The clang of foot-steps pulsed across the aerosphere of the mansion's furtive and sequestered corridor. Vespera Shikyo perambulated into one of his isolated chambers, scrutinizing his multitude of weapons.

He brushed his callous fingers through the steel of a golden blade on top of the solitary shelf. Vespera's purple irises perused the metal of the weapon, swiping his hand onto the name illustrated on the rapier's material.

"Your death truly was anomalous." Vespera throatily rumbled, his voice itself vociferous and echoing. He stepped back from the secluded blade's shelf, sauntering into his palace's surreptitious corridor. "My dear..."

The carriage of Karasuu's family rolled through another one of the realm's multifarious paths. I peered into the window of our Ryiose-driven vehicle, perusing the outside view of the saloon.

I heard from Karasuu Demise was more of a private type of dimension. They were secluded from the germinated society all of the supplemental realities created and would keep themselves reclusive.

Karasuu and Wukong were both unconscious, slouching their bodies into the satiny fabric of the carriage. I canted my skull, settling it onto the ebony-painted wood of this mode of transportation.

I, myself, slumped into the velvety material of the vehicle's chair, my sapphire irises inspecting the obsidian-molecules frolicking in the dimension's empyrean. It was truly a sight of virtue itself.

Karasuu's little squad of individuals were all designated in a different carriage - while the guards were on their own Ryioses, their duty being to guarantee Karasuu's safety.

I channelled a strum of pulseless-mana into my fingers, watching the motes of purple-bedecked magic hover across the skin of my hand. I dissolved the lifeless pulsation of energy, yawning.

My body was stimulated into waking itself up by my head being tapped on. I stretched my arms and fingers, gazing at the end of Wukong's staff in front of my visage, disgruntled.

"Stop smacking your staff into me." I languidly growled in a dehydrated soprano. I stepped up from the fabric of the carriage's seat, flicking the prong of Wukong's favourite weapon. "I ain't one of your targets."

"Not sorry!" Wukong cheekily retorted, planting an immature grin of elation onto his features. He shrunk Horuss, evaporating the weapon into his dimension of storage. "We're at the mansion!"

I immediately descried the body of Karasuu: who was sauntering out of the steps of the carriage. He bounded onto the concrete of his home-realm, studying the purlieu of his progenitor's residence. "Indeed, we are."

Wukong and I both settled ourselves atop the terrain of the gargantuan domicile's sector. I studied the proportions of the mansion - its height was comparable to the Exia-dimension's ruler's palace.

"Pretty much a castle." I internally chuckled to myself, tugging at the collar of the Shikyo family's cloak. I peered over to the gigantic-gates of entry, descrying the guards opening up the massive-doors. "Hm..."

"Man, I'm hungry." Wukong casually murmured, slipping his hands into his crimson-slacks' pockets. He stepped towards Karasuu, the two of them strolling through the ginormous gates. "Are we gonna be given food?"

"You shall." Karasuu cryptically riposted, glancing at the guards: who all straightened themselves up in his presence. He brushed his cloak's symbol of purple flames, humming. "If you pay-"

"Huh?"

"Kidding, free of charge."

I sauntered into the radius of Karasuu and Wukong, gandering towards the guards observing me. They inspected my mana-capacity, my presence, and the gait of meandering I utilized. "Mana-suppression is a useful ability..."

Seora - the one who was waiting for Karasuu at the mage-station - ambled into one of the doors of the mansion. Karasuu and Wukong both paused while I detected the magical-energies of two, unnatural individuals.

"Ah, Karasuu!" A gruff and insouciant baritone politely boomed. He and Karasuu were identical, both carrying pale flesh, obsidian-painted hair, purple irises of a thousand secrets. "Welcome back home!"

"Dusk." Karasuu lackadaisically smiled, stretching his arm forward for a hand-shake. This 'Dusk' accepted the offer, engulfing his larger hand in Karasuu's, chuckling. "Hm..."

"Aurora-"

"Karasuu!" Aurora's voice was different from Dusk's. Hers was more aristocratic and childish, lacking the smooth feeling Dusk's reverberating soprano carried. "You aren't dead!"

Karasuu was swallowed up in a gargantuan hug by her. Dusk watched his two siblings, glancing towards Wukong and I, interested or - perhaps - bemused. "Ah, you must be his envoys."

