They all started to take the short way to the castle of Corosta. Nothing was said along the way, as everyone once again prepared themselves for battle, careful to not begin another conflict. Reaching the castle, they were greeted with nothing but a destroyed front gate as the only measure of defense. The once tall standing structure was now heated and scraped, having multiple holes to it, rust and glass filling the area, as the dim sunlight that could pass through the surrounding smog could illuminate it just enough to be seen.

"That's...", Terna paused.

"Almost completely destroyed.", Lass said.

"It has seen better days. Now, you should get into position. Try not to get your ass kicked by being found. Keep a decent distance between the garden and the available passageways. Let's see what we can make out of this.", Tiki walked forward.

"Library first. I wanna see what I can find in there, should have some pretty neat stuff.", Anya followed behind Tiki.

"The rest of us should go and get it ready.", Lass said to Yuno, Terna and Ikarisa.

With everyone nodding back, they went to prepare their posts, as Anya and Tiki dove into the destroyed castle in search of the library.

"Pretty cool place. Most royalties and hierarchies usually decide on a palace. It's a different deal to see a heavily armed castle.", Anya fidgeted with a rusty spear. "Well, at least I'd assume it was heavily armed...compared to what it is now..."

"Having gotten our asses kicked and while kicking everyone's ass, it was natural to go for a little more protection for the royalty. Most parties that got destroyed by demon forces wanted an 'eye for an eye' style revenge. That is, killing the royalty and everything with it. They never succeeded...up until that bitch, Cecilia.", Tiki scoffed.

"Which reminds me...were you and Cecilia good friends?"

"Not that good...but I did consider her a friend. She was the first one I had at least known to see demons as something other than weapons for hire or simply monsters. I did think highly of her, up until the final point. First time in 500 years of life that I came to know such a severe feeling of betrayal."

"You do realize there must have been other factors involved, right? Considering what I gathered from Ikarisa and you for Cecilia, she doesn't sound like the person to blindly charge in for the kill without a reason..."

"Do I look like I give a shit? Look around you! She did all this...for what reason, I don't know. But what it lead to was so much death and destruction for no reason!"

"Touchè. If you remember what you told me, you could also be responsible for a few genocides. Considering the long war history of Corosta and the missions assigned to you, you basically, blindly did blind assaults for money. Pretty crude...", Anya folded her arms.

"Tsk...yes. They did. I didn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said, I am an officer. Or at least...came to be. Don't think I don't stand on the right morals, puppy. To get to where I am...lots had to happen. But the reason I did it all was to save my people and my kingdom, as well as others, from dishonor and death...something which in the end, I failed to do so."

Anya frowned, as she realized her wrongful accusation.

"You can still save them. Look...I'm not exactly the leader of the group but...I'd like to offer you something. After all this is done. After we finish off Izuko and put Corosta at ease, come with us. That's why we are traveling abroad. We aim to help the world for what beauties it has to offer...we don't want it to go back to the hell it was."

Tiki paused for a long time. "I will...I'll think about it. Here we are.", she stopped in front of the library doors. "Most things should be intact, given how it's bellow ground.", she opened the doors. "Let's scramble and find whatever."

Tiki and Anya walked inside the huge royal library, most of it coated in darkness and small parts of it dimly illuminated by the few candles left to burn.

Anya reached for her waist. "Huh? I can reach signal down here?", she opened her phone. "Damn...how is it able to do that?"

"The signal down here is pretty nice, but the WiFi can be absolute shit, even worse than CometBucks.", Tiki said. "The fuse box should be somewhere around here, I'll go check in the janitors closet and get the lights fixed.", she grabbed a candle and walked to the right.

Anya looked at her text messages. "'In Gardard, where u at? U slow or smth, these drinks will get 2 cold before ur here.'", Anya got surprised. "Magi's already in Gardard? Hell, she's fast. Tho with all the sidetracking, can't really complain..."

The lights inside the room started to flicker rapidly before individually starting to retain their glow.

Tiki walked out the closet, blowing out and tossing the candle. "Fixed. Now, let's skip everything and go to the Black Area."

"The 'Black Area'?", Anya asked.

"It's essentially a heavily guarded portion of the library where only the hierarchy can enter. However, I don't think we will find much resistance given the circumstances.", Tiki walked forward.

They both started to move to the forbidden part of the library.

"So...why only the hierarchy?"

