1919.

As they continued to walk in the hallway a low growl emanated from the distance. It was followed by the sound of a creature running frantically in their direction. When it turned the corner they could see that a wolf-like creature made of shadows was sprinting toward them at full speed. Xofamai unsheated his sword which proceeded to glow with dark energy and without hesitation he cutted the creature in half.

As soon as the severed body parts fell on the ground they disappeared into a black mist. Xofamai turned toward the two teens who looked at him with impressed looks. ''The appartitions here are not that strong but as we go farther they will become stronger and more viscious. So be on your guard.''

Eventually they found a staircase but it led toward a thick white fog similar to the entrace of the mansion. ''In these type of places you must always search for the stairs it will lead you to another part of the Memory Maze. But be warned that these places doesn't follow any logic. Each floors can be completely different from the others.''

The two teens nodded and followed him as he crossed the fog. Oliver and Clara gaped as their vision cleared and they took in their new surrounding. They weren't in a mansion anymore, instead they were inside what looked like a school.

Clara's breath caught in her throat when she saw a slightly younger version of herself walking in the hallway with what she knew to bew the human form of Marie. ''T-this is my old school, how did we end up here?''

Xofamai frowned before turning to her. ''As the name imply this maze is made out of memories. It took some of your memories and made a part of the maze with it. Don't lower your guard, this might look like a familiar place but this is still hostile territory.''

It felt surreal for Clara to be navigating these halls once again. It was as if the Invasion had never happened and the last few months since she awoke from her cryogenic pod had been nothing more than a very long nightmare. Then she glanced toward Oliver, well maybe not everything had been like a nightmare. She blushed and look away, what was she thinking at a time like this?!

Then in the distance they could hear something that sounded slightly like snickering. A shadowy figure that looked like the shadow of teenage girl appeared in front of the group. The apparition snickered once again.

''Clara Balsam, you're such a dumbass! You still go to church like an old woman? We're in 2067 not the middle ages! It's time you wake up and stop believing in fairy tales!'' Clara eyes widened, she remembered who this girl was now. She constantly butted head with her at school.

Clara grinned and throw five coins in the air and sent them blasting toward the shadowy figure. The shadow girl screamed a coins tore holes in her body and she vanished without a trace. ''This maze is going to have to do better than that if it want to scare me.'' She said in her best confident voice before walking foward.

But Oliver and Clara could tell she was only putting on a brave face. Some of the words the apparition had said had clearly dug up bad memories and it slightly affected the way the girl walked. Eventually they found another staircase.

The group was about to cross to the next floor. But before they could reach the stairs another shadowy figure appeared in front of them This time it was much taller and it was clearly the form of a man.

''I can't believe you still believe in that religious nonsense your mother was fond of. I thought I raised you better than that Clara.'' The girl recoiled and took a shaky step back as she realised the voice of the appartition was the same one as her father. ''I was hoping you would take on my legacy and study science. But how can anyone take you seriously when you believe in a magical man living in the sky?'' Michael spat the words with disdain.

Then his voice changed and took a colder tone. ''I suppose the only way to make use of you now is to make you become my new test subject. How about I turn you in a monster for the betterment of humanity Clara? How about I disfigure you so much that your dream of becoming a mother will be ruined? People tell you that you still look fine, but you know the truth. No one would ever want to make children with an abomination like you!''

Tears well up in Clara's eyes both from emotional pain and rage. She felt her life force boiling inside of her and without a second thought she released it in a devastating beam of pure power. But despite how strong the attack was the shadowy figure was able to contain the attack with his hands.

Xofamai turned toward Clara with a frown on his face. ''Your misery make the apparition stronger! You have to stop listening to it!'' Having said that Xofamai released his Elestia from his gem. Aqua the water Kitsubi emerged outside with a blue beam of light. The strange goo creature made in the shape of a fox immediatly blasted the apparition with a high pressure beam of water but the shadowy thing deflected it and came closer to the group.

''Take this you asshole! Nobody make Clara cry on my watch!'' Oliver yelled before releasing... A stream of bubbles that harmlessly popped when they made contact with the the apparition. Oliver looked down in shame. He should have expected his first attack as an Elestia wouldn't be strong.

''Clara, you must know right? I never loved you, why else would I have betrayed you without a second thought? I've killed half of the shelter we were part of and turn the rest into circus freak including you and your childhood friend. And yet despite all that a part of you still can't help but love me, what a patethic girl.'' He sneered at her.

He was now only a meter away from her and was about to grab her. But just before he could try Marie erupted from Clara's pouch and yelled. ''Leave Clara alone!'' Everyone looked at the winged mouse with wide eyes.

''Did you just talk?'' Clara whispered in shock. Marie created a strong gust of wind toward the shadowy apparition. Like before it took the attack but did not move from it's spot. Then it growled and slapped Marie out of the air sending her crashing on the floor with a loud thud. ''Marie no!'' Clara yelled in horror.

