We are all in the living room, relaxing. Like last time, the Armis bring us some tea as we sit. No one says anything... I look at Blue, who doesn't seem to want to talk, Cleo, who seems bothered by the failed interrogation not too long ago, Baek, who's most likely concerned for his family, and Emerald, who... well, y'know.

I find myself staring at her. She eventually looks up to meet my gaze. Still not saying much, as always.

“...hmph.” She looks away. I know what I did to her was horrible. Like, really, truly horrible, but I can't help getting upset when she acts like this. Really, what am I supposed to do?

“Ms. Prince, would you like more tea?” I look back to see one of the Armis standing behind me. Tercero, I think this one is.

“Nah, I'm good.”

“If you say so.” They leave me, going on to ask Cleo the same question.

The snow really isn't letting up out there. Cleo did say her and Blue's bus never came... The hell's going on...

“Hey, Trace.” Primo comes and sits next to me, carrying a very large book. “So, who's God?”

“Eh?” He asks me, of all people? Ask Emerald about that crap, man...

“I was reading this book... and it talks about this guy called God. Who is He?”

I scratch my head, unsure of how to answer him. “I... I dunno, He created the universe and stuff.” How does an angel, even a fake one, not know stuff like this? Dammit, I'm not good with this God stuff... I can't say I've ever been a very religious person, although I'm not an Atheist, either.

“Oh,” Primo says, as if satisfied with my answer. “Is He dead?”

“What?”

“The universe is a very old place, isn't it, Trace? Isn't it possible that He may have died during all that time?”

I feel pretty stupid, trying to answer his questions like this... It's kind of funny, how he still sits there, listening to me. “I can't say, Primo. It's possible that the heavens are empty. I mean, some people think He never existed to begin with.”

Primo brings his hand to his chin, as if in thought. “Well, if there was never a God, then how did the universe get here--”

“Look, it's complicated... Come on, let's not talk about this, man.”

“Well... alright.” He seems kinda disappointed. It's cute, in a strange way. “So, when are you going home, Trace?”

I look to the nearby window. Suddenly, I feel as if time stopped. I come to a realization. Outside the window... is all white. “What the hell kinda sick joke is this?” I mumble as I stare in bewilderment... This isn't normal. This weather... this snow... it can't be natural.

“Trace, you think...?” I hear Cleo's voice.

“A Shadowhand? Most likely.”

Blue stands up. “I'm gonna check it out.”

“Wait. It might be dangerous.” Cleo grabs Blue's hand before he can walk any further.

“We have to do something.”

“We know, just take it easy, man,” I say, patting him on the shoulder. “We'll be right behind you. Just be careful.”

He nods. “I got it.”

Blue approaches the door... “Azure.” He opens it, letting snow flow into the room... “Dragon's Blue Fire.” and it starts to melt away. Blue flames cover his body. As he walks forward, outside and into the yard, the snow starts to disappear. “You guys? Come on.” I stand up and walk toward Blue, staying directly behind him as he melts a path through this winter wonderland...

“Yeah, this has to be magic,” Cleo says from behind me.

“Trace, Cleo, will all this go away if we beat the caster?”

“I think so,” Cleo says, nodding.

“You can leave the Magus to me. I'll take care of them.”

“Can't let you do that, Trace.” Blue stops and looks back. “We need them alive, remember? Plus, I don't want...”

“I'm sorry, Blue. If it looks like I'm going to kill them, stop me.”

Looking confident again, he says: “I got it.” and moves forward.

As we walk, I see something. Snowmen and ice sculptures... but who would come out here and make them? “Don't get any closer!” Cleo shouts. “Something's not quite right about these...” Suddenly, the snowman in front of me starts to move...

“Look out!” Something shoots out of its mouth. I dive into Cleo, getting us both out of the way just in time to dodge it, and a nearby tree behind us is completely frozen... “Ice familiars...”

“Ha!” Blue punches, sending a flaming fist the snowman's way. It's reduced to a puddle of water in an instant. Just as quickly, one of the sculptures approach... this one is shaped like a wolf. It's going for Blue...

“Grey. WarMaster.” He doesn't see it coming... let me make it in time! With all the speed I can muster, I dash and thrust the kodachi out in front of me, tearing through the wolf. “Cleo! We need to find the caster! Can you feel their mana!?”

