"Conrad!" I yelled, shooting beams at the demon boy. While the guy avoided them, it at least caused my frozen cousin to move.

Setsuko rushed over and grabbed our cousin. "Conrad, what's with that deer stuck in the headlights reaction?" she asked, bringing him over to us.

I looked over my shoulder as I felt a cold wind come our way. Kohri intercepted the freezing gale and shot it back at the woman.

The boy smirked at us as his sphere of electricity transformed into a pure white one.

"W-what's that?" I asked.

My sister furrowed her brow. "Not entirely sure, but it's pushing away the mana around it, creating a void akin to Munil," she said. "Everyone, allow me to handle this!"

"Huh? How do you plan to?" Ximena yelled.

Setsuko chuckled. "I've got something figured out. Take care of Conrad for me, Sis."

I grabbed him. He was shaking. What frightened him so much?

"Does she mean that or is that the usual family bravado speaking?" Onami asked.

"Huh? Usual bravado?" I asked, turning to look at her as she and Yuko grabbed the woman with their sand.

"Yeah, Conrad would often try to put up a brave face even when he was scared." Onami reached her hand toward him but pulled back, returning her gaze to the ice mage.

How did the demons get Xelerian allies? Wait, Tetsu said that the father of Satoru was part Xelerian. Could that lady be one of his entourage?

Ximena sighed. "Tetsu and Serra are the same way. Given Hideo is the same way, it must run in the royal bloodline."

I tilted my head. "Am I like that?"

Kohri chuckled. "Must you ask?"

He sounded like Hyo...

"You'll be the first one gone if you don't move out of the way, Princess," the boy said, laughing as he bent his arms. "Void Sphere!"

Setsuko increased her Second Heaven aura and bent the overflowing orange mana into a sphere of her own.

"Take this!" she yelled, hitting the white orb as if she were striking another marble with her own. 

The guy gasped as his sphere bent like a deflated ball before vanishing. He gritted his teeth. "How did you figure it out so quick?"

Setsuko put a hand on her hips and chuckled. "You're dealing with the mana expert of the Five Knights. If I'd decided to go the route of training my Second Heaven form, or attempting Third Heaven, I'm sure I would have the strongest transformation out of us five."

Ximena narrowed her eyes at my sister. "Now she's just bragging."

"Yeah," Onami said as the ice woman froze her and Yuko's sand. "Hey, no getting away!"

"Yuko's got her!" Yuko said, raising a wave of sand behind the mage. She stared at the mountains. "That said, someone should've gone after that demoness."

"I'll go," Ximena said. "I've managed to injure her. Plus, I don't think that I'll be useful against either of these two."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Neither of these two are demons. At least, not completely."

"That boy isn't one? But he has horns," Onami asked.

"It's strange, but he seems to still be part angel. So, he hasn't completely fallen."

Maybe he was like my paternal cousins, a hybrid. Except in this case, part demon instead of half Abysmal.

"Yuko will go too, if that's alright with Sis. Yuko is worried about Master."

"Sure it is. Kohri and I have this. While Setty has that guy handled," Onami said as Kohri pinned the lady to the ground. Setty meanwhile was whacking the white-haired guy around with her meteor hammer.

"Let's go," Ximena said.

Yuko nodded and took to the air. She'd improved on her flying, but still shook a lot like a paper airplane in the air.

Wished that I had a means to help other than guarding Conrad. Sadly, I didn't have anti-demon techniques like Ximena or Takuya. No, this was enough.

I glanced at the sky. A crimson light struck it. That energy, it was akin to the orb I found in Behemoth's den back in Wynaga. Then, was this Tetsuya's doing or was Behemoth also around? Hopefully it was Tetsu and not the latter. We had enough problems as it was.  But if any more come, I'll be ready to take them on since I'd been saving my mana.

I gasped as the clouds suddenly were split up again, this time by a black energy. Tetsu had gone into Second Heaven? Things had to be getting worse there.

If only I could've gone with Yuko and Ximena, but I couldn't endanger Conrad like this.

"Brother!" Conrad yelled, looking up.

Setsuko stopped her onslaught and turned to look at the mountains. "Serra..."

I gritted my teeth. If Serra was in trouble then that would explain all of this power emanating from Tetsu. Hopefully Daddy and Uncle saved Serra, assuming they weren't badly hurt themselves. And that was the best case scenario... For all I knew, Serra could've di- I shook my head. No, it was too awful to even think of.