''I have no more need of you Clara. You have arleady served your purpose in helping me creat the perfect humans. But since you are ones of my incompleted creation I can't let you go into the wild, It's time for me to scrap this failed experiment for good.'' The voice of her father said coldly.

''Will you just shut up you bastard!'' Oliver yelled before putting himself in front of Clara and spitting a stronger stream of water toward Michael's apparition. It quickly shrugged off the attack and gave a powerful kick to Oliver that sent him crashing into a wall.

''Oliver!'' Clara yelled, then her glare turned toward Michael's shadow. ''Who do you think you are you worthless piece of shit?! Do you really think I care about what you say after you betrayed me and everyone in the shelter?! I don't need you, you're not my family anymore. Because my real family is right here with me and they're a better family than you will ever be. So take this you psycopath!"

Clara created another beam with the power of her mind. But this time the apparition wasn't able to shrug off the attack like it did earlier. The fake Michael screamed in agony as the beam tore a hole in his chest and the creature disappeared in a cloud of black mist.

Clara breath heavily after finally getting rid of that awful thing. She turned toward both Marie and Oliver and looked at them with a worried expression. Thankfully both of them recovered quickly.

Oliver looked at the spot where the monster used to be. ''Why did the last attack damaged him so much? Earlier it seemed like anything we threw at him did nothing.''

Xofamai was the one to answer his question. ''These apparitions gain power out of our misery. When Clara stopped listening to it, it lost most of it's power and she was able to destroy it much more easily. You should all keep that in mind as we proceed further inside the maze.'' Both teens nodded and soon they were on their way to the next floor.

Once again the scenery had completely changed. They were inside what looked like a large wooden building. The thing was massive and it felt like the hallways could go on forever. They could see dozens of apparition wandering the halls. For some reason none of them gave them any attention.

''Apparitions that have physical forms and those that do not are pretty easy to spot. If you can see them as normal people they're just illusions. But if they're covered in the black shadow you have seen earlier they can attack you.'' Oliver and Clara nodded in understanding.

Soon both teenagers noticed something peculiar about the illusions. Most of them was wearing a familiar badge of a bell with a red fist painted on it. Seeing the unasked question in their eyes Xofamai decided to shed some light on the place. ''This used to be the base of the Ding Dong Resistance during the first two years after it's inception. In that time being a Chosen and befriending Elestia was still a pretty new concept. And people thought we were all insane for seeing Elestia for anything more than monsters, even more so than nowaday. But we were the last line of defence humanity had. The Knights weren't even a thing yet, so people only had us to rely on when their town got swarmed by wild Elestia.''

Oliver and Clara nodded their curiosity satted. Then they saw someone very familiar walked beside them. The man looked just like Xofamai but he was wearing a brown coat instead of his usual black attires. His ears and eyes were still very much human and there were no fox tails in sight.

Then the apparition of the man stopped in his track as a young prepubescent boy with raven hair ran toward him and gave him a bone crushing hug. ''Dad! Did you hear?! Mrs. Clementine is finally letting me join the Resistance! She said it was something called Project Defender or something.''

The man who they idendified as Xofamai laughed and ruffled the hair of the boy. ''Don't get too excited you will only be assigned guard duty until you're old enough to really join the Resistance.'' He said to the boy.

''But still! She said we will be allowed to catch our first Elestia tomorrow, can you believe it?! I can't wait to be just like you!'' The boy said with a proud smile.

The man laughed once again. ''Of course I can believe it. After all I'll be there to be sure nothing happen to you or your friends.'' He said with a wink before both apparitions simply vanished into thin air.

Both Clara and Oliver looked at the real Xofamai both with feeling of dread in their stomach. They had never known Xofamai had a son. And if he did... where was he now? Xofamai stayed silent and simply started to walk ahead. Both teens followed behind him casting worried glances to each other.

As they crossed a doorframe, the scenery around them completely changed and they came inside what looked like a small forest contained in a single room. They had no time to question the sudden change in scenery before another apparition of Xofamai appeared.

The same raven boy from earlier ran toward Xofamai with a wide proud smile on his face. In his hand he was holding a blue Draconid Gem. ''Dad! Look what I caught! Aqua come out!'' Coming out of a beam of blue light was a very familiar being. It was the same slime-like Kitsubi with three tails Xofamai had with him. ''Isn't she awesome? I scrapped my knee in the forest and she came to heal me and when I told her I was trying to protect humans from wild Elestia she agreed to come with me!'' He exclaimed loudly.

Xofamai smiled proudly at his son but then he gained a questioning gaze. ''So how do you know she's a female? I really can't tell.''

''That's because I told your son I was, mister Bartholomew.'' The Kitsubi said in a respectful tone.

