It felt like moving through some really dense liquid, even the smallest movement took tremendous effort. They could barely move and Elefiro was still laughing, he hadn't move from his spot. He didn’t know what was doing it, Azthol´s mind began to think, from all the things he had learn there had to be something that would help them. Thankfully he remembered something Salomon had said. 

“Kur is what makes everything exist, everything that exist is made from kurisufia and since it has kur it has a core. That’s the basic rule after the fusion, that means that the space you see is also made of kur, the light and the smallest of atoms or particles are from kur. You need to get creative on how you use your own kur to affect the things around you. The very concepts you can think of are made from kurisufia. You just have to understand that.” 

If that was the case, then the blue that surrounded them should be the same. He just needed to make it rusty. 

With the understanding came intent and with the intent came action. He didn’t have to move his spear, as it was already touching the blue. He poured his kur into it, and suddenly they were completely encased in rust. They could finally move freely; the rust was easy to break.  

Elefiro saw this and laugh even harder. He waited for them to be close enough, even presenting his neck and just as the tip of the spear was about to make contact with his skin, it suddenly stopped. Heikko tried to hit him in the head but a blue liquid hit her sending her flying through the air.  

Tennin retreated after seeing this, but he was suddenly completely frozen. Falling to the ground the ice cracked a bit.  

Azthol couldn’t move his spear, in fact he felt like he couldn’t move his whole body. Some kind of pressure locked his body.  

“How long has it been? I don’t think I have seen people here since the forest was created. Let me congratulate you guys for that. To show my respect I'll eat you guys whole.” 

The fuck? His voice was weird. It sounded so cold and slow, but he could see it was more than that, with each word he spoke a bit of blue mist came out from his mouth. Azthol didn’t care that much as he needed to move. He didn’t want to found out how Elefiro planned to eat him. He tried to rust whatever was stopping his spear and himself from moving. He saw how the space around him began to rust, but at a painfully slow pace.  

“You think the same trick will work twice? You'll have to tried harder” 

There had to be something, he needed to think fast. Assuming Elefiro was at least a first class, that meant that he should be using his core aspect, but what exactly would allow him to do what he did. The only clue he had was that everything was a dark blue. He remembered what Salomon told him, the very concepts he could think of could be used. 

What was “Blue”? One could say it's just a color, just another way we see light. But that’s only taking the human concept of blue. Infinite universes and multiverses, timelines and dimensions fused with each other. All having different lifeforms, cultures and differences. The concept of “Blue” changed. 

It wasn’t just limited to the human concept. It became one that wouldn’t change no matter what. The concept of “Blue” was one that everyone understood and acknowledged. As such “Blue” now was much more than just a color. 

If Athol was correct then what he needed to do was not rust what surrounded him, but the very concept of “Blue”, but that was easier said than done, he was just a master level user. He would need to rust the core of the concept for it to have an effect.  

He needed to find another way. Maybe he didn’t need to rust the concept itself, but only the thing being affected. Since whatever was holding him wasn’t an option, he decided to rust himself. It worked when he fell into the river so it was his best bet. 

Elefiro tried to bite Azthol in his stretched arm, when suddenly Azthol was completely covered in rust. And just like that he felt the lance moving again. Elefiro moves as fast as he could. Saving his head. But his hair was another story, his once long hair was cut short. With his focus broken the ice encasing Tennin broke freeing him, the liquid pinning Heikko to a wall disappeared.  

Azthol saw the opportunity and tried to pierce Elefiro's chest, however he was faster and voided the attack. Elefiro then delivered a roundhouse kick, sending Azthol flying towards Heikko. 

Heikko and him quickly jumped when the ground suddenly turned into a mouth. They jumped before it could swallow them. A huge stream of liquid almost hit them, but Azthol made a shield from his rust. Heikko saw this opportunity and quickly jumped towards Elefiro, she went for his head, but a bubble blocked her attack. Tennin attack form the back and thrusted his knife. It penetrated the back but instead of blood, “Blue” liquid came out from the wound, the body melted into the liquid. Tennin quickly realized this was a dummy and he dodged another stream of liquid. 

Azthol searched for Elefiro, however he suddenly felt something piercing his back. A came out from his chest. He was raised and then throwed towards Heikko who was coming after she saw Elefiro behind him.  

Heikko caught him and gently lay him on the ground. She didn’t have time or could heal him, the best she could do was try and defeat Elefiro, if they made it out, they could get medical attention at bastion. 

