Within the new base—a recently vacated village—the Devil Holders were hard at work. Astarte oversaw combat drills while non-combat Devil Holders diligently performed rituals to shield the village from detection. Suddenly, some of them spotted Piers and a group of strangers approaching. They ran to tell Silas, who was guarding the perimeter.
Silas arrived with his guards, suspicious. "Master Piers, who are these people? They seem to be Guardian Holders."
"Relax, Silas," Piers said. "They are under my command. They are my master's disciples whom my master instructed to follow me." Piers, along with Vera, Xander, Kade, and Titus, entered the village. "Silas, gather everyone. I want to declare something."
Silas ordered a Devil Holder to summon everyone. As the ranks gathered, Severin, Garth, Astarte, and Silas took their positions by Piers.
Piers introduced the newcomers: "They are Kade, Xander, Vera, and Titus. Their powers are similar to yours but different in strength. However, if you will train each other, you will get double the strength."
Titus objected, "What do you mean? Devil Holders and Guardian Holders training each other? They are completely different, don't you know?"
Garth agreed. "We have different rituals, different techniques, different powers. We are as different as we can get."
Piers smirked. "But there is one thing you have in common: you have energy flowing through you, you have fighting styles of your own, you have your own comprehension of rules."
"Fine, we will train alongside them," Vera conceded.
"I am ready to train with them too," Silas affirmed.
Piers gave his final orders: "Make the others train, too. Meanwhile, the Devil Holders and Guardian Holders non-combatants will secure this place."
As the weeks passed, Piers noted significant improvement. Silas learned to only partially demonize his body, consuming less devil power. Vera mastered releasing energy from her weapons and armors and evolving her armor. Astarte and Titus became more efficient in using Devil Energy and God Strength, respectively. Garth and Xander discovered new rituals derived from both energy types. Kade and Severin learned new Black and White Arts.
Piers himself was busy learning the new spell Hasta Solis (Spear of Radiance), which would allow him to summon a spear of angelic power. However, he decided to put it on hold. He ordered a guard, "Go gather everyone in front of the manor's buildings."
"What necessitates our summons?" Severin asked.
"You will know soon," Piers replied.
With Kade, Severin, Astarte, Garth, Titus, Xandar, Vera, and Silas standing by his side, Piers addressed the assembled students. "I have seen your progress these past couple of days. Even though you all had different powers, you all cooperated to train each other and became strong side by side. But this revolution can't stay still for long."
Everyone knew what was coming. "If you have trained enough, then you are ready. So, let me ask you: are you ready?"
"We are ready, Piers!" they roared. "You just need to tell us what to do, and we will do it!"
Piers shouted, raising his sword, "Time to destroy a Devil Holder's Branch!"
During this time, Kaiser's team was practicing as well. Kaiser and Lyla mastered lightning spells, while Adreil trained fiercely in his powerful Sin of Pride abilities. Sentry, Bret, and Hella refined their sword techniques, and Luc, Ben, and Emilia honed their magic. Selene and Tenko kept tabs on the village's location which was a marshland due to the rituals placed on it by devil holders and gaurdian holders.
Selene suddenly noticed the veil concealing the village drop, and Piers's forces marching out. "Guys, they are leaving!"
Kaiser and the others quickly came to see. "We have to make sure to tail them," Kaiser instructed.
Piers's massive force soon reached a town. "Wait," Kaiser said. "Don't tell me they are going to invade a Devil Branch here."
As Piers's army neared the branch, a man and several Devil Holders emerged. "Piers, so you came out of your hole."
Piers smirked. "I don't have time for trash talk. I need to take out the trash."
Meanwhile, in Heaven, Suez saw Athena, whose hair was dishevelled and her body covered in wounds. "What happened?" Suez asked authoritatively.
"It was Loki," Athena hissed. "After I saw what had happened, I immediately went to kill Rei. However, Loki fought me and protected him."
"We need to do something about Loki," Suez decided.
"Not possible. He has fled Olympus," Athena replied.
In Astria, Bart and Eugene were eating at a restaurant. Bart explained, "You know, I met a puppeteer and decided to become this."
"Mine was even more weird," Eugene said. "I really went into a meditative state and—"
"No need to be buddy-buddy," Daina cut in. "We haven't done anything. We should take a job, do some quests, look for some people to recruit."
"Come on, party pooper," Eugene whined.
Daina put her sword at Eugene's throat. "Who is party pooper?"
"Fine, fine! We will take a mission. Are you happy?" Eugene stammered.
"Oh, I have a good mission in mind, come on," Bart offered, leading them to the Hunters Tower.
Bart showed them a mission notice. "Kill nearby bandits?" Daina scoffed. "Come on, we can do more than that! We can go in a dungeon, fight bloodline monsters, or even—"
"Baby steps, Daina. Baby steps," Eugene gently urged.
Daina huffed. "Fine. Let's go. This is not even going to be a challenge."
Daina immediately rushed to the location, looking around intensely. "No need for you to look like that. I will locate them," Bart said. Bart put his hands on the ground.
"What are you doing now?" Daina asked.
Bart closed his eyes to sense the near by shifts in earth and rocks scattered on the ground and then suddenly Bart opened his eyes, "Come here, the bandits are here," Bart said. Daina huffed but followed Eugene and Bart to a bandit camp.
"Wow, you really were not kidding. Good work," Daina admitted.
"Are you ready for us to charge?" Bart asked.
"What do you mean by us? It's just me. You two are non-combatants, remember?"
"Who said we were?" Bart jumped into the clearing. "Hey, bandits! Surrender! You are now up against me!"
Daina facepalmed and jumped after him, with Eugene following.
Looking at Daina, Bart and Eugene the bandit leader yelled, "Looks like today is our lucky day, boys! Get them!"
As the bandits charged, Bart sat down. "Get up, we are about to get attacked!" Daina yelled.
Suddenly, a rock puppet rose from the ground and punched a nearby bandit. "Just what the heck is this?" Daina exclaimed.
A bandit attacked Daina, but with one slash, she fatally injured two. Eugene's palm glowed with holy magic, easily dispatching his enemies. Daina decided to focus on her fight, slashing the bandits. "So, you are just this much?" she said.
Eugene used his palm. "They are very weak."
Bart's puppets dispatched the rest. "Yeah, I thought they might at least pose a little challenge, considering their numbers."
The bandit leader yelled, "What are you all doing? Losing to a bunch of kids?" Daina slashed the leader, fatally injuring him. "This does it."
After turning the bandits in, Daina turned to Bart. "You are stronger than I thought, Bart. But can I ask what was that golem you were using?"
"Golem? I thought I was using a puppet," Bart replied.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever it was, can you tell me," Daina insisted.
"I have made this Rock Spell to make puppets of rock who could fight for me. Currently, I could create only two. Along with that, I can also sense things that might be moving inside or on the ground and manipulate the earth, though I am not as good as to make swamp or other things with multiple elements," Bart explained.
Daina's face lit up. "No, this is much better! Now I have confidence that our team could become one of the strongest!"