AN: This a long one. I bet you guys are really scared after that cliff hanger from the last chapter. Muwhahaha

Thanks for the reviews/messages: nebulaX, Waterling & lilcutieprincess! Please let me know what you guys think about this and the next chapter because these were the hardest to write! It took a long time to come up with a plot that made sense and was easily folded into the existing canon. I'd like to know if I did well or if it's just like "what the hell is this?"

Songs for this chapter: Laurel "To the Hills," Krewella "Killin' It," & P.O.D "Satellite."

Forget stardust—you are iron. Your blood is nothing but ferrous liquid. When you bleed, you reek of rust. It is iron that fills your heart and sits in your veins. And what is iron, really, unless it's forged?
You are iron.
And you are strong.

n.t., bentobride!poetry

Some of the tension uncurled in Elaine's stomach as Naveed's seal effectively trapped them inside the sigil. There was a relief that now she could release her full pent up power without the fear of accidently injuring those around her. The remaining Old Ones sealed along with her could shield themselves from her aether with their own, and she could feel the tight knot of power slowly easing deep in her. Cracking her knuckles, the Druid pulled her weapon from her pocket. She had found them in her suitcase, wrapped in black silk, with a note from her brother. Elaine was unsure when or how Aurelius had managed to sneak the objects inside her bag, but she was immensely grateful for them now.

They resembled brass knuckles, but rather than being cast in brass they were made of cold, dark iron. In Druidry and in many other magi cultures around the world iron was used in rituals to promote power and courage, and it was an aggressive metal. Fitting her fingers through the loops so the cool metal rested against her knuckles, Elaine allowed her aether to trickle through the close combat weapon, feeling the power amplified by the metal. A cold smile touched her lips.

Ajax and Mathias had also produced their own weapons. The Greek-African's heirloom was a dory, a ten foot long spear capped with a spike on the opposite end of the blade. It was the archetypal weapon of Ancient Greece, and lesser man had paled at the sight of Ajax easily twirling the thick spear in one hand, fingers dancing around the ash wood staff as it swirled effortlessly through his grip. Mathias' predatory grin widened as he easily balanced his bladed axe against his shoulder, the weapon's staff was nearly as tall as the Danish magus and the axe itself was double bladed. Both blades crackled and sizzled with their wielders' aether.

Sara appeared unthreatened as three of the Old Ones slowly advanced toward her, weapons drawn and eyes bright with power but dark with vengeance.

"Why Olympias?" Ajax demanded, deep voice breaking slightly. Grief made his strong face desperate. "I at least understand Dmitri's death, but why her?!"

Light eyes, unemotional in their clinical assessment of him, did not blink. "I required her psychic ability. Have you not wondered how I have shielded my movements from your gazes?"

Recoiling as if struck, Ajax seemed stunned at her response. A strangled noise choked Mathias, his axe slipping from his shoulder so the blade rested against the cold stone. Elaine merely stared uncomprehendingly. Olympias was gone… for something like that?

Sara's lips pursed as she continued, ignoring Gaheris and Anna who were maneuvering near the seal line, chalk tracing a second spell circle within Naveed's. "I did not expect the oracle capable of retaining enough power to reveal the image of her death to you. You all saw it, yes?"

Elaine was not sure she would ever forget the sight of Olympias' throat being slit and the dull sound of her dying body hitting the ground. Clenching her eyes shut, the Druid's hands fisted at her sides, the iron knuckles biting into her palms. The scar from her Blood Oath throbbed. "Be your own anchor…"

"You killed the only mother I ever had," Ajax informed Sara calmly, raising the spearhead of his dory at the Pureblood. "And a friend who was never anything but kind." His dark face was savage as he showed her his palm once more, a pale scar cutting across his skin. "We took a Blood Oath and we will kill you for it!"

