I averted my gaze as Rosa hugged her dad. So, Eiji died. How would Eiichi react to the news of his father's death? The two weren't exactly close, so maybe it wouldn't impact him much. On the other hand, losing my Dad again affected me more than I thought it would've. At least I had the chance to rescue mine. Eiji was gone forever.

"Go gather everyone for departure," Hyosetsu said before leaving.

I nodded.

He halted and glanced at my group. "Wait, where's Serrano? Why didn't he come to check on his uncle?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "That's because he went with Reginald."

Rosa, the king, and Takuya gasped.

"He went with grandpa?" Takuya asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Reginald told Serra that Conrad was in danger."

Osamu gritted his teeth. "That fool!"

"I tried to stop him, but he didn't feel that he was lying."

"Yuko didn't either," Yuko whispered.

"Serra said that he would return as soon as he could confirm that Conrad was fine."

The king ran a hand down his face. "Things just need to go from bad to worse, huh? The story of my life."

"Should we go to Abyssia and retrieve them?" Rosa asked.

"Yes, but first we have to go back home. We have no way of getting to Abyssia from here. At least that I know how to use."

"True."

"We need to get to Mina. That's where the closest Dimensional Transporter is," Maki said.

"I'll go get everyone," I said, running off.

"I'll go find my siblings and the others," Maki said, running in the opposite direction.

I glanced back and smiled. "Thanks!"

"I'll accompany you," Akane said, following her boyfriend.

"Master," Yuko said, appearing next to me. She had gotten faster. Was it due to her training? Or did her body grow stronger like that time she absorbed the mana shards?

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Master shouldn't worry. Yuko's sure that Serrano will be fine."

I smiled. "Thanks, Yu."

Her face lit up.

The two of us continued walking until we came upon the lobby. Eri and several others stood in the middle of it, expectantly.

"You're the famous Tetsuya, I presume?" a girl asked, talking toward me.

I nodded. "Yes, but I'm not sure about the 'famous' part." I didn't consider myself as such back home either, despite it having been part of my dream as a kid.

"I told her about you," Eri said.

The girl glanced at him and then at me. "The two of you give off the same vibe."

I crossed my arms. She gave off a familiar vibe too, but who was it?

"Tetsuya," a voice echoed behind me. I spun around and saw Xime stomping over to me. Onami, Osamu, Rosa, Nori, and my brother followed after her. "What did I just say a moment ago?"

I rubbed my neck and smiled slightly. "Sorry, Xime. In a bit of a hurry."

She sighed. "We're lucky that you didn't get lost."

"Hey, I have earth powers to help me find my way!"

"Do your sensory skills even work on this flying island?"

"Yeah, they do," Taku said, staring at his bare feet. "But it is a bit jarring to reach a blank."

"A blank?" Nori asked.

"Yeah. The seismic waves drop at the edges of the island. Making it feel like the world suddenly ends."

"Fascinating," the girl said.

"Indeed, it is," said another girl. This had one long, silky, blue hair. She glanced at Ryonoko. "Does it feel the same way for you?"

"I haven't felt a thing, but that's because I haven't used my earth powers while here." Ryonoko tapped his feet lightly on the floor. His eyes widened. "You're right!"

Taku chuckled.

"So why did you have us gather here, priestess?" a guy standing next to the silky-haired girl snapped. He had a buff build and spiky blue hair.

"We're going to plan our next course of action. The angels will be returning to Zionia soon, but we still have to guard the Ziz."

The silky-haired girl nodded. "Indeed."

"Which do you think will see more combat?" the spiky-haired guy asked.

"You didn't even help with Rocio," Huang said, scoffing.

"That's because I had no idea what was going on downstairs! By the time I did arrive, Grace's mom had already dealt with her and the escaped bird."

Huang chuckled. "Sure that you weren't afraid?"

The guy gritted his teeth. "What was that, magician? You want me to pummel your head in?"

Huang sighed. "Sorry, I don't fight kids."

The guy lurched at Huang, but the prince of Mina stepped out of the way and delivered a punch. The prince gasped as the spiky-haired guy jumped back before his fist could land.

"Not bad," Huang said.

The guy smirked. "Same goes to you, Magician."

"Are these two really Maki's doppelgangers?" Ximena mumbled to herself.

I laughed. There was something about them that resembled the Kasai no Ki prince.

"If you two are going to fight, then do so outside!" the girl in the center said, glaring at them.

"Grace is right," Rosa said. "We shouldn't be fighting here or at all amongst ourselves."

The spiky-haired guy clicked his tongue. "Fine, but next time, I'm taking this guy out!"

Huang laughed drily. "Hilarious. Got any more jokes?"

"Get out, the two of you!" Ocarina snapped, pointing toward the west.

"Calm down, Oca. There's no use getting mad," Eri said, rubbing his girlfriend's shoulders. "We need everyone we can."

