"Chiyasu, quickly… chase after her! We do not know her intentions!"
Chiyasu seemed reluctant at first, but the last part compelled her to leave following the escaping queen's trace. After a nod from Noboru, Laila did the same, and Noboru seemed to want to follow suit and chase after her but a bursting ball of silver light cut his way out.
"Do not even think of running away! Your battle is against me now!"
Noboru turned at Ayumi, who did not care in the slightest for her injuries and pain.
"Do you really need to carry on this battle now? The previous queen had completely awakened, and believe me, she is anything but an ally to anyone of you!"
The dark haired man stated, and by Amaterasu's last disdainful look at the girl, he was probably right. Still, Ayumi did not allow him to distract her, anger and bitterness still overwhelming her for what he had done to her parents souls.
"I will deal with this later… I know at least I will be facing someone worthy, unlike you… a despicable monster!"
The thin traditional samurai blade joined Ayumi's light, as the prince of souls spoke.
"You have tampered with the souls of the dead, and by this you have crossed a domain no one dares disturb, not nature itself and for this you will be punished!"
Despite the conjoining powers of Ayumi's light and the prince's aura, Noboru did not seem threatened, maintaining his smirking expression. While not sparing Ayumi a glance, his gaze was focused mockingly at the young man standing next to her, looking at him with a sardonic smile barely concealing the resentment deriving it.
"Is this the sole reason you are after me, is it truly why you are visible now, trotting in everyone's sight unlike the souls you command?"
"I believe you do not need the ask this particular question as you are just as aware of the answer as I am… and I wholeheartedly believe you are as angry about it as I am as well!"
For the first time, even after witnessing his enemy's complete revival, brought indirectly by his own doing, as her soul was somehow dormant and sealed within his own sword that he used to slay her, Noboru's lips twitched with a rage he hardly contained. His priority was to chase after the previous queen and end her before she manages to take control over her power fully, but he was cornered and insulted in a way he could not tolerate or dismiss despite his habit of brushing off insults since his power had always favored his side and led him to victory in every battle.
"I will not disturb your rest any longer, I will send you where you belong with the same swiftness you have left it with!"
Freed of the late queen's trapped soul, the dragon sword emanated with yet a darker aura than before, stronger than any released during the recent battles, dreadful and harrowing just to feel and be in its presence. Nevertheless, the prince of souls and Ayumi showed no signs of wavering or fear. Reiha joined their side, backing them with her wind. At the clash of all these ancient powers, the house started to shake threatening to collapse. Ayumi was already gritting her teeth while being pushed back, but upon feeling herself once more against the prince's chest, protected and promised safety with his power grounding her and magnifying her attack, she did not allow herself to fall, not this time, even the floor beneath her feet shook and the ceiling started to crack, but she refused to back down or lose her will and wit. For the first time, she directly ordered the princess of the wind.
"We have a strong ally here, Reiha… protect my grandmother and get her out of here!"
Admiring her new found resolution, Reiha did not argue, disappearing into the second floor where Chiyasu's barrier around the old woman had faded and lost its effectiveness.
"Do you not have a wish? I can grant it right here and now, away from all this chaos that is destined to last."
Reiha turned her face, and indeed, Hina was there holding her box outward like an offering to the princess.
"You carry a noble wish, one of longing and love… it could be yours right now."
The doll – like child spoke in her chiming tone, like an old incantation, compelling but not in a pleasant or bewitching manner. However, the child had chosen the the worst target to offer her the box.
"I do not need magic, I do not even need my own powers to fulfill my wish and dream!"
Though hesitant to attack the innocent – looking child who looked like she would shatter to pieces of gravel and porcelain at the softest touch, Reiha knew she had to take her down and destroy that ominous box of wishes. She would not even need to resort to a destructive attack, a breeze could probably knock the child down, though she could not be as certain regarding the deceptively looking fragile box. Still, she went for it, sending one of her breezes in the child's direction who did not attempt to dodge, making the princess question if she had made the right call, and the answer did not delay.
Opening with a soft crack, the box absorbed that breeze, caging it without closing itself, Reiha could not comprehend how that was possible and she commanded the breeze to destroy the box or vanish but neither happened.
"Whatever enters that box is overtaken by the wish made upon it… even if it traces back to past centuries… and only I can command this box and what it holds."
