Boom.

A massive explosion rang the the streets behind Ayaka as she rolled to the side. Gritting her teeth, she lifted her hand.

"KO Shatter"

Icicles the shape of a sword formed in her hand.

A dark shadow dashed towards her. Its edges smeared as it moved at blistering speeds. A dark blob resembling a hand lifted.

Clang.

"Tch."

Ayaka flew back into the air, the impact of Khosrow's attack shattering her sword to pieces. 

The ground was getting farther from her. Wind gushed past her. She was flying, floating at the same elevation of the roof of buildings.

Ayaka clenched her teeth. Frost collected in her hand.

Crack.

Her back hit the edge of a building, and she landed on a platform of ice that stuck out the side of a building like a balcony.

"Ow, ow..."

Ayaka bit back a scream as she pushed herself up on her feet. In front of her, the edge of the ice, the floor laid tens of meters below. Ayaka sighed.

"Good thing it was so humid, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make this platform."

Ayaka looked in front of her. Khosrow's hand was pulled back, about to unleash another arc.

There's no way around this.

Lifting her hand, Ayaka aimed her palm at Khosrow. As a black arc flew towards her, Ayaka closed her eyes.

"KO... Annihilation."

Chanting, a wall of ice appeared in front of her.

Khosrow clenched his teeth as he looked around. Smoke had filled the air in a dense fog.

"Annihilation level casts... I never expected that. Perhaps she is some KRS knight or something? But there's no reason for one ot be here."

His LI destruction that he shot at that girl was certainly going to kill her. He beat her in melee combat, knocked her back, and then was going to finish her with a destruction cast while she was injured.

But to have pulled something like that was something else.

"Where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

Khosrow shouted to the dust in front of him. He clenched a yellow crystal against his chest, his aegis. Its strength should be enough to protect him against anything that girl will do using the fog.

    -Though, his shield was broken by a random boy. Khosrow wasn't sure how, but he does remember that it broke. He also remembers that he panicked and killed him as fast as possible.

For his shield was broken like that, Khosrow was feeling uncomfortable about this.

"Come out, come out!"

Khosrow was getting impatient. He could feel heat on his face, anger in his blood.

    -This girl was pissing him off.

"I said COME OUT, dammit!!"

A black arc slammed in the the edges of a building through the smoke.

Khosrow's hand was extended, clouds of black particles clumping around his fingers. His eyes twitched, and his lips shook.

"I see.... You're still not coming out? Very well."

Khosrow's eyes widened. He stepped forward, lifting his hand. All around him was fog, and he couldn't see anything.

    -Even so, he was going to kill her.

Slash. Arc. Boom.

Waves of waves of black shot threw the smoke. Each line of darkness cut a thin line of vision in the fog.

At the center, Khosrow stepped back and forth. He spun, stepping left and right, turning his body at all angles while lifting his hand and slashing like a crazy maniac.

"COME OUT!!! Is your pride oso low that this is what you hide in!? That you're too much of a coward to face me and finish your ultimate plan?"

Spinning. The world was twirling around Khosrow as he fired his casts, yelling with a voice of rage. 

Every angle, every elevation, every location. Destruction, destruction, destruction.

Panting, Khosrow looked around.

The smoke had cleared and he could see everything. The buildings Khosrow fired at were perfectly intact without a single part damaged.

This was to be expected of course. Abilities like his or any KRS or GRS can't do anything to objects in the human world.

But there were things unexpected. For example,

"You ran away, didn't you?"

Khosrow's eye twitched.

The buildings around him didn't have signs of a single person, injured or dead. No blood, no corpses, nothing. It was all empty, just the walls of the tall buildings.

Slash.

A howl, the sound of a dying Shaang, echoed behind Khosrow. He turned around and looked at the distance.

"Ha. Good try. I'll still kill you."

The sun's rays streaked into the horizon, illuminating the air with an orange glow.

"No. I'll tear you apart, torture you until you beg for your life, and then kill you."

Putting on his hood, Khosrow slowly dissolved into a shadow.

"After all, that's what cowards that run like you deserve."

With that, the shadow started dashing towards the horizon.

In the fog, Ayaka stuck her hand out, running along an ice bridge. The top of the building was getting closer. Ice particles clouded in her hand as she silently casted KO shatters.

A sharp pain flared in her chest.

