Mikael looked off the balcony of the church where it almost felt like he could see the entire triad below. Unlike the previous triad, this area was more modernized in appearance for convenience. A place tourists often visited before the war. Being so high up in Imperia brought an unusual sickness when he stared for too long. This wasn't even half of what the entire city had to offer. The church stationed on the 5th triad along with a commercial and entertainment district for the more wealthy, this wasn't not even halfway to the top of the mountain.

Backing away from the railings he walked back to the table Clarette was sitting at just as Amelia returned with glasses of wine for herself and Clarette. Mikael was left with cider because Amelia felt he was still too young for the strong alcoholic mix.

He glanced at Clarette, her hair now shorter touching the back of her neck and what seemed to be a hint of pinkish magenta in her shiny blonde locks. A side effect from the experiment she told. Mikael lifted his glass mouthing off "Yeah yeah I may look young but I'm an adult at heart. All my experiences hardened me. I used to be a hard boiled detective!"

His small rant made Clarette giggle. She raised her glass a little "Cheers."

Their drinking glassware made a small jingle when they toasted towards ending the war. Amelia's lips were about to touch the glass when she was called upon by a messenger. Turning around, her eyebrows raised upon the sight of the navy blue attire of Beatrice leaning on the open door frame waving her hand. The cardinal wanted to speak in private. She placed the glass on the table and approached Beatrice, entering inside the church's lobby.

The chandelier lightning reflecting off the white walls still didn't brighten Beatrice's darkness and shadow casted by her dark clothing. Amelia couldn't see through the veil that covered her eyes, even when moving nearby a wooden table to lean back on, Beatrice's sight was definitely set on something.

"It's been awhile, Amelia. How was your trip back home?" Beatrice inquired.

Amelia sheepishly rubbed her head "It was well Beatrice. But I didn't get to enjoy the pleasantries because I remembered…"

"Remembered what..?"

Amelia closed her eyes briefly and slowly shook her head "I… don't want to think about it. Y'know vampires don't have the brightest history in France."

"Yes, I remember that situation." Beatrice cleared her throat and turned her attention to Mikael and Clarette talking while facing the empty sky. "I'm seeing some new faces. Are they friends from France?"

"I met them on my way back here. They unfortunately got caught up in the war and I had to rescue them." Differing the topic "What brings you here Cardinal Beatrice."

Beatrice waved "Come on we're friends. You can spare the formalities. You don't have to be so straightforward when I'm here. Let's go on a walk, I'll tell you about it."

Beatrice took Amelia's hand and the two left the building. Mikael was to watch over Clarette for the time being.

They traversed stairs, passing a large cog as they lowered into the dense city. Beatrice held a dark lace umbrella over Amelia to shield her from the sun, she knew how exhausting it was for Amelia to have a magic barrier active at all times to not burn under the sun. The magic circuits in her body made her skin weak as with all vampires.

Once reaching the road Beatrice had a different mission for Seraphim. "Although it is not favorable to send you on military related missions it seems that the situation has grown dire. The TGA forces have taken the 1st triad rather quickly. I'm worried they might keep at that pace." Beatrice stopped in front of a bakery window, holding out the umbrella for Amelia to take "Can you go down there and impede their progress please? We both don't want Imperia to go so soon."

Amelia stared at the handle thinking whether to help out or not. There weren't any major downsides to this choice aside from potentially losing another triad but Imperia was strong. Her concerns were more about the cardinals finding out the cause of Chronos' death. She was going to have to distance herself from them.

"Yes,I'll do it." Working with the cardinals on a professional basis instead of treating them as friends like she did before. In her efforts to end the war, Amelia was no doubt going to have to aim a gun at her friends if they got in the way. The price of freedom but still she didn't know for what exact purpose.

Mikael leaned back on the center rail of the platform they stood on eyeing the umbrella in Amelia's hands. It looked too prim and proper to be sold in one of the shops nearby. Spotless like it was in mint condition made just for her. The platform rumbled before descending into the dark.

"So the cardinal gave us a mission to impede the TGA. Was she threatening us or did we have a choice in the matter?" Mikael's understandable suspicions were like Mark's.

"Don't worry I had a choice in the matter. I'm not doing this out of any obligation or because I'm friends with Cardinal Beatrice. Holding the TGA off is what we need if we're going to stop Warui." Amelia tapped the umbrella on the ground. The clear sky and light above now barely visible, leaving the yellowish-orange light bulbs of the platform to illuminate the elevator. "The closer we get to the cardinals, the closer we can get to meeting Warui himself."

They stepped out first into a desolate section of the city. Fogged up and empty, flickering street lamps and dust. It didn't take long for the road they walked on to get more and more scattered alongside destroyed buildings and architecture. Deeper in the lower triad a battle took place. Mikael kneeled down by some rubble to inspect what caused the destruction and surprisingly it wasn't magic. The TGA must've fought some soldiers he believed. "I guess some tanks went through here." His eyes scanned the area for hints of treads or explosives which he found further across the former battlefield.

