During the evening as the sun was setting, the Kai, Eris, Noah, and Marianna walked out onto Kyona and proceeded to walk to Bura which took them an hour to reach, and it became nighttime. As they walk through the city, lanterns light up, music starts to play, and people outside start dancing to bring out the night life. Seeing the people filled with joy gives the four a sense of relief. Hearing the music, Marianna decides to join the entertainment by starting to dance. Noah and Eris attempt to stop her, but she pulls them in with her and making Kai follow them.

“What are you doing, Marianna?” Noah asks.

“You don’t know when we can have a moment like this.” She answers. “So, let’s dance a little!”

At first being reluctant, Noah decides to dance with Marianna while Eris looks at Kai, who had his hands crossed as he looks at her as well.

“I don’t really dance.” He comments.

Eris chuckles. “I don’t either, but Mari is right. We don’t know when we’re going to have a moment like this again. Also, should men of nobility know how to dance?”

“I can dance, but I hate it. I was into training while Furia was into dancing.”

“How about… just this once?”

Kai looks to her and thinks about it, then lightly smiles. “Sure. Why not?”

Kai follows Eris further into the crowd of people and proceeds to dance with her.

.   .

After minutes of dancing, the four walk away from the crowd and several miles later, they come close to the Bura-Momo city line. They walk past several Oreadian soldiers and townspeople fixing up a couple of buildings that needed repair on the path. During the walk, Eris becomes curious about what kind of conversation Kai had with Asuno.

“What did you ask Asuno, Kai?” She asks him.

“I asked if he knew about his family ties, and he said he did.” Kai answers. “But how Ramon was, he wanted to keep it under wraps in order for people to not question anything.”

“But why keep something like that a secret for 50 years?” Marianna asks.

“People’s minds in that time were different. At the time, it was considered shameful and there would be some kind of uproar and unrest. In this day and age, I think people would choose the latter now.”

“Let’s hope so.” Eris comments.

As they continue walking on the road ahead of them, it starts to become difficult for them to see due to fog which starts to surround them.

“What’s up with this fog?” Marianna asks.

“No idea.” Noah replies.

As the fog surrounds them, Eris and Kai feel an odd presence as they look at the fog.

“Do you feel that?” Eris asks Kai.

“Yeah.” He responds. “It’s what I felt earlier. Ready yourselves!”

The four huddled together with their weapons drawn and their backs to each other. They look around and see nothing. Not a moment sooner, a knife darts between the four which they avoid and then see a large group of bandits coming from the fog and charging at them. A fight ensues with Noah and Marianna against three bandits while Eris and Kai fight against five of them. Marianna uses Jika to guard herself and Noah from the attacks and notices her barrier starting to wane within minutes. In a split decision, she forces the bandits away with Noah following with quick slashes, striking two of the bandits. The third one dodges and goes to strike him with a dagger, but is stopped by Marianna by banging her staff on the ground, using Jika to force his body to the ground, incapacitating him. The two look at one another.

“Thanks, Mari.” Noah praises.

Marianna gives him a thumbs up. “No problem.”

Eris fends off two bandits with her naginata by parrying one bandit and slashing the other across his chest, leaving a deep bloody wound and the man falling to the ground. She then attacks the bandit she parried, but he blocks it, and sweep kicks her feet from under her. He goes for the attack while she was on the ground along with the bandit she injured. She guards against their attacks, but the force of the strikes becomes strenuous to where her marks feel as if they were burning her skin. It becomes too unbearable to where she begins screaming in pain. Kai hears the scream and dashes behind the men and slashes them in quick succession causing deep wounds.

One of the bandits falls to the ground next to Eris, while she kicks the other away from her. Before Eris could be helped up, the three bandits Kai was fighting with previously, charge at him and making him quickly turn toward them and whisper:

“Amarok.”

The wolf within howls making Kai’s green eye glow.

