Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim all rights to all characters (save for those of my own creation) in this troubling time… especially for the one who's life belongs to another.

~保護者~

REVIEW REPLIES:

Hello, Guest! No worries, haha. It's no big deal at all. Yep, they sure did! No telling how that's going to go, though. Seeing the downtime is definitely good. And I agree that Sonic and Steam are fun to see together. XD We'll do our best!

~保護者~

"Black Magic"

~保護者~

"Did you need something, Tails?"

Amy's voice roused Tails from his work and he looked up. Seeing her standing on the other side of his table, he smiled. He'd been busy for the past couple of days with Wery going over all of their scans, checking on everyone's well-being after the big fight, and doing their best to use their tech to help keep an eye out for any sign of Zareil approaching. They had also been hard at work restoring the files and documents Gerald had left behind. It had been a surprisingly… arduous process. Much less so than it possibly should have been, given how advanced their tech was.

Which brought him back to the present moment. "Yeah, I kinda did," he admitted. "You didn't have to meet me out here, though. You could've texted me to say you were ready to talk, and I'd have met you in the house."

"I don't mind," Amy answered easily. She was already moving to take up a seat, gently moving aside some tools and pieces of scrap metal and wires so that her arms had room. "At one time, I spent close to as much time as you in your workshop, remember?"

"That's true," Tails conceded with a small laugh. "I guess it sort of slipped my mind."

His old friend, one he still to this day considered to be his sister, feigned shock. "The great Tails, forgetful? Why, I have never heard something more ludicrous in my life!"

Tails's previously small laugh turned into a much harder and less flattering one. He nearly snorted at one point before catching his breath. "Oh, if only you knew," he said wryly.

She smiled back at him readily, now also laughing. "I think I have an idea. Anyway, what did you need me for?"

Brought back to reality again, Tails grabbed one of his own tablets and projected a holographic screen from it over the table. "It's a bit of a story, maybe even a long one, so bear with me for a bit here. Basically, as you know, Shadow's largely robotic. Tech is obviously my area of expertise, and I can mostly handle it. I can handle it even better now that people like Wery are around to help me out, too."

Amy seemed to understand immediately. "Something's come up regarding his biological parts, right?"

"Not just parts," he corrected, "but yes. See, he's half Tokarian. In that sense, we already understand his biology and whatnot. That bit's normal. But since you, Sonic, and everyone else passed away and I started really scanning him often and whatnot, I've noticed a lot of things about him that aren't normal." He went ahead and pulled up the most recent scan Shadow that he and Wery had taken. "For example, his lungs are only barely necessary for him, so they aren't as large as they are in you or I, as you can see. A lot of his veins are in places where you just wouldn't find them in someone like us, on top of being in the usual areas." Hearing this, she sat up straight, listening intently.

Tails continued. "He simply doesn't have kidneys, a liver, an appendix, intestines, or multiple other things. What he does have are organs I've never seen before, and I don't know what any of them are or what they do. That's where I was hoping you could come in. I know you have no way of knowing anymore than the rest of us what Black Arms anatomy and biology is like, but in general you do have vast knowledge in both of those areas. Think we can try to see what you can glean?"

Upon learning the challenge he was presenting her with, Amy smiled again. This time it was determined and confident. "Oh, yeah. Let's do this."

"Great!" Tails exclaimed happily.

Before he could continue, she asked, "Static pictures are great, but is there any way we can actively get a look inside?"

"I thought you might want to do that, so I did ask," Tails nodded. "He said he was willing, but I think he might have finally crashed. I don't know when he last properly slept through the night, and he's seemed pretty tired for the past week because of it. And… you know, getting attacked probably didn't help. No idea what sort of damage he took or anything, but at least he's healed now." He switched the screen to a different scan with a smile. One that was being conducted continuously in real time. "Good news, though. I did have a backup plan. I present to you… Well, this thing."

Amy's eyes lit up. "You managed to find a Black Arms and attach something to them?" Her eyes roved the screen, taking in what she could about the creature in question. It was a hulking bipedal creature with spikes, a snake-like head, razor sharp teeth, leathery skin, a powerful tail, large clawed hands, and a thick shell covering its back. Truly, it was an imposing and freakish individual. Tails was almost upset that this was the only healthy individual Shadow had been able to find that wasn't smart enough to remove the device on its own.

