⁂~(Updated 2022-07-05-)~⁂

*Ready for professional edits*

(This is the free version.)

Word Count: 2721 (short)

"I wish you success in your quest to find Izanami, All Bearer," said Sir Jiro as he shook Kazuki's hand.

"Call me Kazuki, okay? Titles make my skin crawl," said Kazuki, squeezing the giant man's white-haired fist.

"It will be a pleasure to do battle alongside you when you have reached your full potential, Kazuki," said Sir Jiro, correcting himself.

"Perhaps I may join you for a while? If you two would have me."

A quick chuckle escaped from Angelo's throat.

"Hm," he snorted. "It's your funeral."

The old castle's high wooden doors abruptly creaked open with the screech of grinding metal. Kazuki, Angelo and Sir Jiro arced around to see Lilith stroll into the leaden ashfall while encased in new black-red armour.

"That is unnecessary, Sir Jiro," she said, adjusting her battle skirt.

She brushed back her beautiful, now cut-short, maroon hair. The shining locks slightly twisted and draped downwards behind her spiky half-elven ears and pale face. Rather than wearing her impressive royal red gown, she donned a breastplate and skirt made from black obsidian—dyed with a crimson edge.

As the enormous steel-barred wooden door banged shut behind her, her apple-green eyes flared with fearless leadership amongst Ashinburn's wintry animations. She adjusted the meaningful ruby gem resting in the socket of her elven black battle-tiara.

Sir Jiro frowned with his yellow tiger-like eyes.

"My Lady Fox, you cannot mean to journey with them? We need you here! Suppose the Carnation Empire discovers that you are assisting Kazuki. What then? They will sentence the entire fort with treason. I will go in your stead," he said with a fang-filled grin.

Lilith tied her hands behind her battle suit and stood firmly, linearly.

"They are going to do that anyway, Sir Jiro, and I will be back before that happens. Trust in me. You and Takahashi can look after things here while I am gone. For now, stand down and keep the scavenging missions to a minimum."

Jiro bowed with his hand to his chest. "Fine. You're the boss," he said.

"Please be careful, you three. Especially you, Lilith. I do not want your mother's spirit troubling me," said an exhausted old man's voice approaching the group from behind.

"Mr.Takahashi!" announced Kazuki with excitement as he walked up to the ancient war hero. "How did you get here so fast?"

"Oh, I still have a few surprises left in me," replied Mr.Takahashi, leaning onto a familiar gnarled cane.

"Hey, that's Agatha's cane!" said Kazuki.

"I was able to grab it before a Carnation Soldier almost saw me. I had to see for myself if Agatha was truly gone."

"What else did you find during your portal-teleportation?" asked Lilith, expecting good news.

"All I found was the cane I carved for her the last day we saw each other. Nothing more."

"Hold on; you can teleport yourself? Not just objects? You didn't tell me that," said Kazuki.

"It is not that simple," replied Mr.Takahashi.

"Try not to be gone from the fort for long. I do not want Jiro alone out here. You know how he gets," said Lilith.

"I could use the fellowship if you would not mind, Master Takahashi," said Jiro, not denying it.

"We must get moving," said Angelo as he crossed his brawny arms.

Lilith pulled down her black battle tiara to fit her face more comfortably.

"I will return. It's just that I, too, have something to learn from the monks in the Archives of Cloud," she said.

Jiro slouched his thick silvery eyebrows.

"What are you hoping to find?" asked Kazuki.

"Yes, what do you intend to uncover?" asked Angelo.

"I want to know how to beat Mao... If the Black Lotus Clan has returned, there is no doubt that she is with them," she answered.

"Did Diaxis not defeat her during the war?" asked Angelo, scratching his white beard in confusion.

"Who is this woman?" asked Kazuki.

"She was my friend once. Her name is Mao. We grew up together here in Ashinburn. As for Lord Diaxis, I have not seen him since I was a little girl," answered Lilith.

Lilith closed her eyes as she tried to swallow her dark memories.

"Sometimes, friends are a burden and not a boon."

⁂(Lilith Fox Flashback: The Lion's Head War | 70 Years Ago)⁂

(PLOT HOLE FOUND: MAO DID NOT KILL JASMINE. SANGUINE DID. Mao is still a young child like Lilith. She helped by betraying Sage Kaito within Ashinburn, which lowered his protective barrier during the "Battle for Faith".)

Black leaves wrenched against a raging forest of flames...

"What happened to you, Mao? Why are you doing this?!" yelled young Lilith.

Jasmine Fox's unconscious body smoked nearby amongst patches of burnt grass and enflamed black walnut trees.

"I will rid this village of sage slaves. They will die quickly, I promise," said Mao.

Mao gripped the violet hilt of her silver katana and stared down Lilith with sharp blue eyes. "I have to," she said.

Her long silky black curls thrashed as her jade cloak battered against the gusts of fire. Both women's tears evaporated before reaching the scorched grasses.

