Devil's Blue Pride

Neirah would never forget the terror of that night. The moment that she slipped beneath the safety rail, slicing her side open on the jagged metal, she tightly sealed her eyes and prepared for the plunge. The impact might not kill her, as a vampire, but the pain would be unimaginable as she broke the frigid pool. Then, she didn't know if she would have the strength to swim to shore or be able to find the surface of the blackened water after being so disoriented. Like Shōhei had suggested earlier, there weren't a lot of ways to kill a vampire, but the suffering they endured while outlasting that fate could be excruciating. And those memories would never fade.

Luckily, Neirah never had the chance to answer the questions on her mind because just as she slipped over the edge of the island, the searing pain of her body's momentum jarred to a halt at her delicate wrist, soundlessly vowing that she wouldn't fall. Her immediate reaction was to try and jerk away, wincing in alarm that her deranged lover would strike out at her in a jealous rage, but she wasn't quite that fortunate. For a second time that horrific evening, her plan had backfired.

"Hey, quit squirming, or I might drop you."

"No…" she rushed anxiously. "No, for the last time, go away!"

"I can't do that, Tsukiyo!"

It was the first time she'd ever heard Shōhei raise his voice with genuine frustration. So, she relaxed, allowing him to strengthen his grip on her, his free hand wringing the hot steel of the guard rail to keep from toppling after her. She could tell that supporting the additional weight was causing the metal to slit the joints in his fingers against the fence. At that point, she thought it would be insulting to turn away his reassurance when he'd suffered to steady her.

"Please stop asking me to leave you alone with him," he begged. "I've known San-chan for a long time, and something inside him is all messed up."

She lowered her gaze, clawing at the ground to help stabilize the weight that he remained dedicated to supporting. The sooner she was on a stable foundation, the sooner he would release the steel that caused blood to bead over the jagged partition.

"He's not gonna be your hero this time." Shōhei's gaze halved with despair as he watched her cringe to his sincerity. Despite making it to all fours, she didn't face the truth in his words, but even if honesty was brutal, he needed her to accept their reality. "We're gonna have to be his."

Once she'd crawled a safe distance inland, Shōhei unlocked his fingers from around the railing and knelt by her side to assess the damage done during her tumble. He dismissed his injuries entirely by wiping the blood on his denim-clad thigh, knowing that they would heal within minutes. Unlike his, her laceration was deep, slicing straight through her top and hip like she'd suffered a tin papercut. "Please don't hate me," he murmured sadly. "If there's a chance he's gonna come out of this, I need you there for him, okay?"

Neirah weakly pulled her legs up beneath her, whinging lightly at the feeling of her blood staining the earth beneath. Then, she raised sad eyes to connect with Shōhei's humble concern. "Why are you saying it like that all of a sudden?"

"Because I want you to believe me," he admitted hopefully. "When I say that he's been really happy, I mean it. I could feel it from the night that we brought you back to HOMRA."

Her flattened expression struggled to remain void of agitation. "Because he finally had his own little vampire plaything?"

"Because this time, he wasn't too late to save someone."

The grip that Neirah clutched on her side tightened to consider his suggestion. "You mean… his mother?"

"I know it's hard to tell when he's always whining, but I promise I've felt it," Shōhei reassured her. "That's why it doesn't matter how much the others tease him or how much you two fight. Just having you here reminds him that for once, he didn't flop." He adjusted his smile pleasantly and reached out to slide his finger past the lock of hair clinging to her parted lips. After pulling it away, he tilted his sunny smile and dropped his successfully healed touch into his lap. "If he hurt you now, he would feel like a failure again, and he doesn't deserve that."

A skeptical crease knitted Neirah's brow as she tapered her attention on Shōhei's instigation. "Wait, if you've been friends for so long, wouldn't he be sad if he hurt you too?" Her heart nervously palpitated as she watched him solemnly climb to his feet, gripping the beak of his hat to secure it on his brow over his artificial grin. "Shōhei, what are you going to do?!"

Shōhei's soft smile faded with sobriety as he turned to examine the crystalline pillar igniting the skyline from the centre of the second island. Somewhere, their king was fighting for them all, but he hoped that Mikoto comprehended that he didn't have to worry about Saburōta. Shōhei wasn't going to let Genji have him.