“Just a second!” Cleo takes a second to search for the enemy by feeling their mana being used. She was always more sensitive to magic. Maybe it's just because she's a vampire... I dunno. “There! On top of that building! In the distance... looks like an apartment complex.”

It's there? “Okay! Let's go, guys!”

“We're right behind you!” I hear a voice from behind me... It's Baek, who has Emerald and Primo with him.

“Good!” I smile. “I'm counting on you guys!” With that, we move forward...

As we run, more familiars start to show up. This one... is a penguin. “I got this! Mystic Coat!” Baek transforms. “Don't worry, I'll be fine. Go after the boss!” We keep running... Now a buffalo made of ice stands in our way...

“Leave it to me.” Primo stays behind.

We're approaching the building... Suddenly, I hear something stomping after us. Looks like some kind of walrus... Emerald turns back. “...can I trust you three?”

“Yeah,” Blue says. “Just don't get yourself killed or anything. Guys, Let's keep moving!”

...

Here we are. Our target should be at the top of the building... “Door's frozen shut. I guess we won't be using the elevator.”

“Not to mention the power seems to be out, so even if we open the door...”

Blue, having not said anything, looks as if he disconnected from the rest of the world... “Okay, guys. We'll try this,” he says. “Stay behind me. I'm going to run up the building.” I'm a bit surprised. Can he do that? “Are you ready? Here I go!” In a burst of speed and fire, he shoots forward. Then, to my surprise, he starts to travel vertically, melting the ice on the complex...

“Come on!” Me and Cleo follow. Running up like this is no easy feat... I have to move my feet as fast as they'll go, and I'm sure there's some magic involved on Grey's part, too... as we go up, more familiars appear. More wolves... I pull out my gun, and taking very careful aim not to shoot Blue, who was right in front of me, I pull the trigger.

BANG BANG BANG! The sculpture shatters like glass. We shoot, slash, and burn our way through these ice creatures, until we reach the top, where the Magus responsible is waiting...

“Hello, there.” The person in front of us, a pale woman, holding a parasol, wearing a hooded fur coat, speaks to us, her expression revealing nothing.

I ask my question first. “Are you with Shadowhand?”

“Indeed I am. What of it?” At least she's honest...

“I take it you are the... Baronetess of Shadowhand?”

“That's correct.” Well, there's that. Now, how do I approach this...

“Can you cancel this spell of ice and snow and come with us? We need to ask you a few questions.”

She let out a sigh, as if she knew I would ask these things. “I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I have a mission to complete.” She starts to glow. It's getting colder up here...

“Trace! Cleo! Look!” Blue points it out. From the ice atop this freezing building... emerges two fully armored knights of ice.

“I'd rather not resort to violence, but if you insist...”

Welp... “Okay, guys, here we go! Blue, take the knights! Cleo, come with me! Mystic Coat!” I call upon Grey's power, and let his armor cover my body. Cleo does the same with Flèche. “Good luck, Blue!” Saying that, I run forward. Just as I begin to approach... spears of ice start flying in my direction. There's no time to dodge...

“Trace, look out!” Just as Cleo shouts that, I feel my feet leaving the ground. “Ventus!” Before I realize what's going on, I'm flying in the sky alongside Cleo.

“Trace, be careful. She doesn't need to Convert, so you can't rush her.” I forgot some of the rules of magic, but casting a spell by yourself requires some time to charge it. However, if you have another mana source, you don't need to worry about “casting time”. At least, that's how I remember it...

“I don't think she's a Magic Knight, though. She's not wearing a Mystic Coat.” Indeed, If she had one, she'd have put it on by now. She must have another source of mana.

“You really shouldn't spend too much time talking during a fight.” Just as I turn back to face the direction from which that voice came... another spear, long and large enough to tear right through me, is so close to my head that I can feel the cold air coming off it chilling my face. Just barely having time to move my head, I dodge, still getting grazed by it, and my left cheek starts to bleed...

“Trace! We can't sit here!” Cleo grabs me and starts to fly, trying to dodge these annoying things...

“Cleo! I need you to find the source! I'll try to distract her!”

After hesitating for a second, Cleo replies, “Okay. Don't do anything stupid!” She lets go.

