Helios, Riku, and Sara met at the mansion.
"Leader, why did you call us here? Do you need help finding your sister?" Sara asked, her brow furrowed as her spiral energy blade hummed and then flickered out of existence.
"Like she said, why the summons? the fight was just getting good," Riku added, shooting a competitive, sidelong glance at Helios.
"I could hear you complaining from across the battlefield about how the investigation facility gey to miss the battle," Helios replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Riku gritted his teeth, his expression twisting into a look of pure frustration.
Helios turned his gaze toward the looming mansion. "I called you here because I need someone to handle the two others inside."
"Two more people are in there with the Queen?" Sara asked, her eyes widening with sudden alertness.
"Nova told me as much," Helios said, pushing the heavy doors open.
As they stepped inside, Sara squinted. "Why is it so dark in here?" She channelled spiral energy into her eyes; they began to glow a piercing, ethereal blue. Helios and Riku followed suit, their eyes igniting with the same spectral light.
"Greetings, Leader of Blackthorn," a voice called out from the depths of the shadows, sounding dangerously amused.
"Who are you? Show yourself!" Helios shouted, his head whipping around as he searched the darkness.
"Me? I'm just a guy," the voice replied, the tone mocking and light.
"Are you the one who kidnapped my sister?" Helios's voice dropped an octave, trembling with rising fury.
"Kidnapped? We would never stoop to such a low-level task," the voice sneered, the mockery intensifying.
"That's enough, Lynn," another voice interrupted—this one deeper and more disciplined.
"Leave me alone, Cairo!" Lynn snapped, her voice now sharp with annoyance.
"Why don't you show yourselves, you cowards!" Riku shouted arrogantly. He levelled his shadow blade toward the source of the voices.
"Oh? Is that what you want, little human?"
A girl with vibrant orange hair and piercing yellow eyes stepped from the darkness. She wore white, robed clothing that left her head uncovered. Behind her followed a man with blonde hair and dark blue eyes, dressed in the same stark white attire but his head was covered.
"Can you see us now, humans?" Lynn asked, a cruel, playful smirk dancing on her lips.
"Who are you calling human? You're humans too!" Riku retorted, pointing his blade at them.
Everyone in the room paused, looking at Riku as if he had completely lost his mind.
"Riku... can't you sense the energy coming off them?" Helios said, his voice grim. "That is the energy of a Morpeth and they are above the phoenix l fought."
"Anyway, aren't you going in, Leader of Blackthorn?" Lynn asked, pointing toward the stairs with a mischievous, predatory smile. "The Queen has been waiting for you."
Helios bolted for the stairs. Riku and Sara tried to follow, but a whip fashioned from jagged bone lashed out, blocking their path.
"Where do you think you're going?" Lynn asked, retracting her whip with a deadly snap. Sara and Riku immediately fell into fighting stances, Sara re-summoning her spiral energy sword with a determined scowl.
Outside, the tide of battle seemed to be turning. Rio had cast a powerful dream spell, forcing the members of the Principal of Eclipse to see one another as bitter enemies. They began to tear each other apart in a frenzy of friendly fire.
"For Blackthorn!" the Blackthorn members screamed, killing the Principal of Eclipse members.
"It looks like it's finally over," Ray said, surveying the carnage of the battlefield.
"And it seems we have few casualties," Ray's Captain added, standing stiffly beside him.
Suddenly, a high-pitched, soul-piercing roar erupted from the mansion. Every member of Blackthorn clutched their ears in agony. Moments later, a swarm of Morpeths surged out of the mansion doors.
"Why does the Principal of Eclipse have Morpeths in their base?" Ray yelled over the noise, his face contorted as he held his ears.
Inside, Sara glanced back at the sound. "What was that?"
Taking advantage of the distraction, Lynn lashed out with her spiral-energy-infused whip. Sara reacted instantly, leaping back and dodging the strike with a graceful roll.
"You should be more worried about the people outside," Lynn said, her smile widening into something truly ghoulish.
Riku lunged at her, but Cairo intervened, blocking the strike with a bare hand that suddenly sprouted jagged bone plating.
