APOV

I watched my baby sister disarm an elite guard with a muggle sleeper hold, her arms strengthened by the fibers of her special suit. Our research and development team, myself included had designed the material with spells to augment our kinesthesia and physical prowess. These were no ordinary stealth suits.

She lowered the shape flawlessly to rest on the ancient wooden planks of the shrine's platformed walkway. No sooner than she had deposited the figure to the ground than a much older wizard came around the corner of an adjacent structure. The wizard wore a light blue haori and white hakama, his arms casually stowed away in his sleeves. His surprise was palpable, clearly not expecting his night patrol to vary from the thousands he'd performed prior. To his credit, the mahotsukai reacted, but Aurora had been too quick for the aging shrine warden. She flung a potion of silence across the courtyard, causing a soundless explosion of glass and glittering purple particles to cloud the space around him. The guard yelled and cursed in an attempt to cast off this spell or that, but his every breath was swallowed by Scorpius's expertly brewed concoction. Raven, out of range of the magics effect, tossed a wordless petrifying jinx at the man's outline, felling him to the ground harmlessly.

'Smart' I thought to myself, realizing that the petrification magic had a colorless spell evocation. If he'd cast a stunning spell the red jet of light might have alerted any other guards wandering the estate.

The old man hit the ground without so much as a squeak and before I could signal an order, Izanagi and Louis seamlessly dragged the crumpled body into the shadows of the garden. Together they'd put the wizard to sleep and transfigured him into a potted black pine to blend into the surrounding hedges and shrubbery.

Lily likewise hid her victim before signaling with her hands across the courtyard. Max and his cousin nodded in recognition and leapt onto the shingled rooftops, their outlines obscured by the shadow magic of their armor. They peered like ninja over the horizon of the slanted tiles, motioning to us with the flash of a small mirror that the neighboring courtyard was clear. They vanished over the side like ghosts, The japanese twins and several other Rabbits following from the ground floor and gardens.

Scor and I trailed the team as operational oversight, Lorcan and Lysander flanking us as reserve units. We were the strongest of the fielded operatives and observed our squads movements for later review. So far everyone had moved and acted as if veteran surgeons.

Rose's voice echoed into the teams radio set, offering precise instructions on the layout and the position of the remaining guards. It was all going down exactly as planned. I allowed myself a smirk, sharing my arrogant pride with Scor. He nodded to me, understanding the enormous value of the team we had assembled. Our Rabbits were already as elite as they co—

"—NCS-4 and 5 are out of commission. All expected targets incapacitated" Lily confirmed into our headset.

I rounded the corner into the main shrine's courtyard, finding Izanagi kneeling in wait. He held up a Scroll with a map of the grounds etched upon it.

"It appears there are a myriad tunnels that lead beneath the shrine. We've determined a wizarding tomb belonging to one of our ancesters was being disguised beneath. The tome must lie several layers down."

"We are scanning the depth and tunnel layout now" Raven added, coming up to me with a quiet nod.

"This way?" I asked for confirmation. Izanagi rose and motioned for us to follow.

"Kochirai Dozo taicho dono"

"What happened to her?"

A japanese shrine maiden was being worked on by Mizuki, her gagged form worrying me.

"She saw us before we could put her to sleep. We're just obliviating her" Raven explained, continuing to lead beside the silver haired royal. Izanagi and his twin's lustrous hair caught the moonlight and I marveled not for the first time at how unique its silver appeared.

Finally our contingent entered the shrine interior and wound our way through the basement to a cellar door, barred by enormous braided rope and two sculptures of demon guardians. In front of the door knelt uncle Charlie, Gideon, and Alexander Sorrenson. The three warlocks scanned for trap spells while Aurora and Melody used our echo mapper to attempt to get a read of the underground structures.

"It's a maze down there boss. It looks like the shrine was just a cover. Or built to honor the real treasure housed here" Aurora noted, scrutinizing the lines that appeared on the screen of her device.

"Will we still have time to reach the tome in the allotted timeframe?" I asked, looking over to Raven for confirmation. I watched him forward the scans to Rose and Vivienne back at the castle. They could more easily digest the information on their large monitors.