"Nope! Shadow did it for me yesterday," Tails explained. "At the time, it was just because I thought that it might be good to look and see what new data I could find. It's better used for this, though."

The hedgehog nodded once. "Right. Okay, so let's do a side-by-side with this scan and Shadow's. That way we can see what organs this thing has versus what he has." Tails did as she'd asked right away. He also pulled up a live video feed of the creature in question, that way they could see what it was doing in real-time so as to better understand what its organs were doing. Pleased with this, Amy nodded her satisfaction. "Alright, let's see…"

The two worked for roughly an hour, examining one target onscreen at a time and determining their functions. By the end, they had determined something important. Though the organs themselves were unusual and in places that weren't normal for races they were more familiar with, their functions for the most part seemed to match the functions of the normal organs that were missing. Mostly. There were still a few that neither of them could really make total sense of (or any sense of at all, in the case of one). And then there was… well, the one organ whose existence Tails had somehow almost managed to forget about. Upon seeing Amy's face, he spoke up. "Oh-h-h, that. Right. I can explain, sort of."

"Please do," Amy replied, frowning at the screen. "This isn't something that exists in males, Tails."

"That's… well, that's the thing," the fox replied slowly. "He's not a male. That is, not entirely. Black Arms individuals apparently don't have definable genders. Maybe they don't have genders at all, but I'm not certain about that. But that's why they don't have any, uh… external anatomy of that kind, just something that allows for giving birth. Or, er, 'spawning' as they apparently call it."

Amy pulled up Shadow's scan again, no doubt to double-check that he did indeed have the aforementioned male anatomy. Once she'd confirmed that, she sat back in her seat. "The external anatomy you were talking about on the Black Arms is showing in the notes and all that, but not in either of their images. It must be hidden from view somehow. If pure-blooded Black Arms have the necessary parts for, you know, the 'fun' part of making babies, that's hidden, too. It's… weird."

"Let's face it, everything about their biology is weird to us," Tails sighed. He rubbed over his face with his hands for a moment, his eyes feeling the strain from having been looking at screens almost nonstop for the past twenty-four hours or longer. "At least we understand a little bit better, though. On that note, by the way, thanks for your help. I probably wouldn't have figured most of this stuff out on my own."

"Not a problem, Tails. Say, have you managed to learn anything else about these guys?" Amy's attention strayed briefly from the screen to Tails and then back again. "Seems like you have a lot of things open all at once."

"We've learned some things," he answered. "We're still working on being able to read the data I was telling you about, but we've found some information on their behavior. For one thing, blood is apparently really important to them for more than just reproductive reasons. Which, for the record, I explained that as best as I could already so please don't ask for further data that I just don't have."

His words made her laugh a bit. "Alright, I won't. I will ask about that first bit, though, how else is it important to them?

"I'm not fully sure yet," Tails admitted, "since Gerald didn't leave a ton of notes about it all. He pretty constantly refers to the Black Arms as 'brutal' and 'savages'. Even he classified them as 'excessively violent', too. He wrote that just before launching into a bit of detail about the fact that the Black Arms apparently do have some degree of culture." He pulled up the notes in question on the screen so she could see for herself. "They take part in blood rites, blood-related rituals, and all-out ceremonies surrounding blood. There's also ritual combat, as well as a variety of rituals and ceremonies focused around the idea of death, the act of killing, the experience of being killed, and possibly more."

"It says that there seems to be a lot of emphasis put on fertility and reproduction in plenty of these rituals and ceremonies, too," Amy murmured, eyes scanning the words onscreen. "It seems like it's a big deal to them, for some reason."

"That's because it is. See, free will is definitely a thing for the Black Arms, but their central leader can unify them all into a hive mind so that they all act toward the same goal simultaneously and relentlessly. But even when the leader isn't doing that, they still operate with a sort of hive mentality by nature. Virtually everything they do is for the benefit of the hive - or, as they sometimes call it, the collective." Tails pulled up another page of notes for her. "When you hunt, you hunt for more than just yourself. When an enemy presents themselves, you fight even if you don't want to because it might save the lives of those around you. Even when you die, you benefit the hive by leaving your body behind to act as food for those too young or whatever else to hunt for themselves. It goes on."

