"I wonder if he's going to get rid of me…", Liam wondered. The feeling of abandonment was somehow familiar and one that ached deep within his soul. Believing Harpocrates to be the type of guy to just cast him aside for no reason, he believed that Harpocrates had asked him where to load him off like the useless baggage he thought he was. With Elena he at least believed that he had some form of leverage because he had saved her but feels guilty for thinking like that.

"I don't think that he would do that. Hyperion doesn't seem to be the type of person to abandon anyone. Just recently he ordered Franky to take in strangers with no background checks. Not doubting them at all, he even went as far as to tell them how weak this city was as only rookies were fighting for it. It meant that anyone emboldened by The Coordinator could kill us all and take over," Prometheia replied. Tasked with taking care of Liam and making sure that he doesn't lose control while Alpha is away, she gladly participated in this conversation.

Prometheia too was once someone who was used to being abandoned. Not only does she stand out among her species, but also were Dream Catchers inherently distrustful of her. No one ever believed that a Z would have a will of its own and simply would try to kill Prometheia on the basis that she too is intending to scheme against them and turn them into Demons.

"Really?"

"I'm sure of it!", she stated.

Zs were of unknown origin. Their genetic similarity to other species is nonexistant. Their origin remains unknown. Reproduction and number of animals within their species is unknown. Even the things that power them and the things they feed on seem unknown. Simply existing as a hivemind that can appear wherever and whenever they want, they know everything yet reveal nothing. However, even Zs don't know why they exist, where they come from, and what exactly they're trying to accomplish. They only know that they must turn those with “potential” into Dream Catchers and make sure they become Demons.

However, Prometheia split off from the hivemind and strangely has her own will. With the only one known to be capable of transforming into and being a human, Zs wish to eradicate her. Elena, while having the chance to simply sell her and profit off that discovery, never considered giving her away. She just saw an individual running for life while wishing for a companion that could love her. Not once doubting her origin story or motivations, she entrusts everything to Prometheia.

Hours went by as Liam fell asleep on the couch snuggling Prometheia. The two of them drifted off together as they shared the pain of solitude.

Someone opened the door to the apartment. It was none other than Alpha with a training manual he had gotten from Forseti. Though he couldn't offer them any additional information on Sylvia, he did offer them to help pay for their expenses as he believed that there was a way he could make more money. He'd just need Hellfire who has temporary authority over this region, and Emma to agree to his plan. That could wait for now as training Liam takes priority.

"I believe that there's something we can do about your problems, okay!", he said all excited. With a bag full of borrowed gadgets from Dawn House, he intends to make sure that Liam never run into such incidents again.

Putting down the bag he carried with him, he transformed into Hyperion. Right after he took the bag of gadgets as he pulled out one of the objects within. A spherical gadget in gray with just one button… Upon pushing it, the three of them were sucked into an artificial domain created by the one and only Calamity.

"This is a domain. Though it differs from the natural domains, it still possesses the same properties as a natural one would. Disconnected from the outside world, it allows you to freely wreak havoc without causing damage to-"

Prometheia got on top of his shoulder and whispered something into his ear.

"You likely won't cause damage to the outside world," he said correcting himself.

Rather plain it was just one flat and gray world that was illuminated by a setting gray light spinning and never moving from its spot. Once again, Liam started acting up as this sight caught his attention. The spinning light reminded him of something he had forgotten. As such, space once again distorted as Hyperion took off while also becoming slower as gravity lost all meaning. With his divine key he navigated towards Liam and pulled out another gadget, a pair of glasses that would shock him whenever he's not in control of his actions. It also prevented him from seeing things that may trigger him as it learned how to adapt to its holder. However, this time they simply blew up sending him flying as gravity returned to normal.

"I'm sorry…", he said with a face scarred from the explosion. Rather quickly did his body heal the damage he had just taken.

"It's fine. We're here to train and not to condemn you," Alpha replied.

Reading through that manual he realised just how wide the spectrum of teaching is. Some need adrenaline to activate their abilities. Others need a calm and quiet environment. Many need background noise of some sort. Few learn through combat and spontaneously learn how to adapt. Countless techniques could be used on Liam as Alpha knew little about him.

