Prelude to the battle near London

Harumi slammed her fist into the table as her call disconnected.

"Dammit! I can't get ahold of them!" Harumi cursed.

She then ordered a servant to look up train timetables.

"What's wrong Ka-san?" Tetsuka asked as she waltzed in.

"I lost contact with Madoka. They were on a train leaving Paris, but I fear they were deceived by an Illumous member."

"Paris?" We were literally just there. It was wild."

"Is that why you look like a mummy?"

"I'm fine! Honoka just insisted on this as way to make me feel bad about getting knocked out by that electric freak. Oh yeah, there's a small boat approaching us."

"I wonder if it's Izuhana."

"Izuhana?"

"They're a team of bounty hunters. One of them used to be part of the Bombino family before she defected, while the other grew up in the slums. I had given them plenty of missions beforehand and know them well. This particular mission was supposed to have them bring everyone home, but they were unable to take the plane with Eriza, so they split up from Madoka and co."

"Eriza? Wait, I thought she got kidnapped in Greece."

"She did, but Izuhana managed to save her. Apparently, she had an explosive microchip implanted in her brain though. Luckily, Hanabi was able to deactivate it, but she didn't want to attempt to remove it while Madoka and co were on board."

"Now I get it. Though where was Doka in Paris?"

"Before I lost contact, they mentioned the catacombs."

"Ugh, Must've missed em then. We were saving Nika and ran into a real threat. At least they made it to the train alright."

"Nika was caught!? So that must be what Yuni was yelling about."

Harumi and Tetsuka then made their way to the mansion's dock. Sure enough, Izuhana arrived carrying a young woman.

Izuhana was an infamous mercenary duo. The red-haired Hanabi Natsumi was the leader and was skilled with explosives and brawling while her blue-haired partner, Izumi Inari was skilled at sharpshooting, knife combat, and martial arts.

As for Eriza, she was Harumi's biological niece, meaning she was Tetsuka's cousin. Eriza had recently been kidnapped along with her parents in Athens Greece by an Illumous agent. Madoka's group was also there and attempted to save everyone after one of them was kidnapped as well . Sadly, Eriza and Madoka's friend Serika were the only ones the group managed to save. Harumi was devastated by the loss of her younger sister Eika, Eriza's mother. Eika's eldest daughter, Emeri was even more devastated as she was part of the group that failed to save them.

Upon hearing the news, Harumi immediately sent Izuhana to retrieve Eriza. She informed Emeri of the news, which helped to pull her out of her depression. Emeri was then able to pick herself back up and continue journeying with Madoka and their friends Serika and Yuni.

"So that's Eriza huh? Definitely wouldn't have recognized her. Though, I guess I can't be too hard considering it looks like she had that chip removed," Tetsuka stated.

"Whoever put it in was a real sick bastard. The thing was designed to explode upon remote control. Jamming the signal was easy, but it was a pain to dig it out. At least now she's safe," Hanabi smiled.

"I'm sure Muramasa Jouzu could have easily fixed her," Harumi stated.

Right on que, I appeared before them.

"Well right on que. So is Eriza safe?" Harumi asked.

"Hanabi did a good job. She's safe. I've healed her up anyway, and she'll be awake in a few seconds. I'll let you two have a heart to heard," I stated as I warped Harumi and Eriza away to one of the mansion's bedrooms.

I then turned to face Hanabi and Izumi.

"Welcome aboard. I'm sure you've heard of me," I snickered.

"Muramasa Jouzu right? Yeah, you're Illumous' number 1 enemy," Hanabi chuckled.

"Izumi knows that Muramasa Jouzu is on a completely different level than us," Izumi stated.

I then motioned for them to come to the training area to meet my party.

                                                                              ...

"Izuhana huh? Too weak. I'd destroy em instantly," Ryuujin grumbled.

"They're both at a decent level 50 on the mortal plane, which is why they could help train up some of the lower leveled members," I stated.

"That means you Zeno," Kumi smirked.

"You're under level 30 too," Zeno retorted.

"Just cause I said they could help you train, doesn't mean I meant right now. It seems some pests are gathering in London. Tetsuka, your shitty older twin sisters are there and have been recruited by an Illumous member to try and destroy the main Ginkawa family in one fell swoop and assume control of the family. Said Illumous member is also the reason your sister and her friends are en route to London," I explained.

"Shit, so you're saying we're gonna have to brawl with them and some Illumous goons?" Tetsuka asked.

"Yep, make sure to tell your mother about this. I imagine she'll want to confront them too," I stated as I warped Tetsuka to Harumi's location.

"As for the rest of you, some of you will be on mansion defense while the others will be with Tetsuka and Harumi on offense."

"What do you mean defense?" Nika asked.

"Those idiots are going to try, keyword try to attack the mansion. They won't be able to make a dent, but I figured since one of them's an Omni, he'd be bringing some exp fodder with him."

"Guess that means I'm on defense. Who's with me?" Ryuujin asked.

"Ayaka, Honoka, and Nika. Zeno, Hanabi, Kumi, and Izumi are all on offense. I'll keep watch in case a marauder decides to butt in."

"Wait, I have to fight too?" Nika groaned.

"You said you wanted to level up."

"Ugh, fine."

                                                                            ...

Once Tetsuka told Harumi everything, I warped the attack group to London. Hopefully this would get both Tetsuka and Honoka to max level 100.