The demon gasped as Yuko's sand tightened around his body. He wiggled his arms to try to get out of its grip. Yuko compressed the fine dust particles further, causing him to let out pained grunts.

As Yuko held the demon in place, I put my right hand against my aching side and let out an orange glow. Takuya had taught Tere and me this technique, should we ever be injured by a demon's claws. Like the miasma that Saki's demon form had made back in the palace, the claws and fangs of a demon could be venomous to non-demons. That was especially true for us angels.

Yuko let out an angry scream as the demon unleashed bursts from his hands to blow away the sand. She wasn't letting up at all, covering the purple armored blond in a vortex of sand.

Seeing what she was doing against the demon tempted me to remain quiet, but I couldn't let her be absorbed by her anger. I formed a spherical barrier around the devil as I had done in my battles against Aventine, Serrano, and Hyosetsu.

I compressed it against him. "Let's finish him off together, Yu," I said, smiling.

"Master, are you alright?" Yuko against, staring at the blood on my side.

"Yeah, I've healed it. Your 'Silly Master' won't go down so easily."

Yuko giggled. "Of course not!"

The demon's eyes glowed. "How sweet, I feel as if I'm going to throw up," he said as something swirled beneath the sand.

I flew back and threw the barrier toward the water.

"Let's get out of here, Yuko!" I said, flying away. That demon was after me, so he should pursue me once he gets out of that.

Suddenly, a purple pillar made up of shadows emerged from beneath the waters. The thing went well up into the sky, far higher than where I was flying.

As the darkness subsided, I could make out the demon. He flew where the top of the pillar once was.

He pointed his spear down at us. "I planned to just take the rosary and leave, but you've made me mad. I'll just take it from your lifeless corpse!"

I held up Agnes and formed a barrier around us. The next thing I knew, a purple beam struck the shield, pushing us downward.

Had he been holding back earlier? Or did his anger increase his strength? Or perhaps it was both.

"Master! Something coming behind us!" Yuko yelled.

I turned around and saw red fox tails grasp the sides of the barrier. Were these the demon's tails? No, that couldn't be, unless if he had formed portals behind him or could detach them. Plus, he hadn't even transformed into a partial kitsune. For all I knew, he couldn't. After all, my cousins and I didn't share the same abysmal form. Then again, Satoru's kitsune abilities came from his Kyuu Hyakuian father's side.

"Who is attacking us?" I said, shifting focus toward the beam.

"I'm not sure!" Yuko said as the barrier shook.

"Huh? Father?" the demon said as he noticed the tails around us.

A red-haired man in loose white robes materialized around us. "Hey, Bylet. Thought that you could use some assistance," the stranger said, grinning.

"Thanks, but I can handle them on my own."

The kitsune let go of the barrier. "Really? It seemed as if you were struggling from my place, so I rushed on over."

"I merely underestimated him," Bylet said, huffing.

"Alright. No need to get mad." The kitsune stared at me. "Though, this guy hasn't used his full power yet."

I wished that I could, but my second Heaven aura would hurt Yuko. Plus, it was risky to use due to its energy consumption. I had to make it to the others.

"This guy is familiar," Yuko said, staring back.

"Of course, he's that evil fox's father," I said, forming another barrier outside of the one around us.

She shook her head. "No, that's not it..."

Satoru's dad dashed forward and shattered the outer barrier.

"What are you doing?" Bylet shouted. "He's my opponent!"

"I'm not after him," he said, glaring at Yuko.

I spun around. "If it's Yuko that you're after, then you'll need to get past me!"

Yuko shivered. "Yuko knows evil fox dad... but from where?" she muttered.

More tails struck the barrier rapidly.

"Shut up!" the fox yelled.

"Move aside, Dad. I'll blast through it!" Bylet said as the tip of his spear glowed bright purple. He had been charging prana into it all this time.

"Yuko, form a sand barrier around us," I said, as I shifted Agnes toward Bylet.

"Okay!" Yuko said. Sand poured out of her palms and lined the edges of my barrier. Was Yuko trying to reinforce it?

I smiled. "My Yuko's a smart girl," I said, forming another barrier on the other side of the hand.

Yuko blushed. "T-thanks!"

I formed a small hole in the outer barrier and moved Yuko's sand outside, creating another coat of protection.

"Yuko, get off," I said.

"Huh?" she said.

"I'm going to go out. This barrier is for you. I'll return for you as soon as I'm done, okay?"

Yuko got off. "O-okay. Yuko trusts Master!"

I smiled and removed my rosary, placing it around her neck. "Thank you. Please take care of this while I'm gone. It won't take long!" I said as I vanished in a blur of shadow. I appeared right outside of the barrier, in the line of danger.

Bylet smiled. "So, you came out. Thought that I would need to burst that barrier open to get to you." His smile vanished as he glanced at my neck. "The rosary, you removed it. Did you hand it to that little girl?"

