"I'm all ears." Cathy looked at Den.

"I heard you passed. I wanted to congratulate you. I knew you could do it." he said shyly.

"Oh. Thanks. My next success will be when Clease realizes I've mastered everything he taught me. Lately, his lecturing makes me nauseous. Even after the exam, he said I still need to improve." she smiled.

"Regular training is important too." he replied.

Boy began rummaging through his pouch. Cathy looked at him suspiciously.

"You know... Lok gave it to me once" he said, taking out an amulet and showed it to his friend. "Take it from me. You'll need it more than I do." he added.

"Are you sure?" Cathy asked.

"I made that decision a long time ago." he replied without hesitation.

Cathy was surprised. After a few seconds, she grabbed an amulet. For a moment, she was glowing with a radiant aura.

"What happened? Did I succeed?" she asked and aura disappeared.

"If you know his name, then yes. Focus on amulet."

After touching the bright crystal of amulet, she heard one word in her thoughts.

"Is it Freelancer?" she asked.

Den simply nodded.

"It's a very kind gesture from you. You know you didn't have to do this?"

"I wanted to give it to you a long time ago, but when I heard you were going to take same exam as I did... I decided to wait a little longer" he said cheerfully.

"I'd sooner expect this from Lok than from you. Thank you."

"Don't show it off yet. Let it be our secret" he winked at her.

"There are already so many secrets... it'll make me feel dizzy soon" girl thought.

Friends came downstairs. Other teammates were waiting for them.

"You're finally here" Lok said. "We're going to Florence" he announced.

"Now?" Den asked, surprised.

About three hours later seekers walked through streets of the city which was a little over two hundred kilometers from Venice. It was already dark. Only the lights of the roadside lanterns accompanied the team. Streets were empty. Along the way, they stopped at the Foundation's hideout, where one of seekers was waiting for them. More precisely, he was standing right in front of the entrance.

"Welcome and good luck" the man said. 

After a moment, he took out a key and a scrap of paper and handed them to Lambert. He returned inside the building.

The scrap turned out to be a drawing of the underground system of the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral. Seekers immediately set off in the right direction.

"That guy wasn't very talkative." Den remarked.

"He only had to give it to us." leader waved the map. "We didn't get the mission to make friends with him." he added.

After a few minutes, they reached their destination.

"And here we are." Cherit said.

Lambert unlocked the door and pushed it. Team entered and took a few steps down the corridor. It was dark so Lok conjured a boltflare to light their path. As the room brightened, they saw religious scenes on the ceiling. Presumably, if they entered the main chamber, they wouldn't be disappointed. However, they hadn't come here to study Italian architecture but rather for a mission, which they didn't have an eternity for.

"Why do we need the key when we could have used farslip?" Harrison asked.

"We need it to lock the door again. If someone realized we broke in here, it would cause quite a scandal. I want to remind you that our mission is supposed to be discreet, as always. So everything must remain intact." Sophie replied.

"Now we need to find the entrance to the underground. Any ideas?" leader asked, accidentally staring at Vale for too long.

"Don't look at me like that. It's your mission. I'm just here for support" Dante said jokingly.

"Sorry, Dante. I didn't do it on purpose," Lok waved his hand in a gesture indicating he didn't expect a response from the mentor.

"According to the marked entrance on the map, we should head to the part with the tower." Casterwill girl said.

"So, we need to turn left." Lambert stated, then pushed the handle of the dark door.

They crossed another significantly narrower and shorter corridor. The walls were of a light color, with patches of plaster visible in some places. Perhaps due to age, who knows. Seekers reached the end. They saw darker door before them. When they entered next room, they noticed spiral stairs leading upwards.

"Aim somewhere around here" Lok asked his girlfriend while pointing to a square in the corner of the room, which was under the stairs.

Sophie used breakspell to unide the entrance to the underground. Den pulled the metal circle to lift the iron trapdoor. Seekers descended one by one using the ladder.

They started walking through a concrete tunnel. Lok led the way, holding an orange spark ball of boltflare on his hand. Map depicted a maze of different passages. Team was interested in reaching a part where any seeker had visited before. Rumor had it that there was a resting place of a titan wielding illusions. After turning down a few corridors in silence, seekers reached the point marked on the map.

"Shall we open it?" older Fears asked.

"I'm afraid it will be harder than I thought." team leader replied, scratching his head.

"Are glass doors so hard to open?" Harrison pushed past the others and pulled the silver handle, but it didn't budge.

"Glass? Did I mishear something?" Lok asked, confused.

