Back at the Mizuhashi mansion, the other four Vessels were still busy doing their own thing. But almost all at once, they froze when they heard four familiar beepings and they could only come from one source.
"The Shifters!" all four of them exclaimed at the same time.
With that, each had focused on their respective Celestial Shifters. The lotus symbol on each of them was blinking. Shuichi pushed a button on the side of his Celestial Shifter and let it project a holographic screen that showed a larger version of the city map. Aside from one blinking black dot, he also saw a moving blue dot.
"Eichirou's already heading to the scene. We have to hurry, as well," Shuichi suggested.
The others nodded and they immediately left the house.
Nanami went out of the kitchen and she could only watch the closed door with concerned eyes.
"Good luck... and be careful, everyone."
xxxxxx
Eichirou finally arrived at the scene of the attack as he panted. Well, he did run as fast as he could to reach the place. But he was surprised to see several people lying on the ground.
"What happened here?" he could only mutter.
He approached one of them and checked on it. He was relieved to know that they were only unconscious. But who in the world could have done this?
His question was answered upon hearing a thud as if someone had collapsed. He looked around and saw a fish-headed and fully-scaled Triske Monster. Eichirou couldn't help scrunching his nose as he covered it. Sheesh! Even the smell around was like a full metal drum of dead stinking fishes!
"What kind of dead ocean did this fish monster come from?" It took him just a few moments to realize that he said that out loud. He clamped his mouth with his other hand. "I'm dead!"
Unfortunately for him, his words caught the Triske Monster's attention. The same goes for the Gargonema.
"Take his energy, scales!" The monster fired a fish scale as large as a dinner plate toward Eichirou.
He managed to evade it and it hit a Gargonema that was about to attack him from the back. But he was surprised what the scale could do. Its size has a reason---the scale was large enough to cover one's face. So when that scale covered a human's face, it would send an electric shock as it sucked human energy. The scale would disappear once its job was done, leaving an unconscious and helpless human behind.
The Gargonema that took the hit from the scale, however, was a different case. It was melting from the electric shock sent by that single fish scale.
"Oh, boy! Now I'm dead," Eichirou said, only to himself. With that, he prepared himself for the next attack.
He saw the Triske Monster become enraged with what happened. "Gargonema, take him!"
Groups of Gargonema charged toward him but he braced himself for that. They all had swords and spears but Eichirou still managed to take them on one after another. At one point, he used one of Gargonema's spears to defeat them all.
"How did you---?"
Eichirou exhaled and threw away the spear he used as soon as he eliminated the Gargonema attacking him. He soon faced the surprised Triske Monster. "You want to know how?"
He held out his arm with the Celestial Shifter placed on it which earned him a gasp from the monster.
"It can't be! You're---!"
"Introductions later. Let me do my thing first." He pushed the button on his Shifter needed for him to transform. "Spirit Shift, Start!"
As soon as he finished reciting his transformation phrase, the sequence began. Seconds later, he donned his blue warrior suit together with his Hyakureider on the holster of his belt.
"Let's get on with it!" SeitenWater fought the approaching Gargonema with just his strength. He didn't even need to use his Hyakureider or even his Water Shark Spear to deal with them.
But he couldn't help thinking that something still felt wrong with what was happening.
Unknown to him, one person was hiding in one of the nearby alleys watching the battle. The surprised look on her face was evident as she continued watching.
"Eichirou..." was the only word Kanako could muster. But her voice held the faith she had for her friend to defeat the monster.
"Eichirou!"
"Eichirou-san!" SeitenWater turned to see the others---already in their Seitenger form---approaching him.
"Don't mind me. Go after the Triske Monster! Be careful with his scales, though." And he continued dealing with the Gargonema.
The others hurried to the Triske Monster Cyone's location. But before any of them could strike Cyone, the monster fired five fish scales at them that exploded soon after and struck them down.
"Everyone!" SeitenWater kicked the last Gargonema he was fighting as hard as he could before approaching his friends. "Are you alright?"
"What the hell was that?" SeitenEarth mumbled as he struggled to stand up.