"Because it's where most of the war plans and gruesome details lie at. The only reason I know what it's for is because I'm at the military rank I'm at, otherwise, it's sold to us as 'very important stuff'. I don't necessarily disagree with the censored approach, given the shit we've done over the years, it's almost necessary to exclude some of it to secure public safety."

"So, we're talking gory stuff with pictures to show?", Anya asked.

"Uh...yea, actually. It's the first time I'll access it anyway.", Tiki lifted her axe. "So help me brake this."

Pointing her axe at the vault like entrance, Tiki started repeatedly hitting it with all her weight behind every move...

"Come on, don't drag ass around all day!", Tiki continued attacking the door.

Anya pulled out her weapon. "I love forbidden libraries..."

Meanwhile up above, Lass and the team were preparing their defensive lines for the inflow of Shadowers.

"Alright...whew. Not harder than farm work, but there's quite the lifting!", Terna put her hands on her waist.

"I mean...all you've done is move things around a bit...what exactly is that gonna do?", Yuno asked.

"Take a closer look sweetie...the ground is exposed! That way, I can harness the elements surrounding it a little better!"

"Harness the elements...aren't fairies able to do that?", Yuno thought out loud.

"I-I...yes, but I ain't one, for sure!"

"I mean, scholars around their respective studies have been able to harness most of all elements anyway, so it doesn't really matter.", Yuno shrugged.

"Element control is kind of overrated anyway, but still comes in handy...so what did you do for you lane?", Terna asked.

"Nothing. I'll just use Lass's abilities and try to score a kill count for myself as well. Don't underestimate me.", Yuno winked.

"Not at all, with Lass's abilities, you're sure to pack a punch...speaking of which...where's he at?"

"He's sitting with Risa in the main hall. I think he already busted a hole through the front and back, so his preparations are done as well.", Yuno shrugged. "Doesn't matter, we need everyone for this, so I guess it's waiting time."

"We can have a little bit of a chat then!", Terna smiled.

"Uh...sure. Go ahead then.", Yuno shrugged.

"Yuno, sweetie, why are you such a pervert?"

"Not you too…‘victim of a thief’ more like it!"

"That...doesn't look like it much...I mean, Anya does have a load of complaints to go by for this.", Terna folded her arms.

"Let’s be clear. I have way higher standards than a looney drunk with a frivolous attitude!"

"So…does that mean you actually have something going on? Maybe a certain someone?”

"Of course there-never-mind.", Yuno blushed.

"Oh? A hidden chapter of actual love?"

"Oi! I ain't like Lass, you know! I don't wanna talk about it and I won't!", Yuno angrily said.

"Oh come on~ no one is gonna know! This stuff is interesting!", Terna budged next to Yuno.

"Hey! Cut it out!"

While having their bickering, Lass was inside, sitting in the throne room with Ikarisa.

"Man, can you believe her? She's so incredibly volatile! Assuming and immediately going in for the kill, for the love of god!", Lass complained.

"Yea...so volatile...", Ikarisa looked at the ground.

"Hmm? Hey, Risa...everything ok? You've been like this ever since we left the safe house."

"I just..."

"Don't tell me it's nothing, because I know it isn't. What's wrong? Is it about that Cecilia?"

"Actually...yes and no. She's a major part of it but..."

"Don't speak between your fingers...just say what it is so that we can find out how to fix it."

"It's you..."

Lass looked at Ikarisa in the face. "Me?", he pointed at himself. "Look, I know I made you a little bit worried, but some battles and wounds are unavoidable."

Ikarisa chuckled. "Well...it's actually me. It's about me and you."

Lass scratched his head. "Ok...? So...what does that mean again?"

Ikarisa rolled a tear down her eye as she approached Lass, putting her hand on his chest.

"For her to be where she's at...the aura emitted when you came back from that place...", she emitted a dark like aura from her hand. "You must be...here."

In a flash, Lass's consciousness began to fade as his other half started to take over.

Ikarisa started to cry. "I-I can't believe it...that's why I wanted this...that's why you came with me...you're...you're-!"

A soft touch came on Ikarisa's cheek. "Long time no see...Risa.", Mellistar spoke.

"I...missed you...", she wrapped herself around him. "How it all makes sense."

Mellistar chuckled. "And I was starting to worry that you were acting like that to everyone."

"We...we've sinned..Melli. Beyond-"

"No. What you did was nothing compared to what the circumstances that brought you in from me required. I've long traveled this world...I've only seen it in pain and misery. A hypocrite for wanting to get rid of it, only to cause even more pain to someone else...", Mellistar frowned.