Lunging at her, Mathias hefted his axe easily into the air and charged after the African-Greek, both men slamming the blades of their weapons at the Pureblood. Within a blink Sara disappeared, their weapons crashing into the stone, cracking it as aether whooshed upward in a spiral. Elaine whipped around, using tendrils of her aether to trail after Sara. Power trickled at the back of her brain and the Druid allowed it to guide her, fighting purely on instinct. Raising a hand, she charged the iron knuckles with aether before slamming her fist into the ground, stone and rock and red power exploding in a small crater before zipping toward where Sara landed. Frowning, the Pureblood disappeared again, charging her own psychic attacks with not only her Pureblood vampiric power, but also with the power of the two magi she had devoured.

Elaine, Mathias and Ajax continued to charge the blonde Pureblood for minutes in this same fashion, Sara constantly evading their attacks. While any of them would have been ecstatic to draw blood from the simpering vampire, the true purpose of their vicious assault was to keep the Pureblood distracted from Gaheris and Anna. The sorcerer and enchantress were quickly and methodically completing another phase of their plan, the success relying almost solely on this spell circle. Anna glanced at Gaheris as she finished scrawling the final spell symbol, his face was grim and his black eyes dark. Resignation weighed heavily on him, his fate perhaps the most painful out of the five of them.

Just as the spell circle was completed, Anna tensed as she felt another presence behind her. Two of Sara's servants – all of whom had been trapped within the seal along with them – daintily pretty girls with wide eyes and soft bodies, lunged at the enchantress and dragged her to the ground, pinning her. Thrashing, she booted one in the chest and dug her sharp nails into the eyes of the other. Both screamed painfully, however they were determined as they were following their mistress' orders. Somewhere past the power and dust and debris, Anna heard Kaito yelling her name, and then her heart lodged in her throat when she saw the beginning of the end.

Sara held her arms out before her, black masses squirming under her skin. They detached, growing into wraithlike, flimsy shapes with red eyes and stinking of sulfur. Like smoke, they overwhelmed Elaine, Mathias and Ajax, brining the three Old Ones to their knees. Only Gaheris remained. Mouth in a grim line, he inhaled deeply and closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable. A sudden force knocked him to the ground, his back slamming loudly against the stone. Sara appeared above his head, smiling down at him. Producing two sabers she plunged the blades into Gaheris' hands, pinning him to the ground.

Anna screamed for him, as did others.

"I win," Sara smirked.

"I will destroy you, vampire!" Elaine snarled, voice deep as Merlin's tone bled into hers. Anna's limbs trembled as she fought against the hold of her captors, unable to stop a spike of fear from spearing through her at the sound of the Druid's voice. "I will do more than kill you, I will obliterate you! Whatever black twisted mass you call a soul, I will wrench from your body! No trace of your existence will remain as I will burn it!"

She truly looked terrifying, a destructive force of nature crammed into the fragile container of skin and bones. Ash blonde hair swirled in an invisible breeze, red aether sizzling and streaming around her and mismatched eyes blazing. Not for the first time did Anna realize that out of the three Arthurian magi; the Merlinus heirs would always possess the most potent, raw power. There was an old saying about it among their families. Morgan le Fay was Arthur's draught and Morgause his castle. Merlin, however, would always be Arthur's shield.

Mathias snarled, half transformed, so his face was angular and vicious like that of a wolf – like his namesake, the son of Loki – and his canines protruded from his lips. The Dane's eyes were translucent and bright, flashing dangerously. Ajax growled in the back of his throat, the thick black mist of his aether condensing around him so that all she could see was the molten gold of his eyes.

Sara dismissed them with a flick of her eyes, mumbling a quiet command to her servants. Five delicate looking girls rose and stood at different points around them, creating a circle. A third spell circle suddenly singed across the stone and Anna recognized it immediately, ice water plunging through her veins. It was the same spell circle they found at Dmitri and Olympias' murder scenes.

Black cinders of seals appeared on Sara's skin, singeing the delicate pale flesh. Gaheris had explained to them when they first began drafting their plot that despite her powerful Pureblood magic, Sara was most likely still unable to contain Dmitri's power. Therefore she would need sigils to keep it within her, however the process was painful and if it were any other creature it would have destroyed them. The only unknown factor was how Sara had gained the magus knowledge to perform any of these rites and rituals.

