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Hearing Kalan exclaim 'Father!' caused Mirela's entire body to flinch. Old memories began rushing through her mind, and hearing the strange woman's voice was enough to pull her back. She was glad that Yolor was gone, and was equally glad that the flames had been extinguished as well. With a small sigh of relief, Mirela lowered her weapon and its bow to her sides. She glanced around looking for the case and started to move toward it after finding it, but was stopped when Inae spoke to her.

"Mirela, you do realize that this is a new low for you, right?" Inae glanced over to Strength as she spoke, noticing that her attention had been focused on the woman. "The fight ended as soon as we arrived. This was nothing but a waste of time..." She muttered the last part under her breath before making her way over to Strength. "...Tarot VIII - Strength. Dismiss."

Inae remained silent as Strength reverted to her wispy form before finally disappearing. The card that the summoned warrior had been holding began a slow descent toward the ground, but just before it could reach it, Inae reached down and snatched it. She smoothed it out a little before returning to her pouch, only to see that Mirela had been staring at her. "...What?"

"Are you positive that Miu didn't follow you?" Mirela made her way over toward the case before putting away the viola and tossing it back over her shoulders, holding the handle of the case up with only two fingers. She glanced over at Inae, and there was a brief moment of silence between the two of them, broken only when Inae turned her head and began to lightly scratch her face with a single finger with a very disinterested and guilty look on her face.

"Inae?"

"What?"

"What about Miu?"

"To be completely honest, I forgot that she thinks I'm looking for her." A half smile made its way onto Inae's lips as she smoothed out her skirt, completely ignoring Mirela. "You know, instead of just standing around, you could be heading back to see if she's alright."

Mirela narrowed her eyes a bit at Inae, but eventually let out a small sigh, seeing that she just wouldn't be able to win that argument. "Fine, I'll start heading back. I don't really want to be here when the guards arrive." The woman glanced between her comrades before giving them all a warm smile. "You're all more than welcome to come with me. There's enough room for everyone at my home."

"Oh, don't start this aga--"

"Kalan, we still have more to talk about, so I'd really appreciate it if you didn't keep me waiting any longer."

"Mirela, these people are NOT stepping one foot insi--"

"It's really no problem, in fact, I insist. I'll lead the way." Keeping up with her smile, Mirela turned on her heel and began walking toward her home, not once glancing back to see if anyone would actually follow her.

"...That... That... No good harlot really gets my blood boiling... I can't stand that woman!" Inae clenched her tiny hand into a fist before she struck Kalan with a fierce glare. "You're lucky that you found her before I put her in the ground. She's been digging her own grave for seven damn years and I can't wait to put her in it."

Turning away from everyone, Inae muttered a few profanities under her breath before she began to briskly walk away, moving her tiny legs as fast as possible, trying to catch up to Mirela.

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Miu squirmed inside her hiding place, her whines now quite audible. "I... I can't hold it... I gotta go poddy... I..." She paused for a moment, blinking a few times before a big smile came onto her face. "Nevermi-- Oops.." She quieted her voice down a little. "Nevermind... I can hold it some more..."

The sting of Saken's hand on her cheek woke Hikari from her stupor, her teeth gritting as her head shot to the side.

"What the hell!?"

"Quiet yourself...both of you."

The tiny girl known as Sora slowly approached the two, her blue beret hiding her eyes. A small sigh escaped the small girl as she stopped, her arm lifting as she removed her hat to stare at the duo before her. Her eyes were of the deepest blue, her young face pure and soft. An blank, aggrevated expression adorned the young girl as a hand emerged from her cloak, a finger pointing at Hikari.

"Who were those people and why did you bring them here?"

Hikari's attention perked as the young girl spoke, rubbing her rose colored cheek as the sting resonated through it. Sora stepped closer, her hand retracting into her cloak, her eyes darting up and down the young woman before her.

"Why the hell would I bring people out to kill me here? That doesn't even make sense."

"According to Birth you'd have company, I highly doubt she meant this brooding waste of space."

Sora flashed a look back to Saken then back to Hikari, her gaze fixed on Hikari.

Hikari was now beyond confused, what was this girl's relationship with Birth? Did she also go through the same thing as her? Was she a weilder of light? From what she had seen from Saken he could use both the light and darkness. Why was Birth gathering light users?

"If you know Birth then why did you try killing me back there?"

"hmm? Oh that, it was merely to see if the psychotic girl massacreing people was really the girl i was looking for."

Hikari's eye twitched at her words, her mind flashing back to her outburst in the crowd. Rather than initiate an argument, Hikari turned from the two, heading back towards her home.

