"Meng?"

The young bespectacled student hovered so close he had to parkour off some of the nearby buildings to keep away but Meng flew on top of him. "Wali's" tongue pulled Meng off course enough for Sehki to bicycle kick him into an open window.

"Sorry about that, I'm...we're extremely on edge. Hold on, let's talk."

"You don't dropkick someone into an abandoned apartment complex," rising up, "Must've been paid out to be evacuated."

"Bicycle kick," surprised he wasn't attacking. "No hard feelings over the four v two?"

"Hay hidden in the grass. I haven't seen your girlfriend around."

"Neither's yours. Wanna go on a double date?"

"In a future or alternate timeline perhaps. This tournament: you don't usually announce something like this and only reveal the why behind the events. This is a ploy, isn't it?"

"Hey, we're just trying to see who's the strongest in Shugoda. If Cassie or Proxim show up-"

"It's an opportunity to sniff her out and lure him into a trap to end his plans, isn't it," leading to Sehki not entirely sure what to say.

"Fine. I'm in. I'll try to sway Meng and Bao off fighting you all. If Proxim or Cassie try something, we'll team up to stop him, glory be damned."

"Isn't Proxim lowkey on your side? The super secret twelfth member?"

"Proxim. He...they're not associated with us at all! We're trying to stop him. Our country believes you and Lumin colluded and manipulated Lord Jun to take the fall of a power scheme to empower the Voids."

"Hold on? Really? Right idea, wrong triangle, Jun and Lumin did the collision. He tried to turn his daughter into a Void. The heirs were left at the palace when we went to free Xia so that I could face Lumin alone. Where did you get those devices from?"

"They were made specifically for us by war specialists but didn't receive development until Mako had them finalize them since Jun's imprisonment and Jia's illness. Your battle with Lumin scared quite a number of people."

"A giant serpent of someone you all meant to hate fighting a lion blinding the world to his malice: Fenghuang grew weary, no Xia, the rest of the family were standing back, and all of the Hinatas being gone or in prep: no wonder you all blame me."

"I still have my reservations regarding some of your actions, but you haven't shown me as much ill intent: Between myself, Dango, Tenshia, and the twins, even Ruben's animosity may lower down at times. But I need some conditions from you."

Though hesitant, he nodded.

"If Pyralis gets involved, let me know or put a stop to him before it gets worse. He may be an idiot, but he's still my brother.

"Sweet. Sure."

"Second. You need to get Xia released. I'm not sure how you did it but every other heir has somehow altered their personality just enough that someone with a brain can actually tolerate them.

" If your people see us working together, it may cast further tension, but Xia is too honest to lie to anyone."

"And if she became in charge of the Rising Twelve instead, we could bring both sides together."

"I don't know if she'll listen to me, but I'll try. But do me a favor too."

"What?"

"Those weapons. Do not use them unless the situation is extremely dire. I don't want you guys dead, but it can't be a coincidence it normalizes Void energy around you at the same time these Scope Switches start emerging."

Meng hesitated but agreed. "Okay. Anything else?"

"Let Rigal, Cree, and Cassie handle Cassie. Help out but she's got enough reason to be mad at you all if my guess that night was right, wasn't it."

Meng nodded and the two shook hands a second before two axes flew into the room, causing both of them to disperse from one another when Hyuga and Bao flew inside.

"You! Dragon-"

"Hey, right now I'm not looking for a fight," watching Meng try to talk both of them down, asking if they saw anyone with the Scope Switches.

"We know you're the one who got them there. You absorb people's magic and take it yourself!"

"That's a nice argument, why don't you back it up with a source!"

All of them heard cries of help emitting from not too far away into the city, spotting what looked like Constains and a massive brawl breaking out.

"How about instead of fighting each other, we get points and stopping them."

Hyuga ran at him, demanding not to order him around, and Sehki responded with Wali's tongue latching onto his body and hurling them out of the room. The duo launched themselves out, using his body as a stepping stone for Bao and Meng to catch, arriving at the scene.

Rigal was surrounded by about ten or so men and women in military clothing, complete with visible wounds and injuries.

"You're-veterans of the Void conflict on the outskirts of Terra's borders."

"And you're both the sons of the families that robbed us of the medical spell and recovery treatment we've needed," unveiling the Scope Switches from their working limbs.

Sehki reached out, asking them not to use them when Rigal bowed.

"Thank you for your service, but don't discard your efforts into evil."

"Our efforts were null and void in this forever war the moment we were born. You sympathy," as they all activated theirs, "is a small puddle to this power."

Meanwhile Candy had several chains power through her spells, forcing her on blades to hop and swerve from their attacks.

Cree caught up to Akilah, relying intel with both of them having several opportunists approaching them.

"Proxim's started moving. All of you, be on your guard."

"Right!"

Lorena got a message, requesting to move towards a certain location while Wali continued slipping through the rooms while the Rising Twelve found themselves in Sehki & Rigal's fight.