The beast held its ground against the three girls in what had suddenly shifted to an impromptu staring contest. After waiting for a short time like this, the beast promptly stepped aside.

"I’m ashamed that I never did predict this earlier. I should have known that you would have a plan for anything, even memory loss. Of course, you would ensure the matter was handled on your own, I just needed to wait. Though, I should admit, travelling around with such company was slightly alarming at first, you never did want the Hunters involved before. I should have trusted you would let me know when you needed help, waited for when the call came. It seems it has too, that book was exactly as you read it. A danger to each other, like you’ve invested too much into too many things, and need a way out. That’s probably why you had me come so prepared, like a rescue operation. You two, step away from Khyzae, she’s coming with me.” “What do you mean I’m going with you? I’ll decide where I’m going, thank you very much, and I’m going to stay with my friends.” “Ah, so you even predicted the lack of memory would make you so easy to influence. Not capable of picking sides, it makes even more sense, no wonder you wrote that sometimes conviction needs to be proven, that if your research brought you too far away, I was to bring you back.” Liyuzhe sounded almost as intimidating as she looked, and no one really liked Liyuzhe’s tone of voice at the moment. She spoke harshly from what looked like really heavy armor, impossibly heavy, adorned with countless unidentifiable instruments. Even with such heavy armor, she moved with considerable ease, not even making a sound.

Liyuzhe rose an armored hand towards Sryine, a spark of light striking Sryine’s leg soon after, having her fall to her knees in a moment. Instantly after, she repeated the same thing with Vwyx. Riyxia rushed to first Sryine, applying healing in defiance against Liyuzhe, still unsure how to react. In a close look, Riyxia found that Sryine wasn’t actually very injured, mostly stunned. However, even that was something she could treat. She rushed to Vwyx to provide the same healing, as Liyuzhe endured her own confusion. Both those she paralyzed had recovered, and Riyxia didn’t even have the equipment for such a feat. In such hesitation, Liyuzhe lost her own advantage, but had a moment to think. Ieqyisa had influenced her own gift back then too, exposing herself to the dramatic steps needed to research and practice slight changes to the gift. After such, she had managed to affect how her gift resolved, but the raw essence was kept, teleportation. She could revise how it works, but couldn’t do something completely different.

“Healing, there is no way Khyzae was ever capable of healing, nor would she ever be capable of healing. Such empathy isn’t even in her nature either, such impractical inefficiency. You look exactly like Khyzae too.. but you’re not her, are you?” “I know you are Mother’s friend, and in respect for that I ask you, leave.” “Mother? Hells, that’s insane. Either this is really pathetic ruse or Khyzae has done some things that shouldn’t have even been possible. Remember, girl, we talked before, I’ve already had information from you at the village, so what makes you think you could…” Liyuzhe paused as Riyxia pulled out the book she had also found earlier, setting it on the ground and stepping back. Liyuzhe picked the book up delicately, already knowing this was one of Khyzae’s books. A descendant, carrying on the same vision. The pages after proved its authenticity, those are Khyzae’s star calculations, things she still didn’t understand. She passed the book back, knowing this had been left for Riyxia, not her.

“So it seems there’s been a lot going on, and a lot of confusion, and many questions left. I couldn’t even imagine under what terms Khyzae has left someone so like her, with a different gift.. that could really confuse a person, certainly, or even confuse Khyzae herself. Khyzae never was afraid to get her hands dirty, and you certainly seem obstinate in your own way, but you’re turning down a legacy that precludes you. We were sent here to learn, so maybe a demonstration is in order, to show you how prepared we are to make dreams of a bright future a reality. Show me what you are capable of, and I will return it in kind.” Liyuzhe’s armor began to light up with a bright hum. Another stunning projectile lunged towards Vwyx, but Vwyx blocked it this time with stone made from sand. Liyuzhe this time didn’t wait, sending her beast towards Sryine as she lunged towards her chosen target. Energy surged and crashed through the barrier Vwyx setup to block, Liyuzhe’s armor passing through the stone as if it was nothing but water.

Sryine drew an illusionary blade and slashed towards the beast, striking firmly against an unseen barrier wrapped around the beast, sparks of light revealing the barrier on contact. Vwyx meanwhile turned her own weapon against Liyuzhe’s armor, striking a very similar barrier. Riyxia tried to slow Liyuzhe down, her gift not finding any purchase or presence within the armor. Sryine turned her illusion into a real bolt of lightning, striking the beast.. and only finding her bolt rippling around the same barrier ineffectively. Whatever equipment they had was impossibly advanced, at least defensively, making their attacks have no real effect at all. Liyuzhe pressed her advantage this time, grabbing Vwyx with an armored hand and pressing her against the ground. Vwyx turned on the armor itself, trying to influence the material it was made of, only to find nothing occur. The beast meanwhile also pinned Sryine on her back at the same time, crushing her lightly under its weight. Sryine had seen the force this thing was capable of, it was holding back, it could do much more than this. It was holding back, so was she, as was all of them.

