Silas's amber eyes widened as someone materialized from one of the latest lightning strikes. It was a woman with long raven hair wielding a black smoke pipe.

"How nice, a greeting party," the woman said, smirking. She placed the pipe against her lips and puffed, unleashing a ton of smoke.

I covered my nose with my right sleeve and jumped back. The smoke was miasma.

"What kind of pipe is that?" Silas asked, stepping back.

"A magical one," Hideaki said, blowing the smoke away with a wave of his staff. "That smoke will melt your bones if you remain in it for too long."

The woman chuckled. "Right you are." She raised a hand, drawing the diverted smoke back over to her.

I twirled Alma. "Get out of here, demon." Before I could launch my weapon, Kiara dashed in front of me.

"Let me handle this one, Princess Setsuko."

"Kiara, what are you thinking?" Etsuo asked.

The demon laughed. "You, stop me?"

Kiara nodded. 'Yeah me. Or do you think smoke will stop me?" Kiara yelled as she summoned her skateboard. She jumped onto her board and dashed around the demoness.

"Hey, did you hear a thing I said a moment ago?" her dad yelled at her.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine! I have wind powers!" Kiara said as the winds around her picked up. "Plus, don't forget that I'm part of Team Hideo too!"

"Will she really be alright?" I asked, sighing. The girl was definitely Hideo's little sister.

"Oh? Do you think that you can defeat a Duchess of Cianio? You must be very brave or foolish!" the woman said, throwing the gathered smoke at Kiara.

Kiara thrust her hands forward, unleashing all of the wind she had gathered. The sphere of smoke divided Kiara's attack in half.

"No way!" Kiara exclaimed, flipping her skateboard.

"Ki!" Silas yelled.

Her dad raced toward her and pulled her and her board away. Dirt flew into the air as a crater formed in the garden behind where Kiara once stood. The smoke making up the sphere rose from the hole and rotted away the grass and plants around.

Kiara gulped.

"I told you to be careful," Hideaki said, hugging Kiara tightly. "I don't want to lose you too."

"Sorry, Daddy," Kiara whispered.

"This is bad. How do we take on a Grand Duchess of Cianio?" Teresa asked. "They're second only to the Archdemons."

"That high, huh?" I said, continuing to twirl Alma. I launched my weapon at the distracted demoness.

The Grand Duchess held out her hand, catching Alma by the chain. "Is that all you angels have? If so, you're awfully pitiful compared to your ancestors."

I smiled and snapped my fingers, causing the spheres to move, pinching her arms between them. The demoness grunted and threw my weapon to the floor.

"You were saying?" I asked, laughing.

She rubbed her arm. "Not bad, girl." She held out her injured arm toward me. Crimson smoke seeped out of it, turning the air around her foul.

"Everyone, get back!" Hideaki yelled.

"Huh? Where did that monkey go?" Silas asked, glancing over where Etsuo once stood.

"Did he run off on his own?" Kiara asked.

"Damn it! I knew we should've tied him to a leash!"

"He shouldn't get too far. My vines will restrain him if he gets too far from me," Hideaki said.

Silas raised a brow at his father. "How far is that?"

"That doesn't matter right now," I said as I pulled Alma over to me. I left it near my feet, not touching it as traces of the demonesses miasma remained.

"Go and stop that gate from summoning any more demons. I'll fight her," Hideaki said, letting go of his daughter.

"Will you be alright? She pushed my wind back."

Hideaki patted her head. "Yeah, I will."

"Yeah, his wind is stronger than yours," Silas said, crossing his arms.

The Grand Duchess huffed whatever was inside that pipe of hers. The next moment, she puffed, creating several smoke rings. Silas's eyes widened as the rings went straight at him.

The boy held out and arms and launched blades of wind, but they only dented the smoke a bit.

I flew at him and pulled him out of the smoke. My arm ached.

"The smoke got you," Silas said, staring at my dissolves right sleeve. My hand had turned purple.

"Princess!" Nana Imelda said. She had fallen to the ground as the miasma from the gate continued to take its effect on her. It surprised me that she lasted this long.

"Ma'am!" Teresa said, rushing over to my nanny. She had been busy forming a giant blue ball of mana all this time. It didn't seem to be for an attack as the mana didn't give off destructive vibes at all.

"Are you alright?" Silas asked me as I put him down next to my nanny.

