Just when things cannot possibly get worse, news are suddenly flashing in on a 'need to know' basis, the alerts flooding Caelus' own personal virtual assistant and completely distracting him.

He's set the notification on for earlier, but he didn't expect them to be blowing up all at once; he'd clearly underestimated the reporters and their tech.

A quick read tells him of only one headline, none of them too related to the extraterrestrial threat they are currently facing. It might have been surprising, only if he hasn't read the more pressing news. Destruction is brought upon the main towers of the Static, including the Control Centre. It's a miracle that the news is still being circulated at all considering the circumstance of what is happening—perhaps there is backup power for all these somewhere, or in worse case, it might all die down very soon.

And then there's that communication line keeping all of them—the professional Catalysts and S-class—in the loop for this rift activity. This one isn't getting cut off anytime soon since their base of operations is mainly within Sector Delphinus, manually set up by the authorities in charge. Apparently the rift had been so clear of demons and the perimeter there secured that even without him on standby, there is nothing to protect or fight off. Consequently, the groups on rotation had been tired enough not to question even if he left on his own accord, the other end being quiet for some while now with the lack of activity or the need to communicate except for the muffled, distant orders to dispatch outwards—none of them pointedly dictated toward Caelus himself.

He had forgotten about that open line he'd muted from the beginning since he's strayed from the group, and so far none of them had noticed his absence... until now, that is, when all the news come in. Simultaneously, Caelus is bombarded with the chatter of indistinct, panicked voices through his communication gear.

"Stormbringer, status?!"

Now this one is directed to him, forcing him to acknowledge the physical earpiece he still has over his head and ear even if he had long ago chosen to tune it out.

"Stormbringer," a crackle of voice repeats, more urgent now. "Do you copy? Could you go check out the Control Centre—"

He doesn't have time for this.

So he snaps it off and breaks it in two, just as someone from the other side of the line begins yelling. He can worry about that later, the Control Centre isn't his responsibility; right now, his friend beside him is more pressing—and the enemy before them.

Roen is looking back and forth between his father and Caelus, his eyes widening at the newest arrival.

It's a surprise to Caelus that the Shadow Syndicate have yet to attack, but he assumes it's because of Mr Velasquez—that he'd made some sort of bargain, and now they're waiting on him to finish things before they make their move. The demons that were swarming them earlier have cleared for the time being, which means their current enemy is in the form of this group of ability users who opposes the authorities, with powers that rival the strongest Catalysts in the city. Not to mention that one woman who is now standing between the others, who'd been the one to throw the first attack in the form of ice.

She's more known than any of the other unknown Shadow Syndicate members who'd long ago went off the grid from the City of Leatia's systems by removing their own IDs. She, too, had obviously went underground, because while the rest of the city had thought her dead since the incident with the Grandmasters, here she is, in the flesh.

Frostbite, one of the former members of the S-Class.

She hasn't changed since he last saw her, the only difference being her white blond hair, now chopped crop short on one side, and the other dyed blue at its still long ends. When he meets her pale grey eyes across the space, she waves almost sarcastically and in challenge.

It feels as if the mark between Caelus' collarbone and his chest is pulsing and coming alive, and he imagines the symbol, one part of the star greyed out ever since Frostbite had passed. Well, it turns out to have all been a poor assumption on their end, and she must have found a way to severe not only her identity chip but the S-Class connection.

She'll be a problem for Caelus, being one of the stronger offensive type ability users this city has ever seen, with powers that rival his very own. As for the woman beside her, he recognizes her in previous encounters, knowing full well what she can—fatally—do to an individual if they get within close range. In that case, it's dangerous for him alone to deal with both a ranged attacker and melee Black Tortoise.

Thankfully, it's just the two of them. There are definitely other members of the shadow Syndicate they haven't yet encountered and probably equally rival the powers of the most talented of Catalysts, but for now, two are enough of a challenge, considering their power scale and the combination of their skill set. Caelus won't be able to get close enough to press Frostbite, if the one known as Belladonna can destroy his internals under a minute.

But then there's that blue electrifying paralysis type of power across the air like a rift, although the user himself or herself is unseen. He cant tell if the owner of the ability is nearby and made hidden in plain sight, or simply in a further away location, controlling the outcome of this battle. The only other time he's been under the effects of this strange, ominous power is when the S-Class were trying to escape Andromeda Sector and finish off the Shadow Syndicate—who are then blocked off and protected by this raw ability. What bothers him is that he can't tell if that ability is from Mr Velasquez, or someone else entirely.

