Seriously, at first, the young boy with amber eyes and green hair just goes in that particular place to see the pathetic young girl with auburn hair and russet eyes get bullied by boys their age. He had no idea why they were bullying her, but the point was, he was having fun watching her in pain.

And then, one day, when he decided to go in that particular alley between two houses to see her, he noticed something odd with her. Besides seeing no traces of bullies near her, she was… smiling. It was the first time he saw her smile like that. And she was kneeling on the ground, looking (smiling) at something on the ground.

And unbeknownst to him, he was starting to soften up after he saw her smile.

He rolled his eyes downward to see what she was smiling about. Then, he saw that she was feeding a kitten. A light-brown Himalayan kitten.

"There you go…" she said with a soft tone that melted his heart on the spot. "You eat until you're full… then I'll eat the rest." The kitten meow-ed a little then began munching on the roll of bread on her hand. The girl watched the kitten with a gentle smile. "You know… when I was roaming around the bakery, a nice old man saw me and kindly bought me that roll of bread. He told me that I should fill my stomach with this… but I believe that Karupin-chan needs it more than I do…" she said as she patted the kitten's head.

The young man stood frozen on his spot. He began feeling guilty for just watching her get hurt from those three boys that always come to frighten her. He unconsciously began walking towards her. And just as he was near the corner of the alleyway, his butler appeared behind him. "Echizen-sama, it's time for your lessons."

Although the young man didn't want to go, he turned around nonetheless, silently hoping that the bullies would not show themselves again. With that, the butler guided him to the carriage. He entered, and the driver drove back to the dark cursed castle of Elphiore.

The girl turned her head around just in time to see a carriage speeding away from where she was. She stared at the carriage with unreadable eyes before she turned back to the kitten; only to see the kitten already finished eating the roll of bread. The girl smiled, ignoring the rumbling of her stomach.

Chapter 4

Momo narrowed his brows confusedly. "Eiralith: 0; Vesonia: 10… Let's meet later tonight?" he asked as he read the message from the letter again.

Ryoma smirked at him. "Isn't it obvious? They're challenging us."

"And they're saying that they'll come for us tonight," Tezuka said.

The owner of the inn looked at him nervously. "D-Does that mean that they'll attack this inn again tonight?" he asked, feeling complete uneasiness and fear.

Ryoma looked at him with confidence. "Yep… and I can't wait."

"Don't worry, nya!" Eiji said to the owner, "We'll protect you!"

Momo scrunched his nose. "They just offered themselves to us. I don't know if they're insulting us or they're just plain stupid."

"Either way, it's our advantage," Tezuka said, "That is why we must never let our guard down."

"And this saves us the effort of looking for them and searching for clues of their whereabouts," Inui added as he adjusted his glasses with a glint.

Tezuka turned to the owner. "Sir, may we request permission to evacuate all current guests in this inn? I'm afraid there will be a battle that will take place here tonight. And it's for the safety of the customers."

"O-Of course."

Yagyuu looked at them with unreadable eyes.

:||~ElPhIoRe~||:

Later that night, there were no other people inside the inn besides Eiralith and Yagyuu. The latter offered his help to catch whoever the Vesonians are since he was also a magic user just like them. Tezuka was reluctant at first but when Inui summarized the probability of a higher chance to win against Vesonia with Yagyuu, he finally agreed. Besides, Tezuka thought that Yagyuu might be of great help and use and maybe someday, if somehow he proved himself strong enough, he might ask him to join Eiralith. The owner and the previous visitors of the inn just stayed at Heyrth's castle under King Atobe's guidance for their assured safety.

Eiralith decided to have at least one man in every room of the inn to ensure that the whole place is guarded. All in all, the inn had ten rooms. There are five rooms across another five rooms with the hallway standing in the middle. And as expected, everything was still made of wood.

And since they are short in people, Tezuka ordered Ryoma (which irritated the prince but followed him nevertheless) to summon some demons to guard unoccupied rooms. Ryoma had been assigned to the far end room, Momo was assigned to the room next to Ryoma's, Eiji was guarding the room across Momo, Tezuka was guarding the room closest to the wooden staircase, Yagyuu was asked to guard the room across Tezuka's and Inui was assigned to the lobby. The other vacant spaces had Ryoma's demons guarding them.

It had already been two hours since they started waiting for Vesonia to arrive. He was getting impatient and even thought that the Vesonians decided to call it off. He gritted his teeth angrily at that. He doesn't want to have this mission go to waste. He wanted to catch Vesonia already and get his revenge on them for killing Sakuno's parents, and indirectly, for ruining her life. The only thing he hears from the room was the clock ticking; mocking him of the time wasted every second. He clicked his tongue annoyingly for the umpteenth time. There were no signs of Vesonians yet. His demons were still calm and motionless in their positions.

That's when he heard a noise coming from Yagyuu's assigned room. He quickly stood up in alertness. He was about to go out of his room but he stopped midway when he remembered Tezuka's strict orders: not to leave their assigned rooms until it was sure that the Vesonians had arrived. Then, since he's a Soul Guardian, he began feeling the drastic disappearance of Yagyuu's soul.

