⁂~(Updated 2022-02-19-)~⁂

Word Count: 5045

"Hurry, Onikuma, that way!" shouted Kaemon as he rode Onikuma through the rupturing lava tunnels. His feathery black and blue-striped shawl bounced around his neck as he tightly grasped Onikuma's hide.

"I am moving as fast as I can!" roared Onikuma.

Enhancing his brute strength and speed, Onikuma kicked up orange embers as he raced past the cavern's raging fires. He galloped through the final crumbling passages and slid to a halt through the charcoal dust. He cursed as he observed the boiling river of lava block off the entrance to the grotto. "Kaemon, the lava has melted the cliffs and blocked off the entrance!"

"Move that column," said Kaemon as he pointed to an upright column partly melted into the obsidian wall. "Take all of my mana to heighten your strength."

Onikuma stomped his paws and chanted. "I don't name my moves. I just mess stuff up!"

Kaemon stroked his face in shame. "Quickly, Onikuma. There isn't much time left," he said, emitting a golden-orange aura through the yellow celestite crystal affixed to his left hand.

Kaemon enhanced Onikuma's furry muscles and extended his long black claws. "Let's do this. I'm much stronger now!"

Onikuma secured a solid grip on the fallen rocks and lifted the glass-stone column. He ripped the rock from its cracking husk and threw the gigantic hunk of jagged black glass stone, launching it on top of the lava river.

"Admirable work Onikuma. I owe you my life," said Kaemon.

"Not now. We have to get out first!" shouted Onikuma as he shimmied across the black glass bridge with Kaemon hunched over on his back.

They saw Lilith spring high into the ember-ridden atmosphere behind them with an elegant flip. Her ebony and red-trimmed armoured boots hurled fiery gold sparks and the screech of alloy as she slid across the hot pebbled ground towards Kaemon and Onikuma.

"Run, Anjelico!" boomed Onikuma as he cupped his voice with his paws.

Far behind, Kazuki ran for the aperture while carrying the lost little boy, Adrian, on his shoulders. "Wahoo! Go Kazuki!" shouted Adrian as he tugged on Kazuki's black-gold robe collar like a horse.

Kazuki watched Angelo spring off the circular tunnel walls vertically ahead of him and the boy. "Hurry!"

Kazuki clutched Adrian's dangling pantlegs and locked them to his chest.

"I've never run so fast in my life!" he shouted, biting his lips in focus as he evaded and jumped over the magma-coated obstacles.

"Look, you guys, Onikuma made a bridge for us!" shouted Adrian, pointing ahead to the flowing lava river that engulfed the entrance.

"You two go first, quickly now," said Angelo.

Kazuki wobbled across the melting platform while Angelo followed. He took slow steps and was careful not to fall into the disintegration current that steamed below.

If I fall in, that's it! There's no way I'm letting a kid die on my back. I've got to keep moving, thought Kazuki.

Heavy vibrations caused the sharp stalagmites overhead to break. Angelo looked above and saw the stalagmite ceiling shake with the befallen pebbled debris and watched the cracks expand cobweb-like patterns deep into the collapsing cavern. Before he could warn the two children, the spiky black crystal shards snapped and plunged for their heads.

"Watch out!" Angelo abruptly pushed and forced the two children across the half-melted platform. "Get out, little ones!" he shouted.

Kazuki landed on the other side of the bridge and rolled into a heap of black soot, tossing Adrian from his shoulders into the pile with him.

"Angelo!" Kazuki stopped his roll with his knees and saw Angelo leap from the crushed glass bridge as it came apart at the last second. "No!"

Kazuki thrust his body halfway over the cliff and snatched Angelo's big paw with two hands. "I'm not a hero without you!" shouted Kazuki as he watched Angelo sway over the flow of boiling lava. Angelo blankly stared into Kazuki's fiery red eyes and to the bottom of the torrid pit.

Kazuki yanked with all his might, and Angelo began to move. "How—how are you doing this?"

Kazuki hauled Angelo in a dripping sweat. His entire body lit within a translucent crimson aura, and gold smoke seeped from his nostrils. My power is only good in short bursts, All Bearer. You must hurry to save your friend, said Kirin.