"I'll be fine! We need to help my nana and the others." I said, pulling what was left of my sleeve over my hand. If I hadn't increased my mana cloak's strength, I probably would've suffered worse.

"Don't worry, I'll heal her right up," Teresa said. She detached a small orb of mana from the large sphere she had been forming. The fragment entered my nana's body, turning the dark purple parts a lilac purple.

Teresa chuckled. "It's working!" She held a hand up at me and threw one of the tiny balls my way.

I caught it with my right hand and pressed it against my affected hand. Right away, I felt some of the miasma within me disintegrate.

"Woah, what kind of technique is that?" Kiara asked.

Teresa smiled. "It's actually a combination of two techniques. One being an anti-miasma technique that Takuya taught me. The other I learned during my time in Shirayuki from one of the medics after the big battle. I wanted to learn something that could heal a lot of people." She curled her hand into fists. "I felt so useless, watching everyone risking their lives while I couldn't do much. Even now, I pale in comparison to everyone else in combat skills."

"There's nothing wrong with being a support," I said, turning my attention to the demoness and Hideaki. The demoness was grinning as she dodged every single stab from Hideaki's staff. "Once you're done healing everyone, create another one of those and launch it to the portal."

"Alright," I said, lifting the fallen guards by uprooting the ground beneath them and levitating it over to us. It would be a lot easier to heal and protect them if they were all gathered in one place. Of course, that came with the drawback of creating a clear target. Not that it would make it an easy one for her.

"Like you will do such a thing," the demoness said as she unleashed a burst of smoke at us from her hands.

Hideaki raised his arms, creating a gust to push away the smoke, but a great deal had managed to get past him. That which didn't get past him simply rerouted toward us.

"Damn it!" I said, jumping in front of Teresa, Kiara, Silas, and my unconscious nana.

"Step aside!" Teresa said, pushing me out of the way. She launched her sphere at the smoke. The smoke and the anti-miasma healing attack disintegrated as soon as they made contact with each other.

"They canceled each other out!" Kiara said, jumping up and down.

Teresa smiled. "Can you heal the others in my place, Cuz?"

"Cuz?" I asked.

"You are going to marry my cousin, no?"

My face reddened. "There's no guarantee!" I snapped. I sighed and got to healing the soldiers closest to me. Great, I'm getting flustered in the middle of battle.

"Teresa, be careful," Hideaki said, standing up.

"Don't worry, I don't plan to fight her alone," Teresa said, transforming her white bead necklace into a naginata. "You attack, and I'll cancel out her smoke, alright? Do keep your guard up in case any attacks get you. I can't restore limbs just yet."

Hideaki laughed. "Alright."

The demoness chuckled as she stepped back. "You Nephilim are awfully naïve."

I leered at her. That term reminded me of Anestarte. Was she one of the demons under her command?

Teresa thrust her naginata at the demoness.

The demoness held a smoke-covered hand at the polearm. Her eyes widened as Teresa vanished.

"An afterimage?" Kiara said.

"Bingo," Teresa said, winking as she appeared beside us.

"Why didn't you attack her?" Silas asked, pointing at our enemy. The demoness looked as baffled as he did.

I smiled as vines crept up behind the distracted demoness.

"What?" she yelled as the thorny vines lurched at her. Smoke covered her back, dissolving them into mush. She spun around and blocked Hideaki's spear. "Nice try."

Hideaki clicked his tongue in anger and jumped back.

"Darn it! So close!" Kiara yelled.

"Patience, Ki," Hideaki said as he dodged more plumes of smoke. The demoness was making us run around this much while she had barely moved from where she stood.

Teresa narrowed her eyes at the demoness. "I think I know what to do." She ran over to Alma and covered it in the blue healing mana. The miasma it had absorbed when hitting the demoness vanished.

I smiled. "Good idea! Form more of that mana, I'll draw it into Alma."

"Insolent Nephelim!" the demoness said, sending a concentrated series of smoke rings at Teresa.

Teresa grunted as her left arm turned deep purple. "Damn it!"

"Use your mana to heal!" I said, taking control of what I had gathered into Alma.

"No need," she said, cutting her arm off.

Kiara let out a scream.

"Wow, hardcore," Silas said, laughing uneasily.

Teresa smiled as a new arm regenerated instantaneously. Her healing was better than that of her cousin and brothers. "This is why I wanted to fight her. Unlike you, I can afford to take a couple of hits."

"What are you?" the demoness asked, awestruck.