"Maybe… assuming there aren't any monsters… or more guards below ground" Rose noted into the headset.

"And if one of the rarest magical artifacts on the planet does happen to be guarded by a plethora of magical entities or spells?" Scor inquired. He'd been the first to contest our intelligence reports about five measly guards. He felt for certain that the tome must have had higher security than what we'd originally planned for.

"Then no we won't have time."

"We should fall back and regroup. We cannot be caught here by the japanese, or risk having to use our wands outside the maintenance timeframe. That would be the worst case scenario."

I ignored Scor for the moment, pushing my earpiece more firmly in place.

"Vivienne, re-calculate success parameters and our operational security window if only the adult warlocks need to use their wands from here on out? The trace will only flag the underaged wizards use of magic right? The adults won't trigger alarms?"

"They won't TRIGGER alarms, no, but if anyone decides to review their activities formally... then the CIB will be able to tell they were all in Kyoto."

"That's fine… nobody will check… as long as we younglings don't trigger a response on the Magus Eye once the maintenance period is up."

"If at the end of the two hour maintenance window on the magus eye, operational security switches to only the adult Rabbits, we should still be ok to complete the op. At least barring catastrophic category five security obstacles."

Vivienne's voice was calm and collected at the far end of the line.

"Like nundu, dragons, giants or daiyokai…"Lily queried, tapping her wand on the statues of the demon guardians that glared down at us from the entrance to the underground shrine.

"Quite… like any of those…" The dark elf repeated ominously.

"Not to worry. Scor and I have our Valois wands. And I have excalibur. As long as Scor doesn't use his real wand we both can assist the adult warlocks without the Eye picking up our unregistered wands."

"Smart" Louis remarked, looking at me fondly. "Just be careful in there."

I nodded, watching Gideon and Charlie burn through the seals on the enormous wooden door. The hinges creaked open into darkness and an eerie gust of musty air.

"Seriously brother, don't take any unnecessary risks. We all need you safe and sound for the order to succeed."

"They won't be alone exactly. I'm sending you seven in with this" Raven offered, finetuning a little orb in his hand before setting it to float in the air.

"A Prophet television camera drone?" I asked curiously.

"Seven of us?" Scor inquired instead.

"The twins should go with you even if they can't use wands. The tome may require a muramasa to retrieve it" Raven added, observing his company's drone wizz and flit about. I looked into it's lense as it focused in and out, a cylinder of high tech parts all working in perfect balance.

"And this thing? You want to film us fighting?" I asked skeptically, thinking which lie my tactitican would use to cover his deception. I'd thought of a half dozen reasons for the drone's presence, but could only picture two realistic ones that fit Raven's personality.

"To review your performance and check if you need help" He offered, lying to me. 'Posterity and propaganda more like it' I thought to myself, wondering if it was for a documentary on how I gathered the goddesses tomes or if it would be used as a showcase of my power someday, should we be attacked by a Tome spirit. One day he might need to explain or highlight his king's deeds' I realized, admiring not for the first time how fucking sharp Raven was. His mother and Uncle did run the most successful news and media company in the wizarding world after all.

Scor merely rolled his eyes at that and I wondered if he'd thought the same.

"No time to waste, lets move" I offered, stepping into the passageway with Charlie, Gideon and Sorrenson. It wasn't until Scor and his japanese cousins followed, that the corridors braziers and torches lit up in dull purple flame. The color of the font of fate.

The moment they had, sounds of shifting rock and counterweighted gears groaned out from deep within the tunnels. The twins placed hands on my shoulders and moved in front, leading the way with their family scroll in hand. The Marquess wrenched a torch from off its wall mount and raised it above his head as we began our descent into the maze below.

"I set a timer on the drone to alert you to your opsec timeframe. Don't take too long!" Raven called in the distance, his worry evident as he paced back and forth in the dwindling light of the basement entrance. We rounded a corner and now all we could see was the purple glow and aging stone.

"Lumos"

"Lumos"

"Lumos"

"Lumos"

We all began, igniting our wands to increase the Muramasa's visibility. They could not use their wands or risk their host country's ministry being alerted to their use. While it might be somewhat reasonable for the twins to return to Kyoto as nobles of japan... why they were there, when they were supposed to be in bed at school in Scotland would be harder to explain.

