*Kun*

"Need help?" a voice called out. We turned to see Eien and his team.

"You guys!" Lei said, grinning.

"I'll go help the earth users," Enkaku said, rushing over to join us.

Iah, he, and I raised the earth around Aida but she easily broke the rocky confines with a serious of hardy roots.

"No way," Mayu said. She held out her arms to try to pry the wood around the titan but it wouldn't budge. "Incredible..."

"Let's burn her!" Eien suggested.

"Yeah," Boukyaku said before taking a deep breath.

"Wait! Yanyu and Ning are inside!" Xing yelled. He watched as his serpent continued to devour branch after branch. Its speed had slowed from when we first arrived.

"Move aside, everyone, we're going to blast that thing's wooden façade!" Yen, Lei, and I yelled in unison. We triplets released our unity attack on her but the vines and branches quickly healed until it was as if nothing had happened.

Roots spread out of the restores appendages and reached out for Hikaru who remained afloat.

"Hika, get away!" I yelled.

Yuzuki warped to her brother but a root grabbed her and pulled her down. She tried to warp away, but the restraints were too tight.

"Yuzu!" Lei screamed. He sent blades of wind at the roots but those were intercepted by branches. "Move out of my way!"

The branches moved around his blades of wind with the elegance of a hummingbird. My heart seemed to give out as one of them smacked him on the chest, sending him toward Mt. Rios. Dots of blood trickled down from the air.

"Lei!" Yen and I yelled.

My sister kicked her feet in the air, moving as fast as she could to catch up to our brother.

Something smacked Yen in the middle of the sky, sending her falling.

*Boom*

A cloud of dust erupted from the northern flank of my mother's ancestral mountain. It had to be Lei...

"No..." I said, holding my head. I collapsed to my knees. "Lei... Yen..."

Aida laughed. "Now it's your turn!"

"You won't hurt Kun!" Hikaru said appearing in front of me. Dark appendages had appeared on his back and his eyes were deep red.

The Owari no Me...

Hikaru froze time and dashed around as fast as he could while his sister tore the roots grabbing her. Rupts in the fabric of space appeared all around the colossus.

The thing though continued to move and heal, though Hikaru was breaking it faster than it could recover.

"How can it still be moving as if nothing?" Yuzuki said. She let out a grunt as she collapsed to her knees.

"Yuzuki, Ciji, protect her," Iah said.

"Don't tell that you're interested in h-"

"Just do as I say!" he screamed.

"O-okay," she said, turning around and running to aid the tired Yuzuki.

"It's not enough," Yuzu murmured. "This this is unstoppable..."

I gasped as I recalled Nahimana's words. "Is she a shard of light after all?" I asked. No way. She was meant to be our ally against the abyss? How?

"Kun, are Lei and Yen truly gone?" Iah asked as he kept shielding me from the branches.

I closed my eyes. Their prana, I could still feel it.

"You guys don't know how to do your job right!" a voice called out.

I glanced up and saw Ayawamat riding on top of a giant dragonfly. In his arms was Lei. Alongside him were the rest of his group as well as Aria.

"Lei!" Yuzuki said, smiling. Her smile vanished gradually. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine!" Hota said. "He didn't seem to sustain much damage, well either that or it was the abysmal core's doing. I also pulled the dust away from his lungs to prevent an asthma attack."

"I take back everything bad I said about you," Yen said as she zipped through the air.

"Yen!" I called out.

"I'm fine too, just a little disoriented," she said, rubbing her head. "Might need to visit the doctor after this."

"You idiot! Don't fight right now." I pushed myself up. I was pathetic. I said that I wanted revenge, yet I collapsed as soon as my siblings were hurt when instead I should've lashed out at Aida with all I had.

"Your time is up!" I said, glaring at Aida. "I don't care if you're one of the shards of light, I'm going to end you here and now!"

"Wait, Kun, don't kill her!" Aria yelled. "Whether we like it or not, she's a shard of light. We will be in need of her assistance if the future."

"If she does, it would only be begrudgingly," I said, summoning my wand and transforming it into sword form.

"If you do intend to kill her then we will be forced to fight," Tahoma said. "You know our mission goes beyond what's happened these past few days. To get revenge you're willing to risk the lives of others down the line?"

I gritted my teeth. "Fine! I'll just push her to the brink!" I said before kicking my feet against the ground. I sliced through various branches to make my way toward the core.

"Is Yanyu still safe inside?" Aria asked, jumping down from the dragonfly.

"I can still feel her prana," Tahoma said, landing next to us.

"I'll form a path," Hikaru said as he snapped a truck into shards of wood with his strange appendages. They looked like something an abysmal would have...

"Sounds good to me," I said, grinning.

