With no other way around them, Ray jumped off once more from the top of the castle walls and charged at the Battle Vixens, reattaching his revolver onto his sword. Raien and Lee had rapidly recovered from their (second) tumble with their meditation and flanked the three sisters whilst Lupi was kept occupied by the still-hidden Wizard's icy attacks.
"Take this!" Raien shouted. "Raiton Version: Fuuma Shuriken!" He flung a large ninja star at the feet of the Vixens, and upon contact with the ground, the star exploded in a ball of lightning, sending Aege up into the air. Elua and Heal-Do avoided it just in time and attacked Ray from afar. Lee immediately followed by a forceful stomp into the ground, causing it to shake as he cried, "Critical Explosion!" and absorbing the five Spirit Spheres into his body, increasing his power immensely. He sprung into the air on that same foot and focused on Aege as he began with a Raging Trifecta Blow to her stomach, and chained into a four-hit Raging Quadruple Blow before ending with a showy spinning kick move that sent her plummeting into the ground.
Ignoring Raien for now, Elua noticed the Holy Saviors from the corner of her eye and called Mukuhawk to her side, hopping on his back as she fired arrows infused with wind energy.
"Where is Lo… where is Thiji?!" asked Heal-Do as she clashed blades with Ray.
"Who wants to know?!" the Gun-Knight responded.
"I… I…"
The Assassin seemed at a loss for words until Lupi blindsided Ray with a fireball from her lance. Thanks to the blessing of earth, however, it did not hurt him as much. They helped Aege up as they stared down Raien and Lee…
Lupi: You're slipping, Trinities!
Raien: We should say the same to you!
Lee: How'd you like that combo platter, Aege?!
Aege, wiping her mouth of blood: That was a cheap shot, Monk. I see you wanna play Hardball… so let's play Hardball.
With a mighty yell, Aege rose her Slaughter Axe high into the air as energy filled it, and transferred that same energy to her sisters', causing them to sparkle.
"Over Thrust! Maximize… Power!" Aege shouted to the heavens. Raien, Ray, and Lee looked over at the Fire Castle, and then back at the Vixens.
"Oh, shit…" said the three of them simultaneously before Lupi roared, "CHARGE!" and struck at White Trinity with their exponentially-powered-up weapons.
"Not so fast, Saviors!" Elua shouted, delivering a Double Strafing attack to Tsubaki, but Youmei rose her shield to guard her comrade. Elua jumped off her falcon and fought Youmei at mid-range, trying her best not to let the Crusader close the gap between them.
"With this, the Holy Saviors shall carve a path to victory!" chanted the Acolyte twins as they laid their hands upon the holy shard, causing a bright light to radiate from the castle that would temporarily impair the Huntress.
"You are mine now, Hunter! Shield Charge!" cried Youmei and showed off a little by rolling forward to gather momentum and bulldozed Elua with her tower, sending her off a cliff and into the waters below. Mukuhawk came swooping down shortly after and rescued his master.
"I owe you one, Mukuhawk…" Elua chuckled, petting her bird.
"With the Castle of Light claimed now by the Holy Saviors, the final castle – the Castle of Wind – has activated!" announced the partially-clad Kafra. A vortex of wind swirled around the castle, and the wind shard descended from the eye of the storm, landing upon the rooftop and "turning on" the structure.
"The Battle Vixens now control fire and water…" Thiji said in his mind. "This is indeed looking bad for us… I am running out of options."
"We gotta hold out for Thiji's sake!" Ray said to his two comrades, trying to deflect Lupi's attacks.
"So you do know where he is!" Heal-Do replied as she delivered a kick to Ray's chest, forcing him back. "Where -?"
Then she would look to the northeast, noticing a lone cliff that overlooked the entire zone. But this caused her to stop attacking all of a sudden, turning the battle into a two-on-three.
"Out of our way, losers!" Lupi shouted, sprinting toward the Holy Saviors. Aege punched Lee in the chest and knocked him on his rear, taking off with her elder sister.
"This… this is bad…" the Monk grunted with effort. Ray then splashed the Monk with white potion contents, healing his wounds almost immediately.
"Come on! We gotta catch up!" commanded Ray, once again giving chase to the Vixens. "Forget about Heal-Do!"
