Strength left Kanae's legs, and she sank quickly to the ground, letting out a hiss as her hip gave a throb of pain. Her whole body ached. Her legs especially throbbed from all that magic assisted jumping and running. Not to mention the blood soaking her shoulder from that cut. Her hip wasn't bleeding badly… yet.

Growling, she grabbed the shaft of the arrow still embedded in her hip with the intention to yank it out.

"Don't!" Hiroaki's hand just managed to stop her. "You don't know what type of arrowhead it has. If you pull it out, that could make it worse."

"They're filthy undead," snapped Kanae. "Their arrows aren't anything special."

Hiroaki still didn't move his hand. "L-let me see to it." Then he muttered, "This is at least something I can do."

She considered him for a moment before letting go. "Fine. You have five minutes, then we have to leave."

She turned her head away, looking at something other than whatever it was that Hiroaki was doing. Watching would only irritate her. It would remind her too much of Kyoko and how important it was to get to her.

Instead, she watched Twig. The little dryad bobbed in the air, darting away for one moment only to move in the other direction. Back and forth he went in Kanae's line of vision, muttering to himself the whole time.

"You know what," said Kanae. "I think you're more irritating to watch than Hiroaki.

Twig acknowledged her comment by increasing his volume.

"It's just horrible. All the plants are dying. All dead. They were thriving thanks to the aura and nutrition of the tree. Without it, this whole place will become as barren as the rest of the wastelands."

"Wouldn't that be bad for you?" said Kanae. "Considering that you draw strength from the flora of the area?"

Twig finally stopped flying. His feet touched the ground, like a bird grounded by a clipped wing.

"Soon, it will be difficult to keep even this form," he said. "I wasted a lot of my power saving you two, and with the fig tree dead…"

Kanae understood. He would grow weak. Possibly die or lose his sentience and become nothing more than a spirit. The seed of the fig tree resting in his chest was likely the only source of strength he had left.

Kanae studied him now, taking in his stooped shoulders and downcast eyes. His short feathery hair hung limp, the decorative lines that wound up his whole body had dulled to a sickly green. The pricks of light that usually followed him had gone completely out.

A shot of pain from her shoulder jolted her attention back to her wounds. Hiroaki had moved from her hip to the cut there. She nearly slapped him.

"That hurt!" she said.

"I h-have to move the clothing," he said, still tugging at her sleeves. Each tug felt like he was ripping away skin. "It looks like the bleeding stopped, thank goodness, but I still need to clean it and sew it shut or else it could burst back open."

Annoyed with his timid nature, she yanked the sleeve down herself, refusing to even grunt form the pain. She just saw a silvery thin line of light magic appear from his hand, likely made from a complicated light spell. She didn't bother looking too closely at the composition of it.

She focused again on something else, looking at the carnage all around them.

"You have one minute," said Kanae.

"I can't just—"

"The miasma is approaching."

The street they occupied was almost a straight path to the tree trunk. The hazy outline looked vaguely like a heatwave, but seeing how the sun had set already, that would be impossible. And if that death wave of miasma didn't get to them first, there was the entrance they'd come from to consider. That was likely to start spilling out miasma soon.

A less gentle tug on her shoulder told her that Hiroaki was hurrying his work.

"It was our fault the tree fell," said Hiroaki, his voice as frantic as his hands. "All those people… we shouldn't have…"

"Don't be so full of yourself," said Twig, though some of the usual bite in his voice was gone. "At the rate it was dying, it would have fallen in a few days."

A few days.

Just at the right time for the monsters to come and attack the city.

Kanae almost laughed. If her guess was right, this had always been part of the Accursed plan. To fell the tree and reign chaos from outside and in. Her and Twig had accidentally set it off early. She couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Movement caught her eye.

"Okay," she said, pushing Hiroaki away. "We're done."

"B-but I'm not—"

Kanae pointed down the street. No less than a dozen undead walked together with a necromancer. The group hadn't spotted them yet, dumb creatures, but it was only a matter of seconds.

Kanae stood, ignoring her aching muscles and straining injuries. The spear was back in her hand.

"It's time to leave."

Both Twig and Hiroaki followed her quickly down the street, a new set of monsters and miasma on their heels.

