[Meanwhile- Abyss]

Serrano panted as he spun around, slicing through beings of darkness. He ran toward Setsuko, but the dark beings returned to haunt him once again. It was like being within a nightmare. No matter how often he destroyed them, they kept coming back for more and each time stronger than the last time.

He sliced another one, splattering black ink everywhere, and ran to the princess' side. She had cleared her area, which was littered with orange shards. He caught her staring at the silver-haired man dressed in a black suit battling with Eiji and his oldest son.

Something about the man felt strangely familiar to him. Had they met before?

The abysmal had injured many of their fellow soldiers. As soon as he and the others had stepped into the abyss, the man was there to greet them. He even managed to somehow drag the older Seven Hills and the king though the portal they had used to get there.

"He's too strong," Eiichi said, panting as he fell to one knee. None of his attacks had done any damage to this opponent.

King Osamu nodded. "He sure is, but we mustn't waiver here. Retreat if you must."

Setsuko shook her head. "Father, it'll be best for you to retreat as well." She glanced at the rest of the battlefield. Blood and crystal littered the ground. "I fear that we've been set up."

The king clenched the red spear-like sword in his hands as he impaled one of the creatures with it. "I know. Someone ratted us out. Likely those two friends of your sister's!" He pulled the spear out, revealing a red core stuck to the tip of the spear. "Serrano, take Setsuko and the others away from here. The other Seven Hills and I will hold back this guy."

"Hey, about that, a little help," Eiji said as he blocked a chop from the silver-haired man by using his staff. Shadowy snakes sprung out of the man's cloak and coiled around the Seven-Hill's arm.

Eiji reached for the serpent, but it dissolved into a tar-like substance only thicker than the dark waters around them.

"Say, who are you?" Eiji asked as he unleashed a fury of light from his hand, vaporizing the goo.

The silver-haired man grinned. "You've all done a pretty good job at holding up against me, so I'll tell you. I'm Collin, The Serpent Pillar. Honestly, I rather not fight you. If you folks would simply surrender peacefully, we can let you live."

"So you're part of that council of thirteen Kuroshi mentioned. Ha, like we would surrender without a fight!" Osamu yelled as he swung his spear-sword at the man.

Collin sighed as snakes flung out from beneath his cloak and grabbed hold of the weapon's long hilt. "I have lived longer than you have and met my handful of foolish people, such as yourself. If you wish to forsake your lives for the sake of your crown, then so be it."

"Guys, we need to stop fighting him one on one," Miyuki shouted. She coiled red string around a twenty-foot serpent, halting its movements completely. She snapped her fingers, causing cold air to radiate from the string. The serpent's body froze as if dipped into liquid nitrogen. The seven hill knight yanked on her red string, slicing the creature's body into large chunks. She raised a cube with an orange crystal embedded within it over to herself and placed it into a bluish hypercube for future study.

"Lady Miyuki is right, we won't win like this," Serrano said as he slashed a dark serpent with his sword only for its head to split into two.

"These are like hydras," Setsuko said as she slammed Alma against the serpent her fiancé was fighting. "Hyosetsu, do as your mother did and freeze them!"

Hyosetsu scoffed as he sliced through a serpent of his own, which had part of its body frozen. "I already know!"

Collin smiled. "I've heard of that creature. Indeed, these are similar, but the hydra pales in comparison to my strongest serpent. Though she isn't here today, I didn't wish to see her hurt, but in the end, it seemed I had nothing to fear."

"What a hateful man," Eiko said. She stabbed a handful of snakes with needles of light, all while moving at mind-numbing speeds. Well, at least Serrano was unable to keep up with them. Her needles cracked the cores within the creatures. Each shattered core unleashed a powerful explosion that would've blown up Setsuko and Serrano and the others near them if they hadn't been agile enough to jump out of the way.

"A little warning next time would be good," Setsuko said as she put a hand on her chest. She stared at the red shards in the center of the craters littering the floating island they were on. For miles and miles, there was nothing but dark water. It was as if they were in the deepest depths of an ocean, even though they were in what one could consider the 'top' of the realm.

"Sorry, hun, but that would ruin the surprise!" Eiko yelled as she formed more needles. This time she sent them flying at Collin.