Even after numerous attacks and feats from the Shadow Syndicate, the City of Leatia's own supposed terrorist group has never made their true intentions very clear. They are the ones who are always defying the authorities, sure, but what exactly is their motive?

Their end goal and ultimate picture may be unclear to Caelus, but he knows for sure that part of it revolves around the drug.

The one that Lena had accidentally gotten involved in because of him.

They've been targeting him from the beginning, since he's an open target. Never stopped even after the one attack on him, and they have been following him around since.

Time to settle the score once and for all.

"Father, you—"

"Come, Roen," Mr Velasquez beckons. "This is no longer any of our business."

"It sure damn is," Roen is saying, anger rising almost palpably in the air. "What are you doing with one of my former kidnappers?"

Caelus can't tell for sure with his short sightedness, but he thinks Roen's father just raised his brow, his jaw ticking. He keeps his attention on the other two beside Mr Velasquez, ready for anything they might pull out of a sudden, but they seem to be compromising for some reason.

"Come, now," Mr Velasquez repeats, his tone getting agitated. "Before you get hurt—"

Roen lets out a hollow laugh. "Don't start pretending you care now."

"Roen," Caelus says seriously to his friend. "You should go."

He doesn't take his eyes off his enemy, but he can feel his friend's surprised gaze on him. Seconds go by, and it's as if Roen has made up his mind. But maybe, just maybe, he's always had an answer.

"What are you talking about? I'm not leaving."

As if to prove his point, Roen dashed forward with his sword, charging over at the trio, including his father. Simultaneously, he begins to weave an illusion only visible to the three, effectively throwing them off guard as they appear to be fighting off something in the air.

This doesn't hold them for long however, because Mr Velasquez is used to his own son's tricks and is now realizing it's a mere illusion. He snaps out of it the moment Belladonna twitches, and Caelus alarmingly takes note of this and rushes forward to pull Roen back by the collar of his shirt.

In protest, Roen thrashes in his grip. "Let go of me! I'm going to—"

Caelus risks it by taking a step further before backing away, and the look he observed from Belladonna is enough to determine her range. During that brief moment, she'd manage to land an internal attack on both of them, and he feels it through the ache behind his ribs. Thankfully, they'd pull out just in time.

"That woman can crush your internals within an acceptable range of hers," he explains, tugging his friend with weakening effort, his side throbbing. "She's a powerful Black Tortoise."

With his free hand he forces his skateboard into the concrete, his own reference against her abilities, as long as she doesn't move.

Belladonna drops her ready hand in a click of her tongue. "Almost got them both."

Their surrounding temperature plummets, and this time Caelus is ready for Frostbite's attack, her icicles spreading into thin sheets as they hurtle toward their way. He blasts them away with a strong enough gust to redirect them, but it isn't enough to send them back to his enemies at such a trajectory.

He pushes Roen forcefully aside before he attacks. The atmosphere he conjures next is hot and ionized, and he aims it right between the women, forcing them apart. Streaks of lightning form in the small space of the unseen barrier, striking at Belladonna, and she stumbles out of range and out of sight. Black Tortoise ability users who affect not their own body but others tend to be physically weaker, and this is true for the woman.

Caelus is just about turning his attention to Frostbite's increasingly aggressive attacks when Roen is charging forward without thought, his sword swinging up to meet Mr Velasquez's own long sword, demanding answers over the battle fray. He rushes toward his friend, but is blocked by a towering wall of ice glacier with a frost that doesn't stop as it spreads out over the concrete. He can only react by dodging the icing floor, and wherever he steps, ice only grows faster, trying to catch his toes. Meanwhile, the attacks overhead grow relentless, icicles shooting from the direction where Frostbite had last been seen standing, trapping him in between with no where safe on the ground or over the air.

Between dodging the attacks and trying for a shot at where he'd last seen Frostbite, Caelus eventually loses his balance over the ground as he slips on the icy surface. If not for his passive barrier, he would have been easily injured by the sharp shards of ice within close distance, wielded by the woman herself who had advanced close while distracting him earlier.

But when facing someone who'd once fought Caelus before, she knows to push into his space where he's defenseless. Once his natural guard is down, he has no choice but to forcefully repel the advancing attack in close quarters with his bare arms.

Wishing he'd brought a more suitable weapon, he has to resort to grabbing hold of both the icicle shard growing from Frostbite's elbow, the pointy tips inches from piercing into his chest. Cold immediately frosts over him, the ice biting into his skin. She doesn't relent, her strength rivaling his own. It doesn't help that the ice is numbing his senses—not only from the contact between his fingers, but the ones she'd built up around them.