Liam seems to have certain triggers that could activate his abilities. Ruins and images of strange otherworldly things excite him while also giving way to calamities he could bring. Adrenaline does seem like a viable option but a calm and quiet environment may not be that bad either. Qigong sounds like a viable option for one that knows how to practice those things. However, he fears that it may take a while to just grasp how to practice qigong but also may this end up as something fruitless.

Spontaneously, Alpha threw his divine key, Theia, at Liam. Panicking he held his arms in front of his face trying to at least protect his face. A buckler shield came into being and blocked the attack. Round and attached to a glove on his right hand, he slowly transformed. His form, different than that of Phantom, was well-guarded with lots of armor to go with.

A heavy jacket, a gray gambeson, was something that could reduce piercing damage worn beneath kight's armor. Wearing it beneath a chestplate and pieces of armor on his forearms, shoulders and genitalia, he was even more of a knight than King. Black cargo pants with lots of pockets for all kinds of things, a bandolier belt for each shoulder, a bealt holding ammo and knives, and black boots pointed towards the role he could take on in battle. A black face mask and gloves with padded fingertips were an addition to his look he wasn't quite sure of. With Emma recently cutting his hair to be more “fun”, she gave him an undercut with curtains. His eyes now purple instead of brown and his hair with two strands of purple at the front, he looked completely different and was least recognizeable from his civilian form. It also seems as if his voice had gotten just a little bit deeper.

"That looks amazing! A shield, lots of ammo for all kinds of guns, and knives!", Alpha cheered as he geeked out. However, he regained his composure and continued with training.

Prometheia alluded, "His ability seems to be rooted in space and time which-"

"Really. I couldn't tell."

"Shut up and listen!" Even Alpha was starting to adapt the tone that would anger Prometheia just like Elena would with her. "Teaching him may be incredibly hard depending on the way his abilities work. Let's say he slows down time… Would being in contact with him allow you to experience time the same way he does. Does his time ability have a range? How do his space abilities work? Can he just position himself somewhere as a means of teleportation? Can he see the future or at least predict it?"

Lots of questions that they knew no answer to. The biggest issue was effect and range. If his ability only stops time to those in range then it means that those outside of range wouldn't be affected at all. If space only distorts because of him, then that means that he can't just position himself somewhere.

"We'll just have to test it out. Starting with space may just be the safer bet, right? What if he stops time and simply doesn't know how to unfreeze time? He'll remain helpless until he runs out of magic," Alpha suggested.

Starting off with meditation as a means to accomplish whatever they want, the two of them sat back to back with Alpha holding Liam's hand. Prometheia was the outside observer that is supposed to judge just his ability works. Though other Zs simply have the ability to just tell someone what their abilities are, Prometheia seems to lack that ability meaning that only experimentation is the way to find out.

"Close your eyes, ignore all sound, and simply let yourself drift off. Don't worry. I'll be by your side no matter what happens, okay?" Alpha gently repeated the first sentence over and over again. Liam started relaxing and stopped being so tense. Even his grip on Alpha was a lot more loose than initially.

"You're doing good. Keep it up, okay?"

Liam put everything into focusing on the abilities within. Delving deeper into his mind, he found himself within a large abyss of white stars that illuminated this strange space. Reaching deeper, he discovered a core where space would bend and twist like nowhere else. Behind that cover of twisted space lied something unknown as even light refused to display what was within. He could reach outside with one hand but never dig deeper.

As he meditated, his shield redecorated itself. That round and spherical shield of his now had an analogue clock in the middle that would display time. With the two pointers slowing down and ultimately stopping after a short time, the two of them had frozen time. Prometheia stopped moving while Hyperion held onto Liam.

"That's enough. You did well."

The two of them got up with their hands still intertwined. Alpha let go and he too was frozen in time. Liam held his hand again allowing Alpha to move.

"I see…", he said as he deduced that staying in contact with Liam meant being able to move freely in stopped time. "We have time down which means we can move on to space. You just have to will the movement of time for time to move once again, okay?", Alpha said with a wide smile.