"That day...the final one. I knew what would happen. I harnessed the wrong body, and hurt more innocent. Same exact bodies. Same exact faces. A different fate...but with them latched on our own sins. Melli...I-I...I don't know if I can do this anymore. I don't see a happy ending anymore..."

"Don't say that. You told me back then as I told you before it. I'll see you again...and now, we only have to finish what we started. Redeem those we hurt unnecessarily...I promise you, despite the pain you endured, I will make it right. For...both of you."

"She won't listen...she hates you."

"Rightfully so. I hate myself, so does Lass. She hurt for no reason, and tortured with nothing to gain. He did the same...none of them deserved what they got, and she, specifically, deserves the redemption she's been seeking from my death...again."

Ikarisa clenched her fist, looking away from Mellistar. "I refuse to let her have her way. I refuse to let them win. I refuse to let the world have its way with me...I'm living a lie created by myself, for myself. This time...it ends here. All of it."

"Risa...what are you going to..."

"I'll see. Let me worry...you need to rest...and be with him until the bitter sweet end. Tho there's no love there's loyalty and friendship...and we both can't deny we owe him and her more than our lives. I'll protect him like he did for me...I'll protect everyone...this time."

"I'm with you...", Mellistar hugged Ikarisa. "In this world...and the next...I'm sorry..."

Ikarisa cried as she let her hand go off Lass's chest. "I'll always be with you...with you all."

As Mellistar faded away, Lass started to regain his consciousness, snapping out of the wide void he trapped himself into.

"What the...ah! Risa! Sorry!", he stopped hugging Ikarisa. "Must've faded out a bit. What happened-wait...are you...crying?"

"Yeah...I am.", Ikarisa smiled. "I'm crying...I'm...I am."

"Uh...ok? You want me to comfort you per usual?", Lass joked around.

"Nah...instead, let's talk a little more about your troubles with Tiki.", Ikarisa sat down on the side throne, crossing her legs.

Lass sat down on the other half. "Don't even remind me. Savior or not, it's such a weird behavior! Especially my amulet! If you hadn't stopped me I'd have kicked her ass! Like come on!", Lass kept on blabbering.

Ikarisa thought to herself. "Hehe...still a kid. I loved you...always did. Both of you...it's just that...we all have our ways of showing it. Ever since we were little. How come we are the same and so different...a life's mystery. She really is lucky...but I can promise you right now...", her face got serious. "I'll reveal you the truth...despite the hurt it will do to me. I'll take the blame. This time...I won't look away. And I'll do to you what you did for me...before I'm gone, I promise you, Senpai...I'll give you a happy ending."

"Like seriously! What is you opinion on it?", Lass asked Ikarisa, finishing his rant.

Ikarisa snapped out of her thoughts. "Eh? Oh...maybe you should...I dunno, try to...challenge each other in a battle? It worked for you and Anya, despite all the...ruckus caused.", she crossed her fingers, hoping she was on point to not look like she ignored Lass's rant.

"Oh, hell no! At least the mutt has some value to battle with! What the hell am I gonna do with a pissed off, 500 year old loli demon with a killing intent?! No reasoning, no nothing-", he kept on going.

Ikarisa smiled with a sigh of relief. "Whew...I was on point.", she chuckled. "I still love it..."

Down bellow, Anya and Tiki were still relentlessly assaulting the door in front of them...

Tiki paused. "You piece o' shit door...doesn't budge at all.

"You're the one who said to be careful with it...", Anya sat down.

"Yeah, if I go all out, it'll be smashed to dust! But along with it, the contents behind it and there's a good chance we will be buried under an entire collapsed castle!", Tiki pinned her axe down, and breathed out. "I'll open you...", she intensely looked at the door.

"Yeah, a staring contest with the round metal door will do it. Want to say "open sesame" too?", Anya sighed.

"Oi, shut it doggy. I'm thinking...", Tiki jolted up with a mighty forward slash. "Sudden assault!"

Tiki barraged the door with a series of powerful blows, it not getting a scratch.

"You did not just surprise attack a god damn door, right?", Anya giggled.

Tiki growled, gritting her teeth. "Piece of shit door! Heya!", Tiki continued her assault on the door.

As Tiki was repeatedly smacking, something slipped out of her pocket, having a bright red shine go through it.

