Darkaria RP 2

==A Long Day After==
Navira sits quietly on a stool by the bar, looking at the various family photos.
She then hears a quick knock at the front entrance.
"I-I'm sorry, but the shop is closed and will be for a few days. We have nothing for sale." Navira calls out in reply, her stupor broken.
"It's me Navira, I'd like to come in and talk.", a familiar 9female voice says.
"C-C-Chiri? Is that y-you?" Navira slowly walks to the door and opens it timidly.
She sees a woman that has long blonde hair, with bangs framing her face, and pushed back by a black headband, red pupiless eyes, and typical long elf ears. She's wearing a large fur coat, one piece body suit, attached to high heels, with zippers, all in Darkaria colors.
"Who else would it be, Navi?", Chirisegyo asks.
”S-someone from Eliumyor or the Virmels. Like Grandmother- on the Virmel side. Some s-still visit. Not always for good reasons. Matriarch asked me to reconsider again a few- -oh I am sorry, come in, come in, it’s been… it’s been a hard couple days. Let me pull out some chairs and a table… I-I can make you something quick if you would like…”
Navira shuffles awkwardly to the storage closet after opening the door for Chiriseygo, rummaging for a decent table and chairs.
"It's fine Navi, no need to be over welcoming. Like I said I just came to talk, so let me start by saying I know what happened through Lord Tsubaki.", Chirisegyo says after stepping inside and closing the door behind herself.
Navira seems to freeze and is still for a moment, then quietly sets the table and chairs down, and numbly sits down. Her head bows slightly, looking at the table more than Chirisegyo.
Chirisegyo sits across from her,
"I'm guessing your not really comfortable with me, are you?", she asks.
"I-It's not... I mean... ...I have been trying to process everything lately... and I can't help but think of... of..." She trails off, but Chirisegyo knows the all too familiar look Navira gets when her mind drags her back to that dark place. The haunted, vacant expression, now mixed in with the fear and anxiety of recent events, gives voice to just how bad her mental state has gotten. Chirisegyo hears footsteps come from the back of the store, and she sees Bermusa walk out, and give her a slight nod of acknowledgement, before placing a hand on Navira's shoulder. The action causes Navira to start, but slowly she begins to relax, and some of the life seeps back into her eyes.
"Glad to see you have someone better than that bastard of a cousin of mine, good to see you well Bermusa.", Chirisegyo says.
"You as well." He intones. "It brings me some measure of relief that I'm not the only one looking after her in the family, even if she and you are no longer bound by law through the bastard. I appreciate you not calling him by name." Bermusa strokes Navira's hair slowly.
"...And that you think of me as well as you do. I feel like I'm back with the Texas boys fighting in the Wastes when her mother shows up." Bermusa laughs nervously, and Navira cracks a weak, sad smile.
"I wish she approved..."
"Forget her Navi, this family that you two have built should the one you need to focus on. Let those old fools stuck in their ways do so if they so badly wish. But also don't forget the ones who support you, I will help with all the power I have, not only as former Knight, but also as a fellow mother.", Chirisegyo says putting her hand on Navira's.
Bermusa sighs. "Chiri, my folks in Texas aren't hot on Myths either, so it's not like I don't understand intolerant members of the family. Course, my folk could probably be turned around if they tasted Navira's cooking and see their granddaughter, but I suppose you elves are tougher nuts to crack with hundreds of years to build and cement opinions. Look what I'm trying to say, is if we return hate and misgivings, more will follow. That's why Earth is the way it is now, and why Darkaria remains divided between the rulers that embody that divide."
Navira is quiet for a moment then grabs Chirisegyo's arm and pulls her in for a big, quiet hug.
Bermusa just chuckles quietly.
Chirisegyo hugs Navira back.
"I know that Bermusa, but like hell am I, and others like minded, just stand around and let that divide stop us from doing what we believe.", Chirisegyo says.
Bermusa chuckles. "I'm not gonna stop you! I'm the one who led the slave uprising, remember? On the other side of the coin, let Navira find her own way. I have every confidence she'll break free of those years yet."
He gives Navira a pointed look. "I'd wish she started by treating herself to something nice. Wear some good clothes for once, Navira!" Navira looks away and flushes.
"Come to think of it, Chiri, didn't we get onto her about this last time you visited?"
"I-I don't need pretty clothes. I'm no noble anymore and I don't want to look like Agi- like Ag- ...like his garish dress up doll again."
Bermusa pinches the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "If I ever see him I'm breaking his pointy ass nose..." Bermusa growls. "Dressing up like that and being happy with what you wear are two different things, love. Yeah, the rags are fine for working, but you and I aren't so poor that you need to deprive yourself of dignity. Plus, they don't last very long and cost more money in the long term, so you might as well buy nicer, better ones."
"..."
Bermusa groans. "If you buy a better work outfit and throw away the old rags, I won't bother you about prettier dresses. Ok?" He flashes Chirisegyo a look that screams 'HELP ME!'.
"I'm sure you'd, not only look better, but feel better Navi, and you don't have to get something gaudy or anything. Something...you know what, let me call someone so excuse me for a bit.", Chirisegyo says before getting up.
She moves a good distance away before pulling out a phone and dials a number before putting the phone near her ear.
"W-wh-what are you doing Chirisegyo?" Navira stammers nervously, getting anxious, then moves to get up but Bermusa blocks her.
"Relax dear, you don't nee-" At that moment Navira presses herself up against Bermusa who almost immediately turns red and passes out. Unfortunately, this was to be expected, for that man truly had only one weakness, and Navira knew it well. Now Navira scurries after Chirisegyo, frantic.
At that point Chirisegyo starts talking to someone,
"Hey Charlotte, sorry to bother you but can you pick up some nice clothes for Navi? I'll pay you back...yes, that Navi...nothing too fancy, just somethings that are bright...ok, thank you. See you in a little, love you too.", Chirisegyo finishes.
She looks to see Navira frantic and Bermusa passed out,
"I can see you haven't lost your feminine charm Navi, that's good.", she says slightly amuses.
Navira frantically grabs Chirisegyo's shoulders. "I-I don't need dresses! Mine are fine, see!" Navira tugs the sleeve of her dress and it almost completely rips off at the shoulder, and she stares blankly at it.
"...See... it's... fine...." Navira says slowly, shell shocked and processing the blatant betrayal of her dress.
"Navi, this is to make you happy. I'm not being like my bastard cousin and treating you like a doll, I promise that my son will pick things that are nicer but also modest so don't worry.", Chirisegyo says, putting a comforting hand on Navira's shoulder.
Navira clutches her chest a bit, and eventually slowly relaxes. "...So... how... is he?" Navira quietly asks.
"He's a very respectable young man, despite how effeminate his behavior is, resulting in the other kids labeling him as 'big sister', he still labels himself as a man. Been like that ever since I found him about thirteen years ago.", Chirisegyo says.
"I take it then that he has a passion for clothes making then," Navira remarks, fingering the tear in her sleeve.
"To a certain extent, if the clothes are worthwhile he'll fix it but mostly will buy new ones if necessary.", Chirisegyo replies.
"..." Navira fidgets a bit. "Did you know that Mother has approached me about returning to the family?"
Bermusa's eyebrows go all the way up. "...I beg your pardon? When did that happen?"
Navira looks away from him. "...She's tried to talk to me about it several times. The last couple times, it was just letters asking if I would meet with her. The last time however... she knocked at the door. Repeatedly. Hollered. She seemed... stressed. I was... I was too anxious to... to approach the door. So I... I just stood there frozen. And then she left."
Bermusa sighs heavily. "Why did you say nothing?"
Navira slowly looks back at him. "I figured it more of the same, like the years following the knowledge that I was pregnant with Naegi had circulated and calmed down. At first. After the latest encounter, I've begun wondering if something's changed."
"Do you think they know?", Chirisegyo asks.
"Of the situation with the Magisters? Possibly, but I would have expected some sign of movements from the private armies of the Houses in that regard. You know the intensity of our people's faith. I do think that Kohaku was short sighted in having surveillance on us, as if any hint emerges as to what has been going on, it will be like dominos falling. Mother isn't a fool, and there's no telling what her reaction would be. She and her agents are shrewd, anything Darkaria does to spy on them will inevitably be found out.
No, I'm wondering if Mother is beginning to change her mind about her views. Why else would she have given up in the past, convinced that I was beyond reasoning, only to suddenly begin her efforts anew, and even in person?" Navira puts her hand to her chin and ponders.
"Too true, though we'll have to wait and see what she, and the families, does.", Chirisegyo says.
At that point a phone ding was heard so Chirisegyo goes to the front store door and opens it.
"Oh hello mother, wasn't sure if this was the right place since the close sign was up.", a feminine yet deep voice says.
"Sorry Charlotte, forgot to mention that.", Chirisegyo replies.
She steps inside to let in the owner of the voice, a man whose as tall and muscular as Bermusa but has darker skin, green eyes, and reddish brown hair, which is styled into long corkscrew pigtails. He's wearing purple eyeshadow, lipstick, and is wearing a purple ankle length, sleeveless dress with a slit on right side exposing his thigh and showing underneath he's wearing fishnet stockings, kneeguards, and white calf high boots. Over the dress is a brown corset with some pouches, and on his arms elbowguards and fingerless gloves. He then sets down some shopping bags on a nearby table before addressing Navira.
"Oh sweetheart your even more beautiful than as described by mother, my name is Charlotte Sancho it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.", he says offering his hand.
Bermusa looks as though he's having a moment, and excuses himself to grab a drink of water.
Navira slowly smiles. "Greetings Charlotte." She slowly shakes his hand. "I'm flattered. I gather you have an appreciation of beauty then? You'll forgive Bermusa, he's not seen many with your tastes from where he's from."
Bermusa comes back in with a glass of water. "Sorry, I umm, wasn't expecting to see that when I woke up this morning. Darkaria is an every day learning experience, even after all these years. Texas would probably seem boring now if I went back." He offers a hand.
"Bermusa Gantz. What do you do for your daily living?"
Navira notes the bags on the tables and slowly, silently begins inching towards the back.
Bermusa eyes her from the corner of his eye. "I see you. Hey kids! Your mother is going to try on dresses, you should 'help her!'"
"Coming papa!", Nini and Nene reply.
"Nice to meet you sir, I've heard a lot about you. I mostly help mother with her vigilante duties, working for money, investigating, pretty much it.", Charlotte replies taking his hand.
Nini steps in front of her mother to stop her from escaping while Nene goes to the bags and rummage through, the first thing she pulls out is a white button up shirt, blue tank top, and light blue capris.
"This... this really isn't necessary...!" She eyes the clothes, and slowly a defeated expression comes over her face. "...Alright..."
"Yay, we finally have consent...now which one are you dear?", Charlotte says to Nene.
"I'm Nene.", she responds.
"Then if you don't mind Nene take those bags and help your mother out."
Nene nods and picks up the bags and walks to Navira, to which Charlotte then looks at Navira,
"If you happen to not like something, don't hesitate to say so. I made sure to not pick only dresses but also comfortable cloths that you can, not only wear everyday, but also during work. You'll also find I picked colors that are brighter.", he says.
Navira begins trying on the different outfits, but seems embarrassed to wear the tank top, and similarly, Bermusa excuses himself for another glass of water. As she debates the pros and cons of the tank top, there is a knock at the door.
"I'll get it.", Chirisegyo says.
As she goes to the door Charlotte says to Navira,
"It's an undershirt sweetheart, meant to be worn under a couple of the things I've bought for you.", he says.
Chirisegyo then opens the door.
Standing on the doorstep is the matriarch of the Eliumyor House, Geliena.
”Chirisegyo. I have not seen you since the Promenade.” She speaks evenly, Navira visibility shrinks away from the line of sight of the doorway.
”Is Navira here? I wished to speak with her.”
Chirisegyo looks to where Navira is at, waiting for her response.
Navira looks anxious and fidgets.
”What… what do you want… Mother…?”
Geliena’s expression tightens. “Is it wrong for a mother to want to visit her daughter and talk?”
Bermusa scowls slightly. “If it’s about me and Naegi again I don’t want to hear it.”
Geliena looks as though she is about to become indignant but her expression soon melts into a heavy and weary expression.
”Please… I want to see Navira.” There is sorrow in the old elf’s voice.
Chirisegyo is surprised at her tone but still looks at Navira again.
Navira clutches her chest and then slowly relaxes, quietly saying with her hand still on her chest,
”Al…Alright…”
Chirisegyo walks back and holds the door to let Geliena in.
Geliena walks through the door and looks Chirisegyo up and down, in great detail.
”You look as good as ever child, but your unhospitable attitude is still needing attention. It is good to see you well.”
She then looks at Navira who flinches at her gaze, causing Geliena to have a tightened expression, and there is a tense silence.
”I want you to come home.” Geliena says finally, and a bit curtly.
"Really? I would've thought this had been you trying to make amends, not forcing your own child back into a position that if I remember correctly caused her pain that I doubt you'd understand.", Chirisegyo says harshly.
Geliena doesn’t even look at her. “Chirisegyo, you have looked after Navira while much of the family was content to forget her existence, never mind give her financial support. However you do forget that despite my prior feelings of the half… of Naegi, and her sire- of Bermusa, it was I who stood apart from my kin and provided financial support.”
Navira slowly blinks, while Bermusa’s eyes widen.
”You’ve never deigned to refer to me by name, old coot. Hit your head on something?” He asks with his arms crossed.
Geliena closes her eyes and shakes her head. “It is naught something so over dramatic, nor do I understand why you…” Geliena looks to one side with a look that seems cross, but Bermusa suppresses a snort and a subsequent chuckle.
”Oh so that’s it. Chiriseygo, mind letting off the gas? And old coot, try again, this time starting with a deep breath.”
”…I want you to come home, for your family to not be made to scrape by. You are my daughter, and Bermusa my son in law, Naegi my granddaughter. More over… I want to designate you as the Scion of my line.”
Bermusa’s jaw drops and Navira goes ghost white as her eyes widen in silent shock.
Chirisegyo has a look of surprise before letting out an amused snort,
"So after all these years you've finally come around ma'am."
"Well this is quit the interesting turn of events.", Charlotte notes.
Geliena folds her arms and looks away. “Your brothers and sisters are in Old Darkaria, and our eldest Famiran leads the Eliumyor in my stead. There is no way for them to safely come here without risking their lives, at least as far as those who *wish* to come home.
Our family was already divided by the schism left by the scandal, by the civil war, but then Naegi was born…” Geliena falls quiet.
”…It was like the House War all over again. The people divided, hate and distrust an infection. I didn’t want to blame myself. I wanted an excuse as to why my dream of a unified kingdom of the elves ended in failure. …And so I blamed you… blamed her…” Geliena shakes her head.
”And what has it changed? Nothing. I am growing old, I have naught to show for all these long years… but regrets, a broken family, and a granddaughter and daughter whom I treated with all the distain, cruelty, and bigotry of those who still fight with Hozuki. A daughter treated like refuse, a burden… a granddaughter who never knew the love of a grandmother… I thought I could live with my shame… but then I heard that Kohaku was increasing surveillance on us.” Geliena’s face tightens as she looks Chirisegyo dead in the eyes.
”Then I saw what your bumbling hands tried to keep hidden from me. My own granddaughter, the Vessel of Ayana, the Lightmother, and I knew that fate conspires to leave me with nothing but broken memories.”
"Don't tell us that the fact Naegi is a vessel is the only reason your being this way ma'am, in willing to be able to accept your daughter's family.", Chirisegyo says narrowing her eyes.
”AFTKA!” Geliena barks as her expression becomes angered. A bolt of silver energy strikes Chiriseygo’s cheek causing her head to slam against the wall.
”Do not presume to speak to me as thus again! I will not tolerate it a second time!” She orders, hands furiously on hips.
”I wish to rebuild my family, to undo my mistakes. I offer no conditions. My fervent desire is to *protect* my granddaughter. If I wanted her for such vanity as you described I would have merely had to detain her when I brought her to the manor this afternoon. Instead, I *concealed* her mark and sent her to her barracks, with clothes for a lady of the House and a passcard for entry of the manor, AND an escort of my brightest men for safety.” Her eyes are like slits, livid as she speaks.
”I made my request not out of greed, but so that the burden of her protection and her family’s would fall to me and not Darkaria, so that in the event of her discovery it would be my deceit against our kind and not the kingdom.”
Bermusa narrows his eyes. “Gods… you’re basically offering yourself up as meatshields against Ayana’s followers? Naegi couldn’t accept-“
”It is my will that Naegi not be lost to the budding powers of a god within her, that even should it come to pass, her final days be of comfort as a rightful child of the noble house of Eliumyor. If our final legacy is sacrificing everything for her soul to live on I am prepared to do my duty as Matriarch, as her grandmother.”
Chirisegyo straightens up with Charlotte going to check on her, but she puts a hand up stopping him from coming closer.
"I apologize for misunderstanding. With all of my childhood years being spent with the two families, especially the Virmel, I assumed through my cynical nature that you had more selfish motives.", she says.
”You’re not wrong to doubt me of all people. I would only ask a bit more care in your approach of words.” Geliena huffs.
Navira is about to say something when the whole of Darkaria shakes violently, and a look of fear comes over Navira, while Bermusa rushes to Navira’s side.
”The hell was that?!” Bermusa looks around anxiously.
Chirisegyo goes to the front windows to look outside.
A blood red eclipse is going on outside and it appears as though Police are rushing towards the gate to the 3rd district.
"A blood red eclipse...something must also be happening in the 3rd District, most likely the Police Headquarters judging by the Police Officers movement...Evoh.", Chirisegyo narrows her eyes.
”Wait… were you listening to my lessons on the Magisters and the Fallen One?! That besides… this eclipse was forecasted a while ago… yet… oh gods… Naegi! If legends are true, then she is in danger! The sight of the Eclipse might stir her into awakening into Ayana! She needs to be taken to safety, she…!” Geliena panics, with worry filling the expressions of Navira and Bermusa.
"Calm down ma'am, don't let panic overwhelm you. We need to understand the current situation first before we do anything. Charlotte contact the others and tell them to help out if needed, to send regular updates on the situation when they can, and keep an eye out for Naegi and protect her when they find her.", Chirisegyo says calmly.
"Of course mother.", Charlotte says, then pulls out his phone and begins typing.
"Lock up every window and door, then we'll put up defensive spells. If worst comes I'll be the first line of defense, and I'll need your cooperation when I need to activate my ability to protect you all understand?", she says to everyone else.
Bermusa immediately goes into action and once everything is locked up he retrieves some rifles and a shotgun. The group agrees to Chiriseygo’s plan, Geliena can be seen in the corner quietly praying in anxiety.
Time passes, and they begin to hear screaming and howls of pain begin to echo through the area after time passes.
"It's begun, it seems the Keli'ser are on the attack.", Chirisegyo says.
The screams start to get louder and closer, and then all of a sudden the windows break and before Chiriseygo can react, screams of pain ring out as Navira, Nini, and Nene are all impaled by long nail like blades that are now plunged deep into their chests, yet no tip can be seen outside their bodies. Navira has a look of horror as the stakes begin to dig deeper into her and the twins.
Bermusa runs to Navira’s side as she begins to scream in pain, the twins joining her soon after as blue cracks spread through their bodies and their veins begin to glow blue through their skin, the temperature plummeting in their presence.
”Navira! Navira answer me! No no no no!” Bermusa screams in anger and panic.
At this point, the blades are only two inches from the handles of the weapons from touching their skin, and Navira whimpers and howls as the blade tears at her mind, the twins meanwhile merely spasm as their minds begin to break and the blades accelerate in their advance.
Geliana comes to the side of Nini and Nene but her healing magic avails them not as the handles slip into their bodies and vanish. Loud fleshy heartbeats begin to violently echo from their bodies as their skin begins to pale and the light in their veins accumulates in their chests as a blinding light, and soon they begin to vomit as their eyes begin glowing bright blue.
Navira’s eyes stream with tears, and she chokes out,
”I… love… you…” To Bermusa right before the handle slides into her chest and she begins to join her children in vomiting, and soon all three’s bodies empty themselves of fluids and organs, their forms turn into energy and break down into large blue energy ‘eggs’, with vague shapes resembling them growing inside, swelling larger and larger as they are remade.
As Bermusa collapses in shock and grief, from Navira’s egg comes giggling and moaning as she begins to rapidly grow and transform, her form becomes clearer and presses tightly against her egg as it grows larger and larger. The heartbeat inside is wild and violent and only accelerating as the Keli’ser within begins to crack the shell, mere moments from birth.
The twins now follow suit, moaning and giggling as they grow and change. Navira’s egg is now double their size and it appears that they are soon reaching their moment of birth, larger than before but nothing compared to their mother. As Navira grows to her final size, she lets out a final moan as her egg ruptures, and massive angel wings explodes from her back. Navira caresses herself as her horns begin growing from her forehead, and a tail from the rear, and as her fangs begins to slip out of her gums, she hungrily eyes Bermusa.
The twins too burst forth, now wholly identical, and also carrying angel motiffs in their icy forms. They gravitate to each other and embrace each other, while eying Chiriseygo and Geliena. Their horns are small and stubby, but appear to have long claws. Ribbons of pale blue ice dance around them and a few wraps around their bodies tying them together. As the twins go to attack and Navira begins to stroke Bermusa’s cheek, Geliena casts a spell and spears of light pierce the three Keli’ser and appear to bind them from moving with light chains.
”Let us go!”
“We’re hungry!” The twins wail, while Navira growls hatefully.
”I don’t want you in my life monster! You never loved me, you just want me to make more heirs for your gods forsaken lineage! Release me! Bermusa and I will go far away, where we will live in paradise far from you parasites!” She roars, and Geliena looks grieved, but refuses to budge.
"Don't waver ma'am, I want you to hold down things here and keep them chained while me and Charlotte will go and help to get these leeches out of here.", Chirisegyo says.
She grabs some of the rifles Bermusa has brought out and shrinks them before addressing Bermusa,
"Its do or die, cower or fight like the soldier you were trained to be."
As Bermusa stands up he shoots a glare at Chiriseygo.
”Our enemy can do something like this… I’m sorry but I would be a burden out there. And besides, someone needs to look after the old lady. There’s no guarantee that her magic will hold or that more creatures aren’t out there and willing to sneak behind you to get at her. And besides… what kind of man leaves his family to their fate?”
His eyes dart to the twins and he fires his shotgun at a bunch of the ribbons that had flung themselves at Geliena.
”Like I said. I don’t know much about magic but that kind of spell needs total concentration. She won’t have the strength to defend herself.”
Chirisegyo shows a smile,
"Then I'll leave you to your duty soldier, let's go Charlotte."
The two approach the front door and Chirisegyo is listening carefully for any sound in the immediate surrounding area of the shop.
They hear the area devolving into chaos as the sounds of pained moans and screams ring out, and soon become moans of bliss followed by the sounds of many new born Keli’ser breaking free of their eggs, screams of pain ring out as newborn Keli’ser bite and feed upon their former neighbors, who in turn begin to scream as their turn to change begins. However she thinks things are clear near them to go outside until she hears the scrape of claws on the roof immediately above and outside the door.
She then hears faint breathing and something land outside it and what sounds like a male moans,
”Smells so good, but where are yoooou… you smell so goooood…. Just a bite… a quick bite…” Rustling indicates the being outside is trying to find a loose window or open the door, either case they are clearly examining the front.
Chirisegyo rolls her eyes and goes to the back door with Charlotte in tow but does as she did with the front door and listens for any sound then goes out after not hearing anything, but not before shrinking Charlotte and putting him into her pocket. She carefully climbs up onto the roof and sees the male Keli'ser, but checks around to see if there are any others and sees none.
Before the male can do anything he's kicked off the roof and lands on the ground, then gets shrunken to the size of a bug and gets smashed underneath Chirisegyo's heel when she jumps off of the roof. Despite the small victory she is still being vigilante and observing the surrounding area before deciding how to advance.
She can hear screams of fear and pain all around her, almost any direction she looks there is panic. Flying high above the city is a female figure which sends flashes of light down towards distant houses, but it isn’t likely that Chiriseygo would reach them save through very long range attacks.
Chirisegyo takes note of the female figure before deciding to help those that she can easily get to.
A small group of civilians are screaming and panicking as a horde of transformed civilians are violently attempting to break into one of the large buildings, the civilians are just barely keeping a barricade in place but with great difficulty. It's clear they won't last long due to the sheer strength of their enemies and their numbers threatening to tear it down.
"Mother, can you hear me?", a young males voice rings through her phone.
Chirisegyo hides behind a building before pulling out her phone and turning down the volume a bit.
"I'm glad your alright Vincent but there's some civilians in trouble."
"Worry not Mother, my invention is finally finished so I won't take too much of your time. Short and sweet explanation of how it works just press the red button and through it at the enemies, preferably high above them.", Vincent says.
Chirisegyo pulls her phone from her ear and a cube, the size of her palm, appears from it. She takes it and does as Vincent says, press the red button and throws it above the Keli'ser. The cube then emits a scanning light that surrounds the group and sucks them all up into the cube and it disappears.
"Well done Vincent, your futuresight hasn't failed us yet again.", Chirisegyo says.
"Praise isn't necessary, but appreciated. The cubes when used will be stored in my database until I decide to let the contents out. I'm still keeping track of everyone and have given them a good amount of the cubes to use, I've already given Charlotte some but I'll go ahead and give you some Mother.", Vincent says.
More cubes appear from the phone and Chirisegyo takes them and puts them into her pocket that doesn't have Charlotte.
"Thanks again Vincent, be safe and keep me updated.", Chirisegyo says.
"Will do Mother.", Vincent's replies.
Chirisegyo puts her phone away and gets Charlotte out and returns him to normal size. They then approach the building the Keli'ser were attempting to break into.
"Is everyone alright?", Chirisegyo asks.
They seem deeply traumatized, huddled quietly. Some look towards the inside, where dozens of civilians are in various stages of transformation, some as far gone as beginning to vomit. Behind those, blocked by a barricade is a large cluster of pulsating Keli'ser eggs, the monsters within swelling larger and larger with every moment and threatening to emerge soon.
"Is... is everywhere like this...?" A young preteen asks with trembling fear, bite marks on her neck apparent along with faint blue glowing light trickling through her veins.
"I can't give you a definite answer, right now we need to put you guys in a safe place so this infection doesn't spread.", Chirisegyo says.
She goes to the cluster of Keli'ser eggs and moves some of the barricade to throw a cube that scans the eggs, sucks them in, and disappears. Once that's done she turns to the group and holds out a cube,
"The choice is yours, be in a safe space so you don't risk biting someone else or turn into a Keli'ser and be killed."
"That's a rather curious toy you have there," A voice speaks softly in her ear and as she reacts to strike at the unseen presence, her surroundings blur and she completes her motion to find no one there and she appears to be in a seperate part of the building, only something feels... off.
"So you're the one who invoked me." The voice speaks behind her again, and a dark, cold sensation washes over her and she instinctively blocks what would have been a fatal stab to the throat as she turns again to face a black haired man with pure black pits for eyes, large black wings drapped behind him and large curved horns adorning his head. If it weren't for those features and his ashen complexion, she would have taken him for an elf.
He chuckles at her reaction and fidgets with the knife that nearly stabbed her. "You have strong instincts. Your head would have rolled otherwise. For amusing me... I'll deign to chit chat instead, or even answer a question or two, should I feel inclined..." His body language is utterly relaxed for a man who had just tried to slit her throat.
"Who are you?", Chirisegyo asks, not letting down her guard.
His only answer is a chuckle at first, and with a swish of his arm, he stands next to her and lifts her up by the chin against the wall, giving her a sly expression.
"Why, the one who orchestrated this Revel, the lord and master of Chaos, little butterfly. Surely you know my name? You who scoured for tome and parchment alike to understand the darkness that had threatened to engulf your brother, one who delved into darkest black of magics, only to recoil in fear at my gift..."
A creepy smile creeps across his face. "Oh that you should not recognize the target of your long hours, when I know you well, little Chirisegyo~" A cold, dark shudder rips through Chirisegyo as though his merely uttering her name somehow stained her soul deepest black. In the same abrupt fashion, she suddenly is dropped to the floor as he sits in a fancy wooden chair, and one appears beside her.
"Come, sit, the Lord of Chaos' whim favors you this day."
Cautiously Chirisegyo sits in the chair, "So what do you want with me, Evoh?", Chirisegyo asks while being somewhat respectful.
"Did I not say? Talk. Ask. I had found a buzzing fly whom I wished to swat, who instead managed to sense my presence, even on a primitive level and avoid an otherwise certain death. In amusement I withhold my blade and remain idle in whimsy." He makes an expression as though her mannerism had amused him, his dark eyes seemingly twinkling.
"Why are you here in Darkaria?", she asks.
Though he smiles, the twinkling look fades, and he gestures as an icy mirror manifests next to him, and she sees various scenes in Darkaria of Keli'ser attacking and biting victims, and others of the final moments before a mortal bursts free of their egg as a newborn Keli'ser, joining their rapidly expanding brethern. It then shifts to an image of Chirisegyo herself, which Evoh seems to play with, slowly warping the image with gestures into various different versions of herself as a Keli'ser. He continues this as he speaks,
"The same reasons for everything, of course." His gaze seems far away, as though Chirisegyo was not at the center of his attention anymore.
"Why does this involve Ayana?"
His gaze turns toward her, but it's like he's looking past her. "Why indeed? Hmm. You are quite reserved, for facing the one who has set calamity upon your home. No words of anger? Hate? Or perhaps despite your outward appearance, you know in your heart what I can do? Or is it for the sake of this nation that you chain your inner fury, even should it mean cowing yourself before your enemy?"
He flicks his wrist, and an image of the Keli'ser Navira pinning Bermusa to the ground as she suckles his lifeblood from his neck shows on the mirror.
"The same enemy that hath made your kin, tied by law and blood into his peons?"
Chirisegyo clenches her fist at the sight but still maintains her composure, "My question still stands, and you said your willing answer them."
Evoh seems to note the reaction. "So that is the answer. I see now the qualities that made thee entrusted with the honor of Knight."
He closes his eyes. The image zooms on Navira's face, her lust and estacy front and center as she gorges herself and Bermusa's skin grows paler and paler.
"You asked why? Describe that scene to me. What does it mean to you? What feelings does it invoke? A question to answer your own."
Chirisegyo thinks for a few seconds before answering,
"You want to speed up her awakening by messing with her hosts emotions, the easiest way being to infect her family."
"If you think being guarded avails you, you are mistaken. In truth, it bores me. Speak your heart and tell me true: what stirs in your heart as you witness these scenes?"
Navira has finished with Bermusa and moved on to Gelinda, mauling and battering her mother with a look of malevolence and twisted pleasure before finally beginning to devour her as well.
"Anger, hatred, disgust, regret.", she responds after letting out a resigned sigh.
"Indeed, one would feel such things if their family were pawns in another's game." Evoh says breezily.
He dismisses the mirror and his eyes open. "I will leave you to ponder the significance of that answer."
He stands, and then appears before her, hand placed on the top of her head as though he might address a child with a head pat.
"Would you like to join them? Your family? For entertaining my whim, I offer you the choice. But fear not, I will mold you properly, you will feel not pain but bliss. Make no mistake, even if you should deny me, you will likely become a Keli'ser regardless. But make the choice, and you will spare yourself the pain, and rise higher for it. I can even see that your family are remade into Keli'ser of my craft, free of Yelizveta's warped sadism implanted within them."
A vision of Navira, Bermusa, the twins, and herself as Keli'ser living as noble and prosperous Highborn flashes in her head, free to pursue their deepest desires as family.
"If you balk at the offer, consider it mercy from the inevitable, your becoming a savage beast whose power will dismantle the home you love. To be spared the pain. Plus..." He leans in and whispers to her ear.
"If you desire it, I would even tell you the truth of the Magisters, and why the gift of the Keli'ser is not a curse... but the salvation of the elves. Your salvation."
"I refuse.", Chirisegyo says unhesitantly.
"I see. Well, I'll honor that... though after giving you so much, it's only fair I get something from you as well..."
Evoh disappears in a burst of smoke and reappears a short distance, the horns and wings gone, and black pits for eyes replaced with normal ones, with red irises that shimmer with many colors, as though faceted gems.
He grants her a coy smile. "Do you know what they say of life and death? That the sinful are doomed to become lesser elves, and only through belief and faith in the Magisters, ones soul can return to glory, or in their absence, fall in another life?"
He approaches and lines in, face to face with her.
