I pulled back my arms and struck my barrier, deflecting the beams back into the ground.

The demon gasped. "Where is this surge of power coming from?

"That stupid father of mine. What is he hiding? I'll find it all out," I said as I descended back to the ground. I raised my right arm in front of me. "But first, I'm going to finish you off, uncle."

He laughed. "Uncle? We aren't even sure if we're related to begin with. That said, if you are my family, then we should be working together, not fighting. Come, aid us in fulfilling our people's destiny of conquering Zionia!"

"What destiny? Our people's destiny is to be destroyed and sent into the lake of fire!"

"We will fight against that fate! We will crush the angels and their divine couple! We are the masters of our own fate, not those doves and their foolish gods!"

I shook my head. "The only foolish one I see here is you."

"How dare you. I was contemplating letting you live, but not anymore," he said as black water started to seep out of his wings. "You'll regret your actions in the depths of the realm of the dead!"

"The one who will be regretting their actions is you," I said, dashing forward and giving him a punch square in the gut. I watched as 'uncle' slammed into the base of the mountain where I had first detected his presence.

I jumped into the air and rushed forward, but before I could land another punch, the demon got up and met it with one of his own. A shock-wave echoed across the valley, sending birds and other critters fleeing in all directions

"Is this power all coming out of the anger toward your father?" the demon asked, amused. He snickered as he flew up. "You must really hate that man. Wish I could meet the guy myself to see why that is."

"He abandoned my mother and me. My mom, who had helped him when he couldn't even remember a thing. The one who nursed him back to health. He repaid her by cheating on her with that witch! That's reason enough for me to hate him!"

"So that's it, betrayal," the demon said as he cupped his hands. He smirked. "A classic."

I zipped around him as a glob of dark water appeared between his palms. "Don't smile at the misery of others," I whispered before kicking him in the back.

I watched as the demon plummeted toward the earth. I stared at my fists in disbelief. Was this power truly mine? When had I grown this powerful?

"Like I said, this power is coming from your rage," a voice rang out from the crater. The demon rose from the ground. His helmet had fallen off, revealing swept-back blond hair. "Our emotions are the source of our power. The doves can tap into it too, but they tend to refuse it. Or at least they claim they do. In reality, the Zionians are nothing but hypocrites. They are as much sinners as we demons are."

I couldn't deny that our kind sinned too, but that we were the same as the demons, that was a false equivalence.

"You embrace your sin," I said. "Most of us don't."

"That's all part of their hypocrisy. You might refer to the dove as if you belong, but you don't. You aren't like them. Your demon blood will never let you be one of them. You're an outcast, just like me. However, you don't have to remain one forever. Join us, and we will remake this world."

I shook my head. "I already said no. I won't join you now, nor ever!" I flew at him in the straight line, but the guy dodged before I could land my punch. A hand struck the center of my back, sending me plummeting toward the crater.

I stretched my arms out, grabbed hold of the rim of the crater, and launched myself back into the air.

"You're good. It takes someone with skill to use a power boost to this degree," 'uncle' said, snickering. He turned his back to me.

"Where are you going?"

"To Xeleria. I'm going to meet up with my dad before going off to where Audrey is. Perhaps the old man knows a thing or two about this father of yours."

"You're just leaving like that?"

He waved his hand. "Yes. Consider yourself lucky, kid. Next time we meet, I'll fight back for real. Perhaps, I'll even tell you what I manage to find out from that old fox. And just so you know, I'm not doing this out of kindness. I'm just curious about you is all."

I smiled slightly. Was he really a demon? He wasn't anything like Suzuki when she had transformed into a demon.

"Wait, what's your name?" I asked.

"My name is Bylett Zettai," he said as he looked over his shoulder.

Zettai? That's the same surname as Koukyuu and her siblings...

I let out a sigh of relief as he vanished into the forest of the mountain where he had come from.

My eyes lowered to my hands. What's the connection between my dad and that man's brother? I clenched my hands into fists. I need to find out.

I turned toward Teresa's house. If Bylett had fought against me, would I have been able to defeat him? Despite his compliments, he had managed to take all of my hits as if they were nothing. I had to return to my training as soon as possible, or else I might be on the losing end.

One thing I knew for sure was that I didn't want to have to rely on my rage to defeat him. Attacking out of raw emotion often led to mistakes, such as the one I had made when I tried to fly up Crystal Pillar.

My eyes widened as something clicked in my head. The gray-haired boy we had met in the tower, he too had the same surname. Teresa later told me that boy was Satoru.

My heart sank toward my stomach. I hadn't realized it at the time, but Satoru's aura was identical toward that of my father's. Sato...ru.

"So, that guy was talking about Satoru," I said, glancing back at the mountain. I rubbed my stomach as I tried to process everything. The urge of hurl was great as my memory of that meeting played over and over. It was frightening how similar Satoru was to my father. One could even say that they were two different versions of the same person. The only difference being time.

Wait, was that why Teresa seemed afraid of my father when she met him?

***

[Several Days ago]

"That's true," a voice called out as Teresa was telling her brother that they should avoid getting close to nobles.

I gasped and turned my eyes toward the gray-haired man standing behind us.

Teresa's mouth dropped as soon as she saw his face.

Teresa grabbed her necklace and transformed it into its yari form and stepped in front of Takuya and me. "Stand back you two! This guy is dangerous!"

