The blood continued to pool on White Cloak's garments. I felt scared. What would happen? Did they finally beat White Cloak's defenses and stopped him from drawing that circle? What was so bad about him and that scroll he was drawing on? So many questions ran about in my mind, and not one of them was close to being answered.

The room was dark and still as always. Tsukansu stayed in his position, ready to shift at any moment. His eyes were wild with readiness. His brown hair fluttered softly at the energy he was giving off. His expression tightened, and his Blue Garments were fluttering just like his hair. It was like gravity was defied on his body. His stare turned neon blue as well. You could sense the great amount of energy surrounding him. He's amazing, I thought with awe, staring at his normal small, brown eyes glow brightly with blue.

Hibiyomi still had his shadow blade struck through White Cloak, who wasn't moving at all. There was total silence and suspense for a long moment. All three of us were waiting to see if White Cloak would fall in despair, or stand in confidence.

Finally, our cloaked guest shifted his feet. I stared harder in fear as he moved his limbs slowly as they returned back to normal speed. It was like he was never stabbed at all. He stumbled on his stance and resumed the drawing of the circles as a white, wispy energy began to surround him. Tsukansu's eyes glowed brighter and his robes and hair fluttered more noisily in reply. He narrowed his glare and clenched his teeth. His eyes threatened the growing white mist, saying "Bring it on."

"Jeremy, stay back. I don't want you getting… hurt. Even worse… dying," Tsukansu told me seriously through clenched teeth, his back turned away from me. I was sure that he was about to let out a load of energy and he was just dying to let it out.

I felt nervous and swallowed hard. Was this fight really that dangerous that Tsukansu needed to call upon this much power? I've never been in a life threatening situation before, I realized. I didn't know what to do. Should I follow Tsukansu's orders? I stared hard and blankly as the ghostly white mist continued to blanket around White Cloak like a protective fog. My sight soon became blocked, which made me more nervous about what was going to happen, and even more indecisive about what I were to do next.

Finally and suddenly, cutting the suspense was the sound of a large explosion. The ear-piercing POOM bounced off the walls and shook the whole hallway. It was the white mist that caused it. It had exploded from where White Cloak was standing and spread throughout the whole place and now was beginning to eat away the space of the room. But what really happened? The mysterious fog flooded from the entrance door. My back was supported by the walls next to it. I felt like it was the only thing that kept me standing. What happened? I wondered. Are Tsukansu and Hibiyomi all right? I took in a deep breath to calm myself down. I'm going in, I decided. I knew I'd be disobeying orders but I had to. I was going to venture into the white mist to find them. To find out what happened. I felt even more tense and nervous, but I just had to find out. I had to be strong this time.

I slowly walked into the room, my sight still covered by the thick, white cloud in the room. I could only see up to such a short distance. I didn't know where I was, despite the fact that it was a small room.

In the fogging air, I saw a strange light. The same kind of light I saw when I was back in the hallway beginning this whole event of my life. The light was being traced like a pencil, making circles and patterns. Then I realized – White Cloak was still making those patterns. Didn't Hibiyomi break the shield? Wouldn't they be stopping the process of the circle-drawing? Does that mean that they've… no. Of course not. Hibiyomi and Tsukansu were two of the greatest and most skilled people in the known world! There's no way they would lose.

I steered my path to the right as I felt my heart rate go off the charts. I felt scared of what could happen to me, but I tried not to think of that. There were more important things in the world than my own health. I took another step when- so suddenly – a huge arm made of shadow protruded from the mist and came racing towards me. I gasped at the sudden sight that took me by my whole body and thrusted me towards the exit of the room. We crashed into the wall opposite of the door. Chunks of plaster and clouds of dust flew everywhere and clouded my vision along with the pouring white mist coming from the room.

The sudden attack knocked the wind out of me. I was forced to breathe in a whole cloud of dust.

The grip of the shadow arm hadn't weakened yet. It covered my torso and most of my legs. To my surprise, this attack was Hibiyomi's specialty. That meant that he was safe. I was thankful for that. But what was the big idea? Why did he bring me out? I felt a whole wave of pain in my body; I wasn't sure if I could move my limbs anymore, causing me to have the inability to think straight.

After the dust cleared and the plaster stopped flying, I looked back into the room. It was still clouded with the white mist, which was still pouring out from the entrance. I was sure that the wall behind me had a huge hole in it. Then I could see something rise from it. A shape. A figure of a person coming towards me. I could only see the silhouette portrayed on the mist, but it soon became clear who it was. Hibiyomi.

