*Ryonoko*

I spun my giant sword around as I finished off yet another abysmal by the entrance of the academy's main building. The creatures kept on coming. This was the third wave I had finished off by myself. Had Nori failed to seal the ruins?

"Ryonoko," a voice called out.

I gasped as I saw Ximena run over to me with an unconscious Serrano in tow.

"What happened?" I asked, dashing over to them.

"He used up all his energy. Nori and I gave him some of ours, but he's going to be knocked out for a while. If not for the waves, I would've returned him to his room in the dorms," the green-haired young woman said.

Ximena glanced up at the sky. Around the island was a golden barrier. I knew as soon as it went up that it was my mother's. She had returned only to find a mess.

"I see. There's an infirmary here, I believe it's near the smaller gym."

"Thanks!"

"Wait, before you go, where is Nori?"

She averted her gaze. "He returned to the ruins, to look for Serrano's brother."

I raised a brow. "Serrano has a brother? I always figured him as an only child like me." Though, now I wasn't, considering Mom was pregnant.

"Yeah, it's a long story."

"I see. Well, we got no time for long stories right now," I said as a swarm of rabbit-like creatures appeared in the distance. "Go, take Serrano. I'll handle these."

"You sure that you'll be okay?"

I grinned. "Of course, I'm the next Celestial King and Dragon Emperor after all." Lightning crackled across my sword.

"Okay, but please don't end up like your counterpart here. I trusted him to be fine on his own and look what happened."

"No worries. There's others nearby."

Zyuuni was on top of the castle, fighting his own swarm of evil rabbits.

In addition to us, Kohri, Rosalba, Sabine, Koukyuu, Akane, the Seven Flame Knights stationed here, and the Akiyama sisters had stayed back.

"Okay," Ximena said before rushing inside.

That girl gave off a familiar vibe... I gasped. Was her doppelganger Korgermu's younger sister?

Suddenly, the heavens quaked, causing even the rabbit abyssmals to look upward. Mother was holding out a golden shield, blocking the fist of the giant attempting to break into this realm. More cracks formed around it as the attack spread out in a disk shape.

Thunder rang overhead and the sound of waves pounding against the shore could be heard, even though we stood on the center of the island.

Was this the fate that would await Zionia and Wynaga if we fail to stop them?

The titan raised its hand out, causing the rabbits to fly upward. The creatures gathered together and merged into a large wad of shadows. The wad began to spin rapidly, gradually taking on the shape of a drill.

"Oh, no you don't!" I yelled, flying after it. I flashed forward, slashing with my lightning covered sword.

A gush of darkness sprung out from the drill, covering me in black tar. The stuff pulled me in.

"Let go of me!" I yelled, unleashing of wave of light. My light obliterated the darkness around me. "Now, to finish off that thing."

I gasped as the drill neared the barrier, now spinning faster than before.

"Mom, increase your barrier!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

Mother spun her staff around and pointed it at the barrier which glowed even brighter.

The giant overhead slapped its hands together, causing what looked like meteors to rain down from the heavens. Mother held her staff toward the sky, stopping all of the meteors.

"Reign of Light!" she yelled. Pillars of light ascended into the cracks in the sky, puncturing holes in the giant's body.

The creature roared, causing even more tears to form overhead.

I returned my attention back to the drill as it struggled to break through the barrier. "Now's my chance!"

"You had yours and you blew it," a familiar voice called out. Slashes of light tore through the drill, eviscerating it. Flying away from the destroyed drill was my cousin.

"Did you just use light?" I asked.

He chuckled. "Seems darkness doesn't work all that well on them, so I had to," he said. He raised his head up. "Seems that thing isn't going to go down so easily."

"If only Mom could use her full power," I said.

"Yeah. Wonder what my dad is doing right now. This is his realm, but the one protecting it is his older sister."

"That's odd. I imagine he would've heard of this by now."

Zyunni shivered. "You don't think something else is happening, do you?"

I raised a brow. "Such as?"

My cousin pursed his lips before finally answering, "What if those creatures attacked other points?"

"Well, that's why Tekeshi sent the others off, to investigate and safeguard them." The only issue was that we had no idea where those other points were, well, except that one of them was located in Wahkan. Were most of the dimensional gateways located in this region of Xeleria? Or were they more evenly distributed?

Hmm, if most were here then that meant that we could easily reach them, but the bad thing was that the enemy could invade Wahkan and Xian from multiple nearby points.

I return my attention to my mom and saw as the giant's wounds healed rapidly.

The Celestial Queen spun her staff and transformed it into a golden bow with wing-like protrusions at the edges. She pulled back the glowing golden string and formed a bow out of light particles fluttering around her from her second heaven form.

The titanus held out a hand in front of her. Its giant fingers twitched, but was it from fear or its desire for light?

"Level 4: Arrow of the Ancient Sacred Light!" Mom yelled before unleashing the arrow at it.

The giant's body disintegrated into smoke even though the arrow hadn't hit it yet.