"Huh?", Tiki stopped. "The...amulet?"

"Why is it shinning like that?", Anya looked at it.

Tiki's eyes widened. "No way..."

Tiki got up and slowly moved to the identification panel next to the door, slowly extending her arm holding the amulet forward.

"Access granted. Welcome back, prince Neker.", the system relayed.

Tiki put her other hand on her mouth, dropping the amulet to the ground.

"N-Neker?", a tear almost dropped down her face. "I can't believe it...", she clenched her fist. "That piece of shit..."

Anya slowly approached Tiki, grabbing her shoulder...

"Look...I don't exactly know what's going on, but I can see you are about to do something you'll most likely regret...and jump into conclusions again. So don't. Let's calm down, move forward, and see what we can find...you can get pissed afterwards, ok?"

Tiki breathed out a long breath and scoffed, looking at Anya. "Heh. Thanks. Let's see what we can find in this."

As Anya nodded and they both walked inside the chamber, they were greeted with a perfectly cleaned and organized area of the library, that rarely saw the light of day. Everything from files, to maps, to creatures remains could be seen in the rooms to their left and their right.

"Some of these things are pretty cool actually. Look-", Anya grabbed a trolls skull. "That's pretty neat!"

"Tsk, stop playing with that, puppy! We're here for specifics, aren't we? Touring around all these items will take a decade anyway...now...it must be this?", Tiki stopped in front of a room.

"I...can't read demon. What does it say, exactly?", Anya asked.

"The translation would be...'Assassination Assignments'.", Tiki walked in slowly.

"Wait...for Neker, right?"

"Damn straight."

Tiki and Anya walked in and looked around, scattering to find intel on the assassinations done.

"Wow...these are a...lot of records. How many assassinations did you guys do?", Anya got baffled.

"A...lot. It's our history. Millenia worth of war and tragedy. Now...here it is.", Tiki paused in front of a library shelf. "These are the most recent records. Ten years ago...when the kingdom and the last king remained to hold on a legacy that never came. Let me see...this must also be the final assassination order.", she pointed at the last file on the right.

Anya grabbed the file and sat down on a nearby table. "Alright...I guess it'll be written in your language so, translation please!", Anya scooted over to Tiki.

"Fine, fine! Don't push my buttons, puppy! Bloody hell...", Tiki unlocked the file.

"Hehe. What's wrong with a little bit of friendly nagging here and the-", Anya stopped dead on her tracks.

As soon as Tiki opened the file, Anya's face dropped right on and through the ground, having a grim and frighten look replace her smug and stutter replace her attitude.

"What is it, puppy?"

"T-That...t-that profile picture. I don't need you to read shit for me to understand this. T-That's...Dante!", Anya stepped back.

"What? You know this kid?"

"Know him?! He was my best friend! He was such a sweet and innocent kid...he was with me at Direon, the small city up in the Gardard area! Why...why is he in an assassination file?!", Anya screamed.

"Let me translate then.", Tiki cleared her throat. "Prince Neker. Under the collaboration between a third party (identity confidential due to their request), there has been a hit set on the son of Elena Elisia."

"Miss Elena's son?! Why?! Dante did nothing wrong! He was literally a quiet kid that messed with nothing and no one!", Anya slammed the table. "I've heard of Direon being raided and destroyed because of the Great War...and I thought that Dante alongside his family and Terna died because of it...but did you seriously assassinate him?!"

"Let me read the whole thing, puppy!", Tiki looked back at the file. "Bellow you'll find a picture of the target's associate to better locate the target themselves. The target is Dante Elysia, a Draganov youngling at the age of 8. There are no special conditions and the job itself is to simply dispose of the target without the need for cleaning the body afterwards or need of redirecting blame or falsely asserting it as an accident.", Tiki cleaned her eyes. "This picture..."

"That's miss Lena. She was always so sweet and kind to us all...she cared for nothing more than the well-being of Dante and his siblings Beatrice, Leona and Leon. She was such a sweet and kind lady, she even thought them all how to sword fight having served in the military of Direon!", Anya yelled.

"Yeah...I wouldn't mistake this for shit. I scrubbed it off as a coincidence due to the last name being the exact same...but with this picture at play, there's no mistaking it. This isn't some Elena we are talking about. This is, without a stretch of a doubt, Cecilia. Cecilia Elisia. The hit was set on Cecilia's 8 year old son...I suppose she changed her name in order to better hide them all out.", Tiki said.