The spell circle began to glow and pulsate a bloody red as Sara gracefully kneeled down, her fingertips barely brushing Gaheris'. Despite the pain in his hands, the sorcerer recoiled from the touch. Sara smirked and in a defiant gesture, Gaheris hacked a mouthful of spit at her. The glob directly hit her cheek and the blonde Pureblood snarled gutturally before reaching out a hand; nails elongated to claws and slapped Gaheris across the face. Long, bloody gashes tore the skin of his cheek and neck open. She wasn't sure, but Anna could swear she heard Kaname Kuran growl.

The very stones under them quivered as loose pebbles and debris hovered in the air at the sheer amount of power contained within the seal. Thunder rumbled over their heads and lightning split the dark clouds in sharp, harsh light. The Old Ones could hear the others screaming their names, cursing Sara and demanding their safe release. Sara, however, only had eyes for Kaname.

"In these games we Purebloods play," Her soft, melodious voice was crystal clear to his enhanced senses. "There is always necessary collateral damage, isn't that right Kaname?"

Throwing her head back in triumph, Sara activated the spell circle, and the sky opened up in fiery red before falling to crash upon them.

Aurelius and Lázaro arrived on the rooftop, along with Anastasia, just at the moment the spell circle activated. Despite his premonition of this event, the Darach could not stop the numbing fear and terror that momentarily stilled him. The dark, stormy clouds above Sara and the captured Old Ones had erupted into reds and oranges and yellows, as if the fire of God was churning above their heads. Yagari, Kaito and Yuki along with Naveed and Anippe were screaming for them. Kaname watched almost dispassionately, but Aurelius was certain he glimpsed some sort of pained emotion flicker through his dark eyes. Zero had turned to stone beside his Pureblood charge, amethyst eyes wide and cracked with something other than vengeance. The ex-human's knuckles turned bone white around the Bloody Rose, arm shaking violently.

Aurelius took a step forward to grip Zero's arm painfully as the teen raised his gun. "That will do nothing."

The others turned to him, gaping at his appearance. Yuki's innocent face was drawn with worry, as the very ground under their feet trembled. "But, Aurelius-"

"There is nothing you can do!" He really didn't mean to shout at her, but Goddamn he was furious as he shoved Zero roughly from him which made the boy stumble. "You did this to them!" Whirling around, he accused not only Kaname but Zero and Yagari and Kaito as well. "All of you! And for what?!"

Yagari and Kaito stared at the Darach in silence as aether and power and magic and destruction raged in front of them. Zero seemed almost lost while Kaname merely watched it unfold before him.

Anippe balked. "Are we to sit here and watch them die?!"

"Once the ritual has been activated, no force can stop it." Anastasia informed them in a wobbly voice as she moved to stand beside the Darach, eyes watching the spell within Naveed's seal. "Do you see? It has already begun."

Within the spell circle, Sara at the center with Gaheris crucified beneath her and one of her servants standing behind each of the other Old Ones, bright chains of power appeared from the ground, binding the magi. Mathias cursed as the restraints yanked him to the ground, battle axe clattering beside him. Ajax roared as he tugged at them, throwing himself against the chains as they forced the proud man to his knees. Elaine had the breath roughly stolen from her lungs as not only her hands but her feet were bound as well, smashing her brutally into the hard ground much like her cousin. Anna had already been pinned, the bindings replacing the surprisingly brutish hands of Sara's servants.

"What is she going to do to them?" Yagari demanded in a dead voice. Aurelius stared at him. He wondered what flashed behind the hunter's remaining eye, as he watched his lover being brought to the mercy of a Pureblood again. A heavy resignation and bitter acceptance seemed to lodge in his throat, but the hunter did not look away. Aurelius grudgingly respected that Yagari did not flinch from this, a sin and death he had his own hand in causing.

