I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

Things….hadn’t gone as planned, the first problem was when Amelia had sent me the phone instead of merely monitoring it, she was confused as to where the thing had come since it had her Tech on it, and she didn’t remember making it. When it popped on the network and she didn’t recognize it the girl had summoned it with the reverse teleport. The device…

Was normal, besides the point that it had deleted all its content when the master key hadn’t been recognized. All that Amelia managed to salvage was a picture of Elizabeth and her parents. Amelia only found records of Elizabeth of course, but none of Jack or Catherine.

No records from [The American Crusader] or [The Stardust Explorer]. Of course that had been a problem too.

“We know that you are vouching for this…but you need to understand our position too. We can’t just let someone who has access to our technology like that go. Even if that one is a lone girl who just woke up from a Coma. What if she had more? This is a breach of…” The [Prophet] kept speaking. And to be honest, I was surprised how [My Hero] even allowed the woman to live.

Every second that I was spending listening to her was one more second I wanted to punch her face, and she knew it. What she didn’t know was the depth of my power, this [System] made her think that everyone was on the same playing field.

She was wrong.

“I quit. Would that be enough for you to leave Elizabeth alone?” I finally said after getting tired of her tirade about security.

“...You can’t just…” [The Warlock] started speaking, he was still recovering from the wound on his arm. I would miss him, he was merely misunderstood. Even for someone of that family, he was someone who just got friendly with the wrong kind of people.

“Wait.” The [Prophet] spoke, “Do you think we can allow someone of your caliber to just roam around? We need guarantees that-”

The [Prophet] was aiming for the leadership of our organization, now that [My Hero] wasn’t around nor was Catherine the spot was contested. Neither [The Beast Master] nor [The Sniper] wanted the spot, same could be said of [The Monk]. That left very few people as candidates.

[The Elementalist] was busy with his work on Izanami.

[The Traveler] was adamantly refusing any responsibility.

[The Tinkerer] would not leave her laboratory if that was an option.

[Shadow Pact]...had not been available since [Advent].

That left me, [The Prophet], and [The Warlock].

“I will not run for leadership of this organization. The only reason I was even here is gone, so you can either take my word for it or try to stop me from leaving.” I said while standing from my chair.

“Little Jenna…or not so little anymore. I am sure Julia will be happy if you just sign a contract or something….you know how it is….Just….” The more [The Warlock] spoke the more his voice was turning lower and lower.

“A contract?” I smirked at that this was why [My Hero] never liked the Italians, they lived and died for those stupid contracts. “Sure!”

But this would be a good moment as any, the [Prophet] smirked as she brought a piece of paper, some kind of ancient scroll from an ancient civilization with thousands of history behind it, that or she made it using the skin of some girl who was far removed from civilization to ensure her purity. Some poor soul whose arms got severed, eyes removed, tongue extracted, and was kept away from the sun and smog of civilization.

The devious ways of the Italians were like that. It was probably tied in with curses and blessings or something. Not that it would matter.

“Just sign here, it is a standard contract, it will make sure that you behave and not do anything untoward civilization. The usual stuff.” [The Prophet] spoke while offering the contract and a quill.

She took the quill and wrote her name on it. As she started writing her name the quill tried to take control of her [Mana], she let it. Her name [Jenna Lewis] was being written in golden light. She could see the smile and greed in Julia’s eyes, she could feel the chains trying to get ahold of her.

And all it took was a flex of her power, she hadn’t even needed to channel the power of [The American Crusader], no. All it took was to tap into the power of one of the minor [Guardians] of another realm and the chains broke, she felt the mana that had tried to tie her down rebound, and the quill, scroll, and everything in between bursts in azure flames.

“Pfft” Followed by the muted scream of [The Prophet] as she puked blood, it seemed that she had tried to use her own [Soulscape] as the way to tie her. The pitiful thing.

