"Wait up!" Setsuko yelled as she chased after me. "Don't go! It's a trap!"

"I know that Itou wishes to kill Mom and me but I can't let my mom face him alone!" I yelled.

Setsuko sighed. "You really won't back down, huh?"

I smiled back as I realized our roles had flipped. "Now you know how I usually feel."

She grumbled as she got closer. "This is different."

How? Rosa told her to stay back and she threw herself into the fire anyway.

Setsuko gasped as we neared the ruins that Mom and I had appeared in when we returned from Abyssia.

"What's wrong?" I asked, glancing back at her.

She furrowed her brow. "Your aunt is here."

I stopped. "Rocio or Plu?"

"The former," Setsuko said with a look of disdain. Did she not like her? Well, my uncle-in-law did just kill Eiji.

"Mom is one of the Pillars, so I don't think my aunt will hurt her."

Setsuko flew ahead of me. "That's not what worries me."

What did?

The two of us stopped as a wall of pink light appeared in front of us. We turned around but another one manifested itself.

It reminded me of the constructs that my uncle Mason made during my trial to succeed him.

Setsuko flew up without even looking at the ground. I gasped as I noticed the walls touched the ground. A floor had even formed. It was a tower of light...

"Told you this was a trap!" Setsuko said, shaking her head.

I glanced around. Where was Itou?

My eyes widened. Wait, was this one of the abilities of the Rabbit Pillar?

"We're almost out!" Setsuko said, speeding toward the top of the tower. Unfortunately, a ceiling of pink light formed, overhead.

"You're caught!" Camio's voice echoed as the scenery shifted. Setsuko and I found ourselves in a gray stone room. It was oddly reminiscent of the castle that Daisaru and Rocio had used. Though, I had only seen it in the recordings that Eiji's drone took.

Camio was nowhere to be seen, though.

Setsuko stared at her angel tool. "It won't transform."

"Huh?" I said.

She looked forward and raised her arms in front of her.

Camio walked out of a dark hallway and grinned.

"Welcome, my prisoners!"

"Are you the one stopping me from using my angel tool?"

He snickered. "Not me. It's more of a thing."

My mind went to the sphere that Mason had given me. Could something like that have been the case with the Rabbit Pillar's power?

"Not that it matters!" My eyes widened as my second heaven form failed to activate. Was I more exhausted than I thought?

Wait, Setty's angel tool didn't work either. Could it have been...

I cupped my hands. "Shadow Orb!" I yelled, but the shadows didn't gather into my hands. As I'd thought. Our angel powers were useless.

Camio smirked. "Seems like you figured it out."

Setsuko laughed as she stepped forward. "So, you shut down our angelic powers. But like Serra said, that doesn't matter."

Wait, Mei couldn't shut them back in the palace dungeon. Setty said that no one could shut them. Could it be that she was acting to lower his guard? Or was something else going on?

She flashed in front of Camio and knee kicked him the gut, sending the demon flying into the hall he came from.

"W-what was that?" Camio asked, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"Zen mode. It's not an angelic skill," she said, flashing behind him. She slammed her hands against him back, pushing him past me.

Had she gotten more used to it? Tetsu had told me she struggled using it.

"Yikes, Setty. You're making me feel a little bad for the guy," I said, laughing.

She scoffed and grabbed me by the arm. "Let's go! There has to be an exit somewhere!"

If only we could use our seismic sense. Sadly, it had gone with the rest of our angelic abilities.

Setsuko gasped and pushed me to the floor a ball of fire burned through the stone walls on front of us.

"Damn you! Don't toy with me!" Camio yelled, charging at us like an angry bull.

Setsuko jumped up and spun around. She ducked his horns and elbowed him in the center of the chest, knocking the air out of him.

Camio dropped the floor. "Damn, it. You sisters sure are annoying."

Setsuko smirked. "You lost against my little sister, huh?"

He laughed as he stood up.

"Setsuko, finish him, now!" I yelled as I got up from the floor.

She gritted her teeth and slammed her orange pauldron. Her armor, which still seemed to work, activated.

Why didn't she attack him?

It didn't take long for me to get my response as a massive heat wave swathed the room. The ceiling overhead began too ooze. My skin felt like it was boiling. This demon's flames made those of the king of Kasai no Ki seem like a cozy fire.

"Setsuko! Are you alright?" I asked, getting away from Camio.

She rushed over to me. "Y-yeah. My armor protected me." She stared at the orange and black armor. Some areas looked as if they were on the brink of melting. "Though, it took a heavy toll on it."

