Xanii felt strange about being in charge. She had nothing to do now, nobody else was out. But she had no idea what to do about KQO and Xena. They were cuddling now, they didn’t seem to care about what they were told to do. Well, Xena was still aware, but knowing that KQO was young and he was feeling quite tense about the situation, she decided to offer him a few minutes of comfort. But that “comfort” thing was quite strange. She was kissing his cheeks and softly biting his neck. She was letting him move gently on her lap. He was giggling as Xena’s movements were tickling him. Xena’s reddish eyes began to shimmer with sparks of blue and she began to twitch from time to time and grunt.

Xanii groaned in disgust. “Seriously, Xena?! You freaking pedo, he’s fucking 8 years old! You are disgusting, woman!” she shouted. She made a few steps towards them when suddenly, they heard voices from behind. Eight people showed up, all ready for a fight. Seven men and a woman. The one in the center was none other than Kanae. She had a creepy smirk on her face and a flicker of evil in her eyes. It was clear that she had been waiting for that moment for quite some time and now, she was ready to begin. But KQO caught her attention. She realized he was just an innocent child who probably had no idea how to control his powers nor he was capable of fighting against anyone from Kanae’s gang.

“Would you look at that?! Isn’t it adorable that she even brought her child along?!” she laughed.

KQO stood up and walked towards her and gave her a cold look. He seemed offended by Kanae’s words and he just didn’t want to sit in a corner and watch her mock him. “I am not her child! And you should better back off before you and your group of major losers will fucking die!” He smirked at Kanae. She didn’t seem to care about his words or about the aggressive tone in his voice. It sounded rather annoying to her than threatening. She just laughed hysterically and dared to approach him. Yet Xena slowly pushed him behind her to defend him. She sighed. She looked Kanae in the eyes.

“Lame threats to you, huh? Well, by any chance, those idiots you just brought along were merely a distraction in Night Raid and you know it. You used to be their enemy but now you granted them your protection and promised them a second chance. They wasted the first one when they cowardly ran away. What makes you think they won’t do the same now, before they die? Come on, admit it. You are their only hope. ‘His’ only hope. And you don’t want to fail like you did in Night Raid, do you?! You don’t want him to fail like before, right?! We are less than you, but hey, increasing the number of heads is pointless if all of them are empty. So good luck with saving them now!” She giggled evilly and turned around, standing with her back at Kanae. She was smiling hysterically. She knew she hit Kanae where it really hurt and she just wanted to trigger her rage. Apparently, Kanae had a huge fear of failing. She was very proud of herself and really confident and she knew she could rely on her strength, but as Xena said, Night Raid was more than challenging and she was unable to show off like she always did. That cost her and led her to fail epically.

Kanae growled in anger and grabbed her huge weapon. It was her neon pink scythe. She pointed it at Xena.

“You’re all talk! Speak to me with actions!” she yelled.

She jumped at her, but Xanii was fast enough to strike Kanae before Xena. The fight was begun. And Xanii felt like she wanted to kill everyone that night. Even KQO dared to step in.

Seeing the opportunity, Xena sneaked inside the mansion without anyone noticing. Once there, she felt like the atmosphere was too calm, that everything was too quiet. She was surprised that nobody was there to stop her. She took advantage of it and decided to find some important information that could help Xankaria. After all, both the devilish woman and the mysterious man had dark secrets that they didn’t intend to share with anyone but their trustworthy allies.

Xena sneaked to the first floor and tried to enter some rooms, but they were all locked. She didn’t want to cause damage, so she didn’t attempt to smash the doors, despite being able to, or else, someone could realize she broke into the house and she’d also be caught disobeying Xankaria’s order to help Xanii.

She proceeded to the second floor, where, apparently, she saw a flash of light coming from under a white door on the right… She thought for a few seconds. She looked around and saw the halls were still empty. That’s when she started transforming. A strange whirl of blue flames surrounded her. Her hair turned white and her eyes became blue. Her outfit changed from black to white. As the transformation was complete, she exhaled in relief. She looked at the white door, but that time, she did not hesitate.

 She slammed the door against the wall and pulled a big, blue knife out of nowhere. She took a look around and saw little Jia sitting in a corner, petrified, with a frightened expression on her face. Xena groaned silently, then pointed the knife at the little girl. The calm phiz of hers was replaced by a maniac smile. It was clear that she began to feel very strange. Just by looking at the little girl she began to sense a strange feeling of discomfort and nostalgia flooding her. She couldn’t stand it and she wanted to get rid of it.

“Would you look at that! Isn’t it absolutely adorable that someone like him actually has a child like you?! You look so innocent, don’t you?! What are you even doing around someone as evil as him?!” she hissed.

Jia was breathing fast. She was afraid to look at Xena’s face. She didn’t even understand what was going on and she was still trying to figure that out. “Just what do you want from me…? What have I done…? Who are you…?” she mumbled, just quiet enough so Xena could hear her.

The woman laughed hysterically. “To answer your question, I am a criminal! New to the job, but hey, at least it begins to feel like fun!” she replied.

Jia tried to run away, but Xena stopped her by grabbing her hand tight. She pulled Jia towards her and held her immobilized. She covered the girl’s mouth so she wouldn’t be able to scream for help. Then, she hit Jia in the stomach with her knee and pushed her away brutally. Poor Jia hit her head on the edge of the bed. She could barely keep her eyes opened, but strangely, she was not bleeding at all.

Suddenly, blue flames emerged from the girl’s body. They were rising slowly, but moving chaotically. They took the shape of a huge chain and fastly wrapped around Xena’s body. The woman was shocked. The smile on her face vanished. As the grip was becoming tighter and tighter, the chain began to harden and became a spiky weapon of ice crystals. As amazed as she was by the sudden attack, Xena snapped back to reality and broke free before she could be harmed. Yet she heard guns loading from behind. She tilted her head back and saw four women standing at the doorway, with their guns ready, all pointed at her. Xena groaned silently. She had been caught. Now, she had to kill the four women. She pointed a hand at them and closed her eyes. The women shot recklessly and the bullets were stopped in mid-air by a dozen of blue strings that were coming out of Xena’s back. As she was concentrating hard, a big, shiny, blue, star symbol appeared beneath the four women and blue flames emerged from it and purged their bodies. They screamed in despair, but they were turned to ashes by Xena’s powerful fire. When Xena opened her eyes, the flames and the symbol both vanished. The place was left half burnt. Seeing the damage, Xena ran away fast. She didn’t bother going to help Xanii either. She ran deeper into the dead forest, away from the mansion.

In the yard, only Kanae was still standing against Xanii. They both seemed untouched. Now, they were taking a breath. Kanae was more tired though. Xanii was still smirking.

“You certainly are more powerful than the others! I like that! Now, come on! Let’s get this over with!” she said. She watched Kanae get up and grab her weapon. Then, they both jumped at each other.