A/N: This fic uses the Japanese names, not the English dub names, so here's a guide for new names used in this chapter.

Sun Devil = Kokuyoen


Deep in the forest of Aso Kuju National Park, the ground began to rumble, causing the wildlife to scatter in alarm. A large, flaming meteor lit up the night sky as it descended from the clouds and crashed into the trees. Fire splattered the vicinity of a crater the size of a small house. Shrouded by the dust and smoke, a dark figure crouched at its center, untouched by the flames and otherwise uninjured. He moved slowly and eventually reached out his arms to stretch. Chill, powerful winds gathered and struck out at the flames, dashing them out as the temperature dropped exponentially and the ground, starting from the figure's feet, froze in a widening circle. By the time the figure stood up, the remaining trees were trapped in ice, and it only continued to spread, growing thicker.

The smoke faded away and unnatural wind blew through the long red strands hanging off the figure's helmet.

He looked up at the sky to see the moon shining down on him. It illuminated a squished light gray mask and a thin black armored body, lightly covered in dust that quickly blew away. He held a tall pike in one hand and a whip in the other. The mask had an oddly cut smile of sorts in it and only slits for seeing, through which shone gleaming red eyes.

He hissed and said, "The human world once more. Disgusting." He looked down to survey the area. "Badamon's predictions must have been off. I cannot feel any demonic presence nearby. Certainly not those Yoroi Senshi. So should I wait…?" He looked back up at the sky again and his eyes briefly glowed brighter. "I'll wait. If they appear with the sun, I'll kill them. If not… I'll go out looking for them. And maybe have some fun, too."


Above was sky. Below was roiling magma and flame. Boiling gas and the scent of sulfur. Ryo put his hand into the magma. His fingers sank a little, but he was unharmed. It felt like thick glue - squishy, but warm like the space before a fire. He pulled his hand up slightly, and the magma around his fingers hardened briefly into rock, then slowly melted back into magma, sliding off his hand to drop with large plunks back into the pool. He looked back up at the sky. Smoke hid much of it and the bright red and yellow glow of the volcano covered much of the rest, but he could still see a few clouds and a hint of blue.

It's high. It's high, the sky. But I don't care, because it's warm here. It's warm right here.

I don't care.

Ryo opened his eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling for a while before sitting up. For once, he actually felt a twinge of regret at waking up from the dream. It had been comforting inside the volcano. Peaceful.

It wasn't a nightmare, so I guess I should be happy, but it was still weird. I haven't thought much about that volcano since Arago knocked me into it. I wonder why I was thinking about it now. Or dreaming about it anyway. He stretched and dressed. Byakuen was lying on the floor nearby, still asleep. Ryo walked over and knelt to pet his head. The tiger opened his eyes and looked up.

"Sleep well?" Ryo asked with a smile. "Except for me waking you up, I guess… Sorry, but I was a little worried, after all that stuff with Byakueno."

Byakuen shook his head and set it back down on the floor. He shut his eyes.

"That's fine, buddy." Ryo patted his head once more before standing up. "Sleep some more. I won't bother you this time. I'm really hungry, though." He walked past the tiger and left the room, shutting the door quietly.


Ryo walked into the dining room, feeling a mix between surprised and unsurpised that the others were all gathered there. He had sensed them before he'd even neared the room.

At least I'm getting the hang of it.

The table was covered in various dishes and each of the other boys had plates variously filled with food. Everyone was looking at him. Shu kept eating even as he kept his attention on Ryo, while Shin returned to reaching for another bowl. Seiji had a measuring look in his eyes and Touma wore one of concern.

"Hey Ryo," Touma said, smiling to hide the concern. "Hungry? We have plenty if you want."

"Sure. Thanks." He sat on the empty chair next to Seiji, picked up an empty plate and gathered some food.

"You sleep well?" Seiji asked.

"Yeah," Ryo replied. "I feel better, too."

"That's good. How's Byakuen?"

"Tired, but he looks fine. And he's still… himself."

"Good."

"Are you all okay?" Ryo asked, looking around at them earnestly.