On the other hand 'Bartholomew' looked at the Elestia like it had grown a second head. ''She can talk?!''

The raven haired boy laughed at that. ''I said the same thing when she talked to me in the forest!''

Once again the apparitions disappeared as if they never existed in the first place. The trio made their way to another room and found that they were now back inside the old Resistance base. They were now in what looked like a massive meeting hall. And on the stage they saw a very familiar old man standing in front of an object covered by a tarp.

''Hello everyone, as you probably know I am Professor Benjamin Dogwood. I can't thank you all enough for all of you for letting me live here after... Everything.'' He said the last part with a downcasted expression.

Clara frowned. ''Poor Professor Dogwood, he still blamed himself for accidently leading the Dragons to our world.''

''I think he still blame himself to this day, he just got better at hiding it.'' Xofamai said in a tone that was even more cold and distant than usual.

Clara and Oliver looked at each other worriedly. He might be good at hiding it, but they felt like this place was getting to Xofamai even if he didn't want to admit it.

''As you all know we all came together to protect people as much as we can from wild Elestia and maybe even the Dragons someday if our Resistance can get big enough.'' The Old Professor said with a wistful look on his face followed by cheers from some members in the audience. ''But getting chosen by an Elestia can be a really dangerous task. A lot of people in our Resistance have unfortunately lost their life trying to capture an Elestia.''

A somber mood prevaded in the room at that reminder. But then the Professor continued his speech with more enthusiasm. ''But! I have worked tirelessly for the last six months over a solution to that problem. And this is what I came up with.'' Professor Dogwood then proceeded to approach the conceiled object and removed the tarp from it. Everyone in the room except the real Xofamai gasped as they saw what was under it.

It was a bulky set of armor built like a walking tank and it was faintly humming with power. ''I present to you the Dragon Killer armor. I studied for months how Elestia draw their power and found that we humans have the same energy as them inside of us! So I made an armor capable of using that power. Not only should that armor protect you from most Elestia. But it can also allow you to use the same power they have against them! This will be the ultimate weapon to win the war against the Dragons!''

Everyone in the hall cheered except for the three only real beings in the hall. And just like all the others the apparitions all dissapeared without a trace.

Clara turned toward Xofamai with a confused expression. ''Wait so the armor of the Knights of Humanity was made by the Resistance?! How did they get ahold of it?!''

Instead of responding Xofamai stayed silent and went ahead of the group into the next room. Clara was about to ask for more but Oliver stopped her by lightly bitting the back of her leg and shaking his head before glancing worriedly toward the man dressed in black.

In the next room they finally found the stairs but they could immediatly tell something was wrong by the way Xofamai tensed when he saw the room. Other apparitions appeared one was an illusion of the old Xofamai but the other instantly putted them on edge. It was a being wearing an heavy set of armor. As if that wasn't enough the apparitions was covered into a black shadow, the same type that the other apparitions that attacked them had.

''Roxanne what are you doing?! You know what the Professor said, these armors are a huge failure! You will lose years of your life by using them!'' The younger Xofamai exclaimed.

''That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I can't believe you're willing to work with these disgusting beasts that took everything from us! This is your last chance Bartholomew join me and let's leave this so called Resistance. Let's create a world where all Elestia lay dead at our feet!'' The woman cried out angrily.

''Do you realise what you're asking? There's billions of Elestia out there and only a few of us left. And even if that was a realistic plan what happen after? Do you think the old animals that populated Earth will suddenly come back to life just because we got rid of the Elestia? Our world has irrevocably changed Roxanne, there's nothing we can do about it. All we can do is try to get the best situation out of it and save humanity. The only way that will happen is if we find a way to coexist with the Elestia!'' The past Xofamai replied in an exhasperated tone, indicating they have had this conversation often in the past.

''That conversation seems very familiar.'' Clara said as she glanced down toward the boy-turned-otter who looked away in embarassment.

The shadowy form of Roxanne clenched her fist as she glared toward where Xofamai's apparition was standing. ''Make peace with these monsters?! No! Absolutely not! We had everything Bartholomew! We were the richest family in all of Ringabell City! People looked at us with envy when we came out of our mansion and drove with our sport cars! The mayor of the city was eating in the palm of our hand! We had maids and butlers serving our every whims any days of the week! And what do we have now? Nothing! And we're forced to live with the riff raff as we fight to survive every single days. I can never forgive these monsters for bringing us so low!'' She screamed in pure rage.

Oliver and Clara looked at Xofamai in surprise. They would have never expected that someone like him used to have a life like this.

''And what are you planning to do to the Elestia that are loyal to us? Are you really going to kill Thomas Elestia in front of him? Do you realised how crushed he would be if you did something like that? He love Aqua with all his heart. Stop thinking of only yourself and think about us as a family! We can't go fight in a hopeless war like you're sugessting! At least with the Resistance we have a chance, but what you're talking about is pure insanity!'' The younger Xofamai yelled back.

