By the time Lyun finished her work and was ready to return to the academy, a new dawn had taken the academy in full. Student lessons were ongoing all over, with even Axln still in the depth of her own lessons.

“Axln, finally I found you. I didn’t expect you to be so hard to find over here.” “Finally, it took you long enough. Also, if you couldn’t find me, why didn’t you just ask?” “I.. guess I could have. Anyway, stop sitting around, we’ve got work to do. Getting these upgrades done will make things safer for the both of us.” “You have noticed Ezhyrae, right here.. right? It seems she’s.. volunteered to.. stuff, or something. There’s actually some equipment in the other room over there pristinely designed for working with my arm, ask me how I know, I dare you.” “Wait, what do you mean?” Lyun found herself out of pace with everything she’d missed since leaving Axln to the academy. She still really wasn’t used to the idea of just pooling consciousnesses either, and the fact that it never felt like she was actually reaching out to Axln in the process did not help that assumption. Her biggest mistake though was not trusting Axln’s perspective and actually falling for the dare, Ezhyrae’s eyes gleaming.

In a repeat of the same experience Axln herself went through, Lyun found her knee suddenly under high scrutiny, herself being asked questions she sometimes found difficult to answer, given her inexperience with ersatz designs. Quickly, she even found her own designs under scrutiny too, ersatz methods being put into a strong comparison to her cybernetics. Life element filtration and balancing, blood flow shielding to reduce unconscious strain on the gift being supplemented unwillingly in bodily instrumentation, even structural and component density and composition in ways that would best match natural design. Lyun was already worn out by the time her knee was rethreaded with more appropriate fibers that matched her crystalline density. At least the basics of the work she had just completed weren’t so easy to dispute, Ezhyrae having no way to balance scientific principles. Once everything was successfully completed, Lyun even found her legs capable of moving far better than they could have originally. The instrument in her knee that induced improvements to the more organic features of her legs really helped out considerably as well, leaving her legs with a far greater physical ability than would be expected of a person of her build. Visibly satisfied with her research, Ezhyrae having repeated the same tale of her arrival for Lyun, Axln and Lyun were found dismissed back outside. Ezhyrae still had plenty more work to do, but the girls could occupy themselves with the gifts she had brought along as a bit of a reward for their participation.

“I know she was being helpful, but I’m not sure about this weapon idea. Learning to use a sword would be annoying, and potentially a bit impractical when compared to some of the other stuff we’re working with. I personally recall using this power gear to make a cutting wave already, potentially a lot more practical.” “Swords? Eww, how old fashioned do you think we are? Wait, is that more of those earth fantasies again? Come on, Axln, you should know better than to trust outdated ideas from earth. A thousand years of Mythos tends to get really old pretty quick.” Axln was surprised at what exactly Lyun would eventually present to her. In much of the same light, they were yet another type of firearm.. though they weren’t the same thing either. Apparently called an arbalestae, Axln was left with the impression that someone had made a rifle on its side. Supposedly, the design was modelled on old implementations of crossbows, although even that was from back in the day when crossbows fired sheet metal blades instead of bolts. As with all instrumentation, this stuff had put a lot of focus on elementals, the arbalestae Lyun chosen being a light elemental style that was supposed to be reasonably close to her choice on the other side. Axln had nothing practical to go by, so she instead opted for a consideration of physical design similarities to her other choice, a slightly comparably heavier choice with a visible punch quality but otherwise sat well in her cybernetic arm. It wasn’t until she got introduced to what her choice actually did that she would then discover her choice was actually dark elemental.

“So.. I wonder if there is someone here that can handle arbalestae training.” “Wait, so you don’t know how these work either? You seemed like quite the professional while making your choice back there.” “I know the instrumentation involved, and I happen to know a guy who's a warden, but I’ve never actually gotten to hold one for myself. Typically, the foundry is all protective of such measures of enforcement.. possibly for reasons like we saw when they tried to storm the academy. This sudden shift is unheard of.” “Pretty much then exactly like the other side. Weapon distribution being so open puts a lot of threat to conduits getting their hands on weapons, something humans really never wanted to have happen again. In both cases, the fears didn’t seem to be the point. Something bigger is going on, and I can think of only two people in established society that have both the knowledge and power to make such movements, one per each side.” Lyun could tell which two Axln was referring to, the leaders within both the foundry and aerospace that remained impossibly aware of events far beyond them. Axln mentioned her plan from before, to try and press for an opportunity to get information from such sources, as long as they could figure out an advantage to build opportunity from.

“Wait, so controlling time and being able to shift world laws isn’t enough of an advantage? Just how powerful do you think those two are?” “Knowledge itself can be power. If they know enough to make the right moves, we could be in big trouble. After all, neither of us want collateral damage, in such situations.. knowledge is far greater than our abilities.” “Oh, so like they would know to expect us and position themselves so swapping between worlds wouldn’t work.. but then have an emotional moment and actually drop their guard when it would have counted.” “True.. we can at least count on them being people.. proper diplomacy could do a lot.” “They also seem to care about something very passionately. They were all driven to the book, now they are giving people weapons like they are some force for the greater good. I mean, what do you think are the chances both of them are personally at the weapon dealing front to oversee everything?” Lyun’s idea of deducing goals was at least sound, but there was still the uncertainty of the thought process when people are driven to a goal with unknown information that made Axln rationally concerned. There were always other considerations when someone knew too much, and both of those two had proven to be quite smart at least. If they were at such a front, it would be for other reasons.