The shadow arm was connected to his own, I could see. It was only a transformation of his regular arm. He came closer to me with his narrowed stare and bold gray eyes. I knew this wasn't a thought for the time, but I couldn't help but wonder: were those his real eyes? Or was it just part of his look? If it was a look? I had never seen any other form of Hibiyomi, after all. But it had been clearly notified to me that he was indeed human.

The shadow arm's length grew shorter and the width grew larger as he made more slow, steady steps towards me. He was finally about two feet away from me when he released the hold of the arm. I felt relief and freedom and tried to move my arm, and it turned and operated with success. Then I turned back to Hibiyomi and tried hard to find the friendliness in his eyes. He always had that mean look on, I wasn't even sure if he was going to help me at this point

He leaned over to me and said, "Jeremy-san." His stare was still narrowed as always. I took a big gulp of nervousness because of how near he was to me. He had never been so close.

"Y-Yes?" I managed to choke out in a shaky voice. I was utterly scared now.

"You shouldn't enter. It's best if you stay out of the room. Understand?" he told me clearly and seriously.

"Y-Yes. I understand," I said, still nervous. But for some reason, my heart stopped racing as much. I wondered why but couldn't find out why.

"I want you… to go get Minoa. Alert her of the current situation and tell her we need her help. Then, I want you to go back to the hall where you noticed the large dent in the wall caused by Judgment. Examine it for any clues. Understand?" he said, standing back up on his feet and turning his back to me.

He began to walk away but stopped and turned his head back at me. "Be careful," was all he said. Then he turned and began his pace back into the room. He soon disappeared into the thick mist, leaving me with another task.

I took in another deep breath and swallowed hard again. I stood up carefully, and brushed the dust off my clothes. Okay. The first thing I have to do is tell Minoa to come help them. Piece of cake. I tried to believe in myself and tried telling myself I could do this. I could, really. The Council trained me for five whole years. I can't show them that it's all gone to waste, now can I?

Minoa-sama. Are you there? I soon got a reply from her and told her all about the situation. She'd said she'd be there soon to help them and that I should go on to look for any clues back at the huge dent. I told her I would do so, and she wished me good luck. After our telepathic chat, I ran off back to the hall where I had seen the huge crack and the portal.

As I ran, I began thinking. Why did the Council take me as a trainee? They told me I had special powers of unknown origin. But how? I don't know of any special powers. The only thing I know how to do that others don't is how to communicate telepathically with Minoa. But that's only because she's trained me how to do it, and it would only work with her.

I turned the corner as I had another thought. Did they only take me in because they felt sorry for me? I was just an orphan lost in the middle of nowhere, when one day Minoa found me and befriended me. I had no home, no friends, nothing of my own. It was just me and my shadow all day long. I remember the hotness of the desert I was so lost in. I wondered why my life was the way it was. What was the purpose of me being alone? Who did it help? I never found the answer to these questions. But when I saw that shadow rise above me in the hot desert, looking down to me as I was lying hot and sick on the floor, being carried up and meeting Minoa and the Council, I didn't need the questions. I wasn't alone anymore. It's funny. Was our friendship really based on trust and love? Or was it just because of pity?

I soon came to the huge concave opening in the wall. I felt the ridges of the cracks in it; they were cragged and rough. It was amazing what the Judgment could do. Is that what the Council was trying to tell me, that I had the ability of a very strong power that could also cause this much damage? Was I, too, a demon only destined to serve others like the Judgment? Or are they talking about a different power? Something much more… important?

I took a look at the ground and began examining it. I almost tripped and fell over as I noticed something on the concrete floor. Dents on the surface. Probably not caused by Judgment, though, since if it had touched the ground at all, it would be a dent of much greater diameter. Maybe even bigger than the one on the wall.

I looked across to the other end of the hallway as far as I could see. The all had these small dents in a peculiar pattern until where I thought I saw the portal come from. The pattern of footprints. These must've been, I concluded, the footprints of White Cloak as he tried to escape the Judgment's attacks. But to cause footprints of this depth and size… he must've been a circle-footed sasquatch. Would this be considered a clue? I would have to let that decision be chosen by the Council. I sighed as I began to walk back to the Council room where the other members were waiting. Why weren't they helping, too? I wondered. I would have to go to them to find out. Only three were fighting, after all.

