Meanwhile, Kanata woke up in an abandoned parking lot. She realized that her hands were bound with chains to one of the pillars there. She struggled for a bit, until she saw Ishimaru walking towards her.

"You're finally awake," he said, his blade reflected the afternoon sunshine right into Kanata's eyes, "how was your sleep?"

She lagged at first, then responded, "What do you want with me?" with frustrated voice. She looked around to find possible route or means to escape, as her aurics were nowhere to be found.

"I need you to get Kyuuto. He is the key to our plan," Ishimaru answered, Kanata took a good look at him, and realized that the tip of his blade was also dripping with a purplish liquid.

"And what kind of plan are you talking about? Who are you? Why did you betray us?!" she tried to get as much information from him as she could.

Ishimaru laughed for a good five seconds. He then turned his sharp eyes to his prisoner, "I am not Ishimaru. I am no one... in fact..." he turned away from Kanata, then shortly faced her again. Kanata was in shock of what she saw, "I am you,"

She saw her own face replaced Ishimaru's face. Perfectly copied from chin to forehead. It was like looking into a mirror. This triggered an alarm in Kanata's mind. But shortly after, even before she collected her thought, Ishimaru revert his face back to the original.

"Ishimaru... already died in the first mission, Kanata. He had very severe wounds, slashes throughout his body. That is why you shouldn't stray away from your teammates for too long. Luckily I inherit his element too, that doesn't happen very often," Ishimaru then lifted his sword, then let the liquid on its blade to drip even more, "this... is his element. Poison,"

Ishimaru sighed audibly, then continued, "I've experienced thousands of failed experiments. Lost a lot of time than you could ever comprehend. And from that, also lost a lot of souls. The ones that just like Kyuuto's," he looked at his right hand, and it was disintegrating. But magically glued back together, "but finally... my grand plan saw progress, starting from 18 years ago---"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

...

"You're the one tempting Kyuuto's father to reactivate the curse..." Kanata cut his story short right after realizing what had happened.

Ishimaru chuckled and smiled cynically, "He was one of many,"

----

Aotori planned their search and rescue mission well into the night. Approaching midnight, after discussion, they take turns just like before to guard the house. Karito said that he must gather more information at night, and to scout much wider area than they were staying in. When Kyuuto volunteered to accompany him, he refused, and remained adamant that he must go alone.

After letting go of Karito for about two hours after midnight, Ishigaki could not sleep soundly. Something was off, he thought, and right after, he woke up from the sofa in the living room, and went to the roof. He looked at the majestic moon in the distance, shining on him. While the other unsecured sectors were still dark, and only reflect the light of the full moon above. He then followed his gut feeling to try and locate Karito, as he had mixed feelings about his intention. And following that, he went off into the darkness alone.

----

Ishigaki ventured into the sector near his house, the market area. The cold wind breezed his hair, as flashbacks got into his head. he suddenly remembered the times when he and his mother attended the fruit store that they had. But before he could reprocess his past that came back into his mind, he was surprised by someone he saw on the side, it was Yamato.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

Ishigaki looked at his condition before answering, Yamato was still looked like the last time he saw him, "I was following Karito," he answered briefly, "why are you here?"

"I was doing the same," Yamato answered, then jumped down from the electrical pole he was standing on, "apparently we suspect the same person,"

"What do you mean?"

"Kanata's abduction wasn't come from us, Yamisuke's side that is," Yamato began to explain. "Ishimaru was on our side, but he started to act on his own. The plan was still to get Kyuuto, but not exactly like this. Just like the warriors, we're also broken internally,"