the black clothed girl watched from afar as Mimi crossed the levels. she was floating far above, so Mimi was unable to sense that she was being watched.

"you seem to be having a lot of fun." a voice came from behind her. her body stiffened, but she then relaxed, as though she wasn't afraid. she had been wanting to avoid confrontations, but it was now impossible to do so. she turned around slowly.

"glad to know you're doing well... Rin." behind her was the time warden herself. but this time, the usual smile was gone, with a guarded expression on her face instead. the girl smiled softly.

"it seems you still remember me." she took a step forward. Rin trembled a little but held her ground. "it would be hard to forget someone like you." she spoke, putting up a brave front.

"it's an honour to hear that from the warden. but i don't suppose you knew I was here, did you?" she took another step forward, and this time, Rin took a step back. "i'm looking for someone else. this doesn't concern you."

"doesn't concern me? you come here and provoke me." she took another step forward, and Rin backed away again. "and say it doesn't concern me?" Rin struggled to answer. the girl stared at her for a moment.

"well, as long as you don't disturb me, don't mind it." with that, she turned around and continued to observe Mimi, who had reached floor 51 during the confrontation. "you should get going. wouldn't want to delay your Guardian duties after all." there was no response from behind her, only a pulse of mana. the girl looked back, and Rin was gone.

---

Rin panted as she leaned against a wall somewhere else in the facility. she didn't know this, but it was the corridor Mimi had first passed through on her trials.

she had been trying to hide it, but she felt a lot of pressure when faced with her sister. even now, she had yet to make amends for the mistake from years ago.

pushing the distracting thoughts to the back of her mind, she began to focus on finding the government time manipulator. after a few seconds, she found him deep within the planet's crust. where the headquarters of the facility was.

*no way he wants to activate that thing...* at that thought, she sped through time to the location she had detected, hoping to stop the government operative from accomplishing his goal.

---

Mimi crossed the threshold to the next level. she was exhausted at this point, and didn't feel she could hold on for much longer. she began to wonder if she could even complete the goal she had set out to accomplish.

stepping on to the grounds to the 90th level, the black mist obscuring her view cleared away, and the recuperation area was revealed in front of her. it was covered in what seemed to be chains made from the dark mist from before, with a lock on them.

her mind fuzzy from exhaustion, she reached out to grab the locks, hoping to just erase them from existence. before her hand could even touch a lock, it released a wave of mana, which threw her backwards. she tumbled to the ground, and didn't even bother trying to get up; she was already at her limits. her sword, tied to her hand by a strip of clothing she had ripped, was chipped in places.

suddenly, a red light began to glow on the chains. she looked over and saw the light begin to gather, forming a humanoid figure in front of the chains. it appeared to be a mechanical lifeform, a bulky golem. it had no weapons, but it's fists looked especially heavy, which was not a good sign to her.

she forced herself to her feet, but she couldn't even muster the energy to point her sword at the golem. the golem began to slowly run towards her. though it was slow, it was not to be underestimated, and soon, it was near her. it swung it's heavy fists at her. she barely managed to dodge, flapping her wings barely out of the range of those huge fists. the shards from the ground flew everywhere, injuring her more than before, and a shockwave sent her careening away.

*i can't continue like this. i have to win.* she focused her mind, and green light flickered around her. it gave off the image of a light flickering, about to lose power. she ran at the golem, but she wasn't dashing around like before, instead running normally. the golem quickly closed the distance and smashed down like before.

this time, she was prepared, her wings glowed with a flickering green light, and she flew uncontrollably past the golem at a high speed. she couldn't stop in time and fell to the ground powerlessly. behind her, the golem froze, then stopped moving.

at it's chest, the red core cracked, then crumbled into pieces that fell to the ground. Mimi, barely able to see this, passed out soon after.