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A building seemed to have been cleaved in half, no doubt by the thing that was exhibiting such a strong energy signature. Upon closer inspection it was revealed to be Xol, not a very promising explanation. It seemed Xol's strength knew no bounds, though such a thing was better retrieved by the range of his attacks as opposed to their effect. Such an ability could prove useful, much more so agaist the ever-elusive likes of Mastema who preferred spellcasting and harrowing psionic techniques.

Worried that Xol might extensively damage his main source of firepower and it's precious cargo, KB decided to make his advance on foot. This would of course help in the fact that he'd have a higher chance of evading Mastema's units, as well as appearing less threatening towards his ideal targets. Those were of course th smaller lifeforms that had been spotted, namely the children. He thought for a moment on how to really get to them, before hitting a couple of buttons on the console before him.

The selected process would stir to life the power-relays above him, a slight thrumming there as energy coursed into the otherwise inactive Tegral unit. It was a work of art, and KB chuckled to himself as he stood and pried open the compartment. Inside lay Tegral, a fetal position assumed despite the vast array of combat abilities. KB smirked as he brushed a finger over the unit's cheek, marvelling at how cute the thing managed to look when it wasn't killing everything. Idly his free hand reached down below him to hit another button, the door nearby shuddering. The Tegral unit would soon wake, likely to follow its core programming.

Meager light flooded through the crack as the door began to rise, steadily bringing to KB a sight of the Citadel unfettered by screens. He remembered the place, and he thought to himself about the top of the central tower before him. Shrugging slightly to himself as he stepped towards the open door, his eyes scanned over the streets.

Party time.

A flash of light would flood the cockpit for a moment before KB was gone, the door dropping down into a locked position behind him. His systems were twitching only slightly as he activated a couple of redundancies. The power outpit on him was high, something he couldn't really hide even as he slid down the side of a wall on a building some few streets to the side of the otherwise still mech. His heels would ride along the wall, the shoes donned scraping their sole against th cement. He'd continue to gracefully drop in such a fashion for a few moments before another burst of light would envelope him, leaving behind only the still street.

He'd appear once more, much closer to the family outing. A slight amount of smoke lifted off his shoulders as he stood on the roof, gazing idly towards the tower. KB's usual outfit had been replaced with what seemed to be a battle-ready military suit. Composed of green and black mostly, it held a couple of holsters for weaponry such as the hip holster for his pistol and the knife sheath affixed near his left shoulder. One could only wonder why KB was so fully clothed, his hands gloved and the flak-jacket hiding most everything else. He shrugged softly to himself as he stared, waiting on the machines he surely expected.

"Enough playing around." He muttered simply, and he knew damn rights his message was heard.

KB knew he was spotted, he could tell by the look on Cole's face. It was hilarious really, each little wrinkle and twitch as he tried to avert his gaze. The fact that KB could see Cole so well from so far might've unnerved the man if he had any idea, though of course the feeling of being watched would linger. KB was after all staring intently at the young one.

He'd dash forwards suddenly then, leaving the last wisps of smoke to dance skyward. His soles hit the rooftop nearly silently, leading him quickly to the edge. Once at the edge KB dropped down into a crouch mid-step, having not stopped for even a moment as he sprung up into the air. He left behind a subtle crack in the cement of the roof's edge as he hurtled upwards, raising into the sky to descend much closer like some wingless angel of death.

Though KB never landed, no. He fell, dropping like a rock towards the street below before a flash of light whisked away that setting and offered up another. That of the ever-elusive mind that seemed to dare his own. KB had once again used the device planted within him, for a game that demanded a hefty cost. Having appear suddenly before Cole, KB sought to use the element of surprise for his daring attack.

A single black gloved finger would raise to try and poke the tip of Cole's nose, the rough leather of it there for only a moment before the flash that would consume KB. More smoke came with his brief appearance, his HUD flashing calculations across his sight as he stared down from his new perch.

That is, standing calmly poised on a nearby streetlamp.

The initial confusion of how Mastema had chosen to go into the fight had almost made Than forget that they were even going to fight. That was, of course, until Mastema 'kindly' reminded Thanatos.

"Are we here to fight or not..... I wasn't anticipating a question and answer round."

Thanatos flinched once and then regained his composure; "Ah... hai.... I'm just about ready." Reaching down, Thanatos zipped up his skimpy jacket before putting one foot back and looking to Mastema, waiting for the signal.

The young Mastema grinned slightly, seeming to remain standing as he was. "I'll be the judge of that...." For a brief moment, Mastema wondered why he was doing this, but a moment later he recalled why he was putting in this much effort. He only hoped the others in the citadel wouldn't interrupt this fight.

Slayer's hand rose as the two seemed to be ready. Knowing about Thanatos's other language, Slayer made his signal unique; he swung his hand down.

"Hajime!"

At the signal, Thanatos instantly dashed right for Mastema, a frontal attack. Half way to Mastema, Thanatos jumped, spun his body in the direction of Mastema, and ready his red arm to throw a mean punch at the man's face.

At the same time, while Than came to him, Mastema's layered red gloves began 'glowing' the same color. Leaving his hands in an open palm motion, Mastema grunted in a sort of amusement to himself. In an almost alien movement, Mastema's body began 'sliding' forward without any movement from his legs, just a slight lurch forward from his torso. Raising his own hand to match Thanatos's, the fight took its course.

==========================================

Not even one week after the fight concluded, Thanatos's sight vanished completely.

