"Argh!" Eleanor grunted in pain, her back slamming against a wall. She fell to the ground and slowly got back up, glaring at Melchior. Surrounding the proud man were Malaks under his control. While a couple of them were silver stone floating in a column of yellow molten magma, there were also some brightly coloured birds. "Is this the best you all have? This child is holding out longer then all of you." Melchior said in a bored tone. He was right. Eizen was struggling to get up from his position and Rokurou was under a pile of the crystals of the island. Magilou was taking quick, shallow breaths and was lying on the ground. Laphicet though was the only one standing. He had erected a barrier around his sister's fallen comrades. Melchior began caressing his beard as one of the Malaks under his command attacked the barrier.

"Argh!" Laphicet grunted, pushing back the attack with the barrier. He was panting hard. "My, my. You are rather resilient. Why is that?" Melchior asked. "Because... my sister is Velvet Crowe! We will fight for what she believes in! Which is Humanity's free will!" Laphicet yelled out, his appearance changing. His blonde hair grew longer until it reached his shoulders and curled at the end. The ends of his hair were also dyed white. He started to levitate and his clothes turned into a white ancient robe. Melchior's eyes widened in recognition. Eleanor's eyes widened as well as the change of appearance. "Laphicet!" She yelled out. "No... you should be in slumber! How are you here, Innominat!?" Melchior yelled in rage. Laphicet just glared at the older man. "That is not my name! I am Laphicet Crowe!" he yelled, a paper sword appearing in his right hand.

Laphicet let the barrier down and began his assault on the Malaks. He destroyed one after another. "Woah... the kid is unstoppable..." Eizen said, watching in fascination. "The world's pain and Malevolence!" Laphicet yelled, his eyes showing anger and a hand covering his face. "The culmination of true reason!" He continued to scream, extending his sword. "No! I won't allow it!" Melchior said, pointing towards Laphicet. The Golems and Birds of Paradise proceeded to try and break Laphicet's concentration but did nothing as the boy continued. "Rectify!" he yelled stabbing towards the Malaks. Each one exploded into nothingness, eliminating all of the man's minions. "No..." Melchior muttered, falling to his knees. Laphicet descended to the ground and stood in front of the elderly man.

"Kill me... If you must..." Melchior said, faking remorse. "I should. You have ruined the lives of everyone here. You broke Magilou's heart, took away Eizen's captain, made Velvet relive her worst thoughts!" Laphicet yelled, anger clear in the boy's eyes. Melchior just looked towards the ground, a knife forming in a hand behind his back. "But I will not kill you, for you are one of the Elemental Empyreans. You help keep the balance alongside the other three plus Maotelus." Laphicet said, his eyes softening. Melchior looked up with surprise, the knife vanishing. Magilou stood up from her spot, finally woken up from her unconscious state. Eleanor followed suit, along with Eizen. The Earth Malak helped Rokurou out from under the rubble. "It's called learning to forgive and forget." Laphicet said, turning back to his previous appearance. "Something we learned from the new Shepherd of this era." Magilou said with an emotionless face.

"Well said." A familiar voice said, catching everyone's attention. There stood Velvet in villager clothing and looking cleaned up with her left arm unwrapped of her bandages. She had a smile on her face. Eizen felt his face heat up slightly, so he looked away. "Velvet!" Laphicet called, running towards her and throwing his arms around her. "Hey there Laphi..." She said to her little brother, rubbing his head. "Where have you been?" Magilou asked with a smirk. "Ran into an old acquaintance. The spirit had me absorb him into my hand, so I got a little side tracked." She replied to the Witch. "As long as you're good, that's fine. Think you can get us out of here Laphicet?" Rokurou asked. Laphicet looked at them with a sad smile. "Sorry. But it feels like Maotelus is just starting to restrict my powers in here, probably as a safety precaution." He told them. Melchior stood up and thrusted out a hand.

An orange circle portal formed. "This will take you to the Shepherd. This will be the final gift from the Elemental Empyreans. Next, you will have to fight us and win, though with restrictions. You may find us at our temples." Melchior stated, looking back at the group. This surprised everyone. "Why are you helping us?" Eizen asked, his eyes showing hate. "It is clear that your reason for helping the Shepherd is true. It's the same reason you had in awakening the Empyreans." The elderly man replied, not happy. "Thank you..." Velvet told him after a while of silence. "Don't thank me. Thank Maotelus. This was his idea." He hissed back at the Therian. Velvet just smirked and walked past him. She stopped right in front of the portal and smirked at her companions behind her. "Last one there is a lazy Prickleboar!" She yelled. "Wait up!" Laphicet said with a big smile, jumping in after her.

"Umm! What's a Prickleboar again!?" Eleanor asked, jumping in after. "Wait for us!" the other three called out, jumping in. Melchior closed the portal after they were gone and raised his left hand towards his ear. A magic circle came to life. "We have a small problem." He said, anger evident on his face.

