We made our way down the tower with our hands up, well at least Tetsuya and I. Serrano held onto Ximena for support.

A mage wearing a red cloak emerged from the ring of black cloaked mages. The mage removed the hood of their cloak, revealing the face of a white-haired woman with deep red eyes. On her head were fox ears.

A Kyuu-Hyakuian?

"Are you four spies from Mina?" she asked, projecting her voice far and wide. I could tell by the way she spoke that she wasn't a simple soldier.

"Mina? So we are in Xeleria after all," Tetsuya said. "That's where some of the materials making up our weapons are from. Wait, are we close to Xian? I need to get some wood from there to fix my shield."

The mages stared at his shield, specifically the green core. "You're not from this world," the woman said. "Are you from Wynaga? No, your style of dress is closer to that of the angels. Are you of mixed blood?"

"We're from Zionia," Serrano responded. "Though Ximena here does carry the blood of your people."

I stared at Ximena with awe as her ears vanished only to be replace by a pair of green cat ears.

These idiots, they were giving too much away!

The woman laughed. "You're awfully truthful, for members from the Angelic realm." She walked over to Serrano. She lightly touched his forehead. Crimson prana flowed out of her hand and followed across Serra's body. "Don't be afraid, you'll be fixed soon."

Serrano moved his body with ease once the light died down. He bowed slightly. "Thank you, wise lady."

"Butt kisser," Tetsuya mumbled as he averted his gaze.

Serrano shot him a dirty look.

I took a deep breath. I needed to have a serious talk with those two soon.

The lady laughed. "My, what interesting youths."

"Mommy!" a boy yelled. A red haired boy around the age of six ran up to the woman. He held the hand of a white-haired boy who greatly resembled the woman.

"Mother," the white-haired boy called out. "Who are these people?"

"They're from the realm of the Angels. The same beings that captured and tortured our kind during the first inter-dimensional war."

The red haired boy picked up a rock and threw it at us. Serrano used his power to send it falling into the ground in front of him. "Bad people, stay away!" the boy yelled.

"Well, these four appear to be somewhat trustworthy. That girl over there is even from our clan as you can see."

Ximena smiled and waved. "Yup! I'm of the second branch!"

"Though the brown haired girl has remained quiet. Girl, tell me, where exactly are you from?" the lady asked.

I had to gain her trust like the boys and Ximena did.

"We're from the Kuroriku clan," I responded with a slight smile. "My name is Setsuko Kuroriku, I'm the next in line for the throne."

"Though I'm actually from the Kasai no Ki clan," Ximena pointed out. Her eyes moved toward the two children. "I guess that you can say that I'm the most similar to you in more ways than one."

The red-haired kitsune boy smiled brightly.

The mages lowered their wands slightly. "Ah, a Kuroriku, eh? I was afraid that you'll say something else. Tell me, how are the heirs of Regina doing?"

"Fine. But if you mean the nation of Mizu no Kin as a whole, I am not too sure what to say. Things between us have been peaceful as of late, but other than that, I know nothing. To be honest, I barely know about the affairs outside Kuroriku."

She smiled. "Ah, so your clan is like ours? We also are isolated...for good or worse. That's right, if I recall correctly your clan once tried to conquer the continent your clan is on. Likewise, we tried the same here."

I looked down. I didn't like talking about that. That had been a very dark moment in our history, not just that of the Kuroriku but of our continent as a whole. Since then the other clans have isolated Kuroriku. The only way we managed to survive was thanks to the vast quantities of minerals and fertile land that we were blessed with. Else we would have starved.

Come to think of it, it was rather strange how Father had eagerly accepted to aid the current Celestial Queen. He even went as far as accepting to provide the majority of the troops. In the battle of Shirayuki, the other major clans were supposed to show up with soldiers of their own, yet in the end they left us hanging. Zafir, Koukyuu, and Akari were the only soldiers from those other three whom fought alongside our forces.

