Koukyuu swung her hand, unleashing a gust of freezing air at the abyssmals. Roa scuttled back, but Satoru simply chuckled as it passed by him as if it were nothing.

She covered the frozen Makkuroyama children and Kuroshi with her tails as fast as she could. Without hurting them, she heated up the ice they were encased in. However, Kuroshi melted into a puddle of goo, which quickly dissolved into a dark mist.

The Kasai no Ki princess gasped and stepped away.

"What? Did I just kill him?" she asked, gulping.

"Was that a clone?" Roa asked, stepping away from it too. He glanced around. "Then, where is the real Kuroshi?"

"That man, didn't he seem familiar to you?" Satoru asked, rubbing his chin and tilting his head at where 'Kuroshi' once stood.

"Yeah, Etsuo, and I thought that since we first met him," Roa said, narrowing his eyes at where the guy had once stood.

Koukyuu pulled out two kunai from underneath her white coat and threw them at the distracted boys. The two moved away, but the kunai still managed to land a hit on Satoru's right arm and one on Roa's left.

"Don't turn your attention away from your enemies. Though, I'm glad to know that I didn't just accidentally kill someone," she said with a slight smile.

Satoru narrowed his golden eyes at her. "If you think that an injured girl such as yourself can take us down, then you're mistaken."

"Satoru, let's finish this now so that we can help Etsuo out and meet up with the boss," Roa said as a dark cloud with red sparks covered him entirely.

Satoru smiled as a similar cloud covered him, but instead of sparks, there was a strange bluish chill.

The Kasai no Ki princess took a step back as the energy levels around Roa and Satoru began to go up significantly. The clouds of darkness gradually vanished to reveal a black pegasus with ruby eyes and a gray fox with sapphire eyes.

Roa took a single step forward, causing the palace grounds to tremble. "You thought that you could defeat us? Like this?"

Koukyuu took another step back. Her kunai slipped to the ground. The pressure Roa himself radiated was too great by itself. With both Roa and Satoru, it felt as if the force itself could crush her. How powerful were their enemies? Was there even any hope of winning the war?

She shook her head. She needed to do something, anything. But what? She was only one person against two monsters!

***

[A few moments earlier within the palace]

Tetsuya smacked the dark gelatin-like substance that had emerged from the cracks in the golden doors, but it merely bounced off the shield. He spun around and smashed it against the wall, but it bounced back at him and so on like a ping-pong ball.

"Master!" Yuko yelled, running into the lobby from the opposite direction that Takuya had gone. She tossed a plain-looking knife at the thing. Still, it absorbed it into its gelatinous body, where it quickly fizzled until it dissolved.

Teresa took a step back and said, "No way. Nothing that's done to it affects it."

Tetsuya reverted his shield back into its bracelet form and removed the new weights that Kuroshi had given him earlier in the morning. A giant cloud of dust spread out across the palace lobby, shocking the blob. Tetsu rushed at the thing with all he had, pushing it against the wall.

"Tetsu!" Rosa yelled. "Don't punch it, it'll dissolve your body too!"

"Oh, I came prepared," Tetsu said, grinning.

Rosa gasped as she noticed his arm was covered in purple prana to shield himself from the thing's corrosive body.

He reached his hand in deeper and deeper. It felt as if he were putting his hand through a tub of thick, wet, mud. "You said that the abyssmals have gem cores, right? If so, then this thing should have one too, somewhere."

"You fool," a voice echoed across the lobby.

"What was that?" Teresa asked, glancing around as she held Rosa tightly. "I-it's not a ghost, right?"

Yuko narrowed her eyes at the creature. "It's coming from that thing. Yuko's master told Nori and Yuko that not all of these beings have cores. This must be one of those, an Umbra!"

"Umbra?" Tetsuya said as he tried to pull his hand away but couldn't. He punched the thing with his free fist, but it held on to his arm tightly. He continued to strike the sphere over and over with his free hand, which he made sure not to have the creature absorb. Yet with each hit, it felt as if he were whacking his own arm. That is if it were covered in strange bouncy concrete with gelatin-like properties.

The thing lingered there for a while, not doing anything else. "You... I can't digest you... Why?" the thing asked before unleashing needle tipped tendrils at him.

Yuko charged forward, slicing the tendrils masterfully. "Blob won't hurt Tetsu!" Yuko yelled, glaring at it.

Tetsuya smiled. She finally called him by his name again. She gasped as the thing turned its jellyfish arm-like appendages toward Yuko.

That's not going to happen! Tetsuya yelled, slamming his arm against the floor.