“Are you okay Julia?” Jenna asked as she looked down at the woman whose eyes started bleeding as she tried to wrestle back her own mana from rampaging. “Do you require assistance? I could [Incarnate] a [Healer] to help you…Or perhaps a [Scribe] to go into the contract and see what went wrong? Or perhaps…”

Jenna said as she kneeled down beside her, no other member of [The Twelve] was acting. Not even [The Warlock] could move as she was letting her own mana rampage and weight down on everyone.

“I could solve all these problems by crushing this little head that thought that she could do whatever she wished because [The American Crusader] and [The Stardust Explorer] left?” She felt the interference from [The World] as Julia’s eyes seemed to unfocus as she spoke. “Oh right, you can’t even understand me like that. Fine, just because [Odyssey] granted you some [Wishes] does not mean she endorses you. And trust me [Framework] has no love for you either. This I guarantee.”

“....what do you want.” Julia, [The Prophet] spoke with gritted teeth. Her eyes full of hatred.

“Nothing complicated, you [Will not] attempt anything towards Elizabeth Starbright. And you will let me go, not that you can stop me…Not a single one of you has any chance of hoping to stop me. There was only a single reason I was not the number one of [The Twelve]” Jenna said as she let the mana that had been crushing down on those here go. “[My Hero] was here, so he was the number one. But since he left…there is nothing left for me here. He made [The Twelve] because it was convenient, not because he needed us. And so I will do the same…If I ever need help I will make use of you. But till then…”

She left the words trail as she left, the only movements behind her were the sound of nails digging into the floor. Jenna did notice that [The Beast Master] nodded at her, the monster was probably barely moved from her [Mana], and that meant that in turn [The Elementalist] was just fine.

Not that she cared, she had more important things to do. Namely…go find her baby sister.

—---------------------------------------------------------------

Her baby sister was doing quite fine, she had fought against a monster on its own, some kind of [Hero] that seemed to have a few [Echoes] feeding and keeping his [Soul] in one piece, she had almost gone and crushed the insect when he started increasing his [Authority], but her baby sister went one step beyond and cast an isolation barrier.

Somehow her baby sister had managed to pull a demi-plane into this world and isolate herself and the arena, if it had been anyone else then she may have managed to hide her plans. Alas, “[I pierce eternity.]” Jenna Lewis was not anyone else.

So she was able to see the full confrontation, how Elizabeth dealt with that [Wannabe Hero], how she used the [Echos] that she was summoning and fusing into her [Minions], most of those were beyond salvation.

Mere fragments of perished souls, it was a wonder that the girl was able to tame them and put them under her work, something not even she as [The Juggernaut] had been able to do. But that was her baby sister, the girl was doing quite well. Even if she made her scream when she dove into the [Soulscape] of the [Wannabe Hero].

That was ballsy, if Elizabeth had been a man, she would make a wonderful successor to their father. And she wouldn’t mind marrying her, but she was way busier on something else, the fact that Elizabeth had even managed to do such a thing.

That wasn’t possible, not even Catherine could do such a thing, and she had brought forth the spell and theory that allowed them to peer into the [Soulscape]. The [System] had made it easier true, but the basic theory was brought by [The Stardust Explorer], and even she could barely see what was the basic form of the [Soulscape].

Some could tamper with them, some could peek at them. Very few could invade them, but Elizabeth wasn’t nearly enough in that spot to be able to do such a thing… And yet.

Her baby sister did it, she infiltrated a [Soulscape], and made it in such a way that the idiot she was fighting didn’t notice it. Nor the fact that he was fighting an [Echo], granted. The [Echo] he was fighting was closer to a living thing, the [Soul] seemed to be recent. Was Elizabeth into [Necromancy]?

She would need to give her the talk later.

It took her around half an hour to finish whatever she had done there, but when she finally emerged back she did it with great fanfare, at this point the [Echo] she had left had fully materialized into her previous form. If her link from Amelia into the world government databases was to be trusted, this [Echo] was from Aurelia Vitelius, a spy sent by the Italians. They didn’t seem to remember sending it and had attributed it to failed communication, but since the asset had died they didn’t delve too deep into it.

