A cold breeze blew through the air as Zalroth stood atop his floating magic barrier with the Crescent Moon Staff held tightly in his grasp. The galing wind spiralled around the released golden energy as it condensed and rapidly took on a humanoid shape. The energy coiled and formed into an anthropomorphized chimaera with eagle legs and wings, lion chest/arms, two snakes for tails, and two conjoined goat heads.

The energy chimaera's eyes sprung to life and drew in a large volume of air into its mouths before unleashing a banshee of a bellow; the bellow erupted from the mouths of the goat and snakeheads, blasting out a powerful shockwave which shook the air. The energy Chimera flexed its arms before a snake head fired an energy beam at Zalroth.

Zalroth bent his knees and leapt back into the air before the energy beam pierced through the magic barrier, followed by it shattering into pieces. The energy chimaera pulled its wings back before it soared after Zalroth. Zalroth's momentum slowed until he completely stopped and after the Crescent Moon Staff glowed, he floated in the air. Zalroth watched the energy chimaera race towards him before Zalroth dropped the Crescent Moon Staff and blasted off at the energy chimaera as the Crescent Moon Staff slowly generated green qi.

Zalroth dive-bombed for the energy chimaera and pulled back an arm, as the energy chimaera also reeled back its own fist and threw it at Zalroth. Zalroth swerved out of the way of the energy chimaera's fist and dived past the energy chimaera; he grabbed one of the energy chimaera's snake-headed tails and hoisted the energy chimaera backwards. The energy chimaera thrashed about while flailing its claws around and managed to nick a part of Zalroth's arm scar, causing Zalroth to come to an abrupt spot and sucker punch the energy chimaera in the stomach. The energy chimaera was grabbed by the horns, and Zalroth blindly glared into the energy chimaera's soul as Zalroth's pupils physically denatured from how aggressively he strained his eyes.

"Do not touch it again," Zalroth said calmly and coldly as he tightened the grip of his left hand and crushed one of the energy horns. Zalroth spun the energy chimaera by the horns before he hurled the energy chimaera away with an explosive sonic boom.

Zalroth threw an arm back before conjuring an earth magic circle and encasing it in fire mana; the mana fused into the earth magic circle, and its form shifted to a silvery metal magic circle. The energy chimaera somersaulted into an upright orientation as its speed slowed. The energy chimaera darted its conjoined heads upwards as a dark shadow crept over it.

A large cluster of metal scraps from the Ancient Colossal's body hovered high in the air as more metal scraps slammed into the metal mass suspended in the air by Zalroth's raised hand using the metal magic circle. Zalroth flexed his arm, causing the energy chimaera to flinch.

Zalroth smirked as he saw the energy chimaera flinch, and he let out an exhausted exhale. Zalroth swung his arm downwards, and the metal cluster hurtled straight for the energy chimaera. The energy chimaera burst into sparks of energy before the metal cluster rocketed past where the energy chimaera disappeared, and the metal cluster dive-bombed into Lake Vesovian.

Zalroth glanced to the side as the energy chimaera reformed behind him. Zalroth spun around and threw a punch; the energy chimaera threw up its arms to block Zalroth's fist, but Zalroth paused his fist mid-punch, causing the energy chimaera to slightly lower its arms. The energy chimaera braced itself for Zalroth to follow up on his feint before it was axe-kicked in the middle of its conjoined head by a time-speed boosted Chronia (covered in a lime glow) and sent plummeting straight into the metal scrap cluster.

"Letting off some steam, are you?" Zalroth remarked as the lime glow around Chronia faded and revealed her in a new attire: a black sleeveless dark cyan fur coat, baggy fuzzy black trousers, oversize black tank top, and fuzzy dark cyan boots.

Chronia fumed from the ears as she glared at the large metal cluster. After a few seconds, Chronia let out a weak exhale and adjusted the white bracelet with cyan and teal flowers on her wrist.

"Nah....". Chronia gave Zalroth a cheeky smirk as she stuck her tongue and winked.

