Surprise! A day early because happy wedding present to all our readers! ;D

Warnings: Anxiety, purging, distorted eating, cult matieral, kidnapping, PTSD flashbacks

Chapter 10

The slightest change of light in the early morning hours was all I needed to stir. Restlessness from Halo helped, the natural wakening of—

Yesterday's events came crashing down on me like an avalanche, Ativan having exhausted itself some time in the night and the lingering threads of Dais' illusion snapping under the weight of my obsessions. He was alive he had to be alive that had been him but it wasn't him— it was corrupted and strained when normally he was relaxed and enjoying waking up if only to talk to me right when I clocked off work.

I tried to tell myself that was a sign he was fighting through whatever had captured him and not Halo adjusting to a new bearer.

From the way my stomach lurched, the attempt didn't work.

I was able to keep throwing up down until I made it to the bathroom. I never thought I would be thankful for bile coming up, but it beat the mucus I suffered through for years at my worst. It was still thicker than what it should've been from barely eating or drinking anything yesterday. I took what victories I could get.

My stomach wasn't appeased by it, and I ended up heavily leaning on the toilet. I could feel catatonia setting in, a last minute protection against expending too much energy on fear. I just wanted him to hold me and take me back to bed, tell me it would be alright and the obsessions were wrong.

But if he was here my current obsessions wouldn't exist in the first place.

I threw up again, and this time it was chillingly familiar mucus. My dark sense of humour was amused that's what did the trick, me finally feeling comfortable flushing and sinking to the floor. Halo's presence flicked in and out, until it completely severed again. Another sob ripped out of my raw throat but I didn't have the strength to lift myself an inch off the floor, let alone get water.

Cye finding me in the room was too darkly similar to Sage finding me years ago, door bumping against my feet and him rushing to my side. Normally the guys didn't need to, him taking care of it, but this time…

At least Cye wasn't completely horrified like Sage had been. He'd helped with the aftermath enough to know what I was going through. Simple questions— could I speak, yes, could I move, no, did I want a hug, yes— ended with me cradled against his chest so I could grip someone.

"I sensed him."

Cye paused and pulled away oh so slightly. "You sensed Sage?"

I nodded. "At dawn… like I always do…"

He pulled me back against him, hand going up and down my back in slow strokes. "The others aren't up, yet. Do you want to try and sleep while we wait?"

I shook my head, the thought of going back to a place I normally spent with Sage— for all he came into my room after he'd woken up, just to be with me— alone too much to bear.

"Mia's cooking breakfast," he murmured, still holding me. "Can you at least try to eat? Or drink?"

"I can try…"

Despite his attempt at helping me to stand, my legs refused to cooperate. He wordlessly scooped me up and carried me down to the eat-in kitchen, placing me in a chair. He kept a hand on my shoulder to make sure I wouldn't fall. I leaned forward to rest my arms on the table but otherwise stayed sitting.

"Do you want me to make you anything?"

The oh so subtle emphasis Cye placed on 'me', something I likely would've missed if I wasn't doing a constant threat analysis even around friends, had me halfway to choking up. They all knew how much I needed to control my food, from preparation to serving. It had taken me awhile to accept Cye's consistent help, and he wanted to make sure I was comfortable. He knew his food was predictable for me, and Mia's wasn't. Mia kept an eye on us from her place at the counter, mixing pancake batter.

"Chamomile?"

He patted my shoulder and went to get it, Mia moving to the side so he had room. Everyone knew to make a full pot of the stuff when I asked, anything under half a litre not enough to make a dent in my anxiety. At this rate, the best I could hope for was 'maybe able to stop shaking enough to stand'.

Every voice in my head boiled down to this is why you don't become dependent on people, but I had spent years learning that's what love was, that's what it took to make relationships work— they needed you and you needed them. And I couldn't shake the haunting realization I'd never told him not to be reckless because I needed him to come home. He didn't know how nervous I got at every flight he took for his career. Every race he participated in for fun even after one of his cars flamed out. I wasn't about to stop him, control him, but now the thought I'd not told him the extent he meant to me was making me nauseous again.