He immediately ran out of his room, not caring if he disobeyed his leader's orders. He told them that he doesn't want to follow orders from anyone the first time they asked him to join them, anyway. He stopped when he was in front of Yagyuu's door. He quickly opened it. When he did, he felt Yagyuu's soul finally disappeared, meaning… he was dead.

And along with that discovery, he saw the room burning with fire.

He gritted his teeth.

That's the third of the Universal Laws: Once the magician dies, all the magic he had done to change a person, thing and place would be cancelled. And since Yagyuu was the one who transformed every wood in that inn into water and that now he had died, his magic would be cancelled and the inn would turn back to normal.

He watched helplessly as the room slowly burns through the hot flames that came from nowhere. He scanned around the room to see any traces of Yagyuu's body. He didn't find him, and he guessed the Vesonians took him.

"ECHIZEN!" he heard Tezuka's voice yelled.

Tezuka's room was just across Yagyuu's room. But he did not come out when he heard noises coming from the Element User's room. Instead, he sticks into his previous plan of not coming out until he was certain that the Vesonians arrived. But then, he heard footsteps running towards Yagyuu's room. And whoever that person was stopped in front of Yagyuu's room to open the door. Tezuka immediately went out of his room to see who it was who opened Yagyuu's door, half expecting it to be a Vesonian, only to see his teammate Echizen Ryoma.

"What are you doing?" he scolded the young prince. "I specifically ordered you to—"

He stopped when he saw Yagyuu's room burning. And the flames were getting bigger. Ryoma looked at him with narrowed eyes. "That guy is dead. I can't feel his soul anymore," Ryoma said.

Tezuka tightened his fist.

"Momoshiro, Kikumaru!" the captain yelled. Momo and Eiji immediately went out of their rooms. They walked towards Tezuka and shock filled their faces once they saw the room burning.

"Momoshiro, stop the fire," Tezuka ordered, "Kikumaru, inform Inui of this, and Echizen, come with me." Momo and Eiji nodded obediently before he ran towards the exit of the inn with Ryoma behind his trails.

"Where are we going?" Ryoma asked as they were running towards the town square.

"Can your demons sense their souls?" Tezuka hurriedly asked.

"No, they can't. They can only sense souls if they saw the owner, physically, before."

"Pui already saw Yagyuu, didn't he? Summon Pui and tell him to lead us to where they've taken him," the captain yelled as they continued running.

Ryoma nodded, unaware that he was following Tezuka's orders. He immediately summoned Pui, who had been guarding the kitchen of the inn. Fortunately, Pui arrived shortly afterwards. Then, he remembered… "Wait…"

Tezuka stopped running and turned to Echizen. "What is it?"

"Yagyuu is already dead… Pui won't be able to sense his soul anymore."

"PUI!" Pui panicky yelled.

Then, Tezuka and Echizen saw two unfamiliar guys standing threateningly a few feet away from them.

:||~ElPhIoRe~||:

Momo yelled frustratingly as he tried to stop the fire from spreading. That was when Kikumaru arrived back with Inui. Inui immediately wrote something on his notebook. "Stand back," the data man monotonously said. He tore the page on his notebook where he had just written the word 'Water' on it. He threw the paper towards the room and the paper violently released water.

The three watched as the fire slowly subsided.

Momo sat on the ground in relief. He thought he was going to burn along with that room. When the fire was finally out, they saw everything that was once wooden and neat turned into black ashes. "Why did they burn this room?" Momo asked.

"They're trying to trap us in this inn and burn us to death," Inui said.

"Nya! Then, that means!" Eiji yelled in panic, "They're still after us!"

"Man, I can't believe they killed Yagyuu-san because of this!" Momo said irritatingly. Then, he told them, "Wait! What if they continue on burning this whole building down?"

"That's not the main problem now! We better help Tezuka and O'chibi! They ran outside the inn! Maybe they're having a battle with the Vesonians right now!" Eiji yelled and began skipping two steps at a time down the stairs. "Inui, cast a spell on this inn to play it safe!" he added shortly and ran outside the inn.

"Ah… wait, Eiji-senpai!" Momo yelled and quickly stood up from his sitting position. He followed Kikumaru outside.

Inui adjusted his glasses. He tore another paper from his notebook and wrote down the words 'Indestructible materials' on it. Then, he pasted it on the wall. His glasses beamed satisfyingly. He nodded to himself for a moment before he exited the inn, following where Eiji and Momo ran to. The paper glowed after Inui left, successfully indicating that every material in that inn was now Indestructible under Inui's spell.

:||~ElPhIoRe~||:

"Oh damn…" the boy with red hair and purple eyes popped a green gum.

"What's the matter, Marui?" his partner, the boy with tanned skin and bald head asked.

"Seems like they successfully stopped the inn from burning down completely," Marui said, "The flame just burned two rooms, including Yagyuu's."