Ocarina huffed. "What will two idiots do to help us?"

The two guys glared at her.

The princess of Rios stepped toward them. "You heard me. If you want to fight me, then do so, but I'm still right! We're fighting a war. We have no time for petty squabbles."

The two guys averted their gazes. "Fine. We'll stop!" the two boys said in unison.

Grace snickered. "Good going, Ocarina."

Osamu laughed. "You should try being more like Ocarina, Rosa."

"Sometimes she is," I said, smiling. Usually toward me...

"They're so different from Harmonica," I heard Feng mutter to himself. He was grinning in amusement.

Ocarina ears twitched for some reason at the mention of Harmonica. Did she know her?

"I think that all of you should stay here. We of angel heritage will go to Zionia," Ryonoko spoke up.

"You're going with them?" the silky-haired girl asked.

Ryonoko nodded. "Yeah. I'm the crown prince of Zionia. I have to go make sure that everything is fine in my mother's absence."

The spiky-haired guy raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?"

"Who are you, and what did you do to that idiot bear lover?"

Ryonoko leered at him. "Ocarina, kick him out."

"No need, I'll see Korgermu out," the silky-haired girl said. She glared at the spiky-haired guy.

Korgermu averted his gaze. "I'll stop now."

"You promise?"

"Y-yeah."

"So that's his weakness," Huang said, smirking.

"Don't push your luck either," Ocarina said, continuing to leer at him.

Huang sighed. "I'm leaving anyway. I have to show our Zionian allies to the universal gate."

I glanced over my shoulder. Maki still hadn't returned with the others. Hopefully, he could find them. With Eiji dead and Serrano missing, Zionia needed Kasai no Ki's Seven Flames more than ever.

"Where is Kohri?" Onami asked, looking around. "Hyosetsu told him to take care of getting things ready for our return home."

"I'm here!" Kohri said, stepping out of the library.

His girlfriend raised an eyebrow at him. "You were reading books."

Kohri laughed. "Hey, I might not be a bookworm like Hyo, but I do read. Anyway, I was looking over the books with information on Daisaru. I managed to take some pictures of them so that we can study them once we're back home."

"We'll continue looking for the sealing spell here, too," Eri said.

"Sounds good," I said, smiling at my counterpart. "Now, we just need Maki to return."

"My brother isn't here either," Kohri said, glancing around.

"We're here," Hyosetsu called out from a distance. Accompanying him were the three Kasai no Ki royals, Akane, and Zaki and her kids. Alongside them were two others I remembered seeing in Nine Petal before we departed. They must've been the Seven Flame Knights— Emon and Kiyoshi. Serra told me about them during our training session in the Realm of Dreams.

"Looks like we're all here now," Yuri said, smiling.

"We aren't going anywhere, though," Shin said. "Only the angels are."

"True. Not that I mind this place. There's lots of medical knowledge waiting here to be uncovered."

"You medicine nerd," his dragon said, sighing.

"Hey, it might be helpful in the future!"

Sneg giggled. "I know. I'm just pulling your tail."

Yuri gave his dragon a deadpan look. "Uh, I have no tail."

The dragon sighed. "Dear Ryomaru, you're so serious!"

The Wynagan doctor shrugged. "I knew what you meant, but try to think of a more fitting expression."

Sneg rolled her eyes at her master.

Osamu scoffed. "Let's get going," he said, turning his back to us.

Zaki's husband gritted his teeth. The look on his eyes reminded me of the glares I got from Yuko and Nori's uncles.

Lorenzo was about to say something, but his wife pulled him back. She shook her head at him. He clicked his tongue and averted his gaze.

I had to keep a close eye on him. His oldest children's resentment came back and bit us when we started to trust them, so I wouldn't put it past him to pull something similar.

"Wait, Eiko and Miyuki aren't here," Rosa said, looking around.

Her dad stopped. "Right. Where are they? Did they return home like Setsuko?"

"My mom is consoling Eiko right now. They'll join us as soon as Eiko feels well enough to fly," Kohri said.

The king lowered his head. "I see."

"Wait, how did they even get here in the first place?" Rosa asked.

"Eiji must've teleported them. That guy and Takeshi could both teleport across universes. He transported me to Munil while he battled Daisaru. Your sister must've figured out how to do the same."

"You were in Munil?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He nodded. "Yeah. Eiji and the girls wanted me to brush up on Zen mode. Not that it did much good. Daisaru didn't even give me a chance to use it." He opened his mouth to say something more but closed it just as quickly.

"It's okay, Dad. You can make it so that his sacrifice wasn't in vein next we see the Pillars."

Osamu nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to crush that monkey when we meet again. First, let's get out of here. We need to reconvene with your sister and the other knights."

"Bye, Cuz!" Zyuuni said, waving.

"You aren't coming with us?" Ryonoko asked.