As the bandits attempt to attack him simultaneously, Kai blocks and parries all three of them. He slices off the first bandit’s leg, the other’s arm, and impales the last one through his chest, and pushing the bandit off with his foot. As the last one falls, Kai helps Eris stand while Noah and Marianna banding together with them and ready for what was next. Other than the bandits, they hear an ominous laugh coming from the fog and see a person slowly walking of the fog. That person was Kyoki.

“Well, that was entertaining to watch.” He speaks in a delighted tone.

Kai glares at him quizzically. “Are you that son of Yenish’s that I’ve been hearing about? Kyoki?”

“I am. Also, I’ve seen you in my mother’s memories. Man of modest nobility, Kai Nyle. Son of Kivu & Faye Nyle, and brother of former queen, Furia Nyle.”

“Former queen?”

“Your mother is sitting in Furia’s castle.” Marianna retorts. “Your mother is a false queen!”

Kyoki chuckles. “Of course, you would say that. Do you think a child such as herself would know what she’s doing? You should be thanking my mother for relieving the girl of her duties. However, I didn’t come to debate that subject. I came to talk to a certain person in your group.”

Kyoki locks eyes with Eris which puts a smile on his face and makes Eris feel uneasy.

“Eris Gadison.” He speaks calmly. “How grateful I am to finally see you in person. I must say, I never thought I would be able to.”

He then starts walking slowly towards Eris. “There are many things I would like to talk about with you.”

As he walks closer, Kai, Noah, and Marianna surround Eris with their weapons drawn. Kyoki stops walking, but his demeanor does not change as he smiles. Eris feels what Kyoki felt about her, a mix of curiosity, and obsession. His emotions made her feel uncomfortable to where she looks away from him. Kyoki looks at her inquisitively turning his head to the side.

“Why do you look away from me?” He asks. “Are you… afraid? Don’t be. I am not your enemy, for I’m not like Kabu. I have no wish to kill you, I want to know you.”

Kyoki then looks at Kai with a smirk. “Do you think you can protect Eris? You can’t, not like I can. Also, I sense something else with you...”

Kai glares at him with his brow raised.

“Your love for Eris is not as strong as mine.” Kyoki adds.

Kai’s eyes widen with shock along with Eris, Noah, and Marianna looking at him.

“Yes, I can sense that from you.” Kyoki speaks. “Deep within, you’d want to do everything for her, but you can’t. You couldn’t protect your men, nor your parents.”

Hearing his remark made Kai enraged. Before Kai could charge at Kyoki, Eris grabs him by his vest making Kyoki raise his brow while Kai looks to Eris shaking her head to him with an empathic look. Seeing her face makes Kai calm down. Eris then looks to Kyoki along with Kai, Noah, and Marianna. Eris walks ahead of Kai to face Kyoki.

“Kyoki.” She speaks. “I… am not interested in talking to you, nor am I interested in being with you. I know what you are, and I know where you stand. Just know that the next time we see you and the rest of the regime, we’ll be ready.”

Kyoki’s face turns to anger, but then his smirk returns, and he chuckles at her remark. “I’m sure you all will be ready. But unfortunately, I don’t see that for you, Eris Gadison.”

Eris was confused by what Kyoki meant as he disappears into the fog along with the fallen bandits and the fog dissolving. Seeing the threat was over, the group put their weapons away and Eris sees Kai seething with anger. She guessed that Kyoki’s remarks about Kai’s feelings along with his actions two years ago with his men and his parents was getting to him. Eris goes to touch his shoulder in which Kai tenses and does not look at her.

“Don’t dwell on his words, Kai.” She speaks. “He’s getting into your head. Don’t let him. You’re stronger than that. Remember our promise?”

Kai remembers the promise back when they were cleaning up the trio’s home. He feels a little at ease, calms down and looks to Eris.

“…Yes. I remember.” He replies in a low voice.

Eris gives him a kind smile. “Come on. Let’s get back to the sanctuary.”

Eris then moves her hand into his hand to where he grasps it as they look at one another. They proceed to walk together with Noah and Marianna following toward the city of Momo.