Because few people had known about his condition until that point, his sudden newfound disability had come as a surprise to almost everyone except Mastema. In that time, Thanatos became virtually unable to do anything on his own. However, in order to avoid awkward interactions with his family and allies, Thanatos spent a good deal of his time away from the main tower, usually under the guidance of Proto or someone else.

Nearly 10 months have passed since Thanatos lost his sight. Few can really say what Thanatos had done in his time; during those 10 months he had only met with Nana or her children perhaps half a dozen times at most, and in that way Thanatos slowly became detached from the kids and Nana. However, that wasn't to say he didn't miss them from time to time, but he had many other things to worry about and wanted to keep mostly to himself.

As if in a completely different change, Mastema on the other hand had become more commonly seen around places where he normally couldn't be due to work. The kids had actually seen him at least once per day, assuming they were around the tower, and Mastema seemed to have become easier to talk to and less serious around them; his demeanor around them mirrored more that of his younger form rather than the overbearing figure the kids had known. It had taken a while for this to work, but slowly Mastema had and still was connecting with his three young children. Similarly, Nana had found Mastema to have an increased focus on helping her recover and being with her in general. After many weeks of rehabilitation and recovery, Nana was finally able to return to being as she was before Xol kidnapped her.

Sho, Slayer, and Omega had all been as they normally were, with some exceptions. About 2 and a half months after the fight between Than and Mastema, Zeno had taken his long delayed departure from the citadel to places unknown, having wanted to say goodbye in his own way to a certain someone first. No communication of any kind had come from him in the 8 months after his leave. That wasn't all, though. Mastema hadn't been able to bring himself to tell any of the others, especially not Trilla, whom had known him as Zeph, that Zeno's locator signal had stopped transmitting 2 months ago, half a year after he left. It was possible that Zeno had wandered into an area where that signal was blocked, but to do that would require a heavily fortified installation, and the orbiting satellites that Mastema had showed him that no such thing existed anywhere near where Zeno's signal had last transmitted from. And even if it was somehow the case that the mechanical signal from Zeno's body was blocked another way, the bot's soul would still have been detectable by Mastema himself if he focused. After trying for several weeks, Mastema had found no such trace of him.

Zenogais was destroyed.

Several other changes had come over the citadel as well. The barrier made of Than's substance had been removed, now replaced by a wide 'buffer' zone around the citadel where the magnetic field barrier was set up. All of the buildings in the citadel had been recoated to protect from the effects of such a field, and now any invading enemies would have 250 meters of a literal 'deathtrap' to traverse before reaching the citadel. Beyond that, the original citadel barrier had been reinstated, which prevented magics and related abilities from passing into the citadel as well as the last one had. What other additions to the citadel there are have yet to be seen.

With the removal of a material barrier, the citadel had become completely covered in a soft blanket of snow, providing a new thing for the children to explore. The damage caused to the west tower by Xol had taken nearly 3 months to repair completely on a round-the-clock schedule, but it had been fixed, along with the massive cannon at its top. Xol and the other invaders had caused some damage, but that was mostly in the past, as were all of them. Other things had changed here and there in the citadel, but that was negligible.

With the holiday season, Mastema had done yet another out of character thing by giving the interior of the main tower some christmas decorations. Downstairs in the main lobby, there was a tree, while the outside of the tower had had its energy 'veins' changed to different colors in order to make the citadel quite the sight when the sun set. What all the decorations meant, Mastema had left to Nana. Because all of the events were so close together, christmas, the new year, and Mastema and Nana's anniversary were being celebrated in the same week.

With a sigh, Mastema finished checking over Zio's latest report and took to leaning against the wall of the 100th floor, watching the light snowfall from the sky. Even with some aggressions over the ten months, Mastema felt life was a little too easy going right now, but he also enjoyed the solitude of it. Looking down to the ground from the 100th floor, he looked around to see if any of the kids were out playing at the time.

Mastema simply chuckled slightly, watching Micha more or less 'waddle' through the snow. Maybe it was time for some of the snow to be cleared from the streets.

Mastema turned away from watching Micha, for some reason half wondering if Micha knew he was being watched and walked over to his throne.

Meanwhile, far in the ruins side of the citadel, Omega was more or less making itself at home in the place. It was desolate and devoid of droid activity, so it was suitable to the bot.

With sudden burst, the sound of a thruster went off in the nearby area to Omega, snapping the animalistic monster's head to attention. Flying over the sky, Omega watched the flying object quickly boost to another part of the citadel, disappearing from sight before it was seen. For some reason, Omega never liked the fifth Vanguard unit that much.

*Micha would stop momentarily to stare at the large wolf. So it was still alive? What had it been doing up until now? Well it mattered little to Micha, the thing was there so that was that. The moment past and Micha began to walk again, by now he was only ten feet from the front door. It was uncertain whether or not Micha was aware that Mastema was watching him. If the wolf wanted to plat he'd have a better chance if he found Trilla, and to find her, he'd have to attempt to track her by all the tracks around the tower, which would be no simple task of course*

Micha: . . .

*Finished with her shower, Nana would reamerge from the bathroom, wrapped up in a towel textured robe. She was already drying her hair with another seperate towel, and would likely be using a blow dryer sometime soon. After that who knew what she was going to do, there was pleanty though. Down below, there was indeed no reaction from Micha to the wolf, the child had always been that way, even when the wolf had been in the cafeteria, the boy was un-afraid to simply wander in, get his food eat it, put away his tray, and wander out again*

Micha: . . .