Surfinia handed a group of adventurers their reward, thanking them for their hard work before they walked off whilst muttering about how they couldn't believe how many god-incarnates were currently in Talkia. Surfinia yawned as she tapped a stack of paper against the receptionist counter, rattling the pencil holder full of long magi-chalk.

"I wonder when the Supreme Guild Master will get here?". Surfinia tapped the stack of paper again as Chronia's black clock hand-shaped ahoge popped over the side of the receptionist counter.

"Which room are they in?" Chronia asked as she climbed the counter and stood on top of it.

"H-huh? O-oh, they're in the third waiting room... on the left, ma'am," Surfinia uttered with a stutter. Chronia nodded before hopping off the counter and strolling off. Surfinia exhaustedly exhaled and re-tapped the bottom of the stack of paper in her hands, but only made them more disorderly.

Chronia arrived at the foot of the door, separating her from the room that currently harboured the people that ripped her from watching the tournament, although she only cared since Zalroth's a part of it. Chronia huffed to herself before she pushed open the door and walked in.

On the flying airship carrier, Callie quietly sighed as she, Lumios and Providence watched the TV. Callie glanced over at Providence, rapidly tapping her fingers on her shoulders as he stared at the TV remote in his hand.

"It's the button with the red circle on it, Father," Lumios stated. Providence brought the remote to his face before pressing the record button on the TV remote.

"I never knew TV could record live videos," Providence mentioned as he placed the remote on the coffee table. Callie sighed before she glanced over at Providence

"Emperor King... they've always been able to do that.".

"I see... no wonder Destiny was so willing to go with Kara.".

"Speaking of those two leaving, Father, how come you were so willing to create a portal for them but refuse to do the same to speed up our journey to the Ruination Alter by warping the airship?".

"It's surprisingly difficult to create long-distance portals without the aid of the corresponding azure ability," Providence stated, explaining it to such a complex degree his words were almost as confusing as Kara's.

"Right... but could you lot be quiet? I'm trying to watch the tournament." All the Hikas (covering the sofa and area in front of the sofa) request in perfect synchronization. Providence apologized, and Lumios stood up from the sofa.

"Seeing as Destiny's gone, I shall return to my research.". Lumios backflipped over the sofa before exiting the room; Callie was left at a loss for words.

"Am I really the only one in the empire's forces who couldn't pass a high school PE class?" Callie uttered under her breath before eating two ice cream cones worth of ice cream in one go.

Back in the viewing booth, the group gave the TV perplexed looks as it depicted Luna and Heather battling each other using life-sized chess pieces. Vivo fluttered off the sofa and landed a little behind it before transforming into his humanoid form.

"What are you up to, birdman?" Fei-Ku asked, peeking her head over the back of the sofa before being shortly followed by the other kids.

"Lady Chronia requires my assistance.". Vivo didn't spend another second explaining himself before he seemed to disappear; however, before the kids could even ponder the meaning of his word, Vivo reappeared as instantaneously as he had left, with Chronia, Destiny and Kara on his back. Lola's eyes locked onto Destiny and Kara, her tails bombastically flailing about as the two princesses also spotted Lola, thanks to her flailing tails.

"Lola!" Destiny cheerfully yelled out before she warped over to Lola and tackle-hugged her. Destiny and Lola tightly cuddled each other as Chronia hopped off Vivo's back before she disappeared again. Kara loomed over Vivo's head and peered into the eyes of the Zalroth/Zalkutaro's egos and visages.

"Iya koko vuo ula fu una tuwa ve yunzamas," Kara uttered sternly. All the egos/visages (apart from Vivo) flinched upon hearing Kara speak, and Lola spontaneously fainted into Destiny's arms.

"Wha... what did you say, Kara?" Destiny said as she dramatically held Lola in her arms.

"My... la, it would be in one's interest from this collum in the chronicles of time to be in the dark.".

"Oh... gotcha," Destiny replied, lifting Lola in her arms.

In the arena, lightning sparks crackled across the battlefield and exploded the second they mixed with embers of flame mana. A red and an orange glow rocketed around the battlefield, repeatedly colliding and rebounding against each other as they manoeuvred around Luna and Heather's life-sized chess battle.

The glowing objects barreled towards each other before colliding with unwavering ferocity and exploding into a ground-shattering shockwave. The glowing auras dispersed with the shockwave and revealed the objects they were shrouding to be Ruby and Alex with their hands locked together. The two pulled their heads back before slamming their foreheads against each other; Ruby's was covered by a layer of Cascading Mana (her dense opaque mana) and Alex's forehead was coated by a layer of dawnite. The duo's headbutt knocked them back from each other, as the mana and dawnite coating covering their respective foreheads shattered.

"Hah! It sure has been a while since the last time we had a serious tussle," Alex said as her feet slid across the ground.

"Well, you only have yourself to blame for that, given you're always sleeping when it's my training time," Ruby replied. Alex smirked and pulled her arm back as both her arms' composition shifted to dawnite.

"What can I say; a night owl's unlikely to see an early bird.". Ruby sighed as she coated her arms in her Cascading Mana.

"You're referencing that meme about the bird and bat... aren't you?". Alex smugly nodded. The two dug their feet into the ground and lunged at each other.

Mimi landed on the large floating platform she created beneath her feet; she conjured a water mana sickle in her free hand as Zuno loomed, in the air, over the platform. Zuno pointed out two fingers (index and middle) and directed them in multiple directions before a light mana sword slashed the Judgment Chain around his ankle into pieces.

"I will commend you for being able to pull one over on me and get me away from the bell," Zuno said sternly as he put his thumb and middle finger together. Zuno snapped his fingers and conjured a volley upon volley of light mana swords/claymores/polearms, along with a large R.R.R.

"But you won't get the same restraint I show my students, and you should thank your kitsune essence for that.". Zuno snapped his fingers again and sicked the light mana weapons on Mimi. Mimi grinned at the incoming projectiles and pulled her weapons back in anticipation of her counterattack.