Ch 369: Alpha is ungrateful?

"I still think we should warn Princess Iris." sighed Rose Oriana after making sure only Claire was close enough to hear.

The two of them were sitting together and spoke with a low voice, hunched over their lunch trays.

"I have let you read Alexia's letter." shrugged Claire. "You know it's a bad idea, and if something were to happen to Iris while Alexia is missing, the nobles might use the opportunity to try to seize power. I'd rather be elsewhere myself, but you're too stubborn, and I can't leave you alone."

"I am the student council president." smiled Rose, nodding in thanks for Claire's support. "What kind of example would I give if I abandoned the students? And you still haven't found your little brother, right?"

"I haven't. Usually, I can find him within a day or two, but he really surpassed himself this time." sighed Claire. When I get my hands on him, I will force him to spar with me until he's too tired to move even a single toe."

"Yes. I expected you to be searching around the capital for him."

"I still do that after school." nodded Claire. "But I'm not taking the risk to be here with you only to support you. I am also here to make sure he doesn't show his face in the academy. The instant I see him here, you can be sure that I will grab him by the ear and lead him away."

"I see." smiled Rose. "Still, I appreciate your help."

"Yeah." sighed Claire. "I don't know how much good it will do, but… I think we'll be okay. Even if those Shadow Garden guys don't show up…"

"Yes. I think so as well." nodded Rose. Neither needed to say more.

She and Claire hadn't known Chisato, Takina and the others for long, but they didn't see them as the type to abandon friends or leave their fate to chance.

She believed that they were keeping a closer eye on the situation that they let on, and that if push came to shove, they would show up and help them.

…

As it turned out, they didn't need to wait long, as the Cult of Diablos's attack started mid-afternoon the same day.

Rose heard several sets of footsteps in the hallways, and the door of the classroom was kicked open.

"Who the hell are you?" started the teacher, his right hand going to his sword.

Five people wearing dark gray outfits and black capes, their faces hooded, entered with sinister smiles.

"We are Shadow Garden. We are taking over this academy. Don't stand, stay in your seats, hands where we can see them." declared their leader. With a slash of his sword, he cut through the rack where every student had put their swords by the door, destroying them all.

Rose sighed as she tried to circulate her magic power using the Dark Knights way, and it didn't work. She then tried to circulate them through her Magic Circuits, taking care not to make them glow. Her magic power responded sluggishly, but she could use it to some extent.

The biggest issue, aside from her lack of weapon, was that even if she could surprise one intruder and steal his sword, she wouldn't be able to reinforce the blade, and any attempt to parry an incoming blow likely result in her weapon breaking.

Against five enemies, she estimated that she might have a chance, if she acted cowed until she stood within arms reach, and moved suddenly.

However, the sounds of more door being kicked, as well as loud protests coming from other classes, meant that there were a lot more than 5 enemies, and if she started a fight, many of the students would follow her. Many would be killed.

Both the teacher and the other students had realized by now that they couldn't use their magic power, and they started whispering in a panic.

"Everyone, we'll do as they say, at least for now." declared Rose as she stood. "The guards will come and deal with them. Do not throw your lives away fruitlessly. Our chance will come later."

The students nodded to her, their panic receding a little.

"Hey, blondie here has a working brain." sneered the leader of the five.

The cultists forced the teacher and the students to come to them one by one, and used small lengths of rope to bind their hands behind their back. Rose had a small but sharp folding knife hidden in her left boot for this kind of possibility.

Once they were all subdued, they were brought inside the school's main gymnasium. Rose saw Claire, and they exchanged a small nod.

She also carefully looked at the other students, noticing a few she had never seen before. And then, she spotted Renu. Claire had told her about Nu, as was her real name.

Rose drifted toward her, making sure her movement didn't attract attention from the thirty or so cultists guarding them, and when she stopped beside her, whispered without looking at her.

"Did you manage to warn your friends?"

Three of the students closest to them turned their head toward her, but Rose didn't look at them, making clear she wasn't asking them, and they turned away.

Nu kept her mouth closed and didn't look directly at Rose as she kept pretending she was only a scared student, but she made a small nod.

And Rose's faith in her newest friends proved correct, as she spotted Millia slowly coming to them, disguised as another captive student.

"Millia?" whispered Rose.

Millia made a small nod and looked around to make sure none of the cultists were looking in her direction. But they stood in the middle of a solid crowd of bodies, so the chances of them being noticed were extremely low.

"Do not move or speak, and wait for the appropriate time." whispered Millia.

Rose nodded as Millia moved behind her, touched her hands, and Rose felt her slip something on her left ring finger. A ring of some sort.

Rose tentatively circulated a trickle of her magic power through her magic circuits and felt is move with the speed and fluidity she was used to. She tried discreetly to use her magic power without the magic circuits, and the suppression was entirely gone.

Millia was already doing the same with Nu.

"Nu, I'm giving you a half-dozen more." whispered Millia just barely loud enough for Rose to hear. "Give them to your friends. Be aware that they are set to dissolve in an hour."

"Understood. We will deal with you later." whispered back Nu with a cold tone.

"Assuming you can." replied Millia with a soft snort before leaving, slowly making her way through the crowd toward Claire.