"I will be your opponent," Cairo said, his expression cold and devoid of emotion. He leapt toward Riku, striking with such force that a crater opened in the floor where Riku had been standing a second before.
Riku vanished into the shadows. "You'll never catch me in here; there is no light," Riku's voice echoed mockingly from the darkness. Cairo didn't even blink.
Across the room, Sara slowed down tine, managing to find an opening, slashing Lynn across the chest. However, the wound knitted itself shut almost instantly. Lynn let out a harsh laugh and buried a fist in Sara's stomach.
"You thought it would be that easy?" Lynn teased.
Riku materialized behind Lynn to ambush her, but Cairo was already there. He intercepted Riku, delivering a heavy punch directly to his jaw.
"Why are you always attacking me?" Lynn asked, looking over at Riku as he faded back into the shadows. "Am I really so beautiful that you can't take your eyes off me?"
Outside, the organization members struggled against the Morpeth horde. One Blackthorn soldier was snatched up by a Morpeth covered in thorny vines and slammed into the earth. Another was mauled by a bear-like Morpeth, its claws dripping with the blood of fallen Blackthorn members.
Alex swung his scythe, cleaving through a Morpeth. "There are so many low-ranking Morpeths but half of these guys have never even seen a Morpeth before!" he shouted, straining to block the heavy paw of the bear-like creature.
"Sir Ray, aren't you going to help?" the Captain asked, watching his soldiers die.
"Nope," Ray replied, looking at his Captain as if he were insane. "Do you think I have a death wish? Nova and Rio can handle it. I'm staying right here."
Inside the mansion, Helios entered a fifth dark, empty room. "Where are Luna and the Queen?" he hissed, his frustration peaking.
Suddenly, glowing red eyes appeared at his side. Before he could react, thick tentacles coiled around him, pinning his arms.
"Are you looking for me?" the Queen asked. She hoisted Helios into the air, the pressure of her grip causing his armour to groan and crack.
Helios thrashed, gasping for air. "Let me go... you disgusting thing!"
"Oh, that's not a very nice thing to say to the one who invited you here," the Queen purred. She loosened her grip, dropping him to the floor.
Helios scrambled up and lunged, his sword wreathed in red spiral energy. The Queen stopped the blade effortlessly with a single tentacle.
"Why so aggressive, Helios? Or should I call you... Orion?"
Helios clutched his head as a sharp pain flared behind his eyes. Memories of voices calling him "Orion" began to surface like drowning ghosts.
"Do you not remember your past life?" the Queen asked, her voice turning cruel and mocking.
Helios's eyes began to bleed into a solid, abyssal black.
"Human! Are you really going to lose to the person inside you because of a mere name?" The voice of Circlet echoed in his mind, amplifying the agony. "You can not lose, or you might never come back!" The voice began to fade into a distant whisper.
"Shut up! Both of you!" Helios roared, shielding his darkening eyes.
Slowly, a jagged, terrifying smile spread across Helios's face.
"It's been so long since I've been out," the creature inhabiting Helios's body said, its voice distorted.
"Has it really been that long, brother?" the Queen asked, tilting her head.
"Who are you here?" the fake Helios asked in a dazed confusion.
"I'm your sister," the Queen said in a chillingly childish voice. "I never thought the leader of the Demi-gods would be so forgetful."
"You look... different," Azerion remarked, eyeing the Queen's form.
Elsewhere in the mansion, Riku and Sara were failing.
"Why are humans so weak?" Lynn asked, standing over Sara, who was covered in bloody welts from the bone whip.
Cairo held Riku aloft by the throat, his face a mask of indifference. "Why must you play with your prey, Lynn?"
"They killed the puppets that took me so long to make!" Lynn snapped. "I want my revenge!"
"Hurry up. My bone whip won't last much longer," Cairo said.
Sara looked up, seeing Riku choking in Cairo's grasp. A look of grim resolve crossed her face.
"Why is this guy so useless? Now I have to use that" Sara muttered. She reached into her gear and pulled out a pocket-watch artefact.
"Oh? Something interesting at last," Lynn said, watching as Sara began to glow with a blinding blue radiance.
"Summon Realm... Manifestion!" Sara shouted.