"Hey," Eita said. He was accompanied by Suzuki, Ximena, Nori, Takuya, and Teresa.

"Huh? Xime? When did you two arrive?" Serrano asked, walking in after me along with the others.

Ximena averted her gaze. "I barely returned. Dad told me that Teresa had come back here."

"Is Master still working on purifying out angel tools?" Takuya asked.

Ximena nodded. "Yeah. They will take a while longer."

I blinked. Purifying? "Why did you have to do that? If anything, Suzuki and Eiichi should do that."

Suzuki smiled weakly. "Yeah. Wonder if he can work on mine next. I rather not become a demon in the middle of the battle."

"I don't think it's entirely the fault of your angelic weapon," Ximena said. "While diluted, you still carry the blood of Leviathan within you."

Suzuki frowned and rubbed her elbow. "Thought so."

"I have somethin' that can help you," Takuya said, reaching into his pocket and taking out a milky white stone.

"Is that a holy stone?" Kiara asked, leaning forward.

"Sort of. It's meant to seal up demonic energy. If Suzuki's demonic energy starts to leak out, it'll keep her in check."

Suzuki smiled as she took the stone from him. "Thanks, Taku."

"T-Taku?" Eita said. He glared at my brother. "Not again..."

I laughed. Did he think Suzuki liked Taku?

The former rebel blushed. "It's what his siblings always call him, so I thought that I would try it out." She rolled the stone around her palm. "To show we're closer."

Takuya grinned. "That's a swell idea! Then I'll call you Suzu. Uh, if you don't mind."

Eita grumbled. "Takuya..."

I sighed. Seemed he went back to being immature. Just when I thought he had grown too!

He sighed and turned around.

I smiled. At least he was a tad less impulsive. Uh, not that I could throw any rocks at him over that. As Serrano said earlier, I was 'wild'.

His eyes narrowed. He gasped. "Roa? What's he doing here?"

My annoying cousin crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. "About time that somebody noticed my presence."

"I noticed you but didn't think much of it," Suzuki said, grinning.

Roa blushed and gritted his teeth. "Have you grown so strong that you now see me as insignificant?"

She shook her head. "No. It's just that Etsuo's with us, so having you help us isn't much of a departure from the norm. Plus, we got visits from other family members of yours. So you showing up isn't the strangest thing in the world."

He shrugged. "Seems it isn't. But it would be nice if you could at least be as wary of me as Hyosetsu was outside. I could stab all of you in a matter of seconds."

"If that were your intention, you would already have done so," Etsuo said, smiling.

"That's not the point! I just hate being taken lightly!"

"Ahh, Roa's here. I'm so scared! Is that good enough?" Kiara asked, chuckling.

Teresa snorted. "Good one, Ki!"

Roa narrowed his eyes at her. "You're lucky that Dine is within you."

Kiara giggled. "It was actually her idea!"

He frowned. "Why hasn't she surfaced?"

Ki put her hands over her chest. "She wants to save her strength. So her voice is dimmer."

"Hey, you should see this one out. We can take care of things." He rubbed the back of his neck like I usually would do. "Not that I'm worried or anything."

Rosa covered her mouth.

"What?"

"Tsun!" Yuko said.

Roa blushed. "I'm not one! I mean it. I would care less about Kiara if it weren't for Dine."

Kiara scoffed. "Indeed. It would be odd if you did care for me."

"Now, now, kids. We have more training to do."

"I'm going to put these away," Etsuo said, waving the bags.

Kiara smiled. "Thanks. You can put them in my parents' guest room."

"I can show you the way if you'll like," Rene said.

Etsuo nodded.

Mei pouted. "My poor brother became a bag boy."

Etsuo laughed weakly. "Well, I did want to help. Plus, this feels like training!"

Roa sighed and reached his hand out for one. "These aren't even he-" His eyes widened as he grabbed it. "W-what's in this?"

"We took the time to get some new armor!" Kiara said, grinning.

I swung my hands behind my head. "Seriously? Here I thought you were just shopping for clothes."

