✔ | At Least We Have Forever

Chapter 50 - Leader Position

All of them turned to see the one who spoke and they lit up upon seeing Riya descending to the ground. Carissa accompanied her.

"Where in the world have you been, Riya-senpai?" Yukari asked, teary-eyed but smiling.

Riya only answered with a smile and it made Yukari run towards her and embraced her. The mistress embraced the Sound Wielder, in return. The gang smiled at the sight.

"I'm really sorry for coming late. It's just that I need to retrieve something which would come in handy for this battle," Riya said after she let Yukari go.

That was when they noticed the staff Riya was holding.

"Isn't that Carissa's staff?" Keiko asked.

Carissa shook her head. "That staff doesn't really belong to me, but to Lady Celeste. And since Lady Riya is the incarnation of Lady Celeste, she gained the right to use it. That staff is called Silver Staff of the Three Realms' Ancient Spirits or plainly Silver Staff. I was just protecting it until the time Lady Riya came to retrieve in order for her to use her powers to the fullest, which is really necessary for this war."

"I see," Kurama said, nodding.

"And I guess the full moon in blue only amplified the staff's power. But what happened to the Crystal Spear? Aren't you going to use it?" Ayako asked.

"I forgot to tell you. Lady Riya won't be needing the Crystal Spear anymore," Carissa said that confused them.

"What do you mean she won't be needing it?" Ren asked.

"She won't be needing it because that Silver Staff is already the ultimate form of the Crystal Spear," Carissa responded with a smile. Of course, what the little being said surprised everyone. "And since she finally retrieved it, I won't have to stay in that taller form anymore."

"So I guess that made you Lady Riya's Crystal Spirit now," Sei stated. Carissa nodded and all of them faced the dark sphere above the frozen park.

At that time, several demon shinobis appeared before them.

"Don't tell me we're going to deal with them again?" Yusuke said frustratingly and he was about to fire his Spirit Gun when Riya held his hand which surprised him. But what surprised him further was the grave expression on her face. This wasn't the first time Yusuke saw Riya like this and he knew what this meant. He then put his hands down and faced his cousin.

Riya let go of Yusuke's hand and walked a few feet towards the enemies. She closed her eyes when she stopped walking. But instead of using her staff, it was a surprise to the gang when they saw her dematerialized it from her hand. Soon after, Riya pulled a silvery-white rose from her hair. That rose was undoubtedly familiar especially to Kurama and it came as a surprise to the gang.

"Don't tell me... she's going to make a weapon out of it?" Yumi concluded upon seeing that.

But the answer only showed when they saw the rose emanated a white glow before the petals detached themselves from the flower's calyx. More or less, there were more petals detaching from the flower than what was supposed to be the amount and it floated around Riya before they finally coalesced into four rings in front of her. Riya raised her hand with the stem of the rose.

"Rose... Blade..." Riya uttered and the stem glowed brighter. It soon morphed into the silhouette of a sword before the glow shattered and revealed its form.

"Isn't that..."

"The sword that I gave her," Hiei said when he saw the familiar weapon that sought in the Demon World himself.