Cye sat back down beside me while the water boiled, hand going up and down my curled over spine. "The Warlords are out trying to find him right now. They're better at reading Nether Spirits than we are."

I chuckled darkly. "Better than me, I know…" I swallowed. "Could… they… sense him?"

He hesitated a moment. "They didn't sense him, but they sensed something that seems related to the cult. Considering what you said about how Halo felt corrupted, that could've been him."

"He'll be alright," Mia said softly. "Their armours survived Talpa trying to take their powers away. Even if the Dynasty succeeded in knocking them out, they could never break the bond. Strata never let Rowen die, and none of the armours will let their bearers die, either."

That got another half sob, but this time from relief. The reminder of just what they'd been through was welcome, if only because it reminded me they should have died about ten times over but nobody had ever succeeded.

Of course, the relief didn't last long in my mind. Sometimes I wanted to curse my logical tendencies, because my next thought was along the lines of how Talpa had never used the same powers my mother had access to, and just what her abilities had done to my armour.

Thankfully, the kettle clicked. Cye got up to make the tea, and five minutes later a steaming mug was in front of me, the whole pot beside it. The heat absorbed into his hand as Torrent adjusted the temperature of the liquid, allowing me to drink it immediately.

Lingering warmth settled my stomach and I was beginning to realize how freezing cold I was. Cye picked up on that practically immediately, leaving to get my sweater that Rowen had made sure to pack, me now alone with Mia.

She had started the pancakes, standing over the griddle as they cooked. "The Warlords did make progress searching for him. They said they would work through the night, since they don't need sleep like the guys do."

I finished the rest of my mug and poured another cup, smiling when it was cool, too. "I'm surprised Ryo let go enough to let them… although, they have seemed to resolve their differences more than when we first met them."

"I think they see themselves in you," she said.

That came as a surprise. I swallowed a little too hard just as Cye came back, him handing me my sweater so I could put it on.

He had apparently heard her comment. "You hadn't noticed?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, arm still in my sleeve. "You're asking hashtag oblivious me that?"

He coughed to clear his throat. "Right. Sorry."

Now that my sweater was on, I downed half a mug. "I also had no idea what they were like before."

He sat back down beside me. "Aloof and reserved doesn't begin to describe it."

Mia took the first round of pancakes off the stove and piled them on a plate before bringing it to me. "I didn't interact with them much, but even Anubis was still very distant as an ally. He was actively trying to prove himself as a good person to everyone. The Warlords all began without seeing much of a point to interacting, even though the ningenkai and youjakai could still mix together. Once you girls came in, they softened much more rapidly."

"We admired her strength for breaking out of the Nether World's influence," Dais said from the doorway. "It is not an easy feat."

I could barely register any surprise he'd heard. "Yeah considering I'm still technically in it, with how she won't leave me alone…"

Reminders of what was going on around me turned the plate of pancakes— and the Canadian maple syrup beside it— from appetizing to nauseating. I could feel everyone's attention on me, nothing apparently enough to stop my churning stomach. My body both desperately wanted to absorb and reject food, exhaustion from all sources pressing down.

Dais' cool voice was the first to cut through the growing cloud of worry. "Do you require another illusion?"

I tipped my head down. "I'm scared of being alone, right now…"

Cye rested a hand on my shoulder. "I could be there with you."

"I don't know if I want to eat or sleep."

He squeezed the joint. "You need to rest. Your muscles are likely overtired, after all you did."

I nodded, glad he had left throwing up implied to me only. "Arigato, Dais. And Cye."

Cye shifted to let me wrap my arms around his neck, gently cradling me against his chest. Dais stepped aside to let us pass before following us into my room, staying distant until I was back under the covers. It felt strange with Cye beside me instead of Sage, their different builds and weights making me hyper aware of just how much I noticed about my fiancé. Still, being held made me feel slightly less lost.

