Yasuo glared furiously before him. His anger was practically dripping from his body. The other members of the council were whispering amongst themselves, all seated in their raised positions of their crescent balcony that overlooked all of the room, occasionally stealing another glance at the body lying in the middle of the room. The body of Isamu-which, so graciously, Seiri had sent back to them. More of a message than anything.

As Yasuo stared into those dead eyes of the Assassin, he knew he lost. He knew there was nothing more that could be done. Seiri had escaped them. There was no one left who would dare oppose her, and Yasuo feared her too greatly to go after her himself. It was infuriating. It had been his decision to have her killed. The council all agreed with him, but he was the hand that guided the hammer.

Though, it wasn't only Isamu's death that encouraged his fear and frustration with Seiri. He had heard the reports of the demon she had killed in the Hidden Snow Village. He had even gone there himself to see if it was true and had silently watched as both Konohagakure ninja and the villagers of the Snow began repairing the Temple. What was left of it anyway. The damage had been incredibly substantial and Yasuo had gaped at the hoof-like prints that imprinted the ground deeply.

Seiri had killed a demon, a Sovereign, and Yasuo had sent a mere man after her to try and take the red head down.

What the hell was she?

The Judge had read the texts he had forbidden the other members of the Priests, the entire council had. As was their right in accordance with their position. An unfair rule, but no one ever questioned it. Tomes of dead languages, a demon language, an ancient history; texts on the supernatural, the spiritual. There was power there, in that unknown, power that none of the elders wanted any of their Order having access too but them. And even though Seiri thought she had been sneaky about her learnings, the council knew all about them. It was one of the reasons they agreed to have her executed. She had betrayed them by lying and going against orders. Loyal as she had been, her actions were disobedient.

Of course, what was most disconcerting was that one could read all the writings they wanted about the ancient histories, could study them to death, but to actually be able to use them-to utilize and take advantage of the power they offered-was impossible. None of the council knew how Seiri had gained her edge, or how she could so fluently speak that demon language in a way that invoked their authority and capability. Any of the members of the council could read the demon inscriptions, but none could draw out the force behind them. They were just words, as dead as the histories that held them.

And somehow they worked for Seiri.

They couldn't trust her.

"Judge, Yasuo," one of the council members began, leaning forward in his seat, speaking loudly to be heard by all and hushing the room, "what do we do now?"

"What even can we do?!" Another exclaimed. throwing his hands up in exasperation. "That headache of a girl killed the most able members of our group. There are none to match her!"

"Rae betrayed us," one other added, they still didn't know of her real name, "and she'd eluded us thus far but we cannot let those actions go unpunished. What sort of example would that set for the other Priests? For the children?"

"I'm not so certain about all this," a female voice chimed in, the only woman on the council, seated at one end of their rounded balcony. Her voice was rough and shaky in her old age. "Besides seeking out that teacher and learning about ancient texts, she never did anything to specifically betray us. I think we all jumped to conclusions too quickly. Rae had never shown any signs of betrayal."

"That was never the point of our decision, Maira, you know that." Yasuo said, cutting off everyone else who thought to speak. "Rae deliberately disobeyed our orders. It was never a question of how loyal she was at the time. It was always about what she would be capable of in the future. She tried hiding what she was learning from us because she knew it was wrong. Yet she continued anyway. Where would that have led? What trouble would she cause down the road? And as she got older, she got better at keeping secrets. We all stopped hearing about the mischievous things she was doing after a while, but yet there were still times when she was suspiciously missing. Always coming back with the same excuse that she needed time alone to meditate."

"We don't know that she was lying," Maira protested.

"So you trusted her word after all that we learned? Her actions drew a clear line of the path she was following, would any of you have wanted to gamble the chance that we could have been wrong?" Silence filled the room, "Our decision was right, I don't regret it in the slightest. We just couldn't have accounted for how powerful she's become..." The Judge rubbed his temples, waving a hand to one of the young servants the Order had to help maintain the Temple and keep it in pristine condition, beckoning the youth to take Isamu's body away.

"Alright," Maira finally said, "then what's our next move?"

"There is no next move," Yasuo said reluctantly.

"What?!" One of the council members stood up in his shock, "We're just letting her go, after everything?! She's killed so many of the Priests! We still have a vacant spot from Shujin death among our council-"

"And it's been months!" Another interrupted.

Yasuo slammed his hands down against the long, curving wood that served as a sort of table top-jutting out inwardly towards the seats the council occupied-and stood up himself, "AND WHO WOULD FILL HIS PLACE?! Tell me who we could trust out of our Order to sit amongst us?! Who would any of you have take Shujin's place?! As for Rae, shall we send everyone after her? Would you all agree to the slaughter of our numbers just to attempt to have her killed? Who would be left for us to lead? Who would be left to carry out the contracts I bring in for us? We would be ruined, the Priests would have to disband. We would all lose our power! And the people... they would learn the truth of us and hunt us down for the murders we've committed! IS THAT WHAT YOU ALL WANT?"

Silence.

The council member who stood in his shock lowered, deflated, back into his seat.

Yasuo lowered his voice, regaining his composure, "Do you all think I've not thought through this? There is nothing that can be done against Rae. We have lost this battle. I would rather forget about her than risk losing all we have built over these many decades."

"And if she chooses to move against us? It is a fine plan and all to back off, but if she comes after us, what then?"

"Then it will be over," Yasuo sighed, sitting back down, "we can only pray she leaves her past behind her."

The council fidgeted in their seats at the Judge's words, looking to each other with worry and irritation.

"You've grown soft, Judge." One spoke up, at the far end of the table, opposite to Maira. Until now he had remained silent amongst the bickering.

Yasuo met the gaze of the man who chided him, glaring. "Watch your tongue, Caestien."

The younger elder's expression was cold but didn't change at the threat. "If the risks all remain the same, I say we go after her one last time. You say we should pray that she leaves all this behind her, but we all know how Rae is. She'll come for us, she'll want revenge."

The others murmured their agreement and nodded.

"Then it will be on our terms," Yasuo resigned. "We will prepared for an assault here, and wait for her to come to us."

"Agreed," everyone chimed together.