The thing let go of his arm and dissolved into the floor, spreading outward like an oil slick.

"What's it doing?" Teresa asked as she pulled the princess toward the stairs.

"Could it be preparing to divide again?" Tetsuya suggested as he looked around.

Yuko jumped over to his side. "It's merging with the floor! Stab the ground!" she yelled, stabbing it with a black knife. The voice from before roared in their heads as the knife pierced through its super thin body. Suddenly a great aura of darkness radiated upward.

Everyone in the lobby winced as the darkness seemed to seep into their heads.

"What's going on?" Rosalba asked, holding her head with both hands.

"Not sure, but like Yuko said, we got to stab it!" Tetsuya yelled over the thing's screams. "But first, I need to find something to use."

Rosa formed a sword with a crystal blade and tossed it at him. "Use that!"

Tetsuya held out his left hand and grasped the sword. "Thanks, Princess!" He gripped the sword with both hands and stabbed the ground with it—the screams in his head and those of the others to intensify.

This won't work. Its screams are taking their toll. I need to do something to stop it from screaming. If only they were normal screams, then I would be able to seal its mouth if it had one. Wait... seal... That's it!

He took a deep breath and focused his mana on the tip of the crystal sword before slowly raising it up. Attached to the end of the blade was the creature, which at this point resembled melted plastic.

"What are you doing?" it yelled.

"I came to the realization that if I can't kill you, then I'll seal you," the knight responded, wincing.

"Seal it?" Rosa asked.

Teresa nodded. "Takuya taught us how to do it years ago, in case we ever ran into demons. I bet he's doing the same thing to the one that escaped."

"But these creatures are different than demons. At least that's what my dad and Kuroshi told us," the princess said.

"They are different, but it is possible to seal them just like demons," Yuko said as she jumped over to the stairs. "Now be quiet. Mister needs to focus."

Oh great, she went back to calling me 'Mister' again. He shook his head as his grip on the creature weakened. Gotta focus on sealing this thing. The crystalline sword's white crystals turned pitch black and began to shatter.

"It's too much," Teresa yelled. She and Rosa ran over to him and put their hands over Tetsuya's. Their mana raised down to the tip of the sword, pulling up the being faster.

"Yuko will help too!" Yuko said, running over and grabbed the hilt of the sword. She and the other three strengthened the crystals, and in the case of the three angels, yanked on the darkness.

The darkness faded from the floor completely. What was left behind was a seven-foot high, one foot long, three-foot wide bundle of black rock.

"We did it!" Rosa yelled, grinning as she let go.

"Not yet," Tetsuya said as he squatted down next to it. He closed his eyes and formed a black cube around the sword. Teresa followed up by making another on top of it. The two closed their eyes and began to chant a mantra.

"Seal this darkness which seeks to do harm to the world!" the siblings yelled in unison as their index and middle fingers glowed purple. Violet strings sprung out of their hands and clasped the black box, wrapping around it like ribbons on a gift box. The ebony cube suddenly contracted to half its original size then again and again, until it was roughly the size of a music box.

"Wow," Rosa said as soon as the glow faded. She walked over, picked up the box, and had her hyper ring absorb it. "That was amazing!"

Tetsuya and his sister fell to their knees, sweat dripping down their faces. "Y-yeah," the knight said, grinning.

"Thank goodness that Takuya taught us, eh?" Teresa said, grinning as well. Though their joy was short-lived as a heavy pressure-filled the palace grounds.

"Roa," Rosa said, gazing at the golden doors. She tried to step forward, but the combination of the strong aura and her own fatigue prevented her.

"Rest," Yuko said as she ran for the door. "Yuko will go see what's going on!"

"Be careful," the princess said as she tried to keep herself awake.

"Come back safe, ya hear?" Tetsuya called out to Yuko.

Yuko turned around and smiled slightly. "Of course. Yuko and Mister still need to bake those cookies that he promised."

Tetsuya grinned. "Yeah, we do!" He pushed himself off the ground, causing Yuko to stare at him in confusion. "Tere. Stay here and protect the princess. I'm going with Yuko to see what's going on outside."

Rosalba lowered her head. "One of these pressures is from Roa... Is he fighting out there?"

"Roa is a traitor, it seems," Yuko said as she flung the doors open. Waiting for them were a red-eyed, black pegasus and a blue-eyed, gray fox.

The princess's eyes widened upon seeing the pegasus. She could tell it was Roa upon seeing his eyes. Even if they weren't their usual golden color, they still radiated the same aura. "So... my dad was right."