"It's been many, many, many thousands of years, but I remember many elven souls from when all were like us... like the Magisters. Like me. Friends... admirers... followers... ...traitors." His face twists slightly with the last word.
"Tell me, do you think the soul remembers, even after many lifetimes? Or are you truly your own person, no matter the life you held before?" Her reflection is clear as crystal in his eyes, but it looks... different. Her and yet... different.
"As far as I'm concerned I've always been me, regardless of what others say or whether they like it or not.", Chirisegyo responds.
"Is that so?" Evoh smirks. "Belioage." Pain wracks her body as a force begins to compel her to open her mouth.
At once, she is seized by horrible pain, even as she is made to swallow, and soon her vision begins to darken and tunnel as she crumples to the ground.
Evoh crouches down. “<Sweet dreams, Lirowea. I wonder, when you emerge from the fog of memory, will you be so adamant in your denial of my gift?>”
She faints before she can muster the strength to respond…
In the deep dark of dreams, a voice speaks:
“Maybe this is why you still haven’t settled down. When you should have opened your heart, you withdrew within. If you are going to keep crawling away, maybe you should have become a Keli’ser…”
She drifts deeper into slumber…
Screams tear through the air and she snaps awake as all around her a grand city burns and crumbles into the void while its inhabitants scream, fleeing in many directions, all the while others cry out as light strikes them and twists them into monsters that gorge upon their former friends and family.
As she stands petrified in horror, she sees a blond haired elf with angry red eyes attempting to calm the panic and restrain the monsters without harming them, but it’s a losing battle. He turns to her, seemingly with a pleading expression, but she feels herself shake her head and back away as the whole half of the city on his side breaks away and crumbles into the dark below, the last she sees of the man is the glint of his eyes as they turn away, and before the dark of dreams takes her, she feels… …sorrow.
As she rouses from sleep she feels a hand shaking her.
"Mother! Are you alright?!", Charlotte says worried.
Chirisegyo let's out a groan before standing with some assistance from Charlotte.
"Thank you, I'm alright.", she says.
"I can tell, but what happened?", he asks.
Chirisegyo thinks for a bit before answering,
"The one causing all this took me to an alternate space to talk because I amused him. He wanted me to accept being turned into a Keli'ser, but I refused obviously. I was also shown that Bermusa and Geliena being attacked by Navira, which means they'll be turned."
"Oh dear.", Charlotte says.
"What about out here?", Chirisegyo asks.
"When you disappeared, along with the teen, I took up reiterating your question and most of them complied. Though a few started transforming faster or ran off.", he responds looking at the cocoons that weren't there before.
"I see, well we'll take them too seeing as they didn't have time to comply and it'll save us trouble later on.", Chirisegyo says.
At her response Charlotte pulls out and throws another cube that sucks up the cocoons and disappears.
"So what now mother?", Charlotte asks.
At that question Chirisegyo's phone goes off and she picks it up to see a familiar name and accepts the call.
"Long time no see Chirisegyo, though I wished it was under better circumstances.", Zaraki says.
"Likewise Zaraki, could you get me a better grasp of the current situation?", Chirisegyo asks.
"Straight to business as always. Well we currently have enemy forces in the 3rd and 4th district, both we're attempting to push back mind you, and we were making good progress in the 4th but they increased their forces in the business district and are trying to break down the gate to the former. You wouldn't mind assisting in exterminating them would you? We already have Tsuchigumo Moiiretsu and his squad there and their making good headway, but would appreciate more backup since everyone else is somewhat occupied.", Zaraki says.
"Sure, I'll be there with some back up.", Chirisegyo responds.
"Excellent, can't wait to see you in action again 'Mass Manipulator'", Zaraki says with some amusement.
Chirisegyo let's out an amused scoff before closing her phone and addressing Charlotte.
"Contact the others and let them know to assist in taking down the Keli'ser at the 4th District gate, but be careful with their cubes cause I doubt they'll know the difference between enemy and foe. Well meet them there and help anyone we can along the way."
"Already on it mother.", Charlotte says as he quickly types away on his phone.
Once he's done they exit the building and head towards the 4th District gate and helping others along the way.
==Assault on Police Headquarters==
From the front of Darkaria Castle Tsubaki, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, Yami, and Zaraki are observing the current situation. The latter two have ordered their troops to their respective positions and are ready to begin.
"Frankie, be sure to play nice with the Army in pushing back the enemy okay?", Zaraki says teasingly.
"Fuck you.", she responds.
"Sir, what about the newbies?", Franklin asks.
"Pull them out if things get really hairy, otherwise do keep an eye on them."
"Speaking of which I got in contact with the Ryuukuchi triplets, they're held up at a restaurant in the 2nd District and are with some Police Force officers, Lysen along with the two Battle Maids, and Naegi. I've ordered them to hold their positions until further orders, do you approve General?", a woman's voice asks.
"Yes, thank you Commander Hiroko.", Yami responds.
"The other Knights are ready and waiting, so let's proceed with our first strike.", Tsubaki says.
"Everyone advance!", Yami orders.
Without hesitation all those positioned begin fighting against the Keli'ser, two Army Commanders and Lieutenants with their forces are fighting alongside the Laboratory while a Commander and Lieutenant and their forces are pushing back from outside the entrance of the 4th District, one Commander and Lieutenant with their forces are pushing back the Keli'ser who are trying to get into the 2nd District, and Commander Danuja Haranuki and her Lieutenant with their forces are pushing back from the front of the 3rd District.
A blue skinned Keli’ser with icy robes that part down the middle, showing his muscular chest sweeps back his light blue hair with a clawed gauntlet as he watches the combatants emerge from the gates at the Business District and receives word from his Queen of Violet at the gates of the 2nd District of a renewed push to force them back to the 3rd.
”No matter. I will send reinforcements to the gate, bolster presence along the walls. They will not take this district.”
He then listens as his Queen of Narcissus reports in from the 4th District as two forces meet hers in battle while a third force moves to protect the business district. His face tightens.
”Understood. Astra Nabila, hold your ground. You might be a Narcissus, but they are mere commanders. You are my prized doll, fail me not.”
”As you will, Lord Ambrus Maarav.” A sultry female voice responds in his mind.
Ambrus regards the Army as it approaches from the Business District.
“I heard that their Knight is of impressive note. I wonder if they exaggerate… well, it is no matter. I would not be much of a King of Lilies if I did not fight by my men’s side… but I won’t steal their glory either.”
Ambrus jumps from his seat on a building’s roof and begins walking towards the front. Meanwhile, Astra advances upon the Lab and the nearby advancing Army while her Violets move towards the Business Gate of the 4th District and their army moving towards the 3rd District Gate.
Some time later...
"This presence...", Tsubaki mutters.
"You feel it too?", Yami asks.
"Based on where it is it's heading towards the front lines near where Husani is, though she might be to ragged to notice it right now.", Inumuta says.
"Yami go assist, and no fooling around for we can't afford that right now.", Tsubaki says.
"As you command, old friend.", Yami replies before dissapearing.
---
Husani creeps along the rubble in the 3rd district, eying a group of Keli'ser. She suddenly moves and in a blink of an eye, with flashes of energy, their heads roll and their bodies disintegrate. As she moves to return to the shadows, footsteps can be heard. She wheels around to see an imposing man with icy blue skin and formidable muscles, eyeing her with a observant gaze. His parted robe bellows in the wind as he smiles.
"A curious soul. You are no mutt, but rather, a creature possessed of uncanny strength. To fell even a meager group such as those requires no small amount of talent. And... your smell-"
He ducks as Husani's blades whip to slice his neck and spin kicks her in the stomach and hurls her into a wall, where she drops to the ground with a heaving gasp, shaking from pain as her bones fracture. Grimacing, she forces herself to stand as an aura flickers unsteadily around her, reducing the damage to tolerable levels.
I can't get hit like that again...
As she moves to enter an attacking stance, she is grabbed by the throat and forced against the wall, futily trying to fight off the grip of the Keli'ser.
"Even after a blow that rightfully should have left you a cripple, you stand, able and willing to fight me. You pale before Astra's original self, but the self same unyielding spirit... how nostalgic."
The Keli'ser looks her dead in the eyes. "I am Ambrus Maarav, King of Lilies. I offer you a chance to be reborn, eternal, beautiful, and powerful, evermore. I can see in your heart that you yearn for ever greater heights, to follow the strong. You are a warrior true, and I would hate to butcher you like a pig, when within that flesh lies true potential..."
Husani growls and kicks at him.
He sighs. "Are you a dull beast in the shape of a being of higher intelligence? Or have you no awareness of the futility of defying me?"
Husani growls, an aura covering her as through sheer force she rips his hands off her throat and pushes him back.
"There is only one my heart and soul belongs to. A man who rules by example and conviction, yet makes hard choices and bears his burdens willingly. Any thought of bending to you would be an unforgivable insult to him." Her fists tighten.
"I'd rather die than become one of you."
Ambrus narrows his eyes and draws his sword. "A pity. You truly would have been worthy of becoming a Narcissus." He rushes to stab Husani in the throat.
His path is blocked by large swords forming a wall between him and Husani, then then smaller swords appear to pierce him from all directions.
Ambrus stops and jumps back the second the wall forms, and by the time the smaller swords appear, an icy dome deflects them away from him with a swish of his hand.
"Ah, now this presence..." Ambrus closes his eyes briefly. "You must be one of the Knights I have heard talk and tale of. The intensity of your soul attests as such."
"It seems my reputation has stretched farther than I'd thought, don't know who you are unfortunately but I can tell your definetly strong.", Yami says walking into view.
Ambrus turns to face him, opening his eyes. "Ambrus Maarav, King of Lilies. I know not your name but I know of you Knights, for by the grace of Lord Evoh did three of your kin transcend into a King of Narcissus, a Queen of Rose, and a Queen of Lilies. The Rose I believe was 'Shiroyuki'. By your measure, you must be roughly equal to her prior to her ascension."
He gives Yami a measured look. "Something tells me I know my answer, but a man of such potential in such a small kingdom... this place is a hidden trove of potential and talent. Would you not join with me? My faction could do well with a man like you. To neglect to offer such a gift to such a worthy adversary would be an insult, given that one of your comrades was given the glory of a Rose."
"Against her will, I know Shiroyuki wouldn't just take up the offer regardless of what she would be given. I am the same but through the bond me and my old friend's families have that started with the subjugation of Darkaria and the founding of the Kingdom, it runs deep and I'd consider it insult for anyone to think I would trade it for something trivial.", Yami replies.
Ambrus crosses his arms. "Trivial? Please. Have some class. My Lord's motives and methods are not my own. Nor do I believe the established way of things of our kin is just. Those who have taken up the sword in my name do so for the cause of advancing as mutual equals. Not as slaves or peons, playthings to be toyed with and discarded on a whim. And if I should offer brotherhood and be spurned, I grant my foe honor and dignity in death in battle, rather than forced chains. As I attempted to do moments ago."
Ambrus takes hold of his sword again. "But you have said your piece, and so I shall honor your decision as a warrior to meet your end like one. ...Though know that it pains me to waste such souls that shimmer with the brilliance of greatness. I neglected to ask your names. Would you honor me with them, that I might carry them into my memory of two honorable warriors, who stayed true to their conviction?"
Husani snarls, shaking off the last of the damage from Ambrus' prior blow. "Yami, you won't deny me this dance will you? My blood boils to repay his blow tenfold."
"Fine, just stay out of my way Husani. As for you Ambrus it's good to know at least one of you actually have some sort of honor, so i'll give you my name.", Yami then summons a sword in his right hand.
"I am the the General of the Darkaria Army and the 2nd of the 15 Darkaria Knights, my name is Yami Izayoi.", he then points his sword at Ambrus.
Husani jumps over the wall of swords and lands in a crouch with her twin blades. "Husani Levins. Not that my name holds any weight like my comrade." She then makes odd movements with her body and arms, and a white aura appears around her, thin but still present.
"Very well."
Almost immediately, a red magic circle blazes to life, filling the whole of the city square. Soon after, a large red comet hurtles down upon them, only being stopped by Husani as she kicks it down towards Ambrus, who cuts it in twain, causing twin massive explosions of red fire that engulfs two city blocks either side of him.
Yami moves and swings his sword that aims to decapitate Ambrus, and swords flying in a similar fashion as before to both pin and hopefully skewer him.
Ambrus impales his sword into the ground, and huge columns and spikes of ice erupt from the ground, blocking the swords, pushing Yami back while Husani is intercepted mid air and hurled high up into the air.
"Shit shit shit...!" Husani makes another stance mid air and as she falls, spreads out her arms and legs and slows down as she falls. She is then able to maneuver close enough to a pillar of ice to impale it with her daggers' and slowly come to a stop, looking down below as she dangles. The city surrounding their battle has been flattened into a large desolate field of carnage of several blocks. The burst of ice has further petrified many buildings outside of the raw carnage into solid ice rather than breaking them.
Ambrus then rushes Yami with a side slice, able to move on the ice as though it were solid, stable ground, the two other combatants meanwhile find it incredibly hard to keep footing.
Yami is launched into the air and Ambrus's sword hits a large sword hilt, that caused Yami to be launched, and Yami lands on the flat side of a large sword and makes it float. He then swings his left arm and from above building sized swords shoot down onto the ice, ice columns and spikes. Though before they make contact a normal sized broad sword flies to Husani and positions itself underneath her feet, to allow her to get on and get her out of the way.
Husani lands on it, and uses it as a springboard to propel herself at Ambrus, who gestures as another red arcane circle forms surrounding them. As the circle goes to complete itself, Husani manages to slice Ambrus' cheek, but then he grabs her and pins her to the ground, stabbing her hands together into the ground with an ice blade. From the wound, ice begins to spread across Husani's skin, slowly petrifying her hands, which begin to spasm in pain. Husani grinds her teeth but angrily kicks Ambrus as he tries to complete the spell again. He then fully turns towards her and aims an icy sword over her heart, but Husani grabs the blade in her hands with her teeth and rips it out, then using her bloody frozen hands, pushes herself up and kicks Ambrus in the side of the head with small spikes attached to her boots.
He stumbles back angrily and hisses in annoyance, and the magic circle completes as above them numerable comets begin to form and rain down upon the area.
Yami summons more of the same building sized swords that form, with the existing ones, into a makeshift shield which covers most of the area that blocks and destroys most of the comets coming down. He then summons numerous large shuriken that immediately start spinning at high speed and attack Ambrus, then leaps off his sword and punches the ground resulting in a shockwave that destroys any remaining ice and knocking both Ambrus and Husani off balance but the latter is pulled out of the way by the same sword that goes through the back of her shirt and flies her out of the way of the incoming shuriken.
Ambrus cooly eyes the shurikens and dodges one with ease, but then staggers and stumbles as he goes to dodge the second, which grazes his shoulder. He then rolls when he is knocked off balance, and shakily gets to his feet, eyes narrowing at Yami with a piercing glow of anger becoming apparent.
"I didn't peg you for that kind of man." He intones. 
Yami responds by raising a confused eyebrow. 
"He isn't, but I am." Husani brushes her hair out of her face. 
"I see. You're more underhanded than I first assumed." Ambrus intones. 
Husani shrugs. "Don't sound disappointed. My tribe knew me as 'The White Serpent' after all." 
"Very well, don't think your fangs will touch me again." He grips his sword and it splits in two, and he regards the two with a measured alertness. 
Yami summons two blades into his hands, then gestures the still spinning shuriken to attack again to which they do. 
Ambrus swings his two swords in an x formation, causing two giant slashes to race towards them, cutting the shuriken in two as they pass. 
The shuriken, not yet cut, move out of the way and go to attack Ambrus from behind while the broken pieces resume spinning and continue attacking him from the front. Then Yami does the same attack as Ambrus, swinging his swords in an x formation and creating two giant slashes that collide with the latter's and cancel each other out. 
Ambrus stretches his spare hand out. “Annhilus.” Red beams of light erupt from his hands and smite the shurikens, dissolving them to dust. He then fires again, this time squarely at Yami. In the distraction, he closes the distance and swings his sword to run Yami through the chest. 
With mere seconds to spare, a flash of steel is seen and Husani is blocking the large sword using her daggars. The two begin to struggle though it is clear that she is quickly becoming exhausted by the effort. 
”Tch, I won’t suffer your interference again.” Without warning he shoves her forward, making her stumble helplessly as he charges her, grasping her shoulders and violently bites down on her neck, causing her to howl in pain as he bites deep into her flesh, and begins to consume her. Her skin begins to pale rapidly as he quickly begins to drain her, body and soul. Crying out in agony, she musters her strength and plunges her two daggers into the base of his neck, white aura rushing like a river from her into him, causing him to stumble. The two become locked in a duel of attrition, until at last Husani’s poison takes its toll, causing Ambrus to collapse, Husani follows shortly after, gasping and shaking violently. The wounds on her neck seal and begin to faintly glow. 
Ambrus meanwhile struggles to his feet, but clearly lacks the strength he did before. 
Yami seizes the opportunity to swing his sword at Ambrus neck with the clear intention of decapitating him. 
Just as his blade is about to connect, a spike of metal deflects the strike, and a woman saunters onto the battlefield, and Yami is taken aback. 
Though her face had been altered, the woman standing before him is unquestionably Yatifa. ...Though her face is the only thing still the same. With ample hips and beauteous bust, skin like perfectly sculpted ice, and long flowing white locks, she is unquestionable in her beauty. Wicked horns and a long tail protrude from her form, coupled with her spikey iron like armor, give her a more wicked air, almost as much as the devilish sneer graced with long fangs coming from her lips. 
"I think not. Our lord would be most displeased to have such a venerated King lost in such a pitiful battle." The woman gives Yami a loathing look. 
"What is it? That stupified look makes you akin to a dullard." An eruption of metal sword like spikes erupt at Yami's feet, forcing him back as they assemble into a bladed wall. The woman slugs Ambrus in the side and he collapses, then in one swift motion she picks him up and slings him over her shoulder, looking back at Yami. 
"Enjoy your fleeting respite, our hordes will be back with renewed strength soon enough." She begins to walk off with Ambrus, elsewhere Darkaria's forces are beginning to push the Keli'ser back without Ambrus' will making them a cohesive unit. 
Yami goes to Husani and gently picks her up, "Let's get you out of here, and I'm sorry." 
He then quickly gets them both out of the third district. 
"What are you sorry about...? You are far more important than I am. A retired former spy master is nothing to the commander of the army... ...and his best friend." She closes her eyes, shuddering. She is slowly becoming colder and colder to the touch. 
"Darkaria will not suffer for my loss. Some will probably be glad the last Levins is becoming a monster equally twisted as her people's sins. Karmic justice and all that..." She chuckles weakly. 
"I know Tsubaki better than anyone, and he will miss you the most.", Yami says. 
Rather than an expected retort, there is just silence. "...If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to be alone with him for a bit." She opens her eyes and faces away from him. 
"Despite how hard I tried, I wasn't able to change our legacy in the end..." 
Yami seems hesitant but relents, "Alright, I do owe you anyway." 
"...Thank you." She is silent the rest of the way, eyes closed and seemingly trying to conserve energy. Eventually they reach Tsubaki and the others, by this point Husani's infection has become obvious, her skin is pale and the area around her bite mark is turning blue, a faint blue glow in her chest can be seen as well. The air is also noticeably colder around her form. 
"What happened?", Tsubaki asks. 
"We confronted the one we sensed, Ambrus is his name, and while we were putting up a decent fight he got the best of us and bit Husani.", Yami says with guilt. 
Husani opens her eyes and looks at Tsubaki. "He lives, but incapacitated by my poison. He won't bother us... but the female that saved him from Yami's killing blow probably will..." 
She begins coughing and wheezing as her chest glows brightly for a few minutes, then settles back down. She slowly frees herself from Yami's grip and wobbily stands before Tsubaki. 
"I don't mean to impose... but I'd like to be alone." She looks away briefly before looking at Tsubaki in the eyes. "Alone with you, at least. I... consider it a last request, considering the circumstances." She coughs and wheezes some more, stumbling a bit before righting herself again, looking at the others, gaze resting on the Twins. 
"If none object, that is." 
"You don't have to go too far, just give us a bit of privacy.", Tsubaki says. 
Though hesitant the others go off to let the two speak alone, "Speak freaky Husani, while your still you.", Tsubaki then says. 
A deep shudder runs through Husani and she clutches her hands over her mouth as she appears to be holding back the urge to vomit. After a few minutes pass, she collapses to her knees. 
"...I don't recommend the experience of feeling your insides liquifying, Lord Tsubaki. It's rather... *urk* unpleasant..." She attempts to laugh it off but makes a pained expression. "Best not..." 
Her skin is now approaching plaster white, and he can see blue veins glowing throughout her skin. The fact she's surpressed her transformation this long and has only progressed this far astounds him. 
She shivers violently, her every breath now white and visible, steam radiating from how cold her body is becoming. 
"T-Tsubaki, I know that this is s-s-selfish, but... would you... w-w-warm m-me? I-I... d-don't ag-gree with c-cold..." Her teeth chatter violently. 
Tsubaki approaches Husani then gets on his knees and embraces her, "Better?", he asks. 
She lightly squeaks in surprise, then quietly nods. 
"...Tsubaki... did I serve you well? ...Or have I been nothing more than a burden?" She instinctively huddles closer to him, her chattering subdued. Tsubaki can feel the sheer icy cold of her body radiating through his clothes. He can only imagine what the woman born in the heat of the savannah must be suffering. 
"No one who has, or is, fighting with me is a burden. I could never think that given the cause I chose to fight for is a difficult one, and to find allies who choose to fight alongside me I find myself honored.", Tsubaki responds and squeezes Husani a bit more. 
There is a faint intake of air from her. "Ts- Grrrbllleeeaaaggghh-!" She suddenly gurgles as her eyes flash a glowing blue and her form begins to crack with blue light, and she can hold no longer, she drops from his embrace and begins to violently release the fluids within, her body gurgling from the quantity sloshing within. Again and again she spews, until her skin is completely devoid of color, and the moisture in the air freezes against her skin. 
From the sheer pain, tears streak down her face, but just as quickly freeze into ice. Purest white, she moans in agony as the light within begins to pulsate with a heartbeat sound that intensifies every moment. Even the brilliant gold and black shimmer of her hair begins to fade, turning grey and white, growing lighter with every passing moment. 
Even this close to the brink, she fights it, grasping onto Tsubaki, though her strength is spent she nonetheless grips him, threatening to slip. 
"...Thank you..." She wheezes. "I resented you, considered myself your tool in those early years. As soon as the revolution was done..." She shudders as the beating of her core makes the whole of her form quiver, threatening to break down. "...I believed you would toss me aside like the tool I was. ...When it did not come... ..nnnghh! ...I was suspicious, more so when I became your Knight. Hnnghh...! B-B-But I dedicated myself, refusing to let my blades dull, to be a warrior to the last." 
She pauses, gasping and wheezing as her hair slowly inches toward purest white. "But now I look back and wish that... that I could have found a way. A way to let the Levins name not wilt away in disgrace. I meant to tell... to tell you for a while now. None of the children... can harbor, or want to wield... the Spirit. Years now... of time, of effort... wasted. My gambit, an ultimate failure. And... and... s-s-s-so everything the Levins refined over generations and generations... dies with me." 
She cries out in agony as her core glows at a fever pitch and her eyes begin glowing blue, while her sclera blacken, her form begining to break down. 
"...M-My last request... use what comes after... to find a way to save your people. Even if they kill me in the process... do what must be done... and so that the last legacy of the Levins can be worth remembering." She completely collapses on her hands and knees, her whole form beginning to glow as the transformation begins. 
Tsubaki puts a hand on her back, "Then I'll honor your request, Husani Levins." 
Her whole form is consumed in the blue light, the heartbeat wild and frantic, only slowing as her form begins to reconstitute, reforming into its familar shape, graced in purest icy blue with snow white curls of hair. Two stubby horns poke out from her head, her tattoos no more, nor the scar on her face. Her eyes slowly creak open, revealing orbs of glowing blue that immediately size him up. Shortly after, ribbons of snow and ice swirl around her, and form into a beautiful kimono that melds with her form. The crest of Evoh forms upon her forehead, and an icy narcissus flower blooms above her bosom. 
A smile slowly spreads from her lips... 
When Yami and the others return, they are alarmed to see Husani having transformed, and now pressing herself on him, lips poised over him with glints of her fangs, panic ensues and Yami's first instinct is to distract her, attacking to draw her immediate attention while the Twins rush for a killing blow from behind. 
Tsubaki puts his hand up towards them, signaling them to stop to which they do though with hesitation and confusion. 
Husani, snarling at Yami, slowly, ever so slowly calms down, though she doesn't fully stop baring her fangs, nor does the slight lean of her posture relax. Her eyes however dim and her slitted pupils become visible. 
Tsubaki knows that her behavior will only remain this agreeable so long, and once her monstrous hunger outmatches her reason, she'll be unable to restrain herself, meaning that either they need to find a way to sate her desires or restrain her and get her to the Lab or another place of research as quickly as possible. Indeed, it's clear that despite her more lucid mind, she's visibly holding back the instinct to attack, slight amounts of saliva drips from her fangs. 
"Inumuta do you still have room in your research facility? Husani has offered herself to help save everyone turned like she has.", Tsubaki says still composed despite the position he's in. 
"Of course your Majesty, as a matter of fact the enemies sent to lab that have been captured should make for a good meal for Husani.", Inumuta replies after breaking from his stupor. 
"If you want food then follow Inumuta's instructions, please Husani.", Tsubaki says to her. 
She slowly shakes, and gradually the snarl fades and the intensity of her eyes lessens, until finally she seems to relax and slowly, stiffly nods her head, but seems to make a motion with her hands as though asking to be restrained. 
Upon seeing that Inumuta pulls out a pair of restraining cuffs on her, "I'm gonna teleport you to the Lab to one of cells, once your there I'll get you feed." 
He then presses a few buttons on his laptop and a light blinks on the cuffs, then Husani is enveloped in a light blue light before disappearing. After that Inumuta opens a new screen showing Husani inside one of the Labs cells and remotely removes her cuffs before teleporting into her room a random person. 
She doesn’t even hesitate, lunging upon them and pinning them into the ground. She then bits their neck and aggressively feeds, their skin paling visibly and quickly, the victim gurgling and screaming in agony, while Husani seems to enjoy it, feeding more aggressively and causing their body to wilt as she sucks body and soul to their limits, if it continues nothing will remain. Strangely she stops and the victim’s eyes glow briefly before they slump over, Husani pays them little notice as she stares at the camera. 
“Almost beautiful how perfectly she fulfills this role don’t you think? She truly is the White Serpent.” Evoh’s voice taunts Tsubaki’s mind. 
Meanwhile Yami receives word the front has stalled close to the Police Headquarters as a wall of blades now bars the way forward, and the Keli’ser seems to be pushing back under a new leader, likely the female resembling Yatifa. 
"I forgot to mention something Tsubaki, but after Ambrus got poisoned and I tried to deal the killing blow a female Keli'ser parried my strike and she greatly resembles Yatifa.", Yami says while helping Tsubaki stand up. 
"She was captured along with Shiroyuki, Kohaku, and Kimahara so I shouldn't be surprised considering the latter two are bring made to fight against us. Though it's odd Shiroyuki hasn't been sent out against us yet...", Tsubaki ponders. 
== Astra of the Legions ==
Astra blocks the advance of the Army from reinforcing the Lab by breathing out a freezing wall of ice that creates a series of walls forcing them to instead face the Keli’ser army head on while a smaller force goes to march towards the Lab.
"They really don't want us to assist the Lab rats.", a male fairy with his blonde hair held in a braid says.
"Focus on the Keli'ser Lieutenant Fumihiro, I will not tolerate distractions.", a woman with grey curled hair says.
"Of course Commander Hiroko.", Fumihiro says.
As the Army clashes with the Keli’ser, it becomes wholly clear that the enemy they face is overwhelmingly composed of Police members that have turned, their eyes filled with a lust for their souls. A few however are clad in black armor, with some having the rags of the Police draped over like mock cloaks. The rest however have a single rune displayed prominently on their breastplates.
The Army’s initial collision with the Keli’ser is chaotic and violent as the Army is simply not prepared for the beastial savagery of their former comrades, and dozens are bitten and forcibly dragged into the horde before they begin to understand the inherent danger of their foe and more cautiously engage.
Around this time, a single Keli’ser woman drifts over her forces towards Commander Hiroko and her Lieutenant. She has long braided blue hair and a dress with the shoulders and upper bust displayed in a transparent quartersleeve with embroidered floral designs, with the lower half being a rich blue. Her feet have small petite talons and her fingers small claws, she regards them with a light hearted smile.
”You may call me Lady Astra Nabila, Winter Queen of Narcissus. I won’t insult you with a demand to surrender, but why not parley with me while fate dictates our course?”
"Why? You invade our kingdom for selfish means, forcibly transform our men and people, and now you expect us to be all friendly and chat with you?", Hiroko harshly responds.
Astra smiles, flashing her sharp fangs. “The Elves are our mortal enemies, for they betrayed our master and left him doomed to shadow. Your harboring them is an affront to our kind, that alone is sufficient reason to conquer your kind. But to decline a generous and merciful demand from our Lord? Insufferable. Plus the way we see it, you are infants, incomplete. Your transformed kin are merely restored to their rightful existence, free of inhibition and free to express their deepest desire.
I simply offered you a shred of civility and dignity, and a chance to treat with an equal as equals. But I can see that you lust for battle. What a waste. Your ‘heart’ limits your true instincts from indulging your baser nature.”
Astra takes out an icy whip and slowly unfurls it, as though content to take her time even with the proximity of two hostile leaders.
"So us harboring elves is your reason? Kinda shallow and narrow-minded if you ask me, though if that's the case what do you all want with Ayana's vessel?", Fumihiro says.
Astra chuckles and cracks her whip in the direction of the two and a mighty wall of gale and lightning slams into them and the Army and hurtles many backward, Astra flies toward the two and raises her whip to strike vertically.
”Foolish boy, your commander tears my overture of parley, of reason and discourse apart and you believe that you are worthy of my time? If you had considered your situation wisely and parleyed with me, perhaps I would tell you our motivations, convince you of the evil of the Magisters and their elves, but you wasted it in an act of petulance. If you so wish to live by the sword as beasts, I will not stop you, but if you are a creature of reason you will surrender to the kiss of my fangs and my mercy!”
"No thanks, I'd rather kiss my bastard of a father's ass.", Fumihiro says teasingly.
Fumihiro flies high into the sky, away from the direction of Astra's whip, with Hiroko also running from it.
"Don't falter! Leave this one to your Commander and Lieutenant, focus on the small fry!", Hiroko shouts.
Their forces let out a cheer and continue their attack on the Keli'ser.
Astra has an annoyed look. “How vulgar.” She cracks her whip towards Hiroko, causing an upward blast of air to slam just past her and decimate a number of buildings, while above them, the clouds darken more than they already were, and a prominent supercell begins forming over the district, lightning begins flashing directly over Fumihiro’s vicinity.
Fumihiro then goes lower to the ground but remains hovering, then unleashes energy blasts at Astra. At the same time the dust around Hiroko is seemingly blown away, but how is unknown, then she swings her sword to the side of her and it extends to reveal its a snake sword. Then the portion up to the handle disappears and the extended part appears behind Astra and aims to cut her at the waist.
Astra sighs as if disgusted as the blade makes a sharp ringing noise after bouncing off her skin.
”Such primitive methods. To think your lord boasted of protecting the Earth from our ire.” She leaps up and begins whipping repeatedly in a wide arc at her front and back, forming glowing circles of coursing electricity. A field of arcing energy begins to form with Hiroko and Fumihiro and a portion of the Army in its area.
Meanwhile the area over Fumihiro and the rearguard of the Army begins to spin and the clouds start lowering above them.
"Everyone get out of the way!", Hiroko orders.
She, Fumihiro, and their forces move away from the area of the arcing energy forming.
A massive blast of lightning blasts forth from Astra a moment later, zapping a few of the slowest Army members who are paralyzed by the shock and can do little as the Keli’ser charge the scattered forces and claim some of them, some are saved by their comrades who throw themselves at the Keli’ser to force them back, but the ones overtook are bitten and dragged deeper into the horde to be turned. Some of the ones that were bitten earlier can be seen giving into their corruption and becoming Keli’ser.
As the Army refocuses, two funnel clouds lower, one behind the Army, creeping forward towards them, while another begins drifting towards the Lab.
Astra meanwhile creates a long chain of wind and lashes it around Fumihiro’s arm and pulls, creating a spear of ice and positions it to prepare to impale him.