He uses this locked interchange to increase the temperature between them, charging the air for shock. In retaliation, Frostbite only drops the temperature lower, fighting for control. But Caelus' strength has never been with regulating temperatures about his atmospheres; he conjures forces within them that he lets loose. With heated molecules in an enclosed space comes lightning—that's the beauty of his own abilities, as he can summon atmospheres wherever and a storm can brew easily. And while the temperature is not high enough for his signature plasma move, it's enough to shake Frostbite off.

Caelus bends the pressure to push her back, but it only hinders her movements for a few seconds before she regains her ground, her palms on the ground for balance and a counterattack.

Just as she freezes the ground over, Caelus compresses the air around him, then lets it explode outward in a shockwave, making sure to exert additional force to destroy the pavement below. Pure gusts are not enough to crack the ground, but the pressure he applies almost is. He swipes the debris away, sending chunks of ice flying. He uses this to his advantage, swirling the ice into a vortex toward his opponent. As he puts distance between them, he's distracted, looking out for his friend. But between the ice and storm and resulting mist and debris, he can't make out anything else but the silhouette of Frostbite, standing still behind the frosted screen of the battlefield.

A lance made of ice pierces through the man made fog, a strong enough force to pierce through his protective barrier, not light enough to simply blow away in this close trajectory. He avoids it manually, weaving in the mist. More projectiles made of ice is hurtling toward him, and he counters the wave with thickened air, the precision slowing the ice missiles mid air. He makes as if to send them back, a feint, before he skirts to the side and blasts a storm in Frostbite's general direction. The resulting blow creates an explosion, a crater forming in the centre of the battlefield, the stray lightning striking the row of mansions.

Jagged ice spikes emerge from the ground, ever growing, and Caelus is forced to keep striking them off at the feet all while moving to dodge. When the next wave of ice in the form of a glacier hurtles toward him, he is prepared. They have certainly made a mess of the area, the so-called House of the Elites in near ruins. But with every attack Frostbite throws his way, he's been moving toward an area where the ice hasn't taken over. So when he next creates an atmosphere, there's nothing stopping him from unleashing the opposite of Frostbite.

The area melts, and he aims the charged plasma blow straight at the incoming ice, and the two force collides, heat against cold. In the aftermath, it takes all of his control and concentration, but Caelus compresses the surroundings, condensing the air. With the coolness of the ice, the heat from the plasmic blow erupts, spontaneously causing a steam explosion.

He isn't safe from the force, falling victim just as a wide circumference explodes, but he hopes that his last push in Frostbite's direction will deal her more of the damage.

The heat sears into his skin, and he falls backward from the impact. Try as he might to get up, the altering temperature is messing with his head, and the explosion still making his senses blurry; he can only hope it's the same for his opponent.

Perhaps he'd overdone this. But no—Frostbite is a former, official S-Class conjurer. They have exchanged hands before, simply for the authorities to gauge their ability levels, but due to the destructive nature and intense scale of both their abilities, conjurer to conjurer, they have always been warned not to use their powers in the same space. Because of this, they've often been separated on missions.

Through the receding steam and his own blurry vision, Caelus spies a silhouette slumped on the ground. He picks himself up, taking the opportunity to rebuild his defenses after that attack. His concentration is admittedly wavered, since he'd shifted his entire focus on containing the frost. And when he tries to look for Roen through a newly summoned atmosphere, he senses something wrong immediately.

He spins the air around him, sucking it all in a vortex before releasing it out in the open to clear the fog and steam. Just as he witnesses how the silhouette turns out to be a block of ice in the shape of a human, it melts away, and the real Frostbite attacks him from behind. If he'd been just a fraction of a second late into trying to scout out Roen using his abilities, the blade of ice would have pierced right through his back. As it is, he avoids the fatal blow, but isn't in time to dodge it entirely. The blade slashes right through the top of his right shoulder as he readjusts his stance to prevent her from doing further damage.

She twists, and so does he, and the two exchange blows with their own abilities in close combat. He manages to land a punch over her scarred face just as she swipe the blade, and his shoulder stings from the pain, numbed instantly by the cold around them.

"Such wasted talents on the wrong side," she sneers, the emotion thick enough to drive her strength forth.

Frostbite has never held back in expressing her despise towards the authorities from the very beginning, from the moment she'd been known by her current alias and made renowned across the City of Leatia. She'd never been one to bow to anyone, not even to the systems that were built to worship people like her. Rude, disrespectful, and extremely reckless, she's known for destruction and disruption, even during S-Class specific missions. Eventually, she defied even the Grandmasters, and have since gone rogue—though the city had thought her dead, because that's what the authorities told everyone.