"Ow... Not now, I just need to hold a bit longer."

Her energy was depleted by her annihilation level cast. What remained, chest pain and a headache.

Still, she clenched her teeth as she rolled off her ice bridge and onto the roof. Sprinting, she ran across the building, desperate to get as far as she could from Khosrow.

Her feet skidded to a halt as she reached the end of the building.

Ayaka panted, catching her breath. She looked over the edge.

The streets of Brightful City stretched out under her. As expected of the GRS attack, everyone was still. People walking had frozen in place like statues, even falling trash bags were stuck.

"How am I supposed to get down..."

Ayaka put a hand over her chest.

She felt too tired to summon a bridge down. Perhaps she could do it? It was uncertain.

As she was thinking,

"-hk!"

Something loud crashed into the building.

Ayaka hid her face behind her arm. Black smoke rose, as if a fire had erupted below. LI particles floud around, as if an attack landed so near her.

"This is bad..."

Murmuring, Ayaka turned back to the street.

If she stayed here, there was no doubt she was going to be killed by Khosrow. 

"Fine... whatever. Don't fail me, body."

A floor of ice appeared in front of the building. Ayaka jumped onto it and lifted her hand. Moist in the air crystalized into ice, connecting to the platform to form a down-angling to bridge. Her feet moved, and she started to run.

"KO Shatter! KO Shatter! KO Shatter!"

Casting while running, Ayaka ran.

Behind her, the scene burst into loud explosions.

Ayaka looked at the ground, where the dead body of a Shaang laid.

She had ran far away from the building where she fought Khosrow. After reaching the ground, she found her run easy.

"These monsters are so easy compared to..."

Ayaka looked back at the direction she had ran from.

Khosrow was strong. There was no way she could win. If she recalled correctly, he declared himself as the bishop rank.

"That guy was the same guy at the park that day?"

The day Ayato had supposedly died, that day that Ayaka had freaked out.

Ayaka tightened her grip on the an ice sword she created. She looked into the distance.

"Ayato... Kazane..."

Ayaka suspected that Ayato had some connection to Saria. From that day where Ayaka had woken up besides Ayato, her memory of that moment was murky. She just remembered walking with him, and then suddenly blanking out. 

Notably, a trait of Saria's power to manipulate memories. In addition, Ayato's energy toxification was so bad in such a short time, such were only documented in textbooks.

Ayaka took a breath.

"They're probably okay."

Still, if Ayato was connected to Saria, then he was a GIRUS. The enemy of KRS, the-

Ayaka shook her head. She took a sigh, pressing her forehead with her index finger. Ayaka turned back and looked at the direction she fought Khosrow from.

"Right now, it's probably not a good time to have trust issues. Besides, he seems so clueless. And if that legend about the GRS rank traitor is true, then he might not even be an enemy the slightest."

Ayaka walked past the dead Shaang and looked forward. A cold breeze blew past her.

"At any rate, I've got to find Rei. Maybe Ayato and Kazane, if lucky."

Taking a step forward, another breeze lifted the strand of hair laying on Ayaka's shoulder up and into her face. The feeling of a strong breeze pushing from behind.

Ayaka's footsteps stopped. She sucked in a breath.

"There's wind? Such is..."

She looked up. The leaves on trees remained stuck in place, and the few people in front of her were frozen. The clouds in the air didn't move, as if the Earth stopped rotating.

Ayaka slowly turned around. Her eyes widened.

A shadow dashed towards her. Chunks of its black edges and grays sizzled out. It was moving fast towards her, as if she was standing on the rails of a train. Ayaka lifted her hand, and

Crash. Boom.

"-hk."

Ayaka's feet skidded back. A tight feeling settled in her stomach as she spat out some spit from the hit to her stomach.

Khosrow was here. The dark shadow formed back into a person. Immediately, he bent down and started running.

Ayaka clenched her teeth. Her hand lifted, aiming at Khosrow.

"KO Annihilat-"

Ayaka spat out, clutching her chest. Her core hurt from energy exhaustion.

"Crap, why now-"

She was cutoff as a fist connected to her chest. Ayaka fell off her feet and crashed into the ground. Immediately, she wiped her face and pushed herself up. Lifting her hand, she formed an ice sword.

"Huh? -hk!"

"I'm not letting you pull anymore of your shit!!"

