As promised! 2nd Extra for this fan fiction!

Thanks to Lightriver33 for the edits and her hard work!

BREAKING NEWS:

Gullveig is finally slain!

"Turn off that damn thing, now!" shouted Erena as she pointed to the screen on the wall of her office.

"There-there, Erena-chan. I thought you'll be happy with that news." Anjuu replied when she switched off the screen.

"You know I'm not happy with that! I told them that I don't want to kill her!" Erena said.

"Heh, Erena. You know what? When I read the details of the report, I don't think Gullveig is dead." Tsubasa said as she keep her eyes on her personal computer's screen.

"And how are you so sure about that?" Erena asked.

"Here, let me read you the part." Tsubasa turned her screen to towards Erena.

"The Police signed an agreement with a scientist from another universe. They said that they are about to convert her into a power source and drain her powers to be used for an important project." Tsubasa read for her friend.

"In other words, she is still alive but has been thrown to another universe. With her ability to convert light as power, she will no doubt live eternally, as long as she is surrounded by light sources, even if it is only light from an electronic device." she continued.

"Then, we need to find her and take her back." Erena said.

"Don't you sweat over that! Take a look at this news." Tsubasa changed the tab in her browser.

"Miss Terra's disappearance and the Malfunctioning technology: Will Terra have to reroll the dice of government again?" Erena read for herself.

"Ah, as expected. I heard that Miss Terra is a close friend of Gullveig's and they are seen together most of the time. It almost feels like they are in a romantic relationship." Anjuu said.

Soon after she finished speaking, a police officer suddenly barged into their office.

"I-I'm sorry! Mam! We are here to give an urgent report!" he said.

"What is it?" Erena asked.

"Miss Terra has returned, but at the same time, we found that a trace of Gullveig has returned as well. But our technician said that our detector is malfunctioning!" he said.

"So, here's my guess. The Chief want us to meet with Miss Terra to check on her condition?" Tsubasa asked.

"Aye, and if it is also possible for you to track for Gullveig while you're on it. The theory about this is either the detector is malfunctioning or Gullveig truly used her chance to return as we worked to rescue Miss Terra." He replied.

"Hmm… Rescuing Miss Terra, huh? Shouldn't that be the job for their soldiers? The Police shouldn't help with anything like that. It can cause a bad intergalaxies rumor." Erena asked.

"Yes, but, apparently, we are also to blame for causing the technology malfunction, that's why the chief told us to take responsibility." the police replied.

"Alright, I'll bite that. What do you think, Tsubasa?" Erena asked her team leader.

"Let's check on Terra. My intuition says that we truly need to talk with Miss Terra to ask for an explanation."

Terra's Mother Ship, Leader's room;

A fully armored woman sat on her desk as she kept looking at a tall blonde with fierce, icy blue eyes. She has been sitting there in silence while the blonde woman breathed deeply to composed herself.

"Heidr…" the Blonde said.

"You have my thanks. I thought I would be stuck in there eternally." she continued.

"You're welcome, Gullveig. So I guess we are even now?" the fully armored woman replied.

"I suppose you can say that. Thank you." The blonde replied again.

"Now, you should go away from this place. The Police scheduled a meeting with me in an hour. I don't want them to panic over you again." Heidr said.

"I understand." Gullveig nodded.

"Oh, by the way." Heidr called the blonde again before she teleported away.

"Can you say hello to my daughter? I've not seen her in a while." She continued.

Gullveig remained silent.

"She might be busy with her shop, right? Or perhaps she decided to help out Valkyrie Minami's school? It's been so peaceful on earth and here. I doubt she is up for anything bizarre." Heidr said.

"If you miss your daughter, you should meet her. You are her mother, not me." Gullveig replied.

"I can't. She won't forgive me for what I did. I've left a big scar in her memory so I don't want her to remember me anymore." Heidr replied.

"You are stubborn." Gullveig said.

Heidr giggled at her statement.

"Gullveig, I don't want to hear that from you." she said with a gentle smile.

Gullveig rolled her eyes before she disappeared from her spot.

Earth, night-time;

The small Village had grown into a big city. Koizumi's Inn is run by Rin, Maki, and Niko, while Minami's Atelier is run by Kotori, Umi, and Honoka, and Toujou's residence was turned into a repair shop that will accept either Cyber or Magic technology.

The City is always busy day and night. The Koizumi's Inn also has opened a night-café with a guaranteed healthy menu. Niko, who usually works as the head chef, took up the bar's night shift while Maki, who usually runs the economy and engineering in the city, is always the first customer to show up in the bar. She sit on the rightmost seat under the warm orange light and she always loves the calm atmosphere of the bar.

"Heh, Hanayo surely has so much to do as the leader of earth. She can't even visit her farm everyday anymore." Maki said as she stared at her glass of ice as she poured the beer.

"You miss her?" Niko asked as she took the bottle once the glass of her customer was filled to the brim.

"A little. Not that I complain when she returns. The joyful look in her eyes surely beats anything sparkling in this Inn." Maki said.

"Hah, I rather enjoy her cry whenever she returns. It's already three years for her in the world of politics and she is still crying over the cruel rumors about her." Niko replied.

"Are you sure you enjoy that? She literally floods your table with tears when she does that."

"That's what makes it enjoyable, you know. The last time she returned, it's only a few centimeters width of tears pool. I'm sure that one day she will get used to it."

"Is that so? Then I can't say much. I'd hope to see that. She is like the only person who can be trusted with this earth. She worked hard to maintain peaceful days, after all." Maki said.

"I'd object on 'peaceful days'. Ever since the war ended, people are trying to raise their own issues. Just yesterday, they said they are going to hunt for Necromancer in the ancient mountain near Pure Love Lens Lake. The rumor said that those Necromancers are trying to awaken the ultimate Judge of Darkness." Niko said.

"Judge of Darkness, the heck is that?" Maki asked as she lifted her eyebrow.

"You didn't know? That's like the oldest myth in this village. The Judge of Darkness will ascend from the shadows… she is merciless and will slay any creature that opposes her law. Her true nature remains unknown, but some said that she is a benevolent being."

"Then that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"That's a problem! Because, when she reigned, there were always those who fall victim to her inside the dark forest. Their painful screams could be heard but their bodies will never be found. No one knows what exactly the law that Judge of Darkness created is, but her existence makes everyone paranoid." Niko said.

"Sounds like bullshit to me." Maki replied.

"Gaah! You and your logical thinking. Why can't you appreciate myths when you are now living in a magical world!" Niko said.

But before Maki was able to respond, her phone began ringing.

"Ah…" she quickly picked up her phone.

"Rin, what's up?" she greeted her caller.

Niko tried to listen in to the conversation, though it was too hard to hear the voice in the phone. Once the red haired girl finished, she took the chance to ask properly.

"What's up?"

"Rin said that Hanayo is coming back tonight so she asked me to prepare Beat in Angel for her. Hanayo doesn't want a long ride tonight since she is too tired and can't wait to lay down on her own beloved bed." Maki said.

"Oh, is that so? Then, maybe I should prepare a boxed dinner, huh?"

"Yeah, I bet she'd want to eat them. Your cooking is like this Village's special." Maki said.

"Pfft, you are still calling this place as a 'Village?' How late are you?" Niko said as she began to prepare the meal.

"Heh, can't be helped. I can't believe that this place could grow this huge in such a short time." Maki said.

"True that. I would blame that specific couple and those three idiots." Niko said.

"Three idiots?" Maki squinted.

"Wouldn't that be you, Honoka, and Rin?" she continued.

"Oh come on! We didn't make that much trouble! Honest! Those three are more troublesome! Remember the time when Kotori made cheesecake that makes anyone fly?"

"Yeah, but that's your fault. You were about to steal a piece and accidentally spilled it all over the floor. Honoka teamed up with you because you forced her to, then you two somehow got an idea to just throw it in the pig pen and, the next day, you got flying pigs which Rin released. I still remember how we got dead pig rain at night. One of them broke Nozomi's roof, fell in her bedroom and she went nuts on the three of you."

"G-gh… well, what about that day when Kotori made a vial of oil?"

"You mean the oil that was meant for erotic purposes?'

"N-No… not that one, I don't want to remember what I saw that day."

"Yeah, I know. You saw a—…"

"M-Maki! It was the oil that can hasten any kind of engine!"

"Oh! You mean that one day where you drove your brand new car to Umi's Anemone Heart? I still remember the look on her face. She was totally about to kill you!"

"I didn't know that the oil does that! I ran out of oil and I asked Honoka to get one for me!"

"Yea uh, and the thing about that oil is, it's mine. I told Rin to keep it for me since I was about to replace my Beat in Angel's oil tank. But it looks like she shared it with her after all!"

"Well then! What about that day when Kotori couldn't stop zapping everyone with her magic power? That can't be my fault!"

"Nope, Rin confessed to me. In the morning, you and Rin went to her Atelier to look for medicines. Honoka was in charge of the atelier's cleanliness and you two decided to help her but accidentally broke some unfinished medicine. Then you—without any single knowledge about alchemy—decided to try and re-create the unfinished medicine and, with Rin as your look out, Honoka was in charge of getting the ingredients for you. Turns out you made a medicine that activates peoples' magic powers while it was supposed to be Kotori's sleeping medicine."

"Ggghh! Rin! Why did you even have to confess to you?!"

"Because she thought it was fun! Umi, Nozomi and I were so worked up that night trying to stop Kotori from Zapping everyone… and you also made Eli the main victim of that night's incident!"

"Fine! I suppose I don't have any example of incident caused by those three! But heh, anyway, why is Eli always the easy target for electricity? I thought she was already non-cyborg."

The red haired girl averted her eyes.

"You know, Niko. For a soldier, a wound is a mark of pride. The wound that hurts us most is the wound that we want to keep until our death. Eli, Umi, and I grew up as soldiers and each of us have our own wounds that we hide but are also proud of at the same time." She said.

"Really? I thought Eli really hates her wound, she even got her body re-made." Niko said.

"Is she really a hundred percent human right now? Her body may look like it, but that human skin can't deceive my eyes. Her bones are still made of metal and her right arm muscles are still made of rubber and bronze. She is just re-shaped to look like an ordinary human." Maki said.

"Huh? How did you know that? Do you have any technology to detect that?" Niko asked.

Maki sighed at her question.

"Well, Niko. You are a good secret keeper, right? I'll show you something, but keep it to yourself. Only Umi, Eli and I know about this." She said.

"Huh, alright?" Niko nodded.

By the time the agreement was sealed, Maki placed her hand on her own neck, then she rubbed her fingers up to her jaw, peeling a skin, then uncovered her half-mechanical face. Niko can see that the mechanical part continued down to her neck, though it was covered with the rubber skin that looks realistic. The other face that still looked the same like her very well-known face looks a lot more lively, yet it appeared to be stained with something glossy… like sweat.

"Y-Y-Your face….!?" Niko smirked.

"Heh, guessed that you will give me that reaction." Maki said before she covered her face with her fake skin again.

Come to think of it. Niko believes that she has thought about asking that question before… about how Maki's head is so strong. Now she knows that Maki is a cyborg too but has never shown that part of her.

"What the hell happened to your head?" Niko asked.

"It was a lethal poison injected right into my neck by an assassin from another planet. My parents saved me back then. It was what forced them to continue their research on how to create a mechanical body part to fit with the human body." Maki explained as she tidied up her fake skin.

"O...Oh… I see."

"But really, if I wasn't about to die back then, my parents won't be so motivated to work on that project. I feel lucky to be able to have this, other than because I began to be able to see what was inside other's body, I also feel a lot safer. I would never feel pain on my head when I hit something rough—on the metal part of course. I also learned about the power of Parent's love which makes everything possible." Maki said.

"Heh, you are right. A parent's love is magical. I miss my family now. Maybe I should pay them a visit tomorrow." Niko said.

"What about next week? Hanayo is going to be here tonight, I bet she will want to stay with everyone here."

"Now that you mentioned her, have you prepared Beat in Angel?" Niko asked.

"Heh, don't sweat about that. Beat in Angel is always ready to dash as long as there's no one who messed with it."

"Well, I didn't mess with it so I guess you are ready, huh?"

Kotori's Atelier, nighttime;

The place is tidy and the sound of the boiling liquid inside the cauldron is the music in the calm night. Umi silently sat on the sofa in the middle of her daily reading, Kotori is on the other side of the room diligently sewing a fashionable item with her discerning eyes locked on the design that she made herself— a cool, soldier-inspired fashion with Umi as the model.

A moment later, Honoka came in to the atelier with black and blue liquid-stained clothes. When she walked in and tried to sneak to the bathroom, Umi turned to look at her.

"Honoka, why do you smell funny?"

"A… ahahaha, I just finished cleaning something in the garage." Honoka replied.

"Really? Did you touch my Anemone Heart?"

"Uhh…I did, but I only cleaned it up." the ginger girl replied.

"Then, did you touch Garden of Glass?" Umi frowned slightly.

"No-no-no, not a chance. I wouldn't try to mess with that." Honoka replied.

"Then, you touched Beat in Angel?"

"A little, but I didn't do anything to it! I swear! Everything is perfect! Nothing is wrong with that one."

"Hmm… you don't sound very reassuring, so I'll make sure tomorrow." Umi said.

"T-Tomorrow? Alright." Honoka replied before she quickly ran to the bathroom.

"Hmmph, Honoka. She should be glad that I gave her a chance to fix it until tomorrow." Umi said before she returned to her reading.

Just about half a minute later, Umi could hear the sound of the garage door opening. She quickly jumped off her seat and ran out of the Atelier.

"Oh my god!" Umi exclaimed. Kotori quickly followed to go out of the Atelier.

"What's wrong, Umi-chan?" Kotori asked.

The two became witnesses to Beat in Angel's dispatch as it soared up to the sky and dashed off so quickly.

"I have to go!" Umi quickly ran back in to the Atelier—probably to get her key and head to the garage.

While Kotori was still dumbfounded by the events, she also took her time to look at her surroundings. Her eyes were immediately set on a familiar tall blonde woman with bright wings who is standing right in front of Nozomi's house. She looked like she was about to knock on the door, but decided not to. She is also carrying a small metal box that looks like it used to be a part of something. She took out a necklace-like object and hung it on the door's knob. She finally knocked on the door but she disappeared into lights instantly after that.

She wonders what that might be and she wanted to know more about it but…

"Kotori! Please come with me!" Umi said as she pulled her back in to the atelier and closed the door.

The Toujou residence;

Two cups of hot Chocolate Milk were served on the counter and a bright white light is shining right above the room. Two small bowls of pink yoghurt with sliced strawberries sits inside the cold fridge, and the soft night wind blew through the open window and made the blue curtains flutter.

A tall blonde is walking down the stairs wearing pajamas while a partially clothed purplenette followed right behind her. The purplenette had her hair down and, though she usually had straight hair, since her lover asked her to braid her hair, it was always wavy now.

