Eizen woke to the sensation of something cool pressed against his forehead. Groaning, he struggled to rouse himself; he felt weak, but as he came to, he remembered the discipline his father had taught him and forced strength to come.

"Eizen!" cried a voice he recognized as belonging to his mother.

"Mom…" he rasped, cracking his eyes open as he tried to push himself up.

"Oh, sweetie, don't get up!" his mother exclaimed, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him onto his back again. "You've been unconscious for two days!"

"Two days…?" he repeated, blinking away the last of his drowsiness in alarm. "What happened?"

From behind his mother, a tall, muscular figure stepped forward, the seraph who wasn't only family anymore.

"Like I've been trying to tell your mother," Zaveid said, "this is perfectly normal for a new Shepherd. You needed some time to adjust to the power of purification. Let him up, Velvet, he's fine now."

"He can't be fine," Velvet insisted. "He's been unconscious with a fever for two whole days! That's not normal!"

"No, it's not," came Edna's toneless voice from somewhere across the room Eizen now recognized as where he and his mother had been staying. "Most Shepherds are unconscious for a lot longer, up to a week. Even Sorey was out for three days."

"She's right," Zaveid confirmed. "Your boy's something special."

"Mom," Eizen said, forcing himself to sit up, the damp towel falling from his forehead, "I'm okay. Just…" He blinked as his stomach growled. "Just really hungry."

"And you should be!" his mother exclaimed. "Here, Zaveid keeps trying to make me eat, you can have the pork and potatoes he got at the inn…"

She reached to her side for a dish of food, and Eizen smiled. "I'm not Cellie, mom," he told her. "You don't have to fuss over me. I'm the Shepherd now."

"Yes…" Velvet's golden eyes clouded with sadness as he took the plate and started eating ravenously; it was nothing compared to what his mother could make, but it was sustenance. "My son, the Shepherd…"

"Speaking of which." Edna stepped forward, and Eizen noticed that she was holding a black-and-red bundle in her arms. "While your mother was hovering over you like you were a sick dog, I went and had these made for you, baby brother."

"Huh?" Eizen felt his eyes go wide as she set her gift down in front of him: a shiny black cloak, trimmed with feathers and sporting embroidered red designs, along with a sturdy gauntlet for his right hand and a fingerless glove for his left, both also black with red embellishments.

"Just like you asked," she said distastefully, stepping back.

"Thanks, big sis," Eizen breathed, pulling the glove on. It fit perfectly, and as he flexed his fingers, he couldn't help staring at the symbol embroidered in vibrant crimson on the back: the mark of the Shepherd. "I…guess it's official now."

"If you want to think of it that way, I won't argue with you," Edna stated.

"Edna," Velvet rasped; when Eizen glanced at her, he saw that her golden eyes had gone wide and haunted. "Why…why would you have him wear those colors?"

"He said he wanted his Shepherd clothing to be black and red," Edna shrugged. "I tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted."

"But why?" Velvet exclaimed, whirling on Eizen.

"Because these are the colors of my family," he replied simply.

Velvet blinked.

"They were your colors, when you were the Lord of Calamity," he said gently. "They were dad's hellion colors…and…now they're his colors as a hellion again. They're even Niko's colors." While his mom was too shocked to protest, he set his plate aside and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "I may be the Shepherd, mom," he told her, "but I'm not ashamed of who I am, of what family I come from. I am a Rangetsu-Crowe, and these are our family's colors. And maybe I can carve out a new meaning for them…even if Niko's bearing them too. No matter what, I'm not going to deny who I am or where I come from."

"Eizen…" Velvet whimpered.

Eizen stood, pushing past his mother, who made movements of protest but didn't fight. As he reached for the gauntlet and cloak, Zaveid spoke up.

"You telling me you two planned this?" he asked Edna.

"Yeah, he was determined to become the Shepherd from pretty much day one," Edna said tonelessly.

"Edna agreed to be my Sub Lord, too," Eizen added to the wind seraph. "Will you make the pact now?"

"What? No!" Zaveid exclaimed, surprising him. "Eizen, you just woke up! The first Sub Lord is hard on a Shepherd too, you'd just pass out again. Besides, you still have to get used to using my power, you haven't fully adjusted yet."

"Although practice shouldn't be hard to come by," Edna inserted. "A report came in this morning that Niko and her dragons are in the area."

"Niko…" Eizen gritted his teeth as he pulled the thick, silky cloak over his head and buckled his katana around his waist. Two days lost, two days I could have spent working on knocking some sense into her…It didn't matter that he had apparently recovered unusually fast, the lost time was something he couldn't afford.

Fully adorned in the Shepherd's regalia, Eizen took one single breath, then turned back to his mother. She was watching him with golden eyes that brimmed with sorrow and fear, thousands of things she couldn't say crossing her face silently.

"Mom…I have to go," he told her.

"I know," she said softly. "I know…Eizen…"

Before she could burst into tears yet again, Eizen walked up to her and embraced her tightly. Velvet hugged him back, as though she would never let him go, never let him venture out into a world that was falling apart.