Hiroko recalls the blade that was swung back to its handle" then swings her other sword at Fumihiro and it extends and wraps around his other arm to which she then pulls and the blade and Fumihiro disappear, but they both reappear behind behind Hiroko and the blade is recalled back to its sheath.
Astra's eyes furrow. "Is this all a commander can achieve? Such a title ill fits you. I was hoping for more."
She makes her whip disappear, and what appears to be an icy katana manifests on her hip. "Very well, I'll end your mewling."
Hiroko stabs her sword in her right hand into the ground and raises said hand, her fingers moving as if touching something then speaks.
"Wind, this is an 'Order, the wind is calm.'"
When she finishes her sentence the supercell and both tornados immediately dissipate.
"About time General.", Fumihiro playfully chides.
"I don't need your sass Lieutenant.", Hiroko responds as she removes her sword from the ground.
She then chants something barely audible and both her swords are encompassed in a purple light with same colored unknown language on the flat sides.
Astra merely places a hand on her hilt. "So you finally deign to dispense with your idle games."
"In a manner of speaking, Astra this an 'Order, Astra cannot fly.'", Hiroko says.
Upon saying that phrase Astra immediately starts falling to the ground, then Hiroko swings her swords in a scissor like motion and the blades disappear. They then reappear underneath Astra to where when she gets closer she'll be cut in half from the waist.
Astra flicks her wrist and her image cracks then shatters in thousands of shards of ice that scatter throughout, before circles of mirror like ice encircle the area.
From behind Fumihiro he hears Astra remark, "You'll have to do a bit better than that. A marked improvement regardless."
"Flattery will get you everywhere and nowhere.", Fumihiro responds.
He unleashes a fire spell that, not only surround him and Hiroko, but also unleashes a plume of flames towards where he hears Astra.
The flames strike the mirrors and appear to get sucked in, before suddenly a colossal explosion of fire and heat blasts Hiroko in the back. Soon after she hears a snicker from behind her.
"I'll admit, I hadn't expected you to have those kind of powers, but in the end, your limits are clear to me." The mirrors suddenly shine bright.
Hiroko let's out a slight hiss from the attack, then Fumihiro goes to her and gently puts his palm on her back. His hand emits a soft fuchsia glow that's then encompassed by the same purple light and runes on Hiroko's swords, but it spreads across his body as he heals Hiroko's injury and readies himself for whatever attack comes next.
"And what limits are you referring to?", Fumihiro asks.
Fumihiro feels a sharp stabbing sensation and deep cold radiating from his back and stomach, as the mirrors flash bright and then dim.
He gets no reply, but the mirrors begin to brighten again, and for a moment Hiroko thinks she sees a flicker of movement amongst some of the mirrors out of the corner of her eye.
Once the healing spell cast by Fumihiro had finished healing the damage on her back he then heals his wounds and removes the cold by warming himself. Hiroko then swings her swords, that are still enchanted, towards the mirrors that she saw movement and they extend towards their targets instead of disappearing like before.
The swords cut through the mirrors, which shatter, after which a notable silence and stillness follows. Though Fumihiro and Hiroko feel static electricity start to cling to their forms, the feeling in the air electric accompanied by a sharp metallic smell.
Fumihiro changes both his and Hiroko's size to small and immediately flies them both outside the ring of mirrors, with Hiroko enchanting Fumihiro's speed to make him fly faster.
==Unchaining Darkaria==
In the Assassination Headquarters, Orenii is overseeing the covert operations of Darkaria in the face of the crisis when he hears the quiet flapping of wings, and soon Alba, his Lieutenant arrives and kneels.
”I have compiled my report on the situation above ground. By your leave I will begin my debriefing.”
"Go ahead Lieutenant.", Orenii says.
She takes a breath and nods. "My first thought was to investigate the broader situation, particularly why the kingdom shook. Upon searching the skies, I saw four tremendous harpoons embedded in four corners of the isle. I cannot verify where the chains connecting them go, but I would suspect their source is on the object blocking the sun. I had trouble flying anywhere close to it, as the temperature dropped violently as I did so. I did see a rift above the kingdom, the chains continuing on the other end.
In short, our first major threat is actually these harpoons themselves. We should destroy them with all haste, as I believe we are being slowly drawn into wherever these monsters originated from."
She adjusts her glasses. "The second major threat comes from the monsters themselves. While a few commanding units have been brought in since the initial attack, I have noticed a few individual Keli'ser as they seem to be called who were converted and have been transformed into a higher caliber being than their peers, leaving me to believe that the enemy is choosing to refine select individuals into new commander units, rather than continue to bring their own in. In which case, we're going to face an upward battle to suppress the situation. We could potentially negate it, were it not for the problem of the now rampant horde and the individuals transforming their victims by hand being at large."
Alba's fists tighten. "Finally, with what little insight I could gleam, the Police Headquarters must be retaken. It would seem the district and the Headquarters itself is being reconstructed to the liking of the enemy into a fortress, using many of the civilians who have been turned. At the very top, a large portal is allowing supplies and elite members of their ranks to enter, while they seem to be conveying their choice of the crop of their victims into it. They seem to be conducting a steady stream of these transfers of our people, meaning before all this is over, we may lose many of our friends and family to wherever they hail from."
"Already a shit storm in such a short amount of time.", Akamaru remarks with growl.
"I say we prioritize the harpoons, seeing as what Lieutenant Alba says seems to be true.", Hisui says.
"I was looking forward to bashing some Keli'ser heads in.", Akamaru says.
"As always your tiny brain can't comprehend the situation at hand and what must be done.", Hisui remarks to Akamaru.
"Oh shut the hell up, you-!"
"Both of you stop, we can't be arguing at a time like this. Especially with the fate of our home at stake.", Orenii interferes.
They both back down at his order. Orenii then turns to Alba,
"Do you agree with Hisui's plan? Or is there anything else you'd like to add?", he asks.
Alba hesitates. “I agree that the harpoons are of grave importance. However I would state that the enemy has been creating more and more powerful commander units from our people, it could be very likely that anyone deployed to the harpoons will be intercepted if not right away, as they are attacking the harpoons. We will likely be in a battle no matter the theater of war.”
She furrows her eyes. “I must confess that I have had a nagging thought at the back of my head. ‘How did the enemy sneak into Darkaria if they were capable of such destruction? Then I thought about some recent events and wondered… what if we were betrayed?”
"It would seem that way, based on how things are going."
They hear a voice and turn to see Jun Midorigu, who's without his hood and mask revealing he's a Slime that has purple eyes with multiply signs as pupils and given himself curled green hair, tan skin, and yellow eyeshadow and lipstick.
There are two people next to him, one is Akamaru's lieutenant Murasaki Sancho who is a tall wood elf with a visible left brown eye, long purple hair done in a large braid with bangs that frame her face and cover her forehead and right eye, with two ahoges on top of her head, all done in a blunt cut. She's wearing the typical Assassination garb save for her heels being high platforms, making her about as tall as Orenii.
The other is Hisui's lieutenant Akemi Yoshimitsu, a young looking man shorter than Jun and has shoulder length dark brown hair with some covering his right eye, a visible left yellow eye with narrow slits, multiple piercings in both his ears and a pale complexion. He's also wearing the typical Assassination garb save for a paperboy cap he's wearing styled in Darkaria colors.
"Lieutenant Murasaki, Lieutenant Akemi, good to see your both well.", Orenii addresses them.
"Thank you Commander Orenii, your too kind.", Murasaki says playfully.
Akemi rolls his eyes at her before speaking, "We did as told to find the group Master Kohaku set up to watch over Naegi's family, when we got there Jun Midorigu was the only one of the four there. He explained to us what had happened that might be the reason the enemy were allowed entrance so easily."
"Go ahead and speak freely Jun.", Orenii says.
Jun takes a deep breath before doing so, "While we were watching as ordered I noticed something odd about Minato, my fellow graduate of this year, and after a while she disappeared. So while I maintained the post my other fellow graduates, Hotaru Konchú and Imizu Eboshikamereon, who were also watching decided to go look for her along with Tyto. After a while I saw a mountain of ice where they had went, then after that I saw a woman in icy blue come from the same direction and the eclipse started happening. I tried to get a hold of Hotaru, Imizu, and Tyto after that and when the lieutenants found me but I haven't had an answer. I fear the worst for the three, and I fear Minato might have something to do with this given her behavior."
Akamaru and Hisui look both unease and anger, for the idea of one of their own that their Master had treated as family, had betrayed their country and people. Orenii still seems calm but those who know him well enough will know he's feeling the same emotions as the former two for the same reason. He turns to Alba again,
"Does this align with some of the recent events you've been thinking about Lieutenant?", he asks.
Alba's eyes close. "...Aye, but I knew less of events than they. ...Tyto..." She clenches her fist for a moment, then relaxes and opens her eyes.
"What are your orders...?"
"The assassination unit shall go and dismantle the harpoons from Darkaria, while it will seem that we'll be facing our peers whether we like it or not the harpoons will be our main objective. In order to increase effectiveness I'd say it's best to divide and conquer, me and Lieutenant Alba's squad will take one, Commander Akamaru and Lieutenant Murasaki's squad also will take one, as well as Commander Hisui and Lieutenant Akemi's squad and once that's done we'll meet at the last harpoon and take it out together. Though I will admit I'm torn whether or not to divide our forces even further to allow some units to assist the Army from the shadows, what do you think so far Lieutenant Alba?", Orenii asks.
Alba turns her head to the side. "...I see no issue with your proposal. I will follow your orders. ...Though may I make a request?"
"What is it?", Orenii asks curiously.
"If it should become apparent that something happened to Tyto... please let me break the news to Phodi. Also, it may make her distracted if we share these concerns with her, so I would also request these concerns of Minato be left unsaid for the time being. Phodi can be standoffish, if not cold at times, but Tyto's wellbeing concerns her more than most would know on the face of it." Alba bows her head slightly while speaking.
Orenii looks to Akamaru, seeing as Phodi is part of his squad.
"Alright, I'll let you tell Phodi and we'll make the concerns of Minato unsaid for now.", Akamaru remarks.
"I also second the latter, it would make everyone else vindictive and less likely to concentrate on the mission if they hear one of our own had betrayed us.", Hisui says.
"Is that understood?", Orenii asks Akemi, Murasaki and Jun.
"Yes, sir.", Akemi responds.
"You got it, big boy.", Murasaki responds.
"Of course Commander, sir.", Jun responds.
"Then let's get everyone together and relay our plan.", Orenii orders.
They get all the squad members into the large main meeting room, once they've seated on their knees Orenii tells them the plan for the harpoons and assisting the Army against the invasion without mentioning anything about either Tyto or Minato.
"Reiterating what our Master has told us before missions, if you feel overwhelmed by the enemies in some form or another don't hesitate to retreat to catch your breath. Fight with all your might but don't resort to suicide attacks, and always maintain a cool levelheaded composure to draw out your strength in a stable and consistent fashion.", Orenii says.
"Yes, sir!", everyone responds.
Then he turns to his left and kneels before, what seems to be an empty corner, but then the shadows move as he speaks.
"I apologize for stepping on your toes in this situation, General Lieutenant Umemaru Watanuki."
At that Akamaru has a look of 'oh, shit' before following Orenii in suit of bowing along with Hisui and their lieutenants. The shadows then gather for a sec before peeling back revealing what seems to be a young woman wearing the Assassination outfit, along with the mask, and has two long strands of white hair peaking out from her hood. The other squad members turn their attention to her and bow their heads.
"It's alright Commander, all of you, I've still much to learn before I can make these kinds of decisions so quickly and effortlessly.", Umemaru says.
"Regardless your leniency and understanding is appreciated, your highness. Though, if I may be bold to ask, are you following along side us or do you have something else in mind?", Orenii asks.
Umemaru puts a finger under her chin to think for a few seconds before answering,
"I was wanting to be by my brother's side, though I'm sure there are others with him right now like Mr. Yami, and Mr. Kinkaku and Mr. Ginkaku, I still want to be there if he needs me. Plus he'll likely be relieved that I am well, so giving him peace of mind would also be something I'd like to assist him with.", she states.
Even though her eyes are obscured her gaze can be felt by Alba when Umemaru turns to her,
"This alright with you Lieutenant? I ask due to, like Master and everyone else, seeing you as our smartest mind within the unit.", Umemaru asks.
Alba tenses, “I am flattered you would think highly of me, your Highness. I do not share such confidence, but if you have such value in me then I shall strive to be worthy. …Everyone, even the strong, need assurance and firm ground to stand upon. I am sure our lord is no different, so if you believe that is your place in this fight, I would not oppose you.”
"Thank you, Lieutenant Alba.", Umemaru says with a smile that, can't be seen, but can be felt.
"I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say may your future endeavors be fruitful, your highness.", Orenii says.
"Likewise to everyone present, let's make sure to live and succeed to meet back here as we are.", Umemaru responds.
The shadows then wrap around her and pull back revealing she's disappeared. At that Akamaru let's out a breath he's been holding.
"Fuck! She's nicer than Tsubaki but still, somehow, is just as intense as him.", he says as they stand back up.
"So your mental fortitude is severely lacking, why am I not surprised?", Hisui remarks.
"Do you want me to knock you around before I knock around any of those damn leeches?!", Akamaru asks vehemently.
"I dare you to try, assuming you can even get a hold of me.", Hisui responds snidely.
The others have a look of 'here we go again' but as always Orenii steps in,
"You two need to focus, Master Kohaku wouldn't want either of you dying due to being distracted by thoughts of pettiness towards each other.", he says.
They both cease their bickering and apologize, then Orenii addresses everyone again.
"Our mission is clear, let us do our best for the sake of our home and families."
The lower ranked assassin's cheer, then everyone put on their masks and hood before leaving base. Each squad is being quick and stealthy in going through parts of the Kingdom that haven't been overrun in order to reach their designated target, some squad member's branching off in order to go where the fighting is and assist in the push back effort. As they're making their way to their target Orenii addresses Alba,
"Lieutenant, I know you don't often where your heart on your sleeves but if you need to talk or a shoulder to cry on don't hesitate to ask. This isn't a request as a Commander but as a friend and ally."
He hears a deep sigh after a moment. "I'm alright. There is nothing I can do aside from doing everything in my power to repay the debt I owe Darkaria. ...And to you."
"I'll count on you to do your best but my offer is still open if you decide to take it, I won't force you to do anything you don't want to.", Orenii replies.
"...I understand."
They continue on and make it out of the Kingdom walls and head towards their groups targeted harpoon, being quick but also aware of their surroundings for anyone attempting a sneak attack.
Alba looks at Orenii. "I will be taking to the air to survey the surrounds." She takes off into the skies, and as she watches the surroundings of the harpoon, she notices movement in the forest a distance away from their target...
"...Orenii. Do you remember the report we were given about Jun's group? ...I can't confirm from this distance but I think I saw one of them in the bushes a good couple miles off the course of our target." He hears her report in with the communicator.
"Please get closer, but maintain enough distance in case of an attack. Once confirmed check to see if they're able to fight, if not we'll contact the Darkaria Healing Squad to help get them out of here", Orenii replies.
Alba flies closer overhead, until she is able to make out Hotaru shambling along, with Imizu appearing to have turned and biting down on her shoulder, due to her injuries and his increased strength and tight grip on her body, she is only able to shamble on through force of will even as blood and soul are being feasted upon.
”…It’s Hotaru, she is alive but it looks like she is badly hurt and… and Imizu has been turned, he appears to be… to be devouring her.”
"Assist her in prying him off and get the restraint cuffs on him.", Orenii orders.
He turns to the group, "I want a few of you to go assist Lieutenant Alba, and one of you contact the Healing Squad. Everyone else we need to get started getting this harpoon off of Darkaria."
"Yes, sir!", they all respond.
Three members break from the group and go to where Alba is, one of them contacting the Healing Squad, and the rest head for the harpoon. Both still being quick and on high alert for anyone attempting to strike.
”Ahead of you.” Alba says as she dives at Imizu, when close enough she opens her mouth and a powerful blast of sound explodes forth as a high pitch ringing that causes him physical pain and forces him to loose his grip.
Hotaru quickly scrambles away from him while clutching the area he was biting. Twinkles, who was still on her back, helps get her further away from Imizu by flying despite its injuries.
"I'm sorry we failed Lieutenant Alba...", Hotaru says through gritted teeth.
Alba picks her up with her talons by the shoulders to avoid causing more harm to her damaged areas, and once far enough away, she lands and holds Hotaru in her wings.
"Don't apologize, these are monsters beyond our kin. No training, nor contingencies could prepare us for such a hell." Alba's hands shift back from her wings, and using strips of cloth, she cuts off as much of the bloodflow in Hotaru's shoulder as she can.
"Maybe this won't work at all, but I hope this will give you more time. I'm here. Our comrades will deal with Imizu. So please, collect your thoughts... ...and can you tell me what happened to you two?"
Her hands transform back into feathers and Alba gently embraces Hotaru in her warm wings, helping calm her down, her embrace almost motherly. Hotaru can hear her heartbeat slowly increase, and growing louder in her own head. Her shoulder burns with each passing moment, while her arm begins to throb, but not from blood flow, as though the contents within were expanding, growing tight against her skin, which begins to itch. Slowly, the skin around her shoulder turns snow white, while blotches of white begin forming on her arm's skin.
"We were watching over Naegi's family, me, Imizu, Jun, and...Minato...", Hotaru grits her teeth at the last name she said.
"Easy... take deep breaths. Was she... was she responsible for this? We have only been able to speculate... tell us what you know." Alba says gently.
"Yes, she was. She was behaving weird then all of the sudden disappeared and me and Imizu decided to go look for her with some assistance from Tyto. We found her out here but...she wasn't alone, there were two other women the most notable one was a really tall woman named Yelizveta. Me, Imizu, and Tyto decided to take out Minato with Tyto taking the initiative to grab Minato and drop her from high in the air but that failed as the second woman caught her mid fall, and...and then...", Hotaru starts hesitating with a look of guilt in her eyes.
"Tell me." Abla is firm, but understanding in her voice. The pressure in Hotaru's arm is now incredibly painful, and from her fingernails which begin to split in two, emerge smooth, light blue claws that cause her hands to bleed as they grow. From the pores of her now fully white arm begin to grow white stubs, tiny droplets of blood bead from them as they slowly push out. The mass of her arm has swelled to twice its normal size, and discolored veins of flesh now start forcing their way past the wrapping on her shoulder, one travels down her torso, and another along her neck and to the back of her head.
Hotaru~ A siren, alluring whisper in her mind calls to her soul. A painfully, achingly familiar voice that magnifies her guilt. Let go~ Let me give you wings that you can soar... Come... fly with us~
"Yelizveta...turned Tyto into a Keli'ser! Then she attacked both of us but only bit Imizu, she tried to then strangle me after I made her mad from attacking her. She stopped when the Eclipse happened and flew to the object that the chained harpoons are coming from!", Hotaru finishes.
With that, her arm rips apart, bestowing upon her a massive snow white wing with her icy blue claws adoring the top halfway through, the wrapping is stretched tightly, the edges starting to fray. Alba is deathly quiet.
"...So she is gone." Alba's hand feels Hotaru's plumage. "...And the proof is here. As soft as hers."
Isn't it beautiful? Let go, join me. We can be together again, all of us. You'll look beautiful with wings of your very own...
Alba produces something from a bag. "Looks like it's starting to progress through the rest of you. I hope I gave you enough time, Hotaru. Hopefully they can find a way to save you." She takes what looks like a blue pill and makes Hotaru swallow it, causing her to drift into deep slumber.
"...I cannot save you... but at the very least, if you must lose yourself, I'd rather you not suffer in the process." Alba strokes Hotaru's cheek, eyeing the slowly paleing flesh as the Healing Corps Flying Division arrives on scene.
"Her situation is dire, I was able to confine the infection area for a time, but I don't know how long she has left. Take these restraints as well, should she awaken and become violent." She hands the healers what appears to be potent restraining devices, and watches as they leave with Hotaru. Not long after, Orenii arrives on scene and Alba is silent at first.
"...I'm sorry about the delay. Hotaru told me as much as she could. Minato betrayed us after all, and Tyto..." Alba trails off.
"...Tyto is missing. We'll have to search for her at the end of this crisis. I tended to Hotaru as best as I could, but it's in the healer's hands now." Alba's voice since he arrived is still, almost toneless. Her body language offers no clues to her emotions, yet she has an incredibly stiff, focused aura.
"I see, once we've taken care of the harpoons I'll help you search for Tyto afterwards. So don't lose focus now Lieutenant Alba, I'm counting on you to assist us with all your strength.", Orenii says giving Alba a quick hug.
The moment he hugs her, the dam bursts the hug a barge that slammed through to let the river of emotions surge, and all strength leaves her as she collapses right in front of him, her mask clatters across the ground and she begins howling in anguish, sobbing uncontrollably, the force of her grief strikes Orenii like that of the grief of a mother after he had to bring their child home after they fell in the line of duty.
The squad members who had detained Imizu arrive with him in tow, flailing harpy wings in vain to escape. None had ever seen the Lieutenant like this.
Orenii kneels down and this time hugs her tightly and let's her cry as much as needs, while whispering words of comfort to her and rubbing her back. He looks at the squad members who had detained Imizu and are shocked at Alba's sudden release of emotions.
"Go ahead and take him to the headquarters, and put him in one of the interrogation cells and secure him tightly."
They all say 'Yes, sir!' before heading back, not before offering their condolences to Alba though.
As he holds her, it strikes him how light and fragile she feels. She continues to cry until her voice is raw, and all she can do is silently sob. At some point her head sinks into him, and he feels her breathing begin to settle, though she still shudders with sobs intermittently.
"Lieutenant?", Orenii says cautiously.
She slowly lifts her head to look at him, her glasses have fallen off and lay on his clothes, her face is wet with tears, her eyes red from how much she was crying.
"I'm sorry," She croaks weakly.
"No it's fine, best to get it out rather than hold it in. If you do then you won't perform at your best and be distracted, which could led to us losing you.", Orenii replies.
He then pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and gives it to Alba.
She fumbles through the process of wiping her face, but looks downward afterwards. "...I'm sorry, your clothes are soaked..." After a moment she manages a weak smile.
"Look at us, it won't be long before the rumor mill gets going." She tries to laugh but ends up coughing.
Orenii let's out an amused snort.
"Well I'll be honest I wouldn't be bothered by that."
She gives him a blank look of surprise, and after a few minutes she flushes faintly and then jolts to pick up her glasses, fumbling with them until she manages to put them on her head, and begins looking around unfocused as she attempts to locate her mask.
Orenii finds her mask and hands it to her,
"If you want we'll talk about it later, right now we have a kingdom to save."
She gingerly takes the mask and puts it over her face and quietly nods.
"Alright, let's get this harpoon off of Darkaria.", Orenii says running back to it.
===Limits of Allegance===
Orenii soon arrives at the clearing where the harpoon is lodged, though he had been hoping it to be a bit smaller than the total behemoth of steel it was, or that the monster guarding it wasn’t so achingly familiar. Alba isn’t present, but of course that was to plan.
"Master, you've fallen victim as well.", Orenii says with sadness in his voice.
The transformed Kohaku retorts with a smirk. "So what? I assume you're here to interfere then? So where's your pet? You were always so inseparable."
"'Never reveal anything to the enemy.', you taught us that. Also she's not a pet but an ally, has only a few moments being like this really warped your perception on how we treat and view each other?", Orenii asks.
Without warning Kohaku shoots at him and he is just barely able to dodge. “Despite how boring you are, you have always been good at not dying.” Kohaku gives him a demented look and shoots at him again.
”I mean, at least your pet knows-“ He wheels around and shoots at a blur of movement but misses.
”…When talking is pointless.” Kohaku’s eyes narrow at something.
"Your right, time for talk is over.", Orenii says.
Orenii punches the ground, resulting in it crumbling around Kohaku's feet and keeping him off balance.
Kohaku looks back at Orenii with a bored expression and shoots again, his feet standing on a shimmering platform. The bullet looks to be dead on target for his face, until a feather drifts in front of him and the bullet reflects back at Kohaku who starts to duck back when it explodes, sending him a short distance as he recovers and looks up towards Orenii with an intrigued look.
”That’s a new trick. Color me impressed… fuckers…” Kohaku’s eyes glow a bit.
Orenii gets into a fighting position, similar to a boxer, and braces himself for whatever Kohaku does next.
Kohaku points his gun square at Orenii, then ducks as a dark shape flies straight at him from behind, Alba's sharp talons narrowly miss his head. As he goes to shoot her, he is forced to jump back from a swing of one of her wings, which flash with the glint of metal. As he moves to recover, she blasts him with both her wings, a mix of wind and feather blades pushes and cuts him back. He manages to deflect most of them, but a few find their mark.
"Shit, your pet improved her counterplay. You know, this is boring..." Kohaku glares at Alba as she goes in for a mid air spin kick with her talons extended towards his face.
A sneer crawls across his face. "Wouldn't it be more fun if we had the plushy toy owl here? That was the only thing she was good for, amusement." Alba flinches, and in that moment he grabs her leg and flings her over his shoulder and slams her into the ground, she screams out in pain as several of her bones snap instantly from the impact.
Kohaku's sneer only grows more demented. "Oooooh? Did I touch a nerve? Did she get caught up on all of this? Haa haa ha... of course that idiot would be an early victim, she was always so dumb, mimicking her big sister rather than developing real talent."
With a loud screech of pain and rage, Alba howls so loud that even Orenii's ears start bleeding, Kohaku grasping his head as Alba forces herself onto her legs and violently kicks Kohaku straight in the face, sending him tumbling for a few moments before he rights himself and fires several rounds into her, even as she flies forward in a storm of feathers and gale after him.
Orenii sucker punches Kohaku right in the cheek, knocking the latter back way farther than Alba's kick did.
"Lieutenant Alba, I understand your anger but maintain your composure!", Orenii says with a bit of anger in his voice.
Kohaku flips in mid flight and lands on his feet, drawing his other gun and holds them both up, they start to glow an ominous red and he follows suit soon after. A hazy aura develops around him that twists into the shape of writhing serpents. He cackles, seemingly more amused than anything.
"She's spirited! I'll give her that much. But look at her, so fragile, and we've barely even begun to have any real fun. I don't know what you see in the avian, it's almost depressing seeing you dote on the egg layer. So weak, so pathetic. Of course, you were always the least remarkable one, so maybe you're both perfect for each other. A pathetic bird, a pathetic dragonian, and an even more pathetic failure of a sister bird!"
He sighs before a dead serious look eases onto his face. "Die now." He begins to spin, firing rapidly as hundreds of bullets begin to shoot off in all directions, even as crimson tears in the air form all around them, the bullets entering and exiting rapidly, spraying upon Orenii and Alba in a hailstorm of lead and fire. Alba takes several bullets in multiple places, particularly the wings, and crumples to the ground, blood beginning to pool rapidly from her.
Orenii, without hesitation, crouches over Alba to take a majority of the attacks that don't do much damage thanks to his tough scales.
"You wouldn't say, let alone think, such things Master! Has the man who did this to you twisted your views so much that you only look at things at face value, rather than deep inside like you always do with your eyes that see nothing but truth?!", Orenii angrily asks.
A dull look crosses Kohaku's face and he walks through a rift and appears next to Orenii and kicks him in the head and away from Alba. He fires a shot into her.
"Moron. Do you honestly hear yourself? Or did you never consider anything more than 'face value'? The only thing twisted is you people. All the nagging, brow beating, demanding. That I give up my vengance and focus on someting 'meaningful', and 'live my life', and 'think of your pathetic whore sister'." Kohaku scowls as he shoots her again and kicks Orenii as he tries to stop him.
"My heart is free, pure and simple. And all I want, is to kill all the annoying shits who chained me down to this meaningless rock pile, and the pieces of shit who defiled and tormented me. And I'm gonna start with her. And you'll watch. Then you can join her."
He aims at Alba's head, and pulls the trigger.
...
"...What the fuck is this...?" Kohaku looks haunted and confused, as Orenii walks into view, Alba flying overhead.
Alba blinks, as though waking up from a horrible nightmare. "Was that..."
Orenii's feet stop moving, just as he was about to speak with sorrow in his voice, the realization that he's already stood here before hits him like a ton of bricks.
Kohaku violently points his gun at Orenii with a vicious snarl. "What the fuck did you just do?!"
Above them, the clouds begin to rumble with thunder.
"I don't know, it wasn't me but...I have an odd feeling of deja vu.", Orenii replies.
"You need to stop this." A female voice speaks, and Kohaku wheels toward the source, to see an elven woman with pink hair, red eyes, and simple white dress walk into view.
Without hesitation, Kohaku shoots Paola in the head.
"Clingy bitch. Begone with you, Minato is the only one I care about now. The rest of you..." He glowers at Orenii and points his gun at him again.
Orenii walks into the field again, beside him is Paola, looking completely unfazed. She looks sad when she looks at Kohaku, who turns paler still than he was before.
"What the fuck is this? No, I shot you! You should be limp and cold in the dirt!" Kohaku looks as though he's becoming unnerved.
"You are not a monster Kohaku. I've seen who you really are. I know you struggled with the past, but despite your protestations, you cherished the people around you. This is their meddling. You know this." Paola pleas, only for Kohaku to shoot at her again.
"SHUT UP!"
Paola sighs, and the bullet stops halfway, then reverses course right back into Kohaku's gun.
"Of course, we knew that was not going to reach you. We still had to try, to see if there was any part of you we could reach. Even if you've become a Keli'ser, I... we..." Paola falls silent.
"...We will save you." Paola's voice changes to that of another woman's and lightning strikes Kohaku, causing him to stumble and stagger, trying to move but to little avail. Paola steps forward and a white veil covers her head, while gesturing forward, an hourglass appears over her right hand and a balance and scales appear on her left. With her steps, the ground cracks and shatters like glass.
Below them, there is dark blue night, shrouded with twinkling stars. Like a mirror, it reflects everyone's image. However, on the dark side, Kohaku as he was appears beneath the Keli'ser Kohaku, and beneath Paola appears the browned skinned, white haired woman, Ceade. Ceade reaches out her hand and constellations swirl around her before manifesting into a starry scythe. A halo of stars dances around her head, and cold, deathly blue flames dance at her feet.
Paola stops walking, as does Ceade.
"I preside over Time and the Balance." Paola intones, her eyes vacant.
"I preside over Death and Judgement." Ceade's voice rings out in a ghostly echo.
Paola gestures at Kohaku with her scales. "I am the Light of the Magister of Foresight."
Ceade swishes her scythe. "I am the Dark of the Magister of Foresight."
As Kohaku growls in frustration, Ceade looks to Alba and Orenii. "Go, the chain awaits. Fight, that you meet not your ends this night."
"You have my gratitude.", Orenii says.
Orenii, Alba, and the Squad immediately head for the chain. Once they get right in front of it, with some of them amazed at the size, Hisui's voice is heard through the ear piece in Orenii's ear.
"Orenii can you hear me?", Hisui asks.
"I can, glad to hear you Hisui. Is everything well on your end?", Orenii asks her.
"Yes, we've successfully detached our chain. The quickest way to do so is thermal shock, we were given that advice by...a stranger who had helped us but I'll explain later.", Hisui responds.
"I see, thank you Hisui, be safe coming here. Everyone who can use fire and heat use it to attack the long side of a chain link, and everyone who uses wind help speed it up!", Orenii commands the Squad.
The squad members then split into two groups to tackle one long side each, then begin applying fire, heat, and wind.
Kohaku angrily fires a hailstorm of bullets at the squad, but the scales in Paola's hand tilt and the scenery warps, and Paola appears below while Ceade emerges from below and swings her scythe, a wave of starry energy consumes his bullets. Kohaku charges through a rift and appears behind her to try and shoot her from behind, but the scale tilts again and Paola appears behind him and spin kicks him into the ground, spinning away from him, she readies herself as what appears to be arrows of lightning form around her.
As Kohaku moves to fire at her again, the bolts fly forward and explode in large balls of lightning that fry him, his guns sent flying from his person. With another tilt of the scales, Paola disappears and Ceade appears.
Meanwhile, in a foggy place, Kohaku wakes up, sleepy, as he hears his name being called.
"Kohaku... is this really what you want?" A familiar voice echoes to him, and he wants to remember, but his head is as clouded as the environment. He tries to remember what happened before he woke up, but only vagueness persists. Still, he feels a nagging from within... what does he want?
"I...I don't know...", he responds.
Paola smile’s faintly. “I figured. You have carried your burdens by yourself for so long, you mistakenly made them who you are. …Which is why those who only see the surface can never truly love you, nor help you attain the strength to fight for what matters.”