"Point of View Switch"

I took the shortest path I knew to the room. Hibiyomi and Tsukansu needed my help, and I would be there to support them. What Jeremy told me… could White Cloak really be back? I thought he just disappeared for the past five hundred years. But if he's really back… then what? I didn't know. We didn't have people to guard us or to protect us… like last time. But what could he be here for? If it really was the White Cloak we knew back then, and he's in that room… then I knew what I had to do. I had to stop him, at all costs, from releasing the halved ones. If I failed to, who knows what trouble we could be in. I was closing in on the hall where the room was. I could see wisps of white mist surround the whole pathway. I was finally in front of the small entrance to the room. Four people stuffed into this small room? I couldn't imagine the kind of damage that would be done to the room when all our fighting was done. But one thing I couldn't imagine even more… was the thought of who would be leaving this room, and who wouldn't.

I exhaled slowly and relaxed myself as much as I could. I swept back my white-gray hair and fixed my purple and white Council Robes. I got myself prepared and focused for a big fight. The second fight that would be important to me for the rest of my life. I stared blankly into the mist with my empty, white eyes, and raced in with confidence and a clear mind.

My run was stopped short by a shadow arm crossing my path. I huddled to a pause, my long hair and robes swinging forward. I saw that the fight had already begun. And no one was much aware that my presence was in the room. I closed my eyes and focused. I could feel the energy uprising from my body, surrounding the whole room, taking up as much space as it could.

I felt my hair begin to lift and defy gravity, the purple energy surrounding my whole body, which was too, defying gravity at this point. I felt the mist begin to clear around me, being pushed into the corners of the room, allowing full sight to finally come into place.

I reopened my eyelids to see Hibiyomi to the left, and Tsukansu with his own uprising energy a little to the right. And forwardly I saw… White Cloak. His cloak had changed a bit over the years, I see. And he was doing what I had suspected all along. He's going to release the halves from the scroll!

"Minoa, you're here!" Hibiyomi shouted at me. I gave a soft nod to him as I drew myself back down to the floor. He sounded frustrated. An expression I hadn't seen on him for years. He barely even talked. "You've got to help us, he's going to –

"I can perfectly see what he's doing, Hibiyomi," I told him in a serious manner. Why did I feel like I was scolding him? "Now," I turned my attention to Tsukansu. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Tsukansu, but we can do it now."

All I saw Tsukansu do in a replying manner was apply more energy. The air was heavy with it. Blue uprising energy was coming from his position and I could sense that there was about to be a big blow of an attack. "Hurry!" He said through a clenched voice, his lips not moving and his teeth tight with anger. "He's completing the final seal!"

"Right!" I replied, seeing White Cloak draw the last huge circle and start drawing the millions of designs in it. I began to increase my amount of energy as well, and soon the purples of mine and blues of Tsukansu's began mixing together in the air. I clasped my hands together as I took notice that my eyes would seem neon purple from the outside. I felt our energy charging up, and we both knew when it was going to be time to let it all out. I felt panic in my heart but also confidence. I hoped that our attack would reach him before he finished the seal. Our energy began to pour out of our bodies like raging fires. The long forgotten books of this dusty, small library began to float in the air, the bookshelves breaking to pieces slowly and floating in the air. Dark Blues and Blinking purples soon surrounded us in a shell of energy. Now! I thought, putting my energy into an attack right after Tsukansu.

We shouted in unison: "The Mindless Waters: Seacoast Crash!!!"

At that exact moment, our energy poured out even more, the air became as heavy as ever, pieces of the floor and walls were rising in the air. We molded our energy together, and in a matter of seconds we let out the biggest, largest, most enormous raging wave of water that could've been larger than the whole room I had ever seen before. It was outlined with a purple streak, a side effect of my strongest telekinesis on it. The wave itself was so strong in it's kinetic energy all ready, that I had to focus a lot more than usual to control it. At that same moment, White Cloak finished the last Circled Seal. He crashed his palm into the scroll, and as the waves crashed closer, the scroll was pushed back, and twelve racing orbs flew out of the scroll like bullets from a gun and began to swim in the air like drunken butterflies.

Then, White Cloak jumped towards the back wall, and Hibiyomi hid himself in the shadows to protect himself. White Cloak tried to dodge the crashing of the water by jumping the highest he could, but he failed. The water consumed him in a tsunami of angry, crazy waters. The pressure of the water was increased to a level so high by my telekinesis I bet it made a bigger hole than the Judgment did on the wall. This room could probably even be all torn up after this, too.

I controlled the water the best I could to keep it crashing into where White Cloak was underwater, but when the water finally cleared and our attack was over, we couldn't find the presence of White Cloak anywhere. Hibiyomi came out of the shadows unsurprised of the attack we just made, looking not at all amazed saying, "He got away…"

Tsukansu tightened his fist, and I suddenly had a feeling of nervousness, fear, and depression all together that would stay with me for the rest of my life, I knew. From now on, I knew that I had to live with the fact, that I failed my purpose in life, and let the path of the end of the world re-open.