**Takeshi**

[Xeleria- Nine Petal Academy Island]

Aster and I exchanged punches as we flew around the sky like two meteors streaking across the night sky.

"Takeshi!" a voice called out as I broke away from Aster. It was the Celestial Queen herself.

"Sorry, Your Highness, but I'm sort of busy here!" I said before dodging an incoming fireball from Aster.

"Can you continue your fight in the abyss? Look around you, the abysmals are starting to coming in through the cracks you're creating."

I snuck a glance at the sky and saw a giant hand as it's about to slam against the island.

I gulped. We'd done that? Was Xeleria's protective barrier that fragile? We would have to strengthen it before the war proceeded into its next phase. That was, if we still had time. Hopefully Aster and my nephew's visit was only a test instead of the start of a full-fledged attack.

A barrier of light formed overhead as Her Highness raised her staff at it.

"Xeleria is going to break," she shouted. "It hasn't completely stabilized after our last battle here. I'll take care of that giant."

"Alright, but be careful. Those Titanus get stronger with the more 'world light' they absorb," I said as I ducked a wave of flames.

"I will," she said, flying up toward the titan.

I turned my full attention back to Aster. I reach my hand out and grabbed a hold of my step-mother's arm. "Let's go, 'mommy'. This is no place for us to fight."

Aster smirked. "You truly think you'll have the advantage in the abyss? Fine. Here me, all of the abysmals! Protect Calamity with all you have!"

"Calamity? If I'm not mistaken, that's what Selena referred to Conrad as."

"Indeed. He's your nephew," Aster said before warping the space around us.

I gasped and glanced around. Aster and I stood on top of a giant flat black rock which seemed to go on for miles and miles. It had been the biggest island in the strange universe known as 'Abyssia' that I had ever seen.

Red crystals danced around us like dandelion seeds in the wind.

"I'll show you what happens when you betray your own kind!" Aster screamed as she stomped her feet against the ground, causing flames to spurt out of the ground as if it had been a pool of flame.

"My own kind? You're forgetting that I'm also a Zionian. Either way, I would've ended up betraying my own kind," I said, avoiding the attack. She moved fast, kicking me into the ground with a down kick, shattering the entire island. The momentum that resulted from her kick forced me deeper into the dark realm until I caught myself with my wings.

I flew upward toward the largest chunk of the now disintegrated isle as I wiped the blood away from my lips.

Aster dashed toward me once more but I somersaulted in the liquid-like air. She paused and spun around, launching a punch. I responded with one of my own. The collision of ours fists annihilated the isle debris and everything else within a one-hundred-mile radius.

"You've grown strong, child. To rival us Rulers," Aster said as she swatted away the dust with a single swipe of her hand.

I raised both arms out and closed my wings to prevent myself from being swept away in the storm. She had this much power, yet she hadn't dared to use it before. What were the Rulers and my father planning?

"More like you got weaker, old lady," I said, extending my wings to their full length. "Now, tell me, how can Conrad be alive?"

"I'm certain that you can guess how." A grin crossed her face. "Speaking of family, you are just like your son, aren't you? You've rejected your own progenitor."

Clenching my fists, I leapt into the air and sent debris raining down on her. "I've done no such thing! In fact, I'm looking for that crummy dad of mine!"

Gods, I do sound like Tetsuya... Perhaps, I am like Pa... wait, why am I calling him that? He... No, I'm far worse than him. Pa left us when Selena and I were of age to care for Mama and our younger siblings, meanwhile I... I left Anis with three children, one of whom was a toddler.

"Child, what did I teach you?" a voice rang out. Floating over to Aster was Reginald himself. "Never lose your focus on the battle at hand." He raised a hand out toward me. "You did a very bad thing, Takeshi. Your mother spoiled you... and perhaps I did too. I trusted greatly in you. I thought that out of your siblings you would be the one who would help us accomplish our goals. Yet, you appear to have become our downfall."

I raised my hands into the air, blocking his attack. "So, you've finally shown yourself, Pa."

Reginald grinned. "It has been so long since I last heard you call me that. I wish that I could catch up on what I've missed... but I got to do this. This world is the one that gave birth to me. I cannot abandon it, just like how you couldn't abandon Zionia. Sorry, Takeshi, but I'm putting an end to your engagement in this war."

Unsheathing my blade sword, I transformed it into a bow and arrow as I shot a rapid round of arrows at him.

He spun around in the air, dodging one after another. He raised his right arm which had thorn-covered vines crawling up it. I would've leapt back but my entire body had begun to ache. Ascending into Fourth Heaven had started to take its toll on me.

"You still haven't gotten used to it, have you?" Reginald asked as onyx chains-like vines sprung out of his hands. The chains grasped my body. "You were better off using a weaker form. You would've lasted longer."