While a part of this resonates, another causes him to lash out violently, a wellspring of anger that is and yet isn’t his own.
”You must fight.” Paola intones.
"Fight...", Kohaku ponders.
Meanwhile the Keli'ser version of Kohaku angrily shoots at Ceade, who with a graceful motion cleaves all of his bullets with her scythe, and they turn to dust. 
"Tch... nothing is working? Then it's time I try..." Kohaku rushes Ceade and as he's about to punch suddenly flickers and disappears, appearing behind Ceade to strike at the back of her head.
His strike is stopped suddenly and he's visibly struggling against something unseen.
"Fucking bastard, who the hell do you think you are?!", Kohaku's voice rings out in his head.
Ceade’s scythe swings at him and as he looks into her eyes he sees flashes of his possible fates, death by gunshot, death by poison, death by hordes of fallen angels… and innumerable deaths at her hand.
”Wh-what is this? Wait, it really can’t be…”
”I am the oldest among Temperance’s chosen, created and brought forth into this world long before all the other Magisters. He bestowed to me two almighty divine gifts: Authority over Time and…” Ceade’s eyes narrow.
As the scythe makes contact with Kohaku’s skin, he chokes out the answer, the absolute truth: “You’re Death incarnate…!”
…
Orenii and Alba stand panting over a beaten Kohaku, the battle hard won as the chain finally shatters.
"Master...its finally done...!", Orenii breathes out.
Just then Kohaku is surrounded and binded by barriers, of very similar make to Kimahara's, but a familiar voice in their heads make Orenii realise it's not her.
"You all did good, though looking at this fight was a lot more painful than watching Kimahara's."
Orenii turns, with Alba following his gaze, and see a fluffy white ball with big red eyes, a long tail, and pale pink hands and feet.
Alba slowly blinks, crouching down and quietly pokes the odd puffball.
The puffball is a bit surprised but then let's out an amused chuckle,
"Curious one aren't you? Just like the orphanage kids.", the puffball says.
"Apologies Lord Koharu, I-!", Orenii starts but is interrupted by Koharu gently raising his hand to shush him.
"You all did what you had to do to survive and achieve success, plus you didn't know my kids were gonna be your enemies so you weren't exactly mentally prepared. Though I do thank you in not killing them when you had the chance to.", Koharu says.
Orenii let's out a sigh, "Thank you for your understanding."
Alba looks at Oreni confused. “Is this puffy thing talking?”
Looking on from the distance is Ceade, watching the scene until the barriers appear, and then vanishes.
"Yes young lady I am indeed talking, though it's mostly through telepathy.", Koharu says to Alba with amusement.
"Huh..." She pokes a few more times, but then suddenly gets a faint look as blood begins trickling from her mouth, and soon Oreni gets faint as well as pain radiates all over.
It doesn't take long for the Aerial Healing Corps members to start flying in to access injuries and damages amongst the squads, two inspect Orenii and Alba and flinch in surprise.
"These internal injuries... how are they alive right now?!" One gasps.
"Focus! We need to patch them up and get them urgent care someplace safe!" The other reprimands. They look at Koharu. "Is the situation with..." They glance toward Kohaku. "...Him under control? If so, by your leave we'll get these ones to safety."
"Yes, please get them someplace safe and treat them immediately. I am grateful to them, and I'd hate to tell bad news in regards to the young man's fate to his father.", Koharu responds.
The two perform some healing magic to stabilize them then lift them up and fly them elsewhere, leaving Koharu alone with Kohaku.
Koharu then summons Kimahara, still in barriers and unconscious, next to Kohaku and plops down on his little butt and scratches his chin in thought.
"<Now, what do I do with you two?>", Koharu mutters out loud but in a different language and a more booming voice. 
He feels a cold wind, as a voice says, “Ah, there they are. And you… amusing that you choose now to reveal yourself after the wages of your inaction are paid. Feeling a sense of responsibility are we?” 
"You say that as if they didn't know I was here, I've been here for a couple months but haven't interfered due to a personal request by them once they realized who I am. Though seeing as they're not in the right rational mindspace they used to be I'm afraid I had to step in, im surprised you didn't know considering all you probably had to do to modify them or did you not bother?", Koharu asks. 
Evoh chuckles as he steps out from the shadows. “You’re right, you’ve been around the last few months I am sure that makes up for everything now doesn’t it? What’s deep scarring emotional trauma compared to daddy coming to visit once in disguise?” 
Evoh smiles faintly. “You and Father really do deserve Fathers of the Eon awards, truly. So, going to ‘fix them’ and blissfully skulk into the shadows while you leave your children to the Mistress Fates?” 
Koharu pretends to think, "Well everything would be over much quicker if I decide to intervene here, even if I do hate the idea of stepping on their toes I feel they've been through enough trauma so I should be doing my duty as a father when necessary. Who knows I might assist the young king in retrieving his kidnapped Knight and cause some destruction there, even though fire would most likely not be effective I still have more elements and abilities up my sleeve.", he says with some amount of sarcasm and a mischievous smile at some parts. 
Evoh chuckles, but Koharu notices something for just a moment: Evoh's eyes turned pure black, his face tightened, and an overbearing sense of danger washes over him before the mask seems to slip back into place with no acknowledgement. 
Once he stops laughing however... 
"Spare me, what is one drop of water amidst a sprinkling going to accomplish?" Evoh's voice is strangely breezy and uncaring. "Now don't misunderstand, I'm sure for the average dragon you're a cut above the rest but if I was speaking to a dragon of eld... Well, I might actually take you just a bit more seriously. Or did it never occur to any of you that I don't really care if you 'reclaim your precious Darkaria' or some such? No?" 
Evoh steps forward and Koharu feels his cold presence through a chill down his spine, and cold breath on his neck, signifying Evoh was just behind him. 
"I could have ended this as soon as it all began, young dragon. I have many ways of claiming what I seek. But what else you may not have realized, is I already have what I want. If Darkaria's goal is to stop my plan, I'm afraid you played your roles to perfection, and all I need do is silently laugh as you scurry about here and there, none the wiser." 
There is another rush of wind and Evoh stands between the two barriers containing the twins. "If there's no other whimsical jokes up your sleeve, I'll be taking these back. The boy, flaws and all was never much on my radar but I more need him as a reward for my little hard worker, and the girl, ripe with potential and doomed from the start, is better off with me. No matter how many times you slap a bandaid over the gaping hole, it won't make it go away. This is the only path she can move forward, and become unbroken." 
Koharu thinks for a moment before looking at Evoh straight in eye, not at all bothered by what he's 'seeing', 
"Do you wanna bet that?", he asks. 
Evoh's eyebrow slowly raises. "Excuse me?" 
"You should know about why my daughter is mostly like this, it's her alternate personality that she developed to cope with the abuse she had to suffer through. What you probably see as potential I see more as a crutch, holding my daughter back from her true potential by relying on it and I'd honestly want it gone. Though seeing as your here, instead of another person I wanted, maybe you could take it.", Koharu says. 
"As for my son if all he is is nothing more than a prize for your 'little hard worker' then your just wasting his potential, plus there wouldn't be any merit in her getting him if you were the one to retrieve him in her stead. It maybe twenty-five years for me to be a father but regardless of how old their child gets a parent's duty is never truly finished, after all my actions in avoidance was with the safety of my children in mind due to the 'Dragon's Curse' that immediately took effect once they were conceived." 
"So let me ask again, do you wanna bet that?", Koharu asks. 
Evoh puts his palm to his face and starts cackling. “Imagine it! A parent making a bet with he who by all of elven lore is the devil himself! Aaaaaaaahhhhh… you’re funny. So l am hearing this right: you want to make a bet with me that your children can overcome their nature? That they can grow more than they have without my help?” 
"Pretty much, but I am making a bet not with a 'devil' based on lore but a man. I don't like biased tales told through exaggeration of the winners who wrote said tales.", Koharu responds. 
Evoh’s hand slowly droops from his face and a befuddled expression forms on the God of Chaos’s face. He maintains this look for a moment before he straightens coldly. 
”Just so we’re clear… I will give you the girl as she was but the deal will only apply to the boy if you somehow manage to restore him yourselves. I will give you a month to figure that out before I reclaim him. The persona of the girl shall remain with me, leaving the girl bereft of her crutch. Know that she will become a Keli’ser should she fail within two years to overcome her self. Also be aware that through this process, she will have the ability to return to my side and be reborn. You will not dissuade her from her choices, they are hers to make. Do you understand?” 
He reaches down towards Kimahara and breaks the barrier surrounding her, touching her icy cheek. 
”Awaken. We have business to attend to.” 
She makes a pained groan and stirs. 
"I understand, so long as you do the same.", Koharu responds. 
Evoh takes his hand and presents it to Koharu, scraping his palm with a nail producing blood. 
"Through mixing of blood shall the pact be signed and immortal spirit returned to flesh." He instructs as Kimahara groans in pain as her stomach seems to become liquid energy and ooze upward, the mass slowly wobbles into the shape of Kimahara as she was. 
"Quickly now, souls are not meant to exist in such states, certainly not without my finishing touches in the Forging process." He warns. 
Koharu scratches his palm to produce blood as well, then takes Evoh's offered hand with his small one. 
Evoh makes a gesture and the two samples begin to rise above Kimahara’s soul and mix. 
“Even these mundane forms have beauty of their own, in the monumental march of evolution taken to reach this stage. A union of billions, acting in unison selflessly to achieve a greater whole. A machine of chemistry, fed by primitive systems destined to fail and decay. So therein lies one’s beauty, the separation yet oneness of self with creation. So go forth and rejoin the cycle and see it for its beauty and ugliness, and come to know folly in rejecting the eternal.” 
Evoh’s words at a glance seem to lack meaning but every word is in truth an instruction, reforming sinew and life until Kimahara is reformed, though the process seems to have changed her slightly, as a faint glow radiates off her, and her ears slant in a faint taper. 
He makes a gesture, and an icy chain forms at her chest into his hand, and he yanks her up and holds onto her. 
"With but a word, my chains can bind and enforce the bargain. Remember, no funny business. I will be watching." Evoh says sternly, before pushing her toward Koharu and turning his attention to her Keli'ser other self, snapping his fingers and causing her to vanish. 
"I will have to reforge that one later." He then scowls in annoyance as he detects something. "Grand, they made a move. I was rather hoping they'd be smarter than that, but it seems mortals are deadset on proving me wrong." A few moments later, his expression faintly darkens. 
"...And it seems I'll have very little motive to restrain myself either." Evoh then dissolves into shadow, leaving Koharu alone. 
===Dragonsbane===
At the top of the staircase, in front of the Darkaria Palace, overseeing the chaos happening is Tsubaki, now wearing his battle suit and holding a katana with a crescent moon shaped guard, Yami, Inumuta, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, and Sayaka with a few members of the Battle Butler's and Maids. A shadow then creeps up the steps and out from it comes Umemaru, the sight of her let's Tsubaki give out a sigh of relief.
"It's good to see your well, little sister.", he says.
"Same to you big brother.", Umemaru responds.
"I hate to interrupt, what I assume is a touching reunion, but could you give me an update on what the Assassination Squad is doing?", Inumuta, who's sitting on the top step with a big screen in front of him, asks her.
"Right, the bulk of the Squad is right now taking care of those harpoons. According to Lieutenant Alba they're pulling us closer to the object that launched them at us, I'm assuming from what she explained we're being pulled into another dimension or the like.", Umemaru replies.
"The domain if the Keli'ser and their creator I presume, did she say anything noticeable about it?", Inumuta asks.
"That it's blistering cold when she got close as she could before she had to retreat, don't know how cold though I'd imagine if we aren't well prepared we might freeze to death if we delay getting the harpoons out.", Umemaru states.
"Anything else?", Tsubaki asks.
She than thinks for a moment before snapping her fingers,
"Actually I just realized something, Miss Husani wasn't at the meeting.", she states.
Tsubaki let's out a sigh,
"She's probably not paid attention at all to the surrounding chaos. I hate to send you off just as you came but could you relay a message to her for me to get her in gear?", he asks Umemaru.
"Of course, I don't mind.", Umemaru says.
"Just be careful to not go through the back of the property or else.", Yami says teasingly.
Umemaru rolls her eyes,
"I'll be careful Uncle Yami, don't worry.", she says before fading into shadows and leaving.
Umemaru sneaks through the streets, making her way to Husani's residence while also keeping her guard up in case someone tries to attack her.
Eventually, she arrives at Husani's residence a good deal outside of the city, a seemingly modest stretch of land and simple but lovely home, but Umemaru knew that elsewhere were various facilities for Husani's various activities. Of course, the over zealous and industrious woman had built all of this by hand, not even allowing any help. As is her wont.
As Umemaru approaches by the back of the property, she spies the pool and most importantly the woman sleeping next to it in a towel, resting on a chair.
As she observes, she realizes the woman, Husani, is groggily waking up. A woman with brown skin and long black and gold wavy and curly hair, and possessed of both womanly figure and athletic fitness, one wouldn't immediately take her for an unflinching assassin. Yet even as she starts rubbing her sleep filled lavender - pink eyes, and cursing her towel under her breath as she prevents it from slipping from over her bosom, Husani clearly has already taken notice of her as she sits up in her chair.
There is a mild grunt before Husani lowers her hand from her face, letting Umemaru see the tribal tattoo emblazoned on the woman's forehead, as well as the singular long scar just below her eye and trailing down the side of her head.
"I take it you are not here for an idle social call, nor to join me in washing the sweat from a hard day's work away, Umu." Husani grants Umemaru a characteristic sultry smile. She glances up at the sky.
"And I suspect it rather has to do with the earthquake that roused me and that piss ugly sky."
"Yes, we're being invaded by the creatures called Keli'ser and their creator. We of the Assassination Squad have taken upon ourselves the duty of removing the harpoons that caused the earthquake, we need your assistance with my brother wanting me to rely 'The White Serpent must rear it's fangs.'.", Umemaru replies.
The smile dampens then fades completely as Husani hears Umemaru's last statement. She gets a far away look in her eyes for a spell, then she silently looks at Umemaru and gets up, approaching the fence and resting herself up against it.
"You are certain, then? ...Fine, but you can relay to him that the Serpent will demand something in return later, the recompense of her choosing." Husani intones with an uncharacteristically distant tone that Umemaru hadn't heard in many years.
Husani looks at her house. "Leave me then, I have to prepare. ...In more than one way."
Umemaru nods before returning to her shadow and going back to the city.
Umemaru returns to the front of castle, where everyone is still at, and gives Tsubaki her report,
"Husani is up and getting prepared, she told me 'the Serpent will demand a recompense of her choosing later.'."
"Still going on with her insincere act.", Tsubaki remarks amusingly.
"Well she is stubborn, so no surprise.", Yami says.
"No, though I still trust her and her strength. After all I don't offer just anyone the honor of becoming a Knight, and I especially don't throw it around lightly.", Tsubaki states.
...
Husani walks inside, and quietly dresses herself in simple clothes, slowly making her way deeper in the building. She remains lost in thought, unconsciously tracing the long scar on her face with her fingers. It had been so long. So very long ago that she last acted as the White Serpent. Before she was ever an enforcer for the Assassination Squad, before her tenure as a Knight, there was the civil war. A desperate game of thrones to which she held no stake, yet striking from shadow with the cold venom of a viper did she fight regardless.
Husani closes her eyes as she stands before a section of wall and places her hand on it. Aye, if things weren't in dire circumstances, Tsubaki would never have bid her to reopen those dusty pages of her past. To honor the pact they made when her kin's blood stained the earth and Tsubaki's blade. Husani tightens her grip on the wall and slides it open with force, revealing the concealed battle gear and armaments within.
Already the old blood stirs, and soon it will rage once more. Husani begins to strap herself into the gear, attaching her weapons to her hips, and pauses as she cradles the mask.
She weakly smiles. "I'm such a pathetic woman." She places the mask over her face, and straps the feathered headpiece to its side, and then quietly begins making her way out of her property, guided by the stirring Fighter's Spirit within, and riding the currents of the land.
----Hisui and her gathered squad members regroup after another failed attempt, many wounded and exhausted. Hisui herself has not escaped unscathed. She had known that Kimahara was strong before, but her strength now was outright fiendish. Between her barriers and her sword play, they struggle to even approach her.
As they prepare their next move, they notice Kimahara's listless and bored demeanor change subtly, as though sensing something and looking about. An assassin tries to bridge the gap in that moment, but without looking Kimahara's sword flashes, yet is blocked by a thrown daggar whose owner remains unseen. The assassin scrambles for cover, and Kimahara clearly becomes guarded after failing to pinpoint the location of the daggar's owner.
Without warning, a white blur of movement flashes across the battlefield, and Kimahara reflexively attempts to raise a barrier, but what appears to be an energy viper whips around behind it and bites her in the shoulder and flings her across the battlefield, causing her to smash into the treeline. The assassins look upon the newly arrived combatant, confused, for she wears battle armor in pure white, wielding claw armaments in her hands, while her identity is concealed by a white viper's mask and feathered headpiece. She appears to be cloaked in a white energy emitting from her body, which forms twin energy vipers that twist and coil as they follow her movements. The woman shifts her head towards Hisui.
"Form ranks around me. Half our firepower will go to entertaining our dragoness, the other will attack the chain. You, with me. You look tired, I will give you some of my energy, Hisui." Her voice is familiar, surprisingly so, yet never had Hisui known the owner of the voice to carry herself with such authority or wield such strength.
Hisui let's out an amused snort,
"So the legendary White Viper makes her appearance, in all honesty it's quit an honor. Do as she says everyone!", Hisui orders.
The group follows the instructions said by Husani, half forming flanks, the other half with Akemi staying back and waiting for their chance to get passed. Hisui then goes up to Husani to receive the energy she offered.
"Do not be mistaken, a former butcher does not stop being a butcher. I but answer the call of the man who spared my life to use my talents in recompense. There is nothing to be honored about in my presence. But those two..." Husani looks over towards Kimahara.
"...Honor them instead. Who they once were, anyway." Husani strikes Hisui with an open palm and keeps her hand there as energy swirls down her arm and fills Hisui, the gash in Hisui's side begins to stich together and close, and soon Hisui feels better than she did when she first woke that morning, as though brimming with immense energy.
"That aura will restore your health over time, so if you are injured it will take the brunt for you. However it won't stop more serious injuries like an arm being cut off, so don't get careless."
Kimahara gets to her feet and snarls. "...The first worthy opponent, and it's a meager human. This hovel really is beneath me. Hurry up and die that I might return to my master's side."
Husani shifts her stance substantially, causing Kimahara to take her sword out in a defensive position. The color of the aura around her becomes gold.
"We're dealing with Big Sis's inner personality, I suppose the enemy drew it out and twisted it to fit his image when he was transforming her.", Hisui says.
"Mm. The twins always had their baggage, but I hoped surpassing their mentor would push them beyond it."
Without warning, Kimahara swings her sword down on Husani's head. "As if a worthless primate wench could mentor me!"
Kimahara's eyes widen with shock as Husani catches her blade between her palms and with blinding speed spin kicks Kimahara a notable distance back. She quickly smiles as she feels the impact site.
"That hurt less than the first one. You'll have to do more than that. But I will commend you on catching a Queen's sword. Maybe 'worthless' was too harsh a word. Hmm. Perhaps I'll have a taste of you, if you entertain me..." Kimahara chuckles, and a dome forms around her.
"But that will be the last time you touch me."
Husani looks at Hisui. "The chain. I will handle her."
"Do something about her arrogance while your at it, it's completely unwarranted and uncharacteristic.", Hisui says.
Hisui gives a nod to the Squad and they all go to the harpoon, while giving Kimahara and Husani a wide berth and keeping their guard up for any attack the former tries to throw.
Kimahara immediately swings her sword and red lines tear through the ground forming several barriers blocking the way to the chain. "As if."
She looks toward Husani, who has crouched low to the ground. "It's useless. I can see quite clearly you lack the power to defeat a Queen."
Husani charges and then flickers, appearing next to Kimahara in an instant and fist slamming into the barrier in an instant just in front of Kimahara's face, who just scoffs.
Husani then shifts stances again, this time covered in a red aura, before striking with an open palmed thrust with great force, the strike faintly cracking the barrier.
"Heh, amusing." With a flick of her hand Husani is blown back a substancial distance by a gale of wind, and as she rights herself and shifts back into the stance that comes with a gold glow, Kimahara unleashes a slash that knocks her back down, opening a small gash on her chest and cutting off a portion of Husani's mask, revealing her left eye.
Husani huffs as she clutches the wound, aura flickering and then fading. Husani then appears to muster her strength and force herself to stand, but it's clear she is in pain.
"Amusing, but like I said, you lack the power to defeat me. Just that short exchange snuffed out most of the feeble potential you had to spare." Kimahara brandishes her sword in preperation to swing again.
"I'll put you out of your misery, maybe sup on your essence to replenish myself, then I shall attend to my unruly guests who don't know when to quit."
And that's when Husani begins chuckling.
"It's been so long... since my blood last sung for joy." Waves of heat suddenly start radiating off Husani's body and currents of wind warp around her. "Too long, in fact. I was getting worried that I'd never have a true contest again."
"...Clearly you are a glutton for punishment. Perhaps I will skip the feast and simply make sure you stop annoying me." Kimahara intones, face tightening in annoyance.
Kimahara lunges forward, but to her surprise, Husani clears the distance first, shrouded in gold light that bends in the shape of a panther.
”Even still, you can’t-“ In mid flight Husani changes stance to the red aura, which takes the form of a mighty lion and roars, shattering the barriers blocking the squad and cracking Kimahara’s barrier, right as Husani’s fist slams into the barrier and punches a hole through it and slamming into her cheek and sends her tumbling across the ground.
As they watch, the wound on Husani’s chest closes and disappears.
”Who is she??” A squad member asks aloud.
"Husani Levins, once an enemy being part of a barbaric tribe, then the previous leader of the Assassination Squad and 5th Darkaria Knight making her our Masters predecessor. So it's no wonder she's able to stand against Big Sis, and now let's all take advantage of the opening she has given us!", Hisui states.
The whole squad continues running to the harpoon, with Hisui speeding them up this time with wind magic to get there faster and avoid being intercepted again.
"Couldn't do this before?", Akemi remarks.
"Could've, however I wanted to save as much energy as I could to severe the chain more quickly but I'm honestly annoyed at Big Sis right now and rather not deal with her.", Hisui responds.
Husani shifts stances and beckons at Kimahara, who rights herself and in a blur of movement, attacks Husani, who flashes multiple colors, flowing through several stances at blinding speed and deflecting Kimahara’s sword strikes. Without warning, Husani smacks Kimahara’s sword from her hand and then spin kicks her back several feet, but she doesn’t fall down this time.
She charges again, and this time as she swings, Husani intercepts her only for Kimahara’s image to disappear and she appears behind Husani who tenses as a gash appears in her side.
”Your time magic, I take it. An improvement, it couldn’t throw me off before. If I don’t take care of your little basket of tricks I will be in trouble.” Husani doesn’t seem bothered as her wound closes rapidly.
”You won’t win. You are still human, you will tire quite soon unless I am mistaken.”
Husani chuckles. “Tell me, what was the first rule I taught my students?”
Kimahara narrows her eyes and prepares to strike again.
Hisui's squad go across the top of the harpoon and make it to the chain, they all look at it amazement.
"The chain links are huge!", one of them says.
"We're only focusing on one right?", another says.
"Of course we are, unless you want to remove all the chains then by all means speak up.", Hisui snidely remarks.
No one says anything so Hisui creates a whirling wind sphere on one long side of the chain link attached to the harpoon and start slashing at one point. Akemi then launches from his palms spheres of blood at  the other long side of the chain link, and he changes its properties to become acidic and it starts melting the area the wind is still slashing.
The effort proves incredibly slow, all but confirming the notion that the metal is unnatural, but it seems better than nothing.
Husani regards their efforts. "Hmm. They won't get far like that. I'd help them but..." She turns her head and deflects a strike from Kimahara, only for another cut to appear on her opposite side.
"That stings."
Kimahara shrouds herself in a firey aura and prepares to charge again. "I have your measure, that aura of yours dampens blows, but I'll cut straight through it... and take off that ugly head of yours."
Husani chuckles. "You didn't answer me. How uncouth."
Kimahara scowls. "As if I would take your rambling seriously. I've never known you. My only mentor is Lord Evoh."
Husani sighs. "Figured it was something like this, but as much as he's given you, he's taken plenty more. Well, I suppose I can offer you the lesson again, but this time there is no Tsubaki to foot the bill for you. And my prices don't come cheap."
Kimahara charges with explosive force, strength enough to shatter the ground as she flies, and Husani looks as though she won't react in time as Kimahara's sword comes right up to her forehead... ...and stops.
"I... What... What is this? My body, it... won't move...?" Kimahara appears to be trying to land the killing blow, but aside from faint muscle spasms, she doesn't seem able to move.
Husani begins laughing. "I'm surprised you didn't notice your degrading performance and how you were consuming more and more energy. Or that I have been patiently casing your abilities."
"...Another one of your pathetic tricks. This is... nothing! Grr...! Why can't I... move?!"
"Because of one thing. The first rule of battle, for any assassin... The first blow decides the battle. The first to strike is victorious." Husani's face is obscured, but her voice conveys the fact she is beaming with delight.
"I gave you a wonderful dose of my poison."
Kimahara scoffs. "So that's it. You must forget who you're dealing with." She begins to use her healing, but it sputters out almost immediately. "...No effect...? But why? When? How can your poison affect this body...?! It was made by Lord Evoh, such underhanded tactics could never..."
Husani's exposed eye twinkles with delight. "The first blow decides the battle."
Kimahara's eyes widen as she recalls the white snake aura that bit her in Husani's opening attack. "...You... you planned this. You... snake!!!"
Husani slams her fist with full force into Kimahara's stomach, punching a hole straight through her and sending her to the ground. "There was a reason my tribe bestowed me the title of 'White Viper', love. And that was no ordinary poison. I realized early on my journey to this field of battle what you creatures are, beings of energy. Of course no simple poison could affect you, bloodless and fleshless as you are. But a venom of energy, now that gets so much more entertaining..." Husani chuckles as she begins walking toward Kimahara.
The group, save for Hisui and Akemi who are concentrating, look at the ongoing fight in amazement.
"W-whoa, that lady is getting the upper hand on Big Sis.", one of them says.
"Well as the Commander said she was the 5th Darkaria Knight before our Master, so it's no wonder.", another remarks.
"Then I have a feeling we shouldn't get on her bad side.", another states.
While their murmuring Hisui and Akemi are still focused on the chain link.
"This metal is as tough as Darkarianite.", Akemi remarks.
"Yes it is, so I'll have to speed things up.", Hisui says.
She does a quick hand gesture and they're both surrounded by a soft, light green aura that radiates off of them like a breeze. Both of their attacks then increase, speeding up the process of breaking the chain.
Kimahara clutches her stomach as it slowly mends itself. Husani continues to approach, but stops to look at the squad whispering.
"Oi, help your commanding officers. As paltry as your abilities may be, you can still help instead of gossiping like academy students. Oh, and tell them what they're doing is going to take too long. Consider damaging it with thermal shock."
Husani grabs and deflects a punch from Kimahara without looking.
"Honestly. You're making this fun, lassy." Husani turns to face her, and both become shrouded in dense energy auras. "Since you made it this far, I suppose it's time to debut the technique I developed after fighting your brother!"
Kimahara scowls and her aura transforms into a winding serpent dragon. "Don't you dare mention him! All he's ever wanted was to pursue his vengeance! Everything else is second to him!"
Husani makes a series of gestures and shifts stances, her foot dragging along the dirt in an arc in front of her, and then she stomps the ground, her white aura transforms first into twin snakes, and then splits into black and white energy, forming twin dragons that coil around her and their heads resting upon her fists.
"They say you are called Darkaria's White Blade Dragon. But I say... there can only be one dragon left standing." The two tense, Husani tosses her mask aside and grins, while Kimahara's scowl deeps into a ferocious snarl, the aura dragons growl at each other.
"Commander and Lieutenant! The lady said use thermal shock!", one of the squad members say to them.
At that Hisui mixes her wind with fire, making the sphere give off intense heat. Akemi then raises the temperature of his blood on the chain, making blood start to boil. Then the rest of the squad start helping the two heat up the areas with their own magic.
The chain hisses with heat and creaks ominously. Meanwhile Husani and Kimahara clash, trading multiple blows in mere moments. After a while Husani leaps up in the air and Kimahara lunges at her with the intent to land a killing blow, but to her surprise Husani vaults over her and shoves her behind her, Kimahara’s strike ends up flying into the chain and shattering it, the still impressive links remaining attached to the harpoon shift and creak, starting to topple in the direction of the group.
"Everyone get back!", Hisui orders.
At her command the whole group run away from the direction of which the chain is falling.
Hisui barely has time to relax as Kimahara roars in rage and charges Hisui and is just about to clasp her hand around her throat when Husani brings her knee down upon Kimahara’s head with such force that the impact with the ground creates a huge crater. Kimahara remains motionless as Husani stumbles back, panting and sweating as her aura flickers and fades.
”Bind… bind her quickly… before she gets up again.” With that Husani crumples to her knees in exhaustion.
Some squad members quickly put the cuffs on Kimahara, binding her hands and feet together, and activate the magic sealing to prevent from using any. Hisui goes up to Husani and offers her a hand,
"Thank you, if it weren't for you who knows how long it would've taken us to get to it or if at all."
Husani remains motionless while she catches her breath and after a few moments, takes her hand. After righting herself, she looks at Kimahara.
” I suspect that she will food frenzy soon. She will have exhausted her energy and when they do that, they begin to violently desire to feed. Get her somewhere she can’t break out of that is secure before that happens. I am going to report back and recover. I have not fought like that in years, it will take a while to restore my endurance.”
She begins to walk off but stops to look back at Hisui and the others.
“None of you saw Husani Levins, but a complete stranger assisted you, yes? I would hate to have the endless buzz of attention again so soon after my retirement from the Knights. And it would be unfortunate if someone declined to listen to my most sensible plea, why, I could imagine that someone like that would, I don’t know, wake up one evening to find themselves hanging by their drawers on the highest point of the castle…”
They all quickly nod their heads in agreement at her request. Before they do anything with Kimahara she's already inside a cube shaped barrier, similar to hers, that is red in color.
"You can leave the securing part to me.", a voice resonates in their heads.
The squad get ready to fight again but are stopped by Hisui raising a hand, they then see a small dog sized white puffball with large red eyes, a long light pink tail with three white puffs and small light pink hands and feet that it's walking on.
"Lord Kohara, while it is a pleasure to see you I wonder why you've strayed from the orphanage.", Hisui says.
"Well I sensed my kids disappear, then reappear but different than they were before. So I checked and saw what they had become and to say I was angry would be an understatement, not at them mind you.", Kohara says.
"Why didn't you help us earlier?", Akemi says.
"I had faith you'd succeed without me, thanks in most to this 'stranger'.", Kohara knowingly winks at Husani.
"Not only that while I am indebted to young Tsubaki, and by extension Darkaria, for saving my kids and giving them a home I'm afraid this is your battle and I don't like interfering and taking glory from someone else's fights.", he finishes.
Husani says nothing but picks up her mask and fixes it before putting it back on and walking off. An assassin leans over to another and whispers, “Is it just me or is she even hotter when she is threatening us? My… my hearts pounding~”
"You serious? She terrifies me!", the other one responds in a whisper.
"Alright everyone, let's go meet up with Orenii's group and see if they need any assistance.", Hisui says.
"Yes, ma'am!"
The group then races to the harpoon across from theirs. Kohara looks at Kimahara with a bit of regret before lifting the barrier she is in, making it float with her still inside, and follows the group while keeping his distance with the barrier right beside him.
===Duality===
Akamaru felt as though he was in a deep dream, filled with the sensation of softness. He could feel faint noises that were muffled, but they were far away, and he wanted to melt away into the warmth and softness. Suddenly in the distance approached a figure covered in the fog, but he could scarcely make them out. As they approached, what followed was an event so traumatic that he would never tell a soul, and never ever never to Hisui, and woke up with a scream of embarrassment and panic.
And now that he was up, he felt bad, really bad, as though he was on the verge of throwing up, and his body aches immensely. Still, his seat was really cushioned, warm and soft. Wait…
His head whips to look back only to get a face full of the woman’s chest he was laying against and he falls back away from her in alarm. Sitting before him, cackling at his reaction is a beauteous woman with noticeable curves partially wearing a feathered robe while her front is only covered by liberally concealing clothing that is fur lined. Her pink-brown eyes are slitted, twinkling in amusement as she brushes her light brown hair back a bit.
