⁂~(Updated 2022-07-04-)~⁂

*Ready for professional edits*

(This is the free version.)

Word Count: 3375

Blinding white lights snatched Kazuki and propelled him through a vertiginous burst of colourful stars. Feeling queasy, he winked his bright crimson eyes until the grey spots dissolved from his sight. A vast chamber used by the ancient Faye sat solidified within a silver fog. A long crystal bridge weaved into the distance as Kazuki stepped closer.

He noticed gems of all colours, patterns and sizes grow from the floating rocks. Climbing from the endless bottom, they slowly rotated into the pure black purgatory ceiling. "I better wait for Diaxis," said Kazuki as he stared back at his wavering liquid-like reflection within the Mirror of Destiny.

I always wanted to be a hero, like Diaxis and Agatha. It was my dream. If I turn back now, all I have struggled for will be for nothing. I promise I will find a way to become stronger and find Izanami's Heart.

"I hope Angelo knows where to find this scholar. He can tell me how to talk with Izanami. If I can share the yokai with strong warriors, we might have a chance at stopping the masked man and his followers..."

Kazuki sensed a quick sting in his pineal gland—the psychic muscle within the centre of his forehead. As he rubbed the pain, a concise whisper captured his thoughts and spoke to him with an abstruse power of mysticism.

"I have bridged both our minds. However, I can only speak briefly without exhausting your magic source," said the cat yokai of the mind crystal.

"What is this place, Yasuhiro? The mana here is powerful. I can barely move," said Kazuki.

"This is the Heart of Mana, All Bearer—a sacred site that very few mortals have seen up close. The centre of magic itself. It extracts magical power from the Power-Titan and then naturally flows through the microbiology in Azmoria. With the help of a host, yokai can absorb this energy because we are crafted by it. Known as mana, it empowers us to design magical attacks and defences—among other non-combative skills that have helped shape the universe."

"Ichiro. I promise I will protect the Jungle of Yuun."

"Go to the Heart of Mana and awaken your destiny! The journey will be long. Before harnessing real power and taming it, you cannot fear it. You must keep pushing forward until you reach greater heights. Study the world. Once you touch the Heart of Mana, you will return to Azmoria and be able to find the scholar."

Ichiro's squeaky voice faded as Kazuki heard a high-pitched hum from the Mirror of Destiny.

"It must be Diaxis."

Diaxis stepped through the frame and fingered his shoulder-length white-pink hair. He grabbed Kazuki's shoulder, squeezing it with a smile. "I hope it revealed the right path for you," he said, shifting his smirk into a scowl as he glanced back to the metal-ocean mirror.

"Sometimes, Emeric would be inside the mirror for weeks," he frowned.

"It was my fault. The mirror afflicted him with a rare illness I did not know existed. Mortals call it celestite depletion. There is something about that purgatory that gives me the creeps."

"What do you mean? It wasn't that bad," said Kazuki.

"You were only in there for a few seconds. I gave you a shove so that you wouldn't become lost," said Diaxis as he crossed his arms and spread his black wings free of perspiration.

"I've already come up with a plan. I'm going to find a way to share the cores. But we should find Angelo first. The Heart of Mana will show me the way," said Kazuki as he marched towards the crystal stairway.

Kazuki pointed towards the crystal bridge near the edge of the ice-like antechamber. Petrified stone columns adjacent to frozen waterfalls lay suspended in animation. Glorious petrified icy gardens of flowers and mushrooms guided the origins of previous destinies to sprout willpower and choice.

Diaxis slouched his silver eyebrows. "The Mirror of Destiny revealed more to you than I thought," he said.

Kazuki smiled, "I spoke to my yokai. I have to unlock the mana within myself, so the yokai can infuse me with the raw energy it absorbs from the environment—allowing me to harness and control their powers. Is that right?"

"I believe so, however," said Diaxis as he stepped before Kazuki and revoked his arms.

"I cannot allow you further inside until you fully understand. The Heart of Mana could reject you."

Kazuki, in surprise, stepped back. "Why? I have the cores," said Kazuki.

"I understand your burden," said Diaxis. "However, the last unchosen guardian that attempted to touch the Heart had metamorphosed into a demonic creature. Kazuki, if you do this and if you change as she did. I will have no choice but to eliminate you. That is all I want you to understand."

"I won't change. I have the power of the cores. Who are you talking about?"

Diaxis coursed down the pillared antechamber and swaying crystal bridge as Kazuki followed closely behind.

