40 chapters!? I'm pretty sure I had originally intended for this to be like 30. But, well, things happen. We're pretty much in the final arc, so enjoy the ride!

"Honoka, I―"

Nico's voice cut off as the Void in front of her closed without warning and Honoka was left staring at nothing. She paused, confused for a second. Had their time run out? Yoshiko would have warned her, right? She turned to question the girl, but her eyes were wide.

"The Void… was closed from both sides simultaneously. It was forced closed." Honoka never expected to see that look on Yoshiko... a look of fear, unease. "Impossible. Nobody but us should be able to…" If Yoshiko's words alone could bring bad luck, then they had.

The temperature suddenly dropped drastically around them. Their breath became visible and they looked around in confusion. But they all felt it at the same time. The appearance of a presence that outweighed anything that they had felt before, as if a large weight had been dropped on their chests. The soft landing of feet and the three turned slowly to see, to two of them, a strikingly familiar face.

Long dark hair pulled into a ponytail, striking violet eyes that felt as if they were piercing through their very souls. A calm smile set. Honoka and Yoshiko simultaneously summoned their Demonbrands, both eyeing the girl.

"Kanan…" Honoka spoke slowly, hoping she was just imagining this or that it was an illusion or something. "Is that really you? You… You're the Void, though?" She looked to Yoshiko who stared with unbridled anger clear as day on her face.

It was definitely Kanan. The only difference was the short white dress she wore. It looked really out of the place in the Underworld, with frills lining the bottom and a large ribbon the back visible even from their view. Honoka had to admit that it almost ruined how the situation felt.

Kanan chuckled and nodded. "I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon, Four Seasons. But I ended up having to push some plans forward. I did not expect your friends in your world to reach me so quickly." She smirked. "They'll all be long dead before you get back though."

"You…!" Honoka prepared to strike but the voice of her friend stopped her.

"Honoka-chan!" Honoka turned to look at the brunette who stepped up next to her, eyes glowing a deep red. "You…"

Kanan held her arms out wide. "Can you see, Witness? Gaze upon me. And surrender yourself. Surely you, with the eyes of Fourth, must realize… that you stand no chance." She motioned towards Honoka with one of those arms. "You, Kousaka Honoka, the singularity created by Fourth, the key to the end, the key to the beginning." She turned her eyes to Hanayo. "Koizumi Hanayo, the Witness. Fourth entrusted his very eyes to you and with them… his true power. To think that he was foolish enough to betray me. To think that he was foolish enough to trust our secret and even his own eyes… to humans."

"I don't know what you mean! Who are you really!?" Nothing made sense to her. Kanan was a former Master of the Void as well the form the Void took. But… was she the Void? How did the Void manifest itself? And if she wasn't, then…

"So impatient…" Kanan put a hand to her head and sighed. "Really, I was going to take things slowly. I guess the least I could do is introduce myself." She pondered for a second on how exactly to do that before her eyes met with blue orbs. And those eyes of hers glowed a bright red as a smile once again spread across her lips. "My true name is lost to time. But at the same time my true name is Matsuura Kanan. I am the first Master of Void, a former Master of Void, the Second Demon Lord, the Void."

Honoka could feel the brunette next to her tense and she couldn't blame her. What the hell kind of bomb was that to drop? She swallowed but the saliva almost hurt with how dry her throat felt. The Void, the Second Demon Lord… Nothing was making sense. Autumn had told her that First was dead, so of course Second was a suspect but… what the hell?

She tried her best to keep her calm and spoke in an impressively even voice. "So, it's true… First is dead."

Kanan burst out laughing as soon as the words left her mouth. "Y-You… you are still so foolish… as to ask that question? Haha! I assumed you would have found out so much more." She shook her head and calmed her laughing. "First has been dead for nearly one hundred years, Four Seasons. He died by my very hand." Kanan took a step forward and the ground under her froze over. "First was a fool. Despite everything, he wished for peace between humans and demons. Can you believe it? The apex of idiocy.

So, I led him to his demise at the hands of Matsuura Kanan, the then Master of the Void. Though, well… we are one in the same now, so her hands are mine. Mine are hers. Did you think this was just something that popped out of nowhere? Far from it. Long have I been waiting for my opportunity. And now, so many years later, everything has fallen into place. Come, Four Seasons, Witness. Give yourselves up and I will spare your lives."

"As if! I'll never bow my head to a Demon Lord!"

Kanan sighed and nodded. "I see. Then die." Something stretched out from the girl to strike at Honoka. It was so quick she was almost sure she would die before even realizing what it was. But that something, a mass of darkness, slammed into an invisible barrier in front of the ginger. Honoka looked to her side to see Hanayo, red eyes glowing, nodding at her.

"We're partners. I won't let you fight alone, Honoka-chan."

"Hanayo-chan… Mm! Come on, Hanayo-chan, Yoshiko-chan!"