Flashes of white behind my eyelids indicated the start of the illusion, webs intermingling until my anxiety was the quieter voice, certain avenues closed to my mind as the remote possibilities they were. Torrent stayed close to Dusk, a little wary at being in an illusion again but nonetheless relaxing under its influence. He'd been scared, too, just not to the same point of obsession I had.

My body practically begged me to succumb to exhaustion, but there was one last thought swirling in my head that couldn't be taken care of by the Armour of Summer.

'You're still working on finding him, right? I know I sensed him nearby— he has to be close. It was strong.'

Dais gave the impression of a hand on my shoulder. 'Cale and Sekhmet are still out searching. I will join them again once you are asleep and carry on the message.'

Now that I had an incentive, there was nothing left keeping me awake. 'Arigato.'

Dais' cocoon of mental protection pressed on me throughout my nap, keeping away nightmares and terrors. Torrent hummed like an ocean current beside me. Both dragged me back to sleep every time I got restless, and every time I was able to actually relax.

They finally let me wake up when it was fully light out, smell of pancakes lingering. I stirred, still in Cye's arms, and held him tighter almost immediately.

It was starting to sink in just how lonely I was without constant contact with Sage. I hadn't felt alone since Dawn activated, my sister's armour there even when she couldn't be— I was embarrassed to admit how hard it was for me to believe people still existed when we weren't in contact.

And now somebody I had only ever known to be a constant in my life was gone.

Cye had either been awake already, or my distress woke him. He stroked my spine. "Sage isn't the type of person to back out on a promise."

His words reminded me of our engagement rings and the infinity symbol carved on them. I looked at mine again, running my thumb over the design.

Come back soon.

Kento was unusually urgent in his mental prompt. 'If you guys are awake you need to come down here. Now.'

Cye didn't even get to finish 'can you stand' before I shook my head. I probably could've at the cost of a settled stomach, which was not a compromise I was willing to make. He scooped me up and tromped downstairs to where the guys were gathered in the living room, TV on. The only person missing was my sister, and she needed sleep. Ryo and Kento got up to make room on the couch for Cye to sit down with me still in his arms.

Rowen held his cell phone to his ear with one hand, remote in the other. "My mom called. Said we might be interested in this."

I completely ignored the grim sarcasm in his voice as the news kicked up. Thank God my Japanese was good enough to understand the anchor after four years with these guys plus my sister as friends. "Breaking news. A man wearing a suit of armour was spotted outside of Tokyo, carrying an ōdachi. We aren't sure if he is dangerous or not, but be on the lookout for—"

A very blurry picture of something tall, green, and golden captured my attention. I stopped breathing.

"That's why I sensed him."

They all looked at me when I froze, softening once I spoke. Their emotions similarly went from concerned to mixed, unsure what to make of that information.

Kento broke the silence. "You sensed him?"

I nodded. "At dawn, when he normally wakes up…"

My wavering voice must've told them something I didn't intend. Rowen paused the ongoing conversation with his mother to ask, "What else?"

I curled up tighter in Cye's arms, voice quiet. "It didn't feel like him."

Softness was about all I could handle; thankfully Cye delivered in spades. "What did it feel like?"

I swallowed. "Like the cult. If— if it was him he was fighting through something."

Ryo swore, voice still holding the growling edge it had yesterday. "I bet it's Michael."

Kento looked at the screen in what appeared to be horror. "What're they doing to him…?"

My stomach lurched at the thought, mind all too willing to jump to the worst possibilities. Again. "I don't even know if it was Sage wearing the armour."

Rowen shook his head, voice dark. "Well, the photograph they got is awful quality. You can hardly tell it's armor, let alone who's wearing it."

Despite my best intentions at holding onto the illusion spell— I could've sworn I even felt Dais boosting it— I teared up and curled into a tighter ball. The only reason I wasn't heaving was a completely empty stomach I hadn't had a chance to refill, and right now I wanted food or water for the sole purpose of throwing it up.

