In the early morning, Eris was getting herself together so she could go out with Kai along with Noah and Marianna. Now fully clothed with her bag on her back, she walks out of her room and goes downstairs passing the throne room and to the dining hall where Kai was eating a pastry in the kitchen with his weapon holstered and bag packed.

“Good morning, Kai.” Eris greets.

“Morning.” He greets back. “Are the other two getting ready?”

“I didn’t check. I just decided to come down here to eat and get some things before we set out.”

Moments later as Eris begins eating a pastry, Noah and Marianna come downstairs to the kitchen with their bags in hand and catching Eris and Kai’s attention.

“You two set?” Kai asks the two.

Marianna pats her bag in response.

“Yep.” Noah replies.

“Make sure the three of you grab your weapons before we leave.” Kai informs.

While the trio left to go get their weapons from the training area, Kai waits for them to come back as he walks from the kitchen to the sanctuary doors. As he did, Yurich comes downstairs wearing a golden silk robe.

“Morning, Yurich.” Kai greets.

“Oh, good morning, Kai.” Yurich greets back. “Where are you off to?”

“To Koko with the rookies at their home among other things. I hope you’re not planning to object.”

Yurich shakes his head in response. “Not at all. Your sister and I will be alright over here. Landon will be coming by soon.”

“Did Senuo, Oma, and Xianchi already leave?”

“Yes. They’re on their way to Satori right now.”

As Yurich and Kai finish talking, Eris, Marianna, and Noah come back with their weapons in hand and walk towards Kai.

“You four have fun.” Yurich states.

As Yurich leaves for the kitchen, the four leave the sanctuary to go to the cave.

“So… how do we get out of here?” Noah asks.

Kai walks to the far right of the cave and touches the wall, pushing and opening a passageway up to the surface. “Let’s go.”

As Kai goes through the passageway, Eris follows him with Marianna and Noah following after.

.   .   .   .   .

In Satori, Senuo walks into the courtyard of Satori Temple with his 100 soldiers. Kabu was waiting with his bandits and begins to chuckle at how many men Senuo came with.

“Well, well, well.” Kabu speaks. “This is what you were able to gather, Senuo? This many men? Pathetic.”

“Do not underestimate my numbers, Kabu.” Senuo retorts. “You sully the title of Safekeep, and it’s time you stepped down. You don’t know how to do this job, nor you don’t know how crucial it is.”

Kabu chuckles at his response. “I don’t think you deserve the position since you and the other losers abandoned it.”

Senuo shakes his head in disgust. “Abandoned? You, along with your regime, ambushed and stole what wasn’t yours in the first place and ran it to the ground! It’s time for the rightful safekeeps to take back our temples!”

Senuo then summons his staff and points the weapon at Kabu. “Your time here is over!” He states firmly.

Kabu smirks at him and summons his sword. “Kill them!”

The bandits charge at Senuo and his soldiers with their weapons in hand.

“Attack!” Senuo commands his soldiers.

The soldiers charge at the bandits with Senuo leading them.

“Bai Ze!”

Senuo summons and mounts Bai Ze, a white gray horned bovine that resembles a bison. Kabu sees the beast.

“Oh. You want to play that way? Fine by me.”

Kabu touches the ground which forms multiple green aura portals summoning hundreds of red, short, and disfigured goblins that surround Senuo and his soldiers.

“Tear those bastards apart!” Kabu commands.

The goblins charge with the bandits making the soldiers fight them off. Some of the soldiers go to protect Senuo as he continues to charge to Kabu at the temple. Kabu whistles for a few more bandits to charge and ambush Senuo.

“Bai Ze! Freeze!” Senuo commands.

The bovine stomps the ground making time stop for the bandits in Senuo’s radius. He dismounts Bai Ze as he was close enough to reach Kabu. Senuo stands and holds his staff at the ready waiting for Kabu. Kabu decides to ready his sword and walks down to the courtyard towards Senuo. Moments later, the two charge at each other with Kabu trying to attack and Senuo avoiding his strikes. Senuo uses Jika to force Kabu back a few feet. Kabu quickly recovers and glares at Senuo.

“Please don’t tell me you’re just going to fight me like that and just push me away!” Kabu exclaims. “Because if you are, it’s time for your wake-up call, shorty!”

As Kabu charges at him again, Senuo focuses his Jika on his fists and legs. Kabu uses his sword to strike to where Senuo blocks him with his staff and punches Kabu in the chest with his powered fist making him stumble away and hold his chest as he glares at Senuo.