Tezuka and Echizen glared at them intently. The captain noticed the same Vesonian magical emblem in the letter as the one in Marui's neck. He concluded that the redhead was the one who gave Yagyuu the letter. On the other hand, the tanned bald man next to the redhead also had Vesonia's symbol tattooed on the right side of his head. Which only meant one thing; both of them are positively Vesonians.

Tezuka didn't fail to notice the pleased smirk on Echizen's face. He had obviously been waiting for years to finally see a Vesonian in person.

"We've finally meet," Echizen said with a confident smirk.

Marui smirked back. "We've heard from our leader that you've been trying to track us down for the past five years," he turned his gaze to Tezuka, "Including Eiralith."

"Yeah, I've been doing that. But unfortunately, you're always trying to run away," the young prince said with a frown.

Marui chuckled. "Oh, that is most certainly not true, naa Jackal?"

Jackal nodded his head. "In fact, we've been trying to let you get us. We've done several acts on your countries and the ally countries as well."

Marui shook his head disappointedly. "But unfortunately, none of you guys can catch us."

"So it turned out that our acts towards your country had only been a wake-up call. But no, that's not it," Marui added, "What we want is not your attention, but your action."

Ryoma smirked. "Well, you've got my attention now. And I'm willing to take actions too," he said and quickly teleported to Marui's side.

"You're dead," Ryoma warned. His magical emblem appeared on his left eye. He grabbed Marui's face and slammed it on the nearest post.

Tezuka was about to run towards Ryoma when Jackal appeared in front of him. "Wait a minute. You're opponent is me," he said.

Tezuka narrowed his brows. "If that is what you wish." A sword magically appeared on Tezuka's left hand and he swung it to Jackal's direction. Jackal evaded it and saw a dimensional portal opening in the exact area where Tezuka swung his sword.

"Oh, so you can open dimensions," Jackal said.

Tezuka just looked at him with serious eyes. He quickly trotted towards Jackal and expertly swung his sword. Another dimensional portal opened in the process as Jackal evaded it successfully again. "I suppose that if your sword hits me, I'd get transported to another dimension, am I right?"

Tezuka didn't answer him and was about to swing his sword sideways to hit Jackal when Jackal countered it with a steel sphere that he had been keeping behind him. From then, Tezuka's sword and Jackal's sphere created metallic noises as it hit each other.

Echizen watched as blood dripped from Marui's head to his forehead. His demon pets all arrived after Ryoma summoned them back, since Marui already declared that their plan to burn the inn down backfired. He let the other demons return to the demon world, except for one. The demon he allowed to stay with him was a fire-demon. The demon's outer appearance is made entirely of fire. He had no permanent shape but he had two blood-red eyes that glare warningly at anything he sees unappealing. And that includes his master's opponent at the moment, Marui Bunta.

"Flamewynd," Ryoma said to the fire-demon, "You know what to do."

Flamewynd roared loudly and dashed towards Marui, ready to eat his soul. But he was stopped when Marui disappeared from his previous position. Ryoma irritatingly turned his body around to see where Marui had gone to. His eyes gleamed with fury when he saw Marui smirking at him from one of the area's building's chimney.

Ryoma quickly rode on Flamewynd and flew towards where Marui was. Ryoma jumped down and landed on the roof. He stood up properly and faced Marui with a disgruntled face. He dashed towards the redhead. Just as he was just two feet away from Marui, Flamewynd changed its shape and transformed into a (literal) flame sword and positioned himself on Ryoma's hand. Ryoma swung the sword-shaped Flamewynd diagonally on Marui's direction, but Marui just side-stepped it.

Ryoma scowled and quickly swung Flamewynd horizontally. He smirked when Marui took no intentions of moving away. But his hope vanished when Marui stopped his attack with a bare hand. "What the—!"

Marui just smiled mockingly at the prince. He watched Ryoma's facial expression turned from confidence to shock. He just stopped his flame sword from slicing his body in half with just one hand. With his hand still holding Flamewynd, he performed his magic; words floated out from his hand and wrapped around Flamewynd. The words that immobilized Flamewynd tightened itself around him. This made Flamewynd changed his shape immediately out of desperation and flew out of the Marui's trap.

Ryoma watched helplessly as Flamewynd floated weakly next to him. "Oi, what did you do to him?" he asked.

Marui balled his fist and opened it again. "I just absorbed some of your pet's magical power. He seemed to have eaten many souls already." The bunch of words that looked like a long rope returned to his hand.

"Yeah, and you're the next one he'll eat," Ryoma said before Flamewynd recovered his power and began attacking Marui violently.

Words came out from Marui's hand again, but this time, instead of the words being next to each other horizontally that made it look like a whip, one word at a time floated around Marui.

When Flamewynd accidentally touched a word, it exploded. Flamewynd roared in pain but continued on attempting to attack Marui despite his injuries.

Ryoma watched Flamewynd trying his best on getting to Marui but Marui's words were a huge hindrance to his attempts. "What kind of magic is that?"

"The words are the symbol of my will. As long as my will is strong, those words would remain powerful," Marui answered as the words surrounding him kept on exploding next to Flamewynd. "Every Vesonians' powers depend on each individual's will."