"This way maybe?" The girl asked, puzzled. They examined the statues at the mouths of each passage with deliberate scrutiny.

"Maybe?" We don't have time for maybes" Sorrenson scolded, coming up beside the two in an attempt to read the map.

"Go ahead, by all means" The slytherin offered, her brother shaking his head at his sisters pettiness.

"Sorry..." The Swede offered, realizing the scroll was in Japanese.

"It's all encrypted in haiku's and allegory. Metaphors and proverbs. They are clues that speak to the statues or ceremonial objects that adorn the path... but it's hard to make out their meaning. You know... being a millenia old."

"Yes... well... i'll just leave you too it then, shall I."

"That would be wonderful Master Sorrenson."

"Koto-da?" (Is it?)

"kamoshirenai... unless." (Could be...)

"nani ga nakereba? (Unless what?)

"Demo, kore wa kou yomu tsumori dattara dou shimasu ka? (What if it's meant to be read like this?)

"Kashikoi ototo" (clever, little brother)

I watched as they withdrew a stone sword from one statue only to place it in the grip of another. A false wall opened in between the ominous demonic figures and then even more sounds of shifting architecture resounded further down.

"Deeper we go" Gideon offered, usually the quiet type. He was a little more fidgety than usual, turning this way and that as though expecting an attack at any moment. He was a war hero and I knew better than to doubt his intuition... however his sense of impending danger was misplaced.

"You're putting my friend on edge Moriuchi Mahosenshi" I sighed and waited for the Muramasas famous shadow mage to show himself. He emerged from the rear passageway and remained stoic at his charges rebukes. His duty was to protect his masters. Joining the order had not shifted his priority.

"It's fine, he's an adult warlock. He shouldn't be under scrutiny by the Magus eye. This can be explained. Let's just keep moving." I offered, interrupting the royals scolding efforts.

It took twenty minutes of reviewing the scroll and solving odd puzzles for us to finally emerge into an enormous domed chamber at the heart of the tomb. At the center of this chamber sat an enormous Wisteria tree, its purple flowers delicate in the reflected light of the chambers mirrors.

"The many twisting branches of fate. The tome should be hidden inside the tree" Scor explained, his eyes flashing purple like the Muramasas.

"Wait... whats that?" I asked, pointing to the enormous set of Iron doors at the far side of the room. They extended twenty or so feet towards the ceiling, an enormous lock affixed to their front.

"That would be the gate that's housing whatever decides to attack us the minute we retrieve our prize."

"Always the optimist Scor. Though I'd wager you're right."

"What do we do then? It's big enough to house a dragon." Charlie exclaimed as he sized up the entryway.

"Ugh, and our fight is likely to wreck that beautiful tree too." I complained, picturing the scale of the fight about to unfold.

"My lords cannot use their wands, which means we three should stay back and out of the way" Kenzo san exclaimed rationally. The twins nodded although I could tell they wished to fight alongside me.

"well, let's get this over with. It shouldn't take too long whatever it is." I offered confidently. No sooner had i spoken than a deep grumbling growl emerge from beyond the door.

"Dai-Oni" Kenzo whispered, placing his fingers to his temples as though a headache were coming on. "A great ogre." He explained further.

"Yes, thank you. We speak Japanese. Cretin" Scorpius spat back impatiently, grumpy as ever.

"Well we don't! What the fuck is a Great Ogre?" Charlie demanded, rethinking our position.

"Errr... like a Giant but maybe a little smaller. Somewhere between a troll and a giant, except think much smarter and much faster. Red skin usually, lightly armored, they carry spiked clubs. Live in the mountains and caves. They also fight like trained warriors, which as you know, their western big boned cousins do not."

"Charming."

"Yes as charming as you Gideon."

"Stow it Sorrenson."

"Everyone, i want to try something. First in case my idea fails, i'm going to apply some battle spells to you all. Your suits increase physical prowess and perception of your own movement, but your eyes are all still normal. I have a spell that Scor and I developed that can speed up our visual acuity."

