Zero Episode 147 Salaron Empire PT 1 Rival Meet-Up

 A/N: Yeah. It has been a while since you've seen Zero or really anything from the blog excluding one Fairy Legion Royal Post. I made a promise to myself mainly to put more on the blog this year to help me not think about what's going on in the real world aka the pandemic or anything to do with Politics since it's always depressing. For this year, I also wanted to start reading/watching a lot more manga and anime this year which also took up my time. 

These two things clashed and well, a lack of blog posts is the result of this clash. I can also talk about how Persona 5 Strikers also came out to the west in February. My overall point to this mini rant is that there was a lot of stuff keeping me from posting more in the first third of the year. While I was busy doing all of this, I was able to work on this arc for Zero which includes the wedding of Rachel and Zane. 

I do know that I spoiled this union in Fairy Legion Royal but it was pretty obvious that it was going to happen. I gave a reason for why I did this in Fairy Legion Royal Chapter 2 if you're curious. So some of the manga and anime that I managed to finish read/watching are some that I've wanted to see for a while now. This group consist of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Yu Yu Hakusho, and two series that I'll never thought I would give a shot but I did. 

We'll be talking about the two unnamed series in due time since that series and I have a bit of history between them. So both Fullmetal or Full Metal is a series that I've known about a while and heard great things about but I never watched for one simple reason.  I didn't know where to begin since there are two different animes for this singular manga. There was one from 2003 and the other from 2010. One was from when the Manga wasn't finished aka the 2003 version.

The other series as when the Manga was near completion aka the 2010 version. I didn't know if I need to watch both of them to get the full experience or just one of them. I decided to go with the more recent one. This is the same for one of the unnamed series as well but for another choice I'll go into when that series comes up. After watching it, I can say this. It is a series that deserves all the praise it gets. No spoilers for this series.

I truly believe that this series needs to be watched or enjoyed blind but that may be impossible in this day and age. Spoilers exist and well, it's one of the most popular anime out there so it'll be hard but possible to avoid spoilers. You can do it but don't look up anything relating to this series. That's just my opinion on the matter. This praise also goes toward the 2003 series as well.  While it did go a different route compared to the manga and Brotherhood, it isn't a bad series. 

This series has its own strengths that make it stand out. Do note that I didn't watch the 2003 anime at all because I finished Brotherhood. I did look up the differences between the two and I would recommend checking it out since these differences are worth seeing. Just take my word for it but make sure that you don't watch it right after Brotherhood. In a sense, you're watching the same series twice with some differences.

I'm well aware of the differences between the two yes but they use most of the same characters between the two series. I'm in no way an expert on the 2003 Anime but from what I researched, they're very similar except they expand a bit more on the Homunculus as characters which is a good thing and Hitler is a thing in that version. This statement is coming from someone who doesn't know the context behind Hitler being there. Hitler also makes his appearance in Persona 2: Innocent Sin. 

However, I know the context behind his appearance there and it involves the power of rumors. Yes. That is the reason between him being there and if you want to know more, check out Persona 2. As someone who watched a playthrough of the game thanks to SGB, I enjoyed what I saw even though I'm more familiar with Persona 3 to 5. Over all, I could recommend Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood or Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 as a first anime. 

I usually don't say this since for me, your first anime will define how you judge anime going forward. I may have watched Pokemon and Yugioh when I was a kid but my first real anime was Fairy Tail and I have a preference. However, I truly think that FMA or FMA Brotherhood is a good first anime in how it can tell a great story and not rely on some of Anime's more infamous tropes. Tropes are a good thing mind you but if your series is just tropes, your series doesn't have an identity. 

Just don't watch both series at the same time. For me, watching both Full Metal Alchemist series in a row is very much like trying to binge a long running series in a short period of time. It never really works out well but sometimes it does. Those two unnamed series are examples of working but most of the time, it never does. In my experience, one of three things happen. The first thing is that you just get bored with the series and began to move onto something. 

The second thing is that you'll begin to focus and possibly hate on the little things about the series and miss the important parts of the series. These two things happened with me twice with in the past couple of months in the form of Making Waves and Uchiha Heiress Remix.  Both of these stories are really good at first. However, I got bored after trying to binge Making Waves and began to nitpick Uchiha Heiress. 

Do note that I plan to talk about Uchiha Heiress Remix in greater detail since I begin to focus on the little details while trying to binge through it. The third thing is that you'll finish this entire series and forget what happens when you're waiting for the next installment of this series to come out. This last reason may not make any sense but let me explain. From what I remember, it was a few years ago and I decided to read through D.Gray-Man.

This was because Todd Haberkorn aka Natsu from Fairy Tail voiced the main character in the dub. A very simple reason yes but it works. Like with most anime, I like to read the manga first. For me, it takes less time compared to watching an anime and it is how the story was originally told. An Anime adaptation can only enhance or weak the story on how it's shown to the general public. Do note that being a manga only is a bit hard if the series is not accessible. 

You may wrong what I'm talking about but you'll see what I'm talking when I get to those unnamed series but lets get back to talking about D.Gray Man. I finished D.Gray-Man within a week or two but the next chapter didn't come out within the next week or month like normal. This weird release schedule may be possibly due to one reason. The reason is that the author/managaka Katsura Hoshino has bad luck when it comes to injuries. 

She at one point got serious ill with norovirus and then there was an injury to her neck. There was also an injury to her wrist. I'm not saying that she should be force to work through pain but well, this is just one of the reasons why being a author or writer can be one of the worst jobs out there especially being a managaka. I haven't seen or read the series Bakuman but I'm fully aware of how it shows how hard being a mangaka can be thanks to the internet.

There is also the series Time Paradox Ghostwriter which I enjoyed when it was running but well, it has a unique story. Just type the series into Youtube and learn more about this series. After this incident, I didn't want to experience another series with this massive of a delay between chapters to ever happen to me again. It's one of the reasons why I didn't want to read or watch Hunter x Hunter for the longest time. It's delay are infamous to me since well, it has several periods of its runtime being on hiatus. 

Just look at this chart if you're curious on how long Hunter x Hunter has been on delays. I really do want to give this series a fair chance since I've heard only good things about it. However, the fact that it's been on hiatus for most of its run ,about sixty four/sixty five percent, isn't exactly convincing given my past experience with D.Gray Man and the fact that my memory can be just awful at times. The internet does exist to help remind me of stuff and explain things I didn't get on my first read/watch. 

Among the major hiatus which there are eighteen of them, the average amount of issues between each chapter is 34/35. To try and convince myself to give Hunter X Hunter a fair chance rather than judging on some rather petty in my opinion, I decided to watch Yu Yu Hakusho. This was Yoshihiro Togashi's first hit series after all and well, I really liked it. Yu Yu Hakusho is one of those animes that aged gracefully and the amazing dub made this series one of my favorites. 

From what I looked up, it's one of the few dubs that are considered good by those who says that all dubs are bad and you should only watch subs. I do agree that this dub and Brotherhood's dub are really good but I will always prefer watching a dub since I like to understand what I'm watching. The reason I watched Yu Yu Hakusho is because I wanted to see Togashi's first series and see if Hunter X Hunter shows how good a writer Togashi is. 

More on my preference for watching a dub at a later date in time. So the final two manga/anime are both ones that I'll be giving its own separate blog post but I'll give you two hints on what both of them could be. I've talked about it before and the reason for me not giving it a chance is because of how it looks. With these two hints, this should tell you what two series I'm talking about before the post comes out. That will take some time but it will come out eventually. 

To finish this Author Note, I should probably clarify a couple of things. These things happen during the last Zero Episode aka the Special, the five Fairy Legion Royal posts, and just something about one of Zane's weakness. You may have noticed that over a period of time in real life, characters like Athena and Kane haven't shown up in either Fairy Legion or Zero. This was mentioned in the Special how they don't need to keep backseat heroing Zane any more. 

Well, the reason for this is the obvious fact that Zane is no longer a rookie. He isn't a teenager anymore and has fully accepted his destiny as Zero better than most Zeroes prior to him. They're still close with him and will always be there but they have their own lives to live. You really can't spend your entire life inside of Zane and well, it would make certain moments uncomfortable. Really shouldn't have to say what these moments are.

This is the case especially in Fairy Legion and Fairy Legion Royal where he's an professional at what he does. However, the trio of Astaroth, Havoc, and Matrix are a different case. From the start, I do plan to have them showing up now and again but don't expect them to have a major role going forward. No significant characters arc since me writing those is rare. Do note that Astaroth and Lucifer are two different characters from each other. 

Astaroth is being a pervert in Fairy Legion Royal isn't out of character for him. Just check Zero Episode 145 for more details on that. I just played it up a bit more since well, we need someone to point out the more mature/ecchi moments of Fairy Tail. Astaroth is that someone and I really like the idea of the Horny Prevention System. It wouldn't work on Cole or Kane but Astaroth it will. We will still see Athena, Azalea, Cole, Kane, Lucifer, and Twilight real soon. 

However for right now, they will be staying with Parker and helping him out with any experiments. You may have noticed that I didn't mention a certain character who has been with Zane since his birth in the year 2001 and turned him into an Akostar at a very young age. If the hints were obvious enough, guess who and you probably be right about who this mysterious character could be. We'll be seeing that character real soon like in this episode perhaps. 

So I'm sure that I explained this before but when I have not explain something before and then repeated myself later on. As a Phantom Cross Species, Zane has a weakness toward magic or Impulse that has magical properties despite having the ability to use magic/Impulse with magical properties. I based it off how certain Pokemon/Pokémon learning moves that are based off their type weakness. You may be thinking of Dragon type Pokémon but there are some others. 

The biggest example of this is Rhydon ,a Ground and Rock type Pokémon, learning Surf. I found this article and checked to see if that was the case thanks to Bulbapedia. I could have used easily Serebii but I just prefer Bulbapedia. Both websites are good mind you but I just use Bulbapedia out of personal preferences. From what my research done, this list is correct but I could be wrong. Zane may be able to use Animus and Liasada despite being weak to magic. We'll see that in the spinoff. 

Lets begin and this episode takes place about a week after the first Zero Special. The events that took place in the first Zero Special took a few days before Team Maelstrom left for the Salaron Empire and the events of that special will effect Zane going forward. I wish I could post regularly like every week or every other week but life doesn't always go the way you plan. I guess you really have to go with the flow rather than following a schedule note for note.

I say this because your schedule can be destroyed or ruined. Our story begins in the land of dreams, dreamscape, or my favorite name for this place of existence being cloud-cuckoo-land. Thanks Merriam Webster for that little information.

Dream P.O.V.              

It looked to be a seemingly normal day in Cypress Park but this normalcy will changed drastically. At Cypress Park High, it was lunch and a member of the Alvarez family was in the school. To be more specific, the boy's bathroom. It wasn't Atem Josh Alvarez who goes to the school normally but his adopted father Zane Vincent Alvarez. He was currently looking at himself in the bathroom mirror with him being shocked to see that he was looking like he did when he was eighteen.

Zane blinked his left eye with him saying,"Okay. This is a new one. I'm back in high school and I think my left eye is back.". He looked around to see that the room was empty beside for him. "Let me see if I can confirm that." said Zane, reaching for his left eye using his right arm. His right arm was still gone and the one that Devin built for him as Zane figured out earlier that day. He tried to activate a form using it but couldn't. 

Upon touching it, he felt that it wasn't his prosthetic and Zane blinked. "Okay. With this, it's official. I'm in a dream that won't kick me in the nuts and possibly cause mental damage." thought Zane as he washed his hands. He left the bathroom and walked toward the cafeteria. As he waited in line for some food, Zane looked around to see that the students were all the same back when he was in high school and saw some old faces.

Some of these old faces didn't go to Cypress Park High back in the day. These faces are Bryan Jones who was Darth's initial host and got sent to Thunder Cove Detention Center with a serious due to the exiled Vordlarin's actions, Irene Smith aka Umbra and Lyra Morrison aka Leech who were super villains due to them letting their powers go to their heads like most meta humans but reformed, Marcus Simmons aka Father Nature who didn't look like a plant human hybrid, and Timothy Bucks.

Compared to the group of Bryan, Irene, Lyra, and Marcus, Timmy never spent any time in prison due to his money. He hasn't really done anything criminal in the past six years but Zane always keep an close eye on his rogues regardless if they haven't done anything or not. "Okay. I know this is a dream since I'm seeing Bryan not addicted to the power. I wonder if this an alternative universe where they didn't become villains or in Timmy's case, a menace." thought Zane.

The Cross Species obtained a tray of food pilled high and unlike in high school, nothing was bothered by the amount of food on his plate. In high school, people made a big deal whenever Zane ate outside of his weight class aka eating more food than a pig failed. "Okay. My test failed. It's really weird how I haven't seen anyone of my friends or heard anyone say hi to me yet. I was pretty popular back then. Did something happen or...." thought Zane.

His train of thought was derailed upon seeing Brad ,looking like he did back in high school, what looks to be about to attack Cameron ,also looking like he did back in high school, at a nearby table. "Oh. I guess that Brad is back to his bullying days and Cameron is his victim. Where is Leigh when you need her?" thought Zane, rushing over to the table. "Hey Bradley. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be doing stuff like this. Leigh won't be happy if she finds out about you being a bully again." said Zane.

This got Brad's attention away from Cameron with him saying,"Look who's finally here. I've been waiting for you specifically hero.". Without showing, Zane was getting ready to either block Brad's punch using Vulcan Force or dodge his attack. Brad pulled out one of the table's seats and he smiled with him losing all of his anger. "Seriously man. Where were you hero? Lunch period started twenty minutes ago." said Brad. 

Zane blinked with him saying,"Okay. I was just checking over something. Why do you keep calling me hero? I thought you called me 51.". He sat down with Cameron smiling. "Come on Zane. You don't have to be so coy about it. We all know about it." said Cameron, throwing him a news paper. With a burger in his hand, Zane saw that the paper was from Cypress Chronicles and the main headline caused Zane's eyes to wined. "No way. How did they..." said Zane.

The main headline said,"Local boy Zane Alvarez saves Cypress Park from Annihilation Day alongside the Centurions.". "I can't believe you helped Warrior and the rest of the Centurions Zane. I mean they're heroes who saved the planet every other week. You're easily the best thing to ever happen to Cypress Park man!" said Brad. "But the Centurions project is still in development, Warrior is possibly dead, and how did normal people figured about Annihilation Day? Silas wouldn't let that happen." said Zane.

Before he could ask Brad and Cameron about what's going on, Crisis Judgement went off. "And even in a dream, I'm forced to go back into action. Just my luck." muttered Zane. He turned to see several Devil Ignitions heading right toward the school and was about to activate the Enigma Talisman in order to stop the bombs before getting stopped. "Zane. Look! It's the Hellion Baron." said Brad. "Actually, it's the baron's Devil Ignitions and I'm sure Zero will be here in a few moments." said Zane.

Cameron looked at Zane with a raised eyebrow as he said,"Dude. You can't be serious. Everyone knows that you and Zero are the same person. Had us fooled for a while but when that bitch Kilene almost destroyed the Omniverse, I guess there was no more need for secrets.". "Go Zane! Go Zane!" said the crowd of students around them. "Okay then. I guess this is a dream where my secret identity is no longer secret. Time to Power up I guess." said Zane, turning into Legion Zero.

Upon seeing the hero, the crowd's cheer grew louder and Zane sprouted his Akostar wings from his back. He flew toward the roof and turned intangible. "So you're back from the dead Derrick. Always had that feeling since well, you were always known for never staying dead if what Andrew says about you is true. Time for a classic Gorgon's Gaze." said Zane while he was floating in front of the Devil Ignitions. 

His eyes glowed with several light purple energy beams coming out of his peepers. All of the bombs turned into stone and fell to the ground, making them harmless. Crisis Judgement went off as Zane turned into candy syrup and evaded Hellion Baron's claw swipe. "Hello there Zero. It's so good to see my former protégé doing what he does best." said Derrick, firing two fireballs at Zane. "Making you like a joke? That isn't too hard especially when you're copying Carlos of all beings." said Zane. 

The Cross Species flew back to avoid the flames with him aiming his left hand and fired a beam of Primordial at Derrick. Instead of dodging it like normal, Derrick let it hit him and he was blasted toward the ground. He turned back into human and looked unconscious. "Okay. That was too easy. Even for one of my dreams where it doesn't kick me in the balls." said Zane, flying down and looked over the former business man. 

Zane aimed his hands at Derrick with him saying,"Even though things are going my way, I better be careful. My dreams have gone against me before.". Within seconds, Derrick was encased in a mixture of expansion and quick-dry cement webbing. "How about you cool off a little Derrick? I got to get back to my adoring public." said Zane, sending a message to Scott about where to pick up Derrick and flew back to the school.

Upon phasing through the roof, the crowd cheered for him and chanted his name. "So I guess this is what it would be like if I revealed who I really am. Not bad honestly." said Zane as he deactivated his costume. He took his seat at the table and saw the duo of Sadie and Sam gushing over him. "Okay. Now that's just weird. I mean Sam I totally get but Sadie. Totally thought she hated me. Why would I want this in my dreams?" thought Zane. 

Before Zane could question anything, Brad stopped this. "You're so damn lucky Zane. I mean you're a superhero, run a successful company, and having a harem of girls who want you badly." said Brad. "I guess so but that happened to me in reality except no one knows about my secret identity." thought Zane as he nodded. "Yeah. Brad is just saying that because he's sick of how much popular Zane is compared to him. Twenty bucks say that he wishes that he was still Agent Crimson." said Cameron.

This earned him a chuckle from the rest of the table. "Yeah I do but Swarm turned out to be nothing more than Nazis. Phantoms are totally awesome." said Brad. "That they are Brad and I've been thinking about bringing back the Guardian program except for protection rather aggression." said Zane. "You have man? Do you think it would be possible...." said Brad. "Sorry we're late Zane but you know how long Mr. Jacobs lectures can be." said a familiar female voice.

Zane's eyes widened with him slowly turning around to see Karen, Kristen, Nova, Rain, Roxy, and Sierra standing there with all of them holding trays of food and wearing the Legion Zero hoodies he gave to his kids except with their names written on the sleeves. "What in the nine realms? All of you died." said Zane, sprouting his stingers from his wrists. "What are you talking about hero boy?" said Roxy, placing a hand on his right shoulder.

He winced with Karen noticing the fear in his eyes. "Is something wrong Zane? You look like you seen a ghost." said Karen. "Don't you mean Phantom?" said Rain. "Tomato or tomahto Rain. I guess you must still be recovering huh Zane." said Sierra, sitting on Zane's lap. "So jealous she gets to be on Sugah's lap." said Nova, crossing her arms. "You know the rules. Whoever wins the coin toss gets to be the most romantic with him. Don't forget that it was your idea." said Kristen.

Nova grumbled as Zane said,"What are you talking about?". "Your fight with that awful woman. She and her bimbo almost killed us but you managed to save us just at the last second. That's why you'll always be my hero Zane." said Sierra, kissing him on the lips much to the jealous and joy of everyone watching them. "No. I didn't save you girls and I won't pretend that I did. I think it's time for this dream to end right now!" thought Zane as his eyes glowed turquoise. 

Narrator P.O.V.

Zane ,looking back to his normal self, woke up and saw that he was in a bed. Not the one back on the Midnight Bird where he and the rest of his team are supposed to be but the one in Tophet. "Morana. We need to talk." said Zane, leaving the bed and aimed his fists at the door. Outside of the room, Morana was sitting on a chair of bones and sipping some tea. "Ah this is really nice. Nothing could possible run my tea...." said Morana with her getting hit by her bedroom door and it shattered upon contact.

The Qlarik sighed as she said,"Good morning your highness. How did you sleep? I bet you had one hell of a dream.". The door was gone as Morana turned to see Zane ,with four arms, whose lower set of fists were glowing a vibrant and destructive platinum color. "Morana. It was a nightmare. Seeing those six alive and saying that I saved them when in all reality, I FAILED. Why did you bring me here? I'm on vacation with my friends and going to get married. Answer me right now or...." said Zane.

Morana rolled her eyes as she said,"Using force to get your answer really isn't your style. Do you really think I would have done this without a reason?". "Yes. You're not the first immortal being who likes to take me away from my family without my permission. Already had this happen with Darwin and Hatari. They took me away just to say congrats about the wedding. That was it. I got a thanks from the rest of the snacks but going back to my worried princess. Not exactly worth the trip." said Zane.

The Qlakrik smiled as she said,"Well, I'm real sorry about bringing you here Zane without your permission but we need to talk.". "Talk about what? This couldn't have waited until the morning and what was that dream? You of all beings should me seeing know that seeing those six alive isn't a good thing from my mentality." said Zane with his arms crossed. He was back to having two arms. "It was a test." said Morana. "What kind of test would have me seeing those six alive?" said Zane.

Morana shrugged as she said,"One of the Zeroes apparently. I really hope you passed because it's simple really. You'll be the one to take down my idiot brother but I'm sure you've heard this from several beings time and time again.". "Thanks for telling me who came up with this ridiculous test and who I'm going to be teaching a lesson." said Zane, cracking his knuckles. "I wish you good luck with that Zane." said Morana as she watched Zane vanish. 

Upon reappearing, Zane blinked and he thought,"Okay. It's official. If there is one part of my destiny I hate more than anything, it's the fact that I get dragged from place to place without my permission. I also hate how I puke if I get transported to another dimension. Speaking of that, why haven't I do that already? The only time I haven't done that is whenever I go to Tophet. the Transient Yonder, or my mindscape. I was just in Tophet so that leaves two places left.". 

Instead of being back in his bed, he was in his mindscape. "Okay. That answers question one. Who brought me here this time? One of the other Zeroes maybe? If it is one of the Zeroes, I really hope that it's one of the good ones and not the bad ones. I also hope if one of the Zeroes did bring me here, it's the one who came up with that test." said Zane. He began walking around the mindscape and expected someone to show up but no one did.

Zane blinked with him saying,"Okay. Let me see if I can get their attention. Time to bringing out one of my big guns.". He took a deep breath with him making his Avenger Mask slowly form over his face and black Mojo slowly came out of his body. Just before the mask appeared, the Omni-Door appeared. "See previous Zeroes. Now was that so hard?" said Zane as the Mojo disappeared. He walked toward the door and poked it. "Yep. It's a real door. Time to break it once again." said Zane.

The Cross Species cocked back his right fist and was about to punch said door like he did earlier but Crisis Judgement went off. The door opened on its own with him releasing a wave of darkness and covered Zane's entire mindscape in darkness. He closed his eyes with him eventually opening them and looking around the mindscape and saw nothing but darkness around him. He was floating like he would if he was in Terrarune, outer space, or a place lacking gravity. It felt unnatural to him. 

After making a disc of molten gold Animus/Liasada appear under his feet, Zane cupped his chin. "Okay then. I guess this is what a normal being's mindscape looks like. I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm really missing the white void." said Zane. "Yeah. That's what I said when I first met my ancestor." said a voice as Zane turned around to see the seventh Zero Vito standing there. "Sup. Happy to see me? And where are the extra arms? I thought you would show up with them." said Vito with him smiling. 

Zane looked at him as he said,"I guess so. So mind telling me which Zero made me take that test?". "Oh right. That test was coming up for you. It didn't happen to me since I was the second Zero to break the Omni-Door. Ryoka was the first one if you were curious." said Vito. "So that test is for whoever opens the Omni Door? Why did it take four years then?" said Zane. "Yep. In the entire history of Zeroes, there have only been seven of them who broke the door. One of them is you by the way." said Vito.

As he was saying this, he was holding up seven fingers. "We did have a couple Zeroes get close but well, both Zero #88 and #99 were close but failed because of the Form Morpher. I know that I'm like four years late but nice job taking down that Qlakrik down. You avenged several Zeroes who died by him. They still hate you but slightly less than before." said Vito. "Thanks I think. So why did the Omni-Door make everything dark? And why the late quiz?" said Zane. 

Vito shrugged as he said,"I don't know why the quiz took so long for you honestly. Maybe because Ryoka knew you wouldn't be completely focused due to the whole Rachel being a devil thing. Don't know but you've taken it. The Omni-Door making everything dark is for a dramatic effect. I know that you met me and Ryoka before tonight but what about the other four Zeroes who didn't suck a major lemon?". "Sure. I always want to meet the not petty predecessors." said Zane.

In a different part of the mindscape, there was a single room. It was a circular shape and looked to be apart of a stone castle at one point in time. This room looked to be extremely extravagant and has a huge chandelier above the room connected to the darkness. Just below the chandelier, there is a giant flame that made the one that they light at the Olympic games in comparison. In this room, there were six throne-like chairs with each chair looking different from the last. 

The one thing that all of these chairs have in common is that they all have a Roman numeral etched into them. One chair looked to be made out of black metal chains that have a dark indigo flame like outline to them. It has a azure blue leather seat. This chair has the Roman numeral for 1 aka I etched right into it. One chair looked to be made out of the four core elements of air, earth, water, and wind. Part of the chair had the element flying off it in the form of arrows.

Like the Roman I chair, it had an azure blue leather seat. This chair has the Roman numeral for 7 aka VII etched right into it. Another chair looked to be made out of white stone with it having two siren like creatures coming off the chair and producing sound waves that sound a melodious tune. It had a golden leather seat. This chair has the Roman numeral for 67 aka LXVII etched right into it. Compared to the other five chairs, this chair looks to be falling apart. 

Despite that, this chair looks to be more durable compared to the other chairs. This chair has a red leather seat. This chair has the Roman numeral for 82 aka LXXXII etched right into it. This chair looks to be made out of wooden with steam pipes protruding from it. Said chair is constantly producing steam from it. It was forming different shapes mainly axes and trains. It has a brown leather seat. This chair has the Roman numeral for 86 aka LXXXVI etched into it. 

Like the LXXXII, this chair seems to be different but looks to be fading in and out of existence. It's a dark blue color and has an dark purple seat. This chair has the Roman numeral for 95 aka XCV etched into it. The duo of Vito and Zane arrived with Zane looking around. "So this is where you and the not failures hang out? Not bad." said Zane. "Yeah. It's way better this way so how do you like the giant flame in the center?" said Vito.

Zane looked right at the flame with him saying,"Well, it's really hot. Rivaling my flames I produced whenever I'm really emotional and I'm feeling a sense of passion and power from it..". "Yeah. This is the symbol of you." said Vito. "Huh?" said Zane. "For each Zero, a symbol of them appear. Your spark or fire is something that doesn't go out easily and tends to be strong even when the enemy is stronger is most." said Vito. "So was it like this during that time?" said Zane.

Vito sighed as he said,"Not really from what I recalled. Don't worry. You're stronger than you were back then as you should during your fight with magma dome.". "Thanks Vito. So this is where the other Zeroes are? I mean I count six chairs and zero buts in them." said Zane. "Oh. They'll appear but only if you answer a question. Mind telling us who these chairs belong to?" said Vito. "Sure. Well, I know two of them pretty well. Zero #1 Ryoka Xasius and Zero #7 Vito Xasius." said Zane.

After saying that, Ryoka appear in the I chair and smiled. "A good start Zane but who do the other chairs belong to? Don't give him any hints Vito. We're here to test him." said Ryoka with her watching her descendant sit in the VII chair. "I wasn't. Have just a little faith in me. I only gave a hint to one of the Zeroes who managed to open the Omni-Door but I didn't say anything to the other three who made it here. I'm excluding you by the way." said Vito. "I just wanted to make sure." said Ryoka.