"Something I was too selfish to do with Sora, but not this time," he surrendered in a dull whisper. "If it comes to that, just tell the others not to mention that I ever existed, 'kay? It would probably confuse him."

"Don't you dare!" she screeched. "If you would just listen and leave, there's a chance that I can get close enough to him that-"

"And if you can't?" Shōhei didn't turn to face her when his tone hardened behind his faltering smile. Soon, his teeth clenched in a dissatisfied scowl. "Making him forget you would take away everything good he found. Sure, he could start over, but you two meeting was a once in a lifetime chance." If they survived the night and everything Genji had planned, it might be that nothing would change. They could remain as vampires for eternity, stuck in a moment when they gave their lives for something that they all thought was more important. Neirah didn't start that way, but he wasn't willing to let her surrender it now that she had something to believe was worth more, not when her presence could provide his friend with everlasting happiness. "This is what he would want."

"It shouldn't have happened!" Neirah pleaded miserably. "I was a mistake, remember?! Kusanagi-san was furious when you brought me back! Everyone teased him!"

"Happy accident," Shōhei whispered pleasantly. "That's what Kusanagi-san said later, right? He's pretty smart, so he should know." As his thoughts wandered to the night when the three of their paths intersected, his smile began to return. Maybe their clan was scornful of Saburōta at first, but Shōhei still felt it. Saburōta was proud of his mistake and happy that he had something to call his own. Finally, others, like Yō, could be envious of him. "An accident that makes San-chan happy… Those are the kind of mistakes worth making again and again." He laughed lightly to brighten the mood. "It's fate, then."

When he turned his sunny smile her way, she caught notes of his dismay. It wasn't fair that Shōhei so selflessly prepared to erase every trace of their friendship from Saburōta's mind just so the man could find happiness with a stranger. That made Neirah's guilt intensify as she waited for her healing abilities to manage her injury. Then, she considered the likelihood of Shōhei being capable of swimming to shore if she shoved him off the edge in her place. When plagued by envy, having someone threatening Saburōta's pride was in no way constructive to their circumstance. Shōhei didn't seem to appreciate that as he continued to butt in on their conflict. She was the prize and hadn't become a target yet. Using that misplaced trust, she could go to him and extract his corruption from the inside out, but not with Shōhei there. She needed to separate them.

Although she started to consider manipulating his surrender with a charm of her own, she didn't have much time to deliberate the scheme before her stern expression was widening with a flood of terror. Even understanding that she was helpless to prevent the struggle, she reached for the shadow approaching Shōhei's reverse with pleading eyes wild with horror. "Bandō, don't!"

Before Shōhei could turn and face the presence seizing his overshirt between his shoulders, he was collapsing over the gate he'd leapt to save Neirah. His shin caught in passing, rendering him off balance when Saburōta finally heaved him to the other side, tossing him onto the ground where he rolled away from the flames erupting from his colleague's knuckles. A breathless grunt rushed from Shōhei's lungs as he regained his composure just in time to watch the molten earth split through the centre of where he lay moments prior. "Shit… How did I not see that coming?"

"You bastard! You couldn't just let me have this one thing!?" Saburōta's claret irises burned with venom as he locked his sights on his partner's evasive dodge. "You had to take her away from me too?!"

Neirah sauntered to her feet, continuing to clot her wound as the horrendous scene unfolded. "Shōhei! Be careful what you say!" she hollered her warning. "This isn't the first time he's seen things that weren't there!"

'That must be how the demon is controlling him,' Shōhei theorized calmly to himself. 'It's probably why syncing with him right now is a nightmare. He doesn't know what's real anymore.' He lost track of Saburōta in the smoke and flame for a moment, holding his arms up to cover his face as the debris of his earth-splitting strike rained upon their battlefield. "That's it, Tsukiyo," he muttered triumphantly. "If I can find those 'fake memories' that are making him act up and erase them, maybe we can get him calmed down enough that he can break free."

'All we have to do now is sync up.' That was going to be the tricky part. Although Genji was much more influential than they were, he still used the same technique to possess his victims. It worked like an ordinary vampire's synchronization, and breaking through another vampire's connection along with the will of the target, was nearly impossible. So far as Shōhei knew, Izumo was the only one capable of doing it, but only with his subordinates and humans. He wasn't even sure Izumo had a chance at succeeding with the monumental task set out before him.