…

"This magic power suppression is far worse than I expected." frowned Alpha. "I can just barely use a little if I compress it as much as possible."

"I cannot use mine at all." sighed Beta.

"Then we will have to do without it until we can deal with the source of the suppression. Even without magic power or our slime suits, we have trained hard for years. Surely we can deal with the Cultists. Just remember to evade their swords, not try to parry them, and fight them two against one or more if possible."

"Yes, Alpha-sama!" replied the sixty girls standing in front of her. They wore black butterfly masks and black and gold outfits made of leather under their black hooded capes, as they had considered that their usual slime suits might be difficult to maintain inside the influence of a magic-suppressing artifact.

"Shadow's sister is among the hostages, so defeat is not an option. Let's go!"

With those words, Alpha burst from the side-street and ran toward the academy's gate, with Beta, Delta, Zeta and the other girls, half of them Numbers, the elites of Shadow Garden, following behind.

Ten cultists appeared from behind the gate's walls, trying to bar their way. Alpha was the first to engage them, wanting to monopolize as much of their attention as they could, as she could evade their attacks better with the meager magic power she could still use.

She slipped under the slash of the first cultist, punishing him with a thrust to the heart, then jumped to the side and deflected an incoming blow away by striking the flat of the cultist's blade.

Before he could adjust and strike again, her return slash opened his throat, and the cultist dropped his sword, suddenly having more pressing concerns than to try to kill her.

All around her, her companions were swarming the cultists. They couldn't move as fast, but they managed, even if barely, to avoid any injuries while they fought the men three against one or more.

In seconds, it was over. But Alpha knew that this was just the easy part. According to the investigation they had conducted after the warning Valhalla gave in those letters, there was at least one 'children of diablos' among the enemies. Rex, nicknamed the 'Game of Betrayal'. They were elite members of the cult raised from early childhood to be living weapons. They had fought one before, and they were easily worth twenty times their number of average cultists.

Alpha would have to deal with him himself.

She made a hand signal, and as planned, they separated into three groups. Alpha and Delta, accompanied by Iota and four more of the Numbers, ran to the research building where the artifact was located, according to Nu's latest report.

They entered the building without opposition, reached the second floor, and…

Alpha noticed a flash of movement as she passed by the first door, and it exploded in her direction as someone rammed through it.

Alpha just barely managed to evade with a roll forward while Delta and the others screeched to a halt, seeing the battered door crash against the hallway's windows and fall outside.

"Ah, I thought I'd get ya, but it seems that ya got some skills even without ya magic power." sneered a young man with short, spiky black hair, dressed in a black close-fitting outfit and a red sleeveless coat.

He grinned and pointed to his face with his right thumb. "I'm Rex. The Great Game of Betrayal, Rex-sama. And my job is to retrieve some artifact. Do you know where it is?"

"Prey!" grinned Delta, getting all excited. She jumped at him, her greatsword barely having space to be swung around in the hallway, but Rex evaded and sent her flying several meters away with a kick to the stomach.

"Delta-sama!" shouted Iota.

Alpha tried to use the momentary distraction to kill Rex, her sword aiming at his throat in a quick thrust.

Unfortunately, Rex clearly was a seasoned fighter, and the sword he drew while kicking Delta was raised in time to deflect her blow.

Alpha quickly jumped back as she knew she couldn't win a contest of strength in her current condition, and she was pressed hard by his counter.

"Ya don't want to talk? Fine with me, I'll get ya to tell me after I cut an arm or two." laughed Rex.

As the Numbers tried to assist Alpha, Rex put a hand in his pocket and suddenly waved at them, throwing what seemed to be some kind of sand or irritating powder in the air. Two of the Numbers were caught by surprise and had to fall back, while Rex easily evaded a blow and sliced through Iota's steel sword. He kicked her in the stomach as well, making her collide against Delta who had just been back on her feet.

There was some noise coming from the other end of the hallway, a group of people coming down from the third floor.

Alpha's heart sank as she realized that things were going from bad to worse. She put some more distance between herself and Rex and risked a quick look behind her.

As she feared, the people appearing were more cultists, and they held captive a pink-haired girl. From the information Nu and the others had gathered, she was Sherry Barnett, the adopted daughter of the Academy's Assistant Principal, Lutheran Barnett.

"Rex-sama, we retrieved the Artifact!" proudly exclaimed one of the cultists. In his left hand was a palm-sized cross-like device made of gray metal, with a large red gem at its center. "Should we kill her?"

"Don't care, and the boss doesn't either." shrugged Rex. "Do with her as ya wish and bring him the artifact in the gymnasium. I'll finish over there."

Alpha's face twitched as the understood that Rex wasn't the actual leader of this band of Cultists, and that there was someone else, presumably even stronger, in the campus.

"Understgaaahhhh!" started the cultist, his word turning into a scream as his right arm, holding his sword high as he was about to strike the pink-haired girl, suddenly came off at the elbow.

Alpha had not seen what caused it as she had been watching Rex, but when she glanced at the cultists, she saw that both the window near the injured one and the wall beside him sported a thin line with edges glowing yellow from residual heat, as if something incredibly hot had cut through.

