*Alto*

I stepped outside my tent and noticed that the Wahkanians were nowhere to be seen.

"What happened to the others?" Ulissis asked as he peeked outside of the tent.

"Seems that they obtained the other two gems they needed," Arima said, stepping out of Orion's tent.

"So we're in this alone again," Onyx said as he kindled the fire.

"We got two gems from this alliance, little brother," Aban said, grinning. "Now we only need to pull our weight toward getting the remaining two."

"The ones that the Wahkanians didn't take out are sure to come here," I said, sliding my hands into my jean pockets.

"Hopefully they took out the other Hoinians," Uli said. "I don't want to face that scythe girl again..."

"Uhh..."

Uli and I turned around and saw that Danmall was starting to stir.

"Uli, stay close to him. That way he won't be able to use his powers."

"Hope that the girls are alright," Arima said, sighing.

"I'm sure those sisters are fine," Aban said as he picked up a fish from the fire. "Now how about we eat up?"

"Food?" Danmall asked, blinking.

Ulissis and I chuckled.

"Alto, get me an extra fish," Ulissis said.

"Sure thing!"

"Huh, should we really be wasting food?" Onyx asked. "They are the enemy."

"He's still a person," I said.

"Yeah, plus Dan and Hal helped me out when Sloane had me captured," Ulissis said.

"T-thanks," Dan said with teary eyes.

I chuckled. Was the guy really older than us?

"Ugh, that bug boy is going to regret this," Hal muttered. He raised his eyes and gasped. "Wait, what are you doing here?"

"You thought that only you five made an alliance? Wahkan and Sefa did too," Arima said as she walked over to our tent with several fish on hand. She handed one to me and three to Uli.

"I see," Hal said, narrowing his eyes. "Where are they now?"

Arima smiled. "They moved on."

Hal lowered his head. "So that means that some of our allies were defeated..."

"Most likely Sera and Harun. That leaves the remaining three allied nations, us, Mina, Xian, and Kyuu Seishin."

"Would benefit us if Xian, Mina, and Kyuu Seishin fought one another while we obtain the remaining two gems," Aban said as he stood behind Arima.

"Hey, don't appear so suddenly!" Arima yelled.

Aban chuckled. "Should the spirit mage really be saying that?"

Arima laughed. "I guess not, but still, you aren't a spirit. Or are you?"

"Well, I seem to be drawn to you like one."

Arima kept her head down and backed away from him. "T-that's so cheesy."

"It really is," Hal said, chuckling.

Aban glared at him. "Want me to tie you up tighter?"

Hal grinned. "No need. I don't plan to be tied up for much longer..."

He moved his hands which were poking out of the spider thread rope Ayawamat had made but nothing happened. He repeated it against several more times.

Aban snickered. "Well, this is entertaining."

"What's going on? Why won't my magic work?"

"I'm restraining it," Ulissis said as he handed Dan a fish. He had cut Dan's rope.

"Hey, why did you let go of Dan but not me!" Hal yelled. "I'm the younger one here!"

"Really?" Aban asked, staring at Dan.

"W-why do people keep thinking I'm younger?" Dan asked, lowering his head in defeat.

"Well, you do look young for your supposed age," Ulissis said.

"Plus you're kind of short," Aban said, holding a hand in the air to emphasize his height. "Barely taller than my little brother."

"Hey!" Onyx yelled, kicking his big brother on the back of his right leg. "Told you not to call me short."

Dan turned around and giggled.

"Don't laugh at me!" Onyx yelled.

"S-sorry. It's just... you reminded me of someone."

"Who?" I asked.

"Hi..." He touched his head. "His... I can't recall it... Who was that boy?"

"Uh, you okay?" Aban asked.

Dan sat back down next to the tied up Hal. "I can't recall... b-but it was... at the tip of..." He winced. "Why can't I remember?"

"Dan," Hal said. "Don't push it. It'll come to you eventually."

His older brother nodded. "O-okay."

I walked over to Dan and gave him a good look. "You know, you resemble someone I once met."

"Huh?" Hal said.

"Who?" Dan said.

"A boy with a gun. His name was... Hmm, I forgot his name, but he went by the title of 'Knight of Donato'."

"Don-Donato?"

"Sounds a bit like your name," Hal said.