”I was getting concerned that those impish girls had claimed you like many of your men. Though it’s just as well you woke up, my charm magic was starting to get too intense.” Judging by the horns starting to grow from her head and the long thin tail swishing from behind her… she must be at least partially a demon.
Akamaru at first was gonna snap but then took a deep breath and appraise the woman, while avoid in looking at her body, before speaking.
"You ain't one of them, but you don't wear any of our colors either. So how can I trust you?", he says with obvious skepticism.
Within moments, her face is in his, eyes glowing and glaring as she stares him down.
"Do you really have the luxury to play this game of fools, little boy?" Her voice seems to have shifted from a light and airy combo of American and French accents, to more of a heavier German or even Russian accent in her anger.
"Or is the lives of your men expendable in the face of your petty misgivings?" She gestures to the wider battlefield, and Akamaru starts as the vaguely human creatures groveling before two twin Keli'sers seem to have the remnants of the Assassination Squad laying upon their forms in tatters. Though, these creatures seem less than even Keli'ser... they groan and moan like mindless thralls begging for their masters to acknowledge their pitiful existences.
There remain members of the Squad, but the vast majority appear to be under the spell of the stranger.
"If I did not put them under my spell, they would have flocked to their masters and been reduced to that pitiful state. Be grateful I even bothered to save them, let alone you." She stands over him and gives him an annoyed look.
"You are in my debt, and since you owe me, I cannot let you die. So, I will dispense with these two fiends."
At that moment, Rene catches up with Magnolin and overhears her talking and cannot help but muse with great amusement at the fact someone made her annoyed enough to slip back into her original accent.
The shadowed magician, stifling a laugh, walks into the view of the pair of delinquents. "Mags, are you going to torture us all day? Please explain why you've enthralled all of these warriors." He looks at the man, then at Magnolin. "They seem even weaker than your usual caliber of man..."
Magnolin doesn't turn around as she speaks. "Nay, I'm just that strong. You are only not joining their ranks because we gave you a charm to ward off the influence of most succubi, Rene. And simply, so that my charm magic will nullify the enthrallment magic currently flooding the area from those... creatures." She gestures at the Twin Keli'ser that are scowling at them.
"Since you are here, since I know you probably have a few talismans or so in your person at all times for this sort of thing, do me a favor and hand some out to them. If I keep 'protecting' them like this, my demon blood will go feral."
Rene notes that her skin is becoming tanner and her horns are completely noticable and growing, her eyes seem pinker and pinker by the moment, already slitted. He hadn't considered it, but maybe Magnolin had been holding off taming her demon blood this month? Her eyes were pinker than he normally saw them...
He sighs. "I can spare seven talismans. If that is not enough, kill the rest. Losing you over something so simple is not worthwhile." He places his raven's mask over his eyes - looking for the specificity of the magic that binds the affected people - then gets to work.
Akamaru growls and pulls off his mask before slamming it to the ground,
"Fine, if your so desperate to help then do whatever the fuck you want."
Fire then envelopes him before he flies full speed to the chain, with fire underneath his feet to propulse him faster.
"I think not."
"We think not."
The Twins intone and the earth heaves and quakes as a massive ice wall erupts forth from the ground and rises just in time for Akamaru to slam into it. Almost immediately the horde of thralls scream an earsplitting cacophony and bear down upon the wall and Akamaru, all while Magnolin sighs and looks at Rene.
"One of those sort." She rolls her eyes and swishes her hand, and a dark staff with a gleaming jewel in its twisting top piece manifests. She points it toward the Twins and gleaming energy lights up within it, a vortex of flame and light that intensifies as around her stone slabs marked with runes begin to dance around her. Rene knows this as a hybrid of Witchcraft and Demonic spellcasting, though with the number of runes and the specific arrangement, it's as if she was invoking a Demonic Summoning... and judging by the power within the Tomestones... this is gonna be a big one.
He sighs. "When you get angry, you tend to go too far..." Rene changes his calculations for the talismans needed from seven to fourteen, then continues creating them.
Slowly becoming visible a white sticky substance is attached to Akamaru's back, it appears stretched out and is pulling on him. The other end is attached to Murasaki's hand, who's getting up and rubs her eyes with her free hand and let's out groan.
"Ugh, that so was the nastiest experience I've ever had. So much thanks stranger, let me deal with our firecracker of a Commander.", Murasaki says.
She then has the white sticky substance summoned around her heels and and on the ground, then as harshly as she can muster yanks the white substance a few times before Akamaru is free enough to be slingshot back to Murasaki. He's safely caught by her, with her bracing herself and being supported by the white substance preventing her from sliding or thrown back.
Akamaru still has the same angry look on his face but it starts to turn to flustered when he moves his head and realizes it's against Murasaki's large bust, and let's out a resigned sigh as he slightly relaxes into her grasp of him with her arms wrapped around his waist.
"Hmmph. Bound in ironclad darkness, in the bowels of the deepest pit most abominable, I beseech you, claw forth and decimate my foes, take unto you this bounty of power and depravity, and heed my command! Come, Abandoned One, Orphan!" Magnolin incants, and immediately a pulse of power shakes the whole of Darkaria as something shifts in the very fabric of creation.
Soon the very air begins trembling and the ground cracks under Magnolin's feet, until holes tear open and many iron chains begin to spew forth and writhe into large hoops, in the midst of which begins to flare flaming masses of energy that give off the feeling of something unimaginably evil and dark manifesting. Even to Rene, it becomes clear that something is manifesting that if it is not one of the Princes of Hell, then whatever power they possess must surely be limitless.
"Very well. I have heard your summons, unto you I shall come and feast of your bounty. So Sayeth Orphan, the Abandoned One." A great and terrible voice booms. Upon hearing the voice, the Twins show deep and unrestrained fear and snarl.
"Attack them fools!"
"Yes, attack them!" The twins screech in their terror, and the horde of thralls charges.
Magnolin shudders as a reddish energy begins oozing out of her and into the rings of chains, her skin cracking open where it manifests. She maintains her ritual, and as forms begin to appear in the rings, her body visibly changes, even shrinking a bit as her hair begins to slowly dull closer to its original color, while her horns retract and the glow in her eyes dims. Her breathing becomes less labored and she steadies herself.
"Tell me, would you have me pity the fallen, or have you no remorse for your fallen?" Magnolin intones.
"I ask because if Orphan strikes them down, their families will have naught even ashes to remember them by."
"Unless there's some way to turn them back I'd rather their deaths be quick and painless, cause suffering from hunger is an absolute torture I don't wish on anyone. Plus it's the most I can grant given how I failed them as a Commander.", Akamaru says with guilt.
"I so second that notion, though even if there aren't ashes remaining we'll so have them remembered by name and pictures of what they were.", Murasaki says with a nod.
Magnolin eyes Akamaru, before sighing. "Three."
"Huh?", Akamaru says with a look of confusion.
"That's the number of debts you owe me. Now, missy with the webbing or glue or... whatever that is, kindly be a dear and harass them while I get to work."
Magnolin snaps her fingers, and two tomes appear at her sides and open, pages fluttering as all about her magic runes fly from the books and dance wildly around her, slowly forming twin magic circles. From her bags float two sets of six stones brimming with magic power, and they take positions at the points of the magic circles, which begin to shimmer with the colors of the gems. She then gestures and takes a number of the talismans Rene had made.
"Sorry to worry you Rene, but I'll take these extras. They will be useful in this little gambit." She then slams her staff on the ground, and a third magic circle appears beneath her, flaring red.
In the chain rings, a face begins to emerge, along with two muscular arms. As it takes shape, the face looks as though it had been ripped and torn many a time, disfigured and uneven. Hooks and barbs stick into it from all directions. The arms struggle to move with similar nuances.
"Whom shall meet my ire, my Petitioner?" The face speaks in the same booming voice as before.
"Destroy that wall of ice, and destroy that chain that holds up this land. Oh, and protect me from those two, they're getting too close." She remarks as the Twins rush towards them with ice spears forming to attack Magnolin.
"Acknowledged."
Murasaki puts down Akamaru, who moves out of her way, and stretches out her arms with her palms open from which the same substance as before is shot as giant globs that bind the thrall's feet to ground and prevent them from moving.
Magnolin begins to weave a complex spell, one beyond the comprehension of most gathered, but Rene acknowledges it to be that of Soul Magic with his talismans augmenting the effects. Her eyes flash blue as bolts of blue fire strikes the chests of the thralls, meanwhile, Orphan eyes the approaching Twins and opens his palms. One hand begins channeling an orb of energy that brightens the area as though it were a sunny day, while the other glows ominously before the stakes in his eye sockets pull out revealing firey orbs in lieu of eyes. The chains and stakes then turn into a sickle attached to a chain wrapped around his hand, the blade brimming with Hellfire. He swings the weapon and the Twins suddenly become fearful and begin trying to get out of his range.
"Holy shit.", Akamaru says with a mixture of amazement and fear, with Murasaki nodding in agreement.
As Orphan swings its sickle, a streak of light follows in its trail, narrowly missing the Twins. The streak doesn’t fade, but swells and then appears as if boiling, before the air itself seems to explode, the Twins sent flying and slamming into the trees, while several close by are uprooted and flung.
With his other hand, Orphan gestures at the wall, and the light shrinks into a bright dot that lazily travels towards the wall. The Twins cackle at this sight and charge, almost reaching Magnolin and Orphan as the dot makes contact with the wall… …and in an instant, it explodes into dust, which disapates immediately. The dot continues its idle trek, this time towards the chain. As the Twins realizes their error, they go to stop the dot, when from the place of the wall an explosion of pressure bursts forth, as the empty vacuum where the wall stood implodes. Getting flung back, one of Twins tumbles helpless as Orphan eyes them and slashes with a wide swing, cutting her down the middle.
She immediately begins screaming and sobbing in agony as her entire form bursts into Hellfire, writhing as her form begins to boil and froth, as though everything she was being melted like human wax.
As this goes on, her spare Twin looks on in maddened horror, soon after the chain is struck, the entire thing is dissolved, followed shortly by an explosion that rocks most of Darkaria as the dot destabilizes into a massive plume of Hellfire.
"What the fuck just happened?!", Akamaru asks completely shocked.
All but two of the twelve thralls begin to react to Magnolin’s spell, beginning to moan and stumble, with one expressing an almost immediate reaction. She comes to her knees and begins to weep in pain.
“Stoooooooop…” It pleads as its body begins to bubble. Its chest starts glowing with blue light, and soon after she ignites in blue fire. She takes on an almost liquid like quality, the icy form begins to drip away, even as she begins to swell with mass, no longer emaciated.
“Noooooo… want…. Love… Mistress’s… Love…” their voice pleads even as it gains more clarity, and a cold chill goes down Akamaru’s spine as her face too begins to reform. He recalls now the moments before he had been ensnared: Phodi tackling a Twin trying to ensnare him, only to look on as they pleasured and corrupted her into a thrall.
"Damn it, Phodi! Don't think about those sluts! Think about your family, the Assassination Squad and your sisters! We've given you unconditional love while those two will only give it when it's convenient for them!", Akamaru shouts.
Magnolin sighs. "Spider Booba, if he shouts like that again while I'm trying to concentrate on a very complicated and fragile spell, not only will he not actually help matters, he might distract me and cost your comrades their souls entirely. So, kindly suffocate him if he cannot contain himself."
"Hurts... hurts, hurts!" Phodi begins to wail as the icy form sloughs off her, exposing raw sinew that steams, slowly, painfully raw skin begins to knit itself across her body, and she slowly resumes her original shape and features, minus hair and feathers. As the effect dies down, she slumps over, unconcious. Similar transformations appear to be taking place with all but two of the targeted thralls, who appear listless.
Orphan eyes the burning twin and slashes his sickle again, the blade cutting away the flames to reveal a heavily burned female elf. Orphan then measuredly turns its gaze towards the remaining Twin, and she flies away in fear. He then regards Magnolin as she struggles to complete the spell, starting to growl as she observes Phodi's form return to normal. Her eyes flare with blue flames and a flash of a more demonic version of her swirls in the light of the flames as she doubles her efforts.
"Hahaha. Your passion is palpable... yes, it stirs mine own..." Orphan rumbles, and starts straining itself. A flash of what could only be its full form can be seen in a flash of light as its eyes glow brilliantly, and its upper torso manifests in a swirl of Hellfire.
"Recieve mine aid." Demonic energy swirls into Magnolin like a tempest, and her spell's effects accelerate. She clenches her teeth even as they elongate, and her horns faintly start growing again.
"So should go after her?", Murasaki asks referring to the Twin that flew away.
"No, our orders were to destroy the chain even though we technically failed the task. Going after the enemy is outside that, so I'd rather stay here while our comrades are turning back and get them the he'll out of dodge as fast as possible, plus I'm rather exhausted.", Akamaru says.
"I so understand, then I'll so follow your lead.", Murasaki responds.
The thralls not being targeted by Magnolin seem to fall lifeless as the other twin leaves, and after grueling moments pass, she is able to restore a number of thralls. However, there is still no change in the two unresponsive thralls, aside from the female biting the neck of the male, growing larger and more individualistic, while it withers away. Seemingly ignoring the cured, she instead seems to hunt her fellow thralls and feeds upon them, their listless forms not even fighting back. With each she consumes, the female thrall more and more begins to resemble a Keli'ser, as though evolving.
Magnolin collapses in exhaustion as her spell fades, Orphan observes her as his form loses its solid state and becomes wispy.
"Magnificient. I still have power... I would speak with you." Orphan intones to Magnolin.
"I am not interested. Return, our business is done." She shakes her head.
"I think not." As Orphan intones this, Magnolin's head whips toward him only for her eyes to lose their focus and she gets a far away look as she slumps to the ground, Orphan staring at her intently even as her body continues changing, though Rene quickly notes at an accelerated rate the moment she became listless. She isn't far along, but at this rate she might be in danger if it isn't suppressed.
Akamaru and Murasaki note the evolving thrall so the former gives a nod to Murasaki who then releases her white sticky substance and covers the thrall with it, making it a blanket that sticks to it and the ground and the more it struggles the stickier it gets.
Rene walks calmly toward Magnolin as Orphan continues his observation of her, almost unnoticeable from Orphan's point of view. His soulless body having no discernable face beyond the mask, the Demon Prince noticing no power - less than even normal humans.
His feathery cloak whishes around him, appearing from a black mist that appears past his left shoulder. Rene reaches Magnolin's body from the side of Orphan's view, slowly tracing the connection between her and the Prince. "Hmm," the researcher says, almost inquisitive, though with a noticeable annoyance, "it seems you're playing with my weapon. I'm quite fond of this one. Who are you?"
The moment Orphan acknowledged his presence (instantly), Rene's senses jolts, and he finds himself in a place he hoped he'd never have to see again.
Hell.
And he was very clearly in some sort of deep prison, alone with a chained up, gargantuan form of a demon that could only be Orphan's true form. Even mangled and disfigured by imprisonment and torture, Rene can see it once possessed a majestic figure. And with such power... it's a marvel it hasn't broken free.
"I am the Abandoned One, One Without Name. Upon myself and unto others I declare to be 'Orphan'." The being's voice rumbles through him with the strength of an earthquake.
"You are a rather insincere one. Does it bother you that I have disturbed her anima?" He hears a deep rumble from Orphan, the sound almost that of a chuckle.
"It bothers me more that you have brought me back here, the place of my torment. Why is a Demon as powerful as you chained as you are?" While Rene is clearly not comfortable, it is noticeable he is more interested in learning more of the self-named Abandoned One than dwelling on the fact that he was back in that place.
"You have been here before, this would make some sense." Orphan intones.
His head makes a faint gesture. "Fear. Complacency. A desire to escape fate. The many reasons one might betray the strong. Always it is this way, in the worlds, in Hell. Beyond that, I will not say."
"Hmm." Rene begins inspecting the chains. "I suppose we have time for that later. Did you release her yet?"
"You're insistent on that. Do you fancy her?" Orphan rumbles.
"I wouldn't say I fancy her in the sense you imply." He walks around the room, looking at the chains and how they connect to the demon hulking over him. "But she is more useful to me than anything else I have at my disposal. Especially in the coming days."
"You anticipate strife. A wise sentiment, given... your corroded nature. A spark remains, though in its place..." Another rumble issues forth.
"Though you have yet to observe all the pieces and their places. Misfortune clings to you like a nest of vipers. If you see more than that... That is the difference between the shrewd and the lost."
Rene takes his mask off, blinking several times to adjust his vision, before looking at Orphan. "So you know me. And yet I do not know you. Seems one of us is at a disadvantage in this conversation." He continues his study of the chains. "These aren't as strong as I expected. How have you not escaped yet?"
"There are things you do not see. 'Know you' would be incorrect. But I see clearly your fate's weave, and what built it to this point." There is an intake of air, quicker and sharper than the low rumbles.
"Hm. She is tenacious. Weak, but..." Orphan's gaze becomes distracted for a moment, before looking squarely at Rene.
"Mortal will intrigues me. No matter the insight we may have, we may only ever gamble on their potentials."
"I'd recommend you let her go. I'll need her later, and getting her to relax after the demon inside comes out is absolute hell." Rene looks at the man once again. "And if I have to deal with that again I'd be quite angry myself."
The demon tilts their head to one side, almost inquisitive. "You have calmed her passions before? And here I thought you a prude. How delightful to know you have taste after all. Fret not. She'll be waiting for you. As to if you will have to contend with her wiles... Perhaps fret a little bit."
The raven-haired human husk looks a bit relieved, in spite of the view of his surroundings. "Next time we speak, perhaps I can choose to come here instead of having to be abducted."
In lieu of a response, he finds himself seated on the ground near a panting Magnolin, whose eyes are almost fully pink and pupils slitted. He feels her hand in his pocket, and she pulls out an amulet with holy metal and clasps it around her neck, yowling as the metal glows molten hot. Her demonic traits seem to subside a faint amount, and while she manages to stand, Rene can see she is clearly rattled by her experience with Orphan.
"Guess you didn't have as healthy of a chat as I did," Rene stands, brushing off the dust from his leather pants. "I'm keeping a running total of all you've used of mine, just so you know." His voice is not as unemotional as usual, and while he wouldn't let it be known, he is worried. "We need to find where we'll be staying for the night. We've wasted a day."
"...Staying for the night..." Magnolin says slowly, her tone slowly shifting into a sort of cooing voice halfway, her eyes glowing pinker, almost overriding her pupils before she snaps to alertness and cries out in a sensual manner, clutching her chest tightly, panting.
"...Yes. We should find a place to rest. ...Quickly." She looks over at Akamaru and Murasaki as the Keli'ser evades the webbing, ribbon like appendages whip around and slash the sticky material away from her. The Keli'ser then crouches low, eyes sharp and glaring at Akamaru.
"You are... toying with me. Ill advised. Who... are you, and why do you feel familiar...?" She growls. "Attack again... and... disembowel."
Akamaru then has a look of skepticism, then crouches down to be eye level with the Keli'ser before speaking,
"You don't remember me?", he asks curiously.
"...Flickers. Fragments. Disorganized. Comm... Commander? The word it... is instinct to say that."
Overhead he hears the flapping of wings, and a tall white harpy swoops down and regards Akamaru with an icy stare that only Shiroyuki could manage.
"Akamaru. A fine state of affairs you've managed I see. I'm glad I had a team come with. Otherwise..." She regards the unconcious squad members and the burned elven twin.
"I trust you and the strangers can manage to walk? If so, the Aerial Emergency Squad will take priority on the critical condition cases." The woman intones sternly, more a matter of fact than a question. A number of winged Healing Squad members flutter down and access the injured.
"Yeah me and the lieutenant are good, the half-demon looks exhausted but her companion is helping her it seems, though I do have some debts to confirm from her for the assistance. As for this Keli'ser..."
Akamaru studies her a bit before continuing,
"She appears fine, plus I have some questions for her cause I have a sneaking suspicion that she's not a threat as of right now."
"I hope that your risk assessment is on point. You're in poor condition to be wrong. Don't linger long. The north and northeast sides of the city are still approachable, but for how long I cannot say. Use caution, more so than your usual dunderheaded bravado attempts. Else, you're going to WISH you were these blokes when I'm through with you." With that, she takes two injured, the elven twin and one of the injured squad members in her talons and flies off, her squad members following suit.
"She so has the same cold attitude as General Shiroyuki that it's so uncanny.", Murasaki says.
"What do you expect from someone who worked under her for years before being part of the Healing Squad? Anyway, on to more pressing matters..."
He looks at the Keli'ser straight in eyes before speaking again,
"Are you willing to help us in removing the last chained attached to Darkaria?", he asks firmly.
She growls. “You expect me to aid a stranger who just attacked me, familiar or not?”
"No and I don't blame you for thinking that, but if you go around the Kingdom where there's a fierce battle you'll ultimately get caught in the crossfire with non being the wiser with their emotions on high and you'll get killed.", Akamaru responds.
"By helping us you would so not only avoid the major fights but it'll so give everyone the thought of 'Maybe not all Keli'ser are so bad' and ease back a bit. So not a guarantee, but it's so better than doing nothing and getting yourself killed, as so said by our Commander.", Murasaki says.
She then takes her hand and ruffle Akamaru's hair, which result in little embers flying from it, to which he responds with a groan sounding between annoyance but also relaxed.
The Keli'ser looks down at her hand, as though examining herself. "...Keli'ser... is that what I am...?"
After a moment, she is enveloped in a whirlwind of snow, and when it settles she is covered in white clothing reminiscent of the outfit she wore before, covering up to the bottom half of her face, glowing blue eyes peering out from just over it. Her white hair now pulled back in a ponytail. The ribbons relax and the blades attached disappear, and she extends her wings while looking at Akamaru.
"Fine. By what are you called? You seem to know me, so address me as you wish. A new or old name bothers me not."
"I'm Akamaru Ryuuzetsu, and I'd rather you pick a name for yourself if your okay with doing that, cause if i do that it'll make feel like an owner of a possession and that doesn't sit right with me."
"Murasaki Sancho, it's so nice to meet you and I so would hope you choose a cute name but that's so my preference."
Akamaru gives her a 'Really?' look.
The Keli’ser ponders. “…I suppose Shiraha will suffice.”
Magnolin approaches Akamaru. “Are you done with the casual talk? I need a word.”
"Yeah, what is it?", he responds.
Murasaki then goes to Shiraha and takes her hand then excitingly shakes it while saying 'Nice too meet you again', 'Hope we get along just as we did before if not better', etc.
Shiraha slowly blinks while her arm limply goes up and down. The blank look of confusion is clear.
”What are you doing…?”
When he turns to her she is in all black, sporting a witch hat and mask, not even her hands or neck show skin. Wordlessly she points a small white wand at his head. “Dissolve.”
A flash of light emits from Magnolin and she puts it away. While Akamaru and Murasaki are unaffected, the few remaining squad members not taken by the Healing Squad stumble about.
”Now that is taken care of, I would have you settle your debts. You can start by taking me to your lord, and providing me and my companion a place to stay the night.” She then leans into his ear.
”You can attend me in private for the third.” She steps back, grasping her staff. “After you. Wouldn’t want to keep the Emissary of a Coven waiting.”
"Fucking straight to the point, all right follow me. Everyone else return to the barracks, we ain't at full enough strength to go to the last chain. Murasaki contact the others on our current situation, also come with me and bring Shiraha with us.", Akamaru says.
"Sure thing Commander, stay close okay?", Murasaki says the latter to Shiraha.
The squad obeys Akamaru and immediately disappear. He then gestures Magnolin and Rene to follow him and begin walking the safe route to the castle.
===Song of Madness===
The capital is under siege, my lord.
What of it? Yuon intones, while a minister prattles to the elven lord in his hall.
The spawn of Evoh march upon the capital, with designs upon the Goddess. The Sign of Evoh burns red in the sky, and the masters of Darkaria, not even my Matrons are aware of the likely true threat.
His informant insists.
Yuon's face tightens. The Days of Strife are upon us. As foretold by our forefathers. Evoh is on the move, and we're far behind him. My brothers awake. The time has come to rally your swords against the Darkness. Evoh's Sign burns, and we must ride to the aid of the Goddess. Cast aside allegiances and oaths, and remember thine only true fealty - as Knights of the Lightmother.
==Overseeing Carnage==
Tsubaki and the others are gathered at the palace, when all of a sudden a woman in white clothing with a serpent mask appears in their midst. Tsubaki himself is surprised but not for long, as he was familiar with Husani’s skill at concealing her presence entirely. A trait that made her a challenge even back when they had first crossed blades…
” I have returned from subduing Kimahara. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine something could twist a person like that… So. Tell me: how exactly did things come to this? From what I can tell, this was not a random attack, meaning that the enemy knows Darkaria. And somehow, I was not able to anticipate this. What has been happening that not even my sources could tell me anything, nor was I made aware of the situation?”
"We are being currently being invaded by creatures called Keli’ser and their creator, who is from the old realm of elves called Alfheim. He came to stop us from involving ourselves with anything related to the latter which stems from one of the new recruits, who has just graduated, becoming a vessel of a Magister by the name of Ayana.", Tsubaki says.
Husani crosses her arms. “I’m not sure I understand… how did you come to know of this leader and his motives? …Though I will say, the movement within the Squad makes more sense now…”
"He approached us while we were in a meeting regarding the issue.", Tsubaki replies.
Husani tilts her head. "I take it your diplomatic and steady touch failed to dissuade him."
"I unfortunately wasn't in the right mind after hearing his demands, so 'diplomatic' and 'steady' aren't the right words to describe my answer.", Tsubaki says with a resigned sigh.
Husani takes her mask off with a sigh. "And what would your right words be?"
She walks up to him and looks him dead in the eyes. "Whatever they were, only a fool falls to his knees with a single stumble. A leader worthy of respect refuses to fall without dignity and valor. I'll remind you of my oath: I swore that so long as you proved to me that you were worthy, my fangs would sink into the very bones of your enemies." A ornery smile comes over her face, eyes twinkling.
"Let us see a man at his lowest rise to new heights on soaring winds of adversity."
"I plan too.", Tsubaki says with an amused smirk.
He then turns to Umemaru,
"What is the current situation with the Assassination Squad?"
"As Husani stated Commander Hisui and Lieutenant Akemi have detached one chain, Commander Orenii and Lieutenant Alba are currently destroying their chain with some assistance in keeping Kohaku back but they haven't elaborated more than that, and Commander Akamaru and Lieutenant Murasaki are still enroute to theirs. This mean there's currently still one chain where we haven't gotten anything on.", Umemaru says.
Tsubaki puts his finger under his chin and he has his thinking face on.
"I'd like to send someone up ahead to it to asses or better yet destroy it as we don't know how much longer the destruction of the other chains will take. What do you think Husani?", he asks.
”I agree that we should investigate it, but it should be done with care. If Kimahara and the other Knights that were taken were all transformed and deployed, we could be contending with a monster the likes of Shiroyuki turned into a perfect killing machine. Discrete action would be preferable.” Husani furrows her brow in thought.
"Allow me your Majesty, I'll deploy some surveillance cameras to the last chain location to see it's current situation. They're small enough to where, unless you have eyes like Kohaku and Kimahara, they're hard to spot and are unable to be sensed in any manner known to these Keli'ser.", Inumuta says.
"That'll be our best option then, so go ahead Inumuta.", Tsubaki says.
Inumuta nods before turning back to the device in his lap, that's showing images of the fights currently happening in his and Shiroyuki's district, and presses a few buttons that makes a separate screen show up with four separate images. The ones shown are different angles of the castle but they start changing as the cameras start moving to the last chain's location.
Umemaru notes that Husani has sat down to the side and rests her head on her palm, looking at Tsubaki. She seems to close her eyes and then look away. “I will be resting a bit. Prolonged fighting with my techniques have always exhausted me, and I have not fought in combat with them in several years.”
"Which is exactly why I didn't send you to investigate.", Tsubaki says.
"Tch. Shut up, Watanuki." Her eyes open into a light glare as a knife wizzes by Tsubaki's cheek.
Of course, if she was serious... Husani then looks away. With her head turned away and face concealed behind her curls, her face briefly burns with embarrassment. She mumbles under her breath as she begins sharpening two knifes, though you could hardly call them your standard kitchen knives, being almost as long as a short sword. Indeed, the massive daggers are a testament to her lethal practice and masterful craftsman ship, and were a common sight in her days of knighthood.
Inumuta and Yami let out an amused snort at her remark while the former is having his cameras getting closer to the last chain. However Kinkaku's and Ginkaku's reaction are less light hearted,
"Husani Levins-", "-beware of who you aim-", "-your fangs at.", they both say alternately with obvious disdain.
Husani polishes one of the daggers and holds it up, examining it. "Remind me, who exactly slew my brothers, my sisters, my father, my mother, my kinsmen? I seem to have forgotten. Oh my apologies, now I remember." With this remark she continues polishing. "I am fully aware, but thank you for reminding me."
"Your life-", "-and the children's life-", " -were yet spared-", "-is that not enough-", "-to warrant some respect?", she's asked.
Husani turns her head towards Tsubaki with an unfamiliar look in her eyes. "..." She sheathes the daggers and puts her head in the palm of her hand again, looking away.
"You mistake the end result of a wager with an act of good will. And besides... my respect is not shown through flowery words, but action." With that she stands up and her image becomes hazy before vanishing entirely.
Kinkaku and Ginkaku look ready to chase but Tsubaki raises his hand to stop them.
"I haven't forgotten that the blood of her brethren stain my blade, it would be sheer insolence to forget those who've you have slain that have got you to where you are. However even that can be a heavy task to bear on ones heart and mind, so the next best thing is to remember that the path you've taken to get to where you are is always stained with blood.", he says.
"Yes, your Majesty.", the twins respond.
"Though it is a shame she had to remember while you've never forgotten.", Inumuta says.
Husani makes her way through the city, towards the battleground. As she approaches where the Keli’ser contend with the Army by the gates, she activates her communication device.
”Umemaru, going to be keeping my eye on the front. Will keep in touch,” Husani speaks in a sullen tone.
"Understood, be safe.", Umemaru responds.
Just as she put down her communication device she gets contacted telepathically.
"Hello, General Lieutenant Watanuki!~", Murasaki says enthusiastically.
"Lieutenant Murasaki, good to hear from you. Was the mission a success?", Umemaru asks.
"Eh...somewhat, we so had some trouble at first but we were saved by a couple of so helpful people and got the chain destroyed...or disintegrated, whatever it so got done in the end.", Murasaki responds.
"Okay, but what about these you mentioned?"
"They so want to meet his Majesty but wanna see if that's so okay."
Umemaru has a bit of apprehension at that request which Tsubaki is able to sense.
"Everything okay?", he asks.
Umemaru relays to him what she was just told by Murasaki, to which Yami lets out an amused snort.
"If it's anything like the numerous times before it has to be a half-demon.", he says.
"Hmm...very well, they assisted us so I'll allow an audience.", Tsubaki states.
Umemaru then tells Murasaki that Tsubaki has agreed.
"That's so wonderful! We're on our way, oh and there's someone else were bringing so be prepared. K, thanks, bye!~", Murasaki says.
The connection is caught off before Umemaru could ask a question and she let's out a slightly annoyed sigh.
"Something else happen?", Tsubaki asks.
"Lieutenant Murasaki stated that there's some one else with them, but I wasn't able to ask more before she cut off."
"Guess we'll have to see she brings.", Inumuta states while still on his computer looking at both his cameras and other data.
Some time later, Akamaru's group arrives, though Inumuta strangely saw no sign of their approach from his data network. Trailing behind them is a woman clad in black, her face obscured by a witch's hat, a veil, and a cloth covering her neck and lower head, while raven black feathers form a robe over her curved body. Even her hands, arms, and legs show no skin.
She approaches, a particular medalion dangling from her neck. She stops in front of Tsubaki and observes him for a moment. She then grasps the medalion and presents it.
"I am the chosen Emissary of the Interna Coven. It is our Coven Leader's directive that I ascertain if you and yours are of value or interest to our goals. So, I set forth to meet you and understand your culture and motives."
"I see, though I wished such a meeting was under better circumstances.", Tsubaki responds.
A man stands behind the group, unnoticeable not by attempt to be but rather by sheer lack of any amount of power. He wears a black leather trench coat which seems to absorb all the light around it, making it lack the reflections commonly associated with leather. He stands close enough to hear but seems distracted by a journal he writes in - though no one else seems capable of seeing ink.