“Riyxia, we’ve got her distracted. Just go, we’ll catch up later.” “Riyxia huh? Interesting name. I hope you seriously don’t believe you can just run away like this, I’ve got both of your friends dealt with and still got a free hand.” Sryine thought it might have been a good plan, but Liyuzhe lifted her free arm and fired upon Riyxia, ready to stun her with another shot. Riyxia was kinda surprised, a single person was giving three people so much trouble, they had no chance to make a difference like this. It was clear her potential with this gear wasn’t at all normal. Fortunately, the three of them were also familiar with abnormal. Riyxia didn’t even try to dodge the shot, closing her eyes and taking it full on. The shot struck her without leaving any feeling of pain, but she found herself instantly unable to move. She turned upon the inability to act, the inability to make a difference, the inability to save her friends. She couldn’t do it, not like this at least, and it was a troubling realization.

“I told you to leave, but you didn’t listen. I warned you, but you instead caused trouble for my friends. If you need to be forced to leave, then so be it.” Riyxia opened her eyes, her body moving slowly despite the paralysis, her tone changing in turn. “If you need to have some sense bloody well bashed into that think skull of yours in order for you to get the hint, then so be it!” “Oh no, you made her mad. Really, you’re not going to like her when she gets mad. Heh, why not, let’s just make things go full crazy then. Maddening, furious, ludicrous, insanity! It’s a party and you’re invited. But you’re not, oh no you’re not. Shells, Plates, Chains, like you just can’t let go, no freedom, no acceptance. You won’t do, won’t do, can’t do. Couldn’t ever, really, but does it matter, does it ever matter? No, maybe there is no reason to care, none at all. Oh my, oh my, so close to not caring, you don’t even know it. She doesn’t, you know. You didn’t know, but you will now, the maddening destruction of fury, despair, and agony.” Riyxia snarled, deep in a rage Sryine found hilarious. Liyuzhe had been taken completely off guard, not understanding what was transpiring at all. Pin the two, stun the other, efficient and according to plan. This was not according to plan.

Riyxia practically flew at Liyuzhe, connecting with the barrier with so much brutal force that it didn’t know where to distribute it all. Liyuzhe went tumbling backwards, recovering with a propulsion pack on her back before landing back on the ground. The beast was the next to go flying, thrown high into the air by a massive explosion, a flaming inferno surging from Sryine’s position. When the flames settled, Sryine was nowhere to be found, in her place was a demon of the inferno, her previous nightmare form.. just made of pure flame instead of smoke. The form was an illusion, but the flame was not. Vwyx lept unnaturally to her feet, holding out her hand as a cyclone of sand swirled towards it, shaping into a massive crystalline axe, several times bigger than her. She threw this axe, the axe wailing passed Liyuzhe.. only to then be pulled back in reply, landing in her hand once again. Liyuzhe took the return blow, sending her armor soaring forwards and landing in the sand before the girls.

“Okay, I know, this is what I get for underestimating Khyzae, I know. She said there was danger, I should have listened. Ieqyisa, come in. We’ve got a pretty serious situation here, I need you to get Fhyernx and back me up. No, I don’t care what you’re doing right now, this involves Khyzae. Good, thank you.” Liyuzhe disconnected the call from her armor and got back to her feet. The beast she was with charged Sryine again, the barrier igniting in a brilliant blaze of fire on approach. Sryine laughed as a dramatic wind suddenly picked up, throwing the entire area into a massive sand storm. The sand also ignited by her presence, quickly shifting the storm into a firestorm, the heat rising dramatically. Vwyx struck the ground with her axe, ripples of sand waving outwards and then erupting in fountains of sand, building upon the storm. The shifting cycle of sand caused even the ground to shift, the ignited sand shifting like quicksand in a whirlpool of sand and fire. The beast stumbled in the sands, having it dragged several Uyn away towards a fountain of sand which then threw it high into the air into a cyclone of wind, itself throwing the beast even further away. By the time the beast finally returned to the ground, it was too dizzy to walk.

Liyuzhe took the opportunity to simply hover in the air, seeing she was quickly losing her advantage. However, she knew she could count on her friends. A white gate formed in the air nearby as both Fhyernx and Ieqyisa stepped through, both also in heavy armored gear. They weren’t alone either, a couple other gates opened as well, one unloading a battalion of beasts in harnesses, the other depositing a massive unfamiliar instrument. The two took witness of the current scene, with its atrocious visibility. Ieqyisa deployed a series of additional gates, filtering out all of the excess sand to rend still the air around them. With visibility restored, Riyxia recognized Ieqyisa as the woman she had seen capturing beasts earlier. Some truths really were being exposed.

“Wow, Vwyx, not exactly the terms I expected us to meet up in again. I see you three have been keeping busy, causing quite a mess it seems.. I don’t...” “Shut up, you idiot. Nothing about this situation is normal, that wasn’t even a natural sandstorm, if you didn’t notice. They have a secret weapon of their own, and it’s not to be underestimated. Get your toy moving, we need to wear them down before we can do anything about them.” Fhyernx rose an eyebrow at Liyuzhe’s comment before shrugging. Lifting off from the ground, he quickly departed for the massive instrument, his armor connecting into it. The massive fortress quickly spun to life, towering well above everyone, it’s weapons priming as it’s multi-directional treds came to life. A faint sound verberated through the air, totally nondescript somehow like it was audible silence, sounding like it came somehow from Liyuzhe. Every single one of the beasts perked up to attention, turning to face the three girls.