"Baba Yaga was the 'earth mother'," Anastasia explained, tears dampening her eyes. "She was the giver of all things through the Three Horseman. The White Horseman represented birth and the bright dawn, the Red Horseman rules life and the red sun, while the Black Horseman is the sovereign of death as well as dark midnight. Whoever controls the Three Horseman controls birth and life and death, and the magic and power of everything in between. If you can command the Three Horseman, you can strip and seal and absorb the powers of any magus." Hands fisting at her sides, Anastasia's eyes flashed dangerously. "That is why that monster murdered my uncle."

Yuki licked her suddenly dry lips, horror gripping her tightly. "Will… Will they…?"

"Yes, they will die." Lázaro stepped from the shadows, brown eyes intently staring at the scene unfolding beneath him. Closing his eyes, the Mexican magus could feel the pain and fear and the scent of death coming from the Old Ones, but underneath was the cool smoldering scent of defiance.

Anippe choked, not realizing that Naveed was in no way surprised by the sudden appearance of the exiled magus. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Dark eyes flickered to the Egyptian's face, impassive. "Aurelius is my friend and asked for my presence, therefore I am here." He was a man in his thirties, around the same age as the Darach. His shoulder length brown hair was kept in a loose bun at the nape of his neck, stray strands blowing in the wind. The magus was covered in tattoos, an image of a grim reaper creeping up the front his chest and underneath his shirt collar and Yuki glimpsed skulls inked onto the skin at the back of his neck. His leather jacket was scuffed and worn looking, but on the back was the image of a woman's skeleton clothed in a robe with a bundle of red roses in her skinless fingers, her gaping mouth in a disturbing grin. A rosary hung with a gold emblazoned replica of a skull was looped around his neck.

"Santa Muerte," The Egyptian's sneer was softened by the quiet tone of her voice.

"Behold," Lázaro jerked his chin toward the unfolding horror, something like anger quietly flickering across his impassive expression.

Surrounding Sara and Gaheris, backs to the Pureblood and sorcerer, was the hazy semi-transparent images of three horsemen. As Anastasia predicted, one was white, one was red, and the final was a deep black. Their steeds coordinated to their riders' colors; however all of their faces were obscured by the shadow of their hoods, the tattered cloaks that shrouded their gangly bodies trailing in whispers across the stone. Each raised a hand, sword in their grips, as crackling power ignited between the trinity and the bright rumbling of the sky above them. Gaheris' back arched, mouth open in a scream, as dark sigils crept over his body. Yuki felt tears trail in cold rivulets down her cheeks at the sharp scent of burning flesh.

"God just leave them alone, you bitch!" Naveed shielded his face with an arm as a strong onslaught power washed over them, carried by the wind.

Lázaro reached out to grab Yagari and Kaito, holding both hunters back. The former glared darkly at him while the latter spat at him. "Let go now."

"You cannot break through Solomon's seal." His accented voice informed them calmly, dark eyes revealing nothing. "And if you did, you would be killed. They are forsaken, they will die and nothing you attempt will alter that."

"I won't accept that!" Yuki interrupted whatever either hunter was going to respond, hoisting Artemis in the air. It was Aurelius who stilled her, and she stared at him with uncomprehending wet eyes. "But-… She's your sister! And he's your cousin!"

"And I have failed both," He admitted in a pained voice. "We all have, we have failed all of them."

The sigils from Gaheris' body slowly seeped outward, creeping toward each of the Old Ones. They reached Mathias first, twining around his legs and stilling his attempts to free himself as pain overwhelmed him. Tossing his head with a strangled gasp, the Danish magus banged his own head agonizingly against the stone biting into his back in an attempt to distract himself, unwilling to allow a weak sound to leave his lips. He saw Ajax's entire body quivering as the sigils slowly covered him, pain stiffening the larger man's muscles as he glared hotly at the vampire. Anna bit back a cry as they engulfed her as well, feeling the sigils burn across her skin and sear her down to her bone marrow. Elaine merely let an animalistic growl rip through her throat, the pain only inflaming her fury.