"Truly not a regular fish scale," SeitenWind stated.
"Be careful not to get hit with that fish scale on the face or your energies will be sucked with it."
SeitenFire chuckled. "That's why you said 'be careful with his scales'."
SeitenWater helped his friends stand up before they faced another group of Gargonema.
"Oh, come on! Do we have to deal with these bone-faced soldiers again?" SeitenLight asked exasperatingly.
"No choice," SeitenEarth replied placidly as he took out his blade-extracted Hyakureider to fight the Gargonema.
"More humans, more energy... Have I gathered everyone's energy in this city?" Cyone muttered as he frantically scanned the area. Until--- "There!"
SeitenEarth heard it that made him stop fighting the Gargonema and observe the Triske Monster. He was surprised to see where Cyone was heading to. "Kanako-san, get away from here!"
Of course, what the green warrior yelled had caught SeitenWater's attention.
"Kana-chan!"
But it was too late for Kanako. Before she could start running away...
"You're mine!" Cyone fired a fish scale that turned into something elastic and covered Kanako's face.
All she could do was scream in pain as electricity stunned Kanako's body and absorbed her energy at the same time. In anger, SeitenWater charged toward Cyone and attacked it with his Hyakureider; the blade was emanating a blue glow. But the monster blocked it as if it was nothing. Yet it didn't bother SeitenWater as he continued striking Cyone with all his rage and might.
Moments had passed. Kanako collapsed as soon as the fish scale that covered her face had disappeared. The other four Seitengers were just done eliminating the Gargonema and they rushed to the unconscious Kanako's side as they disintegrated their transformations.
"Kanako-san, hang in there!"
"Kanako!"
SeitenWater continued striking Cyone that pushed the Triske Monster into the corner. But before the blue warrior could deliver his final blow, a dark rune circle appeared beneath Cyone and absorbed the monster. He halted to a stop upon seeing that. The grip he had on his sword tightened.
"Kanako / Kanako-san!"
He was startled upon hearing that. When SeitenWater turned, he disabled his transformation and rushed to Kanako's side. He cradled the girl that Shuichi held and tried waking her up.
"Kana-chan, wake up! It's me, Eichirou," he called as he lightly tapped her cheek.
They noticed Kanako's eyes slowly fluttered open as she let out a moan. But it didn't take them long before they figured out that Kanako was struggling because of the immense loss of energy.
"Are you okay?" Eichirou queried with worries.
Kanako smiled weakly. "I can't believe it... Eichirou is... one of the chosen Vessels..."
The Vessels all had surprised looks on their faces when they heard that.
"Y-you know about it, Kana-chan?"
In the same weak manner, Kanako nodded. "I'm glad..." After that, she fully lost consciousness.
Eichirou tried waking her up but to no avail. Soon after, Itsuki noticed Eichirou clenching his fist as he carried the girl's body.
Moments later, Shuichi and Misae assisted Eichirou as the latter started walking away. Erika stopped when she noticed her brother intently looking at the photographer's walking figure.
"Is there something wrong, Onii-chan?" To be honest, she wasn't comfortable seeing her older brother like this.
Itsuki sighed and shook his head. "It's nothing. Let's go."
xxxxxx
At the Mizuhashi mansion, the two adults became slightly frantic upon seeing the Vessels come home with an unconscious Kanako in Eichirou's arms. They put her in one of the spare rooms and let her rest there while Hideoki and Nanami tried to find a way to heal her.
As the two adults did so, all the Vessels could do was watch. In some ways, it was frustrating for them. They truly wanted to help but they didn't know how to do that. More than that, it was surprising for them to learn that Kanako knew about the Vessels.
How did that happen?
But for Eichirou, that fact wasn't the only thing that worried him. He didn't know that, even if he didn't say anything, Itsuki's observation of his movements was enough for the younger boy to realize what exactly was bothering Eichirou.
"Is she going to be alright, Hideoki-san?" Misae queried hopefully as she approached the said man.