"I need to see my brother," Conrad said, turning to look at me.

I furrowed my brow at him. His frown and large watery eyes made me want to give in, but I couldn't do that. Not with two of the archdemons there.

"Yuko and Xime are heading there. They will make sure that your big brother is safe."

Setsuko wacked the white-haired guy. "Let's wrap things up against these two and go back up Father and the others! Rosa, take Conrad far from here."

"I'll take care of him!" Selena said, slamming the ground with her giant paws. On her back were Anis and Amun.

The half-demon-angel boy gasped as he was thrown back by the quake.

"Tsk. More annoyances," the ice woman said, breaking free from her sand prison again.

"Selena, you could've stuck that landing a bit better," Anis said.

"Sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"No, thankfully I'm used to bumpy rides, but my niece isn't."

Amun had her hands around her mouth. "I'm fine," the girl hiccupped.

"Sorry," Selena said.

Anis glanced at the white-haired guy. "Setsuko, be careful! I sense something amiss with that one!"

The white-haired guy grasped Alma and gripped it, shattering it.

"What?" Setsuko said, eyes wide.

"It's time for me to get serious!" He yanked on the weapon, pulling my sister toward him and then swung it upward just as she was about to smack into him.

"Setty!" I yelled.

"I'm fine! Go with Anis and Selena and get away from here!" Setsuko said as she increased the outflow of her aura.

I shook my head. "No! I'm no longer useless," I said, entering my Second Heaven form. "Ice Petals!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Petals of ice flew out of my hand and fluttered around the guy.

"Hmm? What's this, one of those move contests?"

"Explode!" I yelled, snapping my fingers.

He gasped as ice appeared around his arms and legs. A smirk appeared on his face as the ice vanished into nothingness.

"What?"

"The guy can control void," Setty said, landing next to me. She stared at her broken Alma and sighed.

"Don't worry, I can fix it up!" Kohri said, patting her on the shoulder.

She smiled slightly. "Thanks, though we don't really have the time. Nor the resources."

"My aunt-in-law should be able to help," Onami said.

Setsuko jumped back as the guy leapt at her. My eyes widened as the ground around me started to vanished.

I hugged Conrad from behind and jumped away.

"I'm done playing, time to erase all of you!"

Conrad pulled out of my arms. "No, I won't let you!" he yelled. He warped out of my arms and appeared in front of him. A single black wing appeared out of his back and blew the white-haired guy back with a gust of wind.

The demon-angel stared at Conrad's hand and smirked. Con held a katana with a pitch-black hilt and a silver blade that glistened like the crescent moon.

"So, you finally bring out Zangetsu!"

"Hanketsu," Setsuko said, eyes bulging.

Conrad took a single step forward and vanished behind the guy. The void angel-demon spun around and summoned a scimitar, pushing back against Zangetsu.

"You're still hesitant to destroy me, I see," he said, grinning.

"Hesitant, no. Rather, I know that what I do won't be able to destroy you. Only Father can."

He snickered. "I wonder if even he can destroy me. After all, how can one destroy nothingness?"

We all gasped as a white wing appeared from his back.

"This guy, he's reminiscent to Halim," Setsuko mumbled.

"Huh? How so? They aren't anything alike," I asked. Granted, I only met Halim for a few minutes and didn't talk to him directly, but that was enough to go off of when compared to this guy.

"Not in terms of personality. It's akin to Renata and Valencia, those two are said to be twins."

"Wait, so you're saying that guy is Halim's twin brother?"

The guy snickered. "You got it," he said as he kicked Conrad in the stomach.

Selena growled and leapt up, catching Conrad. "You dare hurt my baby!"

He put a hand on his hips and grinned. "You didn't even care for him when he was a literal baby, so why start now?" He jumped back as a hammer went flying at him. Spikes of ice flew out of the ground, gripping his leg.

We looked up at the air as a long haired Kohri slammed his hands down against the guy's head, flinging him to the ground. "Shut up! I've heard you demons yapper long enough about this and that! Stop trying to get into our heads!"

Halim's twin spread out his arms and laughed. "I see that I hit a nerve! Or rather, multiple ones."

"Kohri, look out!" Setsuko yelled, rushing forward. She threw Alma at the demon-angel, but it spun unusually due to its now unequal weight distribution.