The Celestite of Might—it's Kirin! thought Angelo. "You've tapped into another yokai, little one! Pull me up!"

Kazuki pulled back Angelo's paw with both hands with his new enhanced strength as Kirin's gold smoke from his nostrils thickened. "You're still too heavy, Angelo!" he shouted in panic, losing his footing. Angelo slipped from his grip. "No, Angelo!"

Angelo descended to the river of black-red lava. He rushed his claws into the obsidian walls and attempted to break his fall. Scrapping down the wall, Angelo bounded and quickly formed the mudra sign of the serpent. "Searing Viper!" he chanted.

A mana-made snake armoured in scintillating purple-orange scales propelled from the lava river with a mystical hiss and grabbed Angelo.

"Wow!" remarked Adrian.

Angelo twisted onto the belly of the fire-serpent as it slithered up the obsidian walls and climbed up to Kazuki and Adrian.

"Angelo, I'm sorry. I lost grip. I can't believe you made it," said Kazuki as he blinked in disbelief.

Angelo clenched his fangs in victory and smirked. "Of course I did," he said, dispelling his summoned fire-snake.

"That was freakin' awesome, Mr. Angelo!" said Adrian.

Angelo smiled at the little boy as an unexpected blast echoed and rumbled throughout the lava cavern.

"What was that?" Kazuki turned to Angelo and saw the fear leak from his scorched golden yellow eyes.

"Move. Now!" commanded Angelo.

Kazuki threw Adrian onto his shoulders and ran for the moonlit aperture.

Kazuki saw Lilith wave her hands from the cave's entrance as he hurdled over the last obsidian boulder.

"Hurry, you guys!" she shouted.

Kazuki looked back to see a flood of flames racing towards him.

Adrian pumped his fists into the air as he rode on Kazuki's shoulders through the fiery explosion. "Wahoo!"

"We're not gonna make it, Angelo!"

"Yes, we are. Jump!"

⁂

Beneath the creeping red Luna, pillars of crimson moonlight forked through silver clouds and onto the frosted sand mounds. As the dotted clusters of multicoloured stars overspread the desert's night sky, scaled creatures climbed up their enormous parents' thick legs. The babies marched single-file with their tiny webbed feet sticking with each step as their mothers alerted them to come home to their pouches.

Grisly orange-red scarabs emerged from the smoky underground vents inside the collapsed magma cave. The hordes of fire-beetles whirred their invisible wings in perfect unison as they buzzed a saddening melody. They cried as they fled into the tops of tall pointy cacti—forced to escape their millennia-old havens.

Heaving for fresh air, Kazuki watched the black-red opening to the cave smoke and ooze. A barrage of obsidian stone slabs smashed together and compounded into a liquid sea of black glass—forever solidifying the entrance to the grotto.

"That was close. Are you okay, kid?" asked Kazuki as he glanced up at Adrian sitting on his shoulders.

"That was awesome! You guys kick ass! But, wanna something, Kazuki? You remind me of my grandpa. He had weird purple hair like you," smiled the charcoal-stained boy as he yawned and cuddled into Kazuki's hair, closing his dark eyes.

"Really? I'll have to talk to you more about that later. Let's see how everyone else is doing," said Kazuki.

The shrilling bite of the red desert's rime tingled the hairs on Kazuki's arms. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, looking around.

"It was nothing," said Angelo as he brushed himself free of soot and burnt hair.

"I think I stepped on a bug or something in there on the way out, but I'm okay," said Onikuma as he plucked juicy green guts from his back paw.

"I've overused my mana. We all have. It's time to rest for a bit and stitch up Kaemon," huffed Lilith as she sat in the frozen sand and intersected her plated legs.

"A great plan," yawned Angelo.

Kazuki saw Lilith shift the black-red platelets attached to her hips and fold the lids of her apple-green eyes. Alongside Angelo, she let the soundless breezes of the desert's maroon moonlit wasteland sweep her short auburn tresses. Kazuki followed the ghostlike mana-orbs in awe as they gently appeared around Lilith's head and bobbed around.