"So, that's how it's going to be, huh?" Kanan smirked. But that smirk quickly changed to a frown. The air around the place seemed to move a bit before settling. Kanan blinked. "Hmph. I didn't expect this at all. My Demonbrand has been slain. Sun really is as impressive as ever. Well, he was meant as nothing but a distraction anyways. Nothing of value lost. To think I came back for this. Well, I've left your friends in good hands."

"What did you do to them!?"

Kanan merely shrugged. "It appears things are moving faster than I thought." The confident smirk returned, and she nodded. "Do it."

A slash. The ever so slight sound of steel cutting through something. It happened so fast it took a second for Honoka to realize what had happened. She blinked once. Twice. And then the pain set in. Blood spurted from just below her shoulder, where her right arm had been cut off. The black appendage flew high into the air before coming back down, landing in Yoshiko's waiting hand.

"AHHHH!" Honoka had fallen to her knees, screaming in pain. And holy shit was it painful. It was easily the worst pain she had ever felt. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire, every nerve in her body seemed to be fired up at the same time. Her brain felt like it was on the verge of overloading from the pain. She dropped her sword to raise a hand to her arm but looked in horror at where it had been. Hanayo was screaming something to her, tears racing down the brunette's cheeks, but Honoka heard nothing. Her gaze slowly shifted up to Yoshiko.

Yoshiko looked at the black arm in her hand before turning her gaze back towards Honoka. There was sympathy, sorrow, regret, a lot of emotions mixed into her expression. Suddenly sound came back and Honoka could hear Hanayo desperately calling out to her as well as her own screaming. She hadn't even realized she was still screaming. She bit her lip to hold back anymore and stared up at Yoshiko.

"Yoshiko… chan… Why…?"

"Why else?" Kanan answered for her. "Yoshiko obeys the Void. I gave her the power to fight. She has been much more cooperative than we expected of her master. That is why we chose her and not the Master of Void. Now, come, Yoshiko, my heir. Let us take this next step together." Kanan held out her hand and Yoshiko spared one more glance at Honoka before beginning to walk towards Kanan.

"I'm sorry, Honoka." It was quiet and her voice remained neutral. Honoka grabbed her Demonbrand with her hand that was now covered in blood. She had to do something, anything. But in that condition, there was no way she could defeat Yoshiko. And she had to protect Hanayo as well.

Think, Honoka! What…? What can I do!?

She looked up one more time at Kanan's confident smirk. Yoshiko was just a few meters away. Time felt like it slowed as the heir to Void looked back at her one more time. And then suddenly lurched.

"Gh!" Kanan's smile faded as she watched the girl lurch in pain and bend over. Yoshiko tried to cover her mouth but when she finally let it open, she threw up a massive amount of blood. "T-This…" Now she stood there, vomiting up anything that would come up. She felt the tingle of magic and the frustration became obvious on her face. She thought back to the only person she would believe could have done something like that to her. She thought back to a certain kiss. "Sun…!"

Now! Now was her only chance! Honoka grabbed her sword, holding it tight in the one hand. It felt strange to not be able to grab it with both hands, but she couldn't let that stop her. Something had given her a chance and she didn't plan on wasting it.

"Four seasons, winter style, 1st blade." Kanan held up her hand, shooting another mass of darkness her way but it hit that barrier again, Hanayo stumbling but keeping her footing as she blocked the attack.

"Go, Honoka-chan!"

Honoka didn't need to hear that twice. Yoshiko seemed to know what was going on but when Honoka appeared in front of her, another bout of vomiting wracked her body and she missed her block completely. Honoka closed in, her sword held tightly against her before she thrust it straight through Yoshiko's stomach.

"Whiteout."

Nozomi stared out her window at the night sky. It was peaceful, too peaceful for how she currently felt. She looked at the display of tarot cards on her bed, spelling out disaster over and over again no matter how many times she shuffled and drew them. She looked at her phone again, to an unanswered text she had sent to Honoka inquiring about her safety.

Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. A chill went down her spine every time she drew the cards. Honoka was in danger. She could feel it. It wasn't just a gut feeling. She didn't believe that. She knew something was wrong. It wasn't that she thought it, she knew it.

Nozomi jumped off her bed and grabbed up her phone. She thought about calling Eli but dialed Nico's number instead. It rang a few times but went straight to her voicemail. She tried again and the same thing happened. Normally she wouldn't think anything of Nico ignoring her calls, it was just part of their friendship. But in this situation, it felt wrong.

For some reason, and this was a gut feeling, she had thought Nico had been acting strange ever since they found out Honoka and Hanayo were alive. Whenever they talked about all that stuff about demons and demon slayers, Nico would always pay the closest attention. She would always be thinking harder than anyone else. Maybe nobody else had noticed her strange behavior, but Nozomi had. She was an expert at knowing things about people that they didn't want her to know after all.

Nozomi tried calling Hanayo. No answer. Nico again. Nothing. Honoka. Nothing. She tried calling Umi to see if she maybe knew what was up with Honoka. They were closer after all. But no answer from her either. She tried Kotori. It rang a few times before the line connected.

