I passed through the shadow vortex I had created and appeared on the sky island's outer rim. Several Xianian guards glanced at me and brandished their weapons.

"Halt, I am not the enemy. He is!" I said, pointing toward the shirtless man flying through the air on a golden cloud.

"Who is he?" they asked.

"Someone dangerous. Standby. I'll try to handle him by myself. Protecting the palace is what matters the most right now.

The guards glanced at one another. "Wouldn't it be best if we work together?" one of them asked.

"I work better alone," I said, spreading out my dark orange wings.

"An angel?" they said, backing away.

"Yes. I came here to protect what lies in the palace." If I fall, at least there would be some who could delay the Monkey King. Even a few seconds would prove precious.

"Oh, it's you!" Daisaru yelled, even though he was still several meters away.

I jumped into the air and flew to meet him.

"We meet again, Monkey King," I said. "You reckless monkey who seeks to overthrow the heavens, listen to my words, and heed them!"

The Monkey Pillar's eyes widened. Suddenly, a white headband appeared on his forehead. He gritted his teeth. "So, you managed to find the incantation, but why don't you recite the rest?"

"I don't have it, but this should at least even things out!" I yelled. "Come to me, my guardians! Shield your master! Spear of annihilation: Shiva. Shield of Preservation: Vishnu." An amethyst railgun shaped sword with a long golden hilt manifested in my left hand. Meanwhile, my right was occupied by an orange and silver round shield with one-hundred-and-eight prongs. At the center of the shield was a gun barrel.

Daisaru snickered as he jumped off his cloud and dashed toward me. Next thing I knew, he stood behind me. A kick to the back in between my wings sent me flying toward the ground. I held out Vishnu and slammed it against the ground, causing a wave of stone and dirt to appear, tearing through the surrounding forest.

"Not bad, king," the Monkey King said, grinning as he flew back down on his cloud. He snickered. "Thought that would've done you in."

I narrowed my eyes at him as I pushed myself off the ground. Even after having his power cut, he was still this powerful... If only Takeshi and the others were here. No, I'll deal with this myself.

I pointed my spear-sword at the Monkey King and air-dashed forward. The monkey king narrowed his eyes at me as he gripped my sword. "Say, where did you get this weapon?"

I smiled. "I've had it since I was a kid," I said before kicking him in the stomach. A plume of smoke covered the forest as Daisaru crashed against the side of a mountain.

I held up my gun-shield as something rushed at me.

Daisaru smiled as he floated in front of me. "Too slow."

My eyes widened. I glanced over my shoulder, only to be kicked on the back, between my wings.

I coughed up blood as I rapidly lost altitude. My right hand clenched the shield tightly as I slammed into the ground. My fall sent a giant plume of dust high into the sky.

I spun around and raised my shield over my head as Daisaru threw a punch. The contact between his fist and my shield caused the two-meter radius hole to widen at the bottom. My back struck the ground due to the explosion of force. He, however, wasn't sent flying into the air. He had lived for millennia, but his power was still incredible. How had he managed to achieve it? If I had that power, then no threat would be able to take Kuroriku down.

I focused my mana on the barrel in the center of my gun-shield. "Die!" I yelled, sending a high-density beam his way. Daisaru jumped to the other side of the crater, avoiding the beam. My attack widened the hole and what remained of the laser vanished into the distant sky.

"Is that all? How pathetic!" Daisaru yelled. "Shi gave me more of a challenge! Are you truly at the same power level?"

I gritted my teeth. "Shut up!" I yelled, pushing myself off of the ground with a flutter of my wings.

Daisaru crossed his arms and grinned as I brought my sword down at him.

"Nice reaction!" he said, laughing. "But it's not enough!"

My sword, it failed to slice through his skin!

The Monkey King grabbed the blade of my sword and crushed it. "It's over, King of Kuroriku."

No way! He broke Shiva!

Daisaru raised his hand in front of his lips and blew the metallic dust into the air. "Now, there's no way of you calling forth that destructive djinn." He laughed. "Not that you used it to its full potential in our first match, to begin with."

I narrowed my eyes at him. How did he know about Shiva?

I laughed as I threw the broken sword into the air.

"Huh?" he said, blinking.

"You foolish monkey." I clapped my hands together. "Shiva's power increases, with the more damage it takes!"

He eyed the broken sword, which flew into the air and swung down as if it had a life of its own.

Daisaru grunted as the blade this time managed to cut through his skin.

"You're the first one to damage it this much in a single hit, so he's furious," I said, grinning like a madman.

The Monkey King swung his tail at it, sending Shiva crashing into the side of the crater. With a single leap, he managed to escape the hole and fly past the clouds.

His jumping abilities are as the legends say.

I wobbled side to side. Those punches sure did a number on me. I had to make sure that he would pay for that!

"Vishnu," I whispered. My shield radiated a green glow which recovered all of my wounds and mended my clothes.

I jumped up and flew through the air.

The Monkey King grinned as he descended from the heavens. "About time that you emerged from that crater! Thought that you would pass out!" he said, baring his sharp teeth.

"As if!" I yelled, bringing my shield over me. "While I got Vishnu with me, you must knock me out in one hit to stop me!"

His punch struck the shield, but I prevented myself from being sent back by unleashing a gust of wind underneath me.

