<hr>


    <03/16/1972 – 06:29 | Gross City, Gulop, Sprawn Valley>


    The sound of distant explosions bombarded everyone''s ears, and the smell of broken rubble swirled into the upper air with the smoke leaving the scene of destruction. Sirens in the city soon followed, leaving behind an area of wide spread panic. People trampled each other in the streets, and mothers tried to drag their children by the arms to their dwellings. At the center of it all, at a large square of cement that used to be a crosswalk in the roads between buildings, comets of light and bursts of energy flew in multiple directions from various angles.


    Fire Bolts, Lightning Strikes, Firesurges, Tornado Strikes, randomized explosions, and blasts of Icy Winds with Fiery Plumes dominated the site of the situation. Due to the need for public safety and concern, the news crews were still far from the area. The sun was soon to rise, but the sky was now blocked off by an invisible mist of bog, generated by the warfare.


    Without the use or need for energy scopes, Krysta, Brock, and Cleo were all spread apart in slightly different equidistant angles from the center of the square, and in their opposition stood three dangerous men, two of them completely masked by their red and white robes. The taller one wearing a large metallic gauntlet carried a sharp jagged, bladed lance in his other hand. His face was unveiled before them, though unfamiliar to anyone in the area, with his hair as tall as his forehead width, styled straight up like a patch of brown grass. With a face aged to forty, and a beard freshly shaven, the man in charge of the attack on the city continued to try and torment his victims, but these three fighters which he mocked earlier had certain skills. They all belong to the League of Elites, even though Mainne is missing from their group.


    Lance. That is the name this crooked man designated to himself. He wasn''t saying very much right now. Brock had a hard time staying safe against all of their attacks. These are members of the Scarlet Syndicate. What they''re doing here in Gross City isn''t understood, but they''ve been using dark magic to target buildings and structures at random, which is effective on structures since dark magic ignores many properties of Leray-damage resistant materials, but they also targeted innocent people and civilians. The casualty count is currently unknown.


    Lance laughed once more, revealing his deep manly voice to the elite members of Eldora Tower. "And here I thought we would be left with no entertainment tonight. Killing the three of you will be fun."


    That threat is as meaningless as his funky hairstyle. Cleo began to charge Leray magic into his body, preparing an aura. "Where''s your partner in crime, Lance?"


    "Partner?" Lance genuinely allowed himself to sound clueless. Whatever these fools are talking about is of no great import. "I work alone," Lance claimed, "as leader of the Scarlet Cult you all fear so much."


    Krysta wanted to blast Lance with another Mega-Bolt, but it did such little damage last time... Leader of the Scarlet Cult? How intoxicated must this lunatic be to try and sell such a cheap lie? Danton said it himself. Gleeon and Kite are the leaders of the Scarlet Cult, and that makes this guy some lower grunt. Krysta held her tongue. If Lance were trying to test them to see what they might know, it wouldn''t be worth giving away free information to the enemy.


    "Dampen Field!" Cleo had been concentrating this whole time, trying desperately to deplete his MP reserves in secret to generate the auras he needed to, but unlike his usual invocation to Dampen Field, Cleo targeted himself and his teammates at the same time. All three of them became surrounded with a swirling blue glow that would protect them from all magical damage.


    Lance smirked with his crooked smile revealing a part of his teeth, and he decided to play their game by charging energy into the red and black gauntlet weapon he wore on his hand. "It''s a good try, but you will all learn your place as slaves!" Lance shouted as he drove the metal gauntlet into the concrete below him, smashing the device down as it released a toxic form of magic in all forward directions. A concave wall of red light slid forward from the ground up, quickly affecting the elites Lance was targeting.


    Despite their Dampen Fields, Krysta, Brock, and Cleo were all blasted off their feet and smashed backwards into the damaged buildings behind them. All while receiving an unknown amount of real time damage; all three auras for Dampen Field were immediately shut down, leaving the three of them stunned. Lance seemed to be unfazed from the amount of energy and magic he exerted.


    "You fools can''t even grasp the concept of dark magic. It will overpower any Leray spell that tries to get in the way. I can shut down any generated aura you create with a snap of my finger, and I can destroy any structure I feel ill-suited for our new kingdom." Lance took slow steps forward, watching the pitiful humans struggle to shake off the pain and damage of that last attack. "You will learn your place as loyal subjects, or you will die for disobeying your rightful ruler."