"Just getting the tin can contents out of the way so I could show off my new look," Chronia added.

"Right... wait, is that my tank top?".

"Maybe, but it's not like you were using it." Chronia cheekily winked at Zalroth again as she pulled down on Zalroth's tank top to make it look like a dress on her. As Chronia continued to show off how she looked in Zalroth's tank top, the Ancient Colossal's body smashed into Lake Vesovian with an ear-piercing screech which startled Chronia.

Chronia's hands slipped from the tank top before the tank top rubber banded and slapped her in the face, causing Chronia to make a weird cat noise. Zalroth grinned as he watched Chronia rub her forehead.

"And now do you see why I stopped wearing that?" Zalroth remarked as he floated over to Chronia while holding his hand over his left arm. Zalroth placed a hand over Chronia's face and lightly rubbed it as he transferred mana to Chronia.

"Tanks...," Chronia mumbled before she pulled her face free from Zalroth's hand. Chronia rubbed her forehead one last time before she floated behind Zalroth and hopped onto his back, as the Cradle of Fate trailed behind Chronia. Chronia pressed her face against the back of Zalroth's head and deeply inhaled before she let go of him, dropped backwards onto Zalroth's tails, and contently sighed.

"Just a heads up, you should have your staff warp us to it," Chronia muttered as she grabbed the Cradle of Fate and held it to her chest like a toddler with a stuffed toy. Zalroth raised an ear at Chronia's warning, but Zalroth glanced downwards to check something.

"Oh...," Zalroth uttered before he raised an arm outward, and the duo warped through the air before the energy chimaera pierced past the spot Zalroth previously was. The energy chimaera twisted its body around and propelled itself after Zalroth, using its wings to propel itself continually.

They warped next to the Crescent Moon Staff and grabbed it before spinning around and using the Crescent Moon Staff to block the energy chimaera's lion claws. The energy chimaera unleashed a volley of claw attacks, but none of them reached Zalroth as small golden-metal walls formed from green qi and blocked the energy claws. The energy chimaera hurled one last claw slash at Zalroth, and Zalroth swiftly dodged out of the way and readied himself to counterattack with the Crescent Moon Staff.

Zalroth thrust the base of the Crescent Staff into the energy chimaera’s chest before blasting it away using a concentrated tempest blast. Chronia slapped Zalroth’s back and coated the duo in a lime qi aura before Zalroth (time-speed boosted) speed blitzed past the energy chimaera. Zalroth batted the energy chimaera in the back of the head and caused it to spiral forwards.

Chronia snapped her fingers, and the Cradle of Fate flipped upside down, and the white sand within it began to slowly drain into the bottom half of the hourglass. The energy chimaera paused mid-spin before rapidly spinning in the opposite direction, moving exactly like it was being rewound through time. Zalroth spun around and spin kicked the energy chimaera away as it was mid-spin, causing the Cradle of Fate to flip back to its original orientation.

The energy chimaera used its imparted momentum to spin around and hurled a claw slash at Zalroth. Zalroth coated his left arm in green qi, and the qi condensed into a gauntlet made of white null gem. The energy claws slashed into the gauntlet, leaving lacerating claw marks in the gauntlet.

Zalroth pulled his gauntlet-covered arm back, and restored the gauntlet before he hurled his fist at the energy chimaera; however, the energy chimaera froze for a second before energy bursted out of its chest and left a hole behind. Zalroth’s fist pierced through the hole before the bursted energy swelled back into the hole, trapping Zalroth’s arm. Zalroth, Chronia, and the energy chimaera stared at Zalroth’s trapped arm before they all looked at each other.

“Gunna be honest, if you had used this on almost anyone else it would have been a good move,” Chronia said snarkily to the energy chimaera, as Zalroth’s pupils narrowed. Zalroth flexed his arm, and a white null gem blade pierced out from the energy chimaera’s back before Zalroth ripped his arm up through the energy chimaera and slashed through its shoulder.