"Then who might you be young man?", Inumuta asks him.
Without looking up, Rene replies, "Young and old are relativistic terms. But human standards, I am 296 years of age. Though in reality, I have experienced more time than that." He finishes what he was writing before looking around at the people in the room. "I have no true name anymore, but the lady I travel with has taken to calling me Rene"
As Tsubaki goes to speak, he cuts off as his mind is bombarded by desire… desire for the witch clad in black. He finds himself unable to think straight, the words caught in his throat. Soon he clutches his chest as the effect continues to intensify. Yet even through the haze he realizes that these thoughts are not his own.
”Submit… lay your hands upon her and feast of her wiles. You deserve a reward after all this strife. Yes, a plaything sounds good doesn’t it?’
Magnolin’s eyes narrow beneath her mask and she takes her staff and points it at Tsubaki.
The others notice the sudden change in Tsubaki, with Kinkaku and Ginkaku about to attack Magnolin but Tsubaki shakes his head at them which make them hesitate a bit.
"I have more important matters to think and do, plus I do not view people in such a degrading manner regardless of species.", he responds, though obviously not at Magnolin.
A young man, with dark pink hair held up by a red ribbon and green eyes, from amongst the group of Battle Butler's and Maids walks up and looks at Magnolin,
"Do you require assistance in dealing with this? I'm a half-breed like you, but if I can help his Majesty who's saved my life and soul I'm willing to do anything.", the young man says.
Magnolin regards him for a moment. "...What is your familiarity with demon magic and witchcraft?" She inquires.
She then looks at Tsubaki and growls under her breath. "I don't have time for this, Magpie." She addresses someone unseen. An unseen entity cackles, the sound reverberating around Tsubaki without a direct physical location.
"I'm quite familiar with demon magic, though not so much with witchcraft unfortunately.", the young man responds.
"Do you need me to do anything?", Tsubaki asks Magnolin.
”Focus. She might be weaker than you but even a weak Succubus will take down a Demonlord if they don’t pay attention. We’ll handle my fallen sister.”
Magnolin then clutches her head and stumbles back from the young man. “Y-you need to stand back. You’re an Incubus. Maybe partial. Regardless, s-stay back. My blood is rousing in your presence. Do what you can with your demon power and suppress her Charm. But be wary, she will probably try to get in your head.” Magnolin starts panting.
The young man nods, he then takes a few steps back while focusing his demon magic on doing as Magnolin instructed him to do. Tsubaki is also keeping his focus and guard up, the others are watching but are keeping their guard in case anyone takes advantage of the moment.
A smell of burning purple sage enters the area, and Rene throws two talismans - one attaching itself to Magnolin and the other to the half-incubi. He then approaches Tsubaki slowly, placing his raven mask upon his face to see the twine that binds the unseen individual to the effected man.
"Those talismans should limit the amount of energy built by you two. I don't wish to have to content with three of your kind at once." The magician looks towards what seems like an aromatic and flowery bind. "Bingo."
In response, the hair on his neck stands up and the temperature dramatically starts plummeting as an inhuman hiss snaps from around Tsubaki's vicinity, as if in warning.
The Raven of Bludborough pulls a book from below his coat and begins to whisper an incantation. As the attacker begins to think of retaliation, her desires slowly lessen, her will to act upon any thought feels as though she has to fight through a marsh, her thoughts as slow as molasses. "You seem familiar, so you should've already known to stay out of my way," Rene's voice booms, though only to the individual who quickly seems little more than an annoyance. "I'll warn you once. Leave."
All at once, a black void with red eyes manifests in his vision surrounding Tsubaki and in seconds rushes him, hissing and growling with great intensity, the force that slams into him is so strong he is lifted off his feet and flung into the air, thrown several feet and over the stairs leading to the district gate.
"KILL." An explosion of sound bursts in his ears with the impact, leaving him deafened by the intensity of the hateful voice.
The void manifests itself in a physical form and then takes the shape of a tan woman with incredibly long blonde hair with long bangs covering half of her face, with the rest of the enormous volume held back in a large ponytail. Two massive horns protrude from her brow, while from her back sprouts two large demon wings. The young man who was assisting Tsubaki has to avert his eyes due to the intensity of her aura, especially with her revealing attire.
Her pink eyes glow ominously with anger, and her tail whips violently from side to side as she snarls and says, "You cannot command me. I only heed Moth- -AAH-AAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!" She suddenly screams as she is lit on fire and tumbles to the ground, quivering in pain.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorrrryyyyy!" She begins thrashing in pain, all the while sobbing and begging for mercy from an unseen source, though there is a vague sense of wrath in the air.
Magnolin tries to move towards her but stumbles and falls to her knees, panting and exhausted.
Rene raises an eyebrow at the last statement, noticing the demon is clearly being commanded. "Mags, stay back. This is not the Magpie you wish her to be, and you are in no shape to fight her." He then focuses his eyes on the woman who threatens him and continues chanting, purple smoke from the burning sage covering them both, and silver chains leaping from the ground to tear her under. "You will leave this place. Now."
Magnolin lowers her head. Meanwhile the flames enveloping Magpie seem to cut off, but instead a heavy, looming presence envelops them. A crack of thunder reports out, as though transcribing the anger of the second entity, and the ground seems to quiver as heavy winds begin rustling around them. Whatever else he tried to push out is clearly incredibly powerful in order to be able to disturb the environment like this.
Suddenly the palace grounds heave as a large slab of the palace wall is suddenly ripped off the building and tossed straight at Rene.
Magnolin clenches her teeth. "When will you be satisfied, ruining our lives?!" She screams. "Wasn't Father enough?!"
The slab stops dead mere inches from Rene's face. There's a deep, quiet stillness.
The magician pays no mind to the slab itself, but nonetheless closes the book, knowing it would take too long to get rid of both demons at once. "Cat's out of the bag now, demon. I don't have the time for this, but fine. You're too annoying to exorcise, unlike your pawn of a daughter."
Needles fly from his jacket, weaving the illusion around it to it's true form. His cloak is made of what seems like a black smoke - though not of natural origin. No light seems to enter or exit it. The area surrounding him merely seems to stop when it gets close. His mask, while not truly changing, begins to become less visible, and the demon pulling the strings can place his plain attire as one worn to directly face her kind. Attacks from her could likely level the castle and barely annoy him.
"Since you've decided to annoy me while I try to get two simple knives, tell me - are you the succubus known as Moegara?"
A large black shadow with glowing red eyes hovers down over him, leeching light and energy from the surroundings, leaving the entire area bitterly cold. There is a growl from the shadow, and its eyes flare, but it soon stops and almost seems to 'aknowledge' some manner of interference before it begins drifting over towards Magnolin. Hovering over her, shadowy arms reach out and grasp her mask and pulls it off, its 'head' then comes close to Magnolin's, then after a moment, it tears into the sky at speed, a wave of shadow reaches out like a clawed hand and spirits the motionless Magpie away.
Magnolin then teeters, then with a blank look on her face, collapses in a heap.
"Well, you don't see that everyday.", Inumuta says with mixture of surprise and amusement.
Akamaru and Murasaki go up to Magnolin, the former carefully moves her to where she's on her back on one of the steps. From the group of Battle Butler's and Maids a young girl with grey eyes, and long purple hair with a long pink ribbon, goes down to Magnolin and carefully examines her. Tsubaki then flexes his hand and the wall ripped from the palace is placed back from where it was.
"It would seem we've made more enemies, but of the more familiar yet malicious kind. Quite the day we're having.", Tsubaki remarks.
While Akamaru is carrying her to the stairs, he observes that Magnolin’s face has darked to a warm chocolate tan complexion, and what he can see of her hair is a bright blonde. Her horns are substantially grown and are starting to curve. Just before he reaches the stairs and puts her down, he sees her eyes open with purely pink irises and no pupils, and there’s almost an impression of her being absent. She slowly blinks and her pupils appear, albeit slitted.
A strange smile crosses her face. “Did you get a good feel~?” She coos.
While innocent to most, Rene suspects she is close to frenzy if she’s this ornery. While not dangerous yet…
Tsubaki then gets a look of recognition on his face,
"March, Akamaru and Murasaki, please step back, Aiuchi go on inside the palace, and Kushinada we have someone close to frenzy.", he says.
The first four obey Tsubaki's orders immediately, then from his shadow Kushinada steps out and go to Magnolin and only needs a few seconds of observing her to make a decision.
"I'll take her to the shrine, I've already relayed her condition to my sisters so they're already preparing a room for her. I'm assuming you'd like to come with?", Kushinada asks Rene.
"Also would it be a bad idea if I came along to repay my last debt?", Akamaru whispers to Rene.
Magnolin slowly blinks and looks at Rene. “Reneeee, they’re disparaging me. I’m… I’m finnnnneee…” Her slight wobble indicates she is not. A white gloved hand rests on Magnolin’s head.
”Rest, Magnolin. You earned your rest and they pass the test.” The rest of the hand’s owner appears in a flurry of black feathers, a woman clad in white witch’s attire of the same style as Magnolin. She also has a pendant around her neck.
She regards Tsubaki. “I am Adola, leader of the Interna Coven. I shall resume talks in her stead, and I apologize for the disruptions.” She turns to Rene.
”Venerabilis amicus, attend to your friend. I will inquire after what you seek.”
"It's an honor to meet you, and you need not apologize for actions outside your control.", Tsubaki replies.
The magician relaxes a slight bit, seeing a familiar face amidst so much chaos. Looking towards Adola, one could swear he almost smiled. Rene looks toward Akamaru, replying, "Your assistance will not be necessary. Debts to her are not so easily forgotten."
"Ok good, I'm gonna fill in our General Lieutenant on my squads next course of action, explain Shiraha, and get the hell out of dodge cause i am both physically and mentally tired. So nice to meet ya, thanks for the help, yada, yada, all that other stuff.", Akamaru says before walking up the steps to Umemaru.
Murasaki also follows him and waves at Rene while saying 'Bye!~' with Shiraha in tow. Once they both reach Umemaru, with Kinkaku and Ginkaku side eyeing Shiraha, Akamaru and Murasaki begin explaining everything that happened at the chain to her.
"I'll go on ahead, my sister's have the room ready.", Kushinada says.
Her shadow then stretches and attaches to both Rene's and Magnolin's, then their shadows envelope them and they disappear.
== The Porcelain Witch ==
Adola looks to Tsubaki. “While the kids have their fun, we should attend to matters.” She claps her hands and time aside from the group freezes, and a white environment forms, with a table and chairs appearing, Adola seats herself.
”Now, I understand that the Watanukis are born with souls, how exactly did you achieve this?” She asks Tsubaki.
"I unfortunately don't know the answer for as long as any of us have known and are aware we've always had souls beginning with the first Watanuki, even he and Darkaria don't know from what the latter has said to me.", Tsubaki responds.
Adola appears to think with her hand placed at her chin. "...Disconcerting." 
She shakes her head. "Then perhaps you can tell me something. You strike me as a demonlord... and I have heard tell of your ability to demonify beings and give demons souls. Is this true? How? Or is that also unknown, and a gift of your blood? This is of great interest to the Coven."
"A gift of our blood as far as we know.", Tsubaki says.
Adola is heard sighing. “Unfortunate. Very well…” She looks at the group. “If you would, tell me the kind of man your king is.”
Adola is then told about Tsubaki, how he's kind, considerate, non-biased, selfless, and how he's brought them onto his side of myth and human unity through mainly his actions and few words in which Tsubaki appears flattered. Though a few do point out some flaws, like how he easily gets mad when someone doesn't use basic manners, or when faced with someone with an arrogant attitude to which Tsubaki does give a disappointed grunt but he doesn't dispute it.
”I see. Your comrades certainly speak highly of your character.” She swishes her hand, and tea appears in cups for each of them.
”I apologize for my inhospitable manners.” She then waits for them to get comfortable and then speaks again. 
“So what is the story of that woman? Is it true you butchered her kindred?” She asks matter of fact to the point that it takes a moment for the question to properly register.
"Yes by order of my father, however make no mistake I do take full responsibility for their blood I have spilled.", Tsubaki responds.
Adola rests her head on her palm and there is an audible sigh.
”This encounter was not as fruitful as I had hoped. …The reason I asked the manner of questions I have is due to the mission of my coven. It is in effect, a sanctuary for half demons, a place to belong in a hostile world. More importantly, we seek means and methods of treating and prevention of frenzies, and demonification. At the very least, the reduction of severity of cases.
But on that mission we have failed many as we have saved. We must slay or seal away our beloved patients. So I was intrigued if not hopeful when I heard of a free Demonlord with the power to create demons and give them souls, or even restore them to those who lost themselves. If they could teach us their secret art, then perhaps we could greatly reduce the tragedy that all too often comes to pass.”
She straightens. “That is why I sent Magnolin, and why I watched unseen. But as things stand, it would be difficult to establish a productive relationship with so little to gain with too much risk: our knowledge, for being at the mercy of a Demonlord and their willingness to help, with little guarantees of genuine good will or underhanded deception. I am still willing to form relations, but we need more than the word of a Demonlord with unknown character with power we must naturally approach with caution. For our knowledge, what can you offer the Interna?”
"While it is unfortunate that I don't have the knowledge of which you hope to possess there is the Itsuki Clan, they're more versed and understanding in what they do regarding half-demons. However if that doesn't interest you then what we, Darkaria, can offer in return is anything you need within reasoning such as supplies, weapons, soldiers, and a wider information network in regards to find those who need help. I do also offer our home as a second sanctuary in the event that something should happen to your home.", Tsubaki replies.
Adola seems to ponder. 
"In exchange for our mentorship on magics, we will desire recompense in the form of building supplies, magical reagents, and access to your information networks. However, these must be done at the highest level of secrecy, and we will choose those we believe suitable to become Witches. They will be counted as members of the Interna and so long as they are our disciples, you may not order them to take actions against us.
Before I can make a pact with you in regards to these 'Itsuki', I would speak and learn with them of their nature and make a pact accordingly with them. However, if they anything like us, I would be willing to offer them the resources of the Caretakers, in return for their own assistance with the Caretakers on severe cases."
She falls silent. "And, as a personal matter..." She hesitates. 
"If you would earn my trust and be directly useful to us, there is one service I would ask. A half breed who borders on insanity due to her urges, so volatile her being that most of her life has been in confinement for her own safety... if you possess the power to still the madness raging within her and grant her a tranquil life, be it as a full demon with a soul, or a half breed with a tamed being... if you could and would do this thing... then..."
She takes off her mask, unveiling her face, which upon seeing it, all present either feel violently sick or enchanted by her visage. "I would offer you myself, in accordance of the Laws of Demons."
"If it means helping this individual in obtaining a better livelihood then I would be honored to help, though I'd rather have you on our side with consent rather than through the Law of Demons but that's just personal preference.", Tsubaki states.
Adola closes her eyes. “…You are certainly not what I feared. Indeed, the last man who declined such an offer was hundreds of years ago and dearly beloved. I thank you for your consideration, but while my soul is Free, my body is that of a demon of hell, and it won’t suffer acts of charity. You would impose a Debt upon me, and my Succubus nature would demand me to repay it. I would rather form a consensual pact than repay a Debt ensnared by my body’s demands.
Please, understand that I willingly offer myself, and take of me what you will, for my most precious part of my life. My other children were slain in the Witch Hunts, and I cannot bare to lose my only reminder of my lover long past. Believe me, in my eyes, even just myself is too little.” She weakly smiles.
”Or am unsightly to you? My cursed existence loathsome before your being?”
"Upon seeing you after taking off your mask I immediately became enchanted, though despite that if rather figure out a different but equally valuable deal if you find that acceptable.", Tsubaki replies.
"If I may be so bold, why not have your daughter serve us in payment to her benefactors? I could help her in exchange for becoming my attendant.", Umemaru says.
”…I suppose, so long as you treat her kindly…” Adola trails off in thought.
”Ah, Rene. He searches for a pair of daggers with properties that are harmful to demons that his intelligence suggests are in your possession. Would you be willing to part with them? In exchange, I will evacuate your citizens to the Coven’s security vaults. It will take time to teleport so many but it would be better than them waiting for the inevitable breach of your bunkers. The Keli’ser are not to be underestimated.”
"That would be of great help and I will give you what you ask, but only after my people are out of harm's way.", Tsubaki replies
”…If you insist on this, know that Rene does not have a fondness for protracted delays, so be mindful. It will take time to prepare the spell, and multiple uses will be required. I will get started but do be fair to him. I wish you well in your struggle.” The environment disappears, and they are left back at the castle, Adola already gone. Tsubaki then sees a flash of light some time later and it is followed by a report that a large group of civilians were teleported somewhere far away, ten minutes later another group disappears, and this repeats every ten minutes.
"Well she doesn't waste time.", Inumuta says amusingly.
"Which is a good thing, with this the Knights that were guarding them are now free to join in pushing the opposing forces back.", Tsubaki states.
"As for the daggers Adola requested?", Inumuta asks while typing some things.
"Your lieutenant should be awake by now right?", Tsubaki asks Yami.
"Most likely, so I'll tell her the gist of everything and to bring the daggers before doing anything else.", Yami responds.
==On the Sidelines==
Within one of the shrines large rooms is a set up comprised of talismans and symbols on the walls, ceiling, and floor with the latter having two large diamond shapes, one smaller than the other, and in the middle a bed. Four shrine maidens have just put the finishing touches just as the shadows move and from them come out Kushinada, Rene, and Magnolin.
"Big Sister, everything's ready.", one of them says to Kushinada.
"I can tell, are the Mother's still in their meeting?", Kushinada asks.
"Y-yes, and based on Mother Kaba's current temperament it won't conclude for a while.", another responds.
"To this day I'm still surprised she hasn't turned, but then again Father Askura has the patience and temperament of a saint.", Kushinada remarks.
She then addresses Rene,
"We're very well aware on how to quell an incubi/succubi frenzy, so the question is would you want one of my sister's be the cuddle partner or would you like to do it?"
Magnolin giggles. "No offense, but lady parts aren't as fun for me~ ...Though I wouldn't mind a harem~" Her tail wraps around Rene's leg.
Kushinada and the four aren't bothered by her words but do have a look that says, 'Here we go again.'.
Rene sighs, his shoulders slumping even more. "Give us some privacy and it will be over sooner. I'll make a list of supplies, and would be quite grateful if you could bring them when you ladies have a chance. Apologies for the inconvenience."
"As you wish, if you need any other assistance don't hesitate to ask.", Kushinada says.
She, and the other four, exit the room leaving Rene and Magnolin.
In very little time, Magnolin siezes the oppurtunity to drag Rene into bed, and many hours of placating her admist the full onset of her Frenzy begins. Finally, late into the light, Magnolin seems to enter a calm period in her Frenzy, clearly becoming tired. At this point she more delicately clings to her old friend.
"...I'm sorry that I get to be such a burden to you, Rene. I'd like to make it up to you some time. When I am myself again... when the choice is mine to make... I'd like to show you how much it means to me." She clutches her head in discomfort.
"Maddening..." She grumbles. "I much prefer quiet nights."
Rene does a gesture with his hand, and pushes purple lines he formed in the air towards her. "Sleep for now, just sleep. Just a bad hangover, so sleep..." and before a whistle could be sung, she passes out.
A bit later she awakens fully clothed. Rene leans on the corner facing the door, studying a book while he waits.
Magnolin's eyes creak open, a soft brown. Her hair is a dark brown and her skin is very pale, her appearance rare save for these early hours after a Frenzy. Her head slowly turns toward him and she winces at the morning light and closes her eyes tightly.
"...I didn't hurt you did I? My memory is fuzzy."
"You couldn't hurt me if you were trying. Not that pain seemed to be the goal..." he responds, turning a page and continuing his research.
Magnolin slowly opens her eyes. "I... I'm sorry about the incident with... Orphan. I knew there was some risk, but I never forsaw something like that. I don't think I'll rely on that thing, maybe even if my life depended on it."
She touches the base of her neck and slowly traces upward. "...Apparently I'm the first demi Succubus he met. He tried to convince me to become 'His Lust'. As in, a Duke of Lust. He didn't take no for an answer, not at first. He tried to Claim me, but I resisted. If I didn't retort that I wouldn't interest him if he took away my sense of self without my 'tenacity' as he called it, I might have lost that engagement."
She looks at Rene more directly. "I don't know why that actually worked. Though after the subsequient conversation, I'm wondering if he left you hints about his motives."
"Why didn't you say yes?" Another page turns.
"I didn't spend the last two hundred years defying my blood and desires just to become one of the most horrible creatures in Hell. I won't lie that... the power he tried to implant in me felt good, really good. But more than just a betrayal of myself, it'd make a mockery of everything my father suffered so I could live. Besides, I rather hate being forced into something against my will, nor do I care for being tied down to one person."
She looks away slightly. "You'd probably try to kill me before I could evolve anyway. And then complain about me causing you another mess."
"Hmm. You have opened more doors than you closed by summoning him." Rene continues reading for a moment, then brightens. "Found it."
"I'm aware. I wouldn't normally resort to such measures if I wasn't in that situation. And let me guess, you're concoting another scheme. Please don't do anything stupid, I may be strong, but even my strength of will needs rest after being tempted AND undergoing a Frenzy." Magnolin grimaces for a moment as her thin whip like tail slowly slithers out of her clothes and grows to full length, swaying and swishing gently, her hair brightening to a light brown.
Rene continues reading intently. "What all do you know of this demon? I need every detail you can give."
Magnolin sighs. "Honestly... He is depicted in the Book of Forbidden Ones of Summoning. It is a tome that atests to the great and terrible demons that aught to never be summoned. He is the first entry, and merely states, 'He is Nameless, only heeds those with offerings of power to feed upon, and those brave enough to summon him will earn whatever favor is required of him. Yet, as he is Nameless, no means of controlling him exists, and one should never gift him a Name, for his great and terrible power would destroy the Balance of the Heavens and the Hells.'
She looks to one side. "The only reason I knew how to summon him is the fact that Adola chanced upon the exact formula you would need to successfully summon him. I don't know his Rank, or if he's truly Nameless, or who the author of that book is. Or how they knew of him."
She trembles slightly. "Though I have a feeling that the book wasn't exaggerating about what he could do if he had a Name. I could feel all that power as we were connected to each other in his attempt to Claim me. He has the power to create Dukes, of that I am certain, and it would have been my fate if... if I wasn't strong enough to defy him."
The sorcerer looks up from his book - immediately more interested than before. "You said 'one should never gift him a name...' Can a Nameless daemon be gifted one? And if so, how would one do such a thing?"
Magnolin shakes her head. "There has never been a Demon who is Nameless before, as far as the Coven is aware. It is the source of their power, and what binds them to the natural order. To not have one means their potential is gone. They might as well be lifeless. That should be the case for him. And yet..."
She gives Rene a stern look. "Don't do something stupid. We know nothing about him. Who he is, why he was imprisoned, or how he has no Name. If I had known what he was actually capable of, I would never have taken that risk."
Magnolin looks away. "Even I have a Name, Rene. I don't know what it is, but what Orphan implied, told me he knew just by looking at me. Like I said before, him not having a Name is unnatural. Every Demon, full blood or an half like me, has a Name that binds them. I wouldn't know if he can be given one or not, or how you would give one. ...But I know that you shouldn't fuck around with that shit."
"This was useful. Thank you." The frenchman goes back to reading.
A pillow strikes him at speed on the back of the head. Magnolin is already at the door. “I am not going to stick around if you intend to poke the bear. I don’t want him in my head again.” Her head dips.
”Did you know who she was, Rene?”
"To whom do you refer, your sister or your mother?" He follows.
"My mother," Magnolin intones shortly. "Did you know?"
He puts the book into his pocket. "Not entirely. Not until she appeared in the way she did." A sigh is heard. "When a demoness is that notable, and involves themselves in so much of human history, they give themselves away quite easily. I knew their name and their power. I did not know their relation to you."
Magnolin sighs and her shoulders sag.
”She called me ‘My Esteemed Child’ in Latin. She smiled when she said that. Do you think she was toying with me or… does she intend something more?”
"She always intends something more. She always plots. It is how she has retained such control over the societies she wrecks havoc upon. Never underestimate her. You would be but a pawn in a game much larger than either of us." A sad look seems to overtake the sorcerer. "It is why I was glad to have met the demon you summoned. I made a pact with an annoyingly powerful demoness, and though I have no proof of it, I fear the two may be connected. And this Nameless may be the best chance of stopping them."
A book of Souls appears before him. "We need as much information on the three as possible, as well as any connected to them. That much I know. Any more and the details become less visible. Something is happening - and we all need it to end."
"...It was foolish to hope for anything better." Magnolin doesn't turn around, but her voice sounds raw and choked up. Her fists are turning white from how tight she's clenching them.
"...Do what you want, just don't be stupid."
He looks up at her. "Something seems to be troubling you. What is it?"
“…Dense as a black hole…” Magnolin mutters. “Nothing…” She speaks louder, blotting at her eyes.
He goes back to reading, noticing she's shut down, and decides to delay his tests of the Nameless One's ability to be contacted. "A black hole isn't actually dense," he corrects, "it's infinitely collapsing into a single point in space. It's as useful to describe it as merely 'dense' as it is for one to call an ocean 'wet'. Accurate to an extent, but inaccurate as to the understanding of how it actually works."
In answer, her tail whips, smacking him on the nose.
He grunts in disapproval as they start walking down the hall. "I hope they have the knives ready. I've had my fill of this land."
Magnolin’s feathered robes and headwear appear over her. “Why don’t you go to my abode in the Coven for the time being? I can fetch them for you. You have earned a protracted rest. We can discuss things more in a more private setting that way as well. Oh, and I had some of your medicine prepared in advance since our missions cross paths so often. Make yourself at home.”
In a seemingly uncharacteristic fashion, Rene stops in his tracks - seeing further than his simplistic goals for a moment. "Adola is here. What is her goal?" he bluntly asks, throwing Magnolin amiss with the sudden change in tone.
Magnolin slowly tilts her head. "Likely to pick up the pieces after events did not go according to our projections. Neither of us anticipated that I'd be walking upon a massacre. Adola is watchful - especially if she knows one of our kin is closer to their Frenzy. And like as not, with your social skills ranging from blind luck to gods awful, she probably went to go put in a good word for you."
"Hmm. Then I await your return at the coven," he says, almost in a whisper, before chuckling. "I hope you understand that I will be raiding your library and garden."
Magnolin shrugs. "If they are conducive to getting your anxieties out of mind, or at least manageable, all the better. I will take care of things here. Oh, and maybe play with the patients, I know some would love seeing your techniques."
Rene gives a lazy 2-fingered wave as she creates a door to the Coven, and the strange mystic foreigner walks through.
"There you are! You can't go disappearing on us before we can confirm whether or not your well enough to walk through the halls.", a female voice says from behind Magnolin.
The owner of the voice is a young woman with light skin with a beauty mark under her right eye, black eyes with yellow pupils and a ring around the latter. She has long teal color layered hair with each layer cut and styled in a way to make them look like bird wings, with color being light on the first layer to dark on the last layer and is wearing a bow on top.
"Matsu! I told you that I sensed her stable!", another young woman says while running from around the corner, she has long white hair held by ribbons in low twin tails with some framing her face, bangs covering her forehead and some hair styled to look like ears on the top of her head and accompanied by two ahoges. She also has orange and blue eyes, the colors blended to look like a sunset over an ocean.
"And I told you Kaede that your sensory abilities leave a lot to be desired", Matsu says.
The comment results in Kaede puffing up her cheeks in a pout, "Says the envy half-breed.", which makes Matsu growl in annoyance.
Magnolin's witch attire has reappeared by the time they arrive, and her masked visage greets them as she turns to face them.
"If there was any doubt as to my condition I would not have left. Although I suppose a guide would be helpful, my intuition doesn't usually steer me astray."
She looks at Matsu. "You shouldn't let taunts get under your skin. You should know better than anyone what Envies are capable of in a fit of rage."
Her gaze then icily turns toward Kaede. "And you shouldn't agitate one of the Three Wraths, unless you just want someone to snap your neck from the shadows."
She then facepalms. "And here I am, activating my Caretaker mother hen attitude again. Who can I speak with regarding your order and its functions? The Coven was curious to learn of any potential common ground between us."
"That would be the Five Mothers, though I'm not sure if they're done with their meeting-!", Matsu ponders after sighing but before another voice chimes in.
"They are, after an hour of calming down my mom they came to an agreement on following his Majesty's orders.", the owner of the voice is a young woman with light purple and light yellow hair with it mostly cut short, but the locks framing her face are long enough to reach her waist and are styled into braids that tie together at her chest by a ribbon. She also has brown eyes with pink dot aligned near the top of her irises.
"Wow, a new record.", Matsu remarks.
"Things would go a whole lot smoother if Mother Kaba wasn't a Wrath demon with such a short fuse-OW!", Kaede is then interrupted mid sentence by the purple haired woman harshly pinching and pulling her cheek.
"I have more of a right to complain about my mother's temperament than you do Kaede, so instead of complaining how bout you apologize to Matsu about your snide comment or do I need to make your pride submit again?", she says.
"Ok! Ok! I'll apologize Big Sister Shirakaba, I will!", Kaede says with strain.
Shirakaba let's go of her cheek and turns her around to face Matsu and grabs the back of her head and forces her into a bow, and after a bit of hesitation Kaede apologizes to Matsu.
"Apology accepted, considering that's the best any of us will get out of you.", Matsu says muttering the last part but loud enough for Magnolin to hear.
Shirakaba let's go of Kaede, who rubs her cheek, and addresses Magnolin,
"Sorry for the side show but I'll escort you to the Mothers, and you two go to your husbands to decompress so as not have the possibility of going into frenzy.", the latter being directed to Kaede and Matsu.
"Yes, Big Sister.", they both respond before leaving.
After they do Shirakaba gestures Magnolin to follow her as she starts walking down the hallway.
Magnolin ponders for a moment as she walks. "Should I take it that they are younger, less disciplined members? You seem to run things in a... much different manner than the Coven."
"Well yes and no, they've been in the family ever since they were born. And when you say 'run things' I'm gonna assume how I handled it which how I do things, which is a result of my sisterly instincts and Wrath in combination which I know isn't healthy and safe from your view. Though given the way we deal with such things it's more lenient in us having our demonic traits affected, but even then I like to play 'better safe than sorry' which is why I'll be doing what I sent the other two to do after escorting you.", Shirakaba responds.
Magnolin shakes her head. "Nay, in general terms. If you felt I was being critical of you, I was not." She continues to follow.
"It's fine a lot of half-breeds are weary of how we do things, but once they get into the groove of it they get pretty laxed and become so ingrained into the family that you wouldn't think they're outsiders.", Shirakaba says.
After a bit more walking they arrive in front of a Japanese style blind with four people, guards Magnolin assumes, with two being half-breeds and two being full demons standing in front of it and they are wearing paper masks designed with a large eye in the middle. They give a nod of acknowledgement to Shirakaba and Magnolin before one of them turns towards the blind, from behind voices can be heard comprising of five woman, five men, and one that can't be distinguished yet as they only make grunting sounds, and addresses them,
"Mothers, Big Sister Shirakaba and the guest are here."
All the voices stop save for one,
"Let them in."
At the command the two full demons raise the curtain revealing eleven individuals all sitting on cushions placed on a raised platform, and in front of them on the floor is another large cushion. The woman in the middle of the group has white skin, green eyes, dark blue hair styled like an oiran's with two noticeable orange segmented pieces that look like antennae pulled back into her hairdo. On her face wears red eyeshadow and lipstick, for attire she wears a multilayered kimono that's more militarized in appearance, with extra details reserved for the Knights, and a long obi in front with a centipede design.
Behind is a man with pale brown hair that's short and spiky on top and long enough to reach his chest at the bottom and has light tan skin and light blue eyes. He's wearing a three piece suit underneath a long cape that has fur at the edges and on his shoulders, hands and arms, and knees and calves he's also wearing armor.
To their right is a woman with light skin with black hair tied back into a bun, with a comb, with some loose hair framing her face and tied off by ribbons near the ends. Her eyes are closed while softly smiling and on her face are light pink markings that are rounded out at the ends, one underneath each eye, one on her bottom lip and stopping at her chin, and one going from the tip of her nose up to her forehead and forming into a semi-circle. She's wearing a militarized sleeveless short dress with a large bow on her chest and puffy shorts underneath, detached sleeves, fingerless gloves, and calf guards.