"Y-yeah, it does. I-it r-rings a bell, b-tut a w-weak one," Dan said, biting his lip.

"I see," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Guys," someone called out. It was Zelia. Accompanying her was Adah who was surrounded by several bees and butterflies.

"What happened? Why did you call us here?" Adah asked.

"Well, things are better now," Aban said, smiling. "The Wahkanians succeeded in moving forward. Though they sorta forgot to help us obtain two more gems."

"So everything is under control?"

"Yeah, for now," Onyx said before biting down on his fish.

"Uh, do you have any more roasted fish?" Adah asked, rubbing her stomach.

"No, but we could quickly get you some," Aban said.

"You won't be doing such a thing," a voice called around.

Adah asked and fell to her knees.

"Sis..." Adah said. Her eyes rose up. Standing before us was Sloane.

"I finally found you pests. I won't forgive your mockery!" she yelled as she swiped the air. Zelia caught the scythe between her hands.

Aban rose the earth around Sloane but shadows sliced it.

"Sloane, don't hurt them too much!" Dan yelled.

"Shut it! I'm not too happy with you two right now."

Hal gulped. "It's best if we play the role of hostages," he whispered to his brother.

"Please do," Sloane said as she yanked her scythe free from Zelia's grip.

"Sis, calm down," a voice called out. It was Catriona and accompanying her was Vita.

"Vita's here this time..." Arima said.

I glanced at Ulissis. We could use his anti-magic abilities to stop them, but if we did that then Hal and Dan would take the opportunity to escape. Well, at least Hal would.

"I'll be retrieving the red gem you took from Hal!" Sloane yelled, slashing the air erratically. Portals formed. She slipped her hand though one of the portal. I gasped as I felt something approaching slowly.

"Alto!" Aban said, shielding me. He winced as the scythe sliced his back.

"Aban! Alto!" Ulissis and Arima yelled.

Zelia charged at Sloane but Vita stepped forward. "Your opponent will be me," the alchemist said, smiling.

The dragon mage transformed her hands into claws and charged at her. "Move aside!"

"Sis, don't let your anger control you," Adah said, glancing up.

"So you're still conscious?" Sloane asked, pointing her bloodied scythe at her head. Her eyes widened as she noticed that several bees were healing her. "Ugh, insects."

Adah smiled. "A-afraid?"

She scoffed. "I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Arima, heal Aban. Onyx, help me stop Sloane."

"You forgot about me?" Catriona asked as he puppet dropped down from the air, blocking us.

The puppet raised its sword at me.

I blocked it with my bronze knuckles. I winced as she pressed down.

How would I defeat it this time? Last time it absorbed my attack. But could it do the same thing again? It looks different now.

"D, finish him fast!" Sloane yelled.

"Hey, I order him around, not you," Catriona said, narrowing her eyes at her sister.

"Well then, tell it to do that!" Sloane said as she swatted away several bees. She shivered and warped away.

"Where did she go?" Arima asked.

The sound of ripping cloth filled the air.

"Ugh, this is sturdier than I expected. Who made this?" Sloane asked.

"She's behind the tent!" I yelled, still pushing back against the puppet's sword.

"That tent was made by Ayawamat," Adah whispered. A smile appeared on her face. He extended her hand outward. The threads of the tent came undone and grabbed the dark mage.

"What?"

"That right there is spider thread," Adah said, pushing herself up. The rest of the tents came undone and attacked all of the Hoinian team.

"What?" Catrioana said as she fell to the ground. She was covered head to toe in colorful spider thread.

Her puppet slashed the thread but the stuff clung to his sword and arms, sealing their movements.

"Wow, that Aya proved useful even when not here," Aban said, whistling.

"It's a good thing we decided to ally with Wahkan!" Onyx said, smiling.

"Let me go," Sloane said as she struggled to move.

"Why isn't she teleporting?" I asked.

Arima gasped. "Her scythe! Every time she teleports, she slashes the air with it as if cutting the fabric of space-time!"

"Wait, can it really do that? I mean, she struggled to tear through spider thread just now."

"I doubt she really is ripping space-time," Arima said. "But her movements sure give that impression."

"I see... kind of..." Aban said as he ran over to Sloane.

Arima sighed. "Well, just take her scythe."

"Let go of me!" Sloane yelled as Aban pinned her down to the ground.

