It didn't take us long to arrive at the hospital.

"We're here," I said.

Eita's hands shook again. He took a deep breath and jumped a couple of times as if he were about to play a basketball match against a strong team. "Hope that Bora can activate this."

"I do too," I said. Else, we would have to resort to Eisuke trying it. Having a thirteen year old fight in a war that killed his father wasn't a good idea.

My eyes quickly shifted toward the hospital doors as they swung open. A blue-haired bespectacled young man in a cyan robe walked toward us. A pink-haired girl in a white dress with multiple bows helped him walk, as did a young dark-skinned blond young man.

"Sirocco! You're out!" Eita said, smiling.

The boy with the glasses smiled slightly. "Yeah. Sorry if I worried you, Sir Eita. I'm glad to see you in good health."

"No need to apologize. And that should be my line! Thought that you would be in the hospital for a week at this rate."

Sirocco laughed weakly. "I still have to stay a couple more days, but they did let me go out for some fresh air."

My brother frowned. "Ohh. Well, at least you're awake now. That's all that matters."

He nodded.

The dark-skinned blond gasped as his eyes shifted toward gold and lapis lazuli necklace. "T-that's uncle's angel tool. Why do you have it? To my knowledge, he doesn't take it off."

Eita clenched it. "Yeah. Sadly, my father is dead."

Borasco's eyes widened. "W-what? U-Uncle's dead? Y-you got to be kidding! Right? There's no way that he can be dead!" He let go of Sirocco and staggered toward us. "Uncle's too strong to go down!"

Eita closed his eyes. "I wished that I were, but he's truly gone."

"It's true," I said, my eyes turning misty.

Borasco shook his head. "N-no. How did he die?"

"Daisaru killed him." I clenched my hands. "Father knew it was a battle he couldn't win, but he still chose to fight on. All for the sake of guarding the Ziz."

"Did Sir Eiji succeed?" the pink-haired girl asked.

I nodded. "Yes. If he hadn't, this world would be in chaos right about now. But, the war has taken several developments since then. One of the Pillars turned against them and took the Leviathan according to Serrano. Normally, that would be a good thing, but it's not. That woman's allies, the demons, they're attacking as well."

"So, it's a two front war," Sirocco mumbled to himself.

"Damn it, Uncle! Why the heck did you have to die? What are we to do now?" Borasco asked. His arms shook as he tried as hard as he could not try cry.

"That's why we're here," I said.

Eita stepped forward. "I couldn't awaken Capitolinus, so I figured you should try. Dad did say that you had one of the highest amplitudes for wielding it."

My cousin shook his head. "I-I'm not worthy of wielding it," Borasco said, turning away.

"What do you mean?" I snapped, getting closer to him. "Wasn't it your dream to become one of the Seven Hills? Well, here's your chance."

Borasco stared at Father's former angel tool. "Yeah, but... I didn't think it would come so soon and like this."

Eita nodded. "Nor did I."

"None of us did, but here we are. Dad's gone and..." I closed my eyes for a bit, trying to stop tears from flowing out. "There's nothing we can do about it but move forward with our lives. We still have a war to win! If we don't, then Father's sacrifice will truly have been in vain!"

Borasco gritted his teeth and curled his hands into fists. "Yeah, but someone like me isn't worthy of it. I couldn't defend the village. It's my fault that Four-eyes got hurt."

"Can you help me move a little forward?" Sirocco asked.

"Sure," Leva said, taking a step forward. She yelped as Sirocco pushed Borasco toward us.

"What are you doing, you jerk?" Borasco asked, turning around.

He pushed his glasses up. "Take the weapon. We need another knight as soon as possible. It'll be of great help to Sir Hideo and the others."

"You seriously think that it'll work for a guy like me?"

"Well, it worked for Dad. He wasn't much different from both us when he was younger," I spat out.

Borasco stared back at the necklace. "Yeah, but he had more going for him."

I clenched my teeth. "Since when did you talk like this, Bora? You won't know unless you try it!"

He grabbed me by the collar of the shirt. "What about you? My aunt told me that you'd been doing nothing but training? Since when were you one to do so? You usually hate sweating."

I slapped his hand away. "Since I lost to Hyosetsu."

"What? But that was a tie."

"No, it was a loss. Anything short of a win is defeat. Simple as that. Plus, I lost to Tetsuya and Hideo too."

He backed away. "What? You were defeated by the peasant and pipsqueak? How? You defeated them soundly not too long ago."

I stared straight into his cyan eyes. "Because, things change. Those two have worked hard. While Hyosetsu went on to become the strongest, while Tetsuya became the second strongest. As I stand now, I'm the weakest of us five. But that's why I'm saying to not declare defeat. You might've lost against the attacker, but you can defeat him should he ever return. Plus, we need another powerhouse. The best person for the job that I can think of is you, cuz."

My cousin gulped. "I see." He let out a roar, causing Leva, Sirocco and Eita to jump.

"What is he doing?" Leva asked.

"Getting excited by looks of it," Sirocco said with a slight smile.

I chuckled as Bora ran to take the necklace from Eita. "Awaken, Capitolinus!"

We stared and waited, but nothing happened.

"I said awaken!" Bora said, raising the necklace into the air. He gulped. "I-It's not working." He turned to look at me. "See what I meant? I'm not worthy of it."

"Hey, don't let it get you down," Leva said.

Sirocco pushed his glassed back and nodded. "Indeed. It could just prefer someone smarter."

Bora clenched his fist. "Siro..."

Four-eyes chuckled weakly. "Hey, now. You wouldn't hurt a guy in clutches, would you?"

