All the stages were set and now it was time for the individual capture rounds to begin. Of course, that was Alexandria's order however the officers wanted to kill the others. So, it was capture versus kill. Of course, that wouldn't stop Veronica or Eve from making the capture part as violent and painful as possible. Veronica looked Onyx up and down really getting a feel for the man. She had been so busy assessing his strength she didn't actually take a look at the man. Even though she wasn't in any way looking for a partner in that regard he was a unique specimen and perhaps if he wasn't affiliated with the damned walled city government, he'd have a chance. She rolled her left shoulder and then rolled her right. She had gotten into a stance before, but all Onyx did was look at her and laugh.

  "Listen here I'm not going to take you on. You hit I hit all that other dumb crap. You want to fight? We're just going to go. Hmph. I will allow you the honor well I say the first hit, but I already took that honor, but you can get the first hit of the actual battle."

  Veronica raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you want to do that big guy? You've seen first-hand that I can take a hit without even flinching. So, what makes you think you can take one of mine? If I hit you full force, I'll break my orders because you will break into a bunch of tiny pieces."

  "Ha! If you think you can do that you can try although if you're punches are too much." He took his hammer off his shoulder for a moment and pointed it at her. "Why don't you take the staff off your back and fight with that then maybe it will be an even match. Even though it's made from your body perhaps it will be a good handicap for you well I guess the handicap would be for me, but you can decide. You can use the weapon and obey your orders, or you can allow yourself the elation of the fight and we can just pummel each other." Onyx did have a point.

  There was a lot to say about the fact that even though she went toe to toe with the elite that wielded this weapon she wasn't able to break it with a full force punch, and she wasn't holding back while fighting him. However, when she picked the staff up practice swung with it and pinged it on the ground it felt different. It was as if she didn't have to concentrate so much on withholding her power it's as if she knew exactly what to do without having to adjust herself. She ran her hand through her hair thinking for a moment. Onyx was correct that this would even the playing field however she loved the elation that came with unhindered combat. However, if she were to ask permission in this moment Alexandria would probably tell her she already had her fill for the day. She did in fact have the highest kill count in the previous room so she should be satiated for at least a small bit of time.

  She let out an exasperated sigh and put her left arm down reaching up to her back with her right and pulling off the staff. She spun it in front of her a few times stepping back with her right foot first and then sliding her left foot across the floor as she spun the staff in front of her counterclockwise. She did that for three steps and then when she stopped, she extended out from her right side and turned her left foot to face Onyx with her right foot parallel with the staff. "Fine I will use the staff however once I do capture you when interrogation time comes even though Eve has more jurisdiction in that area, I'm going to have fun transporting you to that room."

  Onyx let out a hearty chuckle and spun his axe almost mimicking Veronica's movements but instead of hitting the stance that she did he put his hammer in front of him with the spike portion facing in her direction. The crescent axe was upward, and the hammer portion was facing the floor. "Very well then shall we begin?"

  The room went silent for a moment as the focused changed to Eve and Rin. Rin was now standing there with a completely different set of armor and the pieces that he did not need were scattered around him. Even though he was lighter and there was less on him there still wasn't any spots that Eve could directly exploit in the moment. However, that wasn't about to stop her.

  She still had a weapon in her right hand, so she decided to draw a bit longer knife in her left. She sharpened them against each other for a moment allowing that to be the only sound heard in the room for a few seconds. She titled her head up putting her nose in the air as she smirked at him. "Alright then let's see if this armor and that shield is more than just fun decoration."

  Rin raised an eyebrow. He was not pleased to hear that. However, he wasn't going to react to her the way she wanted him to after hearing her position he knew that part of her ability was to be able to egg people on and even though Veronica had a similar skill it wasn't part of her ability since in Rin's mind she was just annoying. "You are probably one of the most annoying young women I've ever met in my life, and I haven't done near as much traveling as others have. Of course, most of the places that I've visited don't have people that talk as much as you. So, how about we get this started." He brought his right foot back along with his right arm. The buckler long shield piece on that arm came down to a point which gleamed at the end with his left arm he brought it up in front of him using it for its intended purpose protect as he started to sway a bit. "Your move little one. Let's see what you've got."

  Eve spun the daggers in her hands and smiled. "Fine and even though I can't kill you I'm going to make this very painful. I hope you're ready."