After being jerked from his thoughts, Shōhei's worried gaze flashed to hear a low growl come from behind him, but the moment between Saburōta seizing his shoulder and whirling him into his unforgiving haymaker was too brief to evade.

"Don't say her name! She's not yours!"

After picking himself from the dirt, Shōhei's lethal gaze pierced his comrade intolerantly, and he pawed away the blood spilling from his lip. "From what I got out of it, you never made her yours either." A small sense of triumph had Shōhei sniggering quietly as Saburōta's demeanour seemed to flicker between states of comprehension. It was like watching a horror film where the producer used broken television signals to distort the protagonist with lurking monsters. As soon as the taste of blood touched his teeth, Shōhei could feel his incisors protracting through his roguish smile. "You should get on that before somebody else does."

The malice instantly returned to Saburōta's intensifying expression, which was promising. To keep Neirah off the fire line, he had to keep Saburōta's attention. He certainly had it now. "Ah, you're making this too easy," he crooned. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you get your chance, San-chan."

"You stay away from her!"

"Are you that jealous that she's trying to protect me?" Shōhei rose to his feet and prepared for the impending conflict. Saburōta didn't answer, but Shōhei appreciated that the question was rhetorical from the start. "You can't even see that she's doing it 'cause I'm your friend?"

"Friends don't steal things that don't belong to them!"

With a dismissive sigh, Shōhei tossed his faint smile over his shoulder. He didn't know why he thought that reasoning with the unreasonable would be any easier since a demon had possessed him, but it was worth a shot. "Ah, you got me. Better come take her back then." He winced when the night ignited around his dominant cohort, and he could sense the aura of the island shifting by the hate Saburōta radiated.

"That's exactly what I'm gonna do."

Izumo had long since made his way to Reisi's crystalline fortress, but no matter how many absent attacks he snuck between bouts of defence, it wouldn't chip away at the reflective surface. Meanwhile, he ducked beneath Seri's sabre, which followed through by crashing into the pillar with a grating rattle.

"Damn it, Mikoto. I know you're in there," Izumo rushed exasperatedly. Once Seri had torn her silver from the partition, she slashed it horizontally upwards towards him with a cleaving force of blue aura rushing after his agile leap. When his shoes reconnected with the earth, he skidded through the upturned soil, launched some more distracting projectiles her way and continued to sprint along the perimeter of the column.

"Come on, give me a sign," he hissed through clenched teeth. "I can't keep dodging her like this. Eventually, she's gonna tear me apart." When he'd lost sight of a wailing Seri for a moment, he turned to face the barrier between him and his king, scrutinizing the reflection of a battle ensuing on the other side as he touched his palm flat to the tepid surface. "I need to be on the other side of this thing."

"I need to be on the other side of this wall," Saruhiko snapped petulantly. He stopped circling the crystal partition and turned to face his riled cohort. "Come on, Misaki! I know you can do better than that! Show me how tough you are and blast right through SCEPTRE4's barrier, seeing how your flame is so much stronger than our abilities."

"Ch' yeah, I probably could!" Misaki raged. "Maybe after I kill you, I'll bust it all to hell and help Mikoto-san slaughter that asshole king of yours!"

"No!" Saruhiko immediately adjusted the command in his tone in an attempt to incite his companion further. "Do it now while I'm alive to see it. Otherwise, I'll never believe you can!"

"You asked for it, Monkey!"

"Kusanagi Izumo, you have left me with no other choice!"

Izumo whirled to face Seri's advance as she straightened her bloodstained body and prepared her sword in a militant manner. "Uh oh. You mean there's more?" He took a step back to brace himself against her impending strike as she forced him against her Reisi's construct. "Hate to admit it, Seri-chan, but I had a hard enough time handling you before the freaky pride demon thing." Despite his calm façade, he shuddered when he watched her boil her sword with her newly apprehended flame. Even though she liquified the blade in her hand, she still swung her balled palm like she never lost her sabre from her grasp.

"As you are adamant about dishonouring our king, I will henceforth be forced to strike you from this earth!"

