I stared at the adobe buildings around me. I was back in the town where Onami and I had met Hyosetsu and Kohri.

"Is this an illusion?" I asked, bringing my knives in front of me.

"Yes," Daniel said, gliding past me. He held out his hand and unleashed a sphere of green mana.

"Can you dispel it?" I asked.

"It's a prana construct, so it's not as easy, but it should only take a few extra steps."

"Why did he cast an illusion of a desert city?" Carlos asked, looking around.

I lowered my eyes. "This is where I met that fox, when we were kids."

"You met Satoru here?" Daniel asked.

"Yes. He was having lunch with his family."

"His family? How did his mom manage to come here? When the Monkey King arrived, he had to blow a hole into the defenses of the universe," Carlos said.

"I think that they can come and go without resorting to that. Their goal must've been taking down our defenses. Once the boundary protecting this world is gone, then there'll be nothing to protect it from the encroaching darkness," I said.

Daniel closes his eyes. "The enemy's plan still remains shrouded in mystery. It's odd, but I am starting to think that they have no concrete plan."

"if that's the case, then we can defeat them with superior strategy!" Carlos said, grinning.

"Their power is still leagues above what our knights have, even after their training. At the very least, the Monkey King's is."

"The knights can still get stronger. The King prepared something to strengthen their weapons, though, I'm not sure if Kuroshi managed to finish it before he was captured," I said.

"Strengthen us?" Carlos asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I guess that's one way to put it. I was basically the test subject for it. It's a superior form of the G.E.A.R. system. With it, the power of one's angel weapon is magnified by a factor of five."

Carlos whistled. "That's like each knight having the combined power of the entire pre-boosted order."

"Exactly, but there are risks with it."

Daniel looked over his shoulder. "Such as?"

"One must withstand the force of their own power. Those who are weak of mind will be overwhelmed before even a minute is done."

"How long must they withstand it?" Carlos asked, furrowing his brow.

"An hour, but it feels like an eternity." If it weren't for my weapon's healing abilities, I probably would've been covered in scars from the multiple copies of my angel weapon. There were a few wounds on my back that couldn't close completely, leaving behind thin, but deep marks.

"Wonder if Hideo would be able to survive the onslaught of bullets," Daniel said as he threw the sphere in his hands up. The illusion dissolved like a painting being hosed down by water.

"Perhaps, I should've sparred with Eiichi for his trial. It would've helped him," Carlos said, sighing.

Daniel smiled slightly. "Your trial did help him, in its own way."

Maybe it was because the two angels were born from their owner's angelic essence, but the way they spoke made me feel as if said owners were around.

I glanced around at the stone hall filled with various cells. If only I had eaten and rested adequately, I might've been able to put up a better fight against that fox-demon-abysmal.

I sighed. There is no way to rewrite the past now, so why think about it? I have to hurry up and meet up with the knights. We can't allow that man to escape.

"Hey, why did you three stay back?" a voice called out. It belonged to Eiichi. He zipped past me and closed the door. "Did that abysmal pass through here?"

"No, but he did cast an illusion," I answered.

"Were you not affected by it? It appeared to cover the entire dungeon," Daniel said.

Eiichi shook his head. "Nope. I learned to break through illusions as a kid, specifically magical ones."

Daniel snickered. "Then, Hideo and you are the right knights for the job. Let's hurry and find the enemy!"

Suddenly, the entire dungeon shook.

I squatted on the floor and slammed my hands on the ground, stabilizing it as much as I could.

"Can you sense what's going on deeper?" Eiichi asked.

"It's the fox. He appears to be engaged in a battle with two others." I gasped as I felt a familiar presence. "One of them is Levech."

"Levech? That's one of Hideo's teammates. Did he come here with Borasco and Sirocco?"

Eiichi glanced at the depths of the hall. "Wish that I had your level of seismic sense."