  Alexandria and her opponent didn't say much of anything once Sto put her masked back on that was it she was done talking and her weapon was out. She was spinning the counterweight at the end of the chain and even though a few drops of poison had dripped on the floor it wasn't spraying around the room which meant that it was probably on a release when it stopped spinning or made contact with someone or something that is when the poison would eject.

  Alexandria needed to be careful. She got into a low stance bending both of her knees keeping her legs about shoulder length apart. She transformed both of her hands all the way up to her elbow into polar bear arms with those huge paws giving herself some striking ability with the claws and some power keeping the rest of her arm above her elbow in her human form. The paws would be big enough to slap away the counterweight and hopefully protect her just in case any poison got on her, but she wasn't sure so for now it was just a countermeasure. Of course she was experimenting with shifting two different animal forms. However, at this point she wasn't able to pull it off without passing out. If she was able to pull it off, she would've made above her elbow to her shoulder porcupine so that she would have the quills not only for protection against the poison but in the event her attacks swung wide she could swing her body weight into her opponent and stab them with barbs. However, at this point that was just a pipe dream, but she was close to bringing it to the forefront. Of course, she still needed to figure out how to stop from passing out since partial transformations drained a lot of energy. So, until she was able to master it brining it out against a dangerous foe wasn't a good idea.

  The battles outside were about to intensify however inside the sisters were catching up and thankfully Mist had regained some strength. She had finally decided to eat some of the bread that Gale had brought along with finding out Gale had much more provisions on her, but she wanted to make sure that Mist didn't overeat or drink. She gave it to her in small portions aside from the water since Mist needed that the most right now. She had been so deprived and what she was given was only to sustain her it was a nuisance, so she needed to replenish that energy. This was the best way to do it.

  Gale looked at her and decided that it was a good time to ask a pretty serious question. She took in a deep breath and as she exhaled, she very quietly and calmly spoke. "Do you know the status of the barrier outside or is that something that you cannot sense?"

  Mist looked over at her sister and raised an eyebrow. At first, she had no clue what Gale was talking about then she closed her eyes taking in a deep breath of her own and as she did so like sonar her mind sent pings out. Since they were underwater, the sensory apparatus kept her from seeing what was outside, but now that she was out of the revolving ball and the cube, she could sense the water surrounding them. She couldn't manipulate it, but she could sense what was going on and with her eyes closed she sent out ripples. The only reason she could do this is because similar to Eclipse's ability to peer into shadows Mist could do it in small areas of water. However, the areas had to be a certain depth and since this was open water she was able to see in any area. However, the surface area was rather small so she could only peer at certain parts. It took her a few minutes, but she glanced at different places around the island that had the depth that was required. She was able to see Alexandria's forces as well as the barricade that was around the island made up of the few ships that Alexandria brought along with the salvage ships from the different pirates, mercenaries, and other organizations that joined in to entrap and kill Crimson Judgement.

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  With each area she surveyed she grew a bit worried. She did have a glimpse of the barrier when Gale mentioned it from her subconscious. She knew it existed, so she had a pretty good idea of what it was supposed to look like. However, at each place she looked at she could tell that it was failing, and it was starting to recede. After about a minute she opened her eyes and looked at her sister. "It's not good Gale. Thankfully the barrier didn't collapse simultaneously when I was unplugged. I've been at it for so long so much of my ability appears to have built up so it will take time to recede. However, it's not going to last very long."

  If something happened before they were able to get out and get back up to the surface they could step out of the facility and see a full-scale naval battle before them. If there was in fact walled city government ships waiting. Of course, they weren't the only threat. Even though the pirate groups, clans, and crews in the area steered clear of this place they still sent out scout ships to make sure that there were no merchant ships or other potential targets for them to plunder. If they found an island they had never seen before you bet your ass they would try and explore it. Even if they weren't initially hostel to Alexandria and her crew if they saw all the resources that were gathered there they would definitely attack especially if they were a larger group.

  "Damn there are too many unknowns right now. We need to get out of here. Do you know how long the residual ability will last before the mist and fog barrier that's surrounding this place will disappear?" Gale looked concerned.