Before the two Zeroes could stop arguing, Zane stopped them. "Hey you two. Mind if I answer your question?" said Zane. "Sure. Go ahead." said the two. "I could be wrong about this since information on any Zeroes usually ends up with them dying by the Form Morpher. Hyde is an exception to that since he become a Phantom. So if I'm completely wrong about this, I really hope I don't get blasted by the Zero in question." said Zane. 

He pointed to the four empty chairs with him taking a deep breath. "The chair with the Roman numeral for 67 belongs to a Zero Shizuku Kishiro aka the White Siren, the chair with the Roman numeral for 82 belongs to a Zero Bryce Luspes aka Phorus, the chair with the Roman numeral for 86 belongs to the grandson of Abraham Lincoln who share the same name, and the chair with the Roman number for 95 belongs to Galen Ainsworth. Am I correct?" said Zane. "Correct." said Vito with a smile.

After saying that, Crisis Judgement went off as four powerful sources of Impulse appeared. "Zane. Let me introduce you to the four Zeroes who also managed to open the Omni-Door right after myself and the idiot and once lived before you were even conceived." said Ryoka. In the LXVII chair, a woman appeared and she was sitting there with clear interest in her eyes. She looked to be the smallest one in the room with her being around 5 foot 5 and looked to be around the same age of Ryoka. 

Despite looking weaker than Ryoka, Zane could tell that she was strong and that due to him being able to sense a being's strength thanks to Impulse. She has a slender, curvaceous figure whose curves rival the adult Zara but loses in the end. Compared to the more sexy Ryoka, she looked to be more cute. She has long golden blond hair that goes down to her waist and her bangs look to cover one of her eyes at all times. She has wide golden almond shaped eyes. 

She wears a royal blue tank top that shows off her impressive sized breasts but it isn't too revealing. Her tank top has white straps. She wears orange-red pants and brown one inch sandals. She wears a purple sash around her waist. She wears a pair of royal blue wrist warmers that are secured to her arms by hands. This is Shizuku Kishiro aka the White Siren. "Come on Ryoka chan. Did you really have to phase it like that? Do you really want to scare the guy more than we all ready have?" said Shizuku. 

In the LXXXII chair, a man sat there. He was decked out in a suit of armor was sitting there and power seemingly radiated from his being. He looked to be a rather tall man ,being taller than the other Zeroes including Zane except for Abe, with him wearing armor that completely covers his body. Despite looking rather light, they weigh a great deal. His armor consist of brick red armored gauntlets, navy blue plates covering his chest, and shoulder pads. 

His gauntlets covers his entire arm with his gauntlets and shoulder pads being connected to each other by chainmail that leaves no part of his body exposed. He wears a Greek/samurai-style metal helmet that covers his face and has two beetle like horns protruding from it. This helmet masks his voice and makes it deeper than normal. This man is Bryce Luspes aka Phorus. Unlike Shizuku, he didn't say anything but just looked at Zane and all Zane can hear from him is his breathing.

In the LXXXVI chair, a man was sitting there and looked similar to the sixteen president of the United States Abe Lincoln but different. He looked to be the most physically largest and tallest Zero, easily standing two or more heads above Zane. He could easily rival Darin and Theron in terms of muscle tone. He has messy brown hair and dark green eyes. He has a strong looking chin-strap beard alongside protruding cheekbones. Due to his work out in the heat, he has a nice looking tan. 

He has a strong look of authority and power in his eyes. Most of his body is covered in a armor that doesn't look all too heavy. His head is covered by a large metal black stovepipe hat that has the extra benefit of protecting his forehead and sides of his head. His hat has two white stripes on it, forming an "X" shape. He wears a dark blue suit jacket with a red tie and black slacks. Under his jacket, he's wearing a white dress shirt. 

Despite looking to be made out of a softer material, it's made out of mesh armor. He wears black fingerless gloves. He wears brown boots. Most of his hair and his larger than normal ears is hidden under his large stovepipe hat. Due to his injuries he got from a fight he had with Xiadur when he was alive, his left arm is covered in a acid burn and primarily covered in bandages. His body is constantly producing white steam mainly from half of his left arm and right leg. 

It covered his body in an aura of it at all times. This man is Abraham Lincoln but not the one from the Prime Dimension. "Sorry to make you go through that 100 but we need to make sure you're ready for her." said Abraham. "Um. I think he likes to be called Zane Abe. He made that perfectly clear with the twins and the storyteller." said Shizuku. "I see. I guess I made a bad first impression on the latest Zero didn't I?" said Abe. "You didn't. Calm down." said Bryce. 

With a thumbs up, Vito said,"Oh wow. You got Bryce to talk on your first visit Zane. Way to go. It took me a while to get him to talk.". In the XCV chair, a man was sitting there. He has tousled dark lilac hair and sleepy yet narrow blue eyes that shine like the ocean. He has streaks of white in his hair and his bangs were covering his eyes. His eyes are lacking pupils and his face is lacking eyebrows. He looked to be in his early teens with him sticking out compared to the adults in the room. 

He looks to be about 5 foot 8 but Zane was sure not to take this guy lightly. Compared to the others in the room, he looked to be rather stressed out. Over his face, he has a crack like scar that starts from the right side of his forehead and goes down to the left side of his chin. It ignores his eyes. He has high cheekbones. He wears a gray blazer like jacket with a high collar that he uses to cover his mouth and nose. Under his jacket, he wears a long sleeved black mesh armor shirt. 

The man wears a pair of dark blue jeans that are held up with a large belt. His belt's buckle is in the shape of a hook. He wears a pair of brown cowboy boots with a black sole. His clothes hide it rather well but his chest, legs, and neck are covered in sports tape. This is Galen Ainsworth. "I wish we timed our meeting better but it seems that destiny does whatever it want regardless of what we want so why shouldn't we do the same?" said Galen. 

Zane shook his head as he said,"Despite it being really nice to me all of you, why did you show me those six alive? And who are you talking about? Is it Morana? I already met her just after I died which I'm sure all of you isn't fun.". "No. We aren't talking about Morana. We're talking about a different woman. We need to test you to see if you're ready." said Abe. "You may have to go into detail about that Abe." said Ryoka. 

Abe nodded as he said,"Yes. Prior to today, only the first and Vito were able to talk with you Zane. This is due to them being the first two Zeroes to break the Omni Door. All of us could have shown up to meet up but we didn't want to overwhelm you with meeting all of those who bear your power once before. I have to say that I'm impressed. In the short time you've been Zero, the power all of us share has grown immensely.".

Shizuku nodded as she said,"Yep! You're easily on Bryce's level when he was starting out and this was just before his disease acted up.". "Don't forget that this was before she met up with him and they.." said Galen, making kissing sounds. Shizuku giggled with Bryce glaring at her. "Quiet Siren. Let the man finish explaining before making pointless noise." said Bryce. Shizuku rolled her eyes with Vito looking at Galen sulking in his chair. "And he was forgotten yet again." thought Vito. 

Abe looked right at Zane with him saying,"Zane. I hope you didn't mind us coming to chat with you whenever we need to communicate.". "Um. It's no problem Abe but can I ask you something?" said Zane. "Yes. Go ahead." said Abe. "While I'm happy to have the grandson of my favorite United States president talking to me, why did you test me and who do you want me to meet?" said Zane. "Let me explain." said Bryce.

Zane looked to see the man standing in front of him and Crisis Judgement went off. "Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. In your fight with Basalt, you used Albion well. Good job." said Bryce, placing his hands on Zane's shoulders. "Um. Thanks." said Zane. "Sorry about Bryce Zane. He's not exactly the most social due to him having trouble controlling his powers. He couldn't touch anyone without them exploding and this is pretty sad since he's the strongest Zero." said Shizuku.

Bryce glared at her with her smiling. Within a second, she appeared in front of Bryce and began using his helmet as a drum. "So is this normal?" said Zane. "Yep. She loves to tease us in the Elite mainly Bryce in front of the new Zeroes who managed to destroy the Omni-Door." said Abe. "So it has been a very long time then. The last one who opened the door was Galen after all and that was over twenty years ago." said Zane. "Wait. Did you say my name?" said Galen.

Upon hearing her successor talk, Shizuku stopped her drumming session and sat on Bryce's shoulder. "I guess that's a big deal right?" said Zane. Galen leaped from his chair and smiled. "Of course! I've been constantly forgotten about by history and the other Zeroes includes my fellow Elites!" said Galen, with him looking right at the other five Zeroes. "Well can you blame us? Your total lack of a presence make it impossible even for us. Got to give Zane some credit right Bryce?" said Shizuku.

The armored Zero nodded his head and Ryoka shook her head. "You may have noticed by now Zane but all of in the Elite have a few things in common." said Ryoka. "The Elite. Abe mentioned that term before. So all of you are members of the Elite and being a member of the Elite means you broke the Omni-Door which isn't easy." said Zane. "Correct. One of the first things all seven of us have in common is that we managed to break/open the Omni-Door when we are alive." said Ryoka. 

Vito looked at Zane with him saying,"The second thing is that all of us at one point came in contact with the Form Morpher and lived to fight another day. To be perfect honest, me and Shizuku barely escaped from that bastard.". "So congrats on taking him down Zane. He isn't dead since well, Qlakriks are a real stubborn species." said Shizuku. "I would say that you're making this a big deal since well, I took him down rather easily." said Zane.

He remembered using Swamp Prime on the Qlakrik four years ago and clenched his fist. "I guess he got cocky and didn't expect me to be that much of a challenge since well, he did manage to kill ninety other Zeroes prior to me." said Zane. "Yep but I have a theory. You know that the Zeroes who died by jealous lovers. I'm pretty sure that the Form Morpher killed them as their jealous lover." said Galen. "Focus Galen. Save the conspiracy theories for a later date." said Byrce.

Galen sulked as Abe said,"Another thing we share in common is that becoming a Zero requires a special ability and without this special ability, you're doomed to die. No if, ands, or buts. This is just a guess here but Skull Plague must know this as well. Form Morpher specifically targeted any Zero who didn't have didn't have a special ability.". "I get what you're saying. So why did Form Morpher go after Zane then? He has a special ability after all." said Shizuku. 

Galen looked at her with him saying,"We know about that now but four years ago, the Omni-Door for Zane hadn't been broken or opened yet. Skull Plague must have been worried about the potential Zane has inside of him so he send Form Morpher to end him but the Qlakrik failed and Zane has grown much stronger. Back then, he only had the strong determination to be Zero and a lot to protect. I doubt a simple assassin could kill Zane.".

Zane nodded as he said,"Oh. That makes sense I guess. I guess you were always the best at seeing what normal beings would miss detective.". "Yep. When I was alive, I always made sure to find the clue or connection that everyone overlooks." said Galen. "So since we got that out of the way, what do you mean by a special ability? I got a good idea what you guys are talking about but I need to confirm what it is first." said Zane. 

Abe looked at Zane with him saying,"To put it simply, a special ability is something that makes you stick out from the crowd. For example, I generate an unhealthy amount of steam. Bryce was born with an above average amount of Impulse inside of him. It caused him to be unable to touch anyone without killing them. That armor that he wears is used to help him touch others and he wears it even in death, Galen is usually forgotten about but that's due to him lacking a presence which all beings have.". 

Shizuku nodded as she said,"As your friend Arya would say, he's a total NPC.". "I can also alter my body's density but no. Everyone in the Elite just reminds me how I'm forgettable. Just another cog in the machine." muttered a sulking Galen, looking away and crossing his arms. "I'm pretty sure that Galen is the Kevin of the group. Always the bunt of everyone's joke but we still like him. I just hope he knows that." thought Zane. 

Not hearing Zane's inner thought, Abe said,"As you're well aware, Ryoka's chains are quite infamous throughout the Omniverse, Shizuku is special due to her having an unnatural talent for understanding all forms of music and sound, and Vito has the ability to mimic all forms of Impulse.". "To explain what that means, I can mimic any form of Impulse I want since I'm good at understanding it. Not an expert on it but I'm well informed on it and I didn't even met the creator like you did Zane." said Vito.

He smiled as he said,"My mimicry won't be as strong as the original but well, I got a variety of tricks up my sleeve. We all have something that makes us special.". "Okay but I'm confused. I mean I'm able to do everything you guys can do can't I?" said Zane. "I can use a variation of Ryoka's chains, I'm pretty decent at music, sound, and stealth, I have a large amount of Impulse, and can use several different types of Impulse." said Zane. 

Bryce looked at Zane as he said with his arms crossed,"You're confused so let me explain.  As the hundredth Zero, you have the ability to use our special abilities but not to the same extent as us. I mean no offense by saying this but your chains are nothing compared to Ryoka's chains. They get the job done. Another reason for why the Form Morpher targets Zeros other than following his boss's order is because of the potential each Zero has inside of them.".

He eventually stood in front of Zane with him saying,"We gain the experiences, knowledge, and special abilities of the Zeroes before us, making each Zero stronger than the last.". "This doesn't count Ryoka right armor man? She was the first one sure but well, she's easily one of the strongest Zeroes ever to live." said Zane. "Uh huh. Even with all of my power, I couldn't defeat her. Perhaps you can but who knows?" said Bryce. 

Shizuku nodded as she said,"Armor boy is right but even with all of that experience and power, a lot of Zeroes have been corrupted by this power. Most of them have done some good with them yes but Form Morpher has killed more than his fair share of Zeroes who were corrupted by their power. Skull Plague is scared of the power you have so Zane. Tell me what your special ability is.". "Um. Let me think about it." said Zane, cupping his chin. 

Galen turned toward Shizuku as he said,"Even though he is an Eazairvian, I highly doubt you'll be able to figure it out right now. Meeting her helps the process.". "That's true but look at the kid Galen. He's totally trying to prove you wrong." said Shizuku. Ryoka looked right at Zane and she noticed the smoke coming out of his head and she shook her head in amusement. "Don't over think this Zane. From my observation of you, I have a guess on what your ability could be." said Ryoka.

Ryoka pointed to Zane with her saying,"Your body's ability to take in power is special honestly. No other Zeroes before you has this ability. As you are aware, all beings are born with a certain amount of Impulse inside of them. Some beings are born with a large amount of Impulse while others are born with none or an average amount. To some, this is how you determine if some is strong or weak. You're not supposed to gain any more Impulse inside of you unless you do specific training.".

Zane nodded as he said,"I get what you're saying. I can also survive having Animus and Nether inside of me. That must be connected to my special ability. So meeting this mysterious women will help me out right?". "Yep. Meeting her helps you awaken your destiny as a Zero especially to unsocial beings. Ain't I right Bryce?" said Shizuku. The armored Zero nodded with Vito looking at Zane. "Look Zane. You'll be meeting a woman by the name of Xiaoshi very soon so be nice to her okay?" said Vito.

The young Cross Species nodded as Vito said,"Trust me when I say this. You don't want to make her hate you. She will make your training even more painful than it already will be.". "Yep. Listen to number seven Zero. I didn't take his advice and regret it. She's a real monster." said Shizuku. "I would listen to his advice if I were you but even with that, my training was something I hated at first but grew to appreciate as time went on." said Galen. 

Vito smiled as he said,"The other reason we brought you here is simple in my opinion. Several beings in the Omniverse consider you to be the one to finally end Skull Plague but tell me something. Do you honestly think you can? That dream earlier was a simple test of your resolve. Like the rest of us in the Elite, you've suffered a great tragedy in order to gain your power. You also have a tendency to save everyone regardless if they are good or bad.".

Abe looked at his predecessor with him saying,"Of course he does Vito. It's because Zane is a hero and will save anyone especially those who are suffering because of that skull. I'm sure he's responsible for all of our deaths in some way. However, killing Skull Plague is another story.". "While most beings may kill another just for fun, profit, or whatever reason they may have. Killing Skull Plague is no way easy whatsoever. You have to have a strong enough will to achieve this." said Galen.

Ryoka clenched her fists as she said,"This isn't easy since you're being burden with the success and failures of the previous Zeroes but leaving Skull Plague alive for any longer will lead to your death. If you die, he'll become impossible to defeat due to him being the ultimate evil. No one will be able to stop him and the Apocageddon will happen. We're telling you this because you need to get this through your thick skull Zane. In the Omniverse, there are beings who can't be saved or redeemed.". 

She stared directly into Zane's eyes. "If they want or you can save that they need to be saved, I'm sure you can do it. I have no doubt. However to those who can't be saved or redeemed, do you think you'll able to kill them Zane? I want your serious answer. No jokes." said Ryoka. The room got intense after saying that with Zane staying silent. "Wow Ryoka. Way to bring the mood down." said Shizuku. "That's my ancestor for you. A total buzzkill even in death." said Vito.

Ryoka glared at the duo as Vito said,"Honestly, I really thought Bryce would be the one to bring the mood down. Guess I owe you a favor Galen and Shizuku.". "Once Zane is gone, I'll make both of them pay." thought the two insulted Zeroes with Abe sighing. "There was going to be a lot of destruction in the future. I can see it now. Thank the gods we don't have to clean up after here." thought Galen. Before Bryce and Ryoka could do anything, Zane got the group's attention by clapping. 

Zane looked at the six Zeroes with him saying,"Look Ryoka. I don't know if this is connected to my special ability or not but I've always been able to sense another being's emotions even when I'm really angry. When I first met my uncle in Blacktomb Detention Center, I could tell that Uncle Nate was being controlled by Skull Plague and needed to be saved. I swore to do just that and well, I did that by just punching him. Like my mom says, the best way to get through to someone is through force.". 

Ryoka looked at Zane with him saying,"Ever since I became a superhero, I've met and fought against a variety of beings. I would try to make them stop using my words but in the end, fighting them was the one way to each them. I don't know why we were destined to become Zeroes but I know my reason. I was given this power to save and if that requires me to kill Skull Plague, I'll do it no matter what. You all gave me the power to do this and I can't forget about all of the beings who put their trust in me.".

Zane clenched his fists as he said,"They all believe in me so I will kill Skull Plague no matter what. I won't let down anyone ever again so don't worry about me okay? I can handle whatever Skull Plague throws me and I will end this nightmare so that the Omniverse can become a much better place to live for all beings include the Qlakriks. That's my goal and I'll do anything in my power to achieve.". The trio of Abe, Bryce, and Ryoka looked at each other with Galen smiling.

He walked over to Shizuku and Vito who were crying. "Yep. I think it's official now. You better not let the six of us down since I'm quite thankful a being like you managed to become a Zero rather than someone like Hyde." said Galen. "Yes. I'm sorry for testing you like that Zane. Even after all of this time, I was still unsure about you. However, I'm sure you can do this." said Ryoka. "Yep. So I think you should reveal yourself now Bryce." said Abe. 

Zane blinked as he said,"Okay then. What do you mean by that?". "If you want to become the strongest Zero, you will need a strong support network. To some, a hero is someone who endures for the sake of others but who is there for them when they are in pain. While I may respect you for your drive to be a hero Zane, you should know that those who are driven by a goal or promise are the most stubborn and will take the most convincing." said Bryce.

The armored Zero looked at Zane, challenging him on the spot. "I remember meeting heroes before and never liked how they acted so cocky. They may talk big but when it comes to an actual combat with a villain, they chicken out. Time to see if you're the same as them. This is my personal test for you." said Bryce. He held out his right arm with bright red Impulse gathering in his palm and Zane got in a defensive stance instantly. 

Bryce's Impulse was reminding Zane of Basalt's Extinction Cannon and Supernova Bombardment Armor. Shizuku glared at Bryce who stayed quiet. "What are you doing Bryce?! Zane is our guest not our enemy! We also already tested him so stop it!" said Shizuku. She and Vito were about to stop him but Ryoka's chains stopped them. "Don't do anything stupid you two. You two know how this is how Bryce test others." said Ryoka. 

Galen nodded as he said,"Yeah. If Zane can't do anything about this, he won't be able to kill Skull Plague.". "Oh wow. You're being so cold Galen. Totally expect something like that from either Bryce or Ryoka but you. Colored me shocked." said Vito with Galen shrugging. "Yeah. I totally thought you would going to be a neutral like Abe usually is but nope, you're part of the cold blooded squad." said Shizuku. "Get ready. Die." said Bryce, launching a giant blast of Impulse. 

The blast went flying toward Zane who did nothing. "Come on. Do something." thought Bryce as the blast got closer toward Zane. "As a hero, you need two things. You need to do whatever it takes to save the day and having a unbreakable spirit that can't bend or break." said Zane. The blast connected with Zane, creating a massive explosion and it shook the entire mindscape due to the shockwaves it produced upon contact. 

Galen glared at Bryce with him saying,"You had to put that much Impulse into testing him didn't you Bryce? Jeez. Overkill much.". Bryce went onto his knees with bright red light coming out right of his armor. "If Zane could survive getting hitting by the Extinction Cannon like he did, he could survive this no problem. I have no doubt about this." said Bryce with him panting.  Galen looked around and saw that the area that they held their meetings had more cracks than it did before Bryce's attack.

There was also the heat from the explosion which melted the stone. "Did you really have to go that far though? Your attack can't be rapid fired like that since well, it's a dimension destroying attack. If you could, gods forbid how much destruction you could." said Galen with him shaking his head in disappointment. "True. I don't have the amount of Impulse as I did when I was alive but well, I'm sure he can handle it." said Bryce as his armor vanished. 

Under his armor, he looked to be a man with an muscular build. A noticeable thing about him is that parts of his tan skin missing. This was due to his body looking to be degrading away. He has unkempt red hair that goes down to his shoulders with two clumps of hair protruding up like horns. He has gray eyes and black sclera. He has thin eyebrows. He wears a navy blue loose fitting jacket over a white t-shirt, exposing a large scar. This scar is a result of a fight he had with another being when he was alive. 

He wear brown pants with gray boots and long orange sash wrapped around his waist. Alongside his degrading skin, his body was glowing bright red. "Oh wow. Even when you're nothing more than a spirit Bryce, your aura is blinding. Can you turn it down a bit?" said Shizuku with her hands over her eyes. "It would also make a weak being explode if I was angry and no I can't." said Bryce. "So where is Zane? He should have showed up by now. He's not weak like the other ninety three Zeroes." said Vito. 

The six looked toward the smoke cloud with it clearing up to show Zane standing there. The ground in front of Zane was completely destroyed and Zane held both hands held out in front of him. Both of his hands were bruised beyond belief and Bryce's attack was held in front of his bruised hands in the form of a Zenith Sphere. Vito looked at the sphere with him noticing that despite it being no bigger than a baseball, it had the destructive power of a nuke. 

Vito walked over to Zane with him saying,"Wow. You managed to block and condense an attack that look to be several thousand times stronger than your dimension's Chernobyl. I think it's a hundred thousand stronger. I'm right on my estimate right Bryce?". "You're correct. If I was still alive, that attack would have been at the bare minimum five hundred thousand times stronger than this Chernobyl. We didn't have it in my dimension so that must mean something." said Bryce. 

He slowly stood back up with him noticing the wounds around Zane's hands. All of his fingers and palm were broken. Bryce wasn't a doctor whatsoever but even he could tell that without Zane's impressive hyper regeneration, his hands wouldn't be able to be used for a few days. This would be the case in the real world but in the mindscape, Zane would be fine. "So why did you catch it? I'm sure that you could absorb my attack, growing stronger in the process." said Bryce. 

Zane looked at the glowing Zero with him shrugging. "I don't know why I did that exactly." said Zane with Bryce raising his eyebrow. "Oh. I know why now because well, I wanted to do this! Heavy Zenith Sphere!" said Zane, launching the sphere toward Bryce. The man blocked the attack but he was caught up in an explosion. The five other Zeroes jumped back, evading the explosion that rivaled the explosion from earlier.

Shizuku looked at Zane with her saying,"And why did you do that?! This place isn't exactly the most structurally sound as you can plainly see!". "Because I wanted to show him that I'm not going to hold back even against those I consider to be my friends." said Zane. The smoke cleared, revealing Bryce who stood there without a scratch. "Okay. You can leave." said Bryce. "Dam. Not even a scratch. I guess there is always someone stronger. Next time, you won't be so lucky. See you guys later." said Zane.

He vanished with Ryoka shaking her head. "You can remove the illusion now Bryce. I'm sure Zane respect you as a Zero. You didn't need to put a façade." said Ryoka. "What are you talking about?" said Shizuku. "Just look." said Abe. The sixty-seventh Zero looked at Bryce with the man going onto his knees and coughing up blood. "Holy crap. You were right Ryoka. Zane knocked down Bryce with his own Impulse! That's hilarious." said Shizuku. 

Bryce looked at the first Zero with him saying,"Yep. You were right. That Zenith Sphere of his is just like getting hitting by one of Xiaoshi's attacks when she's angry. Are we sure that they're not related at all?". "I'm unsure since Zane is the first member of the Alvarez family I've ever met. I'm also well aware of strong Zane really is. He has only grown in strength as time went on. He has easily surpassed all of us." said Ryoka. "Ain't that the truth?" said Bryce as Shizuku helped him back to his feet.

Vito nodded as he said,"You have known him the longest so that makes sense. Still can't believe he managed to knock you down to your feet and bring out your blood. You're the strongest Zero after all Bryce way more than Ryoka.". He was covered in Ryoka's chains and was slammed into the ground by them. "It was only a matter of time Vito and be mature you two." said Abe. "He had it coming and that didn't hurt." said Ryoka. 

Shizuku looked at the chained up Zero with her saying,"So are you going to free him?". "Nah. He can get out on his own. He wouldn't be a Elite if he couldn't." said Ryoka. "She's right Shizuku and well, I'll take my sweet time." said Vito. "Yeah. Bryce and Ryoka are often consider to be the strongest Zeroes ever but like with most things, they were eventually going to surpassed and Zane did that at least with Bryce by defeating him with his own attack. Surpassing Ryoka may took more work." said Galen.  

Zane woke up to see that he was actually on his bed this time around not back in Cypress Park but in his room on Midnight Bid. It looked just like his room but due to the room slightly moving, the Cross Species could tell that the plane was moving at a decent pace. Zane and the rest of Team Maelstrom were currently traveling to the Salaron Empire for a quick vacation and then right after, all of them are heading right toward Variatance for the wedding of Rachel and Zane.

Both the Salaron Empire and Variatance are just a part of the one thousand two hundred islands that make up the Ethereal Archipelago. Most of these islands don't have any form of life on it being that only twelve of these islands have any form of life on it. The Alliance tends to use this dimension as a training ground mainly for their more destructive members. After leaving the Prime Dimension, they arrived on the Universal Path and began traveling to the Sanguine Valley aka the inner ring of the Omniverse.

Their travel to the inner ring wasn't exactly smooth sailing mainly due to them passing by a clew of Trastry who were hungry for some travelers. However, these worms were destroyed before they even could get a bite. Allen, Danny, Efren, Kevin, and Leo had a competition between each other to see who could take down the most worms with Heidi, Jordan, and Sly questioning why the five were doing this since the Trastry aren't a species to be taken lightly. 

Lynx guessed that the reason for them doing this is because they're bored. After she said that, the trio agreed with her as Arya and Wolfram began counting down from five. When Wolfram said go, all of the Trastry were killed as Gwen stood there and smiled. She managed to kill all of the worms using her sword before anyone of the boys who could do anything much to the shock of the others. She mentioned that she had been working on a couple new spells and this contest helped her greatly improve.

Rachel and Zane were unaware of this competition due to Zane helping her training and their training was mainly focused on bringing out that power she used against Basalt and Nemesis during the War of Galnatilia the other day. According to Marian, Rachel's emotions are the key to draw out that power she used against those two and she need a cool name for it. Zane offered her a couple of names with all of them getting rejected much to his dismay.