The energy chimaera fired energy beams from its goat heads, but Chronia slapped her arms in front of the beams and inverted them back into the energy chimaera's face. Zalroth gathered green qi into the gauntlet before punching the energy chimaera away. Zalroth pulled the gauntlet off his arm before he used the Crescent Moon Staff to bat the null gem gauntlet. The gauntlet flew past the energy chimaera and crumbled into dust as it cracked from the building-up pressure from the green qi whittled away at the gauntlet.

As the energy chimaera floated backwards, a green glow formed behind it before it slammed into a wall made of black null gems. The energy chimaera's snake tail heads glared at the dark wall before all of the energy chimaera's eyes widened. The energy chimaera rushed away from the wall, but it was cut off by the green energy completely encasing the area around it and transforming into a large, dense black null gem cube. Zalroth lowered the Crescent Moon Staff and scratched his left arm as Chronia popped her head around Zalroth and stared at him with an unsure expression.

"Alright, what's the mat...". Chronia paused her speech as she noticed Zalroth scratching his arm scar. Chronia quietly led back onto Zalroth's tails and twiddled her thumbs. Zalroth placed a hand on Chronia's head and ruffled her hair, causing her to raise her head to see Zalroth grinning at her.

"Just the usual mid-life angst," Zalroth remarked as he removed his hand from Chronia.

"I don't think you can call what you have angst.". Zalroth shrugged as he tapped the Crescent Moon Staff against the black null gem cube and shrunk it to the size of a 1cm cube. Chronia quickly grabbed the cube before she stuffed it and the Cradle of Fate into Zalroth's tails as Zuno and Providence flew over to the duo, with an exhausted-looking Echo trailing behind them while being swarmed by a rainbow of Hikas telling her random pop culture trivia.

"Has the threat been neutralized?" Providence said.

"Don't sweat your socks, Providence. The energy construct won't be able to escape from such a densely packed cube of mana-repelling null gem," Chronia remarked before she looked over at Zuno.

"Although, if you want to be on the safe side; you could have Zuno encase the null gem cube with some darksteel," Chronia added.

"I concur, but do you have a particular design in mind?". Chronia placed a hand on her chin and mused over Zuno's question.

"Could you make it look like a music box?".

"A music box?" Zuno said as he tilted his head at Chronia's request.

"Yeah... that way if it's opened it will make a noise... and we'll know?" Chronia said as she nervously shrugged. Zuno itched his head and looked slightly to the side as he thought over Chronia's reasoning.

"As Callie would say, excellent argument...".

"...Approved," Chronia uttered, causing Zuno to sign.

"So, you know the reference too," Zuno said.

"Well, I know a few otherworlders in-jokes, thanks to being the Supreme Guild Master.". Zuno exhaled as he raised a hand and created darksteel particles in his palm. The particles took on a rigid structure until finally taking on the appearance of a music box before he tossed the music box to Chronia.

Chronia gratefully caught the music box, before she set it down and opened it. Chronia whispered into Zalroth's kitsune ear. Zalroth nodded before he tapped the Crescent Moon Staff against the darksteel music box, and a small surge of green qi flowed into the box before the qi formed into square slots made of dawnite. Chronia inspected the music box one last time before nodding and reaching into Zalroth's tails.

Chronia pulled out the black null gem cube from Zalroth's tails and placed proceeded to place the null gem cube in the music box. Providence went to speak but stopped himself as he watched Chronia reach into Zalroth's tails again, pull out even more tiny black null gem cubes, and place those cubes into the music box. Chronia placed the last of forty-nine cubes into the music box leaving only a single empty slot remaining, before she closed the box and stored it in Zalroth's tails.

"I'll have Abi craft up a proper music-making component for this in the future," Chronia thought as she straighten out Zalroth's tail fur with her hands, while the two Hikas on Echo's shoulders glanced at each other.

"Did we just watch the equivalent of a country flexing their nuclear missiles?" Green Hika asked Bauge Hika.

"More like the Empire showing off their twentieth planet buster," Bague Hika replied, causing Providence to glance over at the Hikas.

"We have a what?".

