-He who was believed dead rose once more, proving death was not as all powerful as people made her out to be.
*Hikaru*
I turned around and saw Sarah running in with two masked ones. However, they weren't animal masks.
The fox targeted the boy with the masquerade like mask. The boy had been the one who yelled my name. The masked boy blocked the tail with his bare arms and laughed as he twisted the tail but it faded out and reappeared again.
The fox moved all of its tails away from Ulissis and directed them at us.
A second tail smacked the mask off of the boy. A familiar pair of turquoise eyes looked over at me. Eyes I'd known since I was born. Yet, for some reason the boy's hair had turned white since I last saw him two years ago.
I rushed at the boy, and pushed him into the wall. "Who are you?"
He grinned similar to Lei. "I am your friend."
I shook my head. "B-but you're dead!"
He scoffed. "You should've known that wasn't true. You should've caught on during the trip on the boat. Or earlier, like when we took the test. Don't tell me that you didn't have suspicions?"
I let go of him. While the others fought the fox man behinds us. Tears threatened to spill over. "T-tell me, why didn't you reveal yourself to your siblings? Don't you know how much Yen and Lei have suffered without you in their lives?"
Kun chuckled. "Is that so?"
I raised him by the collar of his cloak and punched him but he stopped my punch. He kicked my right leg, causing me to drop him. He caught himself and ran toward the fox. "Want to replay out last battle, eh? Well, this isn't about us! This is about protecting my siblings' dreams, at least is for me!"
I stood up and looked over at the beast.
"What's your past with Hikaru?" Sarah asked as Kun joined her in the others. "Though you triplets are his friends so it's not surprising."
I glared at Sarah. "You knew?"
"I had my suspicions after hearing Tahoma's phone call," Orion said, nodding to himself.
"Ignore him, you two help me battle," Kun said as he summoned his wand. He leapt into the air as a fox tail crashed into the wall behind him. "You have desecrated sacred grounds and hurt my siblings, for those reasons you will be judged!" His wand transformed into a golden gauntlet and a broad sword.
"No butterfly swords?" Sarah observed.
I glanced over at the purple-haired girl who had come in with them. She was trying to calm down Wanikiya who was starting to cover the room in ice.
A tail made its way toward the panting Wanikiya, but he froze it without it even touching him.
"Master!" the girl yelled.
"So this is the power of the spirit of ice," Kun said as he smiled. "Control that and Awayamat won't be able to call you weak ever again."
Wanikiya's eyes returned back to normal as he looked up. "K-Kun?"
The girl removed her mask and hugged him. "Master, we came to save you." The girl was Nahimana!
The prince's face became red.
"Stop with the odd displays of affection!" the fox roared as the frozen tail broke out of the ice.
Nahimana let go of Wanikiya and slashed the tail off with ease using a sword of light. "You dare interrupt Wanikiya and me?" Her purple eyes glowed as she faded into the shadows. "No one does that, not even Zelde!"
Pretty sure she had, but I wasn't going to bring that up right now, especially when she was this mad.
"Everyone, focus on the beast. We can talk later!" Kun yelled as he dodged more tails.
The fox sighed. "I can't believe that you children pushed me to this point." The fox reverted back to the fox masked man. His nails became claws as his black hair grew longer and his ears turned into fox ears.
Kun smiled. "You don't have the energy left to maintain this form for long." He raised the stones around him and enveloped himself with wind. "Get ready, for you're fighting the next Magus Maximus!"
I snickered as I watched him fight. Kun...
***
[Five Years Ago]
"You want to become a teacher?" Yen asked.
I nodded. "Yeah, like my big brother. What about you three?"
Kun scoffed and pointed toward the sky. "I want to be Magus Maximus."
"Me too!" Lei said, chuckling.
Yen snickered. "You two will have to get past me first."
Lei pouted. "I will, just you wait!"
"Like an asthmatic can become Magus Maximus," a kid called out.
We turned around and saw the boy who had taken Lei's inhaler, Ayawamat.
Kun and Yen walked over to him. "You hurt our little brother," Yen said, narrowing her eyes.
"We spared you as saving Lei was our priority. However, those who mess with us Lan siblings get hurt," Kun said, pulling up Ayawamat by the collar of his shirt.
Ayawamat grinned as bugs crawled up Kun's arms.
Kun kept holding him. "I'm not afraid of your insects." He walked over to the edge of the cliff and held him out. "Now, pay the consequences."
"Stop!" Lei yelled. "Brother, don't do that. This guy isn't worth it."
Kun nodded and smiled at the watery-eyed kid. He dropped him to the sand dunes below.
The kid stood up and dusted sand off of his clothes.
"Let's hope that your parents don't ground you for playing around in the sand," Yen yelled.
Tears slide down Ayawamat's face as he ran off.
***
['Present']
"Those three can be worse than those who mess with them," I said as I ran around the fox masked man.
"Halt," said the girl wearing the horse mask as she descended the steps. I think Miwa called her 'Kohaku' during the briefing.
"I forgot that there was another one," Kun said, glancing back.
Kohaku rushed in and grabbed Wanikiya from Nahimana. "Give up or he dies?"
"No," Orion said, spinning around.
Nahimana gritted her teeth. "Let him go, now!"
"You're in no position to be giving me demands," she said as she held a knife a hair away from the prince's neck.
Wanikiya clenched his hands as all of the power from his spirit went back inside him.
*Lei*
"I got to go help the others," I said, rising from the bed.
"Wait," Adela said. "You barely got better!"
I turned my back to her. "I'll be fine. You should rest."
Nyima ran over to me and hugged my back. "Listen to her. I don't want to see you nearly die."
My face flushed. Man, was I lucky to have these girls are my teammates and friends.
"How about we all go?" I suggested. "I got a feeling that Iah went with the others."
I also have a feeling that someone else is there...
"I'll take you there," Bokyaku said as he entered with his teammates.
"Be wary," his aunt advised him. "Don't let your feelings cloud your actions."
Boukyaku smiled. "I won't."
"Yeah, hopefully you don't. If you do then you might end up like the Shield-Knight," Hideo said, keeping his eyes down.
'Shield Knight? Did he mean... that guy I met years ago?'
**Solar Note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter ^^**