"Hey, look out!" Eiji yelled as he looked back at his wife. He and Osamu moved their heads away, giving the needles a clear path to Collin.

Collin reached his hand out and grabbed the needles in between his fingers. "Is that all? I was told that you Seven-Hills were the strongest in your land. If this is all you have, then invading you by force will be a breeze," he said, clenching the needles tightly. "At least it would be if the Sky Father and Earth Mother weren't limiting our advancement."

Eiko growled. "I've gotten rusty, okay? With a little bit of training, I'll be back at my peak!" she yelled.

"Wait, what did you mean? How is the Divine Couple limiting your advancement?" Hyosetsu asked as they ignored Eiko's outburst.

Collin took a step back before crossing his arms over his chest. "You mean you aren't aware? The Divine Couple cast a barrier when they created Zionia. In fact, each of the realms others than Abyssia has one. Though some barriers are admittingly weaker than others. Though they left gates, such as the one you took to get here, open. Our informants also took such a gate. In fact, one of my fellow Pillars should be breaking through Zionia at this very moment."

King Osamu narrowed his eyes. "So this was a way for you to buy time. Everyone, return to Zionia!" he yelled, raising his arm toward the air. A brilliant light emitted from a bracelet on the king's arm.

Collin smiled and turned his back to them as the electric needles vanished from his hands. "Farewell, we'll meet again soon, that is if Daisaru hasn't already killed you by then."

"We will defeat this 'Daisaru' and come to get you!" Osamu said, glaring at him.

The serpent king looked over his shoulder. There was a playful smile on his lips. "I wouldn't be too sure. Daisaru is arguably stronger than me."

Those were the last words they heard from Collin before they found themselves outside of an ivory church with golden doors on top of a mountain overlooking the capital city. Serrano stepped forward as he noticed there were traces of smoke coming from the city.

"What happened here?" Setsuko asked as she turned around. Parts of the church had been damaged by what appeared to be boulders though there weren't any around.

Serrano peered down the mountain and saw what appeared to be the shattered remains of those boulders. "I'm assuming an earthquake."

Lady Miyuki took out her phone and gasped at what she saw in it. She quickly touched the screen and put the phone close to her ear. "Hello, pardon my late response. I was just in the midst of combat. Did something occur?" Her hands shook. "What?"

"What's wrong?" King Osamu asked, alerted by her reaction.

Miyuki didn't respond. Instead, she continued to stare at her phone like a deer stunned by the headlights.

"Mother, the king asked a question," Hyosetsu asked, nudging her. He glanced at her phone and watched as images of shadows, not all that different from what they had just fought, appeared on the screen. "Those are..."

"We need to head to the north after all," Miyuki said as she spread out her light blue wings out. "I will go ahead of you."

"Be careful," Eiji said.

"I will be."

Hyosetsu spread his icy wings. "Wait, I will go with you too."

His mom shook her head. "No, you stay here and help the king prepare the necessary forces to repeal the wave that is to follow."

"What's to follow?" Hyosetsu asked, tilting his head at her. "What makes you think that there'll be another wave?"

"That man's words. He said that their informants arrived here through a portal such as this one. Suppose we take his words at face value and combine them with what we know about the suspected informants and the appearance of these creatures in our land. In that case, we can reason such a portal does exist in the north."

The duke's eyes widened. "That is right. We first saw those two in the north."

"In that case, we need to figure out a way to secure that portal and seal it," Serrano said before gazing back down at the city. "We better hurry. We might not have much time left."

"Indeed," Kuroshi said as he appeared before them.

King Osamu narrowed his eyes at him. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at the palace?"

"I left a clone there. I was wondering what was taking you so long to return here. Either way, at this very moment, three of those abyssmals are in the palace. They even managed to defeat my clone. Currently, one of them is fighting Tetsuya, having defeated Hideo without much of a fight. The other two are locked in combat with Hideaki."

The king smiled. "Have you gotten rusty just like Eiko?"

"Hey!" Eiko said, red-faced.

"Dad. This is no time to banter with him," Setsuko said as she spread out her wings.