My cousin took a deep breath and lowered his fist. "No. I rather save it for when you're better."

Sirocco sighed. "Seems expecting you to let it slide completely was too much to ask."

Leva chuckled. "Come on, be nice."

Eita smiled. "It's alright. Maybe one of us can awaken it later. Tetsuya did struggle with Agnes. It took him two weeks to awaken it and another two to activate it whenever he wanted."

Borasco put a hand on his hips and smiled. "Seems that I need to get back to training." He glanced at me. "Do you still have the energy for a sparring match?"

I smiled. "Sure. I'd already promised Eita a match, but I'm fine taking both of you on at the same time."

My cousin chuckled. "Oh, cocky. I'll make you eat those words."

"Same here!" Eita said, leering at me.

"Let's go to somewhere more spacious first."

"Leva, I leave Four-eyes in your care!" Borasco yelled, waving.

"Alright, have fun!" Leva yelled.

"This is no fun and games! It's a serious match!"

"Yeah!" Eita yelled, chasing after our cousin.

She giggled as Bora vanished. "Opps, hard to tell with those smiles."

I smiled. "A serious battle is usually always an entertaining one." Dad thought the same thing. His last bout had to be the most fun he ever had in his life.

"Hopefully one of those two will be able to use it," Sirocco said. "Else, Sir Eisuke will have to try it."

"That's what I fear," I said, sighing.

"Why's that?" Leva asked.

"Eisuke's too inexperienced, but so is Eita." My eyes glanced up at the sky as Eita and Borasco flew up. "That's why I was hoping for Borasco to activate it. Hopefully, he'll still be able to."

"Sure, Borasco is more experienced, but I don't think Eita would make a bad knight," Sirocco said.

I turned around to face him. "What makes you say that?"

He smiled. "Having seen Sir Eita in action, I know he's a brave young man. He fights hard despite being outclassed by his opponents. That young man won't rest until he's sure that his friends and allies are safe, even if it means getting up over and over again."

My eyes widened. Was that because of Tetsuya's influence? If so, just how far did it go? Eita couldn't do what Tetsuya did. That guy was a monster, both literally and figuratively. Imitating him was folly.

"He'll burn himself up if he continues to do that."

"True," Leva said, frowning.

"Not wrong, but a knight must fight to the death if need be. Both Sir Eiji and Sir Takeshi followed that path until the end." Sirocco lowered his head. "I too was prepared to follow through with that, despite being a lowly soldier."

Exactly why I didn't want Eita to become a knight. Takeshi's predecessor had also taken that same path. Serrano himself almost did, and he would've perished like so if not for his abysmal powers keeping him alive long enough for the rescue team to find him.

My father had also died in battle. He had perished at the hands of the queen of Kasai no Ki. Eerily, burned alive as my father had been. Unfortunately, Daisaru didn't go down trying to take out my old man.

"See what I mean?" I asked, glancing at Lev.

"Yeah. Though, I'm not sure if Borasco has what it takes to be a knight," Lev said, sighing into her hand.

"Yeah, that guy is still too immature," someone called out. I turned around and saw a blue-haired girl with a black bow strapped to her back.

"Ponien, how is the village coming along?" Sirocco asked.

Ponien smiled. "Well. We've made strides these past two days. We should be able to leave it better than it used to be by tomorrow."

Lev smiled. "That's good. Sir Hideaki must be overjoyed."

"Yeah. All is going according to his schedule." Ponien turned to look at me. "About Borasco, why do you think he'll make a good replacement for your father? Sure, he's strong, but that's about all I can see going for him."

Sirocco nodded. "Yeah, he's not too smart."

I crossed my arms. Were these my cousins friends or not? I honestly couldn't tell.

Sighing, I walked past Ponien. "Sure, he's not the brightest person out there, but that's why I'm hoping that it'll help Borasco grow. Having an angel like Capitolinus by his side would keep him on the right path."

"How so?" Sirocco called out.

"Capitolinus is smart. Plus, he's said to have fought alongside my father's predecessor until the very end, trying his best to keep him alive. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case with Father too."

"Couldn't one say the same about your brother? He won't be alone," Ponien said.

I sighed. She had a point there. Perhaps I was just coming up with excuses for why it shouldn't have been Eita.

"It'll be fine. Focus on polishing the successors, then it won't matter which of them awakens Capitolinus. We would have gotten two or three powerhouses instead of one," Sirocco said.

I smiled. "Thanks. You're not only smart, but wise too. Bora could use a squire like you, should he become the next knight."

Sirocco blushed. "No need to praise me."

"Aww, look at you being humble," Leva said, giggling.

Sirocco's face turned deeper red. He started to wobble.

"Hey! You alright?" Leva asked, grabbing his arm tighter so that he didn't fall over.

Ponien laughed and she caught him. "Sirocco mustn't be used to compliments. You made it worse, Leva. He doesn't do well with girls."

Leva smiled nervously. "Oh, right. He did something like this when we met."

Ponien grabbed Sirocco's other arm. "Let's go back inside, Sirocco. You've had too much excitement for one day."

"Okay," Sirocco said. If he were an anime character, he would have had swirls for eyes.

I chuckled. Hideo truly was a lucky guy to have such a team by his side.

"You better get going, Eiichi. Eita and Borasco should be back in the village by now," Carlos's voice echoed in my head. "Eita will worry if you take too long."

With a single flap of my golden wings, I found myself miles up in the air.

"Let's go and test out my father's potential successors," I said, transforming my left ankle bracelet into its spear form.

*Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. The next update will be on October 2nd. Want to focus on writing Blade of Ruin (3rd book of my other series) as its 2nd year anniversary is approaching)**