Before the cultists could react, several more attacks, crescent-shaped slashes of light too fast for Alpha to see clearly, came from outside and decapitated them.

The pink-haired girl was too shocked to scream and cowered on the ground, closing her eyes tight and putting her arms around her head in a defensive position, And someone jumped from ground level outside, breaking through the window in the middle of the hallway. She had a sword in hand, and was dressed in in a blue, gold-trimmed outfit that was half clothes and half armor.

The elf, blue eyed and with long golden hair, straightened her posture as she glanced around, searching for threats, and Alpha was shocked by how closely that elf looked like her split image.

"You must be Alpha." nodded the elf. "I heard of you."

"More Shadow Garden trash? Or was it Shadow Guardian? Well, whatever." shrugged Rex. "I don't know what ya did just now, but that won't work on me!"

Alpha was so stunned by the newcomer's looks that she didn't react in time when Rex shoved her aside to run toward the newcomer. A lapse of judgement that she would berate herself for and feel shame about for a long time afterward.

Before Rex could reach his new target, however, more attacks came from outside, this time in the form of black darts of hardened slime. Rex managed to deflect one and evade two, but two more pierced his shoulder and flank. As he cried out in anger, a second figure burst through another window, and a black sword too fast for Rex to evade pierced his throat in an upward motion, its tip reaching through his brain and emerging from the rear of his skull.

This one, Alpha recognized instantly.

Epsilon, wearing her usual slime suit.

"Hey everyone." smiled Epsilon as she retracted her slime sword back into her suit.

"Epsilon!" cried Delta as she ran to her and hugged her tightly, her bushy wolf tail wagging fiercely.

"You were worried about me, right? Sorry about that." said Epsilon as the returned the hug with a sad smile. "But I'm okay. And I'm glad to see you too."

"I am happy to see you, Epsilon." smiled Alpha. "But why are you here now, and who is she?"

"It is going to be okay, we're going to protect you." said Olivier to the girl with a reassuring voice as she ignored Alpha. Sherry stopped trembling and opened her eyes.

Epsilon walked to Sherry, nodded at her in encouragement, and took the artifact from the severed arm on the ground. She glanced at it for a second, then shrugged and tossed it at Alpha, who took it with a nod of thanks.

That was then that Alpha noticed. Epsilon wore her usual slime suit, but there was also something new. Above her crotch was a small, stylized butterfly-like symbol made of several intricate, angular gold marks. Consternation filled her heart.

"Epsilon, why did you appear just now?" asked Alpha, dreading the answer.

"What? You don't appreciate us giving you a hand?" asked Epsilon with a raised eyebrow.

"I do, but it is suspicious for you to come now, and that symbol on your suit..."

Delta displayed a surprised expression and stared at Epsilon's crotch.

"Yes, it is as you guessed. I have temporarily retired from Shadow Garden and joined Valhalla." nodded Epsilon. "This symbol isn't something I have to display, but I chose to, and I am proud of it. You'll understand one day."

"What? Are you going against Boss?" asked Delta as she tilted her head, her face full of confusion.

"I wonder? I am still fond of Shadow, don't misunderstand, and I don't want to injure him or anything. But sometimes, the best thing you can do for someone is to give them a good kick in the butt, not enable them like I did, and like you still do."

"Why?" asked Alpha, her voice full of pain. "What did they do to you? Why would you betray us, after everything we experienced together?"

Alpha knew what she would have to do. She would have to kill Epsilon. She would rather tear off a part of her own skin.

"Noah opened my eyes, and he revealed some things to me I wasn't aware of, and forced me to face some truths I had willfully blinded myself to. Look, we can talk about it if you want, but this can wait until the Cult of Diablos present within the academy has been dealt with. The students' lives are at stakes."

"Valhalla originally wanted to let Shadow Garden deal with the cultists, but that was before Shadow decided to leave the capital. The Cultists' leader here is a former Knights of Round, and not someone even you, Alpha, can face when your magic power is suppressed. Even with the situation between Valhalla and Shadow Garden being what it is, no one wants to see you fail and die."

"So do you agree to a temporary cease-fire, or not?"

Alpha felt very reluctant, especially as she remembered the way Rin had insulted Shadow in that recording, but she had to admit that if what Epsilon was saying about the Cult of Diablos's local leader was true, she couldn't afford to refuse Epsilon's help.

If she did, they would likely suffer heavy losses, and that would be a betrayal of her responsibilities as Shadow Garden's Vice-Leader.

"…Fine." sighed Alpha. "Until this situation is solved, we'll cooperate together. How are you even able to use your slime suit, Epsilon?"

Epsilon lifted her left hand. She had two rings around her fingers. Two simple bands, one made of silver, the other made of gold.

"The golden ring gives me immunity against the magic-suppressing artifact. We prepared a few for you as well."

Seven more golden rings appeared in her open hand, and Epsilon extended it toward Alpha, Delta, Iota and the four Numbers.

Alpha looked at her hand with suspicion, wondering if it was somehow a trap, but Delta didn't hesitate and grabbed one, eagerly putting it on her finger.

"It works!" exclaimed Delta with a grin as an aura of pure power appeared around her. "I can hunt them properly now!"