"She was a Faye once," he said. "She was unchosen to defend the Crystal Palace. Though, she was still a brave Faye Knight. We used to play together when we were young. We bonded deeply. Her name was Hisa. Long ago, something called to her from your world through the Heart. Once she passed over, the woman I loved was gone forever—perhaps nothing more than a piece of parchment set ablaze by flaring candlelight."

"What happened to her?"

"She was possessed by something dreadful—a bloodthirsty yokai. It seemed like she was hosting a celestite spirit but in reverse, and the yokai was in control. I do not know what became of the creature she metamorphosed into until much later."

Diaxis drooped his head. "The abnormality that possessed her, Sanguine, disappeared after the war. I believe it is a yokai of unknown origin. After searching for more information in our elder's notes, I came across something known as the creator of Luna. It commands mortal's blood during a full moon, as mortals had emerged through high tide—so the story goes."

"She turned into a monster that can control blood?"

"A mortal's blood and only at night during a full moon... It is one of the strongest monsters the Order of the Iron Rose faced during the war and is one of the masked man's top dogs. My only hope is that Hisa is not suffering. I hope that creature is dead."

Diaxis grabbed the spider-silk-rope siding of the crystal bridge. Broadening his grey-black wings, he showed Kazuki the vicious vertical scar that cut through his feathered mesh.

"Man, that looks bad. What happened?" asked Kazuki as he stared at the scar.

Diaxis slouched his eyebrows. "Hey, stop staring at it," he said as he fastened his black wings and continued to cross the crystal bridge surrounded by glaciated waterfalls.

"Roughly seventy years ago, during the Lion's Head War, Sanguine attempted to corrupt the Crystal Palace with his dark magic and temporarily shut it down. The Council of Sages was in peril; some had even died fighting him, such as Sage Kaito. My duty was to stop this from happening, so I sealed off the Netherskies, travelled to your world and reformed the Order of the Iron Rose.

"The greatest heroes of Azmoria, some being no more than children, had assembled under my leadership to defeat the masked man and his armies," said Diaxis.

"Do you know who the masked man is?"

"No. Nobody does, for sure. However, I did encounter Hisa. I tried saving her from that creature, but the darkness had absorbed her entirely. Upon my final attack, Sanguine had anticipated it. I did not think it was possible. Only a Faye could nullify the most potent ability in my arsenal—the Nova Bomb. The abnormality took possession of her body and her powers as a Faye. Sanguine reflected my Nova Bomb, and I barely got out of its blast radius in time.

"The sonic boom after its explosion knocked me unconscious while in mid-flight. The next day, I had awoken over a young pregnant human who was one of the best Azmorian warriors I had ever known—Agatha Haru."

"So that is how you know Agatha!" exclaimed Kazuki as he continued to follow Diaxis on the swaying crystal bridge.

"To this day, my wings do not perform properly," he said as he stretched out his wings with a jitter. "Agatha brought me back to full health with the help of Elven King Ocelot. I had just driven a black lotus associate out of the elven capital, and then I felt his death. I saw an emerging explosion not long afterwards. So I quickly dove into the skies and tried to fly away."

"Did that explosion end the war?" asked Kazuki.

"It had wiped out the entire country of Aratine. The explosion was massive. The high elves are now almost extinct. I do not know who produced it. But, the level of magic emanating off its currents was even greater than that of the Crystal Palace. People called it the Great Detonation."

"What could create that much power?"

"That mystery remains. Some say it was the power of a god. It also should have imploded the entire planet, but something or someone saved us from the detonation spreading outward. However, it seems this war is not over, Kazuki. He is still out there..."

"What is he? He doesn't sound human," said Kazuki.

"I do not know what he is, but he is not human. Even as a Faye, I have challenged him and barely escaped with my life. He is impossible to touch, see or hear. He also holds many powerful artifacts. Numerous Azmorians came to call him The Obsidian Shadow. However, nobody knows who he is."

Reaching the end of the crystal bridge, Kazuki grabbed Diaxis's winged shoulders.

"I'm going to stop him, Diaxis," he said. "I'm going to pull that mask right off his face! The core yokai told me it was my destiny to face him. I need some help, though. I can't master all these yokai before his next invasion. So I am going to seek their mother, Izanami. They say only she can grant me the ability to pass on the cores. I want other heroes by my side if I have to be a sage. I cannot remember anyone that fits that description better than you, Agatha and Angelo."