"Eizen," she whispered. "Please, please be careful…"

"I will," he assured her. "I promise, mom, I'll be okay." He held her for a moment longer, then let go and pushed his way out of her arms; though she tried not to let him, her grip wasn't difficult to break. "I'll be back," he told her.

Tears streamed down her cheeks; she didn't respond. When it became clear that she was beyond speech, Eizen sighed, then forced himself to turn away from her and head for the door. Outside, his seraphim family behind him, Eizen finally started to let it sink in: I am the Shepherd. This world is my responsibility n-

A sudden, deafening roar from across the city interrupted his barely-begun thought, followed by a loud crash. Eizen stumbled back, his first instinct to take shelter while his father fought the monster off, and he bumped into Zaveid.

"Well, well," the wind seraph grinned, tipping his hat. "Sounds like they came to us."

Eizen shook himself. "Right," he nodded, "let's go."

Zaveid sheltered in his chest as he took off through the streets, which became more and more crowded with panicked people running from the town gates the further he got. A few saw him and stopped, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't acknowledge them. Focus, focus. His steps grew faster, and after a moment, he realized his uncle's power was at his heels, granting him inhuman speed.

Near the gates, Niko's voice became audible, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Is this your answer?!" she yelled. "Is this your answer?! Come out and face me, cowards! Answer me!"

At the doors to Ladylake, Eizen set his jaw, bracing himself for what he knew he would face: his family, Lailah, and Mikleo, all demented beyond recognition, all his duty to quell. I must do this. This is my duty. Focus now, think later.

Emerging onto the bridge, Eizen was surprised to see a few guards along the path that led to the shore, though they appeared frozen with fear.

"Answer me!" Niko shouted from the hillside across the lake. "Is this your answer?!"

Looks like the barrier works, Zaveid remarked in Eizen's head as they approached. She can't get through.

Good, Eizen replied. That makes this easier; I won't have to worry about her distracting me while she sneaks in.

"Speak!" cried Niko. "Is this truly your answer?! Is this-?!"

"Niko!" Eizen called, coming to a stop just inside the border of the lake, his eyes focused on his corrupted sister. She was standing atop the white-horned dragon that had been Lailah, which hovered in the air, just like before, a flash of green indicating that Cellie sat behind her; to her left hovered Mikleo, Rokurou on the beast's back.

At once, Niko's yelling stopped, and she turned her blazing crimson eyes on him as he lifted his left hand and clenched it into a fist, showing off the mark embroidered on the back of his glove in the same color as her claws.

"This is our answer!" he told her.

She stared for a moment, apparently shocked. Then, she threw her head back and laughed, that horrible, unhinged laugh that Eizen knew would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his days. "What a turn of events this is!" she crowed through her maniacal hysterics. "How, pray tell, did you come by a new Prime Lord so soon?"

"I volunteered," Zaveid answered, emerging from his vessel to face Niko as well. "I'm the Prime Lord now."

"Oh, uncle, so good to see you!" Niko laughed. "So, it's you and my dear brother…I must say, I wasn't expecting this." Her black lips twisted into a wide grin, showing off her mouthful of fangs; Eizen spared a brief moment to marvel at how she could talk so clearly through them. "But you always were the hardest to convince, Eizen. Perhaps, if I can make you see what a fool you are, everyone else will follow your lead. How fortunate for me!"

"Niko, stop this now," Eizen said sternly. "Don't make me beat some sense into you."

"Oh, but it is you, brother dear, who needs to see sense," Niko chuckled, and she leapt down from her perch, her wings slowing but not stopping her fall as she landed just shy of the bridge. "Come, then. Surely, this barrier isn't for you?"

"I will face you," Eizen said, drawing his katana and stepping forward. "I am the Shepherd, and that is my duty."

"Oh, no, not just yet," Niko said. "No…I think you should have a little test first. And who better to set it forth than me?"

Still grinning, the Lord of Calamity spread her talons, black flames igniting on her palms before she bent over and speared her crimson claws through the ground. As she straightened back up, lumps of rock came with her, and she pulled them over her head, the dark fire coursing through them. Releasing her creations, she stepped back, hooked her talons on the white-horned dragon's front claws, and vaulted back onto her mount as the earth she'd pulled out finished forming into massive rock golems.

"Can you fight these, brother?" Niko jeered. "Can your sword cut through stone?"

"Don't worry," Zaveid told Eizen quietly, "it doesn't have to. The flames of purification will keep your weapon intact, you just have to wail on them until they submit and turn back into dirt."

"And you?" Eizen asked.

"Don't worry about me," Zaveid grinned, "I'll be fighting right beside you. Let's do this!"

Despite everything, Eizen returned Zaveid's grin, and they charged into battle together. Shouting a battle cry, more to drown out the sound of Niko's laughter than out of bravado, Eizen slashed his sword at one of the rock golems, and was surprised that it didn't just bounce off; his katana couldn't cut stone, but it wasn't the stone it was cutting, it was the malevolence inside the stone.

So this is the Shepherd's power. His grin widened as he unleashed a flurry of attacks, utilizing every bit of his father's training to slash faster than the eye could see, with no concern for the safety of his weapon. Beside him, Zaveid whipped his pendulums around, smacking both stone golems in turn with remarkable power. Eizen had never seen a seraph in battle before, but he spared one glance and then refocused on his target. Focus now, think later.