  Mist thought for a moment trying to calculate it by what she remembered subconsciously and what she just observed. However, she was still a bit tired so her calculations could be a bit off, but she smiled anyway and looked at her sister. "If it continues to deteriorate at the rate that it is now, I'd say we'd have twelve maybe twenty-four hours left but that all depends on the water currents and the wind because the movement of the water and the wind can drastically effect mist, fog, and things of that nature. If the waters are calm and the air currents are smooth, we can get the maximum maybe even a little bit more. However, if there is a storm or there is a strong wind or water current it could move a good portion of the mist barrier away which means the forces up above could be exposed. If what you told me so far is true, their strongest members are down here which now includes us if I'm getting that right?"

  Gale closed her eyes for a moment rubbing the sides of her head with her thumb and her middle finger. This was getting tedious as she wanted to go outside do something about it. However, not much time had passed since she entered the room and even if the fights had started there's no way even as strong as Veronica, Alexandria, and Eve were that they would take down three Guardian Officers in that amount of time. So, stepping outside would not be a good idea especially since even though Mist's containment room was small and the area outside was a bit bigger it was still like a wide corridor and the safest route would be to run straight out of the containment room and into the corridor. However, since she was able to take a look at least two of the positions of the officers she knew that Rin was close to the door to this room. Even if he was fighting someone if he saw her, he would break from whomever he was fighting to attack her and depending on his armor set when she stepped outside it could be over in an instant or she'd be able to get through. If he was sporting his tough armor that made him heavier, she could get through with Mist no problem. However, if his light and durable armor was equipped, he could be on them within seconds and with Mist still trying to recover there is no way she could protect them both. If she was correct Eve was the one fighting Rin and if that was the case, she is fast and she has a great combat ability however if Rin is using his wind turbine armor Eve is not that fast even if she were to strike him in mid stride, he'd still do some damage even wounded getting to them.

  "Oh, we need to get out of here. However, if we step out there there's a chance we'll be attacked, and I know Sto would not let you walk out of this room without consequence. However, Alexandria should be the one taking them on. So, there's no way that they could swiftly get passed Alexandria and get to us. I didn't see them when I walked through with Valentina so that means they're probably in the back corner. I did see a light coming from that area so there must be some kind of desk or station over there. If that is where Sto is then that makes things a little easier which would mean Veronica is fighting Onyx. I've seen Veronica in action there is no way Onyx can get passed her. That is probably going to be the quickest fight out of the three. The longest one will probably be Eve versus Rin not because Eve can't take out her opponent but because of the fact that Alexandria wants the three of them captured and taken alive. I've seen both Eve and Veronica fight they can kill within moments and effectively so. However, I'm not sure their abilities at capturing. It is a little bit disheartening." Gale paused for a moment letting out a small sigh as she looked down at the floor for a moment. It's not that she didn't have faith in the three of them however if what Mist said was true, they didn't have much time. Even though it was half a day or a full day time can get distorted down here. Without sunlight or any other type of time piece to let them know what time it was aside from Mist or Eclipse using their abilities which shouldn't be done just for surveillance because they needed that energy to fight it wasn't efficient.

  She wanted to scream it was getting ridiculous. She looked up at the ceiling and the little bit of damage she caused. It made her smile a bit that she just obliterated that device along with that stupid alarm.

  Things were starting to take shape. The barrier was soon to be undone and the fights against the officers were about to come into full tilt. Who would actually finish first? Would Veronica be first as Gale said and would Eve really have that much trouble with Rin? Even though Gale and Mist had no idea who Sto actually was Alexandria knew and now it was an even bigger conundrum because an ability user supposedly a strong one was able to be used by the walled city government which meant there were probably more. However, Sto was a special case since she didn't seem to have emotions and the mask that she wore tried to replicate what she wanted other people to see. Even though it didn't move and showed all the emotions that were important to her on it. The way she spoke and the way she looked showed that she was rather stoic and cold. Now, hopefully Lyric and the others on the island would be able to see the change that was happening to the barrier because if they didn't and there was someone waiting outside things were about to get a lot more interesting. Of course, it could be nothing and once it dissipated all they would have would be a line of sight. The only other problem would be hiding the ships since this island didn't have a dock because it really didn't need one thanks to the fog but now that the barrier was about to disappear there were a lot more difficulties now than when they started. Hopefully they would be able to sort them out. It was time to capture Rin, Onyx, and Sto and then get back up to the surface before the barrier disappeared. So, they could either prepare for battle or prepare to leave. Whatever happened next Crimson Judgement was most certainly going to be on top. That was definitely Alexandria, Veronica, and Eve's intentions.