Testing out his theory of contact, he wondered whether Liam holding onto his divine key would allow him to move freely without being in direct contact. By now he's learned how to stop Theia from melting someone's body. Running away, he realized that Liam still is moving. Nothing spontaneously changed about him. Time still remained frozen.

"Now! Let time move again!", he said.

Though the only thing that visibly changed by stopping time was the rotating light freezing with Prometheia, time did noticeable move once again.

Prometheia stared at Alpha coming closer from a few dozen meters away guessing that this experiment worked. However, controlling space should be handled some other day as one element at a time should suffice for now. His utility was one of importance.

After a few days were spent on Liam's training in controlling his ability to stop time, several deductions could be made:

1) He can't instantly stop time. Time will slow down until it stops entirely. Fast opponents could come closer or run away and hide within these few seconds spent on activating his timestop. Whether or not he can learn how to instantly enforce this effect is unknown.

2) He can't freeze a specific object in time. Whenever time is frozen, everything that isn't in contact with him is frozen as well. Both Alpha and Prometheia are doubtful as to whether or not this is impossible to achieve.

3) Objects thrown or let go of in stopped time will slowly be frozen in time. This effect is slower than the amount of time it takes for time to stop meaning that there's enough time for one to reconnect with Liam.

Another thing that stood out was the fact that Prometheia was starting to adapt to his ability. No one else ever displayed this power meaning that it's an effect specific to Prometheia. How far this effect reaches is questionable and a future project to be worked on.

His choice of weapons is quite obvious yet they still need to make sure that he's well aquainted to them. His comparatively weak body, his huge pool of magic, and his formidable magic regeneration pointed towards him being more the type of person that works well with long-range weapons. His eyesight, though not as good as Hyperion's scope of an eye, was far above Franky's and Prometheia's and a little above Emma's. Using Emma and Franky as test subjects, the two of them used sniper rifles trying hit the two. Obviously, this would do them no harm as Dream Catcher's are magnitudes stronger than a gun.

With Alpha accurately hitting the two every time and Liam only hitting them a fraction of that, Alpha reigned as the king when it comes to long range. Teaching Liam how to infuse something with or coat something in spiritual power, Alpha demonstrated just how much more powerful a weapon can be. One wouldn't expect a bullet a bullet to have enough power to be shot into space or pierce buildings. Something like that can be achieved with just a little bit of magic and spiritual power.

After a week spent on training Liam and finally getting him the weapon he deserves, Alpha decided that it was necessary for him to fight his first battle. With Alpha's divine key in one pocket, Alpha can freely move around whenever Liam stops time. The others are supposed to stand back as they handle the Demon at hand.

Amminus, a Demon of creativity was rather strong but the two of them should be fully capable of handling it. The rifle within Liam's hands was fuelled by his spiritual power and his light magic. So that he doesn't have to handle the simple but also complicated concept of infusing the bullet with spiritual power before each shot with the addition of light magic right after in a span of milliseconds, the rifle does so on its own in exchange for more magic.

The opponent at hand was a rather creative and illusive one. The entire domain was plastered with abstract art by Picasso. Cubism art creates hideous monsters switching from 2D to 3D and vice versa. However, they're not as strong as they had expected going down by the flick of a finger. The dull colors made for a somewhat depressing world. Though the world was rather flat, few points stand out. A tower made by several canvases made for a standoffish sight as razor blades were embedded into them. Surrounding that tower were four towers of prescription pills on top of which sat mannequins in nurse outfits carrying syringes filled with a white liquid.

Hyperion and Liam engaged in battle with the Demon at hand. With Amminus being nowhere to be seen, they could only guess that it was somewhere within that canvas tower. Hyperion fired the first shot setting the building ablaze after just one explosive bullet. Liam watched the nurse-like Generals react to the commotion and watched them leap into the air heading towards the gang.

"I'm leaving it to you!", Hyperion said entrusting the entire operation to Liam not even giving him Theia. Aiming at the nurses he fired just four shots hoping that those were sufficient enough to take them out. Finally, he started running towards the tower itself trying to spot the Demon within. Briefly letting time move again, he took out the four nurses. Suddenly, Amminus itself burst fourth destroying the tower while absorbing all the surrounding pills. Slithering around as the elongated reptile it was, it went straight for Liam.

