“That stupid idiot,” Suzaku mumbled to herself. “Not worthy enough to wield my greatness? A thousand years sealed has muddied the judgement my greatness once possessed!”

Utterly defeated by her wielder’s surrender, the Vermillion Bird became lost in the now swamp-like conditions of the Northern Kratian Mountains, dirtying the beautiful dress gifted to her by Fei and Lei-Lei. She felt disappointed having done so.

Cloudy skies and the rain made it difficult to tell the time of day, but it was clear that quite some time had passed since she left her wielder. Since having left, her anger was channeled into her bladed arm, cleaving away at any Gelatins, Erklings, and other forest beasts that crossed her path. Nothing living was spared as she forced herself to eat their Shijin Orbs, slowly regaining the strength she had lost during her fit of rage.

A poor, round and, green Gelatin appeared in front of Suzaku, staring at her with such docile eyes that not even the coldest of hearts could resist. Its short lifespan ended a split second later by a cleave, its dark-red essence suddenly consumed by the girl it had just met.

A bright light colored the gray skies yellow. Climbing to the top of a tree, Suzaku peeked out from the forest ceiling to find a pillar of light piercing the sky. Only one person could manage ether this powerful.

There it is.

Suzaku sprinted through the thick forest, crushing anything below her feet. Sounds of explosion entered the air and into Suzaku’s ears, and before she knew it, the smell of burnt meat rushed her nose. As the sounds grew louder, she finally arrived at the village, but she could hardly call it that now. Dozens of wooden homes scattered across the forest floor, broken and reduced to rubble.

Amidst that rubble, Lei-Lei stood hunched and panting, facing a demon overpowering her. Tattered and muddied, her robes had been cut, revealing the skin of her bleeding arms, legs, and shoulders.

Suzaku cringed in disgust as she bore witness to the deformed demon she had failed to kill earlier. It still reeked of smoke from her explosion and was the source of that burnt meat smell.

She dashed toward the demon and fixated her bladed arm in its direction.

Suzaku? Lei-Lei thought. She was too distracted and couldn’t even tell she had entered her ether field. The stress that'd been building up during her fight peaked.

The demon faced the Vermillion Bird as she charged at him. It yelled. “WHORE!”

Suzaku’s irises constricted as her blade stabbed not the demon, but the air as it vanished into thin air.

Lei-Lei knew Suzaku wouldn’t be able to spot the demon’s shadow. “Voice of Mist!” She raised her staff into the sky. “Seer’s Light!”

The demon slithered behind Suzaku. A beam of light—the same one Suzaku had seen—shot from her staff, showering the sky with a powerful yellow light that gave away the demon’s location.

Before Suzaku could react, the demon left its shadow and wrapped its long, bony fingers around her neck, strangling her.

“I’ve got you, don’t I?” The demon said, a wicked grin on its face. It tightened its hold, ready to crush her throat.

Suzaku stretched a mad smile in return and looked back at the demon. She undid her Ghost mansion and held its wrists, concentrating her ether into her palms. “Keep it that way.”

The demon shrieked as she activated her Well Mansion to emit her flames, forcing it to release its grip. Suzaku held on, turning the demon’s wrists into mush before finally ripping them off its body.

“No, no, no!” the demon moaned, wheezing as it stumbled away from the Vermillion Bird. It stared at its missing hands as they squirted with black blood.

Suzaku glared into the demon's eyes. She activated her Ghost Mansion and took a step forward, impaling her blade inside of the demon’s chest, amping her ether output to its maximum.

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The demon writhed in pain, shouting and cursing the Vermillion Bird. Tired of its rambling, Suzaku drove her blade deeper into the demon.

Moments before death, Merew felt as though his stomach was about to turn inside out. As the blade in his chest drove deeper inside his body, a long, thick object forced itself out of his throat. An arm lathered in demon saliva stretched his lips as it emerged, falling between him and the Vermillion Bird.

The hand of the arm opened to reveal a ring scored in its palm. Its glow was dead.