"Of course it works. And there's no hidden traps or anything." nodded Epsilon, understanding Alpha's hesitation.

Alpha took one. She took a deep breath as she put it on a ring finger, and she felt it resize itself around her flesh. She tried using her magic power, and the obstruction was completely gone. She then tried removing the ring, and it slipped out without resistance. It really didn't seem to be a trap.

"You said you prepared those rings? Where did you find them?" asked Alpha as she put it back on, and the other members of Shadow Garden took one ring each.

"I don't think I'm going to reveal that at this time. Let's go, then, before the cultists' leader realize that they failed to secure the artifact and decides to run." said Epsilon, and the elf accompanying her nodded.

"Eh? Waa!" exclaimed Sherry Barnett as the elf took her in her arms and jumped outside.

Epsilon followed, and Alpha exchanged a quickly glance with Delta and her companions before they too jumped out the windows.

"And you, who are you? why do you look so much like me?" asked Alpha to the elf as soon as she caught up. The elf girl nodded to her with a slight smile as they jogged towards the Academy's main gymnasium.

"I am Olivier. We look alike because you are, in a sense, one of my descendants."

"Olivier is one of the Three Heroes." confirmed Epsilon.

"Ah? But Olivier is a man!" protested Sherry, her face red.

"That is propaganda spread by the Cult of Diablos. I was always a woman. It is the same for Freya, too." shrugged Olivier.

Alpha really wanted to know what one of the Three Heroes did associating with Valhalla, and how she could be alive after all this time, but there wasn't time for it. As they turned a corner and saw the gymnasium, and the tense standoff in front of it.

Alpha saw a dozen dead cultists on the ground, as well as Zeta, Beta and the others facing Takina, Chisato, two women who Alpha assumed were Freya and Lily, the other two Heroes, from their outfits that were very similar to the one Olivier wore and their features.

Freya looked a lot like a slightly older, short-haired princess Alexia, and Lily's golden ears and tail were the features of the Golden Panther clan. Zeta's clan, and she supposedly was its only surviving member.

The last one had blonde, slightly pinkish hair stopping at neck length and wearing a teal-colored…

"That's her!" exclaimed Delta with a shiver. "The woman who cut me that night! She's scary!"

The woman in question obviously heard Delta and shrugged at her.

"Epsilon! Are you okay?" called out Beta as they approached.

"Yes, I am fine, sorry for making you worry, Beta, Zeta." nodded Epsilon with an apologetic smile.

"I wasn't worrying about someone incompetent enough to be captured." replied Zeta, her arms crossed.

Alpha knew Zeta well and was aware that she didn't really mean it. She just wasn't able to express her emotions about her companions without inserting barbs into them, and the more emotional, the sharper the barb.

Epsilon knew it as well and simply nodded.

"Alpha, those women said that we should wait for your decision before starting a fight with them. They said they offered a truce." frowned Beta.

"I decided on a temporary cooperation, until the members of the Cult of Diablos are dealt with." nodded Alpha. "They gave us rings that let us use our magic power normally. How are things inside?"

"The students and teachers are untouched." said Takina as she offered more rings.  After a nod from Alpha, Beta and Zeta took one, followed by a handful of the Numbers. There weren't enough rings for everyone, but with those, Shadow Garden's position was still immensely better than when they forced their way through the main gate.

"We have some of our members inside ready to stall them if they try, and they gave Nu a few rings." continued Takina. "There are about forty cultists inside, including their leader who wears plate armor and hold the Magic-suppressing artifact in his left hand. They do not seem to be aware of our presence yet, but that won't last long."

"Let's go, then. Valhalla will focus on surrounding them and cutting off their retreat, as well as protecting the students. Can Shadow Garden do the dirty work and deal with their leader?" asked Chisato with a look a sympathy directed at Sherry. Alpha found that quite ominous but didn't understand it.

"Alright." nodded Alpha.

"If anyone gets injured, we will heal them." nodded Chisato as she turned and walked to the gymnasium's gates.

Alpha followed behind the girls of Valhalla, steel sword in hand, circulating her magic power through it to increase her resilience and sharpness.

Chisato opened the double-doors wide and the fight started.

Delta rushed forward with a manic laugh, using both her sword and the tip of her fingers, reinforced with her magic power to form claws, to tear through any cultist facing her.

The members of Valhalla had spread left and right, killing opponents with great efficiency.

The crowd of students gathered on the left side were starting to cheer and move, trying to free themselves. Some, including the members of Shadow Garden who had infiltrated the academy of students, were already freeing themselves from the ropes and picking up the swords of the fallen cultists to join the fight.

In mere seconds, only one cultist remained, fully dressed in dull grey plate armor, a red cap hanging from his pauldrons. Six red, narrow lenses in his helmet gave him a sinister appearance.

With his right hand, the man slowly drew his sword. In his left hand was a small metallic object vaguely looking like an eye.

Valhalla and Shadow Garden had formed a fifteen-meters wide circle around him, cutting any chance of escaping.

"Shadow Garden." said a deformed, metallic voice. "I was expecting you. How did you manage to overcome the Eye of Greed's magic power suppression?"