Tetsuya rushed over to Yuko and pushed her behind him as Roa advanced toward them. Or at least he assumed it was toward them until he noticed the white-haired girl standing next to an unconscious Hideo and his siblings. She was healing their wounds by channeling prana to them though her tails.

"Another mage?" Tetsuya asked, blinking.

"Roa!" Rosa yelled, trying to stand up. "What are you doing?"

Roa chuckled. "Isn't it obvious? I'm one of those whom you folks have been training these past few weeks to defeat."

Rosa stumbled forward. "Why? Why did you pretend to be my friend?" she cried out as tears rolled down her face.

The pegasus scoffed. "Come on, I never 'pretended'! Only Etsuo did that. It was actually his plan all along to string you on. Sadly, Satoru here had to blow our cover with little warning so we couldn't continue playing the role of allies."

Satoru walked further inside. "So you've defeated my Umbra. No matter, today you die!"

Tetsuya stood by the doorway with his shield held out in front of him. "Can't you see, you need to get through me in get to her!"

"You're the one who can't see," Satoru said as his sapphire eyes glowed. Tetsuya and the others gasped as everything went blank.

"Tetsu!" Rosa yelled in desperation. "Get out of the w-" Her voice left her.

Tetsuya smiled as he stepped forward.

Don't worry, Princess. I got this.

He blocked nine tails in quick succession and smacked the fox's head with his shield. Though the fox's head was tough, adamant. It felt as if he had just banged his shield against another one as equally durable as it.

"Argh. How could I have allowed myself to get hit by one of you doves again?" Satoru asked as he raised his tails. "Well, I'm done with you! You'll be the first to die!"

Tetsuya moved past the door and reached for one of his tails. However, before he could grab it, something smacked him straight into the throne room beneath the stairs.

"Don't underestimate him!" Roa said as he stood next to a stunned Satoru. "That guy might not be the toughest one around, but he still has his tricks. The same goes for the others. The princess included."

"I understand now. Well, he dies here and now!" Satoru yelled as his tails stretched further and further as they made their way for the injured knight.

Tetsuya twitched as he felt Yuko run her blade across Satoru's tails, but it wasn't enough as the little girl was soon flung over to him by the force of the tails.

Yuko...

Tetsuya gasped as he felt something was wrong. The tails had redirected themselves. They weren't after him, but Rosalba and Teresa.

Teresa created an earth wall, but that was shattered quickly. However, it did buy the country girl enough time to roll the princess and herself out of the way. Though the tails soon made their way over to them, moving like swift strokes on paper. Teresa was forced to block them with her own arms. She tried her hardest not to scream as each strike tore through her flesh.

Tetsuya tried to stand, but he couldn't. His body was far too worn out and damaged, even though it was in the process of healing itself.

"Stay there and enjoy the show," Satoru said, snickering. He snapped his fingers and took a step forward.

Tetsuya's vision and those of the others suddenly returned. Teresa was rolling around in agony as the princess watched in horror. Yuko, though injured, was charging toward the fox. A tail came at her, but it was sent back by another tail, this one white. Standing in front of Yuko was the white-haired girl from outside.

"So you've decided to fight after all rather than to stay down and cower. Roa..."

"I'll be right back!" Roa yelled.

Satoru turned around and grumbled as he saw that Roa was already gone. "Did he go to save his fellow dove? No matter, I don't need him to deal with you!" Satoru yelled, unleashing a wave of cold air across the palace. Everything and everyone froze except the two princesses and Yuko, whom the Kasai no Ki princess had protected with her other tails. "Interesting. Are princesses naturally immune to ice?"

"No, that's not it," Koukyuu said, grinning. Suddenly her tails vanished, and she collapsed to the ground. "No, why now? I cannot be running low on strength."

Satoru took a step closer and flashed her a sadistic grin. "So, you came here only to die at my hands, pretty stupid of you."

Koukyuu continued to glare at him even as she laid on the floor, powerless.

Rosa shivered. This was it now; it was down to the three of them. Though, it might as well had been only Koukyuu and Yuko. She wished that Kohri hadn't been knocked out during training. If only she could've switched places with him. Then Tetsuya and the others wouldn't be on the brink of death. Or if only she could use her angel tool for once...

*Character Section*

Roa's Pegasus form

Satoru's Kitsune form

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :3. This is the first of several chapters that I'll be publishing back to back (already written the next two so you'll at least be getting two more this week xD) to celebrate 20 months since (Dec 15th, 2016 when) I first published the first chapter of the first version of this book on this site :3**