I glanced up at the sky. Mommy had gone ahead to check out something 'fishy'. The portal she and Plu took to get here had glowed strangely. Hopefully it wasn't a demon.

I sighed. Naoru went to get some carrots, but was taking too long. Same went for Plu who said she was only going to go get a snack. I laughed. Knowing my auntie, she was likely stuffing herself.

"There you are, my bunny," a voice called out. My body tensed up. A green-haired girl approached me, holding her hand out.

"Who are you?" I asked, stepping back as she reached for my face.

She gave me a toothy smirk. "Call me Kushi."

I moved my head away as she tried to kiss me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to escape her grip.

"Showing you my affection, of course. I came here to get you back."

My eyes widened. Back? She wasn't one of the abysmals that I knew. Plus, Mom and Plum were here, so why would Grandpa send someone here? Was she with Margaret instead? Wait, I saw her in Ifrit's memories.

"I'm not going with a demon!" I yelled, pushing her off of me.

She sighed. "I didn't want to do this the hard way."

I gasped for air as a thin tail wrapped around my neck. How did she move so quick?

"Unhand Conrad, witch!" a voice rang out from my sheathed knife.

Kushi's eyes widened. "That annoying angel returned to you? Thought I gave that weapon to Margaret to dispose of."

Margaret had it? How did it get into Yuko's hands? Wait, she gave it away?

I grimaced as more memories flashed before my head. "Y-you're not Kushi," I said, grabbing her tail. "You're Anestarte!"

She smiled. "Kushina is my true name, well, prior to the split."

My rosary seemed to shake at the mention of the name. Hanketsu, he was close to her while he was still alive.

Wait, was that why she was calling me her bunny? She carried on Kushina's lingering feelings. But, then, did that mean that all that she felt for my past life was lust and not love?

"Now, are you going to continue holding on to my tail? There are better parts of you to grab than that, you know? But if that's what you're into then that's fine too."

I quickly let go of her tail.

"Leave me alone! I'm not going with you!"

She chuckled and jumped at me. "Aww, why are you mad, Bunny? Though, you are cute when you're angry too. Especially when you were fighting Eiichi."

I gasped. "You were watching?"

The demoness snickered. "Of course! I thought of popping up and hounding the guy, but decided not to. Wanted to see what he would do without me. You really let go of your grudge a lot easier than I expected. That guy is a bigger monster than us demons. He even tried to take advantage of your cousin Rosa."

I gritted my teeth. "I haven't forgiven him! I will crush him." I shook my head. "No, I have to let go of this rage, else he'll take over again."

"Don't force it, Bunny. You aren't a saint. This is why we demons refuse to live a life of falsehood."

"I'm not false!"

She wagged her finger and leaned forward. "Oh, looks like I hit a weak point! You are indeed false. Why go on with that charade of kindness?"

"It's not a charade," a voice called out. I turned and saw Onami. With her were Kohri, Yuko, Ximena, and my paternal cousins.

Setsuko jumped at the demoness and threw her weapon at her, flinging her back.

"Hmph, you've grown stronger since our fight in Munil," Anestarte said, rubbing her arm.

"Holy Leaf Storm!" Ximena yelled.

Anestarte gasped as Grass leaves floated around her and ejected beams of green energy.

"Argh!" she exclaimed.

"That hurt her more than your attack, sis," Rosa said, smiling.

Setty leered at her. "So, what? This isn't a competition."

Rosa chuckled.

Anestarte laughed. "How cheerful, to think you were on the brink of suicide not too long ago." She narrowed her eyes at the younger princess. "Seems that the brat is developing well."

Yuko gasped. "Brat?"

Setsuko glanced at Rosalba who had a calm expression. "What does she mean?"

Rosa touched her stomach and lowered her head. "So, it seems that my nausea wasn't just hunger after all."

"Wait, she isn't lying?" Ximena exclaimed.

Rosa shook her head. "I don't think she is, not in this case."

Yuko frowned and lowered her head.

