Halim's portal had taken us to some hills on the northern outskirts of town. I had wanted to go home, but after catching a glimpse of the town I called home, I knew why he hadn't teleported us there. The entire village was covered in a massive glacier. The residents who had also gathered in the hills stared in awe and fear at the destruction.

"This ice, it feels familiar, doesn't it?" Eiichi asked, walking up to me.

I turned around and nodded. "Yes." I clenched my hands into fists. "It reminds me of that rotten fox's ice."

Eiichi crossed his arms. "Indeed."

"Brother?" a voice called out.

The two of us turned around and saw a bloodied Eita.

"What happened to you?" Eiichi yelled.

Eita wobbled, almost falling over.

Eiichi grabbed his brother's left arm and wrapped it around his shoulder. "Easy there. Don't push yourself."

"Ignore me. You need to go inside there. A man in a fox mask seeks to free Roa."

My eyes widened. "Free Roa? Then, is this person that fox?" Without trying to, my aura activated, nearly hitting Eiichi.

"Calm down!" Eiichi yelled.

I bit my lip. It was odd to have our roles reversed.

"How do you expect me to calm down when it could be the fox that took Dan away? Huh?" I asked

"L-listen to him, brother," Camila called out. I turned toward my right and saw my younger sister. Accompanying her were Naoru, and three of my original team members.

I dispersed the aura. "Cami..." I said as my eyes became misty. I ran over and wrapped my arms around her. "I'm so glad that you're okay!"

"Same!" she cried out, embracing me tighter. She gasped and let go of me, running over to someone else. "Dan?"

I turned around and watched as she hugged my guardian angel.

"Dan! I missed you so much!"

"U-unhand me! I'm not Dante," he said, annoyed.

I smiled bittersweetly. "You did just stutter like him, though."

Cami gasped. "You're not Dan? But you look just like him. Wait, your voice... are you Sy? B-but I thought that you went with Ki and the others."

"He's neither of our brothers. He looks like Dan and talks like Silas due to their influence on him."

She gave me a confused look. "I-influence?"

"Yeah. Those close to us influence how our angels look and even behave. I bet he even has some of your traits."

She glanced back at my angel. "M-me? B-but I have no good traits."

"Nonsense. You're probably the kindest out of us."

"Uh, sorry to interrupt, but weren't you about to go check out what's going on inside your home?" Daniel asked.

"Right."

"H-Hide, please be careful," she whispered. "That man is strong."

"Indeed," Naoru said, lowering his eyes. "I was no match for him."

I smiled. "Well, I haven't been training for nothing. I'll go and find that fox!"

"Mind helping me with Eita?" Eiichi asked. He had covered his brother in golden light. The younger Raiyama's wounds were closing slowly, but not fast enough to slow down the bleeding.

"I-I tried my best," Camila said, closing her eyes.

Eita smiled. "I know you did. You had to heal Nao, though."

Naoru gritted his teeth and turned to look back at the town. "Yes, but for what? With my mana reserves depleted, I'll only be dead weight."

I took a deep breath. "Here, Eii, let me heal Eita. Lend Naoru some of your mana."

"Alright, though, I am running low myself after the trial."

Right, he had also given me his mana after I had burned through mine.

I pointed one of my pistols at Eita. "Don't flinch," I said.

Eita and the others looked at me as if I were insane.

I smiled. "Healing Bullet!" A translucent green bullet stuck Eita's chest. His wounds vanished, unfortunately, it couldn't do anything about his tattered and bloodied clothes.

"Wow," Eita said, moving his arms around. He smiled. "That scared me, but it worked!"

"It's actually the first ability that I awaken," I said, lowering my pistol. I glanced at Eiichi, who had gone over to Naoru. He placed his hands on the soldier's shoulders and covered him in a golden light.

My eyes lingered on Naoru's eyes. They were less cold than when I last saw him. Had something happened to soften him? Or maybe it was just fatigue.

I glanced back at my home and gasped as the glacier began to shake. Something was going on within it, but what?

I jumped up. "Team, watch over Camila and the townsfolk!" I yelled, jumping into the air.

