Guardian

by yasha012

I used to want to save existence... I saw it as this beautiful place, capable of fostering life in all of its many forms. A place with the potential to nurture so much Light. But the closer I got to it... the more I fought for it… the better I could see the Darkness waiting within… the evil we would all rather forget. (Part 4 of the Hero series; sequel to "Eternal Shadow Falls".)

221. Face Me

~保護者~

"Face Me"

~保護者~

Cyca blinked her eyes open groggily. What in the world…? It took very little time for all of her memories to settle into place, as well as for her senses to properly return to her. Only then did she realize several things. One, she was alive again… for some reason. Two, she was laying on the ground with her arms pinned to her sides and her legs bound together. There was some sort of dark energy restraining her. Third and finally, she wasn't alone. Nareish was here. And, to Cyca's side, she could see Lior returning to life.

Equal parts concerned and yet curious as to how this would all play out, she struggled up onto her knees. "Oh, Lior," she called in a singsong voice as soon as he began to breathe again. Energy wound itself around him in the same way as it had done to her. "Wake up, sleepyhead. We appear to be in a bit of a pickle."

As soon as his eyes opened, Lior cursed his luck. He knew what was happening, and already had no desire to be involved. "Fuck."

"So nice of you to finally join us," Nareish drawled, watching him lazily. "I was beginning to think you'd sleep the whole day away."

Lior narrowed his gaze. "If I'd known you were the cause, I would've refused to ever wake back up," he spat out, voice laced with venom. "You return me to life after the absolutely brutal death I experienced and expect me to work under you? Go fuck yourself, and kill me again while you're at it."

Nareish laughed at him. "My, such bold words. Although I am afraid that you're in no position to be making demands."

"I didn't ask for your thoughts," Lior muttered. "Kill me. I have no wish to be here."

"I would sooner torture you into submission than kill someone I went to all the trouble of reviving," Nareish answered.

Cyca frowned in a rare show of genuine upset. "I would prefer you not harm him," she stated, frowning at Nareish. If she could have physically put herself in between the woman and Lior, she would have. After all, even she was capable of displaying a measure of care toward her two friends. She just rarely did so with Lior specifically.

As for Lior… To say he was surprised was an understatement. His eyes moved to her and he subtly frowned. "Cyca, this woman is deranged. I do not wish to follow her in any form. Ryint is a danger to us, we no longer have the element of surprise on Ghune, Saethrim has become active again... Acting is death. One way or another, we will die."

"Death is one thing," Cyca answered in kind, "but inviting this woman to torture your personality and everything else that makes you you out of your apathetic little head is entirely another."

"I would rather lose myself than submit to someone such as her," Lior stated simply, expression tense. "I am uninterested in doing this any longer. Our time has passed."

"I'm afraid that, as of now, neither of you has any sort of choice in the matter," Nareish interrupted. "I've already ensured that. I tested out a new form of mind control on a couple Babylonians earlier… and I decided to use a tiny bit of it on the two of you as well. You'll find yourselves to be quite incapable of disobedience now."

"I hate you in your entirety," Lior replied evenly, narrowing his gaze.

"And you are free to do so, so long as you know your place going forward," was the amused reply.

"Say, Nareish, I have a question," Cyca boldly stated, heedless to any potential consequences she might have wound up suffering as a result.

"Go on," Nareish invited with a coy smirk.

"What became of Zsasha?" Cyca frowned. "Did you revive him, too, or is he still alive?"

"You can rest assured that he lives, for now," Nareish chuckled. "I'm sure he's off being tormented by Ghune and her lackeys as we speak. But that's rather par for the course for him, I'm sure."

Lior frowned deeply. "You revive three vampires, and when two of them die you don't even keep a vague eye on the strongest of them? What the fuck is wrong with you?" This was more personal than he wanted it to be now. Zsasha was alive, somewhere, and in danger. "Let me fucking go."

"He may be the strongest of you three," Nareish smiled, "but he is also by far the weakest. Not that either of you know anything about that. I'm aware that he's become quite skilled at masking his pain… at pretending to be as dastardly as you both are. In reality, he's just a depressed, withering shell of a man who would rather kill himself in a thousand different ways than go on living. And he very much has your mutual enemy Ghune to blame for that and all his other woes."

"Get to the point. What do you want me to do for you so I can go do what I want to do?" Lior demanded, narrowing his gaze even more. He didn't want to look at her. Cyca, meanwhile, just glared at the other woman.

"Ever the impatient one, I see." Nareish chuckled to herself. She allowed silence to settle between the three of them for just a moment before continuing. "You two will need to regain your strength. Fortunately, I still have those Babylonians I captured earlier. You will feed from them once I set you loose. Am I understood so far?"

It seemed that this form of mind control allowed the victim to intrinsically sense what their "master" wanted them to say or do. So, entirely against her will, Cyca gave the answer that Nareish desired. "Yes."

Lior frowned visibly. There was something up. "Yes. Why, though?"

"Apart from what I already said, I will be using the harm done to those two in order to draw in a certain target of mine," Nareish told him. "You will likely have little direct involvement with the man, but even if you do you can rest assured that I will not allow him to kill either of you two."

"Gee, thanks," Cyca grumbled. It was rare that she used sarcasm or casual speech, but even she was annoyed to say the least.

"Who?" Lior questioned immediately. "What the hell are we being volun-told to do?"

"For now, you will feed, as I already stated," Nareish said. "After that, Lior, you will remain here for a short time. From what I have gathered, you have a tendency to be rather… 'possessive' over your prey, do you not? And for the record, I want the truth… in case that was not already clear to you."

Lior growled audibly. "Yeah, sure. I am. Why?"

"Then I expect you to defend your food when my prey arrives," Nareish smiled. "It won't be for long, however. I very much intend for you to survive that little scuffle. Do that for me, and I will cut you loose for a short time to go see your friend before he wilts further enough to end his own existence."

"At least tell me who I have to deal with…"

"However temporarily, your opponent will be a man named Cyril… the fledgling God of Magic."

"Are you insa- Actually, don't answer that question. That was a terrible question to ask. I know the answer." Lior looked over to Cyca, frowning. "Do you understand what she's pitting us against?"

"I do," Cyca huffed. "Turns out Akol knows the guy. Little yellow Babylonian asshat. He came charging in to save Akol and his kid during our first reunion a while back."

"And… I assume this means he completely stopped you, then?" Lior questioned, trying to make his point obvious.

"Mm, not exactly," Cyca revealed. "Akol has gotten stronger than I'd anticipated at the time. He'd restrained me, and that kid of his created a magical cage around me shortly afterward. The god showed up mere seconds following that and sent me away."

Lior frowned. "Fine, fine. I guess we can do whatever, but this is going to be a miserable experience."

"I hate when you are correct, Lior," Cyca grumbled. "I always have."

"Be that as it may," Nareish interrupted with obvious amusement, "I have an important question for you, Lior. Apart from checking on your precious friend, what is it that you want to do with your newly returned life, hm? What are your present goals? I know well what Cyca's are, but you are a bit less obvious."

"I have nothing left," Lior answered honestly. "My plans are ruined. Ryint and Ghune are too strong and are going to be on their guard. Saethrim is active. The Raven Queen is watching. I can't make a step without risking my life again." He let out a sigh. "I would have much rather remained in my hellish afterlife than be returned in such a situation."

"Then you are to remain here and work within my realm," Nareish smiled, "and that is all there is to it. I am certain I can find a use for your special brand of poisons and the like."

"I would personally rather not do that," Lior mumbled. "But I know well that I have no choice."

"Indeed you do not." Nareish turned her attention to Cyca. "As for you… I understand you turned some Therian woman recently. A relative of Calypso's, yes? I care not for the fate of that woman, but I am aware of your interest in her. My interest, however, lies in your other victim. You turned the former God of the Forge, did you not?"

Some of Cyca's usual personality returned and she gave a smug smirk. "Yes, I did. He turned very rapidly, and with incredible ease, much like Ryint supposedly did in the past. I'd say even better. He appeared to have adjusted to his new state of being quite well in the time that I had him. His instincts are powerful, his abilities are unique… I could go on. It was quite fun to observe."

"I have learned something quite interesting," Nareish suddenly told her and, by extension, Lior. "I was never before aware of how deeply dangerous 'tainted' blood is for your kind. It corrupts quite thoroughly, from what I've gathered. Is this true?"

"I would expect it to be, but I've never seen for myself," Cyca shrugged. "What about you, Lior?"

Lior frowned. What in the hell are you planning, Nareish? "It may or may not be. I never experimented with such a thing."

Nareish teleported six vials of blood into her hands. The restraints promptly vanished from her captives, and she then tossed the vials to Cyca. "Use these on Sothan and the Therian woman. You are not, however, permitted to use more on the woman than on him, despite your interest in her. Use three on each, or else use most of them on him."

Cyca caught the vials and let out an unhappy huff. "That's significantly less fun for me, then… but fine."

Glancing to Cyca, Lior silently wished that the woman actually had her free will. She wouldn't have been dumb enough or crazy enough to do something like this. "Be careful…"

The woman tossed him a glance. If she was surprised by his show of "concern" (if one could even call it that), she didn't show it. "Yeah. I'll do everything in my power to. You do the same."

Lior blinked once, then glanced over to Nareish. "So, when are we dealing with the Babylonians?"

"You had best feed now, so that you may regain your strength." Nareish issued a silent command and had her two other slaves enter the room. "Feed to your heart's content… Just do not kill them."

"I presume you want the woman, Cyca?" Lior questioned, already beginning to walk forward.

"Mm, I want a bit of them both," Cyca admitted with a vaguely predatory grin as she followed him. "She's my usual type of prey, but he feels like a magical powerhouse."

Lior let out a soft sigh. "I'm not so interested in her, but I should be well set if I feed off either. They're radiating magical energy."

"Then just feed off the guy if you want. I don't care who you pick, so long as you're willing to share him with me." Cyca wasted no further time. She grabbed Min'na's hand and dragged her close, then sank her fangs into the woman's neck.

Lior walked toward Quin and grabbed him by the hair, pulling him in so he could bite the man's neck. However, he didn't feed on blood, seeking instead to draw magic from him. It was… ridiculous how much there was. This man is… strong.

Cyca was soon forced to release Min'na in order to avoid draining and, thus, killing her. "I never get tired of how delicious magic makes blood taste," she grinned.

Lior's grip tightened and he bit down harder, the outpouring of magical energy filling him with an unusual amount of glee. Who are you? Cyca, meanwhile, waited impatiently for her turn to feed off of Quinn.

Eventually, Nareish used some unseen energy to force Lior to release his prey. "Do not go too far, now," she chuckled. "I cannot have him entirely drained."

The man paused for several seconds before wiping at his face, visibly irritated that she pulled him away. "Fucking… ugh…"

"You were warned, to be fair," Cyca chuckled. She moved in without further delay and bit the opposite side of Quinn's neck.

Lior glanced to Min'na. He could sense some sort of unusual power from her, but he chose to not make anything of that. He walked over and pulled her closer by the shoulder, biting into her neck as well… feeding off of her magic. It was a rather… pleasant taste. Where Quinn's had been overwhelmingly amazing to consume, hers was rather… relaxed, and had a smoother taste to it all. She is not as strong… but she has her own plethora of skills and powers.

Cyca eventually released Quinn and grinned. "Well, that was extraordinarily pleasant."

Soon, Lior did the same and took a step back. After feeding so generously, he felt the strength surge through his body. It was incredible, but mildly concerning. Something is very different about the male…

"Something the matter, Lior?" Nareish asked him, plainly amused.

"I am unsure," Lior answered calmly.

Apparently unconcerned, Nareish shrugged. "Very well. Go prepare yourself for your upcoming fight, then. Cyca, you may leave."

Finally. Cyca glanced at Lior. "I suppose I'll be seeing you." She vanished without further ado.

Lior tossed the woman an idle wave, drawing his shortswords and walking off. If he had to fight, he was going to - whether he liked it or not. Let's get this over with…

~保護者~

The pulsing of her Darkness was the only sound she could hear at this moment. Other than that, she was surrounded with the silence of the void of space. She blended in well up here, meshed into the pitch black depths, merely sitting as a blob of pure black amongst the tiny lights of stars…

With two pinpricks of yellow.

Her body had grown beyond her own comprehension. Darkness spreading over her limbs gave her more of… a bipedal form, something more comfortable than a writhing mass of her own energy. She knew why she was here. What she wanted. The images of Shei's body torn apart with blood splattered all over filled her head, rampant visions of rage and violence… what she had the power to do.

At one point, he had been the only person she'd loved. He'd shown her kindness when she was a child. She hadn't felt like an outcast with him. That was his problem now. Hatred spawned from dead love. Her fingers curled as she began moving forward. Her breathing slowed and she took just a moment to find her target. A deafening roar was the only signal of her arrival, aside from the massive slash of her Darkness at Shei. She could sense where he was, and everything in the way… it would go with him.

In spite of his speed and vigilance, Shei was caught up in Armaris's sudden attack. How much damage it did to him was unclear for one simple reason: his Malevolent heritage. Whatever injuries he sustained, coupled with the threat to his life, triggered his latent powers to surge to his defense in response. Violent energies lashed out at Armaris with instinctive cruelty, intent on driving her back no matter how much she was harmed in the process.

Armaris blacked out briefly amidst those energies and she was sent back farther than she could've comprehended in those moments. Rather than the pulsing of her Darkness, she heard her heart beating in her ears. She saw the glare of sun on snow, no longer shrouded completely in the massive demonic form her body had taken on. Blood dripped from her mouth and some unseen injuries on her body. Somewhere amidst the bloodlust, there was concern… even as she began to stand from her demonic body, letting it dissipate.

At about the same time, Shei picked himself up from the rubble of his and Aniko's home, as well as the many tree parts that littered the area as well. Everything he touched melted away. This freed him quickly and easily, soon leaving him free to turn and face her. There was a bright red glow to his eyes, but it was wavering somewhat as he tried to get himself back under control. Still, the glow remained regardless as his powers rapidly knitted his wounds back together like they were never there to begin with.

Before Armaris could make the same mistake twice, her arm reared back and she was taken off of her feet by an attack of similar magnitude to her own, forced to draw up a shield to defend against Ryuji suddenly appearing. Her gaze followed his blade, shrouded in his own Darkness, and she disengaged by diving into the shadows of the forest.

As Aniko's presence arrived on the planet, Ryuji tore off after Armaris, intent on keeping her busy. Even if this was an obvious trap, she'd be hard pressed to kill him in any quick manner… no matter how strong she was. Aniko meanwhile landed about thirty steps from Shei, holding up her hands to show her lack of aggression… just in case. "Shei! Are you alright?"