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Sorey looked like a deer caught in headlights. "You can see us!?" Lailah asked, confused. "Plus all those monsters that were attacking you. What were those things!?" Rose asked. "Hellions. Born from the people's Malevolence." Edna stated. "And that lady... who is she?" Dezel asked, appearing from nowhere. "Ah!" Mikleo jumped, backing away. "Her name is Velvet Crowe, the Lord of Calamity... The First Lord of Calamity." Sorey explained. In a split second, a dagger was against Sorey's neck and Rose's eyes hardened in anger. "You are siding with the Lord of Calamity?" Rose asked. "Sorey!" His Seraphs called. "Yes and no." Sorey said. "Huh? What does that mean?" Rose questioned in a harsh voice. Dezel 'watched' from the sidelines, same as the other Seraphs. "Velvet was a Lord of Calamity, but she's different. She fought against someone who wanted to completely eradicate Human Emotion, suppressing it." Sorey said.

THAT WORD AGAIN! Lailah thought. The minute Sorey said Suppressing, a cold wind blew through the room. That shut everyone up and made them tense. "Rose... is there a crack anywhere?" Sorey asked, ending up back to back with the girl. "Not sure. Probably behind the door that leads deeper into the ruins." She said, doing a quick sweep of the room. Sorey's face lit up and he ran out of the room, Mikleo hot on his heels. "Sorey! Wait up!" Lailah called, Edna following. It was clear that what had happened earlier was completely forgotten as Rose and Dezel left the room. A shadow condensed and Symonne stepped through it, grinning evilly. Meanwhile, Sorey and Mikleo were looking at the door, feeling each stone, running a finger through each crevice, touching each bump. "Woah! This door is humongous! I wonder how you open it?" Sorey asked, excited. Lailah and Edna watched the two work their Ruin magic and knowledge. "No one knows how to open the darn thing. Fortunately, we didn't care, either." Rose said, approaching the group.

She had changed her outfit. She wore white leggings, brown boots, and a burgundy shirt. She had on a black overcoat with pink frills. Around her neck was a yellow ascot. The ends of her daggers were behind her back. She had her hands on her hip and looked upon the group with a smile. Dezel stood behind her. "Rose!" Lailah called with a smile. Rose smiled back and asked "Any ideas?" "I'm not sure. We'll have to examine it first." Sorey answered. Lailah had a small smile at the interaction. "Kay." Rose replied with a kinder voice. Sorey went back to looking as Mikleo went to stand by Dezel. Rose just stood there with her arms crossed. Sorey gave a side glance to Rose and asked with a smile "What?" "Oh, nothing. Just seeing how the Shepherd works his magic. Don't mind me." Rose replied with an innocent smile. With that said, she turned around and walked away a bit to watch from afar. "Ooookay..." He said, slightly creeped out.

Sorey got back to work and turned to converse with his Seraphim. "Rose isn't taking her eyes off you." Lailah said, looking at Rose with Sorey. Rose still held her smile, but her eyes narrowed down into a glare. "Man, she sure is weird!" Sorey replied. "Heard that!" Rose called back, making Lailah giggle. "Ugh... I don't know what I did to get on her bad side." Sorey said, sounding exasperated. Lailah full out laughed. "This has been the most fun adventure I've ever had!" Lailah said between her laughter. "What's so funny? Huh?" Sorey asked with a smile and a fake glare. "You two... You're just so similar, but different at the same time!" she told him. "Ugh..." Sorey said with a groan. Lailah just shook her head and started watching Rose. "This is dumb. Here, I'll just smash it open." Edna said readying an Arte. "Don't you dare! This is a precious historical relic!" Mikleo yelled back. Edna just scoffed.

Mikleo just shook his head and looked at Sorey. "A ruin with a sealed-off entrance... There must be a reason behind it." He said with a serious expression. "But it doesn't look like any ordinary seal. There isn't even a keyhole." Sorey shot back. "Fancy a wager? For old time sakes of course." Mikleo asked with a smirk. Sorey smirked back. "Oh no..." Edna said with a sigh. "Heh, you're on sucker! I'll find a way to open it before you do!" Sorey challenged. "Your track record against me thus far indicates otherwise." Mikleo replied, cockily. Sorey just smirked and walked over to Rose. Rose had a thoughtful expression on her face. "Wonder what really is behind this door." Rose wondered. Dezel remained silent. "Oh, you're interested in ruins too, Rose?" Sorey asked with a surprised. "As if!" she replied with a smile and shake of her head.

"What I am interested in... is YOU." Rose replied with a raised eyebrow. Sorey blushed. Doesn't she know that that sentence could be taken out of context!? "O-Oh... Really?" Sorey asked with a stutter.

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Alisha sat in her room/prison back in Ladylake, writing on a piece of paper. She then gripped her pencil so hard to the point of the entire thing snapping in half. "Why do I feel like Rose is one-upping me right now?" Alisha said with an annoyed smile.

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Sorey walked off, deep in thought when all of a sudden he stepped on a tile. "Woah!" He called out. The tile had slid down and Sorey heard a small click. His eyes widened and he knelt down. He felt around the tile and saw that the top of it was a slightly smaller size. He looked around and saw some tiles that were slightly sticking out of the floor. His eyes widened and looked at the door. "That's it..." he said, getting up and looking through each room. He stepped on tile after tile till he came to the final one. Once it slid down, he heard a loud click from the door. Sorey smirked.