"Mao, why are you betraying me?!" shouted young Lilith.

"You would not understand. I have been shown the future," huffed the black-cloaked woman as she lifted her katana and charged young Lilith again.

Young Lilith braced for the scuttling impact and exchanged melee strikes.

"You are out of mana, and so am I. Stop this before we both die!" demanded Lilith.

"Sword-Art: Flurry of Shadows!" chanted the swooping blue-eyed adolescent.

"Mao, stop! I am your friend!"

As the teenage half-elven children's weapons clashed, tremendous colourful sparks soared through the fiery black-leaf forest. Lilith deflected Mao's mighty blows away from her vitals as they penetrated her magical fire shield.

The energy flashes curled into the charred ground and shot mana streams that extinguished the patches of flames with each sonic-filled punch, kick and cleave.

"I have to do this, or they will kill me too!" yelled Mao as she swung harder with each strike.

"Who, Mao? Who is doing this? Who is forcing you to betray me?!"

Young Mao sword-shoved young Lilith and stepped back to catch her breath.

"The man... in the obsidian mask," she said as she felt a cold shiver crawl down her spine.

She gazed at a black lotus flower tattoo etched into her wrist. "The true lord of all celestites," she said.

"Who is he?!" commanded Lilith as she panted.

"He said if I made a deal with him... I would be his property. He said he would set me free after I helped him absorb every celestite in the world. That I am nothing more than a destructive gift," said Mao as she spread her mana-imbued fingers over the edge of her katana.

"What? You're brainwashed!"

"No, they have shown me the future, Lilith. What they plan to do will change history. They have spared my life in return for service. I have to kill you, Lilith. And everyone else who stands in my master's way. These burdens are my destiny as a member of the Black Lotus Clan. This is why I had to destroy my friendships and feelings for everyone," explained Mao.

"Mao... don't do this!" shouted Lilith as she clenched her teeth.

Mao inaugurated multiple hand signs quicker than the average human eye could shadow.

"Why, Mao? We can fight them together. You and I are practically sisters!" yelled Lilith.

"Not anymore. I really am sorry," said young Mao as she rotated her glowing violet katana in a circle and placed the finished hand sign onto the tip of her blade. "Now, I am going to finish you. I promise it won't hurt."

Running her burnt fingers down the spine of her black katana, she chanted. "Sword-Art: Violet Dragon Dance!"

Mao tore through the scorched dirt like a firebolt toward Lilith.

"Mao, stop!"

"Spear of light!"

A heavy crash bombed the soil. Diaxis, The Last Faye, appeared within a flash-bang of blue-white light. He sliced Mao's katana with his energy spear as the dust dispersed, snapping her enchanted blade into two pieces.

"Lord Diaxis!" rejoiced Lilith, tears flying from her bright green eyes.

"Out of my way Faye Prince!" commanded the half-elven child, Mao.

"No," retorted Diaxis as he narrowed his fluffy pink eyebrows and ignited his palms with white sparkling mana.

Standing in front of young Lilith, he sneered at Mao.

"Leave youngling. Leave and never return. You have become a great threat," said Diaxis as he pointed his ruins of white energy toward the elven child.

Mao snickered. "You can't tell me what to do. Only my master can. It's the only way I can be free of the mark. Don't you understand?! Let me show you the powers he has given me."

As she pulled a kunai knife from her combat belt, Mao quickly spun it into the air and slashed the black lotus tattoo on her wrist.

"Please, Mao, stop! You're breaking my heart!" shouted Lilith.

Diaxis flinched. That mark... he thought.

Mao quickly slurped the blood from her self-inflicted wound and watched the black lotus tattoo spread over her entire body.

As Mao gulped her blood like a thirsty mutt, her pupils dilated and turned black.

"I feel it... " said Mao as her voice deepened.

"Mark of the Reaper!" screamed Mao as she formed the complex hand sign of the black dragon.

While flying Lilith to safety, Diaxis gasped.

A perfect hand sign of the black dragon... To teach this to a child... It's insanity. The charge will kill her instantly.

Diaxis landed on the burnt grass with a dash of his black wings as he set down Lilith. 

She is exhausted from battling her friend, he thought. I will have to take care of this.

"I'm sorry, kid. I couldn't save your mom. But I will make it up to you."

"What are you going to do? Please don't hurt her, Lord Diaxis," said Lilith, sobbing.

Diaxis turned his head over his steel-plated shoulder pads and black feathery wings. He saw Mao begin to mutate into a powerful foe amongst an intense red-black aura and maniacal laughter.

"Your friend is no more," he said as he bowed his head in silence, his bright pink eyes clenched in lost hope.

"You know what that mark is, Lord Diaxis? What's happening to her?" asked young, teary-eyed Lilith.

"When I was a young Faye, my father told me about a demon who had taken Izanami's heart. Although... I can't believe it. It must be the same demon that gave your friend that magical tattoo. Yes, I have seen it once before... it is called the Mark of Izanami—a dark power even greater than the core celestites."