Back in the captain quarters, Zane sat up and stretched. "At least this time, I'm back in reality. We should be getting close to the Salaron Empire." said Zane. He looked around to see that his usual sleeping buddies aka Rachel and Wolfram wasn't resting on him. "So how long have I been asleep? It must be morning or mid day." said Zane. He looked over at his nightstand, picked up his phone, and saw a message. "Oh wow. Things are getting interesting." said Zane. 

In the Midnight Bird's cockpit, Kevin was looking at the Omniverse. "I know that we've been here for a week but it totally feels like a month right?" said Kevin. He turned his head to see Heidi sitting nearby him. "I guess so." said Heidi, pretending to pay attention since she was currently reading a book she got from a book store prior to coming on this trip with her friends. Both her and Kevin were in the cockpit alone together since the others were off doing something else. 

Before they left Cypress Park, Zane added some necessities to the Midnight Bird. This came in the form of a dining room/kitchen, dojo/training room which was similar to the Pit, infirmary in case someone got injured, laboratory/workshop mainly for Arya to tinker with some new inventions she had in mind for herself and her teammates, and a library. There was already a place to sleep coming in the form of the cabins so that wasn't an issue. 

The trio of Gwen, Jordan, and Lynx were currently in the library. Efren, Leo, Sly, and Wolfram were in the cargo bay mainly to keep Efren company as he was working on the Vindicator which managed to get injured during Gwen's overkill attack on the Trastry the other day. The Sorceress did apologize for this with her saying that the attack she used on the worms earlier was still a work in process. Efren told her that it was okay since the attack she used was badass. 

From what Zane could tell, her attack had her take control of the surrounding Impulse five meters in all directions around her. Within her range, everything would be cut down by her sword after she swings the sword in any direction just a single time. The only thing Zane wondered is if her attack would effect allies but according to her, they would be okay. However inanimate objects such as the Vindicator are another story. 

In the training room, Rachel was there with Allen and Danny. Both of them were still recovering from the spar that the two had with Zane the other day. They were helping Rachel out while Zane was in his room ,which he shared with Rachel and Wolfram, sleeping. According to Zane last night at dinner, they are supposed to arrive in the Salaron Empire later today. They were supposed to arrive two days ago but there was an unplanned pitstop. 

This unplanned pitstop was mainly due to Allen and Danny wanting a spar with Zane. They would have fought on the Midnight Bird but due to how strong the Maelstrom Trinity are, they need to take it outside. It wasn't a suggestion but a demand since the War of Galnatilia was still fresh in everyone's mind. Allen and Danny wanted to get stronger mainly for beings like Basalt being out of there. After finding an island where there wasn't any sign of life for several, the spar began.

Flashback P.O.V.

Upon finding an isolated island, the Maelstrom Trinity jumped out of the Midnight Bird through its ramp. "You guys should be fine inside of the jet but just to be safe. Go about half a mile away. Things are about to get really explosive around here if you catch my drift." said Zane. "Yeah. That much is obvious Zane. Just be careful and don't go too overboard." said Sly. "No promises Sly since well, I'm sure neither Allen and Danny are going to hold back on me." said Zane with a smile.

The Maelstrom Trinity began walking toward the middle of the island with the Midnight Bird going a safe distance away. "So are you going to use Albion mate?" said Allen. "Nope. That ability is for beings who I would personally rank 11 or higher in the Pit." said Zane. "Darn. I was really hoping to see how I would stack up against it but I guess we'll have to wait." said Danny. "Yeah. I supposed you want to make sure Danny isn't too badly injured before the wedding huh." said Allen.

Zane nodded as they reached the middle of the island. There was nothing but an open savanna like area around the size of a Multi-purpose stadium. There were only a few trees spreading around the island and the trinity walked toward separate directions to make the fight more even. "So Allen. How come you two are so sure about me being the one who gets injured by our spar?" said Danny. "Well Danny, our leader doesn't hold back whenever we spar with each other normally." said Allen.

Danny nodded as he said,"So? What's your point?". "Even when all of three of us spar or whenever you and Zane spar with each other, he tends to make sure you're injured for at least three days. The recovery time may change thanks to the Gadget Glass but I'm sure Gwen doesn't like seeing you injured. None of us do in fact." said Allen. "Okay you guys. How about we just beginning the spar already? I don't think we don't want to make the others stir crazy." said Zane, cracking his knuckles.

With a kick to the ground, he turned into plasma aka Quark and he smiled. "Yeah. I think Kevin is the closest to that." said Allen. "I have to agree with you there." said Danny, covering his fists in azure blue energy upon them colliding into each other. "You two may be my friends but I won't be holding back on you okay? Electron Tempo!" said Zane with his electricity covering him in a second. After Zane activated the transformation, not one of the men seem to move for the next three minutes.

The air began blowing past and in due time, the sound of the ocean around them hit the island and the three of them disappeared. Above them, there was a Drake flying above them. "Hey. Where did they go?" said Efren's voice coming from the Drake. On the Midnight Bird, the rest of Team Maelstrom was watching the fight and the Drake was being used by Arya. "They're still there Efren but moving at an incredible speed that can't be tracked by the Drake's eyes." said Lynx.

She turned toward the newest member of Team Maelstrom whose laptop was displaying the sparring arena with her saying,"That's correct right?". "Yep! You got it a hundred percent right! I'm sure people with heightened vision could see it but well, the Drakes can't. Zane and I may need to give them an upgrade. The combination of me and him can make anything possible." said Arya. Not too long after she said that, Allen reappeared and went rushing toward Zane. 

His right leg was glowing brightly as he struck Zane's left arm. Upon Allen's leg connected with Zane's arm, Danny reappeared with him striking Zane's right leg using his Phantom Smashers at the exact same time. Both of their attacks were powerful enough to cause an immense shockwave that covered the entire island with Zane at the center of it. Zane blinked with him smiling. "Not bad you two but I'm just getting warmed up." thought Zane.

The Cross Species turned into electricity with both Allen and Danny looking for their leader. Before the two could do anything, Zane reappeared and slammed his tail into the two. This pushed both of them back with them seeing Zane's hands in a gun like position. His index and middle finger pointed forward toward them. "Thunder Emperor Spiral!" said Zane, making two large rockets of thunder appear at his sides and were tossed toward the two.

Both Allen and Danny each dodged one of the missiles with the ground below the two missiles turned into a crater. "So now they are tied." said Kevin. "What do you mean by that Kevin?" said Heidi. "Oh. I guess neither Allen or Danny told you but they wanted me to keep track on who lands the most hits on Zane between the two. The one who manages to score the most hits gets to request one thing from the loser." said Kevin. "And if they tie?" said Gwen.

Kevin looked at her as he said,"If that does happen, they have to suffer another spar against her. I have video and written evidence so they can't back out of this.". Upon hearing that, Efren and Leo visibly shuddered. "Why would Allen and Danny agreed to that? Big brother is a sadist but big sister. She's a demon." said Leo. "No offense Rae but Zara makes you a angel. She's a real devil." said Efren. "Yeah but she's sexy right?" said Rachel. "Yeah but she's all yours." said Efren.

Jordan shook her head as she turned back to the screen and saw Zane with his left fist covered in Vulcan Emperor's scales with him charging toward Allen. "Sweet Smack!" said Zane. "Plasmic Strike!" said Allen as his leg connected with Zane's enlarged hand. This created another shockwave with several trees being ripped out of the ground and flew away. "So I got to ask. Do you think any of the trees hit any fish?" said Wolfram. "Probably not since beside us, there is no life here whatsoever." said Sly.

Allen reappeared right behind Zane who was dodging Danny's Sonic Disruptors with his ears covered by several copies of his hands. The plasma being was pretty sure that even with his ears covered, Zane could still hear it thanks to his hyper hearing. He rushed toward Zane, planning to get in a sneak attack and seem to have forgotten about Crisis Judgement. "Sorry Allen but that won't work. Great White Rocket." said Zane.

From his back, a copy of his legs emerged and enlarged themselves. The feet slammed into Allen's chest and stomach with it creating a powerful shockwave that sent the Brit flying in the air. "Ouch. That looked painful. Allen may be made out of plasma right now but Zane's hits will always hurt." said Gwen. "Yeah. Getting hit by an enlarged appendage will always hurt especially from the Captain." said Efren. "You sound so sure about that. I bet you're speaking from experience aren't you?" said Lynx. 

Efren smiled with him saying,"Yep! I'm the being whose gotten hit the most by Zane and the rest of Team Maelstrom the most.". "And why are you proud of that exactly?" said Jordan. "No real reason. I just think it's pretty cool." said Efren. "You're a weird being Efren." said Sly. "But that's what While Zane was busy with Allen, he didn't forget about his brother who aimed his upgraded Spook Howitzer at Zane. "Supreme Luster!" said Danny, firing a giant azure blue energy beam at Zane who smiled.

Upon seeing the smile, Danny rushed toward Zane and the beam eventually hit Zane who vanished. In a split second, Danny noticed Zane's electricity appearing and made his Combat Arms appear. He made a missile launcher appear from his shoulders, firing a barrage of azure blue energy bullets toward Zane who dodged them. He didn't forget about Allen, sending a few energy flying toward Allen. "Plasmic Shower!" said Allen, releasing several plasma balls toward the other two beings.

They clashed with Danny's energy, creating an explosion and Zane was forced to jump back from the unplanned combination attack. He got caught up in one of them with him vanished and reappeared behind both of his friends. "So two things. Who gets the hit on Zane? And can Electron Tempo duplicate himself?" said Jordan. "I'm going to give it to both of them since it was their combination that managed to give them their second hit on Zane." said Kevin.

Leo nodded as he said,"Yeah. Even though Allen and Danny are both incredibly fast and strong, Zane fighting seriously makes it impossible for getting any hits.". "What about the other question? You ignored it Kevin." said Wolfram, tilting his head. "I think he used Zenith Duplication. Not a hundred percent sure but at least eighty percent." said Rachel with her eyes currently glowing a beautiful scarlet color. "Rae! Your eyes are glowing red! It's so pretty and like your eyes turned into Ardor." said Arya.

Gwen looked at her best friend with her saying,"Let me guess. Your eyes changing color is a result of your private training with Zane and I don't mean that Efren.". "I think so. We're still trying to figure out and even with the help of Bridgette and my mom, we're still trying to figure it out." said Rachel as her eyes changed back to normal. "Sweet Shocking Onslaught!" said Zane, twisting both of his arms and stretching them behind him.

Both arms were sent flying toward both Allen and Danny, delivering a fast and close ranged punch into them. He left behind a knuckle shaped imprint onto Allen's back and Danny's shoulder respectively. The two were unable to move thanks to the static electricity covering both of them. Danny recovered faster than Allen with him making his Alchemize Sword appear. He twisted the handle of the sword and made a noticeable engine sound.

He swung his sword with a great deal of force, cutting the air itself thanks to a crescent shaped energy slash. Zane blocked the energy slash and tossed it toward the ground. It cut through the ground before dissipating upon contact. "Okay. That slash wasn't bad. It reminds me of one of Gwen and Theron's attacks. I just find it impressive how Danny was able to rival one of their attacks despite not being a swordsman himself." thought Zane.

Crisis Judgement went off as Zane looked up to see Danny charging toward him. His eyes were glowing red and Zane was pretty sure about what he just did. He deactivated Electron Tempo with him turning his left arm into its liquid state and began shaping it into a massive drill, being twice his size. "Vulcan Drill." said Zane as the drill was covered in Vulcan Emperor's scales. He launched it toward Danny with Danny smiling. 

He made his Phantom Smashers appeared with him catching the drill and there was a fiery explosion that caused the waves around them to split apart. While Danny was keeping the massive drill back, the third fighter flew above them. As he flew into the air, several plasma spheres flew around him and looked down. "Plasmic Shower!" said Allen, launching the spheres toward Danny and Zane. Danny jumped back to evade Allen's attack but Zane's drill hit his stomach.

Even though he was pretty durable, Zane's hit still hurt. Danny and Zane turned toward Allen with each one of them getting ready to strike the plasma being. "Supreme Luster!" said Danny with him aiming his left hand toward Allen. As the azure blue energy focused into his arm, Zane took a deep breath and he made a Zenith Spear over his right arm. The lightning that covered his arm began to make the air around Zane vibrate and ripple. "Distortion Zenith Spear." said Zane.

The Impulse around Zane's right fingers began more intense and volatile compared to the electricity that covered his arm. Before Zane could do anything, Danny fired a dense beam of swirling azure blue energy that caused Allen to just barely dodge it. Due to him being distracted by Danny's attack, he was struck with the spear from Zane on the ground below. He was sent flying back onto the ground with him slowly getting back up. 

Both Allen and Danny knew that they could keep going but the others would mind greatly if the three of them alone destroyed part of the Ethereal Archipelago in their spar. So there was only one thing that the two of them could do. Allen flew into the air with Danny activating his Wraith Armor. Sensing that his two friends were prepared for a finishing move, Zane decided to do the same in order to honor their growth.

In the past four years, Allen and Danny have grown stronger in order to protect their friends. Zane made Lazarus Soul appear and was focused on both men. "Dragon Yell." said Zane as his blade was held horizontally. Impulse was getting focused into the blade and this resulted in the blade getting slowly covered in Vulcan Emperor's scales. Upon Zane removed his sword's sheath, black ,with a crimson red outline, lightning came out of the blade.

There was also a purple aura around his blade. "Supreme Meteor!" said Danny with him making his arms into the Upgraded Phantom Smashers except several times bigger. They both glowed brightly with them looking like two miniature Earths. "Radioactive Discharge!" said Allen with him making his legs glow brighter. The sky was glowing both blue and purple with it being noticeable. "Holy crap! My eyes are on fire!" said Efren with him being on the ground.

Upon seeing this, Wolfram tilting his head. "So is he being overdramatic or is he actually in pain?" said Wolfram. "A little bit of column A and a little bit of column B. If you haven't noticed, Efren isn't exactly the most sane being around." said Sly. "So do you think we should be worried? All three are emitting a huge and dangerous amount of Impulse." said Leo. "Don't worry Leo. I'm sure Zane and the other two won't destroy the entire dimension." said Arya.

She crossed her arms with her saying,"But the island. That's another story.". "We should probably get ready to go catch them just in case." said Jordan. "Yep. Good idea." said Heidi. "I hope you two are ready because I figured out your Fatal Flaw!" said Zane. "Bring it on Zane!" yelled Allen and Danny at the same time. Zane swung his sword twice with each highly-pressurized crescent shaped blade ,made of Impulse, flew toward both Allen and Danny.

Allen slammed both of his legs into his blade and Danny did something similar to Allen except he slammed both of his fists into his blade. When the attacks connected, there was an immense shockwave with the island being completely destroyed. The ocean blow and sky alive was completely split in half with the sound of an explosion being heard all over the Ethereal Archipelago. It confused most of the dimension and wondered what was going on. 

Even though Allen and Danny were stronger than your average being, both of them were sent flying though the sky in opposite directions. Zane ,on the other hand, was standing on a piece of land that managed to survive their clash. "Good job you two." said Zane with a smile on his face. "So who is going to get who?" said Rachel. "I'll get Danny." said Gwen. "Of course you would since you....." said Efren with him getting suckered punch by Heidi. "Just don't Efren. I'll go get Allen." said Sly.

After twenties minutes of looking for and retrieving Allen and Danny, both of them were tired and ready to collapse. Both Allen and Danny were high on adrenaline and were ready for round two. "Okay. You two really have improved. Color me impressed." said Zane, leaning against the Vindicator with him looking perfectly fine. "I really hate how you're not exhausted but I guess your infinite stamina is just a benefit huh Rae." said Allen.

Rachel shrugged as she said,"Yeah. He's real amazing especially when we...". Her mouth was covered by Jordan with her saying,"I know you two are excited about finally tying the knot but keep your private time a secret.". "I just hope you didn't get Allen or Danny killed Zane. Going overboard in a simple spar isn't the smartest thing to do." said Lynx. "Hey. It wasn't my fault. Both of them weren't holding back so I should do the same plus they aren't slouches. Have faith in those two." said Zane.             

Narrator P.O.V.

After Allen and Danny calmed down, Arya and Kevin began to figure out who managed to score the most hits on Zane. To raise the number just a bit, they included if either one of them managed to hit or deflect anyone of Zane's attacks. If they got hit by one of Zane's attacks while hitting or deflect their leader's attack, they would lose a point. Both of them tied since Danny got hit with Zane's Vulcan Drill and both of them were scared about fighting with Zara.

Do note that it wasn't because Zara fought that much differently compared to Zane but the fact that she was constantly using her feminine wiles to distract them wasn't helping. Gwen wasn't happy about that but even she couldn't deny that Zara was capable of making straight women swung for the other time if the Cross Species was completely focused on them. Much to their joy, they were told to help Rachel train her new powers instead of Zara appearing. 

In the cockpit, Heidi and Kevin were sitting there in silence. "I know that I told everyone that I was going to make a move on him but it isn't that easy. How did Rae do this with Zane so easily?" thought Heidi. It was obvious to everyone in their friend group that Heidi liked Kevin mainly after seeing the good in him during the whole Daemon thing. Like most people, Heidi didn't like Kevin at first mainly due to his awful personality especially during high school.

His more awful traits were most evident whenever he managed to gain power aka the time he got the powers of a Phantom thanks to one of Iris's wishes and control reality itself thanks to the Sapphire Staff that once belonged to his ancestor. Shortly after that, Kevin managed to change for the better and it only took a Phantom taking over his home for that change to happen. In his junior and senior year of high school, Kevin managed to become popular.

Kevin's popularity at Cypress Park wasn't on the same level as Allen, Brad, Danny, or Zane but he was well known especially among the girls. He had a small fan club mainly consisting of Freshmen and Sophomores. There were a couple of Juniors and Seniors but they were still familiar with the old Kevin who try to make any attractive girl into part of his harem. Any girl he considered ugly was put to work building his empire alongside the males.

Among Kevin's fan girls, Heidi was one of the lucky ones since she was part of the student council with Zane who was one of Kevin's closest friends. She was able to become one of his friends and later became a member of Team Maelstrom which was an very exclusive club. They had more allies than they do members mainly thanks to Zane having the talent for forming unbreakable connections with others. "Hey Kevin." said Heidi, deciding to make a move.

Kevin turned toward her as he said,"Yes? Is something coming toward the plane?". "Nope. I wanted to ask you something." said Heidi. "Go ahead." said Kevin. "So what are you going to do once we arrive at the Salaron Empire?" said Heidi. "No idea yet. I know that I want to see what kind of technology they have there. According to Arya, the Salaron Empire is similar to Atlantis and I wonder if their society is powered by water instead of electricity." said Kevin.

Heidi looked at him as she said,"So is anyone going with you?". "I don't think so. I'm sure you girls are going to go shopping or something like that. The Omniverse is filled with several different styles of fashion." said Kevin. "Well, I know that Rae is and she's dragging along Arya thanks to Jordan and Sly helping her. Danny and Gwen are probably going on a date." said Heidi. "What about Lynx?" said Kevin. "I think she's going to hang out with Leo and Wolfram." said Heidi. 

Kevin nodded as he said,"Huh. Interesting.". "Please for the love of the gods. Get the hint." thought Heidi. "So do you want to go with me to explore the Salaron Empire? It'll be pretty boring so I can understand if you don't want to Heidi." said Kevin. "Sure!" said Heidi, standing up. "Cool. With you coming along, we'll have another person to help keep Efren under control." said Kevin. "Huh?" said Heidi. "Oh. Didn't I mentioned that Allen and Efren are going to join us?" said Kevin.

A few minutes later, all of Team Maelstrom was in the cockpit with Allen looking at Kevin who had a faint handprint over his face. "So let me get straight. You didn't mention to Heidi that we were going to join to you until the very end. Way to string her along mate. Truly a gentlemen." said Allen with his arms crossed. "At least she didn't use her staff on you Kevin. That will hurt much more than a paper fan would on you trust me." said Arya.

Kevin rolled his eyes as Efren placed his hands on Kevin's shoulders. "I'm not going to say that you're an idiot Kevin but well, you're not a genius when it comes to understand the hearts of a maiden." said Efren. "Like you're that much better!" said Kevin. "Both of you are idiots. So why did you call us here Zane? And for the love of the gods, please tell me it isn't because you want to show off your pipe and somehow giving us a variety of cancers." said Sly. 

In the captain seat, Zane was sitting there and he was currently smoking. from his kiseru pipe/tobacco pipe that he got from Eros on his twenty first birthday. Zane's pipe is similar to his flask in terms of its design. The stem of the pipe is a black color with the bowl, handle, and mouthpiece being made out of metal. The metal parts ,except for the handle, are a silver color with it having a beautiful and particular design to it. It's a gold dragon with a noticeable crown on its head. 

The handle is gold and has a similar design to the silver parts. He was currently holding it like a samurai would. "Don't worry about me ruining your lungs Sly. Belfrum is only for beings who have really strong senses like Eazairvians. It also helps me concentrate when I'm meditating and calm myself down after a scary nightmare. I want to practice working on some techniques that would be good for Brain Form and Smoke Form as well. I can honor my predecessor as well." said Zane, taking a deep breath.

He blew out a large puff of Byzantium purple smoke and Wolfram watched the smoke form into a thumbs up before vanishing. "It makes him look cool too. That's important right?" said Wolfram. "Yep but don't copy me Wolfram. Smoking isn't good for the lungs especially for beings whose lungs are their main super power." said Zane. "Except if those side effects don't effect right Zane? So why are you holding it like a samurai instead of a detective? And who is Abe?" said Lynx. 

Zane smiled as he said,"I'm thankful you asked Lynx. Abe or Abraham Lincoln the third was the eighty sixth Zero and was from a different dimension where.....". Before Zane could start rambling, Rachel stopped him with her flicking him in the forehead. "Don't ramble Dummy. Sly has a point. Why did you call us here exactly?" said Rachel. "I should probably tell you that we've been invited to play a game of Domination. I said yes. Oh wow. This stuff is really good Eros. He really know your stuff." said Zane.

He blew out another puff of smoke out of his pipe. "You did what?! Are you freaking insane?!" said the group of Allen, Danny, Gwen, Heidi, Jordan, Kevin, Leo, Rachel, and Sly in unison. "So what are they freaking about exactly?" said Lynx with Efren shrugging. "No clue. Do you know little buddy?" said Efren. "I do and well, I'm still mad that I didn't get play last time. This time will be different right Zane?" said Wolfram with Zane nodding.

Arya pushed up her glasses as she said,"To summarize what's going on, Domination is a game that's played all over the Omniverse and usually done between four teams of thirteen players but can be played with two teams. Team Maelstrom played a game with the Salamander Clan four years ago with our team being down Wolfram and Zane due to them being Phantoms.". "Oh right. I remember hearing about that. That was when you kicked that chicken gecko's but right captain?" said Efren.

Zane nodded as he said with him making a puff of smoke that formed a scared looking Blaze,"That I did Efren and I gave him a fear of little old me. Pretty proud of that to be honest.". "So what went through your mind to accept another one? I'm sure you're well aware of what happened to us last time we played that game." said Gwen. "He probably wasn't." said Jordan. "Harsh words Jordan. This time it's going to be different. Wolfram is allowed to play plus you have Efren and Lynx." said Zane.

Danny looked at Zane with him saying,"Wait a second. What about you and Arya? You didn't mention her.". "That's because this game of Domination is a battle royal featuring some of the more promising rookies of the Alliance. I think it goes by another name when the Alliance plays it and going up the ranks in the Alliance. That's you guys by the way since well, all of you are Knights Fourth Class while I'm a Shogun and Arya is a Commander Third Class." said Zane. "Huh?" said Heidi. 

Arya's eyes widened as she said,"Wait. There is going to be another Armistice Festival?! I thought it was done every two years. It's supposed to later this year but in the Spring? That never happens except on rare exception.". "You're right but according to the text I got earlier today, the queen aka Michelle's mom wants to have one. The Alliance asked some of the Commanders and two of the five current Shoguns if they got some beings to show off and well, I really want to show you guys off." said Zane.

Jordan crossed her arms as she said,"We're not piece of meats Zane.". "Of course you're not Jordan but well, you guys should be given ranks fitting your power rather. Not a single one of you are in no way faceless grunts." said Zane with him smoking. "So what's an Armistice Festival and how is it different compared to Domination?" said Leo. "And what do you mean by ranks? I know that the Alliance ranks its members with you being the second highest and Arya the third highest." said Allen.

Zane looked at Arya with him saying,"How about you explain it Arya?". "Sure. To put it simply, the Armistice Festival is your typical tournament arc. Unlike Domination which is way more of a devil's game compared to AF, cheating and killing your fellow Alliance member is heavily discouraged." said Arya. "So the Armistice Festival won't have one of us getting taken away from a member of royality right Zane? I really don't want to lose a friend just to rise up in the Alliance." said Sly. 

The Cross Species nodded as he said,"Nope. The Armistice Festival's primary purpose is to rise up the ranks of the Alliance without doing a whole lot of work and in no way for obtaining brides/husbands. I think Rico and Theron told me that during my training so it stuck with me.". He released some smoke out from his pipe and the smoke began to transform into a chart. Five words managed to stick out with it being the words Archduke/Archduchess, Commander, Knight, Lieutenant, and Shogun. 

Next to the words Archduke/Archduchess, Commander, and Knight, there was a gold four sided star symbol. "So all of this is made out of smoke?" said Gwen, looking at the chart. Wolfram touched it with his paw and he barked. "So it is made out of smoke. Good to know." said Danny with the dog smiling brightly. "Yep. Impressed? I may not be the best at manipulating smoke among the Zeros but I'm pretty decent if you ask me." said Zane. "So what's with the stars? They're important right?" said Lynx. 

Zane nodded as he said,"The star means that the rank of Archduke/Archduchess, Commander, and Knight are divided into four different groups. It goes from fourth to first class.". "Yep. Even though I may have one of the highest ranks in the Alliance aka Commander, I technically have the fifth highest rank. Jealous? I got there within a year of helping Zane on his pursuit of justice." said Arya. "Just a little." said Leo with Wolfram nodding. "So where are we? I bet we're pretty high up." said Jordan. 

The Cross Species looked at her as he said,"Not exactly. Every new member of the Alliance that joins up is given the illustrious title of Knight Fourth Class aka the lowest class. You're basically the grunts they sent into battle only to die.". "You can't be serious." said Kevin. "He is for once and unlike you, he knows how to read the room. I mean seriously. A real man doesn't string along a lady." said Arya. Kevin sulked with Heidi feeling a little bad for him.

Just a little though since she didn't like being strung along. "Even though Kevin bashing is fun, let me explain something. The most basic way to rise up the ranks is by working really hard in protecting the Omniverse. You then need to have the two lieutenants eventually seeing your hard work and giving you a rank fitting your hard work. However using this method, most members never really leave the rank of Archduke/Archduchess before they die or get old." said Zane. 

Heidi nodded as she said,"So how did you managed to get Shogun? From what you just said, it seems impossible for a normal being to move up the ranks.".  "There is another method to rise up the ranks and this method is managing to take down extremely high threats. In the short time of six years of being with the group, I managed to do just that. Within my first three years of being an Alliance member, I took down the corrupt warden of the Alliance's main prison and defeated the Form Morpher." said Zane.

The Cross Species began to smoke with him saying while releasing a puff of smoke,"Even though I managed to achieve a lot of good for the Omniverse, some believe that I don't deserve the title of Shogun.".  "Zane. I'm pretty sure that the only being who I know thinks that is the howler monkey. She is just jelly of you being a success and blames you for ruining her rise to the top even though it wasn't your fault. You also ruined his success too but that douche nozzle totally had it coming." said Ayra. 