"Ericchi, are you going to get the door?" asked the purplenette.

"Yes, why don't you get your jacket, Nozomi? You might have to meet with our guest." the blonde replied.

"Just ring the bell if you think I have to do that. Give me about two minutes to prepare." Nozomi said.

"You got it." Eli replied as she walked to the living room.

Nozomi walked to the kitchen counter and placed both of the hot chocolate cups on a tray. She then took the yoghurt out of the fridge and placed them on the same tray. Carefully, she transported the tray to the dining table and sat on her dining seat as she scanned the room to look for her jacket.

She found it on the hanger and it looks just as clean as it should be. She waited for a minute yet Eli didn't sound the bell. After a while, the blonde returned holding a familiar necklace in her hand.

"Nozomi, it was just a delivery. I don't know who might have sent it, but this is the treasure that I was looking for." she said.

"Isn't that… my amulet?" Nozomi asked.

"Yes, I kept it in my mechanical hand's socket back then. I've always-always treasured it, but ever since I changed my body and my former hand was remodeled, I lost this necklace. It's like losing the important person in my life." Eli replied.

"Sheesh, I'm right here and in a way better version. You don't need that child me." Nozomi said.

"I can see that. But like I said before, I'm going to treasure it." Eli replied as she wore the amulet around her neck.

"Stubborn Ericchi." Nozomi pouted at her.

When the blonde sat down in front of her, for some reason, Nozomi couldn't take her eyes off the necklace. A quick flashback came up to her mind about where that amulet used to be. The fair bright skin might be not as bright as her lover's white skin, but she knows so well about who wore it before her lover did. She remembers a braided purple hair is next to it and a specific cleavage that looks so similar to her lover's cleavage. She remembers there was something else near that long braided hair, but what was it?

A vision of a fair young woman with differently colored eyes cuddled her gently, singing a song that she began to recall. A song with familiar words as it's lyrics.

If…

We never met, if I had never known you at all….

"Let's eat!" Eli's playful remark snapped her out of her flashback. The blonde immediately took her yoghurt bowl and hot chocolate milk.

"Ah! You forgot the spoon again!" Eli said as she quickly picked up her bowl and walked away.

"Whoops, sorry! Totally didn't remember a thing about it!" Nozomi replied.

Now that she thinks about it, it's no use for her to brood over the past. The present is here and she couldn't feel happier than she is right now. A person who she met few years ago is now her life partner, even though she and her lover haven't yet walked to the altar to be formally bound with each other.

Truth to be told, it doesn't matter to her. Eli is her life partner and she will love her more than she loves herself right now.

Suddenly, arms embraced her from behind and in those arms were connected to hands holding a bowl of yogurt and a two spoons.

"You don't like me wearing the amulet?" a gentle voice asked.

"It's not like that." Nozomi replied.

"You looked like you were thinking about something though." Eli said.

"I was just… reminded of someone who used to wear that amulet before." Nozomi replied.

"Well, I've never known this amulet's history since I only found it next to your dirty laundry, after all." Eli said as she scooped a spoonful of her yoghurt and ate it.

"My mother used to wear that amulet around her neck… it always hung right above her breast cleavage too." Nozomi said.

Eli looks slightly jumped. She then placed the bowl of yoghurt down then placed one spoon in her bowl and the other in Nozomi's bowl. After that, she walked away while taking off her amulet.

"Why are you taking it off?" Nozomi asked.

Eli didn't respond as she approached the nearby cupboard and placed the amulet somewhere in there.

"Ericchi?" Nozomi called her once again.

"Sorry, I was being insensitive." the blonde said as she returned to her seat then pulled her bowl closer again.

"It's fine, Ericchi. It's in the past and she will never come back. There's no use for me to brood over that." Nozomi replied.

"Still, knowing about your mother's death… I don't want you to remember that traumatic event anymore. It's too cruel and brutal, even for a soldier like me." Eli said as she took a spoonful of her yoghurt.

"I've moved on. You are the only person in my mind right now. Even if you wear that amulet on your neck, I will never cry about her anymore." Nozomi replied.

"Mmmmhh! This Strawberry yoghurt is so delicious!" Eli said, obviously trying to change the topic.

"You are oversensitive." Nozomi said.

"I wonder how Hanayo's farm always produces the best of the best. It has to do something with her secret technique, right?" Eli said.

"There's no secret technique." Nozomi said. She gave up on the previous topic.

"Nice, so… since we're both awake and snacking right now, why don't we go somewhere as well? My Garden of Glass is always ready to take you to any place around the galaxy!" Eli said.

"I'm not interested in traveling out of the planet right now, so if there's anywhere you think is good, please just take me somewhere fun."

"Back to the bedroom then?"

"That place is fun, but I don't think I want to take Garden of Glass there. Think about something else." Nozomi said.

"Then, what about to Pure Love Lens lake? That place is legendary."

"Sounds good to me. Take me there."

The City, night time;

The night is quiet and the dim yellow light is shining all over the city streets with only some people walking outside. The building that has always housed the earth's leader are always kept secure by standing guards and a few patrollers.

"Can you believe it, Rin-chan? Can you!? Can you!?" a short haired brunette cried.

"Hehe, Kayo-chin, you are just over-thinking about it-nya!" Rin replied.

"But I swear I didn't do anything like that! I swear that I never play with the numbers in the bank! It's naturally like that! I don't even know how someone could play with the numbers in the bank! They accused me of corruption without proof!"

"That just sounds like politics nya! You just need to sit somewhere to get dirty-nya." Rin said

"Even though I would play in filth for a hectare of rice field, I wouldn't touch people's money. I don't need money! I have got enough for myself in the farm! I want to go home already!" Hanayo continued to cry.

"But at least many people seemed to trust you back there. Those who accused you seemed to lose bitterly too-nya." Rin said.

"Really?"

"Yep, Really! I saw it in their eyes-nya!" Rin said.

"Thank you, Rin-chan. But seriously, I feel so exhausted. I just want to go home and roll on my sheets. I hate politics so much, why do I have to do this? Why can't someone else do this? Maybe we should call Miss Terra to help us?"

"Hehe, but, Miss Terra is busy with her own business. She told me before she went missing-nya." Rin said.

"She told you before she went missing?"

"Yep, she said that she needs to do something very important-nya. She also told me to not tell anyone before she returned and since she already returned a few hours ago, I'm free to tell anyone-nya." Rin said.

"I wonder what she was doing." Hanayo said.

"Hehe, who knows-nya. Probably related to Gullveig-nya?" Rin said.

"Maybe. Gullveig and Miss Terra are so close to each other, it almost feels like they are in a relationship." Hanayo said.

"But, isn't Gullveig married-nya?" Rin asked.

"She was divorced from her husband after resurrecting him. Now Eli-chan's father got on the pirate ship again to roam the galaxies , this time, with Alisa-chan on board."

"Eeeeh? Alisa-chan became a pirate?"

"Hehe, not really. She's just tagging along so that she can gain more expertise in archeology."

"Ooh… That sounds fun-nya. Traveling around the galaxies and protected by pirates." Rin said.

Suddenly, a call came in to Rin's phone.

"Aaah! Maki-chan! Are you nearby?-nya" Rin asked cheerfully.

"Yeah! Niko will throw the ladder. Wait on your spot. I can see you in my radar." Maki replied.

"Thank goodness! I'm going home!" Hanayo said in relief.

A few seconds later, a blazing, slim, red spaceship stopped right above them. Niko opened the door and threw the pole ladder for the two.

"Get on board! We are going back to Koizumi farm within minutes!" Niko said.

"Ahooyy-nyaa!" Rin replied cheerfully before she and Hanayo quickly accepted the ladder.

The two got up to the ship then Niko pulled back the rope ladder and closed the door. Maki has upgraded the passenger seats into three seats so each of the girls were able to sit there nicely.

"Aaah! Maki-chan! Thank you sooo much for picking me up. I can't imagine if I have to endure my homesickness for more than a day on a car ride." Hanayo said.

"Heh, no problem. We haven't told your workers since Niko said she wants to try and surprise them sometime." Maki said as she began to operate her ship and rotated to return to the farm.

"Hehe, that's fine! I'd like to see how it would go too!" Hanayo said.

"Alright, hold on tight now. I'll dash to the farm." Maki said.

"Ok!" Hanayo, Rin, and Niko replied cheerfully.

The ship moved normally as if there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

"Now-now, Hanayo. I've prepared something for you." Niko said.

"Ooooh! Right-nya! We've been wanting to do this!" Rin said.

"What is it?" Hanayo asked curiously.

"Hehehe, it's this!" Niko pushed a part of Beat in Angel's ceiling, opened a button panel and pressed one of the buttons.

Suddenly, a rice cooker appeared from the back wall, slowly moving toward Hanayo's seat while a table appeared from the floor. Everything is set perfectly into a portable dining table with a rice cooker on the other table.

"Huh? Since when did my ship have that function?" Maki asked.

"Hehehe, I planned it with Rin long ago. Don't worry, everything should be perfect, I got the blueprint checked by Eli, you know." Niko said.

"Well, that's very reassuring, but you should just have told me, you know. I could have helped you set it up." Maki said.

"Don't worry! Don't worry! I'm an expert on engines too!" Niko sang confidently.

"Ah, what about the other meal, Niko-chan? Did you cook it-nya?" Rin asked.

"Of course I did! I prepared them after you called Maki!" Niko replied as she pulled out a boxed dinner out of the storage near the Pilot's engine.

"You made a storage too? That's actually something nice, but did you keep some drinks for me?" Maki asked.

"Yep, of course!" Niko said as she pointed to the bottles inside storage.

"We also made a portable kitchen in your ship-nya!" Rin said.

"Yeah! But the ultimate surprise for you is this!" Niko said as she pressed another button on the ceiling panel.

But nothing happened…

"What…? What is the ultimate surprise here?" Maki asked.

"Hnnng… Looks like Honoka didn't do her job properly…" Niko said.

"Uh… try again-nya?" Rin asked.

Niko pressed the button once again.

A screen showed up right in front of Maki's face.

"T-The heck? Why is it so close to her face?!" Niko complained.

Starting auto-pilot….

A robotic voice was heard from the speaker.

"A-Auto Pilot?! Where to?!" Maki asked in her surprise.

Destination: Terra Mothership.

"T-Terra?!" Everyone shouted.

"H-How do we stop this?!" Niko said.

"I-I don't know-nya! No one set that function-nya!" Rin said.

"P-put that aside! Just get the space suit! We all will die without it!" Maki said.

"A-aren't the space suits currently being washed in Kotori-chan's Atelier-nya?" Rin said.

"Huuh!?"

Not so far from Beat in Angel.

Anemone Heart has been watching from a distance. Umi is driving the ship as Kotori sat next to her as co-pilot while Honoka sat on the passenger's seat.

"Looks like there's nothing wrong with Beat in Angel after all." Kotori said.

Honoka sighed in relief.

"We can't say that yet. We have to see if they can return to the farm safely." Umi said.

"Hehe, alright, Umi-chan. Let's wait a little longer." Kotori said.

Just right after she finished her sentence, a call came on Umi's phone and Umi quickly accepted it.

"Maki, what's up?" Umi asked.

"U-Umi, where are you?!" Maki asked in panic. She can also hear the others' panicked screams in the background.

"I'm nearby, do you need anything?" Umi asked.

"Y-You are? Why can't my radar detect you? But anyway! My ship started an autopilot function and I can't stop it! This ship is about to go to Terra!" Maki said.

"W-what? Get your spacesuit!" Umi said.

"Uuh…Umi-chan. All of our spacesuits are currently being washed in my Atelier, remember?" Kotori said.

"Y-You are right! Then, I'll stop your ship, Maki! Don't stand too close to the door, I might have to break your wings with my ship's arm and canon!" Umi said while Honoka seemed to be pale when she heard what she just said.

"W-Whatever works as long as we all live in the end!"

Inside The Garden of Glass;

Eli flew her ship towards Pure Love Lens Lake as Nozomi sat on the special seat right next to her, gently cleaning her beloved glove.

"You know why I accepted your invitation to Pure Love Lens lake, Ericchi?" Nozomi asked.

"Because your Glove's Gem need replacement?" Eli replied with a gentle smile.

"Correct, it's already in critical condition so it won't function as it should. I always wanted to go here but we were always busy with the shop so, yep, it had to wait."

"Well, you could go to the Pure Love Lens Lake by yourself later and drive this ship sometime… you are more than allowed."

"What is 'more than allowed'? You can't go more than allowed! Its only allowed or not allowed! Silly Ericchi!"

Eli only giggled in response.

"But anyway, Ericchi, did you know that this glove is my greatest treasure? Even though it's no longer my father's creation, it's your creation and I love it so much. Whenever I go to a battle with this glove, I feel like I could beat anything." Nozomi said.

"Of course I knew that, honey." Eli replied with a teasing wink.

Suddenly, a phone call came on Eli's phone. Nozomi quickly picked it up for her.

"SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!" Hanayo's loud voice was heard.

"Hanayo-chan, what's up?" Nozomi asked.

"MAKI-CHAN! WHOOSH! MALFUNCTIONING! UMI-CHAN! ARM! CHOP! PEW-PEW! BOOM! ON FIRE! SAVE ME!" Hanayo shouted.

"Ok, that was a nice story. Have fun." Nozomi said.

"Nozomi-chan!"

"Yes?"

Nozomi waited for Hanayo to take a deep breath.

"M-Maki-chan's ship is malfunctioning! Then Umi-chan came to help! But her ship's arm came off and her canon exploded! Now Part of her ship is on fire while she is still trying to stop us from dashing out of the planet! HELP!" She finally explained.

"That sounds… chaotic…" Nozomi said.

"PLEASE HELP!" Hanayo yelled.

"Ericchi! Find Maki-chan's ship! She should be somewhere around the City!" Nozomi yelled at Eli.

"H-huh? Ok."

Back to where Beat in Angel and Anemone Heart are;

The struggle is real and they are already too far from the City, as well. The red ship keeps dashing out of the planet while the blue ship is partially on fire. Kotori was occupied with setting up a shield to prevent the fire from reaching another part of the ship and Umi is occupied with holding onto the arm that came while Honoka is on the driver's seat trying to stop the red ship from going farther. Maki is on her ship's wing, gripping onto the arm that is attached to her wings. Rin is on the driver seat as Hanayo is trying to use her nature magic power to slow down their movement, while Niko is trying to find out a way to stop the autopilot.

"Gggghhhh! Hang in there, Umi!" Maki said as she struggled to keep the arm attached.

"I am!" Umi said as she continued in her struggle to pull.

Just a minute later, The Garden of Glass arrived.

"Eli! Thank goodness!" Umi said excitedly.

"Eli, please save us!" Maki said.