"But these doors are the same as upstairs. Where do you see glass here?" Sophie interjected.

"I'd rather ask where you see wood here" younger Fears grumbled.

"I'm curious where you see wood or glass here" Lambert boy replied.

They concluded that each of them had seen a different door structure. It seemed that titan chose a person it wanted to bond with from the moment seekers entered. After all, Lok saw something different from what Sophie and Harrison saw. He was looking at iron doors, so he might have felt unwelcome. Cherit thought his companions had gone crazy. Titan didn't see any obstacle at all. Sophie decided to test something and used breakspell. If it was an illusion created by titan, as it turned out, she could dispel it. Now, seekers all agreed that doors had vanished, and stairs leading further down had appeared. They descended to what seemed to be the final destination. The room was pentagonal, with concrete everywhere. Suddenly, golden, square platforms appeared in the corners of room. Lok suggested that everyone should stand on one. Behind each of them, a passage opened. The team split up and entered their respective corridors, leaving Cherit in the main room.

Lok walked until Eathon Lambert appeared before his eyes. In the flesh!

"Dad?" Lambert asked uncertainly.

"Lok, it's really you! I didn't expect to see you so soon." man hugged him.

Team leader was full of suspicions but tried not to show it.

"Let's go together. Amulet is over there." he said, pointing to the end of the passage.

They reached the end. Lambert saw amulet of titan. He ran to the stone block on which the necklace lay and slowly reached out his hand towards it.

"Raypulse!" Eathon cast the spell towards his son.

Boy jumped away just in time with a hyperstride.

"Did you really think I'd fall for that?" young Lambert asked.

Eathon's posture blurred into the form of the titan, the target of today's mission. It was an elf with turquoise hair and blue eyes. He was as tall as Sabriel. He wore a navy blue tunic, which was finished with a gray band on the sleeves and neck. He wore brown shoes, but unfortunately, due to the length of his tunic, it was hard to determine their length.

"You're so predictable" he addressed the titan.

Meanwhile Sophie met her brother.

"Lucas? What are you doing here?" she asked, surprised.

"I was nearby and came to help you." he replied.

"You're not even part of the Foundation. Who did tell you we're on a mission?" without waiting for an answer, Casterwill girl released a blue power of Kindlestrike towards her presumed brother.

Her instincts didn't fail her. It turned out to be a titan team was looking for that day. Sophie struck with a Raypulse towards him, but he disappeared. Unexpectedly, two identical titans appeared behind her, throwing a pink ball of power towards her. Casterwill girl avoided it by jumping to the right.

"I see you're having fun chasing after the titan. Can we join?" asked the woman in the silver mask and red attire, with Apinata standing behind her.

"No." she replied firmly and summoned Sabriel.

"I need to track down the real amulet of this titan. Probably the others are dealing with the same as me." she thought.

It turned out that these figures were also illusions.

"Powerscan" Casterwill invoked a spell that took the form of a blue circle, following the motion of her hand.

"This place... it can't be possible" she said, frightened.

Unexpectedly walls, that isolated seekers from each other, vanished. Clones of titans disappeared too. Team could see each other again.

"It's nice to see you all again" Cherit said.

"Nice to see you too, Cherit" Lok replied.

"Stand on those platforms. I have a feeling we missed something." Dante said.

Everyone stood in their places.

"Do you see anything?" the young leader asked.

"That gap in the wall... is there an amulet?" Den asked, pointing to the spot.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it's another trick of this titan" Harrison said with folded arms.

"I don't sense any suspicious power here like before." Casterwill said.

"Do you want to try to confront the titan?" Lambert looked at his sister.

"I can try, but I don't promise anything" she replied uncertainly.

Cherit stepped into her place, and she headed towards the amulet. She was slightly stressed. She feared she wouldn't be able to bind to titan. After a moment, she stood before the amulet. She took it. The blue gem gently glowed. Cathy felt the aura was surrounding her. All of her teammates were looking at her.

"I've got it." Cathy turned towards her friends and waved the amulet.

"And we'll get you soon." people in red attires appeared in entrance.

"Death Spiral in this place? I thought you aren't interested in Foundation Huntik's missions" Dante answered.

"But we're interested in their members. Like you, Dante Vale!" one of enemies retorted.

"Before you deal with him, you'll have to deal with us first." Lok spoke up.

He summoned the Willblade with determination. A differently dressed man squeezed through the Spiral operatives.

"That won't be a problem." he said.