Kazuki watched as Lilith let the cold desert's silent breath sync with her own as she slid into meditation. She sure is fast at that, he thought. The war must be coming back to her. She's scared of her old friend Mao.

Lilith squeezed the mana orbs around her with her mind and declared them for her celestite demon's mana source. Within a scattered spray of fire, she assimilated the mini-globes. Loosening her elven battle coronet, she unsheathed the Celestite of Everfire from her forehead's ruby casing and absorbed the orbs.

Lilith meditated and fidgeted with the black topaz necklace Mao had gifted her when they were children. The dark meteorite within its centre had cracked, and the silver chain snapped—slipping from her neck and into the cold sand. An omen so soon? thought Lilith, casting her senses out into the desert.

"Feel anything, Lilith?" asked Kazuki as he watched Lilith in wonder.

I'm exhausted, and this was a cinch compared to what mother had to endure during the Lion's Head War, thought Lilith. I cannot let Kazuki do this alone... Mao is going to come for me soon and he is going to need my help defeating her. It's always been a team effort, hasn't it, mother? That's why you joined the Order of the Iron Rose. That's why you died for them. You had a power vital to saving the world and your friends. Friendship and love... A strength I must carry on. I guess the world's fate is my burden to bear now as well.

"I can only detect the desert's snoring animals," said Lilith as she glanced at an already sleeping Angelo.

Onikuma grinned and wrapped his furry arms around Kazuki to further break the silence and lighten the mood. "This kid is more impressive than he looks!" he said, rubbing Kazuki's violet head-of-hair with a fuzzy fist.

"Hey, okay. You'll wake the kid," chuckled Kazuki, as he swatted away Onikuma's rough pat.

"The legendary Uma. I did not expect it," said the dark-hooded man, Kaemon, drawing back his charred green hood to reveal his smooth bald head. He stood from his jagged rock seat and bowed.

"That mana door in there must have blocked out my senses. I apologize for all this trouble. It won't happen again." The man quivered; droplets of blood fell from underneath his sliced hide armour and splashed into the red moonlit sand. As the eastern monster hunter winced and unclipped a waterskin from his numerous line of belts, Kazuki pointed to the open wound.

"You are bleeding badly, Kaemon. Are you alright?" he asked.

"You have the Celestite of Life! Can you not heal him?" asked Onikuma.

"I wish I could," said Kazuki. "Agatha said it could take a few years to learn how to stitch life back together. But even then. I don't want this power. I need to find Izunami and give it to more experienced people than myself. "

Kaemon flinched as he consumed the excess lime-flavoured rainwater from his warmed waterskin. As he finished his drink, he reached within his dirty green cloak with two trembling fingers and unhitched a gnarled longbow. He threw the bow under his armpit to use as a crutch and plucked a colourful blue and black-striped feather from his cloak's scarf, placing the odd plumage within his ear.

The dark, bald man laid his blood-soaked fist to his injury and bowed.

"You are all heroes and rescued me. Take my waterskins. You need not worry about me any longer. This wound is not as severe as it seems. It is not too deep... I think," he said, coughing.

"Let me bandage that and bring you to Colette's tent before you bleed out and die. I would disappear too, you know, you crazy coot. I just got back into this world! And where are the war bandages and waterskins?" roared Onikuma as he rummaged through Kaemon's big messy satchel.

"They're in there, Onikuma," said Kaemon. "Sage Kazuki, I promise you will not even have to ask. Onikuma and I will be there wherever you need us."

"Take it easy, Kaemon. Although, I still think you're the lucky one," said Kazuki as he observed the fire beetles sing and cry over their destroyed homes.

"Can anyone else feel that?" asked Lilith.

"Hmm. The mana here has... evolved," replied Angelo.

"Yeah. I can feel the mana in the air growing thicker," said Lilith.

I will have to return and rebuild their home one day, thought Kazuki, as he viewed the fire-beetles fly into their new cacti shelters.

"Ha', I found them!" shouted Onikuma as he tossed a waterskin filled with rainwater to everyone.

