*Tabiki*

After I sent off Ken, Koukyuu had taken everyone to the dining room to have some food. 

Apart from one person, I remained alone in the throne room with my thoughts.

I glanced over at Lorenzo who continued to stand by the entrance. He hadn't said a single word to me since he entered. 

"Something the matter?" I asked, rising from my broken throne.

He looked up. "What were you aiming for?"

"Thought you already heard. I sought to restart the war between Kasai no Ki and Kuroriku."

"I mean, why weren't you careful with spread of the fire you created? It reached my hometown!" he said, stomping toward me.

I sighed. "Aren't you a grown man now? Why you acting worse than when you were a little kid?"

He gritted his teeth. "You don't think I have a right to be mad at you? Don't you care for your own people?" Lorenzo lowered his head. "If I didn't know you, I would say that you are emotionless and uncaring."

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "I might have allowed my desire for revenge to blind me back there. All I wanted was to get a chance to destroy the Kuroriku. Even if it meant allying with those who seek to destroy all of Zionia."

Lorenzo snickered drily. "You remind me of my kids."

"How they teamed up with the abysmals for the same purpose? Thought that you were on board with that plan yourself. Was I mistaken?"

He shook his head. "I was, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized what a mistake it was. You probably have realized the same thing."

I sighed. "To some degree, yes. But like I told the others, I had a plan for how to counter them." Leaning my hand, my eyes shifted to the golden rooftop. On it were depictions from our ancient history. The most prominent being of Renata and Masayoshi planting a sprout. That young tree grew into an important sacred site. If I wasn't mistaken, Lorenzo's youngest served as its current care keeper.

"What's that? Maybe we could use it to defeat them when they attack, opposed to in a hypothetical take over."

I turned my head away. "Your younger son is key in the plan, but I rather not reveal all of my cards." My grandmother could be listening in for all I knew. The sacred tree was only one option. I had two more to employ in case that one failed.

"That so?" a voice called out.

Lorenzo turned around and saw as both of his sons and my two youngest sons walked in. Oddly, Kimura wasn't with them. Nor was Suzuki.

I stepped forward. "Kimura, you can come out. I won't hurt you for what you did to my father. That man sought death to begin with. If anything, he likely died thankful that he finally achieved it."

Kimura stepped out from behind the door. He kept his head low.

Emon smiled. "Seems that things were cleared up. Likely by Hideo since he knows what happened to Audrey."

Reno snickered. "I'm surprised. Thought he would mess things up."

Kei smiled. "I'm just glad things have died down for now."

Maki stepped forward. "Father, Ken told us on the way in that you wished to speak to us. What is it about?"

He wasn't going to ask about my recent actions?

I returned to my throne. "I'll talk once the other Flames have arrived."

"I'll go get Zaki," Lorenzo said, rushing off. It appeared my answer managed to pacify him, for now.

Reno gasped as his phone suddenly rung. "Huh? Did someone fix the cell tower?" His eyes lit up. "It's Suzu, so they must've!"

That was quicker than I'd expected...

"Hello, sis?" Emon asked, leaning toward his brother's phone.

"Hey, Emon. Why are you responding for Reno? Did he leave his phone with you?"

"Nope," Reno answered.

Suzuki snickered slightly. "Great to hear that you're in the same place. How are things over there?"

"Good. Hideo and the others managed to talk to our grand-uncle," Emon said.

She gasped. "Hideo didn't screw things up?"

"Seems like he did the opposite," Reno said. He chuckled. "As shocking at that might be."

"Guess he has grown as a knight after all."

I smiled as I leaned on my throne. Indeed, he had. If only I knew how it'd happened. My reincarnation was currently asleep, so assessing his memories should've been easy. Sadly, it appeared Hideo hadn't trained alongside him, based on what I could gather. Eiji's son must've been the one who helped him, making things more shocking than they already were.

"Did you call to check up on us or did something happen over there?" Reno asked.

"I told her that you were fine," a voice called out.

I gasped. It sounded like my late nephew, Alabaster. So, he truly was alive after all.

"Uncle!" Reno said. "Did you get to fight Ifrit?"

"No. He... was defeated," Alabaster responded.

My eyes widened. They defeated Ifrit? Perhaps it was a good idea to have switched sides.

"Huh? By who? And if so, why did I feel you fighting?"

"I'm not entirely sure about the details, but from the sound of it, Hyosetsu dealt him some serious damage."

So, my reincarnation's attacks weakened him enough for the others to take him down. That said, it wasn't like Ifrit could use his full power. The Sky Father's intervening during the ritual had prevented him from acquiring complete control over their unified strength. If anything, Ifrit was weaker now than he was unfused.

Kei whistled. "The boss is stronger than I thought."

"Why are you smiling, Dad? Wasn't Ifrit your ally?" Maki asked, looking up at me with stern eyes.

I covered my mouth. I'd been smiling?

"It's nothing. Guess I'm simply glad to hear that Hanketsu lost."

"Oh, right. Ifrit and Conrad are both Hanketsu," Reno said.

"Hope that Akane didn't intervene," Maki mumbled.

"Don't worry, she heeded your words, staying back in the village. She's making blankets with Teresa and the village ladies," Suzuki said.

My son smiled. "That's good. Akane's a healer, not a fighter."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. That girl can pack a mean punch," Kei said with a smirk.

Maki rubbed his face. "Her slap hurts a lot more."