Unsurprisingly, Amy caught on. "And fertility is important because it helps to not only maintain the population, but grow it. And for a race that experiences as many deaths as this one most likely does, the importance of that can't be understated."

Tails nodded. "Right. So, according to what Gerald could gather, individuals who can't carry spawn are ignored during the hive's mating seasons. They aren't 'honored' by being chosen by another individual to receive their blood, I think was how he put it. They don't even get to partake in the non blood-related, erm… activities, either, since other Black Arms will want to focus on others who can bear young."

It took Amy a moment to find the place in Gerald's ancient notes where he had written about this matter. Once she found it, she set about quickly reading. "So more emphasis is put on them to hunt and protect the hive during the mating and spawning seasons, when the rest of the hive is most vulnerable. That makes sense, realistically. I've never noticed any of this affecting Shadow, though."

"Me either," Tails shrugged. "It's entirely possible that it never will. But, then again, there are still a lot of unknowns regarding this half of his heritage. There's no real telling what might one day affect him and what might not. It could be a matter of him simply not being old enough, in their race's terms. It could be that being half Tokarian negates whatever effects he might have otherwise experienced regarding these things. I just have no idea."

"Which is why you've taken an interest in learning," Amy correctly deduced.

"Yeah, pretty much." Tails closed the holographic screen and put his device into sleep mode. "I just wish we could learn more, you know? Doing it indirectly like this has its merits and it's been helpful, don't get me wrong. It's just also a very slow process, and it feels like there's a lot that we're still missing."

Amy thought about all of this for a time. When she spoke up again, she was wearing a bright smile and had a gleam in her eye that he just knew meant she had an idea. "The Black Arms aren't mindless beasts, are they? They're sentient, and usually very intelligent, right?"

Though confused by this change in topic, Tails nodded. "Yeah," he said slowly. "Why?"

"Well," she drew the word out for a beat, still smiling, "what if we ask Shadow to go to the hive himself and ask around or something? He's not totally an outsider, after all, and his dad was their first and only previous leader. My guess is that he'd be safe from any sort of attacks or retaliation or whatever else. And hearing it directly from them, he'll know straight away what's correct, as opposed to being stuck with whatever misconceptions Gerald possibly had."

Already, Tails was thinking hard about this. "He might not be willing to go… not unless we suggest he do it under the pretense that it's for our sake more than his. If we just say, 'hey, go learn about yourself,' he won't exactly jump at the chance."

"But if we say, 'hey, we're still trying to learn more about you and we need help,' he might just be more willing," Amy agreed. "Plus, in talking with them, he might be able to learn what to expect from, erm, 'spawning' if that ever comes up between him and that lovely boyfriend of his."That threw Tails for a loop. "Wait, you see it, too?" he asked quickly. "I thought I was the only one who thinks they might be dating now!"

"Nope," Amy grinned. "Sonic and I are aware, too. He keeps wanting to poke fun at Shadow over it, but he's been laying off for now since it's probably still pretty new for him and Toru. If they really are dating, I doubt they've been doing it for long."

Tails was also smiling now. "I'll go ahead and message those two now, see what they say." No sooner than he'd sent his message out, an alert came in from the wilderness beyond Hyale. Zareil had been spotted and was already being confronted by Rose.

The fight was on.

~保護者~

Rose felt every muscle in her body tense as the axe came down on her sword, the ground buckling underneath her. The axe lifted and came down again before she could move, leaving her unable to do more than block the hit once more. Over and over the axe came down, and over and over Rose blocked the blade with her sword. Then she made her move. As it came down a final time, Rose twisted her blade, ricocheting it away and into the ground all while she leapt up and delivered a swift kick to Zareil's face.

She weaved around the axe, her eyes following every movement. The weapon was deadly, sure, but it could only be so if it landed. So… she avoided it. Never let it come within a few inches of her body. Rose and Zareil were laser-focused, that was until Zareil suddenly swiped out with a hand and managed to grab Rose by the arm.