The girls nodded their heads. "We will, sir."

I smiled. "Thanks."

Eiichi jumped into the air. "Wait, I'm coming too."

"As am I," Eita said. "I owe that good for nothing fox a good beating."

"Same," Naoru said.

"Alright," I said, nodding my head.

The three guys took to the air and followed after me.

"There should be a hole at the top of the glacier," Naoru said as he flew ahead of me. "My djinn was sent crashing down that mass of ice."

I gulped. "He defeated your djinn?"

"Yes, I hate to admit it, but we barely managed to injure him. That fox is stronger than the one that your brother took down with him."

I gritted my teeth. It didn't matter how strong he had become, I would avenge Dan! Better yet, I would extract from him information on my brother's whereabouts.

"The hole should be around here," Naoru said as we made it toward the top of the glacier. At the very center of the ice was my family's mansion.

I flew straight down at the ice.

"Hey, hold up!" Eita yelled. "Don't touch it!"

I put both of my hands against the ice and unleashed a vortex of flames around it. The crimson flames rapidly melted through the ice. The more that was melted away, the more I could feel the alien presence from earlier. Who else was inside the mansion?

"Hey, be careful," Daniel said, flying overhead. "If the ice collapses, it will destroy the town, well, what can be salvaged."

He was right. If only Hyosetsu, Kohri, or Koukyuu were here. My face warmed up as thought about Koukyuu.

Stupid! Don't think of girls right now!

I looked up and watched as warm steam covered the entire horizon for as far as I could see. Soon, warm rain poured down in a torrent, drenching all of us.

Eiichi smiled and raised his spear toward the sky, collecting the static in the clouds that had formed.

"There, some extra juice," he said as he lowered his spear.

"Let's go," Daniel said. I peered down and saw that I'd managed to melt almost all of the ice. Hopefully, I hadn't burned up my mana in doing so.

I followed Naoru who had gone ahead of us. He led me and the others to the roof of my family's home. In the center was a giant hole that appeared to lead straight to the living room.

My eyes widened as I noticed a figure directly below the hole. It was Sirocco. A pool of crimson surrounded his motionless body.

I gritted my teeth. I wasn't going to let the fox take away one of my team members like how he had done with Setsuko. I charged both of my guns and fired healing bullets at him as I descended.

"Who are you healing?" Eiichi asked, flying after me. His eyes widened as we got close enough for him to see. "Four-eyes!"

Eiichi and Eita flew past me and landed next to Sirocco.

"Rocco," Eita said, taking him in his arms. He closed his eyes. I watched in dismay as my healing bullets failed to do the job.

"Damn that fox!" I yelled.

"Relax, he isn't dead yet," Daniel said.

Carlos nodded. "Yeah. Though, he's lost a great deal of blood. He might not survive for long."

"We need to get him out of here," Eita said.

"S-sir Eita?" Sirocco said, opening his eyes.

"Save your energy," Eita said as he jumped into the air. "We're going to get you help."

"It's... too late."

"Don't say that!" Eita yelled.

Eiichi looked away. His eyes widened as he noticed the holes on the floor. "Where is Borasco?"

"H-he went to get Roa," Sirocco managed to say before erupting into a coughing fit. Droplets of blood dotted his already blood-covered face.

My grip on my guns tightened until my knuckled had turned white. What was the point of being stronger if I still failed to protect those close to me?

"I'm going to go check the dungeon," Eiichi said.

"Eita, show him the way," Naoru said.

"I can't leave Sirocco."

Naoru flew up to him and plunged his right knight into Sirocco's chest.

"What?" I said. I flew up to him in a rage of fury but was pushed back by a barrier of darkness.

"Hold it," Naoru said, holding out his bloodied knife. It was glowing green.

"Sirocco's condition has stabilized," Carlos said, smiling.

"Though, he should still get checked," Daniel said. "Once the mana passes through his system, he'll go back to the state he was in before."

"Go and take him back to others," Naoru said, patting Eita's shoulder. "I'll show your brother the way." He gasped as he noticed that Eiichi was gone.

