*Etsuo*

[A few moments earlier]

After escaping from the others, I rushed toward the north. I doubted that I could find the cure for Roa on my own. If only I could get back home, then I could get everything I needed from there.

I grimaced as vines shot out of my wrists, covering me in a thick blanket of overgrowth.

Darn it! I had forgotten about Hideaki's technique!

I gritted my teeth and wiggled forward. Even if I had to crawl to the portal, I would do it! So long as it meant saving Roa's life.

My body ached the more I moved. The vines were tightening more and more. At this rate, my body would be crushed! No, I couldn't let that stop me! My best friend needed me!

I let out a scream as the vines crushed my legs. No! I still had a long way to go! I couldn't fall here.

My breathing grew heavier with each wiggle. If only I had Dad's strength, I would've been able to tear through the vines with brute force.

I glanced up at the dark sky. Would the vines vanish if Hideaki died? I shook my head. No, I shouldn't think like that!

I rested my chin on the grass of the palace. If only I hadn't allowed myself to be captured by him all those weeks back. Then the chain of events that led to Dan's demise and Roa getting hurt by Naoru wouldn't have happened.

"Hey, are you alright?" I heard a voice call out. A red-haired boy ran over to me.

"Huh? Nori?" I asked.

"You know Nori?" he asked.

I blinked and saw clearly that it wasn't the cat boy I knew, but this one did bear a striking resemblance.

"Y-yeah," I managed to say.

The boy shook his head. "Great, I'm getting sidetracked here. What happened to you? Did the demon creating the storm make them? They do appear to have a demonic aura to them."

I gasped. What did he mean by that? Was Hideaki similar to Satoru? "No, they were made by an angel."

"Oh, I see." He gasped. "Wait, are you a demon?"

I huffed. "No. I'm an angel! Who are you anyway? A kid like you shouldn't be here."

"I probably should ask you that as you're looking pretty sus wrapped up like that."

I gulped. "I'm the son of a distant cousin of the king's." I wasn't lying either. My mom really was the king's second cousin.

"Oh, I see! So, why were you tied up?"

"That doesn't matter right now! Don't you see the storm in the sky?" I asked, trying to divert attention away from me.

"Oh right!" The kid took out a golden cross from his bag and started charging up energy into it. He pointed the relic at the vortex over the palace. That kind of energy wasn't enough to destroy it.

"Need help?" I asked.

He smiled. "I would love some! Uh, but how do you plan to do so, tied up like that?"

I wiggled my tail free from the vines. "Using this."

"Woah! You're like me!"

"You have a tail too?"

The kid nodded. "Yeah, but I have to keep it hidden. Dad says that people don't like cat tails here."

So, he was a cat, just like Nori. Was he related to the kid?

He slapped himself. "There I go again, getting sidetracked!"

"Sorry," I mumbled. I closed my eyes and focused as much mana as I could on the cross.

"Woah! You must be strong!"

"Huh?"

"You're pumping a lot of energy into it! I didn't think that someone with this much energy existed."

I had a lot of mana? I hadn't really thought about it... Wait, could that have been what Dad meant by my hidden talent?

The kid chuckled. "With this, I think that we'll be able to make it!" He kept his focus on the sky. "I hope that I can time this right."

Suddenly, two beams shot into the air.

"Oh, no!" he yelled. A ray of similar power fired from his cross and thankfully managed to catch up with the other two to strike the demonic portal at the same time. The sky cleared as the combined holy power of the three beams tore through the vortex.

"We did it!" I said, smiling.

"Yeah!" the kid said, falling to the ground.

"Hey, are you alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Just a little tired. Think that I'll need a nap after this."

I chuckled. What a weird kid. Reminded me of Man-kin. Man-kin... hopefully, he was fine.

The boy crawled over to me and pulled on the vines. "But I still need to get you out of these."

"You can't. They're too strong even for me."

The boy grumbled as he continued to yank on them. "You're right! They're tough, but I can't give up! I just got to give it my all!"

I gasped. That sounded like something my brother would say too.

I gritted my teeth and pushed against the vines, stretching them. Man-kin would never give up in this situation! He stayed back to buy me this chance to save our cousin! If I didn't do so, I would be doing him dirty!

