Philia, Miia, Rachnera, Centorea, and Suu decided to follow them. Lala was nowhere to be found, but Satsuki had a feeling that Lala was waiting for her at a place beyond the world of the living. Papi insisted on following, but Kimihito managed to persuade her to stay back. He would have failed if it wasn't for Meroune, who told Papi that she should stay with her at home. The mermaid princess didn't say much. But she was there to send them off by the doorstep, and when Satsuki was about to open the door and leave, she held out her hand with a somewhat determined look. Satsuki looked at her as if she was trying to figure out what she was thinking, but ended up taking that hand and share a rather awkward handshake.

"I shall pray for your safe return. I have a few questions to ask you, and dear sir will be heartbroken if you fail on coming back."

Satsuki didn't say anything. She simply nodded and headed out, followed by a pretty big group. When everyone came out, she looked around to meet everyone's eyes.

"Me and Philia will head over first. Stay behind us. Keep a nice distance. She's strong, but she's not that fast. As long as you all keep a nice distance, I will be able to distract her for a while."

"Wait, wait. I thought the plan was to make me meet her and kill her as quickly as possible?"

She looked at her father. "Having an element of surprise is always helpful. It would be strategically better if you appeared when she isn't expecting you."

"I told you that I can-"

"I also don't want to see her go berserk," she didn't let him finish. "She will lose her mind either way when she sees you, but it would be better if she went crazy after she received some damage. It would be even better if she doesn't see you until she takes her last breath."

Riku looked like he had a lot to say. But he couldn't make himself go against her words. His daughter was extremely clear: she would minimize the damage taken. He could also get that Satsuki wanted to be the one facing her throughout the whole thing.

"Miia, Centorea, Suu, Rachnera. You three should stick around Kimi. Stay way behind us. I want you to be at a distance where you can barely hear us. Prioritize his safety over anything."

"Wait, if you were going to keep Darling out of range, why did you bring him out in the first place?"

"He wouldn't have stayed at home even if I told him to." Kimihito winced, she knew him too well. "Besides, I do have to think of the possibility where she goes for you directly. I need you to be within hearing distance. If my worst fears come true and she goes for Kimi instead of me, scream, yell, do whatever to let us know."

Some heads nodded. Satsuki faced Suu this time. "We'll yell something back if we hear you. In this case, I need you to swallow everyone single one of them," she pointed at the three girls and Kimihito. "She won't be able to perform her mind magic through you. She probably does have some tricks that'll work on you as well, but let's hope that we get there before she gets to perform those."

"And I should swallow them," Suu's head pointed at the girls to make it clear that she wasn't talking about Kimihito right now, "because I should stop them from…"

"Yes. I don't need another group going berserk."

"I don't get it, what are you-"

"No time to explain." Satsuki looked impatient. "Kimi, did you call Smith?"

He nodded. "I told her to focus on keeping civilians out of this. The M.O.N crew will clear the area for us. By the way, she wanted to see you. She said that you should hear her out and…"

"Tell that woman that she already lost her chance for that," she snapped. "Does anyone have any useful questions of how we should move?"

"So, who should be closer to you? Me, or them?" Riku pointed at Kimihito and the girls that were already protectively surrounding him.

"The distance should be similar. Think of it this way: if we had a gigantic map that had both our house and Kii's tree on it, draw a straight line that connects those two locations. Me and Kimi's group will both be on that line, but I will be moving faster and will always be closer to Kii's tree. You will keep the same amount of distance, but you will be at my far right."

Riku slowly nodded in understanding. "So basically we should form a triangle."

"Exactly. Glad you understood." She turned her attention to the others. "Are we all clear?"

She saw nodding heads. Now they really had to get moving. She looked at Philia. The two exchanged glances, and soon enough she was on her back, and Philia ran on full speed.

As the two rode through the early evening, Satsuki glimpsed to her right. She could see her father running, no, gliding through the air at a speed that matched theirs, and then literally materializing at some point, as if he was a part of the wind. Although she had no idea how the hell he was doing that, this was not the time for questions, nor was she really surprised that he was able to do that. After all, he seemed like he could control wind.

She turned her attention to her loyal steed. Her lips were pressed together firmly.

"Maybe I should have gave you some time to speak with your daughter before we left them. Things might get a bit dirty."

"Nonsense, Master. My daughter understands the nature of nobility and chivalry. She would understand, even if I happened to fall during this battle."

"I'm sorry to force you into this."

For a short moment, Satsuki could swear that she saw Philia snorting. "It is every centaur's dream to die as a loyal knight for their master. Please do not trouble yourself with that thought."

Philia slowed down when they reached the opening of Kii's forest. As she slowed down, she could more clearly feel her master's heartbeat through her hands that were grasping her shoulders. It seemed to beat faster by every passing second. She wasn't sure if it was okay for a human heart to beat this fast.

"Master, shall we take a break?"

"No." Philia had never heard such a short, quick, and definitive answer. "She's almost here. I can feel it."

Philia tensed. "Can you tell which direction she's coming from?"