Ryo couldn't take the tension. He stalked out of the room and nearly slammed the front door behind him. I flinched and buried my face in Cye's chest. Rowen thanked his mother for the information with a note asking if she could get the story halted before following Ryo outside. Kento seemed too angry to play big brother to the, ironically, older Ronin, and Cye had his hands full.

At least Ryo would have somebody there.

My instincts about Kento had apparently been wrong. He reached over to put a hand on my calf. "Even when Talpa stole our armour powers, he couldn't take our armours away from us. It has to be Sage wearing it."

Even though Mia had told me almost exactly the same thing earlier, hearing it from one of them made me feel better than she had. Stories directly from somebody involved always did. The voices screaming at me he was dead became easier to ignore.

Cye adjusted his grip on me. "I hope they're alright… They had it just as rough as we did when we were held in the youjakai."

Kento snorted in amusement. "Ryo wanted—"

They both froze, finishing the sentence in unison. "To go right after us."

Kento's eyes widened before he bolted outside, Cye leaning forward. A moment later Kento was swearing so loudly I partway closed myself off to the armour connection just to not feel his anger and the resulting guilt I had dragged them all into this years ago. Cye tried to soothe me the way everyone else did, that it was their choice to help and sometimes choices lead to pain— and the joy they'd gotten from knowing me was worth it.

It didn't help as much as I wished it had.

Distant shouting over the armour connection and superficial replies from Ryo and Rowen were dragging me back to the place I had been years ago, even though I loved my friends so much I could never truly return. I couldn't regret having them here because they were what made it bearable. "Why didn't she just go after me? I know I can survive this…!"

Cye stroked my arm. "We'll survive this, too. Don't worry. We'll get him back."

Kento returned, fists still clenched in anger. He looked towards upstairs. "Someone needs to tell Tessa. We can't leave her here, but…"

How this stress would impact her pregnancy remained unspoken, none of us wanting to voice it even though I picked up on both of them thinking she shouldn't fly or even use the armour.

Our life never really had stopped resembling a movie after our first little set of adventures. She'd chosen that exact moment to come downstairs, half awake and rubbing her eye, White Blaze at her side; I wondered if he had anything to do with her impeccable sense of timing. "What about me...?"

I began pushing myself up, knowing this would be taking too much on but feeling no other way to ease the pain inside. "I'll—"

Cye tightened his grip. "You stay put, too."

Kento swallowed. "Ryo and Rowen just took off after Sage. I'm going after them."

Cye almost looked relieved at being forced behind. He hid it well, but his need to care for others rivaled Ryo's, some days.

Tessa didn't even react to Kento and White Blaze taking off out the front door, subarmour already visible under his clothing. She sat beside me on the couch, rubbing her face in shock. "What?"

I slid off of Cye's lap to be beside her. "Sage is… an armour like his made it on the news and— I sensed him. We all watched the segment and once it was done they left without even telling us and—" My arms wrapped around her. "I'm so sorry."

She started crying. Not sobs, thank god— I would've taken off to rip Rowen to shreds personally had she started sobbing— but tears flowed unbridled. Dawn couldn't block me from sensing the fear that something would happen to him, and frustration she couldn't be part of the fight. I tightened my grip and she returned it, needing the comfort. I knew she'd break if I left her, and I only hoped Rowen would be back soon.

My hand went up and down her back to reassure her, all the while thinking that if that idiot got himself captured again, he would have hell to pay.

—8—

The moment he had seen that news report, Rowen had understood that there was no other choice.

They had to find Sage. Now.

He knew Ryo would be of the same mind. So when the de facto Ronin leader had stomped out of Mia's living room toward the door, Rowen took his chance to slip away without involving any more people than were necessary.

It didn't even occur to him that he wouldn't be telling Tessa he was leaving until he'd already caught up to Ryo, subarmor shimmering into place.