Baffled, Suzaku withdrew her arm from the demon, horror plastered on her face as she stared at her wielder’s mutilated and severed arm in front of her feet. What is this? Thoughts she never hoped to imagine entered her head. How could this have happened? Did the boy... Did he die?

Merew fell to the ground and mustered the remaining ether he had left in his body to sink into his shadow. His injuries were far too grave to continue fighting.

“Voice of Ice: Spears!” Lei-Lei shouted as she shot a spear of ice shot at the demon. Before it could reach, the demon had already vanished into the forest. She rushed over to Suzaku as she fell to her knees in front of the arm. “Are you okay?”

“My greatness is fine,” Suzaku said. She huffed and rose. “You should worry about your own injuries.”

Blood and purple bruises covered Lei-Lei from head to toe. She affirmed Suzaku they were nothing too grave.

Taking Lei-Lei's arm, Suzaku summoned a flame, wrapping and coiling it around her injuries to heal them. She did the same for the rest of her injuries. The colors of the fire matched that of Lei-Lei's fair skin before dissipating, closing her wounds.

“You haven’t found Yushia?” Lei-Lei asked.

“My greatness has,” Suzaku replied. She initially thought he had died, but when she opened her palm, her hand was still etched with the intertwined rings that connected them. “But the idiot is in no condition to be of help.”

Lei-Lei lightly nodded, accepting the upsetting news. She asked what happened to have caused him to be that way, in which Suzaku explained all the things that happened while inside the demon’s base. She hesitated when explaining what she saw happen to her wielder and toned down the intensity of the situation to not scare her. Still, she was quite frightened.

Suzaku decided it was best to move on. “Where is your sister and Payuei? They have not been taken, have they?”

“No, they’re safe and well,” Lei-Lei replied. “They’re under the lake. Nothing can reach them.”

A sigh of relief came from Suzaku. In all the despair, some good news raised her greatness’ declining morale.

“The demon will come back,” Lei-Lei warned.

“It will be a long while before it does.” Suzaku moved her wet hair out of her face. “It is still gravely hurt from my flames and is even more hurt now that I have removed its hands.”

In the mud beside them, Merew’s scorched hands rested, smoking in the rain.

“What do you suggest we do now?” Lei-Lei asked, trembling. Her ether had been depleted during the fight, and without it, she was nothing. It’d take at least several hours to recover an amount she deemed decent.

“It is obvious, is it not?” Suzaku said confidently, her eyes burning with an unextinguishable flame. “My greatness is beyond frustrated and disappointed at her weakness. When that bastard demon shows itself, we will slay it once and for all.”

***

Merew left his shadow and bent over, clenching the muddy ground while panting in agony. The burning sensation from the Vermillion Bird lingered in his chest and where his hands once were.

Forming a shadow on his stomach, Merew gagged. Hundreds of fingers, toes, arms, and legs fell beneath him to form a bloody mound.

Initially, Merew held off on eating the limbs of the Cerulean, afraid of how its rich ether might react once inside his body. But, without a choice and desperate to regain his strength, he moved aside and dove head-first into the mound, feasting on the limbs like a pig.

Just as he had predicted, a reaction brewed. Falling over on his side, Merew’s eyes rolled to the back of his head as he felt his ether clash with the Cerulean’s, both fighting for control over him.

What felt like an eternity of suffering ended. The lingering pain from the Vermillion bird was gone as well. For some odd reason, Merew couldn’t sense any of his ether coursing through his body.

“Master,” a deep, pitiful voice uttered.

Merew sat up, stunned at what stood before him. He pushed himself back and realized his hands had regrown.

A creature towered over him, standing on all four of its long, stilt-like legs. It lowered itself and presented its head—the skull of a ram. The creature’s horns were only a finger’s length away from touching Merew. Its body was small with long black fur that swept the floor as it moved ever so slightly. It huffed out a black smoke through its empty eye sockets and spoke again.

“Please, master. Please name this lowly servant.”