Behind her is a woman who's easily the tallest out of anyone in the room, she has dark skin with long black and white hair that's split into five sections with tassels hanging down from between each one and they both cover her face. She wears a longer version of the formers dress, save for the bow, but the sleeves and ends of the dress are torn with latter being the same state as her leggings underneath. On her wrists and ankles are cuffs with tags on, which from the look of them are the sealing type.
To their right is a woman with grayish brown hair styled into two long thick braids that rest over her shoulders and held at the ends by ribbons, she also has dark blue and orange eyes similar to Kaede and has rounded eyebrows. She wears a detached hood over her head, a militarized kimono top with long sleeves, a skirt, and thigh high socks.
Behind her are two men who are completely identical save for how their hair is styled and colored, with one of having the white half being short on the left and light green half long on the right and the other having the similar style but flipped, and a similar case with their eyes being heterochromia with one colored grey and the other a pale blue. In terms of attire though they're completely identical in wearing half rimmed glasses, Chinese style dresses with long sleeves that cover their hands, and Chinese style pants underneath.
To the left of the woman in the middle is another woman who looks to be the tallest out of the five in front. She has long light purple hair, that's in identical shade to Shirakaba's, with some framing her face while curving a bit and the rest held together by a large ribbon. Her attire consists of a tall hat, a paper mask that's the same as the guards over her face, a more elaborate version of the shrine maidens outfit, and a turtleneck, gloves, and socks all of which cover her completely to where there's no skin showing.
Behind her is a man that has blue hair with a yellow streak, the yellow matching Shirakaba's, that is spiky on top and long at the bottom and held into a low ponytail and has gold colored eyes. He's wearing a vest, arm guards, oversized pants underneath an extra layer of fabric tied by a rope, and calf guards all with fur trimming.
To their left is a woman with hair styled similar to Matsu's but is cut into a bob and is colored in shades of white and has black eyes with the same rings but them and her pupils are colored silver. She's wearing a militarized kimono with a longer dress underneath and wrapped around her waist is an obi, tied at the back like a bow, and socks.
Behind her is a thin and pale man with long pale blue hair and yellow eyes, with attire consisting of a loose kimono top, hakama bottoms, and bandages of similar design to the ones on the tallest woman's cuffs wrapped around his arms and legs.
"Thank you for bringing our guest here Daughter Shirakaba, you are dismissed for now.", the middle woman says.
Shirakaba gives a bow before leaving them, after the middle woman addresses Magnolin,
"Please sit, I won't have an esteemed guest stand for too long let alone one in whom we have so much in common with.", she gestures to the large cushion with her hand, the latter which is pale as her face and has four fingers and noticeably segmented at the joints like an insect's.
Magnolin doesn't move initially, but after a moment she extends both her arms outwards and two large staves with large crystals appear from her and circle around the cushion, and only then does she move forward and sit down, upon doing so the staves flare and many protective wards flare around her, before disappearing from sight, the staves remain on either side of Magnolin as she sits. She makes no effort to remove her mask or concealing clothes.
"I apologize for the precautions, but it is the policy of the Covens to trust none. And as the Interna are so intimately acquainted with their general nature, our fellow demon kin even less than that."
She then looks at each of them. "If you are not already aware, I am sent by the head of our Coven to ascertain the value of Darkaria to us as a resource, and if prudent, allies. Of note was the alleged rumors of its leader, as well as those of your clan. I have seen some things of note, but I would prefer a more complete picture of what it is your clan do and how you handle your affairs - specifically that of taming the nature of our kin, and managing the unique problems that comes with it."
"Your caution is warranted so no need to apologize...", the middle woman says as she pulls out kiseru and fills it with herbs before lighting it with fire and taking a puff of it and exhaling a a stream of smoke by angling her head to where it doesn't get into anyone's face.
"As for our method it mostly involves the siphoning of the demonic energy from half-breeds into full demons, who are either free or given a soul by us or his Majesty, through the usage of either abstinent or wedding rings we've specially made. Course there is the standard procedure of catering to each individual based on what kind of demon they are though given how successful our primary method has been over the past seven hundred years the latter isn't as often used, save for the younger ones till their at least sixteen."
Magnolin seems to think deeply on this. "...I see. Though, I must admit the practice does worry me. Free or not, it could create Demonlords through the practice if not..." She breaks off into thought.
"To me at least, it doesn't seem foolproof. Given what I have heard, it seems as there are elements of the approach which leave much to be desired. After all, the power of a half breed is one thing... it does very little to stem the broiling blood within. Tell me, does it not occur every once in a while that despite your best efforts, there are cases in which Frenzies occur more and more often with ever increasing levels of intensity? It wouldn't happen all the time, but I would expect that you have trouble cases that only get worse with time until finally the dam breaks, and a powerful demon is born, causing strife, pain, and death.
...Am I wrong?" Magnolin summons a large, thick tome.
"I see your concern but what do you suppose battle is for? We can sense when the full demons level of demonic power though we don't send them out on the cusp of their energy is overflowing mind you as we send them out on missions quite often to...let out some steam if you will. We do also add some additional precautions in place for the possibility of things going awry, even if...one of those possibilities means putting them down.", the middle woman says while seemingly sounding saddened at the end and taking a rather long puff of her kiseru.
Magnolin opens the tome and red light flows from it into a diagram of what appears to be the body and the soul of a half demon.
"Let us discuss the characteristics of half demon physiology, that my concerns and how the Coven might be able to provide assistance with your work can be made clear."
The veins in the body diagram begin to glow red. "The blood of a half demon is forever tainted by latent demonic essence. This is unavoidable and to our knowledge, invertible. It is this medium that the soul therefore acquires the taint of demonic power."
The blood is seen intensifying in color as the soul gets a tint of red. There appears to be a cyclical nature between the intensity of the energy and how fast the blood intensifies. Finally the blood appears to start boiling and the energy level reaches a peak.
"Now, say we only address the energy of the soul..." Energy is drained from the soul, and the blood seems to simmer down, but remains at high intensity compared to when it starts.
"Notice that despite draining energy from the target, the blood is still far more intense than when it started? This is part of the Frenzy Cycle. The Coven has firmly established that draining energy is not the same as averting a Frenzy, only postponing it. Without mastery over the self, and a thorough technique for pacifying the blood and the desires that run within it, you will always have severe trouble cases that refuse to be tamed or controlled. Those tragedies will repeat themselves."
She repeats the demonstration with two versions: a version where the half breed diagram never full settles nor ever goes full hardline but rather remains right on the tip of the knife, and a scenario where each draining brings less and less relief until the blood seems to explode and both body and soul turn pure red.
"I do not cast doubt as to your successes, but instead suggest that there is room for growth and improvement. I would learn of your draining rites, that more treatment options can be attained, while it seems to me that your clan could benefit from the rigorous methods of the Coven. If the hearsay I have heard is correct, even some gathered here may benefit." She closes the tome with a thud.
The woman in the middle looks to the one with on her right, obviously looking for a second opinion.
"I completely agree with her, we've had success but not likely to the extent that these Coven folk have so we could learn from them. Though it would lead to a lot more work...", she says with an exhausted sigh at the end, and behind her the tall woman grunts in agreement but let's out a disapproving grunt at the latter remark which the former woman giggles at.
"We've been too stuck in our ways, I hate to admit, but if we wanna be more productive and more useful in our quest of equality we need to expand our horizons.", the woman with the paper mask says.
"I'm surprised your benefiting to the conversation after all the bitching you did some moments ago.", the woman with the hood says teasingly.
"At least she's contributing while your just spewing nothing but trash from your mouth.", the woman with bobbed hair says.
The woman with the hood is about to say something but is stopped by one of the men sitting behind,
"Please dear, we just got done figuring everything out and I don't think you'd want look worse for wear in front of a guest."
She then quickly clears her throat, "Well...especially considering we've been hesitant making these sort of deals before considering the earliest were...", looking for the right words to say the bobbed haired woman chimes in,
"Nothing but acts of betrayal and deceit, but I feel this one is exponentially different in a good way."
Magnolin is silent for a moment before slowly reaching for her mask. “Perhaps a gesture of good faith to facilitate another.”
She slowly pulls off her mask and hat, revealing her face and hair. As her talisman on her neck glows a wave of potent power can be felt from her, the mark of an unusually potent half breed’s aura.
Her wards then flicker before disappearing. “If you know aught of the Covens then I trust you understand I do not make this gesture lightly.” She makes a small smile.
”I am a healer, a curer of unusual and extraordinary circumstances. I am no trickster, nor tempter. I work that fewer children like me have to suffer. I am called Magnolin, First Rung Caretaker and Special Counsel to the Porcelain Witch.”
"Well it's an honor to meet you, and we'll introduce ourselves in respect of your gesture. My name is Hinoki Itsuki, current head of the clan and a former Darkaria Knight.", Hinoki says.
"Gaius Itsuki, I am Hinoki's husband and like his Majesty I am a fellow demon lord.", Gaius says.
"My name is Kaki Itsuki, I'm in charge of raising and caring for the demon animals that reside with us and it's a pleasure to meet you. Behind me here is my wife Jelliana Itsuki, a woman of few words but does get her point across regardless. That was a lot for me to say...", Kaki says before sighing at the end, while Jelliana nodding at Magnolin when she was introduced but let's out another disapproving grunt at Kaki's latter remark to which Kaki giggles again.
"My name is Momo Itsuki, it maybe simple but it's easy enough to remember and I won't forgive you if you forget. Along with the fact that I'm in charge of interrogation", Momo says.
"My name is Mickol Itsuki.", "My name is Nickol Itsuki.", "We're both husbands of Momo-", "-and also in charge of interrogating-", "-traitors and intruders inside the compound.", the twin demons say.
"Kaba Itsuki and i'm in charge of our combat forces in the clan.", Kaba says.
"Askura Itsuki, husband of Kaba and also in charge of our combat forces.", Askura says giving a two fingered wave.
"My name is Tachibana Itsuki, I am the teacher of the new and young members of the clan.", Tachibana says giving a slight bow.
"...Susamaru Itsuki, Tachibana's husband...that's all you need to know about me...", Susamaru says.
"Collectively we all have the skills and powers in, not only typical combat, but also dealing with the main two adversaries that hunt us down which is the divine and the demonic. However there's one more power we have but only a few like me and my half-breed sisters posses in our arsenal, God Slayer.", Hinoki says.
Magnolin seems taken aback by what Gaius said and more so when there is mention of God Slaying.
”…Our information networks said nothing of such things… perhaps the Covens practice isolation to the extreme of detriment…” Magnolin furrows her brow in thought.
”…Regardless, I don’t require an immune response. Deliberate as you wish, and you may send word through an Old Stone.”
She brings out a crumbly looking grey rock cut into angular shapes, and carefully marks it with a stylus. Upon doing so it glows blue and solidifies.
”I bear no further inquiries so I will instead beg forgiveness for the trouble that was brought upon you by my sister, Magpie. She is no longer herself and regularly haunts me. I should not have convinced myself that she would avoid a place like this.”
"So you suffer from family problems as well, eh?", Askura asks amused.
"It doesn't matter, if she shows up again we'll deal with her like we do any other demon from Hell.", Kaba states.
"Of course with your permission and insight in how we should ultimately deal with her, I don't want us stepping on your toes seeing as she's your family.", Hinoki says.
Magnolin blinks before a disgruntled pouting face and looking off to the side.
”Our only ties is through our mother. We didn’t even know at first until a test that reveals major bloodlines detected the same lineage that flows through my veins. For a doltzy, scatterbrained chatterbox, she was quick on the uptake and wouldn’t leave me alone. Had the nerve to make my home hers. It was loud and annoying.
”…But it’s a bit quiet now and… Magpie was a good girl, she deserved better.” Magnolin becomes distracted by her emotions and musings, forgetting her surroundings momentarily.
She makes an embarrassed face before her expression turn sour and she looks back at Hinoki.
”At the very least capture or seal her. Do what you have to protect your own however.”
"As you wish, is there anything else that you wish to address?", Hinoki asks.
”Not particularly. Unless you have aught to share of the negotiations with your Lord.”
At that moment a violent shake rumbles through Darkaria with the Five Mothers, Magnolin and others inside are caught off guard by it. However it isn't the case for the mother's partner's as they're well braced against and also help the formers in riding it out.
"Was that...?", Hinoki begins to ask, still stunned.
"Darkaria has awoken, in other words we don't need to sit around anymore.", Gaius says.
Then on the back of his, and the other full demon's, necks a glow comes from them and then shadows surround and envelope the Five Mothers like a cocoon before they can do anything. When that happens the glow on the back of their necks die down as they pull out from behind them their footwear, save for Jelliana who simply stands but not too far away from Kaki and is looking at the shadow cocoon curiously.
"Apologies if this frightened you but I assure you this is not the work of a demon.", Tsubaki's voice rings out from the stone.
Magnolin calmly looks at the stone. “I have seen many things, and am familiar with the nature of different magics. Thus I have no reason to be alarmed. I take it your talks with Adola have concluded?”
"Yes, currently she's getting the citizens to safety and were fulfilling our end of the bargain in getting the daggers requested. The General Lieutenant of the Army is heading your way with them.", Tsubaki responds.
The shadows surrounding the Five Mothers condense and wrap around their bodies, to where they look like silhouettes, then recede to the back of their necks where a glow that's the same as the others.
"Your seriously sending Kagura here?! I thought I made it clear that-!", Momo starts to argue but is stopped abruptly.
"Lady Momo, I would think with your decision in being more open with others would also mean being less prejudice against outliers like your own daughter.", Tsubaki says, though his tone is calm there is a hint of anger behind it.
"He's right Little Sister Momo, especially after all the years you've spent being afraid of having more children.", Kaki chimes in.
"I don't need to hear that from someone who's been afraid to have-!"
Jelliana gets in between the two and growls at Momo, while Nickol covers Momo's mouth and Mickol also getting in between but trying calm Jelliana.
"I know I have, but that doesn't exclude the fact you've all let me be a mother as well despite not being related by blood.", Kaki responds calmly.
Momo relaxes, but has a look of guilt on her face, in the the other three move back. Hinoki let's out a sigh after taking another puff of her kiseru, "Apologies your Majesty and Magnolin."
"No need for you to do that as I should be the one to apologize, despite knowing of their relationship I should of kept it more vague so this kind of thing wouldn't of happened.", Tsubaki replies.
"You bear so much responsibility, your Majesty.", Gaius comments.
"Not a good habit to have, I'm aware, but it's my duty nonetheless. Anyway back to our main discussion, the daggers will be delivered in front of the Itsuki household so you can meet up with them there. Besides that was there anything else Magnolin?", Tsubaki asks.
She places her mask and witch hat over her face and shakes her head. “Nay. I will make my way there now unless the clan has any questions for me.”
"Perhaps latter but right now we need to assist in tipping the scales of battle a bit, and I plan on making a personal visit to the source who brought all this trouble to us.", Hinoki says while putting her sandals on.
"Don't kill her though, she's not our enemy at the moment so I'd rather you save your bloodlust for our more active threat.", Tsubaki says.
"As you wish, your Majesty.", Hinoki says, though she does sound a bit disappointed.
"I'll get everything in place, I'll let you know when it's ready and wait for your signal Little Sister Hinoki.", Kaba says.
"Mother, things are ready on my end.", Kushinada says from behind the blinds.
"Good, and our three treasures?", Hinoki asks.
"They're ready and set to be summoned when needed.", Kushinada responds.
"Then move out and proceed as planned, and secure victory for Darkaria and it's people. I look forward to working with the Coven after we get through this, and once again thank you for assisting us Magnolin. If there's any other way to repay you I'll be more than willing to do so.", Tsubaki says.
The Five Mothers and their partners give Magnolin a respectful bow before disappearing in shadows, along with most of the others inside the house. 
Magnolin makes her way outside, leaving the Old Stone for the clan. Once outside she leans against a wall and observes the surroundings. 
During her observations she notices a female half-demon with grayish brown colored hair with the right half long and the right half short, yellow and light blue eyes colored in the style of a sunset like Momo and Kaede's, and is wearing a body suit covering all of her except her head with the same being said for her armor, with the addition of a long vest reaching to her calves and on her back is a short sword and round shield. 
In her hands is a wide flat box with a sealing tag on the front of it, though it's obvious she notices Magnolin the half-demon isn't making any notions of moving towards her. 
Magnolin approaches. "I trust everything is in order?" 
The female half-demon nods before holding out the box to her. 
Magnolin takes the box. “Thank you for your time and your work. I know you have other duties to fulfill. I wish you well.” Magnolin takes a pouch of some kind and opens it, setting the contents ablaze, which smoke profusely before enveloping her in a swirl of smoke. When it clears, Magnolin is gone. 
"And she's gone.", the female half-demon says. 
"Good job, come back to my side as I'll need you on the front lines when we strike again.", Yami's voice rings out from her phone. 
"Yes, sir.", she responds before closing it. 
As she's enveloped by shadows there's a look on her that's one of preening at the praise she received, but returns to her neutral impassive look before disappearing. 
==Defend the Sun==
Naegi is walking with her escort to the Police Headquarters when all of a sudden she hears rumbling, and something compels her to look up.
”Miss? Is something the matter?” One guard asks but his voice is muddled and echoed, and as Naegi begins to look at the darkening sky, the crimson eclipse, her red eyes dim and a faint glow begins to surround her as massive harpoons impale the sides of Darkaria and from the sky descends a snow white woman dressed in imperial style clothes, a tall blue skinned man with black armor and black eyes, and a woman with pale skin and silver hair dressed in a kimono, and several icy monstrous humanoids.
Quickly, they separate as the snow white woman descends upon the Police Headquarters, barraging the soldiers there with stakes, and soon horrible screams rise from the Headquarters as the majority of the police force begins to become monsters similar to the beings that descended. The screams begin to spread as the police force soon turns on the people they were meant to protect, a plague of these monsters begins to explode through the population of Darkaria.
The guards soon run and are later picked off by the horde, while Naegi is motionless, collapsed while unable to avert her gaze, even as the blue bodied enemy appears before her and imprisons her in shackles of ice attached to an icy pillar that freezes her neck in place and forces her to gaze upon the eclipse, slowly glowing brighter and brighter as time passes. Time begins to blur together and Naegi doesn’t even notice when her body begins to physically change. Nor when Lysen and the maids find her, guarded by transformed Police Forces who bare their fangs at them.
”Sister… so it’s true. We need to cut a path to her and free her before the Eclipse causes her to be taken over.”
"Understood, if your gonna do what I think you are don't hurt the girl by your crossfire Komorizame.", Shiroshinju says as he manifests a scythe.
"As long as she sits still she'll be fine.", Komorizame responds.
Komorizame slams her palm on the ground and the ground under the transformed Police Officers to explode and fling them into the air, then Shiroshinju zips past them as he fatally slashes them all and lands near Naegi but keeps his guard up as he readies to free her.
He hears small moans from her, her eyes vacant with swirls of gold light shimmering in them and slowly growing. Her heart can be heard beating extremely loudly.
He suddenly hears the sound of projectiles wizzing through the air towards him.
He quickly moves out of the way of all the projectiles and readies himself.
Several stakes narrowly miss him but nothing else happens. Naegi makes another moan and he catches a glimpse of her ears lengthening and her hair growing a few inches longer.
Shiroshinju launches dark colored energy shaped like a swarm of arrows at the chains binding Naegi, but is still aware of his surroundings.
Naegi slumps, but doesn’t fall from the pillar, Lysen rushes over and pries the ice off her neck and cradles her.
”….We need to get somewhere safe.” He fishes through Naegi’s belongings until he finds her phone and calls Chihiro.
”Come on answer… be alright…” He murmurs.
"Hello? Naegi where are you?", Chihiro asks.
”This is Lysen. Are the rest of your group alright? Where are you? I have Naegi but we need to get her safe and indoors!”
"Yes we're fine, we are at a restaurant in the 2nd district so I'll send you coordinates."
"Please do, and quickly, Naegi is reacting to the Eclipse and her body is starting to change. There's no telling how bad the damage will get if we don't get her somewhere where she can't see the eclipse."
Within a second Chihiro sends the coordinates to Lysen.
Lysen looks at the maids. “We have to move to these coordinates. Let’s only hope things do not get worse while we proceed.”
He wastes no time beginning to move.
Shiroshinju and Komorizama also start moving, but before they get going the latter grabs Lysen and holds him bridal style with Naegi still in his arms. Once she has them they begin moving fast towards their designation.
”T-This is quite unnecessary!” Lysen protests.
Progress proves slow, and it is not for some time that they arrive at the restaurant, having fought off many turned citizens to get there. Lysen finally frees himself and rushes Naegi inside.
”Where is somewhere with no windows?!”
"The kitchen, we've prepared a little resting area for her.", Chihiro says.
"Is she alright?", Benjiro asks.
"What happened?! Not just to Naegi but outside?!", Chouko asks.
"W-w-will she be a-alright?", AIto asks.
Chihiro looks at Naegi and has a look of familiarity on her face.
"It's beginning isn't it? I know those eyes.", Chihiro asks.
Lysen rushes her to the kitchen and sets her down, casting wards and spells.
”We are in uncharted territory. Precious little is known about the process of becoming the Goddess but we found her in an enemy encampment forced to look upon the Eclipse, changing the whole time most like. This at least confirms that there is in fact a connection between the Eclipses and Ayana. Is her fate sealed, or can she be saved? I have no answer.”
The group now that they are able to see her properly, can see that Naegi is at least a foot and several inches taller, while her face and body has changed into a more mature shape, coupled with her lengthening ears that have almost completely pointed, she now looks almost completely elven.
”As for the other question, Darkaria is being sieged by the Dark Magister, Evoh, Lord of Chaos, and his monstrous servants the Keli’ser. Why isn’t clear.”
"Evoh and Keli'ser?", Chouko asks.
”If the Magisters are meant to be good gods, then Evoh is their antithesis. So the legends go anyway. I’m beginning to wonder what the truth is though, as Lord Tsubaki informed me Evoh’s visit was meant to tell Darkaria to leave the Magisters alone, by extension, Naegi to her fate. That, and the Keli’ser were likely behind Naegi being forced to look at the Eclipse. She was chained to a pillar by their magic yet they had no interest in turning her, which shouldn’t be the case if the Magisters and Evoh are total enemies.
As for the Keli’ser, they are the creations of Evoh and are said to be the wicked hearts of mortals made flesh, and they procreate by sucking the blood and soul out of their victims. I fear the majority of the monsters you have seen and we have encountered were our forcibly turned allies. I believe that, unfortunately, the majority of your comrades in the Police Force were turned in the initial assault, as it appears to be their hive.
Lastly… Evoh has taken Shiroyuki, Kimahara, Kohaku, and my assistant with him and likely means to transform them into a more powerful breed of Keli’ser, ones created by his direct hand. If that is the case, if this siege carries on too long… they may return as unspeakable monsters of power enough to destroy Darkaria altogether.” Lysen’s expression is grave.
"General Shiroyuki was taken?!", Benjiro asks.
"Correct, I saw it with my own eyes. Somewhat. I only saw him attack Tsubaki and then the next thing I knew, Shiroyuki and several others had been turned into ice like forms and spirited away with him. I know not where, but if I had to guess, it would be his realm of Xalivar. For the time being though, Naegi's wellbeing takes priority- -if Evoh's intent was to stop interference then it won't escape his notice that she was freed from his minions clutches. Alert those Army folks in the other room to be alert for a potential attack."
Naegi makes a small moan. "Chi... Chi... hir...o...." Her gaze is unfocused, but it almost seems as though Naegi had picked up on her presence.
"I'm here Naegi, it'll be alright just be strong.", Chihiro says taking Naegi's hand into hers.
Chouko goes to the other room where Yu, Yosu, and Yoshi are.
"Hey, we need you guys to be on guard in case someone comes knocking.", she says.
"We heard and don't worry we're ready.", Yu replies.
Chihiro feels Naegi lightly cling to her, trembling lightly.
Lysen walks out to where Yu and his team are.
“Lysen Eliumyor. I imagine after what little you saw you’d have questions, unfortunately I cannot answer them, just know that I won’t forget your help here. I also heard about the confrontation with the snobs earlier, I heard that a internal hearing and excommunication took place, so know that my estranged family took action in your defense.”
He gives Yu a slight bow of respect. “Please let me know if I can assist you in any way.”
"Appreciated.", Yu responds.
Some time later, Lysen goes back out to where Yu and the others are after confirming that Naegi seems to be stable for the moment, and looks about.
"I have an ominous feeling, as though something is coming. Something that isn't right. I don't know how to describe it, but it's a feeling of dread in my gut I just can't shake... be careful will you?"
"Yes, the winds are picking up something dangerous.", Yoshi states.
"We'd feel better if you keep your distance yet also support us if possible.", Yosu says.
Lysen nods.
At some point one of the group notices a female Keli'ser clad in iron like armor strolling towards them with purpose, seemingly intent on going to the resturant. 
As they get ready to engage, Lysen moves to get a view of the situation and freezes.
"...Damn you..." He growls, a rare tone of genuine anger in this voice.
"What's wrong? You recognize her?", Yu asks.
He looks at her silently for a few minutes. "...Yatifa. My assistant. Or... was. Then Evoh took her in the initial attack... and now she's like this." He clearly seems displeased.
His expression forms into a glare. "Be on your guard."
'Yatifa' breaks into a maniac grin when she seems to notice something. "Lysen! LYSEN! I've come for you at last! Now we can be together! You and I! Come, look at me!"
Lysen tights his fists, his eyes dark. He seems to tremble with something akin to rage, before appearing to become strangely calm, and straightens. "It's best if you use me as a distraction. I'll come out first, only make a move when her attention is fully invested in me."
"We'll follow your lead then.", Yu says.
Lysen seems to glide out of the restaurant with an ease counter to his mood, making nary a sound. He comes to a stop outside, staring her down.
"Who are you?" He intones in a surprisingly hostile tone.
'Yatifa' seems taken aback, but regains composure quickly. "You know who I am, silly~ It's me. Though, for the record, my name is now Oralie Opaline. My lord gave me this perfect form that I might obtain that which I desire~"
Lysen sighs heavily. "So what do you want, Oralie?"
She becomes confused. "What...? I want you, Lysen. You... and me. I love you! With every ounce of my body and soul! I've always loved you, but now I have everything I need for you to love me! Look!" She fondles her bust playfully.
"They're big now, big and beautiful! Just like so many of the Virmels and Eliumyors!" She strokes her hips next. "Every inch, your perfect beauty, this body is all for you and you alone!" Her voice is practically drunk on her own fantasies, oblivious to the darkening scowl growing on Lysen's face, the dark eyes glaring at her.
She twirls, coming to a stop while looking and him and beaming. "So now you can finally see me, love me, I'm perfect, your perfect woman! So come, love me, live our lives as perfect lovers, undying, eternal, beautiful!" Her eyes are crazed and wild, her smile demented in her overflowing glee and estacy. 
"No." Lysen intones, the coldness shattering her gleeful expression into one of cold shock.
"Why?! Why?! Why not?! I'm everything you could want, I'm beautiful! Beautiful! Why are you looking at me like that?! That sister of yours, are you under her spell?! Don't worry, I'll set your mind-"
A fireball blasts Oralie back several feet and sends her tumbling across the ground, Lysen's eyes glowing ominously as he snarls, "You will not touch her!"
At this point, he has drawn his staff and looks down right possessed with hatred and anger.
Oralie slowly forces herself to stand and looks haunted with fear and confusion. "Why...? I don't understand..."
Yu's black tar then encases Oralie's body up to her shoulders, then Yosu appears behind her with his blade drawn to decapitate her with Yoshi, who appears, and swings her giant fan and unleashes an arched blade of wind aimed at her neck.
Oralie snarls and screams, "I'M TALKING HERE YOU FLEAS!!!" And without warning, a large explosion of fire vaporizes the tar and causes it to explode, knocking Yosu back and the blast cancelling the wind attack, she stands up breathing heavily, her armor now spikier with her rage. She swings her arm aggressively in Yosu and Yoshi's direction and spikes of rusty metal begin blasting out from the street towards them with violent speed, while she swings her greatsword at Yu, causing metal shrapnel to fly at him, wheeling around to face Lysen.
"No, no, NO! Who are you?! WHO ARE YOU!? YOU'RE NOT LYSEN! IMPOSTER, LIAR, FAKE! WHO ARE YOU?!" She screams in fury.
In answer, Lysen motions with his staff and another fireball flings at her, but she bats it aside effortlessly and charges. "WHO ARE YOU?!"
Yu swings his hand upward and the black tar appears under himself, Yosu, Yoshi, and Lysen that then moves them into the sky on floating tar platforms. He then manipulates more tar into the shape of spikes that surround Oralie and dart toward her at great speed.
Oralie snarls and slams her fist into the ground, in the dust she disappears. Lysen however whips his head to the restaurant and slams his staff on the ground, creating pillars of earth that cause damage to the building but in the process expose Oralie, who quickly becomes trapped in earthen bars. 
She lets out a vicious scream, and glares at Lysen. "IMPOSTER! THE REAL LYSEN LOVES ME, I KNOW IT! YOU, YOU'RE... WRONG!"
Lysen's gaze softens. "So this is what you've become, Yatif-"
"I AM ORALIE OPALINE! QUEEN OF LILIES! SHE IS DEAD, THERE IS ONLY ME, BEAUTIFUL, PERFECT, ME! AND YOU WILL GIVE ME BACK MY LYSEN!!!" She roars, shattering the cage and rushes him, Lysen stands his ground and when she closes the distance, he taps her forehead with his staff and she crumbles as a wave of blue magic flows over her. She appears to struggle to stay awake.
"Why?" He asks quietly. "Why would you debase yourself like this?"
"You wouldn't look at me otherwise... you... you were surrounded with such beauty and I... I was obscure, nobody, a servant... ugly..." Oralie weeps.
"Why won't you look at me? Why won't you accept me? I'm perfect... perfect... perfect..." She begins crying in frusteration. 
"So you have to be fake! Give him back to me!!! Who are you?!"
At this point, the other group looks out to see what had been happening, a weak Naegi looking out towards the scene, Lysen hesitates when he sees her. He then turns his head toward Oralie.
"So you really felt this way, all this time?" He closes his eyes and puts his hand over them, clenching his head. "Why didn't you just tell me your feelings...? It didn't have to come to this-" He pauses, seeming to consider something.
"...Or maybe it did. After all, I was the one who didn't notice. How you felt... or how I myself felt. ...To think all this time..." His hand slowly lowers, and a sad, mournful look is gradually replaced with a cold, dark expression.
"...For the sake of the memory of the woman I loved, disappear." He charges a fireball point blank at Oraline, who seems taken aback, but then anger sets in and she snarls:
"YOU. ARE NOT. LYSEN!!!" A massive burst of wind blows him back, and she glowers at him. "Who. Are. You?"
Lysen regards her coldly. "I loved who you were before. Not the abomination you are now. That body, that demented mind... none of it is her. None of it is Yatifa. And so, I cannot love you."
She clutches her head. "Those words... but they're not... that magic is not... but it looks like... but he feels like..." She crumples to her knees, cradling her head, and her form begins to crack with blue light.
Lysen goes to face Naegi, but a voice calls out from a rooftop: "It's been such a long while, and you haven't even bothered to say hello? And how cruel, treating the woman who loves you body and soul like that... why... you've destroyed her very reason for life. Look at her, she's crumbling apart, you monster." 
Lysen's face goes livid and he wheels to face the voice. "DO NOT SPEAK TO ME OF 'MONSTERS', EVOH!!!"
They all look at the source as well and immediately put their guard up, with Chihiro, Chouko, Benjimaru and Aito staying close to Naegi.
Lysen brandishes his staff at Evoh, who just smirks. "So you finally acknowledge me." Evoh grins.
"How many years has it been do you think? A few? A dozen? ...Millennia? What do you think, Father?"
"Father!?", everyone says surprised and confused.
Lysen coldly blasts Evoh with a fireball, who reappears standing beside Oraline.
"He is the Elven Lord of Chaos. A complete madman, and his word is worth less than the dirt he tramples. And, as an aside, the one behind all of this, so maybe prioritize stopping him from causing any more harm?" He fires another fireball, Evoh casually deflects it with a wave of his hand and examines Oraline.
"You really have shattered her heart... she's not liable to survive much longer, thanks to you."
"And whose fault is that?!" Lysen barks, another fireball launching towards Evoh, who sighs, and bats it back at Lysen, doubled in size. Lysen smacks it with his staff, and it gets bigger and hurtles at Evoh, causing an escalating tennis match from hell. Finally Evoh strikes it with incredible speed and Lysen is sent hurling into the building's wall with a tremendous explosion. Evoh then kneels by Oraline and places a hand on her head.
