[Back in Meadow Hill]

Satoru's wall of ice came crashing down as soon as my bullet of fire hit it. Unfortunately, the bullet itself dissolved before it could reach him.

"Tsk," I said, gathering up more energy around the barrel of my gun. "You three, protect me while I charge up for another shot!"

"No need to ask!" Zydeco said, charging at Satoru.

The fox aimed his tails at him as soon as he came within their reach. Zydeco ducked his head and blocked another with his glowing katana.

The fox's eyes widened. "Hmm, did you suddenly become stronger?"

Zydeco chuckled. "I, unfortunately, have a habit of starting off slow. But I had a nice warm up already, so I'm geared to go!" he said as he kicked a tail away.

I narrowed my eyes at Satoru. His tails were slower than I remembered. By now, he would've stabbed his opponent through the back. Was this an effect of his time in the pit? No matter what its cause, it would make taking him down easier for me!

Zydeco sliced off one of the tails with his sword and kicked Satoru in the stomach, but the fox didn't budge. "What?" he said.

Suddenly, the tail that had been sliced off leapt at him as it melted into a black tar-like liquid.

"Let go of me!" Zydeco yelled as he tried to slice the stuff off of him, but it continued to regenerate.

"Zydeco!" the girls yelled, abandoning me and running over to aid him.

Satoru chuckled as light-blue-spheres formed in three of his gray tails. He waved his tails forward, launching all three toward Zydeco.

Koukyuu raised one of her tails to try to deflect the attack back at him, but as soon as her tail made contact, she vanished.

I gasped and watched as a gaping Sonata and Zydeco were struck by the same spheres.

"What, did you do?" I asked, stepping back.

The fox chuckled as he got on all four, transforming into his full kitsune form. "I teleported them to the abyss." He snickered. "They'll be joining your beloved brother!"

I clenched my teeth together. "Ugh!" I yelled as I took out the cube that Takeshi had given me before boarding the bus. I slammed it against Donato. The weapon let out a brilliant orange glow and turned into a machine gun!

"You think that'll stop me?" he yelled, slamming the gun away. It broke through several trees, going on for several miles.

I stepped back. How was I supposed to defeat him now?

He snickered. "You're done, Hideo. I could send you to the pit, but I won't. You'll be going somewhere else. The realm of the dead." He raised his tails over me and grinned. "Your brother's soul will be crying your name for all eternity, but you'll never come. That's what that weakling deserves. It'll teach him the true meaning of despair."

"Don't call him that!" I shouted, causing the tails to halt in midair. Green wind surrounded me. "I won't let you insult him any longer!"

Satoru let out a belly laugh as his tails pierced through the wind. "You think that this will stop me! Your rage is weak! It pales in comparison to the rage I felt from Rosalba and Tetsuya. Did your brother not matter to you? Though, what should I expect from one as selfish as yourself."

"What do you know?" I asked as I continued to push back against the tails. "You know nothing about me! I'm going to get my revenge... For Dan, for Koukyuu, and the others too!"

He scoffed. "You barely know those three. Besides, I'm certain that they didn't care one bit about you. Also, look around. No one is coming to aid you. You're worthless. Both as a big brother and as a knight. You're better off dead."

"Lies!" I shouted as I cupped my ears. "I won't listen to a demon like you again! I made the mistake of doing so when you had taken Dan despite his pleas not to do so. I... am selfish to some extent, I admit that. But I... I want to change. I don't want to stay the way I am all my life! I want to grow, both physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally! I've done nothing, but get tossed around! So, if I am to die here, I'll go out with a bang!"

I raised my hand in the direction that Donato had been flung in. I wasn't sure if I could recall it to me, but it was worth a try. It had worked with my old angel tools, so why not with Donato which I wasn't supposed to allow to get too far from me.

"Ugh, just die already!" he screamed, pushing down on my green wind aura. "You are no hero and you never will be!"

"I said that I won't listen to you. Donato, come back to me!" Suddenly, Donato reappeared in front of me, still in its machine gun form. I smiled. "Seven Bullets! Let Freedom Rain!"

Satoru jumped into the air just before seventy bullets fired from Donato in rapid succession. Each one of them locked in on him.

"What?" he yelled as the bullets continued to follow him. "Didn't you say seven bullets? Why are there seventy?"

The fox closed his tails around his body. He let out a cry as all seventy flame bullets struck him, ripping through his tails.

"It's over!" I yelled.

"Hahahaha!" he cried out. 

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You truly think so?" he asked, looking up.

I gasped as I was yanked back by one of his tails. Satoru had appeared behind me. How, when had he broken through? Better yet, how did he get behind me? I knew he was fast, but not this fast!

