“What was that?” Lera asked, when Wu tapped the Scouting eye against the communication Cast that he wore by his ear, transmitting the images to Lera, “Is that…”

“I will never not recognize them.” Shadow finally opened up in the communication Cast, “I would like to go in and slice their necks right now.”

“You knew that wasn’t the plan!” Ita hissed when an elderly woman tried to make her shut up by placing her wrinkly fingers over the dry winter lips.

“Have patience.” Wu said, “We will wait for an actual opening. This could very well be a trap.”

“I love sitting around doing nothing.” Shadow let out an exaggerated sigh before the sounds of ruffling clothes came from her end. It sounded like she was trying to make herself comfortable on a couch as Wu raised his eyebrows briefly.

“Speaking of which, where are you anyway?” Wu asked when suddenly he felt slight movements under his legs before something latched onto his inner thigh. He squealed as Shadow’s laughter exploded in the communication Cast, “Get out of my legs now!”

“What?!” Lera slammed her fist on the rooftop as some snow was pushed off the edge onto the street below.

“Fine fine…” Shadow giggled, “I would have been able to hide behind your thing if it were bigger.”

“I am sure it will be big enough for me~” Ita playfully wooed before she tried to take a look, but Wu rolled up his jacket and covered everything up, including pressing Shadow back into the shadow.

“It’s…not that small…Right?” He said, his face red and wanting to blast away from the main hall right now. Instead of dealing with this embarrassment, he’d rather attack Caligo out in the open.

“Please stop commenting on the size of my future husband and focus.” Lera sighed, “He is more than adequate.”

Perhaps that was Lera’s way of making him feel better. Wiping away a grateful tear, Wu then started to focus on what the grand priest was saying.

“My fellow believers! My fellow citizens of Talonia!” The grand priest called, his voice projecting out and wide as a wave of pressure gently brushed against Wu’s face. Ita made a hum of intrigue before turning and whispering into Wu’s year.

“He seems to be applying a special voice projection Cast of some sort to exert greater influence than the power of words alone.” Ita whispered.

“That might explain how he managed to get to his current position…” Wu nodded.

“Thank you all for coming, believing, and fighting the good fight! Over the last year, we had been working diligently to secure a brighter future for all sons and daughters of Talonia, and today, I declare that mission a profound success! We had achieved what was once thought impossible, and we have replaced the outdated, old-fashioned, and barbaric Valkyrie’s program with a far newer, better, and more effective way of achieving strength that will protect Talonia as it marched into the new age!

“We call it the phoenix program! A program of rebirth, not only for the individuals using them but also for Talonia. A new age of prosperity and wonder is upon us, starting from today! Today, we celebrate the last breathe of the Valkyries program and welcome the next generation of protectors! Please join me in welcoming the lead in this project, the man behind all of this innovative research, Caligo!”

The grand priest turned around and lead the applause from the crowd as Caligo emerged from behind the other guards with the white veil still covering his face and his hands outreached into the air. Then, the white veil faded away, revealing his handsome outline underneath. The crowds’ applause turned into cheers as the female swooned and the males looked on with jealousy.

In the meanwhile, both Ita and Wu were nervously tapping their feet. If Caligo was fine with revealing himself in such a fashion, it only meant one thing: He had already gotten exactly what he wanted, and he was not scared of being out in the public anymore.

The plan was complete before they even knew what the plan was.

This sense of irrational confidence is what made Wu and Ita hesitate, and Shadow, thankfully, remained hidden in the dark at this very moment.

“The Phoenix program replaced the brutal selection stages of the Valkyrie’s program with instead a singular process.” Caligo explained, gesturing to a single Valkyrie that was not dressed in the usual blue and white uniform, but this time in a set of white cloaks used by other Descendants of Winter believers, “All voluntary participants to the new program will survive, and they will become far stronger versions of themselves. All it takes is going through the Gate of Rebirth, and you may become the strongest version of yourself immediately.”

Then, he turned back as a set of guards pulled out a Valkyrie that’s held within a cage as the crowd quickly recognized her and watched with baited breathe. The gates to the cage was unlocked, and Caligo set the two girls off, letting them clash countless times in mid-air with blinding speed.

“Great power had never been this accessible in the history of this world.” Caligo said, reaching his hands out and wide as the two girls slammed back onto the ground and returned to their starting position, “The future is here, my fellow sons and daughters of Talonia, my fellow Descendants of Winter believers! Don't' be afraid to dream big! Don't be afraid to hope! Don't be afraid, when tomorrow will be the brightest day in all of Talonian history!”

The crowd erupted once again, and Caligo turned back towards the grand priest before nodding his head.

“And now, here is a chance for you to also go through the Gate of Rebirth, right here and right now,” Caligo said, pressing into his own skull before drawing out a dark red glowing line of Wave and swirling in midair, his mists guiding the Wave lines before glowing red cracks suddenly spread through the entirety of the main hall.