This makes Caelus wonder about who the real enemy is here. There must be a reason Frostbite defected, even if they never really particularly got along, and they have only heard one side of the story. In a way, him and Frostbite are two sides of the same coin; they'd both been scouted out from their raw talent even before they realize their own potential, and were put on a pedestal neither of them were expecting or ever wanted.

Caelus remembers the pistol that he'd brought along from Arcane Academy, and he pulls it out to use it as a small shield against Frostbite's next swing, forcing the two weapons to meet in a clang. Her ice, it seems, is as hard as steel. Surprise flickers across a ruined face, and she falters just enough for him to put distance between them again.

"You need someone of A-rank ability and above," Caelus says, even if there are other questions he has in mind. But this one is a fact, and no doubt they are here for him. "Why?"

"You don't need to know that," she replies, without her usual malice. "Just comply, and you'll be helping a great cause."

"You're one of the S-Class," he points out. "You're more than capable of fulfilling that criteria, and I'm sure most of the members of the Shadow Syndicate are stronger than the average ability users."

At this statement, she reacts violently. He initially thinks that she's annoyed about being labelled as one of the titles the authorities once bestowed upon her, but he couldn't be more wrong.

"I picked the better of two poisons!" Her voice is a shrill, all of these seeming to trigger something in Frostbite, and she aggressively attacks again, erupting two glacial walls around them, simultaneously creating a flurry snowstorm.

Caelus had hoped to get some answers from her, since she's a former acquaintance—and she really isn't a bad person, only someone who hates the world more than she hates herself. Whatever her reason for associating with the Shadow Syndicate, he won't be getting a clear reply, nor will he understand what their overall motive is just from her alone.

He readies himself for another face off against her ever growing abilities, now fueled by rage. With a cry she unleashes subzero, and Caelus stands his ground in great effort, his eyes blinded by the hailstorm. He summons his own in retaliation, and the mix is ugly, even if he can no longer see through the storm of ice and his own lightning. They're both caught too deep in each other's entwined powers, and it's a matter of seconds before either of them are struck out, possibly with their own abilities.

With one last effort he forces multiple barriers through the mess of a storm, suspending everything in its state. For a second, it's as if he has frozen time, all of the unnatural weather caught in a vacuum as he notices Frostbite's expression—desperation.

And then he disperses it, letting it all go, their abilities wreaking havoc in surrounding buildings instead.

Frostbite drops to the ground on her knees, her abilities spent, but so does Caelus. They both are nearly unscathed except for the wound in his shoulder and the bruise he'd given her on the cheek, but they are nearly wasted in their own abilities. He breathes heavily, reminding himself that he still has to scout for Roen.

He eventually picks his way up, trying to expand his senses for Roen, but fails. In the periphery of his vision, he notices Frostbite trying but failing to conjure ice of her own. That doesn't however stop her from shooting the thinnest sheet of ice toward him, needle like, almost harmless.

Almost. Being lightweight, the thin slice of ice pricks him square in the chest, its tip poking through the thin linen of his shirt and only touching the surface of his skin, but it's enough for him to feel the immediate effects. As the ice dissipates into nothing, his body shudders as an unnatural sort of cold takes over, and he feels as if his insides are slowly numbing over, freezing.

He stumbles, and Frostbite lets out a worn out laugh but her head lolls as she floats in and out of consciousness.

Caelus shivers, but decides to ignore it for now, just as he concludes that it's probably best to ignore the deranged former S-Class. When he stands again, he no longer feels the drain from the battle, somehow recharged. He's about to look for Roen when his friend finds him, calling his name and running over from not too far away—unharmed, thankfully—without Mr Velasquez anywhere in sight.

His senses are off and he knows it. He doesn't feel the usual comfort when Roen is near, and it's strange to be this vulnerable without his passive ability at work for him.

He blames exactly that when he doubles over, clutching his chest in pain.

Cursing under his breath, he has allowed himself to forget about the other opponent.

Belladonna reaps what's left of the battlefield, striding in to claim an easy victory.

Vision swimming from the inexplicable internal pain he feels, Caelus holds out one hand to send Roen away using a very pitiful and weak gust of wind, his eyes still on Frostbite in case she decides to stir again.

He counts to three. She can inflict internal damage on him, but will not be able to pin him down. The last time he'd been under her effects, it was the pain that had stopped his advance, not the fact that she can control his entire body.

Still, the pain. It feels as if his organs are getting destroyed from the inside out.