She knew better, it was probably a plan by Julia to get close with Elizabeth, well, she succeeded in getting close. But if she was seeing it right, the girl was tied to Elizabeth in some level that she was scared to even think about. Most [Echos] were resonant remnants that rippled from their origin world.

Their Origin was based on some far-removed reality. But this girl? She was resonating with the darkness within Elizabeth. And then there was that, her baby sister had returned from within that [Wannabe Hero] with half an [Echo], one that she ate. Not only increasing her own [Authority], but also stripping part of it from the bug. That made one of the students in the stands have her mana shift in some weird way, as if it had started being nourished.

Looking closely she could see a couple [Echos] of former lives barely forming around the red-haired girl who was being used as a stool by a pink-haired one, if her info was to be trusted, it was one Rossaline Singh, the girl who had taken care of Elizabeth last year. Who…didn’t have anything surrounding her besides the [Echo] of her [Shift]. Weird.

Either the girl was sure of who she was, or she had dealt with her own [Echo] already. She didn’t have time to deal with that, the filth continued to struggle, worse. It seemed as if her baby sister was finally getting defeated.

So she started preparing, she would come with her full might to make an entrance worthy of their father. Yes, perhaps she could even use his line? “Everything is okay, for I’m here.” Yes, it would be awesome!

………….except. Elizabeth had one more ace hidden under her hand.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?!?!?!?” Elizabeth summoned…an honest-to-good Dragon.

Somehow her baby sister summoned an entity that made her feel weak, she…she might even need to summon her full might to deal with something on that level, and Elizabeth summoned it? To deal with that kid?

Girl? You used a fricking Nuke to kill a mosquito! What in the holy might of [The American Crusader] is wrong with you?!?!?!?

That gave her a headache so since that was dealt with Jenna left the arena and walked to the dormitories, she would wait for her at Elizabeth’s apartment. No wait, too stalker behavior. In the end, she decided to wait in the waiting room.

“Miss?” And while thinking about that she got approached by the staff, “Who are you waiting for…?”

Right, she didn’t sign anything and just walked here. “I came for my sister, no wait. I’m the legal representative of one of the students and have come to inform her. I just need her sign to take legal custody.” So she answered bringing the paperwork Amelia prepared for her.

Elizabeth had no legal representative as of now, so she would fill that role. At least till she was eighteen, then she could renounce the right if Elizbeth wished so.

“...That student is no longer on campus, she seems to have left after the last fight…We are currently speaking with the Teleportation Station since they don’t have records of her arriving, but we can’t find her in the area…” The staff member said with a strained smile. “Do you…have any idea where she could be? She is needed for interrogation by the current council of the school…”

Of course, she didn’t listen to the end of that talk, she could imagine what they wanted to speak Elizabeth with, either about how she crushed the other student, or how she summoned an SSS+ threat with such ease. She had no time for either.

Elizabeth had left, so she needed to track her down…

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHERE ARE YOU ELIZABETH STARBRIGHT!?!?!?!?

This was harder than it was needed, the first stop Jenna made when searching her had been [Avalon], her house was here after all. But after arriving she found nothing. No records of her arriving, no records of anyone with her description or her [Shift]. Hell, not even any sightings of the other two girls who disappeared with her. Rossaline Singh and Watanabe Rena.

The first was the girl that took care of her for a year and some, and the other was….the former girlfriend of the boy Elizabeth pounded into the ground using an SSS+ Threat. Also, she allegedly crippled his soul, mana, core, soulscape and mind. If she was being honest, for what little she found from him the kid deserved worse…

It seemed that the school council wanted to sell him to the Italians or something, and that was the only reason they were worried, they would get culled. Either Amelia would leak their shenanigans or they would get a visit from [The Juggernaut] or any of the other personas she could incarnate.

