“You remain here and cause us no-no problems.” Shaeula ordered Kondou, who scowled, struggling to speak, but her earlier order prevented him from talking back to her. In the end he nodded, and Shaeula looked away, satisfied.

“Time to take stock then.” As the last of the skeletons were felled by Ulfuric and the Jade Beetle, I assessed our losses. Three mages had been overrun and slain when their elemental wind was depleted, and one unlucky musician had fallen from the Beetle and was trampled, four new orbs of light faintly glowing around Shaeula, our aether slowly trickling into them. All in all, fairly modest losses for a fight of this scale. I’d feel terrible if they weren’t able to be restored though. Thank the gods for Kin Restoration… Shaeula and her broken cheat skills for the win.

Other than that we had many injuries. I went over to Ixitt, who was in bad shape, and using the aether I had recovered I used Ether Healing to restore his broken arms and crushed ribs. He was still hurt, but now he should recover smoothly.

“Keh. My, keh-keh, thanks. At the end he surprised me. Still, it is fascinating to see how the princess is controlling, keh-keh, him now. It requires further study.”

Seeing Ixitt still so consumed by the search for knowledge I had to smile. I was about to move on when Ulfuric called out to me.

“I fear the trolls are in danger. They are weakening rapidly, their bodies poisoned by the dust element.”

Shit, we can’t afford to lose them, they aren’t replaceable, as Shaeula doesn’t or can’t consider them kin… rushing over, Shaeula and Ixitt on my heels, I inspected the first troll, who was regenerating slowly, though his flesh was blackened and necrotic. I turned to Grulgor then, but his situation looked nowhere near as bad, his stronger powers fighting off the taint slowly.

Ugh, this looks terrible. I trickled in aether, but the dust interfered with it, causing the effect to weaken significantly. Still, I could speed up the rapid regeneration trolls were known for, so that gave me an idea. “Sorry about this…” I muttered, using the dagger of light to cut away the damaged flesh, aether then promoting the growth of clean muscle and skin. The troll thrashed in agony, but after I had removed most of the toxins, it settled down.

I moved to the next troll, and after a while I was exhausted, only able to keep going due to the large amount of ether that I could convert, left over from the death of the widow of nails. Once I was done with the trolls I tended to the injuries Shaeula and I had, as well as the others. It was several hours of tough work, and had used a good chunk of ether, but the rewards had been excellent. Shaeula had worked as an assistant after the first troll, her eyes and Chirurgery able to aid my precision, and by working together on numerous injuries we had both gained in skill.

Your Skill, Ether Healing has advanced from Rank 3 to Rank 4. Your ability to heal your own injuries and those of others has increased significantly, repairing damage to subtle bodies. Your subtle bodies will draw in a further increased rate of ether from their surroundings and automatically repair themselves, and your resistance to elemental damage has increased. You also have a moderate resistance to harmful substances and foreign matter. Your affinity for the darkness, earth and dust elements and the understanding of ????????? has also increased. [Class: ???}

Earth element, huh? Helpful, as gaining that ability is one of my near-future goals. As I pondered that Shaeula started boasting about her own gains. “My Aetheric Chirurgeon skill has-has grown stronger. Surely as I am Pledged to you, I find myself able to follow-follow your aether as you direct it. Or perhaps we are merely so well-well matched.” She grinned, exhausted but satisfied. I rubbed her head in response, and she made noises of pleasure.

“All right. Emergency aid is done.” I swallowed the rest of the ether that I hadn’t used up, restoring a little aether and sending the rest back to my Territory. “Now there are only a couple of matters remaining. Ulfuric, Ixitt, you are with me. The rest of you, when the trolls and Grulgor are able to move, head back to our Territory. We’ll finish up here.”

