Author's note: Moar developments! As usual, I don't own anything from Tsukihime.


Len? You talked! Were you ever capable of speech? I asked Len.

She tilted her head to one side and replied, I was bound not to speak until the proper time has come, and now it has, Master. It is time to return you your memories of the dreams you had. I'd advise you to sit down.

I breathed deeply and told Ciel and Merem, "I'll pass out suddenly, but it's all fine. I'll recover soon enough."

Merem demanded puzzledly, "Explain yourself. I swear I'll leave you here if you don't-"

Let us begin, Master.

Darkness wrapped itself in my sight, and everything went blank.


"Master, where are we going?" I (or at least, the Len in which I was possessing) said.

A red-haired woman wearing glasses and carrying a suitcase replied, "Ask the Princess over there. I'm just a sidekick." She took a quick puff on the cigarette she had between her lips.

I turned to see a beautiful woman sporting short blonde hair. Arcueid..? It is her!

I desperately tried to move or even speak to her, but the body did not belong to me. I suppressed the desperation within me and forced myself to watch on.

Arcueid said, "Our target today is a sorceror. Einnashe, I think. That famous one who went berserk after trying to hypnotize himself."

The woman replied, "And you think he's in this... jungle?"

Arcueid said, "Ye-" She paused and looked around ferally, as though having picked up a scent. "This way!" she said, and bounded off among the trees.

"Tch. What a pain to run in these heels." She opened the suitcase and a large wooden puppet of a wolf leapt out. She climbed on and pulled me up behind her. The wolf took off, chasing after Arcueid.

When we finally caught sight of her, it was with a hooded man. She was staring oddly at him, while he was saying something. She snarled in fury and lost control. Her eyes turned golden and a quick strike with her claw was all it took to rip the man apart.

"What, that's it?" Len's Master said uninterestedly. "I didn't even need to be here after all."

Arcueid took a single glance at the body and turned her back on it. I wondered, what was it he said to get her so mad?

The world darkened, and I realised that the memory was finished.

Len appeared and said, "That's the brief encounter I had with Einnashe. According to what I heard later, his blood was absorbed by the tree's roots and as a result, it gained supernatural powers akin to those of a vampire and eventually grew to its present size. That's how the Ancestor Einnashe came about."

I asked Len, "But why then keep this memory from me? Why didn't you say anything until now?"

Len replied, "It was the will of Master Arcueid. After she returned to the Millenium Castle, she told me to come to you and tell you about Einnashe when she requires you to fulfill your promise."

Those words rang a bell. "I remember now. I remember everything now." I tried to piece everything together. "I need to go to Arcueid. She told me she is in danger."

Len replied, "But do you know where the Millenium Castle is?"

That's right, I don't. Len expected my reaction and continued, "However, Einnashe does. Which is why Arcueid sent me to you."

"So I have to force it out of him? That's fine. But tell me, is she okay?" I asked, concerned.

"I do not know. I have not seen her since I was sent to you. Now wake up, and get ready. Night is about to fall." The last thing I heard was a the sound of a bell.


I got up. Ciel was lying on the other bed, waiting patiently. Upon getting up, she said, "Ah, Tohno-kun."

Merem who was sitting at a desk at the side of the hotel room, commented irritably, "So, had a nice nap?"

I replied, "Yeah, it gave me some answers."

Merem asked despite himself, "Like what?"

I explained everything.

I then turned to face Ciel, "I know where Arcueid is."

Merem interrupted, "So do I, but what does that have to do with our current objective?"

"Wait," I said. "You do?"

Merem looked confusedly at Ciel and said, "She resides in the Millenium Castle. All descendants of the Crimson Moon lives there. I thought that was common knowledge."

I asked hurriedly, "What else do you know about her?"

He answered slowly, "Well, there was this group of Ancestors who were plotting to raid the Castle and kill her, but..."

Ciel responded, "Tohno-kun, no one but Arcueid should know the location of the Millenium Castle, so that is just a rumor. You shouldn't get so worked up."

I saw red. "Well, guess what? Einnashe does, and he's an Ancestor! So what does this mean?"

Merem was visibly shocked. It took a mere second for him to regain his calm and he said, "It means we act, tonight. I will not allow anything to befall my benefactor."


We returned to the alley. The seed was almost fully red now. While we waited for the materialization, Ciel asked me, "Tohno-kun, I noticed something. Earlier in the day, when you cut the seed, did you just use the line in which the colors coincided or did you use your Eyes?"

I kept silent for awhile, then with my glasses on, I picked up a brick and stabbed a dot with my finger. It crumbled.

Ciel said, "I was afraid of this. Your Eyes have almost matured. They are too powerful for your glasses to contain now. In fact, no other medium can contain it besides one: holy burial cloth. But it is opaque, so..."

"So I'll be blind either way? I suppose I might as well let nature take its course," I said, smiling.