I dashed at him and vanished, appearing behind him. I struck the back of his neck, where the collar of his armor didn't cover, but found myself making contact with something hard. I stared at my hand and saw what looked to be shattered scales.

The demon grumbled. Spikes emerged from his back. They would've impaled me if I hadn't shadow driven out of there.

"Impressive. You're the first one to have ever shattered my scales apart from my parents," he said as his armor appeared to merge with his body. A purple helmet with long horns appeared on his head. It too rapidly merged with his skin.

Impressive, he can combine with armor. Or perhaps it's metal in general.

His still glowing spear's shaft elongated and attached itself to his back, shifting into a draconic tail.

He flew at me and kicked me on the chest. The force of the attack sent me flying toward barrier I had left Yuko behind.

"Nice, Bylet!" his father yelled. "Maybe after this, you can handle his irritating cousin."

Serrano? How does he know him?

"I'll consider it. Mom told my siblings and me to kill him and the Five Knights, after all."

Serra and the others? As if I'll let him do that!

I waved my wings, but even doing that couldn't stop my fall. It was just like when Rosa and I were falling back in Makkuroyama after Suzuki had sliced the edge of the hill off.

I gasped as something grabbed me from behind. It was a cloud of sand coming from the direction of Yuko. Even within that sphere, she was still finding ways to protect me. Yuko was more than my sword, she was my shield as well.

I smiled. "That explains why you like her," I whispered to my shield. I glanced at the fox's father. I could've summoned Agnes, but she was likely still recovering from our match with Hyosetsu and Baldo.

Using the cloud of sand to form a platform, I jumped into the air.

Bylet opened his mouth and fired off an energy blast from it. I flew under it and slammed it from behind to direct its trajectory away from Yuko.

I shadow drove over to him and grabbed his tail.

"You aren't going to kill me, Serra, or anyone else," I said, clenching his tail tightly.

Bylet grinned. "You're where I want you."

I glanced at his glowing tail, let go of it, and away from him as he fired a beam at my direction. I covered my hands in mana and spun them around. As soon as the beam reached me, a barrier appeared and deflected the energy back at him at twice the force.

His red eyes widened as the blast struck him. His draconic armor had shattered. His arms and parts of his chest had been blown away. In the center of his chest was an exposed purple core.

I unsheathed my sword and dashed him. I swung the blade down against the gem, but an energy membrane kept it from breaking through. Was that what had what protected his younger brother from Rosa's crystal lotus?

"You've pissed me off," Bylet said, the whites of his eyes blood-red. A blast of energy fired from the core, sending me flying into the barrier I had formed for Yuko. Sand reached out to grab me once more, but I flew past it.

I coughed up blood as soon as I made contact with my own barrier. Countless sand surrounded me.

"Master!" Yuko screamed.

I spun around and noticed that the blast had sent me smashing through the barrier. Yuko was falling toward the sea below.

"Yuko!" I yelled, racing toward her even though my wings ached. Tails grasped my arms, neck, and legs.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bylet's dad asked, grinning. "You've got to pay for what you've done to my sons."

"I don't have time to deal with you and your crappy family!" I yelled as my Second Heaven aura flared to life.

The fox let go of me as my black mana burned his tails.

"Gah!" he yelled, shaking them. He watched as the sky darkened overhead, and Nine Petal Academy in the distance shook. "W-what power."

I would've finished him and his son then and there, but I had to go save Yuko!

My eyes widened as I scanned the scenery below. Yuko was nowhere to be seen. I watched the fierce waves that had formed from my transformation. Had my aura's shockwave sped up her demise?

"M-master!" Yuko yelled. I looked to the side of Nine Petal island. I saw the tanuki girl flying awkwardly toward me by using gusts and twirling her giant ringed tail around as if it were a propeller.

"Yuko!" I yelled, shadow driving toward her. I grasped her in my arms. "I'm so glad that you're safe!"

Yuko giggled. "Yuko's glad Master is safe too." She grasped the rosary that I had given her. "Zangetsu is also safe."

I smiled. "Yeah."

I glanced at where Bylet and his father were. The two had disappeared in my rush to save Yuko.

"Let's get out of here, Master," Yuko said.

I nodded. "Yeah." I pointed at my back. "Get on."

"Yuko can fly now."

I smiled. "Yeah, but you'll waste all of your prana doing that."

Yuko wrapped her arms around me. "Okay. Besides, I like flying on the Master's back!"

I chuckled. "I thought so."

I gasped as two auras flared up in the distance alongside another power. The auras belonged to Serra and Maki. Had the others ran into another one of the demons? Bylet had mentioned that his mom had tasked him and his siblings to kill Serrano and us Five Knights.

Well, now that I was done dealing with Bylet, I could help them deal with whoever they were up against.

"Yuko, hold on tight, I'm going to move faster than before!" I yelled.

She tightened her grip around my neck. "Go, Master. Yuko's ready!"

With Yuko's approval, I flew as fast as I could in the direction Serrano and the others had gone in. 

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^_^. Thoughts? Theories?**