Clarette climbed a small pile of rubble from a completely destroyed building to get a better view of the dusty area. The wind was still until a gust blew by making her blonde hair sway gently "This is awful…" she muttered, feeling like the destruction of the city was partially her fault.

Mikael lifted his head "Hey! Be careful. We don't know if someone else is hー"

As soon as Clarette turned to face Mikael, by a stroke of luck a bullet whizzed by her cheek. It took a second for the cut to set in which made her quickly hop down from the mountain of debris.

"An enemy!" Mikael bit his tongue. Amelia ran up the debris summoning an ak 74 into her hand and positioning it over her cover. She analyzed the empty field from left to right slowly then spotted the sniper hidden beside a pile of dirt and pipes. The inaccuracy of the weapon didn't allow Amelia to shoot directly at the perpetrators but shooting one of the metal pipes near them was enough to scare the shooter to move out of cover. Mikael jumped up and hid behind cover next to Amelia and peeked to get a glance of the sniper. And upon seeing her short height and long black hair in the distance he gasped.

"Don't shoot, I know that girl!"

"Hey waitー"

Mikael hopped over the cover and made his way down all the while waving his hands in the air. "Ibuki! It's me, Mikael!" He then came to a skidding halt then bullets littered his path, slipping and falling on his ass. He looked up and saw a muscular man jump down from a building making the ground tremble under the weight of himself and the minigun he carried.

"Mikael get away from there!" Amelia shouted. The wannabe cowboy scrambled to his feet but felt trapped in place with the minigun pointed at him. The muscular man standing in opposition to him wore a white suit and jacket and white pants, the standard uniform for members of the TGA. His sleeves were partially rolled up and a bullet belt hung from his pants. Being in the TGA, Mikael knew his man, one of the commanders leading the operation against Imperia, Kent Russell. His large stature wasn't just a feat of his training but his vampiric genes as well that helped him grow to an almost abnormal size with abnormal strength. The minigun he carried only he could carry because it was similar to the rotation cannon of an A-10 thunderbolt. Mikael had to been blessed by God to not have his leg blown off after slipping.

"What an odd looking specimen, or Imperia soldier I should say. Dressed like some cowboy in a foreign land. Tell me boy, what are your last parting words?" He hovered his finger over the trigger "Because I have orders; no survivors."

Mikael wanted to groan because no one remembered or recognized him in the TGA despite his odd appearance. He looked around hoping for Ibuki to pop out and save his hide but she was nowhere to be seen. The way Kent spoke, they were going to have to fight their way out of this.

But first Mikael had a question "What happened here? Why is this city completely destroyed?"

"It was just collateral damage, boy. Imperia used the people as shields trying to sway us away from the battlefield. But there are no rules once weapons are drawn, everything is fair game when the first bullet is shot. And believe me we did try to settle this peacefully." There was a hint of insincerity in his tone. The barrel of his gun slowly spun and just before Mikael was eviscerated, he vanished and appeared beside Amelia. Holding his rapidly beating heart.

Kent slowly moved his gun shooting across the desolate buildings causing more damage and dust to fly only stopping when dust clouds covered the entire battlefield. He coughed a bit and waved the dust away from his face as it started to clear up. When it did, the pile of rubble Amelia and Mikael stood on was completely gone and though their bodies were unfound, he felt that his time here was done and swung the mingun over his shoulder. He turned around and walked towards his accompanying partner, "I'm heading back to base. I've done enough here for one day."

Ibuki nodded and she watched Kent leave. Once he was out of sight, she rushed to where the pile of rubble was anxiously searching for Mikael. The cowboy then surprised her from behind, grabbing her shoulders "Thank goodness you haven't completely lost your senses Ibuki."

"Yeah." She trailed off and saw Clarette and Amelia move from the wall they used as cover. Naturally she asked "Who are these guys? Are they the reason you've been away?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that."

Before Mikael could explain, Amelia circled around Ibuki inspecting her up and down almost like a stalker stalking its prey or more accurately a pervert vampire looking at its next victim to suck blood. Her stares made Ibuki feel more on edge than the battles she partook in.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She covered her white eyepatch on her right eye.

Amelia shrugged, "Making sure you aren't hostile."

Mikael was quick to step in to defend his longtime friend. "Ibuki's one of my friends I worked as a detective with. She's pretty smart and trustworthy." An idea came to his mind and he snapped his fingers "In fact, she can join our cause and help us out. The cardinal wanted us to slow the TGA ascent, maybe Ibuki can convince their army to hold off continuing the advance for a few days."

Ibuki raised an eyebrow "What are you trying to do?"

Mikael rubbed his head "Amelia here wants to end the war as peacefully as possible and I joined her because I want this war to end too. I can't stand watching more blood be shed."

"So will you help us?" Amelia asked with wide eyes.

It was a simple offer and a chance for Ibuki to escape being a tool for the TGA. She was quick to accept the invitation and said she was going to do everything she could to slow the advance into Imperia. Thanks to her position as tactician it wouldn't take a lot of bargaining or talk to convince the army to hold off for at least a few days. Afterwards they were to meet at the church to be formally introduced to each other.