Shin nodded with a smile. Shu murmured something inaudible around his food that could be vaguely interpreted as "Yeah, I'm fine." Touma and Seiji replied, "Yeah, we're fine."

"We were planning to go into town later today to pick up some groceries," Shin said. "Want to come?"

Ryo stopped eating and simply looked down at his food. "I… I don't know. It probably isn't a good idea."

"Oh, still tired?"

"A little, but that's… never mind." He started eating again. I'm not really fit for normal company anymore, am I?

Shu continued to watch him around food, saying nothing and getting more and more annoyed at what he saw. He set his empty bowl down and glared. "Look," he finally burst out, "I'm sorry, okay?" Ryo looked up in surprise. "I'm sorry for the way I acted. I was tired and I'm cranky when I'm tired. And I was freaked out and I wasn't thinking. So I'm sorry for… for implying anything. You've done great with the Shiroi Kikotei and just trying to fight back and I mean we could all use practice and I'm not good at this stuff, okay?" He was turning crimson and moved his eyes to his plate and crossed his arms. Everyone was looking at him in surprise.

So he doesn't think I'm…? Ryo cheeks warmed.

Shin put his hand on Shu's shoulder and smiled at Ryo. "Ryo… we don't think you're a demon or a monster or whatever. You're just a guy, like any of us. You're trying to deal with a crazy situation and you've done well. We've all kept too much to ourselves, and we need to talk about it. Together. So please don't just go away."

Don't run away, he means, like I run away from everything. Ryo looked down at his plate again. I've been in the self-pity phase for too long. But I really don't know what to say… He forced himself to look up and say, "Thank you, Shin and Shu. I'm not really good, but I'm glad you think so. It's a very high compliment. Whatever you want to talk about, I'll stay for, I promise. You're right, there's a lot we have to talk about. Where do you want to start?" He was glad his hands were in his lap, to hide their shaking.

"Well…" Touma said, taking command, "Let's talk about Kenbukyou, from the beginning. How did he find us?"

"The black tiger found us," Seiji said.

"The tigers could probably sense each other," Ryo added. "Byakuen and Byakueno. They're not just ordinary tigers. They're both some sort of spirits."

"Kenbukyou also didn't show up himself," Shin added. "And we were obviously lured out to that fight. Byakueno acted as a scent hound. But why didn't Kenbukyou follow? And should we expect more demons to be able to find us through Byakuen? Do they have more of the tigers on hand?"

"I've been wondering about that, too," Touma said.

"Sarenbo lured me away from here, too," Ryo inserted. "He said he wanted to fight me alone. It might not be related, but I'm not entirely sure his problem with fighting here was that he might get interference from you all."

"That's a good point," Touma said. "I wonder if there's something about the area here that keeps out demons, to an extent. I'll have to research it." He looked at Seiji. "I could use your help, too. If it's spiritual, maybe you can sense it."

"You'll have to be more specific," Seiji replied with a frown. "This place just seems normal to me."

"But Sarenbo still got in to give that warning," Shu said, "He spoke to Ryo here. Byakueno came here."

"The tigers aren't demons," Ryo said. "So things that might keep a demon out most likely wouldn't work on them."

"Great," Shu said. "Do we have to worry about more of these?"

"I didn't know there were more like Byakuen out there," Ryo replied. "And I know that Byakueno was special. I highly doubt that there are more of them, or at least many more. I also have to wonder if Kenbukyou didn't follow because he couldn't keep up with the tiger. Byakuen moves fast when he wants to."

"He doesn't run that fast," Shu said, disbelieving.

Ryo smiled. "He hasn't had a reason to. And with me getting into fights all the time, he's wanted to stay nearby, especially when I was injured."

"All right," Touma said, "Moving past that. Do you know what happened between the two tigers at the end of the fight, when Byakueno… merged or something with Byakuen?"