"We will leave that to your imagination." said Chisato. "How about you remove that armor? Aren't you feeling hot inside, Assistant Principal Lutheran?"

The crowd of students gasped in shock.

"What?" cried Sherry in instant, vehement denial. "You're wrong! This can't be my father!"

Alpha now understood why Chisato had sent that look at Sherry. She too could sympathize with the innocent girl. But she wouldn't let that stop her from killing the enemy in front of him.

"…How did you know?" asked Lutheran as he removed his helmet, and Sherry fell to her knees, her hands going to her mouth as if she was trying to stop herself from vomiting.

"Again, we will leave that to your imagination." said Takina. "Instead, you should use your last moments to say your last words."

"Last words, huh?" laughed Lutheran. "How arrogant you all are. No one would have dared to say those words to my face when I was in my prime."

"F-Father, you… What are you doing, wearing this?" sobbed Sherry.

"Eh." snorted Lutheran as he sent her a scornful look. "You want last words? Then I will say the last words you will ever hear. Sherry, my dear daughter. You were such a marvelous tool."

"A… tool?" gasped Sherry in complete disbelief.

"Yes, a tool. You devoted all of your effort to pierce the secrets of the artifact that had been left behind, and all it took were a few gentle suggestions on my part. Just like your mother did before. All this time, you did anything I asked of you to obtain my praise, never once suspecting that I was the one who killed your mother."

"W-What?" mumbled Sherry, her face going gray.

"Those artifacts, the Eye of Greed and its paired artifact you conveniently brought to me…" declared Lutheran, glancing at the cross-shaped artifact dangling from Alpha's belt. "…are the keys for me to reclaim my place as a Knight of Rounds."

"Your mother was studying them, and she was brilliant… But she also wanted to give them to the kingdom, claiming they were too dangerous! I couldn't let her waste this opportunity, so I killed her. I pierced her arms and legs several times each, and then I stabbed her heart, and I twisted the blade."

"It was shortly after that you entered the room, after hearing her screams. You saw her immediately, but you didn't see me, standing on the side as I cleaned my sword. That was then that I decided you could replace your mother and finish her research. It's a pity that you didn't quite finish, but you have done enough for me to control the Eye."

He lifted his left hand above his head with a triumphant expression, and the Eye of Greed shone brightly.

"And while I was delaying you by monologuing like an amateurish villain, I have started the release sequence! The Eye has gathered enough Magic Power by now, and you are all going to arghhhh?!"

Alpha saw a woman with long wine-red hair and wearing a tight black outfit suddenly appeared, a long, red weapon looking like a blur in her hands. It struck Lutheran's left fingers with a loud noise, making him yelp in the middle of his speech, and sending the Eye of Greed flying.

Chisato caught the Eye, and it immediately disappeared. Alpha assumed she had put it inside her spatial ring.

She really needed one of those at some point.

Lutheran angrily slashed with his sword, but the woman with the red spear easily deflected it away and calmly stepped back. She glanced at Alpha as she blocked a follow-up strike and forcibly shoved Lutheran away, and Alpha understood.

Valhalla planned to recruit Sherry, and to make it easier, they wanted someone from Shadow Garden to kill Lutheran, rather than one of their own.

But Alpha was fine with playing along. She was perfectly willing to shoulder the hatred of a random girl for killing an important member of the Cult of Diablos. She would consider it repayment for those rings.

"Your opponent is me!" declared Alpha as she jumped in his direction.

Lutheran's strikes were swift and accurate. Alpha had to give him that, as they exchanged blows at a pace the students couldn't follow.

Had she been under the suppression of the Eye of Greed, he would have killed her easily.

But she had the ring, and the eye was gone. And she was pressing Lutheran hard.

After a few dozen moves, she saw him starting to slow down, breathing hard, and she managed to exploit a small opening in his guard, biting into his right shoulder through the armor and, from the way his right arm suddenly dropped, severing a tendon.

Before Lutheran could compensate for his suddenly lowered guard, Alpha delivered a flurry of thrusts, piercing his arms and legs, and finishing with his heart. She then twisted her blade.

Lutheran collapsed with a pained groan, then stopped moving, and for an instant, everyone was silent.

Then Sherry screamed. Alpha didn't know how much of it was grief over her adaptive father's death, and how much was about her mother and his cruelty.

With a sigh, she turned to Epsilon.

"Let's resume our previous conversation somewhere else."

"Alright." nodded Chisato as she walked out. The students instantly moved to create a path in front of her, not knowing what to think of a student who was the girlfriend of the missing Princess Alexia, and who was clearly involved with the intruders who saved them.

Alpha and the members of Shadow Garden followed, but they weren't the only ones.

She turned with a sigh, facing Rose Oriana, Claire Kagenou, and a gray-haired girl. She assumed it was Millia, from what Nu had told her.

"You should not follow us. Don't get involved in things that don't concern you."

"You tried to kill my friends once, and you're now following them to a secluded location." retorted Claire with a glare, a hand on the hilt of the sheathed sword she had taken from a cultist. "I'd say I'm plenty concerned already."

Rose Oriana nodded in support. She, too, was armed.

"It's okay, Alpha!" called out Chisato. "We won't tell them about that, and I want them to know a few things as well."