I turned toward where he had been. The bullets exploded into a giant fireball, setting the surrounding forest on fire.

"Look what you've done! Your futile attempts only bring chaos and death," he said as he directed my head toward the flames. Birds flew into the air in massive waves. Smoke quickly covered the sky, blocking out the sun. "Just like with Dan."

I yanked on his tail, but it wouldn't budge. "N-no. I can't die here..." I closed my eyes. I was too weak. I needed more power. But how could I obtain more? Suzuki had obtained power though walking the demon path, but that nearly destroyed her. Plus, I didn't want anything to do with demons. It never ended well.

"Sky... Father... please... grant... me strength... to overcome," I cried out as Satoru's grip on my neck tightened.

"You're crying out to your god? He didn't save your brother, and he won't save you!"

I let out a weak yelp. "I... promised... Dan, that I would... always be there for him. I... I will save him, even if he is dead, I will rescue his soul from the pit!"

I gripped his tail once more, pulling with everything I had. Just then I felt a massive wave of energy surge within me. The world around me seemed to distort as waves of green energy flew toward me, knocking Satoru around.

My wings suddenly emerged and began to glow bright emerald.

Satoru intensified his grip on me but the wave of energy continued to knock him around like a tiny boat in a raging sea.

"I won't die here," I said, my voice sterner than it had ever been. "Rather, you will!"

Satoru let go of me, but I didn't let go of him.

"This form... it's just like with Serrano..."

"Cut the act! I know that you aren't the real Satoru. He would never call Rosa and the peasant by their actual names. Plus, if you were Satoru, you would've stabbed Zydeco and the others. It's practically his signature move. You're an illusion, created by Zyuuni, aren't you?"

Satoru grinned as the tail I held on to vanished. "An illusion I might be, but if you can't defeat me then what does it matter if I'm fake?" he asked.

"Right," I said as a second pair of wings sprouted from my back. Green energy crackled around my body. Some of it flew into my gun, amplifying the power of the bullets inside. "Seven Bullets! Let Freedom Rain!" Seventy bullets emerged from Donato once more rather than seven. Their paths merged into one single point, transforming into a giant red beam.

The illusion closed its eyes as the beam destroyed it.

I sighed. "If only the real thing were that easy." I looked down at my hand. How had Zyuuni known so much to create a semi-accurate illusion of that guy? Had he gotten into my mind? Or was it someone else who gave him that intel. Someone like Takeshi.

"Hideo! Hideo!" a voice called out. I blinked and turned around. Sonata and the other two came running out of the forest.

"Where's Satoru?" Zydeco asked as he came to a stop.

"...He's gone. Anyway, we need to deal with the forest fi..." I turned and saw that there was no forest fire. Was that an illusion too?

"He's gone? You defeated him on your own?" Koukyuu asked.

I snickered. "Sort of. It was a fake. Though, it seems that I gained something out of it."

"A fake?" Sonata asked.

The princess of Kasai no Ki stared at my glowing green aura. "As in it was an illusion. Hmm. This form... you achieved Second Heaven."

"Second Heaven?" I asked, tilting my head.

She nodded. "Yes. It's a transformation with great power. It increases the key traits of an individual. Like say someone who is fast, they'll become even faster and so on."

Key traits? I knew that Hyosetsu was an attacker, the peasant was defense, and that Eiichi was speed. Setsuko's? I wasn't all that sure about as I hadn't really seen her fight. But what was mine?

I gasped as the aura around me started to fade. The entire forest seemed to sway.

"Hey, are you alright?" Koukyuu asked, catching me as I swayed forward.

I smiled. "Just need some sleep."

Suddenly, a portal opened in front of me. Out of it came Ayumi and Zyuuni.

"You..." I said, glaring at him.

Zyuuni grinned. "How was it? My performance? I used all I was told about the guy from Takeshi. Though, it does appear that there were lapses in it."

I continued to glare at him. "It wasn't funny."

He sighed. "Of course. It wasn't meant to be. It was meant to push you to your outmost limits. Both emotionally and physically. However, I was disappointed by the weak performance you gave me."

"Weak? I'll give you a strong performance!" I said, reaching my hands out for him, but Koukyuu held me back.

"So, it was you who teleported us," Koukyuu said, staring at Ayumi.

She nodded. "Yeah. Takeshi wanted to make it a one-on-one between Hideo and 'Satoru'. So, I was tasked with isolating him while Zyuuni played the role of villain."

"Well, you didn't do that good of a job. The real Satoru is far more evil," I mumbled.

Zyuuni chuckled. "Is he? That's kind of scary as I thought that I had done a pretty good job at replicating the sadist."

"If that was what you were aiming for then you should've created an illusion of Dan to torture him further," Koukyuu said.