No, the problem was…”Not here.” Elizabeth wasn’t here. “Merlin? Any clues?”

The [Echo] manifested behind her, the image of a sagely old man wearing a weathered robe and a long beard, he looked more like a ghost bathed in light than a human, “No, there are powerful Maricks in this city. And I can perceive one of my kindred trying to hide here. But I have not felt anything close to what you described…Was it a Black Hole made of Shadows bathed in thunder and surrounded by a legion of the dead?”

“Please don’t make my baby sister sound like some kind of monster or villain.” This old man always made things look more dangerous than they were. “No wait, one of your kindred? Is someone from your dimension here?”

That was…potentially dangerous, [Merlin] was an [Echo] she summoned from the same place that Catherine had learned magic. Well, a dimension close enough anyway.

“Not mine, but closer in the same meaning that you could say was a close neighbor. She seems to be house-sitting? She is just sitting there staring in our direction…Oh, she just waved at us.” That was…weird. “Do you want to talk to her? Perhaps she knows something?”

If she was still working for [The Twelve] or how they called themselves now [The Nine Stars] she might just do that. “No, we have more important things to do. If she isn’t making any problems we can deal with that later. My only worry at the moment is Elizabeth, prepare the teleportation spell, we are going to Veritalis now.” She would tour all the continents if needed.

But she would find Elizabeth.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------

And so Jenna toured all the continents, one tracking spell at the time, she had traveled far and long. Visited every place she had access to and a few she shouldn’t have access to anymore. Not that anyone could stop her, the best mage in the world had left. And while she couldn’t incarnate [The Stardust Explorer] (That woman was weird) or [The Traveler] to use his talents (That family had something wrong with them!). She still had plenty of power and skills to flex.

In the end, she arrived in Germania last, at this point, she was just picking on straws “Merlin? If you can’t find anything here I’m summoning Morgana.” She said to her best mage.

“You would summon the Fae? Jenna, don’t fall that low. At least try to summon Heimdall first, the Norse gods are better than dealing with the Fae.” The old man grumbled as he let his spell ripple.

She was getting restless, this…something wasn’t right, something was nagging her at the back of her [Power], something was happening and she wasn’t quite sure what. She got this inkling that Elizabeth needed her. And soon.

“Jenna? Something is happening. Someone rebuffed my spell and seems to be trying to imitate it and try to track me back. The mana seems to have some [Shadow] attribute to it, but it doesn’t feel like what you described, this feeling is closer to a tyrannical dragon.” The old man said, that was…worrying. Had something happened to Elizabeth?

“Wait, it has [Shadows]?” Jenna asked back, Elizabeth had a [Shadow] attribute as the main right? And she had summoned that weird Dragon entity…had her summon gotten out of control? “Lockdown on the trace and prepare to teleport.”

“The signal has been lost, but there seems to be some residual energy. There are also some traces of [Corrupted Shadows] on the other side of the country, and some faint traces of similar [Mana] to the one that caused this mana explosion blinking all over the country. Where to Jenna?” The old man said as he manifested a map with all the information.

Amelia had told her about the villain running rampant in Germania, it seems that Maximilian had gone out of control after the advent. The man had managed to wrestle part of his memories, some aspect of his power had made it so he synched with the [Echo] he was before [Advent]. But his mind hadn’t survived intact.

She would feel bad for him if not for the fact that the man had wanted to attack Elizabeth during the [Advent]. The man deserved what he got.

“We will investigate the smaller traces first, then the bigger ones last. If Elizabeth shows in the [Divination] spells then tell me at once. While we wait for her appearance we will check on those blips.” Was the decision Jenna came to.

She summoned [Hermes]’s boots and [Icarus]’s wings, and so she was en route to the first spot. She would find out what this was about.

—---------------------------------------------

And so, she ended touring the country finding reports of a girl whose description matched Elizabeth…And Elizabeth…

To be precise they matched two of Elizabeth’s shifts. At the same time. They seemed to teleport all over the place, and Maximilian was after them, she found some recordings thanks to Amelia’s help. Having [The Tinkerer] as help had made everything easier.