Rose was slammed viciously into the ground and her vision went dark. When she came to, Zareil was pinned to the ground with Rose's blade against her throat. The cat glanced over her body and realized that she was bloodied already, but she had no recollection of what happened after. Then, she felt like she couldn't move anymore. Her body was launched into the air, but she couldn't do a thing about it. Zareil landed several blows, but Rose couldn't fight back. It wasn't until she hit the ground that she felt like she could move again, pushing herself to stand and raising a hand to catch a fist flying at her.

The cat wasn't coherent anymore, at least, not in the normal sense. Instinct was driving her body and that was what kept her alive. Perfectly placed movements of her arms and body deflected punch after punch and kick after kick. Nothing landed solidly now, even as her eyes closed.

Zareil moved faster than she could comprehend, catching her by the throat and pinning her to the ground. Darkness assaulted her body, but Rose fought back. Light poured out of her body in pulsating waves, rapidly making short work of the energy assailing her body. This was only possible due to Eona's Light, but that didn't matter. She was surviving.

Rose felt herself thrown a distance away, landing on her feet and using her blade to slow her body down so she wouldn't be sent too far. She stood up and wiped blood from under her nose and on her lips, a deep-set frown on her face. Zareil stood with her axe at the ready, more than obviously barely injured. A few marks were present from Light touching her skin, but that was all. Rose had landed so few hits.

"I was hoping you'd be more of a challenge," Zareil commented, appearing in front of Rose and catching her by the stomach with the axe blade. It didn't cleave through her skin, but it did toss her body into the air, where she quickly had to twist to block a second attack. She landed once more on her feet, skidding some distance away.

"You speak as if you have won," Rose spat angrily, tightening her grip around her sword. "Speak triumphantly only when you have slain me."

"And after I've done so, I'll make quick work of that sister of yours," Zareil growled, a wide grin on her face.

Rose stopped there. Time seemed to stop for her for just a moment as everything coalesced. Years of heartache, sorrow, and pain multiplied among themselves and collected within her mind as thoughts shifted to Eila, the sister she had spent her life searching for. Her love for her sister was great, but in this moment, her hatred for those that dared to threaten her life was greater. Her eyes flared, and her nostrils widened. Muscles tensed, and teeth bared.

Zareil didn't even see it coming, the absolutely wild rage-filled punch rocking her vision as her body gouged the earth below her. Rose stood there, seething. Her stance lowered and she stormed over to Zareil, grabbing the demoness before she could recover and bashing the woman's face in with her fist repeatedly. A sickening pleasure built up within the cat as she enacted her revenge, only to throw Zareil deep into the woods around them all while breaking the sound barrier in a moment's notice to make chase.

The two clashed powerfully, Light and Darkness exploding forth and causing the air to seemingly bubble with raw energy erupting at one another. Rose's sword flew quickly, impossible to block for Zareil with her axe. She repeatedly bashed the weapon out of the way, only to cut into the demon's body. Every splatter of blood incited more rage forth from both of them and their fight continued. They took to the skies and more explosions rocked the area. Even as they gave passing attacks, Rose took every chance to make sure her blade dug into Zareil's body until one good hit sent Zareil into the ground. She landed on the ground with every ounce of fury practically on display while her sword cleaved the other's chest.

"I'll bring you down on my own," Rose stated as Light rapidly expanded outward, battering Zareil's body. Fists rained down and destroyed any defense Zareil could muster. The Light suddenly ceased and Rose collected Zareil from the ground before delivering a bone-crunching kick to the chin. In the air, she brought her foot down on Zareil's skull and sent her into the ground.

No amount of Light was calming Rose, and somehow, she'd now convinced herself she didn't want to be calm. Zareil was close to death now, so close that Rose could almost taste it. She stalked forward, only to whip around and slam a fist into Steam's face. The hedgehog didn't flinch, nor did he allow himself to be moved from that spot. "Rose, you need to stop. Nothing about this is okay."

"I am going to bring her end," Rose snapped at him, lashing out with a wave of Light before turning her attention back to Zareil and grabbing her by the throat. "I took my time to make you fall. Now give in."

