*Teresa*

"What was that flash of light?" Nico said as he blocked a kick from me.

"Trying to distract me, aren't ya? That won't work!" I said, yanking my foot free from his grasp.

"Hey," he said, blocking another of my kicks with his left forearm. "I mean it. It's coming from the direction of your house."

I snuck a glance over at my house but there was no light.

"It's gone," Nico said. He pulled away from me and tilted his head. "Though the power was great. Surely you detected it."

I hated to admit it, but I was too focused on our sparring session to notice what was going on around me. Part of me felt offended that he wasn't the same. It was as if he wasn't taking our match seriously. Then again, he was physically stronger than me by a long shot...

"Want to go check out what it was?" Nico suggested.

I waved my hand. "Nah. It might just be that whoever is cooking went crazy with the grill!"

"Wait, I thought that you didn't see it."

"Uh, I didn't," I said, blinking. "Was it fire related?" I glanced in the direction of my home. There was no smoke.

"Well, it was red and gave off a fire-like vibe," Nico said, chuckling nervously. "Who knows, it could be that one of the fire users messed something up."

"I thought that it was Hyosetsu's group who was in charge of cooking."

He gasped. "That's true. I don't think that there's one with fire powers on his team, well except for possibly Kei. Could've been him as he is a kitsune, and that light felt like the energy of a kitsune."

I blinked once more. "How can ya tell that? If ya turn out to be right then ya must have amazing senses." I smiled and turned around. "Let's go check it out!"

"You go on ahead. I'll like to take a bath," he said taking a deep breath.

I smiled as I turned around. "You can take one at my place. Uh..." My face heated up. He was shirtless!

"Something wrong?" he asked, smiling innocently. Though, I doubted he was so naive.

"D-don't take off ya shirt in front of a damsel!" I shouted, turning away.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't think you would react like this."

I looked over my shoulder and found myself staring at his smile as he bit his lip nervously. It was rather cute, if not oddly alluring.

He suddenly turned around as he noticed that I was looking at him. "I'm going to go now." He was as embarrassed as I was.

I snickered as I watched him vanish into the forest. Seemed that he was as slow as Taku and Tetsu, or perhaps, more when it came to females.

Hmm, now that I think about it, Nico sort of fits my ideal guy. Kind, smart (except for when it comes to girls but that just gives him that cute and innocent vibe), funny, strong, and handsome. Plus, he cares about his family, at least his little sister.

I shook my head. What was I thinking? Now wasn't the time to think about romance again. Perhaps, after the war was over, I could do that, but not now.

I spread my black wings and took to the blue skies above and headed straight for home.

https://youtu.be/QK7UP_JFxG8

When I arrived, I was greeted by the sight of Tetsu battling the gun knight in the center of a square battlefield. For some reason, Tetsu wasn't using Agnes. Instead, he was using his arms to guard against the Donato Knight's bullets.

"Why aren't you using Agnes, peasant?" Hideo snapped at him. "Are you making fun of me?"

My brother simply grinned as he defended against another bullet. This one failed to puncture through his body like the others had.

"You think that just because you're an abyssmal that you're immortal? These weapons were created to kill your kind!" Hideo snapped. "You should show more concern for your own safety."

Tetsu sighed. "You still got a long ways to go, cousin."

Cousin?

Hideo grumbled as a green aura started to wash over him. "You think that I'll allow myself to be mocked again?" he yelled. "I have faced enough humiliation as it is! I won't lose to some low born who isn't even willing to put up a fight."

Tetsu scoffed. "You're the one who isn't willing to put up a fight. I mean, these bullets are pathetic."

"Why you... I'll show you who the pathetic one here is!" He raised Donato at my brother and shot a bright green beam at him. Tetsu raised his right arm which was soon covered by a purple glow. Agnes appeared on his arm and deflected the bullet back at Hideo.

Hideo gasped as he dodged. "What in the world? N-no way. S-since when were you... this strong?" he asked, his grip on his weapon slipping.

"Being mistreated by the likes of you and the others have made me stronger, both in terms of body and mind."

"Ha, maybe in terms of body but not mind! Roa's words back in Makkuroyama basically caused you to have a meltdown. Or did you think that I didn't notice all the darkness swirling around you?"

Tetsu leered at him and charged at the shorter knight. Hideo gasped as he was punched in the gut and sent toward the edge of the field. Suddenly, my younger brother appeared behind him and punched him again, sending him flying all the way to the other side.