Zane shrugged as he said,"That's true but personally, I rather be a Commander. Way less responsibility but being called a Shogun is pretty cool. Good with the bad I'm guess.". "So I got to ask. Is defeating Form Morpher that big of a deal? I mean he's just a Qlakrik right?" said Efren. "You do know that he managed to kill ninety Zeroes quite easily, he also tried to kill our friends in an attempt to kill Zane, and he was also involved in creating her." said Rachel. 

Efren blinked with him saying,"Oh wow. If I see that guy, I'm going to beat the crap out of him. He's partially responsible for creating a monster who managed to hurt the Captain and no one gets away with that.". "Efren. Thanks for always being loyal to me but honestly, I need you to know that I'll get my own revenge on him and Xona." said Zane. Shortly after recovering from the Massacre before physically and mentally, Parker told Zane about how Kilene was created.

It was the combination of Jessica awakening her latent Eazairvian gene alongside Form Morpher and Xona manipulating her. "I know that me taking Form Morpher may not seem like a big deal since most Zeroes excluding myself and six others sucked but Form Morpher was an assassin for the Odium Society. who killed countless. Both good and bad beings died by his hands. With his ability to shapeshift into pretty much anything, he was almost impossible to track by normal means." said Zane. 

Allen nodded as he said,"So even though I love learning about how you're going to get your revenge on both Form Morpher and Xona in times, mind going into more detail about the Armistice Festival? I'm curious how it can help us rise up the ranks.". "I thought you of all beings wouldn't care about ranks Allen." said Rachel. "I don't but I rather not be seen as a grunt plus this seems like a lot of fun. Way better than seeing the technology of the Salaron Empire." said Allen.

He turned toward Kevin with him saying,"No offense by the way mate.". "It's fine." said Kevin. "Sure Allen. The Armistice Festival is normally held once every two years around the summer time. However if a member of royalty wants to host one in their kingdom or whenever the higher ups feels like, they can do so only if we are in times of peace which is the case now. It's one of the best opportunity for members of the Alliance to showcase what they can in order to rise up the ranks." said Zane.

Zane pointed to the chart with Arya saying,"Anyone who is ranked Knight Fourth Class up to the rank of Archduke/Archduchess First Class can enter regardless if you've been with the Alliance for a few years or not one.". "According to Lucas, it's main purpose is to show off the best of what the Alliance has to offer to possible clients who are interested in the Alliance. There is also a whole lot of gambling involved." said Arya. "I'm sorry but did you say gambling?" said Jordan. 

That stuck out the most since to her, it sound like the Olympics except with superpowers. "Yep. The Armistice Festival usually has beings from around the Omniverse tuning in and betting on promising Alliance members. It usually brings in a whole lot of money for the Alliance since a good forty percent of all bets goes to fund the Alliance. If you don't give at max forty percent of your total earnings to the Alliance, you are no longer able to bet during any Armistice Festival." said Zane.

Arya smiled as she said while pushing up her glasses,"Aka cleaning up any messes that Darin and Theron makes. I looked at the Alliance record books and most of the Alliance's budget is dedicated to clean up duty.". "So since you signed us up for this without our permission, mind telling us what is the festival like?" said Gwen. "Let me see. You know the Olympics? It's like that except the events that take place and how each member of the Alliance is judged are different with each festival." said Zane.

After say that, Zane got a lot of head nods. "They do this in order to keep you rookies on your toes and show that it's better to be well versed in a lot of things rather than just focusing on one thing. Keep your options open and varied." said Zane. "I guess that make sense. So do you have any idea what this festival could be this time around? " said Kevin. "Should you really be asking that? I thought the point of the festival was to be ready for anything the Omniverse brings." said Lynx.

Kevin shrugged as he said,"That may true Lynx but who says that the others aren't doing the exact same thing? We're only making things fair and I rather not go into something blind.". "You do have a point there Kevin but most people don't have living encyclopedias for friends." said Sly with her pointing to Arya and Zane. "True but they have access to the Alliance database engrained into their heads." said Kevin. "Yep. I sure do." said Arya.  

Before Kevin and Sly could argue, Zane stopped them. "You guys. It's fine. Arya and I can tell you this and not even our information will guarantee you victory in the Armistice Festival. Let me see. From what I research about previous festivals a couple of years ago, it could either playing a variety of games which is my favorite type of festivals or the typical affair." said Zane. "It's probably the typical affair Zane." said Arya. 

Gwen looked at the two as she said,"Typical affair?". "Let me see. There is the preliminary elimination round in the form of an exam testing an Alliance's members knowledge about a variety of topics or ability to obtain information from an enemy. It can also come in the form of a obstacle course mainly to see how is the fastest and strongest." said Zane. "So what's next? This actually sounds like a lot of fun and a good chance to show off how strong I've gotten." said Rachel. 

She made a ball of Ardor appear with her saying,"If someone like Blaze shows up, I can show them that I'm not some damsel in distress.". "Okay then Rae. I'm pretty sure you'll get a chance to show off how strong girl or devil power is when the festival begins. The second round is always some kind of survival game." said Arya. "Survival game?" said Leo, gulping loudly. "Don't worry little buddy. I got your back since we are a team." said Efren. 

Wolfram barked as Sly said,"So mind explain what a survival game is?". "Sure. All of you will be assigned teams to compete against each other. It could be obtain a certain item for another team or play a game of cops and robbers also known as tag. The third and my personal favorite round are the one on one matches." said Zane. "That's the round that most beings tune in for since violence and sex appeal brings in the money." said Arya.

She looked at Gwen, Heidi, Jordan, Lynx, Rachel, and Sly with her smiling. "And with our team, we'll bring in tons of cash since all of the girls are curvy." said Arya. "I totally agree with you on that except for one thing. Sly is no way curvy like the others especially Zara." said Efren. In a split second, Efren was on the ground with him covered in fist shaped bruises. "You're an idiot man. Those kind of thoughts should be kept to yourself." said Kevin. "Worth it." groaned Efren with Sky kicking him. 

Wolfram was confused about what just happened since he isn't the brightest dog on. He's loyal but not very smart. "From what I know about the Armistice Festival, they really like to see a lot of Alliance members go up the ranks so it isn't your typical tournament where it is single elimination. It's more like a double elimination style tournament since there are more than double the amount of matches in a single elimination style tournament." said Zane. "Isn't that a good thing?" said Heidi.

Zane nodded as he said,"Yes but with more matches, the fighters will eventually get tired with each fight they compete in. By the time that the finals begin, they'll be too tired to put on their best showing for those watching. They also make the tournament longer since an average Armistice Festival is about a week longer.". "An entire week." said Leo. "Yeah but don't worry Leo. There is a two day break between the first two events and the battle round." said Zane.

Sly crossed her arms as she said,"So I'm going to guess that the first and second round are the first and second day of the Armistice Festival.". "Yep. You got it. Unlike Zane, I like how the Armistice Festival set up. Even if a player loses their first match, they have another chance in the losers bracket." said Arya. "So everyone has more than one changes to impress the judges? I really don't see a problem with that." said Jordan.

Zane shrugged as he said,"Yeah. That may just be a me thing but the Alliance likes to see its members advance and it's rare to not see a member advance especially if they make to the finals. It gives those who get a bad match up or something else another chance to shine. It is make sure that each member of the Alliance who makes it that far a chance to show off more. I just like to see an Alliance member have only a single change to prove their worth rather than multiple.".

He began rambling with Arya looking at Rachel. "So do you mind stopping him Rae? He's going to be like this for a while." said Arya. "You got it. I always enjoy kissing my man." said Rachel, kissing Zane with the two getting into it. "So is there anything else you have to tell us Arya? Those two are going to be a while." said Danny being well aware of how long those two can kiss for. From what Danny knew about them, their record was ten minutes but it has been broken. 

Arya shrugged as she said,"Not much really. We really told you everything that's well known about the Armistice Festival. There are some little things but I doubt they'll matter. I guess there is one thing I should tell all of you. There is a very small if not ultra rare chance of an Alliance member getting promoted even if they don't make it to the third round or a being who made it to the final round not getting promoted.". "What do you mean by that?" said Heidi. 

The glasses wearing girl smiled as she said,"What I mean by that is there is a very slim chance of an Alliance member getting promoted if they do really well in the first two rounds of the festival mainly if they attract the attention of the judges. I think that has only happened once in the history of the Alliance and you know who that member was?". Without a moment hesitation, the group all pointed at Zane who was still kissing Rachel and didn't look to be stopping any time soon.

Arya pouted with her saying,"No! Not him! Zane has never compete in an Armistice Festival before! He wasn't able to do since he was given the title of Shogun after all he's done in the past couple of years and far before spending that year with the Alliance! It was my mom!". "Oh. That's real cool Arya." said Efren with him nodding. "Yeah. You must be pretty proud of her." said Kevin with Wolfram nodding. Shortly after Arya joined the group, Zane explained Arya's backstory to the others.

This was mainly to make sure a certain trio didn't say anything stupid. Can you guess who this trio of idiots are? "Of course I am. I'll make her proud and being a member of Team Maelstrom is how I'm going to do it." said Arya. "You will for sure Arya since we got your back. So what about that other impossibility?" said Danny. "Oh. You mean that it's possible not to get a promotion even if you make it to the final round. Oh. That happened rather recently." said Arya.

She cupped her chin as she said,"It was held in Ezlario and just before Zane left. It was to honor Zane who managed to do a lot of good within a year. To mention just a few things he managed to do, he took down the Dimension Wrecker, Salvation, and Vision Enterprise. He did a lot of little things too but the three events I mentioned earlier are his biggest achievements.". "I see. So this Armistice Festival was special right?" said Gwen. 

Arya nodded as she said,"Yep. It went on as normal but well, not a single Alliance member who made it that far got promoted mainly due to the judging that time around being rather strict.". "Let me guess Arya. Our leader was one of the judges." said Jordan with Sly using a spray bottle to separate Rachel and Zane which worked much to their annoyance. "Yep. He was one of the three judges and well, he pissed off a lot of people that day including the Howler Monkey herself." said Arya.   

Lynx looked at Jordan with her saying,"So how did you know it was him Jordan? And who is the howler monkey? Arya and Zane mention her a lot.". "I know Zane and well, he can be a rather harsh and critical judge at times. He would make the Russian judge seem friendly." said Jordan. "Wow. I thought that would be impossible since the Russian judge is always seen as the most unfair one." said Leo. "So the howler monkey. And is her voice just bad or worse compared to Hannah?" said Kevin.

Heidi looked at him as he said,"What? You know that I'm right. If she awakened her Meta-Gene, I'm sure she would some kind of sound power and be stroung enough to take down Zane.". "The howler monkey is an alliance member who hates me because we got off on the wrong foot on day one and I tended to piss her off whenever we saw each other. Our relationship is quite volatile." said Zane. "So you and her are like you and Sam." said Danny. "Bingo. There is another who hates me." said Zane.  

Before anyone could ask for clarification about this mysterious being, Arya looked down at the plane's dashboard and her eyes widened. "We're here!" said Arya, getting everyone's attention. The group looked out and saw the Salaron Empire in front of them. It looked to be similar most depictions of the fictional underwater city of Atlantis and if you want a good visual of what the Salaron Empire looks like, check out any depictions of Atlantis and you got a good idea on what the Salaron Empire is. 

This very halfassed depiction of this place is mainly due to the author's lack of knowledge when it comes to architecture and how ships are designed. Yeah. I'm in no way an architect or shipwright but I do know what makes up air and land based vehicles so that's better than nothing I guess. I could learn how this is done but that would mean the delay between parts grows stronger by the day. If you want to know about different styles of architecture, I would check out this. 

However I can say this about the Salaron Empire. The buildings looked to be made out of a mixture of coral and metal, looking similar to a mixture of Ancient Greek architecture and Indian architecture. It has several bubbles of water floating above and around the city, forming into different objects and shape every second. "Oh wow. This place looks so pretty. Can you guys have your wedding here instead of Variatance?" said Wolfram.

Zane shook his head as he said,"Sorry little buddy but when you got a chance to get married at one of the most romantic cities in the Omniverse, you take it without question. The Salaron Empire may seem nice but it's mainly a resort area. A lot of Alliance members take their vacations days here and you can just feel the Impulse coming off this place. It also contains a lot of treasure which you think would attract pirates and thieves but the dimension is protected.". "Protected by what?" said Sly.

The Cross Species turned to the Akostar as he said,"It's protected by a series of extremely strong runes that will activate if they sense evil intentions from anyone onboard either on a plane or ship. It can be easily avoid yes but there is also the Salaron Defense Force or SDF who are in no way slouches when in a fight.". "Yeah. I think one of the Salaron Empire's most famous landmarks is Serenity Oasis. It's like a maid café except with beautiful sea creatures as the maids." said Arya.

After hearing this, she got the attention of Efren and Kevin with Heidi saying,"So since I'm pretty sure I know what two members of our group are going to do, what about the rest of us?". "Probably going to explore the city or go see Michelle right? She invited us here right?" said Rachel. "Yep. That sounds like a plan. I guess I should go find a place to park and hopefully, you guys will do well in the Armistice Festival since it won't be an easy endeavor." said Zane.       

In due time, Zane found a parking spot in the form of an area that looked to be a mixture of a landing field/wharf. As the door to the hold opened up, Zane looked at his friends. "Okay you guys. Before we go, I don't think I have to mention this but try not to cause an incident. We're guests here and if we cause trouble, it may lead to the kingdom imposing a travel ban." said Zane. "That would be pretty bad and I think he's talking about you Efren." said Leo. 

Efren looked at Zane with him saying,"Don't worry captain. I swear on my life that I won't cause you or anyone any trouble while we're here.". "You said that when we went to visit Atlantis but somehow, you managed to piss off Triton who literally fed you to a megalodon. It was funny to watch it happen." said Sly. "Wait. You were actually eaten by a megalodon?" said Arya. "Yep. I sure did and let me say this. I totally could have kicked the crap out of the king. I was just being polite." said Efren.

Jordan rolled her eyes as she said,"Sure you could Efren. Triton is considered to be on the same level as Warrior or Zane but yeah. You totally could defeat the king of Atlantis under water.". "Okay. When we get back to Cypress Park, I'm going to fight Triton. Thanks for believing in me Jordan." said Efren with him looking determined. "I was being sarcastic Efren." said Jordan. "Yeah but Efren doesn't really get sarcasm." said Lynx. 

Wolfram smiled as he said,"So with that out of the way, last one off the bird is a rotten egg!". The Phantom dashed off the plane with Danny, Efren, Kevin, and Leo going after him. "So why didn't you two go after him? The rest of the guys did." said Gwen. "No real reason Gwen. I rather not look like an idiot." said Allen. "Smart." said Heidi. "Hey bro!" said Danny's voice. "Yeah?" said Zane. "Don't get mad but we may have just caused a problem already." said Danny's voice. "Son of a..." said Zane.

A little bit earlier, the group of Danny, Efren, Kevin, Leo, and Wolfram didn't get too far from the jet mainly due to an armed group encompassing the front and sides of the Midnight Bird. Everyone within this group of about eighty humanoid creature were all wearing similar looking uniforms with these beings having a certain part of their uniform colored a certain way in order to distinguish rank. No one from Team Maelstrom knew this however.

However, they could tell that they were military by how they looked and acted. The group was majority male with a few females with their clothing being for both gender. This group's uniform starts off with a long-sleeved white shirt but some of them seem to be rocking a sleeveless variation, exposing their scale covered arms. However, all of them are wearing a gray vest like jacket over their chest. Their jackets come equip with gold shoulder pads that have two things etched into each pad. 

The left shoulder pad has the letters SE etched into it and the right shoulder pad has a trident etched into it. The trident is either colored blue, green, and red. All of them are wearing loose-fitting royal blue pants and brown sandal like boots. They all wear gold elbow pads, royal blue gloves, and a helmet. This helmet looks to be made out of a sea shell, cover their faces, and is in the shape of one of three sea creatures. 

All of the soldiers with the blue trident symbol are all wearing octopus themed helmets with sapphire eyepieces over their eyes. The soldiers with the green trident symbol are all wearing shark themed helmet with emerald eyepieces over their eyes. The soldiers with the red trident symbol are all wearing leopard seal themed helmets with ruby eyepieces over their eyes. The soldiers were either wielding silver metallic rifles and the others were wearing silver metallic cutlasses. 

In this group of eighty beings, there was only one of them who didn't look the rest of them. If you're curious, there are fifty two blue soldiers, twenty four green soldiers, and only three red soldiers. We will learn about that special member in due time. Kevin looked at the crowd with him whistling. "Wow. You managed to piss off the local military under five minutes Efren. This must be a new record for you. I'm impressed." said Kevin. "Hey! I didn't do anything yet! I swear!" said Efren. 

Wolfram looked out at the crowd with him saying,"I believe you Efren since you're not a bad guy. Just a destructive one. So if none of us are bad, why are these people here? Some of them look pretty strong while the others. Not so much.". "Hey! We take offense to that mutt." said a blue soldier. "Dude. Shut up." said another blue soldier. "Why? I don't like being insulted by a mongrel like that." said the first blue soldier. "Neither do I but..." said the second blue soldier.

He motioned toward the outlier of their little group with him saying,"We have one of the three Watchers with us so I rather not do something stupid.". "Do you think they're the welcoming party Danny?" said Leo, unaware of what the two soldiers were talking about. "I highly doubt it since they have weapons aimed right at us. Better get the others out here and hopefully, we don't make a bad first impression on the Salaron Empire." said Danny. "So in other words, just stay perfectly still Efren." said Kevin. 

In a few minutes, the rest of Team Maelstrom left the plane and Rachel looked out at the crowd. Before she could say anything, Danny stopped her. "Rae. Kevin already made the joke and I'm pretty sure we don't need to repeat it." said Danny. "Dam." said Rachel. "Oh wow Danny. You knew what Rae was going to do! Are you some kind of psychic?" said Arya with her currently hiding behind Zane due to the crowd of soldiers causing her to get scared. 

Heidi looked at her with her saying,"Not really. Danny just knows Rae and Zane rather well.". "Which is impressive given Zane's random nature." said Gwen. "So what are we going to do leader? I'm pretty sure you don't want to piss off another royal family." said Allen. "Yeah. You already pissed off two of them to my knowledge." said Lynx. "Don't worry. It's time to put my diplomatic skills to use." said Zane. "Doesn't your way of being diplomatic involving punching?" said Jordan. 

Zane turned toward her as he said,"That was when I was a teen Jordan. I have matured since then.". "I guess that is true but don't you still get excited at the sight of a secret weapon?" said Rachel. "I got no smart comment for that." said Zane. He walked toward the soldiers with the riflemen were getting ready to fire. "Hold your fire. We're not here to invade/takeover the Salaron Empire. We just came here to see the Serenity Oasis café and compete in the Armistice Festival in no particular order." said Zane. 

A blue soldier rolled his eyes as he said,"Oh yeah. Like we would believe you outsiders. If you really came here, why didn't you come here the normal way if you know what that is?". He was aiming his rifle right at Rachel's head. Zane noticed this with him taking a deep breath. "I'm telling you all the truth. The reason why we didn't came here the normal way is because the prices for either a plane or ship heading here is far too crowdy and one of my friends doesn't do well in crowds." said Zane.

He sprouted a tendril from his back and it pointed at Arya. "She's the one using the dog as cover." said Zane as Arya glared at Zane. "Hey! Don't tell them that! And don't blow my cover!" said Arya. "Perhaps you should Efren or myself as cover instead of Wolfram?" said Allen. "I would do that Allen but neither you or Efren is fluffy like Wolfram is but maybe I could use that instead. We do need make sure that the goon squad doesn't hurt it or we'll awake a real monster." said Arya. 

She looked at Rachel's hair with the devil sighing loudly. "If it makes you more comfortable Arya, go ahead." said Rachel. "Sweet! You're my favorite devil." said Arya with her rushing toward Rachel and submerged her face in her hair, smiling in the process. "Don't worry Legion Zero! The treasure is safe from danger and I'll make sure it's been properly floofed!" said Arya with her throwing Zane a thumbs up. "Thanks Seraphina. You're the best." said Zane with him returning the thumbs up. 

Gwen shook her head in amusement as she said,"Oh wow. She really does switch between scary and brave just like that.". "Yeah she does and she's pretty cute too." said Kevin. "Didn't she reject you?" said Lynx. "And quite brutally too." said Sly. After hearing that, Kevin sulked with Efren laughing. "Oh yeah. That was hilarious." said Efren. "So I guess we're just ignoring the army aiming at their weapons at us." said Jordan. "Yeah we are Jordan but I'm sure we'll be fine." said Danny. 

With Zane, he smiled at his friends interaction. "See? We're just harmless tourists and members of the Alliance who I seem to recall are welcome here." said Zane. "I think he's telling the truth. The one hiding in the devil's hair mentioned Legion Zero and he called the girl Seraphina. Those two are famous agents of the Alliance with Legion Zero's feats rivaling his grandfather." said a red soldier. This caused the other soldiers to be shocked since they were aware of who Legion Zero was.

He was well known throughout the Omniverse due to who he's related to and what he has done in service of the Alliance. There was also his fight with Basalt which most of the Omniverse viewed. "The latest Shogun is supposed to arrived here sometime this week alongside other members of the Alliance in order to compete in the Armistice Festival held here." said a green soldier. "See? Listen to these two genius. They are correct so how about you let us go? We need to find a hotel and...." said Zane.

Crisis Judgement went up with Zane moving his head upwards and saw a thunderbolt heading toward him. "Oh. That doesn't look friendly." said Zane as the bolt hit Zane dead on. "Captain!" said Efren with him able to charge the small army. "Efren! Stop!" shouted Rachel. "Rae! The captain aka your lover just got hit by them! We need to retaliate!" said Efren. "It's fine Efren because electricity doesn't work on Zane remember?" said Rachel.

Efren blinked as he said,"It doesn't?". "Of course it doesn't because of his blood." said Arya. "Which tastes delicious!" said Wolfram. "That just sounds wrong without context and totally innocent coming from Wolfram." said Jordan. "Yeah. It's also something Rae would say." said Heidi with Rachel looking at her. with a minor glare "I don't think their relationship is like that." said Leo. With the soldiers, they were shocked ,figurately not literally, to see that the Watcher's holy bolt do nothing to Zane.

Zane cracked his neck with him saying,"So are you done testing me? I mean you should know that most if not all forms of electricity don't really work on me.". "Yes. It seems that you aren't the normal batch of intruders we get but with current events going on, I don't think you would blame me too much." said a voice. The soldiers stepped aside and made the outlier stick out more than he already had due to him not dressing like the others.

Compared to the other soldiers, he looked to be wearing more priest like clothing and armor at the exact same time. He looks to be in his mid 20s with him having fair skin. He has a tall muscular build with him having high cheekbones and sky blue hair. He has amber colored eyes, bright yellow fish like ears, and a thin ring beard. For clothing, he's wearing a white sleeveless robe with a deep v-cut neck. The robs has silts for both of his legs. 

Under this, he wears a pair of form-fitting black parts that have three yellow lines going down his pants legs. He wears knee high brown boots. He wears golden shoulder pads that has the letters SE etched into the left shoulder pad and the right one had an electric eel etched into it. The sea creature looked to be in the shape of a lightning bolt. To Zane, he looked similar to Michelle who managed to contact him personally thanks to Apollo giving her his number.

The man looked at Zane with him saying,"My name is Thanh and I'm one of the Salaron Empire's Watchers. From what I can tell, you seem to be telling the truth.". "Thank you. So mind letting us go find a hotel then?" said Zane. "Not until you can show me something that only the Legion Zero can do. I don't think I'm asking for much." said Thanh. "Okay then sure. Let me see. What am I the most famous for? My temper? No. That would be bad since I'm trying to prevent a incident. Oh. I got it." said Zane.

He took a deep breath with him forming a platinum colored Zenith Sphere and it floated in front of Zane. "Wow. I can feel the Impulse radiating from the sphere." said a blue soldier. "So what? Most beings can manipulate Impulse and form it into a different shape. The Moral Eel can do that since this kid ain't special." said the blue soldier with this soldier being the one who has his weapon aimed at Rachel. As if on que, the energy sphere floated toward him and cold cocked him. 

Before this soldier ,with a bloody nose, could fall to the ground, his weapon was caught by another soldier. "So did you guys see what I just saw?" said another blue soldier. "If you're referring to seeing an sphere of Impulse has some form of sentience knock out a fellow Salaron Empire soldier with a single punch, yes I did." said a green soldier. "We have that record right?" said a red soldier. "Of course we do man." said a green soldier.

Thanh looked at Zane with the Cross Species shrugging. "Sorry about your friend there but well, he was aiming his weapon at my fiancée. That sphere I created is given a simple task. If any one of your men plan to attack one of my friends, my sphere will attack in retaliation. If you aren't aware, this is similar to how your dimension's protection runes. I'm pretty sure that a normal being can't do this and to prove that I am really Legion Zero, I can show you my Alliance Badge." said Zane.

As if on que, the remaining soldiers looked at the sphere floating beside Zane. None of them really want to be knocked out by a sphere of Impulse since it would be embarrassing since all of them are strong soldiers of the Salaron Empire. "However, this Zenith Sphere is a much cooler way of showing off who I really am than showing off my badge. So are we good?" said Zane. "What are we going to do sir? I think this guy is saying the truth." said a green soldier. 

Thanh looked at Zane and his group with him saying,"Okay. Men. Take your weapons off our guests and if we do that, the energy sphere will go away right?". "Yep. It will go away but only if you don't hurt my friends. If you hurt my friends, you'll regret it." said Zane. "Okay then. Put down your arms now men." said Thanh, holding up his right hand. "But sir!" said a blue soldier. He was the one who got knocked out and his nose was still bleeding. 

He glared at Zane with him saying,"You shouldn't trust this outsider sir! He could be a shapeshifter like Form Morpher! He's been seen around here after all! He managed to kidnap your sister before she reappeared. We can't trust anyone!". "Oh. I guess he must be Michelle's older brother. Apollo mentioned she had an older brother who was a high ranking member of Salaron Empire's military. He does seem pretty tough." thought Zane. "Are you ignoring my order soldier?" said Thanh.

After saying that, electricity began flowing throughout Thanh's body. "No sir but I don't trust him and neither should you." said the blue soldier. Before he could say anything, his mouth was covered by another soldier's hand. "You heard the boss so deal with it idiot." said a green soldier. The blue soldier rolled his eyes as he mumbled out,"Fine but I'll be keeping my eye on those outsiders since I don't trust them.". As a group, the soldiers took their weapons sight off the others mainly the ones with the rifles. 

Both the riflemen and swordsmen put their weapons away by placing them against a random part of their body and the weapon glowed. Their weapons disappeared and with a snap of his fingers, the glowing sphere turned back into raw Impulse which flowed back into Zane. It made Zane glow for a bit before it vanished. "Thanks for listening to me Thanh. I really didn't want to fight against you since I think me and your sister are friends." said Zane. 

Thanh nodded as he said,"No problem Legion Zero. I owe you a great deal of thanks. After the Form Morpher managed to disguise himself as my sister's manager, I was going to go after him but I couldn't go after him due to my duty toward the Salaron Empire. As one of the three Watchers, we must stay on steady guard in order to protect the queen. I'm sure you're looking for a payment since the Alliance does require a fee for their services.". 

Zane shook his head as he said,"It's all good. I was just doing my job and her offering to show us around the empire when she gets a break is my fee. So do you have any good suggestions for a hotel while we're here? Something cheap but comfortable.". "I do. If you and your friends will follow me, my queen wishes to speak with you and anyone in your group whose rank is equal to a Commander. The reason for this is because of the Armistice Festival." said Thanh. "Sure thing." said Zane.

