It was night in Doryou when its men were idly patrolling around the Shadow Kingdom. The Shadow Lord, Mizuki Hajime, was walking down the corridor that reached the back of his castle when he spotted Yuuta, sitting under a tree looking dazed, from a window.

He stopped in his track and called out to the man who walked behind him. "Did you see any difference about him after the mission?"

"Yuuta-san?" The knight followed Mizuki's gaze to confirm who it was they were talking about. "Ah, yes. He hasn't been by himself lately, seemingly like he doesn't want to talk to anyone. He always took off by himself after meals without saying anything much. Other than that, I don't know much."

"Is that so?" Mizuki said pensively. "Did anything happen during the mission?"

The man thought for awhile before spoke up. "Ah yes, now that I thought about it."

"Well? What is it?" A slight impatient tenor coated Mizuki's tone.

"Yuuta was almost killed by the Southern Lord." The man began explaining.

"But what happened?" Mizuki's eyes narrowed.

"The Peacean Sage saved him. I think he was shocked, frozen in place, because if we didn't drag him along, he would've been caught."

"And that shocked him so much? Why?" Mizuki's voice turned icy.

"I don't know the answer to that." The man was slightly taken back as he knew his answer would somehow aggravate the Shadow Lord more.

As expected, Mizuki flared a berserk look at the man. "Did the Sage say anything to him?" His tone created a deep solid sound.

"Just…Sasuke." The man cringed to remember what was said.

"Sasuke?" Mizuki moved his vision back to the unmoving Yuuta.

"My Lord?" The man called Mizuki back to attention. "The Queen?" He reminded Mizuki of his business with the Queen that night.

"Hn. Let's go."

Yuuta sat on the grass, looking up at the night stars in the sky. He felt left out and like a stranger in this world, not knowing his true identity. He didn't remember much of his childhood. All he remembered was the time Mizuki's dad brought him to Doryou Kingdom, and there he grew up with Mizuki as childhood friends, who was only a year older than Yuuta.

"Who am I?" Yuuta whispered silently through the zephyr, his eyes longing for the truth of who he was.

o0o0o0o0o

The sun wasn't up yet when Fuji was widely awake. He had only been sleeping for less than 3 hours, not because he was nervous about their rescue mission, but because of the fear facing his brother, his long lost little brother. Fuji feared that he'd be fighting against Sasuke, or worst, he'd hate Fuji as an enemy.

Fuji blinked tiredly a couple of times before he proceeded to sit up on his bed. Groggily, he stood up and walked over to the water bowl beside the window which he always used to wash his face. The weather was awfully absurd at the Kingdom of Hyoseirokkai: the morning is awfully chilly until the sun rises which warmed the day, and when the sun goes down, the temperature dropped a little that was decent to Fuji. He hated the cold and didn't plan on using the cold water from the faucet outside in the courtyard, next to his room. His room was quite warm, thanks to the fire heater.

After drying his face with the towel hung on the rack, Fuji changed into more fitting attire that made it easier for him to maneuver in battles. Hearing a faint knock on his door, he hurriedly tightened the belt around his waist and opened the door. He was greeted with a cheery face of his hyper comrade.

"Fuji." Eiji greeted in a whisper. Strange that he wasn't as excited like every morning.

"Good morning, everyone." Fuji said is his usual tone, not too soft but not loud, just enough to hear.

Everyone bowed reverentially to their respected Sage.

"I supposed you're all ready." Everyone nodded.

"Should we head to the front gate or to the West Side?" Sanada asked in his usual monotonous voice, but in a serious manner. But wait, when was he never serious?

"The front gate. I told Tezuka-san and Yukimura-san to meet there." Fuji confirmed. "Let's go." He led the way and everyone else followed closed behind. They jumped on the rooftops and made their way toward the front gate quietly, hoping from roof to roof without making any unnecessary sounds.

Surprisingly when they got to the front gate, the Hyoseirokkai's aiding force were already waiting for them promptly and fully.

Fuji approached Tezuka and Yukimura, nodding slightly to show deference, and both Lords did the same in return.

"Thank you for being here right now," Fuji addressed to everyone. "I'm sure no one wants to be up this early from someone else's cause."

"Fuji-san, please don't speak so modestly. We are here on our own free-will." Oishi, being as thoughtful and caring as always, reassured Fuji.

"Thank you." Fuji smiled meekly, slight pink tinted his cheek, but the light of dawn was able to conceal his blushes.