“When you said Khyzae, I didn’t think you really meant Khyzae herself.” “She isn’t, not exactly, something is off. She looks like Khyzae, but it isn’t her exactly. The others have called her Riyxia instead, she claims to be Khyzae’s daughter. She has answers, answers we need, I need them extracted. This.. Riyxia.. isn’t willing to cooperate either. You shine in situations like this, get the answers from her while we keep them busy.” “Busy? With this overwhelming force, couldn’t you just…” Ieqyisa found herself suddenly interrupted as she tried to get a grasp of the situation from Liyuzhe. Sryine had taken the moment to propel one of the beasts explosively into the pack of beasts, causing a chain reaction. Pulling herself up from the ground, her barrier having protected her from harm, Ieqyisa began to realize just how complicated the situation really was.

The mobile fortress advanced on the girls, preparing it’s armaments. A massive light coil energized, emitting a beam of light directly towards Vwyx. Vwyx shifted the ground, bringing a massive wall of stone before her, shifting the stone to a mirror, reflecting the energy right back. The massive shield of the fortress flickered as it endured the blow, the system swapping to another beam-styled weapon, quickly firing a coiled force at the same reflective surface. This caused the mirror to shatter, the beam striking hard against Vwyx. Against all odds, she endured the blow, not being ignorant to pain. Riyxia applied a surge of healing towards Vwyx with her gift, undoing the wide area injury instantly. Vwyx then promptly responded by slamming her weapon upon the ground again, the surface splitting wide in the creation of yet another chasm. Liyuzhe and Ieqyisa began floating off the ground again, but their collection of beasts were left scrambling against the drop. Many could weather it, holding on to the edges and returning to the surface. The giant fortress however sunk immediately. Ieqyisa sighed, opening more portals that returned all of their forces to the surface. Things were out of control, this was insane, wild, ridiculous.

“You jerk, stop using lasers on them, you’re going to kill them. We don’t want them dead, that just makes things harder.” “Uh, that was a direct hit, an intensity that should have left smoke and dust. Instead you left minor injury and scrapes. Liyuzhe, you might actually want him to go all out. If those girls can shrug off something that powerful, anything less is just going to bore them.” “They are just girls, that laser can obliterate armored cars, they don’t even have any protective gifts or instruments active, right? That doesn’t make any sense at all, a weapon like that kills, it overkills, dead.” “You know, I thought it was more of a joke, but why am I picking up some kind of reading of death around here. This whole place just rings of death.” “Of course, that’s why Khyzae said not to come here, it was like a forest of death. … the forest for the trees, of course. We were infatuated by the trees, but there is something else here. What else have you found?” “Celesi readings here are chaotic, like the very principles of the world are a mess. It’s like there is a void of destruction trying to consume everything around here, actually. Such oddity is high around here, shifting around. The area has waves of such destruction, but there are three points where it’s strongest.” “Wait, really? Where?” “Mobile, moving in step to all three girls.” Liyuzhe started to dawn on the message left by Ieqyisa ever so gradually. Like a new source of power, had Khyzae really done it? That would have been the truth left for her to find, like an offering made to Liyuzhe. It had been found, but there was much more work to be done.

The three girls were starting to quickly get tired, the overwhelming force they were facing was still far beyond their own capabilities. While many of the beasts were regular beasts in the barrier gear, some were full on pack leaders, and the force behind them. Dealing with a pack leader was a workout, even Augmented. Dealing with a handful of pack leaders took a lot of effort. Dealing with an army of pack leaders was a losing game going bad quickly. Then take on the gear increasing them, including that insufferable barrier, throw in a massive fortress, add on a series of teleportation gates… they weren’t even dealing with the actual people having a conversation at their expense, also in strange armor with their own barriers. The three girls were good, but they weren’t that good, Liyuzhe still had the upper hand here.

“Ieqyisa, this should be enough. Capture that Riyxia, we need to learn more, take our stuff back with you while you’re at it.. I’ll look after the rest here.” Liyuzhe got out of the way, eager to proceed. Ieqyisa nodded, and opened another gate.. right in Riyxia’s path. Riyxia fell through it, not ready for such a maneuver, and disappeared. The rest of Liyuzhe’s forces began to rapidly withdraw, leaving only her behind with Sryine and Vwyx. “Thank you both for your cooperation, but it seems we’re done here. While I would love to have more volunteers, I know getting too greedy could cause more problems. However, I’ll be sticking around for a while, and maybe if there is information to share, we might come up with a decent enough trade.” Liyuzhe settled to the ground before Sryine and Vwyx, having already won.

Both girls kept their augmentation active, for their own defense, but otherwise resigned to their own defeat. Liyuzhe now had Riyxia, taken to some unknown location far away, and only by cooperating could they hope to get Riyxia back.