As I fall from the sky... “WarMaster!” If I can't get close... then I'll shoot. BANG BANG BANG! Almost as if she expected me to do that, the Baronetess encases herself in ice too thick for even these bullets to get through. After that... Ice Needles... this is getting crazy. What should I do? I shoot as many as I can, and break the ones I can't shoot with my blade. The rest of them get through and start damaging my Mystic Coat... I roll away from the hail of ice blades... only to find I'm heading towards something even worse.

The roof I'm standing on... a new coat of ice is forming over it. I assume if the ice reaches me, I'll start to freeze, as well. Get outta the way, get outta the way! Damn! Why didn't I have Blue fight her!?

"Dammit..."

My feet stop moving, but not by my own will... My legs are starting to be frozen. Soon, the rest of my body will be frozen with it. Man, I screwed up...

Just then, I hear another voice. One I hadn't heard since the fighting started.

“Trace!”

"Blue!"

As I look past the Baronetess, Blue seems to be done with his fight. With a flaming hand to the ground, he starts to melt the ice... Now I can move my feet again... and I send my left foot flying into my opponent's face. WHACK!

“Hey, Cleo! What's the source!? I need to know if we're gonna win!” Coming down from where she was floating, Cleo makes an odd face, and I can tell that I won't understand what she says next.

“You're probably not going to believe this, but there is no other mana pool or anything here. She herself is the source!”

“What!? That doesn't make any sense! I thought...”

While I'm unable to finish my sentence, Blue interrupts. “We can worry about the details later! I'll distract her! Her magic can't hurt me easily. You two deal the finishing blow!” Interesting how he uses telepathy to tell us this. I just nod, understanding what to do. Blue, Cleo, and I start to circle the Baronetess, waiting for a chance to make our move.

“Azure Fist!!!” After a minute of almost complete silence, Blue breaks it with his first attack. She starts to attack him and no one else... Perfect.

“Now! Grey, Let's put as much power into this bullet as possible!”

Cleo now draws her bow.

I pull the trigger, and together with Cleo's arrow, my bullet flies...

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The mana in both those attacks was enough to cause an explosion. The girl in the middle of it falls to the ground. Now that she's been knocked out, the snow and ice begins to melt...

“Nice...”

“I'm gonna call Primo, let him know we've wrapped things up here.” Blue pulls out his cell phone and makes the call. “Primo? Yeah, we got her.” He waits for a response. “Oh... Is it okay if we just carry her?” I assume Primo wants us to drag the Baronetess back. “Gotcha. See you in a sec.” Blue hangs up. “Okay, we're gonna carry her back.”

So, we bring her back to the Strife House.

...

“Oh, my. Looks like I've been caught.”

“So... Baronetess of Shadowhand. We've got questions for you,” I say. Hopefully, she'll be cooperative. “Um, so what was the trick you used?”

“What?”

“You... your magic. You cast spells immediately. You had no Magic Knight Force or mana pool near you. I don't know a lot about magic, but I'm sure that's impossible.” I can tell she sees my confusion.

“It is impossible... for a human. You see, Miss Magic Knight... I am a Doll.”

A Doll...? “Okay... clearly you don't mean a plastic toy figure. Do you mean...”

She answers, “I meant: an imitation of the human body made by magic.”

“Wait, that's impossible!” Cleo shouts after hearing this. “The closest thing in existence to a Doll is the Armis, and those were created by Strife, who is not only an abnormally powerful Magus, but also has most likely copied the original souls using her own mana! A perfectly stable Original Doll... there's no way!”

What??? “Um... Cleo? Completely lost over here.”

She looks at me. “Oh? S-sorry Trace. Let me explain a little.” I sit, expecting to have to listen for a good long while. “I'll try to keep it simple. A Doll is made using creation magic. To be honest, it's fairly easy to create a human body, as long as you know what it's made of and have the mana to pull it off.”

I nod. “So why is this...” I pointed at Baronetess. “...impossible?”

“Well, Trace... Yeah, you can create a human body, but that's it. The only way you can actually give a Doll life... is to give it a soul.”

“So, let me get this straight. Dolls can't live because Magi cannot create souls.” She nods. “But Cleo... I heard rumors of a real, living Doll that was in Eagland. How did that happen?”

“You're talking about what happened in Noches City.” I think back on the rumor I heard, then nod. Cleo falls silent, and looks as if she's in serious thought. “Based on what I know, that Doll had a human's soul. The Magus probably attached the soul to a finished Doll's body not long after the human died. It's similar to a Necromancy technique where... I'm sorry, you don't know much about Necromancy, either, do you?”