Light bathed Hikaru completely. Like a bullet train, he plowed through Aida's branches, breaking them with those strange tail-like appendages coming out of his back.

"That guy's eyes," Aida said. She glanced at me. "Hikaru, he's one of the..."

I nodded. "I know..."

"Hyah!" Hikaru yelled, sending pillars of light raining down.

"Let's join him," Tahoma said, raising his hand up. Aria and I followed his lead. Multiple pillars of rain rained down, tearing and blasting chunks of wood off of the giant. Meanwhile, Ayawamat sent out thousands of ticks out to attack the wooden titan.

The thing began to move erratically as it took more damage.

"Think she might be at her limit," Yuzuki said, standing up.

"Same," Ayawamat said as he jumped down next to her. "Here, take care of your boyfriend.

"Yuzuki isn't dating him," Orion said, grumbling.

"Thanks," Yuzuki said, taking Lei from Aya.

I snickered. If it were Nyima she would've protested it while Adela would've just blushed.

Yuzu held my unconscious brother tightly. "I'm so sorry, Lei. I couldn't keep you safe, again..."

"I-it's fine, don't blame yourself," Lei said, opening his eyes. He gave her a weak smile and caressed her face. "I don't like seeing my friends sad..."

Yuzuki smiled. "Oh, Lei!"

I chuckled. Typical little brother!

I turned my attention back at the flailing beast.

"Lei, Yuzu, if you got any juice left, gather it to attack Aida. We can defeat her if we all attack at once."

"Lei!" a pair of voices called out.

"Nyima, Adela," Iah said, turning around.

"Did she do this?" Adela asked, glaring at Aida.

"Lei, buddy, how are you holding up?" Elliot asked.

"I'm fine... help attack that thing."

"You got it!" Adela said, summoning her wand. "I'll cut that girl down into little bits."

"Hey, don't get too violent," Nahimana said. "We need Aida."

"Then I'll give her to you, in pieces. Or perhaps you rather she be roasted," she said, closing her eyes.

"Wait, Yanyu and Ning are still inside!" Xing yelled.

Adela gasped. "Tsk. In that case, I'll just slice it down!" She dashed over and began cutting tree limb after limb like crazy.

"Tsk. This is taking too long," Gat said as she sliced another limb off the titan. "It keeps on healing."

"We need to speed up our attack rate," Boukyaku said as he yanked on some branches with his long fox tails.

"Right," Eien said, dodging Aida's attack.

"It's no wonder that Yanyu and Ning are taking a long time," Ashynna said as she deflected a branch.

"If only they weren't inside, we could burn it," Zelde said.

"Some parts are on fire on the inside, though increasing the amount of flames might be a bad idea while those two are there," I said.

"My termites are tiring out," Ayawamat said, staring at the thing in disbelief. "If this is the power of H.E.H.'s youth, how much stronger are its leaders?"

"Sarah's dream was to defeat them, but if everyone were around the strength of the four we met here, or stronger, then that was but a pipedream," Mayu said as she tore the bark out of the titan.

"No, she can fulfill it. She just needs the right allies," I said before dashing forward.

Everyone else followed up by attacking it one way or another.

"Just die already!" Adela screamed.

"Yeah!" I yelled, stabbing the thing.

Suddenly, a beam of blue light erupted from deep-within the titan.

"What's that?" Nyima asked, jumping back.

"It's Ning's beam! They must've reached Aida!" Xing said, smiling as he picked up Guang from the floor.

"We need to get out of here," Mayu said, striking the titan one again, but this time as a mean to push herself off of it. "It's going to blow!"

"But Yanyu and her teammate are still inside!" Aria yelled.

"They'll be fine," Tahoma said, narrowing his eyes. "Yanyu's barrier will protect them."

Hikaru and I ran over to our immobilized siblings and dashed as far away as we could get. Beams of blue light tore the titan from inside-out. Flames ran down the remains, making it resemble a giant bonfire.

"Ning," Renshu said, eyes wide.

"There's coming out of it alive, just have faith," Adela said, keeping her back to the thing as we landed on top of some distant ruins.

*Boom* Blue flames spread out, launching something high into the air.

"Is that Ning and Yanyu, or is it Aida?" Aria asked.

Lei smiled. "Well, the right answer is all three."

Great, Yanyu went ahead and saved her...

"Yanyu! Over here!" Aria yelled, waving.

"W-we did it," Ning said as soon as Yanyu landed the spherical barrier they were riding on.

"That was insane!" Lei said.

Ning snickered. "It was. Though I'm glad that we all got out of it alive."

"Don't count victory yet," a voice called out. It was the sound guy. Beside him was Hew.

"Tsk, the remaining two. Guess that Ricardo lost," Ayawamat said, glaring at the sound guy.