Carlos sighed. "That rash protectee of mine. I better go to him," he said. He clapped his hands, but nothing happened. "Huh? That's odd, why can't I go to where he is?"

"You can't teleport?" I asked, walking up to the angel.

"Something appears to be jamming it," Carlos said. He crossed his arms and sighed. "I can tell you that Eii is doing alright. He isn't lost or anything like that, yet."

I laughed. "We better go after him then, to make sure that he doesn't lose his way."

Carlos smiled at me and nodded. "Yeah!"

***

https://youtu.be/BmbgKa9puak

I had snuck into the house of the Makkuroyama, undetected. I expected to eventually come across the enemy, but what I found at the end of the dungeon was beyond my expectations.

My nephew and some of our enemies were frozen in ice. I had covered them in flames, but it would take a while for them to defrost. I could've sped things up, but they could've ended up badly injured—especially Eiji's nephew. Man-kin could at least had his abysmal regeneration to restore any damaged limbs.

But that wasn't the surprising thing. No, it was the one who the ice belonged to. Knelt on the floor, crying my oldest son's name, was a man with a fox-mask

"Unhand my son's core right now," I said, glaring at the one holding Roa's core.

The man looked up at me. "Well, this is unexpected. About time that you do something to save your son," he said, smirking as snow spun around me. "Unfortunately, you're too late. Roa is coming with me." His eyes widened as he failed to disappear. "I can't teleport..."

I smiled and kicked him in the chin, sending him flying back. I held out my hand and pulled out my silver necklace. The jewelry transformed into a silver sword.

The masked man grumbled and unleashed a blast of concentrated ice energy at me. It wasn't mana, though. He was using prana.

I took a deep breath and ignited my sword. White flames erupted from the blade. As soon as the ice came within their range, it was reduced into vapor.

The man's eyes widened.

I smiled and rushed at him, appearing behind him.

"W-what? No way. Since when are you this strong?"

I grabbed him by the neck and pointed the edge of the sword against it. "I simply don't like fighting. Though, I am the weakest of the Pillars," I said, chuckling.

The fox squirmed as he began sweating bullets from the intensity of the flames. "Let go of me!" he yelled.

A blast of darkness sent me flying away, though, I managed to nick him on the neck with my sword.

He fell to the floor and let out screams of pain.

"Put down my son's core, and you can go," I said as I slashed the wall on my right with my sword, reducing It into molten rock.

"I won't! You'll lead Roa to his death!"

I gulped. "What do you mean?"

"Your father's heart isn't set in the war. That lack of determination to win has doomed people in the past, and it'll doom you all! As long as you follow that man, you're being set up for disaster."

I put a hand on my hip. "I know that neither my father nor I have our hearts in this conflict. We've been forced into it by the circumstances, but those very circumstances are what drive us toward victory!"

The fox snickered. "You are a fool. If it were up to you, you would run away!"

I bit my lip. He had a point there. I did wish that could've fled. Why had my father chosen me as one of the pillars?

The fox backed away slowly and threw a sphere of ice on the floor, causing the hall to become filled in dense fog.

I jumped into the mist that the sphere had formed and swung my sword down, clearing the stuff. However, I only managed to swing it halfway as something blocked it. Much to my shock, the one who had stopped my sword was a blond young man with a spear.

"So you're the one who did this," the young man said, glaring at me.

"No, I'm not!" I yelled as I jumped back. "The one who did this is that fox!"

"You mean your ally? I don't see him around. Did he ask you to guard against any more interlopers?" he asked, glaring at me.

"You got it wrong!" Where had Satoru gone? He couldn't teleport before. Could it be that whatever, or whoever was preventing him from escaping, ran out of energy?

He glared at me. "If so, then move out of my way!" he yelled, thrusting his spear at me.

I pushed it aside with my sword, sending it crashing into the empty cell. The spear broke through the wall easily and formed a giant hole that went on for several feet before coming to a stop.

I grabbed Omatsu, who was slowly defrosting, by the shoulders. "Fine, but help me find him! He took my son with him!"