The glow in Shei's eyes wavered further and he carefully backed away from her to ensure that she wouldn't be harmed if there was another flare-up. "...No," he managed to force out. His control at the moment was tenuous at best, and he knew he'd lose it easily if anything else were to happen.

"Do I need to get someone to help you get somewhere safe?" Aniko questioned calmly, steadying her breath. "If she comes back, the results will be disastrous."

Her words and concerns were perfectly logical, but he was having a hard time focusing on that. The instinct, even desire, to go after his attacker was powerful. Almost overwhelming. Armaris, he forcibly reminded himself. That was Armaris. I cannot harm her. I won't.

As ever, his partner proved herself to be particularly skilled at reading his thoughts without literally doing so. "If she comes back, it won't even be you harming her. No matter how much you hold back, your energies will attack. They will defend you. Please, let's get you somewhere. Ryuji… I trust that he can handle her once others arrive. I'll get her help," Aniko explained. "Please."

This time, her voice and words got through to him a little bit. Shei forced himself to take in a deep breath and let it out slowly in an effort to calm down. The glow in his eyes lessened to a degree as a result. "I do not know where to go," he was eventually able to tell her. "Even off the planet, there is nowhere that will be safe from this."

"...I know… but there are uninhabited worlds. I don't care about those places. What matters is us protecting our family," Aniko replied gently. "As long as we're not harming people, it doesn't matter this time. We can deal with the aftermath later."

For better or for worse, Shei didn't say anything else. He abruptly vanished, removing himself from the situation in an instant. The reason why became somewhat clear mere moments afterward, when their son entered the area. Espio hesitated as he tried to determine whether to run after Ryuji or check in with his mother first, but he quickly chose the latter and appeared by her side. He could easily tell what had happened to his father just based on the damage to the area. "...Damn," he muttered.

"Follow Ryuji," Aniko demanded calmly. "For the moment, we cannot help Shei much. What we can do is keep Armaris from killing anyone."

"Hai." With that short agreement, Espio disappeared in a burst of speed. He already had his sword drawn when he caught up with Ryuji and Armaris just a second or two later and began taking stock of the situation. She's wounded… and bleeding real blood? The hell?

Espio arrived in time to see Armaris snatch Ryuji out of the air, twisting and launching him away from the area. The bodies of several hollows laid around her, cleaved into pieces. Her gaze fell on Espio in that same instant, yellow eyes narrowing as she leapt up into the trees. Espio had a feeling that he knew what she was attempting to do, and as such he reacted quickly.

Not wasting any time, he used his own Darkness to defend Ryuji to the best of his ability in order to give the older shinobi a chance to recover. However, Espio found himself uncharacteristically hesitating to do anything more. It was so far beyond a chameleon's instincts to hurt their romantic partners that he was having an extremely difficult time even considering fighting her as a possibility.

Armaris spared only a second, watching him. She hesitated as well, her fingers digging into the tree beside her. "Y…you…" The cat's tail lashed and she teleported after Ryuji, her Darkness surging to life around her body.

"Tch." Espio forced himself to move and teleported to Ryuji as well. Though he had a barrier around the man, Espio nonetheless put himself between him and Armaris. "Armaris, enough!" he snapped, gripping the handle of his sword tightly. "I will not let you continue!"

The trees swayed as she crouched down, letting her fingers dig into the snow at her feet. His words only barely registered in her head. She knew what they meant, comprehended them, but she didn't care. "You won't…"

"I will do what I must," Espio answered resolutely, though his stomach lurched at the mere idea. He knew as well as she did that he could never and would never harm her, but that didn't mean he would let this scenario continue to play out unimpeded. Meanwhile, Ryuji quietly watched from the ground behind Espio, feigning his injuries to… get a better idea of what she was doing.

A giggle escaped, hardly reminiscent of her usual sounds. Wind roared through the area and tore trees from the ground as she rushed at Espio, drawing two separate blades from her shadow and slashing out with reckless abandon. Espio had only just shifted his stance in preparation to block her attacks when someone else's Darkness suddenly flared up around him and Ryuji both in a powerful barrier. Surprised and a little confused, Espio turned to see the man he had helped Ryuji get to Amy for medical treatment a while back. …Haru, he soon recalled. Father's father… so I've heard.

Haru casually strolled into view, observing the three of them with upraised eyebrows. "The hell's going on here?" he asked as he walked through his own barrier to join the other two chameleons. He looked at Ryuji in particular. "Guessing this is the woman you warned me about. Hate to break it to you, but you can't ask me to stay out of a fight and not mention that my kid might be a potential target of the danger. You should have known I'd come."

"If I'd known he was in danger, I wouldn't have said shit," Ryuji replied, getting up with ease. "And yes, this is Armaris." Armaris glanced between Ryuji, Espio, and Haru quietly, unmoving.

Turning his attention to Espio, Haru simply asked, "You got a plan for calming her down or anything?"

"No," Espio was forced to (very unhappily) admit. "Everyone I know who can help is either off-planet or busy with another crisis."

"Crisis?"

"Preparing for a raid on Nareish's realm."

Haru raised an eyebrow again. "...Hm. S'pose that'd qualify." He glanced at Armaris, silently assessing her.

She was doing the same to him, folding one of her weapons and dropping it into her shadow. "...Haru…"

"Yeah," he confirmed, crossing his arms. "You're the woman who tried to reunite me and Shei, right?"

Armaris walked closer to the barrier, setting her now free hand on it. "Shei… Dad…" The demon blinked once, glancing past Espio over to Ryuji. "You…"

"Yeah, I'm me," Ryuji replied. "You know good and damn well who I am by now." As he said this, Haru focused on rapidly strengthening his barriers. He'd been trying not to use his Darkness much recently, since he knew he had a tendency to lose control and slip into an evil state far too easily, but this was a situation where the risk was entirely warranted.

The cat pressed her palm against the defense, eyes flashing black for a second as an explosion of magic and her own energy slammed against it. Haru's own eyes shifted from black to a metallic onyx for a moment in response to what she'd done, namely because he'd had to further strengthen his barrier in order to ensure they withstood the attack. "Back off," he muttered, his voice cooler and more subtly threatening than before. "You aren't getting through."

She attacked twice more in the same manner before bolting, seeking out the newest presence that broke through her steadily strengthening tornado. Armaris met Arein in the air and slashed out, forcing the woman to dodge out of the way and deflect several tendrils of darkness that rushed after her before she hit the ground.

Seeing this happen, Haru did two things. First, he changed his one large barrier into three smaller personal barriers around himself, Espio, and Ryuji. He then put one up around Arein. "You can move freely now," was all he said by way of explanation. Espio didn't hesitate to take off and get in Armaris's way, intent on keeping her from getting any nearer to any of the local settlements.

"Don't defend me," Arein called out sharply. "My Darkness won't work if you do that!" Shrugging, he dropped that barrier and vanished from sight courtesy of his own Darkness.

Taking only a brief moment to share a glance with Ryuji, the pair rushed to join Espio. While she was busy focusing on Espio, Ryuji engaged her directly, nimbly flipping between her attacks to deliver harsh blows to her torso and face, his blade sheathed and his fists covered in his Darkness. He activated his technique and sent her reeling for a moment with the delayed extra hits, then sent her back into the forest with a sharp kick to her chest.

Thanks to Haru's barrier, he was able to ignore some of her less focused attacks, letting them bounce off it harmlessly. However, seeing Arein engage Armaris without such a barrier briefly concerned him. Then he remembered why she was doing it. Ryuji could feel Arein's power growing. Arein swiftly sliced through the Darkness based attacks Armaris sent at her, energy rolling off of her in waves that destroyed the fog Armaris emanated. Her hands were cloaked in it, and she grabbed one of the cat's wrists and locked her in place. "Musabori kuu," Arein muttered. ("Devour")

Both Espio and Haru reappeared a split second after Arein spoke, having rapidly cleared out the three nearby villages just in case this fight escalated. Upon reappearing, they heard what she said and wisely kept space between themselves and her, mostly because they had no idea what was about to happen. Ryuji hesitated to stay close as well, watching Arein. He knew precisely what this was. He'd watched her do it with the skin of a Hollow… but this was a very extreme situation in comparison. "Arein, you can't consume this much demonic Darkness! Back off!" Upon hearing this, Espio stared at this strange woman incredulously.

Not heeding his warning, Arein stared Armaris down. "Ryuji may love you as family, but you have threatened him. You will not do so again." The chameleon's eyes turned silver and she slammed her fist into Armaris almost blindly three times, losing her grip on the cat after the last one as she shot away into the forest.

"Fucking hell," Ryuji groaned. "Nobody listens to me." He tore off after the two, vaguely annoyed, with Espio and Haru hot on his heels.

Armaris woke up in a pile of snow, the numbing cold teasing her agitated body. Black drops of liquid energy spilled out of her mouth, the sight only irritating her further. Her eyes shifted to Arein standing over her, bringing her fists down with a burst of Darkness. She watched it all happen as if time crawled while she stood up and grabbed Arein. The cat was shrouded in a foggy black, and that same energy encased and exploded around the female chameleon to drive her into the ground. Magic flared over the forest and tore acres of wilderness to pieces while Darkness lashed out from all angles at the chameleons around her.

Arein was wrapped up in all of the attacks sent her way, losing track of her injuries as she was dragged into an inky black abyss. That didn't last long, however. Espio's own Darkness surged into Armaris's until it wound harmlessly around Arein. Only moments later, she was pulled to safety and gently deposited in the once snow-covered grass by Ryuji's feet. Mostly, Espio had just chosen that spot since these two seemed to know one another. It was possible Ryuji would be willing to assist her.

Armaris glanced to Espio, then raised a hand behind herself in the same moment Aniko appeared there, aiming an explosion at her chest. Before anyone else could react, Ryuji had slammed into Aniko and knocked her aside, sent flying instead by the cat's attack. Espio and Haru both appeared by the pair in an instant, with Espio going to his mother to help her against Armaris. Haru, meanwhile, immediately checked on Ryuji. "Are you alright?" he demanded. He was aware of sensing another person appear nearby right about then, but he resolved to only pay them any mind once he was sure Ryuji wasn't too badly damaged.

Ryuji was back on his feet almost immediately, brushing away the torn up skin with his Darkness. "Eh, fine. If she knew to place it inside my body, I'd probably be dead."

Haru let out a derisive hum and turned to look at Armaris. "...Someone else is here," he revealed. "A powerful Immortal if I had to guess."

The other man's gaze fell on Armaris as well, watching her bolt away. If the Immortal here truly was as powerful as he sensed… Armaris wasn't leaving. "Yeah."

Sure enough, a barrier of pure aura energy flared to life around Armaris. This barrier, however, wasn't defensive in nature. It was nothing less than a trap. Alana walked into view then, her eyes wandering around to allow her to take in everything that was going on here. "Hello again, Ryuji," she greeted politely. "I am glad to see that your friend and grandson are well. I had been concerned that my healing efforts were not quite enough." As she spoke, she raised a hand and focused a great deal of purification energies into Armaris. She ensured there would be no pain, but that didn't mean she was taking things slowly.

Ryuji shrugged. "You certainly could have done better, but your efforts are appreciated nonetheless," he replied, approaching her. Haru and Espio merely traded looks and subtle shrugs.

"I understand." Alana frowned in concentration, never taking her eyes off of Armaris. "Pray, tell me what has happened here. Why do I sense Malevolence's presence?"

Aniko walked up around this time, crossing her arms. "My husband, Shei. Armaris attacked him upon arriving, and his energies flared in reply."

Alana took a moment to turn this information around in her mind. "I apologize for asking such questions, but I must understand. How is he tied to that entity?"

Though he was far from happy to be having this conversation, Haru walked over. "His 'mother' was Malevolence's… 'daughter'," he explained bitterly with a small scowl in her direction. "He is, in essence, its grandson."

Aniko shrugged. "Basically. With this information given, I am going to go find him and see what I can do to help." She didn't care to wait for a reply, teleporting away.

In the end, Alana could do nothing to stop her. There wasn't any opportunity to, not when she had to focus on Armaris. "...I believe I can undo this myself," she revealed after a minute or so of complete silence. "I have made progress already. However, I can do nothing to assist Shei. And his lapse in control will draw… unsavory attention his way. It is fortunate that the same did not happen to Armaris."

"That we know of," Ryuji muttered.

The cat turned to Alana, narrowing her eyes even as the purifying energy rapidly made her feel more exhausted. "Can you shut the fuck up?"

Espio let out a heavy sigh upon hearing Armaris speaking in a much more normal fashion like this. "Armaris… try to relax," he murmured. "She is attempting to help you."

Armaris raised both of her hands, flipped off Espio and Alana at the same time, then collapsed forward against the walls of the trap, asleep. Ryuji bit back a small snicker, knowing that the situation shouldn't be funny. Haru, meanwhile, arched a brow at her behavior. "This is… normal?" he deduced somewhat cautiously.

"More or less," Espio confirmed.

Ryuji nodded. "It appears to be. She remains the odd one out in this family."

"In a family full of 'odd' individuals, that does not strike me as particularly possible," Haru huffed. It felt strange referring to all of these people, only one of whom he knew to some degree, as family… but he brushed that off in favor of simply not dealing with such thoughts right this second.

A shrug from Ryuji was the only answer to that. "I've gotta assume she'll be fine, if that's how she was doing while only partially purified."

"She will recover fully," Alana confirmed. "My concern lies mainly with the physical injuries she sustained. It appears that Shei managed to harm her even through all of her Darkness."

Ryuji glanced back to where Arein had been moments before (when she'd left, who could say), then turned his attention to Alana. "You are correct."

"You will need to keep an eye on her," Alana warned. "I do not know specifically how, but this will impact her in some form or another."

Espio frowned at nothing in particular upon hearing this news. "Damn," he cursed under his breath.

Ryuji was quiet for several seconds before turning his gaze to Espio. "I have given Aniko time to approach Shei alone. I will go check on her and ensure she is safe. Please, take care of Armaris. Settle her into my home if yours has been damaged again."

"My home is intact." Espio watched Armaris silently for a moment, then said, "Tell me how Father is doing, when you can. I do not want to be kept in the dark."

"I will keep you informed as much as I can," Ryuji replied, teleporting away.

Haru likewise vanished. However, Espio didn't believe the man had the energy to chase down Shei, no matter how much he likely wanted to. He didn't know where his newest grandparent went, and for now he didn't particularly care. With a sigh, he simply crossed his arms and waited for Alana to relinquish his partner. Only once he could take her home and lay her down to rest could he finally start to relax.

~保護者~

Since the fight (if it could even be called that) between Zsasha and Ghune had occurred, Ryint had sent out a clone to track Zsasha. She had a vague idea of the direction he'd gone as is, but she had to hope she could catch him.