"We were talking about the Empire from the space cult movies." the Hikas said in unison with oddly serious tones.

"I see...," Providence uttered with a hint of relief in his voice as he turned back to Chronia.

"We will bid you farewell for now, and once you've finished any unfinished business you have in Talkia we'll depart," Providence said with a slightly formal tone. Chronia nodded before Providence created a multi-coloured diamond-shaped portal. Providence, Zuno and the two Hikas said farewell before they all flew through the portal while Echo cautiously rubbed the sides of her head.

"How has one experience pushed me to consider having kids?" Echo muttered aloud, as a bunch of Hikas hung to her like a jungle gym before she entered the portal as well. The portal closed, leaving Zalroth and Chronia by themselves once again. Zalroth yawned as he looked at Chronia.

"Say, what did Providence mean by we'll depart?" Zalroth asked as he manoeuvred the particular tail Chronia was laying on in front of him, so he and Chronia were face to face.

"Oh that, I just asked Providence if he'd be willing to let ... erm... oh yeah, Akari and that to travel on the airship carrier given we're all heading in the same vague direction.".

"For free?.". Chronia gave Zalroth a bruh face before lightly patting Zalroth's shoulder.

"Sadly, I had to agree to do something awful to you...," Chronia uttered, as Zalroth slowly nodded.

"Yeah...?".

"I had to agree that you'd not only occasionally spare with Callie and Zuno's children but also teach the trainee kids on the airship and then also help on some training resort place in the future," Callie uttered as she put on an obviously fake devastated demeanour, leaving Zalroth at a loss for words.

"They have kids?" Zalroth asked, to which Chronia excitedly nodded and giggle.

"That was my reaction too, heh," Chronia said in a joyful tone, causing Zalroth to smirk and look up at the clouds.

"Well, I guess that's that then...". Zalroth shifted back down to Chronia as he felt her staring at him with an unamused scowl.

"Aren't you forgetting something, mister?". Zalroth raised a coy eyebrow.

"My whatever, could you mean?". Chronia puffed up her cheeks, and as she opened her mouth to speak, Zalroh surprise-attacked her by giving her a quick kiss on the lips, leaving Chronia in a blushing mess as she giddily covered her mouth.

"Are you satisfied now?". Chronia giggled as she rolled backwards and disappeared into Zalroth's tails as a little blood fell from her nose.

"Geez, she always gets like this when I kiss her, and she wonders why I won't do it during important situations.". Zalroth rubbed his neck as Zalkutaro (in kitsune cub form) rode atop his handheld dawnite harp over to Zalroth.

"Looks like I missed the chance to play some romantic music for the love birds," Zalkutaro remarked snarkily as Zalroth gave him an eye roll.

"I'm glad you didn't, but how is the perimeter?".

"The Ancient Colossal Drones crumbled into energy a little bit ago, so everything will mostly go back to normal, aside from a giant colossal humanoid occupying Lake Vesovian instead of a metal tower," Zalkutaro stated.

"So, only minor nitpicks?".

"Only minor nitpicks," Zalkutaro said before he placed a paw on one of his harp's mana strings.

"Would you like me to obscure your scar again?" Zalkutaro asked. Zalroth placed a hand on his arm scar and squeezed it as he quietly sighed.

"... I dunno, wouldn't Lola be concerned suddenly seeing it appear out of nowhere?" Zalroth asked, to which Zalkutaro shook his head.

"Knowing how similar she is to her mother she'd probably think it's cool," Zalkutaro remarked, causing Zalroth to sigh.

"I suppose so,".

"Come, brother, how about we check up on Sophia and the others, the egos and visages are already heading to the airship carrier.". Zalroth broke a smile as he twirled the Crescent Moon Staff between his fingers.

"Race you there?" Zalroth asked. Zalkutaro transformed into his pure-humanoid form and stood atop his dawnite harp.

"Loser has to recite the twenty verses of the Hiliana Academy vows," Zalkutaro added. The two nodded at each other before dashing into position and blasting off towards the flying airship carrier.