"...damn her...although..I guess I really did lose it back there..like..something had taken over.."

Hikari's mind once again wandered off as she made her way down the street. Sora returned her beret back to her head as she began to follow after, stopping only briefly to turn to Saken.

"Well? Are you going to let her get away?"

Sora turned once more and ran after Hikari, her cloak fluttering behind her.

"You both can sleep down here....away from me"

Hikari had unwantingly welcomed her newly found companions into her home for the night.

The sun had set on an eventful day, the night slowly creeping in over the town that was, but a few hours ago, thrown into chaos. Little did our heroes know, that was but the prelude to the chaos that would soon swallow the world once again.

Deep in the underworld, a bright light shone through the darkness. Birth had returned to the prison she had locked her brother away in so many years ago. An intense look adorned her as she approached the throne that her brother had treasured so. Flames danced in the shadows and screams rang through the hallowed halls of the underworld. Birth's eyes locked onto a giant set of doors, sealed tight by the keeper of the underworld, a sense of anxiousness filling her.

Her gaze quickly set back to her brother, a small glimmer of light filling her eyes.

"Death...it's time we spoke."

Hearing the explosion from outside, Mirela's eyes shot open. In an attempt to get out of bed, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and lifted herself up. She took a step, only to have her face become well acquainted with the hardwood floor below her, followed by an 'Ouchie!' belonging to a familiar high-pitched and childlike voice. Mirela's eye twitched violently as she pried herself up off of the ground, wiping off a bit of blood from beneath her nose in the process. After finally getting back onto her feet, Mirela glanced down to see Miu sitting down in the spot she had tripped. She began to wonder what Miu had been doing there, before finally realizing that Miu had been the culprit for her fall. Mirela was angry with her, but that anger seemed to wash away completely at the sight of Miu's innocent-like face. What was once a look of anger turned into one of adoration as Mirela leaned down to pick the child up, but stopped halfway upon hearing another familiar voice.

"Hmph... So much for dancers being graceful."

Inae stood across the room, leaning up against the wall, arms crossed, with one foot up against the wall behind her. In her left hand, between her index and middle finger, rested one of her cards. Her gaze was on neither Miu nor Mirela, but was fixated on the wall to her left. "Things aren't looking good outside, if you had woken up earlier, you wouldn't have smashed your face into the floor..." Inae then turned her gaze to Mirela, only to quickly return it back to where it once was, this time with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Go get dressed into some decent clothes, as decent as your clothes can get at least..."

Mirela straightened herself before glancing downward at her own body to see that she was in fact still in her nightgown. It didn't really bother her that much seeing that Inae was right-- She couldn't really investigate what was going on dressed like that. What did bother her however, was seeing the blush on Inae's cheeks. "Inae... Are you blushing?"

"So what if I am!" The tiny woman snapped at Mirela's words, only to shut her eyes as her blush became a little worse. "Its not because of you or anything... Its just hot in here..."

"Nuh uh, Auntie Inae! Its not hot in here!" Miu giggled a little bit, standing up before climbing up onto Mirela's bed and bouncing around on it. "I... Think... You're going... Crazy~!" The pauses in her statement were caused by each jump she made on the bed. The small child giggled a little more before finally rotating her body, allowing herself to fall flat on her back onto the bed, her arms and legs spread wide. She flopped when she touched down, before rolling over onto her stomach and crawling off of the bed. "Hey, hey, Momma... Can we go find Daddy? Pretty pretty please?" She folded her arms across her chest, stomping one foot onto the ground with a pout. "He still owes me candy."

Mirela was quiet as she made her way over to the window. She opened it up before leaning out to see what all of the commotion was. Upon finding her answer, she quickly drew back inside, slamming the window shut behind her and locking it before pulling the curtains together. Mirela turned to Inae and Miu once more, greeting them with a nervous look on her face. "Finding Daddy sounds like a good idea..."

"Yay~!" Miu began to clap happily, obviously excited about the idea of finding Kalan. She ran out of Mirela's room and into the main room, running around wildly. "Hurry up and get dressed, Momma!" She exclaimed, grabbing her hat off of the corner of a chair before placing it onto her head. "Hurry up! I wanna go find Daddy!"

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Inae shook her head with a small sigh at Miu's excitement, as it was something that she didn't quite share with her. Instead, Inae glanced at Mirela with a serious look on her face. She had glanced out her own window prior to entering Mirela's room, so the look on her face was no surprise. "As much as I'd rather not ask, what do you suppose we do about this?"