After some time traveling alone in the void of space, Ryint caught his scent and swapped places with the clone. She left all of her weapons at the forge, staying quiet while allowing her presence to be sensed. Take it slow… He's depressed. If this goes poorly, he could do much worse than hide.

With that, she approached, nerves steeled. However, she had no chance to do anything else. The very moment she made her presence known, Zsasha vanished. After spending the entirety of his life avoiding Ghune, he was apparently adept at fleeing on a hairpin trigger. It was, after all, a matter of survival in his case.

Ryint made chase, keeping her presence noticeable at all times. He couldn't run forever. He wouldn't run forever. The man was likely starved… Probably even dying now that she thought about it. But she wouldn't let that happen. She was determined for him to live, no matter what.

Sure enough, it took less than an hour for the pursuit to be over. Zsasha had stopped in an utterly random location, where he was doubled over and fighting to catch his breath. His legs trembled briefly before giving out, causing him to more or less collapse into a sitting position on his knees. He had no energy to go any further… despite how badly he wanted to.

The woman stopped the chase and knelt down a distance away, teleporting a bottle of blood into her hand and rolling it over. "I know you don't have any reason to trust me, but please. Please just drink this. If you need something different, I'll bring it. Just please feed."

Zsasha watched the bottle as opposed to her, then pushed it so that it would roll back to her. He didn't feed off of blood but he would have refused even if he did. He had no desire to secure any kind of meal. Starvation was the surest way to die, as he'd already privately determined a short time ago. Given the fact that he hadn't fed even once since being unwillingly revived, his health was already suffering. He didn't intend on undoing that bit of progress just because someone who was best friends with Ghune asked him to. His whole life in the past had been lived in a perpetual state of hunger and malnutrition, anyway. It wasn't like he was unused to this. "Leave me alone," he mumbled, already in the process of trying to work up the necessary mental and physical energy to flee again. He was failing. Spectacularly.

The vampire settled herself into a sitting position and put her hands on her knees, watching him. She sniffed the air and teleported the bottle away. "Oh… you feed on souls, then," Ryint murmured, her eyes betraying her concern. "I'm not leaving. I know Ghune has treated you poorly in the past, but… honestly, I've told her to fuck off and leave me alone. I don't respect what she's done to you, at all." While she said this, Ryint subtly reached out to spirits. Feeding off of them granted her some… very minor spiritual abilities, enough to find and draw them nearer. If her intuition was correct… Zsasha didn't know how to do this. I hope the spirits coming close will be enough to convince him to feed. If nothing else, it should trigger his instincts to do so.

Zsasha eyed her warily. His suspicion had darkened his eyes more than his depression already had, but he didn't give much vent to either emotion. All he did was edge away from her and demand (albeit in a mumble), "Stay away from me."

"I won't do that," Ryint replied. "I'm worried about you. You're depressed, and you've been mistreated all of your life."

"So what?" he retorted stiffly. "That doesn't mean I have any desire to be around you."

"That doesn't really matter right now," Ryint replied calmly. "I want to make sure you actually survive. I don't want you in danger if I can do anything about it."

"I don't want you around," Zsasha insisted. But whatever spark of defiance and anger he'd been showing was rapidly fizzling out even as he spoke. "The only danger present is you. Where you go, she goes."

"If she comes here, I'll lay her ass out and send her back to New Babylon," Ryint replied calmly. "She knows better than to try some dumb shit like that." Zsasha stayed silent. He shifted to put a small boulder between the two of them and looked away. That rock provided him with very meager defense at best, but it made him feel slightly better. Ryint didn't invade that defense by moving, instead motioning to a spirit that had wandered close. She knew Zsasha would be able to see and otherwise sense it. "I know you don't trust me, and I don't blame you in the slightest. Ghune ostracized you, told people that you were evil. Everyone was turned against you… I don't care what they think. I don't believe you're actually evil, not now that I've come across you."

Zsasha ignored the spirit up until they wandered too close. The instinct to feed was there, but it was heavily drowned out by his complete lack of desire to consume anything. He shooed the spirit away with a small scowl. Annoying asshole.

Ryint insistently called it back. "Zsasha, look… You need to eat at some point."

His scowl deepened and he hugged his knees up to his chest. "I'm not hungry."

"You're lying," Ryint called out gently, moving in such a way that the boulder actually covered more of his vision of her, just so she could lean against a wall. "I've seen what depression does to people, watched it kill. You don't deserve anything like that, nobody does."

"I would rather it kill me," Zsasha muttered. "I never wanted to be revived. All I want is to go back to sleep."

Ryint sighed softly. "Have you ever had tea?"

That caught his attention… mostly because he was confused. "'Tea'?" he echoed as though the word was foreign to him. In his case, that was because it was. His tone communicated as such, albeit unintentionally.

"It's pleasant," Ryint replied, teleporting her equipment in front of her and lighting a fire with her blood magic. "It's essentially just boiled water with certain kinds of plants. The heat of the water extracts oils and such and flavors the water. I usually make my own a bit on the bitter side, but I can add sugar if you'd prefer to try something sweet… or, well, more appetizing."

"Sweet"? I thought that just meant something or someone was nice, or... something like that. Zsasha had never had any kind of sustenance other than souls. The idea of putting something with water into his mouth was… odd. He only used the substance to clean. And, while he was aware that vampires like Cyca drank blood, he'd never heard of people drinking other liquids. "That sounds… strange," was all he wound up saying.

"It is," Ryint admitted with a small chuckle. Her senses stretched out as she teleported large cup to another planet, collecting some water and bringing it back to sit over the open flames, hovering with her magic. "But, they sometimes have medicinal properties. I brew mine with a specific plant that's considered to be a depressant, mostly to help stave off some of my natural aggression."

Zsasha had no comment to make on that. It was… somewhat interesting to learn, he supposed, but it wasn't as though he genuinely cared. He was too tired to care about anything right now. "...Ah."

Ryint was silent for several seconds, allowing Zsasha some time to enjoy the conversation tapering off. The only sound in the area was the bubbling of boiling water and the quiet grinding of Ryint's tea leaves. Once she was done preparing her tea, the woman poured two cups and teleported one to Zsasha after mixing in some sugar. "That's for you."

If only because he had watched her make it, Zsasha had no immediate concerns about it being poisoned or something… strange though it was for him to be able to put even that minor amount of trust in someone other than Cyca and Lior. The scent of the tea made his nose twitch a few times in curiosity, but he made no moves to grab the cup. Mostly because he was still weirded out by the idea of "drinking" something. "No thanks," he mumbled.

"Just a note, tea is terrible once it gets cold," Ryint replied with a vague shrug, taking a sip of her own.

"Then take it back and drink it yourself," was the quiet response. "I don't want it."

"Drinking two cups of tea is hardly what I want to do," Ryint replied easily. Zsasha didn't say anything in reply to that. He opted to just stay silent. Ryint glanced over. "You know, people don't really get to decide how you live your life."

"I never said they did." Zsasha shifted to rest his chin on his arms, still refusing to look in her direction all the while.

"You let people tell you that you're evil," Ryint replied calmly, taking a sip.

"No. No," Zsasha corrected her more sharply than he'd intended. "People told each other that I'm evil. I'm not evil, and I'm not good. I'm just a nightmare that was never supposed to be created."

"That's a start," Ryint replied, setting her cup of tea down. "Dreams can't really exist without nightmares. They're natural, and can help you navigate your life. In your case, there's nothing wrong with being born from one."

"Everything's wrong with it," Zsasha muttered under his breath.

"Explain." Rather than do what she'd asked (demanded? he wasn't sure), Zsasha stayed silent and refused to say anything else. "I don't see what's wrong with it."

Then you're an idiot, Zsasha privately decided. But it… felt safer not to say that out loud. He was well aware of this woman's reputation. She was powerful. She'd thrash him with ease if he said or did anything to set her off, of that he was certain.

Ryint finished off her tea and stretched a little. "You ever learn any magic?"

"No," Zsasha sighed. "I don't have many powers." He didn't know why he was telling her this, but… it was too late to take it back now.

The female vampire chuckled softly. "Absolutely untrue. You've got a wealth of abilities and powers. More than me, I'm thinking. You've also got a lot of power hiding in there."

Zsasha scoffed quietly. "You're wrong. Or lying."

"Do you know how to smell a lie?" Ryint questioned in return. "I can teach you."

There wasn't any point in learning. Zsasha didn't intend to be around much longer, after all. So he refused. "I'm not interested."

"Truthfulness smells… in my opinion, vaguely of mint, while lies smell sorta like the smoke from a campfire. Of course, this isn't exactly the same for everyone. Lior's truthfulness smells more like… how do I explain… kinda like water?"

"I said I wasn't interested," Zsasha grumbled. He went ahead and committed the information to memory anyway, though, since it wasn't like he could avoid hearing her words while he was sitting here.

"I've been told my truthfulness smells like cinnamon, while my lies smell kinda like an acid," Ryint explained, ignoring his grumbling. "If you know anything about those smells. I've got samples of both available, if you're curious."

Zsasha was well aware of what acid was thanks to Lior's many years of potion brewing and the like, but he'd never even heard the word cinnamon before. Still, he didn't comment on any of that. All he said was, "I don't care."

Ryint nodded and slowly stood up, leaving the flames going. Her equipment, however, was teleported away. "Alright, alright. I'll get out of here, leave you be for a bit. However…" She teleported a stick of cinnamon in front of him, knowing his sense of smell would be too good to avoid it. "That spirit is still nearby if you wanna feed, and this fire is going if you want to heat that tea back up."

"No thanks."

Understanding that he was no longer in a mood to even entertain chatter, Ryint simply teleported away, leaving the man be for now. She had a feeling that she was needed somewhere else.

~保護者~

With the chaos of the raid ringing loudly in her ears, Cyca made her way out of Nareish's realm and to the home of the God of the Forge - more specifically the former one. She didn't care all that much about the current one for the most part. Li certainly had his uses in some scenarios, and she intended to work that to her advantage here if possible, but there were no grander plans for him in the works. Not as of now, at any rate.

Sneaking into the forge would have proved difficult if not for Nareish's assistance. The woman hid Cyca completely from the senses of those around her. Grinning toothily, she waltzed right into the building and prowled around until she had located her targets. Once she was sure of where everyone was, she simply waited until Nareish had restrained everyone (sans her first target, naturally) before revealing herself and sauntering into the room where her first two prey items were located. It was the forge proper, as far as she could tell. "Oh, Li," she called cheerily. "Be a dear and greet your master, will you? I've missed you so much in the time we've been apart." For the time being, she ignored Sothan. His time would come in a minute.

Li twisted, his hammer replaced with a sword. He couldn't bring himself to raise it at her however, couldn't make himself be angry. Shakily, he dropped the weapon and walked over, wrapping his arms around her. Cyca chuckled and hugged him back readily. "There's a good boy. I have a quick task for you. Your girlfriend is restrained in another room, though I can assure you that she is unharmed. Go and bring her here, will you?" Li soon did so, prompting Cyca to resume hugging him as a reward.

Sothan's upper lip curled in temptation to snarl. In all his life he didn't think he'd ever made such a sound. However, when Cyca actually touched Li, the sound erupted from deep within his chest completely of its own accord. "Do not dare to presume that you are free to lay your hands on him."

"Oh, hush," Cyca grinned as she gave his nephew a gentle squeeze. "We're only doing what two lovers do. It's completely natural, though I can't expect one as… innocent in such matters as yourself to understand."

Another growl rumbled through his chest in reply. On some instinctive level (specifically involving vampire instincts as far as he could tell), he knew precisely what she was doing to Li. The glassiness of his nephews eyes was proof enough. It infuriated him in spite of the fact that he'd only ever felt such intense anger toward Nareish before. It seemed that that was a second thing they had in common in his mind. They both infuriated him… and he had rapidly learned to hate each of them. Damn you. Damn you both.

Novei's attention had been focused on listening in. Currently, she was turned away from the situation, and honestly… that was probably for the best. Her pupils dilated and a hiss escaped her. "I will warn you once to run while you still have the chance. I will seek you out and devour you. Take your hands off of my boyfriend."

"I will not," Cyca laughed. "I enjoy it too much. Seeing how angry it makes you both, that is." Returning her attention to Li, she slipped two vials of blood into his hands. "I have a request, my love. Will you go feed these to her? Make sure she drinks every drop."

Li nodded obediently and walked over to Novei. She stared at him quickly for a moment as he uncorked a vial, then she murmured, "I already forgive you…" The blood was poured into her mouth from both vials, and she was forced to swallow.

"Well done, Li," Cyca smiled. She held out the remaining vials to him and said, "Give the rest of these to your uncle. Nareish's orders." She had no qualms about revealing that last bit. After all, her unwanted "master" had never told her that she couldn't. It was a small act of rebellion, sure, but it was somewhat satisfying in the moment.

Now, while Sothan was generally soft-spoken and polite, he was not and had never been above swearing. In fact, he'd cursed out (and subsequently offended) a decent handful of people in his day. Granted, they had each deserved it for being absolute pricks, but the point remained true nonetheless. As for Cyca? She was crossing major lines, to put it as mildly as possible. He wasn't afraid to tell her that either, using what some considered to be the absolute king of all insults in Chinese.

Using it against someone who understood the phrase could easily result in an immediate fistfight - or worse. That was how offensive it genuinely was. Sure, it didn't sound quite as biting as it was meant to be when translated (at least in his opinion), but he was beyond caring at this point. "Cào nǐ zǔzōng shǐbā dài," he muttered crossly under his breath, knowing full well that she would hear. It occurred to him belatedly that he'd rarely, if ever, cursed around Li before but, well… it was too late to take his words back now. ("Fuck your ancestors all the way back to the eighteenth generation.")

Li looked to Sothan, visibly surprised. "Sothan… why would you say that to her?" he asked in a soft tone. Cyca, meanwhile, merely raised an eyebrow. It wasn't clear whether or not she'd understood the insult, since she didn't let on to the truth one way or the other.

Sothan shifted his gaze to Li. It was obvious that his nephew wasn't really himself right now. As such, Sothan wasn't entirely sure how to respond to him. All he wound up saying was, "She deserves it."

Before Li could quite get his words out, Tempest broke into the conversation. "I have tried to rest with my sister, as she has suffered great turmoil. And you come here… You corrupt my child, using her boyfriend?" she demanded to know.

Cyca turned her head to look out of the room they were in, toward where the other two Therians were trapped. "Shush," she chuckled. "You'll have a chance to be ticky in a minute. We're busy." With that, she swung the door shut using her magic. "Li, you should do what I asked. We may not have a great deal of time before someone figures out what we're up to here."

Li nodded and walked over to Sothan, getting the vials ready. "I'm sorry, Sothan. You understand, right?"

