The Students had just finished reviewing Victoria Vern's record.
"I suppose I should check my records now" Josec said and scanned through the Book Of Jo-lan.
He found an index entitled 'Successors Of The Phoenix Clan'.
"Hey guys, remember the details concerning Jo-lan's History that Tome and the interpreters of literature shared with us before? I just found that index. I can't believe I actually forgot about it" Josec said with a laugh.
"Why don't you share it with us Jo?" Harry suggested.
Josec nodded and shared those details with his friends.
"There appear to be three records within this index under the titles of 'The Crimson Phoenix Of Jo-lan and Souryu', 'The Art Of Jo-lan' and 'The Three Founding Families'" Buern noted.
Josec accessed the record entitled 'The Crimson Phoenix Of Jo-lan and Souryu'. Within the index was the following record.
"Many centuries ago, the Black Dragon arose to bring mankind to its knees. It was a force of great destruction. Mankind battled the Black Dragon feverishly but mankind was overwhelmed. During that time, mankind prayed unceasingly, unrelentingly and at the same time mankind sought weapons to battle the Black Dragon. Somewhere along the line as though triggered by interference from some Divine Force, Jo-lan was unleashed into the world. Jo-lan equipped mankind with the knowledge needed to battle the Black Dragon. The word 'Jo-lan' is derived from an ancient word which means 'to give life to'" the record ended there.
"This record seems to affirm Victoria Vern's" Harry noted.
Josec accessed the record entitled 'The Art Of Jo-lan' next. This record seemed to continue from where the previous one left off.
"Jo-lan brought mankind's creative abilities to life and mankind continued to battle the Black Dragon however, the Black Dragon proved to be an overwhelming foe. That was until God created the elements of Light, Love, Courage and Hope. When the Four Elements were brought to birth, mankind's strong feelings to protect the future and the kinship they felt for one another created the miracle called the Crimson Phoenix, the manifestation of the collective righteous will of all humanity" Josec read the record.
"Some details in this record recount certain details from Victoria Vern's record. But the elements of Light, Love, Courage and Hope spoken of in this record align closely with Lucas Bane's record" Harry noted.
"Okay, I'm about to read the last record, 'The Three Founding Families'" Josec said.
"Okay" the others agreed.
"During the battles against the Black Dragon, there were many times mankind was on the verge of losing hope. Three people however kept the hopes of the people alive, inspiring them to persevere and uniting them in their confrontation of the Black Dragon. As a reward, these people were gifted with the Heart, Mind and Spirit Of The Phoenix. William Fenix inherited the Phoenix's Heart, Lucas Bane inherited the Phoenix's Mind and Victoria Vern inherited the Phoenix's Spirit. Around these three, families were born and the Three Founding Families eventually became Three Great Clans. The Fenix Clan inherited the Phoenix's Heart. They embody the emotions of the Phoenix and have the power to see beyond the natural. They are also responsible for dealing with the grudges between man and nature. The Bane Clan inherited the Phoenix's Mind thus making them the coordinators of the entire body of the Phoenix. They also have the power to repel all curses. Then there is the Vern Clan, the inheritors of the Phoenix's Spirit. They have the ability to suppress the sinister will of the Black Dragon. They are also the ones that decide which battles are worth fighting and which ones must be overlooked. It is their duty to ensure that the body of the Phoenix make it through every battle with the least possibility of casualty. However, due to the fact that Jo-lan mainly expresses itself through combat, over time, many forgot the true essence of Jo-lan and came to interpret it as the power 'to fight'" the record concluded.
"That's everything written in Tome's record" Josec said.
"From everything we've learnt so far, the Stones Of Virtue play an integral part in the formation of the Crimson Phoenix and Souryu's eventual downfall but…how?" Harry wondered.
"We've done enough research for the night, we should rest and continue tomorrow" Estelle suggested.
Everyone agreed.