Camio laughed as he slowly walked toward us. "What's wrong? Weren't you about to finish me off? Or are you afraid of a little heat?" He formed deep red flames in his hands and threw them at us.

Setsuko slapped the fire with her armored arms. She gripped her arms and staggered back. If it weren't for me, she could've dodged them.

"Why are you protecting me? I'm not some damsel in distress!" I snapped, grabbing her by the shoulders.

She laughed. "I know, but the only one who can fight him right now is me."

I pushed her behind me.

"Wait, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Oh, switching places? Ideally, you should be fighting alongside one another."

I smiled. "Yeah, but Setsuko was doing a pretty good job at handling you. But now that the battle has switched to long range, it's my turn to take you on!"

"How do you plan to fight him?" Setsuko asked.

I smiled. "You forgot that I'm an abysmal?"

The princess and I jumped back as Camio continued to calmly approach us. If he weren't so full of himself, the guy probably could kill us right about now. Such stupidity would be the end of him.

"No, but that heat is too much even with your regeneration," Setsuko said as she looked at the hall. "I say we try to get away. We might be at an advantage in a tighter space."

I shook my head. "No. That's not an optimal situation to be in against a guy who can melt the walls around you. Just ask Rosa."

Setsuko sighed. "Yeah, you're right." She rushed to the complete opposite side of the room.

"Hmm, splitting up? A pincer move won't work, unless if you want to risk being boiled alive."

The princess clicked her tongue. "If I could use my angelic powers, you wouldn't be speaking so high and mighty right now, coward!"

Camio raised a hand toward his head and laughed. "Trying to provoke me, Princess? I'm not that stupid to return to you your dove abilities."

Well, it was worth a shot.

I cupped my hands together. Energy flowed into them from my core. The principle wasn't much different from that of magic. Except instead of a Magicum Organum, an abysmal used their core. "Tiger's Lightning!" I yelled, unleashing a bolt of white electricity at the demon.

He screamed in agony as the electricity rushed over his body.

"W-when did you learn to use abysmal powers?" Camio asked, fall to one knee. The heat around him died down somewhat.

"Just now."

"What?" Setsuko asked, her eyes were as wide as Camio's.

I scratched the side of my face and smiled. "Well, I did rely on observation." Fighting my uncles helped a lot. Uncle Takeshi had dropped a hint during our training too. To draw energy from the core.

As for why I'd tried using lightning, using Bylet's electricity remained etched in my memory. So it was the first thing that came to mind.

"Damn it," Camio said, gripping his chest. "Seems that I should've heeded Vapura's words and stayed back home."

"Yeah, you should've," Setsuko said, dashing over to him. She held out her hand and aimed for his back, but halted as an arm slapped the air.

She leaped back, avoiding being stabbed in the chest by a trident.

"Impressive, it's as if you predicted my appearance," Bylet said, smirking.

"T-thanks for the save, Bylet."

Bylet scoffed. "Well, I'm not doing it for you sake. Mom told me to ask you a favor."

"What favor?" I snapped as I transformed into a tiger.

He looked over his shoulder and laughed. "Don't worry. I'll get to you in a bit, my feline foe."

He grabbed Camio and vanished.

"What was that?" Setsuko asked.

"I'm not sure, but I don't like the sound of it," I said, running over to her. "Quick, get on."

She crossed her arms. "I'm fine with walking."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Just do what I say for once."

The princess sighed and hopped on my back. "Alright, you big fur ball."

I growled a bit and ran for it.

"Which way should we go?" I asked.

"I would suggest up, but I'm not sure if we can use our wings or not," Setsuko said.

"They're part of our bodies, so they should."

Setsuko closed her eyes. Orange wings emerged from her back. She smiled. "Seems you're right, my furry friend."

I growled again. "Will you stop it with the fur jokes?"

She wrapped her arms around my neck and laughed. "Sorry. Anyway, quicken your pace! We have to save Con."

I nodded and sped up. Hopefully, my little brother would be fine.

*Camio*

Bylet dropped me to the floor as we appeared in what appeared to be an office.

Vapula removed her pipe from her mouth and formed smoke rings. "Lost already, dear Camio?"

I hung my head down. "I could've done more, if given the chance." I hadn't gotten the chance to use Second Hell. Though, maybe it was a good idea that I hadn't used it. My control over it still wasn't the best.

Vapula leaned forward and patted my head. "Poor thing. You should've used the abilities of this special space to increase your power. Stopping their angelic abilities wasn't a bad idea, but it's useless against a hybrid like the princess's boy toy."