He had brown hair and blue eyes. His attire consisted of a black shirt with a red fabric vest and brown pants with a gray belt that had a silver buckle with the Death Spiral symbol.

"Trouble." Cherit remarked.

"Not the first and not the last time" Lok replied.

"Do you recognize him?" Vale looked towards Harrison.

Boy denied it. Hostile seekers ran down the stairs. The fight began. Lok blocked a Spiral operative charging at him with his sword. Leader of enemies decided to engage Dante.

"I didn't expect you to come out of your safe hideout so quickly, Vale." he said after dodging a strike and backing away.

"Let me tell you more: I come out of it every day. Why didn't you pick a fight with me then?"

"I preferred to catch you all at once" he replied seriously.

"I see. You don't like getting your hands dirty too often. Strange approach for someone from the Death Spiral." Dante quickly drew conclusions and went on the offensive.

The battlefield filled with several titans. Baselaird and Feyone dealt with the enemy titans. Den decided to use Vigilante's Cindercloak. It was good for attack and worked great for defense as well. This time there were more people in red attire, but for some reason, they stood in the back. Cathy faced off with a woman. Her opponent had the upper hand. Finally, woman incapacitated Lambert from behind.

"I know where your mother is." she whispered in Cathy's ear.

Lambert girl didn't know whether it was some hidden camera and it would turn out that the Foundation was playing a trick on them, or if it was meant to provoke a more intense fight.

"You're lying. You have no right to know that." she replied with a broken voice and stomped forcefully on her opponent's foot.

After a moment, the short-haired girl fell on the ground because she hadn't missed a swift kick dealt by her enemy.

"So many impolite words are coming to mind" she thought and helplessly punched the ground.

The Death Spiral's woman's hand generated a green glow. She probably intended to use Poisonfang on Cathy. This situation was seen by her brother. Among exchange of attacks with Lok's enemy, he struck Cathy's opponent in the abdomen using Touchram. Woman of the Death Spiral hit the wall and slumped unconscious to the ground.

Sophie wasn't in an interesting situation either. Today's committee of Death Spiral soldiers turned out to be Casterwill hunters. One of them persistently attacked her. He didn't give her a moment's respite. Casterwill girl was doing well until she stumbled over a small stone. The enemy stood over her. He pulled out a small pocket knife.

"This is the last thing I need" she thought.

She felt her vision sharpen and could see every smallest movement of the man in red. She felt a kind of fear similar to that during her first encounter with Kiel.

Den and Harrison stood beside each other. One of the enemies, who stood at the back, turned out to be their colleague from the orphanage. Unfortunately, they had to fight.

"Not enough fights for you?" Fears grabbed the boy by the collar.

"It's you, Den. You've changed" blonde boy replied.

"We all have changed." he retorted.

Using Dragonfist, the Spiral operative landed on the floor, with his head damaged.

"That must have hurt." Harrison thought, noticing the situation from the corner of his eye.

Older Fears noticed that his friend was in trouble and pushed the opponent away. Sophie stood up and took the silver pocket knife in her hand. The man activated the second blade with a spell, which was previously hidden, with his last strength. Casterwill's hand was superficially cut. A smirk appeared on the Spiral operative's face.

"Boss... we... got... it" the enemy tried to convey something to the man in the red vest, but each word was spoken quieter than the last.

His superior didn't hear his muttering. He continued to fight Dante. The exchange of blows became increasingly demanding, and predicting each other's moves became increasingly difficult.

"What are you waiting for?" Vale asked.

"None of your business" the opponent was aiming a blow at his torso.

Suddenly, he changed his mind and struck at his jaw. Dante lost his balance for a moment.

Lok noticed something had happened to his girlfriend. Meanwhile his sister was fighting another person.

"Cathy!" he shouted to her.

The short-haired girl knew her brother didn't want to help her. Subconsciously, she sensed they needed to evacuate, or it wouldn't end well. She had to move away to a safe distance, so that the man in red wouldn't interfere with her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Den dealing with two Spiral operatives right by Sophie. It seemed like the girl couldn't move. Fears no longer had Cindercloak attire on him, as Vigilante had protected him from the enemy titan some time ago. Moreover, Cathy herself could barely stand on her feet. Her small experience hadn't yet subjected her to the true hardships of a seeker. She gathered the last remnants of her strength and, at the right moment, she kicked the man in his sensitive spot. As expected, he fell to the ground and hissed in pain.

"This is the moment" she concluded in her thoughts and quickly pulled out the amulet from her pouch.

"Fool their senses, Tarnac!" Cathy summoned a new titan.