The shadowy figure seemed to relax slightly. ''Maybe you're right.'' She said in a defeated tone.

The apparition of Xofamai approached her with a smile and put a hand on her shoulder. ''See you can be reasonable when you want to- Argh!'' Without any warning Roxanne had pushed Xofamai to the ground and then proceeded to punch him on the face at full force. The impact was so great that it destroyed the floor and Xofamai was sent falling on the floor bellow with a loud crash.

''Mom! What are you doing to dad?!'' The same young boy from earlier exclaimed in shock as he bursted throught the door.

''No Thomas get out of here!'' The real Xofamai said in a burst of emotions that shocked both Oliver and Clara. Pretty soon Thomas was joined by other kids all of them wore the symbol of the Resistance on their chest.

''Freeze! Mrs. Dreemara I'm sorry but you need to come with us, you're under arrest.'' A young girl said bravely.

The armored apparition chuckled darkly in response. ''I'm under arrest am I? You have some nerve thinking a bunch of kids stand a chance against me.'' She lifted her arm and her amor hummed with power before releasing a devastating wave of ice that froze all of the children on the spot.

The only one that had somewhat escaped the attack was Thomas but his legs had been frozen stiff. ''Mom what are you doing?! You killed them!'' The boy yelled while tears escaped from his eyes.

Roxanne approached him and took him by the neck. ''Sorry but I can't let traitors to humanity live and that include you. From now on anyone that side with Elestia will be dealt with swiftly and ruthlessly!'' Her armor hummed once again and Tommy was now completely frozen, his expression of betrayal had been immortalized for everyone to see.

When her work was done the shadowy apparitions finally turned toward the group. ''What's wrong Bartholomew? You look like you just saw a ghost.'' She said in a smug tone.

Xofamai red eyes began to flash and tails began to sprout behind him more and more until he had all nine tails. ''I'm going to kill you!'' He yelled in pure rage before sprinting toward her.

''Xofamai try to control your emotions, you're giving it exactly what it want!'' Clara yelled to him but it fell on deaf ears.

Xofamai unsheated his sword that soon became cloaked in a black shadowy matter. But this time there was also a hint of red hidden inside the black energy. The apparition threw another wave of ice toward the advancing Xofamai, But he responded in kind by unleashing a huge wave of black mist that came crashing against the ice.

Once the two attacks vanished he continued his sprint and tried to hit Roxanne's apparition with his sword. The armored figure created a shield out of ice and proceeded to block any attacks Xofamai threw at her.

''Should we try to help him?'' Clara asked to Oliver with a worried glance.

The human-turned Elestia shook his head. ''You want us to come between him and that thing? Do you see how angry he is? You remember the last time when he was like that?'' Oliver asked with a raised eyebrow.

Clara shuddered, she remembered that night all too clearly. The savagery Xofamai had displayed that night still haunted her in her dreams.

After beating on the shield over and over again with his sword the shield of ice finally broke down. The apparition didn't waste any time to produce a sword made out of ice and parried the next uncoming attack. Then she kicked Xofamai in the knee. When he yelped in pain and recoiled she took advantage of it and tried to freeze him with another wave of ice.

Seeing the situation he was in Oliver acted on instinct and unleashed a stream of bubbles. They were all instantly frozen and broke down in pieces as they fell on the ground. But it bought Xofamai's enough time to recover and jump back from the ice attack.

Xofamai panted heavily as he finally regained some control of his senses and his tail retracted until there was only one left. the figure of Roxanne seemed to smirk behind her helmet. ''Arleady giving up Xofamai? Don't you care that I killed your son? Don't you want to plunge your sword into my cold dead heart?''

Oliver and Clara ran up to Xofamai and glared down at the apparition. ''Oh I see how it is, since you failed your real child you decided to take these lost souls under your wing huh? Pathetic, helping these little rats won't make up for your past failure.''

Xofamai clenched his fist which made the apparition grow even stronger but then he relaxed and gave her one of his rare smirk. ''The first time I saw these kids I thought they were annoying and would get themselves killed because of their unrealistic goals. I wanted them to fail my test of passage and just get rid of them as fast as I could. But with every trials they exceeded my expectations every single time, even when they made mistakes along the way. These last few years I struggled to find a reason to continue my struggle in this world. But I finally found one, I'm going to help these kids as long as I can because I know for a fact that they will change the world, I can feel it in my guts. I can't be stopped here by such a pathetic knock off of Roxanne. Not when the real Roxanne is out there and need to be bought down. So get out of my way you poor excuse of a clone.''

The apparitions screamed in rage and ran toward Xofamai who proceeded to easily cutted the apparition in half as if it was made of butter. Xofamai turned to Oliver and Clara who looked at him with impressed looks. ''What are you waiting for? Let's go to the next floor.''