"I feel it as well. The blistering grotto's hidden mana reserves, or a sand storm perhaps," said Kaemon as he dropped his bow and plopped down into the cold sand beside Onikuma.

Kazuki watched and listened as Kaemon ripped open his cloak to prepare for stitches. "I am not sure if any of you have noticed, but the moon has become redder with each passing year. The Elder in Golden Cloud Village says it is an inception of an impending apocalypse. I didn't think he was serious. But I see now that he was truthful. Ow! Onikuma, wrap it around that way!"

"Do you want to do it?" growled Onikuma, binding the bandage on Kaemon's lower abdomen.

"Take heed, Sage Kazuki. What you carry... many other bearers will do anything to possess your unique celestite crystals," said Kaemon as he twitched in pain from Onikuma's stitches.

"I'm going to become stronger, Kaemon. But I can't be in charge of all this power by myself. I'm going to find Izunami and ask the goddess how I can get rid of them or at least share them. Master Takahashi said there is an archive showing the way to meet her in Golden Cloud Village," said Kazuki.

Kaemon strangely stared into Kazuki's glinting red eyes, radiating more brightly through the crimson moonlight radiance.

"I see. Then the rumours are true. The masked man has returned to wage war," said Kaemon as he swallowed the words.

"How did you know? I didn't say anything to you about him yet," said Kazuki.

Kaemon's smile turned into an awkward grimace. "I can see it in your strange eyes, Sage Kazuki. I will prepare as many people as I can for you. The final conflict of good versus evil has indeed arisen," grunted Kaemon as he met the bright red moon with his vertically-slit ochre-hued eyes.

"Kaemon. You have been obsessed with heroes ever since you were a little boy. I've seen it in your memories," said Onikuma as he applied another bandage to Kaemon's wound. "But an ultimate war against good and evil? Sounds like mythical nonsense to me. I don't believe it."

"Start believing, Onikuma," said Angelo as he laid on his back in the cool sand. "This is more severe than last time, you old bear."

"Indeed. Mana shall shatter and be reborn as drums pound to the rhythm of roses," said Kaemon.

"What does that mean?" asked Kazuki.

"I guess it sort of means that you starting the new Order of the Iron Rose—the last line of world defence. It was something that Hideki Yuun once said when he and his friends obtained the very first celestites."

"I never thought of it that way. I guess you're right. Whoever follows me is a new member of the Iron Rose. But... I don't want anyone to get hurt," said Kazuki, as he observed the dark red moon with Kaemon.

After a long pause, Kaemon pointed to a star constellation in the shape of a diamond. "During the ancient times and for some unknown reason, like life itself: destiny appeared to form a bond between mighty heroes—a connection that seems inseparable. The great First Emperor of Azmoria, Emerac Sirus, placed all his beliefs into this concept. This is how the Order of the Iron Rose came to be. That star there. It's named after him. It's called Sirius, the northern star."

"I wish I got to know him. He was a big influence on Diaxis," said Kazuki.

"You must take Emerac's place one day as the leader of this group, Sage Kazuki," said Kaemon. "You must find other warriors. It will be obvious whose destiny is intertwined with your own. They will almost have no choice."

"You can say that again," muttered Angelo from his sandy nap.

"But I don't know if I'm ready for that."

"This was a dangerous mission; you are a true bearer now! Embrace your victory," said Onikuma as he continued to clean Kaemon's wound.

"You remind me of my grandpa, but you also remind me of Lord Osamu, Kazuki. You also look like him! Maybe you're from the same place. You should try and find him when you take me home," said Adrian. "He's super tough too. Just like you guys. "

"Enough of your chatter, you old kook. We must take this little scamp back to his aunt," said Onikuma as he tightened the final dressing onto Kaemon.

"Indeed, Onikuma," said Kaemon.

Onikuma stretched the excess gauze and carefully cut it with one sharp black claw. "There, that should hold until we see that beautiful elven doctor in the camp," said Onikuma.

As he turned to lock grips with Angelo, Onikuma pulled him into his hairy chest for a long-awaited hug. "Although my host was injured and we all almost died, this was fun, my old friend, he said as he patted Angelo. "Until next time."