Kazuki pulled Diaxis' hand in and shook it, elbow to elbow.

Diaxis did not say a word until he glimpsed into Kazuki's unusual crimson eyes and sighed.

"I would go with you, although if I do, we risk the Crystal Palace's corruption—which will seal your powers, remember? I have to protect it. It is my vow. I am sorry, Kazuki. I must remain here for now. I'm afraid all I can do for you is locate Angelo and try to get you home. However, it's strange; his heart rate has dimmed down."

"We need to find him quickly, then," said Kazuki.

:: Agatha:: Kazuki Memory Quote: "You are a bearer now. An exceptional one. Your pain can be moulded into ambition. Don't ever forget to share what you have gained and learned with others, for this is always the enemy's weakness. They are selfish and stagnant with their knowledge."

Crossing the crystal bridge beneath a cracked arch and more floral stones, Diaxis escorted Kazuki into an enormous chamber. Amidst the chipped dome arose a circular granite well. A high arching sixteen-fingered crystal-pedestal reached into the nothingness of sparkling mana.

Angelo's Masamune sat within a murky amethystine jelly. A smooth, lustrous golden sphere levitated and rotated vertically in different patterns—the edges glazed like a freshly grown apple. It hung enchantingly above the exotic jelly pool, extracting white-blue and dark-violet magic. The amount of mana resonating within its nucleus overwhelmed Kazuki's senses.

Walking closer to the well, Kazuki and Diaxis saw Angelo unconscious and bent over the plasma pool's granite siding.

"There he is, Diaxis. Over there!" shouted Kazuki.

Diaxis extended his black feathery wings, scooped up Kazuki, and quickly flapped to Angelo. "Hang on," he said.

As Diaxis landed, Kazuki lifted Angelo's head from the sticky jelly.

"Angelo! I finally found you. What happened?" asked Kazuki as he plucked the purplish goo from Angelo's long blonde lion's mane.

Kazuki shifted his eyes downward as he felt a wet blade border his throat. 

"Woah, stop! It's me," he said.

"Little one," sighed Angelo. "And... The Last Faye. I'm sorry. I was ambushed and deceived."

"It seems you have encountered those imps," said Diaxis.

"Are they the imps you mentioned earlier?" asked Kazuki.

Diaxis nodded. "Yes. They used Angelo as a mana source by letting him decay within this pool. They will intersect his energy with their own. Angelo must be a powerful yokai, and they are drawn to his magic, especially now that he is mortal. However... I feel something strange."

Angelo fell to his knees and coughed. "Curse this confounded mortal body! How do you deal with this?" he roared, punching the crystal soil.

Kazuki grabbed him. "It's called pain, genius. What happened?" he asked.

Angelo quivered as he repeatedly tried to rise.

"The power I once had is no more, little one. I need to be in Azmoria, so my mana can regenerate!" he shouted.

Diaxis hastily shifted around. Facing the stairs, he raised his hand. "Do you hear that?" he asked.

Diaxis stretched out his palms and pointed them toward the crystalline bridge. Flares of white-hot light ignited from his index fingers with the sound of sparkling fire.

"You had no right to do this!" he yelled, firing an impressive achromatic orb down the narrow crystal bridge.

As it exploded into a bright wave of silver glitter, Diaxis' ardent white energy ball punched into one of the invisible creatures and sent them spinning over the crystal bridge. 

"There is more," he said.

Kazuki wrapped Angelo's arm around his neck and sat him down on the edge of the jelly pond. 

"What is it? I don't see anything!" shouted Kazuki.

"An S-Rank. I know this person. Anjelico, get him out of here," replied Diaxis.

Kazuki felt Angelo grip his forearm, lifting him from the ground onto his shoulders. 

An S-Rank? Are they coming after me already? How do they know I'm here? How did they get here?!

Angelo dashed towards the golden floating sphere as Kazuki hung onto his orange ponytail and tight muscular shoulders. "How do we open the way?" he shouted.

Angelo lifted Kazuki towards the spinning Heart of Mana and grunted. "Touch the Heart of Mana, little one. I cannot touch it, or it will destroy me," he said.

Kazuki stretched out his hand and slapped the Heart of Mana. He flattened his palm onto the spinning golden orb, which halted it to a dead stop.

"Got it!" he shouted.

The Heart of Mana banged with the sound of bells and oscillated backward—freeing its gold shell. As the globe unfolded, Angelo hurdled into the blue-green world of Azmoria.