Hearing Inae's question, Mirela's eyes narrowed a little as she turned to peek out from behind the curtain once more. "We're going to help take care of it, that should be obvious." Closing her eyes for a moment, Mirela let the curtain close before turning to Inae and opening her eyes once more. The air between them seemed to grow heavier and heavier as each second passed. "I refuse to leave Miu here by herself again. If something were to happen, neither of us would be around to protect her. It might seem a little crazy, but in order to keep her safe, we'll have to take her with us..."

Inae grew silent as Mirela talked, giving a nod every now and then to show that she was still listening. When Mirela finished, Inae closed her eyes, as if deep in thought. Opening them after a few moments, she gave a final nod. "You do realize that if we take her with us, you'll be throwing away all that effort of keeping her mind pure these past seven years. Seeing all of that might break her, Mirela... You know she'll be confused when she sees everyone fight." Inae paused for a few moments before continuing. "Even if she has a power, we haven't let her use it much. We don't even know how long she can keep using it. We haven't let her practice any, Mirela. I understand why you want to bring her along, but are you positive that you really want to do it?"

"Yes, I am." Mirela let out a gentle sigh, moving over to her dresser as she began to gather her clothes for the day. "I'll get dressed as quickly as I can. While you wait, please try your best to prepare Miu for the worst." She glanced over at Inae, who met her gaze, before she continued to speak, her voice taking on a more serious but gentle tone. "The only thing we can do now is soften the blow... This was bound to happen sooner or later, as much as I hate thinking that way."

Inae nodded once more, showing that she agreed with Mirela's words. "If you say so. I'll do what I can, don't take too long, alright?" Upon seeing Mirela nod, Inae turned and left the room, leaving Mirela alone to get dressed. The two never really had serious moments like that, so the tiny woman felt something pull at her gut as she shut the door behind her before leaning up against it.

'I have a bad feeling about this...'

"Reaper!"
Hearing his name Reaper turned his attention down to the demon's below.
He let out a small chuckle seeing the tavern owner standing among the demons, though they moved around him to avoid contact.
Reaper made a small motion with his hands causing hellfire to rise and lift the tavern owner until he was across from him.
The tavern owner pointed back at the village as the demons tore through it before speaking.
"I suppose this is the 'surprise' you told me about? The village is being consumed!"
"Oh I wouldn't do such a thing, something like that isn't in my nature sending an army of demons into the village to tear everything apart,"
Reaper made a motion with his hands causing a green portal to open, the tavern owner turned his attention to it.
In the portal it showed similar holes to the one below them popping up in multiple locations.

"I've overrun all that exists with an army of demons. I've opened these holes around the world. Why would I do something so small as overrun a village when I can just destroy it on my own? Now overrunning all of existence is much better."
The tavern owner turned his head causing Reaper to close the portal, though he didn't like to admit it he had a point.
"You never explained why you were doing this. It seems a bit much after returning."
Reaper turned his attention back to the village before crossing his arms.
These demons are acting as a reminder."
The tavern owner was silent as Reaper continued.

"Even through those seven years of peace there was still corruption but that's never ending. These people know all too well the pain of war and the suffering that comes with it. This may have been the reason they kept them from strangling each other for seven years.
Reaper gave a small nod and paused allowing the tavern owner to take his words in.
"Still no matter how long or how much suffering they endure power still tempts them.
Reaper put his hand over his face and let out a small sigh.
"They seek to overpower and consume only to satiate their own desires."
A small grin found it's way onto Reaper's face.
"So I decided to unleash demons upon the world and bring forth misfortune. Maybe this way they'll realize their own weakness as everything they love is taken from them."
The tavern owner was silent and kept his attention on Reaper.
"Actually that sounded pretty boring let's just say I wanted to have some fun,"
"One day you'll give me a straight answer Reaper," The tavern owner said turning back to the village.
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Tall blue demons stumbled through the town, black blindfolds covering their eyes as they let out loud moans.
Two black spikes stuck out of each side of their head as their long arms hung at their sides, their long black claws scraping the cobblestone causing small sparks.
"Rifters,"

A small group of what seemed to be children made their way amongst the demons.
They were short little girls with long black hair, part of it covering the right side of their faces.The little girls wore stained pink dresses and the one in front held a small brown teddy bear.
Their only amber eye seemed focused ahead before one of them got on all fours.
The little girl's back opened up before a green scaly body forced it's way out leaving behind only the head of the little girl and her arms and legs.
It's long scaly tail slammed into one of the buildings before it crawled forward ahead of the rest.
"Crawlers,"

