This is the THIRD chapter I've uploaded. Go back to 41 if you didn't start there.

Back to Kairi now. Second Sword Dancer! (Yes, that is literally all that happens in this chapter. The quotes are a tribute to that...) Enjoy!

"You don't want to know. Just help me talk her out of it." –Sync

"The other witness has spoken. Sync is being a drama queen." –Dark

Chapter 4.7 – For Want of Separate Roads
Part 43

I sighed and flopped down on the ground, closing my eyes. "Wake me up when you get back," I muttered as Jade started to walk away. He sighed a bit, but went anyways. Contrary to what I'd said aloud, however, I was actually slipping out of my body to check on something.

I'd found, with some interest, that use of my fonslots aggravated the contaminated seventh fonons inside my body. A little reverse-engineering of what I'd done with Flick's fonslots and some water Energies thrown in, and I was spitting out clean seventh fonons every time I used my fonslots. Of course, this still left the miasma inside my body, but without the seventh fonons, it was much, much less painful to clear it out.

Since we'd fought a few times on the way here, I figured there would be a bit more loose miasma floating about in my body, so I was going to pull it out.

Once it was gone, however...

"Hey, anybody willing to come with me?" I asked, standing up. Tear's eyes widened.

"You're not going to go into the forest, are you? They told us not to!"

I shook my head. "Nope. I'm going back the other direction to try and find something. There's definitely gonna be a hard fight if I do find it, though, just a warning."

Asch sighed and stood. "Then I'm going with you. You're going to need a healer."

Dark glanced between me and Natalia, and she blinked a few times before looking thoughtful. "Make that three healers. Dark wants to go, I can tell from the way he's acting. And I'm honestly getting sick of being coddled by everybody. I want to help, too."

Sync smirked and flipped himself onto his feet from where he'd been laying on his back. "I'm coming, of course."

I grinned. "Anybody else?"

Guy sighed and shook his head. "Nah. I got enough of fighting trying to get from Daath to Aramis Spring."

Tear nodded. "You've got three seventh fonists with you. I'd rather stay here."

"What are we going to tell the colonel when he comes back?" Anise asked. I frowned and dug around in my bag, pulling out an envelope and drawing the blank, folded piece of paper out of it. I'd done the folding and putting into envelopes thing one time out of utter boredom, and so far, it was actually rather handy. I scribbled down a note, then some more notes and put the paper back inside before handing it over to Tear.

"Warn him that half of that is for the emperor, would you? That's if we don't get back before he does, at least. Who knows? What with politics involved, we might get back before Jade does," I said.

"Mieu... I'm staying with Tear, then."

I looked down at where Sorylle and Mieu were having a conversation. So, Sorylle and Twilight were coming with us as well. And Mieu was staying with Tear. That was sensible. Luke was probably at Tataroo Valley or whatever.

I'll admit it. It took us most of the rest of the day just to find what I was looking for.

"Is that... a sword?" Natalia asked, staring at it in shock. I smirked, while Sync groaned.

"No... Not again, please..."

I laughed. "What's wrong? Didn't enjoy fighting with me, Twilight, and Cantabile?"

Asch looked utterly confused, while Sync groaned. "That thing almost killed us!"

I shrugged. "It does tend to do that." A shame Natalia was there, or I'd have been able to explain the Sword Dancer to Asch and Dark. "So... shall we?"

"Wait," Dark muttered. "Why don't you tell us what we're up against first?"

I opened my mouth, but Sync beat me to it. "You don't want to know. Just help me talk her out of it." I sighed.

"Sync... If we leave it here now, the chances of finding it again later are almost nonexistent. Besides, Silver Clematis was worth it," I argued. He sighed.

"Fine... But Asch is definitely staying back and acting primarily as a healer."

Asch made a face. "That bad?"

I shrugged. "I'm sure he's exaggerating a bit."

"We almost died!"

"We didn't have any healers at all."

Twilight growled something, and Dark chuckled. "The other witness has spoken. Sync is being a drama queen."

"I am not!"

Twilight growled at him, and I sighed. "Really, you two? Now is not the time for that."

"Indeed," Natalia said. "Although I still want to know how we're supposed to fight a sword stuck in the ground..."

I sighed and walked over to Ultimatus, touching the hilt. "It won't be a sword much longer."

:Four humans.:

I frowned. "Damn. It looks like one of us is going to have to stay on the sidelines."

"Four humans? Wait... There are five of us," Natalia said. "And two ligers."

I crossed my arms and looked around. Who to drop?