Izumo waited until the last possible moment to attempt his escape, hoping that Seri would believe she'd liquified him as thoroughly as her sword. It wouldn't be much, but it would buy him some time as she flaunted her new capabilities. He didn't expect her flame to pack nearly as much heat, though, and it staggered him enough to cause lag in his step. He barked his discomfort as the molten fragments of her strike scorched his arm, but when he turned to face the wall he'd abandoned, he found it dealt significant damage. "Seri," he whispered marvelling. "You can melt through Munakata's barrier? Is that Kagutsu's power?"

"This is the power of our king!" Seri roared. "And if you cannot comprehend it, it's because you don't deserve to wield it! I will carve it out in his honour!"

'Then why hasn't Kagutsu melted it already? Is Munakata really trying to keep him in, or-?' When Izumo noticed Seri preparing a second flaming strike, he rushed to the same spot he watched struggling to recover from her assault. 'Munakata must be distracted by something if he's not repairing the barrier as fast. Maybe someone else is trying to get inside.'

"Watch how it's done!" Misaki thundered impatiently. "It's the last thing you're ever gonna see before I kill you!" He didn't sear through the entire expanse with his first charge, but once buried in the centre, his second defiant eruption did. It powered through the wall entirely to the sound of Misaki's triumphant battle cry. "See!? Like fucking hell your stupid king's magic stands a chance against Mikoto-san's flame! Now, give it back!"

Without taking the time to stroke his friend's ego, Saruhiko darted through the opening before it could close, tossing a handful of throwing knives to distract Misaki with a sudden burst of cerulean aura. 'Thank you, Misaki.' He tumbled with a stressed huff through the ashy earth, wincing as onyx fragments slit his uniform on passing. The atmosphere inside the pillar was devastating and caused his resolve to falter. Just the desecrated land was enough to make him flinch, and he took his time locating his king within. He had a mission to accomplish the second he climbed to his feet and began his charge. 'Now, to take that sword.'

Reisi instantly turned from where he'd been contesting the reformed Red King. A look of vexation flooded his face as he watched Misaki power through Saruhiko's defence and give chase across the area. The boy hollered words that Reisi could only dissect as get back here, Monkey! Though, through the ginger boy's blind rage, it wasn't easy to decipher. "I see you've managed to find a way after all," Reisi murmured in distress. But soon after, he bowed his head with a proud smile. "As expected of Fushimi-kun."

Not a moment later, Seri's livid screech was announcing the crash of her blast, and pained whimpers followed from Izumo as he took the direct impact so that he launched through the opening she'd created. He struck the ground hard enough to knock the wind from his lungs, and he hacked on the ashy cloud of debris his impact surfaced. "Well, that was unpleasant." He pinched one eye tight as he watched through his hazy vision while Seri popped through her entryway with a mildly inconvenienced snort. It was comfortingly familiar out of his beautiful war maiden, and it caused a peaceful smile to lighten his expression. "Man, if I die tonight, that better be the last thing I see."

When Reisi apprehended that his walls were no longer of use to him, he closed his eyes, and with an unsteady rasp, he deconstructed the barrier. It was no longer serving a purpose outside of draining valuable energy. "Should we have found ourselves under alternate circumstances, I would find this turn of events strangely endearing," he admitted calmly. His second-in-command, although misguided, had challenged his power to be by his side, and his third was close behind. But as honoured as he was, he couldn't take a moment to pride himself on their abilities.

After shifting, Reisi tipped his finger to the bridge of his nose and adjusted his spectacles. "Unfortunately, they are not." When he watched Saruhiko near between countering blows against his childhood friend, his grip on Tenrō tightened. He slashed the reflective blade through the air, straightening with focus. "Very well. A kings' battle has been interrupted, but do not lose sight of your true opponent, Kagutsu Genji. Do so, and I vow to make good of the presented opportunity."

"You think that encouraging me to temper will make me misstep?" When Mikoto's panting jaws parted, steam escaped in the stifling air between them. "You already admitted that your barrier was to keep your peons safe. You know they are nothing for me to distract myself with."

"So, you saw through me." Reisi bowed his head with a confidant smile, letting his burning violet eyes rest for seconds. "Suoh Mikoto's arrogance would have indulged me."

"Suoh Mikoto-" There was a moment of confusion in the way Mikoto's tone sounded under Genji's command, and Reisi was inclined to believe that Mikoto was still fighting to be free of the demon's control. "-is no more!"

"No," Izumo murmured worrisomely. He picked himself off the ground, delighted and dismayed all at once to finally locate his companion. "That can't be true."

