I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

They had been drinking Tea and eating snacks for almost twenty minutes. The conversation had turned to a natural lull, and they enjoyed the sights of the lake and the natural beauty around it.

 

That was the main thing Elizabeth was enjoying.

 

“Mistress? We have taken the pictures you requested, and they have been saved to your personal library within the spire, all in 2D & 3D as requested.” One of her newest minions reported.

 

What pictures? Of course, the pictures of the natural beauty around! (Rena & Rossie)

 

Elizabeth had once more learned the importance of cherishing what she had and what it meant. She had only needed to almost lose herself and return to find out what kind of person she would be if her sins dominated her.

 

That had been a wake-up call. Of course, Elizabeth knew that she was someone with a very big ego; she was aware of it. She knew that she had good looks, not in a rational way, but in a sense that she knew this to be a fact, not something that was stated by others. But something that Elizabeth knew was an immutable rule of this reality.

 

Elizabeth had never doubted it for a second, even though she hardly cared for her skin or hair. She didn’t even diet or exercise that often; she kept her good looks by either miracle or genetics.

 

Or so she had thought. Who would have thought that she was keeping her looks not by miracle or luck, but by the fact that her body was being tempered by [Pride]. One of the seven cardinal sins, and the one that had given her a second Crown.

 

One was made out of the failures of her past life, and her current hubris made the other. Elizabeth didn’t even want to think about the logistics of wearing two sets of crowns simultaneously.

 

“So? What is the new plan then? We wait till your [Minions] find out where Max is?” Jenna asked as she let her body lay down on the table. “That is your plan? I at least teleported around Germania while looking for you.”

 

“If Elizabeth thinks this is the correct thing to do, then that is what we will do.” Renna said at the side while enjoying one cup of Tea.

 

“Not like we have anything else to do, unless you have a way to track [The Shadow Pact]?” Rossie added at the side.

 

“Oh right, that was an option!” Jenna stood up suddenly, “Amelia!”

 

In a rush Jenna stood and took out her phone, she started searching something within the phone and even raised the phone as high as possible, “WHY DON’T WE HAVE SIGNAL! THIS IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE WORLDWIDE NETWORK!” Jenna grumbled as she waved the phone around.

 

“Here, point it there.” Elizabeth said summoning a shadow portal straight to one of her [Minions] in the nearby city.

 

“Oh, signal, that is a neat use.” Jenna said as she stood near the shadow portal and started waiting for the call to connect.

 

“Hello?” A small voice spoke from the other side of the portal, “Jenna? Where are you? My trackers lost you.”

 

“Sorry about that. I had to do a small interplanar travel. You know how it is.” Jenna said as she smiled at the phone, “Here, let me turn on the video call mode. Are you presentable? I need to present you, my baby sister.”

 

Her what?

 

“Your what?” Rossie almost screeched at that.

 

“Yes, wait a second,” the voice on the other end of the phone said. Elizabeth heard some rustling going around, and after a few seconds, the phone in Jenna’s hand started hovering in the air.

 

It pointed itself away from the group, and then a holographic screen materialized. On it Elizabeth could see a white-haired girl with a tired expression staring at them.

 

“Hmm…. None of the three look like you…” The woman said as profiles with information started showing up on the screen, “Rossaline Singh, daughter of the Singh family…No contact with you.”

 

She had access to that kind of data? It also had her girlfriend's three sizes!

 

“Record everything!” Elizabeth didn’t like that.

 

“Watanabe Rena, orphaned at five-year-olds….Parents' murder still in the investigation; only suspicious criminals ended dead two years after the fact.” The woman continued speaking, “No contact with you either…”

 

The woman finally turned to look at Elizabeth.

 

“Elizabeth Starbright, formerly Ashcroft. Orphan. Data shows evidence of tampering. Suspect victim of high-grade mental tampering.” The woman narrowed her eyes at her, “Suspect of stealing high-grade technology from me to create this.”

 

The woman on the screen showed a phone, her cellphone, the one her Papa had given her when she turned 12.

 

“My phone!” Elizabeth pointed her hand at the device on screen.

 

“Amelia…did you steal my baby sister's phone?” Jenna asked, confused. “Why did you steal the phone I asked you to look after?”