Alpha nodded with some reluctance, and Claire and Rose hurried past her to walk close to Chisato and Takina.

"It's nice to see you again, Chisato, Takina." nodded Claire. "Where is Alexia? Is she safe?"

"She is, and we're glad to see you girls too." nodded Chisato as they resumed their walk toward the north-east corner to the academy. "She's busy investigating another group of cultists. We didn't all come because that would have been overkill."

"If you say so." said Claire, sounding unconvinced. "But you seem pretty relaxed showing your backs to over sixty of those guys. Weren't you at war recently?"

"It's fine." smiled Chisato. "We agreed to a truce to fight the cultists. And while that truce has expired now, I don't think they are foolish enough to start a fight with us while Shadow is away."

"I am considering it." retorted Alpha. She felt tempted indeed, but at the same time, Chisato had a point about the current power balance. "You stole from us, and the way Rin insulted Shadow is intolerable! Epsilon, did they tell you what she and Sakura intend to do to him?"

"You mean the butt plug thing? Yes, I'm aware." shrugged Epsilon.

"Butt… plug?" repeated Claire, her face going red.

"And you actually agree with that?" asked Alpha, indignant.

"Noah told me that he would be the one dealing with Shadow. Sakura and Rin aren't really serious with their threats. And Noah said he doesn't intend to kill Shadow."

"We should be far enough now." said Chisato as she stopped and turned. "We can talk here without being bothered by others."

"You have taken the Eye of Greed." nodded Alpha. "What do you intend to do with it?"

"Nothing. We won't give it to you because you could be tempted to use it against us, but we won't use it either... This aside, Epsilon wanted to tell you a few things she learned recently, and that we don't mind you knowing."

Epsilon nodded and started speaking about a creature from another world, and the scientists who studied its corpse. About kidnapped children serving as experiments, and Aurora. About the covert war between Aurora and the Cult, and the Three Heroes' real nature. And she finished by explaining how the four of them had been sealed away, and Valhalla freed them, granting them new bodies in return for one year of service.

"Are you saying that we all have cells from Diablos within our bodies?" exclaimed Claire, shell-shocked.

"That is the case." nodded Freya. "Or, possibly, the ability to use magic power has assimilated with your own essence as generations passed, and the cells from Aurora weren't passed along. Noah mentioned that he might be able to tell if you gave him a sample of your blood, using some devices from one of his worlds to examine it."

"There is another matter you need to be aware of." sighed Epsilon. "Valhalla may be fighting the Cult of Diablos, but the Cult isn't the reason they entered our world. They are chasing after what they call a Demonic Pillar, a being from Rin's and Sakura's world that is hiding in ours. If Shadow Garden prevents Valhalla from destroying it, our world will end."

"That sounds mighty convenient for someone from Valhalla to say." snorted Zeta.

"Maybe, but that's the truth." shrugged Epsilon. "Noah showed me some of his memories, and those are too convoluted, detailed and specific to have been a fabrication. A lie would have been simpler."

"Is that why you switched side to them, Epsilon?" asked Alpha, feeling slightly warmer towards Epsilon. If this was to save the world, then maybe, she could understand, even possibly forgive…

"That is part of it." nodded Epsilon. "I want for all of us to stay alive. I'm sure we can find some common ground about that, if nothing else... But to be honest, the biggest reason is Noah himself… Tell me, Alpha. When was the last time Shadow asked you about your personal life outside of Shadow Garden? Did he ever ask you about your own dreams? Does he know what your favorite food is, and what you hate the most?"

"What are you trying to say?" glared Alpha.

"What I am saying is that Noah asked me those questions, and he listened to my answers. I have not known him for very long, and yet, he already knows more about me than Shadow. Noah doesn't see me only as a sword and a subordinate. He sees me as a woman with her own wants and needs. He sees me as a partner."

"Thanks to him, I know what it is like to be wanted. To be loved. That is why I bear his mark with pride."

Seeing Epsilon's happy expression, Alpha's anger evaporated, leaving place to deep sadness. She understood that Epsilon could never be convinced to return to Shadow Garden.

"Very well. You made your choice, Epsilon." sighed Alpha. "Now leave, before I change my mind."

"Wait!" suddenly exclaimed Claire. "Chisato, you offered me to join Valhalla before. Does that offer still stands?"

"It does." nodded Chisato. "We'd be happy to have you."

"Then take me with you, and teach me your method to track people. My brother disappeared again, and this time, I can't find him."

"No, you can't join them!" protested Alpha in a rare panic.

"…I can't? And who are you to decide what I can or can't do?" frowned Claire.

Alpha opened her mouth, but no sounds came out, and she furiously searched for a way to convince Claire to back off, but nothing came to her.

"If Claire goes, I will as well." said Rose. "The recent events have proved that I need to become much stronger anyway, and joining you seems to be the most promising option."

"We won't let this happen." flatly declared Alpha.

"Really, Alpha?" asked Chisato with a sigh. "Myself, Takina, Okita, Scathach, Epsilon, Olivier, Lily, Freya, and Millia. Nine of us, whose individual power ranges from about how Epsilon was before her powers were amplified, to well above you, Alpha. What do you think is going to happen if we fight? There may be about sixty-five of you, but that won't change much."