Perhaps she was right. Sometimes he was too reckless for his own good—especially when it involved his friends in danger.

"Going somewhere?"

Rekka rounded on Tenku like a tiger, bristling at what he thought would be yet another fight between fire and air. The look on Rowen's face must have told him something of the other Ronin's intentions, however; he almost immediately backed down.

"What of it?" Ryo asked warily.

"You're going to want back-up."

It took a moment for the younger warrior's implications to sink in, but when it did, Ryo smiled grimly and copied Rowen's grip on his shoulder.

There were no other words. None were needed. They had their yoroi called in half a second; Rowen gave Ryo a lift, and the two were shooting across the sky toward the one place they had a hunch Sage would be—

The docks where that picture had been taken.

They knew it when the others noticed their absence. Kento practically bust down the telepathic door trying to reach them as they flew over the halfway point between Mia's house and a locale that was going to be eerily familiar. "What the hell are you doing? If this involves Nether Spirits you don't stand a chance by yourselves!"

Rowen resolutely ignored both him and the overwhelming, wordless urging from Cye to come back. Ryo, however, didn't. "The sooner we find Sage, the sooner we can tackle this problem together." His voice sounded faintly haunted. "You saw Alexa…"

"And you need her to break whatever the Nether Spirits have done to him!" Kento retorted vociferously. "Rowen, whatever happened to holding Ryo back during the War? Did you forget Tessa is still here and you didn't say a word to her?"

Despite the guilty pang at that—Kento did always know how to hit Rowen right where it hurt most—he snorted at the irony of the situation. "Kento, trying to be the voice of reason? That's a new one…"

Kongo was nearly speechless with anger at this point. "Just wait for us, damnit!"

"The longer we wait, the colder this lead gets," Tenku insisted. "We have to go now."

Against the others' protests, Rowen forced the connection to dull. He didn't dare sever it—that would be as bad as Sage dropping out of contact—but he and Ryo had to focus. Sage's life depended on it.

The docks came in sight not a few moments later. Memories stirred in the back of Rowen's mind, dusty pictures of a time when he had nearly sacrificed everything for friends he had just met but who would have done the same for him in a heartbeat. Even then, they had nearly lost Ryo to a Dynasty fiend.

Rowen had been married to Tessa too long not to want to send at least a small prayer to God that they wouldn't lose Sage this time.

Ryo expertly hopped off Tenku's back as the pair landed in a wide open crossroads of an abandoned part of the docks. An eerie sense of deja vu crept over Rowen as he and Ryo cautiously scanned the area, recalling the ambush they'd wandered into ten years ago. Everything was just the same as it had been—even down to the unnatural mist that wasn't rolling in off the sea.

As much as he loathed the feeling though, he had to admit it was the most wise place to regroup and get their bearings. The almost impenetrable knot of Nether Spirit activity was a good quarter mile off to their right, the distant hustle and bustle of the docks proper faint from off to the left. And while they easily could have hopped into the shadows of the warehouses to get out of the open as soon as they landed, that meant narrowing their field of vision considerably.

A few moments before Rowen would have suggested doing just that, however, the Ronin froze.

"Do you sense that…?"

Ryo nodded.

Kourin was all of a hundred feet from their position.

The Rekka ken hissed softly from their scabbards. Tenku's hankyu was a welcome if slightly unfamiliar heft in his hand, almost like speaking to a long-lost friend.

Other than the incident with his mother-in-law four years ago, it had been a decade since he'd had to actually use his honed skills in combat—let alone against a brother-in-arms.

Alexa had been right; the yoroi didn't feel like it should have. Rowen and Ryo didn't even have to go find it, either. Its footsteps were harsh and heavy, eerily reminiscent of a youjakai soldier. Nether energy coated it like slime, bringing with it a chill that was unseasonal for the early-November morning. The Ronin braced, wary eyes peeled for its opening move.