"That's a secret!" Teresa ran at the raven-haired woman. Once she got with five feet of her, she tossed her naginata straight toward her abdomen.

The demoness created another barrier of smoke, but the anti-miasma mana tore right through it, allowing the tip to get past. At the same time, the pole corroded thanks to the acidity.

"Go!" Kiara cheered, raising a fist into the air.

Silas stepped away from her, embarrassed.

"It's still too early to celebrate," I said as parts of the naginata's blade started to melt too. The anti-miasma mana was almost out.

The demoness struck the loose blade with her pipe. Both the pipe and naginata went flying into the air. Teresa jumped back as her naginata blade flew back at her. The pipe, meanwhile, landed and shattered in the empty plaza in front of the palace.

Good thing that Dad had it closed before we left to train at Tetsu's place as a torrent of miasma flew out of the broken pipe. The purple winds tore through the cobblestones, dissolving them into nothing. They continued to extend until touching the portal above. More flashes of lightning struck the palace grounds as the storm overhead strengthened.

"This isn't good," Kiara said.

"That monkey might've been right to have run away," Silas muttered to himself.

"Seems that we won't need the archdemons after all," the demoness said as her nails turned into black claws. "You're all feckless losers!"

I ran in front of her, moving left and right, up and down all in quick succession to throw her off. It appeared to be working as she frantically tried to keep up with my movements.

"You're already finished," I said, appearing behind her.

Her eyes widened as Alma appeared in front of her. My meteor hammer hit on the chin, sending her flying into the ominous clouds above.

"What was that?" Silas asked, looking up at the demon.

"Woah! Now that's a curveball!" Kiara said.

I snickered. "Thanks," I said, catching the falling Alma.

Hideaki threw his staff at the demoness as she started to fall back down, impaling her through the heart.

"No way!" the demoness said, eyes wide as she spat out blood. Her body started to turn into mist.

"What was that about us being feckless?" Kiara yelled, sticking her tongue out.

The demoness gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. "It appears that I underestimated you. No, matter. I'll return, and when I do, you will pay for going against me. Remember the name Vapula. You'll hear it again soon enough, and when you do, you will see my true power." She dissolved into smoke and faded into the clouds.

"Damn it, it wasn't enough to kill her!" Teresa said.

"At least we dealt with one issue. We still have to purify the palace." I glanced at the entranced and saw my uncle with a cross in his hand. A beam of light fired out of the cross, combining in the air with two other rays from different areas. The storm disintegrated rapidly against the holy power within the crosses.

Teresa gasped. "Wait, is that Uncle Azami?"

I nodded and ran over to my uncle. "Hey, you're late!" I yelled, grinning.

Uncle chuckled as he lowered the cross. "Well, you do know what they say about celebrities. We love to be fashionably late."

I snickered. "Not that you are one anymore." I glanced at the now clear sky. "I'm guessing that the other two beams came from Miki and Heiji?"

Uncle nodded. "Yeah." He fell to one knee. "Though, I'm surprised that Heiji managed to create a beam that strong. We thought that he would have a harder time. The kid is probably unconscious if I'm in this state."

"I'll go to the northeast and heal whoever is there," Hideaki said, rushing off.

Kiara turned toward the northwest. "I wonder..."

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Silas crossed his arms. "Is it another demon?"

Hopefully, it wasn't. I had fought too many in one day for my liking. Thankfully, the only ones I could sense in that direction were Heiji and Etsuo.

"It's nothing to worry about. I'll be right back!" Kiara said, running off.

"Hey!" Silas yelled, running after his sister. "Come back here! You're going to get kidnapped again at this rate!"

I sighed. It was likely just Etsuo that Kiara was worried about, but it was best that I went after them. I'd already failed to protect her and Dan once. Plus, Etsuo wasn't precisely our ally either. He was a friendly kid, but he seemed desperate to help Roa. He could potentially go as far as hurting Kiara to do that. The only insurance against that was Dine, who continued to reside within her. Dine would also go to great lengths to help Roa, so Kiara being retaken hostage was a real possibility. This time with Silas accompanying her instead of Dan.

"Teresa, please heal our uncle. I'm going to go with the kids," I said.

"Alright. It gives me time to talk to 'Uncle' about a few things," Teresa said, giving Uncle Azami a stern look. Knowing her, she probably wanted to ask him why he had abandoned his family.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed this chapter ^^. Thoughts? **