    This guy is a complete cliché dictator. Cleo managed to recover just enough to stand on his legs, but he held back attacking for now. Earlier, Brock and Krysta both got their butts handed to them by Lance alone. The bladed lance weapon he was carrying doesn''t appear to be anything special, but the man himself is overqualified to use the device. He can swing that pole around anyway he wants to; nobody can touch him in a close combat situation. Apparently, the same could be said for magic too. This isn''t good!


    Krysta tried to stop coughing, but the dust mixed with a small amount of toxic particles from the destroyed rubble entered her lungs when she collapsed onto the floor a second ago... This guy is too strong to be using dark magic, and his other two helpers aren''t even doing anything right now. Danton... Why did he send us out here without any backup? The distress call came in only twenty-five minutes ago, and then Danton sent the three of them to Gross City via teleportation. But this is absolutely crazy! The entire General Army should be here right now, helping everyone!


    Brock helped himself back up. It would be nice if Danton could send his reinforcements... But it''s clear as to why he won''t do it. This madness all must be a diversion, a trick used by Danton''s enemies to weaken the defenses of Eldora Tower and break into the crystal core. But Danton isn''t stupid, and that trick won''t work on anyone here. It''s best not to reveal what everyone might know right now.


    Lance lifted his gauntlet again, glowing red with a pulsating energy of evil just before he smashed it into the ground again. The shockwaves generated additional Crush Wave spells, three of them all heading to the elites with glowing red auras as further indication of their extra destructive and lethal powers. Lance wanted to watch them all take the hit, three at once for dark magic Crush Waves that may even kill one of them upon impact.


    Right before anyone could get hurt or take any damage from the Crush Waves, bright blue glowing transparent walls of shields suddenly appeared out of thin air, all at such angles to block the path between each elite and the Crush Waves coming at them. It was unexpected, and though Lance wondered who would have sent that unknown shielding spell out, he was distracted by a result more shocking to him. For each of the shield walls that were suddenly made available, the dark magic Crush Wave collided into the bottom of the shield wall, populating that section of the flat shield with tiny hexagons. In just another second, the shield wall collapsed, but so did the Crush Wave trying to break through. Perfectly calculated to completely resist the impact and power level of the Crush Wave, all three power shields managed to protect everyone from the attacks, just barely anyway. This gauntlet works in conjunction with extra magical power to further amplify existing dark magic infusions. In order to block out that much energy... Who the hell?


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: The Eternal Struggle ~ FFXIII-2 OST</a>


    <center><iframe title="Eternal Struggle" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eRMqz-0BX4k" width="240" height="120" frameborder="0"></iframe></center>


    <hr>


    The sudden appearance of shield walls forming by themselves also caught the attention of Krysta, Cleo, and Brock, but the source made themselves aware shortly afterwards. Disabling their temporary invisibility spell used from easily obtained spell bombs, Jane, Taylor, and Danny all revealed themselves, coming from the north side Gross City''s exit where nobody would surround them. A sudden breath of surprise escaped Krysta just seeing them. It was just like before, Jane Venn and that special JDT outfit she wore during her champion tournament, and that was defiantly Danny and Taylor by her side. But they''re supposed to be in New York! What are they doing here?


    Jane pointed to the unidentified male, already deducing from the robes of his helpers that they were all part of the Scarlet Cult. "So I come here to find you idiots bullying more of my friends." Jane knew the confusion might buy the three of them some more time, but she rehearsed the attack strategy as planned, charging energy with her team. "Why don''t you pick on someone your own size?"


    Danny and Taylor both launched their versions of Shadow Wave, each quite large in size, but when combined closely and tightly compact together increased the wave size and chances to hit all three targets. The speed of their Shadow Waves from this distance is what felt more impressive. There wasn''t any time to blink before attempting to dodge.


    Jane unleashed her own spell shortly after, activating a Photon Burst to land on all three Scarlet targets just after they''ve been hit with the double Shadow Wave attack. The effects were impressively explosive, and the combined powers of each spell created a shockwave of wind blowing back everyone''s hair and shooting dust into their eyes.