"Bull-shit. Why Dante specifically? Why not all of them?!"

"You're skipping over the most important part of this. Draganov. The colony or 'city' you were at was the remains of Dirunon. Dante was a Draganov..."

"Good god...", Anya grabbed her head.

Tiki continued. "The reasoning behind the assassination is to be kept confidential, but speculation has it that it can relate to the Passing Of The Blade, as the youngest son seems to be prominent of becoming the next successor of Elena's, the Direon's Durandal, powers. Personal message from the king is to follow. 'My son...Neker. I know it's hard for you to fathom the official request given to you above. God forgive me...I'm a horrible man. I cannot avoid, nor decline the request for this to be done. A hypocrite is what you should know me as. I cannot be called a father when the fantasy of losing my child is the living hell I intent on bringing to another one such as I. Please...make it painless. I cannot stretch enough how big of a disgrace to myself and my people, signing this order of assassination is, as I not once thought that during my reign, I wouldn't spare the life of a minor. Do not sidetrack from the task...you have no choice. They will be watching and shall you shift your will, they will take your life...Godspeed my son. And please...be careful.", Tiki clenched on the file.

"So this Neker of yours was sent to assassinate my friend...a child?!"

"Yes...but he couldn't do a thing! He was watched and the life of his family and people was at stake. Neither us or the victim side in this case can be blamed...a vicious cycle, these third party mystery mother[REDACTED] set this off. However...let me see the mission results section.", Tiki looked bellow the report. "Mission results: Failure. The target has escaped and agent has, by proxy, been eliminated under the estimation of physical absence without contact.", Tiki sighed. "No surprise there...but...what is this? Another message from the king? It's illegal to litter report results with messages of any kind...let me see. 'God dammit all! I knew I couldn't lie about the success of the hit. I can't condemn it...I can't be pissed. But I am! I got what was coming and so did our people...whoever is reading this, listen carefully. I know my son is still alive...I can feel it! More specifically...I can feel his presence still in this world. That still doesn't change how completely in the shit we are...demons and Corosta as we knew it is as good as gone...blessed be the souls of the innocents she spares. To whomever finds this...kill me. If I'm still alive, given what will be done to me, kill me. Spare not me but find where my son's whereabouts are...he might be the only one to be able to raise our flag again. And to him I say...change. Do not make the mistakes we all once did. Change the way our people and nation once were...brake this circle of violence...save the Demon Nation and Corosta."

"Nothing good came out of it...at all!", Anya teared up.

"No one got anything out of this. Direon and Corosta were wiped clean off the map and pain and suffering followed after...what a waste.", Tiki scoffed.

A small moment of silence came about as both of them simply looked at the files and nothing else.

Anya jolted up, wiping her tears. "Wait...wait.", she pulled the files to her. "This is inconsistent."

"What do you mean?", Tiki asked.

"Dante would supposedly be dead when the request for his assassination was done. This would mean that by the time Laima was leveled to the ground, everything around it would be completely dead, given that Cecilia would've lost her powers completely, causing the third party an undoubted success...so in theory, since Dante never died, their attack should've been unsuccessful to an extend, causing either defeat or partial success."

"But Direon was leveled a bit after Cecilia attacked Corosta."

"Exactly. Which means that when luring Cecilia out of Direon, with no successor to her powers..."

"Direon would be left without any defenses."

"But since there was the successor to hold them back, it allowed for resistance, causing Cecilia to realize what was happening before it."

"The black knight that faced Cecilia never did win...she just stalled her until she realized what happened to Laima, causing her to retreat back to protect her family!", Tiki jumped up.

"And given how Lass had the crest of the house of Elisia...", Anya looked at the amulet.

"He isn't 'Lass'. He is the one and only survivor of Direon, Cecilia, managed to protect..."

A sudden smile and tears of happiness rolled down Anya's face. "'Lass' is Dante! That's why...that's why I felt like home! That's why I knew it from the bottom of my heart that I could trust him...despite him changing so much...he's still Dante! Dante Elysia!"

A sudden quake moved the both around, as bits of files started falling off the shelves.

"That sounds like go time. Puppy, hold on to what we've found, talk to them only after the battle is done. We want everyone to keep their head in the game.", Tiki picked up her weapon.

"I'll make sure that it's a quick game!", Anya followed behind Tiki.

The both of them rushed upwards, preparing for the immanent battle against the mad king and Sentinel of Death, Izuko...