Sothan glared harshly at Cyca. You'll pay for this. He felt… angry. That wasn't a feeling he'd ever experienced often, but it was entirely warranted here. Using Li for your schemes like this… I'll kill you for it. He decided it was best not to answer Li's question right this minute. There was no desire in him to direct any of his anger at his nephew whatsoever.

"Can you open your mouth?" Li asked.

When Sothan predictably refused, Cyca herself walked over. "Come, now. Are you really going to force me to pry your mouth open? That's a waste of perfectly good magical energy, you know." Her words earned another glare, prompting her to laugh. "As you wish, then," she said cheerily. As promised, she used her magic to force his teeth apart so that Li could do as she'd ordered. Despite how much Sothan was resisting, it didn't make a lick of difference. He wasn't used to having or using any magic other than creation magic so, even if his powers weren't being subdued by this trap, he wouldn't have been able to put up much of a fight in Cyca's opinion.

Carefully, Li poured the contents of each vial into Sothan's mouth as Cyca had asked. Once he was finished and Cyca forced their victim to swallow, the woman smiled. "Well done, Li," she praised him. "These two should start feeling the effects very soon, I would wager."

Li managed a weak smile to Cyca glancing between Novei and Sothan. The Therian was simply there with her head hanging. He could sense the menacing hatred flowing from her, and the way it manifested in her aura. She's beginning to feel more like a beast than a person…

Cyca observed Novei and Sothan for a moment longer with a sly grin. They're beginning to bow to the corruption already. I had expected it to take longer… And with that one, it just might. She looked at Sothan in particular. He's fighting it. So how to make that resistance falter… She considered this for a moment before hitting upon an idea. "Ah, that's right. There's a whelp somewhere in this building, is there not? I suppose I should go fetch the rotten little thing."

Sothan felt an immediate surge of protective anger rise up in him. "Don't you dare touch him."

Li grabbed Cyca's arm (gently, of course) and shook his head. "Don't drag the child into this. There is no good reason to do so."

"That's where you would be wrong," Cyca informed him. "His mother wants him back, you know. Children need their mothers, don't you think?"

"Nareish is a terrible woman," Li said with an intense frown, carefully tightening his grip to pull her closer. "Please… he's suffered so much already. He doesn't deserve to suffer more."

"That she is," Cyca readily agreed. At the same time, Sothan began struggling against his restraints with renewed vigor. "But, while I normally would not care to handle a child in any capacity, I am afraid that I cannot go against her wishes. I am duty-bound to at least attempt making off with it and returning it to her." As she spoke, feeling a very mild satisfaction again at her second small act of rebellion against Nareish by revealing so much, she pulled her arm free.

"I can't let you," Li said. He was shaking at the thought of defying her, but he did slowly move in the way. "I went through a lot as a teen. It isn't the same as a baby suffering, but still… Nobody deserves to have a rough life. If I can make that one life better, that'll make me happy."

"Then I'm afraid I must order you to stay put," Cyca told him in response. "Don't get in my way again, Li. A good partner wouldn't be slowing me down like this." With that said, she turned and strolled out of the room. Novei began struggling against her restraints as well when Cyca spoke to Li like that, when she smelled the tears welling in his eyes. Visions of what she'd done to the woman before filtered her other thoughts away, even as she struggled in vain to get free.

It didn't take long for Cyca to locate a bedroom with a crib in it. The child was laying in there fast asleep, and she huffed derisively. I don't see why Zsasha cares about these things so much. They're weak, loud, annoying, and many of them are sticky and smelly to boot. Shaking her head, she approached the crib and reached an arm down inside of it. The moment her hand brushed against the bundle of poofy black fur, however, she felt more than heard a sort of crack. One of Nareish's traps, despite being strong enough to easily hold semi-Immortals, had just shattered. She whirled around in time to see the culprit appear in the doorway, massive hammer in hand. "Oh, so it was you," she observed. "I should like to know how you managed that, but it can wait. I have a job to do."

Sothan growled lowly in the back of his throat. "Back away from him."

"I think not," was the somewhat snarky reply. "If you intend on fighting me in an effort to force me, do me a favor and prove yourself more skilled with such a weapon than your dear nephew. He was much too slow to strike me. It was hardly an entertaining confronta-"

She had no time to finish her sentence. It seemed she had miscalculated for once. Far from what she'd expected, this man was capable of incredible speed despite the weight of his weapon. The hammer struck her with far more than enough force to send her straight through one of the walls and then careening through the empty blackness of space on the other side of it. nareish promptely teleported her away. Not more than a second later, the head of the hammer (along with a few inches of the pole it was connected to) snapped off and crashed into the ground hard enough to break into it. Sothan's shock over this was drowned out by a sudden wave of nausea and he sank down onto one knee, fighting not to gag or worse.

When Cyca was so cleanly hit, Li found himself freed of the control. Rather than immediately go to Sothan or his girlfriend, Li did the only thing he thought was correct and reached out to the other deities. "The forge… Sothan and Novei are corrupted. Someone help." To anyone who got the message, the fear in his thoughts bled through in every word.

In an instant, Cere was in the forge with her halberd drawn. She appeared by Li and wrapped him up in a tight, motherly hug as he started openly sobbing. Her focus was on protecting him while her senses searched for Sothan. "I found Novei. She's in bad shape…" she called out to the other deities. "Anyone who is coming here, prepare for a fight. Sothan's corruption may be worse."

Althea responded to her quickly. "Can't come. Too many enemies. What the hell happened?" Shortly after that, Finis appeared beside Cere and began taking in the situation at hand.

"Don't know, but Li's emotional state has deteriorated. Is there anyone who can take him temporarily for his own safety?"

"What about his father? He should be there, should he not?'

"Not present. I would send him away with Calypso, but everyone aside from Sothan and Li appears to be restrained by Nareish."

Finis frowned at nothing in particular. He had been following the conversation while simultaneously examining the energy-based bindings that were holding Novei in place. "I do not see how he could have broken free from this," he muttered. "He is no longer a semi-Immortal, not since passing the role onto Li. Even assuming he was, this would have been difficult for him to break out of despite his strength."

Cere immediately cut in, announcing to the rest of the deities, "Sothan appears to be an Immortal, from what I'm sensing as well as Finis's findings." Murmurings of how impossible that was passed through the connection, but no one dared to argue with their group's leaders.

His attention exclusively on Cere now, Finis said, "He appears to be in his room. The corruption is taking root, but he is fighting it. He has not yet been changed much."

Turning her thoughts to him exclusively, Cere frowned. "It is only a matter of time. We don't know what they did to him. Our best bet is to get everyone to safety, now." She paused, then added, "There's a kid in his room. One of us should speak to him and tell him the child will be safe with us, while he is still mentally present."

"You should handle it," Finis told her. "I will get Li somewhere safe. Tempest and Calypso as well."

Cere nodded and slipped away from Li, moving him to Finis as she quickly moved into Sothan's room. Her gaze examined everything to take stock of the situation. He was still sitting where he had been moments before, and was likewise still fighting against the random (though not truly so) physical sickness that had hit him as a result of what he'd been forced to drink. No aggression was shown toward her, nor did he attempt to get up or speak right then.

The Hexan was quiet as she knelt down near him. "Sothan, I can see and feel the fight you are having internally. If I may, I would like to take the child elsewhere to keep him safe should a fight break out here. Is that okay?"

Sothan nodded stiffly and without hesitation, then bit out, "Qǐng ràng tā yuǎnlí wǒ, Mā." ("Please get him away from me, Mom.")

Cere murmured her acknowledgement and moved to the crib, gently scooping the child into her arms. The baby immediately began to cry. "Be safe, my child. I will help you where I can… and your family will be under my protection elsewhere." Sothan could only nod this time, as he was now having to focus some of his attention on not reacting to his newly awakened protective fatherly instincts on top of still fighting the corruption with everything he had. The latter fight was one he knew he was steadily losing.

Rather than stay and give him a reason to react harshly, Cere teleported the child away and moved to go collect the others in the building. "Sothan is falling to the corruption. We don't have much time," she called to Finis.

Finis made some unhappy utterance and dragged Tempest and Calypso over to himself and Cere. "We are taking you both elsewhere. Do not resist." Calypso stared at her niece and remained silent. She knew too well what was taking place here. Tempest was silent, tears spilling over her furious gaze. She didn't resist, even if she wanted to. Finis sent them and Li away without wasting further time, then teleported to the same place with Cere and the baby. It was Nier's home, for there was nowhere else he could think of to go for shelter on such short notice. "What do we do, Cere?" he asked her quietly. His normally neutral expression was somewhat pained. "That is our son. We cannot let Nareish get away with this. She must be at least partially responsible."

Cere sighed, her expression betraying her exhaustion at it all. "We must remain on our guard for now. We cannot help him ourselves. Extending this information along to the current Immortals is the best we can do. If I approach him while he is corrupted, it may result in a swift death for me."

Though he was unhappy with this response, Finis knew that she was right. "I will inform them," he told her. "These people… require a gentler, more sympathetic hand than I can offer. You are better suited to aiding them right this minute."

"I do not know if I can offer the soothing and… iron-willed statements I usually bring. I am worn…" Cere glanced down to the still-crying child she'd pulled into her arms, holding him close. "I will try, however."

"That is all I ask." Finis vanished without a trace right after he finished speaking.

Thanks… Cere pushed her annoyance aside and walked to the room everyone else was in. Everyone's emotions in there were in all sorts of disarray, so Cere called upon a rare power she had been born with to draw everyone's attention and thoughts to her.

Calypso was the only one to speak in response to what had just happened. "What you want, Cere? You going say somet'ing?"

For a long moment, Cere was at a loss for words. It didn't happen often. She just stood there, then she sighed. "I'm not going to mince words. Sothan has ascended to become an Immortal and was just the target of corruption. Novei was corrupted as well. All I can say with certainty is that I will find some way, some solution to this." Li was dead silent. He didn't even attempt to raise his head up from his curled up position, clutching so tightly to his legs that his own strength threatened to tear into his skin. Anyone could hear that he was still crying, even if he was trying to be quiet.

"Sot'an can no be an Immortal," Calypso frowned. "All t'e special Immortals be found already, and t'ere be four 'normal' ones." As she spoke, she kept a very close watch over Li. She didn't know him well enough to offer any words of comfort to him, but she was at least trying to make sure he didn't unknowingly hurt himself. It was the least she could do for her niece's partner.

"I know," Cere murmured. "But… really, nobody besides maybe Jet knows Immortals better than I do. I've raised several generations of them, trained them. Fought beside them… His energies, tainted though they were beginning to be with corruption, were that of an Immortal," the Hexan explained quietly. "I know no better way to explain, but… perhaps knowing that the hammer he came into existence with as a semi-Immortal was broken whenever he attacked that vampire… Maybe that will help."

Calypso felt her eyes widened and she reflexively tossed a glance at her sister. They had heard all about that hammer in the past, due in no small part that even Saethrim couldn't lift the thing easily. "T'at may… force me change my opinion," she reluctantly agreed. "But it still make no sense."

"I won't pretend to understand," Cere answered. "I've got no answers for that, but… it does make the circumstance that much harder to handle."

Initially, Calypso was silent. Then she said, "Get Saet'rim here. Sot'an and Novei, t'ey be turned into vampire. It happen maybe a day or two ago. He might not know yet, but t'at don't mean he can no help."

The initial thought in her head was to absolutely avoid Saethrim, if only because they often didn't get along, but that was so far removed from her less than a second later that it hardly existed. "Saethrim, get your ass here now." He was significantly slower than he usually would have been, but when he did arrive, Cere's eyes widened. You too?

Taking note of Cere's reaction, Calypso frowned at her. "What t'e matter wit' you?" She turned to Saethrim and added, "And why you take so long to get here, eh?"

Saethrim glanced to Cere, then cut Tempest off with a flick to the forehead by warping his hand to her. "I was watching over Black Doom. Since shit went down with him, the only time I've left his side was to kill Dark Gaia, and a few times when Ghune was watching over him. I had to swap places with her and warp here. Also, damn certain I'm an Immortal now. Unimportant. What do you need?"

Calypso digested all of this rapidly, helped in part by the fact that she'd already been aware of him watching Black Doom (just not the part about him swapping places with Ghune). She let out a sigh. "T'at vampire woman you tell me about, Cyca… She attack again. Best person tell you more be Li, but he no talking right now. Perhaps he come around if him fat'er here, but Xin disappear when she show up."

"Definitely kidnapped by Nareish or something. I'll find him," Saethrim replied shortly, vanishing without another word. The man returned with the person in question, making sure to hold him lightly at the shoulders in case he had trouble standing. He didn't bother looking at anything or seeing if enemies were around.

Xin was badly injured at the time, though it was difficult to see what specific injuries he'd suffered beneath his blood-soaked mage's robes. He was clutching at a particularly large and bloody injury on his stomach with both hands and trying to conjure up the energy to cast a fire spell in order to cauterize the wound. Or, at least, he had been until Saethrim had brought him to Li and the others. From where he was sitting on the ground wherever he'd been teleported to a short bit earlier, he looked up at the other man with a mildly startled gaze. How did he know where to find me? ...You know what, I shouldn't even be surprised.

Saethrim ignored the rest of the room and transformed himself into a vampire, flicking a few fingers to cast a spell with Xin's blood, rapidly closing his wounds. He then motioned toward Li as the blood drained out of Xin's clothes, any excess being discarded somewhere in distant space. Xin had the presence of mind to murmur something or other in thanks to Saethrim, but all of his focus was already shifting squarely to his son. Heedless of the fact that he wasn't fully healed just yet, he stood and hurriedly limped over to the other wolf, who he then knelt beside and put a hand on. "Li?" he asked in a soft, gentle tone. "Can you hear me?"

Li summoned the energy to lift his head a little, but it was almost like seeing his father awakened more of that pain within him. He cried harder and clung to the man for comfort, wrapping him up tightly. Xin pulled Li into an upright position, then held him close in a tight (though not suffocating) hug. "Shh," he all but whispered. "You're okay now. I'm here."

While Xin comforted Li, Saethrim found himself connecting some ancient dots. He'd never interacted with the man (Saethrim, after all, wasn't the most social), but he certainly knew of Xin. When Xin had died, it was a devastating blow to the deities… especially Cere, Finis, and Sothan. But he'd never personally cared beyond the fact that they had cared. He'd then heard of Akol at some point through Ghune, but… Well, he supposed he could say he'd never met Xin before. Transformed into a vampire a long time ago… Lost your memories. Got them back recently. …Hm.

Tempest was silent. Cere's words did nothing to soothe her nerves, Li's crying was incessantly agitating her (she would admit it wasn't his fault, however), and she was feeling somewhat irritated under the fury she was forced to bury about the whole situation. Staying quiet was the best thing she could do, but it was growing harder by the second. So she instead just sat there and waited.