Axln considered the place Sophie had visited, a major outlet not far from the central core of the entire community. It made it a fairly high-traffic place without the entire downtown feeling. Notably though, it might not have even been the most normal place for such a thing, community security would have had to compensate for the entire process. At a loss for things on this side, she tried to uncover details on this side, for how such a thing would have progressed. Considering Ezhyrae’s place, the exact location was also a bit of a distance from any warden office, being a bit awkward there as well. Comparing the two, trying to find any patterns on locations that would make sense, she quickly came to the conclusion that it was as if.. the whole thing was designed to not make sense. However, tracing things through her thoughts, she also identified something else. The exact location chosen was identical cross worlds, that certainly could not be a coincidence.

“The chances that they are both present? That’s pretty high. In all certainty, I expect they are probably waiting for us, maybe even wondering why we’re taking so long.” “Another trap?” “It does look like it would be inviting to simply let our guard down. However, even in that, it would look as if they were simply trying too hard to do so. The whole place is pretty open, and we’ve got some pretty impressive stuff on both sides. Whoever made the first move would have collateral problems.. which could start an armed riot. Even in that case, you personally have an extreme advantage, something that either they remain unaware of or would have had to count upon. If a riot did break out, it would be with energy or elemental weapons.. stuff that would be useless if things switched over on them. Quite honestly, it makes everything feel like you are the backup plan. That also has me really reluctant in wanting to give them such an exchange, they might know something about even that which we do not.” “Yeah, this doesn’t feel like a trap, it feels like a game that has been all set up for us. I mean, think of things emotionally. We got their book, we used their book, we learned a few new tricks while making some temporal dents. They are now preparing for things to go very wrong, possibly chaos stuff, stuff they probably expected before we acted. Considering their passion and knowledge, I’m fully expecting to be told off, to hear that perhaps now I can see that maybe I had caused a few too many problems and how everything is totally now my fault. It’s an opportunity to emotionally vent, especially if the two of us remain the only ones otherwise aware of even a slight fraction in what is actually going on.” Axln nodded, seeing Lyun’s point. This would be very promising as an opportunity to stage a guilt trip, one which possibly compelled some natural surrender.

“So, if we go there looking for information, we should be prepared to hear something we might not want to hear.” “Probably should try to pool our thoughts then, get two perspectives on the idea without having to talk about it in person.” “Bloody hell, that always makes it so hard to think. Your ideas just feel like they are my own, making it more challenging to wrap my head around the ideas itself beyond whose idea it might be.” “One being, all ideas are your own, my contributions just have my own perspective to it then, right? I mean, I’m always critical of my own ideas, and would just need to do that while we’re pooled together. If I’m correcting you or myself.. that doesn’t even matter. All that matters is considering as many angles as our pooled efforts are capable of.” “Literally, two heads being better than one. Alright then, how about we practice a bit first? I’ve got some studies to do, let's see how much elemental stuff I can figure out in my head with just you as my teacher.” “Oh, actually, that’s brilliant. Could I come with you to watch, especially if you’re going to write some notes about it in that otherworldly script? Having the idea-to-visual comparison would make for quite the experience.” Axln's idea really looked compelling to Lyun, with all of her considerations in reading inability in the other world. Even worse, she found out that her new rifle came with a handy instruction manual, full of important matters in care and safe use. After similar problems with the generator before, it was being a constantly haunting aspect of the other world which continued to torment her. Even helping Axln with similar concerns in this world was appearing a promising way to bring both of them up to pace. However, such a plan wasn’t even close to being so simple.

Once Axln’s studies began in earnest, the problems started becoming more and more obvious. Axln quickly found herself reproaching herself for forgetting that frost was considered a physical elemental and water was an immaterial one. Lyun at the same time felt she was stupid for forgetting simple things, even though she knew that the other world considered liquid a state of matter. At one point, Axln had to erase several notes she had made in the local script instead of the one from the otherworld.. the other side. Lyun hadn’t even noticed, having thought her own script needed translation until she put more consideration into it. Most of all, neither of them were willing to talk at all.. as that would get even more confusing to complete. More than being a challenge, this approach actually proved that this process was actually harder than learning either portion of material individually, and that this process might possibly need even more work than their other studies in order to become proficient in such a process.

However, what they did learn was that it was a bit easier leaving the link open only very briefly. Project an idea, close the link so that they could consider the idea on their own, then reopen for a reply. Even that could get a bit messy, but it was still considerably easier to manage. While linked, they had come up with the realization that it was their own individuality that made this difficult, and in turn was something they should not just simply sacrifice. One being, but two people over four bodies. More so, the being in that whole equation was then the least like the rest of the system. Originally, they were two people, two bodies, and the chaos was temporal.. nothing more. Adding their exposure to the temporal, their mark left them with an integration to chaos and two additional bodies. Of everything, sure, they would one day perish, their bodies fading over time, their minds stopping, and the essence of their identity would drift along the path of the fallen. At that point, only their aspect of chaos would remain, and that would be when such an aspect would have to build its own identity from what it had been left with. It was like an Axln-type theory mixed with a Lyun-level stubbornness. Either way, neither thought that sacrificing their individuality would be worth such synergy.