Serrano stared at his fiancé's side. Her shirt was tattered there. He walked over and touched the spot, making her wince. The blood was moist.

"Hey!" Setsuko snapped at him.

Serrano sighed. "You got wounded. Was it by one of those serpents I failed to kill?

"Does it matter?" she asked, looking away.

"You need to get that healed!" he exclaimed, shaking his head at her.

"Anis will heal her," Kuroshi said. "Eiji, Eiko, go with Miyuki to the north. Osamu, begin the preparations for the expedition to the north. I'll take care of the task of locating the portal and figuring out how to seal it. The rest of you return to the palace and aid the others."

The king glared at him. "Who died and made you king? And how will Anis heal her when she's not even here?"

"She will be here soon. As for 'me being made king', do you have a plan?" Kuroshi snapped as he narrowed his golden eyes at him.

"Watch your tone, Kuroshi," Osamu said, striding over to him. He grabbed the mask and narrowed his hazel eyes at him. "Or I will destroy you!"

"You can issue a punishment after we deal with this crisis. Anyway, I'll go with the Seven Hills." He slapped Osamu's hand away from his mask.

The mysterious man turned toward the right of the church, where a swirling black portal laid.

Anis and Takuya emerged from the sinister-looking vortex with beds made out of earth. On of the beds were Reno, Kohri, and others.

"Kohri!" Miyuki yelled, running over to them. "W-what happened? Is this the doing of those spies?"

"No, it happened during training. He got knocked out during battle and hasn't woken up since. He lost a lot of blood, too," Anis responded. She glanced up at Kuroshi and narrowed her eyes. "It wouldn't have been so bad if Shi here had allowed me to intervene and heal them."

"It was training for war," Kuroshi said, shrugging. "One doesn't always have a healer around."

Hyosetsu scoffed. "Mother, is there not a place you must go to now?"

She turned to look at her eldest child and nodded. "Right. Hyo, take care of your little brother. In this state, he needs his big brother."

Hyosetsu smirked. "Right. Poor Kohri is defenseless. Who knows what could befall him without me."

"Are you coming or not?" Serrano yelled at him before passing through the portal Anis made.

"Tsk. Well, worry, not. He should be safe here."

"Thanks," Miyuki said with a smile. She jumped into the air and flew off with the other Seven-Hills.

"Anis, will you come with us or stay here to aid Tetsuya and the others?" Kuroshi asked.

Anis smiled as she finished healing Setsuko. She watched Setsuko go after Serrano before directing herself to Kuroshi and the King. "My duty is to my children now."

King Osamu scoffed. "You'll be going with Kuroshi and the others."

Her violet eyes flashed the king a dirty look. "Why should I?" she snapped.

"Do not glare at me. I am your king," Osamu said as he turned his back to her. "If the knights fail to retrieve the palace, then I will step in."

Anis sighed. "Wait up, perv!" She ran around him and put a hand on the king's chest, causing him to jump back.

"You're calling me a perv when you suddenly touch me?" he snapped.

She gave him a sour look. "You're just like Setsuko." She pulled her hand away and stared at crimson blood in her hand. "You are great at concealing, but that's all it is, hidden from sight but not truly gone."

King Osamu stepped back and turned his head away. "This is a minor injury. I can heal it myself later."

Kuroshi sighed. "Such pride." He gasped as a vision struck him of Tetsuya on the ground and the others injured. "No..."

"W-what's wrong?" Anis asked, drawing closer to him.

"Your kids are in danger."

Anis gasped. "No..."

"Rosa, is she fine?" Osamu whispered.

"Don't worry, I'll send Tetsu a message to hold on a little longer, that help is coming. He'll make sure that nothing bad happens to Rosa and the others," Kuroshi said as he closed his eyes.

*Character Section*

Collin Nathair- Sex: Male Age: Immeasurable Powers: ? Titles: Serpent Pillar, Basilisk/King of Serpents, Serpent of the Abyss, Child of Leviathan, World Serpent, Brother of Orochi

**Solar Note: Hope that you're enjoying the story thus far :3. Tomorrow (8/17/18) I'll be publishing Episode 54 so look forward to it :D! So, what do you think is going on back in the palace?**