'It's only a matter of time, you know...'

He could hear the deep voice echoing in his mind. He groaned and rolled over, trying to sleep. 'Not tonight. Just give me this one peaceful night...'

The thundering voice paid his silent plea no heed. After a deep-throated laugh of pure, sadistic amusement, the voice called to him again. 'With every passing second, the Argetlahm's protection fades, and I will become you.' The voice paused for a second. 'I wonder how it will feel to tear the hearts out of the quivering bodies of your friends.'

Ashley bristled and his anger grew. But as the fury increased inside of him, the paralyzing fear increased by ten-fold.

The voice knew this.

Ashley took a deep breath. 'There's no way I'll let that happen. Never.'

'Really?' His words crackled with amusement. 'What chance does the soul of a lowly human have against the legendary Blaze of Disaster? What makes you think you could succeed when the Sword Magess failed?'

'The Sword Magess didn't fail! She stopped you, didn't she?'

Lord Blazer let out a laugh of contempt. 'You humans truly are pitiful. That so called hero of yours… your symbol of hope for the future only managed to seal me away. But here I am again, and the Sword Magess is nowhere to be found.'

Ashley threw the blankets aside and began to ignore Lord Blazer's overly dramatic proclamations. His annoyance was beginning to overlap the fear he felt, and that feeling was quite liberating. He threw on his usual jeans and shirt, unsure of what he was going to do or where he was going.

As carefully as he tried to open the door, it still creaked horribly, and Ashley nearly jumped out of his skin. He grimaced as he tried to move the door in such a way so it wouldn't creak back to its former position, but to no avail. Ashley got another taste of the creaking lightning. He sighed as he turned around and saw the ladder leading to the roof of the bakery. Ashley wasn't sure why he had a sudden impulse to climb to the roof, but as long as he was making that decision, it didn't matter.

He stared up at the sky and its glittering stars, but really he was staring a hole through it. The black sky didn't really register in his brain. Lord Blazer was getting irritated with him now, and he started to scream and throw a tantrum inside his head, which was starting to give Ashley a headache.

'Oh, just shut up, why don't you,' Ashley thought, with an irritated look on his face. 'I've had enough for one day.'

Lord Blazer's voice became eerily calm. 'I see that you still don't understand. Allow me to educate you.'

Without warning, Ashley's right hand suddenly balled into a fist and his arm suddenly lifted from his side. His arm stopped when it was outstretched in front of him. Ashley hadn't moved. He tried to move his arm, but he couldn't; his arms simply quaked in the air from his own effort.

'Unfortunately for you, human, the Argetlahm is not sentient. So while it may temporarily protect you, it can't stop me from controlling your body. I must admit, my powers equate to much more than this, but that blasted sword makes things somewhat difficult.'

Ashley's legs suddenly bent and he unwillingly sprang to his feet. 'Stop it! I'm not your puppet!'

'Not entirely, no.' Lord Blazer made Ashley walk to the edge of the rooftop and stand there as if the edge was a thin tightrope.

Ashley was shaking all over from his struggling, and beads of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead. He couldn't move; he was ensnared in Lord Blazer's trap. He slowly swayed from side to side, but his balance would shift as soon as it felt like he was about to fall. Suddenly, Ashley was turned swiftly on his heel and Lord Blazer let him go. Ashley fell to his hands and knees. He swallowed gulps of air to calm himself down; he hadn't realized how unnerving it was to lose control of your own body.

This was whom he was dealing with. Not the annoyingly dramatic demon he thought he knew, but one who really didn't give a damn as long as he knew things were going his way. Knowing that he couldn't let this go by without a fight was all well and good; the problem was that Ashley didn't know what to do. He had been told that the demon and the Guardian Blade had a very unstable balance within him, so he didn't worry too much about it. Now that he thought about it, maybe it was more like a compromise instead of a balance.

Would he have to count on Kanon to keep her promise after all? He had made that promise hoping that it would never have to be fulfilled. He thought he'd have more answers by now, or maybe even more control, yet he hadn't made any progress. To be fair, he really hadn't been looking for solutions to his problems, since he had been so preoccupied with Odessa so far.

He tried his best not to think and let his mind go blank so Lord Blazer wouldn't know he was afraid. Ashley stared at the night sky again before he went back to his room and battled with his insomnia some more before he finally fell asleep.

---

"Ashley? Is there something wrong?" Marina said with a concerned look on her face.

He hesitated before answering. "No, I'm fine. I just didn't sleep very well, that's all." Ashley said his goodbyes and walked about the door before she could say anything else.

He could hear Lord Blazer laughing at him the entire way.