Why would the other three leave us to handle the majority of the risk of this conflict? Did they not see the need to work together? Or were they hoping in secret that Kuroriku would exhaust itself so that they could finish us off like how my grandfather had hoped to do to Kasai no Ki?

No, certainly Father would protest such treatment. Could it be that he was the one who told them to back down? If so for what? Perhaps for Kuroriku to keep the spoils all to themselves, if there were to be any from such a strange realm as Abyssia.

Father... what is it that you're planning? If it's spoils you want then are they worth taking all of the expenses and risk?

"Excuse me," Tetsuya said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Have you seen five others? One of them is a guy my age with black hair and eyes as blue as your youngest son here, but lighter."

The youngest child touched his eyelids and said, "Mine? Ah, that's right, we did!"

"Yes, we saw him with a girl from the first branch and a boy from the second. That's actually why we came to get you, Mother. Do you think that guy and the other two with him plan to kidnap them?" the older boy said.

"First branch?" Serrano asked, glancing at me. "Does he mean Yuko? I know that Nori is a nekomata, but had no idea Yuko was a tanuki."

"Yeah, she is," Tetsuya said, the color draining in his face.

Serrano sighed. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Tetsu smiled slightly as the color in his face returned. "Thanks, Serra."

Serrano averted his gaze and grumbled. "I'm not doing it for you, though."

I sighed. Serra certainly was a tsundere toward his cousin.

"Did you say Youko?" the red haired kid asked.

"No, Yuko! Yu-ko, not Yo-u-ko," Tetsuya corrected.

The boy touched his head. "I see, so that girl isn't a shark?"

"Shark?" Tetsuya asked, mouth wide open.

"Members of the third branch can turn into sharks," Ximena explained.

"Ehhh? That's amazing, but how do they do so on land?" I asked.

"Maybe they're land sharks," Serrano suggested.

"So, is she a member of the third branch?" the little boy asked.

"They mean the tanuki girl we saw," his older brother explained. "That's her name."

"Oh, well we know a Youko too!"

Tetsuya grumbled. "Kids these days..."

"Be nice," I suggested. "Listen, can you show us the direction they were heading to?"

"They were going in the direction of the northern light house, come I'll show you," the older child said, pointing in the direction of the beach we saw. He transformed into a small white fox and ran deep into the woods. Tetsuya and Serrano ran after him.

I glanced at the mother, I wasn't sure if she still suspected that we were spies.

"Follow Boukyaku," the lady advised. She held on to her oldest son who was trying to run after his brother but she didn't let go of him. "Eien, stay here."

"Aww, I wanted to go!"

"No, you're staying here with me. Since we're dealing with angels here, I better contact your father."

I closed my eyes. Something about Eien's prana, the energy mages use for their spells, was off. There was Mana flowing alongside it.

"Excuse me," I spoke up.

The lady hugged her son and looked up. "Yes, is something the matter?" She grinned. "Ah, do you want to come with us. I'll introduce you to my husband and his brother. I'm sure that you'll be surprised."

"Why would meeting your husband surprise me?"

"Come, and you'll find out. As for you friends, my son will lead them back to the school."

Flames surrounded us. She snapped her fingers and we were no longer in the forest, but in the center of a circle with nine statues surrounding us. The statue to the far left was of a tanuki, to the far right was a fox. However, what called my attention wasn't either of those two, but the statue to the left of the fox.

There was a legend in our realm about a clan in the magic realm who had a branch who was loyal to Orochi, the snake that attacked the angel realm over ten-thousand years ago. In the end, it was exterminated by the First Queen of our realm, Kushina Amadeus, and the first Magus Maximus of the magic realm, Takehaya no Mikoto.

"Is something bothering you?" Eien asked, tilting his head.

"Orochi...that creature attempted to invade our realm back when my ancestors, the sacred Angels, were still alive. Is it true that the eighth branch worships that serpent?"

The fox lady touched the fox statue. "Serpents in your realm are an ill omen, aren't they? Even in our clan, the other branches are wary of the snake branch. I will say this, normally they don't worship Orochi. However, they do owe their snake prana to him."