After getting escorted by Thanh, they were take to one of the four best hotels that were endorsed by the Watchers and the current queen who was a former member of the Watcher before becoming queen three years ago. Team Maelstrom was staying at the Sunset Nebula hotel with this one being sponsored by the Moray Eel aka Thanh himself. The other three hotels are currently being used by the other Alliance agents here in the Salaron Empire after they were escorted here by one of the Watchers.

The Sunset Nebula hotel is a tall golden four story hotel with it being in the style of a Ryokan. Each room has a small balcony, showing a great view of the Salaron Empire with each balcony. It is also known for the giant eel ,in the shape of a thunder bolt, statue on the roof and its hot springs. The latter landmark of the two is because of Thanh's well known of hot springs because the former landmark is rather obvious given who sponsors. 

After Thanh took Arya and Zane to meet up with the queen alongside the other high ranking Alliance members who were here in the Salaron Empire, Team Maelstrom split up. One group was consisted of Efren, Heidi, Kevin, and Sly. The four of them were heading to the Serenity Oasis café mainly to see the beauties working there in the case of Efren and Kevin. The duo of Heidi and Sly was going there for two different yet similar reason.  

Sly was going with them to make sure Efren and Kevin didn't do anything to embarrass themselves or the name of Team Maelstrom. Heidi was going mainly because she wanted to try and make a move on Kevin but she didn't want him to be seduced by the beings working there. The second group consisted of Allen, Jordan, Leo, and Lynx. This group was heading to the Salaron Empire's famous sweets factory with Leo's mouth watering upon hearing that.

The third and final group was Danny, Gwen, Rachel, and Wolfram with them going to meet up with Michelle. She was disappointed that she couldn't see Zane since like most of the Omniverse, she saw his fight with Basalt and was shocked to see him almost die. After hearing his sister's tears, Thanh promised her that she can see him after he was doing meeting with their mother and this cheered Michelle up instantly. 

With Efren's group, Heidi watched as Efren and Kevin not so subtly talked about the café. "Gods. Can they be any more embarrassing?" said Sly with the Akostar ,in her human form, shaking her head. "Yeah but I'm a bit jealous of Efren Sly." said Heidi. "Heidi. You're joking right? What in the nine realms could make someone like you jealous of Efren? He's a good guy don't get me wrong but he's an idiot." said Sly. "His ability to say whatever comes to his mind regardless of the consequences." said Heidi.

Sly looked at her as she said,"Mind explain what you mean by that.". "Like Zane, Efren has no fear when it comes to saying whatever is on his mind unlike me. I've a crush on Kevin for years and haven't done anything about it in that time." said Heidi. "I guess you would be jealous of him when it comes to admitting your feelings. So tell me something. What made you fall for Kevin in the first place? I'll admit that I don't get it myself but I'm not really interested in love at all." said Sly.

Heidi crossed her arms as she said,"I guess it was after seeing that under that ego of his, Kevin was a good person. I can't really put into words unlike Gwen or Rae.". "You don't have to go into detail about it Heidi. I get why you like him and really don't need you to be like Rae in that regard. She's trying to get stronger isn't she?" said Sly. "Of course she is. She wants to protect the being she loves. I would use man but Zara is a thing." said Heidi.

Sly shook her head as she said,"Yeah but you're missing the point. Compared to us, Rachel has been working the hardest to get stronger after the Massacre, the War of Galnatilia, and the whole Domination event. Still can't believe Zane signed us for something like that without telling us.". "True. Zane and hiding secrets from us isn't something he does often. I guess he must have a reason for it. We'll ask him about it later." said Heidi.

The Akostar nodded as she looked around. "Hey Heidi. Do you see either Efren and Kevin anywhere? I think we lost them." said Sly. "Nope. So where did you think they went? We have no idea where the Serenity Oasis is." said Heidi. Before they could ask, Efren flew right by the two of them and he had a hole in his chest. "That was Efren right?" said Heidi with Efren ,hole filled back in thanks to blood sealing it up, running past them. "Yep. We should follow him." said Sly.

Flashback P.O.V.

A little bit earlier, Efren smiled as he said,"And here we are Kevin old pal. The Serenity Oasis café. Isn't it just the best?". Kevin looked at the famous café with it reminding him of a cove and it looked really beautiful. "Yeah but what about Heidi and Sly? We left them behind and you know Sly doesn't like whenever we ditch her." said Kevin. "They'll be fine. Lets go see some cuties!" said Efren with him charging into the café and Kevin went after him just to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

Kevin walked in and he smiled. Inside of the café, Kevin could spot a variety of beautiful women ,in both tasteful and skimpy maid outfits, serving their master or mistress. "Let me see. Where could Efren possibly be?" said Kevin, looking for the being. "Hey flatie shortie! What the hell do you think you're doing here?" said Efren. "And there he is. Lets just hope he isn't causing too big of a scene. I rather not get kicked out of here before I'm serviced." said Kevin.

With Efren, he was currently glaring at two beings with one of the duo regretting coming here to make sure his senior didn't cause their leader any trouble. This duo is a male and female with the female antagonizing Efren and the male regretting the choices he made in his life getting to this point. The female looks to be around 4 foot 8 and looks to be flat chested. She has long, curly orange hair that goes past her waist, large sapphire blue eyes with slitted pupils, and a feline like smile. 

Despite looking rather young compared to the rest of the females in the cage, she looks beautiful. She wears a dark blue sweater vest over a black and red plaid tank top that exposes her shoulders. She wears a pair of dark green shorts that go past her knees and black knee high boots. The male looks to be in his early twenties with him having an average build and height of about 5 foot 8. His body looks to be in a permeant slouch with his black hair looking spiky and his hair has navy blue streaks in them. 

The navy blue color is his natural color and the black color is dyed. He has dark brown eyes with them being half-opened, giving him a bored and tired appearance. He's wearing a black coat with a high collar, covering the lower half of his face and thick metal cuffs. His coat expands past his knees and it's open, exposing his white shirt. He wears black pinstriped pants. He wears brown dress shoes. Over his arms and shins, he wears silver armguards and shin guards. 

He is also carrying around a wooden sword aka a Bokken. "You heard me so answer me already!" said Efren, glaring at him. He slammed his hand into the table with the male looking at the female who was calming sipping her tea. "Come on Kyo. Just respond to him before he makes an even bigger scene than he already is. This is a major pain in my sides." said the male with a loud sigh. "Dylan. How many times have I told you not to shorten my name? It's five letters and it's worth fully pronouncing." said Kyo.

Dylan groaned as he said,"Too many times but it's such a pain in my sides doing that. You also didn't answer our friend's question Kyoko.". "Because I don't need to explain myself. Is there a law in the Omniverse saying that a woman can't enjoy the sights of beauties in maid outfits?" said Kyoko. "Of course there isn't! Every being should enjoy seeing these beauties in maid outfits!" said Efren. "Then why do you have a problem with me? I have a theory on why if you wish to know." said Kyoko.

Efren looked at her as he said,"Because a LITTLE GIRL shouldn't be here with the grownups. I know that you're trying to look all cool and adult for your boyfriend but I'm sure he isn't into little girls.". "I think you got the wrong idea. Explain this is such a pain in my sides but..." said Dylan. "Dylan. Don't waste your breathe explaining yourself. I think I should teach this guy a lesson on how strong little girls can really be." said Kyoko with her eyes white and her voice deepened with a growl.

Narrator P.O.V.

In front of the café, Jordan and Sly saw Efren and a little girl brawl with a crowd forming around the two of them. "Is Efren fighting a little girl?" said Sly. "She isn't some normal little girl Sly. Trust me when I say that." said Kevin's voice. The two turned to see Kevin standing there with him holding three fruit drinks. "Hey there. Here's a fruit drink to apologize for ditching you ladies and causing a scene even though he promised he wouldn't." said Kevin.

Heidi took one of the drinks with it being her favorite strawberry. "Thanks Kevin. So why is Efren fighting her?" said Heidi. "Not too sure on the details myself but apparently, Efren pissed her and she turned into this monster like creature. With a single punch, Efren was sent flying and had a hole from her punch alone. About a few moments later, Efren returned and challenge her to a fight." said Kevin as Sly sighed. "Sometimes Efren. You can be a real moron." said Sly.

The Akostar took her drink from Kevin with her saying,"So why haven't you tried and stopped the fight yet Kevin?". "I was more focused on getting you ladies something to drink since I gathered that you would be mad." said Kevin. "Which I am." said Sly. "Since you two got your drinks, I'll go stop the beast and the beauty from fighting. Mind holding my drink Heidi?" said Kevin. "Sure thing." said Heidi as Kevin smiled. "Thanks." said Kevin.

As Kevin walked toward Efren and Kyoko with his gauntlets appearing over his hands, Sly looked at Heidi who was staring at Kevin's drink. "So since he isn't paying attention, I bet you're thinking about getting an indirect kiss from him aren't you?" said Sly with her smirking. Heidi blushed as she turned to the smirking Akostar. "No! I wasn't!" said Heidi. "Right. You totally weren't. So do you think Kevin was telling the truth and be honest. Don't let your feelings blind you to the truth." said Sly.

Heidi looked at Efren and Kyoko with the latter punched Efren and send a couple of his teeth flying. "I think he was since Efren isn't a slouch and can take getting hit. The little girl's punch is stronger than a girl her age. She has to be a member of the Alliance." said Heidi. "Ain't that's the truth. She's able to damage the fifth strongest member of Team Maelstrom in a simple street brawl. I wonder if she is here for that as well." said Sly. 

Before Heidi could say anything, Kevin aimed his gauntlets at Efren and Kyoko. Upon pressing his fingers excluding his thumb down on his left palm, the left gauntlet release a beam of solid green light and captured both fighters. "Hey! Let me go Kevin! This bitch needs to.....!" said Elfen as he was smacked in the face by a metallic whip. "How about you shut up already? I'll admit that you're strong but ruining my visit to the Serenity Oasis. You'll regret ever coming here." said Kyoko.

Kevin saw that the whip that attacked Efren came from the little girl whose left arm turned into the whip. "You're a shapeshifter aren't you?" said Kevin. "Yes but that's all I'm going to tell you for right now. You'll see what I can fully do in time but not now. Dylan. Mind helping your favorite graduate out?" said Kyoko. "Fine but it's a major pain in the sides." said a voice. Kevin saw a giant serpent of shadows appear from under Kyoko and swallow her up with the serpent fading away. 

Efren turned to Kevin who was joined by Heidi and Sly. "Kevin! Why did you let her escape? And put me down!" said Efren. "He did that because we'll see her again. Right?" said Sly. "Yeah. We'll see her and her junior again. I can't explain it but I've seen those two before. Can't remember where but I have seen them before." said Kevin. "What do you mean by that you guys?" said Efren with Kevin releasing his hold on him and said immortal landed on the ground knees first. 

You thought he was going to land head first didn't you? Heidi looked around and she found what she was looking for. "If it wasn't obvious, she's a member of the Alliance. Didn't you notice this when she was being the tar out of you? She knocked your teeth out Efren and that isn't something normal beings can do. I've only seen Zane do that so if a little girl like her can do something like that, she has to be strong." said Heidi. "I was more focused on teaching that brat a lesson." said Efren.

Sly looked at Efren with her saying,"And what would that lesson be? I overheard that you started the argument with her because she didn't belong with the adults.". "I got my reason for picking her a fight and I don't need to explain myself." said Efren. The trio of Heidi, Kevin, and Sly looked at each other with them sighing. "Whatever Efren. So since you've probably been banned from this place forever after your fight, how about we go check something else out." said Kevin. 

Efren stood back up as he said,"Yeah! That sounds great! Lets go!". He ran off with Sly shaking her head and turned into her Akostar form. "He and Wolfram really need to the proverb of patience is a virtue. I'll go after him to make sure he doesn't cause another fight. Have fun you two." said Sly. Heidi and Kevin looked at each other with Heidi saying,"So since we're alone, do you want to go see how the Salaron Empire is run?". "Sure Heidi." said Kevin.

As the two walked away from the café, Dylan looked at them and he sighed. "So why did you want to fight Orphic again Kyoko? And in your child form too? I doubt you need to hold that much back on a being chosen by our junior. Your actions are a real pain in my sides you know." said Dylan. He turned around to see Kyoko standing there and she looked different. Instead of a cute little girl, she was now a real beauty.

She looks to be around 5 foot ten, she's busty and considered to be a high class beauty. With her ample breasts alongside her curves and sexiness, her beauty can rival a goddess. Her eyes, hair, and smile are the same as her child form. She wears a open red ,with a white flame pattern, trench coat with a open blue button down shirt tied up under her breasts. This exposes her cleavage and midriff rather well. It also exposes her black and red plaid themed bra due to the way she has her shirt positioned. 

Kyoko is now wearing a very short dark green pleated shirt and black tights with knee pads. She wears a black belt. For footwear, she wears large black metallic sandals with five huge cuts in the heel. With how her heels are cut, they form a star shape and the top straps are white. She wears red lipstick with red fingernails. She has a gold belly button ring. Over each of her arms, she wears long white sleeves and full-arm, armored gold gauntlets. 

The woman crossed her arms as she said,"Because I wanted to since Zane kept hyping them up during the time we spent with him and I got to say. Not very impressed. I mean Orphic is nothing more than a loud mouth ignoramus who doesn't think about his actions at all and Neurozap is nothing too special especially compared to you. The two girls that they were with is another story.". "Just tell me. You not telling me about what you mean by that is a real pain in my sides." said Dylan.

Kyoko looked at him as she said,"I can't speak for the Akostar but the other one. She has potential and I hope I get to fight her, Slicer, and the princess herself.". "Yes. Slicer is a famous figure on Zane's team but his fiancée? Why would you waste time on someone so weak?" said Dylan. "Words of advice from your senior Dylan. A woman in love is powerful especially a female devil. Lets go. I'm done here." said Kyoko. "Fine." said Dylan, covering the two of them in shadows before vanishing. 

As this was going on, there were two more confrontations between Team Maelstrom and other beings going on within the Salaron Empire. Lets see one of them which involves Allen's group and the other one involves Danny's group. With Allen, he looked at Leo who was enjoying a bowl of sweets. "This is so cool Allen! Do you want some? It's some of the best sweets I've ever had." said Leo. "No thanks mate. I'm not really a sweets guy but thanks for offering." said Allen.

The two of them were currently outside of the café that was part of the Salaron Empire's sweet factory and they were over in the southeast side of the Salaron Empire. "I still can't believe you didn't want to try any of that giant candy. Even as a guy who doesn't like sweets, I really want to try it. I think Jordan and Lynx are the same." said Allen. "I did want to try it don't get me wrong but it's something everyone on Team Maelstrom should enjoy. We should come back here after the Armistice Festival." said Leo.

Allen nodded as he said,"That sounds like a good plan to me. So I got to ask Leo. What's your opinion on being a part of the Armistice Festival? Don't get me wrong. My reasons for entering is because it sounds like a fun time and well, I want to make up for my showings in the last Domination our group entered.". "Yeah. I figured that was the reason for you and Rae. Danny basically carried our team during that match." said Leo.

The British metahuman nodded as he said,"Yeah. You and I didn't do bad either but Danny deserved the M.V.P. status.". "I'm sure we would have won back then even with 18% of our team being unable to compete and Blaze's team cheating. We just got dealt a bad hand but this time will be different. I may not win the whole thing but I'm going to make sure that I do one thing. Make Zane and the rest of you proud." said Leo.

Allen smiled as he said,"It's nice to hear you think like that mate but well, I want to make sure that I can make an impact on the Omniverse like my parents did.". "I'm sure you will because you and Danny have gotten much stronger in the past four years." said Leo. "All of us have Leo. Don't count yourself out. So where are Jordan and Lynx?" said Allen. "I think they're still inside. We should probably go get them." said Leo.

Before the two of them could do anything, the two heard,"Leo Chan!". "Leo Chan?" said Allen with him looking around for the voice as Leo's eyes widened. "It can't be." said Leo. "Can't be what?" said Allen as something tackled Leo. Allen stood up and was getting ready to fight whoever attack his friend but was stunned to see what attacked him. It was a female and she looked to be a human ,Western, doll with her being around 5 foot 4. She also looked to be a year older than Jordan and Leo. 

She has long blonde hair with her bangs resting in front of her face and has pale skin tone. She has deep purple eyes. She wears a green blouse with a collar, exposing her collarbone and not her chest. She wears a gray knee length skirt with a red vampire bat pattern to it and white mary jane style shoes with a two inch heel. She wears a white lace headband with green and purple ribbons. She wears gold cross shaped earrings and light pink nail polish on her fingernails and toenails. 

Leo looked at the girl who was smiling as he said,"Lucia? Is that you? What are you doing here in the Salaron Empire?". "Yep. It's your big sis Lucia and I got to say that you look absolutely adorable in your new outfit. Wish you wore something more cute though. Didn't I send you this absolutely adorable dress to wear?" said Lucia. "You did but well, accidents happen." said Leo. "What happened to my dress? Did one of your teammates burn it or destroy it?" said Lucia.

Allen got her attention by picking her up as he said,"Sorry about this miss but our friend Efren and Wolfram were sparing. They went a bit overboard and caused a lot of our clothing to be destroyed. Do note that the two were punished properly and all of the clothing was payed from Efren's wallet.". "I see then. What about this Wolfram character? Was any of his money used in order to pay back the dress he destroyed? Also would you mind putting me down." said Lucia.    

Leo looked at her as he said,"Wolfram is a Phantom dog Lucia. He doesn't exactly have a job and it was mainly Efren's fault to begin with so he was punished harder than Wolfram was.". "Yeah. Going without cuddles or headpats for two whole weeks is a fate worse than death according to him. So Leo. Do you mind telling me about your friend here?" said Allen. "Oh right. Allen. This is my friend Lucia Redmond and she's a vampire like me." said Leo.

The female nodded as she said,"Yep. Unlike like Leo here, I'm a full blooded Vampire. Nice to meet one of Leo's friends other than Jordan or Master Legion Zero.". "Master? I don't think Zane likes being called by any title though." said Leo. "Oh I know that. Zane made that perfectly clear. It's just that our species owes him a great deal after helping us in our clash with the werewolves." said Lucia. "So the rivalry between vampires and werewolves are a real thing." said Allen.

Leo nodded as he said,"Yeah. The rivalry between vampires and werewolves have been a thing for a very long time. So big bro saving our race. That was during the year he worked for the Alliance wasn't it?". "Yep. He was really cool doing it and helped end a centuries long conflict. I joined up the Alliance because I wanted to make sure it could never happen again. My parents weren't the biggest fans of me doing that but I couldn't just stand by and do nothing after what just happened." said Lucia. 

Allen nodded as he said,"That's an amazing reason to join up with the good guys Lucia. So are you the only vampire who joined up after the conflict ended?". "No Allen was it? Beside Cross Species like Leo here, there was a vampire who was a member of the Alliance prior to the ending of the vampire and werewolf war. He should be around here." said Lucia. "Wait. Another vampire is here?" said Leo. "Yeah and I'm sure he would love to meet you two." said Lucia. "Sure. Lets go." said Allen.

Inside of the sweets factory, Lynx was helping Jordan move around. "Sorry about making you do this Lynx. It's just that...." said Jordan with her cheeks puffing up. "No need to overwork yourself like this Jordan. You couldn't resist the massive pudding and I don't blame you." said Lynx. "Thanks. So what are we going to do about that guy? He have been following us for a while now and I don't have the strength to death with him right now. Stupid delicious pudding." said Jordan. 

Lynx looked ahead and she saw a handsome looking man standing right in front of her. He looks to be in his early to mid 20s, almost six feet tall, short pale blue hair, and light green eyes. He has a thin yet muscular build with him having a thin scar running vertically along his nose and right cheek having a faint scar. He's wearing a black military jacket with the back of his jacket having a fox like design on the back and this fox is surrounded by pillars of ice.

Under his jacket, he wears a dark long sleeved red shirt under his jacket, dark gold pants, and brown ankle high boots. He wears pale blue armored arm guards and shin guards with him wearing bandages around his wrists. "Hello there ladies. My name is Sahiro. It's nice to meet you." said Sahiro. "We don't care. Why have you been following us?" said Jordan. "Oh. I just want to have a conversation with you my dear since I can tell that you're not a normal human. Neither of you two are." said Sahiro.

He held out his hand and made a snowflake appear. "You're a metahuman." said Lynx. "You're not even close to being right. I just want to show that cocky brat the right way to get back at someone." said Sahiro. Before either Jordan or Lynx could do anything, Sahiro made two ice wakiazshi and charged at them. However, he was grabbed by a being and thrown outside after breaking the wall with his body. "I think you should know that picking on someone who can't defend themselves." said the being.

Jordan and Lynx turned to see their savior with Lynx thinking,"Is that Leo?". The being who saved them looked a few years older than their favorite vampire except more masculine and more intimidating. He's about 6 feet tall with longer than normal legs. He has thick, chin length dark green hair that looks wavy and his bangs are swept to the right. His bangs are curved to the right. He has narrow green eyes with thin eyebrows. 

His chin is more pronounced compared to Leo and has two horns sticking out of his head. He wears a dark red suit jacket with a green tie wrapped around his neck and white undershirt. He wears dark brown pants and dark gray shoes. He wears a a pair of rimless dark gold glasses with a narrow triangular frame. He wears a pair of black gloves. He wears a earring but on his right ear compared to his cousin who has it on his left ear. 

The male's earring is in the shape of a bell which rings whenever he moves his head. "So you're here too Percy. I guess coming here wasn't a waste of time." said Sahiro. "Percy. It is you." said Jordan. "Yeah it is me Jordan. You've grown up. Good. You're still a waste of my time snow kitsune." said Percy. He charged right toward Sahiro who turned his ice swords into a ice gatling gun and fired several icicles at the man. He turned into a group of bats, dodging the attack and reformed back behind Sahiro.

Before Sahiro could do anything about this, Percy grabbed the kitsune's head and began swing him around in a circle. "Getting dizzy?" said Percy. He tossed the kitsune into the air and Percy looked up to see a giant spiked ball heading toward Sahiro. It hit the kitsune who turned into ice and vanished with Percy catching the spiked ball. "Way to be subtle Calista. We're trying to keep a low profile while we're here and this isn't low profile." said Percy. "Sorry not sorry Percy." said a female voice.

After exiting the hole that Sahiro created, the duo of Jordan and Lynx turned around to see a teenager girl standing there on a nearby rooftop with a cheerful smile. She has pale skin with her being around 5 foot 4 and has a petite figure. She didn't have much of a chest but her lower half was womanly, making her a pear shape. She has purple hair that goes to her shoulder blades and golden eyes. Her outfit looks to be designed for both combat and distracting others. 

She wears a orange and purple long sleeved kimono with the hem shredded, exposing her black pants that look to be similar to fishnet stockings. Her kimono has a blue corset and her sleeves look to be longer than normal. She's wearing black sandals with white soles. Her toenails are painted black with a yellow sunflower pattern. She jumped off the roof and walked toward Percy. While she was moving, she was swaying her hips and this is used for a distraction for men.  

It would have worked but Percy was the only male there and he wasn't distracted. "So how about you tell me why you don't listen to your own advice? You broke a wall tossing out the trash. Could have made a portal but nope. You just wanted to show off for the Lazmond and Phoenix from your cousin's team. I don't get why since you don't like him even though he's a cutie." said Calista. "No comment. So did you find where Lucia ran off too?" said Percy.

He got his answer with Lucia hugging him. "I found her." said Calista. "Percy! Look who I found eating sweets with a friend! It's Leo!" said Lucia. The group turned to see Allen and Leo standing there with the latter looking shocked. "Percy. You're the other vampire who joined the Alliance?" said Leo. "I did join the Alliance but it wasn't just because of what Zane did for our species. So you're still dressing up like a girl." said Percy in a cold tone.

Allen looked at Percy with him saying,"So? What's wrong with that? And who are you to him?". "He's my cousin from my paternal side and four years older." said Leo. "He's right about our relation. I just thought he would have grown up but I was wrong. Lets go. We got what we came for." said Percy. "I guess so but don't you want to have a conversation with Leo?" said Lucia. "Nope. Lets go." said Percy with him, Calista, and Lucia disappearing thanks to a portal.

This portal looked similar to the ones Leo can make except it was a red color. "So you have a real cold cousin huh." said Lynx as she and Jordan made their way to the boys. "Yeah I do. He's always been stronger than me and with him being here, I don't think I can accomplish my goal." said Leo. "What about you talking about? Percy isn't that much stronger than you Leo." said Jordan. "Um Jordan. I don't think he heard you." said Allen, pointing to the swarm of bats who flew toward the hotel.

Jordan shook her head as she said,"Sometimes Leo.". "So do you know about him Jordan?" said Lynx with the trio going after Leo. "Yeah. I met him before today and well, he is the opposite of Leo in many different ways. So Lucia met up with you guys before wrapping herself around her lover right?" said Jordan. "Yeah she did. Wait. He and her are together?" said Allen. "Yep. Think of them like Archie and Sonja rather than what Blaze tried to be with Rae." said Jordan.

The male nodded as he said,"That's good I guess. So why is Leo going back to the way he was when I first met him?". "That's because Percy is someone who constantly belittled Leo for the way he dressed which may have been a result of me, Lucia, and his mom playing dress up with him." said Jordan. "So what. Why does it matter that Leo likes girls clothing? He pulls it off rather well." said Lynx. "Some beings in the Omniverse have trouble accepting things that aren't the norm." said Allen.

As this conversation was going on, there was another confrontation going on but with Danny's group this time around. "This is so much fun!" said Wolfram with a huge smile on his face and was currently in his human form. He was currently bouncing on top of a giant bubble which was in the shape of a elephant. Below the bubblephant, Gwen and Rachel sat there on a bench. Compared to the others, their group were the closest near the hotel.

In front of the Sunset Nebula Hotel, there was a small urban park with its most famous attraction being the giant water fountain and several cherry blossom trees that were in constant bloom. They were also producing the bubbles that floated above and around the city. Rachel looked up at the dog who was making poses with each bounce against the bubblephant. "We can see that Wolfram." said Rachel. "I still can't believe this pachyderm was made by such a device no bigger than my hand." said Gwen.

The sorceress was currently holding a coral pink harmonica. She began playing it, with it changing the bubblephant into a bubbledyra. A bubbledyra is a bubble construct of hydra which Wolfram adjusted to it mid bounce. The more you know. "Yeah. According to Arya, the Omniverse is filled with stuff like the bubble accordion and apparently can be used as a weapon." said Rachel. "Seriously? How is this a weapon?" said Gwen. "By blowing a bubble right into someone's eyes." said Rachel. 

Wolfram looked down at the girls with him using the back of the bubbledyra as a slide. "Wow. That's just mean." said Wolfram as he appeared in front of the girls. The Phantom looked around with him saying,"So is Danny still gone?". "He is. He should have been back by now. I hope he didn't get into trouble." said Gwen. "I don't think you have to worried about that Gwen since Danny knows that getting into a fight wouldf cause trouble." said Rachel.

The Phantom looked right at the girls with him saying,"You two don't think he was ambushed by some hoodlums while getting us something to drink?". "Probably not. Danny can handle himself in a fight and if he's this late, he's probably busy buying them." said Rachel. "Even though we're not supposed to cause any trouble while we're here, we can still fight in self defense." said Gwen. "So are you girls excited for the Armistice Festival? I am since this time, I can fight alongside you guys." said Wolfram.