I smiled. "I trained it for occasions like this." I closed my eyes and rose the earth in front of the fox's tails as he targeted Levech. He slammed his tails against it, sending rocks flying in various directions.

"Did you just attack him from this far?" Carlos asked, raising an eyebrow.

I opened my eyes. "Yeah, but my constructs aren't as powerful as they would be up close." I pushed myself up and stared at the shaking dungeon. "I think it's best that we let the two abysmals fight it out and take on one who is left."

"You can tell that he's an abysmal?" Eiichi asked.

"So, I was right." I glanced at the direction of the battle. "He gives off that vibe, but he also appears to be part angel."

"Yeah, he said that he's Roa's dad."

I gripped my knives. "Roa's father, huh? Then he might be coming after me next."

"Why do you say that?" Daniel asked.

"I was the one who injured his son. If he's a vengeful person, then he'll seek payback. And I wouldn't blame him if he does, I would do the same."

"If he tries that, then we'll back you up," Eiichi said, snickering. He looked straight as Hideo made his way toward us. "Or at least I would. Not sure if Hide would help you."

I scoffed. "I wouldn't be surprised if he refused." Especially after how I treated his siblings...

[A bit earlier]

After having left Hideo behind, it didn't take me long to track down the fox. He stood at the end of the hall with a smile on his face. It was as if he had expected me to follow him. Had I fallen into a trap?

I glanced at the floor and saw a young man on the floor. His hands gripped two chakrams.

"This one appears to be the one behind the teleportation jamming," Satoru said. He placed his foot on the guy's head. "But it appears that he won't undo his weapon's ability. It seems that I'm going to have to kill him."

Why doesn't he just do it? Is he trying to taunt me?

"So, how about you convince him?' the fox asked, smirking.

"Another one," the young man said, glaring at me.

"Yes, we're both abysmals, but we're not allies," I cleared up.

"I can tell. The way you speak to another gives it away. I don't care if you kill each other, but so I'll be on my way!" he yelled, swinging one of his weapons behind him.

Satoru raised his leg up, avoiding the attack, and rapidly brought it down. The young man shielded with his other chakram.

"Tsk," Satoru said.

I transformed my necklace back into its sword form and swung at the fox, but a tail sprung up from the ground and struck my sword, sending it flying behind me. The entire dungeon started to shake as more tails sprung up. A couple of them nearly hit my back and stomach, but I avoided them with the grace of a swan.

"Impressive movements," the young man said, pushing himself up. He threw both of his weapons at the fox, but Satoru formed an ice shield, deflecting the chakram back at him. The youth ducked and held out his hand as his weapon passed over his head, catching it at the right moment.

His movements were very concise, like those of an assassin.

As Satoru found himself distracted, I held out my hand and recalled my weapon back to me. I smiled as soon as Satoru noticed.

He smiled back as spikes of ice rose up from the floor. Both of my arms were frozen as soon as they made contact with the ice.

"Flames of Phoenix!"I yelled, unleashing bright blue flames from my sword. The ice evaporated away and started to melt the stones around us.

The young man bit his lip. He must've known that fighting me would be foolish.

"Get away," I yelled.

He gritted his teeth but ran off anyway.

"Oh, no you don't!" Satoru yelled. His tails became resubmerged. As soon as they rose up, stones protruded from the floor.

"Who did that?" the chakram wielder asked, glancing over his shoulders.

Satoru slammed the rocks aside, sending them in the direction of the young man. With the same nimbleness as before, the youth ducked, jumped, and blasted the incoming stones.

"That blasted Naoru had to get in my way, again," Satoru said, glaring at the hall. "He's a lucky bastard, having survived my Inner Freezing technique. I'll be sure to make him pay for what he did to Roa."

"I'll be the one to do that," I said, appearing in front of him. I sliced off his head with my sword, but tendrils of darkness grabbed hold of my sword and worked their way over to me.

I laughed. "Oh, that won't work! Bu-"

"If you do that, you'll hurt Roa's core," Satoru's voice echoed from behind me.