"We will, we only need your blue-green and black gems," Aban said.

"We gone none!" she said.

Aban searched Sloane and saw that she only had a white and yellow one."

"There isn't any..." Aban said.

"Yeah, now return them!" Sloane snapped. Her team wasn't disappearing, perhaps because we weren't allow to have duplicates so whatever magic the gems had still recognized her team as the rightful owners.

"I'll be taking those!" a voice called out.

Aban looked down at his hands and noticed that the stones were gone. He gasped as he saw the gray armored Aiefian.

"Good, the yellow one to replace the one we lost to Wahkan and the white one we needed," she said, grinning. "Thank you so much, losers!"

"You dirty little... I knew I should've have trusted you!" Sloane yelled.

Vita burned the spider thread away and rushed at her but the girl faded back into the woods. Her laugh could still be heard as she was teleported away.

"We... lost," Dan said, eyes wide as he and his teammates began to teleport.

Ulissis back away from him to allow them to be warped away.

"Darn them!" Hal yelled before fading.

"No... that leaves only Xian, Uan, Mina, Kyuu Seishin, and us..." Ulissis said.

"We only need a blue-green one and a black one," Arima said, rubbing her chin. "Uan has a blue-green one... though we'll need to attack one of the other nations too..."

"It would be more beneficial to form an alliance with us," a voice called out. Standing at the edge of the forest was Xue. Alongside her was a girl with a stern look on her face.

"True," Arima said, smiling.

"Then who should we aim for, Lady Xue?" her companion asked.

"Kyuu Seishin or Xian. I rather avoid coming into conflict with Sir Iah."

"Sir?"

Xue nodded. "Iah, you see is the son of his august one."

Her teammate gasped. "So this Iah is a demi-god?"

"He's not that strong. I did defeat him," Arima said, smiling.

"You dared to raise a finger on his august one's son?" the girl asked, stepping forward.

Arima backed away slowly. "Uh, yes. It was part of a tournament."

"Lady Xue, we should fight them!"

"Moon, calm down," a cyan-haired boy said as he stepped forward. "Lady Xue already decided. We will be attacking Kyuu Seishin."

"Is that so?" We gasped and turned to face the dried up lake. Standing at the edge of the former lakebed was Boukyaku. Accompanying him were most of his teammates, if not all, well, except for Eien.

"Where's Eien?" Xue asked.

The white haired, blue-eyed prince summoned his wand and pointed it at us.

"You should know that he's hurt. We had to leave him behind. This time he didn't dared to protest..." He transformed his wand into a katana and wrapped it in flames. Nine tails appeared on his back.

"Back away," a voice called out. Floating in the air was another white haired guy.

"Niu! You're alright!" Xue said, grinning.

"Sorry, I could protect our allies, but this time I won't fail. Now, let us older participates deal with him."

"Right," Zelia said, smiling.

"Niu," Boukyaku said, grinning at the new arrival. "I haven't seen you since you left Kyuu Seishin."

Niu grinned as he transformed his wand into a lacedao, a sword that strongly resembles a Katana.

"Moon style: Tiānshàng de yuèliàng!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The heavens rumbled overhead. The moon, Yin, which was barely starting to appear, glowed bright white. It casted it's light upon Niu like a stage light.

"Boukyaku," the masked woman dressed in white said. "Should we step in?"

"No, Ashynna, I want to fight Niu myself," he said, smiling. "Stay back and watch the others, if they try to interfere then deal with them."

"Alright," a green haired woman said, smiling at us. I felt shivers run down my back as I stared at those serpent-like eyes of hers. They reminded me of Mayu's...

"What do we do?" Aban whispered.

"For now let's just watch," Arima said.

Xue nodded. "Niu can win this, I know he can."

Could he? Hadn't he just lost to theWahkanians? Then again, Team Wahkan did somehow manage to take down the team ofthe so-called 'strongest nation' of our continent...

**Solar Note:  In case you're wondering, Niu is the right spelling of his name (name is Chinese for wolf). Realized I messed it up in the past couple of chapters (was spelling it as Nui). I also messed up Aban (wrote it as Alban) in a few of them. This chapter was dedicated to my good friend, ShinomiyaDR. Once again, happy birthday, buddy! Hope your road to 20 is your best one yet :).**