The sounds of chaos were everywhere. Buildings burned as they ran past bodies laying littered in the middle of the street. Sand and dirt continued to drift in the air though it had been a while since the fig tree had fallen. The whole of it fashioned a miserable mixture of auras that cried out in hues of red with sickly yellow fear highlighting the whole mess.

Not for the first time, Kyoko wondered where the rest of the city guard was. They should have been leading the retreat, tending to the injured and keeping the chaos at bay. Hadn't they prepared for this? Well, no not exactly. Most of their efforts had gone in fortifying the city from an external force, not an internal one.

She winced as the aura of a person they passed dimmed to a mass of grays. She recognized what was happening and shouted a warning to Hikaru.

The soldier stopped, sword already bloody from previous battles. He raised it to the newly formed undead sprouted from the seed buried inside the human's heart. The thought made her so sick she didn't protest as Sho kept an arm around her middle, hurrying her along while Hikaru dealt with the monster.

Hikaru joined them a moment later, barely needing to jog to catch up. Others passed them by, sometimes without a glance and other times with a shout to hurry. Kyoko was slowing them down.

"Just stop being stubborn and let me carry you," yelled Sho.

"You wouldn't last five feet carrying me," she shot back. "Don't think I can't feel that flub on your stomach." She pinched the offending area with a hand and he yelped. "You're soft as a handcake."

"That's muscle. Do you think carrying around those instrument cases is easy?"

"It is when someone else is doing it for—"

She suddenly gave a strangled cough. It doubled her over, making the other two halt as she hacked and choked. Unlike the previous times, her coughing didn't stop. Spots in her vision went dark as she gagged from the strength of it.

When she finally did stop, Hikaru spoke.

"Let him carry you Lady Kyoko," he said. "Anything will help you at this point."

It was his tone that made her consider it. Hikaru wore his emotions on his face, and being one of her good friends, she'd seen him anxious plenty of times, but she'd never seen this expression. It was completely new. Dust coated his face and sank into the creased of his forehead. A mixture of blood and mud smeared its way across his head where an enemy's aim had gotten a little too close. He gave none of it any heed. Every stitch of emotion that usually dotted his features was calmed and focused down until it was nearly invisible. But if she looked closely, she could detect it. In his stance, his stiff gaze, and most importantly his tone of voice. He sounded nearly as sick with worry as she felt.

"Fine," she grunted out. "Fine, just… be careful. The marks… hurt."

Sho scowled but for once in his life didn't comment. Instead, he took her in his arms, carrying her like a princess. A proper one, with care and respect. Were the situation different, she might laugh at the irony of it. A Kyoko from what felt like a million years ago would have swooned at the idea of Sho carrying her like this, and here she was trying not to "swoon" from pain and exhaustion. What a world.

As they began moving again, Kyoko realized just how tired she was. The subtle rocking from being held was nearly enough to lull her to sleep. She gave a small jolt as Sho stumbled, realizing she had fallen asleep. How had she managed to do that in this kind of situation? It didn't make sense, though she knew it should, but couldn't think why. Not now. Not when going back to sleep felt like such a good idea.

She jerked awake again, but this time from Sho deliberately shaking her.

"Don't fall asleep," he said. Sweat streamed down his face, generated from the effort of carrying her. The sun had set a while ago, but the moon was bright enough to bathe his face in a grim glow. He kept his eyes forward as he repeated. "Don't fall asleep."

"Stupid Sho," she muttered. "I can sleep if I wanna…"

He didn't listen, shaking her every time she drifted off. Idiot. She kept her hand above her breast pocket, feeling the bump from the broken sapphire necklace Ren had given to her.

Hikaru looked behind him. The musician's face was red from exertion, but his grip on Kyoko was as strong as it had been in the beginning. Carrying dead weight that far was tiring on anyone, even if it was small-framed Kyoko. He was probably running on adrenaline and will. Hikaru would have carried her himself, but out of the three of them, he was the only one that could fight the monsters popping up more frequently.

"She won't stay awake," said Sho. He shook her in his arms, an angry vein ticking in his forehead. "Wake up you stupid physician."

Dark purple marks like gemstones peeked out from her sleeves and crawled up her neck. They highlighted just how pale her complexion was. She was also breathing hard, as if she were the one carrying Sho, not the other way around.

Hikaru took off a glove, placing a hand to her forehead. He felt foolish doing so but didn't know how else to assess her condition. Her skin burned.