Blood leaks from the corners of his mouth, but makes himself pull out his gun and taking aim right at Belladonna. She raises her hands as if in surrender, only to close her fists, and the pain within Caelus doubles. He manages to fire but without accuracy, the laser beam shooting astray, and he drops the gun.

It takes everything in him to just remain standing and breathing. He wonders briefly if Belladonna can simply kill people just like that, a flick of her fingers, crushing one's body from the inside.

Perhaps it's his body on alert now with the life threatening situation, but Caelus somehow has his senses tuned up a notch. He is almost naturally aware of another wave of incoming demons, probably drawn from his exchange with Frostbite. Simultaneously, he feels Roen closing in nearby, so he distracts Belladonna by summoning a storm, but voiding the air surrounding Belladonna. There's a strange element in the air, ready for his command. She stumbles, struggling for breath, but doesn't let go of her hold on him. He feels his heartbeat slowing, the blood circulation beginning to cut off from his brain. He returns the favor, lowering the air pressure around her. Only after he's sure her perceptions are as dull as he is, he sends her flying with a blow of lightning and something akin to darkness.

But Belladonna seems to have expected this, and even with her grogginess from the lack of air, she still manages to keep her hold on him as she falls from the attack, though her power no longer hurts that much—or maybe he is just immune now.

She must be used to people not fighting back when she uses her abilities on them—as he once was defenseless against her back during the first time they went against the Shadow Syndicate—because she widens her eyes and steps back when Caelus approaches her.

With a desperate attempt to rouse Frostbite, Belladonna targets her ally instead, forcing the pain on the cryokinetic to wake her. She merely groans, but appears unable to stir. Caelus separates the two with a barrier in between, not allowing either of them to reunite even if Belladonna manages to compel Frostbite into action through inflicted pain.

"How can you still move?" she demands, half standing.

"I don't really need to," he replies.

A moment of confusion later, her eyes suddenly glaze over, and this time, her hold on Caelus finally releases. Air rushes into his system, and his heart pumps faster to catch up on the lack of oxygen, his hand on his chest as he imagines the pain that was once there.

Roen appears by his side then, his own illusion of invisibility dropped to reveal himself, another one draped over Belladonna, now lost in a daze. His grip is white where he clutches his sword close, and he looks about ready to not only stop Belladonna, but to end her.

He steps close enough now, and swings his sword, but stopping right before the plunge. While Belladonna is still under the effects of the illusion Roen crafted, she sweats, dazed and lost and terrified. On the other hand, Caelus can feel Roen's pulse quickening as he tries to control himself; this isn't exactly the same thing as killing a demon. There's a human life at stake. Still, Belladonna has caused more harm than good, been haunting them since the beginning, even going as far as kidnapping Roen.

Belladonna is clutching her head, backing away from them—from something they can't see. The illusion Roen had created for her is increasing in intensity.

"Roen." Caelus drags himself forward, putting a hand over Roen's own on the blade. "Let me."

But Roen is beginning to loosen the death grip on his sword, his hesitation showing. "She... I think she was the one who begged for mercy."

Caelus pulls the blade from Roen. If he isn't going to get answers from her, then he needs to put a stop to this woman—permanently. There's no point waiting around for the authorities to come pick this criminal up; as it is, they're much too busy with the demons here, as well as the irregular rift. In fact, the demons he'd felt from earlier are beginning to enter the field. They should make a move.

There's an unsettling feeling building up from within Caelus. The fight with Frostbite had left him drained and injured, the fluctuating temperature during the battle making his body feel cold on the inside but his skin hot to the touch. He is also still recovering from all the pain Belladonna had dealt him. There's something wrong with his vision. In one eye, all he sees is red, and he wonders if a nerve had popped earlier. The sounds of the approaching demons do not help; it's giving him a growing headache.

He doesn't want to deal with another Shadow Syndicate member. He'd fought hard to have Cyanide and Erebus locked away, and yet there was no progress in uncovering the group's secrets or their overall motive. When he next sets his sights on a defenseless Belladonna, he only sees her as an easy prey.

"Caelus, wait." Roen is tugging at his sword when Caelus moves forward, looking at him funny. "What are you doing?"

"What you can't."

He yanks the blade from his friend, recklessly swinging straight at Belladonna, only to be stopped by fearless hand that meets the blade.

Instead of slicing skin, the hand that had come into contact with the edge of the blade is causing the sword to crumble, disintegrating the weapon to ash.

Neesha now stands between the two boys and Belladonna, arms wide spread, as if to protect the enemy behind her.