A large red demon wearing brown pants with red suspenders waddled behind the other demons.
It's large stomach seemed to bounce and growl with each step it took.
It's deformed face revealed it's green eyes and it's pointed nose, while ears rested where it's mouth wold be.
The large demon's stomach opened up into a large mouth revealing sharp pointy teeth and a large black tongue.
A rifter crawled out before shaking green slime off of it as the large red demon let out a low grumble.
"Carriers,"

A little demon scurried along the demons holding a small purple pot with both arms.
It was smaller than the crawlers and had to avoid being stepped on by the other demons.
It had red skin and it's beady black eyes glanced at the demons around it before it jumped into a nearby rifter causing the rifter to glow before it's blue skin took on a red color.
"Feeders....Asmodeus this is a perfect opportunity to find what we were looking for without interruption."
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Saken looked over at Hikari and Sora before turning back to the horde of demons that were running through the town.
Purple lines filled the ground below them before one went up the bakery wall.
A white light surrounded Saken's hand before the lines came to a sudden halt in front of Hikari revealing a rifter.
The rifter let out a low growl as black saliva fell out of it's mouth, it leaned it's face towards Hikari tilting it's head slightly.
It stopped inches from her face before letting out a loud roar before jumping off the roof back into the crowd of demons.

Saken glanced over at Hikari as a white hand gripped the edge of the roof.
Saken turned and walking over grabbed the hand to pull the person up only to see green skin as he followed the arm.
He screamed and released the hand causing the crawler to fall back into the horde.
Two feeders climbed onto the roof as a little girl climbed onto the roof shortly after them and stared up at the three.
"Big sister is on the way to kill the mean people."
A dark shadow covered the bakery's roof causing Saken to look up, he physically flinched seeing the eyes of a grandfather carrier staring down at him.
"That is possibly the ugliest thing I've ever seen,"
The grandfather carrier opened it's mouth before Saken glanced behind them.
"Maybe we should go," Saken said.
Four swords of lights hovered behind Saken as he stared into the grandfather's eyes.
The crawlers jumped off the roofs and made their way over to them.
"Great," Saken said summoning an extra sword into his hand. "If we're moving we'll have to create an exit."
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"That shop has to be around here somewhere," Kalan said.
"Mister,"
Kalan turned to see a crawler stare up at him, she held a small teddy bear as she started to approach him.
Kalan started to bend down and talk to the girl when a memory flashed through his mind.
He quickly jumped away from her and summoned a straw sword as Nala stood a few feet behind him.
"Would you like to play?"
Multiple crawlers stared crawling out of the alleyway and along the sides of the building in their child forms.
"Neila, we need to go," Kalan said returning the sword to straw.
The head crawler let out a loud screech causing the other crawlers to return to shed their human skin and run at Kalan.
Lifting Nala and holding her under his arm he quickly ran away from the crawlers as they pursued him.

Kalan turned and ran through an alley before turning into a crowd of people running towards the west side of town.
He held up his free arm as he made his way through the crowd, he came to a stop once he got out of the crowd.
He turned to see the fortune telling shop before letting out a small sigh.
"Oh thank goodness."

Kalan looked back to make sure the crawlers hadn't caught up before hearing a low growl nearby.
He felt a shiver run up his spine as the growl seemed to drain his remaining adrenaline.
He turned his head to see a grandfather carrier floating a few feet away. He watched as it's mouth opened causing two carriers to fall out.
He summoned his sword as seven crawlers, one feeder and two rifters fell out shortly after.
Kalan set Neila down before turning towards her.
"I'll protect you so stay behind me okay," Kalan said flashing her a small smile.
"I'm just going to stand over there in the alley. Could you give me the key to the room, while their feasting on your remains they may eat it,"
Nala held her hand out causing Kalan to sigh and turn back towards the demons.
"Glad to see you have confidence in me."
The demons rushed him and he brought both hands to the hilt of the sword before holding it in front of him.
"Kalan Theodore Valadres the warrior of Justice and Love shall be your opponent,"
"Are you sure opponent is the right word? I'm leaning towards unsatisfying snack,"
"Not helping Nala!"

Hikari stood motionless, her breath slow and calm, her eyes widened as fear had begun to set in. Streaks of light shot through her eyes as her mind flashed back, the images of demons ripping through a town she had seen only in her dreams. The smell of their bodies disintegrating filled her nostrils as memories of a massive light tore through their bodies filled her mind vividly. As she stood motionless, her body began to glow, the sound of metal knocking against itself filled the roof top as chains of light slowly coiled up her slender arms, the fabric of her jacket tightening around her. Her black gloves let off a tint of light before flashing, two daggers of light appearing in her hands.