"She's feverish," he said, replacing the glove on her hand. "She needs medical attention immediately."

Sho turned an angry expression to him. "Yah think, genius? What tipped you off? The weird pulsing things on her shoulder or the fact that I can't keep her freaking awake? Damn it." He shook her again.

"Stop that," Hikaru snapped, losing control for a moment. She would be fine. She would be. "We need to be faster."

"I'm going as fast as I can," grumbled Sho.

Hikaru held out his hands. "Then I'll carry her."

But Sho brushed past him, still carrying Kyoko. "Piss off. You can't stab things and carry her at the same time. I can hold out a little longer."

Hikaru hesitated, then followed after Sho. He still wasn't sure what to make of this guy, or even who he was. He couldn't remember Kyoko ever talking about him, and yet their familiarity spoke of years of friendship. Or whatever it was their relationship was. Hikaru didn't care so much as he cared about the way Kyoko acted around him and the way the man acted around her. So far, he wasn't really impressed.

Had the situation been different, Hikaru would have taken the time to lecture Sho about proper behavior toward Lady Kyoko. Princess Kyoko, as she would be properly called when this was all over. When Kuon finally found a way to break his contract and return to his place as Ashuron's crown prince.

The rush of excitement that usually filled him at the thought was muted. The possibility was too obscured by the horrors of the present. That day will come, he thought to himself. The trials of today make hope just that more important. But it was still hard.

Sho froze at the next intersection. He took a hasty step back, hissing at Hikaru. "There's a bunch of them in the next alleyway."

Hikaru peered around the corner. Indeed, there were half a dozen undead, as well as a sand colossus. The undead he might have been able to take with only a few minor injuries. But the sand colossus… there wasn't a chance.

Hikaru pulled his head back to hide against the mudbrick wall of what used to be a winery.

"Can you get through them?" said Sho.

"Not alive." He motioned to the building. "This probably has a back entrance we can use to make it around them. Or we can double back and change course, but it would risk running into other groups of undead."

"Why don't we—"

Sho cut off as Kyoko suddenly jolted. She attempted to sit up, squirming in Sho's arms as he struggled to keep hold of her. She was plenty awake now, eyes open wide.

"Shh, Kyoko calm down," hissed Sho. She slapped a hand on his face, reducing him to a garbled mess of sounds as she pushed upward.

"Something's coming," she said. "I can feel it. It's something dark."

A chill ran down Hikaru's body. Had the Accursed found them? Her gaze focused on the alleyway across from them.

Hikaru's grip on the sword tightened. He couldn't fight an Accursed, and the noise would bring those other monsters down on them. He'd have to stay behind. Give Kyoko and Sho more time.

A clattering suddenly started around the corner from them. Too late. The monsters had heard them. They were coming.

"Take her through," said Hikaru. "Don't stop moving. I'll join you when I can."

"No." Kyoko was now fighting Sho in earnest, causing the man to swear. "Hikaru, we can't—"

"We don't have a choice."

Something was coming. He could see them now, emerging from the shadows Kyoko had been staring down. Dark magic coated the man so thoroughly Hikaru could feel it from here.

An undead suddenly appeared from the corner. It swung at Hikaru, who blocked the weapon with his own.

"Get her out of here!"

The other monsters were there now. He deflected each attack, enchanting arcane shields and spells to defend him. For those five seconds, it was all he could manage. There was no opening to take an attack, not without exposing Kyoko and Sho.

Then the sand colossus joined the fray. Its heavy arms crashed into his sword. He grunted, the blow forcing him backward. Dang, this attack was heavy. With a burst of effort and magic, he pushed back from the monster and sliced with a spell. It cut the arm in half, sand spilling from the wound.

He didn't have time to celebrate. One of the undead had closed the gap during that momentary separation. He let an invisible shield of arcane magic take the blow, swinging around and decapitating the thing. It fell but revealed the sand colossus right behind it. The severed arm had already regrown from sand, coming down the burry him again.

Hikaru dodged around, pulling with magic what he needed to defeat the monsters. He just hoped there was water nearby.

His hope was answered as water swirled around his blade. He hacked and slashed at the monster, wincing as hot sand skidded across his arms between each blow. He yelled, then plunged his sword into the monster's head. It groaned, sinking to the ground in a useless pile of sand.