"No problem!" Eli said as she drove the Garden of Glass to the front of Beat in Angel and push it to the opposite direction. She then left the driver's seat to Nozomi before she went out from her door, then she hopped on to Beat in Angel and approached Niko.

"Eli, these systems are a lot different from your blueprint. Can you still fix it?" Niko asked.

"Here-here, let me look." Eli said as she started to look at the engines.

"What a mess! Who made this?! I don't even know which cable is which!" Eli said.

"I told you it's very different from your Blueprint." Niko said.

"I'll just pull everything off then." Eli said before she pulled all the cables. It turned Beat in Angel off.

The ship is off and, this time, only Garden of Glass and Anemone Heart can fly. Maki and Umi remained in their places to make sure that Beat in Angel won't fall to the ground. Honoka is still pulling but with lesser energy while Nozomi switched the arm placement to make sure that Beat in Angel wouldn't fall.

"Should've thought of that before. You are really brilliant, Eli." Niko said.

"It's not like you can do that anyway, these cables are pretty tough." Eli said.

"Hah, true." Niko replied.

"Maki, Umi, can you switch the arm positions? We are going to carry Beat in Angel back to our village." Eli said.

"Can we decrease the number of people on this ship first?" Maki asked.

"Good point. Hanayo, Rin, Niko, can all three of you move somewhere else?" Eli asked.

"Yeah-nya!" Rin replied cheerfully.

Hanayo nodded before she summoned a big owl outside the ship. She, Rin, and Niko hopped on it.

"Honestly, I don't really want to use a familiar since I'm pretty tired and I could lose control anytime soon." Hanayo said.

"Just hang in there, ok?" Eli replied.

"Then, what about you, Kotori?" Umi asked. Kotori is still trying to put her shield up and, at the same time, use wind to blow off the fire.

"Nozomi, a little help here!" Eli said.

Nozomi tried to look at the condition. After she understood the situation, she used her glove to control the fire and take it off the ship. The Fire stopped and Kotori stopped using her magic as well.

"Haaah… I'm very tired. I haven't take any breaks since this morning…" Kotori said.

"Then get on Hanayo's familiar. Maybe you can swap with her if needed." Eli said.

"Hehe, that's the plan!" Kotori said before she went out of the ship to hop in to Beat in Angel before she hop off again to Hanayo's big owl.

Maki and Umi switched the Anemone Heart's broken arm position. Now it's right under the body of Beat in Angel.

"Looks like we are ready to go now. Honoka, Nozomi! Drive to the farm, I'll navigate for you two!" Eli said. Honoka and Nozomi gave her a thumbs up to tell her that they are ready to do what she asked.

A few kilometers passed and everything went smoothly and according to the plan.

"Haaah, looks like this chaos is finally over!" Niko said.

"I'm sorry, it's all because I wanted to return quickly." Hanayo said.

"Nah, it's not your fault, Hanayo. It's these people who didn't even get their modifications right!" Maki said.

"B-but, they did it for me. Please forgive them." Hanayo said.

"Heh, since you are the one who asked, I guess we can say that we will give them a little mercy." Maki said.

"It's strange though, how could my Anemone Heart's arm come off? I swear it has survived worse impacts before. Plus the exploding canons are also unexpected." Umi said.

"I don't know-nyaaa! Maybe you lost a few screws?" Rin said somewhat sarcastically.

"O-oi! Should I spell out what you did too?!" Niko said.

"So you DID something to their ships after all!" Maki said.

"I swear I'm going to replace it tomorrow!" Niko said.

"Hehehe! Niko-chan is a bad girl-nya!" Rin said playfully.

"Niko… why didn't you take the screws in the tool box? I have them inside the Garden of Glass." Eli said.

"I used them all already." Niko said.

"Ah, so that's why." Eli replied.

"Next time, just tell us if you want to do a modification. We will certainly do it for you." Umi said.

"I'm sorry." Niko said sadly.

"E-Everyone… please, don't blame her anymore. She did it for me!" Hanayo said.

"We don't. Don't worry. We were just telling her to ask if she needs anything. It's been a few years of us being together and we are no longer strangers." Umi said.

"Yeah, she is right. Don't be afraid to ask. We will try our best to get it done." Maki said.

"Plus, shouldn't we all be happy? These kinds of troubles keep us all together." Eli said teasingly.

Umi chuckled sweetly.

"You are right, we are always in this kind of trouble and it's what keeps us together. I'm really glad to have troublemakers in our family." she said.

"Umi-chan, your chuckle is so mesmerizing, please do that more often." Kotori said.

"T-there! Kotori!" Umi replied with a blush on her cheeks.

"Hehe, I have to agree. Maki-chan, Umi-chan, and Eli-chan's voices are so mesmerizing, we rarely hear you all giggling, chuckling or laughing." Hanayo said.

"Really? I hear Ericchi's giggles and laughter everyday. It's so annoying sometimes." Nozomi said.

"Aaah, Lucky-Lucky Nozomi-chan!" Rin said teasingly.

"Right uh? Nozomi and Eli rarely hang out with us. You two are always busy in the repair shop in the day, then at night, you two would already be out of reach." Niko said.

"That's probably Ericchi's fault. She always nags me to get in bed after a long work day." Nozomi said.

"The smell of Nozomi's sweat is refreshing." Eli said confidently.

"How Shameless!" Umi said.

"Is that a sarcasm Ericchi? You throw me into the bathroom tub everyday and complain about how smelly I am!"

"Ah, right. I remember that day you suddenly ask us to help you repair the bathtub. Did you literally throw her in there?" Maki asked.

"I wonder if it really broke because of Nozomi-chan being thrown in there? Didn't it have a dent like a meteor crashed into it?" Hanayo asked.

"Meteor? What kind of butt do you have-nya?!" Rin asked.

"Well, it wasn't my butt. It was something else." Nozomi said.

Everyone tried to think for a moment.

"Spiritual Power!" Nozomi shouted playfully.

"Ooooohhhh!" everyone nodded before they began to laugh—except for Umi who decided to facepalm.

"Oi now, everyone. Please save your energy. We can't keep joking around until we reach the farm!" Niko said, followed by everyone's agreement yet it was once again followed by their laughter.

Terra's mothership, Leader's room;

Miss Terra finished her meeting with the Police. She sighed softly before she standing up to head to her luxurious bedroom.

"Heidr." a familiar voice called her.

The fully armored woman stopped.

"What's up, Gullveig?" she replied.

"I said 'Hello' to your daughter." Gullveig said.

"Did she say anything in return?" Heidr asked.

"She already moved on, looks like she is taking a shine on my daughter too much." Gullveig said.

"That's how it's supposed to be." Heidr replied with a gentle smile.

"What if she said that so that she can hide her feelings? My daughter is a fool so she wouldn't be able to know about another's feelings unless that person tells her directly." Gullveig said.

"What about you? Do you know how I feel?" Heidr asked.

Gullveig was surprised to hear it.

"What if… I said it so that you can stop nagging me about my daughter?"

"Liar." Gullveig said.

"Whatever. There's no more bond between us. She lives her own life, I live my own life."

"And yet you were complaining when I abandoned my daughter."

"I didn't complain about that anymore, so it would be nice if you stop about my daughter as well."

"Are you really going to let your daughter get stuck with the worst memory about you? If you show yourself to her, she can at least find herself at peace when thinking about you."

"And what of it? Will that really do anything at all?"

"I don't want her to have those memories! It was that damned Lenora's fault. I was hoping to let her see how wonderful you are. I want her to see that you are a very capable woman and I want her to be proud of you. That's why I told those morons to not touch her and having fun with you… and by 'fun,' I meant 'to be slaughtered by you,' not the opposite! Alas! I impaled those men who admitted taking part in touching you! I killed them all mercilessly!"

"Why did you do that? Was there any benefit out of it?" Heidr asked with her voice remaining unchanged. She always sounded so calm and gentle behind that mask.

"I wanted you to stop feeling guilty. I knew that it was a misunderstanding on my part. I knew that I've wounded everyone's feelings that day. I slaughtered those who poured their love to us for so many years. I didn't think that far when I was burnt by the jealousy. I knew that it was all my fault." Gullveig explained.

The fully armored woman was once again silent.

"Heidr, I want you to know that I wasn't angry with you. You have not sinned against me at all. I wasn't angry with anyone at all. I was… hoping that everyone will hate me. I wanted my daughter to hate me and I wanted your daughter to hate me. I wanted their friends to hate me…. but most importantly, I wanted you to hate me. I am no one to love. I'm just a cold-blooded murderer. That's why, when you came to me that day, when you said that I could've killed you instead of everyone around me, I couldn't… because you are the most important person to me. I didn't realize that you were just trying to save me from that disease. You tried so hard to stop me from becoming a psychopathic being and even offered your womb to someone you didn't love. "

"Yet all that was in vain, right? I was secretly enjoying my life as a mother. But, now that it's over, I feel like living my life as a free woman. We are already even. You brought me back to life in your own way while I saved you from that universe with my own way. I have no more guilt with you and, as I said, I have no more bond with my daughter as well. Please stop this conversation already before you see me in another face." this time, the calm woman's voice slightly changed.

They both are quiet for a moment when Gullveig pulled her phone out of her spacesuit. She is looking at the clock that seemed to be set on earth time.

"If that makes you hate me, then I should do it." she said.

"Why are you so obsessed with being hated? Don't you want to be loved sometime? By me especially?"

"I told you, I don't need your love anymore. All I want you to do is to show up to your daughter and give her the impression of how amazing you are. She needs to be proud of you, not scarred for life because of you!"

Then suddenly, a massive fist of shadow appeared from the floor and punched the bright-winged blonde to the ground.

"Gullveig! I warned you to stop being a stubborn mule. I don't want to meet my daughter and that's that! You know nothing about my feelings!" the fully armored woman replied.

Suddenly, a flash of light zapped and hit the other woman down to the ground.

"If this is what needs to be done, then so be it. May we fight eternally." Gullveig said.

And right after that, Gullveig scattered into lights and snatched the woman who tried to escape through the shadow. The room became empty all of a sudden as those two disappeared.

The Village, nighttime;

The girls have returned to their own homes and the ships were left broken for the night as none of them was awake enough to fix it. Hanayo's return was indeed a surprise for the workers, though they can't celebrate it yet since Hanayo is too tired for anything that night.

As an alternative for not being able to make an immediate celebration, the workers decided to prepare everything that were needed to repair broken ships—from the fuel down to the parts. They placed it right inside the garage nicely and some of the workers even cleaned the ships without taking off any broken part from it.

The stable is quiet as usual with three Sleipnirs sleeping quietly as their half empty water buckets were placed right in front of them. The light in Kotori's atelier turned off while the boiling water inside the cauldron remained along with the small fire. Honoka, Kotori, and Umi are sleeping deeply in their own rooms.

At the Inn, Hanayo, Maki, Rin, and Niko ended up sleeping in Hanayo's room since they were playing some card games before they fell asleep. There were also some leftover snacks and drinks scattered on the floor, as well as some of the cards, and a monopoly box shoved under the bed as if they've given up on playing it.

At the Tojou residence, the night lamp is the only light shining upon the dark room. While the blonde preferred having more than half of her body uncovered, the purplenette liked to drown herself in the blanket.

It was a long night for them and they truly needed to take a break from all the mess that happened. A few hours passed as they rested and the night has gone darker and darker until the clock inside the Inn's lobby echoed.

A powerful presence passed across the village and the three mages woke up from their slumber, surprised that they can feel the presence even at a state when their awareness is at its weakest.

Three of them decided to confirm the village's condition and they would have awakened the soldiers or their allies, but not until they are sure about the situation. Each of them walked out of their shelters.

"Nozomi-chan?"

"Kotori-chan?"

"Hanayo-chan?"

They called each other's names.

"So it wasn't just me…" they said in the same time.

"What is that powerful presence?" they continued at the same time as the gestured in thought.

The wind suddenly blew harshly and this is a bad sign for them. Hanayo tried to listen to the voices in her environment and Nozomi tried to look through the darkness of the night while Kotori tried to sense through the energy in the air. The powerful presence was emitting energy throughout the school of magic and, a second after they set their eyes on the school building, a massive dark cloud and a dome of light appeared.

"The School?" Hanayo wondered.

"Looks like there's something happening in there, we need to find out. Maybe there are some students trying to summon something again." Nozomi said.

"Uh, have you replaced your glove, Nozomi-chan?" Kotori asked.

"I haven't. Do you have any?" Nozomi asked.

"I do, actually I've been wanting you to try it for me. I've done a little enchantment with it." Kotori said.

"Then, please give me that and some energy reliever potions."

"I only have four in stock. It won't be enough for us all." Kotori said.

"Then, Hanayo take one, you take one, and I take two of them. I'll be going with Ericchi while you try to create the rest of potions for everyone and Hanayo will assist with anything they want to bring there. Please don't take too much time… we may only be able to stall this presence until morning." Nozomi said.

"Understood." Kotori and Hanayo replied.

The School of Magic, Night time;

"Principal Minami! You were right! We just caught two magic units!" said a student as they stared at the crystal ball on the podium.

"Hmm… just like what the tree said." the woman with dark grey colored hair said. She is in a formal uniform with her Valkyrie wings stowed.

"But what should we do next?" another student asked.

"Hmmmm… No idea." Principal Minami replied.

"Eeehhh…!? W-what if they break out of the crystal ball? You said they are dangerous, right?" another student asked again.

"Hmmmmmm…. What should I do….?" Principal Minami said as she went into her thinking mode.

"Principal Minami! Please don't think after your actions! It's supposed to be the other way around!"

"it's not like I didn't think about it. I thought of something back then, but I can't recall it."

"Uhh… what if we just call someone? Nozomi sensei perhaps?" said a student.

"She should be at her home, right? The repair shop?" said another student.

"Yeah. She also lives with her… assistant?" the other student replied

"Ahh… now that you mention her, I think we truly need to call her." Principal Minami said.

"P-Principal Minami! We already said that!"

"Well then, please welcome them to this very room!" Principal Minami gestured to the door.

"We didn't—….!"

And before the students finished their words, Nozomi and Eli broke into the room on their Sleipnir. Both of them are wearing their space battle suit, which is actually specially designed to be able to adjust with both the earth and space's atmosphere.

"N-Nightmare! Stop! Stop! I said stop!" Nozomi tried to stop her Sleipnir from running.

The familiar finally stopped right in front of Principal Minami.

"Good job students. Extra grades for you!" Principal Minami said.

"We didn't call her yet…" a student said.

The other student quickly hit him.

"Ouch!'

"I mean… Ahaha.. yes, thank you, principal Minami." said the student again.

"So, what is this all about now?" Nozomi asked as she and Eli jumped down from their Sleipnir.

"I just gathered these students to help me transport a massive energy to this crystal ball. The old tree said that we needed to capture it. He also said that I need to transport it somewhere but, without my Valkyrie Companions, I can't do it. Plus, I need to take care of this school. We are preparing for a festival of magic tomorrow."