After just a few more slashes, the stone golem Eizen had focused on collapsed into a heap of earth, the malevolence cleansed, and he turned to help his uncle with the other one. As he stepped forward, however, a blast of fire split the air in front of him. He turned, and saw the white-horned dragon breathing a steady torrent of flame; on its back, Niko was no longer smiling.

"So," the Lord of Calamity hissed as the battle lulled in response to her mount's outburst, "you weren't bluffing. Where is your Prime Lord?"

"I told ya, kiddo," Zaveid said, tipping his hat to the dragon rider: "I'm the Prime Lord now."

"You're not a fire seraph!" she spat.

"I don't need to be," Zaveid shrugged. "Any seraph can be a Prime Lord if they're receptive to the flames of purification."

"Maotelus was a special seraph, of all the elements, before he rose to power," Eizen added; "he can bless a seraph of any element. Or have you forgotten our family story?"

"You can't be the Prime Lord!" Niko roared, ignoring Eizen. "You can't, uncle! You can't side with the Shepherd!"

In response to this, Zaveid turned back to the remaining rock golem and whipped it with his pendulums a few more times until it crumbled, purified. "You sure about that?" he asked, turning back to the Lord of Calamity with a smirk. "'Cuz I'm pretty sure quelling hellions is something only a seraph allied with a Shepherd can do."

Niko snarled, growling like the beast she resembled…then laughed again. "So be it," she sneered. "If you are truly the Shepherd and Prime Lord, then I shouldn't go easy on you. Let's see how you handle this!"

On cue, Niko's dragon dove towards him, and Eizen dodged, only to realize a second too late that he wasn't the target; Niko slid from her spot and down the dragon's scaly side, hooking the claws of her right hand on her mount's talons and reaching down with her other hand as the white-horned dragon swooped to the side, scoring thin gashes in the earth between Eizen and the bridge into Ladylake. Malevolent flames danced along the Lord of Calamity's razor-sharp fingers, and where her claws touched the ground, golem after golem burst from the dirt, pulling themselves up and approaching menacingly. Dragon Lailah turned, and within moments, Niko had completely circled Eizen and Zaveid with rock golems. Then she kept going, making a second ring and a third.

"Niko!" Eizen shouted, taking a defensive stance. "That's cheating!"

"'Cheat' is a word for losers, dear brother!" she taunted, swinging herself back on top of the legendary monster that seemed to be obeying her every unspoken command. "Come now, surely a Shepherd can handle an army of golems!"

The horde of rock creatures edged closer to them, and Eizen felt his uncle's uncertainty as much as his own.

You are the Shepherd, he reminded himself, tightening his grip on his blade. More than that, you are a Rangetsu. You have been trained in legendary techniques since birth. If anyone can do this, you can.

With that in mind, he jumped forward and slashed at the nearest two rock golems. Behind him, a seraphic arte blasted through the army, leaving him unharmed. From there, the battle became chaos, all his focus on moving, moving as he'd been taught his whole life, moving without thinking. It wasn't enough; every now and then, a club of solid rock whacked him from behind, and he stumbled before renewing his resolve and resuming his flow of attacks, not quite as solidly as before.

Taking down one monster took too long when there were dozens of them all around him. For every one victory, he was knocked back at least three times. Through the pact, he felt that his uncle wasn't faring much better. Still, what else could they do? They were giving it their all, and…and…

A sudden rush of energy blinded Eizen, overwhelming him with a vision of his uncle, the rock golems nowhere in sight.

"Aw yeah!" Zaveid whooped. "Time to get it on! Uh…ahem…" He lifted his chin and cleared his throat. "I bare to you my true name," he declared formally. "Let it become as your armor and…yeah, blah blah blah, you know the drill." He shook his head and grinned, dropping the formal act. "Armatization, baby!"

The vision faded, and Eizen found himself grinning too, even as he fell back into the rhythm of battle. Jumping away from the nearest monster, he gave himself a split second's space, and that was all he needed to raise his left hand and shout the words he'd been given:

"Fylk Zahdeya!"

He had always known, of course, what the seraphim were, but not until armatizing with one did Eizen truly understand. Seraphim were living, breathing, physical beings, yes, but their bodies weren't made of rigid, immutable flesh like humans' bodies were; rather, they were creatures of pure energy, raw elemental power manifested into a physical form and given minds and souls. Resonance, too, was a term Eizen hadn't understood before armatizing with a seraph: he could now feel the way his own body vibrated in tune with that of his Prime Lord, synced with the energy that gave his uncle being, and that was what allowed armatization, why forcing armatization with a human who lacked enough resonance was a dangerous and forbidden arte like in his parents' day. Now, the very being of his wind seraph ally merged with his own, power and flesh united into one - Zaveid's skin, Zaveid's muscles, Zaveid's bones, all augmented Eizen's own, enhanced to create something new, something unstoppable. All of the mana that made up Zaveid's existence was now granted a new level of physical form, and the mundane materials that made up Eizen's body now burned with that mana, forming a being almost greater than the sum of its parts.