He began kicking the air with Rachel smiling at the dog's actions. "A little bit compared to you and the other guys in our group except for maybe Kevin. He's going to try his best but mainly to rise up the ranks of the Alliance. I know that the Armistice Festival and Domination but this time, I won't be surrendering. I plan to win and show off what a devil of the Alvarez family can really do." said Rachel with her making Ardor appear. 

Gwen looked at her best friend with her saying,"I would say that you aren't part of Zane's family yet but well, you and Zane are practically married at this point. You just need to make it official by sealing the deal by getting married.". "Yeah! We're going to show off how strong the Alvarez family is. The four of us you, me, Sly, and Danny.". "What about Efren and Leo? They both claim to be Zane's little brother and only one of them really fits the title of little brother." said Gwen. 

Rachel looked at the sorceress with her saying,"While Efren and Leo may see Zane as their older brother for their personal reason, Danny and Zane are blood brothers. This is similar to how Lucian and Kurt are brothers with Zane since Danny and Zane performed a sakazuki shortly before Zane left for his year with the Alliance.". Before Gwen could ask her for any more calcification on what she meant by that, the trio felt a strong presence. 

For the group, it was similar to the aura coming off Zane whenever he uses Archon Zero Master. "So two of you are members of the Omniverse's strongest family. That's real exciting isn't it Bea Chan?" said a masculine sounding voice. "I guess so but don't call me by that nickname. It's degrading. My name is Beatrix. We may work together to protect the weak but you and I aren't friends Arata." said a feminine voice. The three turned to see a man and woman standing nearby with both of them sticking out. 

The male looked to be 6 foot 4 with him looking hostile looking and quick to violence. He have a very defined muscular build which is often on full display due to his clothes revealing it. He has shoulder-length dyed red hair which part of it is pointed upward similar to a pompadour but not really. He has an angular face with high cheekbones, a strong jaw, bold yet thin eyebrows, sharp shark like teeth which give off an intimidating look whenever he smiles which is the case now, and narrowed gray eyes.

His eyes has a noticeable fire in them. He wears a full length open black overcoat ,with the name Arata emblazoned on the back alongside a flame skull-and-crossbones design, and wears no shirt under it. His abs are wrapped in bandages, giving him a classic brawler look to him. He wears maroon baggy/bontan pants with a gold sash working as a belt. For footwear, he seems to be wearing a strange combination of black sneakers/martial arts slippers or kung fu shoes/boots. 

The man's arms are folded over his chest, his head was tilted to the right, and his shoulders were currently hunched forward. The woman is a slender woman with her being above an average height of 5 foot 8 and is by all definitions, flat especially in the chest department. Her lack of curves is made obvious when standing next to most women and some men. She has fair colored skin with shoulder length telemagenta hair, lavender eyes, tomboy looking appearance, and a bifauxnen/bishōnen face. 

If you're curious about her face, it's very popular among the girls. Her bangs are swept to the right with it covering her larger than normal forehead. It may not look like it but her hair was originally a much different color compared to what it is now. She has a small amount of it pulled into a ponytail held by a red ribbon. She's wearing a black jersey like jacket with dark pink colored cuffs, collar, and bottom edge. Under her jersey, she wears a white tank top. 

She wears matching colored pants and white tennis shoes. "Who are you two and what do you want with us?" said Gwen. "Yeah! We aren't causing any trouble right?" said Wolfram. "I doubt they're guards from the Salaron Empire Wolfram since neither of them are wearing the uniform we saw earlier." said Rachel. "The woman doesn't seem that strong at least compared to the man. He isn't a slouch." thought Rachel. "Nope. We're not part of the Salaron Defense Force." said the woman.

She pointed to the man with her saying,"I was asking by my superior officer to keep an eye on this idiot since like a another moron I know, he tends to cause a scene wherever he goes. I really do want to be a Commander but no. That bastard just had to be a judge during the only Armistice Festival where I could show off to my darling Marcos.". "Seriously Bea-Chan? Why do you waste your time on such a boring guy? He's also pretty weak too." said the man.

After hearing this, Bea-Chan clenched her left fist and slammed it directly into the man's side. Her hit caused a shockwave upon impact with the man smiling. "See? You just proved my point. An exciting girl like you shouldn't waste your time on something boring like Marcos Koizumi. He may be from an important family but well, that doesn't make him interesting at all. He's completely awful." said the man. "Shut up right now Arata. If you call me Bea-Chan one more time." said Bea-Chan.

She clenched her right fist with the trio of devil, Phantom, and Sorcerer feeling Impulse forming around her fist. "You're regret it Arata." said Bea-Chan. "Okay Beatrix. You're in no way fun when you're like this." said Arata. "When Razaru asked me to come here and compete in this Armistice Festival as my last one, I was wondering if I was going to be boring but hearing that the Lunar Priestess made this trip exciting. She's here right?" said Arata, turning toward the trio from Cypress Park.

Beatrix nodded as she said,"Yes she is Arata. According to Kenta, she should be somewhere nearby and we will find her. We just need to finish up with these three first. I guess finding some of his friends is at least a little bit exciting right?". "Yep." said Arata. "Who are you two talking about? Both of you are members of the Alliance right?" said Rachel. "My name is Beatrix Gilliam and I'm a Archduchess Third Class. This idol fanboy is Arata Rathmore and he's a Archduke First Class." said Beatrix.

Gwen looked at Arata and Beatrix with her thinking,"So they're part of our competition.". "Despite one of us being an idiot, both of us are considered to be some of the favorites to win and be promote to the Commander rank at the Armistice Festival." said Beatrix. "Nice to meet you ladies and Phantom." said Arata with him performing a wai. "You didn't answer Rae's first question at all." said Wolfram. "I'm taking about the general pain in my ass Zane Alvarez." said Beatrix.

This got the group from Cypress Park's attention. "I get why everyone and their grandma likes the guy but well, I have to disagree." said Beatrix. "Wait a minute. You're the Howler Monkey aren't you?" said Wolfram with Beatrix rolling her eyes. This caused Arata to laugh. "Yep. She sure is Phantom and I'm thankful that she isn't screaming her lungs out right now because you mentioned her real name. She needs to save her sonic screech for the games coming up real soon alongside Takeshi." said Arata. 

Beatrix nodded as she said,"Indeed I am. Zane Alvarez gave me that awful nickname and tainted my reputation within the Alliance. I know that everyone claims that he'll be the one to kill Skull Plague and save the Omniverse but you don't get it. His Impulse is far too disgusting and while I haven't met him yet, I'm sure that Zane and Skull Plague are two sides of the same coin. He's more willing to forgive and trust criminals so tell me. Does that sound like a real hero to you?". 

The trio glared at her and Arata loudly sighed. "Why do you like making other beings hate you off the bat? This is why you barely have any friends. You don't like Zane we get it but the rest of us do so deal with it. You're in the minority. I only came here to see the Lunar Priestess and fight some strong beings as well. That's what Razaru promised me after all." said Arata. He began walked toward the trio with him cracking only his right hand's knuckles and his left hand was in his pocket.

Arata smiled as he said,"Since you're part of his team and family, show me if you're worth being a part of it. I plan to use only my right fist to test you three out. Zane Vincent Alvarez is part of the Alvarez Family which every member of that is an exciting being so who should I start with? I don't mind fighting beautiful girls like yourselves but I think I'll start with the Phantom first.". "Oh boy. This is going to be fun not." said Beatrix with her crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

The man took a deep breath with him looking at Wolfram. "Hey Phantom. Listen up. I'm going to ask you an important question so you better answer it." said Arata. "Okay." said Wolfram. "What's your reason for joining the Alliance?" said Arata. "Huh?" said Wolfram. "You heard me. Being a member of the Alliance is a demanding job since it requires you to face off against some really pieces of work like a group of kiddie diddlers or necrophiliacs." said Arata. 

Arata pointed his right index finger at Wolfram's chest as he said,"Other than facing off against the truly awful, you also risk your life in order to protect others. You also got to be pretty messed up in the head since well, we deal with some really disgusting crap while on the job. Ain't that right Beatrix?". "Yes you're right. While the Alliance accepts all beings, most tend to give up shortly after joining up because of that." said Beatrix.

She looked at Gwen and Rachel with her saying,"You also need to make certain sacrifices to ensure that the Omniverse can live another day. Butting heads with authority is a given especially if you're someone who plays by their own rules.". "Like Zane right?" said Arata. "Yes. While I hate Zane, I won't deny that he does some good but just get on with your question. I rather not have these newbies learn the dark side of the Alliance just yet. I like seeing the naïve after all." said Beatrix. 

Arata nodded as he said,"Same. Phantom. Tell me why you joined up with the Alliance. Let me tell you why. I got two reasons. Reason #1. I joined the Alliance to find something exciting to spend my time on before I eventually pass on to the Astral Realm hopefully. Reason #2. I joined the Alliance to find the being I want to spend the rest of my life on! Tell me why you joined already Phantom!". "Um. I don't really get your first reason but I sorta of get the second reason." said Wolfram.

The man smiled as he said,"That's good! I don't care about the gender of my destined being since love is something that makes life exciting! So since I told you my reasons for joining, tell me yours. If I don't like your answer, you'll regret ever meeting up with Zane whose actions eventually lead you to me! I really want to get back to find the Lunar Priestess. I really love a beautiful woman whose body rivals Aphrodite herself and kick some serious ass!".

After he said that, Wolfram turned to Gwen and Rachel. "Um. Do I really have to answer him? I just met the guy today. That type of question is for someone you've known for a long time right?" said Wolfram. "Seriously?" said Arata. "He has a point you know. Wolfram isn't the type to really think about why he does the thing he does. He goes with his Essence. You should have directed your question to someone like Danny. He'll have an answer for you." said Gwen.

The man looked at the girls and then the Phantom. "You really don't get it do you? I just laid my soul out to you and this is how you play me? We haven't fought yet but once you give me a reason, we'll be pals so answer me. A person's likes and dislikes reveals everything about them. Having something unique about you is better than generic or vanilla. I like things that excite me rather than the plain or boring ones like Marcos Koizumi." said Arata.

He was hit in the back of the head by Beatrix with her saying,"Leave him out of this Arata.". "Fine. For some reason that I can't really explain, she likes Marcos Koizumi. I can see why since he's attractive and that's important to some girls but to anyone with a single braincell, his personality is crap and not worth the trouble of being with him. No one from that family is but most beings are often attracted to those with power I guess." said Arata     

Arata slammed his right fist into his chest as he said,"Living life the boring way is the worst! Life is only worth living is things are exciting! The Armistice Festival is where I can normally find exciting stuff and hopefully, my last one will be worth leaving Razaru's teaching. I'm going to ace this one too and be closer to her level by becoming a Commander so I want this festival to be an exciting one.". "So what is he talking about?" whispered Rachel. "I have no idea." whispered Gwen.  

Beatrix looked at Arata with her knowing that he was getting angry. "I want to meet with the Lunar Priestess so answer me Wolfram! Tell me your reason for joining the Alliance already! If you do that, I make sure you leave here with only a few injuries." said Arata. "I get why you want to know that but why should I tell you? I honestly don't know myself." said Wolfram. "So since Wolfram isn't going to be answering your question, how about you answer my question instead?" said Rachel.

She pointed at Beatrix with her saying,"Why don't you like Zane? Let me guess. It's because he deemed unworthy of moving up or maybe it's because he's a much better protector of the Alliance compared to you.". "Okay. I think I know how to answer your question Arata." said Wolfram. "You do?" said Arata with him smiling. "I'm not be like you since finding someone to spend the rest of my life or something exciting isn't why I joined the Alliance." said Wolfram.

He clenched his fists as he said,"When I first came to be, I didn't know anything at all but then I met Zane and he brought me into my family. The reason I joined the Alliance is to become someone who'll protect others regardless if they're good or bad. Just like Zane and I want to be just like him. I'll judge others based off their actions and whatever my Essence tells me is right.". "Not a bad answer. If you said big boobs or ass, you would have been punished." said Beatrix. "Thanks I think." said Wolfram.

Arata loudly sighed as he said,"I guess I was right about you. You're nothing more than his pet and not at all exciting. I thought you would be like him but well, get ready to pay for your boringness.". In less than a second, Arata appeared in front of Wolfram and slammed his fist directly square in the Phantom's face. Due to fast Arata moved, Wolfram didn't even have a chance to dodge it and sent flying with that single blow. 

Wolfram went right through the bubbledyra, causing it to pop and was sent flying right through several trees. He eventually hit the ground, making a noticeable divot and landed in some bushes. Wolfram wiped away the blood from his nose and saw that Arata's punch sent him back five feet. "That was from a single punch? How strong is this guy?" thought Wolfram. "Wolfram!" shouted Gwen and Rachel as they were going to help him fight Arata. 

Before the two could do anything, Beatrix smiled. "Sorry ladies but you won't be helping that poor Phantom." said Beatrix. Gwen turned to her as Beatrix sighed. "Don't get me wrong. You three are strong but well, Arata is on a whole other level. Once Arata sets his sights on someone or something regardless of what he feels, pretty much nothing can stop him. The only beings I would say stand a chance are those who are Commander Second Class." said Beatrix. 

She smiled as she said,"Some beings who can do this are Blythe Higashi, Duncan Acevedo, Razaru Yukimura, or Zane Alvarez can stop him without causing too much property damage. So instead of fighting a pointless battle where you'll most likely die, stay here and play with me instead.". The Sorceress made Slicer appeared and was getting ready to fight her. She may not be on the same level as the Maelstrom Trinity but she's stronger than your average Sorcerer. 

However, she didn't get a chance. "Gwen. Go find Danny and you two help Wolfram if you can. I'm sure she wasn't kidding about how strong that weirdo was. I can fight her." said Rachel. "Are you sure?" said Gwen. "Yep. My mom and Gayle told me something that stuck when I was a little girl. Once a devil finds the being that they want to spend their lives with, they become stronger. When I heard about you from Zane, I wanted to fight you." said Rachel.

Ardor formed around her fists with her saying,"You managed to say some crap about the being I love and well, I'm not letting you get away from here without a couple of bruises on your masculine looking face bitch.". "Oh. I think it's time you learn to respect your superiors." said Beatrix with her focusing Impulse and this caused Rachel to focus on her. Gwen looked at her friend and nodded before vanishing in a burst of lagoon blue Animus.

With Wolfram, he shook off the bushes that covered him and saw Arata walking toward him. He was missing his overcoat, exposing his muscular frame. His left hand was still in his pants pocket. "Like the rest of your species, you have a stronger than normal form of Impulse but you're so damn boring. I really want to see if you were like Zane but no. You just had to be like the rest of your kind. So damn boring." said Arata. "Seriously? Why did I have to meet someone like this guy today?" said Wolfram.

Due to him promising Zane that he wasn't causing trouble, he left behind Zane's latest invention for him in his hotel room and wasn't prepared for a fight. "So I got to ask you something before you beat the crap out of me." said Wolfram, slowly standing back up. "Oh. You're actually standing back up after taking one of my punches. Color me a tad impressed. Still think you're boring but hey, not many get up after surviving my punch. Go ahead and hit me back." said Arata.

The Phantom looked at Arata with him saying,"Be honest. Do you really think I wouldn't notice that punch of yours was you holding back?". "Huh?" said Arata. "You heard me. I may not be the best when it comes to sensing how strong an opponent is but your punch earlier was you holding back. I may not know strong a Commander is compared to an Archduke or a Knight but I'm sure about one thing. You were holding back." said Wolfram.

Arata looked at Wolfram with him smiling. "You're correct. I wanted to see if you have something exciting about you and you do but you're a majority boring. The other reason why I didn't use my full strength on you is because I'm still regaining back my strength after a mission me and Zane went on earlier in the year." said Arata. "You and Zane went together on a mission?" said Wolfram. "Yep. Me and him are best friends since unlike you, he's exciting." said Arata.

The man clenched his right fist as he said,"This mission is something you can read about but well, it was one of the most exciting fights I've ever been a part on. I had to use most of my Impulse to handle it and just one of my special tricks.". "I may be pretty good at hand to hand combat but this guy. He's on a whole other level. I need to keep my distance from him and maybe, I can survive this without a decade in the hospital." thought Wolfram as Arata smiled.

He reappeared behind Wolfram with Wolfram turning around. "He moves so fast!" thought Wolfram as he was grabbed by Arata with just his right arm. "I had a feeling this was the freaking case but now, it's official." said Arata. Wolfram was tossed into the air and Arata jumped after him. He clenched his right fist and made it come down on Wolfram's head like a gavel hitting a sound block. This sent Wolfram into the ground and creating a earthquake. 

Wolfram was buried in the ground and before he could do anything, his face was grabbed by Arata. In a single action, he pulled Wolfram right out of the ground and slammed him right into the wall of a viewing platform/observation deck. "I'm not done with you dogbreath." said Arata with him smiling. He grabbed Wolfram and tossed him right through the viewing platform which had ten floors. Wolfram was flying through the air with his face covered in blood. 

Arata landed on the platform with him sighing. "Yep. You're a real boring bastard. I hope the other one is worth my time." said Arata. Before he could continue the beatdown, he looked down to see that his arm, chest, and legs were encased in white Nether chains. "Seriously? This is nothing!" said Arata with him breaking all of the chains with a single move of his neck. "If you seriously think I'm boring, I can't wait to prove you wrong." said Wolfram, turning into his werewolf form.

Before Arata could do anything, he heard,"Hands off my dog Arata. We may be friends but you should know that hurting my friends is something you're regret.". The duo of Arata and Wolfram looked to see Zane appear in front of Arata and his left fist was currently implanted into Arata's face. "Fly. Baryon Punch." said Zane as his left fist was covered in a vibrant and destructive platinum color.  Arata was sent flying and his body was covered in energy chains similar to the color that was around Zane's fist.

Arata slammed into the ground with him smiling. "Zane! It's so good to see you again old friend! We need to have a spar soon! I always knew you were exciting but becoming a Jaeger is really making me excited! Your Impulse is even stronger than before!" said Arata as he slowly tried to stand up. The chains prevent him from moving with Zane sighing. "Seriously? You and the howler monkey couldn't wait until the festival. It's in a few days so be patient or else I have to teach you a lesson." said Zane. 

It was obvious to both Arata and Wolfram that Zane wasn't joking. "Okay then. How about you remove the chains and I can be on my merry way? I really don't want to miss my chance on meeting the Lunar Priestess." said Arata. "Fine." said Zane. The chains disappeared and Arata stood back up, stretching. "I got to be honest. Even though you're a copy of Zane, you aren't boring like your dog is. I hope someone in your group is exciting." said Arata as he watched Zone's Impulse return back to him.

Wolfram glared at Arata with Arata smiling. "See. That anger of yours is exciting but over all, you're nothing but a follower. Find your own path to work rather than following a path that someone else already created. Later." said Arata. He jumped away with Zone turned around and seeing Wolfram doing the same thing but in his dog form. "Yep. This is turning out to be a perfect vacation. Not." said Zone as he vanished. 

Back with Beatrix and Rachel. "If you're going to talk big devil, make sure you can back it up." said Beatrix who looked down at the devil who was lightly bruised. "You just got lucky bitch. I'm just getting started." said Rachel. "I highly doubt that." said Beatrix. She was about to continue her attack but was stopped by a furry five fingered paw. "Now now ladies. I really don't want to see any fighting before the festival so play nice." said a calm, friendly voice.

The two females turned around to see Danny and Gwen with a unique looking being standing behind them. This unique looking being was the one who stopped Beatrix. It look to be around eight feet tall with it having a beast like appearance to him. It's build is muscular with it being a hybrid of several types of animals. These animals are bear, gorilla, lion, and tiger with it looking to be male. His body is covered from top to bottom in black fur. 

He has white stripes over his arms and legs with his chest, face, the palms of his hands, and the soles of his feet being a peach color. He has a messy looking Moroccan blue/Chefchaouen blue mane with parts of his hair in the shape of a pair of panda ears. He does has two horns protruding from his head. He has sharp olive green colored eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, pronounced canine teeth, and nails that looked claws. He has four arms ,with five fingers on each hand, and ten toes.

Over his chest, he wears a gray knee-length leather sleeveless jacket. This jacket exposes his four fluffy but muscular arms. He wears a red shirt with a gold panda symbol on it. He wears brown jeans and sandals. He wears a gold choker around his neck. On his back, he has a large metal battle-axe. The head of this axe is engraved with the exact same symbol as his shirt and the handle looked to be made out of a bamboo like substance. This axe looks to be about half the height as the animal looking being.

Beatrix looked at the creature with her saying,"Kenta. What are you doing here? I thought you were looking for the Lunar Priestess.". "I was and I found her before I ran into him." said Kenta, pointing to Danny. "He was looking for his friend Leonardo who I think is currently a bat right now. I think he's the younger cousin of Percy but well, I'm here to stop you from pissing off the Jaeger who works with the Alliance on his accord rather than being hired too. Oh and I found him Danny." said Kenta.

Danny looked at Kenta with him saying,"Thanks big guy. Sorry about punching you earlier.". "It's all good. I scared you with my appearance but well, that's in the past." said Kenta. Gwen helped Rachel up with her saying,"Are you okay Rae?". "Yeah. I'm fine. She just got lucky." said Rachel. "Yeah right. I may not get why Zane would pick someone like you to marry since well, you're not too strong. I wonder if those six would have been stronger than you but I can't ask them since they're dead." said Beatrix.

Rachel growled at her with Danny shaking his head. "I guess you were right about her hating Zane huh Kenta. Never seen someone hate him this much before. Even his enemies have some begrudging respect for him." said Danny, thinking about Basalt and Thomas respectively. "Yep. She and Marcos have a serious hate boner for him. I get why both of them don't like him but well, I do find it rather petty since Zane is a good guy. So are you ready to go?" said Kenta.

Beatrix shook her head as she said,"I would but well, Arata isn't back from putting down the dog.". "He is going to be fine since he's an Alvarez. You on the other hand." said Danny with him putting the tip of his Ghostly Broadsword right against Beatrix's neck. "You won't be leaving here without a couple of scars on your moderately attractive face. Bringing up the dead like that wasn't your best move." said Danny with his eyes glowing azure blue.

Instead of being scared, Beatrix laughed. "Oh. Did I touch a nerve? Do note that even though you have more Impulse than me, I know a great deal about you thanks to what the Alliance knows about you. So bring it on." said Beatrix. "Oh. I'm not going to do anything to you. You really should know that the Alvarez family is resilient especially the women. Care to show her Rae?" said Danny. Beatrix looked confused before she was punched in the face by Rachel.

Kenta watched as Rachel's simple but very powerful punch sent Beatrix to the ground and her face was damaged. Some of her teeth had been knocked out as well. "Yep. She's definitely the perfect being for Zane. There is no doubt about that." thought Kenta. "That's for underestimating me and mocking my friends." said Rachel, looking down on her. A vein appeared on Beatrix's face with her saying,"Bring it on bitch!". 

The two were about to start a fight with Arata appearing and holding both of them in the air. "Where did he come from? I didn't sense or see him appear." thought Dante. "Calm down you two. Even though I like me a good cat fight especially when two sexy beauties are involved, we're leaving right now. You did find her right Kenta? Oh. I found my coat lucky me right." said Arata, wearing his coat he had discarded earlier.

Gwen looked at Arata with her saying,"Where is Wolfram?". "Don't know. He ran off after a clone of Zane showed up and stopped us from fighting. A good thing he did since beating up someone so boring ain't worth it. I think his pride is broken through." said Arata. "Zane was here? I didn't sense him here at all." said Rachel. "Nope. It was a clone of his. You really need to learn the difference between your man and his body double already." said Arata.

After saying that, Arata looked at Danny and Rachel with him smiling. "Yep. I can see that there are some beings that make this festival exciting. Don't let me down you two. So Beatrix. Making some new friends?" said Arata as Beatrix kicked him in the side. "As if. I really hope we face off in the Armistice Festival because I want you to teach you a lesson in respect bitch." said Beatrix. Rachel smirked as she flipped her off and this caused Beatrix to clench her teeth in anger. 

Before she could do anything, she was once again grabbed by Kenta. "Sometimes you can be a real idiot Beatrix. One of the smartest women in the Alliance but you let your emotions take the weird more often than not. Lets get going and yes Arata. I found the Lunar Priestess and she's currently doing an event for her fans nearby our current location. If you...." said Kenta. "I'm pretty sure he didn't here you after you said you found her. He's a real weirdo isn't he?" said Danny. 

Kenta noticed that his friend was long gone at this point with him loudly sighing. "Yes he is but he is a good guy. Someone I can trust having my back. Most powerful beings are a little screwy as all of you are aware." said Kenta. He was walking around with her still holding Beatrix. "You three better get ready to taste reality since we won't holding back on anyone of you knights." said Beatrix. "Bring it you bitch." said Rachel. 

The two were gone as Danny looked at the girls. "So lets go find Leo and Wolfram. This has really been a great vacation." said Danny. "Right." said the girls. As the three went off to go find their friends, the trio didn't noticed that they were being watched by a single male. This being is extremely tall with him easily being over 6 feet tall, has a muscular body, tan colored skin, chiseled face, a wide nose, and full lips.

He has brown hair going down to his shoulders and doesn't have any wrinkles around his face and brown eyes. He has a long beard, a joking expression on his face, and hairy legs. He's wearing a dark green and white striped long sleeved shirt with dark blue ,with brown fur lining around the base, spiked shoulder pads that wouldn't be too far out of place on a football player and black pants. He wears no shoes but does wears a white Centurion style helmet with a red plume.    

The man had a cell phone in his hand. "Yes. Three members from Blythe's group, two members from Duncan's group, and three members from Razaru's group have met up with Zane's group. What do you want us to do Mistress? My brother is with the outlier." said the man. "Did anyone of them see you or your brother Hayato?" said the voice on the other end. "Nope. Neither I or my brother were spotted. Not even your former student Arata or Kenta could spot us." said Hayato.

On the other end, he heard a loud sigh. "Sometimes. Youth these days may not have manners or respect for their elders but they have talent their elders didn't. Those two are supposed to be some of the better students. There is no doubt that both of them along with Blythe, Duncan, Kyoko, and Sabik are part of the generation that will lead the Omniverse to a peaceful future lead by the current Zero. Meet up with your brother Hayate and head back home." said the voice.

Hayato blinked as he said,"But I thought you wanted us to test out these Alliance members to see if the one is here. Excluding Arata and Kenta of course.". "Yes I am but I'm already here and plan to meet that one soon. I wasn't going to but well, I was asked to come here by two powerful beings. Those two usually never come out to visit except when it comes to matters involving the Omniverse as you're well aware." said the voice.

Before Hayato could say anything, the voice said,"However, the fact that neither you or your brother sensed me means one thing.". "More training. Lucky us." said Hayato. "Good. Now get going. I don't want either of you here when I met up with ." said the voice. The voice hanged up as Hayato bowed to no one. "Right Mistress." said Hayato, looking up as he was gone in a burst of of Impulse. No other beings beside two others managed to sense this Impulse.

As the majority of Team Maelstrom was meeting up with their competition for the upcoming Armistice Festival, the duo of Arya and Zane were heading to the throne room where the other Alliance agents or members who were Commander Fourth Class and above rank were. "So I got to ask you something important Thanh." said Zane. "What is it Legion Zero?" said Thanh. "You don't mind she's doing this and please stop calling me Legion Zero. I like to be called Zane." said Zane.

He was pointed to the Commander who was currently sitting in a bubble gaming chair. This was created to a bubble accordion. It was moving her throughout the castle and Thanh smiled. "It's fine. She isn't the first being to use a bubble accordion for movement. My sister does it all the time in her shows and I'll try to call you by Zane but it won't be easy." said Thanh. "Why? I mean if you call him Zane, you only have to say four letters instead of ten letters with Legion Zero." said Arya.