"I am aware that not all of us are going to walk away from this!" glared Alpha as she drew her sword. "But this is our bottom line! She can't go with you!"

"Why?" asked Claire, taken aback. "Why do what I do matter so much to you?"

Alpha only looked at Claire for a second before her eyes returned to Chisato. Considering Valhalla's demonstrated abilities, there was only one way Alpha could stop them from coming back later to invite Claire and take her away. It was to keep her close, constantly.

"Claire Kagenou, you will have to come with us and join Shadow Garden." decided Alpha.

"No, absolutely not!" exclaimed Claire as she drew her own sword. "I'm going with them."

"Takina, what's up with this world? No good deed goes unpunished, huh?" complained Chisato.

"Not this world, just Shadow Garden." shrugged Takina as a gun and a sword appeared in her hands. "But they do seem like an ungrateful bunch, yes. We keep helping them, and they keep telling people to join them, or else. This isn't what we planned, but since Shadow isn't here, we may as well get this over with."

"Alright." nodded Chisato. "Incapacitation only, everyone. We aren't killing any of them."

Before Alpha could rethink her decision, Millia took the initiative and used Valhalla's strange movement technique to suddenly appear behind two of the Numbers, Sigma and Chi. She struck them behind their necks with hand chops, and Sigma collapsed while Chi fell to her knees, too stunned to block a follow-up strike that robbed her of her consciousness.

The situation instantly became chaos as everyone reacted by choosing an opponent. Alpha, aware that she was the strongest among Shadow Garden, jumped toward the woman with the red spear, Scathach, assuming she was the strongest enemy.

With intense Magic Power wrapping around the blade of her sword, Alpha made a short, flat jump that propelled her toward the spearwoman while keeping close to the ground to allow for sudden changes of direction.

Scathach seemed to have the same idea about the choice of opponents and shortened the distance as well before deflecting her blow to the side in a rotational move that turned into a swirl, and Alpha hurriedly threw her head to the side. The butt of Scathach's spread slammed into her left clavicle painfully, forcing her to put a knee on the ground for support.

Alpha's abundant magic power was the only reason her clavicle hadn't broken.

She gritted her teeth and slashed in an upward diagonal with her sword, aiming for Scathach's right arm to either injure her or force her to back off and give her time to recover her stance.

But Scathach had already jumped back, and with another twirl, sank the butt of her spear into Iota's stomach, then leaned to the side to evade Omega's sword, grabbed her wrist, and pulled hard, using Omega's body as a projectile. With a surprised yelp, Omega crashed into Iota.

This lasted in an instant, and Scathach was already prepared to receive Alpha's next blow when she reached her again.

Alpha tried a series of thrusts, keeping her feet firmly planted on the ground as she rained blows at Scathach and managed to parry a few of her counters as well, but she quickly realized that she was outmatched.

She cursed at the absence of her slime suit. With it, she thought she might have been able to make up for some of the gap with the suit's ability to form blades from any part of her body.

She jumped back for an instant, wanting to quickly look around and get an idea of how the others were doing, but Scathach didn't intend to let her and advanced, forcing her on the defensive.

Gritting her teeth, Alpha decided to use her trump card, a technique she didn't master completely yet.

Months ago, she had infiltrated the Vampires' main library in their great tower in Lawless City, investigating potential ties between vampiric powers and Diablos, and she had found information about some of the vampires' abilities.

As the vampiric power presented many similarities with her own magic power, she had managed to adapt one of their signature abilities, Mistform.

Alpha's body turned into a patch of blue mist, about 10 meters across. Half a second later, while the mist persisted, Alpha reconstituted her body behind and above Scathach and dove toward her neck, trusting her sword forward.

And Scathach disappeared, using a movement technique that seemed even faster than the one Alpha had previously witnessed. Several golden chains appeared around her, ensnaring her before her foot could touch the ground.

Alpha tried to unleash her full magic power to break the chains apart, remembering what Shadow had told her of his fight with Rin, but before she could fully do it, something hard snapped close around her neck, and she suddenly became unable to use any of her magic power.

"Noo!" shouted Alpha in fearful denial as Scathach grabbed her sword and tore it from her hand. The sword disappeared instantly, and Alpha assumed it had gone into one of those spatial rings.

"Alpha-sama!" shouted Iota, Omega and two others as they tried to intervene, but two shots came from the side, impacting Omega and one of the others, and the collapsed, convulsing as it they were being electrocuted.

In a mere instant, Iota, too, was surrounded by golden chains for an instant, and an instant was all Scathach needed to snap another black metal collar around her neck and confiscate her sword.

Looking to her left, Alpha saw Beta struggle against Epsilon, pushed on the defensive. Alpha saw a small block of the same golden material that made up their chains appear just behind Beta's left foot, and before Alpha could warn her, Epsilon pushed Beta back and made her stumble with a surprised yelp. Before she could stand up, Epsilon was straddling her, grabbing both of Beta's wrists into her right hand and pinning them above her head. Epsilon used her left index to draw some kind of symbol on Beta's forehead before releasing her arms and getting off her.