"Hello? Nozomi-chan?" Nozomi sighed in relief from finally reaching someone. If nobody had answered her calls that would have thrown her into a whole new state of panic.

"Kotori! I'm so glad you picked up. I've been trying to reach Honoka and I can't. Same goes for some of the others. Do you know what's up? I don't think they turn in this early." There was a pause as it sounded like someone asked Kotori something and she replied to them before Nozomi.

"Did you look at your cards?"

What? That wasn't the response she had been expecting. From what she remembered in the past, Kotori never particularly paid attention to her hobby. Was she interested in tarot cards? Wait, was that really the time for her to be asking about them anyways.

"W-What does that have to do with anything? I need to kno―"

"Nozomi-chan." Kotori's voice was the same as always but Nozomi felt a chill when she spoke this time. It made her freeze up. "Did you check your cards?"

"… Mm."

"And? What did they say?"

"Disaster. I think Honoka is in danger."

"Hehe. Nothing less from the Oracle." Nozomi started to ask what she was talking about, but she heard the voice from before ask Kotori something, this time louder though she still couldn't quite hear what the person was saying.

"Are you with somebody?" Nozomi finally asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Hm? Ah, yeah, sorry about that. I'm with Honoka-chan's Master actually."

That was unexpected. "Eh? That girl we met? Um… Seira-san, was it? Why… are you with her, Kotori?"

There was a pause, this one longer than the other two. She could hear muffled speaking as if Kotori was covering the phone while she spoke. Sitting there in ignorance was starting to frustrate and scare the girl. What the hell was with everybody tonight? Kotori was the last person she expected to start acting so strangely which is why her acting like that was making her even more nervous.

"Kotori! Please! Just tell me what's going on if you know something!" The conversation on the other end stopped.

"Nozomi-chan. Do you want to help Honoka-chan?"

"Wha? Does that mean Honoka really is in some kind of trouble?" No answer. Nozomi could feel the anger threatening to boil over. "Yes! If I can help, I want to! So just tell me what the hell is going on!"

Kotori giggled. "I didn't plan on involving you, Nozomi-chan, but maybe it's for the better. If anybody can counter the Void… the Oracle seems like a good candidate." There was a shift and Kotori assumed she turned the phone on speaker because Kotori's voice grew farther away, and she could also hear another girl's voice. "What do you say, Seira-chan?"

"You knew the Oracle and didn't think to ask for her help earlier? Honestly, I wasn't even sure the Oracle was real. My master used to talk about the previous one, but I never met them."

"Well, now you have the honour of meeting one. And yes, I didn't ask for Nozomi-chan's help. She's a close friend of ours and getting her involved in something dangerous isn't exactly something I want to do. But look, she's already connecting to us through the Void. Isn't that amazing?"

Nozomi titled her head in confusion. The Void? Oracle? "What are you talking about, Kotori? I just called your phone…"

She heard Kotori burst into laughter on the other side. "N-Nozomi-chan. I hate to tell you this, but the Underworld doesn't have cell towers to connect our phones, silly."

"Hey, have you even explained anything to her?"

"Oh, right. Well, now that she's calling, she can probably help us. After hearing what's really going on, don't you think so too, Seira-chan?"

"Kotori!" Nozomi shook her head, trying to calm herself down. All this talk that she didn't understand was really starting to get to her. "Just… tell me what's happening, please."

There was a pause, far too long for Nozomi's comfort. But right when she was about to say something, she heard the girl's soft voice. "Mm. Alright. But it'll put you in danger. Are you okay with that, Nozomi-chan?"

Was she okay with that? How was she supposed to know if she was okay with any of this if she didn't know what the hell was going on? But it didn't look like she was going to get any information unless she agreed. And, if Honoka was in some kind of danger, then she wanted to help her. Even if that meant exposing herself to that same danger. She cleared her throat, trying to get rid of a sudden anxiety that was tickling the back of her mind.

"Yes."

"Mm! Mm! That's what I like to hear, Nozomi-chan!" Kotori giggled and Nozomi heard a thump on the other side. "Ow! W-What was that for, Seira-chan!?"

"Stop messing around! Weren't you the one just telling me that we already wasted too much time talking? Hurry it up! I'd appreciate the Oracle's help but that won't happen if you don't explain what the hell's going on."

Kotori sighed. "Well, unfortunately we don't have a way to get her to the Underworld and to us in time for anything. So, Nozomi-chan. Feel like taking a trip?"

"Eh? Kotori, this isn't the time for―!"

"It is." Kotori cut her off, her voice turning serious for a brief second before going back to its normal cheeriness. "Come on! I'll explain everything on the way but if you don't head out, you won't make it in time!"

Nozomi could already feel a headache coming on. But if this would get her answers, she would go along with her friend. "Fine. Where do I need to go?"

Kotori paused, probably looking over at Seira with a smirk. "The Hallowed Ground of the Second Demon Lord."

I wonder if anybody spotted the inconsistency. Foreshadowing, wink wink.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed. We really are in the homestretch now. Just bear with me!

Till next time. Be seeing you.