Hikari was soon snapped out of her thoughts as a beam of light slammed into the roof top, emerging from it a white cloaked figure, their tinted cloak dancing wildly as the light sent the demons flying back, fading into dust as their screams filled the sky, alerting the army below. An arrow of light shot forward, exploding in the distance as the figure stood, spinning to launch another from their palm, decimating the hoards of demons surrounding the group on the roof. The explosion that followed the second arrow sent the figure's hood flying back, revealing a bright. slender face. Birth now stood exposed, her bright glowing eyes staring off into the blast, a serious demeanor washed over her face.

Birth Quickly turned to the three, her eyes resting upon Hikari.

"This should buy you an opening to escape. You three are my chosen saviors...My sister..Virtue has been kidnapped. Hikari, your father saved this world seven years ago..but now I must turn to you, my new envoy of light. Please..save this world from darkness once more."

Sora's eyes immediately locked on the girl, shocked at her revealed title. She was the daughter of Kobayashi? The man responsible for the weapon she tightly gripped in her hand?

"Hikari Kobayashi...I know your past is hazy, that's mostly my fault..I can't fully explain now, but I can give you this."

Birth pressed a finger to Hikari's forehead, causing her body to glow brightly. Hikari's light began to shake and spark, it's wavelengths beginning to distort. Hikari's whole body flashed brightly before her daggers dispersed, reforming into a long blade, it's form seemingly distant but known.

"I..I know this..it's his..."

"That's right...I've unlocked your understanding of your power..it'll take awhile to grasp, but it should seem fluent to you now. Now go all of you."

A loud roar rang out as shadows now began to scale the walls of the bakery, the brick and wood structure beginning to crumble under the pressure. Hikari looked at Birth a last time before turning and vaulting to the next building, Sora closely following behind.

"As for you...That light you carry..it does not belong to you boy. One day, I may return to collect it from you"

Birth looked upon Saken, hate filling her eyes as she returned her hood to her head, only her glowing eyes visible.

"Today just isn't our day..."

As much as Mirela wanted to stay and help out, she knew that running would be the best option, especially since she noticed that she had a crying Miu clinging to her legs. Glancing over at Kalan, Mirela gave a slight nod. "I agree. We'll find some place to hide when we get there. If there isn't such a place, I suggest that we just keep moving. We do need to get going, though.." Looking down at Miu, Mirela scrunched her nose a little bit. "Miu.. Miu please, you have to let go so we can get to safety." When she saw that Miu just wouldn't let go, she lifted her leg a little bit and gently tried to shake her off. "M-Miu..." Mirela shook her head a bit as Miu clung to her leg. "M--"

"Miu!" Inae barked at the child, finally getting her to let go. Her voice sounded a bit more strict and threatening, but it got the job done. "Listen to Mirela for once, and let's go." Her gaze wandered over to Justice and Love, which caused a shiver to shoot rapidly down her spine. "Ugh.. Not you two again..." Narrowing her eyes, she shook her head and turned back to Miu, only to see that the small child had in fact started running toward the western part of town. "Damn that child..." She muttered before she began pushing Mirela in the direction Miu had gone. "Go after her, make sure she doesn't get herself killed."

"Miu! Slow down!" Mirela quickly sped off after Miu, but quickly saw that the child was a lot faster than she had thought. Spending most of her life as a dancer, Mirela had very strong leg muscles, but they just weren't enough to catch up to the sprinting Miu. "Miu!!"

As Miu ran, she seemed completely oblivious to the world around her. She clutched tightly onto the bag in her hands as all of her senses seemed to go numb. Mirela's words didn't reach her, the only thing she could feel or hear was the sound of her heart racing within her chest. What seemed like thousands of questions raced through her mind, but she seemed to be focused on the natural instinct for survival. The world seemed to become hazy as she kept on, but Miu soon grew tired and found herself on the ground with Mirela, who had apparently managed to catch up, right behind her. "M-Momma..." Her voice was shaking, as she clung to Mirela, crying into her chest.

"Shh," Mirela whispered, keeping Miu close to her. She glanced back over her shoulder to see if anybody else had followed her, only to turn her attention right back to Miu. "You shouldn't just run off like that... I can't protect you if you don't stay near me..." She shook her head a little bit. "The damned will have to come through me if they want to get to you, I promise I'll keep you safe."

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Seeing that Mirela and Miu had disappeared from sight, Inae shook her head and glanced back at Kalan. "Are you coming or not? I suggest that we hurry, wouldn't it be a shame if they both died before we could catch up to them?" She shook her head a little bit. "Think about it, seven years of searching, only to have it end like this."

Inae went and grabbed Mirela's case before she began to briskly walk after Mirela and Miu. "Stop wasting time and hurry up!"