"Just don't get Kaemon killed, or I will not be able to take you down in our rematch," countered Angelo with a teeth-bearing grin.

Onikuma broke out in laughter and upheld his muscles next to Angelo.

"I ain't going back to Aunt Sarah yet," said Adrian as he awakened and hopped off Kazuki's shoulders with a backflip.

"What do you mean?" asked Kazuki. "Don't you want to go home?"

"No. I've been speaking with Daisuke. Sometimes he makes me all sleepy. He wants to meet you now," said Adrian, rubbing his eyes.

Onikuma slumped his woolly eyebrows in confusion. "What are ye' going on about?"

"I heard what you said earlier. I am going to be an Iron Rose! I will protect you, Kazuki. Like how you protected me!"

Kazuki crouched and wiped off the charcoal from Adrian's freckled face and peered down to examine the black-violet eyeball on the boy's chest. He had felt an emotional pull towards the child for reasons he could not understand. He knew Adrian carried the special destiny Kaemon had recited.

As he finished cleaning the little boy's face, Kazuki poked him in the forehead. "You are a little young to have a bearing demon," he said.

"No, I'm not!"

Kazuki watched in perplexity as Adrian's purple eyes spun and jittered back and forth. His limbs sank with a swift snap, and dark black tendrils of shadow-mana spiked outward from his back. His iris solidified into a pure black hue as he snatched Kazuki's hands within a sticky grasp. "What the—!"

The possessed, black tentacle-covered boy tugged Kazuki's hands downward and locked them in place. "Let Daisuke have a whiff of your power," said the possessed boy in a sinister tone.

Adrian twisted into Kazuki's neck and inhaled his scent like a dog.

"Hey! Let him go, kid!" shouted Lilith, waking from her meditation in surprise.

"I'll get him!" shouted Onikuma.

"No Lilith! Nobody move," said Angelo, standing up.

"I see your potential! Daisuke will accompany you. Daisuke serves only the strong. First, let Daisuke stir up that delicious hanyo magic," said the mischievous demon from within Adrian.

An inky, wet black-violet tentacle thrust from the eyeball-crystal in Adrian's bare chest and coiled around Kazuki's throat. It curled around his neck and arms, fastening his entire body to the red moonlit sand. Kazuki peered into the boy's glowing violet eyes and visually saw the boy was no longer present. He knew a bearing demon was now in control of Adrian's body.

I can't break free of this thing's grip! What is it doing to me?

"What do you want?" choked Kazuki.

"Please, let go of the core bearer. You will kill him! We were in a big battle earlier," demanded Kaemon as he held his stitches.

Kazuki squirmed and tried to bust free from the possessed boy's powerful inky tentacles projecting from the eyeball celestite crystal in his chest. Every moment shrouded by the sticky tendrils began to exhaust Kazuki. They began to drill into his psyche and cycle through his intricate mental pathways as if he were an open scroll.

Kazuki felt his mana maturing as the latched demon unlocked unknown valves of power as Daisuke's dripping black tendrils drained Kazuki's leftover mana.

Whatever you're doing, stop it! Get out of my head!

"Stop? But, there is so much untapped potential in your blood. You don't know what you are, do you? Curious... Haha, let Daisuke dig a little deeper."

"He's doing something to me! Help!" shouted Kazuki in distress.

Adrian's dark tentacles suddenly let go and receded into the boy's celestite. Lilith rushed over to help. Within a shining purple glow, the blackened eyeball crystallized. Adrian awoke and scrubbed his eyes.

"Yah! I am allowed to stay with you guys!" he shouted in excitement.

The boy returned to normal and jumped up and down. "Daisuke really likes you, Kazuki. He says you're stronger than the masked man, and that you're going to kick his butt!" he smiled.

Kazuki coughed and dropped to his knees. Likes me? I would hate to see if he didn't, he thought while massaging his sore throat.

"How ironic, Kaemon was right after all," said Lilith, stroking Kazuki as he coughed.

"It seems another yokai has joined our destiny," said Angelo as he loosened the grip of his giant Masamune.