"So, how is this going to work?" Yukimura asked, considering their situation ahead.

"There is really no plan." Seeing their confused faces, Fuji quickly added. "I mean, we are going to penetrate Doryou, of course, when the sun first glows from the horizon. That's when Doryou's men are most chaotic in a day, preparing to face the day's light. Although I don't know the blueprint of Doryou's Kingdom, I can try to pick up signals from my Queen and then I'll know where to go."

The Southern Star and Western Moon warriors shook their heads up and down in understanding. Fuji smiled. He looked up toward the east horizon. "The time will be right by the time we get there." His smile unfazed, calm and collected.

In a blink of an eye, the front gate was still with nature's sound and no hint of men's gathering a moment ago.

Their horses galloped across the terrain that lie in between both Kingdoms of Hyoseirokkai and Doryou. Hyoseirokkai situated in open land, 3 miles away from a body of water while Doryou rooted under a mountain, covered by forests on 2 sides.

The east horizon glowed pinkly by the time they reached the border of Doryou that was bounded by stone hedges that rose as tall as 7 feet, secure with a big stone gate in the middle from both corners whose sides are barricaded by the forests.

They got off their horses and tied them to the trees in the forest where they finalized that it'd be safe from Doryou's men capture and discovery.

Silently and swiftly, the 14 warriors moved along the stone hedge in a single file. As soon as the sun emerged from the horizon, they leaped over the stone hedge all together, soaring above Doryou, shadow warriors scurrying beneath. Spears and sharp objects were thrown at them mercilessly from below. They dodged them all, but when there was too much thrown at once, they countered with their elemental attacks. It was proven true; the Shadow warriors were as chaotic as an erupting volcano.

Passing the castle that located in the middle of the Kingdom, Fuji used his acute eyesight to discern a suspicious stone vault hidden behind a big vine shrub. He signaled the others toward the vault and they all landed on a clearing not too far from it.

As soon as they landed, half of their present enemies rushed toward them in dark hooded cloaks covering their whole figure. Hands wore black gloves. The other half concealed themselves in the shadows, sneakily attacking Fuji's force with long distance shadow attacks. The total head counts of their enemies could range from 80 to 100. Everyone was on his own; none used their specials for it'd injured their own party within the proximal distance.

"Eiji, stay with Fuji!" Shiraishi commanded. They were spread apart, each fighting to defend themselves. Fuji was the only one in defense mode, warding off the shadow attacks with fire while the others killed without thinking twice.

Hearing this, Eiji unquestionably abandoned his opponents. He fought through his enemies to make his way toward Fuji.

As soon as they defeated a massive number of their enemies, they all joined up to surround Fuji and the 2 Lords who stood in the middle to contemplate their next move.

It wasn't long before they heard a yell and suddenly their enemies doubled.

Fuji looked sharply through the vine shrubs to see a stone-sealed entrance to the vault that he saw from the sky. "We need to get to the vault. I can sense a speck magic seeping from there." His eyes shown with an incisive intensity, determined and strong.

Keeping their stances, they looked around themselves to see the shadow warriors had encircled their little force. They stood still, waiting for strict orders from anyone of the commanders stood in the middle.

A man wearing more complex clothing moved forward from the swarm. He raised a sharp staff toward them, demanding a answer. "Who are you?" His voice was deep and rang with menace. "What've you come for?"

Fuji glared at the man, supposed their leader, refusing to give out any information.

"No doubt they are here for their Queen." Fuji, Tezuka, and Atobe turned their heads around to see another man who just approached from the swarm, wearing the same garments. Though, this man had a lighter voice, not as deep, but with the same menacing audacity.

"If that's the case, none of you are getting out alive today." The first man said sinisterly. "Let's teach them what happens to pests that come to private property unwelcome." As soon as he finished, all the shadow warriors sent their shadow attacks simultaneously at Fuji's force.

Everyone froze on the spot staring at the dark attacks coming closer to them, but as quick as they came, a blinding light appeared shelling them after a melodious voice rang out.

"Hoshi Hanabe!!" Fuji was quick to respond to the attacks that launched at them. A ball of yellow lights appeared above them and then spread out to create a protective barrier around all 14 of them.

"Fight your way to the vault entrance. Stay together." Tezuka commanded in an authoritative voice that no one dared to defy.

Everyone nodded in compliance, readying to rush out when Fuji gave the signal. "Go!"

The barrier disappeared after a blinding flash, making the shadow warriors backed up a bit. While they shaded themselves, the group forced their way through to the vault without trouble.