He stepped across the obsidian-decorated path of the front of the mansion, his cloak of nobility frolicking in the frosty zephyr of the Demise-realm. Dusk granted Wukong his own hand-shake, humming. "Helios Wukong."

"A pleasure." Wukong cheekily grinned, disconnecting himself from the older Shikyo's calloused clutches. He identified a shroud of orchids, perambulating into the zone of the purple-painted plants. "Nice garden."

Dusk's violet gaze itself was furtive and indecipherable. He truly carried himself as an individual of a thousand-conundrums. He flicked three fingers forward, gesticulating at a guard. "Give him a tour of our larger gardens."

"Huh...?" My good buddy bemusedly groused, being conducted into one of the mansion's multifarious lanes. The guard flourished his hands at the plants, strapping his blade into its steel-scabbard. "Thanks...?"

Karasuu's elder brother chortled to himself in a clandestine and nonchalant alto. He espied my bland visage, meandering towards me in a gait of fascination. "And you must be Vasura Hii?"

"Indeed." I politely echoed, manipulating my hoarse voice into a courteous and serenading cantillation. I extended my arm forward, watching Dusk fling his hands into his obsidian-trousers' slits. "Thank you for allowing me-"

"Please. I must be the one thanking you." Dusk grandiosely dismissed, sauntering into the path of the Shikyo-family's gargantuan mansion. He inspected Karasuu's silky and humoured visage, huffing. "You're his friend."

No. I was plotting to kill him and sell his corpse.

"I am." I nonchalantly nodded, stepping through the gigantic-lane behind Dusk. He canted his head, striding onto the platform of the mansion's doors. "Where are we gonna be sleeping?"

Dusk slung up another three of his fingers, strumming an infinitesimal pulsation of his mana. The entrance opened itself up as he strolled into the front-section of his domicile. "Welcome, Vasura Hii."

My detection-stimuli was immediately over-loaded by a sizzling and incinerating tornado of magical-power. I gazed up at the steps of the mansion, cognizing a crimson-haired creature. "Ah, Vircio."

"Fire-magic..." I monotonously reverberated to myself, disregarding his whirlpool of a presence. I brushed my hand through my own sanguine-bedizened hair, sighing. "His magic is reminding me of professor Qwoin."

"Dusk." This 'Vircio' entity reverently responded, lowering his skull and giving me a shufti of suspicion. He stepped back, ambling into one of Karasuu's residence's uncountable corridors. "Hm..."

"Apologies for that little interruption." Dusk care-freely coughed, folding up both of his veined and sleeved arms. He conducted me through the stairs, pausing at an above-average sized door. "This is your accommodation."

"I'm of the impression Karasuu shall be giving you a longer tour." The older Shikyo diplomatically intoned, channelling his mana into the flesh of his legs. Dusk pedalled back, sprinting across the purlieu. "Bye, for now..."

I suspired outwards, evaporating the suppression of my magical-energy. I opened up the door of my room for this trip, scanning the gargantuan-proportions of the bed-room. "Damn, this is large."

I espied the decorative paintings of purple-scaled dragons, the illustrations of the magenta-flames of the Shikyo-family. The bed itself was engulfed by obsidian-bedecked blankets and pillows. "The bed's pretty fancy."

I tipped my body backwards, sinking into the depths of its ebony-bedizened mattress. The sound of a clang from the door drifted into my ear-canal as Karasuu stepped into the environs of my lodging. "What's up?"

"Checking up on you." Karasuu casually shrugged, blurring into the mahogany office-chair in the bed-room. He clutched onto the drawer, flicking out some type of brush. "And retrieving this for myself."

A rune-brush? Why was there a rune-brush in the room for guests?

"Enough about this." He languidly grouched, careening the office-chair back. Karasuu flourished the brush, swiping it across the beige-painted wood of the table. "It's time for dinner."

"Fine..." I childishly murmured, propping myself up on the silky fabric of the bed. I climbed onto the two of my feet, striding out of the doors of the mansion's sector. "What are we eating?"

"A feast of food." Karasuu idly elucidated, bounding through the corridors of his gigantic-residence. This edifice was a maze of intersections. I whizzed behind him, inspecting all of the doors. "You can select from the meal."