He gasped as the shock wave sent him flying back this time. "Wind? But how?"

I moved around him. "It's not a widely known thing, but I got some Makkuroyama blood in me," I whispered into his ear as I floated behind him.

He laughed as he elbowed my stomach, pushing me away. It couldn't tell whether I was falling or rising anymore as I couldn't make out the ground. "I see! Not that it matters! Wind has no effect on me!" Daisaru said, grinning.

Right, Tekeshi said that only water and earth can affect him. Fire and wind are useless. If only Miyuki were here.

I glanced at the forest below as I readjusted my vision. What were the others up to? Had they discovered the sealing ritual? Even so, I needed to buy them more time complete it.

"You're up to something, aren't you?" Daisaru asked, snickering as he flew in front of me.

My eyes widened.

"I knew it. It was odd that you would fight me by yourself, even after using the incantation to weaken me. You would only stand a chance against me if you knew it entirely. Is that what the others are up to? Researching it?"

I smirked. "Maybe," I said.

He glanced at the floating island. "I see. Then I must rid myself of them." His tail slammed against my side, sending me crashing into the forest below. I gritted my teeth as the Monkey King flew toward the island. I said that I would buy the others time, yet here I was, covered in blood and laying on the floor.

Vishnu's aura covered my body, healing my wounds and fixing my clothes. I pushed myself and flew after the Monkey Pillar.

The Monkey King smirked as he looked over his shoulder. "You guys don't know when to quit, do you?"

I spread my arms out. An orange aura poured out of my hands and flared across my body. The trees directly below me were blown away even though they were hundreds of miles beneath me. Even the floating island was pushed away by the intensity of my power.

Daisaru snickered. "Oh? Second Heaven? I recall that one of your comrades used it against me. Not that it helped him much."

I appeared behind him and smacked Shiva's hilt against his head, sending him crashing into a lake near where I had previously crashed.

Daisaru touched his face and laughed as he rose from the water. "Not bad, Osamu. I didn't expect your power to increase by this much."

I raised a hand, causing spikes to impale his chest. He spat out black gunk from his mouth.

He smiled as he grasped the earth spike. The rock shattered with a simple grip. "Impressive. It appears that I'll need to get serious." He jumped toward me, flying past several miles with ease. I spun around and blocked his incoming fist with Vishnu.

"I may be in Second Heaven, but the power that you showed at Grand Crater should've been enough to do more than this." I smirked. "It seems that the headband's control over your power is greater than I thought."

Daisaru pushed back against my shield and landed on his cloud. The thing moved as if it had a will of its own.

The Monkey King moved his head side to side. "Yeah, it's a pesky thing. But I'll simply have to find a workaround it." He held out his hand toward me and summoned a red staff. "It's been awhile since I've used this."

Suddenly, the crimson staff extended, striking Vishnu and sending my flying into the barrier of the sky island.

"So, you had other tricks."

Daisaru laughed as his staff retracted. "Yes. As do you." He narrowed his eyes at me. "One of them which involves giving yourself up to a demon."

My eyes widened. Right, I had forgotten that he could see evil. Mammon's scent weakened since I arrived in Xeleria, but she must still be keeping an eye on me.

"That's an option that I don't plan to use," I said, forming several purple spheres around me. The dark mana orbs flew toward the monkey, but Daisaru flung them away with his staff.

I flew around him and stabbed him on the back, but as I did, he swung his staff against my neck, sending my flying toward the ground.

I turned the ground below into dust and raised it into the heavens.

"Hey, I know this one! Shi tried it against me. It didn't work for him and it won't work for you." He swung his staff, blowing the dust back at me.

I held my sword out and brought the sand toward its shattered blade. Rocks formed across the surface, forming a working blade.

If only I could use crystals like Sofia and Rosa. But I lacked control over metal mana.

I flew back, avoiding his incoming staff. As I dodge his attacks, shadows wrapped around Shiva.

"Fell Crescent!" I yelled, passing Daisaru in a burst of shadow. To the untrained eye, it would appear as if I had teleported behind him.

Daisaru's eyes widened at the sight of a large slash mark on his left abdomen. Black goo oozed out of his, closing the wound.

I knew that I couldn't kill the guy, given that he was immortal, but seeing my work be undone so easily still irked me.

"Congratulations, you're the first one in centuries, outside of the Pillars of Destruction, who has managed to damage me this much," Daisaru said, grinning. "Wish that I could continue this fight, but I better not waste more time."

I smirked and dashed past him again, but this time, he managed to block with his staff. The stones on Shiva's blade shattered upon impact, sending me flying back.

"I hate to use this, but I have a job to do," Daisaru said before taking a deep breath. He unleashed a hellish howl like a thousand angry monkeys.

My wings, arms and legs locked up. It was as if I were paralyzed as my entire body became numb. My gradually vision faded as did my sense of smell, hearing, and taste.

Everything felt like a void. For all I knew, I was already dead. This had to be the special ability that Takeshi mentioned. It appeared that the only one who could take him on was Setsuko.

Daughter, when will you arrive? Though, when you do, you might already be Queen of Kuroriku in all but name.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed this chapter :). Only 7 episodes and the epilogue to go! Predictions? Theories? Other general thoughts?**