That bright shimmering sliver light, growing stronger and stronger as it purified the souls of the desperate sinners crawling toward it, became almost a blinding full moon for few moments till nothing of those monstrous creatures remained but a similar sliver glow dissipating peacefully. Though witnessing with their own eyes Amaterasu's golden compelling light, Reiha and Chiyasu stood speechless and dumbfounded at the sight unfolding in front of them of the golden light re-birthed anew silver.
This was not just the scepter following Ayumi's order and performing its duty, it was acknowledging its new queen at last; a pledge of fidelity, an oath of acceptance and obedience.
The holy item of light had finally recognized the girl, moving past the late queen and the remaining two princesses did not know how to feel about this display. Their feelings became conflicted, happiness for the girl who had finally started to gain control over the power passed down to her, but at the same a tinge of a sorrow and foreboding at the thought of the previous memory turning a real one, with nothing to testify to its presence at one olden time, especially if they were to obtain the spear, to dissipate as well into nothing more than another memory destined to fade with no evidence of her existence or any belongings to remind of the steps the queen took upon this earth and the flights she crossed with the sky.
Ayumi needed no words from Reiha or Chiyasu to understand what had just happened, she could feel it in her soul and touch it in her heart. Slowly, the figments of a repeated dream she had always had of Amaterasu was starting to blur and disappear completely from her recollection, enticing the same conflicted feelings the two princesses were going through.
Silence fell, hovering thick and suffocating like the heat that continued to rise inside the tunnel, so tense it could not even be burned by that smothering hell. Ayumi felt she had to say something, and the first words that came to her mind and danced on her tongue was "I am sorry…" but before she could utter a single letter, recognizing what she was about to express and say, Chiyasu cut her demandingly, with wide eyes glaring with fury and astonishment.
"Do not you dare say a single word."
With this, Ayumi kept her apology that was truly unnecessary if she carefully thought about the matter, to herself and Reiha merely beckoned the two girls to keep going down the tunnel to end this awkwardness that was amenable to turn into any form of chaos at any unexpected moment.
Getting on the route once again, Ayumi and Reiha did not stop sneaking glances at Chiyasu. While the first was trying to decipher the princess of the earth mood and reaction, the latter was carefully hunting for killing or fighting instincts. Ayumi could read the meaning behind Reiha's glances but could not tell their reason. Did not Chiyasu hate and despise Amaterasu, what was that sudden inexplicable reaction for?
Deeper into the tunnel, none of the three princesses had time to think about anything besides the rising temperature, resembling a hellish torment, and the walls that began to steam with heat and radiate with frightening redness evaporating into black vapors, like a rose seared into passionate smokes.
"What is with this heat and smoke? It feels as if we are inside a volcano…"
Ayumi commented, attempting a joke to elicit any reaction out of her two silent companions but by Reiha's expression; flipping her lips in annoyance while muttering something or chewing the inside of her cheek, Ayumi could not tell, all while nodding lightly, it seemed the joke had landed into the realm of reality.
They were inside a volcano, one that Reiha could easily tell to whom it belonged by the scorching temperature and haunting redness.
After many detours, voices came to be heard and the three princesses slowed their pace and proceeded carefully, hiding behind a giant rock, Reiha almost chocking Ayumi to prevent her scream of pain as her poor hand leaned on the flaming rock. The sounds grew louder but not angrier, and they were all familiar; The annoying chirping complaining about the hotness ruining her make-up, that deep calm tone that Ayumi had only once heard yet recognized immediately, and finally, the melodious yet sharply tempting and demanding voice she had also a perilous encounter with.
"Great, just what we needed!"
Chiyasu finally spoke, like a stone that had come to life after a spell, making Ayumi jump slightly as the princess of earth had kept the furious stunned visage throughout the walk down the tunnel.
Laila, Noboru and Enya were all there, together, for some reason.
Sensing they had been discovered, Reiha tried to conceal their presence, but her magic failed her as this place doubtlessly fell to Enya's power and command, just like another territory of hers.
The princess's of the fire eyes darted to the rock behind which the three intruders hid, making it burst with flames with a single glance, while Noboru, sensing the three's presence as well remained calm and collective and Laila was already laughing and waving at them, amused by the sight of the three princesses jumping in panicked surprise at the sudden burst of flames, barely evading being burnt to crisps by an inch.
Seeing Enya standing comfortably at the midst of the scorching belly of the volcano, though maintaining an uncharacteristic silence and refraining from any verbal attacks upon seeing the princess of the wind gave the explanation the three seeking the spear of light were looking for. This place belonged to the princess of the fire, she had her own method and way of entering, Noriko's defenses and spells posing no hindrances to her entrance, and those creatures, the grave robbers and the other pallbearers had managed to sneak inside alongside the princess who either did not care enough to notice them or most probably deemed them to have no worth and pause no threat.
Noboru was standing on the opposite side of a flowing river of lava, Laila behind him fanning herself with her giant ax. The princess of the fire and the murderer of the previous queen stood on opposite sides of the agitated river, as if negotiating without sharing a common ground, a necessary agreement of some sort but without the need to solidify it with a shared stance or a signature of trust.
Despite the obvious display of omitting the need to declare trust, Reiha eyed the silent red – haired princess silently before speaking, disregarding the bigger threat standing on the other side.
"I see you are only drowning lower and lower, you are not even trying to reach the surface at this point."
"My deal with Noboru had never been broken, it is yours who was violated by your own betrayal."
The princess of the fire crossed her arms defensively, her eyes now darting high and mighty though omitting to relay her facts with the complete truth as evidenced by Reiha's derisively twisted up lips.