Sorylle growled, and Dark sighed. "If I don't fight, Sorylle's out too."

I nodded, keeping that in mind as I looked around. Actually... Asch was a healer and a swordsman first and foremost. He had four fonic artes, yes, but his real value in a fight was his healing. Same with Natalia, though she had a bow. I also had a bow (mine, since we'd picked up one for Natalia in Keterburg), but focused mainly in fonic artes. I had a few extra fifth-fonon artes that I rarely, if ever, used. Dark was long-distance and a fonist as well, but he tired quickly. Sorylle was short-range, but too small still to do any reasonable damage. Sync was a short-range fighter who could get out of there quickly, even if he was rather a bit more breakable than me or Asch. And Twilight had a lot of stamina.

"Dark and Sorylle will stay back, then," I decided, turning to the former assassin. "Just be ready to help heal us once we're done."

Dark nodded, apparently seeing the same thing I had.

"What? Why? Wouldn't it make more sense for me to be excluded?" Natalia asked. Dark shook his head.

"No. With Twilight, Sync, Sorylle, and Asch to fight short-range, Kairi will resort to using her bow, which means both of us are fonists with long-range weapons. Also, Sorylle isn't as much of an asset in a fight as the rest of us. I'm redundant, and Sorylle's..." he trailed off, and the little liger growled something. "You're not useless." She growled something else, and I sighed.

"So, we're decided?" I asked. Dark nodded, turning and stepping away from the rest of us. Sorylle followed him, and I turned back and touched Ultimatus again.

:I have been looking forward to this.:

Darkness erupted from the blade, and I raced away from it, Twilight and Sync placing themselves between the skeletal figure that emerged and the rest of us. Natalia stared.

"That's not worrying at all..."

I laughed, already gathering up fonons via my fonslots. "O violent torrent! Splash!"

Asch followed up with an Eruption, while Sync and Twilight started attacking, Sync jumping back out of the way of most of the Sword Dancer's attacks while Twilight just bowed his head and bore the brunt of them.

One long sword lashed out at Asch, who was in the middle of casting Heal, and I raced in between him and the blade, taking the hit to my leg while he healed Twilight. Then he ran past me, back out of the Sword Dancer's range, so I could get clear as well.

Natalia used Heal on me, and I smiled gratefully as the gash on my leg fixed itself up. Then I started casting again.

A Flame Burst, Negative Gate, Flame Burst, and Splash later, Asch called out my name and lifted his clenched left fist, fingers then spread wide once he was sure I was looking. I nodded, and he started running for the Sword Dancer.

"Get clear!" I called, knowing neither Sync nor Twilight could have possibly seen the signal. Twilight nodded and started running off, his big size meaning he couldn't get a fast start. Sync, on the other hand, stuck around long enough to finish out a combo with a Reaper's Toll, knocking the Sword Dancer back.

It stood up, only to be knocked down again by Asch unleashing a wave of fonons. I'd hung back so as not to get hit by the shockwave, but now wasn't the time for that. "Clear!"

Asch thrust his sword into the ground, and the world faded into an alternate reality as light gathered around us. A type of fonic glyph formed around his feet, then condensed around the Sword Dancer, a hyperresonance releasing itself violently. "Feel annihilation! Rending Saber!" He stood tall, finally drawing his sword out of the ground, only for a wave of sixth fonons to take the place of the seventh fonons.

My eyes and fingertips burned, and I resisted the urge to scream. I'd spaced out and pulled on fonons with my fonslots, even though they weren't developed enough for this yet. Damn...

"What's the matter?" I taunted, pushing my hands down and feeling the pressure building up under them. "Don't want to lay down and die? How about I help you!" I lifted my hands, clapping them together and wrapping my pinky and ring fingers together. Basically, I'd formed a tiger seal from Naruto. "Shadow's scorn!" I then pointed at the Sword Dancer. "Fae's Ire!" A large blast of light rose around me and then shot off at the dark enemy.

Of course, the minute this was over, I remembered that I'd made the mistake of using my fonslots, and I cursed loudly as I hit one knee.

"Kairi!"

I blinked a few times, but the darkness wasn't fading, so I growled something likely unpleasant under my breath and turned to run in a random direction.

"Whoa!"

"I can't see!" I warned the others. "I'm going to have to do something really dangerous, but I'm useless if I don't."

"You over-stressed your fonslots, didn't you?" Asch asked. I growled again in answer, slipping halfway out of my body, then dropping back in and running just as Sync called out to me. Once I was almost sure I was out of the way, I slipped half-out again.