“Jenna? Please…if you can stop Max…he isn’t right, we need to help him…” Even if Amelia seemed to want to help [Shadow Pact].

“I…will try okay, he tried to harm my baby sister before. I promise to at least listen to him and try to make him reason, but if he attacks me…I will defend myself. That is the best I can give you Amelia.” So Jenna answered her friend.

“....Just…don’t kill him okay? I know that you aren’t happy with us [Nine Stars] after what happened. And I’m not sure if I can fully return the memories of those two, I can barely keep my memories when speaking with you. But…Just be safe okay. Even if you are the strongest… Be safe.” And the connection was cut. Amelia was an…interesting case.

She wasn’t able to leave their base now that Catherine had ascended, the dimension was being anchored into this reality by her own effort. It was funny really, they claimed to be [Nine] but one was out of order, and the [Prophet] wasn’t leaving the UN while trying to claim the throne.

The [Elementalist] was likewise tied to Izanami most of the time, and the same could be said about [The Beast Master] who was keeping the rift at bay alone. [The Traveler] was hard to track at best, and probably dead at worst.

Really, they didn’t have as much might as they claimed.

“There is your target.” [Merlin] spoke bringing her attention to the streets as they teleported once more. On the street, she could see a pair of girls speaking happily while walking, a blonde and a black-haired one.

Both looked like Elizabeth, well, one more than the other. But she knew of those two appearances. [The Shadow Empress] and [Elemental Weaver], the [Villain] shift, and the [Magic Girl] shift.

And yet…Neither was Elizabeth, not really. The [Echos] pretended to be humans, but she could see their true nature even if no one else could. They even spoke with two [Magica Girls], and she could see the [Shifts] of those girls walking with them, as [Echos] sticking close to them trying to keep them safe.

But it wouldn’t matter to her, she could banish those easily enough. So she teleported above them and spoke to them as she released her mana and [Authority] to teach them the difference between the sky and earth.

“And I want to know what is happening here to make two not S-Tier entities be able to remember about [The American Crusader] and his wife.” And that was what mattered to her, no one had managed to recover their memories from pre-advent, and yet. These two barely B-Tier girls got them back? Not even the [Beast Master] the one closest to her in power had managed to do such a thing.

Perhaps she needed to be more polite? “No, I don’t think I will be doing that. Or tell you what.” So she channeled some of [Hermes]’s speed and sat near them, close enough that they could hear her well, but not close enough to be felt as a threat. “I will answer your question if you answer me…What are doing two [Echoes] walking as nothing, and how did they get those bodies.”

And that was the most important thing, she needed to know. The black-haired one was using Elizabeth’s body. She cared not for the blonde’s body, but this [Shadow Empress]? She was using Elizabeth’s body as if it was nothing.

She could see Elizabeth’s face behind her disguise! Her Baby Sister was right there! And this girl was puppeteering her body as if nothing!?!?! If it wasn’t Elizabeth’s body she would have crushed her! Perhaps she could do that to the blonde girl mimicking Elizabeth’s body? She seemed to be close to the Alice girl. “And more importantly…How did they get those bodies? And where is Elizabeth Starbright?” So she would let them answer, she could at least hear their version right? “So? What will it be? Will you explain where you got those [Bodies]? Just because you look like my baby sister doesn’t mean I will not restrain myself. [My Hero] asked me to look after her. And you parading around using that appearance….”

Hope they had a hell of a good explanation.

“Merlin? Prepare all the truth-seeking spells. Hathor? I may need your help, get Anubis and his stupid judgment of truth ready too.” She summoned several [Echos] at the back of her mind. She would get the [Truth], and when she was done…

Either she would have information about her baby sister…Or she would need to pull a few favors…Amelia might have something that could pull the truth from a mana brain. And if not she was [The Tinkerer], she could make one.