After a moment of internal struggle, the lagging Mikoto straightened, his arms folding into each other around the bright aura between large palms. Villainous monologuing came expected, but not received as he focussed on the tiny sun expanding between his clawing fingertips. Mikoto's flame, while under Genji's control, found itself somehow different than the one that he held on his own. It was hotter and angrier as it twisted and raged like there was life struggling to break free of the orb building by his command.

By the time Izumo could spare the sight a glance and fill with worry, Mikoto's crooked smile was already boasting triumph. The budding circumference of his powerful manifestation began to grow unstable, solar flares erupting and retracting like souls trying to escape a thin rubber prison. It was further unnerving when it seemed to bring its host so much satisfaction. "Mikoto, what are you going to do with that…?"

Worry tainted Reisi's expression as he darted with low posture across the battlefield, trying to separate his battle with the demon from the ones that had foolheartedly spilled into their midst. As he dragged his sword across the earth, it glistened with sapphire sparks, interfering with the all-consuming flame preparing its approach. It was growing at alarming rates, the heat even from a mile away becoming overbearing enough to surface sweat on his nape. It was a disturbingly different brand of evil that brewed between the kings that day, and as Reisi studied it, he worried that Mikoto was soon to lose the struggle against his captor.

'It's just as I feared,' Reisi thought despondently. He tore past the clamouring of Izumo and Seri, trying to ignore the sounds of Misaki's wailing from the opposing direction. 'If he unleashes destruction of that magnitude, it will make it inland. The heat alone threatens to liquify the supports of this very island.' His charge was unhindered by his uncertainty as the calm blue aura began to cool his surroundings while he challenged the sun forming at his front. The blast, if capable of a two-mile radial destruction zone, would easily damage the coast of Kōtō, Shinagawa, Ōta, and Minato. 'As the Blue King, I cannot allow this evil to flourish.' Chaos and order,if he could only preserve one, Reisi solemnly vowed that it would be the cause pure enough to protect humanity. 'Please fight it, Suoh.'

Despite Reisi's silent prayer, the unleashed explosion erupted massively, and he wondered if the earth might have been better suited to suffer a volcanic impact over the malice releasing from the monster before him. His spirits dampened when he watched Mikoto's huffing grin twist, illuminated crimson eyes sharp as his skin darkened like crusted magma. Veins of neon crimson broke the surface as he lost control, becoming one with the wicked spirit possessing his body.

Reisi could not allow that demon to take control of their world, not after centuries of repressing the malevolence in various forms. Above all circumstances, he had a duty to fulfill to humanity, no matter how remorseful he was, or how sympathetic he was to vampiric suffering. When he finally stopped running, he tossed up his guard to defend the soldiers and the world around him. "Kagutsu Genji, mark my words, your reign of tyranny ends tonight."

Saruhiko managed to ignore Misaki's triumphant heckling for just a moment to glance past his shoulder. The power rolling throughout the battlefield was intense. On an earnest level accepting the reality of their abilities, Saruhiko knew that his superior wouldn't be able to stop it alone. "Captain!"

But Reisi didn't falter as he straightened his sword vertically across his determined expression. "Fushimi-kun, leave this place. Should I fail, tell the men to tend to inland damage and civilian casualties."

Reisi's voice emitted strained, and that tore at Saruhiko's insides. Guilt ripped through him for accusing his leader of being unable to do what was necessary to save humanity. Still, something was humbling about watching him lay down his life so casually. His king was exhausted from trying to contain the destruction with his barrier, a shield that he had helped destroy. Now, Reisi stood trying to control the blast that could easily rip across the island and Tokyo Bay alike. The notion that they were running out of time was alarming enough, but when he watched the silver of Reisi's gilded blade begin to drip from his sabre's hilt onto Reisi's unwavering grip, his teeth snapped together. 'No! I need that sword! If Kagutsu destroys it-'

"Mikoto, stop!" There was urgency in Izumo's tone, but the look on his face knotted with anguish. "You're going to sink the whole damn island with temperatures like this!" He winced and threw his arm over his face to shield it. "Listen to me!"

But he didn't. Corruption boiled beneath his skin and took hold of his body until it was acting without his say, and a moment later, his immeasurable strength collided with Reisi's dedication. Luckily, Izumo was behind Reisi's defence, and Saruhiko was countering Misaki by Mikoto's back. It seemed that the blast pushed towards the infrastructure of Kōtō rather than the open bay at his reverse.

