"We're back!" Tetsuya yelled as he stretched his muscular arms toward the gold-covered ceiling of the palace.

"Welcome back," Kuroshi said as he stood on top of the mosaic of his ancestors. "Your team is the only one that has yet to train. Don't tell me you became a knight to loaf around? The way you and Hideo are right now, I'm afraid we can't take you with us to the north."

"What?" Tetsuya asked, eyes wide.

"King Osamu told me to keep you and your teams here. He's afraid that you two will hold back our efforts to take down the so-called 'demon' rampaging in Kuroyuki." He put his hands on his hips. "Though if you ask me, it's also a good idea to keep reserves here. This could be a ploy from our enemy to distract us."

"But is leaving two former rebels in charge of the palace a good idea?" Reno muttered with a pout.

Kuroshi chuckled. "True that! But I'll say your sister and you are both wild cards no matter if you're here or on the battlefield. After all, who is to say you won't backstab the king shall he turn his back to you during battle? Plus, here it should be easier for Kohri to keep an eye on the two of you."

"Right! I'll guard the Imperial Palace until my dying breath," Kohri said, bowing his head to him. "In return, please defend my homeland in my place."

The robed man snickered. "Wow, didn't expect you to react so politely. You feeling, okay, Kohri?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's just... I'm worried about my homeland."

"No need to worry, it's in good hands. Now, remember to keep watch over the palace as you promised."

The hammer knight smiled. "Of course!"

"So you've thought this through," Suzuki said, smiling. "Here, I thought you might've become lax around us, no longer seeing us as a threat."

"We really should keep an eye on them," Tetsu said, laughing nervously.

"Don't worry, with the amount of firepower we're packing, they'll likely return here in no time. That is, unless if the one they're dealing with is a high ranking demon or abyssmal," Kuroshi said.

"What do you know of the hierarchy of the abyssmals?" Setsuko asked, crossing her arms together.

Kuroshi tilted his head to the side. "To be honest, I am more aware of their high ranking leadership rather than the lower ones."

"How?" Serrano questioned, raising an eyebrow.

The man sighed. "Let's just say I've met some among the upper leadership." He turned his gaze toward Roa and Etsuo. "Anyway, the three highest levels of the abyssmal leadership are The Foundation, The Pillars, and The Rulers."

"Rulers? Don't you mean The Roof?" Takuya said, chuckling at his own joke.

"Haha, you would think that'll be it, huh? Guess it's an open-air temple!"

"Can you two not joke at this time?" Serrano asked, sighing.

"And here's the serious Serrano," Setsuko said, laughing. "But he's right. So what do you know about these upper three echelons?"

"Well, the main leaders are those who belong to The Pillars. They serve as the governors of Abyssia. The Rulers delegated authority to them, sort of like how our king delegates authority to the grand dukes."

Serrano rubbed his chin and nodded as if in understanding. "So The Pillars are the Grand Dukes of Abyssia..."

"Pretty much, though I wouldn't say that my equivalency is completely correct." He waved at them. "Come, let's go to the Angelic Dome. I got something to show you. I'll explain more on the way."

Serrano, Tetsuya, and the others followed after the cloaked man.

***

"Anyway, as I was saying," Kuroshi continued as they climbed up multiple stairs. "The Pillars are all-powerful individuals, each with their own unique power. For example, the cat is said to be able to absorb one's life force into himself."

Etsuo and Roa exchanged glances.

"Cat Pillar?" Nori asked, blinking.

Kuroshi chuckled. "Yeah. Each one of the pillars can transform into a different beast. Anyway, as I was saying, the Cat Pillar is as strong as King Osamu."

Setsuko and Rosalba stopped.

"As strong as daddy?" Rosalba asked, shivers running down her spine. "But... he's the strongest of among all the current leaders of the clans."

Setsuko hugged herself. "Would you say this 'Cat Pillar' is the strongest of the Pillars?"

"Nope," Kuroshi said as if disappointed. "There's one far stronger than him. One that can easily defeat even our Celestial Queen."

Everyone stopped. Sweat drops ran down their faces. "S-stronger than Queen Saya?" Rosalba asked, her hands shaking.

"Yes, far more so," Kuroshi said, closing his eyes. "He's the most frightening foe. It'll take all of us working together to defeat him. That's why I need all of you to get stronger, far stronger. Nay, all of us do."