Tennin was fighting Elefiro, he had to admit he grew a bit fond of Azthol. The kid was naïve and ignorant of how the world worked. It would be a pity if he died here, there was also the fact that Kyrie would be mad and that would bring trouble to his dear Noiz.  

Elefiro fought with his feet, he blocked and counter all of Tennin's strikes. Elefrio send huge torrents of liquid towards Tennin, but Tennin summoned huge skulls that seemed to swallowed the streams. They moved so fast Heikko couldn’t keep track of them.  

The battleground was quickly filled with bones that Tennin summoned. Huge flaming skulls went after Elefiro who dodged them. Things seemed to be even, but then blue spots started to appear in the space. Things just seemed to stop whenever they passed through them, limiting Tennin's movement and options. Just like that, Tennin was on the defensive. Elefiro created more streams of liquid, but instead of using them to hit Tennin, he rode on and the others started to go after Tennin.  

Tennin summoned more skulls, but had to ride on one when the place started to flood. Heikko took Azthol flew upwards to avoid the liquid. Tennin used his skulls to swallow the streams of liquid, but the streams didn’t stop. Forcing Tennin to summon more, Elefiro opened his mouth and a “Blue” mist came out.  

The mist made it hard to move or see, but it wasn’t on the same level of the spots.  

Azthol was still conscious and saw how the battle was progressing, he felt useless. Like that time with Kyrie, he was holding people back again. He tried to regenerate his wound, but it was so slow he might as well do nothing. There had to be a way, maybe he could rust his wound. He didn’t know what would happen but it was better than doing nothing. Rust began to cover the whole in his chest slowly filling it, the symbol on his chest glowed and he could finally move. 

Heikko saw this and helped Azthol to stand, there was nothing to stand on, but she could at least help him to float with his wings. 

Rusty dirty liquid began to drip from his wings. That gave Azthol and idea. He told Heikko to help Tennin and he started to fly letting his rusty liquid drip into the streams. The liquid became rusty and stopped flowing. Elefiro saw this but Heikko and Tennin didn’t allowed him to move. The liquid soon became filled with rust and filth and Elefiro could feel his control over it fade. He jumped avoiding a pincer attack from Tennin and Heikko. He landed on his head and started to spin with his legs open. 

The liquid allowed Elefiro to move and he went after Tennin and Heikko, who could only block. Azthol could feel a bit of control over the rusty liquid so he tried to help them, but was intercepted by torrents of liquid ice. In fact, he noticed how some of the liquid was changing, contradictions that shouldn't happen, but for a first-class user. They could force reality to obey as their whims.  

Azthol used his own liquid to block like a bunch of serpents the torrents attacked him. He dodged and moved between them, trying to reach his partners. He saw how they were fighting two Elefiros. At first, he thought it was just a clone or something, but the one that was completely blue felt off, the way he moved, it reminded him of the lost. That’s when he realized it. 

He went for Heikko since she was fighting the original, but about 10 clones blocked his way.  

Tennin slashed the clone in his leg and just like that the clone disappeared, all thanks to the kiss on his knife it was the kiss from death itself and the core concept he had, void. Just one slash was enough for his opponents to meet their end. He was still lacking, if he became a core user then he would become one of the most lethal beings.  

Even then he doubted he could defeat Elefiro with ease even if he was a core user. He was that much of a monster. Just as one fell another took its place, he wanted to help Heikko, but at this rate he doubted she would last. 

Elefiro kicked Heikko in the stomach before launching a roundhouse kick to her head. It connected and Heikko tried to block the attack she knew was coming, but that kick left her dizzy and couldn’t react in time when a whip of liquid grabbed her by the throat. She was hanged in place and Elefiro started to use her as a punching bag.  

She felt as her right arm broke and how some of her ribs broke each time Elefiro kicked her. Her body wasn’t responding any more. She a blade of liquid form under his feet and in the next moment she saw the lower half of her body flying through the air.  

Azthol saw all of that. His mind stopping for a second no matter how much he tried he was always dragging people down. He hated it so much and in a blind rage he started to cut down the clones before him. He didn’t notice how an eye had form in the symbol on his chest.  

Elefiro felt how his clones were quickly destroyed, but instead of feeling weak or mad. He felt like his head was clearer, in fact he was slowly starting to remember things. The more cloned that died the more his memories returned. Realizing what he must do Elefiro created all the clones he could, every single being he had consumed was used, and just like that the place was filled with clones.  