 

“It triggered an automated alarm and it was teleported to me, I didn’t set up the alarm or automated teleport. The data uses a complex array of security that I can’t pierce.” The woman called Amelia said as she eyed the phone and then Elizabeth.

 

“An array you [The Tinkerer] can’t pierce?” Jenna said surprised, “Really?”

 

“I can’t pierce protections made by myself; they were designed to safeguard the data, even from me. There are only four pieces of such technology on Zaanam.” Amelia answered, “The first is the mainframe of [The Tower].”

 

Jenna nodded at this, but neither Rena, Rossie, or Elizabeth knew what this [Tower] was.

 

“The second is the communication relay system set up within the UN Audience chamber.” Amelia continued, Jenna also nodded at this.

 

“That is normal, so the third and fourth?” Asked the blue-haired woman.

 

“The third is this helmet.” Amelia said, bringing a chrome helmet. Elizabeth recognized it; it was the one [The Tinkerer] used when she made an appearance on TV. “And the fourth and final one is this phone. I did not know of the existence of this one, and I would think someone else made it if not for my helmet connecting to it to check if the integrity was holding.”

 

“You made something that you don’t remember making it?” Elizabeth asked astonished. “How does that even work?”

 

“[The Advent].” Amelia answered, “It erased memories of some people and locations, I have been tracking those sites, by comparing data stored within my personal servers out of Zaanam, and those in site.”

 

“So you know about the things lost? Like the Saintsworths and my baby sister?” Jenna asked, “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have answered your questions.”

 

“Not safe, don’t know who remembers what. Or if they remember at all.” Amelia answered, “Also, I can’t leave, the [Tower] is only standing in place latched to Zaanam because I am here. If I leave it may unlatch and we will lose it.”

 

What the hell was that [Tower]!?!?!?

 

“Fine, so I didn’t call you to find that you remember the blonde assholes or that; I just wanted to present you my baby sister and ask a favor.” Jenna said dismissing the data folders with the information of Elizabeth, Rena and Rossie. “Can you tell us where Max is? Elizabeth needs to pass him a message about Chloe Ashcroft, the girl he has been looking for.”

 

Amelia’s eyes turned to look at Elizabeth, and for a second, Elizabeth could almost swear she had seen lines of text going through the other girl’s eyes.

 

“Possible, what will you do about him? He has been ignoring my calls and [The Elementalist] just reported that he wasn’t able to contain him.” Amelia said summoning what seemed to be a data file to her hands, how was she even able to interact with electronic data anyway?

 

“I mean, I could probably knock him unconscious? If you want.” Jenna chimed at the side.

 

“....Negative.” Amelia shook her head at this statement, “ [The Prophet] does not wish for you to show in the limelight if possible, it will be easier to deal if a group of unknown [Heroes] and [Magical Girls] deal with this, if you show up as [The Juggernaut] it will put [The Nine Stars] in a hard spot .”

 

Politics? Really? They would let a [Rogue] member of [The Twelve] run rampant because of politics?

 

They were mad.

 

“Fine, but if he turns out to be too much for Elizabeth, I will intervene; I will do my best not to use [The Juggernaut], but I still have other options available. If worse comes to worse I may impersonate a few [Magical Girls] or [Heroines]. I think I could pass up as [The Law Bringer Sentinel] if needed.” Jenna said nodding at her own idea.

 

“I think you will need a couple extra kilograms of plot to pass as [The Law Bringer Sentinel].” Elizabeth helpfully added, Jenna did look somewhat cute, but [The Law Bringer Sentinel] didn’t look cute but Sexy.

 

“....Amelia you can keep the phone,” Jenna said turning to the screen.

 

“HEY! That was a birthday gift from Papa!” Elizabeth said turning to look at the screen.

 

“Mistress? The call is leaving Zaanam's area of influence and going into a layered plane tied to Zaanam. The anchors into it have been weakened. They may be able to re-anchor it if they return. But it seems only one of the twelve anchors is currently doing it.” Aura’s voice sounded at the back of her head.

 

Wait…Twelve?

 

“Also random question, how many members of [The Twelve] have returned to your fancy [Tower] after [Advent]?” Elizabeth said bringing the attention to her.

 

“Aura? Can you teleport back my phone to me? Also, prevent it from teleporting away.” Elizabeth asked into her [Shadow Haven].