Jumping into the air he dodged its first attack yet he was hit by the second one, a tailswipe that blew him out of the air into the ground. Before he could react, he spotted a utility pole. Watching that lone utility pole, he wondered what exactly this meant. Crashin into another utility pole, he was bound down by cables trying to dig into him. Realizing that Amminus is about to head straight towards Alpha and the others, he tried to unfreeze time but to no avail. Rainbow goo had spread all over his disk making him drowsy and confused. The power of multiple Demons was at work.

Before they could come into harm's way, Prometheia snatched Alpha's divine key and placed herself on top of Franky's shoulder. The two of them reacted before they could be hit and jumped out of the way. Franky took Emma by her hand and escaped with her.

"Are you okay, Liam?", Alpha asked. "I should have done something myself! I'm sorry!"

Emma held onto Franky aware of what would happen as soon as she lets go. Forming just one fireball, she fired at the Demon directly behind Liam. Quite similar to the one Alpha had met while shopping with Elena, he wondered whether or not these two are related before he ordered Franky to cut free Liam and run with the three of them. That held no importance as Alpha had to get Liam out and make sure that he calms down enough to unfreeze time.

With Franky cutting him loose, they finally started fleeing. What Alpha didn't know, was the fact that the title of Amminus wasn't within the hands of these two Demons. It was within the third Demon, the one who belonged to this domain. The second Demon was the one trying to tie people down, a Demon called Hooria. It was rather plain and simple. Made of a feminine school uniform and four arms instead of a set of legs and a set of arms, it bore the name of Hooria. The lizard was called Tabia.

Grabbing the attention of the other Demons by causing explosions, Hyperion let himself be surrounded believing that he can hold out until time moves forward. However, Amminus itself finally made its turn by revealing its form. Thirteen noodle-like arms as massive as a four-story-building. All of the arms except for one held a hammer or a nail. The one arm standing out contained just one eye embedded into it used for looking at its target.

Not knowing how he should react to all the Demons at once, Liam fired another shot at Amminus destroying it in the process. Hitting its eye took it out. Tabia and Hooria braced for attacks as the Devil Seed emerged from Amminus. The domain lost its artistic touch and became more akin to that of a dryland. As the lizard, Tabia, tried to vanish within the cracks, Hooria decided that it was time to canibalize on another Demon. Aggressively ensnaring it within its cables, Hooria gave off distorted screams of a young boy. Finally, its target burst open as Alpha and the rest watched in disgust. Guts of a Demon spread all over Alpha as Hooria fled and vanished with the domain.

"You did great, everyone!", said Alpha trying to dampen the shaed confusion, fear, and disgust. The thing they had witnessed today was quite strange. They hadn't expected three Demons in one domain. Going as far as to invite Hellfire who came with Aqua, they tried to figure out how it could come to that.

"Great? You should be glad that you're all alive! How can you be so reckless as to use a Demon you barely knew anything about as a training dummy?!", asked Aqua.

However, Franky refuted that statement. He stated, "A couple hours prior to that incident, Alpha and I agreed to let the next Demon we come across be observed from a distance and use this one as a training dummy for Liam."

"Yeah! Alpha let me and Franky observe it to test out its agression and its strength. Within the hours we spent in that domain, we never saw anything of note! Tabia and Hooria weren't around. They suddenly intruded!"

"You must have met other Demons that went out of their way to enter other domains," Aqua countered still somewhat dismissive of the sudden turn.

"That was different. They were incredibly aggressive. And we've never seen three Demons trying to dominate each other, right? Even you must admit that that is out of the norm," claimed Alpha.

Liam simply remained quiet as Prometheia hid behind Alpha.

Aqua sighed as she came to accept that the circumstances weren't in their favor. There was nothing they could have done to predict something like that.

"Then it must be the average person. Unrest and uneasiness simply strengthen and embolden Demons. Still, you should be more careful. At times like these such things are to be expected." Aqua grew more understanding, lowered her tone, and was a lot more gentle. "I just want you to make sure that you stay safe. We can't have any more rookies dying because they got ahead of themselves."

Ending it right here, Alpha had to ask Hellfire a favor.