"Etsuo!" Kiara called out. I gasped as the vines started to weaken. Was this her doing?

"Hey, you!" Silas yelled. "Didn't you promise not to try any funny monkey business?"

I waved my tail. "Well, I am a monkey and pretty funny."

Kiara burst into laughter.

Silas grumbled. "You know what I mean!"

"Calm down, little brother. You're going to have an early death if you continue like that," Kiara said, patting her brother on the back.

"You're the one who is going to cause me to die young," Silas mumbled.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I would assume you were the older one," Setsuko said as she strode over to us.

Silas smiled. "I wouldn't blame you if you thought that."

"Rude much," Kiara grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Setsuko snickered. I would've too, but I didn't want Kiara to feel more embarrassed than she already was.

"Princess, you're fine!" the cat-boy said, smiling.

The crown princess smiled at the boy. "I knew I would find you here, Heiji." She glanced at me. "Did you help him charge that beam?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I ran into Heiji here. Well, more of the other way around."

"Princess, help me get Etsuo out of these vines."

"Don't worry. Dad will get him out of them," Kiara said, touching them. Suddenly, the vines vanished. "Or I can just do that."

"How did you do that?" Silas asked.

Kiara shrugged. "I don't know." She gasped as she looked at Heiji again. "Wait, aren't you that kid from the hot springs?"

Heiji jumped back. "You're the sister of that scary girl!"

"Scary girl?" Silas asked, raising an eyebrow at Kiara.

Kiara laughed nervously. "It's a long story."

"Hot springs?" Setsuko asked, giving Heiji a curious look.

"Dad had won a vacation to them. It was our first time in ages."

"I met Ximena there too," Kiara said.

"Is my sister with you?" Heiji asked, staggering toward her.

"She should still be in Xeleria," Setsuko answered.

He lowered his head. "I see. Hope she's fine. It worries me not to hear from her."

Setsuko walked over to him and ruffled his hair. "Don't worry, your sister will be fine. She's with Nori. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to her."

Heiji grinned. "Yeah!"

"Say, where is our brother?" Silas asked, glancing up at her. "Is he in Xeleria with the kid's sister and Nori?"

Setsuko gulped. "About that. Hideo felt a bad omen, so he went ahead and returned home. He went with Eiichi, so unless it's an abysmal at the level of the pillars or a giant swarm, they should be fine."

Kiara furrowed her brow. "What could've worried my brother so much to delay his mission?"

"One of us should go to Makkuroyama," Hideaki said as he appeared with Miki. The priest was walking with the help of a wooden staff.

"Alright. We can go check on Hideo, but first, let me tell my uncle and grab Teresa. I don't want them to worry about us."

"Wait, what about Roa?" I asked, standing up, my body completely healed. "We were going to Mizu no Kin to get the ingredients for Roa's medicine."

"Were you heading to Zafir's place?" Setsuko asked.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Then I'll teleport you there. Come on!"

I eagerly followed after her. Hold on, Roa. I'll save you!

*Azami*

I glanced up at my estranged wife's niece. "You've sure grown a lot since I last saw you."

Teresa knelt down and transferred some of her mana over to me. "Uncle, why did ya abandon Serrano and the others? Please tell me. I won't judge you. After all, my dad sort of did the same thing. Only recently did I learn why he continued to fake his death."

So, she knew about her father. I only knew he was alive as Osamu told me to avoid him or else I might die. Takeshi wanted to kill me for what I did to his little sister. "Serrano never told you, did he?"

Teresa shook her head. "No. He was always mum about that kind of stuff."

I chuckled weakly. "I see. That does sound like him." I touched my forehead. "The reason I left is that he asked me to. No, he commanded me to. He was tired of seeing me hurt his mom with my actions and words."

Teresa gulped. She must've gotten a sense of where I was going with this.

"I was abusive toward your aunt. She kept most of her pain bottled up and tried to act as if my words didn't bother her whenever our son would ask. Serrano, being the sensitive boy he was, could see through her façade. Worse still is that it didn't end at verbal abuse."