"Will?" Ryoma repeated.

Marui laughed evilly. "How stupid!" he said and all of the words surrounding him flew towards Flamewynd and exploded at once.

"Flame!" Ryoma yelled concernedly. "Yarou," he cursed and charged towards Marui.

When he was about to punch Marui's face, another hand stopped him. He stared at Marui who only looked at him triumphantly. He gazed towards the hand that was stopping his fist. Then, he followed where that hand came from. His eyes widened when he saw Yagyuu.

"Y-You!"

"That's right," Yagyuu said. "I'm a Vesonian."

Ryoma felt his blood boiling. Four-eyes tricked them! "Weren't you supposed to be dead?"

"No, but my magic successfully hid my presence," he said calmly. "Remember, I was the one who changed the inn's wooden materials."

Ryoma gritted his teeth. But there was no way he's giving up! He had waited for so long to finally get to them, and he's not going to stop now. Sakuno's life was ruined because of them. It was because of them why she suffered. He was motivated into killing them no matter what.

He jumped backwards, and Yagyuu's grip on him was removed in the process.

Flamewynd recovered again and floated next to Ryoma.

Marui narrowed his brows. "That flame creature of yours could easily heal himself," he commented.

Ryoma smirked.

Marui narrowed his brows irritatingly. He used his powers again. Words came out from his hand in a fast manner and stabbed Ryoma directly on his abdomen.

Ryoma's eyes widened. Blood continuously flew out of the hole Marui created on his front. He dropped slightly and held his bleeding wound.

"Anyway, Marui," Yagyuu said, "It's time for us to go. We've already collected 10 people from the inn. I think that's enough," he said calmly.

"What?" Ryoma irritatingly yelled when he heard him. "You're not going anywhere." He winced in pain after feeling his wound again.

Marui turned around. "Yeah, I know. Oi Jackal!" he called.

Jackal and Tezuka were still fighting when the former heard his teammate. "What is it, Marui?"

"It's time for us to go!"

"I said you're not going anywhere!" Ryoma ignored his injury and he and Flamewynd skipped towards Marui and Yagyuu when Yagyuu stopped his movements by trapping him inside the water he summoned.

Flamewynd automatically returned to the demon world when Ryoma opened the door to the demon world for him. Water is Flamewynd's ultimate weakness. Once he gets splashed by water, it would be harder for him to recover.

"Please, it's time for us to go," Yagyuu said calmly. "We just wanted to formally introduce ourselves to the Great King of Elphiore and now that we did, it's time for us to part ways."

Ryoma couldn't talk or breathe since he was trapped inside Yagyuu's water magic. He was also feeling weak because of Marui's earlier stab. But he definitely didn't want them to go just yet.

"If you want to defeat us, then you're just going to have to wait," Marui said. "And besides, Seiichi's already looking for us."

Jackal sighed deeply. "Really… Oh well. It really did take us a while to finish our job here in Heyrth."

Marui chuckled. "Well actually, I'm more afraid of the Emperor than Seiichi. He might slap us to death!"

Jackal just rolled his eyes to his partner's sense of humor. He gave Tezuka one last swing before teleporting to the roof where Yagyuu and Marui are.

"Emperor? Seiichi? Are they your leader?" Tezuka asked impatiently.

Marui said, "You'll find that out in your own once you've find our hideout."

With that, the Vesonians disappeared.

After they were gone, Ryoma was freed from Yagyuu's magic. He coughed a few times, gasping for breath. "Kuso!" he cursed. He was soaked as water dripped from his hair. Blood continued on rushing out of his body.

Then, Momo, Eiji and Inui arrived.

:||~ElPhIoRe~||:

Momo and Eiji stared at Tezuka and Echizen guiltily. They were too late to help them with their battle with Vesonians. They actually got lost and had no idea where Echizen and Tezuka run off to. They had run around the opposite direction for minutes before finally turning to the right way. And there, they saw Echizen soaked wet and coughing (and severely injured) on the roof and Tezuka looking at the skies with narrowed brows. And they discovered that they arrived a minute after the Vesonians left.

And so, to repay their uselessness for being unable to help the two from fighting with Vesonia, they decided to do whatever it is that they ask to do. And now, they have returned back to Echizen's house in Heyrth to rest.

"No need," Ryoma said plainly. Some of his maids already treated his wounds. And he had eaten already.

"Go to your rooms and don't let your guards down," Tezuka said stoically. He was editing Inui's written report for its submission to Atobe tomorrow.

The three only received banging of doors on their faces.

Eiji pouted ruefully. He really wanted to help. Momo, on the other hand, thought that stopping the inn for burning down was their contribution of help. Inui, the one who was least caring, just wrote down some useful data on his notebook after finding out that Yagyuu was one of their enemies.

The next morning, they went to Atobe's castle to submit their written report. Inui was the one who wrote it, of course. Tezuka just added details with his and Echizen's encounter with Marui, Jackal and Yagyuu.

Atobe stared at the paper that Tezuka submitted with disinterest. "So let ore-sama get this straight; Yagyuu Hiroshi, the one who works as an employee in Ojii's inn, was actually the one behind the kidnapped customers. And that he was a certified Vesonian?"