"So this is what Mom meant when she said that Zionia could fall in an instant," Suzuki said, eyes wide. She gritted her teeth together. "No, you're just trying to manipulate us with fear, aren't you?"

Kuroshi shrugged as he began ascending the stairs once more. "Think of it that way if you want, but I hope that you never have to see the reality of my words."

Tetsuya took a deep breath. He had to be bluffing, the young knight told himself. Kuroshi had a particular way of motivating others. One of those methods was to make others feel weak.

They stayed silent for the rest of the trip until they arrived at a pair of golden doors. Rosalba stepped forward and pushed the doors open as if they weighed nothing. Inside the room were several smaller areas. The one-hundred warriors and the other knights were busy with their training.

"That's some quality armor you got there," Hyosetsu said as he glanced up at Tetsu. His icy blue eyes shifted toward his younger brother. "It's some of Father's work you finished, isn't it?"

Kohri nodded solemnly. "Yeah. It was an armor he made for himself. Tetsu's build is similar to Dad's, so it fits him rather well."

"Who knew a peasant could pull the armor look off so well?" Eiichi said. A grin crossed his face. "Though I'm sure it would look better on me."

"It wouldn't even fit you," Hyosetsu said, chuckling.

The blond scoffed. "You're one to talk, you twig!"

Hyosetsu raised his sword at him. "What was that, you rotten playboy?"

"You heard me, twig!"

"Uh, doesn't he like twigs, though?" Etsuo asked, chuckling.

"I assume yes if Reno, Hyosetsu, and you are among his type," Roa said, nodding his head.

Reno touched his stomach and pouted. "Well, I'm not all that lean." He sighed. "Why couldn't I have gotten a body type a bit more like Dad's? Or at least like my brother's..."

"Hey, you guys, return to training or leave," Kuroshi said, pointing a finger toward the door.

Tetsuya smiled. Seems he has a severe side after all. Perhaps he really wasn't kidding back there...

He walked over to one of the smaller rooms only for the silver doors to open independently. Several large eyes peered up at him. Next thing he knew, five spheres with a single eyeball each appeared from the floor.

Tetsu gasped and stepped back. "Agnes!" he yelled, transforming his bracelet into its weapon form as the thing lurched itself at him.

He slammed it with his shield, but it merely bounced away and struck his leg. It was surprisingly strong for a little guy. The strange creatures continued to tackle him, gradually dealing more and more damage.

Tetsuya spun around, striking it in the back, but the thing didn't seem to receive much damage at all. In fact, it just bounced off the surface of the shield as if nothing had happened.

"Tsk."

Rosalba rushed in and delivered a downward slash at one of the eye-creatures with a crystal sword like the one she had made to fight Suzuki in the cavern.

"Guard me, I'll kill them," she said, eyes serious.

Kohri stood to the side, grinning as he watched the two of them work together. "I'll jump in if you need any help. But, I'm sure that Rosalba has this."

Tetsuya smiled. "You're better off training in another of the cubes then," he said. He did as Rosalba said and shielded her.

"Fair enough," Kohri said, waving as he stepped out. One of the blobs jumped at him, but he froze it before it could even get within a foot of him. "Have fun!"

The princess took down their enemies with ease, cutting them down as if they were nothing. After what seemed like a few hours of slaying eye demons, something emerged from the floor. It was a tiny blue stone.

"What's that?" Tetsuya asked.

"This is our reward," she said, handing it over to him. "It will help us get stronger. It is called an essence crystal. They're packed with mana. They're rare but with my father's wealth, we managed to provide you all with some. Eventually, these will run out, but word is that the Abyss is plentiful in these. If you use this on your body, you will become stronger or faster. If you use it on your shield, it'll help you awaken its abilities quicker."

"Abilities, huh?" He placed the stone against the center of the shield. "How do you do this?"

"It should work simply by placing it close to one's weapon or body," Kohri said as he returned. He snickered. "Sorry if I'm bothering you, I got worried for a sec as you were taking a while."

"It's fine," Rosa said.

"So, you were saying?" Tetsuya asked as he tinkered with the crystal.

"Oh, right. The weapon, in this case, should absorb the crystal soon," Kohri continued. "Well, sometimes weapons reject the crystals if they're incompatible with the weapon's own essence and mana. The same with one's body. If a person tries to absorb an essence crystal that is incompatible with their body, it can cause them great harm, potentially crippling them or worse."

Suddenly the shield let out a brilliant emerald glow, and the essence crystal vanished.