"A new friend," smiled Kaemon as he stood from his rock seat.

"He is a nasty bugger. He manipulated the darkness around me and solidified it in an instant. I was trying to move, but I couldn't!" shouted Onikuma.

"How did you obtain this yokai, kid?" asked Lilith.

"Mr. Halidaar, the inventor in my village, told me that grandpa died and gave me Daisuke to protect my mom and dad," said Adrian. "He said my mom and dad were always running away from an evil man in a black mask."

"What was your name again, little one?" asked Angelo, picking his thick furry grey chin with two claws in thought.

"My name's Adrian. I'm twelve years old! I do not know how old Daisuke is," said the boy.

"His full name is Adrianas Ravencroft," said Kaemon.

"Yeah! That's my name!"

Angelo bent down and peered into the child's sparkling violet eyes.

"I knew I had recognized those dark tendrils coming from his crystal. If you become entrapped by them, he will not only suck the magic from your body; he will absorb it entirely. In other words, he can destroy your celestite if he held onto you long enough. This yokai is who nearly killed Agatha during the Lion's Head War."

"Wow, what? Are you sure?" asked Kazuki.

"Daisuke is the reason for Agatha cutting off her left arm. Without a doubt. Adrian is the grandson of Reiki the Reaper—a former Black Lotus Member," explained Angelo as he told everyone a story from his past.

⁂~(Angelo Flashback: The Lion's Head War | 70 Years Ago)~⁂

"Agatha Haru. Kali Haru's little girl has come to kill me? Do not make me laugh," said the purple-haired man armoured in black-violet tentacles. "Daisuke's tentacles have caught you, kid. There is no escape. I will squeeze the mana from your celestite—destroying you and your yokai!"

The scarred man's dark mana-armour projected solid black tentacles to spike around his body. The blinking eyeball in his bare chest expelled more tendrils that clutched a middle-aged Agatha's arms. As she squirmed, the man's tendrils outstretched her above a tall rocky cliff overlooking an enormous blue-green river.

"Reiki, you are being used," said Agatha. "He knows your bloodline is the only one who can control Daisuke. He will kill anyone he cannot absorb!"

Reiki launched another sticky tentacle to squeeze middle-aged Agatha's throat. "Don't lie to me," he scoffed.

"Reiki," choked Agatha. "I can feel the sadness in your heart. You know this isn't the way to save your family. You aren't... a bad person."

Reiki turned to glance over his tentacle-armoured shoulder in silence. He saw Angelo standing on the neck of his ally—a gigantic beady green-eyed silver snake. As Angelo withdrew his Masamune katana, the serpent screeched.

"You know it's true. He sent you here to die," gargled Agatha.

Angelo roared. He swung his long fiery enchanted Masamune and carved the colossal silver viper's head off with an exploding cyan slice. The snake's head jerked and flung into the nearby jungle while its limp body discharged a spray of bright green plasma.

"Koda failed us as well," said young Agatha.

Reiki crossed his eyebrows and returned his attention to Agatha. "I don't believe you... Convince me that hope is still alive for my family. Convince me that there are people strong enough to kill him," said Reiki as he shed a tear and continued to compress Agatha's throat.

Agatha wiggled one of her hands from the tentacle entrapment and whimpered.

"Fine," said the young, bleeding Agatha. "Two-Prong Splitter!"

Agatha quickly sliced and burned away the tentacles from her throat and through her left arm with two fire-heated fingers with a wink of atomic- light. She slipped through the tentacle trap as her left arm dropped alongside her in the winds.

"Child of Kali Haru. I cannot help but wonder if you are telling the truth," said Reiki as he peered over the jagged edges of the precipice. He observed blood-spattered young Agatha plunge headlong toward the huge raging white-blue creek. "Although, nobody can survive this fall."

"Think again! Sword-Art: Masamune Comets!" shouted Angelo.

Reiki turned around to see Angelo flourish his giant Masamune sword through the air, hurling a blast of flame-coated energy balls.

"Damn that sword!" shouted Reiki in alarm.