The White Snake kami, who had recovered from the pain that had taken him out of the battle, hissed his assent, glad to be able to return to his sanctuary at Shirohebizumi shrine. With that done… yeah, them… “The battle is over, you can come down now.” I called, and moments later the ghostly woman drifted down from the sky, followed by three other faint spectres. She was clearly afraid, her transparent visage pale even for a ghost, and her eyes were darting to the heaps of iron in the spot Kiku had perished. She looked… lost, uncertain, forlorn.

“I… what… what do I do?” she said sorrowfully, the other silent spectres flitting around her like skittish birds.

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that for you.” I tried to comfort her. “I don’t claim to be able to fully understand your suffering, but when your light touched me… your end was tragic. Being a man, I can’t fully understand what you went through, but you have my sympathies, for what it’s worth.”

She nodded at that, so I continued. “First… do you want revenge on the man that killed you?” At my words, Kondou started to protest, filled with rage, but Shaeula ordered him to be silent, and with a murderous glare he snapped shut his mouth.

“I don’t think anyone could blame you, the man is a monster who deserves it. I certainly wouldn’t lose any sleep over his death.” People who abused and hurt women were those I hated above all others, probably due to my closeness with Eri and my sis.

“I don’t… I’m already dead.” She shook her head, ghostly tears running down her face. “It wouldn’t achieve anything. And now… Kiku is gone too. Vengeance… it did her no good. I understand, she was going to kill you, but… she was cruel, but she did care for me, in her own way. I have to believe that. I have to believe there was some meaning in all this… this cruelty.”

“All right. We’ll leave that aside for now. the way I see it then is you have two options. The first is… you can move on. I’m not sure if there’s a heaven or a hell, some sort of afterlife. Maybe this is it, but I don’t think so and really hope not. Still, if this isn’t what you wanted, if you are tired of the pain, I can send you to your rest. And if not… you can always come with us. I don’t mind taking you girls in.”

“I’m just… just so tired.” She sobbed. “Ever since that night when I had the strange dream, my life has spiralled into hell! Being around people, I could hear what they were thinking, feel what they felt. The constant noises in my head, it was … it was awful. I tried medication, therapy, nothing helped. I thought… I thought I was mad. But seeing this… I can’t be, can I? What did I do to deserve this? It isn’t fair…”

A strange dream, gaining powers? Surely not… but it must be…

“My daddy… err, my father, he tried to help me, I’m all he has, after mother died in that accident. But even he was frustrated, he didn’t understand what was wrong with me. He wanted me to go into politics, I wanted it too, I studied hard, was working towards my goals, but… but it’s all for nothing now.”

I wanted to console her, but it was hard to know what to say. She had died so cruelly, ripped away from her life and family. Those who chose Astral Emperor-candidates have a lot to answer for. Some, like this girl, they aren’t equipped for this. And then we have monsters like Kondou…

“My name is… no, it was Suzuki Haru. Now I’m dead I don’t suppose I have a name. My father is Suzuki Akimitsu. He’s minister of finance in the Diet. If I have one regret… it’s that daddy… my father, he’ll be crushed, so terribly lonely, without me. And he might never know what happened to me.” She suddenly bowed, her ghostly form on the ground, her ethereal tears dripping. “If I had one wish… I want you to tell my daddy I love him, and that I’m sorry I’m dead. Then… then I can pass on.”

Turning to Kondou, who was watching this situation with a look of annoyance, I glared, causing him to flinch. Even so, he was unable to move due to Shaeula’s hold on him. Yeah, my decision is made. I know what to do with him…

“Is there nothing we can do for her, Akio?” Shaeula asked, and Suzuki-san flinched at my name. I guess it is similar to her fathers… “I feel sorrow for her, meeting such-such a bitter end.”

“Well, I’m not sure how I could go about telling her father about this, or if he would believe me even if I could…” as I spoke Suzuki-san looked at me with a pleading gaze. Don’t worry, I have a better solution, for later anyway… “But even so… Suzuki-san, no Haru-san…” I used her first name to express a little more intimacy. It was a bit rude, but I wanted her to consider my offer positively. “If… if you could go back to the Material world, the world you came from, able to see your father again… would you be prepared to offer compensation in exchange?”