Tennin jumped and quickly went to Azthol's side, who just finished destroying the clones near him.  

Both of them could see thousands of clones just looking at them and grinning. The rage inside of Azthol grew, while Tennin began to prepare his own trump card. He was deathly in on one fight but when it came to fights where he had to do so many enemies at the same time, he had on specific attack that guaranteed only one enemy would survive.  

“Listen kid. I'll get rid of the clones; you'll have to deal with the real one. I'm betting everything in that weird mask of yours.” 

Tennin began to laugh and suddenly thousands of flaming skulls appeared behind him all of them laughing as well. Tennin moved first the rest of his skulls following behind him. Just like that all hell broke loose the clones that touched the skulls disappeared in flames leaving nothing behind. The ones that tried to attack or destroy them without touched them failed. The skulls were the concept of death, you could delay it but at the end it would always take you. Doing this took very bit of Kur Tennin had, that’s why he only uses it if he is forced to. 

Azthol searched for the original, but it seemed like he didn’t need to, as the original came to him. No words were spoken, Azthol only took a stance while Elefiro simply raised his right leg.  

The sirens never stopped singing and now it seemed like they knew the end was near, their song became faster and louder. Azthol made the first move making a diagonal slash that was dodged. Elefiro used his momentum to spin and kick Azthol, who moved his spear so that the tip would meet the foot. They clashed and both of them put pressure on trying to break the spear and the other trying to pierce. Seeing that they were even, Elefiro sued his liquid to make a whip and a saw. They went for Azthol's mid-section just before they could bisect him in half, Azthol created a barrier of rust, it didn’t stop them completely but it gave him time to move. He dismissed his spear, and jumped backwards, he immediately summoned his spear again just in time to block blades of liquid coming his way.  

Elefiro didn’t stop and continued the attack, each time he moved his legs a blade of liquid followed. Azthol thought about it for a moment and tried to do the same with his own rusty liquid. He thrusted his spear and a torrent of liquid followed. Attacks clashed and canceled each other. Elefiro closed the distance between them and gave Azthol a vicious headbutt. It didn’t even fazed Azthol and without a warning the eye in his chest glowed. A red beam came out striking Elefiro right in his arms. 

The straight jacket broke letting his arms free, Azthol was surprised about that, he finally saw the eye in chest. It didn’t look human; in fact, it gave a really otherworldly feeling. Elefiro was just flexing his arms relishing in the freedom of movement. He opened and closed his hands moving each individual finger until he was satisfied.  

“I thought I would never be able to move my arms again. It's been so long since even saw them. You have my thanks.” 

“Does that mean you'll let us go?” 

“Not yet, I just got my arms free and I want to test them. My head is getting clearer the more that skeleton kills. Just a bit more.” 

Fighting Elefiro without his arms was hard, but now it was almost impossible for Azthol to land a hit on him. Now he understood why they took his arms; the guy was a true monster, the longer they fought the faster he became, the liquid was also clearer, like a clear sky. Azthol knew it was a matter of time before he lost, he hated it. He knew he wasn’t even near the level of strength Kyrie or Mary had, but he made a promise to them. Knowing nothing a fool who wanted to learn of the outside world. Without power he could do nothing, the mask had power. It was thanks to it that he even made it out of the city. Even if he barely knew those two, even if it may seem insignificant, they were his treasure. 

Elefiro could feel something was wrong, the guy in front of him started to leak such a foul kur. It reminded him of one of the doctors. His memories were clear now, in fact the last clone he made was destroyed just a moment ago. He never felt this great, his arms back and his mind now clear, the only thing he needed was to stop this thing from doing whatever it was doing.  

There was one thing he always wanted to do since he was a kid. He wanted to eat ice-cream; he never got the chance to taste it. He always let everyone else first, hands that could nothing were useless, so when they took his arms, he didn’t care. When he first consumed someone, he did it because he wanted to experience what couldn’t. He wanted to get out this place, but his mind became clouded from all the people he consumed. He forgot what his original purpose was. But thanks to that skeleton and that thing he got his arms and mind back.  

This time he would get all he wanted; it was fair to be a little greedy. After all, if he was still alive maybe the others were as well. The thing in front of him was similar, so many things in just one being. He would return the favor in kind; it was the least he could do. 