"Thankfully, she wasn't injured. Only her energy was taken. A long rest is all she needed. But just to be sure---" he paused and faced the young archer. "---why don't you heal here, Misae?"
Of course, what Hideoki said had surprised not only Misae but also the other Vessels.
"Me? Heal her? I can't do that! I don't even know how."
"You can, Misae. From your training a while back, I managed to observe your abilities awakened in each of you," Nanami informed with a smile. "Just by looking at the ball of Hasureiki you summoned earlier during your training, I learned of your healing powers using the combination of your Hasureiki and your wind powers."
Though still feeling a bit hesitant, Misae knew that there was no way Nanami would lie to her about her abilities. Besides, she also had to heal a friend. And if she truly could heal, she might as well try doing it.
But before she could start, the sound of the door suddenly opening startled her. They all turned around to know who did that.
"Akira-kun! Natsume-kun!" Erika exclaimed but later frowned. "What are you two doing here?"
"We heard about what happened in the city. A total of 47 people, including Kanako-san, fell victim to Cyone's scales. The paramedics took them to the nearby hospitals to recover," Akira, the son of Nanami, informed as he watched his friend Natsume approach the unconscious Kanako that Misae was trying to heal.
"Cyone? That's the Triske Monster's name?"
Akira nodded in a response to Shuichi's question. "He was listed in the old records of Triske Monsters created during the ancient times. Though if you would ask me, I'm still surprised as to how someone managed to get ahold of those records."
"Kanako-nee, can you hear me? It's me, Natsume." The 18-year-old friend of Akira and cousin of Kanako could only say as he tried to call out to the girl.
"Cyone got her. It must have taken a great deal of energy from Kanako-san," Erika muttered.
Silence surrounded the room for a few moments. At that time, Itsuki remembered something. "Natsume, does this mean you knew about the Vessels, as well?"
The said boy faced the composer and nodded somberly. "Kanako-nee and I knew about it for a long time now. Her father told us about it when we were still kids."
Could that be the reason why Kanako stayed by Eichirou's side all this time?
"But we didn't know that you guys are the chosen Vessels up until now," Natsume continued. "We were only told that even though the previous Vessels lost their powers during the great battle, we still had to do our best to support the next chosen Vessels---whoever they might be. We must support the Vessels with all we got, after all."
None of them could say anything after hearing all that. Seriously, who would've thought that the people they knew all this time would have a great connection to the Vessels that Shuichi, Eichirou, Itsuki, Misae, and Erika had become?
Misae heaved a deep breath and did her best to heal Kanako. Just as she was told during the training, she just needed to concentrate her Hasureiki on one point for her to achieve the result she wanted. With that, she placed her hand right above Kanako's chest, and almost immediately, a yellow glow surrounded her hand.
'Please... Help me heal my friend. Help me heal the person that is special to Eichirou-san.' Misae doesn't know to whom she was praying to, but she hoped someone would hear it so she could do her job well.
xxxxxx
Cyone filled the gigantic statue of Emperor Darshao with the energies he collected from the humans earlier. The stone sword that served as a measuring device lighted out but only for a few seconds. The light raged on for just a few seconds and revealed that only a sixth portion of the sword---from the tip of the blade going up---remained lighted.
It only meant that the energies collected only filled a sixth part of the statue.
"This is amazing, Cyone... but not enough. His Majesty needs more than just this. We also need the energy and this amount could only sustain two of the Shadow Defenders," Karkino stated as he remained eyeing the statue.
"Of course, Lieutenant, I know that. But I didn't even say that I'm done collecting energies and negative emotions," Cyone responded as he bowed. "I'm also doing this to appease Siriso-sama's rage. He'd make sure to see the end of the Vessels once and for all."
But all Cyone got as a reply to that was a scornful scoff. It didn't seem to bother the Triske Monster as he left the Great Hall.
"See the end of the Vessels? With those puny skills? We'll see about that." Through Karkino's words alone, one would truly think the said Lieutenant doubted if it would happen anytime soon. They must not underestimate the Vessels. After all, Hideoki was the one guiding those kids.
And they knew how formidable Hideoki could be.
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