Kicking and knocking the sword out of Ayaka's hand, Khosrow slashed forward. It clanged against the invisible shield that Ayaka wore, an aegis similar to Khosrow's that blocked all damage. The impact knocked Ayaka backward onto her feet.

"Tch..."

Ayaka let out a grunt on the ground. Despite blocking the hit fully, she could feel that her aegis was on the verge to break. 

"Stay down!!"

Her attempt to push herself up was stopped as Khosrow stepped on her shoulder, twisting his feet position to prevent her from getting up.

"Try your shit... See what happens."

Khosrow lifted his hand. Black dust formed clouds around his knuckles, wrapping them in a shadow. And then, he started punching.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Ayaka held her breath and squinted her eyes as dark matter shattered in her face. Even though the aegis prevented her from being crushed, she could still feel the impact of the fist. Ayaka spreaded her fingers, feeling frost between her fingertips as she tried to summon an icicle that could push her up or knock Khosrow off. 

But I can't... concentrate.

The inconsistent rhythm of the slams and the impact against her face consistently broke her chant, making it feel impossible to summon. 

Snap! Boom!

With another punch, the aegis surrounding Ayaka's body bursted outwards. The feet on her shoulders that were pinning her flew backwards, and the punchings stopped coming.

A perfect chance.

Pushing herself back up, Ayaka panted. She clutched her shoulder, the edge of her green shirt that now had specks of dust on it. The aegis was broken, and she was going to feel the damage that she took from here on. A sword of ice reformed in her hand.

Khosrow, who flew back, backflipped and landed on his feet. As he rested he looked up. A smile spreaded on his face. Wiping his mouth, he stood. 

"You're all vulnerable now. Humph. KRS and their stupid armor."

After a laugh, his eyes narrowed.

"Now, let's have the fun begin."

Merging back into a shadow, Khosrow dashed forward. As always, the edges sizzled and sharp black edges formed in front.

Lifting her blade, Ayaka sidestepped the charging shadow. The sword's blade and the shadow's edge met, clanging against each other as well as pushing Ayaka out of the way.

Having missed, the shadow lunged for her again. Ayaka spun around, and raised her sword again. And again, she managed to move her body out of Khosrow's way. But somehow this time, the edge of the shadow hat cut into her shoulder.

Clutching her arm, Ayaka leaned forward while clenching her teeth.

Crap...This really hurts, she thought.

Taking a deep breath, Ayaka looked up. Khosrow was walking towards her. The corners of his mouth stretched up, and he gazed at her with a calm smile. Walking. Walking. Walking. One step at a time. One step closer to killing her, one step closer to her life ending.

Ayaka exhaled.

"I really screwed up, didn't I... When did I last fight, I wonder."

Ever since she had came up to the city, she hadn't trained often. Life was just better up here than down there. Enjoying the life here and being contempt with it, she had forgotten most things. Things like her mission, things like her ability. The fact was that her endurance had gotten so low that she couldn't cast two annilations.

"Maybe training with Rei would've done way better. It would've definitely helped."

Taking a sigh, she looked at Khosrow who was slowly approaching her.

"I guess, this is punishment for forgetting all those. But still, I won't go down without a fight."

Closing her eyes, Ayaka let the footsteps of Khosrow ring in her ears. Then, she opened them.

"Hyaaaaaa!"

Dashing forward, Ayaka raised her fist. Immediately, frost formed over her knuckles. Khosrow lifted his hand to block, and the other to return the punch.

Swish.

Ayaka sidestepped, dodging Khosrow's punch. She twisted back, punching iwth all her might.

Crack.

Her fist hitting Khosrow's arm, the frost had no effect. Instead, Khosrow's arm flew back, leaving a wide opening.

This is my chance.

Ayaka lifted her other hand and punched as hard as she could. She was tired and exhausted, but she carried it out anyways.

Snap!

Her fist connected to Khosrow's chest. A pop sound rung the air, and Khosrow skidded back.

Ayaka looked at her fists. Steam rose from her fingers, the effect of Ko and LI ability reactions.

"Why are you... Such a pain in the ass. Even without your armor."

Khosrow walked forward. His eyes were narrowed, his lips pursed. He was angry, enraged. His fists were shaking, his body was hyperventilating.