Elefiro didn’t even moved, one moment Azthol was standing and the next his body was full of holes. He fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood. He felt so weak, it was hard to even move his arms. 

Tennin appeared behind him carrying the upper half of Heikko, who was somehow still alive. He looked straight at Elefiro, ready to dodge at smallest sign of movement. He slowly lay Heikko next to Azthol. 

“You did good kid. With some luck we may be able to get out alive.” 

“I wouldn’t worry about that. You guys helped me, so you are free to go.” 

Tennin immediately noticed the change in his voice, he sounded normal and what did he meant by help? Sure, the guy seemed less insane, but the only thing they did was kill a ton of those clones and whatever Azthol did while they were fighting, he wasn’t sure how that helped him. 

“really? Dude I saw you eating a person whole, and what all the people here, this doesn’t make sense.” 

“i wasn’t me at that time, you don’t have to understand. You just have to accept that I'm willing to let you guys go.” 

“Dude... ok whatever, its saves me a lot of effort. What about all the people here are they also free to go?” 

“Yeah, I'm leaving this place, there are some friends I need to find.” 

Tennin didn’t want to fight Elefiro if he could avoid it, he had last ace up his sleeve to escape from this place if things went wrong. 

Elefiro raised his hand and the sirens started singing a different song, it was slower and gentle. The place began to shake as the sky cracked. The floor cracked as the garden below broke through the floor. The siren began to fuse into Elefiro. When the last siren disappeared, a blue torrent of energy came out from the tree in the middle. Finally breaking the sky. The dimension broke and they were finally back in the blue forest. But something was different, the cold and oppressive aura was gone for the first time in centuries one could see the sky in the blue forest.  

The people in Bastion were able to see and feel the changes. Mary felt euphoric, her beloved Azthol had done it. Now she just had to wait for him to came to her. She couldn’t wait. 

Kyrie was still healing form the training she did, so she wasn’t aware of the changes in the forest, but Vermillion was. She knew that man Kyrie talked about was supposed to be in the forest now. She was impressed. The director told her to remain near the gates and wait for him when he came out. 

Azthol himself couldn’t move, but he was able to see and hear everything. It seemed like he would be able to keep his promise. He saw how Elefiro turned into mist and disappeared with the wind leaving a confused Tennin behind. 

“Fuck yeah! We did it kid! Now we can finally go ho-!” 

He didn’t finish his sentence as an oppressive aura suddenly forced his to his knees. It was filled with malice, love, jealously and a strong obsessive desire. Tennin knew this aura perfectly, how could he not after spending years with sleeping with her.  

A golden throne appeared floating above the ground. It was majestic and horrible. Blood seemed to flow from the top. Never spilling a drop on the ground, a beautiful tall woman was sitting on that throne. Her long legs were covered by boots. She wore a white military uniform with black leather straps, a long coat hanged from her shoulders, she showed a lot of cleavage.  

She had shoulder length black hair. Red eyes, but the iris was in the shape of a heart, in fact her eyed seemed to had spirals instead of how normal eyes looked. Her hands completely black, the fingers looking more like claws.  

The moved towards Tennin who looked scared for his life. Azthol never felt a pressure like this before, he just hoped she was here for Tennin or something, maybe someone at Bastion send her to check out what happened here. At this point he was just being optimistic. 

The woman looked at Tennin with concern and Tennin bowed, his forehead touching the ground. The woman stood from her throne and step on Tennins head. Even worse, the Tennin who looked like he feared for his life was now smiling and blushing.  

The woman ducked and grabbed Tennin by his skull, gently raising him until they were eye to eye.   

“Did you know how worried I was when you fell? I tried searched the whole forest but I couldn’t find you anywhere.” 

Her nails dig into the bone, making smalls cracks. It didn’t seem like Tennin was in pain, but his expression did change a bit, the happy expression was gone replaced with one of resignation. 

“It was hard, I spent most of the time in a closet until that kid found me, in fact its thanks to him I'm alive.” 

Her eyes turned to Azthol and he saw the hearts in her eyes transformed to skulls. The killing intent was so suffocating he thought he would die there, but it quickly disappeared as she turned back to Tennin. 

“Then I won't do anything to them. Still, I was so lonely without you. Even while working I never stopped searching for you. The moment I sensed you I came immediately.” 

“Yeah sorry, but you don’t have to worry my dear Noiz. This won't happen again.” 

“I'm sure it won't, I'm gonna make sure of that. You'll never leave my side ever again.” 