"This is the power of our king!" Seri bellowed. Moments before her attack could split her prey, Izumo side-stepped her assault by nearing Reisi. "The world deserves to humble before its magnificence!"

"Magnificence?!" Izumo thundered. He threw out his arm towards Reisi's calm meditation while he diligently held the barrier that would challenge Genji's might. "Seri, what you should be proud of is right here! Munakata-san is your king, the one laying his life on the line to stop all of this!"

But before Izumo could retaliate, Seri's gaze ripped past him to lock on Reisi. With a dull growl, she honed her blinded vision on her former commander. "You," she snarled. "How dare you stand against Our Majesty!"

Izumo's breathing hitched as he whirled panicked eyes to face Reisi, returning them to Seri's lethal glower moments after. It was taking all Reisi had to challenge the demon, and if she broke his concentration, it could mean an end to all of them. "Seri, don't!"

The earth beneath Reisi's feet became intolerably hot, and soon, it was difficult for him to stay secure in his resistance. The artificial island was beginning to rock and moan, sloshing in the waterway on molten supports. That left one thing at the forefront of Reisi's mind. Should the island fall, anyone who wasn't stranded would take their battle inland where civilian casualties were a certainty. 'I can't afford to let him destroy this island,' he mused urgently. With fading strength, Reisi raised his boot, keeping his guard locked as he stomped onto the earth beneath him. A faint blue hue illuminated in a small disc at the point of contact, and moments later, the surge of his power rushed throughout the structure crippled below. With twisting beams secured, for the moment, the landmass stopped swaying.

Far across the island, Masaomi's analytical gaze surveyed the barren wasteland with great scrutiny. There wasn't much left that hadn't been defiled by a flame he once took pride in, but once he saw the devastation it had caused that night, it wasn't comforting anymore. Everything was black with decay, and what wasn't was red with blood. He was sitting next to his heaving companion, on guard in case Genji's subservient demons attacked them. Fortunately, the conflicts had begun to disperse as clashing numbers thinned. "Do you feel that?"

A breathless gasp rushed into Yō's lungs as he tried to straighten, if only moderately. "What, pregnant?" He raised his knuckles to his face and smeared the excess of bile from his chin after his third or fourth upheaval. "This is what pregnant feels like, isn't it? I knew I shouldn't've done it with the demon chick."

With a petulant growl, Masaomi reached out and beat his already agonized cohort over the head. "Would you knock it off! You're a guy. Guys can't get pregnant."

Yō looked like he might've had something witty to retort with, but after the hard blow to his disoriented noggin, he keeled over again. "If you're sure about that, tell it to my stomach."

"No, I'm pretty sure the island just started moving," Masaomi muttered nervously. "Kusanagi-san was afraid this might happen." As if the mere thought of moving caused him to sicken, Yō's gut wrenched tightly in an attempt to evacuate an already empty stomach.

"Damn it, Dewa! My whole fucking world is spinning right now!" His voice was hoarse from gagging it raw, but the pressure had to release somehow. So, he elevated his voice to express it. "How was I supposed to notice that!?"

Tsk. Masaomi climbed to his feet with an agitated scowl, but regardless of Yō's theatrics, he knelt by his side and assisted him. "Let's go," he commanded callously. "We have to get out of here. You're obviously in no shape to be swimming two miles inland."

"Two miles?! Where the hell are we?!"

"Don't worry about that right now. Just walk." While supporting Yō with one shoulder, Masaomi swiped his thumb across his PDA screen and scrolled through his contact list. "And I swear if you throw up on me-"

"No promises."

Masaomi wanted to be comforted by his friend's returning wit, but he had other friends that remained unaccounted for at that point. "I just hope the others are making their way back too by now. Fujishima wasn't far from here when we started, but I haven't seen him in a while."

Not as far away as expected, Kōsuke flinched nervously to the feeling of his mobile buzzing in his pocket. He seemed jarred from a half-conscious state, and in his moment of panic, he surveyed his surroundings in an instant. The area had cooled enough that only a three-foot radius remained black with ash as the light snow fell around two injured vampires.

He shifted momentarily, but when a breathless whinge rushed out against his chest, he felt crippled by reality. "Eric…? Eric, hey, say something."