"Is that normal?" Zyuuni asked.

"I don't think so," I whispered.

The smoke contracted into a ball of dense black gas and floated higher into the sky.

"Don't think that you'll get away!" Mom yelled, raising her hand. The arrow flew upward and pierced through the sphere of gas, annihilating it completely.

I sighed. "It's over."

Zyuuni shook his head. "No, it's not." His eyes were focused on the cracks in the sky. On the other side was a dark sea. Its contents were slowly oozing into our dimension as black, opaque rain.

Mother held up her hands and clapped them, sending out a wave of golden light toward the cracks. The particles of light destroyed the dark ooze as soon as they touched. The majority of the particles lined up together to form a film over the shattered boundary between dimensions. A flaxen light poured down from the heavens as the dark clouds forming overhead cleared.

Zyuuni and I stared at the blue sky in wonder. Mom had fixed the gap as if it were nothing...Then again, she was one of the three Sekai Hasira, a collective name for the leaders of the three historically known dimensions. The other two were my dad who ruled Wynaga and my uncle who ruled this dimension.

The barrier protecting us vanished as Mother descended slowly. She gripped her head and let out a weak grunt.

"Mom!" I yelled, rushing over to her.

"Ryo..." Mom said, smiling at her. Her face was red as if she were sick. As far as I knew, she had never been sick before. I wasn't even sure if it was possible for her to get sick.

I furrowed my brow. "Mom, don't talk. You must be exhausted after that fight."

She gasped weakly for air and pressed her head against my chest. "My little bear... I fear I... might've overdone it despite your father's warnings."

My eyes widened as I realized she was touching her stomach. A shriek of horror nearly jumped out of my lips as blood began to dye her clothes as well as her lips.

"Mom!" I yelled.

"Aunty..." Zyuuni said, reaching us. "We got to take her back!"

"Yeah," I said as I began to descend. I made sure I was going at a quick pace, yet also one which wouldn't hurt her further.

Please hold on, Mama. We'll get you and my little sibling help soon!

https://youtu.be/_GodPP6LimY

***

[Nine Petal Academy-- Main Castle]

I clenched my hands over my forehead. Hours had passed since my mother fainted after having defeated the Titanus as well as having closed the tear between dimensions. Each hour might as well as have been a year as we urgently waited for news on her condition and that of my yet to be born sibling.

I tapped my feet frantically against the floor. I closed my eyes and pressed my head against my interlaced hands.

Ryomaru, Nagimaru, Sky Father, Earth Mother, please protect my mother and sister. Please! Oh divine ancestors, don't forsake us now!

"Ryonoko!" a familiar voice called out. I raised my head and opened my eyes to see Amira and Father. My wife ran over to me and sat beside me. "We heard what happened. How is your mom?"

"She hasn't awakened yet," I said with dull eyes. "She and my sister might not make it."

The building shook slightly. I glanced up and saw my father with a fist against a wall and his head pressed against it. "Damn. Why did this have to happen? I knew that I shouldn't have let her get involved in this war, not like this."

"Dad," I said, standing up.

He turned away from me and walked down the long hall. "I am... going to go outside."

"Dad," I said, lowering my head. He was in an even worse state than me.

"Dad," a female voice called out. Walking toward us from the opposite side was a cyan-haired young woman accompanied by a spiky blue-haired young man. The woman ran past me and hugged Father. "I heard what happened to Mom! Will she and the child be alright?"

He glanced over at me.

"I... don't know," I responded, sitting back down next to Amira. "I honestly don't know." I put both hands against my head. "I failed to protect her. I failed to protect Mom and the baby."

I'm a failure. I never could surpass Takara in strength. I was the Dragon Emperor and Celestial Queen's biological son, yet I was far weaker than one would expect. If only I had been more mature growing up, if only I had focused on becoming stronger. If only...

"What are you doing?" a stern voice asked. Staring right at me were a pair of grayish-blue eyes. They belonged to the man who had accompanied my adopted sister. "Aren't you a man? You should be stronger than this. Do not whimper like a child. Though, you always were a momma's boy."

I averted my eyes. "You don't know how it feels..."

A hand clenched the collar of my shirt. "I don't know how it feels? Are you forgetting that I lost both of my parents at the same time? How can I not know how it feels?"

I slapped his hand away. "But you disliked them! I, on the other hand, cherish my mother!"

The man backed away and formed a fist covered in dark blue energy. "What do you know of me, huh? Who told you that I hated them? Huh?" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Korgermu, Ryonoko! This isn't the place to argue!" Takara said, spinning around. "Mother is recovering. Your screams will only make things worse. If you two won't behave then I'll need to kick you both out."

"I will happily help with that," Amira said, punching her right palm. "These two are acting like a bunch of blockheads."

"You two," Father said, shaking his head. "The girls are right. This is not the time to argue."

They were right... it really isn't the time for discord.