Eizen's hair, which he always kept just long enough to be able to tie in a small ponytail so it wouldn't fluff out like a lion's mane, grew down to his knees, a sort of excess energy that couldn't find another outlet and so streamed out behind his head, and his cloak and clothes were coated in a glowing light. When he opened his eyes, his hands were empty, but two fans of blades were spread behind his back like wings.

Uncle…? Eizen asked the presence he now shared his body with, unsure how to fight without a sword.

You know what to do, kiddo, Zaveid told him. You know, because I know. We're fighting this battle together.

Acting on instinct, Eizen stepped forward, and felt wind mana flow with his every movement. Zaveid was right, he knew what to do. He didn't need a weapon; his body was a weapon now, every kick and punch charged with seraphic energy, to say nothing of the spray of blades behind him.

They gained speed together, dashing through the hordes of monsters, striking out and casting artes with power no normal human could dream of. Meanwhile, the rock golems, though big and strong, were slow, and couldn't pin down the armatized Shepherd and Prime Lord as they cast wind artes and breezed between them, leaving destruction in the wake of their wings.

When at last a lucky hit was unavoidable, Eizen and Zaveid split back into two, the rock club swinging through thin air where they had been. Without missing a beat, they both dashed into battle in opposite directions, Zaveid swinging his pendulum whips in a few quick successive strikes before a domain froze time, only the wind seraph moving as he unleashed a flurry of blows on his foe.

"Can you keep up?" he all but intoned. "Here's a beatdown! Outlaw Barrage!"

A Mystic Arte, Eizen thought as time resumed and Zaveid's target crumbled. Only possible for practiced warriors during a long battle…I wonder… Taking a breath, he reached within, and was surprised to find tremendous power waiting to be unleashed.

"Fast as a bird!" he shouted.

Time froze, and he slashed the nearest rock golem in a forked pattern. "Behold, the mastery of my ancestors…" He closed his eyes, surrendering to pure power and instinct, his blade slicing the monster to pieces almost on its own, then took a single breath and performed the ancient strike known only to the finest warriors in history: "Swallow Return!"

"Nice one!" Zaveid called as the arte ended.

"You can't do that!" shouted a demented voice from above the battlefield.

Eizen spared exactly one glance in the direction of his father where he sat atop his dragon, then returned his attention to the battle. As hard as he tried to focus, however, he couldn't shed the lesson he'd had beaten into him from birth: when it came to matters of the sword, listen to his father.

"Swallow Return isn't supposed to be used with a katana!" the four-armed hellion roared furiously as Eizen fought on, his ears registering every word the ancient swordsman spoke. "This is a desecration of the Rangetsu style!"

"Oh, do be quiet, won't you, father?" Niko spoke up, though Eizen could barely hear her. "What difference does it make?"

"It makes all the difference!" Rokurou raged. "Swallow Return is a sacred arte developed by our ancestors for use specifically with a nodachi, a greatsword! A katana is a mid-length sword, it's blasphemy to use Swallow Return with it!"

"Are there any Mystic Artes meant for a katana in the Rangetsu style?" Niko demanded. "You're the one who gave him the katana, would you expect him to make up his own style just because his sword isn't meant for your techniques?"

"I gave it to him when he was a kid, so he could learn to use a sword as long as his body!" Rokurou snapped. "It's not my fault he got so damn attached to it!"

"You never got him a greatsword."

"That smith doesn't know the difference between a katana and a nodachi, I'd never trust him to…"

This part, Eizen had heard many times before, and he was able to tune his father out at last as he kept fighting the horde of rock monsters. Maybe it was because their Lord of Calamity was distracted, but the rock golems seemed to get even slower as Eizen slashed through one, two, three more, then re-armatized with Zaveid to pelt a cluster of them with their wing-blades. As Niko and her father argued, the battle turned in the Shepherd's favor, and he grinned as he blasted through monster after monster, until suddenly, there were no more.

Panting, Eizen jogged to the top of a heap of earth where a rock golem had stood, just to be sure it was over, then de-armatized, leaving him and his uncle standing victorious over a field of purified rocks.

Zaveid whooped, grinning. "Nice going, Mr. Shepherd!"

"I couldn't have done it without you, uncle," Eizen responded, his eyes focused on his sister, his katana still drawn. "But we're not through yet."

An unexpected sound drew both their attention: cheering. Looking back towards Ladylake, Eizen saw that a fair number of people were clustered together on the bridge just inside the barrier, energetically showing their support for the victorious Shepherd. Sighing, Eizen nodded at them, then turned his back; the sentiments of the people didn't matter. Only his duty mattered.

"Very…impressive," Niko growled, and Eizen spared a moment to wonder who had won the argument with his father before setting it aside. Focus now, think later. "But perhaps you still need to learn that your foes won't always be walking dirt!"

"Let me take him on, Niko!" Rokurou said eagerly, rising to stand on his mount's back, each of his four hands drawing his blades, the daggers by his lower arms, the greatswords by the higher pair. "Let me show him what happens when he desecrates the ways of our ancestors!"