Ayaka clenched her teeth. The frost on Khosrow's body slightly replaced a spot of armor. Such is only possible if the first layer of the Aegis Charm were broken. Alas, the second layer where the real shield was; her attacks could barely hurt it. This entire fight, it was all that she could do.

"Hk!!"

Ayaka spat on the ground, clutching her shoulder. The wound was getting worse. Khosrow's blade leaves shade poison if it cuts into someone's skin, giving them feelings of fatigue and weakness. Ayaka felt like collapsing, and she could feel her energy seeping out.

"Tch."

Was that it? No. She was going to fight. 

10 years ago when she was weak and small, in the same situation, she didn't give in. Why would she give in now? Has she really not grown any bit since then? Maybe she didn't. But that would also mean that she can't give up.

Frost formed in her fists as Ayaka took a deep breath. She bent down, about to make her likely final dash at Khosrow. In response, Khosrow lifted his hand, a sharp purple dagger pointed towards her.

As they were about to engage,

"Hey Khosrow!!! Dontcha think you're fighting the wrong person!?"

A loud familiar voice called out.

Both Ayaka and Khosrow froze in place. Ayaka slowly turned her head.

"Yep, Forth Knight of GIRUS, Ayato Hinode is here."

Announcing that whilst holding his hand up, Ayato stood. His hand glowed purple with the sign of the a horse.

Khosrow and I stared at each other across the street. Edges of his body flickered with specks of black. Then,

"Hmph."

Khosrow's fist lowered and he sighed.

Slowly, I walked in front of Ayaka and turned to face Khosrow.

"Ayato?"

Ayaka called my name from behind me. I turned around to get a better look at her.

She was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted. Her clothes were tattered, her knees were shaking, and I could see she was struggling to stand. She clutched her shoulder, blood on her hand.

I turned back to face Khosrow.

"Ayaka, leave it up to me. I can handle him."

"You can handle him? But can you fight?"

"No, not really."

"Then what are you planning to do?"

Ayaka's eyebrows were raised, particles of frost surrounding her. Even though she looked quite beaten up, she must have been pretty good at her abilities to be able to fight Khosrow, a GRS rank, by herself. Maybe my dad would've been interested, given how dangerous they are.

I wasn't the same. I wasn't anything like her, I couldn't fight the slightest. But if there's something I learned from dying all those times, it was that a hopeless idiot's life could have value.

The corners of my mouth lifted.

"It's a bit hard to explain, so I can't tell you. But trust me. I've been living surviving all this time for this moment."

"----"

Silence.

In the midst of the frozen city, not a single thing made a sound. Then.

"I see. I'll trust you then."

Ayaka nodded.

My eyebrow lifted.

"Really? No questions?"

"You said it yourself right? You looked so confident. Unless you have anything to tell me?"

"N-No, it's just as I said."

"Okay then, I'll... umm.. ah crap."

Ayaka's knees fell forward. She crashed on her legs, landing on her hands. She gritted her teeth.

I reached out to her

"Hey, are you alright?"

Ayaka paused, then let out a snort. She clutched her shoulder tightly, and spoke through her teeth.

"No, I'm really not. I hope you weren't bluffing about having a plan, because that really was the only option."

"Huh? N-no, it's not a buff. It's alright."

"Then I'll leave it up to you."

With that, Ayaka leaned forward, her head turned away. 

My hands pulled back, and a sigh escaped my lips.

Depending on me huh. How terrible the situation must've been. Nonetheless, it was the first time I got something to do. Ayaka trusted me, Kazane believed in me. I won't betray those feelings that let me stand.

"Thanks, Ayaka and Kazane."

Stepping forward, my mouth stretched into a smile. Khosrow's eyebrows raised, almost as if curious to see what I would do.

My plan. My finger shot into the air.

"Diving skies, it you hear my pleas, may a gentle breeze carry Ayaka to safety!"

As I said that, a gust of wind blew past me and.

Ayaka's confusion was interrupted as her body was blown into the air. The wind carried her backwards, her yelps fading into the distance as she flew further back, before levitation slowly behind a rock.

A sigh escaped my lips.

"Ah, that line sounded so cringe. I must put you through a lot. But thanks for the help, Kazane."

Turning back, I found myself faced against Khosrow. As expected, his reaction was rather calm and settled.

-The second "peaceful" interaction began.

"Are you done?"

Khosrow's arms were crossed, giving me an unamused look.

