"That was a close one," Alex remarked as she picked up her sunglasses and put them back on. Zulcrestus landed next to Alex as she stood up and Kai hopped onto her shoulder.

"Are you alright, Alexuvia?" Zulcrestus asked, which caused Alex to lightly blush and turn away.

"I- I told you you don't need to call me by that... but yeah we're fine," Alex embarrassedly said before her voice shrunk into a whisper. Zulcrestus apologized to Alex before looking at Kai, who gave him a bow.

"Greetings once again, Mr Zulcrestus" Kai politely said as she raised her head.

"Wait, you know my... sensei?!" Alex surprisedly blurted out as she looked Kai in the eyes while Kai was swaying her head from side to side.

"We had a brief interaction during the graduation ceremony, you also attended, at your previous academy," Kai explained.

“Right…,” Alex muttered as she wondered and tried to recall the graduation ceremony.

"Wait, were you the-" Alex managed to say before a loud glass-shattering echo interrupted her as the magic shield began to shatter and crumble away.

"Looks like someone beat us there," Kai remarked.

"Indeed; Alex, go find the others and tell them what's going on before dealing with the Phantom of Retribution's vines but make sure you don't make skin contact with the vines," Zulcrestus instructed; Alex gave a quick nod before racing off while Zulcrestus flew off towards the crumbling magic shield.

A few minutes ago, Sophia and Ruby effectively evaded Vivo's dawnite feather barrage while Anthurium was focusing her mana into the magic shield with Iris and Kiki watching her.

"So... what was the plan again?" Kiki confusedly asked as Anthurium was intently focused on the magic shield. Iris repeatedly tapped herself on the head until she remembered.

"Basically, Sophia and Ruby will distract the Phantom of Innovation while Anthurium tries to break the magic shield so we can get reinforcements," Iris explained.

"Oh..." Kiki said as she looked outside the magic shield and giggled.

"What's so funny?" Iris asked as she placed he hands on her hips.

"heh, she kinda resembles Mr Zalroth," Kiki remarked as she pointed at the rapidly approaching Hexed Zalroth.

"Zalroth?!" Iris called out, causing Anthurium to look up as Hexed Zalroth stopped at the foot of the magic shield.

"Are you lot alright?" Hexed Zalroth asked, causing Lola to confusedly and repeatedly look between Hexed Zalroth and the direction of the magic shield which, from her perspective, wasn't there, including everyone inside the magic shield.

"As far as being trapped in a magic shield, we're pretty ok," Iris remarked cheekily as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Mr- Mis-, what a hassle, do you think you'd be able to break the magic shield?" Anthurium asked as she stood up.

"I mean you've already weakened it on your side so it shouldn't be a problem," Hexed Zalroth stated as she pulled her fist back and focused all the lightning from her Lightning Amp into her arm.

Everyone quickly backed away from the magic before Hexed Zalroth hurled her fist at the barrier but stopped her punch a few inches away from the magic shield. Hex Zalroth smirked before channelling all the Lightning Amp lightning into her index finger and flicking the magic shield.

For a split second, nothing appeared to happen which caused a drop of sweat to run down Hexed Zalroth's face until cracks appeared across the entirety of the magic shield followed by it crumbling inwards. Hexed Zalroth let out a relieved sigh as Lola stared in astonishment at the crumbling magic shield and falling bio-luminescent purple vines.

"Woah! There was a whole invisible shield thingy," Lola joyfully said before Hexed Zalroth lifted Lola out of her tails and placed Lola on the ground, followed by Hex Zalroth placing Kusana, Scarlett, Star and Snow onto Lola's tails. Lola perplexedly tilted her head as Hexed Zalroth straightened Kusana's scrunchies.

"I'm leaving them in your care while I help Sophia and Ruby, think you're up for it?" Hexed Zalroth asked; Lola gave a confident nod while doing a fist pump.

"Of course!" Lola boldly stated. Hexed Zalroth gave Lola a cheeky grin and patted her on the head before sprinting off.