Tears slid down my face as Selena's screams echoed in my head. Why didn't I stop? How did I allow my head to become so clouded? I couldn't think of anyone besides me. My victim mentality consumed everything around me, burning it to the ground. In the end, I was the one creating victims.

"Now I understand why Serrano said that he didn't want to see nor know a thing about you," Teresa said with downcast eyes.

I laughed. "I don't blame him. You know, sometimes I feel like our family has an insanity problem. Dad started to lose himself as the war against Makkuroyama started to go south. His dad was even less stable."

"Most people lose sight of themselves at some point. The important thing is finding your way back to the right path. If they were here, I would tell my dad and aunt the same thing."

I smiled. "You remind me a lot of your mother."

She blinked. "I do?"

I nodded. "I was watching you battle that demon while I charged the cross. You aren't strong, but you find ways around that. My cousin was the same way in her youth."

Teresa's cheeks reddened. "I see."

"That said, I do think that you have potential just like your aunt did."

"My aunt Selena had potential?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Your aunt simply didn't use it as she found no need to transform it into something tangible like her older brother did."

"But I do! I want to help my brothers."

"Maybe you should train under Miki. He helped train your older brother, according to Heiji."

"Ximena's dad?"

I nodded. "He was the one that fired off one of the other two beams."

She glanced in the direction that Hideaki had rushed off. "Is he that way?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"I'll go find him!" she said, rushing off.

I laughed as she left me on the floor. She wasn't only like Anis, but Selena too. I pushed myself up and walked over to my nana. Setsuko was too preoccupied with the safety of Kiara and Silas that she forgot her.

"Hey, Nana. This isn't the place to sleep," I said, picking her up.

"Azami, you left without eating," she said in a weak tone.

I snorted. "You almost died of miasma poisoning, and all you can think of is me eating? You really need to get your priorities checked, Nana."

She chuckled weakly and closed her eyes. "Maybe I should, but I can't stop carrying for you reckless kids. Not even while you're grown-ass adults."

I gasped. "Nana!"

"What?" she said, giving me a blank look.

"Watch your language!"

She giggled. "Oops, I slipped up." Her eyes scanned the lobby of the palace. The guards remained unconscious even though Setsuko had healed them.

"Don't worry about them, I'll come back for them later. Then, I'll go and eat those waffles you made me."

Nana chuckled. "They're cold already."

"That's fine. I bet the waffles will still taste good since you made them."

"You're a good kid, Azami."

I sighed. Not that again. If she had personally seen what I did to Selena, her image of me would've shattered.

I gasped as I eyed the mosaic. The same demon darkness from earlier continued to seep out of it. This time, the shadows came together to form the shape of a boy. The black wisps materialized into a boy in a body-fitting black suit. A black helmet masked his head.

"Another demon!" Nana Imelda blurted out.

"Who are you?" I snapped at the boy.

The kid chuckled and turned around. "Guess you don't recognize me while I'm wearing this, do you, Father?"

I gasped as the vizor on the boy's helmet vanished. "Conrad. It's really you."

"Azami, there's something off about him," Nana whispered.

I nodded. "Yeah."

Conrad chuckled. "Come on, Dad. Don't be that way. It's me, Conny!"

"Don't try to fool me, Itou! My son doesn't speak like that!"

He sighed. "Darn. I thought that I would've fooled you." He turned his back to me again and chuckled. "Maybe Mommy will be easier to fool." Darkness danced around him.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

He smirked. "Didn't you hear? To see my mom. She must be worried sick about me. After all, Itou did take over my body."

I gasped.

Conrad laughed. "See you later, Papa!"

"Stop! Don't go!" I shouted, letting go of Nana. I ran over to him, but the darkness flung me back. "Conrad!"

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon enough. Then, I will take my rightful place on the celestial throne."

"Give me back my son, Itou!" I shouted, getting back up. I rushed at him and gasped as I appeared outside of a castle shrouded by darkness. "This place... Is this Abyssia?"

I looked around and realized that Conrad-Itou was gone. "Damn it!" I rushed inside of the castle, despite knowing that I likely wouldn't make it out alive.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed today's chapter. It's nice that it fell on Setsuko's birthday of all days (though I wish that I could've had a chapter with her pov. 16 ironically is)**