“What are you doing?!” The grand priest said from under his breath, though he had to maintain the image of unity within the leadership. However, the excited chatter of the crowds drown out his voices instantly before the groups moved excitedly.

“This…this isn’t right!” Ita said, sensing the shift in the local Wave around her, “Caligo is doing something! He’s just created a Cast that spanned the entire hall!”

“I feel it.” Lera said, sensing the shift in the Wave like a stink of rotten flesh in the air, “He didn’t just create it. He simply activated a Cast that was already embedded within the…”

“The main hall?” Wu asked, grabbing onto Ita’s hands as the rows of seats underneath suddenly had lights glowing from underneath them before they flew up into the air and tried to make a run for it.

“NO! THE ENTIRE CITY!” Lera looked around as dark red lines extended out from the Fang city walls and joined in mid-air, forming a blood red blob, “What…what is he planning…?”

“Partially transforming the entire city…” Shadow said, emerging from the first row and stepping up towards Caligo, “I will kill him now. No more waiting.”

“No! Shadow!” Wu said, when Shadow turned around and tossed a pre-written Cast backward before a fireball exploded outward and started spreading out through the stage. The crowds screamed and tried to scatter all around as Wu and Ita cursed before leaping off the level and gliding straight down.

“What are you doing?!” Wu shouted when they were met in the air by a trio of guards who tried to stop both Shadow and them as Caligo continued on activating the Cast further. Rows of glowing red rings formed along the stage before it swept outward, passing by rows of people under the stage as red cracks started forming over their foreheads while they experienced the excruciating headache.

“Do not worry! The headache will be the only symptom! Like one you get when you get a cold!” Caligo said, struggling to contain his smiles when the grand priest reached forward and grabbed onto his wrist.

Alina immediately moved, her body spinning through the air and kicking back the grand priest while Icy raised her hand, creating a massive ice wall that blocked out the stage.

“Stop this, now!” Icy said, “Stop this madness.”

“What do you mean, my child?” Caligo said, pointing to the scenaries outside the windows as one of the dark lines became visible, “It’s already done, my child. The entirety of Fang city will become my soldiers. Imagine having a city worth of Valkyries. Neither PORA, nor anybody else can stop me anymore.”

That was when Shadow emerged from behind the ice walls with a blade in hand, and she glided towards Caligo like a ghost before the dark blade was drawn. With a loud metallic clank, her attack was parried cleanly by Alina before she sent Shadow flying back into the wall of ice.

In the meanwhile, the initially transformed Descendants of Winter believers had recovered from their headaches, and they looked around with confusion when Caligo waved his hand and offered them their very first command.

“Go out there, my soldiers! Unleash chaos! Test out your powers! Fulfill your desires!” Caligo said, when a man growled and charged through the walls of the city hall, creating a hole where the rest of the people flooded out.

“Ita! We need to help evacuate as many people as you can!” Wu shouted, “Shadow, you are on your own for now! We need to save as many as possible!”

“Where could they even evacuate to?!” Ita asked.

“I don’t know, but since the Cast isn’t instantaneous, we just have to get them away from here first!” Wu said sharply before raising his fist and blasting out an exit along the sidewalls of the main hall while a Caster from Leodora put his hand out and created a structure Cast that acted as a slide to take people outside, "Lera! Connect them with a direction!"

“Fine by me!” Shadow laughed, “Come, Alina, you fucking coward. Kill me yourself!”

“Time’s up, old friend.” Caligo said, creating a spiralling tornado of cloud before blinding Icy temporarily while he sent his hand through the chest of the grand priest, “Your dream of a new Talonia…I shall see it through.”

“All you have brought is destruction…” The grand priest gripped onto Caligo’s arms as blood flooded out from his chest and air escaped his lungs, “Was it worth it…at the end? To sacrifice the very thing you were sworn to protect?”

“Yes.” Caligo’s eyebrows raised as he looked into the grand priest’s fleeting soul, “If the Talonian military was as strong as it is now, than my baby girl would have never died.”

“CALIGO!” Icy shouted, slamming a ice blade through his back when he dissolved into a puff of mist and let the blade completely pass right through his body. Alina turned her attention away from Shadow before she also leaped through the air, slamming a shoulder into Icy’s body and sending her flying back into a wooden column.

However, Shadow emerged from the darkness and caught her before she nearly broke her back against the column.

“Hi, I am Shadow.” She smiled and waved, “We both want to knock her out and kill him, so let’s fight together! I am with Wu, by the way, the strangely looking ordinary man that’s also kinda cute? You know him?”

Icy nodded.

“Alrighty, how about an alliance?” Shadow flicked a strand of her dark hair and gestured with an open hand, “Let’s beat that son of a bitch.”