Author's Notes:

It's good to hear from you again, Kotano-chan! Trust me, I know how easy it is to get bogged down with life stuff. Don't worry about it. You can leave a review whenever you have the time. I'm glad to know you're still enjoying the story, so thanks for reading!

Chapter 78: The Morning Star

Saito sat alone in a bath tub in he and Louise's palace. It was the first time since he had come back from his trip to Japan with his wife that he had the chance to relax.

Although at the moment he was relaxed, he knew he would soon have to leave to warn the world's leaders about the threat to Halkeginia.

On top of that, he would have to attempt to release Lífþrasir's brothers. He knew that Gandalfr was already in combat with Brimir, or so he was told, so he was having a hard time resting.

Still, before all of that, something more important to the group had to happen. He got dressed in clean clothes and quickly made his way outside to the palace grounds.

Everyone else was already gathered there, surrounding a rectangular stone box. Inside was the the body of Aigle which Sasha had spent the past several hours dressing and cleaning since their arrival back in Halkeginia. Sasha has dressed her in a long white dress and braided her blonde hair. She then put her hands on one another and placed her circular glasses on her chest. She was laid in a soft white sand in her casket, making her look very peaceful.

Once he arrived, everyone surrounded the coffin in a neat circle. Sasha then used a small sharp knife to slit her hand, then let some of her blood drip onto the sand in the coffin. Everyone there repeated the process, as it was a tradition that Elves and the other races practiced for those who died in a heroic manner.

They all then lifted the coffin and walked towards a small marble "house" that Sasha had made to store the coffin. It was surrounded by a colorful garden filled with vibrant flowers and trees that bore healthy fruit. The open coffin was rested a marble pedestal. When it was secure, everyone exited the building.

Mariel then placed a spell on the area, ensuring that it would remain preserved. Once all of this was done, everyone remained outside silently for a short while before walking back to the palace.

Once inside, Sasha chose to sit alone, although Mariel and Max followed her to comfort her. They left Saito, Shion, Louise, and Alex alone to talk to each other.

"I'm sorry." Louise finally said.

"It's not your fault." Shion replied, although she was filled with grief. "She wanted to give her life to save not just yours, but everyone else's."

"Yeah, she wouldn't want you to feel guilty." Alex said, looking at the white prosthetic that the fairy had given him, also feeling immense sorrow.

"It wouldn't have happened if I were stronger." She said, still blaming herself.

"You're the strongest of us four." Saito said. "There was nothing more you could have done."

"What should we do now?" Shion asked.

"We have to go to Germania." Saito said. "Maybe if we can destroy what we saw there, this will end."

"We should leave as soon as possible." Alex said.

"Some of your bones are still broken." Louise said. "Are you sure it's okay?"

"I'm fine." Alex replied. "It's not like we'll be fighting."

"Sasha, Mother, and Father are all hurt from Ms. Aigle." Shion said. "Perhaps we should do this alone."

"We should tell them we're leaving at the very least." Saito said.

They all agreed and decided to leave that night. They spent the rest of their day doing their best to lift their spirits. They reminded themselves of when they first met and joked about each others personalities.

For a good amount of time until they'd have to leave, they managed to cheer themselves up for the most part, although in the back of their minds, they were worried about what they might.

When it was already rather far past midnight, after resetting some of Alex's bones, they walked to the balcony that the adults had gone to. Max sat on the guard rail of the balcony, letting the sea breeze blow through his hair. Sasha was fast asleep in her sister's arms.

She had clearly been sobbing, but at the moment at least, her dreams appeared to be nice ones. She was wearing a slight smile and her face lacked it's usual expression of depression or boredom. She looked happy.

"What's the matter?" Max asked quietly when he noticed the four, not wanting to wake Sasha.

"We're going to go to Germania." Louise whispered.

"Just you four? I refuse." Max said.

"Father, I can care for myself." Alex said. "Besides, we won't even be fighting."

"Yeah. And you three just lost a close friend." Saito said. "Sasha especially. She needs time to get herself together."

Max was about to argue, but Sasha began to stir from her sensitive ears picking up the noise being made. With everyone quiet for a few seconds, she became motionless again.

"If you are sure you'll be safe, you may go." Mariel whispered as she softly stroked her sister's cheek.

"But Mariel-" Max began.

"Maxi, they are right." She said. "Little sister is in no condition to be fighting. When she wakes up, she will need me. She needs time."

"I suppose I can't leave you alone." He conceded, rather unhappily, after a minute of internal debate.

"Thank you." Shion said.

Alex gave both of his parents hugs, enjoying the feeling of having both his mother and his father with him, then let go. Shion, too, gave them hugs since they were the closest thing to parents that she recognized.

When they all said their goodbyes, the four left the palace. They stopped by Aigle's grave, praying for her to watch over them. Louise, still feeling weak after her previous battle, took a few minutes to gather enough strength to open a world door.

When they stepped through it, they found themselves in dense woods, obscuring their view of the city. They quickly and silently made their way into the city, using the rooftops to go to the palace at the city's center.

When they arrived inside the palace, everything seemed rather quiet. Choosing to ignore this, they started making their way towards Albrecht's former office, where the door to the hidden rooms lay.

"Is it always this quiet?" Alex asked.

"No." Louise said. "We should have seen somebody by now."