“If you want a fight, wish granted.” Senuo speaks in a serious tone.

Senuo then taps his staff on the ground creating a few boulders to float in the air. He aims them at Kabu and fires them, but the boulders were turned to dust.

“What the…?” Senuo states bewildered.

Kabu smirks at Senuo’s expression. “I’m sure you weren’t expecting me to have company.”

A figure comes from out of nowhere and lands next to Kabu, it was Kyoki. Senuo’s demeanor changes when he sees who protected Kabu.

“So, you’re the supposed “prince” of Elem. Kyoki Darsha.” Senuo speaks.

Kyoki chuckles. “How nice that you know my name.”

“We Safekeeps always keep track of what’s going on in our lands.”

“Well, I’m afraid this land is no longer yours to control, since you’ve abandoned it.”

“If that’s what your mother told you, then you are sorely mistaken. Your mother took it from us and we’re here to take our lands back. I hope you understand our cause.”

“Your cause has meaning, but it’s wishful thinking. You’ll just have to accept what is, not what was.”

“What is… is not helping my people! It’s killing the lands and you two are the symptoms that must be taken care of. Starting today.”

“Oh? By yourself?” Kabu asks.

“Why would you think I was by myself?”

“RASHI!”

The three hear a woman’s voice from a distance, and moments later see a giant flaming red salamander come between them with a handful of soldiers charging from the back of the temple with Xianchi who rushed to Senuo’s side. Half of the soldiers’ weapons were ready against Kabu and Kyoki while the other half of Xianchi’s soldiers come to help Senuo’s men. Kyoki chuckles.

“How nice to meet you, Ms. Soule.” He comments.

“You’re familiar with us?” Xianchi asks.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be? Also, you people have something I want.”

“What’s that?” Senuo asks.

“It doesn’t matter at this time. You two should focus on staying alive… if you can.”

Kyoki takes out his twin blades while a green aura forms around him while he smirks. “Let’s hope you two can handle the power of Omakotaku!”

Senuo, Xianchi, and their soldiers ready themselves to defend while Kyoki, Kabu, and their bandits charge to attack them.

.   .   .   .   .

Now at noon, Kai, Eris, Noah, and Marianna make their way to the trio’s home in Koko as they now cross the Momo-Koko city line.

“I can’t believe how long of a distance we’ve walked from the sanctuary all the way here.” Marianna comments.

“Yeah.” Noah responds. “I thought the walk from home and school was long.”

While Noah and Marianna were talking, Kai and Eris stayed silent during the whole walk. Eris could not help but stare at Kai. The silence unsettled Eris while her staring annoyed Kai.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” He asks catching her attention. “You haven’t taken your eyes off me the moment we started walking.”

Eris could not think of anything to say and starts blushing.

“It’s also not the first time you’ve done that.” He adds. “Is there something you want to talk about?”

“Well… I guess I’m curious about you.”

“And why is that?”

“Because… I don’t really know you, besides you being the queen’s brother, being Yenish’s prisoner, and being of nobility.”

Kai was not adamant on talking about what he felt were his personal scars.

“…Maybe some other time.” He replies. “My life story is not something I’m prepared to talk about. You must understand that Eris.”

Eris understood his answer and chose to not press him on the subject.

.   .

After several minutes of walking, they reach the house. Eris goes to the front door and unlocks it. When she opened it, she was in disbelief when she saw the living room was a wreck. Kai, Noah, and Marianna walk towards her and see the sight. The trio look in despair while Kai looks at the damage.

“Kabu and his cronies did this.” He states.

Eris, Noah, and Marianna look at him in confusion.

“His scent still lingers in here.” He adds. “I’m certain they were here trying to find you three, especially you, Eris.”

Kai then looks at them. “If you two were here, they would’ve interrogated you both and then… they would’ve killed you. And Eris… Kabu would’ve killed you that day at the lake.”

The three were stricken with that realization, then turned back to the living room as they all slowly walked into the house with Eris sighing.

“We need to clean this up.” Eris speaks.

“How did that creep even get inside our house?” Noah asks. “Senuo had put a barrier over it.”

“His barrier he put was weak probably due to the two years he was gone from the temple.” Kai explains.

“Well, at least he made an attempt to protect it, but it wasn’t enough.” Marianna speaks. “Luckily, it doesn’t seem anything valuable was taken, just turned over. Let’s start cleaning.”