The fog was so thick that it wasn't until Kourin stopped twenty feet away that Rowen could make out important details. Wisps of vapor that hung in the cold air—a human breath. Pale skin and a hint of gold at the top of the visor—Sage's eyes closed, his hair barely showing with the way the helm tended to brush it aside.

The faceplate locked in the closed position, something the Ronin had only ever been forced to use when the yoroi slumbered shortly after the beginning of the War.

Rowen and Ryo braced themselves as the Kourin ken slowly drifted upward, Sage taking a too-familiar stance. Red lightning danced along the blade.

"That's the rai ko zan!" Rowen growled.

Ryo's reply was confused. "Then why is he taking so long? That little demonstration in Canada was a drop in the bucket compared to what he's capable of."

The nodachi's point dipped; the two Ronin jumped apart, crackling red electricity arcing through the space they had just occupied. Gears whirred in Rowen's head at nearly lightspeed as Sage slowly pivoted to orient himself with Tenku. He knew he'd seen this sort of scenario before. But when…

It clicked. "He's amped up on Nether energy!"

"Like Anubis was," Ryo concurred, recalling the same memory. It was shortly followed by a muttered string of curses directed once more at Michael.

Rowen almost didn't want to see what Ryo would do when he saw the cultist again.

In the meantime, he knew Rekka was hiding sudden concern that they wouldn't be able to rip Sage from the throes of this Nether-possession just yet. Anubis had needed the Ancient's power to find the strength to turn away from Talpa—although he had begun that fight on his own.

"Get in line," he quipped glibly, not wanting to admit how much the thought also rattled him.

Ryo refocused on the issue as Sage slowly approached Rowen. "Here's hoping he can fight it on his own…"

Rowen could have dodged the nodachi's vertical swipe half-asleep. He suddenly realized what was likely behind the awkward, jerky movements. "Knowing him...he already is."

Despite understanding this—and knowing that any attacks he landed on his brother would immediately heal over—it was difficult to raise his bow against Kourin. Ryo, however, was faster, coming up behind Sage as a red blur.

Shockingly, Sage turned to face the Rekka ken without hesitation, his movements the smooth, lightning-fast reactions they had become used to seeing from a highly-trained kendoka. Taken by surprise, Ryo was knocked roughly back onto the ground, his pride damaged more than anything else.

"What the hell was that?" he exclaimed, shaking off the shock to leap to his feet again.

Rowen was a tad too busy backpedalling, an arrow knocked to his bow and aimed right at Sage's breastplate. It was easy—a potshot, shooting fish in a barrel, practically. Still, he had to remind himself over and over again that Cye and Ryo had aimed surekills at each other back in the War and survived, hardly the worse for wear.

But this was his brother, damn it all.

A flash of green was the only warning he had. Whatever control Sage had seemed to exhibit at their first encounter, he'd now lost. Rowen was hard-pressed to keep up, his arrow arcing wildly over Kourin's shoulder as the gold limbs of his bow took the nodachi's strike. The next few moments were a blur of parrying and blocking, retreating in the face of one of the most brutal onslaughts he'd faced in recent memory.

Desperate for a reprieve, he made a last-ditch effort to reach the other Ronin. "Sage, it's me—it's Rowen! Come on, Sage, I know you're in there. ...Seiji!"

The rapid blows came to a screeching halt. Rowen tried not to pant for breath, but had the sudden epiphany that he really wasn't in the same sort of shape he'd been in at the end of the War. He watched wordlessly while Sage seemed to struggle with himself, the nodachi wavering momentarily before shifting in herky-jerky motions interspersed with more long pauses.

He didn't even notice Ryo sneak up on Sage until it was too late. Before he could shout at the Ronin leader to stay back and let this play out, Rekka wound up to strike.

With the speed of his element behind him, Kourin swung around and backhanded Ryo with the nodachi's hilt.