Before either woman could do anything more, there was a flash of heavenly blue. Jet appeared there and separated them both with a burst of aura. This fight couldn't go on. They had every intention of fighting to the death. No matter who lost and who won, there would be immense consequences… none of them good. "That is enough," he told them, directing his words mostly at Rose. "This ends now."

Rose shifted forward, blade still in hand. "I'm not simply giving up. She intends to kill my sister and I'm not allowing that to happen." The sudden amount of control she had over herself… honestly scared her in some deep recesses of her mind. She'd felt so angry, but a single look at Zareil made her think twice about being concerned with that. "I'm going to kill her. Get out of the way."

"You will not," Jet frowned. Rose's behavior was erratic in a way, and far harsher than he'd ever seen it before. It made his anxiety start to rise up within him, but he took great care not to show it in any capacity. "She is leaving and so are you." Punctuating his words was a second blast of aura, one that not-too-kindly tossed Zareil away from Rose, further separating them.

When Rose attempted to raise a hand to blast Zareil herself, Steam leapt in the way, taking the brunt of the blast and absorbing it within himself. He then launched it aside and gritted his teeth. "Rose, you need to stop. This isn't like you."

So many words flowed through her mind. So many responses, ideas, thoughts… she couldn't comprehend any of it. Her response was entirely driven on instinct. "Make me."

She felt an arm wrap around her and pull her into a hug, the comforting strength of Sein embracing her. "Hey… calm down. It's over," he murmured ever so gently. "Relax."

Seeing that Rose was handled for the moment, Jet walked over to Zareil with his sword in hand. "Leave," he told her quietly. "Return home. You will not serve your god any further if you remain here. I will see to that."

The demoness pushed herself to her feet shakily. "There's something fucking wrong with her. That's a fucking demon," she stated, making sure Rose could hear before teleporting away.

Jet visibly scoffed to himself before sheathing his sword and walking back over. A demon… No. Something else is happening here. What it was, he had no idea. All he knew was that this needed dealing with. Now.

Rose saw Jet approaching again and rapidly pushed away from Sein, staggering backward away from them all. "I need to go. I... I feel unwell."

Rather than arguing, Jet inclined his head. "See Analia if you can," he suggested gently. "She may be able to help." The cat shivered visibly and teleported away, not saying another word. She didn't trust herself to do something like that with them now. More concerned than he was willing to let on, Jet turned his attention to Steam. "I cannot go far from Sonic and Kaden right now. If you can, keep an eye on Rose when she returns."

Rubbing at the vaguely visible wounds left from absorbing an attack of that intensity, Steam nodded. "'Course. Anything else?" Rather than saying anything else, Jet merely shook his head and teleported back to the aforementioned hedgehogs.

~保護者~

The sound of his communicator vibrating woke Shadow from his borderline nightmarish dreams. He awoke laying on his stomach in bed with his arms up on his pillow and the blankets pulled up around him. Which was… odd. The last thing he remembered was laying on his side with a book, sans the blankets. He'd clearly fallen asleep at some point while reading, but he had no memory of it.

Sure enough, sitting up revealed his book laying abandoned on the floor. How had he heard his communicator vibrating but not an entire book slipping off the bed and onto the floor? A bit of internal debate seemed to suggest that it was maybe because of how tired he'd been earlier. Not that he felt very much less tired now, thanks to how terribly he'd slept. But that was just par for the course in his life. Nightmares came virtually every night. He was used to them by now. The flashbacks that were being incorporated into his dreams lately, though… well, he was decidedly less used to those.

Feeling a bit more awake now that he'd gotten himself thinking about things, fully sat up, and stretched, he pushed the blankets aside and retrieved his book. After taking a moment to half-heartedly straighten out a few bent pages, he closed the book and set it on the nightstand. Beside it was his communicator, which he ignored. ...On a physical level, at least.

Leaving his room, he mentally connected to the device while heading to the kitchen in search of a drink. A part of him hoped it was a message from Toru that he would see, as Myriu was being kept on New Babylon - it was by far the safest place for her to be right now, after all - and he'd refused to even consider asking Toru to leave her side. He'd returned home without the man (which reminded him that he did still have to thank Wave for magically restoring the building and its contents for him, even though he hadn't asked her to). Despite having lived alone for the vast majority of his life, being alone here now was somehow… not quite what he wanted. Though he did his best not to linger on that thought.