“Uuuuuuh...”

“You see--”

“Cleo, didn't you say: 'I'll try to keep it simple'?” When I say this, Cleo seems to realize what kind of complicated explanation she was about to throw at us.

“Oh! I'm so sorry!” She looks like she's going to laugh, but stops herself. “Basically, Strife's magic simply breaks most of the rules I know. I can't explain it. For someone else to be able to pull that off...”

“They must have a similar level of power, in addition to their magic being of a like nature?”

“Exactly.”

"Well, shit. What the hell does this mean...?"

“I say we try not to worry about it too much,” Baek says. “We should ask another question, now. Baronetess, tell us a little more about the King of Shadowhand.”

Looking downwards, she says: “I don't know much.” That's bothersome, to say the least. Not even his own allies know about him? There is the possibility that she's lying, but given how cooperative she's been, I wouldn't suspect her of that.

“It's okay, even a bit of information is fine.” When she hears that, the Baronetess began to speak.

“You know how ever since the events of 2000, the Center continent has expressed great fear of the organization, CORE, and anything having to do with it. You know about that, right?” I nod. “The King is a former member of CORE.” Oh... That makes perfect sense.

“Baronetess, what's King going to do? What's his plan?”

“Do you know of the Delphinus Virus?”

What? I've never heard of this...

“No. Go ahead, explain it to us,” Baek says.

“Back when King was working for CORE, he created that virus. It's a 'magical' virus that attacks the brain. It's like a 'hate plague'.”

Ah, now it's coming together. I do remember hearing about a “rage virus” of some sort. However, when putting the picture together myself, I suddenly see a terrible image in my mind.

“The King of Shadowhand... plans to get revenge on Center by spreading this through the air.” Just as I had thought, the Doll confirms my fears. If he spreads that...

“Anything else?” I ask.

“That's all I know.”

I let out a sigh. “So, what do we do? Are we going to turn the Baronetess in to the cops?”

“I don't think we should,” Primo says. “Remember, she isn't a human, and under the law, doesn't have the same rights. If we turned her in, I have no doubt that she'd be treated unjustly... We'll keep her here.” Not willing to argue, I just nod.

We all start heading home after that.

...

"What's eating you, Blue?" I ask him, standing outside at the bus stop. "Did something they said in there upset you?"

"Sorry, Trace. I was just thinking," he says, still frowning, "thinking about all this stuff... Kingdom of Fear, CORE, Shadowhand... it's so messed up."

"Well, yeah, but..."

"I mean, really think about it, Trace. These people who make up the 'Kingdom of Fear' are... well, they're just scared. Still, though, the people who got mad at them, CORE and all those others... it's all because somebody got killed over what should have been nothing."

"..."

"It's not fair... this whole mess isn't fair to anyone at all."

"Blue..."

"...forget it. I probably shouldn't be talking about this stuff when we're already doing our best." Blue runs a hand down his face. "Just... what kind of ending is waiting for us after all this? I just have to wonder."

By this point, our bus has come. I get on, pay, and find my seat.

...

“Hey, Grey, what do you think?”

"Of what?" he asks.

"Blue didn't want to say it, but I know what he was getting at: this fight of ours... I can only see it ending in violent, ugly, pointless bloodshed."

"..."

"You know what the 'Kingdom of Fear' symbolizes, right? They're right to be afraid of criminals like Shadowhand, but them, the guys who managed to bring CORE back, those 'flames' inside them are burning too strong to just tell them to settle down and understand... and I can't say I completely disagree with those feelings."

"Look, Trace. You're not turning into a Corist or anything, so stop getting worked up about this."

"You think I'm not?" I ask, suddenly feeling completely lost. "It's just... I kinda understand how the 'Kingdom' feels, right? But at the same time, I'm worried... worried that one day, they'll wanna put my 'flame' out, too."

"That won't happen, Trace," Grey says, stern. "You're not gonna let it happen, and neither will I. Trust me, you're gonna find the right path for you. It might take some time, but you will. I believe in you."

"...okay. I'll keep trying. Sorry for worrying you."

"It's not a problem at all. I'm happy to help," he says. "And, Trace?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget, no matter what choice you end up making, I'll be supporting you. Like I said before, we'll just figure out the answers as we go, right?"

"Right. I understand." I close my eyes and start drifting off into sleep. "Thanks again, Grey."