“Whew…” Archon breathed out in relief as he stood back up. Then, turning around, he gulped in fear as he saw the pen he had thrown mere moments ago lodged in the wall, sharp enough to create cracks.

“… Archon?” Finn asked, still confused at what was going on. All he heard was an ‘oh shit’, then the sound of something hitting the wall.

“I’m okay. It’s just… the wall might need some repairs.”

“What happened?”

“That’s what I’m asking too,” Archon chuckled. “For some reason, when my pen came close to your gauntlets, a massive purple shield appeared and blocked it, holding it in the air. Then, after a few seconds, the pen somehow got flipped around to face me, then shot off about as fast as Octane. I don’t know how I managed to dodge it, in all honesty.”

“A purple shield… but I didn’t use Void Shield there,” Finn muttered in thought.

“Even if you did, it shouldn’t have shot the pen back to me,” Archon added. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s definitely not something I’ve seen before. It’s almost as if… you merged the two modifications, somehow…”

Vortex Guard, embedded within a Void shield: A Vortex Shield.

Unable to figure this out on his own, Finn turned to the only person he could for help.

‘Zelestria. Any ideas?’

[Hehe~ I was waiting for this to happen.] She giggled softly, as if amused. [This is related to the Ghost blood inside your body as well, Finn. The consumptive powers of your mana causes certain compatible Abilities to react with one another, thus combining them into one.]

‘Like fusing Abilities, of sorts…?’

[Ability Fusion… hm, yes, I like that name~]

‘… I see.’

“Well, you clearly have no idea what’s going on either, so there’s no point standing around here any longer,” Archon said with a sigh. “I’ll teach you one last modification for today, then I want to take you somewhere.”

Finn nodded. “Got it.”

After Finn successfully upgraded his gauntlets with the ‘Burning Fists’ weapon mod, he and Archon headed out of the forge to take another shower. After staying in that hot room for so long, they were bound to be sweaty.

The Burning Fists mod did exactly what its name implied. Finn’s gauntlets now inflicted burn damage, which was especially useful against Phantoms (who were afraid of fire, according to Archon). That said, the flames on the gloves’ blades could give away their location on a mission, which was why there was an option to toggle the effect on and off. Keeping it on all the time also used mana, so it was wise to only activate it when needed.

After showering, the two of them met up with everyone else in the living room. Finn brought Iris her newly-crafted sniper rifle, and Storm had worked together with Melvia to whip up a brilliant meal, which consisted of sunny-side-up eggs and bacon with lettuce on the side.

“Alright, Finn and Ivis,” Archon declared after they finished eating. “Remember when I promised to take you to the guild’s library someday? That day is today.”

“Huh? But… Heartbeat…?” Iris reminded hesitantly.

“Oh I know,” Archon waved off her warning. “Which is why I’m telling you this right now — I won’t be the one leading you. But… someone else will.”

At this, Finn and Iris tilted their heads. “Who?”

Archon smiled as the doorbell rang. “You’ll see in a second.”

Octane got up and ran over to the door at godspeed, unlocked it, then ran back to his seat before the visitor could even enter. The newcomer wore a top hat, half white, half black. At the center of the hat was a clear spade icon, also half white, half black — just in opposite halves as the background of the hat.

On each side were also various other designs, from colorless graffiti to icons representing each of the four suits in a deck of cards: diamonds, clubs, hearts, and more spades.

The suit he wore was also in a similar fashion, but had a completely white background this time, filled with black icons. These designs were quite unlike the ones on his hat. Rather than abstract icons, they featured… drawings of humans.

The art style was not unlike medieval times, and some examples included a man holding up a baton, a king wearing a crown, a queen, a priestess, a sun with a face, and… a young boy about to walk off some sort of cliff.

His pants were pure black and seemed to be made of silk, and he also carried a brown stick that complimented the white gloves he wore. On his face was a light smile, paired with a long, characteristic mustache that seemed to suit him perfectly.

Archon stood up and walked over to the visitor cheerily, a wide grin on his face. A warm, friendly atmosphere filled the gap between the two, and-

POW!

-Archon sank a fist straight into the man’s head from above, nearly sinking him into the floor.

“Gah! What was that for, ya bloody jerk?!”

Archon snorted in triumph, the warm mood ruined instantly. “How many times have I told you, NOT to fuckin’ smoke in my house?!”

“How many times have I told ya, NOT to smack me in the bloody face every bloody time we meet?!”

“That’s because you’re smoking every time I see you!”

“That’s because I’m tryna bloody piss ya off every time I see ya!”

“Okay, okay…” Melvia stood up, sighing deeply as if she was used to this. “Break it apart already, you two. You’re acting like two immature brats right now, fighting over a scoop of ice cream.”

“Aye, ice cream is fire,” the man chuckled.

“That, I agree with,” Archon laughed in agreement.

Melvia shook her head in disappointment. “Yes, yes… now can we move on to the real topic?”

“Ah, yes…” Archon turned back to the rest of the squadron and folded his arms. “I don’t think any of you here have met him before. He’s an old friend of mine, but only returned to this District recently. By that, I mean literally yesterday night.”

“The name’s Han. Last name Jobs,” the man said, bowing deeply.

Octane tilted his head. “Han Jobs…?”

“Ha, GOTTEM!” Archon laughed boldly and proceeded to do a practiced yet unique handshake with his good buddy Han.

“Works every bloody time!” Han joined in, snickering evilly as everyone else just looked at the two of them in disappointment, completely unamused.

After noticing the awkward stares they were receiving, the duo calmed down and decided to be serious for once.

Han cleared his throat. “O-Okay, fine. The real name’s Jim — Jim Halifax. Alias, Tarot. Gender, male. Age? Uh… younger than Bakris. That’s all ya need to know.”

Archon (Bakris) scoffed in response. “Younger than me? I hope you haven’t forgotten that time my pops mistook you for your father, God rest his soul.”

“What? Never happened,” Jim said with a full-on serious face, then turned to the youngsters and whispered. “Never happened.”

“Man… whatever. I’m gonna promptly fuck off, can’t stand this guy. Melvia, I leave the rest up to you,” Archon snorted, before heading back in the direction of his forge as everyone watched his figure disappear.

Melvia sighed in exasperation, then explained the situation. “Jim, Bakris called you here today for a task.”

“Gah, bloody bastard, always pushin’ work onto me… I ain’t doin’ it. He still owes me a bunch o’ cash.”

“… He needs your help, Jim. For certain reasons, we can’t show ourselves in public, so he wants you to take a few new Hunters to the library in the gui-“

“I already said-” Jim rolled his eyes impatiently, but then stopped and slowly turned his head to stare at Melvia in shock. “Hold on, hold on. You said… Bakris needs my help? As in, ya heard those exact bloody words comin’ out of his bloody mouth?”

He pinched his fingers and looked at Melvia in anticipation, as she sighed.

“Yes… I did.”

Jim clapped his hands together with a wide smirk on his face and turned back to the table, where everyone else was sitting.

“Alright, folks. Who needs a bloody tour?”