"… ow."

A desperate smile curled Kōsuke's lips as he relaxed against his coddled companion. "You're awake," he whispered. "How are you feeling?"

After slowly parting his eyes to thin slits, Eric blinked a few times to clear his distorted vision. His memories were still foggy, but he had enough recollection of the events to understand that he was lucky to be in one piece. "I'm alive."

"That's right."

Upon hearing the confidence in Kōsuke's voice, Eric slowly began to shift away from the comfort of the embrace. He let Kōsuke gratefully respond to Masaomi's message, assuring him that Eric was located and freed. Then, Eric turned his head to observe their surroundings before returning his nervous gaze towards his comrade. "I'm… lucky."

Kōsuke's smile broadened as he ambled to his feet and reached to where his injured companion was regaining his strength with eyes as blue as the sky they would see when morning came. "No. I'm the lucky one."

Shōhei didn't realize that the islands ever quaked, because his body was freely tumbling across the scorching earth. He gripped at the ground, his thoughts reeling with failure as he tried to focus on the flash flames engulfing their battlefield. 'Damn… It doesn't matter how close I get. I can't make the connection.' He could tell by the sharp pain in his quaking left arm that it shattered beneath Saburōta's cruelty, but he battled the agony to rake his fingers through the devastated soil beneath. One of his legs wasn't working great either, which led him to believe that it was in bad shape too. Through peaks and dips of adrenaline, his crippling injuries were beginning to drain his energy.

He opened one eye to watch through darkening peripherals as Saburōta approached with every intension of tearing him apart. There was a smug look on his friend's face that he'd never seen before. It was blind confidence, and Saburōta had never experienced that. He'd always seemed a little egotistical, but inside, Shōhei knew better. He'd spent a lot of time covering for his weaknesses and insecurities, but at that moment, he was confident that he would wipe Shōhei's trace from the island. 'Come on, San-chan… Let me help-'

Suddenly, his second eye opened, his gaze widening beneath his creased brow as he watched the vision of his enemy come into view. As embers decorated the night in place of snowfall, Shōhei watched the glow of flames flicker off the sight of tears creeping over his best friend's vehement scowl. "Wait…" he whispered nervously. "Why are you… crying?"

"Shōhei!"

He didn't have enough time to turn his head when he heard Neirah cry out, and a second later, she was crashing into him just in time to keep Saburōta's blazing heel from making a crater out of his partner's skull. A nauseating wave of distortion followed, but he managed to keep from doing more than wince as Neirah leapt out of harm's way and delivered him to safety. The pain in his body was excruciating, but he was grateful for the assistance. "Tsukiyo, your injuries."

"They've healed," she grated apprehensively. Her view narrowed on the sight of Saburōta jerking his foot from out of the earth, checking the hole to see if he had successfully obliterated his associate. "I'll take over from here."

"No!" The pain ripped through his broken arm as Shōhei reached out and grabbed hold of her arm to keep her from leaving him. "You have to stay out of this. If he turns on you-"

"Do you all believe I'm that shallow?!"

Neirah's livid roar silenced him in an instant. Unfortunately, it also attracted Saburōta's attention.

"Then I'm sorry!" she thundered. "I'm sorry that I was there that night to tempt him! I'm sorry that my life has been an absolute madhouse ever since we met! I'm sorry that I seem insensitive, and I'm sorry that I can't just run away to save my own skin!" Her voice began to tremble when she watched the jealous rage overtake her gentle lover's face for the umpteenth time that night. "I'm sorry that I don't have all the answers… I don't even know what the questions are yet." Like her touch on Shōhei, her tone hardened with certainty as she lifted him in her arms to keep him steady against the shifting ground.

With tears burning her eyes, her anger took hold of her tone and elevated it wrathfully. This time, she was addressing Saburōta. "And I'm sorry that I made you feel like it wasn't perfect." Her grip on Shōhei secured for comfort as she sealed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm sorry that I made you feel like I was unhappy sleeping on the floor. I'm sorry that I ever made you feel like you weren't enough while I waited for you to find me."

Find her.

Neirah shook nervous tears free of her eyes as she hardened her expression with agonized determination. "But most of all, I'm sorry for this…"

Find me when you figure it out.