"No…I think not," Niko mused. "My dear brother needs to learn a lesson, and you won't teach it to him, at least not now."

"But-!"

"No," Niko stated, and Eizen was surprised to see his father stand down. "No, father, now is not your time."

"Get down here and fight me yourself, Niko!" Eizen shouted, brandishing his katana. "Let's end this, here and now!"

Niko laughed her horrible, hellish laugh; behind him, Eizen felt his uncle wince. "Listen, kiddo," Zaveid began, "I wasn't gonna say anything, but-"

Before the Prime Lord could finish his sentence, an avalanche of malevolence crashed down on them, and suddenly, it was a struggle for Eizen to stay standing, as though he was being pressed into the earth under a giant's heel. Beside him, Zaveid simply vanished; Eizen could feel his Prime Lord's presence through his pact - if only just barely - but the wind seraph was no longer manifested. Grunting with effort, Eizen lifted his head to see Niko gliding down to stand on another of the mounds of dirt left behind by the battle; her sharp teeth glinted in the sun that poked through the malevolence clouding the air.

"What…?" he ground out.

"This is my power, as Lord of Calamity," Niko hissed, brandishing her claws. "It's called a domain. I was holding it back before, just to see what you would do, but make no mistake; you are powerless against me. Within my domain, your seraphim cannot manifest themselves; and you, as Shepherd, wielder of the power of Maotelus, are almost as susceptible."

Gritting his teeth, Eizen took a step forward, pushing through what felt like a world of mud. "I won't let this stop me," he growled, picking his way down the small heap he stood on, making for his sister. "I am the Shepherd, and I will defeat you!"

"You still intend to fight?" Niko laughed.

"He might have offended our ancestors by using Swallow Return with a katana," Rokurou called from the back of the dragon Mikleo, "but he's still a Rangetsu! You're doing me proud, son," he added to Eizen.

"Proud, or foolish?" Niko sneered.

With a roar of effort, Eizen lunged forward, swinging his katana with all the force he could muster. Niko neatly dodged his attack, but he pressed on.

It was a pitiful sham of a fight, Eizen wasn't blind to that; Niko toyed with him, dodging and blocking all of his attacks and laughing all the while. But I have no choice, he thought. As Shepherd, this is my duty. There has to be a way to break through this…

At last, Niko swiped at him once, then shouted, "Kneel before me!"

A new domain froze time entirely, and Eizen was helpless as the claws on Niko's right hand speared him through the torso.

"You thought I'd stop there?" she sneered. Black fire lit in her left palm, and she thrust it forward. "Malevolent Crush!"

Eizen was thrown across the battlefield by the blast of raw malevolence, tumbling across disrupted rocks and hills of dirt until he came to a stop on his stomach. Every inch of his body screamed in pain, the spots where malevolent claws had punctured his torso burning as though he'd been impaled with red-hot iron rods (though his cloak was unharmed), but he tried to set it aside and force himself up. The wants of the body are nothing against the resolve of the mind, he reminded himself. Nothing…nothing against the resolve of the mind…

But as hard as he tried, he couldn't rise; it was a struggle to lift his head and face Niko as she stalked over to him.

"You are powerless," she declared. "Give up now."

"Never!" he snapped, barely managing to shift his knees under his chest, pressing his palms against the earth with all his strength until he was halfway between sitting and lying down.

"What are you even fighting for?" she jeered.

"I'm fighting…to stop you," Eizen ground out, still trying to lift himself. "And I won't…give up."

The Lord of Calamity just laughed.

"Nothing…" Eizen had finally managed to sit up, and now he tried to rise to one knee. "Nothing…will make me…submit…to you. I…am…the Shepherd!"

"Foolish brother," Niko sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

Still gasping for breath, Niko's domain bearing down on him, Eizen glowered at his sister defiantly. "Are you going to kill me?" he challenged. "Just like you did Sorey?"

"Oh, I hope not," Niko replied. "I didn't want to kill Sorey, you know. I don't want to kill anyone - the whole reason I became the Lord of Calamity was so I could create a world where no one ever died. But Sorey's answer was forged from life experiences, from seeing the world firsthand and coming to truly understand exactly what he was fighting to protect. You, on the other hand…" Her grin widened. "You have no such experience. Whatever you think your reasons are for resisting me, they are based only on what you've been told. You may yet learn…and as long as that is so, as long as there's still hope for you, I will not kill you."

As she said this, the malevolent domain eased, then receded. Surprised, Eizen forced himself to his feet; he still felt horribly battered, but at least the air felt like air again.

"Instead," Niko went on, "I will teach you. Once you learn your lessons, then we shall see what becomes of this world."

With that, she raised one clawed hand and caught the paw of the white-horned dragon, which swooped by to allow her master to climb back onto her. At the same time, Zaveid manifested at Eizen's side.

"Zaveid!" Eizen gasped, turning to his Prime Lord. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Zaveid dismissed, waving a hand; "I'm not the one who just got my ass handed to me, I was only incapacitated a little. You need to recover. Take some of my strength!"

"Huh? Oh, okay." Eizen closed his eyes. "Fylk Zahdeya!"