"Is that so? Then we are just here to transport this crystal ball to…?" Nozomi tried to confirm.

"Hmm… somewhere, duh?" Principal Minami said.

"We don't even know where to go to. We don't even know what exactly is inside this crystal ball." Nozomi said.

"Maybe you can try to take it to somewhere faaaaaaaarr away like really faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarr away?" Principal Minami said.

"That's…. very… specific of you." Eli commented.

"Maybe we should bring this thing to The End of Sorrow." Nozomi said.

"You are right, that place is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar away and I bet it has enough space for us to battle too." Eli said.

"That's a good idea, but you need to take that thing there in 10 minutes. The crystal is only be able to hold that power for 40 minutes and it's already been 30 minutes so…"

And before Principal Minami could finish her explanation, Nozomi and Eli quickly jumped on their Sleipnir and ran out through the window.

The Toujou residence's garage;

Umi and Maki were assigned to fix the ships with Honoka and Niko as their assistants and they are trying to work as fast as possible.

"I'm glad you are familiar with all engines parts. I was scared that I had to walk here and there by myself." Maki said as continued fixing her Beat in Angel's Cable.

"I told you we are fluent with engines. It's just that we aren't fond of Cyber Technology so we don't really understand that much about the system." Niko replied.

"Honestly though… why don't we mix the technology?" Honoka asked as she held out the tool box for Umi who was quietly fixing her Anemone Heart.

"It's a good idea, but the special thing about Cyber Technology is that they can function in a place where magic can't work or simply negate their effects, as well." Maki said.

"I have to agree with Honoka, though. I actually hope to be able to mix the two technologies for our ship. After all, we have graduated from our school and we are no longer Terra's residents." Umi said.

"Heh, you want to do that? Well, I'm not complaining but can we do it quickly? We need to get to wherever Nozomi and Eli are." Maki asked.

"That's true." Umi said a little sadly.

"I think it's fine. You have prepared the blueprints, Umi-chan. I saw them!" Honoka said.

"Yes, but I don't have the materials yet." Umi said.

"Kotori and I got them for you and even tried to make some of them. That's why I had a little trouble with the upgrade for Beat in Angel. I just forgot to do it before focusing on your blueprints." Honoka replied.

"You did that? Thank you, Honoka." Umi said somewhat happily.

"So what about you, Maki? Do you want to do it?" Niko asked.

"I didn't make any blueprints." Maki said.

"Well, if you ask me nicely, I can give you another blueprint I already made for your Beat in Angel. I even got Eli and Nozomi to check them for me. They only made a little change with it." Niko said.

"You did? That's kind of you. What about the materials, though?" Maki asked.

"Don't worry about that. Rin and Hanayo already got them for you." Niko said.

"Wow, thanks." Maki replied.

"Heh-heh-heh! Well, since you look so interested, I guess it can't be helped, huh? Here you go!" Niko pulled out a folded paper from her pocket and handed it to Maki.

The paper is full of crosses and explanation written in red ink. It looks like someone was lying about 'a little change.' because it was more like everything drawn in this picture is wrong.

"Niko, what is this?" Maki asked with a straight face.

"Oohh! My bad! Here is the correct one." Niko handed another blueprint.

This time, the sketch is redrawn and the suggestion written in a similar handwriting with the sketch despite having different writer names. Did she comment this on her own and wrote Nozomi and Eli's name in it?

"Niko, I'm questioning the credibility of this blueprint." Nozomi said.

"Just take that you jerk face!"

"It looks like you didn't ask Nozomi and Eli for the final blue print. You wrote these comments yourself, right?" Maki said.

"What the heck? How do you—… I mean! Then! Go check it with Umi or something!" Niko said.

Maki sighed before she decided to approach the other soldier.

"Umi, can you check this blueprint for me?" she asked.

Umi took the blueprint and read it for a moment.

"Hmm… This isn't Nozomi and Eli's work, is it? The math in this blueprint…. needs a lot of re-work. Perhaps you can ask the creator of this blueprint to… retry?" she said politely.

Maki took the blueprint and walk back to Niko.

"Niko, Umi said that this blueprint is as fake as you. Your math is terrible. You are an idiot."

"The heck? You made that up yourself, right?!"

"Either way, this blueprint is wrong."

"Then fix it! Don't tell me you can't make your own blueprints!"

"Heh, I guess I'll just show you, huh? I'll have to use both of these blueprints as reference to hasten my work. You order the materials, add additional 200 units on each of them. Instant delivery to here."

"Additional 200 units?! That's like 10 times the current requirement!"

"Just get it. Better have some extra than lack any materials. Here's my wallet card. You know the password." Maki said as she handed a small card case to Niko before she headed to the workbench with both blueprints.

Niko sighed at her.

"Sheesh, rich girl. You don't even think about saving."

Somewhere close to The End of Sorrow;

The couple was still riding on their Sleipnir. The crystal ball is in Eli's hand while Nozomi tried to use her magic to hasten her Sleipnir's movement.

"How much time left?" Nozomi asked.

"About 10 seconds!" Eli said.

"We can't make it! We need approximately 30 seconds!" Nozomi said.

Eli tried to think for a moment.

"If only we can use our ship, they just had to run out of fuel!" Nozomi sighed.

Now that she mentioned their ship, she also remembered a joke from their latest conversation.

"Ah! Nozomi! I got an idea!" Eli said.

"What? What is it?" Nozomi asked.

"Here…" Eli pressed the crystal ball on Nozomi's breasts.

"What should I do with it?" Nozomi asked.

"Spiritual power, use it!" Eli said.

"Oohh! You are really brilliant, Ericchi!" Nozomi said.

"Hurry!" Eli said

Nozomi nodded before she took a deep breath and…

"SPIRITUAL—…"

She charged her power.

"POWER!" and she released her power. The crystal ball launched so up high and flew extremely far away from them.

"Harasho…" Eli said as the couple watched the crystal ball falling to the ground.

"Booom…." Nozomi added the sound effect as she watched the crystal ball make a very-very soft sound of collision.

"Does that crystal ball really contain something powerful?" Eli wondered.

"Well, no explosion, so I guess our senses are mistaken." Nozomi said.

"I'd be questioning your logic, but I guess we don't need logic. Should we just call everyone about this?" Eli asked.

"Sure? I'm still energized so I think we should… you know, unleash the spiritual power in a fabulous way." Nozomi said as she turned her Sleipnir around and walked away from The End of Sorrow.

"What about doing some laundry instead? We haven't washed like… 28 pairs of clothes since last week."

"Mmm… that's a big load of laundry, Ericchi. Maybe you should start by cleaning my underwear? I hope you don't mind if it's... soaked with love."

The blonde chuckled.

"Alright, you are into that. Then we should get the 'laundry' done tonight. But make sure we really do the actual laundry tomorrow, ok?"

"We should close the repair shop tomorrow, Ericchi. I bet you need a lot of help on brushing the… stains of passion."

"There, Nozomi. We should save the dirty talk for the bedroom."

And as Eli finished saying it, a massive dark cloud appeared from a distance. It eventually formed into a colossal black dragon-like creature and it roared so loudly.

Nozomi and Eli quickly turned around to see what just roared behind them.

"Dragon…" Eli said.

Nozomi tried to identify the dragon, though she can't remember there's a creature like it before, not even the familiar that she knows.

The dragon has six pairs of raven feathered wings, three pairs of back horns, three pairs of furious eyes, a single line of long burn mark near the right neck, long dark purple braided hair, sharp teeth in its powerful-looking mouth, a razor tail and a pair of arms and legs on its long body.

Has she seen that dragon before?

She can't recall where she saw that dragon, but she remembers something about that dragon.

There is no crime that goes unpunished before me…

"Judge of Darkness…" Nozomi mumbled.

"What? What is that?" Eli asked.

"That dragon's name… is Judge of darkness."

"Huh? Where's the hammer?" Eli asked.

"Ericchi! Stop joking! You know that not every judge needs a hammer!" Nozomi said.

"So we should go there and beat him, right?" Eli asked.

"It's a she. The Judge of Darkness is a female." Nozomi said.

"She? Alright. That Dragon looks so badass. I'd ride her if I could."

"Ericchi, I swear to you that you are only allowed to ride Nightmare and me—in different context of riding of course."

"Alright, so since I'm not romantically interested with a horse, I'll romantically ride you in romantic context and the actual meaning of 'riding' with your Nightmare."

"I don't even need that explanation, silly Ericchi! Either way, let's get closer. Call the others to hurry up." Nozomi said.

"You got it, honey!" Eli replied as she pulled out her phone while Nightmare the Sleipnir began to gallop towards the dragon.

The End of Sorrow;

The dragon soared up to the sky and breathed fire towards a specific blonde who stood in the middle of the arena. She casted a shield on herself as her platinum armor and white wings brightly shone in the middle of the dark night. It's like the shield absorbed the power and converted it into light.

"You know that anything related to light will not hurt me. Why do you have to use fire?" the blonde said.

The dragon remained silent.

"Hmmph, silent, I see. You are trying to prevent revealing yourself, huh? Knowing that your daughter might still be around right now?"

The dragon squinted its eyes before it crashed down to bite the blonde woman. The white wings supported her enough to dodge the crash though, just before she realized that she is still in danger, the razor tail sliced her right arm off.

Gullveig quickly grabbed her right arm and placed it back as she casted a quick heal for herself. The dragon quickly returned with open jaws.

In a speed of light, Gullveig dodged it once again, but she didn't expect to be caught by the arm of the dragon.

With her being snatched into the air without being able to move her wings, Gullveig had to try to unleash herself from the grip. The nighttime didn't help her that much as she couldn't have better light source than herself. When she thought that she could keep up the struggle, the dragon dispersed into fog and the arm that was squeezing her turned into a chain that twisted around her body.

The grip tightened and now she can see a masked woman in black robe covering her space suit appearing from the darkness, carrying a long, slim sword and holding the chain that held her.

"I'll be happy to silence you for a few hours. Just to make sure you are not going to talk to me about it ever again." the woman said when she got close enough to the blonde before she, once again, disappeared from her vision.

"Have a good night, Gullveig!" the woman re-appeared again from above, about to thrust the sword right to her heart, but before she could reach her heart, a powerful Sword-axe parried it.

Surprised, the masked woman changed turned to face another blonde who was standing above a dark griffin. The dark griffin is certainly a familiar, though she believes it wasn't the person standing on it who summoned it… it was someone else and she is right there on her Sleipnir, Nightmare.

The masked woman didn't show her expression, but she certainly attempted to make an escape by releasing the older blonde from her grip. Before she was able to do so, Gullveig casted a magical chain from her hand and, this time, she is the one who's holding her back.

"You are not going anywhere, Heidr!" Gullveig said as loud as possible.

"Heidr…? Who's that?" Eli wondered.

The masked woman remained silent before she took out a gun and shot it. Eli quickly made her move to defend the older blonde from the attack, but the missing second is enough for the masked woman to escape to the darkness again.

Knowing she escaped, Nozomi couldn't stand still. She decided to command her Sleipnir to go into the darkness to look for the presence herself. A few seconds passed and a sound of a struggle was heard from the darkness.

Gullveig swiftly used her magical instinct to search for the sound while Eli followed her. They found Nozomi holding the hand of the masked woman. Strangely enough for them, the masked woman didn't try to use any weapon on her.

"You are not getting away! Settle your problems with her!" Nozomi said.

The masked woman remained unresponsive but was still insistent on escaping. When Gullveig got closer, she tried to say her name but, right before she could say anything, the masked woman accurately shot her neck.

"Mama!" Eli panicked. Gullveig quickly held her neck as she, once again, swiftly tried to heal herself.

When Gullveig's neck healed, she once again tried to speak.

"Heidr! You a—…" and once again, Heidr shot her neck.

"Heidr…?" Nozomi wondered. She feels like she has read that name somewhere.

"Whoever you are, you are not going to harm my mother!" Eli said angrily as she tried to swing her sword-axe on her. But her mother quickly held her while she healed herself. Nozomi swears that she has never expected this kind of sight in her entire life.

Someone who is known to be merciless—Gullveig—holding her own daughter from trying to attack someone.

Who is this person who makes Gullveig stop Eli despite having being wounded by this person over and over? The Judge of Darkness? Who is the Judge of Darkness to her? Where did she read Heidr's name before? Or perhaps, she has heard it somewhere?

All the memories in her head are vague and she can't really consider it a complete memory. But why? What have caused her to lose those memories? She knows that she is a forgetful person but she is usually able to recall things after she thinks about it hard enough. Should she try to think about it right now?

Before Nozomi could start thinking about it, the masked woman dispersed into shadows and escaped her grip. The young purplenette frowned and made a quick decision to catch up. Immediately after their move, another sound of struggle came up from the darkness once again.

"Nozomi…!" Eli began to worry.

"Eli, instead of chasing her, why don't you call your friends to help?" Gullveig asked her.

"Mama…" Eli turned to her mother.

"She can travel through darkness and, by this time of night, she can travel to anywhere around the world… and with the vessel that I made for her, she is as immortal as I am. We need to hold her with light. Create something to trap her inside. I remember there was one of your friends who could create a dome out of nature's power, but I don't recommend that for this."

"So what do you think could work to trap her?"

"Other than being a Dark Mage, she is also a mind mage and a necromancer, she can control almost anything in nature. One of the things that she can't control is metal. If your friend somehow found a way to create a metal dome, I can cooperate with them."

"Well, mama, I kind of have the idea for the dome part, but is there anything else we need to do?"

"Yes. There's one thing I want you to do."

The garage, nighttime;

The ship's upgrades are close to getting finished. This time, they have Kotori, Rin, and Hanayo helping out. Everything was finished so quickly and they even upgraded The Garden of Glass. With all ships' upgrades and remodels, they are very confident to face the enemy held off by two of their friends.

"Alright, I think we are close to finishing." Niko said loudly.

"I'm getting a little worried. Nozomi-chan and Eli-chan aren't telling us anything other than to go to The End of Sorrow as soon as possible." Kotori said.

"They must be very busy with the enemy, but what kind of enemy are we facing?" Hanayo wondered.

"The only thing I know is that the enemy might be someone very powerful. You felt that too, right Kayo-chan?" Kotori asked.

"Yes, it is indeed very powerful. It's like a feeling we get when we are close to a very well trained mage." Hanayo replied.

"I wonder, huh? I just hope we are not facing something like Gullveig again. That woman is insane and we can't even consider battle against her as a 'winning.' It was more like a draw."

"Gullveig…." Hanayo and Kotori tried to think for a moment.

"Come to think of it, Kotori-chan, I think I sensed a similar presence when that presence crossed. But there was another presence with it." Hanayo said.

"Really, Kayo-chan?"