"She's not moving by foot. It doesn't work like that." Before Philia could even object, Satsuki jumped down from her back. "There's just this…feeling that I can't explain. She'll probably come face us when she finds the timing to be right."

"Do you think she'll come straight for us and not for-"

Satsuki's hand moved swiftly as she placed a finger on her own lips. "Allow me to focus."

Philia waited while her young master closed her eyes for a few seconds. When the young girl opened her eyes, they radiated determination that Philia has never seen throughout her whole life.

"Follow me."

Her footsteps were slow, but strong. They were not heavy but seemed to be filled with vigor. Philia brought out her sword from its hilt and held it in her hands. The centaur slowly followed her master. Even without asking, she could tell that they were heading towards Kii's tree.

Philia felt a weak gush of wind blow. The wind itself seemed natural, but there was something off about it. There was a strange aura in the air. The leaves on the trees seemed the shake in a way that it shouldn't. She couldn't feel any wild animals nearby. Something was wrong.

She couldn't hear the rest of the group either, so she assumed that they were a good distance apart. Philia couldn't recall the last time she was so terrified to face an enemy. It was one thing to face someone that is likely to be much stronger than you, but it was another thing for that enemy to be invisible, or unnoticed, in this case.

At some point, Satsuki stopped walking. She stretched her right arm as if to stop Philia as well.

"Philia," her voice sounded strangely calm. She even looked like it.

"Yes master?"

"She's here."

Still extending her right arm, Satsuki took a few extra steps.

Out of nowhere, a figure appeared in front of them. Philia couldn't quite explain how she appeared. It seemed like she walked out from the depths of the woods, but it also seemed like she just walked out of the void or something. It was unearthly.

"Hello, mother."

The figure approached them. Philia could tell that she was wearing the same clothes as the last time she saw her. The horns on her head made it obvious that she was a devil. An Elder Devil, too., But since back then Philia didn't have much time to actually observe her, this was the first time she was able to actually take note of how she looked like.

In short, she was a taller, horribly misshaped version of her daughter. Her dark skin was the only part of her that exactly matched her daughter. Her eyes, nose, lips, and even general facial structure was all somehow uneven, weird, or even creepy. Strangely enough, they all somehow resembled her daughter's. To be precise, it was her daughter that resembled her quite a bit.

From far apart, Philia thought that her eyes were a blackish brown, a color similar to her daughter's. But as she came closer, Philia could see that they weren't brown. They were red. A very murky, dirty, dark red.

The woman seemed to eye Philia for a moment. Philia had to muster everything she had to look like she wasn't affected by her presence. After staring at her for a few seconds, the woman shifted her attention towards her daughter. She smiled, but Philia could swear that even a crocodile's tears would look more genuine than the smile on her lips.

"My, my, daughter. So you thought that you could team up with this one over here and win me? You should know better than that. You were just lucky that time."

Satsuki didn't flinch. Instead, she took another step closer to her birthmother.

"I refuse to follow your wills and orders." Her voice was loud, clear, and stable. She sounded like she was making a speech to her army before marching off to an important fight. "I will no longer live as your puppet, or a coward. I will fight against you, even if it means my death."

Philia wasn't sure what she was expecting to hear, but she certainly wasn't prepared for a screeching laughter that seemed to cut through the night sky. It was horrifying. She could feel her hands grabbing her sword stronger than necessary, bracing herself for something that she has never experienced before.

"I always thought that you were rebellious, but to think that you would be this…daring. Well then, I guess it's a mother's job to crush this prodigal child, isn't it?"

"PHILIA, RUN! DON'T STAY AT ONE PLACE!" The teenager's voice roared through the otherwise quiet woods. The voice seemed to have a magical energy of its own, since the air around started to feel different to the skin.

The loud voice brought Philia back to her senses. Before her brain could even function, her feet moved. In no time, she was running around the mother and daughter in a shape similar to an oval. Her mind went through the plan she talked through with her master before. She ran around them in an irregular oval shape that was big enough for her to keep a certain distance from both of them on full speed. As she did so, she kept her eyes on her master.

She first thought that she would have to jump in soon to distract the devil. What she faced instead was a situation where her master was actually putting up a good fight. The two were literally glaring at each other, their brains working some kind of magic.

Surprisingly enough, this magical competition was observable. Philia could see glimpses of two spheres surrounding the mother and daughter. Her master's sphere didn't seem to have a particular color; it was just a pure sphere. On the other hand, her mother's sphere was a glaring red. While the mother's sphere was bigger in size, when the two spheres clashed, her master's sphere didn't seem to crush or retreat. It bulged in a strange way, as if some source of power was injecting power into it.

"Oh, look at that. You really meant it when you said that you would risk death, didn't you?" It was a jeer more than a question.

Satsuki didn't answer. Instead, she closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again. When she did, Philia gasped. Her eyes, her pupils and even the part that was supposed to be white, were red. The same dirty, murky red of her mother's.

A/N: Can't believe we're actually getting closer to the ending!