    "Nagh!" Lance bolstered himself back up to stance, but the pain from that random attack was more than he was expecting. No, the very power level of each spell was more than it should have been for ordinary Leray magic! "Stupid kids! Now you''re all gonna die!" Lance powered up the gauntlet around his hand again, causing each of the four power crystals to glow brightly in response.


    Krysta noticed the glowing light too, but she also recognized the nature of that essence. "What''s that thing on his hand? Are those crystals on the gauntlet?"


    Brock had to agree with her on this. Those glowing crystals, they''re incredibly rare. The gemstones powering that gauntlet are complete gems, and the Scarlet Cult must have compounded them using all of the crystal shards they''ve been stealing over the past few months. That''s how full gemstones are made. But in this case, unlike Leray-based gemstones that can only store and release magical power related to Leray type energy fields, Lance must be powering that gauntlet using pure gemstones instead. With pure gemstones, he can store and release any form of magic; Leray, dark, or pure lunar. If he is doubling the power of his dark magic through that gauntlet, it means a single stray hit from him can be deadly.


    "All units!" Lance commanded. His gauntlet hand was already forming a large red sphere at the center, quickly growing in size as electrical arcs of the same color spread from its core. "Black Thunder, north side!" Lance and his team all launched the same exact kind of spell, sending off a modified version of Shock Wave while infused with dark magic, generating a much larger size sphere of electrical energy. Black Thunder spheres aren''t difficult to create, and the spell type itself ins''t all that unique, but the power level is strong enough to allow the electrical shock to bypass veil restrictions and increase the maximum voltage of input to human targets. This should effectively fry their brains on impact.


    "Get behind me!" Jane didn''t even check to see if her team was keeping themselves safe, she only had enough time to trust them while she generated the necessary magical energy before her. Jane held out both of her arms and hands, and released the energy as it was already familiar to her. "Far-Shield!" Another shield wall formed right in front of Jane, only protecting them from the frontal area. Even with the large size of each dark energy sphere, the attack form was still projectile, meaning they were safe to use a one-sided wall as a shield. In this case, Jane was allowed to conserve some of her energy.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    But when the bolts all slammed into the shield wall, the combined collisions caused them all to explode outward, creating strong shockwaves and making it nearly impossible for Jane to keep up her concentration on the power shield. Danny and Taylor can''t fight back really well right now, since they''ve only been back in Sprawn Valley for less than a day. Jane figured that even she would be struggling to hold her own against this guy.


    Lance lost his excited expression once he noticed just how strong the enemy power shield was, as it still remained after dispelling the blast from all three Dark Thunderbolts sent to kill each target. How could such a young group even exert that much energy in the first place? No, the girl must be using a form of dark magic in order to defend herself so well... But this one in particular...


    Jane dropped the shield after it was finally safe, and she gave the command for her friends to switch with her. "Switch!" Jane needed a few seconds to recharge, and Lance was obviously dangerous. With Danny''s special sword, the HT-T2 Mark 55 back in his hands, and Taylor''s Marine Eagle bow in her grasp, these two should be able to do something incredible.


    "Sonic Arrow!" "Crimson Blade!" Taylor pulled back on her bow and arrow with a sharp aim, shooting a tip that would be infused with the magic of a special spell. Sonic Arrow works nearly the same way with Power Blast, which means its impact would cause minimal damage, but extremely high pushback. Danny needed slightly more time with his spell, since the spell Summon Hell only works with T2 Seeker type swords, and only when those swords have a fire-element aura activated. With Crimson Blade enabled, Danny swung his sword shortly after Lance''s team was blasted by Taylor''s powerful weapon, and his Summon Hell shot three orange colored photons forward, dealing an explosive kind of magical damage to their team.


    Lance could feel the scrapes and cuts inflicted by the concrete below him as the seemingly futile Leray attacks sent by the others caused his body to bounce and slide across the streets, himself and his assistants. Lance growled under his breath as he tried to get back up, and demanded at his helpers do a better job fighting.


    Jane inhaled deeply, preparing for anything. She calculated that this Lance character wouldn''t go down easily, and now that he was pissed off, this could suddenly end badly. On top of that, she was already feeling dizzy seconds ago. Trying to assimilate magic back into her system after leaving Sprawn Valley isn''t as easy as it sounds. She will run out of power quicker if she dosen''t drop out first, and right now, Jane needed more power.