The hearts in Noiz's eyes grew with every word, they seemed to palpitate. There was a really unnerving aura coming from her, it was even stronger than when she first appeared.  

With a strong bite she ate a part of Tennins ribs. Then she began to gently nibble his spine. Her fingers began to carve into his skull, Tennin just opened his mouth but didn’t made a single sound. She hugged him tighter bringing their bodies together, his legs were trapped between her thighs and she began to rub them together.  

Some of his bones began to crack from how hard she was hugging him, she finished with his spine leaving a bite mark and went for a kiss, which was one of the most bizarre things he ever saw, Tennin didn’t have lips it was just hard bone and teeth. And yet he seemed to respond with the passion of a lost lover and when the tongue came. That was where Azthol lost it, he supposed this is what one would see is they took an X-ray of two people kissing but only using the X-ray on one of them. 

Azthol just wished they were done so they could get going, he wondered if they were going to have sex here. And speaking of that, Tennin was a skeleton so how was that supposed to work? 

After what seemed like an eternity for Azthol the couple finally finished. 

“I needed that. I'm sure my dear Tennin also missed these right?” 

Noiz gestured to her ample breasts. She buried Tennins head in them and sat down on her throne. 

“ophmd comdsde!” 

Tennin said something Azthol couldn’t understand, but he was more worried about the fact that they were leaving him here.  

“Hey! You guys are not leaving us like this right, Tennin say something man!” 

Noiz didn’t take kindly to him interrupting their moment. A single glance towards his direction the pression came back, he wasn’t too worried about himself, but Heikko's body cracked like glass, if this continued, she would definitely die. 

Thankfully Tennin put a finger inside Noiz's mouth, that calmed her down. She took the finger off and after chewing it and savoring it she swallowed it. An expression of pure bliss in her face. The hearts in her eyes became blurry for a second.  

He Tennin giving him a thumbs up. The pressure disappeared the throne disappearing in a ball of blood.  

“Well... fuck.” 

He didn’t expect Noiz to only care about Tennin, he said she was an S, but that was whole other level. She was eating Tennin, but well who was he to judge them, for all he knew that could be normal. Still how was he supposed to get to Bastion now, not only that but the people here couldn’t move. He could move his arms up to his elbow. But that was it, well at least now he wouldn’t need to worry about the lost children.  

He turned and began crawling towards Heikko. She really needed medical attention; the problem was how to transport her. He used his liquid and found that he could only produce a small amount, must be the result of his wounds. Still, he could make enough to strap Heikko to his back, it was only her upper body after all. Once he felt Heikko was secure he begun to use his elbows to crawl towards Bastion, whatever Elefrio did he could see the sky and even the huge towers the assumed were Bastion. 

“Elbows don’t fail me now!” 

It would take some time to reach bastion, but he was too close to give up now. 

X 

The entry exams for Bastion were tomrrow. Beings from three cities began to arrive, some wanted to enter to fulfill a promise they made, others wanted power and fame, while some did it because it was expected from them. Whatever the reason, only a few would enter and even fewer would be in the main tower.  

They were surprised to see the legendary Vermillion in the gate. She didn’t address them aside from the reminder to enter quick and stop wasting time.  

“Why do you think she is waiting by the gates?” 

A girl with long brown hair tied into a pony tail and balck eyes asked the man besides her. She was wearing a gray hoodie, blue shorts and green sneakers. 

“Beats me, must be orders or something.” 

A man with short white spiky hair and golden eyes responded. He was wearing a black facemask. A black shirt that showed the muscles in his arms and grey pants with red sneakers. The most distinctive was the tattoo on his neck. A strange symbol that looked like a spiky crown, but on his neck, it looked like a horrible collar. 

“Aren't you exited Baku-kun? This is it! This is the first step towards our dream!” 

“Calm down Hina. I'm excited, Ive waited years for this, it's just that the exam is tomorrow and we need to concentrate. We can't fail you understand that.” 

“I know, but I'm sure we will pass. Trust a little more in yourself Baku-kun. You’ve trained for this.” 

Although the mask didn’t show it, Baku smiled at his friend words. She was right, they've come a long way since that incident. Seeing all the people here just made him a bit nervous, he needed to be more confident. Even the midget who was ogling the woman here looked more confident. 

