“Sorry…Prism,” Rachel sighed, turning to the owl spirit beside her.

Prism raised her brow before she shook her head, “That was extremely reckless you know.”

“I won’t deny I underestimated their abilities. They are far more skilled than they seem,” Rachel muttered.

“Specifically,” Rachel spoke, her eyes darkening. “That sword in particular. I didn’t expect it to hold so much negative energy. It almost… made me lose control.”

“Exactly, you about lost it when you caught his sword. You’re lucky Karla and May ran into you. I was worried about you.”

“I thought I purged his magic from my body, but I guess some of it lingered under the radar. It took all the energy I had to force it back, but by then it had already distracted me from my wound long enough. As skilled as I am, even I can fall victim to blood loss once and a while, especially when my magic energy is low,” Rachel sighed leaning back on the side of the infirmary bed.

“I’ve become far too lax, fighting off minor rogues here or there has been child’s play, that for a moment I forgot how dangerous a real enemy could be.”

“So, you recognize them as a threat to you?” Prism questioned curiously.

Rachel laughed, “I won’t deny they aren’t a pushover, but they aren’t anywhere near the kingdom’s level.”

“I see.”

“I’m ashamed of the weakness I displayed back there. I will not make that mistake again,” Rachel mumbled narrowing her eyes at the ceiling.

Karla sat on the floor of her room as she stared at her hand held in front of her. Her fingers were sharp like talons as ruby scales trailed down her forearm. Distant memories replayed in her mind.

The crackling sound of fire, as the violet and crimson embers blinded everything in sight. Screams echoing off of the collapsing walls as ashes burned each and every lung. The crippling and crunching off wood as home after home collapsed within the sea of ever growing flames.

Karla shook her head, trying to purge the memories from her mind. It seemed to get louder and louder as the images and memories replayed over and over each time seeming to get clearer and clearer until…

“That’s an interesting power you got there.”

Karla snapped out of her thoughts, her hand instantly returning to normal, as she whipped around towards the new voice.

Silver stood at the doorframe; her arms crossed with her usual blank expression as she stared at Karla.

Karla turned away, “It’s nothing, just an injury.”

Silver stared before she sighed, “Everyone here is different. So in that regard, you have nothing to be ashamed of. We all have our secrets, that being said, if anything, you should have a little more faith in the others. Trust me, if we truly didn’t care, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Now come, we are assembling in the living room,” Silver muttered, turning to walk away.

“Silver wait!” Karla called after her.

Silver stopped.

“Why – why don’t you show any emotions?” Karla asked hesitantly.

Silver was silent for a moment as she stared forward. A past memory replayed in her mind, Silver, staring at the stone floor beneath her as she kneeled down in respect. Looking up within the castle walls surrounding her, she gazed at the throne in front of her. Next to the throne was a woman with her back turned to her, but inside the throne itself, a shadowed man sat proudly as he sneered down at her.

Turning back to Karla, her face stoic as ever, Silver spoke, “We all have our secrets. I am no exception.”

“Karla, there you are. Come here and let me patch up your wounds,” Rachel addressed, immediately when Karla entered the room.

Karla blinked, noticing Rachel was in the process of patching up everyone.

“That’s it?” Karla spoke, speaking aloud her thoughts.

“Were you expecting something else?” Kiara questioned; her arms crossed as she raised her brow.

“Silver made it sound like we were having some kind of serious intervention or something,” Karla mumbled, shaking it off as she sat next to May, who was just finished getting patched up.

Rachel shook her head. “Well, I did want to speak with you all, but it’s nothing that elaborate,” Rachel chuckled amused as she started patching up Karla’s wounds.

In that moment, the doors to the TITUS opened as Hope walked through, Draco tailing behind her.

“Hope!” Halo exclaimed, flying over, her pent-up nerves showing.

“What happened?” Rachel’s voice was stern and strict, her tone immediately changing as she stood up scanning Hope up and down.

Hope herself looked obviously shaken, pale and sweaty as she turned away from Rachel’s studying gaze. The signs were obvious, something had happened. After a moment, Hope reluctantly explained her encounter in the city as well as the information she gathered on the AMG.

“Wait, so they aren’t mages?” Karla exclaimed surprised.

“Evidently so,” Kiara muttered also surprised.

“Hope, that was dangerous,” Rachel scolded. “If you had been caught-”

“I know I know, but I – I wanted to be worth something to the team,” Hope mumbled. 

“What?!” Karla exclaimed loudly, catching everyone’s attention.

“You made this!” Karla gestured to the TITUS. “You’re like the greatest inventor ever!”

“I know, but while I’m stuck back here, you guys are all fighting and getting hurt. I thought by gathering information I could at least be a little more useful…” Hope mumbled, fidgeting nervously under everyone’s gaze.

“We appreciate the offer Hope, but you already make a great contribution to the group,” Kiara piped up.

“You don’t have to be fighting to play an important part,” Mizu agreed.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t have a home without you!” May cheered.

“Don’t sell yourself so short,” Silver commented.

Tears welled up in her eyes before she blushed, staring at the ground as she smiled, “Ok. I’ll try.”

Rachel sighed before she shook her head, “Just be more careful, you have people, and dragons, worried about you.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Alright now that everyone is here, we need to discuss our next move,” Rachel spoke.

“What can we do? They completely overpowered us,” Kiara interjected.

“Most of us,” Silver chimed.

“The reason they beat us,” Rachel spoke getting their attention, stopping them before things escalated. “Is that they have what we lack, teamwork.”

The others feel silent.

“Now, before we do anything, there’s something we first must make clear. These guys we are facing, this AMG, they are not our enemies.”

“Huh?” Karla questioned as the others looked just as surprised and confused.

“Nor however, are they allies either. They want to fix this society we live in and they are actively trying to fix it. For that reason, I can respect their efforts,” Rachel explained.

“However, what I cannot tolerate is their actions towards this goal. They intend to kill every mage in their path, both the guilty and the innocent. That is something I cannot let pass. Life, any life, both innocent or evil, should not be desecrated. I intend to remind them of that and this time, I refuse to hold back,” Rachel glared.

“However, you do not have to join me in this fight. This is something I will not let stand, so this is my fight, not yours. If you intend to back out, I will not stop you. I’m aware of the reason we all formed this team was for our collective survival. We choose our own fights and we handle them by our own choices individually. I have made my choice, so what will be yours?” Rachel asked seriously to the group in front of her.

Each of them shared collective glances before they all (except Silver) smiled.

“Rachel, there’s a reason we chose you as our leader, even if we aren’t by definition a team,” Kiara smiled confidently.

“We don’t know anything about each other, but we trust your strength,” Karla grinned.

“We trust your resolve,” Hope smiled.

“This isn’t just your fight. It’s ours too,” Mizu nodded.

“For all mages!” May added.

“We will fight beside you. We know you will lead us to victory,” Silver nodded.

Rachel chuckled, “Alright, I’m not going to ask you to reveal everything, however, if we want to win this fight, we should at least share with each other our magic. I know we all have our own theories about each other, but I think making it clear will not only help us begin to trust one another, but also help us to formulate a plan. So, what do you say?”

Silence fell over the room as everyone thought it all over.

“It seems fair to me,” Kiara spoke up after a while.

“Agreed,” Silver nodded alongside the others.

“Alright then,” Rachel spoke, sitting down. “Who would like to go first?”