I stared back at him.

"You haven't attacked yet? It's been really long. Even though I expected some peace time, this is strange to me."

"Hmph. No reason in particular. Well, I figured it would be easier asking an unharmed, neutral man rather than a tortured soul in a prison."

"I-I see..."

"Besides, it would be easy to wrap this up. You can't fight at all, can you?"

Khosrow pointed a finger at me, giving me a smirk.

I sighed and waved my hand. A few particles of black stemmed from my hand.

"And what if that was an act? A bluff to lower your guard?"

A snort came out of Khosrow. His eye twitched, as if holding back a laugh.

"Don't kid with me. Hinode, right? Kotaro's child. The last thing I would believe is that his ideology infected doll would be able to fight like even a proper KRS."

As Khosrow finished his sentence, our conversation drifted in a long, silent, moment.

My eyes narrowed.

"What is your relationship with my dad?"

"Kotaro? Ha. It goes a long way back. Let's just say that I probably know him longer than you do."

"..."

"I grew up with him we can just say. Born in the same place, at around the same time. We both studied and trained hard enough to get through the tiers of GIRUS. Ah, the good old times."

Sniffing his nose and looking up at the sky, Khosrow's eyes were closed and peaceful as he reminisced the past.

I frowned.

"Are you lying? If you two were close, then what did you come here and bring all those monsters for? Surely, it wasn't to find him?"

"That's not the reason at all. Your guesses are far off."

"Then why come with killing intentions? You two are close, right?"

"...Not anymore."

Almost as if whispering, Khosrow stared at the ground. Clicking his tongue, he clenched his teeth. Then, he let out a long sigh.

"That one day he thought, 'what a great idea it was to join the enemy side and help them take over some pieces of land that I used to live in'. I guess you could say it was the end of our relationship."

A face of regret, Khosrow spoke bitterly.

"What a pity it ended up that way. I guess the people who cared about him didn't care about him enough, even though they spent so much time to help him out."

Even though he followed that with a laugh, I could tell there was no happiness in it.

I blinked, staring at Khosrow.

"Why did my dad think that?"

"What reason... you dare to ask."

His face clouded incredulously, his eyebrows raised. Baring his teeth, he snapped.

"Who even knows what happened. Kotaro suddenly lost the will the be with us. He spouted a lot of crap, beat me up, and then ran off. Few years later, he came back with an army to try to invade the land we used to live in, using his knowledge of places! It was lucky we had reinforcements, otherwise the place would've been overtook."

Khosrow face clouded with pain.

"His own people, his own friends. He betrayed them! What of the 30 years of growing up with them!? What of all those times that they worked so hard to help him with his studies? What of all those times when he needed someone to guide him to a recently moved store?"

Khosrow took a deep breath, before shaking his head.

"At the end of the day, Kotaro was controlled by something. Something, someone, twisted his desires and wishes so that he thought that he could befriend all of us. The moment that person was gone, not only did he go his own route of life, he destroyed the entire rest of the other."

Letting out a snort, he faced me.

"That's why, I find it disgusting you're defending others. Your his son, right? You'll certainly share the same fate. Someone, something is controlling you, isn't it? You really believe it's your own feelings that want to be with them?"

As Khosrow said that, a wave of irritation washed over me.

"-why bring me into your rambles. I'm not some dummy to throw your pain on."

"Because it applies to you too. You're just like your father. This kind of stunt that you pulled off, I remember him pulling something like that too when he was younger. So I'm sure you're in the same predicamate."

"----"

"I wonder who it is that's helping you. Maybe their making it so that the others are suddenly easy to talk to? That you do things for them for no reason? Maybe you're always letting them get away with stuff?"

My face lowered. My hands twitched.

"...Shut up. Don't give me your rants."

"Ah, I see. I get it now. That girl you just protected right now. You know who she is? One of the three Kyrstaline Gatekeepers. The being controlling you must be Saria. Must be really sad for that girl if she thinks of you as anything other than a throwaway bag. Honestly, I wouldn't blame them for not recognizing the signs, even I didn't."

My teeth clenched. 

"SHUT THE HELL UP!!"

"Getting agvitated, aren't you?"

Khosrow let out a sigh of disappointment.

"This is getting no fun. So I'll tell you the real reason why I came to this place with Forna and all these Shaangs."

He waved towards the smoking city and all the wolves that surrounded him.