I curled my hands. She had a point, it was stupid of me to have gone for shutting down their dove powers. It would've been better if I had doubled my strength. Though, the princess would still have been a thorn on my side with that strange battle style of hers.

"I'll do better next time." I looked up at Bylet. "So, what did Miss Nathair want?"

Bylet glanced at the door. "Ask her yourself."

"Hello, dears," a voice called out. A sexy, blue haired woman in a sapphire qipao smiled at us.

"Miss Nathair," I said, standing up and saluting. "How do you do?"

The Dragon Lady laughed. "I can see why Vapula likes spending time with you."

"S-she does?"

"I do not," Vapula said, averting her gaze.

"Mom, get to the point," Bylet said, annoyed.

His mom sighed. "Always in a hurry, aren't you, Byl? Fine, I'll get to business." She reached into her leather purse and took out a set of papers. "Here. I wish for you to use the Rabbit Pillar power that your father entrusted you to do this. I know there's not much to work with here, but it should be enough to erase the memories from those who matter."

"Memory?" Vapula asked.

Bylet stared at the papers and snatched them from me. His eyes scanned them rapidly. "As I thought, this is for him, isn't it?"

Lady Margaret smirked. "Of course. I can't have my son's plan fail."

Bylet threw the papers back at me. "What plan?"

Miss Nathair closed her eyes. "It's our backup plan. Should we fail here, you brother will pick up where we left off."

"You think that we're going to fail? If so then why are we even doing this?" Bylet yelled.

She opened her eyes. "It's a precaution. Reginald's made his own failsafes. I figured that it wouldn't hurt to have some of our own."

Bylet grumbled and stomped toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Vapula asked.

"To deal with the doves. This tower's effects will vanish as soon as Camio is ready to wipe the memories of those around us."

Lady Margaret sighed as her son slammed the door behind him.

"That boy is still envious of his little brother, I see," Miss Nathair whispered.

"Can't blame him. You're going into all this trouble for Satoru," Vapula said, staring at the papers in my hands. She raised her eyes toward the Dragon Lady. "Will this truly benefit us, or just him?"

She sighed. "It will benefit all of Cianio in the long run. Satoru's been hard at work on his plan. Now that Itou has been revealed to be Ifrit, he'll be the one taking the reins as Prime Minister."

"So, the plan to subvert Kuroriku continues, huh?" Vapula said, leaning back on her seat. "Not sure why so much time and energy has been poured into that one country."

Lady Margaret shook her head. "You say that as you don't understand the geopolitics of this world. Kuroriku lays in the center of the other three Great Kingdoms. By destabilizing the core of the continent, a vacuum will open up. The other three in their ambitions will pour in to fill it and go to war against the others for supremacy. Even if they do not, the instability will push Kurorikuians to knock on their doors, seeking refuge. The resulting refugee crisis will in turn destabilize them from within."

"Seems like a lot of things will need to go just right for it to work," Vapula said, pressing a hand against her chin. "Looking at it that way, it's no wonder that Ifrit decided to give it up to reunite with his angelic half instead."

Lady Margaret laughed. "You're right, there are a lot of things that have to go well, but I'm confident that Satoru will make it happen. Plus, this isn't the only backup he has in mind either."

"Now I'm curious," I said, looking up from my notes.

She snickered. "Maybe I'll tell you another one in due time. Though, right now the focus should be to avoid needing said backups. I'm depending on you three to make it happen. Don't fail me now!"

I smiled. "I won't!"

Miss Nathair smiled as the opened the door. "I knew that I could count on you, cousin."

Vapula sighed as soon as Lady Margaret left. "That woman has too much confidence in her little boy. Wonder if there's something the two of them know that we don't."

"Any ideas as to what that might be?"

She shook he head. "No. Oh, well. Like she said, we have to focus on winning this war. If we do, we won't have the need for such elaborate mechanizations. To that aim, I don't think anyone will work harder than your father and Bylet."

"I understand my father's investment, but why Bylet?"

Vapula shook her head. "You seriously can't see it? This is his chance to overshadow his little brother! Everything that Satoru's been working on will be useless if we obtain victory."

"Oh, yeah!"

Vapula rubbed her forehead. "I think you should train that mind of yours instead of your body."

I glared at her. "Are you calling me dumb?"

She scoffed. "Am I?"

I gritted my teeth and returned my attention to the papers that Lady Margaret had left me. Right now wasn't the time to argue with Vapula. I had to make myself useful to the cause. Whether that be toward victory now or in the distant future.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :). Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**