It took quite a while for Xin to successfully calm Li down. The younger wolf was… in shock, to say the least. He blamed himself for all of it, no matter what anyone said. He didn't really release the death grip he held on his knees either, refusing to raise his head. This was a situation that required a great deal of delicacy for his sake… but information was also desperately needed. Finis turned his attention to Cere and murmured so that only she could hear, "We need him to tell us precisely what happened… but I don't think he can. What do you propose we do?"

It happened that Calypso spoke before Cere could answer him. She directed her full attention to Li, who she addressed in a far gentler tone than she often used for most people. "Li," she called over to him. Xin glanced at her, but he didn't say anything to deter her from doing this. "You tell us what happen? We only could hear some of what happen when t'at woman trap us in t'e other room."

Through some sniffles and a few very disgusting noises caused solely by his mental state, Li spoke up in a voice barely above a whisper. "She made me feed them a corrupted liquid… Some… some sort of blood…" His father gently rubbed his back in an effort to further soothe him.

Calypso frowned. "Why you do what she say? You no t'e type to obey person like her."

"I can't-… I don't have a choice!" Li cried out, fingers gripping the skin and fur on his head. "She bit me and ever since then I just can't fight back!"

"She control you somehow?" Calypso frowned.

Xin swallowed thickly. "She does a form of control similar to what sirens do," he explained. "She sang to him and bit him. I don't… I don't know of any way to break her hold on him." Finis stared at them all, plainly upset, but didn't comment yet.

Saethrim sighed and walked over to Li, patting him lightly on the shoulder. "If I help with that issue, stop that control she has over you, will that help you?"

Li… Well, Li knew that Saethrim wasn't the best at emotion. By all means, he was essentially a wild animal on his own, but he could hear the care in Saethrim's voice. It was… a touch unexpected. "I… yeah… it would."

Without another word, Saethrim subdued the effects of Cyca's bite on Li, then utterly removed them. It wasn't not like he knew ahead of time that he could do that, though. It just happened instinctually. "Good. I'm going to leave to help in the raid with Nareish. Someone is fighting her, and it's causing existence to quake a bit."

"It is one of the Immortals," Xin said. "I do not think he needs help, but his allies may. And… thank you for aiding my son."

Saethrim nodded slowly, then cracked his neck and tensed his muscles. "You guys need me, reach out. I'll be back soon enough." he vanished immediately after saying this, intent on joining the raid.

"Saethrim-" Finis cut himself off with a mental sigh when his friend disappeared before he could finish. "Cere, are you capable of dragging him back here? We still need him. He is the only one who can quickly and easily locate Sothan and Novei, as well as the only one who might be capable of at least somewhat pacifying them until proper purification can be arranged."

Cere gave a sigh and immediately tried, but found that he was significantly stronger and could fully resist. "I don't think I can. Not anymore."

Luckily, though, he reappeared a few seconds later with a raised eyebrow, looking between them both. "What?"

Finis blinked at the pair of them, then turned his attention to Saethrim. "Sothan and Novei need to be found," he explained again. "If at all possible, they need to be calmed as well. They are likely lashing out. And they have each departed from the forge. The restraints on Novei appear to have been released."

"Done." Saethrim replied. "They're super easy to locate because they're out of control vampires. Novei went to the nearest planet and is lashing out there. If I'm not mistaken, Sothan is rapidly on the move. Likelihood is that he's hunting down Cyca. I don't recommend approaching him. I'll work on settling their emotions cautiously without them noticing. If they realize they're being affected, they can resist it a lot better."

"It is possible that it will make little difference," Xin murmured, "but I would be grateful if you tried."

Saethrim frowned and decided to see if he could do precisely what was on his mind. Ghune's gonna flip if she realizes I can do it. The man made a clone of himself and sent it off after Novei. "Guess I'll avoid joining the fight with Nareish. I'll head out to approach Sothan in a minute. He's gonna be much more complicated to handle."

"That is likely true," Xin agreed, "but I do think you were wrong about one thing. Cyca appears to have Nareish on her side now, whether willingly or otherwise. Sothan is not stupid enough to chase her down under those circumstances. Wherever he's gone, it's for other reasons." He suspected he knew what said reasons were, too, but… he found himself greatly hesitating to say them out loud with Li right here.

The da Asani was silent for several seconds before more of his natural personality leaked out… in the form of a groan. "Ah, fucking hell. You're right." He then disappeared like his clone had moments before.

Tempest frowned and looked to Calypso. "Your boyfriend is acting weird."

"Somet'ing very t'e matter," Calypso answered with a frown of her own. For Li's sake, she used what limited magic she could access now that hers and Tempest's restraints were fading to block out his sense of hearing. She doubted he'd even notice. "You him fat'er, so I understand why you hold back," she told Xin, "but t'em two need know what going on." She gestured with her head at Cere and Finis. "T'ey parent, too. T'ey worry greatly."

Xin hesitated some more. Reluctantly, he asked Cere, "How much do you know about vampires?" He didn't bother posing this question to Finis, since the man had (however unintentionally) created the race to begin with.

Cere sighed softly, shaking her head. "Less than I could know… due to some mistakes I made in the past. I crossed Saethrim and Ghune on more than one occasion."

When Finis remained silent on the matter and didn't offer any explanations of his own, Xin forged ahead. "Many vampires, perhaps even most of us, gain control over ourselves, our urges to feed, and so on eventually. An unfortunate few simply can't control such impulses and run wild, much like how Novei is behaving currently. Then there are an even rarer few… a group who can perfectly control their behaviors but cannot stop themselves from constantly desiring to feed. They crave blood every second of every day, no matter how well-fed they are. And Sothan… He was starting to show signs of being in that latter category."

The Hexan sighed a second time. "Of course… On top of that, he's becoming an Immortal… meaning he's basically in a permanent feeding frenzy as one of the most powerful of the new Immortals in existence? Or am I making assumptions?" she asked, genuinely unsure.

"It is not quite the same as a frenzy," Finis patiently explained. "A vampire in a frenzy is a vampire who can no longer control themselves. Not their words, not their actions, nothing. Their emotions and, chiefly, their instincts are in control instead. This can be viewed as somewhat similar in that the instincts and urges in question are permanently running rampant, but it is important to remember that his behavior is not."

"So we're in a better situation, then, because we might be able to reach some part of him that is… well, himself?" Cere asked gently, hopeful.

"The corruption is likely making him… less than willing or able to rein in his cravings," Xin said carefully, "but it's my hope that Saethrim will be capable of calming down the aggression and whatnot that may be contributing to the problem. If he can, then Sothan should hopefully be able to regain control."

Tempest frowned. "'Hopefully'. I don't like the sound of that."

"It is certainly far from ideal," Finis agreed with a frown.

Cere took in a breath. "If he can't, we'll just have to figure it out."

"I would prefer there be some sort of plan in place," Finis admitted. "I do not like 'winging it'."

"Only so much to plan," Cere replied with a sigh. "This war has brought many unknowns… the likes of which we simply have to approach with caution." Finis muttered unhappily, but didn't say anything else substantial.

Xin decided to interrupt… if only because he had something important to say. "What of Novei? What we are hoping to do for Sothan is not necessary for her, nor is it going to be effective."

"We may just have to grab and restrain her," Tempest said, as if it would be easy.

"That will do little to keep her calm," Xin pointed out. "If anything, that will likely infuriate her all over again." Right about then, Calypso's magic wore off and freed Li's hearing again.

Li, realizing that someone had stopped him from hearing what was happening, lifted his head with a vaguely irritated expression. "What are we talking about?"

Hesitant, Cere explained. "We were debating what we could do to help Novei."

"And discussing Sothan," Xin added. He knew Li wouldn't want to be kept out of the loop, even just slightly.

"Give me a short bit… I'll handle her," Li replied with a sudden calm, rubbing at his nose. "I know her better than anyone here. I can get to her."

"Aye, you're the best person to," Xin agreed, albeit with some reluctance. "Just… be careful. Please. This form of corruption is so rare as to be almost unheard of. I've no idea how she'll react to you."

"I'm stronger, faster, and more skilled in most forms of combat. If she gets aggressive… I'll be fine. I just think she has the best chance to react positively toward me, so hopefully fighting can be ignored…" Li fell quiet for a moment, and Cere walked over to give him a comforting one-armed hug.

"Aye," Xin said again. "I hope it all goes well. But we'll all be here to help if need be." In truth, however… she's not the one I'm concerned about. As Li said, he can most certainly deal with her.

Li looked to Xin and shrugged. "We'll… do what we can. The best we can do is try."

Finis nodded, then communicated solely to Cere for a moment. "We should tell him about his uncle… then leave him and Xin be to gather themselves."

Finally, Cere broke away from the hug and looked to Li. You've grown so much, Li… I hate seeing you this way. "Sothan is in a similar situation, sadly. His condition is… bad, only strengthened by his issues with being a newly turned vampire and blossoming Immortal. Due to being newly turned as well as how he was starved when he should have had his first feed… he has intense cravings for blood and little desire to control it in while in a corrupted state."

The wolf looked at Cere tiredly. She'd expected anything really, maybe some more tears or something, but his expression didn't change. "I… yeah. That's how things go." Li lifted himself to his feet and wiped his face with a hand. The other raised and summoned Sothan's hammer into his hand, only to find the thing in two pieces when it arrived. He blinked several times and knelt down, carefully merging the broken pieces and recreating anything lost from when it was damaged. "...Guess you're right about the Immortal part. Nobody could break this thing, maybe not even Sothan himself. At least, not by accident." Privately, Finis had to agree. Even as a toddler who didn't know his own strength, Sothan had never even come close to damaging his precious, existential possession. Not even once.

"I had been wondering where your assumption was coming from, Cere," Xin murmured, "but it does make some sense now. Still… I cannae figure out how this would be happening."

Li ultimately shrugged, speaking before others for once. "I've stopped asking questions about how the Immortals work. Have you met Sein?" He managed a wan smile at his dry joke, then hefted the weapon over his shoulder as his own appeared in his hand. "I'm gonna go make something in the forge to ease my nerves… and prepare for the hell we're gonna face. If anyone needs me… just say so." He teleported away quietly, leaving no trace of his presence as he buried his aura to be less noticeable.

Tempest blinked once, then looked to Cere. "You're quite fucking bad at this."

"...Fuck you," Cere grumbled, shaking her head and turning to Finis. "Should we keep the child in our care?"

"In asking you to take the boy away from him, Sothan all but begged you to care for this child," Finis answered her softly. "Our son does not beg. He never has. I would not… 'feel right' going against his wishes on this."

"My question-" She paused, then nodded slowly. "There is no better option now."

"There is that as well," Finis acknowledged with an inaudible exhalation of breath.

Cere frowned in thought, then gave a sigh of her own. "I may visit the Lost Hex briefly… My exhaustion is drawing in despite my efforts to rest."

Finis considered this for a moment. "Then leave the child with me. The realm is safe enough these days due to Wave's efforts, but despite his incredible magical potential this child will suffer harm going there. The magic contained in the very air he'd be breathing will be too much for one so small and fragile."

Nary a soul would dare threaten me there, but the child remains the concern. Cere waved a hand and opened a portal, handing the child to Finis. I will not be long. I merely wish to absorb the magical energy. Once the baby was safely in Finis' grasp, Cere walked through, exhaling a breath she hadn't realized was being held. This war drags on yet still. How much longer can I stand it before I break apart?

~保護者~

Sein took several slow breaths. "You likely won't get to kill her, even if you want to." Utavi's voice rang out in his head. Her power was resting within him. "This is a chance for you to protect, to vent."

The hawk's blade shone from his preparations, cleaned religiously over the last couple minutes. His shield and gauntlets, too. "You will be alone against her, aside from our aid. You are fighting Nareish. Remember that."

He couldn't forget. Her sins against his family, friends… his son. Jet hadn't gotten to be raised by his parents. He'd undergone hell, hell, and more hell. Alana hadn't gotten to see their son grow up into an amazing man.

"She will hurt people to get your attention, to make you slip up. Don't let her." She'd hurt enough people already. Li came to mind, as did Kath. Cyril. Sothan. Laralei, Sonic, Silver. More people than he could name right now. He felt rage on behalf of them all.

"You are a warrior, chosen by the Faein for this task." It was his job. Sein's eyes shone with determination, his hand gripping his blade tightly. His shield extended.

"Sein. You are fighting for everyone. Fighting for yourself. Your family. Your friends. People you know, people you don't. Those that you love, those that you hate."

"You are fighting for all of existence. In this moment, don't let yourself slip up. Don't falter. Don't die."

Sein had no intentions of dying, his aura flaring as he rebuffed Nareish's henchmen. He was in her domain now, but in this moment, with Utavi's blessing, they couldn't even step close. His blazing aura tore them apart. "Nareish!" He called out, taking one more deep breath.

The woman didn't immediately show herself, but she did speak. Her voice echoed across the empty space surrounding him, making it sound like it was coming from everywhere all at once. "Ah, Sein," she practically purred. "I haven't laid my eyes upon you since you were so cruelly freed from my control. I do so miss having such a loyal pet."

Sein walked forward, letting his breath out. "You're too busy causing everyone else pain," he replied. "Like Sothan and Li." The hawk kept his senses outstretched, waiting for her to show herself. "You play the same goddamn game over and over. Doesn't it get old?"

"Oh, it will eventually," Nareish agreed easily. "But for now… the game is too new and too fun to let go of so soon. And besides, I am constantly finding new ways to alter it. For instance… I only just recently learned how much tainted blood can affect a vampire. Corrupts them from the inside out, as it turns out… It's rather fascinating to watch as someone as sickeningly kind as Sothan tries to fight the effects."

"Keep your spirits up," Utavi's words echoed in his mind. "You're on her turf. Don't lose control."

Sein took another deep breath and released it. "You just lost The Game," he snickered. Yes, he felt fury at the idea of Sothan suffering through more than he already had, but he needed to keep himself from losing control.

For one reason or another, Nareish decided to show herself to him after he said that. She had her usual confident, malicious smirk on her face and a bloodstained sword in her hand. "I don't believe I have," she drawled. "But I will give you one opportunity to try and prove me wrong… if you can."

"You see, everyone is born playing The Game. You lose the moment that you realize you're playing. So, just by admitting that you haven't lost, you've admitted that you're playing and lost." Sein smirked at her, raising his blade. "But I'm also gonna beat the shit out of you regardless."

"You are more than welcome to try," Nareish invited him. "Come along, Sein. I am itching for a proper brawl." Sein took a step forward, then made the air ripple around himself with the force of his leap, launching into battle with his blade brandished. Nareish lunged as well and, just like that, their fight had begun.

Elsewhere in her realm, Cyril found himself fighting seriously, for once. His hands soared through the space around him as meteors crashed into the ground against his enemies, followed by tidal waves and pillars of earth. His eyes roamed the battlefield as he allowed his magic and instincts to take over, dodging and weaving around attacks effortlessly.