Zane shaking his head as Arya saying,"You're totally shaving seconds off your life span by speaking a lot of letters once.". "I really don't think he cares about how many letters he says in a single sentence like you sometimes do. Public speaking isn't a speedrun Arya." said Zane. "But it could be. You just need to put in the effort of learning to count the amount of letters you speak. You can't deny me that partner." said Arya. "Oh I can." said Zane. 

Before the two could begin arguing, Thanh stopped them. "It's simple really. I was raised to properly address guests and those who are superior to me. I considered both you and Commander Third Class Seraphina to be superior so I should be addressing you properly." said Thanh. The duo of Arya and Zane looked at each other before turning toward Thanh who smiled. "So is this type of behavior normal for you Zane?" said Arya. 

Zane sighed as he said,"Yeah. I may not like it but I'm more or less getting used to it at this point.". "I guess that is a good thing." said Arya. "However, I know that both of you, the two Commander First Class, and the other Shogun don't like to be addressed by your titles. I presume that they're friends with the two of you since they seem to react positively when the queen mentioned that you were coming here after saving her daughter." said Thanh.

He smiled as he said,"Most of them like them except for an Archduke and Archduchess. Do you know them by chance?". "Yeah. I do and knowing my luck like I do, this is going to be an interesting Armistice Festival." said Zane. "Uh huh." said Arya. "I see. We're here." said Thanh. The trio were in front of a door with Arya looking down at her bubble chair and deflated it with her standing right next to Zane. "So why did you deflate your bubble chair Arya?' said Thanh.

Thanh was slowly opening the door as he said,"The queen really doesn't mind since our kingdom is filled to the brim with bubbles.". "Because me and Zane are partners ever since 2021. If I sit in my chair, I really don't feel like we're on a equal level." said Arya. "Yep. It's a simple reason but works in my book." said Zane. "I see. I'm really thankful that the Alliance agents who are here are an example of the good the Alliance brings rather than the bad." said Thanh. 

Arya got on her tiptoes with her whispering,"So do you think he know about Marcos's very awful personality?". "I highly doubt it since the Koizumi family is often seen as the saviors of the Omniverse like the Alvarez family but like Ezlario, he'll find out in due time." whispered Zane. The door opened as Thanh walked in with Arya and Zane going after her. "I've return your highness. It seems that the final twelve contestants have finally arrived." said Thanh.

In the room, Zane looked up to see three females and three males with one of the females sitting on a throne while a male and another female stood by her side like a knight would. Zane presumed that the woman sitting on her throne is the current queen of the Salaron Empire, former Watcher, and the mother to both Michelle and Thanh. Her name is Umiko aka the Sea Dragon. Unlike her children, she looks to be more of a mermaid. She looks to be six feet tall. 

Her skin is fair much like her children but the upper half of her body is that of a beautiful human woman and the lower half of her body is that of a fish like tail which is a pearl color. Fitting her royal title, she has regal and refined featured with long ,going slightly past her hips and looking to be made out of water rather than hair, sky blue and amber colored eyes. Her fish like ears are a mixture of purple and yellow with the lower half being a yellow color and the upper half being a purple color.  

For clothing, she wears a salmon colored sleeveless kimono. Her kimono exposes her white strapless sea shell bra but it isn't in a slutty manner. She wears a long white cape going to her waist and attached to her kimono by golden sea shells. On her head, she wears a golden crown decorated with several gemstones. Unlike most kingdoms, their ruler is decided from its three primary protectors known as the Watcher. Umiko was selected to rule and her son Thanh took her place among the Watchers. 

This is due to him being trained by the other two Watchers rather than him being Umiko's son since she mainly focused on Michelle rather Thanh. Umiko is well known for her friendly and generous nature with her accepting every being into her kingdom and promote friendship between other species. She's very devoted to the welfare of her people and often pushes herself too far much to the worry of those close to her. 

However if you make her mad, she'll turn into a completely different person where she'll attack anything that moves. Despite not having legs and would normally require a bubble accordion to move around, she's able to move at incredible speed and has great reflexes. She is well known for her ability to manipulate water and possess a vast amount of Impulse. She has the ability to understand the feelings of others and predict the future. 

Compared to the Astral Priestess, her future predication isn't something that she can rely on completely with it requiring completely focus in order for her to use. Another thing Umiko is known for her is her weapon known as Nirvana. It's a golden ,made out of a metal and coral hybrid, trident with the prongs being segmented. It's covered in reddish white thorns. This weapon is given to each ruler of the Salaron Empire with it being a symbol of their leadership and bonded to their bodies. 

Upon becoming the next ruler of the Salaron Empire, the Watcher is given a unique gold crown shaped tattoo somewhere on their body. If she wants to make it appear, Umiko's tattoo glows and parts of her body turns into tentacles with the trident appearing shortly after. This weapon is mainly used for melee combat and used for stabbing. It can manipulate Impulse and turn Umiko's water into different elements despite her water looking normal. 

Nirvana's prongs has the ability to turn into tentacles and can be used to grab someone nearby it. The prongs can also turn into gun barrels, firing out Impulse bullets in a similar manner to a machine gun or a shotgun. Like Rythos's hammer, this weapon doesn't work for anyone who isn't the ruler of Salaron Empire past or present. If someone does use this spear without being the ruler of the Salaron Empire at any point in time, they will get poisoned by the thorns that cover it.

The duo that's standing nearby Umiko are the two other Watchers alongside Thanh. The female Watcher is known as the Swordfish and her name is Orbel. Orbel is a fairly tall woman with her looking to be human compared to the duo of Thanh and Umiko. She has fair skin with her looking more like a model compared to a royal guard. She has dusty rose colored hair and golden brown eyes. Her hair is usually tied back into a bun but whenever she lets her hair down, it goes down to her shoulders. 

Her hair usually hides her ears from sight. She has her womanly curves hidden yet exposed underneath her clothing. She wears a black sleeveless backless top with mesh armor underneath and tight gray pants that go up to her knees. Any part of her legs that wasn't covered by her pants is covered by white bandages and brown pirate styled boots. Fitting her name as the Swordfish, she has two cutlass hanging from a white belt strapped around her waist. Her white belt has a dusty rose swordfish pattern. 

She wears purple arm guards and brown gloves. Compared to Thanh and Umiko, Orbel's achievements are less impressive but still noteworthy. Her speed is impressive since she can outrace one of Thanh's thunder bolts which are known to move faster than normal thunder to begin with. The male Watcher is known as the Wobbegong and his name is Romulus.  Romulus is a tall, yet muscular man with him being slightly taller than the trio of Orbel, Thanh, and Umiko. 

He has a handsome looking face with spiky chin length dirty gray hair, sharp looking eyebrows, and ocean blue eyes. He wears a white long sleeve dress shirt, a green and gray plaid tie, and blue jeans. He wears brown loafers. Over his hands, he wears a pair of white gloves. He wears sapphire blue arm guards, breast plate, and shin guards. He has a black cape. He wears a pair of large circular glasses and a choker around his neck. 

On his back, he carries a large broadsword and has a straight narrow sword in its sheath on his right side. Romulus is well known for his analytical nature and tends to be the most professional out of the three current Watchers. He's able to keep a cool head in most situations. The other three beings weren't members of the Salaron Empire but the Alliance and two of them are Commander First Class, a rank below Zane. The final one is a Shogun aka the same rank as Zane

Instead of it being two females and one male, it was the reverse. Lets start with the Shogun. His name is Razaru Yukimura. He is a very large golden brown tanned skin man with him having a tank-like, bulky figure. He looks to be about seven feet tall with him sticking out in a crowd. He has incredibly massive muscles. He has black hair with parts of it graying due to his age, looks somewhat like a mullet, and goes to the middle of his back. 

He has red eyes and a bit of a stubble with parts of his body covered in navy blue scales. He wears a white button up short sleeve knee length jacket with it held open to show off his muscular chest and toned abs. He wears a dark brown pinstripe tie alongside a golden hip flask with the latter being some kind of necklace. He wears casual black pants and scuffed up brown boots/dress shoes. He wears gold bracelets over his wrists that turn into gauntlets. 

On his head, he wears a black bowler hat with a red feather coming out of its left side. Razaru Yukimura has been in the Alliance for a very long time and he's often seen an older brother/father figure to several beings over time. He's the leader of Team Crossbone Buccaneers and this team only consists of males so it's a sausage fest. This team mainly consist of those who are considered to be misfits of society or those who are considered to be trouble for the Omniverse if left unchecked. 

We'll learn about his team later on but for right now, we still have the two Commanders left. The female is a Commander First Class. Her name is Blythe Higashi, a member of the Maiden Clan. She's a beautiful woman and 5 foot 11. She has pale skin with a creamy tone and has no blemishes. She has long and curly dark red hair going down to the middle of her back/waist in a wavy fashion. She has warm yet striking hazel eyes. She has a heart shaped face with a small nose and small yet pouty lips. 

She wears a shade of red lipstick. Despite being a very beautiful woman, Zane was fully aware of how strong she was since she was trained by his maternal grandmother, managed to and could be considered one of her best warriors. She has an incredibly toned stomach, perfectly proportioned hips, hourglass figure, perfectly round and firm rear end, and shapely breasts. She wears a tight sleeveless black spandex long sleeved turtleneck top that exposes her shoulders, her assets, and stomach. 

Her shirt draws the attention of every man nearby her. Her shirt makes it obvious that she trains extensively every day alongside her toned and defined muscles. She wears gray spandex style pants that have a sheath belted around her waist and holds a noticeable sharp looking katana. She wears brown sandals. Over her chest, she wears a red armored vest and arm guards over her arms. She wears a pair of brown fingerless gloves. 

Blythe hasn't been in the Alliance for too long since she only joined in 2021 and this was because her leader aka Lauren wanted the perfect woman to represent the Maiden Clan within the Alliance. She also wanted someone to keep an eye on her grandson who was still recovering from the Massacre at the time and Blythe fit the bill. She tends to have trouble around most men since she isn't used to them and for a while, Zane was the only one she could talk to without too much problem.

This was due to him being her leader's grandchild but mainly due to him being an Eazairvian who has no defined gender. She later got close to another Commander and the two are often seen together as a hot couple with the two none the wiser. Like Razaru, she leads a team and it's called the Valkyries. Due to it consisting of only women, the name was a perfect fit. Our final Commander is Duncan Acevedo who is a descendant of the first Zero Ryoka Xasius and the seventh zero Vito Xasius. 

He looks to be twenty six years aka Kurt's age and 6 foot 3 aka Lucius's height. He has a slender yet muscular figure like a track runner with him having a handsome appearance and dark colored skin. He has a slouched posture. He has a strong looking face. Due to him looking like similar to Ryoka and Vito, he shares the same hair color with the two Zeroes aka azure blue hair. His azure blue hair is medium length/ear to chin length with his bangs covering his right eye. 

Duncan has a pair of lazy yet intimating charcoal blue eyes. This is something Ryoka had as well but wasn't well known due to her always wearing that dragon themed mask of her. These eyes have the power to stare into you and make it impossible to hide anything from. He wears a black blazer with three white stripes on the sleeves. His blazer's sleeves are actually mesh armor and rolled up to just before his elbows. 

He wears an azure v-neck sleeveless shirt under his blazer. He also wears a white tie. He wears gray pants with a black utility belt and his belt has two bags on each side. He wears black boots that have spikes on the bottom of them and are used for travel in mountainous regions. He wears elbow-length metal arm guards/tekkou and shin guards. He wears azure blue fingerless gloves. Around his neck, he wears a black and crimson red ornamental choker that has a dragon pattern etched into it. 

This is a not subtle reference to Ryoka's mask. On his right shoulder, he has a tattoo of a tiger's face roaring inside of a spiral. Like his ancestor Vito, Duncan carries a weapon on his person. He has a long sword/katana on his back and holster ,filled with several different types of throwing weapons, strapped to his left leg. He has a red headband wrapped his forehead. His headband is to hide a nasty stitch-like scar that runs across his forehead. 

He got this scar from his encounter with a member of the Odium Society and a member of Exodus. The seven members of Exodus are each named after one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Due to how serious his injury was, it made him forget which sin he fought again but Duncan knows one thing about this member. He was incredibly strong and isn't someone you should take lightly. In his mouth most of the time, he has a lollipop stick resting in there. 

This is due to him having a major sweet tooth and love to have something sweet in his mouth whenever he can. He's often considered to be one of the strongest swordsmen within the Alliance with him mainly using his sword to slash through anything with great strength rather than great speed. He's well known throughout the Omniverse mainly due to who he descends for. In terms of his skills, he's easily on par with some of the best agents within the Alliance.

He has been offered the rank of Shogun several times, making him the six and final Shogun but Duncan refused it every single time. He has two reasons for doing this being that one of them is complicated and other one is simple. The first reason aka the complicated one is that he wants to find the being who managed to scar him and bring him to justice. This may seem simple but the fact he forget which sin he was fighting is how this reason got complicated. 

The second aka the simple reason is that he wants to be able to defeat Zane. It was mainly because he wanted to see how strong he is compared to his ancestors Ryoka and Vito. Those two are legendary champions and their descendant only wanted to make them proud. When Zane was still working with the Alliance, he offer to ask both Xasius what they thought about him. Duncan refused since he wanted to prove his strength to them through a fight and made Zane promise not to tell them about this.

However, Duncan didn't know about both Xasius hearing what he said thanks to them being the closest Zeroes to Zane at the time. After hearing this, Ryoka and Vito mentioned how they were interested to see how their family line ended up and were proud of how it ended up. Zane didn't mention this to Duncan since he didn't want to break the promise he made with his friend. Duncan will only become Shogun once he managed to do both of these things. 

Razaru looked at the duo of Arya and Zane with him forming a big smile on his face. "Arya! Zane! It's good to see you again my friends!" said Razaru with him having a silky smooth deep voice. He began walking toward them with Arya squealing and hiding behind Zane. "Zane! The tanned one is here. You need to keep him away! Use Albionto get rid of him!" said Arya in a fast pitch tone. "Um no. Despite Razaru being scary to you, he's still my friend and I won't use Albion on my friends." said Zane.

Duncan smirked as he said in a somewhat monotone voice,"Unless they're being mind controlled or ask for your full power am I right Zane?". "Probably except he'll only use it on beings like either Darin or Theron. Gods forbid if either of them get mind controlled one day." said Blythe. "Yeah. Albion looks pretty strong. You made Basalt the Molten Decimator look pathetic even though he would make someone on my level sweat." said Duncan. "You made a pun!" said Arya. "I did? Sorry." said Duncan.

Blythe shook her head as she said,"I don't think that's an issue with her Duncan.". "Yeah. The little miss loves a good joke. Oh Zane. You should probably know that Arata will probably want a spar with you since you're here and stronger. Not saying that you weren't the last time I saw you." said Razaru. "That is Arata. I have a feeling that he and the Howler Monkey have already made contacted with my friends along with Calista, Dylan, Kenta, Kyoko, Lucia, and Percy." said Zane. 

Arya blinked and looked up at him. "Wait. How did you know this? Is your hyper hearing picking up on them?" said Arya. "Nope. I just have a gut feeling so I sent a clone or two out just in case something caused the Salaron Empire a fair deal of property damage. Really didn't want to be blamed for it. We should go say hi to the queen since she is letting all of us stay here." said Zane. "It's fine Legion Zero and Seraphina. I don't mind at all since I've heard great things about the both of you." said Umiko.

While still behind Zane, Arya blinked with her saying,"Even me? What have Blythe, Duncan, and the tanned one here? If the tanned one said anything, don't believe him. He's a liar!". "Well, I've heard more about your partner since Michelle was saved by him and his fiancée but you were mentioned as a great agent as well." said Umiko. "Yeah. I can't believe we had to rely on outside help in order to bring her back home." said Orbel. 

Romulus looked at her as he said,"It's no problem right? You're just mad that we had to talk with Apollo.". "Why did you have to contact him of all beings? I rather deal with the walking disaster Darin or the maniac swordsmen Theron than him." said Orbel. "So she dated Apollo right?" whispered Arya to Thanh. "Yes. I've never seen her so happy and angry at such a being." said Thanh. "Yeah. I may be friends with the guy but he's awful about being in a relationship with a woman." said Zane.

Arya looked at Zane with her saying,"Aren't you in a harem right now?". "Yes but I honestly can't tell if the twins considered me their boyfriend. Whenever I allude to it, one of them punches me mainly due to the other one teasing her about it. Complicated to an outsider's perspective but straightforward to an insider." said Zane. "What about the sexy spy Zane? Rae may be really sexy in that suit of hers but Alyssa. Her curves are wow." said Arya. "It's complicated with her." said Zane.

In due time, Arya and Zane were leaving the castle. "I really can't believe how different this Armistice Festival is going to be. I've only seen a couple of them thanks to Lucas and my mom showing me some festivals before in the past but this one will be interesting. So I know this is a dumb question but are you over it yet Zane?" said Arya. "Why did she have to get rid of the preliminary elimination round? It isn't the same without it." grumbled Zane.

He crossed his arms as he muttered out,"At least, we'll keep the survival game even though it has been heavily butchered with one of Theron's swords.". "Hey Havoc or Matrix. Mind snapping Zane out of his muttering? We don't have Rae here to snap him out of it." said Arya. "I got it." said Matrix with her shocking Zane. "Thanks Matrix. Sorry about that Arya." said Zane. "It's fine Zane. I think by this point in our relationship, I'm used to your muttering." said Arya.

Zane nodded as he said,"Yeah. I get why she did that though but still, I really like seeing the agents use their brains instead of their brawn.". "True but like I said earlier, the one on one fights are what the Omniverse tunes into it. We only have thirty two contestants competing in this festival rather than the average amount of two hundred fifty contestants. Like I told the tanned one, the first two rounds are not needed because of the numbers." said Arya.

She pushed up her glasses as she said,"Like my mom said once, the Armistice Fesitval is to show off the best of the best rather than the mediocre.". "Yeah. That's what my brothers told me about the Armistice Festival before I saw one for myself. I just wanted to see my friends compete in an obstacle course and show off their intelligence." said Zane. "I get that and well, do you really think Efren would do good at showing off how smart he is? He managed to get his ass kicked by a little girl right?" said Arya.

Zane sighed as he said,"While Efren may not be the smartest being around, he isn't a complete idiot and that little girl was Kyoko. She was one of the most impressive students of Arcadia U alongside Dylan who is the Prime Dimension counterpart to the living lightbulb I fought a few weeks ago.". "Wait. You told me about your adventure with that sexy spy and how you met the female Warrior. The walking nuclear powerplant is Dylan's counterpart?" said Arya. 

The Cross Species shook his head as he said,"No. The other guy I fought is. The cocky being who I brought to Ezlario inside of a peanut butter jar. That was priceless. I can understand how you would get the two confused. Beings that can manipulate light and nuclear can totally both align the nickname of lightbulb. And calling Mel the female Warrior makes too much sense. I wonder how she and Chad are doing. Those two used to be friends back in the day and possibly lovers.". 

Arya nodded as she said,"So those two are like you and Rae?". "Sorta of. According to Alyssa, Chad wanted to be in a relationship with her but never had the chance to ask her out. They were in a war and just before he could, Mel was sent to another dimension and was in a state of suspended animation for over seventy years. She just recently returned back to her home and well, she is learning about what she has missed in that time." said Zane.    

The hacker looked at her best friend with her saying,"So to switch topics, are we going to keep what will happen during this festival a secret from our friends? I think the others are since they have a strong disadvantage.". "I guess we should since it'll keep them on their toes and expect the unexpected but this festival is different. The kingdom is going to announce the first round tomorrow so I don't see a problem with telling them." said Zane.

Arya smiled as she said,"Yeah. I mean Leo and Wolfram need to get their payback on Percy and Arata respectively. They may not fight them but still. We have to support our friends whatever way we can. So I got to ask Zane. Did you know about Leo and Percy being related? I certainly didn't until I saw a side by side comparison of the two on my laptop.". "Nope. It should have been obvious but well, the horns threw me off." said Zane. "Same. I mean he's a full blooded vampire right?" said Arya.  

Zane shrugged as he said,"I guess some vampire just have horns I guess. Who knew? Vampire Form doesn't.". "Neither does Leo unless he has baby horns. We must find out if this is the case once we get back to the hotel." said Arya with Zane nodding. This was a normal conversation between the two. "So do you think the tanned one is right?" said Arya. "Right about what? And why do you keep calling him that?" said Zane. "Because I can and how Team Maelstrom are the popular contestants." said Arya.  

Arya pulled out her phone as she said,"I mean no offense to your friends but all of them are Knights Fourth Class aka the lowest ranks a being could have within the Alliance. Arata, Kyoko, Percy, and Sabik are all the same rank as that loser Xavier which makes no sense but what do I know? From what I know about them, they're here to win and become commanders like me.". "Yeah. You would normally be right but what major event has happened recently? And they're your friends too." said Zane.

The woman looked at him as she said,"Um I knew that. The thing about Team Maelstrom being my friends too. Not the major event. So did some celebrity do something stupid again? Like that one celebrity who was found using Morphing Powder.". "Nope. The War of Galnatilia." said Zane. "Oh yeah. That's where you almost died. Not a good first impression Zane." said Arya. "Yeah but well, I got much stronger and a tail. You don't know how helpful this tail really is." said Zane. 

Arya shrugged as she said,"I guess that's true. I bet Bri and Rae are happy about that.". "Yeah. You are too since you really like my fangs." said Zane. "Of course I do since fangs are totally cool. Not because I found that to be a turn on or anything." said Arya. "Right. I totally believe you on that since well, I've seen your interest history. Don't lie." said Zane with Arya pouting. "I thought my phone was Zane proof but no, you managed to hack your way into it." said Arya.

Zane shrugged as he said,"Yeah. Parker wanted to get back at you for how you tried to hack into the Z.E.R.O. Watch that one time so he gave me some advice on how to do it.". "Which I'm still mad at you for doing by the way." said Matrix with her appearing above Zane's watch as a holographic image and pouting. "Like I said when Zane introduced you, I'm so sorry. I didn't know about you being sentient at the time. I still can't believe that the others didn't say this but well, you're adorable Matrix." said Arya.

Matrix smiled with her saying,"Thank you Arya! I forgive you for hacking into me and if daddy allows it, you can see how I was made.". "Really?! That would be amazing! I wanted to see how Parker built not one but three A.I.s that act like living beings and totally won't take over the Omniverse. I already saw Janet's source code and you can just tell how Zane made her. Treat her nice Zane or else, she'll take over the Omniverse given that she runs your company for you." said Arya. 

Zane shook his head as he said,"Relax Arya. I won't treat Janet badly. You don't want to overwhelm her since well, she is still a baby.". "I'm not a baby Zane. I'm around your age since daddy made me to help you upon your birth. So what are you going to do about that one guy?" said Matrixt. "You have to be a bit more specific there Matrix since well, I know a lot of guys. Did you sent a message to Parker about letting Arya see Matrix's source code? And that sounds perverted by the way" said Zane.

Matrix nodded as she said,"I did and Parker should respond within a couple of hours. He has been really busy with an invention of his and Kane is the guinea pig.". "Sweet. Oh and Zane. You really don't have to make everything perverted." said Arya. "Sorry not sorry. I just had to bring it up since well, I got the mind of a middle schooler sometimes. You do too Arya. So who were you talking about Matrix? You totally ignored my first question." said Zane. 

The A.I. crossed her arms as she said,"I can't remember who but it was someone on your team. The stupid one. I'll try to remember.". "I hope you do since a name would be really helpful. All the guys on our team can be an idiot including Zane." said Arya. "Yeah but well, I don't judge people off their brain size." said Zane. "I think the only type of beings who do that are beings who think brains are kinky. I don't by the way since well, I have my own fetishes like every being in the Omniverse does." said Arya.

Zane sighed as he said,"I can't believe you just mentioned part of a Rico saying. You've never met him before right?". "No but do you want me to? I mean he did train you right?" said Arya. "A little but you'll met him once we arrive at Variatance. He's a being just like Darin and Theron. Do you want to know the rest of that saying?" said Zane. "Sure. You got me curious." said Arya. "Okay. It's that everyone has their tastes with it coming in all shapes and sizes. It can't really be explained." said Zane.

Arya nodded as she said,"Okay. Is that it or are you still going?". "Yeah. I'm done. I thought I sensed something." said Zane. "Good or bad?" said Arya as Matrix disappeared. "Not sure yet. Do you think you can get back to the hotel by yourself while I check this out?" said Zane. "Of course. Who do you think I am?" said Arya. "Didn't you have trouble getting to the game store even though you've been living in Ezlario for most of your life and require my help to get there?" said Zane.

The hacker glared at him as she said,"That was a long time ago! I live in the present rather than the past like you sometimes do! Don't worry partner. If I'm in danger, I'll just blast them and claim that it's self defense.". "Smart girl. Rae taught you well." said Zane. "Yep. You're lucky to have someone like me assisting you." said Arya. "I sure am. So aren't you going to say that you need to come with me?" said Zane. "I would but you'll be fine. See you later Zane." said Arya with her running off.

As Zane watched her leave, he looked off into the distance. "I could be wrong but I need to check it out just in case if it's friendly. Empyrean Judgment." said Zane, focusing his energy into his hands and closing his eyes. He let out a circular purple energy wave and this wave went in all directions around him. After the wave went all over the Salaron Empire, he managed to find that thing he sensed earlier during his conversation with Arya and teleported there with Direct Transportation.

Upon reappearing in a different part of the Salaron Empire, Zane felt a sharp rush of pain wrack his body and gasped. He doubled over, clutching his stomach. He was going to fall onto the ground due to his legs turning into candy syrup. "Zane!" said Havoc. The Vordlarin made several tendrils ,being black with molten gold line like pattern aka the same color of Havoc's body, come out of Zane's body and formed a make shift bed. 

The Vordlarin emerged from Zane's chest and looked at his face. "So is Zane alright? He isn't affected with Ethereal Mania right now is he? I don't see the normal symptoms of this going on. His face isn't bright red, his nose doesn't look congested, and his voice isn't sore right? Have you informed the others about this?" said Havoc. "No. It isn't the Ethereal Mania thankfully. Do you think it's a unforeseen side effect of Albion? And not yet. I really don't want Rachel and the others hating me." said Matrix. 

Zane shook his head he said,"No. It isn't that you two and no one hates you Matrix. They don't blame you for happened during the War of Galnatilia since well, it was my arrogance that I activated the self destruct feature. I'm fine now.". His legs returned back to its normal appearance and the world around him stopped spinning. "So what was that just now?" said Havoc. "And how come sleeping beauty didn't say anything about it?" said Matrix. 

The Cross Species shrugged as the tendrils slowly went back into Zane's body. "You know Sivarth. He's a deep sleeper and really needs to break that habit." said . "You didn't answer my question Zane." said Havoc. "I didn't answer you not because I'm hiding my pain from you but I don't have an exact answer for you. I'm going to guess stomach pain." said Zane. "Stomach pain? Are you insane? You looked terrible." said Matrix. 

Zane looked down at his watch as he said,"I told you that it was a guess and well, I'm fine now so no need to call in the cavalry.". "Has this happened before partner?" said Astaroth with him emerging from Zane. "Nope." said Zane. "Is he lying?" said Havoc. "For once, he isn't lying about this and this is rare. He does have a tendency of hiding everything from others. He is the type of being who is always concerned with others rather than himself. So may I ask you a question?" said Astaroth.

