Mystimona stood before Kintovar, Haras, and their creations with his expression deadly serious.

  “You all have valid reasons to fight against the academy,” Mystimona began. “But I have my own reasons for standing on the academy’s side.”

  He paused for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts.

  Mystimona tio look at Kintovar, Haras, and their creations, but the words he sought eluded him which left the area in plete silence.

  After standing for several minutes, Kintovar finally broke this silent atmosphere with her hands on her hips.

  “You stand before us, g your loyalty to the academy, yet you ot say your reasons? Speak your truth, Mystimona.”

  Mystimona simply nodded and spoke a single word, “Apologies.”

  Mystimona, frustrated by his inability to express his true thoughts, raised his hands in a futile attempt to vey his predit. He made a series of awkward haures, as if trying to physically piece together the words he couldn’t form.

  With a somewhat embarrassed face, he admitted, “I wao expin, but it’s like... like the words are all jumbled up in my head, and I ’t... ’t quite put them together.”

  Mystimona’s attempt to vey his frustratio everyone on the beaentarily bewildered. Kintovar, Risebelle, Roselle, and Sybil all toppled over in the sand.

  Haras was the first to recover. Her eic demeanor knew no bounds. She bounced back to her feet with enthusiasm.

  “Well, this is a perfect opportunity for an experiment!”

  Mystimona’s haed under his . With a sigh, he admitted, “I could solve this problem through bat. It’s in battle that I find crity, where the chaos of my thoughts tends to align. But I fear that if I were to engage in battle with all of you, it would be a one-sided one. I don’t want this to end without a challenge of some sort.”

  Kintovar, her curiosity piqued by Mystimona’s statement, raised an eyebrow and inquired, “A challenge, you say? What kind of challenge are you proposing?”

  Mystimona, having made his iion clear, looked at Kintovar and her panions with a sense of anticipation. His purple eyes, once clouded with frustration, now sparkled with a hint of excitement.

  “I propose a challenge,” Mystimona decred,“I won’t increase my power any further than where it stands now. If all of you mao defeat me uhese ditions, then I will decide to join your cause. Does that sound like a fun challeo you?”

  Sybil stepped forward to address Mystimona’s proposal. She trembled slightly as she spoke, “Um… you realize that your power is already beyond what the headmaster’s Zenith form was capable of. We barely mao defeat it. We’re all exhausted from that battle. Are you sure you want to set these ditions?”

  Mystimo Sybil’s gaze with a sense of resolve. He replied, “Ah I see. Then is it a problem for all of you?”

  Kintovar raised a finger. “Give us a moment.”

  Kintovar, Haras, Roselle, and Risebelle huddled together. They had a versation hidden from Mystimona’s ears. After a moment of intense discussion, Kintovar stepped forward fidently.

  She addressed Mystimona with a fident nod, “t your challenge, Mystimona; however, we’ll need some time to recover from our previous battle. Give us a few hours to rest, and we’ll meet you for this challenge.”

  “Five minutes,” Mystimona decred firmly. “That’s all the time I am willing to give you to prepare. If you attempt to leave this beach, I won’t hesitate to take a.”

  Kintovar nodded in aowledgment.

  The headmaster’s face torted with anger.

  “What are you doing, Mystimona?” she seethed. “Why are you letting them have any time to recover at all? This is our ce to elimihem ond for all!”

  Mystimohe headmaster’s furious gaze with a calm and rational response.

  “It wouldn’t be much of a challenge if I simply elimihem without giving them a ce,” he expined, “I want this to be a fair test, a test of our abilities. Besides, it’s more eaining this way, don’t you think?”

  The headmaster’s protests grew even more vehement, her voice reag a cresdo of anger as she shouted, “Eaining? This is not a game, Mystimona! We’re on the brink of victory in war and you want to give them a ce to turide?!”

  Mystimona’s gre intensified, his purple eyes log onto the headmaster’s with iy. He repeated his words with a firmhat brooked nument, “Don’t you THINK?!”

  The headmaster fell silent, her rage was momentarily stifled. She khat challenging his decision further would be futile. With a frustrated huff, she turned away.

  “Fine, Mystimona,” she muttered. “But don’t think for a moment that I’ll accept defeat. You may give them a ce, but don’t hold back. I want to see that Kintovar’s head go flying off of her body.”

  Mystimona, his resolve unshakehe headmaster’s words with a fident assurance of his own.

  “I won’t break my promise to them,” he stated firmly. “I won’t go all out, but I will do whatever is necessary to win.”

  Kintovar, Haras, Sybil, Roselle, and Risebelle sat in a circle on the sandy beach. Kintovar set a timer for 5 mihe sense ency hung in the air, but they alshe fortuurn of events.

  Kintovar broke the silehis is a lucky break,” she began, her e hair catg the soft light of the setting sun. “The headmaster seemed to have o trick up her sleeve that I didn’t know about. But luckily, Mystimona isn’t fully under her trol, or we would all be dead right now. This could have been game over. Perhaps we will be able to use this to our advantage here. We just need a good pn.”

  Haras, still full of energy despite their ret battle, nodded in agreement. “We’ve been given a ce, and we ’t waste it,” she added.

  Sybil, her usual shyness masked by her sense of duty, spoke up, “We o use this time wisely, to rest and prepare for the challehat this guy threw out there. We ’t afford to make any mistakes here.”