"Report," the intercom at the corner of the small room says.

Rosalba walked over to the large gray computer in front of where they were fighting and tapped away rapidly on its attached glowing blue keyboard. The screen, which previously showed an image of the creature they had fought, shifted over to displaying a three-dimensional model of Agnes.

"It seems to be detecting something," the princess said. "Hurry, and place your shield down on the floor in the center of the room."

"Oh wow, a new power? What is it? Does it shoot laser beams?" Kohri asked as he walked over to the screen to see for himself.

Tetsuya did as Rosalba said and removed Agnes from his arm and placed it on the ground. A yellow light scanned the shield, and the image on the screen became more detailed.

"What does it say?" he asked, raising his head toward the monitor.

She glanced over to the left side of the screen. "Your shield has begun to evolve somewhat. The defensive capacities of the material have increased. Your weapon now has a defense harder than diamond itself."

"Woah! Really?" he said, grinning. It almost sounded like something out of an RPG. "Did it gain any other capacities? Maybe those laser beams Kohri suggested?"

She snickered. "No, nothing like that. Though looking at this, I can see that it already came with some abilities. Among them is the ability to create elixirs."

"Elixirs? How?" Tetsuya asked.

Kohri tapped some stuff on the display.

"It appears that the shield absorbs material into the dragon sphere at the center and blends them together using... prana, ki, and mana." He gasped. "Woah! This is rather complicated stuff. The 'spell' is almost like a programming code. This beats even some of the most advanced magical tech that I had a chance to see during my time in Xeleria. I mean, that stuff was already impressive, but it was restricted only to prana." Kohri laughed as his eyes tried to absorb everything in. "Kuroshi really is a genius! So is Dad!"

"Wow!" Tetsuya said, grinning widely. "Now, to aim higher and to awaken more of the latent power behind this shield."

"Why do you think its defense will go up? It might go up in only the other attributes," Kohri questioned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, in RPGs, weapons tend to grow in a certain area. I am pretty sure Agnes' specialty is defense, being a shield and all."

Rosalba giggled. "You really are a gaming nerd, aren't you?"

Tetsuya pouted and turned away from her. "Is that a bad thing?"

She waved her hand dismissively. "No, no! I love them too. I play mobile games whenever I got the time."

"If you said that in the middle of my old gaming club, half of them would back away from you," Tetsuya said, chuckling. "So, who else here likes to play games that I should know about?"

"Well, there's my sister, well at least she used to love playing them when she was younger. She stopped playing them a couple years back for some reason." She lowered her gaze. "I think it had something to do with Father giving her Alma, not to mention her engagement with Serrano."

"I see," Tetsuya said, putting his hands behind his head.

Maybe when we got some downtime, I should ask her for a round of Glorious Wreck Bros. Wonder if she's ever played it...

Rosalba turned around and pressed something on the machine. "How about we continue with our training?"

Tetsuya nodded. The second princess clicked a blue button on the monitor in response. She backed up closer to him and raised her sword. "Prepare yourself, these enemies are going to be tougher than the last."

"Right, a level up tends to imply harder enemies!" he said, raising his shield. "By the way, if we get past this, you can get the second essence crystal."

She smiled. "That's so kind of you."

The knight turned away. Once more, he felt like he was in a furnace underneath the armor. He would need to get Kohri to get that checked.

A tiger-like creature suddenly materialized in front of the computer. It charged at Rosalba, but Tetsuya flashed behind it and slammed his shield against its head. The beast growled as it tripped over itself.

"Nice one!" the princess yelled. She rushed at the beast and slashed erratically. The creature somehow managed to block each of her slashes with its claws.

The tiger downward slashed her left arm, causing her to yelp. The princess winced in pain but didn't relent, attacking the beast again.

Tetsuya got closer to her and shielded her from the beast's claws. "Are you alright?" he asked. "I'm sorry I didn't react in time." He bit his lip. "Seems I do need to work on my reaction speed."

Rosa tried to give him a confident smile, but all she could muster was a half-smile.

"I'll be fine," she said, shifting her gaze back at the creature. "Let's focus on killing this beast first. Cross-Slash!"

She appeared behind him in the blink of an eye and slashed the virtual beast on the back with vertical and horizontal strokes.

"Earth rupture!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Rocks emerged like a fountain from the creature's back where she had cut. The stones covered its body, stopping its movements altogether. "Now, the finishing blow!" She dashed forward and struck the head of the tiger with the hilt of her sword.