For better or for worse, it wasn't a message from Toru. Instead, it was a message from Tails. A message that Shadow's initial reaction to was along the lines of "delete and ignore". But he refrained from going through with that little idea… if only because Tails's idea had some merit. Not that that meant he liked it. In fact, he greatly disliked it. He filled up a glass of water and looked the message over once more via his mental link with his communicator. Only then did he notice that the message had been sent to Toru as well.

After taking a small sip, he went ahead and opened a new line of communication (one that Tails wasn't a part of) and sent a message of his own. He usually didn't bother texting or calling anyone, but this time there was decent enough reason to. Though curiosity was the only real reason at play. That is, curiosity about Toru's opinion on this matter. Because Toru's opinion seemed to matter more and more to him as time went on and he'd stopped trying to pretend otherwise by now.

Shadow:

Did you read Tails's message?

Truthfully, he didn't expect a reply right now. It wasn't late or anything, but he knew Toru was busy with Myriu. The chameleon had a lot on his plate and could be more than forgiven for paying no attention whatsoever to his communicator. With that in mind, Shadow closed his mental link and returned to his room with his cup, intending to get some more sleep (for once) if he was able to.

A telltale vibration distracted him from that goal and he mentally connected to the device again immediately.

Toru:

Yeah. Wanted your opinion, since this is a lot about you.

Shadow sent out a quick reply.

Shadow:

I do not typically enjoy going there. It is easier to ignore that those creatures exist when I am not surrounded by them.

Toru:

At the same time, it could be useful. We could learn more about you and how your body works. Might be good for all of us, especially you.

Shadow:

I do not necessarily want to know.

Toru:

Any particular reason why?

It took a moment, but eventually Shadow managed to force himself to type the truth.

Shadow:

I am "strange" enough without adding to it.

Toru:

Alright, so I can't snort at you for that because it's text. I don't think you being "strange" is a problem. This is about understanding yourself and the people who give a shit being able to help you. I for one would like to know what to avoid with your biology and what can be done.

Shadow:

I still do not like the idea of going there again. I am not exactly welcome most of the time, and I do not want to fight anything right now.

Toru:

Aren't you like… their leader or some shit? Couldn't you just demand that they not start a fight with you?

Shadow:

In a manner of speaking, yes. But more technically, I am only recognized as being in charge in my father's stead. Only he is the true leader, and they will never see things otherwise.

Toru:

Fuck them. They're not the concern, honestly. This is about you, so damn whatever they think. If you want to do this, I'll go with you. I can ask someone to watch over Myriu for the time I'm gone.

Shadow:

It is not about what they think, it is about not wanting to fight them. Fighting with one will bring all the others. And you do not have to go. If I must go, I can handle it alone.

Toru:

First, I want to be there for you. Second, you could convince them to not fight, right? You're just there for information if you go, after all.

Shadow:

Perhaps.

Toru:

It's not my decision, but I think this could be a good step. From what I hear, Wery is also working on something special for you. Altogether, it could all be a good thing for you, but as I said. Not my decision.

Shadow:

If you believe it to be a good idea, I will go.

Toru:

Say the word, and I'll be there. I'm in this with you.

Shadow:

Just tell me when you're ready. I'll collect you and use the teleporter to take us there.

Toru:

Let's get going.

~保護者~

Nareish was busy being idle. Observing her quarry through a sphere of magical energy in her palm, she smiled to herself. It won't be too long now. I told you once that your life belongs to me… and I intend to make good on that promise. Watching the person in question as he rested and interacted with his friends, she let out a soft laugh. That you were able to contain Kaden of all people, even if you did need help… Clearly, I underestimated you. Your strength has grown far more than I had believed you had. Yes… you and I will meet very soon.

A knock interrupted her contemplations. Closing her palm, she banished the magical sphere and turned her attention to the door. "Enter," she murmured. As expected, Amani was the one to come into the room. She quickly knelt down, her head bowed respectfully. Nareish looked her over for a long moment before speaking again. "You have news. Is it Zenith already?"