Ryo drew in a breath, "Well, I think the only reason I know is because I was holding one of Kenbukyou's swords. They were connected to Kenbukyou, like how Arago's armor is connected to him - as an extension of his power. And Byakueno was also connected to Kenbukyou in a similar fashion. And I'm guessing that, partially because of that connection and because he carried the swords, they were also connected partially to Byakueno. We also know that Kenbukyou really hated Arago. That he wanted a way to beat him. I think as a sort of last-ditch effort, he had Byakueno give me the other sword, rather than have it fade away with Kenbukyou's death. That way, at least some piece of him would live on to hopefully see Arago defeated, since he knows that's what we want. And Byakueno… like you said, he merged somehow with Byakuen. He became like a suit of armor for Byakuen to wear, or some sort of anchor, for the swords to attach to. And because the Shiroi Kikotei seemed to be taking over the sword I was holding, like it was pulling on that power source, it attached itself to the swords, and since Byakueno was attached to them, and now Byakueno is attached to Byakuen… If I were to call the Shiroi Kikotei now, they'd be there, waiting for me. I know it, like I know my regular armor. And I think Byakuen, or Byakueno, would, too. But he's still Byakuen, at heart. Taking on all that power just tired him out a bit, so he has to rest. Now he just has to deal with the same thing we do." He smiled. "And since he's a lot stronger than I am, I think he has a decent chance of dealing with it just fine."

"All right," Touma said. "A merge. We'll just go with that."

"What about the swords?" Shin asked. "How did you get the one?"

"Byakuen took it."

"What?" Shu's eyes were wide. "When? How?"

"When Kenbukyou took me, we fought, and my swords shattered. And Byakuen stole one of his swords for me."

"Why?" Seiji asked. "He just knew to grab it for you? How did he know that would work? They're demonic weapons."

"Yeah. I guess he's just… smart that way?" Not gonna talk about telepathic tigers. Just... not.

"Did you get him at a store or something?" Shu asked. "Cause I'd really like one. They seem to come in handy. My own tiger to fight demons for me… I like it."

"No." Now Ryo was frowning.

"Do you feel any different? With the swords?" Touma asked. Something to research later. I haven't looked into Byakuen's possible history before. Probably because he wasn't a problem before. But an animal or spirit animal of some kind with his capabilities should have an interesting history. Ryo obviously doesn't want to talk about it, so that must mean something.

"It felt a little odd at first. It was just… not mine. It's hard to describe. It was like I had a lot of power in my hands that wasn't mine to control... like something you light on fire or a flaring wire. But that didn't last very long. It was like that rebellious powerful will holding it snapped and I just… I was able to use it. I felt better. More awake. More aware. Like I had a lot of energy all of a sudden."

"So yeah, I do think that I took some of his power. I don't feel… weird or evil or anything…" Don't laugh at how "feeling evil" sounds… "But I do feel stronger. Like before I was hurt."

"Well that's good," Shin said, before Shu could say anything or a silence could reign.

"I guess," Seiji added, "if there are any real side effects, like what we're seeing with the armors, we'll learn somewhere down along the line."

"What about the regular swords?" Touma asked. "You should try resummoning your armor. If the swords shattered, we need to see what they're like now."

"I could try it later."

"I have some ideas we could try if they're still a problem."

"More of the um… energy weapons?"

"It's a thought. But I have some simpler solutions we could try. Those take too much time and energy to enact and they're hard to control. If the problem is simply that the armor is expending too much energy fixing you, maybe the solution, especially now that you're feeling better, is just to supercharge it."

"…The volcano?"

"The volcano."

Ryo rolled his eyes. "Sure. I haven't attempted suicide enough this week."

"You've demonstrated that as long as you wear the armor, you're fine. There shouldn't be a problem."

"…All right."

Before Touma could start talking again, Shu turned the conversation in another direction. "So, Arago. Still alive."

A chill settled on them all with those words.

"I guess we know that the fight isn't over yet," Seiji said, quietly. "We still have a part to play. He's undoubtedly going to keep making trouble for us. I guess we should be grateful he seems to be making trouble for only us, and hasn't been going after normal people."

"I haven't seen anything to say he has," Touma said, "and I check the news when I can. Everything seems to be as normal as ever. If there's something about lesser demonic activity, I haven't spotted it. We could start going on patrols, I suppose. Although that could be a problem if we're spread out – we'd risk one or more of us getting overwhelmed."

"So how do we find him?" Shin asked. "Just wait until he comes knocking?"