Eila, of course, was fine. She conjured up pillars of flame and bursts of ice to control where the enemies could go, keeping others safe while idly slicing through anything that got close. She was safe for now.

Sonic and Silver were fairly close to one another, which was reasonable. Father and son, after all. Silver's psychokinetic powers were a great complement to Sonic's primarily physical attacks, allowing them to cover all ranges effectively. They were fine, and Eila was near them, anyway.

Massive swathes of ice were a sight to behold, with Cyril watching as Yareis and Kath fought together in clear unison. Each of his attacks was followed perfectly with one of Yareis's, allowing nothing to even come close to them. Cyril was glad to see them doing well together.

Jet was… Jet. The man was legendary for a reason. As of yet, he hadn't even tapped into any of his more dangerous abilities. His sword and speed were more than enough for the time being. Every slight movement he made resulted in swaths of deaths around him. He even had the gall to look bored so far.

Cyril glanced to Steam and idly waved a hand, conjuring a storm of blades around him. The hedgehog quickly began using them to his advantage, sending several flying across the battlefield as his own attacks while using the extras for varying purposes. He seemed fine enough now, but he'd certainly been getting overrun and sectioned off from the others.

"Hey, Wave!" Cyril called out. "Mind clearing up a path for Steam? These guys are forcing him on his own. Might be on purpose."

His half-Hexan friend appeared in a flash of golden light. Magic flared around herself and Steam, instantly vaporizing anything that was too weak to withstand the attack. She glanced around at everyone Cyril had already taken note of along with everyone else he hadn't paid attention to, then called back to Cyril, "It looks like we're doing fine for now! Go do what you need to do, just don't engage in a fight by yourself!"

Cyril gave a nod and waved to Wave, then suddenly stopped all of his spells. When the surge of enemies was upon him, he snapped his fingers and trapped them in place, walking past them all calmly without a care. Once he was safe, he released the spell and dropped a meteor on them. He felt content doing something so violent, since he'd managed to round up the monstrous and non-sentient enemies while diverting the rest toward Eila and Wave. He still didn't want to kill people…

There was a pang of panic in the man's heart, and he took in a sharp breath. Something was going on… His mom had always described it as a 'familial sense'. They always seemed to know when he was in trouble somehow, if he was hurt, or scared. His mom and dad were… always right there. He supposed that was what he was feeling now. They were in danger. He didn't even feel himself move, grabbing a weapon as it was swung at him and tossing it away into the thick of the battle. I'm coming. I'll save you both, no matter what.

Caution was thrown to the wind as Cyril took to the skies, rocketing himself toward where he could sense his father. His presence was far easier to track. Always had been. His aura was stronger, too. Not to say his mother was weak, but his father was strong. Greatly so. Focus on getting them both locked down. If neither can fight, then I can snatch them and run. Nareish should be preoccupied with Sein…

Cyril only barely managed to avoid another blade, but this one came so quickly that it tore through his fine vest and left deep gashes in either side of his chest. He flipped back out of the way before another attempt on his life could be made. In the moments before his apparent enemy disappeared, he made a few observations. Vampire. Very fast. Doesn't seem durable. Wearing no armor. Okay… Probably resilient against magic.

The bird twisted and grabbed Lior out of the air by his wrists, enveloping his shortswords in magic and shattering them with the most violent pulse of destruction magic he could conjure up as another observation hit him. I can feel… the same energies my parents have on of you. On your breath. Cyril's own breath hitched as the disarmed vampire vanished from his sight, pausing briefly. You fed on my parents.

In all of his life, Cyril could count on his hand the number of times his vision had blurred out of anger. He felt it happen once again. He might've felt bad for what he did, too, if his anger didn't intensify the justified feeling reverberating through his body. Lior attacked with elongated claws emerging from his hands, but those were snapped apart as Cyril's foot crashed into his chin.

"What did you do to my parents?" Cyril snapped, shouting. He grabbed Lior before the man could be sent flying or teleport away, taking him by the ankle and slamming him into the ground. In the same motion, he vaulted and drop kicked Lior as far away as he could manage. Heaving breaths of exertion (this kind of rage took a toll on the poor man, after all), Cyril turned his attention away from the vampire in favor of focusing on his father.

Recklessly, Cyril teleported himself deeper in, searching for the specific room his father was in. His senses screamed at him that this was a trap. He knew better than to be here, but his thoughts were elsewhere. I have to find them. If he turned them, they're gonna be so much worse off in her realm. His heart pounded in his chest. Hang on, guys. I'm coming.

It didn't take him long to locate his parents, in the end. Neither of them were hiding. It was more like the pair of them were… waiting for him. The clearness of their eyes proved that they had regained awareness of themselves, but their lack of normal reaction proved that they were still under Nareish's control. Mind control like this, as had been briefly explained to Cyril, twisted the victim's loyalties but allowed them to act without needing every action to be commanded of them. Quinn had visibly lost his emotions as well, which was another thing Cyril had been warned about. Even Min'na had somewhat lost touch with her feelings.

Cyril felt a few tears well up in his eyes as he walked forward, shoes clicking on the floor. Before he could even comprehend it, a staff of magic appeared in his hand. "Mom… Dad… I don't… want to fight you guys. Please just let me help," he murmured softly.

"I don't want to fight, sweetie…" Min'na replied while Quinn wordlessly looked over. "I just want you to relax and let this go. It's okay."

The finch reflexively took a step back, his mind reeling from… something. His mom took a step forward, and he took another back. He looked to his father with pleading eyes. "Please, don't do this… I have to hurt people too much already. I don't want you guys to get wrapped up in this crap, too."

Quinn was unphased by their son's words. He drew the sword Nareish had given him without hesitation. "If you don't want to fight, then leave," he told Cyril expressionlessly. "We will drive you out by any means necessary if you refuse."

Letting out a shaky breath, Cyril twirled his staff. "I'd hoped you guys would get to see me again one day… as the God of Magic. Not like this…" The finch let a tear fall free from his eye and he raised a hand. "I hate the idea of using my magic on people I love…"

"Then don't," Min'na replied gently, eyes glowing a gentle green as bindings wrapped themselves around Cyril's body. "This can be really simple…"

Quinn gathered a potentially lethal mixture of aura energy and magic around his blade. At the same time, he tapped into his rather rare ability to create and manipulate glass. Spikes of the material grew out of the ground in such a way that the sharpened points were digging into Cyril's throat. "This is your last chance to leave quietly," he warned.

"You taught me this," Cyril replied in a whisper. "To not back down from the things I care about. To not let people tell me what I can and can't do." The yellow finch's eyes glowed with his unique magic and he shredded the glass and bindings around him, narrowing his gaze. "I'll give you both a reason to be proud of me when you're purified." Before an attack could be made against him, Cyril teleported a short distance away and centered a blast of his magic right in between his parents.

Quinn leapt away with ease. As a soldier on Laralei's military long ago, he'd been expertly trained in how to react quickly and accurately to dangerous situations. He didn't hesitate to do so here, namely by retaliating with his own powers. Using his ability to convert energy into additional magical power, he absorbed some of Cyril's attack and used energy deflection to send the rest flying back at Cyril with increased strength.

Min'na, meanwhile, deftly rolled out of the way and hurried toward Cyril. She wasn't quite as much of a fighter as Quinn, but she did have the power of empathic manipulation (also aptly known as emotional manipulation). She targeted it toward her son and rapidly began squashing his confidence and intensifying the feelings of dread and fear.

Raising a hand to bat the returned attack away… Cyril felt himself stumble. The magic collided with his chest and sent him sprawling. He was barely on his feet before his mother was on him, then the space around him seemed to become bare. W-Where'd they go?

Despite seemingly being alone, wounds began appearing all over his body. He was sliced to hell from a blade and suffered aura-based injuries as well. Not only that, but spires of glass stabbed into him and broke off into shards inside his wounds. Cyril bit back the desire to scream. His magic overcame the lack of desire to fight back that he'd been inflicted with. An explosion of his special magic evaporated the glass in his wounds and sent Min'na flying back with the force. It also ripped through the illusions his mother surrounded him with, giving him the chance to teleport somewhere safer before his father could try to reflect it back on him.

Quinn watched him vanish and simply absorbed and converted the energy from the attack again. He also caught Min'na with his aura and set her down safely. "Do not let him fling you again," he warned. "You can too easily be wounded."

"You sound meaner…" Min'na mumbled, conjuring up bubbles around them. Her words earned little more than a glance from her husband.

Cyril, meanwhile, watched his attack come back to him. By now he was feeling terrible. The finch didn't want to fight his parents at all… He knew, however, that he hardly had a choice. He needed to save them. Somehow. He sidestepped his own magic and walked forward, frowning deeply. What would Wave or Eila do? Eila was much more aggressive than he or Wave. She would likely resort to dropping both of them in one attack and healing them later, or overwhelming them with psychic energy. He couldn't bring himself to do the first one, and he… wasn't quite capable of doing the second, so he focused on Wave.

The best thing he could think of was… to fight harder. Wave wouldn't let something bad happen to her family if she could help it. Cyril made his mind, rainbow magic rolling off of him in waves. I'm a god. Time I start acting like it. Cyril appeared in front of his mother and planted his foot on her chest, launching her away with as much force as he could muster without harming her while the ground exploded around Quinn. I can't attack him with magic directly, so I'll cause other things to happen.

Quinn was quick to leap out of the way of the explosion and to look at Min'na to make sure she didn't land badly. At the same time, he created an explosion of his own with his aura that was aimed at Cyril. Magic encircling his fist, Cyril slammed through it with a punch and appeared next to his father. More of that rainbow energy covered the ground below him and he swept at his father's feet with a low kick. Quinn teleported out of the way and reappeared behind Cyril. He retaliated with another blast of aura, this one a bit harsher than before.

With a twist and kick, Cyril destroyed the attack before it so much as moved away from his father. "You can't get me with cheap tricks like that!" he shouted. "Gaia!" Cyril teleported a distance away from his father as a large body formed of the materials in the area around them, taking on a large, bipedal form with glowing green eyes. Cyril picked up some of the debris from his attack and circled his hands around it, turning the pieces into steel balls that he lobbed at his father.

Most people would have been surprised if nothing else at the sight of all of this. Quinn, however, had no emotional response whatsoever. He simply dodged everything while pondering precisely what to do in order to better counter these attacks. Cyril took this chance to idly command his summoned nature spirit ally to attack Quinn while flames sprouted from his hands to move him along ice that formed in front of his feet. "I'm not going to let you get away from me! I will save you from Nareish!" Cyril summoned up spires of earth to block his father's path while lightning rocketed all over the place.

A third explosion of aura cleared the way for Quinn, who then retaliated with the first bit of magic he'd used in this fight so far. Using mentifery, the ability to bring anything one could imagine into reality, he created a giant nature spirit of his own to engage with Cyril's. He also unleashed a wave of water using the same magic, thus putting out the flames.

Cyril brought his hand down and rapidly froze the water into ice, then shattered it, sending shards of sharp ice as his own retaliation. How did he do that? That's… I've never felt any magic like that before. He didn't allow his surprise to slow him, spreading his arms as he summoned up more magic. Maelstrom. A storm of his magic surged to life overhead and battered the battlefield with torrential rain and wind, lightning striking down at his father. His mother was safe… and a brief glance told him that something else was going on. He was fairly certain it was Eila, but his massive spell was muddling his ability to sense things not immediately around him.

In response to all of this, Quinn created a barrier of aura energy around himself for protection. At about the same instance in time, bubbles suddenly appeared around Cyril. They appeared harmless at first… until one of them exploded right beside him, revealing that they were filled with a volatile and dangerous mixture of aura energy, glass, and magic. The others rapidly began to blow up in a chain reaction intended to force Cyril to back off a bit as well.

At first, this succeeded. Only the first actually hit him in any capacity, as he drew up a barrier around himself almost immediately afterward. He even backed up a few steps before suddenly collapsing the attacks with intense pressure from his magic. The finch walked forward with a determined expression, wiping blood from his brow. He was breathing a lot heavier than he wanted to be. "You know… I never thought a day would come where something like this had to happen… You both kept me so safe and happy that I couldn't have known existence had so much evil in it."

Once more, Quinn had no emotional response to Cyril, nor anything the younger man said or did. He didn't even bother to respond verbally, instead choosing to just prepare himself for another attack. Cyril didn't attack however, not yet. Cyril had more to say as tears bubbled up in his eyes. "I love you, Dad. I love mom. I love both of you so much, and I really hate that Nareish has made this happen." He couldn't stop the soft sob that broke out of him as magic formed over his palm. "You both taught me to never fight unless I had to, unless it was necessary."

The younger finch instinctively knew his magic was far stronger than Quinn's. That was why he appeared right in front of his father with a barrier conjured up. He would smash through every defense, trap his father in that space. Block his teleporting, quash his aura down, all until his palm collided with his father's chest. Then, he did it, bringing his hand up to his father and following through with the attack. It hurt so much…

The attack hit with enough force that Quinn was rocketed back a short distance. He narrowly avoided striking Nareish's dark throne, but was unable to do the same with the wall he wound up crashing through. Rubble fell around him, blocking him from sight. Then, eerily, all went silent where he was despite his aura proving he wasn't unconscious.

Cyril wasn't sure how his father was still conscious, but he didn't pursue that thought, doubling over to take heaving breaths. All that exertion was… unusual. Against Tianak, he'd done a lot, but it was relatively simple in comparison. Casting so many large spells, keeping everything going at the same time, that was tough. How in the world does Eila do this day after day? I'm already tired.

While these thoughts ran through his mind, something began to happen. The power in his father's aura began to suddenly and steadily increase. It started off slow and subtle at first, then grew more rapid and pronounced. He was even afforded some measure of healing as well, seemingly, since he was finally able to shove the rubble off of himself and sit up - albeit with a couple coughs.

Raising his head, the yellow finch groaned. "Oh, come on. I had a cool moment there…" Waving this whole thing off, Cyril stood up fully and summoned his magical quarterstaff. "I suppose that means you're fighting again?" Quinn didn't answer him once again. He took a moment to locate his sword in all the debris, then freed it from where it had been pinned. Then he stood up and rather casually brushed himself off with his free hand. That he truly didn't care about what had just happened to him, or about Cyril's emotional state, couldn't have been more apparent.

Heaving a sigh, Cyril walked forward. He didn't want to keep fighting, but he supposed he didn't have a choice. The maelstrom ended and Cyril drew a card from his tarot deck. Wheel of Fortune, eh? That'll do, I guess. He watched it burn away and felt the way its magic surged through him. Absolutely insane levels of luck… Guess that's what existence determined I'd need.