"No, not yet," Amani answered. "I came to speak to you about the Therian woman. We believe we have stolen enough magical energy to perform the necromancy you and I spoke about."

Now that was interesting. "Oh? So soon?" Nareish rested a cheek in her hand. "Has the Hexan been attacked already, then?"

"Just now," was the quick response. "What punishment she recieved is yet to be seen, however."

"And you are confident that there is enough leftover magic for our next little diversion?"

"Yes, my lady. There is ample magic. Enough for several black revivals, if you wish."

Her usual bored smile shifting into a small grin, Nareish replied, "I see… Now, how many would you classify as 'several'?"

"At least three," Amani smiled, finally raising her head. "Given enough time, we'll easily collect enough magic for even more than that. This woman has immense magical capability, so there is plenty to spare."

"I see," Nareish repeated. "Look into the minds of our enemies, then. See what deceased enemies of theirs we can most easily bring back at this time."

"Already done, my lady," was the other woman's response. "It seems we have quite the cast of characters to work with. There are two demonic entities from the days of Amnikaribah's reign by the names of Iblis and Mephiles. They appear to be in some way connected to one another, and entirely destroyed Mobius in some other reality."

"Interesting. What else?"

"Two veritable madmen, a grandfather and a grandson. Both of them, especially the older one, are responsible for the creation of Shadow. They also terrorized Mobius for many years - with the grandfather responsible for the destruction of Mobius's airborne landmass South Island and the grandson responsible for the destruction of the planet as a whole in a separate reality. They utilized technology, such as robots, for their escapades."

That was also interesting, but Nareish was unconvinced that such methods of terror would be effective in this day and age. She resolved to decide for certain later. "Are there others?"

"The being known as Dark Gaia. Do you remember it? It was many eons ago that you helped to unleash that foul beast upon the universe." When Nareish inclined her head, Amani smiled. "It seems that it found its way to Mobius at some point during its reign of terror. Kaden himself fought it once, back when he was still too weak to properly handle such a fight. He was forced to kill himself with his own magic just to seal it away… only for it to later return regardless."

With a slight frown, Nareish asked, "And what of the second time?"

"It arrived shortly after he and his former partner were revived," Amani answered. "As such, they were still ill-equipped to fight it overall. Especially given the fact that it drained energy from those Chaos-bearing jewels."

"Chaos-imbued jewels… the black, empty husks that an ancient Immortal built and sent far away short before I killed her." Nareish closed her eyes. "That woman was a crafty one. Truly, she was more intelligent and far harder to get my hands on that most of the others were. I should have suspected that she built them to house such an energy… what with the birth of a third being of Chaos being such an inevitability. However distant of an inevitability it turned out to be."

Amani murmured some vague agreement before continuing. "There was another creature as well, one that the ancient echidna tribes of Mobius named 'Chaos' due to the destruction it wrought upon their people. It rose up again to face Kaden and those he travelled with, though ultimately he was not the one to fight it head-on. It fueled its strength with those same jewels during its short-lived time on that world."

"I see. There are others as well, yes?"

"Yes. There were the Nocturnians as well, and the Metarex. Aside from that, there was one more somewhat obscure one. It was only an enemy to Shadow and his daughter, for some reason or another."

Nareish opened her eyes again, still frowning. "Explain."

"There are few memories about the creature that I was able to read," Amani admitted. "I know little about the creature overall. It was called 'Black Doom' and was, essentially, Shadow's second father."

Things were quiet for a bit as Nareish pondered over everything. Eventually, when she spoke up again, Amani straightened. "I have decided who you are to revive. However… once they are alive, you are to sever the ties of control. Leave them free to do as they wish. I do not care what their goals are or what they do… only that they will be ample distraction for our little enemies for a time. There is no reason to dictate their actions for them. All I will do is unlock each of their potentials for strength, nothing more. Building upon that boost and gaining further strength in order to survive… that will be on them to accomplish."

"I understand, my lady." Amani bowed her head again briefly and stood up. "Who shall I revive?"

"Mephiles, Iblis, and, perhaps… Black Doom."

~保護者~

6,482 words this time. Hope you all enjoyed. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. Posted (at about 2:05 p.m.) 12-20-20.