"We did that too," Kiara said.

Etsuo waved his tail.

Roa stared at the bag. "Is armor this heavy even any good?"

"Kohri said it was," Rosa said. "It's a piece that he worked on with his master. It can store mana in the multiple high-grade mana gems on it. It's meant for defensive fighters."

I gasped. Defensive? Was it for me?

Anis smiled. "We picked it out for you, son."

Roa chuckled. "Still getting your stuff picked by your mom? How old are you?" He gasped and jumped as spikes of marble flew at him.

Ma scoffed. "Don't cha make fun of my boy! I might be in a wheelchair, but I can still defend him."

I sighed. "Ma, I appreciate ya help, but I can defend myself just fine." Even as a kid, I would finish the fights that others picked with me.

Roa cleared his throat. "Seems Mom and my aunts aren't the only ladies who would kill for their kids."

Serra smiled. "Mom would probably be the most frightening."

I looked away. When I was little, she scared me when I made Serra cry...

"Where is she?" Con asked, glancing around.

"She is still training alongside the rest of her siblings. Uncle Daisaru is training them," Roa said.

What kind of training were they doing? Part of me wanted to help them, but another part made me wish they didn't grow much. We would be fighting them eventually. I liked strong opponents, but the fate of my world was at stake. I couldn't wager that for the thrill of it.

"Dad is?" Etsuo asked.

"Yeah. My siblings and I also got trained." He nodded his head. "That's why I'm confident that I can still handle that former pipsqueak and the rest of you."

I crossed my arms and laughed. "Oh? Now I really want to fight you. If not, then a race will do. Unfortunately, I better get going." I took the bag from him. "I'll be taking that for you."

"Hmm. What's so important that you'll skip the chance to fight me?"

I shrugged. "You'll know soon enough, Pony Boy." I smiled at Rosa and Ma. "Thanks for the armor."

"Be sure to thank Kohri, too," Onami said, nodding proudly. "Oh, and Yuko! She was the one to point out the orbs could be of some help to you."

"Sure!" I smiled at her sister. "Thanks, Yuko."

Yuko turned away and fidgeted. "I-it's nothing, Tetsuya. T-the orbs on the armor just reminded Yuko of the orb on Agnes. And it helped against that mean fox guy."

I beamed. She said my name without the 'master' in front!

"Yeah, it did!" I said, grinning

Rosa stepped forward and put her hands on my shoulders. "Take care." She looked over her shoulder at Setty. "You too, Sis."

Setty nodded and strode forward. "Let's get going, Tetsuya. It's time for our final trial before the war."

"Final trial?" Roa asked, furrowing his brow. "What trials came before?"

"I'm not sure myself," Etsuo said.

I smirked. So, even they didn't know everything we'd been up to. Oddly, the demons appeared more aware. Why was that? Given Anestarte haunted Eiichi, it had to be her. Right? Who else could it have been?

Setsuko and I descended into the simulation room. Hyosetsu and Hideo had awaited alongside Eiichi. So did Osamu and Kohri.

"About time you made it," Eiichi said, pushing himself off the wall. He smirked. "Kept me waiting long enough."

I narrowed my eyes. Was he reciting that one-liner all of this time?

Hyosetsu sighed. "Hate to agree with the pervert, but you did take your sweat time. It is unwise to interact with the enemy."

"Is it? We did get some information from Pony Boy," I said, smiling.

"What did that no good horse say?" Hideo asked.

"He said that he and his aunts and uncles have been training under Daisaru," Setsuko said.

Eiichi's smile vanished, replaced by a scowl. "That overgrown monkey, huh? When will he come here?"

"He didn't say anything about it," I said. It would've been good if he had, though.

"Then your information is only half worthwhile."

"Yeah," Hideo said, sighing.

"Leave that concern for us," Osamu said as he looked up from the computer. A giant container with indents in the shape of our weapons opened up from beneath the system of pods.

"Almost everything is ready to go! I only need you to place your weapons here," Kohri said, pointing at the indents.