"I, Ambrosia Merlinus, cursed you, Sara Shirabuki!" She snarled, red and white eye blazing even as the sigils blackened her, erupting a painful hellfire in her veins. Yagari stared at her; he had not seen the Druid this far gone since she confronted the former Association President. Even then, she'd had some sense of self-preservation. With a jolt and some other emotion choking him, he was reminded of Aimi when she had become a Level-E vampire. Elaine felt no pain, cared not for her life, only extinguishing that of her prey. "My curse will still take you, Olympias promised you that!"

"Be silent and give me your power." Sara twisted her blades into Gaheris' hands, earning another strangled gasp of pain from the sorcerer. "Make me Queen!"

"No!" Naveed and Anippe screamed, despite knowing the futility, and ran toward the seal. The Pakistani appeared ready to even break the ring containing them. However, before they could, the Horsemen raised their swords and pierced the blades into the ground at their feet, a vortex of power and stone and dust swirling outward in a cloud within the seal. The force of the spell's completion threw both Keltoi members roughly off their feet, skidding back across the roof toward the others. Yuki stumbled, kept upright only by Zero's arms. The hunters wavered as well. Only Kaname, Lázaro, and Aurelius remained stone faced.

However, none could remain unaffected by the screams. As the power was ripped from their veins, their blood, their very souls, white hot agony speared through each of the Old Ones. It hazed out every other sensation and thought, their last moments a crystallizing sense of burning and shattering down to their very existence. The Horsemen swallowed their field of vision, reaching forward to tear the aether out of their skin. Yuki sobbed at the sound, never hearing such pain in her entire life. Zero had stiffened to stone, arms tight around her as he kept the two of them standing. Suddenly it was more than a year ago, and he was silently caring for a bedridden Elaine as she thrashed in a sweaty nightmare, Rido's bite trying to blaze her skin from her bones. He thought nothing would ever be as awful as her cries then, but this, this was so much worse. This, he thought, this is the evil of Purebloods.

Just as the power and magic was overwhelming and raging against the seal, it disappeared, carried into oblivion with the breeze. Craters and cracks in the stone had crushed and hedged together in rocky piles, the debris in clumps or completely cracked from the sheer destruction. Sara stood triumphant and smirking, a deadly light in her eyes. The servants that had stood behind the Old Ones were glowing with their respective victim's aether, sigils burning their skin to keep the power contained. Even a Pureblood like Sara could not have survived the transfer of so much potent magic into her own being. However, she had servants loyal to her, under influence and unable to break free. Therefore they were the perfect vessels.

Naveed hurriedly scrambled to his feet, intending to release the seal, but both Aurelius and Lázaro stilled him. The Pakistani balked. "What are you-?"

"Not yet," Aurelius' look was firm, jaw clenched.

Opening his mouth to ask another question, his dusky skin suddenly paled as he fully comprehended the fate of his friends. Gaheris was in the center, mouth still open in a silent scream. The sigils had burned into his flesh, skin steaming as the cool air brushed over his corpse. Yagari felt sick as Sara attempted to free her blades from the sorcerer's hands and, finding them stuck, planted a delicate foot onto his fingers and yanked. The sucking sound of flesh and the grinding of bones seemed to echo around him. Nearby he heard Yuki retch at the noise and a soft, sharp exhale of breath from Kaname.

Ajax had slumped forward onto his stomach, his skin dark and blotted almost as if parts of his flesh were turning to stone. His eyes were open and unseeing, head jerked to the side at an awkward angle and blood seeped from his ears. Anna's body was half twisted, all of her human guise stripped from her. The delicate pixie wings on her back were just stringy, bloody veins that hung limp, almost as if the gossamer and gauzy membranes had been ripped off. Her skin appeared to almost be… peeling. Yagari turned at the sound of Kaito's harsh inhale of breath. He seemed frozen, expression a mixture of emotional grief and a strong attempt to bury it underneath a layer of ice, at the wrecked state of her body.