I moved to each member of my team and applied the exhausting spellwork around their irises. When I was satisfied, I moved over to the locked gate to examine the cracks and floor seams.

"What's your plan?" Scor asked, joining me at my side without hesitation. We could both here the deep breathing of an enormous creature, resting just on the other side.

"Poison gas pumped through beneath the door. Not very elegant or glorious but effective."

"Poor thing."

"Oh tearing the thing to pieces with explosive spells and war magic is fine? fire off some fiendyre and lightning arrows from our bow... so long as we don't peacefully gas the giant ogre?"

"You're on your way to becoming a godling, somehow exterminating a lesser being in a gas chamber seems a bad way to start your mythology." He offered, his eyes flicking to the floating orb that I'd almost forgotten about. I put my fingers to my temples in the way Kenzo had earlier.

"Fine go get this over with" I cursed, tilting my head towards the tree. Scor walzed without hesitation to the trunk and instead of cutting himself so his Muramasa blood would wet the bark, decided to use time magic to temporarily age a hole in the center instead. He put his hand in and without any fanfare, pulled out the magnificent rich purple tome of the fourth font.

"Is that it?" Sorrenson inquired when nothing happened. "You all led me to believe the keepers of these things were ferocious monstrosities—"

It began as it usually did. An enormous cloaked spirit appearing behind my blond the moment he stepped out of the circle surrounding the tree.

"No luck! SCOR! GET READY!"

"Shiné" It whispered, snapping its fingers to unseal the enormous palladium lock. The spirit's tattered robes and veiled ronin hat rippled ghost like in the dusty fog of falling rocks and silt that now had been shaken loose from the rumbling ceiling.

"ROOOOOAOAOOAOAOAOAOOAOOR!" We heard as the ogre kicked open the massive doors as though they had been made of paper. The creature barreled forwards, stomping the ground in front of it so hard that I flew backwards from the force of it.

"Al!" Scor yelled, racing to help steady me. I looked down as blood dripped from my nose, wiping away the substance without concern.

"I'm fine, everyone get ready. YOU, You don't interfere! We'll be done with your little test before you can even enjoy being fully awake" I cursed at the Muramasa spirit.

"You've been tested before it would seem. Don't worry, my champion is more than adequate to deal with a few trespassers."

"ATTACK!"

"CONFRINGO!"

"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"

"EXPULSO!"

"REDUCTO!"

A volley of spells were launched at the enormous figure, pelting it with a flurry of smoke, flame and blast inducing curses.

Another roar as the shirtless red skinned creature raged its displeasure. True to legend the great oni was horned and red eyed, its torso rippling with muscles and swirling tattoos. Around it's neck was a monk's necklace, large egg sized pearl beads on a string. In its right hand was a spiked japanese war club, more baseball bat shaped than a european ball mace. It's waist was adorned with a sash belt made of braided rope while its pants were purple silk fringed with bear fur where they had been tucked into his boots.

The creature brushed off the flames from the Confringo in annoyance while the other blasting curses seemed to do little more than bruise skin.

'Good' i thought, at least they bruise him. A dragon wouldn't even be dented...

"Accio!" The beautiful lightning bow burst into being in my palm crackling with energy as I drew back a nock. "I'm going to borrow this."

"Just fire you twit!"

I loosed an arrow and tsked to watch him catch it. Fangs bared themselves into a wicked smile as those ruby eyes found me. I grinned like a demon myself, showing him my teeth as I snapped my fingers. The arrow exploded in his hand, blistering the skin although barely damaging his hand. Another roar.

"Keep firing Uncle!"

"All of you" Scor corrected, eliciting another volley of disorienting blasts.

I nocked and fired three arrows at once, tsking again when this time he'd used his metal club to deflect the missiles. It leapt forward so fast we would have died then and there without our heightened senses. I managed to falter backwards, bumping up against the wisteria tree even as a blow from the weapon impacted the space i'd just occupied. He raised the weapon again and I dove out of the way to my left.

An explosion of splinters hailed in every direction as the trunk and all its branches fragmented this way and that. I winced at the hot sensation of pain where a shard of wood must have punctured my shoulder. I yanked the foreign body out of my muscle, thankful that it was only a superficial wound.