"We could go back into the city," Seiji said. "See if a gate's appeared again. If it's not, we could just make more trips there to keep checking. Otherwise… I don't see how we have a choice. Until we figure out a better way to track them, our best bet is probably going to be reacting to whatever it is they pull."

"Great," Shu huffed. "Just great."

"Hey," Shin said, patting him on the shoulder again, "This just means we have all the more reason to head into town. We were planning it anyway. Now we just have more goals."

"Well," Touma said, "How about we take a quick moment to check and see that if another demon drops in on our heads, we're all able to, well, fight." He looked pointedly at Ryo.

"You want to try this now?" Ryo asked.

"With our luck, yes."

Ryo sighed. "I'll have to check on Byakuen, if this is going to be a big trip. I don't want to just leave him alone."


After one successful trip to Mt. Fuji, where Ryo survived leaping down into it and channeling the energy into his weapons to restore them, and an alarmingly easy leap out of the volcano and back into the open air, the boys were heading into town.

Byakuen ended up going with them, carrying Ryo on his back and running behind the car the other boys were driving in. After a little bit more time to rest, Byakuen was up and ready to run and Ryo reasoned that he had been resting a bit too much lately as it was. He didn't want to leave the tiger alone, so he stayed outside the car. He could tell that Byakuen was clearly enjoying himself with the run and the success of restoring his swords had put Ryo in a good mood, so he smiled as they moved along, able even to ignore the chill of the wind. The sun was bright, anyway. The others kept an eye on the pair from inside the car.

"There's something odd that happened this morning," Touma said as they drove along and he looked at his phone in the passenger seat. "Apparently there was some sort of ice event or explosion late last night. It's covered a big chunk of forest nearby and it's flooding the news at the moment."

"Why didn't we hear about it earlier?" Seiji asked.

"Well, someone had to go investigate," Touma said, "and they had to see if it was a prank and if it was worth telling the public. It was also in the middle of a national park, so the lack of people in the vicinity means that it probably didn't get all that much attention for a while. Too many people think it's just a hoax, but I find that hard to believe. The news is saying that it's some really thick ice and the area it's covering is phenomenal. That doesn't sound natural to me."

"So they've finally made their move," Shu said. "And here I thought we'd have a whole day to ourselves."

"Should we head out there?" Shin asked. "Investigate?"

Touma looked up and said, "We could. It's nearby. Although we—"

Seiji hit the brake and the car skid to a halt, jolting them all back. Byakuen slid to a stop, running back for them, Ryo glancing over his shoulder to where they'd been heading.

Seiji tensed as he stared further down the road. He couldn't see anything, yet, but he could feel it. There's a demon up ahead…

"What was that for?" Shu sputtered.

"Armor up!" Seiji said, unbuckling his seat belt and getting out of the car.

"Oh come on!" Shu grumbled as they all followed suit.

Ryo hopped off of Byakuen and summoned his own armor. Multi-colored light briefly filled the area as their armors formed. When it faded, the five and a battle-ready Byakuen stood ready to fight, holding their weapons before them.

"Come on," Seiji said, running forward, "Let's get away from the car. Plus, if this thing wants to surprise us, well, for once, the surprise can be on them!"

As they ran, Touma commented, "Isn't running headlong into a situation like this a bad idea?"

"It's better than having a car blow up," Ryo replied. "Considering the nature of the Rekka armor and some past experiences, I'd probably be fine, but you all probably wouldn't be. Plus, it's one less thing they can throw at us. Demons sure do like destroying everything they can…"

"There it is!" Seiji slid to a halt and raised his sword. The others stopped behind him.

Before them was the figure from the crashed meteor, standing on the road calmly and eyeing them curiously. "So, the Yoroi Senshi that have made such a stir in the demon realm appear. I was marginally worried that you weren't actually going to show up. But I guess I should have more faith in Badamon."

"Who are you?" Seiji demanded. "What do you want?"

"I am Kokuyoen, messenger of Arago. I was sent to investigate the deaths of Sarenbo and Kenbukyou. Warriors of the demon realm, vanquished by humans. Pitiful." He surveyed them critically. "I was also sent to do what they failed to accomplish. To take the Shiroi Kikotei."