Mathias' body had splayed into an unnatural position, as if he had been in the throes of a seizure when he died. Blooms of crystallizing dark blue discolored parts of his skin, almost as if he had been suddenly overcome with frostbite or his body was made of ice underneath the pink skin. Elaine lay on her back, limbs prone and her dull, dead heterochromic eyes staring at the sky. Burn marks mottled her skin, small craters of cinder and ash dotting her neck and arms. Yagari felt a heavy sense of grief weigh his limbs down at the sight of her unmoving corpse, lifeless eyes staring at the rumbling sky around her as a Pureblood simpered over her. However it was almost numbingly unfelt, like he truly couldn't comprehend what he had seen and the full force of realization hadn't crashed into him yet. She's dead; she's really dead this time…

They were dead, oh Gods they were dead! Heartache momentarily suffocated him as he remembered the sound of Adana happily rushing into the room and calling for Ajax or the way Hector Hex's eyes lit up with pride at the sight of his daughter or the genuine affectionate protectiveness that knit all of the Loke brothers together in an unbreakable bond or the firm willpower of survival Gaheris possessed despite nearly being ripped in half by someone who was supposed to love him or the shaking strength in Anna's slim body as she bravely tried not to splinter in the face of her mother's scorn.

"Because I give a damn about you!"

"You know I love you, right?"

"I feel safe with you Toga. How did that happen?"

He closed his eye, shoving the pain down like he did with everything else.

"Oh God, oh sweet Lord above help us," Naveed was hyperventilating on his knees, forehead pressed into the cool stone. His hooded sweater was covered in dust and there was a tear at the shoulder. Anippe had pulled herself to a sitting position, strands of hair fallen loose from her braid and stared at the carnage in front of her as if she could will it to disappear.

"Kuran," Yagari's voice was low. Something dangerous had entered his one visible blue eye. Slowly, he turned to face the imposing Pureblood, as well as his student and Yuki. "And you two. Get your heads together because I want that vampire's heart on a plate. Now,"

Sara scoffed lightly at his words. Takuma could only stare at the blonde vampire, horrified at her along with himself. If he had been stronger, more willed to break free from her influence and his own accursed emotions sooner, would Elaine and the other Old Ones be lying dead and broken in front of him? Even now, with the scent of his sensei's blood teasing his nose, Takuma still felt that damned magnetic draw to her and he was sickened.

"You are too weak to harm me now." Sara gestured at her servants who slowly straightened, aether coating their skin. "I have taken the most powerful magic in this world, the only humans unable to be turned dead at my feet. It is only a matter of time until I am Queen of this world."

Just as Sara Shirabuki opened her mouth to command her weapons, they screamed in shrill pain as streaks of aether began puncturing their skin, piercing their vessels. Frowning, the vampire whirled to see that all five had fallen to their knees, attempting to stifle the blood and leaking power. Lázaro threw his head back and laughed, chillingly and disdainfully. Anippe's dark face twisted into a feral grin as she unsteadily rose to her feet. Yuki recoiled, pressing herself closer into Zero's side as they along with Kaname watched.

"What's happening to them?" She whispered.

Anastasia was staring at Sara as if she would devour her soul. "They are not capable." The redheaded magus almost sounded gleeful.

Growling, Sara turned on her servants. "I have given you my blood to strengthen you, you useless children!"
"You are so ignorant." Lázaro grinned predatorily up at the still dark clouds. "And narcissistic, do you truly believe Pureblood vampires are the alpha creature in this universe? You know nothing," His tone suddenly turned somber as his brown eyes pierced into her light ones. "I have seen whole worlds destroyed, gods topple and you think you are the apex of predators? How foolish,"

Sara growled, feeling her victory slowly slipping through her grasp as her servants began deteriorating before her very gaze, the Old Ones' aether eroding them from the inside. However, the two that had absorbed Mathias' and Anna's were still on their feet, grimacing and whimpering in pain, however the power had not began to leak from their pores.