Anestarte laughed. "What? Feeling down, little girl? You really do love that 'Master' of yours a lot, don't you? If you would like, I could get him to make you one too."

"Silence!" Yuko snapped, slamming Anestarte with a wall of sand.

"What?" she yelled.

Yuko slammed the ground and raised her into the air. Onami's little sister leapt into the air and smacked a fluffy tail against the demoness back, slamming her into the face of a nearby mountain. Anestarte held her hands forward and unleashed a multitude of vines, but Yuko's sand shriveled them up and grabbed her again.

"Such rage," I said, smiling. "I knew you had it in you, Yuko." My eyes widened.

"No," Rosa said, stepping away.

I closed my eyes and gripped my head.

"Conrad," Yuko said, turning to look at me.

Anestarte pushed the sand away and rushed over. "Ifrit, my dear, you're still in there!"

"No!" I yelled, falling to my knees.

Yuko turned her attention back at her and unleashed another sand geyser.

"Agh! This girl won't let up!"

"You shouldn't have made her mad! Yuko's scary when angered!" Onami yelled.

"She sure is," Setty mumbled. "Far more so than me."

Thunder echoed overhead, drawing our eyes to the blackened sky.

"What's going on?" Naoru yelled, rushing over.

"I'm not sure, but this vibe, it's familiar," Setsuko said, scratching her head.

Ximena gasped. "I know why that is. This aura, it's that of Leviathan!"

Anestarte chuckled as she broke through Yuko's sand once again. "I better go meet my sister. Farewell, Bunny. I hope that next we meet, you will have regained your darkness."

"You aren't getting away!" Rosa yelled, shooting her with her drones.

Yuko's sand spun around, tightening its hold on the demoness.

"You can't kill me!"

"True, but that doesn't mean that we can't inflict more pain!" Rosa yelled, shooting her multiple times.

"Argh, you monsters! To think you have the audacity to claim that you're better than us!"

"This is merely giving you a taste of your own medicine," Setsuko said, whacking her with her weapon.

Anestarte's head slumped.

"She's surprisingly weak," Onami said.

"Defeating her doesn't mean much. Anestarte is the weakest of the Seven," Naoru said. He eyed the sky again. "Her sister is the one that we should be concerned about. Not sure what or who is holding back the rain, but as soon as it lets loose, this place will be an inland sea."

"Wait, so will the capital!" Rosa exclaimed.

"I'm going to go meet up the guys! You tie up that girl!"

I gasped as I saw that the cocoon of sand was empty. "She's gone!"

"It's true that I'm the the weakest, but I'm the best escape artist there is," Anestarte said, grabbing me from behind.

"Conrad!" Rosa said, spinning around.

She smiled. "Sorry, but he's coming with me. Let's go meet our sister, Bunny."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Fine."

"Huh? What are you saying, Conrad?" Setsuko asked.

Kohri crossed his arms. "Let's trust Con on this one."

Anestarte narrowed her eyes at me. "What are you plotting, Bunny?" she whispered.

I smiled. "Take me with you if you want to know."

Her eyes widened. "You're bluffing, aren't you? That's why Kohri trusts you. He can tell that you're plotting a trap. I won't be fooled." She covered me in vines and dragged me away.

"Conrad!" Setsuko yelled, appearing front of Anestarte. "I won't let you take him away from us!"

"Away!" Anestarte yelled, unleashing a barrage of thorny branches.

Setty shattered the brittle branches with her meteor hammer and smacked her on the head.

Anestarte gritted her teeth and slammed her hands down.

Everyone gasped and jumped up as vines shot up all around us.

"Rosa!" Yuko yelled.

"I'm fine!" Rosa screamed back as she formed a barrier by linking up her drones with orange mana. The vines flew back at Anestarte, sending her falling back.

"This is getting tiresome!"

"Calm down, leader," a voice called out. "Allow us to take care of them for you."

We glanced around for the source of the voice.

"Looking for me?"

Setsuko, Kohri, Yuko, and Rosalba gasped as a white-haired boy rushed over to us in a blur of black and purple.