"Big shocker," Shu muttered.

"We killed them," Seiji said, loudly, "And we'll do the same to you, too, if you try us. Even Arago barely survived battling the Shiroi Kikotei. If you're simply his servant, how do you expect to survive it?"

"Well I don't see it at the moment," Kokuyoen replied, "And I imagine that if I simply kill you and take the armor from your corpses, it shouldn't be a problem." He lashed his whip at them and it split into numerous strands of energy that scattered amongst the group. They dodged aside and the energy strands turned into strands of rope. One got Shu's leg, and the senshi, in the process of jumping aside, was pulled back to the ground with a crash.

Shu cursed and turned to cut at the rope, only to be shocked as electricity ran down it to hit him. He gritted his teeth with the pain.

Shin felt a heavy weight on his back and crashed to the ground himself. Laughter filled his ears before he twisted, throwing the new enemy off his back and rolled away before the demon could cut at him. When he turned to look at it, he was shocked to see yet another Kokuyoen, even though the original was still standing in the same place as before. A whip strand caught him in his distraction and he was also shocked, which forced him to his knees.

"He can make shadow clones, too!" Touma cried out as he blocked another Kokuyoen with his bow as a melee weapon. Seiji fought off yet another and Ryo was sparring with the original.

"They feel rather real," Seiji commented with annoyance, keeping his eyes on his enemy while trying to dodge the floating whip strands.

"Sarenbo's was real, too," Shin said as he finally managed to get free of the rope.

Byakuen leapt in and knocked the Kokuyoen attacking Ryo back, growling a warning.

"Odd," The demon said as he backed away from the tiger. "You look a bit like Kenbukyou's pet. Did you so-called senshi steal from that fool, as well?"

Ryo's eyes narrowed, but he kept going, throwing a Sou en Zan at the demon to try and get rid of him. The red senshi abruptly felt a chill in the air, and looked around to see ice forming on the ground beneath his feet. "What the—?"

"A waste of breath, fool," Kokuyoen said as called the ice over the senshi. He snarled when it melted as it touched Ryo's armor. Steam filled the air, and the other senshi found it hard to see their enemies. Shu had also managed to get the rope off, but was limping as he fought his opponent. Seiji was backed into a corner by three clones, now. Shin was sweating but holding his own, and Touma was struggling to keep up the fight while not being able to shoot off arrows.

Ryo shivered in the cold air, but heard Byakuen's roar and glanced down to see the tiger at his side. A superimposed image of Byakueno appeared over the tiger in his mind's eye and Ryo stared in shock at the sight. The other tiger looked severely pissed off. It faded slightly to reveal Byakuen's equally angry look, as if saying "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"I can't call the Shiroi Kikotei, boy," Ryo said. "If I do, the others could be caught in the blast radius. There's not enough room to maneuver as it is. And they need their energy to fight." He targeted the place where he felt Kokuyoen's energy and threw another Sou en Zan at it, which the demon easily dodged.

Seiji called out, "Ryo, summon the armor! This is going nowhere! We'll all die at this rate!"

"What?!" the red senshi sputtered, trying to hold his own against the demon. "But… you all—!"

"Do it!" Touma called. "The summon should knock them out, and the armor can take care of Icy for us."

"But—"

"We're going to die if you keep hesitating, Ryo," Shin said, his tone unforgiving. "Arago and the demons can't take the Shiroi Kikotei. Even if we're hurt, that's our mission. They can't get their hands on it."

"Do it, Ryo!" Shu called out. "Just do it!"

Ryo hesitated only once more, and then called on the Shiroi Kikotei. It was easier this time. The armor was still hungry for the fight and it enjoyed having a compliant host. As the flames coated him, they reached out to the Kokuyoen clones and burned them to nothing, leaving only the echoes of their screams. The original Kokuyoen leapt up into the safety of the air, glaring down at the shining white armor and the senshi.

Byakuen growled, calling Ryo's attention. He now wore the form of Byakueno and the two swords rested on his back, waiting to be used. Ryo unsheathed them and held them up, aiming at Kokuyoen in preparation.