“Screw it, break time.” “Maybe. It’s technically late dawn, we could honestly consider getting some rest.. but that might depend on what we’re doing next.” “Right, the whole idea was to prepare for that confrontation, and we simply lack the information to prepare further. Maybe we should at least go, take a look, be ready to leave whenever, figure out what else we might need. Overall, as long as we have ways to run or hide, it’s all a diplomatic deal. We do need to pick where we’re going to approach from too, which side we want to try first for information. This side we can have Luna provide us with an escape, but the other side we can have Holi watching out for us. This side, I have this circlet to get more information with, on top of this power gear’s features, while the other side you have Rosa’s DRE’s and even that amazing skill with DNTIs to provide ways to hide.” “Could we try our plan on the other side then? Not that I think Velvet is a fool, even after that mistake she made. Specifically, if we stayed on this side.. we would have to contend with the wardens. There is still.. a warden.. I don’t think.. I would be ready to face.. right now.” Axln had heard the story about Lyun’s confrontation at the citadel. Something with a warden guy she had known for a long time, along with another warden that had ended up dead. Lyun was blaming herself for the whole deal, but the guy really would have taken it the worst way possible. Possibly not a mess which they would want to deal with in such a difficult encounter either.

On the other hand, Axln actually knew of a guy that she actually might want to meet in all of this. Getting answers from Velvet would be nice, forcing answers out of Nick at the same time would be even better. Sure, even in that they would need to be careful, Nick could yet again draw them into another trap in the process, even just simply report their presence and screw them over. She knew she could not trust the guy at all, which in turn made it hard to get any useful information from him. In all accounts, they would actually have to avoid Nick through everything, so that they did not sacrifice any advantages to Velvet.. but if she found an opportunity for silent revenge, that would be another matter.

Having agreed on their approach, it quickly dawned upon Axln the exact nature of Lyun’s concerns too. If they were going to do this on the other side, they would need to reach the area during prime business hours.. which had already begun. They were both tired, doing this without some good sleep would be highly disadvantageous, but if they slept now they would miss most of the opportunity. Clearly then, the only solution would be to sleep between the clocks, to either stop time or at least dramatically slow it down so that they wouldn’t lose time to sleeping. It would be her first time trying this, but there were plenty of good reasons for her success. If she failed, they could still try to make up the difference, either with what time remained or simply projecting for overnight instead. The two of them reached their sleeping area before Axln tried to stop time, so that the experience would avoid draining her without just cause. Axln was the last to fall asleep in the process, though she noticed that her timepiece hadn’t even ticked an instant while she waited. As a result, she had no idea when she had finally fallen asleep. At the very least, it hadn’t felt like more than 10 or 15 moments.

Having been the first to sleep, Lyun was also the first to awaken. In the process, she also noticed that Axln might not be getting the highest quality of sleep while also trying to keep time unmoving. This in turn resulted in Axln sleeping for much longer than Lyun did.. even if that didn’t translate to any time at all. The only one who got to suffer such waiting was Lyun. Worse, she found it hard to get other things to work properly while time was so slow, including even doors. This then left her with absolutely nothing to do but to tend to herself. She was lucky her legs worked normally at least, even her power gear could at least move, but her legs could not commit more than normal outputs, her power gear couldn’t actually do much for instrumentation, and even her gift didn’t want to resolve for her. What she could do though is switch over to scientific law, that happened without problems. In that case, she also found her legs working normally.. though she had little else to test everything with. The power gear at least didn’t respond at all, but it hadn’t been otherwise and wasn’t designed with much science in mind. Considering things, science probably lasted on matters of base principles too in this case, things like inertia still worked, they could move, but things would not move themselves.

She hadn’t been using her chaotic ability for long, but even in such she could feel like her chaotic potential had been taxed. Certainly, that didn’t make sense, she had endured far more use before without problem. She didn’t think it was a strain due to being in slow time either.. even getting a break in elemental law once again, she was still feeling drained. Wait, maybe the slow time had everything to do with it after all. Their abilities came from their chaos.. and they each shared that chaos. That implied, if one of them over-extended themselves, the other would suffer in kind. It was fortunate that such exhaustion wasn’t of a nature other than chaotic, it would have no impact on their personal abilities otherwise. Such would just mean that they would need a bit to recharge after such a long use, and that she really shouldn’t consider doing complex law shifts while some intensive time shifts were going on. With time moving like this though, she really didn’t have much else to do.

It was much longer within that same instant before Axln herself finally awoke as well, a time when Axln would then also restore the progression of time for them. Having grown really bored with an eternal instant of doing nothing, Lyun was all too happy to switch worlds and finally start to do something instead.