"I see."

"Come." She escorted me up a set of stairs overlooking the statues.

"This is a pretty nice castle you've got here," I said, grinning. "Are you a duchess? I mean, you give off the vibe of someone from royalty."

The lady chuckled as we walked on ahead to the stairs beyond the statues. Red carpet led the way to a golden door.

"Oh, this isn't a castle. This is Nine Petal Academy, our nation's highest ranked magic school," she explained. "This building was built a hundred years ago by my predecessor. The material to build it came from our ancient war spoils. The metals used come from Mina and Hoin, the jewels from Hoin and Wahkan, the wood from Xian and Aief, and the marble from Mina and Tora."

Tora, that was the place Etsuo and Roa had told my sister they were from. Of course it was a lie, but I couldn't help but think that there was a reason they chose that place over the others.

The more I saw and heard of this place, the more I realized she was right about us being similar. My country's oldest schools and even our castle were built from the spoils of war. So much did my clan love the goods we gained and the sensation of killing another that we eventually became a tyrannical state. Even now, in this era of relative peace among the four major clans, the country isn't the same as it once was.

"We're here." the lady said as she opened the door. "We're back!"

A white-haired man wearing a fox mask stood up. "Ah Katsura, I was telling my brother about visiting the- uh, who's the guest?"

"This is Setsuko Kuroriku. She's the heir of the Kuroriku clan, which I'm sure you've heard of, Shin'en Kasai no Ki."

Her husband laughed. "That's an odd way of pointing out who I am."

I glanced at the lady. So, that's what she meant.

"Kasai no Ki?" I asked. "Then you're from our rival clan."

"Rivals?" the other person in the room asked. He had white hair and eyes the color of blue flames. "Aren't we over that by now?"

I bowed slightly before the young man. "You must be his brother, nice to meet you."

The young man stood up and offered me his hand. I stared at it for awhile.

He chuckled. "Go on, this is a good chance for our clans to reconcile. After all we're the future rulers."

I turned to look at the lady. So she was no duchess, rather she was the Queen of Kyuu Seishin.

I returned my gaze back to the white haired young man and stepped back. "Then you're prince Maki?" I asked.

The young man chuckled. "What an interesting reaction you have there." He crossed his arms. "I get that your clan dislikes mine, but that's no reason to be afraid of one another. There is no use continuing the cycle of distrust and war between us."

I thought about Ximena's friendship with Tetsuya and Serrano. He had a point. It was possible for members of our clans to get along.

"You're right," I said, smiling slightly. "Our past animosity has gotten us nothing other than a mountain range of corpses.

"For angels you're pretty dark," Eien commented.

His mother put him down. "These two are pretty nice angels, as are you."

Eien grinned and two red wings appeared on his back. "I'm a nice angel!"

"Wow, he can already bring out his wings," his uncle said with a chuckle. He messed up his nephew's red hair. "You're a little box full of surprises, aren't you?"

He nodded and grinned back at him. "I'm going to become greater than any mage and angel currently here!"

"Anyway, how about we take this conversation over to the mainland?" Shin'en suggested, standing up. "Tonight's big event has already started."

"Event? Do you have a festival right now?"

"It's the Mahoulympics," Eien responded as he jumped up and down.

"Ah, I've heard of them. That's when all of the countries of Xeleria come together to see some of their most talented thirteen to twenty-one-year-olds battle."

"It used to be like that," Shin'en commented. "Now the most talented students avoid the Mahoulympics, they see it as more of a bother than anything." He glanced at his brother.

Maki yawned. "Well, I'm going to go ahead. I promised Akane that I would meet up with her, see you later!"

"Akane?" I asked. I had never heard of that name, so she likely wasn't his sister.

Shin'en smiled as his brother warped away. "She's my brother's girlfriend, well unofficially. They're keeping their relationship a s..." He slammed his head against his desk. "damn, I forgot that you're from that realm."

A hidden relationship... that seemed like something straight out of one of Rosa's favorite dramas.