    She held out her wrist in front of her, trying desperately to channel as much magical energy as she could to that area. In a few more seconds after Danny and Taylor completed their counterattacks, Jane''s top right hand suddenly lit up with a burst of light. Shinning right through the fabric material of her special dress sphere''s fingerless battle gloves, the symbol Jane knew and remembered flashed in the air like a hologram, and instantly powered up her immediate parameters. Jane suddenly felt alert and alive again. She felt as if every possible wound and battle scar she had ever had faded away, leaving her new and reborn. Now that she felt alive again, Lance would be going down.


    That surge of brightness... That energy... Lance prepared his gauntlet again, shining magic into the crystals while he relied on his other teammates to defend his general area from the other three elites that might be trying to blind-side them. "Quantum Bolt!" Lance shot off his Quantum Bolt, red with dark energy even though the default color is a cyan blue. Even a single Quantum Bolt mixed with dark magic has the power to drill through human flesh as if it were a bullet surrounded in plasma, which would also leave a burn behind. When combined with dark magic and this gauntlet, the bolt itself became three times larger in size, and twice as fast to travel in the air. But while Lance was launching his attack, he could suddenly make out the appearance of a special symbol holographically projecting from Jane''s right hand.


    "Return!" Using the combined energy aura from her own symbol, Jane reached out and took a telekinetic hold of the enemy Quantum Bolt, swinging herself around to spin the bolt around her vicinity just once, and when she sent the bolt back, the speed and power including the infusion of dark magic would be doubled. Lance surely wouldn''t be expecting this. Her action was quick and easy, the symbol providing Jane with the ability to overpower and even control the flow of spells infused with dark magic. Without this symbol activated, Return would have failed to control any dark magical projectile of any kind, since Return relies on Leray type energy in the first place.


    Lance didn''t have any time to dodge or escape this situation, only curse at himself for not being more careful before now. When the Quantum Bolt smashed into the ground before him, the resulting explosion encased Lance, his men, and the entire square in a fiery dome of energy. Burns were immediately gashed into his skin, and the same obviously happened to his team with their screams of pain. Lance fell to the floor in a panic, unable to see anything around him from the black smoke his own spell caused.


    "Incredible!" Krysta had no choice this time but to admire Jane''s incredible power over that symbol, but also her intelligent battling style. Using dark magic for any reason runs the risk of becoming addicted to that form of magic, something that can twist the mind according to Danton, but Jane didn''t have to fight with dark magic. She simply used the dark magic that her enemy provided, and used Leray magic to send it back. Even for a teenager, Jane isn''t afraid to kill anyone in the process of defending herself. How much damage did that do to Lance?


    When the smoke and dust finally became thin, Lance could still make out the distant glowing light coming from Jane''s symbol. "Damn!" he coughed. "So the rumors about her are true."


    Danny felt concerned for a moment, not about Lance, but about Jane''s choice to invoke her own symbol to fight the Scarlet Cult directly. If they didn''t know about her powers then, they certainly know it now. Hopefully, they don''t try to find some way to cut that hologram out of her.


    "Get down!" Jane carried her daggers in front of her as a means of defending herself. Her breath was wildly fast; using that Return spell even with the symbol was taking a lot out of her. Another power shield right now won''t be possible.


    Lance had other ideas. This time, he shoved his lance into the ground, exerting a magical force of energy that created a line of light, a perfect circle about ten meters in diameter. He made sure that his own teammates were inside before the others could figure it out. "I wouldn''t celebrate if I were you."


    Krysta thought back in her memories, the familiarity with this kind of light and this circle motivating her thoughts... "He''s trying to teleport!"


    "I''ll trace it!" Brock responded.


    "Trace it? Let''s follow this bastard back to his hideout!"


    Lance felt more relaxed, seeing as the infamous elites of Eldora Tower know so little. They''re far less capable than that symbol Jane is attached to, and now, there will be a way of using her. With a few loud laughs breaking over the sound of the noisy spell that would take a long time to get himself and his team out of here, Lance decided to entertain his guests for a few moments longer. "You can''t trace teleportation that relies only on dark magic to function." Lance knew this was no bluff, since the magic enabling the tracing of illegal teleportation also relies on that teleportation magic to consist of Leray magic as a result. "And you should think twice about jumping back with me. You''d find our hideout, no doubt about that. But I have some powerful friends back home with a dampening field against Leray magic. I don''t mind taking volunteer hostages."