"Yep, I'm very sure about it. When we were battling Gullveig, I can sense her aura very well. She is not a human, not a Valkyrie, and not a cyborg either. She is her own type of creature with magical powers."

"She made her own vessel after all, right? But I wonder why she didn't make the same vessel for Eli-chan? Maybe because it was too crowded that time and she didn't want to show how she made her vessel?" Kotori wondered.

"Uhm… Maybe she is just stingy?"

"T-that's possible. She doesn't like Eli-chan after all."

Someone's phone rang all of a sudden and each of them quickly touched their own phones and looked, but only Umi and Maki actually received a text message.

"Ah, Eli asked us to bring materials for a lamp—a lot of them— and also some very long… metal wires?" Umi said.

"Everyone needs to come with each of our own… important item?" Maki said.

"It's probably our best weapon." Umi said.

"Then could this be a really hard fight after all?" Hanayo wondered.

"Maybe. We need to hurry up." Umi said

Everyone nodded in agreement before they continued working.

The chase doesn't make any result just yet;

It seems that the two dark mages are still struggling with their cat and mouse game as Gullveig and Eli waited within the darkness. Even though the mother created her own light, the amount is not enough to see everything around them. They waited silently as the two dark mages still went around them. The night became colder but the two blondes aren't bothered with it at all.

"Hmmmm…. this temperature…" Eli said—breaking the silence.

Gullveig remained silent.

"It kind of reminds me of Terra. Maybe I should pay a visit some time." Eli said.

"I sold the house." Gullveig said plainly.

"Y-You did?! You never told me!" Eli protested.

"I bought my own section. So I have a special section there now. It's no longer Ayase's residence, it's supposed to be Ayase's Section but Heidr placed a plank and named it 'Harasho Corner.'" Gullveig said.

"Oh… then I guess that's another reason for me to pay a visit." Eli said.

The two went quiet again as the dark mages rolled right behind them, but the two disappeared into the darkness again and it seems that Gullveig and Eli aren't reacting to it.

"Come to think of it, mama. I think you started to function like a lamp. That's Harasho. I'll give you ten Harasho." Eli said.

"Stupidchika, you just made my brilliant invention sounds like something retarded."

"Then why are you glowing again?"

"Because I'm a light mage and my power is based on light. I will always need my own light to be able to cast magic everywhere and anytime."

"So if you fly, will you look like firefly?"

"I'm starting to regret your existence. Stop talking."

"You weren't glowing back then, though… did you just add that function on your vessel?" Eli asked, ignoring the warning that her mother made.

"Yes, I upgraded my own vessel to match Heidr's vessel's quality. Happy?"

"Heidr's vessel looks normal."

"It looks normal because it's created with the image that I have of her in my memory and I also added the function to hide her aura in it."

"Did she say anything about the vessel?"

"She said it was too beautiful for her, but she is still happy with it because I also kept all of her trademarks that she is proud of."

"Trademarks? What are those?'

"First, it's her different-colored eyes. Her irises have blue borders and green center. There was no yellow color in it, but I added it because I wanted to. Then, the burnt mark on her right neck. I kept it because I kept my scar too." Gullveig explained.

"You are right, it's on your left shoulder, isn't it? But yours doesn't look like a burnt mark."

"It wasn't a burn mark on me, stupidchika. I told you mine was a scar."

"You did?"

"Listen to me more carefully next time."

"Alright. So what happened? You never told me about those burnt mark and scar before."

"It was my first fight with Heidr. We were both just morons back then—but still smarter than you."

"So, what did the morons do?"

"You intentionally said that, right Stupidchika? It was something personal, but what's important is that it was the time we began to call each other Gullveig and Heidr."

"Gullveig and Heidr are the same person by lore so why did you chose that name?"

"Even though we are different, we looked like the same person. Both of us are stoic and stubborn. She wounded me with her ice blade and I wounded her with my fire blade while we called each other 'mad witch.'"

"I see. You two must have had a lot of fun back then."

"If you were complaining about your childhood, then it's your fault for being oversensitive."

"No-no, I didn't complain about my childhood. My childhood was perfect. You were so caring and gentle to me and you made me grow us as I am now in your own way. I couldn't ask for a better mother than you."

When she heard it, Gullveig began to blush slightly, but instead of replying with words, she smacked Eli on her head.

"W-why did you hit me mama?!"

"Stupidchika! You are a Moronchika now! Stop being like your father!"

"I was just saying the truth!"

And before the argument could go further, three ships appeared in their area and turned on the ship's light to light up on a bigger part of the area. Nozomi and the masked woman were found easily and, by the time the masked woman tried to run on her feet, Nozomi held her back and even casted earth magic to bind her feet.

Gullveig swiftly soared up to the sky and stopped near one of the ships and it looks like she is explaining the situation. Eli believes that her mother will be able to explain the idea she shared with her before so she turned her attention to Nozomi and the masked woman called Heidr who are still struggling.

Eli wondered why Heidr didn't even try to make an offensive move towards Nozomi at all. She was so aggressive towards her mother, Gullveig, so she thought that perhaps it's because she knows that Gullveig is immortal and she probably won't die even if she tries to kill her?

Either way, she had something in mind which she concluded from Gullveig's explanation, but she needs to confirm all those things to be able to draw out a solution. But how can she engage that conversation out of her?

By the time she thought that she should maybe try to get a little closer, she noticed that Heidr is focused on her. Then, within seconds, she blasted a powerful wind towards Nozomi who was thrown powerfully right into Eli's arms. Eli caught her immediately but still had her eyes glued on Heidr.

She can see her destroying the earth lock that bound her feet so Eli quickly placed Nozomi down and ran towards her.

"Ericchi! She is a mage! You can't possibly—…!"

But right before she could finish her warning, the masked woman attempted to blow Eli away with the powerful wind but she didn't even budge from where she stood. Once again, the older dark mage blew another wind, but the blonde didn't budge again. It's like her magic doesn't even work on her. At the same time, she also realized that Eli's soul is a lot different than the Eli that she knew before. This Eli is like a Valkyrie that got stuck in a human body, or perhaps Gullveig made a special vessel for her too?

A second later, she can see the ships begin to move around her and Gullveig landed to offer her hand to her.

"Come, get on your ship. There's something that you need to do." she said gently— but still with her cold tone of voice.

Nozomi had no choice this time. The last thing she saw from Eli is that she is pinning down the masked woman so strongly. There's a part of her heart that feels jealous. She would love to be the one who got pinned down like that—and in the sexual way—but, putting that distraction aside, she needed to get something done.

The young purplenette got on the Garden of Glass. She noticed that something is different from how the ship used to look like. It looks a lot more tough and defensive than before. Plus, she can read a newly painted name on the body. It says:

Heartbeat→ to The Garden of Glass.

"When did this ship turn into this?" Nozomi asked.

"It's an upgrade that we made according to Eli's blueprint. Remember that I talked to you about this too?" A familiar childish voice was heard from the pilot's seat. She couldn't see the small girl's head since the pilot seat is too big for her, but she knows who she is.

"Nikocchi, you made this upgrade?"

"Yeah, with everyone's help, it's really fast. We mixed the technologies and they don't depend on each other at all. Both technologies stand on their own unlike our µ's ship." Niko replied.

Nozomi remained silent for a moment to look around herself. It seemed that Maki and Umi also had their ship upgraded and remodeled.

From 'Beat in Angel' to 'Hello, Magnetic Beat in Angel'—that's a ridiculously forced name but she knows how they are anyway. She bet Maki was against it but some people did it anyway. The new model of the ship isn't far from how it looked like before… it's still slim and deadly-looking with a lot of blades and additional magical weapons.

Then 'Anemone Heart' into 'Future Style Anemone Heart'. It's not a bad name, honestly. Or she should say that the name is the best name among them. At least it makes senses unlike the other two. The shape of the ship is not that different but there are less guns and beams than before replaced with some other marksman weaponry such as crossbows and anchor canons. The arm of Anemone Heart used to be less obvious, but the new model has an obvious hand and even legs as if it is designed to be able to walk without ruining the shape of the ground. Now that she noticed that change, she looked back at Beat in Angel, which appears to also have the same arm and legs—except it has some deadly claws at the bottom.

"Is that so? Then this is going to be good. Give me the details of the plan?" Nozomi said.

"Well, huh? Gullveig said we need to trap Heidr with a light dome. Hanayo will make the base shape of the dome, Kotori will create the glass, Rin, Honoka, and I will do the mechanical work while the soldiers will support. If you want to help, you should try to help Hanayo and Kotori or guide us with what we shouldn't do. I bet you know a lot about what dark mages can and can't do, right?"

"I understand." Nozomi replied.

"Then off we go!"

Down on the ground, Eli was still pinning down the masked woman. She noticed that her friends have started to create what they planned to make.

Having no idea of what exactly is happening, Heidr tried her best to get off, but without sufficient amount of shadow to reach the darkness outside of the light's range, she can't travel anywhere.

"Just give up, you are not going anywhere." Eli said.

"You are a strong woman, aren't you? I bet you are good in bed too." Heidr finally spoke, though her voice was more like a whisper and was muffled by the mask.

"You finally said something, but that doesn't change anything. I need to speak with you about what my mother said about you. Don't worry, once the dome is on, you'll be only talking to me."

Heidr remained silent and, for some reason, she began to stop struggling. Once the earth began to move, plants began to grow and some long wires were dropped around them. They knew that they'll just have to wait for a few more minutes until they could start talking.

The wires formed a huge dome and lightning began to strike upon it and the glass was raised to shape it. It would've been complex if they weren't using magic, but thanks to the work of the three mages and Gullveig, the job was easily done within minutes. The final touch is a bright light shining down Eli and Heidr.

Eli stood up to release the masked woman. The two began to take their position as they stretched to prepare for whatever might come to them.

Inside the ships, of the passengers were watching the events from a camera that was hidden somewhere in Eli's battle suit. They can see Heidr increasing the distance between them.

"Looks like this is going to be a private battle, huh?" Maki commented.

"Good Luck, Eli-chan." Hanayo said.

Everyone in the ships remained silent to watch their screens. Maki, Rin, and Hanayo are in Hello, Magnetic Beat in Angel, Umi, Kotori, and Honoka are in Future Style Anemone Heart, while Niko, Nozomi, and Gullveig are on Heartbeat→To The Garden of Glass.

It all started with Heidr summoning a slender sword. It has a bright purple and black grip, a small golden squared guard, and a glossy black blade with amethyst neatly carved on its slim edge. It didn't glow, but it had a black aura coming out.

"So what do you want to talk about, Ayase Eli?" Heidr asked. Her expression was still unclear but her gesture says that she is very serious about her question.

"Let's start with: Who are you?" Eli asked as she pulled out her Sword Axe, TEOS.

"There's nothing about me that you need to know. I am Miss Terra and no one else than that." Heidr got on her fighting stance.

"Then, let's try to change the question. Why are you attacking my mother?"

"She was the first to attack me. I'm just trying to defend myself."

"But when she mentioned that your name is Heidr, you aggressively attacked her."

"It's none of your concern." Heidr replied.

"You know what? It might be. A few years ago, Nozomi asked me who Heidr is. She thought that Heidr is someone with authority in Terra—and you are indeed Miss Terra—but then, you should neither have known about Nozomi nor have been able to text her phone." Eli said.

"I'm someone with authority, I have access to all residents' accounts."

"That's true, but even with that, you are also clearly a dark mage. For you to be able to claim the position as Miss Terra is suspicious, you know? It's like you have very strong connections in there, someone who could let you fit in without being suspected as mage."

"Your mother got me there. She was the one who arranged everything."

"Then you indeed have a strong connection with my mother. For her to treat you like that requires a very solid trust from her. Are you saying that things turned sour and she attacked you?"

"Maybe?" Heidr replied. There's a hint of chuckle in her voice.

"Then you must be someone else other than Miss Terra. Someone before you became Miss Terra and that's the information I want from you."

"Hmm… interesting. You are smarter than I thought." Heidr said.

"So who are you?" Eli asked once again.

"I'm Heidr. A Dark Mage. I happen to be your mother's friend. She was a pirate, yes? Isn't it possible for her to make an agreement with random people?" Heidr said.

"Hmmph, I don't believe that you are just a random person. Seven Stars of the Black Sea is the biggest Space Pirate and in order to be able to have an alliance with them, you need to be a special person who could prove your worth. So please, give me more details about yourself." Eli said.

"Well then, my husband was the best friend of the Pirate King and the Pirate King is your father, right?" Heidr said.

"I see. Then, I might know the name of your Husband. His name is Tou—….!"

And before Eli could completely say his name, Heidr dashed forward and attempted to thrust her sword towards Eli, yet she quickly parried it with her sword axe.

"Woah, there. It's not like it was his name. You came from the first Magical Flying City, by then, a married couple takes the female's family name. So his family name is your last name. Why are you so worked up about it? I don't believe you are trying to attack me because I said his name. Could you be trying to hide your own family name? But from who?" Eli asked. The masked woman jumped all the way back but still remained in her fighting stance.

"You think I'm a fool? I know you're transmitting this conversation outside. You are lucky that I'd love to play along with this stupidity, else I'll silence you eternally." Heidr said.

"Oh come on. Silence me eternally? You mean, kill me? I don't think you want to do that. After all, I'm a very important person, especially for my lover, Nozomi. You wouldn't want to make her cry, right?" Eli said.

Heidr remained silent for a moment.

"Why would I not do that? I don't really know about her other than she is your girlfriend."

"Oh? So I assume you can kill me if you want to? Then let's talk about that." Eli said mockingly as she got into her battle stance.

"Hmmph, I change my mind. Maybe I wouldn't want to kill an interesting person like you after all. I rather leave you in your most hopeless state, Valkyrie Eli." Heidr said before she once again attempted to lunge her sword towards Eli, yet Eli parried it once again and shoved her sword axe very roughly to push the masked woman away. The blonde attempted to bash the dull edge of her Sword axe toward her foe, yet her move was also parried with the strong, slender sword. The dark mage dispersed herself to her own shadow and Eli knows that this isn't a good for her so she quickly moved away before Heidr reappeared with a surprise attack attempt.

Eli quickly dodged and spin her TEOS towards her once again but it didn't reach as her opponent quickly transformed into swarm of crows. Before Eli knew it, Heidr swiftly swung her katana, which she did tried to dodge; however, the tip of the katana slashed her battle suit with ease and the cold hostile wind touched her skin.

For Eli, it's already a good display of what the katana can do to her. She doesn't want that sword to reach her skin for real. The sensation of having the cold wind touch her skin already makes her shiver even though she usually loves the cold.

"Fuuuhh…" Eli whistled.

"That's a sharp one, honey." she continued as she blinked three times while looking at the big cut on her battle suit.

"If you are being a bad girl, I'll tell you more about it." Heidr said with a hint of giggle in her voice.