The Saviors would make their way down the southern bridge once again to reach the Castle of Wind, but the Battle Vixens were already hot on their tail.
"Sister Youmei, what do we do?" Botan asked in fright. The Crusader stood in front of them and rose her sword at the approaching enemy.
"We fight, sisters. This line must be held," Youmei replied stoically. Tsubaki then pushed the Crusader aside, grasping a rosary that hung around her neck. "Tsubaki, what are you…?"
"The blessing of light is with us, is it not?" Tsubaki questioned. "I will take care of this… for the Saviors."
"Lady Tsubaki…" Momiji spoke, awestruck at the Priestess' self-sacrifice.
From below, Raien and Lee sprung out from the lake and attacked from above to assail Tsubaki, whilst the Battle Vixens and Ray continued down the bridge as the Priestess' body would be cloaked in a veil of holy energy.
"Magnus… Exorcismus!" cried Tsubaki as a large grand cross appeared below her feet, damaging those on the ground with the sheer power of the light, and Raien and Lee was blinded by its power that they crashed into the others and would find themselves hanging from the bridge, with Lupi hanging onto the boards with Aege grasping her legs; Raien was tugging at her shorts while Lee held on to the Ninja's left leg. Ray, however, was on the opposite end, hanging on for dear life.
"Oh, my God, if you don't get your hand off of my ass, you pervert…" Aege threatened, trying to hide her shame. Elua swooped in and landed on the bridge to fire a wind arrow at the Saviors, but Youmei sent it back, causing Elua to cover her head so as to avoid being knocked off herself.
"Tsubaki… that was very unlike you," Youmei complimented. "Perhaps you are beginning to see the light after all.
"Hmph…" was all that came out of Tsubaki's lips as they continued unabated to the Castle of Wind. Using an updraft to make the trip shorter, the Saviors landed on the rooftop and approached the wind stone, touching it and causing a vortex to form around the castle, claiming it for the Holy Saviors.
"The Castle of Wind has been claimed by the Holy Saviors!" announced Kafra Misty. Shortly after, the whole zone began to shake, and beams of light from each castle struck the shards, causing another beam of light to shoot out towards the center of Britoniah. The elemental energy combined and manifested a deep, blue stone that levitated high off the ground as the residual energy formed a scalable path of dust that would be accessible from the castles' rooftop. "The Sapphire Emperium! The Sapphire Emperium has now appeared before us!"
With the Sapphire Emperium now made apparent, the five castles' shards were veiled in their element's energy, preventing any further capture; the power of the Emperium Stone made this so.
"Now…!" Thiji shouted in his mind as he vaulted off the vantage point at last before immediately making his way to the Castle of Earth, distracting Heal-Do with a Frost Diver, which she evaded after snapping out of her stupor just in time.
"No…! I won't let you!" the Assassin shouted as she jumped off the cliff once more and plunged herself into the lake.
Raien and Lee quickly climbed up using the Battle Vixens as a ladder and headed southward to deter them. Ray followed suit before the Vixens would have time to recover.
"Geez, we have been losing all day today…" sighed the Monk.
"What the hell do you mean by that, Lee?!" asked Raien.
"Oh-ho? So he did not tell you?" said Tsubaki from atop the wind-dusted path to the stone. With an evil giggle she continued and said, "We stole your precious Emperium Fortress, and now Prontera belongs to the Holy Saviors!"
"WHAT?! HOW DARE YOU!" Raien yelled. "I've had enough of your shit for one day, Chuckles!"
Taking out a water stone, Raien performed a series of hand gestures and shattered the item, harnessing the essence of frost through his body, mixing it with his chakra. Meanwhile, Thiji had made it to the top of the Castle of Stone and begun his trek atop the earth-dusted path. Without wasting any time, Lupi had appeared nearby on the flame-dusted path to race against Thiji. But a strategist such as the Ice Wizard knew a few extra tricks. Blocking the residual flow of energy from the fire shard with an Ice Wall, the flame-dusted path leading to the Sapphire Emperium would begin to vanish into thin air, as Lupi slowly closed her eyes, coasted to a stop, and stood there until there was nothing left there support her. When she began her descent into the lake, at the top of her lungs, she howled…
FFFFFFUUUUUUUUU…! "
… And finally splashed down. Raien had finished his concentration and called down an icy meteor upon the Holy Saviors and cried, "Hyouton: Falling Ice Pillar!"