The Cross Species sat down with him saying,"Sure. Got ahead.". "That pain from earlier. Was it only your legs and stomach?" said Astaroth. "Nope. It was all over my body and I had a minor headache too." said Zane with Astaroth staring at Zane and began looking for any signs of lying. He didn't seen Zane's pupils constrict, his breathing heightened, or any noticeable sweat on him. "He looks fine to me guys. Do you think it was because of Direct Transportation?" said Astaroth. 

Zane looked at Astaroth with him saying, I don't think it was that. I have used that technique before and this has never happened before. It could also be a very delay aftershock of me blocking Bryce's attack earlier today." said Zane. "You have never suffered any wounds in the real world if you've fought a being in your mindscape. Your fights with the twins on the other hand. They manage to seriously injure you which is hilarious given their docile and cute appearance." said Astaroth. 

The demon like being remembered watching Zane getting tossed around by Celina and buried into the ground by Izola who spiked him into it like he was a volleyball. "Yeah. Those two really hurt even though they're really cute. I told them that once and well, they blushed up a storm before breaking my arm." said Zane, rubbing his right arm. "So to switch topics, where are we exactly? I didn't noticed it since Zane was dying before but wow, this is a really run down shrine." said Havoc. 

Zane looked behind to see that he was in front of a set of stairs leading up to a shrine. There was a large red gate at the top of them rather than at the bottom of them. This gate is known as a torii and just past the stone steps and torii, there is a large ornate temple. The steps were completely covered in cracks but the torii itself looked to be brand new. "So this is where the strange Impulse came from. It arrived from another dimension." said Zane.

After activating Empyrean Judgment and focusing it on the shrine, he didn't sense any being inside of the temple but he wasn't too sure. "And how come you're so sure about that?" said Astaroth. "The Salaron Empire seem to believe in multiple gods aka polytheism and they are fans of churches rather than Shinto Shrines. I also know that there are no other shrines like this one here in the Salaron Empire due to the Impulse around this building is different compared to the other buildings here." said Zane. 

He began rambling about the differences with Astaroth shaking his head. "Okay then. I'll just trust you on this so quit rambling. So do you want to explore it?" said Astaroth. "Yeah. Lets go." said Zane as Astaroth and Havoc both went back into Zane. He began walking up the steps and almost fell on his face due to one of the steps breaking upon touching it. He caught himself thanks to his tail. "Are you okay?" said Matrix. "I'm fine Matrix since well, I can survive a little fall." said Zane.

The Cross Species recovered as Astaroth was looking at the gate. "I'm wondering something. Why are the stairs so crappy when the gate looks relatively new?" said Astaroth. "No clue but hopefully, we'll find out." said Zane. When Zane reached the top, he could see the temple and it looked much better than the steps below. It looked to have been there for multiple centuries and looked to be a fortress, designed to keep people in and away from danger while also protecting them at the same time.

Zane nodded as he said,"Okay. Time to go exploring this shrine.". Upon walking past the gate, he and his immense Impulse vanished from the Salaron Empire. Zane stopped with Matrix saying,"Hey Zane. I think we just went through a portal and to another dimension.". "Yeah. We did. My stomach told me that before you do Let me find a bush before we continue our exploration." said Zane with him looking around for a bush to puke it. 

After emptying his stomach and grumbling about this weakness, he began walking toward the temple and he saw a unique pair of statues in front of the temple. On the left side, there is a Komainu with its mouth in a frown shape. On the right side, there is an fox statue with it having a scroll inside of it. It reminded Zane of the two dragon statues in front of Sivarth's tomb. Both of them look to be ready attack and five times bigger than your average man. 

It had a foreboding appearance with it being a Japanese style temple. However, it was made out of metal. It had five roofs which Zane noticed silver ceremonial pipes and the tiles are a deep purple color with a hint of sliver. Hanging above the main entrance to the temple, there is a shimenawa. "Okay. This is really cool." said Zane with him let himself in the temple and phasing right through the door. After doing this, the shimenawa glowed white for only a few seconds before losing its glow.

Inside of the temple, Zane was looking around the area he found himself in. It was a very large and welcoming room. You could hold a fight in here no problem. There were draping white cloth with a dark purple butterfly and black rose embroidery on it. Not lit lanterns decorated the rooms and there was a distinct smell of incense in the air. There were charms ,written in a variety of language such as Liasada and Uwaric, hanging from the ceiling. 

On the walls, there were portraits and paintings of a variety of beings rather than a pantheon of gods like a normal shrine would have. There was also a donation box but Zane noticed one obvious thing about it. "Holy crap. This place really needs a good dusting and may rival Elysian in terms of it being a mess." said Zane. There were a collection of dust over everything in the room and there were cobwebs hanging in the corners of the building. "So is anyone here Zane? This place is really scary." said Havoc.

Matrix shrugged as she said,"You seriously can't be scared of a shrine. I get how you would be scared of a castle, house, hospital, or mansion but a shrine. Shrines are places of gods not horror.". "But what about the gods of horror?! They exist right?!" said Havoc. Ignoring the two, Zane walked toward a butterfly shaped gong and made Oathbreaker appear. "Really? Not going to use the tradition hammer Zane. It may be covered in dust but still. You should be respectful." said Astaroth.

With him getting ready to swing, Zane shrugged. "Nah. I'm pretty sure if I used that hammer, it would break before it hit the hammer and Oathbreaker will make a bigger impact. My hyper hearing are ready for the impact." said Zane with the weapon getting engulfed in Zane's fire. He whacked the gong with his hammer and a loud bong echoed through the area. "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing here? Don't ring that annoying gong!" said a aggressive sounding feminine voice. 

Zane slowly turned around as a tranquil sounding feminine voice said,"I think he is trying to get our attention and it worked.". In the doorway, two women ,around his age, were standing in the doorway and Zane instantly sensed that that these two were like the twins. With this in mind, he got instantly go ready to fight. Unlike the twins whose beauty was the exact similar, these two were different types of beauty. The female on the left was a petite beauty and the female on the right was a mature beauty.

The petite woman looked to be 5 foot 6 with her having long ,going to her waist, sandy-blonde hair and has part of it tied in a messy ponytail. The ends of her hair is spiked and flipped. She has dark pink eyes. She has a slim and graceful figure. Under her lips, she has a mole and her mouth looks to be in a grin. She wears a white plaid tank top with her wearing a red biker like jacket over it. She wears gray shorts that look to be a pair of compression shorts. 

Her shorts have a red ,with gold stripes, sash tied around her waist like a belt. She has a wipe attached to the side of her belt. She wears black skin tight stockings with a red fox themed pattern and small frills near the top it. She wears dark gray high cut sneakers that have a red outline and looks to be held together by multiple straps. Around her neck, she is wearing a red scarf. She has a pair of two long fox ears with it sticking out due it being a different color compared to her. 

Said ears are a radiant red color with white ear tips. She has four big, red fox tails with white tips. The mature beauty is about 5 foot 10 with her having shoulder length white hair and glossed over eyes. They almost looked like a crystal ball. Her eyes made it clear that she was blind. She has a slim body with her having a noticeable bosom and plump butt especially compared to the other woman standing there. She wears a long-sleeved purple dress which falls just below her ankles. 

It has a split on the right leg, exposing a good chunk of her leg. The front of her dress has a zipper and currently zipped up. Her curves stick out in her dress. Over her dress, she wears a white furred shawl that goes down to her elbows. She wears brown leather hunter like boots and a white belt around her waist. She wears silver shin guards going above her knees and brown gloves. Like the other woman, she didn't really look human. 

She has a pair of wolf like ears with it being a matching color to her hair and has green clip earrings on both of her ears. Zane looked at them with two things being obvious about these women. The first thing is that neither of them were human with one being a kitsune and the other one being a wolf. The second thing is that both of them were incredibly strong. Taking them lightly isn't something that he shouldn't do. "So who are you two?" said Zane with him placing the hammer in his pocket dimension.

He replaced it with his Curved Atlatls which appear over his hands. "Oh wow Rairaka. Look at him not staring at your sweater puppies at all. It's totally different from the last guy who managed to come here. He was eyeing like you nothing else. Lack of subtly on that guy." said the kitsune. "It's a nice chance of pace I will fully admit. Even though I can't see the others looking at me like I'm a piece of meat, I can sense it easily. It's a really pain if you ask me." said Rairaka.

Zane looked at them with him saying,"You didn't answer my question.". "Actually, we technically did since Delphi mentioned my name. The two of us are both members of the Quaternion Totem aka the guardians of this shrine. Is there a reason why you decided to invaded the temple? We don't have anything special to steal." said Rairaka. "Okay. That isn't why I'm here at all. I came here because your shrine just appeared from out of nowhere and totally sticks out." said Zane.

Delphi smirked as she said,"Yeah. That sounds like the mistress to me. She really doesn't care about where she brings the shrine since well, it doesn't bother anyone too much. So are you ready to go?". "Go for what?" said Zane. "You brought our your knives upon sensing how strong the two of us are even though Delphi is holding back her true power by five ninths. I'm shocked to see that you of all beings would back." said Rairaka.

The fox girl slapped the wolf on her back with her saying,"Rairaka! You know full well that I don't bring out all nine tails on someone this weak.". "Yes I do but well, he is hiding his true power. You were brought here for a reason and this reason is because of your destiny as Zero." said Rairaka. "You know who I am?" said Zane. "Of course we do since we sparred/training the previous six Elite Zeroes who passed Mistress Xiaoshi's test so lets go!" said Delphi, charging toward Zane who got ready to fight.

Outside of the shrine, there was a being sitting in the tree. Compared to the two younger woman inside of the temple, she couldn't have been a day older than eighty and was short being 4 foot 4. She has light fair skin. She has a porcelain doll like appearance with long, wavy white-silver hair that ends around her shoulders and violet eyes. She is wearing a martial artist/miko hybrid like outfit. She wears a long, royal blue ,with a white accent and trim, sleeveless qipao dress with a white floral pattern. 

Around her waist, she wears a red obi sash. Under her dress, She wears a white long-sleeved haori style shirt, red hakama style skirt, white tabi, and brown zōri. She wears a matching red scarf around her neck as well. On the back of her dress alongside the center of her sash and scarf, she bears a golden cross like symbol. This cross has seven white triangles around the cross, forming a sun shape. She wears a pair of silver fingerless gloves that attached only to her middle finger over the back of her hands.

The woman smiled as she said with her arms crossed,"This latest Zero. He managed to break down the Omni-Door and defeated Form Morpher. I'm impressed since we don't get impressive Zeroes all too often. After Delphi and Rairaka are finished with their test, I think it's time for me to make my move. He's going to be meeting the woman who trained his six out of ninety nine Zeroes. I hope Zane knows about me or else, I'll be punishing Darin for not telling him about Xiaoshi Alvarez.".       

Next time,

With Team Maelstrom finally arriving in the Salaron Empire, things are only going to heat up. Is Xiaoshi truly a Alvarez or is she lying about it? What is Zane's special ability compared to the other Zeroes? Who is Sahiro? Is he another member of the Alliance who is testing Team Maelstrom or is he an enemy? Are the duo of Hayate ,who we haven't seen yet, and Hayato working for the same woman as Delphi and Rairaka? This and more next time on Zero!

Quick info for the Salaron Empire's hotels, their sponsored Watcher, and the Alliance group staying there:

Azure Nebula Hotel: Umiko, the Sea Dragon and Team Valkyrie lead by Blythe Higashi.

Ivory Paradise Hotel: Romulus, the Wobbegong and Team Crossbone Buccaneers lead by Razaru Yukimura.

Sunset Nebula Hotel: Thanh, the Moray Eel and Team Maelstrom lead by Zane Alvarez.

Emerald Voyage Hotel: Orbel, the Swordfish and Team Arcadia lead by Duncan Acevedo.

Room 1: Allen, Efren, Kevin, and Leo

Room 2: Arya, Gwen, and Rachel.

Room 3: Heidi, Jordan, Lynx, and Sly.

Room 4: Danny, Wolfram, and Zane.

   

Quick info on Zero # 67, 82, 86, and 95th Zero. 

Zero #67 Shizuku Kishiro aka the White Siren. Shizuku was well known for her strong will and kind nature. She tends to be rather strict with herself, never making any excuses or denying anything she did wrong. She's incredible smart with her having an intimate knowledge of how something works. She tends to be quite laid-back with her being sassy and to be a teaser mainly toward the other Zeroes since they are the only beings she's around constantly. 

Among the Elite Zeroes, she's well known for being the most cheerful and kind with her always being the first to introduce herself. She tends to be the most open about her feelings and swung for the other team when she was alive. She's always the first one to start a conversation and tends to speak whenever she wants, being rather rude. However, she is able to become focused and fierce mainly in battle or whenever the situation calls for it. 

She shows great judgement and never takes her eyes off her enemy. This is how she was able to become one of the best heroes in her time. In a fight, she's well known for her elegance and moves like a skater. She's able to move at incredible speeds with it looking like she is able to be in several places at once and wipe out entire armies within seconds. She's able to cross large distance within a blink of eye while remaining undetected. 

However, she is still considered to be slow by Galen who is able to keep up with her without trying too hard. Despite not looking to be very strong, she's able to break a wall with just a single finger of hers. She is able to jump high into the air. She's able to reach and counterattack without thinking. She tends to use Impulse to increase her body's durability and harden it to a level that her skin has been called stronger than diamond. 

She can make her finger and toe nails grow to become long claws which she uses to fight up close and personal. She's able to use an Impulse that works in a similar function to Animus or Liasada with her mainly use air/wind, fire, and lightning in battle. Her main power is that she can use Impulse to create powerful sound waves and make her sound like anyone. She's able to understand all forms of music and sound. She can replicate a song or sound perfectly upon hearing it a single time. 

As a Zero, her strongest sense is her touch or sense of touch. You would think that it would be sense of hearing like Ryoka and Zane but nope. She shares this with Vito. By touching something, she's able to tell wherever a object or being has been in their lifetime. It also makes her incredibly vulnerable to any strong attack but with her strong control and mastery over Impulse, this is an non issue.  

Zero #82: Bryce Luspes aka Phorus. Among the hundred Zeroes, only a few could be considered to be a villain and one of those Zero were Bryce Luspes aka Phorus. Phorus was considered to be the God of Destruction. He was raised by two scientists with one of their experiments involving waking a being's metagene. One day, his father died during an experiment. His death made his mother become obsessed with continuing their life's work and ignoring her son in the process. 

To make himself feeling some sort of love, he played with a local stray dog nearby his home. He couldn't take the dog home with him due to his mother's allergy toward dogs. If he came home with any dog hair, she forced him to take a rather intense chemical bath to get rid of it. This was due to how strong her allergy was. Wanting to perfect the experiment, his mother used Bryce for her experiment and awakened his Zero powers. 

Due to him having no control over his powers, he exploded and destroyed the entire city with his Impulse alone. This caused the world to give the young Bryce ,the only survivor, to be labeled as a villain. However, that couldn't be farther from the truth. He eventually learned and mastered his powers to a level where he was considered to be a natural disaster. However, this caused him to become too strong and make any contact with those who are weaker than him impossible.

It was also slowly killing him due to his body's cellular tissue being destroyed. He eventually found his way back into the Omniverse, finding work as a bounty hunter. In due time, he came in contact with a woman who went by the name Xiaoshi. According to her, she could sense him by his Impulse and it was like an wildfire. She told him that compared to Ryoka and Vito, he's nothing more than a monster and a killer of the innocent. 

Being called a killer caused Bryce to attack her and destroy the bar where he was eating. After one hundred sixty-eight hours or one week, Xiaoshi was the victor and this was only after Bryce used up all of his Impulse to defeat her. Upon waking up, he found himself in a suit of armor and turned to see Xiaoshi sitting there sipping on some tea. He tried to attack her for putting him in a suit of armor but he couldn't move an inch due to how heavy the armor is.

She told him that it had been about a month since their fight and is still recovering all of the Impulse that he used in their fight which destroyed several dimensions in Sanguine Valley aka the inner ring of the Omniverse. He then asks her about the armor which she did. It weighs a billon kilograms/a million tons and can help whoever wears it control their Impulse. After she told him that, she said that she was going to help control his Impulse and become a real hero rather than a killer. 

It took a month to move but eventually, Bryce's training began. The two spent several years together with Bryce becoming a master of his Impulse and finding love with each other. They didn't want any forms of commitment such as kids or marriage due to most Zeroes dying young. There was also the fact that his body's cellular tissue was still slowly killing him as he got stronger and opening the Omni-Door makes the cellular degradation stronger. 

His encounter with Form Morpher ended up with the Qlakrik running away due to how strong Bryce was, giving Bryce a victory which he doesn't considered to be. In due time, his body eventually gave out and went to the Celestial Realm where the other Zeroes go whenever they die. He eventually joined up with the other Zeroes who managed to break open or apart the Omni-Door and managed to survive Xiaoshi's training.

Due to him being ostracized from others including his family at a young age, he tends to be rather rude with others and it was mainly due to his lack of social interaction. To punish anyone who annoys him, he tends to use his head or fist mainly his fist since head butts don't make the message clear enough. He tends to be the most quiet with him only speaking when necessary and the only sound you can hear from him is him breathing. 

Whenever he makes a joke, his sense of humor is often seen as cold and merciless. He is very calm and seen as a being completely at peace with himself. According to the other Zeroes, he tends to be in his armor at all times and only removes it if he finds you to be worthy of his true appearance. In a fight, he tends to finish it quickly and doesn't use what he considered to be dishonest means to win. According to Xiaoshi, he was a reckless and battle loving fool.

He enjoys combat greatly, especially enjoying any fight where his opponent makes him spill his own blood. Despite his immense power, Bryce wasn't a careless fighter due to him being aware of how many enemies you make when you're powerful. He's a man of his word and honor, keeping whatever problems he make whenever someone he has made a promise to is no longer there to hold it. He cares deeply others and hates whenever he has to fight another human being or being called a monster.

Among all of the Zeroes that Xiaoshi has trained, he is considered to be the strongest one even compared to Ryoka and Vito who are well known for their skills. When he was alive, he was called the Walking Disaster due to him having enough power to destroy anything in his path. By releasing just a fraction of his power, he's able to completely overwhelm several powerful opponents all at the same time.

He was considered to be a fairly capable fighter and often desired by the Odium Society but the man refused due to them being monsters. His immense reserves of Impulse and his strong body allows him to fight for an entire week straight against an extremely powerful opponent Xiaoshi who is well known for training some of the strongest beings in the Omniverse. According to his teacher, he had the power to take down several armies and destroy a dimension without breaking a sweat. 

Unlike Zane's Emperor Mail/Hyperion Mail, the armor he wears is help him keep his immense strength contained and make contact without destroying whatever he touches. Despite looking rather light, it is extremely heavy and parts of it makes a crater upon impact with the ground. Even as a spirit, he's an powerful and well experienced fighter. In his prime, his power far exceeds other beings in terms of power and strength.

He works better in hand to hand combat compared to ranged combat, being able to outmaneuvered and defeat experienced fighters. He's able to fire out a explosive blast of Impulse which can destroy a moon in a single shot. Whenever he used his strength, his attacks are strong and fast enough to create an explosion upon impact. Upon removing his armor, his body glows bright red and just the aura from him alone makes a weak being explode.

With a single throw, he's able to send someone flying away. He's able to create a powerful thunderstorm that can enveloped an entire country and destroy it. Despite all of his immense power, his body is unable to handle it and causes cellular degeneration. As a Zero, his strongest sense is his vision or sense of sight. By carefully observing his opponent, he is able to instantly understand an opponent's method of thinking, way of fighting, and guess their next move with a hundred percent accuracy. 

Once he understand his opponent's strategy, he's able to figure out his flaw and weakness. Despite acting like a berserker, he's able to take anyone down with little effort.

Zero #86: Abraham Lincoln the third/III. Despite sharing the name of the sixteenth president, he isn't the same man due to him from being a different dimension and Abraham Lincoln the third or Abe to his friends. He comes from a dimension somewhere within Sanguine Valley aka the inner ring of the Omniverse. This dimension is different compared to the Prime Dimension due to the American Civil War not ending when Robert E. Lee surrendering on April 9, 1865. 

Said Sar eventually engulfed the entire planet, becoming a war between the Eastern World known as the Orient and the Western World given the very clear name as the West. Like both his grandfather and father, Abe was someone who fought for his country but not for the West. He left the West around his eighteenth birthday due to him seeing how far his country has gone in order to maintain control. They did this by giving anyone who disagree with them, slaves, and selected citizens to a group of Qlakriks.

A member of this group was a young Xiadur who promised the West power. One of these "chosen ones" was Abe's older sister who raised him after both of his parents died thanks to the never ending war that had engulfed in America long before he was born. The only way Abe found out about this was him following his sister to the capital and fight his way in order to save his sister. Due to him being raised by his sister to be a strong man, he was able to fight his way through the White House using his axe.

He hated this due to him being a man who wouldn't kill someone all willy-nilly and only used his strength to protect the innocent rather than control others. Before he could save his sister however, he was too late and saw his sister being killed by Xiadur who drained her alive. Upon seeing this, Abe awakened to his latent Zero power and defeated the Qlakrik/Western soldiers there except for the big five who managed to escape.

One of the big five was Xiadur and Abe swore revenge on the Qlakrik. This wasn't the first time he went against what his country told him to do since he helped out slaves during his teenager years and this caused his sister to lose her job. Instead of blaming him, his sister told him to keep that kindness and always fight for the common man rather than those who needed the protection of a hero rather than a soldier.

He began traveling around the planet, helping both sides but mainly the east since they were the good guys in the war. He managed to earn himself the moniker of Steam Guardian. Five years after gaining his powers, he was eventually found by a woman who trained a few Zeroes prior to him. She mentioned to him that she will only train ones who could survive an encounter with the Form Morpher or have awakened to their full potential aka breaking the Omni-Door.

The woman told him that she'll come to him and to be careful of everyone and everything since the Form Morpher has the ability to take any form it desires. Despite him having doubts about the strange woman's words, he kept his guard up. He eventually made his way to a village somewhere in Asia where children had gone missing and their bodies being found a few days later in a husk like state. To a normal person, this would have been nothing but it meant something to Abe. 

Abe knew that this was the handiwork of one of the Big Five known as the Banshee who great power comes from draining humans of their life/Impulse. Recognizing the signs of one of his five enemies, he traveled to the village and began investigating the village. He eventually found the Banshee and was about to attack her before she was killed by one of her servants. This servant turned out to be the Form Morpher and began fighting his way through the Banshee's minions in order to get his true target Abe.

In due time, Abe was forced to fight against Form Morpher and eventually won by escaping him. Before Form Morpher could continue the hunt, he was stopped by the strange woman and had to leave due to his injuries from his fight with Abe. After fixing Abe up, the strange woman eventually introduced herself to the eighty-six Zero. She told him her name was Xiaoshi and told him bluntly that he won't be able to avenge his sister. 

This pissed off Abe but eventually, the woman told him that he could if he used his powers to protect the innocent rather than seek power or revenge. She explained the history of Zeroes to him and after some time, Abe agreed to become her student which she accepted but only if he manages to survives her training. During this time, he managed to open the Omni-Door and meet the four other Zeroes who managed to achieve this feat. 

He did after training for ten years and eventually begin his goal of reuniting the world. This happened when he was fifty six years old and helped the world become a better place that wouldn't go back to become the hell it was. Despite ending the war between the East and West, he was eventually assassinated by the final remnant of the West's evil John Wilkes Booth and this was a double kill. Abe killed John and John killed Abe. This happened when he was eighty eight years old. 

Like his grandfather, Abe is well known for being honest. He tends to never hold back and lying is something that he can't do. He's well known for being persistent, constantly focused on taking down the big five or staying focus on mastering his powers to their full potential. He's well known for helping others regardless of their race or skin. He doesn't kill someone all willy-nilly and only uses his strength to help rather than control.

When he saw his sister die by the hands of Xiadur, he become focused on getting revenge which he had to be snapped out. He is well known for his generous yet firm nature. After losing his sister, he tends to guard himself from making friendships in order to keep himself from getting hurt whatsoever. He is well known for his diplomatic skills and levelheaded mindset. He's able to remain calm and act rationally even when in great pain or faced with a problem. 

He is not afraid to go out of his way and even get hurt in order to protect someone. He is well known for being a great teacher being able to teach someone who has never fought before in their lives and make them into a master within a month of teaching. Among all known Zeroes, Abe is well known for his steam based power and physical strength. He was well known for charging into battle and fight until he is the only one remaining. 

Abe is considered to be a Tank among the Zero and can survive a deadly beatdown from an opponent like Basalt using his full power. With a single punch, he's able to create a gigantic crater in the ground around his fist. Abe tends to fight up close and personal with him having a hard time holding back his strength. Abe's signature ability to produce stream is actually Impulse heated to its boiling point and making it form into stream. 

This stream can be used to melt anything that they come in contact with or propel himself in a certain direction. His steam can be used to heal others and himself being that it can't restore any lost limbs. He's able to turn parts of his body into stream and fire his stream fists at an opponent from a distance. He's able to make things with his stream and despite his steam being extremely hot, it can be used to freeze or restrict a target's movements. 

His body naturally expels large amount of steam throughout his body. Despite mainly using his steam for offense, Abe can use for defense as well. He can create a thick smoke screen to mask and hide his movement from others. He can use the storm to blind his targets and escape if he needs to do. He can make copies of himself. The clothing that Abe wears can store up the steam that his body constantly generates. 

This Zero can use this stored steam to increase his punches, easily able to send a being of Sivarth's size flying a significant distance away from him. The stream that's stored up in his clothing is at an extremely high temperature and can be used to burn anything that it comes in contact with. It can be released out of the clothing by Abe or by touching something. This includes beings with immense tolerance toward the elements especially fire. 

As a Zero, his strongest sense is his taste or sense of taste. He's able to eat anything and tell if something is poisoned. He is very picky about what he won't eat.   

Zero #95: Galen Ainsworth. Compared to most of the other Zeroes, he's fully aware of his limitations and tends to tell the Zeroes that come after him to keep up their training unless they want to die. This advice is usually ignored. Galen is best known for hiding his presence and move quicker. This ability of his has been with him since his birth. He can completely erase his presences from others with him being able to stand right in front of someone without them noticing him or detecting his presence. 

He can hide his breathing, heartbeat, presence, and stop his thinking. He tends to use this ability without thinking most of the time. He can leave behind a presence in order to trick his opponents while he's hiding.  and only those who are highly trained or experienced can see him but it's too late. Even beings who are well known for their sensing abilities can't detect Galen most of the time. This is Galen's greatest strength since once his enemy takes their eyes off him, Galen is already gone. 

Galen's fighting style focuses on finding his opponent's weak points and using it to his advantage. He's able to control Impulse and use it to handle whatever problem that he faced when he was alive. He tends to use this power in order to walk on any surface by focusing the energy into his feet or hands. He's able to alter his body's density. He can increase his density in order to make himself strong enough to lift over a thousand tons and make him more durable than a diamond itself. 

He can also make himself light enough, giving the ability of flight or the ability to phase through most forms of matter. Among the Elites, he is often seen as someone who you don't mess with. His aura is often seen as creepy and deadly. Even though he isn't the strongest Zero physical, he has a strong build and can easily destroy a skyscraper with a single punch. He tends to strength his entire body using his Impulse with increasing his strength and speed making him impossible to read. 

Another ability is that he can use Impulse to pick up on conversations from a good distance away. His strongest sense as a Zero is his nose or sense of smell. He can pick up on the faintest trace of Impulse and tends to be the best Zero at noticing things that others would have ignored.