"Nice."

I stepped into the dining-room of the Shikyo-family's residence and ensconced myself onto the fabric-inundated pad of an obsidian-decorated chair. "Hm."

I gripped onto one of the larger spoons from the flood of utensils, watching a servant of Karasuu's menage settle a bowl of Kraken-soup in front of me. I stirred my spoon through the fluid, suspiring. "Smells good."

My ears reminded me of the over-spilling and cavorting silence in the aerosphere of the dining-purlieu. I heard the booming foot-steps of a creature: who sauntered into the room. Vespera Shikyo - I surmised.

He was a tall and muscled entity. His irises themselves were a frolicking crimson while his features were calloused, but carried the same aristocratic smoothness of Dusk's pale visage. His mana-capacity was furtive.

Karasuu, Aurora, and Dusk all stood up from the platform of their ebony-bedizened seats. I straightened my body, balancing myself onto my feet from their example of reverence. "Welcome, father."

Vespera nodded, settling on top of the crimson-surface of his dining-chair. He glanced towards Wukong: who was indulging himself by devouring the meat of some type of creature. "You two must be Karasuu's friends."

"Yep!" Wukong insouciantly vociferated, lifting the monocle back over his immature mien. He swallowed in a deluge of the Kraken soup, brushing a napkin onto his lips. "A pleasure to meetcha!"

"Hm." Karasuu's progenitor's noise boomed out a noise of dancing entertainment. The head of the Shikyo family peered over to me, raising up a goblet of wine. "Karasuu wrote about the magic the both of you possess."

"Lifeless-magic." I monotonously grouched, channelling the [Serrated] spell into my nails and elongating them into claws of purple-energy. I slung my fingers forward, evaporating the echo of mana. "That's my magic-type."

"Interesting enough." He chuckled to himself, sipping in a ripple of his alcoholic-beverage. Vespera ensconced the cup back onto its plate, inspecting the magical-amount of his three spawns. "Two more shall be coming soon."

"Obscur and Crepuscule, huh?" Dusk frostily serenaded in a gravelly and pitiless soprano. He raised his knife, splintering the meat scattered on top of his plate. "This is going to be fun."

"Oh! When are they coming?!" Aurora ecstatically grinned. Perhaps she was over-elated by the chance she would be espying all of her family or her personality was histrionic. "Come on father!"

"Patience, Aurora." Vespera sonorously rumbled, the clang of his voice itself reverberating in the dining-room. Karasuu's father devoured his spillikin of meat, humming. "Tomorrow, according to Seora."

Karasuu isolated himself from this discussion of parent and child as he gulped in his orange-concocted fluid. He hefted up a tissue from the table, sweeping it through his visage. What was he scheming?

Wukong was sequestered from all of the inhabitants of the room by eating the meal Karasuu's menage provided for him. He slumped onto the head-rest of the chair, huffing. "Thanks for the food!"

"No issue." Vespera gruffly answered. He planted his spoon into the Kraken soup, flooding the fluid onto the utensil's top and swallowing the meal in. "Dusk, give my compliments to the one who created this."

"I shall, father."

It was time for me to gather up all of the information this session gave me. Karasuu's family was of 5 individuals, excluding him. Vespera, Aurora, Dusk, Crepuscule, and Obscur were members of the Shikyo lineage.

Death-Seekers' natural mana-type was a form of regenerative-magic. I wasn't sure of what could lower the speed of their healing. "This trip is going to be interesting, I guess."

I stepped up from my ebony-bedizened chair, slipping the seat backwards. This created a type of scraping noise in the silence as I gave Karasuu's creator a short-timed bow. "The meal was delicious. Thank you, sir."

I channelled my natural-mana into the depths of my legs and blurred up - towards my room for some solitude. I bounded in front of the guest-room, opening its gigantic-door. "Wait a second..."

"Eh, later." I internally dismissed, shutting the door of my accommodation. I stretched my hands, calling my [Centre] for a change of clothes and my night-wear. "I can check the box tomorrow."

This game was going to be perplexing.

Dusk sauntered into his gargantuan bed-room, flicking himself onto his mahogany-chair. He clutched onto his favourite book, inspecting one of its multifarious pages.

Keen eyes watched.