A/N: Two chapters in one month? Yep! I've gotten a bit of a writing motivation going, so here's the next chapter. It explains at least one thing, which is why things are now so much more difficult than before- which was previously theorized as it being a "glitch in the system". Also, this chapter is the last that I'll be referring to both Zaveids by the same name. The Zaveid with Rani will remain known as Zaveid, while the Zaveid who will later join with Sorey will be called 'Zav'.

I still cannot write fight scenes for the life of me. I'll make a chapter of just fight scenes to work on that.

The journey up the Spiritcrest was mostly quiet, with Sorey asking a question here or there. Mostly to Lailah about taking on another Squire. Referring to me, though I didn't really acknowledge it at the time. I heard Zaveid murmur something in the back of my mind, but couldn't really draw attention to it due to the fact I didn't want there to be any miscommunications between me and the rest of the group.

Though, as we arrived to the cavern near the top of the Spiritcrest, the world around us changed. It was the indication of this being Eizen's domain.

"She's coming to help you, with the power of purification." Maotelus' words rang in the back of my mind, and I stepped forward as the dragon landed near the cavern mouth and roared. Threatening us, but in reality telling us to turn back and run. Lailah, however, thought it was Edna until she came out from the cavern and walked towards us. Eizen, the dragon, was blocked off as Edna made a comment about him not hearing her voice anymore. It wasn't true, he could hear her!

He just couldn't communicate back beyond trying to protect her from humans. So she didn't share the same fate as he did.

"What are you doing? Move!" Edna said, but I shook my head.

"We'll keep him from getting any closer. You guys get out of here!" I said, shooing them away and avoiding an attack from Eizen. "This is asking a lot, but don't look back here! Just keep moving forward, no matter what! We'll meet again, I'm sure of it!"

I'm sure of it.

I couldn't do anything to Eizen with my daggers, I knew that already. Raising my hand up into the air, I called out Kain's true name and Armatized with him. The large greatsword was easier to combat him with. Flames of purification erupted on each slash I made, hoping to chip away at the malevolence as much as I could. Bring down the outer shell, and release the seraph within the dragon. I could hear Edna crying in the back of my mind, and I paused in my attack for just a moment.

"...Edna?" I asked, looking behind me. For a moment, I thought I saw the Edna that I'd travelled with briefly. Wearing the same adventuring outfit as she did before, staring at me with eyes filled with tears. A rare showing of emotion on her usually blank face. But, as soon as that image was there, it vanished. As if not there at all.

"Damn it-!" Zaveid tackled me out of the way as Eizen swiped at me. I'd forgotten I was in a battle, but gave a quick thanks as the two of us got back to our feet. I held the sword at the ready, before running in and starting to slash at Eizen again. Edna's voice seemed so much clearer as I fought, begging me not to kill her brother.

I'm not killing him, Edna. I'm saving him. I promised that I would save him, didn't I?

As each cut was made, I heard Zaveid starting to fire Siegfried. Watching each burning bullet hit the scales and erupt into flames, burning away the malevolence… it was mesmerizing in a way. But I had to keep up my assault, otherwise it wouldn't work. We wouldn't be able to destroy the malevolence and save him.

Eizen, hold on. Just a little longer, and you'll be free!

A deafening roar escaped him, and he smacked me into the mountainside with a swipe attack. As I flew back, I let go of the armatization and slammed into the mountain on my own. I saw blood as I hit the mountain, and then fell to the ground. All the breath in my lungs had been practically torn out of them, and my entire body hurt. I heard Kain shout my name, and Zaveid yelling about getting me back up.

I felt warmth encompass me, and realized Kain was healing my wounds. "You're an idiot for letting go of the armatization like that! You wouldn't have gotten so badly hurt otherwise!" He chided as he healed me. "It would've barely done anything to us if you'd kept it up."

"...So-sorry…" I choked out, getting to my knees. "I didn't want you getting hurt."

What an idiot. That doesn't mean sacrifice yourself, you know. And if I was there, I'd tell you myself! Edna was suddenly scolding me in the back of my mind, which was unusual. But her voice was shaky, as if she was trying not to cry. Getting yourself killed doesn't help anyone!

I stood up at that, re-activating the Armatization and holding the sword in front of me. Taking a deep breath, I charged at the dragon as Zaveid fired another bullet.

I heard footsteps coming over to me, and Zaveid crouched down. "Didn't think anyone could save a Seraph who'd turned into a dragon. Hell, we all thought they couldn't be brought back. But here we are, having saved Eizen. Don't know how you figured it out, but hacking away at the malevolence until there was less to sever him from worked."

"...It was a wild guess." I admitted, giving a partial truth. "But… at least he's alive. Edna will be happy… if he decides to tell her."

I sat up, looking over at Eizen. He hadn't moved from his spot after realizing he wasn't a dragon anymore, staring out at the world from his vantage point. He looked the same as he did in my dream, which meant I'd truly done it. I heard a sob of relief, but then quiet as the voice faded from my mind. Perhaps Edna truly held onto hope that her brother would one day be saved, and this was just one thing I would have to tell them later.