At mention of compensation she flinched, wrapping spectral arms around herself, and I cursed myself for bringing up her trauma. “Don’t worry, I don’t seek your body or plan to hurt you.” I hurriedly assured her. “I have Shaeula here, and another girl… man I feel shit for saying it, like some sort of playboy, but still… I’m not really a womaniser, and I have no taste at all for hurting or abusing girls. No, it’s simply… well, there’s quite the cost involved in it, and I’m not entirely sure it would work.”

“If… if I could see my daddy again, of course I would want to. I could tell him I’m sorry I died before him. But… what price would you demand from me? I’m sick and tired of everything. The last couple of months have been nothing but misery.”

“You are special, right? Like this bastard there, and me. You were blessed… though I guess you don’t see it that way. All I’m asking is that if you join my cause, work with me, put your powers to good use, I have hopes I can get you a mortal body. You won’t be alive again, I’m not a god, but even so… your life isn’t over.”

She looked up, unsure, and I persisted. It’s too sad to let her pass on like this, and too wasteful as well, if she is an Astral Emperor-candidate, that gives her immense value… “Your powers may be scary, but Shaeula can probably help you control them, so that you only share what you want to. Things may have been awful, the works of an evil man ending your life, but… I can offer a second chance. You can see your father again, maybe even follow your dreams you thought lost forever. All I’m asking is that you work with me, stand in my corner. There are other villains out there, perhaps even worse than this piece of garbage.” I couldn’t help but glare at Kondou again.

Haru-san floated up, hesitating. “I… I’m not sure I can trust… trust anyone. But… I want to go home…”

“Then put your faith in Akio. You were watching the battle, were you not-not?” Shaeula cajoled her. “You saw him risk his life for me, as I did for him. Akio is not-not an evil male, he is kind and generous. You have little to lose-lose, and everything to gain. Join us, and take back what you have lost!”

Slowly, Haru-san nodded. “I… I’ll join you. If I can put this all behind me, then… I’ll do it.” The other three ghosts nodded too, convinced.

“Welcome aboard then. I can’t do anything right now, as my Territory is being upgraded, but… hopefully in the future.” Either by an upgraded Throne of Heroes, or a second one… “Anyway, now onto you.”

“You may speak.” Shaeula allowed Kondou, who suddenly raged at us, though he was not able to complain due to her earlier order.

“When I get out of this, and I will, you two are dead.” He spat. “All the girls I’ve killed belong to me! You’ve ruined everything, now I’ll have to start again from scratch!”

Haru-san flinched back, but Shaeula merely laughed, reassuring her. “Have no fear, Haru. You are under Akio’s protection now-now. This brute can do nothing to hurt you any more-more. He should be more worried about his own fate.”

“Indeed. Shaeula, how strong is your befuddling winds? Can it make him follow any orders?”

“Hmm, it has strengthened significantly, but even so-so, he is strong-willed and can resist. However…” she smirked, eyes glittering brightly, a jade wind blowing around her. “He was already enslaved by that foolish Kiku, and I have stolen her bindings, repurposed them and strengthened them for my use-use. No, he can not-not resist me.”

That’s great news. It gives me a way to handle him, as well as…”Well then, in that case, get him to follow the orders I am about to give him, no matter what.”

“You think you can get away with this?” Kondou snapped, but he was looking scared, I could see his anger was just bluster. “When I get out of here, you are going to pay…”

“No, I think it’s time for you to pay what you owe to your victims.” I declared icily. “Anyway, I want you to…” I spent quite some time explaining what I wished him to do, the ever-increasing look of horror on his face immensely satisfying. It won’t pay for the pain his victims and their families have suffered, but it’ll help them find peace. Plus of course, I benefit… “… and when that’s done you’ll turn yourself into the police, confessing all your sins and crimes feely and fully co-operating with the resulting investigation. You’ll keep all of the talk about the Boundary and mysterious powers out of it of course. But in the end, make sure the police know your guilt is irrefutable.”