The energy strikes soared from Angelo's Masamune and sliced through Reiki's mana-armour tentacles. Reiki's legs, torso and back burst open all at once, spraying bloody mist. As Angelo's shield-shattering attack slashed Reiki's psychical body, Reiki's black-violet tendrils receded, and he fell to the jungle's soil. "Agh... she's still alive? That's impossible!"

"I'm coming, little one!" yelled Angelo as he dived over the notched ridge.

Angelo cascaded downward through the air and narrowed his body. The fluffs of his grey fur whipped against the winds as he strengthened his muscles with mana. A cyan-hued torch ignited around him as he soared and snatched young Agatha mid-air. Wrapping himself around her bloodied body, he whirled his back and braced for impact into the river.

"Don't worry. I've got you," whispered Angelo.

"Angelo... I failed," said Agatha.

"I know," said Angelo. "The empire will hunt you, and they won't forgive you for breaking Takahashi out of prison. But you don't have to fight anymore. I will bring you to a place where nobody can find us. I'm going to take you home. Our part in this war is over."

Reiki winced with a single blood-shot violet eye and looked over the precipice's edge. "How could a mere child and her yokai have defeated Koda and me?" he coughed, watching the pair of heroes plunge into the white-blue river with a spiking splash.

Reiki pulled out a small red crystal from his black robe pocket, crushed it into dust and threw it into his mouth. "Hmph. Daisuke, that brat was right. The healing shard he gave us was a fake. I was meant to die here, like Koda. It was planned from the start," he hacked, turning over within his pools of deep red blood to view the beautiful clouds.

"Hmph. So this is the punishment for my sins. The fate I have chosen for myself. Oh, Daisuke, it seems I was wrong. I am going to die. There is no stopping that now. This is my last moment as your bearer. Please, when I am gone, atone for what I have done. Defend my family. Defend the celestites and all those who possess them."

⁂

"So, is this nasty fiend an enemy?" asked Onikuma.

"No!" shouted Adrian. "Daisuke wants to help. He doesn't want to be a nasty fiend!"

"Daisuke is dangerous—an S-Rank yokai," said Angelo as he stared at the boy and crossed his arms.

"Papa said Grandpa was an evil man, and that's what happens when you do evil things for a long time. But Grandpa tried to say sorry by giving Daisuke to me to help keep me safe. Daisuke wants to help me become strong! He protected my Grandpa even though he was bad. He will protect you guys too! He wants to be on the good side."

"Adrian, what happened to your father and mother?" asked Kaemon as he twitched into another position.

"Mom and Dad died... Daisuke says I was safe because the masked man can't eat me," said Adrian.

"He must have killed your family to try and absorb Daisuke. It would not have worked because Daisuke is the youngest brother of Shinigami. He cannot absorb core yokai or sub-core yokai from the first age, such as myself and Onikuma. Only The All Demon has the power to do so," explained Angelo.

"Shinigami?" asked Kazuki.

"Shinigami is the Angel of Death if you believe in that sort of thing. He was the first-born yokai," said Lilith.

"That's why Daisuke wants to help. Daisuke is very angry at the man in the black mask for lying to him and hurting my family," said Adrian.

Adrian climbed up Kazuki's black and gold-trimmed robe, which was now charred and tugged his way back onto his shoulders.

"Daisuke says I have to be a good boy and go to sleep," said Adrian as he eerily fell silent and folded his arms onto Kazuki's violet hair.

Kazuki could not help but smile. "You're the weirdest kid I have ever met. I've seen weirder things in the last few days, though. So, I'll be your friend and Daisuke's friend if that's what he wants. But tell him not to hurt me anymore or any of my friends."

Kaemon stood and grabbed Onikuma. The more pressure he placed onto his feet, the more painful it was to cross the thick blood sand and balance his longbow cane under his arm. "Onikuma, we need to get to the healer's camp on the other side of Golden Cloud Village before night's end," he said as he climbed onto Onikuma's back.

"Bring the boy to his Aunt Sarah when you arrive," said Kaemon, galloping Onikuma into the red dune horizon filled with multicoloured stars. "See you around, Anjelico!"