Tezuka nodded. "Along with that information, there are also other two Vesonians who committed the act with him. From what I remembered, they were Marui and Jackal. They never mentioned their first names, though."

Atobe scrolled down the paper and saw other interesting information. "Tezuka, explain to ore-sama who these Seiichi and Emperor are."

"Based on their conversation, it seems that Seiichi and the Emperor are their leaders. When I asked them who they were, they only said that I would find that out if I find out where their hideout is," Tezuka answered.

"Hmm… interesting," Atobe said and turned his head to Oshitari, who was standing behind him all this time, "Save this report in the archive," he gave Eiralith's written report to Oshitari, "Make sure you'll record everything."

"Hai, hai," Oshitari said gruffly and went out.

"Anyway, ore-sama is glad even though you didn't catch them," he said as he turned his head back to Eiralith, "At least you had an idea on their appearance and powers."

Tezuka agreed. But he was a bit curious on what Jackal's power is. He never had the chance to find out. Oh well. At least they were sure about what Marui and Yagyuu's powers are.

"Anyway, since ore-sama is so magnificently generous, I decided to give Ojii a new job. Ore-sama does not want to bother on building him a new inn, but ore-sama is so great that he decided to give Ojii a chance to work on one of ore-sama's fabulous hotels," he boasted, "And he said he wanted to thank you for helping him. But he was a bit disappointed when he found out that his most trusted, and only (he chuckled at this), employee was the one behind the disappearance of customers."

Echizen rolled his eyes and began walking away. He was still upset that the Vesonians got away. But there was no use in getting upset over something that was already done. And besides, he just thought that he'll surely catch those blasted Vesonians in his next Eiralith mission.

"Oi, O'chibi! Where are you going?" Eiji whispered when he noticed Ryoma walking away.

"Out," the young prince answered and went out.

"Oi, oi! I'm coming with you!" Momo said and hurriedly ran after Ryoma. Eiji grinned and decided to come with his two kouhais and ran off.

Atobe laughed evilly. "Looks like your teammates have short attention span, naa Tezuka?"

Tezuka couldn't agree more.

:||~ElPhIoRe~||:

The three were walking on Heyrth's shopping district. Boutiques after boutiques lined in one busy street of Heyrth. Momo and Eiji amusedly stared at everything they saw. Heyrth is really one rich country… compared to Elphiore.

"Elphiore's shopping district is better than this," Echizen said.

The two just laughed in half-agreement, aware that the young prince had an issue with whose-country's-richer-than-whose with Atobe.

Ryoma stopped when he saw an interesting thing coming from a boutique from the corner of his eyes. He stared at the musical box displayed in the shop's front glass window. He instinctually thought of Sakuno. Even though he failed to capture a Vesonian in his first mission, and that he may end up home feeling useless for not being able to avenge Sakuno's parents' deaths, he should at least try to make her happy by buying her a souvenir. Ryoma narrowed his brows irritatingly when he thought that the souvenir would come from Heyrth. He just shook his thoughts off. That's right. He'd buy her a souvenir, even though it came from Atobe's kingdom, he thought dejectedly.

Without further interruptions, he entered the shop and bought the musical box.

Momo and Eiji just watched their youngest teammate buying the neatly-designed (and 100% expensive) musical box. They grinned like fan-girls when they thought that he bought that for his little girlfriend. Then, when they thought of Sakuno, they instantly looked at each other guiltily.

When Ryoma came out, he saw Momo-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai looking at him with guilt. He raised a curious brow at this. But then, he decided to ignore them, thinking that they were probably just being doorknobs again.

He began walking back to his house in Heyrth. After Tezuka's talk with Atobe, they expected that they would return home in Elphiore at once. And so, Momo and Kikumaru followed behind him feeling discomfort.

When they got back home, Tezuka and Inui were already there. So, Kikumaru, Momoshiro and Echizen hurriedly went to their rooms to pack their things. After they were done, they began their journey back to Elphiore.

On the fourth day of their journey, they were already riding a boat to cross the ocean to get to Fiera, the neighboring country next to Elphiore. And from there, they would take a train ride to finally arrive in Elphiore. Fiera was also an ally country. And Momo's fiancé, Tachibana Ann, was residing there.

Kikumaru watched the splash of the ocean with the ship they were riding. He becomes ecstatic every time he would see sea creatures swimming on the pinnacle of the ocean.

That's when Ryoma decided to join him with his fish-watching.

"O'chibi!" he said delightfully. "Nice to see that you're finally opening up to us!"

Ryoma ignored his statement and said, "That Tezuka-buchou… he seemed powerful."

Eiji nodded in agreement. "He's more than just looks. He's really powerful! We could say that he's close to Rel-san's strength, nya!"