Sophia fired three tempest arrows(arrows made of green wind mana), that transformed into three tornado-like drills, at Vivo; Vivo easily evaded two of the tempest arrows but as he dodged the third one it managed to graze his arm, although his arm and clothes quickly healed.

"All right you got him," Ruby cheered as she landed next to Sophia.

"It seems the third arrow was aimed seven point five degrees more to the left than the other two," Vivo commented. He was still deep in thought when he spotted Hexed Zalroth rapidly approaching while communicating something to him in sign language.

"What. You. Doing. This. Wasn't... oh dear I think Zalmaru, Zalmimi and I might've misinterpreted the plan," Vivo commented to himself mentally as Ruby and Sophia noticed Hexed Zalroth approaching.

"S-Sensei," Sophia commented.

"Oh, female Zalroth; how'd you get here, I thought a magic shield was around the plaza?" Ruby confusedly asked as she looked upwards and noticed the crumbling magic shield.

"How'd you not notice?" Sophia coldly asked, with Ruby lightly hitting her fist on her forehead and cheekily sticking her tongue out.

A beam of light mana shot across the sky and struck Vivo, who managed to create a shield from the dawnite feathers in his arm. As the beam died down Vivo's emotionless expression slowly shifted to a small grin.

"I see where the cat girl gets her ruthlessness from; although, she had the decency to put her all into her attacks," Vivo remarked as Zulcrestus slowly descended to Vivo's level on the other side of the plaza.

"Are all the male members of your organisation battle-loving fanatics or am I just unlucky with the few members I've encountered?" Zulcrestus coldly asked as he clicked his neck.

"Given that the only one member of our group who could be considered a 'battle-loving fanatic' is Omen; I'd say you're unlucky," Vivo explained as he created a long dawnite feather sword.

"And what about the one called Retribution?" Zulcrestus asked.

"He's just weird and petty when it comes to getting retribution if you can believe it."

"So... your names have some sort of meaning and aren't just for show," Zulcrestus commented callously as he created a light mana longsword. The two silently stared each other down and after they glanced down at the people on the ground before instantly soaring into the sky.

Meanwhile, Yokuza wiped his forehead as he walked down the palace's hallway while Prima, Yumi and Sapphire were tiredly slumped on his wings, along with Destiny and all the kids following behind the elemental siblings.

"Man... why does big sis Five's lessons have to be so intense," Sapphire whined while pathetically flailing her arms around; Yumi firmly nodded her head in response to Sapphire's statement.

"I don't know why you two are complaining; you two were sleeping for the majority of the lesson," Yokuza said as a thought came to mind and he wondered how the four of them were even sweating in the first place.

"It's not actual sweat in the normal sense," Sera remarked while carrying a stroppy Lulu(who had a bandage wrapped around the top of her right arm and the top of her leg) in her arms.

"I hate needles; they suck," Lulu angerly declared with a super quiet murmur.

"Oh, Dr Sera... what do you mean by it's not sweat?" Prima asked as she struggled to lift her head.

"Well, it's unrefined magi-solution left over in your blood from being in the incubation pods... or so it says in your examination test results, left by Lady Calloukus before she left for Kalikose," Sera explained; her face suddenly shifted to a surprised one as she appeared to remember something.

"oh and, speaking of Lady Calloukus, she and Lady Vikala have just returned with the Oracle Shogun," Sera added before handing Lulu to Yokuza.

"Wait, Kara's here?!" Destiny excitedly asked as she bounced on the spot.

"The one that is me has descended upon this land," Kara said as she floated past Destiny and the other kids while sitting on her book, as it continually spun around; The second she made eye contact with Kara, Destiny instantly jumped at Kara and tackle hugged her causing the two of them and Kara's book to do hundreds of barrel rolls in a split second, with everyone else following the spinning duo.

The barrel rolls eventually stopped, with Destiny and Kara hanging upside down before dropping to the floor with Kara's book opening and landing page side on Kara's head.

"Looks like I'll have to do two more checkups now," Sera exhaustedly remarked as she notice a little bit of blood running down the two princesses' heads as they sat up.