Zaveid stood up and turned to Eizen. "Are you gonna stand there and mope all day, Eizen? C'mon, you're alive. That's all anyone could ask of you."

Eizen didn't say anything, but he turned around to face Zaveid after a few moments. Watching him walk up to the wind seraph, I winced as he punched him. But Zaveid laughed it off, before waving a hand and disappearing. Standing up, I dusted off and walked over to him. He looked at me with a quizzical look on his face, before he spoke.

"I can't tell what kind of Malak you are." He said. I patted myself for a moment before shrugging and looking down at myself.

"I'm human." I pointed out. He raised a brow, and then looked me over. "What? Maotelus said I'd come to save you with the power of purification and I did! Though it took me a bit longer than I expected…"

"That's not it. You shouldn't have a domain." Eizen folded his arms against his chest. "You should be a Malak, but you're not. Yet you have a domain…"

"Is that bad?" I inclined my head just as Kain and Zaveid appeared on either side of me. This got a curious look from Eizen, before he shook his head and returned his attention to me.

"Here." He tossed a coin to me. "Flip it and see what it lands on."

"...Is this some sort of game?" But I shrugged. "'Kay. Let's see what happens."

I flipped the coin, watching it fly into the air. Catching it, I slapped it on the top of my right hand and uncovered it. "...Tails. Okay, let's try again!"

Tails. Again. And again. And again. I turned the coin over to see if it had a different design on the back and I wasn't being pranked. It did, and I just looked back at Eizen with a raised brow. "What's this supposed to mean?"

"What I expected it to." He held out his hand for the coin back, and I gave it to him. "You also have a Reaper's Curse, though how you have it as a human is still a mystery."

"...Explain that to me. What does a Reaper's Curse entail?" I asked, and got the answer I hadn't hoped for. It was basically that my domain was bad luck in and of itself, that affected me and those close to me. It was my 'blessing', but not the same blessing as other Seraphim had. This was why Eizen had been confused. How was I exerting a domain when I was human? That didn't really… make any sense to me.

But I took a breath and held out my hand, knowing that I couldn't do anything about my new ability– my Reaper's Curse. It would constantly be active, be exuding its influence, and anyone in it would be affected.

"Eizen, this is a long shot but… Would you like to travel with us? You'd have to make a pact with this Zaveid-" I nudged him to make a point. "-but I think it'd be nice to get off this mountain. See the new world and stuff. I doubt you could really enjoy it as a dragon."

He looked over at me, brow raised just slightly before chuckling. "I warn you, things will get tougher from here on out if I join you. Are you sure you want me to?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I didn't want you to. Besides, Edna left the mountain."

"She. Left the mountain?" Eizen sounded confused.

"Yup! Walked off with the Shepherd! We could go catch up to them. What do you say, wanna travel the world and see your little sister again?"

Eizen thought long and hard about that, before nodding and stepping forward. "But if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not run into Edna too soon. It might make her not want to continue travelling herself."

"Sure. Refrain from mentioning you, got it." I moved to stand in front of him, before looking back at Zaveid. "It's 'of firmest resolve' this time too."

"You're telling him how to do the pact?" Eizen asked. "He's done it before."

"...What." I looked at him, and then back at Zaveid. "Wait, Zaveid. Is this true?"

Zaveid rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, but we didn't really do it the normal way. Used to be a Prime Lord before Eizen turned into a dragon."

"'Kay. So let's get the pact over with and head down the mountain. I want to make sure we get to Marlind and scope out Alisha. Something was funny with her the last time we met, and I want to see if it's true this time around." With that, Zaveid and Eizen formed the Sub Lord's pact and I became Eizen's vessel. Though he entered me briefly, he was just as quick to leave. I pulled out the divine artifact that Edna had given Sorey when she made the pact and held it up.

"This'll be our pact link… Uh, Armatization link, I guess." I said lamely. Eizen shook his head.

"No. It wasn't that." With a confused look, I started looking for something else and pulled out the bow. "Not that either."

"...All I have left is a hammer that a seraph used as her weapon." I said. That got me a confused look, before Zaveid quickly pulled Eizen aside and explained the name shift from Malakhim to Seraphim. Pulling out the hammer while they spoke, wondering why Rose's bag was practically a Bag of Holding, I held it up.

"That's it." Eizen said, breaking off from the conversation. "That's the weapon that resonated with me when I made the pact."

"...Izayoi's hammer?" I held it out to him, and he weighed it carefully after taking it from me. "I guess we could try it."

"Anyway, we should hurry up and get down the mountain before it gets too late." Kain cut in, starting to walk forward. "We've got to head to Marlind."

"Wait, before we go to Marlind!" I stopped him really quickly. "I want to head towards the bandit base. I know where it is… I just hope Aevar's receptive to going with me."

I wanted to know if Arvald was okay, and if Aevar remembered anything. Even if it was now dangerous for me to be around them, I wanted to know. With those thoughts in mind, I headed down the mountain with the Seraphim.