"In all honestly, your fate to these things don't matter. We have one objective. The dead body of Kyotaro Hinode. We don't care at all about you or your friends."

"T-that's bullshit. I-if you didn't care at all about me or them then... If you really didn't care about me at all..."

My shoulders shook and my fists clenched.

"Why did you chase after Ayaka after she ran? Why didn't you let me run away? Why did you kill me all those times!?"

"Killed you? I never killed you."

Khosrows lifted his shoulders and laughed. 

"I just killed anyone that could be an enemy. If any of your friends died, then I'll give you my condolences. But now that you've revealed you're the son of Kotaro, there's no way I could do nothing to you."

"Tch. Do what you want. I won't let you kill dad. You won't get your objective."

"Hm? How do you intend to stop me? You're a weak little child who is unable to fight. What are you-"

A sickening crack echoed the city. Khosrow blinked as slivers of shadow rained from the front of his shield. My hand extended outward, warmth spreading beneath my fingers.

"I'll kill you. I'll tear down that pathetic shield of yours, and I won't spare you a bit."

Khosrow blinked. Then, he let out a laugh.

"I see. Alright then, I'll end this conversation. I'll kill you regardless of how many times you come back to fight me. I'll separate you from your friends, and spare them the same fate that I had. The poisoned legacy bloodline of Kotaro."

Raising his fist, his body enclouded in shadow.

Somehow, I ended up on a new path; Khosrow would kill me even though he knew that I had a connection to Saria.

Even though I would respawn, even though he would let me escape to fight him again, he would trade those off to kill me.

"Tch..."

Clenching my teeth, I stared at Khosrow. He was engulfing his body in shadowflames, seemingly wanting to give me a painful death.

Alas, it was still a form of mercy in some way. He was intentionally stalling my death, perhaps giving me some time to respond. The truth was, there was nothing I could do. I wasn't fast enough to dodge anything, so as soon as Khosrow started attacking I was dead. I wasn't good enough at aiming to be able to break his shield. Even my attempt to talk him off attacking failed. He stumped me every possible way. 

"I wonder what I'm supposed to do..."

In fact, the hell did he mean by "influenced by someone"? There's no way that my feelings were anything but my own. There were some things he said that may or may not accurately describe some second thoughts I had particularly about Ayaka, but there was no way I was going to believe that.

It was certainly just some garbage talk to make me mad, right? Though, it was painful enough to make me force the transition to the fighting phase.

"Shit, I'm losing my mind too now... That's going to persist even if I respawn."

Khosrow's shadow started dashing, a lethal hit that I couldn't dodge. Just before the sharp edge hit me, a strong gust of wind blew me to the side. 

I crashed into the ground and rolled, before coming to a stop. Getting on my arms, I spat out some grass.

"I dodged it? No."

The strong gust that blew me out of the way, that wasn't from me.

"Kazane... Shit, I thought I told her to run after rescuing Ayaka... what did I stall all of this for...?"

If she had ran with Ayaka, everyone would've lived. I would've died for sure, but it's not like I can't respawn. I never confirmed with Saria how it was reviving others, so I didn't want to take the risk. 

"Thanks for the help though... but there's no way I could possible beat this guy."

Pushing myself off the ground, I gritted my teeth. Khosrow, who had dashed behind me, let out a snort.

His attacks came in extremely slow. Even though I was unable to move out the way in time, Kazane summoned a wind that blew me out of the way every time. On the other hand, Khosrow's attacks were speeding up. With each strike, I could tell that there were less and less time in between every one of his attacks. 

Kazane was giving me a lot of movement. But even I could tell, she was starting to hit her limits of training when the speed she was summoning wind was slowly becoming slower than the rate of Khosrow's attacks.

At this rate, I was surely going to get diced in half, and then the others next.

...

Crack. 

The shard shattered in front of my face. It's shrapnel flew to the side, completely missing me as they slammed into the ground and disintegrated into dust.

"Huh? An aegis?"

In front of me, a tan sphere of light flickered surrounded me.

Stomp.

A figure landed in front of me, flailing the edges of his white robe with golden stripes. His staff glowed brown as particles of sand circled around its tip. He turned around to face me.

"Congratulations Ayato. You survived till I found you this time. Now you can let me handle the rest."

Rei gave me a smile as he said that.

W