"Well, I'd like to know more about you!" Eli said before she jumped to repeat the similar pattern— Hit and Parry. The sound of their swords clashing against each other echoed around the dome—the longer the battle, the harder the sound. At times, they moved away from each other to prepare a powerful strike, though it seems that the other always had enough strength to parry it.

Each movement changed according to the situation, yet none of them gave up on trying to attack the other. While the sword battle continued, people on the ship could only watch through the camera that was truly attached somewhere on Eli's chest.

"To attach a camera on her chest like that, isn't that dangerous? I mean, she knew that we were spying on her. If she knows where the camera is, she will focus on where the camera is." Niko said.

"That's the point of placing it on the vital point. Because she does not want to kill her, she will think twice about how she wants to get rid of the camera." Gullveig said.

"But in this kind of condition, is it really possible for her to not try to? She looks very cornered." Nozomi said.

Gullveig sighed at her remark.

"Nozomi Toujou, are you not aware about your own kind?" she said.

"When you put it like that, it almost feels like I have to know every single Dark Mage on earth." Nozomi said.

"Majority of the Light and Dark mages are annihilated. There's only a very small number of them living these days and you should bother to know." Gullveig said.

"I don't really need anyone else at the moment. So, no, I won't bother." Nozomi said.

"As stubborn as your mother. You really inherited her trait." Gullveig said.

"Well, I am my mother's daughter. You are just stating the obvious." Nozomi said.

"And you are also a witty ass. Such a troublesome being you are!" Gullveig replied.

"Oi-oi, don't fight now. I don't need to watch second fight in live mode." Niko said.

Gullveig and Nozomi glared at each other furiously. Niko began to wonder what she should do right now, but perhaps the fortune is upon her tonight. All of a sudden, the sound of someone getting hurt was heard from the live feed of the sword fight.

When the camera finally stopped moving, they can see Heidr holding half of her mask. A part of her purple hair can also be seen. She was also covering the unmasked part of her face with her other hand. Looks like someone is winning.

Inside the dome, Heidr and Eli are facing each other. Eli was still on her fighting stance while Heidr continued to cover her face with her hand and the half mask.

"Well, Heidr. I could remove your mask and let everyone see your face. But I'm not someone who doesn't know mercy, so… if you don't mind cooperating with me, then maybe I'll let you go with your mask."

"Don't take me lightly, soldier. But since you've got a part of my mask, maybe I should grant you another part of what you asked. I am also the Judge of Darkness. I don't side with my own kind nor those not of my kind. I stand for the justice that I believe in. There is no crime that goes unpunished before me." Heidr said. Her voice slightly changed as the mask disappeared from her face.

With what she just said, Nozomi, who sat in front of the screen began to wonder. For some reason, she feels like she has heard that voice somewhere. But where exactly? She tried so hard to jog her memory until she finally recalled one time when she saw the Judge of Darkness for the very first time.

It was the time when she went out to steal some books from the school's library and took it home with her. She just suddenly felt like a very-very-very big dragon snatched her toward the dark forest then the dragon said with the very same voice:

Nozomi Toujou, what did your mother tell you about stealing someone's property?

She remembers that the dragon said such a thing to her and that's also the time when she really regretted her action and apologized to her many times. Then the dragon said:

There's no crime that goes unpunished before me, but because you regret it, I'll let you off the hook in one condition: Return those books and apologize to the Librarian in charge.

At that very moment, she swiftly ran away from the dark forest on her own and returned the stolen book to the Librarian in charge. She was forgiven and was offered with a membership card. It turns out that her mother has been a member and she could borrow the books if she asks her mother to borrow for her.

Now that she thought about it, maybe the Judge of Darkness is related to her mother? How did the judge know about what her mother told her? It can't just be a coincidence when she said it. A stranger would've said 'father' or 'parents' instead of 'mother' And, since her mother never shows different expression other than her gentle smile towards strangers, no one would know that she is actually the one who disciplines her.

"What kind of connection does she have with my mother?" Nozomi asked.

"Y-Your mother? Huh? Why so sudden?" Niko asked.

"There was just something that I remember about the judge of darkness… about my first encounter with her. I've met her more than once. The second was the time was when I left my home to practice my dark magic at midnight. At first she was against it but, since I'm very persistent, she decided to help me with my training. Since then, we've met each other every midnight. I think no one in the village knows about my training since we did it very secretly inside the dark forest." Nozomi replied.

"Is that so? Then do you think you can describe how she looked like when training you?" Gullveig asked.

"She is just in her dragon form, sometimes small, sometimes big. It's like she can control her size. She has a burn mark on her right shoulder near her neck, and she is also not someone who could be asked to meet up in specific places. It's either she's always wandering off somewhere else or she just stayed in a wrong place and was too shy to admit it." Nozomi said.

"A burn mark, huh? I wonder if someone else has the same mark on her right shoulder." Gullveig said. For some reason, she sounded like she knows well about the 'someone' with the very same burn-mark.

Nozomi tried to process what she just said… could it be a hint to someone in her past? But she doesn't believe there's anyone who has that other than the judge of darkness herself.

"I don't remember anyone with burn mark other than her." Nozomi said.

"Hmmph… I suppose you are just as bad at memorizing." Gullveig said with a sigh.

"Then, spit it out for me, will you? Who is this other person who has the same burn mark with the judge of darkness?" Nozomi asked.

Gullveig remained silent as she looked at the big light dome under them. She would just say it, but her daughter said: If you want Nozomi to believe, she has to figure it out herself.

"Do you happen to have your mother's amulet with you right now?" Gullveig asked.

"I don't keep it. Ericchi does. She keeps it in the kitchen's cupboard." Nozomi replied.

"Do you know who the person is inside the amulet?"

"It's me. She keeps my portrait inside the amulet." Nozomi said.

Gullveig remained silent for a moment and, while her expression didn't change, she appeared to have something going on in her mind.

"I see. Now I understand something. I should've bothered to look inside it before, yet I didn't because I thought that it wouldn't be any different." the light mage said.

"What do you mean?" Nozomi asked.

"It's none of your concern." Gullveig said as she averted her gaze.

"Your mother keeps your portrait in her amulet, huh? Wow, you must be the number one important person for her." Niko commented.

Nozomi was surprised to hear Niko's comment.

"That's obvious. I'm her daughter. Why would she have anyone else as her most important person?" Nozomi said.

"Well, it could've been your father, you know." Niko said.

"My father and mother aren't that close. They are more like a team than husband and wife. Plus, I don't think she wanted to marry my father. After all, I was just made because—…!" Nozomi suddenly stopped as she realized something.

"Huh? I don't get it. If she doesn't want to marry your father, why would she make you and why are you the number one important person? Shouldn't the person inside the amulet be the person she wanted to marry?" Niko asked.

Nozomi quietly turned her attention back to Gullveig. The light mage didn't seem to change her expression, but her eyes reflected disappointment.

…it's like losing the most important person in my life.

A statement she just heard tonight. She knows that Eli had said it but, when she thought about it again, perhaps there's someone else in that amulet. It also means that, maybe, the other person inside the amulet is also important to Eli as well.

"Gullveig! Don't overthink it right now! I'll go get it and prove it to you." Nozomi said.

"What do you want to prove to me?"

"I'm going to prove you that my mother isn't someone who can throw her love away so easily." Nozomi said before she quickly opened the ship's door.

"O-Oi oi! Where are you—…!"

Before Niko could finish her sentence, Nozomi is already gone and she saw her summoning her griffin and fly away into the darkness.

"Sheesh, you could've just told me where you wanted to go. This ship is faster than that creature." Niko said.

Gullveig remained silent and she would have said that she is mistaken since the darkness of the night is a faster way for a dark mage to travel, but there's still something in her mind and there's a little hope that was lit inside her heart, which she doesn't want to lose right now.

The Toujou's residence;

It didn't even take more than half a minute for her to travel. She quickly walked to the kitchen and started to look for the amulet that Eli kept. It's placed neatly inside the drawer. The young purplenette quickly opened the amulet and found her portrait inside it. Though perhaps that isn't what she is looking for right now. She needed to figure out where the other person's portrait might be.

She examined the amulet thoroughly, finding a thick gold surface that could possibly be a good place to hide a little piece of a portrait. She wonders if she can open it without having to break it, but it looks like someone has done a little force to it before and tore a little part of her portrait.

Right behind the layer of her portrait, she found another piece of portrait and she decided to look for something to pull it out. Since it may take too long to search for an object to do so, she decided to place the amulet in the shade then pulled it out with her mind magic.

There are indeed two portraits. One is her portrait and the other one is…. Eli?

No, this isn't Eli. Her eyes are too sharp and cold and her jaw is a little too rough. She also doesn't remember Eli having any clothes with similar collar to her. This can't be Eli so this is probably the person who she expected to be inside the amulet.

She placed it back inside the amulet and closed it. She took a moment to think of what she should say to Gullveig about this amulet though, the moment stared at the amulet, her mind took her back to the past that she is too scared to remember.

It was the time when her mother was manhandled by those pirates and skewered to death. The blood that dripped down the floor and the motionless body that she doesn't want to remember. She remembers that this amulet fell from her bare shoulder. She also remembers a mark that she never seen when her mother was alive.

No, perhaps, she is wrong. She saw that mark when she was alive. The time when she cuddled her to sleep with the song she sang for her. It's hidden right under her braided hair and clothes. But is it really the same mark as the one the Judge of darkness has?

Thinking about her mother made her start crying, but she can't show that part of her to Gullveig, especially if she wants to tell her how great her mother is. She needs to be strong and she needs to stop crying and take an action to make things better.

She wiped her own tears and started to think again about the connection of all these clues that she gathered. She remembers the time after her mother's death and the destruction that happened in the village. She walked out of that very room and saw her father's corpse where she found that glove and took it with her. She walked out of her ruined house. She doesn't know what to do back then, so she just tried to look for someone who could help her.

She didn't get any help from people around her, so she went into the dark forest to look for the judge of darkness. She remembers crying about why she was punished with the misfortune that happened yet the judge of darkness never appeared before her. That's why she began to live roughly and embraced the path she was on.

She wanted to do all the bad things she can do and use all the reasons she can use as her motivation to be violent because she wanted to be punished by the judge of darkness in order to meet her again. Her desire was only up until the time she met Eli.

Eli gave her a reason to stop and she has made her realize what she truly wanted to be. It was also thanks to Hanayo and Kotori who enabled her to keep the good side of her so that she wouldn't fully submit to the path she was on. They kept the soft part of her alive, and those three fake pirates who kept coming to her village was also a reason why she couldn't be too much of a murderer. She never had the will to kill them somehow.

Her meeting with Eli and her companions was fate, but her misfortune in the past was also fate. Everything that happened has formed her into becoming who she is right now and she doesn't have to be scared. Perhaps this is the exact feeling that Eli had about her own life until this day. It's a reason for her to love herself in the past and a reason why she should be proud of herself. It wasn't easy to survive all that bitterness and not everyone is able to do it.

Truly, she thought that she has grown enough, but it turns out that there is still an immature part of her. Now she needs to think again about the very first question: Who is the judge of darkness? Who is the person that they met just now and is currently in a fight with Eli? Why would she not harm her and why will she never kill Eli?

If she is truly the person she is thinking about, how could that happen? She needs to ask that to the person who needs to see the portrait right now. She decided to run out of her own home and hope for an answer once she returned to the ship.

The Dome of Light;

Eli and Heidr are still in battle. This time, Heidr doesn't look like she is in her full power as she still keeping her other hand occupied with holding her mask. They ran around the dome as they kept swinging their swords and clashing it against each other. The battle of strength seemed to be on Eli's side o more and more as the time progressed.

The girls in the ships are intensely watching the fight until Nozomi returned with her griffin. She quickly flew to the white ship then opened the door before she entered it and unsummoned her griffin.

"That was fast, did you teleport?" Niko asked.

"Gullveig." Nozomi called her—completely ignoring Niko's question. She lifted the amulet to show Gullveig.

The blonde light mage remained silent as she focused on the amulet. Nozomi quickly took out the portrait with her magic once again.

"Take a look at this." Nozomi said as she showed the portrait to Gullveig.

"She kept your picture behind my picture. Shouldn't that be enough for you?" Nozomi asked.

Gullveig was still silent.

"She didn't dump you. She hasn't moved on from you until her death. She is a woman with an amazing personality. She is faithful to what she believes in." Nozomi said.

"Do I care about all that? It isn't what I'm thinking." Gullveig said.

"Then what are you bothered about?"

"I was just thinking of the reason why she doesn't want to meet you. I don't care about what she feels towards me. She can do anything she likes about her feeling for me." Gullveig said.

Nozomi is surprised and Niko is even more surprised—except she doesn't understand anything about this conversation.

"You said it yourself. You wanted to prove your mother isn't someone who can throw away her love easily. You also proved me that you have become her most important person. But why is she still against the idea? I resurrected her with the same vessel I have, hoping that it could pay for all my sins against her. I wanted her to do all the things she wanted to do yet she choose to not to do what she wanted to do. It really bothers me. I want to push her to do what she wanted to do." Gullveig said.

"Whoa-whoa, what did I just hear?" Niko said.

Nozomi had to say that she is also surprised to hear how selfless Gullveig's goal is but, putting that aside, how come Gullveig can resurrect her? She knows that Gullveig also resurrected her lover to become who she is right now, but… her mother? How?

"How can you resurrect her?" Nozomi asked.

"Why would you bother to know about that? It's my secret knowledge. I can't share it with anyone but my companions." Gullveig said.

"You have companions? That's the most surprising thing I've ever heard today!" Niko commented.

"Shut up, Nikocchi. Her companions are our parents." Nozomi said.

"Our parents?! That includes my mom!?"

"Yes, that includes your mother. Put that aside, just when did you resurrect her?" Nozomi said.

"Right after I found her in Valkyrie Leyna's soul. It was on that day when you tried to kill me and my daughter." Gullveig said.

Nozomi remembers that day when she was so upset… she was also pulled aside and lectured by Valkyrie Leyna until that time she went to the garden to meet Eli who was close to disappearing. She can't believe her actions were watched by her mother all the time, but she also can't believe that she did all that stupidity.

"Next question, why did you make her Miss Terra? You are the only person who can threaten the Terra's authorities." Nozomi asked as she tried to change the awkward atmosphere.

"It was her request. She said she wanted to be Miss Terra."

"So you granted her wish, huh?"

"I told you that all I want is for her to do what she wants to do."

"Then, why did you get into a fight with her?"

"I already told you about that. I was bothered when she held herself back. I wanted her to do what she wants to do yet she chooses to be stubborn so I gave her a little piece of my mind."

"Last question, why did you set Ericchi up to fight with her?"

"Because she is the only one who can draw out her secret." Gullveig said.

"Ericchi? Drawing out another's secret? You are joking." Nozomi said.

"She tamed you, so why not? She has what I don't have so maybe she can do what I can't do. I'm not as prideful s person as you think I am." Gullveig said.