"Nope. I have to guard this place. It's my duty as the next Magus Maximus."

Ryonoko chuckled. "Alright. I understand."

He, Sabine, and Huang joined us Kuroriku and Kasai no Ki while everyone else stayed behind. Grace started talking to them about needing to think of a trap to capture any future intruders.

"The princess here seems like a smart girl," Kai said as he trailed us.

"Yeah, she is," Huang said as he walked right behind Osamu.

"She reminds Nori of someone..." Nori said, scratching his left cheek.

"Me too," I said.

He gasped and glanced at Ximena. "Master Xime!"

"Me?" Ximena asked. "It's probably because we're doppelgangers. I doubt that I would be a great princess."

"Serrano thinks the opposite," Nori said. "Nori does too! Xime would make a great leader."

Ximena smiled and ruffled the boy's crimson hair. "Thanks, Nori, but I'm really not."

"Lies," I said. "You were always the one taking the initiative in class projects despite having to work a late-night shift."

Rosa gasped. "You used to work at night? How did you balance school life and work?"

Ximena scratched the back of her head. "It was as tricky as it sounds, but I did so by taking naps between classes. That is, there wasn't a test coming up. Otherwise, I would use that time to study— like when we met."

Rosa lowered her head. "Sorry for having taken up your valuable time."

"It's alright. I'm glad to help."

"You resemble big sis," Maki said.

"You have an older sister?" I asked as we reached the palace gates.

Maki spread his wings and took to the sky. "Yeah, she vanished years ago. At the start of the communist revolution."

"Wait, I thought that you were eighteen!" Kohri asked, eyes wide as the rest of us spread our wings. Or, in the case of Huang, transform into a golden deer. Much to my shock, Huang could fly without wings.

Maki chuckled. "I was."

"Then how were you around for the revolution? Did you time travel?"

Maki looked down at the city below. "I wish. If I could, there would be a lot of stuff I would change."

"We know of her from the stories our older brother told us," Koukyuu said, rubbing her shoulders.

"The missing princess of Kasai no Ki," Osamu mumbled to himself.

So, I was right to assume that Shin'en was thinking of a sibling when he said Ximena reminded him of someone when we first met him.

"Do you know of our sister?" Kai asked.

"I've heard of her, but that's about it. She's said to have run off with one of the two Arcangel tools in Kasai no Ki's possession."

"That's right!" Maki said.

Ximena reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a green cross with a rose in the center. "You mean this?"

"How do you have that?" Koukyuu asked.

"Wait, could Xime be your sister?" Kohri asked.

I scoffed. "That's not possible. I've known Xime since we were babies."

"Oh, yeah. Then her mom is?"

"No, my dad grew up with her mom. But, her grandma could be the missing princess. My granduncle found her injured in the Kuroki mountains while looking for herbs."

"Yeah, it could be our grandaunt," my brother said. "She did lose her memories. The only clue, according to him, was that angel tool."

"Wait, did you say your granduncle found her in the Kuroki mountains? I thought you were from the southern province." Suzuki asked.

"We are, but our paternal grandma and Xime's maternal grandpa were born and raised in eastern Makkuroyama. The war on the other side of the mountains forced them to move to the south when they were still kids," I said. "Right, Taku?"

My brother nodded. "That's what I heard."

"How ironic that your father took down the ruler of Makkuroyama then," Suzuki's dad said.

Rosa sighed. "Not this again."

"You say that as you didn't experience what my people did!"

"I think Rosa's right," Akane said. "We need to move on from our rivalry! It does us no good! Revenge simply breeds more bloodshed. That's how we got to where we are."

Reno's dad shook his head. "Someone from your generation simply wouldn't understand."

"Think that you should sit down and talk to Shin'en," Maki said. "It would do you some good."

"The prince who wouldn't take the throne? I doubt he would offer much. Even when we were finally pushing back against Kasai no Ki, your brother had us stop our advance. We failed to recover all of our southern territories thanks to that."

"Enough," Osamu said. "If you want to fight, then I'll be glad to give you one." He smirked. "Would give me a chance to use Zen mode. Not that it's needed to deal with a weakling like you."

Lorenzo reached for his anchor-shaped necklace but stopped. His hand shook. He must've known that he wasn't a challenge for the king. After all, Dad, who was around the same strength as the king, curb-stomped him and Zaki.

"I'll fight in your place, Dad!" Reno said, dashing in front of his father.

"Reno, don't!" Zaki yelled.

"Listen to your mother, Reno!"

"Come forth, Alabaster!" Reno yelled, grinning.

Osamu's eyes widened as the djinn appeared behind him. We gasped as the king failed to avoid being grabbed by its giant hands. Or rather, by the fact that he didn't even try to evade them.

"You," the king said, staring at the djinn. His lips trembled. "How did you end up like this?"

**Solar Note: I hope that you enjoyed this final February update. Much more is to come in March!**