Mana and flesh merged together into one being, and Eizen felt his strength and Zaveid's average together.

Now use our power to heal us both, Zaveid instructed.

Calling on some potential strength, Eizen crossed his arms.

"Can you feel it? Soul Resonance!"

Wind mana swirled around them, filling them with life. Rejuvenated, Eizen severed the armatus, his wounds almost completely healed.

"Feeling better, dear brother?" Niko called from on high.

Eizen looked up. "Were you waiting for us to heal?" he gasped.

"Of course!" she laughed. "You won't learn your lesson if you have the excuse of being at death's door!"

"What…?"

"Now can I fight him?" Rokurou asked from the other dragon's back.

"No," Niko replied, still chuckling. "No…what he needs to understand is exactly what sort of fate he's chosen to force on everyone by taking the mantle of Shepherd: pain, and death. Pain and death are all that await those who won't embrace malevolence, and he would have everyone in the world suffer and die for his silly ideals…Oh, Cellie, my sweet sister!" she called abruptly, turning her head.

Eizen's stomach turned as a small green figure scuttled its way across the white-horned dragon to stand in front of Niko.

"Do you recognize our brother?" Niko asked her, gesturing to Eizen.

Yellow orbs in a twisted green face turned and stared down at the Shepherd. Was it his imagination, or did she indeed seem to recognize him?

"He wants to take away your strength," Niko told Cellie. "All your power, the health and life you now have, he wants to burn it all out of you, and leave you weak and dying, as you were before I saved you. You don't want him to do that, do you, Celica?"

Instead of speaking, the creature hopped and growled angrily, making vicious noises neither human nor animal.

"Well then, stop him!" Niko grinned. "Show him what he's fighting for!"

With a final, furious snarl, Celica leapt from the back of the dragon she rode, her yellow eyes fixed on Eizen as she fell to the ground. Eizen stepped forward, alarmed that she would hurt herself, but just before impact, she curled up into a ball and bounced harmlessly down a pile of dirt before rolling to a stop in one of the valleys between the fallen rock golems. As she scuttled her way over to Eizen, he could only stare in shock and bewilderment, too frozen to move out of the way when she launched at him and sent him tumbling onto his back.

"The hell are you doing?!" he heard Zaveid exclaim.

Celica's claws scraped and scratched at Eizen as he hit the ground, aiming primarily for his unguarded face, though he did his best to keep her away. He tried to push her off and get to his feet, but she clambered all over his body, clawing and biting at him.

"Cellie, stop it!" he shouted, trying to keep her from attacking anything vital. "Cellie, it's me, your brother!"

But the little monster only moved faster, ravaging him as he desperately tried to grab her. Beside him, Zaveid reached down and he managed to catch her, tossing her aside.

"Thanks, uncle," Eizen panted, keeping his eyes on the green-furred hellion sliding away from him. Celica hissed as her claws hooked on the ground, and she darted for them again on all fours.

It was different, knowing that the creature he was fighting was his youngest sister, and Eizen couldn't prevent himself from hesitating. Zaveid didn't hesitate, though, and he smacked her down with one of his pendulums when she leapt at them. She hit the ground hard, rolled over, then charged for them again, only for Zaveid to knock her back once more.

"Are you gonna help or what?" the wind seraph demanded of Eizen.

"I…"

Above them, Niko laughed, and Eizen gritted his teeth.

"Yes," he said. "Yes, I will help." Brandishing his katana, he stepped forward.

Celica spat at him, jabbering some vicious gibberish. Knowing this was his duty, knowing that this was not his sister anymore, Eizen found it within himself to dart forward and slash at her. Incredibly, she summersaulted backwards from him, and he missed entirely. Then, with one glare at him, the imp turned her attention downward, her clawed hands tearing at the earth below her. Bewildered, Eizen stared, only to lose sight of her as she tunneled under the recently-disturbed land.

"What the…?" he asked, too confused to even finish his sentence.

Niko's laughter was the only answer he got, and he had to fight back the surge of disgust that nearly overwhelmed him at the sound. Behind him, his uncle cursed.

"I can't read her," Zaveid growled.

"Isn't earth weak to wind?" Eizen asked him.

"It is," Zaveid said frustratedly, "but it's also a place the wind can't reach. She could come at us from any-"

Before he could even finish explaining the situation, Celica burst out of the ground just beside Zaveid and hurled herself at him, her claws leaving gashes all over his chest before she dove back into the ground and tunneled again.

"Damn it!" Zaveid howled.

Slowly, Eizen edged over to his uncle, until they stood back-to-back, waiting for the next ambush. "I don't know how to fight an enemy like this," Eizen muttered to Zaveid. "Even armatized, there's not much we can do but wait for her to come to us. I was trained to fight opponents head-on-"

Another blast of dirt interrupted him, and Celica dove for her brother. Only the reflexes his father had honed for him allowed Eizen to catch her with his sword at the last second and knock her aside. She snarled, then dug back into the earth.

"What is she, a mole?!" Zaveid demanded.

"Ever seen a hellion like her?" Eizen asked.

"…No," the Prime Lord replied, surprising his Shepherd. "I've seen gremlin hellions, but this is something new to me."