“Of course, the teleportation seems to depend on a technological approach, so a simple isolation ward should work.” Aura answered quickly enough.

 

“None? They came and left the first few weeks, but after [Advent], they decided to move our base of operations to Veritalis at the behest of [The Prophet] since she was dealing with most of the politics and she needed to stay in an accessible spot.” Amelia answered confused at the question. “Why?”

 

“Oh…No reason, so can I have my phone back?” Elizabeth answered back while preparing to act dumb if they didn’t return the phone, she would pretend it was a new one if they asked, and challenge them to teleport it away if they doubted her.

 

She believed in Aura’s might in preventing someone to teleport away her phone, at least when it came from [The Tinkerer], since that one moved using technology instead of magic or mana.

 

“...Jenna? Is she trustworthy?” Amelia suddenly asked turning to Jenna.

 

“Of course, she is the daughter of [My Hero]. No way she will do something bad, besides, if she says that is her phone, chances are you made it as a birthday gift at the behest of [My Hero]. So really, it is hers to being with.” Jenna finished turning to Elizabeth, “I trust her at the very least.”

 

That was so sweet…It almost made Elizabeth feel bad about breaching this [Tower] to get her things back.

 

“Mistress, we have breached the external plane. The defensive ward uses the same key as the one at your house. This one has whitelisted other individuals who weren’t whitelisted into your house, though. Do you wish us to proceed?” Aura spoke at the back of her mind.

 

“Not yet. Wait for my order.” Elizabeth answered; she didn’t want to sour this relationship quite yet.

 

“Fine, I’ll just set the reverse teleportation…” Amelia started speaking and Elizabeth felt space twist a few centimeters away from her, so she raised her hand to roughly the spot where she felt the portal would open. “And there it is, good catch.”

 

Elizabeth felt the cell phone materialize just above her hand, sure enough the biometrics recognized her as soon as she held the phone in her hands and it unlocked itself, everything was just as she had left it. It even had a few photos of her parents and the last selfie she took with Rossie before the Advent.

 

“Thank you…” Elizabeth said as she hugged the cell phone close to her chest, “Thank you for returning it to me, for keeping it safe….”

 

She probably could get back the one she had got from [The Hydra’s Fang], but that one didn’t have the same level of emotional luggage as this one, the last vestiges of her parent’s time in the mortal world.

 

“Was that all?” Amelia asked in the holo projection.

 

“The location of [The Shadow Tide]?” Rossie asked from behind, “We still need that tidbit of data, unless you don’t want Elizabeth to help you with your [Tower] problems.”

 

What?

 

“...Rossaline Singh, you may be used to everything going your way, and you may indeed become someone who can get what you want in a few years when your father’s ambitions get him more political power.” Amelia said with cold eyes staring down at Rossie, “But not everything can be solved with money and influence. Some things are way more complex than others. What could Elizabeth Starbright possible do to solve this problem?”

 

Well, that was….probably right.

 

“Hey hey Amelia, I know you are stressed, but don’t lash out at them. They just want to help.” Jenna said trying to appease both sides.

 

Should Elizabeth help?

 

She probably could….? That plane was having problems staying anchored to Zaanam right? Probably because not enough [Anchors] were working to keep it in place, so they just needed more [Anchors] or a [Plane] more willing to keep it around.

 

Elizabeth could imagine the purple-haired woman grumbling at [The Tower] stuck into Zaanam.

 

“I think there are a few things I could do to help yes…” Elizabeth answered.

 

“Like?” Amelia asked back immediately.

 

“I mean….I could probably send a few [Minions] to try and [Anchor] your demi-plane back?” Elizabeth said, shrugging, “We could also try to latch it into another [Plane] that is more willing to keep that thing around.”

 

Elizabeth knew of one place that may be willing to keep it around of course, she wasn’t quite sure of the…logistics of how to solve that, but she had some inkling about where to begin with it.

 

“....I will keep this in mind Elizabeth Starbright. I did think about those options, but we would need specialized [Summons], and this isn't important enough for the other [Nine Stars] to care, nor does [The Prophet] want to project weakness, which means I have a harder time getting things for this problem.” Amelia answered after thinking for a few minutes on this, “I will send you the latest coordinates we have for [Shadow Pact]. Should you prove your skills in dealing with this, we will talk more about this. Don’t expect the other members of [The Nine Stars] to be willing to entertain you as I did. If it wasn’t for Jenna I would never even consider your words.”