Panic started rising—Rowen roughly forced it down, making himself stay where he was and stare down Sage. There was a reason for his single-minded focus on Tenku; he was sure of it. And he was going to use it to his advantage if he could.

"Seiji. Seiji, you're stronger than this. You can beat this," he urged, warily lowering his bow a centimeter. His right hand itched to stretch out, extend toward Sage and bring him home. "Whatever this is, we'll figure it out together. Come home, sensei…"

Something registered in Sage's expression. Instead of the immutable likeness of sleep, his brow furrowed and his lip twitched, shoulders hunching forward. A few moments passed, and his lips peeled back in a grimace.

A grimace of pain, Rowen realized.

And then Kourin resonated a sick red light that pulsed with overwhelming Nether energy.

Rowen gasped, nearly choking on that breath as similar pain overwhelmed his senses. It was just the same as it had been four years ago—he could barely resist the siren call, the Nether Spirits that whispered of peace, of letting go and surrendering control to the yoroi. Despite the years working with Dawn and sometimes Dusk, years of trying to eradicate every trace of the youjakai origins in Tenku, it was still there.

"We need Alexa!" he exclaimed, throwing it out across the connection in no specific direction.

Kento responded first. "Cye's with her and Tessa."

"Alexa, get here now."

Alarm spiked from Cye. "She's too weak, Rowen!"

Of course she could be counted on to want to prove that entirely wrong. Hopefully it would be to Rowen's benefit this time around. "Like hell I am."

His wife wasn't going to be kept out of it if she could help it, either. "I'm coming, too."

Thoughts of the baby, the Nether Spirits, of anything potentially harming Tessa, colored his response. "NO, you're not."

"But—"

He ignored her, except for a brief apology and the deep impression of how much he cared for her. "Cye, you make damn sure she stays put."

Alexa reinforced his decision. "I won't let anyone get hurt."

Time wavered in and out as Rowen focused on battling Tenku's rising nature. Only the fact that there was as little Nether influence in the yoroi as there was allowed him to hold on to consciousness—and control—as long as he did.

It was enough. A familiar pop down in the yoroi's core gave him room to breathe, sucking in as much air as he could at the same time as his eyes snapped open.

He winced with empathy as much as for his own weariness when a fireball slammed into Sage's back. Kourin stumbled, planting a foot to regain his balance and pivoting to face Alexa. As with Ryo, he counterattacked immediately, every slice the epitome of swordsman's finesse. To his horror, Alexa took each blow on her forearms, the particular defensive properties of Dusk holding up under Kourin's onslaught—barely.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to draw off the Spirits. Get out of here, both of you! I'll be right behind."

But she couldn't hold out forever.

Rowen hauled himself to his feet. Sage came down particularly hard with one blow; she stumbled to the side, practically scurrying in her haste to dodge a swinging open hand.

It almost looked as if he were trying to catch her...

Later, he would swear this happened in slow-motion. The Kourin ken came up for a wide swing—then halted, suspended at its apex as Rowen pushed his body to move. Alexa and Ryo seemed frozen in place, not sure what to do.

He couldn't let his brother hurt Alexa. Sage would never forgive himself.

Rowen came within striking range just as the nodachi plummeted straight down. The last of his strength spent, his weak parry with a forearm did nothing to stop the blade from biting into Tenku. Nether Spirits zinged along the blade and into his yoroi, paralysis setting in almost immediately. It became nearly impossible even to breathe, every muscle seizing. Nerves on fire.

Blood flow to the head restricted.

Syncope.

The medical term for losing consciousness.

There was just enough time and thought for him to send a silent apology to Tessa.

Then darkness.

Translations: Because, again, just to be sure I didn't miss them in previous iterations.

Rekka, Tenku, Kongo, Kourin, Suiko: Wildfire, Strata, Hardrock, Halo, Torrent, respectively.

Ken: sword, blade

Hankyu: a specific type of Japanese bow (in this case, collapsible)

Rai ko zan: Thunderbolt Cut ("lightning strike")