⁂

Diaxis analyzed the trio of invisible entities—each yielding a distinct coloration. Red, green, and blue-violet halos shimmered around their almond-shaped eyes. As the odd fabrication's transparent bodies encircled him, Diaxis felt their power increase due to the absorption of Angelo's mana. He could sense the fourth aura concealing themselves and puppeteering the creatures from the shadows of ice and glitter.

The invisible fabrications dashed toward Diaxis with blinding speed and emitted an illuminating trail of aquamarine dust. They tore through the crystal terrain and carried high-pitched squeals through the generated winds. Diaxis stretched his black pinions and leaped into the air, uniting his palms with a smack. Twisting his fingers into an enclosed triangle, he formed the sign of the rooster—creating an oppressive bombardment of runic energy.

The invisible imps eluded Diaxis' glowing white projectiles with deceptive acrobatic agility. They tricked Diaxis with a serpentine flux and revolved around him towards the Heart of Mana. The trio of imps struck the re-sealed gold globe and released an eruption of rainbow-tinted mana.

"You are not going anywhere!" shouted Diaxis.

Chains of multicoloured whips lashed out from the Heart of Mana's core and clamped onto each of the imps. The phosphorescent strings curled up their feet and wrapped around their necks—strapping their ethereal forms to the crystal floor. Within moments, the imps ignited into a purple fire.

Screeching in pain as they dissolved, the imps suddenly regenerated. Their limbs reformed!—allowing the trio to push past the Heart of Mana's deadly safeguard.

"That's impossible; nothing can get through the heart safely without an extraordinary amount of mana!"

Within a blink of static, the radiant imps push-zapped into the Heart of Mana and through the glowing blue-green portal to Azmoria.

"No!"

The fourth figure crept through the dense snowy afterglow of Diaxis' attacks. The same mana-source Diaxis had felt earlier—a familiar, menacing reservoir of dark and twisted magic.

Diaxis narrowed his eyes as the villain approached.

"I admit. I did not think he would have sent you to deal with me," he said. "I expected that he would have shown up himself. I can be hard to handle, you know."

Diaxis hopped backward and jumped up. He flapped his black wings and erected both palms to form the sign of the rooster once again. Aiming towards the robed figure, he ignited his Faye-spellcraft. "You are too late. The boy with all eight core yokai is gone."

Focusing past the white glitter of his previous attack, Diaxis saw the dancing silhouette. An ominous black-robed woman with a red-white fox mask had surfaced through the silver dust and onto the battlefield. Her high heels clicked against the crystal floor as she whirled and spun towards Diaxis. A turquoise, diamond-shaped crystal sparkled within a small hole on her kitsune mask.

As she twirled her braided black ponytail with her finger, the tattoo of a black lotus flower emerged on her throat behind her villainous mantle.

Diaxis noticed that the robes were the same as Kazuki's—hand-stitched obsidian fibres with golden trim—a vestment passed down to those chosen to be a disciple of Master Kenji.

Diaxis stared at the women's bloodshot white-blue eyes within the carvings of her kitsune mask as she danced closer.

"How long has it been?" she asked, with her seductive accent.

"Not long enough. I never expected to see you again," said Diaxis. "I assumed Lilith and Jasmine Fox had ended your betrayal during the war."

"Oh, how I do treasure those times as a child with Lilith—especially when I helped kill her mother. She proved to me how weak the council was," she chuckled, applying her black lipstick.

"Evil has truly consumed your soul, Mao. Your former masters would be disgusted with you. Whether you are an S-Rank bearer or not, you will lose—just like last time," said Diaxis as he maintained his distance.

The mysterious woman held her heart as she rotated like an actress singing a melody. Her turquoise celestite crystal glowed, and Diaxis could suddenly feel his mana draining from afar. The closer the woman hopped, the more she withdrew. Diaxis felt the magic slowly split from his soul like a winter current in the breeze.

She can absorb magic even further than last time. This is going to be interesting. It's a good thing I am inside the Crystal Palace, or I might have been in some trouble here, he thought.

"We could only test our mettle once before Faye Prince, though luck had not been on my side. This time, I will be able to eradicate you all by myself. He says you will not interfere with his plans in this era."

Diaxis clenched his teeth as he slapped his hands, releasing a mighty shockwave. The two sizzling runic orbs within his fists joined as one within a brilliant display of energy. Scintillating rainbow mini-fires peppered in all directions as the spheroid tripled in amplitude.

"Come and try it, Mao!"