Ciel replied, "I understand." She said nothing else.

"Don't let your guard down," Merem warned. "It has begun."

With that, the seed glowed a powerful crimson, and it intensified to the point that I was forced to keep my eyes closed.

The light vanished almost instantaenously. I looked around after my eyes adapted to the change in brightness. Ciel gasped, "This is it... The Forest of Einnashe."

Countless trees surrounded us. We seemed to be deep in the heart of the woods. "Escape seems impossible, then," I suggested.

"That's right. This Forest spreads to twenty-five kilometers in radius," Ciel informed.

"They're coming," Merem said. A countless number of vines shot out towards the three of us. I cut those aiming for me down and tried to help Merem as much as possible.

Merem laughed and said, "I don't need help, Nanaya-kun. Help Sempai instead, it seems she's having trouble." Merem said that while deflecting the vines swiftly with his cloak.

Ciel fought hard with her Black Keys, but she weren't able to manipulate them with her usual ease. "Why won't they respond? I can't use them for anything except for physical attacks."

Merem shouted while defending himself, "They absorb energy from their surroundings! That includes the energy in your bodies! Your high magic capacity will be disadvantageous in this situation!"

Ciel grunted with exertion as she cut down vines with her now heavy swords. I beckoned to Ciel and said, "Stay behind me. I'll my best to protect you."

Merem called, "Rather, we won't last long like this. Ciel, we need you to trace the source of this Forest. Nanaya-kun should have no trouble destroying it, since his eyes don't require many Magic Circuits."

Ciel nodded quickly. Darting off at a surprising speed, she trailed the scent of Magic, pausing every now and then to confirm her bearings. The Forest's attempts to take our lives grew far more violent as we progressed, and we knew we were getting close.

"Oi, oi, this actually stings quite a bit," Merem commented after a renegade vine whipped his right leg. "Now he's angry."

He snapped his fingers, and a giant whale with legs spanning around twenty metres materialized. Merem asked, "How's that? Impressive, eh?"

I asked breathlessly, "How did you do that in this Magic suppressed condition?"

Merem pondered while ordering the whale to trample a path through the Forest, "Well, since the Forest sucks Magic at a constant rate, obviously I just have to produce Magic faster than that, right?"

He said it as though it meant nothing to him. This Merem was more powerful than I thought.

Ciel suddenly exclaimed, "Got it!" She ducked her way underneath the giant whale and dived into a clearing.

As we followed in, Merem observed his whale being engulfed in millions of vines. He smirked and said, "Well, guess he wasn't powerful enough." He dematerialized the whale.

I wiped my forehead which was drenched in sweat. "It seems they can't follow us in here."

I noticed that Ciel had been staring at something for some time. There was a red fruit hanging in the air in the center of the clearing, and an old man was standing underneath.

I recognized the old man. "Einnashe?" I called.

The old man did not respond. I reached out to nudge him, amidst disapproval from Ciel. As soon as I made contact, a voice boomed into my mind.

"I see you have come, Nanaya Shiki. I am Einnashe, former Guardian of the Crimson Moon."

"Guardian? What's that? And how do you know my name?"

"I have some explaining to do indeed. You see, Arcuied Brunestud's ancestor is called the Crimson Moon. I am his protector. After he perished, my charge automatically changed to the new owner of the Millenium Castle."

"Arcueid."

"Yes, that is correct."

"So why did she kill you?"

"Ah, so you know about that. Impressive, indeed. She killed me so that I would spawn the Fruit of Eternity for the next Guardian."

"And how does that make sense?"

"I was an ordinary man, ignoring the fact that I had incredible hypnosis powers, of course." He chuckled. "I wanted to become more. I wanted to be able to do more, so I asked an Ancestor to bite me. He did, and well, that's why a lot of people suddenly thought I became berserk. I became a dangerous man. Arcueid had to hunt me down since that was her duty after all, but she killed me in the forest on purpose such that I could live on as an Ancestor. I didn't like it one bit. All the killings just weren't my style. So I infiltrated your dreams. You know that man in the black cloak? That's me."

My eyebrows twitched in annoyance. He seemed like he didn't really care about having killed so many people. Do you? A voice in my mind jeered. My head pounded suddenly. Why is he trying to get out now?

"Well, so here we are. You have to kill me and eat the fruit that will grant you immortality. Then you have to become the next eternal Guardian for Arcueid Brunestud.

Now go back, and defeat me. I'm afraid my sanity isn't what it used-"

He fell silent. I was suddenly shoved back to the physical world mentally.

I looked around. It seemed as though no time had passed at all since the conversation. Remembering Einnashe's last words, I warned the others while drawing my knife, "Get ready. Einnashe is about to go wild."


End notes: Finally, some action is going to come! My first time writing action, hope it won't turn out bad. Also, the true birth of Satsujinki comes next chapter as well! R&R please, the lack of reviews is really demoralizing. :(