I turned around and saw Satoru standing behind me.

"What?" I asked, glancing back the one I was fighting. Had he trapped me in one of his illusions?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Relax, Skah. Clear your mind. You should be able to find him.

I raised my sword toward the ceiling and then brought it back down rapidly. I followed by spinning in a circle and used my momentum and slice the air around me.

"Gah!" Satoru yelled. There was also a thud.

I opened my eyes and saw him in front of me, his arms sliced off. On the floor, by one of the sliced off sleeves, was Roa's core.

I raced after it, but Satoru shielded the core with all nine tails. "I won't let you take him from me!"

"You're insane," I blurted out, slicing all of the tails off. He screamed as white flames rose from his tail stumps.

"Damn it! You'll pay for this! This isn't the last that you hear from me!"

I smiled as I picked up the core. "Oh, it will be," I said, pointing my sword at his chest. "Your time in this world is over!"

My sword suddenly flew back as shadows protected the fox. In front of me stood a shadowy fox.

"If I weren't rusty, I would've killed you," he said before vanishing.

"What? Did that guy's anti-teleportation wear off?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder.

My eyes shifted back to Roa's core. Its light had grown dim. I held it tightly against my chest. "Don't worry, son. You're safe now. That fox won't harm you. Now, let's go back home," I whispered.

I spun around as I recalled my nephews. Man-kin was still frozen, while Etsuo wasn't here at all. Had they relocated him someplace more secure? If so, why him and not the others?

Suddenly, emerald bullets fired my way, some of them managed to graze me.

"So, you've returned."

Standing several meters away was Hideo.

"Seems like you've recovered the core," Hideo said as energy poured to the barrels of his guns. He glanced around. "Did you kill the fox?"

"I tried, but he got away."

He gritted his teeth. "Damn it! I knew that I should've followed you!" He raised his guns at me. "But I won't let you get away too! Now, hand over Roa's core!"

"Why did you come back here by yourself? Do you really think that you can take on a Pillar of Darkness alone?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

"The others chose to retreat, thinking it wiser for the fox and you to kill each other, but I knew that one would survive. But it seems that you couldn't even kill the fox. Oh well, I'll capture you and bring this war one step closer to its conclusion!"

"We'll battle someplace else. This place will collapse soon," I said, pointing at the crumbling stones above us.

Hideo kept his eyes locked on me and fired off his emerald bullets. I sliced them with my sword, but the force sent me reeling back. He's stronger than I thought.

"Sorry, abysmal, but you're not leaving until you tell me what you know about Dan," he said as he charged his weapons again.

I smiled. It appeared that I needed to get serious. I swung my sword, sending a torrent of white flames at him. The knight formed a barrier of wind around himself and redirected the flames back my way.

I snapped my fingers, opening a portal behind me. "Come to Abyssia if you dare, young knight, but know that it'll be your grave," I said as the flames hit me, though they did no harm. I was impervious to them. In fact, they healed my wounds and reinvigorated me.

Hideo fired more wind bullets, this time directed at the core in my right hand. I covered my son with my white angel wings and arms. I let out a scream as one of the bullets punctured through both sets of appendages. Thankfully, the shots hadn't reached my son's core.

I spread out my wings and saw that I was back in the abyss. The force of the bullets must've pushed me into the portal. That young man was nowhere to be seen. Still, he was determined to kill.

Did he blame me for what happened to his brother? If only I had foresight. No, even with that, I might not have foreseen what happened to Dan. My father certainly didn't, and he had the ability.

I turned around and found myself facing a long, skinny, land bridge which led to the town I now called home.

"Let's go, Roa. Your mom and the others are waiting for you," I said, hugging the core to give it at least a little bit of warmth.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^_^. It's to mark 60K reads on Rise of a Guardian Angel (meant to get it out yesterday, when it reached 60K, but missed the deadline by a bit). Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**