Kohri hit the chain of Alma upward, flinging it into the air. He spun around rapidly like a pro soccer player about to deliver his finishing move. He threw the hammer at Alma and stepped down on both with his feet, sending it flying at the guy.

Conrad dashed forward and stabbed the guy in the chest.

He let out a scream as darkness flowed out of the blade and constricted around his body like a nest of snakes springing up on an unsuspecting prey.

Volleys of sand flew at him, making the guy wince.

"Let's bring him to heel, together!" Onami said, smiling as she shot more sand bullets.

I nodded. "Yeah!" My drones spun around and fired beams at him, causing him to scream in agony.

"Gah!" Halim's twin yelled, shooting the sphere in his free hand at Kohri. My cousin sidestepped it but the sphere blew up behind him, creating a white dome the size of a tiny bedroom like the one that Tetsuya and Serra used to occupy in college.

"Kohri!" Onami screamed. A wisp of blue rose up from the the top of the white dome. The energy spread out like vines, clinging to the emptiness. Icicles punctured the void like a plant sprouting out of the ground.

The demon-angel gritted his teeth. "Delanie! Do something!"

I turned one of my drones at her and fired a shot. She slammed the ground and vanished in a white mist like a ninja.

"Coward!" the guy growled.

"I remember you running with your tail between your legs last time we fought too," Kohri said as he stepped out of the void.

"Damn you!" he scream, erasing the darkness.

"Conrad, let go!" Setsuko yelled.

Conrad screamed as the void overwhelmed his darkness.

"Yes, die, you infuriating rabbit!"

"B-brother," Conrad said, or rather, Hanketsu did.

"Trying to appeal to emotion now, are you? It won't work on me!"

"He's right, Conrad," Kohri said, appearing next to his friend. "Reasoning with these types is useless." He grasped what used to be tendrils of darkness and snapped them with his aura. "As for you, your power over nothingness will never be able to overcome the power of creation."

"That's not true! Everything began in the void and thus everything shall return to it!"

I laughed. "The abysmals say something similar, except about darkness! Like them, we will stop your plans. Everyone, overwhelm him with mana! That should be able to destroy him like his attacks!"

"Destroy me? As if," he said, chuckling. 

He held his hand up.

"No, you don't!" Selena yelled just before unleashing an ear piercing bark.

The guy shook his head and closed his hand. A white pillar struck him, causing him to disappear completely.

"Coward!" Kohri yelled.

"So, the eighth angel is real," Anis said, sighing.

"More like the eight archdemon," Kohri said, spitting out blood.

"Are you okay?" Onami asked, running over to him.

He smiled. "Yeah." He fell back, but a black blur rushed over and grabbed him.

"You Seven Hills really have a knack for passing out," Naoru said, shaking his head as he handed Kohri over to Onami.

Onami smiled. "Thanks, Nao."

Nao turned away. "It's nothing." He walked away, head down.

"Did I say something wrong?" Onami asked.

I gasped. Wait, was Naoru jealous? And here I thought that Kohri and Onami had nothing to do with messy love triangles like mine.

Conrad smiled. "Onami's kind of naive."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean? And should I be hearing that from you, Mr. Country bumpkin?"

My cousin's face flushed.

Kohri laughed weakly. "Stop it, Ona. Don't tease Con."

*Boom*

We all glanced up at the sky. A swirling vortex of darkness spread outward from where Tetsu and the others were fighting, creating cracks in the sky.

"Is that the demons?" Onami asked. Her question was quickly answered as demons flew out of the hole, spread outward and every given direction.

"Everyone, continue to engage!" Setsuko yelled, taking to the air.

I nodded and fired off my drones at the demons in the sky, tearing through as many of them as I could.

Lightning echoed in the sky, striking several of them down. I turned and saw Eita, Ei-ei, and Borasco, and Eisuke. Plum was also with them.

"The cavalry has arrived!" Borasco said, grinning.

I smiled. "About time!"

"Lets tear down those monsters!" Eisuke yelled, causing the heavens to light up with bolts of lightning.

Amun gasped. "You're pretty strong."

Eisuke blushed. "O-of course I am! I wouldn't be a candidate for Capitolinus if I weren't."

"Focus on the fight, Big Head," Ei-ei said, whacking her brother behind the head.

He sighed. "Fine!"

I smiled. It was odd, things were getting worse, yet I felt more hopeful about the outcome than before.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Only six left to go! Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**