"Do you think it is enough to have the power of a vampire to contain aether? The potent, corroding strength of the Old Ones?" Anippe scornfully mocked. "Merlin, Morgause, Morgan le Fay, Loki, Medusa, Baba Yaga… Their ancestors' lives were wrought with pain and death and a struggle that you cannot possibly conceive!" Laughing, the sound brittle, Anippe smiled maliciously. "The potency of the curse that their blood demands is too high a price! You, Pureblood, simply do not have what it takes."

"You shall be the first I turn!" Sara growled at the Egyptian, any façade of girlish innocence draining away from her face to reveal the visage of a killer. "I will drain you within an inch of your life, refuse the solace of my blood and watch you descend into madness! I shall still be Queen!" It was as Sara took a threatening step forward, her servants slowly dying around her, that Mathias twitched with a snarl and lunged.

The Danish magus had remained half-transformed, his teeth grown into pointed canines, and he struck with a rash and desperation that leant him impossible strength through sheer determination alone. Fangs biting down into the soft flesh of Sara's shoulder, Mathias dragged her to the ground, the little power still trickling through his battered body leaving burns across the Pureblood's skin.

"I am not your tool or your prey!" He screamed, reaching for a loose stone and bashing it across her skull.

As the onlookers watched, frozen and stunned, the ground beneath them rumbled as the loud groaning of metal and the scent of fire overwhelmed them. Yagari whirled toward the doorway that led down from the roof, his single eye wide. "Oh shit! Not at a time like this!"

Suddenly, dark tendrils ripped through the stone of the roof, curling toward any person possessing an anti-vampire weapon. Kaito, Yagari, Yuki, and Zero all struggled as the tendrils wrapped around them, tugging and pulling at their weapons. Kaito resisted against it, throwing himself backward as he steadfastly held onto his weapon. "Is this the parent?!"

"Apparent-fucking-ly!" Yagari shouted back.

"Why now?!" Zero questioned, his back to Yuki as they fought against the force of the parent. As they all wrestled to keep a hold on their weapons Mathias, unconcerned with them and struggling against Sara, shouted.

"Anna! I need you!"

Yuki suddenly stiffened as she heard the Ancestress' voice in her head, recognizing it from Kaname's memories. She watched, wide eyed, as her elder brother strode away from her. The tendrils of the parent curled almost tenderly around him; however they still attempted to free the weapon from his grasp. "I must take back my fragments; I can feel myself cooling off. I can't-! Not until all Purebloods have vanished from this world!"

"Anna!" Mathias screamed, desperate, as Sara roughly shoved him back. He retaliated by tearing a chunk of flesh from her arm. Blood ran in rivulets down his chin, ironically giving the magus a vampiric appearance.

"You have done more than enough, for long enough." Kaname spoke softly, almost as if he could see that woman from so long ago that he had cherished so fiercely. One hand clenching into a fist, he brought it up to his chest like the knights of old swearing an oath to their lady. "I… will succeed you, so… You can rest in peace now."

Yuki sensed the Ancestress' gratefulness and tender pain at placing that burden on Kaname. For a long moment, the younger Kuran could almost see both of them – Kaname and this Ancestress – staring at one another in a bond of love and pain. Then the vision vanished like smoke and the tendrils retreated, leaving them unmolested and focused on the grappling between Mathias and Sara.

The Danish magus had been thrown back by Sara, who he had injured further by grabbing Ajax's dory and stabbing it clean through her hipbone. The Pureblood was struggling to her feet, yanking the blade free as the Ancestress' remaining self slithered toward them. Whirling around, Mathias glared darkly at the sight of the tendrils attempting to break through Naveed's seal.

"No!" He screamed, voice cracking, it was the closest to crying he would allow. "No, it's too late for that! They are already dead, what good are you now?! You have failed us!"

Yuki saw some quick flash of anger grip Kaname and he made to take a step forward, but she reached out and held him still. Not suspecting her interference, Kaname stared down at the girl he had risked everything for. She shook her head, tears silencing her.

Mathias glowered at the tendrils as they singed against the seal's barrier. "We do not need you! Anna, get up!"