"Who is this Akane girl?" I asked, leaning forward. "Your girlfriend?"

The crown prince's face reddened. "M-maybe."

Kei nudged him with his elbow. "Maybe? Come on, you're head over heels in love with her! You're even engaged. At this point, all you need is for her to be pregnant."

"W-what?" Maki asked, stumbling back. "D-don't say that!"

Quite the cherry boy my son turned turned out to be.

Emon snickered awkwardly. "Can we change the subject?" He pointed at the phone.

"Huh? Suzuki, Alabaster? Why are you two blushing?" a voice called out. It sounded like Haname.

"Is Haname with you?" I called out, jumping out of my seat.

"Yeah," Suzuki responded.

"Can you tell her to come back? We're having a meeting. I sent Ken to retrieve the Seven Hill Knights. You've been the only one we hadn't been able to contact."

"Sorry about that, sir."

I narrowed my eyes at the phone. "That said, why are you there in the first place?"

"A friend asked me to check something out here. Seemed it was the right decision to listen to them, given the upheaval at the border."

Who was this friend of hers? Did they know about our plans? If so, were they doing so to prevent me from starting the war, or was there more to it than that?

"I see," I said. "We can talk about this once you've returned."

Reno grasped his necklace. "I wonder... Hey, Alabaster, can you grab Haname by the shoulders?"

"Sure, but why?" Alabaster said.

"I want to test something out."

"Go ahead," Haname said.

"Done," Alabaster said.

Reno smirked. "Good. Return!"

Suddenly, Alabaster materialized in front of us. He held on to a shocked Haname.

My red-haired grand nephew jumped up and down. "It worked! It really worked!"

Emon laughed weakly. "It did."

Maki snickered. "That makes things a bit quicker."

"Are we starting our meeting, Uncle?" Senbonzakura asked, stepping into the throne room.

"Sis," Alabaster said.

She smiled. "Looks like you guys made it here safe and sound."

"It was thanks for Hideo," Reno said, swinging his arms behind his back. "He made things quicker for us. Kimura too, of course." He turned away. "Though, wish that things had ended differently for great-grandpa."

Alabaster lowered his head. "As do I."

"It is what he wanted," I said, shaking. I did not like it, but I had to accept it. He wouldn't want to see me crying. "

"Yeah, Hideo told us," Zaki said with sad eyes.

I'm thinking of having a small funeral for him."

Alabaster summoned something shiny in the palm of his hands.

"What's that?" Zaki asked.

"What I could salvage of Grandfather's remains. Everything else dissolved completely."

I smiled slightly. At least his grave wouldn't be empty. "Hold on to them. We'll bury them alongside Mom's grave."

"Think he would've liked that," Zaki said.

Alabaster nodded as his tears dripped down his face.

Zaki patted her brother's back but otherwise kept quiet. As a little girl, she had been the emotional support for her family. That someone like her could've grown up to be a kidnapper and a heartless murderer... It was my fault. I encourage that desire for revenge.

In that regard, Hideo was right to have been mad at me for what befell his brother.

Zaki gasped as she glanced at her sons. "Wait, where's Suzu?"

"About time you realized," Suzuki said, sighing. "I'm in Uncle's place. Going to help the others fix it."

"Sorry, dear."

"It's fine. Well, I'm off. Time to get to work."

"How ironic," Reno said as he put away his phone. "Not that long ago, we would've been the ones wrecking havoc, not fixing it."

Zaki pushed her hair back. "Yeah."

That girl, her eyes had softened. They were no longer cold and hate-filled.

"I'm back!" Ken said as he ran into with a short girl with a flower on her head. Behind the girl was a tall green-haired man. "Sorry that I took so long. I'll go get Haname now."

"No need," Haname said, waving at him.

Ken let out a sigh of relief. "Great, thought that I would have to go on another wild goose chase."

"Reno, let's go," Lorenzo said, grabbing his son by the shoulders.

"Huh? Go where?"

"To the dining room."

He patted his stomach. "I'm hungry, but I was also hoping to hear their conversation."

"It's a meeting between the king and his knights. If possible, your mom will tell us  about it."

Reno sighed. Alright.

Alabaster closed his eyes and started to dissolve into gas. "I'm going to rest."

Reno clenched his triangular necklace and smiled. "Sleep well, Uncle. Thanks for your help."

Lorenzo gasped as Reno collapsed into his arms.

"Reno!" Zaki yelled, rushing over to him.

Lorenzo picked him up and pressed a hand against his son's forehead. "He's heating up. He pushed his mana to its limits. Seems that having Alabaster out for that long drained him. Surprised he didn't pass out before, especially with his uncle being so far away."

Emon smiled slightly. "That's because I gave him some of my mana. Not sure if he noticed, though. He didn't say a thing." He placed a hand on his big brother's forehead.

Lorenzo smiled. "His fever is dying down."

"T-thanks, little bro," Reno said opening one eye before closing it again.

"Don't mention it. Now, go and get plenty of rest."

"I will..."

Lorenzo sighed. "This kid really can go from zero to hundred and back real quick."

It reminded me of my brother. Hide was so full of energy, he made me look lazy in caparison.

Lorenzo walked out of the room and closed the door behind him with his foot.

"Alright, let us begin our meeting," I said, raising a hand up. The Seven Flame Knights gasped as I teleported them, the green-haired guy, and myself away.

**Solar Note: Hope you enjoy the chapter ^^**