He gasped. "Your son?" He narrowed his eyes at me. "Are you the peasant's uncle?"

"Peasant?" I asked.

"Tetsuya," he said, holding his right hand out. He recalled the spear back into his hand.

I smiled as I thought back to my plump three-year-old nephew. "Yeah, I'm Tetsu's uncle. Is he here with you? It's been years since I've last seen him." My father had told me to recruit him along with Serrano, so him being around would be a blessing in disguise. Still, considering the situation, I couldn't strictly focus on that.

"No, he went with the others to Xeleria. Anyway, hurry up and track down that fox that you allowed to escape."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Judging from his tone, this guy must be Eiko's son...

"Hey, he wouldn't have gotten away if weren't for you!" I snapped. I sighed and shook my head. Shifting blame did nothing to help me recover my son. "Sorry. I shouldn't have screamed at you."

"You're really Roa's dad? You're awfully polite," he said, stepping back. "Etsuo's more like you."

I smiled. "We get that a lot." I lowered my eyes to the spot where the fox had thrown the sphere of ice. Had he anticipated his arrival and utilized it to his advantage? That sphere he used was meant to be a smoke bomb. Plus, I hadn't sensed space-time being distorted at all.

I looked up and gasped. He must still have been around, but out of sight!

"Figured something out?"

"Stay on your guard! He likely made himself invisible to us!" I yelled, raising my sword.

He glanced at the opposite end of the hall. "Invisible? Tsk. If only Hide were here, he could see him."

"Hide? Dan's brother?"

"You know his little brother?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. I had a Spirit Duel with him."

"You played a card game with a captive?"

I snickered. "Well, he did the same, playing a game with my nephew."

He chuckled. "What an odd bunch."

I pouted. "I'm not odd! I'm just an easygoing guy, is all!" I said, puffing up my chest.

"Yup, a total weirdo."

"S-shut up!" I yelled.

"Alright. Anyway, how about you take the others and get away from here."

"What? Why?" I asked.

His spear sparked with electricity. "You'll get in my way."

I pictured my son as he said those words. Roa... I'll save you! Even if it's the last thing I do!

I held out my hands and covered our surroundings in feathers.

"Feathers?" the blond young man asked.

I smiled. "Yeah, you plan to root him out by covering the place with electricity, right? Well, this is a less dangerous alternative." Roa's core could probably handle the lightning, but taking the others out would be risky. Not that keeping them here wasn't. That was where my feathers also came in. If the fox tried to attack them, they would form a barrier that would shield them.

I bit my lip as my feathers failed to pick up on the presence of another beside the three frozen youths and the two of us.

"He's gone," I said, lowering my arms.

"He must've gone deeper into the dungeon," a voice called out. The voice belonged to a black-haired teenager with emerald eyes.

"About time that you caught up, Hide! How is Sirocco?" the blond said.

"Eita took him to the hills where my sister and the others are. He needs a blood transfusion, but Naoru's mana bought him some time."

"Where is Naoru? Actually, where are our angels?"

Hide turned around. "They were behind me a moment ago."

I gasped. "The fox! This must be one of his tricks!"

"You think that he cast an illusion?" the blond knight asked.

"But I didn't feel any being cast."

"Donato must've protected you from it."

"Dan should've been fine too, though."

I gasped. "Dan?"

"Not my brother, my angel. Wait, you know my brother? Actually, who are you?" Hide asked, stepping back.

"He's Roa's dad, but that doesn't matter right now, we need to find Carlos and the other two," the blond said, running on ahead.

"He's a rash one," I said, snickering. The guy reminded me so much of my Roa.

I turned toward the other direction. "Go with your friend, I'll go this way," I said, staring into the long hall, which extended as far as I could see.

"Trying to escape yourself?" Hide asked, glaring at me. He had one of his guns directed at the back of my head. "If you're Roa's dad, then you must be one of the Pillars of Darkness."

"We'll meet on the battlefield one day, but not right now. Let's focus on finding that fox. Once we've found him, then we can turn our weapons on one another," I whispered before dashing out of there, leaving behind a stream of blue flames. 

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