"What happens?"

"Your soul becomes twisted and attempts to survive by forming with the yokai spirit inside you. In other words, you die and return as a monster, not of this world. The technique's creator is a demon of terrifying power and evil will that surpasses even the greatest heroes. This world is in grave danger. "

⁂

Icy snow squalls struck Kazuki and flooded the white sky above the Ashfall Mountains. The bitter wind howled and compacted the ashy blizzard with its punishing drifts, blinding the sun's light with chunks of ice-grey powder. Lilith admired the climate.

Her childhood memories returned in a troublesome stream, though she decided to focus on remembering the good times. Mao would always be the first to make an angel in a layer of fresh snow... The satisfying crunch under their feet every morning and practicing in the icy courtyard of the palace were some of Lilith's most enamoured memories.

With her lesser unknown yokai—the Celestite of Everfire, Lilith would never have to feel the freezing temperatures of the Ashfall Mountain's squalls. Though she wished it would numb her pain instead. The magic powers within her yokai allowed her to imbue herself and others with incredible amounts of heat. Applying these abilities, she escorted Kazuki and Angelo through the dangerous snow-capped mountain slopes, shielding them with her flickering fire spheres while still reminiscing the past.

⁂~(Lilith Fox Flashback: Remembering Agatha During the War)~⁂

"This is the sixth time you have come through that door past midnight this week. You know there is a war going on, right? So, where have you been?" asked an annoyed adolescent, Agatha, dressed in a long white nightgown.

"I was out with Mao. She earned her celestite today. I wanted to congratulate her, so we went out. You should see what she can do, Agatha," said young Lilith, covered in dirt and scratches.

"You two have been duelling all night?"

"Is Angelo mad?"

"Are you kidding? You should have asked first. I am supposed to be taking care of you," smiled teenage Agatha.

"I am not a baby, Agatha! I can take care of myself," said young Lilith.

"What if bandits had attacked and kidnapped you? You know you are one of the royal princesses of Azmoria, right? Akira Sirus himself was your grandfather, for crying out loud," said adolescent Agatha as she crossed her eyebrows. Her long white nightgown waved from the winds of the open painted-glass door of the small Ashinburn home.

"I know, I just—"

Young Agatha brushed back her dark brown hair and sighed. "I know. You want to be as powerful as your mother. I feel the same way about my papa... Did Mao go home?"

"I don't think so. Mao said she had to meet with someone," said Lilith, unsure of the events that unfolded that night. Though, she knew Mao had been acting strange.

"Where did you get that pendant? It looks like a black topaz," asked young Agatha, reaching for the dark gem inside a gold chain around Lilith's neck.

"Mao gave it to me as a thank you for getting her into the arena and said we won't see each other for a while," replied Lilith as she held onto the black stone.

"Don't just stand there gawking at it. Do you know how old and expensive that thing is? Besides, you are dirtier than Angelo. You need a bath!"

"Hey, I heard that!" shouted Angelo from the gloomily lit backyard.

⁂

"Everglow!"

A white-hot ball formed inside Lilith's triangular hand sign of the horse and spun into the raging silver wind. While eddying into a firenado, the mana collected over the outline of her athletic hourglass body and formed a spheric balloon of lava. She exhaled and slowly separated her hands, expanding the bubble-like embers.

She enveloped everyone with a fiery shield above and around as they trudged through the Ashfall Mountains. Gazing at the black topaz necklace Mao gifted her seventy years ago, Lilith sighed. She placed it back into her breastplate and concentrated on everyone's flaming barriers.

I have to get us to Golden Cloud Village, and then I'm coming for you, Mao,' she thought.

"Is something wrong little one? Why have we stopped?" asked Angelo as he placed his paws onto Lilith's shoulders.

"Do you need a break?" asked Kazuki, walking close behind.

"No, I'm fine. But, unfortunately, we have to keep moving," replied Lilith.

She is still out there. I sensed her mana residue on Angelo when he first arrived at our walls. It seems he does not know she's been nearby,' thought Lilith.

While they trailed Lilith and her magical fires further, Angelo bent over to murmur into Kazuki's ear. "When a mortal woman declares she is fine, she is not, in fact, fine, little one," whispered Angelo.

Kazuki stared at Lilith with wonder.

"She doesn't look a day over twenty-five, but she is a little younger than Agatha. It's hard to wrap my head around," said Kazuki.

"She is still seen as a very young woman amongst her half-elven kin, little one," replied Angelo as he shoved Kazuki to keep moving.

Kazuki's bright red eyes sparkled.

"So, you think I have a shot?" he asked, smiling.

Angelo's ears perked up in surprise as he burst into laughter.

"Haha! I will give you the Masamune if that ever happens," he says.

"Ugh, so in other words..."

"Not a chance," chuckled Angelo.

Yeah, who am I kidding? I am just a kid. But she sure is beautiful...