"It's fine, I don't pay attention to gossip, nor do I broadcast it to the world. Say, can we wait for my friends to return? I think they would like to see the events. Plus we can learn something from watching the people of this world both at work and in battle."

Shin'en crossed his hands and nodded. "That's fine. I don't mind waiting. You know, for a Kuroriku, you're quite honest."

My eyes lingered on him. This man was the absent ruler of Kasai no Ki, yet despite his absence he has somehow managed to keep Kasai no Ki in order and revived it from the brink. Such a man as this had to be a genius. He even managed to push us back as we came close to taking over the monarchical lands. 

Though what followed showed that even he had his limits, allowing half of his nation to be ruled by the communists for almost two two decades. However, at least he was able to eradicate them eventually, unlike his predecessors who had struggled for over a millennia to put down the rebels.

His wife snickered at his comment. "It's not only her, the other two with her were quite honest too. They're like a pile of open books. They also have a friend from your clan with them."

He raised an eyebrow. Laughter escaped his lips. "That's a good omen indeed."

I didn't know how to respond to that. We were only saying what we thought we could get away with. We had yet to tell them about how we ended up inside that tower.

The door snapped me out of my thoughts as it opened.

"We're back!" Kohri yelled out as he, Nori, Yuko, and my sister entered the room. My maternal cousin glanced around. "So this is the ruler's chambers. It looks more like a principal's office."

"That's because it is," Shin'en pointed out. He stood up. "I'm the principal of this school. This is my wife Katsura, queen of these lands, and the little boy with red angel wings is my son, Eien."

"Thanks for helping us out," Tetsuya replied, bowing. "We owe ya one."

Serrano glanced over at me. "Have you asked them about a way to return to our realm?"

"Not yet, but I did meet Maki."

My fiance's eyes widened. "The prince of Kasai no Ki?"

"What's the prince doing here?" Ximena asked, frowning.

"Yeah, that Maki. He's here because his sister-in-law's country is hosting the event," I responded as I pointed at Katsura and Shin'en. 

Everyone turned toward Shin'en. Realization as to who he was came pouring over them.

"The king of Kasai no Ki," Ximena said, bowing slightly. "Nice to meet you."

Shin'en's stare lingered for awhile. "You... remind me of someone."

Ximena stood up to her full height.  "Really?"

He nodded solemnly. Did she remind him of a sibling or something?

"Anyway, Prince Maki said he was going to meet with a friend," I said. "I was thinking about staying for a couple of days to watch the upcoming Mahoulympics."

"Sounds alright, I was hoping to learn how to use the magic within this sword better. We can use whatever we can at this moment," Hyosetsu said, as he stared at his sheathed sword.

"Mahoulympics, that sounds familiar," Tetsuya said, tilting his head.

"It's when the strongest mages meet together," Yuko responded for me. "It's supposed to be awesome! Yuko wants to see it! Yuko's mama always wanted to see one for herself, and while she can't now, her Yuko can." She lowered her head and tried her hardest to smile.

Nori patted her back. "Same with Nori's family..."

Tetsuya laughed as he ruffled Yuko's wavy hair. "Alright, let's go to this big event. Seeing the mages might help us too."

"Let's hope that these games will help us out. We don't want to waste time, especially with the enemy likely plotting their next move," Serrano said as he leaned against a wall.

I nodded. We had to get us back home and make sure the other two knights and our soldiers were fine. That angel-dragon thing might've found them... Not to say that I would mind if Eiichi went 'missing'...

*Character Section*

Maki Kasai no Ki- Sex: Male Age: 21 Titles: Crown Prince of Kasai no Ki, Lazy genius.

Shin'en Kasai no Ki- Sex: Male Age: Unknown Titles: King of Kasai no Ki, He who saved Kasai no Ki, Fox of Ice, Master of Illusions

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :3. Fans of my other major series probably found this Episode to be rather interesting xD. What do you think of the Kyuu-Hyakuian (ethnic natives of Kyuu Seishin) and/or Kasai no Ki royal families?**