The guy he was talking about was a short man with round glasses short dark green hair. He was wearing a cyan coat with a stylized D in the back, brown pants and black shoes. He clearly admiring the women who were passing through the gates. Most didn’t care and just ignored him, while others would glance in disgust towards him. 

Baku didn’t care that much, one of the few kur core users was a known pervert, so judging a book by its cover was something he hated doing. Whatever the case, the exam would only allow the best of the best to pass.  

A few days ago, news of the blue forest changing hit the cities, being near bastion the forest was a problem that only core users could deal with, but the war didn’t allow them to even send one and investigate. That’s why it was surprising when all of a sudden rescue teams were sent to rescue people after Noiz Nellen, the owner of the white wall informed the director of what had happened there. Most people didn’t know what happened as the info was confidential.  

Haku wondered if that was the reason why Vermillion would be here, maybe it had something to do with whatever happened in the forest.  

Just as Hina and Baku were about to cross the gates a sudden gust of wind made them stop. The people stop to look at was happening. They saw Vermillion kneeling in front of a beautiful woman. 

Her silver hair danced with the wind, an almost euphoric expression could be seen, but her golden eyes couldn't hide her feelings. Baku froze and Hina was confused for a moment before she finally recognized her.  

“Lady Mary, did you saw something?” 

“Yes, not only did I saw him I could feel him, my beloved is finally here!” 

A lot of people were shocked, they just didn’t know what to make of the situation in front of them. For someone like Vermillion to kneel, just who was that woman?  

Baku for his part was still trying to process what just happened. Why was Mary here? Who was her beloved? He wouldn’t get answers by just staring like an idiot so he decided to ask her. Just as he was about to get near, he felt like he couldn’t breathe, his right arm started to turn red, like boiling blood was about to burst from it. He could feel it spreading to the rest og his body. 

“Stop!” 

A voice brought him to reality, his arm was back to normal. Turning to his right he saw Hina on her knees trying catching her breath. He saw Vermillion standing up and locking directly at both of them.  

If Mary saved them then maybe she remembered him, that gave him a little bit of hope. 

“I don’t want a mess here; my beloved could get dirty because of it. If you're going to kill them, make sure to be clean.” 

“Understood lady Mary.” 

And like everything else in his life, hope was crushed just a few seconds after it was given. She didn’t even turn around to face them, it was like they were just pests to her. Was this really the same Mary he knew all those years ago. 

“But it would better if you didn’t kill anyone, they are here to take the exam so it would be a pity to kill them. Besides, my father always told me that people who came to Bastion were all talented or hard-working people. I'm sure my beloved would benefit from a bit of competition.” 

She finally turned around and gave them the most angelic smile, in fact they could feel energy filling their core. The warm of a gently mother enveloped them. And for a few moments they knew how heaven was like. They only head of it in history since it was destroyed a few centuries after the fusion. 

Baku wanted to laugh. They finally met after all these years and this is what he gets. He noticed something where Mary was looking. The entrance to the blue forest, it seemed like a corpse was crawling leaving a trail of filthy liquid and he was carrying something on its back. 

Mary waited with open arms until the corpse finally made it to the gates and that’s when he saw that what he was carrying was the upper half of a woman that was cracked like glass. Now that it was close eh could see that it wasn’t a corpse, but a man with a very strange mask.  

The masked man looked up to Mary and with a laugh he said. 

“I made it... I told you it would be quick... just took a quick stop along the way.” 

Mary said nothing as she kneeled in front of him, with a flash of green light the woman was whole again, just unconscious. Mary laid her on the ground and took the masked man in his arms. 

“I knew you would my dear Azthol I never doubted you for a moment. Papa told me you would be here soon and he never lies. Now just rest in yours Mary's arms you deserve it. Vermillion can you do something about that woman?” 

“I'll call someone to take her to the hospital inside Bastion Lady Mary.” 

“Perfect! Then I leave the rest to you.” 

And with a gust of wind Mary and the man named Azthol disappeared.  

“Move along! You all need to register for the exam and we don’t have all day!” 

With the commanding tone of Vermillion everyone began to hurry inside. Baku and Hina did the same, it seemed like needed to enter Bastion even more now that he knew Mary was here. 

“Baku-kun that was Mary, right?” 

“Yes... that was her.” 

“The same Mary my brother told you about?” 

“Thats a stupid question and you know it.” 

“I know, sorry... it's just, I never thought we would find her here.” 

They continued in silence. Both of them wanted answers and the only way to get them would be talking to Mary.