Another explosion of earth caught their attention, though this one was much further away. Turning just in time, they saw a spire of rock shoot out of the ground and then sink back in, leaving Celica in the air, seemingly against her will.

"You boys need help?"

"Edna!" Eizen exclaimed, turning to the small earth seraph who had pushed her way through the crowd of gawking humans. "Yes, yes we could use your help!"

"Wait, you did that?!" Zaveid exclaimed as Celica recovered from the hard fall and started burrowing again. "Be more careful! You don't have the power of purification, you could hurt her!"

"Then make me your Sub Lord," Edna told him. "Eizen must be ready by now."

"I'm ready," Eizen confirmed. "Make the pact, uncle. I'll keep Cellie busy while you do."

Zaveid nodded, and walked away to join Edna while Eizen took a defensive stance, all his senses on high alert for some sign of his youngest sister.

"Give me your hands," Zaveid told Edna.

"I don't have to," Edna replied.

"Aw, come on, please?" Zaveid begged. "I've never done this before, and besides, who knows how many centuries it'll be before I have an excuse to hold your hand again?"

"Edna, don't argue!" Eizen shot over his shoulder. "We don't have-!"

Celica's attack caught Eizen off-guard, and she slashed at the side of his head, gouging a couple of cuts deep enough to bleed before Eizen managed to dislodge her and slash at her with his katana. She dodged and burrowed again.

"Fine," Edna was saying, "one hand. But I'm not letting go of my umbrella."

"Good enough for me."

Even as he waited for Cellie's next attack, Eizen focused all the harder on the exchange that was about to take place between his Prime Lord and Edna; as Shepherd, this was vital information.

"O ye born of firmest resolve," Zaveid intoned, "here let our pact be forged-"

The green hellion launched from underground at Eizen's front, clawing at him viciously; the thick, tough threads of his cloak managed to stymie her just long enough for him to bash the hilt of his blade against her head, and she tumbled away and back into the dirt.

"-that my tetherless freedom* may be as thy purification! Shouldst thou accept this burden-"

Another attack; she seemed to be getting faster. This time, Eizen was ready, and he kicked her away before turning to watch his uncle and big sis - this was the important part.

"-speak aloud your true name!"

Eizen held his breath; as close as he and Edna had always been, he had never asked her this before, and she had never volunteered it.

"Hephsin Yulind," she said softly.

Mana swept through the air in response to this soft declaration, and Edna vanished to rest just below the hollow of Eizen's throat.

You know what to do now, baby brother, she said in his head.

Right, he nodded, and he lifted his left hand. "Hephsin Yulind!" he shouted.

Armatizing with his big sis felt different from armatizing with his uncle - it was the same sense of raw power merging with mundane flesh, but Edna's life force felt fundamentally unlike Zaveid's, a more steady, resolute sort of energy than the wind seraph's tempestuous essence. Most of the power focused on his arms, and alongside them, thick stone pillars formed, with hands and fingers at the ends made of rock: a giant's arms. These moved with his own arms and hands, and it was with these that he caught his youngest sister as she leapt for him again. The giant's hands were big enough to actually contain her, and she struggled in his grip before he threw her to the ground.

Just strike, Edna told Eizen, and if she tries to burrow, we can push her to the surface. Don't get too fancy, just hit her until the flames of purification can cleanse her.

It's hard, big sis, he replied even as he swatted at the small hellion, each blow filled with seraphic power. It's my little sister…

You're not hurting her, Edna reminded him. She won't suffer any injuries. You just need to beat her into submission so she can be purified. You knew you would have to do this.

Yeah, he sighed internally, I did.

Though the hellion lasted a long time, the fight wasn't difficult; without her burrowing technique to protect her, Celica had no defense, and he blasted her with powerful blows and seraphic artes so hard she couldn't lay a claw on him. Finally, with one last punch, she tumbled to the ground and was still.

De-armatizing, Eizen ran over to his youngest sister, Edna and Zaveid by his side. Zaveid waved a hand, and white fire cascaded over Cellie's battered form; when it cleared, she was human again, the little girl he remembered and loved.

But she still didn't stir. Overhead, Niko laughed.

"And here is your lesson, dear brother," she jeered. "Thanks to you, little Cellie's already in the terminal stage of the Twelve Year Sickness, almost two years early."

"What?!" Eizen exclaimed, running over to pick up his sister. The heat coming off of her was alarming, and though her eyes flickered beneath her eyelids, she didn't stir as her brother hefted her in his arms.

"All the energy she's been able to spend since I saved her? It rushed the disease's progression," Niko told Eizen. "She'll be dead in two days, all thanks to you. Are you proud of yourself?"

"You did this, Niko!" Eizen shouted. "You! Not me!"

"No…if only you hadn't burned the darkness out of her, she'd still be happy and healthy," Niko sneered. "She would live forever, free of the ailments of the flesh, if you weren't so foolish." She sat back, the dragons' wings beating harder. "I'll give you two days," she declared. "Two days, so you can watch our little sister slowly fade away. And when I return, and she's on her last breaths, we'll see if you still think malevolence is a curse."