"Good," Kokuyoen said, "You summoned it. Now I just have to trap you and I can send you as a gift to my master." He focused, and ice began forming at rapid speed, trapping the outer senshi and reaching in for Ryo. The red senshi briefly looked panicked, but the intense heat of the armor easily melted the ice around his feet, stopping it from covering him. He pushed the heat outward, melting the rest of the ice, and his friends were soon freed.

Kokuyoen gave up with the ice and lashed out once more at them with his whip, only to be knocked aside as Touma and Shin both used their special attacks on him. He shook himself and thought of retreating to think of a new strategy.

Ryo raised his swords and aimed at the demon. The cement at his feet began to melt with the intensity of the armor's heat output and even Byakuen backed away with the others to escape the power surge. Ryo could feel the power building in his hands. The strength still intimidated him and he wondered that he could even think of controlling such a thing, but another part of him felt an intense rush at the sheer power he could wield. He tamped down on that, not wanting to let the armor in to control him and wreak more damage than was necessary. The armor did not like that, but it still hungered for Kokuyoen's life, and Ryo focused on the demon and unleashed the armor's pent-up anger at him. "Rage… of… Inferno!"

The blaze of ballistic fury roared upward to smash into Kokuyoen – too large for him to dodge and too hot and powerful for him to survive. A scream of agony and anger was all he had as he was burned away. The remainder of the attack thundered up into the sky, vanishing in the clouds.

Ryo waited a breath for the demon to reappear – perhaps this was yet another shadow clone. But nothing happened. He returned the swords to Byakuen and deactivated his armor, taking a knee as his exhaustion hit. The form of Byakueno faded away from Byakuen along with the disappearance of the Shiroi Kikotei and the tiger nudged Ryo's right shoulder with concern. Ryo looked at him and smiled. "It's all right, buddy. I guess this means I'm getting used to it." He scratched the cat's chin. "I'm glad you're all right."

The other senshi deactivated their armors and sagged a bit, themselves. The power drain was enormous, but it had felt oddly easier this time around. Shu's limp was bad, but even now it was quickly improving and he was able to walk on his own after a short time while they drifted back to the car.

"Well that was exciting." Touma's sarcasm made Shin laugh.

"At least we'll be able to say that it was an interesting summer," the other senshi replied.

"Now we know that Kenbukyou wasn't lying," Seiji said. "Unless there's a group of them interested in lying to us, for some strange reason."

"You have won this time senshi, but the Shiroi Kikotei will be mine."

They all stopped in their tracks as the booming voice sounded overhead. They turned to look up in the sky, searching for it, Seiji already reactivating his armor for another attack. Nothing and no one appeared and Arago, for it had been his voice, spoke no more.

Seiji looked around, searching. "I don't sense any demons, and certainly not one as big as Arago." He deactivated his armor.

Ryo sat down on Byakuen's back and tried to hide his shaking. Arago's voice alone had terrified him beyond what he thought was possible. Bad enough he had those awful dreams. Now the demon was officially back, and the Yoroi Senshi were clearly back in the game. They were fighting the demon realm once more.

I've fought Sarenbo, Kenbukyou and now Kokuyoen. I've recovered most of the way. I'm getting a hang of both my armors and I've got the Rekka swords back. Byakuen is fine and maybe even stronger than he was. So are the others. I shouldn't be terrified of Arago. Maybe I didn't beat him the first time. Fully, anyway. But this time, when I have the extra power and control… I can't be so terrified that I can't fight. Not like last time… Not again

"Ryo?" Touma put his hand on the other boy's shoulder. "You okay?"

The face that turned to look at the blue-haired senshi was paler than normal, but Ryo was able to put up a smile. "No. But I'll manage. I have to."

Touma's expression was hard. "Don't push yourself. You can do this. You're strong." He looked at the others. "We all are. We beat them once. We've beaten every enemy and every obstacle they've thrown at us. We can do it again. This time, we go up against Arago, and we take him down permanently."

They all nodded, their eyes hard. Each of them had their doubts, their fears. But together, they were stronger. They could do this.

Shin smiled and asked, "Still up for heading into town?"