"Hmm…" Ryoma said with slight disinterest, hearing that Relphore was returned to the conversation again. Truthfully, after he saw how Tezuka fought the bald Vesonian last night and when he saw how he directed his teammates to do their jobs, he found a bit respect to the bespectacled man. He saw how he looked professionally during his fight with baldy and that made him think of the captain in a different way. Before, he just thought that Tezuka was just a bossy know-it-all. But now, he sees things differently. Same goes with Momo-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai… and maybe Inui-senpai. All in all, he thought he wouldn't mind hanging out with Eiralith for a couple more years until they find Vesonia's whereabouts.

"Oh, there you are, Eiji-senpai!" Momo said happily and walked towards them. "Looking for fishes?"

"Yup!" Eiji said gleefully.

"So, Echizen… How do you feel now after your first mission with us?" Momo asked eagerly.

"Boring," he lied.

"Tch, you're no fun!" Momo rested his arms on the ship's edge and stared at the blue skies.

"But I'm sure that that was your most action-filled scene in your life!" Eiji said.

"Maybe," Ryoma said monotonously.

Momo and Eiji looked at each other knowingly. Momo spoke up first. "Echizen… uhm… since you've become close with us and all… I think… we should tell you what's really going on in Elphiore…" he said with a straight face, but he was slightly nervous.

Ryoma straightened his body and stared at Momo with inquisitiveness. "… Elphiore? Why? What's happening there?"

Kikumaru and Momo gulped.

"O-O'chibi," Kikumaru said like he was about to reveal a secret that should never be revealed to anyone, "The truth is…" he bit his lip hesitantly then continued, "Saku—Ryuzaki-san…"

Ryoma's eyes widened. He glared at them. "What's with her?" he asked, feeling that something was wrong.

"Ryuzaki-san… is currently being trained by Fuji… to join Eiralith…" Eiji continued.

Nervous sweat rolled down on Momo and Kikumaru's heads when they saw the fury glint in Ryoma's eyes.

"What…?"

:||~ElPhIoRe~||:

Oh great. Just when they thought that they were finally getting close with their newest member.

Ever since Momoshiro and Kikumaru told Echizen the truth, he gave them the cold shoulder for the rest of the trip. He confronted Tezuka about it, but the captain merely ignored his death threats and demon pets. Tezuka said that if he wanted an explanation, he should go straight to Relphore—their leader and the one who wanted Ryuzaki Sakuno as one of their members.

Of course Echizen would go berserk once he heard that news. Being an Eiralith member and doing one of their jobs was dangerous in every angle. And since 'dangerous' was put into the sentence, Ryoma definitely wouldn't allow Sakuno to go. His mission in his life was to protect her. And in exchange, she would love him forever.

That's why when they arrived in Elphiore, the young prince demanded to see Relphore spontaneously. They directed him the way to the headquarters. They went to one of the ruins in Elphiore. There was a hidden passageway under one of those ruins' stoned grounds.

And that is why they were currently standing in their headquarters' lobby, waiting patiently for the result of Relphore and Echizen's conversation. The two were currently discussing inside Relphore's office.

"What the fucking hell do you think you're thinking?" Ryoma hissed angrily. "Why the fuck would you want Ryuzaki to join Eiralith?" He stepped closer to Relphore warningly.

Relphore simply stared at him calmly. "Please, I would appreciate it if you drop the curses."

"I DON'T FUCKING CARE WHAT YOU THINK!" he yelled, "ANSWER MY FUCKING QUESTION NOW!"

Ryoma summoned his demons without second thoughts. His eyes glaring at Relphore with complete disgust.

Rel sighed in defeat. "Why I want Ryuzaki-san to join us? Simple. You're aware of her powers, right? Well, that's my answer."

The next second, Flamewynd was staring down his eyes a few centimeters away from his face. "If you don't want him to eat your fucking soul, rethink your intentions of letting Ryuzaki join you. What this team is doing is beyond dangerous! Even if the mission had nothing to do with Vesonia, it's still FUCKING dangerous!"

Rel chuckled, ignoring Flamewynd's breathing on his face. "Oh my, how did you know about that? I actually wanted Ryuzaki-san to join missions that only had a connection with Vesonia."

With that said, Rel's face meets Ryoma's hand.

Ryoma gritted his teeth. He was past furious. How could this guy just ask his Ryuzaki to join Eiralith and participate in missions that only had something to do with Vesonia? "I'm warning you. Take her out of the group."

"No. Ryuzaki-san could be of great help with defeating Vesonians… just like you," Rel stubbornly said.

"Oh is that so," the image of Ryoma's magic symbol appeared in his left eye. He was about to hit Rel's head to the wall when the Eiralith leader stopped him when he spoke.

"And even if I ask her to leave Eiralith, it's still her decision whether she'd go or not. She's a member now and that means that only she had the right to decide for herself. If you want her to leave, then you must tell your opinions to her yourself," Rel said in calm tone and expression.

"Fuck you," Ryoma jeered and slammed Rel's head on the wall.

But his eyes only widened in shock after seeing that Rel disappeared from his hold.

"Looking for me?" he heard Rel's voice behind him.

And the next second, his face met the concrete wall. 'How in the world—?"