Reiha's pupils dilated in horror at the implied disaster to come. Holding the old woman, she immediately reappeared at the first floor where Ayumi and the prince of souls were battling Noboru.
"Quickly! Cease the fight… everything will be destroyed in an instant!"
Reiha yelled in warning at the same time the storm agitating up floor started to knock down everything and tear the house apart, even Noboru was pushed by the raging currents of wind blowing with the power of a thousand dragons breaths, not needing flames to inflict damage and summon death.
"What are you talking about? What's happening?!"
Ayumi's voice was hardly heard amidst the storm, and so was Reiha's answer.
"There is no time to answer… it is too dangerous here!"
"She is right…"
The prince of souls affirmed Reiha's worries as he sensed the sinister wind that should not pertain to an ally to the light, but while he was making sure Ayumi was not plucked by the raging wind, holding her hand firmly, the dark sharp end of Noboru's sword had managed to pierce through the merciless storm, aimed with perfect precision despite the clashing currents of deadly breezes at the prince's heart. Ayumi quickly noticed this, and before the prince moved his hand to block the sword's path, she reached first, her palm exuding with a powerful gush of pure light and deflected the attack without even touching the sword. Noboru wanted to go for a second attack, if it were not for Hina appearing beside him, uttering few simple words.
"Too dangerous, this wind is cursed!"
Still, the wielder of the dragon – sword did not heed her words and went for a second chance at stabbing the prince, focusing on him rather than Ayumi. Hina's face though conveying no emotions, left her act to do so, as she closed the box after releasing the entire storm, then opened it once again engulfing herself and Noboru in a different dark aura, her own, and with this simple act, the two vanished.
"Come back… come back you monster!"
Ayumi shouted trying to break free from the prince's grasp, but he steadied her, turning her face toward him, their flying hair obstructing their vision but not the sincere promise his gaze carried.
"I promise we will get him, he cannot go unpunished… but there are innocent lives at stake here! Do not lose yourself to him!"
Ayumi's body tried to break free from him on its own disregarding all reason and facts, but she quickly regained her senses and calmed down moored by the gaze staying tranquil and steady amidst the danger they were trapped inside. She took a deep breath, gently removing the prince's arm and nodding quietly.
"Reiha… can you not control this wind? Is it not yours?"
Ayumi's tone was still quiet, she was simply asking but for some reason Reiha's face betrayed a feeling of guilt as she replied in a similarly quiet manner.
"It has been defiled by that child's box… it is no longer mine."
At any other time, Ayumi would have thought this explanation to be strange, and far from possible. After all, Reiha commanded the wind, tender or furious, but after all that had happened she could not think of anything clearly or connect any dots, let alone draw lines of conclusions or assumptions.
"My house is going be destroyed…"
Ayumi whimpered, shaking a little, and Reiha wanting to urge everyone to leave immediately, failed to utter the demand seeing Ayumi's shoulders brought together and her back getting smaller.
"I refuse to let this happen…"
Reiha's eyes flared with worry at Ayumi's statement and she gripped her, forcing her to move out quickly amidst the whirling tornadoes, but the girl stood stubbornly in her place and with a shaking voice she shouted.
"Scepter of light, come to my aid now!"
Ayumi's shaking voice was not out of fear but of sadness as she was summoning all of her power, and the scepter indeed did not delay to answer her call, materializing in her hand, ready to obey her command. Realizing her intention, the princess of the wind worries and concerns intensified, reflecting that she was the one in fact harboring fear. She urged Ayumi, trying to deter her from fighting this storm.
"This wind is cursed to destroy everything and kill everyone, no matter who they are… even if you are the queen of light…"
But it was too late, and for the first time Reiha had to step back in the face of her elemental power, while the new queen grasped the scepter commanding.
"I will not lose my home as well! Go, purify this vile tempest and vanquish it!"
Light started to flow out of the fractured scepter like a cloudless sky pouring with lambent rain. The howling storm turned even more fierce in the face of the lustrous rays infiltrating it, seizing it like heavenly reins into submission, purifying a rage accumulated in one night and left to bent up silently through the passage of centuries where it was sealed in the form of a cursed wind. The storm resisted as if it was fighting a death battle, defying any redemption, until lucent drops of light, similar to the tears cursing that wind and unleashing it at that fateful night, joined the silver rays.
Only sorrow could understand sorrow. Only loss could purify loss.
Reiha was stunned at what she thought was impossible, hiding it and battling it every day and night as she saw the tempest of her rage and hatred purified and vanished.