"Sorry. I appear to have allowed my emotions to get the best of me," I said, standing back up. "I think that I'll show my way out."

Suddenly, the nurse's room door swung open. Stepping out was Maki's sister.

"What news do you bring us?" I asked, half afraid to ask.

"Lady Saya has begun to stir," Koukyuu said with a faint smile.

"Mother!" I said, rushing past her. "Mom!"

She laid in a clean white bed, wearing a blue hospital gown.

"Ryonoko?" she said, opening her eyes. "Where am I?"

"You fainted," I responded, holding her right hand tightly. "We're currently in Nine Petal Academy's main building. This is the nurse's office. We couldn't transport you to a better place as you were in a sensitive condition."

She touched her forehead and then touched her stomach and sighed in relief. "Good, she's fine."

I smiled. "My sister is strong! Just like her big brother!"

The man who accompanied Takara scoffed. "If she is then she's bound to be a big cry baby who loves bears."

I shot him a glare.

"Korgermu," Takara said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "What did I just say outside?

He waved his hand dismissively. "Sorry."

She sighed. "Even though you two are family now, you still continue to argue. Not that I actually expected you to stop picking on him."

I smiled. "It'll be rather weird if he did."

"Ah, so you enjoy getting bullied?" Amira asked.

"No. Just saying that it'll be odd if Korgermu suddenly changed his attitude toward me simply because he married my older sister."

"You call her sister, huh? Seems that you only claim her as a sibling when it's convenient," Korgermu said, turning his back to me. "Well, it appears that your mother could use some rest, so I'll be outside. I don't think that I can handle being in your presence, oh Majesty."

I rolled my eyes. That guy is insufferable, as always. But he's right... I really did mistreat Takara when I was younger...

"Are you worried about him?" Takara asked, chuckling.

I scoffed. "Of course, am not! Anyway, thanks for coming. You seemed to have settled Father's heart when he needed it."

She grinned. "We might not be biological siblings, but we are still family. Tatsu is my dad, Saya is my mom, and you're my adorable little brother."

My face flushed. "Don't call me adorable! I'm already an adult."

"Oh really? What kind of adult still has a teddy bear?"

"Uh... a cool one! Plus, I don't bring it everywhere I go anymore!"

Amira, Takara and my parents chuckled and soon I found myself joining them.

Thanks, Divine Ones, for helping my mother and bringing us together like this. I still regret my errors of the past, but slowly I'll make things right. While I am likely to make more mistakes along the way, one day I will be one whom you can be proud to call a descendant. I will keep the realms you've inherited us safe from the darkness of Abyssia.

"I'm going to go out, there's someone I need to talk to," I said, kissing my mother in the cheek. "Take care, Mom!"

"I will, go along now," she said, flashing me that radiant smile of hers.

I rushed out of the room and glanced through the windows until I finally saw the person whom I was looking for. I opened one of the windows and jumped out.

"Korgermu!" I yelled, running toward my brother-in-law.

"What do you want, bear-boy?" he asked, glancing around. "Want to fight?"

I put a hand on my hip. "I would love to show you up, but that's not why I came here. I just wanted to tell you thanks."

"Huh? Thanks?" he asked, giving me a confused stare. "Are you alright? Hit your head or something?"

I grumbled. "I'm fine!"

"Hmm... is there something you want?"

"No! I mean it when I say it. Thanks for snapping me out of my melancholy." I held a hand out toward him. "Also, sorry for saying that about your parents."

Korgermu averted his gaze, instead looking at the falling cherry blossoms. "These trees, they produce flowers year-round unlike others of their species I've seen. Yet, even their flowers are temporary..."

"Yeah, everything has a beginning and an end," I said, staring at them. They were so beautiful, yet one couldn't help but feel a hint of sadness upon seeing their petals strike the ground underneath. "Including you and I. One day we'll meet our end.

"You're a descendant of the gods, yet you speak as if you are a mortal."

I sat down on the floor next to him. "Well, I'm not fully divine."

He snickered. "Hmph, that's true. Plus, your power is like that of a mortal too."

I leered at him. "I try to be nice and you still make such remarks?" I ruffled my spiky blond hair. "Though, you're right. I still need to grow. Hey, Korgermu. Do you think that you could join us in the battle against the Abyss?"

He turned toward me and grinned. "Of course. Takara and I didn't come all the way here just to console a crying prince but to join the vanguard."

I jumped to my feet. "Great! Though, for the time being we're stationed here. So, uh, can you spar with me while we wait for Mom to recover?"

He pushed himself up. "Alright, I guess you'll be a fair warm up."

I glared at him. One of these days, I would showhim up!

*Character section*

Korgermu Seok- Sex: Male Age: 18 Titles: King of Ryoshiki, Dragon Sphere of Strength, The 8th Dragon Sphere of Ryomaru

Takara Sumeragi- Sex: Female Age: 19 Titles: Princess of Dragons, Queen of Ryoshiki, Graceful Tactician

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts? Predictions?**