"Zhèngyi!" gasped Kiyu in shock after the cheerful boy dropped to the ground in tears. 'This is not how I wanted it to be!', She had wanted to take the burden of the murder on herself.

After the two surprise murders within moments, the surrounding guards pointed their weapons at the remaining arrestees who had stood around Toras' dead body. 'What should we do now?' Kiyu needed a solution. They had only planned to arrest and hear them, but now?

Will he even schedule a hearing now, or would they convict her for the murder of Administrator Tānlán, as much as he was a disgusting monster?

She stood next to Laki and hugged her tight with one arm, 'Whatever happens, I'll protect you.'

The whole situation was tense, and it almost felt to Kiyu as if a great battle would break out at any moment. Every fiber of her body was getting ready for a first strike should it come to a potential attack. Kiyu fixed her gaze on Xianzhu, who had not yet spoken despite what had happened.

The latter, however, had loosened his fist, with which he had given the order to get ready, and instead gave a halt command with an open palm.

"Will you come with me without causing a ruckus, or will my men have to help?" asked the young lord, whom the events did not seem to take much in. Whether apathy or quiet determination, Kiyu could not tell. But she still seemed to have the possibility to resolve the whole thing with peace. At least for the moment.

"I'm not leaving Toras!" cried Zhèngyi, with tears still running down his cheeks. He crawled across the floor to the corpse of his friend and teacher and bent over its chest. "Wake up," he whimpered. "Please, Toras..."

The first guards had walked toward Zhèngyi, who was kneeling on the ground, and were pointing their weapons at him.

"Get out of here!" he shouted, and in desperation reached for the sword that lay on the ground beside him. He turned around so that he would see his attackers.

"Zhèngyi," whispered Kiyu, trying to remain as calm as possible. "Don't."

"How can I..." the young Spiritformer just continued, directing his gaze towards Kiyu, who could no longer suppress all the tears. It filled both eyes with sorrow and a single tear ran down her left cheek.

"Please," she whispered, shaking her head as the guards had surrounded Zhèngyi by now.

It wasn't hard for Kiyu to comprehend how Zhèngyi must felt right now. She had not known Toras for even as long as she had known Zhèngyi, and yet he had grown on her in that short time. 'It must be unbearable for Zhèngyi.'

The sword wobbled back and forth in his trembling hand and fell to the ground with a clang. Still rooted to the spot, he knelt beside Toras' corpse.

Kiyu glanced over her shoulder at Xianzhu, who gave her a nodding gesture. Without exchanging words, she took slow, deliberate steps toward Zhèngyi and held out her hand to him. He grabbed her hand, and she pulled him up.

Kiyu sensed the uncertainty that ran through her comrade. She, too, had to experience this feeling, and that was why she knew that the best thing she could do now would be to be there for him.

For him and also for Laki she would move forward, whatever might come, she owed that to Toras. Now it was up to her to take care of Zhèngyi instead of him.

Surrounded by the guards, lord Xianzhu led them to the dungeon. The dungeon where Laki had to suffer because of the monster that was now left dead in the marketplace. 'But this time it will not take so long', Kiyu vowed.

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Without further incident, they reached the lord's mansion, which could also serve as a temporary prison thanks to the dungeon's underground. Or did Jarifa have so little to do with lawbreakers that no prison of her own was necessary? She herself had never seen the dungeon, since Zhèngyi had taken over the rescue mission for Laki.

Xianzhu escorted them down to the dark dungeons of the mansion, where he ordered the guards to lock up his prisoners. "Tomorrow at noon I'll hold your hearing. Until then, I will catch up on the events of the past week and then decide your fate."

There was no hostility in the words of the young but determined man. However, he also didn't seem to have any genuine sympathy for the three children who were being locked up straight.

Kiyu nodded while the others did not utter a word. Only when both Xianzhu and the guards had left did Zhèngyi complain.

"And yet we just got Laki out of here. And now here again!" Gripping the bars tight with his hands, he pressed his face against the cell to check for guards.

"With my powers, I can steal the keys and get us out and Kiyu will fight us..." he suggested, doing everything he could to escape from here as quickly as possible.

However, Kiyu raised her hand and gestured for him not to rush. "If we break out now, we may end as wanted criminals to the death," she began. "lord Xianzhu seems like a pragmatic man to me. I think he will deliberate everything that has happened and make a judgment," she explained.

"Considering that Tānlán contributed to all this, a man he chose as his representative, and that we saved an innocent boy from death..... he'll pardon us, I think." While this was all speculation, Kiyu had a feeling that lord Xianzhu wasn't a vindictive person, but only cared about law and order.

"So you're going to do nothing and wait until tomorrow, hoping some fine upper-class lord will take pity on us?" he hissed, seeming almost disgusted by the thought.

"That's right." retorted Kiyu, who had settled into a standing meditation position, not moving an inch. The tone in her voice reflected the calm and steadfastness she just embodied through her training.

"We can't just stay here waiting for our sentencing," Zhèngyi roared much louder now, not even caring in his rage if a guard could hear him.

"You are free to go," Kiyu countered. "I, for one, will not lift a finger at your escape plans."

< There are moments when I don't even recognize you >, Cheryu quipped, having crept into her thoughts. < As if the whiny, energetic child had gone away and given way to the adult you. >

'It would be nice,' she sneered. 'A little sooner and it would have been me who killed Tānlán without regret.'

< At that moment you failed>, he replied, noticing the heaviness of her shoulders pressing down in her mind. < But no human is perfect, Kiyu. Why should you be an exception? >

'But what's the point if I can never reach that ideal?' It felt so wrong to train something if you could never reach the last state. Like she was just wasting her time with it in the end.

< What's the point of life, anyway? > he asked her, seeming serious about it. < Name one person who can gauge the meaning of your life, if not even you? >

'The meaning of my life, huh?' Kiyu had to admit to herself that Cheryu had gotten her good with that, even if it hadn't been his intention, of course. Now that she thought about it like that, she realized she had never thought about it before.

She had a goal and a dream. The goal of freeing Rika from the clutches of the evil spirit that had taken possession of her, and the dream of being able to spend the rest of her life with Laki. But what would happen if these two things never came to pass, worse, if some snatched away those from her? If both of them died?

What it would leave her but her two life goals, the outcome of which would never be within her control, no matter how much she might influence it? Who was she then?

'And how does your wisdom help me there?' she asked, having scratched the surface of her dilemma.

< Try to achieve the ideal> Cheryu replied, seeming to go in circles with her. < Think of the best version of yourself. Where you want to be one day, not because of your material wealth, but the best version of your actions and wisdom. And train daily to get there. >

'But if you never reach it, doesn't it make you unhappy as well?' After all, it was just a set goal in her eyes. What made this goal different from her two?

< 'It's not about the goal, Kiyu. It's about improving yourself every day. A wise person is humble who realizes that one never stops learning. And a good person is one who progresses along that path, always trying to do the best he can > he explained to her.

< You failed? Good. Recognize your failure, accept it, and move forward. Do better next time. You're not perfect, but you'll learn to do better. >

'Hmm.' Every time Cheryu had shared a new portion of his way of life with her, Kiyu had struggled well with it at first. It was difficult to understand this way of life in one piece.

< I'll leave you with your thoughts for now > With that, he withdrew from her thoughts and musings about the conflict within her.