"Woah," Tetsu said as the beast slumped to the floor and disintegrated, finally revealing a green essence crystal.

Rosa picked it up happily and asked, "That makes two, ready for a third?"

Tetsuya shook his head despite barely having broken a sweat. "Let's rest instead. I'm barely getting used to this, and not to mention you're hurt."

She placed the crystal against her wound. The wound vanished once the crystal entered her body. "I'm fine now, but if you're tired, that's fine. I'll show you to your room. Kohri, feel free to use this room to practice."

"I think I'll look over the details of Agnes and see what else I can learn about it," Kohri said. He happily ran over to the computer and began to fiddle around with the model of the shield.

Rosa and Tetsuya left the training facilities and walked down to the second floor of the castle. She used the extra time to show him the various rooms they used for different occasions, such as the ballroom for significant state events with leaders of other clans.

Other rooms included one filled with stars, which reminded him of Serrano's Angelic Dome room back at school. The projections represented the surrounding parts of the universe, according to her.

"That tiny dot is us," she said, pointing at the central dot.

"Wow," Tetsuya said.

He raised his right arm toward the dot, only to have it projected on his hand. He turned his hand upside down, making it seem as if the entire world was the size of a grain of sand in his hands.

"So this is us...why would..." He let go of the world.

"Something the matter?" she said, tilting her head.

He raised his right hand to his mouth and yawned. "Sorry, I'm getting a little sleepy."

"You haven't eaten yet," she said, putting her hands on her hips. She grabbed Tetsuya's hand and chuckled. "Though I'll be glad to show you to your room."

Tetsuya grinned. "Thanks. Though should a princess really be escorting a knight? Especially to his room? Don't you think rumors will start popping up?"

Rosalba's face reddened. "I... I didn't think about that. B-but I've never been one to care much about rumors." She grabbed his hand and pulled on his arm. "Come on, sleepyhead!"

Tetsuya chuckled and followed after her.

On the way to his room, he noticed a golden wheel-shaped necklace with a citrine in the center dancing around her neck as she ran.

That necklace...if I recall correctly, it's the same as Tierra's.

"That necklace, where did you get it?" Tetsuya asked.

"Huh?" she said.

"I've heard of only one piece of jewelry in this world with that appearance. That's our ancestor's wheel."

She stopped and touched it lightly. "Yes, it is. It's the only other thing that mother left us before she died. It actually belongs to my big sister, but sometimes I borrow it."

Tetsuya glanced over at the mosaic of Tierra and Hanketsu as they passed by it. He lowered his head. He had no idea what to say.

The princess glanced at the golden ceiling before walking into the central hall where Serrano's own room was. "I barely got to know her, but the fuzzy memories of her I do have are fond ones. My older sister said that she was a nice person...I could never hope to be like her."

"Why?"

She let go of the necklace. "I'm not a nice person," she said with a dry smile as she pushed her hair behind her ear.

"Not at all," Tetsuya responded, giving her a pat on the shoulder. "You seem quite nice. Weird, but nice."

This time she smiled warmly. "Oh, thanks!" she said, pushing him slightly. The two of them chuckled. "I hope that you rest well. Tomorrow we'll continue our training. Perhaps we could even find time to spar like we promised each other."

"Sounds good," Tetsuya said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Again, thanks for taking care of me," Rosalba said, turning around and putting her hands behind her back. "I'm sure that you'll be as amazing a knight as your dad."

Tetsuya scratched his neck as he glanced to the side. "R-really?"

She looked over her shoulder and giggled. "Yeah! Just keep on trying, I'm sure you'll get there someday."

Tetsuya watched as the princess walked away. "Hey!"

"Hmm?" she asked, stopping.

"I-I also think you'll be as amazing as your own Mom," he said as he turned his back toward her. "A-anyway, goodnight. See you first thing in the morning."

"Alright. Just be sure not to sleep in again," Rosa said, giggling as she walked away.

"I-I won't," he said before running off. He seriously needed to get his armor checked.

**Solar Note: Hope you enjoyed these past three chapters :3. Like I said in 38, thanks for continuing to read. I hope that I'll be able to continue to keep you folks entertained. If you have any feedback on how to improve or just comments in general, I would love to hear them ^_^. So, what did you think of the threat Kuroshi described? Think he's bluffing or is he telling the truth? Also, what do you think is wrong with Tetsuya's armor? xD**