The Holy Saviors screamed in terror as the icy meteor crashed upon their bodies, shattering into diamond dust as they lied there in a pile, only halfway towards the Sapphire Emperium.
"Now, Thiji! Go!" cheered Ray. The Wizard nodded and continued about his business. For a moment it would seem that White Trinity would secure yet another victory, but in an unexpected turn of events, Heal-Do performed a high jump from below and landed in front of Thiji, whom was mere inches away from touching the Sapphire Emperium. Aege and Elua pulled their elder sister from out of the water, but then they saw their baby sister confronting Thiji…
Elua, thinking: Oh, no… Heal-Do… No, I can't doubt her now! (Aloud) Touch it, Heal-Do! Touch the stone!
Lee: No! No! No, no, no!
Ray: Oh, no, Thiji! Watch out, man!
Raien: Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!
The Assassin's sudden burst of skill amazed even Thiji, as he stood there, dumbfounded at his opponent…
Heal-Do: Forgive me… Lord Thiji… but I am afraid that this stone belongs to the Battle Vixens.
Thiji: What…?
Heal-Do: Sonic… Blow!
With blinding speed, Heal-Do, armed with the blessings of water and fire, struck at Thiji with eight consecutive blows. The Wizard's light feet managed to help him evade seven of them, but on the eighth and final hit, the Assassin clipped his leg, and swept him off the earth-dusted path…
Raien, in a shaking voice: No… way…
Ray: She didn't…
Lee: Out of nowhere…!
Time seemed to have slowed down for Thiji as he slowly felt gravity pulling him down. He gazed upon Heal-Do in great astonishment and shock, grabbing for the Sapphire Emperium, but to no avail. He could hear the distorted cheers of her older sisters as he continued his descent. But as he felt the perception of time return to normal, he closed his eyes and accepted his defeat, splashing down into the lake.
"And now… victory," Heal-Do said, putting a little bass in her voice as she reached out to touch the stone. A soft, blue light engulfed the area, followed by a flash of light, and the castles deactivated, returning to their dormancy. The Battle Vixens reappeared by the Castle of Flames as White Trinity gazed down at the lake, looking for Thiji.
"Victory goes to the Battle Vixens! The Sapphire Emperium… is theirs!" declared Kafra Misty. The Vixens delivered a series of jeers and teasing gestures to their adversaries, shaking their rears and sticking their tongues out at them. After their little "celebration," they found Thiji climbing back up to dry land, but he would be met with a lance to his neck. The Wizard gazed upon his conquerors with squinted eyes as he awaited an inevitable monologue from their long-time rivals.
"I don't know who you think you are," Lupi started. "I don't know who you think you were… and I don't know who you think you were going to be…" She would then lean closer, tugging the collar of his robe and bringing him up against her face and gave a taunting grin before she whispered into his ear…
"But you. Ain't. It."
She kissed his nose (as per Battle Vixen customs) and kicked him in the chest, sending him back down into the waters below as the sisters laughed at him, walking away from the area with the Sapphire Emperium in tow.
"Oh, that's just mean-spirited…" Ray commented, shaking his head. The Wizard swam back to his comrades, but instead of White Trinity helping him out, a plated hand reached out to him. Looking up he saw Youmei of the Holy Saviors offering him a hand. He graciously accepted and was wrested once again from the water's clutches.
"You fought with great honor and dignity this day, Sir Thiji," Youmei praised. "Those savage Battle Vixens may have their egos boosted to unimaginable levels thanks to this victory, but we know that yours is a respectable cause. We will prepare for the next battle, and when we next meet, I pray that it will be more memorable than this. Thank you."
"Lady Youmei, I thank you for your respect towards White Trinity," he replied, speaking on behalf of the guild. She bowed and walked off with her companions, though Tsubaki stopped and gave the Wizard a deep glance as if analyzing him before resuming. Thiji turned to his comrades and bowed to them in apology.