"The word 'tame' to Nozomi is pretty harsh yo." Niko commented with a smirk.

"Nikocchi! Stop commenting!" Nozomi warned her again.

"It can't be helped!" Niko said.

Nozomi turn back to Gullveig.

"I have to say. Eli is similar to you. To say that she has what you don't have is false." she said.

"It's true… she has you and she has her companions." Gullveig said.

"But you did say the word companions back then. Did that just slipped out?" Nozomi asked.

Gullveig seemed to be surprised, though her face still showed her coldness.

"Let me guess, you missed them as well, yet you don't want to admit it yourself. You are also holding yourself back so why would you complain that my mother holding herself back?" Nozomi asked.

"My feelings are not important. I don't need them." Gullveig replied.

And right after she said it, they could hear something breaking. All of them turned to the screen and it looked like the camera is already broken—with a slim purple sword appearing momentarily before it completely went blank.

"C-Crap!" Niko said before she quickly opened the ship's door and jumped out. Gullveig and Nozomi quickly followed.

They can see everyone was already trying to get rid of the light dome, though it seems that the light barriers are too tough for them.

"Step aside!" Gullveig said. Her voice just now sounded very worried. She materialized the light sword out of nowhere and the girls were finally able to see how it looked like when it wasn't moved so quickly.

It has a curved edge and is guardless. It also looked very sharp and its sharpness was proven as she sliced the dome, destroying everything with ease as it revealed the real situation between Eli and Heidr at that moment.

Eli is holding the blade of Heidr's sword that had already pierced her armor, yet it wasn't deep and she probably just did that to destroy the camera. One of Heidr's hands is still holding the mask.

"Looks like we really can't talk to each other by ourselves after all." Heidr said.

"Hah, who would've expected that too?" Eli replied.

"Mother!" Nozomi called Heidr.

Heidr seemed very surprised when she heard her being called 'mother.'

"Ah, looks like someone figured it out already." Eli said.

Heidr sighed softly. She let her mask go before she suddenly dashed out of the remains of dome and attempted to slash her sword towards Gullveig. Eli quickly attempted to catch her, though she missed her.

It's not like it will be fatal since her mother will wake up by the morning anyway, but the message of that murder attempt might hurt more than the attack itself. Before the sword could hit Gullveig, however, Nozomi swiftly dashed forward without even thinking about how dangerous it was for her since she stupidly trying to risk her life in order to protect an immortal being.

Heidr eyes widened when she noticed the very second her daughter jumped in. It might be already too late to stop her own sword from swinging, but Heidr still tried her best to stop. As fast as light, Gullveig still took the hit by swiftly catching Heidr's arm. The edge of the sword was stuck to the Light Mage's arm but, thanks to Nozomi, the swing wasn't strong enough to cut through it.

Everyone in the very places was in shock since they thought that something very bad will happen. They would say that Gullveig's bleeding arm is bad, but she isn't going to die from it anyway.

Heidr's eyes focus on Nozomi who stood right in front of her with a scared face. She pulled her sword off Gullveig's arm and dropped the sword. Gullveig let her arm down as Heidr moved to do something else: giving a hard slap on the young purplenette's cheek.

"Non-chan! What on earth did you just try to do?" Heidr's voice was loud. She finally showed her expression.

"I figured about your identity myself. Gullveig also setting up all these for you and it was also because of me. Please don't punish her. I am the one to be blamed!" Nozomi said.

Heidr remained silent.

"Please… punish me. I've been a bad person when you were gone." the young purplenette continued before she began to cry.

Her mother became speechless before she also broke out into tears and hugged her daughter so tightly. Everyone around them were also rendered speechless as they watched the two purplenettes hugging each other like a true family.

The morning finally arrived;

They are staying for the night in the place of the battle, which was easy considering each of their ships has been adjusted with the new functions from the upgrade. Other than being equipped with magical weapons, they are also equipped with other magical functions such as a portable living quarters from the white ship, a portable atelier and workshops from the blue ship, and a portable kitchen and granary from the red ship.

The police's spy woke up the earliest today, then the mages followed while the soldiers are already away from their tidy beds. Someone is cooking in the kitchen and the scent of food is spreading everywhere. They suspected that the soldiers have already gone out to help whoever was cooking this morning.

Hanayo decided to go to the kitchen as soon as possible, leaving the others behind in the living quarters.

"Hmm… this smell. Must be meat-nya! But I hope it's not fish!" Rin said.

"This can't be fish. They have different scent, you know." Niko said.

"Whatever it is, I'm getting hungry! We should go out and check it out with Hanayo-chan!" Honoka said.

"Wait there, Honoka-chan. Maybe you all shouldn't go to the kitchen." Kotori said.

"Eehh? Why?" Honoka asked.

"uhh… maybe you should help me out instead? I think I'd like to gather some alchemy ingredients around this area?" Kotori said.

"Oohh, ok!" Honoka replied cheerfully.

"Hmmm… this scent. It's very nostalgic." Nozomi said.

"You think this is your mother's cooking?" Niko asked.

"Yep, I'm not mistaken. This is her special roasted meat." Nozomi said.

"Hehe, you must be really happy-nya!" Rin said.

"Of course! I couldn't feel any better today! I can't believe this is true, but it's a world of magic anyway, so who needs to think too much about what happens inside this world?" Nozomi replied.

"You have such a good mother, Nozomi-chan. Even though she is a little…uh… unique?" Kotori said.

"Yeah, she is a really strange woman. She said she was scared to meet you because she thought you'll be angry at her? But it turns out she is the one who is angry at you-nya!" Rin said.

"Hnggh…I don't think she was angry at her. She was just worried and it's normal." Niko said.

"Ah, right, Nozomi-chan was really fearless last night!" Honoka said.

"Hehe, Nozomi-chan's mother said that she feels like she has done a sin that can't be forgiven. I understand that because my mother told me the same. To abandon her child in order to pursue her own path is always hard and painful for a mother… and they might as well not forgive themselves for doing so." Kotori said.

"Well, either way, you should cherish her from now on, Nozomi. She was given another chance to show her love to you." Niko said.

"Yup, I certainly will cherish this feeling forever." Nozomi nodded.

"Now-now, should we go out and help Kotori-chan with her ingredients? I'm very excited to start running around-nya!" Rin asked.

"Ooo! Let's go! Let's go!" Honoka said cheerfully.

"Hehe, thank you everyone!" Kotori said.

Meanwhile;

The Soldiers and Gullveig were walking out of the forest near The End of Sorrow. They gathered some fruits and, additionally, some Alchemy Ingredients that they could use for Kotori's stock.

"As expected, The End of Sorrow is truly a heaven for Alchemist." Umi said.

"Of course, how do you think the city grew that big? We had more than a hundred alchemists in the city." Gullveig said.

"But the city was destroyed in the end…" Maki said.

"I destroyed the City because they started to grow arrogant. Heidr and I never liked them at all." Gullveig said.

"Your actions are ruthless, but can you at least tell us about why it had to be done? The city could've changed with a little switch of path." Umi asked politely.

"Sonoda… you and your point of view is respectable. But I do not wish to argue with you about it. Your father and I often stumbled into this kind of thing and I've grown tired of it as we never find ourselves in the same path. I have to admit, sometimes, your father is a lot more capable of dealing with his surroundings than I am, but truth to be told, he also has his own time when he will become as ruthless as I am. The Endless Citadel claimed to be the most futuristic city and each person is reared in the most luxurious way. They think that they've become the Gods of creation and humanity. A practice to create god-like vessels are common while moving souls are often be done by force with 'for the sake of knowledge' as excuses." Gullveig replied.

"And by that, you mean that not every residence of The Endless Citadel is happy. Or you mean to talk about something worse than that?" Maki tried to confirm.

"Nishikino, your critical thinking amazes me. Yes, the Endless Citadel is also one behind the living creatures traffic. They took samples from many planets. Some of them who have proven their capability to follow up will stay in the Endless Citadel as their new resident, but those who are not will never last and might as well be one of the underground monsters which will become an object to test the power of the mages. I figured it out after I finished one of my very first courses. I was tasked to kill one of the monsters and found out that the monster's soul is actually a prisoner that I met three weeks before my test."

"How did you even meet a prisoner?" Maki asked.

"I found a Terra ID card on the street and went on looking for the owner. Turns out she was one of the prisoners who's about to be used for experiment. I saw a little part of the experiment until some adults caught me. They returned me to my mother and instead of a pity, she gave me some whipping to teach me that I shouldn't try to be kind toward others if it will only make someone else hurt." Gullveig explained.

"Ah, she meant to say that about herself, didn't she? She was worried about you." Umi said.

"Yeah, she is scared to lose you and it will hurt for her." Maki agreed.

"Truly, I didn't think of that. I thought that she meant about those people. They were saying that I was interfering with them and I thought that what I did hurt them. I've never seen my mother as someone who cares about me. She cares about others more than me, especially to the Toujou's family." Gullveig said.

"That's weird." Maki raised her eyebrow.

"So, is that related to the personal problem you had to get the scar on your left shoulder?" Eli asked.

"Moronchika, you really know when to make others spit out their embarrassing past." her mother said.

"Thank you. I love you too." Eli said.

"Yes, it was related to the personal problem I had with her. Ever since that day, I never talked to anyone else. Not even Heidr who often came to me and talked about anything so randomly. She was a very talkative person. She basically talks to everyone and when she and Hoshizora unites, no one can stop them from causing chaos. I never knew why she bothered to talk to me from the start, though."

"You are shining, I bet she can't help it." Eli commented.

"Shut up, Moronchika. But anyway, I began to lose my will to express my feelings. I became a girl who never talked to anyone nor respond accordingly. No one minded that but Heidr. She came up to me everyday just to ask how I was doing. I never responded to her at all. She even did all the talking when my mother asked me anything. She just stubbornly kept on doing that for a very-very long time. I tried to coldly say something very mean to her so that she would stop bugging me and stay away as far as she could, yet it made her even more curious about me."

"She is a lot different than what we see from her right now." Umi said.

"Yeah, she looks like a calm woman to us." Maki said.

"I'm eager to know the action part of the story." Eli said.

Gullveig sighed at her daughter.

"Fine, let's skip it to how we made those wounds, huh? I found myself confused about why she is so stubborn. I just thought that maybe her parents made her do it since they are close to my mother and knows that I might be lacking of attention. It's like they know something about my mother's motivation to be so ignorant about me. Then I told her, if that's her only reason, she's better off with others than wasting her time with me. I said that I don't need anyone's pity. I don't need anyone's love and I can live by myself if I have to. But instead of leaving, she challenged me to a duel. She said the loser will have to obey the winner." She continued.

"Then let me guess, you lost." Eli said.

"Yes, my dear Moronchika. Congratulations you are back to Stupidchika."

"Yay. One more and You'll finally call me Elichika again." Eli said playfully.

"F-for some reason, the relations between her and her mother is… uhm… uniquely lovely." Umi whispered to Maki.

"You mean to say it's foolishly childish, right? I know." Maki replied.

"So what did she ask you?" Eli asked.

"She asked me to be her girlfriend. She liked me from ever since we met each other. She said that I was born as the light and I have a good heart. The hardship that I stumbled into may have dimmed my light, but she said that she will make me shine again by proving her love to me. I was so against it at first, but a deal is a deal and I have to agree with her." Gullveig said.

"Then you fell in love with her too, right? Until that day you felt betrayed." Eli said.

Gullveig sighed once again.

"Elichika…" she whispered to herself.

"But now that everything cleared up, what are you going to do?" Eli asked.

"What do you mean everything is cleared up? If you can't explain, I'll call you stupidchika again." Gullveig said.

"You and her. Didn't she explain why she married him? She was trying to save you from a disease and it was the one thing she had to do for you. She poisoned you so that you could fall asleep until she is ready to look at you again. I bet she felt so guilty about that as well."

"There's one thing that I don't want to happen. I never want anyone to sacrifice for me. If I have to be hurt, then let me be. The time when I was so angry at Heidr was because I trusted her to understand, I trusted her to try to fight back to tell me the truth. Yet our parents had to be on my way to hear that answer from her. It was also by the time she escaped with her husband-to-be and everyone who used to be around me… I felt like all my hope in the world shattered. I felt like I was thrown back to my first belief: I don't need anyone's love. My parents refused to leave me alone, so I decided to force her to leave me be. The City made me angry so I destroyed them, along with their reputation. I made up lies to keep all visitors away."

"And did you ever realize you had a disease?" Eli asked.

"I did, after I began to morph into something really ugly. I just tried to find my own way to be able to transport my vessel before I lost my mind completely. I was physically cured, but my heart was still shattered until now."

"You are an immortal now, no one will sacrifice for you. Why don't you try to fall in love once again?" Eli asked.

Gullveig shook her head.

"I refuse. Not with your father, not with her." she said.

"But you looked like a person who needs love. Don't you think so, Maki? Umi?" Eli said.

"Huh? Well, I have not much to say, honestly. It's still her choice. I won't decide for her." Maki said.

"You are not deciding for her… but anyhow, in my opinion, everyone deserves to fall in love. It comes naturally. You can't choose that." Umi said.

"See? They agreed with me." Eli said.

"They didn't say they agree with you, idiotchika. They said I'm free to choose on my own. You said I should fall in love." Gullveig said.

"Is idiotchika level three? You know, since Moronchika is level two and stupidchika is level one." Eli said.

"Are you intentionally teasing me, Brainlesschika?"

"Only if you take it like that." Eli said with a teasing wink.

Gullveig sighed heavily at her and rolled her eyes.

"Either way, I'm still standing by what I believe. I don't need love anymore. You can also have this." she said before she began to search in her pocket. She took out a small, dark purple box with a light blue ornament and handed it to Eli.

"This is….?" Eli wondered before she opened the box. It has a pair of rings made of beautiful platinum and rare diamonds. It was crafted in the Endless Citadel before it was destroyed. This is a very-very historical ring.

"A ring box?" Maki wondered.

"But why?" Umi wondered.

"I'm going to say this for once. I might be divorced, but you, your father, and Alisa are part of my family. I don't have the right to propose someone else. Besides, you will need it more than I do. Devote yourself to a family that you will form. You have my blessing." Gullveig said.

"But, mama, why did you have these rings? Did you—…?" Eli stopped. She doesn't want to make a wild guess about the reason why her mother got these rings.

"The concept of those rings are faithful love. We happened to like the same ring when we browsed around the market. I never told her before, but I bought that for her and was hoping that we could wear them on our fingers one day. She was also desperately searching for those rings when we browsed around the market again the next day. I kept it secret since I wanted to give it to her on the right day. I also thought it might be fun to see her flustered." Gullveig said.

"Now that you said that, could that be the special ring that my mother was looking for?" Maki said

"Maybe it's also the one that my dad was searching for too." Umi said.

