*Tahoma*

My katana clashed against one of his tails while the rest of them extend outward. They turned, moving slowly at first before suddenly closing in from behind me. Snickering, I spun my sword, slashing down the tails.

The beast let out a deafening shriek and stepped back.

"You brats... it's all your fault that my plans aren't going according to order!"

I smiled. "Talking about Kun and Nahimana? Those two did a pretty good job at stopping you."

"Did they? At the end they only created this awful mess. If they hadn't intervened then none of this would've happened!"

"Is that so?" Aria said as she stood up. She was unharmed. She shot a kunai at his. The monster swung at it with his bleeding nine tails but the weapon avoided them like a tracking missile.

The beast gasped as the kunai struck its chest. He took a step back and touched his chest. He let out a low gurgle and stared at the exposed red core on his chest.

I raised my katana in front of me and charged at him as he continued to stare at the wound in bewilderment. "Die!"

"No, you die!" he screamed as his body let out intense heat. All around the two of us were red flames which seemed to go on forever.

"That jerk," Aria said, gazing up at the flames above us.

I turned around and saw an older girl in a white cloak. "Thanks for saving us, Yanyu."

Yanyu simply nodded as she struggled to keep the heat of the flames as well as the actual fire from burning us alive. She must've been exhausted from battling the abysmals as well as having warped Yuuta and Ren to Wynaga.

Aria stared at the light colored barrier. "Come on, you can do it!"

Suddenly the flames died down as a heavy downpour came down on the burnt forest. No plant, animal, or other living being remained alive within a 2 mile radius. Well, none other than us.

"Here I thought that we had defeated that guy months ago," said a familiar voice. Calmly walking over to us was navy blue haired man accompanied by none other than a child.

"Who was that, papa?" asked the child, staring up at his father.

The man patted the kid's head. "Someone who tried to hurt your aunt and her friends."

"Tahoma! Aria!" I heard Ms. Key yell. Koukyuu and she flew back toward us at supersonic speeds.

"Oh, hey you two," the man said.

Koukyuu snickered. "So you came out to the battlefield for once." She glanced down at the child. "Though why did you bring him along? Aren't you overprotective? Or is that only toward yours younger sister?"

The man turned his back to them. "I brought Ecelaph along as I wish for him to grow up to be a better ruler than me. Like you said, I am not a man of action. Nine years ago you two asked me to join in your crusade against the forces of darkness, but I ignored the call. But I won't do that anymore. Especially not when my sister has risked her own life."

"You've grown, Qing-Yuan" Koukyuu said, covering her smile with her hands.

Qing-Yuan shrugged. "I guess that I have. Sarah to thank for that. I hope that you Nine Petal folks have kept her safe."

"She's fine," Ms. Key said. "She is in Wahkan with the other exchange students at this very moment."

The king of Sera grinned. "In that case, I think that we will march back to Sera. I fear that leaving my army here for long might cause issues for Xian and Kyuu Seishin."

"Right, those H.E.H. guys make up a decent bulk of your forces. It still baffles me as to how your late father could have given them so much leeway with the affairs of the nation," Koukyuu said.

"Come, Aria, Yanyu. We should go meet up with the others in Wahkan." I bowed slightly before the three adults. "Pardon for disrupting your conversation but we have a few things still to check up on. Thanks for aiding us. We will be making our leave now."

"Bye!" Sarah's nephew said, waving goodbye. He reminded me of my cousin, when he was younger. Ayawamat... he had changed a lot since I had last seen him.

"Take care," Ms. Key said.

"We will," I said, waving goodbye as I turned my back to them.

Yanyu followed me closely behind while Aria stayed back and continued to watch the adults in interest. "Aria!" I called out.

She ran over to the two of us. "Hey, what do you know about those H.E.H. guys they mentioned."
I stared at the burnt forest ahead. "You would know if you paid any attention in our geography class. They're a powerful nation from the continent of Trono. They're actually a fairly young nation compared to the rest which have storied histories.

"In fact, the Rios long regarded it as a backwater. It wasn't until just ten years ago that they managed to make great advances in the areas of technology and medicine. However, prior to that they were renowned for their powerful but small military force. Their forces were often hired as assassins or as militia men."

"I know all that! They're close to my homeland after all. But how did they become entrenched in the affairs of this continent? I had a chance to see the notes that Mr. Suzuran retrieved from the hide out of that man and his eight followers. Within them they were mentioned."

I nodded and said, "I am not all that sure. Those three back there would know. So, what was mentioned in those notes? And why barely bring them up?"

Aria pushed her silver bangs back as she looked for the burnt husk of at least one tree. Yet ash was all there was for feet and feet. "It mentioned how they were hoping to rebuild their relationship with Sera's Shui to combat the growing influence H.E.H is having. It appears that Sera is but a puppet for H.E.H."

I closed my eyes as we neared some scorched trees. "Well, it appears that the king of Sera finally grew a backbone."

"Qing has to be careful," Aria said, closing her eyes. "Mother says that H.E.H. isn't kind to those weak ones whom they see no use for. Though In my opinion Qing-Yuan has grown stronger in terms of character."

"Think that we should monitor them?" Yanyu asked, giving me her usual stoic look. "Those folks were the ones responsible for Ry after all."

Aria gasped. "What, Ry? What do you mean?"

I sighed and continued on my way. "I'll tell you later. For now, we have to go see the others. We need to tell them what happened here."

**Solar Note: Thanks for continuing to read the EotCSM (formerly called ISME) Saga. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter :3.**