"Oh and please… Echizen-kun, I'm your highest superior now, since you're a member of my team. Please refrain from disobeying my orders. And most especially, please keep your curses to yourself. I really hate those," Rel said in a tone like he was just buying bread from the bakery. This gave a threatened feeling to Ryoma.

Rel let Ryoma's head go and turned around. "Besides, I'm only a projection. My real body needed to be hidden so that I won't harm anyone unintentionally. Even if your demon," he looked at Flamewynd who was floating in midair helplessly, "eats my soul, he won't get anything."

Blood dripped down from Ryoma's forehead to his cheek. He stood up properly and faced Rel with an angered face. "Where are you going? I'm still not finished with you."

Rel turned back around to meet Ryoma face-to-face. "Well, I'm done with you. And if you want Ryuzaki-san to leave Eiralith, then you're just going to have to talk to her yourself."

Ryoma charged towards him and punched Rel in the face. But unfortunately, before he could reach Rel's face, an invisible force field stopped him. A sakura petal randomly dropped on Ryoma's fist.

"I'll forgive you this time since you were severely injured with your first mission. But disrespect me again and you may end up feeling regret that you've met me." And then, Rel mysteriously disappeared.

Ryoma angrily punched the table next to him after he helplessly watched Rel disappear.

He quickly stomped away from the room and left the headquarters, ignoring the curious looks given to him by Eiralith members scattered around. Momoshiro tried to stop him but he just continued on walking, as if Momo was invincible.

:||~ElPhIoRe~||:

When Ryoma returned to his castle, he plainly ignored the greetings of the castle's butlers, maids, cooks and other servants. He marched directly to his room. But on his way there, he saw Hedrick standing in front of another room, looking as if he was waiting for someone. The bespectacled butler detected his master's presence and he turned around immediately. Hedrick's usual sharp and emotionless eyes were replaced with slight fear and concern.

Ryoma took his personal butler's expression as bad news. He glared at Hedrick and walked towards him. "What are you doing there?" he asked as he remembered that the room Hedrick was across from is one of the unused rooms of the castle; intended for guests.

Hedrick gulped nervously before he adjusted his glasses and bowed in front of Ryoma politely. "Welcome home from your mission, Echizen-sama."

Hedrick felt Ryoma's hand on his shoulder. His master tightened his grip on his shoulder and he could literally feel a vein twitching from his master's hand. "Hedrick, don't make me repeat my question," Ryoma said in a low and dangerous tone.

Usually, Hedrick would ignore Ryoma's dangerous voice—he was used to it—but he couldn't help but feel nervous with Ryoma. He cleared his throat before answering, "Ryuzaki-sama is currently inside this room with Fuji Syuusuke-sama."

Ryoma's eyes widened for a fraction before it returned to normal. "Fuji Syuusuke…" he said then remembered Fuji as the smiling brunette of Eiralith.

He quickly held the doorknob and turned it. Hedrick tried to stop him at first but Ryoma just overlooked him. And with that done, Ryoma entered the room.

Ryoma narrowed his brows confusedly when he finally got inside the room. What he was seeing right now was utterly different from what the room looked like before—based on his memory. The room used to have a simple bed, study table, book shelf and bedside table before. But now, the room looked different. It doesn't even look like a room anymore.

His eyes scanned the place—that was once a guest room—and just stared at the wide range of lawn leading to god-knows-where. A strong wind blew past him and that was enough to break himself from his surprise.

He was standing on a grassy field.

"Where… the heck… am I…?"

Green grass, green grass, one tree, blue sky, white clouds, yellow sun, green grass, green grass. The whole place looked like another world. He didn't think that it was his garden, since the castle's garden is withered because of the curse. This place being his garden was impossible. And besides, the sky was blue in that place.

"What happened… to the guest room…?"

Then, he remembered why he was there in the first place; to see Sakuno… and Fuji probably.

He walked unsurely over the grass. The sun shone on his hair, emphasizing his green locks. He stared at his shadow on the lawn. It was leading north. He thought that maybe if he followed his shadow, he would see where the two is.

He walked for what seemed like eternity. But there were no trails of the auburn-head and the smiling tensai. And then, when he took another three steps, he noticed sakura petals began to float around. He raised his head. And he surprisingly saw himself—an exact copy of himself. And not only that. He saw the place he passed by, the shining sun, the drifting clouds. He saw everything. It took him another moment to figure out that there was a huge mirror in front of him. The mirror probably reached to the endless sky.

He walked closer to the mirror, his reflection imitating him.

He placed his palm on the mirror. He stared at his reflection again. Then, he noticed that his reflection's left eye was changing. His magical symbol appeared on his reflection's left eye. But he was sure he was not using his magic. He wondered what was happening. Only his reflection's eye changed.

Then, he was not sure of it himself, but he began seeing what was beyond that mirror through the reflection's left eye.

He saw Sakuno doing the same thing on the other side, with Fuji watching her on her side. Sakuno's hand was exactly at the same place as where Ryoma's hand was.

His hand that was holding the mirror involuntarily shook. Then, the mirror broke into pieces.

Ryoma watched in confusion as scattered pieces of glass slowly fell down on the ground. One or two shards injured him in the process.