  Kintovar leaned in closer to Haras. “Haras, the Quantum Mindsuit will soo of power,” she admitted with ione. “Its design allows it to enhahe wearer’s mastery, but it has an average time limit of 10 minutes. We ’t afford to push it beyond that.”

  Haras nodded with an unusual seriousness.

  “You’re right, Kintovar,” she replied. “I’ll take it off for now. We ’t risk running out of power during the challenge we?”

  The Quantum Mindsuit, once a sourmense power, shrank and disappeared into Kintovar’s pocket, leaving Haras in her regur attire.

  Haras, now free from the Quantum Mindsuit’s enhanced appearance, looked down at herself with a hint of pyfulness in her eyes.

  “I’m exposed!” she excimed with a chuckle

  Kintovar smirked at Haras’s ent. She leaned in closer and whispered, “Exposed, you say? I think you’re far from it, Haras.”

  Kintovar rose to her feet.

  “I know we’re all exhausted,” she began. “But we ’t let this opportunity slip through our fingers. Mystimona has given us a ce, and we have to make the most of it.”

  Sybil nodded in agreement, her usual shyness repced by a ferosity. “If there is any way I help you doctor, let me know. I owe it to Becky and to you who saved my life so far.”

  Kintovar’s pn was risky, but it was their best shot at victory. She expi with a fiery passion that lit a fire in her panions’ hearts.

  “We’ll put everything on the line,” Kintovar decred with fidence. “Roselle and Risebelle will shut down momentarily as their borrowed power returns to my Maractor. But I have o pn, an all-or-nothihat could turide in our favor.”

  Kintovar’s intense gaze fixed on Roselle. She pointed directly at the young creation and spoke with a sense ency, “Roselle, It will all rely on you.”

  Roselle’s i blue eyes widened in surprise at the sudden responsibility pced upon her shoulders. She stammered and spoke with hesitation, “M-me?”

  Kintovar nodded firmly with unwavering fidence. “Yes, you,” she affirmed. “You have a unique power, ohat could turide of this challenge. But it won’t be easy, and it will require you to tap into your true potential, even if only temporarily...”

  Roselle remained in a state of fusion, uain about the specific role she was expected to py.

  Risebelle spoke , “Roselle, do you remember when we faced Abhat Elite mage? It was whehought Runebelle ceased funing food. You... you tapped into your power, and it ged everything. We were able to eliminate Abner because of what you did.”

  Roselle’s eyes widened as she tried to recall the event, but the memory eluded her. She blinked in surprise and stammered, “I... I don’t remember that. What happened?”

  Risebelle’s gaze grew more somber as she expined, “You pushed beyond your limitations, Roselle. Your power surged, and it allowed us to defeat Abner. Of course nothing like that es free. Your body wasn’t ready for that level of transformation. You suffered a Magical Rupture. It was... it was terrifying to say the least, Roselle.”

  Risebelle’s carried anger and as she looked to Kintovar.

  “If yoing to do something that makes Roselle have to risk her life like that again, I won’t permit it,” Risebelle decred, her gaze unwavering. “I ’t afford to lose her. It was a miracle that she survived that Magical Rupture st time. I…I won’t have that worry on my mind again.”

  “You’ve ged quite a bit, Risebelle,” Kintovar remarked with intrigue. “I remember when we first activated Roselle and I paired you up on your first mission. You thought she would be nothing more than a hindrand you barely seemed to care for her, but now, you’re here willing to stand up for her.”

  Risebelle’s g Roselle with a small blush ing to her face. She then sighed and expined. “Roselle has proven herself in many ways sihat first mission. She’s not just a burden; she’s my sister, and I won’t let her be put in unnecessary danger.”

  Kintovar nodded with uanding. “I uand, Risebelle. Without a doubt, you have matured.”

  Haras was moved by the newfound boween Risebelle and Roselle. She wiped away an imaginary tear and excimed dramatically, “Oh, Risebelle, you’ve grown so fast! From someone who hates everything to finding something to love. It’s like a story from one of those romanovels I read!”

  Risebelle rolled her eyes at Haras’s theatrical dispy but didn’t deny the truth in her words. She realized that she really did e a long way in her feelings toward Roselle.

  “Well, she’s still a huge idiot sometimes, but... she’s our sister, both me and Runebelle’s, and I won’t let anything happen to her.”

  Roselle, overwhelmed by the sudden attention and the realization of the bond she shared with her sisters, felt a warm sensation in her chest. She stammered upon speaking.

  “Th-thank you, Risebelle.”

  Dr. Kintovar raised one finger, “You don’t have to worry though. There is…oher way to activate ‘The Project Mage’ transformation, ohat may not pose as much risk to Roselle. It depends on how much memory data her systems have collected.”

  Roselle blinked in fusion, her i blue eyes refleg her uainty. “Memory data? What do you mean?”

  Kintovar tinued her expnation, “Roselle, you have been , learning, and growing ever since your activation. Your systems have been colleg data about magical abilities, teiques, and strategies. If we tap into that collected knowledge and use it to empower you, it may be possible to activate ‘The Project Mage’ transformation without risking a Magical Rupture.”

  Roselle’s eyes widened with amazement at the mention of the “Project Mage” transformation. She repeated the words,

  “Project Mage Transformation?”