Grateful that I could see at all, I started pulling together fonons via Energies. "O flames of hell, cremate mine enemies in a cage of fire! Infernal Prison!"

The Sword Dancer screeched at me, but I just stuck out my tongue and started gathering up more fonons, while Asch headed off to one side to cast healing artes. This time, I was going for an arte I'd been practicing, but had never had a chance to use in battle.

"Sixth fonons? I thought... Oh. Demonic Star," I heard Natalia mumbling. I smirked.

"Not quite... O divine spear, run my enemy through! Holy Lance!"

Asch chuckled. "Well... You did say you wanted to learn Cluster Raid. I guess mastering Holy Lance first makes sense."

"Watch out!"

Asch brought his sword up to block, but was knocked back anyway. "Thanks, Sync."

I raised my bow and nocked an arrow, then frowned as I noted something about the Sword Dancer.

Trails of fonons and energies seemed to be running from him to... other places. One, the faintest of the... Thirty-one? Impressive... It was even connected to my arm, forming an impossible-to-breach barrier. Wait...

I let off the arrow and then switched my bow into my right hand, before raising my left arm.

Silver Clematis would not form.

So, no using its own weapons against it, eh? I shrugged it off and went back to shooting it.

That's when I noticed that Sync's fonslots were brimming with backed-up fonons. In fact...

Sync raised his left fist, making the same signal Asch had earlier, and I slipped back onto the first plane fully before forming a strong telepathic field. Pleased that I could locate the Sword Dancer like this, I started running, just in time for Sync to unleash his over limit. I managed to get into range just before I felt everything fade into a pocket dimension again.

"Did you think you could take this? Now you die!" Sync yelled, releasing the Akashic Torment on the Sword Dancer.

This time, I didn't even get a chance to drop Sorcerer's Rage on it.

The pocket dimension faded completely, the fonons I'd been gathering dispersing on their own. I scowled and slipped halfway onto the second plane again so I could watch as black tendrils of darkness faded away from the Sword Dancer.

:You are powerful... Truly worthy opponents...:

The Sword Dancer finally disappeared, leaving behind a familiar staff stuck in the ground, as well as a set of knives. :Until we next meet...:

I crossed my arms. "Well then. That was... Not exactly expected."

"Are you guys alright?! I saw Kairi go down after Asch's Mystic Arte. What happened?" Dark asked as he and Sorylle raced over. "Kairi?!"

I frowned. I know what he saw. By now, my cornea was probably extremely red.

"Here..." Asch muttered, casting one of the fonic artes we'd written off as useless before. It was actually meant for situations like this. "Give me your hands, you've got blood gathering under your fingernails too."

I looked down at my hands, then presented them to him so he could continue what he was doing.

"I'm suddenly very glad I decided to remember this arte after all," I heard him mumble.

"Are you going to be okay?" Natalia asked. Asch nodded.

"She'll be fine... Does anyone have a strip of cloth we can put over her eyes? I don't want to risk her stressing her eyes any more than necessary."

Dark shook his head. "Nope. Sorry."

"Here," Natalia said, drawing out one of her wider, but elastic headbands. "Would this work?" Asch took it and tested the elasticity before nodding and placing it over my eyes. I frowned and adjusted it a bit for comfort, then looked back down at the weapons.

"The knives are obviously for Sync. But we should take that staff back to Anise."

"How can you still see?!" Dark asked, shocked. I giggled.

"I can move around with my spirit halfway on the second plane. I'm relying on that to see. However, it's dangerous in battle, because I can't move very fast or I risk leaving my body behind altogether, something that could be fatal," I explained.

Sync picked up the knives, and his eyes widened. "Kairi... Didn't you say Silver Clematis was really light despite its length?"

I frowned, then held my hand out. He carefully placed one of the knives in my hand so I could examine it. The entire thing was black, hilt and blade both, and it was very lightweight. In fact, the only color was from the red tips of the pointed hand guard. "More Ancient Ispanian," I noted, pointing to the blade.

"Black Rose," Asch translated.

Fun Fact: There's actually 32 weapons attached to the Sword Dancer. Kairi just can't see that last string because, well... It is carrying Ultimatus on its back, after all. And no, they won't get all 32 weapons. Only 15 of them, over five Sword Dancers. Which means that yes, there will be two extra Sword Dancer battles. Both are actually very important for character (and plot) development... Although you're all going to want to kill Dark for the stunt he pulls at the third Sword Dancer.