As soon as the flash subsided, their enemies launched at them.

Everyone except the 2 Lords, Fuji, and Inui warded their enemies from coming closer to the vault entrance. Meanwhile, Inui contemplated a way to open the stone door in front of them.

"It seems like there's no switch or lever." Yukimura said as he scrutinized the surroundings of the stone wall.

Tezuka tried to budge the door physically. Fuji chanced himself, musing at Tezuka's hasty strength. "It can't be moved." Tezuka said after dusting his hands together.

"Inui, what do you got?" Tezuka asked, looking at the bespectacled lad.

"There must be a source of energy that holds the door in place." Inui said shrewdly after observing every possible ways that reeled in his intelligent head.

"I can feel it." Fuji said, looking concentrated.

"What kind of power is it?" Yukimura approached to stand by Fuji.

Fuji turned to look at Yukimura. "It's a shadow force."

"As expected." Inui mumbled.

"Then we have no choice but to blow it up." Tezuka moved away from the door, telling Fuji to step back and signaling Yukimura and Inui to help him.

The three then released 3 rainbow pulsating beams at the door, creating a big explosion. Shattered stones shot out at them, who ducked from major injuries. Gray smoke rose from the door and when it dispersed, out revealed a cave-like entrance.

The defenders turned to look at their friends signaling them to come along.

"I'll close the entrance with a barrier." Fuji said as the defenders abandoned their opponents to retrieve into the vault, running and dodging the attacks aiming at them from behind.

When their enemies tried to enter the vault, they got electrocuted and knocked out right away.

"Let's go." Fuji ran off, leading the way further into the cave. The others shuffled close behind.

After running for a while, they reached a clearing that had 3 ways leading to somewhere ahead of them.

"Which way?" Yukimura asked as he ran up to examine each of the 3 entrances for any movements or noises. The others warily looked around, always taking their precautious stances as they observe around for any traps that were might prepared for them.

"Hold on." Fuji said, and then closed his eyes. His audacity was closed off completely from his surrounding. Their voices were like buzzing in the background. As he concentrated more sharply trying to connect to whatever sound waves emitting ahead, he could discern multiple different voices from the tunnel in the far right. He then changed his course to the tunnel in the middle and once again listened attentively. This time he heard nothing. Moving to the last tunnel, he heard a soft voice in his heard, but he couldn't quite hear. He opened his eyes. "There are a number of guards in that direction." He pointed to far right tunnel. He moved his finger over to the middle. "There's no sound in there. " He dropped his arm to hang beside him. "The last one, there's a voice, but I couldn't hear clearly. Even so, I couldn't connect with our Queen. It's blocked somehow."

"Well then, which way should we take? Or do you prefer us to separate?" Oishi directed his concern at Fuji who looked contemplative.

"No, we should stick together." Tezuka said with his authoritative tone. "Inui."

Inui nodded when he heard his name, as if to understand what Tezuka wanted from him. Inui was always reliable to make the right decisions in tight situations. "I think we should take the far left. It makes the most sense because coming what from Fuji-san said, the far right might be the head-quarter of the guards since there are many voices. The middle is too quiet to be hiding the hostage." Inui was about to go into more accurate calculation when Tezuka cut him off.

"Then that's where we'll go."

Fuji and Yukimura nodded in agreement.

Shiraishi and Sanada moved to the front, leading the way cautiously. The others moved to enclose the three important persons. If their enemies were to jump out unexpectedly, then Fuji and the two Lords would be safe, at least somewhat.

It was another long walk before they reached a brightly lit clearing. This time, it was a bigger hallway. On their sides were iron doors with small barred windows on them. It was quiet and lifeless. Warily they looked into each of the small barred windows to see what's behind the closed iron doors, but all they could see was darkness.

"There's nothing." Kuwahara reported to Yukimura as he finished searching the last door.

Yukimura nodded and then turned to Fuji and Tezuka who stood next to each other looking down the hall.

"Let's go." Tezuka said. They continued their way further into the stone cave, not knowing what lie ahead.

It was soon that they reached a shady clearing outside of the cave. They spread about to investigate any of their enemies' movements, but still keeping a circle around the three. Suddenly, a zooming sound could be heard from the sky. They all looked up to see flying arrows darting down on them like meteor shower.