"Accio Exalted!"

The exquisite sword Augustin had gifted me flew from my magical storage straight into scorpius's hand.

"I'm sticking to your bow, use the sword if you can get in close, if not just keep firing." I ordered. "everyone else spread out and just keep firing. Look for weak spots and try and keep it pinned!"

I used a spell to shoot spiderlike silk thread throughout the chamber. Some would be sticky and others strong and reinforced. No sooner had the tendrils been strung did i leap up and run along the stable threads, firing arrow after arrow towards the grotesque ogre.

He deflected the first three but stepped back to dodge a particularly accurate shot i'd sent towards his eyes. Furious he reached out to tear at the webbing i'd woven, intent on wrenching my little firing platform down, and me with it. Luckily the sticky substance began to annoy him and he had to switch to swatting it with his club.

"Can't we do something?"

"No! not yet sister. We CANNOT use our wands. This is still a stealth mission."

"Kenzo, join them. We'll be fine over here. just assist them!"

"Dono! (Lord!) which are the structured lines?!" The japanese warrior shouted.

"They should look blue from the spell your eyes are under. The red are sticky." I cursed, leaping off of a line and onto another one to avoid being crushed.

I spied Scor bolt towards the back of the creatures legs, slashing at it's heels in an attempt to cripple it. Another roar of pain followed the blow although I feared for Scor's safety when he was kicked aside. He landed on his feet, sliding back several paces. He fell forward having to steady himself on his palm as he slid, trying not to impale himself with his own weapon.

"FIRE!" I ordered, issuing another volley to distract the enemy.

"CONFUNDUS!" I spat contemptuously, addling the ogre's mind to make him slower and dumber. A large troll was still a troll, an ogre who knew martial arts was something else entirely.

It shook its head as if drunk, trying to shake the cloud of fog i'd brought down on his mind.

Kenzo was racing along the wires like a ninja, teetering this way and that on his way to a spot above the demon. I fired off a few exploding arrows, annoyed that I could not land a hit.

"Your blade boy!" He commanded down to Scor. My blond tossed the sword high into the air and I almost laughed, picturing it missing and falling back to clatter on the ground. Thankfully the shadow warrior caught it and leapt down to impale the creature in its muscled shoulder. More roars and stumbling as the massive figure flung Kenzo off of him. Gideon caught the figure with a cushioning charm just in time although the sword was now uselessly stuck in the sinewy muscle between neck and pauldron.

"Fuck me! I have an idea!"

"So do it Scor!"

"I need an offensive spell from you."

"Why? Cast it yourself!"

"I'll be a little busy with the time magic."

"BOMB—"

"Not that one! It will bring the whole tomb down!"

"Fuck it!" I cursed, leaping out of the way of a huge stone brick the ogre had thrown at me.

"Here. I'll do it. What do you need?" Sorrenson offered, standing to Scors right.

"Stunner, now, cast it next to my wand!"

It wasn't until a buzzing gattling gun like drone erupted from scors unicorn wand that I stopped to realize what I was seeing. A stream of red bullets shot out at high speed to pelt the ogre with an annoying hail. Scor had set a rewinding time field in front of his wand, recycling seconds if not fractions of a second to just before the stunning spell had leapt from the Swedes own wand. The effect was that a real spell was sent smashing into our foe before countless more past copies of the first were sent out in suit.

The oni tried to hide behind his club but had no choice but to retreat as far as he could. finally he tore one half of the iron door straight off its hinges as a makeshift shield.

"This is exhausting AL!"

"Keep it up, i will try and get around him!"

Charlie and Gideon used encarcera to create chains that would trip or hamper—

—BOOOM!

the room shook violently as the Ogre smashed his club against the wall of the cave chamber. More rocks and dust shook loose, falling from the ceiling all around us. I fell, losing my balance on the narrow wire, barely catching myself in a frantic dart of my right arm. I tried pulling myself up but it was impossible. Wait... i don't have to get back up onto this line i can just...