“You can’t do that…” he protested, his one eye wild. “If you do…”

“Yeah, since you’ve killed multiple people, it’ll be the death penalty. But if you expect me to have any sympathy, you are a bigger idiot than I thought. Shaeula, will the binding hold?”

She poured out all her remaining wind, strengthening the effect. Kondou quailed under her might, unable to resist. “It will. Now-now, pitiful fool who tried to defeat my Akio, begone-begone and carry out your orders!”

With one last wail Kondou Kazuo returned to the Material, abandoning his Territory for the last time. I turned back to the ghosts, who were watching in silence, shedding further tears of relief. “Will that satisfy? He’ll get the death penalty for sure. I hope it will give you closure, for what that’s worth.”

Haru-san spoke for the others. “You have our thanks. It won’t change what happened, but…”

“But you can move on.” Shaeula finished, and she nodded.

“In that case, we need to finish up here. His Anchor must be in the building somewhere. When it’s destroyed, Shaeula will take you back to my Territory. And… if I can work out how, I’ll let your father know you love him still.” It’s going to be tough when he finds out she’s dead when Kondou confesses… how will he react when she returns in a Material body? Ugh… my head hurts thinking about the problems with it all, but for an Astral Emperor-candidate on my side, it’s worth the effort…

The inside of the hotel was just as vile as the outside, ropey tentacles and heaps of muscle in the corridors. Still, at least Ixitt was enjoying himself, marvelling at the few Buildings we found within. When we reached the top floor, dozens of flesh and crystal structures drew our attention, with the centrepiece being a pillar studded with multiple glittering gems.

“Keh-keh-keh. Fascinating. I could study this for a long time.” Ixitt grinned, fussing over the Anchor.

“Well, I’m afraid I want to finish this up, so you’ll have to give it a miss.” I joked, getting a chagrined grumble in response. “There’ll be plenty of opportunities for research later, on other Territories. This one has to go.” With that I strode up to the Anchor, and using the dagger of light, I drew on my aether, an indigo glow radiating out brilliantly. “Finally, we can stop worrying about invasions for a while.” I whipped my arm forwards and the pillar cracked, some gems shattering. My next blow cut into the flesh, darkness gushing free, and then on my third and final blow the Anchor exploded, all of the remaining buildings around it dissolving into a mass of ether.

You have gained in strength. Your level has increased from forty-three to forty-four.

Your Class, Conqueror, has increased from level 3 to level 5.

Your League has increased.

Sending the large quantity of Ether back to my Territory, finding it easier to absorb it than ever, I welcomed the messages. Rewards for my hard work. Nothing is sweeter than levelling up. I probably have a little time before I have to wake up back in the police station…

“I’m just going to check our gains quickly, then I’m off. You can handle everything, right Shaeula?”

“Of course, I shall settle in our new recruits.” She said proudly.

“All right then…”

[Material Statistics] [Intangible Statistics] Might 257 319 Fortune 15 Fortitude 250 312 Majesty 11 Intellect 270 333 Charm 16 Resilience 281 342 League 7 8 Alacrity 248 310 Determination 7 Precision 281 342 Foresight 5 Aether 781 910 ??? [Material Skills] [Aetheric Skills] Silver Cord Rank 3 Eight Moons Chakra Network Rank 3 Aether Manipulation Rank 4 Rank 5 Aether Combat Technique Rank 3 Heart Chakra Of Wind Rank 4 Wind Manipulation Rank 5 Solar Plexus Chakra Of Flame Rank 3 Flame Manipulation Rank 5 Lunar Chakra Of Wind And Flame Rank 1 Rank 2 Ether Healing Rank 3 Rank 4 [Physical Combat Skills] Spear Technique Rank 3 Sword Technique Rank 1 Combat Technique Rank 2 Wind Spear Technique Elemental Spear Technique Rank 2 [Practical Skills] Ether Crafting Rank 3 [Intangible Skills] [Perceptive Skills] Self-Examination Rank 6 Self-Examination, Territory Rank 5 Kin Examination Rank 5 Rank 6 [Unique Skills] Mystic Eyes Of Perception Rank 0 Kin Bonding And Restoration Rank 3 Foehn, Inextinguishable Blaze Rank 3 [Level] 34 44 [Class]