Preemptively, they used their weapons to slash the arrows coming to them.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

The arrows pierced Momoshiro, Marui, Yanagi, Kaido, and Kirihara at different parts on their upper body. They fell to the ground as they felt the pain concentrated shot through their spines.

"Momoshiro!"

"Marui!"

"Yanagi!"

"Kaido!"

"Kirihara!"

Their uninjured comrades made a run over to their side, but was stopped by the ambush appeared from behind the trees around them. The injured pulled out the arrows out of their bodies gritting in pain, yet they couldn't dwell on it for long because the enemies also rushed at them. They did their best to defend themselves from being killed using their available strength.

Fuji wanted to heal them, but the abrupt time won't let him, let alone defending himself. He didn't have enough time to collect his chi together for elemental attacks, as with everyone else, so they all had to defend themselves with physical attacks.

Their enemies swarmed out like bees, one after another as if in unlimited number. Loud and multiple clashing from closed combats echoed through the trees. Various explosions could be heard from time to time, but not as many compared from their previous battle.

"Shiraishi, Eiji, Sanada. Support Marui, Yanagi, and Kaido!" Fuji shouted as he crouched lower to avoid his head from being sliced off of his body. Sweating beads were starting to form on his and the others' heads.

The three called by Fuji boosted their energy for a quick minute to fight off their enemies before joining their exhausted injured friends. They stood back to back, defending each other; one injured and one not.

Tezuka and Yukimura jumped over to their injured friends to support them the way that the 6 were doing.

Slowly, they joined with each in the middle, their backs facing inside the circle that they made, heaving tiredly, but still fighting as their enemies made no move to stop anytime soon.

But suddenly, their enemies stopped attacking. They backed off in wary stances.

Confused expressions spread across everyone's faces, wondering what was happening.

Then, the Shadow Lord appeared, who stood within the shadow where trees came together in thick masses. Beside him were Yuuta and the others that were with him in their last assassination plot. Mizuki walked forward, and they followed out of their hiding spot.

All attentions rested on the Shadow Lord. "You must be the Sage." He directed the statement at Fuji.

Fuji refused to reply. Instead, he diverted his gaze over to Yuuta who was looking at him, but looked away the moment Fuji looked at him. Fuji glanced back at Mizuki. "And you must be the Shadow Lord, Mizuki Hajime."

"That's correct. I've been searching for you near and far, but who could've expected you to hide in the Kingdom of Hyoseirokkai?" Mizuki chuckled dryly.

"You did." Fuji said calmly.

"Well, maybe I did. What are you doing here, take it that you know there'll be no way out alive for you and your friends?" Mizuki rubbed his chin with one hand, the other holding his other elbow. "I must thank you for saving our energy from searching for you."

"Isn't the reason obvious? Where is our Queen?" Fuji subjected to beat straight to the point, his eyes glaring dangerously at Mizuki.

"Mmmhm? I'll tell you if you can beat us." A shadow loomed in front of Mizuki as he extended his left arm with palm facing upward. It shape shifted into a long sword with a black dragon wrapping itself around it. The wings became the guard with its mouth opened toward the pommel shaped like a shadow ball. The tongue became the grip. Mizuki grabbed the grip of his weapon with his right hand, slashing it a few times before him, testing out his weapon. "I've always heard Sages are powerful bunch. Sadly, not many are left. I wonder why."

"Wait." Yukimura glanced over his side at his injured companions. "Why don't we do this fairly?"

"I have 13 on my side." Mizuki spread his arms to show the 12 that stood behind him, including Yuuta. "You have 13 uninjured. That's fair."

"It's a deal then. If we beat you, then hand over our Queen." Fuji spread his smile a few centimeters wide. As he said so, the Doryou men that surrounded them disappear into the wood. The injured were guided to rest by a tree. Fuji walked over to them and created a protective shield around them to ensure protection for their upcoming battle.

The rescuers took their chances to create a circulation of chi flowing through their bodies, gathering up their elementals.

The men behind Mizuki moved to stand one line on either side of Mizuki as they took out their weapons.

The battle started when Mizuki threw a sneaky shadow ball in front of them to create a foggy explosion.

Eiji, Jirou, Momoshiro, Oishi, Kuwahara, Kirihara, and Niou frantically swayed their heads in different directions to discern their enemies' positions, but the smoke was too thick for them to see.

Tezuka, Yukimura, Shiraishi, Sanada, and Fuji quickly mumbled a spell beneath their breaths, summoning a great wind from all directions to clear out the smoke. By then, Mizuki and his men were no where to be seen.