Kaito stiffened at the soft sound the enchantress made as she struggled to right herself. Emotion painfully tightened in his chest as he watched her uneasily sway to her feet, leaning on the ash staff in her hands like a lifeline. Her ruined wings twitched painfully against her back, and she coughed a spray of blood across the stone. However, her violet eyes were hard and dark with a viciousness he did not believe she possessed. He remembered his brother and the sickening grip of emotion as he'd had to put him down, and the sensation churned with the uncomfortable realization that he needed this woman to survive or he would be left in ruins.

A weakened version of his trademark roguish grin tugged at Mathias' lips as he turned back to the Ancestress' tendrils. Yuki wondered if the Danish magus even saw the limbs or if he could see her as she had been. "None of you Purebloods have gotten this fucking concept through your thick skulls. We are human, not weaklings! We are arrogant, greedy beings with a tenacious streak a damn mile wide and toe a dangerous line between fanatical heroism and banal evil! It is a drive you cannot even begin to comprehend, that is what allows us to unlock a potential we did not know we possessed in the worst of times! We will outlast you!"

The tendrils squirmed and pushed against the barrier, almost as if they were retorting against his words. Yuki gasped, wide eyed, as they finally broke through Naveed's seal, twining around Mathias almost in an embrace. He swatted them away.

"I am not prey and I don't need you to save me!" Mathias' voice broke, blue eyes bright with a desperate defiance she was unsure she would ever appreciate. "Just… Just stand beside me while I save myself!"

Kaname's mouth opened in a soft oval, his dark eyes wide. Yuki stared at him, wondering what thoughts were passing through his unreadable gaze. He appeared deeply affected by Mathias' words, in what way she could not begin to fathom.

Lázaro's cold smile was almost fond and Anippe grinned. "Kick her ass, Mathias!" Naveed cheered from her side.

The Ancestress' tendrils and presence quivered, as if she were torn between her desires. Mathias' gaze never wavered; he only reached out unseeingly to steady Anna as the enchantress finally stumbled to his side. Gasping in pain, she straightened and stared with determination at the Ancestress whom had comforted her when she first came to this place. Despite her friends dead not five feet from her, the power of Morgan le Fay ripped out of her skin and the overwhelming pain spider webbing through her, Anna smiled.

"Thank you for helping us until now." She tightened her grip on the staff. "Please, let us make you proud by how far we have come."

Anna's words broke the tension, and the Ancestress' tendrils withdrew slowly. Mathias grinned and Anna sighed in relief. One stray tendril curled toward Kaname, gently reaching out to stroke his cheek before they all shattered in a spray of glittering shards. The parent and Ancestress had cooled off, her presence finally able to rest peacefully. Yuki swallowed back a sob as Kaname's hand remained outstretched as if he were going to reach for her, and it slowly dropped back to his side.

Anna's scream ripped her attention back to the seal circle. Sara had recovered, expression savage, and she had tossed the enchantress to the ground some feet away. Before Mathias could even react, Sara pierced her sharp fingers into his skin, wrapped her fingers around the bones of his ribs and hoisted the Danish magus into the air. The scream that tore from his throat echoed around them, the pain almost sending him into unconsciousness.

"You have grown annoying," Sara hissed, eyes narrowed. "Die," The Pureblood stiffened at the frail smirk on Mathias' bloodied lips, sensing the presence behind her a moment too late.

"Their names were Dmitri and Olympias!" Anna rammed the ash rod through Sara's chest, the filed point of the wooden staff taken from Avalon's Nemeton piercing the Pureblood's heart. "Never forget!"

A mixture of shouts and exclamations accompanied the sound of Sara's body shattering into a fine pile of ash and dust. Mathias had crumpled to a broken and bloody heap as Sara splintered, another shout of a pain tearing through him at the movement and impact of hitting the stone. Anna fell beside the Danish magus, feeling as if her skin was about to singe off her body. As she struggled to maintain consciousness, she could hear Kaito screaming her name.