 

And with that phrase the connection was lost.

 

“Well, she was quite rude,” Rossie spoke from behind, glaring at the phone that was flying back to Jenna.

 

“That she was, will all the members of the [Nine] be like this? I would expect more from those that stand at the top of all the metahumans.” Renna added more fire to the pit from the side.

 

“You need to understand her point of view.” Jenna sighed from the side. “As far as she is aware, you all are at best High B-Tier. Even among the [Nine Stars], the power gaps between members are serious.”

 

“Aren’t all of them at the peak? How much of a gap could there be?” Elizabeth asked. She knew that her Papa and Mother were at the very peak, but she always suspected that the others would be roughly at the same point.

 

“Well, who do you think is the strongest after your parents left?” Jenna asked with a smirk on her face.

 

It was at the same time that both Elizabeth and Jenna’s phones sounded the same alert of mail. Probably the data that Amelia had promised them.

 

“You?” Elizabeth asked, “You are the next most powerful I am guessing by your smug face.”

 

“Correct, I am at what you may refer to as [The Max Level]. Haven’t been able to level up since [Advent], and probably will not Level Up again, I think I can feel a way forward, but the way is walled off. I could probably break past it, but I don’t want to do it till I know for sure that everything I need to do is done.” Jenna said seriously, then after staring at the sky for a few seconds she returned her attention to the girls. “After me, who do you think is next?”

 

That was an interesting question to ponder about.

 

“The Beast Master?” Rossie said from the side, “He not only has power, but commands giant monsters.”

 

“Probably Echidna? She was an S-Tier before [Advent], right?” Rena also chimed in her opinion, “I assume that after the [Advent] she either earned more power as she was freed from [The Taint] or got help from the other [Nine Stars] to grow her power.”

 

“Nice reasoning. Both are roughly at the same level. I would have a harder time dealing with Echidna than against [The Beast Master] though.” Jenna said nodding at their answers, “So by that metric, who is the weakest?”

 

That…was harder to think about.

 

“The [Prophet]?” Rena said, “She is some kind of Priestess right? Shouldn’t she have the weakest attack power?”

 

“[The Tinkerer],” Rossie chimed at the side, “She is a crafter class, she also never leaves this [Tower] right? So she should be the weakest.”

 

“....*sigh*” Elizabeth sighed as she thought about the question, “It was [Shadow Pact] right? Him or [The Traveler].”

 

“Correct.” Jenna smiled while looking at Elizabeth, “They both stood among the weakest, followed by [The Warlock], [The Prophet] and [The Sniper].”

 

“Even so, we saw [The Shadow Tide] who was formerly known as [Shadow Pact] raze a country by himself, and he somehow either managed to escape or defeat [The Elementalist], who you didn’t put among the weakest members.” Elizabeth pointed at the inconsistency. “So where they really that weak?”

 

“I have no idea.” Jenna shrugged, “To be honest I never paid them attention, after [Advent] with the status screens and everything we compared levels, or some of us did anyway. [The Prophet] and [Warlock] didn’t want to share theirs.”

 

Jenna searched among her notebook for something, and after a few seconds of going through the pages she stopped at one and showed it to them.

 

“These are the levels they declared to have after [Advent], and some are what I found after using [Merlin] to sneak a peek.” Jenna said pointing at the list of numbers.

 

At the very top was her name with a fancy 99…

Jenna Lewis	99
Lily Thompson	94
Xuan Wu	90
Joseph Von Cavendish	88
Oda Ryuuji	87
Maximilian Windsor	86
Lucia Di’ Medici	77
Giovanni Di’ Medici	66
Amelia Hawkins	60
Arthur Saintsworth	50

 

And next to the numbers they had a name…Even if Elizabeth saw the names, she didn’t know who these people were, for these were their civilian names. She only knew the true identity of [Shadow Pact], [The Juggernaut] and now [The Tinkerer] because Jenna had revealed that information.

 

Sure enough, there were a couple of interesting findings on that list. Most important of all, there was a last name she hadn’t expected to see ever again, something she had almost forgotten about.

 

“...the Goddamned Saintsworths are like cockroaches….” [The Traveler], Arthur Saintsworths’s name was among them, and was he weak….