    Krysta could barely control herself, and she wanted to destroy Lance right now before he could get the chance to teleport, but he''s resistant to Leray damage. "You sick little—"


    "Ahp—" he cut off, "there''s no need for name calling. Our team has already accomplished our goal here at Gross City. I really like what we''ve done with the place."


    "Why are you destroying Sprawn Valley?!" Jane didn''t mind walking closer to the edge of that red teleportation circle. She and her friends were far away from Lance to begin with. But this is all nonsense! "What good is dark magic to you if all you want is to blow up the whole nation?!" Jane figured Lance wouldn''t answer her, but it''s worth a shot, any hint could lead to their capture later on. "What''s your plan, Lance?!"


    "Dark magic is only worthy to those who are brave enough to use it. The weak who rely on restricted magic will bend to its will in time. But silly girl, you''re missing the bigger picture. Our eyes are set on places far bigger than Sprawn Valley."


    Krysta gasped while Cleo growled behind his teeth. That bold statement about going to places other than Sprawn Valley, combined with Danton''s recent report that the Scarlet Cult were found in New York... It has to be true. They know! They know the secrets of all magic!


    Lance continued his praise, since his teleportation would take more time. "Just you all wait. Once we resurrect the divine powers in Zantos, your entire world will perish! You''ll be all have to pay for your sins against magic, and all the dishonor you''ve brought to it." Lance let up for a second, but nobody was arguing back to him... Were they confused?


    "Who''s Zantos?" Taylor had to try and bring herself back up to speed, even if her timing didn''t match the mood of the situation, but the elites huddling closer to Jane''s team didn''t seem like they knew either.


    "How pitiful. You all don''t even recognize the name of your own god! But it won''t matter. Sprawn Valley will burn to rust under the flames of Zantos. His judgment will bring righteousness to all you lost sheep! You can bet on that. That is what I and the Scarlet team have been working for all these years!"


    What an absolute nutcase. Krysta couldn''t fear Lance in the same revered manner as before, not after hearing that. It''s obviously not true. That rubbish is too far away from what Kite and Gleeon might believe, but it''s incredible how far their followers will go just by hearing such extreme religious nonsense. They know nothing about Sprawn Valley''s history, but it''s relieving at the same time to know that they have no idea what the secrets are regarding the crystal core.


    "Nobody will stand against god in the coming of days. You''ll all pay for your sins!" Lance knew what he was talking about, and these morons would likely never believe him anyway. Still, it was nice to leave them with their edge of craziness. Have fun cleaning up your retched city.


    The elites and Jane''s team couldn''t do anything about the current situation. Lance and his only team were teleporting away with untraceable magic, back to a highly secured hide out. If only Danton and Mainne were here as well, they could have all jumped in and fought the bad guys together. With a final flash of light, the Scarlet enemies all vanished away leaving nothing else behind.


    <hr>


    Chapter Theme Shift: Into The Mist ~ Two Worlds 2 OST</a>


    <hr>


    Jane''s symbol deactivated and the light from her hand disappeared. As a result, Jane let herself fall intentionally to her butt, relaxing her whole body with the threat now removed from the picture. Lance only ran away because that trick Jane used caused too much real time damage for him to continue battling. He''s actually smart for leaving the scene.


    "So they just got away? I''m not responsible for this mission''s failure!" Cleo felt he had the right to be angry, angry at Danton for losing his edge. Ten years ago, he might have had what it took to battle these insane people, but now he''s just playing it safe all the time.


    "No, it''s not." Brock denied any notion that they failed. "Danton sent us here to control the situation and protect the city from any further damage, including the civvies. As far as that goes, we didn''t let them have their way."


    Cleo directly argued with Brock, insisting that he had the wrong idea. "Our mission is to kill those in charge of the Scarlet Syndicate. Find and eliminate the targets we''ve been informed about. And just now, our only chance of finding their hideout has just slipped away from us."