Hikaru whirled around, ready to fight. Why hadn't the other undead attacked him?

He saw the answer.

Cain was there, standing among the rest of the undead. It took a second for Hikaru to recognize him. Portions of his body were covered with a dark gleaming armor like he'd forgotten to wear half of a full plate. Between the cracks of mismatched armor, molted purple glowed like a sleeping volcano. His sword had already been sheathed, hands palm outward in a silent non-threatening posture. Standing no less than ten feet from Sho and Kyoko, the latter was currently yelling at him.

"—come another step closer!" yelled Sho.

"I need to see if she's alright," said Cain.

"I said stay back! You sight-blighted monster of hell!"

"Whoa! Guys!" Hikaru hurried forward, sheathing his sword for the first time since this mess happened. "The noise will bring more monsters!"

Both men turned to him, one much calmer than the other. Sho stabbed a petulant finger toward Cain. "He's hurting her!"

Only now did Hikaru take a look at Kyoko. She was on the ground, upper body supported in a sitting position by Sho. Her eyes were closed again, her breathing coming in hard sharp gasps. The marks on her arms glowed and pulsed, seemingly in time with the purple glow around Cain's armor.

Hikaru had heard of what had happened to Sozen, the Accursed that Cain had killed in the middle of the city. Cain had turned him into a crystal statue and shattered the whole thing. Kyoko had mentioned that being near Cain for long periods of time made her feel worse so maybe…

Hikaru and Cain seemed to understand at the same time. The Accursed practically jumped away across the street. His distance visibly brought more color back to Kyoko's cheeks.

Hikaru rushed to her side, cradling her face. She was so hot he could feel it through his gloves.

"Lady Kyoko!" He felt like crying. "Please, open your eyes."

Her eyelids flickered. He sighed in relief as her gaze sharpened to focus on him.

"H-Hikaru," she muttered. "I thought I saw Kuon."

"He's here," he said. "He's just keeping his distance to keep you safe. You're alright."

"Oh." She looked to be struggling to understand. In the distance, Cain shifted from foot to foot, clearly wanting to get closer but unable to do so.

"She's fine," called Hikaru. "I think your aura is just too strong for her."

Sho muttered a curse, but Hikaru ignored it. Kyoko was tugging on his sleeve to get his attention.

"Something's coming," she said.

"I know, it was just Cain. You're safe."

But she shook her head, wincing. "No, not Cain. Something else. Something much worse."

"Something worse…?"

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up like a cold wind had breathed its icy chill. He raised his eyes to the streets behind Cain where the feeling originated. The haze of sand seemed strangely thick like it had mixed with the dark miasma. The chill spread from his neck to his whole body.

Three people emerged from the haze. Two men, and one woman. Hikaru recognized the woman who stood between the other two. Even from a distance, the shine of Setsuko's haughty eyes and rich wavy hair was unmistakable. She was so perfect and beautiful among such destruction it looked wrong. Sitting in the center of her forehead suspended by golden chains, a gem glimmered, but not with light. It seemed to pull in the darkness.

Cain stepped between him and the three, his back facing Hikaru.

"Go," said Cain. "Protect Kyoko. I'll hold them off."

Fear clenched Hikaru's gut. Cain wanted to hold off three Accursed while restraining himself? It was ludicrous. Cain may be powerful, but no one was that strong. Though the thought of fighting not one but three— three flaming Accursed terrified Hikaru, he couldn't let Cain do it alone.

"Sir," he started. "I don't think—"

Cain cut him off. "Do you remember your pledge, soldier?"

The words cut into him like a knife. Of course he remembered it. The words fell easily from his lips as if he recited them daily. "I will do everything in my power to protect and assist you and Lady Kyoko."

"Good." Cain took a step toward the Accursed, back straight and trailing puffs of dark magic. "I'm putting my trust in you."

There was nothing left to discuss.

Hikaru jostled the gaping Sho, helping the man to his feet while making sure Kyoko was comfortable. She had fallen unconscious again, muttering in her sleep. They left Cain and the three Accursed, Hikaru's heart thumping in his ears with every step. He'd been given a duty, an order, and damn it if he hated himself for being grateful with an excuse to leave, but he was. He'd picked some dumb fights in his past, but never one that suicidal.