With this encounter, Reiha had one enemy she could attack even if she desired to choose a different opponent, so it was up to Chiyasu and Ayumi to keep a vigilant eye and a ready stance, never allowing Noboru who had kept his feudal appearance and airy composure and Laila whose mascara was running dark trails like a wailing widow out of their sight.
"What betrayal is to be spoken about when the scepter Amaterasu carved out of her own soul had abandoned her?"
The comment came suddenly like the gush of the fireballs exploding every few seconds from the walls in random directions, leaving unexpectedly Noboru's lips, leaving Ayumi standing on her toes despite her focused attention on the latter. The girl was still feeling a bit conflicted about the scepter's shift of alliance, but it was the scepter's choice, so she could not let the words definitely meant to break her will and spirit affect her.
"If you are so considerate about this change, care to take a taste of the scepter's new power? I assure you, it is still seeking justice against you!"
Ayumi pointed her weapon at the dark – haired man, who had tied his head in a high lush ponytail for practicality, he was even more sensible than Laila who kept her long hair free sticking with thick sweat to her nape and forehead, while wondering, but keeping the question to herself, about how he could tell what had transpired with the holy item of light and its change of allegiance.
Hearing the threat ready to turn into action, it was neither Laila nor the threatened man himself who decided to interfere. A hellish lasso drove a deeper wedge between the two opposing parties, each descending there for their own purposes, almost skinning the hand aiming the holy weapon. Enya was not the only one jumping into immediate action, Reiha charged at her with the same speed Enya unleashed her fiery whip with, freezing her own whips of wind to counter the flaming ones, both powers cancelling each other.
"I wish we could take seats at a civilized table while the main meal simmer properly, but at this place it would only be our ribs and bones barbecued."
Laila offered sarcastically, drawing Ayumi's and the her two companions attention to what was actually being held and performed at the depth of the volcano.
The blazing reflections of the throbbing lava and flames were not the only shadows dancing on the walls. Silhouettes that possessed no bodies or figures clawed with their nonexistent arms at the burning rocky palisades. Shapes slayed and mutilated in various vicious methods gaped the dark holes where their mouths and tongues used to be, trying to pry screams of agony and vengeance from throats that had long since perished along their bodies. Yet still somehow, their wailing resonated louder than the silence they were buried inside it. No figures to trail these shadows to, Ayumi and her companions did not need to look for long to discern from where these tortured creatures of darkness were being cast from.
Like a phoenix that had never disintegrated into ashes, the Stygian sword soared within the rising flames, the spheres of magma surrounding it sliding across its blade like deathly small suns, its dark aura overcoming their blazing glow, reflecting only dark shadows upon the volcano's walls. And although it was a single object, the reflections it cast were many, interlacing like desperate hands and caged wings. Throngs of Onibi sprang out of the fiery river, the manifested shadows belonging in parts to them. Trapped in the incandescent river with the weapon that claimed their lives and stole their destinies finally reappearing where it was forged, they clung with a powerful and bent up desire for revenge and justice, as futile and unmanageable as that desire was. Appearing as mere globes of raging ghost fire, their shadows revealed other forms, the forms of the humans they were once. Though barely recognizable since they were no more than indistinct figures, one could tell the span of centuries these victims belonged to, clothes and hairstyles from different eras, ornaments pertaining to various decades told of the persistent bloody quest of that blade.
Just how old was Noboru? He looked no more than in his late twenties, even younger. But were not the other princesses the same, ancient souls preserving their youthful appearances and abilities by the grace of the powers they were endowed with?
"Helping Noboru purify his sword with your fiendish flames? You are truly despicable!"
Chiyasu fumed at the mouth, while Reiha preferred actions to words, attacking the princess once more and ending with another draw.
"What could Noboru possibly offer you?"
" I wait for nothing from no body, I do as I please, and I take what I want!"
Enya commented smugly, as if the supposedly main enemy was not standing right there with his minion. But Noboru was not bothered, neither enthralled by the fiery spectacle of his sword being purified from Noriko's spiritual powers and the vengeful souls trying to seek revenge like a dawn splitting a murky night.
The show could not go for any longer, and a strategy was quickly agreed upon. Reiha charged at the princess of fire, doubling her speed and power, though still far from reaching the level of her true simmering rage and fury, while Chiyasu and Ayumi took on Noboru and Laila. Since the man did not regain his weapon yet, the main fight was against Laila, who huffed and puffed but still fought more furiously than usual, as she would not allow her amusement by what the outcome of breaking the priestess's spell could turn into.
The princess of the darkness ax did not suffer the heat, it fed on it honing its edge to its fullest satisfaction. On the other hand, Chiyasu's roots and branches were burning by the mere contact with black ax. The scepter did not stay still, sending beams and gushes of sliver light in tides but Laila was no easy opponent, and she was facing a sole foe practically as Chiyasu's powers were almost rendered useless. However, suddenly, and without Ayumi's prayers or thoughts, parts of the silver light started to envelop the princess of the earth roots and branches protecting them from burning and enabling them to attack and defend their commander.
"What a cute truce!"
Laila laughed, her enthusiasm becoming more dangerous, making her forget the heat of the boiling battleground. Chiyasu, unlike her opponent was not happy, but she prioritized the need for winning the battle and destroying the sword. Nevertheless, anger seized her heart because she knew something, she felt it deep in her heart and thus she was certain of it. What had just happened was not Ayumi's will but the will of another.
Throughout the messy battle, where wind danced with fire and light courted darkness while the earth shook and juddered, everyone's eyes darted every now and then toward the cursed weapon. Its translucent part remained pellucid as if repelling in disgusted refusal the blackened flames, but by Noboru's lack of concern, it seemed that part of the sword had always been like that. However, the man suddenly made a move, reaching his hand and in an instant, the three princesses of earth, wind and light jumped to prevent him from summoning the sword.