The Students headed off to bed. Soon, they were asleep. In their dreams, Josec, Harry and Buern found themselves on a grassy plain at night. Above them, the moon shone brightly and countless stars illuminated the sky. Then slowly, they noticed the shadow of the Great Ship gliding slowly across the figure of the moon. In the next instant, they felt the great force of attraction acting on them and shut their eyes. When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a vast and brilliant location.
It appeared as though there was a gathering. There were many people gathered within this space. Some of them appeared to be human, though by looking at them, Josec, Harry and Buern could instinctively tell that they were not from their homeworld. Others appeared to be Psychorages. Above them was the Sky and in the Sky, the Sun, the Moon and the Stars shone brilliantly. Standing in front of the people was a man with silver hair and piercing crimson eyes. On the man's face, there appeared to be certain decorative lines. Two of these lines flowed up either side of his face. The other two flowed downwards. Then the man began to speak.
"Welcome, Students Of The Academy. I imagine you are surprised to find yourselves within this space. This is a deeper level of the Academy which can only be accessed by legitimate Students Of The Academy once they have been granted access to the 'Protocol Excalibur'" the man said.
"The Protocol Excalibur?" Harry whispered to Josec and Buern.
"What's wrong?" Buern asked.
"I think this event we're witnessing now may somehow be linked to Hieron" Harry said.
"How so?" Buern asked.
"Let's pay attention, I'll explain everything later" Harry promised.
"You might ask why this space is necessary. In your various homeworlds, you may have noticed a dramatic rise in the influence of evil. A force you may all have experienced in different forms is responsible for this. A force commonly referred to as the 'Darkness Of The Worlds'. It is a force that possesses the ability to take on a variety of forms and infiltrate various worlds to cause massive destruction. Recently, this force has gained great influence in multiple worlds and by so doing has managed to create portals of infiltration through the Gates linking the Seven Great Realms to the Academy. Fortunately, thanks to the activities of the Classes of both Deviants and Honours, a number of these infiltration points have been shut. Preparatory measures have already been put in place to counter the Darkness Of The Worlds which has now infiltrated the Academy under the guise of the Sanctum Of Decadent Wyverns. The Academy's main counteroffensive begins now. You will notice a red gauge in your crystal keys after accessing the Protocol Excalibur. It shows the degree of influence the 'Darkness Of The Worlds' has in your homeworlds. A large number of you will be sent home to counter this influence. A number of you will remain here to expel the Darkness Of The Worlds within this Academy. When the gauge turns green, the form the Darkness Of The Worlds has taken to plague your homeworlds will be weakened enough for the Protocol Excalibur to be implemented. It means the evil plaguing your world that has now infiltrated the Academy can now be expelled. Representatives from the Seven Great Realms will be sent to do this. When the bar turns green, those of you sent to your homeworlds will be returned to the Ark" the man said. "Whether you will remain here to expel the Darkness Of The Worlds or return to your homeworlds to weaken it by countering its influence is completely up to you. Thanks to 'Protocol Limelight', a protocol invented by Michael Of Kolmnid, you should be able to carry out your activities without detection" the man said.
There were murmurs amongst the people present. Amongst them were a number of Psychorages engaged in conversation.
"To defeat Tristran, we'll have to find a way to diminish his influence in the Seven Great Realms and trap him in a world where his influence cannot extend. Once he is vanquished in that world, he should fade from existence forever" a Psychorage said.
"The best world to trap Tristran in is a world where he has already been vanquished while at full strength" another Psychorage said.
"It seems the plan is to diminish Tristran's influence in the various worlds and trap him in a world where his influence cannot extend. To successfully do this…hmm…Ryu, do you really intend to release the power of the Dragon Zone?" Josec, Harry and Buern heard an elderly man say.
The next day, when they woke up, they told Jason, Estelle and Fleur all about their dream.