Come back alive, Cain, thought Hikaru. But more importantly, come back sane.

Three centers of darkness swirled before Cain. The auras were so thick he was unable to distinguish much individually as they overlapped. He recognized all of them, one of them being the Accursed Kemo he had been fighting before. Apparently, the man had managed to catch up. Cain hoped the Accursed had let Kuresaki and his men live in his haste.

The second aura he recognized didn't make sense. It was Maru's. The battle-mage who had helped guard Kyoko. Cain would have suspected a newly turned Accursed it if wasn't for the fact that the aura superseded another one he couldn't sense properly. Also, Cain could see that it wasn't Maru. What was going on?

Then there was the third aura.

He was intimately familiar with this one. So much so that he felt magic creep up his arm from his relic, cutting dark marks of power into his flesh from the emotions it sparked.

"How long," growled Cain. "How long have you been an Accursed, Setsuko?"

The woman tittered, speaking with the same commanding lilt she always used. "I'd say about a year into our association." Then she gave a small laugh. "Or I should say, Setsuko's association. That's when I took over for her."

Confusion struck Cain. "What?"

Setsuko scoffed. "Idiot boy, I don't remember you being this dull. What I'm saying is that I killed her and took her place, with a little help from King Kuu's brother, Masato. He was the one that could change appearances perfectly."

Cain remained frozen as the pieces clicked into place. Of exactly what had happened.

Riddled with guilt and pain in the aftermath of Rick's death, Koun had started his physical relationship with Setsuko. It had been unhealthy, driven by pain and the desire for affection. What anger Setsuko felt toward her family she had directed toward Cain, and he had taken it, feeding it into his already bloated self-hatred brought by his friend's death. Things had eventually leveled out as their passions burned their course and it would be hard to say if she had helped or made things worse. But they'd been important to each other.

Now, to hear that right around the time Setsuko had begun to feel something other than anger, her life had been taken from her? Not just taken, but replaced and copied almost so perfectly it was like there had only been one?

The boiling anger in his heart was almost unbearably hot as another thought struck him. This fake Setsuko had been so close to Kyoko. Close enough to kill or hurt her during her time in the harem. If something bad had happened to Kyoko because of her…

The armor on both of his forearms was complete now, layered in thick black plates that overlapped and glimmered in the moonlight. The Fake's lips drew into a thin smirk, a satisfied triumph in her eyes.

"There. That's some of what I wanted to see," she cooed. "But I'm still not satisfied. Not even close. I need you to suffer more." She thrust out a hand, fingers spread wide. Beside her, the Djinn rose from the ground, pulling shadows to take its form.

A flick of her wrist was all the warning she gave. The djinn shot forward, followed closely by Kemo and the tall thin man. Cain met them with a roar of his own fury and magic. He would make this woman pay!

Kyoko's eyes slowly opened. She felt herself bouncing in a steady rhythm. Ah, someone was jogging while carrying her. She registered that she should be feeling pain from the marks, but that sensation was distant in her mind and consciousness. Something Kyoko of another mindset would be able to feel. Most of this Kyoko's senses were taken up by a clash of magic further away from them. A clash of dark magic.

"Kuon?" she croaked. "Kuon, where are you?"

"Hey, she's awake," came a voice beside her. Sounded like Sho's. "That's right Kyoko, stay with us. It's— no, stop squirming, you're heavy enough as it is."

She didn't listen, continuing to squirm. The marks throbbed, her head ached, but she needed to get back to Cain. Something was going to happen to him, she knew it.

"Lady Kyoko. Shhh, its okay."

But it wasn't. Cain wasn't there, and she couldn't be his light.

Kuon. Come back to me. You promised.

Thanks for reading! I know it has been a while. I have excuses. Like… a lot. I went back to work, Mr. Blushweaver got a new job and started training, I had to change my hours at work because of babysitting issues that arose due to COVID, the protests/riots started, babysitting issues happened again…and then again.

Just what even is 2020?

But it is nice to be writing again. Hopefully, I can keep it up for a while.

Thanks again for all those that left reviews! Like, seriously, I know it's a lot to bother reviewing with how many chapters we've had, but I am really grateful for each one. Everyone stay safe!

-Blushweaver

I'm Imouto, and I approve this message.

-Imouto