With that, the two dragons dove, and Eizen knew by now not to duck as they swung upwards and into the sky and were gone.

"Daddy," Celica whimpered, twitching, clearly delirious with fever. "Daddy…please…train me…"

"Celica," Eizen said softly. Was it just his feverish sister, or was he starting to get dizzy from heat, too…?

"Take it easy, baby brother," Edna told him. "You just armatized with your first Sub Lord. You're going to pass out soon."

"Not yet," he growled determinedly, turning to the bridge into Ladylake where many people were still gathered. "Not yet…" He stepped forward, lifting his head to address the crowd. "I will not give in to Niko's mind games," he told the people of Glenwood. "This is my sister, but I would rather she die human than live a monster, and I know that's what she would want, too. I may have the medicine needed to save her from her illness, but there's no guarantee the ingredients we gathered will work; still, even if they don't, I would not let her go on as a hellion. Let this be a message to all of you: even my own family will die if they must, rather than be corrupted by malevolence. I will not allow anything else."

This speech took most of the strength he had left, and he couldn't help that his feet dragged as he started walking, slowly, painfully, back inside the barrier and through the crowd of people, which Edna and Zaveid did their best to part for him. Then into Ladylake…and through the alleyways…Each step was harder than the last, but Eizen gritted his teeth and kept walking, his sister in his arms. The wants of the body are nothing against the resolve of the mind…and my resolve is to see Cellie healed. If I can sit up under Niko's domain after taking her Mystic Arte, I can stay awake long enough to use the Omega Elixir. I won't let myself rest until I know Celica's fate.

He stumbled several times, but Zaveid always caught him, never speaking or offering to take his load, just helping him along as he made the journey through the city in the middle of the lake. Stairs felt like insurmountable obstacles whenever he had to climb them, but he pushed through. Darkness clawed at the edges of his vision, his head swam in uncomfortable heat, but he kept walking, almost not realizing it when he reached the front of the little hut he and his mother had been staying in. Edna opened the door for him before he could protest, and he pushed his way inside, to where his mother sat with the stone box containing the Omega Elixir.

"Mom…" he rasped.

"Eizen?" Velvet sat the box aside and stood, her golden eyes widening when she saw who he was carrying. "Celica! Eizen, are you okay? What happened? Celica!" Her eyes darted between her two children, clearly unsure which of them to be more worried about.

"I'm fine," Eizen managed. "Just…really…"

"I'm Zaveid's Sub Lord now," Edna explained, "so Eizen's going to fall unconscious again soon. But he seems determined to stay awake until he tries the Omega Elixir ingredients on Cellie."

Relieved that Edna did the explaining, Eizen mustered all of his control to lay Cellie gently down on the bed he'd been sleeping in. Without the burden of a child in his arms, he was able to gather a tiny bit of strength, just enough to retrieve the stone box as Zaveid told Velvet what Niko had told them about the disease's progression.

Five precious ingredients. Eizen opened the box and took out the Cloud Sheep's Egg, placing it on the right side of Cellie's chest. Then the World Tree Leaf, just below the hollow of her throat; then Long Dau's Dust, right over her stomach; and finally, the Unicorn Horn, just over her heart.

"What's with the weird arrangement?" Edna asked.

"The leaf is where you are in me…" Eizen gasped, "and the egg…is where uncle Zaveid is. Fire gathers…where the stomach is, and…the horn just finishes the circle. It just…makes sense."

"Whatever."

Grasping the final object in the box, the small glass jar that contained Maotelus's tears, Eizen couldn't avoid dropping the stone container carelessly; it shattered on the floor, but that didn't matter. Struggling to stay on his feet, he tried to twist off the lid of the jar, but he couldn't muster the strength to squeeze hard enough with his fingers. He gritted his teeth and tried, but he just…couldn't…

Edna's hands gently clasped over his, twisting the lid off with him; it came easy with her support. Barely nodding his thanks, Eizen reached over and poured the single droplet out into the middle of the circle of base ingredients, where it splashed onto Cellie's little blouse.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, the spot where the tear fell started to glow, and the other ingredients glowed with it, softly at first, then brightly, like five stars come to earth. Barely awake, Eizen watched as the four objects and the tears of the Dragon of Light washed over his little sister, filling her with their energy. When the light faded, no trace of any of the items remained.

Celica stirred, then opened her eyes. "Huh?" she groaned, sitting up. "What happened? Where's daddy?"

"Celica!" Velvet sobbed, lurching forward to embrace her daughter. "Cellie, oh Cellie, my baby, how are you feeling?"

"Mommy?" Celica asked, blinking. "I…I'm fine. I feel great. What happened?" Her golden eyes turned on Eizen. "Big brother…?"

"I'm so glad you're okay," he sighed. Then he surrendered to the darkness and let his eyes slide shut; he was unconscious before he hit the floor.


*I know this is not the incantation as it was in Tales of Zestiria; this is deliberate. You'll understand the change of words when you read part 14.


Shoutout to Youtube channel "Lockstin and Gnoggin", specifically the video going over flying-type Pokemon moves, for being the reason I know the difference between a katana and a nodachi, and also the reason I know that Swallow Return is actually a real thing.