"My magic power is sealed!" cried Beta as she stared rubbing her forehead in horror.

Alpha looked to her right, and saw Millia rampaging, simultaneously attacking four of the weaker members of Shadow Garden. She had a golden rod in each hand, four more flying rods around her, and she unleashed a constant flurry of blows into her opponents.

Sprawled on the ground all around were many Shadow Garden members, most of them unconscious, others nursing broken legs or arms and looking around in despair.

Even watching for only a second, Alpha could tell that Millia was a very talented swordswoman. She shook herself, rebuking herself for her lack of focus. Going into a mental fugue was the last thing she could afford.

She saw Delta stumble and fall with a confused expression, her legs ensnared by a metal chain whose links were engraved by slightly glowing symbols.

Delta grabbed the chains and started getting her legs free, but she lacked time, and Takina was on her, pressing her against the ground. Takina engraved another of those symbols on Delta's back, then picked up Delta's sword that had fallen on the grass nearby.

Father away, several students of Dark Knights Academy had come, attracted by the noise of battle, but they warily kept their distance, not understanding who was fighting who, and for what reason.

"Freeze, everyone!" shouted Chisato, shooting twice in the air to get everyone's attention. It worked.

"Almost all of the Seven Shadows have been incapacitated, and over half of the rest are downed. There's no need to keep going and cause more injuries. Surrender now, and we can start healing those who need it."

Of the Seven Shadows aside from Eta and Gamma who had obviously not participated in the raid against the Cult of Diablos, only Zeta was still able to fight, still holding her half-moon swords, although she had a few shallow cuts. She had been facing Lily, who looked completely unharmed.

Of the Numbers, Nu was currently trying to remove the black collar around her neck with an aggrieved expression.

Alpha felt like her soul was leaving her body, but as the leader they trusted, she had to make the most difficult decision of her life.

"Everyone… stand down. We surrender. I will assume the responsibility and shame for this defeat."

Zeta looked like she was about to object, but she too had eyes, and she knew resistance was hopeless. With a glare at Lily, she threw her swords to the ground and lifted her hands in the air.

Chisato wasted no time walking to her and putting another black collar around Zeta's neck. Then she took from somewhere a pair of black metal shackles and used them to bind Zeta's arms behind her back.

"Alright. So, Zeta, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Nu-chan, and, what's your name?"

"Iota." glared Iota.

"Okay. That makes six that we will take with us. With Claire and Rose, we have room for one more. Any volunteers?"

Unsurprisingly, there were no volunteers. Without a word, Millia grabbed the one closest to her, 665, ignored her protests as she snapped another black collar around her neck, and marched her toward the others.

"I don't suppose I could ask you to let us go? We won't interfere with you anymore." asked Alpha.

"Denied. That ship has sailed." said Chisato as she shook her head. "And I don't believe you wouldn't come back later, wearing those dangerous slime suits this time, if Shadow gave you the order… No, this opportunity is too good to pass up."

Alpha didn't resist as Chisato brought her hands behind her back and fastened metal shackles on her wrists.

Alpha didn't know what kind of treatment they were going to face, but it couldn't be too harsh if Epsilon had switched over to their side… could it?

At least, they were keeping their word where healing the injured was concerned, and Alpha was shocked with how efficient their healing was. It looked like they only needed seconds to completely heal broken bones. As they circulated through the unconscious or injured, they took all swords and made them disappear.

"What are you going to do with Alpha-sama and the others?" exclaimed 654.

"Nothing too bad." shrugged Epsilon. "One of Valhalla's goals is to have Shadow Garden join them. That's not something they can achieve by subjecting their captives to torture, so don't worry about Alpha and the others. Now that you're all healed, you will report today's events to Gamma and Eta. They will tell you what to do next, until Shadow returns. Leave soon, we're offered enough of a spectacle already."

Epsilon took Delta in her arms and used that movement technique to disappear from the students' view. Alpha could follow the small burst of magic power and knew Epsilon and Delta were on a rooftop a hundred meters away.

She flinched as she felt arms suddenly grab her in a princess carry, and turned her head to see Chisato holding her. Then she felt a sudden acceleration and her surroundings changed. She was on the same rooftop. One by one, the members of Valhalla joined them, each carrying a Shadow Garden captive, aside from Takina and Scathach holding Claire and Rose.

"Let's go home, I want a bath." said Chisato to the others, who nodded, and they all mixed jumps and that movement technique to swiftly travel westward. In minutes, they reached the capital's periphery, and then ran toward the nearest forest. Almost as soon as they were inside the woods, they all started to fly. and changed direction toward the north.

"Why did you take 665 with us?" asked Alpha. "She was only following my directions."

"All of Shadow Garden will have to go through the on-boarding process at some point, so I figured, since we had the capacity to take seven of you, why not do it now?" replied Chisato as they weaved between tree trunks.

"I would have expected you to take the Barnett girl instead." sighed Alpha, and Chisato's reaction surprised her.

The arms holding her went slack for an instant, and Alpha wondered if she was going to be dropped. When she looked back at Chisato's face, she saw eyes widened in stupefaction.

"EEEeehhhhhh!?! I forgot about her!!!" shouted Chisato.