"I'm glad that he didn't," I said, narrowing my eyes. "I probably would be far more angry right about now if he did."

"Yeah, Takeshi told me to go far, but not that far. We didn't want to break the kid."

"Uh, aren't you younger than me?" I asked.

"I'm seventeen," he said.

"And I'm eighteen."

He gasped. "You are? But you're so short?"

My aura suddenly flared up once more. "Don't call me short!" I yelled.

"Uh, he's taller than me," Sonata mumbled.

Zyuuni chuckled. "Well, we angels tend to be rather tall compared to mages."

"That's why you come off as a giant to several people," Ayumi said, her arms crossed.

He moved his head side to side. "I do? I wasn't aware of that."

I sighed. This guy reminds me of Kohri... No filter whatsoever.

"Hideo, everyone!" a voice called out. I glanced up and saw Serrano flying overhead. Accompanying him were several other members of the peasant's team.

"We're fine! It was just Zyuuni pulling a prank on Hideo!" Ayumi yelled.

"A prank?" Eri asked as he descended to the ground. He grumbled. "Zyuuni. Now is no time for pranks!"

"So, someone did come after all," Zyuuni said, grinning. "Guess that I, I mean 'Satoru' was wrong."

His power truly was terrifying. Even when I knew they were illusions, I could still feel them so vividly. The pain, it was very real. Though, he was the next Magus Maximus. He had to be powerful if he hoped to prevent challenges to his title as heir.

"So, you were close to you brother, huh? Uh, how does it feel to have a brother?" he asked as he leaned in closely.

"Huh?" I asked, backing away from me.

"You don't know? I'm an only child," he said, glancing up at the sky. "I usually wonder, how it feels to have a sibling. Eri, Ocarina, they've all told me how it feels to have one. Each one seems to be like you. Wanting to protect those younger than them. I'll like to know what drives that. Is it similar to friendship?"

"You're such a weirdo," a voice called out.

"Ahh, Ryonoko!" Zyuuni said, waving at his cousin. "I was just asking about siblings! This might be important information for you! You are going to be a big brother in a few months after all!"

Ryonoko put his hands on his hips and sighed. "Zyuuni. I already told you that siblings can be rather annoying."

"That's sort of true," I said, thinking back to Silas and Dossie. "But even then, they can also be fun to be around."

The Celestial-Dragon heir grinned. "True. I did have some fun around Takara."

"Takara?" Sonata asked. "I thought that you were an only child."

"I am, biologically speaking. Takara is my adopted sister. My dad found her in some ruins as a child. She's actually his niece."

"Ruins?" Serrano asked.

Ryonoko's smile faded. "I'm not sure about the circumstances, but it appears that her home was destroyed. I tried to look into it, but it seems that it was buried."

"Buried?" Eri asked.

"Makes sense," the other guy who had come with Serrano and Eri said. He was tall and muscular with short white hair. "There was a conspiracy there. One that swept through all the archives."

"Conspiracy? Who would be behind it? And how would you know?" Ryonoko asked. "I had access to all sorts of data but found no such speculation."

The young man closed his eyes. "I know because I was caught up in it. My family, my home, they were all destroyed by the conspirators." He placed a hand on his chest. "I'm one of the few survivors from that time. In that war, I too lost my little brother."

I gasped. "Y-you did?"

He closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. War, it's not something that comes easy. It pulls people up like a twister tugs on trees. A few fortunately emerge from it with a few broken branches while most are tilted, others sustain great damage but persist, others are uprooted, and then there are those that are unrecognizable as the old tree one used to swing on."

I lowered my eyes. "Yeah, war is awful. But that only means that we have to end this war as soon as possible."

Serrano nodded. "I agree. Though, perhaps the quickest way isn't in the battlefield, but at the table."

"The table? You want to have dialogue with them?" I snapped.

He bit his lip. "Yeah. Perhaps... perhaps I would be able to reason with them. Plus, your sister might make a good ambassador. She did befriend Etsuo and has an abyssmal within her."

"Oh no, you don't! Kiara isn't returning to that place!"

"Reasoning with the enemy?" the mysterious young man asked as he turned around. "It sounds pretty, but also naive. If you wish to, go ahead and try it. But don't be disappointed if it ends in failure." He walked away from us, disappearing into the forest.

"Who is that guy?" Sonata asked, tilting her head.

"His name is Shin Hiryu, he's from Wynaga," Eri said.

I stared at the forest. Tha man gave off a vibe similar to that of the peasant. Not just that of someone whose life was changed by war, but something else... Was it the sense of betrayal? Had someone close to him hurt him?

*Character Section*

Shin Hiryu- Sex: Male Age: 21+ Birthday: ? Origin: Wynaga (Location unknown) Powers: Fire