Then, he finally got to see Sakuno and Fuji. The two were looking at him with bewilderment. His hand was placed in parallel with Sakuno's.

Sakuno smiled happily when she finally registered who was in front of her. She wrapped her hand around Ryoma's and cheerfully leaned closer to him to hug him. "Ryoma-kun, you're back!"

Ryoma still couldn't figure out what the mirror's purpose is and why it suddenly shattered into pieces. It was only then when he realized that Sakuno was embracing him. Their hands intertwined.

"Saa, welcome back, Echizen," Fuji greeted.

And because of that, Ryoma remembered his previous conversation with Relphore. He gritted his teeth and glared at Fuji harshly. "What are you doing with her?"

Fuji only chuckled. "I was enhancing her power."

"Where the hell are we? What happened to the guest room?" he persistently asked.

"I'm an illusionist, Echizen," Fuji explained. "Everything you see here now is only an illusion." He snapped his finger and the once grassy field turned back to what the guest room looked like.

Ryoma watched in slight amusement as Fuji returned the room back to normal.

Then, he remembered Eiralith and Relphore again. "You," he muttered accusingly, "get out of here before I feed your soul to the devils," he threatened.

Fuji raised a puzzled eyebrow at this. "What are you talking about?"

Ryoma grabbed Sakuno's wrist and dragged her away. He quickly ordered Hedrick to get Fuji away.

He ignored Hedrick and Fuji's curious looks and continued on stomping back to his room. He needed to talk to Sakuno about Eiralith.

When they reached his room, he immediately locked it. He let go of her hand and watched her looking at him with bewilderment.

"Why did you join Eiralith?" he hissed.

Sakuno finally understood what was going on and her facial expression turned serious. "I wanted to help you, Ryoma-kun."

Ryoma narrowed his brows threateningly. "Help?" he leaned closer and grabbed her wrist harshly. Ignoring her yelps of pain, he added, "I don't need your help. I can handle Vesonia on my own! Do you know how dangerous the missions are? You would get killed once you step foot in this group."

Sakuno tried to get Ryoma's hand off her wrist but to no avail, he just tightened it harder. She replied, "I don't care how dangerous it is! I just don't want to sit here and wait for what's going to happen like always! I want to be of some use to you from now on!"

"Leave Eiralith, now," he said in a warning whisper, hoping that she would get scared and leave the underground organization at once.

"No, I won't," she stubbornly said. "I'm tired of just sitting here, doing nothing! I want to do something!"

"Have you forgotten that I was the one who saved your life? I was the one who gave you meaning. And now, the least you could do is to do what I order you to. I'm your King; obey my orders," Ryoma said. He really didn't like the way she was disobeying him. And he didn't want to make her feel like she owed him her life, but he really didn't want her to join such a dangerous group, either.

Sakuno seemed to look guilty when he said that. But she stubbornly narrowed her brows again. "You're right, Ryoma-kun. You were the one who showed me the light. You were the one who gave me hope. You were the reason why I'm living like I do now! You're my life, my everything! You're the one who told me to live!" she was almost at tears, "That is why… I want to live my life protecting you and helping you in any way I can! Because if you won't let me do what I want with my life, then I'd rather you not have saved me at all!"

Ryoma's eyes gleamed with furiousness. And before he knew it, he slapped Sakuno. Ruthlessly.

Sakuno dropped to the ground, holding her reddened cheek. Her eyes showed shock and betrayal at the same time. Her tears finally dropped.

Ryoma watched her tears fall on the ground without any emotions. He narrowed his brows even more. "I command you to leave Eiralith."

He left and shut the door with a loud bang.

Her hand that was holding her cheek shook violently because of fear. Never before did the prince physically harm her. He promised her before that he would do anything to protect her and that he won't hurt her no matter what. He promised that he will always be there for her, comforting her every time she was sad and whenever it rains—her phobia.

He stuck to that promise until that painful slap. He would skip every important meeting he has whenever he hears rain and would quickly look for her to stay by her side. He protected her from anyone who tries to harm her or even bad-mouth her. He was the reason why she was happy.

But then, all beliefs she had shattered into pieces the moment his hand met her cheek and his eyes looked at her with furiousness.

"You… broke your promise…" she whispered to herself.

He broke his promise…

To be continued.


A/N: Guess where I based Marui's power? 07-Ghost's Teito Klein \(^_^)/ And guess where I based Flamewynd? Katekyo Hitman Reborn's Tsunayoshi Sawada's box weapon \(^v^)/ Anyway, I hope you liked my pathetic attempt of a drama-chapter. And forgive my grammatical errors, haha XD

Oh, and thank you for your support! Because of you guys, I was feeling inspired into continuing this :D Dakara, review please! If you won't review, your computer will explode in 3… 2… 1… JK XP Lol.

By the way, the italics in the first part (since the first chapter) is the scenes from Ryoma and Sakuno's past. But the scenes are not arranged accordingly (for suspense and excitement ^^) like how The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was first aired before :D

Prince of Tennis © Konomi Takeshi