The guy grimaced. "It was a hard fought win. Out of all the Rios he was the strongest."

"Wait, what happened to him?" Sowk asked, eyes widening.

"He still breathes. It would be a shame to take the life of someone who was actually a worthy opponent. Now, hand over the mirror shards!"

He dashed over to Hikaru and took the mirror shard from him before he could even act.

"Nyima!" Adela yelled.

Nyima tried to move back but the guy snatched the mirror away.

Aria glanced around.

"Everyone, don't let them win!" I yelled.

"We won since this thing began," a female voice called out. Standing behind Aida was the psychic girl. He mask through was shattered.

"B-but I knocked you out!" Stella yelled.

The girl smiled. "I was acting. It was all part of the future I foresaw. Though Aida changed some things. If only she had listened, this wouldn't have happened."

Aria jumped back and threw a dagger at her. The psychic deflected it and warped next to her. "Hand over the last part!"

"I'll take it!" the sound mage yelled.

*Boom*

"My ears!" Chao yelled, falling to his knees as sound waves reverberated across the forest.

Even those of us were less sensitive fell to our knees.

"No," Aria said, gritting her teeth. She raised her head and saw the psychic mage reach for the shard.

"Hand it over!"

"No! Don't do it, Aria! They hurt Sarah and An! They don't deserve to win."

The girl gasped. "Sarah..." She glanced at the bloody Aida and smiled slightly. "I'm kinda glad that you did this to her. I warned her not to harm her."

"You warned Aida not to harm Sarah?" I asked. "Wait, do you know her?"

She smiled. "That's not for you to know." Her black-gloved hand reached out and snatched the third shard from Aria. "Now, to piece it together."

She turned and saw her colleague continue to fight my sister. "This won't last long."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked. "It looks like your teammate is at his last legs." I stood up and raised the stones from the ground.

"Those shards will be mine!" Iah said, dashing behind her.

"Oh, no you don't!" Nyima yelled, unleashing a blinding light on them.

The psychic girl and Iah both closed their eyes.

"I can't see!" Yen yelled.

"You blinded everyone!" I said, wincing. Even as a light mage, her light was too much for me.

"Got it!" Nyima said. "Yen, take the others."

"You shouldn't count victory too early!" Iah yelled.

"Hey!"

I opened my eyes as the light cleared to see Iah with the shard.

A red blur raced after the still dazed sound mages.

"Go Isabelle!" Ciji yelled.

The sound guy yelled as Isabelle took the mirror shards. "Sorry, going to borrow these!" Isabelle said, winking.

"Stop her!" Eien yelled as he threw flames at her.

"Fire? Fire won't stop me!"

"Sorry, bud, but those are mine!" Elliot yelled as he smacked her toward the ruins below. "Ade, I got two shards!"

"Good, I'll get Iah's!" she said as she flew with her eyes closed.

Iah grinned as he moved toward Elliot. "Sorry, but I plan to actually win something!"

Isabelle tackled Elliot from behind and took the shards from him. She threw them at Iah who was moving faster than usual. He must've removed those weights of his.

Adela, Yen, and the psychic all raced after them.

I jumped and summoned a gust of wind to move them over to my side but Iah used his dragon wings to shift the winds in his favor. He grinned as he caught the last three shards. "Mina wins!" he yelled, rapidly putting the mirror together.

"N-no," the psychic mage said. "This isn't what I foresaw..."

A bright blue light covered all of us, returning us to the starting grounds. There the teams that hadn't gone off to join us looked around with confusion.

"What happened?" Kachina asked, running over to us. "What were those explosions in the north?"

"They weren't explosions, they were shockwaves... well, there were a few of them," Sirius said.

She sighed. "So, did we win?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

"No," Lei said, sighing. He pointed at Iah who stood behind him.

"We won," he said, smiling.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in," Nyima said, pouting.

Iah snickered. "You're just mad because you didn't win."

"Shut up!"

He smiled. "I thought you were sad that I wasn't talking to you."

She gasped. "Well... that's different!" she yelled, blushing.

Iah laughed.

"You're just a jerk sometimes! You know that?"

"More like narcissist," Adela said, nodding at her own comment.

"He's an egomaniac," Lei said, nodding as well.

"And a stupid flirt," Nyima added herself.

"Ahh, thanks!" Iah said, grinning.

"That's not a compliment!" the three yelled as if they were the triplets here.

I laughed. Seemed Iah was as much of a troll as Hal and me. Even though we didn't win, at least everyone got out of it alive. Though I still wished that one didn't...

My eyes shifted toward where the Hierarchians were standing, but they were now gone. Where had they gone off to? Hopefully to someplace where they would be less trouble.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Only four parts remaining (3 numbered chapters and the epilogue) ^_^!**