"Certainly not mine alone, none of this would have happened if you lot would stop messing with people's lives and sacrificing them for your 'holy cause'." Evoh seethes.
"Pot calling the kettle black!", Chihiro shouts.
Naegi clutches her chest. "...Brother...?" She then cries out in pain, seeing the red moon and doubling over, Lysen sees this and rushes towards the group.
Evoh flicks his hand and creates an ice wall cutting Lysen and Evoh off from the group, meanwhile the group is unable to see or hear outside, and shortly after more walls of ice entomb the building.
"Get Naegi back inside, we'll try to assist Lysen!", Shiroshinju commands.
Benjimaru picks up Naegi and carries her back into the building, with the group following him.
Once they're inside Komorizame starts stretching herself and Shiroshinju summons his scythe again, and once the former is done she starts creating explosions on the ice while Shiroshinju slashing the areas where the explosions have taken place.
The group returns to the kitchen the Benjimaru gently puts Naegi down, "What's going on?", Yu asks.
"Long story short, an ancient being named Ayana resides in Naegi because of another ancient being named Gande who was inside Naegi's brother Lysen's father.", Chouko says.
"Though from the sound of it Gande is now inside Lysen, maybe to keep a closer eye on Naegi and Ayana.", Benjimaru says.
Naegi can be heard moaning. "M-Mom... Mom..." She seems distressed, eyes clenched tightly together and grimacing, sweating profusely. There is a shimmer of golden light dancing about her, but before anyone can react she begins to scream and light floods the room.
"No no no no no! Mom! Mom! Please no, no no no! MOMMY! Stop, please stop... Mom, the city... Nene... Nini...! Please, please PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP!!!" She screams herself hoarse, repeatedly, as though going maniac from witnessing something only she sees.
The group shield their eyes from the light emanating from Naegi, "Naegi!", Chihiro calls out.
I suppose I have no choice now.
In an expanse of white, a woman wearing a white dress decorated with golden ornaments, long platinum blonde hair, and motherly figure sighs, golden eyes furrowed in thought. She begins to walk forward to a distant sleeping presence, and loudly speaks,
"How long do you intend to slumber while the Lord of Chaos violates your people and make them his playthings? The time to wake is now." When no initial response is heard, she reaches forth and golden lightning strikes the entity with a calamitous force. 
"Awaken, lest too much loss befall those fleeting lives."
Ayana then can sense the entity awaken though it does so groggily, it then takes only a moment for it to regain clarity and Ayana can sense it's immense anger. At that moment the entirety of Darkaria starts violently shaking, stumbling those unaware but those who do know are able to keep their balance and a red glow can be seen emanating from the back of their necks.
All of the sudden the Keli'ser with the glow on their necks are trapped in cocoons made of shadow with some individuals on Darkaria without the glow, including the group, are enveloped by shadows. Once all that has happened a red barrier surrounds Darkaria, preventing anymore possible attempts to regain it or any other aerial attacks.
In front of Ayana shadows merge to form a body about the same height as a typical person, though the only stand out features are red glowing lines coming from the center of its chest, red round eyes, and red line where it's mouth would be.
"Thirteen years...been asleep for that long and this is what I come back to...the messes that we tend to get ourselves mixed in with.", the body says with different disembodied voices.
Ayana is walking away without a word.
"Hold on, I wish to speak with you Ayana.", the body says to her.
She slowly stops and her head tilts slightly. “I am listening.”
"There are plenty of things I wish to ask, regarding the Darkening and all things related, so would you be willing or able to answer them?", the body asks.
She slowly turns to face him and is quiet for a moment. “And what would you do with this knowledge? Interfere in our most sacred of duties, that we have labored since before you were born?”
"Is it so sacred that you don't mind glossing over the fact that countless and senseless casualties will occur? I know our values on life are different, but I would like to at least meet a middle ground in all of this.", the body responds.
Wordlessly she takes a majestic sword and impales it in the ground and blinding light envelopes them, soon revealing a crystalline floor patterned with the phases of the sun and moon. Behind Ayana is a throne on the top of which is a sun symbol that appears to slowly be overlapped by a moon. Sitting unconscious is what looks like Naegi. Trickling rivers of golden light descend from the ceiling and enter her chest. The source of this is a massacre crystal sphere of pure light, entering and exiting it is what appears to be streams of souls with gold light, while far above countless purple tinted souls glitter like stars.
Ayana eyes the being. “This is the hall of the Solinus, which resides within me. In truth, I am one with the Solinus and it is one with me. In eons past, we merged into one, and thus my sacred duty began. The Solinus is the engine of life and rebirth of all elven souls, past and present, even the fallen kindred such as the Wood Elves may enter it and return to us in the flow.
You call it casualties? Senseless? Without our sacred duty, without the Darkening, all precious newborn lives would cease, the cry of freshly born babes would fall silent, and the elves will cease to be.” 
Ayana gestures to the billions of shimmering souls. “For the future of lives within the cycle. The billions to be born, looking on from beyond the veil. Before your eyes you see the trees, but we see the forest, and the solemn charge we are bound to, that one day we will all be freed when we have returned to righteousness.”
"So in other words your exchanging one elves life for another, but how long will it be till that day you are 'freed'? Are you still willing to continue such a vicious cycle of rebirth for eon's without seeing the end goal in sight until eventually your races ceases to be?", the body asks.
She closes her eyes. “If there is naught of substance you wish to say then depart. Attempting to sway my heart with doubt… how very like one who would consort with demons.”
"My apologies, I do understand your attempting what you think is best for your kind however my view point is as I stated. Though I do wish to help so that there maybe another path in which to gain what you seek without having to go through this.", the body says.
She sighs. “You misunderstand. This is atonement for our race’s sins. Defiance of the expectations our creator had for us. This is our divine trial. A burden we must bear, for the return to our true selves, for his love to return to us. For when we Magisters have guided elven kind back to the purity they were meant to uphold, is when our labor shall end. There is no other way. There is only our penance, our tireless work in guiding our people, no matter how much we must suffer ill guided attempts to steer us off our path, or hateful degradation from those who think greater of themselves than the gods.”
She turns away. “Not that my heart does not ache at the tragedies, yearn for duty’s end…”
The body let's out a deep sigh before looking at Naegi, "Is she still herself?", it asks.
”For now, my nephew’s meddling has caused noticeable trauma and warped the integrity of her soul, my being is flooding in to fill the cracks. The damage will be noticeable, even with my best efforts to mitigate it. Regardless, it won’t be long when her soul begins to accept its new self and begins the process of integrating itself into me. Already she is fusing with the Solinus, and feel its call to become Queen, become the Darkmother.”
"I'm assuming there's no way to separate you two safely and have you live your own lives without affecting the other?", the body asks.
”There is not. The bond was already secure before this point, but she has already halfway melded into me. Her body has already shed it human elements and become full blooded. There is nothing you can do for her, only accept what will be.”
"There is something I wish to do though I don't how effective it will be since your with her though I still wish to try nonetheless, with both of your permissions of course.", the body says
”Only a few alterations can be made to my vessel and it is solely with my consent that they might be applied, what is it that you want?”
The body holds up its right hand and above it floats a crest, "The soldiers who have displayed qualities that I look for in them are ones I bestow with my crest, or as most like to call it, 'Darkaria's Blessing' as ironic as it may sound. With this they're giving major boosts to their power, however said power is in correlation to their natural abilities so that it doesn't make them complacent. It also grants them access to the varying usage of Darkarianite and Shadows, like Tsubaki, but again with power scaling and imagination in mind. Their minds are also linked to mine so I'll get an influx of information on a daily basis and even as we speak, but of course I can shut it off if you desire me to do so."
"There are plenty other benefits but Naegi will know them once she accepts it, plus I doubt I have time to explain everything.", the body says.
”There is naught such a boon can offer, nor would my power allow it. I do not intend to have my body put in harm’s way, especially once our union comes closer. And should a threat arise, I will merely strike it down.”
She turns away. “If there is nothing more to discuss… we both are short on time.”
The body let's out a disappointed sigh, "Very well, but remember that once word gets out of your resurrection that while you'll make sure Naegi isn't in harm's way the same can't be said for her friends. Though for the sake of keeping what little peace we have, you and her should know they've accepted my gift."
The connection breaks, and Ayana sets to work…
----Lysen slowly turns toward Evoh and his eyes and hair darken. "What are you playing at, Evoh?" A different voice from Lysen's speaks in a cold tone.
Evoh sighs dramatically. "We used to call each other Father and Son you know. So much more heartwarming. But I'm talking to the resident stick in the mud so far up his own behind I'm surprised you can even bend over." 
Gande narrows his eyes and points his staff at Evoh. "Get to the point. Why are you getting involved? Do you understand what you're doing is putting Ayana-"
"You should not be talking to me about putting Ayana through trouble! Have any of you thought about how depraved your actions have been, even once?" Evoh hisses.
Gande glowers in turn. "And I said, don't talk to me about monsters, Evoh. Look around you. Do you not see this carnage?"
Evoh just starts laughing. "For every single person here inconvenienced by my little excursion, you have condemned a billion more to so many Darkenings and Dawnings, I've lost count! Do you even know how many souls Ayana has absorbed by this point? Can you comprehend what that has done? And with each Dawning and Darkening, the elves completely regress, their society collapses, art, history, philosophy, all washed away in the tide of Ayana's fusion. And for what? For the cycle to begin again a scant thousand years later?
For divine will?"
Gande's eyes tighten. "Watch what you speak of, child."
"In your pursuit of... 'Temperance', how many girls have been sacrificed to Ayana? And tell me, what happened to that girl's soul, 'Ayana'? Consumed and forgotten, just like all the rest of the ones she's adopt the name of. Before long, she will start calling herself Naegi, won't she? That girl will become a murmur, all her potential sucked out and evaporated into Ayana's stagnating soul."
Gande's fists clench. "And what of you? You claim to oppose our ideals, but you seem content to warp people into whatever you desire just the same. We, however, labor to return elvenkind to enlightenment, to glory, and to behold the return of Temperance once more. Ayana has taken the burden of seeing our people reborn to endure the nessisary trial, no matter how long she must endure!" 
Evoh sighs. "Have you paused to consider if she remembers her wedding? Her name? Her childhood?"
Gande flinches. "What are you talking about?"
"What I have been this whole time. While you have been obsessed by 'duty', you've numbly accepted things as they are with no bearing of where the endgoal even is. Oblivious to the consequences, as over the eons, her light has diminished. Her joyous, boundless soul flickers and wanes. Eventually, she will no longer smile, hold joy in her heart, or even strive for another dawn." Evoh's arms fold.
"It's time the Magisters stopped." 
A golden light begins erupting from the resturant. 
"Are you a fool? We have no choice but to pres- -AYANA!" Gande wheels toward the bellowing light in shock.
"That was not a request. But since you insist on sacrificing souls to your cause again and again, here, you meant to do the same with this one, didn't you?" Evoh walks next to Gande and places into his arms a weak and bony formed Yatifa, while he carries with him a feebly glowing crystal.
"I am off to salvage what's left of this tattered soul. You have a choice to make. You can try and stop the frenzying of her soul, or you can carry out your duty and bring Falan to life." With that, Evoh disappears into shadow, leaving Gande in the darkness, numbly holding the lifeless form of Yatfia in his arms, a tear drop splatters onto her face.
"...I'm so sorry." The gentle voice of Lysen cracks.
== Defending the Sun II ==
The flood of light finally subsides, but in Naegi’s place is a woman visually similar but far more womanly, with platinum blonde hair and radiant golden eyes. She towers over the men in the room, and is adorned in a white dress decorated with golden ornaments. A figure familiar to Chihiro and now in greater clarity than she had seen before.
She places a hand on her bosom. “She sleeps, while I mend her broken mind and soul. This is only a temporary arrangement.” She looks at Chihiro and speaks with a voice faintly similar to Naegi’s yet her own.
She looks over the group and the building. “This place sustained damage in the attack. It holds but it will likely cave in at too strong a provocation.”
"We need to leave then, I'm hoping Mr. Shiroshinju and Ms. Komorizame are making progress on that ice wall.", Chouko says.
"We also need to check on Lysen, even with the boost by Darkaria I still can't hear anything.", Benjimaru says.
Ayana slowly closes her eyes. “He is… elsewhere. Conducting… business.”
Both Benjimaru and Chouko have a look of realization at her words then they both try to stifle their laughter.
"What?", Aito asks.
"Nothing!", Chouko squeaks out, while Benjimaru shakes his head.
”I doubt that he would be social even if he was not preoccupied with duty. This has not been a favorable day for him. Now, where would you say is the next place to go, now that those two should be breaking free of the ice?”
"I'd like to help push back the enemy, i-if at a-a-all possible.", Aito says before stuttering when eyes are on him.
"I agree, we became soldiers to fight for a cause and our enemy seeks to disrupt that. We can't just sit around and do nothing but twiddle our thumbs.", Yu says.
"Though the front lines might be too much for us even with our new boost, so I say we go around through the 5th District to the 4th District and help push back.", Yoshi says.
"We're gonna have to be careful and give the Virmel and Eliumyor families a wide berth, assuming she wants to come with.", Chihiro says nodding to Ayana.
Ayana sighs. “I do not. My attention is required on preventing your friend’s mind and soul from collapsing from the strain. Further stressing her being while I am in control would be selfish and cause her suffering. I don’t care what you decide to do but know that my brother will likely desire to remove me from the situation altogether and spirit us away to advance the fusion and initiate the Darkening. In other words if you leave, I will not be guaranteed to be here on your return.”
"What about Naegi?! She doesn't have a say in this?!", Chihiro angrily asks.
”She lost that when that vile man targeted her out of malice. Regardless what happens, her destiny is the same. A long, protracted erosion of mind and self, or a quick transcendence, we will fuse. But that didn’t have to be. So blame that foul man for his hatred, and poor chance that she was born with a broken soul, destined to wither to nothing without intervention.”
Ayana crosses her arms. “It is futile to bemoan the steps that led us here, only the now matters. And I will not force more power through her being to intervene in your conflict with my warped nephew. Or do you only pretend to care for Naegi’s well-being for your benefit?”
"I actually care for Naegi cause she's the first friend I've ever had, unlike you who only views her as tool to use for your never ending quest for purification.", Chihiro harshly responds.
Ayana looks straight into her eyes. "If that were the case, I wouldn't be deliberately slowing our fusion by forcing her to sleep, while I mend damage to her mind and soul. I'd allow Evoh's manipulations to shatter her beyond repair, consume her utterly in the process. Even my name- -it is not the name of my birth. It is the name of my last Vessel, whose memory I honored in the last age by taking it as my own, and naming the first of my children of that age after her: Ayana Valeria Eliumia."
Ayana gets a shadowed look on her face. "You think you're the first. That you're the only one that has grappled with this loss. There have been others. There always is. Questioning why their friend. Is there no other way? Over... and over... and over again." Her mouth tightens.
"Do you really think I want this? Do you take my for my nephew?" Tears stream down her cheeks.
"So many voices, crying out in fear, confusion, despair, and all of it my fault! Slowly being drowned, forgotten by all but me. Me, who has to bear this burden, silently, alone, for a thousand years, then a thousand more, and a thousand more after that..." She begins trembling.
"I try to find happiness in this existence, convince myself that the voices asking for guidance, for hope, are worth bearing the whispers of doubt and pain. ...You could never understand my guilt, or my pain, no matter what that shadow told or shown you. So do not judge me child, for burdens that would break you if you had to bear them. You know not the stakes, nor my burden, nor my resolve."
She tightens her fists and regains composure. “I don’t care what you do, but if you think leaving us here is wise, then I bid you consider what it cost Naegi when she was unprotected and the Keli’ser found her. Even if I had no interest in furthering the Darkening, you would risk putting your friend in Evoh’s hands again, and this time he might not be lazy with security.”
"Oh woe is me, 'I have endured thousands of years of repeating the same endless cycle and through those cycles have come face to face with the same negative emotions so many times that they only steel my resolve to continue because I believe my path is right while every naysayer, regardless of what they might say or try to do, is wrong', honestly the self-righteous never cease to amuse me.", a voice says.
They turn to see the source and it's a pale white woman with woman with green eyes, dark blue hair done in a geisha style, and wearing a kimono done in Darkaria colors and Knight features. Behind her is a tall tan man with light brown colored hair, light blue eyes, and wearing a four piece suit, armor and cape with fur trimming, done in Darkaria colors.
Next to the woman is Kushinada, who when compared to each other look very similar despite the amused look on the former and an impassive look on the latter that's shared by the man, and behind Kushinada is another man that's leaning against a wall and wearing Roman gladiator-like armor done in Darkaria colors but doesn't seem interested in what's going on currently. 
The woman immediately doubles over as if choking, as Ayana’s expression furrows and her eyes darken with a ring of gold light around her pupils that makes her eyes akin to a blazing solar eclipse, and upon meeting Ayana’s gaze the woman feels as though she will spontaneously combust. 
After a moment she moves her gaze toward Kushinada and the intensity and the choking sensation vanish but she finds speech impossible. 
<Speak and pray you have better sense than to test my patience than her. Do not mistake tolerance and patience for acceptance of vainglorious and egotistical belittling and mockery.> She intones in Ancient Elvish but her words are understood all the same. Her voice has the quality of many voices speaking in unison. 
"The fact my mother made you angry is enough for her so you won't hear anymore of that kind of talk. Not only that our actions are going to benefit you and Darkaria while crippling our enemy, so please drop whatever it is you cast and hear us out.", Kushinada responds while crossing her arms. 
The man leaning against the wall is now paying attention and has an impressed look on his face, the other man behind the woman puts a hand on the latter's back in a comforting gesture to which the woman gives him a look of appreciation. And the other group, at the notice of something happening to the woman, have immediately moved back away from Ayana with Yosu and Benjirou in front of the group and amongst them notably is Aito shaking in fear while Chouko hugs him and tries to comfort as well. 
Ayana regards Kushidana with steel in her eyes. "She made her choice, that is her consequence. If she wishes to fool around and belittle others at her leisure, that is her penance to pay for the duration of this conversation. Perhaps it will serve as a lesson in how to handle a diplomatic approach correctly." 
Ayana closes her eyes. "In my court, and in days of old, it is held that all are welcome to debate and are equals in the discussion of progress and opportunity. However, those uncivil and unwilling to speak free of personal grievances and willing to belittle others were to have their voices cast from the halls, or their person thrown out all together should they be unrepentant." 
She opens her eyes. "So shall it be here. <Speech permitted, but next time I will send you home under house arrest.>" She addresses Kushinada's mother coldly. Turning her head to Kushinada's group, 
"I am listening, but your mother exhausted your sole spare act of lenience afforded to you. You will not be offered another, so I bid you choose your words wisely." 
Kushinada does give her mother a warning look to which she gets a shrug return though it's obvious that, despite what Ayana did to her, the woman seems proud of herself. Despite that Kushinada speaks, 
"First, we're gonna bring you to his Majesty's side, this way your host will be protected and give these young soldiers some piece of mind. Which, second, out of respect for their desire to fight will be sent to the 4th District to help defend the gate. Third, we're unleashing a land wide spell that'll both debilitate and damage, both body and soul, the mastermind of this invasion. And finally fourth, a district wide spell being set over the 3rd District to once again do the similar thing as the former but to the divine, beings or otherwise. All we ask is you don't do ANYTHING to stop us from what were doing and what's going to happen, any questions?", Kushinada finishes by asking. 
”Not in particular. Though I trust you will likely learn the consequences of directly engaging my nephew in time. Beyond telling you that it’s a bad idea, I have no intention of engaging you or your enemy. I am not a party to the present conflict.” 
Kushinada appears to think a bit before looking at her mother, 
"I suppose we deal with what can easily be dealt with, then if he confronts us we deal with him accordingly.", she says. 
"Alright, so if there's no further objections then we're proceeding as planned, so enjoy your first travel by shadows.", Kushinada says. 
The shadows then envelope them, though before completely Chihiro can be heard saying, "Keep Naegi safe please.". Then the next thing Ayana knows is that she's in front of the doors of the castle, and currently there is Tsubaki, Umemaru, some of the Battle Butler's and Maids including Shiroshinju and Komorizame, and the Dakaria Knights excluding the obvious, along with some other individuals ranging from the Magical Researchers, Science Lab, Healing Squad, but most others are ambiguous though which Knight they huddle around its obvious who they work under. 
"Thank you Kushinada, your dismissed to your present duties for now.", Tsubaki says. 
Kushinada bows before disappearing in shadows, then Tsubaki looks at Ayana. 
"Ayana.", he says somewhat respectfully. 
Ayana closes her eyes. “Aught you wish to speak before I allow this child to sleep?” 
"There's a lot I wish to say, though most of it falls into similar category of Lady Hinoki's earlier quip to you. Though I will say to you I haven't given up, on everything that falls under the category of what you wish to accomplish. Because I believe you all to be victims in all of this and I wouldn't be doing my duty as King if I just let you continue to suffer in such cruel way.", Tsubaki responds. 
”…And yet, what has that garnered? Your kingdom burns. Thanks to that woman’s meddling, this one’s time has been shortened even more than it already was. The Magisters labor for the restoration of our kind, the salvation of which has been impeded time and time again, by mortals blissfully unaware that it was their own influence that brought our kind to their knees in the first place.” 
Ayana’s eyes open briefly. “Influence that I allowed, my love, my king, permitted. Think of these things, young king.” 
With that Ayana drifts to sleep and her figure soon reverts to Naegi, albeit now very elven in appearance. 
"Even if my kingdom burns its better than doing nothing, cause even I did oblige in not interfering what makes one think things like this wouldn't have happened anyway? I prefer to do something rather than just watch others suffer, doing nothing makes me no better than a tyrant.", Tsubaki says. 
The Healing Squad members present, comprising of April, May, General Lieutenant January, and young male with blue hair done in a bob glasses with three lenses, carefully approach Naegi. 
"Naegi?", April asks cautiously while slowly raising her to touch her. 
”Unless you mean to take her to a place to lie down, please desist from touching her.” Ayana’s voice echoes in April’s head in warning just before her fingers make contact. 
April does reel back a bit but then looks to May, 
"Get out a stretcher so we can transport Naegi, you don't mind if we borrow room for her?", she asks Sayaka. 
The latter looks at Tsubaki and he gives her a nod of approval. 
"Go and get a room ready, and I want five of you on guard duty.", Sayaka orders. 
"Yes, ma'am!", the currently present Battle Butler's and Maids respond. 
Shiroshinju, Komorizame, Aiuchi, March, and a girl, with maroon colored slightly curled hair done in twin pigtails, immediately go into the palace and do as Sayaka ordered. May then pulls out from her bag a mini stretcher that she then makes grow to normal size and sets it down, then January and the three lenses boy carefully and cautiously take Naegi and lie her down on it. Then they pick up the stretcher, with her on it, and go inside the castle with April and May following them and with the doors being held open and immediately closing once inside. 
Once they're safely inside Tsubaki let's out a breath and addresses to everyone present, 
"It's time to reclaim Darkaria.", he says with his eyes glowing. 
———
Lysen feels warmth and softness, his mind sluggish. What was he doing? He then freezes as a comfortable sigh from a woman moans close by, no, under him-
It all came rushing back, that heat of the moment passion and emotion…
He feels the woman gently embrace him. Falan. He had given what was left of Yatifa to the Goddess in the hope that she might live on at least in part. However he can’t help but think of his meeting with Gande shortly after his meeting at the infirmary with Tsubaki…
”Haven’t you done enough?” Lysen snapped in his mindscape. “What do you want now?!”
The shadowy form that was Gande slouches. “To talk. To tell you the truth, honestly and truly; there is no cure for your sister. She will become the Goddess, and usher in the Darkening.”
”Do you just expect me to give up?!” Lysen snaps. “She is my sister!”
”…And Ayana is mine. That is why I want to talk to you; we both want to keep our sisters safe, and their fates are now one.”
Lysen listens to Gande as he explains the role of the Magisters, and how eons ago, the elves all existed akin to how the Magisters did, ageless and ethereal. However their sinful pursuit of material pleasures drew the ire of their creator, who struck them down and made them into mortal forms, one part of their being, the Dark Elves, and the other, the Light Elves would trade places roughly every thousand years if their generation failed to change their ways and bring the god back to them.
This would be lead by the then royal council, who later became the Magisters. Lysen then asked how long has this been going on, and Gande replied, ‘Since before the very birth of the Earth.’ After this and the affirmation that Gande had already tried time and time again to find a way to end the turmoil of the elves without success, Lysen wearily agreed to cooperate with Gande.
”So we should resurrect Falan and Lystellia? I guess their power would be of use securing Naegi’s protection… so how will I do this?” Lysen asks.
Gande folds his arms. “The bond between the three of us is uniquely key. They respond best when the Vessel of Gande loves the Vessels of Falan and Lystellia. The ritual is then consecrated through an act of love.”
Lysen itches his ear. “…You can’t be serious…”
Lysen’s thoughts are disrupted as Falan kisses him deeply on the lips, startling him. When she releases the kiss, he looks away.
”You must be the Vessel then. I know what happened, and I am sorry. Not only your sister, but your first love dashed before it could bloom.” She silently hugs him, and Lysen’s face burns.
After a moment, he hugs her back. “I will leave you shortly, you will want him around more than me.” He then tries to leave after a moment but she grabs his hand and smiles. Purple robes weave themselves into existence over her slender rich brown skin, with an open top cupping her bosom. Her long flowing red hair frames her kind face with dazzling emerald eyes. When she blinks, her long lashes flutter gracefully.
Lysen swallows. She is beautiful… and reminds him painfully still of Yatifa’s face.
”I am just his host, you don’t need to waste kind words on me.”
She pulls him close and gently cradles his head, stroking his hair.
”They are not wasted, for I love you. I feel her love like it is my own, and more than that, Gande and I promised that we would only take on vessels who loved another and would love them as our own lover. Rest all you need, express yourself and grieve. We became one, and so we shall remain.”
Lysen ceases resisting and Falan pulls him into her lap, kissing him and holding him as he grieves for Yatifa, and when the dawn rises on their remote temple, the two are sleeping soundly, fully held in each other’s warm embrace.
== The God of Chaos ==
Not long after the Itsuki Clan began their spell, there is a shift in the air, as though a great weight were descending upon them. Those immediately outside the compound would quickly note the plummeting temperature of the air to the point dense fog banks begin to build, and the ground begins to become covered in frost. A heavy darkness soon follows, drowning out the sky and the surroundings of the Clan's compound. Minutes later, from the inky unnatural darkness steps forth Evoh, eyes cold and dark, clad in a black set of robes. His gait is slow and methodical, and the calmness of his movements betray the all too intense sensation of cold wrath bearing down on the compound.
"So, you would challenge the foremost master of Chaos to a contest of magic? A brave attempt to be sure, but you'll soon realize the futility of this. Unfortunately for you... I am not like Auntie Dearest... I have nothing but scorn for you abominations of nature."
Evoh steps forth, eyeing the two on duty guards at the entrance. He brandishes naught but a long poled hammer, like that used to forge metal. Their instincts scream for them to run.
They both immediately set up a defensive barrier in between them and Evoh and go through the entrance into compound and split up.
Mid stride, he appears in a fluid motion before the barrier and with a graceful swish of the hammer, smashes the barrier. His movement remains methodical, not having to stop as he smashes and walks through the barrier. At the threshold, he looks up and points with his hammer as a series of bolts of pale blue fire form in a circle around him, before launching into the air and landing throughout the compound, igniting everything they touch. 
Bizarrely, the flames solidify moments after forming, then explode, shattering and scattering shrapnel throughout, only for the pieces to ignite everything they touch, be it building, ground, or person. Anyone set ablaze soon begins to freeze into ice, while inside them spheres of pale fire being to swell, threatening to turn them into living bombs.
But this was a diversion, not the main attack. 
Ahead of Evoh, as he walks into the compound, is a wave of cold air that freezes the ground solid, little hairs of ice sprouting on it moments later, and any living object touched by the hairs is frozen in pure ice instantly. Any such statutes found in Evoh's path deeper into the compound meets the cruel fate of being smashed by his hammer, though he seems content to ignore those not immediately on his warpath to those who would assail him.
All of the sudden he hears the twang of an instrument being played, and next thing he knows his surroundings have changed from the outside of the Itsuki Clan compound to what appears to be the inside of a building. But the inside being comprised of multiple platforms, hallways, and doors going every which way and angled in a way where most don't seem walkable.
"Good evening intruder, it's a lovely night is it not?", a female voice says.
Evoh follows the voice to in front of him but then looks upward to Hinoki on a platform that's upside down, but despite that no part of her outfit appears to be affected by the natural law of gravity, and in her hands is a shamisen which is most likely where the twang sound came from.
Evoh silently eyes her with disdain in his eyes. “You are either incredibly bold or not only foolish, but an imbecile if you think you can face me by yourself. Or is this the moment where you boldly face me while the others flee with tails between their legs, while you try and buy time and convince me to honorably let them go?”
Evoh closes his eyes. “Spatial magic. Simple at best, but I acknowledge the creativity in not attempting to use illusion magic parlor tricks.”
"I'll gladly take the praise though you did get wrong that I'm the only one facing off against you, I am not as big as a fool as you think I am. We plan on fighting till our last breath to protect our home, that accepted us while others didn't, even if chances of success are 1%.", Hinoki responds.
Evoh sighs. "I take it your monologue is over?" He impales his stake into the ground as everything lurches, then the scenery changes back to the compound as Evoh rises, a circle of sinister blue light surrounds the compound as it is ripped from the ground, and the whole compound, its inhabitants, and Evoh are warped into an alternate space where the compound floats amid rings of floating marble, surrounded by a building akin to a Greek temple, with massive shattered thrones inhabited by frozen corpses of what looks like an entire pantheon of titanic beings locked in a moment of pain and fear, massive stakes of ice impaled into their chests.
The Matrons are summoned onto a large celestial disk hovering above the compound and the temple floor, where Evoh drifts down, wielding his hammer and stake.
"You should feel honored, for this change of venue is reserved for those I swear to destroy. What memories... I too, am something of a Godslayer myself. Oh, but death was a fate far too merciful for these... just like you, in fact. For vermin such as yourself, death is a kindness you will not be afforded."
He extends his hand forward. <In the beginning was nothing. And from nothing came the great spark, the sheer cold. Thus did the celestial war begin, culminating in the epoch of time, space, all that breathes, in a blaze and winter that rendered forth creation itself. Boil over now, fleeting glimpse of the beginning and the end...>
From all about forms a swirling mass of fire and ice that begins to mix and collide, coalescing into a massive sphere of ice and fire that grows more and more violent as it churns. The entire area begins to quake with power as a chain reaction between the two elements draws nigh, the firmament beginning to be torn asunder in the strength of the incoming blast.
"We do not feel honored, only contempt.", Hinoki responds.
Without wasting anymore time the Matrons fling out numerous tags and make a few hand signs that make the tags form into sphere around them along with energy forming a shield around them. In case of the blast reaching them, and the others that were in the compound at the time, the Matrons partners also form a barrier around themselves and the compound.
<Unleash the Divine Spark of Ruination, Catatonia!> Evoh barks, and the sphere implodes inward and in an instant, everything goes white, their hearing is filled with a sharp ringing, and pain indescribable sears the whole of their bodies. 
As they stumble to their feet, weak but alive, Evoh drifts down to the battlefield's floor, but different. He now wears long flowing locks of blonde hair, soft red eyes, and bellowing white robes underneath black iron armor.
"You're still alive," He remarks to Hinoki, whose entire body feels incredibly sore from the effort required to defend herself from the blast, which has shattered the domain surrounding them, now filled with a celestial scene of wonder - majestic nebulae drift all about, while new born stars twinkle amid dust clouds, the fragments of the temple orbit the epicenter, as does the broken husks of the deities that once ruled here.
"Well, that is good. I did not intend total slaughter, but to demonstrate my power. After all, did I not say I had a fate far worse than death in store? Now, let fears rise, and blades fall before the God of Chaos, He Who Corrupts, He Who Whispers, Evoh Vor Arsi." He sweeps his hand, and he glows brightly as several magic circles swirl around him before disappearing, faint hexagons glitter all about him as a suit of icy armor with horns upon his helm form, covered in the same icy hairs before. A small circle of ice with the little hairs also pools beneath his feet.
With this, he strikes with his hammer, and stakes of ice form, aim at the Matrons' chests, and fire at great speed.