"You're that boy from the tower!"

He smiled. "Glad that you remember me," he said, tilting his head. Electricity crackled in his hands. "I'll make you regret hurting my dear leader."

"This guy is dangerous," Rosa said, stepping back.

He clicked his hands together, unleashing a burst of electricity.

Setsuko jumped out of the way, only to gasp. An explosion rocked the mountains. The blast had gone through its target and exploded on the opposite side.

"Even without the effects of the tower, he's dangerous," Kohri said, dashing at him.

He held his hand up and blocked Kohri's hammer. The young man smirked. "Last time I was caught by surprise. Or did you think that I'll be as easy to defeat as Camio?"

"Everyone, don't let your guard down! He said the plural," I said, slashing the vines off of me.

Anestarte eyed me but remained still. She must've taken more damage than she let on. Or was she looking to see what I was up to?

"You're a bright kid," a female voice called out. I turned around and saw a figure dressed in a white fur coat. That lady, she didn't give off the vibe of a demon. At least not one like Anestarte and Margaret

I gritted my teeth and raised my fists up.

"Conrad, get away," Azar's voice echoed from the pen in my pocket. I jumped back and watched as a giant icicle formed.

"What? When did she do that?" I asked.

"She's using ice magic. The ground where you stood had been enchanted."

The woman laughed. "Is that your angel giving you advice? No matter, you will all be turned into beautiful ice statues soon enough! Hyah!" She summoned a fan and raised it up, causing a straight line of ice spikes to come from the original.

I rolled out of the way and threw a sphere of darkness at her. She slapped the sphere of darkness away with her fan, throwing it high into the air where it exploded.

"Woah," Kohri said as pebbles underfoot trembled from the shockwave.

Maybe I'd overdone it with that one.

The woman snickered and dashed at me. "You'll make a nice ice statue for my collection, Bunny."

"Sorry, but he belongs to me," Anestarte said, huffing.

Her underling laughed nervously. "Of course, Madam. I'll be sure to get him for you."

Anestarte smirked. "You better." She pushed herself up. "Tidy things up here. I'm going to go see Levia." With those words, the Archdemon of lust vanished.

"Great, she got away!" Setsuko yelled as she sidestepped the white-haired boy's attacks.

"Not bad," the boy said, grinning.

Setsuko sighed and vanished behind him. The boy spun around and guarded against her meteor hammer. "What? No way!"

He laughed. "You think that you're the only one who can use Zen Mode?"

My cousin gritted her teeth. "No matter, relying on it was starting to make me start to lose my edge." An orange aura flared around her. "Gives me a chance to use Second Heaven."

"Going for the inferior power, are you? Well, be my guest," he said, vanishing and appearing behind her.

Setsuko smirked as her meteor hammer almost hit him.

His eyes widened as he grasped the weapon with his hands. "What?"

"That was predictable. Zen Mode is useless in the hands of such an obvious person."

The boy laughed. "Obvious, huh? I'll make you eat those words, wretch!"

"What was that?" Setsuko asked, channeling her mana through her weapon. The boy let go of the weapon and stared at his hands. Holes had appeared on them. Alma's spikes had enlarged thanks to the mana cloak.

"And don't forget about me!" Kohri yelled, swinging his hammer down at him. The boy reached his hand out and grasped Kohri's hammer.

"You shouldn't have announced yourself if you wanted to land a hit!" He turned to look at Rosa as beams fired at his direction. The boy dissolved into purple smoke and appeared behind me. "Phew, that was a close one. Guess that's enough fun for one day!"

I jumped back as he reached his hand out for me. "I'm not going with you!"

The boy smirked and gathered energy into his palm. "That's fine. I don't seek to bring you with me, Hanketsu."

My eyes widened. His voice, why did it sound familiar? We hadn't met at the tower, I don't think. So why then did it feel as if I'd known him since I was little?

**Solar Note: The Bible says (Matthew 15: 43- 45) that chase away a demon/unclean spirit and it comes back with a multitude worse than it. Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**