"To defeat Tristran…maybe they were talking of Souryu. But what did the elderly man mean by we'll have to find a way to diminish his influence and trap him in a world where his influence cannot extend?" Jason asked.
"I'm more curious about what the Psychorages meant by the best world to trap Souryu in is a world where he has been vanquished while at full strength" Estelle asked.
"Well, the Masters did say that Souryu is immortal and the only way to defeat an immortal foe is to seal them away" Buern noted.
"But they also said with every defeated general, Souryu regains a bit of his strength and after the defeat of the last general he becomes the proverbial insurmountable obstacle that the lessons of the Jo-lan Masters exist to overcome" Josec noted.
"Plus the Stones we retrieved from the generals, the Masters said they were necessary in order to seal Souryu away" Estelle said.
"Perhaps we're focusing too much on how the defeat of the generals strengthens Souryu. Actually, if you think about it, Souryu wins both ways. If we decide not to face his generals because we're scared of how strong he'll get after the defeat of the last general, then our continents will continue to be plagued by the disasters inflicted upon them by the generals. On the other hand, if we do defeat the generals, Souryu will regain his full power and become an insurmountable obstacle" Josec said.
"How does that relate to the earlier point you made about our being too focused on Souryu's strength?" Harry asked.
"Don't you remember? The Masters keep emphasizing that the only way to counter Souryu is to build up the body of the Phoenix till it becomes a force rivaling Souryu. It's true, Souryu probably becomes stronger after the defeat of each general but…so do we" Josec said.
Everyone opened their eyes in surprise.
"What do you mean Josec?" Buern asked.
"Think about it, when we began this journey, it was just the three of us, you, Harry and me. When Harry defeated Anubis, Estelle joined our ranks and we reached Fencer and gained the assistance of the Seven Jo-lan Masters. When we defeated Apollo, Jason joined our ranks and with each generals' defeat, routes opened up to the continents. Routes, the generals had ensured were practically non-existent" Josec explained.
"You guys, remember how I said in our dream that the 'Protocol Excalibur' spoken of by the man in our dreams may be linked to Hieron?" Harry asked.
The Students nodded.
"Well Hieron initially appeared to me in the form of a sword stuck in an altar. Jo-lan said Hieron is the Psychorage that chooses its wielder and that 'Excalibur' is the name most people know him by" Harry explained.
"I see" Josec thought deeply.
"However, that only proves that Hieron is somehow linked to the event we witnessed in our dream. It doesn't explain how" Buern said.
"Yeah…under normal circumstances except for the fact that the name 'Hieron' transliterates to 'A Holy Place'" Harry explained.
The eyes of the others widened in awe.
"In addition to that, we should recall Master Kyla's lessons on the Elemental Balance. Each element signifies a virtue. Following that logic, the element of Light symbolizes 'Truth'. Flame which is said to be able to dispel the debilitating effects of Darkness symbolizes 'Fortitude'. Love should correspond to the Stone Of Water which symbolizes both 'Purity' and 'Kindness' as well as 'Birth' and 'Rebirth' as we witnessed in the History Of Dreams and Reality. Water is said to be the element that possesses the greatest degree of healing ability. 'Hope' then would correspond to 'The Earth' which is said to contain the elements necessary to support life. These must be the virtues necessary for the formation of the Crimson Phoenix and Souryu's eventual downfall" Josec explained.
"I see, in that sense it's not necessarily the raw element that is needed to combat Souryu. The virtue behind the element possesses the capacity to diminish Souryu's influence" Buern realized.
"Yes, Souryu's influence over our world has indeed been weakening. That's what building up the Phoenix's body does. Eventually, Souryu will lose the ability to influence events in our world however to defeat him completely, we'll have to seal him away" Josec explained.
"That strangely explains the plan the engineers inadvertently drew up concerning the Mutating Several Layered Zone Of Absolute Defense. A Rainbow converted into a ripple and eventually resulting in the Dragon Zone" Estelle realized.