Fae-Souled 20/30

Kami-Blessed 5/20 Conqueror 2/50 5/50

Territory Rank 2

There hadn’t been a huge amount of changes, but what I had gained was pretty good. All my basic stats went up by a little over sixty points, while Aether was double that. Ether Healing and Aether Manipulation had improved as well, and my Wind Spear Technique had evolved to an elemental one, probably because I was using flame quite a bit as well. I had also picked up the first rank of Sword Technique, the teachings of Ulfuric and watching the samurai use his great skills pushing my understanding high enough to register.

Oh wait, that’s a surprise. I also noticed my lunar chakra had levelled up too, giving me a significant boost to my generation of wind and flame. All in all, it was impossible to complain about my gains.

“I am impressed, Akio. But I feel you will be equally pleased with my growth.” Shaeula hugged me, causing Haru-san to look away, embarrassed, while Ixitt snickered in his usual hacking way.

“Let me see then…”

Shaeula Tu Shae Dannan Noble Fae Wind and Flame Aspect [Material Statistics] [Intangible Statistics] Might 227 287 +5 Fortune 16 17 +0 Fortitude 225 286 +5 Majesty 8 9 +0 Intellect 261 322 +5 Charm 17 18 +0

Resilience 226 288 +5

League 10 +0 Alacrity 273 334 +5 Determination 6 7+0 Precision 242 303 +5 Foresight 3 4 +0 Aether 1315 1507 +5 ??? 1 +0 [Material Skills] [Aetheric Skills] Silver Cord Rank 3 Eight Moons Chakra Network Rank 6 Aether Manipulation Rank 4 Heart Chakra Of Wind Rank 6 Wind Manipulation Rank 5 Solar Plexus Chakra Of Flame Rank 2 Rank 3 Flame Manipulation Rank 3 Lunar Chakra Of Wind And Flame Rank 1 Rank 2 Aether Combat Technique Rank 3 Aetheric Chirurgeon Rank 3 Rank 4 [Physical Combat Skills] Spatial Perception Rank 2 [Intangible Skills] [Unique Skills] Mystic Eyes Of Perception Rank 5 Kin Bonding And Restoration Rank 5 Blessing Of Fortunate Winds Rank 4 Blessing Of Befuddling Winds Rank 2 Rank 4 Foehn, Wind-Eating Breath Rank 3 Lovers' Link Rank 4 [Level] 16/20 22/23 [Class]

Great Wind And Flame Fae 12/20 15/20

Pledged One 8/10

[Mastered Class] Wind Fae 10/10

“You aren’t kidding.” I hugged her tighter. “You’ve powered up a ton. Your lunar chakra has increased in potency, as has your solar plexus chakra. Stat boosts across the board, and your befuddling winds have jumped two ranks. No wonder you can command that bastard Kondou Kazuo.”

“There is still much-much room to grow.” Shaeula snuggled me. “Still, I am exhausted, having drained all my wind binding that disgusting male. I need a good-good rest.”

“Well, when you see everyone back to our Territory, now the threat is gone, why not take a break, play some games, have some beer? You deserve it.”

“I shall do that.” Shaeula affirmed. “But will you be fine-fine, Akio? If those police mistreat you, I shall chastise them harshly.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve got a plan. I’ll be back before you know it.” With a final hug and kiss I departed for the Material once more, opening my eyes to a bloodstained bed. Oh yeah, my back got cut up, right? With Ether Healing I didn’t think much of it. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter, I have bigger things to worry about today…

Looking at the morning sun leaking through the windows of my admittedly rather cosy cell, I waited for the police to come and question me…