I laughed. "This isn't going to summon some ancient god of some kind, is it?"

Osamu scoffed. "That would be nice, but no. We're going to infuse the vajra into them. Then you weapon will enter your body."

Hideo gasped. "Enter out bodies?"

"Suddenly I'm glad that I got the shield instead of the sword," I mumbled.

"Yes. Normally, it would require years or training, but we don't have the time right now."

"Taking the easy way out, huh? Sounds like something the Archdemon of Sloth would approve," a voice called out.

Osamu gritted his teeth as the former and perhaps current king of Kasai no Ki descended the stairs.

"Who invited you?" Osamu asked, appearing front of him.

He smirked. "Relax. I'm not going to harm you or your project. The experiment itself will do all of the harming. You know how dangerous weapon equip can be. It can't be easily combined with the Heaven Forms without serious, potentially crimpling, results. Why not focus on that which you've polished?"

"Weapon equip?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Full integration with your weapon. Naoru used a limited form of it in his battle against Roa," Hyosetsu said, tapping his chin. "I could use it with my former angel tools, but hadn't thought of trying it with Baldo." He eyed his weapon, now back to its original board sword form. "It's not completely made up of Zionian material, so it could result in sharp pain."

"Like what happened to Yuko when she absorbed the mana stones," Setty said.

I looked down. Naoru warned us this would be painful, but I hadn't imagined there were this many issues with it.

"All the factors combined could kill the five knights. I know you might not care much about the guy who hurt your daughter, nor the peasant you've long disliked, nor to my grandnephew, but would you really be willing to risk the life of your daughter and that of your best friend's son for something that might not work?"

"He's right," Azami said as he joined us. How many more people were going to show up? Seriously, someone would've put a guard at the door!

Osamu stared at the machine and curled his hands. "It that case, I'll have to think of a work around."

"Did Sir Takeshi have anyback up plans?" Kohri asked, staring at the computer screen.

Our king rubbed the side of his neck. "There is, but it might not be any better."

"What is it?" I asked.

"We fuse the vajra with the weapons while the integration happens in the same place as you five took your Angel Trials rather than in the physical world. The risk is smaller, but the cost of failure is greater."

"What's that?"

"Your weapons would shatter and your angels will die with them. And the five of you might end up in a coma."

Hideo bit his lip. "But we have no other choice, do we?"

"Hmm, Onami said that she called Ocarina following Rosa's trial. It seems we have a month at most," Kohri said.

"Why are you barely mentioning this now?" Hyosetsu asked, sighing.

"We aren't sure when the enemy will attack. Grace thinks the best day will be the day of the Eclipse, which happens to be the twenty-eighth of next month."

"Rosa said something similar," I said, sighing. But she hadn't mentioned the exact date. Seemed I was destined to fight for my life on my twenty-second birthday.

"Let's do it," I said. "I'll like to train with my aunt in the time that remains, but if we end up in a coma, we could at least recover in that time."

"That's not assured, but if you insist," Osamu said, signaling at the weapon container.

Eiichi and Hideo walked over to it without much hesitation, but only the former put his inside.

"Dan. Everything will go fine, right?" Hideo whispered as he clung to his gun.

Was he talking to his angel? Or his brother?

"Don't worry. We will have our angels by our side," Eiichi said, smiling slightly. "Carlos has already bailed me out multiple times."

Hide smiled a bit. "Yeah. Daniel has helped me too, even if not as much as Carlos has aided you." He lowered his gun into its slot. Had father created that container? To my knowledge, he was the only one with knowledge of the weapons' dimensions. Well, perhaps Eiichi had figured them out too. He had managed to get Agnes right.

Setty put hers in. "I feel that I still need to get closer to Alma. So maybe this bonding exercise can help with that," she said, chuckling weakly.

Hyosetsu sighed and put his down too.

I placed Agnes as well and watched as the pods opened. Seemed they would be our beds for this trial instead of their original purpose.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter! Would love to hear some feedback.**