Shōhei was moments from questioning her when she reached to his collar and tugged his shirt towards his shoulder. Meanwhile, her intense leer hadn't shifted from Saburōta's seething impatience. Without yielding to Shōhei's struggling defence, she parted her jaws and sank her lengthened canines beneath his skin, watching the rage consume her corrupted lover. Shōhei hissed in pain, and she was sorry for that too, but she could be sorry all she wanted when they were all safe. The momentary betrayal twisted Saburōta's furiously tight grimace, but she didn't have time to apologize for everything. If their previously solid ground didn't stop quaking, they weren't going to have much time before they were sinking or swimming.

"You don't have it in you to hurt him… but I do." She slowly climbed to her feet, refusing to wipe traces of his blood from her lips. "I've been hurting him since we met."

"Tsukiyo, you can't-"

"Find me…" she whispered miserably. Her words didn't seem to make it to Saburōta's ears, but just speaking them filled her with confidence. "Maybe Shōhei couldn't synchronize with you because you're already connected to the demon. But I know how to break it! I did it with Chitose-san, and I'll do it with you!"

She did it with Chitose. She admitted it, and Saburōta's temperature skyrocketed.

"Find me!" she repeated in a livid roar. "Before you're sorry that you destroyed everything that we could have been!"

Just as Reisi reached his limit, Seri rushed forward, and Izumo's heart sank. At that point, the Blue King was their best defence against the demon possessing Mikoto, and the last thing that Genji needed was assistance. Izumo hated the thought of causing Seri harm, but he couldn't run away from what he knew was right. If he didn't act, Saruhiko surely would, and the thought of a silver sword through Seri's chest tightened his insides. The young blue clansman seemed torn between protecting his king or attacking their enemy, and Izumo appeared to be the deciding factor. He was closer to Seri's offence, closer to the woman in general. Either way, there was a chance that someone was going to die at that moment.

Saruhiko was powerful enough to challenge Seri, even though she was supercharged with Genji's flame. Still, there was a chance that Mikoto dwarfed Saruhiko so significantly in power that a sword through his heart would be laughable. Without another thought, Izumo chased after his misdirected lover. He secured his arms around her lean waist before her attack could release and brought them both crashing into the dirt. He'd expressed before that he would face any fate for just one more day, but a future without Seri would be as empty as a fate without his friends.

"I can't contain his blast any longer," Reisi defeatedly advised from nearby. "You should get to safety."

When Reisi's barrier cracked, Izumo latched onto the burning woman struggling in his arms. Even if her wrathful heat baked their skin together, he would have no regrets. What disappointed him most when he knelt steadily in preparation to retreat, was the understanding that their last defence was crumbling. "Munakata, I-"

"Protect her with your life, Kusanagi Izumo," Reisi assured him kindly. "She is a fine woman deserving of such loyalty."

And she was, which is why when she lashed out in his grip, he didn't let her wriggle free. After sharing an understanding nod with their blue counterpart, Izumo powered off the ground towards the edge of the island at their reverse, listening to the raging sounds of Misaki demanding Saruhiko's attention. 'Chase him, Yatagarasu-,' Izumo thought nervously. He watched the island come to an end as the noise continued to elevate. Saruhiko was too smart not to evade the blast, and if Misaki were that devoted to his destruction, he would follow. 'Chase him all the way to shelter.'

A deep crease knotted his brow as he closed his eyes the moment that he became weightless with a squirmy Seri in his arms. "Hold your breath, Seri-chan."

Seri vaguely recalled the sight of the earth vanishing beneath them as she found herself dragged to its end. With a black sky and the late hour, it looked like the fall was plunging their love into a bottomless void. That was until the overpowering explosion of flame boiled through the night above. The water was frigid and hard as concrete as they struck, even though Izumo had blunted her connection with his body. Somewhere between the pain and the realization, she stopped wasting her breath.

The sight of destruction launching past the island lost some of its magnificence from underwater. Wild eyes stared in horror as it filled the night, consuming everything in its wake. As it flourished, she couldn't recall having ever been more terrified. It destroyed without mercy, without discretion. She may have acted out her devotion to the flame, but if they hadn't plunged into the bay, the power she boasted would have swallowed them up. She felt betrayed, and the moment the icy water shattered her illusion with pins and needles, she comprehended that the love she thought she'd brush aside to fulfill her duty was what saved her.