I flung myself so that my legs were suspending me upside down on the flimsy thread instead of my arm, abandoning any attempt to climb back up onto it. Instead I shot upside down, aiming for the creatures weapon arm while it was shielding itself from Scor's assault. Three explosive arrows impaled the fingers around the creatures dominant hand. "And boom" I cursed, letting the projectiles explode away his thumb and index finger. A howl this time instead of roar, the clamor of metal against stone ringing out as the club fell away harmlessly to the floor.

My legs spasmed from the strain and I fell from my line straight into a tangle of stickier thread.

"FUCK me and my brilliant ideas!"

I watched helplessly as the makeshift shield slammed down into the ground and the wounded creature charged forward, raking the door-shield like a wall in an effort to crush the machine gunner that had so terribly distracted it.

Scor and Sorrenson abandoned their tactic, diving out of the way as the rumble of death came at them headlong. As they did the machine gun fire ceased.

"Inflamare!" I heard as kenzo appeared as close to me as he could get. The sticky webbing that had encased me was singed away. He grabbed me as soon as I was free and it was embarassingly several moments of dangling helplessly before I remembered that I could fly. I glided up to another stable, thicker wire, realizing quickly that fighting while in flight would demand too much of my mental energy to achieve in such a chaotic setting.

"Think, think, think. Blind it? slow it? Burn it?"

"What?" Kenzo asked, thinking I was speaking to him.

It was then that the Ogre withdrew a gourd like bottle from his waist, unstoppering it's cork with his teeth to avoid hurting his maimed hand. He took in a deep swig and i realized whatever was inside was either caustic or flammable. More explosions came next from the adult warlocks, but they did little to stop it.

Scor realized what I had, and began to blast forth a blizzard from his lungs. If he'd guessed wrong, the acid would have eaten him and the Swede alive. Thankfully they were flames, whose fire was doused by the frost magic before they ever had a chance to take life.

"Lucky" The Fate Spirit cursed, watching the fight from his corner of the chamber.

The idea hit me then.

"Everyone, ice spells. Slow him down."

None but scorpius could achieve the arctic maelstrom without wands, but the warlocks luckily had use of them and were able to slowly encase the Dai-Oni in an icy sheen. I summoned a corporeal arrow this time, not the lightning explosive I was fond of, affixing the strongest silk thread I could create to its rear. 'Even real arrows can be guided when shot from this' i thought, looking down at the ancient Malfoy weapon. I fired, twisting my fingers so that the arrow flew round and round the creatures neck.

"LEGS PLEASE SOMEONE!" I cursed, pulling back on the silk rope to tighten it like a noose. I sent the arrow into the roof of the chamber lodging it into the rock there. Before the Oni could yank on the thread and presumably, kill me as i was flunk like a baby across the room, my warlocks got the message and aimed their fire for the backs of the creatures legs. 'The line wont hold' i realized stupidly. It fell forward and just as i thought the arrow was yanked from the ceiling without purpose.

"What the fuck were you trying to do Al?"

Either bring the ceiling down on it or choke or even freeze its head and break it off at the neck... but the line wouldn't hold!"

"Of all the stupid—"

Scor was interrupted as the fallen ogre groaned, pushing his frost eaten body up in an attempt to rise. The adult had kept up the stream of frost at my direction but scor and I were stood there now like morons.

"Now what?"

"Just give me a second alright?"

"A second? Have you seen the fight we're in?"

"GO HELP FREEZE IT!" I barked, intent on getting my idiot to cease complaining in my ear.

I leapt onto the hardening frame of the monstrous humanoid, seizing both ends of the rope now tied around his neck. I turned the silk into steel like garaute and sent every fiber of magic from my nightfyre crystal towards the wire and my muscles. It tightened and constricted both through force of limb and the will of my spells even as the frost magic buffeted and blanketed. It's skin and muscle and even bone was transforming, white blue taking the place of red. My hands were bloody even as I tried to shield my skin from the sharp wire. If i'd tried this with ounly my muscles i would have probably sliced through my hands instead of achieving the death of the oni.

Finally a crack erupted into the storming chamber and the ogres head crumbled off of its shoulders. 'Dead' i huffed, exhausted and cold. My hands were a mess and my whole body ached.

"Dead" i repeated aloud.

Editor here: Sorry, this hasn't been proof read so forgive any mistakes. I just wanted to get this out.