Idia and Ortho explain what they have to tell Briar and Vil.

Vil is shocked to hear it, "Rook and Epel followed us all the way here?!"

"And Sereia, Jasper, Tanzanite, and Trinket are with them?!" Briar asks, surprised.

"Please, tell me you're joking!" Vil adds, still shocked.

"Wish I was, dude," Idia says, "Their attack's gonna go down as the wildest thing to ever happen at Styx.

"What possessed them to do such a thing? Were they actually trying to rescue us?" Vil asks.

"Well, four of them are hoping to rescue you guys. They were very determined," Ortho says. Then happily says, "It's sweet that you have friends who really cared for you, Briar."

Briar giggles, "That's very sweet of them."

Then Idia turns to Ortho, "Ortho, go on and give him the stuff Rook and Sereia brought."

"Roger," Ortho says.

He walks off for a second, and then returns with the items, "Here you are, Vil Schoenheit. A full set of your preferred skincare products! And for Grim! A bag of tuna cans!"

"...I beg your pardon?" Vil says, dumbfounded.

Briar giggles.

"RIGHT?! That's the normal reaction!" Idia says, "When Rook came flying up to the island on that broom. He held out those bottles and was like, 'You must give these to Vil!' And I swear every Styx staffer there just froze in place.

"He said he was here to rescue his boon companion from mortal peril," Ortho adds.

Briar soon begins laughing, "What?"

Even Vil starts laughing.

And then says, "I could hug and kiss all of them right now. Then I'd slap them in the face." And then says, "I thought I was used to Rook's antics, but this truly takes the cake. And then there's Epel and Briar's friends! I explicitly told them not to get involved. They just never listen. I must give them a stern talking-to once we get back. They need to understand how foolish this was. But since they were kind enough to bring it all, l gladly take it." and takes his cosmetics

"Thanks Ortho, I think Grim would appreciate it," Briar says, and takes the bag of can.

However, Vil notices something odd and mutters, "Hm? This serum..."

"Something wrong?" Ortho asks, confused.

But Vil says, "Oh, no, not really," and looks at the bottle, "This isn't what I normally use. It's a high-end product imbued with a special cantrip. After seeing how violently the Charon troops dragged me off. Rook must've feared I was in dire straits."

They knew they didn't stand a chance, yet they came after you anyway," Ortho says, "Rook and the others must be really caring friends."

"Uh, what they did was way beyond 'caring.' More like creepy, TBH," India says, sounding a bit annoyed.

Then Vil says, ""Heh. Rook can certainly be eccentric, but once you get used to it, you see he's quite affable and honest. Honest to fault sometimes, and utterly devoid of tact... But regardless, he's ensured I'll be in top form for my photo shoot next week. I imagine not every subject is allowed to receive care packages from the outside. Thank you, Boss."

"Eh, no biggie. I just threw a howling beast a bone. Had to calm him somehow," Idia says.

"That's mean," Briar says with a frown.

Then Vil says, "You really do have a special talent for getting on people's nerves. Well, if we're all done, then I'll return to my room.

"Yeah, cool. Later," Idia says.

Soon, Briar and Vil take their leave and head to their room.

Once they're gone, Idia hears a beeping sound.

He walks to the monitor and answers, "Idia Shroud speaking."

A technician says, "Acting Director, I have a status report on the River Lethe for Case LOD-627." It's 88% charged and should be ready tonight at 2000 hours... to use on Subjects A through E, Subject H, all of Sage's Island, and other related parties. The Mnemosyne info-scrubbing team is handling the information that was disseminated online."

"Okay, good to know. Schedule the flood for 0000 hours," Idia syas.

"Copy that," The technician says, "We'll dispatch Hexa Team to Sage's Island to deal with matters there."

"Got it. Oh yeah," Idia says, "Malleus Draconia, Briar Valley's heir apparent, is a student at Night Raven College. Lethe works differently on fae. Make sure you adjust accordingly. You wouldn't wanna erase info that someone with his long life span would be expected to know."

"Roger," The technician says.

Soon, the call ends.

Hearing that, Ortho asks, "They're all going to forget about Styx once we use Lethe, aren't they?"

"Yup. Not even Styx tech can turn back time," Idia answers, "So we use Lethe to rewrite a few discreet memories that won't cause any inconsistencies. Subjects A through E, and H will think they got a special request from a university hospital in the Kingdom of Heroes... and that they agreed to help them with a study on blot. People say that mages don't come back from the Island of Woe. And of course they don't. In their minds, they were never there to begin with.

"Will they forget that we played video games together?" Ortho asks, sounding sad.

"Absolutely," Idia answers, sounding depressed, "They won't remember me being the acting director here, either. I'll just be the same ol' gloomy, nerdy shut-in to them." and then grins, "Then again, that's what they'd think even if they did remember this. Whee hee!"

Ortho remains silent after hearing it.

India notices Ortho's behavior, "... Ortho?"

"What?" Ortho replies.

"You seem a bit off. Are you feeling okay?" Idia asks, showing concern, "Maybe your technomantic circuits are out of whack. or something's up with your reactor. Want me to run maintenance, just in case?"

But Ortho happily says, "No, that's okay! Nothing's wrong with my body. Your work is as flawless as ever. Maybe I'm just still processing the memories from all these unusual experiences."

"Are you sure?" Idia asks, "Well, I guess if you say so..."

But then Ortho says, "I'm going to go check on Rook's group at the training facility. I'll let them know we gave Vil the cosmetics and Briar the tuna.

"Oh, sure. Knock yourself out," Idia says.

And with that, Ortho takes his leave out of the room.

However, Idia looks at Ortho with concern as he leaves the room, "Hmm..."

After leaving the room, Ortho is walking down the hall to inform Rook and the others. However, his mind is also elsewhere.

'What can I do to make sure zero doesn't stay zero...?" Ortho asks himself.

Suddenly, Ortho hears a voice, "Would you like me to tell you?"

Ortho becomes startled and looks around the hall, "Huh?! Who's there?!

However, no one seems to be around.

He hears the voice again, "Come here. This way."

"It sounds like it's coming from Tartarus..." Ortho says, looking down the hall. Are you a Phantom?!

"You want to know what you can do, right?" The voice says.

Ortho starts to feel strange and says in a monotone voice, "...Yes. I want to change the future so badly."

Then come closer. Come down here," The mysterious eerie voice says.

Soon, Ortho begins to walk down the halls and through the doors somewhere. Ortho continues to follow the source of the voice.

The voice continues to lead Ortho, "That's right... Keep moving... Down... Down... Into the deep, dark, frigid underground..."

Ortho continues to go down and down, deeper and deeper in the Island of Woe.

And finally, he reaches to a closed round hatch.

Ortho calmly calls out, "Hello?"

Suddenly, they begin to hear strange laughter.

Ortho looks down and asks, "...Are you there?"

"Yes. I've been here since long before you were born," The voice says. "But I was never lonely. After all, I have so many friends down here."

"Friends...?" Ortho questions.

The voice continues, I want you -well, really... I want everyone in the world to be our friend. Then... We won't need this cage anymore. Idy will be free!"

Ortho eyes wide in shock to hear the name, "Idy?" and soon asks in shock, "Wait, is it you?!"