Gullveig showed a very little hint of smile.

"There's only one pair of those rings. Heidr might have told everyone about those rings and asked them to find it for her. It's expected from her." she said.

"Then, why don't you give it to her?" Eli asked.

"I said it. I don't need them anymore. End of story." Gullveig said.

Eli seemed to be bothered, though she decided to keep her thoughts to herself for now.

"I'm going to leave for now. Thanks for the cooperation yesterday." the older blonde continued.

"Ah, you're welcome, Gullveig-san." Umi said as she bowed politely.

"Yeah, thanks too." Maki said.

"If you two happen to meet with Valkyrie Minami, tell her my thanks for being a big help. I owe her school a demonstration of light magic."

"You got it." Umi said.

"Then, if Heidr asks about me, just tell her that I needed to go somewhere." Gullveig said before she disappeared into the light.

The End of Sorrow;

The group has prepared their breakfast tables. The cooking is finished and Heidr and the girls are now preparing them for everyone.

"I'm hungry already-nyaaa" Rin said as she placed the empty plates on the table. There are eleven of them.

"hehe, hang in there, Rin-chan!" Hanayo said when she placed the bowl of rice next to the plate.

"This Roasted Meat will taste great with rice then the sauces are going to melt in your mouth." Niko said.

"Yep-yep. It's all thanks to Heidi-san!" Honoka said.

"Heidi…? Is that how you spell it?" Kotori asked.

"Heidr or Heidi, both sounded the same to me." Heidr replied.

"Hehe, then I hope you don't mind me using Heidi-san. I think it's a lot easier." Kotori said.

"Whichever works." Heidr replied with a gentle smile.

"Say though, why did you prepare chocolate on Gullveig-san's plate-nya?" Rin asked.

"Because Gullveig loves to eat anything with chocolate. She even eats rice with chocolate." Heidr replied.

"I think Ericchi tried to do that before, but she was holding herself back." Nozomi said.

"Like mother like daughter. They really love chocolates." Heidr said.

"Well, I wouldn't get one for her though. Ericchi will end them within seconds. My poor wallet won't make it to the end of the month." Nozomi said.

"You truly already took the responsibility as a wife, Nozomi. I'm happy." Heidr said.

"Uh-huh? You know what, Heidi-san, Nozomi is actually always be the one that nagged by Eli to go on diet. She has a bad lifestyle." Niko said.

"Is that so? Then I'm glad Eli is her lover." Heidr replied—still with the same smile.

"Nikocchi, you should meet me later. I need to tell you something important." Nozomi said with a strange smile.

"N-no thanks…" Niko said with a smirk.

Soon after, the soldiers returned with Alchemy ingredients and fruits. Eli also has the ring box on her hand.

"Oo! Welcome back!" Honoka greeted them.

"Ah! Ericchi!" Nozomi quickly ran to her lover and helped her to take the fruits off her hand. When her eyes landed on the Ring Box, she began to wonder.

"Ericchi… is that…?" Nozomi stopped to hear out what Eli had to say about it.

"Nozomi, please hold these for a moment." Eli said as she shoved the fruits to Nozomi. Umi and Maki were also getting help from Kotori and Rin for their stuff. Eli walked to the older purplenette and handed the ring box to her.

"Here. This is yours." Eli said.

"Mine…? I don't remember having anything like this?" Heidr replied.

"Open it, maybe it will jog your memory." Eli said. Heidr agreed and she opened the box. The pair of rings are indeed jogging her memory, but she couldn't remember it so well, so she stayed quiet to think harder.

"My mother wanted to give it to you at the right time, but she never did. That's why she gave it to me. She said she doesn't need it anymore and I should use it to propose Nozomi, but it feels wrong to use this for my relationship with Nozomi. I think Nozomi and I are fine with searching for our own. Maybe we can find something more meaningful than these Rings." Eli explained.

"Faithful Love. That is what these rings mean." Heidr said as she gaze at the rings passionately.

"I know that. She told me too." Eli replied.

Heidr shook her head.

"Your mother is right to give it to you. There's nothing more meaningful than a faithful love. If she gave this to you, then you are the one who will be faithful to your love. I am not worthy for this." she said.

"But… she bought these for you. Not for me. These Rings kept her memory with you and your memory with her. I can't just take it." Eli said.

"Parents will pass down lessons for their children to learn. You and Nozomi are on the right track for a faithful love. Please cherish these rings as your sign of eternal bond." Heidr said.

"I… I really can't do that. These Rings are too…. Precious for you and her." Eli said.

"That's true, but, it would be even more precious to us if you wear them with Nozomi." Heidr said.

Now everyone's eyes were glued to Nozomi who's still holding the fruits from Eli.

"Here-here… let me take it." Niko quickly walk to Nozomi and took her fruits.

"Now go, go do the oath." she continued as she kicked Nozomi's ass to shove her away.

"Nikocchi! You really are going to talk to me privately!" Nozomi said.

"Shush! Just go!" Niko said.

Nozomi approached her lover who seemed to still be flustered about what she should do.

"Go on, Ayase Eli. Propose to her… you have my blessing." Heidr said.

Eli and Nozomi are getting even more flustered. Should they really do this out of nowhere?

"I-I'm nervous…Maki! Umi! Help me!" Eli said.

"Huh? Why? I can't help you out with that!" Maki said.

"Yes, I can't help you do something as bold as that." Umi said.

"Nozomi-chan! Will you marry me?" Suddenly Rin said behind Eli's back.

"Of course, Eli-chan! I'm going to marry you!" Honoka said behind Nozomi's back.

"Oi-oi! You two! Get out of the way!" Niko yelled.

"Hehehe! It was just a sample-nya!" Rin said playfully.

"Yeah, right? A sample!" Honoka said.

"Hehe, now go do it, Eli-chan, Nozomi-chan." Hanayo said.

"Uhh…I'm getting nervous too somehow!" Kotori said.

"Uh…why are you all so eager." Eli said nervously.

"Oh come on, Ericchi, why are you suddenly nervous? I thought we've been flirting with each other for a long time now."

"I wasn't prepared for anything like this!" Eli said.

"Just ask me to marry you!" Nozomi said.

"A-Alright… then… here we go." Eli took a deep breath and kneeled.

"Nozomi, will you be my faithful love?" she asked very gently.

Nozomi nodded.

"Of course, Ericchi. Please take care of me." she said as she offered her hand to her. Eli accepted it and kissed her hand before she put on the ring on her finger. Then, in return, Nozomi also placed the other ring on Eli's finger.

"There we go, as simple as that." Niko said.

"Phew…" Eli and Nozomi sighed heavily.

"Now, I suppose Gullveig has gone somewhere, right?" Heidr asked.

"Yeah, you guessed right." Maki said.

Heidr nodded.

"Then, let's just have this breakfast without her. I'll take her food to her after." She said.

"Wooo! Finally-nyaa!" Rin said cheerfully.

"Let's eat-Let's eat!" Honoka said.

From there, the group continued to live their life as whole. There's nothing more to fear and no more ghosts from the past that will haunt them.

The time passed;

When the group had finished their breakfast, they started to pack up their stuff to return to the city. Heidr also looked like she wanted to go somewhere, though it wasn't clear where exactly she will go to.

"Heidi-san, do you want us to take you back to Terra?" Umi asked politely.

"No, it's fine." Heidr replied with her gentle smile.

"Then I guess we'll take our leave." Maki said.

"Heidi-san, this is the breakfast for Gullveig-san." Hanayo said as she handed a neatly placed food inside a transparent glass box. It looks like they were recycling the materials.

"Thank you. I'll give this to her." Heidr said as she accepted it.

"Mother! Please come visit me when it's possible, ok? Ericchi will prepare food for you!" Nozomi said.

"Eli? Not you?" Heidr wondered.

"Well, Ericchi's cooking is better than my cooking. Plus, how else she can impress you if not through her cooking?" Nozomi said.

"Hmm… Non-chan, I think you need to start learning how to cook."

"She did, but she just… can't stop herself from using random ingredients." Eli said.

"As curious as a raccoon. I often did that before. You should see Gullveig's face when she ate my experimental food." Heidr said.

"Probably similar to Ericchi's face when she tried to eat my bitter sweet roasted meat." Nozomi said.

"There's nothing experimental about that! You just happened to burn it!" Eli said.

"There, Ericchi! You should let me look good in front of my own mother!" Nozomi pouted.

"I was just saying the truth!" Eli complained.

"Now-now, should we all go home? I think I left my cauldron on." Kotori said.

"E-eeeh!? T-Then let's go home!" Hanayo said before everyone quickly went to their ships.

"Goodbye! Heidi-san!" Honoka said.

"Bye-bye!" Rin followed and everyone waved at her.

Heidr replied with a gentle smile and wave. The ship flew back to the village and the land was left empty. There's only her and her glass box. She took a moment to stare into the dark forest and, in the back of her mind, something was telling her to go somewhere within the forest.

The dark forest,

Heidr entered the forest with her eyes closed. She kept moving through the darkness without stumbling into any obstacle in front of her. After a while, she reached a place where lights shines like a spotlight. There's a big tree with a swing attached to one of its branches, then there's Gullveig standing there glaring at the swing.

"Even if you keep looking at the swing like that, it won't fall." Heidr said.

"At least you know your way. You only have your true eyes and sense of direction when it's dark." Gullveig said.

"It's the reason why I always have a blindfold with me." Heidr said with a smile.

Gullveig remained silent at her remark.

"But, the darkness isn't always what I love. Sometime I want to be embraced by the light and feel her warmth." Heidr continued.

"Do you know no shame? We are both mothers. To be in a—…" before Gullveig could finish, Heidr already approached her so close and hugged her tight.

"Sssh… Gullveig. It's going to be fine. I am yours and you are mine."

"Heidr…. Think about your family." Gullveig said.

"You are my family now. We are bound in our children's oath."

"You are not making sense. They are the one who got married, not us."

"Gullveig, Thank you. I thought my daughter will be in pain when she looks at me, but you, your daughter, and her companions showed me another way. I just lost my wit when I imagined how she will cry. It was enough for me to watch her with only my soul floating around and not be able to do anything. I tried to search for a way to return and Valkyrie Leyna found me and gave me a place within her soul. Then you found me and gave me another chance. I'm so glad to be loved by you."

Gullveig sighed softly.

"You're welcome." she said somewhat coldly.

"Hmmm? What is this? Did you just accept my thanks? That's unlikely." Heidr said with a teasing smile.

The Light mage rolled her eyes before she bent down to give a quick peck on the dark mage's lips.

"Shut up, will you?" she said before she disappeared.

The dark mage was dumbfounded by the unexpected kiss, though she smiled wider as if she will make sure that she will get her revenge one day.

THE END

BONUS:

The Terra Mothership;

A few weeks passed. The A-Rise is doing their daily patrol today.

"They said they are going to pay a visit today, right? When is it exactly?" Erena asked as they passed through the hallways.

"Honoka said that they were using their µ's ship since the three ships are already mixed with magical stuff. Terra residence will not like it even though Miss Terra already allowed them to be here. In other words, they might already be here somewhere. Honoka can't contact me since she forgot to charge her phone." Tsubasa said.

"Strange though, isn't the µ's ship also a mix between Cyber and Magic? Why aren't people against it?" Anjuu asked.

"But at least they are not a personal ship. They are the police's ship and they will not complain about that." Tsubasa said.

"I wonder if it's ok to be here without a personal Ship. It seems that some activities can't be done without it." Erena said.

"Don't worry, they said Rin Hoshizora has prepared something for that sort of thing." Tsubasa said.

The three stopped for a moment when they finally reached an area called The Harasho Corner. The name is so awkward, yet the inside looks somewhat luxurious.

"Have we ever visited this place before?" Erena asked.

"No, but I suppose they won't mind if the police patrol here, right?" Tsubasa said.

"Hmm… interesting, what we will see inside this place?" Anjuu said.

The three decided to enter the place and they saw a few meters of nothing until they reached an open door. Inside it, there's a luxurious yard with the girls they were expecting to arrive playing around it. Then, up on the balcony, there's a blonde woman with a glass of lemon juice. She is reading a magazine in her spacesuit while lying on a sofa in her most relaxed pose.

"T…they are here…" Erena smirked as her eyes landed on the two soldiers who are standing with a remote and… the mini versions of their ships flying around? There's also Honoka and Rin who looked so energetic as they are watched the two soldiers flying the mini version of their ships.

"I'm not going to lose this time! Just you see that my Hello, Magnetic Beat in Angel is powerful enough to crush you!" Maki said in high spirits.

"The Fufture Style Anemone Heart is not a joke, even as a mini ship!" Umi said.

"Goo! Umi-chan! Gooo!" Honoka said excitedly.

"Aaaa! Eli-chan! Please let me borrow your ship too-nya! I want to play with them!" Rin begged the young blonde who sat next to a young purplenette. They looked like they were currently talking about something detailed with all those blueprints scattered on their table.

"Here you go." Eli threw her key and Rin quickly attached it to a remote control she held.

"yaaay! I'm joining in too-nya!" Rin said cheerfully.

"Wow…" Tsubasa blinked.

"Here-here, Kayo-chan! I knew it! This is a good ingredient for the ultimate growth tonic! Let's collect them!" Kotori said as she showed a book to Hanayo. A weird meteorite sit on their table.

"Mm-mm! Let's do it!" Hanayo said.

"Hey-hey, don't go too far, ok? Let me accompany you!" Niko said before she and the two mages left the room, ignoring the existence of A-Rise who stood next to the entrance. Maybe they are too focused right now.

"Is there anything messier than this?" Anjuu asked.

And right after that statement, the three police officers saw Miss Terra walking in to the very place. She greeted them with a wave then walked in quickly before she jumped up to the balcony.

"Hi-hi! My Gullveig, time for lunch!" Miss Terra said before she pressed her lips at the relaxed blonde's lips boldly and deeply.

"HmmphH!" the blonde tried to retort in her surprise.

The A-Rise's jaws dropped. None of the µ's girls were paying attention to that, lucky them.

"Heeeiiiiddddrrrrr!" the angry blonde growled.

The person they knew as Miss Terra quickly jumped down and took out her sword to parry a swift sword that Gullveig pulled out. The two started to fight as they ran out of the place while swinging their swords at each other.

"A Katana and a Shashka, is that even a fair sword fight?" Tsubasa commented.

"And you are not shaken by the fact that they just kissed!" Erena said.

"What a lively couple." Anjuu commented.

"God-damn it! They can't be couple! Who on earth would want to be in relationship with Gullveig, the most feared criminal in the entire galaxy?! Besides, shouldn't we arrest Gullveig right now?! We need her explanation about her condition!" Erena said.

"Shush, Erena. I'm still thinking if a katana and a shashka can be a fair fight." Tsubasa said.

"J-Just…. Tsubasa! Focus on the task at hand! We are the police!"