    Danny look at the ground riddled of the damaged roads, assessing what happened here. Gross City as a whole wasn''t like this. All of the damage is just concentrated to and around this specific square, and of course, lanes of which magic was used on... Something is wrong here.


    "What about that dampening field Lance mentioned? That should at least be traceable."


    Krysta''s ideas weren''t always the worst ones, but she never seems to figure things out for herself. Cleo had to remind her too how far off they all were. "If it were that easy to detect a dampening field, or a second source of a dark zone in our back yard, we would have done it already."


    If that''s really true, then Lance was bluffing about the dampening field. Danny drew the scenario out in his head silently, as if to draw a mental blueprint for the possibility of following Lance back to the Scarlet hideout. Without a dampening field, there would be no disadvantage with power, especially with Jane... But even if Lance is their leader, who knows how many Scarlet members they have who can all use dark magic? They have strength in numbers, and no other Scarlet soldiers came here to cause harm. Either Lance''s warning not to follow him back was a trap of reverse psychology, which obviously affected everyone here, or something else is wrong. "Why did they come here?" Danny spoke out loud just now, but he didn''t want to attract the attention of the elites arguing in front of him.


    Brock nearly forgot that their special JDT team was here in the flesh, though they should be in New York. "Danny..." His question is valid, perhaps more important than why they are here now. "Who told you to help us out here?"


    Jane felt more comfortable without any danger around, and she tried to summarize for all of them. "We arrived back in Sprawn Valley today. What happened to me in New York made me sick somehow, but bringing me back here fixed it."


    "Yeah," Taylor continued. "But when we got back to Eldora Tower to meet Danton again, he asked all three of us to be sent to Gross City, saying something about an emergency."


    Cleo crossed his arms and presented himself firm. "That''s incredibly stupid of you. You''ve all just arrived in Sprawn Valley, which means your ability to use magic like you used to will be weakened for a while. And you chose to come here fighting deadly criminals? You know what? Forget it! Danton is the real idiot for letting it happen! I''ll deal with him when we all get back."


    "But Eldora Tower is so far away from here!"


    Krysta always had to point out the obvious. Danny answered back in an insulting kind of tone. "We teleported here. The General Army assisted us and used their powers to send us all here."


    "Hang on a minute," Brock interrupted. His thoughts were rampant after all that happened. After trying to figure out what the short term goal was of this destruction here in Gross City, it got him thinking even more. Danny is the one who asked the question first, and according to Danton, Danny Mason has some interesting skills of his own. "We would have heard back from Danton by now if the tower was under any kind of threat. The damage to Gross City is limited; they didn''t steal anything that valuable. The casualty count is low, probably non-existent... Why did they come here to do this?"


    Finally, somebody is asking the right questions. "That''s what I want to know." Brock deserves a little more respect than others give him credit for. "It could be a diversion for something else. There''s no way people like that would risk their lives or their mission to warp into a protected city and cause a panic, only to leave after Jane did a number on them."


    Krysta didn''t think of it too much until now, but if the tower is safe, what was all this a diversion for in the first place? "We need to get back to Danton, as soon as possible."


    "Sorry I wasn''t more help." Jane wondered if she made things harder by coming here. She felt weak after that encounter. "I guess I overestimated myself. When I arrived back into the veil, my hands stopped backfiring their magic circuits. Then I felt better, renewed like everything was going to be okay."


    "It''s not a problem Jane. Just take it easy for a day, at least." Cleo knew he shouldn''t have to remind any three of them how to relax. Jane is probably a handful even without her magical powers... Or so we all thought. "Still, I would like to ask you some questions about your reported incident in America. Nobody should be allowed to use any form of magic outside of Sprawn Valley."


    Krysta brushed Cleo''s shoulder, a signal to focus on a more pressing subject. "Danton already told us about this. Besides, we need to get back to the tower as soon as possible. Jane? Prepare yourself for another teleportation."


    "Fine," Cleo allowed. "But I might hit him when we return." With nobody objecting to Cleo''s growing disposition towards Danton''s respectability, the team huddled closer together, the elites preparing another teleportation sphere to send all of them and Jane''s team back to Eldora Tower. Due to the new security rules, teleportation can only occur outside of the tower these days, which means another long walk will ensue.