"Where did they go?" Jirou asked as he and the others moved around warily. They all flickered into fire elemental protective shield except for Niou, Jirou, Kirihara, and Inui as they hadn't yet master in this element. The forest glowed brighter, allowing them to see further into the shady trees.

"There!" They all yelled, spurting toward the enemies they spotted behind the trees.

It began with a few clashing and heated up with elemental explosions. Switching around their opponents, Fuji ended up against Mizuki and Yukimura against Yuuta.

Mizuki took no break to launch at Fuji. "Shadow Blitz!" The attack split into 2 a meter in front of Fuji and took a round before coming back for Fuji in swift flight. It collided into Fuji resulted in an explosion.

Mizuki smirked at his successful attack, but soon his smile dropped as a spark appeared from the smoke to fly straight at him. "Higuma Otoshi!" He heard the move before hitting the ground hard.

Fuji wasted no time launching at Mizuki with his special weapon he summoned a while ago. He stabbed his spear at Mizuki, but missed as his opponent rolled away.

Mizuki moved himself up to maneuver a kick at Fuji, but Fuji quickly pulled his spear from the ground to block the kick. The impact pushed him a few steps backward when he moved to the side to launch another attack.

"Tsubame Gaeshi!" A blue comet made its way to Mizuki, but was easily deflected with…

"Shadow Break!"

"Arrggg!!!" Fuji and Mizuki whipped their heads toward the scream as they figured it belonged to Yuuta as he mad a collision against a tree as a result from one of Yukimura's signature move.

Fuji dashed over as he saw Yukimura flying straight at Yuuta, but was blocked off by Mizuki. "Worry about yourself first!" He grinned, an expression that Fuji would called deliriously ugly.

Fuji furrowed his brows together. He stole a glance over at Yuuta to see him dodge Yukimura's hit. Sighing satisfactorily inside, he turned his attention back to Mizuki. He wasn't the only one who was tired, Mizuki was too.

"Shadow Mist!" Mizuki said. Immediately the mist covered Fuji's sight, like he was looking into darkness. He couldn't see anything, not even himself.

"Hectic Gust." A frenzied wind flew by, but the mist was not uplifted. His chaotic mind wasn't letting him think before he acts as wind was not affective against shadow. Before Fuji could muster another spell, he was hit to the ground in heavy impact. His breath hitched heavily as he tried to stand up.

"Shadow Rush!" Another attack hit Fuji like hundreds of needles jabbed at him. If it wasn't for the shield he put up a while ago, the attack would lend him heavy injuries.

Mizuki's rushing blows kept him on defensive mode as long as he couldn't see where the shadow attacks were coming from the shadow mist. Mizuki gave the Sage no time to heal himself.

Luckily, the shadow mist didn't hold for too long. Fuji's sight was coming back quickly to him. Fuji stood limply, using his blurring sight and the sound he could perceive to search for Mizuki.

Fuji's eyes widen and quickly turned around to see Mizuki launching at him, but quickly discharge a defensive safeguard. "Hakuryuu!"

Mizuki bounced back as he hit into the glow that surrounded Fuji. Fuji jumped back to distance himself and Mizuki. But when he looked at Mizuki clearly again, the body that lie on the ground disappeared. A shadow replica?

"Find your real enemy before deciding your next move." Mizuki's voice rang from behind him as he turned his heads around quickly, but not quick enough to launch a counter.

Fuji's eyes widened, expecting the blow. He could hear his name called by his companions through his ears softly and slowly. The world around him seemed to slow down as blurry images of figures running toward him in slow motion.

But as quick as a blink of an eye, someone moved in front of Fuji.

Fuji's world came to a stop when he discerned who it was that stood in front of him, to block an incoming blow for him. The name rang in his head, but couldn't be translated into words. Yuuta…

It was too late for Mizuki to hold back his attack when Yuuta suddenly jumped in front of the sage, serving as a shield. "Yuuta!"

The boy was going to take the blow for the Sage.

From nowhere, a bright light glowed, dissolving every shadow intact and blinding every sight. All they heard was a melodious voice, soft and gentle. "Faerie Nova!!!"

The shadow users took heavy casualties while the others only suffered from flares.

When the light subsided, the glow assembled into the center of the clearing, revealing an ethereal female figure in a white gown that overflowed the ground beneath her.

"Geika-sama!" (Japanese term for queen) The Paceans called out. Soon, 6 of the Queen's escort joined her, appearing from the sky.