"Yeah, he is," I said, glaring at the man.

Father chuckled. "That's a mean thing to say to your father." His eyes shifted toward Teresa. "As for me being dangerous, I have no idea why you think that, young lady."

Teresa gasped. "Wait, father?" she asked. She gave my father another quick look and remained pensive for a while until she finally spoke up again. "Sorry, I seem to have mistaken you for someone else." I bit my lip, someone too young to be Nico's dad."

"What are you doing here?" I snapped.

The man put a hand on his hips and smiled at his abandoned son. "My informants around town said you had returned. Prior to your departure to Kuroyuki no San, I heard that you wished to see me. Though went I tried to get in contact with you, you had already gone northward. Maybe you should get yourself a phone like I suggested before."

I clenched my hands into fists. "It wasn't you who I wanted to see, but my little sister!"

***

['Present']

At the time, I was too distracted by my anger to have given any care to Teresa's shock. Back then, it likely wouldn't have made any sense anyway, but now it did. My dad was definitely connected to that shady tutor.

I facepalmed and shook my head. If only I had gotten a phone as my dad suggested, then I could've called him. Not that I expected him to answer truthfully. He had kept so much hidden from my mother, and I. My half-sister likely didn't even know about mom and me to begin with.

I scratched my head. Why did I have to be the one to meet Bylett? I shouldn't have given him time to talk, to begin with. Now his words were stuck in my head!

I sighed as I landed sat foot back on Teresa's farm. I wished that she was here. I could've used someone to talk to.

"Oh, Nico's back!" a voice called out.

I looked up and saw Nat ran out of the house, followed by Alex and Amun.

"You were waiting for me to return?" I asked.

"Yeah! I knew that you would be able to handle whatever was up there!" Nat said with a proud grin.

"I was sure that someone would've needed to go help," Amun said as she tilted her head.

I laughed. "Well, I almost did, but the guy who appeared decided to go back home."

"Was it an abysmal?" Anis asked as she walked over to her nephews and me.

"He said he's part abysmal."

"Only part?" Rene said, standing up from the couch. She had been sewing some baby booties.

"Yeah, he's also part demon. Though, I suspect he also has some Xelerian blood in him as he said his surname is 'Zettai'."

Rene gasped. "Zettai? Isn't that the name of current house ruling over Kasai no Ki?"

"Yes, it is," Anis said. "Their father's mother descended from that clan."

"Why did he abandon the Kasai no Ki name to take up his mother's?"

"I believe the shift was during the civil war. The royal family had to keep themselves hidden."

"Right, though, I can't imagine having a surname like 'Zettai' was all that easy. That was the surname of the queen who drove Zionia into the dark ages after all."

I stepped back. "What?"

"Yes. Zettai is an infamous name. In the past, it used to strike fear and anger in the hearts of many."

I lowered my eyes. "I see." I sighed. "Zettai, that was the surname of the one who took Dan too."

Rene and her children gasped.

"So, they haven't given up on inflicting pain on the people of this world," Rene said.

I looked up at her angry eyes. Perhaps, it was best to have remained silent about that fact. "Though not all Zettai are bad. I heard that Koukyuu helped save Hideo, Dan, and Kiara from being kidnapped by Satoru."

"She did?"

"Yeah," Anis said, smiling. "Takeshi told me about it. Now, if only that guy had been able to stop that no good fox then and there."

"Why didn't he?"

"He was exhausted," Anis said, lowering her head. "His mana was at a low point when that happened. If only I had given him some of mine earlier that day."

Rene touched her sister's shoulder. "It's fine, Anis. Don't beat yourself over something you didn't know was going to happen. Like Hideaki told me, beating yourself won't change the past."

The past...

"Is something the matter?" Alex asked, looking up at me.

I forced a smile. "Just thinking of something."

"Involving the past?" he asked.

I gasped. "Yes, how did you know?"

"Alex, are you reading people's minds again?" Rene asked, turning to look at her son.

Alex squirmed. "Uh, maybe. But, I only did it as I was worried about Nico!"

I smiled at the kid. Seeing him reminded me of my half-sister. If only I had gotten the chance to have spoken to her. I didn't think she was safe around Dad nor her mom. Especially not after what I heard happened at the park from Teresa. That was why I wanted to sneak her away, to a family that would truly love her.

I ruffled Alex's fluffy white hair. "Thanks for your concern, kid. But it's nothing you should worry about."

Alex gave me a concerned look. "I can tell there's something serious."

I nodded. "You're right, but it's nothing I can't handle."

"You sure that you don't want to talk about it?" Rene asked.

"Talking helps," Anis added.

"We can talk discuss them during tea time!" Dossie said, jumping out of the couch.

I averted my gaze. "I'm not sure if I can explain what's concerning me in a way that would make sense. I'm still trying to figure something out. Though I would love to have tea time with you again."

Dossie jumped into the air. "Yay!"

"Dossie, you're like a small female version of the tea obsessed hat-guy from that movie we watched last night," Amun said.

"Oh, I remember that movie! I used to watch it with my mom."

"Oh, how about we have a movie night instead?" Rene suggested.

"Sounds good. I got popcorn!" Anis said, clapping her hands.

"Can we still have tea?" Dossie asked, looking at her mom and aunt.

"Of course you can, sweetie," Rene said, picking her up.

"Yay!"

I laughed. I was starting to feel better already.

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