Quinn observed Cyril with a critical eye, seeming to be aware to some extent of what Cyril's card had just done. However, he didn't immediately act. He chose instead to wait for Cyril to make a move. Since he was aware that Cyril's luck had increased, it was more logical for him to focus on defense for the time being rather than to waste time trying to directly attack. Cyril took a moment to decide what to do, watching his father. He's gonna focus on defense. Guess he could tell what my card just did. Sad that I can't really double up on them. Cyril raised a hand and conjured a small ball of ice, idly tossing it toward his father. "Catch."

Rather than doing so, Quinn simply leaned out of the way and let the ball sail past him. He called upon his mentifery again and sent a wave of fire outward around him as a means to further keep Cyril back for a moment. There was no point in using it as an attack as he'd already determined, so he didn't bother with it. Cyril would have walked through the flames, but he sensed how bad of an idea it was for him to try it. Instead, he simply activated the spell he'd stored in that ball of ice before it could melt, letting it explode and immediately freeze everything around them, even capturing his father's flames and making them into solid ice.

By simultaneously engulfing himself in magical heat, Quinn was able to avoid being frozen to any degree. He let that heat dissipate immediately afterward, since there was no reason to keep it up after that. Then, raising a hand, he unexpectedly sent a powerful blast of aura from his palm in Cyril's direction. What was more unexpected, however, was the fact that this attack had the power of a true and proper semi-Immortal behind it as opposed to a mere mortal.

Cyril barely reacted in time to slam his hands on either side of the attack, dissipating it only by surging as much magic through it as he could in an instant. Even then, he stumbled back several steps and had to avoid clenching his torn up hands, the pain coursing through them making his arms shake. Wh-What just happened…? He was given little time to ponder this before another attack of the same magnitude came hurtling toward him, quickly followed by two others. Cyril managed to dodge out of the way of one attack, but one of the others slammed straight into him and sent him tumbling and sliding along the ice of his own spell.

Quinn's son stumbled up onto his feet and took a few unsteady steps to try and get his balance back. He could taste blood in his mouth, felt red hot pain in his arms and chest. He was injured in so many countless spots, he could hardly feel anything beyond intense pain. "What happened…? Where did you get so much power from?"

This finally earned a response from Quinn in the form of a careless shrug. "It doesn't matter."

Cyril opened his mouth to speak but, before he could, the man collapsed to his knees. His body couldn't keep up with the pain. Before he could succumb, however, a gentle light shone over the man and began working to close his wounds while magic surrounded and trapped Quinn. It was temporary at best, but it would have to do.

"I didn't think I'd see you in such a bad state," Eila murmured gently, walking up in front of Cyril protectively, to guard him from Quinn. "Take it easy for a second. I'll keep him busy." The woman glanced to Quinn and asked a simple question. "You're following Nareish's orders, yeah?" That wasn't something he felt particularly inclined to answer, and so he stayed silent on the matter.

A sigh escaped followed by a series of earth shaking explosions created by her Light magic all around Quinn, Eila's gaze growing intense. I just need to buy time for Cyril to heal.

Though Quinn of course had no way of knowing this, Cyril's luck had been playing a key role in keeping Cyril largely safe in this fight. Chiefly by doing what it had once done to Kath, namely preventing Cyril's opponent from being able to fight him very well. Eila was under no such protection. As such, Quinn's fighting immediately improved a slight bit… though it wasn't much due to Cyril still being nearby. He tore apart her explosions with his own magic and then took advantage of her physical weaknesses by stabbing through her with jagged spires of glass.

Eila glanced down briefly at the glass and shook her head in dismay, making the glass vanish. The spell she had cast over Cyril was luckily all around him, so the healing effect took effect for her as well. She summoned spears of her magic and idly sent them flying at him while helping Cyril up to his feet. Her spears were immediately and easily destroyed, save for one that flew a bit too close to Quinn's left side. He promptly turned intangible for a moment and let the attack phase through him.

Sensing the way Cyril's luck was taking hold, Eila took this chance to tap on Cyril's face, wiping away some of the fogginess he was experiencing as a result of this traumatic event. He needed to be able to focus. "Hey, stick with me here. We need to get you away from this fight. You can't win like this." Cyril didn't reply, instead staring longingly at his father. Quinn, for his part, also remained silent.

Eila sighed quietly and glanced back at Quinn. She knew she couldn't win against him either. Her estimate was that his power was somewhere between her own and Cyril's… which sadly said a lot. Cyril didn't have the experience necessary to take on this fight, either. So, she didn't fight. Instead, Eila began walking towards Quinn quietly, magic expanding beyond her body. His defenses are strong. His offensive capabilities are amazing. If I take him by surprise in the slightest, or if I so much as catch a single open moment, I can spur Cyril and his magic to work alongside mine to create a barrier that he can't surpass. I may only have a moment to do so, but… Cyril needs his parents. I'll take the risk for him.

As she thought all of this, Quinn watched her closely with observant eyes. He was being cautious for the moment and didn't rush in to attack her, just in case. She kept approaching with an even gait, staring him down. "Min'na has already been captured."

His response was honest, if nothing else. "I don't care."

"I'm going to do the same to you."

Quinn didn't deign to reply to her. He gathered magic within himself and prepared to attack. She is powerful… and skilled. This is not an opponent who will go down easily. Having deduced already that she had psychic abilities, and truly formidable ones at that, he was careful to guard his thoughts from being read.

Eila smirked a little, then she chuckled. "Not often that people recognize the psychic power right off the bat," she said simply, standing no more than five feet from him. "You really are a warrior."

That went without saying, but he'd never been the bragging sort. That remained true even now. A hint of his typical quiet modesty showed through, if only for a moment. "I suppose."

I've got a hold on Cyril's mind. Attack Quinn's at the same time… Focus him elsewhere. Her psychic powers tapped at Quinn's mind and prodded for any sort of weakness while she roused Cyril, causing him to stand upright. I doubt he can defend against us both… especially if he's expecting us both to attack.

Cyril moved into action as Eila raised a hand, a ball of her purple magic floating from her palm. A wild surge of magic rose up at Quinn's feet, while Eila focused on attacking mentally, with her magic, and encasing him in her magic to keep him from teleporting or getting away. Quinn had somehow, someway, ascended to a semi-Immortal during this fight. That much was clear. But the transformation was so new that he couldn't do much against a more experienced semi-Immortal's trap. He tried to fight and break free from it, but it proved to be of no use.

Eila immediately used her minute control of Cyril to encase Quinn and subdue his powers… while subtly flooding Cyril's mind with extensive ways to make use of his magic before teleporting them both to Babylon. Her heart was hurting, though. She'd needed to take control of Cyril to get him back on his feet. He couldn't move after everything he'd gone through. I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that. Get some rest. I'll be there soon to begin trying to break him free…

She hoped he'd rest, teleporting herself back into the fray of the raid. She had a job to do still.

~保護者~

While she wasn't one of the reapers or the deity of death, Ryint could clearly sense where large loss of life happened. It took her no time at all once her conversation was over to get into Nareish's realm, especially considering there was a hole opened up that she could quickly travel through. Then she saw the hellish battle going on… and smirked.

A hand raised, Ryint collected blood off of the ground and from the corpses around, coalescing it into a ball before aiming her fingers forward. "Scatter." Bullets of blood shot out rapidly wherever she pointed, and she used this to clear a straightforward path toward where she could sense Jet and Alana. They were rather familiar to her. Appearing by them in an instant, Ryint strolled up and summoned her bat, raising an eyebrow. "How dare you guys not invite me to this," she teased.

Since Jet had little idea who she was, it took him a second to respond to her. "You didn't need to be 'invited'."

"It- It was a joke," Ryint chuckled. Jet shrugged and looked away, a little frustrated with himself for having missed something so obvious. But Ryint distracted him by continuing talking. "I just happen to like fighting." The vampire tossed her bat over her shoulder, letting it knock an enemy out of the sky. "Figured I'd pop in and get involved."

Alana abruptly interrupted the exchange while kicking away an enemy she'd just cut down. "Jet, has your clone found anything yet?" she asked.

"Yes," Jet muttered with a frown. "He's not in the throne room anymore. She moved him to another chamber. There are several generas guarding him."

"Who are you looking for?" Ryint questioned gently. "If you don't mind me asking. Ryint bobbed her head to the side to avoid a spear, then grabbed it and shoved it through the enemy's body.

"My friend," Jet said. A second later, he elaborated, "A man named Nier."

The vampire stood straight, eyes wide. "Nier was abducted?" she asked in a hushed tone, ignoring the weapon that plainly stabbed through her abdomen. "Do you know where he is? I'll go get him."

Jet thought this over for just a second before replying. "I can send you to where my clone is. It's close to him and those guarding him, but I can't go there myself. Nareish will notice immediately if I do." As he spoke, Alana lashed out at Ryint's attacker and sent them flying away, weapon and all. She then used her limited healing abilities to repair the other woman's wound.

Ryint shooed Alana away. "I'm fine. Most of my abilities work off blood," She explained gently to the other woman before looking back to Jet. "Send me there. I'll get him out."

No verbal response was given. In an instant, she was transported to where Jet's clone was standing. He was staring balefully at the distant sight of Nareish's fight with his father (because fuck that woman, truly), but he was quick to focus on the other matter at hand. Like his real self had said, he couldn't go inside himself. Nareish would immediately notice and, most likely, would try to kill his real self. Again. Instead, he gestured ahead of them and said, "Beyond that wall, there's a series of chambers, traps, and cells. Keep going straight for a time and you'll reach him. Be mindful of the generals she left to guard him. They aren't weak."

Ryint cracked her neck and twirled her bat. "Neither am I. Nier is leaving here alive," she explained, glancing at the fight between Sein and Nareish. The vampire allowed herself a moment to just… take in how powerful the two were before vanishing into a sprint. The traps were nothing for her. She bypassed them by moving as quickly as possible and batting away anything that tried to harm her. Her speed covered up for the rest. When she reached the guards, she decided that quick, brutal deaths were her best shot. Out of mere concern for Nier's safety, she didn't activate any of her powers. She grabbed up one of them by the ankle and slammed them head first into a wall while using what wasn't destroyed as a bloody hammer, bashing everything out of her way.

It was difficult to not call on her blood powers, but she resisted the urge even as her fingers pierced the skulls of two others, dumping the corpses to walk toward Nier. "Babe, you okay?" she asked in a whisper. Unfortunately, Nier didn't answer her. He was unconscious, and even the loud and obvious chaos of her brief fight hadn't managed to wake him up.

Ryint felt herself deflate, tearing her way into where he was contained to carefully scoop him off the floor and leave. He wasn't going to spend another second in this place if she had anything to say about it. She found herself back at the clone's side, holding him close in a careful grip. "He's alive, but I haven't had a chance to figure out what happened. Am I taking him to Babylon?"

Jet's clone examined Nier closely for a moment. His wounds are grievous… but not immediately life-threatening. "Yes, take him to the medical ward. An Immortal will need to heal him, but we cannot spare anyone right now. I think he'll be alright until then."

"I'll do what I can for him in the meantime. My blood powers afford me a small bit of healing and some other useful things. I'll make sure he's completely stable and stays that way until this is over," Ryint said, gently stroking Nier's head. You're safe now.

~保護者~

This power was overwhelming. The blessing of the Faein resting within his body, released in every blow. He parried a sword strike with a gauntlet and used his other fist to slam Nareish through an already heavily damaged wall with a blast of his newly intensified aura.

Sein stepped through the hole left behind and fixated his gaze on Nareish again. You cocky piece of shit. He'd been warned that his emotions would run wildly with this surge of power, and he felt it all course through his veins, every muscle, every fiber of his being was so charged with energy that he couldn't stand standing still. Luckily, they were back at it again in the next moment.

Nareish sent him flying not a full second later with an almost manic sort of glee. "Very good, Sein!" she laughed. "Keep it up! This is the most fun I've had in ages!"

He was on his feet before her sentence was complete, walking forward and dragging his blade along the ground in a vicious arc. Aura surged from the edge and sliced through everything beyond Nareish while he clashed with her blade directly, locking her in place with a bind before kicking her legs out from under her and massively increasing gravity over her entire being.

In an instant, Nareish was no longer where Sein was looking. She appeared several feet to his left and struck him with a concussive beam that she fired from her hand. At the same time, she used probability manipulation (a power she could never use often due to having not stolen much of it) to ensure her attack would hit him despite the technical unlikeliness.

Sein felt himself taken off his feet by the blast, taking off into the air to recover. He aimed a hand behind him, arcing a hook of aura at Nareish with blinding speed. As could only be predicted at this point, she managed to dodge out of the way. She was also quick to prepare herself to take some damage… since she suspected he was up to something. Sein felt his hook hit the ground and he pulled up, ripping a massive chunk of the ground up (with Nareish on it) as he warped down, slamming a fist into it and turning the entire chunk of rock into a massive bomb of aura as he poured his all into it.

Using the power of dermal armor was enough for Nareish to defend herself against some of the damage. However, like so many others, this was a power she'd never taken much of. Defense wasn't really "her thing". She vastly preferred to focus on attacking her foes. With that in mind, she pulled free of the rubble and lunged for Sein with her hand extended. The explosive touch she gave him on his arm was meant to send him flying. Aura flared to life and nullified the explosion with an equally powerful burst of energy as Sein snatched her by the wrist and took his chance.

"This is for Li!" Sein snapped, pummeling her in the chest twice before pushing her back so she couldn't return the favor. "You no good piece of shit!"

Nareish snatched him up with threads and slammed him into the ground while also using regeneration to repair herself after his attack. "I have done nothing to the little wolf pup," she chuckled. "Not recently, at any rate."

Sein rolled to his feet and snapped the threads with a technique he'd learned from Kath as a kid, moving his muscles in just the right way to cause a vicious burst of air around him. He approached Nareish with a calm gait, eyes shining the color of his aura. "I'm going to make you pay for what you've done, what you've caused. So get your ass over here and take your goddamn beating." These words were accentuated with the space between them warping as he forcibly drug her to be right in the path of a haymaker, the ability noticeably empowered by the Faein so she couldn't resist it.

His fist slammed into her chin and intentionally sent her flying right back into their original battlefield. Sein was there in an instant, an intended gravitational force forming and rapidly tearing the building apart from the inside out. "That's for what you did to my wife."

"Such things can easily be repaired," Nareish reminded him, entirely unimpressed with the display. She was, however, amused. Not that that stopped her from immediately retaliating, which she did by utilizing another stolen power. Miasma, a thick toxic cloud, suddenly flooded the space, forcing him to choose between backing out of this location or suffering from intense poisoning.

Sein doubled down, but only after surrendering his body to his overflowing aura, allowing himself to transform into his aura form. He'd only ever done this once before, unintentionally. He soared through the toxic cloud and engaged once more, swinging his overly charged blade down on Nareish.