"Thank you."
Looking at the scepter, Ayumi uttered her thanks as she witnessed the additional fractures running through the holy item, holding itself together by the girl's wish and will.
"Ayumi…"
Reiha did not know what to say, the house did sustain a lot of damage, but it was salvageable, and most important of all, her grandmother was safe and unharmed. The princess wanted to comment on Ayumi's courage and self - control, but the girl had already held herself to the max and could no longer lean on that strength or determination.
"Noboru has to be stopped, and the previous queen must be sent where she belongs to the afterlife… I have to go and make sure of this…"
The prince of souls sheathed his sword and turned without addressing anything or even bidding farewells. Nevertheless, he stopped when he heard a loud thud and turned to check.
Ayumi was on her knees, her entire body trembling violently, her wounds bleeding and finally, her tears running unrestrained.
"I never had a chance to say a proper goodbye to my parents… I do not even have a beautiful memory of when I last saw them… and when I did get the chance… they were angry at me… and though I know I deserve it… I still could not say a proper goodbye or ask for their forgiveness… this is my true last memory of them… their angry souls trying to kill me…"
The girl clinched her fists till they turned white as she bounded the wooden floor in the hallway. Her tears flowed like an endless stream of regret and self – loathing, drowning every good memory she had of her parents where the news of their death surfaced fighting every current trying to push them down. At the sight, Reiha and the prince realized what these lucent drops of light that helped subdue the storm of hatred and destruction were; Ayumi's tears.
Only a faithful regret could undo itself.
"Why do not I give you the chance to create one last happy memory with your parents?"
Hearing these words, the girl raised her head at the words uttered like a warm promise that the prince, breaking every law he had to carry and obey, did not hesitate to carry on. And indeed, in a second, at his command, Ayumi's parents' souls reappeared out of nothing, this time as pure white orbs with no trace of corruption or malice.
"Mother… father…"
The two orbs approached the girl calmly, floating like a pair of snow fairies, resting in their daughter's extended palms and filling her shivering body with a sweet warmness that only love could offer. Ayumi hugged the two orbs close to her heart, asking for forgiveness over and over again. In response to their daughter's unjustified distress, they kept glowing stronger and stronger trying to convey to her that there was nothing to ask forgiveness for, fate could be cruel but it still granted them this moment and just like that, she should always expect the bad and the good, facing them with equal strength and determination, and embracing these two possibilities with the same courage and understanding.
"I am sorry Ayumi… but I cannot let them linger any longer…"
"I understand…"
Ayumi nodded, holding one last time to the orbs cradled in her arms like two little moons promising to lighten her path whenever she finds herself lost in the dimness of her mind.
A serene flute played the departure tune, while Ayumi watched her parents' souls float away engulfed in sakura petals before they disappeared forever, leaving behind the good and bad memories warped in the promise of protection and the warmth of unconditional love.
The prince put away his flute, Reiha nodding respectively to him for the forbidden chance he gave the girl while the latter struggled to stand to deliver her sincere thanks, the pain of her physical wounds hindering her, so she raised her head and opened her mouth to utter her thanks, but before she could say a single word, turning half way through to depart, the prince of souls spoke.
"Ayumi, it is not you… you have got this all wrong… your parents were never angry at you, they blame you for nothing, and if anything, they are always worried about you and watching over you. I can assure you of this; they are truly proud of you!"
Ayumi's lips started to quiver again, words of how much she was grateful for the message the prince relayed would be nowhere near what she wanted to express, they would only fail to convey her true feelings. Looking at the young man, his sword by his waist and his float in his belt, surrounded with the ageless blossoms of death but also of hope, her heart could finally beat with ease, and her breaths could finally leave her body unburdened by pain or regret. The wounds of her body mattered nothing against the deep wound she had always carried in silence, healed at last by the message the prince just conveyed.
Tears continued to flow down Ayumi's face, and she did not know what these tears were for… sadness, longing, joy, gratefulness, love… it did not matter, maybe they were all of these feelings and this only added to their sincerity and purity.
Sometimes hundreds of souls could only be saved by fighting for their sake, but sometimes, they could be saved by one faithful word.
"Thank you…"
Ayumi did not need to voice her appreciation, her myriad of tears and the sincere smile she could finally don with no pretense were the perfect letter of gratitude she could send the young man with the sword of death and the flute of peace.