"Maybe they're all asleep?" Saito guessed as they walked down the hidden staircase.

"Unlikely." Shion said. "There should ways be at least a few guards monitering this place."

"Saito, ths kids..." Louise began.

"Those two dragons remained here to protect them." He said after they reaches the bottom of the staircase. "Even if something happened, they wouldn't let harm come to them."

As they walked towards the door that contained the skeleton that Louise and Saito had seen before, Saito felt that something was strange.

When they got closer, the lighting coming from Saito's tail shone on the ominous sight in front of them. The door to the room had been opened somehow. More importantly, however, there was a large pool of blood on the floor.

And worse still, the dusty, splintered, wooden coffin inside lacked a skeleton. The sight sent chills down their backs, so they immediately ran upstairs to collect their thoughts.

As they caught their breath, they heard footsteps coming from the hallway outside. Alex poked his head out of the doorway to see who it was.

What he saw was several winged, decrepit, rotting, decomposed looking humanoid creatures. In front of them was an Angel who looked identical to the one who had attacked them before. He seemed to be in command of the rotting creatures.

They were carrying what looked liked a large glass tube with a body inside. The body seemed to lack skin and chunks of flesh. Its bones were even exposed in some places. The creatures walked onto a balcony and flew into the night sky and out of sight. Alex quietly stepped back into Albrecht's office, where his friends were waiting for his report.

"It's that winged guy again." He whispered.

"Is it worth fighting him?" Louise asked.

"We don't know how strong he is. It's too risky." Shion said. "Besides, we assured the others that we wouldn't be in any danger."

"But what about the kids and Augusta?" Louise said. "We don't know if they're okay."

"I agree with Louise." Saito said, although he was speaking more from being a worried father than from common sense.

"I know you two are worried, but we can't afford to fight now anyway." Shion said. "I am the only one that Lífþrasir managed to heal before returning us to Japan. Even if I wasn't, that man is capable of flight, which means we are simply not equipped to fight him."

"You are also capable of flight though." Louise said. "And you have your eyes."

"I am not used to either of those things yet." She replied. "Saito and Alex lack long range attacks that could assist me in a battle in the air. You are the only one capable of that, but you are not well enough to help after our last battle. None of you are."

"But-" Alex began before she cut him off.

"No buts." She said very sternly. "It's safe to assume that man is Lucifer, the prince that Lífþrasir warned us about. If he is, then a one on one fight is out of the question."

"I guess you're right..." Saito conceded. "We need to leave before we're found. Louise, make a world door for us."

"I need a second to rest." She said.

Saito saw that she was very pale and looked quite weak, most likely from the amount of energy she had used in their fight against the great serpent Lífþrasir only a few hours earlier.

"Damn it." Alex said to himself. "We can't stay in here though."

He poked his head out of the door again to check if the coast was clear. The winged man, Lucifer, was nowhere to be found, so Alex signaled for his friends to follow him.

They quietly snuck through the palace hallways, making their way towards the main entrance. When they got outside, they quickly jumped on rooftops to make their way out of the city and into the surrounding woods.

When they felt they were far enough away, they stopped to allow Louise to rest. She was not the only one who needed it, too. Both Alex and Saito still had internal wounds that needed to heal, so they were very relieved when they got the chance to relax.

As they were resting, Saito looked back at the sprawling city they had left. He wanted to make sure they weren't in danger, so he activated his eyes, allowing him to see the magic that dwelled within everyone.

"How do things look?" Alex asked as Shion gave him a massage.

"I don't see anything out of the ordinary." Saito said.

However, that was exactly what worried him the most. Surely someone as strong as the winged man was would be blatantly visible to Saito. The magic a man such as him contains should stick out like a sore thumb among that of the weak people in the city.

Remembering that their potential opponent could fly, he looked directly above them. There in the sky, just as he had predicted, was the large orb of magic he had expected to see in the city.

Saito barely had time to get himself and his friends behind cover before a powerful gust of wind slammed against the ground, flattening the surrounding trees.

They were each knocked quite a distance away from each other, such was the force from the blast of wind thag came over them.

"We have to get out of here!" Saito exclaimed.

"Louise is not ready!" Shion replied.

"Damn it!" Saito said to himself as they looked up at their opponent.

For a few seconds there was silence, but then Lucifer seemed to make a long silver scythe appear from apparently nothing. However, he did not attack the group yet.

He lifted the scythe into the air, holding it directly above his head. He started to utter a few words, but he was too high in the sky for anyone to hear them.

After a few moments, as dawn began to break and an orange streak of sunlight was on the horizon, the blade on his scythe began to shine. Expecting an attack, Shion activated her eye, making the magenta colored skeletal avatar appear around her.

Just as it had manifested itself, the shining on the blade's scythe turned into a bright light that bathed the landscape. The light became more and more intense for several seconds before finally, it went away.

When it was gone, Shion made the avatar disappear. When she turned her head to address her friends, she saw that they were on the ground, blinded by the light.

Quickly realizing that she had no choice but to fight, the wings on Shion's back, which always seemed to magically shrink when not in use, spread themselves wide. Their metallic looking feathers twinkled as the light from the stars landed on them.

She took a deep breath and looked back to her opponent, who had, in the blink of an eye, had landed on the ground. With sword in hand, she slowly stepped towards her opponent, knowing that the lives of her friends and herself rested in her hands.