"Watch your words, weakling!" Tetsu said, his voice filled with menace.

Is that really my brother?

"Who are you calling 'weakling?" Hideo snapped as the verdant aura around him intensified. He grabbed my brother's fist and shot at his face at point-blank range.

Tetsu grimaced as blood dripped down his forehead.

"If you weren't an abyssmal you would be dead by now," Hideo said as his gun charged up for another shot. This time he struck my brother's right arm.

"Argh," Tetsu screamed as he rolled.

"Now do you take back what you said about me, peasant?"

Tetsu gritted his teeth. "Like I will! Perhaps, when you start respecting me then I will!"

Hideo shot once more, this time at his heart, causing my brother to let out a primordial growl. "Then don't plan on getting up anytime soon," the Donato knight said, closing one eye.

Tetsu raised his Agnes in front of him, deflecting the shot back him. Hideo's aura caught the energy bullet before it could hit its owner. The bullet gradually dissolved into the aura.

"Hmph, perhaps I was wrong to underestimate you," my brother said as he pushed himself up. His wounds had closed up, but he still seemed to be in pain.

Hideo grinned as his Donato charged up once more. "At least you admit that much, Tetsu."

My brother smiled back. He took a deep breath and vanished from sight.

The Donato Knight spun around, only to be hit by a kick aimed at his stomach. Luckily for him, he had blocked the kick with Donato. Still, the force of the kick, sent him sliding several feet.

Hideo groaned as his feet wobbled. He raised Donato toward the sky. "Sky Shot!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. A single large bullet flew toward the top of the translucent purple barrier only to explode into over a hundred smaller bullets.

Brother raised Agnes over his head and continued to run toward him.

The young knight gasped as my brother sent a black sphere flying at him. His aura struggled to absorb the sphere like how it had done with the stray bullet from before.

"That's more like it," Hideo said, grinning as he grabbed a hold of the sphere and sent it back at my brother.

Tetsu dodged it as he continued to guard from the self-replicating rain of energy bullets coming out from the top of the barrier. Another sphere of purple energy formed in his left hand.

"Black Moon!" Tetsu yelled as he tossed the energy sphere at him from point blank.

Hideo crossed his arms, taking the sphere against his forearms. He screamed as the resulting blast sent him flying into the barrier.

"Yes, he did it!" Rosa screamed from below.

"Master!" Yuko yelled, jumping up and down.

"You've really grown, both of you have," Pa said as he walked over to them. He smiled at brother and ran over to Hideo. "Though, you still have a long way to go if you plan to defeat my old man and the other pillars."

"Well, considering you are one, perhaps we should spar with you to see how far we truly have to go to defeat at least one of you," Tetsu said as he put his hands on his hips.

Pa chuckled. "Not a bad suggestion. Perhaps, later we can do that. Like tomorrow. For now, I'll like to see which one of you five stands above the other four."

"Must there be one?" Setsuko asked as she stepped into the battlefield.

"Of course, there can only be one tiger at the top of the mountain. At least, according to the old proverb. One will have to defeat the other to show that they're the leader of the pack," Hyosetsu said as he jumped on top of the tiled ring. He reached for the hilt of Baldo and smiled. "Now, it's our turn, princess."

Setsuko smiled. "Alright."

"Good luck, princess!" Tetsu yelled, smiling. "I'll be cheering you on to defeat your annoying cousin like how I did with mine!"

Hideo glared at him as Pa helped him stand up. "I'll defeat you one of these days, same goes for Eiichi and the rest of you!"

"Good luck with that, squirt," Eiichi said, chuckling from the audience. "You couldn't even defeat the weakest knight. I mean, who loses to the guy with the shield?"

Tetsu chuckled as he jumped out of the ring. "You'll find out shortly how it feels to fall to the Shield Knight, Sir Eiichi."

The blond knight turned away and scoffed. "Like I would, but keep on dreaming, peasant. Dreams don't cost a thing."

"That's true," I said, landing next to him. "But my brother is capable of turning dreams into reality as you'll soon find out."

Eiichi grinned. "Well, I am looking forward to seeing him try, even though we all know that it'll be a futile struggle."

I crossed my arms over my chest and scoffed. "We'll see, we'll see. Though don't say that I didn't warn you, Sir Eiichi."

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :3. Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**