Precognition saved Nareish from suffering any sort of injury now that she'd essentially "activated" it for the purpose of this fight. She also created multiple clones of herself, all of which followed her lead by creating massive explosions of energy and trapping Sein in them.

A snap answered Nareish's vicious offense, an Erukti woman appearing by Sein. The hawk absorbed the explosions with an all new power while Utavi walked up to Nareish and grabbed her by the neck, shattering the clones and entirely suppressing her precognition power. "Behave and you might get it back," she teased dryly, taking great amusement in ruining her plans as Sein landed back on his feet. "You could've been so much more than this."

Before Nareish could reply, Utavi vanished and Sein unleashed her attacks back on her, letting out a scream of effort and irritation. "Is that all you've got?" he demanded.

Nareish threw up a barrier to protect herself. As soon as the explosions ended, she filled the room with a mixture of smoke and fog to further obscure his vision. She used that to her advantage long enough to get in close a second time and stab him through the back with her sword. "I suggest you ramp up your efforts," she murmured with a smile, "lest I get bored of you."

Sein kicked her in the head from behind, his aura duplicate having served him well in fooling Nareish. "Saw it coming. Keep up." She let out a laugh, ensnared him in some more threads, and flung him away from her again. This time, she made damn sure that his landing would hurt, even if he kept his footing.

He let out a grunt of pain as he was thrown away, tumbling to mitigate some of it as opposed to doing a clean landing. Sein's eyes shone and flames of aura erupted all over, tearing into the building. It felt like he was silent for several seconds, contemplating, but in reality he'd just mentally wrapped his head around the next several seconds of combat. His own precognition power was fully active now and he raised a hand, motioning for Nareish to approach. "Come on. You can't hope to kill me from all the way over there."

As if purely to prove him wrong out of some childish petulance, Nareish idly created a bomb out of pure energy and hurled it at him. " I certainly could. It just isn't typically as much fun as I'd like." She then suddenly used a combination of heat vision and freeze vision on him simultaneously, mostly just to test the effectiveness of his precognition. She'd long known he had it, but she'd regrettably paid little attention to it up until now. An oversight, she now knew, but there was no changing the past.

Sein watched her do all of this, didn't move a muscle (not that he technically could, in this form). In the moment right before any of her attacks landed, a well of gravity formed around all of them, collapsing the attacks and bomb so effectively that it was almost as if they didn't exist. Living around Kath and Laralei, he'd picked up a lot of tricks, and it showed as he manipulated the well of force, releasing a miniscule amount of it and returning the immensely condensed energies back at Nareish. Thanks, mom.

Nareish used energy deflection to send all of this right back at him, and followed it up with paralysis to ensure he couldn't dodge without using up energy teleporting. I should have taken much more of both of these powers than I did. If only their owners hadn't perished so quickly…

Just to prove a point, just to be spiteful, Sein didn't do either. He obliterated the energies with a violent blast of aura that he mentally commanded, staring at Nareish as he shook off the paralysis. "I meant what I said. Get over here. You stand no chance at range now."

Nareish chuckled. What she happened next following that sound occurred within the span of a mere second or two. She used power enhancement, which she knew would only for a few minutes, then used explosive vision to harm him as she lunged forward with her sword. He was stabbed a second time, this time with so much force that he was sent flying off the blade and into the nearest wall.

Sein felt the damage, knew it was coming, and prepared. Her blade was laced with his aura because he'd been stabbed, and he used that to his advantage, appearing right in front of her and swinging his blade for her neck while yanking her weapon down to force it to the ground.

It took no time at all for Nareish to wrench her sword free. She slashed at him violently, and with much more speed than she'd bothered to use prior to this exact moment of the fight. Energy crackled off the blade as it rushed toward him. Sein twisted just enough to slam his blade down against hers, intercepting the blow while the shield activated on his gauntlet. Nareish reared back and, like he had done, slammed her sword into his. The force of the impact caused his weapon to let out a piercing metallic cry, one that kept ringing out into the open air as she repeated the action again and then again.

He kept the blade raised, unable to pull it away to counter or block with his shield, using his gauntlets to ensure he could hold an end of the blade for defense. Shit, I'm trapped. Think! Nareish's assault was unrelenting, and the cries of his weapon grew ever louder as the strain it was under increased. Sein kept his guard up, even reinforced the weapon with his aura, but it didn't matter. Blood dripped from his forehead and chest as metal shards rained down on his body while he absently watched her weapon crash through his. The hawk stumbled back a few feet, pushing himself with aura as he stared with a blank expression at his scattered claymore that he held in two pieces in both hands.

As soon as this happened, Nareish pressed her advantage. A flurry of wild yet precise sword strikes were aimed his way, intent on causing as much damage as possible in a short span of time. He couldn't do much more than dodge and parry as much as possible, receiving vicious slashes over one of his legs and his chest in the process, blood pouring from the wounds as he tried to process all of this. Li… Li made that sword… For me. He was in trouble. That went without saying. Nareish's consecutive attacks forced him back outside, rendering his plight available for all to see. However, it wasn't as though anyone could do anything…

With the exception of one.

Nareish decided to try and end this fight once and for all. Her sword aimed straight for his heart and started to stab toward it. In the same instant, however, something else occurred. A gleaming length of metallic white and gold sailed across the battlefield at nearly impossible speeds and slammed into Nareish's sword, knocking it both away from Sein and entirely out of Nareish's hand. His savior then embedded itself firmly into the nearest wall, revealing it to be none other than Alkarus.

Sein didn't think, teleporting his shattered weapon away to Li's forge and moving to Alkarus, taking hold of the hilt and pulling it from the wall. He took in a deep breath. This mean I'm allowed to use you to fight? As if in answer, faint hints of energy crackled all over the length of the weapon. It was almost like the sword itself was itching for a battle.

The hawk turned to Nareish, wherever she was (he wasn't processing information fully still), and approached in a flash, Alkarus changing its form to a claymore. His aura surged through it and crashed through the ruined battlefield, gouging out what could only be described as a canyon behind her. His borrowed blade sliced through hers, and he finished the slice by slicing into her leg brutally before twisting and kicking her in the forehead. "That's for Li's handiwork being ruined," he bit out, slamming her down with gravity to keep her from flying too far back. He didn't even process her retaliation, slamming a fist into the energy and destroying the attack with a hate-fueled punch, appearing next to her and kicking her in the chest this time. "And that's for hurting my son!"

His outburst, despite how violent it was, made her grin bloodily and laugh. "You think that this tiny reality is all there is, that he is any purer than I?" she challenged. "He has shattered realities larger than you can even comprehend, Sein, and he has felt nothing over it. He is not as different from me as you would like to believe."

Sein didn't really hear her words, grabbing at whatever cloth she was wearing and bashing her head with the hilt of Alkarus, eyes flared wide. "Fuck you." He slammed his fist into her face and slammed her back with his aura, beating her against a wall of his energies over and over, making sure she bled from her chest and face before grabbing her up by the neck. "That one's for Kath."

He teleported them both into her castle or whatever the fuck this ruined building was (he didn't care, nor would it be standing when he left). He let her stand on her own two feet, let her recover as he ripped her throne from the ground. "I may not be the type of person to normally wish this on my enemies, but deep down, I want to take everything from you. Leave you with nothing to face everyone that hates you with, to see what consumes you, because that is what you did when you orphaned my son!" Sein was screaming, tears of anger rolling down his face. "I died so he could live, and you murdered his mother!"

Once more, Nareish openly laughed at his pain. "It's as I told him on that very day, when I found him filthy and wailing once her life had fled from her," she told Sein softly with true malice lacing her tone. "His life is mine... and I will do with it whatever I wish."

Heart pounding in his ears, Sein snapped. The hawk felt space around him shift and he slammed the throne against Nareish, shattering it before he snatched her by the throat again and unleash a concentrated blast of aura from the same hand that held her. When she tried to break from his grip, he grabbed her wrist and kneed her in the stomach, throwing her to the ground immediately after. "You will have nothing when this is over! Your life is fucked. If Jet doesn't kill you, I will. I'll tear your goddamn soul from your body and take you to the Realms of Death myself!" he shouted, kicking her across the land that was her realm. He teleported to her, away from the battlefield where his allies were as he wielded Alkarus. "Get up. On your fucking feet. Stand up and face me so I can show you your fucking place."

Chuckling, Nareish spat some blood out of her mouth and stood up. In a show of lackadaisical defiance, she spent time brushing herself off rather than paying him full attention. "I must say… You're much more entertaining when you're enraged," she commented idly.

Aura blazed off his body, his gauntlets, and Alkarus like flames as he stared with a calm rage. He tilted the blade and slashed a deep gash in her chest. "For my grandchildren that you took from my family," he muttered. He twisted the blade and stabbed through her stomach. "For Saraya."

A vicious kick knocked her off the blade and he followed her stumble, slamming his shield of aura into her face. "All of my friends." Sein grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against his knee. "All of my family."

He pushed her back and let her regain her stance, waiting patiently. Once she was balanced again, He took even that from her with a kick to the knee, knocking her to the ground and balancing on one. "The innocent people you've harmed, that you've ended because you think yourself and your goals are above all else." This earned him another bloody grin.

"I don't know what happened in your past, and frankly, I can't make myself care, Nareish," Sein muttered, watching drops of blood stain the ground. "Maybe you could have been saved, maybe you were destined to turn out this way, but I wouldn't dare try to help you." Sein reached down and picked her up by the hair again, making sure she saw his eyes. "You are the most vile thing I have ever laid eyes on, the most terrible thing I have ever witnessed. I know you don't care, but I'm going to make you hear me say it."

Sein let out a low breath and began punching her again, accentuating every syllable. "I will always hate you."

After the last one, he felt a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from continuing. That hand quickly retreated and Jet's voice could be heard quietly saying, "Dad?"

The older hawk stopped what he was doing, releasing her to the ground and glancing to his son. Glassy eyes regained their normal sheen and he let out a few tears, staring at Jet. "I… I don't know what happened…"

Jet shook his head. "Doesn't matter," he mumbled, studiously avoiding looking at Nareish. "Others are starting to retreat, but some of us won't until you do."

Sein took a breath and waved a hand, creating binds around Nareish to keep her in place for a while, a mild mercy considering the damage he inflicted. Then, he nodded. "I'll start to clear the way if anyone has trouble leaving. Thank you for coming here." He lifted a hand and shifted Alkarus back to the form Jet primarily kept it in. "My weapon was destroyed, and it came to me. You can take it back now."

Again, Jet shook his head, though he did take the weapon from Sein. "I threw it," he corrected. "I know yours broke."

That made a lot more sense. Sein nodded gently and chuckled, smiling. "Thanks, bud. You turned out so good despite it all. I love you."

Jet shrugged this time, unsure how to take the praise as usual. "...We should go," he eventually said. "Mom, Grandmother, and Kaicha are worried." He antsily scuffed the toe of one of his boots into the floor. Though he didn't say it, clearly he'd been worried as well.

Sein glanced over himself, looking at all of the blood. For just a moment, his eyes became glassy again before he shook his head and set a hand on Jet's shoulder (making sure he saw the gesture coming). "Thank you." Figuring Jet wouldn't resist, Sein teleported them both back to the group once more.

Immediately, Sein was set upon by the rest of their family. Alana reached him first, closely followed by Laralei. Kath and Azerel, meanwhile, hung back a bit as they typically did. Once she reached Sein, Alana dragged him into a hug despite the filth. "Are you alright?" she asked into his shoulder.

"Yeah," Sein replied gently as he chuckled and held his wife close. "I did it."

"I'm glad," Alana murmured, giving him a squeeze.

Laralei chuckled and crossed her arms. "Glad to see you're in good shape, Sein."

Sein smiled to everyone. Brief flickers of what he did to Nareish went through his mind as he glanced over them all, then he slipped away from Alana and walked to Kath, giving him a hug suddenly.

Kath initially stood stock-still out of surprise, but he eventually hugged Sein back with an arm. "Are you certain you're alright?" he asked with a small frown.

"Yeah, just… thanks for all the lessons. So much of what you taught me was useful in that fight." Sein smiled warmly to Kath, his wounds beginning to heal themselves as Utavi withdrew her power and appeared near them all. After a second, Kath nodded to Sein and turned his attention to Utavi.

Utavi smirked and glanced between them all. "Allow me to say I'm damn impressed, Kath and Laralei. You raised a good man."

Laralei grinned in a cocky and yet truly loving manner. "Absolutely. Truth be told, though, Sein himself put all the real work in. We just helped him along whenever he needed it." Alana smiled softly to herself but didn't comment.

"The environment you grow in will shape the natural way your personality expresses itself." Utavi smiled a little. "As it stands, Sein is victorious here, and he had a damn good showing. This should buy you all some time for rest, recuperation, and training. I trust that you all will use it well." Her attention fell on Jet. "One obvious thing I wish to mention. Use this time to work with the new Immortals… Especially your old friend, Rose. She has strayed onto a wayward path. Your guidance could prove… beneficial at this point when she feels so lost."

Jet nodded a little, avoiding eye contact all the while. "I'll do what I can," he said in a quiet voice.

Utavi smiled. "That's the best anyone can do," she answered, stretching. "It's time for me to go. I need more rest."

"Thanks for all your help," Laralei told her. "None of this would have been possible without you and your kin."

The Erukti shrugged with a tired chuckle. "By all means, channeling your will is what makes this sort of thing possible. I wasn't gonna be able to do any of this without one of you being directly willing to jump into the fold." She glanced at a hand, watching as her physical form began breaking back apart into pure aura. "Yeah… I can't stay around much longer. See ya." Utavi vanished shortly after, not giving anyone a chance to properly respond to that.

Sein smirked and stretched his arms. "Guess this makes me the cool one in the family now."

Alana chuckled and leaned against him. "He is full of himself, it seems. But enough of that for now. Our son has people he is desperate to check on. We should all get going."

"Go on ahead, Jet," Sein said to him with a small smile. "I'll be right behind you."

Jet looked relieved to finally be able to leave, and for once he didn't hide the emotion. He vanished immediately with the intent of checking on Sonic and Wave first and foremost. Laralei tugged on Kath's arm, then they likewise departed with Azerel hot on their heels. With them gone, Alana asked Sein, "Ready to go?"

Sein grabbed her gently by the shoulder and pulled her into a quick kiss, then let go and nodded. "Absolutely. After you?" Alana smiled and teleported away with him in tow, feeling a mixture of hope and relief flood her as she did so.

The second raid had been a success.

~保護者~

26,428 words this time. Many thanks as always to Blazing Winds for all of his help and support. We, uh... We finished this a long while ago and I apparently forgot to post it. My bad, guys. I'm real sorry, but I hope you enjoyed! Posted (at about 9:50 p.m.) 02-22-24.