He's right, that's why I held back from using it against Daisaru... but this was the only form I could use to fight Aster with and allow Serrano to escape to look for Conrad.

"P... Reginald. What is it that you guys truly seek?" I asked, struggling against the black vines. I tried to absorb their life energy, but it wasn't working. Father's energy control was too great for me to disrupt. To make matters worse, the more I struggled, the tighter they became. "Why, if you are this powerful haven't you ended us? Why continue to toy around with us!"

I gritted my teeth as my body began to transform into its cat-form.

Reginald crossed his arms and grinned. "Dear child, you've learned a lot about the workings of your mother's realm..." He snickered. "To be honest, I met her while investigating it myself."

"Investigating what? And what does that have to do with my question?"

"The Genesis Shards. We desire the remnants of the so called 'Universal Seeds'. Tell me, have you managed to discover the four which are said to reside in Zionia?"

The Universal Seeds? What could they possibly desire with those?

I nodded. "Yes. I have. Tell me what you want with them and I'll tell you what I know."

Father tightened the chain-like vines around me, causing me to scream. "Talk or I'll force you to!"

What an awful father he turned to be.

"Tsk. Fine! It wasn't a seed, but a shard."

"That's fine. Only a few of the seeds remain intact. So, where is it?"

I gulped. "Selena was in possession of one-half, it is no longer in her hands. As for the others, I have no idea."

Reginald loosened the chains. "Selena was? How did she..." He glared at me. "Seems that I'm going to be seeing my oldest daughter after this."

Aster tapped Reginald's shoulder. "Get rid of him before he escapes."

I smiled weakly. I barely had the remaining energy to speak, let alone flee.

The two creatures of the Abyss gazed over at me. "You'll sink to the bottom of the Abyss," Aster and Reginald said in unison.

"Good night, son," Reginald said as Aster opened a portal to another part of the Abyss.

I snickered and closed my eyes as the two vanished into the portal.

"Right, despite your actions, I continue to bare your blood. Like Aster said, I'm a creature of the Abyss. I can survive here... the seeds, whatever you need them for, I do not think that they currently exist..."

There was no response, father was indeed gone and I was left alone, being dragged deeper and deeper into the never-ending darkness by the vine-like chains.

If only I could have absorbed their life energy... then I might've stood a chance.

***

So, this is how it ends. Sorry, Osamu and Anis. I failed to save you all. Now it falls on your shoulders, Tetsuya. You, the other five knights, plus your allies are now tasked with the salvation of the various realms. I pray that my hope in you isn't as misplaced as my father's was on me.

"Takeshi!" a voice called out.

This voice... Is that you, Hanketsu? Shouldn't you be at my son's side by now?

"He's currently resting. He worked hard today. Slowly but surely, that young man is improving. Grandpa, tell me. What did that man want?"

I snickered.

Grandpa? Since when were you my grandkid? You're my ancestor, not the other way around!

"Ah, but you will be my grandfather one day, if Tetsuya ends up being my father. Hopefully he won't end up like that man or you."

Yeah... hopefully he'll be a caring and loving father to his children. Hanketsu, be careful. Father cannot find out the truth about the seeds of our world.

"Worry not, the seeds are safe. No one shall be able to touch them until this conflict is over."

I smiled and allowed the dark current to carry me away.

Good... now, tell Tetsuya that I love him. My precious baby boy... How I wish that I could've spent more time with him. At least, as much time as my own father had spent with me... Ha, I really am a shitty dad...

"I will... Anything you wish to tell the others."

Tell Tetsu to tell his siblings that I'll miss them, and apologize to Anis. I... wish that I could hold her in my arms again, but it seems that this is the end of the road for me. Also, have him tell Osamu that...

"Osamu? I do not trust that man. Neither should you. I know that Anis and you share a past with him, but both of you should be wary of him. He is no longer on the correct path."

Will you not search for the lost sheep? Will you simply forget about it? Please don't let him become a goat to be later struck down like a rabid animal.

"Sheep? Ah... Interesting, you have fallen along an uneasy path of your own yet can still quote the sacred text. Alright, tell me what it is you wish for me to tell him and I shall see if Tetsuya will be willing to share.

Tell Osamu to care for that which is truly precious. It isn't money, nor power which makes us happy, but those closest to us. I... tried to balance between both of those and lost myself.

"Yeah... what's truly precious can be easy to lose track of when overwhelmed by the desire of that which does not truly matter. I must bid you farewell... perhaps we'll see each other again one day.

The strange sensation which filled my head all throughout the conversation vanished.

I opened my eyes one last time but it was hard to tell as there was only darkness.

I will be waiting until that day... until the day that I can see all of you again...

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^_^! Thoughts? Predictions?**